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diff --git a/32496-h/32496-h.htm b/32496-h/32496-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..35b2496 --- /dev/null +++ b/32496-h/32496-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,9508 @@ +<!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" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" /> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of Helen Grant's Schooldays, by Amanda M. 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Douglas + +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: Helen Grant's Schooldays + +Author: Amanda M. Douglas + +Illustrator: Amy Brooks + +Release Date: May 23, 2010 [EBook #32496] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HELEN GRANT'S SCHOOLDAYS *** + + + + +Produced by Darleen Dove, Roger Frank and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i" id="Page_i">[Pg i]</a></span></p> + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 401px;"> +<img src="images/illus-cvr.jpg" width="401" height="600" alt="" title="book cover" /> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii" id="Page_ii">[Pg ii]</a></span></p> +<h1>HELEN GRANT'S SCHOOLDAYS</h1> + + + +<div class="centerbox bbox"> + + <h3>BOOKS BY AMANDA M. DOUGLAS</h3> + + + <h4>THE HELEN GRANT BOOKS</h4> + +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Illustrated</span><br /></p> + + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="2" width="50%" cellspacing="0" summary="booklist"> +<tr><td align="left">HELEN GRANT'S SCHOOLDAYS</td><td align="right">$1.25</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">HELEN GRANT'S FRIENDS</td><td align="right">1.25</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">HELEN GRANT AT ALDRED HOUSE</td><td align="right">1.25</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">HELEN GRANT IN COLLEGE</td><td align="right">1.25</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">HELEN GRANT, SENIOR</td><td align="right">1.25</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">HELEN GRANT, GRADUATE</td><td align="right">1.25</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">HELEN GRANT, TEACHER</td><td align="right">1.25</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">HELEN GRANT'S DECISION</td><td align="right">1.25</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">HELEN GRANT'S HARVEST YEAR</td><td align="right">1.25</td></tr> +</table></div> +<p> </p> +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" width="60%" cellspacing="0" summary="booklist"> +<tr><td align="left">ALMOST AS GOOD AS A BOY. Illustrated by <span class="smcap">Bertha G. Davidson</span></td><td align="right">1.25</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">HEROES OF THE CRUSADES. Fifty full-page Illustrations from <span class="smcap">Gustave Doré</span></td><td align="right">1.50</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">LARRY (<span class="smcap">The $2000 Prize Story</span>) 1.0</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">THE KATHIE STORIES. Six Volumes. Illustrated. Per volume</td><td align="right">1.00</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">THE DOUGLAS NOVELS. Twenty-four Volumes. Per vol.</td><td align="right">1.00</td></tr> +</table></div> + + + + <p class="center">LOTHROP, LEE & SHEPARD CO.<br /> + BOSTON</p></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_iii" id="Page_iii">[Pg iii]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 386px;"> +<a name="frontis" id="frontis"></a> +<img src="images/illus-fpc.jpg" width="386" height="550" alt="Helen tells her dreams to the old apple tree." title="" /> +<span class="caption">Helen tells her dreams to the old apple tree. (Frontispiece.) Page <a href='#Page_6'>6</a>.</span> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_iv" id="Page_iv">[Pg iv]</a></span> + +</p> + + + + +<h1><span class="smcap">Helen Grant's Schooldays</span></h1> + + <h4>BY</h4> + + <h2>AMANDA M. DOUGLAS</h2> + + <p class="center">Author of "In the King's Country," "In Trust," "Larry,"<br /> + "The Kathie Stories," "Almost as Good<br /> + as a Boy," etc.</p> + + <h3><i>ILLUSTRATED BY AMY BROOKS</i></h3> + + <div class="figcenter" style="width: 177px;"> +<img src="images/illus-emb.jpg" width="177" height="300" alt="" title="emblem" /> +</div> + + <p class="center">BOSTON<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_v" id="Page_v">[Pg v]</a></span>LOTHROP, LEE & SHEPARD CO.<br /> +<br /> + + Published, August, 1903<br /><br /> + +<span class="smcap">Copyright, 1903, by Lee and Shepard</span><br /> +<br /> +<i>All rights reserved</i><br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Helen Grant's Schooldays</span><br /> +<br /> + Norwood Press +<span class="smcap">Berwick & Smith Co.</span><br /> +Norwood, Mass.<br /> +U.S.A. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_vi" id="Page_vi">[Pg vi]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CONTENTS" id="CONTENTS"></a>CONTENTS</h2> + + + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="2" width="65%" cellspacing="0" summary="CONTENTS"> +<tr><td align="right"> </td><td align="left">CHAPTER</td><td align="right"><span class="smcap">Page</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">I.</td><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Helen</span>,</td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_1'>1</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">II.</td><td align="left"><span class="smcap">An Excursion to Hope</span>,</td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_20'>20</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"> III.</td><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Air Castles with Foundations</span>,</td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_41'>41</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">IV.</td><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Planting of Small Seeds</span>,</td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_65'>65</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">V.</td><td align="left"><span class="smcap">A Girl's Dreams</span>,</td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_87'>87</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">VI.</td><td align="left"><span class="smcap">How They All Planned</span>,</td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_106'>106</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"> VII.</td><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Successful</span>,</td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_127'>127</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">VIII.</td><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Mrs. Vandorn's Winning Hand</span>,</td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_148'>148</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">IX.</td><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Different Standpoints</span>,</td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_169'>169</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">X.</td><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Beginning Anew</span>,</td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_196'>196</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">XI.</td><td align="left"><span class="smcap">School in Earnest</span>,</td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_218'>218</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"> XII.</td><td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Courage of Convictions</span>,</td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_238'>238</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">XIII.</td><td align="left"><span class="smcap">A Little Seed Sown</span>,</td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_263'>263</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"> XIV.</td><td align="left"><span class="smcap">And Thorns Sprang Up</span>,</td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_284'>284</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">XV.</td><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Betwixt Two</span>,</td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_306'>306</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"> XVI.</td><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Hope through a Wider Outlook</span>,</td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_328'>328</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">XVII.</td><td align="left"><span class="smcap">In the Delightful Current</span>,</td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_348'>348</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">XVIII.</td><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Writ in an Unknown Tongue</span>,</td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_371'>371</a></td></tr> +</table></div> + + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_vii" id="Page_vii">[Pg vii]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="ILLUSTRATIONS" id="ILLUSTRATIONS"></a>ILLUSTRATIONS</h2> + + + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" width="65%" cellspacing="0" summary="Illustrations"> + +<tr><td align="left"> </td><td align="right"><span class="smcap">Page</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Helen tells her dreams to the old apple-tree. (<i>Frontispiece</i>)</td><td align="right"><a href='#frontis'>6</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Helen put her head down suddenly, and pressed her lips on the jewelled hand</td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_55'>55</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Helen's first day at Aldred House</td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_192'>192</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left">When Helen returned there was a box that had been sent across the water, with some pretty laces and a fine neck-chain and charm</td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_272'>272</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">He looked like an old picture, but he was a gentleman, every inch of him</td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_390'>390</a></td></tr> +</table></div> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="HELEN_GRANTS_SCHOOLDAYS" id="HELEN_GRANTS_SCHOOLDAYS"></a>HELEN GRANT'S SCHOOLDAYS</h2> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I</h2> + +<h3>HELEN</h3> + + +<p>It had been a great day for the children at Hope Center the closing day +of school, the last of the term, the last of the week. The larger boys +and girls had spent the morning decorating the "big" room, which was to +be the assembly-room. At the Center they were still quite primitive. +There were many old or rather elderly people very much opposed to +"putting on airs." Boys and girls went to school together, but they +wouldn't have called it co-education. So the main room where various +meetings and occasional entertainments were held, was always known by +the appellation "big."</p> + +<p>It was very prettily trimmed with the shining sprays of "bread and +butter," and wild clematis, and the platform was gay with flowers. Seats +were arranged on either hand for the graduating class, and the best +singers in school. There was a very good attendance. Closing<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</a></span> day was +held in as high esteem as Washington's Birthday, or Decoration Day. +Christmas was only partly kept, the old Hope settlers being an offshoot +of the Puritans, and the one little Episcopalian chapel had almost to +fight for its Holy days.</p> + +<p>The first three seats in the audience-room were full of children in +Sunday attire. The girl graduates were in white, with various colored +ribbons. The boys' habiliments had followed no especial rule. But they +were a bright, happy-looking lot, taking a deep interest in what they +were to do. The boys had an entertaining historical exercise. One began +with a brief account of causes leading to the revolution. Another +followed with the part Boston played, then New York, then Philadelphia, +Virginia, and the surrender of Cornwallis; afterward, two or three +patriotic songs, several recitations—two distinctly humorous—another +song or two, and then Helen Grant's selection, which was "Hervé Riel," a +poem she had cut from a paper, that somehow inspired her. Diplomas were +then distributed, and the "Star Spangled Banner," sung by everybody, +finished the exercises.</p> + +<p>Helen was fourteen, well-grown and very<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span> well-looking, without being +pretty enough to arouse anyone's envy. "A great girl for book-learning," +her uncle said, while Aunt Jane declared "She didn't see but people got +along just as well without so much of it. It had never done a great deal +for Ad Grant."</p> + +<p>Helen had a bright, sunny nature—well, for that matter, she had a good +many sides to her nature, and no girl of fourteen has them all definite +at once. Some get toned down, some flash out here and there, and those +of real worth come to have a steady shining light later on. But she +never could hear Aunt Jane say "Ad Grant" in the peculiar tone she used +without a sharp pang. For Addison Grant was her father, that is if he +was still alive, and when Aunt Jane wanted to be particularly +tormenting, she was sure he was roaming the world somewhere, and +forgetting that he had a child.</p> + +<p>Sixteen years before he had come to Hope Center and taught school. A +tall, thin nondescript sort of man, a college graduate, but that didn't +raise him in anyone's estimation. He was queer and always working at +some kind of problems, and doing bits of translating from old Latin and +Greek writers, and spent his money for books that he considered of +great<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span> value. Why pretty Kitty Mulford should have married him was a +mystery, but why he should have taken her would have seemed a greater +puzzle to intellectual people. They went to one of the larger cities, +where he taught, then to another, and so on; and when Helen was seven +her mother came back to the Center a hopeless invalid with consumption, +and died. Mr. Grant seemed very much broken. No one knew what a trial +the frivolous, childish wife had been. He <i>was</i> disappointed at not +having a son. He had some peculiar ideas about a boy's education, and he +didn't know what to do with a girl. So he left her with her aunt and +uncle, and for four years sent them two hundred dollars a year for her +keep. Then he went to Europe without so much as coming to say good-by, +and no one had ever heard of him since.</p> + +<p>Helen's memories of her mother were not delightful enough to build an +altar to remembrance. She had fretted a good deal. When she was out of +temper she slapped Helen on the shoulder, and said she was "just like +her father." Helen waited on her, changed her slippers, brushed her +hair, and would have made a famous nurse if the end had not come. And +then the life was so different.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span></p> + +<p>The Mulfords were in many respects happy-go-lucky people. Aunt Jane +scolded a good deal, or rather talked in a very scolding tone. But the +children came up without much governing. Once in a while Uncle Jason +struck one of them with his old gray felt hat; Helen didn't remember +ever seeing him have a new one, but he wore a black one on Sunday. There +were five rollicking children, and one daughter grown, who was engaged +to be married at seventeen. Helen ran and played and worked and sewed a +little, which she hated, and studied and read everything she could get +hold of. There were Sunday-school library books, some of them very good, +too; there were books she borrowed, and some old ones up in the garret +belonging to her father. She read these quite on the sly, for she knew +she should hate to hear comments made about them, and Aunt Jane might +burn them up.</p> + +<p>Some years before she had a big rag doll that she was very fond of. It +was her confidant, and wonderful stories, complaints, and wishes went +into her deaf ears. 'Reely, the girl next to the two boys, wanted it, +and ran away with it at every opportunity. One day they had a quarrel +about it.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span></p> + +<p>"It's mine!" declared Helen. "I'll hide it away. You have no business +with it."</p> + +<p>"What's that?" demanded Aunt Jane sharply. "Helen Grant, you just give +that doll to 'Reely. You're too big for such nonsense! Now, 'Reely, that +doll is yours, and if Helen takes it away, I'll just settle with her in +a way she'll remember one while. You great baby-calf playing with +dolls!"</p> + +<p>Helen never troubled the doll after that. There was a crooked old +apple-tree in the orchard, and after she had dipped into mythology she +made a friend and confidant of it, read her stories to it, studied her +lessons with it even in real cold weather. It was a sort of desultory +education, until the last year, when Mr. Warfield came, and then Helen +really found a friend worlds better than the old apple tree, though she +still told it her dreams. And sometimes when the wind soughed through +its branches it seemed as if she could translate what it said.</p> + +<p>"Of course you go to the High School next year," Mr. Warfield said a +week or so before school closed. "It would be such a pity for you to +stop here. You have the making of a good scholar, and there is no reason +why you<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span> shouldn't be a teacher. You have one admirable quality, you go +so directly to the point, you are so ambitious, so in earnest, and you +acquire knowledge so easily. You will make a broad-minded woman. I must +say the Center people are rather narrow and self-satisfied, except the +few new ones that have come in." And Mr. Warfield smiled.</p> + +<p>Helen felt in her inner consciousness that it would be unwise to talk +about the High School. And she was very busy. She was called upon to +help with the ironing now. She darned all the stockings. She washed the +supper dishes because Aunt Jane was tired out, and Jenny wanted to sew +on her wedding outfit.</p> + +<p>Everything had gone along very comfortably. Her white frock had a scant +ruffle put on the bottom to lengthen it down, and new sleeves put in. +Uncle Jason was really proud that she had to "speak a piece."</p> + +<p>Everybody stopped to talk and discuss the exercises. The singing was +pronounced first-rate. The History talk stirred up some revolutionary +reminiscences among the old folks. Someone praised Helen's share in the +entertainment.</p> + +<p>"Well, I didn't just see the sense of it," de<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span>clared Aunt Jane. "After +all that great thing, savin' of the ships, as one may say, why didn't he +ask for something worth while? Just a day to go off and see some +woman——"</p> + +<p>"She was his wife."</p> + +<p>"And, I dare say, he had chances enough to see her. You can't tell what +they are driving at in these new-fangled stories. Now there's 'Pity the +sorrows of a poor old man, whose trembling limbs have borne him to your +door,' and 'Columbia, Columbia, to glory arise, The Queen of the world, +and the child of the skies' that children used to speak when I went to +school, and you could sense them."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Mulford repeated them as if she was reeling off so much prose, and +paused out of breath. She was getting rather stout now.</p> + +<p>"I thought it rather <i>the</i>atrical," said Mrs. Keen. "I didn't understand +it a bit. The Searings are going to send Louise to the High School. They +have it all fixed, and she's going to board with her sister through the +week. Marty Pendleton's going, too. Dear me! There wa'n't any High +School in my day, and I guess girls were just as smart."</p> + +<p>Helen was with the girls in a merry crowd. Some were going away to aunts +and grand<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span>mothers, and the envied one, Ella Graham, was going to the +seaside, as the doctor had recommended that to her ailing mother. So +they walked on, chatting, until paths began to diverge. Two roads ran +through the Center, north and south, east and west. There were South +Hope and North Hope, settlements that had branched out from the Center. +North Hope had grown into quite a thriving town with a railroad station +and several social advantages. The High School for the towns around was +situated here.</p> + +<p>"Now," began Aunt Jane, as they neared the gate and said good-by to a +few who were going farther on, "now Helen, you just run in and take off +your frock and that white petticoat. They'll do for Sunday. There's peas +to shell and potatoes to clean, and I have to look after the chickens, +and make some biscuits. After spending 'most all the day it's time you +did something."</p> + +<p>Helen drew a long breath. She wanted to go out to the old apple tree to +dream and plan. But Aunt Jane didn't consider anything real work outside +of housekeeping and earning money, though Helen had been up since five +in the morning, and very busy with chores<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span> before she went to help adorn +the schoolroom.</p> + +<p>Sam, who had been inducted into farming two years before, was out in the +field mowing with father and the man. Nathan, next in age, was most +enthusiastic about the good time they had, only if there'd been a treat +like a Sunday School picnic!</p> + +<p>"Do stop!" said his mother, "I'm tired and sick of all this school +stuff. Go out and bring in a good basket of wood, or you won't have any +chicken potpie for supper."</p> + +<p>Helen hung up her frock, and put on the faded gingham and a checked +apron, and kept busy right along. 'Reely helped shell peas; Fan and Lou +were out playing.</p> + +<p>"It's splendid that there isn't any more school," said Fan. "We can just +play and play and play."</p> + +<p>The big girl inside was sorry enough there was no more school. Somehow +Aunt Jane's voice rasped her terribly this afternoon. Two whole months +of it! A shudder ran all over her.</p> + +<p>There was a savory fragrance through the house presently. Helen tried to +remember everything that went on the table, though she was repeating +snatches of verses to herself.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span> Then Jenny came up the path, stood her +umbrella in the corner, gave her hat a toss that landed it on a stand +under the glass, that Helen had just cleared up, and dropped into a +rocking chair.</p> + +<p>"It's been hot to-day, now I tell you;" she said. "Well, did your +fandango go off to suit, Helen?"</p> + +<p>"I shouldn't call it fandango," the girl replied.</p> + +<p>"Oh, well, what's in a name! Now I'll bet you can't tell what smart chap +said that!"</p> + +<p>"Shakspeare."</p> + +<p>"Did he really? I suppose it's always safe to tack his name to +everything;" and Jenny laughed. The word buxom could be justly applied +to her. Her two long walks, and her day in the factory, did not seem to +wear on her. Her color was rather high, her eyes and hair dark, her +voice untrained, and everything about her commonplace.</p> + +<p>"Go and blow the horn," said Aunt Jane to Helen.</p> + +<p>"Did you go, mother? Was it anything worth while?" asked the daughter.</p> + +<p>"Oh, well, so, so. Mr. Warfield seemed very proud of his pupils. Yes, +the singing was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span> good. Harry Lane had the 'Surrender of Cornwallis', and +it was just fine."</p> + +<p>Father and Sam and the hired man came in. The two children straggled +along, and Helen had to wash them, but presently they were all ranged +about the table.</p> + +<p>"Well, how did it go?" Uncle Jason asked, looking up as Helen finally +took her place after doing Aunt Jane's bidding several times.</p> + +<p>"Oh, it was splendid!" A thrill of delight swept over Helen as she met +the good-humored eyes. "And I have a diploma."</p> + +<p>"And did you carry the house by storm, or did you forget two lines in +the most important place?" asked Sam, mischievously. "Dan Erlick is +going to the High School in the fall. Are you?"</p> + +<p>"O, I wish I could," cried Helen, eagerly, with a beseeching glance at +her uncle. Occasionally he did decide matters.</p> + +<p>"Well, I declare!" Aunt Jane threw back her head with her fork poised +half way to her mouth, "And I dare say you'd like to go over to Europe, +too!"</p> + +<p>"I just should," said Helen with a good natured accent. "There are a +great many things I should like to do."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Where's the money coming from to do 'em?"</p> + +<p>"I hope to earn it. I should like to teach, and Mr. Warfield thinks I +ought."</p> + +<p>"And follow in your father's steps."</p> + +<p>Helen's face was scarlet.</p> + +<p>"You just won't go to any High School, I can tell you," began her aunt +in an arbitrary tone. "You'd look fine walking in three mile and out +again every day. Who'd keep you in shoes? Or did you think you'd take +the horse and wagon? You're learning enough for the kind of life you're +likely to lead, and there are other things to do."</p> + +<p>"And I'll tell you one of them, Nell," said Jenny with a rough comfort +in her tone. "There will be three vacancies in the factory come +September, and you better take one of them. Now I haven't been there but +little more than two years, and take up my twelve dollars every two +weeks. The work isn't hard. I almost think I'm a fool to get married +quite so soon, only Joe does need a housekeeper, and will have the house +all fixed up—and doesn't want to wait;" laughingly.</p> + +<p>"Joe's a nice fellow," said her mother, "and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span> well to do. And you didn't +go to any High School, either."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Mulford took great pride in her daughter's prospects, though when +Joe Northrup first began to "wait on her," she said: "I don't see how +you'll ever get along with old lady Northrup, and Joe won't leave his +mother."</p> + +<p>"I aint in any hurry," returned Jenny. "Joe's a good catch and worth +waiting for."</p> + +<p>In March Mrs. Northrup began to clean house and took a bad cold, and a +month later was buried. Quite a sum of ready money came to Joe, and he +built on a parlor room, a new wide porch, papered and painted, and Jenny +felt not a little elated at her good luck. She had been steadily at work +preparing for her new home, improving evenings and odd hours, for she +was an industrious girl, and she declared Mrs. Northrup's old things +would be a "disgrace to the folks on the ridge." These were the poorest +and most inelegant people at the Center, and had somehow herded +together.</p> + +<p>"Yes, that will be a good thing for Helen," said Aunt Jane. "She's old +enough to do something to earn her way. And you'll want everything new +this winter, you've grown so.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span> And if you have had any idee of High +Schools and that folderol, you may just get it out of your head at once. +If you'd a fortune it would be more to the purpose, but a girl——"</p> + +<p>"It would be too far for her to walk," said Uncle Jason, warding off a +reference to her father as he saw tears in Helen's eyes. "Mother, this +is a tip-top potpie. You do beat the Dutch!"</p> + +<p>"And I never went to school a day after I was twelve. I've kept a house +and helped save and had six children of my own and Helen, and none of +'em have gone in rags. And there's Kate Weston, who's secretary of +something over to North Hope, and who paints on chiny, and see what a +house she keeps!"</p> + +<p>"You can have lots of learning, and if it isn't of the right sort it +won't do you much good," said Jenny sententiously. "There's a girl in +the factory who was at boarding school two years. She's twenty and she +never earns over four dollars a week, and if I didn't know more than she +does—well I'd go in a convent!"</p> + +<p>Some other topics came up, and after dinner Sam went to milk, the hired +man to care for the stock, Aunt Jane took the big rocking chair and +settled herself to a few winks of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span> sleep, as was her custom, and the +walk of to-day had fatigued her more than usual. Helen and 'Reely +cleared the table. Jenny sat down to the sewing machine and hemmed yards +of ruffling for her various purposes. Then Helen put Fan and little Tom +to bed, and sat a while out on the porch, thinking, strangely sore at +heart.</p> + +<p>She had not considered the subject seriously. It had been an ardent +desire to go on studying. She had just reached the place where knowledge +was fascinating to a girl of her temperament. Mr. Warfield had roused +the best in her and she had, as it were, skipped over the years and seen +herself just where she would like to be, able to travel, to make +friends, to have books and the pictures she loved. She had not seen many +that she cared for, until one day Mr. Warfield brought a portfolio of +prints <i>he</i> admired, and she was so touched that she sat in a breathless +thrill of joy with her eyes full of tears.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I did not know there were such beautiful things in the world," she +said with a sob in her breath. "And that people could really make them! +How wonderful it must be to do something the whole world can enjoy."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span></p> + +<p>He smiled kindly. "The world is large," he replied, "and if only a +little circle commends us, that must satisfy the most of us. And perhaps +you know people who would rather have a bright chromo of fruit or +flowers than all of these."</p> + +<p>"Yes," she admitted with a flush.</p> + +<p>"But in everything it is worth while to try to come up to the best +within us."</p> + +<p>This sentence lingered in her mind. But she was a very busy girl for the +next two weeks, for there was a good deal to do at home. Then she was +not old enough to have outgrown play. Girls really played in country +places round about.</p> + +<p>But some new thing was growing up within her. There comes a dividing +line in many lives when the soul awakens and reaches up and seems +suddenly to sweep past the old things, just as the bud pushes out of its +sheath that then becomes a dry husk. So many desires crept up to the +light. Study, languages, histories of men and women, and deeds that had +changed the aspect of the world. Travel, a life of her own in which she +was first, not in any selfish fashion, but to have things peculiarly her +own, the things that appealed to her, not other<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span> people's ideas of what +was best for you. She had had some of Jenny's frocks made over for her, +and had been wearing Jenny's coat all winter. Aurelia was too small to +make these changes economical, and Mrs. Mulford was one of the thrifty +kind that believed in putting everything to the best use. Yet Helen +longed for the time when second-hand clothes and ideas were no longer +forced upon you, but you could come into some of your very own.</p> + +<p>She thought she would go up to her own room and have a good cry. Just as +she reached the door Aunt Jane said: "Yes, she's old enough now to go to +work. It's a good idea."</p> + +<p>"I'll speak to Mr. Brown and engage the place for her. After a +fortnight, if she pays any sort of attention she'll get three dollars a +week, for she's quick to see into things."</p> + +<p>"Yes, if she settles her mind to them. Dear me! I hope she won't turn +out trifling and inefficient like her father. She's got his eyes, only +they're more wide awake. And when a girl has to do for herself, the +sooner she begins the better. I'd reckoned on setting her to do +something this fall, for there's 'Reely to work in the odds and ends; I +always did say I wouldn't bring up a lot of shiftless girls, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span> I'll +do my duty by her if she isn't altogether mine."</p> + +<p>Helen went round to the side entrance and slipped upstairs. Fan and +'Reely slept in the big bed. There was a jog in the room and Helen's cot +was here. She threw off her clothes and crept into bed, and cried with +her whole soul in revolt. What right had anyone to order another's life, +to put one in hard and distasteful places! She had never thought of the +factory before, indeed she had never thought much of the future. For +most healthy energetic girls the present is sufficient, and to Aunt Jane +it was everything. Children were to do to-day's work, there was no fear +but there would be enough to fill up to-morrow when it came.</p> + +<p>To go in the factory when Mr. Warfield had said she could make a +teacher! To miss three years in the High School, three splendid +satisfying years, to miss the wonderful knowledges of the wide, +beautiful world when she had just come to know what a few leaves of them +were like. No wonder she cried with a girl's passionate disappointment. +No wonder she saw possibilities in the enchanted future and was +confident of reaching them if she could be allowed.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II</h2> + +<h3>AN EXCURSION TO HOPE</h3> + + +<p>Helen was up at five the next morning. They were early risers in the +summer time at the Mulfords', except Fan and little Tom. Mrs. Mulford +didn't want young ones about bothering, when they could be no sort of +use. Mr. Mulford had quoted the advantage of good habits, and that you +never could begin too soon.</p> + +<p>"When I have need of their habits I'll see that they have 'em," she +replied with a confident nod. "Plenty of sleep is good for 'em."</p> + +<p>Helen and 'Reely had reached the period of "habits." Mrs. Mulford always +called out sharply at five o'clock.</p> + +<p>Oh, what a beautiful world it was! Over east was a chain of high hills, +blue in the morning light, except where the sun struck them. They seemed +part of another world. Between were bits of woodland, meadows, orchards +and the creek that was laid down on the State map as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span> a river, but no +one called it that. Nearer was a cluster of houses, two or three +factories stretching out to South Hope and the railroad station. Oh, why +were beautiful things always so far off?</p> + +<p>She hurried on her gown and twisted up her hair in a knot. It was a +faded cambric of last summer, rather short in the skirt for such a large +girl, but then it was pretty well worn out. She helped with the +breakfast, she laid out the dainties for Jenny's lunch, she ran to do +things for Uncle Jason, the world was just full of odds and ends jumbled +together. She wondered why people had to eat so much. Why hadn't they +been made so one meal a day would suffice?</p> + +<p>Jenny took her little lunch satchel and trudged on with a cheerful +good-morning. Nearly a mile to walk, and then to work all day in the hot +stuffy place full of unfragrant smells, and the gossip about beaus and +what was going to be the fashion, and perhaps unfriendly comments or +common teasing jokes. That was what they talked about when they came to +see Jenny. They were no great readers, these girls. And was her lot to +be cast with them? Oh, had school days really come<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span> to an end? She had +known their worth such a little while, only during the last year, the +last three months she might say. School was a period everyone went +through, but now, to her it had unfolded its magical labyrinth, and she +wanted to roam there forever. Yet though she had shed bitter tears last +night, she did not feel at all like crying now. An exultant life seemed +throbbing within her.</p> + +<p>"Now, Helen, you just go upstairs and sweep, and look out for the +corners when you wipe up, and shake the mats out good and hard. See how +quick you can get through."</p> + +<p>Aunt Jane always said this Saturday morning. "Just as if I couldn't +remember when I've done it for two years," Helen thought, but she made +no reply. She worked away with her mind on a dozen other things, and her +work was well done, too.</p> + +<p>The great oven was heated on Saturday, an old-fashioned brick oven. Pies +and cake and bread, and a big jar full of beans went in it to come out +done to perfection. And the towels and handkerchiefs and stockings were +washed on that day, it saved so much from Monday's work. Nathan and +'Reely weeded in the garden, then peeled apples for sauce, and picked<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span> +raspberries to can, making what Aunt Jane called a clean sweep of them. +Dinner again for a hungry host.</p> + +<p>"I'm going over to Hope this afternoon," said Uncle Jason, "I s'pose +there's some butter ready to take. Now what do you want?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, my! What I don't want would be less. Some of that green and white +gingham, spools of thread, shirting muslin good and stout, and Jenny +said if anyone went over there was a list of things she wanted. It's in +her machine drawer."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I never can look after so much. Come mother, go along yourself."</p> + +<p>"On Sat'day afternoon! Jason Mulford!"</p> + +<p>"Well you can't go on Sunday," and he laughed.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I could go over to church on Sunday," she retorted sharply. "Thank +the Lord there's one day you don't have to cook from morning to night, +though like the old Israelites you have to do a double portion on +Sat'day. Dear me, I sometimes wished we lived on manna."</p> + +<p>"What is manna?" inquired 'Reely.</p> + +<p>"Bread and honey," said her father.</p> + +<p>"No, twan't bread and honey either. Jason,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span> why do you say such things! +It's what the children of Israel had to live on forty years in the +wilderness, and they got mighty tired of it too. It's my opinion, 'Reely +Mulford, you'd rather have bread and cake and potpie and baked beans and +berries and such."</p> + +<p>'Reely stared with her big brown eyes.</p> + +<p>"And—didn't they have any——"</p> + +<p>"You're big enough to read the Bible, 'Reely. When I was twelve I had +read it all through, except the chapters with the names which mother +said didn't count. But we didn't have Sunday school books then, and that +was all there was to read on Sunday."</p> + +<p>Helen thought everything that happened to Aunt Jane happened before she +was twelve. She had made her father some shirts, she had pieced several +quilts, made bread and cake and spun on the little wheel and could do a +week's washing.</p> + +<p>"Well, about Hope?" They seldom said North Hope, or tacked Hope on to +the Center.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I couldn't go."</p> + +<p>"Well, I can't get all those things. See here, let Helen go."</p> + +<p>Aunt Jane looked at her. Helen knew by experience that to want a thing +very much was a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span> sure way of being denied, so she merely went to the +machine drawer and brought the list Jenny had written out, in which were +several mispelled words.</p> + +<p>"O Lordy!" ejaculated Uncle Jason.</p> + +<p>"Before all these children too! No one would think you were a church +member, Jason," said his wife severely.</p> + +<p>"Well, if you want all them things you'll have to send Helen along to +remember. An' I dunno's I have time."</p> + +<p>Uncle Jason rose from the table. So did the hired man and Sam. Helen +picked up the list and put it back in the drawer, brought the cloth to +wash Tom's hands and began to pile up the dishes, her heart in a tumult +of desire.</p> + +<p>"Jason, what time you going?"</p> + +<p>"'Bout two. I've got to see Warren at three. And isn't there butter to +take over?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, to Mrs. Dayton. Well—I think it is best to send Helen. Now, +Helen, you wash up the dishes quick and do it well, too. Then wash +yourself and dress. You know it puts Uncle Jason out to wait, he hasn't +the longest temper in the world."</p> + +<p>Helen was both quick and deft. Aunt Jane took the credit of this to her +own training, but<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span> there was an instinctive delicacy in the girl that +made her wish she had finer and prettier dishes to wash. She did not +truly despise the work so much. She really loved to read advertisements +of fine china and glass, Berlin and Copenhagen wares, Wedgewood and +Limoges, and hunted them up in the big school dictionary.</p> + +<p>She was standing on the porch five minutes before two, a wholesome, +happy-looking girl with two braids of light brown hair, tied together +half-way down with a brown ribbon, and some wavy little ends about her +forehead that would curl when they were wet. Her straw hat had a wreath +of rather soiled daisies that sun and showers had not refreshed, but her +blue cambric with white bands looked fresh and nice, though it had been +made from Jenny's skirt, turned the other side out. Aunt Jane had made +her add her wants to the list, so she wouldn't forget a single thing. +The butter was a nice roll wrapped in a cloth and shut tight in an +immaculate tin pail.</p> + +<p>With many charges they started off.</p> + +<p>"I wish mother'd learn there wan't any sense in fussin so much, but +land! I suppose people are as they grow. Mebbe they can't help it."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span></p> + +<p>"But if one tried? Isn't it like learning other things, or unlearning +them?"</p> + +<p>"Well—no, I guess not. You see all these habits and things are inside +of one, born with him or her as you might say, while the book learning +is just—well determination I s'pose. And so's farming."</p> + +<p>That wasn't very lucid.</p> + +<p>"But if you found some better way of farming."</p> + +<p>"There aint many better ways. Keep your ground light and free from weeds +and fertilize and get the best seed and then keep at it."</p> + +<p>"And if you do a wrong or foolish thing, try not to repeat it."</p> + +<p>"That's about it. But folks are mighty sot in their opinions, and hate +to change. If I find a better way I take it up. Land! We couldn't farm +in some things as people did a hundred year ago."</p> + +<p>There was a splendid row of shade trees on the road to North Hope, +mostly maples, but here and there an elm or a chestnut. There were farms +and gardens, and old settlers who did not want any change. Then the +railroad had established business lines outside the Center, while that +had hardly changed in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span> fifty years. But it kept a quaint beauty of its +own. Here and there was an old well sweep, then a long line of stone +wall covered with Virginia creeper or clematis. And then a tall row of +hollyhocks in all colors, or great sunflowers with their buds stretching +out of close coverts. It was so tranquil that the tired girl lapsed into +a kind of dreamy content. She used to think in later years this was a +sort of turning point in her life, and yet she had no presentiment.</p> + +<p>"Now the thing you better do, Helen," said her uncle, "is to get out +here and go straight over Main Street and do your tradin'. Land sakes! I +wouldn't look up those forty botherin' things for a handful of money. +I'll drive round and leave the butter, and then you go to Mrs. Dayton's +when you're through. I may be a little belated. Be sure now you don't +forget anything."</p> + +<p>Helen sprang out, holding her satchel with its precious contents very +tightly. The stores were really quite showy, and on Saturday afternoon +everybody who could, went out. She met some of her schoolmates. Ella +Graham and her mother were buying pretty articles for their sea-side +trip. Many were just look<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span>ing. The day was not so very hot, indeed now +it began to cloud over a little, just enough to soften the atmosphere.</p> + +<p>She kept studying the list. She couldn't match the edging, but she took +two samples that were nearest to it, and she couldn't find the peculiar +blue shade of sewing silk. She made believe now and then, that she was +ordering some of the lovely lawns and cambrics, and that she didn't have +to consider whether they would wash well, and how they would get made. +She chose ribbons and laces to trim them with. And oh, the pretty hats, +the fresh crisp flowers!</p> + +<p>Then she made a sudden pause. Finery went out of her head. A book and +picture store, and in the very front, the post of honor, a most +exquisite Mother and Child—the Bodenhausen Madonna.</p> + +<p>Mr. Warfield had two or three in his collection, and the Sistine Madonna +had gone to her heart. But this child with his mother's eyes, and the +tender clinging love as if he was afraid some hand might wrest him from +his mother's clasp, the love unutterable in both faces filled her with a +wordless admiration. It seemed as if she could stand there forever,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span> as +if all her longings were lost in this rapture.</p> + +<p>Presently she summoned courage to go in and inquire about it. A modern +Madonna by a young German, a new thought of divine motherhood. It was a +very fine photograph, framed, and the price was fifteen dollars.</p> + +<p>Of course she had no more thought of buying it than of the lawns and +laces. But she was very glad she had seen it. Sometime there might be a +new world for her, where she could have a few of these lovely things. +She must descend to gingham and shirting muslin.</p> + +<p>Then she hurried on to Mrs. Dayton's. Uncle Jason had not come. There +was a very fine old lady sitting on the porch in a silken gown with +ruffles and laces, a heavy golden chain drooping about her waist, a +large diamond flashing at her throat and smaller ones in her ears; while +her fingers were jeweled to the last degree. But oh, how wrinkled she +was, and her hair was threaded with white, while her eyes seemed almost +faded out.</p> + +<p>Helen went around to the side entrance. Mrs. Dayton was arranging the +table for supper. A very pleasant, plump, amiable woman<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span> of middle-life +in a white gown, almost covered with a big apron.</p> + +<p>"Why Helen Grant! Aren't you tired to death with those bundles? Sit down +and get a breath. Your uncle said you would come. Take off your hat. +You're just in time to have a bit of supper. Mr. Mulford said you were +sent to do a lot of shopping. How did you make out?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, very well, I think. You see I did not have to use my taste or +judgment, it was all mapped out for me," smiling. "I was afraid I should +be late."</p> + +<p>"Oh, your uncle said it would be near seven when he came. And it is only +quarter past six. Now take off your hat and fan yourself cool, and in +five minutes I'll call the folks. They haven't all come yet. The +Disbrowes get here to-night. I heard you quite distinguished yourself at +school! You take learning from your father's side. The Mulford genius +does not run in that channel."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Dayton gave a pleasant smile. There was no malice in her speech. +Helen colored a little under the praise.</p> + +<p>"Pity you don't live nearer so that you could come in to the High +School."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Oh, I wish I could. I love to study. And there are so many splendid +things in the world that one would like to know."</p> + +<p>"What are you going to do with yourself?"</p> + +<p>Ah, it was not what she wanted to do. The tears suddenly softened her +eyes.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Helen, an idea has just come to me." Mrs. Dayton had been putting +some last touches to the table and paused at the corner with a glass in +her hand, studying the girl with comprehensive interest. "I suppose you +meant to stay at home during vacation and help your Aunt? But Aurelia's +getting a big girl and there are so many of you. I wonder if you +wouldn't like to come over here and help me, and get paid for it? Why, I +think you'd just suit. Did you see that old lady sitting on the front +porch? That's Mrs. Van Dorn. She was here last summer. She had a +companion then, a real nice girl about twenty, that she had sort of +adopted. She has no end of money and is queer and full of whims. She +wants to go to Europe in the fall and spend the winter in France. She +travels all over. But the girl, Miss Gage, didn't want to go."</p> + +<p>"Oh, dear, you don't mean"—Helen stopped<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span> and colored scarlet, and her +breath came in bounds.</p> + +<p>"That you should go in her place? Oh; no, you can't indulge in such +luxuries just yet. Miss Gage finally consented on condition that she +could spend the summer with her folks on Long Island. There's quite a +family of them, and they seem to care a good deal for each other. Mrs. +Van Dorn wants someone to run up and down for her, read to her, fan her +sometimes and go out driving with her. She doesn't get up until after +eight, and has coffee, fruit, and rolls brought up to her room. And +she's a great hand for flowers—her vases must be washed out and filled +every day. Then she comes down on the porch, wants the paper read to her +and likes to talk over things. After dinner she takes a nap. Then she +goes for a drive. They used to take a book along last summer, she's as +fond of poetry as any young girl. Mr. Warfield said you were the finest +reader of poetry in the school. And what I'm driving at is that I do +believe you could suit her, and I'd like someone to help me out a little +when I'm rushed. Joanna's good, but one pair of hands can't do +everything. I asked Mary Cross to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span> come over and read, but she drones, +and she can't bear poetry. And I've been thinking who I could find. You +see it isn't like a maid. Miss Gray, the nurse, comes in every morning +and gives her massage and all that. She's smart enough to help herself +and hates to be thought old. Now, if you could come and help both, and +earn a little money? It would be three dollars a week, and no real hard +work."</p> + +<p>"Oh!" cried Helen in a fervor of delight that made her absolutely faint +at heart.</p> + +<p>Joanna opened the door. "Haven't you rung the bell?" she asked in +surprise.</p> + +<p>"I declare!" Mrs. Dayton laughed and rang it at once. Joanna brought in +the soup tureen and stood it on the side table.</p> + +<p>"We will finish the talk by and by," the mistress said.</p> + +<p>The boarders came in. Mr. and Mrs. Pratt, Mrs. Lessing and her +daughters, Mr. Conway and Mrs. Van Dorn. When the Disbrowes arrived the +house would be filled.</p> + +<p>"This is my young friend Miss Helen Grant," announced Mrs. Dayton, and +she gave the girl a seat beside her. Mrs. Van Dorn was next.</p> + +<p>Helen enjoyed it so much. The spotless<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span> cloth with its fern leaves and +wild roses, the small bowl of flowers at each end of the table, the +shining silver, and Joanna's quiet serving. The guests talked in low, +pleasant tones. At home there was always a din and a clatter and two or +three children talking at once, a coarse and generally soiled table +cloth, and Aunt Jane scolding one and another. And there was always a +slop of some kind.</p> + +<p>After the soup came the dinner proper; roast chicken and cold boiled ham +cut in thin slices, not chunks. What a luscious pinky tint it had. And +the vegetables had a dainty tempting aspect. The table service was +delicately decorated porcelain, but it seemed rare china to the girl. +What lovely living this was!</p> + +<p>Helen possessed a certain kind of adaptiveness. Aunt Jane would have +called it "putting on airs." She made no blunders, she answered the few +questions addressed to her, in a quiet tone, for she did not have to +shout to be heard over the din of children.</p> + +<p>There was dessert and fruit, not so much more than they were used to +having at home, for the Mulford's were good livers. Afterward the +boarders sauntered out on the porch<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span> or the lawn seats, where the +gentlemen smoked.</p> + +<p>"Now you've seen Mrs. Van Dorn, and she isn't so very formidable, is +she? Sometimes she is very amiable, but I suppose few of us keep that +even tenor of the way so much talked about. And there are queer people +all over the world."</p> + +<p>"Whoa, Betty, whoa! You'll get home to your supper presently," exclaimed +a well-known voice, as wheels announced the approaching vehicle.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Dayton and Helen went out. Mr. Mulford thought first he couldn't +stop a minute, it was late. But the hostess explained that she had +something very important to talk over, and he could have his supper +while he was listening.</p> + +<p>He demurred a little, but finally assented. Mrs. Dayton brought him a +tempting plateful, and then unfolded her plan which had shaped itself +definitely in this brief while. She would come over Monday afternoon, +meanwhile he was to prepare the way for her.</p> + +<p>"Well, that does beat me! Why Helen, you've struck luck! I don't see how +mother can make any real objection, though she'll<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span> fuss at first. That's +her way. And as you say ma'am we've a houseful at home, Helen ought to +be mighty obliged to you."</p> + +<p>Helen caught Mrs. Dayton's hand and pressed it against her cheek in a +mute caress.</p> + +<p>"And now we must start off home. Oh, Helen, here's a letter for you. +Come, you're too young for that sort of work," and her uncle laughed.</p> + +<p>She lingered in the door-way opening it. Mr. Warfield had to go away +before he had expected, but he begged her to take the High School +examination and see how she stood. When he returned they would talk the +matter over. It would be such a pity for her to stop here. He sent a +list of questions for her to study out.</p> + +<p>They hurried off home, and Betty was nothing loth. Uncle Jason said he +would lay the matter before mother to-morrow. Helen better not say +anything.</p> + +<p>"And you'll be so fine riding out every day, and keeping company with +big bugs that I don't see how you'll ever get back to us again. Mebbe +you won't. The High School may be next step."</p> + +<p>She squeezed Uncle Jason's arm in a sort<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span> of transport. A shadowy +thought like this had crossed her brain.</p> + +<p>Aunt Jane was out on the doorstep with some of the younger children.</p> + +<p>"Well, you <i>have</i> come at last, after keeping one on tenterhooks and +supper warmed up and got cold again, and no one knowing whether you were +thrown out and killed or waylaid——"</p> + +<p>"There mother, nothing happened except that Warren fellow went off and I +waited and waited for him. I was bound to get my note. And we had supper +at Mrs. Dayton's. I sent Helen there to wait for me."</p> + +<p>"Oh, Helen—we couldn't think! Did you get the things? If you'd lost my +money—" and Jenny made a threatening pause.</p> + +<p>"I didn't lose anything." Helen began to unpack her satchel on the +cleanest end of the dining table. "I found everything but the lace and +the blue sewing silk, and Mr. Morris is going to order them by mail. He +sent some samples of lace in case he couldn't find the exact match."</p> + +<p>"But it's got to match," returned Jenny in a positive tone. "And I did +want that blue silk to finish my stitching Monday night. If you'd<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span> come +home early with it I could have finished it to-night. H'm, h'm," opening +the parcel and nodding. "Mrs. Dayton got her house full? And what did +you see nice? Have prices gone down any, but I s'pose its hardly time! +And was the style out in their best? Are they wearing ruffles on skirts +or just plain? And are they real scant? Dear me! I haven't been over to +North Hope in a dog's age."</p> + +<p>Helen didn't remember about skirts except that Mrs. Van Dorn's light +silk had a beautiful black lace flounce. And the Madonna was still plain +before her eyes.</p> + +<p>"Well you are stupid enough," cried Jenny in disgust. "I think I'd used +my eyes to a better purpose. And you didn't even bring home any +fashion-papers!"</p> + +<p>Mr. and Mrs. Mulford were still having a little bickering on the stoop. +Then she came in, examined the gingham and the muslin, sent the children +to bed, told Helen to take the things off the table, and said she was +tired to death, and that no one ever thought about her, or cared whether +they kept her up till midnight.</p> + +<p>Helen was very glad to get away to bed, and live over the meal at Mrs. +Dayton's, with its<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span> ease and refinement. How could she help building +air-castles when youth is so rich in imagination, and hope is boundless! +And if one unlooked-for thing happened, might not another?<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III</h2> + +<h3>AIR CASTLES WITH FOUNDATIONS</h3> + + +<p>Aunt Jane said Helen must stay home from church Sunday morning, and help +with the dinner. Joe Northrup and two cousins were coming to visit. In +the afternoon all the younger portion went to Sunday School, and the +little leisure Helen had afterward was devoted to reading aloud their +library books. And when she came down Monday morning, Aunt Jane said in +her brisk, authoritative fashion:</p> + +<p>"Now, Helen, you fly 'round and get at the washing. See if you can't +learn something useful in vacation. A big girl like you ought to know +how to do 'most everything. I washed when I had to stand up on a stool +to reach the washboard."</p> + +<p>Considering that for the last two months Helen had helped with the +washing before school time, and had often run every step of the way +because she was late, the request did<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span> not strike her as pertaining +strictly to vacation. She went about her work cheerily. Uncle Jason had +whispered in her ear, "Don't you worry. I guess it will all come out +right."</p> + +<p>Then the clothes were folded down, and after clearing the dinner away, +Helen began to iron. Aunt Jane dropped on the old lounge and took her +forty winks, then changed her gown, put on a clean white apron, which +Helen knew was for company, and the thought added to her blitheness. +Between three and four Mrs. Dayton drove up in the coupé with Mrs. Van +Dorn, who continued her journeying around. The Mulfords' front-yard was +rather pretty, with two borders of various flowers in bloom, and, as the +younger children had gone over to the woods, it was quiet and serene all +about. Helen glanced out of the side window, and gave thanks for the +decent appearance of the place.</p> + +<p>The conversation seemed to be not altogether dispassionate. She heard +Aunt Jane raise her voice, and talk in her dogmatic manner. Oh! what if +she couldn't go! She clasped her hot hands up to her face, and the iron +stood there on the cloth and scorched, a thing Aunt Jane made a fuss +about.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span></p> + +<p>Truth to tell, Mrs. Mulford had two minds pulling her in opposite +directions. It would just spoil Helen to go. She would hate working in +the shop afterward. She would be planning all the time to get to the +High School. She knew enough for ordinary girls. She would have to work +for her living, and she couldn't spend three years getting ready. There +was a little feeling, also, that she didn't want Helen any nicer or +finer than her own girls. They had a father who could help them along. +Helen hadn't. And if education shouldn't do more for her than it had for +her father!</p> + +<p>But there was the money, and any kind of work that made actual money was +a great thing in Mrs. Mulford's estimation. Nine or ten weeks. +Twenty-seven or thirty dollars!</p> + +<p>"You see, I'd counted on giving Helen a good training in housework this +vacation. When girls go to school they aint good for much that way. And +'long in October she's going in the shop, and then she won't have much +chance to learn. An' I d' know as it'll be a good thing for her to spend +her time readin' novels an' settin' 'round dreamin' and moonin'."</p> + +<p>"She'll read a good deal beside novels. Mrs.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span> Van Dorn is a very +intelligent woman, and keeps up to the times. She has all the magazines, +and the fine weekly papers, and she knows more of what is going on in +the big world than most of the men. Then Helen would assist me in many +things. Oh! I would see that she'd learn something useful every day," +Mrs. Dayton declared, with a bright smile.</p> + +<p>"Then she aint fixed up. She's outgrown most of her clothes, an' I'd +'lotted on having her sew some. She can run the machine, and I don't +believe in girls who can't do any sewing. I'd be ashamed to bring up one +so helpless. Here's my Jenny making most of her weddin' things. We don't +count on having a dressmaker till the last, to put on the finishing +touches."</p> + +<p>"About the clothes," began Mrs. Dayton in a persuasive tone, "I have two +or three lawn dresses that would make over nicely for Helen. And you +know I did quite a bit of dressmaking through Mr. Dayton's long illness. +And there's my machine. She would have some time to sew. Oh, you could +depend on me not to let her waste her time."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Dayton had certainly been a thrifty woman, if it was on higher +lines than anything<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span> Mrs. Jason aspired to. She had money in the bank, +beside getting her house clear.</p> + +<p>Aunt Jane's arguments seemed over-ruled in such a pleasant yet decisive +manner that she began to feel out-generaled. Uncle Jason had said +yesterday, "You'd better let her go. If they wanted her in the shop +right away you'd send her. So what's the difference!"</p> + +<p>"There's a great deal of difference," she answered sharply, but she +couldn't quite explain it. For Helen the three dollars a week really won +the day. Aunt Jane tried to stand out for the rest of the week, but Mrs. +Dayton said she would come over on Wednesday, and she knew she could fix +Helen up, without a bit of trouble.</p> + +<p>"Don't let her fool away her money," said Aunt Jane. "You'd better keep +it until the end of the month."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Dayton nodded and rose. The carriage was coming slowly up the road.</p> + +<p>Aunt Jane did not go out in the kitchen, but upstairs, and looked over +Helen's wardrobe. A white frock, a cambric, blue, with white dots, and a +seersucker, trimmed with bands of blue. Then, there was the striped +white skirt of Jenny's she meant to make over. They<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span> could do that +to-morrow. She could conjure some of it out before supper-time, and put +in the shirts and collars, though at fourteen Helen ought to know how to +iron them. She would forget all she had learned. It really wasn't the +thing to let her go.</p> + +<p>Helen went on ironing. 'Reely's white frock fell to her share; indeed, +it seemed as if 'most everything did to-day. She was hot and tired, and, +oh! if she could not go!</p> + +<p>"I don't see why those young ones don't come back. 'Reely hasn't a bit +more sense than Fan. She needs a good trouncing, and she'll get it, too. +You leave off, Helen, and shell them beans; they ought to have been on +half an hour ago. And lay the two slices of ham in cold water to draw +out some of the salt; then the potatoes. I'll iron."</p> + +<p>She did not ask, and Aunt Jane did not proffer her decision. Helen +feared it was adverse, then she recalled the fact that Aunt Jane always +told the unpleasant things at once. Ill tidings with her never lagged. +So she took heart of hope again. Then there were raspberries to pick. +And supper, and children scolded and threatened.</p> + +<p>"Well?" said Uncle Jason inquiringly.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span></p> + +<p>"She was here, but I haven't just made up my mind. She'll be here +Wednesday."</p> + +<p>"Whew!" ejaculated Uncle Jason.</p> + +<p>She went down the garden path to meet Jenny, who took the shortest way +across lots.</p> + +<p>"I'm goin' to sleep on it," she said, after she had told Jenny.</p> + +<p>"But you'll let her go! Why, it would be foolish!"</p> + +<p>"I s'pose I shall. But I'll keep her on tenter hooks to-night. Right +down to the bottom I don't approve of it. She'll be planning all summer +to get to that High School. Three years is too much to throw away when +you're dependent on other folks."</p> + +<p>So Helen had to go to bed unsatisfied, for Uncle Jason wouldn't be +waylaid.</p> + +<p>"I've cut you a frock out of that striped muslin of Jenny's," Aunt Jane +announced, the next morning. "Sew up the seams, and put in the hem, and +then I'll fix the waist."</p> + +<p>Aunt Jane was "handy," as many country women have to be.</p> + +<p>"You were mighty close about that business of Sat'day afternoon," Aunt +Jane flung out when she could no longer contain herself. "I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span> s'pose it +don't make much difference whether you go or not?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, I should like to go." Helen's voice was unsteady. "But Mrs. Dayton +told Uncle Jason to talk it over with you, and then she would come and +see you, and he said—that it would be as—as—and it seemed as if I +hadn't much to do with it until——"</p> + +<p>"Well, I've decided to let you go and try. They may not like you. Rich +old women are generally queer and finicky, and don't keep one mind +hardly a week at a time. So it's doubtful if you stay. Then it is a good +deal like being a servant, and none of the Mulfords ever lived out, as +far as I've heard."</p> + +<p>Helen colored. She had not thought of that aspect. Neither had she +considered that her dream might come to an untimely end.</p> + +<p>"And it seems a shame to waste the whole summer when there's so much to +do."</p> + +<p>"But if they had wanted me in the shop you would have let me go, +wouldn't you?" Helen said in a tone that she tried hard to keep from +being pert.</p> + +<p>"That would have been different. A steady job for years, and getting +higher wages all the time. I've told Jenny to engage the chance."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span></p> + +<p>Years in a shop, doing one thing over and over! She recalled a sentence +she had heard Mr. Warfield quote several times from an English writer, +"But that one man should die ignorant who had a capacity for knowledge, +this I call tragedy!" She was not very clear in her own mind as to what +tragedy really was, but if one had a capacity for wider knowledge, would +it not be tragedy to spend years doing what one loathed? She hated the +smells of the shoe shop, the common air that seemed to envelop everyone, +the loud voices and boisterous laughs. And she wouldn't mind helping +someone for her board, and going to the High School. Why, she did a +great deal of work here, but it seemed nothing to Aunt Jane.</p> + +<p>The frock was finished, and she washed it out, starched it, and would +iron it to-morrow morning. Then there were stockings to mend, although +the two younger boys went barefoot around the farm. And she worked up to +the very moment the carriage turned up the bend in the road, when she +ran and dressed herself while Aunt Jane packed the old valise. The +children stood around.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Mis' Dayton, can't I come some day?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span> cried Fanny. "How long are +you going to keep Helen?"</p> + +<p>"Till she gets tired and homesick," was the reply.</p> + +<p>A smile crossed Helen's lips and stayed there, softening her face +wonderfully.</p> + +<p>They shouted out their good-bys, and asked their mother a dozen +questions, receiving about as many slaps in return. For the remainder of +the day, Mrs. Jason was undeniably cross.</p> + +<p>"That girl'll turn out just like her father," she said to Jenny. "She +hasn't a bit of gratitude."</p> + +<p>"And I hope the old woman will be as queer as they make them," returned +Jenny with a laugh.</p> + +<p>In the few years of her life, Helen had never been visiting, to stay +away over night. This was like some of the stories she had read and +envied the heroine. There was a small alcove off Mrs. Dayton's room, +with a curtain stretched across. For now the house was really full, +except one guest chamber. There was a closet for her clothes just off +the end of the short hall, that led to the back stairs, which ran down +to the kitchen, a spacious orderly<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span> kitchen, good enough to live in +altogether, Helen thought.</p> + +<p>She helped to take the dishes out to Joanna, and begged to wipe them for +her.</p> + +<p>"If you're not heavy handed," said Joanna, a little doubtful.</p> + +<p>"Or butter-fingered," laughed Helen. "That's what we say at home. But +these dishes are so lovely that it is like—well it's like reading +verses after some heavy prose."</p> + +<p>"I'm not much on verses," replied Joanna, watching her new help warily. +She did work with a dainty kind of touch.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Dayton came, and stood looking at them with a humorous sort of +smile.</p> + +<p>"She knows how to wipe dishes," said Joanna, nodding approvingly.</p> + +<p>"It is a good deal to suit Joanna. No doubt she will excuse you this +time from wiping pots and pans, and you may come out of doors with me."</p> + +<p>The lawn—they called it that here at North Hope—presented a +picturesque aspect. A party were playing croquet. Mrs. Disbrowe was +walking her twenty-months'-old little girl up and down the path. Mrs. +Van Dorn sat in a wicker rocking chair that had a hood over<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span> the top to +shield her from the air. Her silk gown flowed around gracefully, and her +hands were a sparkle of rings.</p> + +<p>"Oh, how sweet the air is," said Helen. "There's sweet-clover somewhere, +and when the dew falls it is so delightful."</p> + +<p>"They have it in the next-door lawn and the mower was run over it awhile +ago."</p> + +<p>Helen drew long delicious breaths. No noisy children, and the soft +laughs, the gay talk was like music to her. She walked across the porch.</p> + +<p>"Mrs. Dayton said you were fond of reading aloud," began Mrs. Van Dorn. +"Your voice is nice and smooth."</p> + +<p>"Your voice is like your father's, Helen! I had not remarked it before. +Only it is a girl's voice," Mrs. Dayton commented.</p> + +<p>"I am glad it suggests his," exclaimed Helen with a pleasurable thrill.</p> + +<p>"Where is your father?" asked Mrs. Van Dorn.</p> + +<p>"He is dead," said Mrs. Dayton. "Both father and mother are dead."</p> + +<p>"I was an orphan, too," continued Mrs. Van Dorn. "And I had no near +relatives. It is a sorrowful lot."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Helen has had good friends, relatives."</p> + +<p>"That's a comfort. I heard, we all did, that you were one of the best +speakers at the closing of school. It was in the paper."</p> + +<p>"Oh, was it?" Helen's eyes glowed with gratification.</p> + +<p>"Yes. So Mrs. Dayton suggested you might be as good as some grown-up +body. That was Robert Browning's poem you recited."</p> + +<p>"It is a splendid poem," cried Helen enthusiastically. "You can see it +all; the squadron—what was left of it after the battle—and the 'brief +and bitter debate,' and the order to blow up the vessels on the beach. +And then Hervé Riel, just a sailor, stepping out and making his daring +proposal, and going 'safe through shoal and rock!' Oh, how the captain +must have stood breathless! And the English coming too late! I'm glad +someone put it in stirring verse."</p> + +<p>Helen paused with a scarlet face. She never talked this way to anyone +except Mr. Warfield.</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Mrs. Van Dorn, "I have seen the man who wrote it, talked +with him and his lovely wife, who wrote verses quite as beauti<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span>ful. I +think you like stirring poems," in a half inquiry.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I do," she replied tremulously, and in her girlish enthusiasm she +thought she could have fallen down at the feet of the man who wrote +Hervé Riel. She never had thought of his being an actual living man.</p> + +<p>"And do you know Macaulay's 'Horatius'?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, I don't know very much—only the poems in the reading books, and a +few that Mr. Warfield had. I know most of Longfellow."</p> + +<p>"The Center is rather behind the towns around, although it is the oldest +part; settled more than a hundred years ago. But it is largely farms. +The railroad passed it by some fifteen years ago, and the stations have +improved rapidly. Why, we have quite a library here, and the High School +for more than a half the county," explained Mrs. Dayton.</p> + +<p>"It's not as pretty as this Hope. And the range of hills to the +northeast—I suppose you call them mountains—and the river, add so much +to it."</p> + + + +<p>"And we have only a little creek that empties into Piqua River, and a +pond in a low place,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span> that we skate on in the winter," said Helen +rather mirthfully. "I can't help wondering what the ocean is like, and +the great lakes, and Niagara Falls, and the Mississippi River with all +its mouths emptying into the Gulf of Mexico. And the Amazon, and the +Andes."</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 380px;"> +<img src="images/illus-054.jpg" width="380" height="550" alt="Helen put her head down suddenly, and pressed her lips on +the jewelled hand." title="" /> +<span class="caption">Helen put her head down suddenly, and pressed her lips on +the jewelled hand.—Page 55.</span> +</div> + +<p>"And Europe, and the Alps, and the lovely lakes, and the Balkans, and +the Gulf of Arabia, and India, and the Himalayas, and Japan——"</p> + +<p>"Oh, dear, what a grand world!" exclaimed Helen, when Mrs. Van Dorn +paused. "I don't suppose anyone has ever seen it all," and her tone was +freighted with regret.</p> + +<p>"I have seen a good deal of it. I have been round the world, and lived +in many foreign cities."</p> + +<p>"Oh! oh!" Helen put her head down suddenly and pressed her lips on the +jeweled hand. The unconscious and impulsive homage touched the old +heart.</p> + +<p>"And people who have done wonderful things, who have painted pictures, +and made beautiful statues, and built bridges and churches and palaces," +the girl assumed.</p> + +<p>"Most of them were built before my time, hundreds of years ago. But I +have been in a great many of them."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span></p> + +<p>"And seen the Queen!"</p> + +<p>"If you mean Queen Victoria, yes. And other queens as well. And the +Empress of the French when she had her beauty and her throne."</p> + +<p>"Oh, dear!" sighed Helen with a long breath. And Aunt Jane had called +her a queer old woman; Aunt Jane, who had never even been to New York.</p> + +<p>It was getting too dark to play croquet. Mrs. Disbrowe had gone in some +time ago with her baby in her arms, and somehow it had suggested the +Madonna picture to Helen. The gentlemen smoked and talked. Then Mrs. Van +Dorn rose and bade them good-night, and pressed Helen's hand.</p> + +<p>"I think I shall like your little girl very much," she said to Mrs. +Dayton, in the hall. "She's modest and not at all dull."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Van Dorn stepped off, as if she was still at middle life. She was +wonderfully well preserved, but then, for almost forty years she had +taken the best of care of herself. She wouldn't have admitted to anyone +that she was past eighty. Sometimes in her travels she had a maid, often +when she was abroad she had both a maid and a man. For two years she<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span> +had been traveling about her own country, and seeing the changes.</p> + +<p>Yet her life had not been set in rose leaves in her youth. She had +worked hard, had a lover who jilted her for a girl not half as pretty +but rich. And when she was thirty-five, a rich old man married her, and +gave her a lovely home; then, ten years afterward, left her a rich +widow, and told her to have the best time she could. If she could only +have had one little girl! She thought she would adopt one, but the child +with the lovely face had some mean traits, and she provided for her +elsewhere. She traveled, she met entertaining people; she liked refined +society; she acquired a good deal of knowledge with her pleasure.</p> + +<p>But to grow old! And one had to some time. At ninety perhaps. What did +Ninon de l'Enclos do, and Madame Recamier? Plenty of fresh air, as much +exercise as she could stand, bathing and massage, cheerfulness, keeping +in touch with the world of to-day, and once-in-a-while a long, quiet +rest, and early to bed as she was doing here. Ah! if one could be set +back twenty years even, twenty real years, and have all that much longer +to live!</p> + +<p>The child's admiration had touched her. It<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span> was not for her diamonds and +emeralds, for her Chantilly lace, nor for the fact that she had money +enough to buy costly things. Helen Grant was ignorant of the value of +these adornments. It was for the understanding of something finer and +larger, experiences garnered up, real knowledge. How odd in a little +country maiden! And this was sweeter than any of the ordinary flatteries +offered her.</p> + +<p>Helen thought her little bed delightful, and she was not sure but it was +all a dream. She was still more bewildered when she opened her eyes. +Someone was gently stirring about. She sprang out on the floor.</p> + +<p>"You needn't get up just yet," said Mrs. Dayton.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I am used to it," with a bright smile. "And maybe I can help."</p> + +<p>She did find many little things to do. It was so pleasant to be allowed +to see them herself, and do them without ordering. Mrs. Dayton said +"Will you do this or that," as if she <i>could</i> decline, but she was very +glad to be of service.</p> + +<p>Then the boarders sauntered in to breakfast, and that was done with. +Helen dusted the parlor, she had swept the porch and the paved<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span> walk +down to the street before the boarders were up. Then she helped with the +dishes.</p> + +<p>"That girl knows how to work," and Joanna nodded approvingly.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps you would like to go to market with me," suggested Mrs. Dayton. +"It would be well for you to learn your way about in case I wanted to +send you out of an errand."</p> + +<p>"Oh! it would be splendid! But Mrs. Van Dorn——"</p> + +<p>Mrs. Dayton laughed. "There comes Miss Gray, and the fussing will take a +good hour. Though I think it pays, even at a dollar an hour."</p> + +<p>Helen was silent from amazement.</p> + +<p>"Oh, she has patients at three dollars an hour, real invalids. And she +could get more in the city. Joanna knows about the breakfast. Mrs. Van +Dorn is wise enough not to gorge her stomach with useless and injurious +food. I never saw a person take better care of herself."</p> + +<p>It was a very pleasant walk under maples and elms, with here and there +an old-fashioned Lombardy poplar; lindens with their fringy tassels, and +horse-chestnuts with their dense, spreading leaves. There was but one +real<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span> market in Hope, but numerous smaller attempts. Mrs. Dayton gave +her orders for the day's provision.</p> + +<p>"Now, we will go around the longest way," smilingly. "There's the High +School. It calls in quite a number of winter boarders, and sometimes the +large boys prove very troublesome. And here is the Free Library, though +there is quite a tax to support it, and numerous contributions. There is +a fine reference-room for the scholars. Education seems to be made easy +now-a-days. Let us go in."</p> + +<p>The lower floor was devoted to the library. A large room was shelved +around in alcoves, reserved for some particular kind of books. History, +biography, science, music, discoveries and travels, as well as novels. +The reading-room was at one end, the reference department at the other. +Just now it was very quiet, being rather dull times.</p> + +<p>Up on the next floor was a fine auditorium for amusements and lectures. +In the wings were small rooms used for lodge meetings and such purposes. +Helen was very much interested. Oh, what a happy time! And yet she felt +a little conscience-smitten, as if she wasn't doing her whole duty.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span></p> + +<p>The papers had come, and presently Mrs. Van Dorn took her accustomed +seat. Mrs. Pratt was at the corner of the piazza doing needlework. Miss +Lessing was sketching from nature. The younger girl was out hunting wild +flowers.</p> + +<p>Helen read the home news, then the foreign news. It seemed queer to know +what they were doing in London, and Paris, and Rome, that hitherto had +been merely places on the map to her. And then what financiers in New +York were talking of, which really was an unknown language to her, but +not to Mrs. Van Dorn, who for years had held the key.</p> + +<p>Perhaps the charm in Helen was her interest in what she was doing. +Sometimes she made quite a fanciful thing of her work at home, though +she was not what you would call a romantic girl. And now most of the +time she was reading, she put life into her tones. Mrs. Van Dorn had +been here and there, and she wanted the descriptions of things to seem +real to her.</p> + +<p>"You're a very good reader," she said approvingly. "You must not let +anyone cultivate you on different lines with their elocution<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span>ary ideas, +or you will be spoiled. Who taught you?"</p> + +<p>"Mr. Warfield. He was principal of the school. I was in his class last +year."</p> + +<p>"He has some common sense. When you go to an opera you expect to hear +ranting and sighing, and sobbing, but sensible people do not talk that +way about the every-day things of life."</p> + +<p>"I don't know what an opera is like," said Helen with a kind of bright +mirthfulness at her own ignorance.</p> + +<p>"I suppose not. Men and women singing the love, and sorrow, and woe, and +trials of other men and women, long ago dead, or perhaps never alive +anywhere but in the composer's brain. It is the exquisite singing that +thrills you. But you wouldn't want it for steady diet."</p> + +<p>Miss Lessing spoke of two famous singers who had been in New York during +the winter. And she had heard the Wagner Trilogy, which she thought +magnificent.</p> + +<p>"Yes. I've heard it at Beyreuth." Mrs. Van Dorn nodded, as if it might +be an ordinary entertainment.</p> + +<p>"Oh, it has been my dream to go abroad some time," and Miss Lessing +sighed.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span></p> + +<p>And there was a girl in the world who loved her own folks quite as well +as a journey abroad. There was pure affection for you! Miss Lessing +would jump at the offer she had made Clara Gage.</p> + +<p>They were summoned in to luncheon. Mr. Conway was the only man of the +party, not much of a talker, but the ladies loved to sit and talk over +their morning's adventures, or their afternoon's intentions. Mrs. Dayton +never hurried them. They all considered it the most home-y place at +which they had ever boarded.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Van Dorn went off for her nap. So did several of the others. Mrs. +Dayton took Helen up-stairs. She had exhumed two of her old lawns, and +thought they could modernize them into summer frocks. They were very +fine and pretty, and Helen was delighted.</p> + +<p>It was four o'clock when the coupé came, and Mrs. Van Dorn rang for +Helen to come up to her room, and carry her shawl, and her dainty case +with the opera glass in it for far sights, and a bottle of lavender +salts. And then the driver helped them in, and away they started.</p> + +<p>"One could almost envy that girl!" said<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span> Daisy Lessing. "I don't see why +some of us couldn't be as good company."</p> + +<p>They paused at the Public Library.</p> + +<p>"Will you go in, Helen, and ask for 'Lays of Ancient Rome,' Macaulay's," +said Mrs. Van Dorn. "I hope it won't be out."</p> + +<p>Helen came back with the book, and sparkling eyes.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV</h2> + +<h3>PLANTING OF SMALL SEEDS</h3> + + +<p>But it was not all smooth sailing for Helen, although it had begun so +fair. The very next week was trying to everybody. It was warm and close +and rainy, not a heartsome downpour that sweeps everything clean, and +clears up with laughing skies, but drizzles and mists and general +sogginess, not a breath of clear air anywhere. No one could sit on the +porch, for the vines and eaves dripped, the parlor had a rather dismal +aspect, and everybody seemed dispirited.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Van Dorn was not well. She lost her appetite. It seemed as if she +had a little fever. And she was dreadfully afraid of being ill. So many +people had dropped down in the midst of apparent health, had paralysis +or apoplexy, or developed an unsuspected heart-weakness. She would make +a vigorous effort to keep from dying, she had no organic disease, but +something <i>might</i> happen. Young people died, but<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span> that did not comfort +her for she was not young. Helen fanned her on the sofa, in the chair. +The cushions and pillows grew hot, she fanned them cool. She ran out to +the well, and brought in a pitcher of fresh cold water.</p> + +<p>"It tastes queer. I do wonder if there is any drainage about that could +get into it."</p> + +<p>Then it was, "Helen, don't read so loud. Your voice goes through my +head!" and when Helen lowered her tone, she said, "Don't mumble so! I +can't half hear what you are saying. How stupid the papers are! There's +really nothing in them!"</p> + +<p>If Helen had not been used to fault-finding, it would have gone hard +with her. As it was she was rather dazed at first at the change.</p> + +<p>"She'll get over it," comforted Mrs. Dayton. "And if this weather ever +lets up we shall all feel better."</p> + +<p>The Disbrowe baby was ill, too, and two or three times Helen went to +relieve the poor mother. Miss Gage came and stayed one night with Mrs. +Van Dorn.</p> + +<p>Friday noon the sun shone gayly out, a fresh wind blew much cooler from +the west, and everybody cheered up.</p> + +<p>"Railly," said Uncle Jason, when he came<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span> in Saturday with butter and +eggs, "you're a big stranger! Mother, she feels kinder hurt an' put out, +an' wishes she hadn't let you come. You do ridin' round every day an' +never come near us, as if you felt yourself too grand."</p> + +<p>"Oh, Uncle Jason, it isn't that at all," cried Helen in protest. "We +were out just a little while on Monday, and the mist came up. Mrs. Van +Dorn took a cold, and has been poorly, and the weather has been just +horrid until to-day. Then I have been helping Joanna with the jelly and +canning, and Mrs. Disbrowe with her baby. I couldn't walk over, could +I?" glancing up laughingly.</p> + +<p>"Well, I s'pose you might—on a pinch——"</p> + +<p>"Oh, no; it would have to be on my own two feet. And see what a mess the +roads have been! Good going for ducks, but bad for your best shoes."</p> + +<p>He laughed. Her tone was so merry it was good to hear. He had missed her +cheerful presence. Aunt Jane would hardly have admitted how much she +missed her about the work. 'Reely had so many slaps that she just wished +Helen would come home again, it made mother so cross to have her away.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I s'pose, now, you couldn't go back with me, and I'll bring you over +Sunday."</p> + +<p>Helen was sorry, and yet she shrank from the proposal, and was glad she +could not go. Was that ungrateful?</p> + +<p>"Oh, I really could not, Uncle Jason. You see, Mrs. Van Dorn is just +getting better, and she wants a dozen things all at once, but I'll try +when we go out. Perhaps the first of the week."</p> + +<p>"I'll have to hold on to my scalp when I get home," he said rather +ruefully. "Mother told me to bring you back."</p> + +<p>"But I'm hired to stay here, and I can't run away as I like," she +answered pleasantly, but with dignity.</p> + +<p>"That's so! That's so! Well, come soon as you can."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Van Dorn's bell rang and she had to say good-by. Mrs. Dayton +entered at that moment.</p> + +<p>"Helen," Mrs. Van Dorn said: "I've a mind to go down on the porch and +sit on the west side in the sun. I'm tired to death of this room. Get me +that white lambs-wool sacque, though I hate bundling up like an old +woman! I think I did take a little cold. And<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span> people who are seldom ill +are always the worst invalids, I've heard. Then bring that big Persian +wrap, I really do feel shaky, and that's ridiculous for me."</p> + +<p>She managed to get down stairs very well. Helen fixed the wrap about the +chair and then crossed it on her knees. The white sacque was tied with +rose colored ribbons, and with her fluffy, curly hair she looked like an +old baby.</p> + +<p>"Has the <i>Saturday Gazette</i> come? Let's hear the little gossip of the +town. Who is going out of it, who is coming in, who played euchre at +Mrs. So and So's, and who won first prize, and who has a new baby."</p> + +<p>There were other things—a column about some wonderful exhumations in +Arizona that were indications of a pre-historic people.</p> + +<p>"Queer," she commented when Helen had finished, "but everywhere it seems +as if cities were built on the ruins of old cities. And no one knows the +thousands of years the world has stood. There is a theory that we come +back to life every so often, that some component part of us doesn't die. +Still, I do not see the use if one can't remember."</p> + +<p>"But there is—heaven——" Helen was a little awe-struck at the +unorthodox views.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Well—no one has come back from heaven. I believe there are several +cases of trances where people thought they were there, and had to come +back, and were very miserable over it. But it seems to me being here is +the best thing we know about. I feel as if I should like to live +hundreds of years, if I could be well and have my faculties."</p> + +<p>"There's Auntie Briggs, as they call her, over to Center, who is +ninety-seven, and grandmother White was ninety-five on Christmas day."</p> + +<p>"Tell me about them. Are they well? Do they get about?"</p> + +<p>"Grandmother White is spry as a cricket, as people say. She sews and +knits and doesn't wear glasses."</p> + +<p>"That's something like." The incident cheered her amazingly. "And the +other old lady?"</p> + +<p>"She is quite deaf and walks about with a cane, but I think she's pretty +well." Helen did not say she was cross and crabbed and a trial to her +grand-daughter's family. It really was sad to live past the time when +people wanted you. But couldn't you be sweet and comforting? Must old +age be queer and disagreeable?<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I shall try to live to a hundred," said Mrs. Van Dorn. "Let me see—I +wish you'd read something bright, about people having good times. Why do +writers put so much sorrow in stories? It is bad enough to have it in +the world."</p> + +<p>Helen ran up and brought down a pile of novels that Mr. Disbrowe had +selected in the city. But one did not suit and another did not suit.</p> + +<p>"We will look at the sun going down. What wonderful sunsets I have +seen!"</p> + +<p>"Tell me about them," entreated Helen.</p> + +<p>"There was one at the Golden Gate, California. No one ever could paint +anything like it." Mrs. Van Dorn looked across the sky as if she saw it +again. She was an excellent hand at description. Then the men were +coming in, the dinner bell rang.</p> + +<p>"I won't bother to dress, I'll play invalid."</p> + +<p>Helen pushed the chair in a sheltered place, and laid the shawl over the +back of a hall chair. Everybody congratulated Mrs. Van Dorn, and she +said with a little laugh that she thought it was the weather, and she +had been playing off, that she hadn't been really ill.</p> + +<p>"I think we all gave in to the weather,"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span> said Mrs. Lessing. "I had a +touch of rheumatism. You can have a fire in wet cool weather, but when +it is wet hot weather, you can hardly get your breath and feel +smothered."</p> + +<p>"It's been a dreadful week for trade," remarked Mr. Disbrowe. "I haven't +made my salt. Perhaps it would have been better to have tried pepper."</p> + +<p>They all laughed at that.</p> + +<p>"Mrs. Dayton has tried both salt and pepper and been cheerful as a +lark," said Mrs. Pratt.</p> + +<p>"And plenty of sugar," laughed Mrs. Dayton. "Though I confess I have +been tried with jelly that wouldn't jell. The weather has been bad for +that."</p> + +<p>"And Miss Helen has kept rosy. She has been good to look at," subjoined +Mrs. Disbrowe.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Van Dorn smiled at the girl who flushed with the praise.</p> + +<p>She wanted to be read to sleep that night, just as she had been the +night before, and chose Tennyson.</p> + +<p>"Well, I do hope we will have a nice week to come," Mrs. Dayton said +when they were alone. "Old lady Van Dorn <i>has</i> been trying.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span> Helen, you +have kept your temper excellently. What are you smiling about?"</p> + +<p>"I guess I have been trained to keep my temper."</p> + +<p>"Because your aunt doesn't let anyone fly out but herself? That's in the +Cummings blood. And you haven't any of that. Sometimes your voice has +the sound of your father's. You are more Grant than Mulford."</p> + +<p>"You knew my father——" Helen paused and glanced up wondering whether +it was much or little.</p> + +<p>"Well—yes," slowly. "And not so very much either. You see I was beyond +my school days," and Mrs. Dayton gave a retrospective smile. "Your +mother went to school to him the first year he taught. I never could +understand——" and she wrinkled her brow a little.</p> + +<p>"I suppose he was very much in love with her?" Helen colored vividly as +if she was peering into a secret. The love stories she had been reading +were taking effect in a certain fashion. She was beginning to weave +romances about people. Aunt Jane blamed her father for a good many +things, and especially<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span> the marriage. But she never had a good word for +him.</p> + +<p>"Oh, what nonsense for children like you to think about love! Well," +rather reluctantly, "he must have been pleased with her, she was bright +and pretty, but it wasn't wise for either of them, and it did surprise +everybody. She was one of the butterfly kind with lots of beaus. Dan +Erlick's father waited on her considerably, he was pretty gay, and +people thought she liked him a good deal. Then he married a Waterbury +girl, and not long after she married your father. There were others she +could have had—we all thought more suitable. He was a good deal older, +and cared mostly for books and study. Then he began with some queer +notions, at least the Center people thought so—that the world had stood +thousands of years we knew nothing about, and that the Mosaic account +wasn't—well then people hadn't heard so much about science and all +that, and were a little worried lest their children should turn out +infidels. And he found a place in some college at the West, but it +seemed as if they made a good many changes until she came home to die. +But she always appeared to think he had been kind and taken good care of +her.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span> If he hadn't the Center would have heard about it."</p> + +<p>That didn't altogether answer the question. Helen wanted some devotion +on which to build a romance. Since she could not put her mother in a +heroine's place, she wanted her father for a hero. But she had never +seen much of him, and she had always felt a little afraid of the grave, +tall, thin man who never caressed her, or indeed seemed to care about +her. Had anyone really loved him? Somehow she felt his had been a rather +solitary life and pitied him.</p> + +<p>"He had a curious sort of voice," continued Mrs. Dayton. "It wasn't loud +or aggressive, but—well I think persuasive is the word I mean. He had a +way of making people think a good deal as he did, without really +believing in him or his theories. He was a man out of place, you'll find +what that means as you go on through life, a sort of round peg that +couldn't get fitted to the square hole in Hope Center."</p> + +<p>"Oh, dear! I wonder if I shall be like him?" The tone was half +apprehensive, half amusing and the light in her eyes was full of curious +longing.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I <i>do</i> suppose you get your desire for knowledge from him. I never +heard of a Mulford who was much of a student, nor a Cummings either. +Though I am not sure education does all for people. You have to possess +some good sense to make right use of it. And some people with very +little book learning have no end of common sense and get along +successfully."</p> + +<p>Then Mrs. Van Dorn's bell rang. Helen had been polishing the glasses +with a dry towel. Joanna always went over them twice, and this was quite +a relief to her.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Dayton was putting away dishes and thinking. Helen was different +from the Mulford children. She was ambitious to step up higher, to get +out of the common-place round. It was not that she hated work, she did +it cheerfully, looking beyond the work for something, not exactly the +reward, but the thing that satisfied her. And Mrs. Dayton had found in +her life that a little of what one really wanted was much more enjoyable +than a good deal of what one did not want, no matter how excellent it +might be.</p> + +<p>The book to-night was talks about Rome. Mrs. Van Dorn lived over again +in her reminiscences, making sundry interruptions. "It<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span> was here I met +such a one," she would say. "This artist from England or America was +painting such a picture." And there were walks on the Pincio, lingering +in churches, viewing palaces. And then—it was all real. Hadn't St. Paul +written letters from Rome ever and ever so long ago? Somewhere he had +"Thanked God and taken courage?" Yes. Rome <i>was</i> real. Had her father +ever seen it? She would like to see it some day. And if she could ever +get to where she could teach school—Mr. Warfield had earned enough to +go abroad, and she remembered hearing him say he had worked all one year +with a farmer for the sake of eight months' schooling.</p> + +<p>There was a gentle sound of hard regular breathing, not to be called a +snore, but a sign of sleep. Helen went on with a dream. Why couldn't she +stay somewhere in North Hope and work for her board nights and mornings +and go to the High School? She was learning so many things now about +history and literature, and the whole world it seemed. Occasionally she +looked over the list of examination studies and caught here and there a +fact she had not understood a few weeks ago. Why this was as good as a +school.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span></p> + +<p>She would not breathe her plans to a soul. If only Mrs. Dayton might, or +could keep her! But early in October Mrs. Dayton shut up her house and +went on a round of visits after her summer's work, and Joanna went to +her sister's who had seven children, the eldest hardly fourteen. But +some place might open. If boys could work their way up, why not a girl?</p> + +<p>There was a succession of pleasant days with a bright reviving westerly +wind. Driving was a delight. Sometimes they went out an hour or two +after breakfast, and oh, how glorious the world looked.</p> + +<p>For two days Helen felt she was a coward. She ought to go home, but she +dreaded it somehow. Why wasn't Aunt Jane like—well, Mrs. Dayton for +instance, glad that other people should have some enjoyment? Yes, she +did enjoy Jenny's pleasure, but how often she threatened the others!</p> + +<p>"Could we drive around by the Center this afternoon?" Helen asked a +little hesitatingly.</p> + +<p>"Why—I thought we would go to Chestnut Hill. I like those long faded +yellow chestnut blooms that hang where there are to be no<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span> chestnuts. It +is like old age hanging on to some forlorn hope."</p> + +<p>"But you do not like old age," Helen said, with a bright smile.</p> + +<p>"Not for myself. Not for people in general. But it is pretty among the +clusters of green chestnut leaves. Mrs. Dayton could make a little +sermon out of that—useless old age."</p> + +<p>"We might come round that way on our return," ventured the girl.</p> + +<p>"Are you homesick?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, no." A bright flush overspread Helen's face, and the light in her +eyes as she turned them on Mrs. Van Dorn was so beautiful it touched her +heart. "Uncle wanted to take me back on Saturday to stay over Sunday. +They think——"</p> + +<p>"Did you want to go?" with quick jealousy.</p> + +<p>"Not very much, oh, no, I'm not homesick at all. I like it so much over +here. But I ought to go now and then."</p> + +<p>"Well—we will see."</p> + +<p>Helen had put on her last summer's white frock. She would rather have +worn the blue lawn or the pretty embroidered white muslin, made out of +Mrs. Dayton's long ago skirt, but some feeling withheld her.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span></p> + +<p>How beautiful Chestnut Hill was to-day! It was not all chestnuts, though +they were there tall and stately, but with a mingling of maple and beech +and dogwood, and here and there hemlocks and cedars. A sort of wild +garden of trees, but all about the edges common little shrubs and sumac +stood up loyally as if the trees were not to have it all. And smaller +things in bloom tangled here and there with clematis and Virginia +creeper, and a riot of mid-summer bloom. They had brought along a volume +of Wordsworth's shorter poems, and Helen read here and there in the +pauses.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Van Dorn was ruminating over a thought that had crossed her mind. +Wouldn't this girl be glad to go off somewhere and thrust her old life +behind her? How much did she care for her people? Someone could make a +fine and attractive young woman out of her, yes, there was a certain +noble beauty that might be cultivated and bloom satisfactorily from +twenty to thirty. Ten or twelve years?</p> + +<p>"Take the lower road round by the Center," she said to the driver.</p> + +<p>Helen raised her eyes in acknowledgment.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span> They passed the old farm +houses, and at the gate of one of them stood Grandmother White, a small +wrinkled old lady in a faded gown and checked apron. She nodded to +Helen. Was that worth the living to old age? Mrs. Van Dorn shrugged her +shoulders. Thank Heaven she should not be like that when she came near +the hundred mark.</p> + +<p>"Now I will drive around a little while you make your call. It must not +be very long, or we shall be late for dinner."</p> + +<p>Helen sprang out with an airy lightness. The front windows were all +darkened as usual. She ran up the path, around the side of the house. +Aurelia was weeding among the late planted beets where dwarf peas had +taken the early part of the season.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Helen!" She sprang up with the trowel in her hand, "I'm so glad +you've come. Are you going to stay all night? I miss you so much. I have +such lots of work to do, and mother's cross a good deal of the time. We +all miss you so. I s'pose its real nice over at Mrs. Dayton's, but I +shall be so glad when you come back."</p> + +<p>"No, I can't stay all night——"</p> + +<p>"But the carriage went away——"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span></p> + +<p>"'Reely, you come in and peel the potatoes. You ought to have had that +weeding done long ago. Oh, Helen," as the girl had turned around the +corner that led to the kitchen. "Well I declare! I began to think you +had grown so fine that the Center would never see you again!"</p> + +<p>She looked Helen over from head to foot and gave a little sniff.</p> + +<p>"Are you coming in?" rather tartly.</p> + +<p>"Why—yes," forcing herself to smile.</p> + +<p>How different from Joanna's tidy kitchen! It was clean but in confusion +with the odds and ends of everything. The green paper shade was all +askew, there were two chairs with the backs broken off, the kitchen +table was littered, the closet door was open and betrayed a huddle of +articles.</p> + +<p>"You don't seem to be very sociable, I must say. Why didn't you come +over Saturday? Your uncle felt quite hurt about it. Seems to me you're +mighty taken up with those people," nodding her head northward.</p> + +<p>"I couldn't on so short a notice. Mrs. Van Dorn had not been well. I +read her to sleep nearly every night. And there are so many little +things to do."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Well, if she'd employ herself about something useful she wouldn't need +to be read to sleep, nor want so much waiting on."</p> + +<p>"That is what I am hired to do," Helen returned with a good-natured +intonation that she kept from being flippant.</p> + +<p>"Well, if I had ever so much money I couldn't find it in my conscience +to dawdle away time and have someone wait upon me. And how's Mrs. +Dayton? All the boarders staying?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, the house is full."</p> + +<p>"Mrs. Dayton does have the luck of things! But she hasn't a chick nor a +child, nor a husband and a lot of boys to mend for. I was foolish to let +you go over there, Helen, when I needed you so much myself. It isn't +even as if you were learning anything, just fiddling round waiting on a +woman who hasn't an earthly thing to do. And I'm so put about, I don't +know what to take up first. 'Reely, you hurry with the potatoes or +you'll get a good slap."</p> + +<p>There was a diversion with Fan and Tommy who shook sand over the kitchen +floor. Fan's face was stained with berries but she flung her arms about +Helen and kissed her raptur<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span>ously, while Tom dug his elbows into her +lap.</p> + +<p>"Did you come in a horse and carriage?" asked Fan, wide-eyed.</p> + +<p>"I came in the carriage."</p> + +<p>"You know well enough what she meant, Helen. You'll get so fine there'll +be hardly any living with you when you come back."</p> + +<p>"When she came back." A tremor ran through Helen's nerves. Oh, must she +come back!</p> + +<p>"How is Jenny?" she inquired.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Jenny's first rate, working like a beaver. There's a girl worth +something, if she is mine! And the house is getting done up just +splendid. Joe's crazy to be married right off, but Jenny's like me, when +her mind's made up it's made up. There's a good deal of Cummings in her. +Why don't you take off your hat? You're going to stay to supper?"</p> + +<p>"No, I can't," Helen returned gently. "Mrs. Van Dorn was going to drive +round a little——"</p> + +<p>"She could have come in," snapped Aunt Jane. "We could have had the +horse put out and you could both have stayed to supper. I dare say we +have as good things to eat as Mrs.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span> Dayton. She doesn't refuse our +butter and eggs nor chickens when we have 'em to spare."</p> + +<p>"They all think the butter splendid, Aunt Jane. And Mrs. Disbrowe wishes +they could get such eggs in the city. She is sure what they get must be +a month old," said Helen, with an attempt at gayety.</p> + +<p>"I <i>do</i> make good butter. Mrs. Dayton's folks are not the first to find +it out," bridling her head. "And I'll say for Mrs. Dayton she's willing +to pay a fair price. But I s'pose that old woman pays well?"</p> + +<p>Helen wondered how the woman in the carriage would look if she heard +that!</p> + +<p>"I'd like to know the prices myself. Haven't you heard Mrs. Dayton say? +I might want to keep boarders, some day."</p> + +<p>"No," answered Helen. "But there are a good many boarders at North Hope, +and some of them look as if they didn't mind about money."</p> + +<p>"Carriage has come," announced Nathan, running in. Aurelia had finished +the potatoes and put them on to cook and now stood with one arm around +Helen's neck.</p> + +<p>"Stay! stay! Can't you stay?" cried a chorus of voices in various keys.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I am not my own mistress," answered Helen, cheerfully. "And when you +are paid to do a certain thing, paid for your time, it belongs to +someone else."</p> + +<p>She loosened the children's arms and rose.</p> + +<p>"Well it is a mean little call," said her aunt, "and your uncle will be +awful disappointed. But when you live with grand people I s'pose you +must be grand. Do come when you can stay longer," with a sort of sarcasm +in her tone.</p> + +<p>"I'll try." Helen kept her temper bravely, left her love for Jenny and +Uncle Jason. Aunt Jane had gone at making shortcake. The children +followed their cousin out to the gate and showered her with good-bys, +staring hard at the old lady in the carriage.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V</h2> + +<h3>A GIRL'S DREAMS</h3> + + +<p>Helen's face was flushed as she stepped into the carriage, but she held +her head up with dignity and smiled. The curious two sides of her, was +it brain, or mind, or that perplexing inner sight? saw the wide +difference between Mrs. Van Dorn and Aunt Jane. And she liked the Van +Dorn side a hundred times better than the Mulford side. The delicacy, +the ease, the sort of graciousness, even if it was a garment put on and +sometimes slipped off very easily. Mrs. Van Dorn was never quite +satisfied. She was always reaching out for something, a pleasure and +entertainment. Aunt Jane was thoroughly satisfied with herself. She +scolded Uncle Jason and insisted that he lacked common sense, energy, +and a host of virtues, yet she often said of her neighbors' husbands: +"Well, if I had that man I'd ship him off to the Guinea Coast," though +she hadn't the slightest idea of its location. She often held<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span> him up to +the admiration of her friends, though she always insisted she had been +the making of him. And she would not admit that there was a smarter girl +in Hope Center than Jenny.</p> + +<p>The peculiar contrast flashed over Helen. What made the +complacency—content?</p> + +<p>"Did you have a pleasant call?" When Mrs. Van Dorn didn't feel cross her +voice had a certain sweetness. Helen thought the word mellifluous +expressed it. She was fond of pretty adjectives.</p> + +<p>"Aunt Jane was very busy and they all set in for me to stay. The +children do miss me."</p> + +<p>"And did you want to stay?" with the same sweetness.</p> + +<p>"No," said Helen, honestly, while the color deepened in her cheeks. "Oh, +dear! I think I am getting spoiled, citified, and North Hope isn't a +city either," with a half rueful little laugh, yet not raising her eyes.</p> + +<p>"She isn't of their kind," thought Mrs. Van Dorn. "And her courage, her +truthfulness, are quite unusual. She is very trusty, there is the making +of something fine in her."</p> + +<p>"You are not fond of country life, farm life," correcting herself.</p> + +<p>"I am quite sure I shouldn't be, and yet I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span> like the country so much, +the space, the waving trees, the great stretches of sky. I should stifle +in a place where there were rows and rows of houses and paved streets +everywhere."</p> + +<p>"But not where there were palaces, and villas, and parks, and gardens, +and beautiful equipages, and elegantly dressed women."</p> + +<p>Helen shook her head, "I shall never have the chance to like or dislike +that. Oh, yes," brightening, "I can read it in a book and imagine myself +in the midst of it."</p> + +<p>"I thought you ware planning to teach school, and save up money, and +take journeys."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I do, and all manner of extravagant things. But I am afraid they +are air castles." For somehow the reality of her life had come over her +again. She belonged to Hope Center, not to North Hope. And maybe she +never could get over there.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Van Dorn thought of herself at Helen's age. Where would her +ambitions lead her. <i>She</i> had had no ambitions to rise in life. How +gladly she would have married her first common-place lover, and accepted +a life of drudgery. What queer things girls were! and how strange that +when she was tired and worn out, and almost desperate, the best of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span> +fortune should come to her. It seldom happened, she knew. The old life +was a vague dream, she had only lived since her marriage. In a way she +coveted this girl's freshness and energy. To have someone to really and +truly love her—was there any such thing in life, to old age?</p> + +<p>She had coveted Clara Gage with the same desire of possession. She had +persuaded her to give up home, mother, three sisters and one brother. +But she had never ceased to love them. And they had nearly outweighed a +journey to Europe. Perhaps they would. Clara was about eighteen when she +took her, this girl was fourteen. She would be more pliable, and she was +not really in love with her people. But there would be years of +training, and there was a certain strength in the girl. Sometimes they +might clash, and she did not want to be disturbed at her time of life. +Then too—there were certain adventitious aids to ward off the shadow of +coming years. Clara knew about them, and she had grown used to her. +<i>She</i> would be getting older every year.</p> + +<p>They were a little late at dinner. How delightful and orderly and +refined everything<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span> was! Helen luxuriated in it. And yet it was only +ordinarily nice living. Helen could see the table at home. The kitchen +was large and the table at one end, and they always had meals there +except when there was company, and often then the children were kept out +there. The smells of the cooking did not give it the savory fragrance +she read about in books. It was hot and full of flies, for the door was +always on the swing.</p> + +<p>They were around the table, everyone wanting to tell father that Helen +had been to see them in a carriage, at that.</p> + +<p>"Do hush, children!" began Aunt Jane, sharply. "You haven't any more +manners than a lot of pigs, everyone squealing at once. Yes, I think we +made a great mistake letting Helen go over to Mrs. Dayton's. We couldn't +well refuse an old neighbor, I know. But she's that full of airs, and so +high-headed that she could hardly talk. I don't see how she could make +up her mind to come round to the kitchen door."</p> + +<p>Aurelia giggled. "Wouldn't it have been funny to have her knock at the +front door!" and all the children laughed.</p> + +<p>"'Twould be a good thing to bring her back<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span> now. There's so much to do, +and fruit to put up all the time. And she'd get in a little decent +training before she went in the shop."</p> + +<p>"She'll soon get the nonsense knocked out of her there," said Jenny. +"You needn't feel anxious about that."</p> + +<p>"Sho, mother, that girl's good enough where she is, an' a bargain's a +bargain. She was to stay till the first of September. And when you're in +Rome you do as the Romans do, I've heard. It's natural, she should get +polished up a little over there."</p> + +<p>"I'm as good as Mrs. Dayton, if I don't keep city boarders," flung out +Aunt Jane, resentfully. "And I've the best claim on Helen when we've +taken care of her all these years."</p> + +<p>"I d'know as she'd earned twenty-four dollars at home," said Uncle +Jason.</p> + +<p>"I s'pose not in money," admitted Aunt Jane, who down in her heart had +no notion of bringing Helen home. "But I feel as if I had earned half +that money doing without her."</p> + +<p>"Twenty-four dollars. Phew! Pap, suppose you had to pay me that!" +exclaimed Sam.</p> + +<p>"You get your board and clothes," said his mother.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span></p> + +<p>So they were mapping out Helen's life, and she was thinking whether she +could have the courage to fight it out. She could not go back to the +farm. That she settled definitely.</p> + +<p>She picked up Mrs. Van Dorn's wraps and her three letters and carried +them upstairs.</p> + +<p>"I'm going to rest a while," said the lady. "You may come up in—well, +half an hour. Will you push the reclining chair over by the window?"</p> + +<p>Helen did that and laid the fleecy wrap within reach, smiled and nodded +and ran lightly downstairs. In a moment she was helping Mrs. Dayton take +out the dishes to the kitchen, and then dried them for Joanna.</p> + +<p>"Now Miss Helen, if you wanted a situation, I'd give you a good +recommend," exclaimed Joanna, smilingly.</p> + +<p>Then she went out on the stoop, for it still wanted ten minutes to the +half hour.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Van Dorn had taken up her letters rather listlessly. One from her +lawyer concerning some reinvestments, one from a charity for a +subscription. The thick one with the delicate superscription from Clara +Gage.</p> + +<p>It was long, and about family affairs.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span> They had been a good deal +worried over a mortgage that the holder had threatened to foreclose. But +her sister's lover had insisted upon taking it up, and would come home +to live. Her brother had obtained a good position as bookkeeper in a +mill. The youngest girl would always be an invalid from a spinal +trouble; Margaret, the eldest, sang in church and gave music lessons, +and thus had some time for home occupations. Mrs. Gage was quite +disabled from rheumatism at times. But now Clara felt the dependent ones +were in good hands, and she would not only go abroad cheerfully, but +gladly. Her hesitation had been because she felt they might need her at +home, or near by, where they could call upon her in illness or +misfortune. "You have been very kind to wait until I could see my way +clear," she wrote, "and my gratitude in time to come will be your +reward."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Van Dorn felt a little pricked in her conscience. She could have +settled all this herself, and made things easy for them, but Clara had +not suggested any money trouble. Mrs. Van Dorn paid her a generous +salary. Down in her heart there had been a jealous feeling that her +money could not buy every<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span>thing, could not buy this girl from certain +home obligations.</p> + +<p>But the letter pleased her very much in its frankness and its +acknowledgment of favors. Yet her old heart seemed strangely desolate. +How could she obtain the love she really desired? For if you did favors +there was gratitude, but was that love?</p> + +<p>Did anybody care to love an old woman? She sometimes longed to have +tender arms put about her neck, and fond kisses given. But her cheeks +were made up with the semblance of youth, her lips had a tint that it +was not well to disturb. Oh, to go back! To be fifty only, and have +almost fifty more years to live. The money would last out all that time, +even.</p> + +<p>But here was a chance with this new girl. Clara might marry. She, Mrs. +Van Dorn, had been rather captious about admirers. It wasn't given to +every girl to make a good marriage at five and thirty. In three years +Helen would be seventeen, and with a good education, very companionable. +It would be best not to lead her to hope for anything beyond the +education, she might grow vain and be puffed up with expectations of +great things to come. Let the great things be a surprise.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span></p> + +<p>There was a little tap at the door.</p> + +<p>"Do you want me?" inquired the cheerful voice. "It is a full half hour."</p> + +<p>"No, yes. I'll be made ready for bed if you please, little maid," and +her tone was full of amusement. "Then I'll dismiss you and lie here by +the window a while, as I have something to think about, until I get +sleepy. Bring the jewel case."</p> + +<p>Helen was quite fascinated with all the adornments. There were dainty +partitions, velvet rooms, Helen called them, boxes in which rings were +dropped, a mound to lay the bracelets, where a tiny ridge kept them from +slipping, a hook for the pendants, and a case for the pins. The girl +placed them in deftly, as only a person who really loved them could. To +her their sparkle seemed the flame of a spirit.</p> + +<p>Then the laces were laid in their boxes. Helen hung up the soft silk +gown, the petticoats with their lace and ruffles, the night dress was +donned and a pretty wrapper over it, the slippers exchanged for some +soft knit ones. As for her hair—perhaps she slept in it, for that was +never taken down until after the girl went away.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Now are you comfortable?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. Helen, how did you come by so many pretty ways? I do not believe +they abound in your aunt's house."</p> + +<p>"No, they do not." Helen laughed in soft apology. "I think because +everything is nice and dainty here, and everybody is——" How could she +explain it.</p> + +<p>"No, you're not quite so much of a chameleon as that. It is something +from the inside, that was born with you. And you must have the +opportunity of developing it. There child, good-night."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Van Dorn felt suddenly in a glow. She would do a good deed, help +this girl to her true place, cast some bread upon the waters and have it +return to her presently. Three years. She hoped Helen would grow tall +and keep slim, her eyes were beautiful, her complexion clear and fine if +a little sun-burned. She had nice hands, too, now that she was taking +care of them. She was quick to see any improvement, she had adaptiveness +and a pleasant temper. She would make an attractive young woman at +seventeen, and she would owe it all to her. She <i>must</i> love her +benefactress. Why, this was something to live for!<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span></p> + +<p>Helen sat on the far end of the stoop step. There were two rows of +steps. This commanded the kitchen porch, as well as the dining room. +Most of the boarders were up at the other end, where two hammocks were +slung, but this was a favorite nook of hers when she wanted to think. +Mrs. Dayton came out presently, having finished her talk with Joanna.</p> + +<p>"Are you homesick or lonesome?" she inquired. "Was everybody glad to see +you to-day."</p> + +<p>"The children were. I think Aunt Jane was a little hurt because I didn't +come and stay over Sunday."</p> + +<p>"Do you want to go next Saturday? Though what we could do with Mrs. Van +Dorn I don't know."</p> + +<p>"I think I do not want to go," Helen made answer slowly. "Oh, Mrs. +Dayton," and she stretched out her hand in entreaty, "can't you sit down +here a few moments. I want to talk to someone. I want to know whether I +am right, or wrong and ungrateful. And I have a half plan if—if——"</p> + +<p>"What is it, child?" The girl's tone appealed to her strongly, and she +sat down beside her.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span></p> + +<p>"It seems to me as if I only roused up along in the winter, and began to +study in earnest. Mr. Warfield took such an interest in me. And I began +to love knowledge, to learn how much there was of it in the world. He +thought I ought to go to the High School and study for a teacher, and +then I just knew what I should like best of all things in the world. And +since I've been here I've thought it over and over——"</p> + +<p>"And do not know how to compass it?" There was a sound in her voice that +expressed the smile on her face.</p> + +<p>"I have even planned for that. If you did not go away all the fall I +should ask you to let me stay and do some work, and try to even it up +next summer when the boarders come. But I've thought maybe there would +be someone else who would be satisfied with what I could do nights and +mornings and Saturdays for my board——"</p> + +<p>The tone was breathless and had to stop. She was amazed that she could +say all this.</p> + +<p>"My dear child! Have you been studying all this out? Well, you certainly +have a right to education when you are willing to work<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span> for it that way. +And I believe it can be compassed."</p> + +<p>Helen squeezed the hand nearest her with a joyful eagerness.</p> + +<p>"But there's another side to it. I didn't think of that until this +afternoon. I fancied I could go away and study and work until I came to +the place where I could earn money, like Miss Remington, and no one +would have any right to interfere. Aunt Jane thinks I know quite enough, +and has planned for me to go in the shop, Jenny has spoken for the +chance. I should just hate it! I think I should run away. I don't know +why I am different, but I am. I feel it now more than ever. Aunt Jane +doesn't want me to be like my father, and she lays the blame on +education. Oh, Mrs. Dayton, you do not think he ever did anything +absolutely wrong, that one had need to be ashamed of?"</p> + +<p>Helen's face was in a blaze of scarlet. How many times she had longed to +ask the question.</p> + +<p>"Why no. He had the name of being queer, and holding queer beliefs. But +he was honest as the day, and temperate, and not given to brawling as +the Bible has it. And<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span> he paid Aunt Jane for a while. I feel sure he +must be dead."</p> + +<p>"And since then they have taken care of me. Aunt Jane thinks I ought to +be very grateful, and I do want to be. I suppose they could have sent me +to the poor-house."</p> + +<p>"Oh, no, Uncle Jason wouldn't."</p> + +<p>"I don't believe Aunt Jane would. But does that give them the right to +say what I shall do or be, or put me in the shop against my will, when +maybe I could earn my own way somewhere else?"</p> + +<p>"Why no, I do not think it does. You were not even given to them. You +certainly have the right to decide some things. And if friends should be +willing to help you——"</p> + +<p>"I don't want to be ungrateful. I don't want to be snobbish. But I like +the nice aspects of life so much better than the common things. And I +wonder now why people do not take naturally to the refinements of life. +Yet the other people are very happy in their way, too. I think Aunt Jane +wouldn't enjoy the manner in which you do things here. She would call it +putting on airs."</p> + +<p>"Yes, I understand. The world goes on improving, advancing, making life +more<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span> kindly and gracious, weeding out the roughnesses. It is just as +honest and true, it calls for more self-control, it is as helpful. Of +course, there are selfish people with a good deal of polish, and there +are ignorant people very obstinate and disagreeable. Education does not +do everything, but it helps. And if there is an easier or better, or +more enjoyable manner of earning one's living, I do not see why one +should not aim at it, and strive to reach it."</p> + +<p>"Oh, thank you a thousand times." Helen's voice broke from very joy. "I +kept wondering if I had the right to do what <i>I</i> liked."</p> + +<p>"It will take some courage. But you might try it one year. And I am sure +there will be friends to help such an ambitious girl. At present we will +not say anything about it, but don't feel troubled. I believe it will +come out right."</p> + +<p>"Oh, how good you are!" Helen pressed the hand she held to her warm, +soft cheek with a mute caress.</p> + +<p>It seemed to her as if she might be walking on air, her heart was so +light. And still there was a secret sympathy with her aunt for the +disappointment. Yet, what real difference<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span> could it make to Aunt Jane, +whether she taught school, or worked in a shop. She should not feel +better or grander, only more thoroughly satisfied with her lot in life. +And before she took any journeys, she would pay Uncle Jason for these +years of care since her father died. That would be her duty for taking +her own way.</p> + +<p>"We are going to take up something solid," said Mrs. Van Dorn, the next +morning. "I am tired of frivolous novels. We will have a little history, +and learn about places and people, and what has been done in the world, +and improve our minds."</p> + +<p>Helen looked up with a new and rather surprised interest. "There is so +much in your mind already," she returned with the admiration in her +voice that was so grateful to the elder woman. "Oh, I do wonder if I +shall ever know so many things."</p> + +<p>"There are years for you to study in. I did not know all these things at +fourteen."</p> + +<p>She would never have confessed how little she knew at that period.</p> + +<p>They stopped now and then to discuss some point, but Mrs. Van Dorn was +going over several other considerations. An ordinary<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span> country girl with +the sweetest temper in the world would not have given her more than a +passing pleasure. This girl was quite out of the ordinary with her +intelligence and her quick understanding. She would love all the finer +arts of life. Her enthusiasm was really infectious. That was what one +needed when one was going down the other side of the great divide. And +she didn't really belong to anybody. Clara would never forget her mother +and sisters, and if they were ill she would want to fly to them. This +girl was not comfortable in her home, she would not sigh for it. And she +might adore her, for there was a kind of worship in her nature. To be +adored by a young girl who might have been her grandchild, the child of +the daughter she had longed for and never had.</p> + +<p>Helen glanced up hesitatingly.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I'm not asleep," laughingly. "I was thinking. You have a fine +voice, so strong and clear, and not aggressive. Don't you sing?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes. When I am out in the fields I sing with the birds."</p> + +<p>"But you have never had lessons in elocution?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Mr. Warfield taught me that the best reading was entering into the +spirit of the writer, imagining yourself in the scenes that are +described, or taking part in any conversation. And he said when I +recited that last day of school, I must be the Captains and Hervé Riel, +just as if I was leading in the ships."</p> + +<p>Her face was in a glow, her eyes luminous.</p> + +<p>"How old is Mr. Warfield?"</p> + +<p>Helen Grant's father had married one of his young pupils, Mrs. Van Dorn +remembered.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I don't know, a real young man. He has only been at the Center a +year."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Van Dorn nodded with her chin, a way she had.</p> + +<p>"He is quite in earnest about your going to the High School?" she +continued.</p> + +<p>"He thinks I could teach, and I should like that so much."</p> + +<p>She flushed daintily recalling the other half secret she had touched +upon with Mrs. Dayton.</p> + +<p>"The girl is capable of love and all that nonsense," thought Mrs. Van +Dorn. Why should she not come to love her?<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI</h2> + +<h3>HOW THEY ALL PLANNED</h3> + + +<p>"Helen," began Mrs. Dayton, "I was thinking if you would like to go home +on Saturday and make your visit it might be a good thing. We have made +no real plans about the winter as yet, but we might like to presently."</p> + +<p>There was a half mirthful, half meaning light in her eyes.</p> + +<p>"Oh!" Helen said. She was not longing for the visit. Her cool reception +by her aunt had really hurt her.</p> + +<p>"Time is going so fast. Why, here it is only two weeks and a half to +September."</p> + +<p>"If you think I had better," very soberly.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I do. It would look rather underhand if you went home and said +nothing when we had settled upon certain intentions."</p> + +<p>"Yes, I understand."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Van Dorn objected, but when she found it was a matter of duty, +rather than delight, she gave in with a few little grumbles.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span> Uncle +Jason was so full of satisfaction he hugged Helen to his heart and +kissed her.</p> + +<p>So she said good-by and had a pleasant drive over, heard all the small +<i>on dits</i> of the farm; that two hens had stolen nests and brought off +twenty-three chickens between them; and old Bose, the dog, had died +suddenly, and they had a mastiff pup eight months old; that they were +building a new fence on the back of the barn lot, and that there would +be no end of apples this fall. He really didn't know what they would do +when Jenny went away, and he wished girls didn't want to get married. +But she, Helen, would come home and that would liven up things a bit.</p> + +<p>They turned into the lane and when they were by the kitchen she sprang +out. One child carried the news to another, and they huddled about her +so that she could hardly walk.</p> + +<p>"Here's Helen, mother!"</p> + +<p>"Well, I declare! How do you do, child! You never could come in a better +time! I had a good mind to tell Uncle Jason to bring you home, and I +guess he just scented it. Children, don't eat Helen up, this hot night," +exclaimed their mother.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span></p> + +<p>"She isn't cooked," said Tom.</p> + +<p>"But she'll be stewed or steamed, and there's plenty for supper. We're +going to have a houseful to-morrow. Aunt Sarah and Uncle John and the +girls, and Martha's beau. She's been long enough about it, twenty-five, +if she's a day, and I'd been married six years before I was as old as +that. But she's going to do real well, though he's a widower with two +children. And Joe as usual. Though we all went down there to supper last +Sunday. Jenny's going to have things nice, I tell you! Did you bring +another frock, Helen? I've been making 'Reely wear out your old clothes. +And gracious me! how you have grown! You won't have a thing to wear in +the fall."</p> + +<p>"I left my bundle in the wagon," as Aunt Jane made a little halt in her +talk.</p> + +<p>"Nat, you run and get it. 'Reely, do begin settin' that table. 'Reely +isn't worth a rye straw about housework. She's Mulford all over, and +you've got to keep pushing the Mulfords along or they'd fall asleep in +their tracks. Here she's past eleven. My, the work I did when I was +eleven! Now Helen, you just put on something commoner and help round a +bit and we'll have supper."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span></p> + +<p>Helen ran upstairs and changed her dress. She was glad of the cordial +welcome. But as she looked around she wondered if she had been really +content here. Did children suddenly come to some mental growth and +understanding? Whom did she take after? It was queer, but when Aunt Jane +said of one child "she was all Cummings, or all Mulford," it was the +same heredity that they discussed at Mrs. Dayton's.</p> + +<p>Where did she get her finer instincts from? For she had them long ago, +only she was afraid to bring them out and have them laughed at. Her +little white covered cot at Mrs. Dayton's looked so sweet and wholesome, +everything was put in a closet, the table held a few books, a +work-basket, often a bowl of flowers. This was all littered up, the +candlestick decorated with piles of grease, the faded and worn bed quilt +put on awry, shoes here and there, garments hung anywhere, and Fan's +dolls and stuff of all kinds in the corner. Of course Jenny's room was +more orderly, but it lacked something, the suggestion of refinement.</p> + +<p>Uncle Jason and Sam had come in, and it seemed as if the kitchen was +full. They<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span> scrambled round the table, pushing and crowding.</p> + +<p>"Do keep still, children!" begged their father.</p> + +<p>"'Reely, you haven't put on a bit of salt. I think every time you forget +it I ought to make you eat a spoonful," said her mother.</p> + +<p>"I haven't any fork!" declared Nathan.</p> + +<p>"And if we made her eat a fork, it might disagree with her, and we'd +have one fork less," commented Sam.</p> + +<p>"Can't I have a piece of bread and butter? Why can't we have some butter +down here?" cried Tom.</p> + +<p>"I'll spread it for you. Sam, will you please pass me the butter?" said +Helen in a quiet tone.</p> + +<p>"Me too, Helen," entreated Fanny, holding up her piece of bread.</p> + +<p>"It's so nice to have you again," and 'Reely squeezed Helen's arm.</p> + +<p>Uncle Jason helped to the meat and potatoes. There was a great clatter +of passing plates, and the confusion of several voices at a time. Aunt +Jane scolded, then she gave Tom a slap.</p> + +<p>"There comes Joe and Jen," announced Sam.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span></p> + +<p>Jenny left work at four on Saturday and went to the house. Joe was +keeping himself, and they had a cup of tea, some bread and butter, cold +meat and blackberries together.</p> + +<p>"How do, Helen. You're a big stranger. Let's sit out on the porch, Joe. +I'll bring some sewing."</p> + +<p>"That's the most industrious girl in the country," said Joe with a +laugh. "I shall have to buy goods by the bale to keep her in work."</p> + +<p>Some way they did get through with the meal, Uncle Jason and Sam first, +then one by one straggling out. Helen helped put away the food and said +she would wash the dishes, and Aurelia and Fan might dry them. Why +couldn't Aunt Jane go out on the porch and take a rest?</p> + +<p>"I'm tired as a dog. I've gone since half past four this morning. There +was so much to do. I declare, Helen, your coming over was just a special +providence. When I get hold of you again, I'll see that no one coaxes +you away. I was a fool to consent to it. But you'll soon be home now."</p> + +<p>"Yes, go out and get cooled off and rested."</p> + +<p>Aunt Jane was really glad to. Helen kept the two girls busy until the +things were put<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span> away and the kitchen tidied up. The fire was out and +the room getting cooler. The girls clung so to Helen, that she felt as +if she would be torn in two. And sitting on the steps they wanted to +know about the queer old woman, and didn't Mrs. Dayton make a pile of +money? 'Reely thought when she was grown up she would keep boarders and +have a servant. Did Joanna do everything?</p> + +<p>"Oh, no. Mrs. Dayton helps, and I do a good many things when Mrs. Van +Dorn does not want me."</p> + +<p>"Is she very cross?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, no," with a laugh of amusement.</p> + +<p>"Not as cross as mother?" with childish frankness.</p> + +<p>"You all annoy Aunt Jane so," returned Helen. "If you would go at once +and do as she tells you, and try to remember."</p> + +<p>"But I forget so easily," moaned Aurelia. "And I just hate to work."</p> + +<p>"What would you like to do?"</p> + +<p>"Play, and go out in the woods, and nutting. Oh, when will it be nut +time? And then there's school."</p> + +<p>"One can't play forever unless one wants to be a dunce."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I like dolls," interposed Fanny. "And I'm making clothes for them. Oh, +have you any pretty pieces?"</p> + +<p>"It's time you youngsters went to bed," declared their mother.</p> + +<p>"Where's Helen going to sleep?"</p> + +<p>"Don't you worry about Helen."</p> + +<p>The girls came and kissed her. Then she sat in the fragrant dusk and +heard a whippoor-will; and Uncle Jason and Joe Northrup comparing +crops, and telling yields of certain years. Aunt Jane fell asleep in the +quiet. Jenny came down to her step and asked about styles, and what was +in the stores, and if prices had gone down. Joe went home presently, and +Jenny said, "Now come. You're going to sleep with me. This'll be your +room when I'm gone. Oh, dear! I suppose some day you'll be married, too. +Don't you take a fellow unless he has a house to put you in."</p> + +<p>Helen felt in a strange whirl, but after awhile she slept. And Sunday +morning was all confusion again. Joe and Jenny and Sam went to church; +the company came, and Helen helped with the dinner, making the table +look so pretty and tidy, that the dining-room was very pleasant. The +four younger children were out in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span> the kitchen, and once Aunt Jane had +to go out and administer slaps all round to quell a riot.</p> + +<p>Martha and her lover were very staid and sedate. Jane, the younger +sister, was rather flighty, and plied Helen with innumerable questions +about North Hope. She had heard the young girls went out every day to +see the stores and catch the beaus as they came home from work. And did +the people in her house have dancing parties every Saturday night? She +had read in some magazine that it was the fashion to do so.</p> + +<p>The two mothers were much engrossed with the coming marriages. The young +people walked down to see Jenny's house; there was a light supper, and +then they said good-by to each other.</p> + +<p>It seemed to Helen she had never been so happy in her life as when she +was once more settled in her round at Mrs. Dayton's. The order and +quietness, the nice adjustment that she was beginning to understand and +appreciate; the bright talk that went to outside subjects and did not +revolve in one small personal round, was so much more interesting. True, +Mrs. Lessing and her daughter discussed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span> clothes, and the other ladies +joined in, but it was on the ćsthetic and artistic side. They talked of +so many other things—daily events outside of North Hope. That was not +all their world. It was the larger world that so interested Helen.</p> + +<p>She and Mrs. Dayton discussed some possibilities. When Mrs. Dayton went +away, Mr. Conway slept in the house, and took his meals elsewhere, but +even if Helen could attend to the house it would not be possible to +leave her alone in it. Then there would be clothes and various expenses. +It was not as easy a matter to settle as it looked. Of course there was +a sort of adoption of Helen, but Mrs. Dayton was not quite sure she +wanted the responsibility. She had worked through a good deal of +pressure herself, and was now where she could enjoy some of the +pleasures of life as a compensation. There might be found a neighbor who +would be glad of Helen's assistance—she would offer to provide her +clothes.</p> + +<p>Helen had settled herself at her reading one morning, when Mrs. Disbrowe +just paused at the door with her baby in her arms, and nodded to Mrs. +Van Dorn.</p> + +<p>"Excuse me for interrupting, but there is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span> a young man down on the porch +who wishes to see Helen. He would not come in."</p> + +<p>Helen glanced up in amaze, then smiled, as she raised her eyes to Mrs. +Van Dorn.</p> + +<p>"I think it is the young man from the library. Perhaps he found the book +you wanted."</p> + +<p>"Ah—that is quite likely. Run down and see."</p> + +<p>Helen put her marker in, and laid down her book. But when she reached +the porch and the caller rose from the wicker rocker, she stretched out +both her hands with a glad cry of surprise:</p> + +<p>"Oh, Mr. Warfield!"</p> + +<p>He glanced at her, held her off and studied her again.</p> + +<p>"Why, you have grown or changed or something," he exclaimed in surprise. +"And it has only been such a little while! You look as if you were +really glad to see me," and the smile gave him such a cordial +expression.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I am. You can't think how glad. And it is so unexpected——"</p> + +<p>Her voice was fairly alive with delight.</p> + +<p>"I crossed ten days sooner than I had planned. A friend wanted some +papers which<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span> were in my possession, and I had to come out here for +them. So I reached the Center just in time for supper, and went over to +your uncle's in the evening."</p> + +<p>There was an odd expression in his face—amusement and annoyance it +seemed, and as if he was quite at sea. Then he said almost abruptly, +"Let us sit down. There is a good deal of talking to do—or very little, +as the case may turn," in a rather dry tone.</p> + +<p>"Excuse me, while I go up and explain to Mrs. Van Dorn. Oh, I have so +much to say, too. So many things have happened to me."</p> + +<p>She was off like a flash, but he noted the grace of her movement; the +air that showed she had capabilities beyond the usual untrained country +girl. Would she have to be wasted on a second or third rate life?</p> + +<p>"I suppose you have done nothing with the papers I gave you," he began, +when she returned. "I have heard of your driving around, and your +dissipation."</p> + +<p>"Oh, but I have," she replied eagerly. Then she gave a bright infectious +laugh. "You can't think—why it seems now as if I had been at school all +summer. I have learned so many<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span> new things about the world and the +people in it. I have read books and papers, and found out about the +places where you have been. Mrs. Van Dorn has been—well, nearly all +over the world, I believe, and she has met musicians and artists, and +people who write books and poems, and has seen kings and queens——"</p> + +<p>"Then you haven't spent all the time reading novels? I was afraid you +had. But your aunt—have you any idea of keeping on at school?"</p> + +<p>"They do not want me to," she answered gravely. "But Mrs. Dayton thinks +they have no real right to decide for me, if I can do anything for +myself. And why isn't it just as good and honorable for a girl to work +for her education when she is hungry for the knowledges in the world, as +for a boy! And if I <i>can</i> do anything, don't you think they ought to +consent?"</p> + +<p>"Well! well! well!" his exclamation points were in full evidence. He +studied her brave eager face, it had in it certain strong earnest lines, +certain lines of prettiness, too. All before her was an unknown country. +No one could truly map out another's life, and be sure of the making, +but he knew he should not mar<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span> it as the Mulfords might in their +ignorance of her desires and capabilities. He resolved to take a +decisive hand in it.</p> + +<p>"You don't want to go back to the Center?" He knew what her answer would +be, but he desired to see the varying expressions of her face.</p> + +<p>"No, I don't. Oh, I can't! I should be fighting with something within me +all the time, and planning how to get out of it all. I want to learn. I +want to teach, too. I want to see some of the great things in the world, +some of the great people, and just live all through, every part of me, +if you can understand."</p> + +<p>How her face changed with every new thought.</p> + +<p>"Really you have been making strides. Helen, you are not going to be +satisfied with a holiday to see Belle Aurore. You are going to ask +greater things."</p> + +<p>"And Hervé Riel ought to have been given greater things when he had +saved the ships for his country. Am I foolish to aim at the greater +things?"</p> + +<p>Her eyes were sparkling, and a brilliant color suffused her face, while +the scarlet lips were quivering with emotion and resolve.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I should like you to reach them. Have you any plans?" His interest was +thoroughly awakened.</p> + +<p>"Mrs. Dayton has been so kind, a real friend. I don't mean that Aunt +Jane and Uncle Jason are not real friends. They have been very good to +care for me since father died. Isn't it in not understanding just what +satisfies you down in your soul. Jenny is very happy working in the +factory. I should just hate it. And, oh, I think it would be dreadful +for her to sit and read to Mrs. Van Dorn," laughing with a gay ripple. +"We have talked, but not settled upon anything definite. Mrs. Dayton +thinks she might find someone who would give me my board for what I +could do nights and mornings and Saturdays, and she would help me out +with clothes, for I know Aunt Jane would be very angry if I went against +her wishes. And Mrs. Dayton wouldn't need me. She has Joanna, you know. +Then, too, she goes away in the autumn——"</p> + +<p>"Well, I must say you have gone pretty far along in plans. I felt quite +discouraged last night, though I imagine I might have talked Uncle Jason +into doing something for you. But your aunt thinks three years spent in +learn<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span>ing to teach, and not being able to earn a dollar for yourself, is +an awful waste of time. As if that was all there was to it!" +disdainfully. "Helen, I could find it in my heart to wish you were my +sister, then I could come to the rescue."</p> + +<p>"Oh!" There was a world of exquisite delight in the tone that touched +him to the very soul. "If I were! Why can't some people be in the places +they would like? Some people are!" with an odd humorous laugh. "And it +is the dissatisfaction that stirs you up; makes you ambitious. What is +it that keeps up the dissatisfaction?" glancing at him with the smile +still on her parted lips, yet full of perplexity.</p> + +<p>"The knowledge that you are capable of doing something better, finer. If +you were deficient in that, you could go to work cheerfully in the +factory. You would enjoy associating with the girls."</p> + +<p>"And then having a beau and marrying," she laughed. "Oh, I like books so +much better, and knowing about the world."</p> + +<p>"What of the examination papers. Have you found any time for them?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes. There were some books in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span> library that helped. And such a +splendid encyclopćdia! I wrote them out once, and then I read a great +deal more, and wrote them over again. I'll give them to you, and you +must consider how good a chance I have of passing. Oh, if I should +fail!"</p> + +<p>"You could go in later on. I do not think you will. I have wondered +about you so many times this summer, and I have always seen you under +the disadvantages of the Center, and the few helps you would have. You +might have written me a letter."</p> + +<p>"Oh, did you mean that I should?"</p> + +<p>She asked it in sweet, eager unconsciousness, which showed that it would +have been a pleasure. He had not suggested it from a wonder as to +whether Aunt Jane would approve.</p> + +<p>"I should have enjoyed an answer about your new life," he replied with +interest. "I am very glad this happened to you instead of an uneventful +summer on the farm and retrograding, I am afraid. And you like +this"—old lady, he was about to say, but checked himself—"this Mrs. +Van Dorn."</p> + +<p>"It's something more than <i>like</i>. I cannot describe it in any word, that +I know, unless it<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span> is like something I was reading a few days ago, +fascination. When she talks about the places and people she has seen it +seems as if I could listen forever. And then, you may think this queer," +and she colored vividly, "sometimes I like Mrs. Dayton the best. I wish +I didn't change about so. It is the same with books. Am I very +inconstant, fickle?"</p> + +<p>"If we couldn't change our minds, think what fossils we should soon be," +and he laughed good-humoredly. "Yes, I should like to see her."</p> + +<p>She started, then she came back a step. "I have not really talked over +the plan of—of earning my way with her," and her voice fell a little. +"Mrs. Dayton thought it best not to say anything until we had some +certainty. She is going away soon. Her real companion comes next week."</p> + +<p>He nodded that he understood the delicate charge. "And where is Mrs. +Dayton?"</p> + +<p>"She went to market, and to do various errands. I should like you to +talk to her about it."</p> + +<p>"Yes, I want to," he replied decisively.</p> + +<p>Helen went upstairs and was gone quite a while. He was thinking of the +bright, earn<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span>est, energetic girl, willing to work her way. He must plan +it out with Mrs. Dayton. She was the one girl out of fifty who could +rise above circumstances. Yet her aunt would be more than vexed, +positively angry.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Van Dorn experienced a curious pang, when the girl's face brilliant +with a definite emotion, flashed upon her with ardor in every line. What +had moved her so? The eyes were luminous, the voice freighted with a new +depth.</p> + +<p>"Yes," she answered stiffly. "I must see this young man—he is young, +isn't he? It seems to me he has been making a long call."</p> + +<p>"Oh, we had so much to talk about, my summer here and all its pleasures, +and the knowledge. Why, I told him I felt as if I had been at school all +the time, I had learned so many things from you, and that you——"</p> + +<p>She paused and flushed, wondering if the talk had been just right in the +more delicate sense.</p> + +<p>"That I was cross and queer, and full of whims——"</p> + +<p>"Oh, I couldn't say that. It was about your journeys, and the people you +had met. And he was so interested."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span></p> + +<p>Mrs. Van Dorn was mollified, and added a few touches to her toilet, +picked up a fleecy scarf, came downstairs with her hand on Helen's +shoulder, and was duly presented. The man <i>was</i> young.</p> + +<p>But the lady was an agreeable surprise. He had been a little biased by +Aunt Jane, he admitted to himself. She was like some of the fine old +ladies he had met abroad, who carried their age with a serene +unconsciousness.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Dayton was coming up the path, and gave them a little nod.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps she would like your service a while, Helen," exclaimed Mrs. Van +Dorn. "I should enjoy having a little talk with your friend."</p> + +<p>Helen rose reluctantly. She would much rather have stayed. But in five +minutes she was in full flow of an interested confidence with Mrs. +Dayton, and then they sat down on the north corner of the kitchen porch, +and peeled peaches for the luncheon, as it was getting late.</p> + +<p>Mr. Warfield meant to suggest several things to Mrs. Van Dorn that could +tend to Helen's benefit presently. She resolved to learn what<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span> he +thought of the child's capabilities for advancement. In a certain way, +though, they both parried skillfully, each gained a point, yet it was +not the point Mr. Warfield set out to make.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII</h2> + +<h3>SUCCESSFUL</h3> + + +<p>They chatted a little after the meal was over, and Mr. Warfield asked +Helen to get her papers, and let him see how she had made out with them. +Mrs. Van Dorn gave him a pleasant good-by, and said she must go and take +her daily nap, the best preventive of old age that she knew. Her smile +was over the fact that she held the winning card, and now she had +resolved to play for the girl. It was more entertaining.</p> + +<p>Helen brought her papers, very nicely written, and Mr. Warfield admitted +well prepared. There were but few corrections to be made. Then he +smiled, and said in a tone he meant to be comforting, if the matter was +not:</p> + +<p>"Perhaps you know, Helen, you cannot use these. Some were last year's +questions, some I guessed at, though I believe I hit two rightly. You +sit down in the room, at the table, and a list is given you, and you +write out your an<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span>swers from your own interior knowledge, with no helps +from books or friends."</p> + +<p>Helen glanced up in dismay, her rosy cheek paled, her lip had a +suspicious quiver.</p> + +<p>"But I thought——" and she looked at the discarded papers, over which +she had taken so much pains.</p> + +<p>"My dear child, I wanted you to put in practice what you had already +learned. Vacation is a trying time to the memory, unless one resolves +the subject in one's mind. It would have been better for you to come up +at once for the examination, but I didn't see how it was to be managed. +Indeed, last night I confess I did not see how the plan could be carried +through, and I am surprised at your courage and energy."</p> + +<p>"Then the papers are of no use," she commented in a tone of +disappointment.</p> + +<p>"They have been of a good deal of use in mental training. You will find +it much easier to write on kindred subjects. And I must say you have had +a fortunate summer; so much better than anything I had anticipated for +you. You have shown commendable courage in taking a step many girls +would have shrunk from. I am sure that you will succeed, and some<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span> way +we must all make it possible for you to go through the High School. I +feel confident that Providence will smile on our efforts."</p> + +<p>She glanced up soberly.</p> + +<p>"You would have gone without hesitation when school closed in the +summer?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes." Then she laughed. She was the wholesome sort of girl, who +could laugh at herself. "That was because I knew so little. And since I +have found how much knowledge of every kind there is in the world, mine +seems so small. I am afraid I don't want to compare myself with the +people who know less, and those who know more seem so far ahead of me," +she subjoined frankly.</p> + +<p>"That need not take away one's courage. At eight and twenty you will +know a good deal more, at eight and forty if you use life rightly, you +will have discarded a good deal of the youthful knowledge, and taken on +maturer thoughts. Schooldays do not end with the close of a school for +vacation. You observe that goes on after a little rest. And the real +scholars go on. All life is a school. I did some hard studying the +fortnight I was in London. I shall do some more this winter. There is +al<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span>ways something ahead of the one who loves knowledge."</p> + +<p>He had a very encouraging smile for those who deserved it. He could +frown as well, she knew, and this particular smile was used with +discrimination; it was not the every-day pleasant look.</p> + +<p>"So you will go next Tuesday. Louise Searing did not pass. She will keep +you company. I must leave for New York in the train at four, and cannot +be back before Wednesday. But I shall be thinking of you, and for my +sake you must not fail. You see, it helps or hinders my reputation. I +want all my five candidates to pass. There have never more than three +gone from the Center school before."</p> + +<p>"I will try my best," she returned. The thought that she would do +something for him inspired her as well.</p> + +<p>So they said good-by, and she went out to the kitchen. Two baskets of +tempting Bartlett pears had come, and Mrs. Dayton, with a big kitchen +apron on, and her sleeves rolled up, was beginning to pare them. As soon +as Joanna had done the dishes she would can.</p> + +<p>"If you wouldn't mind helping, Helen. Put that big kitchen sacque over +your dress, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span> button the sleeves around your wrists. Pear juice +stains dreadfully. And then we will talk about the plans. Mr. Warfield +is a delightful gentleman to meet, and he is very much interested in +you."</p> + +<p>If Helen was two or three years older, she might repeat her mother's +destiny, the lady thought, and Mr. Warfield was a much more attractive +man than Addison Grant.</p> + +<p>They discussed the examination, and Mrs. Dayton endeavored to inspire +her with hope, and she was confident a place could be found for Helen.</p> + +<p>"But how to get the folks at home to consent to any such step will be +the puzzle. As soon as we know about the examination I will have a talk +with your uncle. I think I can persuade him to look upon the plan in the +best light for you, and you can stay here all September."</p> + +<p>"But there will be Jenny's wedding about the middle of the month, Aunt +said."</p> + +<p>"And on the tenth the High School opens."</p> + +<p>"Oh, dear! My schooldays seem a great perplexity," and Helen gave a +vague smile. "Some girls' lives run on so smoothly, but mine appears +full of upsets."</p> + +<p>"Take courage and go on. I think it will<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span> come out right. But I shall +not make a single plan until you have passed the examination."</p> + +<p>Then Mrs. Van Dorn's bell rang.</p> + +<p>Helen slipped off her sacque, washed her hands, and suddenly bent down +and kissed Mrs. Dayton's forehead. "Oh," she cried with deep tenderness, +"I wish I had a mother! I wish you were my mother."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Dayton looked after her, as she flashed through the dining room. +All her motions were light and rapid, yet she never ran over chairs, or +bumped up against doors or corners. It was a grace born in her, and Mrs. +Dayton wondered that it had not all been wrenched out of her by the +crude bustling life at the Mulfords'. And she wondered how it would seem +to have a daughter growing up who would love her and care for her. Helen +was overflowing with gratitude, and one of the best features of it was +that it abounded in deeds rather than words. She always wanted to do +something in return, she often did it without stopping to inquire, daily +little things that evinced thoughtfulness. After all, her three years' +board would hardly be felt, there would be the summer vacation. Only, if +she should be sent away somewhere to teach afterward. But there would +be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span> three pleasant years. She <i>could</i> afford to do it now, she had gone +past the pinches, and was putting by a little every year.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Van Dorn, upstairs on her couch in the comfort of a dressing +sacque, was amusing herself with plans as well. She did like to enjoy +outgeneraling people. And this young Mr. Warfield's confidence rather +piqued her. The same thought had entered her mind that this enthusiastic +girl might repeat her mother's story, and she had a fancy that it had +been one of disappointment.</p> + +<p>Years ago the daughter of a cousin, the only relative who had ever +befriended her, after a prosperous married life of a dozen years' +duration, was thrown on her own endeavors for a livelihood, with two +little girls. She had a beautiful house in a pretty, refined town, but +there was a considerable mortgage on it. Mrs. Van Dorn had come to her +assistance; she was not all selfishness. With a little aid, Mrs. Aldred +had established herself in a day and boarding school, had added to her +house, and become the pride of the pretty town of Westchester. One act +of Mrs. Aldred had gone to her old cousin's heart. She had paid the +whole sum loaned, interest and principal, and sent the most<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span> heartfelt +thanks. She was a prosperous and happy woman, and her girls were growing +up into usefulness, one was teaching, the other would be an artist. +There was no hint or suggestion that she should like to be remembered in +anyone's will, or would be grateful for any gift. The principle of the +incident really touched Mrs. Van Dorn, who paid Mrs. Aldred a visit, and +on her departure left her what she called a little gift in token of her +courage and business ability, a check for a thousand dollars.</p> + +<p>"I'm going to take the good of what I have," she announced with a rather +grim smile, "so I shall have the less to leave behind when I die."</p> + +<p>That had been five years ago. Now Mrs. Van Dorn had written to know if +the school was still prosperous, and what the terms were, and if she +would take the supervision of an orphan girl who was ambitious, eager, +capable of many things, a girl full of bright promise, amiable in +temper, who was to be trained to get her own living if that came to her, +but accomplished for society, if that should be her lot.</p> + +<p>After her talk with Mr. Warfield she had made up her mind. He should not +have his way in this matter. She would try her hand,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span> or her money with +this girl. She was going abroad again for the next year or two, and she +would give Helen two years of education under Mrs. Aldred's supervision. +Then she would decide if she wanted her, and in what capacity.</p> + +<p>Fourteen only. Twenty would be young enough to marry. She would have six +years of interest. If the girl came to love her very much——</p> + +<p>The poor old heart had a hungering for ardent love, as well as +admiration. And Helen Grant <i>was</i> grateful. To rescue her from a +distasteful life like that at her uncle's, or a life of drudgery working +her way through school would appeal to her, for Mrs. Van Dorn had +discerned that the girl had a great hungry heart for all the accessories +of finer living, though she did not know what the vague restless +stirring within meant.</p> + +<p>The carriage paused at the gate. "Help me into my waist," she said to +Helen. "I've dawdled my time away finely. What have you been doing?"</p> + +<p>"Peeling pears for canning," she replied merrily. "Mrs. Dayton picked +out a dish of lovely ones for you, and put them in a cool<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span> place. They +are luscious. I wonder if you would like to have one now?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, no. That will be something to think of when I come back. The wind +has blown up a little cooler, and I am glad. Get my bonnet, and the blue +wrap."</p> + +<p>They went downstairs together, and were helped into the coupé. "To the +Postoffice first," she said. "We will wait on ourselves this time."</p> + +<p>Mr. Conway always brought the mail up at six, though it reached Hope at +three.</p> + +<p>"Your friend, Mr. Warfield, is going to the city? He is very earnest +that you shall take the examination. How do you expect to arrange about +the High School? You will have to live here at North Hope."</p> + +<p>Helen colored vividly, and a half-humorous smile parted her lips, and +made dimples in the corners.</p> + +<p>"I shall have to earn my own living someway," she answered courageously. +"Aunt Mulford will be much opposed to it, but I think Uncle will see +before long that it will be best. Mrs. Dayton will be a very good friend +to me. It all turns on my passing the examinations successfully."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span></p> + +<p>"And if you should not?"</p> + +<p>"Then I must go back to the Center. But I would have another chance by +the first of January. And I have quite resolved that if I do not +accomplish it this year I will try next summer."</p> + +<p>There was a charm in her courage and perseverance. Mrs. Van Dorn thought +she had never looked prettier. She could not have taken so cordially to +a plain girl.</p> + +<p>They reached the Postoffice. Helen sprang out, and came back with an +eager smile and three letters. Then they turned into an old shady +street, and drove slowly.</p> + +<p>One was from her lawyer in the city. The matter she had written of could +be easily adjusted.</p> + +<p>The next was in Miss Gage's fine, almost old-fashioned hand. Everything +had gone on well, and she would come on Wednesday, prepared to go +abroad, or anywhere at Mrs. Van Dorn's behest. A very suitable letter, +but there was no suggestion of that wider living outside of her own home +relations. She was an admirable companion, an excellent nurse for small +ailments; she gave good value for what she received, but there was no +refresh<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span>ment of enthusiasm that had warmed her old heart toward this +girl who seemed to rouse and stir one's thoughts, and give a breath of +sweetness.</p> + +<p>The third was from Mrs. Aldred, who would be glad to do anything for her +relative. She was fond of girls, especially those who were bright and +capable of advancement. She would insure her a home and training for the +next two years, and fit her for either position, look after her +clothing, and make her as happy as possible. Hers was in reality a home +school. Her circle was complete with thirty boarders, all of whom were +of unexceptional character, and Mrs. Van Dorn need not be afraid to +trust her <i>protégée</i> at Aldred House, nor fear that any confidence would +be misplaced.</p> + +<p>She had meant to lay the matter before Helen this very afternoon, then +she suddenly changed her mind. If the examination went against her, she +would be the more grateful, if in her favor, it would be a card at Mrs. +Aldred's. She would let the others plan, and amuse herself with +upsetting their confident arrangements.</p> + +<p>So they talked, instead, about places. Helen never tired of listening. +Her vivid imagina<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span>tion pictured the scenes, while here she smiled a +little, there her straight brows drew together in a little frown of +condemnation, then the heroic appealed to her. It was so pretty to note +the changes. Two years from this time would she be anxious about gowns +and trinkets and frivolity of all kinds? Girls were risky creatures +before their characters were really formed. Yes, it would be wise not to +commit one's self too far to draw back, or substitute other plans.</p> + +<p>"When is your old lady going away?" asked Uncle Jason, when he came in +on Saturday. "Mother thinks she can't spare you more than next week. +There's the house to clean, and the weddin' cake to make, and the +children have to have new clothes, and goodness only knows all."</p> + +<p>"But I was to have her a week in September," said Mrs. Dayton. "If Jenny +is to be home——"</p> + +<p>"Well, she'll be over to her house gettin' ready. We didn't make any +such fuss when we were married. We got spliced and looked after things +afterward. Well, Helen—how is it? I'm afraid you're 'most spoiled for +living among common folks any more."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span></p> + +<p>Helen's face was scarlet, as she glanced into this roughened sun-burned +one.</p> + +<p>"You've come to be such a lady," he went on admiringly. "Mebbe it wasn't +for the best. You really ought to be somewhere else and grow up into the +kind of women there is in stories. And your hands are so soft, there +isn't a freckle in your face. There's mighty little Mulford about you!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, Uncle Jason!" She flung her soft arms about his neck, immeasurably +touched by the tone of his voice. Her eyes shone with the tenderness of +tears. She laid her fond lips to his rough cheek with a delicate caress.</p> + +<p>"Whatever comes," she began, after a pause, "remember that I do +sincerely love you, and that I believe you would be willing to do the +best for me if it was in your power."</p> + +<p>"Your head's level there, child," with a tremble in his voice, and he +kissed her fondly, a rare thing with him.</p> + +<p>She watched him as he went down the path and climbed into the old wagon.</p> + +<p>"I feel mean, and underhand, and deceitful," she cried passionately, +turning to Mrs. Dayton. "I like to live along just on the square, and +how the thing will ever get told,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span> and whether Aunt Jane will let me +stay, and whether it is all right, and why you should want things that +seem out of your reach, and why someone should rise up and forbid you +mounting the ladder that stands just at hand—oh dear!" and Helen burst +into a flood of tears.</p> + +<p>"You can tell it all next week. There's been nothing especially +underhand. People don't usually get out on the housetops and proclaim +the things they think of doing. And Mr. Warfield will be back. We shall +all be ranged on your side."</p> + +<p>"Poor Uncle Jason! And I haven't finished grating the corn for the +fritters. The cold tongue looks splendid. And the cold chicken. Then we +give people scalding hot fritters."</p> + +<p>She was merry and arch again in a moment.</p> + +<p>Sunday was soft and rainy, the sort of day one lounged about. Monday +Mrs. Griggs came to wash, and as there were pears to pickle Helen helped +with the ironing. Tuesday she trudged off to school with a beating +heart. Louise Searing was there, one girl and two boys from the North +Hope school who had been conditioned.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I don't see what you can do if you do get in, Helen Grant," said +Louise. "I'm going to stay with Betty all the week"—this was her +married sister. "Or has Mrs. Dayton promised to keep you? That rich old +lady is going away, isn't she? How did you like living out this summer? +I went up in the mountains with ma. There were some young fellows and we +had lots of fun."</p> + +<p>"Hush!" said a teacher entering. Papers and pencils were distributed, +the children placed far enough apart to prevent collusion. The lady took +a seat at the desk.</p> + +<p>Helen looked over her questions. Two were from the last year's list, she +saw with joy, and she jotted down the answers carefully. The two +problems she solved. The analysis rather puzzled her. One of the great +seaports of the country, and of Europe. The notable travelers in Africa. +Hannibal's journey across the Alps, his conquests and his stay at +Brutium. Just a week ago they had been reading Hannibal's wonderful +story, and his fifteen years' menace of Rome. How glad she was!</p> + +<p>A rather stern looking man came in and took his seat by the lady. As the +slips were finished they were signed and passed up. By<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span> noon Helen had +answered five, when they were dismissed until two o'clock. As Helen +passed across the room the lady signaled to her, and handed her three of +the slips. She fairly clutched them in her hand and hurried away lest +Louise should speak to her.</p> + +<p>She did not dare open them. When she reached home, Mrs. Dayton was +sugaring blackberries and placing the dishes on the waiter.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Helen! You look roasted!"</p> + +<p>"I walked so fast. Oh, will you look at these? I have not had the +courage. I have done five, there are four more," she cried breathlessly.</p> + +<p>"You poor child! Why, Helen, these are all right. It is splendid."</p> + +<p>Helen dropped on a chair and wanted to cry from the sudden relief.</p> + +<p>"You foolish girl, to prolong your anxiety. Here, take a fan and get +some of the redness out of your face."</p> + +<p>"I can't go in to lunch. Afterward I will go up and tell Mrs. Van Dorn. +Please do not say a word about me," she entreated.</p> + +<p>Joanna brought her a glass of iced lemonade, and she thanked her with +overflowing eyes.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span> Then she looked at the slips of paper and smiled. +That was only three out of nine. What if the others should be adverse!</p> + +<p>She had a little lunch in the far end of the kitchen by the open window, +and quite recovered her spirits. It seemed as if the ladies would never +get done talking over the table. Their loitering never fretted Mrs. +Dayton, and Joanna had her lunch in the between time.</p> + +<p>When the coast was clear she tripped upstairs smiling and steady of +nerve, now.</p> + +<p>"And it was so fortunate that we read about Hannibal," she exclaimed, +joyously. "I knew, of course, that he crossed the Alps and menaced Rome, +but if we hadn't read the history I should have been at a great loss to +know just what to say. And one question about the Italian poets. It +seems to me I have been learning all summer from you. I was a real +ignoramus, wasn't I, except in mathematics. I owe you so much!"</p> + +<p>She squeezed the soft wrinkled hands in hers, so plump and warm. Her +heartsome cheery voice penetrated deeper into the poor old soul than +anything had done in a long while.</p> + +<p>She would owe her a good deal more in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span> time. And she wondered about +taking her abroad now. They could find teachers in plenty.</p> + +<p>"Now I must go back to my four other questions. Just pray that I shall +not fail anywhere."</p> + +<p>"I have a feeling that you will succeed."</p> + +<p>Two of the girls did not get through at four, but begged to stay, and it +seemed hardly worth while to break another day, unless there were some +new applicants. Helen remained. She saw her answers piled up by +themselves. Then Miss Dowling beckoned her.</p> + +<p>"You are an excellent student," she exclaimed, "and you have had a very +fine teacher in Mr. Warfield. I think we must get him over here. You +have missed only one question, and you go in with flying colors. I wish +you were to be in my class, but I shall have to wait for you until next +year. You live at the Center? You will have to come up to us."</p> + +<p>The girl's eyes sparkled with delight at the commendation, and she +expressed her gratification in a very pretty manner. Miss Dowling was +exceedingly interested in her.</p> + +<p>"I like those ambitious girls who are not puffed-up with vanity," she +said to Mr. Steele.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span> "Helen Grant. Do you know any Grants at the +Center?"</p> + +<p>"No. And the Center is the dullest of all the Hopes. We must find out +about this bright and shining light. I'll take these papers home and +look them over, and call around about nine."</p> + +<p>Miss Dowling nodded.</p> + +<p>"It's just too mean for anything!" declared Louise Searing. "I'm not +sure that I shall even squeeze in, I've lost so many marks. I always did +think Mr. Warfield was partial to you, and it isn't fair."</p> + +<p>"I've been studying all summer," returned Helen.</p> + +<p>"And working at Mrs. Dayton's. For goodness sake what did you do? And I +can tell you it will make a difference with the real High School girls. +Some here at North Hope are very stylish. So it is true you were out +carriage riding half the time?"</p> + +<p>The tone was unpleasant, half envious.</p> + +<p>"I went out with Mrs. Van Dorn, and read to her, and did little errands. +Her real companion comes to-morrow. And about the middle of September +they are going to Europe."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Oh!" Louise opened her eyes wide, rather nonplussed. Hope people did +not often go to Europe. And if companions were taken, then it wasn't so +bad to be a companion. Perhaps it wouldn't be wise to begin to snub +Helen Grant just now.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII</h2> + +<h3>MRS. VAN DORN'S WINNING HAND</h3> + + +<p>Helen was sitting on an ottoman and leaning her arms lightly on Mrs. Van +Dorn's knees that had a soft wrap thrown over them. She fancied she felt +little twinges of neuralgia in them now and then; August nights were +damp.</p> + +<p>They had been talking about the successful examination. Helen had proved +the heroine of the dinner hour. Mr. Pratt admitted that he could not +have answered half of the questions. Mrs. Disbrowe said she went into +the High School of her town on quite as good a record. Mrs. Lessing said +she did not see the need of half the tests, or of College education for +women. The most satisfying destiny for a woman was a good marriage and +she was quite sure men didn't care for learned women.</p> + +<p>"You have been a very nice, cheerful, ready girl all summer, Helen. You +really have been a great pleasure to me," said the lady.</p> + +<p>"I am very glad." Helen's voice was full<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span> of emotion, and she gave the +wrinkled hands a soft caress. "It has been a delightful time to me. I am +so glad Mrs. Dayton thought of me when there were so many nice girls in +the world. It seems to me as if I was brimming over with happiness."</p> + +<p>She could feel the thrill in the young hands. Ah, if she had found Helen +just as she was now, ten years ago. But she was good for many years yet, +and she would have her sweet young life, her charming womanhood.</p> + +<p>"Would you feel very much disappointed if you didn't go to the High +School?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, I think now, it would break my heart."</p> + +<p>"But if something better offered?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, could there be anything better?"</p> + +<p>"Can't you think of anything better?"</p> + +<p>The girl was silent. In her narrow life there had not been much room for +dreams of real betterment.</p> + +<p>"Think, all around the world."</p> + +<p>"Well," with a half laugh and a sound like a sigh not going very deep, +"there would be travel all round the world. I hope some day to earn +money enough to go—well I'll take London first. Then Paris, but I do +not believe I shall want to stay there long, for you see I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span> shall not +have a great deal of money. And then Rome, dear delightful Rome, with +all its old haunts, where its poets have lived and died. And that isn't +half, is it? Is any life long enough to see it all?"</p> + +<p>Her face was in a glow of enthusiasm, her eyes deep and luminous.</p> + +<p>The woman had not begun very early in life and she had seen a good deal +of it. She had heard hundreds of people wish for things, but very few +who were willing to earn them, like this girl who had so little envy in +her composition.</p> + +<p>"Suppose someone would say to you, here is a school where you can be +taught all the higher branches as well, music, drawing, painting, +literature and all the pretty society ways that make one feel at home in +any company. Would you go?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, that is like a fairy dream," and she laughed with charming +softness. "Why, I am afraid to look at it lest I <i>should</i> want it."</p> + +<p>"That isn't answering my question."</p> + +<p>She raised her face and studied the one above her. It was wrinkled and +the eyes were a faded blue-gray. She did not guess the eyebrows were +penciled, the lips tinted, that the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span> hair just a little sprinkled with +white had come from the hair-dresser's. The curious asking expression +transfixed her.</p> + +<p>She drew a long breath. "Why, that would be wonderful to happen to a +poor girl who is thinking how she can work her way along. It would be +like a glimpse of heaven. I should be crazy to refuse it."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Van Dorn took both of the warm, throbbing hands in hers. "Listen," +she exclaimed. "I like you very much. When you first came, I thought +only of a little maid to wait upon me, and run up and down and stay with +Joanna when I wanted to be alone. I was rather curious to know whether +you understood what you were about when you recited 'Hervé Riel.' You +have a great deal of natural or inherited intelligence—your father was +a scholar. If you were two or three years older, I should take you +abroad with me and finish you on the Continent, that is, if you had not +too much self-assurance that growing girls arrogate to themselves so +easily. But that is not to be thought of at present—it must be some +dream of the future. You need real education and you are capable of +assimilating the higher part of it. I should like to send you to a +school I know<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span> of where you will get the best of training. And if you +develop into the girl I think you will, there may be a future before you +better than any of your vague dreams."</p> + +<p>"Oh! oh!" and Helen Grant buried her face in Mrs. Van Dorn's lap and +cried, overcome by a new and strange emotion. If the elder had followed +her impulse she would have lifted the face and kissed it with the +passionate tenderness that was smoldering in her soul, and had never +been satisfied. But her experience in people had been wide and varied, +she was suspicious, she could not trust easily, and here were at least +two years that would go to the shaping of this girl's character. Might +she not care largely for what the money would give her?</p> + +<p>"My dear! my dear!" she began in a muffled sort of tone from +contradictory emotions.</p> + +<p>Helen raised her face of her own accord, and her eyes were like the sun +shining through a shower.</p> + +<p>"Oh, what must you think," and her voice had a broken tremulous sound, +yet was very sweet. "I didn't see how anyone could cry for joy—but I am +learning something new all<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span> the time. Are you in very earnest? Would you +take me with you if I were older and knew more? And would you like to +have me trained and made into the kind of girl that suited you?"</p> + +<p>"A girl proud and honorable and truthful, sincere and grateful——"</p> + +<p>"Oh, I would try to be all that. It seems almost as if I had been +deceitful to Uncle Jason, not to tell him about the High School, but I +was not sure of passing, and not sure that I could work my way through. +And sometimes I don't tell Aunt Jane things because I know she would +make such a fuss, and they are not bad in themselves, and often don't +come to pass. But I hate falsehoods. It makes me angry when they are +told to me."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Van Dorn smiled at the impetuosity.</p> + +<p>"But you would give up the High School for this other plan? You would be +willing to go away among strangers, and trust me for the future? I will +provide everything for you, you will not have a care, only to study and +do your very best, and take care of yourself. Even if you should decide +to teach rather than travel about with me, you would be at liberty to +choose."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I should choose you," she said frankly. "Oh, how can I thank you for +anything so splendid! There are no words good enough."</p> + +<p>She kissed the wrinkled hands fervently.</p> + +<p>"The thanks will be your improvement. Westchester is a beautiful place, +with mostly educated people. Mrs. Aldred, who is a connection, is a lady +in the truest sense of the word. You will learn what the higher class +girls are like—some are fine, some under a charming and well-bred +exterior you will find full of petty meanness. I should hate to have you +mean, grudging. I want you to keep broad, unselfish; though sometimes +you will get the worst and the smallest measure in return. And you will +be quite content to leave your people?"</p> + +<p>A serious sweetness overspread Helen's countenance.</p> + +<p>"If I had a mother who loved me, such a mother as Mrs. Dayton would +make, I am afraid I would not want to leave her. Oh, I know I wouldn't," +decisively. "But Aunt Jane never liked my father, and I think she didn't +care much for my mother. Their desires and ideas are so different from +mine, and they care very little for education, yet they are all<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span> good +and kindly, and Uncle Jason is really fond of me, I think. But it seems +as if when one had neither father or mother to be disappointed, one +might choose what one liked best, if there was nothing wrong in it."</p> + +<p>How did the girl come by so much good sense and uprightness?</p> + +<p>"Then you will accept my proffer?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, I can hardly believe anything so good <i>can</i> come to me. I feel as +if I were dreaming." She looked up uncertain, yet her eyes were dewy +sweet, her lips quivering.</p> + +<p>"We will make it better than a dream. But we will have to disappoint +your Mr. Warfield."</p> + +<p>That gave Mrs. Van Dorn a secret gratification. She was jealous of two +people who had come into Helen Grant's life, this man and Mrs. Dayton.</p> + +<p>"Yes; he will be sorry, I know. But then he could not be my teacher, as +he was last year. And, oh, how proud he will be that I passed so +splendidly."</p> + +<p>"And I shall be glad when you attain to other heights. I really think +you will not need any urging. But don't go too deep in the abstruse +subjects, and don't let anyone spoil<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span> your fashion of reading, for I may +want you to read to me in the years to come."</p> + +<p>"I shall be glad to do anything for you," the girl replied with deep +feeling. "I wish I might spend years and years with you to repay all +this generosity and kindliness. Oh, why do you go away?"</p> + +<p>She flushed with an eagerness, a glow of excitement that gave her a +frank, bewitching sweetness.</p> + +<p>Why did she go? Mrs. Van Dorn had gone over the ground by herself. She +had been tempted to settle herself for life, but did she want to help +tone down the crudeness of the untrained nature, to prune the +enthusiasms, to find little faults here and there? She would rather +someone else would do the gardening, and she have the bloom in its first +sweetness. While she was away Helen would idealize her still more, and +be prepared to give her just the same girl-worship, but with more +discrimination. She would think of nothing but the benefits. She would +see none of the whims and queernesses that Clara Gage had grown +accustomed to. She would not note her growing old every day. And then +she had a longing for a change.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Well, I had planned to spend the winter in the south of France. It is +supposed to be better to have an entire change every few years. I spent +one winter there. I had not been quite up to the mark, and it improved +me wonderfully. Then, I have made most of my arrangements."</p> + +<p>"But you will come back?" beseechingly. "I may not stay the whole two +years. You think you will feel quite satisfied to go to Aldred House? +You will be among strangers, but girls soon get acquainted. Of course, I +could board you here, and have you go to the High School, but it would +not be as well, and it would not make the sort of girl out of you that I +should like as well, for two excellent reasons," smiling a little. "What +is it?" as a grave expression touched Helen's face.</p> + +<p>"You have the right to decide. I know I should like best to go away, but +perhaps it will make some trouble for you. I think my aunt——"</p> + +<p>"I shall have a talk with Mr. Mulford when he comes in on Saturday. A +man is generally master of his house. And I will see how the plan +appears to Mrs. Dayton. She is a very sensible person."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span></p> + +<p>She had a talk with Mrs. Dayton that very evening. She would give Helen +her two years' schooling, and then she would be old enough and capable +of deciding what she would like to do for the future. If she should +prefer to take up teaching, that kind of training would be necessary +afterward. She had some fine capabilities, and it would be a pity not to +make the best of them.</p> + +<p>So Mrs. Van Dorn very clearly defined her own position in the matter, +without betraying her full intentions.</p> + +<p>"If she doesn't get spoiled," commented the listener with an odd smile. +"It is a very generous proffer, and I believe Helen is capable of +appreciating it to the full. It would be a hard thing for her to remain +here and work her way through school, though I had a plan for easing it +up somewhat. She is above the ordinary run of girls, though I didn't +think of that so much when I asked her to come here. The qualities that +decided me then were her cheerfulness and her readiness. I do not +believe her aunt half appreciates her."</p> + +<p>"She is of a little different kind," returned Mrs. Van Dorn. That lady +possessed much cynical enlightenment as to the kinds. "There<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span> is a deal +of talk about goodness in this world, and even an east wind may be good +for something, but it isn't pleasant. You find an immense deal of +narrowness in these old country places. Saturday when Mr. Mulford comes +I want to have a talk with him."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Dayton was really glad that the first explanation was not to come +from her.</p> + +<p>Miss Gage arrived the next day at noon. She was a quiet, +sensible-looking girl, who might have posed for a very attractive one, +if she had known how to make the best of herself. She had a fine clear +complexion, quite regular features, an abundance of soft, light brown +hair, and a slim, graceful figure. But she had begun life weighting +herself up with care, and made many little things a matter of conscience +that were merely matters of choice. She was honest to a fault, obliging, +and with that rare gift of being serviceable. At first Mrs. Van Dorn had +been much pleased with her, but she was too proud to accept many favors, +and her heart was centered in her own family; perhaps selfishly so.</p> + +<p>Helen seemed released from almost every duty, and was glad to devote her +time to Mrs. Dayton.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I should like to know what Mr. Warfield will think of the plan," +commented the lady.</p> + +<p>"Oh, he will hold up both hands for me to go," laughed Helen. "Everybody +will, but Aunt Jane."</p> + +<p>The boarders were all out Saturday afternoon; a party had gone +picnicking to a pretty, shady nook on the Piqua River, where a little +decline and a bed of rock made a dainty waterfall. So Mrs. Van Dorn and +Mr. Mulford had the end of the porch to themselves.</p> + +<p>She stated her plan in a very straightforward manner. For two years she +would send Helen to school, assuming all the expense. After that the +girl might take her choice as to what she would like to follow, and she +would be willing to assist her in any pursuit for which she was best +fitted.</p> + +<p>Mr. Mulford gave a long whistle, and stared at Mrs. Van Dorn. There was +something so amusing in his surprise that she could hardly refrain from +smiling.</p> + +<p>"Well, I swow! You must think a mighty sight of her, ma'am, to be +willing to spend that money out and out, when she could get her +schoolin' right here for nothin'."</p> + +<p>"I think of her capabilities. She is ambi<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span>tious, and can fill an +excellent place in the world."</p> + +<p>"She's a smart girl in everything, but the book learnin' she takes from +her father. Mother's missed her quick handy ways about the house, and +I'm afraid she won't agree to givin' her up. And back there, ma'am, I +used a word not strictly orthodox, and I'm a deacon of the church. But I +was so took aback."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Van Dorn nodded her pardon. "You see," she said quietly, "that it +isn't quite as if she had been given to you. Her father might have +returned and taken her. Then, when a child is fourteen she is allowed to +choose her guardians. I shall stand in that capacity for the next two +years. I shall arrange matters with my legal man in New York, so that, +even if anything should happen to me she would have her two years at +school. People lose their wits, sometimes."</p> + +<p>"I don't believe you will lose yours. You're wonderfully well kept," he +said with blunt admiration. "Well, I d'know as we could do anything if +we wanted to. Mother's had other plans for her, but the child didn't +fall in with them. She was mighty glad to come over here. There isn't +much Mulford about her," with an<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span> abrupt sort of laugh. "We never just +got along with her father, but he was a good enough sort of man. We've +tried to do by Helen as one of our own, and Mother would now. But I +can't think it would be quite right to stand in the child's way."</p> + +<p>"No, it would not," decisively. "She has her life to live, and you can't +do that for her. She has some fine natural gifts which it would be a sin +to traverse. I will have my lawyer draw up an agreement that you will +not interfere during the next two years——"</p> + +<p>"But are we not to see her?" he interrupted, quite aghast at the +prospect.</p> + +<p>"Yes; you may visit her, and she can spend her vacations at home, and +write as often as she has time. I should change my opinion of her if she +was glad to go away, and forget you altogether. I am sure, then, I could +not trust her gratitude to me," she said decisively.</p> + +<p>"No, ma'am, that you couldn't," he subjoined earnestly. "Helen isn't +that kind, I'm sure. And we wouldn't like to have her go out of our +lives altogether."</p> + +<p>"I should not desire her to."</p> + +<p>"But, ma'am, after she's had all this fine living and everything, I'm +afraid we'll seem<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span> very common. You don't think she'd better go to +school here, and keep nearer her own folks?"</p> + +<p>"Well, the other plan seems best to me. But after she has tried it a +year, if she doesn't like it she shall be at liberty to come back to +Hope."</p> + +<p>"That's fair, I'm sure. Thank you, ma'am. And I don't just know what to +say, only that I think it's mighty generous of you, though she's welcome +to my home and all I have. I've never grudged her a penny."</p> + +<p>"I am sure of that. Will you explain the matter to your wife? The +agreement will come next week. And at the last I shall take her to New +York to be fitted out with clothes. If there is any point you do not +quite understand I shall be very willing to explain."</p> + +<p>He rose in a dazed kind of fashion, and made an awkward bow, then went +round to the kitchen end, where Helen had been sorting over +blackberries.</p> + +<p>"Oh, my child," he cried with a new tenderness. "I can't bear to think +of your going away!"</p> + +<p>Helen gave a long, sighing breath, then smiled.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Miss Gage is to be taken to Europe, and her folks are willing," she +subjoined.</p> + +<p>"And this place isn't so far away. You can write and come home in +vacation."</p> + +<p>Then he would consent. She felt relieved that there was to be no +argument.</p> + +<p>"What do you think Aunt Jane will say?" she inquired, clasping his arm.</p> + +<p>"Well, she'll be mighty set against it. I'll have a hard row to hoe when +I go home. There'll be weeds of last year and year before," laughing +brusquely. "I wish the old lady had to tackle her."</p> + +<p>"But I don't. Aunt Jane says a good many things at first that she +doesn't mean. It's the wrong side of something full of seams and knots, +but when you get it turned out it is ever so much smoother."</p> + +<p>"You're right. You're just right. You've quick sight in a good many +things, Helen, and I should hate awfully to have you spoiled, and get so +grand you'd look down on us. Mother aint much for book learnin', and +Jen's as smart as a steel trap, if she is ours. Oh, and there's the +wedding. Why I don't see how we can do without you," and he looked +really alarmed.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps I won't have to go so soon."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span> Somehow she was almost afraid she +wouldn't go at all. It was one of the happenings that seemed too good to +be true, too wonderful for her.</p> + +<p>"Well, I must get along. Mother'll wonder what kept me."</p> + +<p>"And, oh, Uncle Jason, don't ever feel afraid that I shall forget you, +and all your goodness."</p> + +<p>Helen flung her arms around his neck and kissed his rough cheek +tenderly.</p> + +<p>"No, my girl, no. I should hope not. We'll hear soon, I suppose. And you +will come over."</p> + +<p>"Yes." Helen felt a little conscience smitten. She could go over and +spend Sunday, but he did not ask it, and she did not proffer. She could +imagine the time there would be, and oh, she would so much rather be out +of it.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Van Dorn said he was much more amenable to reason than she had +feared. She explained about the agreement, and her plans to go the last +of next week. Helen was transfixed with amazement.</p> + +<p>Monday afternoon Mr. Warfield made his appearance. Miss Gage had gone +out with Mrs. Van Dorn. Helen was very glad to have<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span> Mrs. Dayton explain +the proposal, and point out its advantages.</p> + +<p>"I don't like it," he exclaimed brusquely. "And you didn't take the +examination?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, I did, and it was splendid! I'll show you the papers. But why +don't you like it?" apprehensively.</p> + +<p>"If you are going to teach in a public school, the discipline and +advantages of the public school education are immeasurably the best. I +don't like boarding schools except for the high up people who care most +for accomplishments. And I have been thinking it over, and had a plan to +propose to Mrs. Dayton."</p> + +<p>"My schooldays seem a great perplexity all around," said Helen with a +dubious sort of laugh.</p> + +<p>"I do suppose Helen could have worked her way through. I had decided to +give her a home, or her other expenses if a pleasant home offered. I +would much rather not have her put on the level of a domestic. We may +have some very fine theories on this subject, but Helen would have many +snubs to endure. And if she resolves to learn what is useful, she will +learn it as well there."</p> + +<p>"But the experience will be so different.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span> And two years will fit her +for just nothing at all. Every year more real education is demanded. I +am studying up for a college degree myself."</p> + +<p>"Oh, dear!" Helen sighed lugubriously.</p> + +<p>"Then, here, I should have had an oversight of your studies, and kept +you up to the mark."</p> + +<p>"I am resolved I won't fall below anywhere," she replied resolutely; yet +there were tears in her eyes.</p> + +<p>"But you don't know what the standard will be."</p> + +<p>"Don't be discouraging, Mr. Warfield. Helen, go and get your papers," +interposed Mrs. Dayton.</p> + +<p>"Is that old body going to have Helen trained for a lady's maid?" Mr. +Warfield asked in an imperious manner; his lips touched with a bit of +scorn.</p> + +<p>"You don't do her justice. At the end of two years Helen will be free to +choose her future course. She will be only sixteen then."</p> + +<p>"And spoiled utterly. Full of airs and graces. She is too fine a girl to +be made a sort of puppet. There wasn't a girl in my class equal to her, +and some had had much better<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span> advantages. I should not want her to go on +living with the Mulfords."</p> + +<p>Helen returned bright and eager, proud of her success as she handed him +her examination papers. But Mr. Warfield would not be reconciled to the +boarding school plan, and when he saw Mrs. Van Dorn step out of the +carriage in her fine attire, he felt that he hated her; that she was an +officious old body.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX</h2> + +<h3>DIFFERENT STANDPOINTS</h3> + + +<p>Helen would have been figuratively torn to pieces if she had spent +Sunday at the Center. Uncle Jason's first resolve was that he would wait +until Sunday afternoon before announcing the conspiracy. The more he +thought of the plan the greater the benefit to Helen seemed. She <i>was</i> +different from the Mulfords, and she had no Cummings blood in her veins. +She had changed these few weeks of her sojourn with Mrs. Dayton. Not +that she had grown consequential. Indeed, she had never been more simply +sweet than on this afternoon.</p> + +<p>She would hate the shop dreadfully. And after all the three dollars a +week she would earn the first year, would not more than pay for her +board and clothes. Jenny had gone at it with a vim. But she hated books. +The only thing that interested her was arithmetic. Uncle Jason could not +put it in words, but he could feel it.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span></p> + +<p>The supper passed off without any squabbles. Sam and Jenny walked down +to the house, the children were tired and went to bed, and Aunt Jane +came out on the porch to take a turn in her rocking chair and fan +herself cool. But the wind blew up, and she did not even have to fan.</p> + +<p>"Did you ask whether Helen would come home next week? Polly Samson comes +two days to make Jen's wedding gown, and she'll be married on the +sixteenth. We've got along wonderfully the last fortnight, and I begin +to see my way clear. Dear, how I shall miss Jen, but I'm glad she'll be +so near by. And she bid 'em good-by at the shop to-day. Reely's getting +to be quite a help. I don't know but it <i>was</i> better for her to have +Helen away in vacation."</p> + +<p>Uncle Jason felt this was the golden opportunity. The lovers would not +be home until about ten. It took some courage. He cleared his throat, +listened a moment to the crickets, and then plunged into the subject; +blurting it all out before Aunt Jane could recover her breath. In fact +there was such an awful silence he wondered.</p> + +<p>Then the storm descended. He smoked his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span> pipe and listened, though he +heard the crickets with one ear, he would have said. And when he did not +make an immediate answer, she said angrily:</p> + +<p>"You never consented to any such tomfoolery!"</p> + +<p>"In the first place," he began slowly, "we couldn't keep Helen against +her will. Her father didn't make us guardians. At fourteen she can +choose. She isn't bound to us, and we haven't any real claim on her——"</p> + +<p>"Except common gratitude," Aunt Jane flung out.</p> + +<p>"We've taken care of her a few years. I dare say there'd be people in +North Hope who would take a smart girl like Helen and pay her three +dollars a week. Mrs. Dayton thought she might stay there and go to the +High School before that other offer come along. And Warfield thinks it +would be dreadful not to give her a chance at school when she could earn +it for herself. She doesn't want to go in the shop——"</p> + +<p>"As if a girl of fourteen knew what she wanted!"</p> + +<p>"Jenny did, and you agreed with her. I was awfully took by surprise when +old lady<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span> Van Dorn first snapped this onto me, but Helen and Mrs. Dayton +were so much in earnest, and then drivin' home I kept thinking it over. +If someone offered to take Sam and teach him store business, and he had +his heart set upon going, and it was a good chance, I don't believe it +would be right to oppose him. It's just the same with Helen."</p> + +<p>"And have her stick up above us and despise us! She's had pride enough, +and I've tried to break her of it. I just wish I hadn't let her go at +all. She'll be unthankful and full of conceit, and she never <i>shall</i> go +with my consent."</p> + +<p>Uncle Jason kept silence, which was very irritating. Aunt Jane went over +the ground again, growing more dogmatic at every step. Then the young +people returned.</p> + +<p>"Goodness sakes, mother, what are you scolding about?" cried Jenny. +"They can hear you half a mile away."</p> + +<p>Then the story had to be gone over again.</p> + +<p>"Well, I declare! I don't see that it's anything to get mad about," said +Jenny sensibly. "Why, it's—it's just splendid! Pop, don't you think she +ought to go? And if she likes<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span> teaching better than anything else, for +goodness sake, let her teach! I'd rather go out washing. And a girl who +don't like it in the shop won't get along. Helen hasn't quite the right +way with her. She's on the Grant side of the fence. My! The idea! That +old lady must have taken a smashin' fancy to her. And she has sights of +money, folks say. Maybe she'll leave her something in the end, and she's +quite old."</p> + +<p>"I'm fairly stumped!" declared Sam. "Mother, what's the reason you don't +want her to go?"</p> + +<p>"Mother's afraid she'll put on airs, and crow over us. Goodness! Let +her, if she wants to. I'm going to have a good home, and a good +husband," squeezing Joe's hand, "and she may crow over me as much as she +likes. It won't hurt me a bit. And if you undertake to keep her home +she'll be cranky, and you'll wish you hadn't."</p> + +<p>They were all on Helen's side. Mrs. Mulford could not make any headway +and went off to bed in high dudgeon. All day Sunday she carried about an +injured look, and said she had reached the time of life when her +opinions were of no account, after all she had done, and where<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span> would +anyone have been without her thrift and judgment?</p> + +<p>On Monday Jenny helped wash and iron, and sang about the house. She told +her mother the matter wasn't worth minding. Tuesday, Polly Samson came +with three new patterns of wedding gowns, and fairly alive with the +wonderful news that a rich old woman boarding at Mrs. Dayton's was going +to adopt Helen, and send her away to school.</p> + +<p>The next afternoon the carriage came over with Mrs. Van Dorn, Mrs. +Dayton, and Helen, and the agreement. Certainly Mrs. Van Dorn's part +sounded very generous. For the next two years she would provide wholly +for Helen, and keep her at school, but she would be free in the summer +vacation. After that Helen must decide her course. Mr. Castles, the +lawyer, vouched for Mrs. Van Dorn. The Mulfords were to visit her +whenever they chose.</p> + +<p>"I don't agree to any of this," said Mrs. Mulford, in her most severe +tone. "I don't believe in girls being brought up above their station. +We're just plain farmer people, and Helen's our kin, though if she was +on the Cummings' side, I'd have some voice in the matter. Mr. Mulford's +willing, and if it turns<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span> out bad, and she grows up proud and lazy, and +ashamed of honest labor, 'taint my fault. I wash my hands of it all," +and she fairly wrung them out.</p> + +<p>Helen's face was scarlet.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Van Dorn said in a very dignified manner, "Will you sign this, Mr. +Mulford? You will see the money is in Mr. Castles' hands, and must be +used for that alone. You can compel me to keep my word," smiling.</p> + +<p>"I don't doubt you at all," said Mr. Mulford. "I'd trust you without the +scratch of a pen."</p> + +<p>"But that wouldn't be business."</p> + +<p>Jenny brought in some cake, and some very nice root beer. If the ladies +chose they could have a cup of tea.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Van Dorn thought she would.</p> + +<p>Then they talked about Jenny's wedding. Helen was to go to New York on +Saturday, and on Friday of next week was due at Aldred House.</p> + +<p>"I'm awful sorry you can't come to the wedding," said Jenny. "We're +going away for a week, then we shall have a house-warming at my house. +I'm going to be married at noon, so the relatives can get home before<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span> +night. And I'm sure I wish you loads of good luck. It is just wonderful. +Mother'll get over it, and be just as proud as anybody. Father thinks it +just right, and Joe says it's like something out of a story book. He's +fond of stories, and used to read them to his mother. I shan't mind his +reading to me, for I'll sew and crochet."</p> + +<p>"And I know you'll be happy, Jenny. I wish you all the good things. And +I could—stay all night," hesitatingly.</p> + +<p>"No, I wouldn't. Come over and spend Friday, then mother'll be in a +better humor," laughing. "But father'll miss you dreadfully. He'd lotted +on your taking my place. Well, we'll all miss you, but it's such a +splendid chance. You'll let her come over on Friday?" to Mrs. Van Dorn. +"Then my wedding gown will be done. It's white lansdowne. I thought I +wouldn't splurge in silk or satin. Lansdowne will dye when it's soiled."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Van Dorn promised for Friday, and they said their good-bys. Helen +ran out to the kitchen porch, and kissed Uncle Jason.</p> + +<p>"There were two votes against it," said Mrs. Van Dorn dryly. "I think I +can understand your aunt, but I don't see the force of Mr.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span> Warfield's +reasoning. Your cousin seems a nice, sensible girl."</p> + +<p>How the days flew! One of the neighbors took her over Friday morning. +Joe and Jenny would bring her back. And she had a really happy time. +Jenny took her down to the house, and it was attractively nice and +comfortable, even if Jenny had tacked up some advertising pictures in +her chamber, and the dining-room. There was an old-time door-yard with +its long rows of flowers. Joe was a master hand for flowers. The +vegetable garden was in excellent order, and did not look ragged, as +gardens were wont to do in early autumn. There had been a second crop of +several things, which betokened thrift on Joe's part. Yes; Jenny would +be very happy. People <i>were</i> different, and the same pursuits and +pleasures could not satisfy all alike.</p> + +<p>"I'm glad you are going to that school, Helen. You would never have +liked working in the shop. It's suited me well enough, because I've been +thinking of the money. I have two hundred dollars in the bank in my own +name, and Joe is going to let me have the butter and egg money. But I +don't know how I'll keep busy all the time, though I can help<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span> mother +with the sewing. She'd counted so much on you. And she thinks now——" +Jenny looked at Helen, and laughed merrily, "that if Mrs. Van Dorn would +put the money out at interest that she's going to spend on you the next +two years, it would be ever so much better for you."</p> + +<p>"No, it wouldn't," returned Helen decisively. "Beside, what good reason +would she have for doing such a thing? She knows I am just wild for an +education. There are so many splendid knowledges in the world," and the +girl's face was brilliant with eagerness.</p> + +<p>"You've changed some way, Helen. I guess you always were a little +different, though." Jenny seemed studying her from head to foot. "You're +taller. My, if you had on long skirts, you'd be a young lady."</p> + +<p>"I just want to be a girl for ever so long. Mrs. Van Dorn doesn't want +me grown up."</p> + +<p>"And I went in the shop when I was only half-past fourteen," laughing. +"I made mother let me wear long skirts, and when I was fifteen Joe began +to come round and bring me home from cottage meeting and singing school, +but his mother didn't like it a bit. She wouldn't have let him marry if +she<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span> had lived, but I was willing to wait and that maddened her. Now if +she'd been nice, I'd a' been real glad to have her round. And I say to +mother, don't you be getting cranky and snappy so as no one will want to +live with you when you get old. Isn't that Mrs. Van Dorn rather queer?"</p> + +<p>"She is so bright and intelligent, and has traveled about so much and +read almost everything. Why I've learned about countries and their +government, and what they do at Washington, and about Congress and our +own capital, and the cities and towns that have mayors, and boroughs, +and villages."</p> + +<p>"Oh dear, all that would set me crazy!" interrupted Jenny, holding up +her hand in entreaty. "I guess you <i>do</i> take after your father. Well my +life suits me best. Just imagine me marrying a man like Mr. Warfield! +Why I shouldn't know what to do—I'd rather work in the shop and have +fun with the girls. But if all these things suit you, you ought to have +them, when they are offered out and out to you."</p> + +<p>"I am glad <i>you</i> think so;" and she gave Jenny's arm a caressing little +squeeze.</p> + +<p>"And I do hope you won't get so big feeling<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span> that you will be too grand +to notice us. I'd like you to come next summer in vacation and make me a +nice long visit. I think I'll be able to stand book learning for a +while;" with her rather boisterous laugh. "And oh, you won't forget to +write to father."</p> + +<p>"No indeed," with tender warmth. "I never loved Uncle Jason so much as +this last summer, though he's always been good to me."</p> + +<p>"And he thinks a mighty sight of you, I can tell you," returned Jenny.</p> + +<p>Then they walked homeward. There was a great ado bidding Helen good-by. +Aunt Jane gave her some severely good advice, which was quite +superfluous, seeing that she would not recognize the change in the +girl's life.</p> + +<p>Uncle Jason put both arms around her and kissed her tenderly.</p> + +<p>"Be a good, honest, truthful girl," he said in a rather broken voice, +"and then all the learning in the world won't hurt you."</p> + +<p>The next morning there were some more good-bys. Joanna's was really +touching.</p> + +<p>"There's a good deal of knowledge it's nice to have," she said, "but I +think your pretty<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span> ways must have come natural. And you do beat all at +drying dishes."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Dayton felt almost as if she was giving up a child. Would it have +been better for her to have remained at Hope?</p> + +<p>She was really astonished at the commotion the event created. Wasn't it +a great risk to have Helen Grant go off with a strange woman? Just as if +schools in Hope were not good enough!</p> + +<p>"I never saw anything wonderful in Helen Grant," said Mrs. Graham. "Mr. +Warfield pushed her ahead when he should have been taking pains with +others, and I'll venture to say he helped her out with that examination. +She couldn't have gone to the High School anyhow. And Jason Mulford is +as stuck up as a telegraph post over her luck. We'd all laugh if it fell +through in a year!"</p> + +<p>As for Helen there were several days of living in absolute fairyland. +The Hotel was a veritable palace to her, the ladies, queens and +princesses. As for the stores they were beyond any description, only she +thought they had been rehearsed in "Walks about Paris," but she was +sometime to see the difference.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Van Dorn displayed excellent taste in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span> selecting Helen's wardrobe. +It was simply pretty, fit for a girl in the ordinary walks of life. Her +measurements were left with madame, who, from time to time would send +her what was suitable and necessary.</p> + +<p>She had been such a charming companion that Mrs. Van Dorn really hated +to give her up. If she were only two or three years older! Her +enthusiasms were so fresh and infectious, her health was so perfect, her +readiness, her pleasant temper, the pretty manner in which she took any +check or counsel, appealed curiously to the worn old heart still +hankering after something all its own, that should exhilarate and bring +her back to some of the freshness of youth. Two years. Well, there were +women who lived to ninety-six, or even a hundred. She would take good +care of herself and have this enjoyment in her later years.</p> + +<p>Miss Gage took Helen to Westchester. It was a beautiful town with old +trees and old substantially-built houses. It was the county town also, +and twice a year presented quite a stirring aspect. The inhabitants were +refined and intelligent. Four different denominations had churches. A +lovely winding river ran on one side, full of suggestive nooks, dividing +it<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span> from a neighboring State. A smaller one ran nearly through the +center, crossed by several rustic bridges. Toward the east there was a +rather high bluff going up, a woody sort of crest, and on this stood +Aldred House, though it fronted on Elm Avenue. There were two terraces, +and two short flights of steps to reach it, and a great wide veranda +where a Virginia creeper and honeysuckle were burnishing their leaves in +the sun.</p> + +<p>"Oh," sighed Helen with a long indrawn breath and luminous eyes, "tell +Mrs. Van Dorn that I shall be perfectly happy here, I know I shall."</p> + +<p>And Mrs. Van Dorn wondered when the message was repeated. Youth was +easily caught by newness. What if Helen should be weaned away by other +friends? And there were girls born students who could not be satisfied +unless with some profession or business. What if she should be one of +these? The jealous old heart wanted all of her, all of the Babylon she +meant to build with its pleasant gardens and fascinating nooks of +variety. Well, Helen had cared for her old uncle, and she, Mrs. Van Dorn +would be a hundred times better to her.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span></p> + +<p>The reception room was cozy, with one open bookcase, some pictures, a +great oriental jar full of trailing clematis and blazing sumac branches. +Mrs. Aldred came in, a rather tall, sweet-faced woman with a voice that +won at once, and a manner that had a welcome in it.</p> + +<p>"I am very glad to have you come, and glad that I could oblige Mrs. Van +Dorn in any way. I hope you will soon feel at home," she exclaimed.</p> + +<p>"Oh, it is so lovely everywhere! And the journey for the last mile or +two where you caught glimpses of the river, and in one place a great +pile of rocks big enough to shelter some of the old Norse gods was +enchanting. We have only one poor little river at home and there is but +one really beautiful place in it. And I am sure I shall like to live +here."</p> + +<p>An enthusiastic girl, thought Mrs. Aldred. A fine, intelligent face +also, perhaps too romantic.</p> + +<p>Miss Gage gave her few charges and said good-by, as she was to catch a +return train. It was early afternoon. Several of the scholars had +arrived and were settling their rooms. Then Helen's trunk came up. Mrs. +Aldred had been taking her through the long parlor on the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span> opposite side +of the hall, and the dining room, where instead of one long table, +several small ones were cozily arranged. Back of this, toward the bluff, +was the schoolroom, and the study room, with several small ones for +recitations.</p> + +<p>"I wonder if you would like best to be alone in a room or have a +companion?" questioned Mrs. Aldred. "I sometimes give girls a choice."</p> + +<p>"I like folks," returned Helen, frankly. "That is——" pausing rather +confusedly.</p> + +<p>"If they are agreeable?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Helen, smiling.</p> + +<p>"I will give you a room where you <i>may</i> have a companion if you like. +Some girls get homesick at first if they are alone."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I shall not be homesick," she exclaimed with gay assurance.</p> + +<p>Up the broad staircase they trooped, though there were two smaller ones +convenient to many of the rooms. There was a long corridor with small +rooms opening on the one side, and a cross hall leading to those in +front. In the double rooms were screens arranged to insure as much +privacy as one cared for. A white bed, a sort of closet with +book-shelves<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span> above, a bureau and dressing table, a wardrobe built in +the wall, a wicker arm chair and a rocking chair, with a large hassock +and a small one.</p> + +<p>"Now," said Mrs. Aldred, "when your trunk comes you will empty it and +put your clothes away, and the servant will take it to the trunk room."</p> + +<p>It came up in a few moments. Then Mrs. Aldred left her with some kindly +wishes.</p> + +<p>Helen went to the window. It overlooked the southwest. There were tops +of trees, then a depression that was the river, and over beyond fields +golden in the sunshine,—that was the stubble of grain, others a dull +brown with here and there a bit of green weed pushing up sturdily since +the hay had been cut, young winter wheat over beyond, houses, farms, +rising ground again and woodlands. Far over to the westward were the +grand hills of another State. It was so much more beautiful than all the +Hopes with their levels.</p> + +<p>This wonderful thing had happened to her. Hardly a year, indeed it was +at the beginning of the present year that Mr. Warfield had gone at her +rather fiercely, she thought, and told her there was no use of dawdling +and that she must pass for the High School.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span></p> + +<p>"But I can't go to the High School," she had protested. That looked +impossible.</p> + +<p>"No matter, you can pass," he had said so sternly that she wondered why +people must be cross when they were so much nicer in a pleasant mood.</p> + +<p>Then Aunt Jane began to talk of next year when she should be through +school. She roused suddenly, she "took hold" as people say and found +that life meant something. Perhaps it was the growth out of childhood, +the development of mind; country children were not analytical. She began +to wonder about things, to ask questions that pleased Mr. Warfield and +tormented Aunt Jane, and all these events, more than had come in the +thirteen and a half years before, had happened in this little space of +time. Eight months only.</p> + +<p>"Oh dear, I wonder if things, incidents, come this way to all girls. I +wonder if there is a time when you wake up," and she looked steadily at +the sky with its drifts of gray white clouds as if it could answer.</p> + +<p>"Well, I do suppose Jenny woke up, too. She wanted to go in the shop and +earn money. Sam doesn't seem very wide awake, though he means to learn a +trade. Yes, I think there<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span> must be diverse gifts. Oh, it's just glorious +here! I wish Mrs. Van Dorn could know."</p> + +<p>She did know one day before she sailed and her heart thrilled with a +warmth it had not known in a long while. Clara was serene, useful, +patient, but she <i>did</i> lack enthusiasm.</p> + +<p>There were steps and voices, gay laughs, some new girls had come, some +old ones rushed out to welcome them. Helen turned and saw her trunks and +began to devote herself to unpacking. There was a best hat in a +compartment. She opened the wardrobe door and on the shelf were two hat +boxes. That was settled. The small articles she laid on the rug, and +lifted out the tray. Then came the gowns and skirts, the shirtwaists and +all the paraphernalia. She found places for them. But here were two very +precious belongings, the Madonna she had once coveted, and a tall vase +of roses with a few fallen leaves so natural that one felt inclined to +brush them off. There was also an extremely fine photograph of Mrs. Van +Dorn. Of course the artist had done his best and turned back the hand of +time; she was not over fifty that day.</p> + +<p>Helen was much interested in "settling."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span> There were hooks for her +pictures, so she stood up on a chair and hung them. There were several +pretty table ornaments, her writing desk with its outfit.</p> + +<p>Some one tapped at the partly-opened door. She found a bright +rosy-cheeked girl with a fluff of golden red hair, and a laughing face.</p> + +<p>"You are one of the new girls," exclaimed a merry voice. "I'm Roxy Mays, +not half as hard as my name sounds. In full its Roxalana. I've tried +several other ways of shortening it, but they are delusions and snares. +I was named after a rich old great-aunt, she was my sponsor and +consented to promise I should renounce everything desirable. Why is it +that rich people have such ugly names and are always wanting to +perpetuate them, or do you get rich on an ugly name? There ought to be +some compensation. Now—have you any objection to stating yours before +supper time?"</p> + +<p>"Mine is Helen Grant."</p> + +<p>"Oh, that is splendid and strong and easy to call. There was Helen Mar, +and Helen of Troy, and several other famous Helens. Well, I like your +name to begin with. Are you going to be a doctor?"</p> + +<p>"A doctor!" Helen gave a little shudder.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Oh, that settles it. You haven't the courage for all you look so brave. +Two of our last year's graduates have chosen that walk in life. One goes +to New York bound to work her way through, the other to Wellesley. Seven +years of study, think of it and weep!"</p> + +<p>"But if she loves to study?"</p> + +<p>"Depravity of taste. Spider, ask in this timid fly hovering about your +gates," and as Helen stepped back with a gesture of the hand Miss Mays +entered and glanced around, though she kept on talking. "Do you like +getting settled, and are you not bothered about the right places?—oh," +with almost a shriek—"you have that lovely Bodenhausen Madonna! I have +the Sichel and I never can decide which I like best. And then Gabriel +Marx, and Dangerfield! We're not hopelessly modern, for I have the +Sistine. Nearly every girl has it. And oh, who is this handsome woman? A +Duchess at the very least!"</p> + +<p>"That is—a dear friend," Helen flushed. "That must have been taken when +she was younger. She is quite old now."</p> + +<p>"Elderly. There may be old men and old peasant women in pictures, but +the living women are simply elderly. Well, one wouldn't<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span> mind growing +old if one could look like that. Have you ever been away at school +before?"</p> + +<p>"No," returned Helen.</p> + +<p>"North, South, East or West? Brevity is the soul of wit. I sometimes set +up for a wit when I can do it on a small capital."</p> + +<p>"Rather southerly from here," laughed Helen. "A little country place +called Hope Center."</p> + +<p>"Hope Center. Helen Grant. Well that has a sound! You will do. What else +are you going to put up?"</p> + +<p>"I haven't anything else."</p> + +<p>"That's delightful. Most girls bring so much from home, to cry over. You +don't really look like the crying kind. And school girl treasures +accumulate fearfully. It's nice to have a place to put the new ones."</p> + +<p>She had a small photograph of Mrs. Dayton in her writing desk. There had +not been any keepsakes to bring.</p> + +<p>"Won't you come and be introduced to some of the girls? They are in +Daisy Bell's room."</p> + +<p>"Wouldn't I——" she hesitated.</p> + +<p>"Be an intruder? Oh dear no. The sooner you get over these things the +better. Come!"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 391px;"> +<img src="images/illus-192.jpg" width="391" height="550" alt="Helen's first day at Aldred House.—Page 192." title="" /> +<span class="caption">Helen's first day at Aldred House.—Page 192.</span> +</div> + +<p>She took Helen's hand and led her to a room two or three doors down. The +screens had been pushed aside. On one bed sat two girls, two others were +hanging pictures and spreading bric-a-brac on brackets and shelves. One +of the girls was still in short skirts, and Helen felt secretly glad. +This was Daisy Bell.</p> + +<p>"Oh, thank goodness you're not grown up," cried Daisy, eyeing her from +head to toe. "I wept, I prayed, I entreated for long skirts, and I +couldn't move my mother, any more than the rock of Gibraltar."</p> + +<p>"Well, you're not a senior. Why should you care?"</p> + +<p>"How old are you, Miss Grant?"</p> + +<p>"Past fourteen the last of June."</p> + +<p>"Oh, how tall for that! I'm fifteen. But I have two older sisters, and +they are always saying 'That child, Daisy,' as if I was about seven. How +many sisters have you?"</p> + +<p>"None. And no father or mother."</p> + +<p>"You poor wretched orphan!"</p> + + + +<p>"She doesn't look a bit wretched, Roxy Mays," said a girl who had been +surveying her. "The juniors are all down there," nodding toward the +lower end of the hall, "so you<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span> might have known she wasn't 'sweet and +twenty.'"</p> + +<p>"At what age do you begin to grow sweet so as to get ready for the +twenty?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, girls, don't let's hurry into the twenty. I'd like to stay sixteen +three years, and seventeen four years."</p> + +<p>"I wish they'd made the years longer. There could have been another +month or two put in vacation time."</p> + +<p>"What is Hope Center like?" asked one of the girls. "It doesn't sound +like a city."</p> + +<p>"It's the country, farms mostly. North Hope is the real town part, and +quite pretty, with stores, and churches, and a library, and a small but +nice park."</p> + +<p>"There's a lovely old park here. Everything is old. There are the oldest +women you ever saw. One of them shook hands with Lafayette."</p> + +<p>"And I've shaken hands with ever so many people and not a Lafayette or a +Washington among them," declared Roxy most lugubriously.</p> + +<p>"Now look, girls, would you hang this picture here?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I think it's rather dark. Bring it over here."</p> + +<p>"Yes, that's better. No one asks Miss Grant to sit down."</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"'No stars were shining in the sky—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">There were no stars to shine.'</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">No chairs were idly standing round,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">In schools they never do abound,"</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>laughed Daisy Bell. "Miss Grant, sit on the bed. It won't break down."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I don't mind," returned Helen.</p> + +<p>"What I am to do with all these things!" moaned Daisy, glancing +helplessly about.</p> + +<p>"Miss Grant has begun sensibly. She did not cart a lot of truck away +from home."</p> + +<p>Helen had a mind to say humorously "There was no truck to cart," but two +others began to talk at once, and she wondered how they could say such +bright merry things. It seemed as if she had never seen real girls +before.</p> + +<p>Then Daisy finished up and they went down on the big back porch where +chairs were plenty and hammocks were swung. Helen was introduced to +another bevy of girls, some quite young ladies it seemed. They all went +in to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span> supper presently, and Helen found herself next to Daisy Bell. The +six girls at this table were all young. Afterwards they went out of +doors again and Miss Aldred joined them, welcoming several of the new +arrivals personally. She had a very sweet face without being really +pretty. She came over to Helen after a few moments and said in a low +tone. "You are Mrs. Van Dorn's <i>protégée</i>. I hope you will be very happy +among us."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I am sure I shall," returned Helen.</p> + +<p>At nine there was a hymn sung and a brief prayer. Then the girls +dispersed, and at ten everybody was in bed.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X</h2> + +<h3>BEGINNING ANEW</h3> + + +<p>Helen went to her room, saying good-night to a group of girls. She +crossed over to her window and stood there many minutes. Oh, a picture +like this could never be painted. The moon had come up and the tree-tops +were clusters of frosted jewels. Such little nooks of almost black +shade, such translucent green where the branches were thin. And the +meadows, and the far-off fields, the houses within range! Was she far +away in some unknown region? Was this a book she had been reading and +would she shut it up and find herself in Hope again?</p> + +<p>There was such a sweetness and newness and beauty about it all, such a +glow in her heart, speeding through every nerve at the wonderful +happening. This lovely home, these pretty, merry girls, music, books, +and a kind of living that filled and satisfied. Six months ago she was +Helen Grant, was she<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span> really someone else now? She felt so, as if there +had been some strange metamorphosis.</p> + +<p>And that delightful, enchanting week in New York. Oh, how full of +pleasure and happiness the world must be if a few little spaces could +contain so much! And that she could have a share in the real blessedness +of it!</p> + +<p>Was that the big clock striking the half hour? One was to stop reading +or studying at that warning and prepare for bed. Dreaming too, tempting +as the picture was.</p> + +<p>Helen had always "said her prayers." A wonder as to the real virtue of +this had occasionally crossed her mind. So far she had only known a +religion of habit; like the other habits of life. To-night a new thought +possessed her. Did she owe this simply to Mrs. Van Dorn? If all good and +perfect things came from God then this that was so supremely delightful, +so almost marvelous of its kind must have been put in the kindly heart +by some higher power.</p> + +<p>She was curiously awed. Uncle Jason and Aunt Jane were church members, +but religion had very little power in their lives. Yet Aunt Jane brought +up her children to be strictly honest, and any bald falsehood she truly +be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span>lieved she despised. But injustice or the refusal to see the other +side of the question was not connected in her mind with truthfulness. +Like many other people the things she believed in and wanted, were +right, not only for her, but others must be fitted to the measure. So +Helen knew very little of the higher meaning of the word.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Van Dorn paid a general outward respect to religion when she was +with a certain kind of people, but she was of a sort of heathen who make +gods for themselves. Her life was to be enjoyment now, since the early +part of it had been hard and comfortless. If it had not been right, a +form of reward for those dreary early years it would not have come to +her. She thought it bad taste to array herself against beliefs that +pervaded the world so largely. All sorts of disbelief coarsened women. +She had listened to one great woman speaker who afterward became an +Anarchist, and who even then denounced nearly all the moral precepts and +attacked modern marriage, and was really shocked. She liked to keep what +she called reverence for sacred things. And it pleased her to play +Providence to people now and then, and impress it delicately on the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span> +recipients that they need look no farther than herself for the giver of +their good.</p> + +<p>But to-night Helen felt there was some power beyond, and she gave thanks +sincerely to it. It was God who had made the world so full of beauty, it +must be God who had put these noble and lovely desires in anyone's soul, +so she went quite past Mrs. Van Dorn.</p> + +<p>There were sweet and merry voices the next morning, but Helen had been +up an hour or more looking over some poems in a choice selection. +Someone tapped at her door, and she opened it. Miss Mays stood there +smiling.</p> + +<p>"I suppose you feel a little queer, like the traditional cat in a +strange garret. Come down with us."</p> + +<p>"To-day is a kind of lawless, irresponsible time. I dote on it. We had +lots of fun last year because we came on Friday. It was Daisy Bell's +first year, too. You learn to-day what the rules are, but you don't have +to keep them. It's a grace day when you are not forced to get your +accounts straight."</p> + +<p>Helen turned and wished her mates goodmorning, and thought within +herself that it was a very pretty thing to say, since the morning was so +good. Yet she had a curious feeling<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</a></span> within her, as if she was here +under some kind of false pretense. She was so utterly honest she would +have enjoyed explaining her exact situation, that she was here on the +bounty of a friend, and not as these other girls who came from +delightful homes, and had fathers to care for them.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Aldred summoned Helen to her room. Occasionally this was not a +pleasant call to make, but this morning it had no such signification.</p> + +<p>All new pupils underwent this examination. Where she had been trained, +what she had studied, and what her aims were, if she had any.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Van Dorn had explained pretty clearly, and she had also said, +"Don't spoil a very nice, honest girl by setting her up too high."</p> + +<p>"What I would like to do most of all?" and Helen's eyes lighted with +enthusiasm. "I think it would be to teach, because then you always go on +learning. There are some things that girls and women do that seem to +make you stop off short, turn you into another channel entirely," and +she thought of the shoe factory and how narrowly she had escaped that.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Van Dorn had been quite as non-commital with her <i>protégée</i> then, +or had no real plans for her.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Now let me hear what you have studied."</p> + +<p>Helen went over the list and told of her High School examination and how +she had passed. There was a girlish pride in it, of course, but no undue +elation. Mrs. Aldred was much pleased with the absence of +self-consciousness, the real delight in knowledge.</p> + +<p>"You are very well grounded. Mrs. Van Dorn wished you to take up French; +of course you will begin with Latin. And music."</p> + +<p>"Oh!" Helen's face was radiant then. "Music! I never dreamed of that!"</p> + +<p>"You will not enjoy the drudgery, but that has to come first. It is an +excellent thing to be interested in what you are doing, to <i>love</i> it, +but all studies are not equally pleasant. There are courage and +perseverance needed."</p> + +<p>"I shall try to do my very best for Mrs. Van Dorn's sake. It was so +generous of her to send me here though I do think I should have managed +to work my way through the High School."</p> + +<p>What a frank, honest girl she was! How little she knew about the world! +An astute person could turn her inside out and laugh at her innocence. +It was a pity to spoil it, yet it<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span> would be worse to leave her at the +mercy of a crowd of girls.</p> + +<p>"This will be an entirely new experience for you," Mrs. Aldred began +gently. "You have had very little acquaintance with the real world, and +very little need to be on your guard. As one's sphere grows wider and +more people come into it, there is occasion for"—how should she put +it—judgment; no, that was not quite it; at this stage of a girl's life +she was not likely to have a very correct judgment; "a little caution +and reserve. Girls so often exchange confidences about their lives and +their friends, and do not always look at things just as they are. +Afterward they regret their unreserve."</p> + +<p>Helen had been taking in every word, only she could not get the meaning +of it, except that it seemed to her confused sense akin to her thoughts +of an hour ago. She really studied the face before her, and Mrs. Aldred +felt the scrutiny. How could she make the girl understand just what she +meant? If Mrs. Van Dorn had been a little more explicit. If she were +having the girl educated solely for herself the explanation would be +easy enough.</p> + +<p>Helen's directness solved the difficulty. There was so much ingrained +honesty about<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</a></span> her, and yet half the time lately, it seemed to her she +had been on the very verge of deceitfulness.</p> + +<p>"Mrs. Aldred," she began, with some hesitation, "I was thinking, this +morning, when I heard the girls talk, that my life had been so different +from theirs, and whether I had the right—" her face went scarlet +then—"I don't know as I can just explain it," in some confusion, "but +whether I <i>was</i> on an equality with them."</p> + +<p>She said it out bravely. Mrs. Aldred admired her courage and her +honesty.</p> + +<p>"You certainly are on an equality with them here. If Mrs. Van Dorn had +asked me to take you as a return for some past favors, you would still +have been put on an equality, and I should not have considered it +sailing under false colors. But she pays the usual terms for you, and +the favor is between yourself and her. So you can dismiss all thoughts +of that from your mind. I think she desires to have you trained in +society ways, which you can do by watching the best examples and +following them. You will like some girls very much, and girls are +largely given to think that a true friendship must begin by telling each +other all the little happen<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</a></span>ings of their lives. It is a good rule to +consider in these matters whether you would like the girl to tell this +over to someone who did not admire you so much, and who repeated it with +little embellishments to the next eager listener."</p> + +<p>"But she could not if it was a confidence," said Helen decisively.</p> + +<p>"Girls' consciences are elastic," smiling a little. "I think they do not +mean to make mischief, but I have known more than one regret caused by +an incautious confidence. Girls have many things to learn before they +are women, but a light and happy heart is the birthright of a girl and +she need not hurry to outgrow it. Still one can study wisdom as well as +other lessons, and like most of them, it is a lifelong study."</p> + +<p>Helen was considering and wondered if she understood. She had never been +counseled in this spirit. "I want you to know that you are in no sense a +charity scholar, as the phrase goes, though I have had several who +worked their way through school, gave for whatever they obtained, which +is far from charity, I take it. I will only add, choose your friends, +which implies some discrimination on your part. Did you like the girls +at the table?<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</a></span> They are all in the French class and they talk French +during the five school days. That is not demanded of the new scholars. +Monday we will begin in regular order and I will have your classes +arranged."</p> + +<p>Then she touched a pretty bell that stood on the table and Miss Aldred +answered the summons.</p> + +<p>"Grace, will you take Miss Grant through the schoolrooms?" she asked, +and Miss Aldred smiled as she gave a gesture of assent.</p> + +<p>Helen followed her guide. This was the general assembly room, here the +different recitation rooms, here the drawing classes met and there were +casts and busts and figures in plaster, and several very well executed +paintings and drawings embellished the walls. Then the music room, and +the study room had a piano in it also.</p> + +<p>Helen was a trifle appalled. Education had seemed a rather simple thing +at Hope. She sighed as she glanced up at Miss Grace.</p> + +<p>"Oh, where is there time to learn it all?" she asked with a sinking at +the heart.</p> + +<p>"You do not have to learn it in one day or one week," was the smiling +answer. "And every day it grows easier."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</a></span></p> + +<p>"But—music! I've never even touched a piano."</p> + +<p>"Do you sing?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, a few little songs and Sunday hymns. And sometimes out of doors I +try to catch the bird notes. They are no special tunes, you know, but I +always have to stop at the warble," and she laughed brightly.</p> + +<p>Miss Grace nodded, rather amused.</p> + +<p>"And I have never studied Latin or French."</p> + +<p>"Everyone has to begin, though the babies in France talk French, which I +believe once surprised a woman who was traveling in France."</p> + +<p>"Oh!" Then Helen laughed gayly.</p> + +<p>"And this is our drawing room. Once a month we have sociables, given by +one of the seniors who has to arrange everything just as she would if +she were in society. And the other girls are the guests."</p> + +<p>It was a beautiful long room, with a bay window at the side which made a +very pretty break in it. At both ends were double windows. The floor was +matted, with rugs here and there. The furniture was simple and tasteful; +two cabinets were filled with handsome china and bric-a-brac, and there +was one<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</a></span> case of elegant books. The real reading and study books, +histories, and so on, were in the reception room and the study room.</p> + +<p>Then they walked out on the porch where a bevy of girls had congregated.</p> + +<p>"I have been introducing Miss Grant to the house," Miss Aldred said in +her soft, pleasant tone, "and now you girls may tell her what we do and +how we do it, and anything else that will not make her feel homesick."</p> + +<p>Helen was sure she should never have one yearning for Hope Center.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Miss Aldred, don't you think we might go down town this afternoon +and introduce her to the town where she will have to find her social +nutriment for the next ten months?"</p> + +<p>"Social, indeed," laughed Miss Mays.</p> + +<p>"Well, what is it? Our intellectual nutriment is here, and though we +sometimes study wood and wilds you cannot exactly describe it as natural +pabulum, and though we do a little shopping you can't designate it as +financial forage. But we will not bother about exact definition until +next week, so that we can go, Miss Aldred?" imploringly.</p> + +<p>"I see no objection at present."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</a></span></p> + +<p>The stage had come up with some scholars, and Miss Aldred went to +receive them.</p> + +<p>"I am really going to take Miss Grant in charge. First, let us have a +walk about our own domain."</p> + +<p>The front and one side were devoted to pleasure and beauty. Some lovely +old trees, a willow touching the ground with its long arms, two splendid +Norway spruces, a great catalpa, maples, and one fine old elm. Two +hammocks were swung in the shade, there were several rustic seats about, +and a table that seemed to invite one to a picnic meal. At the back the +decline was a tangle of wildness until it reached the little stream. +Various wood asters were beginning to bloom, golden-rod, balsams, and +several fine, white blossoms. Yet, it was rather shady and they all had +a delicate appearance.</p> + +<p>"And there is a path. You can go down," exclaimed Helen, rather +wistfully.</p> + +<p>"And get yourself torn by briers. We won't go down this morning, for +there are pleasanter ways, and you will have enough of it when you go +out botanizing."</p> + +<p>"It is so beautiful. And over there is an<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</a></span>other hill." Her eyes were +alight with enthusiasm.</p> + +<p>"And the end of the town lies down in the valley. Now around here is the +useful and a bit of orchard. The old branching apple tree gives us +oceans of bloom in the spring, and we are allowed to despoil it as it +seldom fruits. That's the useful—not exactly the garden of sweet herbs, +but there are some in it. And here is the lovely grape arbor, if you are +not afraid some fierce caterpillar or savage green worm an inch or two +long may swing down upon you."</p> + +<p>There was a long bench at one side, and the air was fragrant with +ripening grapes. They seated themselves, and Miss Mays extended a +cordial invitation to the merry group.</p> + +<p>"Are we really allowed to?" asked someone, hesitatingly, a stranger to +the privileges.</p> + +<p>"In reason, yes. It would be most unkind and ill-bred to strip the vines +and offer them for sale in the public market. I hope none of you have +been seized with that intention. There are some more prisoners of hope," +as another stage stopped.</p> + +<p>"Why prisoners? Do they not come of their own accord," asked Helen.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Oh, Miss Grant, they generally come of their fathers' and mothers' +accord the first time. Did you really sigh to come?"</p> + +<p>"I wanted to, yes;" in an eager tone.</p> + +<p>"Depraved taste."</p> + +<p>Helen looked surprised. That everyone of any intelligence should not +long for an education amazed her. And these bright, pretty girls who +must have congenial surroundings seemed the very ones to appreciate it.</p> + +<p>They were still jesting when the luncheon bell rang. One new table was +filled and some vacant spaces in several others. It was beginning to +look like quite a family. But Helen had the feeling of being a guest at +a hotel, just as she had been all the week. They dispersed to their +rooms, and Helen tried to read a little, but the words were mixed up +with French and music. She would like the music she knew. She listened +to the sound of the piano on the floor below, and her whole soul +responded to the melody. Had anyone ever been so blest before? It was +like a fairy story.</p> + +<p>"Well," exclaimed Miss Mays an hour or so later, looking in at the door, +"have you a mind ready for a walk, to see the town. For I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</a></span> doubt if +otherwise you can be introduced to it before next Saturday."</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes," springing up with energy. "I begin to think strange places +are—" she cast about for a word—"fascinating."</p> + +<p>"How many strange places have you seen?" laughingly.</p> + +<p>"Not many. A week in New York and the pretty places and wonders +thereabout."</p> + +<p>"New York is a marvel by itself. And I've never been there," sighing. "I +suppose I may be classed as a Westerner. The western part of the State. +I know several of those cities and Niagara Falls and the Canada side; we +were there two months ago. I <i>did</i> manage to squeeze in, but the girls +didn't want me a bit. Papa managed that," exultingly.</p> + +<p>Helen had been studying Miss Mays' attire. Her gray frock and coat were +just the thing, and her gray felt hat trimmed with scarlet and a bright +wing. So she put it on and was ready.</p> + +<p>"You can learn a good deal by watching other people," Mrs. Van Dorn had +said. "And it is bad taste to make yourself conspicuous."</p> + +<p>As they stepped out in the hall several others<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</a></span> joined them. Mrs. Aldred +nodded to them as they passed out.</p> + +<p>"Did you see those two girls on the veranda? They look like twins and +might almost as well be. They are fifteen, birthdays only a week apart. +Mothers are sisters, and the fathers cousins. Alice and Annie Otis. They +both have light hair, but one has darker eyes than the other. And the +blue-eyed one is a little stouter. They are to room together."</p> + +<p>"Roxy Mays, I don't see how you find out so much about everybody," said +one of the group.</p> + +<p>"By using my eyes and ears. One of them told part of this to Miss Grace, +and the mother of Annie explained the rest to Mrs. Aldred, but I don't +know which Annie is. I'll guess it is the plump one with a dimple in her +chin. They have never been away at school before. You can tell that by +their half-frightened look."</p> + +<p>"Did I look half frightened?" inquired Helen, mirthfully, glancing +around.</p> + +<p>"I must say you did not. And we descended upon you so unceremoniously. +It might be admissible to ask what you thought of us."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</a></span></p> + +<p>"That it was very kind of you to call on me. I should have felt much +more strange if I had speculated all the evening and seen you first this +morning."</p> + +<p>"Now you see the benefit of rushing in where angels fear to tread. You +were placed in our neighborhood, and we have been neighborly."</p> + +<p>"I thank you very much," Helen returned gravely.</p> + +<p>Elm Avenue ran straight down in the town, down to the river, indeed. But +the beauty of Westchester was its main street that intersected this and +ran parallel with the river about a quarter of a mile below the school, +and was called Center Street. It had all that was of the most account in +the town, the Court House, a fine building, a public hall with offices +on the lower floor, two very pretty churches with their parsonages, +several stores, post-office, and bank, and at both ends handsome +residences with well-kept grounds. Being the county town, at autumn and +spring it displayed a rather busy aspect; the rest of the time was given +over to very delightful, refined social living. There had been some +doubts at first as to whether a girls' boarding-school would not disturb +the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</a></span> serene aspect, but it was not large enough, and kept very well in +hand.</p> + +<p>From Center Street, streets and avenues branched out both ways. These +were substantially built up with large grounds and handsome gardens on +the east side, stretching out finally to farms, and on the west running +down to the river, that being broken by rifts and rather dangerous +places, was hardly navigable for general business, though small sloops +ventured up when the river was not too low. A mile further down was a +bed of clay and a brick-yard, and two or three factories with a sort of +hamlet. Three miles below were large iron-works. The railroad ran along +the river, and left the town to its beauty and comparative quiet.</p> + +<p>It was, in its surroundings, much handsomer than North Hope, and the +style of homes betokened both wealth and culture, a town whose ways were +settled, a town of the better class who had not to consider the ordinary +chances of making money. Several of the houses were shut up in the +winter, while their occupants went to the city for the season. Those who +remained at home entertained themselves with various amateur diversions. +There was a fine musical club that gave two or three concerts<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</a></span> through +the winter; another that had a course of lectures, and the churches gave +fairs and sociables. The four denominations were represented, but the +Presbyterians were the largest, oldest and most influential.</p> + +<p>The small river was spanned by a number of pretty rustic bridges, and +emptied into the greater one that divided it from the neighboring State, +whose wooded heights and rocky bluffs were most picturesque. There were +only occasional houses, though down at the brick-yard a small settlement +was begun. And already the sun was throwing long shadows from the +densest woods, where firs, cedars, and hemlock were almost black against +the beeches and hickories, even now turning yellow at the point of the +long leaves; chestnuts with the brown fringes of bloom that bore no +fruit still hanging to them. Here and there a pile of rocks, gray and +brown and dotted with glistening gems, it would seem, there were points +that sparkled so. There a hollow that might be a dryad's cave, bunches +of sumac in autumnal gorgeousness, tangles of wild growth, blackberry +with its deep red leaves, cat-briar still green and glossy, and the +confusion of wild woodland growth.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Oh, how beautiful it is!" Helen exclaimed involuntarily.</p> + +<p>"Where are you viewing the universe?"</p> + +<p>"Over beyond the river. Do you ever go there?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, we row across. The school owns a boat. It is supposed to be +good exercise, but it does blister your hands. There is a bridge farther +up there, now you can see it."</p> + +<p>The church spire had hidden it from view, but it was just a plain, +partly-covered structure.</p> + +<p>"We went over for our picnic. There are swamps of rhododendrons, and +mountain laurel. That is beautiful even in the winter if you are fond of +such things. Never mind them to-day. There will be some rambles over +there presently. Let us look nearer home. What are you, religiously?"</p> + +<p>Helen flushed. Was she really religious at all?</p> + +<p>"I mean what denomination claims your family? We generally follow in +their footsteps."</p> + +<p>"Presbyterian," with a hesitating sound in her voice.</p> + +<p>"Then this will be your church. Mrs. Aldred is a member here, and Miss +Grace, but<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</a></span> curiously enough Miss Gertrude leans toward Episcopacy, and +she plays some of the old masses in a way that almost sweeps you along +in her current. She is to be an artist. Last winter she was in New York +taking lessons, and she teaches painting, but we haven't a very artistic +lot of girls I think. Mr. Danforth is the clergyman here. You will like +him I guess. My people are Methodists. That is my church 'way down +below, but I often go there."</p> + +<p>"Oh, let us get on to the stores," said one of the group. "Let me +see—there are five of us. I'll treat to-day, that will make us five +weeks going round. Only on Saturdays, mind."</p> + +<p>They passed the bank, a very modest building with law offices on the +second floor. Then the Court House, which was quite imposing, and a row +of stores, larger and finer than those in Hope. An inviting ice-cream +parlor with a rustic garden at the side, divided into vine-covered +booths, claimed their attention, and they sauntered in, seating +themselves nonchalantly.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI</h2> + +<h3>SCHOOL IN EARNEST</h3> + + +<p>On Monday the real work of school began. Besides the boarding scholars, +was a day-school of the young ladies and larger girls, who were either +sent away or went to Aldred House. There was an excellent school for the +little ones, and a very good public school, but Westchester did not take +cordially to this except for the boys.</p> + +<p>Two of the teachers had arrived on Saturday evening. Madame Meran, the +French teacher, who also gave music lessons to the younger pupils, and +Miss Lane, who taught Latin and German to the few who desired it, and +had dreams of college life. Mrs. Aldred made no specialty of this, but +some of the pupils insisted on remaining until that time. There were two +divisions in the senior class, two in the junior. Helen was glad that +Daisy Bell was in the B. division. She was not as gay as Roxy Mays, but +there was a quality of tenderness in her that was very attractive.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</a></span></p> + +<p>She was not quite sure that she would desire to make a warm friend of +Miss Mays though on Friday evening her whole heart had gone out to her. +She could turn any subject into ridicule so easily, she could seize on +small foibles and distort them with such a winsome grace that they were +amusing at the time, but when one thought them over afterward one saw +the little stings that were left behind.</p> + +<p>It was so different from anything Helen had dreamed of. At first she +thought she would have been happier going to the Hope High School and +working her way through. There was a feeling that she did not truly and +honestly belong in this circle of girls, many of whom had rich fathers +and luxurious homes; and she wondered if some day she would come to have +the careworn and unsatisfied look that Miss Lane had. Miss Lane had +taught ten years, beginning when she was nineteen. So she was +twenty-nine.</p> + +<p>"And I do not believe she has ever had a lover," said Miss Mays. "She +looks so."</p> + +<p>"What kind of a look is that?" questioned someone.</p> + +<p>"Why that discontented, hungry expression, that curious alertness, as if +you were look<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</a></span>ing for something that had never come, and you were afraid +never would. Girls, if I had to live until I was twenty-nine +unmarried——"</p> + +<p>"Well, what then?" queried three or four voices.</p> + +<p>"I'd find some way of finishing it out at twenty-five."</p> + +<p>"Oh, you couldn't," cried Daisy, shocked.</p> + +<p>"Well, there are sisterhoods in churches and they are very respectable. +My great-aunt Roxalana has been married twice, both times to rich men. +She's eighty-six now and looks like a fright, though it is said she was +a very pretty young woman. It's safe to say that when your compeers are +all dead. Oh, I do hope I will never outlive my beauty."</p> + +<p>They all laughed at that.</p> + +<p>Days were divided up like clock-work. You were called at six while the +mornings were light. Breakfast was at seven. At eight there was a study +period. Quarter before nine they assembled in the small seated room +called the chapel, by courtesy, and at nine went into the schoolroom. At +eleven they had ten minutes' recreation, then study until twelve; an +hour for luncheon, and two hours' study and recitation again. Two +afternoons a week<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</a></span> music lessons. Dinner from five to six; from seven to +nine study period, unless one could get through sooner.</p> + +<p>Helen thought this first day that she had never really studied in her +life. She had a quick memory, at least, so it had always seemed, and an +absolute genius for mathematics. History, as far as she had gone, was a +delight. But the Latin! Was there any sense in it? Did the old Romans +talk in that tongue? And what was the use of it now, when Rome itself +was Italian.</p> + +<p>"You will understand the use of it by and by," said Miss Lane. "I am +afraid, so far, what you have acquired has come too easy, but a year +hence you will be laughing over this when you hear some other girls +moan."</p> + +<p>If the Latin was a trial, the music was still more so. When slim fingers +glided over the keys with chords of melody it penetrated her very soul, +and she just drew in long breaths of delight. But hers were not slim +fingers and running up and down the scale seemed as much beyond her as +conversing in Latin.</p> + +<p>"You are in too great a hurry. You go too hard, with too much force," +said Madame Meran.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</a></span></p> + +<p>All that she had done thus far in life had been done in a hurry, except +waiting on Mrs. Van Dorn, who took everything leisurely. She tried not +to run upstairs, as she found only new girls did that, and not to walk +heavily on the uncarpeted floor. And she was glad enough of the +experience at Mrs. Dayton's. She was not an awkward girl, and she +watched the others with keen eyes. A fortnight passed before the school +was full. One day Mrs. Aldred summoned her.</p> + +<p>"You said the first day you came that you liked people," that lady began +smilingly. "As yours is a double room and the other part needed, I am +going to give you a choice. You can have a small room to yourself or +Miss Daisy Bell will share yours, and the new scholar take hers."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I should like that," her eyes shining with pleasure. "But if +she——"</p> + +<p>"She is quite willing. This is a first year for both of you, since she +only came last Easter, and you may be able to help each other. She is +already a fair musician and has had a year's tuition in Latin; in +several English branches you are much in advance. Then you have a study +habit, and that she lacks."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I am glad I have one good quality," and the eager face flushed with +gratification.</p> + +<p>"You have more than one," smiling. "You are too impatient about +learning. Everything does not come by nature, and there may be many +years to devote to it."</p> + +<p>"I think of only two. I want to crowd in everything I can."</p> + +<p>"Do not look so far ahead. It is better to live day by day; better to do +to-day's duty."</p> + +<p>"But I am falling behind all the time. I spent Saturday trying to catch +up, instead of having a good time. And I do so want to walk in those +haunts over the river, those woods and wilds, before the frost comes +on."</p> + +<p>"You were brave to give it up. They are beautiful even after frost, and +there will be some time to spare. The first week, the first month, +indeed, is generally the hardest. Then I'll send Miss Bell to you? I +think you will make good comrades."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I shall be delighted."</p> + +<p>She almost ran into Daisy's arms in the hall.</p> + +<p>"I was coming to tell you some news," exclaimed the girl eagerly, her +eyes shining with pleasure.</p> + +<p>"About——"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Oh, I know Roxy Mays ferreted that out! I do believe it is as she says, +a bird in the air tells her."</p> + +<p>"No. Mrs. Aldred spoke to me."</p> + +<p>The sweet face lighted up instantly.</p> + +<p>"That is all right then. I like to have the telling of something first, +don't you? I think we shall get along nicely. I should not like every +girl——"</p> + +<p>"Oh, thank you;" laughingly.</p> + +<p>"That is true of us all, isn't it, or most of us? I would not like to +room with anyone who was not neat, I'd like someone fond of study to +spur me on. I'm dismal at algebra, and I can help you in the Latin. And +then your room isn't crowded up with everything. I think so much makes +you tired. And this is an awful heresy, but I am tired of Gibson girls, +and nearly all having the same pictures and ornaments. It isn't restful. +Think of Claudine Marr's room. I wonder if she ever draws a good, +unimpeded breath? I'm not surprised that she has headaches."</p> + +<p>"When I am tired I look out of the window at the most beautiful picture +I have ever seen. And I think how it will change all the autumn."</p> + +<p>"And be dreary in the winter."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I do not believe I feel about leafless trees as most people do. You see +all the fine little twigs and branches, some days in a gray-purple sort +of haze, some days tipped with shimmering gold, then silvered with +moonlight or sparkling with frost, and I am content that the leaves drop +off so that you can see how really wonderful they are. And when the wind +tosses them all about, nature seems rocking them with a lullaby, you +feel as if they were in some degree human."</p> + +<p>"Oh, Helen, you ought to be a poet," Daisy exclaimed enthusiastically.</p> + +<p>They had walked to Helen's room. Her clothes were all in the closet, her +books lay on the table, only her writing-desk was on the chair. She had +added nothing to the room, but she did want a case of shelves. And oddly +enough she had not encroached on the other side. Daisy wondered rather +at that.</p> + +<p>"Then I may move in at once."</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes. I shall be delighted."</p> + +<p>"Come and help me empty my closet."</p> + +<p>Helen did this with pleasure. They had a gay time settling things and +were all in order when Miss Mays came flying along the hall.</p> + +<p>"So you have formed a partnership, have<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</a></span> you? I had half a mind to +suggest it last night when we heard that Miss Craven was coming. I've +just been introduced to her, and she's a positive fright. Lean, long, +and lanky, beautiful alliteration, is it not? Helen, she would have +given you the nightmare."</p> + +<p>"I am satisfied," and Helen nodded with a secret feeling of exultation +as she met Daisy's eyes.</p> + +<p>"What conspiracy are you hatching now?" glancing from one to the other.</p> + +<p>The sound of the dinner bell was sufficient excuse for not answering. +For once they had the innings.</p> + +<p>The new scholar was at the next table to them. She was tall and looked, +as Roxy said afterwards, of a very uncertain age. Her hair was a rather +dull light brown, her eyes a sort of hazel with bluish lights, which +made them dull, and a complexion that would never be fair, with quite a +shadow under the eyes. The features were not bad, but something was +needed to give them life.</p> + +<p>After the study period the two girls went upstairs with their arms +around each other.</p> + +<p>"Let us run away to-morrow and have a walk and a splendid talk about +trees," said<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</a></span> Daisy. "I was thinking all dinner time that I needed to be +introduced to them. I believe I am only acquainted with Mr. Evergreen +and Mr. Horse-chestnut. It bothers me to tell an elm tree from a maple +and a white-skinned beech from a white birch."</p> + +<p>"Oh, dear! I've promised to devote the afternoon to scales. I've had a +little Latin hammered into me, but I am almost afraid that, +extravagantly as I love music I shall make small headway in the divine +art. And Madame Meran was good enough to offer me an extra lesson."</p> + +<p>"Then we will take it some other Saturday."</p> + +<p>"How delightful it is to be together!"</p> + +<p>Then they kissed, girl fashion, for the first time, and uttered a tender +good-night.</p> + +<p>Two rooms away Miss Craven was crying softly and wishing she had not +come here. It seemed an out of the way place, it was a small school, and +Mrs. Aldred's letter had been encouraging. There was all the fortune for +her alone. If it had come earlier, while some of the others were alive +to share it! She, too, longed for an education so that she might be more +able to enjoy it.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Have you written to Mrs. Van Dorn?" asked Mrs. Aldred on Saturday +morning.</p> + +<p>"I intend to this morning. And to my uncle."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Aldred nodded approvingly.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Van Dorn had said, "In a fortnight you may write me a letter. Then +once a month."</p> + +<p>So it had been a fortnight. She found a good deal to say. She liked the +school very much and described her room-mate, her new studies, the +little she had seen of the town. And there was an enthusiastic gratitude +that satisfied the waiting and doubtful heart.</p> + +<p>There was a good deal to say to Uncle Jason, and yet it was rather +difficult not to write too rapturously. When she had finished that she +bethought herself of Mr. Warfield. He had asked her to write.</p> + +<p>She found no trouble here. Indeed the luncheon bell rang before she had +quite finished.</p> + +<p>"You can go down to the post-office," Daisy exclaimed. "I want some +stamps and some sewing cotton. Roxy borrowed mine."</p> + +<p>She hurried her letter in the envelope. Daisy had asked permission. She +sent her letters on their way with a light heart, though as she came +back it was rather heavy. Such a golden<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</a></span> day as it was. And several of +the pupils were going out botanizing with Miss Grace. They all liked +Miss Grace very much. A girl less used to giving up would have +considered it very hard. But she enjoyed every moment of this brief walk +and came home with a great bunch of asters.</p> + +<p>"If you only <i>were</i> going! I should take twice the pleasure. Helen +Grant, I do believe I have fallen in love with you."</p> + +<p>"I am very glad," returned Helen with shining eyes.</p> + +<p>To think how she had run around the woods in Hope and never thought of +the wonderful beauty God had scattered so lavishly everywhere. This +delight was knowledge. Jenny never felt it as she walked in and out to +the factory. And Aunt Jane called it nonsense!</p> + +<p>Madame Meran had some needlework and sat by her counting time, fingers +and thumbs. Helen was so in earnest she could not help being interested +in her.</p> + +<p>"Oh, do you suppose I ever shall learn?" she inquired with a discouraged +sigh. "And I love music so."</p> + +<p>"That is my hope about you. I have seen worse beginnings. You will never +make a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</a></span> wonderful pianist, but you have a really fine voice, and it is +nice to be able to play your own accompaniments."</p> + +<p>"And someone I care for very much desires me to learn, someone to whom I +owe a debt of gratitude. So I shall do my best."</p> + +<p>Then she went on steadily and did master two or three points.</p> + +<p>"Now you may go in the study and practice, as I have to take Miss Craven +in hand, and I can trust you."</p> + +<p>"Oh, thank you!" cried Helen delightedly. She was just as honest as if +Madame's eyes were on her. She gave the full hour although her wrist +ached, and her thumb seemed to lose its agility. But she had made a +slight advance, she could see that. And there were ten months to be +given to study.</p> + +<p>She went out on the back porch presently, and then almost to the edge of +the flat space. One <i>could</i> go down the hill, even that was school +grounds, fenced in at the sides, and up here where there was a gate, +kept locked for the most part. The sun was going down behind the next +hill, and across in the other State, almost as if there were two suns. +What gorgeous coloring, changing, melting into new and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</a></span> indescribable +tints and burnishing here, making scarlet shades there as if the +tree-tops were on fire, and the rocks molten silver. How could it take +on or give out so many colors?</p> + +<p>She had an impression someone was near and turned. It was the new +scholar. There was a wistful expression in her eyes that touched Helen. +No one had taken any special notice of her. Helen remembered her own +warm welcome. Of course, now everyone was busy with lessons and had +settled upon her friends and chums.</p> + +<p>What could she say? To ask her if she felt at home would be a platitude, +and Helen knew she did not come any nearer, as if she might be +intruding. What a slim figure she had, and her frock was of fine, soft +material that clung like the draperies in some of the "studies." She +wore a very handsome chain and the watch edge just showed above her +belt. Her hands were long and thin and she had a nervous manner of using +them. She wore two beautiful rings.</p> + +<p>Helen took a step towards her. "I wonder if you had such a battle with +music as I did," she began, with girlish gayety. "It seemed as if I must +have tried Madame's patience until there was nothing left for you. I am +begin<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[Pg 232]</a></span>ning to wonder how an excellent player who has an ear attuned to +harmony can endure such stupidity."</p> + +<p>Miss Craven stared with a sort of uncertainty.</p> + +<p>"I should not think you were stupid. You look so bright and vivacious."</p> + +<p>"I am afraid I wasn't born with the art of music along with the love for +it."</p> + +<p>"I have studied a little, alone mostly, and find I have some bad habits. +And I like it beyond everything."</p> + +<p>If she only wouldn't be so stiff and distant!</p> + +<p>"I never touched a piano until I came here. And one can't expect to be +an expert in four lessons," Helen said in a half-humorous tone.</p> + +<p>Miss Craven flushed and it was not a pretty color.</p> + +<p>"You like it here? Were you a new scholar this year? You look very +young."</p> + +<p>"I was fourteen in the summer. Yes, I am a new scholar. But I have grown +very much at home."</p> + +<p>Then there was a pause. Helen bethought herself of the other question.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I like it extremely. It is such a beau<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</a></span>tiful place. I've been +studying the sunset and wishing I could paint a picture of it. I've come +to wish so many things of late," laughing at herself. "And I like the +teachers. I don't know many of the seniors, and I am in junior B."</p> + +<p>"I am taking some private lessons," hesitatingly.</p> + +<p>Poor girl! She could not even have passed a junior B examination.</p> + +<p>"There's such a pretty girl at your table. Her hair is the color one +sometimes gets in a sunset, a bright gold, and yet it isn't the color so +much as the curious waviness and stir all about it. It seems alive. And +her complexion is beautiful, her eyes fairly laugh."</p> + +<p>"That is Miss Mays. She isn't really in our class. She's an 'A' scholar. +Every month someone new is elected for hostess. You are at the head of +the table. You see that everything is served, that no one is—well, not +exactly rude or awkward, but not up to the mark. And you keep a certain +order."</p> + +<p>"I spilled my coffee this morning. My spoon was in my cup and I just +touched it with my cuff. I wish I could have gone through the floor or +run away. But one has to learn all<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[Pg 234]</a></span> these nice things if one means +to—to be anybody."</p> + +<p>"I learned some of them in the summer. I was with a friend," and Helen +flushed without quite knowing why. "I was a regular country girl—on a +farm."</p> + +<p>"I was too. I begin to think I ought not have come here, but I did not +want to go where there were one or two hundred girls, and I did want to +learn nice ways," hesitatingly.</p> + +<p>"Then this is the very place to come."</p> + +<p>"Only I did not imagine they were all rich girls; that is, society +people," awkwardly.</p> + +<p>"Oh, they are not. Two of the seniors mean to teach next year, so they +cannot be rich. And one girl is going to an art school and means to work +her way through. Of course most of them have fathers to care for them."</p> + +<p>"I have never had anyone to care in that way. And it is curious, but on +my father's side I have not a single near relative, perhaps none at all. +And my mother was an only child."</p> + +<p>"I have neither father or mother," returned Helen. "But I have some very +kind relatives on my mother's side."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[Pg 235]</a></span></p> + +<p>"It is dreadful to be all alone, and to think——"</p> + +<p>Miss Craven paused and compressed her lips, looked indeed as if she +would cry, but winked very hard. And then Helen noticed that she had +lovely long lashes, much darker than her hair and that her upper eyelids +were thin, almost transparent. It was queer how she was beginning to see +these little points of comeliness.</p> + +<p>"Oh, there are the girls!" she said.</p> + +<p>They were winding round into Elm Avenue, with great bunches of wild +flowers and bright leaves, and one girl with an armful of golden-rod.</p> + +<p>"I am much obliged for the talk," and with a sudden abruptness Miss +Craven disappeared.</p> + +<p>Helen looked after her a moment. She was lonely and unhappy. She would +like very much to know her story. The girls speculated upon her and +decided that she was a nobody come into a fortune. Private lessons, of +necessity, cost more, so she must have money. Then her clothes, though +not showy, were expensive and had a true <i>modiste</i> air. There was +evidently something she did not want the world to know; she had not been +used to society, and she was hopelessly plain. Miss Mays made rhymes +about<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[Pg 236]</a></span> her on the Lear nonsense pattern. You really couldn't help +laughing at a great deal of bright criticism she indulged in if her +comments were rather sarcastic.</p> + +<p>Helen ran down the steps out to the sidewalk, looking happy and merry.</p> + +<p>"You poor child, you are not yet resolved into a demi-semi-quaver or any +other shaky thing. But you should have been with us! I was awfully +afraid of snakes, and one had to sit down and help to pick out the +beggar ticks, though I long to give them the old-fashioned, appropriate +country name. Why such things were allowed to grow I can't see. We +discovered a new rivulet meandering down the mountain side, and a royal +bed of ferns, and one of two new specimens of bloom. As for you—I +observe the jabberwock has not slain you, so I suppose you conquered +him!"</p> + +<p>Helen laughed as she took Roxy's outstretched hand, which she could not +very well help, and said, "I have the answer of a good conscience."</p> + +<p>"And we have the answer of sights and sounds and a wonderful sunset."</p> + +<p>"Yes, I saw that."</p> + +<p>The girls were talking across each other and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[Pg 237]</a></span> showing flowers. Becky, +the general factotum, brought a jardiniere and put in all but the +golden-rod, which was reserved for a tall Japanese vase, and they were +set on each side of the hall door. Then the crowd went to fix up a +little for dinner.</p> + +<p>Helen stole a furtive glance over at Miss Craven. She was simply stolid, +indifferent, and went to her room while the others paced up and down the +piazza in twos and threes, exchanging confidences, or someone sang a +song in the long parlor. Miss Lane, down in one corner of the veranda, +was telling Greek legends to half a dozen girls. It was a picture of +friendly content and enjoyment.</p> + +<p>"I wonder if Miss Craven is crying in her room?" and Helen really longed +to go to her. She was so overflowing with happiness.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[Pg 238]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII</h2> + +<h3>THE COURAGE OF CONVICTIONS</h3> + + +<p>The last mail came up just after dinner. It was in the Aldred House +mail-bag, and Mrs. Aldred handed out the letters. One she laid on the +table. But the recipient had no idea of it and was not among the +applicants.</p> + +<p>When they were all gone she took that up. It was in a modern business +hand with a good deal of strength in it, not the kind of hand usual for +country farmers. The post mark was North Hope.</p> + +<p>"Will you ask Miss Grant to come to me, Becky?"</p> + +<p>Helen flew with eager blitheness through the hall and glanced with happy +inquiring eyes.</p> + +<p>"Was there a letter for me? I did not expect one so soon."</p> + +<p>"Is this from your uncle?" she held it up.</p> + +<p>"Oh, no. That is from Mr. Warfield. I could tell that hand among a +hundred. Isn't it strong and quite as if he knew his own mind?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[Pg 239]</a></span></p> + +<p>She was positively eager with delight as she reached out her hand.</p> + +<p>"He is no relative?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, the Principal of the school where I went. You know I told you of +the interest he took in me."</p> + +<p>"Of course you have read the school regulations in your room?"</p> + +<p>Helen's bright face was suddenly shadowed.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I do believe—I <i>did</i> forget all about it. I wrote to Mrs. Van Dorn +and then to my uncle, and there seemed so many things I wanted to say to +him, and I just hurried them down. You see he asked me to write to +him——"</p> + +<p>Helen paused embarrassed. She knew just where the little card was tacked +beside the door. Various rules and regulations and hours and a notice +that no correspondence would be allowed without permission, to any +gentleman except father and brothers or guardians. And she had never +thought of it at that moment.</p> + +<p>"It must have been because he seemed to me like a guardian," she +explained. "That does not excuse my inattention, but please believe<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[Pg 240]</a></span> me, +Mrs. Aldred, that I didn't willfully break the rule. And you may read +the letter."</p> + +<p>"You have the right of the first reading of it. Sit here, will you?"</p> + +<p>Helen cut the end of the envelope, and was soon lost in it. Smiles +passed over her face, then she drew her brows in a little crease and the +lips were pressed together with a touch of annoyance. Then the smiles +again.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Van Dorn had asked that Helen Grant should not be allowed to +correspond with Mr. Warfield. She did not approve of his influence over +Helen. It was too purely masculine. And Helen was too young to have a +man friend. It might divide her school interest, and she had selected +Aldred House because she wanted Helen to have the best feminine +training.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Aldred had smiled over this when she read Mrs. Van Dorn's letter. +Strange that the fear should so soon have materialized.</p> + +<p>"Will you please read it," asked Helen in a low tone. "I think he +doesn't quite like a girls' school. And he is all for study. He would +push anyone right straight along, and he believes my music would be +wasted time. I dare say I confessed I was not very bright at it."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[Pg 241]</a></span></p> + +<p>The letter was certainly unobjectionable, a little severe perhaps, +betraying the school principal, but still showing the high esteem in +which he held Helen's capabilities. Such a correspondence would not be +likely to do any student harm.</p> + +<p>"You see, Helen," she began in a tone of sweet friendliness, "I am +answerable for the girls committed to my charge. Some of the older ones +have young men friends who would be very glad to keep up a +correspondence, and no doubt two or three years hence the girls would +feel mortified at knowing letters of theirs were in the man's +possession. I have known young lads to read letters aloud to their +college or club friends. It is a demoralizing and indiscreet thing, and +no high-minded mother would consent to her daughter doing it without her +knowledge or inspection. One rule, therefore, must apply to all such +correspondences without the mother's consent. A letter like this would +do a girl no harm, indeed, I think your Mr. Warfield rather severe."</p> + +<p>"I don't quite understand how I could have done it so carelessly," Helen +said in her frank, honest way. "And I am very, very sorry. But I should +like to write and explain to him<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[Pg 242]</a></span> why it is"—she cast about for a +word—"inadmissable."</p> + +<p>"Of course it is best to do that."</p> + +<p>Helen glanced up in such a straightforward fashion. There was nothing +concealed. And to make her renunciation still more earnest and the +obedience more cheerful, she said:</p> + +<p>"I don't mean that I shouldn't care for the letters, for I understand +what Mr. Warfield means by every line, and sometimes it would be a +pleasure to write to so good a friend, for after all I owe him the best +fortune of my life. I am doing it without any demur because it is one of +the rules of the school and I do honestly and truly wish to keep them."</p> + +<p>"Thank you for your ready acquiescence," and Mrs. Aldred's smile told +Helen the thoughtlessness had been condoned.</p> + +<p>"I will bring it to you to decide upon——"</p> + +<p>"No," the lady replied, "I can trust you to say just what is right and +proper."</p> + +<p>Helen's eyes were in a soft mist as she raised them, and picking up her +letter she made a graceful obeisance as she left the room.</p> + +<p>Yes, there was the notice. How could she have let it slip from her mind. +She had a vague idea that it really couldn't apply to a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[Pg 243]</a></span> man like Mr. +Warfield, but it was the rule and it must be kept. It did take a certain +something out of her life that she could not have described, but she +felt it. He was so interested in her progress. For had he not roused her +and made a scholar out of her? She might never have known what the +hunger meant but for him, and accepted the husks even if under protest. +How much richer and finer all her life would be. She said frankly that +she was sorry, and that she had counted on the letters.</p> + +<p>He was annoyed at the foolishness as he termed it. If she were sixteen +instead of fourteen it would have been different.</p> + +<p>The days were so full and passed so rapidly to Helen. The autumn came on +in all its glory and splendor. The hills, they were almost mountains, +about Westchester were wonderful in their changing colors, but she +thought nothing could describe those over the river until she began to +read Ruskin, and that brought her nearer Mrs. Van Dorn again.</p> + +<p>She and Daisy Bell slipped into a pleasant girl friendship. Helen was +the stronger, more energetic, more ambitious. But then Daisy had only to +be educated, to go home to her parents and take a place in society and +marry.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[Pg 244]</a></span> The girls <i>did</i> talk of the kind of husbands they would like and +the wedding journeys they would take. Two of the seniors were really +engaged.</p> + +<p>"And you can't tell how many have lovers," Miss Mays said one evening +when several were sitting, curled up on one bed. "Of course you can't +write to <i>him</i> unless you are regularly engaged and your mother +consents. But if I wanted to correspond with anyone, I'd find a way."</p> + +<p>"And disobey the rule," declared Helen.</p> + +<p>"Oh, a chit like you doesn't know anything about such matters. All is +fair in love and war. And there are times when strategy is commendable. +You find it a great resource in war as you read history."</p> + +<p>"But you wouldn't, really, Roxy! Girls are sometimes sent home in +disgrace."</p> + +<p>"I didn't say I would. I said I could find a way if I wanted to," and +she laughed with a sort of light amusement. "I often think up scenes +that would do for a novel; difficulties and how to get out of them."</p> + +<p>"I don't want any more difficulties than the lessons," declared another. +"I shall be glad when school days are through with. The<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[Pg 245]</a></span> happiest time +of life is youth! Not much!"</p> + +<p>"What period do you think will be the happiest?" asked Daisy, +thoughtfully.</p> + +<p>"My happiest period will be going abroad on a wedding tour, and all the +money I can spend on the other side."</p> + +<p>"And mine will be the intervening years," declared Roxy. "Through +school, lots of society, gayety, and admirers and a few flirtations +before I settle down. I'd like to go abroad quite free, and leave the +aching hearts behind."</p> + +<p>"And you will make hearts ache, Roxy Mays."</p> + +<p>Helen wondered at times how much she liked her, and others quite went +down to her. She was piquant and could be very charming, then she said +sharp and doubtful things, and had a way of twisting axioms around that +was amusing and rather dangerous, too. She stood fairly well in her +classes, but she was not an ambitious girl. How few of them considered +what they were going to do with their education.</p> + +<p>After a month or so, Helen began to have what Daisy called an insight +into Latin. But,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[Pg 246]</a></span> oh, dear, when she was fairly grounded there she would +have to take up French. And when it came time to sit at the French table +and ask for everything in a foreign tongue, how could she do it?</p> + +<p>"I shall simply starve," announced Roxy. "And after Christmas that will +be my fate. I shall keep crackers and cheese under my pillow and nibble +on them in the long and sleepless hours of the night."</p> + +<p>There was a good deal of fun when she came to know girls quite well, and +the arguing almost to quarreling. Some girls did and then would not +speak for days. Helen and Daisy agreed very well; Helen was robustly +conscientious, and Daisy gently so. They were of much assistance to each +other.</p> + +<p>Besides the boarders there were the day scholars who lived in the town, +and some visiting was permitted. Helen was too busy to indulge in much +outside pleasure except just for exercise. She asked permission one day +to go down the hill for the sake of climbing up. "And I can say over the +Latin exercises, no one will think me crazy, because no one will be +there to hear."</p> + +<p>Miss Grace laughed and gave permission,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[Pg 247]</a></span> and so it became quite a +favorite excursion ground. If she made blunders there was no one to +laugh but herself.</p> + +<p>Cold weather came on. The crimsons turned to russet and brown, the +hickories grew paler and paler until their gold had degenerated and +their leaves shriveled up. There was a soft, light snow the middle of +November that hung about on everything for a day or two and then winter +seemed to set in. But it was so cheerful with the crowd of girls and the +interested teachers that one didn't mind it.</p> + +<p>Miss Craven was still very self-contained and reserved. She took her +place in some classes, however. In music she improved rapidly, leaving +Helen far behind. She spoke to Helen now and then of her own accord, but +waited for the others to speak to her. Mrs. Aldred took special pains to +make her feel at home.</p> + +<p>"There's something queer about that girl," said Miss Mays one evening. +"And Craven is not an attractive name, though it seems to suit her. I +hope her father hasn't been a bank defaulter, nor a forger, nor a +swindler! You notice that she seldom looks up at anyone. That suggests +concealment."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[Pg 248]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Is that a fair judgment?"</p> + +<p>"Well, I like a person to look you straight in the eye."</p> + +<p>"Roxy Mays, you could stare anyone out of countenance in two minutes, no +matter how straight they looked at you. And hasn't someone written a +verse or two about down-dropping lids and shy eyes, and eyes that seem +to listen rather than look."</p> + +<p>"As if eyes could listen!"</p> + +<p>"Isn't every sense assisted by every other sense? And doesn't a deaf +person listen with the eyes?"</p> + +<p>"Well—I don't like her. She doesn't take hold anywhere. You must meet +people half-way. Now here is Helen frank to a fault, and looking up at +you like a saucy robin. One would know she has nothing to conceal."</p> + +<p>Helen flushed and laughed. She often recurred to Mrs. Aldred's suggested +caution. She occasionally heard girls tell incidents about their +families that were neither amusing nor commendable, and that others +turned into ridicule. Some of these, girls would laugh at Uncle Jason, +and oh, what would they say about Aunt Jane! She had simply mentioned +them with the utmost respect. And that a rela<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[Pg 249]</a></span>tive of Mrs. Aldred's was +educating her was sufficient.</p> + +<p>"Well, there seems to be plenty of money in the Craven exchequer. Her +toilette articles are exquisite. I don't believe she had the taste to +choose them, nor her clothes either."</p> + +<p>"Oh, girls, let her alone. Isn't Miss Reid just as distant and +self-contained? She never joins any of the little crowds, nor mingles in +the fun."</p> + +<p>"Well, she's of the severe order and is going to college. I'm glad I +don't have to go; if I did it would be purely for fun. I'm in for all +the good times I can possibly get."</p> + +<p>How odd it was that so few girls really cared for knowledge! Of course, +the fun was exhilarating, the sharpening of wits made one bright. Roxy +Mays was an expert at twisting and turning and repartee, and making the +worse seem the better reason. Some of it was amusing. But to magnify any +trifling thing into a part of one's character, to give hard judgment on +the shape of one's features or the expression of one's eyes and mouth, +seemed hardly fair to Helen.</p> + +<p>She wondered sometimes if one could grow<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[Pg 250]</a></span> beautiful on high and noble +thoughts? One felt broader and better at heart by giving a more generous +allowance. She soon found that Roxy had a bad fault, and all the girls +in her set condoned it easily, while several of them grumbled about it +to each other. She was always borrowing little articles and seldom +returned them. "I'll take your pencil a moment," she would say. "I'll +just run over this book," and you had to go after your book. It was +thread and needles, buttons of various kinds, even to a shirtwaist set, +and if one button or pin came up missing she was very sorry and would be +sure to replace it when she went down town. Borrowing money was against +the rules. There had once been a disagreeable trouble in the school +about this matter, and now Mrs. Aldred kept a bank for any girl that had +run ahead of her allowance, from which she was at liberty to borrow. +Running up an account in the town was also forbidden.</p> + +<p>How soon Christmas came! It fell on Saturday. Some of the girls were +going home, several to visit friends or relatives, and those who +remained were given a holiday. Miss Lane was to go; Madame Meran on +Monday;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[Pg 251]</a></span> Miss Gertrude was to have the week in New York. None of the +other teachers resided in the house.</p> + +<p>Thursday night there fell a real snow. The others had been beautiful +attempts that had melted away in the next sunshine. Friday morning was +dull and gray, without a breath of air. The roofs wore white hoods or +blankets, the trees absolutely stood still, ermined to their finger +ends, someone said. But at ten the somber clouds began to give way, +growing thinner and thinner, and one spot rather to the south suddenly +became glorified with silvery touches, then golden and azure, and the +world was in a flood of sunshine. Helen thought she had never seen +anything so glorious before.</p> + +<p>"Oh, you beautiful, beautiful world!" she cried as she stood out on the +porch, having said good-by to a group of girls. "It's a splendid thing +just to live! But isn't it knowledge that enables one to understand and +appreciate it all!"</p> + +<p>She went through the hall. Miss Craven had just come downstairs.</p> + +<p>"Oh, let us go out and look at the snow on our own small ravine. I am a +country girl,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[Pg 252]</a></span> and I think I have never really <i>seen</i> a snowstorm +before," laughing. "I lived in a rather flat country."</p> + +<p>Miss Craven's face slowly lighted up and an expression went over it like +a smile that had not the courage to come out, but she followed readily.</p> + +<p>There was the smooth expanse over to the iron fence, then the tops of +trees and shrubbery, set with thousands of gems of all colors, depending +on the rays of the sun. The black hollow, that was the little stream +they could not see from the porch, the elevation on the other side, the +houses and grounds, the men shoveling paths, children snow-balling, +active life already and here the extreme of silence.</p> + +<p>"What a picture!"</p> + +<p>"And I lived among hills and mountains," remarked Miss Craven. "I used +to get so tired of the solitude. But you can be alone——" pausing +abruptly, and adding: "You are not going away?"</p> + +<p>"No. But you shiver. Are you cold? Let us go upstairs to my room and +have a talk. I shall be alone until next Saturday night. Daisy Bell has +gone off to have a lovely time. There was no one who wanted me enough to +petition<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[Pg 253]</a></span> for me, though I believe I was not to go home until next +summer."</p> + +<p>"Oh, you have a home?"</p> + +<p>"Yes; and relatives. Come in," as they had reached the room. "We who +remain have a holiday, and just now I do not feel in the humor for any +serious thing. Let us compare our work. You are doing very well in +music, Madame said. I ask about you;" and there was an expression of +real interest in Helen's face that called a pleased flush to that of +Miss Craven.</p> + +<p>"Yes, but I do love it so;" and there was an intensity in her tone that +aroused Helen. "If I were not so ignorant of other things I would devote +my whole time to it. And if I could sing! You have such a fine voice."</p> + +<p>"It is strong enough to lead a forlorn hope. I'd like it to be a +contralto. There is so much depth and feeling and pathos in a contralto +voice. Did you hear Miss Morgan sing 'Mary o' the Dee' a few evenings +ago? Madame thinks she ought to settle upon music as a profession."</p> + +<p>Helen had placed Daisy's rocking chair for her guest. There was a slant +ray of sunshine coming in the window, and the room had a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[Pg 254]</a></span> habitable air +that some people always give. Daisy Bell possessed this in an eminent +degree.</p> + +<p>"I sometimes wish I were not alone," began Miss Craven. "Only I feel +that girls are not attracted to me. I suppose I am too old for girls, +and I don't know enough for the young ladies. I almost made up my mind +that I wouldn't stay, but Mrs. Aldred has been so kind. And perhaps it +would not be better anywhere else. I am nineteen."</p> + +<p>The girls had speculated about her age. Miss Mays said she was at least +twenty-five.</p> + +<p>"And I'm not fifteen yet," laughing brightly.</p> + +<p>"I wish I could be fifteen, but I would not like to go back and live the +four years over again. My life has been a very dreary one."</p> + +<p>"You are so reserved. Don't you really like girls?"</p> + +<p>"I like you. I have ever since that day you first talked to me. But you +have so many friends, and I do not want to intrude. I do not know how to +make friends," hesitatingly, while the tears flooded her eyes.</p> + +<p>"Were you compelled to live alone?" Helen did not want to seem over +curious. She had visions of some queer old aunt who had shut her doors +to everybody.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[Pg 255]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Yes. I'd like to tell you some things I could not tell Mrs. Aldred; at +least, my guardian's wife advised me not to be too frank about my life, +since it probably would not interest anybody, or if it did they would +pretend to admire me and care for the money's sake and what they could +get out of me. Grandfather always said so. I don't know as he meant me +to have it all, but he left no will, and as there was no one else it had +to come to me."</p> + +<p>"I'd like to hear about it if you did not mind. And—if you would like +to be friends——"</p> + +<p>"Oh, you don't know how dreary it is to be so much alone. Mrs. Davis +thought the school such a foolish plan. But I was so ignorant. I didn't +feel that I could go into society without knowing something. And I have +learned a good deal by watching the girls. Many of them have such lovely +manners. But if I had just one friend to talk things over with——"</p> + +<p>There was such a longing in her tone that it seemed fairly to sweep +through Helen.</p> + +<p>"I don't know whether I should be a very judicious friend." Oh, if Mrs. +Van Dorn could only set this girl straight, she thought,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[Pg 256]</a></span> for that +lady's wisdom had come to be nearly the whole book of the world for +Helen. "But if you liked to try me. I should be true, I can answer for +that," and the trustiness rang in her voice.</p> + +<p>"I've really had no one but Mrs. Davis, and I haven't been drawn to her, +although she has been very kind. Yet she is so different from Mrs. +Aldred, and I can't tell which is nearer right. Only I <i>do</i> enjoy it +better here. It is more like the harmony in music. Then I am confused in +a big city, and I really couldn't go into society."</p> + +<p>"How did you come to live so much alone?" inquired Helen, feeling as if +she was unraveling a story.</p> + +<p>"Father died when Arthur and I were very little, and mother went home to +his father's. It's a queer, curious place with great mountainous ridges +on one side, and on the other, to the south, stretches of land, good for +nothing much, being iron fields, a sort of dreary waste, not considered +good enough in ore to be worked much. Grandfather had bought it twenty +or thirty years before in a great speculating time, then it had dropped +down. I suppose the misfortunes soured him. He had a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[Pg 257]</a></span> small farm beside, +kept a cow, and an old nag, and pigs and chickens. Mother was his +daughter-in-law. The house up in the mountainside was old and forlorn, +but as grandfather said, 'It didn't leak and it couldn't blow over.' The +little town was more than a mile away. I used to go in to school when +the weather wasn't too bad. Arthur died soon after we went there. He was +older than I. Grandfather had not really cared for me, he was queer and +morose, and that disappointed him. Girls were of very little account +except to keep house and mend old clothes. I did love school and study.</p> + +<p>"When I was about thirteen there was a very hard winter, and mother took +a cold. I suppose it was consumption. She just grew weaker and thinner, +and really didn't give up until a few weeks before she died. She was a +good deal troubled about me. I've seen that plainer since than I did +then. And she kept saying, 'If any good ever comes to you, any money or +any time, get an education. And don't marry any man until you have +acquired that.'</p> + +<p>"It was very lonely when she was gone, and I had the house to keep. +Oxford village wasn't<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[Pg 258]</a></span> very much, three or four hundred people, and +mostly farms, just one little spot with a church, schoolhouse, country +store and post-office. I couldn't go to school any more, grandfather +always went to town with butter and eggs and the produce he could spare. +I lost track of folks as one may say. Grandfather didn't believe in +church-going, and I seldom had anything nice to wear. We were real +hermits. You see I <i>was</i> kept pretty busy. But I used to study the old +books over. There were two or three music books, and I learned to read +music just for a pastime. Then I made a sort of keyboard and used to +practise. I meant to have a piano if I was fifty years old.</p> + +<p>"A year ago in August, a man who had a new way of separating iron ore, +and was concerned with a railroad surveying a new route, struck Oxford, +and was surprised that it had lain unimproved so long. A company was +formed that pushed things, and they wanted to buy out grandfather. There +was a great deal of wrangling and they were at the house nearly every +day. The rails were laid and a big smelting furnace begun. In six months +no one would have known the place. One stretch of land they were quite +in doubt about buying<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[Pg 259]</a></span> when it was discovered to have a vein of very +valuable iron in it, hematite, and then he would not sell it, but leased +it to the company for five years and he was to have a percentage on +every ton of iron taken out of it. He still had the farm and we went on +as usual, but it seemed as if he was more and more difficult to get +along with and grew more sordid in his views. Of course there was always +plenty to eat, but I did long for some of the other enjoyments. To spend +half of my life in that wild spot seemed unendurable.</p> + +<p>"One blustering March day he had been out on the ridge all the +afternoon, but though he ate a hearty supper he complained of feeling +cold. I made him a hot drink and put a brick steaming with herbs to his +feet. The next morning he had fever and was flighty, but he wouldn't +consent to have a doctor. And when he was wild with delirium and I sent, +it was too late. In five days he was dead with pneumonia. It seemed +dreadful that he should die on the eve of prosperity, but I wonder if he +would have done anything worth while with his wealth.</p> + +<p>"There was no will. I was the only heir, though a cousin did come from +parts unknown<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[Pg 260]</a></span> and was easily bought off as he had no real claim. This +Mr. Davis had been doing some of the business for grandfather, and was a +director I believe. There had to be an administrator and a guardian +appointed for me, and then I found I was a rich young woman, with a +prospect of being richer still. Mrs. Davis took me in her house and was +very kind to me. But I had a feeling that I wanted the education I had +so hungered for and missed. She proposed a year in a convent to be +trained in ladylike ways. I had a longing to know what real girls were +like; I wanted to go to some nice quiet school and have that training +before I went out in the world. I was afraid of society women, and I did +not want to be married out of hand.</p> + +<p>"There was a Mrs. Howard who came to stay at the summer home of Mrs. +Davis. She was not so full of pleasure as some of the ladies, and once +when they were all out on the golf links we had a walk and a talk, and +she thought my desire to go to some small quiet school a very good one. +She had a niece educated here and admired her training very much. She +wrote for me and forwarded me the answer, and then I wrote, and this is +the result. Mrs.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[Pg 261]</a></span> Aldred is kindness itself, and agreed that private +lessons would be best until I could begin to compete with other girls. +What I have gathered is such desultory knowledge, and I'm like a child +in some things. Oh, can't you see that? And I <i>am</i> afraid of being +laughed at.</p> + +<p>"You all seem so bright, so ready with your talk, you know so much that +I envy you. And if I am going to be a rich woman I want to know and to +do some of the best things. I don't believe I could be satisfied with +buying gowns and going to parties. There, it is a long story, and it is +odd to tell it to you, only there is such a look in your eyes at times +that it seemed to me you would understand and <i>not</i> laugh or hold me up +to ridicule."</p> + +<p>There was an almost breathless intensity in the face, a half fear as +well, but the telling of her sad story had roused her from her ordinary +apathy.</p> + +<p>"I certainly should not ridicule you," Helen began decisively. "Why, I +think it is very brave of you to want to be educated when you could lead +a life of ease and pleasure. And I am beginning to suspect that a love +of knowledge is <i>not</i> universal, but I like it myself.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[Pg 262]</a></span> There is so +much in the world that I wonder women do not keep going on as some of +the men do. Only then, I suppose, they wouldn't marry. And you would +have to be quite rich to do it."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[Pg 263]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII</h2> + +<h3>A LITTLE SEED SOWN</h3> + + +<p>The two girls rocked slowly back and forth, stealing side-wise glances +at each other. Helen was very glad there was nothing derogatory in the +story. She seemed to understand the sort of man grandfather Craven was; +there were two or three of them about Hope, if they had no iron mines in +prospect. They did not believe in education in modern methods, nor +anything but saving up money. How did it look to grandfather Craven on +the other side of the river, she wondered?</p> + +<p>"I wish I could help you," Helen began presently. All her sympathy went +out to the girl of nineteen who was very little older than herself, who +had lost four or five of the choicest years out of her life. If it had +been because her mother was an invalid all that time, one could see the +use of it. Or if her grandfather had been poorly and needed care.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[Pg 264]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Oh, you have helped me by understanding as you do," returned Miss +Craven. "And now when I catch a glance of your eye it will give me +courage."</p> + +<p>"I am sure you are right. And if some of the girls knew your story——"</p> + +<p>"Oh, no, no!" with quick, pained apprehension, "I shouldn't want them +to. I hope you——"</p> + +<p>Juliet Craven felt she could trust this girl without a word, that it +would be almost an insult to doubt her integrity. Why, she did not know. +She was not sufficiently versed in human nature to explain its +intricacies.</p> + +<p>"If you mean that I could not betray a confidence, you are just right +there," with a heightened color. "But Miss Grace is wise and judicious +and understands girls."</p> + +<p>"Only—I don't know as I can make it clear, but I am afraid of almost +everybody. I have lived alone so much, I think I am like someone who has +been blind for years and whose eyes are suddenly opened, and he cannot +judge accurately of anything. I hear the girls at times mapping out +characters with such a degree of certainty that I envy them. I do not +seem to know how to judge anyone."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[Pg 265]</a></span></p> + +<p>"And their judgment isn't right half the time," laughed Helen. "It takes +a great deal of wisdom and experience to do this, and I do not believe +any young schoolgirl has enough. I haven't. I've changed my mind ever so +many times about some of the girls until I almost began to think I +hadn't any mind at all."</p> + +<p>Juliet Craven smiled at that. If this bright girl could not judge +correctly—but then she was not fifteen, and she, Juliet, more than four +years older.</p> + +<p>"I am glad someone knows it all. I have only told half to Mrs. Aldred, +though I suppose Mrs. Howard explained why I was so backward. Oh, do you +think I shall ever catch up?" and there was a piteous anxiety in her +voice.</p> + +<p>"Why, you have done a great deal in music in this brief time."</p> + +<p>"But I love music so. And literature enchants me. But analysis of +language, and higher mathematics—I never shall master them I know. I +think no one could trip me up on spelling, however. When I found a +difficult word in a book I spelled it over for days," and the faint +impression of a smile crossed her lips. "But the meanings puzzle me. It +is hard often<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[Pg 266]</a></span>times to think of the correct word, and that makes me +afraid to talk."</p> + +<p>"I have always had a good many to talk to, and that must make a +difference," and the thought of living almost alone on a mountain, out +of the reach of people, crossed Helen's mind and gave her a shudder. +"Oh, I don't see how you lived so alone!" she cried vehemently.</p> + +<p>"It was dreadful after mother was gone. If I could have gone down in +town once in awhile, but there was so much to do, and grandfather always +said he didn't want women folks bothering round when he went anywhere. +Then it was so far to church, though I did go once in a great while when +I had anything to wear. But the girls I had known in school forgot me, +and were married, or busy about other things. And I somehow grew used to +talking to the dumb creatures and the denizens of the woods. I always +kept thinking that something would happen and I'd have a chance. And I +resolved that I would go to school and get an education as mother +wished. But I never thought how hard it would be to begin back like a +child a dozen or so years old. You see grandfather was seventy-six when +mother died, and my<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[Pg 267]</a></span> vague plan was when he had gone, to sell everything +and go away. I couldn't ever have dreamed of so much money. And now I +don't know what to do with it. Mrs. Davis said it would all come right +when I married some nice man, who would take care of it and manage it +for me, but Mrs. Howard said get some education first, and I would be +better able to know what I wanted. Though I am sure I don't want to be +married."</p> + +<p>"The education will certainly be best," Helen returned with the gravity +of twenty. "And I think you ought not be discouraged so soon."</p> + +<p>"There is so much more to learn than I had any idea of. And when I look +ahead——"</p> + +<p>"Oh, don't look ahead," cried Helen laughingly. "Just live day by day, +'Sufficient to the day is the evil thereof,' and I wonder if the good +will not be sufficient also! It is only about a year ago that I cared +anything for education, I was just a country girl too, and suddenly +roused, I didn't know how I <i>could</i> compass it when a way was opened. I +can have two splendid years, and I mean to crowd them full. I don't know +what will happen after that, and I am not going to worry about it. You +can<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[Pg 268]</a></span> have all the years you are minded to take, and you will succeed, I +know."</p> + +<p>The tone was buoyant, inspiriting. To Helen the prospect was enchanting. +Already she had learned what a factor money was, what a blessing to have +enough of it that one need not feel anxious about the future. She would +settle her plans at once. Stay three years here at Aldred House, then go +to college. During the four years there would be plenty of time to +arrange the rest. In her case it would be teaching.</p> + +<p>"How comforting you are!" and there was both depth and sincerity in the +tone.</p> + +<p>"Doesn't Mrs. Aldred advise you to go on?" Helen asked.</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes. And Miss Grace has been very encouraging. But when I look at +the rest of you girls and hear your bright talk, I feel so out of +place."</p> + +<p>"I have a belief that school is the help to enable us to find our right +places in the world if we take it up earnestly. I meant it shall help me +to find mine," confidently. "And I <i>do</i> think, yes, I am sure it will +help you."</p> + +<p>"I was so discouraged. I wrote to Mrs. Howard and she said stay by all +means. Indeed, I have no place to go to. Mrs. Davis is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[Pg 269]</a></span> in Florida now. +Oh, I should like to travel!" and her face was roused almost to +enthusiasm.</p> + +<p>"But you wouldn't want to be an ignorant traveler, either." And she +thought how Mrs. Van Dorn enjoyed and understood. She would have felt +still more encouraged for her compeer, had she known what Mrs. Van Dorn +was at nineteen.</p> + +<p>They talked until it was dusk, when the bell rang and arm in arm they +went to the dining room. Miss Grace was placing girls together in a more +sociable fashion.</p> + +<p>"Suppose you and Miss Beck come over here," she said with a little wave +of the hand to Miss Craven, and giving a nod to Miss Beck. "And Miss +Grant, I think you are put down for the hostess next month. Suppose you +begin now?"</p> + +<p>Helen smiled and went to the head of the table. Miss Craven took her +seat next. "Oh," she murmured, deprecatingly, "I hope it will never come +my turn."</p> + +<p>"Why, it is not much to do, only to see that everything comes right."</p> + +<p>The girls talked of to-morrow. Miss Beck was an Episcopalian, and +described how pret<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[Pg 270]</a></span>tily the little church was trimmed, how beautiful the +morning service had been, and that most of it would be repeated. In the +evening some anthems were to be sung and Phillips Brooks' beautiful +hymn, "Oh, Little Town of Bethlehem." And on Monday at four a Christmas +tree for the children. Perhaps they would like to go?</p> + +<p>Miss Craven's eyes kindled a little and she looked at Helen, as if she +might answer for her.</p> + +<p>"We shall be very glad to," was Helen's ready reply.</p> + +<p>The eyes thanked her timidly.</p> + +<p>Afterward they assembled in the drawing room and sang Christmas hymns to +the accompaniment of the grand piano. Two of the young ladies recited.</p> + +<p>"I don't believe I've ever had such a nice time in my life," Juliet +Craven said with her good-night. "You don't know how sincerely I thank +you."</p> + +<p>To be thanked for a little courtesy like that! Helen stood before the +glass, thinking.</p> + +<p>"I wonder," she said to the reflection, "if you could have had that much +courage with the rest of the girls about? It was very easy to-day, and +it is what ought to be done oftener.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[Pg 271]</a></span> I wonder why they all took me up +so cordially, and why they should have surmised so many wrong things +about her. I dare say her father and mother were ordinarily nice people, +and I am glad there is nothing disgraceful about them. There are quite a +good many queer old people in the world—I'm sure Roxy tells things +about her old great-aunt and laughs over them, that do not sound kindly, +if they are amusing. I wish old people always <i>were</i> agreeable," and she +sighed. "But young people are not either," and she smiled with a +revulsion of mood. "I am glad, too, that she isn't any older. Nineteen. +There are not more than a half dozen girls in the school as old as that. +What a pity one can't be turned back!"</p> + +<p>Helen thought she had never enjoyed a Sunday more. Most of the girls +went with Mrs. Aldred in the morning, and Mr. Danforth was certainly in +a Christmas frame of mind. They had luncheon around the large table +across the end of the dining room, and afterward a talk of the Jews and +Romans at the time of the coming of Christ. Helen had never thought much +of sacred and serious subjects, but her heart seemed to expand and glow +with a fervor she had hitherto known nothing about. If educa<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[Pg 272]</a></span>tion +widened one's view, should not religion do something for it also?</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 391px;"> +<img src="images/illus-272.jpg" width="391" height="550" alt="When Helen returned there was a box that had been sent +across the water with some pretty laces, and a fine neck-chain and +charm." title="" /> +<span class="caption">When Helen returned there was a box that had been sent +across the water with some pretty laces, and a fine neck-chain and +charm.—Page 272.</span> +</div> + +<p>The evening service moved her still more deeply. And she went to sleep +with the music of four lives floating through her brain:</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Yet in thy dark street shineth</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">The everlasting Light,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The hopes and fears of all the years,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Are met in thee to-night."</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>The children's Christmas tree was another pleasure. And when Helen +returned there was a box that had been sent across the water with some +pretty laces and a fine neck-chain and charm. It seemed to bring Paris +much nearer. Her letter, too, was very enjoyable. Mrs. Van Dorn was glad +to have her feel at home and study with energy. But she wanted her to go +at French just as soon as she possibly could, and pay close attention to +it. She, Mrs. Van Dorn, was going to start for Southern France the +beginning of the year and would have a restful time after the jaunting +about. Helen must write freely of herself and the friends she was +making, as well as her progress in every study.</p> + + + +<p>The week was a pleasant one to those who stayed at school. Miss Reid and +Miss Bigelow<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[Pg 273]</a></span> both painted on snow scenes taken at different points. +Miss Reid's had a gray sky with one streak of light down in the +southwest that gave the somber picture a really beautiful effect; Miss +Bigelow's was the sun shining through an opening in some trees and +glistening on the frosted snow. Miss Craven kept on with her lessons, +though she took several walks with Helen. Westchester put on quite a +holiday attire. The Literary Society gave a reading from Dickens' +"Christmas Stories," and there was a church tea and sociable, but no +persuasion could induce Miss Craven to attend it, though Helen and a +number of the girls accompanied Miss Aldred.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Aldred was much engrossed looking over reports, and re-arranging +classes, designating the girls who were to go at the French table, and +making a few changes. For it sometimes seemed as if all the real work +began after Christmas.</p> + +<p>"There will be a vacancy at your table," she said to Helen, who had been +consulting her on some studies. "I wonder if you have any choice as to +who fills it?"</p> + +<p>"Who is going away?" the girls asked.</p> + +<p>"Miss Mays. She should have gone in Sep<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[Pg 274]</a></span>tember, but she begged off," and +Mrs. Aldred gave a little smile.</p> + +<p>"If the others would have no objection to Miss Craven——" hesitatingly.</p> + +<p>"They would have no right to object," gravely.</p> + +<p>"But would I have a right to make a selection for the others?" and a +flush crept up to her forehead.</p> + +<p>"Not a right," in a pleasant tone. "I offer it as a privilege."</p> + +<p>"Then I do think Miss Craven would like it. We have been making +friends," smiling and yet perplexed a little, desiring not to seem +officious.</p> + +<p>"I hoped you would choose her, for her own good. Yes, I have been +noticing the sort of intimacy, the first preference she has evinced for +anyone, though I think you must have kindly made the overtures."</p> + +<p>Helen flushed brightly, but did not emphasize her claim.</p> + +<p>"I have been much puzzled over the case. My daughter Grace and I have +discussed it frequently, and in some ways I have felt very much +discouraged. A friend besought me to take her, explaining that she was a +simple-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[Pg 275]</a></span>hearted country girl, who had had no advantages of education and +was extremely anxious to be fitted for her position; that she was afraid +she had fallen into the wrong hands, her guardian's wife being a rather +pretentious woman of fashion. Miss Craven is a somewhat curious compound +of qualities, and on several lines remarkably intelligent, but clearly +she does not make the best use of that quality."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Aldred had been watching the changes in Helen's face as she talked, +wondering if this girl, not yet fifteen, could comprehend. And now she +paused as if expecting some comment.</p> + +<p>"She is so afraid of nearly everything, everybody," began Helen. "And +yet I think it took real courage to try school life——" and she paused, +glancing up with some hesitation.</p> + +<p>"That was the point that commended her to me. Mrs. Davis was opposed to +it and suggested private teachers. Mrs. Howard thought she desired to +keep the whole control and supervision of the girl, and I, too, consider +it a brave resolve on her part. I was very much interested in Mrs. +Howard's account, though I had in my mind the ordinary country girl +whose education had been neglected. And when she came I really was +puzzled to know where to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[Pg 276]</a></span> place her. She could not affiliate with the +girls of her age, and it would be too mortifying to be put with those so +much younger. So there was nothing but for her to find her own level, to +choose or be chosen by some friendly disposed girl. She will make an +excellent scholar in time. She is very modest. I could wish she had not +quite so much humility. One would never suppose she was an heiress +already, having a much larger income than she can spend now, and the +certainty of being a rich woman five years hence. But she has a great +fear of being tolerated for the money's sake. There are girls who would +make it a strong point. So it seems as if in this friendship matter I +had to let her quite alone, though I have thought of two or three girls +who might take her up if they would. I have learned, however," and she +smiled a little, "that you cannot control these matters. Girls' likes +and dislikes are largely impulses of the present mood, and a belief in +self-knowledge, which they outgrow, fortunately. So I have been much +pleased to see you two drift together. Did she tell you her story?"</p> + +<p>"Yes—at least she went briefly over it," returned Helen.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[Pg 277]</a></span></p> + +<p>"She has not a girl's usual gift of elaboration, and that is a good +quality to miss, though years and experience do mend it. It is +unfortunate to begin life with the idea that you have had more trials or +sorrows or struggles, or even more joys and prosperity than anyone else. +Her life has been hard, but she has let it all drop behind her and wants +to press on to the next best, to something a great deal better;" and an +approving light shone in the elder woman's eyes. "She has a decided gift +for music, for certain kinds of literature, poetry especially, though I +do not think a casual observer would credit her with that. She has some +concise business ideas and works hard at mathematics. Perhaps the +shrewdness is one good quality she inherits from her grandfather. She is +an excellent reader, and it is fortunate that school training can direct +these tastes rather than the gossip and novels of fashionable life. +Although I was absolutely discouraged at first, I feel now that after a +year or two she will compare favorably with the average girl. Of course +we are all fond of the superior girls who do credit to a school, but +they are not very lavishly distributed."</p> + +<p>"I am glad she is going to do so well," and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[Pg 278]</a></span> Helen's face was bright +with generous emotions. "Only, she keeps looking at girls of her age, +and is rather discouraged because she is so far behind."</p> + +<p>"And friendship, contact with other girls, is what she needs. I +sometimes think if girls could only understand all they might do for +each other in the little things of life, the comfort they might be in +some sorrowful moment, the strength in some weak moment, they would +hardly hold aloof in their best qualities and give out the trifles that +are merely husks. I meant this to be a different kind of talk," and a +sweet look pervaded the eyes and crossed the lips, lingering there. "I +wanted to thank you for your interest in her. Of all the girls I had +considered as a friend to her I had not thought of you, perhaps because +you were so much younger. She ought not be much over fourteen either. +And I must give you one word of—shall I call it counsel or advice?" +studying the eager face. "Do not allow yourself to be laughed out of +what I believe will be a good work, and do not get vexed or irritated +because you cannot make others see Miss Craven with your eyes. She has +given you her confidence, and withheld it from the others. I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[Pg 279]</a></span> wish you +success in your new undertaking, and I am much pleased with your +industry."</p> + +<p>"And I am very happy," returned Helen with a glowing face and luminous +eyes, as she made a pretty inclination of the head.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Aldred fell into musing when she was gone.</p> + +<p>"If one knew just what Mrs. Van Dorn meant to do with the girl, whether +to educate her for some purpose, or merely to have her fitted for an +agreeable companion; but it would seem a positive sin to tie such a mind +to an old woman's whims and pleasures. However, here are the two years +in which one may work."</p> + +<p>On Saturday the whole place was astir with the returning girls, and the +merry chatter pervaded every corner and room. There were stories to tell +of the "perfectly lovely" time one and another had had, of the gifts and +gayeties, and rather wry faces over the changes.</p> + +<p>"And I have to go to the French table, and I just know I shall starve," +moaned Roxy Mays. "There's Miss Law to keep me company, but she declares +she will talk straight ahead right or wrong. And is it possible that you +have that wooden head next to your elbow, Helen Grant? I would have +protested."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[Pg 280]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I am here to obey the rules and usages of the school," answered Helen +gravely.</p> + +<p>"Are you going to call her grandmother or great-aunt, or mother-in-law?"</p> + +<p>"By her rightful name, Miss Craven."</p> + +<p>"Well, I wish you joy of her. It almost compensates me for having to ask +in French for every mouthful I eat, and inquire if the day is fair, if +the door is locked, and if you have found the book of my friend. She +will not even venture upon that. And what have you been doing the whole +poky week?"</p> + +<p>"It hasn't seemed a bit poky. I have practiced scales and fingerings, +and gone into the early stages of French," answered Helen gayly.</p> + +<p>"Aha! Well, I've just put in all the fun I could. Two very young +people's parties, a grand concert, and to a euchre club that was +delightful with the most charming partner with whom I established +telegraphic communication. And just a lovely flirtation. What do you +think? He asked if we might not correspond?"</p> + +<p>Helen flushed, remembering her innocent attempt.</p> + +<p>"Oh, you needn't look so indignant over it; and I am pretty sure one of +my sisters is en<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[Pg 281]</a></span>gaged. Perhaps I won't need to stay at school more than +next year."</p> + +<p>"I should be glad to stay five years," cried Helen enthusiastically.</p> + +<p>Daisy Bell was on the other side of Helen, and she looked rather askance +at the newcomer, making the least cool little bow.</p> + +<p>"I've really wanted to get back to you," she began when they had gone to +their room. "They laughed at me at home, and my brother said there must +always be someone for a schoolgirl to adore, and that he thought I would +pass the dangerous period safely, but that it had broken out with +virulence," and she laughed with light-hearted amusement.</p> + +<p>"Did you care as much about me as all that?" and Helen glanced out of +tender eyes.</p> + +<p>"Amend your tense, or tack present and future to it. I didn't know how +much until I left you behind. And you've had a horrid dull time, I +know," with charming solicitude in her voice.</p> + +<p>"No, it has been rather gay, and the days flew by so rapidly."</p> + +<p>"Oh, they always do in vacation. Next week will be as long as any two. I +am glad we won't have any change this term, and I do<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[Pg 282]</a></span> hope we will keep +together next year. Helen, I love you, love you!"</p> + +<p>She clasped her arms about Helen's neck and kissed her rapturously, and +the girl was deeply moved. Miss Mays made a patronizing half-love, you +could not tell whether she was in earnest or not. But this clasp was so +endearing, so full of fervor, and these kisses seemed to have the first +rare sweetness in them that had come into her life. People had liked her +she felt. Mrs. Dayton had been really affectionate, but this was +different.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Daisy!" she sighed from her full heart.</p> + +<p>"You haven't positively loved any girl in school, I know. I think you +are the kind of girl who doesn't love easily, but after I liked you I +was awfully afraid you would go down to Roxy Mays. I ought to confess +that I did last term. She is fascinating, but after a while you don't +feel altogether sure of her. <i>You</i> are so strong and upright. And I +don't want you to love anyone else quite as well; promise me."</p> + +<p>"I am not likely to. No one else will want me to, I guess," rather +tremulously, as another thought seemed to pierce through to her heart.</p> + +<p>"Oh, they will, they will! You're so young,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[Pg 283]</a></span> and you have something—I +can't tell what it is, but you will find as you grow older people will +lean on you and love you, too. I just want you to say—Daisy Bell, I +love you the best of anybody I know."</p> + +<p>"I can say that easily, but I don't know a great many people," Helen +returned gravely.</p> + +<p>"And that I shall always love you the best of anybody."</p> + +<p>"Oh, Daisy, that is a sort of sacred thing to say. How can anyone +tell——"</p> + +<p>"I don't mean lovers or husbands, and you haven't any parents or +sisters. Just here in the school—you will love me the best because I +love you so. That is the highest claim."</p> + +<p>"I will love you the best," Helen said almost solemnly.</p> + +<p>Then a strange awesome feeling thrilled through Helen, and she wondered +if it was right to promise away one's freedom, even in so simple a +matter as loving a schoolmate.</p> + +<p>"Oh, you dear, dear girl! Go to sleep and dream of me."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[Pg 284]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV"></a>CHAPTER XIV</h2> + +<h3>AND THORNS SPRANG UP</h3> + + +<p>School work began in great earnest. There was no loitering now. The +girls who went in the A grade would be seniors next year, and the A +grade of seniors would graduate. Helen took up French with a vim. Mrs. +Van Dorn spoke of it particularly in her letter, and she had the right +to order what Helen should do. The girl never thought of any mental +protest.</p> + +<p>Then there were all the other classes. A conscientious girl was kept +pretty busy. Helen was in the sketching class, Daisy was painting and +did it well. Miss Craven began also, and evinced a decided genius for +it. She was still quiet and reserved. She made no especial demands upon +Helen, but the younger girl found many little ways to assure her of an +interest. Just a clasp of the hand, a glance of the eye, a smile, and +Miss Craven was comforted for hours.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[Pg 285]</a></span></p> + +<p>She tried to draw her into general conversation at the table, she said +nice things to other girls about her and endeavored to interest them. +Oh, if Miss Craven only would come out of her shell and say some of the +really bright things she did when they were alone! It was hard work +Helen found; a sort of weight at times affected her own spontaneity.</p> + +<p>With all the study there was a good deal of fun, sometimes almost +fighting when arguments ran high, or when one's favorite writer or poem +or story was assailed. Some of the girls insisted that Miss Reid had the +most genius for painting, and others were on Miss Bigelow's side. Miss +Gertrude Aldred would not be trapped into a decision, though many a plot +was laid for her.</p> + +<p>Helen thought now and then of Mr. Warfield. She did so want to write to +him. She could not, at least she did not say to Mrs. Dayton the many +things she felt puzzled over, that even Mrs. Aldred could not have +understood, for Mrs. Aldred had never seen her home and knew so little +about her past life.</p> + +<p>And, oh, the planning that went on, the different pursuits that were +discussed, the aims and hopes, yet it is true that most of them<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[Pg 286]</a></span> turned +on marriage. Nearly every girl was confident that this would be her +portion.</p> + +<p>Daisy Bell owned Helen now. She was her chum, her comrade. They could +not always be together, of course, and Daisy was a great favorite with +other girls. Indeed, sometimes Helen wondered why she should have chosen +her so exclusively when there was a little world of adorers to pick +from. She could not have understood in her broad-minded nature that +occasionally Daisy longed to make her jealous by a show of fondness for +someone else.</p> + +<p>Miss Craven would not come to her room unless it was the afternoon of +Miss Bell's music lessons. She was one of Mr. Griffin's pupils.</p> + +<p>"But I am alone here and you can come to me. I am so glad to be alone. I +don't see how I could stand a girl about!" declared Miss Craven. +"Unless," smiling a little, which she did quite often now, to Helen, +"unless it was you."</p> + +<p>"And I am not the most charming girl in the school," Helen replied in +her eager, wholehearted fashion. "If you only <i>would</i> let yourself be +friendly with them."</p> + +<p>"I'm satisfied with you and Miss Aldred. I like her very much, and most, +I think, because<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[Pg 287]</a></span> she is beyond twenty. You see I am not young, and that +makes the difference."</p> + +<p>"Miss Reid will be nineteen in June, about the time she graduates, and +several of the girls are nearly eighteen or over."</p> + +<p>"But they will have finished their education. I have only just begun +mine," protestingly.</p> + +<p>"Then there will be the more years to study," with a bright joyous +emphasis. "It's like a climb up a mountain, perhaps the Alps or the +Andes, when you have to come back and try over the next day, and a good +many days, only it grows easier all the time."</p> + +<p>"Do you know what I heard one of the girls call me?" and Miss Craven +flushed so deep a red it was almost brown.</p> + +<p>Helen flushed, too, but she asked nonchalantly, "What?"</p> + +<p>"An old maid! And she said she didn't know what I wanted to come to +school for. I would never know enough to teach. Do you suppose she would +dare call Miss Aldred an old maid?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, the girls do call each other that, and they don't mean anything," +said Helen lightly.</p> + +<p>"They were talking <i>about</i> me, not to me. It doesn't make me a day +older, I know, but it<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[Pg 288]</a></span> keeps me from being friendly and at home, don't +you see? My way is paid as well as theirs—it costs me more, for I have +private lessons. I have as good right to the school as anybody, whether +I want to teach or not."</p> + +<p>Helen looked at her in amazement. She had never seen so much spirit in +her face. If she could be roused, not by anger merely, but some potent +power. Happiness and love might do it.</p> + +<p>"Oh, now I have offended you——"</p> + +<p>"No, you have not offended me at all. You looked so spirited that I +could not help admiring you. It is a very mean thing for girls to make +ill-natured comments on each other. I wish they did not. I do not see +why they cannot pick out the nice things instead and say them over."</p> + +<p>Helen had made several protests about this matter. She corrected the +subject of Miss Craven's age with spirit.</p> + +<p>"You will never make me believe that," Miss Mays had exclaimed with +unnecessary vigor.</p> + +<p>"Mrs. Aldred has the register, ask her."</p> + +<p>"Oh, Miss Craven may have said that was her age. And who knows anything +about her? She keeps to herself as if there was something<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[Pg 289]</a></span> not +quite——" ending with a disagreeable emphasis.</p> + +<p>"Girls," began another, "we all know if there was anything wrong or +discreditable she would not be here. I do not call her an attractive +girl, but if we do not like her we can let her alone. She lets us alone. +We can't say she has forced herself in our society."</p> + +<p>"A vote of thanks from one for speaking up for her," said Helen gayly. +"And, of course, Mrs. Aldred knows."</p> + +<p>"And Miss Grant, the baby of the school, has been taken into confidence. +Pray do enlighten us. Did she come from India or the Fiji Islands, where +education is sadly neglected?"</p> + +<p>"For all information on the subject, I refer you to Mrs. Aldred."</p> + +<p>Helen was angry, but she kept her temper. The ridiculous side of it all +occurred to her, and another thought—What if Uncle Jason should come +striding into the hall when half the girls were standing around? What +would they say about her? How could girls be so mean and ungenerous?</p> + +<p>This had happened some days before the talk. And now, after a moment or +two of silence, Helen said to Miss Craven, "There is a verse<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[Pg 290]</a></span> in +Proverbs, I think I heard it read in church one Sunday, 'He that would +have friends must show himself friendly.'"</p> + +<p>"I don't want any friend but you."</p> + +<p>There was a great tremble in Miss Craven's voice and she began to cry.</p> + +<p>"And you will not let me advise you about the little things that make so +much difference with girls."</p> + +<p>How did <i>she</i> know? Helen flushed at her own assumption, and yet she +<i>did</i> understand. She pitied Juliet Craven profoundly, too.</p> + +<p>"Oh, don't cry. Can't I comfort you with some word? See here, I really +love you. You are so brave, so persevering, you have had such a hard, +lonely life, and I would like to make it brighter."</p> + +<p>"Oh, Helen! Oh, Miss Grant."</p> + +<p>"No; keep to the Helen," the younger girl interrupted.</p> + +<p>"To have you love me! But I might have known so much care and kindness +could only spring from love. Oh, I think I shall not mind the other +girls now. I've been longing so for real love. Are you quite sure? It +seems too good when I have been making myself content with a simple +liking."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[Pg 291]</a></span></p> + +<p>She pressed Helen's hands to her hot cheeks, wet with tears. Helen +kissed her on the forehead, but the elder drew her face down and +returned the kiss many times.</p> + +<p>"The dinner bell will ring in a few moments," Helen declared presently, +"and we must both make ourselves fit to be seen, not of men, but between +thirty and forty feminines. I wish your gowns were not quite so grave, +but spring is on the way and we will take to light raiment and look like +a flock of birds. Good-by for five minutes," and she flashed away.</p> + +<p>Daisy had a blue ribbon tied in her hair and a pretty chiffon neckgear, +and was really an attractive girl.</p> + +<p>"Why didn't you stay all night with that woman of grays and browns and +general dismalness, and lose your dinner! There, you have almost. If she +had any beauty or charm about her I should be jealous, for you belong to +me, you know."</p> + +<p>Helen slipped into a light shirtwaist and was ready in a trice. Miss +Craven did not come down. When the maid went to inquire, she said she +had a headache, and wanted only a cup of tea.</p> + +<p>There was the bit of social life, the study<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[Pg 292]</a></span> period, and Helen seemed so +discomposed that she used up every moment of it until they were +dismissed. Daisy put her arm about Helen, another girl took the other +side, and three or four of them came into the room.</p> + +<p>How they stayed! Helen summoned courage presently.</p> + +<p>"Excuse me a moment," and she flashed out of the room, tapping at Miss +Craven's door.</p> + +<p>It was open just an inch or two.</p> + +<p>"I came to ask about your headache and say good-night," in a low tone.</p> + +<p>"Oh, you dear, sweet friend! It did ache, but I think it was a kind of +joy throbbing. I didn't want any dinner though. I just laid here and +thought—happy thoughts."</p> + +<p>The half-past nine bell pealed and everyone ran to her own room. Daisy +stood in the middle of the floor upbraidingly, if one's attitude can +express so much.</p> + +<p>"I believe that girl has cast an evil eye on you," she began when Helen +kept silence, busying herself with preparations. "There are evil charms +as well as delightful ones, and spells that wile away love. And you have +promised not to love anyone but me."</p> + +<p>"Have I?" Helen's voice was unsteady.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">[Pg 293]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Yes, you have, and you think promises ought to be kept faithfully. You +must keep yours. I said I wouldn't love any other girl, and I haven't. +I've seen her look at you with a strange light in her eyes, and they are +horrid eyes——"</p> + +<p>"Don't let us talk about Miss Craven, but read our verses and say our +prayers," and now Helen's voice had decision enough in it.</p> + +<p>"You are changing every day, I can see it," complained Daisy.</p> + +<p>"Then let us pray that I may get back to the point," with grave +peremptoriness.</p> + +<p>Daisy was a little awed at this solemn way of taking it up, and +acquiesced.</p> + +<p>Helen lay and wondered at herself. Had she made Daisy such a sweeping +promise? And how easy it had been to say those few words to Miss Craven. +What joy it had given her. She did not love Daisy Bell any less—how +many people could you love? Must one true affection shut out the others?</p> + +<p>She <i>did</i> really love Daisy Bell. She had a rather petite figure and +face; the face fair and full of soft curves changing with every emotion, +and a rose tint that came and went, that seemed playing hide and seek +with two seduc<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">[Pg 294]</a></span>tive dimples, one in her chin, the other in her cheek. +Her hair was a light brown that had a tint of gold, and her eyes were a +soft dark brown that could look at you with the utmost pathos or deepen +with fun and fire, and her rose-red lips had a dewy, tremulous fashion +of shaping themselves to any mood.</p> + +<p>Another charm for Helen was her love of order and neatness, without +being at all fussy, her wonderful blending of colors, the little touches +that gave an air to the plainest surroundings. Then she was generally +helpful. Helen had been indebted to her for many small aids along the +difficult paths of learning that were quite unknown in Hope Center.</p> + +<p>Daisy had made the first advances. She was more experienced in school +ways, older, richer, and a favorite with the class. Helen felt honored +by her preference. If she had been less lovable it might have savored of +patronage and that Helen would have declined. It sometimes seemed as if +she was the stronger, the leading spirit, as in some respects Daisy +yielded unhesitatingly to her.</p> + +<p>It was Helen's first girl friendship, and it possessed something of the +marvel to her that Mrs. Dayton's kindliness had, since neither<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">[Pg 295]</a></span> were in +anywise compelled to take her up. But why had she ever promised to love +Daisy only?</p> + +<p>And did she really <i>love</i> Juliet Craven? This night was the first time +Miss Craven had ever used her Christian name. She would hardly dream of +being intimate with any of the young ladies in the senior class, though +several of them were very cordial and she had been asked to sing for +them and with them. Helen made a funny distinction about this, it was +due to her voice and not her personality. She was too wholesome to feel +aggrieved about such a thing and she had very little vanity. Being +brought up by Aunt Jane would have taken the vanity out of any girl.</p> + +<p>But there did not seem so much difference between her age and Miss +Craven's as the years confessed. Helen knew a great deal more about the +real world. She was likely to make a good logician. Her short experience +at Mrs. Dayton's had given her the key to the larger world. Those women +with their different qualities were reproduced here in the school, here +in Westchester, and were no doubt repeated elsewhere. But Miss Craven +knew nothing and was afraid to judge, to have decided<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">[Pg 296]</a></span> opinions, to +compare one with another. Her solitary life had taken her into the very +heart of nature, of a certain kind of dreaming, and longing for +knowledge, but that was widely different from the every day knowledge of +general living. Helen had not been lonely, her mind was too active, and +there had always been people about her. She wanted her knowledge to +enable her to go out in the world and conquer it; girls of fourteen and +older do have such dreams. Miss Craven wanted hers largely for herself +alone.</p> + +<p>Helen had pitied her, been very sympathetic, assisted her over rough +places, and really advised. Was not this some of the work preached about +on Sunday in the churches, helping the weaker brethren? She had hardly +thought of religion up to this period of her life as having any duties +in a practical sense, but Mrs. Aldred gave the school that tone, and +Miss Grace was interested in the broader Christian life, not merely +church-going.</p> + +<p>So Miss Craven, curiously enough, had looked like a duty to Helen. She +and Daisy did their brief reading every night, but since Christmas so +many verses had pointed to the weaker brother. The stronger, wiser girls +in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">[Pg 297]</a></span> school did not want anything of her, at least she thought she had +nothing to give them, since they did not ask, and the word was "everyone +that asketh." Miss Craven had asked by a glance of the eye, a pressure +of the hand, a quiver of the wordless lips that hesitated to frame the +desire into speech. Yes, she did love her if charity and kindliness were +love, and—oh, there <i>was</i> something deeper, wider, higher.</p> + +<p>She had not settled the question when she fell asleep, rather late for +her and so she did not wake until Daisy touched her. Daisy Bell had half +a mind to let her oversleep and lose a mark, then she really did love +her too well.</p> + +<p>"Oh, dear!" sighed Helen ruefully. "And I wanted to finish my Latin +translation this morning."</p> + +<p>There could be no thought of anything but hurrying downstairs. Miss +Craven was in her place and glanced up with a certain eagerness in her +eyes. All through breakfast time Daisy made herself uncomfortable, +watching.</p> + +<p>"So you have a rival in your sweetheart's affections," Miss Mays +whispered mischievously, linking her arm in that of Daisy's as they +sauntered through the hall. "The glances are something wonderful, +beseeching. If the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">[Pg 298]</a></span> eyes hadn't that dull, leady look they might prove +dangerous in years to come, but I doubt if young men will be drawn near +enough to experience their fascination. But she gains a little every +day, and you will soon lose your Helen of Troy."</p> + +<p>"Helen of Troy is a free agent. She can make friends wherever she will," +was the rather curt answer.</p> + +<p>"But 'life is thorny and love is vain,'" quoted Roxy. "I <i>do</i> wonder at +Helen Grant's taste."</p> + +<p>There were lessons and exercises and Helen found her mind wandering, +having to bring it back by sharp turns. Daisy was very distant. "Oh, how +foolish girls can be!" Helen thought.</p> + +<p>When they went in to luncheon a surprise greeted most of the girls. +Helen Grant saw the vacant seat beside her. One of the girls opposite +touched elbows with the other and both glanced at the end of the room.</p> + +<p>Helen let her eyes wander down leisurely. Next to Mrs. Aldred sat a +stranger, next to her Miss Craven, more timid than ever.</p> + +<p>The stranger was elegant and airy. Her cloth gown was of the newest +shade of green,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">[Pg 299]</a></span> the small bolero covered with iridescent embroidery, +the satin bosom a few shades lighter, sown here and there with beads in +colors that sparkled like gems. A very pretty, stylish-looking woman of +five and thirty perhaps. She wore two magnificent diamond rings and a +small star at her throat. The most critical taste could not pronounce +her loud.</p> + +<p>Helen thought rapidly. Was that Mrs. Howard? She felt rather +disappointed.</p> + +<p>Everybody went on with the luncheon and when it was through, Mrs. +Aldred, the guest, and Miss Bigelow retired to the drawing room. What +did it all mean? They heard presently. The lady was Mrs. Davis, the wife +of Miss Craven's guardian. Just as Morris had answered the door, Miss +Bigelow crossed the hall and recognized a lady she had seen a good deal +of in the summer.</p> + +<p>"Why this <i>is</i> delightful to meet a familiar face," declared the +stranger. "Is this where you are at school? We have a <i>protégée</i> here, +at least Mr. Davis is guardian and trustee of a young woman and no end +of money, Miss Craven, do you know her?"</p> + +<p>Morris was trying to usher the guest into the reception room.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300">[Pg 300]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Yes, she is here," and Miss Bigelow did the honors; begged Mrs. Davis +to be seated. Morris came back with the word that Mrs. Aldred would be +at liberty in a few moments.</p> + +<p>"Do tell me what kind of a school it is? The girl's grandfather died; he +was a queer old fellow, and the business was in a sort of muddle, but, +as I said, there is no end of money. I wanted her to go to a convent; I +was good enough to take her in and see what could be done in the way of +polishing, for you see she must go in society. She didn't take kindly to +the Roman Catholic aspect, but you know they never interfere with +anyone's religion. I had a friend come to stay with me while I was +giving a house party, a Mrs. Howard, who took a fancy to her; she had +scarcely been out of the woods, though I found she had come of a very +good family—Revolutionary people and a great-uncle, a judge in +Maryland, and several men of note. The Baltimore relatives are among +some of the best in society. If there had been no family back of her I +really couldn't have undertaken her. Mrs. Howard knew of this school; I +think she had a niece educated here. So she wrote, and the matter +somehow settled itself. I was engaged for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">[Pg 301]</a></span> Lenox, and two or three house +parties, and Washington, Charleston, and Florida. I do seem to keep on +the go most of the time. And this is really the first opportunity I have +had to look after her, though I knew I could trust Mrs. Howard."</p> + +<p>"Miss Craven is in excellent hands here. Of course I am among the +Seniors and graduate in June, and am very busy, so I see but little of +the Juniors."</p> + +<p>"Why, it is quite college-like." Mrs. Davis had taken in a fresh supply +of breath. Her voice was soft and well trained, though she rather swept +along as she talked.</p> + +<p>"Girls are prepared for college, or for any position in life," Miss +Bigelow replied with a smile.</p> + +<p>"That is what Mrs. Howard said. I can't understand how the grandfather +could become such a queer old hermit when the family was an excellent +one. It might have been the loss of his son, this girl's father. Mr. +Davis thinks he was a man of education and shrewd about business. He had +to go over all the papers, you know, and there were marriage +certificates, his parents and his own, and various family affairs. I was +glad for her sake that every<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">[Pg 302]</a></span>thing was right. A family stigma always +keeps cropping up."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Aldred entered at this juncture, and Miss Bigelow left the two +ladies to their conference. Mrs. Davis went over the ground again, more +at length, and stated her wishes definitely. She wanted Miss Craven +trained to make a good impression on society, accomplished if she could +be.</p> + +<p>"She has a great talent for music and will make a fine player. It is a +pity she could not have begun her general education sooner," replied +Mrs. Aldred. "It will take time to reach any standard."</p> + +<p>"Oh, a thousand pities. But it doesn't seem really necessary for her to +go into the abstruse subjects, for every year counts. It is an excellent +thing that girls do not marry as young as they used to. I was married +before I was quite eighteen, but I had been three years at a first-class +boarding school. She will be twenty in the summer. She certainly can +finish in another year?" tentatively.</p> + +<p>"She can do a good deal, but hardly that. This year it will be +principally ground-work. She has had private lessons, and she does love +study, is eager to learn. Next year she will go<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303">[Pg 303]</a></span> into regular classes +and get accustomed to girls. She is painfully shy."</p> + +<p>"I hope you can give her some style. After all, money <i>does</i> make amends +for a great deal, and I have known some really ignorant girls to marry +well, but now everyone who makes a bow to society is expected to have +some training, and get the air of <i>nouveaux riches</i> rubbed off. That is +detestable."</p> + +<p>"I do not think that will be one of her faults;" and Mrs. Aldred smiled +a little, wondering how long it had been since Mrs. Davis had cast +comparative poverty behind her.</p> + +<p>"French and all that she can pick up abroad. I should like her to know +some Italian songs. I wish I <i>could</i> take her next year. You hardly +consider it possible?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, no. I should certainly wait. She has improved. I will send for her. +And as it will soon be luncheon time may I not have the pleasure of +making you a guest? You will see our school in every-day trim, and meet +some of our teachers. We have also a day school for larger girls."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Davis accepted graciously. Miss Craven was summoned, and entered +with self-possession.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304">[Pg 304]</a></span></p> + +<p>The girl had been very happy all the morning. The consciousness that +someone loved her, albeit a girl so much younger, had been like red wine +to her blood, and kept her pulses throbbing, given her eyes a subtle +glow. The bluish tint should never have been in such eyes, golden or the +translucent green that sometimes sets hazel eyes ashine would have made +a great change in her face. But they had lightened up curiously, and her +cheeks rounded out, her complexion cleared up since she was no longer +exposed to sun and wind, and had a more hygienic training. She had tied +a pink ribbon around her neck. Helen Grant liked it so much.</p> + +<p>Altogether, she looked improved from last summer. And she certainly had +learned to smile. Her teeth were white, even, and pretty.</p> + +<p>She was very much surprised, and could not dismiss her distrust of Mrs. +Davis at once. Indeed, what reason had she for distrusting her? Mrs. +Aldred led the conversation until the girl's first embarrassment was +over, and then gracefully withdrew to plan for a change at the table.</p> + +<p>Soon after luncheon Mrs. Davis took her leave, quite convinced that Mrs. +Aldred would<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_305" id="Page_305">[Pg 305]</a></span> do as well for her husband's ward as anyone. She would +have liked the prestige of the convent better.</p> + +<p>By dinner time most of the girls knew that Miss Juliet Craven was really +an heiress, and that her guardian was the great banker and lawyer as +well, and who was occasionally called upon to disentangle some very +intricate points, Mr. James Elliot Davis.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_306" id="Page_306">[Pg 306]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XV" id="CHAPTER_XV"></a>CHAPTER XV</h2> + +<h3>BETWIXT TWO</h3> + + +<p>"And you knew it all the time!" Daisy Bell cried indignantly. She sat +curled up on her bed, her soft, pretty hair let down about her +shoulders, her arms folded across her chest as if she would shut out any +pleading tone from her heart, if indeed it was her heart whose racing +pulsation could decide for her, and keep or banish a guest.</p> + +<p>"Not all the time," corrected Helen. "She told me a little of her story, +told it briefly, I mean, and left me to infer the rest; explained <i>why</i> +she wanted an education, and the almost accident of her coming here. She +seemed so lonely at Christmas-tide when so many of you were away in +happy homes, having delightful times with plenty of love and joy and +good cheer. Well, I felt rather lonely as well."</p> + +<p>"And then I came back to you with a heart full of love, and she had +crept in. Why didn't you tell me——"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_307" id="Page_307">[Pg 307]</a></span></p> + +<p>Daisy's voice trembled and she loosened one hand to wipe her eyes. Helen +was much moved.</p> + +<p>"There really was nothing to tell. We had made no vows, exchanged no +promises, broken no rings," with a scornful little laugh. "I set her +straight on two or three points, I scolded her a little, yes, I just +did, and I wanted her to mix with, and be more like other girls. I don't +believe you, with joyous homes and brothers and sisters, can understand +the lonely life she has led."</p> + +<p>"As <i>you</i> can," with a touch of girlish sarcasm.</p> + +<p>"Yes, as I can. I have a kindly uncle and aunt, who have cared for me +since father died, and a lot of cousins growing up into commonplace men +and women. There are dozens of tender ties, but no real sympathy with my +desires. Aunt thought I knew quite enough, and so I would for some +lives. The longing and desire for other things, better things, helps me +to understand her. But it was only a week or ten days ago—some +strictures of the girls made her very unhappy——"</p> + +<p>"She shouldn't have listened. The old adage is a good one," with a +scornful laugh.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_308" id="Page_308">[Pg 308]</a></span></p> + +<p>"She could not help it. I think some of the girls have not treated her +kindly, they have even been rude. And it was mean to try to set her age +so much farther on, and to call her an old maid."</p> + +<p>"She doesn't look young."</p> + +<p>"She will have a guardian for almost two years longer. I suppose in law +you have to give your exact age. Some of the people I love best are very +far from young."</p> + +<p>"I suppose you love a great many!" with an emphasis as bitter as her +tender voice could make. She could put anger in it, but bitterness never +could be part and parcel of it.</p> + +<p>"I love a few. I am not very rich in friends. But I know I am capable of +loving a good many people for different qualities."</p> + +<p>Helen stood up very straight. She was growing tall rapidly. There was +firmness and character in every line of her face, and in her tone as +well.</p> + +<p>"I don't care for the thousandth part of anyone's love. And you said you +would love me the best of anybody——"</p> + +<p>"And so I did and do when you are not"—foolish, she was going to say, +but she paused. "Oh, Daisy, can't you see it is the individual<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_309" id="Page_309">[Pg 309]</a></span>ity, the +qualities in a person that you love. And no two are alike. You are very +dear and sweet. But I dare say <i>you</i> loved girls last year when I was +not here, and when I am gone you will love someone else. I don't ask you +to love me best of all, for there are, no doubt, more charming girls and +Miss Craven did not demand that of me. It was because she seemed so glad +of a little crumb, and I knew no one loved her——"</p> + +<p>Helen's voice had a break in it. She went on taking down her hair, +putting away her necktie and handkerchief, then hung her skirt in the +wardrobe. Would she ask Daisy to read with her? "Let not the sun go down +upon your wrath." But she wasn't even angry, only indignant at what +looked to her like injustice.</p> + +<p>"Daisy," she began presently, "if someone told you a story, incidents +out of her life that you knew were given in a burst of confidence, under +the impression that you would not repeat it, should you feel duty bound +to rehearse it to your friend. I did not promise, but I felt it was her +business. Mrs. Aldred knew it; Miss Grace, too, I dare say, but they did +not explain it to the school."</p> + +<p>"It was nothing disgraceful. And the girls<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_310" id="Page_310">[Pg 310]</a></span> surmised—why, I think it +would have been better explained," and Daisy roused up a little.</p> + +<p>"What right had any girl to surmise? It was admitted that Mrs. Aldred +would not have taken in anyone with dishonorable antecedents. And if my +father had been a criminal of any sort, could I have helped it? But Mrs. +Aldred knew there was nothing except a neglected girlhood which she has +been trying in the kindliest manner to remedy. When a girl surmised +anything, she was willing to give color to what she did not know was +true. It seems to me that is very near a falsehood."</p> + +<p>Daisy had heard more sneers than Helen. Her face burned with a pained +consciousness. She really felt ashamed that she should have half +believed the positive untruths. Gossip and ill-nature without any +foundation—how despicable it looked. How could they have been amused +over it?</p> + +<p>"I don't see why she shouldn't have been willing to let us all know she +was so rich," Daisy said in a sort of extenuation for the girls.</p> + +<p>"I think it was because she wanted to do her hardest work unnoticed, for +one thing, and she doesn't seem at all proud of the money<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_311" id="Page_311">[Pg 311]</a></span> though it is +honorably obtained. She is very timid because she realizes her own +deficiencies. I can't help feeling things would have been better with +her if that Mrs. Howard had been her guardian's wife. Think, she's +nineteen years old and no one has ever given her a bit of love, +until——"</p> + +<p>The great clock in the hall rolled out ten in its ponderous tones.</p> + +<p>"Oh, good gracious!" Daisy jumped lightly from her bed. Helen put out +the light and went on with her undressing. There could be no reading. +She did not say a word, but knelt down presently.</p> + +<p>It was hard to know just what was right and best. She had a feeling that +she ought to go over to Daisy, since she had given the offense—it was +not an offense on her part—but she could say, "I am sorry we quarreled +when we meant to be such dear friends." She repeated "Our Father, who +art in heaven," and then she remembered the man who prayed for wisdom, +and who chose wisdom.</p> + +<p>Two soft arms were around her neck and a tear-wet cheek was pressed +against hers.</p> + +<p>"I've been a horrid, miserable, selfish little wretch! I do wonder if +you can ever love me<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_312" id="Page_312">[Pg 312]</a></span> any more? But I want you too, even if you must +love her some. I'm sorry——"</p> + +<p>Helen kissed her a dozen times. "You little darling, I love you a +hundred times better than before, if such a thing were possible. And I'm +glad not to have any break. Run to bed, little midget, or we shall have +to confess to talking out of time."</p> + +<p>Then they said good-night again, and so the first difference was made +up, but Daisy's jealous heart was not quite comforted.</p> + +<p>There was a difference in the demeanor of most of the girls toward Miss +Craven, though few would have admitted the money had anything to do with +it. Miss Bigelow simply repeated Mrs. Davis's remark, that the girl +would be very rich. No one could say that she was loud or presuming, or +that her retiring manner was an evidence of pride. She went her way as +quietly as before. She acknowledged all the little politenesses in a shy +sort of way, but she was hard to get on with. She would only talk in +monosyllables, except to Helen Grant.</p> + +<p>"She has the key to unlock her tongue," Miss Mays said. "Helen is the +sort of girl who will always be looking for fresh fields and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_313" id="Page_313">[Pg 313]</a></span> pastures +new. I like her immensely, but I couldn't help feeling as if I was only +one of the many to her."</p> + +<p>Such little speeches with the utmost apparent good nature fell heavily +on Daisy Bell's heart.</p> + +<p>There were many things to attend to beside school-girl differences, +which were always happening among pupils. Easter was late, and then +every day counted to those who expected promotion as well as the +graduates.</p> + +<p>Still there were some splendid rambles over on the other side of the +river, some rowing parties, delightful lessons in out-of-door botany, +and, oh, the plans for summer! There would be eight graduates among the +boarders, seven from the day scholars. Miss Reid was going abroad for a +year at painting, Miss Downs to study music at Leipsic, Miss Bigelow to +enter an art school in New York, three to go to college, one to be +married. Most of the Senior B would step into the A division, and every +class would be pushed up.</p> + +<p>Helen could have gone in the higher division at Easter. She had studied +not only with a will, but an eager interest in so many things that she +wondered how girls could dawdle<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_314" id="Page_314">[Pg 314]</a></span> along. Still, if they had no aim, if it +was merely to get through these intervening years, looking forward to +pleasure, society, and marriage, perhaps it <i>might</i> be sufficient. Her +future was rather doubtful, even to herself. There were suggestions +about the more weighty studies from Mrs. Van Dorn, as if Helen would +hardly need them. But she did it because she liked them. She wanted to +go to the foundation, to know on just what her structure stood, there +was nothing negative about her. One day Miss Grace said:</p> + +<p>"Miss Grant, you would make a most excellent teacher. You are so direct +and so simple, you waste no time, and you evince so much interest in the +branches you like. I see your influence on two pupils, Miss Bell, who is +a sweet, bright girl, but not in love with study, and mother and I feel +really indebted to you for your interest in Miss Craven. When she can +once venture out of her shell with the consciousness that she is not so +different from the others, the Rubicon will be passed. I do believe she +will do it. I am counting a good deal on next year."</p> + +<p>"I am glad if I help ever so little," returned Helen with shining eyes, +as a soft color trans<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_315" id="Page_315">[Pg 315]</a></span>fused her fair face. "And since one and another +has been very good to me, I ought to pass the kindness on to someone +else."</p> + +<p>"'Freely ye have received, freely give.' I am glad that purpose has +taken root. There are so many things we can give that only cost us a +little trouble, and do more good than the bestowal of money. It is one +of the greatest lessons of life."</p> + +<p>Miss Aldred smiled upon her pupil, and a warm glow sped through Helen's +frame.</p> + +<p>"Then I have my mind quite set upon teaching some day. Perhaps I take +that from my father, who was a teacher. I saw so little of him, but this +year I've wondered a good deal what he really was like, and if we should +not have been splendid friends on these lines. I believe he was +disappointed about my not being a boy, and it's funny"—with a bright +merry laugh. "I've never wanted to be a boy at all. I think girls are +nicer."</p> + +<p>"The loveliest being to me is a fine, broad, sweet-minded, cultured +woman, and I am very glad she is beginning to be thought of as the ideal +woman. You have many years before you reach real womanhood, which comes +later<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_316" id="Page_316">[Pg 316]</a></span> and is richer than it was twenty years ago. But you are taking +some excellent steps along the way."</p> + +<p>"Oh, thank you for the praise," said Helen pressing her hand.</p> + +<p>If the steps were not in Latin and French she could go bounding along, +she thought. In that respect she did not inherit her father's facility +nor his love for the abstruse and difficult.</p> + +<p>"I suppose I am superficial," she said to herself ruefully. "But why +shouldn't one delight in the things one loves best?"</p> + +<p>That was one charm about Miss Craven to her. She reveled in poetry. The +other girls were full of nonsense chatter in the spare half hours, but +they two often slipped away under some tree and read and discussed. +There was a fund of romance in each one, though temperament and +surroundings had been so different, the one so afraid to express her +inmost thought, the other so fearless, not even minding being laughed +at.</p> + +<p>Every day seemed more crowded with all things.</p> + +<p>"I'm glad I don't have to think about a graduation gown, or any gown," +laughed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_317" id="Page_317">[Pg 317]</a></span> Helen. "My clothes come ready-made, and all I have to do is to +put them on."</p> + +<p>"But wouldn't you like to choose sometimes?" asked one of the girls. "I +shall choose my graduation gown and my wedding gown."</p> + +<p>"Oh, no you won't. Graduation gowns have to be pretty much alike, and +wedding gowns must be in the prevailing fashion. In fact, I think there +is very little you <i>do</i> choose in this life. There's someone just in +front always who lays down the law, and though you may think you will +get your own way you find oftener it is the way of someone else."</p> + +<p>"If I had my way I wouldn't come back to school."</p> + +<p>"If I had my way I would come back to school ten years," exclaimed +Helen.</p> + +<p>"You are enough to tire anyone to death with your everlasting study +plans. Thank heaven for vacation, say I."</p> + +<p>There were some plans, indeed a great deal of planning about that. Each +girl had a different desire.</p> + +<p>Helen had written her monthly letter regularly. Sometimes she had nice +chatty replies from Mrs. Van Dorn; at others, Miss Gage had written. +They had been spending a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_318" id="Page_318">[Pg 318]</a></span> month at Paris, now they were going to London, +and then to some country houses. And early in June came a letter +disposing of Helen's summer. She would return to Hope and spend the time +between Mrs. Dayton and her uncle. "We do not know what may happen +another year," she wrote; "and you are too young to be going about +anywhere else."</p> + +<p>Of course that was what she had expected to do, would be glad to do. She +did want to see all her old friends again. Uncle Jason's letters had +been rather queer and formal, Jenny had written twice all about herself +and Joe.</p> + +<p>Daisy came in bright and smiling. She, too, had a letter.</p> + +<p>"I've been telling mamma such lots about you, and I asked her to let me +invite you to spend a fortnight with me, and here it is. Just listen."</p> + +<p>A very delightful invitation to be sure. Helen's heart beat high for a +moment.</p> + +<p>"Well—are you struck speechless?" a gay light dancing in her eyes.</p> + +<p>"You are very good, just lovely, but I do not know as I can accept, I am +to go home——"</p> + +<p>"Only two weeks out of nine! Surely you can spare that!"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_319" id="Page_319">[Pg 319]</a></span></p> + +<p>Helen considered. "I will consult Mrs. Aldred before I decide," with +gentle gravity.</p> + +<p>"I really do not see what she has to do with it. Your aunt and uncle +would be the ones to decide. Don't you want to do it—to see what sort +of a home I have? It would be just a splendid time. Mamma is half in +love with you. I am almost jealous again."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I can't think of anything more delightful," Helen cried eagerly, +and Daisy did not need to doubt the pleasure illumining her face. "But +Mrs. Van Dorn has planned——"</p> + +<p>"Oh, write to her and tell her how much you want to come," beseechingly.</p> + +<p>"There would hardly be time."</p> + +<p>"It would be nicer to take you home with me, but you could come +afterward."</p> + +<p>"Why yes. However, I will see what Mrs. Aldred thinks."</p> + +<p>"Oh, go at once. I want to write back," exclaimed Daisy impatiently.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Aldred looked up from the pile of reports on her table, and said in +a pleasantly inquiring tone, "Well?" then listened, but there was a tint +of perplexity in her face.</p> + +<p>"I had a note from Mrs. Van Dorn by the last steamer also. She seems +very well satis<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_320" id="Page_320">[Pg 320]</a></span>fied with your progress, only she is rather exigent +about the French, and I wish you would do all you can at it during +vacation. But she is very explicit about the summer. I think she prefers +that you should spend it in Hope."</p> + +<p>She had been rather more than explicit, and said she did not approve of +such young girls visiting about. Mr. Castles would send a trusty person +for Helen and see her safely on the train for Hope.</p> + +<p>"Do you not think I might write to her about it for a visit later on?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, you could. But Mrs. Van Dorn is certain of her own wishes in any +matter, and generally has good reasons. I do not imagine a visit like +this would do you any harm, but you are young, and I <i>do</i> suppose you +owe your own people some respect. I think I should accept the fiat."</p> + +<p>Helen felt bitterly disappointed. She did not dream her girlish +enthusiasm about Daisy Bell had been one of the factors in this command, +as it really was, that Mrs. Van Dorn did not want any girl to gain a +strong influence over Helen, but she need not have felt suspicious, as +the influence was all the other way.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_321" id="Page_321">[Pg 321]</a></span></p> + +<p>It had come like a sudden vision, and now it was quenched in bitter +regret, with the unappeased want back of it.</p> + +<p>"I do object to indiscriminate visiting for such young girls. If Mrs. +Van Dorn were here and could see just the kind of girl Miss Daisy is, it +would be different, but I suppose, if she thought at all, it was about +the generality of girls, who sometimes are quite lawless in their own +homes. Since you have accepted her direction for the next two years, it +is best to do it cheerfully," advised Mrs. Aldred.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I <i>do</i> owe her that much," returned Helen in a convinced tone, if +the disappointment had not all gone out of it.</p> + +<p>Then Daisy and she had an unpleasant disagreement about it, and Helen +felt sorrier than ever.</p> + +<p>Juliet Craven's happening was a comforting one for her. Mrs. Davis had +gone abroad with a clear conscience. Her friend, Mrs. Howard, was to +look after the ward who was neither woman or child.</p> + +<p>Then came the rush of examinations, the excitement to know who had +passed, and what the marks were, and the graduation exercises<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_322" id="Page_322">[Pg 322]</a></span> which +began at three in the afternoon and were to end with a lawn party in the +moonlight.</p> + +<p>Some of the pupils were secretly mortified at not attaining a higher +rate, a few really did not care, and they were not sufficiently above +the ordinary to make a mark anywhere. Some others were a credit to the +training and culture of Aldred House, and went their way with a grateful +remembrance of their teacher friend and her admirable daughter.</p> + +<p>Helen had a part in the singing, there was some excellent playing, +recitations, and essays. The house was crowded, it was one of the summer +events at Westchester. There were congratulations and good wishes, and +an evening of unbounded delight, as many of the young people were +invited, and for this evening the youthful masculines, among them a +number of law students, were welcomed.</p> + +<p>Was it only a year ago Helen Grant had recited Hervé Riel in the old +schoolhouse at Hope Center? Oh, how many things had happened since then. +Why, it was like a fairy story. She could hardly believe it herself.</p> + +<p>She recited it again out on a corner of the lawn, and before she was +half through her audience had doubled, and listened with flat<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_323" id="Page_323">[Pg 323]</a></span>tering +attention. The young son of Mr. Danforth, just home from college, was +standing near.</p> + +<p>"That's enough to inspire one," he said. "I shall take one line back +with me and recall the very ring of your voice:</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Sirs, believe me, there's a way.'"</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>Helen flushed with pleasure. She had not given up her old hero, though +there had been new candidates for her favor.</p> + +<p>Then followed the partings the next morning. Some would be for life +perhaps. Every graduate counted on coming back to Aldred House some day, +but there were many chances and changes and more than one was never to +see it again, only hold its happy times in remembrance.</p> + +<p>"I am glad we are to keep together next year," exclaimed Daisy Bell. +"And I <i>do</i> think I shall be a better student. The year following we +shall graduate together. And all the rest of our lives I hope we shall +be friends, even if we do have tiffs now and then."</p> + +<p>Juliet Craven asked rather timidly if she might write to Helen.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I should be disappointed if you did not. I count on it as one of my +pleasures,"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_324" id="Page_324">[Pg 324]</a></span> Helen returned warmly. There were other promises, several +of them not kept. And by twos and threes the group dwindled until at +dinner all the remainder were invited to the table of state as guests.</p> + +<p>The next morning a thin, rather somber-looking man came with a note from +Mr. Castles. Helen's eyes were swimming in tears as she said good-by to +Mrs. Aldred and Miss Grace.</p> + +<p>It was an uneventful journey until they reached New York. They stopped +at Mr. Castles' office, and he questioned Helen about her past year, +took her out to lunch, and then put her aboard her own train with +several papers and a magazine, and wished her a pleasant journey.</p> + +<p>And pleasant it was, though she had a seat to herself. She could not +read, hardly look at the tempting array of pictures, there were so many +thoughts crowding in and through her mind. She had been very happy. +Schooldays were delightful. She wanted years and years of them.</p> + +<p>Some ten miles before they reached Hope the passengers had to leave the +main line. She made her change without any difficulty, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_325" id="Page_325">[Pg 325]</a></span> saw that her +trunk was safely bestowed. Then on and on past farms and a few +straggling villages, when the train began to slow up and the conductor +called out—"North Hope."</p> + +<p>Half bewildered, as if it were a strange place, she felt the conductor +take her arm. Then someone else grasped it, a rather tall figure with a +familiar face, and a delighted voice at his side exclaimed:</p> + +<p>"Why, Helen Grant! You have grown almost out of recollection!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, Mrs. Dayton! Oh, Mr. Warfield!"</p> + +<p>That was all she could say at first. Mr. Warfield looked after her +trunk; Mrs. Dayton surveyed her from head to foot.</p> + +<p>"You'll have to go in long dresses," she began in an amused tone.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I don't want to grow up, Mrs. Dayton. I don't want to be a young +lady. Girls have such a good time, and in my heart and all over me I am +just a girl," she exclaimed vehemently.</p> + +<p>"I am glad of that, too. Joanna wondered if you had forgotten how to dry +glass and china, and would be clear spoiled at boarding school. You +haven't changed a bit in looks, and your face isn't a day older, but you +are al<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_326" id="Page_326">[Pg 326]</a></span>most as tall as I. Just now I haven't but two or three boarders, +and I want all of you that I can have for the pure pleasure of the +thing."</p> + +<p>Mr. Warfield soon joined them. Here was the library in which she had +taken such pleasure, the street with the stores, the window in which she +had seen her Madonna, and now she knew so much about the old ones and +their painters. A turn in this quiet street and here they were. She +would not have been startled to see Mrs. Van Dorn on the porch. There +were an old lady and an old gentleman, both silver-haired and placid, +she in an almost quakerish garb, but looking very sweet.</p> + +<p>"You are tired and dusty, I know, and want a bit of freshening up. Mr. +Warfield is going to stay to dinner, and then you can have your talk. +His school just closed yesterday, and he goes away to-morrow. We have +almost quarreled about you; he hates girls' boarding schools and was +sure you would come back a niminy, priminy Miss with high heels and +trains and all that," laughing gayly.</p> + +<p>"He doesn't know anything about Aldred House," Helen replied, amused.</p> + +<p>"Here, you are to have a room to yourself, though I expect to-morrow +Uncle Jason will<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_327" id="Page_327">[Pg 327]</a></span> whisk you off. That old couple downstairs, Mr. and +Mrs. White, have Mrs. Van Dorn's room. And she's careering around Europe +like any young thing! She does surprise me. Now when you are ready come +down, for we are just dying to inspect you and see how much you have +changed."</p> + +<p>Helen recalled the fact that a year ago she thought this the most +beautiful place imaginable. There was the tall, slim rowan-tree, full of +green berries that would hang out beads of red flame in the autumn, the +tamarack with its sprays of delicate leaves, the big, burly, black +walnut on the corner, the wild clematis and Virginia creeper, the prim +flower-beds.</p> + +<p>"There will be plenty of time to look at them through the summer," she +thought, so she bathed her face, brushed her hair, shook out the pretty +<i>plissé</i> shirtwaist she had in her satchel, tied a blue ribbon round her +neck and looked as fresh as a just opened flower.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_328" id="Page_328">[Pg 328]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVI" id="CHAPTER_XVI"></a>CHAPTER XVI</h2> + +<h3>HOPE THROUGH A WIDER OUTLOOK</h3> + + +<p>She had on nice-fitting button boots with heels only moderately high, a +dark-blue, thin summer-cloth skirt up to her ankles, with several rows +of stitching through the hem, the crumply white plissé waist that fell +like drapery about shoulders and arms, her hair was a mass of braids at +the back with a straight parting from forehead to crown, some short +curling ends about the edge of her fair brow, and the blue of her eyes +was many shades deeper than the ribbon around her neck. Mrs. Van Dorn +was no more anxious to have her a young lady than Mr. Warfield.</p> + +<p>She was just a bright, intelligent, good-looking girl, who would never +be girlishly pretty, but something better, perhaps a handsome woman at +five-and-twenty, and always attractive from the sort of frank sweetness, +the wholesomeness of the thorough girl.</p> + +<p>Mr. Warfield felt rather vexed at being dis<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_329" id="Page_329">[Pg 329]</a></span>appointed, yet down in his +heart he was glad she was fulfilling the sort of ideal he had of her, +the girl she might become with proper training, he had often said, even +to Mrs. Dayton. He thought he should know on just what lines to develop +the best and highest in her. He held a very good opinion of a man's +training for certain natures, and hers was one. Then he felt a little +sore at not being able to keep a sort of supervision over her by letter.</p> + +<p>But when she came and sat down by him in that unaffected manner and +looked out of such frank eyes; smiled with an every-day cordiality, as +if the smile was in constant use, he was a little nonplused.</p> + +<p>"What have you been doing this whole year?" he asked with interest. +"Could you pass an examination for the High School?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, do you remember how frightened I was? But some of the questions +would not cause me five minutes' thought now. I've had a magnificent +time with history and literature, and a tough time with Latin. It is one +of the things I have to delve at this summer. It seems to me most of my +life is school life. I can't stop anywhere. Something is thrust at me +all the time."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_330" id="Page_330">[Pg 330]</a></span></p> + +<p>"You used to love to study," complainingly.</p> + +<p>"I love it yet. Botany is delightful, it is so full of live wonders. I +do not care so much for chemistry. And physics——"</p> + +<p>"They require close attention. And what accomplishments?" in a +dissatisfied tone.</p> + +<p>"French that I am not in love with, but Mrs. Van Dorn insists upon it, +and the piano, drawing, and painting."</p> + +<p>"A waste of time most of them," he commented severely.</p> + +<p>"Sketching is very fascinating."</p> + +<p>"And a camera can give you the picture twice as well."</p> + +<p>"Some of the Seniors do beautiful work. One of them goes abroad to study +and perfect herself in art. Miss Gertrude Aldred will go after next +year."</p> + +<p>"That may be very well for pastime, or waste-time," with a touch of +sarcasm, "but I don't suppose any of these girls could get their living +at it?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know as they will be compelled to."</p> + +<p>"But everybody has to be put through the same mill, I suppose?"</p> + +<p>"Not exactly. Some studies are elective. Three of the girls go to +college. Of course<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_331" id="Page_331">[Pg 331]</a></span> many of them do not expect to turn their education +to any account. I should like to know just what I am to do with mine," +and she laughed softly.</p> + +<p>"I thought you once looked up to teaching as a sort of glorified +existence."</p> + +<p>The touch of irony did not hurt her at all.</p> + +<p>"I still think it one of the finest professions. Only—I should like to +have a school of smart, eager children, and go on and on with them. I +think it must be very hard to take up a new dull class every season."</p> + +<p>"It is," he returned frankly. "It was one of the drawbacks, like going +down to the foot of your own class."</p> + +<p>"So I think I shall have a boarding school and keep the girls year after +year."</p> + +<p>"Well, are you deep in metaphysics or transcendentalism?" asked a +cheerful voice, as Mrs. Dayton's ample figure emerged from the door-way. +"You do not seem to be 'sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought.' +That is an old-fashioned quotation and was in the copy books at school +in my day, when to be thin and pale was the mark of a student. And +wasn't midnight oil another? You do not show marks of either, Helen."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_332" id="Page_332">[Pg 332]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Oh, the lights are out and we have to be in bed at ten. We can rise as +early as we like in the morning, however," laughed Helen.</p> + +<p>"Numbers of the old ideas have been exploded. Still, we must admit they +made some good scholars. The students were more in earnest, they were +not so superficial."</p> + +<p>"But it takes a long while to learn everything thoroughly. That is where +teachers and professors have the advantage, they can spend their whole +lives over it," exclaimed Helen. "Honestly," and a rather mischievous +light flashed across her face, "I do not think the average girl is a +born student. Perhaps the boy isn't either. But there seem to be so many +things in a girl's life, so many sides to it"—and a thoughtful crease +came in her forehead.</p> + +<p>"You have found that out early. But the successes must be able to do +several things well, and to bring knowledge into action, not have a lot +of useless matter stored up in the brain waiting for the time to make it +serviceable, and then it is not fresh, often not useful."</p> + +<p>"Like the old clothes you pile up in the garret," interpolated Mrs. +Dayton. "They are out of date and moth-eaten. There are many things it +is not worth while to save up. I have<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_333" id="Page_333">[Pg 333]</a></span> a boarder here who has saved up +all her troubles since she was ten years old, and lives them over, takes +them out and puts them back. She is a well-informed woman, too. There is +the bell, so come in to dinner."</p> + +<p>There were only Mr. and Mrs. White, Mrs. Carson, the woman of many +troubles, and Mr. Conway, who gave Helen a warm welcome, but was amazed +at the change in her.</p> + +<p>They talked a little over the last summer's guests. "Miss Lessing was +married and the younger girl engaged. The Disbrowes had gone West. And +truly I wouldn't mind having Mrs. Van Dorn again. She certainly is an +uncommon woman and does enjoy life on all sides. And it is curious the +way she picks up knowledge everywhere. I dare say she sometimes mentions +facts about her own country to consuls and ministers abroad that they +have scarcely heard of," declared Mrs. Dayton.</p> + +<p>Mr. Warfield gave a little sniff and a curl of the lip that seemed to +run all over his face in disapprobation, because he could find no +trenchant sentence to apply to Mrs. Van Dorn. But Helen glanced at her +hostess with a lovely grateful light more eloquent than words.</p> + +<p>When they rose she lingered. "I ought to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_334" id="Page_334">[Pg 334]</a></span> go out and dry the dishes for +Joanna," the girl said laughingly.</p> + +<p>"Indeed, you will do no such thing," was the quick reply. "And let me +whisper a secret in your ear, though I don't know as it need be that. +Mrs. Van Dorn wrote me a note, asking me to invite you here and keep you +as much of the time as Aunt Jane would be willing to spare you. And she +inclosed a check. I'd been ready enough to do it just for the pleasure."</p> + +<p>"She is very generous," said Helen, much moved.</p> + +<p>"And some people think her mean. She is unduly exact, but I guess the +world would be better if more people paid their just debts instead of +buying you a dollar gift when they owed you forty or fifty. But run out +on the porch and talk to Mr. Warfield. He came purposely to see you. +I'll be out and join the fray presently," her eyes overflowing with an +amused light. "If you were older I should say—there, run along."</p> + +<p>She checked herself just in time. It was on the tip of her tongue to +add—"he is half in love with you." But the girl's face was so +innocently frank that it would have been both ill-bred and cruel to +suggest such a thing.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_335" id="Page_335">[Pg 335]</a></span></p> + +<p>On the whole, it was a pleasant evening, though Helen was not a little +puzzled by several things in Mr. Warfield's demeanor, and his resolutely +keeping to his opinion that she would have been better off at the High +School. Some way would have opened for her, he was confident.</p> + +<p>Still, he gave her the most cordial good wishes. She had the making of a +splendid girl and woman in her. He took great credit in the +consciousness that he had seen this, and roused her from a commonplace +existence, for now, whatever happened, she could not be commonplace; as +if, indeed, the every-day lives were not often doing heroic and lovely +deeds in their every-day sphere.</p> + +<p>He was going for nine weeks to a summer college term, on the borders of +a beautiful lake, where he would have refreshment of body as well as +mind. So he might not see her again under a year.</p> + +<p>"I do hope they will not have you spoiled," he said with his good-by. +And as he walked down the street he muttered under his breath:</p> + +<p>"That old woman will make a waiting maid of her in the end." He was +jealous that the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_336" id="Page_336">[Pg 336]</a></span> old woman should be able to dictate the girl's life +just because she was rich.</p> + +<p>She had such a happy morning with Mrs. Dayton, talking over last summer; +Joanna studied her with admiring eyes and declared that she was not +changed a bit, only had grown taller, and the mysterious alteration that +comes to a girl on the boundary line, for which she had no words.</p> + +<p>Uncle Jason came in quite early and was delighted with his warm welcome, +more frank than Joanna's.</p> + +<p>"My, you're growed every way!" he said, "and you're pretty as a pink, +and fine as a lady! I declare I don't know what Aunt Jane will do with +you. And the children are just crazy to see you. My! My!"</p> + +<p>He studied her from head to foot and turned her round. His eyes +twinkled, he screwed up his face until it was a bed of wrinkles. His +hair was faded and grayer, the fringe of beard ragged. But there was +such a gladness, such an utter satisfaction that she felt doubly assured +of his love.</p> + +<p>When she had gone to pick up a few articles Mrs. Dayton made a little +explanation that she felt would ease Helen's course. She would<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_337" id="Page_337">[Pg 337]</a></span> have a +good deal of studying to do, and Mrs. Van Dorn had made arrangements for +her to stay here part of the time, as it would be quiet, with no +interruptions to break in upon her time.</p> + +<p>"Why, I thought it was vacation!" looking puzzled. "Mother's planned a +lot of things. And she's mortal afraid Helen will forget all about +housekeeping."</p> + +<p>"She belongs to Mrs. Van Dorn for the two years, you know, since that +lady is taking care of her. You see now that is only fair. Helen's time +is planned out."</p> + +<p>"Sho, now!" and he bit at the end of a wheat stem he found hanging to +his clothes.</p> + +<p>"Helen knows a good deal about housework and if she should ever have it +to do, it will come back to her. But her heart is set upon teaching, and +I think that is about as easy a way of earning money as any, if you are +fitted for it."</p> + +<p>Mr. Mulford said no more, but he felt there would be a clash between +Aunt Jane and Helen.</p> + +<p>The rosy, bright-eyed girl said good-by to her dear friend, with the +promise of returning soon, and stepped into the rickety old wagon.</p> + +<p>It seemed curious to her, but everything about looked so much smaller. +The houses appeared to have shrunk, fences were dilapidated,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_338" id="Page_338">[Pg 338]</a></span> gates hung +by one hinge, the paths at the roadside were overgrown with weeds. +Every street and plot of ground at Westchester was so pretty and tidy, +the hills were so high and grand, and there was the beautiful river. To +be sure the great Creator of all had placed it there, had raised the +mountains to their height, but the residents had added the thriftiness +and beauty. Oh, she could never live here! She wondered how her father +had taken to it, and how Mr. Warfield endured it.</p> + +<p>Uncle Jason was a better farmer than most of his neighbors. Aunt Jane +took the credit of that; perhaps she did deserve most of it. People and +towns seldom remain stationary; if they do not improve they retrograde. +The railroad was building up North Hope at the expense of the Center.</p> + +<p>The house and the front fence needed painting sadly. The flower-beds +looked rather ragged, the grass wanted cutting. Sam had gone in the +spring to learn a mason's trade and only came home for over Sunday. So +Uncle Jason was short-handed.</p> + +<p>The children made a rush, then paused. Helen sprang down with a dignity +that checked them, but she kissed them all round, and Aunt<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_339" id="Page_339">[Pg 339]</a></span> Jane, who +was wiping her arms and hands on her apron.</p> + +<p>"I thought I'd get trigged up before anyone came," she exclaimed, "but +there's so much to do on Saturday. You might have opened the front door, +'Reely, but never mind," and they all trailed around through the +kitchen. Off the end of the dining room was a small room that Jenny had +used for sewing and odds and ends, and they went thither.</p> + +<p>"Now take off your hat. My, didn't you bring anything but that satchel! +And here's a fan—it's hot in here, and as for flies, they eat you up! +'Reely, you and Fan set the table. How you've changed, Helen, you're +most grown up. But land! When I was fourteen I was grown up and did a +woman's work. And you're fifteen! Well, I suppose you've had a grand +good time, and forgot all the useful things you ever knew."</p> + +<p>Aunt Jane's tone was good-humored, but it had a certain air of +authority, indicating that Helen could never outgrow <i>her</i> right or +proprietorship.</p> + +<p>"No, I do not think I have forgotten much, and certainly have learned a +great deal more," she replied quietly.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_340" id="Page_340">[Pg 340]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Well, book-learnin' isn't everything. I'd like to know how houses and +farms would go on if everybody kept to books."</p> + +<p>"There's Jenny," and Helen was delighted with the break. Jenny was +sunburned but looked well, quite like a country farmer's wife, and was +gayly cordial, laughed because her mother's supper was late; they always +had theirs early on Saturday afternoon.</p> + +<p>"You wait until you get a house full of children," said her mother with +a touch of annoyance.</p> + +<p>The girls sat out on the old bench that had gone a little more to +splinters. Uncle Jason came in; he had not quite worked Nathan up to the +point of Sam's usefulness. Aunt Jane didn't mean to lead off with any +fuss for Helen, so supper was in the kitchen, but the tablecloth was +clean—the other had met with a big accident at noon.</p> + +<p>Nothing was much changed except the children were a year older and +larger. Two or three of them still talked at once. Jenny sat by and had +a cup of tea. Aurelia and Fanny were a little awed by Helen's fine ways, +and began to eye her furtively. Jenny kept most of the talk and when the +meal was through<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_341" id="Page_341">[Pg 341]</a></span> took Helen out on the front stoop. What was the school +like and were there many rich girls in it? And what did Mrs. Van Dorn +mean to do with her when she was through with school?</p> + +<p>Helen was relieved when she branched off on her own affairs. How much +the egg and butter money had amounted to, and another scheme she had +struck. She helped mother out with her sewing, but she found in the +winter she had a good deal of time on her hands, so she began to sew for +the neighbors. "You know I always did like running the machine," she +declared. "And you'd be surprised at the money I've earned. I don't see +how women can dawdle away their time so, when they've small families. I +think working in a shop is a grand good training. You must be there at a +certain hour, you must put in every moment if you are going to be a +success, and you get brisk ways if there's anything at all to you."</p> + +<p>Joe came over presently, and the two farmers smoked and talked. Then +Jenny said she would take Helen home with her, she had such a nice spare +room, and she and Aunt Jane had some words over it, but Jenny carried +her point.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_342" id="Page_342">[Pg 342]</a></span> It was lovely and quiet, and Helen was thankful.</p> + +<p>Yes, she <i>had</i> grown away from them; while she loved them just as well, +she thought she loved Uncle Jason better. The life was so different. It +need not be so hard and,—yes, it was coarse, really untender. Aunt Jane +would have suffered anything for her children's sake, but it must be in +<i>her</i> way. After all these years of married life, children, and a +certain degree of hard-won prosperity, she knew better than anyone else +how the world could be managed.</p> + +<p>'Reely and Fan were fascinated with Helen, and Jenny said she had a good +deal of common sense, and she supposed all the airish ways were just +right at school, but they seemed queer among common folks. It was +inevitable that Helen and Aunt Jane should clash, and Helen felt even at +the risk of being misunderstood and wrongfully accused, she must +establish her own standing. She had not come home to help with +housework.</p> + +<p>"I wish I'd never let you gone over there to wait on that old woman, and +have your head filled with airs and graces that you think sets you up +above your family. I knew that day I should be sorry for it. And this is +all the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_343" id="Page_343">[Pg 343]</a></span> thanks I get for what I've done for you, while you'll crawl on +the ground after her."</p> + +<p>"No, I shouldn't; I do not," replied Helen with dignity. "I shall always +feel thankful to you and Uncle Jason for what you have done, and, Aunt +Jane, when I get to where I can earn money I want to pay you back for my +keep after father died——"</p> + +<p>Helen's face was scarlet and the hot blood was racing up and down in her +pulses.</p> + +<p>"Yes," she continued, controlling her voice by a strong effort, "I have +made that one of my duties. I can't take your way of life, Aunt Jane, +but I shall always feel grateful for the care."</p> + +<p>"Helen Grant, do you suppose your uncle would take one penny from you, +his own sister's child! It isn't that, it's the—the——"</p> + +<p>"Oh, Aunt Jane, I <i>am</i> grateful. Do not let us quarrel because our paths +lie in different directions. I must work in the way I am best fitted +for, the way I shall like above all things——"</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, you'll go off with that woman, and she'll get tired of you and +ship you off. You mark my words."</p> + +<p>"Then I can take up teaching, which will be my delight. She has offered +me these two<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_344" id="Page_344">[Pg 344]</a></span> years of training and I mean to make the best of them, to +crowd in all I can, to fit myself to earn my living in the way I like +best of all. I do suppose we all have some choice."</p> + +<p>Aunt Jane flounced out of the room. There was something burning on the +stove, and she was glad of the excuse. And all she said when Helen was +going over to North Hope, was:</p> + +<p>"Well, come whenever you like. The house is always open to you."</p> + +<p>Uncle Jason was very tender to her.</p> + +<p>"Mother's a bit cranky," he said. "Even Jenny plagues her about it. I +think she's jealous of that Mrs. Van Dorn, and she has an idea of her +own about bringing up girls. But they're not all alike and some are fit +for one thing, some for another. Jenny's got the right of it. It's best +for everyone to do what he's best fitted for, or <i>she</i>," smiling a +little. "And it stands to reason that you might take after your own +father. You're not all Mulford."</p> + +<p>It was very delightful to be back with Mrs. Dayton. One new couple had +come, but they were very quiet people. And the girls about began to call +on her. Ella Graham had enough of the High School.</p> + +<p>"I just went for the name of it," she ex<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_345" id="Page_345">[Pg 345]</a></span>plained. "I should never teach, +and what is the use of wasting all that time and bothering your brains +for nothing? I shall get married the first good chance I have."</p> + +<p>Lu Searing bewailed the hard work as well and wasn't sure she would keep +on. She wanted to go somewhere to boarding school, she had heard girls +had such fun getting in scrapes and out of them again. Marty Pendleton +was sick of it too, and was going to learn dressmaking. Dan Erlick had +gone to be clerk in the drug store.</p> + +<p>"And to think how hard Mr. Warfield worked over them all!" Helen +exclaimed, indignantly. "It doesn't do him a bit of credit."</p> + +<p>"He had four new ones this summer. Well, there does seem a good deal of +work in this world without much result," said Jenny.</p> + +<p>Helen studied her Latin with a will, and one day to make some knotty +point clearer went to the reference department of the library. Miss +Westerly, the librarian, had seen her the summer before and been +interested in what had befallen her, and now they took up quite a +friendship. The library was open only two evenings in the week, after +eight o'clock, and Miss Westerly found it very pleasant to visit<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_346" id="Page_346">[Pg 346]</a></span> on +Mrs. Dayton's porch and talk to a girl as bright and ambitious as Helen. +She was a college graduate and a thorough student, not considering her +education finished.</p> + +<p>"I should like so to go to college," Helen said. "But I don't know—I +should have to earn some money first."</p> + +<p>"I have a friend who entered college at twenty-seven. She was a clerk in +a store and then an old uncle left her some money. She was born for a +student, and she graduated with honors. She is thirty-five now, +vice-principal in a large seminary at the West, and a very successful +teacher. Then I know of a girl who spent two years at college, taught +three years and then went back and finished. Some women, as well as some +men, love knowledge."</p> + +<p>"I have half a mind to say I will go, no matter what stands in the way," +and Helen smiled vaguely. If one <i>could</i> see into the future.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps your friend may send you."</p> + +<p>Helen wondered whether she would dare propose it.</p> + +<p>Once a week she went out to the farm. Aunt Jane had "cooled down" a +little, for Uncle Jason had said, "If you can't get along, mother, I'll +hire someone through the heat of the sum<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_347" id="Page_347">[Pg 347]</a></span>mer. Nancy Bird would come in a +minute. As for thinking to put Helen to housework, washing and ironing +and all that, when someone else is taking care of her, I don't see as it +would be just the thing, no more than to call Sam home when Mr. Bartow +has given him a good lay."</p> + +<p>"I don't see as Helen is any better than my girls, and they are going to +be brought up to work. Her father didn't make out much for all his +education."</p> + +<p>Helen did have some nice visits with Jenny, who was rather more modern +and broader minded than her mother. She kept her house with some system, +of course, there was no one to disarrange her methods. She was blithe +and cheerful and eager to get along, but she and Joe went off driving +now and then, and she listened with slow-growing interest when he read +aloud to her.</p> + +<p>But altogether, Helen was not sorry when she found herself on the way +back to school. She had a warmer feeling than ever for Mrs. Van Dorn and +had written her two charming letters from Mrs. Dayton's porch.</p> + +<p>What a trouble her education seemed to some of those who had no hand in +it.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_348" id="Page_348">[Pg 348]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVII" id="CHAPTER_XVII"></a>CHAPTER XVII</h2> + +<h3>IN THE DELIGHTFUL CURRENT</h3> + + +<p>Helen Grant came to Aldred House again on Friday afternoon. Miss Daisy, +who had been there but an hour, rushed down to welcome her.</p> + +<p>"Oh, dear! If something had happened and you had <i>not</i> come," she cried, +"I should really have been broken-hearted, and I don't see what good +Samaritan could have bound up the wounds. And most things are going to +be strange and new."</p> + +<p>"New girls?" inquiringly.</p> + +<p>"Yes, ever so many of them. There were several Mrs. Aldred could not +take last year. She is closeted with two now, and you may as well come +upstairs at once. I have some new pictures—we will give away the old +ones. And the sweetest new willow rocker. But what do you think has +happened to Roxy Mays?"</p> + +<p>"Marriage," cried Helen laughingly.</p> + +<p>"No, but a fortune. And her oldest sister<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_349" id="Page_349">[Pg 349]</a></span> was married to a designer or +something who goes abroad to illustrate Russia. The old great-aunt died +suddenly, and left a good deal of money to Mr. Mays, and ten thousand +dollars to Roxy. So her mother and the other sister and she sailed the +last week in August. Of course Roxy is in high feather. And Miss Reid +and Miss Gertrude Aldred have gone to Rome under the care of a friend of +Mrs. Aldred's. Two of the girls have gone to Leipsic. Oh, dear, I wonder +if <i>we</i> will ever go abroad?"</p> + +<p>"It is a lovely dream. I do hope to compass it some time," and a longing +light filled Helen's eyes.</p> + +<p>"And there is so much to see here. We had a cousin of father's visiting +us who had spent seven years in Mexico, and knew President Diaz quite +well. He tells such interesting stories about the wonders there, the +discoveries and the traces of people who must have lived a thousand or +perhaps more years ago. Then my brother has a friend who is deep in +those marvelous exhumations in Arizona. Presently we shall be a famous +country, if we haven't castles and cathedrals."</p> + +<p>Helen's trunk came up and she began to unpack. There were some new +gowns.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_350" id="Page_350">[Pg 350]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Are you going in long skirts?" inquired Daisy.</p> + +<p>"Not this winter. I should like to be 'only a girl' ever so long," and +Helen smiled dreamily. "It seems as if I had been only a very little +girl thirteen years or so, and now I want to be just a big girl. +Womanhood looks so strange and mysterious to me. There are so many +things to be decided then, and now you can hover about the edge, just +slip into the surf of that river called the future and then draw back. +You don't have to cross it. But some day you must, and shoulder its +responsibilities."</p> + +<p>"How queer and solemn that sounds. And I am a whole year older, and I +ought to be ever so much ahead of you."</p> + +<p>"You are in Latin and French. I studied up some. I met a delightful +woman,—well I saw her last summer, and oddly enough she remembered me +from the books I read,—that I never should have known about but for +Mrs. Van Dorn. She is the librarian. And we have had such a nice time. +She is a college graduate, and she has inspired me with a longing to go. +But then I want everything. Travel and music and churches and ruins and +histories of nations that have been swept away,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_351" id="Page_351">[Pg 351]</a></span> and to climb the +pyramids, and to ask the Sphinx her mighty question——"</p> + +<p>"<i>Your</i> mighty question as to what secret is in her ponderous brain?"</p> + +<p>Both girls laughed heartily, merrily.</p> + +<p>"Well, I must say, Helen Grant, your wishes comprise enough for a +lifetime! And you have left out Paris, and that quaint, delightful, +clean, watery Holland, and Moscow, and India."</p> + +<p>"There is too much for one lifetime. I wonder if we <i>do</i> come back and +take some of the pleasures in the life afterward? But then we don't +remember what has gone before, so where is the benefit?"</p> + +<p>"There are ever so many new girls," said Daisy presently.</p> + +<p>"I wonder if we haven't a small share of duty towards them," remarked +Helen, considering. "I thought it lovely of you girls to come and +welcome me when I was a stranger."</p> + +<p>"Roxy was splendid at that. I am not sure but there was some curiosity +in it. She liked to get down to the bottom of a girl's soul and life and +know all that had happened to her. And she was very amusing with her +bright comments and comparisons. I was desperately in love with her at +first," and Daisy colored<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_352" id="Page_352">[Pg 352]</a></span> warmly. "Then she said little things about +other girls that I didn't like. And you were so upright, so generous in +your criticisms, so ready to make allowance. And after all that mistake +about Miss Craven she was very unwilling to own she had been wrong. +Wasn't I fearfully jealous? Didn't I act like a fiend?"</p> + +<p>There were tears in Daisy's eyes.</p> + +<p>Helen gave a vague smile.</p> + +<p>"I can see now that it was somewhat due to Roxy's influence. She kept +saying you were so bewitched about her, and that you were on the lookout +for new sensations, that you tried on friendships and then cast them +off. I think that was what <i>she</i> did. What a foolishly miserable girl I +was, but I <i>did</i> love you. And I do, I shall."</p> + +<p>Helen kissed her fondly.</p> + +<p>"And mamma thought it was very kind in you to take up Miss Craven. She +is curiously interested in her, wondering how she will develop. Papa +says the Craven mines are remarkable, the new one with all that hematite +is a fortune by itself. I hope she comes back."</p> + +<p>That evening they made acquaintance with a few of the new girls. And the +next day came<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_353" id="Page_353">[Pg 353]</a></span> a crowd, new and old, Miss Craven among them.</p> + +<p>Juliet Craven had changed wonderfully under the influence of a woman who +had always longed for a daughter and had three sons instead. There was a +brightness about her, a kind of new interest that shone in her eyes and +brought a tint to her cheeks. A little contrast would have made her +quite a pretty girl, for her features were fairly good, but she was too +much of a nondescript.</p> + +<p>For the first time she had known personal interest and affection from a +woman who might have been her mother, and who certainly had no ulterior +object. She had outgrown some of her timidity, she stood up straighter, +as if she was more conscious of her own power, and she dared to meet the +eyes of the other girls, to answer their smiles. She was to go in most +of the classes this year, though the girls would be much younger, but +Mrs. Aldred judged that the companionship would prove beneficial.</p> + +<p>There were several changes in the teaching corps. A Mrs. Wiley, +middle-aged and experienced, who had been employed in a girls' college +in the West, shared with Miss Grace the duties of the senior classes. +Her daughter,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_354" id="Page_354">[Pg 354]</a></span> Miss Esther, taught in the younger day-school classes and +was a pupil in several studies. After a month matters ran along +smoothly.</p> + +<p>Not that the girls fell into the traces without any friction. Some were +pert and self-sufficient, others consequential, and several not +remarkable for anything, taking mental culture along objective lines, +and a few ambitious, intellectual, loving study for the sake of the +sweet kernel knowledge when you had cracked the rough outer shell. There +were the bright and sweet, who had no aims above the average, and who +would get trained into nice, wholesome girls and make good wives and +mothers.</p> + +<p>Helen enjoyed her studies immensely. The botany rambles were one of her +great pleasures, and when she went at the wonders of astronomy she was +enraptured.</p> + +<p>"Such a student is worth having; she inspires the rest," Mrs. Wiley said +to Mrs. Aldred. "There is a girl who should go to college."</p> + +<p>"Yes, she ought," but in her secret soul Mrs. Aldred feared that was not +Mrs. Van Dorn's design.</p> + +<p>She was beginning to understand and love Latin, and doing very well at +French. She<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_355" id="Page_355">[Pg 355]</a></span> did not display much aptitude for drawing, though she had a +certain artistic taste in arrangement.</p> + +<p>"But I really do not see any use of hammering away at music," she +protested. "I never shall make a fine player."</p> + +<p>"You will make a fine singer and you want some thorough knowledge for +that," said Madame Meran.</p> + +<p>"It was one of the branches Mrs. Van Dorn is very particular about," +Mrs. Aldred added, in a tone that left no room for demur.</p> + +<p>There was the usual fun and perhaps a little sly flirting among the +newer students with the young men in the law offices. Autumn was quite a +lively time, since court was in session. The girls were allowed to visit +the fairs and entertainments of their respective churches, and +occasionally spend Saturday afternoon with an outside acquaintance.</p> + +<p>During the holidays Mrs. Dayton wrote that one of the High-School +teachers had resigned and Mr. Warfield had gained the appointment, being +much delighted with it, and would board with her. From home she heard +that Jenny had a little son and they were all very joyous. Fan was going +to spend the winter with her.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_356" id="Page_356">[Pg 356]</a></span> Aurelia had been taken out of school as +she didn't learn anything worth while, and Aunt Jane believed in making +her girls useful.</p> + +<p>"I don't wonder teachers get discouraged in a small country place," she +thought, "when the parents care so little for education." She was glad +Mr. Warfield had gone to the High School, where he could have a more +congenial atmosphere.</p> + +<p>Helen often wondered in these days what her father had been like, and +how he came to drift to such a dull place as Hope Center. Twenty years +before it had been a center of several things. The Church was +flourishing. In the winter the large boys and girls came to school and +the old-fashioned alligation, mensuration, and surveying were taught and +made useful, the history of the country, parsing out of Milton's +Paradise Lost, learning as much about the older English essayists and +writers as was taught in the High School.</p> + +<p>Now, the children, before they were fairly grown, went into shops or +learned a trade. There had been a fine debating society in the Center, +and people drove in from miles around to listen to the arguments, which +were generally on stirring questions of the day, psycho<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_357" id="Page_357">[Pg 357]</a></span>logical fads +being unknown, or the highest truth in them called by some other name.</p> + +<p>Then the railroad had really cut it off. North Hope had grown at its +expense.</p> + +<p>She thought, too, not a little about her own future. What would happen +at the close of the school year. At the first of January she and Daisy +Bell and a Miss Gardiner went into Senior B. In another year she would +graduate.</p> + +<p>There was something in Mrs. Van Dorn's letters that appealed to her +deeply at times, an interest that gave her a curious thrill. She wrote +more earnestly herself, she realized what a great thing this had been to +her, lifting her out of the common groove and giving her a decided +standing among Hope people. And, oh! it had afforded her such splendid +experiences with cultured people, some friends who might go a long way +through life with her and enrich her path with their life.</p> + +<p>"If you were going to college, I should want to go too," Daisy Bell said +one day. "Papa would be delighted, I am sure. And though you are +younger, I do not know so very much more," laughingly. "You always study +in such desperate earnest. We should keep step<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_358" id="Page_358">[Pg 358]</a></span> together. Oh, don't you +wish we could see into the future?"</p> + +<p>Yes, she really did.</p> + +<p>Her friendship with Juliet Craven touched another side of her nature. +Miss Craven had a vein of peculiar romance. She improvised in music, she +could imitate bird-songs in rare melody, she could go to depths of +feeling in a few chords that stirred one's very soul. It was absolute +genius.</p> + +<p>"These are the things I used to sing to myself in the old home," she +would say. "Sometimes I would put words to them."</p> + +<p>"Why, that would be poetry. Why don't you try to write them down?" Helen +inquired with newborn interest.</p> + +<p>"There are so many things to study, to learn, to do. I am not pretty +enough to attract people, but of course, I know the money would. +Sometimes I wish I had only just enough for my own wants. Another year I +shall come into actual possession of a large sum, and three years later, +if the mines should be sold, there will be—well, I haven't any idea how +much more. Mrs. Davis' plan is to take me abroad and find someone with a +title to marry me. What could I do in that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_359" id="Page_359">[Pg 359]</a></span> kind of life? I want +something quiet, far-reaching. I should like to make unfortunate people +happy. I wonder if there are any young girls in the world as lonely and +as unfortunate as I was! I shudder when I think I might have gone on +with grandfather until all the best years of my life were spent. Mrs. +Howard advises me to stay here and get a thorough education, and I think +that is best."</p> + +<p>Helen was very decided in her opinion that it was by far the best. How +queer that money should be so unequally divided, Miss Craven having so +much more than she could use, Mrs. Van Dorn having so much, and some of +the girls with such rich fathers, then others just squeezing through, +she really having none at all.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Van Dorn was doing just what Miss Craven longed to do. No, not +<i>just</i>. If Helen had been unpromising she realized keenly that she might +have gone back to Uncle Jason, or worked her way through the High School +as she best might. She knew now, most girls of sixteen do, that an +attractive face and manner was an excellent capital. She sometimes gave +herself a little mental hug at the thought of having just the right +share of good looks,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_360" id="Page_360">[Pg 360]</a></span> enough to please, and not enough to be vain of, +and not the sort of fascination Roxy Mays had possessed. There were +several beautiful girls in school. Daisy Bell had many charms, a lovely, +subtle, easily-flushing complexion that was like pink and pearl, +beautiful even teeth, tender and loving eyes.</p> + +<p>"My face is just like me," she comforted herself, looking in the glass. +"It is strong, earnest, and capable. And I do mean to do something with +life before I die. I hope God will put me in the way of it."</p> + +<p>Toward spring there was an episode that now and then happens in a girls' +school in spite of the closest supervision. Mrs. Aldred tried to train +the girls to a high sense of honor, and allowed them a certain liberty, +though no one girl ever went out alone. Among the new scholars was a +pretty, saucy little thing, bright with her lessons and full of fun, +seemingly innocent enough. But she had adroitly managed a flirtation +with the brother of one of the day scholars. Letters had passed between +them, and she had eluded supervision and taken several strolls with him +by climbing over the fence at the back of the grounds, with the +assistance of her admirer. The daring went a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_361" id="Page_361">[Pg 361]</a></span> little too far, and one +evening Miss Wiley saw the return of the culprit, who begged and pleaded +a little at first, and then became defiant.</p> + +<p>"I don't care," she said angrily. "We are engaged. I knew I wouldn't be +allowed to see him alone if he called, and I had a right to his visits."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Aldred was surprised and had a rather stormy time with the girl, +who was sent home at once.</p> + +<p>"Now that Roxy Mays will never come back," said Daisy gravely, "I will +say to you that she did go as far as the letters once. It was with the +clerk in Adams' drug store. He gave a note to me and said it was a +prescription, and she laughed about it, saying she only did it to prove +how easily a girl could write letters and get answers, but that she was +not going to follow it up, and she knew I would not betray her. It was +the very week before school closed, and though it wasn't just right I +let it pass. She still corresponds with him, but now her mother must +know it. It doesn't seem real fun to me to break rules that way. I +sometimes wonder what would have happened if she had returned to +school!"</p> + +<p>Helen smiled, thinking of her innocent letter<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_362" id="Page_362">[Pg 362]</a></span> to Mr. Warfield. And now +Mrs. Dayton quoted him so often she wondered if that was quite right.</p> + +<p>But she did enjoy writing to Mrs. Van Dorn. Often there was only a few +lines from her, the rest finished by Miss Gage, who had a very +methodical manner of going over their doings.</p> + +<p>In April an announcement was made that surprised and troubled many of +the scholars. Mrs. Aldred had decided to go to Europe, taking her +daughter Grace and chaperoning several other young ladies. Gertrude, who +had been studying hard in Paris, would join them, and they would spend +the ensuing winter in Rome. Mrs. Wiley and her daughter would take the +school, keeping it on the same lines.</p> + +<p>"I wish you could remain another year and graduate," she said to Helen. +"I shall write to Mrs. Van Dorn about it. Then you would be fitted for +whatever might happen afterward."</p> + +<p>"Oh, thank you!" Helen replied earnestly. "I have been troubled about +it, and thought I ought to inquire. I should be so sorry to have my +schooldays end. I have been so happy here."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_363" id="Page_363">[Pg 363]</a></span></p> + +<p>No one could doubt it to look at her radiant face. Mrs. Aldred was much +gratified.</p> + +<p>Yes, she should hate to part with Daisy now that they were growing so +dear to each other. And she felt as if she wanted a life interest in +Miss Craven, to know the sort of woman she would make and what she would +do with her fortune.</p> + +<p>It was May when the reply came, a reply that so astounded Helen, even +after reading the letter over two or three times, that she was still +bewildered. She took it to Mrs. Aldred.</p> + +<p>"Yes," that lady rejoined, "you may read mine. Mrs. Van Dorn keeps her +mind as fresh as a person of half her age, and she is past eighty. She +has made all the arrangements."</p> + +<p>And the arrangements were that Mrs. Aldred should bring Helen to Paris +with the other young ladies. She was going there and would be ready to +receive her. She was very grateful for the care bestowed upon Helen, she +had been very much gratified with the girl's letters, and this must +answer until she could express the rest in person.</p> + +<p>"And you think—I can't make it seem true," faltered Helen,—"that such +a thing should happen to me?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_364" id="Page_364">[Pg 364]</a></span></p> + +<p>"It does not altogether surprise me," Mrs. Aldred answered in a +reassuring tone. "I surmised this from the beginning. Mrs. Van Dorn took +an unusual fancy to you, and knowing you these two years I must give her +penetration great credit. For certain reasons, I regret you cannot go on +with your education. But you will learn a great deal abroad."</p> + +<p>"I feel as if all of life is a school, and you are learning right along +to do what comes next. I have worked hard at the French, and now I see +the use of it. I dare say it will be so with other things. I wish I were +a better musician."</p> + +<p>"Mrs. Van Dorn will care more for your voice. You can take excellent +singing lessons abroad. Helen, I <i>do</i> congratulate you from the bottom +of my heart. And whatever happens I shall always want to be considered +your sincere friend. I have been very much interested in your +development, and shall continue so to be."</p> + +<p>She bent over and kissed Helen, who returned the caress with much +warmth.</p> + +<p>"You will answer your letter to go by noon to-morrow."</p> + +<p>Helen bowed, too much moved to speak.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_365" id="Page_365">[Pg 365]</a></span></p> + +<p>It was still strange to her. One might dream of an event coming in the +future, but to have it <i>here</i>, to put your hand on it, as one might say, +dazed her. Daisy was at a music practice, though she did not think she +could talk it over with anyone just now.</p> + +<p>Miss Craven stood hesitatingly in the half open doorway, with beseeching +eyes.</p> + +<p>"If you are not too very busy—I'm in trouble about the Latin. Oh, if I +could be quick to see into things!" in a passion of regret that +emphasized every line of her face where last year it would have been +unmoved.</p> + +<p>"I had an awful time about it, too, so we can sympathize," smiling +cheerfully. "I just wanted something to start up my energies."</p> + +<p>"Oh, what should I do without you? Shall I ever be able to go on alone?"</p> + +<p>"Think what you have accomplished in the two years," was the reassuring +answer.</p> + +<p>There was a saunter around the grounds afterwards, meeting several +groups of girls and flinging bright jests at each other. Then dinner, +the study period, some conversation and it was bedtime. But Helen could +not sleep. She smiled to herself as she wondered what Mr. Warfield would +say and there was a conscious<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_366" id="Page_366">[Pg 366]</a></span>ness that he would think her only half +educated. Well, could one ever be wholly educated at sixteen?—even at +sixty, professors are learning new things. And, oh, what a stir it would +make all through the Hopes!</p> + +<p>She was up early the next morning. Daisy was asleep in her little white +bed with a smile on her face. Yes, she would hate to leave her and Miss +Craven, and several others. She slipped on her lovely Japanese silk +morning gown, she reveled in pretty garments nowadays, though they were +all befitting a girl of sixteen, and picking up her portfolio she glided +softly down to the study room.</p> + +<p>Oh, what a morning it was! The sun was throwing out long shining rays in +the east and they glistened on the tree-tops, on the distant hills, on +the wide slopes, leaving the nooks and haunts in suggestive darkness. +Just a dainty little mist fit for dryad robes lingered about. And here +at the back, down to the small stream, dogwoods and late red maples and +horse-chestnuts were in bloom. Could there be a lovelier picture? Had +Europe anything better? And the fragrance might have come from Araby the +blest. It was all youth and freshness, and it took her back to the +sum<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_367" id="Page_367">[Pg 367]</a></span>mer of two years ago when everything wonderful had just dawned upon +her.</p> + +<p>In this mood she wrote her letter. All her life long she was glad she +had not come to second thoughts, about the matter, but kept the first +thoughts of joyous youth and gladness and gratefulness. The rising bell +rang and she hurried along, wrote her last word at the next summons and +sealed her letter.</p> + +<p>"Where have you been?" cried Daisy at the apparition in trailing gown, +as she opened her eyes.</p> + +<p>"Writing a letter in the study." Then she hurried into skirt and waist +and joined the group going downstairs, giving bright good-mornings to +one and another.</p> + +<p>"I can't think what ails you," cried Daisy in astonishment. "You +look—enchanted and—frightened."</p> + +<p>"I will tell you—the first of anybody. It is so strange I hardly +believe it myself."</p> + +<p>They were all striving their utmost, this group of girls. Examinations +were so near, pictures were to be finished, little gifts made to be +exchanged, remembrances of one's handiwork. An excursion across the +river to add pages to their lore on wild flowers which were<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_368" id="Page_368">[Pg 368]</a></span> to be +pressed and put in books. A lecture on Browning that evening down at the +town-hall, and Mrs. Wiley was to take a host of girls.</p> + +<p>"If he only would read 'Hervé Riel'!" said Helen. And to think she might +see the very place where the ships came in safely. It would be worth +much to her.</p> + +<p>There is always a reaction from an exalted state, and this came to Helen +Grant. By degrees she remembered what she might be giving up, what she +might be called upon to do. If Miss Gage was coming home, she would take +her place, and be companion, have the whims, the impatience, and the +restlessness to contend with. She had experienced some of it already. +Past eighty—why, that was old age, decrepitude presently, loss of +memory—some old people had to be told things over and over again. She +had never thought of real old age in connection with Mrs. Van Dorn. And +she would spend all her bright young years—there would be no further +delightful school, no graduation, no college, and she <i>did</i> love study +so.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Van Dorn had given her these two splendid years, but if she asked +back ten, and she was so confident of living to ninety—oh, could she +grant it cheerfully? There would<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_369" id="Page_369">[Pg 369]</a></span> have to be some greater grace than her +own. And if God gave her this to do—if the friends of girlhood were +denied her, if Mrs. Van Dorn claimed <i>all</i>, would she have to submit?</p> + +<p>It was a hard question for sixteen who had only enjoyed two years of +freedom about the things she loved best, the thing she wanted most, +education.</p> + +<p>She told Daisy Bell, who didn't know whether to rejoice or not. It was +splendid, of course, but if she should be away for years and all their +lovely friendship come to an end!</p> + +<p>"For I am sure I shall never find a girl I love so thoroughly, that I +depend on, that is a strong tower to me. Mamma said my letters had been +her treasures this year, I was taking so much more serious and sacred +views of life. And they will be dismal enough next winter."</p> + +<p>"Then I am afraid I haven't done you much good," Helen smiled through +tears.</p> + +<p>"Yes, you have. And I will try to remember all the nice talks we have +had and keep strong on them. We will appoint one hour in the day when we +shall always think of each other."</p> + +<p>"And pray that God may give us grace to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_370" id="Page_370">[Pg 370]</a></span> remember for years if there is +need," Helen returned solemnly.</p> + +<p>Miss Craven was glad for her. "It must be wonderful to have a person +care that much for you," she said, "to want to keep you near her. Why, +it is almost as mothers feel, I suppose. I couldn't bear the thought of +you being away alone—if you <i>were</i> alone I should ask you to come and +be a sister to me. I don't know how I can get along without you, but I +must try and comfort myself with the thought of what you have been to +me. And, oh, if you should be absent years, I will come over. Why, I +should like to see the dear old lady who loves you so."</p> + +<p>Helen felt almost convicted of ingratitude.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_371" id="Page_371">[Pg 371]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVIII" id="CHAPTER_XVIII"></a>CHAPTER XVIII</h2> + +<h3>WRIT IN AN UNKNOWN TONGUE</h3> + + +<p>There were girls who envied Helen Grant, who thought they would change +places with her in a minute if they could. She wrote to Uncle Jason and +explained that it would not be possible to come home. School closed on +the 28th of June, on the 3d of July they would leave on the steamer at +New York. She sent the same message to Mrs. Dayton, with the wish that +she might be able to come and see her off, but she didn't suppose it +would be possible. She secretly hoped Mr. Warfield might make it so.</p> + +<p>One of the schoolgirls, a graduate, would go home at once and meet them +at the steamer. The other two resided in New York. Mrs. Aldred was much +engrossed with business matters and her preparations.</p> + +<p>The second week in June, when examinations had just begun, Mr. Castles +came up one evening. They were almost through dinner and Mrs. Aldred +closed the door of the reception<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_372" id="Page_372">[Pg 372]</a></span> room and desired that no one should +disturb her. Mr. Castles said he was the bearer of melancholy news. Mrs. +Van Dorn had died very suddenly in Paris. Miss Gage had cabled for full +instructions. Mrs. Van Dorn's body would be brought home and buried +beside her husband. Miss Gage was to have all personal belongings +inventoried and packed to come with her and the body.</p> + +<p>"Do you know a Mr. James Fenton?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"James Fenton. He is about as near a relation as I am. He is on the +father's side, I am on her mother's; about third cousins, I think."</p> + +<p>"It appears this Mr. Fenton annoyed her some at Florence in the spring. +Then he called on her at Paris and had a long talk with her in the +afternoon, which Miss Gage said upset her very much. They went to a +reception in the evening at the Embassy, she seeming in her usual +health, but not quite placid. It was very warm and she fainted, it was +supposed, but the physician who was called pronounced her dead. This Mr. +Fenton insisted upon taking charge of everything, so I cabled my +instructions at once. The body will be here in a fortnight."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_373" id="Page_373">[Pg 373]</a></span></p> + +<p>Mrs. Aldred was shocked beyond measure. It hardly seemed credible.</p> + +<p>"Do you know anything about her affairs?"</p> + +<p>"Not especially," replied Mrs. Aldred. "I once heard her say she would +not have much to leave behind. The money was from her husband, and if +she chose to live extravagantly it was no one's affairs."</p> + +<p>"I am glad you take it philosophically," and he gave a faint smile. +"When she was about sixty-five she put nearly all her money in an +annuity so she would have no further care. She told me that she had no +near relatives."</p> + +<p>"That was true enough."</p> + +<p>"So she lived very handsomely at times, at others quite plainly. She +placed in my hands a sum amply sufficient for her burial, which has +never been disturbed. I collected and paid over her annuity. There may +be a few thousands beside. The income, you know, stopped with her death. +So there will be nothing for the heirs."</p> + +<p>"I for one shall not complain. She paid generously for her <i>protégé</i>, +six months in advance. She sent for her and I was to take her over with +me; calling on you in all business matters."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_374" id="Page_374">[Pg 374]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Yes, she notified me. It was Mrs. Van Dorn's intention to keep +this young girl with her the rest of her life. Her last letter to +me was as buoyant as that of any young person. She was certainly +wonderful—eighty-six in March. It seemed to me as if she might have +lived to be a hundred. I am afraid the talk of that man Fenton did not +do her any good."</p> + +<p>"It is a great shock. I can hardly believe it."</p> + +<p>"What friends has this girl, if any?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, some relatives at a small town in a neighboring State, an uncle who +has cared for her. She is a bright, ambitious girl, and I <i>do</i> regret +the death for her sake. I am glad there is someone she can turn to, but +I think she has the courage to work her way up, with a helping hand now +and then."</p> + +<p>"And you do not know about this Mr. Fenton?"</p> + +<p>"Nothing much. I once heard her say that after Mr. Van Dorn's death he +applied to her for some money for business purposes and she refused. I +think she was not favorably impressed with him."</p> + +<p>"Well, there will not be much for anyone<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_375" id="Page_375">[Pg 375]</a></span> to have. I think this annuity +was by her husband's advice, and it has saved her a good deal of care. I +thought it best for you to know at once and I did want to learn how the +girl was situated. Do you suppose she will be bitterly disappointed?"</p> + +<p>"She will be very much shocked and grieved."</p> + +<p>"It would have been the same if she had adopted her. She could have made +no provision for her future."</p> + +<p>"No," thoughtfully.</p> + +<p>"And now I must take a night train back, as I am very busy. I will keep +you informed as to matters."</p> + +<p>"We sail on the 3d of July."</p> + +<p>"The body will be here before that."</p> + +<p>She walked down to the street with him; then took a rustic seat and +considered Helen Grant's future in so far as she could, but every moment +she felt more regret that her bright hopes should be so suddenly +quenched. She resolved to say nothing at present until she had evolved a +plan floating through her mind.</p> + +<p>It was true Mrs. Van Dorn had not reached the period appointed by +herself. She had felt<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_376" id="Page_376">[Pg 376]</a></span> sure of ninety years. There were times when she +feared that nature was on the wane, but she still took excellent care of +herself.</p> + +<p>This Mr. Fenton had besieged her for some money in the spring and a +liberal allowance in her will. As far as she could trace the +relationship there were but two families who had any claim on her, and +his was one. She had put him off with a sarcastic promise of taking her +will into consideration, then her quick wit intervened.</p> + +<p>"If I should die without a will you would share equally. I think I will +let it go that way."</p> + +<p>That was all the satisfaction he could get. She hoped never to see him +again. But he had found her in Paris, and again importuned her. She had +so much she could surely spare him a little now. She allowed herself the +gratification then of explaining the annuity to him and that she meant +to spend her income in each year. He flew into a passion and called her +some harsh names, when she had left him alone with a very curt +dismissal. She had been more provoked than excited. There were some +special reasons why she wished to attend this reception and she went. +Whether it might<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_377" id="Page_377">[Pg 377]</a></span> have been different or whether she had reached her +allotted span, only God knew.</p> + +<p>The next few days Mrs. Aldred took especial pains with Helen. She must +be able to enter the graduating class. Helen was delighted with the +attention, and repaid it with earnest endeavor.</p> + +<p>Mr. Castles sent word that Miss Gage had started with the body.</p> + +<p>Helen had passed most of her examinations when Mrs. Aldred very tenderly +informed her of the sad news, and how almost incredulous she had been at +first.</p> + +<p>"Of course, this changes all the plans," she said, when she had given +Helen time for her first anguish. "But I have been talking with Mrs. +Wiley, who is quite willing to take you for some of the younger classes, +a year or two years, and in that time you can graduate. It is best that +you should have a diploma. You are very young yet, and will be more +capable of facing the world at eighteen. I really have no fear for you, +and am confident you will succeed."</p> + +<p>"I cannot thank you sufficiently now," Helen answered. "I am bewildered. +May I be excused from dinner?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_378" id="Page_378">[Pg 378]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Yes, and anything you desire to-morrow. You have my warmest sympathy, +and I feel that I do not want to lose sight of you in the years to +come."</p> + +<p>It was a sad night for Helen, a sad day following; indeed, it took all +the joy out of the graduation exercises for her. Mrs. Wiley made her +proffer and Helen accepted it.</p> + +<p>"So you see we shall not be separated after all," she said to both Daisy +and Miss Craven, and the latter began to weave some plans for the future +that she would keep to herself until the time came. Ah, if she could +repay Helen's kindnesses!</p> + +<p>Miss Gage reached New York the first day of July. Most of the girls had +dispersed from the school. Helen was to go to the city with Mrs. +Aldred's party.</p> + +<p>The day before a telegram from Mrs. Dayton reached her, containing this +astounding news:</p> + +<p>"Your father has returned. You will find him staying with me."</p> + +<p>Could it be true—after all these years?</p> + +<p>Helen seemed to herself as one in a dream. Her sorrow for Mrs. Van Dorn +had grown with every hour and she almost abhorred her<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_379" id="Page_379">[Pg 379]</a></span>self that she +should ever have hesitated a moment about devoting her whole life to her +benefactress, who had only asked for a few years. But this new claim! +She could not ignore it. How many times she had wished for his return! +But all these years he had made no sign, expressed no desire to know +whether she were living or dead. The neglect stung her cruelly.</p> + +<p>She had no time to consider this phase of affairs. She had about decided +to accept Mrs. Wiley's offer. There would be home and training for +another year, and she felt confident now that she could graduate. On the +other hand, there would be clothes and small current expenses even with +the strictest economy. She would be a young lady, and she shrank in +dismay from all that implied; but now she was quite at sea. There was no +one to "give the word," and pilot her through the windings.</p> + +<p>She went to the city with Mrs. Aldred and Grace. The other voyagers were +already there. The first business on hand was a visit to the lawyer's, +where Miss Gage would meet them.</p> + +<p>The story was substantially what the companion had written. Mrs. Van +Dorn had gone out of life in that moment of time when she<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_380" id="Page_380">[Pg 380]</a></span> had felt +confident of some years before her. She had been spared suffering and +dread.</p> + +<p>"When all expenses are met there may be a thousand or two thousand +dollars," explained Mr. Castles. "Mr. Fenton insists upon calling for +the strictest accounting, which he has a right to do, of course, and +this means the small residue will be divided between you," bowing to +Mrs. Aldred, "and himself. I suppose she thought she would have so +little to divide it was not worth making a will. He insists the valuable +jewels shall be sold. But here is one point in which I think you will +bear me out in believing the law has no right over. Mrs. Van Dorn gave +me each year a sum to be spent on Miss Grant. It was her desire, and a +most excellent idea, I think," smiling vaguely, "that Miss Grant should +not fall into extravagant habits. There was a small amount left over +when she made the new allowance. This, I take it, belongs to Miss Helen +Grant, and I propose to pay it over to her at once. It is a private +matter."</p> + +<p>"I agree with you perfectly," returned Mrs. Aldred, in an approving +tone; glad, indeed, that it could be so. "I wish I dared double or +quadruple it, but I have no right. This will be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_381" id="Page_381">[Pg 381]</a></span> precious to you, Miss +Grant, as the gift of your benefactress. I know it was in her heart to +treat you as if you were a near relative, a granddaughter, as she said +in a late letter."</p> + +<p>Helen's eyes overflowed, but she could not trust her voice.</p> + +<p>"It is a lovely remembrance," added Mrs. Aldred with much feeling. "And +Helen is worthy of it."</p> + +<p>The lawyer handed her the envelope, but she was too much moved to +inspect its contents.</p> + +<p>"Now, you and Miss Gage may take the ante-room, as I am certain that +step prefigures Mr. Fenton," the lawyer announced.</p> + +<p>Miss Gage had much to say to the young girl.</p> + +<p>"I am so glad you wrote just that letter of gratitude," she began. "I +cannot describe Mrs. Van Dorn's delight to you. She was almost childish +over it and read it again and again, and though she was not sentimental +about keeping letters, I found this in a box of trinkets and have +brought it back to you. She was not an effusive woman, but I think she +counted a great deal on having your entire love. You see I was one of a +family who have always been very dear to each other, and who clung +to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_382" id="Page_382">[Pg 382]</a></span>gether as few families do. In the autumn I was to go home, as she had +found a most excellent maid, who was also quite a practised nurse. Mrs. +Van Dorn liked society and style and had many fashionable friends who +<i>did</i> admire her, and then she would have a few months of simplicity, +and quiet living, which she believed preserved one's health and mental +faculties. No one would have supposed she was eighty-six—I did not know +it until Mr. Castles told me. I do very much regret she could not have +lived a few years longer; you would have had a charming time, and there +would have been no relatives to interfere."</p> + +<p>Helen winced, but said nothing.</p> + +<p>"She has purchased various articles the last year for you, boxes of +trinkets marked with your name and put in my hands for safe keeping. +Hardly a week before that sad day she came home one morning with the +eager interest of a young person. She had bought a beautiful inlaid box +with fine brass handles, and some new things, and bade me look up all +the others and put them in, and said laughingly it was a treasure trove +and when she was especially pleased she should bring you a gift out of +it. Mr. Castles has it, and will hand it over to you.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_383" id="Page_383">[Pg 383]</a></span> I cannot tell you +how sorry I am you will not have this delightful time abroad. She was +counting on your enthusiasm to inspire her, to make her over, she used +to say. She had many admirable qualities. Of course, there were ways and +whims and times of depression when she looked to her companion to cheer +her. I think now they were the little advances of age that she +resolutely refused to yield to. She was very just, she abhorred plain +falsehood, though I suppose most elderly women do indulge in some +make-believes," smiling a little sadly.</p> + +<p>It was evident from the sound of voices in the adjoining room that Mr. +Fenton was not having an agreeable time. He insisted the heirs had been +grievously wronged by this annuity business.</p> + +<p>"As if the money was not hers to do what she chose with it," said Miss +Gage. "And it seems as if the Van Dorn relatives would be the ones to +object since the money came that way. I am glad she had her own +satisfactory life, and she has made others happy as well, even if there +is not much left."</p> + +<p>Mr. Fenton found that he could not take the matter in hand himself, and +that he must wait for the due process of law before he could<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_384" id="Page_384">[Pg 384]</a></span> get even +the small sum that would come to him. Mrs. Aldred had to say good-by and +go to the steamer. Helen was to write to her and she still strongly +advised her going back to Aldred House. Would it be possible?</p> + +<p>Mr. Castles brought out the pretty box of treasures and delivered it to +Helen. The clerk would put her on the train and see her started on her +journey; Miss Gage had to remain with the lawyer, but her good-by was +very sympathetic and tender, and she, too, begged Helen to write, as she +should always take a deep interest in her.</p> + +<p>Helen settled herself for the long journey and the endeavor to +disentangle the events that had so crowded upon her these few days. +Whether she should go back to Aldred House did not altogether depend +upon herself. True, one perplexing question was settled—she took out +her envelope and examined its contents. Five fifty-dollar bills, a ten, +and a five beside. Two hundred and sixty-five dollars. She could go +through another year successfully, and though she would still be young, +she could no doubt find a place to teach.</p> + +<p>But what if this should be the end of school life? Her whole being rose +up in revolt. She<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_385" id="Page_385">[Pg 385]</a></span> had mentally protested against giving it up for +pleasure, she remembered, but that would have been going on in knowledge +of all kinds, climbing up and up, drinking in the juices of the fruit +ripened and preserved long ago, that would never lose its flavor. And to +take was not all, to give presently, to rouse some unthinking girl as +she had been roused, to reach out a helping hand—yes, she had helped +Juliet Craven over the thorny way, through the dense forest where +learning was well-nigh smothered with parasitic growths that could be +cleared away and let in sunshine. Ah, there were many lives needing it.</p> + +<p>And now, when one unlooked-for event had cleared the way, this new one +must arise.</p> + +<p>What was her father like? she wondered. She really had no definite or +trustworthy impression of him. As a little child she had stood in great +awe of him, though she could not remember that he had ever been severe +with her. Her mother had complained a good deal, and she always said, +"Your father," as if the child was in some way answerable for the +infelicities. Aunt Jane had given cruel flings sometimes, and generally +scoffed at him as being impractical and a complete failure.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_386" id="Page_386">[Pg 386]</a></span></p> + +<p>But what hurt Helen the most was that all these years he should not have +cared enough to write even to Uncle Jason. She, Helen, might have died, +or misfortune might have attended Uncle Jason and the house been broken +up, she cast on the charities of the world. He could not know.</p> + +<p>How had she come by this fine sense of justice, this clear sight in so +many things, this comprehension of honor and the right of every human +soul? She was suddenly a puzzle to herself. Was this the outgrowth of +the wild, laughing, merry child, ready for any fun or frolic or +mischief, who ran races with boys, and could play ball, climb trees, +jump higher fence-rails than any girl, and be proud of it? Yet, were +not these things modified in the gymnasium? So she need not blush over +it, or be ashamed of the riotous childhood.</p> + +<p>And why had she protested so strenuously against going in the shoeshop? +Where did these curious qualities and contradictions come from? Did she +really owe her awakening to Mr. Warfield? Would she have been content in +the Mulford groove but for him? Yet all these feelings and desires must +have been in her brain, inherited from somewhere.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_387" id="Page_387">[Pg 387]</a></span></p> + +<p>What might not her father demand of her? Perhaps he was an invalid, and +even now she, with aims and purposes settled on a higher plane, might be +compelled to spend years of waiting in which there would be no pleasure, +no satisfaction. Could she do it? Had he the right to ask it?</p> + +<p>She was coming nearer and nearer to the momentous decision. Oh, <i>was</i> +she leaving the dear, bright, fascinating schooldays behind her, the +friends of girlhood, the ambitious climbing where it seemed almost as if +one had winged feet, the delightful life with its discussions, its +shaping of tastes, its comparison of heroes, when they almost quarreled, +each being so eager and confident of her own, the lovely walks, +unearthing the secrets of nature growths, the pretty, touching +confidences so much to girls, the expansion everywhere; two splendid, +joyous years of improvement, draining the real secrets of knowledge to +help explain the mysteries of life,—was it all over?</p> + +<p>They were coming nearer to all the Hopes. A hard little smile settled +about her lips. How queer they should have called it Hope, this dead and +alive place, where hope could be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_388" id="Page_388">[Pg 388]</a></span> so easily crushed? Would she abandon +hope when she entered?</p> + +<p>They steamed into the station, backed a little for some cause, then came +forward again. She was on the off-side so she need not look out of the +window. She waited for the small procession to pass out of the aisle, +then she picked up her satchel and her precious box. Mr. Warfield stood +watching, and her heart beat more freely. He took her satchel when the +conductor had helped her down, and studied her face eagerly.</p> + +<p>"I began to wonder if you were on the train. Are you tired? It is a long +journey."</p> + +<p>The friendly voice seemed to restore her.</p> + +<p>"Not especially tired," she answered slowly.</p> + +<p>They walked on in silence, but a question trembled about her lips.</p> + +<p>"Were you tremendously surprised? Of course, one couldn't give +particulars in a telegram."</p> + +<p>"Why—yes, after believing him dead all these years. Is he—is he well?"</p> + +<p>That was not what she wanted to ask.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I think so. Mrs. Dayton said he had not changed very much. He is +fifty-four and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_389" id="Page_389">[Pg 389]</a></span> looks seventy. But, oh, the learning! He certainly has +'ransacked the ages.'"</p> + +<p>"And I suppose it will seem strange to him to have a big girl?" There +was a little falter in Helen's voice, and she flushed and paled.</p> + +<p>"Well—he almost expected you had gone through college," and Mr. +Warfield gave his shoulders a shrug. "I can tell you he has no faith in +modern education. And I do believe he would rather have you forty than +sixteen."</p> + +<p>"I am glad to be only sixteen," Helen returned with decision. "Life is a +splendid thing and youth is its garden of growth, and I am more than +satisfied to be still in the lovely garden."</p> + +<p>She held her head up very straight, and the poise of her shoulders was +fine and vigorous. She would not be made old for anybody. She would not +hurry through any sweet year of her life.</p> + +<p>"There will be some clashing," thought Mr. Warfield. "And I do believe +she will win."</p> + +<p>"When did he come?" she asked presently. "And where has he been all +these years?"</p> + +<p>"The last year in the British Museum. Before that buried in the ruins of +the lost cities of the Bible, read now by cylinders and tablet<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_390" id="Page_390">[Pg 390]</a></span> plates +and inscriptions on stone. Well, it <i>is</i> wonderful to know so much, to +be able to reconstruct dead and gone ages. He reached here four or five +days ago and surprised the Mulfords; came over here and engaged board +when he heard you were on the eve of return; went up to New York and +reached here last night."</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 386px;"> +<img src="images/illus-390.jpg" width="386" height="550" alt="He looked like an old picture, but he was a gentleman +every inch of him." title="" /> +<span class="caption">He looked like an old picture, but he was a gentleman +every inch of him.—Page 390.</span> +</div> + +<p>Of course, he might have written her a few words.</p> + +<p>"And that wonderful old lady of yours is dead! Wouldn't it have been +queer if you had started for Europe? Oh, here we are!" and he opened the +gate.</p> + +<p>Helen walked straight up the path, and the man pacing the porch paused +at the steps. He was tall and thin, with a bend in the shoulders, and +his clothes hung loosely on him. His face had a sort of shrunken look +and was much wrinkled, his beard was sparse and snowy white, and his +white hair was rather long with curling ends. He looked like an old +picture, but he was a gentleman every inch of him.</p> + +<p>"Oh!" Helen exclaimed with a gasp.</p> + +<p>He took both hands, looked her over from head to foot, then touched his +lips to her forehead.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_391" id="Page_391">[Pg 391]</a></span></p> + +<p>"You're not a bit like your mother," and Helen detected a sense of +relief in his tone.</p> + +<p>Could he remember all these years? Almost a sob came up in her throat. +Yes, girl life had ended. "I am glad and thankful that I have you to +recall, happy, happy schooldays," she said to herself. "No one can take +that from me. Oh, Mrs. Van Dorn! I hope you know what all this has been +to me, what it will be in the years to come."</p> + +<p>They were parent and child, but they had to begin life over, a new life +to her. His way was settled. Would hers have to yield?</p> + +<p>The future seemed to hold problems no less serious than those which had +confronted her in the past. But there had been some way provided for +each difficulty thus far, as we have seen, and how the brave girl made +good use of what her schooldays had done for her can at some time in the +future be learned by reading "Helen Grant's Friends."</p> + +<h3>THE END</h3> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p class="center">Transcriber's note:</p> + +<p>In the List of Illustrations there is reference to an ilustration on +page 235. It could not be found, and the information is placed here.</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" width="75%" cellspacing="0" summary="Illustrations"> + +<tr><td align="left">They were winding round into Elm Avenue, with great bunches of wild flowers and bright leaves</td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_235'>235</a></td></tr> +</table></div> + + + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Helen Grant's Schooldays, by Amanda M. 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