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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/28276-8.txt b/28276-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..86e7533 --- /dev/null +++ b/28276-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9521 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The End of the Rainbow, by Marian Keith + +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 End of the Rainbow + +Author: Marian Keith + +Release Date: March 8, 2009 [EBook #28276] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE END OF THE RAINBOW *** + + + + +Produced by Al Haines + + + + + + + + + + +THE END OF THE RAINBOW + + +BY + +MARIAN KEITH + + + + + _Author of "'Lisbeth of the Dale," + "Treasure Valley," "Duncan Polite," etc._ + + + + +McCLELLAND AND STEWART + +PUBLISHERS : : TORONTO + + + + +Copyright, 1913 + +BY GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY + + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAPTER + + I. THE GLEAM + II. "THE GREATEST OF THE THREE" + III. LIFE'S YOUNG MARINER + IV. SIDE LIGHTS + V. FOLLOWING THE GLEAM + VI. LAUNCHING HIS VESSEL + VII. "MOVING TO MELODY" + VIII. "FLOATED THE GLEAM" + IX. "DEAF TO THE MELODY" + X. "THE LIGHT RETREATED" + XI. "THE LANDSKIP DARKEN'D" + XII. "THE MELODY DEADEN'D" + XIII. "THE MASTER WHISPERED" + XIV. "FOLLOW THE GLEAM" + + + + +THE END OF THE RAINBOW + + +CHAPTER I + +THE GLEAM + +All afternoon the little town had lain dozing under the lullaby of a +June rain. It was not so much a rain as a gentle dewy mist, touching +the lawns and gardens and the maple trees that lined each street into +more vivid green, and laying a thick moist carpet over the dust of the +highways. And the little town, ringed by forest and lake, and canopied +by maple boughs, had lain there enjoying it, now blinking half-awake in +the brief glimpses of sunlight, now curling up again and going to sleep. + +In the late afternoon the silent tournament between sunshine and shadow +resulted in a conquest for the sun. His victorious lances swept the +enemy from the clean blue skies; they glanced over the lake, lodged in +every treetop, and glittered from every church spire. The little town +began to stir. The yellow dogs, that had slept all afternoon on the +shop steps, roused themselves and resumed their fight in the middle of +Main Street. Now and then a clerk ran across to a rival firm to get +change for a customer. A few belated shoppers hurried homeward. A +farmer's double-buggy backed out of the hotel yard with a scraping +sound, and went rattling up the street towards the country. Everything +seemed pervaded with an atmosphere of expectancy, a tense air of +unrest, as though the whole place were holding itself in readiness for +a summons. + +And then it came: the great consummation of the day's work. From the +tower of the fire-hall burst forth the loud peal of the town bell. Six +o'clock! Like the castle of the Sleeping Beauty the town leaped into +life. The whistles of the saw-mills down by the lake broke into +shrieks of joy. The big steam pipe of Thornton's foundry responded +with a delighted roar. The flour mill, the wheel-factory and the +tannery joined in a chorus of yells. From factory and shop, office and +store, came pouring forth the relieved workers, laughing and calling +across the street to each other above the din. There was a noisy +tramp, tramp of feet, a hurrying this way and that, a confusion of +happy voices. And over all the clamour, the big bell in the tower +continued to fling out far over the town and the lake and the woods the +joyous refrain that the day's work was done, was done, was done. + +Near the corner of Main Street, on a leafy thoroughfare that ran up +into the region of lawns and gardens, stood a neat row of red-brick +office buildings, with wide doors and shiny windows. Over the widest +door and on the shiniest window, in letters of gold, was the legend: +EDWARD BRIANS, Barrister, etc. + +Never a man passed this door on his homeward way without saluting it. + +"Hello, Ed! Coming home?"--"Hurrah, Ed! Will you be along if we wait +ten minutes?"--"Ed! Hurry up and come along!" + +No one appeared in response to the summons; but from within came +refusals, roared out in a thunderous voice, each roar growing more +exasperated than the last. + +The streets were almost deserted when, at last, the owner of the big +voice came to his door. He was a man of about thirty-five; of middle +height, straight, strong and alert. His fair hair had a tendency +towards red, and also towards standing on end, and his bright blue eyes +had a tendency to blaze suddenly in wrath or shut up altogether in +consuming laughter. He had practised law in Algonquin for ten years, +and as he had been brought up in the town and was related to one-half +the population, and loved by the whole of it, he was spoken of +familiarly as Lawyer Ed. + +A tall man, leading a little boy by the hand, followed him slowly down +the steps. The man was not past middle age, but he was stooped and +worn with a life of heavy toil. + +"Well, Angus," Lawyer Ed was saying, his deep musical voice thrilling +with sympathy, "that'll make you comfortable for a while now, until +you're better, anyway. And there's no need for me, or any one, to tell +you not to worry over it." + +The older man smiled. "No, no. Tut, tut! Worry! That would be but a +poor way to treat the Father's care, indeed." His dark eyes shone with +an inner light. "If He needs my farm, He'll show me how to lift the +mortgage. And if He needs me to do any more work for Him here, He'll +give me back my health. But if not--" he paused and his hand went +instinctively to the shoulder of the little boy looking up at him with +big wondering eyes--"if not--well, well, never fear, He knows the way. +He knows." + +An old light wagon and a horse with hanging head were standing by the +sidewalk. The man clambered slowly to the seat and gathered up the +lines. Lawyer Ed picked up the little boy and swung him up beside his +father. He shook him well before he set him down, boxed his ears, +pulled his hair, and finally, diving into his pockets, brought out a +big handful of pink "bull's-eyes" and showered them into his hat. The +little fellow shouted with delight, and having crammed his mouth full, +he doubled up his small fists and challenged his friend to another +scuffle. + +But Lawyer Ed shook his head. + +"No! That's enough nonsense to-day, you young rascal! Good-bye, +Angus, and--" his musical voice became low and soft--"and God bless +you." + +Angus McRae's smile, as he drove away, was like the sun breaking out +over Lake Algonquin, and the lawyer felt as if their positions were +reversed, and he had just put a mortgage on his farm and Angus were +trying to comfort him. + +He stood for a moment on the sidewalk, his bright eyes grown misty, and +watched the pair drive down the hill. Then he looked across the street +and saw Doctor Archibald Blair climbing into his mud-splashed buggy, +satchel in hand. Lawyer Ed walked across to him, his shining boots +sinking in the soft mud. + +By descent Lawyer Ed was partly Scotch, by nature he was entirely +Irish. He possessed a glib tongue of the latter order and his habit +was to address every one he met, be he Indian, Highland Scot, or French +Canadian, in the dialect which the person was supposed to favour. So +he roared out in his magnificent baritone, as he picked his way among +the puddles: + +"Hoot! Losh! Is yon yersel', Aerchie mon?" + +Doctor Blair glared down at him from under lowering brows. + +"Dear me, Ed, you're an object of pity, when you try to get that clumsy +tongue of yours, hampered as it is by a brogue from Cork, around the +most musical sounds of the most musical language under heaven. Give it +up, man! Give it up!" + +"Haud yer whisht! Or whisht yer blethers!--whichever way that +outlandish, heathenish gibberish your forebears jabbered, would have +it. You see, Archie, one great advantage of being Irish--and it's not +your fault that you're not, man, I don't blame you--one great advantage +is that you can speak all languages with equal ease. Now a Scotchman's +tongue is like his sense of humour and his brains--a bit hard to +wiggle." + + "_'Beware a tongue that's smoothly hung, + A heart that warmly seems to feel'_"---- + +quoted Doctor Blair, who was always ready with his Burns. He shoved +his black satchel under the seat, and hauled the muddy lap-robe over +his knees. + +"Do you want anything in the line of common sense, or did you just come +over here to blather?" + +"I came to see what you thought of Angus. Is he very sick?" + +"Angus McRae? Yes he is, Ed, I'm sorry to say. I felt I ought to tell +him to quit work altogether, but he can't afford it." + +"Is it anything dangerous?" + +"Well, if anything should happen--a shock or strain of any kind on his +heart--he'd be laid up--maybe put out of business altogether." + +"And to-day he put a mortgage on his place, to help pay the debts of +Peter McDuff and a dozen other old leeches that live on him." + +The two friends looked at each other and nodded silently. + +"He's a wonderful man, that Angus McRae," said Dr. Blair. + +"He's the finest man living!" cried Lawyer Ed, always enthusiastic. "I +owe that man more than I can ever pay--not money, something more +valuable--nearly everything I have that's worth while." + +His friend nodded. There were few men in Algonquin who were not +indebted to Angus McRae for something of value. + +"Angus is rich in that sort of wealth," said Archie Blair. + + "_It's no in titles nor in rank; + It's no in wealth like Lon'on bank, + To purchase peace and rest. + It's no in makin' muckle mair; + It's no in books; it's no in lear; + To make us truly blest.'_" + + +"But Angus knows where it is, and he's not like most people who go to +church and sing and pray one day in the week and cheat their neighbours +the other six!" + +The doctor cracked his whip and drove off in high good humour, for he +had made a smart slap at the church, as he always loved to do in Lawyer +Ed's presence, and had escaped before that glib Irishman could answer. +He could catch something roared out behind him, about a man who could +stay home from church so that he might be a hypocrite seven days in the +week and half the nights too, but he pretended not to hear. + +Meanwhile Angus McRae and his little son rattled away down one street +and along another and out upon the country road. Just where the town +and country met stretched a row of ragged, tumble-down buildings. +There was an ill-smelling hotel, with two or three loungers smoking on +the sagging veranda, a long fence covered with tattered and glaring +circus posters, a half-dozen patched and weather-beaten houses and a +row of abandoned sheds and barns. + +Algonquin proper was a pretty little town, all orchards and gardens and +winding hilly streets smothered in trees. And the dreary wretchedness +of its back entrance, as it might be called, was all the more painful +in contrast. Willow Lane, this miserable little street was named; but +Angus McRae had long termed it, in his secret heart, the Jericho Road. +For the old tavern at the end of it had proved the downfall of many a +traveller on that highway, and many a man had Angus picked up, who had +fallen there among thieves. + +Every one on the Jericho Road knew him well, and went to him for help +in time of trouble and, though they did not realise it, he was indeed +their neighbour in precisely the way his Master meant him to be. + +The lane turned into the country road, and once more all was fragrance +and beauty. It curved around the southern shore of Lake Algonquin; on +one side the forest, dark and cool, its dim floor splashed with golden +light, its arches ringing with the call of the Canada bird, on the +other side the blue and white of the lake, laughing and tumbling +beneath the blue and white of the sky. + +When the gleam of the water came into view, the little boy clapped his +hands and churned up and down in delight. The fresh, damp wind fanned +his face, and he shouted to the white-winged gulls dipping and soaring +out there in their free ocean of air. He looked up laughingly into his +father's face, but quickly became grave. His father's eyes were +wistful; he had not spoken for a long time. The child remembered vague +hints of trouble that afternoon in Lawyer Ed's office. + +"You won't have to work when I get a big man, Daddy," he said +comfortingly. "I'll work for you. An' I'll get rich, an' you'll have +lots an' lots of money." + +His father smiled down at him lovingly. "Och, indeed, it's your father +will be the happy man when Roderick grows up. He'll have nothing to do +at all at all." + +"What was Lawyer Ed doing?" queried the child, after a moment's +thought. "Is he goin' to let Jock McPherson take away our house?" + +"No, no, child. You must not be troubling your head with such +thoughts. It was just some business Roderick is not old enough to +understand." + +The little fellow sat swinging his short legs and gazing out over the +lake, struggling with a vague sense of danger. He had been brought up +on the edge of poverty, but had been joyously unconscious of the fact. +His father, Aunt Kirsty, Collie, his dog, and the farm had been his +world, a world of love and enjoyment and plenty. But now he felt the +nearness of some unseen foe, something that had made Lawyer Ed and +Doctor Blair look so grave, and was now keeping his father quiet and +thoughtful. He had a notion that it all had something to do with money. + +"If you only had a pot o' gold," he said at last, still staring out +over the lake. + +"A pot of gold!" repeated his father, with a laugh. "And what would be +putting that into your foolish little head?" + +"A pot o' gold would buy anything you wanted, Peter says. He told me +about it, Peter Fiddle did. Once a boy found a pot o' gold hangin' on +to the end of a rainbow. There's always one there, Daddy. Yes, there +is, Peter Fiddle says so. An' a boy travelled a long, long way to the +end of a rainbow, an' he found it--the pot o' gold. An' he was rich, +an' he gave money to all the poor people an' made them happy." + +"And so Peter's been telling you more fairy-tales, eh? Well, well, it +will be a pretty one. And now, I suppose the first rainbow you see, +you'll be off to get that pot of gold." + +He nodded excitedly. "Wouldn't I just!" he cried. + +Angus McRae was not despondent over the mortgage which his ill health +and his extravagant expenditure for oil and wine and inn-fees had +compelled him to put on his little farm. He was one of those glad +souls, with such a perfect faith in his Father, that he could not but +believe that what might seem to be a bane was in reality a blessing. +But he was a little puzzled and thoughtful. The solution of the +problem was in his Father's hands, of course, but he could not help +wondering just how it would be worked out, and if he himself were using +his every faculty for the best ends. + +The greatest part of his problem was the Lad. His boy had been the +very centre of all his thoughts since the day She had left him, with +only faith in God and the Lad's baby hands to hold him up from despair. +She had always hoped that the Lad would have an education, and Angus +had planned that he should. But if the little farm was to go, the Lad +would have to work for his father and Aunt Kirsty just as soon as he +was big enough. And She had always hoped he should be a minister some +day, or even, perhaps, a missionary to a heathen land. + +And next to the Lad was his ministry to his neighbours. What was to +become of that? Ministry was not the word Angus McRae would have used +in speaking of his humble calling,--the mere working of a little market +garden farm and the selling of what it produced. And yet he had made +it a real and beautiful ministry to both God and his fellow-man. He +considered the selling of sweet turnips and sound cabbage and unspotted +potatoes to his customers as much a religious rite, as did the most +devout Israelite the offering of that which was perfect on the altar of +Jehovah. For indeed everything Angus sent off his little farm, whether +sold for a legitimate price or given away, as it so often was, to a +needy neighbour, was truly an offering to the Most High. + +So he was a little puzzled, though not at all saddened, by the thought +that his ministry was to be curtailed, perhaps stopped. He had hoped +to be always able to give a bag of potatoes to a poor neighbour, or to +bring to his home any one who had fallen on the Jericho Road. But +then, if the Father wanted him to stop that, He surely had other work +for him. So he flapped his old horse with the lines and, leaning +forward, hummed the hymn that was his watchword in times of stress: + + "_My soul, be on thy guard, + Ten thousand foes arise, + The hosts of sin are pressing hard, + To draw thee from the skies!_" + + +The Lad interrupted constantly with eager questions about this flower +and that tree, and his old horse demanded much attention, to keep her +from turning off the road and regaling herself on the green grass. He +flapped her at regular intervals with the lines, saying in a tone of +gentle remonstrance, "Tut, tut, Betsy, get up now, get up." + +Betsy had had so many years' intimate acquaintance with her master that +this encouragement to greater speed had long ago lost its real meaning +to her. She had come to regard its gentle reiteration as a sort of +pleasant lullaby, and jogged along more peacefully than ever. + +They slowly rounded a curve in the road and came into view of their +home, the little weather-beaten house facing the lake, with Aunt +Kirsty's garden a glory of sweet-peas, the long rows of neat vegetable +beds sloping down to the water, the straggling lane with the big oak at +the gate. And there was Collie bounding down the lane, uttering +yelping barks and twisting himself almost out of joint in his efforts +to wag his tale hard enough to express his welcome. The Lad leaped +down and ran to open the gate; Collie knocked him over in his ecstasy, +and his father smiled indulgently as the two rolled over and over on +the grass. + +"Run away in to Aunt Kirsty and tell her we are home, Lad," he cried, +as he drove past to the barn. The boy put the pin in the old gate and +went frolicking along the lane, the dog circling about him. The lane +ran straight past the house down to the water, hedged by an old rail +fence and fringed with raspberry and alder bushes. From it a little +gate led into Aunt Kirsty's garden, which surrounded the house. The +boy paused with his hand on the latch of the gate, looking down at the +water. And then he gave a loud, ecstatic "Oh!" that made Collie bark, +and stood perfectly still. He could see Lake Algonquin spread out +before him, stretching away to the north in lovely curves like a great +river. Its gleaming floor was dotted with green, feathery islands. To +the west, in a silver haze, lay the town; to the east, a low, wooded +shore where the spire of the little Indian church pointed up like a +shining finger out of the green. Great masses of clouds were piled +high in the west, where the sunset was turning all the world into +glory. But it was not the beauty of the scene that was holding the +little boy spellbound. Down there, straight ahead of him, was a most +marvellous thing, the fulfilment of his dreams. Across the radiant +water, stretching from some fairy island in the heavens, far over to +the opposite shore, hung a rainbow! And more wonderful still, right +down there at its foot, just beyond Wanda Island, gleaming and +beckoning, hung the pot of gold! + +The Lad's heart gave a great leap. There it was, just as Peter Fiddle +had described it! Why should he not go after it, right now, and bring +it home to his father? He went tearing down the hill, Collie leaping +at his side. Peter Fiddle had said that the reason more folks did not +get the rainbow gold and be rich and happy ever after, was because they +did not go after it right at once. For the pot of gold did not hang +there very long, and might slip into the water with a big splash any +minute, and be gone forever. So the Lad ran in frantic haste, and the +dog bounded ahead and nearly rushed into the water, in his mistaken +idea that he was to catch the gulls that came swooping so near and were +off and away before he could snap. The old green boat belonging to his +father was lying on its side half in the water; the Lad tugged at it +madly without moving it an inch. He glanced about him and spied with +delight Peter Fiddle's canoe lying upside down under the birches. +Peter worked for his father, when not away fishing or playing the +fiddle or spinning yarns; and when he went away by land his canoe was +always at home, and sometimes the Lad had paddled out in it alone. He +pulled and tugged at it manfully, and after great exertions that left +him panting, he managed to launch it. Collie, just returned from a mad +charge after the gulls, leaped in beside him. The boy seized the +paddle and pushed off hurriedly. He seated himself on the thwart and +looked out to get his direction. Yes, there it still hung, away out +there at the end of the island, gleaming bigger and brighter than ever. +The canoe was large, and the paddle clumsy, but he was filled with such +a passion to get that gold that he made wonderful progress. He leaned +far over the side, splashing the heavy paddle into, the water, until, +what with his unsteady stroke, his dangerous position on the thwart, +and Collie's mad attempts to catch the passing gulls, the wonder was +that the rainbow expedition did not come to grief as soon as it was +launched. But the Lad had been brought up on the water, and had +already had many a lesson in canoeing from Peter Fiddle, and, after the +first excitement, he realised his mistake. So he slid to his knees and +ordered Collie to the bottom of the canoe in front of him. Then, +gazing intently ahead, he paddled, in a zigzag course, out towards the +wonderful golden haze. + +Somehow it had a strange, elusive way of seeming to be in one place and +then appearing in another. The canoeist grew hot, and panting with his +efforts. The perspiration stood out on his round, rosy face, and the +curls on his forehead became wet. He flung off his hat, and redoubled +his efforts. He bent his head to his task, as his paddle bumped and +splashed its way into the water. When he looked up again, he found, to +his dismay, that Wanda Island lay right between him and his shining +goal. + +This little garden of spruce and cedar had heretofore marked the bounds +of his excursions. His father had often allowed him to go out alone in +the boat or Peter's canoe, but only when he was watching from the +fields or the shore, and then he was permitted to go only up and down +in the shelter of the island. But he did not hesitate to go farther, +fearing the magic gold might vanish while he lingered. He revived his +flagging energies by picturing his father's joy and wonder when he +returned and came staggering up the path with the money. And then his +father could wear his Sunday blacks every day in the week, and never +work any more, but just ride to and from town all day long in a new +buggy, a painted one like Doctor Blair's. And they would hire Peter +Fiddle and young Peter every day in the year to hoe the fields, and +they would give away everything they grew. And the people in Willow +Lane would all be good and happy ever after. Oh, there would never be +any trouble of any kind when he came home with that pot of gold! + +He paddled manfully round the island, pushing through the reeds of the +little bay and just skimming the rocks at the western extremity. But +his arms ached so, that he had to pause a moment to rest. As he did +so, he heard a loud whistle, and the steamer, _Inverness_, came round a +far point and turned her long bowsprit towards the town, lying off to +the left in a shining mist. The boy grabbed his paddle again and +redoubled his efforts. Peter had gone down to Barbay that morning on +the _Inverness_, and was in all likelihood on board, and although the +young adventurer intended to reward Peter liberally for the use of his +canoe, he felt it would be safer for him to have it on shore before its +owner returned. He took one tremendous splashing stroke, and, as he +did so, he felt a strange, sharp pain in his right arm. It made him +cry out so loud that Collie turned quickly to him with a whine of +grieved sympathy. The boy dropped the paddle across his knee and +caught his arm. Gradually the pain left and he took up the paddle +again. But somehow the glory of the expedition seemed to have +vanished. He wanted Aunt Kirsty when that pain came into his arm, more +than he wanted all the gold of all the rainbows he had ever seen. He +bent to his paddle with much less vim, and slowly and painfully round +the island he came, and out into the open lake. And then,--where, oh, +where, was the pot of gold? And where was the rainbow? He seemed to +have come out with one stroke of his paddle from a world that was all +colour and light to one that was cold, grey and dreary. He looked +about him amazed. All the beauty of the lake had faded into mist. The +rainbow was gone! A chill, damp breeze fanned his hot face, coming +down from the north, where the clouds had grown black. The little +mariner sat on his heels in the bottom of his canoe and looked about +him in dismay. Surely the pot of gold had not gone. Perhaps it was +hidden away behind those dark clouds and would come gleaming out again +right in front of him. But though he sat and waited, the world only +grew greyer and darker. Collie stood up again and barked defiance at a +heron that sailed away overhead, but his little master sharply bade him +lie down. The pain in his arm gave another twinge, and slowly and +sadly he took up his paddle and turned his canoe homeward. + +As he did so he felt a light breeze lift him. It came from the north, +where those dark clouds had swallowed up his rainbow. A strange, weird +thing was happening up there in those clouds, and the boy paused to +watch. Down the shimmering floor of the lake, sweeping slowly towards +him, came a great army. Stealthy, hurrying shapes, with bent, +grey-cowled heads, and trailing garments, rank on rank they stole +forward, mystery and fear in their every movement. Many a time, on an +autumn evening, the boy had watched the fog start away up the lake and +come stealing down, until the islands and the town and the forest were +covered as with a blanket. But he had never seen anything so awesome +as this. The strange shapes into which the light gusts of wind had +driven the mist made them look like an army of ghosts driven out of the +haunts of night. They were bringing night in their train, too. For as +they swept silently onward, everything in earth and lake and sky was +blotted out. One by one the islands vanished; the far-off eastern +shore was wiped away as if by some magic hand. The tower of the little +Indian church stood out for a moment above the flood and then sank +engulfed; and the next moment the great host had swept over the little +sailor and he was walled in and cut off from land and water, alone in a +cloudy sea with neither shore nor sky nor surface. The boy turned +swiftly towards his home, and when he saw that it, too, was gone, he +uttered a cry of terror. "Daddy, oh, Daddy!" he wailed. Collie came +close and licked his face and whined, then looked about him and growled +disapprovingly at the weird thing that surrounded them. The boy put +his arms tight around the dog's neck and hugged him. "Oh, Collie!" he +cried, "we're lost, and I don't know where home is and where Daddy is." +It was not the loss of gold that troubled him now. He stared about him +in the greyness, striving to make out some object. The fog was so +thick that he could see only the length of the canoe, but a big, darker +mass of shadow in a world of shadows, told him where Wanda Island lay, +and grasping his paddle, he started in what he believed to be the +direction of home. He paddled until he was out of breath, rested a +moment, then went at it again with all his might. The pain in his arm +returned, but he dared not stop. And as he worked madly in his efforts +to reach home, the gentle wind was slowly but surely carrying him out +to the open lake. + +Every few minutes the thought of his father would overcome him and he +would drop his paddle and, sinking down beside Collie, would sob aloud. +Then he would rise again bravely and go at his task, but each time with +feebler efforts. The pain in his arm, which kept returning at +intervals, was sometimes so bad he had to stop and nurse it. He was +wet to the skin now, and Collie's hair was dripping. Whenever he +rested, he spent the interval calling loudly for his father, while +Collie helped him by barking, but though he listened till his ears were +strained, only the soft lap, lap, of the waves against the canoe +answered. As night came on the thick pall grew heavier and blacker, +and at last he could not see even the length of the canoe. + +The sore arm became almost helpless at last, and he could paddle only a +few strokes at long intervals. He slipped down beside Collie, hugging +him close, and sobbed out on his sympathetic head his sorrow for the +rash venture. He even confessed that he wished he had left his friend +at home. "Aunt Kirsty and Daddy will be that lonesome, Collie," he +wailed, "without either of us. But I couldn't do without you at all, +Collie!" he added. And Collie licked his face again, and whined his +appreciation of the compliment. They seemed to drift on and on for +hours and hours. The boy's imagination, fed by the wild tales from +Peter Fiddle--tales of shipwrecks at sea, and dead men's bones cast +upon haunted islands--, became a prey to every terror. There were +ghosts and goblins out here, and water fairies, that might spirit you +away to a land whence there was no returning; and there were those +other creatures so terrible that Peter had not dared even to describe +them, called "Bawkins." He shivered at the thought of them, and clung +to the dog, too frightened to cry out. He had been trying to pray in +broken snatches, but now, in his extremity of fear, he felt he must put +up a petition of more force. He scrambled to his knees and tried to +get Collie to join him by bowing his head. But Collie seemed of an +altogether irreverent nature, and only licked his little master's face +all the more. So the Lad gave it up, and, putting his hands together +behind the dog's head, whispered: "Oh, dear Lord, we're lost, me and +Collie. Please send Father and Peter Fiddle with the boat to find us. +Please don't let us get drownded or don't let the Bawkins get us. And +please don't mind Collie not prayin' right, 'cause he's only a dog, but +he's lost, too; and please bring us safe home. And oh, Dear Jesus, I'm +sorry I came out alone to hunt for the pot o' gold, but I didn't know +it was so far, and please won't you make Daddy and Peter Fiddle hurry, +'cause I'm so cold and so hungry and my arm's awful sore and I can't +paddle no more. And please, if Peter Fiddle ain't home yet and has +gone off and got drunk, won't you please send young Peter with Daddy. +And please send them in a hurry." He paused, but felt he must end in a +more becoming way. It was his first extemporaneous prayer of any +length, and he scarcely knew how to close. Then he remembered how Dr. +Leslie, in the church where he went every Sabbath with his father, was +wont to bring his morning petition to a close, so he added, "Only +please, _please_, don't let Peter Fiddle get drunk to-night--world +wifout end. Amen." + +There were some more tears after that, but not such bitter ones; for +Angus McRae's son could not but believe that God heard prayer, and he +waited for his answer in a child's faith. "He's sure to send Daddy +soon, Collie," he said comfortingly; and then, quaveringly, after a few +moments of intense listening and waiting, "It wouldn't be like God not +to, now, would it, Collie?" + +There was another period of calling into the darkness and of silent +waiting, broken only by the wash of the little ripples against the +canoe. And then there was a spasmodic attempt at paddling, followed by +another season of prayer and a piteous plea for haste. Then the Lad +bethought himself of his father's hymn, the one he sang so often when +he was in danger; though the son often was puzzled as to what sort of +danger it was that assailed his father. There was no doubt about his +own danger just now, so the child lifted a tremulous voice and tried to +sing:-- + + "_My soul, be on thy guard, + Ten thousand foes arise, + The hosts of sin are pressing hard, + To draw thee from the skies!_" + + +But the singing was a failure. He was hoarse with crying and shouting, +and fearful that the "Bawkins" would hear, and come and carry his canoe +through the air, away, away, to the land of mists and dead people. And +the poor sounds he managed to make seemed to strike Collie as the most +grievous thing of all this disastrous voyage, for he put back his head +and howled dismally. So the Lad gave it up and took to praying again, +sure that though Father and Aunt Kirsty and Peter Fiddle were far away, +that God was near. He was wet and chilled through now, and was so +exhausted that at last his head sank on Collie's neck. He was lying +there, half asleep, when the dog suddenly gave a leap and a loud bark +that roused him in terror. He clutched Collie and held him down with +stern threats. But his terror changed to wild hope. Away behind him +was a dim yellow light making a long tunnel through the fog. And down +it a far, far voice was calling, "Roderick! Roderick, my son, where +are you?" + +"Daddy! Oh, Daddy!" the boy answered with a hoarse scream. "Here I am +in the canoe with Collie!" There was no need to announce the dog's +presence, for Collie was barking madly and leaping so his little master +could hardly hold him. But he was not nearly so careful as he would +have been a few minutes before, for it did not seem to matter even if +the canoe did upset, when his father was near! + +The next moment a boat swept alongside with a blinding glare of light, +and such a crowd of people!--Peter Fiddle at the oars, and young Peter +at the rudder, and Lawyer Ed! And there seemed to be lights suddenly +appearing on every side, and the whole lake was ringing with shouts! +But the boy heard only his father's voice, saw only his outstretched +arms. He fairly tumbled out of the canoe into them, and there sobbed +out all his terror and exhaustion, while Collie leaped and barked and +tried his best to upset the boat. + +"Oh, Daddy," the little boy sobbed, with the wisdom born of adversity, +"I didn't get the gold--but--I--don't want anything ever--if I've just +got _you_!" + + + + +CHAPTER II + +Angus McRae had been an intimate friend of Edward Brians, ever since +the days when the latter was a little boy and the former a young man +living on adjoining farms. Angus had, early in life, taken upon +himself the rôle of Good Samaritan, watching with especial care over +this young neighbour, and many a time the headlong lad might have +fallen among thieves had a friend's example and assistance not been +always at hand. + +And now Lawyer Ed's mind was busy with schemes for returning a little +of that life-long assistance, as he set out for his office the morning +after young Roderick's rainbow expedition. "I've got to get some +money, and I will get it," he announced to the blooming syringa bush at +his door, "if I have to take it by assault and battery." + +He had come home very late the night before, but he was astir none the +less early for that. For though he was usually the last man in the +town to go to bed, and often worked nearly all night, he always +appeared in good time the next morning, looking as fresh and +well-groomed as though he had just come home from a month's vacation. + +Like all the other professional folk of Algonquin, Lawyer Ed lived up +on the hill to the north of the town. His widowed sister kept his +house and wondered, with all the rest of the town, why on earth Ed +didn't get married. Her brother answered all enquiries on the subject +according to the age and sex of the enquirer; and had nearly every +young lady in the place convinced that he was secretly pining for her. +He came swinging down his steps this bright June morning humming a tune +in his deep melodious voice. He picked a rosebud and fastened it in +his button-hole and strode down the street, stopping at the gate of +every one of his friends--and who wasn't his friend?--to hail the owner +and summon him to his work. He ran into "Rosemount," the big brick +house where the handsome Miss Armstrongs lived, to make arrangements +for a Choral Society practice, he drummed up a half-dozen recreant +Sunday-school teachers within the space of two blocks, and he roared +across the street to Doctor Archie Blair to be sure not to forget that +thae bit bills for the Scotchmen's picnic maun be gotten oot that week. +For Lawyer Ed belonged to every organisation of the town in church or +state, except the Ladies' Aid--and he often attended even its meetings +when he wanted something, and always got what he wanted, too. So, +although he had started early, it was rather late when at last he +reached the home of his special friend, J. P. Thornton, and hammered +loudly on the gate. So late, in fact, that J. P. had gone. He went on +alone very much disappointed. When any one in Algonquin was in trouble +he went to Lawyer Ed, but when Lawyer Ed was in trouble himself, he +went to his old chum, J. P. Thornton. And he was in trouble this +morning, none the less deep that it was another's. He looked down the +street towards his office, knowing a big day's work awaited him there. + +"You can just wait," he remarked to the trim red brick building. "I've +got to get Angus off my mind;" and he whirled in at the Manse gate and +went up the steps in two springs. + +The Manse was a broad-bosomed, wide-armed house, opposite the church, +looking as if it wanted to embrace every one who approached its big +doorway. Its appearance was not deceiving. No matter at what hour one +went inside its gate, one found at least half the congregation there, +the sad ones sitting in the doctor's study, the happy ones spread out +over the lawn. As Lawyer Ed remarked, the Lord had purposely given the +Leslies no children, so that they might adopt the congregation and +bring it up in the way it should go. + +Mrs. Leslie was at the other end of the garden, cutting roses; she +waved a spray at him, heavy with dew, and he took off his hat and made +her a profound bow. He would have shouted a greeting to any other +woman in Algonquin, but he never roared at Mrs. Leslie. There was +something In the stately old-world atmosphere surrounding the lady of +the Manse, that made even Lawyer Ed treat her with deference. + +The door was open and he went straight in and along the hall towards +the minister's study. As he did so a door at the opposite end of the +hall opened suddenly and admitted a round black face and an ample +red-aproned figure. + +"Good mawnin', Missy Viney!" drawled the visitor. "I done wanta see de +ministah, bress de Lawd!" + +Viney's white eyeballs and shining teeth flashed him a welcome. + +"Laws-a-me, Lawya Ed! Is you-all gwine get marrit?" + +Viney was a fat, jolly young woman, whom Mrs. Leslie had lured from the +little negro settlement in the township of Oro, a few miles from +Algonquin. She felt the responsibility of her position fully, and +showed a marked interest in the affairs of every one of the +congregation. But of all living things she loved Lawyer Ed most. His +presence never failed to put her in the highest spirits, and his +bachelorhood was her perennial joke. + +"Yassum," he answered, hanging his head shyly, "if you done hab me, +Viney. I bin wantin' you for years, but I bin too bashful." + +Viney screamed and flapped her red apron at him. "You go 'long, you +triflin' lawya-man!" she cried, going off into a gale of giggles; but +just then the study door opened, the minister's head came out, and the +cook's vanished. + +"Ah, I thought it was you, Edward, by the joyful noise," said Dr. +Leslie, smiling. He took his visitor by the hand and drew him in. + +"Come away, come. I was hoping you would drop in this morning." + +They sat down, the minister in his arm-chair before his desk. Lawyer +Ed balanced on the arm of another, protesting that he must not stay. +It was his way when he dropped in at the Manse and remained a couple of +hours or so, to bustle about, hat and stick in hand, changing from one +chair to another, to assure himself that he was just going. Dr. Leslie +understood, and did not urge him to sit down. + +Though not an old man, the minister had seen Lawyer Ed grow up from the +position of a scholar in his Sabbath School, and quite the most riotous +and mischievous one there, to the superintendency of it, and to a seat +in the session; and he had a special fatherly feeling towards his +youngest elder. Dr. Leslie was the only man in Algonquin, too, folk +said, whom Lawyer Ed feared, and to whose opinion he deferred without +argument. + +"And have you heard from Angus this morning,--or the wee lad?" + +"Archie came home about an hour ago. The little rascal's all right, +except for a sore arm. I guess he nearly put it out of joint, +paddling. Angus was better, too; but I'm bothered about Angus, Dr. +Leslie. That's what I came in for." + +He moved about the room, fingering ornaments, picking up books and +laying them down again. + +"Archie Blair says the anxiety was so bad for his heart, that he's got +to stop work right away, for all summer anyway, and perhaps longer. +And his place is all planted, and yesterday, at my advice, he put a +mortgage on it." + +He stopped before his minister and looked at him with appealing, +troubled eyes. "I feel as if I shouldn't have let him, but I didn't +anticipate this." + +Dr. Leslie sat drumming his fingers on the table, his face very grave. + +"We can't see Angus McRae want, Edward. We're all indebted to him for +something--every one of the session, and the minister most of all." + +"The session!" Lawyer Ed jumped off the arm of the sofa where he had +just perched. "There's an idea. If you laid it before them, they'd do +something; and J. P. and I'll push it and Archie Blair will help." + +The minister shook his head. "The session is a big body, Edward, +and--" he smiled,--"it has wives and daughters. This must not be +talked about. If we help Angus, we mustn't kill him at the same time +by hurting his Highland pride." + +Lawyer Ed whacked a sofa cushion impatiently with his cane. + +"There it is, of course! Hang Scotchmen, anyway! You can't treat them +like human beings. That abominable thing they call their pride--always +clogs your wheels whichever way you go." + +"Don't revile the tree from which you sprung, Edward," said the +Scotchman, smiling. + +"Thank the Lord, the limb I grew on had a few good green Irish +shamrocks mixed with the thistles. If Angus had been as fortunate we'd +have him out of distress to-morrow." + +"Angus McRae will be the least distressed of us all. I thought of Paul +last night when I saw him, 'troubled on every side, yet not distressed, +perplexed but not in despair.' We must think of some way in which we +can help him quietly--so quietly he may not know it himself. Who has +the mortgage?" + +"Jock McPherson, of course, who else?" + +The minister's face brightened. "Jock McPherson! Well, well, that is +fortunate, Edward. Jock's heart is big enough to put the whole church +inside provided you find the right key." + +"Yes, but it's a ticklish job fitting it when you do find it. Some +small item in the business will strike him the wrong way and he will +get slow and stiff and arise to the occasion with, 'I feel, Mister +Moterator, that it is my juty to object.'" + +His imitation of Mr. McPherson's deliberate manner, when in his sadly +frequent rôle of objector in the session, could not but bring a smile +to the minister's face. + +"I have no fear of your not being able to overcome his objections, +should any arise. Now, sit down just a few minutes, and let us see +what is to be done." + +The two talked far into the morning, and laid their plans well. Mr. +McPherson was to be persuaded to remove the mortgage, and instead, as +Angus was in need of the money, to rent the farm. Lawyer Ed was to see +that it was let for a goodly sum that would keep its owner beyond +anxiety, and whatever Jock stood to lose by the bargain was to be +returned to him in whole or part by a little circle of friends. It was +a great scheme, worthy of a legal mind, Dr. Leslie said, and Lawyer Ed +went away well pleased with it. + +He went two blocks out of his way, so that he could reach J. P. +Thornton's office without passing his own, and spent another hour +laying the scheme before him. + +So, when he finally got to his place of business, irate clients were +buzzing about it like angry bees. But little cared Lawyer Ed. He +laughed and joked them all into good humour and dropping into the chair +at his desk, he drove through a mass of business in an incredibly short +time, telephoning, writing notes, hailing passers-by on the street, and +attending to his correspondence, all while he was holding personal +interviews,--doing half-a-dozen things at once and doing them as though +they were holiday sport. + +The rush of the day's business kept him from speaking to Jock McPherson +until late in the evening, when, at the end of the session meeting, he +found himself walking away from the church with Mr. McPherson on one +side and his friend, J. P. Thornton, on the other. He felt just a +little anxious over the outcome of the interview. He had no fear that +Jock would be unwilling to help Angus McRae, but he had every fear, and +with good reason, that he would want to do it in his own way. If Jock +were in a good humour, he would fall in with the plan, if not, he would +do exactly as he pleased and spoil everything. + +And, as ill-luck would have it, when they were coming down the steps +under the checkered light from the arc-lamp shining through the leaves, +Lawyer Ed made the most unfortunate remark he could have chosen. + +He was carrying home a Book of Praise under his arm and was humming a +psalm in a rich undertone. And the unwise thing he said was: "I'd like +to sing the _Amen_ at the end of the psalms, as well as the hymns. +What do you say, J. P.?" + +"An excellent idea, Ed," said Mr. Thornton heartily. "The psalms would +sound much more finished--" He stopped suddenly, realising that they +had made a fatal mistake. Mr. McPherson had overheard, and uttered a +disgusted snort. For he hated the new appendage to the hymns, and +looked upon its importation into the church service much as if the use +of incense had been introduced. He was a little man, with a shrewd eye +and a slow tongue--but a tongue that could give a deadly thrust when he +got ready to use it. + +"The Aye-men," he said with great deliberation, and when he was most +deliberate, he was most to be feared. "Inteet, and you'll be putting +that tail to the end o' the psawlms too." He tapped Lawyer Ed on the +arm with his spectacle case. "Jist be waiting a bit till you get +permission, young man. You and John Thornton are not jist awl the +session." + +Mr. McPherson was the senior elder, the champion of all things +orthodox, and he was inclined to regard Lawyer Ed and J. P. as +irresponsible boys. + +"Hoot toot, mon," shouted Lawyer Ed jovially. "What's wrong wi' a bit +Aye-men foreby? It's in the Scriptur', 'Let all the people say +Amen'--and here you would forbid them!" + +Jock was a Highlander, and Lawyer Ed's habit of addressing him in a +Lowland dialect was particularly irritating as the mischievous young +elder well knew. + +"Yus. You know the Scriptures ferry well indeed, but if you would be +reading a little farther you will find that it will be saying, 'How +shall he that occupieth the room of the unlearned say Amen?'" + +This tickled Lawyer Ed and he laughed loudly. "Tut, tut, Jock! It's a +small thing to make a fuss about. You and Jimmie McTavish and a lot +more of you fellows are dead set against all sorts of things that you +accept in the end. Why, man, I can remember the day when you two +objected to the little organ in the old church, and you got used to it +and liked it." + +"I liked it? Indeed, and when would that be?" + +"Well, you stopped kicking, anyway, until we got the big one, which was +clean unreasonable, whatefer." + +"No, sir." Mr. McPherson's spectacle case tapped the younger man's arm +peremptorily. "I was perfectly logical then, as I am now. I objected +when the wee squeaking thing was brought in, and I objected more when +you and the weemin filled up the end o' the church with a machine to +turn us all deef. As I say, I was perfectly logical, the greater the +organ, the greater the objection." + +J. P. hid a smile in the darkness and hastened to interpose, for when +Jock once got riding his objection hobby he would agree with nothing +under the sun. + +"There's an article in the _British Weekly_ on the evolution of the +church service--" he began; but his impetuous friend was bent on +setting Jock right in his own way, and hastened to his destruction. + +"And on the same principle, the more Amen, the more objection, eh?" he +cried laughingly. "But now, look here, if you'll only consider this +thing with a fair mind you can't help seeing that, as J. P. says, a +hymn or a psalm sounds unfinished without an Amen at the end. Take any +hymn for example--" + +They had reached the McPherson gate by this time, where an arc light, +high up in its leafy perch, was sputtering away shedding a white glow +over the side-walk and embroidering it with an exquisite pattern worked +out in leaf-shadows. Lawyer Ed paused under the lamp and opened the +Book of Praise. + +"I defy you to find one that isn't improved and finished and rounded +off by an Amen at the end." He selected a hymn at random, and sang a +stanza in his rich voice that poured itself out gloriously on the +evening air. + + "_Faith and hope and love we see + Joining hands in unity, + But the greatest of the three + And the best is love. Amen._" + + +The beautiful words, sung in Lawyer Ed's melodious voice, were enough +to move even Jock's orthodox heart. He was silent for a moment, then +the noise of a window being raised above their heads interrupted. + +Mrs. McPherson was accustomed to after-session meetings, and noisy ones +too, at her gate. But when they were accompanied by singing and +shouting, at the disgraceful hour of eleven P. M. she felt it time to +interfere. So she opened the window noisily and enquired if there was +a fire anywhere. + +There was. It blazed up in Lawyer Ed's heart, so enraged was he at +this very inopportune interruption, coming just when he thought he saw +Jock wavering. He shouted at her to go in and mind her own business. + +No one in Algonquin heeded what Lawyer Ed said when he was angry, but +Mr. McPherson was in no mood to put up with even him. He became deadly +slow and deliberate. He turned his back on the turbulent young man, +and addressed the open window: + +"No, it will not be a fire, Mary," he called. "It's just an Eerishman +got loose, and we'll haf to let him talk off his noise. He reminds +me," he continued, still addressing the window, though it had closed +with a bang, "he reminds me of that Chersey cow, my Cousin McNabb had +in Islay. She wasn't much for giffin' milk, and it was vurry thin at +that, but she was a great musician. You could hear her bawlin' across +two concessions." + +J. P. Thornton was a jolly young Englishman, very prone to mirth, and +this was too much for him. He turned traitor and laughed aloud. +Lawyer Ed glared angrily at him; but Jock's face underwent a peculiar +twist. He had had no notion of saying anything witty, he had been too +angry for that; but he had learned by experience that he never knew +when he was going to make a joke. He was often surprised in the midst +of a speech by a burst of laughter from his friends, Lawyer Ed +generally first. Then he would pause and survey the path he had +travelled, to find that all unconsciously he had stumbled upon a +humorous vein. So when J. P. laughed he stopped to consider. The +enemy flew to defend his "bawlin'" and there was no time to see if he +really had made a joke. But he was suspicious, and the suspicion put +him into a good humour. A sudden inspiration seized him; he caught the +book Lawyer Ed was brandishing and, opening it, laid it carefully on +the top of the gate-post. + +"It's more feenished and rounded off, with the '_Aye_-men, is it?" he +enquired with deep sarcasm. "But you would not be feenishing it after +all. If ye're bound and deturmined to put a tail on the end o' the +hime, why don't ye sing awl that's in the book. You would be leaving +out a bit." + +He took his glasses from their case, fitted them on, and held the book +carefully towards the electric light. + +"If ye want it feenished, this is the way it should be sung." + +Now, not even Mrs. Jock, who believed her husband the cleverest man in +Algonquin, could say he was a singer, and it was with a terribly +discordant wail that he lifted his voice in the melancholy words of the +hymn before him: + + "_There are no pardons in the toomb, + And brief is mercy's day. + A-m-e-n-T-h-o-m-a-s-H-a-s-t-i-n-g-s--_" + + +The awful "Amen," drawled out to an indefinite length, with the +author's name, on the end, was irresistible. J. P. broke into a shout +of laughter. For a moment, Lawyer Ed's eyes gleamed in the darkness, +but only for a moment, then he too gave way, and when Lawyer Ed +laughed, a really good hearty laugh, it was a musical performance that +did not stop until every one within hearing was joining in the chorus. + +And then Jock began to realise that he had been witty again. He paused +and bethought himself of what he had done, and he too saw how funny it +was. He did not laugh right out at first. Jock's mirth, like his wit, +was too deliberate for that. He began by uttering a low subterranean +sort of chuckle, which finally worked to the surface in a rhythmic +shaking of his whole sturdy little body. By this time J. P. was +leaning against a tree wiping his eyes, and everybody up and down the +street was smiling and saying, "That's Lawyer Ed's laugh. What's he up +to now, I wonder?" Jock checked his mirth quickly; it was not seemly +to rejoice too heartily over one's own humour, but before the joy of it +had left, by an adroit turn, J. P. had sent the conversation into its +proper channel. + +"A good joke on you, Ed!" he cried. "I must tell that to Angus McRae. +Angus doesn't love the 'Amen' too much either, Jock." + +"Angus is in great trouble," exclaimed Lawyer Ed, wiping his eyes and +trying to look serious. "Did you hear about it, Jock?" + +Jock had not heard, so the story of little Roderick's rainbow +expedition and his father's consequent heart affection was quickly +told. And when the splendid plan to help was adroitly unfolded, Jock +was quick to respond. It was the psychological moment; Thomas Hastings +had driven away all dourness and Angus McRae's case was safe. + +The two friends walked homeward under the shadows of the maples, the +night-air sweet with the perfume of many gardens. They were both very +happy, so happy indeed, that, as usual, they walked miles before they +finally settled for the night. + +First, J. P. recollected again that fine article in the _British +Weekly_, and strolled up the hill with his friend while he gave a +synopsis of it. When they reached the gate, Lawyer Ed remembered that +he should have told J. P. about old man Cassidy's will and the trouble +Mike was in over it, and so returned to J. P.'s gate. The Cassidy will +was finished and J. P. in the midst of another fascinating article on +Imperial Federation, when they reached there, and Lawyer Ed made him +come up the hill again so that he might hear it. It was their usual +manner of going home after a session meeting. + +"And may I ask," said J. P., when their personal part in the financing +of Angus's affairs had been finally settled, and they stood at his gate +for the third and last time, "may I ask, if it is not too curious on my +part, if you intend to appropriate church funds for your contribution, +or just rob the bank?" For J. P. knew well that Lawyer Ed's +extravagant generosity always kept him on the edge of poverty. + +"Well, neither. Jock mightn't think the first was orthodox. I don't +believe he'd object so strongly to the second, but it mightn't be +successful. I think,--yes, I'm afraid, I must draw on the Jerusalem +Fund again." + +"Of course, I knew you would. Let me see; that's seven times we've +stayed home from the Holy Land, isn't it?--the perfect number. A +person naturally thinks of sevens in connection with Bible places." + +Lawyer Ed laughed light-heartedly. Ever since the days when these two +had tried to sit together in Sunday-school, and been separated by +Doctor Leslie, they had planned that some time, they would make a visit +together to Bible lands. Many a time since the trip had almost +materialised, but Lawyer Ed's money would fade away, or J. P.'s +business interfere or some other contingency arise to make them stay at +home. The final plans had been laid for the coming autumn, and now it +was again to be postponed. + +But J. P. was not deceived into supposing Lawyer Ed was merely drawing +upon a holiday fund. + +"I believe you have somewhere about five dollars laid away for that +trip, haven't you?" + +"Four-and-a-half, to be correct," said his friend brazenly. + +"I thought so. And where's the rest going to spring from?" He was +accustomed to keeping a stern eye on Ed's affairs or the extravagant +young man would have given away his house and office and all their +contents long ago. + +Lawyer Ed did not answer for a moment. He looked like a naughty +schoolboy caught In a foolish prank. The confession came out at last. + +"I'd almost decided not to go in with Will Graham's scheme. I don't +see how I can leave here just now, that's a fact." + +"Ed!" cried his friend, half-admiring, half-impatient. "Why, man, it's +the chance of your life. Bill's making money so fast he can't keep +count of it. You'll be a rich man and a famous one too in a few years +if you go in with him, do you realise that?" + +"Oh, there are lots more chances." + +"Yes, and they'll slip away like this one. I,--can't I help a little +more?" + +"No. And don't talk any more about it. It's just this way, Jock, I've +no choice in the matter. If it was my last cent, and I knew I'd go to +jail for it to-morrow, I'd help Angus. I just couldn't see him want. +It's all right. I'll stay on in Algonquin a few more years, and we'll +see what'll happen. Good-night." + +"Yes, and good-night to all your ambitions and the Holy Land too." + +"Not a bit of it! Ambition be hanged. I don't care about that. But +we're going to the Holy Land yet, if we put it off until seventy times +seven. We'll wait till young Roderick's grown up and pays us back, and +then we'll go. Indeed, I'm going to refuse positively to go to the New +Jerusalem until I've seen the old!" + +He swung away up the street as bright and gay as though he had just +accepted a fine new position instead of refusing one. He was so happy +that he softly sang the hymn that had opened the good work of the +evening. It was very appropriate: + + "_Faith and hope and love we see + Joining hands in unity, + But the greatest of the three + And the best is love._" + + +He was passing near Jock's house so he roared out the "Amen" in the +hope that the elder had not yet gone to sleep. And Mrs. Leslie's Viney +declared the next morning that she done heah dat Lawyah Ed and J. P. +Thornton gwine home straight ahead all de bressed night, and she did +'clar dey was still goin' when she put on de oatmeal mush for de +breakfus! + + + + +CHAPTER III + +LIFE'S YOUNG MARINER + +On a hazy August afternoon the little steamer _Inverness_,--Captain, +James McTavish--came sailing across Lake Simcoe with her long white +bowsprit pointing towards the cedar-fringed gates opening into Lake +Algonquin. She was a trim little craft, painted all blue and white +like the water she sailed. Captain McTavish, who was also her owner, +had named her after his birthplace. He loved the little steamer, and +pronounced her name with a tender lingering on the last syllable, and a +softening of the consonants, that no mere Sassenach tongue could +possibly imitate. + +There were not many passengers to-day; the majority were mothers with +their children, the latter chasing each other about the deck or +clambering into all forbidden and dangerous places, the former sitting +in the shade, darning or sewing or embroidering according to their +station in life. A few young ladies sat in groups, and chatted and ate +candies, or read and ate candies while one young man, in white flannels +and a straw hat waited upon them with stools and wraps and drinks of +water, and magazines, fetching and carrying in a most abject manner. +There was always a sad dearth of young men on the _Inverness_, except +on a public holiday; but as the girls said, they could always depend on +Alf. He was Algonquin's one young gentleman of leisure, and beside +having a great deal of money to spend on ice-cream and bon-bons, had +also an unlimited amount of good nature to spend with it. + +He seemed to be the only one on board who had much to do. Down below, +old Sandy McTavish, the engineer and the captain's brother, was seated +on a nail keg smoking and spinning yarns to a couple of young Indians. +His assistant, Peter McDuff the younger, who did such work as had to be +done to make the _Inverness_ move, was lounging against the engine-room +door, listening. + +Up in the little pilot house in the bow, the captain was also at +leisure. He was perched upon a stool watching, with deep interest and +admiration, the young man who was guiding the wheel. + +"Ah, ha! ye haven't forgotten, I see!" he exclaimed proudly, as the +strong young hands gave the vessel a wide sweep around a little reedy +island. "I was wondering if you would be remembering the Sand Bar, +indeed." + +"I've taken the _Inverness_ on too many Sunday-school picnics to forget +your lessons, Captain. There's the Pine Point shoal next, and after +you round that, you head her for the Cedars on the tip of Loon Island, +and then straight as the crow flies for the Gates and then Home! +Hurrah!" + +He shook his straight broad shoulders with a boyish gesture of +impatience, as though he would like to jump overboard and swim home. + +"Eh, well, well! It's your father will be the happy man, and to think +you are coming home to stay, too." The captain rubbed his hands along +his knees, joyfully. + +The young man smiled, but did not answer. His eager, dark eyes were +turned upon the scene ahead, marking every dearly familiar point. +Already he could see, through an opening in the forest, the soft gleam +of Lake Algonquin. There was Rock Bass Island where he and his father +and Peter Fiddle used to fish, and the slash in the middle of it +whither he rowed Aunt Kirsty every August to help harvest the +blackberries. A soft golden haze hung over the water, reminding him of +that illusive gleam he had followed, one evening so long ago, when he +set out to find the treasure at the foot of the rainbow. + +He smiled at the recollection of his childish fancy. For he was a man +now, with a university degree, and far removed from any such folly. +Nevertheless there was something in the quick movement of his strong +brown hands, and the look of impulsive daring in his bright eyes, that +hinted that he might be just the lad to launch his canoe on life's +waters and paddle away in haste towards the lure of a rainbow gleam. + +When Captain McTavish had answered a stream of questions regarding all +and sundry in Algonquin, he left him in charge of the wheel and went +rambling over the deck on a hospitable excursion, for he regarded every +one on board as his especial guest. He had aged much in the eighteen +years since he had joined the search party for young Roderick McRae. +The _Inverness_ had been overhauled and painted and made smart many +times in the years that had elapsed, but her captain had undergone no +such renewing process. But he was still famous from one end of the +lakes to the other for the hospitality of the _Inverness_. For though +his eye had grown dim, it was as kindly as ever, and if his step was +not so brisk as in former years, his heart was as swift to help as it +had ever been. + +He pulled the Algonquin _Chronicle_ out of his pocket, smoothed it out +carefully, and moving with his wide swaying stride across the deck to +where a young girl was seated alone, he offered it to her as "the +finest weekly paper in Canada, whatefer, and a good sound Liberal into +the bargain." + +The girl smiled her thanks, and, taking the paper, glanced over it with +an indifferent eye. She was the only stranger on board, and had sat +apart ever since she had left Barbay. Of course every one in Algonquin +knew that a new teacher had been appointed for the East Ward. And as +school opened the next day, the passengers on the _Inverness_ had +rightly guessed that this must be she. She had been the subject of +much discussion amongst the young ladies, for she was very pretty, and +her blue cloth suit was cut after the newest city fashion, and the one +young man seemed in danger of presenting himself, and begging to be +allowed to fetch and carry for her also. Several of the older women, +with motherly hearts, had spoken to her, but she had continued to sit +aloof, discouraging all advances. It was not because she was of an +unsociable nature, but the struggle to keep back the tears of +homesickness took all her attention. There was no place on the little +steamer where one might be alone, so she had sat all afternoon, with +her back to every one gazing over the water. Nevertheless many a +pretty sight had passed her unnoticed. Sometimes the _Inverness_ had +slipped so close to the shore that the overhanging birches bent down +and touched her fair hair with a welcoming caress, and again she ran +away out over the tumbling blue waves, where the gulls soared and +dipped with a flash of white wings. But the strange girl's mind was +far away. She was fairly aching with longing for home--the home that +was no more. And she was longing too for that other home--the +beautiful dream home which was to have been hers, but which was now +only a dream. Again and again the tears had gathered, but she had +forced them back, striving bravely to give her attention to the passing +beauties of land and lake. + +Captain Jimmie's kindly eye had noted the stranger as soon as she had +come on board, and he had set himself to make the drooping little +figure and the big sad eyes look less forlorn. + +He had helped her on board, as she came down from the railway station, +her trunk wheeled behind her, and had shaken hands and welcomed her +warmly to Algonquin, saying she would be sure to like the school and he +knew the Miss Armstrongs would be very kind indeed. + +She had looked up in surprise, not yet knowing the wisdom of Algonquin +folk concerning the doings of their neighbours. + +"Och, indeed I will be knowing all about you," the captain said, +smiling broadly. "You will be Miss Murray, the young leddy that's to +teach. Lawyer Ed--that's Mr. Brians, you know--would be telling me. +And you will be boarding at the Miss Armstrongs'. They told me I was +to be bringing you up," he added, with an air of proprietorship, that +made her feel a little less lonely. "And indeed," he added, with the +gallant air, which was truly his own, "it is a fortunate pair of ladies +the Miss Armstrongs will be, whatefer." + +Many times during the afternoon he had stopped beside her with a kindly +word. And once he sat by her side and pointed out places of interest, +while some uncertain pilot at the wheel sent the _Inverness_ unheeded +on a happy zigzag course. Yon was Hughie McArthur's farm they were +passing now. Hughie had done well. He was own nephew to the captain, +as his eldest sister had married on Old Archie's Hughie. Old Archie +had been the first settler in these parts, and him and his wife had it +hard in the early days. His father had told him many a time that Old +Archie's wife had walked into where Algonquin now stood--they called it +the Gates in those days,--twenty mile away if it was one, with a sack +of wheat on her back to be ground at the mill, and back again with the +flour, while the eldest girl, then only fifteen, looked after the +family and the stock. That was when Archie was away at the front the +time of the rebellion. Yes, it was hard times for the women folk in +those days. Times was changed now to be sure. Take Hughie, now, his +sister's son. That was his new silo over yonder, that she could see. +Hughie had a gasoline engine and it did everything, Hughie said, but +get the hired man up in the morning, and he was going to have it fixed +so it would do that. The captain paused, pleased to see that Hughie's +wit was appreciated. They had the engine fixed to run the churn and +the washer, and Hughie's woman hadn't anything to do but sit and play +the organ or drive herself to town. And just behind yon strip of +timber was where his father had settled first when they came out from +_Inverness_. All that land she could see now, up to the topmost hill +was the township of Oro, and a great place for Highlanders it was in +the early days, though he feared it had sadly deteriorated. Folks said +you could scarcely hear the Gaelic at all now. + +The captain looked at her now, trying to fix her attention on the +little newspaper and he suddenly bethought himself of something else he +could do for her and bustled away down the little steep stair. +Whenever the _Inverness_ sighted the entrance to Lake Algonquin of a +summer afternoon, Captain Jimmie went immediately below and brewed tea +for the whole passenger list. He had always done it, and this +mid-voyage refreshment had come to be one of the institutions of the +trip, as indispensable as the coal to run the engine. He appeared +shortly with a huge teapot in one hand and a jug of hot water in the +other, calling hospitably, "Come away, and have a cup-a-tea, whatefer. +Come away." + +Mr. Alfred Wilbur, the young man in the white flannels ran to help him. +The fact that he was given to rendering his services at all functions +in Algonquin where tea was poured, had brought upon him an ignominious +nickname. His title in full as engraved on his visiting cards, was +Alfred Tennyson Wilbur, and a rude young man of the town had taken +liberties with the initials, and declared they stood for Afternoon Tea +Willie. + +It must be confessed that, while Afternoon Tea Willie was the most +obliging young man in all Canada, he was not entirely disinterested in +his desire to assist the captain to-day. He saw in that big tea-pot a +chance to serve the handsome young lady with the city hat and the smart +suit. He secured a second teapot and was heading her way in bustling +haste when the captain, all unconscious, slipped in ahead of him, and +the unkind young ladies whom poor Alf had slaved for all afternoon, +laughed aloud over his discomfiture. + +As soon as the cup-a-tea had been served the captain went back to the +pilot house. They had entered the Channel, a toy river, low-banked and +reed-fringed, that led by many a pretty curve into Lake Algonquin. Two +bridges spanned the Channel at its narrowest part, which was named the +Gates, and Captain Jimmie allowed no one but himself, however expert, +to take the _Inverness_ through here. + +Relieved from his duties, Roderick strolled away. Like the strange +girl, he, too, had attracted much attention, especially among the young +ladies, and at their bidding Alfred Tennyson had several times +attempted to lure him into joining their circle. But Roderick was shy +and constrained in the presence of young ladies. He had had no time to +cultivate their acquaintance in his school and college days, and had +admired them only from afar in a diffident way; so when Alfred +approached him and begged him once more to come and be introduced he +slipped away downstairs to talk with his old boyhood friend, the +fireman. + +"Hello, Pete, we'll soon be in Lake Algonquin!" he cried joyfully, as +he leaned over the low door and watched the young man heaving coal into +the _Inverness's_ hot jaws. + +Young Peter slammed the furnace door and came up to get a breath of +cool air. He put a black hand on Roderick's arm, "Say, I'm awful glad +you're home, Rod," he said, smiling broadly. + +"And I'm just as awful glad to be home, Pete, old boy. I say, do you +do all the work while the Ancient Mariner there smokes and orders you +round?" + +The crew of the _Inverness_, consisting of an engineer and a fireman, +was, whether in port or on the high seas, in a state of frank mutiny. +The Ancient Mariner, as every one called Sandy McTavish, was the +captain's elder brother, and he made no secret of the fact that he +intended to run the _Inverness_ as he pleased, if he ran her to Davy +Jones. Accordingly he smoked and spun yarns all day long in true +nautical fashion, and young Peter McDuff did the work. + +But Peter looked at Roderick puzzled, and grinned good naturedly. He +did not understand that there was anything unjust in the arrangement +old Sandy had made of the work. Poor Peter had been born to injustice. +His father was a drunkard and the boy had started life dull of brain +and heavy of foot. His slow mind had not questioned why the burdens of +life should have been so unevenly divided. + +But Roderick McRae felt something of the tragedy of Peter's handicapped +life. He put his hands affectionately on the young man's heavy +shoulders. They had been brought up side by side on the shores of Lake +Algonquin, but how different their lots had been! + +"Ah, it's all a hard job for you, Pete, old boy!" he cried. + +Peter's dull eyes lit up. + +"Oh, no, it ain't! It will be a great job, Rod. Your father would be +getting it for me. Your father's been awful good to us, Rod. Say, +tell me about the city. Is it an awful big place?" + +Roderick studied the young man's heavy face, as he talked. Here was +one of his father's neighbours of the Jericho Road. For twenty years +or more, he could remember his father struggling to bring Peter Fiddle +to a life of sobriety and righteousness and to bring up his son in the +same. And what had he to show for it all? Old Peter was a worse +drunkard than he had been twenty years ago, and poor Young Peter was +the hopeless result of that drinking. Roderick's kindly heart +sympathised with his father's efforts, but his head pronounced judgment +upon them. He confessed he could see very little use in bothering with +the sort of folk that were forever stumbling on the Jericho Roads of +life. + +Peter went back reluctantly to the engine-room, and Roderick ran up on +deck to see the _Inverness_ enter the Gates. He had not been home for +a whole long year, and he was eager as a child to get the first glimpse +of Algonquin and the little cove where the old farm lay. + +As he was passing round to the wheel-house, he noticed again the young +stranger who had come on board at Barbay. He had been puzzled then by +the recollection of having seen her before, and he walked slowly, +looking at her and trying to recall where and when it could have been. +As he approached, she turned in his direction, her eyes following the +sweep of a gull's white wing, and he recognised her. He remembered her +quite distinctly, for he could count on his fingers the number of young +ladies he had met in his busy college days, and Miss Murray was not one +that could be easily forgotten. He stood at the railing and recalled +the scene. It had been at the home of Mrs. Carruthers, Billy Parker's +aunt. That kind lady made it a blessed habit to invite hungry students +to her home on Sunday nights. And the suppers she gave! Billy had +taken Roderick that evening, and there were a half-dozen more. And +this Miss Murray had dropped in after church with Richard Wells. Wells +was a medical in his last year, and Roderick had met him often before. +Miss Murray had worn some sort of soft white dress, he remembered, and +a big white hat, and she had been very bright and gay then, not sad and +pensive as she seemed now. + +He did not realise that he was staring intently at her, while he +recalled all this, until she turned and looked at him. She gave a +start of surprised recognition mingled with something of dismay. For +an instant she looked irresolute; then she bowed, and Roderick came +quickly forward. She gave him her hand, a vague look in her deep +grey-blue eyes. She remembered him; Roderick's appearance was too +striking to be easily forgotten; but it was plain she could not recall +where. + +"It was a Sunday evening, last fall--at Mrs. Carruthers'," he +stammered. She smiled reassuringly. + +"Oh, yes, it was stupid of me to forget. You were in law, weren't you?" + +"Yes, in my last year. I'm just on my way home now, to practise in +Algonquin. Are you going to visit friends here?" + +"No, I'm going to teach." She did not seem to want to speak of +herself. "Algonquin is a very pretty place, I hear." + +"It's is the most lovely place in Canada," said Roderick +enthusiastically. He was not as shy in her presence as he usually was +with young women. He could not help seeing, that for some +unaccountable reason, she was embarrassed at meeting him, and her +distress made him forget himself. He tried to put her at her ease in a +flurried way. + +"How people scatter! The half-dozen that were at Mrs. Carruthers' that +night are all over the world. Billy Parker's gone to Victoria to +practise law, and Withers is in Germany, and Wells,--he graduated with +honours, didn't he? Where did Dick Wells go?" + +Roderick had no sooner uttered the name than he saw he had made a +mistake. The girl's face flushed; a slow colour creeping up over neck +and brow and dyeing her cheeks crimson. But she looked up at him with +brave steady eyes as she answered quietly: + +"I am not sure where he is. I heard he had gone to Montreal." And +when she had said it she became as white as the dainty lawn blouse she +wore. + +Roderick made a blundering attempt to apologise for something, he +scarcely knew what, and only made matters worse. + +"I--I beg your pardon," he said, "I shouldn't have asked--but I +thought--we understood--at least I mean Billy said," he floundered +about hopelessly, and she came to his aid. + +"That Dr. Wells and I were engaged?" She was looking at him directly +now, sitting erect with a sparkle in her eye. + +"Yes," he whispered. + +"It was true--then. But it is not now." + +"I am so sorry I spoke--" faltered Roderick. + +"You need not be," she broke in. "It was quite natural--only--" she +looked at him keenly for a moment as though taking his measure. "May I +ask a favour of you, Mr. McRae?" + +"Oh, yes, I should be so glad," he broke out, anxious to make amends. + +"Then if you would be so good as to make no mention of--of this. I +shall be living in Algonquin now for some time probably." + +She stopped falteringly. She could not confess to this strange young +man that she had come away to this little town where no one knew her +just to escape the curiosity and pity of acquaintances and friends, and +that she was dismayed at meeting one on its very threshold who knew her +secret. She was relieved to find him more anxious to keep it than she +herself. + +He assured her that he would not even think of it again, and then he +stumbled upon a remark about the fishing in Lake Algonquin, and the +duck-shooting, two things, he recollected afterwards, in which she +could not possibly be interested, and finally he made his escape. He +leaned over the bow, watching the channel opening out its green arms to +the _Inverness_, and tried to recall all that he had heard about Dick +Wells. Billy Parker, who knew all college gossip, had told him much to +which he had scarcely listened. But he remembered something concerning +a broken engagement. Wells was to have been married in June to the +pretty Miss Murray, Billy had said. She had her trousseau all ready, +and then Dick had gone on a trip to the Old Country alone. No one knew +the reason, though Billy had declared it was the same old +reason--"Another girl." + +Roderick McRae's chivalry had never before been called into action +where young women were concerned. Now he felt something new and strong +rising within him. He was suddenly filled with the old spirit which +sent a knight out upon the highway to do doughty deeds for the honour +of a lady, or to right her wrongs. His warm heart was filled with +conflicting emotions, rage at himself for having brought the hurt look +into those soft blue eyes, rage at Wells for being the primary cause of +it, and underneath all a strange, quite unreasonable, feeling of +exhilaration over the fact that he and the girl with the golden hair +and the sad eyes had a secret between them. + +They were in the Gates now, passing slowly through the railroad bridge. +The softly tinted glassy water of Lake Algonquin, with the green +islands mirrored in its clear depths was opening out to view. The +channel too, was clear and still like crystal, save where the swell +from the bows of the _Inverness_ rolled away to the low shore and set +the bulrushes nodding a stately welcome. The echoes of the little +engine clattered away into the deep woods, startlingly clear. An ugly +brown bittern, with a harsh exclamation of surprise at the intrusion +into his quiet domain, shot across the bow and disappeared into the +swamp. A great heron sailed majestically down the channel ahead of the +boat, his broad blue wings gleaming in the sunlight. It was all so +still and beautiful that a sense of peace and content awoke in +Roderick's heart. + +The _Inverness_ was making her way slowly towards the second bridge. +The channel was very narrow and shallow here and the captain's little +whistle that communicated with the powers below was squeaking +frantically. Just as the bridge began to turn, a man in a mud-splashed +buggy dashed up, a moment too late to cross, and stood there holding +his horse, which went up indignantly on its heels every time the +_Inverness_ snorted. His fair face was darkened with anger, his blue +eyes were blazing. He leaned over the dashboard and shook his fist at +the little wheel-house which held the captain. + +"Get along there you, Jimmie McTavish!" He roared in a voice that was +rich and musical even in its anger. "Can't you see I'm in a hurry, you +thundering old mud-turtle? I could sail a ship across the Atlantic +while you are dawdling here. Get out of my road, I tell you! I've got +to be in town before that five train goes out, and here's that old +dromedary of yours stuck in the mud.--How? What? Oh, what in the name +of--?" He choked, spluttering with wrath, for with a final squeak the +_Inverness_ stopped altogether. + +The captain darted out of the wheel-house to call down an indignant +enquiry of the Ancient Mariner as to the cause of the delay. Much +sailing in all weathers in the keen air of the northern lakes had +ruined Captain McTavish's voice, which, at best, had never been +intended for any part but a high soprano. And now it was almost +inaudible with anger. It ill became the dignity of a sea captain to be +thus publicly berated in the presence of his passengers. + +"If ye'd whisht ye're noise," he screamed, "I'd be movin' queek enough. +Come away, Sandy! Come away, Peter, man!" + +For all his sailing, the captain was a true landsman, and when under +pressure his thin nautical veneer slipped off him, and his language was +not of the sea. + +"Come away, Sandy," he called artlessly, "and gee her a bit. _Gee_!" + +"I can have the law on you for obstructing the King's Highway!" +thundered the man on the bridge. + +"The water will be jist as much the King's Highway as the road!" +retorted the captain indignantly. "If you would be leafing other +folks' business alone, and attending to your own, you would be knowing +the law better. It is a rule of the sea that effery vessel--" + +"The sea!" the enemy burst in with an overwhelming roar. "The sea! A +vessel! A miserable fish pond, and an old tub like that, the sea and a +vessel! Get away with you! Get out of my sight!" + +He waved a hand as if he would wipe the _Inverness_ from off the face +of the waters. + +During the altercation, Roderick McRae had been leaning far over the +railing, striving to attract the attention of the madman in the buggy. +But his voice was drowned in the laughter and cheers of the passengers +who were enjoying the battle immensely. At this moment he put his +fingers to his teeth and uttered a long, sharp whistle. "Ho! Lawyer +Ed!" he shouted. The man on the bridge started. His angry face, with +the quickness of lightning, broke into radiance. + +"Roderick!--Rod! Are you there? Hooray!" He caught off his hat and +waved it in the air. "Come on home with me! I dare you to jump it!" + +The _Inverness_ was at a perilous distance from the bridge, but the +young man did not hesitate a moment before the half-laughing challenge. +He leaped lightly upon the railing, poised a moment and, with a mighty +spring, landed upon the bridge. The onlookers gave a gasp and then a +relieved and admiring cheer. + +Another spring put Roderick into the buggy, where his friend hammered +him on the back, and they laughed like a couple of school-boys. And +that was what they really were, for though Roderick McRae was nearly +twenty-four, he was feeling like a boy in his home-coming joy, and as +for Lawyer Ed he hadn't grown an hour older, either in feeling or +appearance, but lived perennially somewhere near the joyous age of +eighteen. + +Meanwhile the real captain of the _Inverness_ had begun to bestir +himself. The Ancient Mariner cared not the smallest lump of coal that +went into the furnace door for the command of his brother-captain; but +he had a wholesome fear of Lawyer Ed, and doubted the wisdom of rousing +him again. So he gave an order to Peter, and with a great deal of +boiling and churning of the water the _Inverness_ slowly began to move. +The bridge, worked by a dozen youngsters who always roosted there, +began to turn into place. With a defiant yell of her whistle, the +_Inverness_ sailed out of the Gates, and the buggy dashed across the +bridge and away down the dusty road. But though Lawyer Ed was bubbling +over with good humour now, he turned, Marmion like, to shake his +gauntlet of defiance at the retreating vessel, and to call out +insulting remarks to which the captain responded with spirit. + +"Well inteet," said the Ancient Mariner, as he settled once more to his +pipe, "it will be a great peety that Lawyer Ed has neither the Gawlic +nor the profanity, for when he will be getting into a rage he will jist +be no use at all, at all!" + +All unconscious of his verbal deficiencies, and uproariously happy, +Lawyer Ed sped away down the Pine Road towards town. He had been +looking forward for a long time to this day, when Roderick should come +back to Algonquin to be his partner. + +"It's great to see you again, Lad," he exclaimed joyfully, surveying +the young man's fine figure and frank face with pride. "I was getting +nervous for fear you were going West after all." + +"I can't pretend I didn't want to go," he confessed, "though I didn't +like the idea of another fellow in my place in your office. You see +I'm a good bit of a dog in the manger, and when Father's last letter +arrived I felt I must come." + +"That's right, my boy. Your place is with your father just now. And +you're looking as fine and fit as if you'd been away camping." + +"I'm ready for anything. You and J. P. Thornton can start for the Holy +Land to-morrow." + +"I prophesied once, about a score or so years ago; that I'd go when you +could manage my practice, and I'll be hanged if I don't think it's +coming true. J. P.'s talking about it, anyway. Does your arm ever +bother you now?" + +Roderick doubled up his right fist, stretched out his arm, and slowly +drew it up, showing his splendid muscle. "Sometimes, but not anything +to bother about, only a twinge once in a while when it's damp. I can +still paddle my good canoe, and if you'd like a boxing bout--" he +turned and squared up to his friend, receiving a lightning-like blow +that nearly knocked him into the road. And the two went off into an +uproarious sparring match like a couple of youngsters. + +Lawyer Ed had never yet married though he still made love to every +woman, girl and baby in Algonquin. But Roderick McRae had grown to be +like a son to him, filling every desire of his big warm heart, and now +the proud day had come when his boy was to be his partner. He and +Angus had talked for hours of the wonderful things that were to be +accomplished in the town and church and on the Jericho Road when the +Lad came home, and had laid great plans at which the Lad himself only +guessed. They had feared for a time that all were to be ruined when, +after his graduation, he had been kept in the city in the employ of a +firm, and had received from them an offer of a position in the West. +But he had refused, to their joy, and was to settle in Algonquin and +relieve Lawyer Ed of his altogether too burdensome practice. + +As they spun along, for the five-o'clock train was still to be caught, +the elder man poured out all the news of the town; J. P.'s last great +speech, Algonquin's lacrosse victories, the latest battle in the +session,--for Jock McPherson was still a valiant and stubborn +objector,--the last tea-meeting at McClintock's Corners, where the +Highland Quartette, of whom Lawyer Ed was leader, had sung, the errand +over to Indian Head, where he had just been, etc., etc. It was not +half told when they came to the point in the road opposite Roderick's +home, and the Lad leaped down, promising to run up to the office that +night when he went into town for his trunk. + +He lost no time on the rest of the journey. It was a dash through the +dim woods where the white Indian Pipes raised their tiny, waxen tapers, +and the squirrels skirled indignantly at him from the tree-tops; a leap +across the stream where the water-lilies made a fairy bridge of green +and gold, a scramble through the underbrush, and he was at the edge of +the little pasture-field, and saw the old home buried in orchard trees, +and Aunt Kirsty's garden a blaze of sun-flowers and asters. And there +at the gate, gazing eagerly down the lane in quite the wrong direction, +stood his father! + +The years had told heavily on the Good Samaritan, and Roderick's loving +eye could detect changes even in the last year of his absence. Old +Angus's tall figure was stooped and thin, and he carried a staff, but +he still held up his head as though facing the skies, and his eyes were +as young and as kindly as ever. The Lad gave a boyish shout and came +bounding towards him. The old man dropped his stick and held out both +his hands. He said not a word, but his eyes spoke very eloquently all +his pride and joy and love. He put his two hands on his son's head and +uttered a low prayer of thanksgiving. + +Aunt Kirsty came bustling out as fast as her accumulating flesh would +permit. Poor Aunt Kirsty had grown to a great bulk these later days +and could not hurry, but indeed had she used up all the energy on +moving forward that she mistakenly put into swaying violently from side +to side, she would have made tremendous speed. Roderick ran to meet +her, and she took him into her ample bosom and kissed him and patted +him on the back and poured out a dozen Gaelic synonyms for darling, and +then shoved him away, and burying her face in her apron, began to cry +because he was such a man and not her baby any more! + +The father's heart was too full for words; but after supper when they +sat out on the porch in the soft misty twilight, he found many things +to ask, and many questions to answer. Roderick sat on the step facing +the lake, filled with a great content. The sunset gleam of the water +through the darkening trees, the soft plaintive call of the phoebes +from the woods, the sleepy drone of Bossy's bell from the pasture, and +the scents of the garden made up the atmosphere of home. + +"Well, well, and you have come to stay," his father said for the tenth +time, rubbing his hands along his knee in ecstasy, "to stay." + +"It'll be great to know that I don't have to run away at the end of the +summer, won't it?" + +"It'll jist be the answer to all my prayers, Lad. I feel I am no use +in the world at all, now that you have made me give up all work." He +gave his son a glance of loving reproach. For while Roderick had +managed to get his education, he had managed too, to do wonderful +things with the little farm, so that his father had long ago given up +the work he had resumed after his year's illness. And Aunt Kirsty had +a servant-girl in the kitchen now, and devoted all her time to her +garden and her Bible. + +"You've jist made your father a useless old body. But I jist can't be +minding, for I see how you can be taking up all my work. There's the +Jericho Road waiting for you, Lad." + +The young man smiled indulgently. "And what do you think I can do +there, Father? Unless Mike Cassidy goes to law as usual." + +"Ah, but is jist you that can. Edward will be finding great +opportunities for helping folk and he has not the time now. There's +that poor bit English body, Perkins, and his family, and there's Mike +as you say, though Father Tracy would be straightening him up something +fine. But you must jist see that he doesn't go to law any more. And +then there's poor Peter Fiddle." + +The younger man laughed. "Peter is the kind of poor we have with us +always, Dad. Is he behaving any better?" + +"Och, indeed I sometime think I see a decided improvement," exclaimed +Old Angus, with the optimism that had refused to give Peter Fiddle up +through years of drunkenness and failure. "We must jist keep hold of +him, and the good Lord will save Peter yet, never fear." + +Roderick was silent. Personally he had no faith in Peter McDuff the +elder. He had gone on through the years fiddling and singing and +telling stories, his drunken sprees showing a constantly diminishing +interval between. Every one in Algonquin, except Angus McRae, had +given him up long ago, but his old friend still held on to him with a +faith which was really the only thing that kept old Peter from complete +ruin. But Roderick had the impatience of youth with failure, and +though he had inherited his father's warm heart, he was not at all +happy at the thought of becoming guardian of all the poor unfortunates +of the town who in one way or the other had fallen among thieves. + +"Eh yes, yes, there is a great ministry for you here, Lad. I have +sometimes been sorry that you did not feel called to the preaching, but +I was jist thinking the last time Edward and I talked the work over, +that I was glad now you hadn't. For you will be able to help the poor +folk that need you jist as well here, though I would be far from +putting anything above the preaching of the Gospel. But there will be +many ways of preaching the Gospel, Lad, and the lawyer has a great +chance. It will be by jist being neighbour to the folk in want. Folk +go more often to the lawyer or the doctor, Archie Blair says, when they +are in trouble, than they do to their minister, and I am afraid it's +true. And a great many of the folk that will come to you to get you to +do their business, Lad, will be folk in trouble, many who have fallen +among thieves on the Jericho Road, and you will be pouring in the oil +and the wine that the dear Lord has given you, and you will be doing it +all in His name." He sighed happily. "Oh, yes, indeed and indeed, it +will be a great ministry, Roderick, my son." + +Roderick was silent. His heart was touched. He resolved he would do +the best he could for any friend of his father who was in trouble. But +his eye was set on far prospects of great achievement, where Algonquin +and the Jericho Road had no place. + +Their talk was interrupted by Aunt Kirsty, who came to the door to +demand of him what he had done with his clothes. Had he come home, the +rascal, with nothing but what was on his back after the six pairs of +new socks she had sent him only last spring? + +Roderick sprang up. "My trunk! It will be on the wharf. I yelled at +Peter to put it off there, just as we were driving away, and said I'd +paddle over and get it. I forgot all about it, Aunt Kirsty." The +father and son looked at each other and smiled. It was easy to forget +when they were together. + +"I'll go after it right now. It's mostly old books and soiled clothes, +Auntie, but there's one nice thing in it. You ought to see the peach +of a shawl I got you." He ran in for his cap, and she followed him to +the door, scolding him for his foolish extravagance, but not deceiving +any one into thinking that she was not highly pleased. + +Angus stood long at the water's edge watching the Lad's canoe slip away +out on the mirror of the lake. The shore was growing dark, but the +water still reflected the rose of the sunset. The soft dip of his +paddle disturbed its stillness and a long golden track marked the road +he was taking out into the light. Away ahead of him, beyond the +network of islands, shone the glory of the departing day. The Lad was +paddling straight for the Gleam. The father's mind went back to that +evening of stormy radiance, when the little fellow had paddled away to +find the rainbow gold. + +His eyes followed the straight, alert young figure yearningly. He was +praying that in the voyage of life before him, his boy might never be +led away by false lights. He recalled the words of the poem Archie +Blair had recited the evening before at a young folks' meeting in the +town. + + "_Not of the sunlight + Not of the moonlight + Not of the starlight, + Oh young Mariner, + Down to the haven, + Call your companions + Launch your vessel + And crowd your canvas + And e'er it vanish + Over the margin + After it; follow it; + Follow the gleam!_" + +It held the burden of his prayer for the Lad; that, ever unswerving, he +might follow the true Gleam until he found it, shining on the forehead +of the blameless King. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +SIDE LIGHTS + +Roderick was not thinking of that Gleam upon which his father's mind +was set, as he glided silently out upon the golden mirror of Lake +Algonquin. The still wonder of the glowing lake and sky and the +mystery of the darkening shore and islands carried his thoughts somehow +to a new wonder and dream; the light that had shone in the girl's brave +eyes, the colour that had flooded her face at his awkward words. They +were beautiful eyes but sad, and there were tints in her hair like the +gold on the water. Roderick had known scarcely any young women. His +life had been too busy for that--when he was away, books had claimed +all his attention, when he was home, the farm. But in the background +of his consciousness, shadowy and unformed, but none the less present, +dwelt a vague picture of his ideal woman; the woman that was to be his +one day. She was really the picture of his mother, as painted by his +father's hand, and as memory furnished a light here or a detail there. +Roderick had not had time to think of his ideal; his heart was a boy's +heart still--untried and unspoiled, but this evening her shadowy form +seemed to have become more definite, and it wore golden brown hair and +had sad blue-grey eyes. + +He swept silently around the end of Wanda Island, and his dreams were +suddenly interrupted by a startling sight; for directly in front of +him, just between the little bay and the lake beyond, bobbed an +upturned canoe and two heads! + +To the youthful native of Algonquin an upset into the lake was not a +serious matter; and to the young lady and gentleman swimming about +their capsized craft, the affair, up to a few moments previous, had +been rather a good joke. How it had happened that two such expert +canoeists as Leslie Graham and Fred Hamilton could fall out of anything +that sailed the water, was a question those who knew them could not +have solved. They had been over to Mondamin Island to gather +golden-rod and asters for a party the young lady was to give the next +evening. They had been paddling merrily homeward, the space between +them piled with their purple and golden treasure, and as they paddled +they talked, or rather the young lady did, for where Miss Leslie Graham +was, no one else had much chance to say anything. + +"There's the _Inverness_ at the dock," she said, when they came within +view of the town. "Aunt Elinor's boarder must have come on it, the +girl that's going to teach in Miss Hasting's room." + +"I thought your aunt said you weren't to call her a boarder." + +The girl put her paddle across the canoe and leaned back with a burst +of laughter. She was handsome at any time, but particularly so when +she laughed, showing a row of perfect teeth and a merry gleam in her +black eyes. + +"Poor old Auntie! Isn't she a joke? She's scared the family +escutcheon of the Armstrongs will be sullied forever with the blot of a +boarder on it. Auntie Bell is nearly as bad too. My! I hope they +won't expect us to trot her around in our set." + +"Why?" asked young Mr. Hamilton. He was always interested in new girls. + +"Too many girls in it already. You know that, Fred Hamilton." + +"Well, I say, I believe you're right, Les," he ventured, but with some +hesitation. He was a rather nice young fellow, with the inborn idea +that, theoretically, there couldn't be too many girls, but there was no +denying the fact that Algonquin seemed to have more than her fair +share. Only, Leslie was always so startlingly truthful, it was +sometimes rather disconcerting to hear one's half-formed thoughts +spoken out incisively as was her way. + +"There does seem to be an awful swarm of them," he admitted +reluctantly, "especially since the Harrisons and the Wests came to +town. I danced twenty-five times without drawing breath at Polly's +last spree, and never twice with the same girl. Where did she pick 'em +all up, anyway?" + +That was the last remark they could remember having made. And the girl +was wont to explain that the thing which happened next was a just +judgment upon the young man for uttering such sentiments, and a fearful +warning for his future. But the most elaborate explanations could +never quite solve the mystery, for they never knew how it chanced that +the next moment the canoe was over and they were in the water. To a +girl of Algonquin, a canoe upset was inexcusable; to a boy, a disgrace +never to be lived down. So when Leslie Graham and Fred Hamilton, who +had been born and brought up on the shores of the lake and had learned +to swim and walk simultaneously, found themselves in the water, the +first expression in their eyes, after an instant's startled surprise, +was one of indignation. + +"What on earth did you do?" gasped the girl, and "What on earth did you +do?" sputtered the boy. + +And then, being the girl she was, Leslie Graham burst out laughing, +"'What on the water,' would be more appropriate. Well, Fred Hamilton, +I never thought you'd upset!" + +"I didn't!" he cried indignantly. "You jumped, I saw you." + +"Jumped! I never did! And even if I did, I don't see why you should +have turned a somersault. I could dance the Highland Fling in a canoe +and not upset. Oh dear! all my flowers are gone!" They put their +hands on the upturned craft and floated easily. + +"What are you going to do about it?" she asked. "We're a long way from +shore, and the walking's damp." + +He glanced about. They were a good distance from land, but the only +danger he anticipated was the danger of a rescue. He would be +disgraced forever if some fellow paddled out from home and picked them +up. But a little island lay between them and the town, screening them +from immediate exposure. + +"Do? Why, just hop in again. Here, help me heave her over!" + +Many a time in younger days, just for fun, they had pitched themselves +out of their canoe, righted it again, "scooped" and "rocked" the water +out, and scrambled back over bow and stern. But that was always when +they wore bathing suits and there were no paddles and cushions floating +about to be collected. But they were ready for even this difficult +feat. They tumbled the canoe over to its proper position, and the +young man, by balancing himself upon one end and swimming rapidly, sent +the stern up into the air and "scooped" most of the water out. Then +they rocked it violently from side to side, to empty the remainder, +while the girl sang gaily "Rocked in the Cradle of the Deep," her +dancing eyes no less bright than the water drops glistening on her +black curly hair. + +But the emptying process was longer than they had anticipated, and the +evening air was growing cool. By the time the canoe was ready to +enter, the girl had stopped singing. + +"Hustle up, Freddie!" she called, giving a little shiver, as he shot +away through the water for a paddle. "This water's getting wetter +every minute." When he returned, he placed himself at the stern and +the girl at the bow. + +"Now," he cried, "when I say go, you climb like a cat, Les. Don't +hurry, just crawl in easy. Ready? Go!" + +She placed her hands on the gunwale and drew herself up, while her +companion, with an eye on her progress, slowly crawled over the stern. + +But the heavy drag of her soaked cloth skirt was too much for the +girl's strength. She paused, failed at the critical moment, slipped to +one side, and they were once more in the water, the canoe bottom up. + +"Oh, hang!" exclaimed the young man. Then apologetically, "Never mind, +heave her over, and we'll do it again." + +But the girl's teeth had begun to chatter, and the work of emptying the +canoe the second time was not such a joke. And the second attempt to +get in and the third also proved a failure. + +"What's the matter, anyhow?" grumbled the boy impatiently. "You've +done that three times, Leslie!" + +He was amazed and dismayed to see her lip quiver. "I can't do it, +Fred. I'm all tired out. I--I believe I'm going to yell for help." + +"Oh, Great Scott, Leslie!" groaned the young man. Then encouragingly, +"You're all right. Cheer up! I'll get you into this thing in no time." + +He set to work again briskly, but though the girl helped, it was +without enthusiasm. She was going through an entirely new experience. +In all her happy life, untouched by sorrow or privation of any kind, +she had never felt the need of help. Fred and she had been chums since +they were babies, and were going to be married some day, perhaps. Fred +was a good, jolly fellow, he was well off, well-dressed, and quite the +leader of all the young men of the town. But now, for the first time, +her dauntless gay spirit was forsaking her, and a vision of how +inadequate Fred might be in time of stress was coming dimly to her +awakening woman's heart. She would almost rather have drowned than +play the coward. But she wanted Fred to be afraid for her. She was +more of a woman than she knew. + +And then, just as a wave of fear was coming over her, Roderick McRae, +in his canoe, came out around the point and paddled straight towards +them. + +She gave a cry of joyful relief. "A canoe! Oh, look, Fred! +Somebody's coming this way from McRae's cove!" + +The young man turned with some apprehension mingling with his joy. He +would almost as soon be detected appropriating funds from the bank +where he clerked, as be caught in this ignominious plight. There was +just a slight sense of relief, however, for they had been a long time +in the water. But he would not admit that. + +"Pshaw!" he grumbled. "I wish they'd waited a minute longer." + +"Well, I don't!" cried his companion tremulously. + +The boy looked across the canoe at her. Never, in the twenty years he +had known Leslie Graham intimately, had he before seen her daunted. + +"What's up?" he demanded. "You're not losing your nerve, Leslie?" + +"No, I'm not!" she snapped, trying desperately to hide an unexpected +quaver in her voice. "But--" + +"You're not chilled, are you?" + +"No. Not much." + +"Nor cramped?" + +"No." + +"Well, you're all right then. Goodness, you've been in the water hours +longer than this, heaps of times. Cheer up, old girl, you're all +right. What's the matter, anyhow?" + +But she did not answer, for she hardly knew herself. She had no real +fear of being drowned, that seemed impossible. But strange new +feelings had begun to stir in the heart, that so far had been only the +care-free heart of a girl, almost the heart of a daring boy. She did +not realise that what she really wanted was that Fred should be +solicitous about her. If he had shown the slightest anxiety over her +she would have become recklessly daring. But young Fred would as soon +have shown tender care for a frisky young porpoise in the water, as +Leslie, even had it been his nature to care unduly for any one but Fred +Hamilton. + +The canoe was approaching swiftly, and the man in it was near enough to +be recognised. "I say," cried Fred, "it's Rod McRae. I didn't know he +was home. Ship ahoy, there!" he shouted gaily. "Hurrah, and give us a +lift; it's too damp for the lady to walk home!" + +Leslie Graham looked at the approaching canoeist. She and Fred +Hamilton had both attended the same school, Sunday-school and church as +Roderick McRae. But she could remember him but dimly as an awkward +country boy, in her brief High School days, before she "finished" with +a year at a city boarding-school. Her life at school had been all fun +and mischief, and rushing away from irksome lessons to more fun at +home; his had been all serious hard work, and rushing away from the +fascination of his lessons to harder work on the farm. Fred Hamilton +had never worked at school, but he knew him better; the free-masonry of +boyhood had made that possible. + +"Why, what's happened?" cried Roderick as he swept alongside the wreck. +"Fred Hamilton! Surely you're not upset?" + +"Doesn't look like it, does it?" enquired the young man in the water +rather sarcastically. "Here, give this thing a hoist, will you, Rod? +I can't understand how such an idiotic thing happened? Miss Graham and +I were paddling along as steadily as you are now, and--" + +But Roderick was paying no attention to him. He was looking at the +girl hanging to the upturned canoe, her eyes grieved and frightened. +With a quick stroke he placed himself at her side. + +"Why, you're all tired out," he cried. "You must get in here." + +She looked up at him gratefully. She had never realised how welcome a +sympathetic voice could sound. She answered, not the least like the +dauntless Leslie, "I just can't! I can't climb over the bow. It's no +use trying." + +Roderick was at his best where any one was in distress. His knightly +young heart prompted him to do the right thing. + +"You don't need to," he said gently. "I can take you in over the side. +Here, Fred, come round and help." + +Fred came to her, and Roderick slipped down into the bottom of the +canoe. He leaned heavily to the side opposite the girl, and extended +his hand. "Now, you can do it quite easily," he said encouragingly. +"Catch the thwart; there--no, sideways--that's it! Steady, Fred, don't +hurry her. There you are. Now!" She had rolled in somehow over the +side, and sat soaked and heavy, half-laughing and half-tearful, right +at his feet. + +"Oh," she said, "I'm making you all wet." + +"Well, that's the neatest ever," cried Fred Hamilton in involuntary +admiration. + +The work of emptying the other canoe, with the help of such an expert, +was an easy matter. When it was ready Roderick held it while Fred +tumbled in. Stray cushions and paddles, and even an armful of soaking +golden-rod were rescued, and then the two young men looked +involuntarily at the girl. + +"Hop over the fence, Leslie!" cried Fred. He was in high good humour +now, for Rod McRae would never tell on a fellow, or chaff him in public +about an upset. + +But Leslie Graham shook her head. Something strange had happened, she +had grown very quiet and grave. + +"No," she said in a low voice, "I don't want any more adventures +to-night. You'll take me home, won't you--Roderick?" She hesitated +just a moment over the name, but remembering she had called him that at +school, she ventured. + +"It would give me the greatest pleasure," he cried cordially. His +diffidence had all vanished, he was master of the situation. + +He glanced half-enquiringly at the other young man, to see relief +expressed quite frankly on his face. + +"All right, Leslie! Thanks ever so, Rod. I can scoot over to the +boathouse and get some dry togs, before I go home. And say--you won't +say anything about this now, Les, will you?" + +The girl's spirits were returning. "Why not?" she asked teasingly. +"It wouldn't be fair to keep such a gallant rescue a secret." + +"Oh, please don't!" cried Roderick in dismay. + +"But it would make such a nice column for The _Chronicle_," said the +girl demurely. "I really can't promise, Fred. Tom Allen would give me +ten dollars for it, I am sure." + +"If you dare!" cried the young man wrathfully. "I'd never hear the end +of it. And your mother would never let you out on the water again, you +know that, Les," he added threateningly. + +"That's so," she admitted. "Well, I'll see, Freddy. Cheer up. If I +do tell I promise to make you the hero of the adventure." + +She waved her hand to him laughingly, as Roderick's long strokes sent +them skimming away over the darkening water. When they were beyond +earshot, she turned to her rescuer. + +"It's all right to joke about it now," she said, her tone tremulous, +"but it was beginning to be anything but a joke. I--I do believe-- +Why, I just know that you saved my life, Roderick McRae. And there is +one person I am going to tell, I don't care who objects, and that's my +father. And you'll hear from him; for he thinks, the poor mistaken +man, that his little Leslie is the whole thing!" + +And even though Roderick protested vigorously, he could not help +feeling that it would be a great stroke of good fortune to have +Algonquin's richest and most powerful man feel he was in his debt. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +FOLLOWING THE GLEAM + +When the _Inverness_ bumped against the wharf at Algonquin, the strange +girl, standing with her bag in her hand, waiting to step ashore, was +surprised to see the late enemy of the boat drive down upon the dock. +She was still more surprised to see that his face was beaming with good +nature, as he hailed the captain. But then, she did not, as yet, know +Lawyer Edward Brians. + +"Hech, Jamie, lad!" he shouted. "Hoot! Awa wi ye, mon! Are ye no +gaun tae get the fowk ashore the nicht?" + +And then there was a long outpouring of strange indistinguishable +sounds, which caused the Ancient Mariner to stop smoking and +expectorate into Lake Algonquin with a disgusted "Huh!" For Lawyer +Ed's Gaelic, though fluent, was a thing to make Highland ears shudder. + +At the first appearance of the buggy, the captain had turned away in +haughty silence, and went on with his task of seeing that his +passengers were safely landed, without so much as a glance at his +talkative friend. + +But his frigid reception seemed only to tickle Lawyer Ed's sense of +amusement. He leaned back in his seat, shut up his eyes, and laughed +loudly. "Well, for downright pigheadedness and idiotic pertinacity, +commend me to a Scotchman every time," he cried delightedly. + +He threw the lines over the dashboard, and sprang out of the buggy, +straight, alert and vigorous. + +"It's no use, your trying that air of dignity on me, Jimmie McTavish!" +he cried, striding over the gang-plank. "You nearly made me lose a +train and a client into the bargain. And if I had lost him, that bit +of business of yours wouldn't have been worth a puff of smoke, my braw +John Hielanman!" He slapped the captain on the back, and a peculiar +change came over the latter's face. There was no man in Algonquin who +could remain angry at Lawyer Ed and be hammered by him on the back. He +was voted the most exasperating person in the world, by people of all +ages, and many a time an indignant individual would announce publicly +that dire vengeance was about to be launched upon his wicked head. But +when all Algonquin waited for the blow to fall, presently Lawyer Ed and +the injured party would appear in the most jovial companionship, and +once more his execution was postponed. It was as usual this time, the +captain's wrath broke, shattered by that friendly blow upon the back. +He still kept up a show of taciturnity, by a grumbling monologue +concerning the undignified procedure of Irishmen in general, but the +Irishman laughed so loud that Captain Jimmie was deceived into thinking +he had said something very witty indeed, and laughed too, in spite of +himself. + +"I'm hunting a young lady," cried Lawyer Ed; "the new teacher. Miss +Armstrong hailed me in passing and said I was to drive her up." + +"Oh, yes, Mr. Brians," cried Alfred Wilbur, bustling up, "she's over +there. I was going to show her the way up myself. It's too bad to +trouble you, when you're so busy." + +Lawyer Ed eyed him sternly. + +"What! Do you think I'd allow you, in all your magnificence, to burst +upon the vision of an innocent young girl, first go off, and have her +fall in love with you, and get her heart broken? Not much, young man! +We'll bring you on the stage gradually. A few ugly old married men +like Jimmie here, or a withered old bachelor like myself, will do as +preliminaries, and in about six months or so,--ah, well, well,--How do +you do, my dear young lady? I'm chairman of the school board and I +just drove down to tell you that you are very welcome to Algonquin." + +He had pushed Afternoon Tea Willie quite out of sight and followed the +captain to where the new teacher stood alone. He took her hand and +shook it vigorously, his kind blue eyes beaming a welcome. + +"I'm sure we are glad you've come!" he declared again, still more +heartily, for he saw the homesickness in the big eyes. "You'll be as +happy here as a bob-o-link in a field of clover. I needn't ask you if +Captain McTavish took good care of you on the way up. He couldn't help +it, with that Hieland heart of his, eh, Jimmie, lad? Whenever we want +to make a good impression upon a stranger, Miss Murray, we always see +that he comes to Algonquin by boat, for by the time the _Inverness_ +carries him for an afternoon, he's so prejudiced in our favour, he +never gets over it. Eh, my braw John Hielanman?" + +He slapped the captain on the back again, and his forgiveness was +complete. + +"Now, Miss Murray, I shall show you up to your new home. Give me your +bag. Never mind, Alfred Tennyson. You trot round there and tell young +Peter to see about that trunk. I'll send a wagon for it. Good-bye, +Jimmie. I'll see you at the meeting to-morrow night." + +He helped Helen into his buggy and tucked the lap-rug around her, while +Mr. Alfred Wilbur held his horse's head, though Lawyer Ed's horse, +everyone knew, would stand for a week untethered. He jumped in and +started off with a dash that nearly precipitated poor Afternoon Tea +Willie into the lake, and away they rattled up the street to the utter +discomfiture of the yellow dog and the yellow-and-white dog that were +fighting in the middle of Main Street. + +It was just the waiting time before the six-o'-clock bells and whistles +would break forth into a joyful clamour and send every one out on the +street; so the place was very quiet. The pretty streets rose up from +the lake, all cool and shady under their green canopy. It was like a +little town dropped down into the woods, and in spite of her +homesickness and the quiet loneliness of it all, the new-comer felt a +sensation of pleasure. + +Lawyer Ed gave her no chance to be lonely. He chatted away cheerfully, +pointing out this and that place of interest. As they turned off Main +Street up a wide avenue of swaying elms, he touched his horse into +greater speed, and leaning far over to one side, called her attention +to something across the street. + +"Look there, now!" he cried impressively. "Isn't that a fine building? +Just take a good look at this, Miss Murray. I don't think that in all +Algonquin there is a place like it." + +"I--I don't think I saw," said Helen, looking about her puzzled, for +they had passed nothing but a row of very modest homes. She looked at +him enquiringly, to find him leaning back, his eyes shut, and shaking +with laughter. + +"Never mind. Don't hurt your eyes, child. There's nothing there. But +we've just passed my office, on the opposite side, and I saw from the +corner of my eye about a half-dozen people waiting for me, all in a bad +humour. It's just as well that I shouldn't get a better view of them. +Tut, tut, don't apologise. I don't want to hurry back. Patience is a +virtue every man should practise, and I believe in giving my clients a +whack at it whenever I can. There's the Manse. I've heard Dr. Leslie +speak of your father. We knew him by report if not personally. You'll +find Doctor Leslie a fine pastor. He'll make you feel at home." + +He glanced back towards his office and laughed again. "I'm trying +to--well not exactly retire--but to ease off a bit on my business. And +I'm going to have a partner, the son of an old friend. Why, he came +part of the way on the boat with you." + +"Oh, yes, the young man who took the terrible leap," she said. She did +not want to confess she had met him before. + +"That's nothing for Rod!" laughed Lawyer Ed. "He'd jump twice that +distance. Ah, he's a great lad, is Roderick. He's going to make +another such man as his father, and that's about the highest praise I +can give him. Old Angus McRae--well you must meet him to know what +he's like. I believe I think more of Angus McRae--outside my own +immediate family--than of any living person, of course always excepting +Madame. Bless me! You haven't met her yet, of course?" + +"Why, no, I don't think so. Who is she?" + +"Madame, my dear Miss Murray, is the handsomest and cleverest and most +delightful young lady in all Canada or the United States. And she's +your Principal, so you may think yourself fortunate. You two girls +will have a grand time together." + +Helen felt not a little relieved. A Principal who was a girl of about +her own age, and who was evidently possessed of so many charms, would +surely not be a formidable person to face on the dread to-morrow. + +They had been steadily climbing the hills, under great low-branched +maples and elms, and past scented gardens. And now they pulled up in +front of a big square brick house set primly in a square lawn. + +"Now, here's your boarding-house, my dear," said her guide, springing +down and helping her to alight. "This is Grandma Armstrong's place. +Remember that she's grandmother to nearly all Algonquin, and don't +laugh at her peculiarities when there's any one round. You'll have to +when you're alone, just as a safety-valve. You'll like the daughters. +The elder one is a bit stiff, but they're fine ladies." He had rung +the bell by this time, and now it was opened by a tall handsome lady, +slightly over middle age. The Misses Armstrong, because of an old +acquaintance with her father, had stepped aside from the strict rules +they had hitherto followed, and had taken the new school teacher as a +boarder. Helen had often heard her father speak of them and knew, the +moment the door opened, that this was Miss Armstrong, the eldest, who +had been a belle in her father's day. She belonged so obviously to the +house, that Helen had a complete sense of fitness at the sight of her. +Like it she was tall, erect and fine looking, in a stately, stiff +fashion. + +Lawyer Ed presented his charge in his most affable manner, and Miss +Armstrong smiled upon him graciously and upon her with some reserve. A +boarder, after all, had to be kept at a distance, even though she were +the daughter of an old friend. + +"And how is Grandma, to-day?" enquired Lawyer Ed. "And Annabel? Isn't +she home?" + +"Mother has gone to bed this afternoon, Edward, but she is very well, I +thank you. She will be disappointed when she hears you were here. +Annabel has gone to the meeting of the Club. She will be back +presently. I remained at home to welcome Miss Murray." + +"Good-bye just now, then, my child," he said paternally, taking Helen's +hand. He saw the homesick anguish returning to her big eyes, and he +squeezed the hand until it hurt. "You'll have a great time in +Algonquin, never fear. The air here will bring the roses back to your +cheeks. Won't it, Elinor?" + +Miss Armstrong agreed and bade him a gracious good-afternoon, moving +out on the steps to see him to the gate. She then led the way up the +long steep stair. The ceilings of Rosemount were very high, and every +step echoed weirdly. They went along another hall upstairs flanked by +two terrible pictures, one a scene of carnage on land--Wellington +meeting Blücher on the field of Waterloo, the other an equally dreadful +scene on water--Nelson's death on the _Victory_. Her bedroom was a big +airy place, stiff and formal and in perfect order. The ceiling again +impressed her with its vast distance from the floor. In the centre of +this one, like the others, was a circular ornamental device of plaster; +flowers and fruit and birds, and great bunches of hard white grapes +that looked ready to fall heavily upon one's head. One end of the room +was almost filled with a black marble mantel and over it hung a picture +of Queen Victoria with her family, in the early days of her married +life. There was a big low bed of heavy walnut, four high windows with +stiff lace curtains, a circular marble-topped table and a tiny writing +desk. Miss Armstrong assisted her to remove her hat, expressing the +hope that she had had a pleasant trip from Barbay. Helen did not say +that her heart had been aching all the way. She merely assured her +that the trip had been very comfortable indeed, and that Captain +McTavish had done everything to make it enjoyable. + +"Jimmie McTavish is a kind creature," said Miss Armstrong. "Very +ignorant, and too familiar entirely; but he is well-meaning, for all +that. Now, I hope you will feel perfectly at home with us here, Miss +Murray. Your father's daughter could not but be welcome at Rosemount. +Indeed, I am afraid, had you not been a clergyman's daughter, I should +never have consented to taking you. Having any one to board was so +foreign to our minds. But Mr. Brians begged us to take you. You see +he is chairman of the school board, and always sees to it that the +young persons who teach have suitable homes." + +"I am so sorry if my coming has inconvenienced you," stammered Helen, +for Miss Armstrong's manner was very impressive. + +"Oh, not at all, I assure you. When we heard who you were, we +consented with pleasure. We have so much more room in this big house +than we need. There is a very large family of us, Miss Murray, as you +will discover, but now there are only my mother and my sister and I +left at Rosemount." Her face grew sad. "But indeed I sometimes have +thought recently," she added, growing stately again, "that my dear +father would turn in his grave if he knew we were filling Rosemount +with boarders." + +She paused a moment, and the strange girl was wondering miserably if +she should take her bag and move out to some other place, rather than +risk disturbing her father's old friend in his last long sleep, when +Miss Armstrong went on. "I hope you won't mind, Miss Murray, you are +to be as one of the family, you know, and if you would be so good--" +she hesitated and a slight flush rose in her face. + +"Yes?" asked Helen wonderingly. + +"If you would be so good as to not use the word _board_. I don't know +why it should be so offensive to me," she added with a little laugh. +"My ears are very sensitive, I suppose. But if you wouldn't mind +saying, in the course of your conversation, that you are _staying_ with +the Rosemount Armstrongs, it would please me so much." + +"Certainly, I shall remember," said Helen, much relieved. + +"Thank you so much. And now if you would like to rest for a little +after your journey you may. Supper will be served in the course of +half-an-hour." + +Helen felt a lump growing in her throat that made the thought of food +choke her. But she dared not refuse. To remain alone in that big +echoing room, was only to invite thoughts of home and other far off and +lost joys. + +When Miss Armstrong had left her, and her trunk had come bumping up the +back stairs and been deposited in the vast closet, she sat down on the +black haircloth chair and looked hopelessly around the big dreary room. +There rose before her a vision of her own room at the old home, the +room that she and her sister Betty had shared. It had rose-bordered +curtains and rose-festooned wall-paper and pink and white cushions. +And it had a dear mother-face peeping in at the door to chide her +gently if she sat too late writing those long letters to Dick. + +The memory of it all came over her with such a rush that she felt she +must throw herself upon that broad white bed and sob herself sick. But +she sat still, holding her hands tightly clenched, and choking back the +tears. She had work to do and she must be ready for that work. To +give way in private meant inefficiency in public to-morrow. +School-teaching was a new, untried field of labour for her, and if she +went to bed and cried herself to sleep, as she wanted to do, she would +have a headache for to-morrow and she would fail. And she must not +fail, she told herself desperately; she dared not fail, for Mother was +depending upon her success. And yet she had no idea how that success +was to be gained. She knew only too well that she was not fitted for +her task. She had never wanted to teach school, and had never dreamed +she would need to. Her place had always been at home, and a big place +she had filled as Mother's help and the minister's right hand. But her +father had insisted upon her taking her teacher's certificate. "It's +easy to carry about, Nellie," he was wont to say, "and may come useful +some day." + +So Helen had gone, with good-natured indulgence of Father's whim, and +studied at a training school, with one eye on her books and the other +watching for Dick to come up the street. And when she brought home her +despised diploma, there was a diamond ring on the hand that placed it +on her father's desk. That had been a year ago. And almost +immediately after, her father had been taken from them. The old home +went next. The boys and girls scattered to earn their own living. +Mother had gone with Betty, who had married, and who lived away in the +West. And then the last and best treasure had been taken, the diamond +with its marvellous lights and colours, and with it had gone out all +the light and colour of life. + +She was just twenty-three, and she had been given the task of working +out a new strange life unaided, with nothing ahead of her but work and +loneliness. + +At first she had given way to a numb despair, then necessity and the +needs of the family aroused her. There was something for her to do, +something that had to be done, and back of all the wreck of her life, +dimmed by clouds of sorrow, there stood her father's God. In spite of +all the despair and dismay she felt instinctively He must be somewhere, +behind it all. She did not know as yet, that that assurance spelled +hope. But she knew that there was work for her and there was Mother +waiting until she should make her a home. + +She sprang up, as her misery threatened to overwhelm her again, and +began swiftly to change her dress and arrange her hair. She pulled +back the stiff curtains of one of the tall windows and leaned out. A +soft blue haze, the first glimpse of September's tender eyes, was +settling on the distant hills. The sun was setting, and away up the +street towards the west flamed a gold and crimson sky, and away down in +the east flamed its gold and crimson reflection on the mirror of Lake +Algonquin. From the garden below, the scent of the opening nicotine +blossoms came up to her. + +She was sitting there, trying to admire the beauty of it all, but her +heart protesting against the feeling of utter loneliness it bred, when +there came a sharp tap on the door. It opened the next moment and a +young lady tripped in. + +"Good evening, Miss Murray. I just bounced in to say welcome to +Rosemount. I'm so glad you've come. I've just been dying to have a +girl in the house of my own age." + +She caught Helen's two hands in hers with genuine kindliness. + +She was a plump fair lady with fluffy yellow hair and big blue eyes. +She was dressed in a pink flowered muslin trimmed with girlish frills +and wore a big hat wreathed with nodding roses. Helen was puzzled. +This wasn't Miss Annabel, then; for her mother had said the Misses +Armstrong were both over forty. + +"I'm Annabel Armstrong," she said, settling the question. Helen gave +her a second look and saw that Miss Annabel carried signs of maturity +in her face and form, albeit she carried them very blithely indeed. +"And I can't tell you how glad I am you've come. You'll just adore +Algonquin. It's the gayest place on earth, a dance or a tea or a +bridge or some sort of kettle-drum every day. What a love of a dress! +It's the very colour of your eyes, my dear. Come away now; you must +meet Mother. She always takes supper in her own room now, and I must +carry it to her. Our little maid is about as much use as a pussy-cat +and if I'm not in the kitchen every ten minutes to tramp on her tail +she'll go to sleep. Come along!" + +She danced away down the hall, Helen following her, feeling extremely +old and prim. Grandma Armstrong's bedroom was at the back of the house +overlooking the orchard and kitchen-garden. She was sitting up in bed, +a very handsome little old lady in cap and ribbons. She gave the +strange girl's hand a gentle pressure. + +"Here she is, Muzzy," cried Miss Annabel in an apologetic tone. "It's +too bad you didn't see her sooner, but she was so busy." + +"Indeed I generally notice that I am left to the last, when any new +person comes to the house," said Grandma Armstrong in a grieved tone. +"Well, my dear, I am pleased to see the Rev. Walter Murray's son in my +house. You look like him--yes, very much, just the image of him in +fact, only of course he was a man and wore a portmanteau when I knew +him." + +Grandma Armstrong's separate faculties were all alert and as keen as +they had ever been in youth. But some strange lack of connection +between her tongue and her memory, seemed to have befallen the old +lady, so that they did not always agree, and she was wont to +intersperse her otherwise quite intelligent conversation with words +having no remotest connection with the context. + +"A moustache, you mean, Muzzy dear," said her daughter. "Mother +forgets you know," she added, in a hasty, low apology to Helen. + +"Why do you interrupt me, Annabel? I said a moustache. I hope you +sleep well here, my dear. I had that room of yours for some time, but +I had to move back here, I could never get to sleep after they put up +the Israelite at the corner. It shone right over my bed. Let me see +now. You are the second daughter, are you not? Your father was a fine +man, my dear. Yes, indeed. We knew him well as a student. He +preached one summer in--where was that, Annabel? Alaska?" + +"Muskoka, Mother." + +"Oh, yes, Muskoka, and the Rev. Walter Hislop, your father, was there +as a student." + +"Murray, you mean, Mother." + +"Don't interrupt me, Annabel. Your uncle preached there two summers, +my dear, and I thought my daughter Annabel and he--" + +"It was Elizabeth, Mother, not me! Good gracious, how old do you think +I am?" demanded Miss Annabel, quite alarmed. + +"Oh, Elizabeth, of course. I really thought she and your brother, the +Rev. Mr. McIntosh, should have become engaged before the summer was +over. But we had other plans for our daughter, and we thought it wiser +for her to go to the sea-shore the next summer." + +"Now, Mother," said Miss Annabel tactfully. "Miss Murray doesn't want +to hear all that ancient history. She has to get her supper. She's +tired and hungry." + +Helen slept soundly that night. Two big windows of her room looked out +to the west where, beyond the town, ran a high wooded ridge, and the +low organ tones of the evening wind singing through the trees made her +forget her grief and lulled her to sleep. + +She set off to her work early in the morning, nervous and apprehensive. +Her hostesses all wished her well. Miss Armstrong, in her quiet +stately fashion hoped she would find her employment congenial, and +Grandma expressed the desire that Miss Carstairs would enjoy her work +at the cemetery, a remark which the worried young teacher felt was more +appropriate than the kindly old lady guessed. Miss Annabel followed +her to the gate, with instructions regarding the road to school. She +plucked a big crimson dahlia from its bed and stuck it in the belt of +Helen's blue dress. + +"Good luck, dearie, and cheer up!" she cried, seeing the look in the +sad blue eyes. "School teaching's heaps of fun, I feel sure. Don't +worry about it. We're going to have great times in the evenings. +There's always something on. Bye bye, and good luck," and she tripped +up the garden path waving her hand gaily. + +Helen had scarcely gone half a block under the elm boughs, when she +heard her name called out in a musical roar from far up the street +behind her. She had not been in Algonquin twenty-four hours, but she +knew that voice. She was just a bit scandalised as she turned to see a +man waving his cane, as he hurried to overtake her. But she had not +yet learned that no one minded being hailed half-a-mile away by Lawyer +Ed. + +He was accompanied by a lady, a tall woman of such ample proportions, +that she had some ado to keep up with Lawyer Ed's brisk step. She wore +a broad old-fashioned hat tied under her round chin, and a gay flowered +muslin dress that floated about her with an easy swaying motion. She +wore, too, a pair of soft low-heeled slippers, that gave forth a +soothing accompaniment to the rhythm of her movements. She was +surrounded by a perfect bodyguard of children. They danced behind her +and ahead of her, they clung to her hands and peeped from the flowing +muslin draperies, while she moved among them, serene and smiling like a +great flower surrounded by a cloud of buzzing little bees. + +"Good morning, good morning!" shouted the chairman of the school board. +"Abroad bright and early and ready for work! Well, well, well," he +added admiringly, as he shook her hands violently, "if the Algonquin +air hasn't commenced to do its work already! Now, my dear, brace up +and don't be frightened. It is my duty as chairman of the school board +to introduce you to your stern principal. Miss Murray, I have the +honour of presenting you to Mrs. Doasyouwouldbedoneby, known in private +life as Mrs. Adam; but if you are as nice as you look, you may one day +be admitted to the inner circle of her friends, and then you will be +allowed to call her Madame." + +As the lady took her hand and turned upon her a smile in proportion to +her size, Helen suddenly realised why she had seemed so familiar even +at the first glance. She was exactly like the wonderful fairy who +cared for the water-babies at the bottom of the sea. And the +resemblance was further heightened by the presence of the babies +themselves who came swarming about to settle all over her, and when +shoved out of the way, only came swarming back. + +"Bless me, what a mistake!" she cried. "It's you that's the Principal +and I'm the assistant. I'm so thankful you're young, my dear. I can't +stand old folks, and middle-aged people are my abhorrence. I told +Edward Brians that if he put me down there all alone with a middle-aged +woman,--a young gay thing like me,--I just wouldn't stand it." + +"I don't think there are any old people in Algonquin, are there?" asked +Helen. + +They were moving on down the street now, and their going was something +of a triumphal procession. At every turn some one joined them,--young +or old, and from every side greetings were called after them, until the +bewildered stranger felt as if she had become part of a circus parade. +She was feeling almost light-hearted as the gay throng moved forward, +when they passed their escort's office, and in the doorway stood the +young Mr. McRae who reminded her so sadly of the past. + +"Hooray, Rod," roared his chief. "A graun beginnin', ma braw John +Hielanman! Come down here off that perch and do your respects to the +March of Education!" + +Roderick obeyed very willingly. He had been a pupil of Madame's in his +primary days, notwithstanding her extreme youth, and she welcomed him +home and hoped he would be as good a boy as he had been when she had +him. Then Lawyer Ed introduced him to the new teacher. She shook +hands, but she did not say they had met before, and Roderick tactfully +ignored the fact also, for which he fancied she gave him a glance of +gratitude. They moved on but soon the March of Education was again +interrupted. Across the street, Doctor Archie Blair, with his black +satchel in his hand and a volume of Burns beneath his arm, was +preparing to climb into his buggy for a drive into the country. He +stepped aside for a moment and crossed the street to tell Madame how +glad he was to see her back from her holidays, for the town had been a +howling wilderness without her. + +"This is Miss Murray, the new teacher, I know," he added before Lawyer +Ed could introduce him. "You will learn soon, Miss Murray, that if you +want to find a stranger in Algonquin, especially a strange young lady, +you have just to hunt up Lawyer Brians and there she is." + +"And a very good place to be, Archie Blair," said Madame. "If every +one looked after strangers as well as he does there wouldn't be many +lonely people." + +"Hear, hear, Madame," roared Lawyer Ed. "No one knows my virtues as +you do. Did ye hear yon, Aerchie mon?" + +"The trouble is, Miss Murray," said the doctor, without paying the +slightest attention to the other two, "the trouble is that this +gentleman doesn't give any one else a chance to do a good deed. He +does everything himself. No one in Algonquin minds neglecting his +duty, for he knows that Mr. Brians would be there ahead of him and get +it done anyway, so where's the use of bothering? I'm a member of the +school board, and I might be betraying my trust if I encouraged you to +neglect your work, but I feel I ought to tell you that if any day you +would like to take a few hours off, why, do so, Mr. Brians will teach +for you." + +There was a great deal more banter and fun, and the March of Education +was resumed with small recruits in clean pinafores darting out of homes +here and there to join it. It ended at last at the battered gate of +the little schoolhouse. The East Ward was a small part of the town, +consisting mostly of lake, so the population was not very large. There +were but two grades, of which Mrs. Adam taught the younger. + +The children scampered over the yard, and swarmed into the building. +Lawyer Ed ran about, scattering pink "bull's-eyes" all over the floor +and yard, calling, "Chukie, Chukie!" with the whole school at his heels +like a flock of noisy chickens. And when he had the place in an +uproar, he shouted good-bye and rushed away in a fit of laughter. + +Mrs. Doasyouwouldbedoneby sank heavily into a chair, with a relieved +smile, and said, as Helen hung up her hat, and looked about +apprehensively, "Now, my dear child, I remember my first day at +school-teaching distinctly, and if yours is anything the same, you are +scared to death. So if you want to know anything or need any help, you +just come right along into my room, and we'll fix it up. And whatever +you do, don't worry. We're going to have just a glorious time +together, you and I." + +And the new teacher went to her first day's work with a heart far less +heavy than she would have believed possible. Far ahead had begun to +show the first faint glimmer of the light that was leading her through +sorrow and pain to a higher and better life. And all unconsciously she +had begun to follow its gleam. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +LAUNCHING HIS VESSEL + +Roderick had been but two days in the office of Edward Brians, +barrister, and already he had learned a great deal. Two important +facts, not directly connected with the legal profession, had been +impressing themselves upon him. The first was that if he were going to +reach the goal of success that shone so alluringly ahead of him, he +must give every effort and every minute of time to his work; and the +second was that he was going to have a hard time concentrating upon it +in the various interests of the little town that seemed to demand his +attention. + +And there was his chief setting him a bad example. The young man had +spent part of his first morning wandering through the mass of documents +and scraps of paper which Lawyer Ed called his book-keeping. Between +items of a professional nature were memoranda or reports of session +meetings, Highland Club meetings, political meetings, country +tea-meetings, everything and anything except law. What there was of +the latter was connected only with such clients as were of ample means. +All the poor folk for miles around came to Lawyer Ed with their +troubles and were advised, scolded, pulled or paid out of them, and +never so much as a stroke of a pen to record the good deed. If they +paid him, well and good; if they did not, so much the better. And the +price of a ticket to the Holy Land and back--that trip which had not +yet materialised--might have been many times written down, had Lawyer +Ed known anything about book-keeping. But Lawyer Ed's policy in all +his career, had been something the same as that of his friend Doctor +Blair across the way--to keep his people of his practice well, rather +than to cure them when they were ill. So if he could manage it none of +his clients ever went into a law-court. It was good for the clients, +but bad for such things as trips abroad. Roderick did not see that +side of his chief's book-keeping. He did not know that the man could +put through more work in an hour than most men could in a day, and saw +only the meetings recorded which took so much of his time. And he said +to himself that that was not the way to become great. Some day he +intended to be one of the leading advocates of Canada. He was not +conceited. His was only the boundless hopefulness of youth coupled +with the assurance which experience had already given him, that +whenever he set his mind to anything, he accomplished it, no matter how +many difficulties stood in the way. So he was determined to +concentrate all his efforts on his work, and as for serving humanity, +he could do it best, he assured himself, by being a success in his +profession. + +He was just entering upon his second day when his advice was sought +from an unexpected source and in connection with an entirely new +subject. Lawyer Ed had gone out and Roderick was seated at his desk +when some one entered the hall and tapped hesitatingly on the inner +door. Roderick called an invitation to come in, and Mr. Alfred Wilbur, +in perfect white ducks and white canvas shoes, stepped inside. + +"So you've come to be Mr. Brians' partner, haven't you, Mr. McRae?" he +enquired. Mr. Wilbur was a well-mannered young man and had never +adopted the easy familiar way of naming people which was current in the +town. + +"Say rather his office-boy, for a while," said Roderick. + +Mr. Wilbur protested. "Oh, now, Mr. McRae, you're just quite too +modest. Every one's saying how well you did at college and school; and +that you're going to make your mark--you know you are." + +Roderick wondered why the young man should take such pains to be polite +to him. + +"Did you want to see Lawyer Ed?" he asked. + +"No, no, thank you," he cried in alarm. "He's not in, is he? No, I +just wanted to see you, Mr. McRae--not professionally you understand +but--that is--personally,--on a very sacred matter." + +His voice dropped to a whisper, he crossed his feet in front of him, +then drew them under his chair, twirled his hat, smoothed down the back +of his head vigorously, and looked in dismay at the floor. + +"I hope I can do something for you," said Rod encouragingly, feeling +sorry for his evident distress. + +"Thank you so much!" cried the young man gratefully. "It's about--that +is--I think, an old acquaintance of yours--Miss Murray, the new teacher +in the East Ward. She _is_ an old acquaintance, isn't she?" + +It was Roderick's turn to feel hot and look embarrassed. He answered +his first client very shortly. + +"No, she isn't." + +"Oh! I thought--you went and spoke to her on the boat!" + +"So I did." + +"But you met her before surely?" asked the young man, aghast at the +notion of Roderick's boldness. + +"Yes." + +"In Toronto?" + +"Yes." + +"Long ago?" + +"Last autumn." + +"Is her home there?" + +"I believe so. It was then." + +"Oh, you don't know her very well then?" + +"No, I don't. And I don't know why on earth I've got to be put through +a catechism about it." + +"Oh, say! You really must think I'm awful!" cried the poor young man +contritely. "I do beg your pardon, Mr. McRae. It really must have +sounded shocking to you. But, well--I--did you ever meet a young--any +one whom you knew--at first sight--was the one person in all the world +for you?" His voice sank. The day was cool and breezy, but poor +Afternoon Tea Willie's face was damp and hot and he wiped it carefully +with his fine hem-stitched handkerchief, murmuring apologies. + +"No, I never did," said Roderick quite violently, for no reason at all. + +"I beg your pardon, I'm sure," murmured his visitor, vaguely alarmed. +"You can't understand my feelings then. But that's really what I felt +when I saw her. It was a revelation, one of those swift certain +intuitions of the soul, and I--you don't mind my telling you this, do +you, Mr. McRae?" + +"Oh, no, not if you don't mind," said Roderick. + +"It's so good of you," said poor Afternoon Tea Willie. "You were the +only one I could come to, the only one who seemed to know her. She +boards at Miss Armstrong's, but Miss Annabel--you know Miss Annabel? +No? Well, I wouldn't for worlds say anything against a lady, but Miss +Annabel doesn't seem to like me. I don't blame her, you know, but I +don't like to go there. It--I seem to bother her dreadfully, so I +thought--I knew you wouldn't mind introducing me some time, would you?" + +"I really don't know Miss Murray well enough to do that," said Roderick +decidedly. "And I wish you wouldn't say anything about our having met +before. I don't think she remembers me very well. Ask Mr. Brians to +introduce you." + +"I did, but he refused." + +"Perhaps he was only in fun, try him again--or Mrs. Adam. She teaches +with her." + +"Oh my! the very person." Mr. Wilbur sprang up. "Oh, I can't think +why I never thought of her before. I'll call on Madame this afternoon. +I can't thank you enough, Mr. McRae, for the kind suggestion." The +young man hurried out, profusely expressing his gratitude. Afternoon +Tea Willie had absolutely nothing in the world to do, but he was always +in a hurry. Perhaps the reason was that the ladies of the town ordered +him about so. He was the most obliging young man, and being always +available, he was used to the utmost, and was driven like a galley +slave from dawn to dark. As he went down the steps he turned back and +looked up at Roderick rapturously. + +"Say!" he whispered. "Did you ever see such eyes? Don't they make you +feel just as if you were going down in an elevator?" + +But Roderick turned quickly away, with an unreasonable and very +unbusinesslike desire to kick his first client down the steps. He had +almost closed the door behind him when a loud clear voice from the +street called his name. It was just four o'clock, the hour when all +the young ladies of Algonquin, dressed in their best, walked down to +the post-office for the afternoon mail which came in a half-hour +earlier. This afternoon post-office parade was a social function, for +only people of leisure and distinction were at liberty at that hour. +The young gentlemen from the bank generally emerged about that time +too, and came striding down to the post-office looking worried and +flurried as became gentlemen with the finances of the whole town and +half the country weighing them down. After they had all met at the +post-office, they went up to the ice-cream and candy palace on Main +Street, or out on the lake, or strolled off into the park. + +It was a member of the post-office parade who was hailing Roderick so +gaily. A pretty group was rustling past the office, all muslin frills +and silk sashes and flowers of every colour, and the prettiest and best +dressed of them all came running up the steps to his side, with a swish +of silken skirts and a whiff of violet perfume. + +It was Miss Leslie Graham, the girl he had helped out of the lake, not +forlorn and bedraggled now, but immaculate and dainty, from the rose +wreath on her big hat to the tip of her white kid shoe. + +"Hello!" she cried gaily. "I thought you'd surely 'phone over to see +whether I needed to make my will or not. You're not much of a lawyer." + +Roderick laughed. She was so frank and boyish that she put him quite +at his ease. + +"Well,--not knowing I was the family advocate, I didn't like to," he +said slyly. + +She laughed delightedly. "You're going to be after this, I can tell +you. Daddy's out of town and he doesn't know yet!" + +"There's no need to worry him by telling." + +"Oh, but there just is. I haven't told a soul yet, and I nearly had to +commit murder to keep it from Mother. Fred's in a pink fit every +minute for fear I'll let it out. I've got heaps of fun holding it over +his head. It makes him good and obedient. Is Lawyer Ed in?" + +"No. Do you wish to see him?" + +"No, of course not. I just wondered if he wouldn't keep house, though, +for a few minutes, while you came along and joined the bunch. We're +all going to make Alf take us for ice-cream. We spied him leaving +here. Can't you come?" + +"Thank you, but I'm afraid I couldn't leave," said Roderick, rather +taken aback by her frankness. That ideal woman, who sat dimly +enthroned in the recesses of his heart, never offered her favours, they +had to be sued for, and she was apt to sit in judgment on the girl who +departed from her strict rule. + +"Come on, Les!" called a voice from the lingering group she had left. +"Here's Alf. He's going to treat us all. Ho! A-a-lf!" The young +ladies of Algonquin, had lived in such close proximity to each other +from childhood that a playmate could always be summoned even from the +other end of the town by a clarion call, and they had never seen any +reason for changing their convenient method when long skirts and +piled-up hair might have been supposed to demand a less artless manner. +But then every one shouted across blocks, and besides, every one knew +that Afternoon Tea Willie just dearly loved to be yelled at. He +whirled about now, waved his hat, and came hurrying back, with the +peculiar jerky irregular motion of his feet, that always marked his +movements. + +"Hurrah, Leslie!" called her companions again. + +"Coming!" she cried. "So sorry you can't come," she added, turning to +Roderick, "but we'll give you another invitation." She looked +disappointed, and a little inclined to pout, but she waved her hand as +she ran down the steps and joined the group of lace and flowers now +fluttering down the side-walk towards the ice cream parlour. + +"Leslie's made a new conquest," cried a tall girl with flashing black +eyes. "He seemed frantically anxious to come with you, my dear. I +don't see how you got rid of him." + +"Who is he, Les?" cried another. "If it's a new young man come to this +girl-ridden town you simply have got to pass him round and introduce +him." + +"Why, he's Lawyer Ed's new partner, you goosie," cried a dozen voices, +for it was inexcusable for any young lady not to know all about Lawyer +Ed's business. + +"A lawyer, how perfectly lovely!" cried a plump little girl with pink +cheeks and dancing eyes. "It's such a relief to see some one beside +bank boys. I'm going to ask his advice about suing Afternoon Tea +Willie for breach of promise. What's his name, Leslie?" + +"Why, his name's Roderick McRae," cried the young lady with the black +eyes. "I remember when he used to go to school in a grey homespun suit +with the hay sticking all over it. He's the son of old Angus McRae who +used to bring our cabbage and lettuce to the back door!" + +"Mercy!" the plump little girl gave a shriek. "Where in the world did +you pick him up, Leslie?" + +The girl whirled about and faced her companions, her eyes blazing, her +checks red. "I didn't pick him up at all!" she cried hotly. "He +picked me up the other night, out of the lake over by Breezy Point, +where Fred Hamilton upset me out of his canoe. And if Roderick McRae +hadn't come along I'd have been drowned. So now!" + +It had all come out in a rush. She had fully intended to shield Fred. +But she could not see her preserver scoffed at by those Baldwin girls. +Immediately there was a chorus of enquiries and exclamations. +Afternoon Tea Willie was overcome with distress and apologised for not +being there. Old Angus McRae's son immediately became a hero. + +The little plump girl with the big blue eyes sighed enviously. "Oh +dear! How lucky! I think it's a shame all the good things happen to +you, Leslie; and he's so handsome!" + +"I'm going to ask him to join our tennis club," said Leslie, looking +round rather defiantly. + +Leslie Graham, by virtue of the fact that her mother belonged to the +reigning house of Armstrong, and her father was the richest man in +Algonquin, was leader of the younger social set. But Miss Anna Baldwin +of the black eyes was her most powerful rival. They were constant +companions and very dear friends, and never agreed upon anything. So +immediately upon Miss Graham's daring announcement that this new and +very exclusive club should be entered by one not in their set, Miss +Baldwin cried, "Oh, how perfectly sweet and democratic! Our milkman +saved our house from burning down one morning last winter, don't you +remember, Lou? We must make Mamma ask him to her next tea!" + +Thereupon the group broke up into two sections, one loudly proclaiming +its democratic principles, the other as vigorously upholding the +necessity for drawing rigid social lines. And they all swept into the +ice-cream palace, like a swarm of hot, angry bees, followed by +Afternoon Tea Willie in great distress, apologising now to one side, +now to the other. + +Another call from his work came to Roderick the next afternoon when he +paid his first visit to Doctor Leslie. The old Manse did not look just +as hospitable as of old, there were no crowds on the veranda and in the +orchard any more. For the foster mother of the congregation had left +her children mourning, and gone to continue her good work in a brighter +and better world. + +Viney was still in the kitchen, however, doing all in her power to make +the lonely minister comfortable. She had been away from the Manse for +some years in the interval, but was now returned with a half-grown +daughter to help her. Viney had left Mrs. Leslie to marry "Mahogany +Bill," a mulatto from the negro settlement out in Oro. But Bill had +been of no account, and after his not too sadly mourned demise, his +wife, promoted to the dignified title of Mammy Viney, had returned with +her little girl to the Algonquin Manse, and there she was still. + +"And your father has you home at last, Roderick," said the minister, +rubbing his hands with pleasure and surveying the young man's fine +honest face with affection. "He has lived for this day. I hope you +won't get so absorbed in your practice that you won't be able to run +out to the farm often." + +"Aunt Kirsty will see to that," laughed Roderick. + +The minister beamed. "I'm afraid I shall get into her bad books then, +for I am going to keep you here as often as possible. You are just the +young man I want in the church, Roderick--one who will be a leader of +the young men. Algonquin is changing," he added sadly. "Perhaps +because it is growing rapidly. I am afraid there is a rather fast set +of young men being developed here. It makes my heart ache to see fine +young fellows like Fred Hamilton and Walter Armstrong learning to +gamble, and yet that is just what is happening. There's a great work +here for a strong young man with just your upbringing, my boy. We must +save these lads from themselves--'Who knoweth,'" he added with a smile, +"'but thou hast come to the Kingdom for such an hour.'" + +There was a great deal more of the same earnest call to work, and +Roderick went away conscious of a slight feeling of impatience. It was +just what his father was always saying, but how was he to attend to his +work, if he were to have all the responsibility of the young men of the +town and all the people of Willow Lane upon him? He was inclined to +think that every man should be responsible for himself. He was +kind-hearted and generous when the impulse came, but he did not want to +be reminded that his life's work was to be his brother's keeper. His +work was to be a lawyer. He did not yet realise that in being his +brother's keeper he would make of himself the best kind of lawyer. + +The next evening, when he prepared to go home, Lawyer Ed declared he +must just take his horse and drive him out to the farm and have a visit +with Angus and a drink of Aunt Kirsty's butter-milk. So, early in the +evening, they drove through the town down towards the Pine Road. +Willow Lane still stood there. The old houses were more dilapidated +than ever, and there were more now than there used to be. Doctor +Blair's horse and buggy stood before one of them. Willow Lane was on +low, swampy ground, and was the abode of fevers and diseases of all +sorts. + +As they whirled past it, Lawyer Ed waved his whip towards it in +disgust. "That place is a disgrace to Algonquin," he blustered. "We +boast of our town being the most healthful and beautiful in Ontario, +and it's got the ugliest and the most unsanitary spot just right there +that you'd find in Canada. If J. P. gets to be mayor next year he'll +fix it up. He's having it drained already. I hope you'll get +interested in municipal affairs, Rod. I tell you it's great. I'm so +glad I'll have more time for town affairs now that you're here. But +you must get going there too. There's nothing so bad for a +professional man as to get so tied down to his work that he can't see +an inch beyond it. You can't help getting interested in this place. +It's going ahead so. Now, the lake front there--" + +Lawyer Ed was off on his pet scheme, the beautifying of that part of +the lake front that was now made hideous by factory and mill and +railroad track and rows of tumble-down boathouses. + +And Roderick listened half-heartedly, interested only because it +interested his friend. They passed along the Jericho Road, with its +sweet-smelling pines; the soft mists of early autumn clothed Lake +Algonquin in a veil of amethyst. The long heavy grass by the roadside, +and masses of golden-rod shining dimly in the evening-light told that +summer had finished her task. She was waiting the call to leave. + +Lawyer Ed was not half through with the esplanade along the lake front +when they reached Peter McDuff's home. It was a forlorn old +weather-beaten house with thistles and mullen and sturdy burdocks +growing close to the doorway. An old gnarled apple-tree, weary and +discouraged looking, stood at one side of the house, its blackened +branches touching the ground. At the other lay a broken plow, on top +of a heap of rubbish. A sagging wood-pile and a sorry-looking pump +completed the dreariness. + +And yet there were signs of a better day. The dilapidated barn was +well-built, the fences had once been strong and well put together, and +around the house were the struggling remains of an old garden, with +many a flower run wild among the thistles. The history of the home had +followed that of its owner. Peter Fiddle had once been a highly +respected man, with not a little education. His wife had been a good +woman, and when their boy came, for a time, the father had given up his +wild ways and his drinking and had settled down to work his little +farm. But he never quite gave up the drink, though Angus McRae's hand +held him back from it many and many a time. But Angus had been ill for +a couple of years, and Peter had gone very far astray when the helping +hand was removed. + +He had gone steadily downward until his powers were wasted and his +health ruined. His wife gave up the struggle, when young Peter was but +a child, and closed her tired eyes on the dirt and misery of her ruined +home. Then Angus McRae had regained his health and his grip on Peter, +and since then, with many disappointments and backslidings, he had +managed to bring him struggling back to a semblance of his old manhood. +He was not redeemed yet. But old Angus never gave up hope. + +Poor Young Peter had grown up dull of brain and heavy of foot, +handicapped before birth by the drink. But he had clung doggedly to +that one idea which Angus McRae had drilled into him, that he must, as +he valued his life, avoid that dread thing which had ruined his father +and killed his mother. + +Lawyer Ed pulled up his horse before the house. Young Peter had not +yet come in with the _Inverness_, but he looked about for Peter Fiddle. +He had been sober for a much longer time than usual in this interval, +and both he and Angus were keeping an anxious, hopeful eye upon him. + +"I wonder where Peter is," he said. + +For answer Roderick pointed down the road before them. A horse and +wagon stood close to the road-side. They drove up to it, and there, +stretched on the seat of his wagon, his horse cropping the grass by the +way-side, lay poor old Peter, dead drunk. + +"Well, well, well!" cried Lawyer Ed in mingled disgust and +disappointment. "He's gone again, and your father had such hopes of +him!" He gave the lines to Roderick and leaped out. + +"Hi, Peter!" he shouted, shaking the man violently. "Wake up! It's +time for breakfast, man!" + +But Peter Fiddle made no more response than a log. And then a look of +boyish mischief danced into Lawyer Ed's young eyes. + +"Come here, Rod!" he cried. "Let's fix him up and see what he'll do +when we get back." + +Roderick alighted and helped unhitch the old horse from the wagon. +They led him back to the house, watered him, put him into the old +stable and fed him. When they returned, Peter still lay asleep on the +wagon seat, and they drove off. Lawyer Ed in a fit of boyish mirth. + +It was heavy news for old Angus when they sat around the supper table, +eating Aunt Kirsty's apple pie and cream; but the good Samaritan was +not discouraged. "Well, well," he said with a sigh, "he kept away from +it longer this time than ever. He's improving. Eh, eh, poor body, +poor Peter!" + +"It would seem as if the work of the Good Samaritan is never done, +Angus," said Lawyer Ed. "I suppose there will always be thieves on the +Jericho Road." + +"I was just wondering to-day," said Angus thoughtfully, "if, while we +go on picking up the men on the Jericho Road, we couldn't be doing +something to keep the thieves from doing their evil work. There's +Peter now. If we can't keep him away from the drink, don't you think +we ought to try to keep the drink away from him?" + +"Lawyer Ed'll have to get a local option by-law passed in Algonquin, +Father," said Roderick. + +"Eh, Lad," cried the old man, his face radiant, "it is your father +would be the happy man to see that day. There is a piece of work for +you two now." + +"I'm ready," cried Lawyer Ed enthusiastically. "If I could only see +that cursed traffic on the run it would be the joy of my life to +encourage it with a good swift kick. We'll start a campaign right +away. Won't we, Rod?" + +"All right," cried Roderick, pleased at the look in his father's face. +"You give your orders. I'm here to carry them out." + +"There, Angus! You've got your policeman for the Jericho Road. We'll +do it yet. If we get the liquor business down, as Grandma Armstrong +says, we'll knock it conscientious." + +Old Angus followed them to the gate when they drove away, his heart +swelling with high hope. He would live to see all his ambitions +realised in Roderick. He sat up very late that night and when he went +to bed and remembered how the Lad had promised to help rid Peter of the +drink curse, he could not sleep until he had sung the long-meter +doxology. He sang it very softly, for Kirsty was asleep and it might +be hard to explain to her if she were disturbed; nevertheless he sang +it with an abounding joy and faith. + +As Roderick and Lawyer Ed drove homeward, down the moon-lit length of +the Pine Road; they were surprised to hear ahead of them, within a few +rods of Peter Fiddle's house, the sound of singing. Very wavering and +uncertain, now loud and high, now dropping to a low wail, came the slow +splendid notes of Kilmarnock to the sublime words of the 103rd psalm. + +The two in the buggy looked at each other. "Peter!" cried Lawyer Ed in +dismay. + +When Old Peter was only a little bit drunk he inclined to frivolity and +gaiety, and was given to playing the fiddle and dancing, but when he +was very drunk, he was very solemn, and intensely religious. He gave +himself to the singing of psalms, and if propped up would preach a +sermon worthy of Doctor Leslie himself. + +A turn in the road brought him into sight. There, between the silver +mirror of the moonlit lake and the dark scented green of the forest, +insensible to the beauty of either, sat the man. He was perched +perilously on the seat of his wagon and was swaying from side to side, +swinging his arms about him and singing in a loud maudlin voice, the +fine old psalm that he had learned long, long ago before he became less +than a man. + +Lawyer Ed pulled up before him. + +"Oh Peter, Peter!" he cried, "is this you?" + +Peter Fiddle stopped singing, with the righteously indignant air of one +whose devotions have been interrupted by a rude barbarian. + +"And who will you be," he demanded witheringly, "that dares to be +speaking to the McDuff in such a fashion? Who will you be, indeed?" + +"Come, come, Peter, none of that," said his friend soothingly. "I +cannot think who you are. You surely can't be my old friend, Peter +McDuff, sitting by the roadside this way. Who are you, anyway?" + +Peter became suddenly grave. The question raised a terrible doubt in +his mind. He looked about him with the wavering gaze of a man on board +a heaving ship. His unsteady glance fell on the empty wagon shafts +lying on the ground. He looked at them in bewilderment, then took off +his old cap and scratched his head. + +"How is this, I'd like to know?" demanded Lawyer Ed, pushing his +advantage. "If you're not Peter McDuff, who are you? And where is the +horse gone?" + +Roderick climbed out of the buggy, smothering his laughter, and leaving +the two to argue the question, he went after the truant horse which +might help to establish his master's lost identity. Lawyer Ed +dismounted and helped him hitch it, and apparently satisfied by its +reappearance, Peter stretched himself on the seat and went soundly +asleep again. He lay all undisturbed while they drove him in at his +gate, and put his horse away once more. And he did not move even when +they lifted him from his perch and, carrying him into the house, put +him into his bed. + +And just as they entered the town they met poor young Peter plodding +slowly and heavily towards his dreary home. + +"We must do something for those two, Rod," said Lawyer Ed, shaking his +head pityingly. "We must get Local Option or something that'll help +Peter." + +But Roderick was thinking of what Miss Leslie Graham had said, and +wondering if it might mean that he would be asked to handle the big +affairs of Graham and Company. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +"MOVING TO MELODY" + +The first Sunday that Angus McRae drove along the lake shore and up to +the church with Lawyer Ed's partner sitting at his side, he was +praying, all the way, to be delivered from the sin of pride. They left +Aunt Kirsty at home as usual, with her Bible and her hymn-book, for the +poor lady had grown so stout that she could not be lifted into buggy or +boat or conveyance of any kind. They started early, but stopped so +often on the road that they were none the earlier in arriving. For +Angus must needs pause at the McDuff home, to see that young Peter was +ready for church, and that old Peter was thoroughly sobered. And there +was a huge bouquet of Aunt Kirsty's asters to be left at Billy +Perkins's for the little girl who was sick. There were sounds of +strife in Mike Cassidy's home too, and Angus dismounted and went in to +reason with Mike and the wife on the incongruity of throwing the dishes +at each other, when they had spent the morning at mass. + +So when the Good Samaritan had attended to all on the Jericho Road +there was not much time left, and the church bells were ringing when +they drove under the green tunnel of Elm Street; the Anglican, high, +resonant and silvery, the Presbyterian, with a slow, deep boom, and +between the two, and harmonising with both, the mellow, even roll of +the Methodist bell. The call of the bells was being given a generous +obedience, for already the streets were crowded with people. From the +hills to the north and the west, from the level plain to the south they +came, on foot, and in buggies. Even the people who lived across the +lake or away down the shore were there, some having crossed the water +in boats or launches. This means of conveyance, however, was regarded +with some disfavour, as it too perilously resembled Sunday boating. +The matter had even been brought up in the session by Mr. McPherson, +who declared he objected to it, for there was no good reason why +Christian people could not walk on the earth the Almighty had provided +for them, on the Sabbath day. + +Roderick put away the horse into the shed, smiling tenderly when he +found his father waiting at the gate for him. He wanted to walk around +to the church door with his boy, so that they might meet his friends +together. They were received in a manner worthy of the occasion, for +the four elders who were ushering all left their posts and came forward +to greet Angus McRae, knowing something of what a great day in his life +this Sabbath was. J. P. Thornton and Jock McPherson ushered on one +side of the church, Lawyer Ed and Captain McTavish on the other, a very +fitting arrangement, which mingled the old and the new schools. Only +Lawyer Ed could never be kept in his own place, but ran all over the +church and ushered wheresoever he pleased. + +The elders of Algonquin Presbyterian church were at their best when +showing the people to their seats on a Sabbath morning. Each man did +it in a truly characteristic manner. Captain Jimmie received the +worshippers in a breezy fashion, as though the church were the +_Inverness_ and he were calling every one to come aboard and have a bit +run on the lake and a cup-a-tea, whatever. Mr. McPherson shook hands +warmly with the old folk, but kept the young people in their places, +and well did every youngster know that did he not conduct himself in +the sanctuary with becoming propriety, the cane the elder carried would +likely come rapping down smartly on his unrighteous knuckles. J. P. +Thornton's welcome was kindly but stately. He had grown stout and +slightly pompous-looking during the passing years, and his fine, +well-dressed figure lent quite an air of dignity to the whole church. +But Lawyer Ed, ushering a stranger into the church, was a heart-warming +sight. He seemed made for the part. He met one half-way down the +steps with outstretched hands, marched him to the best seat in the +place, even if he had to dislodge one of the leading families to do it, +thrust a Bible and a hymn-book into his hand, and enquired if he were +sure he would be comfortable, all in a manner that made the newcomer +feel as if the Algonquin church had been erected, a minister and ciders +appointed, and a congregation assembled all for the express purpose of +edifying him on this particular Sabbath morning. + +He captured Angus McRae and showed him to his seat this morning with a +happy bustle, for his pride and joy in the Lad's return was only second +to his own father's. Roderick sat beside his father in their old pew +near the rear of the church, gazing about him happily at the familiar +scene. The people were filling up the aisles, with a soft hushed +rustle. There was Fred Hamilton and his father, and Dr. Archie Blair +and his family. Dr. Blair was rarely too busy to get to church on a +Sunday morning, though he made a loud pretence of being very +irreligious. It was rumoured that he carried a volume of Burns to +church in his pocket instead of a Bible, a tale which the Doctor +enjoyed immensely and took care not to contradict. There was a silken +rustle at Roderick's right hand, a breath of perfume, and Leslie +Graham, in a wonderful rose silk dress and big plumed hat, came up the +aisle, followed by her father and mother. The Grahams were the most +fashionable people in the church, and Mr. Graham was the only man who +wore a high silk hat. He had been the first to wear the frock coat, +but while many had followed his example in this regard, he was the only +man who had, as yet, gone the length of the silk hat. Of course, +Doctor Leslie had one, but every one felt that it was quite correct for +a minister to wear such a thing. It was part of the clerical garb, and +anyway he wore it only at weddings and funerals, showing it belonged to +the office, rather than to the man. So Alexander Graham's millinery +was looked upon with some disfavour. He was a quiet man though, +sensitive and retiring, and not given to vain display, and people felt +that the sin of the silk hat very likely lay at the door of his +fashionable wife and daughter. + +The Grahams were no sooner seated than Leslie turned her handsome head, +and glancing across the church towards Roderick, gave him a brilliant +smile. But the young man did not catch the gracious favour; he was +looking just then at a group passing up the aisle to a seat almost in +front of him; Grandma Armstrong moving very slowly on her eldest +daughter's arm, Miss Annabel in a youthful blue silk dress, and behind +them a girlish figure in a white gown with a wealth of shining hair +gleaming from beneath her wide hat. + +Helen Murray had come to church this first Sunday with some fear. Her +father's voice spoke to her yet in every minister's tones, and the +place and the hour were all calculated to bring up memories hard to +bear in public. She was just seated between Grandma and Miss Annabel +when the former pulled her sleeve and enquired if she did not think the +new gladiators very pretty. The girl followed the old lady's eyes and +saw they were indicating the shiny brass electroliers suspended from +the ceiling. In happier days Helen had found laughter very easy. Her +sense of humour had not been deadened by sorrow, it was only in +abeyance, and now she felt it stirring into life. The little incident +made her look around with interest. Certainly the Algonquin church was +not a place calculated to make one indulge in melancholy. The +Presbyterian congregation was a virile one, bright and friendly and +full of energy, and with very few exceptions, every one was at least +fairly well off. With the aid of a generous expenditure of money they +had expressed their congregational life in the decoration of the +church; so the place was comfortable and well lighted, and exceedingly +bright in colouring. Around three sides ran a gallery with an +ornamental railing, tinted pink. The walls were the same colour, +except for a bright green dado beneath the gallery, and the vaulted +ceiling was decorated with big bouquets of flowers in a shade of pink +and green slightly deeper than the walls and the dado. The carpet and +the cushions--every inch of the floor was carpeted and every pew +cushioned--were a warm bright crimson to match the organ pipes. The +high Gothic windows were of brilliant stained glass, which, when the +morning sun shone, threw a riot of colour over the worshippers. And +indeed everything was warm and bright and shining, from the glittering +new electroliers suspended from the pink ceiling, to the crimson baize +doors which swung inward so hospitably at one's approach. + +The church had been slowly filling, the choir filed into their places, +the organ stopped playing Cavalleria Rusticana, a hush fell over the +place and Doctor Leslie, his white hair and black gown passing through +the changing lights of the windows, came slowly out of the vestry and +up to the pulpit. He was an old man now, but a vigorous one, and his +sermons were still strong and full of the fire of his earlier years. +He had never walked quite so smartly, nor spoken with quite his old vim +since the day he had been left alone in the Manse. But through his +bereavement his eye had grown a little kindlier, his handshake a little +more sympathetic, his voice a little more tender. + +As he stood up and opened the Book of Praise to announce the first +hymn, his glance involuntarily travelled, as it always did at the +beginning of the service, to where old Angus's white head shone in the +amber light of the window, as though a halo of glory were about it. +Old Angus had long ago learned to look for that glance, and returned it +by a glow from his deep eyes. Whenever they sang the 112th psalm in +Algonquin Presbyterian church, + + "_How blest the man who fears the Lord, + And makes His law his chief delight,_" + +the minister looked down and thought how well the words described the +sunny-faced old saint, and Angus looked up and felt how aptly they +fitted his pastor. + +Dr. Leslie had had Angus in his mind this morning when he chose the +111th psalm for their opening praise, knowing how the old man's heart +would be lifted to his God this morning. + + "_Praise ye the Lord; with my whole heart + The Lord's praise I'll declare._" + +They sang it to "Gainsborough," the favourite tune of the old folk, for +it gave an opportunity for restful lingering on every word, and had in +it all those much-loved trills and quavers that made up the true +accompaniment of a Scottish psalm. They sang it spiritedly, as +Algonquin Presbyterians always sang; the choir and the organ on one +side, the congregation on the other, each striving to gain the greater +volume and power. For many years the choir had won out, for Lawyer Ed +was leader, and the whole congregation would have been no match for him +alone. But lately he had handed the leadership over to a young man +whom he had trained up from the Sunday-school, and gone down to the +opposition, where he sometimes gave the organist and the choir all they +could do to be heard. And this morning, in his happiness over +Roderick's home-coming, he was at his best. + +There was only one little rift in the harmony of the whole +congregation. In spite of Mr. McPherson's objections, Lawyer Ed and J. +P. Thornton had succeeded in putting the "Amen" at the end of the +psalms, as well as the hymns, and when the objectionable word came this +morning, Jock sat down as he always did, heavily and noisily, exactly +on the last word of the psalm proper, and pulled Mrs. Jock's silk wrap +to make her give a like condemnation to the bit of popery. Lawyer Ed +sat in the pew opposite Jock and heard the protesting creak of Jock's +seat when he descended and, in a spirit of mischief, he turned round +till he faced the McPherson and rolled out the "Amen" directly at its +objector. It was shocking conduct for an elder, as J. P. said +afterwards, but then every one knew that though he should become +Moderator of the General Assembly, Lawyer Ed would never grow up. + +The sermon was to young people. It was a call to them to give their +lives in their morning to the true Master and Lord of life. Dr. Leslie +took for his text the scene enacted on that great morning when two +young fishermen had heard across the shining water that call which, +once truly heard by the heart's ear, cannot be resisted, "Come ye after +Me." There were young people in the church that morning who heard it +as truly as the fisher lads that far gone morning on Galilee, and as +truly obeyed it. Helen Murray listened, struggling with tears. She +had grown up in a Christian home where the influence of father and +mother were such that it was inevitable that she should early become a +disciple of the Master they served. But she had faltered in her +service since her griefs had come upon her in such a flood. She would +never have allowed herself to grow selfish over her joys but sorrow had +absorbed her. She did not realise, until this morning, that she was +growing selfish over her trouble. The tender call came again--"Come ye +after Me," sounding just as sweetly and impelling in the night of +sorrow and stress as it ever did in the joyous morning. + +Roderick McRae was listening to the sermon too, but he did not hear the +Voice. For in his young, eager ears was ringing the siren song of +success. He had gone to church regularly in his absence from home, +because he knew that the weekly letter to his father would lose half +its charm did the son not give an account of the sermon he had heard +the Sabbath before. But much listening to sermons had bred in the +young man the inattentive heart, even though the ear was doing its +duty. Roderick accepted sermons and church-going good-naturedly, as a +necessary, respectable formality of life. That it must have a bearing +on all life or be utterly meaningless he did not realise. His plans +for life had nothing to do with church, and the divine call fell upon +his ears unheeded. + +When the sermon was drawing to a close, Lawyer Ed scribbled something +on a scrap of paper and when he rose to take the offering he passed it +up to the minister. Lawyer Ed never in his life got through a sermon +without writing at least one note. This one was a request for St. +George's, Edinburgh, as the closing psalm. He knew it was not the one +selected, but something in the stirring words of the sermon, coupled +with his joy over his boy's return, had roused him so that nothing but +the hallelujahs of that great anthem could express his feelings. + +When Dr. Leslie arose at the close and announced, instead of the +regular doxology, the 24th psalm, Harry Lauder, the leader of the +choir, looked down at Lawyer Ed and smiled, and Lawyer Ed smiled back +at him. The young man's name was really Harry Lawson, but as he had a +beautiful tenor voice, and could sing a funny Scottish song far better, +every one in Algonquin said, than the great Scotch singer himself, he +had been honored by the slight but significant change in his name. And +when Harry Lauder smiled down at Lawyer Ed at the announcement of St. +George's, Edinburgh, every one knew what it meant. When Lawyer Ed had +given up the choir, under the pressure of other duties, and put Mr. +Lawson in his place, he delivered this ultimatum to his successor: "Now +look here, youngster. I am not used to being led by any one, either in +singing or in anything else, but I promise that as far as I can, I'll +follow you in the church service. But there's one tune in which I'll +follow no living man, no, nor congregation of massed bands, and that's +St. George's, Edinburgh. I just can't help it, Harry; when the first +note of that tune comes rolling out, I am neither to hold nor to bind. +Now I don't want to have it spoiled by see-sawing, that would be +blasphemous. So you just tell the organist that I have a weakness +comes over me when that tune is sung, and tell him to listen, and +follow me. And you do the same." + +So every one knew that when St. George's, Edinburgh, was sung, Lawyer +Ed became the leader of the choir and congregation pro tem. No one +needed to be told, however, for none could help following him. And he +had never thrown himself into it with more abandon than on this sunny +morning with the Eternal Call sounding again in the ears of all who had +truly heard the sermon. + + "_Ye gates lift up your heads on high!_" + + +He was glorious on the first stanza, he was magnificent on the second. +He climbed grandly up the heights of its crescendo:-- + + "_Ye doors that last for aye, + Be lifted up that so the King of glory enter may,_" + +in ever growing power and volume; up to the wonder of the question-- + + "_But who is He that is the King of glory?_" + +up to the rapture of the response:-- + + "_The Lord of Hosts and none but He + The King of Glory is._" + +And then out he came upon the heights of the refrain, with all the +universe conquered and at his feet. When the first Hallelujah burst +from the congregation, mounting splendidly at his side, the leader +closed his book. He flung it upon the seat, tore off his glasses, +clasped his hands behind him, and let himself go. And with a mighty +roar he swept congregation, choir, organ, everybody, up into a thunder +of praise. + + "_Hallelujah, Hallelujah. Amen, Amen._" + + +It might not have been considered finished by a musical critic, it may +have lacked restraint and nicety of shading; but no one who heard the +Algonquin congregation that morning singing "Ye Gates lift up your +heads," led by Lawyer Edward Brians, could doubt that it was surely +some such fine fresh rapture that rang through the aisles of Heaven on +that creation day when the morning stars sang together and all the Sons +of God shouted for joy. + +Helen Murray bowed her head for the benediction, the stinging tears +rushing to her eyes, but they were not tears of sorrow. For the moment +she had forgotten there was such a thing as pain. She had lost it as +she had been swept up to the glad peaks of song. For one trembling +moment she had caught a glimpse of a new wonder, the whole world +moving, through sorrow and pain and dull misunderstanding, surely and +swiftly up to God. And for that instant her soul had leaped forward, +too, to meet Him. She came down from the heights; no mortal could live +there, seeing things that were not lawful to utter. But from that +first Sunday in Algonquin church her outlook on her new life was +changed. She had seen the end of her rainbow. It was back of mists +and clouds and storms, but it was there! And she could never again be +quite so sad. + +The congregation slowly filed put of the pews and down the aisles, +chatting in soft hushed voices, until the organist pulled out all the +stops and played a lively air, and then the conversation rose to suit +the accompaniment. Mr. McPherson had objected to the pipe-organ, to +the hired organist from the city, and finally and most vigorously to +the musical dispersion of the congregation. If the body must play for +the church service, Jock conceded, well, he must; but why he must paw +and trample and harry the noisy thing, when church was over and done +with, was a mystery that no right thinking person could solve. The +organist, when approached with the elder's objections, had answered +with dignity that all the city churches did it, and Jock's case was +hopelessly lost. For when Algonquin was told that in the city they did +thus and so, then Algonquin would do that thing too if it had meant +burning down the church. So the congregation went down the aisles, +sailing merrily on a flood of gay music, and as they went, Miss Annabel +introduced the new teacher to several of the young folk of the church, +who asked her to join the Christian Endeavor and the Young Women's +Society, and the Young People's Bible class and to come to the picnic +to-morrow afternoon in the park and the moonlight sail on Friday +evening, and assured her that she would like Algonquin, and wasn't it a +very pretty place? + +As they passed down the steps, a slim young man, dressed immaculately +in the height of fashion, came tripping up to them and addressed Miss +Annabel in the most abjectly polite manner. + +"Good morning, Mr. Wilbur," said the lady coldly, "I am sure you must +welcome Sunday. I suppose you are working so hard these days." It was +very cruel of Miss Annabel, for poor Afternoon Tea Willie had not yet +been able to get an introduction to the lady of his dreams, and he +really did work very hard indeed, and his was the employment from which +there was no respite even on Sundays. But she hurried Helen on without +further notice of him. Roderick was watching the little play with some +amusement as he stood waiting for his father, who had stopped to have a +word with the minister. As he did so he was puzzled to see Fred +Hamilton pass him without so much as a word. He was concluding that +his old acquaintance had not seen him, when he heard a merry laugh at +his elbow and there stood Miss Leslie Graham. + +"Did you see poor Freddy?" she cried. "Oh, dear, dear, I told on him +after all, and he's mad at everybody in the town, you included, +evidently. Now here's Daddy. He's dying to meet you. Here, Dad, this +is the man that did the deed." + +Mr. Graham took Roderick's hand and held it while he thanked him, in a +voice that trembled, for saving his daughter's life. Roderick was +attempting to disclaim any heroism in the matter, when Mrs. Graham fell +upon him with a rustle of silks, and fairly overwhelmed him with +gratitude. Then two or three others came up and demanded to know what +it was all about and Roderick was overcome with embarrassment and was +thankful when his father appeared and he could make his escape. + +Lawyer Ed came to the buggy to say good-bye to Angus and to enquire +what was the collie-shankie at the kirk door, and when he heard, he +slapped Roderick on the back. "Well, well, look here, my lad," he +cried, "why, your fortune is as good as made. Sandy Graham has been +mad at me for the space of twenty-five years or more about something or +other--what was it now? Bless me if I haven't forgotten what. But he +nearly left the church over it, and entirely left the law firm of +Brians & Co." The bereaved head of the firm put back his head at the +recollection, shut his eyes, and laughed long and heartily. "But +you've got him back again all right, and I tell you this, my lad, if +you get his business your fortune is just about made. Only don't go +and lose your heart to the handsome young lady while you need a steady +head!" + +They drove away, and while the father talked on the drive home of the +sermon, the son answered absently; his thoughts were all with the piece +of good luck which had come his way by such a mere chance. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +"FLOATED THE GLEAM" + +Ever since Leslie Graham was old enough to know what she wanted she had +always managed to get it. She was the only child of wealthy parents, +as Algonquin counted wealth. Her father was absorbed in business, and +felt he had done his duty by his daughter when he gave her money enough +to be the best dressed girl in the town. Her mother's creed in regard +to bringing up children was to give the dears a good time when they +were young, they would grow old soon enough. So Leslie's time and +energies were bent to the two main tasks of life, unconsciously set her +by her parents, to spend as much money as possible on clothes, and to +have a good time. + +She had been named, as many another girl of the congregation, Margaret +Leslie, after the minister's wife; she was a member of the church; she +had been brought up to attend Sunday-school and mission band, and to be +helpful in all social functions of the congregation; and withal she was +frankly and happily, and entirely pagan. + +The earliest lesson life had taught her was that, if she wanted +anything, screams generally produced the desired object. The second +lesson was that, when screams failed, one must scramble down from one's +high chair and go after the prize and wrest it from table or sideboard +or high eminence, no matter how much hard climbing or bumps were +entailed. + +So when Roderick McRae became desirable in her eyes, in her usual +straightforward manner, she frankly sought him out and demanded his +attention. His sudden appearance on the evening of her loss of +self-confidence, the appeal his rescue had made to her girlish +imagination, and the charm of the forbidden that hung over Old Angus +McRae's son made him a real Prince Charming. She was quite certain +that he needed only to know that she liked him, to be immediately her +slave. He seemed very shy and hard to convince that she cared, but +that was natural, considering the wide difference in their social +positions. + +On the Monday morning after her father's arrival home, when he was +ready to go down to the bank, she suddenly appeared, dressed in her +prettiest white gown and announced her intention of accompanying him. + +"Well, well, I feel highly flattered," he declared, as they walked down +the garden path together. Then, as he opened the gate for her, he +asked, with a knowing twinkle in his eye, for he was an astute business +man, and accustomed to divining people's motives, "Now, what do you +want to wheedle out of me this morning? You've been for a trip +already, and it can't be a new dress." + +She laughed and, as was her way, went straight to the point. "No, it's +a new young man, Daddy. I want you to do something nice for Roderick +McRae. Haven't you a big chunk of business you need a lawyer for?" + +Her father frowned. "Tut, tut, if I've got to give some work to every +young man that does you a favour, my business will be gone to the dogs +in a month." + +"A favour! Why, Father Graham, he saved my life!" cried the girl +solemnly. + +"Yes, dear, I realise that, and I'd like to do something for him. But +Ed Brians, I can't stand. He wants to run everything in the town. He +pretty nearly does, but he's not going to run my business. You mind +that!" + +Though Lawyer Ed had completely forgotten the cause of the trouble +between them, Alexander Graham had not. Upon a certain date, years +earlier, the belligerent young elder had tramped into a managers' +meeting, denounced a money-saving scheme of Manager Graham's, and +called the assembled brethren all misers and skinflints. The managers +had succumbed, in the most friendly manner, all except Sandy Graham. +He had resigned instead, and had tended his grievance carefully until, +from a small shoot, in ten years it had grown up into a flourishing +tree with deep and tenacious roots. + +There was another cause of dissension, too. Alexander Graham had a +brother named William, a lawyer, who lived in New York and was reputed +fabulously wealthy. And he was an old and staunch friend of Lawyer Ed, +who could not and would not be moved from his loyalty, no matter how +many grievances Sandy placed before him. Bill was forever putting +business in the way of Edward Brians, and his brother's jealousy and +ill-feeling grew stronger as the years passed. + +Lawyer Ed paid not the slightest attention to Sandy Graham's enmity. +He invariably treated the old friend with an overwhelming good-humour +which only served to increase the irritation. + +Leslie Graham knew all this, but she cared not a pin's worth for her +father's quarrels. She was not going to have her plans spoiled by a +mere parent. + +"Now, Daddy dear!" she cried, knowing exactly how to manage him, "I +should think you'd have wit enough to see that Lawyer Ed would hate you +to give your business to his young partner far worse than to give it to +Willoughby. There's that new lumber scheme. You can give Roderick +that and tell him Lawyer Ed's not to know anything about it, eh?" + +The man hesitated. He was at that moment on his way to the law firm of +Willoughby and Baldwin to put into their hands the work of negotiating +with the British North American R. R. Company regarding some timber +limits in New Ontario. It was a complicated piece of business, needing +careful handling. He had not much faith in Willoughby--he was too old, +and less in Baldwin, who was too young. This young McRae, being the +son of Angus McRae, would be honest, there was no doubt of that, and +evidently he had ability. And while he hesitated, and his daughter +argued and cajoled, they came to the door of Lawyer Ed's office. +Roderick was standing there alone, having just seen his partner off +down the street. Miss Leslie Graham took matters into her own hands +with her usual charming audacity. + +"Good morning, Mr. Roderick McRae," she cried. "Here's my respected +parent can't make up his mind about a piece of backwoods he owns away +back of beyond somewhere, so I just steered him down here. He was just +saying on the way down that he would rather have the firm of Brians and +McRae do his business than any one he knew of. Weren't you, Papa? Now +you go in there with Roderick, and I shall call for you when I come +back from my shopping. Bye, bye." + +She shoved him up the steps and right in at the door, and skipped away, +laughing over her shoulder at the trick she had played. Her father +stood a moment looking after her, not knowing whether to be angry or +amused. She turned and winked at him when she reached the bottom of +the steps, and his anger vanished. He laughed indulgently, threw up +his hands with a helpless gesture and followed Roderick into the +office. And before he stated his business he spent a half-hour telling +how much his daughter was to him and how grateful he was to Roderick +for what he had done. + +Roderick's eyes shone when the new work was laid before him. It was a +big thing, bigger than had ever come the way of that little office in +all the years it had done business in Algonquin. It fired his ambition +to make good. The shrewd business man saw the look in the young +lawyer's eye, and he did not regret the step Leslie had forced him to +take. + +"If you see that those rascals don't get the better of us, Mr. McRae," +he said in parting, "I need not tell you that you will profit by it as +well as ourselves." + +Roderick thanked him for his trust. "When Mr. Brians comes in--" he +commenced, but his client interrupted. + +"I want it to be distinctly understood that this is your work entirely, +Mr. McRae," he said. "Mr. Brians will understand." + +Lawyer Ed did understand, and laughed long and loud over what he called +Sandy Graham's extreme Scotchness. But he was vastly pleased that +Roderick was to have a chance of showing what he could do, and that the +wide business interests of Graham and Company were to be once more in +their hands. + +And now Roderick plunged into work with all his might. When the news +spread that Graham and Co. had given a big transaction into the hands +of Lawyer Ed's young partner, others followed. Lawyer Ed himself was a +shrewd advocate, but every one knew that his business tendencies ran on +certain lines. His chief concern had always been to settle family +troubles, rather than to make money out of them. Many a puzzled farmer +he had saved from losing in an unjust bargain when the opposite course +would have meant money for himself. Many a family on the verge of +disintegration over a will had been brought together and made happy, +because their lawyer was more bent on their welfare than his own. +Roderick intended fully to keep up the fine old standards of the firm +as far as possible. But he was determined to be much more than the +legal adviser of all the folk living around Algonquin who couldn't do +business themselves. + +He took his mid-day meal at the Algonquin House, the leading hotel, and +won the favour of Mr. Crofter, the proprietor. And there came to the +office of Brians and McRae one day, much to the senior partner's +amazement, Mr. Crofter himself, with some mining concerns he had in the +north. Mr. Crofter had never quite seen eye to eye with Lawyer Ed, +since the latter had declared flatly and loudly, at a tea-meeting given +by the Sons of Temperance, that a man who sold liquor over a bar was a +curse to the community. But Mr. Crofter knew when he wanted his +business well done. He distrusted almost every one in Algonquin, but +he knew old Angus McRae's son would be incapable of dishonesty. + +The second surprise came a few months later when the success of +Crofter's deal had made the young lawyer's name. Alexander Graham took +all his business out of the hands of the Willoughby firm, and gave it +to Brians & McRae. + +That evening Roderick was asked to the Grahams for dinner, as a further +honour. He went with some trepidation, as it was his first venture +into society. Mr. Graham was exceedingly genial, and Leslie was +charming, but the lady of the house was rather distant. She could not +help seeing Leslie's partiality towards Roderick and resented it. As +her husband's lawyer, the young man was quite acceptable, but as a +possible aspirant to his daughter's favour he would be entirely out of +place. Fred Hamilton was the only other one present outside the +family. The young man sat in sulky silence most of the evening, a +circumstance which seemed to put his pretty hostess into a high good +humour. + +The invitation to the Grahams was the signal for other doors to open. +Roderick was invited everywhere. And wherever he went there was Miss +Leslie Graham, the belle of every occasion, and always ready to bestow +her greatest favours upon him. He always looked about him at these gay +gatherings of young people half-expecting to see the young lady he had +met on the _Inverness_; but he was always disappointed, and wondered +why she did not appear. + +Helen Murray, herself, often wondered why she was not bidden to the +many festivities of which she heard the gay Miss Annabel talk. + +"You will probably be invited out a great deal, Miss Murray," Miss +Armstrong cautioned her, "and I hope you will select very carefully the +places you visit. You see you are practically one of our family, and +though we respect all grades of society, you must realise that we have +a position to maintain. And I hope you won't think me interfering, my +dear; but if you would consult Annabel and me, as to accepting an +invitation, I think it would be wise. We should like so much to have +you of our set." + +Helen obeyed, a little puzzled, but afraid to act against the judgment +of her august hostess. So she found herself soon bidden to afternoon +teas and receptions and all the affairs where the older set attended. +She met no one of her own age, however, except Miss Annabel who called +them all old frumps, and declared married folk were deadly dull, and +she would never go near their parties again so long as she lived. And +she fell into a state of nervous apprehension, when the approach of the +next afternoon tea was rumoured abroad, lest she should not be invited. +Poor Miss Annabel was being slowly but surely pushed on into the older +set by the younger generation. She hated her position, but it was the +only one left, and it was better than the dread desolation of no +position at all. + +Helen kept away from the whirl, finding her duties at school sufficient +excuse. She often longed for some young life, however, and wondered +why she did not meet the daughters of the ladies who were so kind to +her when she went out under Miss Armstrong's wing. + +She did not know as yet that the reason was two-fold. First, the +younger set were a little more exclusive than the one in which the +Misses Armstrong moved. Young Algonquin had but recently awakened to +the fact that society was not society unless you built a fence about it +and kept somebody--it didn't matter much who--out. The other and more +potent reason was Helen's unfortunate sex. There were already far too +many young ladies in Algonquin. A young man with exactly her claims to +recognition would have been received with acclaim. But, except in +holiday time, there was always a sad dearth of young men in Algonquin, +if not an actual famine. So no wonder the young ladies rather resented +the appearance of another girl to join their already too swollen ranks, +and especially a girl so undeniably attractive as the new school +teacher. + +Quite unconscious of all this, Helen spent many a lonely evening at her +window looking down at the gay crowds passing along the street towards +the lake, and listening drearily to their happy voices floating under +the leafy tunnel of the trees. + +She dared not join the groups that would have welcomed her, the young +folk who earned their living and who made the church a centre of social +intercourse for the lonely. Miss Armstrong had politely given her to +understand that she would not be welcome in Rosemount, if she +associated with the girls who stood behind the counter, or worked in a +dress-maker's shop. + +She often saw Miss Leslie Graham as she darted into the house and out +again, on a flying visit to her grandmother, but she had no opportunity +of meeting her. + +So in spite of her brave attempts to forget her grief in her work, and +in spite of Madame's unfailing kindness and help, the girl was often +very lonely. The big echoing house of Rosemount was always deserted of +an evening. Grandma went to bed, and either Helen or the little maid +was left on guard, while the two ladies went to a dinner-party or an +evening at cards. + +One soft languorous September evening, the loneliness promised to be +unbearable, and she determined to go alone for a walk. Madame was +always too tired for a tramp after school, and she knew no one else who +would accompany her. + +She spoke of it at the tea-table in the faint hope that Miss Annabel +might suggest coming too, but was disappointed. + +"Why that'll be lovely, dearie," she cried, "go and have a run in the +park. It will do you good. I'd dearly love to go with you, but +there's Mrs. Captain Willoughby's musicale. There won't be a soul +there that isn't old enough to be in her dotage, but I promised that +nothing short of sudden death would make me miss it." + +"Annabel, I am surprised at you," said her sister reprovingly. "I +wouldn't go far in the evening alone, Miss Murray," she added in her +stately way. "It does not seem just--well--exactly proper, don't you +know." + +"Nonsense, Elinor. How's the poor child to help going alone, when +there's no one to go with her?" + +Helen had learned to look for these slight altercations at the table. +While the sisters were apparently of one mind on all the larger issues +of life, they had a habit of arguing and cavilling over the little +things that often left their young boarder in a state of wonder. + +She slipped away as soon as the meal was over, for the evenings were +growing short and she wanted to see the lake in its sunset glory. The +night was warm and all the young people were on the lake. The streets +were deserted. But on the pretty vine-clad verandas, the heads of +families sat sewing or reading and smoking, with the little ones +tumbling about the grass. On one veranda a gramophone, the first in +the town, screeched out a strain from a Grand Opera to the wonder and +admiration of all the neighbours. Helen moved along the street more +lonely than ever in the midst of all this home happiness. She passed a +little cottage where a young man and woman were tying up a rose vine, +beaten down by recent rains. Madame had told her they had been married +just the week before. They looked very happy, laughing and whispering +like a couple of nest-building robins, as they worked together to make +their little home more beautiful. She had to hurry away from the +pretty scene. Some one had promised her once that there should be a +rose vine over their porch in the new home he had been planning for her. + +She turned a corner and was alarmed by a great churning and puffing +noise ahead, as though the _Inverness_ had left her native element and +come sailing up Main Street. But it was only Captain Willoughby in his +new automobile. It was the first, and as yet the only machine in +Algonquin, and its unhappy owner would have sold it to the lowest +bidder could he have found any one foolish enough to bid at all. For +so far, the captain had had no opportunity to learn to run it. His +first excursions abroad had been attended with such disaster, such mad +careering of horses, and plunging into ditches, such dismaying +paralysis of the engine right in the middle of a neighbour's gateway, +such inexplicable excursions onto the sidewalk and through plate glass +windows, such harrowing overturning of baby-carriages, that Mrs. +Captain Willoughby took an attack of nerves every time he went abroad, +and the town fathers finally requested that the captain take out his +Juggernaut car only at such hours as the streets were clear. So on +quiet evenings such as this one, when there were not likely to be any +horses abroad, Mrs. Willoughby telephoned all her friends and told them +to take in the children for the captain was coming. And so, heralded, +like the Lady Godiva, the trembling motorist went forth, while the +streets immediately became as empty as those of Coventry, with rows of +peeping Toms, safe inside their fences, jeering at the unhappy man's +uneven progress. He whizzed past Helen at a terrible speed, grazing +the side-walk and giving her almost as great a fright as he got +himself, and went whirring up the hill. + +She did not want to join the crowds in the park so she followed the +familiar street past the school, and out along the Pine Road toward the +lake shore. But when she found her way was leading her through Willow +Lane, where all the dirty and poor people of Algonquin lived, she +turned off into a path that crossed a field and led to the water. +Helen had some little pupils from Willow Lane, and their appearance did +not invite a closer acquaintance with their homes. + +She did not know that she was passing near the back of Old Peter +McDuff's farm, but she noticed that the fences were conveniently broken +down, and left a path clear down to the water's edge. + +Lake Algonquin lay before her in its evening glory, a glory veiled and +softened by the amethyst veil the autumn was weaving. The water was as +still and as clear as a mirror. To her left the town nestled in a soft +purple mist, the gay voices from the park were softened and sweetened +by the distance. Straight ahead of her lay Wawa island, an airy thing +floating lightly on the water, and reflected perfectly in its depths. + +At one end of its dark greenery autumn had hung out a banner to herald +her coming--a scarlet sumach. A yellowing maple leaf fell at Helen's +feet as she passed. Along the water's edge where the birches grew +thick arose a great twittering and chattering. The long southern +flight was already being discussed. Away out beyond the island a canoe +drifted along on the golden water. Some one seated in it was picking a +mandolin and singing, "Good-bye, Summer." + +Helen slipped down the path where the birches and elms, entwined with +the bitter-sweet, hung over the water. A little point jutted out with +a big rock on the end of it. She took off her hat, seated herself upon +the rock, and drank in the silence and peace of the calm evening. + +A little launch went rap-rap-rap across the clear glass of the water, +leaving a long trail of light behind it like a comet, and the sweet +evening odours were mingled with the unsavoury scent of gasoline. +Helen had often sped joyfully over the bay at home in just such a noisy +little craft, quite unconscious of being obnoxious to any one else. It +was not the first time she had found her view-point was changing. She +seemed to have been drifted ashore in a wreck, and to be sitting +looking on at the life she had lived with wonder and sometimes with +disapproval. The launch passed, the evening shadows deepened, but she +still sat wrapped in the deeper shadows of her own sad thoughts. + +She had no idea how long she had sat there when she was roused by the +sudden appearance of a canoe right at her side. It had stolen up +silently, propelled by the noiseless stroke of a practised paddler, and +went past her like a ghost. The young man kneeling in the stern had +something of the perfectly balanced play of muscle, and poise of lithe +figure that belonged to the Indian. For in spite of his Anglo-Saxon +blood, Roderick McRae was as much a product of this land of lake and +forest as the Red Skin. He had almost passed her, when he looked up +and saw her for the first time. He gave a start; it seemed too good to +be true. But she bowed so distantly that his hesitating paddle dipped +again. He went on slowly, too shy to intrude. He had taken but a few +strokes when from away behind her on the darkening land, came a loud +sound of singing. Peter Fiddle was drunk again. Feeling very grateful +to Peter for the excuse, Roderick turned about, with an adroit twist of +his paddle, and glided back till he was opposite her. + +"Excuse me, Miss Murray," he stammered, feeling his old shyness return, +"but--are you alone here?" + +"Yes," said the girl a slight wonder in her voice at the question. "I +came down for a walk and--" she turned and glanced behind her and gave +an exclamation at the darkness of the woods. She had forgotten the +magic power the water has of gathering and holding the sunset light +long after darkness has wrapped the earth. "Oh, I had no idea it was +so late!" she cried in dismay. + +Roderick joyfully ran his canoe up close to the rock. The fear in her +voice made him forget his embarrassment. "I don't wish to trouble +you," he said, "but it isn't wise to go home that path through the +woods alone." He hesitated. He did not like to tell her that Old +Peter might come down there raging drunk, and that at the head of +Willow Lane she might meet with another drunken row between Mike +Cassidy and his wife. "Oh dear!" she cried, "how could I be so +foolish? I never dreamed of its being so dark and I forgot--" + +"If you will let me I'll take you home," said Roderick eagerly, "in my +canoe." + +He was immeasurably relieved at her answer. + +"Let you?" she cried gratefully. "Why, I'll be ever so much obliged to +you. I am sorry to be such a trouble. I don't see how I was so +careless," she added in frank apology. + +Roderick knew he ought to say it was no trouble, but a pleasure. But +he was too shy and too happy. He succeeded only in mumbling, "Oh, not +at all," or something equally vague. + +He brought the canoe close to the rock and held out his hand. She +stepped in very carefully, and with something the air of one venturing +out on a very thin piece of ice. + +"It's the first time I ever stepped into a canoe," she said a little +tremulously. He steadied her with his hand, smiling a little at her +graceful awkwardness. Then he showed her how to place herself in the +little seat in the centre, with a cushion at her back. He did it +clumsily enough for he was embarrassed and nervous in her presence. In +all his years of paddling about the lake it was but the second time he +had taken a young lady into his canoe, and the first one he had rescued +out of the water, and this one off a lonely point of land. So he was +not versed in the proper things to say to a lady when taking her for a +paddle. + +The canoe slipped silently out from the rock and slid along the +darkening shore. Only the faintest suggestion of the sunset glow lay +on the softly glimmering surface of the water. But they had gone only +a few yards, when there came a new miracle to remake the scene. From +behind the black bulk of the pine clad island peeped a great round +harvest moon, and suddenly the whole world of land and water was +painted anew in softer golden tints veiled in silver. The girl sat +silent and awe-struck. Was there never to be an end to the wonders of +this place? "Oh," she said in a whisper, "isn't it beautiful?" + +Roderick looked, and was silent too. + +Yes, it was very wonderful he thought, more wonderful to him than she +dreamed. He felt as if he could paddle on forever over the shining +lake with the magic colours of moon-rise and sunset meeting in the +golden hair of the girl opposite him. They went on for a long time in +silence. They passed into the shadow of the island with silver lances +through the trees barring their path. The dewy scent of pine and cedar +stole out from the dark shore. The silver light grew brighter, the +whole lake was lit up with a soft white radiance. + +"Have you always lived here?" she asked at last in a whisper, an +unspoken fear in her voice lest a sound disturb the fair surroundings +and they vanish, leaving them in a common, every day world of material +things. + +"Always," said Roderick in the same hushed tone, though for a different +reason. "I was born on the old farm back here." + +"Then I wonder if you know how lovely it all is?" + +"Perhaps not. But it is home to me, you know, and that gives an added +charm." + +"Yes," she said and checked a sigh. "And you've always paddled about +here I suppose." + +"I never remember when I learned. But I remember my first excursion +alone. I was just six. Old Peter McDuff who lives on the next farm +used to tell me fairy tales. And he told me there was a pot of gold at +the end of the rainbow, waiting for the man bold enough to go after it. +I felt that I was the man, and I paddled off one evening when there was +a rainbow in the sky. I got lost in the fog, and my father and a +search-party found me drifting away out on the lake. And I didn't +bring home the pot of gold." + +"Nobody ever does," she said drearily. "And every one is hunting it." +They were silent for a moment, the girl thinking of how she too had +gone after a vanishing rainbow. Then the memory of that vision of the +first Sunday morning in Algonquin church came to her. There was a +rainbow somewhere, with the treasure at the foot; one that did not +vanish either if one persisted in its pursuit. + +She tried to say something of this to Roderick, fearing her sombre +words had set him to recalling her secret. + +"I suppose it is perfect happiness," he said. "If so, I never met any +one who had found it, except--yes, I believe I know one." + +"Who?" she asked eagerly. + +"My father," answered Roderick gently. + +"I have heard of him," she said, smiling at the glow of pride in the +son's eyes. "And where did he discover it?" + +Roderick laughed. "I suppose it's in the heart, after all; but my +father is never so happy as when he is in the midst of misery. His pot +of gold seems to lie down on Willow Lane." + +"On Willow Lane? Why that's where all those dreadfully poor, dirty +people live, isn't it?" + +"Yes. They are an unsavoury bunch down there. That's where Mr. and +Mrs. Cassidy throw the household furniture at each other, and Billy +Perkins starves his family for drink, and where the celebrated Peter +McDuff plays the fiddle every night at the tavern. He might have +serenaded you, if you had gone back home by the road." + +She smiled gratefully and her smile was very beautiful. But her +thoughts were in Willow Lane. There were worse things there that +Roderick did not mention, but she had heard of them. It was a strange +and wonderful thing that the saintly-faced old man with the white hair, +whom she had seen with Roderick at church, should find his happiness +among such people. + +Roderick had paddled as slowly as it was possible to move, but he could +not prolong the little voyage any further. They were at the landing. + +"I have made you come away back here," she said, "and now you will be +so late getting home. I must let you go back at once. Good night, and +thank you." + +Roderick had been hoping that he might walk up to Rosemount with her, +but felt he was dismissed. He wanted, too, to ask her if she would not +come out on the lake again, but his shyness kept him silent. + +As he helped her out, the yellow light of the wharf lamp fell upon her +light dress and shone on the gold of her hair, and at the same moment a +canoe slid silently out of the dimness beyond and glided across the +track of the moon. In the stern knelt one of Algonquin's young men +wielding a lazy paddle, and in the low seat opposite, with a filmy +scarf about her dark hair, reclined Miss Leslie Graham. She sat up +straight very suddenly, and stared at the girl who was stepping from +the canoe. But she did not speak, and Roderick was too absorbed to +notice who had passed. And the young man with the lazy paddle wondered +all the way home what had happened to make the lively young lady so +silent and absent-minded. + +Helen Murray thought many times of what Roderick had told her about his +father's interest in Willow Lane. She could not help wondering if +others could find there the peace that shone in the old man's eyes. +She was wondering if she should go down and visit the place, when, one +day, Willow Lane came to her. It was a warm languorous October day, a +day when all nature seemed at a standstill. Her work was done, she was +resting under her soft coverlet of blue gossamer, preparing for her +long sleep. Helen had had a hard day, for she had not yet learned her +new strange task. The room was noisy, fifty little heads were bent +over fifty different schemes for mischief, and fifty sibilant whispers +delivered forbidden messages. The teacher was writing on the board, +and turned suddenly at the sound of a heavy footstep in the hall. The +door was open, letting in the breeze from the lake, and in it stood a +big hairy man with a bushy black head and wild blue eyes. Helen stood +and stared at him half-frightened. + +The fifty small heads suddenly whirled about and a hundred eyes stared +at the visitor, but there was no fear in them. A giggling whisper ran +like fire over the room. "It's Peter Fiddle!" The man shook his fist +at them, and the teacher went with some apprehension towards the door. + +"Can I do anything for you, sir?" she enquired, outwardly calm, but +inwardly quaking. He took off his big straw hat and made her a +profound bow. + +"I'll be Peter McDuff," he said with a stately air, "an' I'll loss a +pig." + +"I--I don't think it's here," faltered Helen, dismayed at a visit from +the notorious McDuff. "You might ask some other place," she suggested +hopefully. + +"I'll be wantin' the bairns to be lookin' for it," he said, making +another bow. He turned to the children, now sitting, for the first +time since their teacher had set eyes on them, absolutely still and +attentive. + +"If you see a pig wis a curly tail," he announced, "that's me!" + +The whole school burst into a shout of laughter, and the man's face +flamed with anger. He shook his fist at them again, moving a step into +the room. "Ye impident young upstarts!" he shouted. "I'll be Peter +McDuff!" he cried proudly. "And I'll be having you know they will not +be laughing at the McDuff whatefer!" + +"I--I'm sure they didn't mean to be rude, Mr. McDuff," ventured the +frightened teacher. + +"My name'll be Peter McDuff," he insisted, coming further into the room +while she stepped back in terror. "I'll be sixty years of old, and +I'll neffer be casting a tory vote! An' if you'll be gifing me a man +my own beeg and my own heavy--" he brandished his fists fiercely. + +"Peter!" + +The McDuff turned. Behind him stood Angus McRae, his gentle face +distressed. He laid his hand on Peter's shoulder with an air of quiet +power. "Come away home with me, Peter man," he said soothingly. +"We'll be finding the pig on the road." + +Peter stumbled out grumbling, and Angus McRae, pausing a moment to +deliver an apology to Helen, followed. Mrs. Doasyouwouldbedoneby came +along the hall rocking with laughter. + +"You poor child!" she cried. "I heard him, and was coming to the +rescue when I saw old Angus. I knew you'd be scared. But Peter +wouldn't hurt a hair of a woman's head." + +"That Mr. McRae seemed to have some strange power over him," whispered +Helen, watching, with some apprehension, the two climb into an old +wagon. + +"So he has. And he's the only one that has. He keeps Peter in order +when he's drunk and keeps him sober, when he can. Ah, dear me! dear +me! There's a clever man all gone wrong. Angus McRae's been working +with him for years. He lives out there past what they call Willow +Lane. Ever been down there?" + +"No, but I've heard of it often." + +"It's that bit of street that runs from the end of the town where that +old hotel is. I'm going down there after school to see about Minnie +Perkins. Come along for a walk. Now, you children, go right back +there, do you hear me?" For the primary grade had overflowed and was +flooding the halls. And Madame swept them back and slammed her door. + +When school was dismissed and the last noisy youngster had gone +storming forth Helen went down the hall to her friend's room. Madame +came swaying out carrying a bunch of gay spiked gladiolus, her +draperies floating about her with cherubs peeping from their folds, +like a saint in an old picture. + +She dismissed her satellites firmly at the first corner, except those +who lived beyond or on Willow Lane, a ceremony that necessitated a +great deal of shooing and scolding. + +The first eye-sore on Willow Lane was the old hotel, still standing +there, forlorn and ugly, as though ashamed of all the evil it had +wrought. + +As the years passed there was always a new generation of loungers to +sit and smoke and spit on its sagging veranda. From it ran the old +high board fence plastered with ugly advertisements of soap or circus +or patent medicine. It disfigured the whole street and shut off a +possible glimpse of the lake. Away on the other side of it was a +meadow where in spring-time the larks soared and sang, and beyond it +the lake and the woods where the mocking bird and the bee made music. +But here in Willow Lane was neither sound nor sight that was pleasant. + +The street consisted of a single sorry-looking row of houses with +narrow box-like yards shoved up close to the road, as though there were +not acres and acres of open free meadow land behind them. The hills +upon which Algonquin was situated ceased abruptly here, and the land +spread away in a flat plain along the lake shore. The ground was low +and damp, and every house in Willow Lane that had the misfortune to +possess a cellar was the abode of disease. A deep ditch ran parallel +to the rickety board side-walk. There had just been a week of +unceasing rain and it was full of green water. + +"Oh dear!" said Helen, in distress. "I had no idea there was such a +place as this in Algonquin." + +"People have lived here for years and still seem to have no idea," said +Madame. She paused and looked back. "Do you see that house 'way up on +the hill yonder? The one with the tower sticking up between the trees? +That's Alexander Graham's mansion. And he makes a good deal of his +money out of the rents of these houses, and nobody seems to care very +much. The people of the churches send down turkeys and plum puddings, +and everything good at Christmas time, and seem to think that will do +for another year. But the only man who tries to do anything all the +time is Angus McRae. I suppose you know that Lawyer Ed calls him the +Good Samaritan, and this the Jericho Road." + +The first house in the dreary row was the turbulent home of Mr. +Cassidy, the gentleman who commanded so much of Lawyer Ed's attention. +Mrs. Cassidy was on the front veranda washing. It was a pastime she +seldom indulged in, for there was never much water in the old leaky +rain barrel at the corner of the house. For while Willow Lane had +water, water everywhere, the inhabitants had not any drop in which to +wash themselves. But the overflowing rain-barrels had tempted Judy +to-day, and so her little figure was bobbing up and down over the +washboard like a play Judy in a show. She was scrubbing her own +clothes, but not her husband's, for Mr. Cassidy and his wife lived each +an entirely independent life. They occupied different sections of the +house even, and the lady saw to it that her husband's apartments were +the coldest in winter and the hottest in summer. This arrangement had +been held to, ever since the day that Mike thrashed Judy. It had not +been without some provocation, it is true; for though very small, Mrs. +Cassidy had a valiant spirit, and had many and varied ways of +exasperating her husband's inflammable temper. But Lawyer Ed had +appealed to Father Tracy, and that muscular shepherd of his flock had +come down upon Willow Lane and thrashed Mike thoroughly and soundly. +Since then there had been a sort of armed neutrality in the home of the +Cassidys. + +"Good day, Mrs. Cassidy," called Madame over the little fence. "It's a +beautiful day after the rain." + +"Aw, well now and is that you, Mrs. Adam?" enquired Judy, her little +face peering out of the clouds of steam. "Sure it's yerself would be +bringin' beautiful weather, aven if it was poorin'." + +Her voice was soft, her manner ingratiating, there was no sign of the +warrior spirit beneath. + +"I hope the rain'll keep off till you get your clothes dry," said +Madame pleasantly, but passing resolutely on, for Mrs. Cassidy showed +sighs of a desire to come to the gate and have a friendly chat. "We +must get out of her way. If she starts to talk we'll never escape," +she whispered. "Just look at that will you!" + +The second place was one where some pitiful attempts at beautifying had +been made. The yard was swept clean and a little drain had been dug at +the side to let the water run off. A few drowned flowers leaned over +on their hard clay beds, and there was a neat curtain and a mosquito +netting on each window. But right against the window that overlooked +the Cassidys' yard, Mrs. Cassidy had piled all the old boards, boxes +and rubbish she could find, to obstruct the view to the town, of her +too ambitious neighbour. "Now, what do you think of that?" cried +Madame. "Isn't she the malicious little soul?" + +"Good day, Mrs. Kent, and how are you to-day?" + +"Good day, Mrs. Adam," from a sharp-faced neat woman, sitting at the +doorway of the barricaded house, knitting rapidly. + +"It's a beautiful day, isn't it?" said Madame ingratiatingly. + +"Lovely," responded the woman. "It's a great thing we had so much +rain, we need a lot down here, we're that dry." + +Madame chose to take the sarcasm as a joke, and laughed blithely. + +But the woman did not smile. "She's had to work too hard, poor soul," +whispered the visitor when they had passed. "She's clean and thrifty +but she has to wash to support a crippled boy and a consumptive girl. +No wonder she's sour." + +They passed two or three more sorry-looking houses and finally paused +before the gate of the home of Madame's little pupil. The bare +grassless yard was filled with old boxes and rubbish. A big lumbering +lad of about fourteen sprawled over the doorstep playing with a string. +He looked up with vacant eyes, and clutched at the visitors' skirts, +muttering and jabbering in idiot glee. + +Madame put her hand tenderly on his small, ill-shaped head. + +"Poor Eddie," she whispered, "poor boy." + +She fumbled in her big black satchel and brought out a gay candy stick. +He grabbed it with strange cries of joy. The sounds brought a ragged +little ghost of a woman to the door, carrying a tiny bundle on her arm. + +"Well, well, is that you, Madame?" she cried, smiling a broad toothless +smile. "I thought it was you, an' Minnie she says, I believe that's my +teacher, Ma." + +Madame climbed the steep steps, Helen following. The room was dirty +and untidy. A rusty stove and table, three chairs and an ill-smelling +cupboard in the corner, with some gaudy glass dishes upon it, were the +only furniture. + +"And how are you, Mrs. Perkins? This is the new teacher, Miss Murray. +When Minnie passes out of my room, she'll he under this lady's care. +And how is my little girl this afternoon?" + +Madame passed to the door of the tiny bedroom. The bed filled the +whole space with just room enough to stand left between it and the +wall. A little girl was lying on it, her hollow cheeks pink, her eyes +bright. The sun poured in at the bare window and the room was hot and +breathless. The swarming flies covered her face and arms. She brushed +them away fretfully, and stretched out her hot hands for the flowers. +"Oh, teacher," she cried, trying to strangle her cough, "I watched and +I watched for you all day and I was scared you wasn't comin'." + +Mrs. Doasyouwouldbedoneby sat down on the edge of the dirty bed and put +her cool hand on the little girl's burning forehead. + +Helen placed herself rather gingerly on a proffered chair, and looked +at the wee bundle in the woman's arms. + +"Why, it's a baby," she whispered in awe. The mother's faded face lit +up with pride. She held the little scrap of humanity towards the +visitor. "'E's a grite little rascal, 'e is," she exclaimed fondly. +"As smart as a weasel, an' 'im only a fo'tnight old last Sunday." + +Helen was positively afraid to touch the little bundle, but the look of +utter exhaustion on the woman's face overcame her repugnance. She held +out her arms and the mother dropped the baby into them and sank upon a +chair with a sigh of relief. + +"Only a little over two weeks," gasped Helen, looking at the wee +wrinkled face peeping from the bundle. + +The mother's face beamed with joy and pride. She thought that the +visitor's astonishment was for the wonderful baby, all unconscious of +herself. + +"Yes'm, just but a fo'tnight, and a little over. Oh 'e's a grite +little tyke, 'e is. Ain't 'e, now?" + +"Has Doctor Blair been to see Minnie?" asked Madame softly. + +"Yes'm. Old Angus 'e was 'ere on Monday, and 'e sent 'im. 'E says +it's 'er lungs." She looked at her visitors with child-like +simplicity. "Is it very bad for Minnie to 'ave anything wrong with 'er +lungs do you think, Mrs. Adam?" + +Madame's gentle face was eloquent with pity. "Doctor Blair is a good, +kind doctor," she said evasively. "He'll do his best for her. You do +everything for her that he asks." + +"Yes'm. Old Angus 'e was trying to tell me wot to do, but I ain't much +of a 'and at sickness. Minnie she gets up and gets wot she wants but I +tell 'er she ought to lie abed." + +The little girl had fallen into a doze, under the soothing touch of her +teacher's hand. Madame took off the veil from her hat and spread it +over the child's face as a protection from the flies. She came back +into the kitchen. The idiot boy came in and rolled about the floor +muttering and whining. + +"And how's Mr. Perkins?" asked Madame. "Is he keeping well?" It was +her gentle way of asking if he was keeping sober. The woman's tired +face lit up. + +"Yes, ma'am. 'E is that. 'E's been keepin' fine since three weeks +come Sunday. That was the night Old Angus took 'im to the Harmy an' +got 'im saved. An' 'e's ben keepin' nicely saved ever since. We've +been 'avin' butter," she added proudly. "Ever since 'e got 'imself +converted. But we 'ad to 'ave the doctor for pore Minnie." Her thin +little face quivered. "If Minnie'd only get better now, we'd be +gettin' a good start, an' we'd all be 'appy." + +"Mr. Perkins has work now, hasn't he?" said Madame comfortingly. + +"Yes'm. It's not steady, but Old Angus 'e's goin' to get 'im another +job. It's ben rather 'ard on my man," she added apologetically, "just +a comin' out from the hold country. It's 'ard gettin' work at first. +An' I wan't much use with 'im a comin'," she added, touching the bundle +reverently. + +"So this is the only Canadian baby you have," said Madame. + +"Yes'm." The mother forgot her troubles and smiled and fawned on the +bundle in delight. + +"He's Johny Canuck, isn't he?" asked Madame, with a feeble attempt at +gaiety. + +"Oh, no, ma'am," cried the mother hastily. "'E's William 'Enery, after +'is paw. We ain't got 'im christened yet. But jist as soon's I can +get 'im a dress the pawson,--'e's a foine man,--'e says 'e'll come an' +do 'im, an' if my man jist keeps nicely saved, we'll be gettin' a +dress. But it's been 'ard on my man. Eddie there 'e's not much 'elp, +poor lad. But 'e goes out on the railroad track an' picks me up a bit +o' coal. An' Old Angus 'e's been that good. Oh, we'd never a' got on +without Old Angus. But if my Minnie 'adn't took sick--" + +She wiped a tear on the baby's dirty dress. It was the quiet, +dispassionate tear of a woman long accustomed to hardship. "I'll be +all right when I get a bit stronger an' can work," she added hopefully. + +The visitors rose to go. Madame held the woman's hand a long time, +trying to explain, as though to a little child, how the sick girl must +be treated. The case seemed so pitiful she was at a loss what to say. +"I'm afraid I can't get back for a few days, Mrs. Perkins," she said. + +"I'll come and see Minnie to-morrow," said Helen Murray suddenly. The +morrow was her precious Saturday that brought a rest from the week's +hard work, but the words seemed forced from her. The look of childish +fear in the woman's face made some sort of promise necessary for her +own peace of mind. + +The woman looked up at her gratefully as she took the baby. + +"It's awful good o' you, Miss," she cried, "and indeed I'll be thet +grateful, if you'd just come and tell me the best thing to do for +Minnie. I'm not much of a 'and in sickness." She looked at the two +visitors wistfully. "It does a body good jist to 'ave a word with +somebody that's sorry for you," she added. + +Helen went away, her heart sore and sick with the woman's pain. + +The idiot boy followed them to the gate, grinning and muttering. His +mother called him from the doorway, and he shambled towards her. +Glancing back, Helen saw his long, ungainly body folded in her little +thin arms, while she patted him tenderly on the back. + +As they stepped out on the rickety side-walk, a tall girl of about +sixteen came and stood staring at them from the doorway of the next +house. She had a bold, handsome face and her hair and untidy dress +were arranged in an extravagant imitation of the latest fashion. + +"Good day, Gladys," said Madame kindly, but the girl answered with only +a curt nod. When the visitors had passed, she called shrilly to some +one in the house behind her. + +"Maw! Hurry out an' see the parade! Willow Lane's gettin' awful +high-toned!" There was a loud cackle of laughter and Madame's +shoulders shook with suppressed merriment. "That's Gladys Hurd," she +said, shaking her head. "Poor Gladys, I'm afraid she's not a very good +girl. She's not got a very good mother." + +As they were turning off Willow Lane, the rattle of a buggy behind them +made Madame turn. + +"There he is again," she cried. "I suppose he's taken Peter home and +found his pig for him. I don't believe I could bear the thought of all +the misery on Willow Lane if I didn't know that Old Angus McRae was +doing so much to lighten it." + +Helen turned. Angus had pulled up in front of the Perkins' house and +the idiot lad with queer cries of delight came stumbling out to meet +him. The girl named Gladys ran out too, and the old man handed her a +sheaf of glowing crimson dahlias. She buried her face in them and +hugged them to her in a passion of admiration for their beauty. + +"Look, look at Mrs. Cassidy will you?" cried Madame in delight. + +Mrs. Cassidy had come to the door at the first sound of the wheels, and +when she saw who was near, she darted out and swiftly and stealthily +removed the obstruction from her neighbour's window. Then she went to +the gate to greet Old Angus, suave and gentle of speech, and as +innocent looking as the meek heap of boards now lying in a corner of +her yard. + +"Well, well, well," laughed Madame as they walked on. "Even if Old +Angus would merely drive up and down Willow Lane I believe he would +make the people better." + +When Helen reached Rosemount she slipped in at the side door and up the +back stair. It was the day the Misses Armstrong entertained the whist +club, and a clatter of teacups and a hum of voices told her the guests +were not yet gone. She removed her hat, and smoothed her hair +absently; her thoughts were down on Willow Lane busy with the complex +problem of the Perkins family. The windows were opened, and the sound +of swishing skirts and laughing voices came up to her from the garden +walk. A couple of well-dressed women were going out at the gate. + +"Poor old things," cried one in a light merry voice. "They do get up +the most comical concoctions at their teas. And Miss Annabel in a +ten-year-old dress! Will she ever grow up?" + +"The poor dears can't afford anything better. They are just struggling +along," answered her companion. "They had that house left them, and +the old lady gets her allowance, but the daughters hadn't a cent left +them, and they would both fall dead if they weren't invited to +everything. But I don't know where they get money to dress at all." + +"I suppose that is why they took that girl to board." + +"Of course, poor old Elinor is so scared--" The voice died away and a +sharp rap on her door took Helen from the window. She opened the door +and there, to her surprise, stood Miss Leslie Graham, looking very +handsome in the splendour of her rose silk gown. She smiled radiantly. +"Good day, Miss Murray. I think you know who I am and I think it's +time we met. I ran up here to get away from that jam of people. Those +women take such an lasting age to get away. May I sit with you for a +minute?" + +Helen offered her a chair gladly. She had often seen Miss Graham, and +her unfailing gay spirits had made her wish she could know her. The +visitor flung her silver purse upon the bed, her gloves upon the table, +her white parasol upon the bureau, and sank into the chair. + +"Oh I'm dead," she groaned. "I've passed ten thousand cups of tea, and +twenty thousand sandwiches. Don't you pity and despise people that +don't know any better than to come to a thing indoors on a hot day?" + +Helen smiled. "But you came," she said. + +"But I had to. When any of my relations give a tea I am always +tethered to a tray and a plate of biscuits." She stopped suddenly and +looked at Helen keenly, with a stare that puzzled the girl. Then she +jumped up and seated herself upon the bed, rumpling the counterpane. +In the few minutes since she had entered the room she had made the +place look as if a whirlwind had swept through it, and Helen felt a +nervous fear of Miss Armstrong's walking in and witnessing her untidy +condition. + +"Do you like it here?" she enquired directly. + +"Yes, I--think I do. Algonquin is so beautiful, but--" + +"But you can't stand my poky aunts, and Grandma's jokes, eh?" + +"Oh, no," cried Helen aghast. "Both the Misses Armstrong have been +very kind and Mrs. Armstrong is delightful--but, of course, I get +homesick." She stopped suddenly for that was a subject upon which she +dared not dwell. + +The other girl stared. "My goodness. I would love to know what +homesickness is like, just for once. I've never been away from home +except for a visit somewhere in the holidays, and then I was always +having such a ripping time, that the thought of going home made me +sick." + +She sat for a little while, again looking steadily at Helen. "You +certainly are pretty," she exclaimed. "There's no doubt about that." + +"I beg your pardon!" said Helen amazed, and doubting if she had heard +aright. + +"Oh, nothing, never mind!" cried the other with a laugh. She tore off +her costly hat and flung it on top of the table. Then she threw +herself backwards on the bed staring at the ceiling. She made such a +complete wreck of the starched pillow covers and the prim white +bedspread that were the pride of Miss Armstrong's heart, that Helen +shuddered. + +"Well, I don't wonder at you getting homesick here. These ceilings are +such a vast distance away they make you feel as if you were a hundred +miles from everywhere. I remember sleeping in this room once, when +there was an epidemic of scarlet fever or something among the Armstrong +kids. All the well ones were dumped on our aunts, after the custom of +the family, and I was sent off with a dozen others and we were marooned +upstairs, like a gang of prisoners, the girls in this room and the boys +in Grandma's. Six in a bed--more or less. I remember we used to lie +awake in the early morning before Aunt Elinor would let us get up, and +study the outburst of robins and grapes on the ceiling. And one day we +got the boys in with their toy guns and tried to shoot the tails off +the birds. Cousin Harry Armstrong hit one. Do you see the ghastly +remains of that bird without the tail? That was the one. I never hit +anything, but I tried hard enough. I am responsible for the bangs on +the ceiling. Each one tells when I missed my aim." + +Helen laughed all unawares. She was surprised at herself. It was so +long since she had laughed she thought she had forgotten how. + +"That robin proved to be the Albatross for us," continued Leslie +Graham, sitting up again, "for Aunt Elinor found out about it, and we +had no more good luck from that day till we went home." She sprang up. + +"Dear me! here I am jabbering away, and Mother must be gone." She +caught up her hat, dislodging a couple of books that went over on the +floor. "Oh, dear, I've knocked something over." She did not make any +motion to pick them up, however. "Mother says I always leave a trail +behind me." + +She stood before the glass arranging her hat, a radiant figure. Helen +looked at her wistfully. There was nothing this girl wanted, surely, +that she could not have; and yet she seemed so restless and +dissatisfied. + +"Do you go out much?" she asked. + +"Not very much," said Helen. "My school keeps me busy." She did not +say that she knew so very few young people she had no one to go with. + +Miss Graham turned to the mirror again. She seemed embarrassed. "The +lake's lovely here for paddling. Only the season is nearly over. Have +you been out on the water much?" She did not look at the girl as she +asked the question. + +"No," said Helen, and the other faced round and stared at her. "I +don't know how to paddle and I am rather afraid of a canoe." + +"Do you mean to say you've never been on the lake since you came here?" +asked Leslie Graham, standing and staring with a hat-pin in her mouth. + +"Oh, yes, I was--once," said Helen innocently. She did not think it +necessary to tell all about Roderick's rescue of her from the point; +for already she had heard the Misses Armstrong coupling his name with +their niece's in tones of high disapproval. "I was once--but only +once." + +Leslie Graham's face grew radiant. + +"Is that all?" she cried in a tone expressing decided relief. + +She amazed Helen by suddenly darting towards her and putting her arm +around her. "Why you poor little lonesome thing," she cried, "you must +learn to paddle; I will teach you myself. Now, good-bye, I think we +are going to be real good friends." She kissed Helen warmly and +tripped out, singing a gay song, and leaving her late hostess standing +amazed in the middle of her dishevelled room. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +"DEAF TO THE MELODY" + +Autumn painted Algonquin in new and splendid tints. She coloured the +maples that lined the streets a dazzling gold, with here and there at +the corners, a scarlet tree for variety or one of rose pink or even +deep purple. And when the leaves began to fall the whole world was a +bewildering flutter of rainbows. The November rains came and washed +the gorgeous picture away, and the artist went all over it again in +soberer tints, soft greys and tender blues with a hint of coming frost +in the deep tones of the sky. + +October was almost over before the busy, bustling Lawyer Ed had a +chance to think of the promise he had made in the summer to Old Angus, +and he called J. P. Thornton and Archie Blair and Roderick together +into his office one bright morning to enquire what could be done about +getting a local option by-law for Algonquin submitted on the next +municipal election day. + +The general consensus of opinion was that they were too late for the +coming election on New Year's; but that they must start an educational +campaign immediately to stir up public opinion on the subject of +temperance. And they would get their petition ready for the spring and +march to victory a year from the coming January. + +J. P. Thornton, who was the most energetic man on the town council, was +busy getting a drain dug through Willow Lane to carry off the disease +breeding stagnant waters that lay about the little houses. And he +declared in a fine oratorical outburst, that if they started this +temperance campaign early, and dug deep enough, by a year from the next +election day, they would have such a trench projected through Algonquin +as would carry away in a flood all the foul, death-breeding liquid that +inundated their beautiful town, and pour it into the swamps of oblivion. + +Lawyer Ed gave a cheer when he was through, and Archie Blair quoted +Burns: + + "_Now, Robinson, harrangue na mair, + But steek your gab forever, + Or try the wicked town of Ayr, + For there they'll think you clever._" + + +For though, as a citizen, the doctor was convinced that a prohibitory +liquor law would be a good thing for Algonquin, personally he was not +inclined to look upon the beverage as foul death-breeding liquid. + +Roderick McRae sat silently listening to the older man. He was +wondering what Alexander Graham would say, when he found his lawyer +arrayed on the side of the temperance forces. For he knew that his +wealthy client had heavy investments in breweries, and also owned +secretly, the bigger share of Algonquin's leading hotel and bar-room. + +He was not long left in doubt. The ladies of the Presbyterian church +gave a turkey and pumpkin pie supper on Thanksgiving eve, with a +concert in the Sunday-school room after, all for the sum of twenty-five +cents, the proceeds to go to a new red carpet and cushions for the +choir gallery. Lawyer Ed was chairman at the concert, of course, and +J. P. Thornton was the chief speaker. And though his address was on +Imperialism, a subject through which he had grown quite famous, he +branched off into temperance and publicly announced that the local +option by-law would be submitted before long in Algonquin, and they had +better get ready. + +Lawyer Ed, who always made a short speech between each item on the +programme, burst forth, almost before J. P. had sat down, with the +further announcement, accompanied by a great deal of oratory, that the +temperance forces would carry their banner to victory and mount over +every difficulty even as his Highland ancestors had stormed the heights +of Alma. For when Lawyer Ed got upon the platform, a strange +transformation always came over him. His Hibernianism fell from him +like a garment, and he was over the heather and away like any true born +Scot. + +The next day, Miss Leslie Graham, in a new autumn suit of ruby velvet +and a big plumed hat, dropped in at the office of Brians and McRae and, +after chattering merrily for half-an-hour with Roderick, said that her +father wanted him to come up the following evening for dinner. + +Roderick went, with, as usual, the faint hope that he might see Helen +Murray there. He had not succeeded in meeting her, except casually on +the street, since that magic night when he had paddled her home in the +moonlight. But he was, as usual, disappointed. There was only the +Graham family present. Miss Leslie was as gay and charming as ever, +and her mother was slightly less stiff with him. But Mr. Graham was +exceptionally kind and hospitable. Before returning to the +drawing-room after dinner, he carried Roderick off to the library for a +little private chat. There were a few matters of business to be +discussed, and when they were finished, Mr. Graham said casually: + +"I suppose you run the affairs of Brians and McRae yourself these days. +I hear Ed's off after another will-o'-the-wisp as usual. Let me see, I +believe it's a temperance bee he's got in his bonnet this time." + +Roderick was silent. The contemptuous tone nettled him. He would not +discuss Lawyer Ed with Alexander Graham, no matter what the consequence. + +"Well, well," said the host, giving the fire a poke, and laughing +good-naturedly. "Those fellows must do something to take up their +time. But it's a pity to see them wasting it. For that thing won't go +here in Algonquin, Rod. Take my word for it. And if it did, it would +be a great pity, for such a law wouldn't be kept. Of course, if Ed +Brians and Archie Blair and J. P. Thornton, and a few other fanatics +like that, are bound to meddle with other people's consciences, I +suppose we'll just have to let them do it. 'If it plazes her, it don't +be hurtin' me,' as Mike Cassidy said when Judy hammered him with the +broomstick. I hope they'll enjoy themselves." + +Roderick looked up quickly. "It is not a mere pastime with my father. +It is a thing of great moment to him," he said. + +"Oh, well, of course," said Mr. Graham suavely. "I can understand +that. Your father is a man who has devoted his life to drunks and +outcasts, and he looks on temperance legislation as a refuge for them. +I have no doubt he is quite sincere in the matter." + +"I should just say he is," said Roderick rather explosively. + +"That's quite true, Rod," said his patron, a little annoyed. "But your +father, with many another good man, is making a great mistake when he +believes people will be benefited by temperance legislation. Some +folks seem to think that if you get local option in a town the +millennium has come." He lit a cigar, and leaned back with an air of +finality. "I tell you they're awfully mistaken. People want liquor +and they'll get it as long as they want it, law or no law. And they're +going to want it till the end of time. And if those folks insist upon +forcing this by-law upon Algonquin, they will only succeed in giving +the town a bad name. It's simply ruinous to a place from a business +standpoint." + +Roderick had no answer to make. He was inclined to believe that Graham +was right. He wanted to believe it, for the burden of this thing was +annoying him. He knew that Lawyer Ed would have met the statements +with fiery contradictions, and J. P. Thornton would have answered with +clear, convincing facts. But he had given very little thought to the +subject, and could not remember any of the arguments. And he had +certainly heard, many, many times that the temperance measure had been +a failure in other towns. + +He sat silent, his elbows on his knees, his hands locked together, +looking into the glowing grate and wishing he didn't have to be +bothered with it all. What had local option to do with his work, +anyway? + +And then he realised that his host was talking again. In the midst of +his quiet insinuating remarks, there was a sharp tap on the door, and +Leslie swept into the room, very handsome in her soft, trailing white +dress. + +"I'm just not going to let you two poke here any longer," she declared, +giving her father's ear a pull. "You're spoiling all Rod's evening, +Daddy, by talking business. His office is for that. Come right along +into the drawing-room this minute, the Baldwin girls have come, and +we're going to have some music." + +The subject of local option was not referred to again that evening, but +Roderick realised that, in some subtle way, how, he scarcely knew, his +client had conveyed to him the unmistakable intelligence that should he +identify himself with the temperance forces in any prominent way, the +business of Graham and Company would have to be placed in other hands. + +Roderick scarcely understood what had been said until he was walking +home in the clear frosty air with time to think it over. + +He was miserably uncomfortable the next day when he found his chief +buried head and ears in temperance affairs. + +"We'll have to wade into this with high-water boots, ma braw John +Hielanman!" he cried radiantly. "Be jabers! but I do love a fight, and +a fine old Donnybrook fair we're goin' to have!" And he relapsed into +a rich Irish brogue. + +"Mr. Graham told me last night he'd like me to go north in a few +weeks," said Roderick in a strained voice. "I may have to be gone for +a month." + +"On that Beaver Landing deal? Well now, that's a big thing, Rod!" +Lawyer Ed was scribbling madly at his desk while he talked, and calling +up some one on the telephone every three minutes. "You've got Sandy +Graham all right. Hello, Central, are you asleep? I said I wanted J. +P. Thornton and I still say it!"--"No you didn't, I tell you! Sandy'll +kick over the traces when we get going on this campaign, though. Not +in? Where in thunder is he? Tell him to call me the minute he gets +back. Yes, that's a fact, Rod!" And he slammed the receiver down and +took to scribbling furiously again. "Sandy'll put on his plug hat and +his swallow-tail coat and hike like the limited express for +Willoughby's office the minute he sees our names heading that +petition!" He shut his eyes, and, leaning back, laughed in delighted +anticipation of losing their most valuable client. + +Roderick felt impatient. To him the affair was no laughing matter. To +lose Graham's business was unthinkable, to keep out of this troublesome +temperance campaign seemed impossible. One moment he felt he must come +out right boldly for the cause, the next he called himself a fool, for +letting such a doubtful thing stand in the way of his best interests. + +But before the necessity for declaring himself came upon him, the +temperance campaign suffered a severe check. The trouble arose in an +unexpected quarter, not from the enemy, but in the ranks of the +advancing army itself. The temperance ship ran against the rock that +threatened to split it altogether, on the last Sunday in November. +This day was celebrated as St. Andrew's Sunday, the day when the +society of the Sons of Scotland, with bonnets on their heads, plaidies +on their shoulders and heather in their button-holes, paraded to church +in a body and had a sermon preached to them by a minister brought up +from the city for the purpose of glorifying Scotland and edifying her +sons. As nearly all the Presbyterian congregation of Algonquin was +Scotch, every one else was as much edified as the Sons themselves; but +there was one prominent exception and that was J. P. Thornton. + +Mr. Thornton was an Englishman, born within the sound of Bow Bells, +and, like a true Briton, intensely proud of the fact, and though he was +as liberal in his general views as he was in politics, and had +delivered many a fine speech on Imperialism, yet some stubborn latent +prejudice arose in his heart and threatened to overflow every St. +Andrew's Sunday. + +It was not that he objected so much to the tartan-and-heather bedecked +rows occupying the front pews of the church, on St. Andrew's Sunday. +He was inclined to look upon them with some lofty amusement, saying +that if they liked that sort of child's play it was no affair of his +and they might have it. But it was the sermon that always put him into +a fighting humour. For never a preacher stood up there on St. Andrew's +Sunday but made some unfortunate reference to Bannockburn and Scots Wha +Hae, and a great many other things calculated to rouse any Englishman's +ire. + +Mr. Thornton had never openly rebelled, however, and the St. Andrew's +sermon came each year with only a few mild explosions following. But +this year the celebration caused a serious disturbance, and as so often +happened, it started with Lawyer Ed. + +That lively Irish gentleman had already joined almost every +organisation in the town, and there suddenly came to him a great desire +to join the Sons of Scotland also. His mother was a Scottish lady of +Highland birth, and he himself had a deep-rooted affection for anything +or anybody connected with the land o' cakes. So on the eve of this St. +Andrew's celebration he joined the order and became a true Son of +Scotland himself. + +Mr. Thornton had gone away for a couple of weeks on a business trip and +knew nothing of this new departure of his friend. He came home late on +Saturday night before St. Andrew's Sunday, and went to church the next +morning, all unsuspecting that at that moment Ed was falling into line +down at the lodge room, his plaidie the brightest, his bonnet the +trimmest and his heather sprig the biggest of all the procession. + +The Scotchmen had turned out nearly a hundred strong this morning, for +the minister from the city was a great man with a continental +reputation. It was a beautifully clear, brilliant day, too, one of +those days that only the much maligned November can bring, with +dazzling cloudless skies and an exhilarating tang of frost-nipped +leaves in the air. So the Scotchmen were all there, even old Angus +McRae and his son, the young Highlander looking very handsome in his +regalia. + +Jock McPherson and the Captain of the _Inverness_ were there too. +Captain Jimmie was in his glory, but Mr. McPherson looked as if he were +preparing to object to everything about him. Each recurring St. +Andrew's Sunday found the Elder more and more inclined to think that +this Sabbath parade was scarcely in keeping with the day. But he was a +true Scot at heart, and no amount of orthodoxy could keep him out of +it. He felt this morning, however, that matters had gone a bit too +far, for the warm day had tempted Archie Blair, and he had come out in +the kilt, his shameless bare-kneed example followed by Harry Lauder and +three other foolish youths of the Highland club. + +A few minutes before the hour for the service, when the bells had begun +to roll out their invitations from the three church towers, the +procession started. And the Methodists and Baptists and Anglicans kept +themselves late for church by lingering on the side-walk to see it +pass. It was worth watching; as very stately and solemn and slow it +moved along the street and up to the church door. + +Mr. McPherson moved rather stiffly, for Archie Blair was walking beside +Lawyer Ed directly in front of him, and the very tilt of his bonnet and +the swing of his kilt was a profanation of the day. Somehow, the +doctor did not at all fit in with the Sabbath. He was a big straight +man, long of limb, broad of shoulder and inclined to a generous +rotundity, and he swaggered so splendidly when he walked, and held up +his bonneted head with such a dashing air, that he gave the distinct +impression that the bagpipes were skirling out a gay march as he swung +past. + +The sight of him on this Sabbath morning struck dismay to Jock's +orthodox soul, clinging tenaciously to its ancient traditions. Lawyer +Ed, too, seemed to have donned the spirit of irreverence with the +bonnet, and was conducting himself as no elder of the kirk should have +behaved even at a St. Andrew's banquet. + +"Eh, losh Ed, mon," cried the doctor, loud enough for Jock to hear. +"Ah wush we could hae a bit strathspey frae the pipes to march wi' to +the kirk, foreby." + +Lawyer Ed's face became forbidding. + +"Eh, eh, and that to an elder? Div ye hear yon, Jock? It's the +Heilan's comin' oot o' him!" + +Jock could not resist a sudden temptation. That strange twist came +over his face, which heralded a far-off joke. He spoke very slowly. + +"It's what you micht be expecting from the likes o' him. It's written +down in his history: + + "_The Blairs they are a wicked race, + They set theirsels in sad disgrace, + They made the pipes and drums to play, + Through Algonquin on the Sawbbath day._" + + +He had paraphrased a bit to suit the occasion, and the doctor laughed +so appreciatively that the elder began to feel brighter. + +But Jock should have known better than to have set an example of +rhyming before Archie Blair. He turned and looked down at the elder, +and the sight of him marching peaceably beside Captain Jimmie reminded +him of an old doggerel ballad: "But man, there's worse than that +written in your own history," he cried: + + "_O-o-och, Fairshon swore a feud, + Against ta clan McTavish, + And marched into their land, + To murder and to ravish, + For he did resolve, + To extirpate ta vipers, + With four-and-twenty men + And five-and-twenty pipers!_" + + +"Tut, tut, Doctor," cried Captain Jimmie, trying to hide a smile +beneath his bonnet. "Be quate man, it's the Sabbath day." + +"Well, here's a verse that's got a quotation from Scripture or at least +an allusion to one. That's to be expected in the history of the +McPhersons." + + "_Fairshon had a son + That married Noah's daughter, + And nearly spoiled ta flood + By drinking all ta water, + Which he would have done + I really do believe it + Had ta mixture peen + Only half Glenlevit!_" + + +Lawyer Ed was shaking with unseemly laughter. + +"Ye'll hae to sing it a' when we eat the haggis the morn's night," he +suggested. + +"I don't understand how a reference to anything so unholy as the +Glenlevit got into the annals of ta Fairshons, Jock," said Doctor Blair. + +Now Jock McPherson was not averse to a drop of Glenlevit himself,--for +his stomach's sake, of course, for the elder could not be unscriptural +even in his eating and drinking. Archie Blair was not averse to it +either, though he frankly admitted that it was very bad for his +stomach, indeed, and for everybody else's stomach. + +But in the opening temperance campaign the latter had come out avowedly +on the side of local option, and was looked upon as one of the party's +strongest speakers, while Jock had not yet declared himself. It was a +delicate subject with Mr. McPherson, and he could not endure to be +twitted about it. + +He paused at the church steps and laid his hand on the doctor's velvet +sleeve. He cleared his throat, always a dangerous sign. + +"Yes," he said very slowly, "it will be a ferry fine song indeed, and +if Edward would jist be putting big _Aye_-men on the tail of it +to-morrow night, it will sound more feenished." The whole procession +was waiting to enter the church, but Jock did not hurry. "As for the +Glenlevit, the McPhersons were no more noted for liking their drop than +many another clan I might mention. But they were honest about it." He +paused again and then said even more deliberately: "And if you would +like to be referring to the Scriptures again, you might be taking a +look at your Bible when you get home, you will be finding some ferry +good advice in Romans the 2nd chapter and 21st verse." + +He turned away and marched solemnly into the church. The procession +followed and it was then that J. P. Thornton, standing at his post, and +wondering why Ed had not long ago appeared to receive the Scotchmen, +beheld the amazing spectacle of his Irish friend and very brother, +marching in their front rank, bonnet and plaid and all! + +J. P. was too dignified to make a demonstration of his outraged +feelings in church, but Miss Annabel Armstrong reported afterwards that +when she passed him she heard him say something about Edward, that +sounded like "You're too brutish"--or "too bruty" or something like +that, and Miss Armstrong said it was exceedingly improper language for +an elder to use in church. + +J. P. was always in a state of mild irritation when he settled himself +to hear the annual St. Andrew's sermon, but this morning he was +decidedly indignant. By the time the Scotchmen had gone through two +long psalms, with Lawyer Ed leading, he was hot and disgusted, and when +the sermon came it was like acid poured upon an open wound. + +The famous minister from the city made all the mistakes of his St. +Andrew's predecessors and a great many more of his own. He lingered +long at Bannockburn, he recited "Scots Wha Hae" in full, he quoted +portions of the death of Wallace and altogether behaved in a way to +leave the usually genial English listener with his temper red and raw +and anxious for a fight. + +Monday evening Lawyer Ed was to have driven out to McClintock's Corners +with his friend, to speak at a tea meeting, and convince the farmers +that Algonquin would be a much more desirable place as a market town +with a prohibitory liquor law than it was at present. + +But Lawyer Ed went to the St. Andrew's supper instead and ate haggis +and listened to the pipes play "The Cock O' the North," and Archie +Blair recite Burns and Jock McPherson make a speech on Scottish history. + +That was more than J. P. could stand. He telephoned to Roderick early +the next morning telling him to inform his chief that he, J. P., would +go to no more temperance meetings with him. If Lawyer Ed wanted help +in his campaign let him look for it among his brother Scotchmen. And +the receiver slammed before Roderick could enquire what he meant. + +There were storms bursting in other quarters too. Doctor Blair had +spent a good part of the time in church on Sunday morning in a laudable +search for the Epistle to the Romans, and had surprised all his +brethren by studying the 2nd chapter carefully. The result, however, +was not what a searching of the Scriptures is supposed to produce. For +he telephoned to Roderick the next morning that he could tell Ed, when +he came in, that he, Archie Blair, would be hanged if he would waste +any more time on local option if that was what people were saying about +him. And Captain Jimmie dropped in immediately after to say that if +something wasn't done to conciliate Jock McPherson he was afraid he +would vote against local option altogether. + +So the cause of temperance suffered a check. It proved to be not a +very serious one, but it served Roderick. For it postponed the +necessity of his declaring himself on either side, and he hoped that +before the day arrived when he must join the issue, his affairs would +be less complicated. + +Diplomacy was one of Lawyer Ed's strong features, and he had almost +completed a reconciliation between all the aggrieved parties when +Roderick left for a business trip to the north. It was an important +commission involving much money, and certain vague statements regarding +its outcome made by Mr. Graham had fired the Lad's imagination. + +"Now, I needn't warn you to do your best, Roderick," said the man when +he bade him good-bye. "You'll do that, anyway. But there's more than +money in this. There's an eye on you--" + +He would say no more, but Leslie gave him another hint. He had found +her strolling past the office as he ran out to post some letters, the +day before his departure. He was absolutely without conceit, but he +could not help noticing that somehow Miss Leslie Graham nearly always +happened, by the strangest coincidence, to be on the street just as he +was leaving the office. + +He walked with her to the post-office and back, and then she declared +her fingers were frozen and she would come into the office for ten +minutes to warm them. + +"So you're going to fix up things with the British North American +Railroad for Daddy, are you?" she said, holding out her gloved fingers +over the glowing coal-stove. "That means that you'll be getting your +fingers into Uncle Will's business, too. His lawyer is up at Beaver +Landing now." + +"Whose lawyer?" asked Roderick, giving her a chair by the fire and +standing before her feeling extremely uncomfortable. + +"Uncle Will's. You know Uncle Will Graham? He's an American now, but +he has all sorts of interests in Canada and he's--well, he's not +exactly President of the B. N. A., but he's the whole thing in it. +Uncle Will's coming home next summer, and I'm going to make him take me +back to New York with him." + +Roderick's ambitious heart gave a leap. Of course he knew about +William Graham, the Algonquin man who had gone to the States and made a +million or more. + +His head was filled with rosy dreams as he walked out to the farm that +evening to say good-bye. He was leaving for only a short time, but the +old people were loath to see him go. Aunt Kirsty drew him up to the +hot stove, bewailing the misfortune that was taking him away. + +"Dear, dear, dear, and you will be going away up north into the bush," +she said, clapping him on the back, "and you will jist be frozen with +the cold indeed, and your poor arm will be bad again." + +"Yes, and the wolves will probably eat me, and a tree will fall on me +and I'll break through the ice and be drowned," wailed Roderick. And +she shoved him away from her for a foolish gomeril, trying not to smile +at him, and declaring it was little he cared that he was leaving her, +indeed. + +"I have not heard you say anything about the arm for a long time, Lad," +said his father, who was watching him, with shining eyes, from his old +rocking-chair. + +"Oh, it's all right, Dad," he said lightly. "I haven't time to notice +it." + +He always put off the question thus when Aunt Kirsty was within +hearing, but his father's loving eye noticed that the boy's hand +sometimes sought the arm and held it, as though in pain. + +"And you will not be here to help start the great fight," his father +said wistfully, when he had heard all the latest news concerning the +temperance campaign, even to the pending disaster. "But you will be +finding a Jericho Road up in the bush, I'll have no doubt." + +Roderick looked at the saintly old face and his heart smote him. He +felt for a moment that to please his father would surely be worth more +than all the success a man could attain in a lifetime. + +"And did you get a job for poor Billy, Lad?" his father enquired. + +"Billy? Oh, the Perkins fellow?" Roderick whistled in dismay. Poor +Billy Perkins had not "kept nicely saved," as his brave little wife had +hoped, but had fallen among thieves in the hotel at the corner once +more. Old Angus had rescued him, put him upon his feet again, and had +commissioned his son to look for work for Billy, and his son had +forgotten about it entirely in the pressure of his work. + +"Oh, Dad, that's a shame," he cried contritely, "I had so much on my +mind getting ready to go, I forgot. I'll tell Lawyer Ed about him, and +perhaps he can look up something. I have to start early in the morning +or I would yet." + +"Well, well," said his father cheerfully. "There now, there is no need +to worry, for they have got him a job, but it is away from home and I +thought he'd do better here. The bit wife is lonely since the wee girl +died. But Billy will jist have to go, and it will only be for the +winter, anyway." + +"What's he going to do?" + +"It will be in the shanties. He is not strong enough for the bush, but +he will be helping the cook, and the wages will be good. I'm hoping he +will not be able to get near the drink. Indeed it was the little +lassie herself that got him the job," he added, his eyes shining. +"She's the great little lady, indeed." + +"Who is, Father?" Roderick spoke absently, his eyes on the fire, his +mind on Mr. William Graham and the B. N. A. Railroad. + +"The young teacher lady. She will be down to see poor Mrs. Perkins +every day or so since the wee one died. And the poor bit Gladys! Eh, +she's jist making a woman out of her indeed." + +Roderick's eyes came away from the fire. He was all interest. "Oh, is +she? Does she visit the folks in Willow Lane? What is she doing for +them?" + +"Eh, indeed, what is she not doing?" cried his father. "It's jist an +angel we've got in Willow Lane now, Lad. I don't know how she did it, +and indeed Father Tracy says he doesn't know either, but she's got Judy +to cook a hot dinner for Mike every day, and she's teaching Gladys at +nights, and she's jist saved the poor Perkins bodies from starving. +She showed the wee woman how to make bread, and oh, indeed, I couldn't +be telling you all the good she does!" + +Roderick listened absorbedly. So that was where she kept herself in +the evenings. And that was why he could never meet her any place, no +matter how many nights he frittered away at parties in the hope of +seeing her. + +"And how did she get this job for Billy?" he asked, just for the sake +of hearing his father talk about her. + +Old Angus smiled knowingly. + +"Och, she has a way with her, and she can get anything she wants. It +would be through Alfred Wilbur--the poor lad the boys will be calling +such a foolish name." + +"Yes, Afternoon Tea Willie. What's he after now?" + +"Indeed I think he will be after Miss Murray," said the old man, his +eyes twinkling. "He seems to be always following her about. And he +managed to get young Fred Hamilton to take Billy up to the camp. Fred +is going up to his father's shanties with a gang of men in about a +week." + +Roderick's heart sank. Here was a lost opportunity indeed. He had +failed to help his father, and had missed such a splendid chance to +help her. + +"If you've got anybody else who needs a job, Dad, I'll try to do better +next time," he said humbly. + +"Oh, indeed, there will always be some one needing help," his father +said radiantly. "Eh, eh, it will be a fine thing for me to know you +are helping to care for the poor folk on the Jericho Road. Jist being +neighbour to them. It's a great business, the law, for helping a man +to be neighbour." The old man sat and gazed happily into the fire. + +Roderick fidgeted. He was thinking that some of the work of a lawyer +did not consist so much in rescuing the man who had fallen among +thieves as falling upon him and stripping him of his raiment. + +"Law is a complicated business, Dad," he said, with a sigh. + +There were prayers after that, and a tender farewell and benediction +from the old people, and Roderick went away, his heart strangely heavy. +He was to be absent only a short time, perhaps not over two weeks, but +he had a feeling that he was bidding his father a lifelong +farewell--that he was taking a road that led away from that path in +which the man had so carefully guided his young feet. + +It was not entirely by accident that Roderick should be walking into +Algonquin just as Helen Murray was coming out of the Hurd home. He had +been very wily, for such an innocent young man. A shadow on the blind, +showing the outline of a trim little hat and fluffy hair, had sent him +back into the shadows of the Pine Road to stand and shiver until the +shadow left the window and the substance came out through the lighted +doorway. Gladys came to the gate, her arm about her teacher's waist. +They were talking softly. Gladys's voice was not so loud nor her look +so bold as it once was. She ran back calling good-night, and the +little figure of the teacher went on swiftly up the shaky frosty +sidewalk. A few strides and Roderick was at her side. She was right +under the electric light at the corner when he reached her and she +turned swiftly with such a look of annoyance that he stopped aghast. + +"Oh, I beg your pardon--" he stammered, but was immensely relieved when +she interrupted smiling. + +"Oh, is it you, Mr. McRae? I--didn't know--I thought it was--some one +else," she stammered. + +Roderick looked puzzled, but the next moment he understood. Just +within the rays of the electric light, across the street, was Afternoon +Tea Willie, waiting faithfully with chattering teeth and benumbed toes. +He stood and stared at Roderick as they passed, and then slowly +followed at a distance, the picture of abject desolation. Roderick +found it almost impossible to keep from laughing, until he began to +consider his own case. He had plunged headlong into her presence, and +now he felt he ought to apologise. He tried to, but she stopped him +charmingly. + +"Oh, indeed, I wanted to see you, before you go away," she said, and +Roderick felt immensely flattered that she knew so much about his +affairs as to be aware that he was going away. + +"Yes? What can I do for you?" he asked shyly. + +"I wanted to ask about poor Billy Perkins. Mr. Wilbur got work for +him, you know." + +"Indeed, my father tells me it was you did the good deed," declared +Roderick warmly. + +"No, no, I only helped. But I am anxious about Billy." She spoke as +though Roderick were as interested in the Perkins family as his father. +"Is there any one up at Mr. Hamilton's camp, I wonder, who would keep +an eye on him. He is all right if he's only watched, so that he can't +get whiskey. There's young Mr. Hamilton, he's going, isn't he?" + +"Yes." Roderick felt that if the young man mentioned watched Fred +Hamilton and kept him from drink it was all that could be expected of +him. However, he might try. "I'll speak to him," he said cordially, +"and see if he can do anything for Billy. I see you've taken some of +my father's family under your care," he added admiringly. + +"Oh no. I'm just helping a little. I'm afraid I'm not prompted by +such unselfish motives as your father is. I visit down here just for +something to do and to keep from being lonely." + +It was the first time she had made any reference to herself. Roderick +seized the opportunity. + +"You don't go out among the young people enough," he suggested. She +did not answer for a moment. She could not tell him that she was very +seldom invited in the circles where he moved. She had been doomed to +disappointment in Miss Graham's friendship, for after her first +generous outburst the young lady seemed to have forgotten all about her. + +"I like to come here," she said at last. "I think it's more worth +while. But don't talk any more about my affairs. Tell me something +about yours. Are you going to be long in the woods?" + +It was a delightful walk all the way up to Rosemount, for Roderick +managed to get up courage to ask if he might go all the way, and even +kept her at the gate a few minutes before he said good-bye, and he +promised, quite of his own accord, to visit Camp Hamilton if it was not +far from Beaver Landing, his headquarters, and when he returned he +would report to her Billy's progress. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +"THE LIGHT RETREATED" + +About two weeks after Billy Perkins had gone north, Helen Murray went +down to Willow Lane from school to see his family. She had been there +only the evening before, and had found them doing well. The faded +little mother had never been quite so courageous since Minnie's death, +but Bill's new start had put them beyond the immediate possibility of +want and given fresh hope. There had been two very cheery letters from +him which Helen had read aloud, so the little wife was trying to be +happy in her loneliness, and was looking forward hopefully to Billy's +return in the spring. + +But January had set in bitterly cold and there had been a heavy snow +fall during the morning. Helen feared that Eddie might not have been +able to get the wood in, so as soon as Madame and her flock had +departed, she turned down towards Willow Lane. She had been in +Algonquin only a little over three months but already the +self-forgetting tasks she had set herself, were beginning to work their +cure. She had not regained her old joyousness, and often she was still +very sad and lonely; but there had come a calm light into her deep +eyes, and an expression of sweet courage and strength to her face, that +had not been there in the old careless happy days. She was growing +very fast, these busy days, though she was quite unconscious of it in +her complete absorption in other people's troubles. + +She had left the Perkins family in such comfortable circumstances, the +day before, that she was startled and dismayed to find everything in +confusion. The neighbours were running in and out of the open door, +the fire was out, the baby was crying, and the little mother lay on the +bed prostrated. + +"What is it?" cried Helen, stopping in the open doorway in dismay. +"Oh, what's the matter?" + +Mrs. Hurd and Judy Cassidy were moving helplessly about the room. At +the sight of their friend the latter cried out, "Now praise the saints, +here's the dear young lady. Come in, Miss Murray! Och, wurra, wurra, +it's a black day for this house, indade!" + +Gladys was sitting on the old lounge beside the stove awkwardly holding +the baby. + +"Oh, Miss Murray," she cried shrilly. "Somethin' awful's happened! +Billy Perkins's gone to jail. He got drunk and he's been steal--" + +Her mother shook the broom at her. "Hold your tongue," she said +sharply. For Mrs. Perkins, her face grey with suffering, had arisen on +the bed. "Oh, Teacher, is that you!" she cried, bursting into fresh +tears. Helen went and sat on the edge of the bed, and took her hand. +"What is it?" she whispered. "Perhaps it's not so bad!" she faltered, +making a vague attempt to comfort. + +But when the pitiful story came out it was bad enough. Mrs. Perkins +told it between sobs, aided by interpolations from her neighbours. +Billy had been working steadily up till last Saturday, quite happy +because he could not get at the drink. But on Saturday he went into +the village to buy some fresh meat from a farmer for the camp. And +there was a Jericho Road up north too, it seemed, where thieves lay in +wait for the unwary. And Billy fell among them. He went into the +tavern just for a few minutes, leaving the meat on the sleigh outside, +and when he came out it was gone. Billy had gone on towards the camp +despairingly, in dread of losing his job, and praying all the way for +some intervention of Providence to avert the result of his mistake. +For in spite of many a fall before temptation, poor Billy, in a blind +groping way, clung to the belief that there was a God watching him and +caring for him. So he went on, praying desperately, and about half-way +to camp there came an answer. Right by the roadside, as if dropped +there by a miracle, lay a quarter of beef, sticking out of the snow. +It was evidently a small cache some one had placed near the trail for a +short time, and had Billy been in his normal senses he would never have +touched it. But the drink was still benumbing his brain, and quickly +digging out the miraculous find he loaded it upon his sleigh and +hurried to camp. + +But retribution swiftly followed. The stolen meat had belonged to the +Graham camp, and it seemed it was a terrible crime to steal from a rich +corporation, much worse than from a half-drunken man like poor Billy. +The first thief was not arrested, but Billy was, and he was sent to +jail. He would not be home for ever and ever so long and what was to +become of them all, and what was to become of poor Billy? + +The little wife, accustomed though she was to hardships and griefs, was +overcome by this crushing blow. With all his faults and weaknesses, +Billy was her husband and the stay and support of the family, and +besides, she had a dread of jail and its accompanying disgrace. By the +time the sad tale was finished, she was worn out with sobs, and sat +still, looking straight ahead of her into the fireless stove. But the +baby's cries roused her, and she took him in her arms, making a pitiful +attempt to chirrup to him. The idiot boy, feeling dimly that something +was wrong, came and rubbed his head against her like a faithful dog, +whining grievously. She stroked his hair lovingly. "Pore Eddie," she +said, "it'd be better if you an' me an' the biby, was with Minnie;" and +then with sudden compunction, "but wot would pore Bill do without us?" + +Helen told the sad story at the supper table at Rosemount, that +evening, and asked for help. Miss Armstrong promised to send a basket +of food down the next day, though she did not approve of the Perkins +family. She had found that to help that sort of shiftless people only +made them worse. Why, last Christmas, there was one family on Willow +Lane who received five turkeys from the Presbyterians alone, and the +Dorcas society was always sending clothes to that poor unfortunate Mrs. +Perkins. Mrs. Captain Willoughby herself, who was the President, had +seen the little Perkins girl wearing a dress just in tatters, that had +been given to her in perfectly good condition only the week before. +Wasn't the girl old enough to go out working? + +"The little girl died last fall of tuberculosis," said Helen, in a low +voice. "She was just ten." + +Miss Annabel's big blue eyes suddenly filled. "Oh, the poor dear +little thing. Minnie used to be in my Sunday-school class, and I +wondered why she hadn't been there for so long. But we've been so +dreadfully busy this fall, I simply hadn't time to hunt her up. +Elinor, we must send a jar of jelly to the poor woman, and I think I +shall give her that last winter coat of mine. We'll ask Leslie for +some, she simply doesn't know what to do with all her old clothes." + +"Oh, please don't," said Helen in distress. She could not explain that +which she had so lately learned herself, that what a woman like Mrs. +Perkins needed was not old clothes nor even food, but a friend, and +some knowledge of how to get clothes and food. "I don't think she +really needs anything to wear just now. If we could get her some light +work where she might take the baby, it would be so very much better for +her." + +Both ladies promised to see what could be done, but the Misses +Armstrong, members in good standing of the Presbyterian church, kind +hearted and fairly well off, had not a minute of time nor a cent of +money to spend on people like Mrs. Perkins. The poor ladies were +gradually discovering that the younger set, led by their own niece, and +the moneyed people now becoming prominent in Algonquin, were slowly +assuming the leadership in society. They were in danger of losing +their proud position, and every nerve had to be strained to maintain +it. What we have we'll hold, had become the despairing motto of the +Misses Armstrong, and its realisation required eternal vigilance. + +It was Alfred Tennyson who once more came to the family's aid, and +Helen was forced reluctantly to accept his help. He ran up hill and +down dale and called upon every lady in the town, till at last he +succeeded in getting work for Mrs. Perkins. Mrs. Hepburn, Lawyer Ed's +sister, said she might come to her and bring the baby, one day in the +week. Mrs. T. P. Thornton and Mrs. Blair made like promises, and Dr. +Leslie persuaded Mammy Viney to let her come to the manse to wash, +while Viney Junior, in high glee, promised to take care of little +William Henry. + +Every day, when the little mother went off to her work, with her baby +in her arms, Angus McRae drove up to Willow Lane and took Eddie down to +the farm. And with endless patience and tenderness he managed to teach +the lad a few simple tasks about the house and barn. Angus McRae's +home was the refuge of the unfit, for young Peter did the chores in the +winter when the _Inverness_ was in the dock, and Old Peter came and +stayed indefinitely when he was recovering from a drunken spree, and +Aunt Kirsty declared that there was no place where a body could put her +foot without stepping on one of Angus's wastrels. + +Roderick came back the week after Billy's arrest. As he was the lawyer +acting for Graham & Co. he could not be without some responsibility in +Billy's sad affair, and Old Angus awaited his explanation anxiously. +He knew there would be an explanation, for the old man was possessed of +the perfect assurance that his son was quite as interested in the +unfortunate folk that travelled the Jericho Roads of life as he was +himself. But Roderick had some difficulty in showing that he was quite +innocent. + +He could not explain that this trip had been his probation time, and +that if he had done his work with a slack hand there would be no hope +of greater opportunities opening up before him. The big lumber firm of +Graham & Co., operating in the north, was really under Alexander +Graham's millionaire brother. And this man's lawyer from Montreal had +been there. He was a great man in Roderick's eyes, the head of a firm +of continental reputation. He had kept the young man at his side, and +had made known to him the significant fact that, one day, if he +transacted business with the keenness and faithfulness that seemed to +characterise all his actions now, there might be a bigger place +awaiting him. The man said very little that was definite, but the +Lad's sleep had been disturbed by waking dreams of a great future. +That his friend, Alexander Graham, was the mover in this he could not +but believe, but he determined to let the people in authority see that +he could depend on his own merits. So he had done his work with a +rigid adherence to law and rule that commanded the older man's +admiration. Roderick felt it was unfortunate that poor Billy should +have come under his disciplining hand at this time, but such cases as +his were of daily occurrence in the camp. There was no use trying to +carry on a successful business and at the same time coddle a lot of +drunks and unfits like Billy. He had been compelled to weed out a +dozen such during his stay in the north. Billy was only one of many, +but when he remembered that he must give a report of him to the two +people whose opinion he valued far more than the approval of even the +great firm of Elliot & Kent, or of William Graham of New York, he felt +that here surely was the irony of fate. + +"I did my best, Dad," he said, his warm heart smitten by the eager look +in the old man's eyes. "But I had to protect my clients. There has +been so much of that sort of stealing up there lately that stern +measures had to be taken, and I was acting for the company." Old Angus +was puzzled. Evidently law was a machine which, if you once started +operating, you were no longer able to act as a responsible individual. +He could not understand any circumstances that would make it impossible +to help a man who had fallen by the way as Billy had, but then Roderick +knew about law, and Roderick would certainly have done the best +possible. His faith in the Lad was all unshaken. + +But the young man was not so hopeful about Miss Murray's verdict. She +had put Billy in his care, and it was but a sorry report he had to make +of her trust. He was wondering if he dared call at Rosemount and +explain his part in the case, when he met her in Willow Lane. It was a +clear wintry evening, and the pines cast long blue shadows across the +snowy road ahead. Roderick was hurrying home to take supper at the +farm, and Helen was coming out of the rough little path that led from +the Perkins' home. She was feeling tired and very sad. She had been +reading a letter from the husband in prison, a sorrowful pencilled +scrawl, pathetically misspelled, but breathing out true sympathy for +his wife and children, and the deepest repentance and self-blame. And +at the end of every misconstructed sentence like a wailing refrain were +the words, "I done wrong and I deserve all I got, but it's hard on you +old girl, and I thought that Old Angus's son might have got me off." + +Whether right or wrong, Helen felt a sting of resentment, as she looked +up and saw Roderick swinging down the road towards her. He seemed so +big and comfortable in his long winter overcoat, so strong and capable, +and yet he had used his strength and skill against Billy. Her woman's +heart refused to see any justice in the case. She did not return the +radiant smile with which he greeted her. In spite of his fears, he +could not but be glad at the sight of her, with the rosy glow of the +sunset lighting up her sweet face and reflected in the gold of her hair. + +"I was so sorry to have such news of Billy I was afraid to call," he +said as humbly as though it was he who had stolen and been committed to +prison. + +"Oh, it's so sad I just can't bear it," she burst forth, the tears +filling her eyes. "Oh, couldn't you have done something, Mr. McRae?" + +Roderick was overcome with dismay. "I--I--did all I could," he +stammered. "It was impossible to save him. He stole and he had to +bear the penalty." + +"But you were on the other side," she cried vaguely but indignantly. +"I don't see how you could do it." + +"But, Miss Murray!" cried Roderick, amazed at her unexpected vehemence. +"I was acting for the company I represent. It's unreasonable, if you +will pardon me for speaking so strongly, to expect I could sacrifice +their interests and allow the law to be broken." He was really +pleading his own case. There was a dread of her condemnation in his +eyes which she could not mistake. But her heart was too sore for the +Perkins family to feel any compunction for him. + +"I don't understand law I know," she said sadly. "But I can't +understand how your father's son could see that poor irresponsible +creature sent to jail for the sake of a big rich company. His wife's +heart is broken, that's all." She was losing her self-control once +more, and she hastily bade him good-evening, and before Roderick could +speak again she was gone. + +The young man walked swiftly homeward; the blackness of the darkening +pine forest was nothing to the gloom of his soul. He spent long hours +of the night and many of the next day striving to state the case in a +way that would justify himself in the girl's eyes. In his extremity he +went to Lawyer Ed for comfort. + +"What could I do?" he asked. "What would you have done in that case?" + +Lawyer Ed scratched his head. "I really don't know what a fellow's to +do now, Rod, that's the truth, when he's doing business for a skinflint +like Sandy Graham. You just have to do as he wants or jump the job, +that's a fact." + +But Roderick did not need to be told that his chief would have jumped +any job no matter how big, rather than hurt a poor weakling like Billy +Perkins. + +So those were dark days for Roderick in spite of all the brilliant +prospects opening ahead of him. He could not tell which was harder to +bear, his father's perfect faith in him, despite all evidence to the +contrary, or the girl's look of reproach, despite all his attempts to +set himself right in her eyes. He was learning, too, that not till he +had lost her good opinion did he realise that he wanted it more than +anything else in the world. + +But there were compensations. When he finished his business he +received a letter of congratulation from Mr. Kent, and a commission to +do some important work for him. He found some solace, too, in the +bright approving eyes of Leslie Graham. Her perfect confidence in him +furnished a little balm to his wounded feelings. Certainly she was not +so exacting, for she cared not at all about the Perkinses and all the +other troublesome folk on the Jericho Road. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +"THE LANDSKIP DARKEN'D" + +Roderick's work allowed him little chance for brooding over his +worries, for Lawyer Ed left more and more to him as the days went on. +Not that he did any less, but the temperance campaign was on again, all +racial and religious prejudices forgotten, in the glory of the fight. +Lawyer Ed was quite content that his young partner should let him do +all the public speaking, and so neither side was offended at the young +man's careful steering in a middle course. Roderick himself hated it, +but there seemed no other way, on the road he was determined to follow. + +He was not too busy to watch Helen Murray, and serve her in every way +possible. He tried to atone for his past neglect of the Perkins family +by getting Billy a good position on his return, and was rewarded by +being allowed to walk up to Rosemount with Helen the night Billy came +home. He was so quietly persistent in his devotion to the girl, making +no demands, but always standing ready to serve her, that she could not +but see how matters were with him. But the revelation brought her no +joy. Her heart was still full of bitter memories, and with all +gentleness and kindness, she set about the task of showing Roderick +that his attentions were unwelcome. It was not an easy task, for she +was often very lonely and sometimes she forgot that she must not allow +him to waylay her in Willow Lane and walk up to Rosemount with her. +Again she punished herself for her laxity by being very severe with him +and at such times Roderick allowed himself to seek comfort for his +wounded feelings in Leslie Graham's company, for Leslie was always kind +and charming. + +One evening, Roderick and Fred Hamilton had been dining at the Grahams +and had walked home with the Misses Baldwin. They were returning down +the hill together, and Fred, who had been very sulky all evening, grew +absolutely silent. Roderick tried several topics in vain and finally +gave up the attempt at conversation and swung along whistling, his +hands in his pockets. + +At last the young man spoke. + +"I'm going West this spring." + +"Oh, are you?" said Roderick, glad to hear him say something. "You're +lucky. That's where I'd like to be going." + +"Yes, likely," sneered the other. "I guess any fellow can see what +direction you're going all right." + +"What do you mean?" asked Roderick, nettled at the tone. + +"Oh, yes, as if you didn't know," growled his aggrieved rival. "You +don't need to think I'm blind and deaf too, and a fool into the +bargain." + +Roderick stopped short in the middle of the snowy side-walk. "Look +here," he said quietly, "if you don't speak up like a man, and tell me +what you're hinting at I--well, I'll have to make you, that's all." + +Fred had run foul of Roderick McRae at school and knew from painful +experience that it was not safe to make him very angry. + +"Well, you needn't get so hot about it," he said half apologetically. +"I merely hinted that you--well, you can't help seeing it yourself--" + +"Seeing what, you blockhead?" + +"Seeing that she--that Leslie doesn't care two pins about anybody but +you. She'd be glad if I went West to-morrow." The hot blood rushed +into Roderick's face. He turned upon the young man, but they were +passing under an electric light and the look of misery in Fred's face +disarmed him. He burst into derisive laughter. + +"Well, of all the idiots!" he exclaimed. "You ought to be horsewhipped +for insulting a young lady so. Can't you see, you young madman, that +she's just trying to show a little bit of polite gratitude? I know I +don't deserve it, but she seems to be as grateful to me for helping you +that night on the lake, and you must be a fool if you think anything +else." + +The young man walked on for a little in silence. Then he said, in +quite a changed tone, "Are you sure, Rod?" + +"Yes, of course," shouted Roderick, "you ought to be shut up in a mad +house for thinking anything else." + +"Well, she told everybody in the town last fall that I upset her, just +to give you the glory," he said resentfully. + +"Pshaw," cried Roderick disgustedly. "She did it for pure fun, and you +ought to have taken it that way. You don't deserve her for a friend." + +Fred seemed to be pondering this for a while, and finally he said, +"Well, maybe you're right. Only I--well, you know how I feel about +Leslie. She--we've been chums ever since we were kids, and you may be +sure I don't like the idea of any other fellow cutting in ahead of me +now." + +"Well, wait till some fellow does before you jump on him again," said +Roderick, so hotly that the other grew apologetic. + +"I didn't mean to be such a jay, Rod. It's all right if you say so. I +guess I was crazy. If you just give me your word that you haven't +intentions towards her, why, it'll be all right." + +Roderick gave the assurance with all his heart, and Fred insisted upon +shaking hands over it, and they parted on the best of terms. + +But Roderick felt covered with shame when he found himself alone on the +Pine Road. He could not deny to his heart that Fred's suspicions had +some little reason in them, and the knowledge filled him with dismay. +He was humiliated by the thought that he had accepted many favours from +Leslie's father and been a welcome guest many, many times at her home, +and he wondered miserably if Helen Murray held the same opinion as Fred. + +He came back to his office the next morning determined to avoid Leslie +Graham, no matter what the consequence. + +She called him on the telephone, wrote dainty notes, and strolled past +the office at the time when he was likely to be leaving, all to no +avail. Roderick was buried in work, and slowly but surely the +knowledge began to dawn upon the girl that she, with all her +attractions, was being gently but firmly put aside. + +And so the winter sped away on the swift wheels of busy days, and when +spring came the local option petition began to circulate. And once +more Roderick escaped the necessity of declaring himself. + +The firm of Elliot and Kent, with whom he had worked in the North, +wished to consult him, and he was summoned to Montreal for a week. + +Lawyer Ed saw him off at the station fairly puffed up with pride over +his boy's importance. + +When Roderick returned, the petition was signed, and sent away, and +Lawyer Ed was jubilating over the fact that they could have got far +more names if they had wanted them. And Roderick comforted himself +with the thought that his was not needed after all. + +The excitement subsided for a time after this, the real hard +preparation for voting day would not commence until the autumn, so J. +P. Thornton was seized with the grand idea that the coming summer was +surely the heaven-decreed occasion upon which to go off on that +long-deferred holiday. The inspiration came to him one day when he had +telephoned Lawyer Ed twice and called at his office three times to find +him out each time. + +"Is this the office of Brians and McRae or only McRae?" he asked when +Roderick informed him for the third time that his chief was absent. + +"Well, it isn't often like this," said the junior partner +apologetically. "We'll get back to our old routine when my chief gets +over his local option excitement." + +"If you can run this business alone during a Local Option to-do, I see +no reason why you couldn't while we take three months holidays, do you?" + +"No, I do not," said Roderick heartily. "Can't you make Lawyer Ed go +to the Holy Land this spring? I'll do anything to help him go. He +needs a rest." + +J. P. Thornton looked at the young man smiling reminiscently. He was +recalling the night when two young men gave up that very trip and +Lawyer Ed had laughingly declared he would go some day even if he had +to wait till little Roderick grew up. "And little the boy knows," said +Mr. Thornton to himself, "just how much Ed gave up that time." + +"Well," he said aloud, "this is surely poetic justice." + +"What is?" asked Roderick puzzled. But J. P. would not explain. +"We'll just make him go," he declared. "You stand behind me, Rod, and +don't let him get back to work, and I'll get him off." + +It was not entirely the old boyish desire to go on the long-looked-for +trip with his friend that was at the bottom of Mr. Thornton's anxiety +to get away. He could not help seeing that Ed needed a rest and needed +it very badly. Archie Blair aroused his fears further. For one +evening Lawyer Ed did an altogether unprecedented thing and went home +to bed early. Mrs. Hepburn, his sister, was so amazed over such a +piece of conduct on her brother's part, that she called at the doctor's +office the next day to ask if he thought there was anything wrong with +Ed's heart. + +Doctor Blair laughed long and loud over the question, putting the +lady's fears at rest. + +"No, I don't think any one in Algonquin would admit there was anything +astray with Ed's heart, Mary," he said. "But his head might be vastly +improved by putting a little common sense into it regarding eating and +sleeping. He's been going too hard for about twenty-five years and +he's tired, that's all. But J. P.'s going to get him off this time, +all right, and the change is just what he needs." + +He spoke to J. P. about it, and the two determined that they would make +all preparations to start for the Holy Land in July and if Ed had to be +bound and gagged until the steamer sailed, they would certainly see +that he went. + +Lawyer Ed consented with the greatest enthusiasm. Of course he would +go. He really believed he had enough money saved up, and Roderick was +doing everything, anyway, and he could just start off for a forty years +wandering in the wilderness if J. P. would go with him. + +The whole town became quite excited when Mrs. Hepburn announced at a +tea given by Mrs. Captain Willoughby that her brother and J. P. +Thornton were really and truly, even should Algonquin go up in flames +the day before, going to sail from Montreal sometime in July for +foreign parts. There was a great deal of running to and from the +Thornton and Brians homes, and a tremendous amount of talking and +advising. And the only topic of conversation for weeks, in the town, +was the Holy Land, and the question which greeted a new-comer +invariably was, "Did you hear that Lawyer Ed and J. P. have really +decided to go?" + +All this bustle of preparation and expectation did not deceive J. P. +into a false position of security. He was by no means confident, and +he kept a strict eye on Lawyer Ed to see that he did not launch some +new scheme that would demand his personal attention till Christmas. +For well he knew that until his friend was on board the steamer and +beyond swimming distance from the land, he was not safe. Any day +something might arise to make it seem quite impossible to go. + +So he was thrown into quite a state of nervousness when, early in June, +Algonquin began to prepare for a unique celebration. The first of July +had been chosen as "Old Boys' Day," and all Algonquin's exiled sons had +been invited to come back to the old home on that day and be made happy. + +"Old Boys' Day" was an entirely new institution in Algonquin. Indeed +she did not have many sons beyond middle age, but other Ontario towns +were having these reunions, and Algonquin was never known to be behind +her contemporaries, in the matter of having anything new, even though +the newest thing was Old Boys. + +So no wonder J. P. Thornton was anxious. For such a celebration was +just the sort of thing in which Lawyer Ed gloried. Fortunately it was +set a month before they were to sail, but J. P. knew that Ed would need +all that time to recover from the perfect riot of friendship into which +he would be sure to plunge on Old Boys' Day. + +As the first of July approached, the whole town gave itself up to +extravagant preparations and, as J. P. expected, Lawyer Ed, turned over +his office to Roderick, put away railway time-tables and guide books +and headed every committee. There was a committee of ladies from all +the churches to serve dinner to the Old Boys on their arrival. There +was a decorating committee with instructions to cover the town with +flags and bunting and banners, no matter what the cost. There was a +committee for sports, on both land and water and, most important of +all, a reception committee, half to go down to Barbay with Captain +Jimmie and the town band to bring the Old Boys home by water, the only +proper way to approach Algonquin, and the other half to meet them at +the dock. + +Of course all this upheaval and bustle did not take place without some +slight discord. The first storm arose through a dispute as to where +the big dinner should be held upon the arrival of the boat. The first +suggestion was that it be held in the opera house. But unfortunately, +many of the best people of Algonquin objected to holding anything there +as a matter of principle. + +It was the common case of a very good place having a bad name. Had the +opera house been called the town hall, which it really was, no one +would have found fault with it. But its name suggested actors and the +theatre, and many of the good folk, Mr. McPherson at their head, just +wouldn't countenance it at all. + +Of course there was the other class who said Algonquin would be too +dull to live in were it not for the winter attractions of the opera +house which gave it such a bad name. In fact every one who had any +pretensions towards knowing what was the correct thing in city life, +went regularly to the plays, and declared they were just as high class +as you would see in Toronto. + +Indeed a new play was always announced as "The Greatest Attraction in +Toronto Last Week," and companies had several times come all the way +from New York just to appear in Algonquin. Then every winter there +were the Topp Brothers who came and stayed a whole week in Crofter's +Hotel, and gave a different play every night. There were all the best +known dramas, "Lady Audley's Secret," and "East Lynne" and "Uncle Tom's +Cabin," and once they even gave "Faust,"--without music, it is true, +but a splendid reproduction nevertheless, with the biggest and tallest +Topp brother as Mephisto, all in red satin and, every one said, just +perfectly terrible. + +So every one who knew anything at all about what was demanded of people +moving in the best circles, pronounced the opera house the finest +institution in the town and demanded that the Old Boys be taken to it +upon their arrival and welcomed and fed. And all the other people said +it was a sinful and worldly place, and declared they would have no Old +Boys' banquet at all if it were to be served in that theatrical +abomination. + +The Presbyterian Sunday-school room was the next place in size, and, to +smooth matters over, Lawyer Ed offered it for the dinner. + +Then the Anglican and the Catholic and the Methodist ladies met and +said it was just like the Presbyterians to want to have the banquet in +their church, to make it appear to the Old Boys that they were doing it +all. And Mrs. Captain Willoughby, the smartest woman in Algonquin and +the Convener of the dinner committee, said that if those gossipy old +cranks wanted to have the banquet in the lock-up, why they might have +it there for all she cared, but she wanted every one to know that it +would be served in the Presbyterian School room or she would have +nothing to do with it. That almost settled it for every one knew it +was utterly impossible to get up such a huge affair without Mrs. +Captain Willoughby at the head. But the very next night Jock McPherson +brought up the matter in a session meeting and objected to having the +dinner in the schoolroom, as it was not a religious gathering. + +But Lawyer Ed met and overcame every difficulty. He laughed and +cajoled the opera house party into giving way. He forced the programme +committee to put Mr. McPherson down for one of the chief addresses of +welcome at the banquet, and the objections ceased. He called up his +friend Father Tracy on the telephone and bade him see that his flock +did their duty in the matter, and he took the Methodist minister's wife +and the Anglican clergyman's daughter and Mrs. Captain Willoughby all +down town together for ice cream, and there was no more trouble. + +"Women are ticklish things to handle, Rod," he said, wiping his +perspiring forehead when all was harmony again. "The only wise way for +a man to act is to get married and hand over all such manoeuvres to his +wife. See that you get one as soon as possible." + +"I've heard something somewhere regarding the advantage of example over +precept," said Roderick gravely. + +"Hold your tongue," said his chief severely. "If I wish to serve you +as a terrible warning, to be avoided, instead of an example to be +followed, you ought to be grateful in any case." + +He strode away swinging his cane and whistling and Roderick watched him +with affectionate eyes. He was wondering, as all the town wondered, +except a couple of his nearest friends who knew, why Lawyer Ed had +never married. And he was thinking of a pair of soft blue eyes that +had not grown any kinder to him as the months had passed. He went back +to his work, the solace for all his troubles. He was taking no part in +the preparations for the Old Boys' celebration, and was looking forward +to the date with small pleasure. For that was the day she would likely +be leaving for her summer vacation. And who knew whether she would +come back or not? So he watched Lawyer Ed's joyous preparations for +the Old Boys' visit, without much interest, little thinking it was to +be of more moment to him than to any one else in Algonquin. + +Early in the morning of the first of July the rain came pouring down, +but the clouds cleared away before ten o'clock, leaving the little town +fresh and green and glowing after its bath. Everything was dressed in +its best for the visitors. The gardens were in their brightest summer +decorations. The June roses and peonies were not yet gone, and the +syringa bushes and jessamine trees were all a-bloom. Main Street was +lined with banners and overhung with gay bunting. Lake Algonquin +smiled and twinkled and sparkled out her welcome. The fairy islands, +the surrounding woods, everything, was at its freshest and greenest. + +Early in the morning the _Inverness_ with half of the entertainment +committee, the town band, and such youngsters as Captain Jimmie could +not eject from his decks, sailed away down to Barbay to bring the +heroes home and, as the _Chronicle_ said in a splendid editorial, the +next morning, Algonquin's heart throbbed with pride as the goodly ship +sailed into port with her precious cargo. The Barbay _Clarion_, +Algonquin's and the _Chronicle's_ bitter and hasty enemy, wearily +remarked the next week that Algonquin always found something to be +proud of anyway. But there could be no doubt Algonquin had reason on +this first of July, for the _Inverness_ carried homeward men whose +names had brought honour to the little town. + +There was J. P.'s son who edited the paper read by every Canadian from +Halifax to Vancouver, except those who, wilfully blinded by political +prejudice, read the organ of the opposite party. There was Tom +Willoughby, the captain's brother, member for the Dominion House, who +tore himself away from Ottawa, every one felt, at great risk to his +country's weal, leaving the question of war in South Africa and +reciprocity with Australia in abeyance, while he rushed across the +country to do honour to the old home town. As the _Chronicle_ said, +the next morning, being a supporter of Tom's party, not even King +Edward himself could have found fault with a loyalty that would take +such risks for home and native land. + +There was Sandy Graham's brother from New York, who had made, some +said, a million in real estate deals in the West, and Lawyer Ed's own +brother, who was a professor of note in a University "down East." +There were business, and professional men, young workmen from near by +cities and towns, statesmen and scholars. But of them all, none was +such a hero, and none so eagerly awaited, as Harry Armstrong. For only +the summer before, Harry had taken a Canadian lacrosse team around the +world and had vanquished everything in Europe, Asia and Africa that +dared to hold up a stick against them. + +When the first far away note of the _Inverness'_ whistle floated across +the water from the Gates, the ladies at the Presbyterian church began +putting the finishing touches to the tables and the dressing on the +salads, and half of the reception committee that had remained at home +drove down to the dock. They arranged themselves there in proper +order, with Captain Willoughby, the Mayor, at the head, or rather +almost at the head, for of course Lawyer Ed was a few steps in advance +of him. + +The dock was a new and important landing place. There was a big +distinction between the dock and the wharf. The latter was the +decrepit old wooden structure, torn and jarred by ice and storms, that +stood at the foot of Main Street, where every one of the Old Boys had +fished and fallen in and nearly drowned himself many a time. But the +dock, as every one knew, was the fine new landing place, built of stone +and cement, and stretching from the town park, away out, it almost +seemed, as far as the Gates. The _Inverness_ had had instruction to +put in at the dock, not only to impress the Old Boys with the strides +Algonquin had made, but as a delicate compliment to Tom Willoughby, +through whose political influence it had been built. + +All the cabs in town had been hired and all the buggies loaned, and +they lined up along the park road waiting to take the guests up to the +church. Lawyer Ed had suggested at first that the Mayor ride down in +his automobile, but as all the horses in town had to be out at the same +time, the experiment was voted too dangerous and the Mayor drove in a +commonplace but safe cab. + +Every one was at his proper station waiting when, with a blaze of +colour and a burst of music, the _Inverness_ curved around Wanda Island +and swept into view. She was a brave sight surely! From every side +floated banners and pennons, her deck rail and her flag-staff were +covered with green boughs, Old Boys fairly swarmed the decks from stem +to stern. And up in the bow, their instruments flashing in the +sunlight, stood the band, playing loudly and gaily, "Home, Sweet Home." + +No one ever quite knew who was to blame that things went amiss from +that splendid moment. Captain Jimmie said it was the fault of Major +Dobie, the leader of the band, and Major Dobie was equally certain it +was the captain's fault. The Old Boys themselves were willing to take +all the blame, and perhaps they were right, for they danced on the +deck, and crowded about the wheel so that Captain Jimmie had no idea +whither he was steering. However it was, instead of turning to +starboard, as he had been instructed, and running in to the dock where +the committee waited, Captain Jimmie swept to larboard around the buoy +that marked his turning point, and made straight for his old hitching +post at the wharf. + +The Mayor and the Committee shouted and waved. Lawyer Ed stood up on +the seat of a cab and roared out a command across the water that might +have been heard at the Gates, but the band and the cheers of the Old +Boys drowned his voice. Captain Jimmie pursued his mistaken course, +never once stopping in the stream of Gaelic with which he was +entertaining his Highland guests, and even the half of the Committee on +board forgot where they were to land, in their joyous excitement. + +Then Lawyer Ed fairly pitched Afternoon Tea Willie into a row-boat and +sent him spinning across the water to head-off the _Inverness_ and make +her turn to the park. But the poor boy had been working like a slave +since early morning at the Presbyterian church, and could not row fast +enough. He was only half-way across when the whistle sounded to shut +off steam. But just as the _Inverness_ stopped with a bump, some one +of the committee came to his senses, and rushed to the captain, +pointing out the frantically waving hosts on the dock. + +"Cosh! Bless my soul!" cried Captain Jimmie in dismay. He gave a +wrench to the wheel, shouting orders to the Ancient Mariner to gee her +around and go back, but he was too late. Before the gang-plank had +been thrown out, or rope hitched, the Old Boys had leaped ashore. +Captain Jimmie yelled at them to come back, but they paid no more heed +than they would have done twenty-five years earlier and went swarming +joyfully up Main Street. + +But meanwhile a dozen of the reception committee had come tearing down +the railroad track from the park and were shouting upon them to stop. +Then the Mayor, Archie Blair, J. P. Thornton and Lawyer Ed having +leaped into a cab, and driven furiously across the town, were now +thundering down Main Street. They headed off the truant Old Boys, and +drove them back to the wharf to be received decorously and listen to +the welcoming address. As they had dashed past the Presbyterian church +at a mad gallop, every one became alarmed and the news spread that a +dreadful disaster had happened to the _Inverness_. But Afternoon Tea +Willie came running up out of breath and wet with perspiration to tell +them the real state of affairs. He was scolded soundly by Mrs. Captain +Willoughby, and went about pouring out apologies all day after. + +So the reception took place at the wharf after all, with every one in +imminent danger of going through the rotten planks into the lake. It +was a rather informal affair. J. P. Thornton and Archie Blair tried to +preserve some dignity, but Lawyer Ed was in a towering rage and cared +not for decorum. He shook his fist at the Old Boys and told them they +were howling idiots and had lost what little manners they had learned +in Algonquin. Then he stood up on the carriage seat, his face red, his +eyes blazing, and called Captain Jimmie an old blind mole and an +ostrich and everything else in the world foolish and unthinking. +Captain Jimmie shouted back with a right good Highland spirit, from his +vantage point on the deck and all the Old Boys cheered joyously, +declaring this was the one thing needful to make them feel absolutely +at home. + +Finally the proper welcome was stammered out by the Mayor, who was even +less at home making a speech than running his automobile, and they all +got away and the procession started up towards the church. + +On every side were shouts of welcome: "Hello, Bob!" "Hi, there, Jack, +you home too?" "Well, well, if there isn't old Bill! No place like +Algonquin, eh Bill?" etc., etc. Harry Armstrong was easily the +favourite, and was the recipient of many welcoming shouts. + +Roderick stood at the door watching the procession go past to the +church. He was amazed to see Lawyer Ed and his brother seated in the +same carriage as Alexander Graham. There was a ponderous man with a +double chin seated beside him, and going into a spasm of laughter every +time Lawyer Ed spoke. Roderick looked at him with keen interest. This +was William Graham, the man whose word was law with the firm of Elliot +and Kent. He had come all the way from New York for this celebration +entirely, he declared in his speech at the banquet, because Ed had +wired him to come and he could not resist Ed. They had been great +friends in boyhood days, and the big brother cared not a whit that +Sandy had a grudge at Ed. If that were so, he declared, then all the +more shame to Sandy. So he was seated between the Brians brothers, +fairly radiating joy from his big fat person, when the procession +passed Lawyer Ed's office. His chief waved his hat at Roderick and +roared: + +"Come awa ben the kirk, ma braw John Hielanman!" and then he turned to +the portly gentleman at his side and said: + +"That's Angus McRae's boy, Bill. He's my partner now." + +"Angus McRae's son? You mean Roderick McRae?" The millionaire turned +and stared at the young man keenly. He nodded to his brother. + +"Looks like a likely lad all right," he said. "I want to see you about +him, Ed, when all the fuss is over." + +Roderick had such a pile of work on the desk before him, that he did +not get up to the church until the luncheon was over and the last +speaker but one on his feet. This was Jock McPherson, and when +Roderick slipped into the crowds standing at the ends of the long +glittering tables, the little man was explaining very slowly and +solemnly that as the afternoon with its long programme was approaching +he would not be keeping them. All his oratorical rivals had had their +turn at the Old Boys and Mr. McPherson was just a bit nettled at being +crowded into the last few minutes. J. P. Thornton and Archie Blair and +Lawyer Ed had got themselves put on ahead of him and had taken all the +time and said all the complimenting things to be said. Captain +Willoughby was the chairman and, though it was agony for him to make a +speech, he had tried in his halting way to make amends to Mr. +McPherson. It was a pity that such an able speaker had been left so +late, he had explained, but there were so many on the programme that +some one had to come last, etc., etc. Jock arose after this very +doubtful introduction, and spoke so deliberately that Lawyer Ed and J. +P. exchanged significant glances, there was something coming. "It iss +true Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen," he said slowly, "that there have been +many fine speeches delivered this afternoon. And now what shall I say? +For I feel that ufferything has already been said." He paused and gave +the peculiar sniffing sound that told he had scented a joke from afar +and was going to hunt it to earth. "Yes, Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen, +there is no doubt that there is vurry little left to be said on any +subject whatuffer. I feel vurry much like the meenister who went into +the pulpit with his sermon. He had not looked at it since he had put +it away the night before, and the mice had got at it and had eaten all +the firstly, the secondly and the thirdly, and there was vurry little +left--vurry little left, Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen. But the meenister +would jist be explaining his dilemma to the people. 'My dearly beloved +brethren,' he said, said he, 'I am vurry sorry to inform you that the +mice have got at my sermon, and have eaten firstly, secondly and +thirdly, but as it cannot be helped, my dearly beloved brethren, we +will jist be commencing _where the mice left off_!'" + +Even the mice had to join in the laugh on themselves, and when Jock had +given the few words of his fourthly which were left, every one, himself +included, was in fine humour. + +The last speaker was Alexander Graham's wealthy brother. William +Graham had been the most successful, from one point of view, of all +Algonquin's returning sons. He had got together enough wealth, folk +said, to buy out Algonquin twice over. Beside, he had become quite +famous in political life in his adopted country, and rumour had it that +he might have been President of the United States had he not been born +in Canada. William himself denied this, but he could not deny the +honours his adopted country had showered upon him. His name was a +power in Washington circles, and he had more than once, gone abroad on +international matters of grave import. + +Nevertheless, Algonquin received him with some embarrassment mingled +with her joy and pride. Bill Graham, the Algonquin boy, was a welcome +sight to every one, for he had always been popular. But, W. H. Graham, +the great American, was quite another matter, and many of his warmest +friends had an uncomfortable feeling that they were committing an act +of disloyalty to Britain in thus making him publicly welcome. It was +all right to make money out of the Yankees, and Bill was commended for +his millions, but to join the enemy and help it work out its problems +was a dangerous precedent to set before the youth of the town. + +He made a very wise speech, saying very little about the States, and a +great deal about his joy at getting home again, but when he sat down, +the applause was not quite as enthusiastic as had been given the other +home-comers and Lawyer Ed's warm heart was grieved. As they stood up +to sing the National Anthem before dispersing, like true sons of +Algonquin, J. P. whispered: + +"Too bad about old Bill, can't we do something better for him?" + +Lawyer Ed was just swinging the crowd into the thunder of "God Save our +gracious King," but he heard, and a sudden inspiration thrilled him. +He nodded reassuringly to J. P. and waved his arms to beat time, for +Major Dobie and the band were getting far behind. + +Just as the last words of the national anthem were uttered, with a +flourish of his hand to the band to continue, and another towards Bill +to show that the graceful tribute was intended for him, Lawyer Ed burst +forth into "My country 'tis of thee--." The band caught up the strain +again, another wave of the leader's hand, and the Old Boys joined and +every one burst generously into the second line "Sweet land of +liberty," with smiling eyes turned towards the American millionaire. + +Graham smiled radiantly back. Down in his heart he cared not a +Canadian copper cent for the American national anthem, but he did care +a great deal for the love of his old friends, and he was touched and +pleased. + +But alas for the generous tribute to the American. No one knew a word +of the song beyond the second line. Lawyer Ed started off with a +splendid shout, "Land where the--" but got no further. The band and +the drum thundered gallantly over the lapse, but the singing dwindled +away. The leader cast one agonised glance towards the American but +Bill sent back a hopeless negative, and cleared his throat and twitched +his New York tie. The Old Boys began to grin, and Lawyer Ed began to +grow hot at the fear of making a fiasco of what he had intended for a +grand finale. But he kept doggedly on, for Lawyer Ed never in his life +gave up anything he started out to do, and even if he had had no tune +as well as no words he would have sung that song through to the bitter +end. So far above the band and the drum his voice rang out splendidly, +defying fate: + + "_Land where the lee la lay, + Land where the doo da day--_" + + +Then, hearing the laughter rising like a tide about him, he flung the +American tribute to the winds, and roared out strong and distinct, the +whole congress of Old Boys following in a burst of relief, + + "_Long to reign over us, + God save our King._" + + +The banquet broke up in a storm of laughter, the American millionaire's +loudest of all. + +"Oh, Ed," he cried, wiping his eyes, "stick to the old version. You're +more loyal than you knew!" + +Roderick was leaving the room with the crowd, when Leslie Graham, in a +bewitching white cap and tiny apron, caught his arm. + +"Don't run away!" she cried, "I was told to fetch you to Uncle Will, he +wants to meet you. If he's going to make a Yankee out of you, see that +you resist him strenuously." + +"One American in your family is enough, isn't it, Les?" said Anna +Baldwin, her big black eyes staring very innocently at Roderick. + +Roderick blushed like a girl, but Leslie Graham laughed delightedly. + +"Isn't Anna shocking?" she asked, glancing coyly at Roderick, as they +moved back through the crowd. But he did not hear her, and she was +surprised at a sudden light that sprang to his eyes. She looked in +their direction, and saw Helen Murray in a blue gown and a white cap +and apron. She was standing in the doorway leading to the kitchen. + +Madame was talking to her and the girl's usually grave face was +animated and lighted with a lovely smile. Leslie Graham looked at her +then back swiftly to Roderick. There was a look in his eyes she had +never seen there before. The old suspicion roused the night she had +seen him help Miss Murray out of his canoe returned. Her gay chatter +suddenly ceased. She presented Roderick to her uncle and quickly +turned away and was lost in the crowd. + +Roderick scarcely noticed that she had gone, he was wondering if the +summer holidays were to be spent in Algonquin after all, and then he +noticed that the man he had been anxious to meet was shaking his hand. +"I'm glad to see Angus McRae's son!" the big man was saying. "Yes, +yes, I'd know you by your father. And how is he? I must see him +before I leave. Sandy's been telling me about your work here. And Ed +too. Do you intend to settle in Algonquin?" + +"I hope not, sir, not permanently at least." + +"That's right. Algonquin's a fine place to have in the background of +one's life, but it's rather small for any expansion. Did you know I've +had an eye on you since you were up north last winter?" + +"On me?" cried Roderick amazed. + +"Yes, just on you." The portly figure shook with a good humoured +amusement at the young man's modest amazement. "I heard about you from +my brother and then from Kent. Let me see, I suppose there will be +high doings all day to-day. What about to-morrow? Could I see you for +a little talk to-morrow morning?" + +Roderick set the hour for the appointment, silently wondering. His +heart was throbbing with expectation, vague, wonderful. Some great +event was surely pending. He went home that night, full of high +expectations. When he made a great success of his life and came back +to Algonquin, rich and with a name, he would go to her and show her he +had been right, and she had been wrong. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +"THE MELODY DEADEN'D" + +"And you don't mean to tell me you were such a fool as to say he might +go?" J. P. Thornton, walking up the hill for the fourth time on the +way home from a session meeting with Lawyer Ed, asked the question +again in an extremity of indignation. + +And Lawyer Ed answered as he had done each time before: + +"I couldn't stand in the boy's way, Jack; I just couldn't." + +They had argued the question for an hour, up and down the hills between +their two homes, and had come to no agreement. That Roderick had had +an offer to tempt any young man there was no doubt. A partnership in +the firm of Elliot and Kent, solicitors for the British North American +Transcontinental Railroad, was such a chance as came the way of few at +his age. + +And yet Mr. Thornton declared that he should have refused it +unconditionally. Not so Lawyer Ed; his generous heart condoned the boy. + +"It's the chance of a life-time, Jack," he declared. "It would be +shameful to keep him out of it, and, mind you, he wouldn't say he would +go until I urged it." + +"Oh, blow him!" J. P. was a very dignified gentleman and did not +revert to his boyhood's slang except under extreme provocation. "He +shouldn't have allowed you to urge him. And what about the brilliant +prospect you gave up once just because his father was in need?" + +"Well, never mind that," said Lawyer Ed, hurriedly. "He doesn't know +anything about that and he's not going to either." + +"And it was Bill Graham who wanted you, and you wouldn't go. And now +Bill's taking him away from you. He ought to be ashamed!" + +"Bill thought he was doing me a kindness. He knew Rod's success is +mine." + +J. P. was silent from sheer exhaustion of all sane argument. He was +grieved and bitterly disappointed for his friend's sake. Ed was in +imperative need of a rest and just when life was looking a little +easier to him, and the long-deferred holiday was within reach, Roderick +was deserting. + +If they could only have visited the Holy Land before he left, it would +not have seemed so bad. But though Roderick had consented to remain +until his chief returned, Lawyer Ed had felt he could not go, for he +must busy himself gathering up the threads of his work which he had +been dropping with such relief. + +Roderick had not come to his final decision without much argument with +himself. His head said Go, but he could not quite convince his heart +that he was right in leaving Lawyer Ed so soon. He had argued the +question with himself during many sleepless nights, but the lure of +success had proved the stronger. And he was going late in the autumn +to take up his new work. + +To Old Angus the news was like the shutting out of the light of day. +Roderick was going away. At first that was all he could comprehend. +But he did not for one moment lose his sublime faith either in his boy +or in his God. The Lord's hand was in it all, he told himself. He was +leading the Lad out into larger service and his father must not stand +in the way. He said not one word of his own loss, but was deeply +concerned over Lawyer Ed's. He was worried lest the Lad's going might +mean business difficulties for his friend. + +"If the Father will be wanting the Lad, Edward," he said one golden +autumn afternoon, when Lawyer Ed stopped at the farm gate in passing, +"then we must not be putting our little wills in His way. I would not +be minding for myself, oh, no, not at all--" the old man's smile was +more pathetic than tears. "The dear Lord will be giving me so many +children on the Jericho Road, that He feels I can spare Roderick." + +Eddie Perkins was stumbling about the lane trying to rake up the dead +leaves into neat piles as Angus had instructed him. He came whimpering +up with a bruised finger which he held up to the old man. Angus +comforted him tenderly, telling him Eddie must be a man and not mind a +little scratch. He looked down at this most helpless of his children +and gently stroked the boy's misshapen head. + +"Yes, He would be very kind, giving me so many of His little ones to +care for, and He feels I can spare Roderick. The Lad is strong--" his +voice faltered a moment, but he went on bravely. + +"But it was you I was thinking of, Edward. I could not but be fearing +that you were making a great sacrifice. There is your visit to the +Holy Land--and the business. It will be hard for you, Edward?" + +Lawyer Ed, seated in his mud-splashed buggy at the gate, turned quickly +away, the anxiety in Old Angus's voice was almost too much for his +tender heart. There was a wistful plea in it that he should vindicate +Roderick from a shadow of suspicion. He jerked his horse's head +violently and demanded angrily what in thunder it meant by trying to +eat all the grass off the roadside like a fool of an old cow, and then +he rose valiantly to the Lad's defence. + +"Hut, tut, Angus!" he cried blusteringly. "Such nonsense! You know as +well as I do that the Lad didn't want to leave. I fairly drove him +away. Pshaw! never mind the Holy Land. We're all journeying to it +together, anyway. And as for my business--somebody else'll turn up. I +always felt Algonquin would be too small for Rod. You'll see he'll +make a name for himself that'll make us all proud." + +He did it splendidly, and Angus was comforted. He blamed himself for +what he termed his lack of faith in the boy and in his Father. And +many a night, as he sat late by his fire, trying to reason himself into +cheerful resignation, he recalled Edward's words hopefully. Yes, he +surely ought to be proud and glad that the Lad was going out into a +wider service. He was leaving him alone, on his Jericho Road, here, +but that was only because the Father needed him for a busier highway, +where thieves were crueller and more numerous. + +As the autumn passed and the time for leaving approached, the Lad ran +out very often to the farm. His visits were a constantly increasing +source of discomfort--both to heart and conscience. His father's +gallant attempts at cheerfulness, and his sublime assurance that his +son was going away to do a greater work for the Master stung Roderick +to the quick. That Master, whom he had long ago left out of his life's +plan, had said, "Ye cannot serve God and Mammon." And from even the +little Roderick had seen of the affairs of Elliot and Kent, he knew +only too well that to serve that firm and humanity at the same time +would be impossible. + +There were others who did not possess his father's faith in his +purpose, and they spoke to him plainly on the matter. J. P. Thornton, +remembering indignantly all that Lawyer Ed had once given up for Old +Angus's sake, and further maddened by being forbidden to disclose it, +expressed his disapproval of Roderick's leaving so soon, in strong +incisive terms. + +His remarks succeeded only in angering the young man, and making him +more determined in his course. Doctor Leslie was the next to speak +plainly on the matter, and his kindly, deep-searching words were harder +to set aside. Roderick was passing the Manse one day when Mammy Viney +hailed him. + +"Honey, de minesta' want you," she called, in her soft rich tones. +"An' you'se gwine away, an' leavin' you ole Auntie Kirsty," she said +reproachfully, as he came up the steps and shook hands with her. + +"But you wouldn't want me to stay and bother Aunt Kirsty in the kitchen +all my life, now, would you, Mammy Viney? I thought men were a +nuisance there." + +"Men's jus' a trouble eberywhar," she said sternly. "Dat Mahogany Bill +he was jus' like all de res', an' here you doin' de same, goin' off an' +leabin' folks in de lurch, with all de hard work to do. I'se shame of +you--dat I is!" + +Roderick laughed good-naturedly, as he followed her into the house, but +Mammy Viney tossed her head. "Eberybody say dat it pretty mean o' you, +anyhow," she said with the air of one who could tell a great deal if +she wished. "'Deed dey's sayin' dat you no business make Lawya Ed stay +home!" + +Roderick did not wait to hear any more of what Algonquin was saying +about him. Mammy Viney rather enjoyed recounting such remarks, and +never took one jot or one tittle from that which she passed along. + +Doctor Leslie met him at the study door, with outstretched hands. "Now +tell me all about this going away scheme," he said; and Roderick told +him eagerly, about the brilliant prospects ahead of him, and when he +finished there was the implied question in the boy's eyes. Would he +not be blind to his and every one's best interests to remain in +Algonquin in the face of such inducements? + +Doctor Leslie sat and looked out at the orchard trees, with their +wealth of red and gold apples falling with soft thuds upon the grass. +How often had that question come to him in his youth, and when he had +examined his own heart and his reasons for obeying the call to go away, +he had been compelled to remain. + +He saw Roderick's position, and sympathised with the youthful longing +to be away and to do great deeds; but he was afraid the way had not yet +truly opened up into which Angus McRae's son could step. He had +learned, in the year Roderick had spent in Algonquin, that the young +man was not vitally interested in the things that are eternal. His +outlook on life was not his father's. The minister felt impelled to +speak plainly. + +"I feel sure," he said slowly, turning his eyes from the garden, and +letting them rest kindly upon the boy's frank face, "I feel sure, +Roderick, that no young man who lacks ambition will be of much use to +the world. But ambition is a dangerous guide alone. If you are +anxious to make the best of your life, my boy, the Lord will open the +way to great opportunities. But the time and the way will be plainly +shown. If this is a door of greater opportunity, then enter it, and +God give you great and large blessing. But if you are leaving with any +doubts as to its being the right course, if you fear that there are +other obligations you must yet fulfil, then I charge you to examine +your heart carefully, lest you fight against God. It is no use trying +to do that. One day or other His love will hedge us about. If it +cannot draw us into the way it meets us on the Damascus Road and blinds +us with its light. But some of us miss the best of life before that +happens. Don't lose the way, Lad; your father instructed you well in +it." + +For days the warning followed Roderick, tormenting him. He dared not +examine his motives carefully, lest he find them false. He was out on +life's waters, paddling hard for the gleam of gold, and he had no time +to stop and consider whither it was leading him. It might vanish while +he lingered. + +There was another person whose opinion he was anxious to get on this +vexed question. He wondered every waking hour what she would think of +his going. Perhaps she didn't think about it at all, he speculated +miserably. He still continued to waylay her in Willow Lane, as he went +to and from home, and one evening he ran upon his poor rival, Afternoon +Tea Willie, doing the same sentinel duty. + +Roderick had been home for supper and was returning to the office early +to do some left over work, when he overtook him slowly walking towards +Algonquin. + +"Good evening, Mr. Roderick," he said in a melancholy tone. "May I +walk into town with you?" + +Roderick slackened his stride to suit the young man. He was rather +impatient at having to endure his company, but he soon changed his +mind, for Alfred was in a confidential mood. + +"I might as well go home," he said gloomily. "She's gone." + +"Who's gone?" asked Roderick perversely. + +"Why, Miss Murray. She slipped away somehow, and I don't know how she +did it. But I've waited down here for her for the last time." He +choked for a moment, then continued firmly. "She's showed me plainly +she doesn't want me, and I'm too proud to force my company upon her." + +Roderick did not know what to say; he wanted to laugh, but it was +impossible to keep just a little of the fellow-feeling that makes us +wondrous kind from creeping into his heart. + +"Well, it's too bad," he said at last. "But if she doesn't want you, +of course there is only one thing for you to do." + +"I have been faithful to her for a year," said the rejected lover. "I +never before was attentive to any lady, no matter how charming, for +that length of time, and she needn't have treated me that way." + +The subject was the most interesting one in the world to Roderick, and +he could not resist encouraging the young man to go on. + +And poor Afternoon Tea Willie, unaccustomed to a sympathetic hearing, +poured out all his long heartache. + +"I am telling you this in strict confidence you know, Roderick," he +said. "It is such a relief to tell some one and it seems right I +should tell you the end of this sad romance, for you helped me and were +kind to me at its very beginning." He paused for a moment, to reflect +sadly on his disappointed hopes. + +"You may be sure your confidence will never be betrayed," said +Roderick, and murmuring his gratitude the young man went on. + +"It was Miss Annabel Armstrong who put her against me from the first, I +feel sure, though I must never bear a grudge against a lady. But you +know, Roderick (I know you will never betray a confidence), Miss +Annabel hates me. I proposed to her once, shortly after I came to +Algonquin. It was just a mad infatuation on my part, not love at all. +I did not know then what real love was. But Miss Annabel--well, she is +a lady--but I, I really couldn't tell you what she said to me when I +offered her all a man could, my heart and my hand and all my property. +It was awful! I really sometimes wake up in the night yet and think +about it. And she never forgave me. And I don't know why." He paused +and drew a deep breath at the remembrance. + +"And I know she poisoned Miss Murray's mind against me--but I shan't +hold a grudge against a lady. Now, Miss Murray herself was so gentle +and kind when she refused me--what? I--I didn't mean any harm." For +his sympathetic listener had turned upon him. + +"How dared you do such a thing?" Roderick cried indignantly. + +"I just couldn't help it," wailed Alfred. "You couldn't yourself now, +Roderick;" and Roderick was forced to confess inwardly that likely he +couldn't. + +"Well, never mind, go on," he said, all unabashed that he was taking +advantage of the poor young man merely to be able to hear something +about her. + +"I just couldn't help it. But I only asked her twice and the first +time she refused so nicely, I thought perhaps she'd change her mind. I +never heard any one refuse a--person--so--so sweetly and kindly. But +this last time was unmistakable, and I feel as if it were all over. I +am not going to be trampled upon any more." + +"That's right," said Roderick. "Just brace up and never mind; you'll +soon get over it." + +The young man shook his head. "I shall never be the same," he said. +"But I have pride. I am not going to let her see that she has made a +wreck of my life. But I thought she might have had more sympathy when +she had had a sorrow like that herself." + +Roderick felt his resentment rising. He did not mind listening to poor +Alfred's love stories, but he did not want to hear hers discussed. But +before he could interrupt, Alfred was saying something that held his +attention and made him long for more. + +"But she is all over that now. She told me herself." + +"All over what?" Roderick could not hold the question back. + +"Caring about the young man she was engaged to. There was a young man +named Richard Wells in Toronto, you know, and they were engaged. When +she was away for her holidays last summer, I was so lonesome I just +couldn't stand it, so I wrote to my cousin Flossy Wilbur and asked her +to find out how she was or her address or something. And Flossy wrote +such a comforting letter and said she was staying with her married +brother, Norman Murray--he lives on Harrington Street, and Floss lives +just a couple of blocks away on a beautiful avenue--" + +"What were you saying about Wells?" Roderick interrupted. + +"Flossy knows him and told me all about it. I had a letter just last +week. He met another girl he liked better--no, that couldn't be true, +nobody who once saw her could care for any one else, I am sure. But +this other girl was rich, and so he broke the engagement. If I ever +meet that man!" Afternoon Tea Willie stood on the side-walk, the +electric light shining through the autumn leaves making a golden +radiance about his white face. "If I ever meet that man I--I shall +certainly treat him with the coldest contempt, Roderick. I wouldn't +speak to him!" + +"But you said she didn't care," suggested Roderick impatiently. + +"Not now. But Flossy said her poor little heart must have been broken +at first, though she did not show it. She came up to Algonquin right +away. I saw her on board the _Inverness_ the day she came and I knew +then--" + +"How do you know she doesn't care about Wells?" + +"Oh, when Flossy wrote me that last week, I went to see her at the +school--I don't dare go to Rosemount--and I asked her to forgive me for +proposing to her. I told her, or at least I hinted at the tragedy in +her life, and I said I wanted to beg her pardon on my knees for +troubling her as I had done,--and that I couldn't forgive myself. Oh, +she just acted like an angel--there is no other word to describe her. +She asked me at first how I found out and then she said so sweetly and +gently, that she thanked me for my consideration. And then, just +because she was so good--I did it again! I really didn't mean it, but +before I knew what I was doing, I was asking her again if there was any +hope for me. And, oh dear! oh dear! she said 'no' again. Gave me not +the least hope. I was so overcome--you don't know how a man feels +about such things, Roderick. I was so overcome I burst out and said I +felt just as if I would have given all I possessed to meet that Wells +man. I said I could just treat him with the coldest contempt if I ever +met him on the street. And she answered so sweetly that I must not +worry on her account. She said she had cared once, but that was all +over, and that she was glad now that it had been so. And she +added--and I don't see hew any one with such eyes could be so +cruel--she said I must never, never speak of such a subject to her +again, and that if I ever did she would not let me even come near her. +So it's all over with me. I am not going to follow her about any more. +I have still been coming down to Willow Lane, but I am coming no more +after to-night. This is the end!" + +They had reached the office door and paused. Roderick's sympathy +seemed to have suddenly vanished. In the very face of the other young +man's despair, he turned upon him ruthlessly. + +"That's a wise resolution, Alf," he said distinctly. "And I'm going to +advise you strongly to stick to it. You keep the width of the town +between you and Miss Murray from now on, do you understand?" + +"What--whatever do you mean?" stammered the boy, aghast at the cruelty +of one who had seemed a friend. + +"Just what I say. On your own showing, you've been tormenting her; +and--I--well, I won't have it--that's all. I feel sure you have the +good sense to stick to your resolution," his tone was a trifle +kindlier, "and for your own sake I hope you do. If not, look out!" He +made a significant gesture, that made the other jump out of his way in +terror. "And look here, Alf," he added. "If you tell any soul in +Algonquin that Miss Murray was engaged to any one I'll--I'll murder +you. Do you hear?" + +He ran up the steps and into the office. And the cruellest part of it +all to poor Afternoon Tea Willie, as the door slammed in his face +leaving him alone in the darkness, was that he could hear his false +friend whistling merrily. + +Roderick felt like whistling in the days that followed. He had found +out something he had been longing to know for over a year. He did not +have to stay away from her now. And the very next evening he marched +straight up to Rosemount and asked to see Miss Murray. She was out, +much to his disappointment, but the next Sunday he met her as they were +leaving the church. And she expressed her regret so kindly that he was +once more filled with hope. He had stood watching for her while his +father paused for a word with Dr. Leslie, but as usual he had been +joined by Alexander Graham and his daughter. There was a subtle air of +triumph about the man, ever since Roderick had decided to go to +Montreal, an air almost of proprietorship especially noticeable when +Lawyer Ed was about. + +"Good morning, Rod," he said genially. "All packed yet?" + +"Not quite," said Roderick shortly. He winced, for the thought of the +actual parting with his father was a subject upon which he did not care +to speak. + +"I don't believe you are a bit sorry you are going," said Leslie, +shaking the heavy plumes of her velvet hat at him, and pouting, for +never a regret had he expressed to her. + +"I actually believe you're glad. And I don't blame you. I'd be just +jumping for joy if I were going. It's a dreadfully dull little place +here, in the winter especially." + +He looked at her in surprise. It was so unlike her to express +discontent. She had always seemed so happy. "Why, I thought you +couldn't be ever induced to live any other place," he cried in surprise. + +"The idea! I wish somebody'd try me!" she flashed out the answer, with +just the faintest emphasis on a significant word. + +Roderick looked down at her again in wonder, to see her eyes droop, her +colour deepen. They passed down the church steps, side by side; her +father dropped behind with Dr. Blair, and they were left alone +together. Roderick, always shy in a young woman's presence, was +overcome with a vague feeling of dismay, which he did not at all +understand and which rendered him speechless. + +He was relieved when Miss Annabel Armstrong, with a girlish skip, came +suddenly to her niece's side. "Good morning, Mr. Roderick McRae. Good +morning, niecy dear! Come here a moment and walk with me, Leslie +darling. I want to ask you something." She slipped her arm into the +girl's and drew her back. "Here, Mr. McRae, you walk by Miss Murray, +just for a moment, please." + +She shoved Helen forward into Leslie's place, and pulling her niece +close, whispered fiercely. + +"You are a young idiot, Leslie Graham! I heard Mrs. Captain Willoughby +and the Baldwin girls laughing and talking about you just this minute +as they came out of church. I am just deadly ashamed. How can we ever +keep our position in society if you act so? Anna Baldwin said you were +simply throwing yourself at that young McRae's head--and his father a +common farmer! And his _Aunt_!" + +The girl jerked her arm from Miss Annabel's grasp, her eyes and cheeks +blazing. "Anna Baldwin is crazy about him herself!" she cried +violently. "And she's made a fool of herself more times than I can +tell! And his father is far better than your father ever was, or mine +either!" She stopped as some one looked at her in passing. "I shall +just do exactly as I please, Aunt Annabel Armstrong," she added +determinedly. "It's just like an old maid to be always interfering in +other people's affairs!" + +Miss Annabel turned white with anger. She was proud of her niece, and +yet she almost disliked her. Leslie, young and gay and successful, the +inheritor of everything for which her aunt had scrimped and striven and +hungered all her life and never attained, was a constant source of +irritation and discontent to Miss Annabel. Her heart and hopes were as +young as Leslie's, and she was forced to find herself pushed aside into +the place of age, while this radiant girl walked all unheeding into +everything that her girlhood should have been. And this intimation +concerning her age and estate was unbearable. She grew intensely quiet. + +"Leslie," she said, "you may heed me or not as you wish. But if you +had eyes in your head, you would see for yourself that that young man +doesn't care the snap of his finger for you and all your money. He's +madly in love with Helen Murray. He's always hanging about Rosemount!" +she added, growing reckless. "He was there only last night. Just look +at him now!" + +The startled eyes of the girl obeyed. Roderick was walking beside +Helen Murray, and looking down at her with the joy of her presence +shining in his face. He was not schooled in hiding his feelings, and +his eyes told his secret so plainly that Leslie Graham could not but +read. + +She said not another word. They had reached a corner and she suddenly +left her aunt and walked swiftly homeward alone. She had had a +revelation. For a long time she had suspected and feared. Now she +knew. In all her gay thoughtless life she had never wanted anything +very badly that she had not been able to get. Now, the one thing she +wanted most, the thing which had all unconsciously become the supreme +desire of her life, she had learned in one flash was already another's. +She was as certain of it as though Roderick had proclaimed his feelings +from the church pulpit. Her thoughts ran swiftly back over the months +of their acquaintance and picked up here and there little items of +remembrance that should have shown her earlier the true state of +things. She was forced to confess that not once had he shown her any +slightest preference, except as her father's daughter. And yet she had +refused to look and listen. And then, upon knowledge, came shame and +humiliation and rage at finding she had boldly proffered herself and +was found undesirable. It was the birth of her woman's heart. The +happy, careless girl's heart was dying, and the new life did not come +without much anguish of soul. + +As soon as she could escape from the dinner table she fled to her room +to face this dread thing which had come upon her. All undisciplined +and unused to pain, through her mother's careless indulgence, entirely +pagan, too, for her religious experience had been but one of form, the +girl met this crisis in her life alone. + +At first the smarting sense of her humiliation predominated and her +heart cried for recompense. She would show him what would happen If he +dared set her aside. Well she knew she could injure Roderick's chances +for success if she set her mind to the task; for was it not her +influence that had helped to give him those chances? + +The force of her anger drove her to action. She threw on her plumed +hat and her velvet coat, and slipping out unseen, walked swiftly out of +the town and up the lake shore. Every little breeze from the waters +sent a shower of golden leaves dropping about her. But the air was +still in the woods. It was a perfect autumn day, a true Sabbath day in +Nature's world, with everything in a beautiful state of rest after +labour. The bronze oaks, the yellow elms and the crimson maples along +the shore, now and then dropped a jewel too heavy to be held into the +coloured waters beneath. The tower of the little Indian church across +the lake pointed a silver finger up out of a soft blue haze. The whole +world seemed at peace, in contrast to the tumult within the girl's +untrained heart. + +She seated herself on a fallen log beside the water, the warm, hazy +sunshine falling through the golden branches upon her. And sitting +there, she felt the spirit of the serene day steal over hers. Wiser +and nobler thoughts came to her sorely tried young heart. Some strong +unknown Spirit rose up within her and demanded that she do what was +right. It was her only guide, she could not reason with it, but she +blindly obeyed. There would be long days of pain and hard struggle +ahead of her, she well knew, but the Spirit heeded them not at all. +She must do what was right. She must act the strong, the womanly part, +let the future bring what it would. + +And she went back from the soft rustling peace of the woods, not a +careless, selfishly happy girl any more, but a strong, steady-purposed +woman. + +Roderick was so busy and happy during the ensuing week that he had +almost forgotten the existence of Miss Leslie Graham, when she was +brought to his dismayed senses by the sound of her voice over the +telephone. + +"Tra-la-la-la, Mr. Roderick McRae," she sang out in her merriest voice. +"Why don't you come round and say good-bye to your friends? Are you +going to fold your tent like the Arabs and silently steal away?" + +Roderick began to stammer out an explanation, but she cut him off gaily. + +"Don't apologise, you are going to be punished for your sins," she +called laughingly. "For you can't come now. I am off to-day to +Toronto with Aunt Annabel. We took a sudden notion we wanted to go to +the city. We're going to spend a whole month in a riotous purchasing +of autumn hats. So, as I am a good meek and forgiving person and as +you'll be gone before we get back I just thought I'd say 'Bon Voyage' +to you before I leave." + +She talked so fast that Roderick had scarcely any chance to reply. He +tried to stammer out his thanks to her for her kindness, but she +laughingly interrupted him. It was quite too bad they couldn't say +good-bye, Daddy would do that for her. But Mamma was coming to Toronto +with them. They were both dreadfully sorry and Mamma sent her best +regards. They all hoped he'd have a lovely time, and come home very +rich; and before he could answer, she had called a gay "Good-bye and +good-luck," and had rung off. + +Roderick was conscious of a slight feeling of surprise, and a decided +feeling of relief. + +"She's a great girl," he said to himself admiringly. "She's just a +splendid good friend and a brick, and I'll write and tell her so!" + +And he had no idea of how very much she merited his praise. + +As the time for leaving approached, Roderick grew busier every day. It +was hard to get Lawyer Ed in the office long enough to settle things. +He was striving to take up the burden of his old work again cheerfully, +but the new civic and social and church duties he had assumed in the +year were hard to drop. Then the Local Option campaign was at its +height and demanded his attention. + +To Roderick, and to most of the town people, he seemed to be +shouldering all his old burdens with his usual energy and +light-heartedness, but J. P. missed a familiar note of joyousness in +his tone, and Archie Blair noticed that Ed did not go up the steps of +his office in one leap now as he had always done, but walked up like +other people. But to the casual observer, Lawyer Ed was the same. He +was here, there and everywhere, making sure that this one and that was +going to vote the right way. And Roderick, watching him, remembered +how anxious he had been over the effect the campaign would have upon +his business. And now that he was not required to enter it, he often +longed to plunge in and help his friend to victory. + +On the whole, the campaign helped Lawyer Ed materially, in the hard +days preceding the parting with his boy. After all, there was nothing +so dear to his Irish heart as a fight, and the rounding up of his +troops before the battle kept him busy and happy. And everything was +pointing to victory. Father Tracy had promised to see to it that his +flock voted the right way, and Jock McPherson had declared himself on +the side of the temperance cause. Whatever Lawyer Ed may have had to +do with influencing his fellow Irishmen, he could take no credit for +Jock's conversion. He had set out to interview the McPherson one night +after a session meeting, but fortunately J. P. Thornton prevented his +impetuous friend making the mistake of approaching the elder on that +difficult subject. Jock was still feeling a little dour over the +temperance question and the wise Englishman knew that whichever side of +the cause was presented first that was the side to which the McPherson +was most likely to object. + +"Leave him to the other fellows, Ed," advised his friend. "They are +almost certain to work their own destruction." + +He was right; for not a week later Lawyer Ed came up the steps of the +Thornton home, staggering with laughter, to report that Jock was as +staunch on the temperance question as Dr. Leslie himself, and to +explain how it came about. + +As J. P. had prophesied, Jock had come over to their side because a +particularly offensive person interested in the liquor business, had +claimed him as a friend. It had happened on the Saturday afternoon +before. Jock was down town, standing on the sidewalk in front of +Crofter's hotel discussing the bad state of the roads with a farmer +friend, when Mr. Crofter came forth, and after introducing the subject +of Local Option in a friendly fashion, said: + +"Well, sir, I'm glad to see one good Presbyterian who hasn't gone off +his head over this tom-foolery." Here he made the fatal mistake of +slapping Mr. McPherson on the shoulder. "It does me good to see a man +who isn't a fanatic, but can take a glass and leave it alone, and give +every other fellow the same privilege." + +"Yus." Jock drew in his breath with a peculiar snuffing sound that +would have warned any one who knew him well that there was danger in +the air. "Yus," he repeated the word very slowly, "and take another +glass, and leave it alone." + +"What did you say?" enquired Mr. Crofter, a little puzzled. "I don't +think I quite caught you, Mr. McPherson." + +"I would be thinking," said Jock with dreadful deliberation, "that it +must be a grand sight, but I nuffer saw one." + +"Never saw what?" + +"A man that could take a glass and leave it alone. He always took it." + +Mr. Crofter went back into the hotel with something of the feeling of a +baseball player who has made a mighty swing with his bat and missed. + +And Jock informed Dr. Leslie the next day that he had intended all +along to vote for Local Option, but had omitted to say so earlier. The +case of Father Tracy had brought even greater joy. One day Mike +Cassidy came raging into Lawyer Ed's office with the tale of another +fight with his enemies the Duffys, and the information that he was +going to court with it this time if he died for it. Roderick was out, +and on the pretence that he must consult his young partner, Lawyer Ed +managed to get Mike to consider the matter for an hour, and in the +interval he went to see Father Tracy. + +The Catholic priest and the Presbyterian elder were good friends, for +his reverence was a jolly Irishman, very proud of his title of the +"Protestant Priest." It was whispered that he was not in favour in +ecclesiastical circles, but little cared he, for he was in the highest +favour with everybody in Algonquin, especially those in need, and the +hero of every boy who could wave a lacrosse stick. + +"Good mornin', Father O'Flynn," cried Lawyer Ed, as, swinging his cane, +he was ushered into the priest's sanctum. "Sure and I suppose it's yer +owld job ye're at-- + + "_Checkin' the crazy ones, urgin' the aisy ones, + Helpin' the lazy ones on wid a stick._" + + +"It is that, then," said Father Tracy, his blue eyes dancing. "And +here's wan o' the crazy ones. Sit ye down, man, till I finish this +note, and I'll be checkin' ye all right. I'll not be a minute." + +Lawyer Ed of course could not sit down, but wandered about the room +examining the pictures on the wall, a few photographs of popes and +cardinals. + +"Sure this is a terrible place for a heretic like me to be in, Father," +he exclaimed. "Oi'm getting clane narvous. If it wasn't called a +Presbytry, I'd niver dare venture. It's got a good name. By the way, +I don't see John Knox here," he added, anxiously examining the +cardinals again. + +Father Tracy's pen signed his name with a flourish. "You'll see John +Knox soon enough if ye don't mend your ways, Edward Brians," he said. +"Now, what do ye want of me this morning?" But the two Irishmen could +not let such a good joke pass unnoticed; when they had laughed over it +duly, the business was stated. + +"He'll go to no law," said the shepherd of this wayward sheep. "I'll +see him to-night, and it's grateful I am to you, Edward, for your +interest. I hear the boys are getting together to see about a junior +league. Algonquin ought to get the championship this year--" + +But Lawyer Ed knew better than to let Father Tracy get off onto the +subject of lacrosse. "I wish Algonquin would take the championship +vote for Local Option next January, Father," he said tentatively. He +waited, but Father Tracy said nothing. He was not so much noted for +his leanings towards teetotalism as towards lacrosse. + +"It would keep Mike Cassidy straight," ventured the visitor again. + +"I can keep Mike Cassidy straight without the aid of any such heretic +props," said Father Tracy, looking decidedly grim. + +Lawyer Ed burst out laughing. "'Pon me word you're right," he +exclaimed. "Man, I wish sometimes that our Protestant priests had the +power that you have. But I'm not here to urge you, mind that. I'm not +such a fool as to go down to the Rainy Rapids and try to turn them back +with a pebble. But I just thought I might as well ask you what your +opinion was, when I was here. A great many people of your flock tell +me they will vote just as the Father tells them." He glanced back at +his host as he moved to the door. + +"Yes, and they'd better," said the Father. "So you'd like to know what +to say to them, eh?" + +"I certainly would." He waited anxiously. + +Father Tracy stood watching him go down the steps, his portly figure +filling up the doorway, his good-natured face beaming. "And if it's +news ye're after I suppose ye'll rest neither day nor night till ye get +it." + +"Not likely." + +"Well--" Father Tracy was enjoying the other's anxiety and was as +deliberate as Jock McPherson--"well, if you meet any of my stray sheep +that look as if they were goin' to vote for the whiskey, ye can tell +them for me that I'd say mass for a dead dog before I'd meddle wid +their lost souls." + +Lawyer Ed went down the street, half a block at a stride, in the +direction of J. P.'s office. + +Archie Blair's horse and buggy were standing in front of a house next +to the Catholic church. The temptation, combined with his desperate +hurry, was too much. He leaped in and, without so much as "By your +leave," he tore down the street and never drew rein until he fairly +fell out of the vehicle in front of J. P.'s office. He burst in with +the glorious news: "I've got four hundred new votes promised me for +local option. Hurrah! That's better than going to the Holy Land any +day in the year!" + +But when the day came at last that was to take Roderick from him, even +Lawyer Ed's love of battle failed him. It was a dreary day, with +Nature in accord with his gloom. A chill wind had blown all night from +the north, lashing Lake Algonquin into foam and making the pines along +the Jericho Road moan sadly. Early in the day the snow began to drive +down from the north and by afternoon the roads were drifted. + +Roderick was to leave on the afternoon train for Toronto, and there +take the night express for Montreal and he came into Algonquin in the +morning, to bid his friends good-bye. The sudden change in the weather +had, as usual, been accompanied by the return of the old pain in his +arm. It had been more frequent this autumn, but he had paid little +heed to it. But to-day it added just the last burden required to make +him thoroughly miserable. Lawyer Ed was stamping about, complaining +loudly of the cold, blowing his nose, and talking about everything and +anything but Roderick's pending departure. The Lad's drooping spirits +went lower at the sight of him. + +As he went about saying farewell he realised that he had not known how +many friends he had made. Alexander Graham was full of expressions of +congratulation and good-will. + +"You must make good, Rod, my boy," he said. "We'll be watching you, +you know, and of course the blame will fall on me if you don't. But I +have no fears." He laughed in a patronising way that made Roderick +feel very small indeed. + +"I'm so sorry you couldn't come up again. The wife and Leslie took a +sudden notion that they must go to Toronto for a month--or Leslie took +it rather, and made her mother and aunt go with her. I'm sorry they +are not here--but they are in Toronto and you might--" he paused +knowingly,--"I guess I don't need to tell you where they are staying. +Miss Leslie probably left her address." He laughed in such an +insinuating way that Roderick's face grew crimson. + +"No, Miss Graham did not give me her address," he said, so stiffly that +the man looked at him in wonder, then laughed again. This was some of +Leslie's nonsense, as usual, just to tease him. She had forced a +little lover's quarrel probably and gone without saying good-bye. But +he knew Leslie could make it all right just when she chose. + +He parted from Roderick in quite a fatherly manner, but the young man +went away feeling more uncomfortable and downhearted than ever. + +There was one person who seemed frankly glad to see him go. Mr. Fred +Hamilton did not actually express his joy, but he looked it, and +Roderick felt something of the same feeling when they said good-bye. +Dr. Leslie and several other old friends came next. Archie Blair had +gone to the city to a medical congress, and he missed him. But he had +bidden almost every one else in Algonquin farewell when at last he sent +his trunk to the station, and taking Lawyer Ed's horse and cutter, +drove out to the farm for the severest ordeal of that hard day. + +As he passed the school, the children came storming out to their +afternoon recess, pelting each other with snowballs. Roderick +hesitated a moment before the gate, but the wild onslaught of some +fifty shrieking youngsters frightened the horse, and it dashed away +down the road, so he decided to leave his farewell with her to the last. + +The bleak wind was sweeping down from the lake and the old board fence +and the frail houses on Willow Lane creaked before it. The water +roared up on the beach as he passed along the Pine Road, and the snow +drove into his eyes and half blinded him. The McDuff home was +deserted. There was no track to the door through the snow, no smoke +from the old broken chimney. Peter Fiddle was either out at the farm +or down in the warm tavern on Willow Lane singing and playing. + +The dull pain in Roderick's arm had increased to a steady ache that did +not help to make the soreness of his heart any easier. The bare trees +along the way; creaked and moaned, cold grey clouds gathered and spread +across the sky. + +Hitherto Roderick had felt nothing but impatience at the thought of +staying in Algonquin all his life to watch Old Peter and Eddie Perkins +and Mike Cassidy and their like, but now that the day had come for him +to leave, it seemed as though everything was calling upon him to stay, +every finger post pointing towards home. Doctor Leslie's farewell, a +warning to again consider. Lawyer Ed's patient, cheery acceptance of +the situation, J. P. Thornton's open disapproval, Helen Murray's smile +the other evening at the door of Rosemount, his father's love and +confidence in him, all pulled him back with strong hands. The rainbow +gold shone but dimly that day, and he would fain have turned his back +upon it for the sure chance of a life like his father's in Algonquin. + +He found Old Angus watching for him at the window. His brave attempts +at cheerfulness made Roderick's trial doubly hard. He bustled about, +even trying to hum a tune, his old battle song, "My Love, be on thy +guard." + +"I'll be back before you know I'm gone, Auntie," said the Lad, when +Aunt Kirsty appeared and burst into tears at the sight of him. He +tried to laugh as he said it, but he made but a feeble attempt. They +sat by the fire, the Lad trying to talk naturally of his trip, his +father making pathetic attempts to help him, and Aunt Kirsty crying +silently over her knitting. At last, as Roderick glanced at the clock. +Old Angus took out the tattered Bible from the cup-board drawer. It +had always been the farewell ceremony in all the Lad's coming and +going, the reading of a few words of comfort and courage and a final +prayer. Old Angus read, as he so often did when his son was leaving, +the one hundred and thirty-ninth psalm, the great assurance that no +matter how far one might go from home and loved ones, one might never +go away from the presence of God. + +"If I ascend up into Heaven thou art there. If I make my bed in hell +behold thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in +the uttermost parts of the sea, even there shall thy hand lead me and +thy right hand shall uphold me." + +The prayer was simple and direct, as were all Old Angus's communions +with his Father. He had come to-day to a place where the way was very +puzzling, and Roderick, knowing him so well, understood why he prayed +for himself, that he might not be troubled with the why of it all, but +that he might know that God was guiding them all aright. But there was +an anguished note in his voice new to the Lad, and one that made the +pain in his heart grow almost unbearable. He had heard that sound in +his father's voice once before; and was puzzled to remember when. And +then there came vividly to his heart's ear, the cry that had rung out +over the dark waters to him the night the little boy was lost. +"Roderick, my son, where are you?" The father's heart was uttering +that cry now, and the son's heart heard it. There were tears in the +eyes of both men when they arose from their knees. + +Aunt Kirsty came to him for her farewell with a big bundle in her arms. +It was done up carefully in a newspaper and tied with yarn, and +contained a huge lunch, composed of all the good things she had been +able to cook in a day's baking. Roderick felt as if he could not eat +anything between home and Montreal, but he took the bulky parcel +gratefully and tenderly. She put her arms about him, the tears +streaming down her face, then fled from the room as fast as her ample +size would permit, and gave vent to her grief in loud sobs and wails. +Old Angus followed his son out to the cutter in the shed. He stumbled +a little. He seemed to have suddenly become aged and decrepit. It was +not the physical parting that was weighing him down so heavily. Had +Roderick been called to go as a missionary to some far-off land, as his +father had so often dreamed in his younger days that he might, Old +Angus would have sent him away with none of the foreboding which filled +his heart to-day when he saw his boy leave to take a high position in +the work of the world. + +Roderick caught the blanket off the horse, and as he did so his arm +gave a sudden, sharp twinge. His face twisted. + +"Is it the old pain in your arm, Roderick, my son?" his father asked +anxiously. + +"It's nothing," said the Lad lightly. "It'll be all right to-morrow." + +"You should see a doctor," admonished his father. "There will be great +doctors in Montreal." + +"Perhaps I shall," said the boy. "Now, Father, don't stand there in +the cold!" He caught the old man's hand in both his. "Father!" he +cried sharply. "I--oh--I feel I shouldn't leave you!" + +"Hoots, toots, Lad!" The man clapped him upon the back comfortingly. +"You must not be saying that whatever. Indeed it's a poor father I +would be to want you always by me. No, no, you must go, but Roderick--" + +"Yes, Father." + +The old man's face was pale and intense. "You will not be leaving the +Heavenly Father. Oh mind, mind and hold to Him!" + +Roderick pressed his hand, and felt for the first time something of the +utter bitterness of that road to success. "I'll try, Father," he +faltered. "Oh, I will!" + +He sprang into the cutter and took the lines, the old man put his hands +for a moment on the Lad's bowed head praying for a blessing upon him, +and then the horse dashed out of the gate and away down the lane. At +the turn Roderick looked back. His father was standing on the snowy +threshold where he had left him, waving his cap. A yellow gleam of +wintry sunlight through ragged clouds lit up his face, the wind +fluttered his old coat and his silver hair, and, standing there in his +loneliness, he was making a desperate attempt at a smile that had more +anguish in it than a rain of tears. + +Roderick drove swiftly down the snowy road, his eyes blinded. For one +moment he hated success and money and fame and would have thrown them +all away to be able to go back to his father. Well he knew the parting +was more, far more than a temporal leave-taking. It was a departure +from the old paths where his father had taught him to walk. + +As he sped along, his head down, he did not see a figure on the road +ahead of him. He was almost upon it when he suddenly jerked his horse +out of the way. It was Old Peter. Evidently he had drunk just enough +to make him tremendously polite. He stepped to the side of the road +and bowed profoundly. + +Roderick made an attempt to pull up his horse and say good-bye. A +sudden impulse to take Peter home to his father seized him. Old Angus +would be so comforted to think that his boy's last act was giving a +helping hand on the Jericho Road. But his horse was impatient, and +Peter had already turned in at his own gate and was plunging through +the snow to his house. A bottle was sticking out of his pocket. +Evidently he intended to make a night of it. The sight of it made the +young man change his mind. There was no use, as he had so often said, +bothering with Peter Fiddle. He was determined to drink himself to +death and he would. + +Roderick let his horse go and went spinning down the road. Then he +realised that he had given his arm a wrench, when he had pulled his +horse out of Peter's way. The pain in it grew intense for a few +moments. He resolved that as soon as he was settled at his new work he +would have it attended to. It was the relic of his old rainbow +expedition and though it had annoyed him only at intervals it had never +ceased to remind him that there was trouble there for him some future +day. + +He had another hard parting to face, but one with hope in it for the +future. When he tied his horse at the school gate and went in he was +wondering how he would tell Helen how much the farewell meant to him. +For he was determined that she must know. The school was quiet, for +the hour for dismissing had not come. As he entered the hall, Madame +came swaying out of Miss Murray's room with a group of cherubs peeping +from behind her. "Now you, Johnnie Pickett," she was saying, "you just +come and tell me if anybody's bad and I'll fix them." Then she saw +Roderick, and greeted him with a rapturous smile. + +"There's a dear boy," she cried, "to come and say good-bye to your old +teacher. Now, you Johnnie Pickett, what are you following me out here +for? Aren't you to watch the room for Miss Murray? Go on back. Well, +and you are really going this afternoon?" she said, turning to her +visitor again. "And how is your father standing it? What's the matter +now?" + +A small youngster with blazing eyes shot from the room and launched +himself upon her. + +"Please, teacher," he cried, his voice shrill with wrath, "them kids, +they won't mind me at all. Dutchy Scott's makin' faces, and the girls +is talkin', an' Pie-face Hurd he's calling names. He said I was a +nigger!" His blue eyes and white hair belied the accusation, but his +voice rose to a scream at the indignity. Mrs. Doasyouwouldbedoneby +marched the deposed monitor hack to the room to restore order, +explaining volubly that it was quite as wicked a crime to call a boy +Pie-face as for that boy to call one a nigger. + +"I've got Miss Murray's room in charge," she said, returning to +Roderick smiling and breathless. "Go on back there, now! I see you +looking out there, you, Jimmie Hurd. Just wait till I catch you!" + +"She isn't sick, is she?" asked Roderick dismayed. + +"No. Oh, no! She went with a crowd of young folks to a tea-meeting at +Arrow Head. They started early, and I made her run home an hour before +the time to bundle up. Now, Johnnie Pickett, leave that chalk alone! +You don't need to think I don't see you--" + +Roderick went on his journey miserably disappointed. She had gone on a +sleigh ride and she must have known, indeed she did know, he intended +to call and say good-bye to her. Each farewell had been harder than +the last and now this absence of farewell was the hardest of all. +There was one more--Lawyer Ed's. Like Old Angus, he was making an +attempt at cheerfulness that was heartbreaking. He tramped about, +singing loudly, scolding every one who came near him, and proclaiming +his joy over the Lad's going in a manner that drove poor Roderick's +sore heart to desperation. He drove with him to the station, carried +his bag on board, loaded him with books and magazines and bade him a +joyful farewell, with not a word of regret. But he gave way as the +train moved out and Roderick saw him hastily wipe his eyes and as he +looked back for one last glimpse of his beloved figure, the Lad saw +Lawyer Ed move slowly away, showing for the first time in his life the +signs of approaching age. + +That night Old Angus sat late over his kitchen fire. He was mentally +following the Lad. He was in Toronto now; later, on the way to +Montreal, lying asleep in his berth probably. Old Angus's faith +forbade his doubting that God's hand was in his boy's departure. But +the remembrance of all his joyous plans on the day the Lad started in +Algonquin persisted in coming up to haunt him. He sat far into the +night trying to reason himself back into his former cheerfulness. The +storm had risen anew, and gusts of wind came tearing up from the lake, +lashing the trees and shaking the old house. The snow beat with a +soft, quick pad-pad upon the window-pane. Occasionally the jingle of +bells came to him muffled in the snow. Finally, he heard a new sound, +some one singing. It was probably a sleigh-load of young folk +returning from a country tea-meeting, he reflected. Then he suddenly +sat up straight. Something familiar in the fitful sounds made him slip +out to the door and listen. The wind was lulled for a moment, and he +could dimly discern a figure going along the road. And he could hear a +voice raised loud and discordant in the 103rd psalm! Old Angus came +back into the house swiftly. He caught up his coat and cap. Peter had +fallen among thieves once more! And he would probably be left by the +road-side to freeze were he not rescued. He hastily lit a lantern and +carefully closed up the stove. Then, softly opening the door, he +hurried out into the storm. + +He found the lane and the road beyond badly drifted, but he plunged +along, his swaying lantern making a faint yellow star in the swirling +white mists of the storm. He reached the road. Peter's voice came to +him fitfully on the wind. He had probably started out to come to him +and had lost his bearings. There was nothing to do but follow and +bring him back. He plunged into the road and staggered forward in the +direction of the voice. + +The snow had stopped falling but the wind that was driving it into +drifts was growing bitterly cold. Old Angus needed all his strength to +battle with it, as he forced his way forward, sinking sometimes almost +to his waist. He struggled on. Peter was somewhere there ahead, +perhaps fallen to freeze by the roadside, and the Good Samaritan must +not give in till he found him. But his own strength was going fast. +In his thought for Peter he had forgotten that he was not able to +battle with such a wind. He fell again and again, and each time he +rose it was with an added sense of weakness. He kept calling to Peter, +but the roar of the lake on the one hand and the answering roar of the +pines on the other drowned his voice. He was almost exhausted when he +stumbled over a dark object half buried in snow in the middle of the +road. He staggered to his feet and turned his lantern upon it. It was +Peter, lain down in a drunken stupor to die of cold. + +"Peter! Peter!" Angus McRae tried to speak his name, but his benumbed +lips refused to make an articulate sound. He dropped the lantern +beside him and tried to raise the prostrate figure. As he did so he +felt the light of the lantern grow dim. It faded away, and the Good +Samaritan and the man who had fallen among thieves lay side by side in +the snow. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +"THE MASTER WHISPERED" + +When Roderick stepped on board the night train for Montreal he was +surprised and pleased to find Doctor Archie Blair bustling into the +opposite compartment. That delightful person, with a suit-case, a pile +of medical journals, a copy of Burns, and a new book of poems, had left +Algonquin the day before, and was now setting out on a tremendous +journey all the way to Halifax, to attend a great medical congress. He +welcomed his young fellow-townsman hilariously, pulled him into his +seat, jammed him into a corner, and scowling fiercely, with his fists +brandished in the young man's face and his eyes flashing, he spent an +hour demonstrating to Roderick that he had just discovered a young +Canadian singer of the spirit if not the power of his great Scottish +bard. The other occupants of the sleeping-car watched the violent big +man with the terrible eye, nervously expecting him every moment to +spring upon his young victim and throttle him. But to those who were +within earshot, the sternest thing he said was, + + "_Then gently scan thy brother man, + Still gentler sister woman, + Though they may gang a keenin' wrang, + To step aside is human._" + + +The charm of the doctor's conversation, drove away much of Roderick's +homesickness and despondency, but it could not make him forget the pain +in his arm, which was hourly growing more insistent. + +"And so you're leaving Algonquin for good," said Archie Blair at last, +when the black porter sent them to the smoker while he made up their +berths. "Well, there's a great future ahead of you in that firm. Not +many young fellows have such a chance as that. I wish Ed could have +gone away before you left, though, to Jericho, or Sodom and Gomorrah, +or wherever it is he and J. P. Thornton are heading for." + +Archie Blair, as every one in Algonquin knew, lived as near to the +rules of life set forth in the Bible as any man in the town. But he +delighted in being known as a wicked and irreligious person, and always +made a fine pretence at being at sea when speaking of anything +Scriptural. + +"Yes, sir, it's rather hard on old Ed; and there's J. P. too. He's +been waiting for Ed ever since the Holy Land was discovered, as +faithfully as Ruth waited for Jacob or whoever it was. I can't +remember when those two chaps weren't planning to take that trip, and +it looks as if they'd get to the New Jerusalem first. Cracky, now, I +believe you were the one that stopped their first trip and here you're +interrupting another one!" He laughed delightedly. + +"I?" inquired Roderick. "How was that?" + +"Oh, Ed wouldn't say so. He'd be sure it was the hand of Providence. +It was the time you went off hunting the rainbow and got lost, don't +you remember? and your father got sick on the head of it. Ed stayed +home that time." + +"But it was Jock McPherson who came to poor father's rescue that time," +said Roderick. "Lawyer Ed told me himself." + +Doctor Blair made a grimace. + +"Roderick McRae," he said, after a moment, "I have a fatal weakness. I +suppose it's the poet in me. I like to think it is. I'm forever +pouring out the thoughts of my inmost heart which I really ought to +keep to myself. That was the way with Bobby ye mind: + + '_Is there a whim-inspired fool + Owre fast for thought, owe hot for rule._' + +And here I've been telling tales I should keep tae ma'sel!" + +"Well, you've got to finish, now that you've started," cried Roderick. +"Do you mean to tell me that Lawyer Ed--" + +"No, I don't mean to tell you anything, but I've done it, and I might +as well make a full confession. Of course it was Lawyer Ed did it. He +always does things like that, he's got them scattered all over the +country." + +"But--why didn't I know?" cried Roderick sharply. "And what did he do?" + +"Because he didn't want it. I'm the only person in Algonquin that +knows, except J. P., of course. J. P. knows the innermost thoughts +that pass through Ed's mind. There's another secret between us three." +He smiled half-sadly. "I suppose, though, your father knows this +one--that Ed was to have married J. P.'s only sister. She was tall and +willowy and just like a flower, and she died a week before the wedding +day. They buried her in her white satin wedding dress with her veil +and orange blossoms." Archie Blair's voice had sunk to a tender +whisper. "I saw her in her coffin, with a white lily in her hand." + +He was silent so long that Roderick brought him back to the starting +point. "But you haven't told me yet how he helped Father." + +So Archie Blair began at the beginning and told him all, happily +unconscious of how he was harrowing Roderick's feelings in the telling. +It was the old story of his father's mortgage, his own hunt for the +rainbow, which, the doctor declared, argued that he should have been a +poet, his father's illness, and Lawyer Ed's postponement of his trip, +and greatest of all, his setting aside of the chance to leave Algonquin +as partner with his old chum, William Graham, now millionaire. + +"Your father sort of brought Ed up, you know, Rod, made him walk the +straight and narrow way as he has done with many a man. I want to take +my hat off every time I see that father of yours." He saw the distress +in Roderick's face and was rather disconcerted. "Your father paid him +every cent with interest, of course, Lad, you know that," he added +hurriedly. "But there are some things can't be paid in money. Well, +well--where did I start? Oh, at Jerusalem, and I've wandered from Dan +to Beersheba and haven't got anywhere yet. Well, that was how Ed got +started on the habit of staying home from the Holy Land, and he doesn't +seem to be able to get out of it. You know it's a good thing. I'm +always sorry Wordsworth ever went to Yarrow. It's a hundred times +better to keep your dream-country a dream. + + '_Be Yarrow stream unseen, unknown! + It must, or we shall rue it._' + +And if he ever goes, it'll never be what he thinks. His dreams of +Galilee and the Rose of Sharon and Mount Carmel will vanish when he +sees the poor reality. You see, in his Palestine, the Lord is always +there." He dropped his voice-- + + "_'And in those little lanes of Nazareth + Each morn His holy feet would come and go.'_" + + +Roderick was not listening. He sat with downcast eyes and burning +cheek. Lawyer Ed had done all this for his father, for him,--and this +was his reward! The man had given up his chance in life for his father +and then the son had come and done this abominable thing. Surely the +gleam of the rainbow-gold was beginning to mock him already. And yet, +as he sat there, overcome with humiliation, his mind was busy arranging +swift compromises, as it had always done. He would pay Lawyer Ed, oh, +five fold, and send him away for a year's travel. And yet when all his +generous schemes had been exhausted, he knew they were not what Lawyer +Ed wanted. It was the love and devotion of his friend's son he +preferred above all worldly gain. + +He came to a knowledge of his surroundings, called back by a sudden +exclamation from the doctor. + +"I believe you're sick, Rod! You look like an advanced and violent +case of sea-sickness." + +Roderick became conscious that his arm was paining him severely and +said so. He could have said quite truthfully that the pain in his +heart was quite as bad. + +"That old arm," cried Archie Blair in distress. "I tell you, Lad, +you've got to have that thing looked after. Here, get to bed and I'll +have a look at it when you're undressed." + +He came into Roderick's berth later and with rough kindness handled the +swollen, aching limb. "I always told you something would come of +this," he grumbled. "And like everybody, you won't listen till it's +too late. There's some serious trouble there, Rod, or I'm very badly +mistaken. Now, look here, you promise me on your word and honour +you'll go straight to a doctor when you get to Montreal--to Doctor +Nicholls. Here, I'll give you his address. Now, will you promise to +go to-morrow morning, or must I stop off and miss my train to Halifax +to see you do it?" + +Roderick promised and lay down in his berth, but not to sleep. The +pain in his arm was severe enough to keep him awake, but it was no +worse than his heartache. It was a tender heart, not yet calloused by +constant pursuit of selfish aims. That state would certainly be +arrived at, on the road he was travelling, but he was still young and +his very soul was longing to go back to his father and Lawyer Ed. +Again and again he tried to comfort himself with the promise that he +would make up to them for all they had done, oh, many times over, and +in the end, they would both realise that the course he had pursued was +for the best. + +As he made this firm resolution, for the tenth time, the train drew up +at a little station in the woods. Roderick looked out at the steam +hissing from beneath his window and the dim light in the little +station. He recognised it as the junction, where a branch line ran +from the main road, across the country, through forest and by lake +shore, straight to Algonquin. The home train was approaching now. He +could hear its rumbling wheels and its clanging bell far down the +curving track, and the next moment, with a flare of light upon the +snow, it came tearing up out of the forest and roared into the little +station. Its brilliant windows flashed past his dazzled eyes. It +stopped with a great exhaled breath of relief and stood panting and +puffing after its long run. Roderick knew that if he chose he could +slip out, leap on that train and go speeding away up through the forest +and be in Algonquin before morning. He felt for a moment an almost +irresistible impulse to do it, to fling away everything and go back. +But he would look like a fool, and the people would laugh at him, and +quite rightly. He could not go back now. + +There was a gentle movement, and slowly and smoothly he began to glide +past those home-going lights. In a moment more he was speeding +eastward into the white night. + +When he reached Montreal he went immediately to the hotel. He was to +meet Mr. Graham and the head of the firm there that evening, when +everything regarding his immediate duties was to be settled. He +registered, and found a room awaiting him, a luxurious room, finer than +any he could afford. It was the beginning of his new life. He went +down to breakfast, but could eat nothing, for the pain in his arm. He +was not at all averse to obeying Dr. Blair's injunction, and as soon as +he went back to his room, he telephoned the doctor whose address he had +been given. He felt a strange dizziness and, fearing to go out, he +asked if the doctor would call. When Roderick gave the name of the +firm he represented, there was an immediate rise in the temperature at +the other end of the telephone. Evidently the young lady in charge of +Doctor Nicholls's office knew her business. All uncertainty as to the +physician's movements immediately vanished. + +Doctor Nicholls would call in the course of half an hour if convenient +to Mr. McRae, he was just about to visit the Bellevue House in any case. + +Roderick felt again the advantages of his new position. The sensation +of power was very pleasant, but it could not keep his arm from aching. +The pain grew steadily worse, until at last he lay on the bed waiting +impatiently. + +In a short time there came a tap on the door. Thinking it was the +doctor, Roderick sprang up relieved. But it was only the boy in +buttons with a telegram. He signed the paper indifferently. Even the +most urgent business of Elliot & Kent could not arouse his interest, he +was feeling so sick and miserable and down-hearted. He opened the +yellow paper slowly, and then sprang up with a cry that made the boy +stop in the hall and listen. Roderick stood in the middle of the room +reading the terse message again and again: + +"Father ill. Come at once." E. L. Brians. + +He leaped to the telephone, then dropped the receiver at the sight of a +railway guide he had left upon the table. The first train he could +take for home left at fifteen minutes past three in the afternoon. And +it was not yet ten o'clock! He sat down on the bed, a dread fear +possessing his soul. Wild surmises rushed through his mind. What +could have happened? It was not twenty-four hours since he had seen +his father standing in the doorway waving him farewell, the sunlight on +his face and that gallant, anguished attempt at a smile! Roderick +groaned aloud as he remembered. He took up the telegram again, +striving to extract from its cruelly brief words some inkling of what +had preceded it, some hope for the future. + +A second tap at the door sent him to open it with a bound. Before him +stood a professional looking man, well-dressed and well-groomed, with a +small leather bag. + +"Are you my patient?" he asked briskly. + +"Patient?" Roderick stared at him stupidly. + +"Yes; Mr. McRae, I believe? I am Doctor Nicholls." + +"Oh," said Roderick. "I had forgotten all about it. Yes, come in." +He stepped back and the physician eyed him curiously. He looked +desperately ill, sure enough. + +Roderick answered briefly and absently all the doctor's questions. +Beside this awful thing which threatened him, his arm seemed so +trivial, that he was impatient at the attention he was compelled to +give it. Evidently the physician was of another opinion as to its +importance. His face was imperturbable, but after a careful +examination he said very gravely: + +"You'll have to have this attended to immediately, Mr. McRae. +Immediately. It's a case, if my judgment is correct, that has been +delayed much too long already. Could you come to the hospital--this +morning?"' + +"I have to leave here on the three-fifteen this afternoon," said +Roderick. "I have just received a telegram that my father is very +ill--I can't have anything done to-day." + +"Ah, quite sad indeed. Not serious I hope?" + +"I don't know," said Roderick dully. + +"I must urge you especially to come to-day. We have Dr. Berger here, +from New York. He is going to the congress at Halifax. You have heard +of him, of course. He is coming to see some patients of mine this +morning, and I should like him to see you too. Indeed, I feel I must +urge you, Mr. McRae. You are trifling with your health, perhaps your +life," he went on, puzzled by Roderick's indifference. "It is +imperative that something be done at once. How about coming with me +now? It leaves plenty of time for your train." + +Roderick considered a moment. He could not meet Mr. Graham now in any +case. He must leave a message for him that he had been called back to +Algonquin and telegraph home for more specific news. That was all he +could do until train time, so he decided he might as well obey the +doctor. + +When he had despatched a telegram and written a message for Mr. Graham +he followed the doctor to his car. The professional man seemed eagerly +delighted, as though Roderick were merely a wonderful new specimen he +had found and upon which he intended to experiment. He chattered away +happily on the way to the hospital. + +"Yes, Berger will be very much interested. Yours is really a rare +case, from a medical standpoint, Mr. McRae. Quite unique. You said +you believed it was injured when you were only six years old?" + +He seemed almost pleased, but Roderick did not care. The pain in his +arm and that fiercer pain raging in his heart made him indifferent. +"My father! My father!" he was repeating to himself in anguished +inquiry. What had happened to his father? Perhaps he was dying, while +his son lingered far away from him. And what an age he had to wait for +that train, and what another age to wait till it crawled back to +Algonquin! He remembered with wonder the strange wild impulse he had +had the night before to leap across into the home-bound train and go +back. He speculated upon what might have happened, until his brain +reeled. And when would he get another telegram? And why had not +Lawyer Ed told him more? He asked himself these futile questions over +and over in wild impatience. The fever of the night before had +returned, his head was hot, and ached as if it would burst. + +He obeyed the doctor's orders mechanically. His mind was focussed on +the time for the train to leave and in the interval he did not care +what they did with him. So he let himself be put into a bare little +white room, heavy with the smell of disinfectants, while a nurse in a +blue uniform and a young house surgeon in white and a silent footed +orderly moved about him. + +The nurse's blue dress reminded him of another blue gown, one for which +he used to watch at the office window on summer mornings. He followed +it with his eyes, as the great surgeon took him in hand and examined +and questioned him. He answered mechanically, his parched lips +uttering things with which his fevered brain seemed to have no interest. + +He listened in a detached way, as though the doctor were speaking of +some one else as, with many technical terms, he diagnosed the case. +Doctor Nicholls was there, and two young house surgeons, all eagerly +listening, but the patient's mind was away in the old farm house on the +shore of Lake Algonquin desperately seeking relief from its suspense. + +He scarcely noticed when they left the room, but he came to himself +completely when they returned, and Dr. Nicholls announced to him +briskly and almost joyfully that Dr. Berger's ultimatum was an +immediate operation. + +"No, you won't," said the patient with sudden vigour. "I have to leave +this afternoon for home on the three-fifteen." + +The great man looked down at him. "Young man," he said quietly, and +there was a still strength in his manner that carried conviction, "you +will do as you please of course, but if you don't take my advice and +have that limb attended to immediately, you'll go to your long home, +and not much later than 3.15 either. Yours is a most critical case. +If you refuse you are committing suicide. Now, Doctor Nicholls, I have +just half-an-hour to see your other patients." + +He walked out of the room. And Roderick sat up in the bed and stared +after them stupefied. A young house-surgeon, who had been regarding +the patient with eyes holding more than professional interest, came to +his side. He tried to speak cheerfully. + +"It's a most unusual thing to operate in such a hurry, but it's better +for a patient, I think. It's all over quickly you know, and no long +weary waiting." + +"But my father!" cried Roderick. "My father is critically ill. I've +got to go home! I've got to, I tell you! I can have this +done--later--at home." + +The fever flush deepened to a hot crimson. He got to his feet, then +staggered back, dizzy with pain. The young physician laid him on the +bed. "Look here, now, you mustn't get worked up like that, Roderick," +he said. + +Roderick looked up at him. The young man had come into the room with +Dr. Berger, but not till this moment had he noticed him. He stared, +and a light, brighter even than the fever had brought, leaped into his +eyes. + +"Wells!" he cried. "Is it Dick Wells?" + +"Dick Wells, it is," said the other, smiling, pleased that he had +created such a complete diversion. He took the patient's left hand and +shook it with a cordiality that was not returned. + +"I haven't seen you since old 'Varsity days, Rod. And 'pon my word I +didn't know you for a minute. We'll see you through this all right; +don't worry." + +Roderick was staring at him in a disconcerting way. + +"Where have you been since you graduated?" he asked. + +That harsh unsmiling manner was not at all like the Roderick McRae he +had known in college, but the young man laid the change to his fevered +condition. + +"Here, in Montreal. Next year I hope to go to Europe." He made a sign +to the nurse who entered, and quietly began preparing the arm for its +operation. Roderick did not pay any attention to even her blue uniform +this time, his eyes were fixed with a fierce intentness upon the young +doctor's face. Wells had always been known as a very handsome fellow, +but his appearance had not improved; he had grown stouter and coarser. +He was still good-looking, however, and his manner had the old easy +kindness Roderick remembered. He was just going to ask him another +abrupt question, when the young doctor slipped his finger over the +patient's pulse, and began talking quietly and soothingly. + +"And you went back to your old home town, didn't you? Let me see--" +his casual air did not deceive his alert listener--"Algonquin's your +home, isn't it?" + +"Yes." + +"You've been practising law there, haven't you?" He took out his watch +and looked at it. + +"Yes,--in Algonquin." + +A smile passed over the young physician's face, as of pleasant +reminiscence. "Algonquin," he repeated--"pretty name. You don't +happen to know--er--a Miss Murray there, do you? A teacher." + +"Yes," said Roderick, "I've met her," and held his breath for the next +words. + +"I've met her too--several times." He laughed, glancing at Roderick in +a shamefaced manner. "I think when you go home, if you'll take me, +I'll go along as travelling physician. I'd like most awfully well to +see that town of yours." + +Roderick involuntarily jerked his wrist from the other's grasp. Had he +not done so, the doctor would have been amazed at the leap of the +already bounding pulse. + +"I thought--rumour had it at college--that your affections were in +process of transition when you graduated." Roderick looked straight at +him. It was impossible to keep from his voice something of the +bitterness rising in his heart. He was risking his own secret. But he +felt he must know. + +Dick Wells' eyes dropped to his watch again. He was silent for a +moment. The nurse left the room and he immediately spoke in a low tone. + +"It a fellow plays the fool once in life," he said, "that's no reason +why he should take it up as a steady profession. I've dropped it for +good and all. And if you behave yourself and have this operation right +away I'll come and take Christmas dinner--no, that's holiday time--I'll +come and prescribe for you shortly after New Year's!" He laughed +joyfully. "I hope you'll welcome me," he said, half-shyly. "For I've +reason to believe I'm going to be welcomed in other quarters." + +"Dr. Wells, you are wanted in the corridor," said the nurse, returning. + +He left the room, and Roderick lay back and stared at the ceiling. He +caught the word amputation, and he knew they were talking about his +arm. They were going to cut it off, then. The knowledge did not seem +to add anything to the overwhelming weight which had fallen upon him, +and was crushing him. The whole structure of his life was tumbling +about him, and he lay caught helpless in its fall. His new position +was gone, for well he knew the company could not wait--indeed, would +not wait--for so insignificant a servant as he. His father--perhaps +his father was gone. And now the rosy hope that had steadily and +surely arisen in his heart, since the day he had seen Helen Murray on +board the _Inverness_, until it had lighted up his whole life, had +suddenly vanished in darkness. His fighting spirit rose against these +odds. He shoved the deft hands of the nurse aside and sat up. + +"I'm going home," he said hoarsely. Then the nurse, and the little +white table by the bedside with the bottles on it, and the white +uniformed man standing outside the doorway, swung up to the ceiling and +became an indistinct blur. He recovered almost immediately. The nurse +slipped a little thermometer under his tongue, and put a cool finger on +his pulse. + +"I must go home," mumbled Roderick. "Where's Dr. Wells?" + +"Dr. Wells is wanted in the operating room," she said soothingly. "You +will be glad to know he is going to assist. I understand you are old +friends." She looked at him anxiously. He was in the worst possible +condition mentally for an operation. + +"If you'd just brace up, you know," she said encouragingly. "If you +would get hold of yourself." She had prepared many a patient for the +operating table, and had seen few so exercised as this one. "You must +be courageous," she said. "The operation may not be serious. And it +will be over soon." + +Roderick looked at her uncomprehendingly. He cared not at all for the +operation itself, but it was the trap that had caught him, and he was +writhing to be free. + +Her next words put a new face on it. + +"If you have any message to send to your friends," she said gently, "I +should be glad to have it attended to. Have you any--property or +anything that should be settled. We hope this operation will be +simple; but if not--you should be prepared, Mr. McRae." + +"There's nothing," said Roderick. "Nothing." + +Everything in the world was slipping from him. The props of life had +given way one by one, and now perhaps life itself was going. He lay +there on the small cot-bed, watching the nurse and orderly hurry to and +fro, and looked squarely at the situation. It was desperate. Always +he had taken hold of difficulties and wrenched them out of his path and +gone proudly on his way. But here he was helpless. For the first time +in his strong, successful youth he realised that which his father had +striven all his years to teach him, man's utter impotence before God. +He was bound hand and foot, helpless, just as the door of success had +flung open at his touch. He had paddled out bravely into the open sea +of life after the rainbow gold, only to find it vanish and leave him +lost in a world of mists and shadows. He remembered Dr. Leslie's +words: "If His love cannot draw us into the way, it meets us on the +Damascus road and blinds us with its light." + +He lay there for what seemed an interminable time. He was clinging to +one faint hope. Lawyer Ed would surely answer his telegram. But the +nurse returned with the word that there had been no message, and that +the doctors were preparing. He was to go down to the operating room in +ten minutes. + +It seemed as if with that word the last feeble support gave way, and +then Roderick McRae's soul went down to the black brink of despair. He +was utterly alone, without help or friend. Everything, his success, +his health, his father, his love, had been snatched from him in one +moment. + +There was even no God for him. He had been so long dependent entirely +upon himself, that God had become a meaningless word. And now, if God +were real, His cruel Hand was behind that fearful black mist that was +closing about him shutting him off from hope. He lay like a log, +staring at the white ceiling of the little hospital room. The nurse +and the orderly were bidding him brace up and were shaking their heads +over him. He paid no more attention to them than to the strong odour +of drugs or the soft click-click of heels on the hardwood floor of the +corridor. Some subtle trick of memory had taken him back to the one +other time of despair in his experience. He was back again in that +night, years ago, when he was lost on the lake, drifting away in the +darkness to unknown terrors; and just as he had cried out that night, +his whole soul rose in one desperate demand upon his Father for help. + +"Oh, God!" he groaned, starting up, "oh, God, help me!" + +And then it happened; the great wonder. The light from his Father's +boat! The sound of his Father's voice! Just as, long ago, lost in +mists and darkness, a prey to every terror, his father's voice, calling +down the shaft of light, had caught him up from despair to the heights +of joy, so it was now. Suddenly, without reason, there fell upon the +young man's writhing soul a great calm. He lay back on his pillow, +perfectly still, his whole being held in awe of what had happened. For +there, in the common light of day, within the bare walls of the +hospital room, not visible to the human eye, but plain to the eye of +the soul, staring beyond the things that are seen for a gleam of hope, +a Presence was quietly standing. Serene, omnipotent, all-calming, the +gracious One stood, close to his side, and fear and pain fled before +Him. + +Roderick was conscious of no feeling of surprise or wonder. He felt +only a great serenity, and an absolute safety. He asked no questions, +felt no desire to ask any. There had been another young man once, who +had met this same One in a like headlong career, planned by his own +strong right hand, and he had cried out in fear, "Who art thou, Lord?" +But Roderick knew just as well as he had known his father's voice that +night coming out of the mists and darkness. His Eternal Father was at +his side. That was all he knew now. It was all he cared to know. He +lay there in perfect peace and, close to his side, silent and strong, +stood the Presence. + +The orderly pushed up the little wheeled conveyance to the bedside, the +nurse took his wrist in her hand again. She beamed happily. "Good for +you," she said, as she placed her hand upon his forehead. "Why, you're +splendid. You've got your nerve all right," and she stared in +amazement when Roderick smiled at her. He did not answer, though, he +was listening to something. All the old promises he had learned at his +father's knee and that had meant nothing to him for so long, were +flooding over his peaceful soul, coming serenely and softly from the +Presence standing by his pillow. + +"When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee and through +the rivers they shall not overflow thee; when thou walkest through the +fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon +thee... Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the +arrow that flieth by day, nor for the pestilence that walketh in +darkness." + +"Now, sir," said the orderly, "we'll just move you onto this truck." +But Roderick rose up strongly. "Why can't I walk down?" he asked. The +nurse stared and again felt the patient's pulse for some explanation of +this transformation. The quiet steady beat in the wrist was the +strangest part of it all. + +"Well," she cried admiringly, "I never saw anything like you. You're +perfectly able to walk; but you'd better save your strength. Just lie +down on this. You'll be all over your operation in no time!" Roderick +obeyed, and the orderly wheeled him away to the elevator; and along the +bare hospital corridor moved with him that strong Presence. And he +went with a perfect faith and as little fear as if he had been going +along the Pine Road to his home. What did it matter as to the result, +or what did it matter that his father back in Algonquin did not know? +He and his father were safe, upheld by the everlasting arms. It was +well, no matter what the outcome. When he reached the operating room +the Presence was there, just as real as the muffled doctors standing +ready to do their work, and when he was stretched upon the table taking +the anaesthetic, he felt as peaceful as on that night when he sank +asleep in his father's arms and was borne safely homeward. + +It seemed that the next moment he awoke in the room he had so recently +left. Dr. Nicholls was at his side. "A normal pulse," he said, +smiling into Rod's enquiring face. "You're a wonder. What do you +think of that, nurse?" + +"I expected that," she said, smiling. + +"You've behaved so well," continued the doctor, "that I believe you're +able to receive two pieces of good news." + +"My father," whispered Roderick. The doctor nodded happily. "A +telegram came half-an-hour ago. It reads, 'Out of danger, no need to +come, will write. E. Brians.'" Roderick felt the tears slipping over +his cheek. The nurse wiped them away. He was remembering it all now. +The Presence had been with his father too. + +"You haven't asked about my other news," said the doctor. + +Roderick looked at him enquiringly. He was thinking of Helen, and had +forgotten all about the operation. + +"Berger saved your arm. And it will be as fit as ever in a few months. +It was the most delicate kind of operation, and one of the finest he +ever did. I shall tell you more about it later, you must be quiet now. +But I must give you Dr. Berger's message. He had to leave for Halifax, +but he said he wished he could congratulate you on your nerve. I don't +know what you did to get hold of yourself in such a hurry, but you +saved your own life. Now, I've told you enough. You must neither +speak nor be spoken to until I see you again." + +He smiled again, radiant with the true scientist's joy over such a +triumph of skill as Roderick's arm presented, and left the room. + +And Roderick, who knew so much more about it all than mere science +could ever teach, closed his eyes and lay still, his whole soul raising +to its new-found God one inarticulate note of thanksgiving. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +"FOLLOW THE GLEAM" + +It was the first trip of the season and the _Inverness_ was crowded +from stem to stern. The picnic was given by the Sons of Scotland, so +every Presbyterian in the town was there. But there were many more, +for Lawyer Ed had gone out into the highways and byways of other +denominations and nationalities and had compelled Methodists and +Anglicans and Baptists and folk of every creed to come over to the +Island and hear the bagpipes and see Archie Blair toss the caber. + +"Your father's got to come, Rod," he said, the evening before the +picnic. "So don't you dare show your nose here without him to-morrow." + +But Old Angus laughingly refused his son's pleading. "Tuts, tuts," he +said reprovingly, "it's the foolish boy that Edward is. He is younger +than you, Lad. Indeed I'll not be going, and I think you should jist +stay at home yourself, my son. The night air will be damp and you will +not be jist too strong yet." + +Roderick laughed. "Father, you will soon be as bad as Aunt Kirsty. I +do believe she is bitterly disappointed that I didn't remain an invalid +for a year, so that she might coddle me. I wouldn't miss this picnic +for all Algonquin. It will be my first festivity since I was sick, and +I want you to be in it." + +The old man looked up into his son's face, his eyes shining. This new +Roderick who had come back to him, maimed and weakened, right from the +very gates of death was even more to him than the old Roderick. Not +that his love had grown, nor his faith, that was impossible. But while +he had always had high hopes that the Lad would one day fulfil all his +fondest dreams, now he saw those dreams being fulfilled right before +his eyes. There was a strong sentinel on the Jericho Road now, and the +Good Samaritan could scarcely bear to part with him even for a day. + +But he shook his head happily. No, no; Peter was coming over in the +morning to look at the north field, and they would just row out as far +as Wanda Island and hear the pipes, when the _Inverness_ went past, and +they would come back and stay at home with Aunt Kirsty like a pair of +sensible old bodies. + +Roderick managed to catch Lawyer Ed in the office for a few moments in +the morning and reported his failure. His chief called him many hard +names, as he rushed out to catch a passer-by and make him come to the +picnic, and Roderick locked the office door and went down to the wharf. +There lay the _Inverness_, her gunwale sinking to the water's edge +under her joyous freight, banners flying from every place a banner +could be flown, and the band, and Harry Lauder's piper brother making +the town and the lake and the woods beyond ring with music. + +Immediately after Roderick's disappointing message had been delivered, +Lawyer Ed rushed down Main Street and spied Afternoon Tea Willie +driving the Baldwin girls down town to buy some almond cream to take to +the picnic, in case of sunburn. And in his usual high-handed way, he +had hailed them, sent the girls home on foot, and the young man +spinning out to the McRae farm with stern commands not to dare return +without Old Angus. + +So when Roderick was standing on the wharf talking to Dr. Archie Blair, +all resplendent in his kilt he was amazed to see coming down Main +Street, the smartest buggy in the town, and in it Alf. Wilbur, driving +his father, and more amazing still, by his side sat old Peter, with his +fiddle in a case across his knee. They drew up at the edge of the +wharf with a splendid flourish, and Afternoon Tea Willie with his +innate good manners, sprang out to help the two old men alight with as +great deference as if they had been a couple of charming young ladies +just come to town. + +Roderick sprang forward and caught his father's hand as he stepped out, +laughing in sheer delight. His eyes were misty with deep feeling. In +the first quick glance he had turned upon the faces of the two old men, +smiling in a half-ashamed, half-pleased way, like a couple of boys +caught running away from school; Roderick had been struck with their +strange resemblance. His father's refined face and his white hair had +once made an absolute contrast to poor Old Peter's bloated countenance, +but with the last half-year, Old Peter's face and form had been +undergoing a change. Not since that terrible winter night when he had +almost caused the death of his best friend had he fallen. It had been +a hard fight sometimes, but the great victory won by the temperance +folk on New Year's Day had been a victory for Peter. On the first of +May the bar-rooms of Algonquin had closed. And now Peter walked the +streets unafraid. And with his new courage and hope, his manhood had +returned and he was slowly and surely growing like the man whose +life-long devotion had brought him salvation. + +Doctor Blair saw them and came swinging up to make the old men welcome. +Then Doctor Leslie sighted them and came forward in delighted +amazement, and Captain Jimmie spied them from the wheel house and +called out joyfully, "Hoots, toots, Angus! And is that you, Peter +Lad?" And the Ancient Mariner left off smoking, and, pouring out a +stream of Gaelic above the roar of the pipes, came right out on the +wharf to make sure his eyes had not deceived him. + +Roderick guided the two to seats up on the deck near to the captain's +pilot house, finding the way thither a veritable triumphal procession. + +The crowds were still coming down Main Street; nervous mothers with +babies bouncing wildly in their little buggies, embarrassed fathers +with great sagging baskets and hysterical children with their newly +starched attire already wildly rumpled. + +Roderick scanned each new group eagerly, wondering if Helen Murray +would come. He had seen little of her since his return. A long +illness following the critical operation had kept him at home, and when +at last he was able to go out again and take up his work he found that +gossip had it that Miss Murray, the pretty girl who taught in the East +Ward school had had a young man to visit her. Miss Annabel had been +quite excited over him, for he was very handsome and was a successful +surgeon, and Miss Armstrong had pronounced him a splendid match for any +girl. Roderick had been spared a visit from Dick Wells, and had +wondered that the young man had not kept his promise. He had longed +and yet dreaded to see him. He had been able to learn nothing about +the visit except what gossip said, and to-day he was full of hope and +fear, as he watched. His fears were stronger, but he was young and he +could not keep from hoping. + +The _Inverness_, as every one in Algonquin knew, gave ample warning of +her leave-taking. At exactly half-an-hour before the hour set for +sailing, she always blew one long blast from her whistle. At fifteen +minutes to the hour she blew two shorter toots, and just on the eve of +departure three blasts loud and sharp. This final warning, which +Doctor Blair had profanely named the last trump, had been sounded, and +Roderick began to look anxious for she had not yet appeared nor Mrs. +Adams either. But he had gone sailing on picnics via the _Inverness_ +too many times to be seriously alarmed. The door of the little +wheel-house where the captain had now taken his stand, commanded a view +of Main Street rising up from the water, and no native of Algonquin +could do him the injustice to suppose that he would sail away while any +one was waving to him from the hill. + +A half dozen women were signalling him now, and the captain blew a +reassuring blast. And then round the corner from Elm Street, moving +leisurely, came a stout swaying figure, with floating draperies. +Children clung to her hands, children hung by her skirts, children ran +after her and children danced before her. And long before she reached +the water's edge could be heard her admonitions, "Now, you, Johnnie +Pickett, don't you dare to walk down there in the dirt. Maddie Willis, +just you tie that hat on your head again, you'll get a sunstroke, you +know you will. Jimmie Hurd, you leave that poor little dog alone--" + +Roderick looked eagerly beyond the lady, and there she was, at the rear +of the procession, bringing up the stragglers. She was wearing a dress +of that dull blue he liked to see her wear, the blue that was just a +shade paler than her eyes, and she wore a big white shady hat. As she +came nearer he could see she was laughing at Johnnie Pickett's wicked +antics. Her face had lost all its old sadness. Roderick's heart was +filled with a great foreboding. Had Dick Wells' visit brought that new +colour to her cheek and the sparkle to her eyes? He wanted to go down +and help her and her flock on board, for Gladys Hurd and Mrs. Perkins +and Eddie and the baby were with her, and a half-dozen little folk were +asking each a half-dozen questions of her at one moment. But he stood +back shyly watching her from a distance, as Dr. Blair and Harry Lauder +and the rest of the Highland Club helped them on board, the Piper +meanwhile circling around Madame much to her disgust. + +When they were all on board and the _Inverness_ had again given the +three short shrieks which announced she was really and truly starting, +Roderick suddenly realised that Lawyer Ed was not on board. Now a +Scotchman's picnic without Lawyer Ed was an absurd and unthinkable +thing, beside which Hamlet without the Prince of Denmark would have +seemed perfectly reasonable and natural. He ran to the captain, but +there were several ahead of him with the dire news. For the +_Inverness_ had no sooner begun to move from the wharf than the awful +truth had dawned upon a dozen folk at once. They had rushed from three +directions and attacked the captain and Young Peter and the Ancient +Mariner and demanded of them what they meant by such outrageous +conduct. Very much abashed by her mistake the _Inverness_ came surging +back, the captain taking refuge in the Gaelic to express his dismay. +They were just in time, for there he was tearing down the street in his +buggy, Miss Annabel Armstrong and Mrs. Captain Willoughby squeezed in +beside him and the horse going at such a breakneck pace that the dust +and stones flew up on every side and there was danger that they would +drive right into the lake. They stopped just on the brink. Lawyer Ed +leaped out, flung the lines to a lounger on the dock bidding him take +the horse back to the stable, helped the ladies alight, and had rushed +them on board before the gang-plank could be put in place. The crowd +cheered, and he waved his hat and shouted with laughter, over the +narrow escape; but the ladies looked a little ruffled. They had not +intended to come to the picnic; the day of private launches and +motor-cars was dawning over Algonquin, and these public picnics were +not in favour among the best people, therefore Mrs. Captain Willoughby +had felt that she did not care to go, and the Misses Armstrong had felt +they did not dare to go. But Lawyer Ed did not approve of social +distinctions of any sort whatever, and he was determined that the best +people should come out and have a good time like the worst. So he had +gone right into the enemy's camp and carried off two of the leaders +captive, and here they were half-laughing and half-annoyed and +explaining carefully to their friends how they had not had the +slightest intention of coming in such a mixed crowd but that dreadful +man just made them. + +Once more the _Inverness_ gave her last agonised shriek, the captain +shouted to the Ancient Mariner to get away there, for what was he doing +whatever, and with a great deal of fussing and steaming and whistling +the voyage was again commenced. The band gave place to the Piper, and +he marched out to the tune of "The Cock o' the North," looking exactly +like a great giant humming-bird, his plumage flashing in the sunlight, +as he went buzzing around the deck. Harry Lauder and the doctor and +two or three others of the frivolous young folk in the kilts went away +off to where the minister could not see them and danced a Highland +reel. The people who did not quite approve of public picnics gathered +in a group by themselves, Miss Annabel Armstrong and Mrs. Captain +Willoughby in the centre, and told each other all the latest news about +Toronto, and yawned and wished they could have a game of whist, but Dr. +Leslie would be sure to see them. The tired mothers who seldom went +beyond their garden gate, handed over their children to Mrs. +Doasyouwouldbedoneby, and settled themselves contentedly in a circle to +have a good old-fashioned visit. Up in the bow, a group of the older +men surrounded Dr. Leslie. Old Angus McRae was so seldom seen at any +festivity that his presence had made the picnic an event to his old +friends. Again and again Dr. Leslie placed his hand on the old man's +knee and said, "Well, well, Angus, it's a treat to see you here." And +Peter Fiddle, the outcast and drunkard, sat in the group and listened +eagerly to their talk like a man who had been long away and was eager +to hear again the speech of his native land. And indeed poor Peter had +been for many years in a far country, and his return had opened up a +new life to him. Roderick sat behind his father's chair and listened +as they talked and wondered to hear Peter take his part with a fine +intelligence. He looked at his father and thought of all the weary +years he had toiled for Peter, and he was filled with a great gratitude +that this was the sort of splendid work to which he had been called. +He would take his father's place on the Jericho Road. It might be a +highway here in Algonquin, the future was all unquestioned, but +wherever it was the Vision would stand by him as He had stood in that +hour of despair. And how glorious to think he might pick up a Peter +from the dirt and help to restore him to his manhood. + +J. P. Thornton had led the conversation to theological subjects. J. P. +read along many lines, and it was whispered that he had queer ideas +about the Bible. + +Lawyer Ed had been balancing himself on the railing of the deck +listening for some time but it was impossible that he could stay in the +one place long when the whole boat was crowded with his intimate +friends. So when J. P. intimated that modern criticism pointed to two +Isaiahs and Jock McPherson strongly objected to the second one, Lawyer +Ed yawned, and telling them he would be back in an instant, he wandered +away. + +"Come awa, ma braw John Hielanman," he whispered to Roderick. "This is +a heavy subject for a pair of young fellows like you and me on a picnic +day, come along and see what Archie Blair's up to. I'll bet my new +bonnet and plume he's dancing the Highland fling in some obscure +corner." + +Roderick went most willingly. He knew Lawyer Ed would go straight to +Madame, and where Madame was, there would she be also. + +Afternoon Tea Willie who had finally come on board with a dozen young +ladies, was running here and there at their beck and call in desperate +haste. Lawyer Ed paused to chat with the girls, for he could never +pass even one, and Roderick turned to Alfred and thanked him for the +service to his father. + +"Oh, that's nothing at all!" cried the young man. "You did me a favour +lots of times, Rod. When I had no one else to talk to and tell my +trouble!" He smiled at the remembrance of them. His cheek was flushed +and his eyes were glowing. He looked as though he possessed some great +secret. He came close and began to speak hesitatingly and Roderick +knew he was going to be the recipient of more confidences. "Say, Rod, +do you see that young lady over there beside Anna Baldwin?" Roderick +looked and saw the latest arrival in Algonquin, a very handsome and +well-dressed young lady who was visiting the Misses Baldwin. "Yes," +said Roderick in a very callous manner, "I see her." He drew Roderick +away a little distance from the group and whispered: + +"Well--I--this is in strict confidence, you know, Roderick; I would not +confide in any one but you, you know. But--well--that is she!" + +"She? who?" asked Roderick. + +Alfred looked pained. "Why the only she in all the world for me. Her +name is Eveline Allan. Did you ever hear anything more musical? She +came here just last week to visit the Baldwin girls, and they asked me +to go to the station to meet her with them, and the moment I set eyes +on her I just knew she was the only one in the world for me. I have +sometimes imagined myself to be in love, but it was all imagination. I +never really knew before." + +Roderick found it impossible to conceal a smile. + +"Oh, I know what you are thinking about, you are wondering if I have +forgotten Miss Murray. But I have lived that down long ago. It was +madness for me to think of one who was in love with another man." + +Roderick looked at him so eloquently that he went on. + +"I never really cared for her, in that way, anyway. I realise that +now, and now that the man she was engaged to has come back--" + +"What?" asked Roderick sharply. + +"The man she was engaged to. Don't you remember my telling you about +him? Why, they have made up again. He was here to see her last winter +and he was in Toronto to see her in the Easter holidays when she was +down there. I was very glad that it has all turned out so, for I found +out my mistake as soon as I set eyes on Eveline. I know I ought not to +call her that yet, and I don't to her of course. Don't you think she +has wonderful eyes? I always felt that dark eyes are much more +expressive than blue or even hazel ones, don't you? Oh, there is Anna +calling me. Excuse me, I must run." + +He flew back to the group, and Roderick was left to digest what he had +told him. Unfortunately Alfred had a reputation for finding out things +and he had no reason to doubt his assertion. He slowly followed Lawyer +Ed about. They made their way down the length of the deck, his chief +shaking hands with every one, and at last away in the stern under a +shady awning he saw her. She was seated with Madame on one side, +little Mrs. Perkins on the other, Gladys Hurd and Eddie at her feet, +the Perkins' baby on her knee and a crowd of children about her. There +was no hope of having a word with her even had he the courage to go +forward and speak to her. + +The children were sitting open mouthed, staring up into the face of +Mrs. Doasyouwouldbedoneby, while in low thrilling tones she was telling +how the dreadful big giant came slowly up the stairs, every step +creaking under him, and the lovely Princess behind the door just +squeezed herself into a teenty weenty crack and held her breath till he +got past. + +Lawyer Ed burst into the story with a roar, and every one leaped and +shrieked as if the giant himself had sprung into their midst. He +caught two of the youngsters and bumped their heads together, he chased +a shrieking half dozen to a refuge behind a pile of life-preservers, he +tossed a couple up in the air and pretended he was going to fling them +overboard, and finally he took out a great package from his pocket and +sent a shower of pink "gum-drops" raining down over the deck, and the +whole boat was turned into a mad and joyful riot! + +Roderick lingered about for a few minutes until Miss Murray nodded and +smiled to him across a surging sea of little heads, then he wandered +down below to where the Ancient Mariner was seated spinning yarns to a +crowd of young people. + +"Indeed and I could tell you many as good a one as that," he was saying +in response to the sighs of amazement. "I haff a great head for the +tales. If I would jist be hafing the grammar I would challenge anybody +to beat me at them. Take Scott now. He had the grammar. That's what +makes folk think his stories are so great. But if I had just had his +chance! You get an eddication, you young people. There's nothing like +the grammar indeed!" + +Roderick leaned over the little pit of the engine room and talked with +Young Peter. The dull eyes were shining. This was a great day for +Peter. + +"Did you see him?" he whispered to Roderick. "Did you see my father? +driving down with your father? Jist like any gentleman! Eh, but it +was mighty." + +"Yes, it's splendid to see them together at last, Pete," said Roderick +sympathetically. And then he had to listen again to the tale Young +Peter never tired telling, how Rod's father had saved his father that +stormy night on the Jericho Road. How Lawyer Ed could not sleep +because Roderick had left him, and how he had driven out to the farm in +the night to comfort Angus and had found the two on the road nearly +frozen! Young Peter had an attentive listener, for Roderick could not +tire of hearing the wonderful story. + +They had passed through the Gates, and the news went around that the +Island was near. It was a beautiful big stretch of green with a +sloping shingly beach at one end, and a high range of white cliffs at +the other, which J. P. Thornton said made him homesick, for they always +reminded him of England. + +There were many islands in Lake Algonquin; nevertheless when you said +The Island every one knew you meant that big, lovely, grassy place away +out beyond the Gates, swept by the cool breezes of Lake Simcoe where +Algonquin always went for her picnics. + +When the cry went forth that the Island was at hand every one ran to +the railing and leaned over to watch the _Inverness_ slip in between +the big stone breakwater and the dock which stretched out to meet them. +Captain Jimmie from his wheel-house called to them, threateningly and +beseechingly, commanding every one to go back or she'd be going over +whatever. As usual no one heeded him and so the accident happened. +Perhaps it was the lure of the Piper, now skirling madly from the bow, +with flying ribbons, that distracted the captain, as well as the +disobedience of the passengers; whatever was the reason, the +_Inverness_, generally so stately and staid, suddenly gave a lurch, and +went crash into the wharf as though she intended to ride right over the +Island. Of course in a tourney with the _Inverness_, there could be +only one result. The wharf heaved up and went over like an unhorsed +knight accompanied by a terrible creaking and ripping and groaning as +of armour being rent asunder. Disaster always stripped Captain Jimmie +of his nautical cloak and left him the true landsman. He dashed out of +his little house and leaning over the railing shouted to the Ancient +Mariner: "Sandy, ye gomeril! Back her up, back up, man, she's goin' +over!" + +There were shouts and shrieks from the passengers even above the din of +the Piper who played gallantly on. The crowd rushed to the side to see +what had happened, and there might have been a real catastrophe had not +Lawyer Ed taken command. While the captain and the Ancient Mariner +were fiercely arguing the question of whose fault it was, he dashed +into the crowd and bade every one in a voice of thunder to go back to +his or her seats and be quiet. Lawyer Ed was a terrifying sight when +he was angry, and he was promptly obeyed. The excited crowd scattered, +the children were collected, the alarm subsided and they all waited +laughingly to see what was to be done. + +Meantime Dr. Blair and Harry Lauder had launched a canoe that was on +board and were paddling round the wharf to investigate. + +"I'm afraid it's hopeless, Jimmie!" shouted the doctor. For the floor +of the landing place had almost assumed the perpendicular. "Nobody +could land here that wasn't a chipmunk!" + +This was disconcerting news and a wail arose from Madame's flock. + +"Haud yer whist!" roared Lawyer Ed. "We'll get to land somehow, if I +have to swim to shore with you all on my back. Hi!" he gave a shout +that made the beech woods on the Island ring. + +"Hi! Archie, mon! You and Harry paddle over and bring that scow! +We'll load her and go ashore like Robinson Crusoes!" + +A big scow or float, used as a rest for row boats and canoes lay near +the end of the dock moored to the shore. A couple of agile young men +leaped upon the upturned wharf, and making their way on all fours along +it, they reached the scow in time to assist the doctor and Harry Lauder +to bring it to the side of the boat. Meanwhile Lawyer Ed stood up on +the deck and roared out superfluous orders in a broad Scottish dialect +that was rather overdone. + +The rescuing vessel was received with cheers and the gang-plank was put +in place. + +"Women and children first!" cried Ed heroically, but Madame, in the +centre of her flock called out an indignant refusal. + +"No, indeed, the children are not going first. You, Johnnie Pickett +and Jimmie Hurd, you come right back off that thing, do you hear me? +You go along yourself some of you Scotchmen, and see if it will hold, +and then I'll bring my babies. You're in your bathing suits anyway," +she added cruelly, for Mrs. Doasyouwouldbedoneby was not a Scotchwoman, +and did not know how to appreciate the kilts. + +So the Piper marched out upon the scow, playing magnificently; some +dozen young men followed him and with poles pushed themselves ashore. +Then, amid cheers a couple of volunteers came back for another load +from the wrecked vessel. When several trips had been made successfully +and Madame and the children had been safely landed, Alfred Wilbur came +forward and offered to pole a crowd over. Of course the crowd +consisted of young ladies with the Baldwin girls and their pretty guest +as the centre piece. + +Alfred placed himself upon the scow, pole in hand and with many gallant +remarks from Lawyer Ed the young ladies were handed on board. One by +one they tripped out over the gang-plank, laughing gaily, their muslins +and ribbons, their sashes and bracelets, their pink cheeks and bright +eyes transforming the old scow into a floating garden. No wonder +Alfred became excited over captaining such a fair cargo. In his +nervous zeal he encouraged more than his sailing capacity would admit, +and when the scow was almost crowded he saw to his dismay that the +Baldwin girls and their guest had not yet come on board. He had +pictured himself, pole in hand, shoving off before all the picnickers +with Miss Allan clinging to his arm, and he began to grow anxious lest +she be carried off in one of the row boats now come to the rescue. + +"Move over further, won't you, girls, please," he called to his +laughing, chattering crew. "I mean move a little aft won't you, +please. I beg your pardon for troubling you, Belle! Alice! If you +and Flossie--Come, Anna. Come, Louise! Anna, bring Miss Allan; +there's acres of room yet." + +Thus encouraged, another group tripped over the gang-plank and at the +same moment, those already on board, anxious to oblige Alf, who was +always obliging them, crowded over to the farther side. But so much +weight suddenly placed on one end of the scow brought dire disaster. +Without a moment's warning, down went the heavy end three feet into the +water, half submerging its shrieking passengers, and up came the light +end with the unfortunate pilot perched upon it like Hiawatha's +Adjidaumo, on the end of his Cheemaun! + +Fortunately the water was not deep, and in a moment a dozen young men +had plunged in and righted the capsized craft. But there were shrieks +from all sides and threats of fainting, and dreadful anathemas heaped +upon the innocent cause of the disaster, as the bedraggled young +ladies, lately so trim, crawled back to the _Inverness_. + +The catastrophe could not possibly have happened to any one whom it +would distress more than Alf. He stood in speechless dismay watching +the dripping procession pass. And when the pretty guest of the Baldwin +girls splashed past him with a look which would have been withering had +she not been so drenched, his despair was complete. He looked for a +few moments as if he were about to throw himself into the lake, then he +flung down his pole, and crept away aft to hide his diminished head +behind a pile of life-preservers. Roderick captured a row-boat, and +placed his father and Old Peter and a couple of their friends in it, +and with the huge basket Aunt Kirsty had packed for them he rowed to +shore. + +When they landed, the old men seated themselves on a grassy mound under +a big elm, and the basket was snatched from Roderick's hand and whirled +away to the commissariat department in a big pavilion near at hand. + +In a short time the long white tables were set beneath the trees with a +musical tinkling of cups; there was a table for the Sons themselves and +their friends, a table for the commoner folk and, farther up the shore, +here and there, little groups of friends gathered by themselves. There +was Madame seated on the ground away off at the edge of the beech +grove, like the queen of the fairies holding court. The fairies were +all there, too, seated in a wide circle, too busy to talk, as the +sandwiches and cake and pie disappeared. Roderick had not once lost +sight of Helen. She was there too, with Mrs. Perkins and Gladys. But +he had to turn his back on the pretty group and join his father at the +table spread for the Sons of Scotland. Dr. Leslie stood up at the head +of it, his white hair ruffled by the lake breeze, and asked a blessing +on the feast. And when the Scotchmen had put on their bonnets again +and were seated the Piper tuned up once more and swept around the +tables playing a fine strathspey. Lawyer Ed had a seat near the head +of the table but he was too happy to sit still and kept it only at +intervals. He ran up and down the tables, darted away to this group +and that, taking a bite here and a drink there, until Dr. Blair +declared that Ed had eaten seven different and separate meals by the +time the tables were cleared away. + +He stopped at a little group seated around a white table cloth laid +upon the grass, to inquire if they would like some more hot water. + +"No," said Mrs. Captain Willoughby, whose party it was. "We've plenty. +We've been in hot water, in fact, ever since we started. Annabel and I +are having a dispute we want settled. Come here, Edward, I'm sure you +can decide." + +"It's perfect nonsense," broke in Miss Annabel. "Leslie is no more +likely to marry him than you are, Margaret!" + +"Marry whom?" asked Lawyer Ed eagerly, "Me?" + +Miss Annabel screamed and said he was perfectly dreadful, but Mrs. +Willoughby broke in. + +"No, not you, you conceited thing, but your partner. I thought Leslie +claimed him as her property. She practically told the Baldwin girls +she intended to marry Roderick McRae. And now she's left him and gone +off to be a nurse." + +Miss Annabel's fair face flushed hotly. "How utterly preposterous. +Why, if you lived at Rosemount you'd know whom Mr. McRae would be +likely to marry. As for Leslie, she never cared any more for him than +you did. You know how she loves fun. She was just enjoying herself. +I admit that she might have found a better way of putting in the time, +but it was only a girl's nonsense. I was just dreadful that way myself +when I was Leslie's age, a few years ago." + +"Indeed you were, Annabel," cried Lawyer Ed, scenting danger and wisely +steering to a safer subject, "You were a dreadful flirt. Many a heart +you broke and I am afraid you haven't reformed either." + +This put the lady into a good humour at once. She laughed gaily, +confessing that she was really awfully giddy she knew, but she could +not help it. And Mrs. Captain Willoughby, who never encouraged Miss +Annabel in her youthfulness, said very dryly that she supposed they had +all been silly when they were girls but she believed there was a time +for everything. + +Lawyer Ed saw conversational rocks ahead once more and piloted around +them. "What is this I hear about Leslie?" he asked. "Is she going to +be a nurse?" + +"Oh, dear," groaned Miss Annabel. "That girl will break her mother's +heart, and all our hearts. Just think of Leslie who never did a thing +harder than put up her own hair going to be a nurse. It is perfectly +absurd, but she has gone and Elizabeth will just have to let her go on +until experience teaches her better." + +"I think it's the most sensible thing she ever did," declared Mrs. +Willoughby, "and you shouldn't discourage her. She'll make a fine wife +for that boy of yours, Edward." + +Lawyer Ed shook his head. He had had his own shrewd suspicions +regarding Roderick for some time and Miss Annabel's hint had set him +thinking. + +"I've been such a conspicuous failure in any attempt to get a wife of +my own," he said in the deepest melancholy, "that I wouldn't presume to +prescribe for any other man." And he hastened back to his own table. + +It was a great day. The Scotchmen ran races, and tossed the caber and +walked the greasy pole across from the capsized dock to the +_Inverness_. The Piper played, and the band played, and everybody ate +all the ice cream and popcorn and drank all the lemonade possible. + +At exactly seven o'clock the _Inverness_ gave a terrible roar. This +was to warn every one that going home time had arrived. Mrs. +Doasyouwouldbedoneby began collecting the fairies for the difficult +task of getting them on the scow and thence to the _Inverness_. All +day Lawyer Ed had been keeping an eye on Roderick and had no difficulty +in confirming his suspicion that the Lad was unhappy, and he +immediately conceived of a plan to help him. He called a half-dozen +young men together and just as Madame was ready to walk across the +Island to the scow, Lawyer Ed came rowing round the bend with a fleet +of boats to carry them all down to the _Inverness_. Then such a joyful +scrambling and climbing as there was, while Mrs. Doasyouwouldbedoneby +got her water-babies afloat. Lawyer Ed had seen to it that Roderick +was in charge of the one canoe, and as a row-boat in the eyes of +Algonquin youths, was a thing to be despised, all the older +water-babies screamed with joy at the sight of him, and as soon as he +had run it up on the sand they swarmed into it filling it to +overflowing. + +This was likely to ruin all Lawyer Ed's fine plan and he charged down +upon them with a terrible roar and chased them all to the shelter of +Madame's skirts. + +"Get away back there, you young rascals!" he shouted. "You ought to +know better than to try a load like that, Rod, you simpleton. Two +passengers at the most are all you want with that arm of yours!" He +glanced about him. Helen Murray was standing near with the Perkins +baby in her arms, while the little mother, free from all care for the +first time in many hard years, was wandering happily about with her +hands full of wild roses. + +"Here, Miss Murray," he cried, "you jump in. You are just the right +weight for this maimed pilot. 'Ere, William 'Enry, you come to me!" +But William Henry, now a sturdy little fellow of a-year-and-a-half, +tightened his arms around his friend's neck and yelled his disapproval +right valiantly. + +"Well, now, will yer look at that!" cried the little mother proudly. +"Wot'll Daddy say w'en I tell 'im? The little rascal's so took with +the young loidy. 'Ush up there now, bless 'is 'eart. See, 'e'll go +with mammy." She dropped her roses into Gladys's hands, and held out +her arms, and the fickle young gentleman, let go his grip on his +friend, and leaped upon his mother, crowing and squealing with delight. +Helen waved him farewell as she stepped into the canoe, and the baby +waved her a fat square paw in return. Gladys and Eddie were about to +follow her, when the Lawyer Ed again interposed. + +"No, you mustn't take a load, Rod, this is your first paddle, so get +away with you. Now you kids, hop into this boat and you'll be there +just as soon as Miss Murray!" he roared. Roderick pushed off afraid to +look at his chief lest the overwhelming gratitude he felt might be seen +in his face. + +Lawyer Ed turned and watched them for a moment. They made a fine +picture as they glided up the curving shore under the drooping birches +and alders. Roderick kneeling in the stern, straight and strong, with +no sign now of the illness he had been through, and the girl in the +bow, her blue gown and her uncovered golden head making a bit of +colouring perfectly harmonious with the sparkling waves and the sunlit +sands. + +But Lawyer Ed's gaze was fixed on Roderick. The joy in the Lad's eyes, +answered in his own. Lawyer Ed's joys were all of the vicarious sort. +He was always happy because he made other people so, but to be able to +make Rod happy; that was his crowning joy. + +Roderick was more afraid than happy. It seemed too good to be true, +that she was here with him alone. At first he could do nothing but +look at her in silence. She was so much more beautiful than he had +thought, with that new radiance in her eyes. And then his own brief +happiness waned, as he wondered miserably if it had been brought there +by Dick Wells. + +She was the first to speak. "Are you getting quite strong again?" she +asked kindly. + +"Oh yes, I am quite myself. I feel ready for any kind of work now." + +"Then I suppose you will be going back to Montreal?" + +"No." Roderick had made that decision long ago. "No, I could not go +with the firm that engaged me--now." He was thinking how impossible +those mining deals would be in the eyes of one who had been granted a +glimpse into the unseen. Henceforth he knew there was no such work for +him. "For mine eyes hath seen the King," he often repeated to himself. + +She misunderstood him. "Oh," she said, "I thought--I was told that Mr. +Graham's lawyers wanted you, that the position had been kept for you." + +"Yes, they were very kind, but I could not. Something happened that +made it impossible for me to take up their work again. So for the +present I am a fixture in Algonquin, until Lawyer Ed grows tired of me." + +She laughed at that, for Lawyer Ed's love for Roderick was a proverb in +Algonquin. He had never heard her laugh before. The sound was very +musical. + +"You will stay a long time then," she said. "Algonquin is a good place +to live in." + +"You like it?" he asked eagerly. + +"Yes, ever so much. I shall be sorry to leave at the mid-summer +vacation." + +Roderick's heart stood still. "I--I didn't know," he faltered. "I +thought you were staying for the whole year." + +She looked up at him, and then her eyes fell. The mingled adoration +and hunger and dismay written plainly in the Lad's frank eyes were +impossible to misunderstand. She had seen that look there before many +times in the past winter. She had been afraid of it then, and she had +run away from his good-bye that snowy day when he had left Algonquin. +For then she had not wanted to see that look in the eyes of any man. +She had seen it once before and had yielded to its spell, and the +love-light had died out and left her life desolate. But since she had +last talked with Roderick McRae, she had seen those eyes again, lit +with the old love, and to her amazement she had found no answer in her +heart. She had far outgrown Dick Wells in her self-forgetful life she +had taken up in Algonquin. She had taken up the burdens of others just +to ease her own pain, promising herself that when this or that task was +finished she could turn to her own grief and nurse it. But the +self-indulgence had been so long postponed that when the opportunity +came and she had gone back to her old sorrow, behold it was gone. And +in its place sat the memory of Roderick McRae's unspoken devotion, his +chivalrous silent waiting for his opportunity. + +So when poor Roderick all unschooled in hiding his feelings let her see +in one swift glance all that her going meant to him she was speechless +before the joy of it. She stooped and trailed her fingers in the green +water, to hide her happy confusion. Then remembering she was leaving +him under a misunderstanding she glanced up at him swiftly. + +"I don't," she said breathlessly, "I didn't mean I was going away to +stay. I meant only for the summer holidays." + +The transformation of his countenance was a further revelation, had she +needed any. + +"Oh," he said, and then paused. "Oh, I'm so glad!" Very simple words +but they contained volumes. He was silent for a moment unable to say +any more, and she filled in the awkward pause nervously, scarcely +knowing what she said. + +"You were sorry too, were you not, when you went away?" + +"It was the hardest task I ever met in my life," said Roderick. "And +you didn't let me say good-bye to you." He was growing quite reckless +now to speak thus to a young lady who might be going to announce her +engagement. + +She had not gained anything by her headlong plunge into conversation so +she tried again. + +"Not even your operation?" she asked. "That was worse, wasn't it?" + +"My operation wasn't hard," said Roderick dreamily, his mind going back +to the sacred wonder of that hour. "No, I had--help." He said it +hesitatingly. It was hard to mention that event, even to her. He had +spoken of it to no living person but his father. + +"Indeed, I heard about how brave you were," she said. "I was told that +there was never any one with such self-control." + +Roderick looked at her in alarm. "Who told you?" he asked abruptly. +She looked straight across at him and her eyes were very steady, though +her colour rose. "Doctor Wells told me. He assisted, didn't he?" + +Roderick's eyes fell. He tried to answer but he sat before her dumb +and dismayed. She saw his confusion, and rightly guessed the cause. +Her nature was too simple and direct to pretend, she wanted to tell him +the truth and she did not know how. + +"Doctor Wells was here last winter," she faltered, as a beginning, then +could get no further. Roderick made a desperate effort to regain +control of himself, and spoke with an attempt at nonchalance. + +"Yes, he told me he was coming. He promised to come and see me too, +but he didn't." + +"No," she caught a twig of cedar from a branch that brushed her +fragrantly as she passed. Her fingers trembled as she held it to her +lips. "He--he told you he was coming?" she asked. + +"Yes," said poor Roderick briefly. + +"Then--then, perhaps he told you why?" She was examining the cedar +sprig carefully, and Roderick was thankful. He would not have cared +for her to see his face just then. She was going to tell him of her +renewed engagement he knew. + +"Yes, he told me," he said. She was silent for a little, looking away +over the ripples of Lake Simcoe to the green arms of the channel that +showed the way to Algonquin. + +"Would it--would you think it right to tell me what he said?" + +"He said," repeated Roderick, wishing miserably that Wells' words did +him less credit, "he said that even if a fellow played the fool once in +his life that was no reason why he should take it up as a life's +profession." He paused and then came out in the boldness of +desperation with the rest. "And he said that he was pretty sure he +would get a welcome when he came." She flushed at that, and there came +a proud sparkle into her eyes. + +She sat erect and looked Roderick straight in the eyes. "And now, +since you have told me,--and I thank you for it,--I must give you his +message. He left one for you." + +"Yes?" Roderick braced himself as for a blow. + +"Yes, he left a message for you. I did not intend to deliver it but +since he confided in you I feel I am doing no harm. He said to tell +you the reason he couldn't wait to see you was that he had played the +fool once more, and that was when he thought a woman couldn't forget." + +She dropped her eyes when she had finished. Her fine courage was gone. +She dipped one trembling hand into the water again and laid it against +her hot cheek. + +Roderick sat and looked at her for a moment uncomprehending. It took +some time to grasp all that her confession meant. When finally its +meaning dawned upon him, he drew in a great breath. + +"Oh!" he said in a wondering whisper. "I never was so happy in my +life!" It was not a very eloquent speech, it did not seem at all +relevant, but she seemed to understand. She glanced up for an instant +with a shy smile, and then Lawyer Ed with Mrs. Doasyouwouldbedoneby and +such a load of water-babies, that they looked as if they might sink +into their native caves, came shouting round the point, and bore down +upon them. + +The sun was sinking into the island maze of Lake Algonquin and the moon +was coming up out of Lake Simcoe when the _Inverness_ sailed homeward +through the Gates. The little breeze that had danced all day out on +the larger lake had gone to sleep here in the shelter of the islands, +and Algonquin lay as still as a golden mirror. A faint shimmer of +colour was spread over it like a shining veil. It was scarcely +discernible where the crystal water lay motionless, but as the +_Inverness_ sailed across the delicate web it broke into waves of amber +and lilac and rose. The little islands did not seem to touch the water +but floated in the air like dream-islands, deep purple and bronze in +the shadows. From their depths arose vesper songs. Bob White's silver +whistle, clear and sweet, the White throat's long call of "Canada, +Canada, Canada," as though the little patriot could never tell all his +love and joy in his beautiful home, the loon's eery laugh far away down +the golden channel, and the whippoorwill and the cat-bird and the veery +in the tree-tops. It was a wonderful night. + +As the sunset colours grew fainter, and the moon's silver brightened, +the passengers became quieter. The Piper went below and listened to +the Ancient Mariner spin a yarn, and let the birds along the shore +furnish music. The babies fell asleep in the arms of Mrs. +Doasyouwouldbedoneby, lovers drifted away in pairs to retired nooks. +In a quiet corner J. P. Thornton and Lawyer Ed sat and laid once more +their final plans for a trip to the Holy Land, certain this time of +their realisation. The older people sat by the wheel house and talked +of their younger days. Roderick left his father the centre of the +group, and went in search of Helen. He found her sitting in a +sheltered nook with Gladys. The Perkins baby had fallen asleep in her +arms, and as Roderick approached the younger girl lifted the baby to +carry him to his mother. He slipped into her seat by Helen's side. +She smiled at him. It seemed quite natural and right that he should +take that place without asking permission. + +They leaned over the railing, the brightness of the sunset reflected in +their faces and talked of many things, of the first time he had seen +her here on the _Inverness_, of his hopes and ambitions for a career of +greatness, as he had counted greatness, of his chasing the shifting +rainbow gold, until a Voice had said "Thus far shalt thou go." He even +hinted at the Vision that had come to him when he went down into the +Valley named of the Shadow, and of how he knew now the value of that +real gold at the end of life's rainbow. And she told him how she too +had found her rainbow gold. Its gleam had led her through storms and +lonely journeyings, but she had followed, and she had found it at last, +found it in the new light of hope that had awakened in many dull eyes +in Willow Lane. + +They were silent then, there was no more to be said. For the story of +each had been the story of the journey that ended in their meeting. +Henceforth, for them, there would be one gleam, and they would follow +it together. + +They had been slipping past the shadow of Wanda Island and now came out +once more into the gold of the sunlight. Algonquin lay before them +buried in purpling woods. Away above the little town, beyond the +circling forest, and beyond the hills shone the last gleam of the day. +The _Inverness_ was going straight up the track of the Sun. + + + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The End of the Rainbow, by Marian Keith + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE END OF THE RAINBOW *** + +***** This file should be named 28276-8.txt or 28276-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/8/2/7/28276/ + +Produced by Al Haines + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The End of the Rainbow + +Author: Marian Keith + +Release Date: March 8, 2009 [EBook #28276] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE END OF THE RAINBOW *** + + + + +Produced by Al Haines + + + + + +</pre> + + +<BR><BR> + +<H1 ALIGN="center"> +THE END OF THE RAINBOW +</H1> + +<BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +BY +</H3> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +MARIAN KEITH +</H2> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +<I>Author of "'Lisbeth of the Dale,"<BR> +"Treasure Valley," "Duncan Polite," etc.</I><BR> +</H4> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +McCLELLAND AND STEWART +<BR> +PUBLISHERS : : TORONTO +</H3> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H5 ALIGN="center"> +Copyright, 1913 +<BR> +BY GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY +</H5> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +CONTENTS +</H2> + +<TABLE ALIGN="center" WIDTH="80%"> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">CHAPTER</TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> </TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">I. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap01">THE GLEAM</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">II. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap02">"THE GREATEST OF THE THREE"</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">III. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap03">LIFE'S YOUNG MARINER</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">IV. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap04">SIDE LIGHTS</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">V. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap05">FOLLOWING THE GLEAM</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VI. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap06">LAUNCHING HIS VESSEL</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap07">"MOVING TO MELODY"</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VIII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap08">"FLOATED THE GLEAM"</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">IX. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap09">"DEAF TO THE MELODY"</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">X. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap10">"THE LIGHT RETREATED"</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XI. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap11">"THE LANDSKIP DARKEN'D"</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap12">"THE MELODY DEADEN'D"</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XIII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap13">"THE MASTER WHISPERED"</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XIV. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap14">"FOLLOW THE GLEAM"</A></TD> +</TR> + +</TABLE> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap01"></A> + +<H1 ALIGN="center"> +THE END OF THE RAINBOW +</H1> + +<BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER I +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE GLEAM +</H3> + +<P> +All afternoon the little town had lain dozing under the lullaby of a +June rain. It was not so much a rain as a gentle dewy mist, touching +the lawns and gardens and the maple trees that lined each street into +more vivid green, and laying a thick moist carpet over the dust of the +highways. And the little town, ringed by forest and lake, and canopied +by maple boughs, had lain there enjoying it, now blinking half-awake in +the brief glimpses of sunlight, now curling up again and going to sleep. +</P> + +<P> +In the late afternoon the silent tournament between sunshine and shadow +resulted in a conquest for the sun. His victorious lances swept the +enemy from the clean blue skies; they glanced over the lake, lodged in +every treetop, and glittered from every church spire. The little town +began to stir. The yellow dogs, that had slept all afternoon on the +shop steps, roused themselves and resumed their fight in the middle of +Main Street. Now and then a clerk ran across to a rival firm to get +change for a customer. A few belated shoppers hurried homeward. A +farmer's double-buggy backed out of the hotel yard with a scraping +sound, and went rattling up the street towards the country. Everything +seemed pervaded with an atmosphere of expectancy, a tense air of +unrest, as though the whole place were holding itself in readiness for +a summons. +</P> + +<P> +And then it came: the great consummation of the day's work. From the +tower of the fire-hall burst forth the loud peal of the town bell. Six +o'clock! Like the castle of the Sleeping Beauty the town leaped into +life. The whistles of the saw-mills down by the lake broke into +shrieks of joy. The big steam pipe of Thornton's foundry responded +with a delighted roar. The flour mill, the wheel-factory and the +tannery joined in a chorus of yells. From factory and shop, office and +store, came pouring forth the relieved workers, laughing and calling +across the street to each other above the din. There was a noisy +tramp, tramp of feet, a hurrying this way and that, a confusion of +happy voices. And over all the clamour, the big bell in the tower +continued to fling out far over the town and the lake and the woods the +joyous refrain that the day's work was done, was done, was done. +</P> + +<P> +Near the corner of Main Street, on a leafy thoroughfare that ran up +into the region of lawns and gardens, stood a neat row of red-brick +office buildings, with wide doors and shiny windows. Over the widest +door and on the shiniest window, in letters of gold, was the legend: +EDWARD BRIANS, Barrister, etc. +</P> + +<P> +Never a man passed this door on his homeward way without saluting it. +</P> + +<P> +"Hello, Ed! Coming home?"—"Hurrah, Ed! Will you be along if we wait +ten minutes?"—"Ed! Hurry up and come along!" +</P> + +<P> +No one appeared in response to the summons; but from within came +refusals, roared out in a thunderous voice, each roar growing more +exasperated than the last. +</P> + +<P> +The streets were almost deserted when, at last, the owner of the big +voice came to his door. He was a man of about thirty-five; of middle +height, straight, strong and alert. His fair hair had a tendency +towards red, and also towards standing on end, and his bright blue eyes +had a tendency to blaze suddenly in wrath or shut up altogether in +consuming laughter. He had practised law in Algonquin for ten years, +and as he had been brought up in the town and was related to one-half +the population, and loved by the whole of it, he was spoken of +familiarly as Lawyer Ed. +</P> + +<P> +A tall man, leading a little boy by the hand, followed him slowly down +the steps. The man was not past middle age, but he was stooped and +worn with a life of heavy toil. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, Angus," Lawyer Ed was saying, his deep musical voice thrilling +with sympathy, "that'll make you comfortable for a while now, until +you're better, anyway. And there's no need for me, or any one, to tell +you not to worry over it." +</P> + +<P> +The older man smiled. "No, no. Tut, tut! Worry! That would be but a +poor way to treat the Father's care, indeed." His dark eyes shone with +an inner light. "If He needs my farm, He'll show me how to lift the +mortgage. And if He needs me to do any more work for Him here, He'll +give me back my health. But if not—" he paused and his hand went +instinctively to the shoulder of the little boy looking up at him with +big wondering eyes—"if not—well, well, never fear, He knows the way. +He knows." +</P> + +<P> +An old light wagon and a horse with hanging head were standing by the +sidewalk. The man clambered slowly to the seat and gathered up the +lines. Lawyer Ed picked up the little boy and swung him up beside his +father. He shook him well before he set him down, boxed his ears, +pulled his hair, and finally, diving into his pockets, brought out a +big handful of pink "bull's-eyes" and showered them into his hat. The +little fellow shouted with delight, and having crammed his mouth full, +he doubled up his small fists and challenged his friend to another +scuffle. +</P> + +<P> +But Lawyer Ed shook his head. +</P> + +<P> +"No! That's enough nonsense to-day, you young rascal! Good-bye, +Angus, and—" his musical voice became low and soft—"and God bless +you." +</P> + +<P> +Angus McRae's smile, as he drove away, was like the sun breaking out +over Lake Algonquin, and the lawyer felt as if their positions were +reversed, and he had just put a mortgage on his farm and Angus were +trying to comfort him. +</P> + +<P> +He stood for a moment on the sidewalk, his bright eyes grown misty, and +watched the pair drive down the hill. Then he looked across the street +and saw Doctor Archibald Blair climbing into his mud-splashed buggy, +satchel in hand. Lawyer Ed walked across to him, his shining boots +sinking in the soft mud. +</P> + +<P> +By descent Lawyer Ed was partly Scotch, by nature he was entirely +Irish. He possessed a glib tongue of the latter order and his habit +was to address every one he met, be he Indian, Highland Scot, or French +Canadian, in the dialect which the person was supposed to favour. So +he roared out in his magnificent baritone, as he picked his way among +the puddles: +</P> + +<P> +"Hoot! Losh! Is yon yersel', Aerchie mon?" +</P> + +<P> +Doctor Blair glared down at him from under lowering brows. +</P> + +<P> +"Dear me, Ed, you're an object of pity, when you try to get that clumsy +tongue of yours, hampered as it is by a brogue from Cork, around the +most musical sounds of the most musical language under heaven. Give it +up, man! Give it up!" +</P> + +<P> +"Haud yer whisht! Or whisht yer blethers!—whichever way that +outlandish, heathenish gibberish your forebears jabbered, would have +it. You see, Archie, one great advantage of being Irish—and it's not +your fault that you're not, man, I don't blame you—one great advantage +is that you can speak all languages with equal ease. Now a Scotchman's +tongue is like his sense of humour and his brains—a bit hard to +wiggle." +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +"'Beware a tongue that's smoothly hung,<BR> +A heart that warmly seems to feel'"——<BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +quoted Doctor Blair, who was always ready with his Burns. He shoved +his black satchel under the seat, and hauled the muddy lap-robe over +his knees. +</P> + +<P> +"Do you want anything in the line of common sense, or did you just come +over here to blather?" +</P> + +<P> +"I came to see what you thought of Angus. Is he very sick?" +</P> + +<P> +"Angus McRae? Yes he is, Ed, I'm sorry to say. I felt I ought to tell +him to quit work altogether, but he can't afford it." +</P> + +<P> +"Is it anything dangerous?" +</P> + +<P> +"Well, if anything should happen—a shock or strain of any kind on his +heart—he'd be laid up—maybe put out of business altogether." +</P> + +<P> +"And to-day he put a mortgage on his place, to help pay the debts of +Peter McDuff and a dozen other old leeches that live on him." +</P> + +<P> +The two friends looked at each other and nodded silently. +</P> + +<P> +"He's a wonderful man, that Angus McRae," said Dr. Blair. +</P> + +<P> +"He's the finest man living!" cried Lawyer Ed, always enthusiastic. "I +owe that man more than I can ever pay—not money, something more +valuable—nearly everything I have that's worth while." +</P> + +<P> +His friend nodded. There were few men in Algonquin who were not +indebted to Angus McRae for something of value. +</P> + +<P> +"Angus is rich in that sort of wealth," said Archie Blair. +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +"It's no in titles nor in rank;<BR> +It's no in wealth like Lon'on bank,<BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">To purchase peace and rest.</SPAN><BR> +It's no in makin' muckle mair;<BR> +It's no in books; it's no in lear;<BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">To make us truly blest.'"</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"But Angus knows where it is, and he's not like most people who go to +church and sing and pray one day in the week and cheat their neighbours +the other six!" +</P> + +<P> +The doctor cracked his whip and drove off in high good humour, for he +had made a smart slap at the church, as he always loved to do in Lawyer +Ed's presence, and had escaped before that glib Irishman could answer. +He could catch something roared out behind him, about a man who could +stay home from church so that he might be a hypocrite seven days in the +week and half the nights too, but he pretended not to hear. +</P> + +<P> +Meanwhile Angus McRae and his little son rattled away down one street +and along another and out upon the country road. Just where the town +and country met stretched a row of ragged, tumble-down buildings. +There was an ill-smelling hotel, with two or three loungers smoking on +the sagging veranda, a long fence covered with tattered and glaring +circus posters, a half-dozen patched and weather-beaten houses and a +row of abandoned sheds and barns. +</P> + +<P> +Algonquin proper was a pretty little town, all orchards and gardens and +winding hilly streets smothered in trees. And the dreary wretchedness +of its back entrance, as it might be called, was all the more painful +in contrast. Willow Lane, this miserable little street was named; but +Angus McRae had long termed it, in his secret heart, the Jericho Road. +For the old tavern at the end of it had proved the downfall of many a +traveller on that highway, and many a man had Angus picked up, who had +fallen there among thieves. +</P> + +<P> +Every one on the Jericho Road knew him well, and went to him for help +in time of trouble and, though they did not realise it, he was indeed +their neighbour in precisely the way his Master meant him to be. +</P> + +<P> +The lane turned into the country road, and once more all was fragrance +and beauty. It curved around the southern shore of Lake Algonquin; on +one side the forest, dark and cool, its dim floor splashed with golden +light, its arches ringing with the call of the Canada bird, on the +other side the blue and white of the lake, laughing and tumbling +beneath the blue and white of the sky. +</P> + +<P> +When the gleam of the water came into view, the little boy clapped his +hands and churned up and down in delight. The fresh, damp wind fanned +his face, and he shouted to the white-winged gulls dipping and soaring +out there in their free ocean of air. He looked up laughingly into his +father's face, but quickly became grave. His father's eyes were +wistful; he had not spoken for a long time. The child remembered vague +hints of trouble that afternoon in Lawyer Ed's office. +</P> + +<P> +"You won't have to work when I get a big man, Daddy," he said +comfortingly. "I'll work for you. An' I'll get rich, an' you'll have +lots an' lots of money." +</P> + +<P> +His father smiled down at him lovingly. "Och, indeed, it's your father +will be the happy man when Roderick grows up. He'll have nothing to do +at all at all." +</P> + +<P> +"What was Lawyer Ed doing?" queried the child, after a moment's +thought. "Is he goin' to let Jock McPherson take away our house?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, no, child. You must not be troubling your head with such +thoughts. It was just some business Roderick is not old enough to +understand." +</P> + +<P> +The little fellow sat swinging his short legs and gazing out over the +lake, struggling with a vague sense of danger. He had been brought up +on the edge of poverty, but had been joyously unconscious of the fact. +His father, Aunt Kirsty, Collie, his dog, and the farm had been his +world, a world of love and enjoyment and plenty. But now he felt the +nearness of some unseen foe, something that had made Lawyer Ed and +Doctor Blair look so grave, and was now keeping his father quiet and +thoughtful. He had a notion that it all had something to do with money. +</P> + +<P> +"If you only had a pot o' gold," he said at last, still staring out +over the lake. +</P> + +<P> +"A pot of gold!" repeated his father, with a laugh. "And what would be +putting that into your foolish little head?" +</P> + +<P> +"A pot o' gold would buy anything you wanted, Peter says. He told me +about it, Peter Fiddle did. Once a boy found a pot o' gold hangin' on +to the end of a rainbow. There's always one there, Daddy. Yes, there +is, Peter Fiddle says so. An' a boy travelled a long, long way to the +end of a rainbow, an' he found it—the pot o' gold. An' he was rich, +an' he gave money to all the poor people an' made them happy." +</P> + +<P> +"And so Peter's been telling you more fairy-tales, eh? Well, well, it +will be a pretty one. And now, I suppose the first rainbow you see, +you'll be off to get that pot of gold." +</P> + +<P> +He nodded excitedly. "Wouldn't I just!" he cried. +</P> + +<P> +Angus McRae was not despondent over the mortgage which his ill health +and his extravagant expenditure for oil and wine and inn-fees had +compelled him to put on his little farm. He was one of those glad +souls, with such a perfect faith in his Father, that he could not but +believe that what might seem to be a bane was in reality a blessing. +But he was a little puzzled and thoughtful. The solution of the +problem was in his Father's hands, of course, but he could not help +wondering just how it would be worked out, and if he himself were using +his every faculty for the best ends. +</P> + +<P> +The greatest part of his problem was the Lad. His boy had been the +very centre of all his thoughts since the day She had left him, with +only faith in God and the Lad's baby hands to hold him up from despair. +She had always hoped that the Lad would have an education, and Angus +had planned that he should. But if the little farm was to go, the Lad +would have to work for his father and Aunt Kirsty just as soon as he +was big enough. And She had always hoped he should be a minister some +day, or even, perhaps, a missionary to a heathen land. +</P> + +<P> +And next to the Lad was his ministry to his neighbours. What was to +become of that? Ministry was not the word Angus McRae would have used +in speaking of his humble calling,—the mere working of a little market +garden farm and the selling of what it produced. And yet he had made +it a real and beautiful ministry to both God and his fellow-man. He +considered the selling of sweet turnips and sound cabbage and unspotted +potatoes to his customers as much a religious rite, as did the most +devout Israelite the offering of that which was perfect on the altar of +Jehovah. For indeed everything Angus sent off his little farm, whether +sold for a legitimate price or given away, as it so often was, to a +needy neighbour, was truly an offering to the Most High. +</P> + +<P> +So he was a little puzzled, though not at all saddened, by the thought +that his ministry was to be curtailed, perhaps stopped. He had hoped +to be always able to give a bag of potatoes to a poor neighbour, or to +bring to his home any one who had fallen on the Jericho Road. But +then, if the Father wanted him to stop that, He surely had other work +for him. So he flapped his old horse with the lines and, leaning +forward, hummed the hymn that was his watchword in times of stress: +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +"My soul, be on thy guard,<BR> +Ten thousand foes arise,<BR> +The hosts of sin are pressing hard,<BR> +To draw thee from the skies!"<BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +The Lad interrupted constantly with eager questions about this flower +and that tree, and his old horse demanded much attention, to keep her +from turning off the road and regaling herself on the green grass. He +flapped her at regular intervals with the lines, saying in a tone of +gentle remonstrance, "Tut, tut, Betsy, get up now, get up." +</P> + +<P> +Betsy had had so many years' intimate acquaintance with her master that +this encouragement to greater speed had long ago lost its real meaning +to her. She had come to regard its gentle reiteration as a sort of +pleasant lullaby, and jogged along more peacefully than ever. +</P> + +<P> +They slowly rounded a curve in the road and came into view of their +home, the little weather-beaten house facing the lake, with Aunt +Kirsty's garden a glory of sweet-peas, the long rows of neat vegetable +beds sloping down to the water, the straggling lane with the big oak at +the gate. And there was Collie bounding down the lane, uttering +yelping barks and twisting himself almost out of joint in his efforts +to wag his tale hard enough to express his welcome. The Lad leaped +down and ran to open the gate; Collie knocked him over in his ecstasy, +and his father smiled indulgently as the two rolled over and over on +the grass. +</P> + +<P> +"Run away in to Aunt Kirsty and tell her we are home, Lad," he cried, +as he drove past to the barn. The boy put the pin in the old gate and +went frolicking along the lane, the dog circling about him. The lane +ran straight past the house down to the water, hedged by an old rail +fence and fringed with raspberry and alder bushes. From it a little +gate led into Aunt Kirsty's garden, which surrounded the house. The +boy paused with his hand on the latch of the gate, looking down at the +water. And then he gave a loud, ecstatic "Oh!" that made Collie bark, +and stood perfectly still. He could see Lake Algonquin spread out +before him, stretching away to the north in lovely curves like a great +river. Its gleaming floor was dotted with green, feathery islands. To +the west, in a silver haze, lay the town; to the east, a low, wooded +shore where the spire of the little Indian church pointed up like a +shining finger out of the green. Great masses of clouds were piled +high in the west, where the sunset was turning all the world into +glory. But it was not the beauty of the scene that was holding the +little boy spellbound. Down there, straight ahead of him, was a most +marvellous thing, the fulfilment of his dreams. Across the radiant +water, stretching from some fairy island in the heavens, far over to +the opposite shore, hung a rainbow! And more wonderful still, right +down there at its foot, just beyond Wanda Island, gleaming and +beckoning, hung the pot of gold! +</P> + +<P> +The Lad's heart gave a great leap. There it was, just as Peter Fiddle +had described it! Why should he not go after it, right now, and bring +it home to his father? He went tearing down the hill, Collie leaping +at his side. Peter Fiddle had said that the reason more folks did not +get the rainbow gold and be rich and happy ever after, was because they +did not go after it right at once. For the pot of gold did not hang +there very long, and might slip into the water with a big splash any +minute, and be gone forever. So the Lad ran in frantic haste, and the +dog bounded ahead and nearly rushed into the water, in his mistaken +idea that he was to catch the gulls that came swooping so near and were +off and away before he could snap. The old green boat belonging to his +father was lying on its side half in the water; the Lad tugged at it +madly without moving it an inch. He glanced about him and spied with +delight Peter Fiddle's canoe lying upside down under the birches. +Peter worked for his father, when not away fishing or playing the +fiddle or spinning yarns; and when he went away by land his canoe was +always at home, and sometimes the Lad had paddled out in it alone. He +pulled and tugged at it manfully, and after great exertions that left +him panting, he managed to launch it. Collie, just returned from a mad +charge after the gulls, leaped in beside him. The boy seized the +paddle and pushed off hurriedly. He seated himself on the thwart and +looked out to get his direction. Yes, there it still hung, away out +there at the end of the island, gleaming bigger and brighter than ever. +The canoe was large, and the paddle clumsy, but he was filled with such +a passion to get that gold that he made wonderful progress. He leaned +far over the side, splashing the heavy paddle into, the water, until, +what with his unsteady stroke, his dangerous position on the thwart, +and Collie's mad attempts to catch the passing gulls, the wonder was +that the rainbow expedition did not come to grief as soon as it was +launched. But the Lad had been brought up on the water, and had +already had many a lesson in canoeing from Peter Fiddle, and, after the +first excitement, he realised his mistake. So he slid to his knees and +ordered Collie to the bottom of the canoe in front of him. Then, +gazing intently ahead, he paddled, in a zigzag course, out towards the +wonderful golden haze. +</P> + +<P> +Somehow it had a strange, elusive way of seeming to be in one place and +then appearing in another. The canoeist grew hot, and panting with his +efforts. The perspiration stood out on his round, rosy face, and the +curls on his forehead became wet. He flung off his hat, and redoubled +his efforts. He bent his head to his task, as his paddle bumped and +splashed its way into the water. When he looked up again, he found, to +his dismay, that Wanda Island lay right between him and his shining +goal. +</P> + +<P> +This little garden of spruce and cedar had heretofore marked the bounds +of his excursions. His father had often allowed him to go out alone in +the boat or Peter's canoe, but only when he was watching from the +fields or the shore, and then he was permitted to go only up and down +in the shelter of the island. But he did not hesitate to go farther, +fearing the magic gold might vanish while he lingered. He revived his +flagging energies by picturing his father's joy and wonder when he +returned and came staggering up the path with the money. And then his +father could wear his Sunday blacks every day in the week, and never +work any more, but just ride to and from town all day long in a new +buggy, a painted one like Doctor Blair's. And they would hire Peter +Fiddle and young Peter every day in the year to hoe the fields, and +they would give away everything they grew. And the people in Willow +Lane would all be good and happy ever after. Oh, there would never be +any trouble of any kind when he came home with that pot of gold! +</P> + +<P> +He paddled manfully round the island, pushing through the reeds of the +little bay and just skimming the rocks at the western extremity. But +his arms ached so, that he had to pause a moment to rest. As he did +so, he heard a loud whistle, and the steamer, <I>Inverness</I>, came round a +far point and turned her long bowsprit towards the town, lying off to +the left in a shining mist. The boy grabbed his paddle again and +redoubled his efforts. Peter had gone down to Barbay that morning on +the <I>Inverness</I>, and was in all likelihood on board, and although the +young adventurer intended to reward Peter liberally for the use of his +canoe, he felt it would be safer for him to have it on shore before its +owner returned. He took one tremendous splashing stroke, and, as he +did so, he felt a strange, sharp pain in his right arm. It made him +cry out so loud that Collie turned quickly to him with a whine of +grieved sympathy. The boy dropped the paddle across his knee and +caught his arm. Gradually the pain left and he took up the paddle +again. But somehow the glory of the expedition seemed to have +vanished. He wanted Aunt Kirsty when that pain came into his arm, more +than he wanted all the gold of all the rainbows he had ever seen. He +bent to his paddle with much less vim, and slowly and painfully round +the island he came, and out into the open lake. And then,—where, oh, +where, was the pot of gold? And where was the rainbow? He seemed to +have come out with one stroke of his paddle from a world that was all +colour and light to one that was cold, grey and dreary. He looked +about him amazed. All the beauty of the lake had faded into mist. The +rainbow was gone! A chill, damp breeze fanned his hot face, coming +down from the north, where the clouds had grown black. The little +mariner sat on his heels in the bottom of his canoe and looked about +him in dismay. Surely the pot of gold had not gone. Perhaps it was +hidden away behind those dark clouds and would come gleaming out again +right in front of him. But though he sat and waited, the world only +grew greyer and darker. Collie stood up again and barked defiance at a +heron that sailed away overhead, but his little master sharply bade him +lie down. The pain in his arm gave another twinge, and slowly and +sadly he took up his paddle and turned his canoe homeward. +</P> + +<P> +As he did so he felt a light breeze lift him. It came from the north, +where those dark clouds had swallowed up his rainbow. A strange, weird +thing was happening up there in those clouds, and the boy paused to +watch. Down the shimmering floor of the lake, sweeping slowly towards +him, came a great army. Stealthy, hurrying shapes, with bent, +grey-cowled heads, and trailing garments, rank on rank they stole +forward, mystery and fear in their every movement. Many a time, on an +autumn evening, the boy had watched the fog start away up the lake and +come stealing down, until the islands and the town and the forest were +covered as with a blanket. But he had never seen anything so awesome +as this. The strange shapes into which the light gusts of wind had +driven the mist made them look like an army of ghosts driven out of the +haunts of night. They were bringing night in their train, too. For as +they swept silently onward, everything in earth and lake and sky was +blotted out. One by one the islands vanished; the far-off eastern +shore was wiped away as if by some magic hand. The tower of the little +Indian church stood out for a moment above the flood and then sank +engulfed; and the next moment the great host had swept over the little +sailor and he was walled in and cut off from land and water, alone in a +cloudy sea with neither shore nor sky nor surface. The boy turned +swiftly towards his home, and when he saw that it, too, was gone, he +uttered a cry of terror. "Daddy, oh, Daddy!" he wailed. Collie came +close and licked his face and whined, then looked about him and growled +disapprovingly at the weird thing that surrounded them. The boy put +his arms tight around the dog's neck and hugged him. "Oh, Collie!" he +cried, "we're lost, and I don't know where home is and where Daddy is." +It was not the loss of gold that troubled him now. He stared about him +in the greyness, striving to make out some object. The fog was so +thick that he could see only the length of the canoe, but a big, darker +mass of shadow in a world of shadows, told him where Wanda Island lay, +and grasping his paddle, he started in what he believed to be the +direction of home. He paddled until he was out of breath, rested a +moment, then went at it again with all his might. The pain in his arm +returned, but he dared not stop. And as he worked madly in his efforts +to reach home, the gentle wind was slowly but surely carrying him out +to the open lake. +</P> + +<P> +Every few minutes the thought of his father would overcome him and he +would drop his paddle and, sinking down beside Collie, would sob aloud. +Then he would rise again bravely and go at his task, but each time with +feebler efforts. The pain in his arm, which kept returning at +intervals, was sometimes so bad he had to stop and nurse it. He was +wet to the skin now, and Collie's hair was dripping. Whenever he +rested, he spent the interval calling loudly for his father, while +Collie helped him by barking, but though he listened till his ears were +strained, only the soft lap, lap, of the waves against the canoe +answered. As night came on the thick pall grew heavier and blacker, +and at last he could not see even the length of the canoe. +</P> + +<P> +The sore arm became almost helpless at last, and he could paddle only a +few strokes at long intervals. He slipped down beside Collie, hugging +him close, and sobbed out on his sympathetic head his sorrow for the +rash venture. He even confessed that he wished he had left his friend +at home. "Aunt Kirsty and Daddy will be that lonesome, Collie," he +wailed, "without either of us. But I couldn't do without you at all, +Collie!" he added. And Collie licked his face again, and whined his +appreciation of the compliment. They seemed to drift on and on for +hours and hours. The boy's imagination, fed by the wild tales from +Peter Fiddle—tales of shipwrecks at sea, and dead men's bones cast +upon haunted islands—, became a prey to every terror. There were +ghosts and goblins out here, and water fairies, that might spirit you +away to a land whence there was no returning; and there were those +other creatures so terrible that Peter had not dared even to describe +them, called "Bawkins." He shivered at the thought of them, and clung +to the dog, too frightened to cry out. He had been trying to pray in +broken snatches, but now, in his extremity of fear, he felt he must put +up a petition of more force. He scrambled to his knees and tried to +get Collie to join him by bowing his head. But Collie seemed of an +altogether irreverent nature, and only licked his little master's face +all the more. So the Lad gave it up, and, putting his hands together +behind the dog's head, whispered: "Oh, dear Lord, we're lost, me and +Collie. Please send Father and Peter Fiddle with the boat to find us. +Please don't let us get drownded or don't let the Bawkins get us. And +please don't mind Collie not prayin' right, 'cause he's only a dog, but +he's lost, too; and please bring us safe home. And oh, Dear Jesus, I'm +sorry I came out alone to hunt for the pot o' gold, but I didn't know +it was so far, and please won't you make Daddy and Peter Fiddle hurry, +'cause I'm so cold and so hungry and my arm's awful sore and I can't +paddle no more. And please, if Peter Fiddle ain't home yet and has +gone off and got drunk, won't you please send young Peter with Daddy. +And please send them in a hurry." He paused, but felt he must end in a +more becoming way. It was his first extemporaneous prayer of any +length, and he scarcely knew how to close. Then he remembered how Dr. +Leslie, in the church where he went every Sabbath with his father, was +wont to bring his morning petition to a close, so he added, "Only +please, <I>please</I>, don't let Peter Fiddle get drunk to-night—world +wifout end. Amen." +</P> + +<P> +There were some more tears after that, but not such bitter ones; for +Angus McRae's son could not but believe that God heard prayer, and he +waited for his answer in a child's faith. "He's sure to send Daddy +soon, Collie," he said comfortingly; and then, quaveringly, after a few +moments of intense listening and waiting, "It wouldn't be like God not +to, now, would it, Collie?" +</P> + +<P> +There was another period of calling into the darkness and of silent +waiting, broken only by the wash of the little ripples against the +canoe. And then there was a spasmodic attempt at paddling, followed by +another season of prayer and a piteous plea for haste. Then the Lad +bethought himself of his father's hymn, the one he sang so often when +he was in danger; though the son often was puzzled as to what sort of +danger it was that assailed his father. There was no doubt about his +own danger just now, so the child lifted a tremulous voice and tried to +sing:— +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +"My soul, be on thy guard,<BR> +Ten thousand foes arise,<BR> +The hosts of sin are pressing hard,<BR> +To draw thee from the skies!"<BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +But the singing was a failure. He was hoarse with crying and shouting, +and fearful that the "Bawkins" would hear, and come and carry his canoe +through the air, away, away, to the land of mists and dead people. And +the poor sounds he managed to make seemed to strike Collie as the most +grievous thing of all this disastrous voyage, for he put back his head +and howled dismally. So the Lad gave it up and took to praying again, +sure that though Father and Aunt Kirsty and Peter Fiddle were far away, +that God was near. He was wet and chilled through now, and was so +exhausted that at last his head sank on Collie's neck. He was lying +there, half asleep, when the dog suddenly gave a leap and a loud bark +that roused him in terror. He clutched Collie and held him down with +stern threats. But his terror changed to wild hope. Away behind him +was a dim yellow light making a long tunnel through the fog. And down +it a far, far voice was calling, "Roderick! Roderick, my son, where +are you?" +</P> + +<P> +"Daddy! Oh, Daddy!" the boy answered with a hoarse scream. "Here I am +in the canoe with Collie!" There was no need to announce the dog's +presence, for Collie was barking madly and leaping so his little master +could hardly hold him. But he was not nearly so careful as he would +have been a few minutes before, for it did not seem to matter even if +the canoe did upset, when his father was near! +</P> + +<P> +The next moment a boat swept alongside with a blinding glare of light, +and such a crowd of people!—Peter Fiddle at the oars, and young Peter +at the rudder, and Lawyer Ed! And there seemed to be lights suddenly +appearing on every side, and the whole lake was ringing with shouts! +But the boy heard only his father's voice, saw only his outstretched +arms. He fairly tumbled out of the canoe into them, and there sobbed +out all his terror and exhaustion, while Collie leaped and barked and +tried his best to upset the boat. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, Daddy," the little boy sobbed, with the wisdom born of adversity, +"I didn't get the gold—but—I—don't want anything ever—if I've just +got <I>you</I>!" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap02"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER II +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +"THE GREATEST OF THE THREE" +</H3> + +<P> +Angus McRae had been an intimate friend of Edward Brians, ever since +the days when the latter was a little boy and the former a young man +living on adjoining farms. Angus had, early in life, taken upon +himself the rôle of Good Samaritan, watching with especial care over +this young neighbour, and many a time the headlong lad might have +fallen among thieves had a friend's example and assistance not been +always at hand. +</P> + +<P> +And now Lawyer Ed's mind was busy with schemes for returning a little +of that life-long assistance, as he set out for his office the morning +after young Roderick's rainbow expedition. "I've got to get some +money, and I will get it," he announced to the blooming syringa bush at +his door, "if I have to take it by assault and battery." +</P> + +<P> +He had come home very late the night before, but he was astir none the +less early for that. For though he was usually the last man in the +town to go to bed, and often worked nearly all night, he always +appeared in good time the next morning, looking as fresh and +well-groomed as though he had just come home from a month's vacation. +</P> + +<P> +Like all the other professional folk of Algonquin, Lawyer Ed lived up +on the hill to the north of the town. His widowed sister kept his +house and wondered, with all the rest of the town, why on earth Ed +didn't get married. Her brother answered all enquiries on the subject +according to the age and sex of the enquirer; and had nearly every +young lady in the place convinced that he was secretly pining for her. +He came swinging down his steps this bright June morning humming a tune +in his deep melodious voice. He picked a rosebud and fastened it in +his button-hole and strode down the street, stopping at the gate of +every one of his friends—and who wasn't his friend?—to hail the owner +and summon him to his work. He ran into "Rosemount," the big brick +house where the handsome Miss Armstrongs lived, to make arrangements +for a Choral Society practice, he drummed up a half-dozen recreant +Sunday-school teachers within the space of two blocks, and he roared +across the street to Doctor Archie Blair to be sure not to forget that +thae bit bills for the Scotchmen's picnic maun be gotten oot that week. +For Lawyer Ed belonged to every organisation of the town in church or +state, except the Ladies' Aid—and he often attended even its meetings +when he wanted something, and always got what he wanted, too. So, +although he had started early, it was rather late when at last he +reached the home of his special friend, J. P. Thornton, and hammered +loudly on the gate. So late, in fact, that J. P. had gone. He went on +alone very much disappointed. When any one in Algonquin was in trouble +he went to Lawyer Ed, but when Lawyer Ed was in trouble himself, he +went to his old chum, J. P. Thornton. And he was in trouble this +morning, none the less deep that it was another's. He looked down the +street towards his office, knowing a big day's work awaited him there. +</P> + +<P> +"You can just wait," he remarked to the trim red brick building. "I've +got to get Angus off my mind;" and he whirled in at the Manse gate and +went up the steps in two springs. +</P> + +<P> +The Manse was a broad-bosomed, wide-armed house, opposite the church, +looking as if it wanted to embrace every one who approached its big +doorway. Its appearance was not deceiving. No matter at what hour one +went inside its gate, one found at least half the congregation there, +the sad ones sitting in the doctor's study, the happy ones spread out +over the lawn. As Lawyer Ed remarked, the Lord had purposely given the +Leslies no children, so that they might adopt the congregation and +bring it up in the way it should go. +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Leslie was at the other end of the garden, cutting roses; she +waved a spray at him, heavy with dew, and he took off his hat and made +her a profound bow. He would have shouted a greeting to any other +woman in Algonquin, but he never roared at Mrs. Leslie. There was +something In the stately old-world atmosphere surrounding the lady of +the Manse, that made even Lawyer Ed treat her with deference. +</P> + +<P> +The door was open and he went straight in and along the hall towards +the minister's study. As he did so a door at the opposite end of the +hall opened suddenly and admitted a round black face and an ample +red-aproned figure. +</P> + +<P> +"Good mawnin', Missy Viney!" drawled the visitor. "I done wanta see de +ministah, bress de Lawd!" +</P> + +<P> +Viney's white eyeballs and shining teeth flashed him a welcome. +</P> + +<P> +"Laws-a-me, Lawya Ed! Is you-all gwine get marrit?" +</P> + +<P> +Viney was a fat, jolly young woman, whom Mrs. Leslie had lured from the +little negro settlement in the township of Oro, a few miles from +Algonquin. She felt the responsibility of her position fully, and +showed a marked interest in the affairs of every one of the +congregation. But of all living things she loved Lawyer Ed most. His +presence never failed to put her in the highest spirits, and his +bachelorhood was her perennial joke. +</P> + +<P> +"Yassum," he answered, hanging his head shyly, "if you done hab me, +Viney. I bin wantin' you for years, but I bin too bashful." +</P> + +<P> +Viney screamed and flapped her red apron at him. "You go 'long, you +triflin' lawya-man!" she cried, going off into a gale of giggles; but +just then the study door opened, the minister's head came out, and the +cook's vanished. +</P> + +<P> +"Ah, I thought it was you, Edward, by the joyful noise," said Dr. +Leslie, smiling. He took his visitor by the hand and drew him in. +</P> + +<P> +"Come away, come. I was hoping you would drop in this morning." +</P> + +<P> +They sat down, the minister in his arm-chair before his desk. Lawyer +Ed balanced on the arm of another, protesting that he must not stay. +It was his way when he dropped in at the Manse and remained a couple of +hours or so, to bustle about, hat and stick in hand, changing from one +chair to another, to assure himself that he was just going. Dr. Leslie +understood, and did not urge him to sit down. +</P> + +<P> +Though not an old man, the minister had seen Lawyer Ed grow up from the +position of a scholar in his Sabbath School, and quite the most riotous +and mischievous one there, to the superintendency of it, and to a seat +in the session; and he had a special fatherly feeling towards his +youngest elder. Dr. Leslie was the only man in Algonquin, too, folk +said, whom Lawyer Ed feared, and to whose opinion he deferred without +argument. +</P> + +<P> +"And have you heard from Angus this morning,—or the wee lad?" +</P> + +<P> +"Archie came home about an hour ago. The little rascal's all right, +except for a sore arm. I guess he nearly put it out of joint, +paddling. Angus was better, too; but I'm bothered about Angus, Dr. +Leslie. That's what I came in for." +</P> + +<P> +He moved about the room, fingering ornaments, picking up books and +laying them down again. +</P> + +<P> +"Archie Blair says the anxiety was so bad for his heart, that he's got +to stop work right away, for all summer anyway, and perhaps longer. +And his place is all planted, and yesterday, at my advice, he put a +mortgage on it." +</P> + +<P> +He stopped before his minister and looked at him with appealing, +troubled eyes. "I feel as if I shouldn't have let him, but I didn't +anticipate this." +</P> + +<P> +Dr. Leslie sat drumming his fingers on the table, his face very grave. +</P> + +<P> +"We can't see Angus McRae want, Edward. We're all indebted to him for +something—every one of the session, and the minister most of all." +</P> + +<P> +"The session!" Lawyer Ed jumped off the arm of the sofa where he had +just perched. "There's an idea. If you laid it before them, they'd do +something; and J. P. and I'll push it and Archie Blair will help." +</P> + +<P> +The minister shook his head. "The session is a big body, Edward, +and—" he smiled,—"it has wives and daughters. This must not be +talked about. If we help Angus, we mustn't kill him at the same time +by hurting his Highland pride." +</P> + +<P> +Lawyer Ed whacked a sofa cushion impatiently with his cane. +</P> + +<P> +"There it is, of course! Hang Scotchmen, anyway! You can't treat them +like human beings. That abominable thing they call their pride—always +clogs your wheels whichever way you go." +</P> + +<P> +"Don't revile the tree from which you sprung, Edward," said the +Scotchman, smiling. +</P> + +<P> +"Thank the Lord, the limb I grew on had a few good green Irish +shamrocks mixed with the thistles. If Angus had been as fortunate we'd +have him out of distress to-morrow." +</P> + +<P> +"Angus McRae will be the least distressed of us all. I thought of Paul +last night when I saw him, 'troubled on every side, yet not distressed, +perplexed but not in despair.' We must think of some way in which we +can help him quietly—so quietly he may not know it himself. Who has +the mortgage?" +</P> + +<P> +"Jock McPherson, of course, who else?" +</P> + +<P> +The minister's face brightened. "Jock McPherson! Well, well, that is +fortunate, Edward. Jock's heart is big enough to put the whole church +inside provided you find the right key." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, but it's a ticklish job fitting it when you do find it. Some +small item in the business will strike him the wrong way and he will +get slow and stiff and arise to the occasion with, 'I feel, Mister +Moterator, that it is my juty to object.'" +</P> + +<P> +His imitation of Mr. McPherson's deliberate manner, when in his sadly +frequent rôle of objector in the session, could not but bring a smile +to the minister's face. +</P> + +<P> +"I have no fear of your not being able to overcome his objections, +should any arise. Now, sit down just a few minutes, and let us see +what is to be done." +</P> + +<P> +The two talked far into the morning, and laid their plans well. Mr. +McPherson was to be persuaded to remove the mortgage, and instead, as +Angus was in need of the money, to rent the farm. Lawyer Ed was to see +that it was let for a goodly sum that would keep its owner beyond +anxiety, and whatever Jock stood to lose by the bargain was to be +returned to him in whole or part by a little circle of friends. It was +a great scheme, worthy of a legal mind, Dr. Leslie said, and Lawyer Ed +went away well pleased with it. +</P> + +<P> +He went two blocks out of his way, so that he could reach J. P. +Thornton's office without passing his own, and spent another hour +laying the scheme before him. +</P> + +<P> +So, when he finally got to his place of business, irate clients were +buzzing about it like angry bees. But little cared Lawyer Ed. He +laughed and joked them all into good humour and dropping into the chair +at his desk, he drove through a mass of business in an incredibly short +time, telephoning, writing notes, hailing passers-by on the street, and +attending to his correspondence, all while he was holding personal +interviews,—doing half-a-dozen things at once and doing them as though +they were holiday sport. +</P> + +<P> +The rush of the day's business kept him from speaking to Jock McPherson +until late in the evening, when, at the end of the session meeting, he +found himself walking away from the church with Mr. McPherson on one +side and his friend, J. P. Thornton, on the other. He felt just a +little anxious over the outcome of the interview. He had no fear that +Jock would be unwilling to help Angus McRae, but he had every fear, and +with good reason, that he would want to do it in his own way. If Jock +were in a good humour, he would fall in with the plan, if not, he would +do exactly as he pleased and spoil everything. +</P> + +<P> +And, as ill-luck would have it, when they were coming down the steps +under the checkered light from the arc-lamp shining through the leaves, +Lawyer Ed made the most unfortunate remark he could have chosen. +</P> + +<P> +He was carrying home a Book of Praise under his arm and was humming a +psalm in a rich undertone. And the unwise thing he said was: "I'd like +to sing the <I>Amen</I> at the end of the psalms, as well as the hymns. +What do you say, J. P.?" +</P> + +<P> +"An excellent idea, Ed," said Mr. Thornton heartily. "The psalms would +sound much more finished—" He stopped suddenly, realising that they +had made a fatal mistake. Mr. McPherson had overheard, and uttered a +disgusted snort. For he hated the new appendage to the hymns, and +looked upon its importation into the church service much as if the use +of incense had been introduced. He was a little man, with a shrewd eye +and a slow tongue—but a tongue that could give a deadly thrust when he +got ready to use it. +</P> + +<P> +"The Aye-men," he said with great deliberation, and when he was most +deliberate, he was most to be feared. "Inteet, and you'll be putting +that tail to the end o' the psawlms too." He tapped Lawyer Ed on the +arm with his spectacle case. "Jist be waiting a bit till you get +permission, young man. You and John Thornton are not jist awl the +session." +</P> + +<P> +Mr. McPherson was the senior elder, the champion of all things +orthodox, and he was inclined to regard Lawyer Ed and J. P. as +irresponsible boys. +</P> + +<P> +"Hoot toot, mon," shouted Lawyer Ed jovially. "What's wrong wi' a bit +Aye-men foreby? It's in the Scriptur', 'Let all the people say +Amen'—and here you would forbid them!" +</P> + +<P> +Jock was a Highlander, and Lawyer Ed's habit of addressing him in a +Lowland dialect was particularly irritating as the mischievous young +elder well knew. +</P> + +<P> +"Yus. You know the Scriptures ferry well indeed, but if you would be +reading a little farther you will find that it will be saying, 'How +shall he that occupieth the room of the unlearned say Amen?'" +</P> + +<P> +This tickled Lawyer Ed and he laughed loudly. "Tut, tut, Jock! It's a +small thing to make a fuss about. You and Jimmie McTavish and a lot +more of you fellows are dead set against all sorts of things that you +accept in the end. Why, man, I can remember the day when you two +objected to the little organ in the old church, and you got used to it +and liked it." +</P> + +<P> +"I liked it? Indeed, and when would that be?" +</P> + +<P> +"Well, you stopped kicking, anyway, until we got the big one, which was +clean unreasonable, whatefer." +</P> + +<P> +"No, sir." Mr. McPherson's spectacle case tapped the younger man's arm +peremptorily. "I was perfectly logical then, as I am now. I objected +when the wee squeaking thing was brought in, and I objected more when +you and the weemin filled up the end o' the church with a machine to +turn us all deef. As I say, I was perfectly logical, the greater the +organ, the greater the objection." +</P> + +<P> +J. P. hid a smile in the darkness and hastened to interpose, for when +Jock once got riding his objection hobby he would agree with nothing +under the sun. +</P> + +<P> +"There's an article in the <I>British Weekly</I> on the evolution of the +church service—" he began; but his impetuous friend was bent on +setting Jock right in his own way, and hastened to his destruction. +</P> + +<P> +"And on the same principle, the more Amen, the more objection, eh?" he +cried laughingly. "But now, look here, if you'll only consider this +thing with a fair mind you can't help seeing that, as J. P. says, a +hymn or a psalm sounds unfinished without an Amen at the end. Take any +hymn for example—" +</P> + +<P> +They had reached the McPherson gate by this time, where an arc light, +high up in its leafy perch, was sputtering away shedding a white glow +over the side-walk and embroidering it with an exquisite pattern worked +out in leaf-shadows. Lawyer Ed paused under the lamp and opened the +Book of Praise. +</P> + +<P> +"I defy you to find one that isn't improved and finished and rounded +off by an Amen at the end." He selected a hymn at random, and sang a +stanza in his rich voice that poured itself out gloriously on the +evening air. +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +"Faith and hope and love we see<BR> +Joining hands in unity,<BR> +But the greatest of the three<BR> +And the best is love. Amen."<BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +The beautiful words, sung in Lawyer Ed's melodious voice, were enough +to move even Jock's orthodox heart. He was silent for a moment, then +the noise of a window being raised above their heads interrupted. +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. McPherson was accustomed to after-session meetings, and noisy ones +too, at her gate. But when they were accompanied by singing and +shouting, at the disgraceful hour of eleven P. M. she felt it time to +interfere. So she opened the window noisily and enquired if there was +a fire anywhere. +</P> + +<P> +There was. It blazed up in Lawyer Ed's heart, so enraged was he at +this very inopportune interruption, coming just when he thought he saw +Jock wavering. He shouted at her to go in and mind her own business. +</P> + +<P> +No one in Algonquin heeded what Lawyer Ed said when he was angry, but +Mr. McPherson was in no mood to put up with even him. He became deadly +slow and deliberate. He turned his back on the turbulent young man, +and addressed the open window: +</P> + +<P> +"No, it will not be a fire, Mary," he called. "It's just an Eerishman +got loose, and we'll haf to let him talk off his noise. He reminds +me," he continued, still addressing the window, though it had closed +with a bang, "he reminds me of that Chersey cow, my Cousin McNabb had +in Islay. She wasn't much for giffin' milk, and it was vurry thin at +that, but she was a great musician. You could hear her bawlin' across +two concessions." +</P> + +<P> +J. P. Thornton was a jolly young Englishman, very prone to mirth, and +this was too much for him. He turned traitor and laughed aloud. +Lawyer Ed glared angrily at him; but Jock's face underwent a peculiar +twist. He had had no notion of saying anything witty, he had been too +angry for that; but he had learned by experience that he never knew +when he was going to make a joke. He was often surprised in the midst +of a speech by a burst of laughter from his friends, Lawyer Ed +generally first. Then he would pause and survey the path he had +travelled, to find that all unconsciously he had stumbled upon a +humorous vein. So when J. P. laughed he stopped to consider. The +enemy flew to defend his "bawlin'" and there was no time to see if he +really had made a joke. But he was suspicious, and the suspicion put +him into a good humour. A sudden inspiration seized him; he caught the +book Lawyer Ed was brandishing and, opening it, laid it carefully on +the top of the gate-post. +</P> + +<P> +"It's more feenished and rounded off, with the '<I>Aye</I>-men, is it?" he +enquired with deep sarcasm. "But you would not be feenishing it after +all. If ye're bound and deturmined to put a tail on the end o' the +hime, why don't ye sing awl that's in the book. You would be leaving +out a bit." +</P> + +<P> +He took his glasses from their case, fitted them on, and held the book +carefully towards the electric light. +</P> + +<P> +"If ye want it feenished, this is the way it should be sung." +</P> + +<P> +Now, not even Mrs. Jock, who believed her husband the cleverest man in +Algonquin, could say he was a singer, and it was with a terribly +discordant wail that he lifted his voice in the melancholy words of the +hymn before him: +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +"There are no pardons in the toomb,<BR> +And brief is mercy's day.<BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">A-m-e-n-T-h-o-m-a-s-H-a-s-t-i-n-g-s—"</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +The awful "Amen," drawled out to an indefinite length, with the +author's name, on the end, was irresistible. J. P. broke into a shout +of laughter. For a moment, Lawyer Ed's eyes gleamed in the darkness, +but only for a moment, then he too gave way, and when Lawyer Ed +laughed, a really good hearty laugh, it was a musical performance that +did not stop until every one within hearing was joining in the chorus. +</P> + +<P> +And then Jock began to realise that he had been witty again. He paused +and bethought himself of what he had done, and he too saw how funny it +was. He did not laugh right out at first. Jock's mirth, like his wit, +was too deliberate for that. He began by uttering a low subterranean +sort of chuckle, which finally worked to the surface in a rhythmic +shaking of his whole sturdy little body. By this time J. P. was +leaning against a tree wiping his eyes, and everybody up and down the +street was smiling and saying, "That's Lawyer Ed's laugh. What's he up +to now, I wonder?" Jock checked his mirth quickly; it was not seemly +to rejoice too heartily over one's own humour, but before the joy of it +had left, by an adroit turn, J. P. had sent the conversation into its +proper channel. +</P> + +<P> +"A good joke on you, Ed!" he cried. "I must tell that to Angus McRae. +Angus doesn't love the 'Amen' too much either, Jock." +</P> + +<P> +"Angus is in great trouble," exclaimed Lawyer Ed, wiping his eyes and +trying to look serious. "Did you hear about it, Jock?" +</P> + +<P> +Jock had not heard, so the story of little Roderick's rainbow +expedition and his father's consequent heart affection was quickly +told. And when the splendid plan to help was adroitly unfolded, Jock +was quick to respond. It was the psychological moment; Thomas Hastings +had driven away all dourness and Angus McRae's case was safe. +</P> + +<P> +The two friends walked homeward under the shadows of the maples, the +night-air sweet with the perfume of many gardens. They were both very +happy, so happy indeed, that, as usual, they walked miles before they +finally settled for the night. +</P> + +<P> +First, J. P. recollected again that fine article in the <I>British +Weekly</I>, and strolled up the hill with his friend while he gave a +synopsis of it. When they reached the gate, Lawyer Ed remembered that +he should have told J. P. about old man Cassidy's will and the trouble +Mike was in over it, and so returned to J. P.'s gate. The Cassidy will +was finished and J. P. in the midst of another fascinating article on +Imperial Federation, when they reached there, and Lawyer Ed made him +come up the hill again so that he might hear it. It was their usual +manner of going home after a session meeting. +</P> + +<P> +"And may I ask," said J. P., when their personal part in the financing +of Angus's affairs had been finally settled, and they stood at his gate +for the third and last time, "may I ask, if it is not too curious on my +part, if you intend to appropriate church funds for your contribution, +or just rob the bank?" For J. P. knew well that Lawyer Ed's +extravagant generosity always kept him on the edge of poverty. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, neither. Jock mightn't think the first was orthodox. I don't +believe he'd object so strongly to the second, but it mightn't be +successful. I think,—yes, I'm afraid, I must draw on the Jerusalem +Fund again." +</P> + +<P> +"Of course, I knew you would. Let me see; that's seven times we've +stayed home from the Holy Land, isn't it?—the perfect number. A +person naturally thinks of sevens in connection with Bible places." +</P> + +<P> +Lawyer Ed laughed light-heartedly. Ever since the days when these two +had tried to sit together in Sunday-school, and been separated by +Doctor Leslie, they had planned that some time, they would make a visit +together to Bible lands. Many a time since the trip had almost +materialised, but Lawyer Ed's money would fade away, or J. P.'s +business interfere or some other contingency arise to make them stay at +home. The final plans had been laid for the coming autumn, and now it +was again to be postponed. +</P> + +<P> +But J. P. was not deceived into supposing Lawyer Ed was merely drawing +upon a holiday fund. +</P> + +<P> +"I believe you have somewhere about five dollars laid away for that +trip, haven't you?" +</P> + +<P> +"Four-and-a-half, to be correct," said his friend brazenly. +</P> + +<P> +"I thought so. And where's the rest going to spring from?" He was +accustomed to keeping a stern eye on Ed's affairs or the extravagant +young man would have given away his house and office and all their +contents long ago. +</P> + +<P> +Lawyer Ed did not answer for a moment. He looked like a naughty +schoolboy caught In a foolish prank. The confession came out at last. +</P> + +<P> +"I'd almost decided not to go in with Will Graham's scheme. I don't +see how I can leave here just now, that's a fact." +</P> + +<P> +"Ed!" cried his friend, half-admiring, half-impatient. "Why, man, it's +the chance of your life. Bill's making money so fast he can't keep +count of it. You'll be a rich man and a famous one too in a few years +if you go in with him, do you realise that?" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, there are lots more chances." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, and they'll slip away like this one. I,—can't I help a little +more?" +</P> + +<P> +"No. And don't talk any more about it. It's just this way, Jock, I've +no choice in the matter. If it was my last cent, and I knew I'd go to +jail for it to-morrow, I'd help Angus. I just couldn't see him want. +It's all right. I'll stay on in Algonquin a few more years, and we'll +see what'll happen. Good-night." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, and good-night to all your ambitions and the Holy Land too." +</P> + +<P> +"Not a bit of it! Ambition be hanged. I don't care about that. But +we're going to the Holy Land yet, if we put it off until seventy times +seven. We'll wait till young Roderick's grown up and pays us back, and +then we'll go. Indeed, I'm going to refuse positively to go to the New +Jerusalem until I've seen the old!" +</P> + +<P> +He swung away up the street as bright and gay as though he had just +accepted a fine new position instead of refusing one. He was so happy +that he softly sang the hymn that had opened the good work of the +evening. It was very appropriate: +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +"Faith and hope and love we see<BR> +Joining hands in unity,<BR> +But the greatest of the three<BR> +And the best is love."<BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +He was passing near Jock's house so he roared out the "Amen" in the +hope that the elder had not yet gone to sleep. And Mrs. Leslie's Viney +declared the next morning that she done heah dat Lawyah Ed and J. P. +Thornton gwine home straight ahead all de bressed night, and she did +'clar dey was still goin' when she put on de oatmeal mush for de +breakfus! +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap03"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER III +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +LIFE'S YOUNG MARINER +</H3> + +<P> +On a hazy August afternoon the little steamer <I>Inverness</I>,—Captain, +James McTavish—came sailing across Lake Simcoe with her long white +bowsprit pointing towards the cedar-fringed gates opening into Lake +Algonquin. She was a trim little craft, painted all blue and white +like the water she sailed. Captain McTavish, who was also her owner, +had named her after his birthplace. He loved the little steamer, and +pronounced her name with a tender lingering on the last syllable, and a +softening of the consonants, that no mere Sassenach tongue could +possibly imitate. +</P> + +<P> +There were not many passengers to-day; the majority were mothers with +their children, the latter chasing each other about the deck or +clambering into all forbidden and dangerous places, the former sitting +in the shade, darning or sewing or embroidering according to their +station in life. A few young ladies sat in groups, and chatted and ate +candies, or read and ate candies while one young man, in white flannels +and a straw hat waited upon them with stools and wraps and drinks of +water, and magazines, fetching and carrying in a most abject manner. +There was always a sad dearth of young men on the <I>Inverness</I>, except +on a public holiday; but as the girls said, they could always depend on +Alf. He was Algonquin's one young gentleman of leisure, and beside +having a great deal of money to spend on ice-cream and bon-bons, had +also an unlimited amount of good nature to spend with it. +</P> + +<P> +He seemed to be the only one on board who had much to do. Down below, +old Sandy McTavish, the engineer and the captain's brother, was seated +on a nail keg smoking and spinning yarns to a couple of young Indians. +His assistant, Peter McDuff the younger, who did such work as had to be +done to make the <I>Inverness</I> move, was lounging against the engine-room +door, listening. +</P> + +<P> +Up in the little pilot house in the bow, the captain was also at +leisure. He was perched upon a stool watching, with deep interest and +admiration, the young man who was guiding the wheel. +</P> + +<P> +"Ah, ha! ye haven't forgotten, I see!" he exclaimed proudly, as the +strong young hands gave the vessel a wide sweep around a little reedy +island. "I was wondering if you would be remembering the Sand Bar, +indeed." +</P> + +<P> +"I've taken the <I>Inverness</I> on too many Sunday-school picnics to forget +your lessons, Captain. There's the Pine Point shoal next, and after +you round that, you head her for the Cedars on the tip of Loon Island, +and then straight as the crow flies for the Gates and then Home! +Hurrah!" +</P> + +<P> +He shook his straight broad shoulders with a boyish gesture of +impatience, as though he would like to jump overboard and swim home. +</P> + +<P> +"Eh, well, well! It's your father will be the happy man, and to think +you are coming home to stay, too." The captain rubbed his hands along +his knees, joyfully. +</P> + +<P> +The young man smiled, but did not answer. His eager, dark eyes were +turned upon the scene ahead, marking every dearly familiar point. +Already he could see, through an opening in the forest, the soft gleam +of Lake Algonquin. There was Rock Bass Island where he and his father +and Peter Fiddle used to fish, and the slash in the middle of it +whither he rowed Aunt Kirsty every August to help harvest the +blackberries. A soft golden haze hung over the water, reminding him of +that illusive gleam he had followed, one evening so long ago, when he +set out to find the treasure at the foot of the rainbow. +</P> + +<P> +He smiled at the recollection of his childish fancy. For he was a man +now, with a university degree, and far removed from any such folly. +Nevertheless there was something in the quick movement of his strong +brown hands, and the look of impulsive daring in his bright eyes, that +hinted that he might be just the lad to launch his canoe on life's +waters and paddle away in haste towards the lure of a rainbow gleam. +</P> + +<P> +When Captain McTavish had answered a stream of questions regarding all +and sundry in Algonquin, he left him in charge of the wheel and went +rambling over the deck on a hospitable excursion, for he regarded every +one on board as his especial guest. He had aged much in the eighteen +years since he had joined the search party for young Roderick McRae. +The <I>Inverness</I> had been overhauled and painted and made smart many +times in the years that had elapsed, but her captain had undergone no +such renewing process. But he was still famous from one end of the +lakes to the other for the hospitality of the <I>Inverness</I>. For though +his eye had grown dim, it was as kindly as ever, and if his step was +not so brisk as in former years, his heart was as swift to help as it +had ever been. +</P> + +<P> +He pulled the Algonquin <I>Chronicle</I> out of his pocket, smoothed it out +carefully, and moving with his wide swaying stride across the deck to +where a young girl was seated alone, he offered it to her as "the +finest weekly paper in Canada, whatefer, and a good sound Liberal into +the bargain." +</P> + +<P> +The girl smiled her thanks, and, taking the paper, glanced over it with +an indifferent eye. She was the only stranger on board, and had sat +apart ever since she had left Barbay. Of course every one in Algonquin +knew that a new teacher had been appointed for the East Ward. And as +school opened the next day, the passengers on the <I>Inverness</I> had +rightly guessed that this must be she. She had been the subject of +much discussion amongst the young ladies, for she was very pretty, and +her blue cloth suit was cut after the newest city fashion, and the one +young man seemed in danger of presenting himself, and begging to be +allowed to fetch and carry for her also. Several of the older women, +with motherly hearts, had spoken to her, but she had continued to sit +aloof, discouraging all advances. It was not because she was of an +unsociable nature, but the struggle to keep back the tears of +homesickness took all her attention. There was no place on the little +steamer where one might be alone, so she had sat all afternoon, with +her back to every one gazing over the water. Nevertheless many a +pretty sight had passed her unnoticed. Sometimes the <I>Inverness</I> had +slipped so close to the shore that the overhanging birches bent down +and touched her fair hair with a welcoming caress, and again she ran +away out over the tumbling blue waves, where the gulls soared and +dipped with a flash of white wings. But the strange girl's mind was +far away. She was fairly aching with longing for home—the home that +was no more. And she was longing too for that other home—the +beautiful dream home which was to have been hers, but which was now +only a dream. Again and again the tears had gathered, but she had +forced them back, striving bravely to give her attention to the passing +beauties of land and lake. +</P> + +<P> +Captain Jimmie's kindly eye had noted the stranger as soon as she had +come on board, and he had set himself to make the drooping little +figure and the big sad eyes look less forlorn. +</P> + +<P> +He had helped her on board, as she came down from the railway station, +her trunk wheeled behind her, and had shaken hands and welcomed her +warmly to Algonquin, saying she would be sure to like the school and he +knew the Miss Armstrongs would be very kind indeed. +</P> + +<P> +She had looked up in surprise, not yet knowing the wisdom of Algonquin +folk concerning the doings of their neighbours. +</P> + +<P> +"Och, indeed I will be knowing all about you," the captain said, +smiling broadly. "You will be Miss Murray, the young leddy that's to +teach. Lawyer Ed—that's Mr. Brians, you know—would be telling me. +And you will be boarding at the Miss Armstrongs'. They told me I was +to be bringing you up," he added, with an air of proprietorship, that +made her feel a little less lonely. "And indeed," he added, with the +gallant air, which was truly his own, "it is a fortunate pair of ladies +the Miss Armstrongs will be, whatefer." +</P> + +<P> +Many times during the afternoon he had stopped beside her with a kindly +word. And once he sat by her side and pointed out places of interest, +while some uncertain pilot at the wheel sent the <I>Inverness</I> unheeded +on a happy zigzag course. Yon was Hughie McArthur's farm they were +passing now. Hughie had done well. He was own nephew to the captain, +as his eldest sister had married on Old Archie's Hughie. Old Archie +had been the first settler in these parts, and him and his wife had it +hard in the early days. His father had told him many a time that Old +Archie's wife had walked into where Algonquin now stood—they called it +the Gates in those days,—twenty mile away if it was one, with a sack +of wheat on her back to be ground at the mill, and back again with the +flour, while the eldest girl, then only fifteen, looked after the +family and the stock. That was when Archie was away at the front the +time of the rebellion. Yes, it was hard times for the women folk in +those days. Times was changed now to be sure. Take Hughie, now, his +sister's son. That was his new silo over yonder, that she could see. +Hughie had a gasoline engine and it did everything, Hughie said, but +get the hired man up in the morning, and he was going to have it fixed +so it would do that. The captain paused, pleased to see that Hughie's +wit was appreciated. They had the engine fixed to run the churn and +the washer, and Hughie's woman hadn't anything to do but sit and play +the organ or drive herself to town. And just behind yon strip of +timber was where his father had settled first when they came out from +<I>Inverness</I>. All that land she could see now, up to the topmost hill +was the township of Oro, and a great place for Highlanders it was in +the early days, though he feared it had sadly deteriorated. Folks said +you could scarcely hear the Gaelic at all now. +</P> + +<P> +The captain looked at her now, trying to fix her attention on the +little newspaper and he suddenly bethought himself of something else he +could do for her and bustled away down the little steep stair. +Whenever the <I>Inverness</I> sighted the entrance to Lake Algonquin of a +summer afternoon, Captain Jimmie went immediately below and brewed tea +for the whole passenger list. He had always done it, and this +mid-voyage refreshment had come to be one of the institutions of the +trip, as indispensable as the coal to run the engine. He appeared +shortly with a huge teapot in one hand and a jug of hot water in the +other, calling hospitably, "Come away, and have a cup-a-tea, whatefer. +Come away." +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Alfred Wilbur, the young man in the white flannels ran to help him. +The fact that he was given to rendering his services at all functions +in Algonquin where tea was poured, had brought upon him an ignominious +nickname. His title in full as engraved on his visiting cards, was +Alfred Tennyson Wilbur, and a rude young man of the town had taken +liberties with the initials, and declared they stood for Afternoon Tea +Willie. +</P> + +<P> +It must be confessed that, while Afternoon Tea Willie was the most +obliging young man in all Canada, he was not entirely disinterested in +his desire to assist the captain to-day. He saw in that big tea-pot a +chance to serve the handsome young lady with the city hat and the smart +suit. He secured a second teapot and was heading her way in bustling +haste when the captain, all unconscious, slipped in ahead of him, and +the unkind young ladies whom poor Alf had slaved for all afternoon, +laughed aloud over his discomfiture. +</P> + +<P> +As soon as the cup-a-tea had been served the captain went back to the +pilot house. They had entered the Channel, a toy river, low-banked and +reed-fringed, that led by many a pretty curve into Lake Algonquin. Two +bridges spanned the Channel at its narrowest part, which was named the +Gates, and Captain Jimmie allowed no one but himself, however expert, +to take the <I>Inverness</I> through here. +</P> + +<P> +Relieved from his duties, Roderick strolled away. Like the strange +girl, he, too, had attracted much attention, especially among the young +ladies, and at their bidding Alfred Tennyson had several times +attempted to lure him into joining their circle. But Roderick was shy +and constrained in the presence of young ladies. He had had no time to +cultivate their acquaintance in his school and college days, and had +admired them only from afar in a diffident way; so when Alfred +approached him and begged him once more to come and be introduced he +slipped away downstairs to talk with his old boyhood friend, the +fireman. +</P> + +<P> +"Hello, Pete, we'll soon be in Lake Algonquin!" he cried joyfully, as +he leaned over the low door and watched the young man heaving coal into +the <I>Inverness's</I> hot jaws. +</P> + +<P> +Young Peter slammed the furnace door and came up to get a breath of +cool air. He put a black hand on Roderick's arm, "Say, I'm awful glad +you're home, Rod," he said, smiling broadly. +</P> + +<P> +"And I'm just as awful glad to be home, Pete, old boy. I say, do you +do all the work while the Ancient Mariner there smokes and orders you +round?" +</P> + +<P> +The crew of the <I>Inverness</I>, consisting of an engineer and a fireman, +was, whether in port or on the high seas, in a state of frank mutiny. +The Ancient Mariner, as every one called Sandy McTavish, was the +captain's elder brother, and he made no secret of the fact that he +intended to run the <I>Inverness</I> as he pleased, if he ran her to Davy +Jones. Accordingly he smoked and spun yarns all day long in true +nautical fashion, and young Peter McDuff did the work. +</P> + +<P> +But Peter looked at Roderick puzzled, and grinned good naturedly. He +did not understand that there was anything unjust in the arrangement +old Sandy had made of the work. Poor Peter had been born to injustice. +His father was a drunkard and the boy had started life dull of brain +and heavy of foot. His slow mind had not questioned why the burdens of +life should have been so unevenly divided. +</P> + +<P> +But Roderick McRae felt something of the tragedy of Peter's handicapped +life. He put his hands affectionately on the young man's heavy +shoulders. They had been brought up side by side on the shores of Lake +Algonquin, but how different their lots had been! +</P> + +<P> +"Ah, it's all a hard job for you, Pete, old boy!" he cried. +</P> + +<P> +Peter's dull eyes lit up. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, no, it ain't! It will be a great job, Rod. Your father would be +getting it for me. Your father's been awful good to us, Rod. Say, +tell me about the city. Is it an awful big place?" +</P> + +<P> +Roderick studied the young man's heavy face, as he talked. Here was +one of his father's neighbours of the Jericho Road. For twenty years +or more, he could remember his father struggling to bring Peter Fiddle +to a life of sobriety and righteousness and to bring up his son in the +same. And what had he to show for it all? Old Peter was a worse +drunkard than he had been twenty years ago, and poor Young Peter was +the hopeless result of that drinking. Roderick's kindly heart +sympathised with his father's efforts, but his head pronounced judgment +upon them. He confessed he could see very little use in bothering with +the sort of folk that were forever stumbling on the Jericho Roads of +life. +</P> + +<P> +Peter went back reluctantly to the engine-room, and Roderick ran up on +deck to see the <I>Inverness</I> enter the Gates. He had not been home for +a whole long year, and he was eager as a child to get the first glimpse +of Algonquin and the little cove where the old farm lay. +</P> + +<P> +As he was passing round to the wheel-house, he noticed again the young +stranger who had come on board at Barbay. He had been puzzled then by +the recollection of having seen her before, and he walked slowly, +looking at her and trying to recall where and when it could have been. +As he approached, she turned in his direction, her eyes following the +sweep of a gull's white wing, and he recognised her. He remembered her +quite distinctly, for he could count on his fingers the number of young +ladies he had met in his busy college days, and Miss Murray was not one +that could be easily forgotten. He stood at the railing and recalled +the scene. It had been at the home of Mrs. Carruthers, Billy Parker's +aunt. That kind lady made it a blessed habit to invite hungry students +to her home on Sunday nights. And the suppers she gave! Billy had +taken Roderick that evening, and there were a half-dozen more. And +this Miss Murray had dropped in after church with Richard Wells. Wells +was a medical in his last year, and Roderick had met him often before. +Miss Murray had worn some sort of soft white dress, he remembered, and +a big white hat, and she had been very bright and gay then, not sad and +pensive as she seemed now. +</P> + +<P> +He did not realise that he was staring intently at her, while he +recalled all this, until she turned and looked at him. She gave a +start of surprised recognition mingled with something of dismay. For +an instant she looked irresolute; then she bowed, and Roderick came +quickly forward. She gave him her hand, a vague look in her deep +grey-blue eyes. She remembered him; Roderick's appearance was too +striking to be easily forgotten; but it was plain she could not recall +where. +</P> + +<P> +"It was a Sunday evening, last fall—at Mrs. Carruthers'," he +stammered. She smiled reassuringly. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, yes, it was stupid of me to forget. You were in law, weren't you?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, in my last year. I'm just on my way home now, to practise in +Algonquin. Are you going to visit friends here?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, I'm going to teach." She did not seem to want to speak of +herself. "Algonquin is a very pretty place, I hear." +</P> + +<P> +"It's is the most lovely place in Canada," said Roderick +enthusiastically. He was not as shy in her presence as he usually was +with young women. He could not help seeing, that for some +unaccountable reason, she was embarrassed at meeting him, and her +distress made him forget himself. He tried to put her at her ease in a +flurried way. +</P> + +<P> +"How people scatter! The half-dozen that were at Mrs. Carruthers' that +night are all over the world. Billy Parker's gone to Victoria to +practise law, and Withers is in Germany, and Wells,—he graduated with +honours, didn't he? Where did Dick Wells go?" +</P> + +<P> +Roderick had no sooner uttered the name than he saw he had made a +mistake. The girl's face flushed; a slow colour creeping up over neck +and brow and dyeing her cheeks crimson. But she looked up at him with +brave steady eyes as she answered quietly: +</P> + +<P> +"I am not sure where he is. I heard he had gone to Montreal." And +when she had said it she became as white as the dainty lawn blouse she +wore. +</P> + +<P> +Roderick made a blundering attempt to apologise for something, he +scarcely knew what, and only made matters worse. +</P> + +<P> +"I—I beg your pardon," he said, "I shouldn't have asked—but I +thought—we understood—at least I mean Billy said," he floundered +about hopelessly, and she came to his aid. +</P> + +<P> +"That Dr. Wells and I were engaged?" She was looking at him directly +now, sitting erect with a sparkle in her eye. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," he whispered. +</P> + +<P> +"It was true—then. But it is not now." +</P> + +<P> +"I am so sorry I spoke—" faltered Roderick. +</P> + +<P> +"You need not be," she broke in. "It was quite natural—only—" she +looked at him keenly for a moment as though taking his measure. "May I +ask a favour of you, Mr. McRae?" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, yes, I should be so glad," he broke out, anxious to make amends. +</P> + +<P> +"Then if you would be so good as to make no mention of—of this. I +shall be living in Algonquin now for some time probably." +</P> + +<P> +She stopped falteringly. She could not confess to this strange young +man that she had come away to this little town where no one knew her +just to escape the curiosity and pity of acquaintances and friends, and +that she was dismayed at meeting one on its very threshold who knew her +secret. She was relieved to find him more anxious to keep it than she +herself. +</P> + +<P> +He assured her that he would not even think of it again, and then he +stumbled upon a remark about the fishing in Lake Algonquin, and the +duck-shooting, two things, he recollected afterwards, in which she +could not possibly be interested, and finally he made his escape. He +leaned over the bow, watching the channel opening out its green arms to +the <I>Inverness</I>, and tried to recall all that he had heard about Dick +Wells. Billy Parker, who knew all college gossip, had told him much to +which he had scarcely listened. But he remembered something concerning +a broken engagement. Wells was to have been married in June to the +pretty Miss Murray, Billy had said. She had her trousseau all ready, +and then Dick had gone on a trip to the Old Country alone. No one knew +the reason, though Billy had declared it was the same old +reason—"Another girl." +</P> + +<P> +Roderick McRae's chivalry had never before been called into action +where young women were concerned. Now he felt something new and strong +rising within him. He was suddenly filled with the old spirit which +sent a knight out upon the highway to do doughty deeds for the honour +of a lady, or to right her wrongs. His warm heart was filled with +conflicting emotions, rage at himself for having brought the hurt look +into those soft blue eyes, rage at Wells for being the primary cause of +it, and underneath all a strange, quite unreasonable, feeling of +exhilaration over the fact that he and the girl with the golden hair +and the sad eyes had a secret between them. +</P> + +<P> +They were in the Gates now, passing slowly through the railroad bridge. +The softly tinted glassy water of Lake Algonquin, with the green +islands mirrored in its clear depths was opening out to view. The +channel too, was clear and still like crystal, save where the swell +from the bows of the <I>Inverness</I> rolled away to the low shore and set +the bulrushes nodding a stately welcome. The echoes of the little +engine clattered away into the deep woods, startlingly clear. An ugly +brown bittern, with a harsh exclamation of surprise at the intrusion +into his quiet domain, shot across the bow and disappeared into the +swamp. A great heron sailed majestically down the channel ahead of the +boat, his broad blue wings gleaming in the sunlight. It was all so +still and beautiful that a sense of peace and content awoke in +Roderick's heart. +</P> + +<P> +The <I>Inverness</I> was making her way slowly towards the second bridge. +The channel was very narrow and shallow here and the captain's little +whistle that communicated with the powers below was squeaking +frantically. Just as the bridge began to turn, a man in a mud-splashed +buggy dashed up, a moment too late to cross, and stood there holding +his horse, which went up indignantly on its heels every time the +<I>Inverness</I> snorted. His fair face was darkened with anger, his blue +eyes were blazing. He leaned over the dashboard and shook his fist at +the little wheel-house which held the captain. +</P> + +<P> +"Get along there you, Jimmie McTavish!" He roared in a voice that was +rich and musical even in its anger. "Can't you see I'm in a hurry, you +thundering old mud-turtle? I could sail a ship across the Atlantic +while you are dawdling here. Get out of my road, I tell you! I've got +to be in town before that five train goes out, and here's that old +dromedary of yours stuck in the mud.—How? What? Oh, what in the name +of—?" He choked, spluttering with wrath, for with a final squeak the +<I>Inverness</I> stopped altogether. +</P> + +<P> +The captain darted out of the wheel-house to call down an indignant +enquiry of the Ancient Mariner as to the cause of the delay. Much +sailing in all weathers in the keen air of the northern lakes had +ruined Captain McTavish's voice, which, at best, had never been +intended for any part but a high soprano. And now it was almost +inaudible with anger. It ill became the dignity of a sea captain to be +thus publicly berated in the presence of his passengers. +</P> + +<P> +"If ye'd whisht ye're noise," he screamed, "I'd be movin' queek enough. +Come away, Sandy! Come away, Peter, man!" +</P> + +<P> +For all his sailing, the captain was a true landsman, and when under +pressure his thin nautical veneer slipped off him, and his language was +not of the sea. +</P> + +<P> +"Come away, Sandy," he called artlessly, "and gee her a bit. <I>Gee</I>!" +</P> + +<P> +"I can have the law on you for obstructing the King's Highway!" +thundered the man on the bridge. +</P> + +<P> +"The water will be jist as much the King's Highway as the road!" +retorted the captain indignantly. "If you would be leafing other +folks' business alone, and attending to your own, you would be knowing +the law better. It is a rule of the sea that effery vessel—" +</P> + +<P> +"The sea!" the enemy burst in with an overwhelming roar. "The sea! A +vessel! A miserable fish pond, and an old tub like that, the sea and a +vessel! Get away with you! Get out of my sight!" +</P> + +<P> +He waved a hand as if he would wipe the <I>Inverness</I> from off the face +of the waters. +</P> + +<P> +During the altercation, Roderick McRae had been leaning far over the +railing, striving to attract the attention of the madman in the buggy. +But his voice was drowned in the laughter and cheers of the passengers +who were enjoying the battle immensely. At this moment he put his +fingers to his teeth and uttered a long, sharp whistle. "Ho! Lawyer +Ed!" he shouted. The man on the bridge started. His angry face, with +the quickness of lightning, broke into radiance. +</P> + +<P> +"Roderick!—Rod! Are you there? Hooray!" He caught off his hat and +waved it in the air. "Come on home with me! I dare you to jump it!" +</P> + +<P> +The <I>Inverness</I> was at a perilous distance from the bridge, but the +young man did not hesitate a moment before the half-laughing challenge. +He leaped lightly upon the railing, poised a moment and, with a mighty +spring, landed upon the bridge. The onlookers gave a gasp and then a +relieved and admiring cheer. +</P> + +<P> +Another spring put Roderick into the buggy, where his friend hammered +him on the back, and they laughed like a couple of school-boys. And +that was what they really were, for though Roderick McRae was nearly +twenty-four, he was feeling like a boy in his home-coming joy, and as +for Lawyer Ed he hadn't grown an hour older, either in feeling or +appearance, but lived perennially somewhere near the joyous age of +eighteen. +</P> + +<P> +Meanwhile the real captain of the <I>Inverness</I> had begun to bestir +himself. The Ancient Mariner cared not the smallest lump of coal that +went into the furnace door for the command of his brother-captain; but +he had a wholesome fear of Lawyer Ed, and doubted the wisdom of rousing +him again. So he gave an order to Peter, and with a great deal of +boiling and churning of the water the <I>Inverness</I> slowly began to move. +The bridge, worked by a dozen youngsters who always roosted there, +began to turn into place. With a defiant yell of her whistle, the +<I>Inverness</I> sailed out of the Gates, and the buggy dashed across the +bridge and away down the dusty road. But though Lawyer Ed was bubbling +over with good humour now, he turned, Marmion like, to shake his +gauntlet of defiance at the retreating vessel, and to call out +insulting remarks to which the captain responded with spirit. +</P> + +<P> +"Well inteet," said the Ancient Mariner, as he settled once more to his +pipe, "it will be a great peety that Lawyer Ed has neither the Gawlic +nor the profanity, for when he will be getting into a rage he will jist +be no use at all, at all!" +</P> + +<P> +All unconscious of his verbal deficiencies, and uproariously happy, +Lawyer Ed sped away down the Pine Road towards town. He had been +looking forward for a long time to this day, when Roderick should come +back to Algonquin to be his partner. +</P> + +<P> +"It's great to see you again, Lad," he exclaimed joyfully, surveying +the young man's fine figure and frank face with pride. "I was getting +nervous for fear you were going West after all." +</P> + +<P> +"I can't pretend I didn't want to go," he confessed, "though I didn't +like the idea of another fellow in my place in your office. You see +I'm a good bit of a dog in the manger, and when Father's last letter +arrived I felt I must come." +</P> + +<P> +"That's right, my boy. Your place is with your father just now. And +you're looking as fine and fit as if you'd been away camping." +</P> + +<P> +"I'm ready for anything. You and J. P. Thornton can start for the Holy +Land to-morrow." +</P> + +<P> +"I prophesied once, about a score or so years ago; that I'd go when you +could manage my practice, and I'll be hanged if I don't think it's +coming true. J. P.'s talking about it, anyway. Does your arm ever +bother you now?" +</P> + +<P> +Roderick doubled up his right fist, stretched out his arm, and slowly +drew it up, showing his splendid muscle. "Sometimes, but not anything +to bother about, only a twinge once in a while when it's damp. I can +still paddle my good canoe, and if you'd like a boxing bout—" he +turned and squared up to his friend, receiving a lightning-like blow +that nearly knocked him into the road. And the two went off into an +uproarious sparring match like a couple of youngsters. +</P> + +<P> +Lawyer Ed had never yet married though he still made love to every +woman, girl and baby in Algonquin. But Roderick McRae had grown to be +like a son to him, filling every desire of his big warm heart, and now +the proud day had come when his boy was to be his partner. He and +Angus had talked for hours of the wonderful things that were to be +accomplished in the town and church and on the Jericho Road when the +Lad came home, and had laid great plans at which the Lad himself only +guessed. They had feared for a time that all were to be ruined when, +after his graduation, he had been kept in the city in the employ of a +firm, and had received from them an offer of a position in the West. +But he had refused, to their joy, and was to settle in Algonquin and +relieve Lawyer Ed of his altogether too burdensome practice. +</P> + +<P> +As they spun along, for the five-o'clock train was still to be caught, +the elder man poured out all the news of the town; J. P.'s last great +speech, Algonquin's lacrosse victories, the latest battle in the +session,—for Jock McPherson was still a valiant and stubborn +objector,—the last tea-meeting at McClintock's Corners, where the +Highland Quartette, of whom Lawyer Ed was leader, had sung, the errand +over to Indian Head, where he had just been, etc., etc. It was not +half told when they came to the point in the road opposite Roderick's +home, and the Lad leaped down, promising to run up to the office that +night when he went into town for his trunk. +</P> + +<P> +He lost no time on the rest of the journey. It was a dash through the +dim woods where the white Indian Pipes raised their tiny, waxen tapers, +and the squirrels skirled indignantly at him from the tree-tops; a leap +across the stream where the water-lilies made a fairy bridge of green +and gold, a scramble through the underbrush, and he was at the edge of +the little pasture-field, and saw the old home buried in orchard trees, +and Aunt Kirsty's garden a blaze of sun-flowers and asters. And there +at the gate, gazing eagerly down the lane in quite the wrong direction, +stood his father! +</P> + +<P> +The years had told heavily on the Good Samaritan, and Roderick's loving +eye could detect changes even in the last year of his absence. Old +Angus's tall figure was stooped and thin, and he carried a staff, but +he still held up his head as though facing the skies, and his eyes were +as young and as kindly as ever. The Lad gave a boyish shout and came +bounding towards him. The old man dropped his stick and held out both +his hands. He said not a word, but his eyes spoke very eloquently all +his pride and joy and love. He put his two hands on his son's head and +uttered a low prayer of thanksgiving. +</P> + +<P> +Aunt Kirsty came bustling out as fast as her accumulating flesh would +permit. Poor Aunt Kirsty had grown to a great bulk these later days +and could not hurry, but indeed had she used up all the energy on +moving forward that she mistakenly put into swaying violently from side +to side, she would have made tremendous speed. Roderick ran to meet +her, and she took him into her ample bosom and kissed him and patted +him on the back and poured out a dozen Gaelic synonyms for darling, and +then shoved him away, and burying her face in her apron, began to cry +because he was such a man and not her baby any more! +</P> + +<P> +The father's heart was too full for words; but after supper when they +sat out on the porch in the soft misty twilight, he found many things +to ask, and many questions to answer. Roderick sat on the step facing +the lake, filled with a great content. The sunset gleam of the water +through the darkening trees, the soft plaintive call of the phoebes +from the woods, the sleepy drone of Bossy's bell from the pasture, and +the scents of the garden made up the atmosphere of home. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, well, and you have come to stay," his father said for the tenth +time, rubbing his hands along his knee in ecstasy, "to stay." +</P> + +<P> +"It'll be great to know that I don't have to run away at the end of the +summer, won't it?" +</P> + +<P> +"It'll jist be the answer to all my prayers, Lad. I feel I am no use +in the world at all, now that you have made me give up all work." He +gave his son a glance of loving reproach. For while Roderick had +managed to get his education, he had managed too, to do wonderful +things with the little farm, so that his father had long ago given up +the work he had resumed after his year's illness. And Aunt Kirsty had +a servant-girl in the kitchen now, and devoted all her time to her +garden and her Bible. +</P> + +<P> +"You've jist made your father a useless old body. But I jist can't be +minding, for I see how you can be taking up all my work. There's the +Jericho Road waiting for you, Lad." +</P> + +<P> +The young man smiled indulgently. "And what do you think I can do +there, Father? Unless Mike Cassidy goes to law as usual." +</P> + +<P> +"Ah, but is jist you that can. Edward will be finding great +opportunities for helping folk and he has not the time now. There's +that poor bit English body, Perkins, and his family, and there's Mike +as you say, though Father Tracy would be straightening him up something +fine. But you must jist see that he doesn't go to law any more. And +then there's poor Peter Fiddle." +</P> + +<P> +The younger man laughed. "Peter is the kind of poor we have with us +always, Dad. Is he behaving any better?" +</P> + +<P> +"Och, indeed I sometime think I see a decided improvement," exclaimed +Old Angus, with the optimism that had refused to give Peter Fiddle up +through years of drunkenness and failure. "We must jist keep hold of +him, and the good Lord will save Peter yet, never fear." +</P> + +<P> +Roderick was silent. Personally he had no faith in Peter McDuff the +elder. He had gone on through the years fiddling and singing and +telling stories, his drunken sprees showing a constantly diminishing +interval between. Every one in Algonquin, except Angus McRae, had +given him up long ago, but his old friend still held on to him with a +faith which was really the only thing that kept old Peter from complete +ruin. But Roderick had the impatience of youth with failure, and +though he had inherited his father's warm heart, he was not at all +happy at the thought of becoming guardian of all the poor unfortunates +of the town who in one way or the other had fallen among thieves. +</P> + +<P> +"Eh yes, yes, there is a great ministry for you here, Lad. I have +sometimes been sorry that you did not feel called to the preaching, but +I was jist thinking the last time Edward and I talked the work over, +that I was glad now you hadn't. For you will be able to help the poor +folk that need you jist as well here, though I would be far from +putting anything above the preaching of the Gospel. But there will be +many ways of preaching the Gospel, Lad, and the lawyer has a great +chance. It will be by jist being neighbour to the folk in want. Folk +go more often to the lawyer or the doctor, Archie Blair says, when they +are in trouble, than they do to their minister, and I am afraid it's +true. And a great many of the folk that will come to you to get you to +do their business, Lad, will be folk in trouble, many who have fallen +among thieves on the Jericho Road, and you will be pouring in the oil +and the wine that the dear Lord has given you, and you will be doing it +all in His name." He sighed happily. "Oh, yes, indeed and indeed, it +will be a great ministry, Roderick, my son." +</P> + +<P> +Roderick was silent. His heart was touched. He resolved he would do +the best he could for any friend of his father who was in trouble. But +his eye was set on far prospects of great achievement, where Algonquin +and the Jericho Road had no place. +</P> + +<P> +Their talk was interrupted by Aunt Kirsty, who came to the door to +demand of him what he had done with his clothes. Had he come home, the +rascal, with nothing but what was on his back after the six pairs of +new socks she had sent him only last spring? +</P> + +<P> +Roderick sprang up. "My trunk! It will be on the wharf. I yelled at +Peter to put it off there, just as we were driving away, and said I'd +paddle over and get it. I forgot all about it, Aunt Kirsty." The +father and son looked at each other and smiled. It was easy to forget +when they were together. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll go after it right now. It's mostly old books and soiled clothes, +Auntie, but there's one nice thing in it. You ought to see the peach +of a shawl I got you." He ran in for his cap, and she followed him to +the door, scolding him for his foolish extravagance, but not deceiving +any one into thinking that she was not highly pleased. +</P> + +<P> +Angus stood long at the water's edge watching the Lad's canoe slip away +out on the mirror of the lake. The shore was growing dark, but the +water still reflected the rose of the sunset. The soft dip of his +paddle disturbed its stillness and a long golden track marked the road +he was taking out into the light. Away ahead of him, beyond the +network of islands, shone the glory of the departing day. The Lad was +paddling straight for the Gleam. The father's mind went back to that +evening of stormy radiance, when the little fellow had paddled away to +find the rainbow gold. +</P> + +<P> +His eyes followed the straight, alert young figure yearningly. He was +praying that in the voyage of life before him, his boy might never be +led away by false lights. He recalled the words of the poem Archie +Blair had recited the evening before at a young folks' meeting in the +town. +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +"Not of the sunlight<BR> +Not of the moonlight<BR> +Not of the starlight,<BR> +Oh young Mariner,<BR> +Down to the haven,<BR> +Call your companions<BR> +Launch your vessel<BR> +And crowd your canvas<BR> +And e'er it vanish<BR> +Over the margin<BR> +After it; follow it;<BR> +Follow the gleam!"<BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +It held the burden of his prayer for the Lad; that, ever unswerving, he +might follow the true Gleam until he found it, shining on the forehead +of the blameless King. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap04"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER IV +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +SIDE LIGHTS +</H3> + +<P> +Roderick was not thinking of that Gleam upon which his father's mind +was set, as he glided silently out upon the golden mirror of Lake +Algonquin. The still wonder of the glowing lake and sky and the +mystery of the darkening shore and islands carried his thoughts somehow +to a new wonder and dream; the light that had shone in the girl's brave +eyes, the colour that had flooded her face at his awkward words. They +were beautiful eyes but sad, and there were tints in her hair like the +gold on the water. Roderick had known scarcely any young women. His +life had been too busy for that—when he was away, books had claimed +all his attention, when he was home, the farm. But in the background +of his consciousness, shadowy and unformed, but none the less present, +dwelt a vague picture of his ideal woman; the woman that was to be his +one day. She was really the picture of his mother, as painted by his +father's hand, and as memory furnished a light here or a detail there. +Roderick had not had time to think of his ideal; his heart was a boy's +heart still—untried and unspoiled, but this evening her shadowy form +seemed to have become more definite, and it wore golden brown hair and +had sad blue-grey eyes. +</P> + +<P> +He swept silently around the end of Wanda Island, and his dreams were +suddenly interrupted by a startling sight; for directly in front of +him, just between the little bay and the lake beyond, bobbed an +upturned canoe and two heads! +</P> + +<P> +To the youthful native of Algonquin an upset into the lake was not a +serious matter; and to the young lady and gentleman swimming about +their capsized craft, the affair, up to a few moments previous, had +been rather a good joke. How it had happened that two such expert +canoeists as Leslie Graham and Fred Hamilton could fall out of anything +that sailed the water, was a question those who knew them could not +have solved. They had been over to Mondamin Island to gather +golden-rod and asters for a party the young lady was to give the next +evening. They had been paddling merrily homeward, the space between +them piled with their purple and golden treasure, and as they paddled +they talked, or rather the young lady did, for where Miss Leslie Graham +was, no one else had much chance to say anything. +</P> + +<P> +"There's the <I>Inverness</I> at the dock," she said, when they came within +view of the town. "Aunt Elinor's boarder must have come on it, the +girl that's going to teach in Miss Hasting's room." +</P> + +<P> +"I thought your aunt said you weren't to call her a boarder." +</P> + +<P> +The girl put her paddle across the canoe and leaned back with a burst +of laughter. She was handsome at any time, but particularly so when +she laughed, showing a row of perfect teeth and a merry gleam in her +black eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"Poor old Auntie! Isn't she a joke? She's scared the family +escutcheon of the Armstrongs will be sullied forever with the blot of a +boarder on it. Auntie Bell is nearly as bad too. My! I hope they +won't expect us to trot her around in our set." +</P> + +<P> +"Why?" asked young Mr. Hamilton. He was always interested in new girls. +</P> + +<P> +"Too many girls in it already. You know that, Fred Hamilton." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I say, I believe you're right, Les," he ventured, but with some +hesitation. He was a rather nice young fellow, with the inborn idea +that, theoretically, there couldn't be too many girls, but there was no +denying the fact that Algonquin seemed to have more than her fair +share. Only, Leslie was always so startlingly truthful, it was +sometimes rather disconcerting to hear one's half-formed thoughts +spoken out incisively as was her way. +</P> + +<P> +"There does seem to be an awful swarm of them," he admitted +reluctantly, "especially since the Harrisons and the Wests came to +town. I danced twenty-five times without drawing breath at Polly's +last spree, and never twice with the same girl. Where did she pick 'em +all up, anyway?" +</P> + +<P> +That was the last remark they could remember having made. And the girl +was wont to explain that the thing which happened next was a just +judgment upon the young man for uttering such sentiments, and a fearful +warning for his future. But the most elaborate explanations could +never quite solve the mystery, for they never knew how it chanced that +the next moment the canoe was over and they were in the water. To a +girl of Algonquin, a canoe upset was inexcusable; to a boy, a disgrace +never to be lived down. So when Leslie Graham and Fred Hamilton, who +had been born and brought up on the shores of the lake and had learned +to swim and walk simultaneously, found themselves in the water, the +first expression in their eyes, after an instant's startled surprise, +was one of indignation. +</P> + +<P> +"What on earth did you do?" gasped the girl, and "What on earth did you +do?" sputtered the boy. +</P> + +<P> +And then, being the girl she was, Leslie Graham burst out laughing, +"'What on the water,' would be more appropriate. Well, Fred Hamilton, +I never thought you'd upset!" +</P> + +<P> +"I didn't!" he cried indignantly. "You jumped, I saw you." +</P> + +<P> +"Jumped! I never did! And even if I did, I don't see why you should +have turned a somersault. I could dance the Highland Fling in a canoe +and not upset. Oh dear! all my flowers are gone!" They put their +hands on the upturned craft and floated easily. +</P> + +<P> +"What are you going to do about it?" she asked. "We're a long way from +shore, and the walking's damp." +</P> + +<P> +He glanced about. They were a good distance from land, but the only +danger he anticipated was the danger of a rescue. He would be +disgraced forever if some fellow paddled out from home and picked them +up. But a little island lay between them and the town, screening them +from immediate exposure. +</P> + +<P> +"Do? Why, just hop in again. Here, help me heave her over!" +</P> + +<P> +Many a time in younger days, just for fun, they had pitched themselves +out of their canoe, righted it again, "scooped" and "rocked" the water +out, and scrambled back over bow and stern. But that was always when +they wore bathing suits and there were no paddles and cushions floating +about to be collected. But they were ready for even this difficult +feat. They tumbled the canoe over to its proper position, and the +young man, by balancing himself upon one end and swimming rapidly, sent +the stern up into the air and "scooped" most of the water out. Then +they rocked it violently from side to side, to empty the remainder, +while the girl sang gaily "Rocked in the Cradle of the Deep," her +dancing eyes no less bright than the water drops glistening on her +black curly hair. +</P> + +<P> +But the emptying process was longer than they had anticipated, and the +evening air was growing cool. By the time the canoe was ready to +enter, the girl had stopped singing. +</P> + +<P> +"Hustle up, Freddie!" she called, giving a little shiver, as he shot +away through the water for a paddle. "This water's getting wetter +every minute." When he returned, he placed himself at the stern and +the girl at the bow. +</P> + +<P> +"Now," he cried, "when I say go, you climb like a cat, Les. Don't +hurry, just crawl in easy. Ready? Go!" +</P> + +<P> +She placed her hands on the gunwale and drew herself up, while her +companion, with an eye on her progress, slowly crawled over the stern. +</P> + +<P> +But the heavy drag of her soaked cloth skirt was too much for the +girl's strength. She paused, failed at the critical moment, slipped to +one side, and they were once more in the water, the canoe bottom up. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, hang!" exclaimed the young man. Then apologetically, "Never mind, +heave her over, and we'll do it again." +</P> + +<P> +But the girl's teeth had begun to chatter, and the work of emptying the +canoe the second time was not such a joke. And the second attempt to +get in and the third also proved a failure. +</P> + +<P> +"What's the matter, anyhow?" grumbled the boy impatiently. "You've +done that three times, Leslie!" +</P> + +<P> +He was amazed and dismayed to see her lip quiver. "I can't do it, +Fred. I'm all tired out. I—I believe I'm going to yell for help." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, Great Scott, Leslie!" groaned the young man. Then encouragingly, +"You're all right. Cheer up! I'll get you into this thing in no time." +</P> + +<P> +He set to work again briskly, but though the girl helped, it was +without enthusiasm. She was going through an entirely new experience. +In all her happy life, untouched by sorrow or privation of any kind, +she had never felt the need of help. Fred and she had been chums since +they were babies, and were going to be married some day, perhaps. Fred +was a good, jolly fellow, he was well off, well-dressed, and quite the +leader of all the young men of the town. But now, for the first time, +her dauntless gay spirit was forsaking her, and a vision of how +inadequate Fred might be in time of stress was coming dimly to her +awakening woman's heart. She would almost rather have drowned than +play the coward. But she wanted Fred to be afraid for her. She was +more of a woman than she knew. +</P> + +<P> +And then, just as a wave of fear was coming over her, Roderick McRae, +in his canoe, came out around the point and paddled straight towards +them. +</P> + +<P> +She gave a cry of joyful relief. "A canoe! Oh, look, Fred! +Somebody's coming this way from McRae's cove!" +</P> + +<P> +The young man turned with some apprehension mingling with his joy. He +would almost as soon be detected appropriating funds from the bank +where he clerked, as be caught in this ignominious plight. There was +just a slight sense of relief, however, for they had been a long time +in the water. But he would not admit that. +</P> + +<P> +"Pshaw!" he grumbled. "I wish they'd waited a minute longer." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I don't!" cried his companion tremulously. +</P> + +<P> +The boy looked across the canoe at her. Never, in the twenty years he +had known Leslie Graham intimately, had he before seen her daunted. +</P> + +<P> +"What's up?" he demanded. "You're not losing your nerve, Leslie?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, I'm not!" she snapped, trying desperately to hide an unexpected +quaver in her voice. "But—" +</P> + +<P> +"You're not chilled, are you?" +</P> + +<P> +"No. Not much." +</P> + +<P> +"Nor cramped?" +</P> + +<P> +"No." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, you're all right then. Goodness, you've been in the water hours +longer than this, heaps of times. Cheer up, old girl, you're all +right. What's the matter, anyhow?" +</P> + +<P> +But she did not answer, for she hardly knew herself. She had no real +fear of being drowned, that seemed impossible. But strange new +feelings had begun to stir in the heart, that so far had been only the +care-free heart of a girl, almost the heart of a daring boy. She did +not realise that what she really wanted was that Fred should be +solicitous about her. If he had shown the slightest anxiety over her +she would have become recklessly daring. But young Fred would as soon +have shown tender care for a frisky young porpoise in the water, as +Leslie, even had it been his nature to care unduly for any one but Fred +Hamilton. +</P> + +<P> +The canoe was approaching swiftly, and the man in it was near enough to +be recognised. "I say," cried Fred, "it's Rod McRae. I didn't know he +was home. Ship ahoy, there!" he shouted gaily. "Hurrah, and give us a +lift; it's too damp for the lady to walk home!" +</P> + +<P> +Leslie Graham looked at the approaching canoeist. She and Fred +Hamilton had both attended the same school, Sunday-school and church as +Roderick McRae. But she could remember him but dimly as an awkward +country boy, in her brief High School days, before she "finished" with +a year at a city boarding-school. Her life at school had been all fun +and mischief, and rushing away from irksome lessons to more fun at +home; his had been all serious hard work, and rushing away from the +fascination of his lessons to harder work on the farm. Fred Hamilton +had never worked at school, but he knew him better; the free-masonry of +boyhood had made that possible. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, what's happened?" cried Roderick as he swept alongside the wreck. +"Fred Hamilton! Surely you're not upset?" +</P> + +<P> +"Doesn't look like it, does it?" enquired the young man in the water +rather sarcastically. "Here, give this thing a hoist, will you, Rod? +I can't understand how such an idiotic thing happened? Miss Graham and +I were paddling along as steadily as you are now, and—" +</P> + +<P> +But Roderick was paying no attention to him. He was looking at the +girl hanging to the upturned canoe, her eyes grieved and frightened. +With a quick stroke he placed himself at her side. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, you're all tired out," he cried. "You must get in here." +</P> + +<P> +She looked up at him gratefully. She had never realised how welcome a +sympathetic voice could sound. She answered, not the least like the +dauntless Leslie, "I just can't! I can't climb over the bow. It's no +use trying." +</P> + +<P> +Roderick was at his best where any one was in distress. His knightly +young heart prompted him to do the right thing. +</P> + +<P> +"You don't need to," he said gently. "I can take you in over the side. +Here, Fred, come round and help." +</P> + +<P> +Fred came to her, and Roderick slipped down into the bottom of the +canoe. He leaned heavily to the side opposite the girl, and extended +his hand. "Now, you can do it quite easily," he said encouragingly. +"Catch the thwart; there—no, sideways—that's it! Steady, Fred, don't +hurry her. There you are. Now!" She had rolled in somehow over the +side, and sat soaked and heavy, half-laughing and half-tearful, right +at his feet. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh," she said, "I'm making you all wet." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, that's the neatest ever," cried Fred Hamilton in involuntary +admiration. +</P> + +<P> +The work of emptying the other canoe, with the help of such an expert, +was an easy matter. When it was ready Roderick held it while Fred +tumbled in. Stray cushions and paddles, and even an armful of soaking +golden-rod were rescued, and then the two young men looked +involuntarily at the girl. +</P> + +<P> +"Hop over the fence, Leslie!" cried Fred. He was in high good humour +now, for Rod McRae would never tell on a fellow, or chaff him in public +about an upset. +</P> + +<P> +But Leslie Graham shook her head. Something strange had happened, she +had grown very quiet and grave. +</P> + +<P> +"No," she said in a low voice, "I don't want any more adventures +to-night. You'll take me home, won't you—Roderick?" She hesitated +just a moment over the name, but remembering she had called him that at +school, she ventured. +</P> + +<P> +"It would give me the greatest pleasure," he cried cordially. His +diffidence had all vanished, he was master of the situation. +</P> + +<P> +He glanced half-enquiringly at the other young man, to see relief +expressed quite frankly on his face. +</P> + +<P> +"All right, Leslie! Thanks ever so, Rod. I can scoot over to the +boathouse and get some dry togs, before I go home. And say—you won't +say anything about this now, Les, will you?" +</P> + +<P> +The girl's spirits were returning. "Why not?" she asked teasingly. +"It wouldn't be fair to keep such a gallant rescue a secret." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, please don't!" cried Roderick in dismay. +</P> + +<P> +"But it would make such a nice column for The <I>Chronicle</I>," said the +girl demurely. "I really can't promise, Fred. Tom Allen would give me +ten dollars for it, I am sure." +</P> + +<P> +"If you dare!" cried the young man wrathfully. "I'd never hear the end +of it. And your mother would never let you out on the water again, you +know that, Les," he added threateningly. +</P> + +<P> +"That's so," she admitted. "Well, I'll see, Freddy. Cheer up. If I +do tell I promise to make you the hero of the adventure." +</P> + +<P> +She waved her hand to him laughingly, as Roderick's long strokes sent +them skimming away over the darkening water. When they were beyond +earshot, she turned to her rescuer. +</P> + +<P> +"It's all right to joke about it now," she said, her tone tremulous, +"but it was beginning to be anything but a joke. I—I do believe— +Why, I just know that you saved my life, Roderick McRae. And there is +one person I am going to tell, I don't care who objects, and that's my +father. And you'll hear from him; for he thinks, the poor mistaken +man, that his little Leslie is the whole thing!" +</P> + +<P> +And even though Roderick protested vigorously, he could not help +feeling that it would be a great stroke of good fortune to have +Algonquin's richest and most powerful man feel he was in his debt. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap05"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER V +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +FOLLOWING THE GLEAM +</H3> + +<P> +When the <I>Inverness</I> bumped against the wharf at Algonquin, the strange +girl, standing with her bag in her hand, waiting to step ashore, was +surprised to see the late enemy of the boat drive down upon the dock. +She was still more surprised to see that his face was beaming with good +nature, as he hailed the captain. But then, she did not, as yet, know +Lawyer Edward Brians. +</P> + +<P> +"Hech, Jamie, lad!" he shouted. "Hoot! Awa wi ye, mon! Are ye no +gaun tae get the fowk ashore the nicht?" +</P> + +<P> +And then there was a long outpouring of strange indistinguishable +sounds, which caused the Ancient Mariner to stop smoking and +expectorate into Lake Algonquin with a disgusted "Huh!" For Lawyer +Ed's Gaelic, though fluent, was a thing to make Highland ears shudder. +</P> + +<P> +At the first appearance of the buggy, the captain had turned away in +haughty silence, and went on with his task of seeing that his +passengers were safely landed, without so much as a glance at his +talkative friend. +</P> + +<P> +But his frigid reception seemed only to tickle Lawyer Ed's sense of +amusement. He leaned back in his seat, shut up his eyes, and laughed +loudly. "Well, for downright pigheadedness and idiotic pertinacity, +commend me to a Scotchman every time," he cried delightedly. +</P> + +<P> +He threw the lines over the dashboard, and sprang out of the buggy, +straight, alert and vigorous. +</P> + +<P> +"It's no use, your trying that air of dignity on me, Jimmie McTavish!" +he cried, striding over the gang-plank. "You nearly made me lose a +train and a client into the bargain. And if I had lost him, that bit +of business of yours wouldn't have been worth a puff of smoke, my braw +John Hielanman!" He slapped the captain on the back, and a peculiar +change came over the latter's face. There was no man in Algonquin who +could remain angry at Lawyer Ed and be hammered by him on the back. He +was voted the most exasperating person in the world, by people of all +ages, and many a time an indignant individual would announce publicly +that dire vengeance was about to be launched upon his wicked head. But +when all Algonquin waited for the blow to fall, presently Lawyer Ed and +the injured party would appear in the most jovial companionship, and +once more his execution was postponed. It was as usual this time, the +captain's wrath broke, shattered by that friendly blow upon the back. +He still kept up a show of taciturnity, by a grumbling monologue +concerning the undignified procedure of Irishmen in general, but the +Irishman laughed so loud that Captain Jimmie was deceived into thinking +he had said something very witty indeed, and laughed too, in spite of +himself. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm hunting a young lady," cried Lawyer Ed; "the new teacher. Miss +Armstrong hailed me in passing and said I was to drive her up." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, yes, Mr. Brians," cried Alfred Wilbur, bustling up, "she's over +there. I was going to show her the way up myself. It's too bad to +trouble you, when you're so busy." +</P> + +<P> +Lawyer Ed eyed him sternly. +</P> + +<P> +"What! Do you think I'd allow you, in all your magnificence, to burst +upon the vision of an innocent young girl, first go off, and have her +fall in love with you, and get her heart broken? Not much, young man! +We'll bring you on the stage gradually. A few ugly old married men +like Jimmie here, or a withered old bachelor like myself, will do as +preliminaries, and in about six months or so,—ah, well, well,—How do +you do, my dear young lady? I'm chairman of the school board and I +just drove down to tell you that you are very welcome to Algonquin." +</P> + +<P> +He had pushed Afternoon Tea Willie quite out of sight and followed the +captain to where the new teacher stood alone. He took her hand and +shook it vigorously, his kind blue eyes beaming a welcome. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm sure we are glad you've come!" he declared again, still more +heartily, for he saw the homesickness in the big eyes. "You'll be as +happy here as a bob-o-link in a field of clover. I needn't ask you if +Captain McTavish took good care of you on the way up. He couldn't help +it, with that Hieland heart of his, eh, Jimmie, lad? Whenever we want +to make a good impression upon a stranger, Miss Murray, we always see +that he comes to Algonquin by boat, for by the time the <I>Inverness</I> +carries him for an afternoon, he's so prejudiced in our favour, he +never gets over it. Eh, my braw John Hielanman?" +</P> + +<P> +He slapped the captain on the back again, and his forgiveness was +complete. +</P> + +<P> +"Now, Miss Murray, I shall show you up to your new home. Give me your +bag. Never mind, Alfred Tennyson. You trot round there and tell young +Peter to see about that trunk. I'll send a wagon for it. Good-bye, +Jimmie. I'll see you at the meeting to-morrow night." +</P> + +<P> +He helped Helen into his buggy and tucked the lap-rug around her, while +Mr. Alfred Wilbur held his horse's head, though Lawyer Ed's horse, +everyone knew, would stand for a week untethered. He jumped in and +started off with a dash that nearly precipitated poor Afternoon Tea +Willie into the lake, and away they rattled up the street to the utter +discomfiture of the yellow dog and the yellow-and-white dog that were +fighting in the middle of Main Street. +</P> + +<P> +It was just the waiting time before the six-o'-clock bells and whistles +would break forth into a joyful clamour and send every one out on the +street; so the place was very quiet. The pretty streets rose up from +the lake, all cool and shady under their green canopy. It was like a +little town dropped down into the woods, and in spite of her +homesickness and the quiet loneliness of it all, the new-comer felt a +sensation of pleasure. +</P> + +<P> +Lawyer Ed gave her no chance to be lonely. He chatted away cheerfully, +pointing out this and that place of interest. As they turned off Main +Street up a wide avenue of swaying elms, he touched his horse into +greater speed, and leaning far over to one side, called her attention +to something across the street. +</P> + +<P> +"Look there, now!" he cried impressively. "Isn't that a fine building? +Just take a good look at this, Miss Murray. I don't think that in all +Algonquin there is a place like it." +</P> + +<P> +"I—I don't think I saw," said Helen, looking about her puzzled, for +they had passed nothing but a row of very modest homes. She looked at +him enquiringly, to find him leaning back, his eyes shut, and shaking +with laughter. +</P> + +<P> +"Never mind. Don't hurt your eyes, child. There's nothing there. But +we've just passed my office, on the opposite side, and I saw from the +corner of my eye about a half-dozen people waiting for me, all in a bad +humour. It's just as well that I shouldn't get a better view of them. +Tut, tut, don't apologise. I don't want to hurry back. Patience is a +virtue every man should practise, and I believe in giving my clients a +whack at it whenever I can. There's the Manse. I've heard Dr. Leslie +speak of your father. We knew him by report if not personally. You'll +find Doctor Leslie a fine pastor. He'll make you feel at home." +</P> + +<P> +He glanced back towards his office and laughed again. "I'm trying +to—well not exactly retire—but to ease off a bit on my business. And +I'm going to have a partner, the son of an old friend. Why, he came +part of the way on the boat with you." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, yes, the young man who took the terrible leap," she said. She did +not want to confess she had met him before. +</P> + +<P> +"That's nothing for Rod!" laughed Lawyer Ed. "He'd jump twice that +distance. Ah, he's a great lad, is Roderick. He's going to make +another such man as his father, and that's about the highest praise I +can give him. Old Angus McRae—well you must meet him to know what +he's like. I believe I think more of Angus McRae—outside my own +immediate family—than of any living person, of course always excepting +Madame. Bless me! You haven't met her yet, of course?" +</P> + +<P> +"Why, no, I don't think so. Who is she?" +</P> + +<P> +"Madame, my dear Miss Murray, is the handsomest and cleverest and most +delightful young lady in all Canada or the United States. And she's +your Principal, so you may think yourself fortunate. You two girls +will have a grand time together." +</P> + +<P> +Helen felt not a little relieved. A Principal who was a girl of about +her own age, and who was evidently possessed of so many charms, would +surely not be a formidable person to face on the dread to-morrow. +</P> + +<P> +They had been steadily climbing the hills, under great low-branched +maples and elms, and past scented gardens. And now they pulled up in +front of a big square brick house set primly in a square lawn. +</P> + +<P> +"Now, here's your boarding-house, my dear," said her guide, springing +down and helping her to alight. "This is Grandma Armstrong's place. +Remember that she's grandmother to nearly all Algonquin, and don't +laugh at her peculiarities when there's any one round. You'll have to +when you're alone, just as a safety-valve. You'll like the daughters. +The elder one is a bit stiff, but they're fine ladies." He had rung +the bell by this time, and now it was opened by a tall handsome lady, +slightly over middle age. The Misses Armstrong, because of an old +acquaintance with her father, had stepped aside from the strict rules +they had hitherto followed, and had taken the new school teacher as a +boarder. Helen had often heard her father speak of them and knew, the +moment the door opened, that this was Miss Armstrong, the eldest, who +had been a belle in her father's day. She belonged so obviously to the +house, that Helen had a complete sense of fitness at the sight of her. +Like it she was tall, erect and fine looking, in a stately, stiff +fashion. +</P> + +<P> +Lawyer Ed presented his charge in his most affable manner, and Miss +Armstrong smiled upon him graciously and upon her with some reserve. A +boarder, after all, had to be kept at a distance, even though she were +the daughter of an old friend. +</P> + +<P> +"And how is Grandma, to-day?" enquired Lawyer Ed. "And Annabel? Isn't +she home?" +</P> + +<P> +"Mother has gone to bed this afternoon, Edward, but she is very well, I +thank you. She will be disappointed when she hears you were here. +Annabel has gone to the meeting of the Club. She will be back +presently. I remained at home to welcome Miss Murray." +</P> + +<P> +"Good-bye just now, then, my child," he said paternally, taking Helen's +hand. He saw the homesick anguish returning to her big eyes, and he +squeezed the hand until it hurt. "You'll have a great time in +Algonquin, never fear. The air here will bring the roses back to your +cheeks. Won't it, Elinor?" +</P> + +<P> +Miss Armstrong agreed and bade him a gracious good-afternoon, moving +out on the steps to see him to the gate. She then led the way up the +long steep stair. The ceilings of Rosemount were very high, and every +step echoed weirdly. They went along another hall upstairs flanked by +two terrible pictures, one a scene of carnage on land—Wellington +meeting Blücher on the field of Waterloo, the other an equally dreadful +scene on water—Nelson's death on the <I>Victory</I>. Her bedroom was a big +airy place, stiff and formal and in perfect order. The ceiling again +impressed her with its vast distance from the floor. In the centre of +this one, like the others, was a circular ornamental device of plaster; +flowers and fruit and birds, and great bunches of hard white grapes +that looked ready to fall heavily upon one's head. One end of the room +was almost filled with a black marble mantel and over it hung a picture +of Queen Victoria with her family, in the early days of her married +life. There was a big low bed of heavy walnut, four high windows with +stiff lace curtains, a circular marble-topped table and a tiny writing +desk. Miss Armstrong assisted her to remove her hat, expressing the +hope that she had had a pleasant trip from Barbay. Helen did not say +that her heart had been aching all the way. She merely assured her +that the trip had been very comfortable indeed, and that Captain +McTavish had done everything to make it enjoyable. +</P> + +<P> +"Jimmie McTavish is a kind creature," said Miss Armstrong. "Very +ignorant, and too familiar entirely; but he is well-meaning, for all +that. Now, I hope you will feel perfectly at home with us here, Miss +Murray. Your father's daughter could not but be welcome at Rosemount. +Indeed, I am afraid, had you not been a clergyman's daughter, I should +never have consented to taking you. Having any one to board was so +foreign to our minds. But Mr. Brians begged us to take you. You see +he is chairman of the school board, and always sees to it that the +young persons who teach have suitable homes." +</P> + +<P> +"I am so sorry if my coming has inconvenienced you," stammered Helen, +for Miss Armstrong's manner was very impressive. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, not at all, I assure you. When we heard who you were, we +consented with pleasure. We have so much more room in this big house +than we need. There is a very large family of us, Miss Murray, as you +will discover, but now there are only my mother and my sister and I +left at Rosemount." Her face grew sad. "But indeed I sometimes have +thought recently," she added, growing stately again, "that my dear +father would turn in his grave if he knew we were filling Rosemount +with boarders." +</P> + +<P> +She paused a moment, and the strange girl was wondering miserably if +she should take her bag and move out to some other place, rather than +risk disturbing her father's old friend in his last long sleep, when +Miss Armstrong went on. "I hope you won't mind, Miss Murray, you are +to be as one of the family, you know, and if you would be so good—" +she hesitated and a slight flush rose in her face. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes?" asked Helen wonderingly. +</P> + +<P> +"If you would be so good as to not use the word <I>board</I>. I don't know +why it should be so offensive to me," she added with a little laugh. +"My ears are very sensitive, I suppose. But if you wouldn't mind +saying, in the course of your conversation, that you are <I>staying</I> with +the Rosemount Armstrongs, it would please me so much." +</P> + +<P> +"Certainly, I shall remember," said Helen, much relieved. +</P> + +<P> +"Thank you so much. And now if you would like to rest for a little +after your journey you may. Supper will be served in the course of +half-an-hour." +</P> + +<P> +Helen felt a lump growing in her throat that made the thought of food +choke her. But she dared not refuse. To remain alone in that big +echoing room, was only to invite thoughts of home and other far off and +lost joys. +</P> + +<P> +When Miss Armstrong had left her, and her trunk had come bumping up the +back stairs and been deposited in the vast closet, she sat down on the +black haircloth chair and looked hopelessly around the big dreary room. +There rose before her a vision of her own room at the old home, the +room that she and her sister Betty had shared. It had rose-bordered +curtains and rose-festooned wall-paper and pink and white cushions. +And it had a dear mother-face peeping in at the door to chide her +gently if she sat too late writing those long letters to Dick. +</P> + +<P> +The memory of it all came over her with such a rush that she felt she +must throw herself upon that broad white bed and sob herself sick. But +she sat still, holding her hands tightly clenched, and choking back the +tears. She had work to do and she must be ready for that work. To +give way in private meant inefficiency in public to-morrow. +School-teaching was a new, untried field of labour for her, and if she +went to bed and cried herself to sleep, as she wanted to do, she would +have a headache for to-morrow and she would fail. And she must not +fail, she told herself desperately; she dared not fail, for Mother was +depending upon her success. And yet she had no idea how that success +was to be gained. She knew only too well that she was not fitted for +her task. She had never wanted to teach school, and had never dreamed +she would need to. Her place had always been at home, and a big place +she had filled as Mother's help and the minister's right hand. But her +father had insisted upon her taking her teacher's certificate. "It's +easy to carry about, Nellie," he was wont to say, "and may come useful +some day." +</P> + +<P> +So Helen had gone, with good-natured indulgence of Father's whim, and +studied at a training school, with one eye on her books and the other +watching for Dick to come up the street. And when she brought home her +despised diploma, there was a diamond ring on the hand that placed it +on her father's desk. That had been a year ago. And almost +immediately after, her father had been taken from them. The old home +went next. The boys and girls scattered to earn their own living. +Mother had gone with Betty, who had married, and who lived away in the +West. And then the last and best treasure had been taken, the diamond +with its marvellous lights and colours, and with it had gone out all +the light and colour of life. +</P> + +<P> +She was just twenty-three, and she had been given the task of working +out a new strange life unaided, with nothing ahead of her but work and +loneliness. +</P> + +<P> +At first she had given way to a numb despair, then necessity and the +needs of the family aroused her. There was something for her to do, +something that had to be done, and back of all the wreck of her life, +dimmed by clouds of sorrow, there stood her father's God. In spite of +all the despair and dismay she felt instinctively He must be somewhere, +behind it all. She did not know as yet, that that assurance spelled +hope. But she knew that there was work for her and there was Mother +waiting until she should make her a home. +</P> + +<P> +She sprang up, as her misery threatened to overwhelm her again, and +began swiftly to change her dress and arrange her hair. She pulled +back the stiff curtains of one of the tall windows and leaned out. A +soft blue haze, the first glimpse of September's tender eyes, was +settling on the distant hills. The sun was setting, and away up the +street towards the west flamed a gold and crimson sky, and away down in +the east flamed its gold and crimson reflection on the mirror of Lake +Algonquin. From the garden below, the scent of the opening nicotine +blossoms came up to her. +</P> + +<P> +She was sitting there, trying to admire the beauty of it all, but her +heart protesting against the feeling of utter loneliness it bred, when +there came a sharp tap on the door. It opened the next moment and a +young lady tripped in. +</P> + +<P> +"Good evening, Miss Murray. I just bounced in to say welcome to +Rosemount. I'm so glad you've come. I've just been dying to have a +girl in the house of my own age." +</P> + +<P> +She caught Helen's two hands in hers with genuine kindliness. +</P> + +<P> +She was a plump fair lady with fluffy yellow hair and big blue eyes. +She was dressed in a pink flowered muslin trimmed with girlish frills +and wore a big hat wreathed with nodding roses. Helen was puzzled. +This wasn't Miss Annabel, then; for her mother had said the Misses +Armstrong were both over forty. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm Annabel Armstrong," she said, settling the question. Helen gave +her a second look and saw that Miss Annabel carried signs of maturity +in her face and form, albeit she carried them very blithely indeed. +"And I can't tell you how glad I am you've come. You'll just adore +Algonquin. It's the gayest place on earth, a dance or a tea or a +bridge or some sort of kettle-drum every day. What a love of a dress! +It's the very colour of your eyes, my dear. Come away now; you must +meet Mother. She always takes supper in her own room now, and I must +carry it to her. Our little maid is about as much use as a pussy-cat +and if I'm not in the kitchen every ten minutes to tramp on her tail +she'll go to sleep. Come along!" +</P> + +<P> +She danced away down the hall, Helen following her, feeling extremely +old and prim. Grandma Armstrong's bedroom was at the back of the house +overlooking the orchard and kitchen-garden. She was sitting up in bed, +a very handsome little old lady in cap and ribbons. She gave the +strange girl's hand a gentle pressure. +</P> + +<P> +"Here she is, Muzzy," cried Miss Annabel in an apologetic tone. "It's +too bad you didn't see her sooner, but she was so busy." +</P> + +<P> +"Indeed I generally notice that I am left to the last, when any new +person comes to the house," said Grandma Armstrong in a grieved tone. +"Well, my dear, I am pleased to see the Rev. Walter Murray's son in my +house. You look like him—yes, very much, just the image of him in +fact, only of course he was a man and wore a portmanteau when I knew +him." +</P> + +<P> +Grandma Armstrong's separate faculties were all alert and as keen as +they had ever been in youth. But some strange lack of connection +between her tongue and her memory, seemed to have befallen the old +lady, so that they did not always agree, and she was wont to +intersperse her otherwise quite intelligent conversation with words +having no remotest connection with the context. +</P> + +<P> +"A moustache, you mean, Muzzy dear," said her daughter. "Mother +forgets you know," she added, in a hasty, low apology to Helen. +</P> + +<P> +"Why do you interrupt me, Annabel? I said a moustache. I hope you +sleep well here, my dear. I had that room of yours for some time, but +I had to move back here, I could never get to sleep after they put up +the Israelite at the corner. It shone right over my bed. Let me see +now. You are the second daughter, are you not? Your father was a fine +man, my dear. Yes, indeed. We knew him well as a student. He +preached one summer in—where was that, Annabel? Alaska?" +</P> + +<P> +"Muskoka, Mother." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, yes, Muskoka, and the Rev. Walter Hislop, your father, was there +as a student." +</P> + +<P> +"Murray, you mean, Mother." +</P> + +<P> +"Don't interrupt me, Annabel. Your uncle preached there two summers, +my dear, and I thought my daughter Annabel and he—" +</P> + +<P> +"It was Elizabeth, Mother, not me! Good gracious, how old do you think +I am?" demanded Miss Annabel, quite alarmed. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, Elizabeth, of course. I really thought she and your brother, the +Rev. Mr. McIntosh, should have become engaged before the summer was +over. But we had other plans for our daughter, and we thought it wiser +for her to go to the sea-shore the next summer." +</P> + +<P> +"Now, Mother," said Miss Annabel tactfully. "Miss Murray doesn't want +to hear all that ancient history. She has to get her supper. She's +tired and hungry." +</P> + +<P> +Helen slept soundly that night. Two big windows of her room looked out +to the west where, beyond the town, ran a high wooded ridge, and the +low organ tones of the evening wind singing through the trees made her +forget her grief and lulled her to sleep. +</P> + +<P> +She set off to her work early in the morning, nervous and apprehensive. +Her hostesses all wished her well. Miss Armstrong, in her quiet +stately fashion hoped she would find her employment congenial, and +Grandma expressed the desire that Miss Carstairs would enjoy her work +at the cemetery, a remark which the worried young teacher felt was more +appropriate than the kindly old lady guessed. Miss Annabel followed +her to the gate, with instructions regarding the road to school. She +plucked a big crimson dahlia from its bed and stuck it in the belt of +Helen's blue dress. +</P> + +<P> +"Good luck, dearie, and cheer up!" she cried, seeing the look in the +sad blue eyes. "School teaching's heaps of fun, I feel sure. Don't +worry about it. We're going to have great times in the evenings. +There's always something on. Bye bye, and good luck," and she tripped +up the garden path waving her hand gaily. +</P> + +<P> +Helen had scarcely gone half a block under the elm boughs, when she +heard her name called out in a musical roar from far up the street +behind her. She had not been in Algonquin twenty-four hours, but she +knew that voice. She was just a bit scandalised as she turned to see a +man waving his cane, as he hurried to overtake her. But she had not +yet learned that no one minded being hailed half-a-mile away by Lawyer +Ed. +</P> + +<P> +He was accompanied by a lady, a tall woman of such ample proportions, +that she had some ado to keep up with Lawyer Ed's brisk step. She wore +a broad old-fashioned hat tied under her round chin, and a gay flowered +muslin dress that floated about her with an easy swaying motion. She +wore, too, a pair of soft low-heeled slippers, that gave forth a +soothing accompaniment to the rhythm of her movements. She was +surrounded by a perfect bodyguard of children. They danced behind her +and ahead of her, they clung to her hands and peeped from the flowing +muslin draperies, while she moved among them, serene and smiling like a +great flower surrounded by a cloud of buzzing little bees. +</P> + +<P> +"Good morning, good morning!" shouted the chairman of the school board. +"Abroad bright and early and ready for work! Well, well, well," he +added admiringly, as he shook her hands violently, "if the Algonquin +air hasn't commenced to do its work already! Now, my dear, brace up +and don't be frightened. It is my duty as chairman of the school board +to introduce you to your stern principal. Miss Murray, I have the +honour of presenting you to Mrs. Doasyouwouldbedoneby, known in private +life as Mrs. Adam; but if you are as nice as you look, you may one day +be admitted to the inner circle of her friends, and then you will be +allowed to call her Madame." +</P> + +<P> +As the lady took her hand and turned upon her a smile in proportion to +her size, Helen suddenly realised why she had seemed so familiar even +at the first glance. She was exactly like the wonderful fairy who +cared for the water-babies at the bottom of the sea. And the +resemblance was further heightened by the presence of the babies +themselves who came swarming about to settle all over her, and when +shoved out of the way, only came swarming back. +</P> + +<P> +"Bless me, what a mistake!" she cried. "It's you that's the Principal +and I'm the assistant. I'm so thankful you're young, my dear. I can't +stand old folks, and middle-aged people are my abhorrence. I told +Edward Brians that if he put me down there all alone with a middle-aged +woman,—a young gay thing like me,—I just wouldn't stand it." +</P> + +<P> +"I don't think there are any old people in Algonquin, are there?" asked +Helen. +</P> + +<P> +They were moving on down the street now, and their going was something +of a triumphal procession. At every turn some one joined them,—young +or old, and from every side greetings were called after them, until the +bewildered stranger felt as if she had become part of a circus parade. +She was feeling almost light-hearted as the gay throng moved forward, +when they passed their escort's office, and in the doorway stood the +young Mr. McRae who reminded her so sadly of the past. +</P> + +<P> +"Hooray, Rod," roared his chief. "A graun beginnin', ma braw John +Hielanman! Come down here off that perch and do your respects to the +March of Education!" +</P> + +<P> +Roderick obeyed very willingly. He had been a pupil of Madame's in his +primary days, notwithstanding her extreme youth, and she welcomed him +home and hoped he would be as good a boy as he had been when she had +him. Then Lawyer Ed introduced him to the new teacher. She shook +hands, but she did not say they had met before, and Roderick tactfully +ignored the fact also, for which he fancied she gave him a glance of +gratitude. They moved on but soon the March of Education was again +interrupted. Across the street, Doctor Archie Blair, with his black +satchel in his hand and a volume of Burns beneath his arm, was +preparing to climb into his buggy for a drive into the country. He +stepped aside for a moment and crossed the street to tell Madame how +glad he was to see her back from her holidays, for the town had been a +howling wilderness without her. +</P> + +<P> +"This is Miss Murray, the new teacher, I know," he added before Lawyer +Ed could introduce him. "You will learn soon, Miss Murray, that if you +want to find a stranger in Algonquin, especially a strange young lady, +you have just to hunt up Lawyer Brians and there she is." +</P> + +<P> +"And a very good place to be, Archie Blair," said Madame. "If every +one looked after strangers as well as he does there wouldn't be many +lonely people." +</P> + +<P> +"Hear, hear, Madame," roared Lawyer Ed. "No one knows my virtues as +you do. Did ye hear yon, Aerchie mon?" +</P> + +<P> +"The trouble is, Miss Murray," said the doctor, without paying the +slightest attention to the other two, "the trouble is that this +gentleman doesn't give any one else a chance to do a good deed. He +does everything himself. No one in Algonquin minds neglecting his +duty, for he knows that Mr. Brians would be there ahead of him and get +it done anyway, so where's the use of bothering? I'm a member of the +school board, and I might be betraying my trust if I encouraged you to +neglect your work, but I feel I ought to tell you that if any day you +would like to take a few hours off, why, do so, Mr. Brians will teach +for you." +</P> + +<P> +There was a great deal more banter and fun, and the March of Education +was resumed with small recruits in clean pinafores darting out of homes +here and there to join it. It ended at last at the battered gate of +the little schoolhouse. The East Ward was a small part of the town, +consisting mostly of lake, so the population was not very large. There +were but two grades, of which Mrs. Adam taught the younger. +</P> + +<P> +The children scampered over the yard, and swarmed into the building. +Lawyer Ed ran about, scattering pink "bull's-eyes" all over the floor +and yard, calling, "Chukie, Chukie!" with the whole school at his heels +like a flock of noisy chickens. And when he had the place in an +uproar, he shouted good-bye and rushed away in a fit of laughter. +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Doasyouwouldbedoneby sank heavily into a chair, with a relieved +smile, and said, as Helen hung up her hat, and looked about +apprehensively, "Now, my dear child, I remember my first day at +school-teaching distinctly, and if yours is anything the same, you are +scared to death. So if you want to know anything or need any help, you +just come right along into my room, and we'll fix it up. And whatever +you do, don't worry. We're going to have just a glorious time +together, you and I." +</P> + +<P> +And the new teacher went to her first day's work with a heart far less +heavy than she would have believed possible. Far ahead had begun to +show the first faint glimmer of the light that was leading her through +sorrow and pain to a higher and better life. And all unconsciously she +had begun to follow its gleam. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap06"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VI +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +LAUNCHING HIS VESSEL +</H3> + +<P> +Roderick had been but two days in the office of Edward Brians, +barrister, and already he had learned a great deal. Two important +facts, not directly connected with the legal profession, had been +impressing themselves upon him. The first was that if he were going to +reach the goal of success that shone so alluringly ahead of him, he +must give every effort and every minute of time to his work; and the +second was that he was going to have a hard time concentrating upon it +in the various interests of the little town that seemed to demand his +attention. +</P> + +<P> +And there was his chief setting him a bad example. The young man had +spent part of his first morning wandering through the mass of documents +and scraps of paper which Lawyer Ed called his book-keeping. Between +items of a professional nature were memoranda or reports of session +meetings, Highland Club meetings, political meetings, country +tea-meetings, everything and anything except law. What there was of +the latter was connected only with such clients as were of ample means. +All the poor folk for miles around came to Lawyer Ed with their +troubles and were advised, scolded, pulled or paid out of them, and +never so much as a stroke of a pen to record the good deed. If they +paid him, well and good; if they did not, so much the better. And the +price of a ticket to the Holy Land and back—that trip which had not +yet materialised—might have been many times written down, had Lawyer +Ed known anything about book-keeping. But Lawyer Ed's policy in all +his career, had been something the same as that of his friend Doctor +Blair across the way—to keep his people of his practice well, rather +than to cure them when they were ill. So if he could manage it none of +his clients ever went into a law-court. It was good for the clients, +but bad for such things as trips abroad. Roderick did not see that +side of his chief's book-keeping. He did not know that the man could +put through more work in an hour than most men could in a day, and saw +only the meetings recorded which took so much of his time. And he said +to himself that that was not the way to become great. Some day he +intended to be one of the leading advocates of Canada. He was not +conceited. His was only the boundless hopefulness of youth coupled +with the assurance which experience had already given him, that +whenever he set his mind to anything, he accomplished it, no matter how +many difficulties stood in the way. So he was determined to +concentrate all his efforts on his work, and as for serving humanity, +he could do it best, he assured himself, by being a success in his +profession. +</P> + +<P> +He was just entering upon his second day when his advice was sought +from an unexpected source and in connection with an entirely new +subject. Lawyer Ed had gone out and Roderick was seated at his desk +when some one entered the hall and tapped hesitatingly on the inner +door. Roderick called an invitation to come in, and Mr. Alfred Wilbur, +in perfect white ducks and white canvas shoes, stepped inside. +</P> + +<P> +"So you've come to be Mr. Brians' partner, haven't you, Mr. McRae?" he +enquired. Mr. Wilbur was a well-mannered young man and had never +adopted the easy familiar way of naming people which was current in the +town. +</P> + +<P> +"Say rather his office-boy, for a while," said Roderick. +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Wilbur protested. "Oh, now, Mr. McRae, you're just quite too +modest. Every one's saying how well you did at college and school; and +that you're going to make your mark—you know you are." +</P> + +<P> +Roderick wondered why the young man should take such pains to be polite +to him. +</P> + +<P> +"Did you want to see Lawyer Ed?" he asked. +</P> + +<P> +"No, no, thank you," he cried in alarm. "He's not in, is he? No, I +just wanted to see you, Mr. McRae—not professionally you understand +but—that is—personally,—on a very sacred matter." +</P> + +<P> +His voice dropped to a whisper, he crossed his feet in front of him, +then drew them under his chair, twirled his hat, smoothed down the back +of his head vigorously, and looked in dismay at the floor. +</P> + +<P> +"I hope I can do something for you," said Rod encouragingly, feeling +sorry for his evident distress. +</P> + +<P> +"Thank you so much!" cried the young man gratefully. "It's about—that +is—I think, an old acquaintance of yours—Miss Murray, the new teacher +in the East Ward. She <I>is</I> an old acquaintance, isn't she?" +</P> + +<P> +It was Roderick's turn to feel hot and look embarrassed. He answered +his first client very shortly. +</P> + +<P> +"No, she isn't." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh! I thought—you went and spoke to her on the boat!" +</P> + +<P> +"So I did." +</P> + +<P> +"But you met her before surely?" asked the young man, aghast at the +notion of Roderick's boldness. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes." +</P> + +<P> +"In Toronto?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes." +</P> + +<P> +"Long ago?" +</P> + +<P> +"Last autumn." +</P> + +<P> +"Is her home there?" +</P> + +<P> +"I believe so. It was then." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, you don't know her very well then?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, I don't. And I don't know why on earth I've got to be put through +a catechism about it." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, say! You really must think I'm awful!" cried the poor young man +contritely. "I do beg your pardon, Mr. McRae. It really must have +sounded shocking to you. But, well—I—did you ever meet a young—any +one whom you knew—at first sight—was the one person in all the world +for you?" His voice sank. The day was cool and breezy, but poor +Afternoon Tea Willie's face was damp and hot and he wiped it carefully +with his fine hem-stitched handkerchief, murmuring apologies. +</P> + +<P> +"No, I never did," said Roderick quite violently, for no reason at all. +</P> + +<P> +"I beg your pardon, I'm sure," murmured his visitor, vaguely alarmed. +"You can't understand my feelings then. But that's really what I felt +when I saw her. It was a revelation, one of those swift certain +intuitions of the soul, and I—you don't mind my telling you this, do +you, Mr. McRae?" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, no, not if you don't mind," said Roderick. +</P> + +<P> +"It's so good of you," said poor Afternoon Tea Willie. "You were the +only one I could come to, the only one who seemed to know her. She +boards at Miss Armstrong's, but Miss Annabel—you know Miss Annabel? +No? Well, I wouldn't for worlds say anything against a lady, but Miss +Annabel doesn't seem to like me. I don't blame her, you know, but I +don't like to go there. It—I seem to bother her dreadfully, so I +thought—I knew you wouldn't mind introducing me some time, would you?" +</P> + +<P> +"I really don't know Miss Murray well enough to do that," said Roderick +decidedly. "And I wish you wouldn't say anything about our having met +before. I don't think she remembers me very well. Ask Mr. Brians to +introduce you." +</P> + +<P> +"I did, but he refused." +</P> + +<P> +"Perhaps he was only in fun, try him again—or Mrs. Adam. She teaches +with her." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh my! the very person." Mr. Wilbur sprang up. "Oh, I can't think +why I never thought of her before. I'll call on Madame this afternoon. +I can't thank you enough, Mr. McRae, for the kind suggestion." The +young man hurried out, profusely expressing his gratitude. Afternoon +Tea Willie had absolutely nothing in the world to do, but he was always +in a hurry. Perhaps the reason was that the ladies of the town ordered +him about so. He was the most obliging young man, and being always +available, he was used to the utmost, and was driven like a galley +slave from dawn to dark. As he went down the steps he turned back and +looked up at Roderick rapturously. +</P> + +<P> +"Say!" he whispered. "Did you ever see such eyes? Don't they make you +feel just as if you were going down in an elevator?" +</P> + +<P> +But Roderick turned quickly away, with an unreasonable and very +unbusinesslike desire to kick his first client down the steps. He had +almost closed the door behind him when a loud clear voice from the +street called his name. It was just four o'clock, the hour when all +the young ladies of Algonquin, dressed in their best, walked down to +the post-office for the afternoon mail which came in a half-hour +earlier. This afternoon post-office parade was a social function, for +only people of leisure and distinction were at liberty at that hour. +The young gentlemen from the bank generally emerged about that time +too, and came striding down to the post-office looking worried and +flurried as became gentlemen with the finances of the whole town and +half the country weighing them down. After they had all met at the +post-office, they went up to the ice-cream and candy palace on Main +Street, or out on the lake, or strolled off into the park. +</P> + +<P> +It was a member of the post-office parade who was hailing Roderick so +gaily. A pretty group was rustling past the office, all muslin frills +and silk sashes and flowers of every colour, and the prettiest and best +dressed of them all came running up the steps to his side, with a swish +of silken skirts and a whiff of violet perfume. +</P> + +<P> +It was Miss Leslie Graham, the girl he had helped out of the lake, not +forlorn and bedraggled now, but immaculate and dainty, from the rose +wreath on her big hat to the tip of her white kid shoe. +</P> + +<P> +"Hello!" she cried gaily. "I thought you'd surely 'phone over to see +whether I needed to make my will or not. You're not much of a lawyer." +</P> + +<P> +Roderick laughed. She was so frank and boyish that she put him quite +at his ease. +</P> + +<P> +"Well,—not knowing I was the family advocate, I didn't like to," he +said slyly. +</P> + +<P> +She laughed delightedly. "You're going to be after this, I can tell +you. Daddy's out of town and he doesn't know yet!" +</P> + +<P> +"There's no need to worry him by telling." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, but there just is. I haven't told a soul yet, and I nearly had to +commit murder to keep it from Mother. Fred's in a pink fit every +minute for fear I'll let it out. I've got heaps of fun holding it over +his head. It makes him good and obedient. Is Lawyer Ed in?" +</P> + +<P> +"No. Do you wish to see him?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, of course not. I just wondered if he wouldn't keep house, though, +for a few minutes, while you came along and joined the bunch. We're +all going to make Alf take us for ice-cream. We spied him leaving +here. Can't you come?" +</P> + +<P> +"Thank you, but I'm afraid I couldn't leave," said Roderick, rather +taken aback by her frankness. That ideal woman, who sat dimly +enthroned in the recesses of his heart, never offered her favours, they +had to be sued for, and she was apt to sit in judgment on the girl who +departed from her strict rule. +</P> + +<P> +"Come on, Les!" called a voice from the lingering group she had left. +"Here's Alf. He's going to treat us all. Ho! A-a-lf!" The young +ladies of Algonquin, had lived in such close proximity to each other +from childhood that a playmate could always be summoned even from the +other end of the town by a clarion call, and they had never seen any +reason for changing their convenient method when long skirts and +piled-up hair might have been supposed to demand a less artless manner. +But then every one shouted across blocks, and besides, every one knew +that Afternoon Tea Willie just dearly loved to be yelled at. He +whirled about now, waved his hat, and came hurrying back, with the +peculiar jerky irregular motion of his feet, that always marked his +movements. +</P> + +<P> +"Hurrah, Leslie!" called her companions again. +</P> + +<P> +"Coming!" she cried. "So sorry you can't come," she added, turning to +Roderick, "but we'll give you another invitation." She looked +disappointed, and a little inclined to pout, but she waved her hand as +she ran down the steps and joined the group of lace and flowers now +fluttering down the side-walk towards the ice cream parlour. +</P> + +<P> +"Leslie's made a new conquest," cried a tall girl with flashing black +eyes. "He seemed frantically anxious to come with you, my dear. I +don't see how you got rid of him." +</P> + +<P> +"Who is he, Les?" cried another. "If it's a new young man come to this +girl-ridden town you simply have got to pass him round and introduce +him." +</P> + +<P> +"Why, he's Lawyer Ed's new partner, you goosie," cried a dozen voices, +for it was inexcusable for any young lady not to know all about Lawyer +Ed's business. +</P> + +<P> +"A lawyer, how perfectly lovely!" cried a plump little girl with pink +cheeks and dancing eyes. "It's such a relief to see some one beside +bank boys. I'm going to ask his advice about suing Afternoon Tea +Willie for breach of promise. What's his name, Leslie?" +</P> + +<P> +"Why, his name's Roderick McRae," cried the young lady with the black +eyes. "I remember when he used to go to school in a grey homespun suit +with the hay sticking all over it. He's the son of old Angus McRae who +used to bring our cabbage and lettuce to the back door!" +</P> + +<P> +"Mercy!" the plump little girl gave a shriek. "Where in the world did +you pick him up, Leslie?" +</P> + +<P> +The girl whirled about and faced her companions, her eyes blazing, her +checks red. "I didn't pick him up at all!" she cried hotly. "He +picked me up the other night, out of the lake over by Breezy Point, +where Fred Hamilton upset me out of his canoe. And if Roderick McRae +hadn't come along I'd have been drowned. So now!" +</P> + +<P> +It had all come out in a rush. She had fully intended to shield Fred. +But she could not see her preserver scoffed at by those Baldwin girls. +Immediately there was a chorus of enquiries and exclamations. +Afternoon Tea Willie was overcome with distress and apologised for not +being there. Old Angus McRae's son immediately became a hero. +</P> + +<P> +The little plump girl with the big blue eyes sighed enviously. "Oh +dear! How lucky! I think it's a shame all the good things happen to +you, Leslie; and he's so handsome!" +</P> + +<P> +"I'm going to ask him to join our tennis club," said Leslie, looking +round rather defiantly. +</P> + +<P> +Leslie Graham, by virtue of the fact that her mother belonged to the +reigning house of Armstrong, and her father was the richest man in +Algonquin, was leader of the younger social set. But Miss Anna Baldwin +of the black eyes was her most powerful rival. They were constant +companions and very dear friends, and never agreed upon anything. So +immediately upon Miss Graham's daring announcement that this new and +very exclusive club should be entered by one not in their set, Miss +Baldwin cried, "Oh, how perfectly sweet and democratic! Our milkman +saved our house from burning down one morning last winter, don't you +remember, Lou? We must make Mamma ask him to her next tea!" +</P> + +<P> +Thereupon the group broke up into two sections, one loudly proclaiming +its democratic principles, the other as vigorously upholding the +necessity for drawing rigid social lines. And they all swept into the +ice-cream palace, like a swarm of hot, angry bees, followed by +Afternoon Tea Willie in great distress, apologising now to one side, +now to the other. +</P> + +<P> +Another call from his work came to Roderick the next afternoon when he +paid his first visit to Doctor Leslie. The old Manse did not look just +as hospitable as of old, there were no crowds on the veranda and in the +orchard any more. For the foster mother of the congregation had left +her children mourning, and gone to continue her good work in a brighter +and better world. +</P> + +<P> +Viney was still in the kitchen, however, doing all in her power to make +the lonely minister comfortable. She had been away from the Manse for +some years in the interval, but was now returned with a half-grown +daughter to help her. Viney had left Mrs. Leslie to marry "Mahogany +Bill," a mulatto from the negro settlement out in Oro. But Bill had +been of no account, and after his not too sadly mourned demise, his +wife, promoted to the dignified title of Mammy Viney, had returned with +her little girl to the Algonquin Manse, and there she was still. +</P> + +<P> +"And your father has you home at last, Roderick," said the minister, +rubbing his hands with pleasure and surveying the young man's fine +honest face with affection. "He has lived for this day. I hope you +won't get so absorbed in your practice that you won't be able to run +out to the farm often." +</P> + +<P> +"Aunt Kirsty will see to that," laughed Roderick. +</P> + +<P> +The minister beamed. "I'm afraid I shall get into her bad books then, +for I am going to keep you here as often as possible. You are just the +young man I want in the church, Roderick—one who will be a leader of +the young men. Algonquin is changing," he added sadly. "Perhaps +because it is growing rapidly. I am afraid there is a rather fast set +of young men being developed here. It makes my heart ache to see fine +young fellows like Fred Hamilton and Walter Armstrong learning to +gamble, and yet that is just what is happening. There's a great work +here for a strong young man with just your upbringing, my boy. We must +save these lads from themselves—'Who knoweth,'" he added with a smile, +"'but thou hast come to the Kingdom for such an hour.'" +</P> + +<P> +There was a great deal more of the same earnest call to work, and +Roderick went away conscious of a slight feeling of impatience. It was +just what his father was always saying, but how was he to attend to his +work, if he were to have all the responsibility of the young men of the +town and all the people of Willow Lane upon him? He was inclined to +think that every man should be responsible for himself. He was +kind-hearted and generous when the impulse came, but he did not want to +be reminded that his life's work was to be his brother's keeper. His +work was to be a lawyer. He did not yet realise that in being his +brother's keeper he would make of himself the best kind of lawyer. +</P> + +<P> +The next evening, when he prepared to go home, Lawyer Ed declared he +must just take his horse and drive him out to the farm and have a visit +with Angus and a drink of Aunt Kirsty's butter-milk. So, early in the +evening, they drove through the town down towards the Pine Road. +Willow Lane still stood there. The old houses were more dilapidated +than ever, and there were more now than there used to be. Doctor +Blair's horse and buggy stood before one of them. Willow Lane was on +low, swampy ground, and was the abode of fevers and diseases of all +sorts. +</P> + +<P> +As they whirled past it, Lawyer Ed waved his whip towards it in +disgust. "That place is a disgrace to Algonquin," he blustered. "We +boast of our town being the most healthful and beautiful in Ontario, +and it's got the ugliest and the most unsanitary spot just right there +that you'd find in Canada. If J. P. gets to be mayor next year he'll +fix it up. He's having it drained already. I hope you'll get +interested in municipal affairs, Rod. I tell you it's great. I'm so +glad I'll have more time for town affairs now that you're here. But +you must get going there too. There's nothing so bad for a +professional man as to get so tied down to his work that he can't see +an inch beyond it. You can't help getting interested in this place. +It's going ahead so. Now, the lake front there—" +</P> + +<P> +Lawyer Ed was off on his pet scheme, the beautifying of that part of +the lake front that was now made hideous by factory and mill and +railroad track and rows of tumble-down boathouses. +</P> + +<P> +And Roderick listened half-heartedly, interested only because it +interested his friend. They passed along the Jericho Road, with its +sweet-smelling pines; the soft mists of early autumn clothed Lake +Algonquin in a veil of amethyst. The long heavy grass by the roadside, +and masses of golden-rod shining dimly in the evening-light told that +summer had finished her task. She was waiting the call to leave. +</P> + +<P> +Lawyer Ed was not half through with the esplanade along the lake front +when they reached Peter McDuff's home. It was a forlorn old +weather-beaten house with thistles and mullen and sturdy burdocks +growing close to the doorway. An old gnarled apple-tree, weary and +discouraged looking, stood at one side of the house, its blackened +branches touching the ground. At the other lay a broken plow, on top +of a heap of rubbish. A sagging wood-pile and a sorry-looking pump +completed the dreariness. +</P> + +<P> +And yet there were signs of a better day. The dilapidated barn was +well-built, the fences had once been strong and well put together, and +around the house were the struggling remains of an old garden, with +many a flower run wild among the thistles. The history of the home had +followed that of its owner. Peter Fiddle had once been a highly +respected man, with not a little education. His wife had been a good +woman, and when their boy came, for a time, the father had given up his +wild ways and his drinking and had settled down to work his little +farm. But he never quite gave up the drink, though Angus McRae's hand +held him back from it many and many a time. But Angus had been ill for +a couple of years, and Peter had gone very far astray when the helping +hand was removed. +</P> + +<P> +He had gone steadily downward until his powers were wasted and his +health ruined. His wife gave up the struggle, when young Peter was but +a child, and closed her tired eyes on the dirt and misery of her ruined +home. Then Angus McRae had regained his health and his grip on Peter, +and since then, with many disappointments and backslidings, he had +managed to bring him struggling back to a semblance of his old manhood. +He was not redeemed yet. But old Angus never gave up hope. +</P> + +<P> +Poor Young Peter had grown up dull of brain and heavy of foot, +handicapped before birth by the drink. But he had clung doggedly to +that one idea which Angus McRae had drilled into him, that he must, as +he valued his life, avoid that dread thing which had ruined his father +and killed his mother. +</P> + +<P> +Lawyer Ed pulled up his horse before the house. Young Peter had not +yet come in with the <I>Inverness</I>, but he looked about for Peter Fiddle. +He had been sober for a much longer time than usual in this interval, +and both he and Angus were keeping an anxious, hopeful eye upon him. +</P> + +<P> +"I wonder where Peter is," he said. +</P> + +<P> +For answer Roderick pointed down the road before them. A horse and +wagon stood close to the road-side. They drove up to it, and there, +stretched on the seat of his wagon, his horse cropping the grass by the +way-side, lay poor old Peter, dead drunk. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, well, well!" cried Lawyer Ed in mingled disgust and +disappointment. "He's gone again, and your father had such hopes of +him!" He gave the lines to Roderick and leaped out. +</P> + +<P> +"Hi, Peter!" he shouted, shaking the man violently. "Wake up! It's +time for breakfast, man!" +</P> + +<P> +But Peter Fiddle made no more response than a log. And then a look of +boyish mischief danced into Lawyer Ed's young eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"Come here, Rod!" he cried. "Let's fix him up and see what he'll do +when we get back." +</P> + +<P> +Roderick alighted and helped unhitch the old horse from the wagon. +They led him back to the house, watered him, put him into the old +stable and fed him. When they returned, Peter still lay asleep on the +wagon seat, and they drove off. Lawyer Ed in a fit of boyish mirth. +</P> + +<P> +It was heavy news for old Angus when they sat around the supper table, +eating Aunt Kirsty's apple pie and cream; but the good Samaritan was +not discouraged. "Well, well," he said with a sigh, "he kept away from +it longer this time than ever. He's improving. Eh, eh, poor body, +poor Peter!" +</P> + +<P> +"It would seem as if the work of the Good Samaritan is never done, +Angus," said Lawyer Ed. "I suppose there will always be thieves on the +Jericho Road." +</P> + +<P> +"I was just wondering to-day," said Angus thoughtfully, "if, while we +go on picking up the men on the Jericho Road, we couldn't be doing +something to keep the thieves from doing their evil work. There's +Peter now. If we can't keep him away from the drink, don't you think +we ought to try to keep the drink away from him?" +</P> + +<P> +"Lawyer Ed'll have to get a local option by-law passed in Algonquin, +Father," said Roderick. +</P> + +<P> +"Eh, Lad," cried the old man, his face radiant, "it is your father +would be the happy man to see that day. There is a piece of work for +you two now." +</P> + +<P> +"I'm ready," cried Lawyer Ed enthusiastically. "If I could only see +that cursed traffic on the run it would be the joy of my life to +encourage it with a good swift kick. We'll start a campaign right +away. Won't we, Rod?" +</P> + +<P> +"All right," cried Roderick, pleased at the look in his father's face. +"You give your orders. I'm here to carry them out." +</P> + +<P> +"There, Angus! You've got your policeman for the Jericho Road. We'll +do it yet. If we get the liquor business down, as Grandma Armstrong +says, we'll knock it conscientious." +</P> + +<P> +Old Angus followed them to the gate when they drove away, his heart +swelling with high hope. He would live to see all his ambitions +realised in Roderick. He sat up very late that night and when he went +to bed and remembered how the Lad had promised to help rid Peter of the +drink curse, he could not sleep until he had sung the long-meter +doxology. He sang it very softly, for Kirsty was asleep and it might +be hard to explain to her if she were disturbed; nevertheless he sang +it with an abounding joy and faith. +</P> + +<P> +As Roderick and Lawyer Ed drove homeward, down the moon-lit length of +the Pine Road; they were surprised to hear ahead of them, within a few +rods of Peter Fiddle's house, the sound of singing. Very wavering and +uncertain, now loud and high, now dropping to a low wail, came the slow +splendid notes of Kilmarnock to the sublime words of the 103rd psalm. +</P> + +<P> +The two in the buggy looked at each other. "Peter!" cried Lawyer Ed in +dismay. +</P> + +<P> +When Old Peter was only a little bit drunk he inclined to frivolity and +gaiety, and was given to playing the fiddle and dancing, but when he +was very drunk, he was very solemn, and intensely religious. He gave +himself to the singing of psalms, and if propped up would preach a +sermon worthy of Doctor Leslie himself. +</P> + +<P> +A turn in the road brought him into sight. There, between the silver +mirror of the moonlit lake and the dark scented green of the forest, +insensible to the beauty of either, sat the man. He was perched +perilously on the seat of his wagon and was swaying from side to side, +swinging his arms about him and singing in a loud maudlin voice, the +fine old psalm that he had learned long, long ago before he became less +than a man. +</P> + +<P> +Lawyer Ed pulled up before him. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh Peter, Peter!" he cried, "is this you?" +</P> + +<P> +Peter Fiddle stopped singing, with the righteously indignant air of one +whose devotions have been interrupted by a rude barbarian. +</P> + +<P> +"And who will you be," he demanded witheringly, "that dares to be +speaking to the McDuff in such a fashion? Who will you be, indeed?" +</P> + +<P> +"Come, come, Peter, none of that," said his friend soothingly. "I +cannot think who you are. You surely can't be my old friend, Peter +McDuff, sitting by the roadside this way. Who are you, anyway?" +</P> + +<P> +Peter became suddenly grave. The question raised a terrible doubt in +his mind. He looked about him with the wavering gaze of a man on board +a heaving ship. His unsteady glance fell on the empty wagon shafts +lying on the ground. He looked at them in bewilderment, then took off +his old cap and scratched his head. +</P> + +<P> +"How is this, I'd like to know?" demanded Lawyer Ed, pushing his +advantage. "If you're not Peter McDuff, who are you? And where is the +horse gone?" +</P> + +<P> +Roderick climbed out of the buggy, smothering his laughter, and leaving +the two to argue the question, he went after the truant horse which +might help to establish his master's lost identity. Lawyer Ed +dismounted and helped him hitch it, and apparently satisfied by its +reappearance, Peter stretched himself on the seat and went soundly +asleep again. He lay all undisturbed while they drove him in at his +gate, and put his horse away once more. And he did not move even when +they lifted him from his perch and, carrying him into the house, put +him into his bed. +</P> + +<P> +And just as they entered the town they met poor young Peter plodding +slowly and heavily towards his dreary home. +</P> + +<P> +"We must do something for those two, Rod," said Lawyer Ed, shaking his +head pityingly. "We must get Local Option or something that'll help +Peter." +</P> + +<P> +But Roderick was thinking of what Miss Leslie Graham had said, and +wondering if it might mean that he would be asked to handle the big +affairs of Graham and Company. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap07"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +"MOVING TO MELODY" +</H3> + +<P> +The first Sunday that Angus McRae drove along the lake shore and up to +the church with Lawyer Ed's partner sitting at his side, he was +praying, all the way, to be delivered from the sin of pride. They left +Aunt Kirsty at home as usual, with her Bible and her hymn-book, for the +poor lady had grown so stout that she could not be lifted into buggy or +boat or conveyance of any kind. They started early, but stopped so +often on the road that they were none the earlier in arriving. For +Angus must needs pause at the McDuff home, to see that young Peter was +ready for church, and that old Peter was thoroughly sobered. And there +was a huge bouquet of Aunt Kirsty's asters to be left at Billy +Perkins's for the little girl who was sick. There were sounds of +strife in Mike Cassidy's home too, and Angus dismounted and went in to +reason with Mike and the wife on the incongruity of throwing the dishes +at each other, when they had spent the morning at mass. +</P> + +<P> +So when the Good Samaritan had attended to all on the Jericho Road +there was not much time left, and the church bells were ringing when +they drove under the green tunnel of Elm Street; the Anglican, high, +resonant and silvery, the Presbyterian, with a slow, deep boom, and +between the two, and harmonising with both, the mellow, even roll of +the Methodist bell. The call of the bells was being given a generous +obedience, for already the streets were crowded with people. From the +hills to the north and the west, from the level plain to the south they +came, on foot, and in buggies. Even the people who lived across the +lake or away down the shore were there, some having crossed the water +in boats or launches. This means of conveyance, however, was regarded +with some disfavour, as it too perilously resembled Sunday boating. +The matter had even been brought up in the session by Mr. McPherson, +who declared he objected to it, for there was no good reason why +Christian people could not walk on the earth the Almighty had provided +for them, on the Sabbath day. +</P> + +<P> +Roderick put away the horse into the shed, smiling tenderly when he +found his father waiting at the gate for him. He wanted to walk around +to the church door with his boy, so that they might meet his friends +together. They were received in a manner worthy of the occasion, for +the four elders who were ushering all left their posts and came forward +to greet Angus McRae, knowing something of what a great day in his life +this Sabbath was. J. P. Thornton and Jock McPherson ushered on one +side of the church, Lawyer Ed and Captain McTavish on the other, a very +fitting arrangement, which mingled the old and the new schools. Only +Lawyer Ed could never be kept in his own place, but ran all over the +church and ushered wheresoever he pleased. +</P> + +<P> +The elders of Algonquin Presbyterian church were at their best when +showing the people to their seats on a Sabbath morning. Each man did +it in a truly characteristic manner. Captain Jimmie received the +worshippers in a breezy fashion, as though the church were the +<I>Inverness</I> and he were calling every one to come aboard and have a bit +run on the lake and a cup-a-tea, whatever. Mr. McPherson shook hands +warmly with the old folk, but kept the young people in their places, +and well did every youngster know that did he not conduct himself in +the sanctuary with becoming propriety, the cane the elder carried would +likely come rapping down smartly on his unrighteous knuckles. J. P. +Thornton's welcome was kindly but stately. He had grown stout and +slightly pompous-looking during the passing years, and his fine, +well-dressed figure lent quite an air of dignity to the whole church. +But Lawyer Ed, ushering a stranger into the church, was a heart-warming +sight. He seemed made for the part. He met one half-way down the +steps with outstretched hands, marched him to the best seat in the +place, even if he had to dislodge one of the leading families to do it, +thrust a Bible and a hymn-book into his hand, and enquired if he were +sure he would be comfortable, all in a manner that made the newcomer +feel as if the Algonquin church had been erected, a minister and ciders +appointed, and a congregation assembled all for the express purpose of +edifying him on this particular Sabbath morning. +</P> + +<P> +He captured Angus McRae and showed him to his seat this morning with a +happy bustle, for his pride and joy in the Lad's return was only second +to his own father's. Roderick sat beside his father in their old pew +near the rear of the church, gazing about him happily at the familiar +scene. The people were filling up the aisles, with a soft hushed +rustle. There was Fred Hamilton and his father, and Dr. Archie Blair +and his family. Dr. Blair was rarely too busy to get to church on a +Sunday morning, though he made a loud pretence of being very +irreligious. It was rumoured that he carried a volume of Burns to +church in his pocket instead of a Bible, a tale which the Doctor +enjoyed immensely and took care not to contradict. There was a silken +rustle at Roderick's right hand, a breath of perfume, and Leslie +Graham, in a wonderful rose silk dress and big plumed hat, came up the +aisle, followed by her father and mother. The Grahams were the most +fashionable people in the church, and Mr. Graham was the only man who +wore a high silk hat. He had been the first to wear the frock coat, +but while many had followed his example in this regard, he was the only +man who had, as yet, gone the length of the silk hat. Of course, +Doctor Leslie had one, but every one felt that it was quite correct for +a minister to wear such a thing. It was part of the clerical garb, and +anyway he wore it only at weddings and funerals, showing it belonged to +the office, rather than to the man. So Alexander Graham's millinery +was looked upon with some disfavour. He was a quiet man though, +sensitive and retiring, and not given to vain display, and people felt +that the sin of the silk hat very likely lay at the door of his +fashionable wife and daughter. +</P> + +<P> +The Grahams were no sooner seated than Leslie turned her handsome head, +and glancing across the church towards Roderick, gave him a brilliant +smile. But the young man did not catch the gracious favour; he was +looking just then at a group passing up the aisle to a seat almost in +front of him; Grandma Armstrong moving very slowly on her eldest +daughter's arm, Miss Annabel in a youthful blue silk dress, and behind +them a girlish figure in a white gown with a wealth of shining hair +gleaming from beneath her wide hat. +</P> + +<P> +Helen Murray had come to church this first Sunday with some fear. Her +father's voice spoke to her yet in every minister's tones, and the +place and the hour were all calculated to bring up memories hard to +bear in public. She was just seated between Grandma and Miss Annabel +when the former pulled her sleeve and enquired if she did not think the +new gladiators very pretty. The girl followed the old lady's eyes and +saw they were indicating the shiny brass electroliers suspended from +the ceiling. In happier days Helen had found laughter very easy. Her +sense of humour had not been deadened by sorrow, it was only in +abeyance, and now she felt it stirring into life. The little incident +made her look around with interest. Certainly the Algonquin church was +not a place calculated to make one indulge in melancholy. The +Presbyterian congregation was a virile one, bright and friendly and +full of energy, and with very few exceptions, every one was at least +fairly well off. With the aid of a generous expenditure of money they +had expressed their congregational life in the decoration of the +church; so the place was comfortable and well lighted, and exceedingly +bright in colouring. Around three sides ran a gallery with an +ornamental railing, tinted pink. The walls were the same colour, +except for a bright green dado beneath the gallery, and the vaulted +ceiling was decorated with big bouquets of flowers in a shade of pink +and green slightly deeper than the walls and the dado. The carpet and +the cushions—every inch of the floor was carpeted and every pew +cushioned—were a warm bright crimson to match the organ pipes. The +high Gothic windows were of brilliant stained glass, which, when the +morning sun shone, threw a riot of colour over the worshippers. And +indeed everything was warm and bright and shining, from the glittering +new electroliers suspended from the pink ceiling, to the crimson baize +doors which swung inward so hospitably at one's approach. +</P> + +<P> +The church had been slowly filling, the choir filed into their places, +the organ stopped playing Cavalleria Rusticana, a hush fell over the +place and Doctor Leslie, his white hair and black gown passing through +the changing lights of the windows, came slowly out of the vestry and +up to the pulpit. He was an old man now, but a vigorous one, and his +sermons were still strong and full of the fire of his earlier years. +He had never walked quite so smartly, nor spoken with quite his old vim +since the day he had been left alone in the Manse. But through his +bereavement his eye had grown a little kindlier, his handshake a little +more sympathetic, his voice a little more tender. +</P> + +<P> +As he stood up and opened the Book of Praise to announce the first +hymn, his glance involuntarily travelled, as it always did at the +beginning of the service, to where old Angus's white head shone in the +amber light of the window, as though a halo of glory were about it. +Old Angus had long ago learned to look for that glance, and returned it +by a glow from his deep eyes. Whenever they sang the 112th psalm in +Algonquin Presbyterian church, +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +"How blest the man who fears the Lord,<BR> +And makes His law his chief delight,"<BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +the minister looked down and thought how well the words described the +sunny-faced old saint, and Angus looked up and felt how aptly they +fitted his pastor. +</P> + +<P> +Dr. Leslie had had Angus in his mind this morning when he chose the +111th psalm for their opening praise, knowing how the old man's heart +would be lifted to his God this morning. +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +"Praise ye the Lord; with my whole heart<BR> +The Lord's praise I'll declare."<BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +They sang it to "Gainsborough," the favourite tune of the old folk, for +it gave an opportunity for restful lingering on every word, and had in +it all those much-loved trills and quavers that made up the true +accompaniment of a Scottish psalm. They sang it spiritedly, as +Algonquin Presbyterians always sang; the choir and the organ on one +side, the congregation on the other, each striving to gain the greater +volume and power. For many years the choir had won out, for Lawyer Ed +was leader, and the whole congregation would have been no match for him +alone. But lately he had handed the leadership over to a young man +whom he had trained up from the Sunday-school, and gone down to the +opposition, where he sometimes gave the organist and the choir all they +could do to be heard. And this morning, in his happiness over +Roderick's home-coming, he was at his best. +</P> + +<P> +There was only one little rift in the harmony of the whole +congregation. In spite of Mr. McPherson's objections, Lawyer Ed and J. +P. Thornton had succeeded in putting the "Amen" at the end of the +psalms, as well as the hymns, and when the objectionable word came this +morning, Jock sat down as he always did, heavily and noisily, exactly +on the last word of the psalm proper, and pulled Mrs. Jock's silk wrap +to make her give a like condemnation to the bit of popery. Lawyer Ed +sat in the pew opposite Jock and heard the protesting creak of Jock's +seat when he descended and, in a spirit of mischief, he turned round +till he faced the McPherson and rolled out the "Amen" directly at its +objector. It was shocking conduct for an elder, as J. P. said +afterwards, but then every one knew that though he should become +Moderator of the General Assembly, Lawyer Ed would never grow up. +</P> + +<P> +The sermon was to young people. It was a call to them to give their +lives in their morning to the true Master and Lord of life. Dr. Leslie +took for his text the scene enacted on that great morning when two +young fishermen had heard across the shining water that call which, +once truly heard by the heart's ear, cannot be resisted, "Come ye after +Me." There were young people in the church that morning who heard it +as truly as the fisher lads that far gone morning on Galilee, and as +truly obeyed it. Helen Murray listened, struggling with tears. She +had grown up in a Christian home where the influence of father and +mother were such that it was inevitable that she should early become a +disciple of the Master they served. But she had faltered in her +service since her griefs had come upon her in such a flood. She would +never have allowed herself to grow selfish over her joys but sorrow had +absorbed her. She did not realise, until this morning, that she was +growing selfish over her trouble. The tender call came again—"Come ye +after Me," sounding just as sweetly and impelling in the night of +sorrow and stress as it ever did in the joyous morning. +</P> + +<P> +Roderick McRae was listening to the sermon too, but he did not hear the +Voice. For in his young, eager ears was ringing the siren song of +success. He had gone to church regularly in his absence from home, +because he knew that the weekly letter to his father would lose half +its charm did the son not give an account of the sermon he had heard +the Sabbath before. But much listening to sermons had bred in the +young man the inattentive heart, even though the ear was doing its +duty. Roderick accepted sermons and church-going good-naturedly, as a +necessary, respectable formality of life. That it must have a bearing +on all life or be utterly meaningless he did not realise. His plans +for life had nothing to do with church, and the divine call fell upon +his ears unheeded. +</P> + +<P> +When the sermon was drawing to a close, Lawyer Ed scribbled something +on a scrap of paper and when he rose to take the offering he passed it +up to the minister. Lawyer Ed never in his life got through a sermon +without writing at least one note. This one was a request for St. +George's, Edinburgh, as the closing psalm. He knew it was not the one +selected, but something in the stirring words of the sermon, coupled +with his joy over his boy's return, had roused him so that nothing but +the hallelujahs of that great anthem could express his feelings. +</P> + +<P> +When Dr. Leslie arose at the close and announced, instead of the +regular doxology, the 24th psalm, Harry Lauder, the leader of the +choir, looked down at Lawyer Ed and smiled, and Lawyer Ed smiled back +at him. The young man's name was really Harry Lawson, but as he had a +beautiful tenor voice, and could sing a funny Scottish song far better, +every one in Algonquin said, than the great Scotch singer himself, he +had been honored by the slight but significant change in his name. And +when Harry Lauder smiled down at Lawyer Ed at the announcement of St. +George's, Edinburgh, every one knew what it meant. When Lawyer Ed had +given up the choir, under the pressure of other duties, and put Mr. +Lawson in his place, he delivered this ultimatum to his successor: "Now +look here, youngster. I am not used to being led by any one, either in +singing or in anything else, but I promise that as far as I can, I'll +follow you in the church service. But there's one tune in which I'll +follow no living man, no, nor congregation of massed bands, and that's +St. George's, Edinburgh. I just can't help it, Harry; when the first +note of that tune comes rolling out, I am neither to hold nor to bind. +Now I don't want to have it spoiled by see-sawing, that would be +blasphemous. So you just tell the organist that I have a weakness +comes over me when that tune is sung, and tell him to listen, and +follow me. And you do the same." +</P> + +<P> +So every one knew that when St. George's, Edinburgh, was sung, Lawyer +Ed became the leader of the choir and congregation pro tem. No one +needed to be told, however, for none could help following him. And he +had never thrown himself into it with more abandon than on this sunny +morning with the Eternal Call sounding again in the ears of all who had +truly heard the sermon. +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +"Ye gates lift up your heads on high!"<BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +He was glorious on the first stanza, he was magnificent on the second. +He climbed grandly up the heights of its crescendo:— +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 2em">"Ye doors that last for aye,</SPAN><BR> +Be lifted up that so the King of glory enter may,"<BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +in ever growing power and volume; up to the wonder of the question— +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +"But who is He that is the King of glory?"<BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +up to the rapture of the response:— +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +"The Lord of Hosts and none but He<BR> +The King of Glory is."<BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +And then out he came upon the heights of the refrain, with all the +universe conquered and at his feet. When the first Hallelujah burst +from the congregation, mounting splendidly at his side, the leader +closed his book. He flung it upon the seat, tore off his glasses, +clasped his hands behind him, and let himself go. And with a mighty +roar he swept congregation, choir, organ, everybody, up into a thunder +of praise. +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +"Hallelujah, Hallelujah. Amen, Amen."<BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +It might not have been considered finished by a musical critic, it may +have lacked restraint and nicety of shading; but no one who heard the +Algonquin congregation that morning singing "Ye Gates lift up your +heads," led by Lawyer Edward Brians, could doubt that it was surely +some such fine fresh rapture that rang through the aisles of Heaven on +that creation day when the morning stars sang together and all the Sons +of God shouted for joy. +</P> + +<P> +Helen Murray bowed her head for the benediction, the stinging tears +rushing to her eyes, but they were not tears of sorrow. For the moment +she had forgotten there was such a thing as pain. She had lost it as +she had been swept up to the glad peaks of song. For one trembling +moment she had caught a glimpse of a new wonder, the whole world +moving, through sorrow and pain and dull misunderstanding, surely and +swiftly up to God. And for that instant her soul had leaped forward, +too, to meet Him. She came down from the heights; no mortal could live +there, seeing things that were not lawful to utter. But from that +first Sunday in Algonquin church her outlook on her new life was +changed. She had seen the end of her rainbow. It was back of mists +and clouds and storms, but it was there! And she could never again be +quite so sad. +</P> + +<P> +The congregation slowly filed put of the pews and down the aisles, +chatting in soft hushed voices, until the organist pulled out all the +stops and played a lively air, and then the conversation rose to suit +the accompaniment. Mr. McPherson had objected to the pipe-organ, to +the hired organist from the city, and finally and most vigorously to +the musical dispersion of the congregation. If the body must play for +the church service, Jock conceded, well, he must; but why he must paw +and trample and harry the noisy thing, when church was over and done +with, was a mystery that no right thinking person could solve. The +organist, when approached with the elder's objections, had answered +with dignity that all the city churches did it, and Jock's case was +hopelessly lost. For when Algonquin was told that in the city they did +thus and so, then Algonquin would do that thing too if it had meant +burning down the church. So the congregation went down the aisles, +sailing merrily on a flood of gay music, and as they went, Miss Annabel +introduced the new teacher to several of the young folk of the church, +who asked her to join the Christian Endeavor and the Young Women's +Society, and the Young People's Bible class and to come to the picnic +to-morrow afternoon in the park and the moonlight sail on Friday +evening, and assured her that she would like Algonquin, and wasn't it a +very pretty place? +</P> + +<P> +As they passed down the steps, a slim young man, dressed immaculately +in the height of fashion, came tripping up to them and addressed Miss +Annabel in the most abjectly polite manner. +</P> + +<P> +"Good morning, Mr. Wilbur," said the lady coldly, "I am sure you must +welcome Sunday. I suppose you are working so hard these days." It was +very cruel of Miss Annabel, for poor Afternoon Tea Willie had not yet +been able to get an introduction to the lady of his dreams, and he +really did work very hard indeed, and his was the employment from which +there was no respite even on Sundays. But she hurried Helen on without +further notice of him. Roderick was watching the little play with some +amusement as he stood waiting for his father, who had stopped to have a +word with the minister. As he did so he was puzzled to see Fred +Hamilton pass him without so much as a word. He was concluding that +his old acquaintance had not seen him, when he heard a merry laugh at +his elbow and there stood Miss Leslie Graham. +</P> + +<P> +"Did you see poor Freddy?" she cried. "Oh, dear, dear, I told on him +after all, and he's mad at everybody in the town, you included, +evidently. Now here's Daddy. He's dying to meet you. Here, Dad, this +is the man that did the deed." +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Graham took Roderick's hand and held it while he thanked him, in a +voice that trembled, for saving his daughter's life. Roderick was +attempting to disclaim any heroism in the matter, when Mrs. Graham fell +upon him with a rustle of silks, and fairly overwhelmed him with +gratitude. Then two or three others came up and demanded to know what +it was all about and Roderick was overcome with embarrassment and was +thankful when his father appeared and he could make his escape. +</P> + +<P> +Lawyer Ed came to the buggy to say good-bye to Angus and to enquire +what was the collie-shankie at the kirk door, and when he heard, he +slapped Roderick on the back. "Well, well, look here, my lad," he +cried, "why, your fortune is as good as made. Sandy Graham has been +mad at me for the space of twenty-five years or more about something or +other—what was it now? Bless me if I haven't forgotten what. But he +nearly left the church over it, and entirely left the law firm of +Brians & Co." The bereaved head of the firm put back his head at the +recollection, shut his eyes, and laughed long and heartily. "But +you've got him back again all right, and I tell you this, my lad, if +you get his business your fortune is just about made. Only don't go +and lose your heart to the handsome young lady while you need a steady +head!" +</P> + +<P> +They drove away, and while the father talked on the drive home of the +sermon, the son answered absently; his thoughts were all with the piece +of good luck which had come his way by such a mere chance. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap08"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VIII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +"FLOATED THE GLEAM" +</H3> + +<P> +Ever since Leslie Graham was old enough to know what she wanted she had +always managed to get it. She was the only child of wealthy parents, +as Algonquin counted wealth. Her father was absorbed in business, and +felt he had done his duty by his daughter when he gave her money enough +to be the best dressed girl in the town. Her mother's creed in regard +to bringing up children was to give the dears a good time when they +were young, they would grow old soon enough. So Leslie's time and +energies were bent to the two main tasks of life, unconsciously set her +by her parents, to spend as much money as possible on clothes, and to +have a good time. +</P> + +<P> +She had been named, as many another girl of the congregation, Margaret +Leslie, after the minister's wife; she was a member of the church; she +had been brought up to attend Sunday-school and mission band, and to be +helpful in all social functions of the congregation; and withal she was +frankly and happily, and entirely pagan. +</P> + +<P> +The earliest lesson life had taught her was that, if she wanted +anything, screams generally produced the desired object. The second +lesson was that, when screams failed, one must scramble down from one's +high chair and go after the prize and wrest it from table or sideboard +or high eminence, no matter how much hard climbing or bumps were +entailed. +</P> + +<P> +So when Roderick McRae became desirable in her eyes, in her usual +straightforward manner, she frankly sought him out and demanded his +attention. His sudden appearance on the evening of her loss of +self-confidence, the appeal his rescue had made to her girlish +imagination, and the charm of the forbidden that hung over Old Angus +McRae's son made him a real Prince Charming. She was quite certain +that he needed only to know that she liked him, to be immediately her +slave. He seemed very shy and hard to convince that she cared, but +that was natural, considering the wide difference in their social +positions. +</P> + +<P> +On the Monday morning after her father's arrival home, when he was +ready to go down to the bank, she suddenly appeared, dressed in her +prettiest white gown and announced her intention of accompanying him. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, well, I feel highly flattered," he declared, as they walked down +the garden path together. Then, as he opened the gate for her, he +asked, with a knowing twinkle in his eye, for he was an astute business +man, and accustomed to divining people's motives, "Now, what do you +want to wheedle out of me this morning? You've been for a trip +already, and it can't be a new dress." +</P> + +<P> +She laughed and, as was her way, went straight to the point. "No, it's +a new young man, Daddy. I want you to do something nice for Roderick +McRae. Haven't you a big chunk of business you need a lawyer for?" +</P> + +<P> +Her father frowned. "Tut, tut, if I've got to give some work to every +young man that does you a favour, my business will be gone to the dogs +in a month." +</P> + +<P> +"A favour! Why, Father Graham, he saved my life!" cried the girl +solemnly. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, dear, I realise that, and I'd like to do something for him. But +Ed Brians, I can't stand. He wants to run everything in the town. He +pretty nearly does, but he's not going to run my business. You mind +that!" +</P> + +<P> +Though Lawyer Ed had completely forgotten the cause of the trouble +between them, Alexander Graham had not. Upon a certain date, years +earlier, the belligerent young elder had tramped into a managers' +meeting, denounced a money-saving scheme of Manager Graham's, and +called the assembled brethren all misers and skinflints. The managers +had succumbed, in the most friendly manner, all except Sandy Graham. +He had resigned instead, and had tended his grievance carefully until, +from a small shoot, in ten years it had grown up into a flourishing +tree with deep and tenacious roots. +</P> + +<P> +There was another cause of dissension, too. Alexander Graham had a +brother named William, a lawyer, who lived in New York and was reputed +fabulously wealthy. And he was an old and staunch friend of Lawyer Ed, +who could not and would not be moved from his loyalty, no matter how +many grievances Sandy placed before him. Bill was forever putting +business in the way of Edward Brians, and his brother's jealousy and +ill-feeling grew stronger as the years passed. +</P> + +<P> +Lawyer Ed paid not the slightest attention to Sandy Graham's enmity. +He invariably treated the old friend with an overwhelming good-humour +which only served to increase the irritation. +</P> + +<P> +Leslie Graham knew all this, but she cared not a pin's worth for her +father's quarrels. She was not going to have her plans spoiled by a +mere parent. +</P> + +<P> +"Now, Daddy dear!" she cried, knowing exactly how to manage him, "I +should think you'd have wit enough to see that Lawyer Ed would hate you +to give your business to his young partner far worse than to give it to +Willoughby. There's that new lumber scheme. You can give Roderick +that and tell him Lawyer Ed's not to know anything about it, eh?" +</P> + +<P> +The man hesitated. He was at that moment on his way to the law firm of +Willoughby and Baldwin to put into their hands the work of negotiating +with the British North American R. R. Company regarding some timber +limits in New Ontario. It was a complicated piece of business, needing +careful handling. He had not much faith in Willoughby—he was too old, +and less in Baldwin, who was too young. This young McRae, being the +son of Angus McRae, would be honest, there was no doubt of that, and +evidently he had ability. And while he hesitated, and his daughter +argued and cajoled, they came to the door of Lawyer Ed's office. +Roderick was standing there alone, having just seen his partner off +down the street. Miss Leslie Graham took matters into her own hands +with her usual charming audacity. +</P> + +<P> +"Good morning, Mr. Roderick McRae," she cried. "Here's my respected +parent can't make up his mind about a piece of backwoods he owns away +back of beyond somewhere, so I just steered him down here. He was just +saying on the way down that he would rather have the firm of Brians and +McRae do his business than any one he knew of. Weren't you, Papa? Now +you go in there with Roderick, and I shall call for you when I come +back from my shopping. Bye, bye." +</P> + +<P> +She shoved him up the steps and right in at the door, and skipped away, +laughing over her shoulder at the trick she had played. Her father +stood a moment looking after her, not knowing whether to be angry or +amused. She turned and winked at him when she reached the bottom of +the steps, and his anger vanished. He laughed indulgently, threw up +his hands with a helpless gesture and followed Roderick into the +office. And before he stated his business he spent a half-hour telling +how much his daughter was to him and how grateful he was to Roderick +for what he had done. +</P> + +<P> +Roderick's eyes shone when the new work was laid before him. It was a +big thing, bigger than had ever come the way of that little office in +all the years it had done business in Algonquin. It fired his ambition +to make good. The shrewd business man saw the look in the young +lawyer's eye, and he did not regret the step Leslie had forced him to +take. +</P> + +<P> +"If you see that those rascals don't get the better of us, Mr. McRae," +he said in parting, "I need not tell you that you will profit by it as +well as ourselves." +</P> + +<P> +Roderick thanked him for his trust. "When Mr. Brians comes in—" he +commenced, but his client interrupted. +</P> + +<P> +"I want it to be distinctly understood that this is your work entirely, +Mr. McRae," he said. "Mr. Brians will understand." +</P> + +<P> +Lawyer Ed did understand, and laughed long and loud over what he called +Sandy Graham's extreme Scotchness. But he was vastly pleased that +Roderick was to have a chance of showing what he could do, and that the +wide business interests of Graham and Company were to be once more in +their hands. +</P> + +<P> +And now Roderick plunged into work with all his might. When the news +spread that Graham and Co. had given a big transaction into the hands +of Lawyer Ed's young partner, others followed. Lawyer Ed himself was a +shrewd advocate, but every one knew that his business tendencies ran on +certain lines. His chief concern had always been to settle family +troubles, rather than to make money out of them. Many a puzzled farmer +he had saved from losing in an unjust bargain when the opposite course +would have meant money for himself. Many a family on the verge of +disintegration over a will had been brought together and made happy, +because their lawyer was more bent on their welfare than his own. +Roderick intended fully to keep up the fine old standards of the firm +as far as possible. But he was determined to be much more than the +legal adviser of all the folk living around Algonquin who couldn't do +business themselves. +</P> + +<P> +He took his mid-day meal at the Algonquin House, the leading hotel, and +won the favour of Mr. Crofter, the proprietor. And there came to the +office of Brians and McRae one day, much to the senior partner's +amazement, Mr. Crofter himself, with some mining concerns he had in the +north. Mr. Crofter had never quite seen eye to eye with Lawyer Ed, +since the latter had declared flatly and loudly, at a tea-meeting given +by the Sons of Temperance, that a man who sold liquor over a bar was a +curse to the community. But Mr. Crofter knew when he wanted his +business well done. He distrusted almost every one in Algonquin, but +he knew old Angus McRae's son would be incapable of dishonesty. +</P> + +<P> +The second surprise came a few months later when the success of +Crofter's deal had made the young lawyer's name. Alexander Graham took +all his business out of the hands of the Willoughby firm, and gave it +to Brians & McRae. +</P> + +<P> +That evening Roderick was asked to the Grahams for dinner, as a further +honour. He went with some trepidation, as it was his first venture +into society. Mr. Graham was exceedingly genial, and Leslie was +charming, but the lady of the house was rather distant. She could not +help seeing Leslie's partiality towards Roderick and resented it. As +her husband's lawyer, the young man was quite acceptable, but as a +possible aspirant to his daughter's favour he would be entirely out of +place. Fred Hamilton was the only other one present outside the +family. The young man sat in sulky silence most of the evening, a +circumstance which seemed to put his pretty hostess into a high good +humour. +</P> + +<P> +The invitation to the Grahams was the signal for other doors to open. +Roderick was invited everywhere. And wherever he went there was Miss +Leslie Graham, the belle of every occasion, and always ready to bestow +her greatest favours upon him. He always looked about him at these gay +gatherings of young people half-expecting to see the young lady he had +met on the <I>Inverness</I>; but he was always disappointed, and wondered +why she did not appear. +</P> + +<P> +Helen Murray, herself, often wondered why she was not bidden to the +many festivities of which she heard the gay Miss Annabel talk. +</P> + +<P> +"You will probably be invited out a great deal, Miss Murray," Miss +Armstrong cautioned her, "and I hope you will select very carefully the +places you visit. You see you are practically one of our family, and +though we respect all grades of society, you must realise that we have +a position to maintain. And I hope you won't think me interfering, my +dear; but if you would consult Annabel and me, as to accepting an +invitation, I think it would be wise. We should like so much to have +you of our set." +</P> + +<P> +Helen obeyed, a little puzzled, but afraid to act against the judgment +of her august hostess. So she found herself soon bidden to afternoon +teas and receptions and all the affairs where the older set attended. +She met no one of her own age, however, except Miss Annabel who called +them all old frumps, and declared married folk were deadly dull, and +she would never go near their parties again so long as she lived. And +she fell into a state of nervous apprehension, when the approach of the +next afternoon tea was rumoured abroad, lest she should not be invited. +Poor Miss Annabel was being slowly but surely pushed on into the older +set by the younger generation. She hated her position, but it was the +only one left, and it was better than the dread desolation of no +position at all. +</P> + +<P> +Helen kept away from the whirl, finding her duties at school sufficient +excuse. She often longed for some young life, however, and wondered +why she did not meet the daughters of the ladies who were so kind to +her when she went out under Miss Armstrong's wing. +</P> + +<P> +She did not know as yet that the reason was two-fold. First, the +younger set were a little more exclusive than the one in which the +Misses Armstrong moved. Young Algonquin had but recently awakened to +the fact that society was not society unless you built a fence about it +and kept somebody—it didn't matter much who—out. The other and more +potent reason was Helen's unfortunate sex. There were already far too +many young ladies in Algonquin. A young man with exactly her claims to +recognition would have been received with acclaim. But, except in +holiday time, there was always a sad dearth of young men in Algonquin, +if not an actual famine. So no wonder the young ladies rather resented +the appearance of another girl to join their already too swollen ranks, +and especially a girl so undeniably attractive as the new school +teacher. +</P> + +<P> +Quite unconscious of all this, Helen spent many a lonely evening at her +window looking down at the gay crowds passing along the street towards +the lake, and listening drearily to their happy voices floating under +the leafy tunnel of the trees. +</P> + +<P> +She dared not join the groups that would have welcomed her, the young +folk who earned their living and who made the church a centre of social +intercourse for the lonely. Miss Armstrong had politely given her to +understand that she would not be welcome in Rosemount, if she +associated with the girls who stood behind the counter, or worked in a +dress-maker's shop. +</P> + +<P> +She often saw Miss Leslie Graham as she darted into the house and out +again, on a flying visit to her grandmother, but she had no opportunity +of meeting her. +</P> + +<P> +So in spite of her brave attempts to forget her grief in her work, and +in spite of Madame's unfailing kindness and help, the girl was often +very lonely. The big echoing house of Rosemount was always deserted of +an evening. Grandma went to bed, and either Helen or the little maid +was left on guard, while the two ladies went to a dinner-party or an +evening at cards. +</P> + +<P> +One soft languorous September evening, the loneliness promised to be +unbearable, and she determined to go alone for a walk. Madame was +always too tired for a tramp after school, and she knew no one else who +would accompany her. +</P> + +<P> +She spoke of it at the tea-table in the faint hope that Miss Annabel +might suggest coming too, but was disappointed. +</P> + +<P> +"Why that'll be lovely, dearie," she cried, "go and have a run in the +park. It will do you good. I'd dearly love to go with you, but +there's Mrs. Captain Willoughby's musicale. There won't be a soul +there that isn't old enough to be in her dotage, but I promised that +nothing short of sudden death would make me miss it." +</P> + +<P> +"Annabel, I am surprised at you," said her sister reprovingly. "I +wouldn't go far in the evening alone, Miss Murray," she added in her +stately way. "It does not seem just—well—exactly proper, don't you +know." +</P> + +<P> +"Nonsense, Elinor. How's the poor child to help going alone, when +there's no one to go with her?" +</P> + +<P> +Helen had learned to look for these slight altercations at the table. +While the sisters were apparently of one mind on all the larger issues +of life, they had a habit of arguing and cavilling over the little +things that often left their young boarder in a state of wonder. +</P> + +<P> +She slipped away as soon as the meal was over, for the evenings were +growing short and she wanted to see the lake in its sunset glory. The +night was warm and all the young people were on the lake. The streets +were deserted. But on the pretty vine-clad verandas, the heads of +families sat sewing or reading and smoking, with the little ones +tumbling about the grass. On one veranda a gramophone, the first in +the town, screeched out a strain from a Grand Opera to the wonder and +admiration of all the neighbours. Helen moved along the street more +lonely than ever in the midst of all this home happiness. She passed a +little cottage where a young man and woman were tying up a rose vine, +beaten down by recent rains. Madame had told her they had been married +just the week before. They looked very happy, laughing and whispering +like a couple of nest-building robins, as they worked together to make +their little home more beautiful. She had to hurry away from the +pretty scene. Some one had promised her once that there should be a +rose vine over their porch in the new home he had been planning for her. +</P> + +<P> +She turned a corner and was alarmed by a great churning and puffing +noise ahead, as though the <I>Inverness</I> had left her native element and +come sailing up Main Street. But it was only Captain Willoughby in his +new automobile. It was the first, and as yet the only machine in +Algonquin, and its unhappy owner would have sold it to the lowest +bidder could he have found any one foolish enough to bid at all. For +so far, the captain had had no opportunity to learn to run it. His +first excursions abroad had been attended with such disaster, such mad +careering of horses, and plunging into ditches, such dismaying +paralysis of the engine right in the middle of a neighbour's gateway, +such inexplicable excursions onto the sidewalk and through plate glass +windows, such harrowing overturning of baby-carriages, that Mrs. +Captain Willoughby took an attack of nerves every time he went abroad, +and the town fathers finally requested that the captain take out his +Juggernaut car only at such hours as the streets were clear. So on +quiet evenings such as this one, when there were not likely to be any +horses abroad, Mrs. Willoughby telephoned all her friends and told them +to take in the children for the captain was coming. And so, heralded, +like the Lady Godiva, the trembling motorist went forth, while the +streets immediately became as empty as those of Coventry, with rows of +peeping Toms, safe inside their fences, jeering at the unhappy man's +uneven progress. He whizzed past Helen at a terrible speed, grazing +the side-walk and giving her almost as great a fright as he got +himself, and went whirring up the hill. +</P> + +<P> +She did not want to join the crowds in the park so she followed the +familiar street past the school, and out along the Pine Road toward the +lake shore. But when she found her way was leading her through Willow +Lane, where all the dirty and poor people of Algonquin lived, she +turned off into a path that crossed a field and led to the water. +Helen had some little pupils from Willow Lane, and their appearance did +not invite a closer acquaintance with their homes. +</P> + +<P> +She did not know that she was passing near the back of Old Peter +McDuff's farm, but she noticed that the fences were conveniently broken +down, and left a path clear down to the water's edge. +</P> + +<P> +Lake Algonquin lay before her in its evening glory, a glory veiled and +softened by the amethyst veil the autumn was weaving. The water was as +still and as clear as a mirror. To her left the town nestled in a soft +purple mist, the gay voices from the park were softened and sweetened +by the distance. Straight ahead of her lay Wawa island, an airy thing +floating lightly on the water, and reflected perfectly in its depths. +</P> + +<P> +At one end of its dark greenery autumn had hung out a banner to herald +her coming—a scarlet sumach. A yellowing maple leaf fell at Helen's +feet as she passed. Along the water's edge where the birches grew +thick arose a great twittering and chattering. The long southern +flight was already being discussed. Away out beyond the island a canoe +drifted along on the golden water. Some one seated in it was picking a +mandolin and singing, "Good-bye, Summer." +</P> + +<P> +Helen slipped down the path where the birches and elms, entwined with +the bitter-sweet, hung over the water. A little point jutted out with +a big rock on the end of it. She took off her hat, seated herself upon +the rock, and drank in the silence and peace of the calm evening. +</P> + +<P> +A little launch went rap-rap-rap across the clear glass of the water, +leaving a long trail of light behind it like a comet, and the sweet +evening odours were mingled with the unsavoury scent of gasoline. +Helen had often sped joyfully over the bay at home in just such a noisy +little craft, quite unconscious of being obnoxious to any one else. It +was not the first time she had found her view-point was changing. She +seemed to have been drifted ashore in a wreck, and to be sitting +looking on at the life she had lived with wonder and sometimes with +disapproval. The launch passed, the evening shadows deepened, but she +still sat wrapped in the deeper shadows of her own sad thoughts. +</P> + +<P> +She had no idea how long she had sat there when she was roused by the +sudden appearance of a canoe right at her side. It had stolen up +silently, propelled by the noiseless stroke of a practised paddler, and +went past her like a ghost. The young man kneeling in the stern had +something of the perfectly balanced play of muscle, and poise of lithe +figure that belonged to the Indian. For in spite of his Anglo-Saxon +blood, Roderick McRae was as much a product of this land of lake and +forest as the Red Skin. He had almost passed her, when he looked up +and saw her for the first time. He gave a start; it seemed too good to +be true. But she bowed so distantly that his hesitating paddle dipped +again. He went on slowly, too shy to intrude. He had taken but a few +strokes when from away behind her on the darkening land, came a loud +sound of singing. Peter Fiddle was drunk again. Feeling very grateful +to Peter for the excuse, Roderick turned about, with an adroit twist of +his paddle, and glided back till he was opposite her. +</P> + +<P> +"Excuse me, Miss Murray," he stammered, feeling his old shyness return, +"but—are you alone here?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," said the girl a slight wonder in her voice at the question. "I +came down for a walk and—" she turned and glanced behind her and gave +an exclamation at the darkness of the woods. She had forgotten the +magic power the water has of gathering and holding the sunset light +long after darkness has wrapped the earth. "Oh, I had no idea it was +so late!" she cried in dismay. +</P> + +<P> +Roderick joyfully ran his canoe up close to the rock. The fear in her +voice made him forget his embarrassment. "I don't wish to trouble +you," he said, "but it isn't wise to go home that path through the +woods alone." He hesitated. He did not like to tell her that Old +Peter might come down there raging drunk, and that at the head of +Willow Lane she might meet with another drunken row between Mike +Cassidy and his wife. "Oh dear!" she cried, "how could I be so +foolish? I never dreamed of its being so dark and I forgot—" +</P> + +<P> +"If you will let me I'll take you home," said Roderick eagerly, "in my +canoe." +</P> + +<P> +He was immeasurably relieved at her answer. +</P> + +<P> +"Let you?" she cried gratefully. "Why, I'll be ever so much obliged to +you. I am sorry to be such a trouble. I don't see how I was so +careless," she added in frank apology. +</P> + +<P> +Roderick knew he ought to say it was no trouble, but a pleasure. But +he was too shy and too happy. He succeeded only in mumbling, "Oh, not +at all," or something equally vague. +</P> + +<P> +He brought the canoe close to the rock and held out his hand. She +stepped in very carefully, and with something the air of one venturing +out on a very thin piece of ice. +</P> + +<P> +"It's the first time I ever stepped into a canoe," she said a little +tremulously. He steadied her with his hand, smiling a little at her +graceful awkwardness. Then he showed her how to place herself in the +little seat in the centre, with a cushion at her back. He did it +clumsily enough for he was embarrassed and nervous in her presence. In +all his years of paddling about the lake it was but the second time he +had taken a young lady into his canoe, and the first one he had rescued +out of the water, and this one off a lonely point of land. So he was +not versed in the proper things to say to a lady when taking her for a +paddle. +</P> + +<P> +The canoe slipped silently out from the rock and slid along the +darkening shore. Only the faintest suggestion of the sunset glow lay +on the softly glimmering surface of the water. But they had gone only +a few yards, when there came a new miracle to remake the scene. From +behind the black bulk of the pine clad island peeped a great round +harvest moon, and suddenly the whole world of land and water was +painted anew in softer golden tints veiled in silver. The girl sat +silent and awe-struck. Was there never to be an end to the wonders of +this place? "Oh," she said in a whisper, "isn't it beautiful?" +</P> + +<P> +Roderick looked, and was silent too. +</P> + +<P> +Yes, it was very wonderful he thought, more wonderful to him than she +dreamed. He felt as if he could paddle on forever over the shining +lake with the magic colours of moon-rise and sunset meeting in the +golden hair of the girl opposite him. They went on for a long time in +silence. They passed into the shadow of the island with silver lances +through the trees barring their path. The dewy scent of pine and cedar +stole out from the dark shore. The silver light grew brighter, the +whole lake was lit up with a soft white radiance. +</P> + +<P> +"Have you always lived here?" she asked at last in a whisper, an +unspoken fear in her voice lest a sound disturb the fair surroundings +and they vanish, leaving them in a common, every day world of material +things. +</P> + +<P> +"Always," said Roderick in the same hushed tone, though for a different +reason. "I was born on the old farm back here." +</P> + +<P> +"Then I wonder if you know how lovely it all is?" +</P> + +<P> +"Perhaps not. But it is home to me, you know, and that gives an added +charm." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," she said and checked a sigh. "And you've always paddled about +here I suppose." +</P> + +<P> +"I never remember when I learned. But I remember my first excursion +alone. I was just six. Old Peter McDuff who lives on the next farm +used to tell me fairy tales. And he told me there was a pot of gold at +the end of the rainbow, waiting for the man bold enough to go after it. +I felt that I was the man, and I paddled off one evening when there was +a rainbow in the sky. I got lost in the fog, and my father and a +search-party found me drifting away out on the lake. And I didn't +bring home the pot of gold." +</P> + +<P> +"Nobody ever does," she said drearily. "And every one is hunting it." +They were silent for a moment, the girl thinking of how she too had +gone after a vanishing rainbow. Then the memory of that vision of the +first Sunday morning in Algonquin church came to her. There was a +rainbow somewhere, with the treasure at the foot; one that did not +vanish either if one persisted in its pursuit. +</P> + +<P> +She tried to say something of this to Roderick, fearing her sombre +words had set him to recalling her secret. +</P> + +<P> +"I suppose it is perfect happiness," he said. "If so, I never met any +one who had found it, except—yes, I believe I know one." +</P> + +<P> +"Who?" she asked eagerly. +</P> + +<P> +"My father," answered Roderick gently. +</P> + +<P> +"I have heard of him," she said, smiling at the glow of pride in the +son's eyes. "And where did he discover it?" +</P> + +<P> +Roderick laughed. "I suppose it's in the heart, after all; but my +father is never so happy as when he is in the midst of misery. His pot +of gold seems to lie down on Willow Lane." +</P> + +<P> +"On Willow Lane? Why that's where all those dreadfully poor, dirty +people live, isn't it?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes. They are an unsavoury bunch down there. That's where Mr. and +Mrs. Cassidy throw the household furniture at each other, and Billy +Perkins starves his family for drink, and where the celebrated Peter +McDuff plays the fiddle every night at the tavern. He might have +serenaded you, if you had gone back home by the road." +</P> + +<P> +She smiled gratefully and her smile was very beautiful. But her +thoughts were in Willow Lane. There were worse things there that +Roderick did not mention, but she had heard of them. It was a strange +and wonderful thing that the saintly-faced old man with the white hair, +whom she had seen with Roderick at church, should find his happiness +among such people. +</P> + +<P> +Roderick had paddled as slowly as it was possible to move, but he could +not prolong the little voyage any further. They were at the landing. +</P> + +<P> +"I have made you come away back here," she said, "and now you will be +so late getting home. I must let you go back at once. Good night, and +thank you." +</P> + +<P> +Roderick had been hoping that he might walk up to Rosemount with her, +but felt he was dismissed. He wanted, too, to ask her if she would not +come out on the lake again, but his shyness kept him silent. +</P> + +<P> +As he helped her out, the yellow light of the wharf lamp fell upon her +light dress and shone on the gold of her hair, and at the same moment a +canoe slid silently out of the dimness beyond and glided across the +track of the moon. In the stern knelt one of Algonquin's young men +wielding a lazy paddle, and in the low seat opposite, with a filmy +scarf about her dark hair, reclined Miss Leslie Graham. She sat up +straight very suddenly, and stared at the girl who was stepping from +the canoe. But she did not speak, and Roderick was too absorbed to +notice who had passed. And the young man with the lazy paddle wondered +all the way home what had happened to make the lively young lady so +silent and absent-minded. +</P> + +<P> +Helen Murray thought many times of what Roderick had told her about his +father's interest in Willow Lane. She could not help wondering if +others could find there the peace that shone in the old man's eyes. +She was wondering if she should go down and visit the place, when, one +day, Willow Lane came to her. It was a warm languorous October day, a +day when all nature seemed at a standstill. Her work was done, she was +resting under her soft coverlet of blue gossamer, preparing for her +long sleep. Helen had had a hard day, for she had not yet learned her +new strange task. The room was noisy, fifty little heads were bent +over fifty different schemes for mischief, and fifty sibilant whispers +delivered forbidden messages. The teacher was writing on the board, +and turned suddenly at the sound of a heavy footstep in the hall. The +door was open, letting in the breeze from the lake, and in it stood a +big hairy man with a bushy black head and wild blue eyes. Helen stood +and stared at him half-frightened. +</P> + +<P> +The fifty small heads suddenly whirled about and a hundred eyes stared +at the visitor, but there was no fear in them. A giggling whisper ran +like fire over the room. "It's Peter Fiddle!" The man shook his fist +at them, and the teacher went with some apprehension towards the door. +</P> + +<P> +"Can I do anything for you, sir?" she enquired, outwardly calm, but +inwardly quaking. He took off his big straw hat and made her a +profound bow. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll be Peter McDuff," he said with a stately air, "an' I'll loss a +pig." +</P> + +<P> +"I—I don't think it's here," faltered Helen, dismayed at a visit from +the notorious McDuff. "You might ask some other place," she suggested +hopefully. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll be wantin' the bairns to be lookin' for it," he said, making +another bow. He turned to the children, now sitting, for the first +time since their teacher had set eyes on them, absolutely still and +attentive. +</P> + +<P> +"If you see a pig wis a curly tail," he announced, "that's me!" +</P> + +<P> +The whole school burst into a shout of laughter, and the man's face +flamed with anger. He shook his fist at them again, moving a step into +the room. "Ye impident young upstarts!" he shouted. "I'll be Peter +McDuff!" he cried proudly. "And I'll be having you know they will not +be laughing at the McDuff whatefer!" +</P> + +<P> +"I—I'm sure they didn't mean to be rude, Mr. McDuff," ventured the +frightened teacher. +</P> + +<P> +"My name'll be Peter McDuff," he insisted, coming further into the room +while she stepped back in terror. "I'll be sixty years of old, and +I'll neffer be casting a tory vote! An' if you'll be gifing me a man +my own beeg and my own heavy—" he brandished his fists fiercely. +</P> + +<P> +"Peter!" +</P> + +<P> +The McDuff turned. Behind him stood Angus McRae, his gentle face +distressed. He laid his hand on Peter's shoulder with an air of quiet +power. "Come away home with me, Peter man," he said soothingly. +"We'll be finding the pig on the road." +</P> + +<P> +Peter stumbled out grumbling, and Angus McRae, pausing a moment to +deliver an apology to Helen, followed. Mrs. Doasyouwouldbedoneby came +along the hall rocking with laughter. +</P> + +<P> +"You poor child!" she cried. "I heard him, and was coming to the +rescue when I saw old Angus. I knew you'd be scared. But Peter +wouldn't hurt a hair of a woman's head." +</P> + +<P> +"That Mr. McRae seemed to have some strange power over him," whispered +Helen, watching, with some apprehension, the two climb into an old +wagon. +</P> + +<P> +"So he has. And he's the only one that has. He keeps Peter in order +when he's drunk and keeps him sober, when he can. Ah, dear me! dear +me! There's a clever man all gone wrong. Angus McRae's been working +with him for years. He lives out there past what they call Willow +Lane. Ever been down there?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, but I've heard of it often." +</P> + +<P> +"It's that bit of street that runs from the end of the town where that +old hotel is. I'm going down there after school to see about Minnie +Perkins. Come along for a walk. Now, you children, go right back +there, do you hear me?" For the primary grade had overflowed and was +flooding the halls. And Madame swept them back and slammed her door. +</P> + +<P> +When school was dismissed and the last noisy youngster had gone +storming forth Helen went down the hall to her friend's room. Madame +came swaying out carrying a bunch of gay spiked gladiolus, her +draperies floating about her with cherubs peeping from their folds, +like a saint in an old picture. +</P> + +<P> +She dismissed her satellites firmly at the first corner, except those +who lived beyond or on Willow Lane, a ceremony that necessitated a +great deal of shooing and scolding. +</P> + +<P> +The first eye-sore on Willow Lane was the old hotel, still standing +there, forlorn and ugly, as though ashamed of all the evil it had +wrought. +</P> + +<P> +As the years passed there was always a new generation of loungers to +sit and smoke and spit on its sagging veranda. From it ran the old +high board fence plastered with ugly advertisements of soap or circus +or patent medicine. It disfigured the whole street and shut off a +possible glimpse of the lake. Away on the other side of it was a +meadow where in spring-time the larks soared and sang, and beyond it +the lake and the woods where the mocking bird and the bee made music. +But here in Willow Lane was neither sound nor sight that was pleasant. +</P> + +<P> +The street consisted of a single sorry-looking row of houses with +narrow box-like yards shoved up close to the road, as though there were +not acres and acres of open free meadow land behind them. The hills +upon which Algonquin was situated ceased abruptly here, and the land +spread away in a flat plain along the lake shore. The ground was low +and damp, and every house in Willow Lane that had the misfortune to +possess a cellar was the abode of disease. A deep ditch ran parallel +to the rickety board side-walk. There had just been a week of +unceasing rain and it was full of green water. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh dear!" said Helen, in distress. "I had no idea there was such a +place as this in Algonquin." +</P> + +<P> +"People have lived here for years and still seem to have no idea," said +Madame. She paused and looked back. "Do you see that house 'way up on +the hill yonder? The one with the tower sticking up between the trees? +That's Alexander Graham's mansion. And he makes a good deal of his +money out of the rents of these houses, and nobody seems to care very +much. The people of the churches send down turkeys and plum puddings, +and everything good at Christmas time, and seem to think that will do +for another year. But the only man who tries to do anything all the +time is Angus McRae. I suppose you know that Lawyer Ed calls him the +Good Samaritan, and this the Jericho Road." +</P> + +<P> +The first house in the dreary row was the turbulent home of Mr. +Cassidy, the gentleman who commanded so much of Lawyer Ed's attention. +Mrs. Cassidy was on the front veranda washing. It was a pastime she +seldom indulged in, for there was never much water in the old leaky +rain barrel at the corner of the house. For while Willow Lane had +water, water everywhere, the inhabitants had not any drop in which to +wash themselves. But the overflowing rain-barrels had tempted Judy +to-day, and so her little figure was bobbing up and down over the +washboard like a play Judy in a show. She was scrubbing her own +clothes, but not her husband's, for Mr. Cassidy and his wife lived each +an entirely independent life. They occupied different sections of the +house even, and the lady saw to it that her husband's apartments were +the coldest in winter and the hottest in summer. This arrangement had +been held to, ever since the day that Mike thrashed Judy. It had not +been without some provocation, it is true; for though very small, Mrs. +Cassidy had a valiant spirit, and had many and varied ways of +exasperating her husband's inflammable temper. But Lawyer Ed had +appealed to Father Tracy, and that muscular shepherd of his flock had +come down upon Willow Lane and thrashed Mike thoroughly and soundly. +Since then there had been a sort of armed neutrality in the home of the +Cassidys. +</P> + +<P> +"Good day, Mrs. Cassidy," called Madame over the little fence. "It's a +beautiful day after the rain." +</P> + +<P> +"Aw, well now and is that you, Mrs. Adam?" enquired Judy, her little +face peering out of the clouds of steam. "Sure it's yerself would be +bringin' beautiful weather, aven if it was poorin'." +</P> + +<P> +Her voice was soft, her manner ingratiating, there was no sign of the +warrior spirit beneath. +</P> + +<P> +"I hope the rain'll keep off till you get your clothes dry," said +Madame pleasantly, but passing resolutely on, for Mrs. Cassidy showed +sighs of a desire to come to the gate and have a friendly chat. "We +must get out of her way. If she starts to talk we'll never escape," +she whispered. "Just look at that will you!" +</P> + +<P> +The second place was one where some pitiful attempts at beautifying had +been made. The yard was swept clean and a little drain had been dug at +the side to let the water run off. A few drowned flowers leaned over +on their hard clay beds, and there was a neat curtain and a mosquito +netting on each window. But right against the window that overlooked +the Cassidys' yard, Mrs. Cassidy had piled all the old boards, boxes +and rubbish she could find, to obstruct the view to the town, of her +too ambitious neighbour. "Now, what do you think of that?" cried +Madame. "Isn't she the malicious little soul?" +</P> + +<P> +"Good day, Mrs. Kent, and how are you to-day?" +</P> + +<P> +"Good day, Mrs. Adam," from a sharp-faced neat woman, sitting at the +doorway of the barricaded house, knitting rapidly. +</P> + +<P> +"It's a beautiful day, isn't it?" said Madame ingratiatingly. +</P> + +<P> +"Lovely," responded the woman. "It's a great thing we had so much +rain, we need a lot down here, we're that dry." +</P> + +<P> +Madame chose to take the sarcasm as a joke, and laughed blithely. +</P> + +<P> +But the woman did not smile. "She's had to work too hard, poor soul," +whispered the visitor when they had passed. "She's clean and thrifty +but she has to wash to support a crippled boy and a consumptive girl. +No wonder she's sour." +</P> + +<P> +They passed two or three more sorry-looking houses and finally paused +before the gate of the home of Madame's little pupil. The bare +grassless yard was filled with old boxes and rubbish. A big lumbering +lad of about fourteen sprawled over the doorstep playing with a string. +He looked up with vacant eyes, and clutched at the visitors' skirts, +muttering and jabbering in idiot glee. +</P> + +<P> +Madame put her hand tenderly on his small, ill-shaped head. +</P> + +<P> +"Poor Eddie," she whispered, "poor boy." +</P> + +<P> +She fumbled in her big black satchel and brought out a gay candy stick. +He grabbed it with strange cries of joy. The sounds brought a ragged +little ghost of a woman to the door, carrying a tiny bundle on her arm. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, well, is that you, Madame?" she cried, smiling a broad toothless +smile. "I thought it was you, an' Minnie she says, I believe that's my +teacher, Ma." +</P> + +<P> +Madame climbed the steep steps, Helen following. The room was dirty +and untidy. A rusty stove and table, three chairs and an ill-smelling +cupboard in the corner, with some gaudy glass dishes upon it, were the +only furniture. +</P> + +<P> +"And how are you, Mrs. Perkins? This is the new teacher, Miss Murray. +When Minnie passes out of my room, she'll he under this lady's care. +And how is my little girl this afternoon?" +</P> + +<P> +Madame passed to the door of the tiny bedroom. The bed filled the +whole space with just room enough to stand left between it and the +wall. A little girl was lying on it, her hollow cheeks pink, her eyes +bright. The sun poured in at the bare window and the room was hot and +breathless. The swarming flies covered her face and arms. She brushed +them away fretfully, and stretched out her hot hands for the flowers. +"Oh, teacher," she cried, trying to strangle her cough, "I watched and +I watched for you all day and I was scared you wasn't comin'." +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Doasyouwouldbedoneby sat down on the edge of the dirty bed and put +her cool hand on the little girl's burning forehead. +</P> + +<P> +Helen placed herself rather gingerly on a proffered chair, and looked +at the wee bundle in the woman's arms. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, it's a baby," she whispered in awe. The mother's faded face lit +up with pride. She held the little scrap of humanity towards the +visitor. "'E's a grite little rascal, 'e is," she exclaimed fondly. +"As smart as a weasel, an' 'im only a fo'tnight old last Sunday." +</P> + +<P> +Helen was positively afraid to touch the little bundle, but the look of +utter exhaustion on the woman's face overcame her repugnance. She held +out her arms and the mother dropped the baby into them and sank upon a +chair with a sigh of relief. +</P> + +<P> +"Only a little over two weeks," gasped Helen, looking at the wee +wrinkled face peeping from the bundle. +</P> + +<P> +The mother's face beamed with joy and pride. She thought that the +visitor's astonishment was for the wonderful baby, all unconscious of +herself. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes'm, just but a fo'tnight, and a little over. Oh 'e's a grite +little tyke, 'e is. Ain't 'e, now?" +</P> + +<P> +"Has Doctor Blair been to see Minnie?" asked Madame softly. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes'm. Old Angus 'e was 'ere on Monday, and 'e sent 'im. 'E says +it's 'er lungs." She looked at her visitors with child-like +simplicity. "Is it very bad for Minnie to 'ave anything wrong with 'er +lungs do you think, Mrs. Adam?" +</P> + +<P> +Madame's gentle face was eloquent with pity. "Doctor Blair is a good, +kind doctor," she said evasively. "He'll do his best for her. You do +everything for her that he asks." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes'm. Old Angus 'e was trying to tell me wot to do, but I ain't much +of a 'and at sickness. Minnie she gets up and gets wot she wants but I +tell 'er she ought to lie abed." +</P> + +<P> +The little girl had fallen into a doze, under the soothing touch of her +teacher's hand. Madame took off the veil from her hat and spread it +over the child's face as a protection from the flies. She came back +into the kitchen. The idiot boy came in and rolled about the floor +muttering and whining. +</P> + +<P> +"And how's Mr. Perkins?" asked Madame. "Is he keeping well?" It was +her gentle way of asking if he was keeping sober. The woman's tired +face lit up. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, ma'am. 'E is that. 'E's been keepin' fine since three weeks +come Sunday. That was the night Old Angus took 'im to the Harmy an' +got 'im saved. An' 'e's ben keepin' nicely saved ever since. We've +been 'avin' butter," she added proudly. "Ever since 'e got 'imself +converted. But we 'ad to 'ave the doctor for pore Minnie." Her thin +little face quivered. "If Minnie'd only get better now, we'd be +gettin' a good start, an' we'd all be 'appy." +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Perkins has work now, hasn't he?" said Madame comfortingly. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes'm. It's not steady, but Old Angus 'e's goin' to get 'im another +job. It's ben rather 'ard on my man," she added apologetically, "just +a comin' out from the hold country. It's 'ard gettin' work at first. +An' I wan't much use with 'im a comin'," she added, touching the bundle +reverently. +</P> + +<P> +"So this is the only Canadian baby you have," said Madame. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes'm." The mother forgot her troubles and smiled and fawned on the +bundle in delight. +</P> + +<P> +"He's Johny Canuck, isn't he?" asked Madame, with a feeble attempt at +gaiety. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, no, ma'am," cried the mother hastily. "'E's William 'Enery, after +'is paw. We ain't got 'im christened yet. But jist as soon's I can +get 'im a dress the pawson,—'e's a foine man,—'e says 'e'll come an' +do 'im, an' if my man jist keeps nicely saved, we'll be gettin' a +dress. But it's been 'ard on my man. Eddie there 'e's not much 'elp, +poor lad. But 'e goes out on the railroad track an' picks me up a bit +o' coal. An' Old Angus 'e's been that good. Oh, we'd never a' got on +without Old Angus. But if my Minnie 'adn't took sick—" +</P> + +<P> +She wiped a tear on the baby's dirty dress. It was the quiet, +dispassionate tear of a woman long accustomed to hardship. "I'll be +all right when I get a bit stronger an' can work," she added hopefully. +</P> + +<P> +The visitors rose to go. Madame held the woman's hand a long time, +trying to explain, as though to a little child, how the sick girl must +be treated. The case seemed so pitiful she was at a loss what to say. +"I'm afraid I can't get back for a few days, Mrs. Perkins," she said. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll come and see Minnie to-morrow," said Helen Murray suddenly. The +morrow was her precious Saturday that brought a rest from the week's +hard work, but the words seemed forced from her. The look of childish +fear in the woman's face made some sort of promise necessary for her +own peace of mind. +</P> + +<P> +The woman looked up at her gratefully as she took the baby. +</P> + +<P> +"It's awful good o' you, Miss," she cried, "and indeed I'll be thet +grateful, if you'd just come and tell me the best thing to do for +Minnie. I'm not much of a 'and in sickness." She looked at the two +visitors wistfully. "It does a body good jist to 'ave a word with +somebody that's sorry for you," she added. +</P> + +<P> +Helen went away, her heart sore and sick with the woman's pain. +</P> + +<P> +The idiot boy followed them to the gate, grinning and muttering. His +mother called him from the doorway, and he shambled towards her. +Glancing back, Helen saw his long, ungainly body folded in her little +thin arms, while she patted him tenderly on the back. +</P> + +<P> +As they stepped out on the rickety side-walk, a tall girl of about +sixteen came and stood staring at them from the doorway of the next +house. She had a bold, handsome face and her hair and untidy dress +were arranged in an extravagant imitation of the latest fashion. +</P> + +<P> +"Good day, Gladys," said Madame kindly, but the girl answered with only +a curt nod. When the visitors had passed, she called shrilly to some +one in the house behind her. +</P> + +<P> +"Maw! Hurry out an' see the parade! Willow Lane's gettin' awful +high-toned!" There was a loud cackle of laughter and Madame's +shoulders shook with suppressed merriment. "That's Gladys Hurd," she +said, shaking her head. "Poor Gladys, I'm afraid she's not a very good +girl. She's not got a very good mother." +</P> + +<P> +As they were turning off Willow Lane, the rattle of a buggy behind them +made Madame turn. +</P> + +<P> +"There he is again," she cried. "I suppose he's taken Peter home and +found his pig for him. I don't believe I could bear the thought of all +the misery on Willow Lane if I didn't know that Old Angus McRae was +doing so much to lighten it." +</P> + +<P> +Helen turned. Angus had pulled up in front of the Perkins' house and +the idiot lad with queer cries of delight came stumbling out to meet +him. The girl named Gladys ran out too, and the old man handed her a +sheaf of glowing crimson dahlias. She buried her face in them and +hugged them to her in a passion of admiration for their beauty. +</P> + +<P> +"Look, look at Mrs. Cassidy will you?" cried Madame in delight. +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Cassidy had come to the door at the first sound of the wheels, and +when she saw who was near, she darted out and swiftly and stealthily +removed the obstruction from her neighbour's window. Then she went to +the gate to greet Old Angus, suave and gentle of speech, and as +innocent looking as the meek heap of boards now lying in a corner of +her yard. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, well, well," laughed Madame as they walked on. "Even if Old +Angus would merely drive up and down Willow Lane I believe he would +make the people better." +</P> + +<P> +When Helen reached Rosemount she slipped in at the side door and up the +back stair. It was the day the Misses Armstrong entertained the whist +club, and a clatter of teacups and a hum of voices told her the guests +were not yet gone. She removed her hat, and smoothed her hair +absently; her thoughts were down on Willow Lane busy with the complex +problem of the Perkins family. The windows were opened, and the sound +of swishing skirts and laughing voices came up to her from the garden +walk. A couple of well-dressed women were going out at the gate. +</P> + +<P> +"Poor old things," cried one in a light merry voice. "They do get up +the most comical concoctions at their teas. And Miss Annabel in a +ten-year-old dress! Will she ever grow up?" +</P> + +<P> +"The poor dears can't afford anything better. They are just struggling +along," answered her companion. "They had that house left them, and +the old lady gets her allowance, but the daughters hadn't a cent left +them, and they would both fall dead if they weren't invited to +everything. But I don't know where they get money to dress at all." +</P> + +<P> +"I suppose that is why they took that girl to board." +</P> + +<P> +"Of course, poor old Elinor is so scared—" The voice died away and a +sharp rap on her door took Helen from the window. She opened the door +and there, to her surprise, stood Miss Leslie Graham, looking very +handsome in the splendour of her rose silk gown. She smiled radiantly. +"Good day, Miss Murray. I think you know who I am and I think it's +time we met. I ran up here to get away from that jam of people. Those +women take such an lasting age to get away. May I sit with you for a +minute?" +</P> + +<P> +Helen offered her a chair gladly. She had often seen Miss Graham, and +her unfailing gay spirits had made her wish she could know her. The +visitor flung her silver purse upon the bed, her gloves upon the table, +her white parasol upon the bureau, and sank into the chair. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh I'm dead," she groaned. "I've passed ten thousand cups of tea, and +twenty thousand sandwiches. Don't you pity and despise people that +don't know any better than to come to a thing indoors on a hot day?" +</P> + +<P> +Helen smiled. "But you came," she said. +</P> + +<P> +"But I had to. When any of my relations give a tea I am always +tethered to a tray and a plate of biscuits." She stopped suddenly and +looked at Helen keenly, with a stare that puzzled the girl. Then she +jumped up and seated herself upon the bed, rumpling the counterpane. +In the few minutes since she had entered the room she had made the +place look as if a whirlwind had swept through it, and Helen felt a +nervous fear of Miss Armstrong's walking in and witnessing her untidy +condition. +</P> + +<P> +"Do you like it here?" she enquired directly. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, I—think I do. Algonquin is so beautiful, but—" +</P> + +<P> +"But you can't stand my poky aunts, and Grandma's jokes, eh?" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, no," cried Helen aghast. "Both the Misses Armstrong have been +very kind and Mrs. Armstrong is delightful—but, of course, I get +homesick." She stopped suddenly for that was a subject upon which she +dared not dwell. +</P> + +<P> +The other girl stared. "My goodness. I would love to know what +homesickness is like, just for once. I've never been away from home +except for a visit somewhere in the holidays, and then I was always +having such a ripping time, that the thought of going home made me +sick." +</P> + +<P> +She sat for a little while, again looking steadily at Helen. "You +certainly are pretty," she exclaimed. "There's no doubt about that." +</P> + +<P> +"I beg your pardon!" said Helen amazed, and doubting if she had heard +aright. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, nothing, never mind!" cried the other with a laugh. She tore off +her costly hat and flung it on top of the table. Then she threw +herself backwards on the bed staring at the ceiling. She made such a +complete wreck of the starched pillow covers and the prim white +bedspread that were the pride of Miss Armstrong's heart, that Helen +shuddered. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I don't wonder at you getting homesick here. These ceilings are +such a vast distance away they make you feel as if you were a hundred +miles from everywhere. I remember sleeping in this room once, when +there was an epidemic of scarlet fever or something among the Armstrong +kids. All the well ones were dumped on our aunts, after the custom of +the family, and I was sent off with a dozen others and we were marooned +upstairs, like a gang of prisoners, the girls in this room and the boys +in Grandma's. Six in a bed—more or less. I remember we used to lie +awake in the early morning before Aunt Elinor would let us get up, and +study the outburst of robins and grapes on the ceiling. And one day we +got the boys in with their toy guns and tried to shoot the tails off +the birds. Cousin Harry Armstrong hit one. Do you see the ghastly +remains of that bird without the tail? That was the one. I never hit +anything, but I tried hard enough. I am responsible for the bangs on +the ceiling. Each one tells when I missed my aim." +</P> + +<P> +Helen laughed all unawares. She was surprised at herself. It was so +long since she had laughed she thought she had forgotten how. +</P> + +<P> +"That robin proved to be the Albatross for us," continued Leslie +Graham, sitting up again, "for Aunt Elinor found out about it, and we +had no more good luck from that day till we went home." She sprang up. +</P> + +<P> +"Dear me! here I am jabbering away, and Mother must be gone." She +caught up her hat, dislodging a couple of books that went over on the +floor. "Oh, dear, I've knocked something over." She did not make any +motion to pick them up, however. "Mother says I always leave a trail +behind me." +</P> + +<P> +She stood before the glass arranging her hat, a radiant figure. Helen +looked at her wistfully. There was nothing this girl wanted, surely, +that she could not have; and yet she seemed so restless and +dissatisfied. +</P> + +<P> +"Do you go out much?" she asked. +</P> + +<P> +"Not very much," said Helen. "My school keeps me busy." She did not +say that she knew so very few young people she had no one to go with. +</P> + +<P> +Miss Graham turned to the mirror again. She seemed embarrassed. "The +lake's lovely here for paddling. Only the season is nearly over. Have +you been out on the water much?" She did not look at the girl as she +asked the question. +</P> + +<P> +"No," said Helen, and the other faced round and stared at her. "I +don't know how to paddle and I am rather afraid of a canoe." +</P> + +<P> +"Do you mean to say you've never been on the lake since you came here?" +asked Leslie Graham, standing and staring with a hat-pin in her mouth. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, yes, I was—once," said Helen innocently. She did not think it +necessary to tell all about Roderick's rescue of her from the point; +for already she had heard the Misses Armstrong coupling his name with +their niece's in tones of high disapproval. "I was once—but only +once." +</P> + +<P> +Leslie Graham's face grew radiant. +</P> + +<P> +"Is that all?" she cried in a tone expressing decided relief. +</P> + +<P> +She amazed Helen by suddenly darting towards her and putting her arm +around her. "Why you poor little lonesome thing," she cried, "you must +learn to paddle; I will teach you myself. Now, good-bye, I think we +are going to be real good friends." She kissed Helen warmly and +tripped out, singing a gay song, and leaving her late hostess standing +amazed in the middle of her dishevelled room. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap09"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER IX +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +"DEAF TO THE MELODY" +</H3> + +<P> +Autumn painted Algonquin in new and splendid tints. She coloured the +maples that lined the streets a dazzling gold, with here and there at +the corners, a scarlet tree for variety or one of rose pink or even +deep purple. And when the leaves began to fall the whole world was a +bewildering flutter of rainbows. The November rains came and washed +the gorgeous picture away, and the artist went all over it again in +soberer tints, soft greys and tender blues with a hint of coming frost +in the deep tones of the sky. +</P> + +<P> +October was almost over before the busy, bustling Lawyer Ed had a +chance to think of the promise he had made in the summer to Old Angus, +and he called J. P. Thornton and Archie Blair and Roderick together +into his office one bright morning to enquire what could be done about +getting a local option by-law for Algonquin submitted on the next +municipal election day. +</P> + +<P> +The general consensus of opinion was that they were too late for the +coming election on New Year's; but that they must start an educational +campaign immediately to stir up public opinion on the subject of +temperance. And they would get their petition ready for the spring and +march to victory a year from the coming January. +</P> + +<P> +J. P. Thornton, who was the most energetic man on the town council, was +busy getting a drain dug through Willow Lane to carry off the disease +breeding stagnant waters that lay about the little houses. And he +declared in a fine oratorical outburst, that if they started this +temperance campaign early, and dug deep enough, by a year from the next +election day, they would have such a trench projected through Algonquin +as would carry away in a flood all the foul, death-breeding liquid that +inundated their beautiful town, and pour it into the swamps of oblivion. +</P> + +<P> +Lawyer Ed gave a cheer when he was through, and Archie Blair quoted +Burns: +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +"Now, Robinson, harrangue na mair,<BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">But steek your gab forever,</SPAN><BR> +Or try the wicked town of Ayr,<BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">For there they'll think you clever."</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +For though, as a citizen, the doctor was convinced that a prohibitory +liquor law would be a good thing for Algonquin, personally he was not +inclined to look upon the beverage as foul death-breeding liquid. +</P> + +<P> +Roderick McRae sat silently listening to the older man. He was +wondering what Alexander Graham would say, when he found his lawyer +arrayed on the side of the temperance forces. For he knew that his +wealthy client had heavy investments in breweries, and also owned +secretly, the bigger share of Algonquin's leading hotel and bar-room. +</P> + +<P> +He was not long left in doubt. The ladies of the Presbyterian church +gave a turkey and pumpkin pie supper on Thanksgiving eve, with a +concert in the Sunday-school room after, all for the sum of twenty-five +cents, the proceeds to go to a new red carpet and cushions for the +choir gallery. Lawyer Ed was chairman at the concert, of course, and +J. P. Thornton was the chief speaker. And though his address was on +Imperialism, a subject through which he had grown quite famous, he +branched off into temperance and publicly announced that the local +option by-law would be submitted before long in Algonquin, and they had +better get ready. +</P> + +<P> +Lawyer Ed, who always made a short speech between each item on the +programme, burst forth, almost before J. P. had sat down, with the +further announcement, accompanied by a great deal of oratory, that the +temperance forces would carry their banner to victory and mount over +every difficulty even as his Highland ancestors had stormed the heights +of Alma. For when Lawyer Ed got upon the platform, a strange +transformation always came over him. His Hibernianism fell from him +like a garment, and he was over the heather and away like any true born +Scot. +</P> + +<P> +The next day, Miss Leslie Graham, in a new autumn suit of ruby velvet +and a big plumed hat, dropped in at the office of Brians and McRae and, +after chattering merrily for half-an-hour with Roderick, said that her +father wanted him to come up the following evening for dinner. +</P> + +<P> +Roderick went, with, as usual, the faint hope that he might see Helen +Murray there. He had not succeeded in meeting her, except casually on +the street, since that magic night when he had paddled her home in the +moonlight. But he was, as usual, disappointed. There was only the +Graham family present. Miss Leslie was as gay and charming as ever, +and her mother was slightly less stiff with him. But Mr. Graham was +exceptionally kind and hospitable. Before returning to the +drawing-room after dinner, he carried Roderick off to the library for a +little private chat. There were a few matters of business to be +discussed, and when they were finished, Mr. Graham said casually: +</P> + +<P> +"I suppose you run the affairs of Brians and McRae yourself these days. +I hear Ed's off after another will-o'-the-wisp as usual. Let me see, I +believe it's a temperance bee he's got in his bonnet this time." +</P> + +<P> +Roderick was silent. The contemptuous tone nettled him. He would not +discuss Lawyer Ed with Alexander Graham, no matter what the consequence. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, well," said the host, giving the fire a poke, and laughing +good-naturedly. "Those fellows must do something to take up their +time. But it's a pity to see them wasting it. For that thing won't go +here in Algonquin, Rod. Take my word for it. And if it did, it would +be a great pity, for such a law wouldn't be kept. Of course, if Ed +Brians and Archie Blair and J. P. Thornton, and a few other fanatics +like that, are bound to meddle with other people's consciences, I +suppose we'll just have to let them do it. 'If it plazes her, it don't +be hurtin' me,' as Mike Cassidy said when Judy hammered him with the +broomstick. I hope they'll enjoy themselves." +</P> + +<P> +Roderick looked up quickly. "It is not a mere pastime with my father. +It is a thing of great moment to him," he said. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, well, of course," said Mr. Graham suavely. "I can understand +that. Your father is a man who has devoted his life to drunks and +outcasts, and he looks on temperance legislation as a refuge for them. +I have no doubt he is quite sincere in the matter." +</P> + +<P> +"I should just say he is," said Roderick rather explosively. +</P> + +<P> +"That's quite true, Rod," said his patron, a little annoyed. "But your +father, with many another good man, is making a great mistake when he +believes people will be benefited by temperance legislation. Some +folks seem to think that if you get local option in a town the +millennium has come." He lit a cigar, and leaned back with an air of +finality. "I tell you they're awfully mistaken. People want liquor +and they'll get it as long as they want it, law or no law. And they're +going to want it till the end of time. And if those folks insist upon +forcing this by-law upon Algonquin, they will only succeed in giving +the town a bad name. It's simply ruinous to a place from a business +standpoint." +</P> + +<P> +Roderick had no answer to make. He was inclined to believe that Graham +was right. He wanted to believe it, for the burden of this thing was +annoying him. He knew that Lawyer Ed would have met the statements +with fiery contradictions, and J. P. Thornton would have answered with +clear, convincing facts. But he had given very little thought to the +subject, and could not remember any of the arguments. And he had +certainly heard, many, many times that the temperance measure had been +a failure in other towns. +</P> + +<P> +He sat silent, his elbows on his knees, his hands locked together, +looking into the glowing grate and wishing he didn't have to be +bothered with it all. What had local option to do with his work, +anyway? +</P> + +<P> +And then he realised that his host was talking again. In the midst of +his quiet insinuating remarks, there was a sharp tap on the door, and +Leslie swept into the room, very handsome in her soft, trailing white +dress. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm just not going to let you two poke here any longer," she declared, +giving her father's ear a pull. "You're spoiling all Rod's evening, +Daddy, by talking business. His office is for that. Come right along +into the drawing-room this minute, the Baldwin girls have come, and +we're going to have some music." +</P> + +<P> +The subject of local option was not referred to again that evening, but +Roderick realised that, in some subtle way, how, he scarcely knew, his +client had conveyed to him the unmistakable intelligence that should he +identify himself with the temperance forces in any prominent way, the +business of Graham and Company would have to be placed in other hands. +</P> + +<P> +Roderick scarcely understood what had been said until he was walking +home in the clear frosty air with time to think it over. +</P> + +<P> +He was miserably uncomfortable the next day when he found his chief +buried head and ears in temperance affairs. +</P> + +<P> +"We'll have to wade into this with high-water boots, ma braw John +Hielanman!" he cried radiantly. "Be jabers! but I do love a fight, and +a fine old Donnybrook fair we're goin' to have!" And he relapsed into +a rich Irish brogue. +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Graham told me last night he'd like me to go north in a few +weeks," said Roderick in a strained voice. "I may have to be gone for +a month." +</P> + +<P> +"On that Beaver Landing deal? Well now, that's a big thing, Rod!" +Lawyer Ed was scribbling madly at his desk while he talked, and calling +up some one on the telephone every three minutes. "You've got Sandy +Graham all right. Hello, Central, are you asleep? I said I wanted J. +P. Thornton and I still say it!"—"No you didn't, I tell you! Sandy'll +kick over the traces when we get going on this campaign, though. Not +in? Where in thunder is he? Tell him to call me the minute he gets +back. Yes, that's a fact, Rod!" And he slammed the receiver down and +took to scribbling furiously again. "Sandy'll put on his plug hat and +his swallow-tail coat and hike like the limited express for +Willoughby's office the minute he sees our names heading that +petition!" He shut his eyes, and, leaning back, laughed in delighted +anticipation of losing their most valuable client. +</P> + +<P> +Roderick felt impatient. To him the affair was no laughing matter. To +lose Graham's business was unthinkable, to keep out of this troublesome +temperance campaign seemed impossible. One moment he felt he must come +out right boldly for the cause, the next he called himself a fool, for +letting such a doubtful thing stand in the way of his best interests. +</P> + +<P> +But before the necessity for declaring himself came upon him, the +temperance campaign suffered a severe check. The trouble arose in an +unexpected quarter, not from the enemy, but in the ranks of the +advancing army itself. The temperance ship ran against the rock that +threatened to split it altogether, on the last Sunday in November. +This day was celebrated as St. Andrew's Sunday, the day when the +society of the Sons of Scotland, with bonnets on their heads, plaidies +on their shoulders and heather in their button-holes, paraded to church +in a body and had a sermon preached to them by a minister brought up +from the city for the purpose of glorifying Scotland and edifying her +sons. As nearly all the Presbyterian congregation of Algonquin was +Scotch, every one else was as much edified as the Sons themselves; but +there was one prominent exception and that was J. P. Thornton. +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Thornton was an Englishman, born within the sound of Bow Bells, +and, like a true Briton, intensely proud of the fact, and though he was +as liberal in his general views as he was in politics, and had +delivered many a fine speech on Imperialism, yet some stubborn latent +prejudice arose in his heart and threatened to overflow every St. +Andrew's Sunday. +</P> + +<P> +It was not that he objected so much to the tartan-and-heather bedecked +rows occupying the front pews of the church, on St. Andrew's Sunday. +He was inclined to look upon them with some lofty amusement, saying +that if they liked that sort of child's play it was no affair of his +and they might have it. But it was the sermon that always put him into +a fighting humour. For never a preacher stood up there on St. Andrew's +Sunday but made some unfortunate reference to Bannockburn and Scots Wha +Hae, and a great many other things calculated to rouse any Englishman's +ire. +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Thornton had never openly rebelled, however, and the St. Andrew's +sermon came each year with only a few mild explosions following. But +this year the celebration caused a serious disturbance, and as so often +happened, it started with Lawyer Ed. +</P> + +<P> +That lively Irish gentleman had already joined almost every +organisation in the town, and there suddenly came to him a great desire +to join the Sons of Scotland also. His mother was a Scottish lady of +Highland birth, and he himself had a deep-rooted affection for anything +or anybody connected with the land o' cakes. So on the eve of this St. +Andrew's celebration he joined the order and became a true Son of +Scotland himself. +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Thornton had gone away for a couple of weeks on a business trip and +knew nothing of this new departure of his friend. He came home late on +Saturday night before St. Andrew's Sunday, and went to church the next +morning, all unsuspecting that at that moment Ed was falling into line +down at the lodge room, his plaidie the brightest, his bonnet the +trimmest and his heather sprig the biggest of all the procession. +</P> + +<P> +The Scotchmen had turned out nearly a hundred strong this morning, for +the minister from the city was a great man with a continental +reputation. It was a beautifully clear, brilliant day, too, one of +those days that only the much maligned November can bring, with +dazzling cloudless skies and an exhilarating tang of frost-nipped +leaves in the air. So the Scotchmen were all there, even old Angus +McRae and his son, the young Highlander looking very handsome in his +regalia. +</P> + +<P> +Jock McPherson and the Captain of the <I>Inverness</I> were there too. +Captain Jimmie was in his glory, but Mr. McPherson looked as if he were +preparing to object to everything about him. Each recurring St. +Andrew's Sunday found the Elder more and more inclined to think that +this Sabbath parade was scarcely in keeping with the day. But he was a +true Scot at heart, and no amount of orthodoxy could keep him out of +it. He felt this morning, however, that matters had gone a bit too +far, for the warm day had tempted Archie Blair, and he had come out in +the kilt, his shameless bare-kneed example followed by Harry Lauder and +three other foolish youths of the Highland club. +</P> + +<P> +A few minutes before the hour for the service, when the bells had begun +to roll out their invitations from the three church towers, the +procession started. And the Methodists and Baptists and Anglicans kept +themselves late for church by lingering on the side-walk to see it +pass. It was worth watching; as very stately and solemn and slow it +moved along the street and up to the church door. +</P> + +<P> +Mr. McPherson moved rather stiffly, for Archie Blair was walking beside +Lawyer Ed directly in front of him, and the very tilt of his bonnet and +the swing of his kilt was a profanation of the day. Somehow, the +doctor did not at all fit in with the Sabbath. He was a big straight +man, long of limb, broad of shoulder and inclined to a generous +rotundity, and he swaggered so splendidly when he walked, and held up +his bonneted head with such a dashing air, that he gave the distinct +impression that the bagpipes were skirling out a gay march as he swung +past. +</P> + +<P> +The sight of him on this Sabbath morning struck dismay to Jock's +orthodox soul, clinging tenaciously to its ancient traditions. Lawyer +Ed, too, seemed to have donned the spirit of irreverence with the +bonnet, and was conducting himself as no elder of the kirk should have +behaved even at a St. Andrew's banquet. +</P> + +<P> +"Eh, losh Ed, mon," cried the doctor, loud enough for Jock to hear. +"Ah wush we could hae a bit strathspey frae the pipes to march wi' to +the kirk, foreby." +</P> + +<P> +Lawyer Ed's face became forbidding. +</P> + +<P> +"Eh, eh, and that to an elder? Div ye hear yon, Jock? It's the +Heilan's comin' oot o' him!" +</P> + +<P> +Jock could not resist a sudden temptation. That strange twist came +over his face, which heralded a far-off joke. He spoke very slowly. +</P> + +<P> +"It's what you micht be expecting from the likes o' him. It's written +down in his history: +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +"The Blairs they are a wicked race,<BR> +They set theirsels in sad disgrace,<BR> +They made the pipes and drums to play,<BR> +Through Algonquin on the Sawbbath day."<BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +He had paraphrased a bit to suit the occasion, and the doctor laughed +so appreciatively that the elder began to feel brighter. +</P> + +<P> +But Jock should have known better than to have set an example of +rhyming before Archie Blair. He turned and looked down at the elder, +and the sight of him marching peaceably beside Captain Jimmie reminded +him of an old doggerel ballad: "But man, there's worse than that +written in your own history," he cried: +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +"O-o-och, Fairshon swore a feud,<BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">Against ta clan McTavish,</SPAN><BR> +And marched into their land,<BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">To murder and to ravish,</SPAN><BR> +For he did resolve,<BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">To extirpate ta vipers,</SPAN><BR> +With four-and-twenty men<BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">And five-and-twenty pipers!"</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"Tut, tut, Doctor," cried Captain Jimmie, trying to hide a smile +beneath his bonnet. "Be quate man, it's the Sabbath day." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, here's a verse that's got a quotation from Scripture or at least +an allusion to one. That's to be expected in the history of the +McPhersons." +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +"Fairshon had a son<BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">That married Noah's daughter,</SPAN><BR> +And nearly spoiled ta flood<BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">By drinking all ta water,</SPAN><BR> +Which he would have done<BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">I really do believe it</SPAN><BR> +Had ta mixture peen<BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">Only half Glenlevit!"</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Lawyer Ed was shaking with unseemly laughter. +</P> + +<P> +"Ye'll hae to sing it a' when we eat the haggis the morn's night," he +suggested. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't understand how a reference to anything so unholy as the +Glenlevit got into the annals of ta Fairshons, Jock," said Doctor Blair. +</P> + +<P> +Now Jock McPherson was not averse to a drop of Glenlevit himself,—for +his stomach's sake, of course, for the elder could not be unscriptural +even in his eating and drinking. Archie Blair was not averse to it +either, though he frankly admitted that it was very bad for his +stomach, indeed, and for everybody else's stomach. +</P> + +<P> +But in the opening temperance campaign the latter had come out avowedly +on the side of local option, and was looked upon as one of the party's +strongest speakers, while Jock had not yet declared himself. It was a +delicate subject with Mr. McPherson, and he could not endure to be +twitted about it. +</P> + +<P> +He paused at the church steps and laid his hand on the doctor's velvet +sleeve. He cleared his throat, always a dangerous sign. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," he said very slowly, "it will be a ferry fine song indeed, and +if Edward would jist be putting big <I>Aye</I>-men on the tail of it +to-morrow night, it will sound more feenished." The whole procession +was waiting to enter the church, but Jock did not hurry. "As for the +Glenlevit, the McPhersons were no more noted for liking their drop than +many another clan I might mention. But they were honest about it." He +paused again and then said even more deliberately: "And if you would +like to be referring to the Scriptures again, you might be taking a +look at your Bible when you get home, you will be finding some ferry +good advice in Romans the 2nd chapter and 21st verse." +</P> + +<P> +He turned away and marched solemnly into the church. The procession +followed and it was then that J. P. Thornton, standing at his post, and +wondering why Ed had not long ago appeared to receive the Scotchmen, +beheld the amazing spectacle of his Irish friend and very brother, +marching in their front rank, bonnet and plaid and all! +</P> + +<P> +J. P. was too dignified to make a demonstration of his outraged +feelings in church, but Miss Annabel Armstrong reported afterwards that +when she passed him she heard him say something about Edward, that +sounded like "You're too brutish"—or "too bruty" or something like +that, and Miss Armstrong said it was exceedingly improper language for +an elder to use in church. +</P> + +<P> +J. P. was always in a state of mild irritation when he settled himself +to hear the annual St. Andrew's sermon, but this morning he was +decidedly indignant. By the time the Scotchmen had gone through two +long psalms, with Lawyer Ed leading, he was hot and disgusted, and when +the sermon came it was like acid poured upon an open wound. +</P> + +<P> +The famous minister from the city made all the mistakes of his St. +Andrew's predecessors and a great many more of his own. He lingered +long at Bannockburn, he recited "Scots Wha Hae" in full, he quoted +portions of the death of Wallace and altogether behaved in a way to +leave the usually genial English listener with his temper red and raw +and anxious for a fight. +</P> + +<P> +Monday evening Lawyer Ed was to have driven out to McClintock's Corners +with his friend, to speak at a tea meeting, and convince the farmers +that Algonquin would be a much more desirable place as a market town +with a prohibitory liquor law than it was at present. +</P> + +<P> +But Lawyer Ed went to the St. Andrew's supper instead and ate haggis +and listened to the pipes play "The Cock O' the North," and Archie +Blair recite Burns and Jock McPherson make a speech on Scottish history. +</P> + +<P> +That was more than J. P. could stand. He telephoned to Roderick early +the next morning telling him to inform his chief that he, J. P., would +go to no more temperance meetings with him. If Lawyer Ed wanted help +in his campaign let him look for it among his brother Scotchmen. And +the receiver slammed before Roderick could enquire what he meant. +</P> + +<P> +There were storms bursting in other quarters too. Doctor Blair had +spent a good part of the time in church on Sunday morning in a laudable +search for the Epistle to the Romans, and had surprised all his +brethren by studying the 2nd chapter carefully. The result, however, +was not what a searching of the Scriptures is supposed to produce. For +he telephoned to Roderick the next morning that he could tell Ed, when +he came in, that he, Archie Blair, would be hanged if he would waste +any more time on local option if that was what people were saying about +him. And Captain Jimmie dropped in immediately after to say that if +something wasn't done to conciliate Jock McPherson he was afraid he +would vote against local option altogether. +</P> + +<P> +So the cause of temperance suffered a check. It proved to be not a +very serious one, but it served Roderick. For it postponed the +necessity of his declaring himself on either side, and he hoped that +before the day arrived when he must join the issue, his affairs would +be less complicated. +</P> + +<P> +Diplomacy was one of Lawyer Ed's strong features, and he had almost +completed a reconciliation between all the aggrieved parties when +Roderick left for a business trip to the north. It was an important +commission involving much money, and certain vague statements regarding +its outcome made by Mr. Graham had fired the Lad's imagination. +</P> + +<P> +"Now, I needn't warn you to do your best, Roderick," said the man when +he bade him good-bye. "You'll do that, anyway. But there's more than +money in this. There's an eye on you—" +</P> + +<P> +He would say no more, but Leslie gave him another hint. He had found +her strolling past the office as he ran out to post some letters, the +day before his departure. He was absolutely without conceit, but he +could not help noticing that somehow Miss Leslie Graham nearly always +happened, by the strangest coincidence, to be on the street just as he +was leaving the office. +</P> + +<P> +He walked with her to the post-office and back, and then she declared +her fingers were frozen and she would come into the office for ten +minutes to warm them. +</P> + +<P> +"So you're going to fix up things with the British North American +Railroad for Daddy, are you?" she said, holding out her gloved fingers +over the glowing coal-stove. "That means that you'll be getting your +fingers into Uncle Will's business, too. His lawyer is up at Beaver +Landing now." +</P> + +<P> +"Whose lawyer?" asked Roderick, giving her a chair by the fire and +standing before her feeling extremely uncomfortable. +</P> + +<P> +"Uncle Will's. You know Uncle Will Graham? He's an American now, but +he has all sorts of interests in Canada and he's—well, he's not +exactly President of the B. N. A., but he's the whole thing in it. +Uncle Will's coming home next summer, and I'm going to make him take me +back to New York with him." +</P> + +<P> +Roderick's ambitious heart gave a leap. Of course he knew about +William Graham, the Algonquin man who had gone to the States and made a +million or more. +</P> + +<P> +His head was filled with rosy dreams as he walked out to the farm that +evening to say good-bye. He was leaving for only a short time, but the +old people were loath to see him go. Aunt Kirsty drew him up to the +hot stove, bewailing the misfortune that was taking him away. +</P> + +<P> +"Dear, dear, dear, and you will be going away up north into the bush," +she said, clapping him on the back, "and you will jist be frozen with +the cold indeed, and your poor arm will be bad again." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, and the wolves will probably eat me, and a tree will fall on me +and I'll break through the ice and be drowned," wailed Roderick. And +she shoved him away from her for a foolish gomeril, trying not to smile +at him, and declaring it was little he cared that he was leaving her, +indeed. +</P> + +<P> +"I have not heard you say anything about the arm for a long time, Lad," +said his father, who was watching him, with shining eyes, from his old +rocking-chair. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, it's all right, Dad," he said lightly. "I haven't time to notice +it." +</P> + +<P> +He always put off the question thus when Aunt Kirsty was within +hearing, but his father's loving eye noticed that the boy's hand +sometimes sought the arm and held it, as though in pain. +</P> + +<P> +"And you will not be here to help start the great fight," his father +said wistfully, when he had heard all the latest news concerning the +temperance campaign, even to the pending disaster. "But you will be +finding a Jericho Road up in the bush, I'll have no doubt." +</P> + +<P> +Roderick looked at the saintly old face and his heart smote him. He +felt for a moment that to please his father would surely be worth more +than all the success a man could attain in a lifetime. +</P> + +<P> +"And did you get a job for poor Billy, Lad?" his father enquired. +</P> + +<P> +"Billy? Oh, the Perkins fellow?" Roderick whistled in dismay. Poor +Billy Perkins had not "kept nicely saved," as his brave little wife had +hoped, but had fallen among thieves in the hotel at the corner once +more. Old Angus had rescued him, put him upon his feet again, and had +commissioned his son to look for work for Billy, and his son had +forgotten about it entirely in the pressure of his work. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, Dad, that's a shame," he cried contritely, "I had so much on my +mind getting ready to go, I forgot. I'll tell Lawyer Ed about him, and +perhaps he can look up something. I have to start early in the morning +or I would yet." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, well," said his father cheerfully. "There now, there is no need +to worry, for they have got him a job, but it is away from home and I +thought he'd do better here. The bit wife is lonely since the wee girl +died. But Billy will jist have to go, and it will only be for the +winter, anyway." +</P> + +<P> +"What's he going to do?" +</P> + +<P> +"It will be in the shanties. He is not strong enough for the bush, but +he will be helping the cook, and the wages will be good. I'm hoping he +will not be able to get near the drink. Indeed it was the little +lassie herself that got him the job," he added, his eyes shining. +"She's the great little lady, indeed." +</P> + +<P> +"Who is, Father?" Roderick spoke absently, his eyes on the fire, his +mind on Mr. William Graham and the B. N. A. Railroad. +</P> + +<P> +"The young teacher lady. She will be down to see poor Mrs. Perkins +every day or so since the wee one died. And the poor bit Gladys! Eh, +she's jist making a woman out of her indeed." +</P> + +<P> +Roderick's eyes came away from the fire. He was all interest. "Oh, is +she? Does she visit the folks in Willow Lane? What is she doing for +them?" +</P> + +<P> +"Eh, indeed, what is she not doing?" cried his father. "It's jist an +angel we've got in Willow Lane now, Lad. I don't know how she did it, +and indeed Father Tracy says he doesn't know either, but she's got Judy +to cook a hot dinner for Mike every day, and she's teaching Gladys at +nights, and she's jist saved the poor Perkins bodies from starving. +She showed the wee woman how to make bread, and oh, indeed, I couldn't +be telling you all the good she does!" +</P> + +<P> +Roderick listened absorbedly. So that was where she kept herself in +the evenings. And that was why he could never meet her any place, no +matter how many nights he frittered away at parties in the hope of +seeing her. +</P> + +<P> +"And how did she get this job for Billy?" he asked, just for the sake +of hearing his father talk about her. +</P> + +<P> +Old Angus smiled knowingly. +</P> + +<P> +"Och, she has a way with her, and she can get anything she wants. It +would be through Alfred Wilbur—the poor lad the boys will be calling +such a foolish name." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, Afternoon Tea Willie. What's he after now?" +</P> + +<P> +"Indeed I think he will be after Miss Murray," said the old man, his +eyes twinkling. "He seems to be always following her about. And he +managed to get young Fred Hamilton to take Billy up to the camp. Fred +is going up to his father's shanties with a gang of men in about a +week." +</P> + +<P> +Roderick's heart sank. Here was a lost opportunity indeed. He had +failed to help his father, and had missed such a splendid chance to +help her. +</P> + +<P> +"If you've got anybody else who needs a job, Dad, I'll try to do better +next time," he said humbly. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, indeed, there will always be some one needing help," his father +said radiantly. "Eh, eh, it will be a fine thing for me to know you +are helping to care for the poor folk on the Jericho Road. Jist being +neighbour to them. It's a great business, the law, for helping a man +to be neighbour." The old man sat and gazed happily into the fire. +</P> + +<P> +Roderick fidgeted. He was thinking that some of the work of a lawyer +did not consist so much in rescuing the man who had fallen among +thieves as falling upon him and stripping him of his raiment. +</P> + +<P> +"Law is a complicated business, Dad," he said, with a sigh. +</P> + +<P> +There were prayers after that, and a tender farewell and benediction +from the old people, and Roderick went away, his heart strangely heavy. +He was to be absent only a short time, perhaps not over two weeks, but +he had a feeling that he was bidding his father a lifelong +farewell—that he was taking a road that led away from that path in +which the man had so carefully guided his young feet. +</P> + +<P> +It was not entirely by accident that Roderick should be walking into +Algonquin just as Helen Murray was coming out of the Hurd home. He had +been very wily, for such an innocent young man. A shadow on the blind, +showing the outline of a trim little hat and fluffy hair, had sent him +back into the shadows of the Pine Road to stand and shiver until the +shadow left the window and the substance came out through the lighted +doorway. Gladys came to the gate, her arm about her teacher's waist. +They were talking softly. Gladys's voice was not so loud nor her look +so bold as it once was. She ran back calling good-night, and the +little figure of the teacher went on swiftly up the shaky frosty +sidewalk. A few strides and Roderick was at her side. She was right +under the electric light at the corner when he reached her and she +turned swiftly with such a look of annoyance that he stopped aghast. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I beg your pardon—" he stammered, but was immensely relieved when +she interrupted smiling. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, is it you, Mr. McRae? I—didn't know—I thought it was—some one +else," she stammered. +</P> + +<P> +Roderick looked puzzled, but the next moment he understood. Just +within the rays of the electric light, across the street, was Afternoon +Tea Willie, waiting faithfully with chattering teeth and benumbed toes. +He stood and stared at Roderick as they passed, and then slowly +followed at a distance, the picture of abject desolation. Roderick +found it almost impossible to keep from laughing, until he began to +consider his own case. He had plunged headlong into her presence, and +now he felt he ought to apologise. He tried to, but she stopped him +charmingly. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, indeed, I wanted to see you, before you go away," she said, and +Roderick felt immensely flattered that she knew so much about his +affairs as to be aware that he was going away. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes? What can I do for you?" he asked shyly. +</P> + +<P> +"I wanted to ask about poor Billy Perkins. Mr. Wilbur got work for +him, you know." +</P> + +<P> +"Indeed, my father tells me it was you did the good deed," declared +Roderick warmly. +</P> + +<P> +"No, no, I only helped. But I am anxious about Billy." She spoke as +though Roderick were as interested in the Perkins family as his father. +"Is there any one up at Mr. Hamilton's camp, I wonder, who would keep +an eye on him. He is all right if he's only watched, so that he can't +get whiskey. There's young Mr. Hamilton, he's going, isn't he?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes." Roderick felt that if the young man mentioned watched Fred +Hamilton and kept him from drink it was all that could be expected of +him. However, he might try. "I'll speak to him," he said cordially, +"and see if he can do anything for Billy. I see you've taken some of +my father's family under your care," he added admiringly. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh no. I'm just helping a little. I'm afraid I'm not prompted by +such unselfish motives as your father is. I visit down here just for +something to do and to keep from being lonely." +</P> + +<P> +It was the first time she had made any reference to herself. Roderick +seized the opportunity. +</P> + +<P> +"You don't go out among the young people enough," he suggested. She +did not answer for a moment. She could not tell him that she was very +seldom invited in the circles where he moved. She had been doomed to +disappointment in Miss Graham's friendship, for after her first +generous outburst the young lady seemed to have forgotten all about her. +</P> + +<P> +"I like to come here," she said at last. "I think it's more worth +while. But don't talk any more about my affairs. Tell me something +about yours. Are you going to be long in the woods?" +</P> + +<P> +It was a delightful walk all the way up to Rosemount, for Roderick +managed to get up courage to ask if he might go all the way, and even +kept her at the gate a few minutes before he said good-bye, and he +promised, quite of his own accord, to visit Camp Hamilton if it was not +far from Beaver Landing, his headquarters, and when he returned he +would report to her Billy's progress. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap10"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER X +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +"THE LIGHT RETREATED" +</H3> + +<P> +About two weeks after Billy Perkins had gone north, Helen Murray went +down to Willow Lane from school to see his family. She had been there +only the evening before, and had found them doing well. The faded +little mother had never been quite so courageous since Minnie's death, +but Bill's new start had put them beyond the immediate possibility of +want and given fresh hope. There had been two very cheery letters from +him which Helen had read aloud, so the little wife was trying to be +happy in her loneliness, and was looking forward hopefully to Billy's +return in the spring. +</P> + +<P> +But January had set in bitterly cold and there had been a heavy snow +fall during the morning. Helen feared that Eddie might not have been +able to get the wood in, so as soon as Madame and her flock had +departed, she turned down towards Willow Lane. She had been in +Algonquin only a little over three months but already the +self-forgetting tasks she had set herself, were beginning to work their +cure. She had not regained her old joyousness, and often she was still +very sad and lonely; but there had come a calm light into her deep +eyes, and an expression of sweet courage and strength to her face, that +had not been there in the old careless happy days. She was growing +very fast, these busy days, though she was quite unconscious of it in +her complete absorption in other people's troubles. +</P> + +<P> +She had left the Perkins family in such comfortable circumstances, the +day before, that she was startled and dismayed to find everything in +confusion. The neighbours were running in and out of the open door, +the fire was out, the baby was crying, and the little mother lay on the +bed prostrated. +</P> + +<P> +"What is it?" cried Helen, stopping in the open doorway in dismay. +"Oh, what's the matter?" +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Hurd and Judy Cassidy were moving helplessly about the room. At +the sight of their friend the latter cried out, "Now praise the saints, +here's the dear young lady. Come in, Miss Murray! Och, wurra, wurra, +it's a black day for this house, indade!" +</P> + +<P> +Gladys was sitting on the old lounge beside the stove awkwardly holding +the baby. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, Miss Murray," she cried shrilly. "Somethin' awful's happened! +Billy Perkins's gone to jail. He got drunk and he's been steal—" +</P> + +<P> +Her mother shook the broom at her. "Hold your tongue," she said +sharply. For Mrs. Perkins, her face grey with suffering, had arisen on +the bed. "Oh, Teacher, is that you!" she cried, bursting into fresh +tears. Helen went and sat on the edge of the bed, and took her hand. +"What is it?" she whispered. "Perhaps it's not so bad!" she faltered, +making a vague attempt to comfort. +</P> + +<P> +But when the pitiful story came out it was bad enough. Mrs. Perkins +told it between sobs, aided by interpolations from her neighbours. +Billy had been working steadily up till last Saturday, quite happy +because he could not get at the drink. But on Saturday he went into +the village to buy some fresh meat from a farmer for the camp. And +there was a Jericho Road up north too, it seemed, where thieves lay in +wait for the unwary. And Billy fell among them. He went into the +tavern just for a few minutes, leaving the meat on the sleigh outside, +and when he came out it was gone. Billy had gone on towards the camp +despairingly, in dread of losing his job, and praying all the way for +some intervention of Providence to avert the result of his mistake. +For in spite of many a fall before temptation, poor Billy, in a blind +groping way, clung to the belief that there was a God watching him and +caring for him. So he went on, praying desperately, and about half-way +to camp there came an answer. Right by the roadside, as if dropped +there by a miracle, lay a quarter of beef, sticking out of the snow. +It was evidently a small cache some one had placed near the trail for a +short time, and had Billy been in his normal senses he would never have +touched it. But the drink was still benumbing his brain, and quickly +digging out the miraculous find he loaded it upon his sleigh and +hurried to camp. +</P> + +<P> +But retribution swiftly followed. The stolen meat had belonged to the +Graham camp, and it seemed it was a terrible crime to steal from a rich +corporation, much worse than from a half-drunken man like poor Billy. +The first thief was not arrested, but Billy was, and he was sent to +jail. He would not be home for ever and ever so long and what was to +become of them all, and what was to become of poor Billy? +</P> + +<P> +The little wife, accustomed though she was to hardships and griefs, was +overcome by this crushing blow. With all his faults and weaknesses, +Billy was her husband and the stay and support of the family, and +besides, she had a dread of jail and its accompanying disgrace. By the +time the sad tale was finished, she was worn out with sobs, and sat +still, looking straight ahead of her into the fireless stove. But the +baby's cries roused her, and she took him in her arms, making a pitiful +attempt to chirrup to him. The idiot boy, feeling dimly that something +was wrong, came and rubbed his head against her like a faithful dog, +whining grievously. She stroked his hair lovingly. "Pore Eddie," she +said, "it'd be better if you an' me an' the biby, was with Minnie;" and +then with sudden compunction, "but wot would pore Bill do without us?" +</P> + +<P> +Helen told the sad story at the supper table at Rosemount, that +evening, and asked for help. Miss Armstrong promised to send a basket +of food down the next day, though she did not approve of the Perkins +family. She had found that to help that sort of shiftless people only +made them worse. Why, last Christmas, there was one family on Willow +Lane who received five turkeys from the Presbyterians alone, and the +Dorcas society was always sending clothes to that poor unfortunate Mrs. +Perkins. Mrs. Captain Willoughby herself, who was the President, had +seen the little Perkins girl wearing a dress just in tatters, that had +been given to her in perfectly good condition only the week before. +Wasn't the girl old enough to go out working? +</P> + +<P> +"The little girl died last fall of tuberculosis," said Helen, in a low +voice. "She was just ten." +</P> + +<P> +Miss Annabel's big blue eyes suddenly filled. "Oh, the poor dear +little thing. Minnie used to be in my Sunday-school class, and I +wondered why she hadn't been there for so long. But we've been so +dreadfully busy this fall, I simply hadn't time to hunt her up. +Elinor, we must send a jar of jelly to the poor woman, and I think I +shall give her that last winter coat of mine. We'll ask Leslie for +some, she simply doesn't know what to do with all her old clothes." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, please don't," said Helen in distress. She could not explain that +which she had so lately learned herself, that what a woman like Mrs. +Perkins needed was not old clothes nor even food, but a friend, and +some knowledge of how to get clothes and food. "I don't think she +really needs anything to wear just now. If we could get her some light +work where she might take the baby, it would be so very much better for +her." +</P> + +<P> +Both ladies promised to see what could be done, but the Misses +Armstrong, members in good standing of the Presbyterian church, kind +hearted and fairly well off, had not a minute of time nor a cent of +money to spend on people like Mrs. Perkins. The poor ladies were +gradually discovering that the younger set, led by their own niece, and +the moneyed people now becoming prominent in Algonquin, were slowly +assuming the leadership in society. They were in danger of losing +their proud position, and every nerve had to be strained to maintain +it. What we have we'll hold, had become the despairing motto of the +Misses Armstrong, and its realisation required eternal vigilance. +</P> + +<P> +It was Alfred Tennyson who once more came to the family's aid, and +Helen was forced reluctantly to accept his help. He ran up hill and +down dale and called upon every lady in the town, till at last he +succeeded in getting work for Mrs. Perkins. Mrs. Hepburn, Lawyer Ed's +sister, said she might come to her and bring the baby, one day in the +week. Mrs. T. P. Thornton and Mrs. Blair made like promises, and Dr. +Leslie persuaded Mammy Viney to let her come to the manse to wash, +while Viney Junior, in high glee, promised to take care of little +William Henry. +</P> + +<P> +Every day, when the little mother went off to her work, with her baby +in her arms, Angus McRae drove up to Willow Lane and took Eddie down to +the farm. And with endless patience and tenderness he managed to teach +the lad a few simple tasks about the house and barn. Angus McRae's +home was the refuge of the unfit, for young Peter did the chores in the +winter when the <I>Inverness</I> was in the dock, and Old Peter came and +stayed indefinitely when he was recovering from a drunken spree, and +Aunt Kirsty declared that there was no place where a body could put her +foot without stepping on one of Angus's wastrels. +</P> + +<P> +Roderick came back the week after Billy's arrest. As he was the lawyer +acting for Graham & Co. he could not be without some responsibility in +Billy's sad affair, and Old Angus awaited his explanation anxiously. +He knew there would be an explanation, for the old man was possessed of +the perfect assurance that his son was quite as interested in the +unfortunate folk that travelled the Jericho Roads of life as he was +himself. But Roderick had some difficulty in showing that he was quite +innocent. +</P> + +<P> +He could not explain that this trip had been his probation time, and +that if he had done his work with a slack hand there would be no hope +of greater opportunities opening up before him. The big lumber firm of +Graham & Co., operating in the north, was really under Alexander +Graham's millionaire brother. And this man's lawyer from Montreal had +been there. He was a great man in Roderick's eyes, the head of a firm +of continental reputation. He had kept the young man at his side, and +had made known to him the significant fact that, one day, if he +transacted business with the keenness and faithfulness that seemed to +characterise all his actions now, there might be a bigger place +awaiting him. The man said very little that was definite, but the +Lad's sleep had been disturbed by waking dreams of a great future. +That his friend, Alexander Graham, was the mover in this he could not +but believe, but he determined to let the people in authority see that +he could depend on his own merits. So he had done his work with a +rigid adherence to law and rule that commanded the older man's +admiration. Roderick felt it was unfortunate that poor Billy should +have come under his disciplining hand at this time, but such cases as +his were of daily occurrence in the camp. There was no use trying to +carry on a successful business and at the same time coddle a lot of +drunks and unfits like Billy. He had been compelled to weed out a +dozen such during his stay in the north. Billy was only one of many, +but when he remembered that he must give a report of him to the two +people whose opinion he valued far more than the approval of even the +great firm of Elliot & Kent, or of William Graham of New York, he felt +that here surely was the irony of fate. +</P> + +<P> +"I did my best, Dad," he said, his warm heart smitten by the eager look +in the old man's eyes. "But I had to protect my clients. There has +been so much of that sort of stealing up there lately that stern +measures had to be taken, and I was acting for the company." Old Angus +was puzzled. Evidently law was a machine which, if you once started +operating, you were no longer able to act as a responsible individual. +He could not understand any circumstances that would make it impossible +to help a man who had fallen by the way as Billy had, but then Roderick +knew about law, and Roderick would certainly have done the best +possible. His faith in the Lad was all unshaken. +</P> + +<P> +But the young man was not so hopeful about Miss Murray's verdict. She +had put Billy in his care, and it was but a sorry report he had to make +of her trust. He was wondering if he dared call at Rosemount and +explain his part in the case, when he met her in Willow Lane. It was a +clear wintry evening, and the pines cast long blue shadows across the +snowy road ahead. Roderick was hurrying home to take supper at the +farm, and Helen was coming out of the rough little path that led from +the Perkins' home. She was feeling tired and very sad. She had been +reading a letter from the husband in prison, a sorrowful pencilled +scrawl, pathetically misspelled, but breathing out true sympathy for +his wife and children, and the deepest repentance and self-blame. And +at the end of every misconstructed sentence like a wailing refrain were +the words, "I done wrong and I deserve all I got, but it's hard on you +old girl, and I thought that Old Angus's son might have got me off." +</P> + +<P> +Whether right or wrong, Helen felt a sting of resentment, as she looked +up and saw Roderick swinging down the road towards her. He seemed so +big and comfortable in his long winter overcoat, so strong and capable, +and yet he had used his strength and skill against Billy. Her woman's +heart refused to see any justice in the case. She did not return the +radiant smile with which he greeted her. In spite of his fears, he +could not but be glad at the sight of her, with the rosy glow of the +sunset lighting up her sweet face and reflected in the gold of her hair. +</P> + +<P> +"I was so sorry to have such news of Billy I was afraid to call," he +said as humbly as though it was he who had stolen and been committed to +prison. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, it's so sad I just can't bear it," she burst forth, the tears +filling her eyes. "Oh, couldn't you have done something, Mr. McRae?" +</P> + +<P> +Roderick was overcome with dismay. "I—I—did all I could," he +stammered. "It was impossible to save him. He stole and he had to +bear the penalty." +</P> + +<P> +"But you were on the other side," she cried vaguely but indignantly. +"I don't see how you could do it." +</P> + +<P> +"But, Miss Murray!" cried Roderick, amazed at her unexpected vehemence. +"I was acting for the company I represent. It's unreasonable, if you +will pardon me for speaking so strongly, to expect I could sacrifice +their interests and allow the law to be broken." He was really +pleading his own case. There was a dread of her condemnation in his +eyes which she could not mistake. But her heart was too sore for the +Perkins family to feel any compunction for him. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't understand law I know," she said sadly. "But I can't +understand how your father's son could see that poor irresponsible +creature sent to jail for the sake of a big rich company. His wife's +heart is broken, that's all." She was losing her self-control once +more, and she hastily bade him good-evening, and before Roderick could +speak again she was gone. +</P> + +<P> +The young man walked swiftly homeward; the blackness of the darkening +pine forest was nothing to the gloom of his soul. He spent long hours +of the night and many of the next day striving to state the case in a +way that would justify himself in the girl's eyes. In his extremity he +went to Lawyer Ed for comfort. +</P> + +<P> +"What could I do?" he asked. "What would you have done in that case?" +</P> + +<P> +Lawyer Ed scratched his head. "I really don't know what a fellow's to +do now, Rod, that's the truth, when he's doing business for a skinflint +like Sandy Graham. You just have to do as he wants or jump the job, +that's a fact." +</P> + +<P> +But Roderick did not need to be told that his chief would have jumped +any job no matter how big, rather than hurt a poor weakling like Billy +Perkins. +</P> + +<P> +So those were dark days for Roderick in spite of all the brilliant +prospects opening ahead of him. He could not tell which was harder to +bear, his father's perfect faith in him, despite all evidence to the +contrary, or the girl's look of reproach, despite all his attempts to +set himself right in her eyes. He was learning, too, that not till he +had lost her good opinion did he realise that he wanted it more than +anything else in the world. +</P> + +<P> +But there were compensations. When he finished his business he +received a letter of congratulation from Mr. Kent, and a commission to +do some important work for him. He found some solace, too, in the +bright approving eyes of Leslie Graham. Her perfect confidence in him +furnished a little balm to his wounded feelings. Certainly she was not +so exacting, for she cared not at all about the Perkinses and all the +other troublesome folk on the Jericho Road. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap11"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XI +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +"THE LANDSKIP DARKEN'D" +</H3> + +<P> +Roderick's work allowed him little chance for brooding over his +worries, for Lawyer Ed left more and more to him as the days went on. +Not that he did any less, but the temperance campaign was on again, all +racial and religious prejudices forgotten, in the glory of the fight. +Lawyer Ed was quite content that his young partner should let him do +all the public speaking, and so neither side was offended at the young +man's careful steering in a middle course. Roderick himself hated it, +but there seemed no other way, on the road he was determined to follow. +</P> + +<P> +He was not too busy to watch Helen Murray, and serve her in every way +possible. He tried to atone for his past neglect of the Perkins family +by getting Billy a good position on his return, and was rewarded by +being allowed to walk up to Rosemount with Helen the night Billy came +home. He was so quietly persistent in his devotion to the girl, making +no demands, but always standing ready to serve her, that she could not +but see how matters were with him. But the revelation brought her no +joy. Her heart was still full of bitter memories, and with all +gentleness and kindness, she set about the task of showing Roderick +that his attentions were unwelcome. It was not an easy task, for she +was often very lonely and sometimes she forgot that she must not allow +him to waylay her in Willow Lane and walk up to Rosemount with her. +Again she punished herself for her laxity by being very severe with him +and at such times Roderick allowed himself to seek comfort for his +wounded feelings in Leslie Graham's company, for Leslie was always kind +and charming. +</P> + +<P> +One evening, Roderick and Fred Hamilton had been dining at the Grahams +and had walked home with the Misses Baldwin. They were returning down +the hill together, and Fred, who had been very sulky all evening, grew +absolutely silent. Roderick tried several topics in vain and finally +gave up the attempt at conversation and swung along whistling, his +hands in his pockets. +</P> + +<P> +At last the young man spoke. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm going West this spring." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, are you?" said Roderick, glad to hear him say something. "You're +lucky. That's where I'd like to be going." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, likely," sneered the other. "I guess any fellow can see what +direction you're going all right." +</P> + +<P> +"What do you mean?" asked Roderick, nettled at the tone. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, yes, as if you didn't know," growled his aggrieved rival. "You +don't need to think I'm blind and deaf too, and a fool into the +bargain." +</P> + +<P> +Roderick stopped short in the middle of the snowy side-walk. "Look +here," he said quietly, "if you don't speak up like a man, and tell me +what you're hinting at I—well, I'll have to make you, that's all." +</P> + +<P> +Fred had run foul of Roderick McRae at school and knew from painful +experience that it was not safe to make him very angry. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, you needn't get so hot about it," he said half apologetically. +"I merely hinted that you—well, you can't help seeing it yourself—" +</P> + +<P> +"Seeing what, you blockhead?" +</P> + +<P> +"Seeing that she—that Leslie doesn't care two pins about anybody but +you. She'd be glad if I went West to-morrow." The hot blood rushed +into Roderick's face. He turned upon the young man, but they were +passing under an electric light and the look of misery in Fred's face +disarmed him. He burst into derisive laughter. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, of all the idiots!" he exclaimed. "You ought to be horsewhipped +for insulting a young lady so. Can't you see, you young madman, that +she's just trying to show a little bit of polite gratitude? I know I +don't deserve it, but she seems to be as grateful to me for helping you +that night on the lake, and you must be a fool if you think anything +else." +</P> + +<P> +The young man walked on for a little in silence. Then he said, in +quite a changed tone, "Are you sure, Rod?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, of course," shouted Roderick, "you ought to be shut up in a mad +house for thinking anything else." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, she told everybody in the town last fall that I upset her, just +to give you the glory," he said resentfully. +</P> + +<P> +"Pshaw," cried Roderick disgustedly. "She did it for pure fun, and you +ought to have taken it that way. You don't deserve her for a friend." +</P> + +<P> +Fred seemed to be pondering this for a while, and finally he said, +"Well, maybe you're right. Only I—well, you know how I feel about +Leslie. She—we've been chums ever since we were kids, and you may be +sure I don't like the idea of any other fellow cutting in ahead of me +now." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, wait till some fellow does before you jump on him again," said +Roderick, so hotly that the other grew apologetic. +</P> + +<P> +"I didn't mean to be such a jay, Rod. It's all right if you say so. I +guess I was crazy. If you just give me your word that you haven't +intentions towards her, why, it'll be all right." +</P> + +<P> +Roderick gave the assurance with all his heart, and Fred insisted upon +shaking hands over it, and they parted on the best of terms. +</P> + +<P> +But Roderick felt covered with shame when he found himself alone on the +Pine Road. He could not deny to his heart that Fred's suspicions had +some little reason in them, and the knowledge filled him with dismay. +He was humiliated by the thought that he had accepted many favours from +Leslie's father and been a welcome guest many, many times at her home, +and he wondered miserably if Helen Murray held the same opinion as Fred. +</P> + +<P> +He came back to his office the next morning determined to avoid Leslie +Graham, no matter what the consequence. +</P> + +<P> +She called him on the telephone, wrote dainty notes, and strolled past +the office at the time when he was likely to be leaving, all to no +avail. Roderick was buried in work, and slowly but surely the +knowledge began to dawn upon the girl that she, with all her +attractions, was being gently but firmly put aside. +</P> + +<P> +And so the winter sped away on the swift wheels of busy days, and when +spring came the local option petition began to circulate. And once +more Roderick escaped the necessity of declaring himself. +</P> + +<P> +The firm of Elliot and Kent, with whom he had worked in the North, +wished to consult him, and he was summoned to Montreal for a week. +</P> + +<P> +Lawyer Ed saw him off at the station fairly puffed up with pride over +his boy's importance. +</P> + +<P> +When Roderick returned, the petition was signed, and sent away, and +Lawyer Ed was jubilating over the fact that they could have got far +more names if they had wanted them. And Roderick comforted himself +with the thought that his was not needed after all. +</P> + +<P> +The excitement subsided for a time after this, the real hard +preparation for voting day would not commence until the autumn, so J. +P. Thornton was seized with the grand idea that the coming summer was +surely the heaven-decreed occasion upon which to go off on that +long-deferred holiday. The inspiration came to him one day when he had +telephoned Lawyer Ed twice and called at his office three times to find +him out each time. +</P> + +<P> +"Is this the office of Brians and McRae or only McRae?" he asked when +Roderick informed him for the third time that his chief was absent. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, it isn't often like this," said the junior partner +apologetically. "We'll get back to our old routine when my chief gets +over his local option excitement." +</P> + +<P> +"If you can run this business alone during a Local Option to-do, I see +no reason why you couldn't while we take three months holidays, do you?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, I do not," said Roderick heartily. "Can't you make Lawyer Ed go +to the Holy Land this spring? I'll do anything to help him go. He +needs a rest." +</P> + +<P> +J. P. Thornton looked at the young man smiling reminiscently. He was +recalling the night when two young men gave up that very trip and +Lawyer Ed had laughingly declared he would go some day even if he had +to wait till little Roderick grew up. "And little the boy knows," said +Mr. Thornton to himself, "just how much Ed gave up that time." +</P> + +<P> +"Well," he said aloud, "this is surely poetic justice." +</P> + +<P> +"What is?" asked Roderick puzzled. But J. P. would not explain. +"We'll just make him go," he declared. "You stand behind me, Rod, and +don't let him get back to work, and I'll get him off." +</P> + +<P> +It was not entirely the old boyish desire to go on the long-looked-for +trip with his friend that was at the bottom of Mr. Thornton's anxiety +to get away. He could not help seeing that Ed needed a rest and needed +it very badly. Archie Blair aroused his fears further. For one +evening Lawyer Ed did an altogether unprecedented thing and went home +to bed early. Mrs. Hepburn, his sister, was so amazed over such a +piece of conduct on her brother's part, that she called at the doctor's +office the next day to ask if he thought there was anything wrong with +Ed's heart. +</P> + +<P> +Doctor Blair laughed long and loud over the question, putting the +lady's fears at rest. +</P> + +<P> +"No, I don't think any one in Algonquin would admit there was anything +astray with Ed's heart, Mary," he said. "But his head might be vastly +improved by putting a little common sense into it regarding eating and +sleeping. He's been going too hard for about twenty-five years and +he's tired, that's all. But J. P.'s going to get him off this time, +all right, and the change is just what he needs." +</P> + +<P> +He spoke to J. P. about it, and the two determined that they would make +all preparations to start for the Holy Land in July and if Ed had to be +bound and gagged until the steamer sailed, they would certainly see +that he went. +</P> + +<P> +Lawyer Ed consented with the greatest enthusiasm. Of course he would +go. He really believed he had enough money saved up, and Roderick was +doing everything, anyway, and he could just start off for a forty years +wandering in the wilderness if J. P. would go with him. +</P> + +<P> +The whole town became quite excited when Mrs. Hepburn announced at a +tea given by Mrs. Captain Willoughby that her brother and J. P. +Thornton were really and truly, even should Algonquin go up in flames +the day before, going to sail from Montreal sometime in July for +foreign parts. There was a great deal of running to and from the +Thornton and Brians homes, and a tremendous amount of talking and +advising. And the only topic of conversation for weeks, in the town, +was the Holy Land, and the question which greeted a new-comer +invariably was, "Did you hear that Lawyer Ed and J. P. have really +decided to go?" +</P> + +<P> +All this bustle of preparation and expectation did not deceive J. P. +into a false position of security. He was by no means confident, and +he kept a strict eye on Lawyer Ed to see that he did not launch some +new scheme that would demand his personal attention till Christmas. +For well he knew that until his friend was on board the steamer and +beyond swimming distance from the land, he was not safe. Any day +something might arise to make it seem quite impossible to go. +</P> + +<P> +So he was thrown into quite a state of nervousness when, early in June, +Algonquin began to prepare for a unique celebration. The first of July +had been chosen as "Old Boys' Day," and all Algonquin's exiled sons had +been invited to come back to the old home on that day and be made happy. +</P> + +<P> +"Old Boys' Day" was an entirely new institution in Algonquin. Indeed +she did not have many sons beyond middle age, but other Ontario towns +were having these reunions, and Algonquin was never known to be behind +her contemporaries, in the matter of having anything new, even though +the newest thing was Old Boys. +</P> + +<P> +So no wonder J. P. Thornton was anxious. For such a celebration was +just the sort of thing in which Lawyer Ed gloried. Fortunately it was +set a month before they were to sail, but J. P. knew that Ed would need +all that time to recover from the perfect riot of friendship into which +he would be sure to plunge on Old Boys' Day. +</P> + +<P> +As the first of July approached, the whole town gave itself up to +extravagant preparations and, as J. P. expected, Lawyer Ed, turned over +his office to Roderick, put away railway time-tables and guide books +and headed every committee. There was a committee of ladies from all +the churches to serve dinner to the Old Boys on their arrival. There +was a decorating committee with instructions to cover the town with +flags and bunting and banners, no matter what the cost. There was a +committee for sports, on both land and water and, most important of +all, a reception committee, half to go down to Barbay with Captain +Jimmie and the town band to bring the Old Boys home by water, the only +proper way to approach Algonquin, and the other half to meet them at +the dock. +</P> + +<P> +Of course all this upheaval and bustle did not take place without some +slight discord. The first storm arose through a dispute as to where +the big dinner should be held upon the arrival of the boat. The first +suggestion was that it be held in the opera house. But unfortunately, +many of the best people of Algonquin objected to holding anything there +as a matter of principle. +</P> + +<P> +It was the common case of a very good place having a bad name. Had the +opera house been called the town hall, which it really was, no one +would have found fault with it. But its name suggested actors and the +theatre, and many of the good folk, Mr. McPherson at their head, just +wouldn't countenance it at all. +</P> + +<P> +Of course there was the other class who said Algonquin would be too +dull to live in were it not for the winter attractions of the opera +house which gave it such a bad name. In fact every one who had any +pretensions towards knowing what was the correct thing in city life, +went regularly to the plays, and declared they were just as high class +as you would see in Toronto. +</P> + +<P> +Indeed a new play was always announced as "The Greatest Attraction in +Toronto Last Week," and companies had several times come all the way +from New York just to appear in Algonquin. Then every winter there +were the Topp Brothers who came and stayed a whole week in Crofter's +Hotel, and gave a different play every night. There were all the best +known dramas, "Lady Audley's Secret," and "East Lynne" and "Uncle Tom's +Cabin," and once they even gave "Faust,"—without music, it is true, +but a splendid reproduction nevertheless, with the biggest and tallest +Topp brother as Mephisto, all in red satin and, every one said, just +perfectly terrible. +</P> + +<P> +So every one who knew anything at all about what was demanded of people +moving in the best circles, pronounced the opera house the finest +institution in the town and demanded that the Old Boys be taken to it +upon their arrival and welcomed and fed. And all the other people said +it was a sinful and worldly place, and declared they would have no Old +Boys' banquet at all if it were to be served in that theatrical +abomination. +</P> + +<P> +The Presbyterian Sunday-school room was the next place in size, and, to +smooth matters over, Lawyer Ed offered it for the dinner. +</P> + +<P> +Then the Anglican and the Catholic and the Methodist ladies met and +said it was just like the Presbyterians to want to have the banquet in +their church, to make it appear to the Old Boys that they were doing it +all. And Mrs. Captain Willoughby, the smartest woman in Algonquin and +the Convener of the dinner committee, said that if those gossipy old +cranks wanted to have the banquet in the lock-up, why they might have +it there for all she cared, but she wanted every one to know that it +would be served in the Presbyterian School room or she would have +nothing to do with it. That almost settled it for every one knew it +was utterly impossible to get up such a huge affair without Mrs. +Captain Willoughby at the head. But the very next night Jock McPherson +brought up the matter in a session meeting and objected to having the +dinner in the schoolroom, as it was not a religious gathering. +</P> + +<P> +But Lawyer Ed met and overcame every difficulty. He laughed and +cajoled the opera house party into giving way. He forced the programme +committee to put Mr. McPherson down for one of the chief addresses of +welcome at the banquet, and the objections ceased. He called up his +friend Father Tracy on the telephone and bade him see that his flock +did their duty in the matter, and he took the Methodist minister's wife +and the Anglican clergyman's daughter and Mrs. Captain Willoughby all +down town together for ice cream, and there was no more trouble. +</P> + +<P> +"Women are ticklish things to handle, Rod," he said, wiping his +perspiring forehead when all was harmony again. "The only wise way for +a man to act is to get married and hand over all such manoeuvres to his +wife. See that you get one as soon as possible." +</P> + +<P> +"I've heard something somewhere regarding the advantage of example over +precept," said Roderick gravely. +</P> + +<P> +"Hold your tongue," said his chief severely. "If I wish to serve you +as a terrible warning, to be avoided, instead of an example to be +followed, you ought to be grateful in any case." +</P> + +<P> +He strode away swinging his cane and whistling and Roderick watched him +with affectionate eyes. He was wondering, as all the town wondered, +except a couple of his nearest friends who knew, why Lawyer Ed had +never married. And he was thinking of a pair of soft blue eyes that +had not grown any kinder to him as the months had passed. He went back +to his work, the solace for all his troubles. He was taking no part in +the preparations for the Old Boys' celebration, and was looking forward +to the date with small pleasure. For that was the day she would likely +be leaving for her summer vacation. And who knew whether she would +come back or not? So he watched Lawyer Ed's joyous preparations for +the Old Boys' visit, without much interest, little thinking it was to +be of more moment to him than to any one else in Algonquin. +</P> + +<P> +Early in the morning of the first of July the rain came pouring down, +but the clouds cleared away before ten o'clock, leaving the little town +fresh and green and glowing after its bath. Everything was dressed in +its best for the visitors. The gardens were in their brightest summer +decorations. The June roses and peonies were not yet gone, and the +syringa bushes and jessamine trees were all a-bloom. Main Street was +lined with banners and overhung with gay bunting. Lake Algonquin +smiled and twinkled and sparkled out her welcome. The fairy islands, +the surrounding woods, everything, was at its freshest and greenest. +</P> + +<P> +Early in the morning the <I>Inverness</I> with half of the entertainment +committee, the town band, and such youngsters as Captain Jimmie could +not eject from his decks, sailed away down to Barbay to bring the +heroes home and, as the <I>Chronicle</I> said in a splendid editorial, the +next morning, Algonquin's heart throbbed with pride as the goodly ship +sailed into port with her precious cargo. The Barbay <I>Clarion</I>, +Algonquin's and the <I>Chronicle's</I> bitter and hasty enemy, wearily +remarked the next week that Algonquin always found something to be +proud of anyway. But there could be no doubt Algonquin had reason on +this first of July, for the <I>Inverness</I> carried homeward men whose +names had brought honour to the little town. +</P> + +<P> +There was J. P.'s son who edited the paper read by every Canadian from +Halifax to Vancouver, except those who, wilfully blinded by political +prejudice, read the organ of the opposite party. There was Tom +Willoughby, the captain's brother, member for the Dominion House, who +tore himself away from Ottawa, every one felt, at great risk to his +country's weal, leaving the question of war in South Africa and +reciprocity with Australia in abeyance, while he rushed across the +country to do honour to the old home town. As the <I>Chronicle</I> said, +the next morning, being a supporter of Tom's party, not even King +Edward himself could have found fault with a loyalty that would take +such risks for home and native land. +</P> + +<P> +There was Sandy Graham's brother from New York, who had made, some +said, a million in real estate deals in the West, and Lawyer Ed's own +brother, who was a professor of note in a University "down East." +There were business, and professional men, young workmen from near by +cities and towns, statesmen and scholars. But of them all, none was +such a hero, and none so eagerly awaited, as Harry Armstrong. For only +the summer before, Harry had taken a Canadian lacrosse team around the +world and had vanquished everything in Europe, Asia and Africa that +dared to hold up a stick against them. +</P> + +<P> +When the first far away note of the <I>Inverness'</I> whistle floated across +the water from the Gates, the ladies at the Presbyterian church began +putting the finishing touches to the tables and the dressing on the +salads, and half of the reception committee that had remained at home +drove down to the dock. They arranged themselves there in proper +order, with Captain Willoughby, the Mayor, at the head, or rather +almost at the head, for of course Lawyer Ed was a few steps in advance +of him. +</P> + +<P> +The dock was a new and important landing place. There was a big +distinction between the dock and the wharf. The latter was the +decrepit old wooden structure, torn and jarred by ice and storms, that +stood at the foot of Main Street, where every one of the Old Boys had +fished and fallen in and nearly drowned himself many a time. But the +dock, as every one knew, was the fine new landing place, built of stone +and cement, and stretching from the town park, away out, it almost +seemed, as far as the Gates. The <I>Inverness</I> had had instruction to +put in at the dock, not only to impress the Old Boys with the strides +Algonquin had made, but as a delicate compliment to Tom Willoughby, +through whose political influence it had been built. +</P> + +<P> +All the cabs in town had been hired and all the buggies loaned, and +they lined up along the park road waiting to take the guests up to the +church. Lawyer Ed had suggested at first that the Mayor ride down in +his automobile, but as all the horses in town had to be out at the same +time, the experiment was voted too dangerous and the Mayor drove in a +commonplace but safe cab. +</P> + +<P> +Every one was at his proper station waiting when, with a blaze of +colour and a burst of music, the <I>Inverness</I> curved around Wanda Island +and swept into view. She was a brave sight surely! From every side +floated banners and pennons, her deck rail and her flag-staff were +covered with green boughs, Old Boys fairly swarmed the decks from stem +to stern. And up in the bow, their instruments flashing in the +sunlight, stood the band, playing loudly and gaily, "Home, Sweet Home." +</P> + +<P> +No one ever quite knew who was to blame that things went amiss from +that splendid moment. Captain Jimmie said it was the fault of Major +Dobie, the leader of the band, and Major Dobie was equally certain it +was the captain's fault. The Old Boys themselves were willing to take +all the blame, and perhaps they were right, for they danced on the +deck, and crowded about the wheel so that Captain Jimmie had no idea +whither he was steering. However it was, instead of turning to +starboard, as he had been instructed, and running in to the dock where +the committee waited, Captain Jimmie swept to larboard around the buoy +that marked his turning point, and made straight for his old hitching +post at the wharf. +</P> + +<P> +The Mayor and the Committee shouted and waved. Lawyer Ed stood up on +the seat of a cab and roared out a command across the water that might +have been heard at the Gates, but the band and the cheers of the Old +Boys drowned his voice. Captain Jimmie pursued his mistaken course, +never once stopping in the stream of Gaelic with which he was +entertaining his Highland guests, and even the half of the Committee on +board forgot where they were to land, in their joyous excitement. +</P> + +<P> +Then Lawyer Ed fairly pitched Afternoon Tea Willie into a row-boat and +sent him spinning across the water to head-off the <I>Inverness</I> and make +her turn to the park. But the poor boy had been working like a slave +since early morning at the Presbyterian church, and could not row fast +enough. He was only half-way across when the whistle sounded to shut +off steam. But just as the <I>Inverness</I> stopped with a bump, some one +of the committee came to his senses, and rushed to the captain, +pointing out the frantically waving hosts on the dock. +</P> + +<P> +"Cosh! Bless my soul!" cried Captain Jimmie in dismay. He gave a +wrench to the wheel, shouting orders to the Ancient Mariner to gee her +around and go back, but he was too late. Before the gang-plank had +been thrown out, or rope hitched, the Old Boys had leaped ashore. +Captain Jimmie yelled at them to come back, but they paid no more heed +than they would have done twenty-five years earlier and went swarming +joyfully up Main Street. +</P> + +<P> +But meanwhile a dozen of the reception committee had come tearing down +the railroad track from the park and were shouting upon them to stop. +Then the Mayor, Archie Blair, J. P. Thornton and Lawyer Ed having +leaped into a cab, and driven furiously across the town, were now +thundering down Main Street. They headed off the truant Old Boys, and +drove them back to the wharf to be received decorously and listen to +the welcoming address. As they had dashed past the Presbyterian church +at a mad gallop, every one became alarmed and the news spread that a +dreadful disaster had happened to the <I>Inverness</I>. But Afternoon Tea +Willie came running up out of breath and wet with perspiration to tell +them the real state of affairs. He was scolded soundly by Mrs. Captain +Willoughby, and went about pouring out apologies all day after. +</P> + +<P> +So the reception took place at the wharf after all, with every one in +imminent danger of going through the rotten planks into the lake. It +was a rather informal affair. J. P. Thornton and Archie Blair tried to +preserve some dignity, but Lawyer Ed was in a towering rage and cared +not for decorum. He shook his fist at the Old Boys and told them they +were howling idiots and had lost what little manners they had learned +in Algonquin. Then he stood up on the carriage seat, his face red, his +eyes blazing, and called Captain Jimmie an old blind mole and an +ostrich and everything else in the world foolish and unthinking. +Captain Jimmie shouted back with a right good Highland spirit, from his +vantage point on the deck and all the Old Boys cheered joyously, +declaring this was the one thing needful to make them feel absolutely +at home. +</P> + +<P> +Finally the proper welcome was stammered out by the Mayor, who was even +less at home making a speech than running his automobile, and they all +got away and the procession started up towards the church. +</P> + +<P> +On every side were shouts of welcome: "Hello, Bob!" "Hi, there, Jack, +you home too?" "Well, well, if there isn't old Bill! No place like +Algonquin, eh Bill?" etc., etc. Harry Armstrong was easily the +favourite, and was the recipient of many welcoming shouts. +</P> + +<P> +Roderick stood at the door watching the procession go past to the +church. He was amazed to see Lawyer Ed and his brother seated in the +same carriage as Alexander Graham. There was a ponderous man with a +double chin seated beside him, and going into a spasm of laughter every +time Lawyer Ed spoke. Roderick looked at him with keen interest. This +was William Graham, the man whose word was law with the firm of Elliot +and Kent. He had come all the way from New York for this celebration +entirely, he declared in his speech at the banquet, because Ed had +wired him to come and he could not resist Ed. They had been great +friends in boyhood days, and the big brother cared not a whit that +Sandy had a grudge at Ed. If that were so, he declared, then all the +more shame to Sandy. So he was seated between the Brians brothers, +fairly radiating joy from his big fat person, when the procession +passed Lawyer Ed's office. His chief waved his hat at Roderick and +roared: +</P> + +<P> +"Come awa ben the kirk, ma braw John Hielanman!" and then he turned to +the portly gentleman at his side and said: +</P> + +<P> +"That's Angus McRae's boy, Bill. He's my partner now." +</P> + +<P> +"Angus McRae's son? You mean Roderick McRae?" The millionaire turned +and stared at the young man keenly. He nodded to his brother. +</P> + +<P> +"Looks like a likely lad all right," he said. "I want to see you about +him, Ed, when all the fuss is over." +</P> + +<P> +Roderick had such a pile of work on the desk before him, that he did +not get up to the church until the luncheon was over and the last +speaker but one on his feet. This was Jock McPherson, and when +Roderick slipped into the crowds standing at the ends of the long +glittering tables, the little man was explaining very slowly and +solemnly that as the afternoon with its long programme was approaching +he would not be keeping them. All his oratorical rivals had had their +turn at the Old Boys and Mr. McPherson was just a bit nettled at being +crowded into the last few minutes. J. P. Thornton and Archie Blair and +Lawyer Ed had got themselves put on ahead of him and had taken all the +time and said all the complimenting things to be said. Captain +Willoughby was the chairman and, though it was agony for him to make a +speech, he had tried in his halting way to make amends to Mr. +McPherson. It was a pity that such an able speaker had been left so +late, he had explained, but there were so many on the programme that +some one had to come last, etc., etc. Jock arose after this very +doubtful introduction, and spoke so deliberately that Lawyer Ed and J. +P. exchanged significant glances, there was something coming. "It iss +true Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen," he said slowly, "that there have been +many fine speeches delivered this afternoon. And now what shall I say? +For I feel that ufferything has already been said." He paused and gave +the peculiar sniffing sound that told he had scented a joke from afar +and was going to hunt it to earth. "Yes, Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen, +there is no doubt that there is vurry little left to be said on any +subject whatuffer. I feel vurry much like the meenister who went into +the pulpit with his sermon. He had not looked at it since he had put +it away the night before, and the mice had got at it and had eaten all +the firstly, the secondly and the thirdly, and there was vurry little +left—vurry little left, Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen. But the meenister +would jist be explaining his dilemma to the people. 'My dearly beloved +brethren,' he said, said he, 'I am vurry sorry to inform you that the +mice have got at my sermon, and have eaten firstly, secondly and +thirdly, but as it cannot be helped, my dearly beloved brethren, we +will jist be commencing <I>where the mice left off</I>!'" +</P> + +<P> +Even the mice had to join in the laugh on themselves, and when Jock had +given the few words of his fourthly which were left, every one, himself +included, was in fine humour. +</P> + +<P> +The last speaker was Alexander Graham's wealthy brother. William +Graham had been the most successful, from one point of view, of all +Algonquin's returning sons. He had got together enough wealth, folk +said, to buy out Algonquin twice over. Beside, he had become quite +famous in political life in his adopted country, and rumour had it that +he might have been President of the United States had he not been born +in Canada. William himself denied this, but he could not deny the +honours his adopted country had showered upon him. His name was a +power in Washington circles, and he had more than once, gone abroad on +international matters of grave import. +</P> + +<P> +Nevertheless, Algonquin received him with some embarrassment mingled +with her joy and pride. Bill Graham, the Algonquin boy, was a welcome +sight to every one, for he had always been popular. But, W. H. Graham, +the great American, was quite another matter, and many of his warmest +friends had an uncomfortable feeling that they were committing an act +of disloyalty to Britain in thus making him publicly welcome. It was +all right to make money out of the Yankees, and Bill was commended for +his millions, but to join the enemy and help it work out its problems +was a dangerous precedent to set before the youth of the town. +</P> + +<P> +He made a very wise speech, saying very little about the States, and a +great deal about his joy at getting home again, but when he sat down, +the applause was not quite as enthusiastic as had been given the other +home-comers and Lawyer Ed's warm heart was grieved. As they stood up +to sing the National Anthem before dispersing, like true sons of +Algonquin, J. P. whispered: +</P> + +<P> +"Too bad about old Bill, can't we do something better for him?" +</P> + +<P> +Lawyer Ed was just swinging the crowd into the thunder of "God Save our +gracious King," but he heard, and a sudden inspiration thrilled him. +He nodded reassuringly to J. P. and waved his arms to beat time, for +Major Dobie and the band were getting far behind. +</P> + +<P> +Just as the last words of the national anthem were uttered, with a +flourish of his hand to the band to continue, and another towards Bill +to show that the graceful tribute was intended for him, Lawyer Ed burst +forth into "My country 'tis of thee—." The band caught up the strain +again, another wave of the leader's hand, and the Old Boys joined and +every one burst generously into the second line "Sweet land of +liberty," with smiling eyes turned towards the American millionaire. +</P> + +<P> +Graham smiled radiantly back. Down in his heart he cared not a +Canadian copper cent for the American national anthem, but he did care +a great deal for the love of his old friends, and he was touched and +pleased. +</P> + +<P> +But alas for the generous tribute to the American. No one knew a word +of the song beyond the second line. Lawyer Ed started off with a +splendid shout, "Land where the—" but got no further. The band and +the drum thundered gallantly over the lapse, but the singing dwindled +away. The leader cast one agonised glance towards the American but +Bill sent back a hopeless negative, and cleared his throat and twitched +his New York tie. The Old Boys began to grin, and Lawyer Ed began to +grow hot at the fear of making a fiasco of what he had intended for a +grand finale. But he kept doggedly on, for Lawyer Ed never in his life +gave up anything he started out to do, and even if he had had no tune +as well as no words he would have sung that song through to the bitter +end. So far above the band and the drum his voice rang out splendidly, +defying fate: +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +"Land where the lee la lay,<BR> +Land where the doo da day—"<BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Then, hearing the laughter rising like a tide about him, he flung the +American tribute to the winds, and roared out strong and distinct, the +whole congress of Old Boys following in a burst of relief, +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +"Long to reign over us,<BR> +God save our King."<BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +The banquet broke up in a storm of laughter, the American millionaire's +loudest of all. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, Ed," he cried, wiping his eyes, "stick to the old version. You're +more loyal than you knew!" +</P> + +<P> +Roderick was leaving the room with the crowd, when Leslie Graham, in a +bewitching white cap and tiny apron, caught his arm. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't run away!" she cried, "I was told to fetch you to Uncle Will, he +wants to meet you. If he's going to make a Yankee out of you, see that +you resist him strenuously." +</P> + +<P> +"One American in your family is enough, isn't it, Les?" said Anna +Baldwin, her big black eyes staring very innocently at Roderick. +</P> + +<P> +Roderick blushed like a girl, but Leslie Graham laughed delightedly. +</P> + +<P> +"Isn't Anna shocking?" she asked, glancing coyly at Roderick, as they +moved back through the crowd. But he did not hear her, and she was +surprised at a sudden light that sprang to his eyes. She looked in +their direction, and saw Helen Murray in a blue gown and a white cap +and apron. She was standing in the doorway leading to the kitchen. +</P> + +<P> +Madame was talking to her and the girl's usually grave face was +animated and lighted with a lovely smile. Leslie Graham looked at her +then back swiftly to Roderick. There was a look in his eyes she had +never seen there before. The old suspicion roused the night she had +seen him help Miss Murray out of his canoe returned. Her gay chatter +suddenly ceased. She presented Roderick to her uncle and quickly +turned away and was lost in the crowd. +</P> + +<P> +Roderick scarcely noticed that she had gone, he was wondering if the +summer holidays were to be spent in Algonquin after all, and then he +noticed that the man he had been anxious to meet was shaking his hand. +"I'm glad to see Angus McRae's son!" the big man was saying. "Yes, +yes, I'd know you by your father. And how is he? I must see him +before I leave. Sandy's been telling me about your work here. And Ed +too. Do you intend to settle in Algonquin?" +</P> + +<P> +"I hope not, sir, not permanently at least." +</P> + +<P> +"That's right. Algonquin's a fine place to have in the background of +one's life, but it's rather small for any expansion. Did you know I've +had an eye on you since you were up north last winter?" +</P> + +<P> +"On me?" cried Roderick amazed. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, just on you." The portly figure shook with a good humoured +amusement at the young man's modest amazement. "I heard about you from +my brother and then from Kent. Let me see, I suppose there will be +high doings all day to-day. What about to-morrow? Could I see you for +a little talk to-morrow morning?" +</P> + +<P> +Roderick set the hour for the appointment, silently wondering. His +heart was throbbing with expectation, vague, wonderful. Some great +event was surely pending. He went home that night, full of high +expectations. When he made a great success of his life and came back +to Algonquin, rich and with a name, he would go to her and show her he +had been right, and she had been wrong. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap12"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +"THE MELODY DEADEN'D" +</H3> + +<P> +"And you don't mean to tell me you were such a fool as to say he might +go?" J. P. Thornton, walking up the hill for the fourth time on the +way home from a session meeting with Lawyer Ed, asked the question +again in an extremity of indignation. +</P> + +<P> +And Lawyer Ed answered as he had done each time before: +</P> + +<P> +"I couldn't stand in the boy's way, Jack; I just couldn't." +</P> + +<P> +They had argued the question for an hour, up and down the hills between +their two homes, and had come to no agreement. That Roderick had had +an offer to tempt any young man there was no doubt. A partnership in +the firm of Elliot and Kent, solicitors for the British North American +Transcontinental Railroad, was such a chance as came the way of few at +his age. +</P> + +<P> +And yet Mr. Thornton declared that he should have refused it +unconditionally. Not so Lawyer Ed; his generous heart condoned the boy. +</P> + +<P> +"It's the chance of a life-time, Jack," he declared. "It would be +shameful to keep him out of it, and, mind you, he wouldn't say he would +go until I urged it." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, blow him!" J. P. was a very dignified gentleman and did not +revert to his boyhood's slang except under extreme provocation. "He +shouldn't have allowed you to urge him. And what about the brilliant +prospect you gave up once just because his father was in need?" +</P> + +<P> +"Well, never mind that," said Lawyer Ed, hurriedly. "He doesn't know +anything about that and he's not going to either." +</P> + +<P> +"And it was Bill Graham who wanted you, and you wouldn't go. And now +Bill's taking him away from you. He ought to be ashamed!" +</P> + +<P> +"Bill thought he was doing me a kindness. He knew Rod's success is +mine." +</P> + +<P> +J. P. was silent from sheer exhaustion of all sane argument. He was +grieved and bitterly disappointed for his friend's sake. Ed was in +imperative need of a rest and just when life was looking a little +easier to him, and the long-deferred holiday was within reach, Roderick +was deserting. +</P> + +<P> +If they could only have visited the Holy Land before he left, it would +not have seemed so bad. But though Roderick had consented to remain +until his chief returned, Lawyer Ed had felt he could not go, for he +must busy himself gathering up the threads of his work which he had +been dropping with such relief. +</P> + +<P> +Roderick had not come to his final decision without much argument with +himself. His head said Go, but he could not quite convince his heart +that he was right in leaving Lawyer Ed so soon. He had argued the +question with himself during many sleepless nights, but the lure of +success had proved the stronger. And he was going late in the autumn +to take up his new work. +</P> + +<P> +To Old Angus the news was like the shutting out of the light of day. +Roderick was going away. At first that was all he could comprehend. +But he did not for one moment lose his sublime faith either in his boy +or in his God. The Lord's hand was in it all, he told himself. He was +leading the Lad out into larger service and his father must not stand +in the way. He said not one word of his own loss, but was deeply +concerned over Lawyer Ed's. He was worried lest the Lad's going might +mean business difficulties for his friend. +</P> + +<P> +"If the Father will be wanting the Lad, Edward," he said one golden +autumn afternoon, when Lawyer Ed stopped at the farm gate in passing, +"then we must not be putting our little wills in His way. I would not +be minding for myself, oh, no, not at all—" the old man's smile was +more pathetic than tears. "The dear Lord will be giving me so many +children on the Jericho Road, that He feels I can spare Roderick." +</P> + +<P> +Eddie Perkins was stumbling about the lane trying to rake up the dead +leaves into neat piles as Angus had instructed him. He came whimpering +up with a bruised finger which he held up to the old man. Angus +comforted him tenderly, telling him Eddie must be a man and not mind a +little scratch. He looked down at this most helpless of his children +and gently stroked the boy's misshapen head. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, He would be very kind, giving me so many of His little ones to +care for, and He feels I can spare Roderick. The Lad is strong—" his +voice faltered a moment, but he went on bravely. +</P> + +<P> +"But it was you I was thinking of, Edward. I could not but be fearing +that you were making a great sacrifice. There is your visit to the +Holy Land—and the business. It will be hard for you, Edward?" +</P> + +<P> +Lawyer Ed, seated in his mud-splashed buggy at the gate, turned quickly +away, the anxiety in Old Angus's voice was almost too much for his +tender heart. There was a wistful plea in it that he should vindicate +Roderick from a shadow of suspicion. He jerked his horse's head +violently and demanded angrily what in thunder it meant by trying to +eat all the grass off the roadside like a fool of an old cow, and then +he rose valiantly to the Lad's defence. +</P> + +<P> +"Hut, tut, Angus!" he cried blusteringly. "Such nonsense! You know as +well as I do that the Lad didn't want to leave. I fairly drove him +away. Pshaw! never mind the Holy Land. We're all journeying to it +together, anyway. And as for my business—somebody else'll turn up. I +always felt Algonquin would be too small for Rod. You'll see he'll +make a name for himself that'll make us all proud." +</P> + +<P> +He did it splendidly, and Angus was comforted. He blamed himself for +what he termed his lack of faith in the boy and in his Father. And +many a night, as he sat late by his fire, trying to reason himself into +cheerful resignation, he recalled Edward's words hopefully. Yes, he +surely ought to be proud and glad that the Lad was going out into a +wider service. He was leaving him alone, on his Jericho Road, here, +but that was only because the Father needed him for a busier highway, +where thieves were crueller and more numerous. +</P> + +<P> +As the autumn passed and the time for leaving approached, the Lad ran +out very often to the farm. His visits were a constantly increasing +source of discomfort—both to heart and conscience. His father's +gallant attempts at cheerfulness, and his sublime assurance that his +son was going away to do a greater work for the Master stung Roderick +to the quick. That Master, whom he had long ago left out of his life's +plan, had said, "Ye cannot serve God and Mammon." And from even the +little Roderick had seen of the affairs of Elliot and Kent, he knew +only too well that to serve that firm and humanity at the same time +would be impossible. +</P> + +<P> +There were others who did not possess his father's faith in his +purpose, and they spoke to him plainly on the matter. J. P. Thornton, +remembering indignantly all that Lawyer Ed had once given up for Old +Angus's sake, and further maddened by being forbidden to disclose it, +expressed his disapproval of Roderick's leaving so soon, in strong +incisive terms. +</P> + +<P> +His remarks succeeded only in angering the young man, and making him +more determined in his course. Doctor Leslie was the next to speak +plainly on the matter, and his kindly, deep-searching words were harder +to set aside. Roderick was passing the Manse one day when Mammy Viney +hailed him. +</P> + +<P> +"Honey, de minesta' want you," she called, in her soft rich tones. +"An' you'se gwine away, an' leavin' you ole Auntie Kirsty," she said +reproachfully, as he came up the steps and shook hands with her. +</P> + +<P> +"But you wouldn't want me to stay and bother Aunt Kirsty in the kitchen +all my life, now, would you, Mammy Viney? I thought men were a +nuisance there." +</P> + +<P> +"Men's jus' a trouble eberywhar," she said sternly. "Dat Mahogany Bill +he was jus' like all de res', an' here you doin' de same, goin' off an' +leabin' folks in de lurch, with all de hard work to do. I'se shame of +you—dat I is!" +</P> + +<P> +Roderick laughed good-naturedly, as he followed her into the house, but +Mammy Viney tossed her head. "Eberybody say dat it pretty mean o' you, +anyhow," she said with the air of one who could tell a great deal if +she wished. "'Deed dey's sayin' dat you no business make Lawya Ed stay +home!" +</P> + +<P> +Roderick did not wait to hear any more of what Algonquin was saying +about him. Mammy Viney rather enjoyed recounting such remarks, and +never took one jot or one tittle from that which she passed along. +</P> + +<P> +Doctor Leslie met him at the study door, with outstretched hands. "Now +tell me all about this going away scheme," he said; and Roderick told +him eagerly, about the brilliant prospects ahead of him, and when he +finished there was the implied question in the boy's eyes. Would he +not be blind to his and every one's best interests to remain in +Algonquin in the face of such inducements? +</P> + +<P> +Doctor Leslie sat and looked out at the orchard trees, with their +wealth of red and gold apples falling with soft thuds upon the grass. +How often had that question come to him in his youth, and when he had +examined his own heart and his reasons for obeying the call to go away, +he had been compelled to remain. +</P> + +<P> +He saw Roderick's position, and sympathised with the youthful longing +to be away and to do great deeds; but he was afraid the way had not yet +truly opened up into which Angus McRae's son could step. He had +learned, in the year Roderick had spent in Algonquin, that the young +man was not vitally interested in the things that are eternal. His +outlook on life was not his father's. The minister felt impelled to +speak plainly. +</P> + +<P> +"I feel sure," he said slowly, turning his eyes from the garden, and +letting them rest kindly upon the boy's frank face, "I feel sure, +Roderick, that no young man who lacks ambition will be of much use to +the world. But ambition is a dangerous guide alone. If you are +anxious to make the best of your life, my boy, the Lord will open the +way to great opportunities. But the time and the way will be plainly +shown. If this is a door of greater opportunity, then enter it, and +God give you great and large blessing. But if you are leaving with any +doubts as to its being the right course, if you fear that there are +other obligations you must yet fulfil, then I charge you to examine +your heart carefully, lest you fight against God. It is no use trying +to do that. One day or other His love will hedge us about. If it +cannot draw us into the way it meets us on the Damascus Road and blinds +us with its light. But some of us miss the best of life before that +happens. Don't lose the way, Lad; your father instructed you well in +it." +</P> + +<P> +For days the warning followed Roderick, tormenting him. He dared not +examine his motives carefully, lest he find them false. He was out on +life's waters, paddling hard for the gleam of gold, and he had no time +to stop and consider whither it was leading him. It might vanish while +he lingered. +</P> + +<P> +There was another person whose opinion he was anxious to get on this +vexed question. He wondered every waking hour what she would think of +his going. Perhaps she didn't think about it at all, he speculated +miserably. He still continued to waylay her in Willow Lane, as he went +to and from home, and one evening he ran upon his poor rival, Afternoon +Tea Willie, doing the same sentinel duty. +</P> + +<P> +Roderick had been home for supper and was returning to the office early +to do some left over work, when he overtook him slowly walking towards +Algonquin. +</P> + +<P> +"Good evening, Mr. Roderick," he said in a melancholy tone. "May I +walk into town with you?" +</P> + +<P> +Roderick slackened his stride to suit the young man. He was rather +impatient at having to endure his company, but he soon changed his +mind, for Alfred was in a confidential mood. +</P> + +<P> +"I might as well go home," he said gloomily. "She's gone." +</P> + +<P> +"Who's gone?" asked Roderick perversely. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, Miss Murray. She slipped away somehow, and I don't know how she +did it. But I've waited down here for her for the last time." He +choked for a moment, then continued firmly. "She's showed me plainly +she doesn't want me, and I'm too proud to force my company upon her." +</P> + +<P> +Roderick did not know what to say; he wanted to laugh, but it was +impossible to keep just a little of the fellow-feeling that makes us +wondrous kind from creeping into his heart. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, it's too bad," he said at last. "But if she doesn't want you, +of course there is only one thing for you to do." +</P> + +<P> +"I have been faithful to her for a year," said the rejected lover. "I +never before was attentive to any lady, no matter how charming, for +that length of time, and she needn't have treated me that way." +</P> + +<P> +The subject was the most interesting one in the world to Roderick, and +he could not resist encouraging the young man to go on. +</P> + +<P> +And poor Afternoon Tea Willie, unaccustomed to a sympathetic hearing, +poured out all his long heartache. +</P> + +<P> +"I am telling you this in strict confidence you know, Roderick," he +said. "It is such a relief to tell some one and it seems right I +should tell you the end of this sad romance, for you helped me and were +kind to me at its very beginning." He paused for a moment, to reflect +sadly on his disappointed hopes. +</P> + +<P> +"You may be sure your confidence will never be betrayed," said +Roderick, and murmuring his gratitude the young man went on. +</P> + +<P> +"It was Miss Annabel Armstrong who put her against me from the first, I +feel sure, though I must never bear a grudge against a lady. But you +know, Roderick (I know you will never betray a confidence), Miss +Annabel hates me. I proposed to her once, shortly after I came to +Algonquin. It was just a mad infatuation on my part, not love at all. +I did not know then what real love was. But Miss Annabel—well, she is +a lady—but I, I really couldn't tell you what she said to me when I +offered her all a man could, my heart and my hand and all my property. +It was awful! I really sometimes wake up in the night yet and think +about it. And she never forgave me. And I don't know why." He paused +and drew a deep breath at the remembrance. +</P> + +<P> +"And I know she poisoned Miss Murray's mind against me—but I shan't +hold a grudge against a lady. Now, Miss Murray herself was so gentle +and kind when she refused me—what? I—I didn't mean any harm." For +his sympathetic listener had turned upon him. +</P> + +<P> +"How dared you do such a thing?" Roderick cried indignantly. +</P> + +<P> +"I just couldn't help it," wailed Alfred. "You couldn't yourself now, +Roderick;" and Roderick was forced to confess inwardly that likely he +couldn't. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, never mind, go on," he said, all unabashed that he was taking +advantage of the poor young man merely to be able to hear something +about her. +</P> + +<P> +"I just couldn't help it. But I only asked her twice and the first +time she refused so nicely, I thought perhaps she'd change her mind. I +never heard any one refuse a—person—so—so sweetly and kindly. But +this last time was unmistakable, and I feel as if it were all over. I +am not going to be trampled upon any more." +</P> + +<P> +"That's right," said Roderick. "Just brace up and never mind; you'll +soon get over it." +</P> + +<P> +The young man shook his head. "I shall never be the same," he said. +"But I have pride. I am not going to let her see that she has made a +wreck of my life. But I thought she might have had more sympathy when +she had had a sorrow like that herself." +</P> + +<P> +Roderick felt his resentment rising. He did not mind listening to poor +Alfred's love stories, but he did not want to hear hers discussed. But +before he could interrupt, Alfred was saying something that held his +attention and made him long for more. +</P> + +<P> +"But she is all over that now. She told me herself." +</P> + +<P> +"All over what?" Roderick could not hold the question back. +</P> + +<P> +"Caring about the young man she was engaged to. There was a young man +named Richard Wells in Toronto, you know, and they were engaged. When +she was away for her holidays last summer, I was so lonesome I just +couldn't stand it, so I wrote to my cousin Flossy Wilbur and asked her +to find out how she was or her address or something. And Flossy wrote +such a comforting letter and said she was staying with her married +brother, Norman Murray—he lives on Harrington Street, and Floss lives +just a couple of blocks away on a beautiful avenue—" +</P> + +<P> +"What were you saying about Wells?" Roderick interrupted. +</P> + +<P> +"Flossy knows him and told me all about it. I had a letter just last +week. He met another girl he liked better—no, that couldn't be true, +nobody who once saw her could care for any one else, I am sure. But +this other girl was rich, and so he broke the engagement. If I ever +meet that man!" Afternoon Tea Willie stood on the side-walk, the +electric light shining through the autumn leaves making a golden +radiance about his white face. "If I ever meet that man I—I shall +certainly treat him with the coldest contempt, Roderick. I wouldn't +speak to him!" +</P> + +<P> +"But you said she didn't care," suggested Roderick impatiently. +</P> + +<P> +"Not now. But Flossy said her poor little heart must have been broken +at first, though she did not show it. She came up to Algonquin right +away. I saw her on board the <I>Inverness</I> the day she came and I knew +then—" +</P> + +<P> +"How do you know she doesn't care about Wells?" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, when Flossy wrote me that last week, I went to see her at the +school—I don't dare go to Rosemount—and I asked her to forgive me for +proposing to her. I told her, or at least I hinted at the tragedy in +her life, and I said I wanted to beg her pardon on my knees for +troubling her as I had done,—and that I couldn't forgive myself. Oh, +she just acted like an angel—there is no other word to describe her. +She asked me at first how I found out and then she said so sweetly and +gently, that she thanked me for my consideration. And then, just +because she was so good—I did it again! I really didn't mean it, but +before I knew what I was doing, I was asking her again if there was any +hope for me. And, oh dear! oh dear! she said 'no' again. Gave me not +the least hope. I was so overcome—you don't know how a man feels +about such things, Roderick. I was so overcome I burst out and said I +felt just as if I would have given all I possessed to meet that Wells +man. I said I could just treat him with the coldest contempt if I ever +met him on the street. And she answered so sweetly that I must not +worry on her account. She said she had cared once, but that was all +over, and that she was glad now that it had been so. And she +added—and I don't see hew any one with such eyes could be so +cruel—she said I must never, never speak of such a subject to her +again, and that if I ever did she would not let me even come near her. +So it's all over with me. I am not going to follow her about any more. +I have still been coming down to Willow Lane, but I am coming no more +after to-night. This is the end!" +</P> + +<P> +They had reached the office door and paused. Roderick's sympathy +seemed to have suddenly vanished. In the very face of the other young +man's despair, he turned upon him ruthlessly. +</P> + +<P> +"That's a wise resolution, Alf," he said distinctly. "And I'm going to +advise you strongly to stick to it. You keep the width of the town +between you and Miss Murray from now on, do you understand?" +</P> + +<P> +"What—whatever do you mean?" stammered the boy, aghast at the cruelty +of one who had seemed a friend. +</P> + +<P> +"Just what I say. On your own showing, you've been tormenting her; +and—I—well, I won't have it—that's all. I feel sure you have the +good sense to stick to your resolution," his tone was a trifle +kindlier, "and for your own sake I hope you do. If not, look out!" He +made a significant gesture, that made the other jump out of his way in +terror. "And look here, Alf," he added. "If you tell any soul in +Algonquin that Miss Murray was engaged to any one I'll—I'll murder +you. Do you hear?" +</P> + +<P> +He ran up the steps and into the office. And the cruellest part of it +all to poor Afternoon Tea Willie, as the door slammed in his face +leaving him alone in the darkness, was that he could hear his false +friend whistling merrily. +</P> + +<P> +Roderick felt like whistling in the days that followed. He had found +out something he had been longing to know for over a year. He did not +have to stay away from her now. And the very next evening he marched +straight up to Rosemount and asked to see Miss Murray. She was out, +much to his disappointment, but the next Sunday he met her as they were +leaving the church. And she expressed her regret so kindly that he was +once more filled with hope. He had stood watching for her while his +father paused for a word with Dr. Leslie, but as usual he had been +joined by Alexander Graham and his daughter. There was a subtle air of +triumph about the man, ever since Roderick had decided to go to +Montreal, an air almost of proprietorship especially noticeable when +Lawyer Ed was about. +</P> + +<P> +"Good morning, Rod," he said genially. "All packed yet?" +</P> + +<P> +"Not quite," said Roderick shortly. He winced, for the thought of the +actual parting with his father was a subject upon which he did not care +to speak. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't believe you are a bit sorry you are going," said Leslie, +shaking the heavy plumes of her velvet hat at him, and pouting, for +never a regret had he expressed to her. +</P> + +<P> +"I actually believe you're glad. And I don't blame you. I'd be just +jumping for joy if I were going. It's a dreadfully dull little place +here, in the winter especially." +</P> + +<P> +He looked at her in surprise. It was so unlike her to express +discontent. She had always seemed so happy. "Why, I thought you +couldn't be ever induced to live any other place," he cried in surprise. +</P> + +<P> +"The idea! I wish somebody'd try me!" she flashed out the answer, with +just the faintest emphasis on a significant word. +</P> + +<P> +Roderick looked down at her again in wonder, to see her eyes droop, her +colour deepen. They passed down the church steps, side by side; her +father dropped behind with Dr. Blair, and they were left alone +together. Roderick, always shy in a young woman's presence, was +overcome with a vague feeling of dismay, which he did not at all +understand and which rendered him speechless. +</P> + +<P> +He was relieved when Miss Annabel Armstrong, with a girlish skip, came +suddenly to her niece's side. "Good morning, Mr. Roderick McRae. Good +morning, niecy dear! Come here a moment and walk with me, Leslie +darling. I want to ask you something." She slipped her arm into the +girl's and drew her back. "Here, Mr. McRae, you walk by Miss Murray, +just for a moment, please." +</P> + +<P> +She shoved Helen forward into Leslie's place, and pulling her niece +close, whispered fiercely. +</P> + +<P> +"You are a young idiot, Leslie Graham! I heard Mrs. Captain Willoughby +and the Baldwin girls laughing and talking about you just this minute +as they came out of church. I am just deadly ashamed. How can we ever +keep our position in society if you act so? Anna Baldwin said you were +simply throwing yourself at that young McRae's head—and his father a +common farmer! And his <I>Aunt</I>!" +</P> + +<P> +The girl jerked her arm from Miss Annabel's grasp, her eyes and cheeks +blazing. "Anna Baldwin is crazy about him herself!" she cried +violently. "And she's made a fool of herself more times than I can +tell! And his father is far better than your father ever was, or mine +either!" She stopped as some one looked at her in passing. "I shall +just do exactly as I please, Aunt Annabel Armstrong," she added +determinedly. "It's just like an old maid to be always interfering in +other people's affairs!" +</P> + +<P> +Miss Annabel turned white with anger. She was proud of her niece, and +yet she almost disliked her. Leslie, young and gay and successful, the +inheritor of everything for which her aunt had scrimped and striven and +hungered all her life and never attained, was a constant source of +irritation and discontent to Miss Annabel. Her heart and hopes were as +young as Leslie's, and she was forced to find herself pushed aside into +the place of age, while this radiant girl walked all unheeding into +everything that her girlhood should have been. And this intimation +concerning her age and estate was unbearable. She grew intensely quiet. +</P> + +<P> +"Leslie," she said, "you may heed me or not as you wish. But if you +had eyes in your head, you would see for yourself that that young man +doesn't care the snap of his finger for you and all your money. He's +madly in love with Helen Murray. He's always hanging about Rosemount!" +she added, growing reckless. "He was there only last night. Just look +at him now!" +</P> + +<P> +The startled eyes of the girl obeyed. Roderick was walking beside +Helen Murray, and looking down at her with the joy of her presence +shining in his face. He was not schooled in hiding his feelings, and +his eyes told his secret so plainly that Leslie Graham could not but +read. +</P> + +<P> +She said not another word. They had reached a corner and she suddenly +left her aunt and walked swiftly homeward alone. She had had a +revelation. For a long time she had suspected and feared. Now she +knew. In all her gay thoughtless life she had never wanted anything +very badly that she had not been able to get. Now, the one thing she +wanted most, the thing which had all unconsciously become the supreme +desire of her life, she had learned in one flash was already another's. +She was as certain of it as though Roderick had proclaimed his feelings +from the church pulpit. Her thoughts ran swiftly back over the months +of their acquaintance and picked up here and there little items of +remembrance that should have shown her earlier the true state of +things. She was forced to confess that not once had he shown her any +slightest preference, except as her father's daughter. And yet she had +refused to look and listen. And then, upon knowledge, came shame and +humiliation and rage at finding she had boldly proffered herself and +was found undesirable. It was the birth of her woman's heart. The +happy, careless girl's heart was dying, and the new life did not come +without much anguish of soul. +</P> + +<P> +As soon as she could escape from the dinner table she fled to her room +to face this dread thing which had come upon her. All undisciplined +and unused to pain, through her mother's careless indulgence, entirely +pagan, too, for her religious experience had been but one of form, the +girl met this crisis in her life alone. +</P> + +<P> +At first the smarting sense of her humiliation predominated and her +heart cried for recompense. She would show him what would happen If he +dared set her aside. Well she knew she could injure Roderick's chances +for success if she set her mind to the task; for was it not her +influence that had helped to give him those chances? +</P> + +<P> +The force of her anger drove her to action. She threw on her plumed +hat and her velvet coat, and slipping out unseen, walked swiftly out of +the town and up the lake shore. Every little breeze from the waters +sent a shower of golden leaves dropping about her. But the air was +still in the woods. It was a perfect autumn day, a true Sabbath day in +Nature's world, with everything in a beautiful state of rest after +labour. The bronze oaks, the yellow elms and the crimson maples along +the shore, now and then dropped a jewel too heavy to be held into the +coloured waters beneath. The tower of the little Indian church across +the lake pointed a silver finger up out of a soft blue haze. The whole +world seemed at peace, in contrast to the tumult within the girl's +untrained heart. +</P> + +<P> +She seated herself on a fallen log beside the water, the warm, hazy +sunshine falling through the golden branches upon her. And sitting +there, she felt the spirit of the serene day steal over hers. Wiser +and nobler thoughts came to her sorely tried young heart. Some strong +unknown Spirit rose up within her and demanded that she do what was +right. It was her only guide, she could not reason with it, but she +blindly obeyed. There would be long days of pain and hard struggle +ahead of her, she well knew, but the Spirit heeded them not at all. +She must do what was right. She must act the strong, the womanly part, +let the future bring what it would. +</P> + +<P> +And she went back from the soft rustling peace of the woods, not a +careless, selfishly happy girl any more, but a strong, steady-purposed +woman. +</P> + +<P> +Roderick was so busy and happy during the ensuing week that he had +almost forgotten the existence of Miss Leslie Graham, when she was +brought to his dismayed senses by the sound of her voice over the +telephone. +</P> + +<P> +"Tra-la-la-la, Mr. Roderick McRae," she sang out in her merriest voice. +"Why don't you come round and say good-bye to your friends? Are you +going to fold your tent like the Arabs and silently steal away?" +</P> + +<P> +Roderick began to stammer out an explanation, but she cut him off gaily. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't apologise, you are going to be punished for your sins," she +called laughingly. "For you can't come now. I am off to-day to +Toronto with Aunt Annabel. We took a sudden notion we wanted to go to +the city. We're going to spend a whole month in a riotous purchasing +of autumn hats. So, as I am a good meek and forgiving person and as +you'll be gone before we get back I just thought I'd say 'Bon Voyage' +to you before I leave." +</P> + +<P> +She talked so fast that Roderick had scarcely any chance to reply. He +tried to stammer out his thanks to her for her kindness, but she +laughingly interrupted him. It was quite too bad they couldn't say +good-bye, Daddy would do that for her. But Mamma was coming to Toronto +with them. They were both dreadfully sorry and Mamma sent her best +regards. They all hoped he'd have a lovely time, and come home very +rich; and before he could answer, she had called a gay "Good-bye and +good-luck," and had rung off. +</P> + +<P> +Roderick was conscious of a slight feeling of surprise, and a decided +feeling of relief. +</P> + +<P> +"She's a great girl," he said to himself admiringly. "She's just a +splendid good friend and a brick, and I'll write and tell her so!" +</P> + +<P> +And he had no idea of how very much she merited his praise. +</P> + +<P> +As the time for leaving approached, Roderick grew busier every day. It +was hard to get Lawyer Ed in the office long enough to settle things. +He was striving to take up the burden of his old work again cheerfully, +but the new civic and social and church duties he had assumed in the +year were hard to drop. Then the Local Option campaign was at its +height and demanded his attention. +</P> + +<P> +To Roderick, and to most of the town people, he seemed to be +shouldering all his old burdens with his usual energy and +light-heartedness, but J. P. missed a familiar note of joyousness in +his tone, and Archie Blair noticed that Ed did not go up the steps of +his office in one leap now as he had always done, but walked up like +other people. But to the casual observer, Lawyer Ed was the same. He +was here, there and everywhere, making sure that this one and that was +going to vote the right way. And Roderick, watching him, remembered +how anxious he had been over the effect the campaign would have upon +his business. And now that he was not required to enter it, he often +longed to plunge in and help his friend to victory. +</P> + +<P> +On the whole, the campaign helped Lawyer Ed materially, in the hard +days preceding the parting with his boy. After all, there was nothing +so dear to his Irish heart as a fight, and the rounding up of his +troops before the battle kept him busy and happy. And everything was +pointing to victory. Father Tracy had promised to see to it that his +flock voted the right way, and Jock McPherson had declared himself on +the side of the temperance cause. Whatever Lawyer Ed may have had to +do with influencing his fellow Irishmen, he could take no credit for +Jock's conversion. He had set out to interview the McPherson one night +after a session meeting, but fortunately J. P. Thornton prevented his +impetuous friend making the mistake of approaching the elder on that +difficult subject. Jock was still feeling a little dour over the +temperance question and the wise Englishman knew that whichever side of +the cause was presented first that was the side to which the McPherson +was most likely to object. +</P> + +<P> +"Leave him to the other fellows, Ed," advised his friend. "They are +almost certain to work their own destruction." +</P> + +<P> +He was right; for not a week later Lawyer Ed came up the steps of the +Thornton home, staggering with laughter, to report that Jock was as +staunch on the temperance question as Dr. Leslie himself, and to +explain how it came about. +</P> + +<P> +As J. P. had prophesied, Jock had come over to their side because a +particularly offensive person interested in the liquor business, had +claimed him as a friend. It had happened on the Saturday afternoon +before. Jock was down town, standing on the sidewalk in front of +Crofter's hotel discussing the bad state of the roads with a farmer +friend, when Mr. Crofter came forth, and after introducing the subject +of Local Option in a friendly fashion, said: +</P> + +<P> +"Well, sir, I'm glad to see one good Presbyterian who hasn't gone off +his head over this tom-foolery." Here he made the fatal mistake of +slapping Mr. McPherson on the shoulder. "It does me good to see a man +who isn't a fanatic, but can take a glass and leave it alone, and give +every other fellow the same privilege." +</P> + +<P> +"Yus." Jock drew in his breath with a peculiar snuffing sound that +would have warned any one who knew him well that there was danger in +the air. "Yus," he repeated the word very slowly, "and take another +glass, and leave it alone." +</P> + +<P> +"What did you say?" enquired Mr. Crofter, a little puzzled. "I don't +think I quite caught you, Mr. McPherson." +</P> + +<P> +"I would be thinking," said Jock with dreadful deliberation, "that it +must be a grand sight, but I nuffer saw one." +</P> + +<P> +"Never saw what?" +</P> + +<P> +"A man that could take a glass and leave it alone. He always took it." +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Crofter went back into the hotel with something of the feeling of a +baseball player who has made a mighty swing with his bat and missed. +</P> + +<P> +And Jock informed Dr. Leslie the next day that he had intended all +along to vote for Local Option, but had omitted to say so earlier. The +case of Father Tracy had brought even greater joy. One day Mike +Cassidy came raging into Lawyer Ed's office with the tale of another +fight with his enemies the Duffys, and the information that he was +going to court with it this time if he died for it. Roderick was out, +and on the pretence that he must consult his young partner, Lawyer Ed +managed to get Mike to consider the matter for an hour, and in the +interval he went to see Father Tracy. +</P> + +<P> +The Catholic priest and the Presbyterian elder were good friends, for +his reverence was a jolly Irishman, very proud of his title of the +"Protestant Priest." It was whispered that he was not in favour in +ecclesiastical circles, but little cared he, for he was in the highest +favour with everybody in Algonquin, especially those in need, and the +hero of every boy who could wave a lacrosse stick. +</P> + +<P> +"Good mornin', Father O'Flynn," cried Lawyer Ed, as, swinging his cane, +he was ushered into the priest's sanctum. "Sure and I suppose it's yer +owld job ye're at— +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +"Checkin' the crazy ones, urgin' the aisy ones,<BR> +Helpin' the lazy ones on wid a stick."<BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"It is that, then," said Father Tracy, his blue eyes dancing. "And +here's wan o' the crazy ones. Sit ye down, man, till I finish this +note, and I'll be checkin' ye all right. I'll not be a minute." +</P> + +<P> +Lawyer Ed of course could not sit down, but wandered about the room +examining the pictures on the wall, a few photographs of popes and +cardinals. +</P> + +<P> +"Sure this is a terrible place for a heretic like me to be in, Father," +he exclaimed. "Oi'm getting clane narvous. If it wasn't called a +Presbytry, I'd niver dare venture. It's got a good name. By the way, +I don't see John Knox here," he added, anxiously examining the +cardinals again. +</P> + +<P> +Father Tracy's pen signed his name with a flourish. "You'll see John +Knox soon enough if ye don't mend your ways, Edward Brians," he said. +"Now, what do ye want of me this morning?" But the two Irishmen could +not let such a good joke pass unnoticed; when they had laughed over it +duly, the business was stated. +</P> + +<P> +"He'll go to no law," said the shepherd of this wayward sheep. "I'll +see him to-night, and it's grateful I am to you, Edward, for your +interest. I hear the boys are getting together to see about a junior +league. Algonquin ought to get the championship this year—" +</P> + +<P> +But Lawyer Ed knew better than to let Father Tracy get off onto the +subject of lacrosse. "I wish Algonquin would take the championship +vote for Local Option next January, Father," he said tentatively. He +waited, but Father Tracy said nothing. He was not so much noted for +his leanings towards teetotalism as towards lacrosse. +</P> + +<P> +"It would keep Mike Cassidy straight," ventured the visitor again. +</P> + +<P> +"I can keep Mike Cassidy straight without the aid of any such heretic +props," said Father Tracy, looking decidedly grim. +</P> + +<P> +Lawyer Ed burst out laughing. "'Pon me word you're right," he +exclaimed. "Man, I wish sometimes that our Protestant priests had the +power that you have. But I'm not here to urge you, mind that. I'm not +such a fool as to go down to the Rainy Rapids and try to turn them back +with a pebble. But I just thought I might as well ask you what your +opinion was, when I was here. A great many people of your flock tell +me they will vote just as the Father tells them." He glanced back at +his host as he moved to the door. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, and they'd better," said the Father. "So you'd like to know what +to say to them, eh?" +</P> + +<P> +"I certainly would." He waited anxiously. +</P> + +<P> +Father Tracy stood watching him go down the steps, his portly figure +filling up the doorway, his good-natured face beaming. "And if it's +news ye're after I suppose ye'll rest neither day nor night till ye get +it." +</P> + +<P> +"Not likely." +</P> + +<P> +"Well—" Father Tracy was enjoying the other's anxiety and was as +deliberate as Jock McPherson—"well, if you meet any of my stray sheep +that look as if they were goin' to vote for the whiskey, ye can tell +them for me that I'd say mass for a dead dog before I'd meddle wid +their lost souls." +</P> + +<P> +Lawyer Ed went down the street, half a block at a stride, in the +direction of J. P.'s office. +</P> + +<P> +Archie Blair's horse and buggy were standing in front of a house next +to the Catholic church. The temptation, combined with his desperate +hurry, was too much. He leaped in and, without so much as "By your +leave," he tore down the street and never drew rein until he fairly +fell out of the vehicle in front of J. P.'s office. He burst in with +the glorious news: "I've got four hundred new votes promised me for +local option. Hurrah! That's better than going to the Holy Land any +day in the year!" +</P> + +<P> +But when the day came at last that was to take Roderick from him, even +Lawyer Ed's love of battle failed him. It was a dreary day, with +Nature in accord with his gloom. A chill wind had blown all night from +the north, lashing Lake Algonquin into foam and making the pines along +the Jericho Road moan sadly. Early in the day the snow began to drive +down from the north and by afternoon the roads were drifted. +</P> + +<P> +Roderick was to leave on the afternoon train for Toronto, and there +take the night express for Montreal and he came into Algonquin in the +morning, to bid his friends good-bye. The sudden change in the weather +had, as usual, been accompanied by the return of the old pain in his +arm. It had been more frequent this autumn, but he had paid little +heed to it. But to-day it added just the last burden required to make +him thoroughly miserable. Lawyer Ed was stamping about, complaining +loudly of the cold, blowing his nose, and talking about everything and +anything but Roderick's pending departure. The Lad's drooping spirits +went lower at the sight of him. +</P> + +<P> +As he went about saying farewell he realised that he had not known how +many friends he had made. Alexander Graham was full of expressions of +congratulation and good-will. +</P> + +<P> +"You must make good, Rod, my boy," he said. "We'll be watching you, +you know, and of course the blame will fall on me if you don't. But I +have no fears." He laughed in a patronising way that made Roderick +feel very small indeed. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm so sorry you couldn't come up again. The wife and Leslie took a +sudden notion that they must go to Toronto for a month—or Leslie took +it rather, and made her mother and aunt go with her. I'm sorry they +are not here—but they are in Toronto and you might—" he paused +knowingly,—"I guess I don't need to tell you where they are staying. +Miss Leslie probably left her address." He laughed in such an +insinuating way that Roderick's face grew crimson. +</P> + +<P> +"No, Miss Graham did not give me her address," he said, so stiffly that +the man looked at him in wonder, then laughed again. This was some of +Leslie's nonsense, as usual, just to tease him. She had forced a +little lover's quarrel probably and gone without saying good-bye. But +he knew Leslie could make it all right just when she chose. +</P> + +<P> +He parted from Roderick in quite a fatherly manner, but the young man +went away feeling more uncomfortable and downhearted than ever. +</P> + +<P> +There was one person who seemed frankly glad to see him go. Mr. Fred +Hamilton did not actually express his joy, but he looked it, and +Roderick felt something of the same feeling when they said good-bye. +Dr. Leslie and several other old friends came next. Archie Blair had +gone to the city to a medical congress, and he missed him. But he had +bidden almost every one else in Algonquin farewell when at last he sent +his trunk to the station, and taking Lawyer Ed's horse and cutter, +drove out to the farm for the severest ordeal of that hard day. +</P> + +<P> +As he passed the school, the children came storming out to their +afternoon recess, pelting each other with snowballs. Roderick +hesitated a moment before the gate, but the wild onslaught of some +fifty shrieking youngsters frightened the horse, and it dashed away +down the road, so he decided to leave his farewell with her to the last. +</P> + +<P> +The bleak wind was sweeping down from the lake and the old board fence +and the frail houses on Willow Lane creaked before it. The water +roared up on the beach as he passed along the Pine Road, and the snow +drove into his eyes and half blinded him. The McDuff home was +deserted. There was no track to the door through the snow, no smoke +from the old broken chimney. Peter Fiddle was either out at the farm +or down in the warm tavern on Willow Lane singing and playing. +</P> + +<P> +The dull pain in Roderick's arm had increased to a steady ache that did +not help to make the soreness of his heart any easier. The bare trees +along the way; creaked and moaned, cold grey clouds gathered and spread +across the sky. +</P> + +<P> +Hitherto Roderick had felt nothing but impatience at the thought of +staying in Algonquin all his life to watch Old Peter and Eddie Perkins +and Mike Cassidy and their like, but now that the day had come for him +to leave, it seemed as though everything was calling upon him to stay, +every finger post pointing towards home. Doctor Leslie's farewell, a +warning to again consider. Lawyer Ed's patient, cheery acceptance of +the situation, J. P. Thornton's open disapproval, Helen Murray's smile +the other evening at the door of Rosemount, his father's love and +confidence in him, all pulled him back with strong hands. The rainbow +gold shone but dimly that day, and he would fain have turned his back +upon it for the sure chance of a life like his father's in Algonquin. +</P> + +<P> +He found Old Angus watching for him at the window. His brave attempts +at cheerfulness made Roderick's trial doubly hard. He bustled about, +even trying to hum a tune, his old battle song, "My Love, be on thy +guard." +</P> + +<P> +"I'll be back before you know I'm gone, Auntie," said the Lad, when +Aunt Kirsty appeared and burst into tears at the sight of him. He +tried to laugh as he said it, but he made but a feeble attempt. They +sat by the fire, the Lad trying to talk naturally of his trip, his +father making pathetic attempts to help him, and Aunt Kirsty crying +silently over her knitting. At last, as Roderick glanced at the clock. +Old Angus took out the tattered Bible from the cup-board drawer. It +had always been the farewell ceremony in all the Lad's coming and +going, the reading of a few words of comfort and courage and a final +prayer. Old Angus read, as he so often did when his son was leaving, +the one hundred and thirty-ninth psalm, the great assurance that no +matter how far one might go from home and loved ones, one might never +go away from the presence of God. +</P> + +<P> +"If I ascend up into Heaven thou art there. If I make my bed in hell +behold thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in +the uttermost parts of the sea, even there shall thy hand lead me and +thy right hand shall uphold me." +</P> + +<P> +The prayer was simple and direct, as were all Old Angus's communions +with his Father. He had come to-day to a place where the way was very +puzzling, and Roderick, knowing him so well, understood why he prayed +for himself, that he might not be troubled with the why of it all, but +that he might know that God was guiding them all aright. But there was +an anguished note in his voice new to the Lad, and one that made the +pain in his heart grow almost unbearable. He had heard that sound in +his father's voice once before; and was puzzled to remember when. And +then there came vividly to his heart's ear, the cry that had rung out +over the dark waters to him the night the little boy was lost. +"Roderick, my son, where are you?" The father's heart was uttering +that cry now, and the son's heart heard it. There were tears in the +eyes of both men when they arose from their knees. +</P> + +<P> +Aunt Kirsty came to him for her farewell with a big bundle in her arms. +It was done up carefully in a newspaper and tied with yarn, and +contained a huge lunch, composed of all the good things she had been +able to cook in a day's baking. Roderick felt as if he could not eat +anything between home and Montreal, but he took the bulky parcel +gratefully and tenderly. She put her arms about him, the tears +streaming down her face, then fled from the room as fast as her ample +size would permit, and gave vent to her grief in loud sobs and wails. +Old Angus followed his son out to the cutter in the shed. He stumbled +a little. He seemed to have suddenly become aged and decrepit. It was +not the physical parting that was weighing him down so heavily. Had +Roderick been called to go as a missionary to some far-off land, as his +father had so often dreamed in his younger days that he might, Old +Angus would have sent him away with none of the foreboding which filled +his heart to-day when he saw his boy leave to take a high position in +the work of the world. +</P> + +<P> +Roderick caught the blanket off the horse, and as he did so his arm +gave a sudden, sharp twinge. His face twisted. +</P> + +<P> +"Is it the old pain in your arm, Roderick, my son?" his father asked +anxiously. +</P> + +<P> +"It's nothing," said the Lad lightly. "It'll be all right to-morrow." +</P> + +<P> +"You should see a doctor," admonished his father. "There will be great +doctors in Montreal." +</P> + +<P> +"Perhaps I shall," said the boy. "Now, Father, don't stand there in +the cold!" He caught the old man's hand in both his. "Father!" he +cried sharply. "I—oh—I feel I shouldn't leave you!" +</P> + +<P> +"Hoots, toots, Lad!" The man clapped him upon the back comfortingly. +"You must not be saying that whatever. Indeed it's a poor father I +would be to want you always by me. No, no, you must go, but Roderick—" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, Father." +</P> + +<P> +The old man's face was pale and intense. "You will not be leaving the +Heavenly Father. Oh mind, mind and hold to Him!" +</P> + +<P> +Roderick pressed his hand, and felt for the first time something of the +utter bitterness of that road to success. "I'll try, Father," he +faltered. "Oh, I will!" +</P> + +<P> +He sprang into the cutter and took the lines, the old man put his hands +for a moment on the Lad's bowed head praying for a blessing upon him, +and then the horse dashed out of the gate and away down the lane. At +the turn Roderick looked back. His father was standing on the snowy +threshold where he had left him, waving his cap. A yellow gleam of +wintry sunlight through ragged clouds lit up his face, the wind +fluttered his old coat and his silver hair, and, standing there in his +loneliness, he was making a desperate attempt at a smile that had more +anguish in it than a rain of tears. +</P> + +<P> +Roderick drove swiftly down the snowy road, his eyes blinded. For one +moment he hated success and money and fame and would have thrown them +all away to be able to go back to his father. Well he knew the parting +was more, far more than a temporal leave-taking. It was a departure +from the old paths where his father had taught him to walk. +</P> + +<P> +As he sped along, his head down, he did not see a figure on the road +ahead of him. He was almost upon it when he suddenly jerked his horse +out of the way. It was Old Peter. Evidently he had drunk just enough +to make him tremendously polite. He stepped to the side of the road +and bowed profoundly. +</P> + +<P> +Roderick made an attempt to pull up his horse and say good-bye. A +sudden impulse to take Peter home to his father seized him. Old Angus +would be so comforted to think that his boy's last act was giving a +helping hand on the Jericho Road. But his horse was impatient, and +Peter had already turned in at his own gate and was plunging through +the snow to his house. A bottle was sticking out of his pocket. +Evidently he intended to make a night of it. The sight of it made the +young man change his mind. There was no use, as he had so often said, +bothering with Peter Fiddle. He was determined to drink himself to +death and he would. +</P> + +<P> +Roderick let his horse go and went spinning down the road. Then he +realised that he had given his arm a wrench, when he had pulled his +horse out of Peter's way. The pain in it grew intense for a few +moments. He resolved that as soon as he was settled at his new work he +would have it attended to. It was the relic of his old rainbow +expedition and though it had annoyed him only at intervals it had never +ceased to remind him that there was trouble there for him some future +day. +</P> + +<P> +He had another hard parting to face, but one with hope in it for the +future. When he tied his horse at the school gate and went in he was +wondering how he would tell Helen how much the farewell meant to him. +For he was determined that she must know. The school was quiet, for +the hour for dismissing had not come. As he entered the hall, Madame +came swaying out of Miss Murray's room with a group of cherubs peeping +from behind her. "Now you, Johnnie Pickett," she was saying, "you just +come and tell me if anybody's bad and I'll fix them." Then she saw +Roderick, and greeted him with a rapturous smile. +</P> + +<P> +"There's a dear boy," she cried, "to come and say good-bye to your old +teacher. Now, you Johnnie Pickett, what are you following me out here +for? Aren't you to watch the room for Miss Murray? Go on back. Well, +and you are really going this afternoon?" she said, turning to her +visitor again. "And how is your father standing it? What's the matter +now?" +</P> + +<P> +A small youngster with blazing eyes shot from the room and launched +himself upon her. +</P> + +<P> +"Please, teacher," he cried, his voice shrill with wrath, "them kids, +they won't mind me at all. Dutchy Scott's makin' faces, and the girls +is talkin', an' Pie-face Hurd he's calling names. He said I was a +nigger!" His blue eyes and white hair belied the accusation, but his +voice rose to a scream at the indignity. Mrs. Doasyouwouldbedoneby +marched the deposed monitor hack to the room to restore order, +explaining volubly that it was quite as wicked a crime to call a boy +Pie-face as for that boy to call one a nigger. +</P> + +<P> +"I've got Miss Murray's room in charge," she said, returning to +Roderick smiling and breathless. "Go on back there, now! I see you +looking out there, you, Jimmie Hurd. Just wait till I catch you!" +</P> + +<P> +"She isn't sick, is she?" asked Roderick dismayed. +</P> + +<P> +"No. Oh, no! She went with a crowd of young folks to a tea-meeting at +Arrow Head. They started early, and I made her run home an hour before +the time to bundle up. Now, Johnnie Pickett, leave that chalk alone! +You don't need to think I don't see you—" +</P> + +<P> +Roderick went on his journey miserably disappointed. She had gone on a +sleigh ride and she must have known, indeed she did know, he intended +to call and say good-bye to her. Each farewell had been harder than +the last and now this absence of farewell was the hardest of all. +There was one more—Lawyer Ed's. Like Old Angus, he was making an +attempt at cheerfulness that was heartbreaking. He tramped about, +singing loudly, scolding every one who came near him, and proclaiming +his joy over the Lad's going in a manner that drove poor Roderick's +sore heart to desperation. He drove with him to the station, carried +his bag on board, loaded him with books and magazines and bade him a +joyful farewell, with not a word of regret. But he gave way as the +train moved out and Roderick saw him hastily wipe his eyes and as he +looked back for one last glimpse of his beloved figure, the Lad saw +Lawyer Ed move slowly away, showing for the first time in his life the +signs of approaching age. +</P> + +<P> +That night Old Angus sat late over his kitchen fire. He was mentally +following the Lad. He was in Toronto now; later, on the way to +Montreal, lying asleep in his berth probably. Old Angus's faith +forbade his doubting that God's hand was in his boy's departure. But +the remembrance of all his joyous plans on the day the Lad started in +Algonquin persisted in coming up to haunt him. He sat far into the +night trying to reason himself back into his former cheerfulness. The +storm had risen anew, and gusts of wind came tearing up from the lake, +lashing the trees and shaking the old house. The snow beat with a +soft, quick pad-pad upon the window-pane. Occasionally the jingle of +bells came to him muffled in the snow. Finally, he heard a new sound, +some one singing. It was probably a sleigh-load of young folk +returning from a country tea-meeting, he reflected. Then he suddenly +sat up straight. Something familiar in the fitful sounds made him slip +out to the door and listen. The wind was lulled for a moment, and he +could dimly discern a figure going along the road. And he could hear a +voice raised loud and discordant in the 103rd psalm! Old Angus came +back into the house swiftly. He caught up his coat and cap. Peter had +fallen among thieves once more! And he would probably be left by the +road-side to freeze were he not rescued. He hastily lit a lantern and +carefully closed up the stove. Then, softly opening the door, he +hurried out into the storm. +</P> + +<P> +He found the lane and the road beyond badly drifted, but he plunged +along, his swaying lantern making a faint yellow star in the swirling +white mists of the storm. He reached the road. Peter's voice came to +him fitfully on the wind. He had probably started out to come to him +and had lost his bearings. There was nothing to do but follow and +bring him back. He plunged into the road and staggered forward in the +direction of the voice. +</P> + +<P> +The snow had stopped falling but the wind that was driving it into +drifts was growing bitterly cold. Old Angus needed all his strength to +battle with it, as he forced his way forward, sinking sometimes almost +to his waist. He struggled on. Peter was somewhere there ahead, +perhaps fallen to freeze by the roadside, and the Good Samaritan must +not give in till he found him. But his own strength was going fast. +In his thought for Peter he had forgotten that he was not able to +battle with such a wind. He fell again and again, and each time he +rose it was with an added sense of weakness. He kept calling to Peter, +but the roar of the lake on the one hand and the answering roar of the +pines on the other drowned his voice. He was almost exhausted when he +stumbled over a dark object half buried in snow in the middle of the +road. He staggered to his feet and turned his lantern upon it. It was +Peter, lain down in a drunken stupor to die of cold. +</P> + +<P> +"Peter! Peter!" Angus McRae tried to speak his name, but his benumbed +lips refused to make an articulate sound. He dropped the lantern +beside him and tried to raise the prostrate figure. As he did so he +felt the light of the lantern grow dim. It faded away, and the Good +Samaritan and the man who had fallen among thieves lay side by side in +the snow. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap13"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XIII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +"THE MASTER WHISPERED" +</H3> + +<P> +When Roderick stepped on board the night train for Montreal he was +surprised and pleased to find Doctor Archie Blair bustling into the +opposite compartment. That delightful person, with a suit-case, a pile +of medical journals, a copy of Burns, and a new book of poems, had left +Algonquin the day before, and was now setting out on a tremendous +journey all the way to Halifax, to attend a great medical congress. He +welcomed his young fellow-townsman hilariously, pulled him into his +seat, jammed him into a corner, and scowling fiercely, with his fists +brandished in the young man's face and his eyes flashing, he spent an +hour demonstrating to Roderick that he had just discovered a young +Canadian singer of the spirit if not the power of his great Scottish +bard. The other occupants of the sleeping-car watched the violent big +man with the terrible eye, nervously expecting him every moment to +spring upon his young victim and throttle him. But to those who were +within earshot, the sternest thing he said was, +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +"Then gently scan thy brother man,<BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">Still gentler sister woman,</SPAN><BR> +Though they may gang a keenin' wrang,<BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">To step aside is human."</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +The charm of the doctor's conversation, drove away much of Roderick's +homesickness and despondency, but it could not make him forget the pain +in his arm, which was hourly growing more insistent. +</P> + +<P> +"And so you're leaving Algonquin for good," said Archie Blair at last, +when the black porter sent them to the smoker while he made up their +berths. "Well, there's a great future ahead of you in that firm. Not +many young fellows have such a chance as that. I wish Ed could have +gone away before you left, though, to Jericho, or Sodom and Gomorrah, +or wherever it is he and J. P. Thornton are heading for." +</P> + +<P> +Archie Blair, as every one in Algonquin knew, lived as near to the +rules of life set forth in the Bible as any man in the town. But he +delighted in being known as a wicked and irreligious person, and always +made a fine pretence at being at sea when speaking of anything +Scriptural. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, sir, it's rather hard on old Ed; and there's J. P. too. He's +been waiting for Ed ever since the Holy Land was discovered, as +faithfully as Ruth waited for Jacob or whoever it was. I can't +remember when those two chaps weren't planning to take that trip, and +it looks as if they'd get to the New Jerusalem first. Cracky, now, I +believe you were the one that stopped their first trip and here you're +interrupting another one!" He laughed delightedly. +</P> + +<P> +"I?" inquired Roderick. "How was that?" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, Ed wouldn't say so. He'd be sure it was the hand of Providence. +It was the time you went off hunting the rainbow and got lost, don't +you remember? and your father got sick on the head of it. Ed stayed +home that time." +</P> + +<P> +"But it was Jock McPherson who came to poor father's rescue that time," +said Roderick. "Lawyer Ed told me himself." +</P> + +<P> +Doctor Blair made a grimace. +</P> + +<P> +"Roderick McRae," he said, after a moment, "I have a fatal weakness. I +suppose it's the poet in me. I like to think it is. I'm forever +pouring out the thoughts of my inmost heart which I really ought to +keep to myself. That was the way with Bobby ye mind: +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +'Is there a whim-inspired fool<BR> +Owre fast for thought, owe hot for rule.'<BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +And here I've been telling tales I should keep tae ma'sel!" +</P> + +<P> +"Well, you've got to finish, now that you've started," cried Roderick. +"Do you mean to tell me that Lawyer Ed—" +</P> + +<P> +"No, I don't mean to tell you anything, but I've done it, and I might +as well make a full confession. Of course it was Lawyer Ed did it. He +always does things like that, he's got them scattered all over the +country." +</P> + +<P> +"But—why didn't I know?" cried Roderick sharply. "And what did he do?" +</P> + +<P> +"Because he didn't want it. I'm the only person in Algonquin that +knows, except J. P., of course. J. P. knows the innermost thoughts +that pass through Ed's mind. There's another secret between us three." +He smiled half-sadly. "I suppose, though, your father knows this +one—that Ed was to have married J. P.'s only sister. She was tall and +willowy and just like a flower, and she died a week before the wedding +day. They buried her in her white satin wedding dress with her veil +and orange blossoms." Archie Blair's voice had sunk to a tender +whisper. "I saw her in her coffin, with a white lily in her hand." +</P> + +<P> +He was silent so long that Roderick brought him back to the starting +point. "But you haven't told me yet how he helped Father." +</P> + +<P> +So Archie Blair began at the beginning and told him all, happily +unconscious of how he was harrowing Roderick's feelings in the telling. +It was the old story of his father's mortgage, his own hunt for the +rainbow, which, the doctor declared, argued that he should have been a +poet, his father's illness, and Lawyer Ed's postponement of his trip, +and greatest of all, his setting aside of the chance to leave Algonquin +as partner with his old chum, William Graham, now millionaire. +</P> + +<P> +"Your father sort of brought Ed up, you know, Rod, made him walk the +straight and narrow way as he has done with many a man. I want to take +my hat off every time I see that father of yours." He saw the distress +in Roderick's face and was rather disconcerted. "Your father paid him +every cent with interest, of course, Lad, you know that," he added +hurriedly. "But there are some things can't be paid in money. Well, +well—where did I start? Oh, at Jerusalem, and I've wandered from Dan +to Beersheba and haven't got anywhere yet. Well, that was how Ed got +started on the habit of staying home from the Holy Land, and he doesn't +seem to be able to get out of it. You know it's a good thing. I'm +always sorry Wordsworth ever went to Yarrow. It's a hundred times +better to keep your dream-country a dream. +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +'Be Yarrow stream unseen, unknown!<BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">It must, or we shall rue it.'</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +And if he ever goes, it'll never be what he thinks. His dreams of +Galilee and the Rose of Sharon and Mount Carmel will vanish when he +sees the poor reality. You see, in his Palestine, the Lord is always +there." He dropped his voice— +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +"'And in those little lanes of Nazareth<BR> +Each morn His holy feet would come and go.'"<BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Roderick was not listening. He sat with downcast eyes and burning +cheek. Lawyer Ed had done all this for his father, for him,—and this +was his reward! The man had given up his chance in life for his father +and then the son had come and done this abominable thing. Surely the +gleam of the rainbow-gold was beginning to mock him already. And yet, +as he sat there, overcome with humiliation, his mind was busy arranging +swift compromises, as it had always done. He would pay Lawyer Ed, oh, +five fold, and send him away for a year's travel. And yet when all his +generous schemes had been exhausted, he knew they were not what Lawyer +Ed wanted. It was the love and devotion of his friend's son he +preferred above all worldly gain. +</P> + +<P> +He came to a knowledge of his surroundings, called back by a sudden +exclamation from the doctor. +</P> + +<P> +"I believe you're sick, Rod! You look like an advanced and violent +case of sea-sickness." +</P> + +<P> +Roderick became conscious that his arm was paining him severely and +said so. He could have said quite truthfully that the pain in his +heart was quite as bad. +</P> + +<P> +"That old arm," cried Archie Blair in distress. "I tell you, Lad, +you've got to have that thing looked after. Here, get to bed and I'll +have a look at it when you're undressed." +</P> + +<P> +He came into Roderick's berth later and with rough kindness handled the +swollen, aching limb. "I always told you something would come of +this," he grumbled. "And like everybody, you won't listen till it's +too late. There's some serious trouble there, Rod, or I'm very badly +mistaken. Now, look here, you promise me on your word and honour +you'll go straight to a doctor when you get to Montreal—to Doctor +Nicholls. Here, I'll give you his address. Now, will you promise to +go to-morrow morning, or must I stop off and miss my train to Halifax +to see you do it?" +</P> + +<P> +Roderick promised and lay down in his berth, but not to sleep. The +pain in his arm was severe enough to keep him awake, but it was no +worse than his heartache. It was a tender heart, not yet calloused by +constant pursuit of selfish aims. That state would certainly be +arrived at, on the road he was travelling, but he was still young and +his very soul was longing to go back to his father and Lawyer Ed. +Again and again he tried to comfort himself with the promise that he +would make up to them for all they had done, oh, many times over, and +in the end, they would both realise that the course he had pursued was +for the best. +</P> + +<P> +As he made this firm resolution, for the tenth time, the train drew up +at a little station in the woods. Roderick looked out at the steam +hissing from beneath his window and the dim light in the little +station. He recognised it as the junction, where a branch line ran +from the main road, across the country, through forest and by lake +shore, straight to Algonquin. The home train was approaching now. He +could hear its rumbling wheels and its clanging bell far down the +curving track, and the next moment, with a flare of light upon the +snow, it came tearing up out of the forest and roared into the little +station. Its brilliant windows flashed past his dazzled eyes. It +stopped with a great exhaled breath of relief and stood panting and +puffing after its long run. Roderick knew that if he chose he could +slip out, leap on that train and go speeding away up through the forest +and be in Algonquin before morning. He felt for a moment an almost +irresistible impulse to do it, to fling away everything and go back. +But he would look like a fool, and the people would laugh at him, and +quite rightly. He could not go back now. +</P> + +<P> +There was a gentle movement, and slowly and smoothly he began to glide +past those home-going lights. In a moment more he was speeding +eastward into the white night. +</P> + +<P> +When he reached Montreal he went immediately to the hotel. He was to +meet Mr. Graham and the head of the firm there that evening, when +everything regarding his immediate duties was to be settled. He +registered, and found a room awaiting him, a luxurious room, finer than +any he could afford. It was the beginning of his new life. He went +down to breakfast, but could eat nothing, for the pain in his arm. He +was not at all averse to obeying Dr. Blair's injunction, and as soon as +he went back to his room, he telephoned the doctor whose address he had +been given. He felt a strange dizziness and, fearing to go out, he +asked if the doctor would call. When Roderick gave the name of the +firm he represented, there was an immediate rise in the temperature at +the other end of the telephone. Evidently the young lady in charge of +Doctor Nicholls's office knew her business. All uncertainty as to the +physician's movements immediately vanished. +</P> + +<P> +Doctor Nicholls would call in the course of half an hour if convenient +to Mr. McRae, he was just about to visit the Bellevue House in any case. +</P> + +<P> +Roderick felt again the advantages of his new position. The sensation +of power was very pleasant, but it could not keep his arm from aching. +The pain grew steadily worse, until at last he lay on the bed waiting +impatiently. +</P> + +<P> +In a short time there came a tap on the door. Thinking it was the +doctor, Roderick sprang up relieved. But it was only the boy in +buttons with a telegram. He signed the paper indifferently. Even the +most urgent business of Elliot & Kent could not arouse his interest, he +was feeling so sick and miserable and down-hearted. He opened the +yellow paper slowly, and then sprang up with a cry that made the boy +stop in the hall and listen. Roderick stood in the middle of the room +reading the terse message again and again: +</P> + +<P> +"Father ill. Come at once." E. L. Brians. +</P> + +<P> +He leaped to the telephone, then dropped the receiver at the sight of a +railway guide he had left upon the table. The first train he could +take for home left at fifteen minutes past three in the afternoon. And +it was not yet ten o'clock! He sat down on the bed, a dread fear +possessing his soul. Wild surmises rushed through his mind. What +could have happened? It was not twenty-four hours since he had seen +his father standing in the doorway waving him farewell, the sunlight on +his face and that gallant, anguished attempt at a smile! Roderick +groaned aloud as he remembered. He took up the telegram again, +striving to extract from its cruelly brief words some inkling of what +had preceded it, some hope for the future. +</P> + +<P> +A second tap at the door sent him to open it with a bound. Before him +stood a professional looking man, well-dressed and well-groomed, with a +small leather bag. +</P> + +<P> +"Are you my patient?" he asked briskly. +</P> + +<P> +"Patient?" Roderick stared at him stupidly. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes; Mr. McRae, I believe? I am Doctor Nicholls." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh," said Roderick. "I had forgotten all about it. Yes, come in." +He stepped back and the physician eyed him curiously. He looked +desperately ill, sure enough. +</P> + +<P> +Roderick answered briefly and absently all the doctor's questions. +Beside this awful thing which threatened him, his arm seemed so +trivial, that he was impatient at the attention he was compelled to +give it. Evidently the physician was of another opinion as to its +importance. His face was imperturbable, but after a careful +examination he said very gravely: +</P> + +<P> +"You'll have to have this attended to immediately, Mr. McRae. +Immediately. It's a case, if my judgment is correct, that has been +delayed much too long already. Could you come to the hospital—this +morning?"' +</P> + +<P> +"I have to leave here on the three-fifteen this afternoon," said +Roderick. "I have just received a telegram that my father is very +ill—I can't have anything done to-day." +</P> + +<P> +"Ah, quite sad indeed. Not serious I hope?" +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know," said Roderick dully. +</P> + +<P> +"I must urge you especially to come to-day. We have Dr. Berger here, +from New York. He is going to the congress at Halifax. You have heard +of him, of course. He is coming to see some patients of mine this +morning, and I should like him to see you too. Indeed, I feel I must +urge you, Mr. McRae. You are trifling with your health, perhaps your +life," he went on, puzzled by Roderick's indifference. "It is +imperative that something be done at once. How about coming with me +now? It leaves plenty of time for your train." +</P> + +<P> +Roderick considered a moment. He could not meet Mr. Graham now in any +case. He must leave a message for him that he had been called back to +Algonquin and telegraph home for more specific news. That was all he +could do until train time, so he decided he might as well obey the +doctor. +</P> + +<P> +When he had despatched a telegram and written a message for Mr. Graham +he followed the doctor to his car. The professional man seemed eagerly +delighted, as though Roderick were merely a wonderful new specimen he +had found and upon which he intended to experiment. He chattered away +happily on the way to the hospital. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, Berger will be very much interested. Yours is really a rare +case, from a medical standpoint, Mr. McRae. Quite unique. You said +you believed it was injured when you were only six years old?" +</P> + +<P> +He seemed almost pleased, but Roderick did not care. The pain in his +arm and that fiercer pain raging in his heart made him indifferent. +"My father! My father!" he was repeating to himself in anguished +inquiry. What had happened to his father? Perhaps he was dying, while +his son lingered far away from him. And what an age he had to wait for +that train, and what another age to wait till it crawled back to +Algonquin! He remembered with wonder the strange wild impulse he had +had the night before to leap across into the home-bound train and go +back. He speculated upon what might have happened, until his brain +reeled. And when would he get another telegram? And why had not +Lawyer Ed told him more? He asked himself these futile questions over +and over in wild impatience. The fever of the night before had +returned, his head was hot, and ached as if it would burst. +</P> + +<P> +He obeyed the doctor's orders mechanically. His mind was focussed on +the time for the train to leave and in the interval he did not care +what they did with him. So he let himself be put into a bare little +white room, heavy with the smell of disinfectants, while a nurse in a +blue uniform and a young house surgeon in white and a silent footed +orderly moved about him. +</P> + +<P> +The nurse's blue dress reminded him of another blue gown, one for which +he used to watch at the office window on summer mornings. He followed +it with his eyes, as the great surgeon took him in hand and examined +and questioned him. He answered mechanically, his parched lips +uttering things with which his fevered brain seemed to have no interest. +</P> + +<P> +He listened in a detached way, as though the doctor were speaking of +some one else as, with many technical terms, he diagnosed the case. +Doctor Nicholls was there, and two young house surgeons, all eagerly +listening, but the patient's mind was away in the old farm house on the +shore of Lake Algonquin desperately seeking relief from its suspense. +</P> + +<P> +He scarcely noticed when they left the room, but he came to himself +completely when they returned, and Dr. Nicholls announced to him +briskly and almost joyfully that Dr. Berger's ultimatum was an +immediate operation. +</P> + +<P> +"No, you won't," said the patient with sudden vigour. "I have to leave +this afternoon for home on the three-fifteen." +</P> + +<P> +The great man looked down at him. "Young man," he said quietly, and +there was a still strength in his manner that carried conviction, "you +will do as you please of course, but if you don't take my advice and +have that limb attended to immediately, you'll go to your long home, +and not much later than 3.15 either. Yours is a most critical case. +If you refuse you are committing suicide. Now, Doctor Nicholls, I have +just half-an-hour to see your other patients." +</P> + +<P> +He walked out of the room. And Roderick sat up in the bed and stared +after them stupefied. A young house-surgeon, who had been regarding +the patient with eyes holding more than professional interest, came to +his side. He tried to speak cheerfully. +</P> + +<P> +"It's a most unusual thing to operate in such a hurry, but it's better +for a patient, I think. It's all over quickly you know, and no long +weary waiting." +</P> + +<P> +"But my father!" cried Roderick. "My father is critically ill. I've +got to go home! I've got to, I tell you! I can have this +done—later—at home." +</P> + +<P> +The fever flush deepened to a hot crimson. He got to his feet, then +staggered back, dizzy with pain. The young physician laid him on the +bed. "Look here, now, you mustn't get worked up like that, Roderick," +he said. +</P> + +<P> +Roderick looked up at him. The young man had come into the room with +Dr. Berger, but not till this moment had he noticed him. He stared, +and a light, brighter even than the fever had brought, leaped into his +eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"Wells!" he cried. "Is it Dick Wells?" +</P> + +<P> +"Dick Wells, it is," said the other, smiling, pleased that he had +created such a complete diversion. He took the patient's left hand and +shook it with a cordiality that was not returned. +</P> + +<P> +"I haven't seen you since old 'Varsity days, Rod. And 'pon my word I +didn't know you for a minute. We'll see you through this all right; +don't worry." +</P> + +<P> +Roderick was staring at him in a disconcerting way. +</P> + +<P> +"Where have you been since you graduated?" he asked. +</P> + +<P> +That harsh unsmiling manner was not at all like the Roderick McRae he +had known in college, but the young man laid the change to his fevered +condition. +</P> + +<P> +"Here, in Montreal. Next year I hope to go to Europe." He made a sign +to the nurse who entered, and quietly began preparing the arm for its +operation. Roderick did not pay any attention to even her blue uniform +this time, his eyes were fixed with a fierce intentness upon the young +doctor's face. Wells had always been known as a very handsome fellow, +but his appearance had not improved; he had grown stouter and coarser. +He was still good-looking, however, and his manner had the old easy +kindness Roderick remembered. He was just going to ask him another +abrupt question, when the young doctor slipped his finger over the +patient's pulse, and began talking quietly and soothingly. +</P> + +<P> +"And you went back to your old home town, didn't you? Let me see—" +his casual air did not deceive his alert listener—"Algonquin's your +home, isn't it?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes." +</P> + +<P> +"You've been practising law there, haven't you?" He took out his watch +and looked at it. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes,—in Algonquin." +</P> + +<P> +A smile passed over the young physician's face, as of pleasant +reminiscence. "Algonquin," he repeated—"pretty name. You don't +happen to know—er—a Miss Murray there, do you? A teacher." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," said Roderick, "I've met her," and held his breath for the next +words. +</P> + +<P> +"I've met her too—several times." He laughed, glancing at Roderick in +a shamefaced manner. "I think when you go home, if you'll take me, +I'll go along as travelling physician. I'd like most awfully well to +see that town of yours." +</P> + +<P> +Roderick involuntarily jerked his wrist from the other's grasp. Had he +not done so, the doctor would have been amazed at the leap of the +already bounding pulse. +</P> + +<P> +"I thought—rumour had it at college—that your affections were in +process of transition when you graduated." Roderick looked straight at +him. It was impossible to keep from his voice something of the +bitterness rising in his heart. He was risking his own secret. But he +felt he must know. +</P> + +<P> +Dick Wells' eyes dropped to his watch again. He was silent for a +moment. The nurse left the room and he immediately spoke in a low tone. +</P> + +<P> +"It a fellow plays the fool once in life," he said, "that's no reason +why he should take it up as a steady profession. I've dropped it for +good and all. And if you behave yourself and have this operation right +away I'll come and take Christmas dinner—no, that's holiday time—I'll +come and prescribe for you shortly after New Year's!" He laughed +joyfully. "I hope you'll welcome me," he said, half-shyly. "For I've +reason to believe I'm going to be welcomed in other quarters." +</P> + +<P> +"Dr. Wells, you are wanted in the corridor," said the nurse, returning. +</P> + +<P> +He left the room, and Roderick lay back and stared at the ceiling. He +caught the word amputation, and he knew they were talking about his +arm. They were going to cut it off, then. The knowledge did not seem +to add anything to the overwhelming weight which had fallen upon him, +and was crushing him. The whole structure of his life was tumbling +about him, and he lay caught helpless in its fall. His new position +was gone, for well he knew the company could not wait—indeed, would +not wait—for so insignificant a servant as he. His father—perhaps +his father was gone. And now the rosy hope that had steadily and +surely arisen in his heart, since the day he had seen Helen Murray on +board the <I>Inverness</I>, until it had lighted up his whole life, had +suddenly vanished in darkness. His fighting spirit rose against these +odds. He shoved the deft hands of the nurse aside and sat up. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm going home," he said hoarsely. Then the nurse, and the little +white table by the bedside with the bottles on it, and the white +uniformed man standing outside the doorway, swung up to the ceiling and +became an indistinct blur. He recovered almost immediately. The nurse +slipped a little thermometer under his tongue, and put a cool finger on +his pulse. +</P> + +<P> +"I must go home," mumbled Roderick. "Where's Dr. Wells?" +</P> + +<P> +"Dr. Wells is wanted in the operating room," she said soothingly. "You +will be glad to know he is going to assist. I understand you are old +friends." She looked at him anxiously. He was in the worst possible +condition mentally for an operation. +</P> + +<P> +"If you'd just brace up, you know," she said encouragingly. "If you +would get hold of yourself." She had prepared many a patient for the +operating table, and had seen few so exercised as this one. "You must +be courageous," she said. "The operation may not be serious. And it +will be over soon." +</P> + +<P> +Roderick looked at her uncomprehendingly. He cared not at all for the +operation itself, but it was the trap that had caught him, and he was +writhing to be free. +</P> + +<P> +Her next words put a new face on it. +</P> + +<P> +"If you have any message to send to your friends," she said gently, "I +should be glad to have it attended to. Have you any—property or +anything that should be settled. We hope this operation will be +simple; but if not—you should be prepared, Mr. McRae." +</P> + +<P> +"There's nothing," said Roderick. "Nothing." +</P> + +<P> +Everything in the world was slipping from him. The props of life had +given way one by one, and now perhaps life itself was going. He lay +there on the small cot-bed, watching the nurse and orderly hurry to and +fro, and looked squarely at the situation. It was desperate. Always +he had taken hold of difficulties and wrenched them out of his path and +gone proudly on his way. But here he was helpless. For the first time +in his strong, successful youth he realised that which his father had +striven all his years to teach him, man's utter impotence before God. +He was bound hand and foot, helpless, just as the door of success had +flung open at his touch. He had paddled out bravely into the open sea +of life after the rainbow gold, only to find it vanish and leave him +lost in a world of mists and shadows. He remembered Dr. Leslie's +words: "If His love cannot draw us into the way, it meets us on the +Damascus road and blinds us with its light." +</P> + +<P> +He lay there for what seemed an interminable time. He was clinging to +one faint hope. Lawyer Ed would surely answer his telegram. But the +nurse returned with the word that there had been no message, and that +the doctors were preparing. He was to go down to the operating room in +ten minutes. +</P> + +<P> +It seemed as if with that word the last feeble support gave way, and +then Roderick McRae's soul went down to the black brink of despair. He +was utterly alone, without help or friend. Everything, his success, +his health, his father, his love, had been snatched from him in one +moment. +</P> + +<P> +There was even no God for him. He had been so long dependent entirely +upon himself, that God had become a meaningless word. And now, if God +were real, His cruel Hand was behind that fearful black mist that was +closing about him shutting him off from hope. He lay like a log, +staring at the white ceiling of the little hospital room. The nurse +and the orderly were bidding him brace up and were shaking their heads +over him. He paid no more attention to them than to the strong odour +of drugs or the soft click-click of heels on the hardwood floor of the +corridor. Some subtle trick of memory had taken him back to the one +other time of despair in his experience. He was back again in that +night, years ago, when he was lost on the lake, drifting away in the +darkness to unknown terrors; and just as he had cried out that night, +his whole soul rose in one desperate demand upon his Father for help. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, God!" he groaned, starting up, "oh, God, help me!" +</P> + +<P> +And then it happened; the great wonder. The light from his Father's +boat! The sound of his Father's voice! Just as, long ago, lost in +mists and darkness, a prey to every terror, his father's voice, calling +down the shaft of light, had caught him up from despair to the heights +of joy, so it was now. Suddenly, without reason, there fell upon the +young man's writhing soul a great calm. He lay back on his pillow, +perfectly still, his whole being held in awe of what had happened. For +there, in the common light of day, within the bare walls of the +hospital room, not visible to the human eye, but plain to the eye of +the soul, staring beyond the things that are seen for a gleam of hope, +a Presence was quietly standing. Serene, omnipotent, all-calming, the +gracious One stood, close to his side, and fear and pain fled before +Him. +</P> + +<P> +Roderick was conscious of no feeling of surprise or wonder. He felt +only a great serenity, and an absolute safety. He asked no questions, +felt no desire to ask any. There had been another young man once, who +had met this same One in a like headlong career, planned by his own +strong right hand, and he had cried out in fear, "Who art thou, Lord?" +But Roderick knew just as well as he had known his father's voice that +night coming out of the mists and darkness. His Eternal Father was at +his side. That was all he knew now. It was all he cared to know. He +lay there in perfect peace and, close to his side, silent and strong, +stood the Presence. +</P> + +<P> +The orderly pushed up the little wheeled conveyance to the bedside, the +nurse took his wrist in her hand again. She beamed happily. "Good for +you," she said, as she placed her hand upon his forehead. "Why, you're +splendid. You've got your nerve all right," and she stared in +amazement when Roderick smiled at her. He did not answer, though, he +was listening to something. All the old promises he had learned at his +father's knee and that had meant nothing to him for so long, were +flooding over his peaceful soul, coming serenely and softly from the +Presence standing by his pillow. +</P> + +<P> +"When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee and through +the rivers they shall not overflow thee; when thou walkest through the +fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon +thee... Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the +arrow that flieth by day, nor for the pestilence that walketh in +darkness." +</P> + +<P> +"Now, sir," said the orderly, "we'll just move you onto this truck." +But Roderick rose up strongly. "Why can't I walk down?" he asked. The +nurse stared and again felt the patient's pulse for some explanation of +this transformation. The quiet steady beat in the wrist was the +strangest part of it all. +</P> + +<P> +"Well," she cried admiringly, "I never saw anything like you. You're +perfectly able to walk; but you'd better save your strength. Just lie +down on this. You'll be all over your operation in no time!" Roderick +obeyed, and the orderly wheeled him away to the elevator; and along the +bare hospital corridor moved with him that strong Presence. And he +went with a perfect faith and as little fear as if he had been going +along the Pine Road to his home. What did it matter as to the result, +or what did it matter that his father back in Algonquin did not know? +He and his father were safe, upheld by the everlasting arms. It was +well, no matter what the outcome. When he reached the operating room +the Presence was there, just as real as the muffled doctors standing +ready to do their work, and when he was stretched upon the table taking +the anaesthetic, he felt as peaceful as on that night when he sank +asleep in his father's arms and was borne safely homeward. +</P> + +<P> +It seemed that the next moment he awoke in the room he had so recently +left. Dr. Nicholls was at his side. "A normal pulse," he said, +smiling into Rod's enquiring face. "You're a wonder. What do you +think of that, nurse?" +</P> + +<P> +"I expected that," she said, smiling. +</P> + +<P> +"You've behaved so well," continued the doctor, "that I believe you're +able to receive two pieces of good news." +</P> + +<P> +"My father," whispered Roderick. The doctor nodded happily. "A +telegram came half-an-hour ago. It reads, 'Out of danger, no need to +come, will write. E. Brians.'" Roderick felt the tears slipping over +his cheek. The nurse wiped them away. He was remembering it all now. +The Presence had been with his father too. +</P> + +<P> +"You haven't asked about my other news," said the doctor. +</P> + +<P> +Roderick looked at him enquiringly. He was thinking of Helen, and had +forgotten all about the operation. +</P> + +<P> +"Berger saved your arm. And it will be as fit as ever in a few months. +It was the most delicate kind of operation, and one of the finest he +ever did. I shall tell you more about it later, you must be quiet now. +But I must give you Dr. Berger's message. He had to leave for Halifax, +but he said he wished he could congratulate you on your nerve. I don't +know what you did to get hold of yourself in such a hurry, but you +saved your own life. Now, I've told you enough. You must neither +speak nor be spoken to until I see you again." +</P> + +<P> +He smiled again, radiant with the true scientist's joy over such a +triumph of skill as Roderick's arm presented, and left the room. +</P> + +<P> +And Roderick, who knew so much more about it all than mere science +could ever teach, closed his eyes and lay still, his whole soul raising +to its new-found God one inarticulate note of thanksgiving. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap14"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XIV +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +"FOLLOW THE GLEAM" +</H3> + +<P> +It was the first trip of the season and the <I>Inverness</I> was crowded +from stem to stern. The picnic was given by the Sons of Scotland, so +every Presbyterian in the town was there. But there were many more, +for Lawyer Ed had gone out into the highways and byways of other +denominations and nationalities and had compelled Methodists and +Anglicans and Baptists and folk of every creed to come over to the +Island and hear the bagpipes and see Archie Blair toss the caber. +</P> + +<P> +"Your father's got to come, Rod," he said, the evening before the +picnic. "So don't you dare show your nose here without him to-morrow." +</P> + +<P> +But Old Angus laughingly refused his son's pleading. "Tuts, tuts," he +said reprovingly, "it's the foolish boy that Edward is. He is younger +than you, Lad. Indeed I'll not be going, and I think you should jist +stay at home yourself, my son. The night air will be damp and you will +not be jist too strong yet." +</P> + +<P> +Roderick laughed. "Father, you will soon be as bad as Aunt Kirsty. I +do believe she is bitterly disappointed that I didn't remain an invalid +for a year, so that she might coddle me. I wouldn't miss this picnic +for all Algonquin. It will be my first festivity since I was sick, and +I want you to be in it." +</P> + +<P> +The old man looked up into his son's face, his eyes shining. This new +Roderick who had come back to him, maimed and weakened, right from the +very gates of death was even more to him than the old Roderick. Not +that his love had grown, nor his faith, that was impossible. But while +he had always had high hopes that the Lad would one day fulfil all his +fondest dreams, now he saw those dreams being fulfilled right before +his eyes. There was a strong sentinel on the Jericho Road now, and the +Good Samaritan could scarcely bear to part with him even for a day. +</P> + +<P> +But he shook his head happily. No, no; Peter was coming over in the +morning to look at the north field, and they would just row out as far +as Wanda Island and hear the pipes, when the <I>Inverness</I> went past, and +they would come back and stay at home with Aunt Kirsty like a pair of +sensible old bodies. +</P> + +<P> +Roderick managed to catch Lawyer Ed in the office for a few moments in +the morning and reported his failure. His chief called him many hard +names, as he rushed out to catch a passer-by and make him come to the +picnic, and Roderick locked the office door and went down to the wharf. +There lay the <I>Inverness</I>, her gunwale sinking to the water's edge +under her joyous freight, banners flying from every place a banner +could be flown, and the band, and Harry Lauder's piper brother making +the town and the lake and the woods beyond ring with music. +</P> + +<P> +Immediately after Roderick's disappointing message had been delivered, +Lawyer Ed rushed down Main Street and spied Afternoon Tea Willie +driving the Baldwin girls down town to buy some almond cream to take to +the picnic, in case of sunburn. And in his usual high-handed way, he +had hailed them, sent the girls home on foot, and the young man +spinning out to the McRae farm with stern commands not to dare return +without Old Angus. +</P> + +<P> +So when Roderick was standing on the wharf talking to Dr. Archie Blair, +all resplendent in his kilt he was amazed to see coming down Main +Street, the smartest buggy in the town, and in it Alf. Wilbur, driving +his father, and more amazing still, by his side sat old Peter, with his +fiddle in a case across his knee. They drew up at the edge of the +wharf with a splendid flourish, and Afternoon Tea Willie with his +innate good manners, sprang out to help the two old men alight with as +great deference as if they had been a couple of charming young ladies +just come to town. +</P> + +<P> +Roderick sprang forward and caught his father's hand as he stepped out, +laughing in sheer delight. His eyes were misty with deep feeling. In +the first quick glance he had turned upon the faces of the two old men, +smiling in a half-ashamed, half-pleased way, like a couple of boys +caught running away from school; Roderick had been struck with their +strange resemblance. His father's refined face and his white hair had +once made an absolute contrast to poor Old Peter's bloated countenance, +but with the last half-year, Old Peter's face and form had been +undergoing a change. Not since that terrible winter night when he had +almost caused the death of his best friend had he fallen. It had been +a hard fight sometimes, but the great victory won by the temperance +folk on New Year's Day had been a victory for Peter. On the first of +May the bar-rooms of Algonquin had closed. And now Peter walked the +streets unafraid. And with his new courage and hope, his manhood had +returned and he was slowly and surely growing like the man whose +life-long devotion had brought him salvation. +</P> + +<P> +Doctor Blair saw them and came swinging up to make the old men welcome. +Then Doctor Leslie sighted them and came forward in delighted +amazement, and Captain Jimmie spied them from the wheel house and +called out joyfully, "Hoots, toots, Angus! And is that you, Peter +Lad?" And the Ancient Mariner left off smoking, and, pouring out a +stream of Gaelic above the roar of the pipes, came right out on the +wharf to make sure his eyes had not deceived him. +</P> + +<P> +Roderick guided the two to seats up on the deck near to the captain's +pilot house, finding the way thither a veritable triumphal procession. +</P> + +<P> +The crowds were still coming down Main Street; nervous mothers with +babies bouncing wildly in their little buggies, embarrassed fathers +with great sagging baskets and hysterical children with their newly +starched attire already wildly rumpled. +</P> + +<P> +Roderick scanned each new group eagerly, wondering if Helen Murray +would come. He had seen little of her since his return. A long +illness following the critical operation had kept him at home, and when +at last he was able to go out again and take up his work he found that +gossip had it that Miss Murray, the pretty girl who taught in the East +Ward school had had a young man to visit her. Miss Annabel had been +quite excited over him, for he was very handsome and was a successful +surgeon, and Miss Armstrong had pronounced him a splendid match for any +girl. Roderick had been spared a visit from Dick Wells, and had +wondered that the young man had not kept his promise. He had longed +and yet dreaded to see him. He had been able to learn nothing about +the visit except what gossip said, and to-day he was full of hope and +fear, as he watched. His fears were stronger, but he was young and he +could not keep from hoping. +</P> + +<P> +The <I>Inverness</I>, as every one in Algonquin knew, gave ample warning of +her leave-taking. At exactly half-an-hour before the hour set for +sailing, she always blew one long blast from her whistle. At fifteen +minutes to the hour she blew two shorter toots, and just on the eve of +departure three blasts loud and sharp. This final warning, which +Doctor Blair had profanely named the last trump, had been sounded, and +Roderick began to look anxious for she had not yet appeared nor Mrs. +Adams either. But he had gone sailing on picnics via the <I>Inverness</I> +too many times to be seriously alarmed. The door of the little +wheel-house where the captain had now taken his stand, commanded a view +of Main Street rising up from the water, and no native of Algonquin +could do him the injustice to suppose that he would sail away while any +one was waving to him from the hill. +</P> + +<P> +A half dozen women were signalling him now, and the captain blew a +reassuring blast. And then round the corner from Elm Street, moving +leisurely, came a stout swaying figure, with floating draperies. +Children clung to her hands, children hung by her skirts, children ran +after her and children danced before her. And long before she reached +the water's edge could be heard her admonitions, "Now, you, Johnnie +Pickett, don't you dare to walk down there in the dirt. Maddie Willis, +just you tie that hat on your head again, you'll get a sunstroke, you +know you will. Jimmie Hurd, you leave that poor little dog alone—" +</P> + +<P> +Roderick looked eagerly beyond the lady, and there she was, at the rear +of the procession, bringing up the stragglers. She was wearing a dress +of that dull blue he liked to see her wear, the blue that was just a +shade paler than her eyes, and she wore a big white shady hat. As she +came nearer he could see she was laughing at Johnnie Pickett's wicked +antics. Her face had lost all its old sadness. Roderick's heart was +filled with a great foreboding. Had Dick Wells' visit brought that new +colour to her cheek and the sparkle to her eyes? He wanted to go down +and help her and her flock on board, for Gladys Hurd and Mrs. Perkins +and Eddie and the baby were with her, and a half-dozen little folk were +asking each a half-dozen questions of her at one moment. But he stood +back shyly watching her from a distance, as Dr. Blair and Harry Lauder +and the rest of the Highland Club helped them on board, the Piper +meanwhile circling around Madame much to her disgust. +</P> + +<P> +When they were all on board and the <I>Inverness</I> had again given the +three short shrieks which announced she was really and truly starting, +Roderick suddenly realised that Lawyer Ed was not on board. Now a +Scotchman's picnic without Lawyer Ed was an absurd and unthinkable +thing, beside which Hamlet without the Prince of Denmark would have +seemed perfectly reasonable and natural. He ran to the captain, but +there were several ahead of him with the dire news. For the +<I>Inverness</I> had no sooner begun to move from the wharf than the awful +truth had dawned upon a dozen folk at once. They had rushed from three +directions and attacked the captain and Young Peter and the Ancient +Mariner and demanded of them what they meant by such outrageous +conduct. Very much abashed by her mistake the <I>Inverness</I> came surging +back, the captain taking refuge in the Gaelic to express his dismay. +They were just in time, for there he was tearing down the street in his +buggy, Miss Annabel Armstrong and Mrs. Captain Willoughby squeezed in +beside him and the horse going at such a breakneck pace that the dust +and stones flew up on every side and there was danger that they would +drive right into the lake. They stopped just on the brink. Lawyer Ed +leaped out, flung the lines to a lounger on the dock bidding him take +the horse back to the stable, helped the ladies alight, and had rushed +them on board before the gang-plank could be put in place. The crowd +cheered, and he waved his hat and shouted with laughter, over the +narrow escape; but the ladies looked a little ruffled. They had not +intended to come to the picnic; the day of private launches and +motor-cars was dawning over Algonquin, and these public picnics were +not in favour among the best people, therefore Mrs. Captain Willoughby +had felt that she did not care to go, and the Misses Armstrong had felt +they did not dare to go. But Lawyer Ed did not approve of social +distinctions of any sort whatever, and he was determined that the best +people should come out and have a good time like the worst. So he had +gone right into the enemy's camp and carried off two of the leaders +captive, and here they were half-laughing and half-annoyed and +explaining carefully to their friends how they had not had the +slightest intention of coming in such a mixed crowd but that dreadful +man just made them. +</P> + +<P> +Once more the <I>Inverness</I> gave her last agonised shriek, the captain +shouted to the Ancient Mariner to get away there, for what was he doing +whatever, and with a great deal of fussing and steaming and whistling +the voyage was again commenced. The band gave place to the Piper, and +he marched out to the tune of "The Cock o' the North," looking exactly +like a great giant humming-bird, his plumage flashing in the sunlight, +as he went buzzing around the deck. Harry Lauder and the doctor and +two or three others of the frivolous young folk in the kilts went away +off to where the minister could not see them and danced a Highland +reel. The people who did not quite approve of public picnics gathered +in a group by themselves, Miss Annabel Armstrong and Mrs. Captain +Willoughby in the centre, and told each other all the latest news about +Toronto, and yawned and wished they could have a game of whist, but Dr. +Leslie would be sure to see them. The tired mothers who seldom went +beyond their garden gate, handed over their children to Mrs. +Doasyouwouldbedoneby, and settled themselves contentedly in a circle to +have a good old-fashioned visit. Up in the bow, a group of the older +men surrounded Dr. Leslie. Old Angus McRae was so seldom seen at any +festivity that his presence had made the picnic an event to his old +friends. Again and again Dr. Leslie placed his hand on the old man's +knee and said, "Well, well, Angus, it's a treat to see you here." And +Peter Fiddle, the outcast and drunkard, sat in the group and listened +eagerly to their talk like a man who had been long away and was eager +to hear again the speech of his native land. And indeed poor Peter had +been for many years in a far country, and his return had opened up a +new life to him. Roderick sat behind his father's chair and listened +as they talked and wondered to hear Peter take his part with a fine +intelligence. He looked at his father and thought of all the weary +years he had toiled for Peter, and he was filled with a great gratitude +that this was the sort of splendid work to which he had been called. +He would take his father's place on the Jericho Road. It might be a +highway here in Algonquin, the future was all unquestioned, but +wherever it was the Vision would stand by him as He had stood in that +hour of despair. And how glorious to think he might pick up a Peter +from the dirt and help to restore him to his manhood. +</P> + +<P> +J. P. Thornton had led the conversation to theological subjects. J. P. +read along many lines, and it was whispered that he had queer ideas +about the Bible. +</P> + +<P> +Lawyer Ed had been balancing himself on the railing of the deck +listening for some time but it was impossible that he could stay in the +one place long when the whole boat was crowded with his intimate +friends. So when J. P. intimated that modern criticism pointed to two +Isaiahs and Jock McPherson strongly objected to the second one, Lawyer +Ed yawned, and telling them he would be back in an instant, he wandered +away. +</P> + +<P> +"Come awa, ma braw John Hielanman," he whispered to Roderick. "This is +a heavy subject for a pair of young fellows like you and me on a picnic +day, come along and see what Archie Blair's up to. I'll bet my new +bonnet and plume he's dancing the Highland fling in some obscure +corner." +</P> + +<P> +Roderick went most willingly. He knew Lawyer Ed would go straight to +Madame, and where Madame was, there would she be also. +</P> + +<P> +Afternoon Tea Willie who had finally come on board with a dozen young +ladies, was running here and there at their beck and call in desperate +haste. Lawyer Ed paused to chat with the girls, for he could never +pass even one, and Roderick turned to Alfred and thanked him for the +service to his father. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, that's nothing at all!" cried the young man. "You did me a favour +lots of times, Rod. When I had no one else to talk to and tell my +trouble!" He smiled at the remembrance of them. His cheek was flushed +and his eyes were glowing. He looked as though he possessed some great +secret. He came close and began to speak hesitatingly and Roderick +knew he was going to be the recipient of more confidences. "Say, Rod, +do you see that young lady over there beside Anna Baldwin?" Roderick +looked and saw the latest arrival in Algonquin, a very handsome and +well-dressed young lady who was visiting the Misses Baldwin. "Yes," +said Roderick in a very callous manner, "I see her." He drew Roderick +away a little distance from the group and whispered: +</P> + +<P> +"Well—I—this is in strict confidence, you know, Roderick; I would not +confide in any one but you, you know. But—well—that is she!" +</P> + +<P> +"She? who?" asked Roderick. +</P> + +<P> +Alfred looked pained. "Why the only she in all the world for me. Her +name is Eveline Allan. Did you ever hear anything more musical? She +came here just last week to visit the Baldwin girls, and they asked me +to go to the station to meet her with them, and the moment I set eyes +on her I just knew she was the only one in the world for me. I have +sometimes imagined myself to be in love, but it was all imagination. I +never really knew before." +</P> + +<P> +Roderick found it impossible to conceal a smile. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I know what you are thinking about, you are wondering if I have +forgotten Miss Murray. But I have lived that down long ago. It was +madness for me to think of one who was in love with another man." +</P> + +<P> +Roderick looked at him so eloquently that he went on. +</P> + +<P> +"I never really cared for her, in that way, anyway. I realise that +now, and now that the man she was engaged to has come back—" +</P> + +<P> +"What?" asked Roderick sharply. +</P> + +<P> +"The man she was engaged to. Don't you remember my telling you about +him? Why, they have made up again. He was here to see her last winter +and he was in Toronto to see her in the Easter holidays when she was +down there. I was very glad that it has all turned out so, for I found +out my mistake as soon as I set eyes on Eveline. I know I ought not to +call her that yet, and I don't to her of course. Don't you think she +has wonderful eyes? I always felt that dark eyes are much more +expressive than blue or even hazel ones, don't you? Oh, there is Anna +calling me. Excuse me, I must run." +</P> + +<P> +He flew back to the group, and Roderick was left to digest what he had +told him. Unfortunately Alfred had a reputation for finding out things +and he had no reason to doubt his assertion. He slowly followed Lawyer +Ed about. They made their way down the length of the deck, his chief +shaking hands with every one, and at last away in the stern under a +shady awning he saw her. She was seated with Madame on one side, +little Mrs. Perkins on the other, Gladys Hurd and Eddie at her feet, +the Perkins' baby on her knee and a crowd of children about her. There +was no hope of having a word with her even had he the courage to go +forward and speak to her. +</P> + +<P> +The children were sitting open mouthed, staring up into the face of +Mrs. Doasyouwouldbedoneby, while in low thrilling tones she was telling +how the dreadful big giant came slowly up the stairs, every step +creaking under him, and the lovely Princess behind the door just +squeezed herself into a teenty weenty crack and held her breath till he +got past. +</P> + +<P> +Lawyer Ed burst into the story with a roar, and every one leaped and +shrieked as if the giant himself had sprung into their midst. He +caught two of the youngsters and bumped their heads together, he chased +a shrieking half dozen to a refuge behind a pile of life-preservers, he +tossed a couple up in the air and pretended he was going to fling them +overboard, and finally he took out a great package from his pocket and +sent a shower of pink "gum-drops" raining down over the deck, and the +whole boat was turned into a mad and joyful riot! +</P> + +<P> +Roderick lingered about for a few minutes until Miss Murray nodded and +smiled to him across a surging sea of little heads, then he wandered +down below to where the Ancient Mariner was seated spinning yarns to a +crowd of young people. +</P> + +<P> +"Indeed and I could tell you many as good a one as that," he was saying +in response to the sighs of amazement. "I haff a great head for the +tales. If I would jist be hafing the grammar I would challenge anybody +to beat me at them. Take Scott now. He had the grammar. That's what +makes folk think his stories are so great. But if I had just had his +chance! You get an eddication, you young people. There's nothing like +the grammar indeed!" +</P> + +<P> +Roderick leaned over the little pit of the engine room and talked with +Young Peter. The dull eyes were shining. This was a great day for +Peter. +</P> + +<P> +"Did you see him?" he whispered to Roderick. "Did you see my father? +driving down with your father? Jist like any gentleman! Eh, but it +was mighty." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, it's splendid to see them together at last, Pete," said Roderick +sympathetically. And then he had to listen again to the tale Young +Peter never tired telling, how Rod's father had saved his father that +stormy night on the Jericho Road. How Lawyer Ed could not sleep +because Roderick had left him, and how he had driven out to the farm in +the night to comfort Angus and had found the two on the road nearly +frozen! Young Peter had an attentive listener, for Roderick could not +tire of hearing the wonderful story. +</P> + +<P> +They had passed through the Gates, and the news went around that the +Island was near. It was a beautiful big stretch of green with a +sloping shingly beach at one end, and a high range of white cliffs at +the other, which J. P. Thornton said made him homesick, for they always +reminded him of England. +</P> + +<P> +There were many islands in Lake Algonquin; nevertheless when you said +The Island every one knew you meant that big, lovely, grassy place away +out beyond the Gates, swept by the cool breezes of Lake Simcoe where +Algonquin always went for her picnics. +</P> + +<P> +When the cry went forth that the Island was at hand every one ran to +the railing and leaned over to watch the <I>Inverness</I> slip in between +the big stone breakwater and the dock which stretched out to meet them. +Captain Jimmie from his wheel-house called to them, threateningly and +beseechingly, commanding every one to go back or she'd be going over +whatever. As usual no one heeded him and so the accident happened. +Perhaps it was the lure of the Piper, now skirling madly from the bow, +with flying ribbons, that distracted the captain, as well as the +disobedience of the passengers; whatever was the reason, the +<I>Inverness</I>, generally so stately and staid, suddenly gave a lurch, and +went crash into the wharf as though she intended to ride right over the +Island. Of course in a tourney with the <I>Inverness</I>, there could be +only one result. The wharf heaved up and went over like an unhorsed +knight accompanied by a terrible creaking and ripping and groaning as +of armour being rent asunder. Disaster always stripped Captain Jimmie +of his nautical cloak and left him the true landsman. He dashed out of +his little house and leaning over the railing shouted to the Ancient +Mariner: "Sandy, ye gomeril! Back her up, back up, man, she's goin' +over!" +</P> + +<P> +There were shouts and shrieks from the passengers even above the din of +the Piper who played gallantly on. The crowd rushed to the side to see +what had happened, and there might have been a real catastrophe had not +Lawyer Ed taken command. While the captain and the Ancient Mariner +were fiercely arguing the question of whose fault it was, he dashed +into the crowd and bade every one in a voice of thunder to go back to +his or her seats and be quiet. Lawyer Ed was a terrifying sight when +he was angry, and he was promptly obeyed. The excited crowd scattered, +the children were collected, the alarm subsided and they all waited +laughingly to see what was to be done. +</P> + +<P> +Meantime Dr. Blair and Harry Lauder had launched a canoe that was on +board and were paddling round the wharf to investigate. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm afraid it's hopeless, Jimmie!" shouted the doctor. For the floor +of the landing place had almost assumed the perpendicular. "Nobody +could land here that wasn't a chipmunk!" +</P> + +<P> +This was disconcerting news and a wail arose from Madame's flock. +</P> + +<P> +"Haud yer whist!" roared Lawyer Ed. "We'll get to land somehow, if I +have to swim to shore with you all on my back. Hi!" he gave a shout +that made the beech woods on the Island ring. +</P> + +<P> +"Hi! Archie, mon! You and Harry paddle over and bring that scow! +We'll load her and go ashore like Robinson Crusoes!" +</P> + +<P> +A big scow or float, used as a rest for row boats and canoes lay near +the end of the dock moored to the shore. A couple of agile young men +leaped upon the upturned wharf, and making their way on all fours along +it, they reached the scow in time to assist the doctor and Harry Lauder +to bring it to the side of the boat. Meanwhile Lawyer Ed stood up on +the deck and roared out superfluous orders in a broad Scottish dialect +that was rather overdone. +</P> + +<P> +The rescuing vessel was received with cheers and the gang-plank was put +in place. +</P> + +<P> +"Women and children first!" cried Ed heroically, but Madame, in the +centre of her flock called out an indignant refusal. +</P> + +<P> +"No, indeed, the children are not going first. You, Johnnie Pickett +and Jimmie Hurd, you come right back off that thing, do you hear me? +You go along yourself some of you Scotchmen, and see if it will hold, +and then I'll bring my babies. You're in your bathing suits anyway," +she added cruelly, for Mrs. Doasyouwouldbedoneby was not a Scotchwoman, +and did not know how to appreciate the kilts. +</P> + +<P> +So the Piper marched out upon the scow, playing magnificently; some +dozen young men followed him and with poles pushed themselves ashore. +Then, amid cheers a couple of volunteers came back for another load +from the wrecked vessel. When several trips had been made successfully +and Madame and the children had been safely landed, Alfred Wilbur came +forward and offered to pole a crowd over. Of course the crowd +consisted of young ladies with the Baldwin girls and their pretty guest +as the centre piece. +</P> + +<P> +Alfred placed himself upon the scow, pole in hand and with many gallant +remarks from Lawyer Ed the young ladies were handed on board. One by +one they tripped out over the gang-plank, laughing gaily, their muslins +and ribbons, their sashes and bracelets, their pink cheeks and bright +eyes transforming the old scow into a floating garden. No wonder +Alfred became excited over captaining such a fair cargo. In his +nervous zeal he encouraged more than his sailing capacity would admit, +and when the scow was almost crowded he saw to his dismay that the +Baldwin girls and their guest had not yet come on board. He had +pictured himself, pole in hand, shoving off before all the picnickers +with Miss Allan clinging to his arm, and he began to grow anxious lest +she be carried off in one of the row boats now come to the rescue. +</P> + +<P> +"Move over further, won't you, girls, please," he called to his +laughing, chattering crew. "I mean move a little aft won't you, +please. I beg your pardon for troubling you, Belle! Alice! If you +and Flossie—Come, Anna. Come, Louise! Anna, bring Miss Allan; +there's acres of room yet." +</P> + +<P> +Thus encouraged, another group tripped over the gang-plank and at the +same moment, those already on board, anxious to oblige Alf, who was +always obliging them, crowded over to the farther side. But so much +weight suddenly placed on one end of the scow brought dire disaster. +Without a moment's warning, down went the heavy end three feet into the +water, half submerging its shrieking passengers, and up came the light +end with the unfortunate pilot perched upon it like Hiawatha's +Adjidaumo, on the end of his Cheemaun! +</P> + +<P> +Fortunately the water was not deep, and in a moment a dozen young men +had plunged in and righted the capsized craft. But there were shrieks +from all sides and threats of fainting, and dreadful anathemas heaped +upon the innocent cause of the disaster, as the bedraggled young +ladies, lately so trim, crawled back to the <I>Inverness</I>. +</P> + +<P> +The catastrophe could not possibly have happened to any one whom it +would distress more than Alf. He stood in speechless dismay watching +the dripping procession pass. And when the pretty guest of the Baldwin +girls splashed past him with a look which would have been withering had +she not been so drenched, his despair was complete. He looked for a +few moments as if he were about to throw himself into the lake, then he +flung down his pole, and crept away aft to hide his diminished head +behind a pile of life-preservers. Roderick captured a row-boat, and +placed his father and Old Peter and a couple of their friends in it, +and with the huge basket Aunt Kirsty had packed for them he rowed to +shore. +</P> + +<P> +When they landed, the old men seated themselves on a grassy mound under +a big elm, and the basket was snatched from Roderick's hand and whirled +away to the commissariat department in a big pavilion near at hand. +</P> + +<P> +In a short time the long white tables were set beneath the trees with a +musical tinkling of cups; there was a table for the Sons themselves and +their friends, a table for the commoner folk and, farther up the shore, +here and there, little groups of friends gathered by themselves. There +was Madame seated on the ground away off at the edge of the beech +grove, like the queen of the fairies holding court. The fairies were +all there, too, seated in a wide circle, too busy to talk, as the +sandwiches and cake and pie disappeared. Roderick had not once lost +sight of Helen. She was there too, with Mrs. Perkins and Gladys. But +he had to turn his back on the pretty group and join his father at the +table spread for the Sons of Scotland. Dr. Leslie stood up at the head +of it, his white hair ruffled by the lake breeze, and asked a blessing +on the feast. And when the Scotchmen had put on their bonnets again +and were seated the Piper tuned up once more and swept around the +tables playing a fine strathspey. Lawyer Ed had a seat near the head +of the table but he was too happy to sit still and kept it only at +intervals. He ran up and down the tables, darted away to this group +and that, taking a bite here and a drink there, until Dr. Blair +declared that Ed had eaten seven different and separate meals by the +time the tables were cleared away. +</P> + +<P> +He stopped at a little group seated around a white table cloth laid +upon the grass, to inquire if they would like some more hot water. +</P> + +<P> +"No," said Mrs. Captain Willoughby, whose party it was. "We've plenty. +We've been in hot water, in fact, ever since we started. Annabel and I +are having a dispute we want settled. Come here, Edward, I'm sure you +can decide." +</P> + +<P> +"It's perfect nonsense," broke in Miss Annabel. "Leslie is no more +likely to marry him than you are, Margaret!" +</P> + +<P> +"Marry whom?" asked Lawyer Ed eagerly, "Me?" +</P> + +<P> +Miss Annabel screamed and said he was perfectly dreadful, but Mrs. +Willoughby broke in. +</P> + +<P> +"No, not you, you conceited thing, but your partner. I thought Leslie +claimed him as her property. She practically told the Baldwin girls +she intended to marry Roderick McRae. And now she's left him and gone +off to be a nurse." +</P> + +<P> +Miss Annabel's fair face flushed hotly. "How utterly preposterous. +Why, if you lived at Rosemount you'd know whom Mr. McRae would be +likely to marry. As for Leslie, she never cared any more for him than +you did. You know how she loves fun. She was just enjoying herself. +I admit that she might have found a better way of putting in the time, +but it was only a girl's nonsense. I was just dreadful that way myself +when I was Leslie's age, a few years ago." +</P> + +<P> +"Indeed you were, Annabel," cried Lawyer Ed, scenting danger and wisely +steering to a safer subject, "You were a dreadful flirt. Many a heart +you broke and I am afraid you haven't reformed either." +</P> + +<P> +This put the lady into a good humour at once. She laughed gaily, +confessing that she was really awfully giddy she knew, but she could +not help it. And Mrs. Captain Willoughby, who never encouraged Miss +Annabel in her youthfulness, said very dryly that she supposed they had +all been silly when they were girls but she believed there was a time +for everything. +</P> + +<P> +Lawyer Ed saw conversational rocks ahead once more and piloted around +them. "What is this I hear about Leslie?" he asked. "Is she going to +be a nurse?" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, dear," groaned Miss Annabel. "That girl will break her mother's +heart, and all our hearts. Just think of Leslie who never did a thing +harder than put up her own hair going to be a nurse. It is perfectly +absurd, but she has gone and Elizabeth will just have to let her go on +until experience teaches her better." +</P> + +<P> +"I think it's the most sensible thing she ever did," declared Mrs. +Willoughby, "and you shouldn't discourage her. She'll make a fine wife +for that boy of yours, Edward." +</P> + +<P> +Lawyer Ed shook his head. He had had his own shrewd suspicions +regarding Roderick for some time and Miss Annabel's hint had set him +thinking. +</P> + +<P> +"I've been such a conspicuous failure in any attempt to get a wife of +my own," he said in the deepest melancholy, "that I wouldn't presume to +prescribe for any other man." And he hastened back to his own table. +</P> + +<P> +It was a great day. The Scotchmen ran races, and tossed the caber and +walked the greasy pole across from the capsized dock to the +<I>Inverness</I>. The Piper played, and the band played, and everybody ate +all the ice cream and popcorn and drank all the lemonade possible. +</P> + +<P> +At exactly seven o'clock the <I>Inverness</I> gave a terrible roar. This +was to warn every one that going home time had arrived. Mrs. +Doasyouwouldbedoneby began collecting the fairies for the difficult +task of getting them on the scow and thence to the <I>Inverness</I>. All +day Lawyer Ed had been keeping an eye on Roderick and had no difficulty +in confirming his suspicion that the Lad was unhappy, and he +immediately conceived of a plan to help him. He called a half-dozen +young men together and just as Madame was ready to walk across the +Island to the scow, Lawyer Ed came rowing round the bend with a fleet +of boats to carry them all down to the <I>Inverness</I>. Then such a joyful +scrambling and climbing as there was, while Mrs. Doasyouwouldbedoneby +got her water-babies afloat. Lawyer Ed had seen to it that Roderick +was in charge of the one canoe, and as a row-boat in the eyes of +Algonquin youths, was a thing to be despised, all the older +water-babies screamed with joy at the sight of him, and as soon as he +had run it up on the sand they swarmed into it filling it to +overflowing. +</P> + +<P> +This was likely to ruin all Lawyer Ed's fine plan and he charged down +upon them with a terrible roar and chased them all to the shelter of +Madame's skirts. +</P> + +<P> +"Get away back there, you young rascals!" he shouted. "You ought to +know better than to try a load like that, Rod, you simpleton. Two +passengers at the most are all you want with that arm of yours!" He +glanced about him. Helen Murray was standing near with the Perkins +baby in her arms, while the little mother, free from all care for the +first time in many hard years, was wandering happily about with her +hands full of wild roses. +</P> + +<P> +"Here, Miss Murray," he cried, "you jump in. You are just the right +weight for this maimed pilot. 'Ere, William 'Enry, you come to me!" +But William Henry, now a sturdy little fellow of a-year-and-a-half, +tightened his arms around his friend's neck and yelled his disapproval +right valiantly. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, now, will yer look at that!" cried the little mother proudly. +"Wot'll Daddy say w'en I tell 'im? The little rascal's so took with +the young loidy. 'Ush up there now, bless 'is 'eart. See, 'e'll go +with mammy." She dropped her roses into Gladys's hands, and held out +her arms, and the fickle young gentleman, let go his grip on his +friend, and leaped upon his mother, crowing and squealing with delight. +Helen waved him farewell as she stepped into the canoe, and the baby +waved her a fat square paw in return. Gladys and Eddie were about to +follow her, when the Lawyer Ed again interposed. +</P> + +<P> +"No, you mustn't take a load, Rod, this is your first paddle, so get +away with you. Now you kids, hop into this boat and you'll be there +just as soon as Miss Murray!" he roared. Roderick pushed off afraid to +look at his chief lest the overwhelming gratitude he felt might be seen +in his face. +</P> + +<P> +Lawyer Ed turned and watched them for a moment. They made a fine +picture as they glided up the curving shore under the drooping birches +and alders. Roderick kneeling in the stern, straight and strong, with +no sign now of the illness he had been through, and the girl in the +bow, her blue gown and her uncovered golden head making a bit of +colouring perfectly harmonious with the sparkling waves and the sunlit +sands. +</P> + +<P> +But Lawyer Ed's gaze was fixed on Roderick. The joy in the Lad's eyes, +answered in his own. Lawyer Ed's joys were all of the vicarious sort. +He was always happy because he made other people so, but to be able to +make Rod happy; that was his crowning joy. +</P> + +<P> +Roderick was more afraid than happy. It seemed too good to be true, +that she was here with him alone. At first he could do nothing but +look at her in silence. She was so much more beautiful than he had +thought, with that new radiance in her eyes. And then his own brief +happiness waned, as he wondered miserably if it had been brought there +by Dick Wells. +</P> + +<P> +She was the first to speak. "Are you getting quite strong again?" she +asked kindly. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh yes, I am quite myself. I feel ready for any kind of work now." +</P> + +<P> +"Then I suppose you will be going back to Montreal?" +</P> + +<P> +"No." Roderick had made that decision long ago. "No, I could not go +with the firm that engaged me—now." He was thinking how impossible +those mining deals would be in the eyes of one who had been granted a +glimpse into the unseen. Henceforth he knew there was no such work for +him. "For mine eyes hath seen the King," he often repeated to himself. +</P> + +<P> +She misunderstood him. "Oh," she said, "I thought—I was told that Mr. +Graham's lawyers wanted you, that the position had been kept for you." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, they were very kind, but I could not. Something happened that +made it impossible for me to take up their work again. So for the +present I am a fixture in Algonquin, until Lawyer Ed grows tired of me." +</P> + +<P> +She laughed at that, for Lawyer Ed's love for Roderick was a proverb in +Algonquin. He had never heard her laugh before. The sound was very +musical. +</P> + +<P> +"You will stay a long time then," she said. "Algonquin is a good place +to live in." +</P> + +<P> +"You like it?" he asked eagerly. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, ever so much. I shall be sorry to leave at the mid-summer +vacation." +</P> + +<P> +Roderick's heart stood still. "I—I didn't know," he faltered. "I +thought you were staying for the whole year." +</P> + +<P> +She looked up at him, and then her eyes fell. The mingled adoration +and hunger and dismay written plainly in the Lad's frank eyes were +impossible to misunderstand. She had seen that look there before many +times in the past winter. She had been afraid of it then, and she had +run away from his good-bye that snowy day when he had left Algonquin. +For then she had not wanted to see that look in the eyes of any man. +She had seen it once before and had yielded to its spell, and the +love-light had died out and left her life desolate. But since she had +last talked with Roderick McRae, she had seen those eyes again, lit +with the old love, and to her amazement she had found no answer in her +heart. She had far outgrown Dick Wells in her self-forgetful life she +had taken up in Algonquin. She had taken up the burdens of others just +to ease her own pain, promising herself that when this or that task was +finished she could turn to her own grief and nurse it. But the +self-indulgence had been so long postponed that when the opportunity +came and she had gone back to her old sorrow, behold it was gone. And +in its place sat the memory of Roderick McRae's unspoken devotion, his +chivalrous silent waiting for his opportunity. +</P> + +<P> +So when poor Roderick all unschooled in hiding his feelings let her see +in one swift glance all that her going meant to him she was speechless +before the joy of it. She stooped and trailed her fingers in the green +water, to hide her happy confusion. Then remembering she was leaving +him under a misunderstanding she glanced up at him swiftly. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't," she said breathlessly, "I didn't mean I was going away to +stay. I meant only for the summer holidays." +</P> + +<P> +The transformation of his countenance was a further revelation, had she +needed any. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh," he said, and then paused. "Oh, I'm so glad!" Very simple words +but they contained volumes. He was silent for a moment unable to say +any more, and she filled in the awkward pause nervously, scarcely +knowing what she said. +</P> + +<P> +"You were sorry too, were you not, when you went away?" +</P> + +<P> +"It was the hardest task I ever met in my life," said Roderick. "And +you didn't let me say good-bye to you." He was growing quite reckless +now to speak thus to a young lady who might be going to announce her +engagement. +</P> + +<P> +She had not gained anything by her headlong plunge into conversation so +she tried again. +</P> + +<P> +"Not even your operation?" she asked. "That was worse, wasn't it?" +</P> + +<P> +"My operation wasn't hard," said Roderick dreamily, his mind going back +to the sacred wonder of that hour. "No, I had—help." He said it +hesitatingly. It was hard to mention that event, even to her. He had +spoken of it to no living person but his father. +</P> + +<P> +"Indeed, I heard about how brave you were," she said. "I was told that +there was never any one with such self-control." +</P> + +<P> +Roderick looked at her in alarm. "Who told you?" he asked abruptly. +She looked straight across at him and her eyes were very steady, though +her colour rose. "Doctor Wells told me. He assisted, didn't he?" +</P> + +<P> +Roderick's eyes fell. He tried to answer but he sat before her dumb +and dismayed. She saw his confusion, and rightly guessed the cause. +Her nature was too simple and direct to pretend, she wanted to tell him +the truth and she did not know how. +</P> + +<P> +"Doctor Wells was here last winter," she faltered, as a beginning, then +could get no further. Roderick made a desperate effort to regain +control of himself, and spoke with an attempt at nonchalance. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, he told me he was coming. He promised to come and see me too, +but he didn't." +</P> + +<P> +"No," she caught a twig of cedar from a branch that brushed her +fragrantly as she passed. Her fingers trembled as she held it to her +lips. "He—he told you he was coming?" she asked. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," said poor Roderick briefly. +</P> + +<P> +"Then—then, perhaps he told you why?" She was examining the cedar +sprig carefully, and Roderick was thankful. He would not have cared +for her to see his face just then. She was going to tell him of her +renewed engagement he knew. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, he told me," he said. She was silent for a little, looking away +over the ripples of Lake Simcoe to the green arms of the channel that +showed the way to Algonquin. +</P> + +<P> +"Would it—would you think it right to tell me what he said?" +</P> + +<P> +"He said," repeated Roderick, wishing miserably that Wells' words did +him less credit, "he said that even if a fellow played the fool once in +his life that was no reason why he should take it up as a life's +profession." He paused and then came out in the boldness of +desperation with the rest. "And he said that he was pretty sure he +would get a welcome when he came." She flushed at that, and there came +a proud sparkle into her eyes. +</P> + +<P> +She sat erect and looked Roderick straight in the eyes. "And now, +since you have told me,—and I thank you for it,—I must give you his +message. He left one for you." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes?" Roderick braced himself as for a blow. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, he left a message for you. I did not intend to deliver it but +since he confided in you I feel I am doing no harm. He said to tell +you the reason he couldn't wait to see you was that he had played the +fool once more, and that was when he thought a woman couldn't forget." +</P> + +<P> +She dropped her eyes when she had finished. Her fine courage was gone. +She dipped one trembling hand into the water again and laid it against +her hot cheek. +</P> + +<P> +Roderick sat and looked at her for a moment uncomprehending. It took +some time to grasp all that her confession meant. When finally its +meaning dawned upon him, he drew in a great breath. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh!" he said in a wondering whisper. "I never was so happy in my +life!" It was not a very eloquent speech, it did not seem at all +relevant, but she seemed to understand. She glanced up for an instant +with a shy smile, and then Lawyer Ed with Mrs. Doasyouwouldbedoneby and +such a load of water-babies, that they looked as if they might sink +into their native caves, came shouting round the point, and bore down +upon them. +</P> + +<P> +The sun was sinking into the island maze of Lake Algonquin and the moon +was coming up out of Lake Simcoe when the <I>Inverness</I> sailed homeward +through the Gates. The little breeze that had danced all day out on +the larger lake had gone to sleep here in the shelter of the islands, +and Algonquin lay as still as a golden mirror. A faint shimmer of +colour was spread over it like a shining veil. It was scarcely +discernible where the crystal water lay motionless, but as the +<I>Inverness</I> sailed across the delicate web it broke into waves of amber +and lilac and rose. The little islands did not seem to touch the water +but floated in the air like dream-islands, deep purple and bronze in +the shadows. From their depths arose vesper songs. Bob White's silver +whistle, clear and sweet, the White throat's long call of "Canada, +Canada, Canada," as though the little patriot could never tell all his +love and joy in his beautiful home, the loon's eery laugh far away down +the golden channel, and the whippoorwill and the cat-bird and the veery +in the tree-tops. It was a wonderful night. +</P> + +<P> +As the sunset colours grew fainter, and the moon's silver brightened, +the passengers became quieter. The Piper went below and listened to +the Ancient Mariner spin a yarn, and let the birds along the shore +furnish music. The babies fell asleep in the arms of Mrs. +Doasyouwouldbedoneby, lovers drifted away in pairs to retired nooks. +In a quiet corner J. P. Thornton and Lawyer Ed sat and laid once more +their final plans for a trip to the Holy Land, certain this time of +their realisation. The older people sat by the wheel house and talked +of their younger days. Roderick left his father the centre of the +group, and went in search of Helen. He found her sitting in a +sheltered nook with Gladys. The Perkins baby had fallen asleep in her +arms, and as Roderick approached the younger girl lifted the baby to +carry him to his mother. He slipped into her seat by Helen's side. +She smiled at him. It seemed quite natural and right that he should +take that place without asking permission. +</P> + +<P> +They leaned over the railing, the brightness of the sunset reflected in +their faces and talked of many things, of the first time he had seen +her here on the <I>Inverness</I>, of his hopes and ambitions for a career of +greatness, as he had counted greatness, of his chasing the shifting +rainbow gold, until a Voice had said "Thus far shalt thou go." He even +hinted at the Vision that had come to him when he went down into the +Valley named of the Shadow, and of how he knew now the value of that +real gold at the end of life's rainbow. And she told him how she too +had found her rainbow gold. Its gleam had led her through storms and +lonely journeyings, but she had followed, and she had found it at last, +found it in the new light of hope that had awakened in many dull eyes +in Willow Lane. +</P> + +<P> +They were silent then, there was no more to be said. For the story of +each had been the story of the journey that ended in their meeting. +Henceforth, for them, there would be one gleam, and they would follow +it together. +</P> + +<P> +They had been slipping past the shadow of Wanda Island and now came out +once more into the gold of the sunlight. Algonquin lay before them +buried in purpling woods. Away above the little town, beyond the +circling forest, and beyond the hills shone the last gleam of the day. +The <I>Inverness</I> was going straight up the track of the Sun. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR><BR> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The End of the Rainbow, by Marian Keith + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE END OF THE RAINBOW *** + +***** This file should be named 28276-h.htm or 28276-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/8/2/7/28276/ + +Produced by Al Haines + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The End of the Rainbow + +Author: Marian Keith + +Release Date: March 8, 2009 [EBook #28276] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE END OF THE RAINBOW *** + + + + +Produced by Al Haines + + + + + + + + + + +THE END OF THE RAINBOW + + +BY + +MARIAN KEITH + + + + + _Author of "'Lisbeth of the Dale," + "Treasure Valley," "Duncan Polite," etc._ + + + + +McCLELLAND AND STEWART + +PUBLISHERS : : TORONTO + + + + +Copyright, 1913 + +BY GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY + + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAPTER + + I. THE GLEAM + II. "THE GREATEST OF THE THREE" + III. LIFE'S YOUNG MARINER + IV. SIDE LIGHTS + V. FOLLOWING THE GLEAM + VI. LAUNCHING HIS VESSEL + VII. "MOVING TO MELODY" + VIII. "FLOATED THE GLEAM" + IX. "DEAF TO THE MELODY" + X. "THE LIGHT RETREATED" + XI. "THE LANDSKIP DARKEN'D" + XII. "THE MELODY DEADEN'D" + XIII. "THE MASTER WHISPERED" + XIV. "FOLLOW THE GLEAM" + + + + +THE END OF THE RAINBOW + + +CHAPTER I + +THE GLEAM + +All afternoon the little town had lain dozing under the lullaby of a +June rain. It was not so much a rain as a gentle dewy mist, touching +the lawns and gardens and the maple trees that lined each street into +more vivid green, and laying a thick moist carpet over the dust of the +highways. And the little town, ringed by forest and lake, and canopied +by maple boughs, had lain there enjoying it, now blinking half-awake in +the brief glimpses of sunlight, now curling up again and going to sleep. + +In the late afternoon the silent tournament between sunshine and shadow +resulted in a conquest for the sun. His victorious lances swept the +enemy from the clean blue skies; they glanced over the lake, lodged in +every treetop, and glittered from every church spire. The little town +began to stir. The yellow dogs, that had slept all afternoon on the +shop steps, roused themselves and resumed their fight in the middle of +Main Street. Now and then a clerk ran across to a rival firm to get +change for a customer. A few belated shoppers hurried homeward. A +farmer's double-buggy backed out of the hotel yard with a scraping +sound, and went rattling up the street towards the country. Everything +seemed pervaded with an atmosphere of expectancy, a tense air of +unrest, as though the whole place were holding itself in readiness for +a summons. + +And then it came: the great consummation of the day's work. From the +tower of the fire-hall burst forth the loud peal of the town bell. Six +o'clock! Like the castle of the Sleeping Beauty the town leaped into +life. The whistles of the saw-mills down by the lake broke into +shrieks of joy. The big steam pipe of Thornton's foundry responded +with a delighted roar. The flour mill, the wheel-factory and the +tannery joined in a chorus of yells. From factory and shop, office and +store, came pouring forth the relieved workers, laughing and calling +across the street to each other above the din. There was a noisy +tramp, tramp of feet, a hurrying this way and that, a confusion of +happy voices. And over all the clamour, the big bell in the tower +continued to fling out far over the town and the lake and the woods the +joyous refrain that the day's work was done, was done, was done. + +Near the corner of Main Street, on a leafy thoroughfare that ran up +into the region of lawns and gardens, stood a neat row of red-brick +office buildings, with wide doors and shiny windows. Over the widest +door and on the shiniest window, in letters of gold, was the legend: +EDWARD BRIANS, Barrister, etc. + +Never a man passed this door on his homeward way without saluting it. + +"Hello, Ed! Coming home?"--"Hurrah, Ed! Will you be along if we wait +ten minutes?"--"Ed! Hurry up and come along!" + +No one appeared in response to the summons; but from within came +refusals, roared out in a thunderous voice, each roar growing more +exasperated than the last. + +The streets were almost deserted when, at last, the owner of the big +voice came to his door. He was a man of about thirty-five; of middle +height, straight, strong and alert. His fair hair had a tendency +towards red, and also towards standing on end, and his bright blue eyes +had a tendency to blaze suddenly in wrath or shut up altogether in +consuming laughter. He had practised law in Algonquin for ten years, +and as he had been brought up in the town and was related to one-half +the population, and loved by the whole of it, he was spoken of +familiarly as Lawyer Ed. + +A tall man, leading a little boy by the hand, followed him slowly down +the steps. The man was not past middle age, but he was stooped and +worn with a life of heavy toil. + +"Well, Angus," Lawyer Ed was saying, his deep musical voice thrilling +with sympathy, "that'll make you comfortable for a while now, until +you're better, anyway. And there's no need for me, or any one, to tell +you not to worry over it." + +The older man smiled. "No, no. Tut, tut! Worry! That would be but a +poor way to treat the Father's care, indeed." His dark eyes shone with +an inner light. "If He needs my farm, He'll show me how to lift the +mortgage. And if He needs me to do any more work for Him here, He'll +give me back my health. But if not--" he paused and his hand went +instinctively to the shoulder of the little boy looking up at him with +big wondering eyes--"if not--well, well, never fear, He knows the way. +He knows." + +An old light wagon and a horse with hanging head were standing by the +sidewalk. The man clambered slowly to the seat and gathered up the +lines. Lawyer Ed picked up the little boy and swung him up beside his +father. He shook him well before he set him down, boxed his ears, +pulled his hair, and finally, diving into his pockets, brought out a +big handful of pink "bull's-eyes" and showered them into his hat. The +little fellow shouted with delight, and having crammed his mouth full, +he doubled up his small fists and challenged his friend to another +scuffle. + +But Lawyer Ed shook his head. + +"No! That's enough nonsense to-day, you young rascal! Good-bye, +Angus, and--" his musical voice became low and soft--"and God bless +you." + +Angus McRae's smile, as he drove away, was like the sun breaking out +over Lake Algonquin, and the lawyer felt as if their positions were +reversed, and he had just put a mortgage on his farm and Angus were +trying to comfort him. + +He stood for a moment on the sidewalk, his bright eyes grown misty, and +watched the pair drive down the hill. Then he looked across the street +and saw Doctor Archibald Blair climbing into his mud-splashed buggy, +satchel in hand. Lawyer Ed walked across to him, his shining boots +sinking in the soft mud. + +By descent Lawyer Ed was partly Scotch, by nature he was entirely +Irish. He possessed a glib tongue of the latter order and his habit +was to address every one he met, be he Indian, Highland Scot, or French +Canadian, in the dialect which the person was supposed to favour. So +he roared out in his magnificent baritone, as he picked his way among +the puddles: + +"Hoot! Losh! Is yon yersel', Aerchie mon?" + +Doctor Blair glared down at him from under lowering brows. + +"Dear me, Ed, you're an object of pity, when you try to get that clumsy +tongue of yours, hampered as it is by a brogue from Cork, around the +most musical sounds of the most musical language under heaven. Give it +up, man! Give it up!" + +"Haud yer whisht! Or whisht yer blethers!--whichever way that +outlandish, heathenish gibberish your forebears jabbered, would have +it. You see, Archie, one great advantage of being Irish--and it's not +your fault that you're not, man, I don't blame you--one great advantage +is that you can speak all languages with equal ease. Now a Scotchman's +tongue is like his sense of humour and his brains--a bit hard to +wiggle." + + "_'Beware a tongue that's smoothly hung, + A heart that warmly seems to feel'_"---- + +quoted Doctor Blair, who was always ready with his Burns. He shoved +his black satchel under the seat, and hauled the muddy lap-robe over +his knees. + +"Do you want anything in the line of common sense, or did you just come +over here to blather?" + +"I came to see what you thought of Angus. Is he very sick?" + +"Angus McRae? Yes he is, Ed, I'm sorry to say. I felt I ought to tell +him to quit work altogether, but he can't afford it." + +"Is it anything dangerous?" + +"Well, if anything should happen--a shock or strain of any kind on his +heart--he'd be laid up--maybe put out of business altogether." + +"And to-day he put a mortgage on his place, to help pay the debts of +Peter McDuff and a dozen other old leeches that live on him." + +The two friends looked at each other and nodded silently. + +"He's a wonderful man, that Angus McRae," said Dr. Blair. + +"He's the finest man living!" cried Lawyer Ed, always enthusiastic. "I +owe that man more than I can ever pay--not money, something more +valuable--nearly everything I have that's worth while." + +His friend nodded. There were few men in Algonquin who were not +indebted to Angus McRae for something of value. + +"Angus is rich in that sort of wealth," said Archie Blair. + + "_It's no in titles nor in rank; + It's no in wealth like Lon'on bank, + To purchase peace and rest. + It's no in makin' muckle mair; + It's no in books; it's no in lear; + To make us truly blest.'_" + + +"But Angus knows where it is, and he's not like most people who go to +church and sing and pray one day in the week and cheat their neighbours +the other six!" + +The doctor cracked his whip and drove off in high good humour, for he +had made a smart slap at the church, as he always loved to do in Lawyer +Ed's presence, and had escaped before that glib Irishman could answer. +He could catch something roared out behind him, about a man who could +stay home from church so that he might be a hypocrite seven days in the +week and half the nights too, but he pretended not to hear. + +Meanwhile Angus McRae and his little son rattled away down one street +and along another and out upon the country road. Just where the town +and country met stretched a row of ragged, tumble-down buildings. +There was an ill-smelling hotel, with two or three loungers smoking on +the sagging veranda, a long fence covered with tattered and glaring +circus posters, a half-dozen patched and weather-beaten houses and a +row of abandoned sheds and barns. + +Algonquin proper was a pretty little town, all orchards and gardens and +winding hilly streets smothered in trees. And the dreary wretchedness +of its back entrance, as it might be called, was all the more painful +in contrast. Willow Lane, this miserable little street was named; but +Angus McRae had long termed it, in his secret heart, the Jericho Road. +For the old tavern at the end of it had proved the downfall of many a +traveller on that highway, and many a man had Angus picked up, who had +fallen there among thieves. + +Every one on the Jericho Road knew him well, and went to him for help +in time of trouble and, though they did not realise it, he was indeed +their neighbour in precisely the way his Master meant him to be. + +The lane turned into the country road, and once more all was fragrance +and beauty. It curved around the southern shore of Lake Algonquin; on +one side the forest, dark and cool, its dim floor splashed with golden +light, its arches ringing with the call of the Canada bird, on the +other side the blue and white of the lake, laughing and tumbling +beneath the blue and white of the sky. + +When the gleam of the water came into view, the little boy clapped his +hands and churned up and down in delight. The fresh, damp wind fanned +his face, and he shouted to the white-winged gulls dipping and soaring +out there in their free ocean of air. He looked up laughingly into his +father's face, but quickly became grave. His father's eyes were +wistful; he had not spoken for a long time. The child remembered vague +hints of trouble that afternoon in Lawyer Ed's office. + +"You won't have to work when I get a big man, Daddy," he said +comfortingly. "I'll work for you. An' I'll get rich, an' you'll have +lots an' lots of money." + +His father smiled down at him lovingly. "Och, indeed, it's your father +will be the happy man when Roderick grows up. He'll have nothing to do +at all at all." + +"What was Lawyer Ed doing?" queried the child, after a moment's +thought. "Is he goin' to let Jock McPherson take away our house?" + +"No, no, child. You must not be troubling your head with such +thoughts. It was just some business Roderick is not old enough to +understand." + +The little fellow sat swinging his short legs and gazing out over the +lake, struggling with a vague sense of danger. He had been brought up +on the edge of poverty, but had been joyously unconscious of the fact. +His father, Aunt Kirsty, Collie, his dog, and the farm had been his +world, a world of love and enjoyment and plenty. But now he felt the +nearness of some unseen foe, something that had made Lawyer Ed and +Doctor Blair look so grave, and was now keeping his father quiet and +thoughtful. He had a notion that it all had something to do with money. + +"If you only had a pot o' gold," he said at last, still staring out +over the lake. + +"A pot of gold!" repeated his father, with a laugh. "And what would be +putting that into your foolish little head?" + +"A pot o' gold would buy anything you wanted, Peter says. He told me +about it, Peter Fiddle did. Once a boy found a pot o' gold hangin' on +to the end of a rainbow. There's always one there, Daddy. Yes, there +is, Peter Fiddle says so. An' a boy travelled a long, long way to the +end of a rainbow, an' he found it--the pot o' gold. An' he was rich, +an' he gave money to all the poor people an' made them happy." + +"And so Peter's been telling you more fairy-tales, eh? Well, well, it +will be a pretty one. And now, I suppose the first rainbow you see, +you'll be off to get that pot of gold." + +He nodded excitedly. "Wouldn't I just!" he cried. + +Angus McRae was not despondent over the mortgage which his ill health +and his extravagant expenditure for oil and wine and inn-fees had +compelled him to put on his little farm. He was one of those glad +souls, with such a perfect faith in his Father, that he could not but +believe that what might seem to be a bane was in reality a blessing. +But he was a little puzzled and thoughtful. The solution of the +problem was in his Father's hands, of course, but he could not help +wondering just how it would be worked out, and if he himself were using +his every faculty for the best ends. + +The greatest part of his problem was the Lad. His boy had been the +very centre of all his thoughts since the day She had left him, with +only faith in God and the Lad's baby hands to hold him up from despair. +She had always hoped that the Lad would have an education, and Angus +had planned that he should. But if the little farm was to go, the Lad +would have to work for his father and Aunt Kirsty just as soon as he +was big enough. And She had always hoped he should be a minister some +day, or even, perhaps, a missionary to a heathen land. + +And next to the Lad was his ministry to his neighbours. What was to +become of that? Ministry was not the word Angus McRae would have used +in speaking of his humble calling,--the mere working of a little market +garden farm and the selling of what it produced. And yet he had made +it a real and beautiful ministry to both God and his fellow-man. He +considered the selling of sweet turnips and sound cabbage and unspotted +potatoes to his customers as much a religious rite, as did the most +devout Israelite the offering of that which was perfect on the altar of +Jehovah. For indeed everything Angus sent off his little farm, whether +sold for a legitimate price or given away, as it so often was, to a +needy neighbour, was truly an offering to the Most High. + +So he was a little puzzled, though not at all saddened, by the thought +that his ministry was to be curtailed, perhaps stopped. He had hoped +to be always able to give a bag of potatoes to a poor neighbour, or to +bring to his home any one who had fallen on the Jericho Road. But +then, if the Father wanted him to stop that, He surely had other work +for him. So he flapped his old horse with the lines and, leaning +forward, hummed the hymn that was his watchword in times of stress: + + "_My soul, be on thy guard, + Ten thousand foes arise, + The hosts of sin are pressing hard, + To draw thee from the skies!_" + + +The Lad interrupted constantly with eager questions about this flower +and that tree, and his old horse demanded much attention, to keep her +from turning off the road and regaling herself on the green grass. He +flapped her at regular intervals with the lines, saying in a tone of +gentle remonstrance, "Tut, tut, Betsy, get up now, get up." + +Betsy had had so many years' intimate acquaintance with her master that +this encouragement to greater speed had long ago lost its real meaning +to her. She had come to regard its gentle reiteration as a sort of +pleasant lullaby, and jogged along more peacefully than ever. + +They slowly rounded a curve in the road and came into view of their +home, the little weather-beaten house facing the lake, with Aunt +Kirsty's garden a glory of sweet-peas, the long rows of neat vegetable +beds sloping down to the water, the straggling lane with the big oak at +the gate. And there was Collie bounding down the lane, uttering +yelping barks and twisting himself almost out of joint in his efforts +to wag his tale hard enough to express his welcome. The Lad leaped +down and ran to open the gate; Collie knocked him over in his ecstasy, +and his father smiled indulgently as the two rolled over and over on +the grass. + +"Run away in to Aunt Kirsty and tell her we are home, Lad," he cried, +as he drove past to the barn. The boy put the pin in the old gate and +went frolicking along the lane, the dog circling about him. The lane +ran straight past the house down to the water, hedged by an old rail +fence and fringed with raspberry and alder bushes. From it a little +gate led into Aunt Kirsty's garden, which surrounded the house. The +boy paused with his hand on the latch of the gate, looking down at the +water. And then he gave a loud, ecstatic "Oh!" that made Collie bark, +and stood perfectly still. He could see Lake Algonquin spread out +before him, stretching away to the north in lovely curves like a great +river. Its gleaming floor was dotted with green, feathery islands. To +the west, in a silver haze, lay the town; to the east, a low, wooded +shore where the spire of the little Indian church pointed up like a +shining finger out of the green. Great masses of clouds were piled +high in the west, where the sunset was turning all the world into +glory. But it was not the beauty of the scene that was holding the +little boy spellbound. Down there, straight ahead of him, was a most +marvellous thing, the fulfilment of his dreams. Across the radiant +water, stretching from some fairy island in the heavens, far over to +the opposite shore, hung a rainbow! And more wonderful still, right +down there at its foot, just beyond Wanda Island, gleaming and +beckoning, hung the pot of gold! + +The Lad's heart gave a great leap. There it was, just as Peter Fiddle +had described it! Why should he not go after it, right now, and bring +it home to his father? He went tearing down the hill, Collie leaping +at his side. Peter Fiddle had said that the reason more folks did not +get the rainbow gold and be rich and happy ever after, was because they +did not go after it right at once. For the pot of gold did not hang +there very long, and might slip into the water with a big splash any +minute, and be gone forever. So the Lad ran in frantic haste, and the +dog bounded ahead and nearly rushed into the water, in his mistaken +idea that he was to catch the gulls that came swooping so near and were +off and away before he could snap. The old green boat belonging to his +father was lying on its side half in the water; the Lad tugged at it +madly without moving it an inch. He glanced about him and spied with +delight Peter Fiddle's canoe lying upside down under the birches. +Peter worked for his father, when not away fishing or playing the +fiddle or spinning yarns; and when he went away by land his canoe was +always at home, and sometimes the Lad had paddled out in it alone. He +pulled and tugged at it manfully, and after great exertions that left +him panting, he managed to launch it. Collie, just returned from a mad +charge after the gulls, leaped in beside him. The boy seized the +paddle and pushed off hurriedly. He seated himself on the thwart and +looked out to get his direction. Yes, there it still hung, away out +there at the end of the island, gleaming bigger and brighter than ever. +The canoe was large, and the paddle clumsy, but he was filled with such +a passion to get that gold that he made wonderful progress. He leaned +far over the side, splashing the heavy paddle into, the water, until, +what with his unsteady stroke, his dangerous position on the thwart, +and Collie's mad attempts to catch the passing gulls, the wonder was +that the rainbow expedition did not come to grief as soon as it was +launched. But the Lad had been brought up on the water, and had +already had many a lesson in canoeing from Peter Fiddle, and, after the +first excitement, he realised his mistake. So he slid to his knees and +ordered Collie to the bottom of the canoe in front of him. Then, +gazing intently ahead, he paddled, in a zigzag course, out towards the +wonderful golden haze. + +Somehow it had a strange, elusive way of seeming to be in one place and +then appearing in another. The canoeist grew hot, and panting with his +efforts. The perspiration stood out on his round, rosy face, and the +curls on his forehead became wet. He flung off his hat, and redoubled +his efforts. He bent his head to his task, as his paddle bumped and +splashed its way into the water. When he looked up again, he found, to +his dismay, that Wanda Island lay right between him and his shining +goal. + +This little garden of spruce and cedar had heretofore marked the bounds +of his excursions. His father had often allowed him to go out alone in +the boat or Peter's canoe, but only when he was watching from the +fields or the shore, and then he was permitted to go only up and down +in the shelter of the island. But he did not hesitate to go farther, +fearing the magic gold might vanish while he lingered. He revived his +flagging energies by picturing his father's joy and wonder when he +returned and came staggering up the path with the money. And then his +father could wear his Sunday blacks every day in the week, and never +work any more, but just ride to and from town all day long in a new +buggy, a painted one like Doctor Blair's. And they would hire Peter +Fiddle and young Peter every day in the year to hoe the fields, and +they would give away everything they grew. And the people in Willow +Lane would all be good and happy ever after. Oh, there would never be +any trouble of any kind when he came home with that pot of gold! + +He paddled manfully round the island, pushing through the reeds of the +little bay and just skimming the rocks at the western extremity. But +his arms ached so, that he had to pause a moment to rest. As he did +so, he heard a loud whistle, and the steamer, _Inverness_, came round a +far point and turned her long bowsprit towards the town, lying off to +the left in a shining mist. The boy grabbed his paddle again and +redoubled his efforts. Peter had gone down to Barbay that morning on +the _Inverness_, and was in all likelihood on board, and although the +young adventurer intended to reward Peter liberally for the use of his +canoe, he felt it would be safer for him to have it on shore before its +owner returned. He took one tremendous splashing stroke, and, as he +did so, he felt a strange, sharp pain in his right arm. It made him +cry out so loud that Collie turned quickly to him with a whine of +grieved sympathy. The boy dropped the paddle across his knee and +caught his arm. Gradually the pain left and he took up the paddle +again. But somehow the glory of the expedition seemed to have +vanished. He wanted Aunt Kirsty when that pain came into his arm, more +than he wanted all the gold of all the rainbows he had ever seen. He +bent to his paddle with much less vim, and slowly and painfully round +the island he came, and out into the open lake. And then,--where, oh, +where, was the pot of gold? And where was the rainbow? He seemed to +have come out with one stroke of his paddle from a world that was all +colour and light to one that was cold, grey and dreary. He looked +about him amazed. All the beauty of the lake had faded into mist. The +rainbow was gone! A chill, damp breeze fanned his hot face, coming +down from the north, where the clouds had grown black. The little +mariner sat on his heels in the bottom of his canoe and looked about +him in dismay. Surely the pot of gold had not gone. Perhaps it was +hidden away behind those dark clouds and would come gleaming out again +right in front of him. But though he sat and waited, the world only +grew greyer and darker. Collie stood up again and barked defiance at a +heron that sailed away overhead, but his little master sharply bade him +lie down. The pain in his arm gave another twinge, and slowly and +sadly he took up his paddle and turned his canoe homeward. + +As he did so he felt a light breeze lift him. It came from the north, +where those dark clouds had swallowed up his rainbow. A strange, weird +thing was happening up there in those clouds, and the boy paused to +watch. Down the shimmering floor of the lake, sweeping slowly towards +him, came a great army. Stealthy, hurrying shapes, with bent, +grey-cowled heads, and trailing garments, rank on rank they stole +forward, mystery and fear in their every movement. Many a time, on an +autumn evening, the boy had watched the fog start away up the lake and +come stealing down, until the islands and the town and the forest were +covered as with a blanket. But he had never seen anything so awesome +as this. The strange shapes into which the light gusts of wind had +driven the mist made them look like an army of ghosts driven out of the +haunts of night. They were bringing night in their train, too. For as +they swept silently onward, everything in earth and lake and sky was +blotted out. One by one the islands vanished; the far-off eastern +shore was wiped away as if by some magic hand. The tower of the little +Indian church stood out for a moment above the flood and then sank +engulfed; and the next moment the great host had swept over the little +sailor and he was walled in and cut off from land and water, alone in a +cloudy sea with neither shore nor sky nor surface. The boy turned +swiftly towards his home, and when he saw that it, too, was gone, he +uttered a cry of terror. "Daddy, oh, Daddy!" he wailed. Collie came +close and licked his face and whined, then looked about him and growled +disapprovingly at the weird thing that surrounded them. The boy put +his arms tight around the dog's neck and hugged him. "Oh, Collie!" he +cried, "we're lost, and I don't know where home is and where Daddy is." +It was not the loss of gold that troubled him now. He stared about him +in the greyness, striving to make out some object. The fog was so +thick that he could see only the length of the canoe, but a big, darker +mass of shadow in a world of shadows, told him where Wanda Island lay, +and grasping his paddle, he started in what he believed to be the +direction of home. He paddled until he was out of breath, rested a +moment, then went at it again with all his might. The pain in his arm +returned, but he dared not stop. And as he worked madly in his efforts +to reach home, the gentle wind was slowly but surely carrying him out +to the open lake. + +Every few minutes the thought of his father would overcome him and he +would drop his paddle and, sinking down beside Collie, would sob aloud. +Then he would rise again bravely and go at his task, but each time with +feebler efforts. The pain in his arm, which kept returning at +intervals, was sometimes so bad he had to stop and nurse it. He was +wet to the skin now, and Collie's hair was dripping. Whenever he +rested, he spent the interval calling loudly for his father, while +Collie helped him by barking, but though he listened till his ears were +strained, only the soft lap, lap, of the waves against the canoe +answered. As night came on the thick pall grew heavier and blacker, +and at last he could not see even the length of the canoe. + +The sore arm became almost helpless at last, and he could paddle only a +few strokes at long intervals. He slipped down beside Collie, hugging +him close, and sobbed out on his sympathetic head his sorrow for the +rash venture. He even confessed that he wished he had left his friend +at home. "Aunt Kirsty and Daddy will be that lonesome, Collie," he +wailed, "without either of us. But I couldn't do without you at all, +Collie!" he added. And Collie licked his face again, and whined his +appreciation of the compliment. They seemed to drift on and on for +hours and hours. The boy's imagination, fed by the wild tales from +Peter Fiddle--tales of shipwrecks at sea, and dead men's bones cast +upon haunted islands--, became a prey to every terror. There were +ghosts and goblins out here, and water fairies, that might spirit you +away to a land whence there was no returning; and there were those +other creatures so terrible that Peter had not dared even to describe +them, called "Bawkins." He shivered at the thought of them, and clung +to the dog, too frightened to cry out. He had been trying to pray in +broken snatches, but now, in his extremity of fear, he felt he must put +up a petition of more force. He scrambled to his knees and tried to +get Collie to join him by bowing his head. But Collie seemed of an +altogether irreverent nature, and only licked his little master's face +all the more. So the Lad gave it up, and, putting his hands together +behind the dog's head, whispered: "Oh, dear Lord, we're lost, me and +Collie. Please send Father and Peter Fiddle with the boat to find us. +Please don't let us get drownded or don't let the Bawkins get us. And +please don't mind Collie not prayin' right, 'cause he's only a dog, but +he's lost, too; and please bring us safe home. And oh, Dear Jesus, I'm +sorry I came out alone to hunt for the pot o' gold, but I didn't know +it was so far, and please won't you make Daddy and Peter Fiddle hurry, +'cause I'm so cold and so hungry and my arm's awful sore and I can't +paddle no more. And please, if Peter Fiddle ain't home yet and has +gone off and got drunk, won't you please send young Peter with Daddy. +And please send them in a hurry." He paused, but felt he must end in a +more becoming way. It was his first extemporaneous prayer of any +length, and he scarcely knew how to close. Then he remembered how Dr. +Leslie, in the church where he went every Sabbath with his father, was +wont to bring his morning petition to a close, so he added, "Only +please, _please_, don't let Peter Fiddle get drunk to-night--world +wifout end. Amen." + +There were some more tears after that, but not such bitter ones; for +Angus McRae's son could not but believe that God heard prayer, and he +waited for his answer in a child's faith. "He's sure to send Daddy +soon, Collie," he said comfortingly; and then, quaveringly, after a few +moments of intense listening and waiting, "It wouldn't be like God not +to, now, would it, Collie?" + +There was another period of calling into the darkness and of silent +waiting, broken only by the wash of the little ripples against the +canoe. And then there was a spasmodic attempt at paddling, followed by +another season of prayer and a piteous plea for haste. Then the Lad +bethought himself of his father's hymn, the one he sang so often when +he was in danger; though the son often was puzzled as to what sort of +danger it was that assailed his father. There was no doubt about his +own danger just now, so the child lifted a tremulous voice and tried to +sing:-- + + "_My soul, be on thy guard, + Ten thousand foes arise, + The hosts of sin are pressing hard, + To draw thee from the skies!_" + + +But the singing was a failure. He was hoarse with crying and shouting, +and fearful that the "Bawkins" would hear, and come and carry his canoe +through the air, away, away, to the land of mists and dead people. And +the poor sounds he managed to make seemed to strike Collie as the most +grievous thing of all this disastrous voyage, for he put back his head +and howled dismally. So the Lad gave it up and took to praying again, +sure that though Father and Aunt Kirsty and Peter Fiddle were far away, +that God was near. He was wet and chilled through now, and was so +exhausted that at last his head sank on Collie's neck. He was lying +there, half asleep, when the dog suddenly gave a leap and a loud bark +that roused him in terror. He clutched Collie and held him down with +stern threats. But his terror changed to wild hope. Away behind him +was a dim yellow light making a long tunnel through the fog. And down +it a far, far voice was calling, "Roderick! Roderick, my son, where +are you?" + +"Daddy! Oh, Daddy!" the boy answered with a hoarse scream. "Here I am +in the canoe with Collie!" There was no need to announce the dog's +presence, for Collie was barking madly and leaping so his little master +could hardly hold him. But he was not nearly so careful as he would +have been a few minutes before, for it did not seem to matter even if +the canoe did upset, when his father was near! + +The next moment a boat swept alongside with a blinding glare of light, +and such a crowd of people!--Peter Fiddle at the oars, and young Peter +at the rudder, and Lawyer Ed! And there seemed to be lights suddenly +appearing on every side, and the whole lake was ringing with shouts! +But the boy heard only his father's voice, saw only his outstretched +arms. He fairly tumbled out of the canoe into them, and there sobbed +out all his terror and exhaustion, while Collie leaped and barked and +tried his best to upset the boat. + +"Oh, Daddy," the little boy sobbed, with the wisdom born of adversity, +"I didn't get the gold--but--I--don't want anything ever--if I've just +got _you_!" + + + + +CHAPTER II + +Angus McRae had been an intimate friend of Edward Brians, ever since +the days when the latter was a little boy and the former a young man +living on adjoining farms. Angus had, early in life, taken upon +himself the role of Good Samaritan, watching with especial care over +this young neighbour, and many a time the headlong lad might have +fallen among thieves had a friend's example and assistance not been +always at hand. + +And now Lawyer Ed's mind was busy with schemes for returning a little +of that life-long assistance, as he set out for his office the morning +after young Roderick's rainbow expedition. "I've got to get some +money, and I will get it," he announced to the blooming syringa bush at +his door, "if I have to take it by assault and battery." + +He had come home very late the night before, but he was astir none the +less early for that. For though he was usually the last man in the +town to go to bed, and often worked nearly all night, he always +appeared in good time the next morning, looking as fresh and +well-groomed as though he had just come home from a month's vacation. + +Like all the other professional folk of Algonquin, Lawyer Ed lived up +on the hill to the north of the town. His widowed sister kept his +house and wondered, with all the rest of the town, why on earth Ed +didn't get married. Her brother answered all enquiries on the subject +according to the age and sex of the enquirer; and had nearly every +young lady in the place convinced that he was secretly pining for her. +He came swinging down his steps this bright June morning humming a tune +in his deep melodious voice. He picked a rosebud and fastened it in +his button-hole and strode down the street, stopping at the gate of +every one of his friends--and who wasn't his friend?--to hail the owner +and summon him to his work. He ran into "Rosemount," the big brick +house where the handsome Miss Armstrongs lived, to make arrangements +for a Choral Society practice, he drummed up a half-dozen recreant +Sunday-school teachers within the space of two blocks, and he roared +across the street to Doctor Archie Blair to be sure not to forget that +thae bit bills for the Scotchmen's picnic maun be gotten oot that week. +For Lawyer Ed belonged to every organisation of the town in church or +state, except the Ladies' Aid--and he often attended even its meetings +when he wanted something, and always got what he wanted, too. So, +although he had started early, it was rather late when at last he +reached the home of his special friend, J. P. Thornton, and hammered +loudly on the gate. So late, in fact, that J. P. had gone. He went on +alone very much disappointed. When any one in Algonquin was in trouble +he went to Lawyer Ed, but when Lawyer Ed was in trouble himself, he +went to his old chum, J. P. Thornton. And he was in trouble this +morning, none the less deep that it was another's. He looked down the +street towards his office, knowing a big day's work awaited him there. + +"You can just wait," he remarked to the trim red brick building. "I've +got to get Angus off my mind;" and he whirled in at the Manse gate and +went up the steps in two springs. + +The Manse was a broad-bosomed, wide-armed house, opposite the church, +looking as if it wanted to embrace every one who approached its big +doorway. Its appearance was not deceiving. No matter at what hour one +went inside its gate, one found at least half the congregation there, +the sad ones sitting in the doctor's study, the happy ones spread out +over the lawn. As Lawyer Ed remarked, the Lord had purposely given the +Leslies no children, so that they might adopt the congregation and +bring it up in the way it should go. + +Mrs. Leslie was at the other end of the garden, cutting roses; she +waved a spray at him, heavy with dew, and he took off his hat and made +her a profound bow. He would have shouted a greeting to any other +woman in Algonquin, but he never roared at Mrs. Leslie. There was +something In the stately old-world atmosphere surrounding the lady of +the Manse, that made even Lawyer Ed treat her with deference. + +The door was open and he went straight in and along the hall towards +the minister's study. As he did so a door at the opposite end of the +hall opened suddenly and admitted a round black face and an ample +red-aproned figure. + +"Good mawnin', Missy Viney!" drawled the visitor. "I done wanta see de +ministah, bress de Lawd!" + +Viney's white eyeballs and shining teeth flashed him a welcome. + +"Laws-a-me, Lawya Ed! Is you-all gwine get marrit?" + +Viney was a fat, jolly young woman, whom Mrs. Leslie had lured from the +little negro settlement in the township of Oro, a few miles from +Algonquin. She felt the responsibility of her position fully, and +showed a marked interest in the affairs of every one of the +congregation. But of all living things she loved Lawyer Ed most. His +presence never failed to put her in the highest spirits, and his +bachelorhood was her perennial joke. + +"Yassum," he answered, hanging his head shyly, "if you done hab me, +Viney. I bin wantin' you for years, but I bin too bashful." + +Viney screamed and flapped her red apron at him. "You go 'long, you +triflin' lawya-man!" she cried, going off into a gale of giggles; but +just then the study door opened, the minister's head came out, and the +cook's vanished. + +"Ah, I thought it was you, Edward, by the joyful noise," said Dr. +Leslie, smiling. He took his visitor by the hand and drew him in. + +"Come away, come. I was hoping you would drop in this morning." + +They sat down, the minister in his arm-chair before his desk. Lawyer +Ed balanced on the arm of another, protesting that he must not stay. +It was his way when he dropped in at the Manse and remained a couple of +hours or so, to bustle about, hat and stick in hand, changing from one +chair to another, to assure himself that he was just going. Dr. Leslie +understood, and did not urge him to sit down. + +Though not an old man, the minister had seen Lawyer Ed grow up from the +position of a scholar in his Sabbath School, and quite the most riotous +and mischievous one there, to the superintendency of it, and to a seat +in the session; and he had a special fatherly feeling towards his +youngest elder. Dr. Leslie was the only man in Algonquin, too, folk +said, whom Lawyer Ed feared, and to whose opinion he deferred without +argument. + +"And have you heard from Angus this morning,--or the wee lad?" + +"Archie came home about an hour ago. The little rascal's all right, +except for a sore arm. I guess he nearly put it out of joint, +paddling. Angus was better, too; but I'm bothered about Angus, Dr. +Leslie. That's what I came in for." + +He moved about the room, fingering ornaments, picking up books and +laying them down again. + +"Archie Blair says the anxiety was so bad for his heart, that he's got +to stop work right away, for all summer anyway, and perhaps longer. +And his place is all planted, and yesterday, at my advice, he put a +mortgage on it." + +He stopped before his minister and looked at him with appealing, +troubled eyes. "I feel as if I shouldn't have let him, but I didn't +anticipate this." + +Dr. Leslie sat drumming his fingers on the table, his face very grave. + +"We can't see Angus McRae want, Edward. We're all indebted to him for +something--every one of the session, and the minister most of all." + +"The session!" Lawyer Ed jumped off the arm of the sofa where he had +just perched. "There's an idea. If you laid it before them, they'd do +something; and J. P. and I'll push it and Archie Blair will help." + +The minister shook his head. "The session is a big body, Edward, +and--" he smiled,--"it has wives and daughters. This must not be +talked about. If we help Angus, we mustn't kill him at the same time +by hurting his Highland pride." + +Lawyer Ed whacked a sofa cushion impatiently with his cane. + +"There it is, of course! Hang Scotchmen, anyway! You can't treat them +like human beings. That abominable thing they call their pride--always +clogs your wheels whichever way you go." + +"Don't revile the tree from which you sprung, Edward," said the +Scotchman, smiling. + +"Thank the Lord, the limb I grew on had a few good green Irish +shamrocks mixed with the thistles. If Angus had been as fortunate we'd +have him out of distress to-morrow." + +"Angus McRae will be the least distressed of us all. I thought of Paul +last night when I saw him, 'troubled on every side, yet not distressed, +perplexed but not in despair.' We must think of some way in which we +can help him quietly--so quietly he may not know it himself. Who has +the mortgage?" + +"Jock McPherson, of course, who else?" + +The minister's face brightened. "Jock McPherson! Well, well, that is +fortunate, Edward. Jock's heart is big enough to put the whole church +inside provided you find the right key." + +"Yes, but it's a ticklish job fitting it when you do find it. Some +small item in the business will strike him the wrong way and he will +get slow and stiff and arise to the occasion with, 'I feel, Mister +Moterator, that it is my juty to object.'" + +His imitation of Mr. McPherson's deliberate manner, when in his sadly +frequent role of objector in the session, could not but bring a smile +to the minister's face. + +"I have no fear of your not being able to overcome his objections, +should any arise. Now, sit down just a few minutes, and let us see +what is to be done." + +The two talked far into the morning, and laid their plans well. Mr. +McPherson was to be persuaded to remove the mortgage, and instead, as +Angus was in need of the money, to rent the farm. Lawyer Ed was to see +that it was let for a goodly sum that would keep its owner beyond +anxiety, and whatever Jock stood to lose by the bargain was to be +returned to him in whole or part by a little circle of friends. It was +a great scheme, worthy of a legal mind, Dr. Leslie said, and Lawyer Ed +went away well pleased with it. + +He went two blocks out of his way, so that he could reach J. P. +Thornton's office without passing his own, and spent another hour +laying the scheme before him. + +So, when he finally got to his place of business, irate clients were +buzzing about it like angry bees. But little cared Lawyer Ed. He +laughed and joked them all into good humour and dropping into the chair +at his desk, he drove through a mass of business in an incredibly short +time, telephoning, writing notes, hailing passers-by on the street, and +attending to his correspondence, all while he was holding personal +interviews,--doing half-a-dozen things at once and doing them as though +they were holiday sport. + +The rush of the day's business kept him from speaking to Jock McPherson +until late in the evening, when, at the end of the session meeting, he +found himself walking away from the church with Mr. McPherson on one +side and his friend, J. P. Thornton, on the other. He felt just a +little anxious over the outcome of the interview. He had no fear that +Jock would be unwilling to help Angus McRae, but he had every fear, and +with good reason, that he would want to do it in his own way. If Jock +were in a good humour, he would fall in with the plan, if not, he would +do exactly as he pleased and spoil everything. + +And, as ill-luck would have it, when they were coming down the steps +under the checkered light from the arc-lamp shining through the leaves, +Lawyer Ed made the most unfortunate remark he could have chosen. + +He was carrying home a Book of Praise under his arm and was humming a +psalm in a rich undertone. And the unwise thing he said was: "I'd like +to sing the _Amen_ at the end of the psalms, as well as the hymns. +What do you say, J. P.?" + +"An excellent idea, Ed," said Mr. Thornton heartily. "The psalms would +sound much more finished--" He stopped suddenly, realising that they +had made a fatal mistake. Mr. McPherson had overheard, and uttered a +disgusted snort. For he hated the new appendage to the hymns, and +looked upon its importation into the church service much as if the use +of incense had been introduced. He was a little man, with a shrewd eye +and a slow tongue--but a tongue that could give a deadly thrust when he +got ready to use it. + +"The Aye-men," he said with great deliberation, and when he was most +deliberate, he was most to be feared. "Inteet, and you'll be putting +that tail to the end o' the psawlms too." He tapped Lawyer Ed on the +arm with his spectacle case. "Jist be waiting a bit till you get +permission, young man. You and John Thornton are not jist awl the +session." + +Mr. McPherson was the senior elder, the champion of all things +orthodox, and he was inclined to regard Lawyer Ed and J. P. as +irresponsible boys. + +"Hoot toot, mon," shouted Lawyer Ed jovially. "What's wrong wi' a bit +Aye-men foreby? It's in the Scriptur', 'Let all the people say +Amen'--and here you would forbid them!" + +Jock was a Highlander, and Lawyer Ed's habit of addressing him in a +Lowland dialect was particularly irritating as the mischievous young +elder well knew. + +"Yus. You know the Scriptures ferry well indeed, but if you would be +reading a little farther you will find that it will be saying, 'How +shall he that occupieth the room of the unlearned say Amen?'" + +This tickled Lawyer Ed and he laughed loudly. "Tut, tut, Jock! It's a +small thing to make a fuss about. You and Jimmie McTavish and a lot +more of you fellows are dead set against all sorts of things that you +accept in the end. Why, man, I can remember the day when you two +objected to the little organ in the old church, and you got used to it +and liked it." + +"I liked it? Indeed, and when would that be?" + +"Well, you stopped kicking, anyway, until we got the big one, which was +clean unreasonable, whatefer." + +"No, sir." Mr. McPherson's spectacle case tapped the younger man's arm +peremptorily. "I was perfectly logical then, as I am now. I objected +when the wee squeaking thing was brought in, and I objected more when +you and the weemin filled up the end o' the church with a machine to +turn us all deef. As I say, I was perfectly logical, the greater the +organ, the greater the objection." + +J. P. hid a smile in the darkness and hastened to interpose, for when +Jock once got riding his objection hobby he would agree with nothing +under the sun. + +"There's an article in the _British Weekly_ on the evolution of the +church service--" he began; but his impetuous friend was bent on +setting Jock right in his own way, and hastened to his destruction. + +"And on the same principle, the more Amen, the more objection, eh?" he +cried laughingly. "But now, look here, if you'll only consider this +thing with a fair mind you can't help seeing that, as J. P. says, a +hymn or a psalm sounds unfinished without an Amen at the end. Take any +hymn for example--" + +They had reached the McPherson gate by this time, where an arc light, +high up in its leafy perch, was sputtering away shedding a white glow +over the side-walk and embroidering it with an exquisite pattern worked +out in leaf-shadows. Lawyer Ed paused under the lamp and opened the +Book of Praise. + +"I defy you to find one that isn't improved and finished and rounded +off by an Amen at the end." He selected a hymn at random, and sang a +stanza in his rich voice that poured itself out gloriously on the +evening air. + + "_Faith and hope and love we see + Joining hands in unity, + But the greatest of the three + And the best is love. Amen._" + + +The beautiful words, sung in Lawyer Ed's melodious voice, were enough +to move even Jock's orthodox heart. He was silent for a moment, then +the noise of a window being raised above their heads interrupted. + +Mrs. McPherson was accustomed to after-session meetings, and noisy ones +too, at her gate. But when they were accompanied by singing and +shouting, at the disgraceful hour of eleven P. M. she felt it time to +interfere. So she opened the window noisily and enquired if there was +a fire anywhere. + +There was. It blazed up in Lawyer Ed's heart, so enraged was he at +this very inopportune interruption, coming just when he thought he saw +Jock wavering. He shouted at her to go in and mind her own business. + +No one in Algonquin heeded what Lawyer Ed said when he was angry, but +Mr. McPherson was in no mood to put up with even him. He became deadly +slow and deliberate. He turned his back on the turbulent young man, +and addressed the open window: + +"No, it will not be a fire, Mary," he called. "It's just an Eerishman +got loose, and we'll haf to let him talk off his noise. He reminds +me," he continued, still addressing the window, though it had closed +with a bang, "he reminds me of that Chersey cow, my Cousin McNabb had +in Islay. She wasn't much for giffin' milk, and it was vurry thin at +that, but she was a great musician. You could hear her bawlin' across +two concessions." + +J. P. Thornton was a jolly young Englishman, very prone to mirth, and +this was too much for him. He turned traitor and laughed aloud. +Lawyer Ed glared angrily at him; but Jock's face underwent a peculiar +twist. He had had no notion of saying anything witty, he had been too +angry for that; but he had learned by experience that he never knew +when he was going to make a joke. He was often surprised in the midst +of a speech by a burst of laughter from his friends, Lawyer Ed +generally first. Then he would pause and survey the path he had +travelled, to find that all unconsciously he had stumbled upon a +humorous vein. So when J. P. laughed he stopped to consider. The +enemy flew to defend his "bawlin'" and there was no time to see if he +really had made a joke. But he was suspicious, and the suspicion put +him into a good humour. A sudden inspiration seized him; he caught the +book Lawyer Ed was brandishing and, opening it, laid it carefully on +the top of the gate-post. + +"It's more feenished and rounded off, with the '_Aye_-men, is it?" he +enquired with deep sarcasm. "But you would not be feenishing it after +all. If ye're bound and deturmined to put a tail on the end o' the +hime, why don't ye sing awl that's in the book. You would be leaving +out a bit." + +He took his glasses from their case, fitted them on, and held the book +carefully towards the electric light. + +"If ye want it feenished, this is the way it should be sung." + +Now, not even Mrs. Jock, who believed her husband the cleverest man in +Algonquin, could say he was a singer, and it was with a terribly +discordant wail that he lifted his voice in the melancholy words of the +hymn before him: + + "_There are no pardons in the toomb, + And brief is mercy's day. + A-m-e-n-T-h-o-m-a-s-H-a-s-t-i-n-g-s--_" + + +The awful "Amen," drawled out to an indefinite length, with the +author's name, on the end, was irresistible. J. P. broke into a shout +of laughter. For a moment, Lawyer Ed's eyes gleamed in the darkness, +but only for a moment, then he too gave way, and when Lawyer Ed +laughed, a really good hearty laugh, it was a musical performance that +did not stop until every one within hearing was joining in the chorus. + +And then Jock began to realise that he had been witty again. He paused +and bethought himself of what he had done, and he too saw how funny it +was. He did not laugh right out at first. Jock's mirth, like his wit, +was too deliberate for that. He began by uttering a low subterranean +sort of chuckle, which finally worked to the surface in a rhythmic +shaking of his whole sturdy little body. By this time J. P. was +leaning against a tree wiping his eyes, and everybody up and down the +street was smiling and saying, "That's Lawyer Ed's laugh. What's he up +to now, I wonder?" Jock checked his mirth quickly; it was not seemly +to rejoice too heartily over one's own humour, but before the joy of it +had left, by an adroit turn, J. P. had sent the conversation into its +proper channel. + +"A good joke on you, Ed!" he cried. "I must tell that to Angus McRae. +Angus doesn't love the 'Amen' too much either, Jock." + +"Angus is in great trouble," exclaimed Lawyer Ed, wiping his eyes and +trying to look serious. "Did you hear about it, Jock?" + +Jock had not heard, so the story of little Roderick's rainbow +expedition and his father's consequent heart affection was quickly +told. And when the splendid plan to help was adroitly unfolded, Jock +was quick to respond. It was the psychological moment; Thomas Hastings +had driven away all dourness and Angus McRae's case was safe. + +The two friends walked homeward under the shadows of the maples, the +night-air sweet with the perfume of many gardens. They were both very +happy, so happy indeed, that, as usual, they walked miles before they +finally settled for the night. + +First, J. P. recollected again that fine article in the _British +Weekly_, and strolled up the hill with his friend while he gave a +synopsis of it. When they reached the gate, Lawyer Ed remembered that +he should have told J. P. about old man Cassidy's will and the trouble +Mike was in over it, and so returned to J. P.'s gate. The Cassidy will +was finished and J. P. in the midst of another fascinating article on +Imperial Federation, when they reached there, and Lawyer Ed made him +come up the hill again so that he might hear it. It was their usual +manner of going home after a session meeting. + +"And may I ask," said J. P., when their personal part in the financing +of Angus's affairs had been finally settled, and they stood at his gate +for the third and last time, "may I ask, if it is not too curious on my +part, if you intend to appropriate church funds for your contribution, +or just rob the bank?" For J. P. knew well that Lawyer Ed's +extravagant generosity always kept him on the edge of poverty. + +"Well, neither. Jock mightn't think the first was orthodox. I don't +believe he'd object so strongly to the second, but it mightn't be +successful. I think,--yes, I'm afraid, I must draw on the Jerusalem +Fund again." + +"Of course, I knew you would. Let me see; that's seven times we've +stayed home from the Holy Land, isn't it?--the perfect number. A +person naturally thinks of sevens in connection with Bible places." + +Lawyer Ed laughed light-heartedly. Ever since the days when these two +had tried to sit together in Sunday-school, and been separated by +Doctor Leslie, they had planned that some time, they would make a visit +together to Bible lands. Many a time since the trip had almost +materialised, but Lawyer Ed's money would fade away, or J. P.'s +business interfere or some other contingency arise to make them stay at +home. The final plans had been laid for the coming autumn, and now it +was again to be postponed. + +But J. P. was not deceived into supposing Lawyer Ed was merely drawing +upon a holiday fund. + +"I believe you have somewhere about five dollars laid away for that +trip, haven't you?" + +"Four-and-a-half, to be correct," said his friend brazenly. + +"I thought so. And where's the rest going to spring from?" He was +accustomed to keeping a stern eye on Ed's affairs or the extravagant +young man would have given away his house and office and all their +contents long ago. + +Lawyer Ed did not answer for a moment. He looked like a naughty +schoolboy caught In a foolish prank. The confession came out at last. + +"I'd almost decided not to go in with Will Graham's scheme. I don't +see how I can leave here just now, that's a fact." + +"Ed!" cried his friend, half-admiring, half-impatient. "Why, man, it's +the chance of your life. Bill's making money so fast he can't keep +count of it. You'll be a rich man and a famous one too in a few years +if you go in with him, do you realise that?" + +"Oh, there are lots more chances." + +"Yes, and they'll slip away like this one. I,--can't I help a little +more?" + +"No. And don't talk any more about it. It's just this way, Jock, I've +no choice in the matter. If it was my last cent, and I knew I'd go to +jail for it to-morrow, I'd help Angus. I just couldn't see him want. +It's all right. I'll stay on in Algonquin a few more years, and we'll +see what'll happen. Good-night." + +"Yes, and good-night to all your ambitions and the Holy Land too." + +"Not a bit of it! Ambition be hanged. I don't care about that. But +we're going to the Holy Land yet, if we put it off until seventy times +seven. We'll wait till young Roderick's grown up and pays us back, and +then we'll go. Indeed, I'm going to refuse positively to go to the New +Jerusalem until I've seen the old!" + +He swung away up the street as bright and gay as though he had just +accepted a fine new position instead of refusing one. He was so happy +that he softly sang the hymn that had opened the good work of the +evening. It was very appropriate: + + "_Faith and hope and love we see + Joining hands in unity, + But the greatest of the three + And the best is love._" + + +He was passing near Jock's house so he roared out the "Amen" in the +hope that the elder had not yet gone to sleep. And Mrs. Leslie's Viney +declared the next morning that she done heah dat Lawyah Ed and J. P. +Thornton gwine home straight ahead all de bressed night, and she did +'clar dey was still goin' when she put on de oatmeal mush for de +breakfus! + + + + +CHAPTER III + +LIFE'S YOUNG MARINER + +On a hazy August afternoon the little steamer _Inverness_,--Captain, +James McTavish--came sailing across Lake Simcoe with her long white +bowsprit pointing towards the cedar-fringed gates opening into Lake +Algonquin. She was a trim little craft, painted all blue and white +like the water she sailed. Captain McTavish, who was also her owner, +had named her after his birthplace. He loved the little steamer, and +pronounced her name with a tender lingering on the last syllable, and a +softening of the consonants, that no mere Sassenach tongue could +possibly imitate. + +There were not many passengers to-day; the majority were mothers with +their children, the latter chasing each other about the deck or +clambering into all forbidden and dangerous places, the former sitting +in the shade, darning or sewing or embroidering according to their +station in life. A few young ladies sat in groups, and chatted and ate +candies, or read and ate candies while one young man, in white flannels +and a straw hat waited upon them with stools and wraps and drinks of +water, and magazines, fetching and carrying in a most abject manner. +There was always a sad dearth of young men on the _Inverness_, except +on a public holiday; but as the girls said, they could always depend on +Alf. He was Algonquin's one young gentleman of leisure, and beside +having a great deal of money to spend on ice-cream and bon-bons, had +also an unlimited amount of good nature to spend with it. + +He seemed to be the only one on board who had much to do. Down below, +old Sandy McTavish, the engineer and the captain's brother, was seated +on a nail keg smoking and spinning yarns to a couple of young Indians. +His assistant, Peter McDuff the younger, who did such work as had to be +done to make the _Inverness_ move, was lounging against the engine-room +door, listening. + +Up in the little pilot house in the bow, the captain was also at +leisure. He was perched upon a stool watching, with deep interest and +admiration, the young man who was guiding the wheel. + +"Ah, ha! ye haven't forgotten, I see!" he exclaimed proudly, as the +strong young hands gave the vessel a wide sweep around a little reedy +island. "I was wondering if you would be remembering the Sand Bar, +indeed." + +"I've taken the _Inverness_ on too many Sunday-school picnics to forget +your lessons, Captain. There's the Pine Point shoal next, and after +you round that, you head her for the Cedars on the tip of Loon Island, +and then straight as the crow flies for the Gates and then Home! +Hurrah!" + +He shook his straight broad shoulders with a boyish gesture of +impatience, as though he would like to jump overboard and swim home. + +"Eh, well, well! It's your father will be the happy man, and to think +you are coming home to stay, too." The captain rubbed his hands along +his knees, joyfully. + +The young man smiled, but did not answer. His eager, dark eyes were +turned upon the scene ahead, marking every dearly familiar point. +Already he could see, through an opening in the forest, the soft gleam +of Lake Algonquin. There was Rock Bass Island where he and his father +and Peter Fiddle used to fish, and the slash in the middle of it +whither he rowed Aunt Kirsty every August to help harvest the +blackberries. A soft golden haze hung over the water, reminding him of +that illusive gleam he had followed, one evening so long ago, when he +set out to find the treasure at the foot of the rainbow. + +He smiled at the recollection of his childish fancy. For he was a man +now, with a university degree, and far removed from any such folly. +Nevertheless there was something in the quick movement of his strong +brown hands, and the look of impulsive daring in his bright eyes, that +hinted that he might be just the lad to launch his canoe on life's +waters and paddle away in haste towards the lure of a rainbow gleam. + +When Captain McTavish had answered a stream of questions regarding all +and sundry in Algonquin, he left him in charge of the wheel and went +rambling over the deck on a hospitable excursion, for he regarded every +one on board as his especial guest. He had aged much in the eighteen +years since he had joined the search party for young Roderick McRae. +The _Inverness_ had been overhauled and painted and made smart many +times in the years that had elapsed, but her captain had undergone no +such renewing process. But he was still famous from one end of the +lakes to the other for the hospitality of the _Inverness_. For though +his eye had grown dim, it was as kindly as ever, and if his step was +not so brisk as in former years, his heart was as swift to help as it +had ever been. + +He pulled the Algonquin _Chronicle_ out of his pocket, smoothed it out +carefully, and moving with his wide swaying stride across the deck to +where a young girl was seated alone, he offered it to her as "the +finest weekly paper in Canada, whatefer, and a good sound Liberal into +the bargain." + +The girl smiled her thanks, and, taking the paper, glanced over it with +an indifferent eye. She was the only stranger on board, and had sat +apart ever since she had left Barbay. Of course every one in Algonquin +knew that a new teacher had been appointed for the East Ward. And as +school opened the next day, the passengers on the _Inverness_ had +rightly guessed that this must be she. She had been the subject of +much discussion amongst the young ladies, for she was very pretty, and +her blue cloth suit was cut after the newest city fashion, and the one +young man seemed in danger of presenting himself, and begging to be +allowed to fetch and carry for her also. Several of the older women, +with motherly hearts, had spoken to her, but she had continued to sit +aloof, discouraging all advances. It was not because she was of an +unsociable nature, but the struggle to keep back the tears of +homesickness took all her attention. There was no place on the little +steamer where one might be alone, so she had sat all afternoon, with +her back to every one gazing over the water. Nevertheless many a +pretty sight had passed her unnoticed. Sometimes the _Inverness_ had +slipped so close to the shore that the overhanging birches bent down +and touched her fair hair with a welcoming caress, and again she ran +away out over the tumbling blue waves, where the gulls soared and +dipped with a flash of white wings. But the strange girl's mind was +far away. She was fairly aching with longing for home--the home that +was no more. And she was longing too for that other home--the +beautiful dream home which was to have been hers, but which was now +only a dream. Again and again the tears had gathered, but she had +forced them back, striving bravely to give her attention to the passing +beauties of land and lake. + +Captain Jimmie's kindly eye had noted the stranger as soon as she had +come on board, and he had set himself to make the drooping little +figure and the big sad eyes look less forlorn. + +He had helped her on board, as she came down from the railway station, +her trunk wheeled behind her, and had shaken hands and welcomed her +warmly to Algonquin, saying she would be sure to like the school and he +knew the Miss Armstrongs would be very kind indeed. + +She had looked up in surprise, not yet knowing the wisdom of Algonquin +folk concerning the doings of their neighbours. + +"Och, indeed I will be knowing all about you," the captain said, +smiling broadly. "You will be Miss Murray, the young leddy that's to +teach. Lawyer Ed--that's Mr. Brians, you know--would be telling me. +And you will be boarding at the Miss Armstrongs'. They told me I was +to be bringing you up," he added, with an air of proprietorship, that +made her feel a little less lonely. "And indeed," he added, with the +gallant air, which was truly his own, "it is a fortunate pair of ladies +the Miss Armstrongs will be, whatefer." + +Many times during the afternoon he had stopped beside her with a kindly +word. And once he sat by her side and pointed out places of interest, +while some uncertain pilot at the wheel sent the _Inverness_ unheeded +on a happy zigzag course. Yon was Hughie McArthur's farm they were +passing now. Hughie had done well. He was own nephew to the captain, +as his eldest sister had married on Old Archie's Hughie. Old Archie +had been the first settler in these parts, and him and his wife had it +hard in the early days. His father had told him many a time that Old +Archie's wife had walked into where Algonquin now stood--they called it +the Gates in those days,--twenty mile away if it was one, with a sack +of wheat on her back to be ground at the mill, and back again with the +flour, while the eldest girl, then only fifteen, looked after the +family and the stock. That was when Archie was away at the front the +time of the rebellion. Yes, it was hard times for the women folk in +those days. Times was changed now to be sure. Take Hughie, now, his +sister's son. That was his new silo over yonder, that she could see. +Hughie had a gasoline engine and it did everything, Hughie said, but +get the hired man up in the morning, and he was going to have it fixed +so it would do that. The captain paused, pleased to see that Hughie's +wit was appreciated. They had the engine fixed to run the churn and +the washer, and Hughie's woman hadn't anything to do but sit and play +the organ or drive herself to town. And just behind yon strip of +timber was where his father had settled first when they came out from +_Inverness_. All that land she could see now, up to the topmost hill +was the township of Oro, and a great place for Highlanders it was in +the early days, though he feared it had sadly deteriorated. Folks said +you could scarcely hear the Gaelic at all now. + +The captain looked at her now, trying to fix her attention on the +little newspaper and he suddenly bethought himself of something else he +could do for her and bustled away down the little steep stair. +Whenever the _Inverness_ sighted the entrance to Lake Algonquin of a +summer afternoon, Captain Jimmie went immediately below and brewed tea +for the whole passenger list. He had always done it, and this +mid-voyage refreshment had come to be one of the institutions of the +trip, as indispensable as the coal to run the engine. He appeared +shortly with a huge teapot in one hand and a jug of hot water in the +other, calling hospitably, "Come away, and have a cup-a-tea, whatefer. +Come away." + +Mr. Alfred Wilbur, the young man in the white flannels ran to help him. +The fact that he was given to rendering his services at all functions +in Algonquin where tea was poured, had brought upon him an ignominious +nickname. His title in full as engraved on his visiting cards, was +Alfred Tennyson Wilbur, and a rude young man of the town had taken +liberties with the initials, and declared they stood for Afternoon Tea +Willie. + +It must be confessed that, while Afternoon Tea Willie was the most +obliging young man in all Canada, he was not entirely disinterested in +his desire to assist the captain to-day. He saw in that big tea-pot a +chance to serve the handsome young lady with the city hat and the smart +suit. He secured a second teapot and was heading her way in bustling +haste when the captain, all unconscious, slipped in ahead of him, and +the unkind young ladies whom poor Alf had slaved for all afternoon, +laughed aloud over his discomfiture. + +As soon as the cup-a-tea had been served the captain went back to the +pilot house. They had entered the Channel, a toy river, low-banked and +reed-fringed, that led by many a pretty curve into Lake Algonquin. Two +bridges spanned the Channel at its narrowest part, which was named the +Gates, and Captain Jimmie allowed no one but himself, however expert, +to take the _Inverness_ through here. + +Relieved from his duties, Roderick strolled away. Like the strange +girl, he, too, had attracted much attention, especially among the young +ladies, and at their bidding Alfred Tennyson had several times +attempted to lure him into joining their circle. But Roderick was shy +and constrained in the presence of young ladies. He had had no time to +cultivate their acquaintance in his school and college days, and had +admired them only from afar in a diffident way; so when Alfred +approached him and begged him once more to come and be introduced he +slipped away downstairs to talk with his old boyhood friend, the +fireman. + +"Hello, Pete, we'll soon be in Lake Algonquin!" he cried joyfully, as +he leaned over the low door and watched the young man heaving coal into +the _Inverness's_ hot jaws. + +Young Peter slammed the furnace door and came up to get a breath of +cool air. He put a black hand on Roderick's arm, "Say, I'm awful glad +you're home, Rod," he said, smiling broadly. + +"And I'm just as awful glad to be home, Pete, old boy. I say, do you +do all the work while the Ancient Mariner there smokes and orders you +round?" + +The crew of the _Inverness_, consisting of an engineer and a fireman, +was, whether in port or on the high seas, in a state of frank mutiny. +The Ancient Mariner, as every one called Sandy McTavish, was the +captain's elder brother, and he made no secret of the fact that he +intended to run the _Inverness_ as he pleased, if he ran her to Davy +Jones. Accordingly he smoked and spun yarns all day long in true +nautical fashion, and young Peter McDuff did the work. + +But Peter looked at Roderick puzzled, and grinned good naturedly. He +did not understand that there was anything unjust in the arrangement +old Sandy had made of the work. Poor Peter had been born to injustice. +His father was a drunkard and the boy had started life dull of brain +and heavy of foot. His slow mind had not questioned why the burdens of +life should have been so unevenly divided. + +But Roderick McRae felt something of the tragedy of Peter's handicapped +life. He put his hands affectionately on the young man's heavy +shoulders. They had been brought up side by side on the shores of Lake +Algonquin, but how different their lots had been! + +"Ah, it's all a hard job for you, Pete, old boy!" he cried. + +Peter's dull eyes lit up. + +"Oh, no, it ain't! It will be a great job, Rod. Your father would be +getting it for me. Your father's been awful good to us, Rod. Say, +tell me about the city. Is it an awful big place?" + +Roderick studied the young man's heavy face, as he talked. Here was +one of his father's neighbours of the Jericho Road. For twenty years +or more, he could remember his father struggling to bring Peter Fiddle +to a life of sobriety and righteousness and to bring up his son in the +same. And what had he to show for it all? Old Peter was a worse +drunkard than he had been twenty years ago, and poor Young Peter was +the hopeless result of that drinking. Roderick's kindly heart +sympathised with his father's efforts, but his head pronounced judgment +upon them. He confessed he could see very little use in bothering with +the sort of folk that were forever stumbling on the Jericho Roads of +life. + +Peter went back reluctantly to the engine-room, and Roderick ran up on +deck to see the _Inverness_ enter the Gates. He had not been home for +a whole long year, and he was eager as a child to get the first glimpse +of Algonquin and the little cove where the old farm lay. + +As he was passing round to the wheel-house, he noticed again the young +stranger who had come on board at Barbay. He had been puzzled then by +the recollection of having seen her before, and he walked slowly, +looking at her and trying to recall where and when it could have been. +As he approached, she turned in his direction, her eyes following the +sweep of a gull's white wing, and he recognised her. He remembered her +quite distinctly, for he could count on his fingers the number of young +ladies he had met in his busy college days, and Miss Murray was not one +that could be easily forgotten. He stood at the railing and recalled +the scene. It had been at the home of Mrs. Carruthers, Billy Parker's +aunt. That kind lady made it a blessed habit to invite hungry students +to her home on Sunday nights. And the suppers she gave! Billy had +taken Roderick that evening, and there were a half-dozen more. And +this Miss Murray had dropped in after church with Richard Wells. Wells +was a medical in his last year, and Roderick had met him often before. +Miss Murray had worn some sort of soft white dress, he remembered, and +a big white hat, and she had been very bright and gay then, not sad and +pensive as she seemed now. + +He did not realise that he was staring intently at her, while he +recalled all this, until she turned and looked at him. She gave a +start of surprised recognition mingled with something of dismay. For +an instant she looked irresolute; then she bowed, and Roderick came +quickly forward. She gave him her hand, a vague look in her deep +grey-blue eyes. She remembered him; Roderick's appearance was too +striking to be easily forgotten; but it was plain she could not recall +where. + +"It was a Sunday evening, last fall--at Mrs. Carruthers'," he +stammered. She smiled reassuringly. + +"Oh, yes, it was stupid of me to forget. You were in law, weren't you?" + +"Yes, in my last year. I'm just on my way home now, to practise in +Algonquin. Are you going to visit friends here?" + +"No, I'm going to teach." She did not seem to want to speak of +herself. "Algonquin is a very pretty place, I hear." + +"It's is the most lovely place in Canada," said Roderick +enthusiastically. He was not as shy in her presence as he usually was +with young women. He could not help seeing, that for some +unaccountable reason, she was embarrassed at meeting him, and her +distress made him forget himself. He tried to put her at her ease in a +flurried way. + +"How people scatter! The half-dozen that were at Mrs. Carruthers' that +night are all over the world. Billy Parker's gone to Victoria to +practise law, and Withers is in Germany, and Wells,--he graduated with +honours, didn't he? Where did Dick Wells go?" + +Roderick had no sooner uttered the name than he saw he had made a +mistake. The girl's face flushed; a slow colour creeping up over neck +and brow and dyeing her cheeks crimson. But she looked up at him with +brave steady eyes as she answered quietly: + +"I am not sure where he is. I heard he had gone to Montreal." And +when she had said it she became as white as the dainty lawn blouse she +wore. + +Roderick made a blundering attempt to apologise for something, he +scarcely knew what, and only made matters worse. + +"I--I beg your pardon," he said, "I shouldn't have asked--but I +thought--we understood--at least I mean Billy said," he floundered +about hopelessly, and she came to his aid. + +"That Dr. Wells and I were engaged?" She was looking at him directly +now, sitting erect with a sparkle in her eye. + +"Yes," he whispered. + +"It was true--then. But it is not now." + +"I am so sorry I spoke--" faltered Roderick. + +"You need not be," she broke in. "It was quite natural--only--" she +looked at him keenly for a moment as though taking his measure. "May I +ask a favour of you, Mr. McRae?" + +"Oh, yes, I should be so glad," he broke out, anxious to make amends. + +"Then if you would be so good as to make no mention of--of this. I +shall be living in Algonquin now for some time probably." + +She stopped falteringly. She could not confess to this strange young +man that she had come away to this little town where no one knew her +just to escape the curiosity and pity of acquaintances and friends, and +that she was dismayed at meeting one on its very threshold who knew her +secret. She was relieved to find him more anxious to keep it than she +herself. + +He assured her that he would not even think of it again, and then he +stumbled upon a remark about the fishing in Lake Algonquin, and the +duck-shooting, two things, he recollected afterwards, in which she +could not possibly be interested, and finally he made his escape. He +leaned over the bow, watching the channel opening out its green arms to +the _Inverness_, and tried to recall all that he had heard about Dick +Wells. Billy Parker, who knew all college gossip, had told him much to +which he had scarcely listened. But he remembered something concerning +a broken engagement. Wells was to have been married in June to the +pretty Miss Murray, Billy had said. She had her trousseau all ready, +and then Dick had gone on a trip to the Old Country alone. No one knew +the reason, though Billy had declared it was the same old +reason--"Another girl." + +Roderick McRae's chivalry had never before been called into action +where young women were concerned. Now he felt something new and strong +rising within him. He was suddenly filled with the old spirit which +sent a knight out upon the highway to do doughty deeds for the honour +of a lady, or to right her wrongs. His warm heart was filled with +conflicting emotions, rage at himself for having brought the hurt look +into those soft blue eyes, rage at Wells for being the primary cause of +it, and underneath all a strange, quite unreasonable, feeling of +exhilaration over the fact that he and the girl with the golden hair +and the sad eyes had a secret between them. + +They were in the Gates now, passing slowly through the railroad bridge. +The softly tinted glassy water of Lake Algonquin, with the green +islands mirrored in its clear depths was opening out to view. The +channel too, was clear and still like crystal, save where the swell +from the bows of the _Inverness_ rolled away to the low shore and set +the bulrushes nodding a stately welcome. The echoes of the little +engine clattered away into the deep woods, startlingly clear. An ugly +brown bittern, with a harsh exclamation of surprise at the intrusion +into his quiet domain, shot across the bow and disappeared into the +swamp. A great heron sailed majestically down the channel ahead of the +boat, his broad blue wings gleaming in the sunlight. It was all so +still and beautiful that a sense of peace and content awoke in +Roderick's heart. + +The _Inverness_ was making her way slowly towards the second bridge. +The channel was very narrow and shallow here and the captain's little +whistle that communicated with the powers below was squeaking +frantically. Just as the bridge began to turn, a man in a mud-splashed +buggy dashed up, a moment too late to cross, and stood there holding +his horse, which went up indignantly on its heels every time the +_Inverness_ snorted. His fair face was darkened with anger, his blue +eyes were blazing. He leaned over the dashboard and shook his fist at +the little wheel-house which held the captain. + +"Get along there you, Jimmie McTavish!" He roared in a voice that was +rich and musical even in its anger. "Can't you see I'm in a hurry, you +thundering old mud-turtle? I could sail a ship across the Atlantic +while you are dawdling here. Get out of my road, I tell you! I've got +to be in town before that five train goes out, and here's that old +dromedary of yours stuck in the mud.--How? What? Oh, what in the name +of--?" He choked, spluttering with wrath, for with a final squeak the +_Inverness_ stopped altogether. + +The captain darted out of the wheel-house to call down an indignant +enquiry of the Ancient Mariner as to the cause of the delay. Much +sailing in all weathers in the keen air of the northern lakes had +ruined Captain McTavish's voice, which, at best, had never been +intended for any part but a high soprano. And now it was almost +inaudible with anger. It ill became the dignity of a sea captain to be +thus publicly berated in the presence of his passengers. + +"If ye'd whisht ye're noise," he screamed, "I'd be movin' queek enough. +Come away, Sandy! Come away, Peter, man!" + +For all his sailing, the captain was a true landsman, and when under +pressure his thin nautical veneer slipped off him, and his language was +not of the sea. + +"Come away, Sandy," he called artlessly, "and gee her a bit. _Gee_!" + +"I can have the law on you for obstructing the King's Highway!" +thundered the man on the bridge. + +"The water will be jist as much the King's Highway as the road!" +retorted the captain indignantly. "If you would be leafing other +folks' business alone, and attending to your own, you would be knowing +the law better. It is a rule of the sea that effery vessel--" + +"The sea!" the enemy burst in with an overwhelming roar. "The sea! A +vessel! A miserable fish pond, and an old tub like that, the sea and a +vessel! Get away with you! Get out of my sight!" + +He waved a hand as if he would wipe the _Inverness_ from off the face +of the waters. + +During the altercation, Roderick McRae had been leaning far over the +railing, striving to attract the attention of the madman in the buggy. +But his voice was drowned in the laughter and cheers of the passengers +who were enjoying the battle immensely. At this moment he put his +fingers to his teeth and uttered a long, sharp whistle. "Ho! Lawyer +Ed!" he shouted. The man on the bridge started. His angry face, with +the quickness of lightning, broke into radiance. + +"Roderick!--Rod! Are you there? Hooray!" He caught off his hat and +waved it in the air. "Come on home with me! I dare you to jump it!" + +The _Inverness_ was at a perilous distance from the bridge, but the +young man did not hesitate a moment before the half-laughing challenge. +He leaped lightly upon the railing, poised a moment and, with a mighty +spring, landed upon the bridge. The onlookers gave a gasp and then a +relieved and admiring cheer. + +Another spring put Roderick into the buggy, where his friend hammered +him on the back, and they laughed like a couple of school-boys. And +that was what they really were, for though Roderick McRae was nearly +twenty-four, he was feeling like a boy in his home-coming joy, and as +for Lawyer Ed he hadn't grown an hour older, either in feeling or +appearance, but lived perennially somewhere near the joyous age of +eighteen. + +Meanwhile the real captain of the _Inverness_ had begun to bestir +himself. The Ancient Mariner cared not the smallest lump of coal that +went into the furnace door for the command of his brother-captain; but +he had a wholesome fear of Lawyer Ed, and doubted the wisdom of rousing +him again. So he gave an order to Peter, and with a great deal of +boiling and churning of the water the _Inverness_ slowly began to move. +The bridge, worked by a dozen youngsters who always roosted there, +began to turn into place. With a defiant yell of her whistle, the +_Inverness_ sailed out of the Gates, and the buggy dashed across the +bridge and away down the dusty road. But though Lawyer Ed was bubbling +over with good humour now, he turned, Marmion like, to shake his +gauntlet of defiance at the retreating vessel, and to call out +insulting remarks to which the captain responded with spirit. + +"Well inteet," said the Ancient Mariner, as he settled once more to his +pipe, "it will be a great peety that Lawyer Ed has neither the Gawlic +nor the profanity, for when he will be getting into a rage he will jist +be no use at all, at all!" + +All unconscious of his verbal deficiencies, and uproariously happy, +Lawyer Ed sped away down the Pine Road towards town. He had been +looking forward for a long time to this day, when Roderick should come +back to Algonquin to be his partner. + +"It's great to see you again, Lad," he exclaimed joyfully, surveying +the young man's fine figure and frank face with pride. "I was getting +nervous for fear you were going West after all." + +"I can't pretend I didn't want to go," he confessed, "though I didn't +like the idea of another fellow in my place in your office. You see +I'm a good bit of a dog in the manger, and when Father's last letter +arrived I felt I must come." + +"That's right, my boy. Your place is with your father just now. And +you're looking as fine and fit as if you'd been away camping." + +"I'm ready for anything. You and J. P. Thornton can start for the Holy +Land to-morrow." + +"I prophesied once, about a score or so years ago; that I'd go when you +could manage my practice, and I'll be hanged if I don't think it's +coming true. J. P.'s talking about it, anyway. Does your arm ever +bother you now?" + +Roderick doubled up his right fist, stretched out his arm, and slowly +drew it up, showing his splendid muscle. "Sometimes, but not anything +to bother about, only a twinge once in a while when it's damp. I can +still paddle my good canoe, and if you'd like a boxing bout--" he +turned and squared up to his friend, receiving a lightning-like blow +that nearly knocked him into the road. And the two went off into an +uproarious sparring match like a couple of youngsters. + +Lawyer Ed had never yet married though he still made love to every +woman, girl and baby in Algonquin. But Roderick McRae had grown to be +like a son to him, filling every desire of his big warm heart, and now +the proud day had come when his boy was to be his partner. He and +Angus had talked for hours of the wonderful things that were to be +accomplished in the town and church and on the Jericho Road when the +Lad came home, and had laid great plans at which the Lad himself only +guessed. They had feared for a time that all were to be ruined when, +after his graduation, he had been kept in the city in the employ of a +firm, and had received from them an offer of a position in the West. +But he had refused, to their joy, and was to settle in Algonquin and +relieve Lawyer Ed of his altogether too burdensome practice. + +As they spun along, for the five-o'clock train was still to be caught, +the elder man poured out all the news of the town; J. P.'s last great +speech, Algonquin's lacrosse victories, the latest battle in the +session,--for Jock McPherson was still a valiant and stubborn +objector,--the last tea-meeting at McClintock's Corners, where the +Highland Quartette, of whom Lawyer Ed was leader, had sung, the errand +over to Indian Head, where he had just been, etc., etc. It was not +half told when they came to the point in the road opposite Roderick's +home, and the Lad leaped down, promising to run up to the office that +night when he went into town for his trunk. + +He lost no time on the rest of the journey. It was a dash through the +dim woods where the white Indian Pipes raised their tiny, waxen tapers, +and the squirrels skirled indignantly at him from the tree-tops; a leap +across the stream where the water-lilies made a fairy bridge of green +and gold, a scramble through the underbrush, and he was at the edge of +the little pasture-field, and saw the old home buried in orchard trees, +and Aunt Kirsty's garden a blaze of sun-flowers and asters. And there +at the gate, gazing eagerly down the lane in quite the wrong direction, +stood his father! + +The years had told heavily on the Good Samaritan, and Roderick's loving +eye could detect changes even in the last year of his absence. Old +Angus's tall figure was stooped and thin, and he carried a staff, but +he still held up his head as though facing the skies, and his eyes were +as young and as kindly as ever. The Lad gave a boyish shout and came +bounding towards him. The old man dropped his stick and held out both +his hands. He said not a word, but his eyes spoke very eloquently all +his pride and joy and love. He put his two hands on his son's head and +uttered a low prayer of thanksgiving. + +Aunt Kirsty came bustling out as fast as her accumulating flesh would +permit. Poor Aunt Kirsty had grown to a great bulk these later days +and could not hurry, but indeed had she used up all the energy on +moving forward that she mistakenly put into swaying violently from side +to side, she would have made tremendous speed. Roderick ran to meet +her, and she took him into her ample bosom and kissed him and patted +him on the back and poured out a dozen Gaelic synonyms for darling, and +then shoved him away, and burying her face in her apron, began to cry +because he was such a man and not her baby any more! + +The father's heart was too full for words; but after supper when they +sat out on the porch in the soft misty twilight, he found many things +to ask, and many questions to answer. Roderick sat on the step facing +the lake, filled with a great content. The sunset gleam of the water +through the darkening trees, the soft plaintive call of the phoebes +from the woods, the sleepy drone of Bossy's bell from the pasture, and +the scents of the garden made up the atmosphere of home. + +"Well, well, and you have come to stay," his father said for the tenth +time, rubbing his hands along his knee in ecstasy, "to stay." + +"It'll be great to know that I don't have to run away at the end of the +summer, won't it?" + +"It'll jist be the answer to all my prayers, Lad. I feel I am no use +in the world at all, now that you have made me give up all work." He +gave his son a glance of loving reproach. For while Roderick had +managed to get his education, he had managed too, to do wonderful +things with the little farm, so that his father had long ago given up +the work he had resumed after his year's illness. And Aunt Kirsty had +a servant-girl in the kitchen now, and devoted all her time to her +garden and her Bible. + +"You've jist made your father a useless old body. But I jist can't be +minding, for I see how you can be taking up all my work. There's the +Jericho Road waiting for you, Lad." + +The young man smiled indulgently. "And what do you think I can do +there, Father? Unless Mike Cassidy goes to law as usual." + +"Ah, but is jist you that can. Edward will be finding great +opportunities for helping folk and he has not the time now. There's +that poor bit English body, Perkins, and his family, and there's Mike +as you say, though Father Tracy would be straightening him up something +fine. But you must jist see that he doesn't go to law any more. And +then there's poor Peter Fiddle." + +The younger man laughed. "Peter is the kind of poor we have with us +always, Dad. Is he behaving any better?" + +"Och, indeed I sometime think I see a decided improvement," exclaimed +Old Angus, with the optimism that had refused to give Peter Fiddle up +through years of drunkenness and failure. "We must jist keep hold of +him, and the good Lord will save Peter yet, never fear." + +Roderick was silent. Personally he had no faith in Peter McDuff the +elder. He had gone on through the years fiddling and singing and +telling stories, his drunken sprees showing a constantly diminishing +interval between. Every one in Algonquin, except Angus McRae, had +given him up long ago, but his old friend still held on to him with a +faith which was really the only thing that kept old Peter from complete +ruin. But Roderick had the impatience of youth with failure, and +though he had inherited his father's warm heart, he was not at all +happy at the thought of becoming guardian of all the poor unfortunates +of the town who in one way or the other had fallen among thieves. + +"Eh yes, yes, there is a great ministry for you here, Lad. I have +sometimes been sorry that you did not feel called to the preaching, but +I was jist thinking the last time Edward and I talked the work over, +that I was glad now you hadn't. For you will be able to help the poor +folk that need you jist as well here, though I would be far from +putting anything above the preaching of the Gospel. But there will be +many ways of preaching the Gospel, Lad, and the lawyer has a great +chance. It will be by jist being neighbour to the folk in want. Folk +go more often to the lawyer or the doctor, Archie Blair says, when they +are in trouble, than they do to their minister, and I am afraid it's +true. And a great many of the folk that will come to you to get you to +do their business, Lad, will be folk in trouble, many who have fallen +among thieves on the Jericho Road, and you will be pouring in the oil +and the wine that the dear Lord has given you, and you will be doing it +all in His name." He sighed happily. "Oh, yes, indeed and indeed, it +will be a great ministry, Roderick, my son." + +Roderick was silent. His heart was touched. He resolved he would do +the best he could for any friend of his father who was in trouble. But +his eye was set on far prospects of great achievement, where Algonquin +and the Jericho Road had no place. + +Their talk was interrupted by Aunt Kirsty, who came to the door to +demand of him what he had done with his clothes. Had he come home, the +rascal, with nothing but what was on his back after the six pairs of +new socks she had sent him only last spring? + +Roderick sprang up. "My trunk! It will be on the wharf. I yelled at +Peter to put it off there, just as we were driving away, and said I'd +paddle over and get it. I forgot all about it, Aunt Kirsty." The +father and son looked at each other and smiled. It was easy to forget +when they were together. + +"I'll go after it right now. It's mostly old books and soiled clothes, +Auntie, but there's one nice thing in it. You ought to see the peach +of a shawl I got you." He ran in for his cap, and she followed him to +the door, scolding him for his foolish extravagance, but not deceiving +any one into thinking that she was not highly pleased. + +Angus stood long at the water's edge watching the Lad's canoe slip away +out on the mirror of the lake. The shore was growing dark, but the +water still reflected the rose of the sunset. The soft dip of his +paddle disturbed its stillness and a long golden track marked the road +he was taking out into the light. Away ahead of him, beyond the +network of islands, shone the glory of the departing day. The Lad was +paddling straight for the Gleam. The father's mind went back to that +evening of stormy radiance, when the little fellow had paddled away to +find the rainbow gold. + +His eyes followed the straight, alert young figure yearningly. He was +praying that in the voyage of life before him, his boy might never be +led away by false lights. He recalled the words of the poem Archie +Blair had recited the evening before at a young folks' meeting in the +town. + + "_Not of the sunlight + Not of the moonlight + Not of the starlight, + Oh young Mariner, + Down to the haven, + Call your companions + Launch your vessel + And crowd your canvas + And e'er it vanish + Over the margin + After it; follow it; + Follow the gleam!_" + +It held the burden of his prayer for the Lad; that, ever unswerving, he +might follow the true Gleam until he found it, shining on the forehead +of the blameless King. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +SIDE LIGHTS + +Roderick was not thinking of that Gleam upon which his father's mind +was set, as he glided silently out upon the golden mirror of Lake +Algonquin. The still wonder of the glowing lake and sky and the +mystery of the darkening shore and islands carried his thoughts somehow +to a new wonder and dream; the light that had shone in the girl's brave +eyes, the colour that had flooded her face at his awkward words. They +were beautiful eyes but sad, and there were tints in her hair like the +gold on the water. Roderick had known scarcely any young women. His +life had been too busy for that--when he was away, books had claimed +all his attention, when he was home, the farm. But in the background +of his consciousness, shadowy and unformed, but none the less present, +dwelt a vague picture of his ideal woman; the woman that was to be his +one day. She was really the picture of his mother, as painted by his +father's hand, and as memory furnished a light here or a detail there. +Roderick had not had time to think of his ideal; his heart was a boy's +heart still--untried and unspoiled, but this evening her shadowy form +seemed to have become more definite, and it wore golden brown hair and +had sad blue-grey eyes. + +He swept silently around the end of Wanda Island, and his dreams were +suddenly interrupted by a startling sight; for directly in front of +him, just between the little bay and the lake beyond, bobbed an +upturned canoe and two heads! + +To the youthful native of Algonquin an upset into the lake was not a +serious matter; and to the young lady and gentleman swimming about +their capsized craft, the affair, up to a few moments previous, had +been rather a good joke. How it had happened that two such expert +canoeists as Leslie Graham and Fred Hamilton could fall out of anything +that sailed the water, was a question those who knew them could not +have solved. They had been over to Mondamin Island to gather +golden-rod and asters for a party the young lady was to give the next +evening. They had been paddling merrily homeward, the space between +them piled with their purple and golden treasure, and as they paddled +they talked, or rather the young lady did, for where Miss Leslie Graham +was, no one else had much chance to say anything. + +"There's the _Inverness_ at the dock," she said, when they came within +view of the town. "Aunt Elinor's boarder must have come on it, the +girl that's going to teach in Miss Hasting's room." + +"I thought your aunt said you weren't to call her a boarder." + +The girl put her paddle across the canoe and leaned back with a burst +of laughter. She was handsome at any time, but particularly so when +she laughed, showing a row of perfect teeth and a merry gleam in her +black eyes. + +"Poor old Auntie! Isn't she a joke? She's scared the family +escutcheon of the Armstrongs will be sullied forever with the blot of a +boarder on it. Auntie Bell is nearly as bad too. My! I hope they +won't expect us to trot her around in our set." + +"Why?" asked young Mr. Hamilton. He was always interested in new girls. + +"Too many girls in it already. You know that, Fred Hamilton." + +"Well, I say, I believe you're right, Les," he ventured, but with some +hesitation. He was a rather nice young fellow, with the inborn idea +that, theoretically, there couldn't be too many girls, but there was no +denying the fact that Algonquin seemed to have more than her fair +share. Only, Leslie was always so startlingly truthful, it was +sometimes rather disconcerting to hear one's half-formed thoughts +spoken out incisively as was her way. + +"There does seem to be an awful swarm of them," he admitted +reluctantly, "especially since the Harrisons and the Wests came to +town. I danced twenty-five times without drawing breath at Polly's +last spree, and never twice with the same girl. Where did she pick 'em +all up, anyway?" + +That was the last remark they could remember having made. And the girl +was wont to explain that the thing which happened next was a just +judgment upon the young man for uttering such sentiments, and a fearful +warning for his future. But the most elaborate explanations could +never quite solve the mystery, for they never knew how it chanced that +the next moment the canoe was over and they were in the water. To a +girl of Algonquin, a canoe upset was inexcusable; to a boy, a disgrace +never to be lived down. So when Leslie Graham and Fred Hamilton, who +had been born and brought up on the shores of the lake and had learned +to swim and walk simultaneously, found themselves in the water, the +first expression in their eyes, after an instant's startled surprise, +was one of indignation. + +"What on earth did you do?" gasped the girl, and "What on earth did you +do?" sputtered the boy. + +And then, being the girl she was, Leslie Graham burst out laughing, +"'What on the water,' would be more appropriate. Well, Fred Hamilton, +I never thought you'd upset!" + +"I didn't!" he cried indignantly. "You jumped, I saw you." + +"Jumped! I never did! And even if I did, I don't see why you should +have turned a somersault. I could dance the Highland Fling in a canoe +and not upset. Oh dear! all my flowers are gone!" They put their +hands on the upturned craft and floated easily. + +"What are you going to do about it?" she asked. "We're a long way from +shore, and the walking's damp." + +He glanced about. They were a good distance from land, but the only +danger he anticipated was the danger of a rescue. He would be +disgraced forever if some fellow paddled out from home and picked them +up. But a little island lay between them and the town, screening them +from immediate exposure. + +"Do? Why, just hop in again. Here, help me heave her over!" + +Many a time in younger days, just for fun, they had pitched themselves +out of their canoe, righted it again, "scooped" and "rocked" the water +out, and scrambled back over bow and stern. But that was always when +they wore bathing suits and there were no paddles and cushions floating +about to be collected. But they were ready for even this difficult +feat. They tumbled the canoe over to its proper position, and the +young man, by balancing himself upon one end and swimming rapidly, sent +the stern up into the air and "scooped" most of the water out. Then +they rocked it violently from side to side, to empty the remainder, +while the girl sang gaily "Rocked in the Cradle of the Deep," her +dancing eyes no less bright than the water drops glistening on her +black curly hair. + +But the emptying process was longer than they had anticipated, and the +evening air was growing cool. By the time the canoe was ready to +enter, the girl had stopped singing. + +"Hustle up, Freddie!" she called, giving a little shiver, as he shot +away through the water for a paddle. "This water's getting wetter +every minute." When he returned, he placed himself at the stern and +the girl at the bow. + +"Now," he cried, "when I say go, you climb like a cat, Les. Don't +hurry, just crawl in easy. Ready? Go!" + +She placed her hands on the gunwale and drew herself up, while her +companion, with an eye on her progress, slowly crawled over the stern. + +But the heavy drag of her soaked cloth skirt was too much for the +girl's strength. She paused, failed at the critical moment, slipped to +one side, and they were once more in the water, the canoe bottom up. + +"Oh, hang!" exclaimed the young man. Then apologetically, "Never mind, +heave her over, and we'll do it again." + +But the girl's teeth had begun to chatter, and the work of emptying the +canoe the second time was not such a joke. And the second attempt to +get in and the third also proved a failure. + +"What's the matter, anyhow?" grumbled the boy impatiently. "You've +done that three times, Leslie!" + +He was amazed and dismayed to see her lip quiver. "I can't do it, +Fred. I'm all tired out. I--I believe I'm going to yell for help." + +"Oh, Great Scott, Leslie!" groaned the young man. Then encouragingly, +"You're all right. Cheer up! I'll get you into this thing in no time." + +He set to work again briskly, but though the girl helped, it was +without enthusiasm. She was going through an entirely new experience. +In all her happy life, untouched by sorrow or privation of any kind, +she had never felt the need of help. Fred and she had been chums since +they were babies, and were going to be married some day, perhaps. Fred +was a good, jolly fellow, he was well off, well-dressed, and quite the +leader of all the young men of the town. But now, for the first time, +her dauntless gay spirit was forsaking her, and a vision of how +inadequate Fred might be in time of stress was coming dimly to her +awakening woman's heart. She would almost rather have drowned than +play the coward. But she wanted Fred to be afraid for her. She was +more of a woman than she knew. + +And then, just as a wave of fear was coming over her, Roderick McRae, +in his canoe, came out around the point and paddled straight towards +them. + +She gave a cry of joyful relief. "A canoe! Oh, look, Fred! +Somebody's coming this way from McRae's cove!" + +The young man turned with some apprehension mingling with his joy. He +would almost as soon be detected appropriating funds from the bank +where he clerked, as be caught in this ignominious plight. There was +just a slight sense of relief, however, for they had been a long time +in the water. But he would not admit that. + +"Pshaw!" he grumbled. "I wish they'd waited a minute longer." + +"Well, I don't!" cried his companion tremulously. + +The boy looked across the canoe at her. Never, in the twenty years he +had known Leslie Graham intimately, had he before seen her daunted. + +"What's up?" he demanded. "You're not losing your nerve, Leslie?" + +"No, I'm not!" she snapped, trying desperately to hide an unexpected +quaver in her voice. "But--" + +"You're not chilled, are you?" + +"No. Not much." + +"Nor cramped?" + +"No." + +"Well, you're all right then. Goodness, you've been in the water hours +longer than this, heaps of times. Cheer up, old girl, you're all +right. What's the matter, anyhow?" + +But she did not answer, for she hardly knew herself. She had no real +fear of being drowned, that seemed impossible. But strange new +feelings had begun to stir in the heart, that so far had been only the +care-free heart of a girl, almost the heart of a daring boy. She did +not realise that what she really wanted was that Fred should be +solicitous about her. If he had shown the slightest anxiety over her +she would have become recklessly daring. But young Fred would as soon +have shown tender care for a frisky young porpoise in the water, as +Leslie, even had it been his nature to care unduly for any one but Fred +Hamilton. + +The canoe was approaching swiftly, and the man in it was near enough to +be recognised. "I say," cried Fred, "it's Rod McRae. I didn't know he +was home. Ship ahoy, there!" he shouted gaily. "Hurrah, and give us a +lift; it's too damp for the lady to walk home!" + +Leslie Graham looked at the approaching canoeist. She and Fred +Hamilton had both attended the same school, Sunday-school and church as +Roderick McRae. But she could remember him but dimly as an awkward +country boy, in her brief High School days, before she "finished" with +a year at a city boarding-school. Her life at school had been all fun +and mischief, and rushing away from irksome lessons to more fun at +home; his had been all serious hard work, and rushing away from the +fascination of his lessons to harder work on the farm. Fred Hamilton +had never worked at school, but he knew him better; the free-masonry of +boyhood had made that possible. + +"Why, what's happened?" cried Roderick as he swept alongside the wreck. +"Fred Hamilton! Surely you're not upset?" + +"Doesn't look like it, does it?" enquired the young man in the water +rather sarcastically. "Here, give this thing a hoist, will you, Rod? +I can't understand how such an idiotic thing happened? Miss Graham and +I were paddling along as steadily as you are now, and--" + +But Roderick was paying no attention to him. He was looking at the +girl hanging to the upturned canoe, her eyes grieved and frightened. +With a quick stroke he placed himself at her side. + +"Why, you're all tired out," he cried. "You must get in here." + +She looked up at him gratefully. She had never realised how welcome a +sympathetic voice could sound. She answered, not the least like the +dauntless Leslie, "I just can't! I can't climb over the bow. It's no +use trying." + +Roderick was at his best where any one was in distress. His knightly +young heart prompted him to do the right thing. + +"You don't need to," he said gently. "I can take you in over the side. +Here, Fred, come round and help." + +Fred came to her, and Roderick slipped down into the bottom of the +canoe. He leaned heavily to the side opposite the girl, and extended +his hand. "Now, you can do it quite easily," he said encouragingly. +"Catch the thwart; there--no, sideways--that's it! Steady, Fred, don't +hurry her. There you are. Now!" She had rolled in somehow over the +side, and sat soaked and heavy, half-laughing and half-tearful, right +at his feet. + +"Oh," she said, "I'm making you all wet." + +"Well, that's the neatest ever," cried Fred Hamilton in involuntary +admiration. + +The work of emptying the other canoe, with the help of such an expert, +was an easy matter. When it was ready Roderick held it while Fred +tumbled in. Stray cushions and paddles, and even an armful of soaking +golden-rod were rescued, and then the two young men looked +involuntarily at the girl. + +"Hop over the fence, Leslie!" cried Fred. He was in high good humour +now, for Rod McRae would never tell on a fellow, or chaff him in public +about an upset. + +But Leslie Graham shook her head. Something strange had happened, she +had grown very quiet and grave. + +"No," she said in a low voice, "I don't want any more adventures +to-night. You'll take me home, won't you--Roderick?" She hesitated +just a moment over the name, but remembering she had called him that at +school, she ventured. + +"It would give me the greatest pleasure," he cried cordially. His +diffidence had all vanished, he was master of the situation. + +He glanced half-enquiringly at the other young man, to see relief +expressed quite frankly on his face. + +"All right, Leslie! Thanks ever so, Rod. I can scoot over to the +boathouse and get some dry togs, before I go home. And say--you won't +say anything about this now, Les, will you?" + +The girl's spirits were returning. "Why not?" she asked teasingly. +"It wouldn't be fair to keep such a gallant rescue a secret." + +"Oh, please don't!" cried Roderick in dismay. + +"But it would make such a nice column for The _Chronicle_," said the +girl demurely. "I really can't promise, Fred. Tom Allen would give me +ten dollars for it, I am sure." + +"If you dare!" cried the young man wrathfully. "I'd never hear the end +of it. And your mother would never let you out on the water again, you +know that, Les," he added threateningly. + +"That's so," she admitted. "Well, I'll see, Freddy. Cheer up. If I +do tell I promise to make you the hero of the adventure." + +She waved her hand to him laughingly, as Roderick's long strokes sent +them skimming away over the darkening water. When they were beyond +earshot, she turned to her rescuer. + +"It's all right to joke about it now," she said, her tone tremulous, +"but it was beginning to be anything but a joke. I--I do believe-- +Why, I just know that you saved my life, Roderick McRae. And there is +one person I am going to tell, I don't care who objects, and that's my +father. And you'll hear from him; for he thinks, the poor mistaken +man, that his little Leslie is the whole thing!" + +And even though Roderick protested vigorously, he could not help +feeling that it would be a great stroke of good fortune to have +Algonquin's richest and most powerful man feel he was in his debt. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +FOLLOWING THE GLEAM + +When the _Inverness_ bumped against the wharf at Algonquin, the strange +girl, standing with her bag in her hand, waiting to step ashore, was +surprised to see the late enemy of the boat drive down upon the dock. +She was still more surprised to see that his face was beaming with good +nature, as he hailed the captain. But then, she did not, as yet, know +Lawyer Edward Brians. + +"Hech, Jamie, lad!" he shouted. "Hoot! Awa wi ye, mon! Are ye no +gaun tae get the fowk ashore the nicht?" + +And then there was a long outpouring of strange indistinguishable +sounds, which caused the Ancient Mariner to stop smoking and +expectorate into Lake Algonquin with a disgusted "Huh!" For Lawyer +Ed's Gaelic, though fluent, was a thing to make Highland ears shudder. + +At the first appearance of the buggy, the captain had turned away in +haughty silence, and went on with his task of seeing that his +passengers were safely landed, without so much as a glance at his +talkative friend. + +But his frigid reception seemed only to tickle Lawyer Ed's sense of +amusement. He leaned back in his seat, shut up his eyes, and laughed +loudly. "Well, for downright pigheadedness and idiotic pertinacity, +commend me to a Scotchman every time," he cried delightedly. + +He threw the lines over the dashboard, and sprang out of the buggy, +straight, alert and vigorous. + +"It's no use, your trying that air of dignity on me, Jimmie McTavish!" +he cried, striding over the gang-plank. "You nearly made me lose a +train and a client into the bargain. And if I had lost him, that bit +of business of yours wouldn't have been worth a puff of smoke, my braw +John Hielanman!" He slapped the captain on the back, and a peculiar +change came over the latter's face. There was no man in Algonquin who +could remain angry at Lawyer Ed and be hammered by him on the back. He +was voted the most exasperating person in the world, by people of all +ages, and many a time an indignant individual would announce publicly +that dire vengeance was about to be launched upon his wicked head. But +when all Algonquin waited for the blow to fall, presently Lawyer Ed and +the injured party would appear in the most jovial companionship, and +once more his execution was postponed. It was as usual this time, the +captain's wrath broke, shattered by that friendly blow upon the back. +He still kept up a show of taciturnity, by a grumbling monologue +concerning the undignified procedure of Irishmen in general, but the +Irishman laughed so loud that Captain Jimmie was deceived into thinking +he had said something very witty indeed, and laughed too, in spite of +himself. + +"I'm hunting a young lady," cried Lawyer Ed; "the new teacher. Miss +Armstrong hailed me in passing and said I was to drive her up." + +"Oh, yes, Mr. Brians," cried Alfred Wilbur, bustling up, "she's over +there. I was going to show her the way up myself. It's too bad to +trouble you, when you're so busy." + +Lawyer Ed eyed him sternly. + +"What! Do you think I'd allow you, in all your magnificence, to burst +upon the vision of an innocent young girl, first go off, and have her +fall in love with you, and get her heart broken? Not much, young man! +We'll bring you on the stage gradually. A few ugly old married men +like Jimmie here, or a withered old bachelor like myself, will do as +preliminaries, and in about six months or so,--ah, well, well,--How do +you do, my dear young lady? I'm chairman of the school board and I +just drove down to tell you that you are very welcome to Algonquin." + +He had pushed Afternoon Tea Willie quite out of sight and followed the +captain to where the new teacher stood alone. He took her hand and +shook it vigorously, his kind blue eyes beaming a welcome. + +"I'm sure we are glad you've come!" he declared again, still more +heartily, for he saw the homesickness in the big eyes. "You'll be as +happy here as a bob-o-link in a field of clover. I needn't ask you if +Captain McTavish took good care of you on the way up. He couldn't help +it, with that Hieland heart of his, eh, Jimmie, lad? Whenever we want +to make a good impression upon a stranger, Miss Murray, we always see +that he comes to Algonquin by boat, for by the time the _Inverness_ +carries him for an afternoon, he's so prejudiced in our favour, he +never gets over it. Eh, my braw John Hielanman?" + +He slapped the captain on the back again, and his forgiveness was +complete. + +"Now, Miss Murray, I shall show you up to your new home. Give me your +bag. Never mind, Alfred Tennyson. You trot round there and tell young +Peter to see about that trunk. I'll send a wagon for it. Good-bye, +Jimmie. I'll see you at the meeting to-morrow night." + +He helped Helen into his buggy and tucked the lap-rug around her, while +Mr. Alfred Wilbur held his horse's head, though Lawyer Ed's horse, +everyone knew, would stand for a week untethered. He jumped in and +started off with a dash that nearly precipitated poor Afternoon Tea +Willie into the lake, and away they rattled up the street to the utter +discomfiture of the yellow dog and the yellow-and-white dog that were +fighting in the middle of Main Street. + +It was just the waiting time before the six-o'-clock bells and whistles +would break forth into a joyful clamour and send every one out on the +street; so the place was very quiet. The pretty streets rose up from +the lake, all cool and shady under their green canopy. It was like a +little town dropped down into the woods, and in spite of her +homesickness and the quiet loneliness of it all, the new-comer felt a +sensation of pleasure. + +Lawyer Ed gave her no chance to be lonely. He chatted away cheerfully, +pointing out this and that place of interest. As they turned off Main +Street up a wide avenue of swaying elms, he touched his horse into +greater speed, and leaning far over to one side, called her attention +to something across the street. + +"Look there, now!" he cried impressively. "Isn't that a fine building? +Just take a good look at this, Miss Murray. I don't think that in all +Algonquin there is a place like it." + +"I--I don't think I saw," said Helen, looking about her puzzled, for +they had passed nothing but a row of very modest homes. She looked at +him enquiringly, to find him leaning back, his eyes shut, and shaking +with laughter. + +"Never mind. Don't hurt your eyes, child. There's nothing there. But +we've just passed my office, on the opposite side, and I saw from the +corner of my eye about a half-dozen people waiting for me, all in a bad +humour. It's just as well that I shouldn't get a better view of them. +Tut, tut, don't apologise. I don't want to hurry back. Patience is a +virtue every man should practise, and I believe in giving my clients a +whack at it whenever I can. There's the Manse. I've heard Dr. Leslie +speak of your father. We knew him by report if not personally. You'll +find Doctor Leslie a fine pastor. He'll make you feel at home." + +He glanced back towards his office and laughed again. "I'm trying +to--well not exactly retire--but to ease off a bit on my business. And +I'm going to have a partner, the son of an old friend. Why, he came +part of the way on the boat with you." + +"Oh, yes, the young man who took the terrible leap," she said. She did +not want to confess she had met him before. + +"That's nothing for Rod!" laughed Lawyer Ed. "He'd jump twice that +distance. Ah, he's a great lad, is Roderick. He's going to make +another such man as his father, and that's about the highest praise I +can give him. Old Angus McRae--well you must meet him to know what +he's like. I believe I think more of Angus McRae--outside my own +immediate family--than of any living person, of course always excepting +Madame. Bless me! You haven't met her yet, of course?" + +"Why, no, I don't think so. Who is she?" + +"Madame, my dear Miss Murray, is the handsomest and cleverest and most +delightful young lady in all Canada or the United States. And she's +your Principal, so you may think yourself fortunate. You two girls +will have a grand time together." + +Helen felt not a little relieved. A Principal who was a girl of about +her own age, and who was evidently possessed of so many charms, would +surely not be a formidable person to face on the dread to-morrow. + +They had been steadily climbing the hills, under great low-branched +maples and elms, and past scented gardens. And now they pulled up in +front of a big square brick house set primly in a square lawn. + +"Now, here's your boarding-house, my dear," said her guide, springing +down and helping her to alight. "This is Grandma Armstrong's place. +Remember that she's grandmother to nearly all Algonquin, and don't +laugh at her peculiarities when there's any one round. You'll have to +when you're alone, just as a safety-valve. You'll like the daughters. +The elder one is a bit stiff, but they're fine ladies." He had rung +the bell by this time, and now it was opened by a tall handsome lady, +slightly over middle age. The Misses Armstrong, because of an old +acquaintance with her father, had stepped aside from the strict rules +they had hitherto followed, and had taken the new school teacher as a +boarder. Helen had often heard her father speak of them and knew, the +moment the door opened, that this was Miss Armstrong, the eldest, who +had been a belle in her father's day. She belonged so obviously to the +house, that Helen had a complete sense of fitness at the sight of her. +Like it she was tall, erect and fine looking, in a stately, stiff +fashion. + +Lawyer Ed presented his charge in his most affable manner, and Miss +Armstrong smiled upon him graciously and upon her with some reserve. A +boarder, after all, had to be kept at a distance, even though she were +the daughter of an old friend. + +"And how is Grandma, to-day?" enquired Lawyer Ed. "And Annabel? Isn't +she home?" + +"Mother has gone to bed this afternoon, Edward, but she is very well, I +thank you. She will be disappointed when she hears you were here. +Annabel has gone to the meeting of the Club. She will be back +presently. I remained at home to welcome Miss Murray." + +"Good-bye just now, then, my child," he said paternally, taking Helen's +hand. He saw the homesick anguish returning to her big eyes, and he +squeezed the hand until it hurt. "You'll have a great time in +Algonquin, never fear. The air here will bring the roses back to your +cheeks. Won't it, Elinor?" + +Miss Armstrong agreed and bade him a gracious good-afternoon, moving +out on the steps to see him to the gate. She then led the way up the +long steep stair. The ceilings of Rosemount were very high, and every +step echoed weirdly. They went along another hall upstairs flanked by +two terrible pictures, one a scene of carnage on land--Wellington +meeting Bluecher on the field of Waterloo, the other an equally dreadful +scene on water--Nelson's death on the _Victory_. Her bedroom was a big +airy place, stiff and formal and in perfect order. The ceiling again +impressed her with its vast distance from the floor. In the centre of +this one, like the others, was a circular ornamental device of plaster; +flowers and fruit and birds, and great bunches of hard white grapes +that looked ready to fall heavily upon one's head. One end of the room +was almost filled with a black marble mantel and over it hung a picture +of Queen Victoria with her family, in the early days of her married +life. There was a big low bed of heavy walnut, four high windows with +stiff lace curtains, a circular marble-topped table and a tiny writing +desk. Miss Armstrong assisted her to remove her hat, expressing the +hope that she had had a pleasant trip from Barbay. Helen did not say +that her heart had been aching all the way. She merely assured her +that the trip had been very comfortable indeed, and that Captain +McTavish had done everything to make it enjoyable. + +"Jimmie McTavish is a kind creature," said Miss Armstrong. "Very +ignorant, and too familiar entirely; but he is well-meaning, for all +that. Now, I hope you will feel perfectly at home with us here, Miss +Murray. Your father's daughter could not but be welcome at Rosemount. +Indeed, I am afraid, had you not been a clergyman's daughter, I should +never have consented to taking you. Having any one to board was so +foreign to our minds. But Mr. Brians begged us to take you. You see +he is chairman of the school board, and always sees to it that the +young persons who teach have suitable homes." + +"I am so sorry if my coming has inconvenienced you," stammered Helen, +for Miss Armstrong's manner was very impressive. + +"Oh, not at all, I assure you. When we heard who you were, we +consented with pleasure. We have so much more room in this big house +than we need. There is a very large family of us, Miss Murray, as you +will discover, but now there are only my mother and my sister and I +left at Rosemount." Her face grew sad. "But indeed I sometimes have +thought recently," she added, growing stately again, "that my dear +father would turn in his grave if he knew we were filling Rosemount +with boarders." + +She paused a moment, and the strange girl was wondering miserably if +she should take her bag and move out to some other place, rather than +risk disturbing her father's old friend in his last long sleep, when +Miss Armstrong went on. "I hope you won't mind, Miss Murray, you are +to be as one of the family, you know, and if you would be so good--" +she hesitated and a slight flush rose in her face. + +"Yes?" asked Helen wonderingly. + +"If you would be so good as to not use the word _board_. I don't know +why it should be so offensive to me," she added with a little laugh. +"My ears are very sensitive, I suppose. But if you wouldn't mind +saying, in the course of your conversation, that you are _staying_ with +the Rosemount Armstrongs, it would please me so much." + +"Certainly, I shall remember," said Helen, much relieved. + +"Thank you so much. And now if you would like to rest for a little +after your journey you may. Supper will be served in the course of +half-an-hour." + +Helen felt a lump growing in her throat that made the thought of food +choke her. But she dared not refuse. To remain alone in that big +echoing room, was only to invite thoughts of home and other far off and +lost joys. + +When Miss Armstrong had left her, and her trunk had come bumping up the +back stairs and been deposited in the vast closet, she sat down on the +black haircloth chair and looked hopelessly around the big dreary room. +There rose before her a vision of her own room at the old home, the +room that she and her sister Betty had shared. It had rose-bordered +curtains and rose-festooned wall-paper and pink and white cushions. +And it had a dear mother-face peeping in at the door to chide her +gently if she sat too late writing those long letters to Dick. + +The memory of it all came over her with such a rush that she felt she +must throw herself upon that broad white bed and sob herself sick. But +she sat still, holding her hands tightly clenched, and choking back the +tears. She had work to do and she must be ready for that work. To +give way in private meant inefficiency in public to-morrow. +School-teaching was a new, untried field of labour for her, and if she +went to bed and cried herself to sleep, as she wanted to do, she would +have a headache for to-morrow and she would fail. And she must not +fail, she told herself desperately; she dared not fail, for Mother was +depending upon her success. And yet she had no idea how that success +was to be gained. She knew only too well that she was not fitted for +her task. She had never wanted to teach school, and had never dreamed +she would need to. Her place had always been at home, and a big place +she had filled as Mother's help and the minister's right hand. But her +father had insisted upon her taking her teacher's certificate. "It's +easy to carry about, Nellie," he was wont to say, "and may come useful +some day." + +So Helen had gone, with good-natured indulgence of Father's whim, and +studied at a training school, with one eye on her books and the other +watching for Dick to come up the street. And when she brought home her +despised diploma, there was a diamond ring on the hand that placed it +on her father's desk. That had been a year ago. And almost +immediately after, her father had been taken from them. The old home +went next. The boys and girls scattered to earn their own living. +Mother had gone with Betty, who had married, and who lived away in the +West. And then the last and best treasure had been taken, the diamond +with its marvellous lights and colours, and with it had gone out all +the light and colour of life. + +She was just twenty-three, and she had been given the task of working +out a new strange life unaided, with nothing ahead of her but work and +loneliness. + +At first she had given way to a numb despair, then necessity and the +needs of the family aroused her. There was something for her to do, +something that had to be done, and back of all the wreck of her life, +dimmed by clouds of sorrow, there stood her father's God. In spite of +all the despair and dismay she felt instinctively He must be somewhere, +behind it all. She did not know as yet, that that assurance spelled +hope. But she knew that there was work for her and there was Mother +waiting until she should make her a home. + +She sprang up, as her misery threatened to overwhelm her again, and +began swiftly to change her dress and arrange her hair. She pulled +back the stiff curtains of one of the tall windows and leaned out. A +soft blue haze, the first glimpse of September's tender eyes, was +settling on the distant hills. The sun was setting, and away up the +street towards the west flamed a gold and crimson sky, and away down in +the east flamed its gold and crimson reflection on the mirror of Lake +Algonquin. From the garden below, the scent of the opening nicotine +blossoms came up to her. + +She was sitting there, trying to admire the beauty of it all, but her +heart protesting against the feeling of utter loneliness it bred, when +there came a sharp tap on the door. It opened the next moment and a +young lady tripped in. + +"Good evening, Miss Murray. I just bounced in to say welcome to +Rosemount. I'm so glad you've come. I've just been dying to have a +girl in the house of my own age." + +She caught Helen's two hands in hers with genuine kindliness. + +She was a plump fair lady with fluffy yellow hair and big blue eyes. +She was dressed in a pink flowered muslin trimmed with girlish frills +and wore a big hat wreathed with nodding roses. Helen was puzzled. +This wasn't Miss Annabel, then; for her mother had said the Misses +Armstrong were both over forty. + +"I'm Annabel Armstrong," she said, settling the question. Helen gave +her a second look and saw that Miss Annabel carried signs of maturity +in her face and form, albeit she carried them very blithely indeed. +"And I can't tell you how glad I am you've come. You'll just adore +Algonquin. It's the gayest place on earth, a dance or a tea or a +bridge or some sort of kettle-drum every day. What a love of a dress! +It's the very colour of your eyes, my dear. Come away now; you must +meet Mother. She always takes supper in her own room now, and I must +carry it to her. Our little maid is about as much use as a pussy-cat +and if I'm not in the kitchen every ten minutes to tramp on her tail +she'll go to sleep. Come along!" + +She danced away down the hall, Helen following her, feeling extremely +old and prim. Grandma Armstrong's bedroom was at the back of the house +overlooking the orchard and kitchen-garden. She was sitting up in bed, +a very handsome little old lady in cap and ribbons. She gave the +strange girl's hand a gentle pressure. + +"Here she is, Muzzy," cried Miss Annabel in an apologetic tone. "It's +too bad you didn't see her sooner, but she was so busy." + +"Indeed I generally notice that I am left to the last, when any new +person comes to the house," said Grandma Armstrong in a grieved tone. +"Well, my dear, I am pleased to see the Rev. Walter Murray's son in my +house. You look like him--yes, very much, just the image of him in +fact, only of course he was a man and wore a portmanteau when I knew +him." + +Grandma Armstrong's separate faculties were all alert and as keen as +they had ever been in youth. But some strange lack of connection +between her tongue and her memory, seemed to have befallen the old +lady, so that they did not always agree, and she was wont to +intersperse her otherwise quite intelligent conversation with words +having no remotest connection with the context. + +"A moustache, you mean, Muzzy dear," said her daughter. "Mother +forgets you know," she added, in a hasty, low apology to Helen. + +"Why do you interrupt me, Annabel? I said a moustache. I hope you +sleep well here, my dear. I had that room of yours for some time, but +I had to move back here, I could never get to sleep after they put up +the Israelite at the corner. It shone right over my bed. Let me see +now. You are the second daughter, are you not? Your father was a fine +man, my dear. Yes, indeed. We knew him well as a student. He +preached one summer in--where was that, Annabel? Alaska?" + +"Muskoka, Mother." + +"Oh, yes, Muskoka, and the Rev. Walter Hislop, your father, was there +as a student." + +"Murray, you mean, Mother." + +"Don't interrupt me, Annabel. Your uncle preached there two summers, +my dear, and I thought my daughter Annabel and he--" + +"It was Elizabeth, Mother, not me! Good gracious, how old do you think +I am?" demanded Miss Annabel, quite alarmed. + +"Oh, Elizabeth, of course. I really thought she and your brother, the +Rev. Mr. McIntosh, should have become engaged before the summer was +over. But we had other plans for our daughter, and we thought it wiser +for her to go to the sea-shore the next summer." + +"Now, Mother," said Miss Annabel tactfully. "Miss Murray doesn't want +to hear all that ancient history. She has to get her supper. She's +tired and hungry." + +Helen slept soundly that night. Two big windows of her room looked out +to the west where, beyond the town, ran a high wooded ridge, and the +low organ tones of the evening wind singing through the trees made her +forget her grief and lulled her to sleep. + +She set off to her work early in the morning, nervous and apprehensive. +Her hostesses all wished her well. Miss Armstrong, in her quiet +stately fashion hoped she would find her employment congenial, and +Grandma expressed the desire that Miss Carstairs would enjoy her work +at the cemetery, a remark which the worried young teacher felt was more +appropriate than the kindly old lady guessed. Miss Annabel followed +her to the gate, with instructions regarding the road to school. She +plucked a big crimson dahlia from its bed and stuck it in the belt of +Helen's blue dress. + +"Good luck, dearie, and cheer up!" she cried, seeing the look in the +sad blue eyes. "School teaching's heaps of fun, I feel sure. Don't +worry about it. We're going to have great times in the evenings. +There's always something on. Bye bye, and good luck," and she tripped +up the garden path waving her hand gaily. + +Helen had scarcely gone half a block under the elm boughs, when she +heard her name called out in a musical roar from far up the street +behind her. She had not been in Algonquin twenty-four hours, but she +knew that voice. She was just a bit scandalised as she turned to see a +man waving his cane, as he hurried to overtake her. But she had not +yet learned that no one minded being hailed half-a-mile away by Lawyer +Ed. + +He was accompanied by a lady, a tall woman of such ample proportions, +that she had some ado to keep up with Lawyer Ed's brisk step. She wore +a broad old-fashioned hat tied under her round chin, and a gay flowered +muslin dress that floated about her with an easy swaying motion. She +wore, too, a pair of soft low-heeled slippers, that gave forth a +soothing accompaniment to the rhythm of her movements. She was +surrounded by a perfect bodyguard of children. They danced behind her +and ahead of her, they clung to her hands and peeped from the flowing +muslin draperies, while she moved among them, serene and smiling like a +great flower surrounded by a cloud of buzzing little bees. + +"Good morning, good morning!" shouted the chairman of the school board. +"Abroad bright and early and ready for work! Well, well, well," he +added admiringly, as he shook her hands violently, "if the Algonquin +air hasn't commenced to do its work already! Now, my dear, brace up +and don't be frightened. It is my duty as chairman of the school board +to introduce you to your stern principal. Miss Murray, I have the +honour of presenting you to Mrs. Doasyouwouldbedoneby, known in private +life as Mrs. Adam; but if you are as nice as you look, you may one day +be admitted to the inner circle of her friends, and then you will be +allowed to call her Madame." + +As the lady took her hand and turned upon her a smile in proportion to +her size, Helen suddenly realised why she had seemed so familiar even +at the first glance. She was exactly like the wonderful fairy who +cared for the water-babies at the bottom of the sea. And the +resemblance was further heightened by the presence of the babies +themselves who came swarming about to settle all over her, and when +shoved out of the way, only came swarming back. + +"Bless me, what a mistake!" she cried. "It's you that's the Principal +and I'm the assistant. I'm so thankful you're young, my dear. I can't +stand old folks, and middle-aged people are my abhorrence. I told +Edward Brians that if he put me down there all alone with a middle-aged +woman,--a young gay thing like me,--I just wouldn't stand it." + +"I don't think there are any old people in Algonquin, are there?" asked +Helen. + +They were moving on down the street now, and their going was something +of a triumphal procession. At every turn some one joined them,--young +or old, and from every side greetings were called after them, until the +bewildered stranger felt as if she had become part of a circus parade. +She was feeling almost light-hearted as the gay throng moved forward, +when they passed their escort's office, and in the doorway stood the +young Mr. McRae who reminded her so sadly of the past. + +"Hooray, Rod," roared his chief. "A graun beginnin', ma braw John +Hielanman! Come down here off that perch and do your respects to the +March of Education!" + +Roderick obeyed very willingly. He had been a pupil of Madame's in his +primary days, notwithstanding her extreme youth, and she welcomed him +home and hoped he would be as good a boy as he had been when she had +him. Then Lawyer Ed introduced him to the new teacher. She shook +hands, but she did not say they had met before, and Roderick tactfully +ignored the fact also, for which he fancied she gave him a glance of +gratitude. They moved on but soon the March of Education was again +interrupted. Across the street, Doctor Archie Blair, with his black +satchel in his hand and a volume of Burns beneath his arm, was +preparing to climb into his buggy for a drive into the country. He +stepped aside for a moment and crossed the street to tell Madame how +glad he was to see her back from her holidays, for the town had been a +howling wilderness without her. + +"This is Miss Murray, the new teacher, I know," he added before Lawyer +Ed could introduce him. "You will learn soon, Miss Murray, that if you +want to find a stranger in Algonquin, especially a strange young lady, +you have just to hunt up Lawyer Brians and there she is." + +"And a very good place to be, Archie Blair," said Madame. "If every +one looked after strangers as well as he does there wouldn't be many +lonely people." + +"Hear, hear, Madame," roared Lawyer Ed. "No one knows my virtues as +you do. Did ye hear yon, Aerchie mon?" + +"The trouble is, Miss Murray," said the doctor, without paying the +slightest attention to the other two, "the trouble is that this +gentleman doesn't give any one else a chance to do a good deed. He +does everything himself. No one in Algonquin minds neglecting his +duty, for he knows that Mr. Brians would be there ahead of him and get +it done anyway, so where's the use of bothering? I'm a member of the +school board, and I might be betraying my trust if I encouraged you to +neglect your work, but I feel I ought to tell you that if any day you +would like to take a few hours off, why, do so, Mr. Brians will teach +for you." + +There was a great deal more banter and fun, and the March of Education +was resumed with small recruits in clean pinafores darting out of homes +here and there to join it. It ended at last at the battered gate of +the little schoolhouse. The East Ward was a small part of the town, +consisting mostly of lake, so the population was not very large. There +were but two grades, of which Mrs. Adam taught the younger. + +The children scampered over the yard, and swarmed into the building. +Lawyer Ed ran about, scattering pink "bull's-eyes" all over the floor +and yard, calling, "Chukie, Chukie!" with the whole school at his heels +like a flock of noisy chickens. And when he had the place in an +uproar, he shouted good-bye and rushed away in a fit of laughter. + +Mrs. Doasyouwouldbedoneby sank heavily into a chair, with a relieved +smile, and said, as Helen hung up her hat, and looked about +apprehensively, "Now, my dear child, I remember my first day at +school-teaching distinctly, and if yours is anything the same, you are +scared to death. So if you want to know anything or need any help, you +just come right along into my room, and we'll fix it up. And whatever +you do, don't worry. We're going to have just a glorious time +together, you and I." + +And the new teacher went to her first day's work with a heart far less +heavy than she would have believed possible. Far ahead had begun to +show the first faint glimmer of the light that was leading her through +sorrow and pain to a higher and better life. And all unconsciously she +had begun to follow its gleam. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +LAUNCHING HIS VESSEL + +Roderick had been but two days in the office of Edward Brians, +barrister, and already he had learned a great deal. Two important +facts, not directly connected with the legal profession, had been +impressing themselves upon him. The first was that if he were going to +reach the goal of success that shone so alluringly ahead of him, he +must give every effort and every minute of time to his work; and the +second was that he was going to have a hard time concentrating upon it +in the various interests of the little town that seemed to demand his +attention. + +And there was his chief setting him a bad example. The young man had +spent part of his first morning wandering through the mass of documents +and scraps of paper which Lawyer Ed called his book-keeping. Between +items of a professional nature were memoranda or reports of session +meetings, Highland Club meetings, political meetings, country +tea-meetings, everything and anything except law. What there was of +the latter was connected only with such clients as were of ample means. +All the poor folk for miles around came to Lawyer Ed with their +troubles and were advised, scolded, pulled or paid out of them, and +never so much as a stroke of a pen to record the good deed. If they +paid him, well and good; if they did not, so much the better. And the +price of a ticket to the Holy Land and back--that trip which had not +yet materialised--might have been many times written down, had Lawyer +Ed known anything about book-keeping. But Lawyer Ed's policy in all +his career, had been something the same as that of his friend Doctor +Blair across the way--to keep his people of his practice well, rather +than to cure them when they were ill. So if he could manage it none of +his clients ever went into a law-court. It was good for the clients, +but bad for such things as trips abroad. Roderick did not see that +side of his chief's book-keeping. He did not know that the man could +put through more work in an hour than most men could in a day, and saw +only the meetings recorded which took so much of his time. And he said +to himself that that was not the way to become great. Some day he +intended to be one of the leading advocates of Canada. He was not +conceited. His was only the boundless hopefulness of youth coupled +with the assurance which experience had already given him, that +whenever he set his mind to anything, he accomplished it, no matter how +many difficulties stood in the way. So he was determined to +concentrate all his efforts on his work, and as for serving humanity, +he could do it best, he assured himself, by being a success in his +profession. + +He was just entering upon his second day when his advice was sought +from an unexpected source and in connection with an entirely new +subject. Lawyer Ed had gone out and Roderick was seated at his desk +when some one entered the hall and tapped hesitatingly on the inner +door. Roderick called an invitation to come in, and Mr. Alfred Wilbur, +in perfect white ducks and white canvas shoes, stepped inside. + +"So you've come to be Mr. Brians' partner, haven't you, Mr. McRae?" he +enquired. Mr. Wilbur was a well-mannered young man and had never +adopted the easy familiar way of naming people which was current in the +town. + +"Say rather his office-boy, for a while," said Roderick. + +Mr. Wilbur protested. "Oh, now, Mr. McRae, you're just quite too +modest. Every one's saying how well you did at college and school; and +that you're going to make your mark--you know you are." + +Roderick wondered why the young man should take such pains to be polite +to him. + +"Did you want to see Lawyer Ed?" he asked. + +"No, no, thank you," he cried in alarm. "He's not in, is he? No, I +just wanted to see you, Mr. McRae--not professionally you understand +but--that is--personally,--on a very sacred matter." + +His voice dropped to a whisper, he crossed his feet in front of him, +then drew them under his chair, twirled his hat, smoothed down the back +of his head vigorously, and looked in dismay at the floor. + +"I hope I can do something for you," said Rod encouragingly, feeling +sorry for his evident distress. + +"Thank you so much!" cried the young man gratefully. "It's about--that +is--I think, an old acquaintance of yours--Miss Murray, the new teacher +in the East Ward. She _is_ an old acquaintance, isn't she?" + +It was Roderick's turn to feel hot and look embarrassed. He answered +his first client very shortly. + +"No, she isn't." + +"Oh! I thought--you went and spoke to her on the boat!" + +"So I did." + +"But you met her before surely?" asked the young man, aghast at the +notion of Roderick's boldness. + +"Yes." + +"In Toronto?" + +"Yes." + +"Long ago?" + +"Last autumn." + +"Is her home there?" + +"I believe so. It was then." + +"Oh, you don't know her very well then?" + +"No, I don't. And I don't know why on earth I've got to be put through +a catechism about it." + +"Oh, say! You really must think I'm awful!" cried the poor young man +contritely. "I do beg your pardon, Mr. McRae. It really must have +sounded shocking to you. But, well--I--did you ever meet a young--any +one whom you knew--at first sight--was the one person in all the world +for you?" His voice sank. The day was cool and breezy, but poor +Afternoon Tea Willie's face was damp and hot and he wiped it carefully +with his fine hem-stitched handkerchief, murmuring apologies. + +"No, I never did," said Roderick quite violently, for no reason at all. + +"I beg your pardon, I'm sure," murmured his visitor, vaguely alarmed. +"You can't understand my feelings then. But that's really what I felt +when I saw her. It was a revelation, one of those swift certain +intuitions of the soul, and I--you don't mind my telling you this, do +you, Mr. McRae?" + +"Oh, no, not if you don't mind," said Roderick. + +"It's so good of you," said poor Afternoon Tea Willie. "You were the +only one I could come to, the only one who seemed to know her. She +boards at Miss Armstrong's, but Miss Annabel--you know Miss Annabel? +No? Well, I wouldn't for worlds say anything against a lady, but Miss +Annabel doesn't seem to like me. I don't blame her, you know, but I +don't like to go there. It--I seem to bother her dreadfully, so I +thought--I knew you wouldn't mind introducing me some time, would you?" + +"I really don't know Miss Murray well enough to do that," said Roderick +decidedly. "And I wish you wouldn't say anything about our having met +before. I don't think she remembers me very well. Ask Mr. Brians to +introduce you." + +"I did, but he refused." + +"Perhaps he was only in fun, try him again--or Mrs. Adam. She teaches +with her." + +"Oh my! the very person." Mr. Wilbur sprang up. "Oh, I can't think +why I never thought of her before. I'll call on Madame this afternoon. +I can't thank you enough, Mr. McRae, for the kind suggestion." The +young man hurried out, profusely expressing his gratitude. Afternoon +Tea Willie had absolutely nothing in the world to do, but he was always +in a hurry. Perhaps the reason was that the ladies of the town ordered +him about so. He was the most obliging young man, and being always +available, he was used to the utmost, and was driven like a galley +slave from dawn to dark. As he went down the steps he turned back and +looked up at Roderick rapturously. + +"Say!" he whispered. "Did you ever see such eyes? Don't they make you +feel just as if you were going down in an elevator?" + +But Roderick turned quickly away, with an unreasonable and very +unbusinesslike desire to kick his first client down the steps. He had +almost closed the door behind him when a loud clear voice from the +street called his name. It was just four o'clock, the hour when all +the young ladies of Algonquin, dressed in their best, walked down to +the post-office for the afternoon mail which came in a half-hour +earlier. This afternoon post-office parade was a social function, for +only people of leisure and distinction were at liberty at that hour. +The young gentlemen from the bank generally emerged about that time +too, and came striding down to the post-office looking worried and +flurried as became gentlemen with the finances of the whole town and +half the country weighing them down. After they had all met at the +post-office, they went up to the ice-cream and candy palace on Main +Street, or out on the lake, or strolled off into the park. + +It was a member of the post-office parade who was hailing Roderick so +gaily. A pretty group was rustling past the office, all muslin frills +and silk sashes and flowers of every colour, and the prettiest and best +dressed of them all came running up the steps to his side, with a swish +of silken skirts and a whiff of violet perfume. + +It was Miss Leslie Graham, the girl he had helped out of the lake, not +forlorn and bedraggled now, but immaculate and dainty, from the rose +wreath on her big hat to the tip of her white kid shoe. + +"Hello!" she cried gaily. "I thought you'd surely 'phone over to see +whether I needed to make my will or not. You're not much of a lawyer." + +Roderick laughed. She was so frank and boyish that she put him quite +at his ease. + +"Well,--not knowing I was the family advocate, I didn't like to," he +said slyly. + +She laughed delightedly. "You're going to be after this, I can tell +you. Daddy's out of town and he doesn't know yet!" + +"There's no need to worry him by telling." + +"Oh, but there just is. I haven't told a soul yet, and I nearly had to +commit murder to keep it from Mother. Fred's in a pink fit every +minute for fear I'll let it out. I've got heaps of fun holding it over +his head. It makes him good and obedient. Is Lawyer Ed in?" + +"No. Do you wish to see him?" + +"No, of course not. I just wondered if he wouldn't keep house, though, +for a few minutes, while you came along and joined the bunch. We're +all going to make Alf take us for ice-cream. We spied him leaving +here. Can't you come?" + +"Thank you, but I'm afraid I couldn't leave," said Roderick, rather +taken aback by her frankness. That ideal woman, who sat dimly +enthroned in the recesses of his heart, never offered her favours, they +had to be sued for, and she was apt to sit in judgment on the girl who +departed from her strict rule. + +"Come on, Les!" called a voice from the lingering group she had left. +"Here's Alf. He's going to treat us all. Ho! A-a-lf!" The young +ladies of Algonquin, had lived in such close proximity to each other +from childhood that a playmate could always be summoned even from the +other end of the town by a clarion call, and they had never seen any +reason for changing their convenient method when long skirts and +piled-up hair might have been supposed to demand a less artless manner. +But then every one shouted across blocks, and besides, every one knew +that Afternoon Tea Willie just dearly loved to be yelled at. He +whirled about now, waved his hat, and came hurrying back, with the +peculiar jerky irregular motion of his feet, that always marked his +movements. + +"Hurrah, Leslie!" called her companions again. + +"Coming!" she cried. "So sorry you can't come," she added, turning to +Roderick, "but we'll give you another invitation." She looked +disappointed, and a little inclined to pout, but she waved her hand as +she ran down the steps and joined the group of lace and flowers now +fluttering down the side-walk towards the ice cream parlour. + +"Leslie's made a new conquest," cried a tall girl with flashing black +eyes. "He seemed frantically anxious to come with you, my dear. I +don't see how you got rid of him." + +"Who is he, Les?" cried another. "If it's a new young man come to this +girl-ridden town you simply have got to pass him round and introduce +him." + +"Why, he's Lawyer Ed's new partner, you goosie," cried a dozen voices, +for it was inexcusable for any young lady not to know all about Lawyer +Ed's business. + +"A lawyer, how perfectly lovely!" cried a plump little girl with pink +cheeks and dancing eyes. "It's such a relief to see some one beside +bank boys. I'm going to ask his advice about suing Afternoon Tea +Willie for breach of promise. What's his name, Leslie?" + +"Why, his name's Roderick McRae," cried the young lady with the black +eyes. "I remember when he used to go to school in a grey homespun suit +with the hay sticking all over it. He's the son of old Angus McRae who +used to bring our cabbage and lettuce to the back door!" + +"Mercy!" the plump little girl gave a shriek. "Where in the world did +you pick him up, Leslie?" + +The girl whirled about and faced her companions, her eyes blazing, her +checks red. "I didn't pick him up at all!" she cried hotly. "He +picked me up the other night, out of the lake over by Breezy Point, +where Fred Hamilton upset me out of his canoe. And if Roderick McRae +hadn't come along I'd have been drowned. So now!" + +It had all come out in a rush. She had fully intended to shield Fred. +But she could not see her preserver scoffed at by those Baldwin girls. +Immediately there was a chorus of enquiries and exclamations. +Afternoon Tea Willie was overcome with distress and apologised for not +being there. Old Angus McRae's son immediately became a hero. + +The little plump girl with the big blue eyes sighed enviously. "Oh +dear! How lucky! I think it's a shame all the good things happen to +you, Leslie; and he's so handsome!" + +"I'm going to ask him to join our tennis club," said Leslie, looking +round rather defiantly. + +Leslie Graham, by virtue of the fact that her mother belonged to the +reigning house of Armstrong, and her father was the richest man in +Algonquin, was leader of the younger social set. But Miss Anna Baldwin +of the black eyes was her most powerful rival. They were constant +companions and very dear friends, and never agreed upon anything. So +immediately upon Miss Graham's daring announcement that this new and +very exclusive club should be entered by one not in their set, Miss +Baldwin cried, "Oh, how perfectly sweet and democratic! Our milkman +saved our house from burning down one morning last winter, don't you +remember, Lou? We must make Mamma ask him to her next tea!" + +Thereupon the group broke up into two sections, one loudly proclaiming +its democratic principles, the other as vigorously upholding the +necessity for drawing rigid social lines. And they all swept into the +ice-cream palace, like a swarm of hot, angry bees, followed by +Afternoon Tea Willie in great distress, apologising now to one side, +now to the other. + +Another call from his work came to Roderick the next afternoon when he +paid his first visit to Doctor Leslie. The old Manse did not look just +as hospitable as of old, there were no crowds on the veranda and in the +orchard any more. For the foster mother of the congregation had left +her children mourning, and gone to continue her good work in a brighter +and better world. + +Viney was still in the kitchen, however, doing all in her power to make +the lonely minister comfortable. She had been away from the Manse for +some years in the interval, but was now returned with a half-grown +daughter to help her. Viney had left Mrs. Leslie to marry "Mahogany +Bill," a mulatto from the negro settlement out in Oro. But Bill had +been of no account, and after his not too sadly mourned demise, his +wife, promoted to the dignified title of Mammy Viney, had returned with +her little girl to the Algonquin Manse, and there she was still. + +"And your father has you home at last, Roderick," said the minister, +rubbing his hands with pleasure and surveying the young man's fine +honest face with affection. "He has lived for this day. I hope you +won't get so absorbed in your practice that you won't be able to run +out to the farm often." + +"Aunt Kirsty will see to that," laughed Roderick. + +The minister beamed. "I'm afraid I shall get into her bad books then, +for I am going to keep you here as often as possible. You are just the +young man I want in the church, Roderick--one who will be a leader of +the young men. Algonquin is changing," he added sadly. "Perhaps +because it is growing rapidly. I am afraid there is a rather fast set +of young men being developed here. It makes my heart ache to see fine +young fellows like Fred Hamilton and Walter Armstrong learning to +gamble, and yet that is just what is happening. There's a great work +here for a strong young man with just your upbringing, my boy. We must +save these lads from themselves--'Who knoweth,'" he added with a smile, +"'but thou hast come to the Kingdom for such an hour.'" + +There was a great deal more of the same earnest call to work, and +Roderick went away conscious of a slight feeling of impatience. It was +just what his father was always saying, but how was he to attend to his +work, if he were to have all the responsibility of the young men of the +town and all the people of Willow Lane upon him? He was inclined to +think that every man should be responsible for himself. He was +kind-hearted and generous when the impulse came, but he did not want to +be reminded that his life's work was to be his brother's keeper. His +work was to be a lawyer. He did not yet realise that in being his +brother's keeper he would make of himself the best kind of lawyer. + +The next evening, when he prepared to go home, Lawyer Ed declared he +must just take his horse and drive him out to the farm and have a visit +with Angus and a drink of Aunt Kirsty's butter-milk. So, early in the +evening, they drove through the town down towards the Pine Road. +Willow Lane still stood there. The old houses were more dilapidated +than ever, and there were more now than there used to be. Doctor +Blair's horse and buggy stood before one of them. Willow Lane was on +low, swampy ground, and was the abode of fevers and diseases of all +sorts. + +As they whirled past it, Lawyer Ed waved his whip towards it in +disgust. "That place is a disgrace to Algonquin," he blustered. "We +boast of our town being the most healthful and beautiful in Ontario, +and it's got the ugliest and the most unsanitary spot just right there +that you'd find in Canada. If J. P. gets to be mayor next year he'll +fix it up. He's having it drained already. I hope you'll get +interested in municipal affairs, Rod. I tell you it's great. I'm so +glad I'll have more time for town affairs now that you're here. But +you must get going there too. There's nothing so bad for a +professional man as to get so tied down to his work that he can't see +an inch beyond it. You can't help getting interested in this place. +It's going ahead so. Now, the lake front there--" + +Lawyer Ed was off on his pet scheme, the beautifying of that part of +the lake front that was now made hideous by factory and mill and +railroad track and rows of tumble-down boathouses. + +And Roderick listened half-heartedly, interested only because it +interested his friend. They passed along the Jericho Road, with its +sweet-smelling pines; the soft mists of early autumn clothed Lake +Algonquin in a veil of amethyst. The long heavy grass by the roadside, +and masses of golden-rod shining dimly in the evening-light told that +summer had finished her task. She was waiting the call to leave. + +Lawyer Ed was not half through with the esplanade along the lake front +when they reached Peter McDuff's home. It was a forlorn old +weather-beaten house with thistles and mullen and sturdy burdocks +growing close to the doorway. An old gnarled apple-tree, weary and +discouraged looking, stood at one side of the house, its blackened +branches touching the ground. At the other lay a broken plow, on top +of a heap of rubbish. A sagging wood-pile and a sorry-looking pump +completed the dreariness. + +And yet there were signs of a better day. The dilapidated barn was +well-built, the fences had once been strong and well put together, and +around the house were the struggling remains of an old garden, with +many a flower run wild among the thistles. The history of the home had +followed that of its owner. Peter Fiddle had once been a highly +respected man, with not a little education. His wife had been a good +woman, and when their boy came, for a time, the father had given up his +wild ways and his drinking and had settled down to work his little +farm. But he never quite gave up the drink, though Angus McRae's hand +held him back from it many and many a time. But Angus had been ill for +a couple of years, and Peter had gone very far astray when the helping +hand was removed. + +He had gone steadily downward until his powers were wasted and his +health ruined. His wife gave up the struggle, when young Peter was but +a child, and closed her tired eyes on the dirt and misery of her ruined +home. Then Angus McRae had regained his health and his grip on Peter, +and since then, with many disappointments and backslidings, he had +managed to bring him struggling back to a semblance of his old manhood. +He was not redeemed yet. But old Angus never gave up hope. + +Poor Young Peter had grown up dull of brain and heavy of foot, +handicapped before birth by the drink. But he had clung doggedly to +that one idea which Angus McRae had drilled into him, that he must, as +he valued his life, avoid that dread thing which had ruined his father +and killed his mother. + +Lawyer Ed pulled up his horse before the house. Young Peter had not +yet come in with the _Inverness_, but he looked about for Peter Fiddle. +He had been sober for a much longer time than usual in this interval, +and both he and Angus were keeping an anxious, hopeful eye upon him. + +"I wonder where Peter is," he said. + +For answer Roderick pointed down the road before them. A horse and +wagon stood close to the road-side. They drove up to it, and there, +stretched on the seat of his wagon, his horse cropping the grass by the +way-side, lay poor old Peter, dead drunk. + +"Well, well, well!" cried Lawyer Ed in mingled disgust and +disappointment. "He's gone again, and your father had such hopes of +him!" He gave the lines to Roderick and leaped out. + +"Hi, Peter!" he shouted, shaking the man violently. "Wake up! It's +time for breakfast, man!" + +But Peter Fiddle made no more response than a log. And then a look of +boyish mischief danced into Lawyer Ed's young eyes. + +"Come here, Rod!" he cried. "Let's fix him up and see what he'll do +when we get back." + +Roderick alighted and helped unhitch the old horse from the wagon. +They led him back to the house, watered him, put him into the old +stable and fed him. When they returned, Peter still lay asleep on the +wagon seat, and they drove off. Lawyer Ed in a fit of boyish mirth. + +It was heavy news for old Angus when they sat around the supper table, +eating Aunt Kirsty's apple pie and cream; but the good Samaritan was +not discouraged. "Well, well," he said with a sigh, "he kept away from +it longer this time than ever. He's improving. Eh, eh, poor body, +poor Peter!" + +"It would seem as if the work of the Good Samaritan is never done, +Angus," said Lawyer Ed. "I suppose there will always be thieves on the +Jericho Road." + +"I was just wondering to-day," said Angus thoughtfully, "if, while we +go on picking up the men on the Jericho Road, we couldn't be doing +something to keep the thieves from doing their evil work. There's +Peter now. If we can't keep him away from the drink, don't you think +we ought to try to keep the drink away from him?" + +"Lawyer Ed'll have to get a local option by-law passed in Algonquin, +Father," said Roderick. + +"Eh, Lad," cried the old man, his face radiant, "it is your father +would be the happy man to see that day. There is a piece of work for +you two now." + +"I'm ready," cried Lawyer Ed enthusiastically. "If I could only see +that cursed traffic on the run it would be the joy of my life to +encourage it with a good swift kick. We'll start a campaign right +away. Won't we, Rod?" + +"All right," cried Roderick, pleased at the look in his father's face. +"You give your orders. I'm here to carry them out." + +"There, Angus! You've got your policeman for the Jericho Road. We'll +do it yet. If we get the liquor business down, as Grandma Armstrong +says, we'll knock it conscientious." + +Old Angus followed them to the gate when they drove away, his heart +swelling with high hope. He would live to see all his ambitions +realised in Roderick. He sat up very late that night and when he went +to bed and remembered how the Lad had promised to help rid Peter of the +drink curse, he could not sleep until he had sung the long-meter +doxology. He sang it very softly, for Kirsty was asleep and it might +be hard to explain to her if she were disturbed; nevertheless he sang +it with an abounding joy and faith. + +As Roderick and Lawyer Ed drove homeward, down the moon-lit length of +the Pine Road; they were surprised to hear ahead of them, within a few +rods of Peter Fiddle's house, the sound of singing. Very wavering and +uncertain, now loud and high, now dropping to a low wail, came the slow +splendid notes of Kilmarnock to the sublime words of the 103rd psalm. + +The two in the buggy looked at each other. "Peter!" cried Lawyer Ed in +dismay. + +When Old Peter was only a little bit drunk he inclined to frivolity and +gaiety, and was given to playing the fiddle and dancing, but when he +was very drunk, he was very solemn, and intensely religious. He gave +himself to the singing of psalms, and if propped up would preach a +sermon worthy of Doctor Leslie himself. + +A turn in the road brought him into sight. There, between the silver +mirror of the moonlit lake and the dark scented green of the forest, +insensible to the beauty of either, sat the man. He was perched +perilously on the seat of his wagon and was swaying from side to side, +swinging his arms about him and singing in a loud maudlin voice, the +fine old psalm that he had learned long, long ago before he became less +than a man. + +Lawyer Ed pulled up before him. + +"Oh Peter, Peter!" he cried, "is this you?" + +Peter Fiddle stopped singing, with the righteously indignant air of one +whose devotions have been interrupted by a rude barbarian. + +"And who will you be," he demanded witheringly, "that dares to be +speaking to the McDuff in such a fashion? Who will you be, indeed?" + +"Come, come, Peter, none of that," said his friend soothingly. "I +cannot think who you are. You surely can't be my old friend, Peter +McDuff, sitting by the roadside this way. Who are you, anyway?" + +Peter became suddenly grave. The question raised a terrible doubt in +his mind. He looked about him with the wavering gaze of a man on board +a heaving ship. His unsteady glance fell on the empty wagon shafts +lying on the ground. He looked at them in bewilderment, then took off +his old cap and scratched his head. + +"How is this, I'd like to know?" demanded Lawyer Ed, pushing his +advantage. "If you're not Peter McDuff, who are you? And where is the +horse gone?" + +Roderick climbed out of the buggy, smothering his laughter, and leaving +the two to argue the question, he went after the truant horse which +might help to establish his master's lost identity. Lawyer Ed +dismounted and helped him hitch it, and apparently satisfied by its +reappearance, Peter stretched himself on the seat and went soundly +asleep again. He lay all undisturbed while they drove him in at his +gate, and put his horse away once more. And he did not move even when +they lifted him from his perch and, carrying him into the house, put +him into his bed. + +And just as they entered the town they met poor young Peter plodding +slowly and heavily towards his dreary home. + +"We must do something for those two, Rod," said Lawyer Ed, shaking his +head pityingly. "We must get Local Option or something that'll help +Peter." + +But Roderick was thinking of what Miss Leslie Graham had said, and +wondering if it might mean that he would be asked to handle the big +affairs of Graham and Company. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +"MOVING TO MELODY" + +The first Sunday that Angus McRae drove along the lake shore and up to +the church with Lawyer Ed's partner sitting at his side, he was +praying, all the way, to be delivered from the sin of pride. They left +Aunt Kirsty at home as usual, with her Bible and her hymn-book, for the +poor lady had grown so stout that she could not be lifted into buggy or +boat or conveyance of any kind. They started early, but stopped so +often on the road that they were none the earlier in arriving. For +Angus must needs pause at the McDuff home, to see that young Peter was +ready for church, and that old Peter was thoroughly sobered. And there +was a huge bouquet of Aunt Kirsty's asters to be left at Billy +Perkins's for the little girl who was sick. There were sounds of +strife in Mike Cassidy's home too, and Angus dismounted and went in to +reason with Mike and the wife on the incongruity of throwing the dishes +at each other, when they had spent the morning at mass. + +So when the Good Samaritan had attended to all on the Jericho Road +there was not much time left, and the church bells were ringing when +they drove under the green tunnel of Elm Street; the Anglican, high, +resonant and silvery, the Presbyterian, with a slow, deep boom, and +between the two, and harmonising with both, the mellow, even roll of +the Methodist bell. The call of the bells was being given a generous +obedience, for already the streets were crowded with people. From the +hills to the north and the west, from the level plain to the south they +came, on foot, and in buggies. Even the people who lived across the +lake or away down the shore were there, some having crossed the water +in boats or launches. This means of conveyance, however, was regarded +with some disfavour, as it too perilously resembled Sunday boating. +The matter had even been brought up in the session by Mr. McPherson, +who declared he objected to it, for there was no good reason why +Christian people could not walk on the earth the Almighty had provided +for them, on the Sabbath day. + +Roderick put away the horse into the shed, smiling tenderly when he +found his father waiting at the gate for him. He wanted to walk around +to the church door with his boy, so that they might meet his friends +together. They were received in a manner worthy of the occasion, for +the four elders who were ushering all left their posts and came forward +to greet Angus McRae, knowing something of what a great day in his life +this Sabbath was. J. P. Thornton and Jock McPherson ushered on one +side of the church, Lawyer Ed and Captain McTavish on the other, a very +fitting arrangement, which mingled the old and the new schools. Only +Lawyer Ed could never be kept in his own place, but ran all over the +church and ushered wheresoever he pleased. + +The elders of Algonquin Presbyterian church were at their best when +showing the people to their seats on a Sabbath morning. Each man did +it in a truly characteristic manner. Captain Jimmie received the +worshippers in a breezy fashion, as though the church were the +_Inverness_ and he were calling every one to come aboard and have a bit +run on the lake and a cup-a-tea, whatever. Mr. McPherson shook hands +warmly with the old folk, but kept the young people in their places, +and well did every youngster know that did he not conduct himself in +the sanctuary with becoming propriety, the cane the elder carried would +likely come rapping down smartly on his unrighteous knuckles. J. P. +Thornton's welcome was kindly but stately. He had grown stout and +slightly pompous-looking during the passing years, and his fine, +well-dressed figure lent quite an air of dignity to the whole church. +But Lawyer Ed, ushering a stranger into the church, was a heart-warming +sight. He seemed made for the part. He met one half-way down the +steps with outstretched hands, marched him to the best seat in the +place, even if he had to dislodge one of the leading families to do it, +thrust a Bible and a hymn-book into his hand, and enquired if he were +sure he would be comfortable, all in a manner that made the newcomer +feel as if the Algonquin church had been erected, a minister and ciders +appointed, and a congregation assembled all for the express purpose of +edifying him on this particular Sabbath morning. + +He captured Angus McRae and showed him to his seat this morning with a +happy bustle, for his pride and joy in the Lad's return was only second +to his own father's. Roderick sat beside his father in their old pew +near the rear of the church, gazing about him happily at the familiar +scene. The people were filling up the aisles, with a soft hushed +rustle. There was Fred Hamilton and his father, and Dr. Archie Blair +and his family. Dr. Blair was rarely too busy to get to church on a +Sunday morning, though he made a loud pretence of being very +irreligious. It was rumoured that he carried a volume of Burns to +church in his pocket instead of a Bible, a tale which the Doctor +enjoyed immensely and took care not to contradict. There was a silken +rustle at Roderick's right hand, a breath of perfume, and Leslie +Graham, in a wonderful rose silk dress and big plumed hat, came up the +aisle, followed by her father and mother. The Grahams were the most +fashionable people in the church, and Mr. Graham was the only man who +wore a high silk hat. He had been the first to wear the frock coat, +but while many had followed his example in this regard, he was the only +man who had, as yet, gone the length of the silk hat. Of course, +Doctor Leslie had one, but every one felt that it was quite correct for +a minister to wear such a thing. It was part of the clerical garb, and +anyway he wore it only at weddings and funerals, showing it belonged to +the office, rather than to the man. So Alexander Graham's millinery +was looked upon with some disfavour. He was a quiet man though, +sensitive and retiring, and not given to vain display, and people felt +that the sin of the silk hat very likely lay at the door of his +fashionable wife and daughter. + +The Grahams were no sooner seated than Leslie turned her handsome head, +and glancing across the church towards Roderick, gave him a brilliant +smile. But the young man did not catch the gracious favour; he was +looking just then at a group passing up the aisle to a seat almost in +front of him; Grandma Armstrong moving very slowly on her eldest +daughter's arm, Miss Annabel in a youthful blue silk dress, and behind +them a girlish figure in a white gown with a wealth of shining hair +gleaming from beneath her wide hat. + +Helen Murray had come to church this first Sunday with some fear. Her +father's voice spoke to her yet in every minister's tones, and the +place and the hour were all calculated to bring up memories hard to +bear in public. She was just seated between Grandma and Miss Annabel +when the former pulled her sleeve and enquired if she did not think the +new gladiators very pretty. The girl followed the old lady's eyes and +saw they were indicating the shiny brass electroliers suspended from +the ceiling. In happier days Helen had found laughter very easy. Her +sense of humour had not been deadened by sorrow, it was only in +abeyance, and now she felt it stirring into life. The little incident +made her look around with interest. Certainly the Algonquin church was +not a place calculated to make one indulge in melancholy. The +Presbyterian congregation was a virile one, bright and friendly and +full of energy, and with very few exceptions, every one was at least +fairly well off. With the aid of a generous expenditure of money they +had expressed their congregational life in the decoration of the +church; so the place was comfortable and well lighted, and exceedingly +bright in colouring. Around three sides ran a gallery with an +ornamental railing, tinted pink. The walls were the same colour, +except for a bright green dado beneath the gallery, and the vaulted +ceiling was decorated with big bouquets of flowers in a shade of pink +and green slightly deeper than the walls and the dado. The carpet and +the cushions--every inch of the floor was carpeted and every pew +cushioned--were a warm bright crimson to match the organ pipes. The +high Gothic windows were of brilliant stained glass, which, when the +morning sun shone, threw a riot of colour over the worshippers. And +indeed everything was warm and bright and shining, from the glittering +new electroliers suspended from the pink ceiling, to the crimson baize +doors which swung inward so hospitably at one's approach. + +The church had been slowly filling, the choir filed into their places, +the organ stopped playing Cavalleria Rusticana, a hush fell over the +place and Doctor Leslie, his white hair and black gown passing through +the changing lights of the windows, came slowly out of the vestry and +up to the pulpit. He was an old man now, but a vigorous one, and his +sermons were still strong and full of the fire of his earlier years. +He had never walked quite so smartly, nor spoken with quite his old vim +since the day he had been left alone in the Manse. But through his +bereavement his eye had grown a little kindlier, his handshake a little +more sympathetic, his voice a little more tender. + +As he stood up and opened the Book of Praise to announce the first +hymn, his glance involuntarily travelled, as it always did at the +beginning of the service, to where old Angus's white head shone in the +amber light of the window, as though a halo of glory were about it. +Old Angus had long ago learned to look for that glance, and returned it +by a glow from his deep eyes. Whenever they sang the 112th psalm in +Algonquin Presbyterian church, + + "_How blest the man who fears the Lord, + And makes His law his chief delight,_" + +the minister looked down and thought how well the words described the +sunny-faced old saint, and Angus looked up and felt how aptly they +fitted his pastor. + +Dr. Leslie had had Angus in his mind this morning when he chose the +111th psalm for their opening praise, knowing how the old man's heart +would be lifted to his God this morning. + + "_Praise ye the Lord; with my whole heart + The Lord's praise I'll declare._" + +They sang it to "Gainsborough," the favourite tune of the old folk, for +it gave an opportunity for restful lingering on every word, and had in +it all those much-loved trills and quavers that made up the true +accompaniment of a Scottish psalm. They sang it spiritedly, as +Algonquin Presbyterians always sang; the choir and the organ on one +side, the congregation on the other, each striving to gain the greater +volume and power. For many years the choir had won out, for Lawyer Ed +was leader, and the whole congregation would have been no match for him +alone. But lately he had handed the leadership over to a young man +whom he had trained up from the Sunday-school, and gone down to the +opposition, where he sometimes gave the organist and the choir all they +could do to be heard. And this morning, in his happiness over +Roderick's home-coming, he was at his best. + +There was only one little rift in the harmony of the whole +congregation. In spite of Mr. McPherson's objections, Lawyer Ed and J. +P. Thornton had succeeded in putting the "Amen" at the end of the +psalms, as well as the hymns, and when the objectionable word came this +morning, Jock sat down as he always did, heavily and noisily, exactly +on the last word of the psalm proper, and pulled Mrs. Jock's silk wrap +to make her give a like condemnation to the bit of popery. Lawyer Ed +sat in the pew opposite Jock and heard the protesting creak of Jock's +seat when he descended and, in a spirit of mischief, he turned round +till he faced the McPherson and rolled out the "Amen" directly at its +objector. It was shocking conduct for an elder, as J. P. said +afterwards, but then every one knew that though he should become +Moderator of the General Assembly, Lawyer Ed would never grow up. + +The sermon was to young people. It was a call to them to give their +lives in their morning to the true Master and Lord of life. Dr. Leslie +took for his text the scene enacted on that great morning when two +young fishermen had heard across the shining water that call which, +once truly heard by the heart's ear, cannot be resisted, "Come ye after +Me." There were young people in the church that morning who heard it +as truly as the fisher lads that far gone morning on Galilee, and as +truly obeyed it. Helen Murray listened, struggling with tears. She +had grown up in a Christian home where the influence of father and +mother were such that it was inevitable that she should early become a +disciple of the Master they served. But she had faltered in her +service since her griefs had come upon her in such a flood. She would +never have allowed herself to grow selfish over her joys but sorrow had +absorbed her. She did not realise, until this morning, that she was +growing selfish over her trouble. The tender call came again--"Come ye +after Me," sounding just as sweetly and impelling in the night of +sorrow and stress as it ever did in the joyous morning. + +Roderick McRae was listening to the sermon too, but he did not hear the +Voice. For in his young, eager ears was ringing the siren song of +success. He had gone to church regularly in his absence from home, +because he knew that the weekly letter to his father would lose half +its charm did the son not give an account of the sermon he had heard +the Sabbath before. But much listening to sermons had bred in the +young man the inattentive heart, even though the ear was doing its +duty. Roderick accepted sermons and church-going good-naturedly, as a +necessary, respectable formality of life. That it must have a bearing +on all life or be utterly meaningless he did not realise. His plans +for life had nothing to do with church, and the divine call fell upon +his ears unheeded. + +When the sermon was drawing to a close, Lawyer Ed scribbled something +on a scrap of paper and when he rose to take the offering he passed it +up to the minister. Lawyer Ed never in his life got through a sermon +without writing at least one note. This one was a request for St. +George's, Edinburgh, as the closing psalm. He knew it was not the one +selected, but something in the stirring words of the sermon, coupled +with his joy over his boy's return, had roused him so that nothing but +the hallelujahs of that great anthem could express his feelings. + +When Dr. Leslie arose at the close and announced, instead of the +regular doxology, the 24th psalm, Harry Lauder, the leader of the +choir, looked down at Lawyer Ed and smiled, and Lawyer Ed smiled back +at him. The young man's name was really Harry Lawson, but as he had a +beautiful tenor voice, and could sing a funny Scottish song far better, +every one in Algonquin said, than the great Scotch singer himself, he +had been honored by the slight but significant change in his name. And +when Harry Lauder smiled down at Lawyer Ed at the announcement of St. +George's, Edinburgh, every one knew what it meant. When Lawyer Ed had +given up the choir, under the pressure of other duties, and put Mr. +Lawson in his place, he delivered this ultimatum to his successor: "Now +look here, youngster. I am not used to being led by any one, either in +singing or in anything else, but I promise that as far as I can, I'll +follow you in the church service. But there's one tune in which I'll +follow no living man, no, nor congregation of massed bands, and that's +St. George's, Edinburgh. I just can't help it, Harry; when the first +note of that tune comes rolling out, I am neither to hold nor to bind. +Now I don't want to have it spoiled by see-sawing, that would be +blasphemous. So you just tell the organist that I have a weakness +comes over me when that tune is sung, and tell him to listen, and +follow me. And you do the same." + +So every one knew that when St. George's, Edinburgh, was sung, Lawyer +Ed became the leader of the choir and congregation pro tem. No one +needed to be told, however, for none could help following him. And he +had never thrown himself into it with more abandon than on this sunny +morning with the Eternal Call sounding again in the ears of all who had +truly heard the sermon. + + "_Ye gates lift up your heads on high!_" + + +He was glorious on the first stanza, he was magnificent on the second. +He climbed grandly up the heights of its crescendo:-- + + "_Ye doors that last for aye, + Be lifted up that so the King of glory enter may,_" + +in ever growing power and volume; up to the wonder of the question-- + + "_But who is He that is the King of glory?_" + +up to the rapture of the response:-- + + "_The Lord of Hosts and none but He + The King of Glory is._" + +And then out he came upon the heights of the refrain, with all the +universe conquered and at his feet. When the first Hallelujah burst +from the congregation, mounting splendidly at his side, the leader +closed his book. He flung it upon the seat, tore off his glasses, +clasped his hands behind him, and let himself go. And with a mighty +roar he swept congregation, choir, organ, everybody, up into a thunder +of praise. + + "_Hallelujah, Hallelujah. Amen, Amen._" + + +It might not have been considered finished by a musical critic, it may +have lacked restraint and nicety of shading; but no one who heard the +Algonquin congregation that morning singing "Ye Gates lift up your +heads," led by Lawyer Edward Brians, could doubt that it was surely +some such fine fresh rapture that rang through the aisles of Heaven on +that creation day when the morning stars sang together and all the Sons +of God shouted for joy. + +Helen Murray bowed her head for the benediction, the stinging tears +rushing to her eyes, but they were not tears of sorrow. For the moment +she had forgotten there was such a thing as pain. She had lost it as +she had been swept up to the glad peaks of song. For one trembling +moment she had caught a glimpse of a new wonder, the whole world +moving, through sorrow and pain and dull misunderstanding, surely and +swiftly up to God. And for that instant her soul had leaped forward, +too, to meet Him. She came down from the heights; no mortal could live +there, seeing things that were not lawful to utter. But from that +first Sunday in Algonquin church her outlook on her new life was +changed. She had seen the end of her rainbow. It was back of mists +and clouds and storms, but it was there! And she could never again be +quite so sad. + +The congregation slowly filed put of the pews and down the aisles, +chatting in soft hushed voices, until the organist pulled out all the +stops and played a lively air, and then the conversation rose to suit +the accompaniment. Mr. McPherson had objected to the pipe-organ, to +the hired organist from the city, and finally and most vigorously to +the musical dispersion of the congregation. If the body must play for +the church service, Jock conceded, well, he must; but why he must paw +and trample and harry the noisy thing, when church was over and done +with, was a mystery that no right thinking person could solve. The +organist, when approached with the elder's objections, had answered +with dignity that all the city churches did it, and Jock's case was +hopelessly lost. For when Algonquin was told that in the city they did +thus and so, then Algonquin would do that thing too if it had meant +burning down the church. So the congregation went down the aisles, +sailing merrily on a flood of gay music, and as they went, Miss Annabel +introduced the new teacher to several of the young folk of the church, +who asked her to join the Christian Endeavor and the Young Women's +Society, and the Young People's Bible class and to come to the picnic +to-morrow afternoon in the park and the moonlight sail on Friday +evening, and assured her that she would like Algonquin, and wasn't it a +very pretty place? + +As they passed down the steps, a slim young man, dressed immaculately +in the height of fashion, came tripping up to them and addressed Miss +Annabel in the most abjectly polite manner. + +"Good morning, Mr. Wilbur," said the lady coldly, "I am sure you must +welcome Sunday. I suppose you are working so hard these days." It was +very cruel of Miss Annabel, for poor Afternoon Tea Willie had not yet +been able to get an introduction to the lady of his dreams, and he +really did work very hard indeed, and his was the employment from which +there was no respite even on Sundays. But she hurried Helen on without +further notice of him. Roderick was watching the little play with some +amusement as he stood waiting for his father, who had stopped to have a +word with the minister. As he did so he was puzzled to see Fred +Hamilton pass him without so much as a word. He was concluding that +his old acquaintance had not seen him, when he heard a merry laugh at +his elbow and there stood Miss Leslie Graham. + +"Did you see poor Freddy?" she cried. "Oh, dear, dear, I told on him +after all, and he's mad at everybody in the town, you included, +evidently. Now here's Daddy. He's dying to meet you. Here, Dad, this +is the man that did the deed." + +Mr. Graham took Roderick's hand and held it while he thanked him, in a +voice that trembled, for saving his daughter's life. Roderick was +attempting to disclaim any heroism in the matter, when Mrs. Graham fell +upon him with a rustle of silks, and fairly overwhelmed him with +gratitude. Then two or three others came up and demanded to know what +it was all about and Roderick was overcome with embarrassment and was +thankful when his father appeared and he could make his escape. + +Lawyer Ed came to the buggy to say good-bye to Angus and to enquire +what was the collie-shankie at the kirk door, and when he heard, he +slapped Roderick on the back. "Well, well, look here, my lad," he +cried, "why, your fortune is as good as made. Sandy Graham has been +mad at me for the space of twenty-five years or more about something or +other--what was it now? Bless me if I haven't forgotten what. But he +nearly left the church over it, and entirely left the law firm of +Brians & Co." The bereaved head of the firm put back his head at the +recollection, shut his eyes, and laughed long and heartily. "But +you've got him back again all right, and I tell you this, my lad, if +you get his business your fortune is just about made. Only don't go +and lose your heart to the handsome young lady while you need a steady +head!" + +They drove away, and while the father talked on the drive home of the +sermon, the son answered absently; his thoughts were all with the piece +of good luck which had come his way by such a mere chance. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +"FLOATED THE GLEAM" + +Ever since Leslie Graham was old enough to know what she wanted she had +always managed to get it. She was the only child of wealthy parents, +as Algonquin counted wealth. Her father was absorbed in business, and +felt he had done his duty by his daughter when he gave her money enough +to be the best dressed girl in the town. Her mother's creed in regard +to bringing up children was to give the dears a good time when they +were young, they would grow old soon enough. So Leslie's time and +energies were bent to the two main tasks of life, unconsciously set her +by her parents, to spend as much money as possible on clothes, and to +have a good time. + +She had been named, as many another girl of the congregation, Margaret +Leslie, after the minister's wife; she was a member of the church; she +had been brought up to attend Sunday-school and mission band, and to be +helpful in all social functions of the congregation; and withal she was +frankly and happily, and entirely pagan. + +The earliest lesson life had taught her was that, if she wanted +anything, screams generally produced the desired object. The second +lesson was that, when screams failed, one must scramble down from one's +high chair and go after the prize and wrest it from table or sideboard +or high eminence, no matter how much hard climbing or bumps were +entailed. + +So when Roderick McRae became desirable in her eyes, in her usual +straightforward manner, she frankly sought him out and demanded his +attention. His sudden appearance on the evening of her loss of +self-confidence, the appeal his rescue had made to her girlish +imagination, and the charm of the forbidden that hung over Old Angus +McRae's son made him a real Prince Charming. She was quite certain +that he needed only to know that she liked him, to be immediately her +slave. He seemed very shy and hard to convince that she cared, but +that was natural, considering the wide difference in their social +positions. + +On the Monday morning after her father's arrival home, when he was +ready to go down to the bank, she suddenly appeared, dressed in her +prettiest white gown and announced her intention of accompanying him. + +"Well, well, I feel highly flattered," he declared, as they walked down +the garden path together. Then, as he opened the gate for her, he +asked, with a knowing twinkle in his eye, for he was an astute business +man, and accustomed to divining people's motives, "Now, what do you +want to wheedle out of me this morning? You've been for a trip +already, and it can't be a new dress." + +She laughed and, as was her way, went straight to the point. "No, it's +a new young man, Daddy. I want you to do something nice for Roderick +McRae. Haven't you a big chunk of business you need a lawyer for?" + +Her father frowned. "Tut, tut, if I've got to give some work to every +young man that does you a favour, my business will be gone to the dogs +in a month." + +"A favour! Why, Father Graham, he saved my life!" cried the girl +solemnly. + +"Yes, dear, I realise that, and I'd like to do something for him. But +Ed Brians, I can't stand. He wants to run everything in the town. He +pretty nearly does, but he's not going to run my business. You mind +that!" + +Though Lawyer Ed had completely forgotten the cause of the trouble +between them, Alexander Graham had not. Upon a certain date, years +earlier, the belligerent young elder had tramped into a managers' +meeting, denounced a money-saving scheme of Manager Graham's, and +called the assembled brethren all misers and skinflints. The managers +had succumbed, in the most friendly manner, all except Sandy Graham. +He had resigned instead, and had tended his grievance carefully until, +from a small shoot, in ten years it had grown up into a flourishing +tree with deep and tenacious roots. + +There was another cause of dissension, too. Alexander Graham had a +brother named William, a lawyer, who lived in New York and was reputed +fabulously wealthy. And he was an old and staunch friend of Lawyer Ed, +who could not and would not be moved from his loyalty, no matter how +many grievances Sandy placed before him. Bill was forever putting +business in the way of Edward Brians, and his brother's jealousy and +ill-feeling grew stronger as the years passed. + +Lawyer Ed paid not the slightest attention to Sandy Graham's enmity. +He invariably treated the old friend with an overwhelming good-humour +which only served to increase the irritation. + +Leslie Graham knew all this, but she cared not a pin's worth for her +father's quarrels. She was not going to have her plans spoiled by a +mere parent. + +"Now, Daddy dear!" she cried, knowing exactly how to manage him, "I +should think you'd have wit enough to see that Lawyer Ed would hate you +to give your business to his young partner far worse than to give it to +Willoughby. There's that new lumber scheme. You can give Roderick +that and tell him Lawyer Ed's not to know anything about it, eh?" + +The man hesitated. He was at that moment on his way to the law firm of +Willoughby and Baldwin to put into their hands the work of negotiating +with the British North American R. R. Company regarding some timber +limits in New Ontario. It was a complicated piece of business, needing +careful handling. He had not much faith in Willoughby--he was too old, +and less in Baldwin, who was too young. This young McRae, being the +son of Angus McRae, would be honest, there was no doubt of that, and +evidently he had ability. And while he hesitated, and his daughter +argued and cajoled, they came to the door of Lawyer Ed's office. +Roderick was standing there alone, having just seen his partner off +down the street. Miss Leslie Graham took matters into her own hands +with her usual charming audacity. + +"Good morning, Mr. Roderick McRae," she cried. "Here's my respected +parent can't make up his mind about a piece of backwoods he owns away +back of beyond somewhere, so I just steered him down here. He was just +saying on the way down that he would rather have the firm of Brians and +McRae do his business than any one he knew of. Weren't you, Papa? Now +you go in there with Roderick, and I shall call for you when I come +back from my shopping. Bye, bye." + +She shoved him up the steps and right in at the door, and skipped away, +laughing over her shoulder at the trick she had played. Her father +stood a moment looking after her, not knowing whether to be angry or +amused. She turned and winked at him when she reached the bottom of +the steps, and his anger vanished. He laughed indulgently, threw up +his hands with a helpless gesture and followed Roderick into the +office. And before he stated his business he spent a half-hour telling +how much his daughter was to him and how grateful he was to Roderick +for what he had done. + +Roderick's eyes shone when the new work was laid before him. It was a +big thing, bigger than had ever come the way of that little office in +all the years it had done business in Algonquin. It fired his ambition +to make good. The shrewd business man saw the look in the young +lawyer's eye, and he did not regret the step Leslie had forced him to +take. + +"If you see that those rascals don't get the better of us, Mr. McRae," +he said in parting, "I need not tell you that you will profit by it as +well as ourselves." + +Roderick thanked him for his trust. "When Mr. Brians comes in--" he +commenced, but his client interrupted. + +"I want it to be distinctly understood that this is your work entirely, +Mr. McRae," he said. "Mr. Brians will understand." + +Lawyer Ed did understand, and laughed long and loud over what he called +Sandy Graham's extreme Scotchness. But he was vastly pleased that +Roderick was to have a chance of showing what he could do, and that the +wide business interests of Graham and Company were to be once more in +their hands. + +And now Roderick plunged into work with all his might. When the news +spread that Graham and Co. had given a big transaction into the hands +of Lawyer Ed's young partner, others followed. Lawyer Ed himself was a +shrewd advocate, but every one knew that his business tendencies ran on +certain lines. His chief concern had always been to settle family +troubles, rather than to make money out of them. Many a puzzled farmer +he had saved from losing in an unjust bargain when the opposite course +would have meant money for himself. Many a family on the verge of +disintegration over a will had been brought together and made happy, +because their lawyer was more bent on their welfare than his own. +Roderick intended fully to keep up the fine old standards of the firm +as far as possible. But he was determined to be much more than the +legal adviser of all the folk living around Algonquin who couldn't do +business themselves. + +He took his mid-day meal at the Algonquin House, the leading hotel, and +won the favour of Mr. Crofter, the proprietor. And there came to the +office of Brians and McRae one day, much to the senior partner's +amazement, Mr. Crofter himself, with some mining concerns he had in the +north. Mr. Crofter had never quite seen eye to eye with Lawyer Ed, +since the latter had declared flatly and loudly, at a tea-meeting given +by the Sons of Temperance, that a man who sold liquor over a bar was a +curse to the community. But Mr. Crofter knew when he wanted his +business well done. He distrusted almost every one in Algonquin, but +he knew old Angus McRae's son would be incapable of dishonesty. + +The second surprise came a few months later when the success of +Crofter's deal had made the young lawyer's name. Alexander Graham took +all his business out of the hands of the Willoughby firm, and gave it +to Brians & McRae. + +That evening Roderick was asked to the Grahams for dinner, as a further +honour. He went with some trepidation, as it was his first venture +into society. Mr. Graham was exceedingly genial, and Leslie was +charming, but the lady of the house was rather distant. She could not +help seeing Leslie's partiality towards Roderick and resented it. As +her husband's lawyer, the young man was quite acceptable, but as a +possible aspirant to his daughter's favour he would be entirely out of +place. Fred Hamilton was the only other one present outside the +family. The young man sat in sulky silence most of the evening, a +circumstance which seemed to put his pretty hostess into a high good +humour. + +The invitation to the Grahams was the signal for other doors to open. +Roderick was invited everywhere. And wherever he went there was Miss +Leslie Graham, the belle of every occasion, and always ready to bestow +her greatest favours upon him. He always looked about him at these gay +gatherings of young people half-expecting to see the young lady he had +met on the _Inverness_; but he was always disappointed, and wondered +why she did not appear. + +Helen Murray, herself, often wondered why she was not bidden to the +many festivities of which she heard the gay Miss Annabel talk. + +"You will probably be invited out a great deal, Miss Murray," Miss +Armstrong cautioned her, "and I hope you will select very carefully the +places you visit. You see you are practically one of our family, and +though we respect all grades of society, you must realise that we have +a position to maintain. And I hope you won't think me interfering, my +dear; but if you would consult Annabel and me, as to accepting an +invitation, I think it would be wise. We should like so much to have +you of our set." + +Helen obeyed, a little puzzled, but afraid to act against the judgment +of her august hostess. So she found herself soon bidden to afternoon +teas and receptions and all the affairs where the older set attended. +She met no one of her own age, however, except Miss Annabel who called +them all old frumps, and declared married folk were deadly dull, and +she would never go near their parties again so long as she lived. And +she fell into a state of nervous apprehension, when the approach of the +next afternoon tea was rumoured abroad, lest she should not be invited. +Poor Miss Annabel was being slowly but surely pushed on into the older +set by the younger generation. She hated her position, but it was the +only one left, and it was better than the dread desolation of no +position at all. + +Helen kept away from the whirl, finding her duties at school sufficient +excuse. She often longed for some young life, however, and wondered +why she did not meet the daughters of the ladies who were so kind to +her when she went out under Miss Armstrong's wing. + +She did not know as yet that the reason was two-fold. First, the +younger set were a little more exclusive than the one in which the +Misses Armstrong moved. Young Algonquin had but recently awakened to +the fact that society was not society unless you built a fence about it +and kept somebody--it didn't matter much who--out. The other and more +potent reason was Helen's unfortunate sex. There were already far too +many young ladies in Algonquin. A young man with exactly her claims to +recognition would have been received with acclaim. But, except in +holiday time, there was always a sad dearth of young men in Algonquin, +if not an actual famine. So no wonder the young ladies rather resented +the appearance of another girl to join their already too swollen ranks, +and especially a girl so undeniably attractive as the new school +teacher. + +Quite unconscious of all this, Helen spent many a lonely evening at her +window looking down at the gay crowds passing along the street towards +the lake, and listening drearily to their happy voices floating under +the leafy tunnel of the trees. + +She dared not join the groups that would have welcomed her, the young +folk who earned their living and who made the church a centre of social +intercourse for the lonely. Miss Armstrong had politely given her to +understand that she would not be welcome in Rosemount, if she +associated with the girls who stood behind the counter, or worked in a +dress-maker's shop. + +She often saw Miss Leslie Graham as she darted into the house and out +again, on a flying visit to her grandmother, but she had no opportunity +of meeting her. + +So in spite of her brave attempts to forget her grief in her work, and +in spite of Madame's unfailing kindness and help, the girl was often +very lonely. The big echoing house of Rosemount was always deserted of +an evening. Grandma went to bed, and either Helen or the little maid +was left on guard, while the two ladies went to a dinner-party or an +evening at cards. + +One soft languorous September evening, the loneliness promised to be +unbearable, and she determined to go alone for a walk. Madame was +always too tired for a tramp after school, and she knew no one else who +would accompany her. + +She spoke of it at the tea-table in the faint hope that Miss Annabel +might suggest coming too, but was disappointed. + +"Why that'll be lovely, dearie," she cried, "go and have a run in the +park. It will do you good. I'd dearly love to go with you, but +there's Mrs. Captain Willoughby's musicale. There won't be a soul +there that isn't old enough to be in her dotage, but I promised that +nothing short of sudden death would make me miss it." + +"Annabel, I am surprised at you," said her sister reprovingly. "I +wouldn't go far in the evening alone, Miss Murray," she added in her +stately way. "It does not seem just--well--exactly proper, don't you +know." + +"Nonsense, Elinor. How's the poor child to help going alone, when +there's no one to go with her?" + +Helen had learned to look for these slight altercations at the table. +While the sisters were apparently of one mind on all the larger issues +of life, they had a habit of arguing and cavilling over the little +things that often left their young boarder in a state of wonder. + +She slipped away as soon as the meal was over, for the evenings were +growing short and she wanted to see the lake in its sunset glory. The +night was warm and all the young people were on the lake. The streets +were deserted. But on the pretty vine-clad verandas, the heads of +families sat sewing or reading and smoking, with the little ones +tumbling about the grass. On one veranda a gramophone, the first in +the town, screeched out a strain from a Grand Opera to the wonder and +admiration of all the neighbours. Helen moved along the street more +lonely than ever in the midst of all this home happiness. She passed a +little cottage where a young man and woman were tying up a rose vine, +beaten down by recent rains. Madame had told her they had been married +just the week before. They looked very happy, laughing and whispering +like a couple of nest-building robins, as they worked together to make +their little home more beautiful. She had to hurry away from the +pretty scene. Some one had promised her once that there should be a +rose vine over their porch in the new home he had been planning for her. + +She turned a corner and was alarmed by a great churning and puffing +noise ahead, as though the _Inverness_ had left her native element and +come sailing up Main Street. But it was only Captain Willoughby in his +new automobile. It was the first, and as yet the only machine in +Algonquin, and its unhappy owner would have sold it to the lowest +bidder could he have found any one foolish enough to bid at all. For +so far, the captain had had no opportunity to learn to run it. His +first excursions abroad had been attended with such disaster, such mad +careering of horses, and plunging into ditches, such dismaying +paralysis of the engine right in the middle of a neighbour's gateway, +such inexplicable excursions onto the sidewalk and through plate glass +windows, such harrowing overturning of baby-carriages, that Mrs. +Captain Willoughby took an attack of nerves every time he went abroad, +and the town fathers finally requested that the captain take out his +Juggernaut car only at such hours as the streets were clear. So on +quiet evenings such as this one, when there were not likely to be any +horses abroad, Mrs. Willoughby telephoned all her friends and told them +to take in the children for the captain was coming. And so, heralded, +like the Lady Godiva, the trembling motorist went forth, while the +streets immediately became as empty as those of Coventry, with rows of +peeping Toms, safe inside their fences, jeering at the unhappy man's +uneven progress. He whizzed past Helen at a terrible speed, grazing +the side-walk and giving her almost as great a fright as he got +himself, and went whirring up the hill. + +She did not want to join the crowds in the park so she followed the +familiar street past the school, and out along the Pine Road toward the +lake shore. But when she found her way was leading her through Willow +Lane, where all the dirty and poor people of Algonquin lived, she +turned off into a path that crossed a field and led to the water. +Helen had some little pupils from Willow Lane, and their appearance did +not invite a closer acquaintance with their homes. + +She did not know that she was passing near the back of Old Peter +McDuff's farm, but she noticed that the fences were conveniently broken +down, and left a path clear down to the water's edge. + +Lake Algonquin lay before her in its evening glory, a glory veiled and +softened by the amethyst veil the autumn was weaving. The water was as +still and as clear as a mirror. To her left the town nestled in a soft +purple mist, the gay voices from the park were softened and sweetened +by the distance. Straight ahead of her lay Wawa island, an airy thing +floating lightly on the water, and reflected perfectly in its depths. + +At one end of its dark greenery autumn had hung out a banner to herald +her coming--a scarlet sumach. A yellowing maple leaf fell at Helen's +feet as she passed. Along the water's edge where the birches grew +thick arose a great twittering and chattering. The long southern +flight was already being discussed. Away out beyond the island a canoe +drifted along on the golden water. Some one seated in it was picking a +mandolin and singing, "Good-bye, Summer." + +Helen slipped down the path where the birches and elms, entwined with +the bitter-sweet, hung over the water. A little point jutted out with +a big rock on the end of it. She took off her hat, seated herself upon +the rock, and drank in the silence and peace of the calm evening. + +A little launch went rap-rap-rap across the clear glass of the water, +leaving a long trail of light behind it like a comet, and the sweet +evening odours were mingled with the unsavoury scent of gasoline. +Helen had often sped joyfully over the bay at home in just such a noisy +little craft, quite unconscious of being obnoxious to any one else. It +was not the first time she had found her view-point was changing. She +seemed to have been drifted ashore in a wreck, and to be sitting +looking on at the life she had lived with wonder and sometimes with +disapproval. The launch passed, the evening shadows deepened, but she +still sat wrapped in the deeper shadows of her own sad thoughts. + +She had no idea how long she had sat there when she was roused by the +sudden appearance of a canoe right at her side. It had stolen up +silently, propelled by the noiseless stroke of a practised paddler, and +went past her like a ghost. The young man kneeling in the stern had +something of the perfectly balanced play of muscle, and poise of lithe +figure that belonged to the Indian. For in spite of his Anglo-Saxon +blood, Roderick McRae was as much a product of this land of lake and +forest as the Red Skin. He had almost passed her, when he looked up +and saw her for the first time. He gave a start; it seemed too good to +be true. But she bowed so distantly that his hesitating paddle dipped +again. He went on slowly, too shy to intrude. He had taken but a few +strokes when from away behind her on the darkening land, came a loud +sound of singing. Peter Fiddle was drunk again. Feeling very grateful +to Peter for the excuse, Roderick turned about, with an adroit twist of +his paddle, and glided back till he was opposite her. + +"Excuse me, Miss Murray," he stammered, feeling his old shyness return, +"but--are you alone here?" + +"Yes," said the girl a slight wonder in her voice at the question. "I +came down for a walk and--" she turned and glanced behind her and gave +an exclamation at the darkness of the woods. She had forgotten the +magic power the water has of gathering and holding the sunset light +long after darkness has wrapped the earth. "Oh, I had no idea it was +so late!" she cried in dismay. + +Roderick joyfully ran his canoe up close to the rock. The fear in her +voice made him forget his embarrassment. "I don't wish to trouble +you," he said, "but it isn't wise to go home that path through the +woods alone." He hesitated. He did not like to tell her that Old +Peter might come down there raging drunk, and that at the head of +Willow Lane she might meet with another drunken row between Mike +Cassidy and his wife. "Oh dear!" she cried, "how could I be so +foolish? I never dreamed of its being so dark and I forgot--" + +"If you will let me I'll take you home," said Roderick eagerly, "in my +canoe." + +He was immeasurably relieved at her answer. + +"Let you?" she cried gratefully. "Why, I'll be ever so much obliged to +you. I am sorry to be such a trouble. I don't see how I was so +careless," she added in frank apology. + +Roderick knew he ought to say it was no trouble, but a pleasure. But +he was too shy and too happy. He succeeded only in mumbling, "Oh, not +at all," or something equally vague. + +He brought the canoe close to the rock and held out his hand. She +stepped in very carefully, and with something the air of one venturing +out on a very thin piece of ice. + +"It's the first time I ever stepped into a canoe," she said a little +tremulously. He steadied her with his hand, smiling a little at her +graceful awkwardness. Then he showed her how to place herself in the +little seat in the centre, with a cushion at her back. He did it +clumsily enough for he was embarrassed and nervous in her presence. In +all his years of paddling about the lake it was but the second time he +had taken a young lady into his canoe, and the first one he had rescued +out of the water, and this one off a lonely point of land. So he was +not versed in the proper things to say to a lady when taking her for a +paddle. + +The canoe slipped silently out from the rock and slid along the +darkening shore. Only the faintest suggestion of the sunset glow lay +on the softly glimmering surface of the water. But they had gone only +a few yards, when there came a new miracle to remake the scene. From +behind the black bulk of the pine clad island peeped a great round +harvest moon, and suddenly the whole world of land and water was +painted anew in softer golden tints veiled in silver. The girl sat +silent and awe-struck. Was there never to be an end to the wonders of +this place? "Oh," she said in a whisper, "isn't it beautiful?" + +Roderick looked, and was silent too. + +Yes, it was very wonderful he thought, more wonderful to him than she +dreamed. He felt as if he could paddle on forever over the shining +lake with the magic colours of moon-rise and sunset meeting in the +golden hair of the girl opposite him. They went on for a long time in +silence. They passed into the shadow of the island with silver lances +through the trees barring their path. The dewy scent of pine and cedar +stole out from the dark shore. The silver light grew brighter, the +whole lake was lit up with a soft white radiance. + +"Have you always lived here?" she asked at last in a whisper, an +unspoken fear in her voice lest a sound disturb the fair surroundings +and they vanish, leaving them in a common, every day world of material +things. + +"Always," said Roderick in the same hushed tone, though for a different +reason. "I was born on the old farm back here." + +"Then I wonder if you know how lovely it all is?" + +"Perhaps not. But it is home to me, you know, and that gives an added +charm." + +"Yes," she said and checked a sigh. "And you've always paddled about +here I suppose." + +"I never remember when I learned. But I remember my first excursion +alone. I was just six. Old Peter McDuff who lives on the next farm +used to tell me fairy tales. And he told me there was a pot of gold at +the end of the rainbow, waiting for the man bold enough to go after it. +I felt that I was the man, and I paddled off one evening when there was +a rainbow in the sky. I got lost in the fog, and my father and a +search-party found me drifting away out on the lake. And I didn't +bring home the pot of gold." + +"Nobody ever does," she said drearily. "And every one is hunting it." +They were silent for a moment, the girl thinking of how she too had +gone after a vanishing rainbow. Then the memory of that vision of the +first Sunday morning in Algonquin church came to her. There was a +rainbow somewhere, with the treasure at the foot; one that did not +vanish either if one persisted in its pursuit. + +She tried to say something of this to Roderick, fearing her sombre +words had set him to recalling her secret. + +"I suppose it is perfect happiness," he said. "If so, I never met any +one who had found it, except--yes, I believe I know one." + +"Who?" she asked eagerly. + +"My father," answered Roderick gently. + +"I have heard of him," she said, smiling at the glow of pride in the +son's eyes. "And where did he discover it?" + +Roderick laughed. "I suppose it's in the heart, after all; but my +father is never so happy as when he is in the midst of misery. His pot +of gold seems to lie down on Willow Lane." + +"On Willow Lane? Why that's where all those dreadfully poor, dirty +people live, isn't it?" + +"Yes. They are an unsavoury bunch down there. That's where Mr. and +Mrs. Cassidy throw the household furniture at each other, and Billy +Perkins starves his family for drink, and where the celebrated Peter +McDuff plays the fiddle every night at the tavern. He might have +serenaded you, if you had gone back home by the road." + +She smiled gratefully and her smile was very beautiful. But her +thoughts were in Willow Lane. There were worse things there that +Roderick did not mention, but she had heard of them. It was a strange +and wonderful thing that the saintly-faced old man with the white hair, +whom she had seen with Roderick at church, should find his happiness +among such people. + +Roderick had paddled as slowly as it was possible to move, but he could +not prolong the little voyage any further. They were at the landing. + +"I have made you come away back here," she said, "and now you will be +so late getting home. I must let you go back at once. Good night, and +thank you." + +Roderick had been hoping that he might walk up to Rosemount with her, +but felt he was dismissed. He wanted, too, to ask her if she would not +come out on the lake again, but his shyness kept him silent. + +As he helped her out, the yellow light of the wharf lamp fell upon her +light dress and shone on the gold of her hair, and at the same moment a +canoe slid silently out of the dimness beyond and glided across the +track of the moon. In the stern knelt one of Algonquin's young men +wielding a lazy paddle, and in the low seat opposite, with a filmy +scarf about her dark hair, reclined Miss Leslie Graham. She sat up +straight very suddenly, and stared at the girl who was stepping from +the canoe. But she did not speak, and Roderick was too absorbed to +notice who had passed. And the young man with the lazy paddle wondered +all the way home what had happened to make the lively young lady so +silent and absent-minded. + +Helen Murray thought many times of what Roderick had told her about his +father's interest in Willow Lane. She could not help wondering if +others could find there the peace that shone in the old man's eyes. +She was wondering if she should go down and visit the place, when, one +day, Willow Lane came to her. It was a warm languorous October day, a +day when all nature seemed at a standstill. Her work was done, she was +resting under her soft coverlet of blue gossamer, preparing for her +long sleep. Helen had had a hard day, for she had not yet learned her +new strange task. The room was noisy, fifty little heads were bent +over fifty different schemes for mischief, and fifty sibilant whispers +delivered forbidden messages. The teacher was writing on the board, +and turned suddenly at the sound of a heavy footstep in the hall. The +door was open, letting in the breeze from the lake, and in it stood a +big hairy man with a bushy black head and wild blue eyes. Helen stood +and stared at him half-frightened. + +The fifty small heads suddenly whirled about and a hundred eyes stared +at the visitor, but there was no fear in them. A giggling whisper ran +like fire over the room. "It's Peter Fiddle!" The man shook his fist +at them, and the teacher went with some apprehension towards the door. + +"Can I do anything for you, sir?" she enquired, outwardly calm, but +inwardly quaking. He took off his big straw hat and made her a +profound bow. + +"I'll be Peter McDuff," he said with a stately air, "an' I'll loss a +pig." + +"I--I don't think it's here," faltered Helen, dismayed at a visit from +the notorious McDuff. "You might ask some other place," she suggested +hopefully. + +"I'll be wantin' the bairns to be lookin' for it," he said, making +another bow. He turned to the children, now sitting, for the first +time since their teacher had set eyes on them, absolutely still and +attentive. + +"If you see a pig wis a curly tail," he announced, "that's me!" + +The whole school burst into a shout of laughter, and the man's face +flamed with anger. He shook his fist at them again, moving a step into +the room. "Ye impident young upstarts!" he shouted. "I'll be Peter +McDuff!" he cried proudly. "And I'll be having you know they will not +be laughing at the McDuff whatefer!" + +"I--I'm sure they didn't mean to be rude, Mr. McDuff," ventured the +frightened teacher. + +"My name'll be Peter McDuff," he insisted, coming further into the room +while she stepped back in terror. "I'll be sixty years of old, and +I'll neffer be casting a tory vote! An' if you'll be gifing me a man +my own beeg and my own heavy--" he brandished his fists fiercely. + +"Peter!" + +The McDuff turned. Behind him stood Angus McRae, his gentle face +distressed. He laid his hand on Peter's shoulder with an air of quiet +power. "Come away home with me, Peter man," he said soothingly. +"We'll be finding the pig on the road." + +Peter stumbled out grumbling, and Angus McRae, pausing a moment to +deliver an apology to Helen, followed. Mrs. Doasyouwouldbedoneby came +along the hall rocking with laughter. + +"You poor child!" she cried. "I heard him, and was coming to the +rescue when I saw old Angus. I knew you'd be scared. But Peter +wouldn't hurt a hair of a woman's head." + +"That Mr. McRae seemed to have some strange power over him," whispered +Helen, watching, with some apprehension, the two climb into an old +wagon. + +"So he has. And he's the only one that has. He keeps Peter in order +when he's drunk and keeps him sober, when he can. Ah, dear me! dear +me! There's a clever man all gone wrong. Angus McRae's been working +with him for years. He lives out there past what they call Willow +Lane. Ever been down there?" + +"No, but I've heard of it often." + +"It's that bit of street that runs from the end of the town where that +old hotel is. I'm going down there after school to see about Minnie +Perkins. Come along for a walk. Now, you children, go right back +there, do you hear me?" For the primary grade had overflowed and was +flooding the halls. And Madame swept them back and slammed her door. + +When school was dismissed and the last noisy youngster had gone +storming forth Helen went down the hall to her friend's room. Madame +came swaying out carrying a bunch of gay spiked gladiolus, her +draperies floating about her with cherubs peeping from their folds, +like a saint in an old picture. + +She dismissed her satellites firmly at the first corner, except those +who lived beyond or on Willow Lane, a ceremony that necessitated a +great deal of shooing and scolding. + +The first eye-sore on Willow Lane was the old hotel, still standing +there, forlorn and ugly, as though ashamed of all the evil it had +wrought. + +As the years passed there was always a new generation of loungers to +sit and smoke and spit on its sagging veranda. From it ran the old +high board fence plastered with ugly advertisements of soap or circus +or patent medicine. It disfigured the whole street and shut off a +possible glimpse of the lake. Away on the other side of it was a +meadow where in spring-time the larks soared and sang, and beyond it +the lake and the woods where the mocking bird and the bee made music. +But here in Willow Lane was neither sound nor sight that was pleasant. + +The street consisted of a single sorry-looking row of houses with +narrow box-like yards shoved up close to the road, as though there were +not acres and acres of open free meadow land behind them. The hills +upon which Algonquin was situated ceased abruptly here, and the land +spread away in a flat plain along the lake shore. The ground was low +and damp, and every house in Willow Lane that had the misfortune to +possess a cellar was the abode of disease. A deep ditch ran parallel +to the rickety board side-walk. There had just been a week of +unceasing rain and it was full of green water. + +"Oh dear!" said Helen, in distress. "I had no idea there was such a +place as this in Algonquin." + +"People have lived here for years and still seem to have no idea," said +Madame. She paused and looked back. "Do you see that house 'way up on +the hill yonder? The one with the tower sticking up between the trees? +That's Alexander Graham's mansion. And he makes a good deal of his +money out of the rents of these houses, and nobody seems to care very +much. The people of the churches send down turkeys and plum puddings, +and everything good at Christmas time, and seem to think that will do +for another year. But the only man who tries to do anything all the +time is Angus McRae. I suppose you know that Lawyer Ed calls him the +Good Samaritan, and this the Jericho Road." + +The first house in the dreary row was the turbulent home of Mr. +Cassidy, the gentleman who commanded so much of Lawyer Ed's attention. +Mrs. Cassidy was on the front veranda washing. It was a pastime she +seldom indulged in, for there was never much water in the old leaky +rain barrel at the corner of the house. For while Willow Lane had +water, water everywhere, the inhabitants had not any drop in which to +wash themselves. But the overflowing rain-barrels had tempted Judy +to-day, and so her little figure was bobbing up and down over the +washboard like a play Judy in a show. She was scrubbing her own +clothes, but not her husband's, for Mr. Cassidy and his wife lived each +an entirely independent life. They occupied different sections of the +house even, and the lady saw to it that her husband's apartments were +the coldest in winter and the hottest in summer. This arrangement had +been held to, ever since the day that Mike thrashed Judy. It had not +been without some provocation, it is true; for though very small, Mrs. +Cassidy had a valiant spirit, and had many and varied ways of +exasperating her husband's inflammable temper. But Lawyer Ed had +appealed to Father Tracy, and that muscular shepherd of his flock had +come down upon Willow Lane and thrashed Mike thoroughly and soundly. +Since then there had been a sort of armed neutrality in the home of the +Cassidys. + +"Good day, Mrs. Cassidy," called Madame over the little fence. "It's a +beautiful day after the rain." + +"Aw, well now and is that you, Mrs. Adam?" enquired Judy, her little +face peering out of the clouds of steam. "Sure it's yerself would be +bringin' beautiful weather, aven if it was poorin'." + +Her voice was soft, her manner ingratiating, there was no sign of the +warrior spirit beneath. + +"I hope the rain'll keep off till you get your clothes dry," said +Madame pleasantly, but passing resolutely on, for Mrs. Cassidy showed +sighs of a desire to come to the gate and have a friendly chat. "We +must get out of her way. If she starts to talk we'll never escape," +she whispered. "Just look at that will you!" + +The second place was one where some pitiful attempts at beautifying had +been made. The yard was swept clean and a little drain had been dug at +the side to let the water run off. A few drowned flowers leaned over +on their hard clay beds, and there was a neat curtain and a mosquito +netting on each window. But right against the window that overlooked +the Cassidys' yard, Mrs. Cassidy had piled all the old boards, boxes +and rubbish she could find, to obstruct the view to the town, of her +too ambitious neighbour. "Now, what do you think of that?" cried +Madame. "Isn't she the malicious little soul?" + +"Good day, Mrs. Kent, and how are you to-day?" + +"Good day, Mrs. Adam," from a sharp-faced neat woman, sitting at the +doorway of the barricaded house, knitting rapidly. + +"It's a beautiful day, isn't it?" said Madame ingratiatingly. + +"Lovely," responded the woman. "It's a great thing we had so much +rain, we need a lot down here, we're that dry." + +Madame chose to take the sarcasm as a joke, and laughed blithely. + +But the woman did not smile. "She's had to work too hard, poor soul," +whispered the visitor when they had passed. "She's clean and thrifty +but she has to wash to support a crippled boy and a consumptive girl. +No wonder she's sour." + +They passed two or three more sorry-looking houses and finally paused +before the gate of the home of Madame's little pupil. The bare +grassless yard was filled with old boxes and rubbish. A big lumbering +lad of about fourteen sprawled over the doorstep playing with a string. +He looked up with vacant eyes, and clutched at the visitors' skirts, +muttering and jabbering in idiot glee. + +Madame put her hand tenderly on his small, ill-shaped head. + +"Poor Eddie," she whispered, "poor boy." + +She fumbled in her big black satchel and brought out a gay candy stick. +He grabbed it with strange cries of joy. The sounds brought a ragged +little ghost of a woman to the door, carrying a tiny bundle on her arm. + +"Well, well, is that you, Madame?" she cried, smiling a broad toothless +smile. "I thought it was you, an' Minnie she says, I believe that's my +teacher, Ma." + +Madame climbed the steep steps, Helen following. The room was dirty +and untidy. A rusty stove and table, three chairs and an ill-smelling +cupboard in the corner, with some gaudy glass dishes upon it, were the +only furniture. + +"And how are you, Mrs. Perkins? This is the new teacher, Miss Murray. +When Minnie passes out of my room, she'll he under this lady's care. +And how is my little girl this afternoon?" + +Madame passed to the door of the tiny bedroom. The bed filled the +whole space with just room enough to stand left between it and the +wall. A little girl was lying on it, her hollow cheeks pink, her eyes +bright. The sun poured in at the bare window and the room was hot and +breathless. The swarming flies covered her face and arms. She brushed +them away fretfully, and stretched out her hot hands for the flowers. +"Oh, teacher," she cried, trying to strangle her cough, "I watched and +I watched for you all day and I was scared you wasn't comin'." + +Mrs. Doasyouwouldbedoneby sat down on the edge of the dirty bed and put +her cool hand on the little girl's burning forehead. + +Helen placed herself rather gingerly on a proffered chair, and looked +at the wee bundle in the woman's arms. + +"Why, it's a baby," she whispered in awe. The mother's faded face lit +up with pride. She held the little scrap of humanity towards the +visitor. "'E's a grite little rascal, 'e is," she exclaimed fondly. +"As smart as a weasel, an' 'im only a fo'tnight old last Sunday." + +Helen was positively afraid to touch the little bundle, but the look of +utter exhaustion on the woman's face overcame her repugnance. She held +out her arms and the mother dropped the baby into them and sank upon a +chair with a sigh of relief. + +"Only a little over two weeks," gasped Helen, looking at the wee +wrinkled face peeping from the bundle. + +The mother's face beamed with joy and pride. She thought that the +visitor's astonishment was for the wonderful baby, all unconscious of +herself. + +"Yes'm, just but a fo'tnight, and a little over. Oh 'e's a grite +little tyke, 'e is. Ain't 'e, now?" + +"Has Doctor Blair been to see Minnie?" asked Madame softly. + +"Yes'm. Old Angus 'e was 'ere on Monday, and 'e sent 'im. 'E says +it's 'er lungs." She looked at her visitors with child-like +simplicity. "Is it very bad for Minnie to 'ave anything wrong with 'er +lungs do you think, Mrs. Adam?" + +Madame's gentle face was eloquent with pity. "Doctor Blair is a good, +kind doctor," she said evasively. "He'll do his best for her. You do +everything for her that he asks." + +"Yes'm. Old Angus 'e was trying to tell me wot to do, but I ain't much +of a 'and at sickness. Minnie she gets up and gets wot she wants but I +tell 'er she ought to lie abed." + +The little girl had fallen into a doze, under the soothing touch of her +teacher's hand. Madame took off the veil from her hat and spread it +over the child's face as a protection from the flies. She came back +into the kitchen. The idiot boy came in and rolled about the floor +muttering and whining. + +"And how's Mr. Perkins?" asked Madame. "Is he keeping well?" It was +her gentle way of asking if he was keeping sober. The woman's tired +face lit up. + +"Yes, ma'am. 'E is that. 'E's been keepin' fine since three weeks +come Sunday. That was the night Old Angus took 'im to the Harmy an' +got 'im saved. An' 'e's ben keepin' nicely saved ever since. We've +been 'avin' butter," she added proudly. "Ever since 'e got 'imself +converted. But we 'ad to 'ave the doctor for pore Minnie." Her thin +little face quivered. "If Minnie'd only get better now, we'd be +gettin' a good start, an' we'd all be 'appy." + +"Mr. Perkins has work now, hasn't he?" said Madame comfortingly. + +"Yes'm. It's not steady, but Old Angus 'e's goin' to get 'im another +job. It's ben rather 'ard on my man," she added apologetically, "just +a comin' out from the hold country. It's 'ard gettin' work at first. +An' I wan't much use with 'im a comin'," she added, touching the bundle +reverently. + +"So this is the only Canadian baby you have," said Madame. + +"Yes'm." The mother forgot her troubles and smiled and fawned on the +bundle in delight. + +"He's Johny Canuck, isn't he?" asked Madame, with a feeble attempt at +gaiety. + +"Oh, no, ma'am," cried the mother hastily. "'E's William 'Enery, after +'is paw. We ain't got 'im christened yet. But jist as soon's I can +get 'im a dress the pawson,--'e's a foine man,--'e says 'e'll come an' +do 'im, an' if my man jist keeps nicely saved, we'll be gettin' a +dress. But it's been 'ard on my man. Eddie there 'e's not much 'elp, +poor lad. But 'e goes out on the railroad track an' picks me up a bit +o' coal. An' Old Angus 'e's been that good. Oh, we'd never a' got on +without Old Angus. But if my Minnie 'adn't took sick--" + +She wiped a tear on the baby's dirty dress. It was the quiet, +dispassionate tear of a woman long accustomed to hardship. "I'll be +all right when I get a bit stronger an' can work," she added hopefully. + +The visitors rose to go. Madame held the woman's hand a long time, +trying to explain, as though to a little child, how the sick girl must +be treated. The case seemed so pitiful she was at a loss what to say. +"I'm afraid I can't get back for a few days, Mrs. Perkins," she said. + +"I'll come and see Minnie to-morrow," said Helen Murray suddenly. The +morrow was her precious Saturday that brought a rest from the week's +hard work, but the words seemed forced from her. The look of childish +fear in the woman's face made some sort of promise necessary for her +own peace of mind. + +The woman looked up at her gratefully as she took the baby. + +"It's awful good o' you, Miss," she cried, "and indeed I'll be thet +grateful, if you'd just come and tell me the best thing to do for +Minnie. I'm not much of a 'and in sickness." She looked at the two +visitors wistfully. "It does a body good jist to 'ave a word with +somebody that's sorry for you," she added. + +Helen went away, her heart sore and sick with the woman's pain. + +The idiot boy followed them to the gate, grinning and muttering. His +mother called him from the doorway, and he shambled towards her. +Glancing back, Helen saw his long, ungainly body folded in her little +thin arms, while she patted him tenderly on the back. + +As they stepped out on the rickety side-walk, a tall girl of about +sixteen came and stood staring at them from the doorway of the next +house. She had a bold, handsome face and her hair and untidy dress +were arranged in an extravagant imitation of the latest fashion. + +"Good day, Gladys," said Madame kindly, but the girl answered with only +a curt nod. When the visitors had passed, she called shrilly to some +one in the house behind her. + +"Maw! Hurry out an' see the parade! Willow Lane's gettin' awful +high-toned!" There was a loud cackle of laughter and Madame's +shoulders shook with suppressed merriment. "That's Gladys Hurd," she +said, shaking her head. "Poor Gladys, I'm afraid she's not a very good +girl. She's not got a very good mother." + +As they were turning off Willow Lane, the rattle of a buggy behind them +made Madame turn. + +"There he is again," she cried. "I suppose he's taken Peter home and +found his pig for him. I don't believe I could bear the thought of all +the misery on Willow Lane if I didn't know that Old Angus McRae was +doing so much to lighten it." + +Helen turned. Angus had pulled up in front of the Perkins' house and +the idiot lad with queer cries of delight came stumbling out to meet +him. The girl named Gladys ran out too, and the old man handed her a +sheaf of glowing crimson dahlias. She buried her face in them and +hugged them to her in a passion of admiration for their beauty. + +"Look, look at Mrs. Cassidy will you?" cried Madame in delight. + +Mrs. Cassidy had come to the door at the first sound of the wheels, and +when she saw who was near, she darted out and swiftly and stealthily +removed the obstruction from her neighbour's window. Then she went to +the gate to greet Old Angus, suave and gentle of speech, and as +innocent looking as the meek heap of boards now lying in a corner of +her yard. + +"Well, well, well," laughed Madame as they walked on. "Even if Old +Angus would merely drive up and down Willow Lane I believe he would +make the people better." + +When Helen reached Rosemount she slipped in at the side door and up the +back stair. It was the day the Misses Armstrong entertained the whist +club, and a clatter of teacups and a hum of voices told her the guests +were not yet gone. She removed her hat, and smoothed her hair +absently; her thoughts were down on Willow Lane busy with the complex +problem of the Perkins family. The windows were opened, and the sound +of swishing skirts and laughing voices came up to her from the garden +walk. A couple of well-dressed women were going out at the gate. + +"Poor old things," cried one in a light merry voice. "They do get up +the most comical concoctions at their teas. And Miss Annabel in a +ten-year-old dress! Will she ever grow up?" + +"The poor dears can't afford anything better. They are just struggling +along," answered her companion. "They had that house left them, and +the old lady gets her allowance, but the daughters hadn't a cent left +them, and they would both fall dead if they weren't invited to +everything. But I don't know where they get money to dress at all." + +"I suppose that is why they took that girl to board." + +"Of course, poor old Elinor is so scared--" The voice died away and a +sharp rap on her door took Helen from the window. She opened the door +and there, to her surprise, stood Miss Leslie Graham, looking very +handsome in the splendour of her rose silk gown. She smiled radiantly. +"Good day, Miss Murray. I think you know who I am and I think it's +time we met. I ran up here to get away from that jam of people. Those +women take such an lasting age to get away. May I sit with you for a +minute?" + +Helen offered her a chair gladly. She had often seen Miss Graham, and +her unfailing gay spirits had made her wish she could know her. The +visitor flung her silver purse upon the bed, her gloves upon the table, +her white parasol upon the bureau, and sank into the chair. + +"Oh I'm dead," she groaned. "I've passed ten thousand cups of tea, and +twenty thousand sandwiches. Don't you pity and despise people that +don't know any better than to come to a thing indoors on a hot day?" + +Helen smiled. "But you came," she said. + +"But I had to. When any of my relations give a tea I am always +tethered to a tray and a plate of biscuits." She stopped suddenly and +looked at Helen keenly, with a stare that puzzled the girl. Then she +jumped up and seated herself upon the bed, rumpling the counterpane. +In the few minutes since she had entered the room she had made the +place look as if a whirlwind had swept through it, and Helen felt a +nervous fear of Miss Armstrong's walking in and witnessing her untidy +condition. + +"Do you like it here?" she enquired directly. + +"Yes, I--think I do. Algonquin is so beautiful, but--" + +"But you can't stand my poky aunts, and Grandma's jokes, eh?" + +"Oh, no," cried Helen aghast. "Both the Misses Armstrong have been +very kind and Mrs. Armstrong is delightful--but, of course, I get +homesick." She stopped suddenly for that was a subject upon which she +dared not dwell. + +The other girl stared. "My goodness. I would love to know what +homesickness is like, just for once. I've never been away from home +except for a visit somewhere in the holidays, and then I was always +having such a ripping time, that the thought of going home made me +sick." + +She sat for a little while, again looking steadily at Helen. "You +certainly are pretty," she exclaimed. "There's no doubt about that." + +"I beg your pardon!" said Helen amazed, and doubting if she had heard +aright. + +"Oh, nothing, never mind!" cried the other with a laugh. She tore off +her costly hat and flung it on top of the table. Then she threw +herself backwards on the bed staring at the ceiling. She made such a +complete wreck of the starched pillow covers and the prim white +bedspread that were the pride of Miss Armstrong's heart, that Helen +shuddered. + +"Well, I don't wonder at you getting homesick here. These ceilings are +such a vast distance away they make you feel as if you were a hundred +miles from everywhere. I remember sleeping in this room once, when +there was an epidemic of scarlet fever or something among the Armstrong +kids. All the well ones were dumped on our aunts, after the custom of +the family, and I was sent off with a dozen others and we were marooned +upstairs, like a gang of prisoners, the girls in this room and the boys +in Grandma's. Six in a bed--more or less. I remember we used to lie +awake in the early morning before Aunt Elinor would let us get up, and +study the outburst of robins and grapes on the ceiling. And one day we +got the boys in with their toy guns and tried to shoot the tails off +the birds. Cousin Harry Armstrong hit one. Do you see the ghastly +remains of that bird without the tail? That was the one. I never hit +anything, but I tried hard enough. I am responsible for the bangs on +the ceiling. Each one tells when I missed my aim." + +Helen laughed all unawares. She was surprised at herself. It was so +long since she had laughed she thought she had forgotten how. + +"That robin proved to be the Albatross for us," continued Leslie +Graham, sitting up again, "for Aunt Elinor found out about it, and we +had no more good luck from that day till we went home." She sprang up. + +"Dear me! here I am jabbering away, and Mother must be gone." She +caught up her hat, dislodging a couple of books that went over on the +floor. "Oh, dear, I've knocked something over." She did not make any +motion to pick them up, however. "Mother says I always leave a trail +behind me." + +She stood before the glass arranging her hat, a radiant figure. Helen +looked at her wistfully. There was nothing this girl wanted, surely, +that she could not have; and yet she seemed so restless and +dissatisfied. + +"Do you go out much?" she asked. + +"Not very much," said Helen. "My school keeps me busy." She did not +say that she knew so very few young people she had no one to go with. + +Miss Graham turned to the mirror again. She seemed embarrassed. "The +lake's lovely here for paddling. Only the season is nearly over. Have +you been out on the water much?" She did not look at the girl as she +asked the question. + +"No," said Helen, and the other faced round and stared at her. "I +don't know how to paddle and I am rather afraid of a canoe." + +"Do you mean to say you've never been on the lake since you came here?" +asked Leslie Graham, standing and staring with a hat-pin in her mouth. + +"Oh, yes, I was--once," said Helen innocently. She did not think it +necessary to tell all about Roderick's rescue of her from the point; +for already she had heard the Misses Armstrong coupling his name with +their niece's in tones of high disapproval. "I was once--but only +once." + +Leslie Graham's face grew radiant. + +"Is that all?" she cried in a tone expressing decided relief. + +She amazed Helen by suddenly darting towards her and putting her arm +around her. "Why you poor little lonesome thing," she cried, "you must +learn to paddle; I will teach you myself. Now, good-bye, I think we +are going to be real good friends." She kissed Helen warmly and +tripped out, singing a gay song, and leaving her late hostess standing +amazed in the middle of her dishevelled room. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +"DEAF TO THE MELODY" + +Autumn painted Algonquin in new and splendid tints. She coloured the +maples that lined the streets a dazzling gold, with here and there at +the corners, a scarlet tree for variety or one of rose pink or even +deep purple. And when the leaves began to fall the whole world was a +bewildering flutter of rainbows. The November rains came and washed +the gorgeous picture away, and the artist went all over it again in +soberer tints, soft greys and tender blues with a hint of coming frost +in the deep tones of the sky. + +October was almost over before the busy, bustling Lawyer Ed had a +chance to think of the promise he had made in the summer to Old Angus, +and he called J. P. Thornton and Archie Blair and Roderick together +into his office one bright morning to enquire what could be done about +getting a local option by-law for Algonquin submitted on the next +municipal election day. + +The general consensus of opinion was that they were too late for the +coming election on New Year's; but that they must start an educational +campaign immediately to stir up public opinion on the subject of +temperance. And they would get their petition ready for the spring and +march to victory a year from the coming January. + +J. P. Thornton, who was the most energetic man on the town council, was +busy getting a drain dug through Willow Lane to carry off the disease +breeding stagnant waters that lay about the little houses. And he +declared in a fine oratorical outburst, that if they started this +temperance campaign early, and dug deep enough, by a year from the next +election day, they would have such a trench projected through Algonquin +as would carry away in a flood all the foul, death-breeding liquid that +inundated their beautiful town, and pour it into the swamps of oblivion. + +Lawyer Ed gave a cheer when he was through, and Archie Blair quoted +Burns: + + "_Now, Robinson, harrangue na mair, + But steek your gab forever, + Or try the wicked town of Ayr, + For there they'll think you clever._" + + +For though, as a citizen, the doctor was convinced that a prohibitory +liquor law would be a good thing for Algonquin, personally he was not +inclined to look upon the beverage as foul death-breeding liquid. + +Roderick McRae sat silently listening to the older man. He was +wondering what Alexander Graham would say, when he found his lawyer +arrayed on the side of the temperance forces. For he knew that his +wealthy client had heavy investments in breweries, and also owned +secretly, the bigger share of Algonquin's leading hotel and bar-room. + +He was not long left in doubt. The ladies of the Presbyterian church +gave a turkey and pumpkin pie supper on Thanksgiving eve, with a +concert in the Sunday-school room after, all for the sum of twenty-five +cents, the proceeds to go to a new red carpet and cushions for the +choir gallery. Lawyer Ed was chairman at the concert, of course, and +J. P. Thornton was the chief speaker. And though his address was on +Imperialism, a subject through which he had grown quite famous, he +branched off into temperance and publicly announced that the local +option by-law would be submitted before long in Algonquin, and they had +better get ready. + +Lawyer Ed, who always made a short speech between each item on the +programme, burst forth, almost before J. P. had sat down, with the +further announcement, accompanied by a great deal of oratory, that the +temperance forces would carry their banner to victory and mount over +every difficulty even as his Highland ancestors had stormed the heights +of Alma. For when Lawyer Ed got upon the platform, a strange +transformation always came over him. His Hibernianism fell from him +like a garment, and he was over the heather and away like any true born +Scot. + +The next day, Miss Leslie Graham, in a new autumn suit of ruby velvet +and a big plumed hat, dropped in at the office of Brians and McRae and, +after chattering merrily for half-an-hour with Roderick, said that her +father wanted him to come up the following evening for dinner. + +Roderick went, with, as usual, the faint hope that he might see Helen +Murray there. He had not succeeded in meeting her, except casually on +the street, since that magic night when he had paddled her home in the +moonlight. But he was, as usual, disappointed. There was only the +Graham family present. Miss Leslie was as gay and charming as ever, +and her mother was slightly less stiff with him. But Mr. Graham was +exceptionally kind and hospitable. Before returning to the +drawing-room after dinner, he carried Roderick off to the library for a +little private chat. There were a few matters of business to be +discussed, and when they were finished, Mr. Graham said casually: + +"I suppose you run the affairs of Brians and McRae yourself these days. +I hear Ed's off after another will-o'-the-wisp as usual. Let me see, I +believe it's a temperance bee he's got in his bonnet this time." + +Roderick was silent. The contemptuous tone nettled him. He would not +discuss Lawyer Ed with Alexander Graham, no matter what the consequence. + +"Well, well," said the host, giving the fire a poke, and laughing +good-naturedly. "Those fellows must do something to take up their +time. But it's a pity to see them wasting it. For that thing won't go +here in Algonquin, Rod. Take my word for it. And if it did, it would +be a great pity, for such a law wouldn't be kept. Of course, if Ed +Brians and Archie Blair and J. P. Thornton, and a few other fanatics +like that, are bound to meddle with other people's consciences, I +suppose we'll just have to let them do it. 'If it plazes her, it don't +be hurtin' me,' as Mike Cassidy said when Judy hammered him with the +broomstick. I hope they'll enjoy themselves." + +Roderick looked up quickly. "It is not a mere pastime with my father. +It is a thing of great moment to him," he said. + +"Oh, well, of course," said Mr. Graham suavely. "I can understand +that. Your father is a man who has devoted his life to drunks and +outcasts, and he looks on temperance legislation as a refuge for them. +I have no doubt he is quite sincere in the matter." + +"I should just say he is," said Roderick rather explosively. + +"That's quite true, Rod," said his patron, a little annoyed. "But your +father, with many another good man, is making a great mistake when he +believes people will be benefited by temperance legislation. Some +folks seem to think that if you get local option in a town the +millennium has come." He lit a cigar, and leaned back with an air of +finality. "I tell you they're awfully mistaken. People want liquor +and they'll get it as long as they want it, law or no law. And they're +going to want it till the end of time. And if those folks insist upon +forcing this by-law upon Algonquin, they will only succeed in giving +the town a bad name. It's simply ruinous to a place from a business +standpoint." + +Roderick had no answer to make. He was inclined to believe that Graham +was right. He wanted to believe it, for the burden of this thing was +annoying him. He knew that Lawyer Ed would have met the statements +with fiery contradictions, and J. P. Thornton would have answered with +clear, convincing facts. But he had given very little thought to the +subject, and could not remember any of the arguments. And he had +certainly heard, many, many times that the temperance measure had been +a failure in other towns. + +He sat silent, his elbows on his knees, his hands locked together, +looking into the glowing grate and wishing he didn't have to be +bothered with it all. What had local option to do with his work, +anyway? + +And then he realised that his host was talking again. In the midst of +his quiet insinuating remarks, there was a sharp tap on the door, and +Leslie swept into the room, very handsome in her soft, trailing white +dress. + +"I'm just not going to let you two poke here any longer," she declared, +giving her father's ear a pull. "You're spoiling all Rod's evening, +Daddy, by talking business. His office is for that. Come right along +into the drawing-room this minute, the Baldwin girls have come, and +we're going to have some music." + +The subject of local option was not referred to again that evening, but +Roderick realised that, in some subtle way, how, he scarcely knew, his +client had conveyed to him the unmistakable intelligence that should he +identify himself with the temperance forces in any prominent way, the +business of Graham and Company would have to be placed in other hands. + +Roderick scarcely understood what had been said until he was walking +home in the clear frosty air with time to think it over. + +He was miserably uncomfortable the next day when he found his chief +buried head and ears in temperance affairs. + +"We'll have to wade into this with high-water boots, ma braw John +Hielanman!" he cried radiantly. "Be jabers! but I do love a fight, and +a fine old Donnybrook fair we're goin' to have!" And he relapsed into +a rich Irish brogue. + +"Mr. Graham told me last night he'd like me to go north in a few +weeks," said Roderick in a strained voice. "I may have to be gone for +a month." + +"On that Beaver Landing deal? Well now, that's a big thing, Rod!" +Lawyer Ed was scribbling madly at his desk while he talked, and calling +up some one on the telephone every three minutes. "You've got Sandy +Graham all right. Hello, Central, are you asleep? I said I wanted J. +P. Thornton and I still say it!"--"No you didn't, I tell you! Sandy'll +kick over the traces when we get going on this campaign, though. Not +in? Where in thunder is he? Tell him to call me the minute he gets +back. Yes, that's a fact, Rod!" And he slammed the receiver down and +took to scribbling furiously again. "Sandy'll put on his plug hat and +his swallow-tail coat and hike like the limited express for +Willoughby's office the minute he sees our names heading that +petition!" He shut his eyes, and, leaning back, laughed in delighted +anticipation of losing their most valuable client. + +Roderick felt impatient. To him the affair was no laughing matter. To +lose Graham's business was unthinkable, to keep out of this troublesome +temperance campaign seemed impossible. One moment he felt he must come +out right boldly for the cause, the next he called himself a fool, for +letting such a doubtful thing stand in the way of his best interests. + +But before the necessity for declaring himself came upon him, the +temperance campaign suffered a severe check. The trouble arose in an +unexpected quarter, not from the enemy, but in the ranks of the +advancing army itself. The temperance ship ran against the rock that +threatened to split it altogether, on the last Sunday in November. +This day was celebrated as St. Andrew's Sunday, the day when the +society of the Sons of Scotland, with bonnets on their heads, plaidies +on their shoulders and heather in their button-holes, paraded to church +in a body and had a sermon preached to them by a minister brought up +from the city for the purpose of glorifying Scotland and edifying her +sons. As nearly all the Presbyterian congregation of Algonquin was +Scotch, every one else was as much edified as the Sons themselves; but +there was one prominent exception and that was J. P. Thornton. + +Mr. Thornton was an Englishman, born within the sound of Bow Bells, +and, like a true Briton, intensely proud of the fact, and though he was +as liberal in his general views as he was in politics, and had +delivered many a fine speech on Imperialism, yet some stubborn latent +prejudice arose in his heart and threatened to overflow every St. +Andrew's Sunday. + +It was not that he objected so much to the tartan-and-heather bedecked +rows occupying the front pews of the church, on St. Andrew's Sunday. +He was inclined to look upon them with some lofty amusement, saying +that if they liked that sort of child's play it was no affair of his +and they might have it. But it was the sermon that always put him into +a fighting humour. For never a preacher stood up there on St. Andrew's +Sunday but made some unfortunate reference to Bannockburn and Scots Wha +Hae, and a great many other things calculated to rouse any Englishman's +ire. + +Mr. Thornton had never openly rebelled, however, and the St. Andrew's +sermon came each year with only a few mild explosions following. But +this year the celebration caused a serious disturbance, and as so often +happened, it started with Lawyer Ed. + +That lively Irish gentleman had already joined almost every +organisation in the town, and there suddenly came to him a great desire +to join the Sons of Scotland also. His mother was a Scottish lady of +Highland birth, and he himself had a deep-rooted affection for anything +or anybody connected with the land o' cakes. So on the eve of this St. +Andrew's celebration he joined the order and became a true Son of +Scotland himself. + +Mr. Thornton had gone away for a couple of weeks on a business trip and +knew nothing of this new departure of his friend. He came home late on +Saturday night before St. Andrew's Sunday, and went to church the next +morning, all unsuspecting that at that moment Ed was falling into line +down at the lodge room, his plaidie the brightest, his bonnet the +trimmest and his heather sprig the biggest of all the procession. + +The Scotchmen had turned out nearly a hundred strong this morning, for +the minister from the city was a great man with a continental +reputation. It was a beautifully clear, brilliant day, too, one of +those days that only the much maligned November can bring, with +dazzling cloudless skies and an exhilarating tang of frost-nipped +leaves in the air. So the Scotchmen were all there, even old Angus +McRae and his son, the young Highlander looking very handsome in his +regalia. + +Jock McPherson and the Captain of the _Inverness_ were there too. +Captain Jimmie was in his glory, but Mr. McPherson looked as if he were +preparing to object to everything about him. Each recurring St. +Andrew's Sunday found the Elder more and more inclined to think that +this Sabbath parade was scarcely in keeping with the day. But he was a +true Scot at heart, and no amount of orthodoxy could keep him out of +it. He felt this morning, however, that matters had gone a bit too +far, for the warm day had tempted Archie Blair, and he had come out in +the kilt, his shameless bare-kneed example followed by Harry Lauder and +three other foolish youths of the Highland club. + +A few minutes before the hour for the service, when the bells had begun +to roll out their invitations from the three church towers, the +procession started. And the Methodists and Baptists and Anglicans kept +themselves late for church by lingering on the side-walk to see it +pass. It was worth watching; as very stately and solemn and slow it +moved along the street and up to the church door. + +Mr. McPherson moved rather stiffly, for Archie Blair was walking beside +Lawyer Ed directly in front of him, and the very tilt of his bonnet and +the swing of his kilt was a profanation of the day. Somehow, the +doctor did not at all fit in with the Sabbath. He was a big straight +man, long of limb, broad of shoulder and inclined to a generous +rotundity, and he swaggered so splendidly when he walked, and held up +his bonneted head with such a dashing air, that he gave the distinct +impression that the bagpipes were skirling out a gay march as he swung +past. + +The sight of him on this Sabbath morning struck dismay to Jock's +orthodox soul, clinging tenaciously to its ancient traditions. Lawyer +Ed, too, seemed to have donned the spirit of irreverence with the +bonnet, and was conducting himself as no elder of the kirk should have +behaved even at a St. Andrew's banquet. + +"Eh, losh Ed, mon," cried the doctor, loud enough for Jock to hear. +"Ah wush we could hae a bit strathspey frae the pipes to march wi' to +the kirk, foreby." + +Lawyer Ed's face became forbidding. + +"Eh, eh, and that to an elder? Div ye hear yon, Jock? It's the +Heilan's comin' oot o' him!" + +Jock could not resist a sudden temptation. That strange twist came +over his face, which heralded a far-off joke. He spoke very slowly. + +"It's what you micht be expecting from the likes o' him. It's written +down in his history: + + "_The Blairs they are a wicked race, + They set theirsels in sad disgrace, + They made the pipes and drums to play, + Through Algonquin on the Sawbbath day._" + + +He had paraphrased a bit to suit the occasion, and the doctor laughed +so appreciatively that the elder began to feel brighter. + +But Jock should have known better than to have set an example of +rhyming before Archie Blair. He turned and looked down at the elder, +and the sight of him marching peaceably beside Captain Jimmie reminded +him of an old doggerel ballad: "But man, there's worse than that +written in your own history," he cried: + + "_O-o-och, Fairshon swore a feud, + Against ta clan McTavish, + And marched into their land, + To murder and to ravish, + For he did resolve, + To extirpate ta vipers, + With four-and-twenty men + And five-and-twenty pipers!_" + + +"Tut, tut, Doctor," cried Captain Jimmie, trying to hide a smile +beneath his bonnet. "Be quate man, it's the Sabbath day." + +"Well, here's a verse that's got a quotation from Scripture or at least +an allusion to one. That's to be expected in the history of the +McPhersons." + + "_Fairshon had a son + That married Noah's daughter, + And nearly spoiled ta flood + By drinking all ta water, + Which he would have done + I really do believe it + Had ta mixture peen + Only half Glenlevit!_" + + +Lawyer Ed was shaking with unseemly laughter. + +"Ye'll hae to sing it a' when we eat the haggis the morn's night," he +suggested. + +"I don't understand how a reference to anything so unholy as the +Glenlevit got into the annals of ta Fairshons, Jock," said Doctor Blair. + +Now Jock McPherson was not averse to a drop of Glenlevit himself,--for +his stomach's sake, of course, for the elder could not be unscriptural +even in his eating and drinking. Archie Blair was not averse to it +either, though he frankly admitted that it was very bad for his +stomach, indeed, and for everybody else's stomach. + +But in the opening temperance campaign the latter had come out avowedly +on the side of local option, and was looked upon as one of the party's +strongest speakers, while Jock had not yet declared himself. It was a +delicate subject with Mr. McPherson, and he could not endure to be +twitted about it. + +He paused at the church steps and laid his hand on the doctor's velvet +sleeve. He cleared his throat, always a dangerous sign. + +"Yes," he said very slowly, "it will be a ferry fine song indeed, and +if Edward would jist be putting big _Aye_-men on the tail of it +to-morrow night, it will sound more feenished." The whole procession +was waiting to enter the church, but Jock did not hurry. "As for the +Glenlevit, the McPhersons were no more noted for liking their drop than +many another clan I might mention. But they were honest about it." He +paused again and then said even more deliberately: "And if you would +like to be referring to the Scriptures again, you might be taking a +look at your Bible when you get home, you will be finding some ferry +good advice in Romans the 2nd chapter and 21st verse." + +He turned away and marched solemnly into the church. The procession +followed and it was then that J. P. Thornton, standing at his post, and +wondering why Ed had not long ago appeared to receive the Scotchmen, +beheld the amazing spectacle of his Irish friend and very brother, +marching in their front rank, bonnet and plaid and all! + +J. P. was too dignified to make a demonstration of his outraged +feelings in church, but Miss Annabel Armstrong reported afterwards that +when she passed him she heard him say something about Edward, that +sounded like "You're too brutish"--or "too bruty" or something like +that, and Miss Armstrong said it was exceedingly improper language for +an elder to use in church. + +J. P. was always in a state of mild irritation when he settled himself +to hear the annual St. Andrew's sermon, but this morning he was +decidedly indignant. By the time the Scotchmen had gone through two +long psalms, with Lawyer Ed leading, he was hot and disgusted, and when +the sermon came it was like acid poured upon an open wound. + +The famous minister from the city made all the mistakes of his St. +Andrew's predecessors and a great many more of his own. He lingered +long at Bannockburn, he recited "Scots Wha Hae" in full, he quoted +portions of the death of Wallace and altogether behaved in a way to +leave the usually genial English listener with his temper red and raw +and anxious for a fight. + +Monday evening Lawyer Ed was to have driven out to McClintock's Corners +with his friend, to speak at a tea meeting, and convince the farmers +that Algonquin would be a much more desirable place as a market town +with a prohibitory liquor law than it was at present. + +But Lawyer Ed went to the St. Andrew's supper instead and ate haggis +and listened to the pipes play "The Cock O' the North," and Archie +Blair recite Burns and Jock McPherson make a speech on Scottish history. + +That was more than J. P. could stand. He telephoned to Roderick early +the next morning telling him to inform his chief that he, J. P., would +go to no more temperance meetings with him. If Lawyer Ed wanted help +in his campaign let him look for it among his brother Scotchmen. And +the receiver slammed before Roderick could enquire what he meant. + +There were storms bursting in other quarters too. Doctor Blair had +spent a good part of the time in church on Sunday morning in a laudable +search for the Epistle to the Romans, and had surprised all his +brethren by studying the 2nd chapter carefully. The result, however, +was not what a searching of the Scriptures is supposed to produce. For +he telephoned to Roderick the next morning that he could tell Ed, when +he came in, that he, Archie Blair, would be hanged if he would waste +any more time on local option if that was what people were saying about +him. And Captain Jimmie dropped in immediately after to say that if +something wasn't done to conciliate Jock McPherson he was afraid he +would vote against local option altogether. + +So the cause of temperance suffered a check. It proved to be not a +very serious one, but it served Roderick. For it postponed the +necessity of his declaring himself on either side, and he hoped that +before the day arrived when he must join the issue, his affairs would +be less complicated. + +Diplomacy was one of Lawyer Ed's strong features, and he had almost +completed a reconciliation between all the aggrieved parties when +Roderick left for a business trip to the north. It was an important +commission involving much money, and certain vague statements regarding +its outcome made by Mr. Graham had fired the Lad's imagination. + +"Now, I needn't warn you to do your best, Roderick," said the man when +he bade him good-bye. "You'll do that, anyway. But there's more than +money in this. There's an eye on you--" + +He would say no more, but Leslie gave him another hint. He had found +her strolling past the office as he ran out to post some letters, the +day before his departure. He was absolutely without conceit, but he +could not help noticing that somehow Miss Leslie Graham nearly always +happened, by the strangest coincidence, to be on the street just as he +was leaving the office. + +He walked with her to the post-office and back, and then she declared +her fingers were frozen and she would come into the office for ten +minutes to warm them. + +"So you're going to fix up things with the British North American +Railroad for Daddy, are you?" she said, holding out her gloved fingers +over the glowing coal-stove. "That means that you'll be getting your +fingers into Uncle Will's business, too. His lawyer is up at Beaver +Landing now." + +"Whose lawyer?" asked Roderick, giving her a chair by the fire and +standing before her feeling extremely uncomfortable. + +"Uncle Will's. You know Uncle Will Graham? He's an American now, but +he has all sorts of interests in Canada and he's--well, he's not +exactly President of the B. N. A., but he's the whole thing in it. +Uncle Will's coming home next summer, and I'm going to make him take me +back to New York with him." + +Roderick's ambitious heart gave a leap. Of course he knew about +William Graham, the Algonquin man who had gone to the States and made a +million or more. + +His head was filled with rosy dreams as he walked out to the farm that +evening to say good-bye. He was leaving for only a short time, but the +old people were loath to see him go. Aunt Kirsty drew him up to the +hot stove, bewailing the misfortune that was taking him away. + +"Dear, dear, dear, and you will be going away up north into the bush," +she said, clapping him on the back, "and you will jist be frozen with +the cold indeed, and your poor arm will be bad again." + +"Yes, and the wolves will probably eat me, and a tree will fall on me +and I'll break through the ice and be drowned," wailed Roderick. And +she shoved him away from her for a foolish gomeril, trying not to smile +at him, and declaring it was little he cared that he was leaving her, +indeed. + +"I have not heard you say anything about the arm for a long time, Lad," +said his father, who was watching him, with shining eyes, from his old +rocking-chair. + +"Oh, it's all right, Dad," he said lightly. "I haven't time to notice +it." + +He always put off the question thus when Aunt Kirsty was within +hearing, but his father's loving eye noticed that the boy's hand +sometimes sought the arm and held it, as though in pain. + +"And you will not be here to help start the great fight," his father +said wistfully, when he had heard all the latest news concerning the +temperance campaign, even to the pending disaster. "But you will be +finding a Jericho Road up in the bush, I'll have no doubt." + +Roderick looked at the saintly old face and his heart smote him. He +felt for a moment that to please his father would surely be worth more +than all the success a man could attain in a lifetime. + +"And did you get a job for poor Billy, Lad?" his father enquired. + +"Billy? Oh, the Perkins fellow?" Roderick whistled in dismay. Poor +Billy Perkins had not "kept nicely saved," as his brave little wife had +hoped, but had fallen among thieves in the hotel at the corner once +more. Old Angus had rescued him, put him upon his feet again, and had +commissioned his son to look for work for Billy, and his son had +forgotten about it entirely in the pressure of his work. + +"Oh, Dad, that's a shame," he cried contritely, "I had so much on my +mind getting ready to go, I forgot. I'll tell Lawyer Ed about him, and +perhaps he can look up something. I have to start early in the morning +or I would yet." + +"Well, well," said his father cheerfully. "There now, there is no need +to worry, for they have got him a job, but it is away from home and I +thought he'd do better here. The bit wife is lonely since the wee girl +died. But Billy will jist have to go, and it will only be for the +winter, anyway." + +"What's he going to do?" + +"It will be in the shanties. He is not strong enough for the bush, but +he will be helping the cook, and the wages will be good. I'm hoping he +will not be able to get near the drink. Indeed it was the little +lassie herself that got him the job," he added, his eyes shining. +"She's the great little lady, indeed." + +"Who is, Father?" Roderick spoke absently, his eyes on the fire, his +mind on Mr. William Graham and the B. N. A. Railroad. + +"The young teacher lady. She will be down to see poor Mrs. Perkins +every day or so since the wee one died. And the poor bit Gladys! Eh, +she's jist making a woman out of her indeed." + +Roderick's eyes came away from the fire. He was all interest. "Oh, is +she? Does she visit the folks in Willow Lane? What is she doing for +them?" + +"Eh, indeed, what is she not doing?" cried his father. "It's jist an +angel we've got in Willow Lane now, Lad. I don't know how she did it, +and indeed Father Tracy says he doesn't know either, but she's got Judy +to cook a hot dinner for Mike every day, and she's teaching Gladys at +nights, and she's jist saved the poor Perkins bodies from starving. +She showed the wee woman how to make bread, and oh, indeed, I couldn't +be telling you all the good she does!" + +Roderick listened absorbedly. So that was where she kept herself in +the evenings. And that was why he could never meet her any place, no +matter how many nights he frittered away at parties in the hope of +seeing her. + +"And how did she get this job for Billy?" he asked, just for the sake +of hearing his father talk about her. + +Old Angus smiled knowingly. + +"Och, she has a way with her, and she can get anything she wants. It +would be through Alfred Wilbur--the poor lad the boys will be calling +such a foolish name." + +"Yes, Afternoon Tea Willie. What's he after now?" + +"Indeed I think he will be after Miss Murray," said the old man, his +eyes twinkling. "He seems to be always following her about. And he +managed to get young Fred Hamilton to take Billy up to the camp. Fred +is going up to his father's shanties with a gang of men in about a +week." + +Roderick's heart sank. Here was a lost opportunity indeed. He had +failed to help his father, and had missed such a splendid chance to +help her. + +"If you've got anybody else who needs a job, Dad, I'll try to do better +next time," he said humbly. + +"Oh, indeed, there will always be some one needing help," his father +said radiantly. "Eh, eh, it will be a fine thing for me to know you +are helping to care for the poor folk on the Jericho Road. Jist being +neighbour to them. It's a great business, the law, for helping a man +to be neighbour." The old man sat and gazed happily into the fire. + +Roderick fidgeted. He was thinking that some of the work of a lawyer +did not consist so much in rescuing the man who had fallen among +thieves as falling upon him and stripping him of his raiment. + +"Law is a complicated business, Dad," he said, with a sigh. + +There were prayers after that, and a tender farewell and benediction +from the old people, and Roderick went away, his heart strangely heavy. +He was to be absent only a short time, perhaps not over two weeks, but +he had a feeling that he was bidding his father a lifelong +farewell--that he was taking a road that led away from that path in +which the man had so carefully guided his young feet. + +It was not entirely by accident that Roderick should be walking into +Algonquin just as Helen Murray was coming out of the Hurd home. He had +been very wily, for such an innocent young man. A shadow on the blind, +showing the outline of a trim little hat and fluffy hair, had sent him +back into the shadows of the Pine Road to stand and shiver until the +shadow left the window and the substance came out through the lighted +doorway. Gladys came to the gate, her arm about her teacher's waist. +They were talking softly. Gladys's voice was not so loud nor her look +so bold as it once was. She ran back calling good-night, and the +little figure of the teacher went on swiftly up the shaky frosty +sidewalk. A few strides and Roderick was at her side. She was right +under the electric light at the corner when he reached her and she +turned swiftly with such a look of annoyance that he stopped aghast. + +"Oh, I beg your pardon--" he stammered, but was immensely relieved when +she interrupted smiling. + +"Oh, is it you, Mr. McRae? I--didn't know--I thought it was--some one +else," she stammered. + +Roderick looked puzzled, but the next moment he understood. Just +within the rays of the electric light, across the street, was Afternoon +Tea Willie, waiting faithfully with chattering teeth and benumbed toes. +He stood and stared at Roderick as they passed, and then slowly +followed at a distance, the picture of abject desolation. Roderick +found it almost impossible to keep from laughing, until he began to +consider his own case. He had plunged headlong into her presence, and +now he felt he ought to apologise. He tried to, but she stopped him +charmingly. + +"Oh, indeed, I wanted to see you, before you go away," she said, and +Roderick felt immensely flattered that she knew so much about his +affairs as to be aware that he was going away. + +"Yes? What can I do for you?" he asked shyly. + +"I wanted to ask about poor Billy Perkins. Mr. Wilbur got work for +him, you know." + +"Indeed, my father tells me it was you did the good deed," declared +Roderick warmly. + +"No, no, I only helped. But I am anxious about Billy." She spoke as +though Roderick were as interested in the Perkins family as his father. +"Is there any one up at Mr. Hamilton's camp, I wonder, who would keep +an eye on him. He is all right if he's only watched, so that he can't +get whiskey. There's young Mr. Hamilton, he's going, isn't he?" + +"Yes." Roderick felt that if the young man mentioned watched Fred +Hamilton and kept him from drink it was all that could be expected of +him. However, he might try. "I'll speak to him," he said cordially, +"and see if he can do anything for Billy. I see you've taken some of +my father's family under your care," he added admiringly. + +"Oh no. I'm just helping a little. I'm afraid I'm not prompted by +such unselfish motives as your father is. I visit down here just for +something to do and to keep from being lonely." + +It was the first time she had made any reference to herself. Roderick +seized the opportunity. + +"You don't go out among the young people enough," he suggested. She +did not answer for a moment. She could not tell him that she was very +seldom invited in the circles where he moved. She had been doomed to +disappointment in Miss Graham's friendship, for after her first +generous outburst the young lady seemed to have forgotten all about her. + +"I like to come here," she said at last. "I think it's more worth +while. But don't talk any more about my affairs. Tell me something +about yours. Are you going to be long in the woods?" + +It was a delightful walk all the way up to Rosemount, for Roderick +managed to get up courage to ask if he might go all the way, and even +kept her at the gate a few minutes before he said good-bye, and he +promised, quite of his own accord, to visit Camp Hamilton if it was not +far from Beaver Landing, his headquarters, and when he returned he +would report to her Billy's progress. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +"THE LIGHT RETREATED" + +About two weeks after Billy Perkins had gone north, Helen Murray went +down to Willow Lane from school to see his family. She had been there +only the evening before, and had found them doing well. The faded +little mother had never been quite so courageous since Minnie's death, +but Bill's new start had put them beyond the immediate possibility of +want and given fresh hope. There had been two very cheery letters from +him which Helen had read aloud, so the little wife was trying to be +happy in her loneliness, and was looking forward hopefully to Billy's +return in the spring. + +But January had set in bitterly cold and there had been a heavy snow +fall during the morning. Helen feared that Eddie might not have been +able to get the wood in, so as soon as Madame and her flock had +departed, she turned down towards Willow Lane. She had been in +Algonquin only a little over three months but already the +self-forgetting tasks she had set herself, were beginning to work their +cure. She had not regained her old joyousness, and often she was still +very sad and lonely; but there had come a calm light into her deep +eyes, and an expression of sweet courage and strength to her face, that +had not been there in the old careless happy days. She was growing +very fast, these busy days, though she was quite unconscious of it in +her complete absorption in other people's troubles. + +She had left the Perkins family in such comfortable circumstances, the +day before, that she was startled and dismayed to find everything in +confusion. The neighbours were running in and out of the open door, +the fire was out, the baby was crying, and the little mother lay on the +bed prostrated. + +"What is it?" cried Helen, stopping in the open doorway in dismay. +"Oh, what's the matter?" + +Mrs. Hurd and Judy Cassidy were moving helplessly about the room. At +the sight of their friend the latter cried out, "Now praise the saints, +here's the dear young lady. Come in, Miss Murray! Och, wurra, wurra, +it's a black day for this house, indade!" + +Gladys was sitting on the old lounge beside the stove awkwardly holding +the baby. + +"Oh, Miss Murray," she cried shrilly. "Somethin' awful's happened! +Billy Perkins's gone to jail. He got drunk and he's been steal--" + +Her mother shook the broom at her. "Hold your tongue," she said +sharply. For Mrs. Perkins, her face grey with suffering, had arisen on +the bed. "Oh, Teacher, is that you!" she cried, bursting into fresh +tears. Helen went and sat on the edge of the bed, and took her hand. +"What is it?" she whispered. "Perhaps it's not so bad!" she faltered, +making a vague attempt to comfort. + +But when the pitiful story came out it was bad enough. Mrs. Perkins +told it between sobs, aided by interpolations from her neighbours. +Billy had been working steadily up till last Saturday, quite happy +because he could not get at the drink. But on Saturday he went into +the village to buy some fresh meat from a farmer for the camp. And +there was a Jericho Road up north too, it seemed, where thieves lay in +wait for the unwary. And Billy fell among them. He went into the +tavern just for a few minutes, leaving the meat on the sleigh outside, +and when he came out it was gone. Billy had gone on towards the camp +despairingly, in dread of losing his job, and praying all the way for +some intervention of Providence to avert the result of his mistake. +For in spite of many a fall before temptation, poor Billy, in a blind +groping way, clung to the belief that there was a God watching him and +caring for him. So he went on, praying desperately, and about half-way +to camp there came an answer. Right by the roadside, as if dropped +there by a miracle, lay a quarter of beef, sticking out of the snow. +It was evidently a small cache some one had placed near the trail for a +short time, and had Billy been in his normal senses he would never have +touched it. But the drink was still benumbing his brain, and quickly +digging out the miraculous find he loaded it upon his sleigh and +hurried to camp. + +But retribution swiftly followed. The stolen meat had belonged to the +Graham camp, and it seemed it was a terrible crime to steal from a rich +corporation, much worse than from a half-drunken man like poor Billy. +The first thief was not arrested, but Billy was, and he was sent to +jail. He would not be home for ever and ever so long and what was to +become of them all, and what was to become of poor Billy? + +The little wife, accustomed though she was to hardships and griefs, was +overcome by this crushing blow. With all his faults and weaknesses, +Billy was her husband and the stay and support of the family, and +besides, she had a dread of jail and its accompanying disgrace. By the +time the sad tale was finished, she was worn out with sobs, and sat +still, looking straight ahead of her into the fireless stove. But the +baby's cries roused her, and she took him in her arms, making a pitiful +attempt to chirrup to him. The idiot boy, feeling dimly that something +was wrong, came and rubbed his head against her like a faithful dog, +whining grievously. She stroked his hair lovingly. "Pore Eddie," she +said, "it'd be better if you an' me an' the biby, was with Minnie;" and +then with sudden compunction, "but wot would pore Bill do without us?" + +Helen told the sad story at the supper table at Rosemount, that +evening, and asked for help. Miss Armstrong promised to send a basket +of food down the next day, though she did not approve of the Perkins +family. She had found that to help that sort of shiftless people only +made them worse. Why, last Christmas, there was one family on Willow +Lane who received five turkeys from the Presbyterians alone, and the +Dorcas society was always sending clothes to that poor unfortunate Mrs. +Perkins. Mrs. Captain Willoughby herself, who was the President, had +seen the little Perkins girl wearing a dress just in tatters, that had +been given to her in perfectly good condition only the week before. +Wasn't the girl old enough to go out working? + +"The little girl died last fall of tuberculosis," said Helen, in a low +voice. "She was just ten." + +Miss Annabel's big blue eyes suddenly filled. "Oh, the poor dear +little thing. Minnie used to be in my Sunday-school class, and I +wondered why she hadn't been there for so long. But we've been so +dreadfully busy this fall, I simply hadn't time to hunt her up. +Elinor, we must send a jar of jelly to the poor woman, and I think I +shall give her that last winter coat of mine. We'll ask Leslie for +some, she simply doesn't know what to do with all her old clothes." + +"Oh, please don't," said Helen in distress. She could not explain that +which she had so lately learned herself, that what a woman like Mrs. +Perkins needed was not old clothes nor even food, but a friend, and +some knowledge of how to get clothes and food. "I don't think she +really needs anything to wear just now. If we could get her some light +work where she might take the baby, it would be so very much better for +her." + +Both ladies promised to see what could be done, but the Misses +Armstrong, members in good standing of the Presbyterian church, kind +hearted and fairly well off, had not a minute of time nor a cent of +money to spend on people like Mrs. Perkins. The poor ladies were +gradually discovering that the younger set, led by their own niece, and +the moneyed people now becoming prominent in Algonquin, were slowly +assuming the leadership in society. They were in danger of losing +their proud position, and every nerve had to be strained to maintain +it. What we have we'll hold, had become the despairing motto of the +Misses Armstrong, and its realisation required eternal vigilance. + +It was Alfred Tennyson who once more came to the family's aid, and +Helen was forced reluctantly to accept his help. He ran up hill and +down dale and called upon every lady in the town, till at last he +succeeded in getting work for Mrs. Perkins. Mrs. Hepburn, Lawyer Ed's +sister, said she might come to her and bring the baby, one day in the +week. Mrs. T. P. Thornton and Mrs. Blair made like promises, and Dr. +Leslie persuaded Mammy Viney to let her come to the manse to wash, +while Viney Junior, in high glee, promised to take care of little +William Henry. + +Every day, when the little mother went off to her work, with her baby +in her arms, Angus McRae drove up to Willow Lane and took Eddie down to +the farm. And with endless patience and tenderness he managed to teach +the lad a few simple tasks about the house and barn. Angus McRae's +home was the refuge of the unfit, for young Peter did the chores in the +winter when the _Inverness_ was in the dock, and Old Peter came and +stayed indefinitely when he was recovering from a drunken spree, and +Aunt Kirsty declared that there was no place where a body could put her +foot without stepping on one of Angus's wastrels. + +Roderick came back the week after Billy's arrest. As he was the lawyer +acting for Graham & Co. he could not be without some responsibility in +Billy's sad affair, and Old Angus awaited his explanation anxiously. +He knew there would be an explanation, for the old man was possessed of +the perfect assurance that his son was quite as interested in the +unfortunate folk that travelled the Jericho Roads of life as he was +himself. But Roderick had some difficulty in showing that he was quite +innocent. + +He could not explain that this trip had been his probation time, and +that if he had done his work with a slack hand there would be no hope +of greater opportunities opening up before him. The big lumber firm of +Graham & Co., operating in the north, was really under Alexander +Graham's millionaire brother. And this man's lawyer from Montreal had +been there. He was a great man in Roderick's eyes, the head of a firm +of continental reputation. He had kept the young man at his side, and +had made known to him the significant fact that, one day, if he +transacted business with the keenness and faithfulness that seemed to +characterise all his actions now, there might be a bigger place +awaiting him. The man said very little that was definite, but the +Lad's sleep had been disturbed by waking dreams of a great future. +That his friend, Alexander Graham, was the mover in this he could not +but believe, but he determined to let the people in authority see that +he could depend on his own merits. So he had done his work with a +rigid adherence to law and rule that commanded the older man's +admiration. Roderick felt it was unfortunate that poor Billy should +have come under his disciplining hand at this time, but such cases as +his were of daily occurrence in the camp. There was no use trying to +carry on a successful business and at the same time coddle a lot of +drunks and unfits like Billy. He had been compelled to weed out a +dozen such during his stay in the north. Billy was only one of many, +but when he remembered that he must give a report of him to the two +people whose opinion he valued far more than the approval of even the +great firm of Elliot & Kent, or of William Graham of New York, he felt +that here surely was the irony of fate. + +"I did my best, Dad," he said, his warm heart smitten by the eager look +in the old man's eyes. "But I had to protect my clients. There has +been so much of that sort of stealing up there lately that stern +measures had to be taken, and I was acting for the company." Old Angus +was puzzled. Evidently law was a machine which, if you once started +operating, you were no longer able to act as a responsible individual. +He could not understand any circumstances that would make it impossible +to help a man who had fallen by the way as Billy had, but then Roderick +knew about law, and Roderick would certainly have done the best +possible. His faith in the Lad was all unshaken. + +But the young man was not so hopeful about Miss Murray's verdict. She +had put Billy in his care, and it was but a sorry report he had to make +of her trust. He was wondering if he dared call at Rosemount and +explain his part in the case, when he met her in Willow Lane. It was a +clear wintry evening, and the pines cast long blue shadows across the +snowy road ahead. Roderick was hurrying home to take supper at the +farm, and Helen was coming out of the rough little path that led from +the Perkins' home. She was feeling tired and very sad. She had been +reading a letter from the husband in prison, a sorrowful pencilled +scrawl, pathetically misspelled, but breathing out true sympathy for +his wife and children, and the deepest repentance and self-blame. And +at the end of every misconstructed sentence like a wailing refrain were +the words, "I done wrong and I deserve all I got, but it's hard on you +old girl, and I thought that Old Angus's son might have got me off." + +Whether right or wrong, Helen felt a sting of resentment, as she looked +up and saw Roderick swinging down the road towards her. He seemed so +big and comfortable in his long winter overcoat, so strong and capable, +and yet he had used his strength and skill against Billy. Her woman's +heart refused to see any justice in the case. She did not return the +radiant smile with which he greeted her. In spite of his fears, he +could not but be glad at the sight of her, with the rosy glow of the +sunset lighting up her sweet face and reflected in the gold of her hair. + +"I was so sorry to have such news of Billy I was afraid to call," he +said as humbly as though it was he who had stolen and been committed to +prison. + +"Oh, it's so sad I just can't bear it," she burst forth, the tears +filling her eyes. "Oh, couldn't you have done something, Mr. McRae?" + +Roderick was overcome with dismay. "I--I--did all I could," he +stammered. "It was impossible to save him. He stole and he had to +bear the penalty." + +"But you were on the other side," she cried vaguely but indignantly. +"I don't see how you could do it." + +"But, Miss Murray!" cried Roderick, amazed at her unexpected vehemence. +"I was acting for the company I represent. It's unreasonable, if you +will pardon me for speaking so strongly, to expect I could sacrifice +their interests and allow the law to be broken." He was really +pleading his own case. There was a dread of her condemnation in his +eyes which she could not mistake. But her heart was too sore for the +Perkins family to feel any compunction for him. + +"I don't understand law I know," she said sadly. "But I can't +understand how your father's son could see that poor irresponsible +creature sent to jail for the sake of a big rich company. His wife's +heart is broken, that's all." She was losing her self-control once +more, and she hastily bade him good-evening, and before Roderick could +speak again she was gone. + +The young man walked swiftly homeward; the blackness of the darkening +pine forest was nothing to the gloom of his soul. He spent long hours +of the night and many of the next day striving to state the case in a +way that would justify himself in the girl's eyes. In his extremity he +went to Lawyer Ed for comfort. + +"What could I do?" he asked. "What would you have done in that case?" + +Lawyer Ed scratched his head. "I really don't know what a fellow's to +do now, Rod, that's the truth, when he's doing business for a skinflint +like Sandy Graham. You just have to do as he wants or jump the job, +that's a fact." + +But Roderick did not need to be told that his chief would have jumped +any job no matter how big, rather than hurt a poor weakling like Billy +Perkins. + +So those were dark days for Roderick in spite of all the brilliant +prospects opening ahead of him. He could not tell which was harder to +bear, his father's perfect faith in him, despite all evidence to the +contrary, or the girl's look of reproach, despite all his attempts to +set himself right in her eyes. He was learning, too, that not till he +had lost her good opinion did he realise that he wanted it more than +anything else in the world. + +But there were compensations. When he finished his business he +received a letter of congratulation from Mr. Kent, and a commission to +do some important work for him. He found some solace, too, in the +bright approving eyes of Leslie Graham. Her perfect confidence in him +furnished a little balm to his wounded feelings. Certainly she was not +so exacting, for she cared not at all about the Perkinses and all the +other troublesome folk on the Jericho Road. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +"THE LANDSKIP DARKEN'D" + +Roderick's work allowed him little chance for brooding over his +worries, for Lawyer Ed left more and more to him as the days went on. +Not that he did any less, but the temperance campaign was on again, all +racial and religious prejudices forgotten, in the glory of the fight. +Lawyer Ed was quite content that his young partner should let him do +all the public speaking, and so neither side was offended at the young +man's careful steering in a middle course. Roderick himself hated it, +but there seemed no other way, on the road he was determined to follow. + +He was not too busy to watch Helen Murray, and serve her in every way +possible. He tried to atone for his past neglect of the Perkins family +by getting Billy a good position on his return, and was rewarded by +being allowed to walk up to Rosemount with Helen the night Billy came +home. He was so quietly persistent in his devotion to the girl, making +no demands, but always standing ready to serve her, that she could not +but see how matters were with him. But the revelation brought her no +joy. Her heart was still full of bitter memories, and with all +gentleness and kindness, she set about the task of showing Roderick +that his attentions were unwelcome. It was not an easy task, for she +was often very lonely and sometimes she forgot that she must not allow +him to waylay her in Willow Lane and walk up to Rosemount with her. +Again she punished herself for her laxity by being very severe with him +and at such times Roderick allowed himself to seek comfort for his +wounded feelings in Leslie Graham's company, for Leslie was always kind +and charming. + +One evening, Roderick and Fred Hamilton had been dining at the Grahams +and had walked home with the Misses Baldwin. They were returning down +the hill together, and Fred, who had been very sulky all evening, grew +absolutely silent. Roderick tried several topics in vain and finally +gave up the attempt at conversation and swung along whistling, his +hands in his pockets. + +At last the young man spoke. + +"I'm going West this spring." + +"Oh, are you?" said Roderick, glad to hear him say something. "You're +lucky. That's where I'd like to be going." + +"Yes, likely," sneered the other. "I guess any fellow can see what +direction you're going all right." + +"What do you mean?" asked Roderick, nettled at the tone. + +"Oh, yes, as if you didn't know," growled his aggrieved rival. "You +don't need to think I'm blind and deaf too, and a fool into the +bargain." + +Roderick stopped short in the middle of the snowy side-walk. "Look +here," he said quietly, "if you don't speak up like a man, and tell me +what you're hinting at I--well, I'll have to make you, that's all." + +Fred had run foul of Roderick McRae at school and knew from painful +experience that it was not safe to make him very angry. + +"Well, you needn't get so hot about it," he said half apologetically. +"I merely hinted that you--well, you can't help seeing it yourself--" + +"Seeing what, you blockhead?" + +"Seeing that she--that Leslie doesn't care two pins about anybody but +you. She'd be glad if I went West to-morrow." The hot blood rushed +into Roderick's face. He turned upon the young man, but they were +passing under an electric light and the look of misery in Fred's face +disarmed him. He burst into derisive laughter. + +"Well, of all the idiots!" he exclaimed. "You ought to be horsewhipped +for insulting a young lady so. Can't you see, you young madman, that +she's just trying to show a little bit of polite gratitude? I know I +don't deserve it, but she seems to be as grateful to me for helping you +that night on the lake, and you must be a fool if you think anything +else." + +The young man walked on for a little in silence. Then he said, in +quite a changed tone, "Are you sure, Rod?" + +"Yes, of course," shouted Roderick, "you ought to be shut up in a mad +house for thinking anything else." + +"Well, she told everybody in the town last fall that I upset her, just +to give you the glory," he said resentfully. + +"Pshaw," cried Roderick disgustedly. "She did it for pure fun, and you +ought to have taken it that way. You don't deserve her for a friend." + +Fred seemed to be pondering this for a while, and finally he said, +"Well, maybe you're right. Only I--well, you know how I feel about +Leslie. She--we've been chums ever since we were kids, and you may be +sure I don't like the idea of any other fellow cutting in ahead of me +now." + +"Well, wait till some fellow does before you jump on him again," said +Roderick, so hotly that the other grew apologetic. + +"I didn't mean to be such a jay, Rod. It's all right if you say so. I +guess I was crazy. If you just give me your word that you haven't +intentions towards her, why, it'll be all right." + +Roderick gave the assurance with all his heart, and Fred insisted upon +shaking hands over it, and they parted on the best of terms. + +But Roderick felt covered with shame when he found himself alone on the +Pine Road. He could not deny to his heart that Fred's suspicions had +some little reason in them, and the knowledge filled him with dismay. +He was humiliated by the thought that he had accepted many favours from +Leslie's father and been a welcome guest many, many times at her home, +and he wondered miserably if Helen Murray held the same opinion as Fred. + +He came back to his office the next morning determined to avoid Leslie +Graham, no matter what the consequence. + +She called him on the telephone, wrote dainty notes, and strolled past +the office at the time when he was likely to be leaving, all to no +avail. Roderick was buried in work, and slowly but surely the +knowledge began to dawn upon the girl that she, with all her +attractions, was being gently but firmly put aside. + +And so the winter sped away on the swift wheels of busy days, and when +spring came the local option petition began to circulate. And once +more Roderick escaped the necessity of declaring himself. + +The firm of Elliot and Kent, with whom he had worked in the North, +wished to consult him, and he was summoned to Montreal for a week. + +Lawyer Ed saw him off at the station fairly puffed up with pride over +his boy's importance. + +When Roderick returned, the petition was signed, and sent away, and +Lawyer Ed was jubilating over the fact that they could have got far +more names if they had wanted them. And Roderick comforted himself +with the thought that his was not needed after all. + +The excitement subsided for a time after this, the real hard +preparation for voting day would not commence until the autumn, so J. +P. Thornton was seized with the grand idea that the coming summer was +surely the heaven-decreed occasion upon which to go off on that +long-deferred holiday. The inspiration came to him one day when he had +telephoned Lawyer Ed twice and called at his office three times to find +him out each time. + +"Is this the office of Brians and McRae or only McRae?" he asked when +Roderick informed him for the third time that his chief was absent. + +"Well, it isn't often like this," said the junior partner +apologetically. "We'll get back to our old routine when my chief gets +over his local option excitement." + +"If you can run this business alone during a Local Option to-do, I see +no reason why you couldn't while we take three months holidays, do you?" + +"No, I do not," said Roderick heartily. "Can't you make Lawyer Ed go +to the Holy Land this spring? I'll do anything to help him go. He +needs a rest." + +J. P. Thornton looked at the young man smiling reminiscently. He was +recalling the night when two young men gave up that very trip and +Lawyer Ed had laughingly declared he would go some day even if he had +to wait till little Roderick grew up. "And little the boy knows," said +Mr. Thornton to himself, "just how much Ed gave up that time." + +"Well," he said aloud, "this is surely poetic justice." + +"What is?" asked Roderick puzzled. But J. P. would not explain. +"We'll just make him go," he declared. "You stand behind me, Rod, and +don't let him get back to work, and I'll get him off." + +It was not entirely the old boyish desire to go on the long-looked-for +trip with his friend that was at the bottom of Mr. Thornton's anxiety +to get away. He could not help seeing that Ed needed a rest and needed +it very badly. Archie Blair aroused his fears further. For one +evening Lawyer Ed did an altogether unprecedented thing and went home +to bed early. Mrs. Hepburn, his sister, was so amazed over such a +piece of conduct on her brother's part, that she called at the doctor's +office the next day to ask if he thought there was anything wrong with +Ed's heart. + +Doctor Blair laughed long and loud over the question, putting the +lady's fears at rest. + +"No, I don't think any one in Algonquin would admit there was anything +astray with Ed's heart, Mary," he said. "But his head might be vastly +improved by putting a little common sense into it regarding eating and +sleeping. He's been going too hard for about twenty-five years and +he's tired, that's all. But J. P.'s going to get him off this time, +all right, and the change is just what he needs." + +He spoke to J. P. about it, and the two determined that they would make +all preparations to start for the Holy Land in July and if Ed had to be +bound and gagged until the steamer sailed, they would certainly see +that he went. + +Lawyer Ed consented with the greatest enthusiasm. Of course he would +go. He really believed he had enough money saved up, and Roderick was +doing everything, anyway, and he could just start off for a forty years +wandering in the wilderness if J. P. would go with him. + +The whole town became quite excited when Mrs. Hepburn announced at a +tea given by Mrs. Captain Willoughby that her brother and J. P. +Thornton were really and truly, even should Algonquin go up in flames +the day before, going to sail from Montreal sometime in July for +foreign parts. There was a great deal of running to and from the +Thornton and Brians homes, and a tremendous amount of talking and +advising. And the only topic of conversation for weeks, in the town, +was the Holy Land, and the question which greeted a new-comer +invariably was, "Did you hear that Lawyer Ed and J. P. have really +decided to go?" + +All this bustle of preparation and expectation did not deceive J. P. +into a false position of security. He was by no means confident, and +he kept a strict eye on Lawyer Ed to see that he did not launch some +new scheme that would demand his personal attention till Christmas. +For well he knew that until his friend was on board the steamer and +beyond swimming distance from the land, he was not safe. Any day +something might arise to make it seem quite impossible to go. + +So he was thrown into quite a state of nervousness when, early in June, +Algonquin began to prepare for a unique celebration. The first of July +had been chosen as "Old Boys' Day," and all Algonquin's exiled sons had +been invited to come back to the old home on that day and be made happy. + +"Old Boys' Day" was an entirely new institution in Algonquin. Indeed +she did not have many sons beyond middle age, but other Ontario towns +were having these reunions, and Algonquin was never known to be behind +her contemporaries, in the matter of having anything new, even though +the newest thing was Old Boys. + +So no wonder J. P. Thornton was anxious. For such a celebration was +just the sort of thing in which Lawyer Ed gloried. Fortunately it was +set a month before they were to sail, but J. P. knew that Ed would need +all that time to recover from the perfect riot of friendship into which +he would be sure to plunge on Old Boys' Day. + +As the first of July approached, the whole town gave itself up to +extravagant preparations and, as J. P. expected, Lawyer Ed, turned over +his office to Roderick, put away railway time-tables and guide books +and headed every committee. There was a committee of ladies from all +the churches to serve dinner to the Old Boys on their arrival. There +was a decorating committee with instructions to cover the town with +flags and bunting and banners, no matter what the cost. There was a +committee for sports, on both land and water and, most important of +all, a reception committee, half to go down to Barbay with Captain +Jimmie and the town band to bring the Old Boys home by water, the only +proper way to approach Algonquin, and the other half to meet them at +the dock. + +Of course all this upheaval and bustle did not take place without some +slight discord. The first storm arose through a dispute as to where +the big dinner should be held upon the arrival of the boat. The first +suggestion was that it be held in the opera house. But unfortunately, +many of the best people of Algonquin objected to holding anything there +as a matter of principle. + +It was the common case of a very good place having a bad name. Had the +opera house been called the town hall, which it really was, no one +would have found fault with it. But its name suggested actors and the +theatre, and many of the good folk, Mr. McPherson at their head, just +wouldn't countenance it at all. + +Of course there was the other class who said Algonquin would be too +dull to live in were it not for the winter attractions of the opera +house which gave it such a bad name. In fact every one who had any +pretensions towards knowing what was the correct thing in city life, +went regularly to the plays, and declared they were just as high class +as you would see in Toronto. + +Indeed a new play was always announced as "The Greatest Attraction in +Toronto Last Week," and companies had several times come all the way +from New York just to appear in Algonquin. Then every winter there +were the Topp Brothers who came and stayed a whole week in Crofter's +Hotel, and gave a different play every night. There were all the best +known dramas, "Lady Audley's Secret," and "East Lynne" and "Uncle Tom's +Cabin," and once they even gave "Faust,"--without music, it is true, +but a splendid reproduction nevertheless, with the biggest and tallest +Topp brother as Mephisto, all in red satin and, every one said, just +perfectly terrible. + +So every one who knew anything at all about what was demanded of people +moving in the best circles, pronounced the opera house the finest +institution in the town and demanded that the Old Boys be taken to it +upon their arrival and welcomed and fed. And all the other people said +it was a sinful and worldly place, and declared they would have no Old +Boys' banquet at all if it were to be served in that theatrical +abomination. + +The Presbyterian Sunday-school room was the next place in size, and, to +smooth matters over, Lawyer Ed offered it for the dinner. + +Then the Anglican and the Catholic and the Methodist ladies met and +said it was just like the Presbyterians to want to have the banquet in +their church, to make it appear to the Old Boys that they were doing it +all. And Mrs. Captain Willoughby, the smartest woman in Algonquin and +the Convener of the dinner committee, said that if those gossipy old +cranks wanted to have the banquet in the lock-up, why they might have +it there for all she cared, but she wanted every one to know that it +would be served in the Presbyterian School room or she would have +nothing to do with it. That almost settled it for every one knew it +was utterly impossible to get up such a huge affair without Mrs. +Captain Willoughby at the head. But the very next night Jock McPherson +brought up the matter in a session meeting and objected to having the +dinner in the schoolroom, as it was not a religious gathering. + +But Lawyer Ed met and overcame every difficulty. He laughed and +cajoled the opera house party into giving way. He forced the programme +committee to put Mr. McPherson down for one of the chief addresses of +welcome at the banquet, and the objections ceased. He called up his +friend Father Tracy on the telephone and bade him see that his flock +did their duty in the matter, and he took the Methodist minister's wife +and the Anglican clergyman's daughter and Mrs. Captain Willoughby all +down town together for ice cream, and there was no more trouble. + +"Women are ticklish things to handle, Rod," he said, wiping his +perspiring forehead when all was harmony again. "The only wise way for +a man to act is to get married and hand over all such manoeuvres to his +wife. See that you get one as soon as possible." + +"I've heard something somewhere regarding the advantage of example over +precept," said Roderick gravely. + +"Hold your tongue," said his chief severely. "If I wish to serve you +as a terrible warning, to be avoided, instead of an example to be +followed, you ought to be grateful in any case." + +He strode away swinging his cane and whistling and Roderick watched him +with affectionate eyes. He was wondering, as all the town wondered, +except a couple of his nearest friends who knew, why Lawyer Ed had +never married. And he was thinking of a pair of soft blue eyes that +had not grown any kinder to him as the months had passed. He went back +to his work, the solace for all his troubles. He was taking no part in +the preparations for the Old Boys' celebration, and was looking forward +to the date with small pleasure. For that was the day she would likely +be leaving for her summer vacation. And who knew whether she would +come back or not? So he watched Lawyer Ed's joyous preparations for +the Old Boys' visit, without much interest, little thinking it was to +be of more moment to him than to any one else in Algonquin. + +Early in the morning of the first of July the rain came pouring down, +but the clouds cleared away before ten o'clock, leaving the little town +fresh and green and glowing after its bath. Everything was dressed in +its best for the visitors. The gardens were in their brightest summer +decorations. The June roses and peonies were not yet gone, and the +syringa bushes and jessamine trees were all a-bloom. Main Street was +lined with banners and overhung with gay bunting. Lake Algonquin +smiled and twinkled and sparkled out her welcome. The fairy islands, +the surrounding woods, everything, was at its freshest and greenest. + +Early in the morning the _Inverness_ with half of the entertainment +committee, the town band, and such youngsters as Captain Jimmie could +not eject from his decks, sailed away down to Barbay to bring the +heroes home and, as the _Chronicle_ said in a splendid editorial, the +next morning, Algonquin's heart throbbed with pride as the goodly ship +sailed into port with her precious cargo. The Barbay _Clarion_, +Algonquin's and the _Chronicle's_ bitter and hasty enemy, wearily +remarked the next week that Algonquin always found something to be +proud of anyway. But there could be no doubt Algonquin had reason on +this first of July, for the _Inverness_ carried homeward men whose +names had brought honour to the little town. + +There was J. P.'s son who edited the paper read by every Canadian from +Halifax to Vancouver, except those who, wilfully blinded by political +prejudice, read the organ of the opposite party. There was Tom +Willoughby, the captain's brother, member for the Dominion House, who +tore himself away from Ottawa, every one felt, at great risk to his +country's weal, leaving the question of war in South Africa and +reciprocity with Australia in abeyance, while he rushed across the +country to do honour to the old home town. As the _Chronicle_ said, +the next morning, being a supporter of Tom's party, not even King +Edward himself could have found fault with a loyalty that would take +such risks for home and native land. + +There was Sandy Graham's brother from New York, who had made, some +said, a million in real estate deals in the West, and Lawyer Ed's own +brother, who was a professor of note in a University "down East." +There were business, and professional men, young workmen from near by +cities and towns, statesmen and scholars. But of them all, none was +such a hero, and none so eagerly awaited, as Harry Armstrong. For only +the summer before, Harry had taken a Canadian lacrosse team around the +world and had vanquished everything in Europe, Asia and Africa that +dared to hold up a stick against them. + +When the first far away note of the _Inverness'_ whistle floated across +the water from the Gates, the ladies at the Presbyterian church began +putting the finishing touches to the tables and the dressing on the +salads, and half of the reception committee that had remained at home +drove down to the dock. They arranged themselves there in proper +order, with Captain Willoughby, the Mayor, at the head, or rather +almost at the head, for of course Lawyer Ed was a few steps in advance +of him. + +The dock was a new and important landing place. There was a big +distinction between the dock and the wharf. The latter was the +decrepit old wooden structure, torn and jarred by ice and storms, that +stood at the foot of Main Street, where every one of the Old Boys had +fished and fallen in and nearly drowned himself many a time. But the +dock, as every one knew, was the fine new landing place, built of stone +and cement, and stretching from the town park, away out, it almost +seemed, as far as the Gates. The _Inverness_ had had instruction to +put in at the dock, not only to impress the Old Boys with the strides +Algonquin had made, but as a delicate compliment to Tom Willoughby, +through whose political influence it had been built. + +All the cabs in town had been hired and all the buggies loaned, and +they lined up along the park road waiting to take the guests up to the +church. Lawyer Ed had suggested at first that the Mayor ride down in +his automobile, but as all the horses in town had to be out at the same +time, the experiment was voted too dangerous and the Mayor drove in a +commonplace but safe cab. + +Every one was at his proper station waiting when, with a blaze of +colour and a burst of music, the _Inverness_ curved around Wanda Island +and swept into view. She was a brave sight surely! From every side +floated banners and pennons, her deck rail and her flag-staff were +covered with green boughs, Old Boys fairly swarmed the decks from stem +to stern. And up in the bow, their instruments flashing in the +sunlight, stood the band, playing loudly and gaily, "Home, Sweet Home." + +No one ever quite knew who was to blame that things went amiss from +that splendid moment. Captain Jimmie said it was the fault of Major +Dobie, the leader of the band, and Major Dobie was equally certain it +was the captain's fault. The Old Boys themselves were willing to take +all the blame, and perhaps they were right, for they danced on the +deck, and crowded about the wheel so that Captain Jimmie had no idea +whither he was steering. However it was, instead of turning to +starboard, as he had been instructed, and running in to the dock where +the committee waited, Captain Jimmie swept to larboard around the buoy +that marked his turning point, and made straight for his old hitching +post at the wharf. + +The Mayor and the Committee shouted and waved. Lawyer Ed stood up on +the seat of a cab and roared out a command across the water that might +have been heard at the Gates, but the band and the cheers of the Old +Boys drowned his voice. Captain Jimmie pursued his mistaken course, +never once stopping in the stream of Gaelic with which he was +entertaining his Highland guests, and even the half of the Committee on +board forgot where they were to land, in their joyous excitement. + +Then Lawyer Ed fairly pitched Afternoon Tea Willie into a row-boat and +sent him spinning across the water to head-off the _Inverness_ and make +her turn to the park. But the poor boy had been working like a slave +since early morning at the Presbyterian church, and could not row fast +enough. He was only half-way across when the whistle sounded to shut +off steam. But just as the _Inverness_ stopped with a bump, some one +of the committee came to his senses, and rushed to the captain, +pointing out the frantically waving hosts on the dock. + +"Cosh! Bless my soul!" cried Captain Jimmie in dismay. He gave a +wrench to the wheel, shouting orders to the Ancient Mariner to gee her +around and go back, but he was too late. Before the gang-plank had +been thrown out, or rope hitched, the Old Boys had leaped ashore. +Captain Jimmie yelled at them to come back, but they paid no more heed +than they would have done twenty-five years earlier and went swarming +joyfully up Main Street. + +But meanwhile a dozen of the reception committee had come tearing down +the railroad track from the park and were shouting upon them to stop. +Then the Mayor, Archie Blair, J. P. Thornton and Lawyer Ed having +leaped into a cab, and driven furiously across the town, were now +thundering down Main Street. They headed off the truant Old Boys, and +drove them back to the wharf to be received decorously and listen to +the welcoming address. As they had dashed past the Presbyterian church +at a mad gallop, every one became alarmed and the news spread that a +dreadful disaster had happened to the _Inverness_. But Afternoon Tea +Willie came running up out of breath and wet with perspiration to tell +them the real state of affairs. He was scolded soundly by Mrs. Captain +Willoughby, and went about pouring out apologies all day after. + +So the reception took place at the wharf after all, with every one in +imminent danger of going through the rotten planks into the lake. It +was a rather informal affair. J. P. Thornton and Archie Blair tried to +preserve some dignity, but Lawyer Ed was in a towering rage and cared +not for decorum. He shook his fist at the Old Boys and told them they +were howling idiots and had lost what little manners they had learned +in Algonquin. Then he stood up on the carriage seat, his face red, his +eyes blazing, and called Captain Jimmie an old blind mole and an +ostrich and everything else in the world foolish and unthinking. +Captain Jimmie shouted back with a right good Highland spirit, from his +vantage point on the deck and all the Old Boys cheered joyously, +declaring this was the one thing needful to make them feel absolutely +at home. + +Finally the proper welcome was stammered out by the Mayor, who was even +less at home making a speech than running his automobile, and they all +got away and the procession started up towards the church. + +On every side were shouts of welcome: "Hello, Bob!" "Hi, there, Jack, +you home too?" "Well, well, if there isn't old Bill! No place like +Algonquin, eh Bill?" etc., etc. Harry Armstrong was easily the +favourite, and was the recipient of many welcoming shouts. + +Roderick stood at the door watching the procession go past to the +church. He was amazed to see Lawyer Ed and his brother seated in the +same carriage as Alexander Graham. There was a ponderous man with a +double chin seated beside him, and going into a spasm of laughter every +time Lawyer Ed spoke. Roderick looked at him with keen interest. This +was William Graham, the man whose word was law with the firm of Elliot +and Kent. He had come all the way from New York for this celebration +entirely, he declared in his speech at the banquet, because Ed had +wired him to come and he could not resist Ed. They had been great +friends in boyhood days, and the big brother cared not a whit that +Sandy had a grudge at Ed. If that were so, he declared, then all the +more shame to Sandy. So he was seated between the Brians brothers, +fairly radiating joy from his big fat person, when the procession +passed Lawyer Ed's office. His chief waved his hat at Roderick and +roared: + +"Come awa ben the kirk, ma braw John Hielanman!" and then he turned to +the portly gentleman at his side and said: + +"That's Angus McRae's boy, Bill. He's my partner now." + +"Angus McRae's son? You mean Roderick McRae?" The millionaire turned +and stared at the young man keenly. He nodded to his brother. + +"Looks like a likely lad all right," he said. "I want to see you about +him, Ed, when all the fuss is over." + +Roderick had such a pile of work on the desk before him, that he did +not get up to the church until the luncheon was over and the last +speaker but one on his feet. This was Jock McPherson, and when +Roderick slipped into the crowds standing at the ends of the long +glittering tables, the little man was explaining very slowly and +solemnly that as the afternoon with its long programme was approaching +he would not be keeping them. All his oratorical rivals had had their +turn at the Old Boys and Mr. McPherson was just a bit nettled at being +crowded into the last few minutes. J. P. Thornton and Archie Blair and +Lawyer Ed had got themselves put on ahead of him and had taken all the +time and said all the complimenting things to be said. Captain +Willoughby was the chairman and, though it was agony for him to make a +speech, he had tried in his halting way to make amends to Mr. +McPherson. It was a pity that such an able speaker had been left so +late, he had explained, but there were so many on the programme that +some one had to come last, etc., etc. Jock arose after this very +doubtful introduction, and spoke so deliberately that Lawyer Ed and J. +P. exchanged significant glances, there was something coming. "It iss +true Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen," he said slowly, "that there have been +many fine speeches delivered this afternoon. And now what shall I say? +For I feel that ufferything has already been said." He paused and gave +the peculiar sniffing sound that told he had scented a joke from afar +and was going to hunt it to earth. "Yes, Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen, +there is no doubt that there is vurry little left to be said on any +subject whatuffer. I feel vurry much like the meenister who went into +the pulpit with his sermon. He had not looked at it since he had put +it away the night before, and the mice had got at it and had eaten all +the firstly, the secondly and the thirdly, and there was vurry little +left--vurry little left, Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen. But the meenister +would jist be explaining his dilemma to the people. 'My dearly beloved +brethren,' he said, said he, 'I am vurry sorry to inform you that the +mice have got at my sermon, and have eaten firstly, secondly and +thirdly, but as it cannot be helped, my dearly beloved brethren, we +will jist be commencing _where the mice left off_!'" + +Even the mice had to join in the laugh on themselves, and when Jock had +given the few words of his fourthly which were left, every one, himself +included, was in fine humour. + +The last speaker was Alexander Graham's wealthy brother. William +Graham had been the most successful, from one point of view, of all +Algonquin's returning sons. He had got together enough wealth, folk +said, to buy out Algonquin twice over. Beside, he had become quite +famous in political life in his adopted country, and rumour had it that +he might have been President of the United States had he not been born +in Canada. William himself denied this, but he could not deny the +honours his adopted country had showered upon him. His name was a +power in Washington circles, and he had more than once, gone abroad on +international matters of grave import. + +Nevertheless, Algonquin received him with some embarrassment mingled +with her joy and pride. Bill Graham, the Algonquin boy, was a welcome +sight to every one, for he had always been popular. But, W. H. Graham, +the great American, was quite another matter, and many of his warmest +friends had an uncomfortable feeling that they were committing an act +of disloyalty to Britain in thus making him publicly welcome. It was +all right to make money out of the Yankees, and Bill was commended for +his millions, but to join the enemy and help it work out its problems +was a dangerous precedent to set before the youth of the town. + +He made a very wise speech, saying very little about the States, and a +great deal about his joy at getting home again, but when he sat down, +the applause was not quite as enthusiastic as had been given the other +home-comers and Lawyer Ed's warm heart was grieved. As they stood up +to sing the National Anthem before dispersing, like true sons of +Algonquin, J. P. whispered: + +"Too bad about old Bill, can't we do something better for him?" + +Lawyer Ed was just swinging the crowd into the thunder of "God Save our +gracious King," but he heard, and a sudden inspiration thrilled him. +He nodded reassuringly to J. P. and waved his arms to beat time, for +Major Dobie and the band were getting far behind. + +Just as the last words of the national anthem were uttered, with a +flourish of his hand to the band to continue, and another towards Bill +to show that the graceful tribute was intended for him, Lawyer Ed burst +forth into "My country 'tis of thee--." The band caught up the strain +again, another wave of the leader's hand, and the Old Boys joined and +every one burst generously into the second line "Sweet land of +liberty," with smiling eyes turned towards the American millionaire. + +Graham smiled radiantly back. Down in his heart he cared not a +Canadian copper cent for the American national anthem, but he did care +a great deal for the love of his old friends, and he was touched and +pleased. + +But alas for the generous tribute to the American. No one knew a word +of the song beyond the second line. Lawyer Ed started off with a +splendid shout, "Land where the--" but got no further. The band and +the drum thundered gallantly over the lapse, but the singing dwindled +away. The leader cast one agonised glance towards the American but +Bill sent back a hopeless negative, and cleared his throat and twitched +his New York tie. The Old Boys began to grin, and Lawyer Ed began to +grow hot at the fear of making a fiasco of what he had intended for a +grand finale. But he kept doggedly on, for Lawyer Ed never in his life +gave up anything he started out to do, and even if he had had no tune +as well as no words he would have sung that song through to the bitter +end. So far above the band and the drum his voice rang out splendidly, +defying fate: + + "_Land where the lee la lay, + Land where the doo da day--_" + + +Then, hearing the laughter rising like a tide about him, he flung the +American tribute to the winds, and roared out strong and distinct, the +whole congress of Old Boys following in a burst of relief, + + "_Long to reign over us, + God save our King._" + + +The banquet broke up in a storm of laughter, the American millionaire's +loudest of all. + +"Oh, Ed," he cried, wiping his eyes, "stick to the old version. You're +more loyal than you knew!" + +Roderick was leaving the room with the crowd, when Leslie Graham, in a +bewitching white cap and tiny apron, caught his arm. + +"Don't run away!" she cried, "I was told to fetch you to Uncle Will, he +wants to meet you. If he's going to make a Yankee out of you, see that +you resist him strenuously." + +"One American in your family is enough, isn't it, Les?" said Anna +Baldwin, her big black eyes staring very innocently at Roderick. + +Roderick blushed like a girl, but Leslie Graham laughed delightedly. + +"Isn't Anna shocking?" she asked, glancing coyly at Roderick, as they +moved back through the crowd. But he did not hear her, and she was +surprised at a sudden light that sprang to his eyes. She looked in +their direction, and saw Helen Murray in a blue gown and a white cap +and apron. She was standing in the doorway leading to the kitchen. + +Madame was talking to her and the girl's usually grave face was +animated and lighted with a lovely smile. Leslie Graham looked at her +then back swiftly to Roderick. There was a look in his eyes she had +never seen there before. The old suspicion roused the night she had +seen him help Miss Murray out of his canoe returned. Her gay chatter +suddenly ceased. She presented Roderick to her uncle and quickly +turned away and was lost in the crowd. + +Roderick scarcely noticed that she had gone, he was wondering if the +summer holidays were to be spent in Algonquin after all, and then he +noticed that the man he had been anxious to meet was shaking his hand. +"I'm glad to see Angus McRae's son!" the big man was saying. "Yes, +yes, I'd know you by your father. And how is he? I must see him +before I leave. Sandy's been telling me about your work here. And Ed +too. Do you intend to settle in Algonquin?" + +"I hope not, sir, not permanently at least." + +"That's right. Algonquin's a fine place to have in the background of +one's life, but it's rather small for any expansion. Did you know I've +had an eye on you since you were up north last winter?" + +"On me?" cried Roderick amazed. + +"Yes, just on you." The portly figure shook with a good humoured +amusement at the young man's modest amazement. "I heard about you from +my brother and then from Kent. Let me see, I suppose there will be +high doings all day to-day. What about to-morrow? Could I see you for +a little talk to-morrow morning?" + +Roderick set the hour for the appointment, silently wondering. His +heart was throbbing with expectation, vague, wonderful. Some great +event was surely pending. He went home that night, full of high +expectations. When he made a great success of his life and came back +to Algonquin, rich and with a name, he would go to her and show her he +had been right, and she had been wrong. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +"THE MELODY DEADEN'D" + +"And you don't mean to tell me you were such a fool as to say he might +go?" J. P. Thornton, walking up the hill for the fourth time on the +way home from a session meeting with Lawyer Ed, asked the question +again in an extremity of indignation. + +And Lawyer Ed answered as he had done each time before: + +"I couldn't stand in the boy's way, Jack; I just couldn't." + +They had argued the question for an hour, up and down the hills between +their two homes, and had come to no agreement. That Roderick had had +an offer to tempt any young man there was no doubt. A partnership in +the firm of Elliot and Kent, solicitors for the British North American +Transcontinental Railroad, was such a chance as came the way of few at +his age. + +And yet Mr. Thornton declared that he should have refused it +unconditionally. Not so Lawyer Ed; his generous heart condoned the boy. + +"It's the chance of a life-time, Jack," he declared. "It would be +shameful to keep him out of it, and, mind you, he wouldn't say he would +go until I urged it." + +"Oh, blow him!" J. P. was a very dignified gentleman and did not +revert to his boyhood's slang except under extreme provocation. "He +shouldn't have allowed you to urge him. And what about the brilliant +prospect you gave up once just because his father was in need?" + +"Well, never mind that," said Lawyer Ed, hurriedly. "He doesn't know +anything about that and he's not going to either." + +"And it was Bill Graham who wanted you, and you wouldn't go. And now +Bill's taking him away from you. He ought to be ashamed!" + +"Bill thought he was doing me a kindness. He knew Rod's success is +mine." + +J. P. was silent from sheer exhaustion of all sane argument. He was +grieved and bitterly disappointed for his friend's sake. Ed was in +imperative need of a rest and just when life was looking a little +easier to him, and the long-deferred holiday was within reach, Roderick +was deserting. + +If they could only have visited the Holy Land before he left, it would +not have seemed so bad. But though Roderick had consented to remain +until his chief returned, Lawyer Ed had felt he could not go, for he +must busy himself gathering up the threads of his work which he had +been dropping with such relief. + +Roderick had not come to his final decision without much argument with +himself. His head said Go, but he could not quite convince his heart +that he was right in leaving Lawyer Ed so soon. He had argued the +question with himself during many sleepless nights, but the lure of +success had proved the stronger. And he was going late in the autumn +to take up his new work. + +To Old Angus the news was like the shutting out of the light of day. +Roderick was going away. At first that was all he could comprehend. +But he did not for one moment lose his sublime faith either in his boy +or in his God. The Lord's hand was in it all, he told himself. He was +leading the Lad out into larger service and his father must not stand +in the way. He said not one word of his own loss, but was deeply +concerned over Lawyer Ed's. He was worried lest the Lad's going might +mean business difficulties for his friend. + +"If the Father will be wanting the Lad, Edward," he said one golden +autumn afternoon, when Lawyer Ed stopped at the farm gate in passing, +"then we must not be putting our little wills in His way. I would not +be minding for myself, oh, no, not at all--" the old man's smile was +more pathetic than tears. "The dear Lord will be giving me so many +children on the Jericho Road, that He feels I can spare Roderick." + +Eddie Perkins was stumbling about the lane trying to rake up the dead +leaves into neat piles as Angus had instructed him. He came whimpering +up with a bruised finger which he held up to the old man. Angus +comforted him tenderly, telling him Eddie must be a man and not mind a +little scratch. He looked down at this most helpless of his children +and gently stroked the boy's misshapen head. + +"Yes, He would be very kind, giving me so many of His little ones to +care for, and He feels I can spare Roderick. The Lad is strong--" his +voice faltered a moment, but he went on bravely. + +"But it was you I was thinking of, Edward. I could not but be fearing +that you were making a great sacrifice. There is your visit to the +Holy Land--and the business. It will be hard for you, Edward?" + +Lawyer Ed, seated in his mud-splashed buggy at the gate, turned quickly +away, the anxiety in Old Angus's voice was almost too much for his +tender heart. There was a wistful plea in it that he should vindicate +Roderick from a shadow of suspicion. He jerked his horse's head +violently and demanded angrily what in thunder it meant by trying to +eat all the grass off the roadside like a fool of an old cow, and then +he rose valiantly to the Lad's defence. + +"Hut, tut, Angus!" he cried blusteringly. "Such nonsense! You know as +well as I do that the Lad didn't want to leave. I fairly drove him +away. Pshaw! never mind the Holy Land. We're all journeying to it +together, anyway. And as for my business--somebody else'll turn up. I +always felt Algonquin would be too small for Rod. You'll see he'll +make a name for himself that'll make us all proud." + +He did it splendidly, and Angus was comforted. He blamed himself for +what he termed his lack of faith in the boy and in his Father. And +many a night, as he sat late by his fire, trying to reason himself into +cheerful resignation, he recalled Edward's words hopefully. Yes, he +surely ought to be proud and glad that the Lad was going out into a +wider service. He was leaving him alone, on his Jericho Road, here, +but that was only because the Father needed him for a busier highway, +where thieves were crueller and more numerous. + +As the autumn passed and the time for leaving approached, the Lad ran +out very often to the farm. His visits were a constantly increasing +source of discomfort--both to heart and conscience. His father's +gallant attempts at cheerfulness, and his sublime assurance that his +son was going away to do a greater work for the Master stung Roderick +to the quick. That Master, whom he had long ago left out of his life's +plan, had said, "Ye cannot serve God and Mammon." And from even the +little Roderick had seen of the affairs of Elliot and Kent, he knew +only too well that to serve that firm and humanity at the same time +would be impossible. + +There were others who did not possess his father's faith in his +purpose, and they spoke to him plainly on the matter. J. P. Thornton, +remembering indignantly all that Lawyer Ed had once given up for Old +Angus's sake, and further maddened by being forbidden to disclose it, +expressed his disapproval of Roderick's leaving so soon, in strong +incisive terms. + +His remarks succeeded only in angering the young man, and making him +more determined in his course. Doctor Leslie was the next to speak +plainly on the matter, and his kindly, deep-searching words were harder +to set aside. Roderick was passing the Manse one day when Mammy Viney +hailed him. + +"Honey, de minesta' want you," she called, in her soft rich tones. +"An' you'se gwine away, an' leavin' you ole Auntie Kirsty," she said +reproachfully, as he came up the steps and shook hands with her. + +"But you wouldn't want me to stay and bother Aunt Kirsty in the kitchen +all my life, now, would you, Mammy Viney? I thought men were a +nuisance there." + +"Men's jus' a trouble eberywhar," she said sternly. "Dat Mahogany Bill +he was jus' like all de res', an' here you doin' de same, goin' off an' +leabin' folks in de lurch, with all de hard work to do. I'se shame of +you--dat I is!" + +Roderick laughed good-naturedly, as he followed her into the house, but +Mammy Viney tossed her head. "Eberybody say dat it pretty mean o' you, +anyhow," she said with the air of one who could tell a great deal if +she wished. "'Deed dey's sayin' dat you no business make Lawya Ed stay +home!" + +Roderick did not wait to hear any more of what Algonquin was saying +about him. Mammy Viney rather enjoyed recounting such remarks, and +never took one jot or one tittle from that which she passed along. + +Doctor Leslie met him at the study door, with outstretched hands. "Now +tell me all about this going away scheme," he said; and Roderick told +him eagerly, about the brilliant prospects ahead of him, and when he +finished there was the implied question in the boy's eyes. Would he +not be blind to his and every one's best interests to remain in +Algonquin in the face of such inducements? + +Doctor Leslie sat and looked out at the orchard trees, with their +wealth of red and gold apples falling with soft thuds upon the grass. +How often had that question come to him in his youth, and when he had +examined his own heart and his reasons for obeying the call to go away, +he had been compelled to remain. + +He saw Roderick's position, and sympathised with the youthful longing +to be away and to do great deeds; but he was afraid the way had not yet +truly opened up into which Angus McRae's son could step. He had +learned, in the year Roderick had spent in Algonquin, that the young +man was not vitally interested in the things that are eternal. His +outlook on life was not his father's. The minister felt impelled to +speak plainly. + +"I feel sure," he said slowly, turning his eyes from the garden, and +letting them rest kindly upon the boy's frank face, "I feel sure, +Roderick, that no young man who lacks ambition will be of much use to +the world. But ambition is a dangerous guide alone. If you are +anxious to make the best of your life, my boy, the Lord will open the +way to great opportunities. But the time and the way will be plainly +shown. If this is a door of greater opportunity, then enter it, and +God give you great and large blessing. But if you are leaving with any +doubts as to its being the right course, if you fear that there are +other obligations you must yet fulfil, then I charge you to examine +your heart carefully, lest you fight against God. It is no use trying +to do that. One day or other His love will hedge us about. If it +cannot draw us into the way it meets us on the Damascus Road and blinds +us with its light. But some of us miss the best of life before that +happens. Don't lose the way, Lad; your father instructed you well in +it." + +For days the warning followed Roderick, tormenting him. He dared not +examine his motives carefully, lest he find them false. He was out on +life's waters, paddling hard for the gleam of gold, and he had no time +to stop and consider whither it was leading him. It might vanish while +he lingered. + +There was another person whose opinion he was anxious to get on this +vexed question. He wondered every waking hour what she would think of +his going. Perhaps she didn't think about it at all, he speculated +miserably. He still continued to waylay her in Willow Lane, as he went +to and from home, and one evening he ran upon his poor rival, Afternoon +Tea Willie, doing the same sentinel duty. + +Roderick had been home for supper and was returning to the office early +to do some left over work, when he overtook him slowly walking towards +Algonquin. + +"Good evening, Mr. Roderick," he said in a melancholy tone. "May I +walk into town with you?" + +Roderick slackened his stride to suit the young man. He was rather +impatient at having to endure his company, but he soon changed his +mind, for Alfred was in a confidential mood. + +"I might as well go home," he said gloomily. "She's gone." + +"Who's gone?" asked Roderick perversely. + +"Why, Miss Murray. She slipped away somehow, and I don't know how she +did it. But I've waited down here for her for the last time." He +choked for a moment, then continued firmly. "She's showed me plainly +she doesn't want me, and I'm too proud to force my company upon her." + +Roderick did not know what to say; he wanted to laugh, but it was +impossible to keep just a little of the fellow-feeling that makes us +wondrous kind from creeping into his heart. + +"Well, it's too bad," he said at last. "But if she doesn't want you, +of course there is only one thing for you to do." + +"I have been faithful to her for a year," said the rejected lover. "I +never before was attentive to any lady, no matter how charming, for +that length of time, and she needn't have treated me that way." + +The subject was the most interesting one in the world to Roderick, and +he could not resist encouraging the young man to go on. + +And poor Afternoon Tea Willie, unaccustomed to a sympathetic hearing, +poured out all his long heartache. + +"I am telling you this in strict confidence you know, Roderick," he +said. "It is such a relief to tell some one and it seems right I +should tell you the end of this sad romance, for you helped me and were +kind to me at its very beginning." He paused for a moment, to reflect +sadly on his disappointed hopes. + +"You may be sure your confidence will never be betrayed," said +Roderick, and murmuring his gratitude the young man went on. + +"It was Miss Annabel Armstrong who put her against me from the first, I +feel sure, though I must never bear a grudge against a lady. But you +know, Roderick (I know you will never betray a confidence), Miss +Annabel hates me. I proposed to her once, shortly after I came to +Algonquin. It was just a mad infatuation on my part, not love at all. +I did not know then what real love was. But Miss Annabel--well, she is +a lady--but I, I really couldn't tell you what she said to me when I +offered her all a man could, my heart and my hand and all my property. +It was awful! I really sometimes wake up in the night yet and think +about it. And she never forgave me. And I don't know why." He paused +and drew a deep breath at the remembrance. + +"And I know she poisoned Miss Murray's mind against me--but I shan't +hold a grudge against a lady. Now, Miss Murray herself was so gentle +and kind when she refused me--what? I--I didn't mean any harm." For +his sympathetic listener had turned upon him. + +"How dared you do such a thing?" Roderick cried indignantly. + +"I just couldn't help it," wailed Alfred. "You couldn't yourself now, +Roderick;" and Roderick was forced to confess inwardly that likely he +couldn't. + +"Well, never mind, go on," he said, all unabashed that he was taking +advantage of the poor young man merely to be able to hear something +about her. + +"I just couldn't help it. But I only asked her twice and the first +time she refused so nicely, I thought perhaps she'd change her mind. I +never heard any one refuse a--person--so--so sweetly and kindly. But +this last time was unmistakable, and I feel as if it were all over. I +am not going to be trampled upon any more." + +"That's right," said Roderick. "Just brace up and never mind; you'll +soon get over it." + +The young man shook his head. "I shall never be the same," he said. +"But I have pride. I am not going to let her see that she has made a +wreck of my life. But I thought she might have had more sympathy when +she had had a sorrow like that herself." + +Roderick felt his resentment rising. He did not mind listening to poor +Alfred's love stories, but he did not want to hear hers discussed. But +before he could interrupt, Alfred was saying something that held his +attention and made him long for more. + +"But she is all over that now. She told me herself." + +"All over what?" Roderick could not hold the question back. + +"Caring about the young man she was engaged to. There was a young man +named Richard Wells in Toronto, you know, and they were engaged. When +she was away for her holidays last summer, I was so lonesome I just +couldn't stand it, so I wrote to my cousin Flossy Wilbur and asked her +to find out how she was or her address or something. And Flossy wrote +such a comforting letter and said she was staying with her married +brother, Norman Murray--he lives on Harrington Street, and Floss lives +just a couple of blocks away on a beautiful avenue--" + +"What were you saying about Wells?" Roderick interrupted. + +"Flossy knows him and told me all about it. I had a letter just last +week. He met another girl he liked better--no, that couldn't be true, +nobody who once saw her could care for any one else, I am sure. But +this other girl was rich, and so he broke the engagement. If I ever +meet that man!" Afternoon Tea Willie stood on the side-walk, the +electric light shining through the autumn leaves making a golden +radiance about his white face. "If I ever meet that man I--I shall +certainly treat him with the coldest contempt, Roderick. I wouldn't +speak to him!" + +"But you said she didn't care," suggested Roderick impatiently. + +"Not now. But Flossy said her poor little heart must have been broken +at first, though she did not show it. She came up to Algonquin right +away. I saw her on board the _Inverness_ the day she came and I knew +then--" + +"How do you know she doesn't care about Wells?" + +"Oh, when Flossy wrote me that last week, I went to see her at the +school--I don't dare go to Rosemount--and I asked her to forgive me for +proposing to her. I told her, or at least I hinted at the tragedy in +her life, and I said I wanted to beg her pardon on my knees for +troubling her as I had done,--and that I couldn't forgive myself. Oh, +she just acted like an angel--there is no other word to describe her. +She asked me at first how I found out and then she said so sweetly and +gently, that she thanked me for my consideration. And then, just +because she was so good--I did it again! I really didn't mean it, but +before I knew what I was doing, I was asking her again if there was any +hope for me. And, oh dear! oh dear! she said 'no' again. Gave me not +the least hope. I was so overcome--you don't know how a man feels +about such things, Roderick. I was so overcome I burst out and said I +felt just as if I would have given all I possessed to meet that Wells +man. I said I could just treat him with the coldest contempt if I ever +met him on the street. And she answered so sweetly that I must not +worry on her account. She said she had cared once, but that was all +over, and that she was glad now that it had been so. And she +added--and I don't see hew any one with such eyes could be so +cruel--she said I must never, never speak of such a subject to her +again, and that if I ever did she would not let me even come near her. +So it's all over with me. I am not going to follow her about any more. +I have still been coming down to Willow Lane, but I am coming no more +after to-night. This is the end!" + +They had reached the office door and paused. Roderick's sympathy +seemed to have suddenly vanished. In the very face of the other young +man's despair, he turned upon him ruthlessly. + +"That's a wise resolution, Alf," he said distinctly. "And I'm going to +advise you strongly to stick to it. You keep the width of the town +between you and Miss Murray from now on, do you understand?" + +"What--whatever do you mean?" stammered the boy, aghast at the cruelty +of one who had seemed a friend. + +"Just what I say. On your own showing, you've been tormenting her; +and--I--well, I won't have it--that's all. I feel sure you have the +good sense to stick to your resolution," his tone was a trifle +kindlier, "and for your own sake I hope you do. If not, look out!" He +made a significant gesture, that made the other jump out of his way in +terror. "And look here, Alf," he added. "If you tell any soul in +Algonquin that Miss Murray was engaged to any one I'll--I'll murder +you. Do you hear?" + +He ran up the steps and into the office. And the cruellest part of it +all to poor Afternoon Tea Willie, as the door slammed in his face +leaving him alone in the darkness, was that he could hear his false +friend whistling merrily. + +Roderick felt like whistling in the days that followed. He had found +out something he had been longing to know for over a year. He did not +have to stay away from her now. And the very next evening he marched +straight up to Rosemount and asked to see Miss Murray. She was out, +much to his disappointment, but the next Sunday he met her as they were +leaving the church. And she expressed her regret so kindly that he was +once more filled with hope. He had stood watching for her while his +father paused for a word with Dr. Leslie, but as usual he had been +joined by Alexander Graham and his daughter. There was a subtle air of +triumph about the man, ever since Roderick had decided to go to +Montreal, an air almost of proprietorship especially noticeable when +Lawyer Ed was about. + +"Good morning, Rod," he said genially. "All packed yet?" + +"Not quite," said Roderick shortly. He winced, for the thought of the +actual parting with his father was a subject upon which he did not care +to speak. + +"I don't believe you are a bit sorry you are going," said Leslie, +shaking the heavy plumes of her velvet hat at him, and pouting, for +never a regret had he expressed to her. + +"I actually believe you're glad. And I don't blame you. I'd be just +jumping for joy if I were going. It's a dreadfully dull little place +here, in the winter especially." + +He looked at her in surprise. It was so unlike her to express +discontent. She had always seemed so happy. "Why, I thought you +couldn't be ever induced to live any other place," he cried in surprise. + +"The idea! I wish somebody'd try me!" she flashed out the answer, with +just the faintest emphasis on a significant word. + +Roderick looked down at her again in wonder, to see her eyes droop, her +colour deepen. They passed down the church steps, side by side; her +father dropped behind with Dr. Blair, and they were left alone +together. Roderick, always shy in a young woman's presence, was +overcome with a vague feeling of dismay, which he did not at all +understand and which rendered him speechless. + +He was relieved when Miss Annabel Armstrong, with a girlish skip, came +suddenly to her niece's side. "Good morning, Mr. Roderick McRae. Good +morning, niecy dear! Come here a moment and walk with me, Leslie +darling. I want to ask you something." She slipped her arm into the +girl's and drew her back. "Here, Mr. McRae, you walk by Miss Murray, +just for a moment, please." + +She shoved Helen forward into Leslie's place, and pulling her niece +close, whispered fiercely. + +"You are a young idiot, Leslie Graham! I heard Mrs. Captain Willoughby +and the Baldwin girls laughing and talking about you just this minute +as they came out of church. I am just deadly ashamed. How can we ever +keep our position in society if you act so? Anna Baldwin said you were +simply throwing yourself at that young McRae's head--and his father a +common farmer! And his _Aunt_!" + +The girl jerked her arm from Miss Annabel's grasp, her eyes and cheeks +blazing. "Anna Baldwin is crazy about him herself!" she cried +violently. "And she's made a fool of herself more times than I can +tell! And his father is far better than your father ever was, or mine +either!" She stopped as some one looked at her in passing. "I shall +just do exactly as I please, Aunt Annabel Armstrong," she added +determinedly. "It's just like an old maid to be always interfering in +other people's affairs!" + +Miss Annabel turned white with anger. She was proud of her niece, and +yet she almost disliked her. Leslie, young and gay and successful, the +inheritor of everything for which her aunt had scrimped and striven and +hungered all her life and never attained, was a constant source of +irritation and discontent to Miss Annabel. Her heart and hopes were as +young as Leslie's, and she was forced to find herself pushed aside into +the place of age, while this radiant girl walked all unheeding into +everything that her girlhood should have been. And this intimation +concerning her age and estate was unbearable. She grew intensely quiet. + +"Leslie," she said, "you may heed me or not as you wish. But if you +had eyes in your head, you would see for yourself that that young man +doesn't care the snap of his finger for you and all your money. He's +madly in love with Helen Murray. He's always hanging about Rosemount!" +she added, growing reckless. "He was there only last night. Just look +at him now!" + +The startled eyes of the girl obeyed. Roderick was walking beside +Helen Murray, and looking down at her with the joy of her presence +shining in his face. He was not schooled in hiding his feelings, and +his eyes told his secret so plainly that Leslie Graham could not but +read. + +She said not another word. They had reached a corner and she suddenly +left her aunt and walked swiftly homeward alone. She had had a +revelation. For a long time she had suspected and feared. Now she +knew. In all her gay thoughtless life she had never wanted anything +very badly that she had not been able to get. Now, the one thing she +wanted most, the thing which had all unconsciously become the supreme +desire of her life, she had learned in one flash was already another's. +She was as certain of it as though Roderick had proclaimed his feelings +from the church pulpit. Her thoughts ran swiftly back over the months +of their acquaintance and picked up here and there little items of +remembrance that should have shown her earlier the true state of +things. She was forced to confess that not once had he shown her any +slightest preference, except as her father's daughter. And yet she had +refused to look and listen. And then, upon knowledge, came shame and +humiliation and rage at finding she had boldly proffered herself and +was found undesirable. It was the birth of her woman's heart. The +happy, careless girl's heart was dying, and the new life did not come +without much anguish of soul. + +As soon as she could escape from the dinner table she fled to her room +to face this dread thing which had come upon her. All undisciplined +and unused to pain, through her mother's careless indulgence, entirely +pagan, too, for her religious experience had been but one of form, the +girl met this crisis in her life alone. + +At first the smarting sense of her humiliation predominated and her +heart cried for recompense. She would show him what would happen If he +dared set her aside. Well she knew she could injure Roderick's chances +for success if she set her mind to the task; for was it not her +influence that had helped to give him those chances? + +The force of her anger drove her to action. She threw on her plumed +hat and her velvet coat, and slipping out unseen, walked swiftly out of +the town and up the lake shore. Every little breeze from the waters +sent a shower of golden leaves dropping about her. But the air was +still in the woods. It was a perfect autumn day, a true Sabbath day in +Nature's world, with everything in a beautiful state of rest after +labour. The bronze oaks, the yellow elms and the crimson maples along +the shore, now and then dropped a jewel too heavy to be held into the +coloured waters beneath. The tower of the little Indian church across +the lake pointed a silver finger up out of a soft blue haze. The whole +world seemed at peace, in contrast to the tumult within the girl's +untrained heart. + +She seated herself on a fallen log beside the water, the warm, hazy +sunshine falling through the golden branches upon her. And sitting +there, she felt the spirit of the serene day steal over hers. Wiser +and nobler thoughts came to her sorely tried young heart. Some strong +unknown Spirit rose up within her and demanded that she do what was +right. It was her only guide, she could not reason with it, but she +blindly obeyed. There would be long days of pain and hard struggle +ahead of her, she well knew, but the Spirit heeded them not at all. +She must do what was right. She must act the strong, the womanly part, +let the future bring what it would. + +And she went back from the soft rustling peace of the woods, not a +careless, selfishly happy girl any more, but a strong, steady-purposed +woman. + +Roderick was so busy and happy during the ensuing week that he had +almost forgotten the existence of Miss Leslie Graham, when she was +brought to his dismayed senses by the sound of her voice over the +telephone. + +"Tra-la-la-la, Mr. Roderick McRae," she sang out in her merriest voice. +"Why don't you come round and say good-bye to your friends? Are you +going to fold your tent like the Arabs and silently steal away?" + +Roderick began to stammer out an explanation, but she cut him off gaily. + +"Don't apologise, you are going to be punished for your sins," she +called laughingly. "For you can't come now. I am off to-day to +Toronto with Aunt Annabel. We took a sudden notion we wanted to go to +the city. We're going to spend a whole month in a riotous purchasing +of autumn hats. So, as I am a good meek and forgiving person and as +you'll be gone before we get back I just thought I'd say 'Bon Voyage' +to you before I leave." + +She talked so fast that Roderick had scarcely any chance to reply. He +tried to stammer out his thanks to her for her kindness, but she +laughingly interrupted him. It was quite too bad they couldn't say +good-bye, Daddy would do that for her. But Mamma was coming to Toronto +with them. They were both dreadfully sorry and Mamma sent her best +regards. They all hoped he'd have a lovely time, and come home very +rich; and before he could answer, she had called a gay "Good-bye and +good-luck," and had rung off. + +Roderick was conscious of a slight feeling of surprise, and a decided +feeling of relief. + +"She's a great girl," he said to himself admiringly. "She's just a +splendid good friend and a brick, and I'll write and tell her so!" + +And he had no idea of how very much she merited his praise. + +As the time for leaving approached, Roderick grew busier every day. It +was hard to get Lawyer Ed in the office long enough to settle things. +He was striving to take up the burden of his old work again cheerfully, +but the new civic and social and church duties he had assumed in the +year were hard to drop. Then the Local Option campaign was at its +height and demanded his attention. + +To Roderick, and to most of the town people, he seemed to be +shouldering all his old burdens with his usual energy and +light-heartedness, but J. P. missed a familiar note of joyousness in +his tone, and Archie Blair noticed that Ed did not go up the steps of +his office in one leap now as he had always done, but walked up like +other people. But to the casual observer, Lawyer Ed was the same. He +was here, there and everywhere, making sure that this one and that was +going to vote the right way. And Roderick, watching him, remembered +how anxious he had been over the effect the campaign would have upon +his business. And now that he was not required to enter it, he often +longed to plunge in and help his friend to victory. + +On the whole, the campaign helped Lawyer Ed materially, in the hard +days preceding the parting with his boy. After all, there was nothing +so dear to his Irish heart as a fight, and the rounding up of his +troops before the battle kept him busy and happy. And everything was +pointing to victory. Father Tracy had promised to see to it that his +flock voted the right way, and Jock McPherson had declared himself on +the side of the temperance cause. Whatever Lawyer Ed may have had to +do with influencing his fellow Irishmen, he could take no credit for +Jock's conversion. He had set out to interview the McPherson one night +after a session meeting, but fortunately J. P. Thornton prevented his +impetuous friend making the mistake of approaching the elder on that +difficult subject. Jock was still feeling a little dour over the +temperance question and the wise Englishman knew that whichever side of +the cause was presented first that was the side to which the McPherson +was most likely to object. + +"Leave him to the other fellows, Ed," advised his friend. "They are +almost certain to work their own destruction." + +He was right; for not a week later Lawyer Ed came up the steps of the +Thornton home, staggering with laughter, to report that Jock was as +staunch on the temperance question as Dr. Leslie himself, and to +explain how it came about. + +As J. P. had prophesied, Jock had come over to their side because a +particularly offensive person interested in the liquor business, had +claimed him as a friend. It had happened on the Saturday afternoon +before. Jock was down town, standing on the sidewalk in front of +Crofter's hotel discussing the bad state of the roads with a farmer +friend, when Mr. Crofter came forth, and after introducing the subject +of Local Option in a friendly fashion, said: + +"Well, sir, I'm glad to see one good Presbyterian who hasn't gone off +his head over this tom-foolery." Here he made the fatal mistake of +slapping Mr. McPherson on the shoulder. "It does me good to see a man +who isn't a fanatic, but can take a glass and leave it alone, and give +every other fellow the same privilege." + +"Yus." Jock drew in his breath with a peculiar snuffing sound that +would have warned any one who knew him well that there was danger in +the air. "Yus," he repeated the word very slowly, "and take another +glass, and leave it alone." + +"What did you say?" enquired Mr. Crofter, a little puzzled. "I don't +think I quite caught you, Mr. McPherson." + +"I would be thinking," said Jock with dreadful deliberation, "that it +must be a grand sight, but I nuffer saw one." + +"Never saw what?" + +"A man that could take a glass and leave it alone. He always took it." + +Mr. Crofter went back into the hotel with something of the feeling of a +baseball player who has made a mighty swing with his bat and missed. + +And Jock informed Dr. Leslie the next day that he had intended all +along to vote for Local Option, but had omitted to say so earlier. The +case of Father Tracy had brought even greater joy. One day Mike +Cassidy came raging into Lawyer Ed's office with the tale of another +fight with his enemies the Duffys, and the information that he was +going to court with it this time if he died for it. Roderick was out, +and on the pretence that he must consult his young partner, Lawyer Ed +managed to get Mike to consider the matter for an hour, and in the +interval he went to see Father Tracy. + +The Catholic priest and the Presbyterian elder were good friends, for +his reverence was a jolly Irishman, very proud of his title of the +"Protestant Priest." It was whispered that he was not in favour in +ecclesiastical circles, but little cared he, for he was in the highest +favour with everybody in Algonquin, especially those in need, and the +hero of every boy who could wave a lacrosse stick. + +"Good mornin', Father O'Flynn," cried Lawyer Ed, as, swinging his cane, +he was ushered into the priest's sanctum. "Sure and I suppose it's yer +owld job ye're at-- + + "_Checkin' the crazy ones, urgin' the aisy ones, + Helpin' the lazy ones on wid a stick._" + + +"It is that, then," said Father Tracy, his blue eyes dancing. "And +here's wan o' the crazy ones. Sit ye down, man, till I finish this +note, and I'll be checkin' ye all right. I'll not be a minute." + +Lawyer Ed of course could not sit down, but wandered about the room +examining the pictures on the wall, a few photographs of popes and +cardinals. + +"Sure this is a terrible place for a heretic like me to be in, Father," +he exclaimed. "Oi'm getting clane narvous. If it wasn't called a +Presbytry, I'd niver dare venture. It's got a good name. By the way, +I don't see John Knox here," he added, anxiously examining the +cardinals again. + +Father Tracy's pen signed his name with a flourish. "You'll see John +Knox soon enough if ye don't mend your ways, Edward Brians," he said. +"Now, what do ye want of me this morning?" But the two Irishmen could +not let such a good joke pass unnoticed; when they had laughed over it +duly, the business was stated. + +"He'll go to no law," said the shepherd of this wayward sheep. "I'll +see him to-night, and it's grateful I am to you, Edward, for your +interest. I hear the boys are getting together to see about a junior +league. Algonquin ought to get the championship this year--" + +But Lawyer Ed knew better than to let Father Tracy get off onto the +subject of lacrosse. "I wish Algonquin would take the championship +vote for Local Option next January, Father," he said tentatively. He +waited, but Father Tracy said nothing. He was not so much noted for +his leanings towards teetotalism as towards lacrosse. + +"It would keep Mike Cassidy straight," ventured the visitor again. + +"I can keep Mike Cassidy straight without the aid of any such heretic +props," said Father Tracy, looking decidedly grim. + +Lawyer Ed burst out laughing. "'Pon me word you're right," he +exclaimed. "Man, I wish sometimes that our Protestant priests had the +power that you have. But I'm not here to urge you, mind that. I'm not +such a fool as to go down to the Rainy Rapids and try to turn them back +with a pebble. But I just thought I might as well ask you what your +opinion was, when I was here. A great many people of your flock tell +me they will vote just as the Father tells them." He glanced back at +his host as he moved to the door. + +"Yes, and they'd better," said the Father. "So you'd like to know what +to say to them, eh?" + +"I certainly would." He waited anxiously. + +Father Tracy stood watching him go down the steps, his portly figure +filling up the doorway, his good-natured face beaming. "And if it's +news ye're after I suppose ye'll rest neither day nor night till ye get +it." + +"Not likely." + +"Well--" Father Tracy was enjoying the other's anxiety and was as +deliberate as Jock McPherson--"well, if you meet any of my stray sheep +that look as if they were goin' to vote for the whiskey, ye can tell +them for me that I'd say mass for a dead dog before I'd meddle wid +their lost souls." + +Lawyer Ed went down the street, half a block at a stride, in the +direction of J. P.'s office. + +Archie Blair's horse and buggy were standing in front of a house next +to the Catholic church. The temptation, combined with his desperate +hurry, was too much. He leaped in and, without so much as "By your +leave," he tore down the street and never drew rein until he fairly +fell out of the vehicle in front of J. P.'s office. He burst in with +the glorious news: "I've got four hundred new votes promised me for +local option. Hurrah! That's better than going to the Holy Land any +day in the year!" + +But when the day came at last that was to take Roderick from him, even +Lawyer Ed's love of battle failed him. It was a dreary day, with +Nature in accord with his gloom. A chill wind had blown all night from +the north, lashing Lake Algonquin into foam and making the pines along +the Jericho Road moan sadly. Early in the day the snow began to drive +down from the north and by afternoon the roads were drifted. + +Roderick was to leave on the afternoon train for Toronto, and there +take the night express for Montreal and he came into Algonquin in the +morning, to bid his friends good-bye. The sudden change in the weather +had, as usual, been accompanied by the return of the old pain in his +arm. It had been more frequent this autumn, but he had paid little +heed to it. But to-day it added just the last burden required to make +him thoroughly miserable. Lawyer Ed was stamping about, complaining +loudly of the cold, blowing his nose, and talking about everything and +anything but Roderick's pending departure. The Lad's drooping spirits +went lower at the sight of him. + +As he went about saying farewell he realised that he had not known how +many friends he had made. Alexander Graham was full of expressions of +congratulation and good-will. + +"You must make good, Rod, my boy," he said. "We'll be watching you, +you know, and of course the blame will fall on me if you don't. But I +have no fears." He laughed in a patronising way that made Roderick +feel very small indeed. + +"I'm so sorry you couldn't come up again. The wife and Leslie took a +sudden notion that they must go to Toronto for a month--or Leslie took +it rather, and made her mother and aunt go with her. I'm sorry they +are not here--but they are in Toronto and you might--" he paused +knowingly,--"I guess I don't need to tell you where they are staying. +Miss Leslie probably left her address." He laughed in such an +insinuating way that Roderick's face grew crimson. + +"No, Miss Graham did not give me her address," he said, so stiffly that +the man looked at him in wonder, then laughed again. This was some of +Leslie's nonsense, as usual, just to tease him. She had forced a +little lover's quarrel probably and gone without saying good-bye. But +he knew Leslie could make it all right just when she chose. + +He parted from Roderick in quite a fatherly manner, but the young man +went away feeling more uncomfortable and downhearted than ever. + +There was one person who seemed frankly glad to see him go. Mr. Fred +Hamilton did not actually express his joy, but he looked it, and +Roderick felt something of the same feeling when they said good-bye. +Dr. Leslie and several other old friends came next. Archie Blair had +gone to the city to a medical congress, and he missed him. But he had +bidden almost every one else in Algonquin farewell when at last he sent +his trunk to the station, and taking Lawyer Ed's horse and cutter, +drove out to the farm for the severest ordeal of that hard day. + +As he passed the school, the children came storming out to their +afternoon recess, pelting each other with snowballs. Roderick +hesitated a moment before the gate, but the wild onslaught of some +fifty shrieking youngsters frightened the horse, and it dashed away +down the road, so he decided to leave his farewell with her to the last. + +The bleak wind was sweeping down from the lake and the old board fence +and the frail houses on Willow Lane creaked before it. The water +roared up on the beach as he passed along the Pine Road, and the snow +drove into his eyes and half blinded him. The McDuff home was +deserted. There was no track to the door through the snow, no smoke +from the old broken chimney. Peter Fiddle was either out at the farm +or down in the warm tavern on Willow Lane singing and playing. + +The dull pain in Roderick's arm had increased to a steady ache that did +not help to make the soreness of his heart any easier. The bare trees +along the way; creaked and moaned, cold grey clouds gathered and spread +across the sky. + +Hitherto Roderick had felt nothing but impatience at the thought of +staying in Algonquin all his life to watch Old Peter and Eddie Perkins +and Mike Cassidy and their like, but now that the day had come for him +to leave, it seemed as though everything was calling upon him to stay, +every finger post pointing towards home. Doctor Leslie's farewell, a +warning to again consider. Lawyer Ed's patient, cheery acceptance of +the situation, J. P. Thornton's open disapproval, Helen Murray's smile +the other evening at the door of Rosemount, his father's love and +confidence in him, all pulled him back with strong hands. The rainbow +gold shone but dimly that day, and he would fain have turned his back +upon it for the sure chance of a life like his father's in Algonquin. + +He found Old Angus watching for him at the window. His brave attempts +at cheerfulness made Roderick's trial doubly hard. He bustled about, +even trying to hum a tune, his old battle song, "My Love, be on thy +guard." + +"I'll be back before you know I'm gone, Auntie," said the Lad, when +Aunt Kirsty appeared and burst into tears at the sight of him. He +tried to laugh as he said it, but he made but a feeble attempt. They +sat by the fire, the Lad trying to talk naturally of his trip, his +father making pathetic attempts to help him, and Aunt Kirsty crying +silently over her knitting. At last, as Roderick glanced at the clock. +Old Angus took out the tattered Bible from the cup-board drawer. It +had always been the farewell ceremony in all the Lad's coming and +going, the reading of a few words of comfort and courage and a final +prayer. Old Angus read, as he so often did when his son was leaving, +the one hundred and thirty-ninth psalm, the great assurance that no +matter how far one might go from home and loved ones, one might never +go away from the presence of God. + +"If I ascend up into Heaven thou art there. If I make my bed in hell +behold thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in +the uttermost parts of the sea, even there shall thy hand lead me and +thy right hand shall uphold me." + +The prayer was simple and direct, as were all Old Angus's communions +with his Father. He had come to-day to a place where the way was very +puzzling, and Roderick, knowing him so well, understood why he prayed +for himself, that he might not be troubled with the why of it all, but +that he might know that God was guiding them all aright. But there was +an anguished note in his voice new to the Lad, and one that made the +pain in his heart grow almost unbearable. He had heard that sound in +his father's voice once before; and was puzzled to remember when. And +then there came vividly to his heart's ear, the cry that had rung out +over the dark waters to him the night the little boy was lost. +"Roderick, my son, where are you?" The father's heart was uttering +that cry now, and the son's heart heard it. There were tears in the +eyes of both men when they arose from their knees. + +Aunt Kirsty came to him for her farewell with a big bundle in her arms. +It was done up carefully in a newspaper and tied with yarn, and +contained a huge lunch, composed of all the good things she had been +able to cook in a day's baking. Roderick felt as if he could not eat +anything between home and Montreal, but he took the bulky parcel +gratefully and tenderly. She put her arms about him, the tears +streaming down her face, then fled from the room as fast as her ample +size would permit, and gave vent to her grief in loud sobs and wails. +Old Angus followed his son out to the cutter in the shed. He stumbled +a little. He seemed to have suddenly become aged and decrepit. It was +not the physical parting that was weighing him down so heavily. Had +Roderick been called to go as a missionary to some far-off land, as his +father had so often dreamed in his younger days that he might, Old +Angus would have sent him away with none of the foreboding which filled +his heart to-day when he saw his boy leave to take a high position in +the work of the world. + +Roderick caught the blanket off the horse, and as he did so his arm +gave a sudden, sharp twinge. His face twisted. + +"Is it the old pain in your arm, Roderick, my son?" his father asked +anxiously. + +"It's nothing," said the Lad lightly. "It'll be all right to-morrow." + +"You should see a doctor," admonished his father. "There will be great +doctors in Montreal." + +"Perhaps I shall," said the boy. "Now, Father, don't stand there in +the cold!" He caught the old man's hand in both his. "Father!" he +cried sharply. "I--oh--I feel I shouldn't leave you!" + +"Hoots, toots, Lad!" The man clapped him upon the back comfortingly. +"You must not be saying that whatever. Indeed it's a poor father I +would be to want you always by me. No, no, you must go, but Roderick--" + +"Yes, Father." + +The old man's face was pale and intense. "You will not be leaving the +Heavenly Father. Oh mind, mind and hold to Him!" + +Roderick pressed his hand, and felt for the first time something of the +utter bitterness of that road to success. "I'll try, Father," he +faltered. "Oh, I will!" + +He sprang into the cutter and took the lines, the old man put his hands +for a moment on the Lad's bowed head praying for a blessing upon him, +and then the horse dashed out of the gate and away down the lane. At +the turn Roderick looked back. His father was standing on the snowy +threshold where he had left him, waving his cap. A yellow gleam of +wintry sunlight through ragged clouds lit up his face, the wind +fluttered his old coat and his silver hair, and, standing there in his +loneliness, he was making a desperate attempt at a smile that had more +anguish in it than a rain of tears. + +Roderick drove swiftly down the snowy road, his eyes blinded. For one +moment he hated success and money and fame and would have thrown them +all away to be able to go back to his father. Well he knew the parting +was more, far more than a temporal leave-taking. It was a departure +from the old paths where his father had taught him to walk. + +As he sped along, his head down, he did not see a figure on the road +ahead of him. He was almost upon it when he suddenly jerked his horse +out of the way. It was Old Peter. Evidently he had drunk just enough +to make him tremendously polite. He stepped to the side of the road +and bowed profoundly. + +Roderick made an attempt to pull up his horse and say good-bye. A +sudden impulse to take Peter home to his father seized him. Old Angus +would be so comforted to think that his boy's last act was giving a +helping hand on the Jericho Road. But his horse was impatient, and +Peter had already turned in at his own gate and was plunging through +the snow to his house. A bottle was sticking out of his pocket. +Evidently he intended to make a night of it. The sight of it made the +young man change his mind. There was no use, as he had so often said, +bothering with Peter Fiddle. He was determined to drink himself to +death and he would. + +Roderick let his horse go and went spinning down the road. Then he +realised that he had given his arm a wrench, when he had pulled his +horse out of Peter's way. The pain in it grew intense for a few +moments. He resolved that as soon as he was settled at his new work he +would have it attended to. It was the relic of his old rainbow +expedition and though it had annoyed him only at intervals it had never +ceased to remind him that there was trouble there for him some future +day. + +He had another hard parting to face, but one with hope in it for the +future. When he tied his horse at the school gate and went in he was +wondering how he would tell Helen how much the farewell meant to him. +For he was determined that she must know. The school was quiet, for +the hour for dismissing had not come. As he entered the hall, Madame +came swaying out of Miss Murray's room with a group of cherubs peeping +from behind her. "Now you, Johnnie Pickett," she was saying, "you just +come and tell me if anybody's bad and I'll fix them." Then she saw +Roderick, and greeted him with a rapturous smile. + +"There's a dear boy," she cried, "to come and say good-bye to your old +teacher. Now, you Johnnie Pickett, what are you following me out here +for? Aren't you to watch the room for Miss Murray? Go on back. Well, +and you are really going this afternoon?" she said, turning to her +visitor again. "And how is your father standing it? What's the matter +now?" + +A small youngster with blazing eyes shot from the room and launched +himself upon her. + +"Please, teacher," he cried, his voice shrill with wrath, "them kids, +they won't mind me at all. Dutchy Scott's makin' faces, and the girls +is talkin', an' Pie-face Hurd he's calling names. He said I was a +nigger!" His blue eyes and white hair belied the accusation, but his +voice rose to a scream at the indignity. Mrs. Doasyouwouldbedoneby +marched the deposed monitor hack to the room to restore order, +explaining volubly that it was quite as wicked a crime to call a boy +Pie-face as for that boy to call one a nigger. + +"I've got Miss Murray's room in charge," she said, returning to +Roderick smiling and breathless. "Go on back there, now! I see you +looking out there, you, Jimmie Hurd. Just wait till I catch you!" + +"She isn't sick, is she?" asked Roderick dismayed. + +"No. Oh, no! She went with a crowd of young folks to a tea-meeting at +Arrow Head. They started early, and I made her run home an hour before +the time to bundle up. Now, Johnnie Pickett, leave that chalk alone! +You don't need to think I don't see you--" + +Roderick went on his journey miserably disappointed. She had gone on a +sleigh ride and she must have known, indeed she did know, he intended +to call and say good-bye to her. Each farewell had been harder than +the last and now this absence of farewell was the hardest of all. +There was one more--Lawyer Ed's. Like Old Angus, he was making an +attempt at cheerfulness that was heartbreaking. He tramped about, +singing loudly, scolding every one who came near him, and proclaiming +his joy over the Lad's going in a manner that drove poor Roderick's +sore heart to desperation. He drove with him to the station, carried +his bag on board, loaded him with books and magazines and bade him a +joyful farewell, with not a word of regret. But he gave way as the +train moved out and Roderick saw him hastily wipe his eyes and as he +looked back for one last glimpse of his beloved figure, the Lad saw +Lawyer Ed move slowly away, showing for the first time in his life the +signs of approaching age. + +That night Old Angus sat late over his kitchen fire. He was mentally +following the Lad. He was in Toronto now; later, on the way to +Montreal, lying asleep in his berth probably. Old Angus's faith +forbade his doubting that God's hand was in his boy's departure. But +the remembrance of all his joyous plans on the day the Lad started in +Algonquin persisted in coming up to haunt him. He sat far into the +night trying to reason himself back into his former cheerfulness. The +storm had risen anew, and gusts of wind came tearing up from the lake, +lashing the trees and shaking the old house. The snow beat with a +soft, quick pad-pad upon the window-pane. Occasionally the jingle of +bells came to him muffled in the snow. Finally, he heard a new sound, +some one singing. It was probably a sleigh-load of young folk +returning from a country tea-meeting, he reflected. Then he suddenly +sat up straight. Something familiar in the fitful sounds made him slip +out to the door and listen. The wind was lulled for a moment, and he +could dimly discern a figure going along the road. And he could hear a +voice raised loud and discordant in the 103rd psalm! Old Angus came +back into the house swiftly. He caught up his coat and cap. Peter had +fallen among thieves once more! And he would probably be left by the +road-side to freeze were he not rescued. He hastily lit a lantern and +carefully closed up the stove. Then, softly opening the door, he +hurried out into the storm. + +He found the lane and the road beyond badly drifted, but he plunged +along, his swaying lantern making a faint yellow star in the swirling +white mists of the storm. He reached the road. Peter's voice came to +him fitfully on the wind. He had probably started out to come to him +and had lost his bearings. There was nothing to do but follow and +bring him back. He plunged into the road and staggered forward in the +direction of the voice. + +The snow had stopped falling but the wind that was driving it into +drifts was growing bitterly cold. Old Angus needed all his strength to +battle with it, as he forced his way forward, sinking sometimes almost +to his waist. He struggled on. Peter was somewhere there ahead, +perhaps fallen to freeze by the roadside, and the Good Samaritan must +not give in till he found him. But his own strength was going fast. +In his thought for Peter he had forgotten that he was not able to +battle with such a wind. He fell again and again, and each time he +rose it was with an added sense of weakness. He kept calling to Peter, +but the roar of the lake on the one hand and the answering roar of the +pines on the other drowned his voice. He was almost exhausted when he +stumbled over a dark object half buried in snow in the middle of the +road. He staggered to his feet and turned his lantern upon it. It was +Peter, lain down in a drunken stupor to die of cold. + +"Peter! Peter!" Angus McRae tried to speak his name, but his benumbed +lips refused to make an articulate sound. He dropped the lantern +beside him and tried to raise the prostrate figure. As he did so he +felt the light of the lantern grow dim. It faded away, and the Good +Samaritan and the man who had fallen among thieves lay side by side in +the snow. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +"THE MASTER WHISPERED" + +When Roderick stepped on board the night train for Montreal he was +surprised and pleased to find Doctor Archie Blair bustling into the +opposite compartment. That delightful person, with a suit-case, a pile +of medical journals, a copy of Burns, and a new book of poems, had left +Algonquin the day before, and was now setting out on a tremendous +journey all the way to Halifax, to attend a great medical congress. He +welcomed his young fellow-townsman hilariously, pulled him into his +seat, jammed him into a corner, and scowling fiercely, with his fists +brandished in the young man's face and his eyes flashing, he spent an +hour demonstrating to Roderick that he had just discovered a young +Canadian singer of the spirit if not the power of his great Scottish +bard. The other occupants of the sleeping-car watched the violent big +man with the terrible eye, nervously expecting him every moment to +spring upon his young victim and throttle him. But to those who were +within earshot, the sternest thing he said was, + + "_Then gently scan thy brother man, + Still gentler sister woman, + Though they may gang a keenin' wrang, + To step aside is human._" + + +The charm of the doctor's conversation, drove away much of Roderick's +homesickness and despondency, but it could not make him forget the pain +in his arm, which was hourly growing more insistent. + +"And so you're leaving Algonquin for good," said Archie Blair at last, +when the black porter sent them to the smoker while he made up their +berths. "Well, there's a great future ahead of you in that firm. Not +many young fellows have such a chance as that. I wish Ed could have +gone away before you left, though, to Jericho, or Sodom and Gomorrah, +or wherever it is he and J. P. Thornton are heading for." + +Archie Blair, as every one in Algonquin knew, lived as near to the +rules of life set forth in the Bible as any man in the town. But he +delighted in being known as a wicked and irreligious person, and always +made a fine pretence at being at sea when speaking of anything +Scriptural. + +"Yes, sir, it's rather hard on old Ed; and there's J. P. too. He's +been waiting for Ed ever since the Holy Land was discovered, as +faithfully as Ruth waited for Jacob or whoever it was. I can't +remember when those two chaps weren't planning to take that trip, and +it looks as if they'd get to the New Jerusalem first. Cracky, now, I +believe you were the one that stopped their first trip and here you're +interrupting another one!" He laughed delightedly. + +"I?" inquired Roderick. "How was that?" + +"Oh, Ed wouldn't say so. He'd be sure it was the hand of Providence. +It was the time you went off hunting the rainbow and got lost, don't +you remember? and your father got sick on the head of it. Ed stayed +home that time." + +"But it was Jock McPherson who came to poor father's rescue that time," +said Roderick. "Lawyer Ed told me himself." + +Doctor Blair made a grimace. + +"Roderick McRae," he said, after a moment, "I have a fatal weakness. I +suppose it's the poet in me. I like to think it is. I'm forever +pouring out the thoughts of my inmost heart which I really ought to +keep to myself. That was the way with Bobby ye mind: + + '_Is there a whim-inspired fool + Owre fast for thought, owe hot for rule._' + +And here I've been telling tales I should keep tae ma'sel!" + +"Well, you've got to finish, now that you've started," cried Roderick. +"Do you mean to tell me that Lawyer Ed--" + +"No, I don't mean to tell you anything, but I've done it, and I might +as well make a full confession. Of course it was Lawyer Ed did it. He +always does things like that, he's got them scattered all over the +country." + +"But--why didn't I know?" cried Roderick sharply. "And what did he do?" + +"Because he didn't want it. I'm the only person in Algonquin that +knows, except J. P., of course. J. P. knows the innermost thoughts +that pass through Ed's mind. There's another secret between us three." +He smiled half-sadly. "I suppose, though, your father knows this +one--that Ed was to have married J. P.'s only sister. She was tall and +willowy and just like a flower, and she died a week before the wedding +day. They buried her in her white satin wedding dress with her veil +and orange blossoms." Archie Blair's voice had sunk to a tender +whisper. "I saw her in her coffin, with a white lily in her hand." + +He was silent so long that Roderick brought him back to the starting +point. "But you haven't told me yet how he helped Father." + +So Archie Blair began at the beginning and told him all, happily +unconscious of how he was harrowing Roderick's feelings in the telling. +It was the old story of his father's mortgage, his own hunt for the +rainbow, which, the doctor declared, argued that he should have been a +poet, his father's illness, and Lawyer Ed's postponement of his trip, +and greatest of all, his setting aside of the chance to leave Algonquin +as partner with his old chum, William Graham, now millionaire. + +"Your father sort of brought Ed up, you know, Rod, made him walk the +straight and narrow way as he has done with many a man. I want to take +my hat off every time I see that father of yours." He saw the distress +in Roderick's face and was rather disconcerted. "Your father paid him +every cent with interest, of course, Lad, you know that," he added +hurriedly. "But there are some things can't be paid in money. Well, +well--where did I start? Oh, at Jerusalem, and I've wandered from Dan +to Beersheba and haven't got anywhere yet. Well, that was how Ed got +started on the habit of staying home from the Holy Land, and he doesn't +seem to be able to get out of it. You know it's a good thing. I'm +always sorry Wordsworth ever went to Yarrow. It's a hundred times +better to keep your dream-country a dream. + + '_Be Yarrow stream unseen, unknown! + It must, or we shall rue it._' + +And if he ever goes, it'll never be what he thinks. His dreams of +Galilee and the Rose of Sharon and Mount Carmel will vanish when he +sees the poor reality. You see, in his Palestine, the Lord is always +there." He dropped his voice-- + + "_'And in those little lanes of Nazareth + Each morn His holy feet would come and go.'_" + + +Roderick was not listening. He sat with downcast eyes and burning +cheek. Lawyer Ed had done all this for his father, for him,--and this +was his reward! The man had given up his chance in life for his father +and then the son had come and done this abominable thing. Surely the +gleam of the rainbow-gold was beginning to mock him already. And yet, +as he sat there, overcome with humiliation, his mind was busy arranging +swift compromises, as it had always done. He would pay Lawyer Ed, oh, +five fold, and send him away for a year's travel. And yet when all his +generous schemes had been exhausted, he knew they were not what Lawyer +Ed wanted. It was the love and devotion of his friend's son he +preferred above all worldly gain. + +He came to a knowledge of his surroundings, called back by a sudden +exclamation from the doctor. + +"I believe you're sick, Rod! You look like an advanced and violent +case of sea-sickness." + +Roderick became conscious that his arm was paining him severely and +said so. He could have said quite truthfully that the pain in his +heart was quite as bad. + +"That old arm," cried Archie Blair in distress. "I tell you, Lad, +you've got to have that thing looked after. Here, get to bed and I'll +have a look at it when you're undressed." + +He came into Roderick's berth later and with rough kindness handled the +swollen, aching limb. "I always told you something would come of +this," he grumbled. "And like everybody, you won't listen till it's +too late. There's some serious trouble there, Rod, or I'm very badly +mistaken. Now, look here, you promise me on your word and honour +you'll go straight to a doctor when you get to Montreal--to Doctor +Nicholls. Here, I'll give you his address. Now, will you promise to +go to-morrow morning, or must I stop off and miss my train to Halifax +to see you do it?" + +Roderick promised and lay down in his berth, but not to sleep. The +pain in his arm was severe enough to keep him awake, but it was no +worse than his heartache. It was a tender heart, not yet calloused by +constant pursuit of selfish aims. That state would certainly be +arrived at, on the road he was travelling, but he was still young and +his very soul was longing to go back to his father and Lawyer Ed. +Again and again he tried to comfort himself with the promise that he +would make up to them for all they had done, oh, many times over, and +in the end, they would both realise that the course he had pursued was +for the best. + +As he made this firm resolution, for the tenth time, the train drew up +at a little station in the woods. Roderick looked out at the steam +hissing from beneath his window and the dim light in the little +station. He recognised it as the junction, where a branch line ran +from the main road, across the country, through forest and by lake +shore, straight to Algonquin. The home train was approaching now. He +could hear its rumbling wheels and its clanging bell far down the +curving track, and the next moment, with a flare of light upon the +snow, it came tearing up out of the forest and roared into the little +station. Its brilliant windows flashed past his dazzled eyes. It +stopped with a great exhaled breath of relief and stood panting and +puffing after its long run. Roderick knew that if he chose he could +slip out, leap on that train and go speeding away up through the forest +and be in Algonquin before morning. He felt for a moment an almost +irresistible impulse to do it, to fling away everything and go back. +But he would look like a fool, and the people would laugh at him, and +quite rightly. He could not go back now. + +There was a gentle movement, and slowly and smoothly he began to glide +past those home-going lights. In a moment more he was speeding +eastward into the white night. + +When he reached Montreal he went immediately to the hotel. He was to +meet Mr. Graham and the head of the firm there that evening, when +everything regarding his immediate duties was to be settled. He +registered, and found a room awaiting him, a luxurious room, finer than +any he could afford. It was the beginning of his new life. He went +down to breakfast, but could eat nothing, for the pain in his arm. He +was not at all averse to obeying Dr. Blair's injunction, and as soon as +he went back to his room, he telephoned the doctor whose address he had +been given. He felt a strange dizziness and, fearing to go out, he +asked if the doctor would call. When Roderick gave the name of the +firm he represented, there was an immediate rise in the temperature at +the other end of the telephone. Evidently the young lady in charge of +Doctor Nicholls's office knew her business. All uncertainty as to the +physician's movements immediately vanished. + +Doctor Nicholls would call in the course of half an hour if convenient +to Mr. McRae, he was just about to visit the Bellevue House in any case. + +Roderick felt again the advantages of his new position. The sensation +of power was very pleasant, but it could not keep his arm from aching. +The pain grew steadily worse, until at last he lay on the bed waiting +impatiently. + +In a short time there came a tap on the door. Thinking it was the +doctor, Roderick sprang up relieved. But it was only the boy in +buttons with a telegram. He signed the paper indifferently. Even the +most urgent business of Elliot & Kent could not arouse his interest, he +was feeling so sick and miserable and down-hearted. He opened the +yellow paper slowly, and then sprang up with a cry that made the boy +stop in the hall and listen. Roderick stood in the middle of the room +reading the terse message again and again: + +"Father ill. Come at once." E. L. Brians. + +He leaped to the telephone, then dropped the receiver at the sight of a +railway guide he had left upon the table. The first train he could +take for home left at fifteen minutes past three in the afternoon. And +it was not yet ten o'clock! He sat down on the bed, a dread fear +possessing his soul. Wild surmises rushed through his mind. What +could have happened? It was not twenty-four hours since he had seen +his father standing in the doorway waving him farewell, the sunlight on +his face and that gallant, anguished attempt at a smile! Roderick +groaned aloud as he remembered. He took up the telegram again, +striving to extract from its cruelly brief words some inkling of what +had preceded it, some hope for the future. + +A second tap at the door sent him to open it with a bound. Before him +stood a professional looking man, well-dressed and well-groomed, with a +small leather bag. + +"Are you my patient?" he asked briskly. + +"Patient?" Roderick stared at him stupidly. + +"Yes; Mr. McRae, I believe? I am Doctor Nicholls." + +"Oh," said Roderick. "I had forgotten all about it. Yes, come in." +He stepped back and the physician eyed him curiously. He looked +desperately ill, sure enough. + +Roderick answered briefly and absently all the doctor's questions. +Beside this awful thing which threatened him, his arm seemed so +trivial, that he was impatient at the attention he was compelled to +give it. Evidently the physician was of another opinion as to its +importance. His face was imperturbable, but after a careful +examination he said very gravely: + +"You'll have to have this attended to immediately, Mr. McRae. +Immediately. It's a case, if my judgment is correct, that has been +delayed much too long already. Could you come to the hospital--this +morning?"' + +"I have to leave here on the three-fifteen this afternoon," said +Roderick. "I have just received a telegram that my father is very +ill--I can't have anything done to-day." + +"Ah, quite sad indeed. Not serious I hope?" + +"I don't know," said Roderick dully. + +"I must urge you especially to come to-day. We have Dr. Berger here, +from New York. He is going to the congress at Halifax. You have heard +of him, of course. He is coming to see some patients of mine this +morning, and I should like him to see you too. Indeed, I feel I must +urge you, Mr. McRae. You are trifling with your health, perhaps your +life," he went on, puzzled by Roderick's indifference. "It is +imperative that something be done at once. How about coming with me +now? It leaves plenty of time for your train." + +Roderick considered a moment. He could not meet Mr. Graham now in any +case. He must leave a message for him that he had been called back to +Algonquin and telegraph home for more specific news. That was all he +could do until train time, so he decided he might as well obey the +doctor. + +When he had despatched a telegram and written a message for Mr. Graham +he followed the doctor to his car. The professional man seemed eagerly +delighted, as though Roderick were merely a wonderful new specimen he +had found and upon which he intended to experiment. He chattered away +happily on the way to the hospital. + +"Yes, Berger will be very much interested. Yours is really a rare +case, from a medical standpoint, Mr. McRae. Quite unique. You said +you believed it was injured when you were only six years old?" + +He seemed almost pleased, but Roderick did not care. The pain in his +arm and that fiercer pain raging in his heart made him indifferent. +"My father! My father!" he was repeating to himself in anguished +inquiry. What had happened to his father? Perhaps he was dying, while +his son lingered far away from him. And what an age he had to wait for +that train, and what another age to wait till it crawled back to +Algonquin! He remembered with wonder the strange wild impulse he had +had the night before to leap across into the home-bound train and go +back. He speculated upon what might have happened, until his brain +reeled. And when would he get another telegram? And why had not +Lawyer Ed told him more? He asked himself these futile questions over +and over in wild impatience. The fever of the night before had +returned, his head was hot, and ached as if it would burst. + +He obeyed the doctor's orders mechanically. His mind was focussed on +the time for the train to leave and in the interval he did not care +what they did with him. So he let himself be put into a bare little +white room, heavy with the smell of disinfectants, while a nurse in a +blue uniform and a young house surgeon in white and a silent footed +orderly moved about him. + +The nurse's blue dress reminded him of another blue gown, one for which +he used to watch at the office window on summer mornings. He followed +it with his eyes, as the great surgeon took him in hand and examined +and questioned him. He answered mechanically, his parched lips +uttering things with which his fevered brain seemed to have no interest. + +He listened in a detached way, as though the doctor were speaking of +some one else as, with many technical terms, he diagnosed the case. +Doctor Nicholls was there, and two young house surgeons, all eagerly +listening, but the patient's mind was away in the old farm house on the +shore of Lake Algonquin desperately seeking relief from its suspense. + +He scarcely noticed when they left the room, but he came to himself +completely when they returned, and Dr. Nicholls announced to him +briskly and almost joyfully that Dr. Berger's ultimatum was an +immediate operation. + +"No, you won't," said the patient with sudden vigour. "I have to leave +this afternoon for home on the three-fifteen." + +The great man looked down at him. "Young man," he said quietly, and +there was a still strength in his manner that carried conviction, "you +will do as you please of course, but if you don't take my advice and +have that limb attended to immediately, you'll go to your long home, +and not much later than 3.15 either. Yours is a most critical case. +If you refuse you are committing suicide. Now, Doctor Nicholls, I have +just half-an-hour to see your other patients." + +He walked out of the room. And Roderick sat up in the bed and stared +after them stupefied. A young house-surgeon, who had been regarding +the patient with eyes holding more than professional interest, came to +his side. He tried to speak cheerfully. + +"It's a most unusual thing to operate in such a hurry, but it's better +for a patient, I think. It's all over quickly you know, and no long +weary waiting." + +"But my father!" cried Roderick. "My father is critically ill. I've +got to go home! I've got to, I tell you! I can have this +done--later--at home." + +The fever flush deepened to a hot crimson. He got to his feet, then +staggered back, dizzy with pain. The young physician laid him on the +bed. "Look here, now, you mustn't get worked up like that, Roderick," +he said. + +Roderick looked up at him. The young man had come into the room with +Dr. Berger, but not till this moment had he noticed him. He stared, +and a light, brighter even than the fever had brought, leaped into his +eyes. + +"Wells!" he cried. "Is it Dick Wells?" + +"Dick Wells, it is," said the other, smiling, pleased that he had +created such a complete diversion. He took the patient's left hand and +shook it with a cordiality that was not returned. + +"I haven't seen you since old 'Varsity days, Rod. And 'pon my word I +didn't know you for a minute. We'll see you through this all right; +don't worry." + +Roderick was staring at him in a disconcerting way. + +"Where have you been since you graduated?" he asked. + +That harsh unsmiling manner was not at all like the Roderick McRae he +had known in college, but the young man laid the change to his fevered +condition. + +"Here, in Montreal. Next year I hope to go to Europe." He made a sign +to the nurse who entered, and quietly began preparing the arm for its +operation. Roderick did not pay any attention to even her blue uniform +this time, his eyes were fixed with a fierce intentness upon the young +doctor's face. Wells had always been known as a very handsome fellow, +but his appearance had not improved; he had grown stouter and coarser. +He was still good-looking, however, and his manner had the old easy +kindness Roderick remembered. He was just going to ask him another +abrupt question, when the young doctor slipped his finger over the +patient's pulse, and began talking quietly and soothingly. + +"And you went back to your old home town, didn't you? Let me see--" +his casual air did not deceive his alert listener--"Algonquin's your +home, isn't it?" + +"Yes." + +"You've been practising law there, haven't you?" He took out his watch +and looked at it. + +"Yes,--in Algonquin." + +A smile passed over the young physician's face, as of pleasant +reminiscence. "Algonquin," he repeated--"pretty name. You don't +happen to know--er--a Miss Murray there, do you? A teacher." + +"Yes," said Roderick, "I've met her," and held his breath for the next +words. + +"I've met her too--several times." He laughed, glancing at Roderick in +a shamefaced manner. "I think when you go home, if you'll take me, +I'll go along as travelling physician. I'd like most awfully well to +see that town of yours." + +Roderick involuntarily jerked his wrist from the other's grasp. Had he +not done so, the doctor would have been amazed at the leap of the +already bounding pulse. + +"I thought--rumour had it at college--that your affections were in +process of transition when you graduated." Roderick looked straight at +him. It was impossible to keep from his voice something of the +bitterness rising in his heart. He was risking his own secret. But he +felt he must know. + +Dick Wells' eyes dropped to his watch again. He was silent for a +moment. The nurse left the room and he immediately spoke in a low tone. + +"It a fellow plays the fool once in life," he said, "that's no reason +why he should take it up as a steady profession. I've dropped it for +good and all. And if you behave yourself and have this operation right +away I'll come and take Christmas dinner--no, that's holiday time--I'll +come and prescribe for you shortly after New Year's!" He laughed +joyfully. "I hope you'll welcome me," he said, half-shyly. "For I've +reason to believe I'm going to be welcomed in other quarters." + +"Dr. Wells, you are wanted in the corridor," said the nurse, returning. + +He left the room, and Roderick lay back and stared at the ceiling. He +caught the word amputation, and he knew they were talking about his +arm. They were going to cut it off, then. The knowledge did not seem +to add anything to the overwhelming weight which had fallen upon him, +and was crushing him. The whole structure of his life was tumbling +about him, and he lay caught helpless in its fall. His new position +was gone, for well he knew the company could not wait--indeed, would +not wait--for so insignificant a servant as he. His father--perhaps +his father was gone. And now the rosy hope that had steadily and +surely arisen in his heart, since the day he had seen Helen Murray on +board the _Inverness_, until it had lighted up his whole life, had +suddenly vanished in darkness. His fighting spirit rose against these +odds. He shoved the deft hands of the nurse aside and sat up. + +"I'm going home," he said hoarsely. Then the nurse, and the little +white table by the bedside with the bottles on it, and the white +uniformed man standing outside the doorway, swung up to the ceiling and +became an indistinct blur. He recovered almost immediately. The nurse +slipped a little thermometer under his tongue, and put a cool finger on +his pulse. + +"I must go home," mumbled Roderick. "Where's Dr. Wells?" + +"Dr. Wells is wanted in the operating room," she said soothingly. "You +will be glad to know he is going to assist. I understand you are old +friends." She looked at him anxiously. He was in the worst possible +condition mentally for an operation. + +"If you'd just brace up, you know," she said encouragingly. "If you +would get hold of yourself." She had prepared many a patient for the +operating table, and had seen few so exercised as this one. "You must +be courageous," she said. "The operation may not be serious. And it +will be over soon." + +Roderick looked at her uncomprehendingly. He cared not at all for the +operation itself, but it was the trap that had caught him, and he was +writhing to be free. + +Her next words put a new face on it. + +"If you have any message to send to your friends," she said gently, "I +should be glad to have it attended to. Have you any--property or +anything that should be settled. We hope this operation will be +simple; but if not--you should be prepared, Mr. McRae." + +"There's nothing," said Roderick. "Nothing." + +Everything in the world was slipping from him. The props of life had +given way one by one, and now perhaps life itself was going. He lay +there on the small cot-bed, watching the nurse and orderly hurry to and +fro, and looked squarely at the situation. It was desperate. Always +he had taken hold of difficulties and wrenched them out of his path and +gone proudly on his way. But here he was helpless. For the first time +in his strong, successful youth he realised that which his father had +striven all his years to teach him, man's utter impotence before God. +He was bound hand and foot, helpless, just as the door of success had +flung open at his touch. He had paddled out bravely into the open sea +of life after the rainbow gold, only to find it vanish and leave him +lost in a world of mists and shadows. He remembered Dr. Leslie's +words: "If His love cannot draw us into the way, it meets us on the +Damascus road and blinds us with its light." + +He lay there for what seemed an interminable time. He was clinging to +one faint hope. Lawyer Ed would surely answer his telegram. But the +nurse returned with the word that there had been no message, and that +the doctors were preparing. He was to go down to the operating room in +ten minutes. + +It seemed as if with that word the last feeble support gave way, and +then Roderick McRae's soul went down to the black brink of despair. He +was utterly alone, without help or friend. Everything, his success, +his health, his father, his love, had been snatched from him in one +moment. + +There was even no God for him. He had been so long dependent entirely +upon himself, that God had become a meaningless word. And now, if God +were real, His cruel Hand was behind that fearful black mist that was +closing about him shutting him off from hope. He lay like a log, +staring at the white ceiling of the little hospital room. The nurse +and the orderly were bidding him brace up and were shaking their heads +over him. He paid no more attention to them than to the strong odour +of drugs or the soft click-click of heels on the hardwood floor of the +corridor. Some subtle trick of memory had taken him back to the one +other time of despair in his experience. He was back again in that +night, years ago, when he was lost on the lake, drifting away in the +darkness to unknown terrors; and just as he had cried out that night, +his whole soul rose in one desperate demand upon his Father for help. + +"Oh, God!" he groaned, starting up, "oh, God, help me!" + +And then it happened; the great wonder. The light from his Father's +boat! The sound of his Father's voice! Just as, long ago, lost in +mists and darkness, a prey to every terror, his father's voice, calling +down the shaft of light, had caught him up from despair to the heights +of joy, so it was now. Suddenly, without reason, there fell upon the +young man's writhing soul a great calm. He lay back on his pillow, +perfectly still, his whole being held in awe of what had happened. For +there, in the common light of day, within the bare walls of the +hospital room, not visible to the human eye, but plain to the eye of +the soul, staring beyond the things that are seen for a gleam of hope, +a Presence was quietly standing. Serene, omnipotent, all-calming, the +gracious One stood, close to his side, and fear and pain fled before +Him. + +Roderick was conscious of no feeling of surprise or wonder. He felt +only a great serenity, and an absolute safety. He asked no questions, +felt no desire to ask any. There had been another young man once, who +had met this same One in a like headlong career, planned by his own +strong right hand, and he had cried out in fear, "Who art thou, Lord?" +But Roderick knew just as well as he had known his father's voice that +night coming out of the mists and darkness. His Eternal Father was at +his side. That was all he knew now. It was all he cared to know. He +lay there in perfect peace and, close to his side, silent and strong, +stood the Presence. + +The orderly pushed up the little wheeled conveyance to the bedside, the +nurse took his wrist in her hand again. She beamed happily. "Good for +you," she said, as she placed her hand upon his forehead. "Why, you're +splendid. You've got your nerve all right," and she stared in +amazement when Roderick smiled at her. He did not answer, though, he +was listening to something. All the old promises he had learned at his +father's knee and that had meant nothing to him for so long, were +flooding over his peaceful soul, coming serenely and softly from the +Presence standing by his pillow. + +"When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee and through +the rivers they shall not overflow thee; when thou walkest through the +fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon +thee... Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the +arrow that flieth by day, nor for the pestilence that walketh in +darkness." + +"Now, sir," said the orderly, "we'll just move you onto this truck." +But Roderick rose up strongly. "Why can't I walk down?" he asked. The +nurse stared and again felt the patient's pulse for some explanation of +this transformation. The quiet steady beat in the wrist was the +strangest part of it all. + +"Well," she cried admiringly, "I never saw anything like you. You're +perfectly able to walk; but you'd better save your strength. Just lie +down on this. You'll be all over your operation in no time!" Roderick +obeyed, and the orderly wheeled him away to the elevator; and along the +bare hospital corridor moved with him that strong Presence. And he +went with a perfect faith and as little fear as if he had been going +along the Pine Road to his home. What did it matter as to the result, +or what did it matter that his father back in Algonquin did not know? +He and his father were safe, upheld by the everlasting arms. It was +well, no matter what the outcome. When he reached the operating room +the Presence was there, just as real as the muffled doctors standing +ready to do their work, and when he was stretched upon the table taking +the anaesthetic, he felt as peaceful as on that night when he sank +asleep in his father's arms and was borne safely homeward. + +It seemed that the next moment he awoke in the room he had so recently +left. Dr. Nicholls was at his side. "A normal pulse," he said, +smiling into Rod's enquiring face. "You're a wonder. What do you +think of that, nurse?" + +"I expected that," she said, smiling. + +"You've behaved so well," continued the doctor, "that I believe you're +able to receive two pieces of good news." + +"My father," whispered Roderick. The doctor nodded happily. "A +telegram came half-an-hour ago. It reads, 'Out of danger, no need to +come, will write. E. Brians.'" Roderick felt the tears slipping over +his cheek. The nurse wiped them away. He was remembering it all now. +The Presence had been with his father too. + +"You haven't asked about my other news," said the doctor. + +Roderick looked at him enquiringly. He was thinking of Helen, and had +forgotten all about the operation. + +"Berger saved your arm. And it will be as fit as ever in a few months. +It was the most delicate kind of operation, and one of the finest he +ever did. I shall tell you more about it later, you must be quiet now. +But I must give you Dr. Berger's message. He had to leave for Halifax, +but he said he wished he could congratulate you on your nerve. I don't +know what you did to get hold of yourself in such a hurry, but you +saved your own life. Now, I've told you enough. You must neither +speak nor be spoken to until I see you again." + +He smiled again, radiant with the true scientist's joy over such a +triumph of skill as Roderick's arm presented, and left the room. + +And Roderick, who knew so much more about it all than mere science +could ever teach, closed his eyes and lay still, his whole soul raising +to its new-found God one inarticulate note of thanksgiving. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +"FOLLOW THE GLEAM" + +It was the first trip of the season and the _Inverness_ was crowded +from stem to stern. The picnic was given by the Sons of Scotland, so +every Presbyterian in the town was there. But there were many more, +for Lawyer Ed had gone out into the highways and byways of other +denominations and nationalities and had compelled Methodists and +Anglicans and Baptists and folk of every creed to come over to the +Island and hear the bagpipes and see Archie Blair toss the caber. + +"Your father's got to come, Rod," he said, the evening before the +picnic. "So don't you dare show your nose here without him to-morrow." + +But Old Angus laughingly refused his son's pleading. "Tuts, tuts," he +said reprovingly, "it's the foolish boy that Edward is. He is younger +than you, Lad. Indeed I'll not be going, and I think you should jist +stay at home yourself, my son. The night air will be damp and you will +not be jist too strong yet." + +Roderick laughed. "Father, you will soon be as bad as Aunt Kirsty. I +do believe she is bitterly disappointed that I didn't remain an invalid +for a year, so that she might coddle me. I wouldn't miss this picnic +for all Algonquin. It will be my first festivity since I was sick, and +I want you to be in it." + +The old man looked up into his son's face, his eyes shining. This new +Roderick who had come back to him, maimed and weakened, right from the +very gates of death was even more to him than the old Roderick. Not +that his love had grown, nor his faith, that was impossible. But while +he had always had high hopes that the Lad would one day fulfil all his +fondest dreams, now he saw those dreams being fulfilled right before +his eyes. There was a strong sentinel on the Jericho Road now, and the +Good Samaritan could scarcely bear to part with him even for a day. + +But he shook his head happily. No, no; Peter was coming over in the +morning to look at the north field, and they would just row out as far +as Wanda Island and hear the pipes, when the _Inverness_ went past, and +they would come back and stay at home with Aunt Kirsty like a pair of +sensible old bodies. + +Roderick managed to catch Lawyer Ed in the office for a few moments in +the morning and reported his failure. His chief called him many hard +names, as he rushed out to catch a passer-by and make him come to the +picnic, and Roderick locked the office door and went down to the wharf. +There lay the _Inverness_, her gunwale sinking to the water's edge +under her joyous freight, banners flying from every place a banner +could be flown, and the band, and Harry Lauder's piper brother making +the town and the lake and the woods beyond ring with music. + +Immediately after Roderick's disappointing message had been delivered, +Lawyer Ed rushed down Main Street and spied Afternoon Tea Willie +driving the Baldwin girls down town to buy some almond cream to take to +the picnic, in case of sunburn. And in his usual high-handed way, he +had hailed them, sent the girls home on foot, and the young man +spinning out to the McRae farm with stern commands not to dare return +without Old Angus. + +So when Roderick was standing on the wharf talking to Dr. Archie Blair, +all resplendent in his kilt he was amazed to see coming down Main +Street, the smartest buggy in the town, and in it Alf. Wilbur, driving +his father, and more amazing still, by his side sat old Peter, with his +fiddle in a case across his knee. They drew up at the edge of the +wharf with a splendid flourish, and Afternoon Tea Willie with his +innate good manners, sprang out to help the two old men alight with as +great deference as if they had been a couple of charming young ladies +just come to town. + +Roderick sprang forward and caught his father's hand as he stepped out, +laughing in sheer delight. His eyes were misty with deep feeling. In +the first quick glance he had turned upon the faces of the two old men, +smiling in a half-ashamed, half-pleased way, like a couple of boys +caught running away from school; Roderick had been struck with their +strange resemblance. His father's refined face and his white hair had +once made an absolute contrast to poor Old Peter's bloated countenance, +but with the last half-year, Old Peter's face and form had been +undergoing a change. Not since that terrible winter night when he had +almost caused the death of his best friend had he fallen. It had been +a hard fight sometimes, but the great victory won by the temperance +folk on New Year's Day had been a victory for Peter. On the first of +May the bar-rooms of Algonquin had closed. And now Peter walked the +streets unafraid. And with his new courage and hope, his manhood had +returned and he was slowly and surely growing like the man whose +life-long devotion had brought him salvation. + +Doctor Blair saw them and came swinging up to make the old men welcome. +Then Doctor Leslie sighted them and came forward in delighted +amazement, and Captain Jimmie spied them from the wheel house and +called out joyfully, "Hoots, toots, Angus! And is that you, Peter +Lad?" And the Ancient Mariner left off smoking, and, pouring out a +stream of Gaelic above the roar of the pipes, came right out on the +wharf to make sure his eyes had not deceived him. + +Roderick guided the two to seats up on the deck near to the captain's +pilot house, finding the way thither a veritable triumphal procession. + +The crowds were still coming down Main Street; nervous mothers with +babies bouncing wildly in their little buggies, embarrassed fathers +with great sagging baskets and hysterical children with their newly +starched attire already wildly rumpled. + +Roderick scanned each new group eagerly, wondering if Helen Murray +would come. He had seen little of her since his return. A long +illness following the critical operation had kept him at home, and when +at last he was able to go out again and take up his work he found that +gossip had it that Miss Murray, the pretty girl who taught in the East +Ward school had had a young man to visit her. Miss Annabel had been +quite excited over him, for he was very handsome and was a successful +surgeon, and Miss Armstrong had pronounced him a splendid match for any +girl. Roderick had been spared a visit from Dick Wells, and had +wondered that the young man had not kept his promise. He had longed +and yet dreaded to see him. He had been able to learn nothing about +the visit except what gossip said, and to-day he was full of hope and +fear, as he watched. His fears were stronger, but he was young and he +could not keep from hoping. + +The _Inverness_, as every one in Algonquin knew, gave ample warning of +her leave-taking. At exactly half-an-hour before the hour set for +sailing, she always blew one long blast from her whistle. At fifteen +minutes to the hour she blew two shorter toots, and just on the eve of +departure three blasts loud and sharp. This final warning, which +Doctor Blair had profanely named the last trump, had been sounded, and +Roderick began to look anxious for she had not yet appeared nor Mrs. +Adams either. But he had gone sailing on picnics via the _Inverness_ +too many times to be seriously alarmed. The door of the little +wheel-house where the captain had now taken his stand, commanded a view +of Main Street rising up from the water, and no native of Algonquin +could do him the injustice to suppose that he would sail away while any +one was waving to him from the hill. + +A half dozen women were signalling him now, and the captain blew a +reassuring blast. And then round the corner from Elm Street, moving +leisurely, came a stout swaying figure, with floating draperies. +Children clung to her hands, children hung by her skirts, children ran +after her and children danced before her. And long before she reached +the water's edge could be heard her admonitions, "Now, you, Johnnie +Pickett, don't you dare to walk down there in the dirt. Maddie Willis, +just you tie that hat on your head again, you'll get a sunstroke, you +know you will. Jimmie Hurd, you leave that poor little dog alone--" + +Roderick looked eagerly beyond the lady, and there she was, at the rear +of the procession, bringing up the stragglers. She was wearing a dress +of that dull blue he liked to see her wear, the blue that was just a +shade paler than her eyes, and she wore a big white shady hat. As she +came nearer he could see she was laughing at Johnnie Pickett's wicked +antics. Her face had lost all its old sadness. Roderick's heart was +filled with a great foreboding. Had Dick Wells' visit brought that new +colour to her cheek and the sparkle to her eyes? He wanted to go down +and help her and her flock on board, for Gladys Hurd and Mrs. Perkins +and Eddie and the baby were with her, and a half-dozen little folk were +asking each a half-dozen questions of her at one moment. But he stood +back shyly watching her from a distance, as Dr. Blair and Harry Lauder +and the rest of the Highland Club helped them on board, the Piper +meanwhile circling around Madame much to her disgust. + +When they were all on board and the _Inverness_ had again given the +three short shrieks which announced she was really and truly starting, +Roderick suddenly realised that Lawyer Ed was not on board. Now a +Scotchman's picnic without Lawyer Ed was an absurd and unthinkable +thing, beside which Hamlet without the Prince of Denmark would have +seemed perfectly reasonable and natural. He ran to the captain, but +there were several ahead of him with the dire news. For the +_Inverness_ had no sooner begun to move from the wharf than the awful +truth had dawned upon a dozen folk at once. They had rushed from three +directions and attacked the captain and Young Peter and the Ancient +Mariner and demanded of them what they meant by such outrageous +conduct. Very much abashed by her mistake the _Inverness_ came surging +back, the captain taking refuge in the Gaelic to express his dismay. +They were just in time, for there he was tearing down the street in his +buggy, Miss Annabel Armstrong and Mrs. Captain Willoughby squeezed in +beside him and the horse going at such a breakneck pace that the dust +and stones flew up on every side and there was danger that they would +drive right into the lake. They stopped just on the brink. Lawyer Ed +leaped out, flung the lines to a lounger on the dock bidding him take +the horse back to the stable, helped the ladies alight, and had rushed +them on board before the gang-plank could be put in place. The crowd +cheered, and he waved his hat and shouted with laughter, over the +narrow escape; but the ladies looked a little ruffled. They had not +intended to come to the picnic; the day of private launches and +motor-cars was dawning over Algonquin, and these public picnics were +not in favour among the best people, therefore Mrs. Captain Willoughby +had felt that she did not care to go, and the Misses Armstrong had felt +they did not dare to go. But Lawyer Ed did not approve of social +distinctions of any sort whatever, and he was determined that the best +people should come out and have a good time like the worst. So he had +gone right into the enemy's camp and carried off two of the leaders +captive, and here they were half-laughing and half-annoyed and +explaining carefully to their friends how they had not had the +slightest intention of coming in such a mixed crowd but that dreadful +man just made them. + +Once more the _Inverness_ gave her last agonised shriek, the captain +shouted to the Ancient Mariner to get away there, for what was he doing +whatever, and with a great deal of fussing and steaming and whistling +the voyage was again commenced. The band gave place to the Piper, and +he marched out to the tune of "The Cock o' the North," looking exactly +like a great giant humming-bird, his plumage flashing in the sunlight, +as he went buzzing around the deck. Harry Lauder and the doctor and +two or three others of the frivolous young folk in the kilts went away +off to where the minister could not see them and danced a Highland +reel. The people who did not quite approve of public picnics gathered +in a group by themselves, Miss Annabel Armstrong and Mrs. Captain +Willoughby in the centre, and told each other all the latest news about +Toronto, and yawned and wished they could have a game of whist, but Dr. +Leslie would be sure to see them. The tired mothers who seldom went +beyond their garden gate, handed over their children to Mrs. +Doasyouwouldbedoneby, and settled themselves contentedly in a circle to +have a good old-fashioned visit. Up in the bow, a group of the older +men surrounded Dr. Leslie. Old Angus McRae was so seldom seen at any +festivity that his presence had made the picnic an event to his old +friends. Again and again Dr. Leslie placed his hand on the old man's +knee and said, "Well, well, Angus, it's a treat to see you here." And +Peter Fiddle, the outcast and drunkard, sat in the group and listened +eagerly to their talk like a man who had been long away and was eager +to hear again the speech of his native land. And indeed poor Peter had +been for many years in a far country, and his return had opened up a +new life to him. Roderick sat behind his father's chair and listened +as they talked and wondered to hear Peter take his part with a fine +intelligence. He looked at his father and thought of all the weary +years he had toiled for Peter, and he was filled with a great gratitude +that this was the sort of splendid work to which he had been called. +He would take his father's place on the Jericho Road. It might be a +highway here in Algonquin, the future was all unquestioned, but +wherever it was the Vision would stand by him as He had stood in that +hour of despair. And how glorious to think he might pick up a Peter +from the dirt and help to restore him to his manhood. + +J. P. Thornton had led the conversation to theological subjects. J. P. +read along many lines, and it was whispered that he had queer ideas +about the Bible. + +Lawyer Ed had been balancing himself on the railing of the deck +listening for some time but it was impossible that he could stay in the +one place long when the whole boat was crowded with his intimate +friends. So when J. P. intimated that modern criticism pointed to two +Isaiahs and Jock McPherson strongly objected to the second one, Lawyer +Ed yawned, and telling them he would be back in an instant, he wandered +away. + +"Come awa, ma braw John Hielanman," he whispered to Roderick. "This is +a heavy subject for a pair of young fellows like you and me on a picnic +day, come along and see what Archie Blair's up to. I'll bet my new +bonnet and plume he's dancing the Highland fling in some obscure +corner." + +Roderick went most willingly. He knew Lawyer Ed would go straight to +Madame, and where Madame was, there would she be also. + +Afternoon Tea Willie who had finally come on board with a dozen young +ladies, was running here and there at their beck and call in desperate +haste. Lawyer Ed paused to chat with the girls, for he could never +pass even one, and Roderick turned to Alfred and thanked him for the +service to his father. + +"Oh, that's nothing at all!" cried the young man. "You did me a favour +lots of times, Rod. When I had no one else to talk to and tell my +trouble!" He smiled at the remembrance of them. His cheek was flushed +and his eyes were glowing. He looked as though he possessed some great +secret. He came close and began to speak hesitatingly and Roderick +knew he was going to be the recipient of more confidences. "Say, Rod, +do you see that young lady over there beside Anna Baldwin?" Roderick +looked and saw the latest arrival in Algonquin, a very handsome and +well-dressed young lady who was visiting the Misses Baldwin. "Yes," +said Roderick in a very callous manner, "I see her." He drew Roderick +away a little distance from the group and whispered: + +"Well--I--this is in strict confidence, you know, Roderick; I would not +confide in any one but you, you know. But--well--that is she!" + +"She? who?" asked Roderick. + +Alfred looked pained. "Why the only she in all the world for me. Her +name is Eveline Allan. Did you ever hear anything more musical? She +came here just last week to visit the Baldwin girls, and they asked me +to go to the station to meet her with them, and the moment I set eyes +on her I just knew she was the only one in the world for me. I have +sometimes imagined myself to be in love, but it was all imagination. I +never really knew before." + +Roderick found it impossible to conceal a smile. + +"Oh, I know what you are thinking about, you are wondering if I have +forgotten Miss Murray. But I have lived that down long ago. It was +madness for me to think of one who was in love with another man." + +Roderick looked at him so eloquently that he went on. + +"I never really cared for her, in that way, anyway. I realise that +now, and now that the man she was engaged to has come back--" + +"What?" asked Roderick sharply. + +"The man she was engaged to. Don't you remember my telling you about +him? Why, they have made up again. He was here to see her last winter +and he was in Toronto to see her in the Easter holidays when she was +down there. I was very glad that it has all turned out so, for I found +out my mistake as soon as I set eyes on Eveline. I know I ought not to +call her that yet, and I don't to her of course. Don't you think she +has wonderful eyes? I always felt that dark eyes are much more +expressive than blue or even hazel ones, don't you? Oh, there is Anna +calling me. Excuse me, I must run." + +He flew back to the group, and Roderick was left to digest what he had +told him. Unfortunately Alfred had a reputation for finding out things +and he had no reason to doubt his assertion. He slowly followed Lawyer +Ed about. They made their way down the length of the deck, his chief +shaking hands with every one, and at last away in the stern under a +shady awning he saw her. She was seated with Madame on one side, +little Mrs. Perkins on the other, Gladys Hurd and Eddie at her feet, +the Perkins' baby on her knee and a crowd of children about her. There +was no hope of having a word with her even had he the courage to go +forward and speak to her. + +The children were sitting open mouthed, staring up into the face of +Mrs. Doasyouwouldbedoneby, while in low thrilling tones she was telling +how the dreadful big giant came slowly up the stairs, every step +creaking under him, and the lovely Princess behind the door just +squeezed herself into a teenty weenty crack and held her breath till he +got past. + +Lawyer Ed burst into the story with a roar, and every one leaped and +shrieked as if the giant himself had sprung into their midst. He +caught two of the youngsters and bumped their heads together, he chased +a shrieking half dozen to a refuge behind a pile of life-preservers, he +tossed a couple up in the air and pretended he was going to fling them +overboard, and finally he took out a great package from his pocket and +sent a shower of pink "gum-drops" raining down over the deck, and the +whole boat was turned into a mad and joyful riot! + +Roderick lingered about for a few minutes until Miss Murray nodded and +smiled to him across a surging sea of little heads, then he wandered +down below to where the Ancient Mariner was seated spinning yarns to a +crowd of young people. + +"Indeed and I could tell you many as good a one as that," he was saying +in response to the sighs of amazement. "I haff a great head for the +tales. If I would jist be hafing the grammar I would challenge anybody +to beat me at them. Take Scott now. He had the grammar. That's what +makes folk think his stories are so great. But if I had just had his +chance! You get an eddication, you young people. There's nothing like +the grammar indeed!" + +Roderick leaned over the little pit of the engine room and talked with +Young Peter. The dull eyes were shining. This was a great day for +Peter. + +"Did you see him?" he whispered to Roderick. "Did you see my father? +driving down with your father? Jist like any gentleman! Eh, but it +was mighty." + +"Yes, it's splendid to see them together at last, Pete," said Roderick +sympathetically. And then he had to listen again to the tale Young +Peter never tired telling, how Rod's father had saved his father that +stormy night on the Jericho Road. How Lawyer Ed could not sleep +because Roderick had left him, and how he had driven out to the farm in +the night to comfort Angus and had found the two on the road nearly +frozen! Young Peter had an attentive listener, for Roderick could not +tire of hearing the wonderful story. + +They had passed through the Gates, and the news went around that the +Island was near. It was a beautiful big stretch of green with a +sloping shingly beach at one end, and a high range of white cliffs at +the other, which J. P. Thornton said made him homesick, for they always +reminded him of England. + +There were many islands in Lake Algonquin; nevertheless when you said +The Island every one knew you meant that big, lovely, grassy place away +out beyond the Gates, swept by the cool breezes of Lake Simcoe where +Algonquin always went for her picnics. + +When the cry went forth that the Island was at hand every one ran to +the railing and leaned over to watch the _Inverness_ slip in between +the big stone breakwater and the dock which stretched out to meet them. +Captain Jimmie from his wheel-house called to them, threateningly and +beseechingly, commanding every one to go back or she'd be going over +whatever. As usual no one heeded him and so the accident happened. +Perhaps it was the lure of the Piper, now skirling madly from the bow, +with flying ribbons, that distracted the captain, as well as the +disobedience of the passengers; whatever was the reason, the +_Inverness_, generally so stately and staid, suddenly gave a lurch, and +went crash into the wharf as though she intended to ride right over the +Island. Of course in a tourney with the _Inverness_, there could be +only one result. The wharf heaved up and went over like an unhorsed +knight accompanied by a terrible creaking and ripping and groaning as +of armour being rent asunder. Disaster always stripped Captain Jimmie +of his nautical cloak and left him the true landsman. He dashed out of +his little house and leaning over the railing shouted to the Ancient +Mariner: "Sandy, ye gomeril! Back her up, back up, man, she's goin' +over!" + +There were shouts and shrieks from the passengers even above the din of +the Piper who played gallantly on. The crowd rushed to the side to see +what had happened, and there might have been a real catastrophe had not +Lawyer Ed taken command. While the captain and the Ancient Mariner +were fiercely arguing the question of whose fault it was, he dashed +into the crowd and bade every one in a voice of thunder to go back to +his or her seats and be quiet. Lawyer Ed was a terrifying sight when +he was angry, and he was promptly obeyed. The excited crowd scattered, +the children were collected, the alarm subsided and they all waited +laughingly to see what was to be done. + +Meantime Dr. Blair and Harry Lauder had launched a canoe that was on +board and were paddling round the wharf to investigate. + +"I'm afraid it's hopeless, Jimmie!" shouted the doctor. For the floor +of the landing place had almost assumed the perpendicular. "Nobody +could land here that wasn't a chipmunk!" + +This was disconcerting news and a wail arose from Madame's flock. + +"Haud yer whist!" roared Lawyer Ed. "We'll get to land somehow, if I +have to swim to shore with you all on my back. Hi!" he gave a shout +that made the beech woods on the Island ring. + +"Hi! Archie, mon! You and Harry paddle over and bring that scow! +We'll load her and go ashore like Robinson Crusoes!" + +A big scow or float, used as a rest for row boats and canoes lay near +the end of the dock moored to the shore. A couple of agile young men +leaped upon the upturned wharf, and making their way on all fours along +it, they reached the scow in time to assist the doctor and Harry Lauder +to bring it to the side of the boat. Meanwhile Lawyer Ed stood up on +the deck and roared out superfluous orders in a broad Scottish dialect +that was rather overdone. + +The rescuing vessel was received with cheers and the gang-plank was put +in place. + +"Women and children first!" cried Ed heroically, but Madame, in the +centre of her flock called out an indignant refusal. + +"No, indeed, the children are not going first. You, Johnnie Pickett +and Jimmie Hurd, you come right back off that thing, do you hear me? +You go along yourself some of you Scotchmen, and see if it will hold, +and then I'll bring my babies. You're in your bathing suits anyway," +she added cruelly, for Mrs. Doasyouwouldbedoneby was not a Scotchwoman, +and did not know how to appreciate the kilts. + +So the Piper marched out upon the scow, playing magnificently; some +dozen young men followed him and with poles pushed themselves ashore. +Then, amid cheers a couple of volunteers came back for another load +from the wrecked vessel. When several trips had been made successfully +and Madame and the children had been safely landed, Alfred Wilbur came +forward and offered to pole a crowd over. Of course the crowd +consisted of young ladies with the Baldwin girls and their pretty guest +as the centre piece. + +Alfred placed himself upon the scow, pole in hand and with many gallant +remarks from Lawyer Ed the young ladies were handed on board. One by +one they tripped out over the gang-plank, laughing gaily, their muslins +and ribbons, their sashes and bracelets, their pink cheeks and bright +eyes transforming the old scow into a floating garden. No wonder +Alfred became excited over captaining such a fair cargo. In his +nervous zeal he encouraged more than his sailing capacity would admit, +and when the scow was almost crowded he saw to his dismay that the +Baldwin girls and their guest had not yet come on board. He had +pictured himself, pole in hand, shoving off before all the picnickers +with Miss Allan clinging to his arm, and he began to grow anxious lest +she be carried off in one of the row boats now come to the rescue. + +"Move over further, won't you, girls, please," he called to his +laughing, chattering crew. "I mean move a little aft won't you, +please. I beg your pardon for troubling you, Belle! Alice! If you +and Flossie--Come, Anna. Come, Louise! Anna, bring Miss Allan; +there's acres of room yet." + +Thus encouraged, another group tripped over the gang-plank and at the +same moment, those already on board, anxious to oblige Alf, who was +always obliging them, crowded over to the farther side. But so much +weight suddenly placed on one end of the scow brought dire disaster. +Without a moment's warning, down went the heavy end three feet into the +water, half submerging its shrieking passengers, and up came the light +end with the unfortunate pilot perched upon it like Hiawatha's +Adjidaumo, on the end of his Cheemaun! + +Fortunately the water was not deep, and in a moment a dozen young men +had plunged in and righted the capsized craft. But there were shrieks +from all sides and threats of fainting, and dreadful anathemas heaped +upon the innocent cause of the disaster, as the bedraggled young +ladies, lately so trim, crawled back to the _Inverness_. + +The catastrophe could not possibly have happened to any one whom it +would distress more than Alf. He stood in speechless dismay watching +the dripping procession pass. And when the pretty guest of the Baldwin +girls splashed past him with a look which would have been withering had +she not been so drenched, his despair was complete. He looked for a +few moments as if he were about to throw himself into the lake, then he +flung down his pole, and crept away aft to hide his diminished head +behind a pile of life-preservers. Roderick captured a row-boat, and +placed his father and Old Peter and a couple of their friends in it, +and with the huge basket Aunt Kirsty had packed for them he rowed to +shore. + +When they landed, the old men seated themselves on a grassy mound under +a big elm, and the basket was snatched from Roderick's hand and whirled +away to the commissariat department in a big pavilion near at hand. + +In a short time the long white tables were set beneath the trees with a +musical tinkling of cups; there was a table for the Sons themselves and +their friends, a table for the commoner folk and, farther up the shore, +here and there, little groups of friends gathered by themselves. There +was Madame seated on the ground away off at the edge of the beech +grove, like the queen of the fairies holding court. The fairies were +all there, too, seated in a wide circle, too busy to talk, as the +sandwiches and cake and pie disappeared. Roderick had not once lost +sight of Helen. She was there too, with Mrs. Perkins and Gladys. But +he had to turn his back on the pretty group and join his father at the +table spread for the Sons of Scotland. Dr. Leslie stood up at the head +of it, his white hair ruffled by the lake breeze, and asked a blessing +on the feast. And when the Scotchmen had put on their bonnets again +and were seated the Piper tuned up once more and swept around the +tables playing a fine strathspey. Lawyer Ed had a seat near the head +of the table but he was too happy to sit still and kept it only at +intervals. He ran up and down the tables, darted away to this group +and that, taking a bite here and a drink there, until Dr. Blair +declared that Ed had eaten seven different and separate meals by the +time the tables were cleared away. + +He stopped at a little group seated around a white table cloth laid +upon the grass, to inquire if they would like some more hot water. + +"No," said Mrs. Captain Willoughby, whose party it was. "We've plenty. +We've been in hot water, in fact, ever since we started. Annabel and I +are having a dispute we want settled. Come here, Edward, I'm sure you +can decide." + +"It's perfect nonsense," broke in Miss Annabel. "Leslie is no more +likely to marry him than you are, Margaret!" + +"Marry whom?" asked Lawyer Ed eagerly, "Me?" + +Miss Annabel screamed and said he was perfectly dreadful, but Mrs. +Willoughby broke in. + +"No, not you, you conceited thing, but your partner. I thought Leslie +claimed him as her property. She practically told the Baldwin girls +she intended to marry Roderick McRae. And now she's left him and gone +off to be a nurse." + +Miss Annabel's fair face flushed hotly. "How utterly preposterous. +Why, if you lived at Rosemount you'd know whom Mr. McRae would be +likely to marry. As for Leslie, she never cared any more for him than +you did. You know how she loves fun. She was just enjoying herself. +I admit that she might have found a better way of putting in the time, +but it was only a girl's nonsense. I was just dreadful that way myself +when I was Leslie's age, a few years ago." + +"Indeed you were, Annabel," cried Lawyer Ed, scenting danger and wisely +steering to a safer subject, "You were a dreadful flirt. Many a heart +you broke and I am afraid you haven't reformed either." + +This put the lady into a good humour at once. She laughed gaily, +confessing that she was really awfully giddy she knew, but she could +not help it. And Mrs. Captain Willoughby, who never encouraged Miss +Annabel in her youthfulness, said very dryly that she supposed they had +all been silly when they were girls but she believed there was a time +for everything. + +Lawyer Ed saw conversational rocks ahead once more and piloted around +them. "What is this I hear about Leslie?" he asked. "Is she going to +be a nurse?" + +"Oh, dear," groaned Miss Annabel. "That girl will break her mother's +heart, and all our hearts. Just think of Leslie who never did a thing +harder than put up her own hair going to be a nurse. It is perfectly +absurd, but she has gone and Elizabeth will just have to let her go on +until experience teaches her better." + +"I think it's the most sensible thing she ever did," declared Mrs. +Willoughby, "and you shouldn't discourage her. She'll make a fine wife +for that boy of yours, Edward." + +Lawyer Ed shook his head. He had had his own shrewd suspicions +regarding Roderick for some time and Miss Annabel's hint had set him +thinking. + +"I've been such a conspicuous failure in any attempt to get a wife of +my own," he said in the deepest melancholy, "that I wouldn't presume to +prescribe for any other man." And he hastened back to his own table. + +It was a great day. The Scotchmen ran races, and tossed the caber and +walked the greasy pole across from the capsized dock to the +_Inverness_. The Piper played, and the band played, and everybody ate +all the ice cream and popcorn and drank all the lemonade possible. + +At exactly seven o'clock the _Inverness_ gave a terrible roar. This +was to warn every one that going home time had arrived. Mrs. +Doasyouwouldbedoneby began collecting the fairies for the difficult +task of getting them on the scow and thence to the _Inverness_. All +day Lawyer Ed had been keeping an eye on Roderick and had no difficulty +in confirming his suspicion that the Lad was unhappy, and he +immediately conceived of a plan to help him. He called a half-dozen +young men together and just as Madame was ready to walk across the +Island to the scow, Lawyer Ed came rowing round the bend with a fleet +of boats to carry them all down to the _Inverness_. Then such a joyful +scrambling and climbing as there was, while Mrs. Doasyouwouldbedoneby +got her water-babies afloat. Lawyer Ed had seen to it that Roderick +was in charge of the one canoe, and as a row-boat in the eyes of +Algonquin youths, was a thing to be despised, all the older +water-babies screamed with joy at the sight of him, and as soon as he +had run it up on the sand they swarmed into it filling it to +overflowing. + +This was likely to ruin all Lawyer Ed's fine plan and he charged down +upon them with a terrible roar and chased them all to the shelter of +Madame's skirts. + +"Get away back there, you young rascals!" he shouted. "You ought to +know better than to try a load like that, Rod, you simpleton. Two +passengers at the most are all you want with that arm of yours!" He +glanced about him. Helen Murray was standing near with the Perkins +baby in her arms, while the little mother, free from all care for the +first time in many hard years, was wandering happily about with her +hands full of wild roses. + +"Here, Miss Murray," he cried, "you jump in. You are just the right +weight for this maimed pilot. 'Ere, William 'Enry, you come to me!" +But William Henry, now a sturdy little fellow of a-year-and-a-half, +tightened his arms around his friend's neck and yelled his disapproval +right valiantly. + +"Well, now, will yer look at that!" cried the little mother proudly. +"Wot'll Daddy say w'en I tell 'im? The little rascal's so took with +the young loidy. 'Ush up there now, bless 'is 'eart. See, 'e'll go +with mammy." She dropped her roses into Gladys's hands, and held out +her arms, and the fickle young gentleman, let go his grip on his +friend, and leaped upon his mother, crowing and squealing with delight. +Helen waved him farewell as she stepped into the canoe, and the baby +waved her a fat square paw in return. Gladys and Eddie were about to +follow her, when the Lawyer Ed again interposed. + +"No, you mustn't take a load, Rod, this is your first paddle, so get +away with you. Now you kids, hop into this boat and you'll be there +just as soon as Miss Murray!" he roared. Roderick pushed off afraid to +look at his chief lest the overwhelming gratitude he felt might be seen +in his face. + +Lawyer Ed turned and watched them for a moment. They made a fine +picture as they glided up the curving shore under the drooping birches +and alders. Roderick kneeling in the stern, straight and strong, with +no sign now of the illness he had been through, and the girl in the +bow, her blue gown and her uncovered golden head making a bit of +colouring perfectly harmonious with the sparkling waves and the sunlit +sands. + +But Lawyer Ed's gaze was fixed on Roderick. The joy in the Lad's eyes, +answered in his own. Lawyer Ed's joys were all of the vicarious sort. +He was always happy because he made other people so, but to be able to +make Rod happy; that was his crowning joy. + +Roderick was more afraid than happy. It seemed too good to be true, +that she was here with him alone. At first he could do nothing but +look at her in silence. She was so much more beautiful than he had +thought, with that new radiance in her eyes. And then his own brief +happiness waned, as he wondered miserably if it had been brought there +by Dick Wells. + +She was the first to speak. "Are you getting quite strong again?" she +asked kindly. + +"Oh yes, I am quite myself. I feel ready for any kind of work now." + +"Then I suppose you will be going back to Montreal?" + +"No." Roderick had made that decision long ago. "No, I could not go +with the firm that engaged me--now." He was thinking how impossible +those mining deals would be in the eyes of one who had been granted a +glimpse into the unseen. Henceforth he knew there was no such work for +him. "For mine eyes hath seen the King," he often repeated to himself. + +She misunderstood him. "Oh," she said, "I thought--I was told that Mr. +Graham's lawyers wanted you, that the position had been kept for you." + +"Yes, they were very kind, but I could not. Something happened that +made it impossible for me to take up their work again. So for the +present I am a fixture in Algonquin, until Lawyer Ed grows tired of me." + +She laughed at that, for Lawyer Ed's love for Roderick was a proverb in +Algonquin. He had never heard her laugh before. The sound was very +musical. + +"You will stay a long time then," she said. "Algonquin is a good place +to live in." + +"You like it?" he asked eagerly. + +"Yes, ever so much. I shall be sorry to leave at the mid-summer +vacation." + +Roderick's heart stood still. "I--I didn't know," he faltered. "I +thought you were staying for the whole year." + +She looked up at him, and then her eyes fell. The mingled adoration +and hunger and dismay written plainly in the Lad's frank eyes were +impossible to misunderstand. She had seen that look there before many +times in the past winter. She had been afraid of it then, and she had +run away from his good-bye that snowy day when he had left Algonquin. +For then she had not wanted to see that look in the eyes of any man. +She had seen it once before and had yielded to its spell, and the +love-light had died out and left her life desolate. But since she had +last talked with Roderick McRae, she had seen those eyes again, lit +with the old love, and to her amazement she had found no answer in her +heart. She had far outgrown Dick Wells in her self-forgetful life she +had taken up in Algonquin. She had taken up the burdens of others just +to ease her own pain, promising herself that when this or that task was +finished she could turn to her own grief and nurse it. But the +self-indulgence had been so long postponed that when the opportunity +came and she had gone back to her old sorrow, behold it was gone. And +in its place sat the memory of Roderick McRae's unspoken devotion, his +chivalrous silent waiting for his opportunity. + +So when poor Roderick all unschooled in hiding his feelings let her see +in one swift glance all that her going meant to him she was speechless +before the joy of it. She stooped and trailed her fingers in the green +water, to hide her happy confusion. Then remembering she was leaving +him under a misunderstanding she glanced up at him swiftly. + +"I don't," she said breathlessly, "I didn't mean I was going away to +stay. I meant only for the summer holidays." + +The transformation of his countenance was a further revelation, had she +needed any. + +"Oh," he said, and then paused. "Oh, I'm so glad!" Very simple words +but they contained volumes. He was silent for a moment unable to say +any more, and she filled in the awkward pause nervously, scarcely +knowing what she said. + +"You were sorry too, were you not, when you went away?" + +"It was the hardest task I ever met in my life," said Roderick. "And +you didn't let me say good-bye to you." He was growing quite reckless +now to speak thus to a young lady who might be going to announce her +engagement. + +She had not gained anything by her headlong plunge into conversation so +she tried again. + +"Not even your operation?" she asked. "That was worse, wasn't it?" + +"My operation wasn't hard," said Roderick dreamily, his mind going back +to the sacred wonder of that hour. "No, I had--help." He said it +hesitatingly. It was hard to mention that event, even to her. He had +spoken of it to no living person but his father. + +"Indeed, I heard about how brave you were," she said. "I was told that +there was never any one with such self-control." + +Roderick looked at her in alarm. "Who told you?" he asked abruptly. +She looked straight across at him and her eyes were very steady, though +her colour rose. "Doctor Wells told me. He assisted, didn't he?" + +Roderick's eyes fell. He tried to answer but he sat before her dumb +and dismayed. She saw his confusion, and rightly guessed the cause. +Her nature was too simple and direct to pretend, she wanted to tell him +the truth and she did not know how. + +"Doctor Wells was here last winter," she faltered, as a beginning, then +could get no further. Roderick made a desperate effort to regain +control of himself, and spoke with an attempt at nonchalance. + +"Yes, he told me he was coming. He promised to come and see me too, +but he didn't." + +"No," she caught a twig of cedar from a branch that brushed her +fragrantly as she passed. Her fingers trembled as she held it to her +lips. "He--he told you he was coming?" she asked. + +"Yes," said poor Roderick briefly. + +"Then--then, perhaps he told you why?" She was examining the cedar +sprig carefully, and Roderick was thankful. He would not have cared +for her to see his face just then. She was going to tell him of her +renewed engagement he knew. + +"Yes, he told me," he said. She was silent for a little, looking away +over the ripples of Lake Simcoe to the green arms of the channel that +showed the way to Algonquin. + +"Would it--would you think it right to tell me what he said?" + +"He said," repeated Roderick, wishing miserably that Wells' words did +him less credit, "he said that even if a fellow played the fool once in +his life that was no reason why he should take it up as a life's +profession." He paused and then came out in the boldness of +desperation with the rest. "And he said that he was pretty sure he +would get a welcome when he came." She flushed at that, and there came +a proud sparkle into her eyes. + +She sat erect and looked Roderick straight in the eyes. "And now, +since you have told me,--and I thank you for it,--I must give you his +message. He left one for you." + +"Yes?" Roderick braced himself as for a blow. + +"Yes, he left a message for you. I did not intend to deliver it but +since he confided in you I feel I am doing no harm. He said to tell +you the reason he couldn't wait to see you was that he had played the +fool once more, and that was when he thought a woman couldn't forget." + +She dropped her eyes when she had finished. Her fine courage was gone. +She dipped one trembling hand into the water again and laid it against +her hot cheek. + +Roderick sat and looked at her for a moment uncomprehending. It took +some time to grasp all that her confession meant. When finally its +meaning dawned upon him, he drew in a great breath. + +"Oh!" he said in a wondering whisper. "I never was so happy in my +life!" It was not a very eloquent speech, it did not seem at all +relevant, but she seemed to understand. She glanced up for an instant +with a shy smile, and then Lawyer Ed with Mrs. Doasyouwouldbedoneby and +such a load of water-babies, that they looked as if they might sink +into their native caves, came shouting round the point, and bore down +upon them. + +The sun was sinking into the island maze of Lake Algonquin and the moon +was coming up out of Lake Simcoe when the _Inverness_ sailed homeward +through the Gates. The little breeze that had danced all day out on +the larger lake had gone to sleep here in the shelter of the islands, +and Algonquin lay as still as a golden mirror. A faint shimmer of +colour was spread over it like a shining veil. It was scarcely +discernible where the crystal water lay motionless, but as the +_Inverness_ sailed across the delicate web it broke into waves of amber +and lilac and rose. The little islands did not seem to touch the water +but floated in the air like dream-islands, deep purple and bronze in +the shadows. From their depths arose vesper songs. Bob White's silver +whistle, clear and sweet, the White throat's long call of "Canada, +Canada, Canada," as though the little patriot could never tell all his +love and joy in his beautiful home, the loon's eery laugh far away down +the golden channel, and the whippoorwill and the cat-bird and the veery +in the tree-tops. It was a wonderful night. + +As the sunset colours grew fainter, and the moon's silver brightened, +the passengers became quieter. The Piper went below and listened to +the Ancient Mariner spin a yarn, and let the birds along the shore +furnish music. The babies fell asleep in the arms of Mrs. +Doasyouwouldbedoneby, lovers drifted away in pairs to retired nooks. +In a quiet corner J. P. Thornton and Lawyer Ed sat and laid once more +their final plans for a trip to the Holy Land, certain this time of +their realisation. The older people sat by the wheel house and talked +of their younger days. Roderick left his father the centre of the +group, and went in search of Helen. He found her sitting in a +sheltered nook with Gladys. The Perkins baby had fallen asleep in her +arms, and as Roderick approached the younger girl lifted the baby to +carry him to his mother. He slipped into her seat by Helen's side. +She smiled at him. It seemed quite natural and right that he should +take that place without asking permission. + +They leaned over the railing, the brightness of the sunset reflected in +their faces and talked of many things, of the first time he had seen +her here on the _Inverness_, of his hopes and ambitions for a career of +greatness, as he had counted greatness, of his chasing the shifting +rainbow gold, until a Voice had said "Thus far shalt thou go." He even +hinted at the Vision that had come to him when he went down into the +Valley named of the Shadow, and of how he knew now the value of that +real gold at the end of life's rainbow. And she told him how she too +had found her rainbow gold. Its gleam had led her through storms and +lonely journeyings, but she had followed, and she had found it at last, +found it in the new light of hope that had awakened in many dull eyes +in Willow Lane. + +They were silent then, there was no more to be said. For the story of +each had been the story of the journey that ended in their meeting. +Henceforth, for them, there would be one gleam, and they would follow +it together. + +They had been slipping past the shadow of Wanda Island and now came out +once more into the gold of the sunlight. Algonquin lay before them +buried in purpling woods. Away above the little town, beyond the +circling forest, and beyond the hills shone the last gleam of the day. +The _Inverness_ was going straight up the track of the Sun. + + + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The End of the Rainbow, by Marian Keith + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE END OF THE RAINBOW *** + +***** This file should be named 28276.txt or 28276.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/8/2/7/28276/ + +Produced by Al Haines + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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