diff options
Diffstat (limited to '28446-h')
| -rw-r--r-- | 28446-h/28446-h.htm | 8882 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 28446-h/images/cover.jpg | bin | 0 -> 23879 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 28446-h/images/frontis.jpg | bin | 0 -> 20957 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 28446-h/images/illus1.jpg | bin | 0 -> 21589 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 28446-h/images/illus2.jpg | bin | 0 -> 19040 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 28446-h/images/illus3.jpg | bin | 0 -> 21470 bytes |
6 files changed, 8882 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/28446-h/28446-h.htm b/28446-h/28446-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e37839a --- /dev/null +++ b/28446-h/28446-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,8882 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" /> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of Uncle Terry, by Charles Clark Munn. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> +<!-- + p { margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; + } + hr { width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; + } + + table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;} + + body{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + + .pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: smaller; + text-align: right; + } /* page numbers */ + + .linenum {position: absolute; top: auto; left: 4%;} /* poetry number */ + .blockquot{margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 10%;} + .sidenote {width: 20%; padding-bottom: .5em; padding-top: .5em; + padding-left: .5em; padding-right: .5em; margin-left: 1em; + float: right; clear: right; margin-top: 1em; + font-size: smaller; color: black; background: #eeeeee; border: dashed 1px;} + + .bb {border-bottom: solid 2px;} + .bl {border-left: solid 2px;} + .bt {border-top: solid 2px;} + .br {border-right: solid 2px;} + .bbox {border: solid 2px;} + + .center {text-align: center;} + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + .u {text-decoration: underline;} + + .caption {font-weight: bold;} + + .figcenter {margin: auto; text-align: center;} + + .figleft {float: left; clear: left; margin-left: 0; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: + 1em; margin-right: 1em; padding: 0; text-align: center;} + + .figright {float: right; clear: right; margin-left: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; + margin-top: 1em; margin-right: 0; padding: 0; text-align: center;} + + .footnotes {border: dashed 1px;} + .footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} + .footnote .label {position: absolute; right: 84%; text-align: right;} + .fnanchor {vertical-align: super; font-size: .8em; text-decoration: none;} + + .poem {margin-left:10%; margin-right:10%; text-align: left;} + .poem br {display: none;} + .poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} + .poem span.i0 {display: block; margin-left: 0em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i2 {display: block; margin-left: 2em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i4 {display: block; margin-left: 4em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i28 {display: block; margin-left: 28em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i29 {display: block; margin-left: 29em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} +--> + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Uncle Terry, by Charles Clark Munn + +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: Uncle Terry + A Story of the Maine Coast + +Author: Charles Clark Munn + +Release Date: March 30, 2009 [EBook #28446] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK UNCLE TERRY *** + + + + +Produced by David Garcia, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/cover.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + + +<h1>UNCLE TERRY</h1> + +<h3>A Story of the Maine Coast</h3> + +<h2>BY CHARLES CLARK MUNN</h2> + +<h3>Author of "Pocket Island"</h3> + +<h3><i>ILLUSTRATED BY HELENA HIGGINBOTHAM</i></h3> + + +<h3>BOSTON<br /> +LEE AND SHEPARD<br /> +M C M</h3> + +<h3><span class="smcap">Copyright, 1900, by Lee and Shepard</span></h3> + +<h3><i>All rights reserved</i></h3> + +<h3>Rockwell and Churchill Press</h3> + +<h3>BOSTON, U.S.A.</h3> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + + +<h3>To<br /> +THOSE WHO LOVE TO WANDER OVER GREEN MEADOWS,<br /> +ALONG MIRTHFUL BROOKS,<br /> +OR BENEATH FOREST TREES WHERE THE BIRDS<br /> +DWELL, OR FIND CONTENT ON LONELY<br /> +SHORES AND MUSIC IN THE<br /> +OCEAN'S VOICE,<br /> +This book is respectfully dedicated<br /> +BY THE AUTHOR</h3> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="frontis" id="frontis"></a> +<img src="images/frontis.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<h3><span class="smcap">The Home of Uncle Terry</span></h3> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> + +<!-- Autogenerated TOC. Modify or delete as required. --> +<p> +<a href="#CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I. <span class="smcap">A Waif of the Sea</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II. <span class="smcap">Uncle Terry</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III. <span class="smcap">Two Orphans</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV. <span class="smcap">A Spider in His Den</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V. <span class="smcap">Ways that are Dark</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI. <span class="smcap">A Push Downward</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII. <span class="smcap">A Sermon</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER VIII. <span class="smcap">A Helping Hand</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER IX. <span class="smcap">Sharp Practice</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_X">CHAPTER X. <span class="smcap">Amid the Green Mountains</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XI">CHAPTER XI. <span class="smcap">By the Fireside</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XII">CHAPTER XII. <span class="smcap">A Country Schoolma'am</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">CHAPTER XIII. <span class="smcap">Southport Island</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">CHAPTER XIV. <span class="smcap">A Legalized Pickpocket</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XV">CHAPTER XV. <span class="smcap">The Value of Good Example</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XVI">CHAPTER XVI. <span class="smcap">Sweet Alice</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XVII">CHAPTER XVII. <span class="smcap">A By-way Schoolhouse</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XVIII">CHAPTER XVIII. <span class="smcap">Village Gossip</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XIX">CHAPTER XIX. <span class="smcap">Plots and Plans</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XX">CHAPTER XX. <span class="smcap">A Pair of Blue Eyes</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XXI">CHAPTER XXI. <span class="smcap">A New Client</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XXII">CHAPTER XXII. <span class="smcap">Uncle Terry's Guest</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XXIII">CHAPTER XXIII. <span class="smcap">A Strange Story</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XXIV">CHAPTER XXIV. <span class="smcap">A Whisper of the Ocean</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XXV">CHAPTER XXV. <span class="smcap">The "Gypsy" Returns</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XXVI">CHAPTER XXVI. <span class="smcap">The Miser in His Den</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XXVII">CHAPTER XXVII. <span class="smcap">In Shady Woods</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XXVIII">CHAPTER XXVIII. <span class="smcap">Where the Lilies Grow</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XXIX">CHAPTER XXIX. <span class="smcap">A Friend at Court</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XXX">CHAPTER XXX. <span class="smcap">Nemesis</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XXXI">CHAPTER XXXI. <span class="smcap">The Glad Hand</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XXXII">CHAPTER XXXII. <span class="smcap">The Demnition Grind</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XXXIII">CHAPTER XXXIII. <span class="smcap">Old and Young</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XXXIV">CHAPTER XXXIV. <span class="smcap">Firelight Flashes</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XXXV">CHAPTER XXXV. <span class="smcap">The "Widder" Leach</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XXXVI">CHAPTER XXXVI. <span class="smcap">A Nameless Cove</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XXXVII">CHAPTER XXXVII. <span class="smcap">Amid Falling Leaves</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XXXVIII">CHAPTER XXXVIII. <span class="smcap">The Old Songs</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XXXIX">CHAPTER XXXIX. <span class="smcap">Society</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XL">CHAPTER XL. <span class="smcap">"Yes or No"</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XLI">CHAPTER XLI. <span class="smcap">An Heiress</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XLII">CHAPTER XLII. <span class="smcap">The Pathos of Life</span></a><br /> +</p> +<!-- End Autogenerated TOC. --> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>List of Illustrations</h2> + +<p><a href="#frontis"><span class="smcap">The Home of Uncle Terry</span></a></p> + +<p><a href="#illus1"><span class="smcap">Uncle Terry and Telly</span></a></p> + +<p><a href="#illus2"><span class="smcap">Alice</span></a></p> + +<p><a href="#illus3"><span class="smcap">The Old Mill</span></a></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>UNCLE TERRY</h2> + +<h3>A STORY OF THE MAINE COAST</h3> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I</h2> + +<h3>A WAIF OF THE SEA</h3> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p>"It's goin' to be a nasty night," said Uncle Terry, coming in from the +shed and dumping an armful of wood in the box behind the kitchen stove, +"an' the combers is just a-humpin' over White Hoss Ledge, an' the +spray's flyin' half way up the lighthouse."</p> + +<p>"The Lord-a-massy help any poor soul that goes ashore to-night," +responded a portly, white-haired woman beside the stove, as a monster +wave made the little dwelling tremble.</p> + +<p>Uncle Terry took off his dripping sou'wester and coat, and, hanging them +over the wood box, went to the sink and began pumping a basin of water.</p> + +<p>"Better have some warm, Silas," said the woman, taking the steaming +kettle from the stove and following him; "it's more comfortin'."</p> + +<p>When he had washed, and combed his scanty gray locks and beard at a +small mirror, he stood for a moment beside the stove. His weather-beaten +face that evinced character, so pronounced were its features, wore a +smile, and his deep-set gray eyes emitted a twinkle.</p> + +<p>"Supper 'most ready, Lissy?" he asked, eyeing a pot on the stove that +gave out an appetizing odor. "I'm hungry 'nough to eat a mule with the +harness on!"</p> + +<p>"'Twill be in a minit," was the reply. "Better go into t'other room +where Telly's settin' the table."</p> + +<p>Uncle Terry obeyed, and, finding a bright fire burning there, stood back +to it, smiling affectionately at a young girl busy beside the table. She +had an oval face, a rather thin and delicate nose, small sweet mouth, +and eyes that were big, blue, and appealing. A wealth of light hair was +coiled on the back of her head, and her form was full and rounded.</p> + +<p>"It's blowing hard to-night, father, isn't it?" she observed. "I can +feel the waves shake the house." Then, not waiting for an answer, she +stepped to a closet, and bringing a short gray coat and felt slippers, +pushed an arm-chair to the fire, and placing the slippers beside it, +held the coat ready for him to put it on.</p> + +<p>"You might as well be comfortable," she added; "you haven't got to go +out again, have you?"</p> + +<p>The man seated himself, and drawing off his wet boots and putting on his +slippers, opened his hands toward the blaze and observed: "You and +Lissy's bound to cosset me, so bimeby I won't stir out 'cept the sun +shines."</p> + +<p>Silas Terry, or Uncle Terry, as everybody on Southport Island called +him, was, and for thirty years had been, the keeper of "The Cape" light, +situated on the outermost point of the island. To this he added the +daily duty of mail carrier to the head of the island, eight miles +distant, and there connecting with a small steamer plying between the +Maine coast islands and a shore port. He also, in common with other of +the islanders, tilled a little land and kept a few traps set for +lobsters. He was an honest, kind-hearted, and fairly well-read man, +whose odd sayings and quaint phrases were proverbial. With his wife, +whom everybody called Aunt Lissy, and adopted daughter Telly, he lived +in a neat white house close to the Cape light and, as he put it, "his +latch-string was allus out."</p> + +<p>Uncle Terry had a history, and not the least interesting episode in it +was the entrance into his life of this same fair and blue-eyed girl. +Perhaps his own graphic description will best tell the tale:</p> + +<p>"It was 'bout the last o' March, nigh onto eighteen year ago, and +durin' one o' the worst blows I ever rec'clect since I kep' the light, +that one mornin' I spied a vessel hard an' fast on White Hoss Ledge, +'bout half a mile off the pint. It had been snowin' some an' froze on +the windows o' the light, so mebbe she didn't see it 'fore she fetched +up all standin'. The seas was poundin' her like great guns, an' in her +riggin' I could see the poor devils half hid in snow an' ice. Thar +wa'n't no hope for 'em, for no dory could 'a' lived a moment in that +awful gale, and thar wa'n't no lifeboat here. Lissy an' me made haste to +build a fire on the pint, to show the poor critturs we had feelin' for +'em, an' then we just stood an' waited an' watched for 'em to go down. +It might 'a' been an hour, there's no tellin', when I saw a big bundle +tossin' light, an' comin' ashore. I ran over to the cove where I keep my +boats, and grabbed a piece o' rope an' boat hook, and made ready. The +Lord must 'a' steered that bundle, for it kept workin' along, headin' +for a bit o' beach just by the pint. I had a rope round my waist, an' +Lissy held onto the end, an' when the bundle struck I made fast with the +boat hook and the next comber tumbled me end over, bundle an' all, up +onto the sand. I grabbed at it, an' 'fore the next one come, had it high +an' dry out o' the way.</p> + +<p>"It's allus been a puzzle to me just why I did it, for I was wet +through an' most froze, an' what I'd pulled out looked like a feather +bed tied round with a cord, but I out with my knife an' cut the cords, +an' thar in the middle o' two feather beds was a box, an' in the box a +baby alive an' squallin'!</p> + +<p>"I didn't stop to take the rope off my waist, but grabbed the box an' +ran for the house with Lissy after me. We had a fire in the stove, an' +Lissy warmed a blanket and wrapped the poor thing up an' held it over +the stove an' kissed it and took on just as wimmin will. When I see it +was safe I cut for the pint, thinkin' to wave my hat an' show 'em we had +saved the baby, but a squall o' snow had struck in an' when it let up +the vessel was gone. Thar was bits o' wreck cum ashore, pieces o' spars, +a boat all stove in, an' the like, an' a wooden shoe. In the box the +baby was in was two little blankets, an', tied in a bit o' cloth, two +rings an' a locket with two picters in it, an' a paper was pinned to the +baby's clothes with furrin writin' on it. It said the baby's name was +Etelka Peterson, an' 'To God I commend my child,' an' signed, 'A +despairin' mother.' From bits o' the wreck we learned the vessel was +from Stockholm, an' named 'Peterson.'</p> + +<p>"The paper was sech a heart-techin' appeal, an' as we'd just buried our +only child, a six-year-old gal, we was glad to adopt this 'un an' bring +her up. In due course o' time I made a report o' the wreck to the +Lighthouse Board, an' that we had saved one life, a gal baby, an' give +all the facts. Nothin' ever came on't, though, an' we was glad thar +didn't. We kep' the little gal, an' she wa'n't long in growin' into our +feelin's, an' the older she growed, the more we thought o' her."</p> + +<p>Of course the history of Uncle Terry's protegée was known to every +resident of the island, and as she grew into girlhood and attended +school at the Cape—as the little village a quarter mile back of the +point was called—until she matured into a young lady, every one came to +feel that, in a way, she belonged to the kindly lighthouse keeper and +his wife Melissa.</p> + +<p>To them she was all that a devoted daughter could be, and when school +days were over she became Uncle Terry's almost constant companion. On +pleasant days she went with him to attend his traps, and on his daily +drive to the head of the island. She was welcome in every house and well +beloved by all those simple, kindly people, who felt an unusual interest +in her existence. Of tender heart and timid nature, her appealing eyes +won the love of young and old. On Sunday evenings she was always one of +the small congregation that gathered to hold simple services in the +little church at the Cape—a square one-story building that never knew +paint or shutters.</p> + + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="illus1" id="illus1"></a> +<img src="images/illus1.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<h3><span class="smcap">Uncle Terry and Telly</span></h3> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + + +<p>Of beaux she hardly knew the meaning, and it must be said the few young +men who remained on the island after reaching the age of courtship were +neither in garb nor manners such as would attract a girl like Telly.</p> + +<p>One special talent she was gifted with and that the ability to draw and +paint well. Even as a child at school she would draw pictures on a slate +that were surprising, and when older, and she obtained materials, she +worked until she became, in a way, quite an artist. As Uncle Terry put +it, "Makin' picters comes nat'rl to the gal."</p> + +<p>She had never received even the first lessons in that charming art, but +for all that every room in the house had dozens of her efforts, large +and small, hanging on the walls, and in the oddest frames. Some were of +strips of thin board covered with little shells or dried moss, and +others of rustic handiwork and mounted with fir cones.</p> + +<p>There was but one shadow in her life and that the fact that no one of +the relatives she imagined she must have in far-off Sweden ever made any +effort to learn the fate of her parents, who she knew had gone down so +near her home. The story of her rescue with all its pitiful details was +familiar to her and in her room were treasured all the odd bits of +wreckage: the locket that contained her parents' pictures; the two +rings; the last message of her mother; and even the wooden shoe that had +floated ashore. How many times she had looked at those two pictured +faces, one a reflection of her own, how many tears she had shed in +secret over them, and how, year after year, she wondered if ever in her +life some relative would be known to her, no one, not even her +foster-parents, ever knew. Neither did they know how many times she had +tried to imagine the moment when her despairing mother, with death near, +and with prayers and tears, had cast her adrift, hoping that the one +little life most dear to that mother might be saved. The fatal reef +where those parents had gone down also held for her a weird fascination, +and at times the voice of the ocean seemed like the despairing cries of +mortals. One picture, and it was her best, was a view of the wreck, as +near as Uncle Terry could describe it, with human forms clinging to the +ice-clad rigging and tempestuous seas leaping over them. The subject +held an uncanny influence over her, and she had spent months on the +picture. But this shadow of her life she kept carefully guarded from +all.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II</h2> + +<h3>UNCLE TERRY</h3> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p>"I wa'n't consulted 'bout comin' into this world," said Uncle Terry +once, "an' I don't 'spect to be 'bout goin' out. I was born on a wayback +farm in Connecticut, where the rocks was so thick we used ter round the +sheep up once a week an' sharpen thar noses on the grin'stun, so't they +could get 'em 'tween the stuns. I walked a mile to school winters, an' +stubbed my toes on the farm summers, till I was fourteen, an' then the +old man 'greed to give me my time till I was twenty-one if I'ud pay him +half I earned. I had a colt an' old busted wagon, an' I took to +dickerin'. I bought eggs an' honey an' pelts of all sorts, an' peddled +notions an' farmin' tools. When I cum of age I went to the city an' +turned trader an' made a little money; got married an' cum down into +Maine an' bought a gold mine. I've got it yit! That is, I've got the +hole whar I s'posed the mine was. Most o' my money went into it an' +stayed thar. Then I got a chance to tend light and ketch lobsters, an' +hev stuck to it ever since. I take some comfort livin' and try an' pass +it along. The widder Leach calls me a scoffer, but she allus comes to me +when she's needin', an' don't allus have to cum, either. My life's been +like most everybody else's—a streak o' lean an' a streak o' fat, with +lean predominatin'. 'Twas a streak o' fat when I found a good woman an' +she said 'yes,' an' a streak o' lean when I was bamboozled by a lawyer +into buyin' a gold mine. I've kep' that hole ever since an' paid taxes +on't, to prove to myself jest how big a fool a man can be an' live.</p> + +<p>"I've never wronged nobody, nor done much prayin', an' when the Almighty +calls me I think I'll stand jest as good a chance o' gittin' a harp as +those who's done more on't. The worst skinnin' I ever got was done by +this ere lawyer who never sot down to meals 'thout askin' a blessin', +an' mebbe that's the reason I'm a scoffer. I've observed a good deal +since I left the old farm, an' have come to the belief that thar's a +sucker born every minit and two ter ketch him. When I was young I took +hold o' the big end o' the log an' did the liftin'; but now I take hold +o' the little end an' do the gruntin'! Thar's one thing I've larned, and +larned it for sartin, an' that is, thar's dum few people in this world +that cut a ham in the middle. Most on 'em cut few slices an' cut 'em +thin."</p> + +<p>Among the Southport islanders Uncle Terry was considered an odd stick, +and yet one who would go out of his way to do a good turn to others. He +was seldom seen at church, though his wife and Telly usually were. As he +once remarked: "It's a good thing for 'em, 'cause it takes up thar mind +an' is more sociable, tho' prayin' allus seems to me a good deal like a +man tryin' to lift himself by his boot-straps. It keeps him busy, tho', +an' it's healthy exercise."</p> + +<p>In spite of his investment in a mine, he had been frugal and owned most +of the land between the village and the point, and was also joint owner, +with two other men, in a small trading-schooner that made semi-monthly +trips between the Cape and Boston. She carried fish, clams, lobsters, +hay, and potatoes, and fetched an "all sorts" cargo useful to the +islanders, from a paper of needles to a hogshead of molasses.</p> + +<p>The most pronounced characteristic of Uncle Terry was his unfailing good +humor, tinged with a mild sarcasm. He loved his fellow-men, and yet +enjoyed puncturing their small conceits, but so droll was his way of +doing it that no one felt the sting. To Bascom, who kept the only store, +and also post-office, at the Cape, and dearly loved to hear himself +talk, Uncle Terry once said: "You've got the greatest gift o' gab I ever +heerd, Bascom, and you could 'a' made your fortin in the show business. +But if you're ever took with religion, the hull island'll turn +infiddle."</p> + +<p>And again: when Deacon Oaks, the leader at all prayer-meetings, assured +him how great a blessing religion was, and how much he enjoyed divine +service, Uncle Terry answered: "Your takin' the lead at meetin's is a +blessin' to the rest, for none of 'em has to worry 'bout who's goin' to +speak next. They know you're allus ready."</p> + +<p>In this connection it must be stated that the spiritual life of +Southport was of a primitive description. The small unpainted church at +the Cape, above which hung a diminutive bell, was the only place of +worship, and to this, every other Sunday, came a minister from the +mainland. It was furnished with long wooden settees and a small cottage +organ graced the platform, upon which an antique desk did duty as pulpit +and a storage place for hymn books. Four wall bracket lamps lighted this +room for evening service, and their usually smoky chimneys lent a +depressing effect to all exhortation. "Mandy" Oaks presided at the organ +and turned gospel hymns into wheezy and rather long-drawn-out melodies. +Most of the audience tried to chase the tunes along and imagined they +were singing, which, perhaps, is all that is necessary. On the Sundays +between the minister's visits only evening services were held, and +every Thursday evening a prayer-meeting. It was on these latter +occasions that Deacon Oaks was in conspicuous evidence. The Widow Leach, +a poor unfortunate woman who had seen better days, and in whose poverty +stricken life religion was the only consolation, was also prominent; and +her testimony, unvarying in tenor as the tunes played by Mandy, helped +to fill out the service.</p> + +<p>"It's lucky the widow's sure o' lots o' happiness in the next world," +observed Uncle Terry once, "for she ain't gittin' much in this.</p> + +<p>"I can't hear Oaks, though, 'thout thinkin' o' Deacon Rogers up in +Wolcott, who never mentioned the need o' rain till he'd got his hay in. +He was a sly fox, and allus thanked the Lord for sendin' rain nights an' +Sundays, so the poor hired men could rest.</p> + +<p>"I used to have him held up as a shinin' example, but he opened my eyes +arter I began dickerin' by sellin' me a lot o' eggs that had been sot on +two weeks, an' the storeman I sold 'em to never trusted me agin. 'Twas a +case o' the ungodly sufferin' for the sins o' the righteous that time, +which may be a pervarsion o' Scriptur, but the truth, just the same.</p> + +<p>"But I got a little comfort finally, for when the Deacon died, by some +inadvartance the choir sang, 'Praise God from whom all blessin's flow,' +an' I wa'n't the only one who felt that way, either."</p> + +<p>In spite of Uncle Terry's mildly flavored shafts of sarcasm, he made no +enemies and his kind heart and sterling honesty were respected far and +near. He was considered a doubter and skeptic, and though seldom seen at +church, as he had originally contributed his share when that edifice was +built, his lack of piety was forgiven.</p> + +<p>There is a sense of justice underlying all men's minds, and the natural +instinct is to judge others by what they are and how they live, rather +than by what they profess, and so it was in Uncle Terry's case. He lived +truthfully, obeyed his conscience, observed the Golden Rule, wronged no +one, and as with many others who do likewise, he had a right to feel +that in the final balance his book of life would show a wide margin on +the credit side.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III</h2> + +<h3>TWO ORPHANS</h3> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p>A stranger visiting Sandgate on a summer afternoon would inevitably +conclude the town was asleep. Often not a person would be visible the +entire length of its main street, cooled by three rows of maples, one +dividing it, and one shading each of the two sidewalks formed of narrow +strips of weather-stained marble. Under some of these trees that almost +touch branches for half a mile one or two cows might be grazing or +taking a siesta while chewing the cud of content. On the vine-hid porch +of the village tavern landlord Pell would quite likely be dozing in an +arm-chair tilted back, and across the way Mr. Hobbs, who keeps the one +general store, would as likely be napping on a counter, his head +pillowed upon a pile of calico. A little further up the street and near +the one tall-spired white church Mrs. Mears, the village gossip, may be +sitting on the veranda of a small house almost hid by luxuriantly +growing Norway spruce, and idly rocking while she chats with the widow +Sloper, who lives there, and whose mission in life is to cut and fit +the best "go to meetin'" gowns of female Sandgate. Both dearly love to +talk over all that's going on, and whether this or that village swain is +paying especial attention to any one rosy cheeked lass, and if so +"what's likely to come on't." Both mean well by this neighborly +interest, and especially does Mrs. Sloper, who always advises plaits for +stout women, "with middlin' fulness in the bust" for thin ones.</p> + +<p>One or two men may be at work haying in the broad meadows west of the +village, through which the slow current of a small river twists and +turns, or others wielding hoes on a hillside field of corn to the east, +but so far as moving life in the village street goes there will be none. +On either side of the Sandgate valley two spurs of the Green Mountain +Range, forest-clad, stand guard as if to isolate from all the world this +peaceful dale, whose dwellers' sole ambition in life may be summed up +in—to plow, plant, reap, and go to meeting.</p> + +<p>On the north end of this park-like highway, and beyond the last house, +it narrows to an ordinary roadway and divides. One fork turns to the +right, following up the banks of a winding stream to an old grist-mill +with moss-covered wheel and lily-dotted pond above. The other turns to +the left, crosses the narrow Sandgate valley, and bears south past the +Page place. If it were Sunday, not many years ago, and about eleven in +the morning, a stranger passing the church would have heard through the +open doors and windows the exquisitely sweet voice of Alice Page, clear +as a bell and melodious as a bird's, toying and trilling through +"Coronation," or some other easily recognized hymn; and had that +stranger awaited the close of service he or she would have seen among +the congregation filing out one petite and plump little lady, with +flower-like face, sparkling blue eyes, and kiss-inspiring mouth, who +would most likely have walked demurely along with her big brother +Albert, and turning down a narrow pathway, follow him across the +meadows, over a foot-bridge that spans the stream, and up to an +old-fashioned elm-shaded house.</p> + +<p>This landmark, known far and wide as the Page place, is historic. Built +in the time of King George, and one of the first three erected in +Sandgate, it has withstood the storms of two centuries and seen many +generations of Pages come and go. Additions have been made to it—an ell +on one side, larger windows and a wide veranda in front. Inside it is +much the same, for the open fireplaces remain in parlor and sitting-room +and a tall clock of solemn tick stands in the hall where it stood when +Paul Revere took his famous ride.</p> + +<p>The last owner, Simeon Page,—or, as he was called, Squire Page,—joined +the great majority two years after an enterprising railroad crept up the +Sandgate valley. He had bitterly opposed its entrance into the town and +it was asserted that chagrin at his defeat hastened his death. His +widow, with their two children, Albert and Alice, and a widowed sister, +remained and with the aid of hired men managed the farm. But bushes +began to choke the pastures and meadows; the outbuildings grew shabby; +the house received no paint; and as the children grew up and needs +increased, one by one the broad fields were sold. It had been the +squire's ambition that his only son should become a professional man, +and carrying out his wishes, Albert's mother had pinched and saved, +denying herself all luxuries, and given him a collegiate education. He +had graduated with honors; read law; been admitted to the bar; and then +returned to Sandgate and opened an office. Alice, three years his +junior, had been sent to a boarding-school for two years, where she +devoted most of her time to music, then came home again as mother's +helpmate.</p> + +<p>But the years of self-denial were at an end, for one June day that +mother laid down her burden and was placed beside her husband in the +village cemetery. Then the two orphans found themselves joint heirs to +to an old time-worn house, a few acres of meadow, a couple hundred +dollars of debts, and—nothing else. No; that is not right, for they +both had youth, good health and habits, and good educations.</p> + +<p>Albert, who had rather taken charge of matters since his return to +Sandgate, kept the debt situation from Alice after his mother's death, +feeling she had grief enough to bear without it, but for all that, it +troubled him seriously. The income from his practice was scarcely enough +to clothe him and not likely to increase, for Sandgate had scant use for +a lawyer; and what to do, or which way to turn, he knew not. If it were +not for Alice and Aunt Susan he thought it would be easier, but they +must be provided for. Alice, who had been his companion, playmate, and +confidant since the days of short dresses, he especially cared for, and +that feeling was mutual.</p> + +<p>So devoted a brother and sister were they that it had kept them from +forming other associations, and when Albert had been asked why he did +not escort some other young lady to the husking-bees, barn dances, or +church sociables, his usual reply was: "Alice is good enough for me, and +when she prefers another beau I may, but not till then."</p> + +<p>With Alice, though many of the village swains wooed,—she wouldn't. Even +Jim Mears, stalwart, and with a hand like a foot, fared no better, and +when Albert rallied her once about young Mears she answered: "Oh, Jim's +all right. He isn't handsome, but then, he is strong," which delicate +sarcasm may be considered a sufficient reflex of her feelings toward +others of the would-be attentive young farmers.</p> + +<p>But for all that, Alice was counted in on every festive gathering. If it +was a barn dance she was always there and never lacked partners, and +when the jolly party rode home in a big wagon filled with straw it was +her voice that always started "The Quilting Party," or other old-time +ballad usually inspired by moonlight. When a strawberry festival was in +order at the church she was given a post of honor, and when Christmas +decorations were necessary every young man felt it a privilege to obey +her orders. At home she was the same winsome little queen, and had no +more devoted subject than her brother.</p> + +<p>For a month after the funeral he worried a good deal. He knew that bills +had been left unpaid through his mother's illness, and that the family +were in straitened circumstances. His own law practice so far had +yielded scant returns, and what to do and where to turn was a puzzle. He +wrote to a former classmate whose father was a prominent merchant in +Boston, stating his situation and asking advice. It was two weeks ere he +received a reply, and then, though a cordial letter of sympathy, it did +not go far toward solving the problem. A week later, however, came a +letter from a lawyer in that city by the name of Frye, offering him a +position as assistant in his office at a small salary. It was so small +that Albert thought it a hopeless task to pay home expenses out of it +and leave anything towards their debts. It was more than his present +income, however, and yet to accept the offer and leave Aunt Susan and +Alice alone seemed hard. On the other hand, to borrow money on what +little of the farm was left did not help matters, for when that was +gone, what then?</p> + +<p>Matters came to a climax one day, and ended his indecision. He had been +away from his office all that afternoon, taking a long stroll in the +woods to escape his loneliness, and returning at tea time, found a cloud +on his sister's face.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Hobbs called this afternoon," she said as they sat down to the +table, "and asked for you. Said he went to your office, and not finding +you in, came here." And then she added with a quiver in her voice, "Oh, +Bertie, we owe him over one hundred dollars!"</p> + +<p>The trouble was all out now, and Albert looked gloomy. "I don't think +any more of him for coming here to dun us," he answered savagely; "he +might have waited until he saw me."</p> + +<p>"Oh, he was very nice about it," responded Alice, "and begged my pardon +for speaking of it. He said there was no hurry, only that he had made +out his bill as a matter of form, etc., and we could pay it when +convenient."</p> + +<p>Albert made no further comment, but when the meal was ended, said: "Come +out on the porch, sis, and let us talk matters over." She followed him, +feeling there was trouble coming, and drawing her low chair next to his, +placed one elbow on his chair arm and covered her face with that hand. +For a few moments he remained silent, watching the fireflies beginning +their evening dance over the meadow and listening to the distant call of +a whippoorwill. Across the valley the village lights were coming in +sight, one by one, and a faint odor of new-mown hay came to him. The +pathetic little figure at his side unnerved him, however, and he dreaded +to say what he must.</p> + +<p>"Well, sis," he said at last, "I've kept matters from you as long as I +can. We not only owe Hobbs a good deal, but as much more in smaller +bills to others, and there is no money to pay them. I've worried about +them more than you know, or than I cared to have you. One of two things +must be done, either borrow money and pay these bills or I must go away +and earn some."</p> + +<p>Then the little head beside him sunk slowly to his chair, and as he +began stroking it he added, "I've written to Frank Nason, my old college +chum, and through him have received a fair offer to go to Boston, and +have decided to accept it. I shall leave here as soon as I can get +ready."</p> + +<p>The trouble was growing serious now, and as he ceased speaking he caught +the sound of a suppressed sob. "Don't cry, Alice," he said tenderly, "it +can't be helped. Our home must be broken up sometime and it may as well +be now as any other. The thing that worries me most is leaving you and +Aunt Susan here alone."</p> + +<p>Then the sobs increased and the bowed form beside him shook.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Bertie," she said at last in a choked voice, "don't leave us here +alone. Let us sell the old house, pay the bills, and if you must go +away, let us go too."</p> + +<p>"No, dear, that is not best," he answered softly. "I can't earn enough +at first to do it. You will have to stay here till I can."</p> + +<p>Then the proud spirit that had come to Alice Page from many generations +of self-helpful ancestors spoke and she said as she raised her head and +brushed away the tears: "If you are to leave me here I shall go to work +as well. I can teach school, or do something to help you, and I shall, +too!"</p> + +<p>Her defiant little speech hurt Albert just a bit and yet he felt proud +of her for it. "It may be best for you if you could get a chance to +teach," he responded, "and it will help me some, and take up your mind, +which is worth a good deal."</p> + +<p>But the worst was to come, and the evening before his departure she +never forgot. There were some consolations to exchange, however, for she +had seen Mr. Mears of the school committee and obtained a position to +teach the north district school in Sandgate,—a small by-road +schoolhouse, two miles from her home,—and felt a little pride in +telling about it; while he had to report that all whom they owed had +promised to wait patiently for their dues.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Hobbs even offered to lend me money if I needed it," he said after +they had talked matters over, "and so, you see, we have a good many +friends in Sandgate after all. And now I want you to sing a few of the +old songs for me, so that I can have them to think about when I am +lonesome and homesick."</p> + +<p>But the singing was a failure, for Alice broke down in the middle of the +first song and they had to go out and watch the fireflies once more, +while she conquered her tears.</p> + +<p>"You will write to me every day, won't you, Bertie?" she asked +disconsolately, as they waited the next morning for the train that was +to separate them. "I shall be so lonesome and blue all the time!"</p> + +<p>When he kissed her good-by she could not speak, and the last he saw, as +the train bore him away, was that sweet sister's face, trying bravely to +smile through its tears, like the sun peeping out of a cloud.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV</h2> + +<h3>A SPIDER IN HIS DEN</h3> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Thar's a sucker born every minit, an' two ter ketch him."—<i>Uncle +Terry.</i></p></div> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p>There are lawyers and lawyers. Not all are legalized pickpockets, and +not all are imbued with the sole and noble purpose of serving the ends +of justice, whether that service lines their pockets or not. Some, and I +may say many of them, contrive to reverse matters and to make justice +serve them, and if the ways of justice do not conspire to that end, so +much the worse for the blind goddess. Modern justice oft-times means the +longest purse and the keenest ability to evade the law, and while an +unprincipled lawyer will not exactly throttle the mythological maiden +who holds the scales, he will, if necessary, so befog her every sense +with evasions, subterfuges, and non-pertinent issues that she might just +as well have been born deaf and dumb, and without feeling, as well as +blind, for all the use she has of those senses. Not only does modern law +service frequently resolve itself into a contest of unscrupulous +cunning, but modern law-making is occasionally shaped to serve the ends +of the profession, instead of justice. While the majority of lawyers are +not rascals in name, a good many are at heart, and with the most, when +it comes to the question of justice and a small fee and injustice and a +big one,—well, draw your own conclusions, all ye who have been fools +enough to seek recourse at law.</p> + +<p>Lawyers seem to thrive on the passions and vanities of mankind, and many +of them are looking for fools who have money and a grievance. The +time-worn sarcasm that "After man came woman, and she has been after him +ever since" would be more to the point if "lawyer" were substituted for +"woman."</p> + +<p>But the world is full of fools who thirst for revenge in law, or seem +anxious to find some one to dupe them in other ways and always succeed; +so Uncle Terry was more than half right when he said, "Thar's a sucker +born every minit, an' two ter ketch him."</p> + +<p>Of all the smooth, elusive vultures lurking in the shadow of the temple +of justice, or perching upon it, Nicholas Frye, or "Old Nick," as many +called him, was the most cunning. Nor did his looks belie the +comparison, for he had deep-set, shifty, yellow-gray eyes, a hooked +nose, and his thin locks, dyed jet black, formed a ring about his bald +poll. He walked with a stoop, as if scanning the ground for evidence or +clues, and to add to his marked individuality, when he talked he rubbed +his hands together as though washing them with invisible soap. It was +not from any sense of cleanliness that he did this, for they had many +times been soiled willingly in the most nefarious transactions. A client +was to him a victim to be kept in waiting; exasperated in regard to his +grievances by all possible means; deluded as to his chances of success +in quest of justice; deceived as to its cost; and robbed in every way +known to an astute lawyer. He had been the legal adviser of John Nason +for many years, and when that busy merchant came to him on behalf of his +son, who wanted to find a position for Albert Page, Frye readily +promised to give him employment. It was not because he needed him, but +because he saw at once that through some friendship for this young sprig +of the law, as he intuitively considered Albert to be, he could +strengthen his hold upon the father and obtain some secrets that might +eventually be used to rob him. In plain words, he thought to use this +young country lawyer as a spy. He knew that John Nason felt a keen +interest in his only son Frank, and that was another reason for +employing that son's friend. He knew also that Frank was given a liberal +allowance, spent it rapidly, and most likely would be getting into +various scrapes needing a lawyer's efforts to rescue him, and so he +would have further pickings in that direction. These were two good +reasons for his ostensible acts of kindness, and so he at once sent for +Page to come.</p> + +<p>When, the morning after his arrival in Boston, Albert presented himself +at Frye's office, he found that lawyer busy reading his mail.</p> + +<p>"Take a seat, sir," said Frye politely, after Albert had introduced +himself, "and excuse me until I go through my letters." And then, for a +long half hour, Albert was left to study the bare office walls and +peculiar looks of his future employer. Finally Frye turned to him and +asked rather abruptly: "Well, Mr. Page, what do you know about law?" at +the same time scanning him as if expecting to see hayseed adhering to +his garments.</p> + +<p>"Not much, perhaps," replied Albert modestly, uncertain of his ground. +"I have been in practice only a year at Sandgate, and the few people +there do not have much use for a lawyer."</p> + +<p>"Then why didn't you stir 'em up a little and bring 'em to see they +needed your services?" was Frye's next query. "You will never succeed as +a lawyer unless you make business. Did you bring your sheepskin with +you?"</p> + +<p>"No, sir," answered Page, "I didn't think it necessary, after what I +wrote you. I have it in my trunk."</p> + +<p>"Well, bring it to-morrow," said Frye. "I make it a rule to take nothing +for granted and have everything in writing;" and then he added with a +searching look, as if he was about to utter a crusher, "What is your +idea of a lawyer's chief object in existence?"</p> + +<p>Page was a little nonplussed. "Oh, I suppose," he replied slowly, "to +see that laws are properly executed and justice done."</p> + +<p>Frye looked at him a full minute without making any further comment, +while a sardonic grin gradually drew his lips apart, showing a full set +of false teeth, and then, as he began rubbing his hands together, he +said:</p> + +<p>"It's evident, young man, you have much to learn in your profession. +Laws are made for lawyers, and are the tools of our trade. If the world +does not see fit to use those tools, it is our business to make them, +and as for justice, that is an allegory, useful in addressing a jury, +but considered a fable by the judge. Laws are useful to oppose other +laws with, and various decisions are only good in so far as they help +your case and hinder your opponent's.</p> + +<p>"You seem an honest-appearing young man, which is well so far as our +relations go, but no further. I want an assistant, and one who is ready +and willing to do just as I direct and to ask no questions. Do you think +you can fill the bill?"</p> + +<p>"I can try," replied Albert quietly, "and as soon as I get used to your +methods of procedure here I think I can succeed."</p> + +<p>He was a little startled at the peculiar character of his employer, and +in a way slightly disgusted, but he was not in a position to cavil or +feel squeamish over apparent lack of honesty, and resolved at once to +ignore it.</p> + +<p>"What do you wish me to do?" he continued after a moment. "I will do the +best I can for you and am ready to go to work now."</p> + +<p>"You are to be at the office at eight o'clock sharp," replied Frye, +"take one hour for lunch, and remain till six." Then he added by way of +a spur to his slave's fidelity, "I am paying you seventy-five dollars a +month on the recommend of an important client of mine who wanted to +humor his son. It was your good luck to have this son's friendship, as +he belongs to a wealthy family. He is a spendthrift, of course, but that +is no matter, and all the better for us. Take my advice, and cultivate +him all you can. It may be the means of bringing us more business. What +I say to you I shall expect you to consider a professional secret and I +hope you will make good use of your time when with this young friend of +yours, and heed well what I have said to you."</p> + +<p>That ended the interview and Albert was set at work copying legal +documents and at the same time trying to reconcile himself to his new +surroundings. That night he wrote to Alice: "I have hired out to a most +unmitigated old scoundrel, and yet one of the sharpest lawyers I ever +met. He assured me I must lay aside my conscience if I mean to succeed +and hinted that he might use me later on as a sort of spy upon Frank, I +imagine. He employs a stenographer of uncertain age who comes in and +takes dictation and does her work outside. The only stupid thing he has +said was to warn me not to flirt with her."</p> + +<p>Then he wrote to his friend Frank, telling him where he was located, +thanking him for his assistance, and begging him to call at an early +date. After that he smoked for an hour in glum silence. His room was +small and cheerless, and, in comparison with his home quarters, a mere +den. But it was a question of saving, and the luxury of space, even, he +could not afford. There is no more lonesome place in the wide world than +a great city to one born and bred amid the freedom of the wide fields +and extended woodlands as Albert had been, and now that he was shut in +by brick walls all day, and imprisoned in one small room at night, with +a solitary window opening on an area devoted to ash barrels and garbage, +it made him homesick. He was a dreamer by nature and loved the music of +running brooks, the rustling of winds in the forest, and the song of +birds. The grand old mountains that surrounded Sandgate had been the +delight of his boyhood, and to fish in the clear streams that tumbled +down through narrow gorges and wound amid wide meadows, or in the +lily-dotted mill pond, his pastime. He had the artist's nature in him +also, and loved dearly to sketch a pretty bit of natural scenery, a +cascade in the brook or a shady grotto in the woods. He loved books, +flowers, music, green meadows, shady woods, and fields white with +daisies. He had been reared among kind-hearted, honest, God-fearing +people who seldom locked their doors at night and who believed in and +lived by the Golden Rule. The selfish and distrustful life of a great +city, with its arrogance and wealth and vanity of display, was not akin +to him, and to put himself at the beck and call of a mercenary and +utterly unscrupulous old villain, as he believed Frye to be, was gall +and bitterness. For two weeks he worked patiently, hoping each day that +the one and only friend the city held for him would call, passing his +evenings, as he wrote Alice, "in reading, smoking, and hating myself a +little, and Frye a good deal."</p> + +<p>He had hesitated to write Frank in the first place, disliking to ask +favors, but it could not be helped, and now he began to feel that his +friend meant to ignore him. This humiliating conclusion was growing to a +certainty, and Albert feeling more homesick than ever, when one +afternoon, while he was as usual hard at work in Frye's office, Frank +came in.</p> + +<p>"Pray excuse me, old man," remarked that youth briskly, after the first +greetings, "for not calling sooner, but I was off on my yacht about the +time you came, and then I ran down to New York to take in the cup races. +You see, I'm so busy I do not get any time to myself. I want you to come +over to the club and lunch with me to-day, and we can talk matters +over."</p> + +<p>"You will kindly excuse me," replied Albert. "I have a lot of work cut +out, and am only allowed one hour for lunch. Can't you come around to my +room to-night and have a smoke-talk?"</p> + +<p>"Maybe," replied Frank, "and we can go around to the club later. You +will meet some good fellows there, and we always make up a game of +draw—small limit, you know. Say, old man," he added interestedly, "how +do you like Frye?"</p> + +<p>As that worthy happened to be out just then, the two friends had a good +chance to exchange opinions. Albert's is already known, but, for +reasons, he did not care to express it to Frank at this time.</p> + +<p>"Frye is a shrewd lawyer, I presume," he answered, "and so far I have no +fault to find. He takes good care to see I have work enough, but that is +what I am hired for, and I have been rather lonesome, and glad of it."</p> + +<p>Then to change the subject he added: "I want to thank you once more, +Frank, for getting me the place. Things were in a bad way at home, and I +needed it."</p> + +<p>"You may thank dad, not me," replied Frank; "I was just going off on a +trip when your letter came, and I turned the matter over to him. Frye's +his attorney, you see."</p> + +<p>"Are you personally well acquainted with Mr. Frye?" asked Albert, having +an object in mind.</p> + +<p>"No, not at all, except by sight," was the answer. "I believe he is +considered a very sharp lawyer, and almost invariably wins his cases. +Dad says he has won out many times when the law was all against him, and +is not over-scrupulous how he does it. They say he is rich, and a +skinflint. He always reminds me of a hungry buzzard."</p> + +<p>Albert thought of Burns' apt cynicism just then, and wished that Frye +might for one moment see himself as others saw him. He felt tempted to +tell Frank just what Frye had said, and what his opinion of him was, but +wisely kept it to himself. Had he been a woman, it is doubtful if he +would have shown so much discretion, and not every man would.</p> + +<p>"Well, I must be going," said Frank, at last. "I've got a date for the +mat., this aft., so ta-ta. I'll call round some eve., at your room, and +take you up to the club."</p> + +<p>When his friend had departed, Albert resumed his rather monotonous +copying the gist of a lot of decisions bearing upon a case that Frye had +pending just then, and when he went out to lunch, it was, as usual, +alone, and to a cheap restaurant.</p> + +<p>"It's nice to have a rich father, a yacht, plenty of money and nothing +to do but spend it," he said to himself ruefully that night, as he sat +in his cheerless room smoking and dwelling upon the picture of a gay +life as disclosed by his friend. "But we are not all born to fortune, +and perhaps, after all, I might be worse off,"—which, to say the least, +is the best way to look at it.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V</h2> + +<h3>WAYS THAT ARE DARK</h3> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p>With "Old Nick" Frye the eleventh commandment, "Thou shalt not get +caught," outweighed all the rest. It was not because he especially +needed the assistance of Page that he had hired him, although he could +serve him in a way; but it was that he could use him as a means to an +end in a totally different capacity from copying law reports. John +Nason, one of his principal clients, was a wealthy and successful +merchant, and both proud and fond of his only son. Frye had heard +various stories of the elder Nason, connecting his name with certain +good-looking girls that had been or were in his employ, and that +vulture, with a keen scent for evil, was only too ready to take +advantage of anything, no matter what, so long as it would aid him in +his efforts to make the most out of his client. He knew also that Frank +was, as the saying goes, "cutting a wide swath." To use the son's friend +as a means to reach the son, and through him possibly the father, was +considered by Frye a wise stroke of policy.</p> + +<p>When, a few days after Frank had called upon Page, the latter chanced to +mention it to Frye, he made a note of it at once.</p> + +<p>"I am glad," he said cordially, "that your friend has hunted you up. I +knew he was away on his yacht when you came, and was going to suggest +that you call on him as soon as I knew he was at home. As I told you, +cultivate him all you can. He will serve as a door to get you into good +society. When did he call?"</p> + +<p>"It was one day while you were out," answered Page, "and he invited me +to lunch with him at his club."</p> + +<p>"Which of course you did?" said Frye.</p> + +<p>"No, sir; I knew I shouldn't have time for it during my one hour, and +then, you had given me a lot of work to do that day."</p> + +<p>A shade of annoyance came over Frye's face.</p> + +<p>"Well, that's all right, of course," he said, "but when he calls again +take all the time you need if he asks you out, and," with a scrutinizing +look at Page, "as I said, cultivate him. It's business. His father is my +most valued client, and the more intimate you become with his son the +sooner you will have an acquaintance that will be of value to you."</p> + +<p>Page could not quite fathom all this, but the more he thought of what +Frye had said the more certain he became that kindly regard for his own +welfare did not enter into that shrewd schemer's calculations. He was +more and more disgusted, also, each day, with his employer's cynical +indifference to all sense of honor and honesty, coming to the conclusion +that he was no better than a thief at heart.</p> + +<p>Beneath Albert's disposition to adapt himself to those he mingled with +lay a vein of sterling good sense, fine honor, and the energy of +self-sacrifice, if necessary, and Frye's attributes were so obnoxious to +him as to be simply repulsive. At college he had never indulged in much +"larking," and just why the bond of friendship between himself and the +good-natured, self-indulgent, happy-go-lucky classmate, Frank Nason, had +been cemented is hard to explain, except upon the theory of the +attraction of opposites. When, a few days later, that young man appeared +at the office just before closing time, and suggested they "go out for a +night's racket," as he phrased it, Albert was not inclined to accept.</p> + +<p>"What are you up to?" he said as they walked away from the office, "and +what do you mean by a racket? If it's likely to be expensive, count me +out; I can't afford it."</p> + +<p>"Well," answered Frank lightly, "you are working too hard, and need +shaking up, so I thought I'd drop round and do it. We will dine at the +club, then go to the Castle Square, where there is a burlesque on and no +end of pretty chorus girls. I know two or three of them, and after the +show we will take them out to supper; that is all."</p> + +<p>"It's all right except the end-up," answered Albert, "and on that I +think you had best skip me. As I said, it's a diversion I can't afford. +I've no money to spare to buy wine for ballet girls."</p> + +<p>"Oh, that's all right," responded Frank cheerfully. "I've asked you out +and it's my treat. I'll pay the shot this time."</p> + +<p>"I shall pay my share if I go," asserted Albert firmly, "but I would +rather omit the after part. We will have the evening together and then +you can go and entertain your chorus girls and I'll go to my room."</p> + +<p>It was a laudable resolution, but it came hard, for beneath all Albert's +good resolves was lurking desire for a little excitement to break the +dull monotony of his life. He had been to the theatre only twice since +he came to Boston, desiring to save in every way he could, and only the +week before had sent Alice one-third of his first month's salary. At the +club Frank introduced him to several of his friends and of course they +were asked to join them in a social glass, which did not tend to +strengthen Albert's resolution. At the theatre the exhilarating music, +and the glitter of a stage full of pretty girls in scant drapery, all +had their usual effect, and by the time the show was over he found it +next to impossible to resist his friend's urging that they go around to +the stage door and meet the girls he had invited to sup with them.</p> + +<p>"Mind you, let me pay my share," whispered Page, and then he found +himself being introduced by his first name to two highly colored queens +of the ballet, and all four proceeded at once to a private supper-room. +Albert found the girls bright, vivacious, and expressive, so far as a +superficial use of slang goes: they ordered the choicest and +highest-priced items on the bill of fare; called for champagne and drank +it freely; addressed their escorts as "Cully," "Old Sport," and "Old +Stocking;" smoked cigarettes; and talked about their "mashes" in other +cities in a way that made Albert grateful that he had been introduced by +his first name only.</p> + +<p>It was not an immoral proceeding, though not exactly proper, and when in +the wee small hours they—with a mistaken sense of gallantry—escorted +the two actresses (if such they may be termed) to their boarding-place, +Page, at least, was glad to be well rid of them. And when he reached his +room, it must be said to his credit, he did not feel particularly proud +of himself.</p> + +<p>He felt less so the next morning when he received a letter from Alice +which said:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p><span class="smcap">My Darling Brother</span>: I was so pleased when I received your loving +letter and the money you sent. You do not know how it hurts me to +feel we owe so much, and I have cried over it more than you will +ever know. Last week I received my first month's pay,—thirty +dollars,—and I was very proud of it, for it is the first money I +ever earned. I took half and put it with the twenty-five you sent +and gave it to Mr. Hobbs. I have only six dollars left, for I had +to buy some boots and gloves, but that will last me a month, for +I've not the heart to spend a penny I am not obliged to, until the +debts are paid. I had to buy the boots, because walking four miles +a day wears them out very fast.</p></div> + +<p>And he had spent twenty dollars the night before to have a couple of +ballet girls talk slang, smoke cigarettes, and call him "Cully"!</p> + +<p>When he thought of his sweet and loving sister, with her perfect faith +in his manhood, walking four miles a day to earn less than two dollars, +while he had been induced to spend in one foolish evening as much as she +could earn in two weeks, it was no wonder he did not feel proud of +himself.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI</h2> + +<h3>A PUSH DOWNWARD</h3> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"He digged a pit, he digged it deep,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">He digged it for a brother;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But oh, alas! he fell into<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The pit he digged for another."<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i28"><i>Old Saw.</i><br /></span> +</div></div> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p>Page was a little late at the office the next morning and Frye was there +ahead of him.</p> + +<p>"I was out with young Nason last evening," he explained, as the old +lawyer bade him a rather crusty good morning, "and I overslept."</p> + +<p>"Oh, that is all right," responded Frye, in an instantaneously sweetened +tone, "I am glad you were, and, as I told you, you are wise to cultivate +him. I suppose," he continued with a leer, "that you were buying wine +for some of the gay girls?"</p> + +<p>Page looked confused. "Well, we went to the theatre, and after that had +a late supper," he explained, "and it was after one before I returned to +my room."</p> + +<p>"I don't care how late you are out, or what you did," said Frye, still +eyeing Page, "so long as you were with young Nason and kept out of the +lockup. His father pays me a salary to look after his law business, and +his son is the pride of his heart. I trust you understand my meaning. If +you don't feel like work this morning," he continued suavely, "mount +your wheel and take a run out to Winchester and see if that mortgage on +the Seaver estate has been satisfied. The exercise and air will do you +good."</p> + +<p>Page was nonplussed.</p> + +<p>"He has some deep-laid plot in his mind," he thought as he looked at +Frye, who, having delivered this amazing pat, turned at once to his +mail. It was all the more amazing because at the start he had been +assured that punctuality and good conduct on his part were obligatory. +Now he was to all intents and purposes not only told he might lark it +with young Nason all he chose, but even urged to do so. He was glad to +escape the office, however, for his head felt full of bees, and thanking +his employer for the permission, he quickly left the city behind him. +The crisp October air and exercise soon cured his headache, and in a +measure drove away some of the self-reproaches at his own foolish +conduct of the night before.</p> + +<p>The errand at Winchester was attended to, and then, after taking a glass +of bromo-seltzer, he headed back for the city, taking another course. By +the time he reached town he was faint from hunger, for he had eaten no +breakfast. A good dinner restored him to his natural self-possession, +and then he went to the office.</p> + +<p>For a week he reproached himself every time he thought how much his +escapade had cost, and felt too ashamed to answer Alice's letter. When +he did he assured that innocent sister that he was saving all he could +and should send more money as soon as possible. Frank called twice, and +the second time urged him to join the club, to which Page assented.</p> + +<p>"It will serve as a place to spend a lonesome evening," he thought. It +was a wise step, for it is during lonesome hours, if ever, that one's +steps are turned toward evil associations.</p> + +<p>Several times Frye had made casual inquiries as to the progress of his +intimacy with young Nason, all of which led Page to wonder what his +object was and why it concerned him. At last, one day just at closing +time, and after he had told the office boy he might go, Frye let a +little light into that enigma.</p> + +<p>"Sit down a moment, Mr. Page," he remarked, as the latter was preparing +to leave; "I have a proposition of an important nature to make to you," +and then as he fixed his merciless eyes on his clerk and began to slowly +rub his hands together, he continued: "You have been nearly three months +in my employ, Mr. Page, and have fulfilled your duties satisfactorily. I +think the time has come when I may safely enlarge them a little. As I +told you, John Nason pays me a yearly retainer to attend to all his law +business. I have reason to feel he is not entirely satisfied to continue +that arrangement, and I am forced to find some way to bring a little +pressure to bear on him in order that he may see it is for his interest +to still retain me. Now I believe John Nason is not entirely happy in +his home relations and is leading a double life, and that a certain Miss +Maud Vernon, a cashier in his store, receives a share of his attentions. +She and a supposed aunt of hers occupy a flat in a block owned by Nason, +and while they are never seen in public together, gossip links their +names. What I want is for you to find out, through your acquaintance +with the Nasons, just what bond there is between the elder Nason and +this Miss Vernon, and report to me. I do not intend to use the knowledge +for any illegal purpose, but merely as a leverage to retain Nason's +business. I am aware that to prosecute your inquiries discreetly by +means of your intimacy with young Nason will require more money than I +am paying you, and therefore, if I can depend on you to do a little +detective work, I shall from now on increase your salary from +seventy-five to one hundred and seventy-five dollars. What do you say?"</p> + +<p>The first impulse that Page felt was to absolutely refuse, there and +then, to have anything to do with Frye's nefarious scheme, but the +thought of his situation, the unpaid debt at home, and the certainty +that a refusal would mean a loss of his position conquered his pride and +kept him silent. For a moment he reflected, trying hard to see a way out +of the dilemma; and then said:</p> + +<p>"It is rather a hard task you ask, Mr. Frye, for I am not accustomed to +the role of detective, but I am in your employ, and as long as I am I +will do the best I can for your interests."</p> + +<p>It was a temporizing reply, and Frye so construed it at once.</p> + +<p>"I must insist, if you accept my offer," he said, "that you give me your +promise to do your best to earn the money. It doesn't pay to be too +squeamish in this world," he continued, in a soothing tone; "all +business is to a certain extent a game of extortion—a question of do +the other fellow or he will do you." Then arising, and holding out a +skinny hand to grasp Page's, as if to bind the bargain, he added: "I +shall expect you to keep faith with me, Mr. Page," and the interview +ended.</p> + +<p>When Albert entered the dining-room at his boarding-place that night he +felt as if his face must show guilt, and when later he met Frank at the +club that feeling increased. He was preoccupied and morose, and Frank, +noticing his frame of mind, tried to cheer him.</p> + +<p>"You look as if you had been given a facer, old man," he said. "What is +the matter? Has Frye been calling you down for something?"</p> + +<p>Page looked at his friend a moment, and the impulse to make a clean +breast of it, and relieve his feelings, was strong, but he did not.</p> + +<p>"I do not like Frye," he said instead, "and the more I see of him the +less I like him. At times he makes me feel as if he was a snake ready to +uncoil and strike. Did you ever notice his eyes, and the way he has of +rubbing his hands when talking?"</p> + +<p>"I have," was the answer, "and he has the most hideous eyes I ever saw +in a human being. They look like a cat's in the dark. Dad told me once +he saw Frye look at a witness he was cross-examining in such a way that +the poor fellow forgot what his name was, and swore black was white. +Those eyes are vicious weapons, they say, and he uses them to the +utmost when he wants to scare a witness."</p> + +<p>"They make me feel creepy every time I look at them," said Albert, and +then, as if anxious to change the subject, he added, "Let's leave here, +Frank, and you come with me to my room, where we can have a quiet talk +together. I am in the dumps to-night, and want to unbosom my troubles to +you."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII</h2> + +<h3>A SERMON</h3> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p>"What ails you, old man?" asked Frank, after they were seated in +Albert's room and were smoking fraternal pipes; "you look as if you had +lost your best friend."</p> + +<p>"I did, last June, as you know," was the rather sad answer, "and on top +of that, I hate myself for one or two things; for instance, the escapade +we indulged in the other night, and being Frye's slave, for another."</p> + +<p>"I am sorry for the first," responded Frank; "it was my fault that you +were coaxed into it. I won't do it again, I assure you. Don't worry over +it, my boy. It wasn't anything serious; only just a little after-theatre +fun, and hearing those sporty girls talk slang."</p> + +<p>"Yes, and spending a lot of money for very poor fun," replied Albert. "I +don't think any better of myself for doing it, do you?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, I don't think about it one way or the other," answered Frank, "I +have so much time to kill, and that's no worse than any other way. We +go to the theatre and see those same girls half nude and hear them say +just as naughty things as they said to us that night, so what's the +harm? We are a little nearer to them, that is all, and pay extra for the +privilege."</p> + +<p>"Well, of course it's all right, and as you do not think any the less of +yourself for doing it, there is no harm," replied Albert, "only I do; +and so it is worse for me than for you." Then he added, looking +curiously at his friend, "Tell me honestly, Frank, did you enjoy having +cigarette smoke puffed in your face, being called 'Cully,' and hearing +silly brag about 'mashes,' and how they 'worked' some other fellow? Did +it occur to you that those same rouge-finished queens of the ballet +would describe us, and how they 'worked' us for a wine supper, to other +jays, and that no doubt they have done so to one or a dozen since that +night? They were pert and saucy, it is true, and up to date so far as +slang goes, but did you really enjoy their society?"</p> + +<p>"No, I can't say I did," was the sober answer, "only there was a spice +of excitement about it, a sort of novelty. I would not want it every +night, however."</p> + +<p>"And while I am about it," continued Albert, warming up, "did you notice +that those same fairies of the footlights had been so busy putting red +paint on their lips and black lead on their eyelashes that they forgot +to use a toothbrush, and left their fingernails in mourning? And what is +more to the point, was there one word they uttered that you and I could +not have fore-stalled long before it fell from their lips? Now you have +a mother and sisters who think well of you, no doubt: how would you have +felt to have had any one of them peep in that night and see what manner +of company you were in? My mother is in her grave, but maybe she could +see where I was and with whom I was that evening, and the thought makes +me feel mean. I have a sister, one of the purest and sweetest little +women God ever blessed the earth with, and not for all that I can earn +in one year would I have her know what a foolish thing I did. For two +days I was so ashamed of myself I felt miserably."</p> + +<p>Frank sat in stupefied silence at his friend's outburst. "If I had +imagined you were going to feel that way, old man," he said at last, "I +would never have urged you to go with me. I never will again, I assure +you."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I am as much to blame as you," observed Albert. "I went willingly, +but after it was all over I was sorry I did. I am no prude, I enjoy a +little excitement and don't mind a social evening with a few friends, +but it doesn't pay to do things you despise yourself for the next day."</p> + +<p>"But," put in his friend with a quizzical look, "do you know you are +preaching a sermon, and I rather enjoy it, too? It sets me thinking. As +for such girls as we wined, I don't care a rap for them. If I could find +any other and better amusement, they might go hang for all I care. What +you say of them is true enough, and I agree with you they are a +profitless lot of trash, but what is a fellow going to do to kill time? +I try tennis and golf with fellows and girls in our set, but that is +tame sport. I go to 'functions' once in a while, and if I dance twice +with a pretty girl who has no <i>dot</i>, mother glares at me, and says I've +no family pride. Most of the girls talk silly nonsense that wearies a +fellow, and the more <i>passé</i> they are the worse they gush. The only +thing I really enjoy that is respectable is yachting, and then I have +trouble to find good fellows who have time to go with me. Once in a +while I get disgusted with myself, and wish I had to work for a living."</p> + +<p>Albert looked surprised. Was it possible that this young and handsome +fellow, with dark brown honest eyes, curly black hair, and garb and +manner of refinement, who never had known what it was to work, really +wanted to earn his own way in the world, just from sheer <i>ennui</i>?</p> + +<p>"Frank," he said at last, "you ought to be ashamed to talk so. You have +plenty of money, nothing to do but enjoy yourself, and yet you complain! +You ought to have a few months of old Frye. It would reconcile you to +your lot."</p> + +<p>Frank looked sympathetic. "Is he so bad as that?" he said.</p> + +<p>"No worse than any other old skinflint who feels he owns you, body and +brains," replied Albert, "but I do not want to talk about him to-night. +I've got the blues."</p> + +<p>"I am sorry, old man," rejoined Frank in a low tone, "I wish I could +help you. Maybe I can in the near future."</p> + +<p>Albert was silent, while the comparison of his lot with that of his +friend passed slowly in review.</p> + +<p>"It seems to me you have everything to be thankful for, Frank," he said +at last in a dejected tone,—"a kind father, good home, plenty of +friends, a nice yacht, all the money you want, and nothing to do. With +me it is different. Would it bore you if I unloaded a little of my +history? I feel like it to-night."</p> + +<p>"Not a bit," answered Frank, "I would really like to hear it. I didn't +know much of your home affairs at college, and since you came to Boston +I hated to ask you, for fear you would think me impertinent."</p> + +<p>"Well," continued Albert, "when we were at college I was a little too +proud to let you know I was the only son of a poor widow who was denying +herself every luxury to educate me; but it was a fact. After we +separated, I tutored some, read law, and was admitted to the bar. I +opened an office in my native town and wasted a year waiting for +clients, while I read novels, sketched, and fished, to pass the time. +Last June my mother died and left my sister and me an old house that has +been in the family over a century, a few acres of meadow lands, and +maybe two hundred dollars in debts. Then I wrote to you. I was more than +grateful for the chance you obtained for me to work for even such a man +as Frye. I am paying those debts as fast as I can, and my sister is +helping by teaching in a cross-road schoolhouse and walking four miles +each day to do it."</p> + +<p>"And I coaxed you to go out and spend money on a couple of ballet +girls!" responded Frank regretfully. "Say, old man," reaching out his +hand and clasping Albert's, "if I had known all this that evening I +would have bit my tongue before I asked you to go with me."</p> + +<p>"That is all right," replied Albert; "I should have told you that night +what I have told you now, but maybe I was a little ashamed to do so."</p> + +<p>"I would like to see that brave sister of yours," said Frank after a +pause. "From what you tell me, she must be a trump."</p> + +<p>Albert made no answer, but going to the mantel he took a framed +photograph that stood there and handed it to his friend. It was a +picture of a young girl with a face like an artist's dream and eyes like +two pansies.</p> + +<p>Frank gazed at it long and earnestly. "Your sister, I suppose," he said +at last, still looking at the face. "I do not wonder you preached me the +sermon you have this evening. You must be proud of her."</p> + +<p>When it came time for him to go the two shook hands with a warmer clasp +than ever, and when he was gone the little room did not seem quite so +cheerless to its occupant as before.</p> + +<p>Albert Page had builded wiser than he knew.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII</h2> + +<h3>A HELPING HAND</h3> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p>"I should like to be excused to-morrow forenoon, Mr. Frye," said Albert +a few days later. "Frank has promised to introduce me to his father."</p> + +<p>"Certainly," replied Frye, cheerfully, "take the entire day, if you +wish, and if you have a good chance try to make the acquaintance of Miss +Maud Vernon, a cashier in Mr. Nason's store, or at least take a good +look at her. She is the key that will unlock the information I need, and +I shall depend upon you to obtain it."</p> + +<p>"I will keep my eyes open," replied Albert aloud, mentally resolving +that it would not be in the interest of Frye and his sinister plot. The +next day he met Frank by appointment, and the two called upon John Nason +at his office. Albert was greeted cordially, and, after an exchange of +commonplaces, soon found himself being interrogated by a series of +questions pertaining to his home and college life, his knowledge of law, +and how he liked his present employer, all of which with their answers, +not being pertinent to the thread of this narrative, need not be quoted. +They were for a purpose, however, as all of John Nason's business +questions were, and at their conclusion he said:</p> + +<p>"I am glad to have met you, Mr. Page. My son has spoken in the highest +terms of you, and what has interested me more, Mr. Frye has also. He +does not usually bestow much praise on any one, but is more apt to +sneer. After you are a little better acquainted with legal proceedings +here, come and see me. I may be able to do something for you. You +might," addressing Frank, as if to end the interview, "show Mr. Page +over the store now; it may interest him."</p> + +<p>After an hour spent walking through the vast human hive, where over one +thousand clerks and salesgirls were employed, the two friends returned +to their club for lunch.</p> + +<p>"Well, what do you think of the old gent?" asked Frank, as he sat down.</p> + +<p>"I like him," was the answer; "he talks to the purpose, though, and I +fancy his rapid-fire questions were for an object."</p> + +<p>"You may be sure they were," replied Frank, "and, what is more, I saw by +his expression that you had made a good impression. Do you know what I +did the other day? I told him all about our escapade with the two +fairies, and repeated all I could recall of the sermon you preached +about it."</p> + +<p>Albert looked astonished.</p> + +<p>"I am sorry you did that," he said; "he must have thought me very weak +not to have refused in the first place. What did he say?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, not much," replied Frank; "he laughed, and said he guessed the +closer I stuck to you, the better I would behave myself."</p> + +<p>"Do you make a practice of confessing all your larks to your father?" +observed Albert.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I don't conceal much," answered Frank laughingly; "he and I are the +best of friends, and he is so good to me I haven't the heart to deceive +him. I had an object in telling him of our racket, however;" and then +after a pause, "I wish you were to be at liberty this afternoon, Bert; I +am going to take the 'Gypsy' round to Beverly to her winter quarters and +I'd like your company."</p> + +<p>"Well, I can go if I've a mind to," answered Albert; "Frye said I might +take a day off if I wished."</p> + +<p>Frank looked astonished. "Isn't he in danger of heart-failure?" he said; +"the old buzzard must be getting stuck on you, I should say."</p> + +<p>When the two had boarded the yacht, and while the engineer was getting +up steam, Frank showed his guest all over that craft.</p> + +<p>"I am surprised at the size of your boat," said Albert; "why, she is +large enough for an ocean voyage."</p> + +<p>"We may take one in her some day," replied Frank; "stranger things have +happened. I believe she cost over eighty thousand dollars, but dad +bought her for less than half that at an assignee's sale."</p> + +<p>When steam was up they took a run out around Minot's Light and across to +Cape Ann, and as the day was a delightful one, Albert enjoyed it +immensely.</p> + +<p>"I can't imagine a more charming way of spending a summer than to have +such a craft as this and a well-chosen party of friends for company, and +go where you like. Why, it would seem like a dream of life in an +enchanted world to me."</p> + +<p>It was late in the afternoon when they ran in past Baker's Island, and +at Beverly they went ashore, and leaving the crew to moor the yacht in +the stream between the two bridges, returned to Boston.</p> + +<p>It was almost Thanksgiving time ere Albert saw Mr. Nason again, and then +one day Frank said to him: "I want you to call on dad to-morrow. He +wants to see you."</p> + +<p>It came as a most agreeable surprise to Albert, and yet, as he entered +that magnate's palatial store the next day, he did not dare to allow +himself to hope that it would mean anything to him. He took the elevator +to the fourth floor, where Mr. Nason's private office was, and with +beating heart entered. His greeting was more cordial than before, and +Mr. Nason, who, it may be observed, was a man that went about business +as a woodcutter chops a tree, said:</p> + +<p>"Are you under contract or obligation to remain with Mr. Frye any +specified time, Mr. Page?"</p> + +<p>"Nothing more than to give him a reasonable notice that I wish to quit," +replied Albert; "I am paid so much a month 'for the present,' as he put +it when I went there, and I certainly shall leave him as soon as I see +any chance of bettering myself."</p> + +<p>"That being the case, I see no reason why you cannot entertain the +proposition I have decided to make you," said the merchant, "which is +that you sever your relations with Mr. Frye between now and the first of +the year, and then take hold and see what you can do in looking after my +legal matters. The fact is, Mr. Page, as I intimated to you a short time +ago, I am not entirely satisfied with Mr. Frye. Just why need not be +considered now. The only point is, do you feel yourself capable of +acting as my attorney and assuming charge of any law business that may +arise?"</p> + +<p>"Well, so far as my knowledge of the law goes," replied Albert, "I +passed a good examination when I was admitted to the bar, I had some +practice in Sandgate, and since I've been with Frye I've learned a good +deal of the usual procedure here. I think I can do all that is +necessary."</p> + +<p>"My needs in a legal line are not complicated," continued Mr. Nason; "it +is mostly looking up deeds and making transfers, seeing that titles are +clear, etc. You will have to watch the custom officers, and there are +more or less collections to be made. Occasionally I have to resort to +the courts, but try to avoid them as much as possible."</p> + +<p>"I think I could attend to all such matters to your satisfaction," said +Albert confidently; "they are not hard tasks."</p> + +<p>"Very well," replied Mr. Nason. "I have decided, partly at the request +of my son and partly from my own estimate of your ability, to give you +the trial. I will pay you twenty-five hundred dollars per annum to look +after my needs, and you are also at liberty to take such other business +as comes to you so long as you do not neglect mine."</p> + +<p>"I thank you, Mr. Nason, for this offer," replied Albert, rising and +proffering his hand, "and I accept gladly and will devote all my time, +if need be, to your service."</p> + +<p>"Very good," responded Mr. Nason; "separate yourself from Frye at once, +or between now and the new year, and in the meantime I would suggest +that you rent a suitable office. There are one or two vacant in a +building I own on Water street that will serve very well, and when you +are through with Mr. Frye, come and see me. I shall consider you in my +employ from now on, and as you may need funds in fitting up your office, +I will advance you a little on your salary," and without further comment +he turned to his desk and wrote and handed Albert a check for five +hundred dollars. "I should prefer," he added hastily, as if to prevent +any word of thanks, "that you make no mention whatever of our agreement +to Mr. Frye, or in fact to any one, until after January first." Then +rising and offering his hand to Albert as if to dismiss him, he added:</p> + +<p>"Come out to my house any evening, Mr. Page; we shall be glad to see +you, and I am usually at home."</p> + +<p>There are moments when our emotions nullify all attempts at speech, and +to Albert Page, who before had felt himself alone and almost friendless +in a great city, this was such a one.</p> + +<p>"Never mind the thanks now," said Mr. Nason, as he saw Albert's +agitation; "put your thanks into your work, and in a year we will talk +it over."</p> + +<p>"And this is the man I had almost hired myself out to spy upon!" said +Albert to himself as he left the store.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX</h2> + +<h3>SHARP PRACTICE</h3> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p>For a few days after his interview with John Nason Albert tried to find +some plausible excuse for leaving Frye. He did not want to make an enemy +of him, and more especially now that he was to succeed him as John +Nason's legal adviser. He knew that Frye would know he could not easily +better himself, and would reason that, unknown and without money in a +great city as he was, it would be some unusual opening that would make +him turn away from what Frye considered a large salary. Then again, he +had promised Mr. Nason not to disclose their agreement to Frye, and more +than that, he felt in honor bound not to let Frye even suspect it. It +was while perplexed with the situation and trying to solve it that it +solved itself in an unexpected way.</p> + +<p>Frye was out that day, and Albert was, as he had been for three days, +thinking how to escape, when a red-faced and rather bellicose sort of a +man came in and inquired for Frye.</p> + +<p>"My name is Staples," he said, "and I've got a lawsuit on my hands. I've +laid the facts before your partner, I s'pose, but I thought I'd just +drop in and give him a few pointers that might help my case."</p> + +<p>"What is your case?" asked Albert, a little amused at being taken for +Frye's partner.</p> + +<p>"Wal, the facts are," replied Staples, "I've had to sue a miserable +whelp in self-defence. I live in Lynnfield. It's a small place about ten +miles out, and last spring I bought the good will, stock in trade, an' +all of a man by the name of Hunt, who was in the meat business. He +signed a paper, too, agreein' not to engage in the business in or within +ten miles o' Lynnfield for a period o' five years, and a month ago he +opened a shop almost 'cross the street from me and is cuttin' my prices +right and left, confound him."</p> + +<p>"And you are bringing an action for breach of contract?" interposed +Albert, thinking to have a little fun at the expense of his caller.</p> + +<p>"I'm a-suin' him for ten thousand dollars' damage, if that's what you +mean," replied the belligerent Staples. "I won't get it all, but then, +as your partner said, we may get more than if we sued for less. Law's a +big game of bluff, I reckon."</p> + +<p>Albert smiled. "And so you are basing your suit on this signed +agreement, are you?" he said; "well, you might as well stop just now, +for you have no case in law, though no doubt a good one in justice."</p> + +<p>"But the agreement is all signed and witnessed," exclaimed Staples, "and +Mr. Frye said I had good reason to bring suit, and I've paid him two +hundred dollars on account to do it."</p> + +<p>"That may be," said Albert, realizing he had put his foot in it, so to +speak, "and perhaps you have other grounds to base a suit for damages +on, but as for the agreement this man Hunt signed, it's of no value +whatever."</p> + +<p>"Then why in thunder did Frye tell me I had a good case, and take my +money?" gasped the irate Staples.</p> + +<p>"That I can't say," replied Albert, foreseeing the rumpus he had +started, "you'd better come to-morrow and have a talk with him. He may +have seen some loophole for you to win out through that I do not see, +but so far as your agreement goes, it's not worth the paper it's written +on."</p> + +<p>When the law-thirsty Staples had departed it dawned upon Albert that he +had unintentionally paved the way for his own escape from Frye. "I'll +stay away to-morrow," he said to himself, "and let Staples get in his +work, and then face the inevitable storm that I have started." He had +surmised the results accurately, for when, two days later, he purposely +reached the office late, Frye did not even bid him good morning.</p> + +<p>"Where were you yesterday?" he said curtly, as Albert entered.</p> + +<p>"I was availing myself of your express wish that I cultivate young +Nason," was the answer. "We went to Beverly to see to the housing-in of +his yacht for the winter."</p> + +<p>"And what did you say to Mr. Staples the day before, I would like to +know?" continued Frye in a sneering tone. "He has retained me for an +action for breach of contract, and you have told him he had no grounds +for suit. He came in yesterday, mad as a wet hen, and wanted his money +back. Are you a fool?"</p> + +<p>"Maybe I am," replied Albert, trying hard to keep cool, "but I do not +care to be told of it. Mr. Staples explained his case to me, and I +inadvertently told him that the agreement he held was of no value in +law, which is the truth."</p> + +<p>"And what has that to do with it?" said Frye, with biting sarcasm. "I +didn't hire you to tell the truth and lose me a paying client. If that +is your idea of law practice you had better go back to Sandgate and hoe +corn for a living. I knew very well his agreement was of no value, but +that was a matter for him to find out, not for us to tell him. You have +made a mess of it now, and lost me several hundred dollars in fees."</p> + +<p>Albert had remained standing through all this tirade, and looking +squarely at his irate employer.</p> + +<p>"You need not say any more," he put in, when Frye had paused for breath; +"if you will further oblige me with a check for the small balance due +me, I will not again upset your plans. You need not," he added, feeling +himself blush, "consider that you owe me any part of the increase you +recently promised. I do not want it."</p> + +<p>It was Frye's turn to be astonished now. That this verdant limb of the +law, as he considered Albert to be, could have the manliness to show any +resentment at his scourging, and what was more surprising, coolly resign +a good position, he could not understand. For a few minutes the two +looked at each other, and then Frye, for reasons of his own, weakened +first.</p> + +<p>"You are foolish," he said, in a modified tone, "to act so hastily. +Perhaps I have spoken rather rudely, but you must admit you gave me +provocation. Do not throw away a good chance for a few hasty words."</p> + +<p>"I do not care to discuss it," answered Albert firmly; "the role of +private detective that you want me to assume is not to my taste, anyway, +and your words have convinced me we can never get along together. I +will not remain longer on any terms."</p> + +<p>"And what will you do now?" sneered Frye, a sinister look entering his +yellow eyes, "steal or starve?"</p> + +<p>"Neither," replied Albert defiantly; "I'll go back to Sandgate and hoe +corn first."</p> + +<p>Then, as a realizing sense of how much he was in the power of this +courageous stripling came to Frye, his arrogance all melted, and as he +turned and began to play with a paper-cutter he said meekly:</p> + +<p>"Come, Mr. Page, overlook it all. I spoke too hastily, and I apologize."</p> + +<p>It was the guilty coward conquering the brute instinct, but it availed +not.</p> + +<p>"Will you oblige me with the small balance due me to-day," asked Albert, +"or shall I call again for it?"</p> + +<p>"And if we part company now," muttered Frye, "what am I to expect? Are +you to be a friend or an enemy?"</p> + +<p>"If you refer to your scheme to blackmail John Nason," replied Albert +resolutely, and not mincing words, "I am too ashamed to think I ever +listened to your proposals to even speak of it."</p> + +<p>It was a hard blow and made Frye wince, for it was the first time he had +ever been openly called a villain, but, craven hypocrite that he was, +he made no protest. Instead, he silently wrote a check for Albert's due +and handed it to him.</p> + +<p>"I am much obliged, Mr. Frye. Good morning, sir," said Albert in a +chilly tone, and putting on his hat, he left the office.</p> + +<p>When the door was closed behind him he turned, shook his fist at it, and +muttered: "You miserable old villainous vulture! I am glad I saved one +victim from being robbed by you!"</p> + +<p>But Albert cooled off in time. We always do.</p> + +<p>That night when he met Frank at the club he grasped one of that young +man's hands in both of his and as he shook it, exclaimed:</p> + +<p>"If you were Alice now, I would hug and kiss you!"</p> + +<p>"Well," responded Frank, "if you were Alice now, all I can say is, it +would meet my entire approbation; but tell me what ails you? Have you +had a fortune left you?"</p> + +<p>"Yes and no," replied Albert; "your father has given me the chance of a +lifetime and I am free from old Frye. I have you to thank for the +chance, I am sure."</p> + +<p>"Well, I put in a good word for you when I had the opportunity," said +Frank modestly, "and the sermon you preached me once, and which I +reported to dad, may have had some weight with him."</p> + +<p>In a week Albert had his office fitted up, and then he presented himself +to John Nason, and after that he not only had all the responsibility +thrust upon him that he was able to assume, but he no longer felt +himself in the position of a menial. To one of his proud spirit it meant +self-respect, life, and sunshine.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X</h2> + +<h3>AMID THE GREEN MOUNTAINS</h3> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p>There are two characteristics sure to be found among the residents of a +small country village, and those are kindness of heart and a love of +gossip. The former showed itself in Sandgate when Albert Page went to +those his family were indebted to, and, with much humiliation to +himself, asked them to wait. Mr. Hobbs' reply is all that is necessary +to quote, as it was a reflex of all the others.</p> + +<p>"Don't ye worry one whit, Mr. Page," he said; "take your own time, an' +if it's a year it's no matter. The only reason I called with the bill +was because it's customary when an estate is bein' settled. Tell your +folks I expect and want 'em to keep right on tradin' with me."</p> + +<p>When Alice appealed to Mr. Mears she also met only the kindest of words.</p> + +<p>"Ye can drive back an' forth, an' not be away from home over night," +said he, "till snow comes, an' then I'll git ye a boardin'-place clus by +the schoolhouse and fetch and carry ye Mondays and Fridays."</p> + +<p>The love of gossip showed itself as distinctly in a general discussion +by the townsfolk of the affairs of the Pages. For a month after Albert +had gone away and Alice had begun teaching, they were the subject of +much after-church and sewing-circle talk.</p> + +<p>"If Alice could only git married now," observed Mrs. Mears, who was +perhaps the leader among the gossips in Sandgate, "it 'ud be the most +fortunit thing that could happen, but she holds her head perty middlin' +high for a poor girl, which p'raps is nat'ral, she comin' from one o' +the oldest families. They say there wa'n't nothin' left to either on 'em +when the Widder Page died, an' the wonder is how she managed to git +along as well as she did."</p> + +<p>Fortunately none of this gossip, of which Mrs. Mears' remarks are only a +sample, reached Alice, for she had enough to bear as it was. The +vexations of an effort to pound the rudiments of an education into the +heads of two dozen or so barefooted boys and girls that comprised her +charge were far less hard to bear than the desolation of a home bereft +of mother and brother. Occasionally some one of the neighbors would drop +in of an evening, or one or two of her girl friends come and stay all +night. On Sundays she was, as she always had been, a regular attendant +at the village church, where she formed one of the choir. She had never +encouraged the attentions of any of the young men, who mostly wore the +habiliments of farmers on week days and worse-fitting ones on Sundays, +which accounted for Mrs. Mears' remark that "she held her head perty +middlin' high." It was true in a way, not from any false pride, but +rather because Alice was of a more refined and fastidious nature than +those who "would a-wooing go."</p> + +<p>She was like a flower herself, not only in looks, but in delicacy of +feeling and sentiment, and her sweet face, sheltered by a mourning-hat +on Sunday at church, was a magnet that drew the eyes of many a village +swain. The days and weeks of her new life as a teacher passed in +uneventful procession until one by one the leaves had fallen from the +two big elm trees in front of the desolate home, the meadows were but +level fields of snow, and Christmas was only two weeks away. Then she +received a letter from the absent brother that caused her heart to beat +with unusual excitement. It read:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p><span class="smcap">Dear Sis</span>: Three weeks ago I received a most flattering proposal +from Mr. Nason, Frank's father, who offered me a good salary to +take charge of his law business, and also the chance to accept +anything else that came my way. I have a nice office now in a block +he owns, and am so busy I do not find time to write to you even. +It's an opening of a lifetime, and I owe it mainly to Frank. Now I +am so homesick I am coming up to spend Christmas with you, and I've +invited Frank to come also. We shall be up the day before and stay +till the Monday after. Frank has done so much for me that I want to +entertain him in the best way possible. He knows absolutely nothing +about country life, and it may be dull for him, but he seems +desirous of coming, and so I want you to help me to make it cheerful +for him. To be candid, sis, I think the chance to see you, whom he +has heard me say so much about, is the real loadstone. I enclose a +bit of paper, and I want you to use it all in any way you wish.</p></div> + +<p>It was a check for one hundred dollars!</p> + +<p>It was not strange that at school next day Alice's thoughts were not on +the recitations, and when one boy spelled beauty "b-o-o-t-i-e," and +raised a laugh, she did not understand why it was. Children are in some +ways as keen as briers, and her pupils soon discovered that "teacher" +was absent-minded and they whispered right and left. When she discovered +it she didn't have the heart to punish them, and was glad when the time +came to dismiss school.</p> + +<p>The instinct of her sex was strong within her, however, and that night +she said to Aunt Susan:</p> + +<p>"Do you think, auntie, we could manage between us to make up some sort +of a pretty house-dress? Of course I must wear black when I go out, but +it would be no harm to wear something brighter at home. I could get some +delicate gray cashmere, and Mrs. Sloper can cut and fit it, and you and +I can make it evenings. I want a sort of house-gown trimmed with satin. +I wish I dared to have a new hat for church, with a little color in +it,—my mourning-bonnet makes me look so old,—but I am afraid people +would talk."</p> + +<p>The feminine fear of looking old was needless in her case.</p> + +<p>But how the days dragged, and how many times she counted them to see how +many more were to pass ere that dearly beloved brother was to arrive! +And what sort of a looking fellow was this Frank? she wondered. She +hoped he was tall and dark, not too tall, but good and stout. And how +could she ever entertain them? She could play and sing a few pretty +ballads, and any number of hymns, but as for conversation she felt +herself wholly deficient. Of the world of art, literature, and the drama +she knew but little. She had read a good many novels, it is true, and +had seen "Uncle Tom's Cabin," "East Lynne," and one or two other +tear-moving dramas played in the town hall, but that was all. She had +never even journeyed as far as Boston or New York. "He will think me as +green as the hills around us," she thought ruefully, "but I can't help +it. I can cook some nice things for him to eat, anyhow, and Bert must do +the talking. I wonder if he plays the piano. I hope not, for if he does +I'll not touch it."</p> + +<p>Christmas came on Thursday that year and her school was to close for a +week on the Friday before. She had a little plan in her mind, and the +last day of school she called on two of the big boys to help her.</p> + +<p>"My brother is coming home to spend Christmas," she said to them, "and I +want a lot of ground-pine to trim up the house. Will you bring me some?"</p> + +<p>If there is anything that will touch a country boy's heart it is to have +"teacher"—and especially a young and pretty teacher—ask him to go for +ground-pine; so it is needless to say that Alice was supplied with an +ample outfit of that graceful vine. More than that, they begged for the +privilege of helping her festoon it, and when long ropes of it were +draped over the windows and above the fireplace in the big parlor, and +the hall and dining-room received the same decoration, the house +presented a cheerful appearance. The culinary department was not +neglected either, and a great store of pies, frosted cake, and doughnuts +was prepared.</p> + +<p>"I do not know what I should do without you, Aunt Susan," the fair young +hostess said the day before the guests were to arrive; "I couldn't do +this all alone, and I want to give Bert a welcome."</p> + +<p>It may be surmised that consideration for that big brother was not the +sole force that moved her, but the veil that shelters the heart of a +sweet young girl must not be rudely drawn aside. She had written: "I +shall be only too glad to do all in my power, in my poor way, to +entertain your friend who has done so much for you," and we will let +that disclosure of gratitude suffice.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI</h2> + +<h3>BY THE FIRESIDE</h3> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p>"You must not expect much excitement up in Sandgate," Albert said to his +friend the day they started for that quiet village. "It is a small +place, and all the people do in the winter is to chop wood, shovel snow, +eat, and go to meeting. We shall go sleighing and I shall take you to +church to be stared at, and for the rest Alice and Aunt Susan will give +us plenty to eat."</p> + +<p>It must be admitted that this same Alice, whose picture had so +interested him, was the attraction which made young Nason glad to accept +his friend's cordial invitation, and then he really felt a very warm +friendship for that friend. It is likely that the perfect sincerity and +wholesome ideas of Albert attracted and held his rather more pliable and +easy-going nature. The strong attract the weak, among men, and Frank +Nason, never having been hardened by adversity, looked up to and admired +the man who had courage and perseverance. He wondered if Alice was like +him, and rather hoped not. It was nearly dark and snowing when they +reached Sandgate, and when he saw a plump girlish figure with slightly +whitened garments rush forward, almost jump into his friend's arms, and +kiss him vehemently, it occurred to him that a welcome home by such a +sister was worth coming many miles for.</p> + +<p>Then he heard his name mumbled in a hurried introduction and, as he +raised his hat, saw this girl withdraw a small hand from a mitten and +offer it to him.</p> + +<p>"I am very glad to meet you, Mr. Nason," she said with a bright smile; +"my brother has told me so much about you I feel almost acquainted." And +then, turning to that brother, she added: "I have the horse hitched +outside, Bert, so we will go right home."</p> + +<p>She led the way, and when they had stowed their belongings in the sleigh +she said, "You can hold me in your lap, Bert, and I'll drive. I'm used +to it now." She chirruped to the rather docile horse, and as the bells +began to jingle she added: "What have you got in that box, Bertie?"</p> + +<p>"Ask me no questions and I'll tell you no fibs, Miss Curious," he +answered. "Wait until to-morrow and then I'll show you."</p> + +<p>When they drove into the yard he said: "Take Frank right in, sis, and +I'll unharness."</p> + +<p>It was quite dark now, but Frank noticed, as he gathered up the bags and +bundles and followed his hostess, that the rather stately house was +aglow with light.</p> + +<p>"Leave your hat and coat here in the hall, Mr. Nason," she said +cordially, "and go right into the parlor and get warm. You will kindly +excuse me now. I'm first and second girl, housemaid and cook, and I must +go and help Aunt Susan to get supper ready. You two gentlemen are +hungry, I'm sure."</p> + +<p>It was not a formal reception, but it was a cordial one, which was +better, and when Frank entered the parlor he was surprised at the +cheerful sight, for the room was festooned all around with ropes of +evergreen. The long mantel over the fireplace, bright with flames, was +banked with a mass of green, and against each white lace curtain hung a +wreath. In one corner stood an upright piano, in sharp contrast with the +rather antique hair-cloth chairs and sofa. He had just drawn a chair to +the fire, when Albert came in and gave a low whistle at the sight of the +decorations. "That's one of the perquisites of a country schoolma'am," +he observed, "and I'll bet the boys that gathered all this green for +Alice enjoyed getting it. I used to when I was a boy. Well, old +fellow," he added, addressing Frank, "here we are, and you must make +yourself at home."</p> + +<p>Then Alice came in and announced supper, and after Aunt Susan had been +introduced, they all sat down. It was an old-fashioned meal, for while +the brother helped to the ham and eggs and fried potatoes, Aunt Susan +served the quince preserves and passed the hot biscuit, and Alice poured +the tea. The table too had a Christmas touch, for around the mat where +the lamp stood was a green wreath brightened with clusters of red +berries. It was all a charming picture, and not the least of it was the +fair girl who so graciously played the hostess. When the meal was over +she said:</p> + +<p>"Now you two gentlemen must go into the parlor and smoke, and I'll join +you later. I command you to smoke," she added imperiously, "for I want +the house to smell as if there was a man around."</p> + +<p>When she came in later, wearing her new house-dress, she drew her chair +close to her brother's and resting her elbows on his knee and her chin +in her open palms she looked up and said with a witching smile:</p> + +<p>"Now, Bertie, I've fed you nicely, haven't I? and I've done all I could +for your comfort, so now please tell me what is in that long flat box +you brought."</p> + +<p>It was charmingly done, but the big brother was proof against her wiles. +"You are a bewitching coaxer, sis," he answered, "but I am hard-hearted. +I'll make a trade with you, though. First tell us all about your +school-teaching and sing us all the songs I ask for, and then I'll open +the box."</p> + +<p>"You are very modest in your wants," she replied archly, "but like all +men you must be humored to keep you good-natured, I presume."</p> + +<p>"I wish you would tell us about your school, Miss Page," put in Frank; +"you are not a bit like the schoolma'am of my boyhood, and I would like +to know how you manage children."</p> + +<p>"Well, it was a little hard at first," she answered, "for boys and girls +of ten and twelve have surprisingly keen intuitions, and it seemed to me +they made a study of my face from the first and concluded I was +soft-hearted. I had one little boy that was a born mischief-maker, but +he had such winsome ways I had to love him in spite of it. But he had to +be punished some way, and so one day I kept him after school and then +told him I must whip him hard, but not at that time. I explained to him +what I was going to punish him for, 'but,' I said, 'I shall not do it +to-night. I may do it to-morrow or the day after, but I will not tell +you when the whipping is to come until I am ready to do it.' My little +plan was a success, for the next night he waited till all the rest had +gone, and then came to me with tears in his eyes, and begged me to whip +him then. I didn't, though, and told him I wouldn't until he disobeyed +again. He has been the most obedient boy in the school ever since. There +is one little girl who has won my heart, though, in the oddest way you +can imagine. The day I received your letter, Bert, I was so happy that +the school ran riot, and I never knew it. They must have seen it in my +face, I think. Well, when school was out, this girl, a shy little body +of ten, sidled up to my desk and said, 'Pleath may I kith you, teacher, +'fore I go home?' It was such an odd and pretty bit of feeling, it +nearly brought tears to my eyes."</p> + +<p>"I should like to give that little girl a box of candy, Miss Page," +observed Frank, "and then ask her for a kiss myself."</p> + +<p>For an hour Alice kept both the young men interested in her anecdotes of +school-teaching, and then her brother said:</p> + +<p>"Come, sis, you must sing some, or no box to-night!"</p> + +<p>"Well," she replied, smiling, "what shall it be? a few gems from Moody +and Sankey, or from 'Laurel Leaves'?" And then turning to Frank she +added: "My brother just dotes on church music!"</p> + +<p>"Alice," said her brother with mock sternness, "if you fib like that you +know the penalty!"</p> + +<p>"Do you play or sing, Mr. Nason?" she inquired, not heeding her brother.</p> + +<p>"I do not know one note from another," he answered.</p> + +<p>"Well, that is fortunate for me," she said; "I only sing a few +old-fashioned ballads, and help out at church."</p> + +<p>Then without further apology she went to the piano. "Come, Bertie," she +said, "you must help me, and we will go through the College Songs." And +go through them they did, beginning with "Clementine" and ending with +"The Quilting Party."</p> + +<p>"Now, sis," said her brother, "I want 'Old Folks at Home,' 'Annie +Laurie,' 'Rock-a-bye,' and 'Ben Bolt,' and then I'll open the box."</p> + +<p>It was a simple, old-fashioned home parlor entertainment, and no doubt +most musical artists would have sneered at the programme, but Alice had +a wonderfully sweet and sympathetic soprano voice, and as Frank sat +watching the fitful flames play hide-and-seek in the open fire, and +listened to those time-worn ballads, it seemed to him he had never heard +singing quite so sweet. Much depends upon the time and place, and +perhaps the romance of the open fire sparkling beneath the bank of +evergreen, and making the roses come into the fair singer's cheeks, and +warming the golden sheen of her hair, had much to do with it. When she +came to "Ben Bolt," that old ditty that has all the pathos of our lost +youth in it, there was a tiny quiver in her voice; and when she +finished, had he been near he would have seen the glint of two unshed +tears in her eyes, for the song carried her thoughts to where her mother +was at rest.</p> + +<p>It was the first time he had ever heard that song, and he never +afterwards forgot it.</p> + +<p>"Now, Bertie," said Alice coaxingly, after she had finished singing, +"haven't I earned the box?"</p> + +<p>It was an appeal that few men could resist, and certainly not Albert +Page, and, true to his promise, he gave her the mysterious box. With +excited fingers she untied the cords, tore off the wrapper, and as she +lifted the cover she saw—a beautiful seal-skin sacque!</p> + +<p>We will leave to the reader's imagination any and all the expressions +that followed, for no pen can give them with all their girlish fervor, +and when the exciting incident was over, it was time for retiring.</p> + +<p>That evening, with its simple home enjoyments, sincere and wholesome, +its bright open fire, the unaffected cordiality of brother and sister, +and beyond all, the feeling that he was a welcome guest, made those few +hours ones long to be remembered by Frank. To begin with, the cheerful +fire was a novelty to him, and perhaps that added a touch of romance. +Then Alice herself was a surprise. He had been captivated by her +picture, but had half expected to find her a timid country girl, too shy +to do aught but answer "yes" and "no," and look pleasant. Then her voice +was also a surprise, and when he reached the seclusion of his room it +haunted him. And more than that, so intently had its bird-like sweetness +charmed him that it usurped all his thoughts. He had thanked her for the +entertainment, of course, but now that he was alone, it seemed to him +that his formal thanks had been too feeble an expression. "I don't +wonder Bert adores her," he thought; "she is the most winsome, +unaffected, and sweet little lady I ever met. If I were to remain in +this house a week I should be madly in love with her myself."</p> + +<p>He was a good deal so, as it was.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII</h2> + +<h3>A COUNTRY SCHOOLMA'AM</h3> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p>"I have directed our liveryman to send over his best nag and a cutter +this morning," said Albert at breakfast the next day to his friend, "and +you and Alice can take a sleigh-ride and see Sandgate snow-clad. I have +some business matters to attend to."</p> + +<p>Later, when he was alone with Alice, he added with a smile: "You need +not feel obliged to wear your new sacque, sis; it's not very cold."</p> + +<p>"Oh, you tease!" she replied, but the light in her eyes betrayed her +feelings.</p> + +<p>It was a delightful day for a sleigh-ride, for every bush and tree was +covered with a white fleece of snow, and the morning sun added a tiny +sparkle to every crystal. A thicket of spruce was changed to a grove of +towering white cones and an alder swamp to a fantastic fairyland. It was +all new to Frank, and as he drove away with that bright and vivacious +girl for a companion it is needless to say he enjoyed it to the utmost.</p> + +<p>"I had no idea your town was so hemmed in by mountains," he said after +they started and he had a chance to look around; "why, you are +completely shut in, and such grand ones, too! They are more beautiful +than the White Mountains and more graceful in shape."</p> + +<p>"They are all of that," answered Alice, "and yet at times they make me +feel as if I was shut in, away from all the world. We who see them every +day forget their beauty and only feel their desolation, for a great +tree-clad mountain is desolate in winter, I think. At least it is apt to +reflect one's mood. I suppose you have travelled a great deal, Mr. +Nason?"</p> + +<p>"Not nearly as much as I ought to," he answered, "for the reason that I +can't find any one I like to go with me. My mother and sisters go away +to some watering-place every summer and stay there, and father sticks to +business. I either dawdle around where the folks are summers, or stay in +town and hate myself, if I can't find some one to go off on my yacht +with me. The fact is, Miss Page," he added mournfully, "I have hard work +to kill time. I can get a little party to run to Newport or Bar Harbor +in the summer, and that is all. I should like to go to Florida or the +West Indies in the winter, or to Labrador or Greenland summers, but I +can't find company."</p> + +<p>Alice was silent for a moment, for the picture of a young man +complaining because he had nothing to do but spend his time and money +was new to her.</p> + +<p>"You are to be pitied," she said at last, with a tinge of sarcasm, "but +still, there are just a few who would envy you."</p> + +<p>He made no reply, for he did not quite understand whether she meant to +be sarcastic or not. They rode along in silence for a time, and then +Alice pointed to a small square brown building just ahead, almost hid in +bushes, and said:</p> + +<p>"Do you see that magnificent structure we are coming to, and do you +notice its grand columns and lofty dome? If you had been a country boy +you would recollect seeing a picture of it in the spelling-book. Take a +good look at it, for that is a temple of knowledge, and it is there I +teach school!"</p> + +<p>Frank was silent, for this time the sarcastic tone in her voice was more +pronounced. When they reached it he stopped and said quietly, "Please +hold the reins. I want to look into the room where you spend your days."</p> + +<p>He took a good long look, and when he returned he said, "So that is what +you call a temple, is it? And it was in there the little girl wanted to +kiss you because you looked happy?" And then as they drove on he added, +"Do you know, I've thought of that pretty little touch of feeling a +dozen times since you told about it, and when I go home I shall send a +box of candy to you and ask you to do me the favor of giving it to that +little girl."</p> + +<p>It was not what she expected he would say, and it rather pleased her.</p> + +<p>Conversation is but an exchange of moods, and in spite of their +inspiring surroundings, the moods of those two young people did not seem +to appeal to each other. To Alice, whose constant life of self-denial +had made her feel that the world was cold and selfish, his complaints +seemed little short of sacrilege; and he felt he had made a mess of it +somehow in his really honest desire to be sincere. But two people so +placed must talk, whether they feel like it or not, and so these two +tried hard to be sociable. He wisely allowed her to do the most talking, +and was really interested in her humorous descriptions of +school-teaching. When they were nearly home he said:</p> + +<p>"You are not a bit like what I imagined a schoolma'am was like."</p> + +<p>"Did you think I wore blue glasses and petted a black cat?" she asked +laughingly.</p> + +<p>"The glasses might be a protection to susceptible young men," he +answered, "and for that reason I would advise you to wear them."</p> + +<p>"Shall I get some to-morrow to wear while you are here?" she queried +with a smile. "I will if you feel in danger."</p> + +<p>"Would you do it if I admitted I was?" he replied, resolving to stand +his ground, and looking squarely at her.</p> + +<p>But that elusive young lady was not to be cornered.</p> + +<p>"You remind me of a story Bert told once," she said, "about an Irishman +who was called upon to plead guilty or not guilty to the charge of +drunkenness. When asked afterwards how he pleaded he said: 'Bedad, I +give the judge an equivocal answer.' 'And what was that?' said his +friend. 'Begorra, whin the judge axed me was I guilty or not guilty, I +answered, "Was yer grandfather a monkey?" And then he gave me sixty +days.'"</p> + +<p>"Well," replied Frank, "that is a good story, but it doesn't answer my +question."</p> + +<p>That afternoon when Alice was alone with her brother, he said: "Well, +sis, how do you like my friend?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, he means to be nice," she replied, "but he is a little thoughtless, +and it would do him good to have to work for his living a year or two."</p> + +<p>Albert looked at his sister, while an amused smile spread over his face, +and then said:</p> + +<p>"If you weren't so abominably pretty you wouldn't be so fussy. Most +young ladies would consider the good-looking and only son of a +millionaire absolutely perfect at sight."</p> + +<p>"But I don't," she replied, "and if you weren't the best brother in the +world I'd box your ears! 'Abominably pretty!' The idea!"</p> + +<p>The two days intervening before Sunday passed all too quickly for the +three young people. One day they drove to a distant country town and had +dinner, and that evening Alice, true to her sex, invited Frank to go +with her to call upon her dearest girl friend. Just why she did this we +will leave to any young lady to answer, if she will. The next day Albert +invited a little party, and that evening they all met at the old mill +pond and had a skating frolic. Secluded as it was, between wooded banks, +it was just the place for that kind of fun, and the young men added +romance to the scene by lighting a bonfire! When Sunday morning came +they of course attended church, and Frank, as promised, found himself +slyly stared at by all the people of Sandgate. He did not pay much +attention to the sermon, but a good deal to a certain sweet soprano +voice in the choir, and when after service Alice joined them, he boldly +walked right away with her and left Albert chatting with a neighbor. It +is certain that this proceeding did not displease her, for no wise young +lady is averse to the assumed protectorship of a good-looking and +well-dressed young man, especially when other girls are looking on.</p> + +<p>On the way home she, of course, asked the usual question as to how he +liked the sermon.</p> + +<p>"I don't think I heard ten words of it," he replied; "I was kept busy +counting how many I caught looking at me, and whenever the choir sang I +forgot to count. Why was it they stared at me so much? Is a stranger +here a walking curiosity?"</p> + +<p>"In a way, yes," answered Alice; "they don't mean to be rude, but a new +face at church is a curio. I'll wager that nine out of ten who were +there this morning are at this moment discussing your looks and +wondering who and what you are."</p> + +<p>But all visits come to an end, and Frank, already more than half in love +with the girl who had treated him in a rather cool though perfectly +courteous way, realized that he would soon be not only out of sight, but +out of mind, so far as Alice was concerned. In a way he had been spoiled +by being sought after by managing mammas and over-anxious daughters, and +was unprepared for the slightly indifferent reception he had met with +from Alice. He had been attracted by her face the first time he saw her +picture, and five days' association had not lessened the attraction.</p> + +<p>A realization of her cool indifference tinged his feelings that evening +just at dusk, where he had been left alone beside the freshly started +parlor fire, and when the object of his thought happened in, he sat +staring moodily at the flames. She drew a chair opposite, and seating +herself, said pleasantly:</p> + +<p>"Why so pensive, Mr. Nason? Has going to church made you feel +repentant?"</p> + +<p>"I don't feel the need of repentance except in one way," he answered, +"and that you would not be interested in. If I am looking pensive," he +continued, turning towards her, "it's because I'm going away to-morrow."</p> + +<p>It was a step towards dangerous ground, and she realized it, but a +little spice of daring coquetry impelled her to say:</p> + +<p>"Tell me what you feel to repent of; I may be able to offer you some +good advice."</p> + +<p>He had turned toward the fire again, and sat shading his face with one +hand, and slowly passing his fingers across his forehead. For a moment +he waited, and then answered:</p> + +<p>"To be candid, Miss Page, I'm growing ashamed of the useless life I +lead, and it's that I feel to repent of. A few things your brother said +to me three months ago were the beginning, and a remark you made the day +we first went sleighing has served to increase that feeling. Ever since +I left college I have led an aimless life, bored to death by <i>ennui</i>, +and conscious that no one was made any happier by my existence. What +Bert said to me, and your remark, have only served to make me realize it +more fully."</p> + +<p>They were both on risky ground now, and no one knew it better than +Alice, but she did not lose her head.</p> + +<p>"I am very sorry, Mr. Nason," she said pleasantly, "if any words of mine +hurt you even a little. I have forgotten what they were, and wish you +would. The visit which you and Bert are making me is a most delightful +break in the monotony of my life, and I shall be very glad to see you +again." And then rising she added, "If I hurt you, please say you +forgive me, for I must go out and see to getting tea."</p> + +<p>It was an adroit escape from a predicament, and she felt relieved. It +must also be stated that her visitor had taken a long step upward in her +estimation.</p> + +<p>The last evening was passed much like the first, except that now the +elusive Alice seemed to be transformed into a far more gracious hostess, +and all her smiles and interest seemed to be lavished upon Frank +instead of her brother. It was as if this occult little lady had come to +feel a new and surprising curiosity in all that concerned the life and +amusements of her visitor. With true feminine skill she plied him with +all manner of questions, and affected the deepest interest in all he had +to say. What were his sisters' amusements? Did they entertain much, play +tennis, golf, or ride? Where did they usually go summers, and did he +generally go with them? His own comings and goings, and where he had +been and what he saw there, were also made a part of the grist he was +encouraged to grind. She even professed a keen interest in his yacht, +and listened patiently to a most elaborate description of that craft, +although as a row-boat was the largest vessel she had ever set foot on, +it is likely she did not gain a very clear idea of the "Gypsy."</p> + +<p>"Your yacht has a very suggestive name," she said; "it makes one think +of green woods and camp-fires. I should dearly love to take a sail in +her. I have read so much about yachts and yachting that the idea of +sailing along the shores in one's own floating house, as it were, has a +fascination for me."</p> + +<p>This expression of taste was so much in line with Frank's, and the idea +of having this charming girl for a yachting companion so tempting, that +his face glowed.</p> + +<p>"Nothing would give me greater pleasure," he responded, "than to have +you for a guest on my boat, Miss Page. I think it could be managed if I +could only coax my mother and sisters to go, and you and your brother +would join us. We would visit the Maine coast resorts and have no end of +a good time."</p> + +<p>"It's a delightful outing you suggest," she answered, "and I thank you +very much; but I wouldn't think of coming if your family had to be +coaxed to go, and then, it's not likely that Bert could find the time."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I didn't mean it that way," he said, looking serious, "only mother +and the girls are afraid of the water, that is all."</p> + +<p>When conversation lagged Frank begged that she would sing for him, and +suggested selections from Moody and Sankey; and despite her brother's +sarcastic remark that it wasn't a revival meeting they were holding, she +not only played and sang all those time-worn melodies, but a lot of +others from older collections. When retiring-time came, Frank asked that +she conclude with "Ben Bolt."</p> + +<p>"I shall not need to recall that song to remind me of you," he said in a +low voice as he spread it on the music rack in front of her, "but I +shall always feel its mood when I think of you."</p> + +<p>"Does that mean that you will think of me as sleeping 'in a corner +obscure and alone' in some churchyard?" she responded archly.</p> + +<p>"By no means," he said, "only I may perhaps have a little of the same +mood at times that Ben Bolt had when he heard of the fate of his sweet +Alice."</p> + +<p>It was a pretty speech and Frank imagined she threw a little more than +usual pathos into the song after it; but then, no doubt his imagination +was biased by his feelings.</p> + +<p>When they stood on the platform the next morning awaiting the train, he +said quietly:</p> + +<p>"May I send you a few books and some new songs when I get home, Miss +Page? I want to show you how much I have enjoyed this visit."</p> + +<p>"It is very nice of you to say so," she replied, "and I shall be glad to +be remembered, and hope you will visit us again."</p> + +<p>When the train came in he rather hurriedly offered his hand and with a +"Permit me to thank you again," as he raised his hat, turned away to +gather up the satchels and so as not to be witness to her leave-taking +from her brother.</p> + +<p>It was a tactful act that was not lost upon her.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII</h2> + +<h3>SOUTHPORT ISLAND</h3> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p>In summer Southport Island, as yet untainted by the tide of outing +travel, was a spot to inspire dreams, poetry, and canvases covered with +ocean lore. Its many coves and inlets where the tides ebbed and flowed +among the weed-covered rocks; its bold cliffs, sea washed, and above +which the white gulls and fish-hawks circled; the deep thickets of +spruce through which the ocean winds murmured, and where great beds of +ferns and clusters of red bunch-berries grew, were one and all left +undisturbed, week in, week out.</p> + +<p>At the Cape, where Uncle Terry, Aunt Lissy, and Telly lived their simple +home life, and Bascom, the storekeeper and postmaster, talked +unceasingly when he could find a listener, and Deacon Oaks wondered why +"the grace o' God hadn't freed the land from stuns," no one ever came to +disturb its quietude. Every morning Uncle Terry, often accompanied by +Telly in a calico dress and sunbonnet, rowed out to pull his lobster +traps, and after dinner harnessed and drove to the head of the island to +meet the mail boat, then at eventide, after lighting his pipe and the +lighthouse lamp at about the same time, generally strolled over to +Bascom's to have a chat, while Telly made a call on the "Widder Leach," +a misanthropic but pious protegée of hers, and Aunt Lissy read the +"Boston Journal." Once in about three weeks, according to weather, the +monotony of the village was disturbed by the arrival of the small +schooner owned jointly by Uncle Terry, Oaks, and Bascom, and which plied +between the Cape and Boston. Once in two weeks services were held as +usual in the little brown church, and as often the lighthouse tender +called and left coal and oil for Uncle Terry. Regularly on Thursday +evenings the few piously inclined, led by Deacon Oaks, gathered in the +church to sing hymns they repeated fifty-two times each year, listen to +a prayer by Oaks, that seldom varied in a single sentence, and heard +Auntie Leach thank the Lord for his "many mercies," though what they +were in her case it would be hard to tell, unless being permitted to +live alone and work hard to live at all was a mercy. The scattered +islanders and the handful whose dwellings comprised the Cape worked +hard, lived frugally, and were unconscious that all around them was a +rocky shore whose cliffs and inlets and beaches were so many poems of +picturesque and charming scenery.</p> + +<p>This was Southport in summer, but in winter when the little harbor at +the Cape was ice-bound, the winding road to the head of the island +buried beneath drifts, and the people often for weeks at a time +absolutely cut off from communication with the rest of the world, it was +a place cheerless in its desolation. Like so many woodchucks then, the +residents kept within doors, or only stirred out to cut wood, fodder the +stock, and shovel paths so that the children could go to school. The +days were short and the evenings long, and to get together and spend +hours in labored conversation the only pastime. It was one of those long +evenings, and when Aunt Lissy and Telly were at a neighbor's, and Uncle +Terry, left to himself, was reading every line, including the +advertisements, in the last "Boston Journal," that the following met his +eye:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>WANTED.—Information that will lead to the discovery of an heir to +the estate of one Eric Peterson, a land-owner and shipbuilder of +Stockholm, Sweden, whose son, with his wife, child, and crew, were +known to have been wrecked on the coast of Maine, in March, 187-. +Nothing has ever been heard of said Peterson or his wife, but the +child may have been saved. Any one having information that will +lead to the discovery of this child will be amply rewarded by +communicating with</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Nicholas Frye,</span></p> + +<p>— <span class="smcap">Pemberton Square, Boston.</span> <i>Attorney at Law.</i></p></div> + +<p>"Wal, I'll be everlastin'ly gol darned!" he exclaimed after he had read +it for the third time. "If this don't beat all natur, I'm a goat."</p> + +<p>It was fortunate he was alone, for it gave him time to think the matter +over, and after half an hour of astonishment he decided to say nothing +to his wife or Telly.</p> + +<p>"I'll jis' breathe easy an' sag up," he said to himself, "same as though +I was crossin' thin ice, an' if nothin' comes on't nobody'll be the +worse for worryin'."</p> + +<p>Then he cut the slip out and hid it in his black leather wallet, and +then wisely cut out the entire page and burned it.</p> + +<p>"Wimmin are sich curis creeters they'd be sure to want to know what I'd +cut out o' that page," he said to himself, "an' never rest till I told +'em."</p> + +<p>When Aunt Lissy and Telly came home he was as composed as a rock and sat +quietly puffing his pipe, with his feet on top of a chair and pointing +towards the fire.</p> + +<p>"Were you lonesome, father?" asked Telly, who usually led conversation +in the Terry home. "We stopped at Bascom's, and you know he never stops +talking."</p> + +<p>"He's worse'n burdock burs ter git away from," answered Uncle Terry, +"an' ye can't be perlite ter him unless ye want t' spend the rest o' yer +life listenin'. His tongue allus seemed ter be hung in the middle an' +wag both ways. I wasn't lonesome," he continued, rising and adding a few +sticks to the fire, as the two women laid aside their wraps and drew +chairs up; "I've read the paper purty well through an' had a spell o' +livin' over by-gones," and then, turning to Telly and smiling, he added: +"I got thinkin' o' the day ye came ashore, an' mother she got that +excited she sot the box ye was in on the stove an' then put more wood +in. It's a wonder she didn't put ye in the stove instead o' the wood!"</p> + +<p>As this joke was not new to the listeners, no notice was taken of it, +and the three lapsed into silence.</p> + +<p>Outside the steady boom of the surf beating on the rocks came with +monotonous regularity, and inside the clock ticked. For a long time +Uncle Terry sat and smoked on in silence, resuming, perhaps, his +by-gones, and then said: "By the way, Telly, what's become o' them +trinkets o' yourn ye had on that day? It's been so long now, 'most +twenty years, I 'bout forgot 'em. I s'pose ye hain't lost 'em, hev ye?"</p> + +<p>"Why, no, father," she answered, a little surprised. "I hope not. They +are all in the box in my bureau, and no one ever disturbs them."</p> + +<p>"Ye wouldn't mind fetchin' 'em now, would ye, Telly?" he continued after +drawing a long whiff of smoke and slowly emitting it in rings. "It's +been so many years, an' since I got thinkin' 'bout it I'd like to take a +look at 'em, jest to remind me o' that fortunate day ye came to us."</p> + +<p>The girl arose, and going upstairs, returned with a small tin box shaped +like a trunk, and drawing the table up in front of Uncle Terry, set the +box down upon it. It is likely that its contents were so many links that +bound the two together, for as he opened it she perched herself on the +arm of his chair, and leaning against his shoulder, passed one arm +caressingly around his neck and watched him take out the contents.</p> + +<p>First came a soft, fleecy baby blanket, then two little garments, once +whitest muslin but now yellow with age, and then another smaller one of +flannel. Pinned to this were two tiny shoes of knitted wool. In the +bottom of the box was a small wooden shoe, and though clumsy in +comparison, yet evidently fashioned to fit a lady's foot. Tucked in +this was a little box tied with faded ribbon, and in this were a locket +and chain, two rings, and a scrap of paper. The writing on the paper, +once hastily scrawled by a despairing mother's hand, had almost faded, +and inside the locket were two faces, one a man's with strongly marked +features, the other girlish with big eyes and hair in curls.</p> + +<p>These were all the heritage of this waif of the sea who now, a fair girl +with eyes and face like the woman's picture, was leaning on the shoulder +of her foster-father, and they told a pathetic tale of life and death; +of romance and mystery not yet unwoven, and a story not yet told.</p> + +<p>How many times that orphan girl had imagined what that tale might be; +how often before she had examined every one of those mute tokens; how +many times gazed with moist eyes at the faces in the locket; and how, as +the years bearing her onward toward maturity passed, had she hoped and +waited, hoping ever that some word, some whisper from that far-off land +of her birth might reach her! But none ever came, and now hope was dead.</p> + +<p>And as she looked at those mute relics which told so little and yet so +much of her history, while the old man who had been all that a kind +father could be to her took them out one by one, she realized more than +ever before what a debt of gratitude she owed to him. When he had looked +them over and put them back in the exact order in which they had been +packed, he closed the box, and taking the little hand that had been +caressing his face in his own wrinkled and bony one, held it for a +moment. When he released it the girl stooped, and pressing her lips to +his weather-browned cheek, arose and resumed her seat. Had observant +eyes watched her then, they would have noticed that hers remained closed +for a few moments and that two tears glistened there.</p> + +<p>"Wal, ye better put the box away now," said Uncle Terry at last. "I'll +jest go out an' take a look off'n the pint and then it'll be time to +turn in."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV"></a>CHAPTER XIV</h2> + +<h3>A LEGALIZED PICKPOCKET</h3> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p>"I've got ter go ter Boston," said Uncle Terry to his wife a few days +later. "Thar's some money due us that we ain't sartin we'll git. You an' +Telly can tend the lights for a couple o' nights, can't ye? I won't be +gone more'n that. Bascom's to take me up to the head, an' if the boat's +runnin' I'll be all right."</p> + +<p>This plan had cost Uncle Terry a good deal of diplomacy. Not only did he +have to invent a reasonable excuse for going by exciting the fears of +both Bascom and Oaks regarding money really due them, but he had to +allay the curiosity of his wife and Telly as well. In a small village +like the Cape every one's movements were well known to all and commented +on, and no one was better aware of it than Uncle Terry. But go to Boston +he must, and to do so right in the dead of winter, when to take such a +trip was an unheard-of thing, and not excite a small tempest of curious +gossip, taxed his Yankee wit.</p> + +<p>At Bath he had a few hours' wait, and went to the bank and drew a +sizable sum of money from his small savings.</p> + +<p>"Lawyers are sech sharps, consarn 'em!" he said to himself, "I'd better +go loaded. Most likely I'll come back skinned! I never did tackle a +lawyer 'thout losin' my shirt."</p> + +<p>When, after an all-night ride, during which he sat in the smoking-car +with his pipe and thoughts for company, he arrived in Boston, he felt, +as he would phrase it, like a cat in a strange garret. He had tried to +fortify himself against the expected meeting with this Frye, who he felt +sure would, like all his profession, make him pay dearly for any +service. When he entered the rather untidy office of that legal light he +was not surprised to find that its occupant much resembled a vulture.</p> + +<p>"Well, sir, what can I do for you?" asked Frye, after his visitor had +introduced himself.</p> + +<p>"Wal," answered Uncle Terry, taking a seat and laying his hat on the +floor beside him, "I've come on rather a curis errand;" and taking out +the slip he had a few days before placed in his wallet, he handed it to +Frye with the remark: "That's my errand."</p> + +<p>Frye's face brightened.</p> + +<p>"I am very glad to see you, Mr. Terry," he said, beginning to rub his +hands together. "If you have any facts in your possession that will aid +us in the search for an heir to this estate we shall be glad to pay you +for them, provided they are facts. Now, sir, what is your story?"</p> + +<p>Uncle Terry looked at the lawyer a moment before answering.</p> + +<p>"I didn't come here to tell all I knew the fust go-off," he said. "I +know all 'bout this shipwreck, an' a good deal more that'll consarn ye, +but fust I want to know who is lookin' for the information, an' what's +likely to cum on't."</p> + +<p>It was Frye's turn to stare now.</p> + +<p>"This man won't be any easy witness," he thought; and then he said: +"That I am not at liberty to disclose until I know what facts you can +establish, but rest assured that any information you may have, if it be +proved of real value, will entitle you to an ample reward."</p> + +<p>"I reckon ye don't quite ketch on ter my drift," replied Uncle Terry. "I +didn't cum here lookin' fer pay, but to see that justice was sarved and +them as had rights got thar dues."</p> + +<p>"Well, sir," said Frye, in a suave voice, "we too are looking to see the +ends of justice served, but you must understand that in a matter of this +importance we must make no mistakes. An estate awaits a claimant, but +that claimant must establish his or her identity beyond the shadow of a +doubt, in order, as you must see, that justice may be done."</p> + +<p>"Wal," replied Uncle Terry, stroking his chin with his thumb and finger +while he deliberated, "I s'pose I may as well tell ye fust as last. I +cum here for that purpose, an' all I want to fix is, if thar's nothin' +in it ye'd keep it a secret and not raise any false hopes in the minds +o' them as is near and dear to me."</p> + +<p>"It's a lawyer's professional duty never to disclose any business +confidence that a client may confide to him," answered Frye with +dignity, "and in this matter I infer you wish to become my client. Am I +right, Mr. Terry?"</p> + +<p>"I didn't cum here exactly purposin' to hire ye," answered Uncle Terry; +"I cum to find what's in the wind, an', if 'twas likely to 'mount to +anything, to tell all I knew an' see that them as had rights got +justice. As I told ye in the fust on't, I'm keeper o' the light at the +end o' Southport Island, an' have been for thirty year.</p> + +<p>"One night in March, just nineteen year ago comin' this spring, thar was +a small bark got a-foul o' White Hoss Ledge right off'n the pint and +stayed thar hard an' fast. I seen her soon as 'twas light, but thar was +nothin' that could be done but build a fire an' stand an' watch the poor +critters go down. Long toward noon I spied a bundle workin' in, an' when +it struck I made fast to it with a boat hook an' found a baby inside an' +alive. My wife an' I took care on't, and have been doing so ever since. +It was a gal baby and she growed up into a young lady. 'Bout ten years +ago we took out papers legally adoptin' her, an' so she's ourn. From a +paper we found pinned to her clothes, we learned her name was Etelka +Peterson, an' that her mother, an' we supposed her father, went down +that day right in sight o' us. Thar was a locket round the child's neck, +an' a couple o' rings in the box, an' we have kept 'em an' the papers +an' all her baby clothes ever since. That's the hull story."</p> + +<p>"How did this child live to get ashore?" asked Frye, keenly interested.</p> + +<p>"That's the curis part," replied Uncle Terry; "she was put in a box an' +tied 'tween two feather beds an' cum ashore dry as a duck."</p> + +<p>Frye stroked his nose reflectively, stooping over as he did and watching +his visitor with hawk-like eyes.</p> + +<p>"A very well-told tale, Mr. Terry," he said at last. "A very well-told +tale indeed! Of course you have retained all the articles you say were +found on the child?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, we've kept 'em all, you may be sure," replied Uncle Terry.</p> + +<p>"And why did you never make any official report of this wreck and of the +facts you state?" asked Frye.</p> + +<p>"I did at the time," answered Uncle Terry, "but nothin' cum on't. I +guess my report is thar in Washington now, if it ain't lost."</p> + +<p>"And do I understand you wish to retain me as your counsel in this +matter, and lay claim to this estate, Mr. Terry?" continued Frye.</p> + +<p>"Wal, I've told ye the facts," replied Uncle Terry, "an' if the gal's +got money comin' I'd like to see her git it. What's goin' to be the cost +o' doin' the business?"</p> + +<p>"The matter of expense is hard to state in such a case as this," +answered Frye cautiously. "The estate is a large one; there may be, and +no doubt will be, other claimants; litigation may follow, and so the +cost is an uncertain one. I shall be glad to act for you in this matter, +and will do so if you retain me."</p> + +<p>It is said that those who hesitate are lost, and at this critical moment +Uncle Terry hesitated.</p> + +<p>He did not like the looks of Frye. He suspected him to be what he was—a +shrewd, smooth, plausible villain. Had he obeyed his first impulse he +would have picked up his hat and left Frye to wash his hands with +invisible soap, and laid his case before some other lawyer, but he +hesitated. Frye, he knew, had the matter in his hands and might make the +claim that his story was false and fight it with all the legal weapons +Uncle Terry so much dreaded. In the end he decided to put the matter in +Frye's hands and hope for the best.</p> + +<p>"I shall want you to send me a detailed story of this wreck, sworn to by +yourself and wife," said Frye, "also all the articles found on this +child; and I will lay your affidavits before the attorneys for this +estate, and report progress to you later on."</p> + +<p>When Uncle Terry turned his face towards home his pocket was lighter by +two hundred dollars. With most of us when we take an uncertain step, the +farther we get from it the more sure we become that it was an unwise +one, and it was so with Uncle Terry.</p> + +<p>"I s'posed I'd git skinned," he muttered to himself after he was well on +his way home, "an' I reckon I have! That dum thief, like all the rest o' +lawyers, knows a farmer at sight, an' when he ketches one he takes his +hay! He's taken mine fur sartin an' I begin to think I'm a consarned old +fool, that don't know 'nuff to go in when it rains! How I'm goin' to +git the wimmin to give up them trinkets, 'thout 'lowin' I've lost my +senses, is one too many fur me!"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XV" id="CHAPTER_XV"></a>CHAPTER XV</h2> + +<h3>THE VALUE OF GOOD EXAMPLE</h3> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p>It has been well said that we grow to be like our nearest neighbors, and +the effect of Albert Page's vigorous efforts to attain success was not +lost upon his friend Frank.</p> + +<p>After their Christmas visit to Sandgate Albert had applied himself +diligently to the care of Mr. Nason's legal needs. This brought him into +contact with other business men and the fact that John Nason employed +him easily secured for him other clients. In two months he not only had +Mr. Nason's affairs to look after, but all his remaining time was taken +up by others'. He had spent several evenings at the Nasons' home, and +found the family a much more agreeable one than Frank had led him to +expect. Both that young man's sisters were bright and agreeable young +ladies, and though a little affected, they treated him with charming +courtesy and extended to him a cordial invitation to have his sister +make them a visit. A good-looking, well-educated, and well-behaved young +man, no matter if he is poor, will find favor wherever he goes, and +Albert was no exception.</p> + +<p>Since the day he had shaken his fist at the closed door of Mr. Frye's +law office he had met that hawk-nosed lawyer twice and received only a +chilling bow. The memory of that contemptible contract he had tacitly +allowed Frye to consider as made brought a blush to his face every time +he thought of it, but he kept his own counsel. Once or twice he had been +on the point of telling Frank the whole story, but had refrained, +feeling it would do no good, and might cause trouble. He was a thorough +believer in the truism that if you give a calf rope enough, he will hang +himself, and a rascal time, he will get caught.</p> + +<p>In his intimate relations with John Nason he saw enough to satisfy +himself that Frye's insinuation against that busy man's character was +entirely false. Mr. Nason seldom spent an evening away from his home, +and when he did, it was to attend the theatre with his family.</p> + +<p>After their visit to Sandgate Frank and himself naturally drifted into +more intimate relations, and a day seldom passed that Frank did not step +into his office for a chat.</p> + +<p>"Don't mind me, Bert," that uneasy man would say when he saw that Page +was busy, "and if you don't want me to talk any time, tell me to shut +up. I shan't feel offended. The fact is, I don't know what to do with +myself. If it were only summer I'd go off on the 'Gypsy,' even if I had +to go alone."</p> + +<p>One evening at the club he made Albert a rather surprising proposition. +Albert, who seldom entered into any card games, and only occasionally +played pool or billiards, was in the reading-room as usual enjoying a +cigar and the evening "Journal" when Frank drew up a chair and sat down. +They were alone, and as Page laid his paper aside to chat with Frank, +whom he really liked very much, despite the fact that that young man +bothered him a good deal, Frank said:</p> + +<p>"Do you know, I am getting absolutely tired and sick of doing nothing. +Ever since I left college I've been an idler, and I can't say I'm +enjoying it. I arise in the morning and wonder how I can manage to get +through the day. I read the papers, go down to the store, up to the +club, down to your office, back to the club to lunch, and maybe play +pool for an hour or two with some poor devil as lonesome as I am, or go +to the matinee, and in the evening only do I begin to enjoy myself a +little. I am beginning to realize that a life of idleness is a beastly +bore, and I am sick of it. I want you to let me come into your office +and study law; will you?"</p> + +<p>Albert looked at him a moment, while an amused smile crept over his +face.</p> + +<p>"Do you know what that means?" he responded at last. "Do you know that +to read law means two years, perhaps, of close application and +perseverance? In my case I had the spur of necessity to urge me on and +even with that stimulus it was a dry, hard grind. With you, who have all +the money you need and are likely to, it will be much worse. I respect +your feeling and I admire your determination very much, and, of course, +do not wish to discourage you. You are more than welcome to my office +and law books, and I will gladly help you all I can," and then after a +moment's reflection he added, "I believe it's a wise step, and I'll be +very glad to have you with me. You can help me out in a good many ways +also that will advance you even faster than steady reading."</p> + +<p>He was surprised at the look of pleasure that came into Frank's face.</p> + +<p>"I had half expected you would try to discourage me," said he, "and it's +very kind of you to promise to help me."</p> + +<p>"Why shouldn't I?" answered Page. "I owe you a good deal more than that, +my dear boy, and when you have been admitted we will go into a +partnership if you want to do it."</p> + +<p>"Here's my hand on it," said Frank, rising, "and I mean it, too, and if +you will have patience with me I'll stick it out or own up I'm no good +in this world." He seemed overjoyed and for two hours they sat and +talked it over. "When may I begin?" he said finally. "I want to go at it +right away."</p> + +<p>"To-morrow morning at nine o'clock sharp," replied Albert, smiling, "and +I warn you I shall keep you grinding eight full hours, six days a week, +and no let-up until July first. But tell me, when did this sensible and +eminently laudable idea enter your head?"</p> + +<p>"Well, to be exact, it came to me in the parlor of your house in +Sandgate, just at dark, the last evening I was there, and a remark your +sister made to me was the cause of it."</p> + +<p>A droll smile crept over Albert's face at this frank admission, but he +made no reply, and as he scanned his friend's face, now turned slightly +away from him, and recalled that last evening at home, and how Alice had +so persistently devoted herself to the entertainment of this young man, +a revelation came to him.</p> + +<p>"So it's that heart-breaker's blue eyes that have begun to work mischief +in Frank's feelings, is it?" he said to himself, after he had left the +club, and he almost laughed aloud at the thought. "Sis has some rather +pronounced ideas about idleness, and maybe she has read my young friend +a lesson in a few words. She is capable of it!"</p> + +<p>When Frank, true to his promise, came to the office next morning, Albert +set him to work and made sure to give him all possible encouragement.</p> + +<p>"I think far more of you, Frank," he said earnestly, "for this good +resolve, and when you get fairly into it and begin to take an interest +you will be glad you took hold. I believe every one in this world is +happier and healthier for having an occupation, and certainly you will +be."</p> + +<p>It must be recorded that Frank showed a persevering spirit as the weeks +went by, and he became, as Page predicted, thoroughly interested, and an +earnest student. In a way, too, he was a help to Albert, for he could +call on him any time to find some references or some decision bearing on +a case in hand. It was soon after Frank's new departure in life that +Alice received a letter from her brother, and among other things he +wrote:</p> + +<p>"What was it you said to Frank the last evening of our visit at home? He +has decided to study law in my office and admits his sensible resolution +to do so was the result of a remark you made then. Knowing what a fine +vein of sarcasm you are blessed with (as well as bewitching ways), I am +curious to know what sort of an arrow you drew from your quiver that +evening."</p> + +<p>But Albert was not adroit enough to obtain a confession from his +keen-witted sister, and thereby be enabled to joke her a little about +it, for she never replied to his question.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVI" id="CHAPTER_XVI"></a>CHAPTER XVI</h2> + +<h3>SWEET ALICE</h3> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Oh, don't you remember sweet Alice, Ben Bolt?<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Sweet Alice whose hair was so brown,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Who wept with delight when you gave her a smile,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And trembled with fear at your frown?"<br /></span> +<span class="i29"><i>Old Song.</i><br /></span> +</div></div> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p>Every person we meet in life makes an impression on us, varying from the +faintest shadow that soon vanishes to a vivid one that lasts as long as +memory.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="illus2" id="illus2"></a> +<img src="images/illus2.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<h3><span class="smcap">Alice</span></h3> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + + +<p>Alice Page's first impression of Frank Nason did not do him justice. She +thought him a big, good-natured, polite boy, rather conscious that he +was likely to be sought after, and disposed to sulk if he wasn't. His +plea for sympathy on the score that his life of idleness was a bore, +which he made the day they went sleighing, only provoked her derision, +and as she was disposed to judge all men by the standard of her +self-reliant brother, he came near awakening contempt on her part. It +was not until the last evening of his visit that she discovered her +mistake and realized that he had more depth of character than she had +thought. It is likely the keen enjoyment which he seemed to feel when +she sang for him had weight, for we are prone to like those who like us, +and it was natural also that she should feel a little gratitude for what +he had done for her brother.</p> + +<p>Her life, hidden away as she was in a by-way corner of a country town, +and seeing no one all the week except her small band of pupils, gave her +plenty of time for thought, and there was no young man in the village +whose company she would tolerate if she could help it. Once a week, +usually on Saturday, she received a letter from her brother, and that, +together with the mild excitement of Sunday church-going, was all that +broke the monotony of her life.</p> + +<p>A week after the Christmas visit she received a package containing a new +book, three of the latest popular songs, and a box of candy, and pinned +to the candy Frank Nason's card, on the back of which was written: "For +the girl who wanted to kiss her teacher."</p> + +<p>She wrote a polite note of thanks, and then, feeling that she would soon +be forgotten by him, and not caring much whether she was or not, settled +down to the unvarying round of her daily life. It was mid-winter, and +two weeks after her brother wrote that Frank had begun studying law in +his office, when she received a letter from that young man that +surprised her. He wrote:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p><span class="smcap">My dear Miss Page:</span> I trust you will pardon me for intruding myself +upon you, but I wish you to know that a few pointed words spoken by +you while I was enjoying your hospitality have not been forgotten, +and have influenced me to make an effort to be something better +than an idler in the world. Your brother kindly consented to let me +read law in his office, and I am now hard at it. I do not imagine +this will interest you, but I felt that you had scant respect for +useless people, and as you could rightly so regard me, I wanted you +to know that I am capable of rising above my aimless life.</p> + +<p>I have recalled so many times all the little incidents of my visit +to your home, and lived over those evenings graced by your +presence, and lit by a cheerful fire, time and again. Do not think +me insincere when I assure you they were the most delightful ones I +ever passed. If you find time to write a line to one who is now a +worker in the hive instead of a drone, it will be gratefully +received by me.</p></div> + +<p>To a girl with Alice Page's sympathetic nature and tender feelings, +words like these made her feel she was what she most enjoyed being—an +inspiration and help to others. In this respect Frank Nason had read her +better than she had read him, or else some fortunate intuition had led +him aright. She answered the letter at once, thanking him for his +flattering words, but forbidding him to use any more of them.</p> + +<p>"I do not like flattery," she wrote, "because no one ever can feel quite +sure it is sincere. I will answer all your letters if you will promise +not to tell Bert we are corresponding. Not that I am ashamed of it by +any means, but he is inclined to tease me and I love him so dearly I +can't bear to have him do so. The little girl you sent the candy to was +both astonished and grateful. I did not tell her who sent it, for the +fact would have been all over town in a week if I had, and I do not like +to be gossiped about. I merely told her a good fairy had sent it, which +was better."</p> + +<p>Once a week thereafter Alice received a long letter from Frank and as +regularly answered it. It is needless to say that she soon began to +anticipate them and that they added much to her monotonous life. Frank +wisely refrained from any expression of love, though Alice felt sure he +was likely to make such expression in person if ever he had an +opportunity to do so. No woman, much less a keenly sensitive young woman +like her, is ever long in doubt as to a man's feelings, and Alice Page, +whose heart had never felt a stronger emotion than love for her brother, +knew the moment she read her admirer's first letter that its +well-considered words were really inspired by Cupid. More than that, she +felt sure that his commendable efforts to become a useful professional +man, instead of a badly bored idler, were due to the hope that the +effort would find favor in her eyes. In all these surmises it is +needless to say her feminine intuition was quite correct.</p> + +<p>That her brother also surmised the truth is quite likely, though he +wisely kept these thoughts to himself for good and sufficient reasons.</p> + +<p>"Frank is getting along nicely," he wrote Alice, in the early spring; "I +believe he has the making of a capable lawyer in him. He grinds away +harder than I ever did when reading law, and has never yet complained of +how dry and dull it all is. He is a big, warm-hearted fellow, too, and I +am growing more fond of him every day. He is more devoted to me than a +brother, and we have made a lot of plans for a month's outing on the +'Gypsy' this coming summer. I like his family very much, and Mrs. Nason +and both her daughters have invited me to bring you down when your +school closes to make them a visit. I think I shall run up in June, and +stay over Sunday, and bring Frank with me. I imagine he would like to +come, for once in a while I overhear him humming 'Ben Bolt.'"</p> + +<p>"A very nicely worded little plot; but don't you imagine, my dear Bert, +I do not see through it!" was the mental comment of Alice when she read +the letter. "The young gentleman has bravely set to work to become a man +instead of a cipher; my brother likes him; he whistles 'Ben Bolt;' my +brother is to bring him up here again; I am expected to fall in love +with Mr. Cipher that was, and help him spend his money, and I am to be +barely tolerated by mamma and both sisters! A most charming plot, +surely, but it takes two to make a bargain. I think I know just the sort +of people mamma and sisters are. He told me she read him a lecture every +time he danced twice with a poor girl, and now I am expected to walk +into the same trap, and cringe to her ladyship, for the sin of being +poor. I guess not! I'll teach school till I die first, and he can think +of me as having a 'slab of granite so gray' to keep me in place."</p> + +<p>But this diplomatic "Sweet Alice" wrote to her brother: "I am delighted +that you are coming up, for I am so lonesome, and the weeks drag so +hard! Bring your friend up, by all means, and I'll sing 'Ben Bolt' until +he hates the name of Sweet Alice. The country will be looking finely +then, and he can go over to the cemetery, and select the corner I am to +occupy. Pardon the joke, and don't tell him I uttered it."</p> + +<p>To Frank she wrote: "Be sure to come up with Bert. I will sing all the +old songs, and the new ones you have sent me, as well. If you come up +on a Thursday you may visit my school Friday afternoon, if you will +behave, and then you can see the girl you sent the candy to. She wears a +calico pinafore, and comes to school barefooted."</p> + +<p>Consistency, thy name is woman!</p> + +<p>From all this it may be inferred that Alice was just a little +coquettish, and that verdict is no doubt true. Like all her charming sex +who are blessed with youth and beauty, she was perfectly conscious of +it, and quite willing to exert its magic power on a susceptible young +man with dark curly hair and earnest brown eyes. Neither was she +impervious to the fact that this said young man was a possible heir to +plenty of money. She never had much lavished on her, and, while not +having suffered for the necessaries of life, she had had to deny herself +all luxuries, and, most vexatious denial of all, a new gown and hat many +times when she needed them. Her tactful reply to her brother's letter, +coupled with his own sincere affection for her, brought her a response +by return mail in the form of a check for one hundred dollars, with +explicit orders to spend every cent of it before he came.</p> + +<p>Whether she did or not we will leave to the imagination of all young +ladies so situated.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVII" id="CHAPTER_XVII"></a>CHAPTER XVII</h2> + +<h3>A BY-WAY SCHOOLHOUSE</h3> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p>Sandgate was just budding forth in a new suit of green, the meadows +dotted with white and yellow daisies, and here and there a bunch of +tiger lilies waved in the breeze, when one Friday afternoon the teacher +at the north district school heard a knock.</p> + +<p>The class in reading, then in evidence, were halted in their sing-song +of concert utterance and Alice Page opened the door to find two stalwart +young men standing there. With a quick impulse of propriety she stepped +out and closed the door behind her, only to find herself clasped in a +big brother's arms and to receive a smack that was heard by every pupil +in the little schoolroom. With a very red face she freed herself and +then presented a small hand to the other young man with the remark:</p> + +<p>"I think you are both just as mean as you can be to surprise me in this +way!"</p> + +<p>Her eyes told a different tale, however, and when explanations were duly +made, the two visitors were invited inside and given seats. The class +in reading was then dismissed and that in spelling called to what was +now seemingly to them an unexpected misery. A bombshell, or a ghost at +the window, would not have produced any more consternation than those +two strange visitors. This class, that one by one filed up in front of +the teacher's desk, and ranged themselves in line, stood trembling, and +the boy at the head, to whom was put the first word, was unable to utter +a sound. The next one spelled it wrong, and it was tried by two others +and finally spelled right by a girl who could hardly do better than +whisper it. She was told to go to the head, and after that the rest did +better. The search for knowledge in that school had received a set-back, +however, for that day, and Alice decided to do the wisest thing and +dismiss her band of pupils without delay. When the room was cleared of +them she turned to her two callers and said with mock seriousness: "The +first class in deportment will now define propriety."</p> + +<p>"Propriety is—is—Propriety," replied her brother, "consists in two +young men surprising one small and very saucy schoolma'am and letting a +lot of imprisoned boys and girls escape to the woods and enjoy an extra +hour of freedom."</p> + +<p>"Not right," said Alice severely; "the next pupil will now answer."</p> + +<p>"Propriety," answered Frank, "consists in two young men escaping from +the city and relieving one tired school-teacher from her duty and +permitting her to go and gather flowers if she will. But which was the +girl you told the fairy tale to, Miss Page?" he added, as Alice began +putting her books away.</p> + +<p>"The only one in the spelling-class you two bold bad men didn't scare +half out of her wits," she answered.</p> + +<p>Frank walked about the room, peering curiously at its rather primitive +fittings. Around three sides extended a breast-high shelf, carved and +cut by many a jack-knife, and beneath it a narrower one where books and +slates were stowed. In front were rows of backless benches for seats, +and in the centre of the room an open stove shaped like a fireplace. +Around this were three long, low seats with backs, and on the sides +where the door was, a desk stood on a low platform. Back of this a large +blackboard formed part of the wall, one end covered by the +multiplication tables. No part of the room was plastered, and overhead +the bare brown stringers held extra benches kept there for use on +examination days.</p> + +<p>"So this is what you call a temple of learning," he remarked, as he +surveyed the barn-like room; "it is a curiosity to me, and the first +time I was ever in an old-time country schoolhouse. I should like to +peep through one of the knot-holes some day, and watch the performances, +and hear a scared boy speak a piece."</p> + +<p>"You had better not try it," answered Alice, "unless you want two or +three farmers to swoop down on you, armed with scythes, and demanding to +know what you are doing there."</p> + +<p>When she had locked the schoolhouse door they got into the carriage the +two young men had come in, and left the forlorn little temple to the +solitude of the trees and bushes that almost hid it from sight.</p> + +<p>"I will stop in the village," said Albert, as they drove away, "and +leave you two to go home or take a ride, as suits you best; only mind, +be home by tea-time, for I shall be hungry."</p> + +<p>There is no time when a drive along wooded country roads is more +charming than when the trees are fast growing green, and the meadows +spangled with daisies and buttercups.</p> + +<p>"Let's go around by the mill-pond," said Alice, after leaving her +brother in the village; "that's where we went skating last Christmas, +and the road to it follows the brook up a mile. We may find a few +lilies in the pond."</p> + +<p>The brook beside which they were soon walking the horse was a charming +bit of scenery as it came leaping over mossy ledges, laughing, +chattering, and filling the pools with foam flecks, and the old mill, +with its great wheel dripping and clattering, and the mill itself, +proved even a greater curiosity to Frank than the schoolhouse. He +hitched the horse, and helping his fair companion to alight, the two +went inside the mill and watched the rumbling wheels. Alice introduced +her escort to the miller, and after they had been shown the mysteries of +grinding he invited them out to the pond, and after bailing the old +leaky boat so it was usable, the two visitors started after the lilies.</p> + +<p>"Mind you don't tip me over," said Alice. "I can't swim."</p> + +<p>"If I do I'll rescue you or drown with you," he answered gallantly. What +silly nothings these two young people uttered as they made the circuit +of that long wood-bordered mill-pond need not be recorded. One at least +was just tasting the first sweet illusion of love, and the glassy +surface of the water that reflected the trees bending over it, the +bunches of water flag growing here and there, and the scattered patches +of broad lily pads with now and then a white blossom, made a most +picturesque background for the girl who sat in the stern. Her piquant +face, shaded by a broad sun-hat, was fairer to his eyes than any of the +lilies she plucked, and as she drew one sleeve up a little to reach for +them, the round arm and dimpled hand she thrust into the water looked +tempting enough to kiss. The miller had shut the gate and gone home when +they returned to the mill, and when Alice, with both her wet hands full +of lilies, was helped into the carriage, Frank said: "I am sorry that +dusty old miller has gone. I wanted to give him five dollars for his +kindness."</p> + +<p>"He would think you insane if you did," answered Alice.</p> + +<p>"Many a man has lost his wits with less provocation," replied Frank +pointedly, "and I feel indebted to him for his help to one of the most +charming hours I ever passed."</p> + +<p>"That is all right," responded Alice; "he has known me ever since I was +a little tot in short dresses and rode to mill with father. He would do +more for me than bail his boat out."</p> + +<p>"Do you know," remarked Frank, when they had left the mill behind and +were driving through a bit of woods, "that I have anticipated this visit +for weeks? I know scarcely anything about the country and it is all a +revelation to me. I've seen pictures of old mills and ponds covered with +lilies, but no painter can ever put the reality on canvas. Why, that +great wheel covered with moss and churning away all day, so steadily, +with a willow bending over it, is a poem in itself!"</p> + +<p>"The mill was built over a hundred years ago," observed Alice, "and has +been grinding away ever since. I love to visit it, for it takes me back +to childhood and," she added a little sadly, "it makes me live over the +happiest days of my life, when father used to take me with him +everywhere he went."</p> + +<p>"'But the mill will never grind with the water that has passed,'" quoted +Frank, "'and the tender grace of a day that is dead will never come back +again, 'tis said.' I wish I had been country born. I think I've missed +countless pages of pleasant memories. Do you know," he added, turning to +his companion, "I am rapidly falling in love with the country and—and +its pretty sights?"</p> + +<p>It was in his heart to say "you" as he saw the half-pathetic expression +on his companion's face and noted the sad droop of her sweet mouth, but +his courage failed him.</p> + +<p>He was enough in love with her already to begin to feel afraid of her. +"I must bide my time," he thought; "she is not to be won easily, and a +word too soon may spoil all."</p> + +<p>"Whose idea was it to pounce upon me that way at school?" exclaimed +Alice suddenly, throwing off her retrospective mood and smiling again. +"Was it yours or Bert's?"</p> + +<p>"I confess I did it with my little hatchet," answered Frank; "I coaxed +Bert to do it. We had to take the train at five o'clock in the morning +and have coffee and rolls at the station for breakfast and pie and +sandwiches for dinner."</p> + +<p>"And all to surprise one poor little schoolma'am and break up her +school," put in Alice; "was it worth all that annoyance?"</p> + +<p>"Up to the present moment," answered Frank, "I must honestly say it was. +This drive and the mill I consider cheap at any price."</p> + +<p>"I don't mean this part of the surprise," said Alice, blushing a little +at his open admiration, "and you know it." And then in self-defence she +added, "What has become of the 'Gypsy'? Bert writes me that you two are +planning trips in her already."</p> + +<p>"She is still in winter quarters," answered Frank. "I've been too busy +studying law to do more than think of her. I've reformed, you know."</p> + +<p>Alice made no reply. The memory of what he had so evidently wished her +to infer regarding his reasons for this new departure came to her in an +instant and brought a little wonderment as to the possible outcome of +it. Turn which way she would, and propose what topic she might, he +seemed bound to use it as a vehicle of his undisguised admiration. She +had wished to consider him as a friend, because he had been a friend to +her adored brother when that brother needed one, and while she had +written him a dozen chatty letters which might be printed for all the +privacy they contained, she had studiously refrained from allowing him +to infer, even, that she had any special interest in his actions. That +he came to woo her, he was plainly allowing her to infer by every word +and look, and she had feminine wit enough to see that it was earnest +wooing, and not the simulated article usually designated as gallantry.</p> + +<p>"I must avoid giving him opportunities," she said to herself, "or he +will make some rash declaration and spoil our pleasant acquaintance."</p> + +<p>When they arrived home Albert was on the piazza and Aunt Susan had +supper waiting. The table was set with blue ware of a very old and +quaint pattern, and when Alice had filled a bowl with lilies for a +centrepiece they gathered around and "passed things" in true country +fashion. The evening was unusually warm for June, and after the two +young men had smoked and chatted for half an hour, Alice appeared +dressed in spotless white, with a half-open lily in her hair and another +at her throat. The moon, which was nearing its full, shone through the +open spaces of the vine-clad porch and added an ethereal touch to the +sylph-like picture she presented, and one that was certainly not lost +upon Frank at least.</p> + +<p>"Well," she remarked cheerfully, as she seated herself near her brother, +"my time is yours, and what can I do to entertain you?"</p> + +<p>"I had planned to take Frank to a trout brook to-morrow morning," +responded Albert, "and in the afternoon you and he can hunt for +mill-ponds and grottoes if you like, or gather laurel."</p> + +<p>"And leave me alone all the forenoon!" put in Alice. "No, thank you. I'm +shut up for five days and you can't get rid of me so easily. Why can't I +go too?"</p> + +<p>"I'm agreeable," replied her brother, "only a trout brook is not nice +walking for a lady."</p> + +<p>"I'm aware of that," she responded, "and you two can go fishing and I'll +hunt for laurel in the meantime. We can take a basket of lunch with us +and make a day of it in the woods." Then, as a possible contingency +presented itself to her, she added, "Why not let me invite my friend, +Abby Miles, to go for company? She and I can pick laurel, and when you +have caught all the harmless little trout you want, we can meet where we +leave the wagon and have a picnic."</p> + +<p>"That suits me," said her brother, and without waiting for further +discussion this diplomatic fairy in white arose and remarked, "I'll get +a shawl, and then I'll trouble you, Mr. Nason, to escort me over to +Abby's. It's only a few rods, and I want you to meet her. She's ever so +nice."</p> + +<p>From this it may be inferred that our "Sweet Alice" had resolved to +protect herself against any romantic <i>tête-à-têtes</i> in the woods with a +certain well-intentioned but presuming young man who might desire to +play Romeo.</p> + +<p>This was not quite to his taste, but he had the good sense not to show +it, and all the next day he divided his attentions impartially between +the two young ladies. The plan as mapped by Alice was carried out to the +letter, and when the two young men joined the girls at noon they found a +broad flat rock in the woods had been covered with a tablecloth and +spread with a tempting meal. The girls had gathered great bunches of +that beautiful flower pink laurel, and a cluster of it decked the +table. After dinner our imperious Alice insisted that they visit the +mill-pond once more, and when they returned at night, with two baskets +of trout, and laurel and pond lilies enough to stock a flower stand, the +day was voted an eminent success.</p> + +<p>Frank made one error, however, for just before they left the mill he +slipped away unobserved, and finding the miller, put a bit of paper into +his hand with the remark, "Keep this to pay for the boat," and left him +hurriedly. When the old man made examination he found he had a +five-dollar bill. To surprises of this kind he was not accustomed, and +before noon the next day there wasn't a man, woman, or child in Sandgate +who had not heard of it.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVIII" id="CHAPTER_XVIII"></a>CHAPTER XVIII</h2> + +<h3>VILLAGE GOSSIP</h3> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"What care I what the world may say,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">So long as I have my way to-day?—<br /></span> +<span class="i2">For this dear old world,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">This queer old world,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With tongue like sands of the sea,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Is never so gay<br /></span> +<span class="i2">As when wagging away,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And talking of you and of me."<br /></span> +</div></div> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p>That evening Frank begged for music, and Alice sung for two long hours. +At least they might have seemed long to any but an enraptured young man +who had for the entire day been kept from uttering one of the many +love-lorn words that filled his heart. Albert, who had been informed by +Alice that if he deserted her for a single moment that evening or the +next he need never bring his friend there again, sat outside on the +porch and close by the window, smoking incessantly and smiling to +himself at the clever tactics of his charming but coy sister. When the +concert was ended he observed, "If there's one song in the house that +you have not sung, Alice, I wish you would sing it. I hate to have you +omit any."</p> + +<p>"I have only sung what I was asked to," she replied; "is not that so, +Mr. Nason?"</p> + +<p>"That is true," replied he boldly, "and you have not sung one that I +wouldn't enjoy hearing again to-night."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I have enjoyed them all," said Albert, "only I thought you might +have missed one, and as Frank remarked coming home that he was hungry +for music, I wanted him satisfied."</p> + +<p>The next day, as usual, they attended church, only this time all three +walked back together, although Albert felt that he was one too many, and +all the afternoon and evening it was the same. But Alice was +graciousness personified. All her jokes and smiles and all her +conversation were lavished upon Frank. It may be that she wished to make +amends for the opportunities she knew he was anxious to obtain but could +not, for the most charming of women have a little of the feline instinct +in their nature, and whether there is any response to a man's wooing in +their hearts or not, they love to enjoy their power. Several times +Frank, who intuitively felt she did not wish to be left alone with him, +started to ask her to take a walk that Sunday evening, but each time his +discretion prevailed. "If she is willing to listen to any love-making, +she has tact enough to give me a chance," he thought, "and unless she +is, I'd better keep still." Which would show he had at least a faint +inkling of woman's ways. The evening was one to tempt Cupid, for the +moonlight fell checkered through the half-naked elms along the roadway, +and where here and there a group of maples stood was a bit of shadow. +The whippoorwills had just returned to Sandgate, and over the meadows +scattered fireflies twinkled. The houses along the way to the village +were wide apart and the evening air just right for a loitering walk. To +Frank, anxious to say a few words that would further his hopes in the +direction of this bewitching girl, it seemed a waste of good time not to +take advantage of the evening. It was almost past, and the lights in the +houses across the valley had long since vanished when he obtained a +little consolation.</p> + +<p>The charm of the evening had stilled conversation and no one had spoken +for a long time when he said, rather disconsolately, "My anticipated +visit is almost over. May I ask you to go in and sing just one song for +me, Miss Page?"</p> + +<p>"With pleasure," she responded in her sweetest tone, "what shall it be?"</p> + +<p>"I will leave that to your selection," he replied.</p> + +<p>Without a word she led the way in and began searching among the pile of +music on the piano, and finding what she wanted, opened and spread the +music on the rack.</p> + +<p>It was "Ben Bolt."</p> + +<p>She sang it in a minor key, and as the opening words,</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Oh, don't you remember sweet Alice, Ben Bolt,"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>floated out on the still evening air, they seemed to him fraught with a +new meaning and that a veritable sweet Alice was bidding him, another +Ben Bolt, not to forget her. When the last note had faded into the night +air, she turned her now serious eyes toward him and said:</p> + +<p>"Did I guess right?"</p> + +<p>How much he longed to take that fair girl in his arms then and there and +ask her to be his own sweet Alice need not be specified. For a moment +her tender blue eyes met his brown ones, and then they fell.</p> + +<p>"I am glad I did not make a mistake," she said softly.</p> + +<p>"I thank you," he almost whispered, "and there won't be many waking +moments in my future when I shall not think of—sweet Alice!"</p> + +<p>It was not much of a love scene, but to him it seemed a wide-open door +of hope, and when many miles separated them, and for days, weeks, and +months afterward, even when doing his best to crowd dull law reports +into his brain, the one tender glance she gave him and the tones of her +voice came back with unfailing accuracy.</p> + +<p>There is no spot where every one knows everybody else's business and +discusses it that is quite equal in this way to a small country town, +and Sandgate was no exception. The first visit of Frank Nason to the +Page home, his sleigh-rides with Alice, and his appearance at church had +caused no end of comment. It was known that he had been a classmate of +Albert's and came from Boston, and later Aunt Susan vouch-safed the +information that she "guessed he came from one o' the first families and +that he appeared right well behaved."</p> + +<p>It was all she really did know, for both Alice and her brother were +considerate of her failings and knew it was not safe to discuss their +visitor in her presence. The tempest of gossip had not more than half +quieted down when it received a regular boom from his second coming. The +pupils of the north end district school spread the news of their +teacher's unexpected callers; that they heard her kiss one, and which +one they did not know; and that she had dismissed school at once and +gone on with the stranger. Old Amos Curtis, the miller, told of their +visit, and, wonder upon wonder, how the next day "her beau" had given +him a five-dollar bill "jest fer lettin' 'em use a leaky old boat fer an +hour."</p> + +<p>The buxom Abby Miles had the best and longest story to tell, and her +praise of Mr. Nason, how polite he was, and "how he couldn't keep his +eyes off'n Alice all the afternoon," was whispered to every girl she +knew. The five-dollar incident created the most gossip, however. The +miller had remarked that a "young feller who threw money 'round that way +must be rich," and that remark soon grew into a story that Alice Page's +beau was worth a million, and that she was engaged to him.</p> + +<p>As might be expected, the subject of all this gossip heard none of it +until the storm had reached alarming proportions. Some of the village +swains who had tried to pay court to her and failed were inclined to +sneer at the "smart young man from the city" who had cut them out; but +the older people and the girls were disposed to congratulate her upon +what they considered her good luck. It was this inclination that led +Mrs. Mears to be the first one to tell the extent of the gossip.</p> + +<p>"They tell me," said that worthy matron to Alice one Sunday, after +church, "that you ain't likely to teach school after this summer."</p> + +<p>"And why not?" answered Alice, conscious that she was likely to hear a +choice bit of gossip; "don't I give satisfaction?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, 'tain't that," was the answer; "I guess you can imagine the reason +and I want to be the first to congratulate you. They tell me he's worth +a pile o' money, an' he's sartinly well favored, so far as looks goes, +but then, 'handsome is as handsome does' was allus my motto."</p> + +<p>Alice colored.</p> + +<p>"Do you mean Mr. Nason, my brother's friend?" she said nervously.</p> + +<p>"Why, who else would I mean?" responded Mrs. Mears. "I've heard that you +was to be married this fall, and that he is worth a million. They say he +told Amos Curtis he was, though I don't believe that, but anyway, Amos +says he gave him five dollars 'jest fer usin' his old boat that wa'n't +worth splittin' up for kindlin's!'"</p> + +<p>It was all out now, and in a moment Alice saw through the whole story +and up to its source. For one instant she felt as if the entire town +was staring at her, and grew correspondingly red. It was unfortunate, +for several besides Mrs. Mears were observing her and drew their own +conclusions. As for the worthy gossiper who had enlightened Alice, the +blush she saw rise on her cheeks and spread until it glowed all over her +face and throat was confirmation enough.</p> + +<p>"It's not true, not one word of it," exclaimed Alice angrily, "and if +you care for me one bit, I wish you would tell everybody I said so."</p> + +<p>She waited to hear no more, nor for Aunt Susan, who had lingered to chat +with some one, but walked home alone and hurriedly, as if to hide +herself. Once in the silent house, she began to cool off.</p> + +<p>"I won't believe he told Amos he was worth a million," she said to +herself,—"he isn't so stupid as that; but I am afraid the silly boy did +give him five dollars, which has started all this gossip."</p> + +<p>When Aunt Susan came in she fairly pounced upon her. "Why haven't you +told me, auntie, about all this gossip that's going the rounds regarding +Mr. Nason and myself? I know you have heard it."</p> + +<p>"It's all nonsense, Alice," answered that lady rather sharply, "and you +are foolish to listen to 'em. I've heard it, of course, but so long as +it's no discredit to you, why, let it go into one ear and out t'other, +same as I do! Folks must talk in this town, an' what they're sayin' +'bout you ought to make you feel proud—that a young fellow like him, +and worth money, wanted to come courtin', an' he certainly showed he +did, or I'm no judge."</p> + +<p>It was homely advice, and from the standpoint of Aunt Susan, as well as +most of the world-wise matrons of Sandgate, it was good advice.</p> + +<p>"He's got Aunt Susan on his side as well as Bert," Alice thought, "and I +am glad I kept him at a distance now, just to pay him for being so silly +with his money."</p> + +<p>Late that afternoon Alice called upon Abby Miles, and talked about +everything except the subject she most wanted to talk about, and then, +as Abby usually had a Sunday evening caller, Alice came home at dusk. +Never before had the house seemed so lonesome, and as she sat on the +porch and tried to talk with Aunt Susan her thoughts were elsewhere.</p> + +<p>When the lights across the valley, which served as curfew by saying +bed-time when they went out, had disappeared, she came in, and seating +herself in the dark at the piano softly played the chords and hummed the +words of a song which need not be mentioned.</p> + +<p>"It'll come out all right," said Aunt Susan to herself, and she waited +till Alice called to her to come in and go to bed.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIX" id="CHAPTER_XIX"></a>CHAPTER XIX</h2> + +<h3>PLOTS AND PLANS</h3> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p>"The best laid schemes o' mice and men," etc., proved itself true in +Frank Nason's case. He had consoled himself during the many months of +hard study with visions of a yachting-trip in July and August, when +perhaps in some manner Alice Page could be induced to come, with his +mother and sisters to chaperone her, and her brother and some other +friends to complete the party.</p> + +<p>He had the "Gypsy" put in first-class shape and all her state-rooms +refurnished, and one in particular, which he intended Alice should +occupy, upholstered in blue. So well formed were his plans that he timed +the start so as to utilize the July moon for the first ten days, and +mapped out a trip taking in all the Maine coast, spending a week at Bar +Harbor and then a run up as far east as Annapolis Bay and the coast of +Acadia.</p> + +<p>He had described all the charms of this trip to Alice and extended to +her the most urgent invitation. He had obtained her brother's promise to +supplement it and also to make one of the party, and he had persuaded +his sister Blanch to aid him with his mother, but he had met +discouragement on all sides. In the first place, Alice wrote it was +doubtful if she could go. It would be a delightful outing, and one she +would enjoy, but it would not be right to leave Aunt Susan alone for so +long, and then as her school did not close until the last of June, she +would have no time to get ready. These were not the sole reasons for her +reluctance, and in fact she made no mention of what was her principal +reason. He did not understand that Alice Page was too proud-spirited to +appear willing to put herself in his way and accept an invitation having +for its ultimate object the giving of an opportunity to him to court +her. Then to accept his family's protectorship and hospitality for that +same end was even more obnoxious. With true feminine discretion she did +not dare confide this reason to her brother, and perhaps it was wise she +did not.</p> + +<p>To cap the climax of Frank's discomfiture, when July came his mother +announced that she had decided to go to the mountains for the summer, +and then he saw his nicely laid plans were to be an utter failure.</p> + +<p>"It's no use, Bert," he said to his friend one evening, "I wanted your +sister to go to Maine with us, and mother and the girls and a few more +to make a party, but it's no go. I can't induce your sister to join us, +and it's no use if she would, for mother has determined to go to +Bethlehem, and that settles it. I feel like going out and getting full. +If you and I have any outing on the yacht, we must make up a gander +party."</p> + +<p>"That suits me just as well as, and in fact better than, the other +plan," replied Albert consolingly. "If we have a lot of ladies along we +must dance attendance upon them, and if not we can fish, smoke, play +cards, sing, or go to sleep when we feel like it. I tell you, Frank," he +continued, evidently desiring to cheer up that young man, "girls are all +right as companions at home or at balls and theatres, but on a yacht +they are in the way. Not only are they liable to seasickness, but at +every bit of rough water they will get scared and make no end of +trouble."</p> + +<p>It was very good philosophy and to a certain extent true, although it +did not agree with Frank's feelings, but then it must be remembered that +he was suffering from the pangs of love, while his mentor was not.</p> + +<p>A week afterward, and early one bright morning, the "Gypsy," with +skipper, crew, and a party of eight jolly young men on board, sailed out +of Boston and that night dropped anchor under the lee of an island in +Casco Bay. She remained there one full day and the next ran to Boothbay +and found shelter in a landlocked cove forming part of the coast line of +Southport Island. It was after dinner next day, and while the rest of +the party were either playing cards or napping in hammocks under the +awning, that Albert Page took one of the boats, his pipe, and sketch +book, and rowed down the coast a mile to an inlet he had noticed the day +before. The outer point of this was formed by a bold cliff that he +desired to sketch, and pulling the boat well up behind the inner point, +tying the painter to a rock and taking the cushions along, he found a +shady spot and sat down. The sloping rock he selected for a seat was a +little damp, but he thought nothing of it, and lighting his pipe began +sketching. He worked for an hour, putting the weed-draped rocks and long +swells that broke over them into his book, and then, lulled perhaps by +the monotonous rhythm of the ocean, lay back on the cushions and fell +asleep. The next he knew he was awakened by a cold sensation and found +the tide had risen until it wet his feet. Hastily getting up, he took +the cushions and returned to where he had left the boat, only to find it +had disappeared. The rising tide had lifted the boat and painter from +the rocks, and it was nowhere to be seen.</p> + +<p>"There must be some road back up on the island," he thought, "that will +lead me near the cove where the 'Gypsy' is," and still retaining the +cushions, he started to find it. But he was a stranger to Southport +Island and the farther away from the sea he got, the thicker grew the +tangle of scrub spruce and briers. It was too thick to see anywhere, and +after a half hour of desperate scrambling, the afternoon sun began to +seem about due east! He had long since dropped the cushions, and +finally, in sheer exhaustion, sat down on a rock to collect himself. "It +looks as though I'm billed to stay here all night," he thought, as he +noted the lowering sun, "and nobody knows how much longer! There must be +a road somewhere, though, and I'm going to find it if the light lasts +long enough." He started once more and had not gone ten rods ere he came +to one, and then he breathed easier. His clothes were torn, his hands +and face scratched by briers, and to save himself he couldn't make it +seem but that the sun was setting in the east! He sat down to think. All +sound of the ocean was gone and a stillness that seemed to crawl out of +the thicket was around him. He rested a few moments more, and then +suddenly heard the sound of wheels and presently saw, coming around the +curve, an old-fashioned carryall, worn and muddy, and, driving the horse +at a jog trot, a man as dilapidated-looking as the vehicle. Gladdened +at the sight, he arose, and holding up his hand as a signal, halted the +team. "Excuse me, sir," he said to the man, who eyed him curiously, "but +will you tell me where I am?"</p> + +<p>"Wal," was the answer in a slow drawl, "ye'r' on Southport Island, and +'bout four miles from the jumpin' off place. Whar might ye be goin'? Ye +look bushed."</p> + +<p>"I am," answered Page, "and badly bushed too. I lost my boat over back +here on the shore, and have had a cheerful time among the Mohawk briers. +I belong to a yacht that is anchored in a cove of this island, I can't +tell where, and if you will take me to her I'll pay you well."</p> + +<p>The man in the wagon laughed.</p> + +<p>"Say, stranger," he observed with a chuckle, "you 'mind me o' the feller +that got full and wandered round for a spell till he fetched up to a +house, an' sed to the man that cum to the door, 'If you will tell me who +I am, or whar I am, or whar I want ter go, I'll give ye a dollar!'"</p> + +<p>Page had to laugh in spite of his plight, for the humorous twinkle in +the old man's eyes as he uttered his joke was infectious.</p> + +<p>"I'd like ter 'commodate ye," he added, "but as I'm carryin' Uncle Sam's +mail, an' must git home an' tend the light, and as ye don't know whar +ye want ter go, ye best jump in an' go down to Saint's Rest, whar I +live, an' in the mornin' we'll try an' hunt up yer boat."</p> + +<p>It seemed the only thing to do, and Albert availed himself of the +chance.</p> + +<p>"Can you tell the spot where you found me?" he said to the man as they +started on. "I'd like to go back there to-morrow and find my cushions."</p> + +<p>"Wal," was the answer, "as I've druv over this road twice a day for nigh +onto thirty year, I'm tolerable familiar with it. My name's Terry, an' +I'm keeper o' the light at the Cape, an' carry the mail to sorter piece +out on. Who might ye be?"</p> + +<p>"My name's Page, and I'm from Boston, and a lawyer by profession," +replied Albert.</p> + +<p>Uncle Terry eyed him rather sharply.</p> + +<p>"I wouldn't 'a' took ye fer one o' them dern pickpockets," he said, "ye +look too honest. I ain't much stuck on lawyers," he added, with a +chuckle. "I've had 'sperence with 'em. One of 'em sold me a hole in the +ground onct, an' it cost me the hull o' twenty years' savin's! You'll +'scuse me fer bein' blunt—it's my natur."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I don't mind," responded Albert laughingly; "not all of my +profession are thieves, though some are. You mustn't judge us all by +one rascal."</p> + +<p>They drove on, and as they jogged up and down the sharp hills he caught +sight here and there of the ocean, and alongside the road, which +consisted of two ruts, a path, and two grass-grown ridges, he saw wild +roses in endless profusion. On either hand was an interminable thicket. +In the little valleys grew masses of rank ferns, and on the ridges, +interspersed between the wild roses, clusters of red bunch-berries. The +sun was almost down when they reached the top of a long hill and he saw +at its foot a small harbor connected with the ocean by a narrow inlet, +and around it a dozen or more brown houses. Beyond was a tangle of rocks +and, rising above them, the top of a white lighthouse. Uncle Terry, who +had kept up a running fire of questions all the time, halted the horse +and said:</p> + +<p>"Ye can now take yer first look at Saint's Rest, otherwise known as the +Cape. We ketch some lobsters an' fish here an' hev prayer-meetin's once +a week." Then he chirruped to the horse and they rattled down the hill +to a small store where he left a mail pouch, and then followed a winding +road between the scattered houses and out to the point, where stood a +neat white dwelling close beside a lighthouse.</p> + +<p>"I'll take ye into the house," said Uncle Terry as the two alighted, +"an' tell the wimmin folks to put on an extra plate, an' then I'll put +up the hoss."</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid I'm putting your family to some inconvenience," responded +Albert, "and as it is not dark yet, I will walk out on the point. I may +see the yacht and save you all trouble."</p> + +<p>The sun, a ball of fire, was almost at the horizon, the sea all around +lay an unruffled expanse of dark blue, undulating with the ground swells +that caught the red glow of the sinking sun as they came in and broke +upon the rocks. Albert walked on to the highest of the shore rocks and +looked about. There was no sign of the "Gypsy," and only one boat was +visible, and that a dory rowed by a man standing upright. Over the still +waters Albert could detect the measured stroke of his oars. That and the +low rumble of the ground swells, breaking almost at his feet, were the +only sounds. It was like a dream of solitude, far removed from the world +and all its distractions. For a few moments he stood contemplating the +ocean alight with the setting sun's red glow, the gray rocks at his feet +and the tall white lighthouse towering above him, and then started +around the point. He had not taken ten steps when he saw the figure of a +girl leaning against a rock and watching the setting sun. One elbow was +resting on the rock, her face reposing in her open hand and fingers half +hid in the thick masses of hair that shone in the sunlight like +burnished gold. A broad sun-hat lay on the rock, and the delicate +profile of her face was sharply outlined against the western sky.</p> + +<p>She had not heard Albert's steps, but stood there unconscious of his +scrutiny. He noted the classic contour of her features; the delicate +oval of her lips and chin; and his artist eye dwelt upon and admired her +rounded bosom and perfect shoulders. Had she posed for a picture, she +could not have chosen a better position, and so alluring, and withal so +sweet and unconscious, that for a moment he forgot all else, even his +own rudeness in standing there and staring at her. Then he recovered +himself, and turning, softly retraced his steps so as not to disturb +her. Who she was he had no idea, and was still wondering, when he met +Uncle Terry, who at once invited him into the house.</p> + +<p>"This 'ere's Mr. Page, Lissy," he said, as they entered, and met a +stout, elderly, and gray-haired woman; "I found him up the road a spell, +an' wantin' to know whar he was!"</p> + +<p>Albert bowed, and was surprised to see her advance and greet him with a +cordial handshake.</p> + +<p>"I am sorry to intrude," he said, "but I had lost my boat, and all +points of the compass, when your husband kindly took me in charge."</p> + +<p>He started to say he would pay for all trouble, but fortunately did not, +and then being offered a chair, sat down and was left alone. For ten +minutes, that seemed longer, he surveyed the plainly furnished +sitting-room, with open fireplace, a many colored rag-carpet on the +floor, old-fashioned chairs, and dozens of pictures on the walls. They +caught his eye at once, mainly because of the oddity of the frames, +which were evidently home-made, for it was too dark to see more, and +then a door was opened, and Uncle Terry invited him into a lighted room +where a table was set. The elderly lady was standing at one end of it, +and beside her a younger one, and as Albert entered he heard Uncle Terry +say: "This is our gal Telly, Mr. Page," and as he bowed he saw, garbed +in spotless white, the girl he had seen leaning against the rock and +watching the sunset.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XX" id="CHAPTER_XX"></a>CHAPTER XX</h2> + +<h3>A PAIR OF BLUE EYES</h3> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p>Some men have their fancy caught by a woman's face or form, or both; +others by a look, a word, a smile. A witty reply to some masculine jest +has tipped many an arrow for Cupid and won for a maiden a lover.</p> + +<p>The appealing yet wondering glance that Albert Page met as he bowed to +the girl standing beside the table that evening was one he never +afterwards forgot. It was only one, for after that, and during the +entire meal, her blue eyes were kept veiled by their long lashes, or +modestly directed elsewhere.</p> + +<p>"It's a charming spot down here," he remarked soon after the meal began, +"and so hidden away that it is a surprise. I noticed the light as we +came in, but did not see the village."</p> + +<p>"Wal, ye didn't miss anything," responded his host; "none o' the houses +are much for style, an' mebbe it's lucky they're hid behind the rocks."</p> + +<p>"I thought them quaint and comfortable," observed Albert; "but what an +odd name you have for the place! Why do you call it Saint's Rest?"</p> + +<p>"Chiefly 'cause none o' the people have any chance to become sinners, I +reckon," was the answer; "it's a trifle lonesome in the winter, though."</p> + +<p>"I suppose fishing is your principal occupation here," continued Albert, +seeing that sentiment was not considered by Uncle Terry; "your land does +not seem adapted for cultivation."</p> + +<p>"There ain't much chance for tillin'," he replied; "the land's wuss'n +whar I was brung up down in Connecticut, an' thar we had ter round up +the sheep once a week an' sharpen thar noses on the grin'stun! We manage +ter raise 'nough ter eat, though."</p> + +<p>When the meal was over Uncle Terry said, "It's nice an' cool out on the +rocks, and thar's some seats out thar; if ye enjoy smoking we best go +out while the wimmin are doin' the dishes."</p> + +<p>The moon that Frank had planned to use was nearing its full, and high +overhead, and as the two men, so widely separated in all respects, +sought congeniality in tobacco out on that lonesome point, Albert could +not curb his admiration for the scene. His offer of a cigar to his host +had been accepted, and as that quaint man sat quietly enjoying an odor +and flavor he was certainly unaccustomed to, Albert said:</p> + +<p>"This experience has been a surprise to me from the moment I met you. I +had an ugly hour's scramble over the rocks and through a tangle of scrub +spruce and briers until I was utterly lost and believed this island an +impassable wilderness. Then you came along and brought me to one of the +most beautiful spots I ever saw. I should like to stay here all summer +and do nothing but look at this magnificent ocean view and sketch these +bold shores."</p> + +<p>"Do you paint picturs too?" queried Uncle Terry, suddenly interested. +"Telly's daft on doing that, an' is at it all the time she can git!" +Then he added with a slight inflection of pride, "Mebbe ye noticed some +o' her picturs in the sittin'-room?"</p> + +<p>"I saw a lot of pictures there," answered Albert, "but it was too dark +to see them well. I should like to look at them in the morning."</p> + +<p>"Ye'll hev plenty o' time," was the reply, "I must pull my lobster traps +fust, an' after that I'll take ye in my dory an' we'll go an' find yer +boat. I guess she must be lyin' in Seal Cove, the only openin' 'twixt +here an' the head she'd be likely ter run into."</p> + +<p>"And so your daughter is an artist, is she?" asked Albert, indifferent +now as to where the "Gypsy" was or when he was likely to return to her. +He came near adding that that fact was another surprise, but did not. +Instead he said, "Has she ever taken lessons?"</p> + +<p>"No, it comes nat'ral to her," replied Uncle Terry; "she showed the bent +o' her mind 'fore she was ten years old, an' she's pestered me ever +since ter git her canvas an' paints an' sich. But then, I'm willin' +ter," he added in a tender tone. "Telly's a good girl and Lissy and me +set great store by her. She's all we've got in the world;" then pointing +to a small white stone just to the right of where they were, he added, +"Thar's whar the other one's been layin' fer mor'n twenty years."</p> + +<p>"This one has grown to be a very beautiful girl," said Albert quietly, +"and you have reason to be proud of her."</p> + +<p>Uncle Terry made no reply, but seemed lost in a reverie, and Albert +slowly puffed his cigar and looked out on the ocean, and along the +ever-widening path of moonlight. He very much wished that this fair +girl, so quaintly spoken of, were there beside him, that he might talk +to her about her art. And as he grew curious and a bit surprised at the +sort of people he had unexpectedly come upon, a little desire to know at +least one of them a good deal better came to him. How it could be +managed, and what excuse to give for remaining longer than the morrow, +he could not see, and yet very much wished to find one. He looked +toward the house, white in the moonlight, with the tall lighthouse and +its beacon flash just beyond, and wondered if he should see the girl +again that night. He hoped he might, and was on the point of suggesting +they go in and visit a little with the ladies when Uncle Terry said:</p> + +<p>"I believe ye called yerself a lawyer, Mr. Page, an' from Boston. Do ye +happen to know a lawyer thar that has got eyes like a cat, an' a nose +like a gentleman from Jerusalem, an' rubs his hands as if he was washin' +'em while he's talkin'?"</p> + +<p>Albert gave a start. "I do, Mr. Terry," he answered, "I know him well. +His name is Frye, Nicholas Frye."</p> + +<p>"An' as you're a lawyer, an' one that looks to me as honest," continued +Uncle Terry, "what is your honest opinion o' this Mr. Frye?"</p> + +<p>"That is a question I would rather not answer," replied Albert, "until I +know why you ask it, and what your opinion of Mr. Frye is. Mine might +not flatter him, and I do not believe in speaking ill of anybody unless +forced to."</p> + +<p>Uncle Terry was silent, evidently revolving a serious problem in his +mind. "I am goin' ter beg yer pardon, Mr. Page," he said at last, "fer +speakin' the way I did regardin' lawyers in gineral. My 'sperence with +'em has been bad, an' naterally I don't trust 'em much. I've had some +dealin's with this ere Frye 'bout a matter I don't want to tell 'bout, +an' the way things is workin' ain't as they should be. I b'lieve I'm +robbed right along, an' if ye'r' willin' ter help me I shall be most +tarnally grateful, an' will give ye my word I'll never let on ter +anybody what ye say—an' Silas Terry never yit broke his promise."</p> + +<p>Albert silently offered his hand to Uncle Terry, who grasped it +cordially. "I will tell you, Mr. Terry," he said after the handshake, +"all I know about Mr. Frye and what my opinion is of him. What your +business with him is, matters not. I am certain you are an honest man +and will keep your word. I recently worked for Mr. Frye six months and +left him to open an office for myself. He offered me more than double +what he had been paying to remain, but no money would tempt me to do it. +In that six months I became satisfied Nicholas Frye was the most +unprincipled villain ever masked under the name of lawyer. If all those +you have had business with were like him I don't wonder at your remark +to-day."</p> + +<p>Uncle Terry leaned forward with elbows on his knees, resting his face in +the palms of his hands, and ejaculated: "I knew it! I knew it! I'm a +blamed old fool an' ought ter hev a keeper put over me!" Then turning +to Albert he added, "I've paid that dum thief over four hundred dollars +this year an' hain't got a scrap o' paper ter show fer't, and nothin's +been done so fer as I kin see 'bout the business." He meditated a few +moments, and then turning around suddenly added, "My wife an' Telly +don't know nothin' 'bout this, and I don't want they should. Thar's a +sucker born every minit and two ter ketch him, an' I b'lieve it! I've +been ketched an' skinned fer dead sure! I want ter sleep on't, an' mebbe +in the mornin' I'll tell ye the hull story, an' how I've been made a +fool of. I'm beginnin' ter think I kin trust ye."</p> + +<p>"I thank you for your good opinion," answered Albert, "and if I can help +you any way I will."</p> + +<p>When the two returned to the house Albert was shown to a room that +reminded him of his boyhood home, the old-fashioned bed, spotless +counterpane, and muslin curtains all seemed so sweet and wholesome. A +faint odor of lavender carried him back to the time when his mother's +bed linen exhaled the same sweet fragrance. He lighted a cigar and sat +down by a window where crisp salt sea air came in, and tried to fathom +what manner of business Uncle Terry could have with Frye. It was an +enigma, and as he looked out on the wide expanse of moonlit ocean where +every wave sparkled with silvery light, and listened to the ceaseless +rhythm of the long swells breaking upon the rocks almost under his +window, he could not solve it. That the odd-spoken old man was in sore +distress was evident, and for an hour Albert watched the sparkling sea +in vain imaginings as to what Uncle Terry's business with Frye could be. +And into his meditation also crept the face and form of the girl he had +first seen watching the sunset.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXI" id="CHAPTER_XXI"></a>CHAPTER XXI</h2> + +<h3>A NEW CLIENT</h3> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p>When Albert arose the next morning the sun was just appearing round and +red out of the ocean, and a crisp breeze blowing into the open windows. +He heard the stir of some one below, and, dressing quickly, descended to +the sitting-room. No one was there, and he stood for a moment looking at +the curiously framed paintings that almost covered the wall.</p> + +<p>One in particular caught his eye. It was a ship careened on the ocean +with waves breaking upon her. She was resting on rocks that barely +showed beneath, and in her rigging, heavily covered with ice, were five +men. All around was the sea, tossed into giant waves, curling and +breaking about the stranded vessel. He noted the life-like shading of +the green and white billows; the ice that covered every shroud and rope +and spar; and peering out of a cabin door was a woman holding a babe in +her arms. In a way it was a ghastly picture, and one that held his +attention from all the rest.</p> + +<p>It was framed in a broad flat moulding covered with shells. He was still +gazing at it when he heard Uncle Terry's voice bidding him good morning.</p> + +<p>"Ain't ye up a little arly?" said that worthy; "I hope ye slep' well. I +ginerally roust out by day-light an' put out the light an' then start a +fire, but thar was no need o' you gittin' out so soon."</p> + +<p>"I think the waves woke me," replied Albert, "and the morning is so +beautiful I couldn't waste it in bed."</p> + +<p>"I'm goin' over to the cove to mend a trap," continued Uncle Terry, "an' +if ye'r' willin', I'd like ter hev ye go along too. The wimmin'll hev +breakfast ready by that time, an' then I'll take ye up to Seal Cove an' +see if yer boat's thar."</p> + +<p>He seemed depressed and not inclined to talk, and as Albert sat on an +overturned dory and watched him puttering away over a lobster trap, he +began to feel sorry for him. His hat had fallen off and the sea winds +blew his scant fringe of gray hair over his bald head. His brown shirt +was open at the throat, disclosing a bony neck, and his well-worn +garments showed the outlines of a somewhat wasted form. What impressed +Albert more than all this was the dejected manner of Uncle Terry. It was +as if an unexpected sorrow had come upon him. When he finished fixing +the trap he pulled a dory in that was moored out in the cove and +carefully bailed and wiped it clean. When this was done he said almost +wistfully: "I've worried a good deal 'bout what you told me last night, +an' I'd like ter have a good talk with ye. I s'pose ye'r' anxious ter +see yer friends an' let 'em know ye'r' all safe, an' I'll take ye up the +island the fust thing an' then go an' pull my traps, and then if ye'r' +willin' we'll sot down, if it ain't askin' too much o' ye ter wait," he +added almost pathetically. "I'll get Telly to show ye her picturs, and +mebbe ye can give her some pints as'll help her."</p> + +<p>"I shall be more than glad to do so," replied Albert, "but if that +shipwreck scene is hers, she needs no advice from me."</p> + +<p>Uncle Terry looked pleased, but made no answer. On the way back to the +house he said: "I'd ruther ye'd make no mention to the wimmin of our +hevin' any talk."</p> + +<p>At the breakfast table he seemed in better spirits, and more like +himself.</p> + +<p>"I think ye told me last night," he remarked, addressing Albert, "that +ye painted picturs yerself some." And then turning to Telly he added: +"Mr. Page is comin' back here bimeby, jest to look 'round, an' mebbe +he'd like ter look at some o' yourn."</p> + +<p>Telly's face flushed slightly. "I shall be delighted," added Albert, "if +Miss Terry will favor me. Will you?" he added in a persuasive tone.</p> + +<p>"I do not feel that my pictures are good enough to show to strangers," +she answered in a low voice; "I have never had any lessons or any one to +show me."</p> + +<p>"From what I've noticed in your sitting-room," responded Albert quickly, +"you need not be ashamed to show them to an artist. I am not one. I only +sketch a little, just as a remembrance of places I visit, but I love +pictures even better than music."</p> + +<p>"I will gladly show you what I have done," replied Telly simply, and +there the conversation ended. When the meal was over Albert observed: +"With your permission, Mrs. Terry, I would like to make a sketch of your +home and the lighthouse, and after Mr. Terry has helped me find my +friends I am coming back." Then turning to Telly he added: "I can then +feel easy in my mind, and shall enjoy looking over your paintings."</p> + +<p>"Won't ye stop to dinner with us?" asked Aunt Lissy, as Albert thanked +her for her hospitality; "we'll be glad to have ye."</p> + +<p>"I will, thank you," replied Albert; "this point, and in fact this +village, was such a surprise to me, and is so charming, I am going to +devote all my day to it." Then bidding the ladies good morning, he +followed Uncle Terry over to the cove, where they boarded his dory and +started out to find the "Gypsy."</p> + +<p>Albert had spoken truly when he expressed surprise at the charms of the +Cape and Uncle Terry's home, and not the least of it was the hospitality +shown him in that home. But perhaps the greatest surprise of all was the +finding of so fair a girl as Telly hid away, as it were, in an +unheard-of corner of the world. "And she has the soul of an artist in +her," he said to himself, as Uncle Terry pulled the dory out of the +harbor and up the coast towards where he had been left stranded; "and +what eyes, and what a perfect form!"</p> + +<p>Then, as good luck would have it, when they rounded a point, there was +the "Gypsy" following the island shore down to meet them. Albert stood +up and waved his cap. He was answered by the whistle, and in an instant +every one on board of her, even the crew, were out on her bows and +waving caps lustily. The skipper kept the whistle blowing, and as the +yacht slowed down and Uncle Terry pulled alongside, Albert was seized +and almost dragged on board. Frank was so overjoyed he hugged him, and +then gave vent to a war-whoop that might have been heard the entire +length of Southport Island.</p> + +<p>"We guessed what had happened to you," he said, "when we picked up your +boat. It was almost dark when one of the crew saw an empty boat floating +up the bay. We were all down in the cabin at that time, and had not +noticed how late it was, when he called us. Two of the crew lowered the +other boat, and when they got back with yours we nearly had a fit. The +missing cushions and loop on the painter gave us a clue, and we half +expected you would find your way back to the 'Gypsy' by land."</p> + +<p>"I guess you're not much acquainted with the interior of Southport +Island," put in Albert; and then going forward he brought back Uncle +Terry, and introduced him to the crowd. By this time the "Gypsy" was +almost down to the Cape, and under one bell, and the direction of Uncle +Terry, she slowly steamed in. That worthy man had been looking over her, +and his admiration was evident.</p> + +<p>"A purty slick craft, boys," he said to the party, as the "Gypsy's" +anchor ceased rattling out of the hawse-hole,—"a purty slick craft, an' +must 'a' cost a heap o' money."</p> + +<p>Then as he pulled his own weather-beaten dory that had been towing +astern along to the gangway, Albert stepped up to him and said in a low +voice:</p> + +<p>"Will you excuse me a little while, Mr. Terry? I want to change my +clothes, and in an hour or so I will come ashore, and not only thank +you for all your kindness, but make you a visit."</p> + +<p>When Uncle Terry had gone Albert related his experiences for the past +eighteen hours to the party—that is, all but one incident, or rather +surprise, and that he omitted for reasons best known to himself. Then +nothing would do but they must all go ashore, and look the quaint little +village over.</p> + +<p>"I wish you would keep away from the lighthouse, boys," Albert said, as +they were getting into their boat. "Mr. Terry's family are rather +sensitive people and may not like to have a lot of us trooping around +their place. I am going over there this afternoon to make a sketch, and +then I'll ask permission, and we'll all go there some other day."</p> + +<p>He had whispered to Frank to remain on the yacht, and when the rest were +gone he said to him: "Frank, I am going to confide something to you, and +I want you to promise me on your honor not to hint it to any of our +friends." When that astonished young man had promised to keep mum, +Albert continued, "The fact is, Frank, I've tumbled into an adventure, +and fallen in love with a girl on sight, and without having exchanged +ten words with her! She is Mr. Terry's daughter, and has eyes that take +your breath away, and a form like the Venus of Milo. She paints +pictures that are a wonder, considering she never has taken a lesson, +and has a face more bewitching than any woman's I ever saw. It is like a +painter's dream."</p> + +<p>"Well, you have gone daft, old man," replied the astonished Frank, +breaking into a laugh in which Albert joined, and then adding with +mischief in his eyes, "Does she take good care of her teeth and +fingernails, Bert?"</p> + +<p>Albert frowned. "Don't for heaven's sake mention her in the same breath +with those cigarette-smoking blemishes on their sex!" he answered; and +then he added more pleasantly, "But you haven't heard it all yet. This +unique old man, who saved me from sleeping all night in a thicket of +briers, and who has opened his heart and home to me, has fallen into the +clutches of—Nicholas Frye!"</p> + +<p>"Great Scott!" exclaimed Frank, "and how on earth did he ever find Frye, +or Frye find him? Was your old man of the island hunting around Boston +for some one to rob him?"</p> + +<p>"That I do not know yet," replied Albert; "all I know is that Mr. Terry +has paid Frye about four hundred dollars, and, as he says, so far has +nothing to show for it. What the business was I expect to learn later. +Now what I am coming at is this: can't you manage to leave me here for +the rest of the day, or, better still, make it two days? I'll tell the +boys I've tumbled into a bit of law business, which is what I think will +come out of it, and you can run down to Bar Harbor, or out to Monhegan +and back here to-morrow night."</p> + +<p>"Well, I'll do that gladly," replied Frank; and then he added with a +droll smile, "It will give you a chance to say a few sweet things to +this girl with the wondrous eyes, eh, Bert?"</p> + +<p>"Please don't joke me about her before the rest of the crowd," said +Albert; "remember your promise!"</p> + +<p>"Well, you told the truth when you said you had fallen in love with her, +I guess," observed Frank; "a fellow that feels that way about a girl +must be in love."</p> + +<p>"My dear boy," replied Albert, "what you say may be true, but I've not +yet insisted upon her singing 'Ben Bolt' three times in one evening."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXII" id="CHAPTER_XXII"></a>CHAPTER XXII</h2> + +<h3>UNCLE TERRY'S GUEST</h3> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p>It was nearly noon when Albert left the yacht. He had exchanged his +bedraggled yachting-suit for a neat gray one, and with a small satchel, +his sketch-book, and a box of choice Havanas for Uncle Terry, he rowed +ashore. For three hours the "Gypsy" had been the cynosure of all the +Cape eyes, old or young, for a handsome two-hundred-ton yacht was a +novelty in their little harbor. When she steamed slowly out, with Frank +and his companions, in natty white duck suits, grouped on her stern, she +was a pretty sight, and as she cleared the narrow entrance, the crew +fired three guns and dipped her flag in honor of Albert, and then he +picked his way over the rocks to the lighthouse. Uncle Terry had not +returned from hauling his lobster traps, and Aunt Lissy and Telly met +him at the door. It is likely that his being one of the yachting-party +impressed them a little, for they were both dressed in their best. He +was invited in, and then Aunt Lissy said: "Please excuse me, fur I have +dinner to git, and Telly will entertain ye."</p> + +<p>"And show me her pictures, I hope," put in Albert, with his most +persuasive smile.</p> + +<p>It was an awkward position for Telly, and one that she had never before +been called upon to fill. Rather shy naturally, and her sole +acquaintance with the usages of society limited to the few people among +whom she had been brought up, to be called upon to entertain a smartly +dressed and citified young man was a decidedly new experience. Albert +saw her embarrassment, and with true gallantry at once set about making +her feel at ease.</p> + +<p>"Please do not feel that you must try to entertain me, Miss Terry," he +said, "only show me your pictures and tell me about them."</p> + +<p>"I am almost ashamed to," she replied timidly; "I have never taken any +lessons and feel that I do not know anything about painting. Father says +you are an artist yourself."</p> + +<p>"Oh, no, Miss Terry," exclaimed Albert quickly, "he misunderstood me. I +only sketch a little and once in a while make an effort to put a sketch +that is of interest on canvas. All I can tell is when one looks +life-like; for instance,"—pointing to it,—"that shipwreck scene. It +is wonderfully well done. Did you paint it from a real wreck?"</p> + +<p>Telly colored. "No, sir," she answered, "that was all done from father's +description of a wreck that took place off the point one winter when I +was a baby." Then, as if to check further questions, she stepped to a +closet, brought him a small unframed picture, and added, "There is one I +have just finished."</p> + +<p>It was a view of a tall cliff with a low shelf of rock at its base, over +which the waves were breaking. Albert recognized it at once. "Why, that +is the very point," he exclaimed, "that I was sketching yesterday when +my boat drifted away. Did you paint it from a broad flat rock on the +west side of the cove?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, that is the spot," replied Telly, looking pleased. "It is +shady there, and I used to row up and paint in the afternoon. It is +strange you went to the same place."</p> + +<p>The ice was broken now, and Telly's shyness was almost gone.</p> + +<p>"Father told me about finding you," she said, "and that you were turned +around. You must have had a hard tramp, for it's all of two miles from +where you were to this cove, and an awful tangle all the way, he said."</p> + +<p>"I was decidedly turned when he came to my rescue," Albert replied, "and +the sun seemed to be setting in the east. It was very kind of your +father to take care of me the way he has, and I shall never forget it."</p> + +<p>It is not hard for two young people of opposite sex to get acquainted +when each desires to entertain the other and they have at least one +well-defined taste in common. In this case when the masculine one felt a +sudden admiration for his companion and brought all his resource of tact +and subtle flattery to bear, they were soon on the very best of terms. +Albert did not talk much, but adroitly induced Telly to do most of it. +In the hour they passed together he discovered that two impulses were +nearest her heart—the first and strongest her devotion to Mr. Terry, +and after that a desire to paint.</p> + +<p>"I do not ever hope to do much," she admitted rather pathetically; "I +never have taken lessons and maybe never shall. I would not think of +asking father to let me go away, and all I can do is to work blindly. I +often sit for hours trying to put things I see on canvas, only to fail +utterly and begin all over again. I should not mind it if I could see +that I made any progress, but I do not. I can't let it alone, though, +for the most happy hours I have are when I'm painting."</p> + +<p>"You certainly have perseverance," responded Albert encouragingly, "and +the pictures you have shown me seem very life-like. I wish I could do as +well. You have done good work for one self-taught as you are, and you +have no reason to be discouraged."</p> + +<p>Then Uncle Terry came in and announced dinner. It was rather a state +affair for the Terry household, and the table bore their best dinner +service, with a vase of flowers in the centre.</p> + +<p>"I hope ye feel hungry," said Uncle Terry, as he passed a well-filled +plate to Albert, "for we live plain, and it's good appetite as makes +good vittles. I s'pose ye are used ter purty high livin'?"</p> + +<p>"Whatever tastes good is good," replied Albert, and turning to Aunt +Lissy he added, "This fried lobster beats anything I have tasted for a +long time."</p> + +<p>When the meal was over he handed the box of cigars he had brought to his +host with the remark, "Please accept these, Mr. Terry, and when you +smoke them, think of the forlorn fellow you found by the wayside."</p> + +<p>"I've got ter leave ye ter th' tender marcies o' the wimmin folks," said +Uncle Terry, after thanking Albert, "for I've got work to do, and +to-night we'll have a visit. I hope you'll be willin' to stay with us a +day or two," he added, "an' to-morrow I'll take ye out fishin'."</p> + +<p>"I will stay until to-morrow, thank you," replied Albert, "and it will +be a treat to me, I assure you."</p> + +<p>It was a new departure for him to find so cordial a welcome among total +strangers, and he could not quite understand it. He was not inclined to +quarrel with fate, however, especially when it had thrown him into the +society of such people. It is needless to say the "tender marcies" of at +least one of them were quite to his taste.</p> + +<p>"I should like to row up to where I was left boat-less yesterday," he +said to Telly after Uncle Terry had gone, "and finish the sketch I +began, and also try to find the cushions I dropped in the woods; may I +ask you to go too?"</p> + +<p>"I should be glad to if mother can spare me," she answered.</p> + +<p>When he rowed out of the little harbor where he had left his boat, Telly +sat in the stern holding the tiller ropes, and shading her winsome face +was the same broad sun-hat he had seen on the rock beside her the +evening before. It was a long four-mile pull, but he was unconscious of +it, and when he helped his companion out and secured the boat he said, +"Now I am going to ask a favor of you, Miss Terry. I want you to stand +in just the position I first saw you and let me make a sketch of you. +You were leaning on a rock and resting your head on one hand."</p> + +<p>Telly looked puzzled.</p> + +<p>"You did not know I saw you out on the point last evening, did you?" he +added, smiling. "I stood and looked at you for five minutes and then +walked away. I did not know who you were then, or that I should meet you +later. If I had I would not have been so rude."</p> + +<p>The color came to Telly's face at his evident admiration, but she did +not say no to his proposal and stood patiently in the position he wished +while he made the sketch. "There," he exclaimed when it was finished, "I +shall transfer that to canvas when I go back, and whenever I look at it +I shall recall this day and—you."</p> + +<p>"Will you need the picture for that?" she replied with a smile. It was +the first little coquettish word she had uttered, and it amused Albert. +"That sounds like Alice," he said, and added hastily, "Alice is my only +sister, and I think more of her than of any other woman living."</p> + +<p>What these two young people, so rapidly becoming acquainted, had to say +all that long summer afternoon need not be recorded. Telly sat on the +boat's cushions in a shady nook and watched Albert finish his sketch +and then listened to his talk. He told her all about his home and +sister, and Frank as well. In a way they exchanged a good deal of +personal history of interest to each other, but to no one else, so it +need not be repeated. Then they gathered flowers, like two children, and +Telly insisted on decorating the boat. When it was done she wanted him +to make a sketch of it for her. "Draw yourself as holding the oars," she +said, "and I will try to paint a picture from the sketch to remember you +by," she added with a smile. Then, as the sun was getting low, they +started for home. The breeze had all vanished and the sea was like +glass. Only the long ground swells barely lifted their boat and made the +shadows of the trees along the shore wave in fantastic undulations. When +they reached the Cape Telly said, "You had better go around to the cove +where father keeps his boats. It's nearer to the house, and there is a +float there where you can pull your boat out."</p> + +<p>She waited until he had done so, and then stooped and selected a few of +the flowers with which they had decked the boat. "I am going to paint +them," she said quietly, as she turned and followed Albert up to the +house.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXIII" id="CHAPTER_XXIII"></a>CHAPTER XXIII</h2> + +<h3>A STRANGE STORY</h3> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p>Uncle Terry and Albert had just seated themselves on the point that +evening when Telly came out with a thick gray shawl and wrapped it +around her father's shoulders. "It's a little chilly to-night," she +said, "and I think you need it." Then turning to Albert she added, +"Wouldn't you like one too, Mr. Page?" He didn't in the least need any +protection, but that made no difference. "I would, thank you," he +answered, "if you have another to spare." He would have answered yes if +she had asked him to put on woollen mittens. She returned to the house +and came back, this time bearing a white zephyr wrap, and handed it to +Albert. "I will bid you good-night, now," she said, "for I presume you +will sit here long after bed-time."</p> + +<p>Uncle Terry's eyes followed her back to the house, and then he turned to +his guest.</p> + +<p>"I s'pose ye'd rather be talking to Telly than me, out here in the +moonlight," he said bluntly, "now that ye've got a little acquainted. +It's the way o' young folks."</p> + +<p>"I've had a very pleasant visit with your daughter this afternoon," +responded Albert; "she was good enough to go with me to where I got left +yesterday. I wanted to finish the sketch I began there." Uncle Terry +made no answer, but sat puffing away at one of the cigars Albert had +given him.</p> + +<p>"We don't git cigars like this here," he said at last, "an' they must +cost a lot o' money." Albert made no reply, but waited quietly for the +revelation he felt was coming.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Page," said Uncle Terry at last, "I've worried a good deal since +last night 'bout what you told me, an' I've made up my mind to tell ye +the hull story an' trust ye with what no one else knows. To begin with, +it's 'bout twenty years ago last March when thar war a vessel got a-foul +o' a ledge jest off'n the pint here in a snow-storm, an' all hands went +down; that is, all but a little yearlin' baby that cum ashore tied up +'tween two feather-beds. I fished her out o' the surf, an' Lissy an' me +has taken care on her ever since, an' to-day she's worth a thousand +times more'n she cost. How much she thinks o' me I'll let ye jedge by +the way she thought 'bout my comfort to-night. There was a few trinkets +came ashore with her—picturs o' her father an' mother, we knew, an' a +locket an' ring and some other things, so we knowed her name and whar +she cum from. Since then we have never heard a word from no one +regardin' her people, or whether any was livin', till last winter I cum +across a notice in a paper sayin' information was wanted 'bout an heir +to an estate in Sweden, and tellin' facts that made me sure Telly was +the one wanted. The notice was signed by that lawyer, Frye, that I asked +ye 'bout, an' I went to see him. He wanted proofs an' all that, an' I +gave 'em to him, an' wussen that, he wanted money, an' I gave that to +him. He's kept askin' fer money ever since, an' I, like a dum fool, kept +sendin' it, in hopes, if Telly had anything comin', she'd git her dues. +I've sent him the locket and things that belonged to her, and all I've +got so far is letters askin' for more money an' tellin' 'bout expenses +an' evidence an' witnesses' fees an' bonds to be filed. Lissy an' Telly +know 'bout the case, but they don't know how much money I've paid out, +an' I don't want they should. That's the hull story, an' now as you're a +lawyer, an' I b'lieve an honest one, I ask ye what's best to be done."</p> + +<p>For fully five minutes Albert said nothing. The story was so startling +and opened such a wide horizon of possibilities that he was speechless. +Then, perhaps, the distress in Uncle Terry's face and speech appealed to +him, for he said: "I see now, Mr. Terry, why you distrust lawyers, and I +do not wonder at it. To the best of my belief you have been swindled in +the most outrageous manner by Frye. He no doubt is acting for some law +firm who have instructed him to find an heir, if there is one, to this +estate, and they would naturally advance all expense money. Do you know +the vessel's name, where she sailed from, and who her master was?"</p> + +<p>"She was a square-rigger, and the master's name was Peterson; in the +newspaper piece the name was Neils Peterson who cum from Stockholm," +answered Uncle Terry. "I've got it in my wallet now, an' on the locket +was the letters E. P., an' on a piece o' paper that was pinned to the +baby's dress was the name Etelka Peterson."</p> + +<p>"And did you send these proofs to Frye?" asked Albert quickly.</p> + +<p>"I sent 'em six months ago," was the reply, "an' I've jest 'bout made up +my mind I was a fool to 'a' done it, an' a bigger one to keep sendin' +money."</p> + +<p>"It would have been all right," answered Albert after a pause, "if you +had put them into an honest man's hands. As it is you are lame—in fact, +utterly at the mercy of Frye, who is robbing you." Then after thinking +a moment he added, "I will gladly do what I can to help you, Mr. Terry, +and at no cost to you for my own services. The first step must be to get +possession of these material proofs, the next to find what firm has +employed Frye. That will be easier than to get the trinkets, as you call +them, back. We might issue a writ of replevin and search Frye's office, +but then we are not sure of finding them. They are so valuable in the +case that you may be sure Frye has them safe in hiding and will deny +possession. Even if we find who employ him and lay the matter before +them, he will declare us impostors and block us at once. As I said, we +are helpless until we get possession of those proofs."</p> + +<p>"Ain't my word an' Lissy's as to savin' the baby no 'count?" asked Uncle +Terry.</p> + +<p>"Very good so far as it goes," answered Albert, "but really no proof +that the child you saved is the one wanted for this inheritance. In the +matter of a legacy the law is very exacting and demands absolute proof. +No, the only way is to use duplicity and trick Frye, or ask him to name +his price and pay it, and as the estate may be large, his price will +naturally be extortionate."</p> + +<p>Albert thought a moment and then added, "Has Frye ever written you +admitting he has received or has those proofs in his possession?"</p> + +<p>"Not a word," answered Uncle Terry; "all he writes is, 'Your case is +progressing favorably. I need so much more money,' an' I send it an' lay +'wake nights worryin'."</p> + +<p>"How long since he has sent for money?" asked Albert.</p> + +<p>"'Bout a month, I reckon," replied Uncle Terry.</p> + +<p>Albert leaned forward, resting his face on both hands and thinking. It +was a hard case to solve, and knowing the manner of man Frye was, and +how nearly impossible it would be to trick him, a past master in all +kinds of duplicity, he was at his wits' end. The more he thought the +matter over, the harder the problem seemed. "We might have you go into +his office with one or two of your neighbors," he said, "to act as +witnesses, and by some question get him to admit he has these articles, +and then bring suit; but I do not think he would say anything before a +third party. We might employ a detective, but Frye is too shrewd to be +caught napping. I confess, Mr. Terry, I am stumped, and can see no way +out of the dilemma." Then he lighted a fresh cigar and gazed +meditatively upon the ocean where the ever-broadening path of moonshine +stretched away. Only a little way out the ground swells were breaking +upon a long narrow reef, and as it caught his eye there came to him the +memory of the pictured wreck he had noticed in Uncle Terry's +sitting-room that morning, and Telly's evident wish to avoid all +questions regarding it. Then it dawned upon him that that subject might +be a tender one with her, and maybe that in some way she felt her +history was a cloud upon her life, or perhaps a humiliation. He turned +to Uncle Terry again:</p> + +<p>"How does your—I mean, how does Telly feel about this matter, Mr. +Terry, for I suppose she knows the story?"</p> + +<p>"That's suthin' I hate ter talk 'bout, but as ye'r' likely to see more +o' us an' more o' Telly, it's better ye know it all. When she was 'bout +ten we told her the story, and showed her the things we'd kep' locked +up. She didn't seem ter mind it then, but as she's growed older it +sorter shadders her life, as it were. We used ter ketch her lookin' at +the things once in a while, an' cryin'. When I sent 'em to Boston she +took on a good deal, an' ain't been the same sence. We try to keep her +from thinkin' 'bout it all we can, but she's curis in her ways, and I've +thought she was kinder 'shamed, an' mebbe broodin' over it makes it +wuss."</p> + +<p>This was a new phase of the trouble to Albert, and one he could not +quite understand. "You do not mean that you fear she would make away +with herself in a fit of melancholy, do you?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"I dunno what to think," was the answer, "only I hate to have her out o' +sight much, an' the more lovin' she is the more I worry. I've bin sorry +at times I ever went to Frye, but it's too late ter back out now."</p> + +<p>"One thing please promise me," said Albert when they had started for the +house, "do not hint either to her or your wife that you have told me +anything about this matter. I will do all that can be done, and consult +only with you, in private."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXIV" id="CHAPTER_XXIV"></a>CHAPTER XXIV</h2> + +<h3>A WHISPER OF THE OCEAN</h3> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p>The next day was a red-letter one in Albert's history. In the morning he +followed Uncle Terry around the circuit of his lobster traps in the +"Gypsy's" boat, with Telly as a companion, and watched the old man +hauling and rebaiting those elongated coops and taking out his hideous +prizes. The day was a perfect one, the sea just ruffled by a light +breeze, and as her first timidity had now worn away, he found Telly a +most charming companion. She not only loved the ocean that in a way had +been her playmate since childhood, but she had an artist's eye for all +its beauties. How many features, new to Albert, she called to his +attention, and how her naïve observations, so fresh and delightful, each +and all interested him, need not be quoted. It was an entirely new +experience to him, and the four hours' pull in and out of the island +coves and around isolated ledges where Uncle Terry set his traps passed +all too quickly.</p> + +<p>"Do you know," said Albert when they had returned to the little cove +where Uncle Terry kept his boats, and as he sat watching him pick up his +morning's catch and toss them one by one into a large car, "that the +first man who thought of eating a lobster must have been almost starved. +Of all creatures that grow in the sea, there is none more hideous, and +only a hungry savage could have thought them fit for food."</p> + +<p>"They ain't over hansum," replied Uncle Terry, "but fried in pork fat +they go middlin' good if ye're hungry."</p> + +<p>That afternoon Telly invited Albert to row her up to a cove, at the head +of which was a narrow valley where blueberries grew in profusion. "I +want to pick a few," she said, "and you can make a sketch of the cove +while I do." It must be recorded that helping her picking berries proved +more attractive, and when her pail was full, all he did in that line was +to make a picture of her sitting in front of a pretty cluster of small +spruce trees, with the pail beside her and her sun-hat trimmed with +ferns.</p> + +<p>"Your city friends will laugh at the country girl you found down in +Maine," she remarked as she looked at the sketch, "but as they will +never see me, I don't care."</p> + +<p>"My friends will never see it," he answered quietly, "only my sister. +And I am going to bring her down here next summer."</p> + +<p>"Tell me about her," said Telly at once, "is she pretty?"</p> + +<p>"I think so," replied Albert, "she has eyes like yours, only her hair is +not so light. She is a petite little body and has a mouth that makes one +want to kiss her."</p> + +<p>"I should like to see her ever so much," responded Telly, and then she +added rather sadly, "I've never had a girl friend in my life. There are +only a few at the Cape of my age, and I don't see much of them. I don't +mind it in the summer, for then I work on my pictures, but in winter it +is so lonesome. For days I do not see any one except father and mother +or old Mrs. Leach."</p> + +<p>"And who is Mrs. Leach?" asked Albert.</p> + +<p>"Oh, she's a poor old soul who lives alone and works on the fish racks," +answered Telly, "she is worse off than I am." It was a little glimpse +into the girl's life that interested Albert, and in the light of what he +knew of her history, a pathetic one. Truly she was alone in the world, +and except for the two kindly souls who made a home for her, she had no +one to turn to.</p> + +<p>"You will go away to-morrow, I suppose," she said with a faint tone of +regret as they were rowing home. "Father said your boat was coming after +you to-day."</p> + +<p>He looked at her a moment, while a slight smile showed beneath his +mustache. "I suppose I shall have to," he answered, "but I should like +to stay here a month. I've not made a sketch of your house, even."</p> + +<p>"I wish you would," she said with charming candor, "it is so lonesome +here, and then maybe you would show me a little about painting."</p> + +<p>"Could you endure my company every day for a month?" he asked, looking +her full in the face.</p> + +<p>"I don't believe you could endure ours," she replied, dropping her eyes, +and then she added quickly, "There is a prayer-meeting to-night at the +Cape; would you like to go?"</p> + +<p>"Most certainly," he answered; "I can imagine it will be interesting."</p> + +<p>Albert had expected to see the "Gypsy" in the harbor when they returned +that afternoon, but was most happily disappointed. "I hope they will +stay at Bar Harbor a week," he thought. And that evening when Telly +appeared, ready to be escorted to the prayer-meeting, he was certain +that no fairer girl was to be found at Bar Harbor, or anywhere else.</p> + +<p>She was dressed in simple white, her masses of sunny hair half +concealed by a thin blue affair of loosely knitted wool, and had a +cluster of wild roses at her throat. It was a new and pleasurable +experience to be walking beside a well-dressed young man whose every +look and word bespoke enjoyment of her society, and she showed it in her +simple, unaffected way. "I am afraid we shall disturb the meeting," she +said with a smile, as they were walking over to the village. "The folks +will be so curious to know who you are they will sing worse than ever. +That's about all they do," she added by way of explanation,—"sing a few +hymns, and Deacon Oaks will make a prayer and Mr. Gates another. They +may call on you to give testimony," she continued, looking at Albert +archly; "will you respond?"</p> + +<p>"Hardly," was the reply. "I always respect people's religious feelings, +but I must confess I belong to the great majority of sinners who have +never had a change of heart."</p> + +<p>That evening's gathering was a unique one in Albert's experience, and +the religious observances such as he never forgot. The place was a +little square, unpainted building, not larger than a country +schoolhouse, and when Telly and he entered and seated themselves on one +of the wooden settees that stood in rows, not over a dozen people were +there. On a small platform in front was a cottage organ, and beside it +a small desk. A few more entered after they did, and then a florid-faced +man arose, and, followed by a short and stout young lady, walked forward +to the platform. The girl seated herself at the organ, and the man, +after turning up the lamp on the organ, opened the book of gospel hymns, +and said in a nasal tone, "We will naow commence our sarvices by singin' +the forty-third psalm, and all are requested to rise an' jine." In the +centre of the room hung a large lamp, and two more on brackets at the +side shed a weak light on the gathering, but no one seemed to feel it +necessary to look for the forty-third selection. Albert and Telly arose +with the rest, and the girl at the organ began to chase the slow tune up +and down the keys. Then the red-faced man started the singing, a little +below the key, and the congregation followed. To Albert's surprise, +Telly's voice, clear and distinct, at his side joined with the rest. A +long prayer, full of halting repetitions, by the man at the desk, +followed, and then another hymn, and after that came a painful pause. To +Albert's mind it was becoming serious, and he began to wonder how it +would end, when there ensued one of the most weird and yet pathetic +prayers he had ever listened to. It was uttered by an old lady, tall, +gaunt, and white-haired, who arose from the end of a settee close to the +wall and beneath one of the smoke-dimmed lamps. It could not be classed +as a prayer exactly, for when she began her utterance she looked around +as if to find sympathy in the assembled faces, and her deep-set piercing +eyes seemed alight with intense feeling. At first she grasped the back +of the settee in front with her long fleshless fingers, and then later +clasped and finally raised them above her upturned face, while her body +swayed with the vehemence of her feelings. Her garb, too, lent a pathos, +for it was naught but a faded calico dress that hung from her attenuated +frame like the raiment of a scarecrow. It may have been the shadowy room +or the mournful dirge of the nearby ocean that added an uncanny touch to +her words and looks, but from the moment she arose until her utterance +ceased, Albert was spell-bound. So peculiar, and yet so pathetic, was +her prayer, it shall be quoted in full as uttered:</p> + +<p>"O Lord," she said, "I come to Thee, knowin' I'm as a worm that crawls +on the airth; like the dust blown by the winds; the empty shell on the +shore, or the leaves that fall on the ground. I come poor an' humble. I +come hungry and thirsty, like even the lowliest of the airth. I come and +kneel at Thy feet—believin' that I, a poor worm o' the dust, will +still have Thy love and pertection. I'm old, an' weary o' waitin'. I'm +humble, and bereft o' kin. I'm sad, and none to comfort me. I eat the +crust o' poverty, an' drink the cup of humility. My pertector and my +staff have bin taken from me, and yet, for all these burdens Thou in Thy +infinite wisdom hev seen fit to lay on me, I thank Thee! Thou hast led +my feet among thorns and stuns, and yet I thank Thee. Thou hast laid the +cross o' sorrow on my heart, and the burden o' many infirmities for me +to bear, and yet I bless Thee, yea, verily shall my voice be lifted to +glorify and praise Thee day and night, for hast Thou not promised me +that all who are believers in Thy word shall be saved? Hast Thou not +sent Thy son to die on the cross for my sake, poor and humble as I am? +An' fer this, an' fer all Thy infinite marcy an' goodness to me, I +praise an' thank Thee to-night, knowin' that not a sparrer falls without +Thy knowin' it, and that even the hairs of our heads are numbered.</p> + +<p>"I thank Thee, O Lord, for the sunshine every day, and the comin' o' the +birds and flowers every season. I thank Thee that my eyes are still +permitted to see Thy beautiful world, and my ears to hear the songs o' +praise. I thank Thee, too, that with my voice I can glorify and bless +Thee fer all Thy goodness, and fer all Thy marcy. An' when the day of +judgment comes an' the dead rise up then I know Thou wilt keep Thy +promise, an' that even I, poor an' humble, shall live again, jinin' +those that have gone before, to sit at Thy feet an' glorify Thee for +life everlastin'. Fer this blessed hope, an' fer all Thy other promises, +I lift my voice in gratitude an' thankfulness an' praise to Thee, my +heavenly Father, an' to thy son, my Redeemer, to-night an' to-morrer an' +forever an' forever. Amen."</p> + +<p>To Albert, a student of Voltaire, of Hume, of Paine, and an admirer of +Ingersoll, a doubter of scriptural authenticity, and almost a +materialist in belief, this weird and piteous utterance came with +peculiar effect. That she who uttered it had only told the tale of her +own sad life and hope he understood at once, and what was of more force, +that she believed and felt in her own heart that every word of her +recital was heard by her Creator. Albert had heard prayers and religious +exhortations without number; prayers that were incoherent, pointless, +vague, or uttered to the hearers instead of God; prayers that contained +advice to the Deity galore, but of supplication and thankfulness not a +vestige; but never before one that reached his heart and touched his +feelings as the strange and piteous supplication uttered by this weird +old lady there in the dimly-lighted room with the sad and solemn dirge +of the ocean whispering through the open windows.</p> + +<p>The rest of the services were of little interest to him, except the fact +that Telly's voice at his side, now a little bolder than at first, led +the gospel hymns that followed. Old and time-worn they were, and yet +rendered with a zest of feeling reflected, maybe, from the plaintive +prayer of this old lady.</p> + +<p>Our moods, and more especially our thoughts, are often turned from one +groove into another by some single word or reference that, like a little +rudder at the stern of a great ship, seems of no account. To Albert, who +for a year had had no thought except to win success amid the hard, +selfish scramble of life in a busy city, this episode, and more +especially the utter self-abnegation and piteous appeal of this poor, +ill-clad, and gaunt-faced old lady, was the tiny rudder that changed his +thoughts and carried him back to the many times when he, a boy, +exuberant in spirit, was made to kneel each night at bed-time and listen +to a loving mother's prayer. Then, too, the memory of that mother's +face, and even the very tones of her voice as she prayed that God would +guide her boy's footsteps aright, came back to him now, and into the +remembrance too was woven all of that mother's kind and patient acts; +all her earnest and good advice; all her self-denials; all the pinchings +and small economies she had endured to enable him to receive an +education, and as each and all came trooping back like so many little +hands tugging at his heart-strings and moistening his eyes, he realized +that there was needed in this hurrying, selfish life of ours something +deeper, and something beyond the skepticism of Voltaire and the +materialism of Ingersoll. And there in that dim little room, with two +dozen poorly clad and simple fisher-folk singing gospel hymns to the +accompaniment of a wheezy cottage organ, he realized that while atheism +and doubt might appeal to his intellect, it did not satisfy his heart, +and that while materialism might be a good enough theory to live by, it +was a cheerless belief to die by.</p> + +<p>And then too, as he stole covert looks at the fair girl who stood by his +side, joining her sweet voice in "Hold the Fort," "Pull for the Shore," +"Gathering at the River," and all the other time-worn gospel songs, +older than he was, into his heart came the first feeling, also, that she +was the one woman he had ever met whose gentle, unaffected goodness and +purity of thought was worthy of any man's devotion. But words are given +us to conceal as well as to reveal our feelings, and when the unique +little prayer-meeting was concluded with an oddly spoken benediction by +Deacon Oaks, and Albert and Telly were on their way back to the point, +his first words bore no disclosure of his feelings.</p> + +<p>"Who was the poor old lady that prayed so fervently?" he asked; "I have +never heard anything like it since I was a boy."</p> + +<p>"Oh, that's the Widow Leach," Telly responded; "she always acts that way +and feels so too, I guess. She is an object of pity here, and very poor. +She has no relation living that she knows of, lives alone in a small +house she owns, and works on the fish racks summers, and winters has to +be helped. Her husband and two sons were lost at sea many years ago, and +father says religion is all the consolation she has left."</p> + +<p>"Does she always pray as fervently as she did to-night?" was Albert's +next query.</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, that's her way," was the answer; "father says she is a little +cracked about such matters. He pities her, though, and helps her a good +deal, and so does 'most every one else here who can. She needs it." Then +after a pause she added, "How did you enjoy the meeting, Mr. Page?"</p> + +<p>"Well," replied Albert slowly, and mentally contrasting it with many +Sunday services when he had occupied a pew with the Nasons at their +fashionable church in Boston, "it has been an experience I shall not +soon forget. In one way it has been a pleasure, for it has taken me back +to my young days." Then he added a little sadly, "It has also been a +pain, for it recalled my mother and how she used to pray that I might +grow to be a good man."</p> + +<p>"You are not a bad man, are you?" responded Telly at once, looking +curiously at him.</p> + +<p>"Oh, no; I hope not," he answered, smiling, "I try to do as I would be +done by, but the good people here might think I was, maybe, because I am +not a professor of religion. For that reason I should be classed as one +of the sinners, I presume."</p> + +<p>"Well, so is father," responded Telly, "but that doesn't make him one. +Deacon Oaks calls him a scoffer, but I know he trusts him in all money +matters, and I think father is the best and kindest man in the world. He +has been so good and kind to me I would almost lie down and die for him, +if necessary."</p> + +<p>It was an expression of feeling that was not surprising to Albert, +knowing as he did her history, but he felt it unwise to discuss it. "How +do you feel about this matter of belief?" he asked after a pause. "Are +you what this old lady would call a believer, Miss Terry?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, no," she replied slowly, "I fear I am not. I always go to meeting +Sundays when there is one,—mother and I,—and once in a while to the +Thursday evening prayer-meeting. I think it's because I enjoy the +singing."</p> + +<p>When they reached the point Albert could not restrain his desire to +enjoy the society of this unaffected, simple, and beautiful girl a +little longer. The moon that Frank had planned to use was high overhead, +and away out over the still ocean stretched a broadening path of silvery +sheen, while at their feet, where the ground swells were breaking upon +the rocks, every splash of foam looked like snow-white wool.</p> + +<p>"If it's not asking too much, Miss Terry," said Albert with utmost +politeness, "won't you walk out to the top of the cliff and sit down a +few moments, while I enjoy a cigar? The night is too beautiful to turn +away from at once."</p> + +<p>Telly, nothing loath perhaps, assented, and they took possession of the +rustic seat where Albert had listened to her history the night before. +Perhaps a little of its pathos came to him now as he watched her sweet +face while she gazed far out to seaward and to where the swells were +breaking over a low, half-submerged ledge. And what a flood of new and +bewitching emotions came to him as he watched his fair companion, all +unconscious of his scrutiny!—and with them, a sudden and keen interest +to unravel the mystery of her parentage, and the hope that some time he +might do it. He also felt an unaccountable desire to tell her that he +knew her pathetic story, and to express his interest in it and his +sympathy for her, but dared not. "It may hurt her to know I know it," he +thought, "and I will wait till she knows me better." Instead he began +telling her about himself and his own early life, his home, his loss of +parents, his struggle to earn a living, and how much success he had so +far met. It may be considered egotism, but it was the wisest thing he +could have done, for it awakened her interest in him far more than he +realized. When his recital and cigar were both at an end and it was time +to go in, he said: "I may not have another chance to ask you, Miss +Terry, before I leave here; but when I get back to Boston may I write to +you, and will you answer my letters if I do?"</p> + +<p>The question startled her a little, but she answered:</p> + +<p>"I shall be pleased to hear from you, Mr. Page, and will do the best I +can in replying, only do not expect too much."</p> + +<p>When he had bade her good night and was alone in his room, the memory of +Mrs. Leach and her pitiful prayer, coupled with Telly's pleading eyes +and sweet face, banished all thoughts of sleep, and he had to light +another cigar and watch the moonlit ocean for a half hour while he +smoked and meditated.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXV" id="CHAPTER_XXV"></a>CHAPTER XXV</h2> + +<h3>THE "GYPSY" RETURNS</h3> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p>"How did ye like the prayer-meetin'?" asked Uncle Terry the next +morning, as Albert stood watching him getting ready to start on his +daily rounds. "Did the Widder Leach make ye feel ye was a hopeless +sinner?"</p> + +<p>"It was an interesting experience," replied Albert, "and one I shall not +soon forget."</p> + +<p>"Oh, it don't do 'em no harm to git together an' pray an' sing, an' most +likely it divarts their minds from other troubles, but in my way o' +thinkin', prayin' is a good deal like a feller tryin' to lift himself by +his boot-straps. It encourages him some, but he don't git much further." +Then, as if a load was on his mind, he added, "You haven't thought o' no +way ter git me out o' my scrape, hev ye?"</p> + +<p>"I have thought a good deal about it," replied Albert, "and the best +way, it seems to me, is for you to go right to Frye and tell him you +can't afford to carry the case any further, and offer to pay whatever +fee he sees fit to ask. You can tell him you will give up the case +entirely, and ask him to return the proofs you want. I may decide to +have a detective within hearing, so that if he refuses you these things, +we can use the detective as a witness in a replevin suit. Most likely he +will demand quite a sum, but it is best to pay it if we can get the +proofs. I will advance money enough to cover what he is likely to ask. +What I want you to do is to wait until he sends for more money; then +come to me at once with the news."</p> + +<p>Uncle Terry looked at Albert a moment, and suddenly grasping his hand, +exclaimed, "I can't thank ye 'nough for yer offer to help me, but I kin +say how sorry I am I distrusted ye at fust, and as long as I've a roof +to cover my head, ye'r' sure to find a welcome under it, an' the +latch-string allus out."</p> + +<p>"I thank you for your kindly words, Mr. Terry," responded Albert, "and I +am likely to avail myself of your invitation again before the summer is +over. I expect my friends back to-day and must join them, but I assure +you I would much prefer to stay here for the two weeks I have planned +for my outing."</p> + +<p>"Ye won't go till I see ye again, will ye?" asked Uncle Terry anxiously.</p> + +<p>"No," was the answer. "If the 'Gypsy' shows up to-day we will stay in +the harbor to-night, and I should like to have you and Miss Telly visit +her." Then as the old man pushed off and pulled out of the cove with +long slow strokes, Albert watched him with a new interest. "Poor old +fellow," he thought, "he is honest as the day is long, and has a heart +of gold beneath his blunt speech. How hard he has to work for what he +gets, and what a vile thing it was in Frye to rob him so!" When the old +man was out of sight Albert strolled over to the village. On the outer +side of the harbor, and opposite where the houses were, he came to some +long rows of slat benches, and busy at work spreading split fish upon +them was the old lady who had thanked the Lord so fervently at the +prayer-meeting. As she noticed Albert she paused and stood looking at +him curiously. "Good morning, madam," he said as he neared her; "you +have a nice day to dry your fish, haven't you?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir; the Lord's bin good to me this summer," she answered, still +eyeing him, and added quickly, "you be the young man from Bosting that's +stopping with Uncle Terry, I consider? I seen ye at the meeting last +night with Telly. Do you belong to the world's people, or hev ye made +yer callin' and 'lection sure?"</p> + +<p>It was rather a pointed query for so short an acquaintance, and Albert +smiled. "I hope I have some chance of being saved at last," he replied, +"but tell me, why do you ask? Do I look wicked?"</p> + +<p>"Looks be mainly deceivin'," she answered, "but if your heart's with the +Lord, you're sure o' salvation."</p> + +<p>"You have a large lot of fish to care for, I see," he replied, not +wishing to discuss religion with this odd old lady, "and it must keep +you busy."</p> + +<p>"I need it, for the winter's comin' an' then there's no work for me," +she answered sadly, resuming her labor, "I'm counted as one o' the +Lord's poor then."</p> + +<p>Albert looked at the thin figure upon which hung a soiled and faded +calico dress, and then at her white hair as she bent over her work, and +the pitiful sight and the pathos of her words touched him. "If you are +one of the Lord's poor of this village," he thought, "the Lord doesn't +do much for you!" Then going to her and taking a ten-dollar bill out of +his pocket he said kindly, "Miss Terry told me a little about you, Mrs. +Leach, and for her sake I'm going to ask you to do me a favor. Here is a +little money, and please accept it as coming from the Lord."</p> + +<p>The old woman looked startled and as he held the money out, smiling +kindly, her eyes filled with tears. "Your heart's in the right place and +the Lord'll surely bless ye for yer goodness," she said as she took it, +and then Albert, bidding her good morning, walked away. He little +realized how soon that crust of bread, cast upon the waters, would +return and bless him.</p> + +<p>For an hour he strolled around the harbor, watching the men at work on +boats or fishing-gear, and sniffing the salt-sea odor of the ocean +breeze, and then returned to the point and began sketching the +lighthouse. He was absorbed in that when he heard a sharp whistle, and +looking up, there was the "Gypsy" just entering the harbor. He ran to +the cove where he had left his boat, and by the time the yacht was +anchored, had pulled alongside. To his surprise no one was aboard but +Frank. "Where are the rest of the boys?" he asked, as that young man +grasped his boat. Frank laughed. "Well, just about now they are playing +tennis and calling 'fifteen love' and 'thirty love' with a lot of girls +down at Bar Harbor. The fact is, Bert," he continued as Albert stepped +aboard, "our gander cruise has come to an end. They ran into some girls +they knew, and after that all the 'Gypsy' was good for was a place to +eat and sleep in. I've run her up here and shall let you keep her with +you until you get ready to go home. I'm going to cut stick for +Bethlehem, and if I can get one of the girls to go with me, I may visit +Sandgate."</p> + +<p>Albert laughed heartily. "Want to hear some one sing 'Ben Bolt' again?" +he queried.</p> + +<p>"Well, maybe," replied Frank; "the fact of the matter is, the whole trip +has gone wrong from the start. You know what I wanted, but as it +couldn't be, I did the next best thing and made up this party, and now +the cruise has ended in a fizzle. The boys have got girl on the brain, +and I am disgusted."</p> + +<p>"No girl on your brain," observed Albert dryly.</p> + +<p>"Well, that's different," was the evasive answer, and then he added +suddenly, "By the way, where is the girl with the wonderful eyes you met +here? What about girl on your brain?"</p> + +<p>"Just now I imagine she's helping her mother in the house," answered +Albert quietly; and then he added, "Well, what is the programme, and +where are you going with the 'Gypsy'?"</p> + +<p>"I want to be landed at the nearest port where I can reach a railroad," +answered Frank, "and then you can do as you please with her. My skipper +will do your bidding."</p> + +<p>"What about the rest of the boys?" asked Albert.</p> + +<p>"Well," replied Frank, "you can run to Bar Harbor and dance with the +girls until the rest want to come back, or you can do as you please. The +'Gypsy' is yours as long as you want her, after I'm ashore. I think +I'll run up to Bath and take the night train for the mountains, if there +is one; if not, we will lie at Bath over night."</p> + +<p>"I must go ashore and leave word I am coming back," said Albert; "the +fact is, I've found a client in this Mr. Terry, and it's an important +matter."</p> + +<p>"So is the blue-eyed girl, I imagine," observed Frank with a droll +smile. When the irrepressible owner of the 'Gypsy' had deserted her, +Albert returned to the Cape and remained there for a week. How many +little trips he induced his new-found friends to take on her during that +time, how much gossip it created in the village, and how many happy +hours he and Telly passed together, need not be told. The last day but +one of his stay he invited everybody at the Cape, old or young, to go +out on a short cruise, and nearly all accepted. Mrs. Leach, however, did +not come, and when Albert asked Telly the reason she answered quietly, +"It's because the poor old soul is ashamed of her clothes."</p> + +<p>When the morning of his departure came Uncle Terry said, "I hope we'll +see ye soon, Mr. Page, and ye'r' sure of a welcome here, so don't forget +us," and then he pulled away on his daily round to his traps.</p> + +<p>As it happened, when Albert was ready to start only Telly accompanied +him to the cove where his boat was, and when she bade him good-by he +noticed her voice trembled a little, and as he held her hand a moment, +her face was turned away. When the yacht rounded the point she was there +waving an adieu and remained there until lost from sight.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXVI" id="CHAPTER_XXVI"></a>CHAPTER XXVI</h2> + +<h3>THE MISER IN HIS DEN</h3> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p>The one point of pride in Nicholas Frye's nature was his absolute belief +in his own shrewdness. "They can't get the best of me," he would say to +himself when he had won an unusually knotty case, and winking one of his +cat-like eyes he would say, half aloud, "I'm shrewd, I'm shrewd as the +devil!" He knew he was both hated and feared by his fellow-members of +the bar, but it mattered not to him. Being hated he didn't mind, and +being feared flattered his vanity to an intense degree. When Uncle Terry +put himself in his power and, like a good-natured old sheep, stood to be +sheared, Frye only laughed at his client's stupidity and set out to +continue the robbery as long as possible. Messrs. Thygeson & Company, of +Stockholm, who had first employed him to hunt up an heir to the estate +of old Eric Peterson, whose son Neils and his young wife had been lost +on the coast of Maine, fared no better. To them he only stated that he +had found several promising clues and was following them as rapidly as +possible, but it all cost money, and would they kindly send a draft on +account for necessary expenses? etc., etc. To shear them as close as +possible and as long as he could before giving any return for their +money was part of his game. All were fish that came to his net, and all +were treated alike and robbed from start to finish. When Albert had +turned his back upon him, and, worse than that, taken away his best +client, as he afterwards learned, the old scoundrel suffered the worst +blow to his vanity he ever received. "Curse the fellow!" he would say to +himself. "I'll pay him and have revenge if I live long enough, and I'll +never rest till I do. No man ever got the best of me, and in the long +run no man ever shall!" Like an Indian he bided his time, though waiting +and watching with his merciless yellow eyes until the chance might come +when he could deal a ruinous blow.</p> + +<p>But there is a Nemesis that follows evil-doers in this world, ready to +strike with an invisible hand all who are lost to the sense of right and +justice. In Frye's case the avenging goddess lurked in his inordinate +belief in his own shrewdness, coupled with a fatuous love of +speculation. A few lucky ventures at first in the stock market had +fanned the flame until he believed he was as invincible in State Street +as he was in Pemberton Square.</p> + +<p>Then along came a war-cloud in Europe; stocks began to drop and +provisions to advance. September wheat was then selling in Chicago at +ninety cents. Frye bought fifty thousand bushels on a margin. France and +Germany growled, and wheat rose to ninety-four. Frye sold, clearing two +thousand dollars. Then it dropped a cent, and Frye bought a hundred +thousand bushels more. Once again the war-cloud grew black, and wheat +rose to ninety-eight. The papers were full of wild rumors, and "The Wall +Street Bugle" said wheat would look cheap at a dollar and a half inside +of a month. Then it advanced to one dollar, and Frye lost his head. His +holdings showed a profit of seven thousand dollars, and sudden riches +stared him in the face. Once more the two bellicose foreign powers +growled and showed their teeth. Wheat rose another cent, and Frye +doubled his holdings. Then the powers that had growled smiled faintly, +and in one day wheat fell to ninety-three and remained there. Frye's +holdings now showed a net loss of eight thousand dollars, and he kicked +the office boy out, locked the door in Pemberton Square, and from ten +till three watched the quotations in State Street until wheat fell to +ninety, and then he began to look around to raise more money. He had now +put up over sixteen thousand dollars, and wheat was still falling. At +every drop of a cent he was called upon for two thousand dollars. Day by +day it vibrated, now going up a cent, and then dropping two, and when +Uncle Terry and Albert were discussing how to checkmate his further +robbing of the lighthouse keeper, he was, with muttered curses, watching +his ill-gotten gains vanish to the tune of many thousand dollars per +diem. He neglected his business, went without his meals, and forgot to +shave. He had mortgaged his real estate for twenty thousand, and that +was nearly gone. Wheat was now down to eighty, and France and Germany +were shaking hands. Frye was caught in a trap of his own setting and +could not sleep nights. His margins were almost exhausted, and his +resources as well. He had put up forty thousand dollars, and if wheat +fell three cents more, it would be all swept away. Then he executed a +second mortgage at high interest and waited. It was the last shot in his +locker, and all that stood between him and ruin; but wheat advanced two +cents and he began to hope. He had absolutely ignored business for two +weeks that had been one long stretch of misery, and now he went to work +again. To collect the little due him and raise all the money he could +was his sole thought. He wrote to Thygeson & Company that he had at last +found the heir they were in search of, and described what proofs he +held, at the same time stating that on receipt of his fee of a thousand +dollars all and sufficient proofs of identity of the claimant would be +forwarded. Then he wrote to Uncle Terry and demanded three hundred more. +September wheat had now fallen to seventy-eight.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXVII" id="CHAPTER_XXVII"></a>CHAPTER XXVII</h2> + +<h3>IN SHADY WOODS</h3> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p>Blanch Nason, Frank's younger sister, was his good friend and +sympathizer, and in all the family discussions had usually taken his +part. His elder sister, Edith, was like her mother, rather arrogant and +supercilious, and considered her brother as lacking in family pride, and +liable to disgrace them by some unfortunate alliance. It was to Blanch +he always turned when he needed sympathy and help, and to her at +Bethlehem he appeared the day after he had left the "Gypsy." His coming +surprised her not a little.</p> + +<p>"Why, what has brought you here, Frank?" she asked. "I thought you were +having high jinks down in Maine on the yacht, and playing cards every +night with your cronies!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, that is played out," he answered. "The boys are at Bar Harbor, +having a good time. Bert is at a little unheard-of place saying sweet +things to a pretty girl he found there, and I got lonesome, so I came +up here to see you and get you to help me," he added slyly.</p> + +<p>"I thought so," answered Blanch, laughing; "you never did come to me +unless you wanted help. Well, who is the girl now, and what do you +want?"</p> + +<p>Frank looked surprised.</p> + +<p>"How do you know it is a girl?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"It usually is with you," she answered, eyeing him curiously. "So out +with it. What's her name?"</p> + +<p>"Alice Page," he replied.</p> + +<p>"What, the girl you wanted us to invite to go on the yacht?" asked +Blanch.</p> + +<p>"That's the one," he replied, "and, as you know, she wouldn't come."</p> + +<p>"Which shows her good sense," interrupted Blanch. "Well, what can I do +in the matter?"</p> + +<p>"Much, if you want to, and nothing, if you don't," he answered. "The +fact is, sis, I want you to pack a trunk, and go with me to call on her. +She is mighty proud, and I imagine that is why she turned the cold +shoulder on my efforts to get her to come to Boston and meet you all. +Now, if you go there, if only for one night, the ice will be broken, and +of course you will invite her to visit you, and all will go well."</p> + +<p>"A nice little scheme," responded Blanch, "but what will mamma and Ede +say, do you think?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, never mind them," answered the plotter; "they need never know it. +Just tell them you are going to Saratoga with me for a few days. We will +go there, if you like, only we will stop off at Sandgate on the way. Now +do this for me, sis, and I'll buy you the earth when Christmas comes!"</p> + +<p>"Well, you will have to stay here until Monday," said Blanch, "and be +real nice to mamma and Ede all the time, or I can't fix it. Lucky for +you, Master Frank, that they are out driving now!"</p> + +<p>"But why must we wait four days?" asked Frank petulantly.</p> + +<p>"Because, my love-lorn brother," she replied, "in the first place I +don't want to miss the Saturday-night hop, and then we are booked for a +buck-board ride to the Flume to-morrow. Another reason is, I mean to pay +you for turning your back on us and going off on the 'Gypsy.'"</p> + +<p>That afternoon our eager suitor wrote Alice the longest letter she had +ever received, for it consisted of nine full pages. As most of it can +easily be imagined, there is no need to quote it; suffice it to say that +it was received with some pleasure and a little vexation by Alice.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Nason and his sister are coming here Monday," said she to Aunt +Susan, "and we must put on our best bib and tucker, I suppose. But how +we can contrive to entertain his sister is beyond me." Nevertheless, she +was rather pleased at the prospective visitation, for in a measure it +was a vindication of her own position. Then again as her school had been +closed for over a month, her daily life was becoming decidedly +monotonous. When Albert had written regarding the invitation the Nasons +had extended, she believed it was due solely to Frank's influence, and +when that young man tried to obtain her consent to join a +yachting-party, providing his mother and sister decided to go, she was +morally sure of it. But it made no difference, for if the supposedly +aristocratic Mrs. Nason had sent her a written invitation she was the +last person in the world to accept it. To so go out of her way for the +possible opportunity of allowing the only son of a rich family to pay +court to her was not characteristic of Alice Page. Rather a thousand +times would she teach school in single blessedness all her life than be +considered as putting herself in the way of a probable suitor. Of her +own feelings toward Frank she was not at all sure. He was a good-looking +young fellow and no doubt stood well socially. At first she had felt a +little contempt for him, due to his complaints that he had hard work to +kill time. When she received the letter announcing his determination to +study law and become a useful man in the world she thought better of +him. When he came up in June it became clear that he was decidedly in +love with her, for none of Mother Eve's daughters are ever long in doubt +on that point. So self-evident were his feelings that she at that time +felt compelled to avoid giving him a chance to express them. Her heart +was and always had been entirely free from the pangs of love, and while +his devotion was in a way quite flattering, the one insurmountable +barrier was his family. Had he been more diplomatic he would never have +told her his mother frowned at him when he danced twice with a poor +girl; but unwisely he had; and to a girl of Alice's pride and +penetration, that was enough. "I am a poor girl," she thought, when he +made the admission, "but I'll wear old clothes all my life before his +haughty mother shall read him a lecture for dancing twice with me."</p> + +<p>Ever since the day Mrs. Mears had related the village gossip to her, she +had thought a good many times about the cause of it, but to no one had +she ever mentioned the matter since. Her only associate, good-natured +Abby Miles, had never dared to speak of it, and Aunt Susan was wise +enough not to, for which Frank ought to have been grateful, and no doubt +would have been, had he known it. Now that he and his fashionable +sister were coming to Sandgate Alice felt a good deal worried. Firstly, +she knew her own stock of gowns was inadequate—no young woman, +especially if she be pretty, enjoys being overshadowed by another in the +matter of dress, and Alice was no exception. While not vain of her +looks,—and she had ample reason to be,—she yet felt his sister would +consider her countrified in dress, or else realize the truth that she +was painfully poor. She had made the money her brother gave her go as +far as possible—that was not far. Her own small salary was not more +than enough to pay current expenses, and had he known how hard she had +contrived to make one dollar do the work of two he would have pitied +her. When the day and train arrived, and she had ushered her two guests +into their rooms, her worry began. A trunk had come, and as she busied +herself to help Aunt Susan get supper under way before she changed her +dress, she was morally sure Miss Nason would appear in a gown fit for a +state dinner. But when she was dressed and went out on the porch where +her guests were, she found Miss Blanch attired in a white muslin, severe +in its simplicity. It was a pleasant surprise, and then the matter of +dress no longer troubled her, for at no time during their stay did Alice +feel any reason to consider herself poorly clad in comparison. Of the +conversation that evening, so little was said that is pertinent to this +narrative that only a few utterances deserve space. Alice had the happy +faculty of finding out what subjects her guests were most interested in +and kept them talking upon them. Blanch gave an interesting description +of her life at the Maplewood; who were there, what gowns the ladies +wore; the hops, drives, tennis, croquet, and whist games; and when that +topic was exhausted Alice turned to Frank and said, "Now tell us about +your trip."</p> + +<p>"There is not much to tell," he answered in a disappointed tone. "The +fact is my yachting-trip was a failure from start to finish. I hoped to +induce mother and the girls to go, and to coax you to join us, but that +plan failed. Then I made up a party of fellows and started. Two of them +played banjos, and that, with singing, fishing, and cards, I thought +would make a good time. I had a two weeks' trip all mapped out, no end +of stores on board, and anticipated lots of fun; but it didn't +materialize. The second day Bert got left on the island, and we didn't +find him until the next day. In the meantime he had found a pretty girl +and acted as if he had become smitten with her. Then we ran to Bar +Harbor, and the rest of the boys found some girls they knew, and decided +at once that a gander cruise had lost its charms; so I threw up my +hands, and you know the rest. I turned the 'Gypsy' over to Bert, and for +all I know or care he is using her to entertain his island fairy. I hope +so, anyhow. But I've got the merry ha-ha on him all right, and if he +ever rings the changes on a certain subject, he'll hear it, too." What +that certain subject was Alice did not see fit to ask, but joined with +Blanch in a good laugh at Frank's dolorous description of his trip and +its Waterloo at the hands of a few girls.</p> + +<p>"It seems you can't get along without us much despised creatures," +observed Blanch, "and if you had come to Bethlehem in the first place +you would have had a good time. There were no end of pretty girls at the +Maplewood, and eligible Romeos were scarce as white crows."</p> + +<p>"I never said I could get along without girls," replied Frank, a little +piqued, "only I wanted girls to go on my yacht, that was all."</p> + +<p>"And as the mountain wouldn't come to Mahomet," put in Blanch, "why, +Mahomet came to Bethlehem."</p> + +<p>When the chit-chat slowed down Alice said, "I don't know how to +entertain you two good people in this dull place, though I want to very +much. There are mountains and woods galore and lots of pretty drives. +And," looking at Frank, "I know where there is a nice mill-pond full of +lilies, and an old moss-covered mill, and a miller that looks like a +picture in story books. There is also a drive to the top of the +mountain, where the view is simply grand. I have a steady-going and +faithful old horse, and we will go wherever you like."</p> + +<p>"Do not worry about me, Miss Page," replied Blanch, "if I can see +mountain, and woods, I am perfectly happy."</p> + +<p>When the evening was nearing its close Frank begged Alice to sing, but +she at first declined.</p> + +<p>"Do you play or sing, Miss Nason?" she asked cautiously.</p> + +<p>"Oh, please don't be afraid of me," was the answer, "I never touched a +piano in my life. Once in a while I join in the chorus, as they say, for +my own amusement and the amazement of others, but that is all."</p> + +<p>It wasn't all, for she played the guitar and sang sweetly, but kept that +talent to herself on this occasion. Finally Alice was persuaded to open +the piano, and then out upon the still night air there floated many an +old-time ballad. After that she played selections from a few of the +latest light operas that Frank had sent her, and then turned away. "Oh, +don't stop now," exclaimed both her guests at once, "sing a few more +songs." Then with almost an air of proprietorship Frank arose, and going +to the piano searched for and found a well-worn song. Without a word he +opened and placed it on the music rack. It was "Ben Bolt"! A faint color +rose in Alice's face, but she turned and played the prelude without a +word. When she had sung the first verse, to her surprise Blanch was +standing beside her, and joined her voice in the next one. When it was +finished, Frank insisted on a repetition, and after that all three sang +a dozen more of the sweet old-time songs, so familiar to all. Then Alice +left the room to bring in a light lunch, and Frank seized the +opportunity to say, "Well, sis, what do you think?"</p> + +<p>"I think," she replied, "that you were foolish to go yachting at all. If +I had been you I should have come up here in the first place, stayed at +the hotel, and courted her every chance I could. I am in love with her +myself, and we haven't been here six hours."</p> + +<p>To her surprise Frank stepped up to her quickly and, taking her face in +his hands, kissed her.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXVIII" id="CHAPTER_XXVIII"></a>CHAPTER XXVIII</h2> + +<h3>WHERE THE LILIES GROW</h3> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p>Two days of Alice's visitation passed like a summer breeze. The first +day they drove to the old mill and spent the entire forenoon gathering +lilies and watching the great wheel that dripped and clattered between +its moss-grown walls. It was a curiosity to Blanch, for never in her +life had she seen one of those old-time landmarks, now so rare. That +afternoon they drove to the mountain's top and saw the sunset, only to +be late home to Aunt Susan's tea biscuit and cold chicken, and having a +surprising appetite. The next day they made a picnic trip to another +mountain, leaving the horse half way up and walking the rest of the way. +At noon they returned, and beside a cold spring that bubbled beneath a +rock they opened their lunch baskets. Then they picked flowers, hunted +for wintergreen, and decked the horse and wagon with ferns and wreaths +of laurel,—only simple country pleasures, it is true, but they at least +had the charm of newness for two of the party. That evening they sang +all sorts of songs, from gospel hymns to comic operas, and Blanch showed +in so many ways that she admired her new-found friend that there was no +further restraint.</p> + +<p>"I wish you would stay with me until my school begins, Blanch," said +Alice at the close of the evening. "If you knew how lonely I am, I am +sure you would."</p> + +<p>"I might be persuaded to make a longer visit next summer," was the +answer, "if you will return this visit next winter; will you?"</p> + +<p>"I won't promise now," answered Alice, "I am afraid I should be out of +place in your society. I'm only a country girl, you know."</p> + +<p>"I shall feel hurt if you don't," responded Blanch.</p> + +<p>When two girls who have known one another but four days begin using each +other's first names, it may be considered that they are growing fond of +each other. It was so in this case, and the remark that Blanch had made +the first evening to her brother was sincere.</p> + +<p>In the goodness of her heart she had also refrained from wearing her +best frocks, fearing that Alice might feel herself overshadowed, and +that is an act of consideration of which few of the fair sex are +capable.</p> + +<p>"I should like to see that schoolhouse Frank has spoken of several +times," she said a little later, "and that barefoot girl he told about."</p> + +<p>It was the first allusion to his interest in her that Blanch had made, +and Alice colored; a trifle that did not escape her friend's eye.</p> + +<p>"We will drive by where that girl lives to-morrow," responded Alice, +"and if you like, will call and see her. It would please her mother very +much, and really the girl is worth it. She is the most original little +old woman in my school."</p> + +<p>The next morning when Frank and his sister were alone for a few moments +she said, "I am going to do you a good turn to-day, Sir Mahomet, and +have a headache," and, laughing a little, "if you are wise you will +improve your opportunities and persuade your 'Sweet Alice' to go after +pond lilies and leave me here. I noticed a most charming spot for a +<i>tête-à-tête</i> on one side of that pond the other day, and I guess you +can find it if you try. It's a mossy bank under a big tree, and out of +sight of the old mill." Was ever brother blessed with a better sister!</p> + +<p>But the wary Alice was not to be caught so easily.</p> + +<p>"I could not think of going after lilies," she replied when he proposed +the trip, "and leaving your sister alone; and then it is almost too warm +to be out in the sun this morning. If she feels better this afternoon we +will go there when the sun gets part way down."</p> + +<p>When Blanch obtained a chance she said to her brother with a wise look, +"Now I know why you couldn't coax your pretty schoolma'am to come to +Boston. She's too keen to walk into any trap, and I like her all the +better for it. But leave the matter to me. I'll give you a chance, and +when you see it, seize it quick, talk fast, and don't be afraid. She +won't allow herself to be left long alone with you while I am here."</p> + +<p>True to her sisterly interest, Blanch kept quiet all the morning and +after dinner was the first to propose another trip to the lily pond. "I +am in love with that old mill," she said, "and I want to see it when the +sun gets down so it will be shady there."</p> + +<p>When they reached the spot she at once developed an unusual interest in +the mill and began an animated conversation with the miller regarding it +and all its history.</p> + +<p>"You two go after the lilies," she said when Frank had the boat ready, +"and leave me here. I'm afraid the sun on the water will bring back my +headache."</p> + +<p>A wee little frown crept over the face of Alice, for she saw through the +plot, but she answered gayly, "All right, only your smiles will be +wasted on the miller. He is too old to appreciate them. We won't be +gone long," she added as she stepped into the boat. She surmised that +Blanch's headache was a ruse instigated by her admirer, and this sudden +interest in the mill's history only another, and, on guard ever, +determined to check any and all serious words from him. And now what +spirit of mischief had come over her? She joked and jested on all manner +of subjects—the boat, his rowing, Blanch's interest in the miller, and +her blue eyes sparkled with roguish intent. She bared one round arm to +the elbow, and pulling every bud and blossom she could reach, pelted her +cavalier with them.</p> + +<p>"Did you learn that stroke at college," she asked, when one of his oars +slipped and he nearly fell backwards, "or is that the way a yachtsman +always rows?"</p> + +<p>In response to all this he said but little, for he was thinking how best +to say what was on his mind. He had resolved to declare himself at the +first chance, and now that he had one his heart was like to fail him. +When he reached the spot Blanch had referred to he headed the boat for +the shore and as it came to a stop he said, "Let's get out and sit on +the bank, Miss Page. I want to rest."</p> + +<p>"Oh, we must not stop," answered his tormentor; "it's almost sundown, +and besides, I want more lilies."</p> + +<p>She made no move to arise, but kept prodding a lily pad in the water +beside her with one taper finger. By some chance, too, her broad sun-hat +was well down over her face. Frank was silent while he looked at the +piquant figure with half-hidden face and bare arm, sitting so near him. +One little foot peeped out beneath her dress, one hand held fast to the +boat while the other toyed with the green pad, and back of her lay the +still pond dotted with countless blossoms. Only the tip of her nose +could be seen, and beneath it two red lips about which lingered a +roguish smile.</p> + +<p>His heart beat a little faster, and almost did it fail him.</p> + +<p>"Won't you get out, Miss Page?" he asked at last, rather doggedly. "I've +something I want to say to you and—and it's nice to sit in the shade +and talk."</p> + +<p>The break had come and she could evade him no longer. Without a word or +even a look she arose and, taking his proffered hand, stepped out of the +boat. And strange to say, he retained that moist hand as if to lead her +to a seat. Only a few steps up a mossy bank offered its temptation, and +with quick gallantry he drew his coat off and spread it for her to sit +upon.</p> + +<p>"It's nice and cool here," she said, "but we must not stay long. Blanch +will be waiting."</p> + +<p>In a way it was an unwise speech, for it recalled his sister's warning +to talk fast and not be afraid. As is usual with most lovers, he had +thought many times of what he would say, and how he would say it; but +now that the critical moment had come, his well-chosen words vanished. +He had remained standing, and for a moment looked at Alice as she sat +with hat-hidden face, and then his heart-burst came.</p> + +<p>"Miss Page," he said in a low voice, "you must know what I want to say +and—and I've come all the way from Maine to say it, and can you—is +there any hope for me in your feelings? Is there just a little?"</p> + +<p>He paused, but no answer came, only her head sank a trifle lower and now +even the tip of her chin was invisible beneath the hat. It may be the +movement emboldened him, for in an instant he was beside her on the +ground and had one hand a prisoner.</p> + +<p>"Tell me, Alice," he pleaded, "is there any chance for me? Say just one +word—only one! Say 'yes'!"</p> + +<p>The prisoned hand was at his lips now, and then she raised her face and +oh, divine sight! those blue eyes were filled with tears!</p> + +<p>One instant flash of heaven only, and then a change came. Almost had she +yielded, but not quite, for now she arose quickly and turning away said +half petulantly, "Oh, please don't speak of that now and spoil our +visit. Let us go back to the mill."</p> + +<p>But still he held the little hand, and as she tried to draw it away he +said pitifully: "Do you mean it, Alice? Is it no? Oh, don't let me go +away without one word of hope!"</p> + +<p>Then she raised her one free arm, and resting it against a nearby tree +pressed her face upon it and almost whispered, "Oh, don't ask me now! I +can't say 'yes' and I can't say 'no'!"</p> + +<p>"I shall believe that your heart says 'yes,'" he responded quickly, +slipping one arm around her waist, "and until you do say 'no' I shall +keep on loving you just the same."</p> + +<p>But he had not won her yet, for she drew herself away, and turning a +piteous face toward him exclaimed, "Don't, please, say another word now, +or I shall hate myself as long as I live if you do!"</p> + +<p>For one moment he stood dumfounded, and then it all dawned upon him. +"Forgive me, sweet Alice," he said softly, "for speaking too soon. I +believe I know why you feel as you do, and I shall go away hoping that +in time you will come to know my mother better. And since you have said +that you can't say 'no,' I shall anticipate that some time it will be +'yes.' Now we will go and gather lilies."</p> + +<p>Then as he led her to the boat once more his arm stole around her waist, +and this time she did not try to escape its pressure.</p> + +<p>When two days afterward the brother and sister were ready to depart, +Blanch put one arm caressingly around Alice and whispered, "Now +remember, you have promised to make me a visit next winter, and you must +keep your promise."</p> + +<p>And poor Romeo, standing by, had to look the love that was in his heart +while he envied his sister her parting kiss.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXIX" id="CHAPTER_XXIX"></a>CHAPTER XXIX</h2> + +<h3>A FRIEND AT COURT</h3> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p>When Frank and his sister were away from Sandgate she said, "Well, my +dear Ben Bolt, did you capture your sweet Alice that afternoon I told so +many fibs to help you? I know you must have made an effort, for she +showed it plainly."</p> + +<p>"No, I did not," he answered frankly, "but I made a break, and as she +didn't take it amiss, I feel hopeful. The fact is, sis," he continued +ruefully, "she is the most proud-spirited girl I ever met, and mother is +the ogre that stands in the way. If mother approves of Alice I am all +right, but if she doesn't receive her with open arms, it's all day with +me."</p> + +<p>"I could have told you that the day after we arrived there," answered +Blanch, "and I am not surprised. Now"—with a laugh—"you must court +mamma for a few months, as well as your pretty Alice. It will do you +good, for you never have been over-dutiful."</p> + +<p>Frank frowned. "Oh, bother these finicky mothers!" he exclaimed. "Why +will they turn up their noses at every poor girl? If Alice had rich +parents she would be all right, no matter if she were as homely as a +hedge fence."</p> + +<p>"Maybe that's so," answered Blanch, "but you can't change mamma, and if +you want to win your Alice you must do as I tell you and court mamma. +Now I will tell you what to do, and if you're good to me I'll help you +do it. In the first place you must stay at Bethlehem until we go home, +and do all you can to please your mother. Take her driving, ask her to +play whist with you, and when she makes a good play, praise it; carry +her wraps for her; be solicitous about her welfare and comfort in all +things, and treat her just as if she were Alice instead of mamma. It +won't be as pleasant, but it will be good practice for you. Then when +she is well cared for, act downcast at times and depressed. Wait a few +days before working the melancholy act—that's enough to provoke her +interest—and don't say much to other girls. Dance with Ede and me and +say sweet things to mamma for a week. Then some day take her out for a +drive and act as if you had lost your last friend. She will inevitably +ask what ails you; but don't tell her too quickly—let her coax you a +little, and after a while make a clean breast of it.</p> + +<p>"I would suggest you insinuate the girl has favored your suit, but has +practically said 'no,' because she is too proud to marry into a rich +family. That will do more to pique mamma's interest in the matter than +volumes of praise for Alice. Don't say too much, but if she questions +you about her, answer frankly to the point, but convey the impression +that you consider your case hopeless, and leave the rest to me."</p> + +<p>Frank looked at his sister in silent admiration. "I didn't know you had +such a wise head on your shoulders," he said at last, "or cared so much +for me."</p> + +<p>It was a nice thing to say, and well deserved, for few brothers ever do +have better sisters than Frank was blessed with; and if more impetuous +young men would make confidants of their mothers or sisters in matters +matrimonial, and heed their advice, there would be fewer divorces.</p> + +<p>When Frank and Blanch had made a short stop at Saratoga, "just to be +able to say so," as Blanch said, they returned to Bethlehem and the +little domestic drama began. At first it was not much to Frank's liking, +but as it progressed he grew interested in watching the surprising +effect it had on his proud mother. To have her only son, and a handsome +young fellow at that, show her so much devotion before crowds of +people, gladdened her heart in a wonderful way, and as it was soon +noticed and commented upon to her, it flattered her amazingly. She had +known that Frank was from the first a little smitten with this sister of +his college chum; but as he had had several mild cases of being smitten +before, she thought nothing of it. With wise motherly caution, she took +good care to ask no questions, even when Blanch told her they had +visited Alice on their way to Saratoga. When the denouement came she +was, as Blanch had predicted, completely taken aback. It was a decidedly +new experience to her to learn that any girl could turn her back upon +her son's suit because he came from a wealthy and aristocratic family. +While it surprised her a good deal, it also awakened her admiration for +that girl still more. The one dread of her life had been that her +impetuous son would make an unfortunate alliance and disgrace the +family. She made but little reply to his love-lorn tale, except to laugh +at him and assure him he would soon overcome it; but that night in the +privacy of her room she questioned Blanch in a sly way very amusing to +that shrewd daughter.</p> + +<p>"Frank has not made me his confidant," Blanch replied, "only I noticed +he was very attentive to Miss Page, while she seemed to avoid being +left alone with him a moment. She is one of the sweetest and prettiest +girls I've met in a long time, and also one of the proudest. I quite +fell in love with her at sight, and am sure Frank has; but so far as I +saw, she gave him no encouragement. She is poor, pretty, and proud; and +that tells the whole story. I imagined she believed she would not be +welcomed by you, and while I begged her to come and visit me, I doubt if +she does." (A fib.)</p> + +<p>This practically ended the first part of the play, though Frank noticed +his mother watched him more closely and showed an increased tenderness +towards him.</p> + +<p>"Keep on courting mamma," Blanch whispered to him one evening when they +were alone, "she is watching you to see if you mean it, and is both +surprised and pleased. As I expected, she has quizzed me, and if you +convince her you are in earnest, and are really the discarded and +forlorn lover you affect to be, it will end by her writing your sweet +Alice a personal letter of invitation to visit us. Seriously, too, I +believe that will be the only thing that will bring your schoolma'am to +Boston, or at least to our house."</p> + +<p>When the last of August came and the Nasons returned to Boston, Frank +and his mother were far better friends, and the most surprised one of +the four was Edith, who was not in the secret.</p> + +<p>"What has come over Frank?" she said to Blanch one day; "he has never +been so well-behaved before in his life. First he quit idling and began +to study law as if he meant to be somebody; then he deserted his crowd +of cronies for us and has acted as if we were his sole care in life ever +since! What is the meaning of it, Blanch?"</p> + +<p>"I haven't the least idea," answered that arch plotter, "and it seems so +good to have him devoted to us that I am not going to ask any questions. +I am not disposed to act as foolish as the boy did who cut his drum open +to find out what made the noise, or to find out what Frank's reasons are +for doing what he ought to do, and I would advise you not to." All of +which goes to show that far-seeing Blanch was capable of managing her +mother and sister equally well.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXX" id="CHAPTER_XXX"></a>CHAPTER XXX</h2> + +<h3>NEMESIS</h3> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"And round and round the caldron<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The weird passions dance,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And the only god they worship<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Is the mystic god of chance."<br /></span> +</div></div> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p>The last day of August dawned fair in busy Boston. Summer sojourners +were returning. John Nason's store was filled with new fall styles; the +shoppers were crowding the streets, and the hustling, bustling life of a +great city was at flood tide. Albert Page, full of business, was in his +office, and Frank Nason was studying hard again, cheered by a new and +sweet ray of hope. Small fortunes were being won and lost on State +Street, and in one smoke-polluted broker's office Nicholas Frye sat +watching the price of wheat. The September option opened that day at +seventy-eight and one-quarter, rose to seventy-nine, fell to seventy-six +and seven-eighths, rose to seventy-eight and then dropped back to +seventy-six. He had margined his holdings to seventy-one, and if it fell +to that price his sixty thousand dollars would be gone and he—ruined. +For many nights he had had but little sleep, and that made hideous by +dreams filled with the unceasing whir and click, click, click of the +ticker. At times he had dreamed that a tape-like snake with endless +coils was twining itself about him. He was worn and weary with the long +nervous strain and misery of seeing his fortune slowly clipped away by +the clicker's tick that had come to sound like the teeth of so many +little devils snapping at him. To let his holdings go, he could not, +and, lured on and on by the broker's daily uttered assertion that "wheat +<i>could</i> not go much lower, but must have a rally soon," he had kept +putting up margins. Now all he could possibly raise was in the broker's +hands, and when that was gone, all was lost.</p> + +<p>Frye sat and watched the blackboard where the uneven columns of +quotations looked like so many little legs ever growing longer. Around +him were a score of other men—no, insane fools—watching the figures +that either made them curse their losses or gloat over their gains. No +one spoke to another; no one cared whether another won or lost in the +great gambling game that daily ruins its thousands.</p> + +<p>It was the caldron filled with lies, false reports, fictitious sales, +and the hope and lust of gain that boiled and bubbled, heated by the +fires of hell. And ever around that caldron the souls of men were +circling, cursing their losses and gloating over their gains.</p> + +<p>And Frye was muttering curses.</p> + +<p>At eleven o'clock wheat stood at seventy-five and one-half; at +eleven-thirty, seventy-four and seven-eighths; at twelve, seventy-four.</p> + +<p>Frye arose, and going to a nearby room, all mirrors and plate-glass, +called at the bar for brandy. Two full glasses he tossed off like so +much water, and then returned to his watching.</p> + +<p>Wheat was seventy-three and three-quarters!</p> + +<p>But the fickle goddess of chance loves to sport with her victims, and +wheat rose to seventy-five again; then fell to seventy-four, and +vibrated between that and seventy-five for an hour. Frye was growing +desperate, and his deep-set yellow eyes glared like those of a cat at +night. The market closed at two. It was now one-thirty, and wheat was +seventy-three and three-quarters.</p> + +<p>Frye went out again, and two more glasses of brandy were added to his +delirium.</p> + +<p>Wheat was now seventy-three and one-half!</p> + +<p>Then, as once more he fixed his vulture eyes on that long column of +figures, at the foot of which was seventy-three and one-half, the +devil's teeth began a more vicious snapping, and so fast came the +quotations that the boy could no longer record them. Instead, he called +them out in a drawling sing-song:</p> + +<p>"September wheat now seventy-three,—the half,—five-eighths,—a +half,—five-eighths split,—now a half,—three-eighths,—a +quarter,—seventy-three!" Frye set his feet hard together, and clinched +his hands. Only two cents in price stood between him and the loss of all +his twenty years' saving. All the lies he had told for miserable gain, +all the miserly self-denial he had practised, all the clients he had +cheated and robbed, all the hatred he had won from others availed him +not. His contemptible soul and his life, almost, now hung by a miserly +two cents.</p> + +<p>Once more the devil's teeth clicked, and once more the boy's drawl rose +above the ticker's whir.</p> + +<p>"Seventy-three,—a quarter,—an eighth,—seventy-three,—now seventy-two +seven-eighths,—three-quarters,—five-eighths,—three-quarters +split,—now five-eighths,—a half,—a half."</p> + +<p>And now pandemonium was raging in the Chicago wheat pit, and the +ticker's teeth clicked like mad.</p> + +<p>"Seventy-two,—a half,—a half,—three-eighths,—a +half,—three-eighths,—a quarter,—seventy-two!"</p> + +<p>Cold beads of sweat gathered on Frye's forehead. One cent more and he +was ruined!</p> + +<p>Again the ticker buzzed like a mad hornet, and again the devil's teeth +snapped.</p> + +<p>"September wheat now seventy-one seven-eighths,—seven-eighths, +—three-quarters,—seven-eighths split,—now the three-quarter, +—five-eighths,—a half,—a half,—five-eighths,—a half,—a half +again,—three-eighths,—a quarter,—an eighth,—a quarter,—an eighth, +—a quarter,—an eighth,—an eighth,—a quarter split,—an eighth,—</p> + +<p>"<span class="smcap">Seventy-One!!!</span>"</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Frye Was Ruined.</span></p> + +<p>He gave one low moan, the first, last, and only one during those three +long weeks of agony!</p> + +<p>A few who sat near heard it, but did not even look at him, so lost were +they to all human feeling. The devil's teeth kept snapping, the endless +coils of tape kept unwinding; the boy continued his drawl, but Frye paid +no heed. Only those spider-legs on the wall seemed kicking at him, and +that fatal seventy-one, one, one kept ringing in his ears. He arose, and +staggered out into that palace of glass again and swallowed more brandy. +Then jostling many, but seeing no one, he, with bowed head, made his way +to his office, opened, entered, and locked the door, and sat down.</p> + +<p>Whir-r-r-r-r!!!</p> + +<p>Click, click, click!!!</p> + +<p>Seventy-one, one, one! It was the last he heard, and then he sank +forward on his desk in a drunken stupor.</p> + +<p>At this moment Uncle Terry, with Frye's letter in his pocket, and +righteous wrath in his heart, was speeding toward Boston as fast as +steam could carry him.</p> + +<p>The clear incisive strokes of an adjacent clock proclaiming midnight +awoke Frye. He raised his head, and in that almost total darkness for a +moment knew not where he was. Then, ere the echoes of those funeral +knells died away, he arose, lit the two gas-jets, and sat down.</p> + +<p>Seventy-one, one, one!!</p> + +<p>They brought it all back to him, and now, alone in his misery, he +groaned aloud, and with his despair came the dread of the morrow, when +he, the once proud and defiant man, must go forth crushed, broken, +despairing, penniless!</p> + +<p>All would know it, and all would rejoice. Out of the many that hated or +feared him, not one would feel a grain of pity, and well he knew it. He +could almost see the looks of scorn on their faces, and hear them say, +"Glad of it! Served him right, the old reprobate!"</p> + +<p>Then his past life came back to him. He had never married, and since he +had looked down upon his dead mother's face, no woman's hand had sought +his with tenderness. All his long life of grasping greed had been spent +in money-getting and money-saving. No sense of right or justice had ever +restrained him; but only the fear of getting caught had kept him from +downright stealing. Year after year he had added to his hoard, carefully +invested it, and now in a few days of desperate dread it had all been +swept away!</p> + +<p>Then perhaps the memory of that mother, as he had seen her last, with +pallid face and folded arms, brought to him the first and only good +impulse he ever felt, for he took a pen and wrote a brief but valuable +letter. Then he went to his tall safe, opened both doors, and taking a +small, flat packet from an inner till, returned to his desk, placed that +and the letter in one long envelope, and sealed and directed it.</p> + +<p>And now all the misery and despair of his situation returned with +intense force, and as it crushed him down, obliterating every vestige of +hope, once more his head sank forward on the desk and he groaned aloud. +For a long time he remained thus, living over the past three weeks of +agony, and then there smote upon his tortured nerves the sound of many +clocks striking one. It sounded as if they were mocking him, and from +far and near—some harsh and sharp, some faint in the distance—came +that fatal one, one, one! He arose and, going to a small locker in his +room, grasped a half-filled bottle of liquor and drank deeply. It only +made matters worse, for now an uncanny delirium crept into his +rum-charged brain and he fancied himself looking into an open grave and +there, at the bottom, lay a wasted woman's body, the face shrunken and +pallid and teeth showing in mocking grin. Then he seemed to be lying +there himself, looking up, and peering down at him were the faces of +many men, some bearing the impress of hate, and some of derisive +laughter.</p> + +<p>And one was Albert Page, with a look of scorn.</p> + +<p>He arose again, and taking a letter-opener, crowded bits of paper into +the keyhole of the door and up and down the crack. Then he closed the +one window, turned out the two gas-jets, and opened the stop-cocks +again. An odor of gas soon pervaded the room into which came only a +faint light from the State House dome. And now a more hideous +hallucination came to that hopeless, despairing man, for between the +open doors of his tall safe stood the wasted form of his mother! Her +gray hair was combed flat on either side of her ashen face, a gray dress +covered her attenuated frame, and her arms were folded cross-wise over +her bosom as he had seen her last, but now her eyes were wide open, +yellow, and glassy. Then slowly, very slowly, she seemed to move toward +him, her eyes fixed on his, piercing his very soul. Nearer, nearer, +nearer she came, until now, rising above him, she stooped as if to touch +his lips with the kiss of death. He could not breathe or move, conscious +only that an awful horror was upon him and a tiny mallet beating on his +brain.</p> + +<p>Then that hideous, deathly, pallid face, cold and clammy, was pressed +upon his, the faint light seemed to fade into darkness, and he knew no +more.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXI" id="CHAPTER_XXXI"></a>CHAPTER XXXI</h2> + +<h3>THE GLAD HAND</h3> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p>Albert Page had just finished reading his morning mail the first day of +September, when his office door opened and he saw the genial face of +Uncle Terry enter.</p> + +<p>"Well, well!" exclaimed Albert, springing to his feet and advancing to +meet his caller. "How are you, Uncle Terry?" Then, as he seized that +man's hand in both of his, and shook it heartily, he added in one +breath, "How is your good wife and Telly, and when did you arrive, and +why didn't you let me know so I could meet you?"</p> + +<p>"Wal," answered Uncle Terry, seating himself, "I got in purty late last +night an' put up at a tavern near the depot."</p> + +<p>"But why didn't you write or wire me, so I could have met you at the +train and taken care of you?" asked Albert.</p> + +<p>"The fact on't is," replied Uncle Terry, removing his hat and laying it +on the floor beside him, "I've allus pulled my own boat in this world, +an' it sorter goes agin the grain now to hist the oars over to 'nother +fellow." Then reaching into his pocket, drawing out a letter, and +handing it to Albert, he added, "'Bout two weeks ago I got this 'ere +from that dum thief Frye. I was 'spectin' the gov'ment boat 'long most +every day, and so couldn't cum any sooner."</p> + +<p>Albert read the letter and gave a low whistle. "Frye must have been +either very hard up when he wrote," he said, "or else the other parties +are crowding him and this is his last effort to fleece you. I have heard +that he has been speculating in wheat lately, and it may be he has got +caught. I hope so, for it will be easier for us to bring him to terms. I +have my plans all mapped out and I think we had best go for him at once, +while he is likely to be in his office." Then calling to Frank, and +rapidly writing a check for five hundred dollars, while that surprised +young man was shaking hands with Uncle Terry, he continued: "Please go +up to the station, Frank, and get an officer at once, and step into the +Maverick Bank on your way back and get this check cashed. We will go +prepared for the worst."</p> + +<p>When Frank had gone Uncle Terry said, "There wa'n't no need o' yer +gettin' money, Mr. Page; I've brung three hundred, which is all the +cut-throat asked fur."</p> + +<p>"We may need more, nevertheless," answered Albert, "and as I wish to +make but one visit to Frye's office, it's best to go prepared. He may +ask more now." Then after filling out a writ of replevin he added, +"Excuse me a moment, Mr. Terry; I will be back soon."</p> + +<p>He was absent perhaps five minutes, and then Uncle Terry was astonished +to see a strange man enter from an inner room. He wore a full black +beard, smoked glasses, broad slouch hat, and a clerical coat, which was +buttoned close to his chin. Uncle Terry looked at him in surprise, +waiting for the stranger to speak.</p> + +<p>"Don't you know me, Uncle Terry?" said the new arrival.</p> + +<p>"By gosh! it's you, Mr. Page," exclaimed the old man, "or else I'm tuck +with a change o' heart." Then he added with a laugh, "I'd never known ye +'cept for yer voice."</p> + +<p>"I'm all right, then, I guess," said Albert, "and now for my plan. When +the officer comes we four will go at once to Frye's office. You will go +in alone and open matters; contrive to leave the door ajar, and when you +get to talking the rest of us will creep up and listen. And here is +where your wits must work well. Act as though you did not suspect +anything wrong, but tell him you are discouraged and have put out all +the money you can; also that you are poor and can't afford to waste any +more on what you believe to be a hopeless case. Then ask him to return +you the trinkets you gave him, as the girl values them highly, and right +here is where you must contrive to get Frye to admit he has these +trinkets. Most likely he will refuse to give them up until his fee is +paid, and he may ask quite a sum. If you can settle the matter by paying +him one or two hundred dollars I should advise it, but not more. If it +comes to his refusal we will walk in at that point and the officer will +serve the writ. We can search his premises, and even make him open his +safe, and if we find what we want, we will take it. If not, we are +checkmated, and must find who employed him and appeal to them."</p> + +<p>When Frank and the officer returned, and the former had also donned a +disguise, the four proceeded at once to Frye's office. It was early, and +none of the other office occupants on that floor had arrived. As agreed, +Uncle Terry knocked at Frye's door alone, but no one answered. He +knocked again; still no answer. He tried the door; it was locked. Then +he knocked harder; no reply. Then he stepped back to where the others +were waiting. "Thar's nobody in thar," he whispered, "or if thar is he's +asleep!" Albert went forward and listened; there was no sound. Then he +stooped and tried to look through the keyhole; it was plugged.</p> + +<p>"I smell gas coming out of the keyhole," he whispered to the officer; +"you go and try it."</p> + +<p>The officer did so. Then he took out a pocket knife and thrust the blade +through the keyhole and peeped in. Then he beckoned to Albert.</p> + +<p>"Something's wrong in there, Mr. Page," he said. "I can see a man's +legs, and the gas is coming out of that keyhole enough to choke you. +We'd best call the janitor."</p> + +<p>That official was found, and he too peeped.</p> + +<p>"I noticed a light in Frye's office when I retired last night," he said; +"depend upon it, there is something wrong." Then turning to the officer +he added, "You are an officer of the law, and as I am in charge of this +building I give you permission to open Frye's door on the score of +public safety."</p> + +<p>The burly officer waited for no further orders, but, grasping the knob, +threw his whole weight against the door, and it gave way. A cry of +surprise escaped him, and as the rest crowded up they saw a hideous +sight. Frye was sitting in his chair with head thrown back staring at +the ceiling, and with mouth and eyes wide open! The room was stifling +with gas, and the officer opened the window. In doing so he noticed the +two stop-cocks were opened and he turned them off. Then he returned to +the hall. When the room was fit to breathe in again, all four entered, +and the officer laid his hand upon Frye's face.</p> + +<p>"Dead," he exclaimed, "and has been for hours!"</p> + +<p>Then as the others crowded up to gaze at the face, which bore a look of +inexpressible agony, Albert noticed an envelope on Frye's desk directed +to Silas Terry. He quietly put it in his pocket and joined with the rest +in a search of the room.</p> + +<p>"It looks like a case of suicide," observed the officer, "door locked, +keyhole and cracks plugged, window shut, and two gas-burners open! Safe +unlocked and wide open, and here's a till with money in it!"</p> + +<p>Then taking up a bundle of papers that lay in this till and examining +them he gave a long whistle and exclaimed, "Here's a contract for fifty +thousand bushels of wheat bought in Chicago at ninety-eight cents, and +wheat closed yesterday at seventy-one! And here are two more lots, one +for one hundred thousand bushels!" Then handing the certificates to +Albert he added, "Old Nick has been bulling wheat, and if he has been +holding on to these purchases for the last three weeks, I don't wonder +he has taken gas!" And then, as a crowd had gathered, and were gazing at +the ghastly staring face of Frye, made ten times more hideous in death +than in life, he added, "In the name of the law I must close the door +and notify a coroner."</p> + +<p>When Albert, with Uncle Terry and Frank, reached his office he drew the +letter he had taken from Frye's desk out of his pocket and handed it to +Uncle Terry. "It was directed to you," he said, "and I thought best to +bring it away."</p> + +<p>When the old man opened it he exclaimed, "By the great eternal jumpin' +Jehosaphat, if here ain't the hull o' the things we want so bad, and a +letter to some furriners! Here, you read it, Mr. Page; the writin's +wussen crow tracks in the mud."</p> + +<p>The letter was as follows:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p><span class="smcap">Messrs. Thygeson & Company</span>, <i>Stockholm</i>:</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gentlemen</span>: I have good and sufficient reason to believe an heir to +the estate in your hands exists in the person of a young woman now +living with one Silas Terry, a lighthouse keeper on Southport +Island, Maine, and known as Telly Terry. This person, when a babe, +was saved from a wreck by this man Terry and by him cared for and +brought up. A report of the wreck and the saving of one life (the +child's) was made at the time by this man Terry, and is now on file +in Washington. As I am going away on a long journey, I turn this +matter over to you for further investigation, and subscribe myself,</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Respectfully yours,<br /></span> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Nicholas Frye</span>.<br /></span> +</div></div></div> + +<p>When Albert had finished the reading of this important letter aloud he +grasped Uncle Terry's hand and exclaimed: "Telly's heritage is saved for +her, and for that I forgive Frye for all the wrongs he has done you and +me."</p> + +<p>As for Uncle Terry he remarked, "Wal, he cost me four hundred, but I'll +forgive him that now, an' mighty glad to do it." Then he added with a +chuckle, "He must 'a' had a sudden change o' heart, and if the Widder +Leach hears on't she'll swear 'twas the workings o' the Lord on a +sinner's mind. He looked as though he'd seen some awful sight."</p> + +<p>When the tragic end of Frye had been duly commented upon, Albert said to +Uncle Terry, "Take those valuables back with you, but leave me the +letter and I will attend to the rest." Then he added, "You are my guest +as long as you can stay in Boston, and now we can go sight-seeing with a +light heart."</p> + +<p>How earnestly Albert set about entertaining Uncle Terry, and how +thoroughly the old man enjoyed it all, need not be enlarged upon. When +two days later he was ready to depart, Albert handed him a large +package containing a silk dress pattern for Aunt Lissy, a woolen one for +Mrs. Leach, and a complete artist's outfit for Telly. "With these +things," he said, "go my best regards for those they are for, and among +them are the photographs of two sketches I made when I was with you that +I want you to ask Miss Telly to paint for me."</p> + +<p>When she opened her package she found two sketches of herself, one +leaning against a rock with her face resting on her hand, and the other +sitting beside a flower-decked boat with a broad sun-hat in her lap.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXII" id="CHAPTER_XXXII"></a>CHAPTER XXXII</h2> + +<h3>THE DEMNITION GRIND</h3> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p>Life should not be all work, neither can it be all play and be +enjoyable, as Frank Nason found to his sorrow. Whether a realizing sense +of the scant respect Alice Page had for an idler, or his own experience +in that role, opened his eyes first, is hard to say. It is likely that +both had weight, and it is not to his discredit if the possible +approbation of Alice was the sole cause of his changed ideas. That he +wished her to feel it was, is certain, as the tone of his letters +showed. In one which he wrote soon after his return to Boston he said, +"My mother, and in fact all my people, seem to think so much more of me +since I have set about fitting myself for a profession. Father says he +is growing proud of me, and that pleases me best of all, for he is and +always has been my best friend. Of course, I think the world of Blanch, +and she seems to think I am the best fellow in the world. Little do any +of them know or even guess that it is you for whom I am working, and +always with the hope that you will deem me worthy of the great prize +you well know I am striving for. How many times I recall every moment of +that one short hour on the old mill-pond, and all that made it sacred to +me, no one can tell. I go out little except to escort mother and the +girls to the theatre once in a while, and so anxious am I to be able to +pass an examination, I often go to the office and read law till +midnight."</p> + +<p>When this effusion reached Alice the mountains around Sandgate were just +putting on their autumn glory of color, and that night when she sat on +the porch and heard the katydids in the fast thinning foliage of the +elms she had what she called an old-fashioned fit of the blues. And how +lonely it was there, too!</p> + +<p>Aunt Susan, never a talkative person, sat close, but as dumb as a graven +image; no house near, and only the twinkling lights of several the other +side of the valley visible. On a knoll just below them she knew were a +few score of white headstones, among them her mother's, and when there +was a moon she could see them plainly. It is during the lonely hours of +our lives that we see ourselves best, and this quiet evening—no more +quiet than many others, perhaps, but seemingly so to Alice—she saw +herself and her possible future as it seemed to be. Every word of her +lover's letter had been an emissary of both joy and sorrow—joy that he +was so devoted to her, and sorrow because she felt that an impassable +barrier separated them. "He will forget me in a few months," she said to +herself, "and by the time he has won his coveted law degree his scheming +mother will have some eligible girl all ready for him to fall in love +with. As for me, she will never have the chance to frown at me, for even +if Blanch begs I would never set foot in her house!" When her feelings +had carried her up to this point she arose, and, going into the parlor, +began playing. Her piano was the best and about the only companion she +had, and quickly responded to her moods. And now what did it tell? She +played; but every chord was a minor one, full of the pathos of tears and +sorrow. She sang; but every song that came to her lips carried the same +refrain, and told only of hungry hearts and unanswered love. And last +and worst of all, almost insensibly her fingers strayed to the chords of +one well-remembered song. One verse only she sang, and when the last +pathetic line was ended she arose and with a "What a fool I am to care, +anyway!" muttered to herself, went back to the porch where her aunt was +sitting. And then, as the moon came up from behind the mountain, +flooding the narrow valley with pale light, in spite of herself her eyes +strayed to that little knoll where the white stones showed clear and +distinct. It was the last straw, and going to her aunt and kneeling, she +bowed her head in that good old soul's lap, and burst into tears. It may +be that the hand which stroked her fair head at this outbreak recalled +her mother's, for she only sobbed the harder. It did not last long, +however, and when the storm was over she arose and said:</p> + +<p>"There, auntie, I've been spoiling for a good cry all day, and now I've +had it and feel better."</p> + +<p>But did she? Let those who can put themselves in her place, with her +proud spirit and loving heart, answer the question.</p> + +<p>And here it is time and fit to speak of her brother, toward whom her +heart had always turned when in trouble, and not in vain. Of the jest +that Frank had made regarding the island girl Albert had fallen in love +with, she thought but little. That he might marry in due time she +expected as a matter of course; that it would make any difference in his +feelings towards her she did not for one moment consider. Now she fell +to thinking what a void it would make in her life if his thoughts and +affection were centred elsewhere. Then she began wondering why he had +failed to write as often as usual during the past six weeks. She had +known his plans for the yachting-trip and imagined his letter announcing +its failure and his return to work an expression of disappointment. +Since then he had written but once, telling her that he was overwhelmed +with business and enclosing a check, but failing to enclose any but the +briefest expression of love.</p> + +<p>Life with Alice was at best a lonesome one, and Sunday, with its simple +services in the village church, the singing in the choir, and pleasant +nods from all she met, the only break in its monotony. Now during summer +vacation time it was worse than ever, and she began counting the days +until school opened again. Once, with Aunt Susan for company, she had +visited the old mill-pond, and rowing the boat herself, had gathered an +ample supply of lilies, only to come home so depressed she did not speak +once during the four-mile drive. She had written Frank an account of the +trip, but failed to mention that she had landed at a certain point and +sat on the bank and shed a few tears while Aunt Susan waited in the boat +and sorted the lilies. She had enclosed a wee little lily bud in this +letter, but not a word by which he could infer that her heart was very +hungry for—some one.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="illus3" id="illus3"></a> +<img src="images/illus3.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<h3><span class="smcap">The Old Mill</span></h3> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>But all things, and all series of days, be they filled with joy or +sorrow, come to an end, and so did the lonely vacation days of Alice. +When the school gathered once more, and the daily round of simple +recitations began, she realized as never before how blessed a thing it +is in this world that we can have occupation. And even more blessed to +Alice Page, whose proud heart was a little hungry for love.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXIII" id="CHAPTER_XXXIII"></a>CHAPTER XXXIII</h2> + +<h3>OLD AND YOUNG</h3> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p>A week after Uncle Terry's return from Boston he asked Telly to go with +him on his daily drive to the head of the island. He had described the +exciting incidents of his trip both to his wife and Telly, and, feeling +obliged to do so, had told them that Mr. Page had taken charge of the +case and would communicate with him when anything definite was learned. +He had noticed that Telly had seemed unusually cheerful ever since, and +likewise more affectionate. Also—a fact that did not escape his +observant eyes—that she had at once set about painting the two sketches +Albert had sent.</p> + +<p>"The leaves is turnin' purty fast," he said to her that day, "an' I +thought mebbe ye'd like ter go with me an' take a look at 'em. They +won't last long."</p> + +<p>When the two had jogged along in almost silence for a few miles he said, +pointing to a small rock by the roadside, "Thar's whar I fust found Mr. +Page, Telly."</p> + +<p>She did not know it, but he was watching her face closely as he said +it, and noted well the look of interest that came.</p> + +<p>"I told him that day," he continued, chuckling, "that lawyers was mostly +all thieves, an' the fact that he didn't take it amiss went fur to +convince me he was an exception. It's a hit bird as allus flutters. From +what he's done an' the way he behaves I'm thinkin' more an' more o' him +the better I know him, an' I believe him now to be as honest an' square +a young man as I ever met."</p> + +<p>He was covertly watching Telly as he said this, but her face remained +impassive. "I think Mr. Page is very nice," she answered quietly, "and +has a kind heart. Did you know he gave Aunty Leach ten dollars one day +when he was here, and she hasn't done praising him yet? She says it's a +sure forerunner of 'a change o' heart,' and when she got the dress +pattern the poor old creature cried."</p> + +<p>Uncle Terry was silent a few moments while he flicked at the daisies +with his whip as they rode along.</p> + +<p>"Ye've had a couple o' letters from him sense he went back, hain't ye?" +he asked finally. "I noticed they was in his writin'." He was still +watching her face and noticed this time that a faint color came.</p> + +<p>"Yes, he wrote me he was finishing a couple of sketches he made here and +wanted to have me paint them for him," she replied quietly. "They are +the ones I am working on now."</p> + +<p>"That's all right, Telly," continued Uncle Terry briskly, "I'm glad +ye're doin' it fur him, fur he's doin' a good deal fur us an' is likely +to do more."</p> + +<p>Nothing further was said on the subject until they were on their way +back from the head of the island. The sun was getting low, the sea winds +that rustled among the scarlet-leaved oaks, or murmured through the +spruce thickets, had almost fallen away, and just as they came to an +opening where the broad ocean was visible he said:</p> + +<p>"Did ye ever stop ter think, Telly, that Lissy an' me is gittin' purty +well 'long in years? I'm over seventy now, an' in common course o' +things I won't be here many years longer."</p> + +<p>The girl looked at him quickly. "What makes you speak like that, +father?" she said; "do you want to make me blue?" There was a little +note of tenderness in her voice that did not escape him, but he answered +promptly:</p> + +<p>"Oh, I didn't mean it that way, Telly, only I was thinkin' how fast the +years go by. The leaves turnin' allus makes me think on't. It seems no +time sence they fust came out an' now they're goin' agin! It don't seem +more'n two or three years sence ye was a little baby a-pullin' my +fingers an' callin' me da-da, an' now ye'r' a woman grown. It won't be +long afore ye'r' a-sayin' 'yes' to some man as wants ye, an' a-goin' to +a home o' yer own."</p> + +<p>Telly turned to him again, and this time there was a decided note of +pain in her voice: "So that is what you are thinking of, father, is it? +And you are imagining that some one by the name of Page is likely to +take me away from you, who are and always have been all there is in life +for me!"</p> + +<p>She paused, and he noticed that two tears trembled on her long lashes, +to be quickly brushed away. "Please do not think me so ungrateful," she +continued, "as to let any man coax me away from you, for no man can. +Here I was cast ashore, here I've found a home and love, and here I +shall stay as long as you and mother live, and when you two are gone, I +want to go too!" She swallowed a lump that rose in her throat and then +continued: "As for this legacy that you have worried about so much, and +I am sure has cost you a good deal, it is yours, every penny of it, and +whether it is big or little, you are to keep and use it as you need if +you love me. You haven't been yourself for six months, father, and all +for this trouble. I have watched you more than you think, and wished +many times you had never heard of it."</p> + +<p>She had spoken earnestly and truthfully, and when she ceased Uncle Terry +looked at her a moment and then suddenly dropped the reins and putting +both arms around her, held her for a moment and then kissed her. It was +a surprise to her, and the first of its kind for many years.</p> + +<p>"I hain't bin thinkin' 'bout myself in this matter," he observed as he +picked up the reins again and chirruped to the old horse, "an' only am +wantin' ter see ye provided fur, Telly. As fur Mr. Page or any other +man, every woman needs a purtector in this world, an' when the right 'un +comes along, don't let yer feelin's or sense o' duty stand in the way o' +havin' a home o' yer own."</p> + +<p>"But you are not anxious to be rid of me, are you, father?" asked Telly, +smiling now and gladdened by his unusual caress.</p> + +<p>"Ye won't think that o' me," he replied, as they rattled down the sharp +inclines into the village, and the ride came to an end.</p> + +<p>But she noticed after that that he wanted her with him oftener than +ever.</p> + +<p>Later when another letter came for her in a hand that he recognized, he +handed it to her with a smile and immediately left her alone to read +it.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXIV" id="CHAPTER_XXXIV"></a>CHAPTER XXXIV</h2> + +<h3>FIRELIGHT FLASHES</h3> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p>The halcyon days of autumn, that seemed like the last sweet smiles of +summer, had come, when one day Albert packed a valise and boarded the +early morning train for Maine. An insidious longing to see the girl that +had been in his thoughts for four months had come to him and week by +week increased until it had overcome business demands. Then he had a +little good news from Stockholm, which, as he said to himself, would +serve as an excuse. He had told Frank what his errand was to Uncle +Terry, and to say to any that called that he would return in two days. +Of his possible reception by Telly he was a good deal in doubt. She had +written to him in reply to his letters, but between each of the simple, +unaffected lines all he could read was an undertone of sadness. That, +with a vivid recollection of what Uncle Terry had disclosed, led him to +believe there was some burden on her mind and that he had or was no part +in it.</p> + +<p>When he grasped Uncle Terry's hand at the boat landing that old man's +face fairly beamed.</p> + +<p>"I'm right glad ter see ye," he said, "an' so'll the folks be. Thar +ain't much goin' on at the Cape any time, an' sence ye wur thar it seems +wussen ever."</p> + +<p>"How are your good wife and Telly these days?" asked Albert, "and that +odd old lady who asked me the first thing if I was a believer?"</p> + +<p>"Wal, things go on 'bout as usual," replied Uncle Terry, as the two +drove away from the landing, which consisted of a narrow wharf and shed, +with not a house in sight. "Bascom does most o' the talkin' out o' +meetin's, an' Oaks most on't in, 'ceptin' the widder, an' none on 'em +say much that's new."</p> + +<p>Albert smiled, glad to find Uncle Terry in such good spirits. "I thought +I'd run down and stay a night or so with you," he said, "and tell you +what I've learned about the legacy."</p> + +<p>Uncle Terry's face brightened. "Hev ye got good news?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"In a way, yes," replied Albert; "this firm of Thygeson & Company write +expressing surprise that Frye should have given up the case after they +had paid him over five hundred dollars, and ask that I file a bond with +the Swedish consul in Washington before they submit a statement of the +case and inventory of the estate to us. It is only a legal formality, +and I have complied with it."</p> + +<p>"They must 'a' got skeery o' lawyers frum dealing with that dum thief +Frye," put in Uncle Terry, "an' I don't blame 'em. Did ye larn the real +cause o' his suicidin'?"</p> + +<p>"Wheat speculation," answered Albert. "He dropped over sixty thousand +dollars in three weeks and it broke his miserly heart. I never want to +see such a sight again in my life as his face was that morning. It +haunted me for a week after."</p> + +<p>When Uncle Terry's home was reached Albert found a most cordial +reception awaiting him from Aunt Lissy, and what pleased him far more, a +warmly welcoming smile from Telly.</p> + +<p>"I'm sorry we didn't know ye were comin'," said Aunt Lissy, "so't we +could be better prepared for company."</p> + +<p>"I wish you wouldn't consider me company," replied Albert; "just think I +am one of the family, and let it go at that."</p> + +<p>The long ride in the crisp sea air, following the scanty railroad lunch, +had given him a most amazing appetite, and the bountiful supper of +stewed chicken and cold lobster, not to mention other good things of +Aunt Lissy's providing, received a hearty acceptance. To have these +people unaffectedly glad to see him, and so solicitous of his personal +comfort, carried him back to his own home and mother of years before in +a way that touched him. He felt himself among friends, and friends that +were glad to see him and meant to show it. Although it was dark when +supper was over, he could not resist going out on the rocks and +listening a few minutes to the waves as they beat upon them. There was +no moon, but the lighthouse gleam over his head faintly outlined the +swells, as one by one they tossed their spray up to where he stood; back +of him the welcome glow of Uncle Terry's home, and all around the wide +ocean, dark and sombre. What a change from the busy hive of men he had +left that morning! Only a brief space was he left to contemplate it, +when he heard a voice just back of him saying:</p> + +<p>"Here's yer coat, Mr. Page; the night's gittin' chilly, and ye better +put it on 'fore ye ketch cold."</p> + +<p>When the two returned to the house Albert found a bright fire burning in +the sitting-room, and going to the entry way, where he had left his +valise, to get a box of cigars for Uncle Terry, found that the valise +had disappeared.</p> + +<p>"I put yer things in yer room," said the old man, and handing him a lamp +he added, "ye know whar 'tis now, I hope, so make yerself tew hum."</p> + +<p>Later, when they were all gathered about the fire, both the "wimmin +folks" with their sewing, and Uncle Terry enjoying one of the cigars +Albert had brought him, the old man's face gleamed as genial as the +firelight. It was a genuine treat to him to have this young man for +company, and he showed it. He told stories of the sea, of storm and +shipwreck, and curious experiences that had come to him during the many +years he had dwelt beside the ocean; and while Albert listened, stealing +occasional glances at the sweet-faced but plainly clad girl whose eyes +were bent upon her sewing, the neighboring waves kept up their monotone, +and the fire sparkled and glowed with a ruddy light.</p> + +<p>"Don't you ever get tired of hearing the waves beat so near you?" asked +Albert at last.</p> + +<p>"Wal, there's suthin' curious 'bout that," answered Uncle Terry; "I've +got so uster 'em they seem sorter necessary ter livin', an' when I go +'way it's hard fer me ter sleep fer missin' em. Why, don't yer like ter +hear 'em?" he added curiously.</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes," replied Albert; "I enjoy them always, and they are a lullaby +that puts me to sleep at once."</p> + +<p>It was but little past nine when Uncle Terry arose, and bringing in a +basket of wood observed, "I guess I'll turn in middlin' arly so's to git +up arly'n pull my traps 'fore breakfast, an' then I'll take ye out +fishin'. The mackerel's bitin' good these days, an' mebbe ye'll enjoy +it."</p> + +<p>Aunt Lissy soon followed and Albert was left alone with Telly. It looked +intentional, but he was no less grateful for it. For a few moments he +watched her, still intent on her work, and wondered what was in her +mind.</p> + +<p>"Have you finished my sketches?" he said finally, feeling that was the +most direct avenue to her thoughts.</p> + +<p>"Not quite," she replied, "I had to go up to the cove to work on one in +order to satisfy myself, and a good many days it was too rough to row up +there, so that hindered me. I have that one finished, though, and the +other almost."</p> + +<p>The thought that this girl had rowed four miles every day in order to +paint from the original scene of his sketch struck him forcibly.</p> + +<p>"May I see the finished one?" he asked.</p> + +<p>She brought it, and once more he was surprised. Not only was the picture +of herself sitting in the shade of a low spruce reproduced, but the +fern-decorated boat near by, the quiet little cove in front, and a view +of ocean beyond.</p> + +<p>It was a charming picture, and vividly recalled his visit there with +her.</p> + +<p>"There is only one thing lacking," she said shyly, as he held it at an +angle so the firelight would shine upon it, "and I didn't dare put that +in without your consent."</p> + +<p>"I do not notice anything left out, as I recall the spot," he answered.</p> + +<p>"But there is," she replied, "and one that should be there to make the +picture correct. Can't you guess?"</p> + +<p>He looked at Telly's face, upon which a roguish smile had come, but it +did not dawn on him what she meant.</p> + +<p>"No, I can't guess," he said; "tell me what is lacking?"</p> + +<p>"Yourself," she replied.</p> + +<p>It was a pretty compliment, and coming from any one except Telly he +would have doubted its sincerity.</p> + +<p>"But I do not want the picture to remind me of myself," he answered, "I +wanted it so I could see you and recall the day we were there." She made +no reply, and he laid it on the table and asked for the other one. It +was all done except the finishing touches, but it did not seem to be a +reproduction of his original sketch at the cove.</p> + +<p>"I took the liberty of changing it a little," she said as he was looking +at it, "and put in the background where you said you first saw me."</p> + +<p>"It was nice of you to think of making the change," he replied quickly, +"and I am very glad you did. I wanted it to portray you as I first saw +you."</p> + +<p>A faint flush came into her face at this, that did not escape him, and +as she was watching the fire he for a moment studied the sweet face +turned half away. And what a charming profile it was, with rounded chin, +delicate patrician nose, and long eyelashes just touching the cheek that +bore a tell-tale flush! Was that faint color due to the fire or to his +words? He could not tell. Then they dropped into a pleasant chat about +trifles, and the ocean's voice kept up its rhythm, the fire sparkled, +and the small cottage clock ticked the happy moments away.</p> + +<p>"How is Mrs. Leach?" he asked at last; "does she pray as fervently at +every meeting?"</p> + +<p>"Just the same," replied Telly, "and always will as long as she has +breath. It is, as father says, her only consolation."</p> + +<p>"I have thought of that evening many times since," he continued, "and +the impression that poor old lady made on me with her piteous +supplication. It was unlike anything of the kind that I ever listened +to. I wonder," he added musingly, "how it would affect a Boston church +congregation some evening to have such an appearing figure, clad as she +was, rise and utter the prayer she did. It would startle them, I +think."</p> + +<p>"I do not think Mrs. Leach would enter one of your city churches," +responded Telly, "and certainly not clad as she has to be. She has a +little pride left, even if she is poor."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I meant no reflection," explained Albert, feeling that Telly +thought the old lady needed defending, "only the scene was so +impressive, I wondered how it would affect a fashionable church +gathering. I think it would do them good," he added candidly, "to listen +to a real sincere prayer that came from some one's heart and was not +manufactured for the occasion. Those who wear fine silks and broadcloth +and sit in cushioned pews seldom hear such a prayer as she uttered that +night."</p> + +<p>Then as Telly made no response he sat in silence a few moments, mentally +contrasting the girl he had really come to woo with those he had met in +Boston.</p> + +<p>And what a contrast!</p> + +<p>This girl clad in a gray dress, severe in its simplicity, and so +ill-fitting that it really detracted from the beautiful outlines of her +form, though not entirely hiding them, for that was impossible. Her +luxuriant tresses were braided and coiled low down on the back of her +head, and at her throat a tiny bow of blue. Not an ornament of any name +or nature did she wear, not even a single ring. Only the crown of her +sunny hair, two little rose leaves in her cheeks, and the queen-like +majesty of throat and shoulders and bust, so classic that not one woman +in a hundred but would envy her their possession.</p> + +<p>And then, what was equally as striking, what a contrast in speech, +expression, and ways! Timid to the verge of bashfulness, utterly +unaffected, and yet sincere, tender, and thoughtful in each and every +utterance; a beautiful flower grown to perfection among the rocks of +this seldom visited island, untrained by conventionality and unsullied +by the world. "I wonder how she would act if suddenly dropped into the +Nasons' home, or what would Alice think of her!" Then as he noted the +sad little droop of her exquisite lips, and as she, wondering at his +silence, turned her pleading eyes toward him, there came into his heart +in an instant a feeling that, despite all her timidity and all her lack +of worldly wisdom, he would value her love and confidence far above any +woman's he had ever met!</p> + +<p>Then, recalling the hint as to her nature disclosed by Uncle Terry, he +resolved to probe it there and then, or at least to draw her out a +little.</p> + +<p>"Miss Terry," he said gently, "do you know I fancy that living here as +you have all your life, within sound of the sad sea waves, has woven a +little of their melancholy into your nature and a little of their pathos +into your eyes. I thought so the first time I saw you, and the more I +see of you the more I think it is so."</p> + +<p>Telly was looking at him curiously when he began this rather pointed +observation, and at its close her eyes fell and the two rose leaves in +her cheeks increased in size. For a moment she hesitated, and then as +she answered he detected a note of pain in her voice.</p> + +<p>"The ocean does sound sad to me," she said, "and at times it makes me +very blue. Then I am so much alone and have no one in whom to confide my +feelings. Mother would not understand me, and if father thought I wasn't +happy it would make him miserable." Then turning her pathetic eyes full +upon her questioner she added: "Did you ever think, Mr. Page, that the +sound of the waves might be the voices of drowned people trying to be +heard? I believe every human being has a soul, and for all we know, if +they have gone down into the ocean, their souls may be in the water and +possibly are trying to speak to us."</p> + +<p>"Oh, no, no, Miss Terry," responded Albert hastily, "that is all +imagination on your part and due to your being too much alone with your +own thoughts. The ocean of course has a sad sound to us all, if we stop +and think about it, but it's best not to. What you need is the +companionship of some cheerful girl about your own age and fewer hours +with only yourself for company." Then he added thoughtfully, "I wish you +could visit Alice for a few months. She would drive the megrims out of +your mind."</p> + +<p>"I should be glad to have her come and visit me," replied Telly eagerly, +and in her simple sincerity adding, "I am sure I should love her."</p> + +<p>Albert had hard work to restrain a smile, but he was none the less +charmed by her frankness. "I wish she could," he answered, "but she is a +school-teacher and that duty keeps her occupied most of the time. I +shall bring her down here next summer," he added earnestly. Then feeling +it unfair to conceal the fact that he knew her history any longer, he +said, "I beg your pardon, Miss Terry, but I know what is at the bottom +of your melancholy moods and I knew it the second night I was here last +summer. Your father told me your history then."</p> + +<p>"He did?" she replied, turning her pleading eyes upon him in surprise; +"you knew my unfortunate history that night?"</p> + +<p>"I did, every word of it," he answered tenderly, "and I should have told +you I did if I had not been afraid it would hurt you to know I knew it +then."</p> + +<p>Her eyes fell and a look of pain came into her face.</p> + +<p>Then perhaps the quick sympathy she had shown regarding the pictures, or +the pathos of that look, or both, made him a trifle reckless. Such +things are apt to have that effect upon a young man rapidly entering the +illusion of love.</p> + +<p>"Please banish this mood from now on and never let it return," he said +hastily; "I have come to tell you that in the near future the mystery of +your life may be solved, and what is better, that a legacy awaits your +claiming. The matter has been in the hands of an unprincipled lawyer for +some months, as no doubt Mr. Terry has told you, but now he is dead and +I have taken hold of it, and shall not rest until you have your rights. +We shall know what your heritage is and all about your ancestors in a +few months." Then he added tenderly, "Would it pain you to hear more +about it, or would you rather not?"</p> + +<p>"Father has told me a little of it," she answered, "but I know he has +kept most of the trouble to himself. It's his way. Since he came back +from Boston he has acted like his old self, and no words can tell how +glad I am. As for the money, it must and shall go to him, every penny of +it, and all the comfort I can give him as long as he lives as well."</p> + +<p>She spoke vehemently, and a look of pride came into her face.</p> + +<p>"I thank you for what you have said," came from Albert quickly, "for now +I shall dare to tell you another story before I go back. Not to-night," +he added smiling, as she looked at him curiously, "but you shall hear it +in due time. Up at the cove, maybe, if to-morrow afternoon is pleasant. +I too am superstitious in some ways."</p> + +<p>An unusual elation came to him after this, and perhaps to keep Telly +from guessing what his story was he talked upon every subject that might +interest her, avoiding the one nearest his heart. It came with a +surprise when the little clock chimed eleven, and he at once arose and +begged her pardon for the possible trespass upon conventional hours. +"You will go up to the cove with me?" he asked as he paused a moment at +the foot of the stairs.</p> + +<p>"I shall enjoy it very much," she answered simply, "and I have a favor I +want to ask of you, which is, to let me make a sketch of you just where +you sat the time your boat drifted away."</p> + +<p>When he retired it was long after he heard the clock downstairs strike +the midnight hour before he failed to note the ocean's voice beneath his +window, and in his dreams he saw Telly's face smiling in the firelight.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXV" id="CHAPTER_XXXV"></a>CHAPTER XXXV</h2> + +<h3>THE "WIDDER" LEACH</h3> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p>"I'm goin' to give ye a taste o' mackerel fishin'," said Uncle Terry the +next morning after breakfast. "We'll go over to the fish house an' ye +can put on some oilers an' save yer good clothes." On the way they met +the well-remembered old lady Albert had first noticed at the +prayer-meeting. She recognized him, and offering a rather soiled hand +(for she had been spreading fish on the racks), exclaimed:</p> + +<p>"In the Lord's name I thank ye, Mr. Page, for rememberin' a poor old +creetur like me and sendin' that dress. I make sure the Lord's teched +yer heart, an' if ye ain't a believer yet, ye will be."</p> + +<p>"I am glad my little remembrance pleased you," answered Albert +pleasantly, "it was only a trifle, and you need not feel obligated for +it." He kept on after Uncle Terry, not wishing to waste any time; but +she followed to add more thanks, ending with, "God bless ye, sir; an' +may He warm the heart o' one good girl, fer ye desarve it."</p> + +<p>It struck him as a little curious that this eccentric old lady should +have so well read his feelings towards Telly, but it pleased him just +the same. When he had donned a suit of oilers, and Uncle Terry was +pulling out of the little cove, Albert said, "That old lady is the most +pious person I ever met, and with her it seems entirely sincere. No one +could doubt she means every word she says."</p> + +<p>"Wal, it's about all the consolation she gits out o' life, an' 'twixt +you an' me she takes more'n all the rest o' the believers here," +answered Uncle Terry, "an' at times I 'most envy her fer it. She don't +airn more'n 'nough to keep soul an' body together, an' winters some on +us allus helps her. She has nobody in the world that's near her, lives +alone in a little shanty, an' is over seventy, and yet she thanks the +Lord three times a day for his many blessin's an's sure he'd never let +her come to want. She's lived that way fer goin' on thirty year, an' no +one ever heard her complain. Both her husband an' son went down in a +coaster one winter's night, on Monhegan Shoals, an' tho' nachly she took +on 'bout it a spell, she believed it was the Lord's will, an' meant to +be a blessin'."</p> + +<p>"She is a monomaniac on the subject, I should imagine," observed +Albert.</p> + +<p>"Wal, sorter cracked 'bout religion," answered Uncle Terry, "leastwise +that's my notion; an' mebbe it's lucky she is, seein' she's poor, an' +nothin' but that fer comfort. She's smart 'nuff other ways, though, an' +there ain't nothin' goin' on here she don't know. She's kind-hearted +too, an' if she had anything ter give, she'd share her last cent with +ye. If ennybody's sick, she's allus ready to help. Thar's lots o' wuss +folks in the world than the Widder Leach." And then as if that crowned +the sum total of her virtues he added, "Telly an' Lissy thinks lots o' +her."</p> + +<p>He paused for breath, and turning to see if they were heading right, +resumed his strong and steady pulling. The morning was wondrously fair +and still; the sun, a round red ball, had been up not over half an hour, +and a mile ahead of them lay Damriscove Island, green and treeless. +Close by a flock of seagulls were floating on the still water, and away +out seaward the swells were breaking on a long and narrow ledge.</p> + +<p>"Thar," observed Uncle Terry, pointing to this ledge, "is whar Telly +started for shore all alone, just nineteen years ago last March." And +then adding, while he watched Albert's averted face, "'Twas an onlucky +day fer the poor sailors an' a lucky one for us, fer she's been a heap +o' comfort ever since."</p> + +<p>"Tell me, Uncle Terry," said Albert, "why it is she feels so extremely +sensitive regarding her romantic history, and what is the cause of the +peculiar moods you spoke of last summer? I noticed it last evening, and +it pained me very much."</p> + +<p>"It's hard tellin'," was the answer, "she's a girl that's given ter +broodin' a good deal, an' mebbe when she was told the facts she began +ter suspect some o' her ancestors would be lookin' her up some day. She +allus has been a good deal by herself sence she got her schoolin', an' +most likely doin' lots o' thinkin'. But Telly's all right," he added +briefly, "an' the most willin' an' tender-hearted creetur I ever seen or +heard on. She'll make an amazin' good wife fer some man, if she ever +finds the right 'un."</p> + +<p>It is needless to say some one else in the boat echoed that belief in +thought. When they reached the island Uncle Terry landed, and going to +the top of a cliff, scanned the sea for signs of fish.</p> + +<p>"Mackerel's curus fish," he observed to Albert, who had followed. +"They's a good deal like some wimmin: ye never know whar ter find 'em. +Yesterday mornin' that cove jest inside o' the pint was 'live with 'em, +an' to-day I can't see a sign o' one. We better sit here an' wait a +spell till I sight a school."</p> + +<p>To a dreamer like Albert Page the limitless ocean view he now enjoyed +lifted him far above mackerel and their habits. His mind was also +occupied a good deal by Telly, and while he desired to please the kindly +old man who imagined fishing would entertain him, his heart was not in +it.</p> + +<p>"Don't let us worry about the mackerel, Uncle Terry," he observed as +they seated themselves on top of a cliff, "this lone, uninhabited island +and the view here will content me until your fish are hungry."</p> + +<p>"It allus sets me thinkin' too," was the answer, "an' wonderin' whar we +cum from and what we air here for. An' our stay is so amazin' short +besides! We air born, grow up, work a spell, git old and die, an' that's +the end. Why, it don't seem only last year when I cum to the Cape, an' +it's goin' nigh on to thirty now, an' I'm a'most through my spell o' +life. What puzzles me," he added, "is what's the good o' bein' born at +all if ye've got ter die so soon! An' more'n all that, if life's the +Lord's blessin', as the widder b'lieves, why are so many only born to +suffer, or be crippled all their lives? An' why are snakes an' all sorts +o' vermin, to say nothin' o' cheatin' lawyers, like Frye, ever born at +all?"</p> + +<p>Albert smiled at the odd coupling of Frye with vermin. "There are a good +many wiser heads than mine, Uncle Terry, that have never been able to +answer your question," he replied, "and I doubt if they ever will. To my +mind the origin of life is an enigma, the wide variations in matters of +health and ability an injustice, and the end a blank wall that none who +scale ever recross with tidings of the beyond. As some one has expressed +it: 'Life is a narrow vale between the cold and barren peaks of two +eternities! We strive in vain to look beyond the heights; we cry aloud, +and the only answer is the echo of our wailing cry.'"</p> + +<p>"An' right thar," put in Uncle Terry earnestly, "is whar I allus envy +the believers, as the widder calls 'em, for they are satisfied what is +beyond and have it all pict'rd out in thar minds, even to what the +streets are paved with, an' the kind o' music they're goin' ter have. +It's all guesswork in my way o' thinkin', but they are sure on't, an' +that feelin' is lots o' comfort to 'em when they are drawin' near the +end. I've been a sort er scoffer all my life," he added reflectively, +"an' can't help bein' a doubter, but there are times when I envy Aunt +Leach an' the rest on' em the delusion I b'lieve they're laborin' +under."</p> + +<p>"But do you believe death ends all consciousness?" asked Albert +seriously. "Have you no hope, ever, of a life beyond this blank wall?"</p> + +<p>"Sartin I have hopes," replied Uncle Terry at once, "same as all on us +has, but I wish I was more sure my hopes was goin' ter be realized. Once +in a while I git the feelin' thar ain't no use in hopin', an' then a +little suthin keeps sayin' 'Mebbe—mebbe—mebbe'—an' I feel more +cheerful again."</p> + +<p>Albert looked at the roughly clad and withered old man who sat near, and +in whose words lurked an undertone of sadness mingled with a faint hope, +and in an instant back came a certain evening months before when the +Widow Leach had uttered a prayer that had stirred his feelings as no +such utterance ever had before. All the pathos of that simple petition, +all its abiding faith in God's goodness and wisdom, all its utter +self-abnegation and absolute confidence in a life beyond the grave, came +back, and all the consolation that feeling surely held for the old and +poverty-environed soul who uttered it impressed him in sharp contrast to +the doubting "mebbe—mebbe" of Uncle Terry.</p> + +<p>Then again he thought of all the sneers against faith and religious +conviction he had found in the writings of Paine and Voltaire; all the +brilliant epigrams and sharp sarcasms he had heard fall from the lips of +Ingersoll, and how he had felt a growing belief that faith in the Bible +was but an evidence of ignorance and the ear-mark of superstition. Then +following that came a contrasting comparison of the peace of mind that +was the widow's and the lack of it that was Uncle Terry's, both of whom +must feel that only a few short years were left them. And again +following the line of comparison, what had he to look forward to when +the end of all things earthly drew near? Truly, as he had thought the +night that poor but devout old soul had clasped her hands and thanked +God for the blessed belief that was her comfort and staff, what availed +the doubt and distrust of atheism? All the epigrams of Ingersoll and the +sneers of Voltaire served only to remove a hope and left nought to take +its place; a hope, the divine solace of which is and will be for all +time a blessed ray of light piercing the dark shadow of the beyond; a +beacon beside which all the cold philosophy of sceptics will at the end +fade away.</p> + +<p>Then as Albert looked out to where the waves were breaking upon a ledge, +and back again to this old man, sitting with bowed head beside him, a +sincere regret that it was not in his power to utter one word that would +aid in dispelling the clouds of doubt came to him. "Since I lack in +faith myself," he thought, "all I can say will only increase his doubt. +I wish I had as much faith as the widow, but I have not, and possibly +never shall have." For a long time he sat in silence, living over the +years during which scepticism had been slowly but surely growing upon +him, and then Uncle Terry suddenly looked up at him. It is likely the +old man's keen eyes read at a glance what was in Albert's mind, for he +said: "It don't do no good ter brood over this matter o' believin', Mr. +Page; I've wished I thought different many a time, an' more so now I'm +gittin' near the end o' life, but I can't, an' so thar's no use in +worryin'. Our 'pinions 'bout these matters are a good deal due to our +bringin' up, and the experiences we've met with. Mine connected with +those as has perfessed religion has, to say the least, been unfortnit, +but as I said afore, I wish I believed different."</p> + +<p>He paused a few moments, watching the ground swells breaking below them +on the rocks, and then added sadly: "This hopin' ain't allus best fur +some on us either, fur it's hopin' fur some one to cum year after year +that's made Telly what she is, an' grieved Lissy an' me more'n she ever +knew."</p> + +<p>Albert looked curiously at the old man beside him, whose rough garb and +storm-beaten face gave so little evidence of the tender heart beneath, +and a new feeling of trust and affection came to him. In some ways Uncle +Terry seemed so like his own father. Then following that came a sudden +impulse to be utterly frank with him.</p> + +<p>"Uncle Terry," he said, "I have a little story to tell you, and as it +comes close to you, I believe it's right that you should know it. The +first time I saw Telly I said to myself, 'That girl is a prize any man +may feel proud to win.' I asked her if I might write to her, and what +with her few letters, and the little I have seen of her, I feel that she +is the one I want for a wife. I have not even hinted it to her yet, and +before I do I would like to feel that you are satisfied with me. May I +have your consent to win her if I can?"</p> + +<p>Uncle Terry reached out and grasped Albert's hand, and shaking it +cordially answered: "Ye hev my best wishes in the matter, an' I wouldn't +say that if I didn't think ye worthy o' her!" Then he added with a droll +smile, "Lissy an' me sorter 'spected that Telly was the magnet that drew +ye down here!"</p> + +<p>"I thank you for your confidence and consent," replied Albert +gratefully, glad that he had spoken. "I am earning an income that is +more than sufficient for two, and if Telly will say 'yes,' I shall be +the happiest man on earth. And now," he added, "let's go fishing, Uncle +Terry."</p> + +<p>"I guess it's 'bout time," was the answer, "fur thar's two schools +workin' into the cove, an' we'll have some fun."</p> + +<p>Three hours after, when they landed at the cove, fairly sated with +pulling in the gamy little mackerel, and happy as two boys, Telly met +them with a smile and the news that dinner was ready.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXVI" id="CHAPTER_XXXVI"></a>CHAPTER XXXVI</h2> + +<h3>A NAMELESS COVE</h3> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p>"We will go in my boat," said Telly the next afternoon when she and her +admirer were ready to start on their trip to the cove, and unlocking a +small annex to Uncle Terry's boathouse, showed him a dainty cedar craft, +cushioned and carpeted. "You may help me launch the 'Sea Shell'" (as the +boat was named), she added smiling, "and then you may steer."</p> + +<p>"No, that is the lady's privilege in all voyages," he answered, "and we +must begin this one right."</p> + +<p>It was a good four-mile pull to the mouth of the inlet, and when he +helped his fair passenger out he said, "Do you mean to say you rowed up +here alone every day to work on that picture, Telly?" and he added +hastily, "you will let me call you Telly now, won't you?"</p> + +<p>"Why not? All my friends do, and I feel you are my friend." Then she +added, "Now I am going to have my revenge and make you pose while I +sketch this time. It was the other way before."</p> + +<p>"I am glad it is," he said, "for my arms are too tired to use for an +hour. How do you want me, flat on the rock fast asleep, the way I was +when my boat drifted away?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, no," she replied hastily, "that would look as if you were dead, and +as this is to be my reminder of you, I want you very much alive." She +seemed in unusually good spirits, and in a far brighter mood than usual, +and ready to jest and joke with unaffected gayety. As for the pose she +wanted Albert to assume, she could not determine which she liked the +best.</p> + +<p>"I want to sketch you in the position most natural to you here," she +said finally, "and must ask you to choose that yourself."</p> + +<p>"Let us trim the boat the way mine was that day," he suggested at last, +"and I will sit beside it and smoke while you work."</p> + +<p>The idea was adopted, and while Telly sketched, he smoked, contented to +watch the winsome face, so oblivious of his admiring glances.</p> + +<p>"There," she observed, after a half hour of active pencilling, "please +lay your cigar aside and look pleasant. I want to catch the expression +of your face."</p> + +<p>When the sketch was completed she asked if he had any suggestions to +make.</p> + +<p>"Only one," he replied, "and that is, I would like you in the picture +and sitting beside me."</p> + +<p>She colored a little at this, for though utterly unused to the polite +flatteries of society, she could not mistake his open admiration.</p> + +<p>"I would rather not be in it," she replied soberly. "I only want to see +you as you are here to-day. It may be a long time before you come to the +Cape again."</p> + +<p>It was an inadvertent speech, though quite expressive of her feelings, +but she had no idea how anxious he was to obtain the insight it gave +him.</p> + +<p>"Would you like me to come often?" he queried.</p> + +<p>"Of course," she answered, turning away her face; "it is so lonesome +here, and there is no one I care to talk with except father and mother +and Aunt Leach and Mandy Oaks."</p> + +<p>Albert's heart began to beat with unusual speed. Never in his life +before had he felt the impulse to utter words of love to any woman, and +now he was face to face with the sweet though dreaded ordeal. For weal +or woe, he could not go back and leave them unsaid. He had planned to +say about what he had to Uncle Terry, beginning with a brief history of +his life, his income, his hopes, and ending with asking her to share +them. But the fortress of a woman's heart is seldom assailed that way, +and with the queen of his, alone there beside him in that peaceful +nook, where only the tiniest pulse of the ocean rippled on the rocks, he +quite forgot his address to this fair judge and jury. "Telly," he said, +"I promised to tell you a little story here to-day, but it's all said in +a few words. I love you, and I want you to share my life and all that I +can do to make you happy." A trifle incoherent, but expressive; and the +answer?</p> + +<p>For a moment, while the tide of feeling surged through that queen's +heart, and into her cheeks, even to the tips of her ears, she was +silent, and then as both her hands went to her face, she almost +whispered, "Oh, no, no, I cannot! I can never leave father and mother +alone here! It would break my heart!"</p> + +<p>"But you do care a little for me, don't you, Telly?" he begged, trying +to draw her hands away from her blushing face. "Just a little, Telly, +only say a little, to give me hope."</p> + +<p>And then, as one of the hands he was trying to gain was yielded, and as +he softly stroked and then raised it to his lips, she turned her +pleading eyes to him and said, "You won't be angry, will you? And you +will come and see me once in a while, won't you? And let me paint a +picture to give you when you come?"</p> + +<p>It may have been the pain in his face added to her own desolation that +overcame all else, for now she bowed her head and the tears came. "I +thank you for so much, Telly," he answered tenderly, "and God bless you +for it. I do not give you up and shall not, if I have to wait all my +life for you. I can be patient if I only have hope." He brushed his face +with one hand, and still holding hers, arose and drew her up. Then the +bold wooer slyly put his arm around her waist, and as he drew her to him +he whispered, "Just one, Telly, my sweetheart, to make this spot seem +more sacred."</p> + +<p>It was not refused.</p> + +<p>It is no harm for a man to be refused; instead it is a beneficial tonic, +and inevitably makes him realize how serious a step he is asking some +good woman to take and how much it means to her. In Albert's case it was +tempered by so many consolations, one at least of exquisite sweetness, +that he did not really feel it a final refusal. That Telly's heart was +very tender toward him he felt sure, and what is more, that in time he +would overcome her one objection.</p> + +<p>"Come out on the point, dear," he said as she tried to draw herself +away, "so we can see the ocean better. I will tell you the story I +promised last evening." He still held her a half prisoner, and when they +were seated where the waves were beating almost at their feet, he began +his recital. When he came to that portion in which Frye played a part, +and ending in such a ghastly denouement, she shuddered.</p> + +<p>"That is the one horrible part of taking your own life," she said, "to +think how you will look and what those who find you will say. If I were +to do such a thing I should first make sure no one would ever find me."</p> + +<p>The remark startled him. "Telly," he said soberly, "do not ever think of +such a thing. Would you, whose heart is so loving and tender, burden all +those who know you with a lifelong sorrow?"</p> + +<p>"No, no, not that way," she answered quickly, "only if those who love me +were taken I should want to follow them; that is all. Please forget I +said it." Then she told him her own brief history, and at last, after +much coaxing, a little of the one sorrow of her life.</p> + +<p>"Now I know," he said, "why you avoided speaking about the picture of +the wreck the first time I came here." Then in a moment he added, +"Telly, I want you to give it to me and let me take it away. I want it +for two reasons: one is, it gave me the first hint of your life's +history. And then I do not want you to look at it any more."</p> + +<p>"You may have it," she answered, smiling sadly; "it was foolish of me to +paint it in the first place, and I wish I never had."</p> + +<p>When the sun was low and they were ready to return he said, "Promise me, +sweetheart, that you will try to forget all of your past that is sad, +and think only of us who love you, and to whom your life is a blessing."</p> + +<p>That evening he noticed Uncle Terry occasionally watched her with +wistful eyes, and, as on the evening before, both he and Aunt Lissy +retired early.</p> + +<p>"They wish me well," Albert thought, and with gratitude. He had even +more reason for it when the next day Uncle Terry proposed that Telly +should drive to the head of the island in his place.</p> + +<p>"I'm sorry ye must leave us, Mr. Page," he said, when Albert was ready +to bid the old folks good-by. "I wish ye could stay longer; but cum +again soon, an' remember, our latch-string's allus out fer ye."</p> + +<p>When the old carryall had made half its daily journey, Albert pointed to +a low rock and said, "There is a spot I shall always be glad to see, for +it was there Uncle Terry first found me."</p> + +<p>Telly made no answer; in fact she had said but little since they +started, and soon the hardest part of life and living, that of +separating from those who seem near and dear to us, was drawing near. +When they reached the little landing, no one else was there. No house +was in sight of it, and the solitude was broken only by the tide that +softly caressed the barnacled piles of the wharf and the weed-covered +rocks on either side. No boat was visible adown the wide reach that +separates Southport Island from the mainland, and up it came a light sea +breeze that barely rippled the flowing tide and whispered through the +brown and scarlet leaved thicket back of them. Over all shone the hazy +sunlight of October. It is likely that a touch of regret for the +sacrifice she had made came to Telly as she stood listening and hoping +that the boat which was due would be late in coming, for a look of +sadness came over her face, and a more than usually plaintive appeal in +her expressive eyes. "I am sorry you are going," she said; "it is so +lonesome here, and it will seem more so now." Then as if that was a +confession he might think unmaidenly, she added, "I dread to have the +summer end, for when winter comes, the rocks all around seem like so +many tombstones."</p> + +<p>He was watching her as she spoke, and the little note of sorrow in her +voice gave him a hope that she might relent at the last moment, and give +him the promise he wanted so much. He put out his hand as if that would +aid his appeal, and as his fingers closed over hers he said, "I am +going away with a heavy heart, Telly, and when I can come back is hard +to say. Will you not promise me that some time, no matter when, you will +be my own good and true wife? Let me go away with that hope to comfort +me while I work and save for a home for us both. Will you, Telly?"</p> + +<p>But the plaintive face was turned away, perhaps to hide the tears. Then +once more an arm stole around her waist, and as he drew her close, she +whispered, "When I am no longer needed here, if you want me then I will +come to you."</p> + +<p>She was sobbing now, but her head was resting on his shoulder, and as he +kissed her closed eyes and unresisting lips, a boat's sharp whistle +broke the sacred spell.</p> + +<p>"Go a little way back, my darling," he whispered, "until the boat is +gone. I do not want any one to see you have been crying."</p> + +<p>When her misty eyes could no longer see the boat that bore her heart +away, she turned, and all the long, lonely way back love's tears +lingered on her lashes.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXVII" id="CHAPTER_XXXVII"></a>CHAPTER XXXVII</h2> + +<h3>AMID FALLING LEAVES</h3> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p>The mountains around Sandgate were aflame with the scarlet and gold of +autumn before life seemed quite as usual to Alice Page. The summer idyll +had passed, and though it left a scar on her heart, she had resolutely +determined to put the sweet illusion out of her mind. "I was very +foolish to let him see that I cared," she thought, "for it can never be, +and by and by he will forget me, or if he does think of me, it will be +to recall me as one of his summer girls who had a fit of silliness."</p> + +<p>But for all that her heart ached at times, and in spite of all +resolution her fingers would once in a while stray to the chords of "Ben +Bolt." She tried, and fairly succeeded in answering his letters in a +cool, matter-of-fact way. Occasionally when he referred to his heart +hunger, and how hard he was studying in hopes that she might think +better of him, she wished that he had no purse-proud and haughty mother +to stand between him and a poor girl, and her next letter would be more +chilly than ever. What perhaps was a bitter-sweet thought was the fact +that the colder she answered him, the warmer his next letter would be. +Unwisely, too, he happened to mention once that his mother had spoken of +a certain young lady who belonged to the cream of Boston society as an +eligible match, and advised him to show her a little attention. It was +really of no moment, yet it hardened Alice against his mother, and did +not help his cause.</p> + +<p>Every Sunday she took her wonted place in the choir, and after church +occasionally walked alone to the cemetery and visited her mother's +grave. Then, too, her brother's letters grew less frequent, and that was +a source of pain. With intuitive and feminine instinct she began to +assume that some woman was winning his thoughts, and as it was but +natural, she could not and did not mention her belief to him. How +grateful she was all through those melancholy autumn days that she had a +large school to absorb her thoughts, no one, not even Aunt Susan, +guessed. She was having a long and hard fight with her own feelings and +imagined she had conquered them, when Thanksgiving time drew near and +her brother announced he would run up and spend the day with her. She +almost cried for joy at the good news, for poor, pretty, and +proud-spirited Alice Page was feeling very heart-hungry when the letter +came. He was just a little surprised at her vehement welcome.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I have been so lonesome, Bertie," she said when they were alone +together, "and the evenings drag by so slowly! Then you do not write me +as often or such nice letters as formerly, and Aunt Susan never seems to +notice that I am blue. If it were not for my school, I should go crazy, +I think."</p> + +<p>His heart smote him as he thought of a certain other blue-eyed girl who +was now occupying his thoughts to the partial exclusion of this loving +sister, and of whom he had meant to tell Alice. In an instant it +occurred to him that it would hurt her now to know it, and that he had +best keep it to himself.</p> + +<p>"I am very busy these days, sis," he replied, "and my mind is all taken +up with work. Mr. Nason's business is increasing and I have a good many +clients besides him." Then as if to draw her out, he added: "How did you +like Blanch Nason?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, she was very nice," replied Alice coolly, "and if she were a poor +girl and lived here I could easily learn to love her. As it is, it is +useless for me to think of her as a friend. It was good of her to pay me +a visit, though, and I enjoyed every minute of it."</p> + +<p>"And what about Frank?" queried Albert, eyeing his sister with a smile; +"did he not say a lot of sweet things to you?"</p> + +<p>Alice colored.</p> + +<p>"Oh, he is nice enough," she answered, "and tried to make me believe he +had fallen in love with me, but it won't do any good. I am sure his +managing mamma will marry him to some thin girl with a fat purse, or +aristocratic family, which, I imagine, is of more consequence to her."</p> + +<p>Albert gave a low and prolonged whistle.</p> + +<p>"So that is the way the wind blows, my sweet sister, is it?" he +observed; "and yet my possible future law partner has been humming 'Ben +Bolt' nearly every day for the past two months! I made believe you must +have smiled on him very sweetly when he was here."</p> + +<p>The thought of one day when she had done more than smile at this young +man brought even a deeper color than before to her face.</p> + +<p>"Please do not say any more about him, Bert," she answered with a little +pain in her voice; "he is all right, but I am too poor and too proud to +satisfy his mother, so that is all there is or ever will be to it." Then +she added in self-protection, "Tell me about the island girl I heard you +fell in love with on the yachting-trip, and for whom you deserted the +crowd." It was his turn to look confused, and he did, in a way that +smote his keen-eyed sister with sudden dread. "It is true, Bertie," she +said quickly; "I can see it in your face. That explains your short +letters." A little quiver passed over her lips and down the round chin +like a tiny ripple on still water, and she added pathetically, "I hated +to believe it, but it cannot be helped, I suppose. I shall feel more +desolate now than ever." Then womanlike she said, "Is she very pretty, +Bertie? She must be, or you would not have fallen in love with her so +soon."</p> + +<p>There was no use in concealment or evasion, and it was not like him to +resort to either. "Alice, my sweet little sister," he replied, +resolutely drawing his chair near and taking her hand, "it is true, and +I intended to tell you all about it, only I hated to do it at first, and +so put it off. She is more than pretty, she is beautiful, and the most +unaffected and tender-hearted girl I ever met. But you need not worry. +She is so devoted to the two old people who have brought her up as their +own that she will not leave them for me as long as they live." Then he +added regretfully, "So you see I must be a patient waiter for a long +time yet." Then he frankly told Alice the entire story of his waif of +the sea, and how even at the last moment she had refused to yield to his +pleading.</p> + +<p>"And now, sweet sister," he said at last, "I have a plan to unfold, and +I want you to consider it well. I am now earning enough to maintain a +home, and I am sick and tired of boarding-house life. It is not likely I +shall marry the girl I love for many years to come, and there is no need +for us to be separated in this way. I think it is best that we close the +house, or rent it for the present, and you and Aunt Susan come to +Boston. I can hire a pretty flat, and we can take down such of the +furniture as we need, and store the rest. What do you think of the +plan?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, I shall be so glad of the change, Bertie!" she answered, +brightening; "it is so desolate here, and you do not know how I dread +the long winter." And then she added quickly, "But what can I do in +Boston? I cannot be idle; I should not be contented if I were."</p> + +<p>"Will not housekeeping for me be occupation enough?" he answered, +smiling, "or you might give music lessons and study shorthand. I need a +typewriter even now, and in a few months must have one."</p> + +<p>She was silent, considering the matter in its various bearings for a few +moments, and then said: "But what will Aunt Susan think of the change, +and it will be <i>such</i> a change for her; like going into a new world!"</p> + +<p>"Well, she will have to get used to it," he answered; "at any rate, it +is not wise for us to go on in this way solely for her comfort."</p> + +<p>Then, as Alice began to realize what it meant to bid good-by to the +scenes of her childhood, the old home, the great trees in front, the +broad meadows, the brook that rippled through them, the little church +where every one greeted her with a smile, and the grand old hills that +surrounded Sandgate's peaceful valley, her heart began to sink. Then she +thought of the pleasant woods where she had so often gone nutting in +autumn, the old mill-pond where every summer since babyhood she had +gathered lilies, and even those barefooted school-children of hers, +every one of whom had come to love the pretty teacher, came into her +thoughts. Life in Sandgate did not seem so desolate to her as it had, +and the thought of going away grew less attractive.</p> + +<p>"I shall dislike to go, after all," she said at last, "but perhaps it is +best. I shall cry when I leave here, I know, and be very homesick for a +spell, but then I shall have you, and that is a good deal." Then this +mingled clouds and sunshine of a girl deliberately rose, and like a big +baby, crept into her brother's lap, and tucking her sunny head under his +chin, whispered, "Oh, if you were never going to be married, Bertie, I +would leave it all and try to be contented. I could come up here every +summer, and go the rounds, could I not?" Then she added disconsolately, +"But you will get married, and in less than a year, too. I know it. Your +beautiful island girl cannot and will not keep you waiting so long. I +could not if I were she, I know."</p> + +<p>Then that big brother, blessed with such an adorable sister, raised her +face so he could look into her blue eyes and said, "No sweetheart and no +wife shall ever lessen my love for you, Alice, who have been my +playmate, my companion, and my confidant all my life. And if you are +likely to be homesick and unhappy in Boston, we will abandon the plan at +once."</p> + +<p>"Let me think about it a few weeks first," she replied. "I could not go +away until this term of school is over, and that will not be till +Christmas."</p> + +<p>Then after those two good friends had discussed the proposed step in all +its bearings for a half hour Albert said, "Come, now, sis, sing a little +for me; I am hungry to hear you once more."</p> + +<p>She complied willingly, and as the mischievous heartbreaker never forgot +to pay an old score, the moment she was seated at the piano she began +with "Hold the Fort," and singing every verse of that, followed it with +"Pull for the Shore."</p> + +<p>Her brother never winced, and after she had inflicted two more of those +well-worn gospel hymns upon him he quietly remarked, "My dear sis, you +are not punishing me for what I once said half as much as you think you +are. Sing some more of them; they sound like old times." And it was +true, too.</p> + +<p>The latest and most classic compositions are all very well for highly +cultured ears afflicted with Wagnerian delirium; but for plain, ordinary +country-born people, such as Albert was, there is a sweet association in +the old songs first heard in childhood that no classic productions can +usurp. The "Quilting Party" will surely recall some moonlight walk home +with a boyhood sweetheart along a maple-shaded lane, when "on your arm a +soft hand rested," and "Money Musk" will carry you back to a lantern-lit +barn floor with one fiddler perched on a pile of meal bags; and how +delightful it was to clasp that same sweet girl's waist when "balance +and swing" came echoing from the rafters.</p> + +<p>And so that evening, as the piquant voice of Alice Page trilled the list +from "Lily Dale" to "Suwanee River" and back to "Bonny Eloise" and +"Patter of the Rain," Albert lazily puffed his cigar and lived over his +boyhood days.</p> + +<p>When the concert was ended he exclaimed:</p> + +<p>"Do you know, sis, that an evening like this in Boston would seem like a +little taste of heaven to me, after I came back from the all-day grind +among hard-hearted, selfish men who think only of the mighty dollar! And +now you see why I want you to come to Boston to live."</p> + +<p>It pleased that loving sister of his wonderfully, for as yet her brother +was far dearer than any other living person. No lover had so far usurped +his place or seemed to her as likely to. She gave him a grateful look +and smile that prompted him to say:</p> + +<p>"Now I will look around before Christmas and see what kind of a flat can +be found, and then when your school closes you must come down and visit +me and see how you like Boston."</p> + +<p>"Oh, that will be just delightful," was the rejoinder, "only you must +promise not to tell the Nasons that I am coming."</p> + +<p>"But if they find it out, Blanch and Frank would feel bitterly hurt," he +replied; "remember, they did you the honor of coming up here to visit +you, and Blanch has said to me several times that she hoped you would +visit her this winter."</p> + +<p>"I should love to," replied Alice, hesitating, "but—well, I will tell +you what we can do: we will wait until the day before I am to return, +and then we can call there one evening. They need not know how long I +have been in Boston."</p> + +<p>Albert looked curiously at his sister. "I think I understand you, sis," +he observed, "and that is right; but is it not a little rough on Frank? +He has settled down to hard study and sticks to it, and really is an +exemplary young man and a good fellow. I am growing very fond of him, +and should dislike to have you actually offend him."</p> + +<p>"I do not want to offend him, by any means," said Alice soberly, "and +neither do I want him or his haughty mother to think I am disposed to +put myself in his way. If he wants to see me, let him come here."</p> + +<p>The next day Albert and Alice felt obliged to attend church, as all the +good people of Sandgate usually so observed Thanksgiving day, and he was +gladdened by many a cordial handshake and kindly inquiry from old +friends. Alice as usual sang in the choir, and when the services were +over they returned, to find that Aunt Susan had the honored emblem of +the day well browned and ready for the table. In a way the meal was a +trifle saddened, for in spite of the good cheer, it brought back to all +three recollections of those who would never more be present. And that +evening both brother and sister called on Abby Miles, more to escape +the home mood than to enjoy her society.</p> + +<p>When morning and departure came Albert said: "I will do as you wish, +sweet sister, and unless some of the Nasons should meet us at a theatre, +I imagine it will work all right. Only it is a little rough on Frank, +after all."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXVIII" id="CHAPTER_XXXVIII"></a>CHAPTER XXXVIII</h2> + +<h3>THE OLD SONGS</h3> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p>Influenced by time, place, and the earnest pleading of her admirer, +Alice Page had, on that summer afternoon by the mill-pond, stepped a +little from her pedestal of pride. In a way, too, her feelings were +touched, at least enough to give her many an hour's heartache afterwards +while she was resolutely putting the sweet illusion out of her mind. But +no one, not even her brother, knew it, and only Aunt Susan suspected, +and she wisely kept her counsel, hoping that all would come right in the +end.</p> + +<p>The proposed change did not seem to disturb her much, although Alice +noticed that she was more quiet than ever and avoided that subject.</p> + +<p>"I'm ready an' willin' to go if you think best," she said; "and I'll do +my best as long as I can. I hain't got long to stay, and if I see you +two happy, I'm content."</p> + +<p>It was the pathos of old age, and it touched Alice's heart.</p> + +<p>Two weeks before Christmas came a cordial letter from Blanch, reminding +Alice of her promise to visit her during the holidays and insisting that +she do so now. With it was enclosed an equally cordial but brief note of +invitation from Mrs. Nason. Alice replied to both in due form and with +profuse thanks, also stating that she had promised her brother she would +visit him during her vacation, and hoped to have one or two evenings +with them at that time.</p> + +<p>"I will let them see I am not a deserted tabby-cat," she said to +herself, "waiting around in the cold until some one opens a door for +me." And then this proud little country girl enclosed both notes to her +brother and told him he had best inform the Nasons of her intended visit +in a matter-of-fact way. "But mind," she added, "you do not let on that +you know they have invited me to visit them. We will do just as we +talked, go there and spend one or two evenings, or perhaps I may meet +them at a theatre, which would be much better."</p> + +<p>By return mail came his assurance of obedience and a sizable check. "Use +it all, my dear sis," he wrote, "and for your own needs, too. I do not +want you to feel ashamed of your gowns when you come to Boston."</p> + +<p>"Bless his dear heart," said Alice, when she read the letter, "what a +prize that island girl will get in him!" And then she came near crying +at the thought of that possible outcome. But when Christmas came and she +kissed Aunt Susan good-by, she was near giving up the trip altogether. +It may have been the sad face of her aunt that brought the irresolution, +or a feeling that meeting Frank would re-awaken the little heartache she +had for five months been trying to conquer; for this proud girl had +firmly made up her mind that she would utter a very decided "no" if +Frank proposed again. When she reached Boston she was met by her +brother, and for three days he devoted his entire time to her.</p> + +<p>"I have not told Frank, even, when you were coming," he observed, "and +shall not let them know you are here until we call." Then he added, +smiling, "I want you to myself for a few days, because after Frank knows +you are here I am sure to be one too many most of the time."</p> + +<p>"Not on his account, you'll not be," replied Alice with a snap, and it +is likely that moment she meant it too.</p> + +<p>And what a gallant escort that brother was! And what a change from the +dull monotony of her home life those days were to Alice!</p> + +<p>They hunted for houses and visited art galleries mornings, lunched at +Parker's at noon, and devoted the afternoons and evenings to theatres. +Then after that usually a <i>tête-à-tête</i> supper at a cozy place where the +best was to be had, and a little chat in his or her room before +retiring. It was during one of these brief visits that she noticed some +of the pictures that hung in his room.</p> + +<p>"Who painted that shipwreck scene?" she asked, looking at one. "It is a +gem, and those poor sailors clinging to the ice-covered rigging are +enough to make one shiver. And those awful waves, too, are simply +terrifying. And what a pretty scene is this wild tangle of rocks with a +girl leaning on one and looking out on the ocean where the sun is +setting or rising," she continued as she viewed the next one. Then as +she examined it a little closer she added, "Who is E. T.?" Albert made +no answer and she passed to a third one showing a little rippled cove +with the ocean beyond and a girl seated in the shade of a small spruce +tree.</p> + +<p>"Why, this is by E. T. too," she exclaimed, and turning to her brother +she repeated, "who is E. T.?"</p> + +<p>"Well," he answered, "I will take you down to the island some time and +introduce you to her. She will be glad to meet my sister, you may be +certain."</p> + +<p>Then it all flashed over Alice, and the brief history of this girl, as +her brother had told it, came back to her in an instant. "So that was +the wreck she floated ashore from, was it, Bert?" she asked; "and can +she paint like that? Why, I am astonished! And who is the girl leaning +on the rock?" she added; "and what an exquisitely molded figure! And +what a pretty pose! Who is she?"</p> + +<p>"That is your possible sister-in-law," answered Albert with a touch of +pride, "and the pictures were done by her from sketches I first made +myself. They are true to life so far as all details go, only I failed to +catch her expressive face in the one that shows a front view of her."</p> + +<p>"And so that was the way you wooed your island goddess, was it?" +observed Alice with a roguish look; "made her pose for a sketch while +you said sweet things to her." Then with a woman's curiosity she added, +"Have you a picture of her?"</p> + +<p>"No, I am sorry to say I have not," he replied; "remember, she has been +hidden away on an island all her life, and I doubt if she ever had a +picture taken."</p> + +<p>"And when will you take me to see her?" asked Alice. "I am so anxious to +meet this fairy of the shore who has stolen my brother's heart. Can't we +go down there before I return home?"</p> + +<p>"We can," he added, "but I think we'd better wait until spring."</p> + +<p>The next day he informed her he had secured a box at the Tremont for +that evening, and had invited the Nasons to join them. "I thought it +would relieve your mind a little, Alice," he added, "to meet your bogie +on neutral ground." And it did.</p> + +<p>But Mrs. Nason was a long way from being the haughty spectre Alice had +conjured up, and like many excellent mothers was simply interested to +see that her only and impetuous son did not make a mésalliance. While +she had wisely made no comment regarding her son's apparent +disappointment, what Blanch had said, together with that fact, had won +for Alice a respect she was totally unaware of. That a poor and pretty +country schoolma'am was proud enough to discourage that son's attentions +because of the difference in their positions was an unusual experience +to her and one that awakened her curiosity. "I should like to meet Miss +Page," she said to Blanch when the latter had asked if she might invite +her to visit them, "and see what she is like. A girl that shows the +spirit she does is certainly worth cultivating, and as she entertained +you so nicely, by all means let us return the obligation."</p> + +<p>When Alice's cool but polite note reached Mrs. Nason, she was piqued to +even a greater degree of curiosity, and when Albert's courteous letter, +inviting "Mrs. Nason and family to share a box at the Tremont for the +purpose of meeting my sister" was received, she returned a cordial +acceptance by bearer.</p> + +<p>To Alice the proposed meeting was a source of dread, and when the +carriage called for Albert and herself she was in an excited state of +mind, and maybe it was not all on account of Mrs. Nason either. They had +barely taken their seats in the box, and the orchestra had only just +begun the overture, when the usher knocked and Blanch, followed by the +rest of the family, entered. That young lady greeted Alice with an +effusive kiss at once, and the next instant she found herself shaking +hands with a rotund and gray-haired lady of dignified bearing, but of +very kind and courteous manner. An introduction to Edith followed, and +then Frank acknowledged her polite "How do you do, Mr. Nason?" with his +very best bow.</p> + +<p>Their meeting was the most formal of any, as Alice evidently wished it +to be, since she did not offer her hand, and then she insisted that Mrs. +Nason and her two daughters occupy the front chairs.</p> + +<p>"You are our guests this evening," said Alice with quiet dignity, when +Blanch urged her to take one, "and so must pardon me for insisting."</p> + +<p>Then the play began, and by the time the first act was over Alice had +taken a mental inventory of her "bogie" and made up her mind that she +was no bogie at all. When the curtain fell, Mrs. Nason began chatting +with Alice in the pleasantest way possible, and with seemingly cordial +interest in all she said, while Blanch wisely kept quiet and Edith +devoted herself to Albert. It was after the second curtain when Mrs. +Nason said: "I must insist that you divide your visit with us, Miss +Page, and allow us to return a little of your hospitality. Of course I +understand that your brother comes first, and rightly too, but we must +claim a part of your time."</p> + +<p>"I had promised myself one or two evenings at your home," Alice answered +quietly, "but I do not feel that I ought to desert Bertie more than +that."</p> + +<p>Then for the first time Blanch put in her little word: "Now do not offer +your brother as an excuse," she said, "for it will not do a bit of good. +I have been anticipating your promised visit for a long time, and no +brother is going to rob me of it. I shall come around to-morrow forenoon +with the coachman, and if you are not ready to go back with me, bag and +baggage, I will take your baggage, and then you will have to come."</p> + +<p>Alice smiled at this vehement cordiality.</p> + +<p>"I do not see why you cannot see your brother and visit with him just as +well at our house," put in Mrs. Nason; "he is always welcome there, and +he knows it, I am sure."</p> + +<p>Alice turned to her brother, remarking: "It is nice of you to insist, +and I am more than grateful, but it must be as he says." Then she added +prettily: "He is my papa and mamma now, and the cook and captain bold, +and mate of the 'Nancy' brig as well."</p> + +<p>"I will stir up a mutiny on the 'Nancy' brig if he does not consent," +laughed Blanch, "so there is an end to that; and you must be ready at +ten to-morrow."</p> + +<p>"Well, what do you think of the 'haughty mother' now?" observed Albert, +after the Nasons had rolled away in their carriage. "Is she the awful +spectre you imagined?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, she's nice enough," answered Alice, "only it is just as well to let +her see I need a little urging."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXIX" id="CHAPTER_XXXIX"></a>CHAPTER XXXIX</h2> + +<h3>SOCIETY</h3> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p>Three more days of Alice's visit in Boston had passed, and quickly to +her. Blanch had kept her threat, and literally taken possession of her +new friend, and installed her in the guest room of the Nason residence. +Then she set out to entertain Alice to the best of her ample ability. To +be taken in hand, as it were, by a highly cultured and wealthy young +lady, and to have a liveried and obsequious coachman on duty to convey +them anywhere and everywhere, was a new experience, and a decided change +from Sandgate. The two went shopping mornings, and to matinées or made +calls afternoons, or discussed styles and effects with modistes; +evenings it was a theatre or else a quiet evening at home, when Mr. +Nason was in evidence. As for Frank, he was barely allowed the privilege +of procuring tickets and buying bonbons, or else making one of a rubber +of whist. "Don't you dare to say any sweet things while she is here," +Blanch had cautioned him at the outset. "In the first place it is not +good form, and in the second it would offend her. Be as gallant as you +know how, but do not let mamma see that you are any more attentive to +Alice than to Ede and I. If you hope to win your pretty schoolma'am you +must pay your court in her own home, not here." It is needless to say +Frank obeyed. It was not long ere Alice began to feel herself quite at +home in the Nason family, and to notice that Mrs. Nason treated her in a +motherly way which was both nice and kind. That excellent lady also +expressed a warm sympathy for Alice in her orphaned condition, and +showed an interest in her occupation at home.</p> + +<p>"I see that you are fond of your little charges," she said, after Alice +had described her school and some of the peculiarities of her pupils who +wore out-grown roundabouts or calico pinafores, "and I suppose they grow +fond of you as well."</p> + +<p>"I try to make them," replied Alice, "and I find that is the easiest way +to govern them. I seldom have to punish any one, and when I do it hurts +me more than the culprit. In a way, children are like grown people and a +little tact and a few words said in the right way are more potent than +fear of punishment."</p> + +<p>"And do you not find life in so small a place rather monotonous?" asked +Mrs. Nason.</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes," replied Alice, "it is not much like city life as I +understand it; but having lived in the country all my life, as I have, I +am accustomed to it and do not mind. It is delightful to have theatres +and the excitement of social duties, as I imagine you have all the time, +and yet I am not sure I should like it. I fancy once in a while I should +sigh for a shady spot in the woods in summer where I could read a book +or hear the birds sing. It is only in winter that I should like to live +in the city."</p> + +<p>But the pleasant days of Alice's stay in Boston passed rapidly until +only two were left, when Blanch said to her, "I have invited a few of my +friends here to meet you to-night, and I want you to do me a favor, and +that is, sing for me."</p> + +<p>"Oh, please do not ask that," replied Alice hastily. "I do not sing well +enough, and fear that some of your friends might be critics, and that +would quite upset me."</p> + +<p>"But you sing in church," assented Blanch, "and that is much harder."</p> + +<p>"That is nothing," answered Alice, smiling; "not one in ten of those +country people know one note from another, and that fact makes me +indifferent. Here not only all your people, but all your friends, hear +the finest operatic singers, and poor I would cut a sorry figure in +contrast."</p> + +<p>"But you will sing just once to please me, won't you?" pleaded Blanch.</p> + +<p>"I will not promise," was the answer; "I will see how many are here and +how my courage holds out."</p> + +<p>When that evening came Blanch waited until Alice had become somewhat +acquainted with the little gathering and the reserve had worn away, when +she went to her and putting one arm around her waist, whispered, "Come, +now, dear, just one little song; only one to please me." At first Alice +thought to refuse, but somehow the pride that was in her came to the +rescue, and the feeling that she would show her friend that she was not +a timid country girl gave her the needed courage, and she arose and +stepped across the room to the grand piano that stood in one corner. Her +cheeks were flushed, and a defiant curl was on her lips, and then +without a moment's hesitation she seated herself and sang "The Last Rose +of Summer." She had sung it many, many times before, and every trill and +exquisite quiver of its wondrous pathos was as familiar to her as the +music of the brook where she had played in childhood. I am not certain +but some of that brook's sweet melody came as an inspiration to her, for +now she sang as she never had before, and to an audience that listened +entranced. When the last sweet note had passed her red lips she arose +quickly and returned to her seat; and then, had she not been so modest +that she dared not look at any one, she would have seen two little tears +steal out of Mrs. Nason's eyes, to be quickly brushed away with a +priceless bit of lace. Sweet Alice, the motherless little country girl, +had from that moment entered the heart of Mrs. Nason and won a regard +she hardly realized then; in fact, not at all until long afterward. When +the applause had subsided it was Frank that next pleaded.</p> + +<p>"Won't you sing one for me now, Miss Page?" he asked. "I bought the song +I wanted to-day," and going to the piano he unrolled and spread upon the +music rack—"Ben Bolt"!</p> + +<p>"But I only consented to sing once for Blanch," Alice replied, "and +there are others here who I am sure can do much better."</p> + +<p>"Come, please," he said coaxingly, "just this one for me." And then once +more Alice touched the keys.</p> + +<p>Back to a simply furnished parlor in Sandgate, with its lamp on the +piano and open fire burning brightly as it had one year ago, went two of +that company in thought, and maybe others there, whose youth had been +among country scenes, were carried back to them by the singer's voice, +and saw a by-way schoolhouse "and a shaded nook by a running brook," in +fancy; or perhaps a little white stone in some grass-grown corner, +where, "obscure and alone," lay a boyhood's sweetheart! For all the +pathos of our lost youth trilled in the voice of Alice Page as she sang +that old, old song of the long ago. And not one in that little audience +but was enthralled by the winsome witchery of her voice, and for the +moment was young again in thought and feeling. As for Mrs. Nason, when +the guests had departed she turned to Alice, and taking her face in her +hands exclaimed, "I want to kiss the lips that have brought tears to my +eyes to-night."</p> + +<p>Sweet Alice had won her crown.</p> + +<p>The last evening of her visit she decided to spend with her brother, and +when she came to bid adieu to her hostess, that much dreaded haughty +mother had resolved herself into a charming old lady, who said: "Now I +can see why my daughter went into raptures over some one who I hope will +visit us again and stay much longer." It was a graceful tribute, and one +that touched the motherless girl as few words could.</p> + +<p>"It is odd, Bertie," she said to her brother that evening, when they +were alone together, "how different people seem when one comes to know +them. Now from one or two things which you have said, and an admission +that Frank made a year ago, I felt I should be sure to hate his mother, +and now I think she is perfectly lovely."</p> + +<p>"So she is to those she likes," answered Albert, "but if you had not +shown the tact you have, my dear sis, I am not sure you would now be +praising her. You carried her heart by storm last evening, as well as +the rest of the company, and you deserved it, for I never heard you sing +so well."</p> + +<p>"I am glad I didn't break down, anyway," she replied, "for when I +touched the piano my heart seemed in my mouth."</p> + +<p>"Yes, and in your voice, too," he replied with pride, "and that is what +carried us all away."</p> + +<p>For an hour they discussed the Nasons, while Albert noticed his sister +avoided any mention of Frank, and then he said: "Well, sis, which of the +rents we have looked at do you think I best engage and when will you be +ready to move?"</p> + +<p>Alice was silent and for a few minutes she pursed her lips and looked at +the chilly shipwreck scene near her as if it contained a revelation.</p> + +<p>"I am not so sure," she answered finally, "that we should make the +change at present. If I were certain your beautiful waif of the sea +would adhere to her filial resolution, it would be different, but I am +not. If you secure this legacy for her that you told me about and she +donates it to those old people, as you say she intends to, why the next +thing will be an invitation to my dear brother's wedding, and that is +one reason why I hesitate to make this change. Another is that I do not +think it would be good for Aunt Susan. She says she is ready and +willing, but when she has left all the associations of her life behind, +she will just sit and grieve her poor old heart away in silence."</p> + +<p>Albert did not and could not answer all these surmises, and to a certain +extent he felt that his sister was right. He certainly meant to coax +Telly to marry him, even if she insisted on spending most of her time +where she felt her duty called her. Then he had felt all along that +Alice might be persuaded to become one of the Nason family, though his +Thanksgiving visit had about dispelled that idea. As for Aunt Susan, if +the proposed change was not likely to be a permanent one, it would not +be best to make it at all. Deliberating thus he sat in silence for a +time, and leisurely puffed smoke rings in the air as he studied the +ceiling. Finally an idea came to him.</p> + +<p>"My dear sister," he said, "have you considered or do you consider +Frank in your calculations? and if so, where does he come in, may I +ask?"</p> + +<p>Alice's blue eyes assumed an expression like unto a pansy, and her face +the placidity of a mill-pond as she answered, "I had quite forgotten his +existence!"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XL" id="CHAPTER_XL"></a>CHAPTER XL</h2> + +<h3>"YES OR NO"</h3> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p>A woman's heart, as transitory as the wind, as evanescent as the +rainbow, and as tender as spring violets, is hard to portray with pen, +and for that reason the summer-day nature of Alice Page is but faintly +outlined. When on the morning of her departure from Boston she stood +beside the train exchanging the usual good-by words with her brother, +she was surprised at being joined by Blanch and Frank. The former +brought her a tasty basket of lunch, sent with her mother's compliments, +and the latter an elaborate bouquet of flowers.</p> + +<p>"I want to kiss you good-by," said Blanch, and when the two had embraced +and Frank had uttered a suitable speech, Alice kissed her brother and +took her seat. No one apparently noticed that Frank was not on the +platform when the train started, and when it was well under way Alice +was astonished to see him enter the car. She was, as may be expected, +feeling rather blue, and the sight of his cheerful face was a pleasant +surprise.</p> + +<p>"You will not object to my company home, will you?" he asked at once; "I +thought you might be lonesome, and as I have not had a chance to talk to +you since you came to Boston, I decided to go up with you. I can come +back on the night train," he added rather apologetically, "or if you +prefer to ride alone, I can get off at the next station."</p> + +<p>"Oh, no, I am very glad of your company," she replied sincerely, "and it +was good of you to think of it. It is a long ride and I have had such a +nice time I should have been disconsolate. You did not know," she added +archly, "that one reason I came to Boston was to look at rents. Bert +wants us to come here and keep house for him, Aunt Susan and me."</p> + +<p>"And are you going to do it?" put in Frank, with sudden interest; "I +hope so, for that would give me a chance to take you to the theatres."</p> + +<p>"No, the plan is off for the present," she answered; "not but that I +would like to, but for many reasons, one of which is Aunt Susan, we +think it is not best."</p> + +<p>Frank was a little ill at ease, and in a way did not feel certain he was +welcome. Even without his sister's advice he would not have considered +it good taste to press his suit while Alice was their guest. But now it +occurred to him that to escort her home would be a wise move. "By all +means go back with her," Blanch had replied when he broached his idea, +"and by the time you have reached Sandgate you will know where you stand +in your schoolma'am's feelings. She knows, too, how mamma feels towards +her, so that obstacle is removed. And if there is any hope for you, you +will know it soon; only as I told you once before, wait until the right +moment comes, and then woo her quickly and courageously."</p> + +<p>For an hour they trundled along through the snow-clad country chatting +commonplaces, and then Alice said: "Did you meet the island girl last +summer that you told me Bert had fallen in love with?"</p> + +<p>"Only once," he replied. "Bert invited her and the old lady on board the +'Gypsy' and introduced them. They remained only long enough to look the +yacht over. I left that day for Bethlehem, and as you know, came to +Sandgate." His eyes were on her as he said this, and he noticed that an +added color came to her face.</p> + +<p>"What did you think of this girl?" asked Alice hastily; "tell me what +she looks like—is she handsome?"</p> + +<p>It is a woman's usual question, and a hard one for a man to answer, +especially if the one who asks it is the girl he adores.</p> + +<p>"She has a beautiful figure," he answered, "and eyes like yours, which +you know are what I admire; only they are not so full of mischief. They +have a far-away look that makes you think her thoughts are a thousand +miles away."</p> + +<p>"How was she dressed?" was the next query.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I haven't the least idea," was the answer; "she might have worn +calico for all I could tell. The only thing I can remember is that her +dress was tight-fitting and very plain."</p> + +<p>Alice smiled.</p> + +<p>"Those far-away eyes must have entranced you, your description is so +lucid," she replied sarcastically. Then she added: "How long did Bert +stay there after you came away?"</p> + +<p>"Only a few days," replied Frank; "I never asked him. I told him to keep +and use the 'Gypsy' as long as he wanted and then I cut stick for Blanch +and—Sandgate."</p> + +<p>He seemed to dwell upon the little outing, and Alice, noticing it, and +evasive ever, fought shy of the subject. She saw also that he was not +aware of her brother's infatuation and from motives of delicacy forbore +further questioning.</p> + +<p>"Well, how do you like my haughty mother now?" he asked, "if that is a +fair question."</p> + +<p>It was not exactly a fair question, but conscious of the fact that she +had tried to quiz him, Alice answered it frankly.</p> + +<p>"I think she is the most gracefully charming hostess I ever met," she +replied, "and you ought to be proud of her. In a way, I think you +conveyed a wrong impression of her to me the first time I met you, and +it has lasted ever since."</p> + +<p>"I am sorry if I did," replied Frank honestly, "I did not mean to. +Mother knows how to be very nice to any one she likes and very freezing +to any one she doesn't. She fell in love with you the night you sang, +and I knew she would. That is why I almost begged you on my knees to +sing," he added earnestly, "so please do not scold me for, as you say, +giving a wrong impression."</p> + +<p>"I did not mean to scold you, Frank," she replied, "and if I hurt you, +please forgive me." It was the first time she had ever used his first +name and it made his heart beat high with hope. He would have there and +then whispered of that hope, had it not been for his sister's advice to +wait for the right moment, and it was wise that he heeded that advice. +When noon came he bought a pitcher of coffee all prepared, at a railroad +lunch counter, and a cup and saucer, then spread a newspaper between +them, and over it a napkin, and while she ate he held the cup and shared +the edibles. It was not a gracefully eaten lunch, and yet it served to +brush away much of the restraint that lay between them. When the hills +of Sandgate were visible he said, "I have an hour before the returning +train, and just time enough to see you safely home."</p> + +<p>Alice looked at him with surprise.</p> + +<p>"And that is your idea of my hospitality," she exclaimed, "to let you go +away like that? The morning train is the earliest one you can escape on, +and if I am not good enough company for you this evening, you can go and +call on Abby Miles."</p> + +<p>And what a surprised and glad old lady Aunt Susan was when the two +stepped off the train, and how vividly Frank recalled one year ago when +he and Albert met Alice at this same cheerless depot with its one small +waiting-room and adjoining shed! The same staid horse was hitched +outside, and as he bundled his two charges into the sleigh and +officiously took the reins, while Aunt Susan lamented because she had +not known he was coming, "so's to hev suthin' fit to eat in the house," +he felt he was master of the situation.</p> + +<p>"Don't mind me, Aunt Susan," he said with easy familiarity; "I am not a +visitor, I am a big brother escorting a lone sister home."</p> + +<p>And how kindly that wrinkled face beamed on him behind her spectacles +while he insisted that she stand by and let him unharness and see to the +horse as she directed! And how willingly he carried baskets of wood in +and started the parlor fire, and joked and jested with her regarding his +ability as an assistant!</p> + +<p>It warmed her old heart in a wonderful way, for her husband and only son +had long years ago been laid at rest in the village "God's acre," and it +seemed so nice to her to be noticed at all.</p> + +<p>Then the best blue china was none too good for this event, and the hot +biscuits must be made and a jar of peach preserves opened, some cold +tongue sliced, and by the time Alice had changed her garb and appeared +in a house-dress, he and Aunt Susan were the best of friends. It was all +an odd and new experience to him, and so anxious was he to win the favor +of those two people that he did not even stop to think what any of his +club friends would say could they have peeped into the old-fashioned +country home and seen him helping Aunt Susan. Even Alice had to laugh +when she saw what he was doing.</p> + +<p>"I did not know you could make yourself so useful," she observed, "for +even my beloved brother was never known to help aunty set the table."</p> + +<p>But she knew well enough what inspired him, and when supper was over he +began asking her all manner of questions about her school, and when she +meant to open it again, how the old miller was, and what had become of +the boat, and how the mill-pond looked in winter, and had she been there +since the day she gathered lilies. "Always back to that spot," she +thought, and colored a little.</p> + +<p>Then later when she opened the piano she knew just what songs he +expected, but, disposed now to tease him, sang just their opposites, and +all the while the clock ticked the happy hours away.</p> + +<p>It was ten ere he could coax her to favor him with one that suited his +mood, and when he asked her for "The Last Rose of Summer" she exclaimed +with a pretty pout:</p> + +<p>"I do not want to sing that, Frank; it reminds me how scared I was when +I sang it last."</p> + +<p>"But you brought tears into most of our eyes that night," he answered, +"so you may well feel proud of your effort."</p> + +<p>"Do you want to weep again?" she asked archly, looking up at him and +smiling; "if you say you do, I will sing it."</p> + +<p>"No," he answered, and then hesitating a moment added, "I do not feel +that way to-night. I may when train-time comes to-morrow."</p> + +<p>Her eyes fell, for she saw what was in his thoughts, and rising quickly, +like a scared bird anxious to escape, turned away.</p> + +<p>But a strong hand clasped one of hers, and then she heard him say, "Am I +to go away to-morrow happy or miserable? You know what I came up here to +ask. You know what I have worked and studied and waited for all the long +year since first I saw you, and for whom I have tried to become a useful +man in the world instead of an idler. It was to win you and to ask this +that I came here to-day."</p> + +<p>Then she felt an arm clasp her waist, and a voice that trembled a little +say:</p> + +<p>"Answer me, sweet Alice, is it yes or no?"</p> + +<p>And then he felt her supple form yield a trifle, and as he gathered her +close in his arms her proud head touched his shoulder.</p> + +<p>He had won his sweet Alice.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XLI" id="CHAPTER_XLI"></a>CHAPTER XLI</h2> + +<h3>AN HEIRESS</h3> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p>The winter had passed and March returned when one morning Albert +received a bulky envelope bearing the Stockholm postmark, and containing +numerous legal papers and a lengthy letter, all of which imparted +information both surprising and pleasant. So interesting was it that he +did not notice Frank when he came in, or even hear his greeting, and +well might Albert be keenly absorbed in those documents, for they made +him the emissary privileged to lay at the feet of the girl he loved—a +fortune!</p> + +<p>No more need she devote herself to her foster-parents for many years to +come, and no more need Uncle Terry putter over lobster traps in rain or +shine, or good, patient Aunt Lissy bake, wash, and mend, year in and +year out.</p> + +<p>Here was enough and more than they could spend in all the years that +were left them, and what a charming privilege it would be to him to +place in her loving hand the means to make glad and bless those kindly +people who, all unasked, had cared for her as their own; and what a +sweet door of hope it opened for him! He could hardly wait for the +moment when he should say to her, "Here is the golden key that unlocks +the world for you and yours."</p> + +<p>Then for the first time he noticed Frank watching him with smiling +interest.</p> + +<p>"Well," remarked that cheerful young man, "I'm glad to see you emerge +from your trance and return to earth again. I've said good morning +twice, and watched you for half an hour, and you didn't even know I was +in the room."</p> + +<p>When Frank had perused the most interesting of the documents he gave a +low whistle, and with his rather startling faculty for jumping at +conclusions, said:</p> + +<p>"Now, methinks, somebody will be taking a wedding-trip to the Land of +the Midnight Sun in the near future. I congratulate you, my dear boy, +and you can have the 'Gypsy' when you are ready." Then he added shyly, +"Maybe it can be arranged so that there can be four in the party."</p> + +<p>The next morning Albert, bearing the legal evidence of Telly's heritage, +and with buoyant heart, left for Southport. The day was dark, and when, +late in the afternoon, the little boat bearing him as sole passenger +halted at the head of the island and he saw the smiling face and muffled +form of Uncle Terry standing on the wharf alone, he could hardly wait to +leap ashore.</p> + +<p>"Bless yer heart, Mr. Page," exclaimed Uncle Terry, grasping both of +Albert's hands in his, "but the sight o' ye is good fur sore eyes."</p> + +<p>"And how are Aunt Lissy and Telly?" responded Albert, smiling into the +glowing face of the old man.</p> + +<p>"Oh, they're purty middlin', an' they'll be powerful glad to see ye, +too. It's been a long time since ye left us."</p> + +<p>And how vividly at this moment came to Albert every detail of his last +parting from Telly, framed as she was then in a background of scarlet +and brown foliage! He could see her as he last saw her, standing there +with bowed head and tear-wet face, and feel a tinge of the keen pain +that pulled at his own heart-strings then. He could almost hear the sad +rustle of the autumn winds in the dry leaves all about that had added a +pathos to their parting.</p> + +<p>And now only a few miles separated them!</p> + +<p>But the way was long and Uncle Terry's old horse slow, and the road in +the hollows a quagmire of half-frozen mud. Gone were all the leaves of +the scrub oaks, and beneath the thickets of spruce still remained a +white pall of snow. A half gale was blowing over the island, and when +they reached the hilltop that overlooked the Cape, it was so dark that +only scattered lights showed where the houses were. When they halted in +front of Uncle Terry's home the booming of the giant billows filled the +night air, and by the gleam of the lighthouse rays Albert could see the +spray tossed high over the point rocks.</p> + +<p>"Go right in," said Uncle Terry, "an' don't stop ter knock; ye'll find +the wimmin folks right glad ter see ye, an' I'll take keer o' the hoss."</p> + +<p>With Telly it had been a long, dreary, desolate, monotonous winter. Her +only consolation had been the few letters from the one and only man who +had ever uttered a word of love to her, and how eagerly they had been +read again and again, and then treasured as priceless keepsakes, he +little realized. Neither did he know how many times she had lived over +each and every hour they had passed together, and recalled every word +and look and smile.</p> + +<p>At times, when the cold desolation of winter was at its worst, she had +half regretted the sacrifice she had made, and only maidenly reserve had +kept her from writing him that her loneliness and heart-hunger were more +than she could bear.</p> + +<p>She had no inkling of his coming on that dark and tempestuous evening, +and when Uncle Terry bade him enter the house, she was alone in the +sitting-room laying the table, while Aunt Lissy was in the kitchen +cooking supper. And then, just as she paused to listen to the thunder of +the giant waves, so near, she heard the click of the front door latch, +and stepping quickly into the little hall, as the door slowly opened, +she met the man who for five long months had never been absent from her +thoughts one moment.</p> + +<p>A glad cry escaped her, and then—</p> + +<p>But such a moment is too sacred for words; only it must be said it was +fortunate for both that Aunt Lissy was in the kitchen.</p> + +<p>When that worthy soul came in and greeted Albert as cordially almost as +a mother, if she noticed Telly's red face and neck no one was the wiser, +and maybe it was due to the cheerful open fire after all.</p> + +<p>And what a happy little party that was when Uncle Terry came in, and +after Telly, as usual, had brought his house coat and slippers, and they +were seated at the table! What mattered that the ocean surges thundered +so near, and at times tossed their angry tears against the windows! +Inside was light, and warmth, and love, and trust, and all that is +holiest and best in human emotions.</p> + +<p>And when the meal was eaten, Uncle Terry and Albert smoked and talked +while the fire burned bright, and the little clock on the mantel ticked +the time away as clocks are bound to do, no matter how content we are.</p> + +<p>When Albert had asked about the Widow Leach and Bascom, Deacon Oaks and +Mandy, heard all the little gossip of the Cape, and given his isolated +friends a brief synopsis of current events in the great world of which +they could hardly be considered a part, and the evening was two-thirds +past, he said:</p> + +<p>"Now, my good friends, I have a little surprise in store for you," and +drawing from an inside pocket a bulky envelope, rising and crossing the +room to where Telly sat, he handed it to her with the remark:</p> + +<p>"I have the honor and exquisite pleasure of presenting to you, Miss +Etelka Peterson, sole surviving heiress and descendant of one Eric +Peterson, of Stockholm, your paternal grandfather, these legal documents +certifying to your inheritance of about one hundred and thirty thousand +dollars, besides various pieces of real estate as yet unappraised."</p> + +<p>The effect of this announcement upon the three listeners was unique and +not exactly what Albert had anticipated. For an instant they seemed +dazed, and Telly, holding the big envelope gingerly, as if it might +bite her, stared at Albert with a look of fright. Aunt Lissy was the +first to speak, and "Good Lord-a-massy" came from her in an awed +whisper.</p> + +<p>"Thank God, little girlie, you've got yer dues at last," was Uncle +Terry's remark, and then, as the probable end of Telly's life with them +cast its shadow athwart his vision, he bowed his face upon his hands and +added in a pained voice: "I knowed it'ud come an' we'd lose ye, soon or +late."</p> + +<p>The pathos of his act and words, with the overwhelming disclosure, +seemed to force upon Telly the belief that in some unknown way it meant +the ending of her present home life. For one instant she looked at him, +and then the tide of emotion swept her to his side and kneeling there +she thrust the envelope into his hands and clasped his arm.</p> + +<p>"I won't take it, father," she said quickly, "not one penny of it! It's +all yours, and I'll never leave you so long as you live, and no one can +make me!" Then as the tide ebbed, her head sank upon his knee and she +began to sob.</p> + +<p>"Thar ain't no cause fur worryin' 'bout that yit, girlie," he answered, +placing one hand on her bowed head, "an' no need fur ye to leave us +'thout ye mind to. We want ye allus, long as we kin keep ye, make sure." +Then noting the dumfounded look on Albert's face he added, "Ye mustn't +mind Telly's ways, Mr. Page, it's upset her a little an' made her +histeriky. She don't quite understand, yit, what it all means. She ain't +much used ter havin' a fortin drapped in her lap."</p> + +<p>To Albert the climax was not what he anticipated. If this heritage did +not relieve her sense of filial duty, he thought, what chance would his +love have? But Uncle Terry was wiser than the rest.</p> + +<p>"Don't mind what I said, girlie," he continued, stroking her bowed head +and looking into the slowly dying fire as if it contained a prophecy. +"It was an inadvartance." And then rising and lifting the girl tenderly, +he added, "We'd best go to bed now, Lissy, an' mebbe Mr. Page, bein' a +lawyer, can 'splain matters to Telly."</p> + +<p>When they had left the room Albert seated himself on the sofa to which +the girl had gone, and said: "I am a trifle puzzled and a little +disappointed, Telly, at the way you feel about this inheritance. It is +rightfully yours and will enable you to do much for the future comfort +of those you are devoted to. I had hoped, also, it would relieve your +feeling of obligation a little."</p> + +<p>"No money can do that," she answered quickly, "and all this won't be +worth to father the care he has grown accustomed to from me. It was his +feeling that I was likely to leave him, though, that upset me, and then +that name you called me by hurt a little."</p> + +<p>"Still the same Chinese wall of filial duty," thought Albert, and +growing desperate at the prospect of possible years of waiting and +heart-hunger he continued:</p> + +<p>"But won't this money do more for them than you can, Telly? Is there any +need of his remaining here to putter over lobster traps and drive a +wagon, rain or shine? He is getting too old for that, anyway. Why not +build a home for them in Boston, or better still, share ours there?"</p> + +<p>It was the first suggestion of what was nearest his heart, and a flush +came over Telly's face.</p> + +<p>"We haven't a home there yet," she answered, turning her face away.</p> + +<p>"But we will have, darling," he answered quickly, seizing the opening, +"and as soon as you consent I shall begin to make it ready. It is +folly," he added hurriedly, as if to forestall any negation, "for us to +go on this way any longer. I want you, darling, and I want a home. Life +to me, with you buried here, is only desolation, and how much so to you, +the past five months can only tell. I know how you feel toward these +good people, and your care for them shall be my care."</p> + +<p>Once more Telly hid her face behind her hands, the better to think, +perhaps, or to hide rebellious tears. And now she felt herself gathered +within strong arms and a hand making both hers prisoners, and as she +yielded a little to his clasp he whispered: "Do not say 'no' again, +Telly! Do not rob yourself and me of love and home and happiness any +longer! Make what plans for them you wish; do as you will with your +heritage; all I plead for is you. Must I be deprived of my hoped-for +happiness." It was an eloquent plea, and the last suggestion of the +morrow's parting won the victory, for as he paused, holding her close +while he waited for her answer, only listening love heard it whispered.</p> + +<p>And outside, the billows that years before tossed her ashore, and had +woven their monotone of sadness into her life, still tolled their +requiem, but she heard them not. She had entered the enchanted castle of +illusions.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XLII" id="CHAPTER_XLII"></a>CHAPTER XLII</h2> + +<h3>THE PATHOS OF LIFE</h3> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p>When June had again clad Sandgate's hills and village with green, and +spangled its meadows with daisies, there occurred two events of sacred +import to four young people, but of little interest to the rest of the +world.</p> + +<p>The first was a wedding in the village church where the sweet voice of +Alice Page had oft been heard, and where now as a bride she walked +timidly to the altar.</p> + +<p>Her pupils, aided by their parents, had turned the church into a bower +of green, brightened by every colored flower that grew in field or +garden. Even the old mill-pond contributed its share, and the altar was +white with lilies. Almost every resident of the town was present, and +the aged miller sat in one corner and watched with wistful eyes. The +Nason family, with Aunt Susan and Albert, shared the front pew, and the +little girl who once upon a time had said, "Pleath may I kith you, +teacher," was accorded the proud privilege of strewing roses and +violets along the aisle in front of the bride.</p> + +<p>When the parting came, Aunt Susan made a brave effort to bear up until +the train carried the wedding-party away, and the little miss who +scattered flowers was inconsolable after Alice kissed her good-by. The +old miller returned to his toil with a heavy heart, for he had known +Alice since, as a child, he held her up that she might see the wheel go +around and laugh and crow at its splashing. Many times each summer she +had come there to gather lilies, and now she had gone, perhaps never to +return. One by one the summer days would come and go, the mill-stone +rumble, the big wheel splash, the old boat float idly beneath its +willow, and the water-lilies bloom and fade; for sweet Alice would come +no more to pluck them.</p> + +<p>Two weeks later occurred the other event, when the 'Gypsy' steamed into +the Cape harbor and a select party became the guests of honor at Uncle +Terry's home. Long tables decked with flowers and loaded with the best +that Aunt Lissy could prepare stood under the trees in front; the little +porch was a bower of ferns and clusters of red bunch-berries, and every +man, woman, and child that dwelt on the island was there.</p> + +<p>Then after Albert and Telly had halted in the fern-covered porch to +utter the simple but sacred words that bound them for life, the gladsome +party gathered and made merry at the tables.</p> + +<p>The sun was low in the west ere Telly kissed the tear-wet faces of Uncle +Terry and Aunt Lissy and the 'Gypsy' sailed away. Far to seaward the +purple line of coming night was slowly creeping in, and side by side on +the little knoll where stood a low white headstone, those two sat and +watched her pass out of their lives. When only the wide ocean was +visible and the line of shadow had crept up to the wave-washed rocks +beneath them, Uncle Terry arose.</p> + +<p>"We'd best go in, Lissy," he said.</p> + +<p>And looking into his saddened face she saw that she must lead him, for +he was blinded with tears.</p> + +<h3>THE END.</h3> + + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Uncle Terry, by Charles Clark Munn + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK UNCLE TERRY *** + +***** This file should be named 28446-h.htm or 28446-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/8/4/4/28446/ + +Produced by David Garcia, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +https://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +https://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at https://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit https://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + + +</pre> + +</body> +</html> diff --git a/28446-h/images/cover.jpg b/28446-h/images/cover.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..768291b --- /dev/null +++ b/28446-h/images/cover.jpg diff --git a/28446-h/images/frontis.jpg b/28446-h/images/frontis.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..b3008e4 --- /dev/null +++ b/28446-h/images/frontis.jpg diff --git a/28446-h/images/illus1.jpg b/28446-h/images/illus1.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..6789504 --- /dev/null +++ b/28446-h/images/illus1.jpg diff --git a/28446-h/images/illus2.jpg b/28446-h/images/illus2.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..bc8ad6a --- /dev/null +++ b/28446-h/images/illus2.jpg diff --git a/28446-h/images/illus3.jpg b/28446-h/images/illus3.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..942b1b0 --- /dev/null +++ b/28446-h/images/illus3.jpg |
