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diff --git a/old/40401.txt b/old/40401.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 3dc23e2..0000000 --- a/old/40401.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,5931 +0,0 @@ -Project Gutenberg's Three Little Women's Success, by Gabrielle E. Jackson - -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: Three Little Women's Success - A Story for Girls - -Author: Gabrielle E. Jackson - -Release Date: August 3, 2012 [EBook #40401] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ASCII - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THREE LITTLE WOMEN'S SUCCESS *** - - - - -Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - - - - - -Three Little Women's Success -Gabrielle E. Jackson - - - - -CONTENTS - CHAPTER I--After Three Years. - CHAPTER II--The Silent Partner and Others. - CHAPTER III--The Bee-hive. - CHAPTER IV--The Busy Bees. - CHAPTER V--Mammy Makes Investigations. - CHAPTER VI--Thanksgiving. - CHAPTER VII--Expansion. - CHAPTER VIII--Vaulting Ambitions. - CHAPTER IX--At Merry Yuletide. - CHAPTER X--"Then Came the Wild Weather." - CHAPTER XI--In the Valley. - CHAPTER XII--Of the Shadow. - CHAPTER XIII--Aftermath. - CHAPTER XIV--In the Springtide. - CHAPTER XV--Mammy Makes a Discovery. - CHAPTER XVI--Mammy a Sherlock Holmes. - CHAPTER XVII--Cupid in Spectacles. - CHAPTER XVIII--Harvest Time. - CHAPTER XIX--Three Little Women's Success - - - - -[Illustration: Charles Was Sitting Upright Talking Wildly.] - - - - -THREE LITTLE WOMEN SERIES - -Three Little Women's Success - -_A STORY FOR GIRLS_ - -By - -GABRIELLE E. JACKSON - -Author of "The Joy of Piney Hill," "Wee Winkles," "Sunlight and Shadow," -"By Love's Sweet Rule," Etc. - -Illustrated - -THE JOHN C. WINSTON COMPANY Philadelphia - - - - -Copyright 1913, - -by The John C. Winston Co. - -Copyright 1910, - -by The John C. Winston Co. - - - - -_TO DOROTHY_ - - _A loyal, lovable lassie,_ - _A trusted and true little friend._ - - G. E. J. - - - - -CHAPTER I - -AFTER THREE YEARS. - - -October had come to Riveredge. This fact meant more than the five words -usually imply, for to few spots did October show such a gracious -presence as she did to this pretty town. Beautiful at all seasons, even -in its wintry dress of gleaming snow, in its autumn gorgeousness, -Riveredge was entirely irresistible. In summer the town drowsed, for -during July and August many of its inhabitants took a holiday and -journeyed thither and yonder; in the autumn it wakened to the busy -bustle of active life and its preparations for the drawing together of -all who dwelt therein, and spring was the time when it did its -renovating, its housecleaning, its decorating, but October's crisp -westerly winds blowing across the broad expanses of the river set blood -stirring, made pulses throb many beats quicker, and caused even -strangers to smile and nod to one another as they passed along the -streets. Friends called gayly: "Isn't the air delicious? Doesn't it make -you want to prance like a colt?" - -There was one individual in Riveredge whom it so affected, anyway. The -fact that nearly three years have slipped by since we last witnessed any -of her prancings has not lessened her propensity to do so, for with -nearly fourteen years numbered off upon her life's calendar Jean Carruth -is as much of a romp as ever, full of impulses as she was upon the day -she rescued old Baltie; as she was when she so valiantly defended her -property and her rights against the hoodlums of McKimm's Hollow. The -three years have brought about many changes, it is true, but Jean -Carruth will remain Jean Carruth to the end of the story. She has grown -like a weed, to be sure, and seems to be nearly all long arms and legs -with a body like a hazel wand--pliable and vigorous, with powers of -endurance far beyond its indications. A casual observer might think her -less strong than she is, but in reality she is "soun' as a dollar and de -cause ob mo' trebbilation dan a million ob 'em could be," insisted old -Mammy. And Mammy was pretty well qualified to judge, having had charge -of that young person since she drew her first breath in the world. Mammy -still lived and flourished as Mammy Blairsdale-Devon. Nothing could -induce her to drop the Blairsdale. Hadyn Stuyvesant had quite -conclusively, though unwittingly, settled that point when he presented -the superb sign, with its gleaming gold letters, to the newly opened -lunch counter in the Arcade. Mrs. Carruth tried to persuade Mammy to -take the name of her lately restored spouse, and be known thenceforth as -Mrs. Charles Devon; but Mammy had scornfully stammered: "D-d-drap de -Blairsdale? Never! I was borned a Blairsdale, lived a Blairsdale -eighteen year befo' I hooked on de Devon, an' den hatter onhook it -inside of fo' months; den I lived fo'ty-seben years wid de Blairsdale -name befo' I foun' out dat I had claim ter any odder. So what fo' I drap -it now? Dey ain't no name kin leave it behine as I knows on. Devon's a -good one, I knows, and down yonder where we-all was borned at it do -stan' high for a fac', but it cyant rare up its head like de Blairsdale -name kin. No, sir! Devon can hook on to de Blairsdale all right an' -straight if it got a min' ter; but I ain't never gwine let it _lead_ it -no mo', an' I's a-gwine ter let Charles lead _me_." As the possibility -of Charles ever leading Mammy seemed more than visionary, Mrs. Carruth -gave up the argument. Besides, she had many other things to occupy her -thoughts. In the fall of 19-- Eleanor had entered college, and within the -present college year would graduate with well won honors. From the -moment she entered she resolved to be independent so far as her personal -needs were concerned. The tuition fees were paid by her great-aunt, Mrs. -Eleanor Maxwell Carruth. Those she accepted because Mrs. Carruth, Sr., -was amply able to meet them, but further than that she had resolved to -be independent and she had been. The first year was the hardest; a -freshman's possibilities are circumscribed; Sophomore year brought with -it broader opportunities; Junior year established her place in the -college world beyond all argument, and now with senior year her triumph -and success lay close at hand. Moreover, this last year was being made -much easier for her by Constance's success in her candy kitchen. The -same autumn that Eleanor entered college Constance, in spite of Mammy's -protests and opposition, had branched out on a scale to outrage all the -old colored woman's instincts and traditions. But Mammy had stormed and -scolded in vain, the addition to her little four-roomed cabin was built -by Haydn Stuyvesant, all Constance's practical ideas for the needs of -such a kitchen being followed out to the minutest detail. He admired the -girl's pluck and enterprise too much to bar her progress in any way, in -spite of the fact that Mammy had sought to dissuade him from encouraging -her in venturing further into the commercial world. Mammy had actually -gone to Haydn's office to "ketch a word in private," as she put it. -Finding all argument with Constance futile, she played what she hoped -would prove her trump card. Haydn had listened with all deference to her -arguments against "dat chile a-goin' on so scan'lous, an' a-startin' out -fer ter make sweet stuff fer all creation, when dar's mo' sweet stuff in -de shops dis minit dan folks kin swaller if dey stuff desefs de whole -endurin' time." - -"But, Mammy," Haydn had replied, as he looked kindly at the troubled old -face before him, "you know none can equal Miss Constance's. It would be -a downright piece of cruelty to deprive us all of our Saturday treat." - -"Den let her go 'long de way she's been a-goin'; let her make it down -yonder in her Ma's kitchen, an' sell it in de Arcyde, jus' lak she been -a-doin' all dese months. She ain't got no call fer to earn any mo' -money'n she's a-earnin' right now. Ain't me an' Charles a-comin' 'long -right spry wid our lunch counter in dar?" she insisted, with a nod of -her turbaned head toward the section of the building in which she and -Charles had carried on a flourishing trade ever since the immaculate -counter had displayed its tempting viands to those who passed along the -Arcade, and who were not slow to avail themselves of Mammy's wonderful -art of cookery, or to bring their friends to enjoy it also. - -"Yes, Mammy, you and Charles are real wonders to all who know you; but -can't you understand why a girl of Miss Constance's type would never be -happy if dependent upon others? Why, with all her young and splendid -health, strength and energy, she must have some outlet for her -ambition." - -"Den let her go a-frolickin' lak her Ma did when she was mos' sixteen! -Let her go a-horsebackin' and a-dancin' at parties, an' a-picnicin' and -all dose t'ings what a girl lak her ought ter be a-doin'. Wha' you -s'pose ma ol' Massa Blairsdale say an' do if he could come back an' see -de doin's in our house? Gawd-a-mighty, I wouldn't crave ter be aroun' if -he come along unbeknownst an' see Miss Jinny's chillern grubbin' 'long -in candy kitchens and teachin' oder folks' chillern, and hikin' all ober -de kentryside peddlin' candy. He ax me fust, 'Mammy, yo'no count ol' -nigger, wha' you been about?' An den he bang ma haid clean off!" - -"I hardly think so, Mammy. The head and the heart have given too much to -those he loved. But don't be troubled about Miss Constance. Remember -this: no matter what she chooses to do, she will remain the sweetest of -gentlewomen to the end of the story. You little guess the respect she -already inspires in all who know her, if she is but sixteen. Let me help -her by arranging her kitchen just as her practical little head has -planned it all. It is the least I can do. Miss Willing will bear the -brunt of the hard work this winter, leaving Miss Constance free to -finish her high-school-course. It is a wise plan all around and a kinder -one than you realize. The Arcade telephone switchboard was no place for -a girl like Mary Willing, and to have been instrumental in removing her -from the temptations she was sure to meet there is a more beautiful -charity than those blazoned at large in the daily papers. Don't thwart -it, Mammy. Let the little girl down yonder go on with her good work; she -doesn't realize how far-reaching it is: perhaps she will never learn. -Her mother does, however, and is using a very fine instrument to bring -the work to perfection." - -Mammy had sat very silent all the time, her old face wearing a puzzled -expression, her keen eyes fixed upon a paper cutter which lay upon -Haydn's desk, her lips pursed up doubtfully. Haydn did not break the -silence; he only watched. After a few moments she looked up, gave a -perplexed sigh, and said: - -"Well, sah, p'raps yo' is right. P'raps yo' is. I ain't nothin' but a' -ole nigger woman, but, bress Gawd, I loves ma white folks, an' I hates -fer ter see de ole times so twisted up wid de new ideas, I sartain' -does. It goes against de grain p'intedly." - -"I can understand all that, dear old Mammy, but you mark my words, the -results will justify the deeds." - -So Mammy gave up the argument, though she was far from resigned to the -plans. - -And thus had the enterprise grown. Constance finished her year at the -high-school, Mary Willing was established in the model little candy -kitchen, with all its practical little appointments, and before long was -nearly as proficient as Constance herself, and quite as enthusiastic. -One year slipped by and another followed it. Then a third was added to -the number, until now, with the autumn of 19-- Constance was nineteen -years old and Eleanor twenty-one. - -Neither has changed a great deal. Eleanor's three years in the college -world have given her greater poise and independence, a more matured -outlook upon life, but the old Eleanor Carruth is still in evidence. - -Constance had grown taller, the slight figure is more rounded, though -still girlish. She still has the wonderfully sweet, frank expression, in -spite of her two years out in the business world, for after her -graduation she took firmer hold than ever of her business venture and -branched out in many directions. New booths were opened in adjacent -towns, private orders were filled for patrons in New York City, holiday -consignments were made to more remote ones, to which her fame had spread -through friends and friends' friends. Of course some losses had been -sustained, but in comparison with her output and returns they were -trivial, and her success was an established fact. But the work -continued, her aim being absolute independence for her mother, and for -Jean the home and the atmosphere their mother had formerly known and -loved. - -And the silent partner of the firm, old Baltie, how had the three years -dealt with him? A horse which has attained twenty-five years and is -sightless is supposed to be out of the running, but Baltie lived -apparently to prove the fallacy of such a supposition. At twenty-eight -he was younger and more active than at twenty-four, his age when rescued -by Jean. Nothing could restore his sight, but with each year his hearing -seemed to have grown keener, and the ears were as sensitive as a wild -animal's. But Baltie needs a chapter to himself. - - - - -CHAPTER II - -THE SILENT PARTNER AND OTHERS. - - -"Mother, have you seen Jean?" asked Constance, popping her head into her -mother's room shortly after breakfast one glorious October morning. - -"She was here but a few moments ago, dear," answered Mrs. Carruth, -looking up from her desk at which she sat writing out the marketing list -for Mammy. - -"I want her to leave this parcel at Mrs. Morgan's on her way to school, -and, by the same token, she ought to be on her way there this very -minute. I wonder where she has gone?" - -"Not very far, I think. She knows she must start at once." - -Constance laughed as she replied: "I wonder if she ever will know? Time -doesn't exist for her, or perhaps I would better say that it exists only -for her; she so calmly takes all she wishes. But she really must start -now. I'll go hunt her up and get her headed in the right direction." - -"Yes, do, Honey," urged Mrs. Carruth, as Constance hurried away in quest -of the youngest member of the household. - -Mrs. Carruth resumed her writing. The past three years had dealt kindly -with her: Mammy and the daughters of the home had seen to that. Nothing -could ever alter the gentle expression of her eyes, or change the tender -curves of her lips. Each told its story of love for those nearest and -dearest to her, as well as her sympathy and interest in her -fellow-beings. Mrs. Carruth had passed her forty-seventh birthday, but -did not look more than thirty-eight. The hardest years of her life were -those following upon her husband's death, and the serious financial -losses she was then forced to meet. Since Constance's venture and the -success which had almost immediately attended it, the outlook for all -had been more hopeful, and if now living less pretentiously than she had -lived during her husband's lifetime, she was none the less comfortable. -Upon Hadyn Stuyvesant's advice Mrs. Carruth had not rebuilt the old -home, although by careful economy she could have done so. But Hadyn was -looking farther into the future than Mrs. Carruth looked. Perhaps his -wish had some bearing upon the thought, for from the moment Hadyn -Stuyvesant had met Constance Carruth _his_ future was settled so far as -he was concerned. But he was too wise to let the sixteen-year-old girl -guess his feelings. The gulf between sixteen and twenty-three is a wide -one. As the years advance it mysteriously narrows. At nineteen Constance -often wondered why Hadyn seemed younger to her in his twenty-sixth year -than he had at twenty-three. Never by look or word had he betrayed any -warmer feeling for her than the good-comradeship established at the -beginning of their acquaintance. He was like a brother in that dear -home. Mrs. Carruth consulted him freely upon all occasions. Eleanor -accepted him as a matter-of-course; that was Eleanor's way. Constance -found in him the jolliest companion. Jean adored him openly, and he was -her valiant champion whenever she needed one. From the day he had taken -his first meal in her home she had been to him the "Little Sister," and -he never called her by any other name. Not long after that event she had -coined a name for him--a funny enough one, too. Rushing into Constance's -room in her impetuous way one day, she demanded: "Connie, when knights -used to fight for their ladies, ever ever so long ago, what did they -call them?--the knights I mean." - -"Do you mean Knight Errant?" asked Constance, looking up to smile at the -eager little girl. - -"Knight Errant? Knight Errant?" repeated Jean, doubtfully. "No, somehow -that doesn't fit him. I couldn't call him that, it's too long." - -"Call whom, Jean?" Constance began to wonder what was simmering in this -little sister's head. - -"Mr. Stuyvesant. He calls me 'Little Sister,' and I want a name for -him." - -"Do you think mother would approve of your calling him by a nickname?" - -"'Tisn't going to be a nickname; it's going to be a _love_ name for him, -just like his for me is," was Jean's curious distinction. - -"Oh!" The tone did not imply deep conviction. - -"Now, Connie, you don't understand at all. You think I'm going to -be--be--, well, you don't think I'm respectful, but I _am_. I don't know -anyone that I feel more respectfuller to than Mr. Stuyvesant. He's just -lovely. Only just plain Mr. Stuyvesant keeps him such a long way off, -and he mustn't be. Mother has adopted him, you know, 'cause we all -agreed to lend part of her to him. So I must have a homey name for him. -What were the other names they gave those old knights?" - -"They were often called 'champions of their fair ladies,'" answered -Constance, slipping her arm about Jean and drawing her close to her -side. - -"That's it! That just suits him, doesn't it? He was my champion the day -Jabe Raulsbury turned old Baltie out to die in the road, and he has been -a heap of times since when I've got into scrapes. So that's what I'm -going to call him. He is down on the piazza talking with mother about -the new fence, and I'm going right straight down to ask him if I may -call him Champion," ended Jean, delighted with her new acquisition and -bounding away. - -"Don't interrupt Mother," warned Constance, always a little doubtful of -the outbreaks of the fly-away. - -Hadyn Stuyvesant had not only approved the name, but was delighted with -the idea, and vowed from thenceforth to guard his "lady fair." So -"Champion" he was from that moment on, and, long as the name was, it had -clung. The three years had not lessened Jean's love for him or his -devotion to her. - -As Constance descended the stairs in quest of Jean she met Mammy at the -foot. - -"Is yo' Ma up in her room, Baby?" she asked. - -"Yes, Mammy, and just finishing the marketing list. Have you seen Jean? -It is high time she started for school." - -"Dat's de livin' truf, an' it's what I done tol' her a'reddy, but she -boun' ter go out yonder to see dat hawse." - -"Then I'm bound to go out yonder after her," laughed Constance, as she -ran briskly down the hall, passed through the door which led to the -piazza and opened upon the lawn. There was no sign of Jean, but -Constance crossed the velvety turf to the stable at the further side of -the grounds, passing on her way the candy kitchen, and calling cheerily -to Mary Willing, who was already busy within: "Polly's got her kettle on -for our candee," to be promptly answered by: "Yes, and it's a-boiling, -if you will come and see." - -"Good! I will be there in just a minute. I'm hunting for Jean." A moment -later she turned the corner of the stable and came upon Jean and Old -Baltie. - -To say that Old Baltie had become almost human during the four years -spent in this home conveys very little idea of the mutual understanding -existing between him and his friends, Jean and Mammy were, of course, -his joint owners; but since his marriage to Mammy, Charles also claimed -ownership. No one would have recognized the old horse for the one -rescued by Jean. His coat was now as sleek as satin, his old body round -and plump, his manners those of a thoroughly spoiled thoroughbred horse. -It had not required all the four years spent with the Carruths to blot -out the effects of Jabe's harsh treatment, or to revive in Baltie the -memory of his earlier days as Grandfather Raulsbury's pet. The interval -in which he had fallen upon evil days had vanished as an ugly dream, and -with nobility's inherent qualities, whether manifested in man or beast, -he had dismissed the memory, risen above it, and with all of his -noblesse oblige was helping others to do likewise. - -His wonderfully attuned ears were quick to catch the sound of -Constance's footfalls upon the soft turf, and he greeted her with a -stifled nicker, for his position made a gentlemanly greeting well-nigh -impossible: he was lying at full length upon a bed of sweet clover, his -head in Jean's lap. These two were never in the positions or situations -of their kind if they could possibly achieve others. - -"Hello!" called Jean, glancing up from pressing her cheek against one -large satiny ear which she held against it. - -"Thought I'd find you here, Honey; but I've got to hustle you off to -school. Do you know what time it is?" - -"Only half-past eight, and we're having a beau-ti-ful time, aren't we, -Baltie, dear?" - -"Hoo-hoo-hoo!" fluttered the delicate nostrils. Constance dropped down -beside Jean and ran her hand along the warm, sleek neck. Another nicker -acknowledged the caress, but the great horse did not stir. The clear -morning sunshine flooded the paddock, Baltie's little kingdom, and -filtered through the gorgeous sugar maples overhead. The air was clear -and crisp, the ground dry as though night dews were unknown. Off at the -edge of the paddock a cricket shrilled his monotonous little song of the -coming winter--a snug stable for the old horse and a warm fireside for -his friends. - -"You really must go now, dear," urged Constance, rising to her feet -after a final caress. - -"Oh, dear, and he is so big and so warm and so soft and so good," -protested Jean. "But I s'pose I must. Come, Baltie, you've got to get -up. Now! All together!" and placing her arms beneath the great neck Jean -gave the preliminary heave-ho! necessary to start the old horse. Four -years before it would have been impossible for him to get to his feet, -but, as Mammy insisted: - -"Charles Devon hadn't been Massa Stark's groom fer nothin'," and she -herself was a master hand at "mashargin" (Mammy's pronunciation of -massaging), a course of treatment to which Baltie had been most -vigorously subjected, to the wonderful rejuvenation of his old bones and -muscles. - -A horse, even in his most nimble days of colthood, does not rise from a -prone position with any great degree of grace; yet Baltie might have -given points to some of his younger brethren. Up came his head, the -slender forefeet were braced, there was a mighty heave and hoist, and -Baltie stood upon all-fours, shaking clover leaves from his flanks. - -"Now fly, Jean! Be sure to take the parcel for Mrs. Morgan. I'll stop a -moment with Baltie to make your peace for your abrupt departure," said -Constance, gayly, well knowing that Jean's leave-taking from her pet was -usually a prolonged ceremony. - -Away hurried the little girl, leaving the older sister to spend the -ensuing five minutes with the old horse, who nozzled and fussed over -her, as only a petted horse knows how. - -"Now, old silent partner, I must run away and look after my forewoman -and get busy myself. Goodness, how the Carruth family is developing! -Eleanor already offered a position at Sunnymeade for next fall, my -humble self a full-fledged business woman with a flourishing trade; Jean -junior partner with a private following of her own, and you, you dear, -blind, faithful old creature, setting us all an example of faithfulness -and devotion; Mammy and Charles the biggest hit of the whole -establishment with their lunch counter, and yonder the little girl whom -Mother has made over brand new! No wonder I'm proud; no wonder I'm -sometimes afraid my head will be turned by all our good fortune and -success. Keep me headed right, Baltie. If you, without sight, can steer -a straight course, surely I, with both my eyes to the good, ought to be -able to. Good-bye, dear," and clasping her arms around the sleek, warm -neck, Constance stood perfectly still for a moment or two, her head -pillowed upon the silky mane, her thoughts traveling rapidly back across -the intervening years--years so full of effort, anxiety, hope, -disappointment, love and faith. The one which was beginning with this -October--for it was in October that she had begun her work four years -before--was bidding fair to prove a crisis in all their lives. -Instinctively the girl felt this. Girl in years, yes, but a little woman -in executive ability, foresight and execution, withal, still sweet and -true, and retaining her faith in her fellow-beings. Never had she looked -lovelier than at this moment standing there in the glorious October -sunlight, her arms clasped about the big bay horse, her eyes shining -with hope, health, courage, her cheeks glowing. She was dressed for her -morning's work, her gown a simple tan-colored linen with white collar, -cuffs and belt, a soft tie of brown silk at her throat. She was good to -look at this girl of nineteen, as she stood with such unstudied grace, -the very personification of hope. Presently, with a little start, she -came back to a realization of things around her, and with a parting -caress for the blind horse ran lightly from the paddock across the lawn -to the little candy kitchen, and entered with a cheery greeting. - - - - -CHAPTER III - -THE BEE-HIVE. - - -When three years before, Hadyn Stuyvesant, the owner of the property -rented by the Carruths, had followed out Constance Carruth's plans for a -model kitchen in which she could make her candy, he was not a little -surprised at the sixteen-year-old girl's practical ideas. She asked him -to build an extension to the little cottage at the end of the grounds -occupied by Mammy and Charles, and had drawn the plans and -specifications herself. The result was a marvel to him. - -The extension consisted of three rooms on the first floor and two on the -second. Upon entering the door one found one's self in a good-sized -room, with rubber-tiled floor all blue and white, the walls snowy in -alabasterine. Here on numberless white enameled shelves were placed the -boxes of candy ready for shipment. From this attractive room opened the -packing room, floor, walls and ceiling scrupulous. Long zinc-covered -tables ready for the pans of candy, little portable stands at hand to -hold the boxes in which the candy was to be packed. Perhaps the most -practical feature of this packing room was the height of the tables, or -more correctly their lack of height. Constance had reason to know that -one can be foot-weary after several hours spent in candy-making. -Consequently these packing tables were made low enough to enable those -working at them to sit upon the comfortable bent-wood chairs while doing -the work, which often required several hours, for not only had the candy -to be packed in its pretty boxes, but the boxes had to be wrapped and -tied with dainty ribbons. Nothing must fall short of perfection. - -But the crowning point of Constance's practicability was shown in the -actual kitchen itself. This was also tiled, but the tiles were of -shining porcelain, washable, scrubable, scourable to the very limit. A -big gas range stood at one side, near it hung pans, pots and kettles of -every size and possible need, all of white enamel ware. A big porcelain -sink and draining tray stood next. Close at hand was a large table, its -top of white marble warranted to withstand the hottest candy which could -be poured upon it, to chill it quickly for handling or cutting, and to -come forth from its boiling baptism immaculate under the alchemy of hot -soapsuds. - -On the walls were great hooks, upon which to pull long ropes of molasses -or cream candy. Along another side of the kitchen were shelves to hold -the hundred and one ingredients which were to be transformed into the -most toothsome of dainties, and these were too numerous to name. A -spacious closet held aprons, caps, towels, dish-cloths and what not, -needed in the work. - -On the floor overhead, and reached by a quaint little stairway from the -shipping room, was the stock room, where boxes, labels, wrapping paper, -twine, and a hundred other needfuls were kept. In one corner a -business-like roll-top desk, with still more business-like ledgers, told -of the ability of this little lady to keep track of her finances. And -room number five? Ah, the eternal feminine! Who says she must waive all -claim to her womanly instincts, merge them in the coarser, less refined -ones of the hurrying, struggling world around her when she sets out to -be a bread-winner among her masculine contemporaries? If some do this, -Constance Carruth was not to be numbered among them, and no better proof -of it could have been offered than the "fifth wheel to her business -wagon," as she laughingly called room number five. That little room is -worthy of minute description. - -To begin with, the walls were tinted a soft ivory white, with a delft -blue frieze running around the top. The floor was of hard wood, with a -pretty blue and white rug spread in the center. On this stood a white -enameled table, with snowy linen cover, a reading lamp, the several -books and magazines testifying to its primal use. Four or five -comfortable wicker chairs, with cushions of pretty figured Japanese -crepe, stood about. In one corner a couch with a delft blue and white -cover and enough pillows to spell luxury, invited weary bodies to rest -when labors were ended, and yet never once hinted that by removing the -cover and pillows a bed stood ready for a guest if extra space were -needed. Book shelves of white enameled wood filled half one side of the -room, and held every sort of cook-book ever published, as well as many -of Constance's favorite authors. A white chiffonnier held many necessary -articles, for after one has spent several hours over a boiling kettle -one longs for a tub and fresh garments; and all these were at hand in -the big closet. Opening from this restful room was a perfectly appointed -bathroom. Could plans have been more perfect? - -Certainly the girl, bending over the big saucepan, stirring its boiling -contents, felt that _her_ little paradise had been gained when she -changed from the bustling, rushing Arcade to the peace, tranquillity and -refinement of her present surroundings. The accident which -short-circuited the switchboard wires in the telephone booth that -eventful Labor Day had brought to Mary Willing, even at the cost of a -good deal of physical suffering, present advantages and an outlook for -the future such as she had never pictured. Indeed, her horizon had been -much too circumscribed for her imagination to reach so far. It needed -the influence and environment of the past three years to make her fully -appreciate the vast difference between the acquisitions which mere -dollars can command, and those which true refinement of heart, mind, -soul and body hold as invaluable and indeprivable heritages. Possibly -the best proof that she had taken the lesson to heart lay in the fact -that "Pearl" Willing had completely dropped out of the world's ken, and -in her stead, quiet, dignified Mary Willing moved and had her being. -Unconsciously Mrs. Carruth had undertaken to solve a knotty, -sociological problem, but the results already obtained seemed to justify -her belief that she was right in her estimate of this girl. At all -events she had reason to be sanguine of ultimate success in bending a -hitherto neglected twig. It needed courage, however, upon Mrs. Carruth's -part to undertake this reformation. From her childhood, to her -nineteenth year Mary Willing's environment had been, if not -demoralizing, certainly detrimental to a higher development in any girl. -Her associates were coarse, boisterous, heedless girls, without the -faintest sense of the fitness of things, or the first rudiments of -refinement. To earn enough money to clothe themselves in shoddy finery, -to contribute as small a percentage of their earnings to the family -purse as possible, and to have as much "fun," never mind at whose -expense, or at what sacrifice of their own dignity, bounded their aims -and ambitions. And Mary Willing had seen no reason for not following in -their footsteps. Handsomer than any of her companions, and holding a -position where her personal charms were conspicuous for all who passed -to comment upon them, she had used them to attract the attention of -those whom she thought likely to contribute to her pleasure. - -To make her more self-conscious, and senselessly pave the way to greater -evil, her mother had continually urged her to make the most of her good -looks while she had them, assuring her that unless she managed to "catch -a rich husband with her handsome face she needn't hope to get one at -all." - -Was it any wonder the girl grew up vain, shallow, and with standards -poorly calculated to withstand temptations if offered opportunely? -Still, there was a certain something in her which, up to her nineteenth -year, had saved her from anything worse than shallow flirtations; and -then when everything seemed conspiring to lead her to more serious -consequences of her folly, Fate had established close at her side a -personality and atmosphere in such contrast to her own, and all she had -ever known, that it acted as a dash of cold water acts upon a -sleepwalker. At first she was startled, then roused, and finally -thoroughly wakened to the perilous path she was following. - -But the strangest part of it all lay in the fact that the individual -which capricious Dame Fate had used as her instrument never for one -moment suspected that she was being used at all, but continued on her -sweet, cheery, sunny way entirely unconscious of her responsibilities. -Perhaps therein lay her greatest strength. Then came the accident on the -river, and Mrs. Carruth, quick to read and comprehend, found a field for -the sweetest missionary work a woman can enter upon--that of shaping the -life of a young girl for the noblest position to which she can attain--a -refined young womanhood, a beautiful wifehood, and a motherhood as -perfect as God will give her grace to make it. Mary Willing could hardly -have found a more beautiful example, and the three years had wrought -miracles. - -Mrs. Carruth had made haste slowly. The first year Mary Willing entered -upon her duties in the candy kitchen she went and came daily, learning -and applying herself with all the enthusiasm her gratitude to those she -so admired and strove to emulate inspired. The relations between the -girl and Constance were those of valued employee and respected employer. -It could not have been otherwise. Mary had a vast deal to _un_learn, the -hardest of all things to accomplish, and when old impressions were -effaced to begin an entirely new page. Gradually as time passed on the -girl grew into her new environment. Old habits of manner and speech gave -way to gentler ones, old viewpoints shifted to those of these good -friends, who had risen up at such a crucial point in her life and were -fitting her to be a little woman in the truest sense. In the course of -the three years just passed she and Constance had grown closer to each -other. The latter, quick to see the former's sincere desire to improve, -and take advantage of every opportunity to do so, felt the keenest -sympathy for her less fortunate sister, and the strongest desire to aid -her. Mary's aim and ambition was to grow "just exactly like Constance -Carruth! The dearest, best and loveliest girl that ever lived," as she -confided to her mother. The greatest obstacle to be overcome was the -unhappy influence in Mary Willing's own home life. It sometimes seemed -to Mrs. Carruth that whatever good they accomplished in the five and a -half working days of the week was entirely undone during the one day and -a half which the girl spent in the hurly-burly, the untidiness and -hopeless shallowness of her own home, to say nothing of the coarsening -influence of a worthless, dissipated father's presence. Mrs. Carruth -believed that Mary Willing had naturally been endowed with instincts far -above the average of her class, though from what source inherited she -could not understand, and that all needed to develop them was a more -wholesome atmosphere, wise guiding, and, of course, separation from -former contaminating influences. But she bided her time and, when least -expecting to do so, discovered the secret. At length, when she felt the -moment to be ripe, she suggested most tactfully that Mary come to live -with them, to occupy the little room which had once been Mammy's, but, -since her marriage to Charles, and her removal to the snug cottage -adjoining the candy kitchen, had been newly decorated and furnished for -what Jean, in her characteristic fashion, termed "the left-overs;" -"left-overs" being any extra guest who might claim the hospitality of -the family when the other guest room was occupied. It was a pretty -little room, up in the third floor at the rear of the house, and -overlooked the lawn, the candy kitchen, Mammy's cottage, and the rolling -country beyond owned by Jabe Raulsbury. It had been papered in the -softest green paper, with garlands of pink roses as a border. The floor -was carpeted with a deeper shade of ingrain filling, upon which lay two -pretty rugs in pink and green. Dimity curtains, looped back with chintz -bands, draped the windows. The furniture was of white enamel, with plain -white iron bedstead. Cushions and coverings, as well as table and bureau -scarfs, were of the chintz, edged with inexpensive lace--the bedspread of -snowy white. Had the room been designed for Mary Willing's rich coloring -it could hardly have suited her more perfectly. But it had not; Fate was -simply working out her scheme not only in color but in influence. How -great the influence of that simple little room would prove not even Mrs. -Carruth suspected, although she was a firm believer in the influence of -one's surroundings. - -When Mrs. Carruth suggested that Mary remain with them in order to be at -hand whenever needed in an emergency, and to avoid during the cold, -stormy days of winter the long trip to and from her own home, the girl -had responded with an eagerness which touched Mrs. Carruth very deeply. -"And if I come here to live you must let me pay my board," she cried, -impulsively. Then, noticing the color which crept into the older woman's -face, she hastened to add, contritely: "Oh, dear me! Shall I ever learn -how to say things? I'm--I'm so--I mean I know so _little_. Please forgive -me, Mrs. Carruth. I didn't stop to think how rude that was. I ought to -have said you must not pay me such a large salary if you let me live -here. I know that no amount of money that I could earn could pay my -board. I've learned _that_ much, you see, even if I don't seem to have -learned very much more during the last two years. But I'm truly, truly -trying hard to learn." - -"I know it, dear. Perhaps I am over-sensitive. Old instincts are hard to -overcome. No, I do not think we will change the salary. Constance had -already thought of increasing the sum she is now paying you, for you -earn it. Work has increased rapidly during these two years, and you are -very proficient, and very valuable to her." - -"Oh, I am so glad! I want so much to be." - -"You are; so live here with us, and let the little room and the 'bread -and salt' stand as a part of your salary." - -Mary Willing had never had occasion to enter this room, and when -Constance led her to it upon the day she took up her residence with -them, the girl stopped short upon the threshold, clasped her hands in a -little ecstacy of rapture, and cried: "I'll live up to every single -thing in it, for only a gentlewoman could have arranged such a room, and -only a gentlewoman has any right to live in it. It just speaks of that -dear, blessed little mother of yours from every corner, and from every -single rose on the paper and the chintz; and if I don't live to make her -proud of me I shall want to know why." - - - - -CHAPTER IV - -THE BUSY BEES. - - -"I'm afraid the head of the firm is very late this morning," cried -Constance, merrily, as she entered the candy kitchen. Mrs. Carruth had -long since given it the name of the Bee-hive. - -"I think the head of the firm has earned the right to arrive late if she -wishes to," answered Mary Willing, glancing backward over her shoulder -as she stood before the gas range. Her arms were bared to the elbows, -for the waist she wore was made with short sleeves, in order to give her -perfect freedom in her work. They were beautiful arms, strong, -well-rounded and smooth as ivory. - -"No, indeed, the head of the firm is a far cry from such indulgences, -let me tell you. She has just heaps and loads to accomplish before she -can arrive at such luxuries. But how goes the candy, Mary? Are you ready -for me yet?" - -"Not quite; but I shall be in just a few minutes. See, it is beginning -to rope," was the reply as the candy-maker lifted a spoonful of the -boiling syrup and let it run back into the kettle, the last drop falling -from the spoon quickly forming into little threads, which wavered in the -hot air rising from the range. - -"Better begin beating it now, and let me pop in the nuts; then we'll -pour it off," answered Constance, her practiced eye quick to see that -another moment's boiling might undo a morning's work. - -"Well, you're the boss! Oh, I beg your pardon, Miss Constance, I didn't -mean that! I mean you're--" and the girl paused in confusion, her face -coloring a deeper red than the heat and her work had brought there. - -"I'll make believe I didn't hear," answered Constance, a softer light -filling her eyes in place of the pained one which for a little instant -had crept into them, as a cloud can cast a momentary shadow upon a -wind-swept, shining October sea. - -"You have to make believe so many times," answered the girl, contritely, -as she lifted the kettle from the range, and placing it upon the marble -table, began to beat vigorously. - -"Not nearly so often as I used to," answered Constance, emptying into -the kettle a great dish of walnuts. Mary again beat vigorously with her -big spoon, shaking her head doubtfully the while. Constance did not look -at her, but, arming herself with a large knife, guided the candy into -the little grooves which would shape it as it was poured upon the table -from the tilted kettle. One end of the table had been blocked out like a -checkerboard, each inch square lined for cutting the candy accurately. - -"Now watch me do my stunt," she cried, standing with knife suspended -over the fast chilling candy, and smiling up at the tall girl at her -side. - -"Do you forgive my--my--oh, the things I'm forever saying that must feel -just like a file drawn over your teeth? If you only knew how hard it is -to forget old ways and words and learn the better ones!" - -"Do you see that little motto over there?" asked Constance, pointing -with her poised knife to a card, one of several hanging upon the wall of -the kitchen. The one toward which she pointed was in dark blue letters -upon a white ground. It read: "Forget It!" - -"Yes, that is just exactly what I am forever doing," was Mary's petulant -reply. "If I didn't forget all the time I'd never _have_ to forget at -all, and if that isn't the finest bit of Irish you've ever heard, please -improve on it if you can." - -The laughter which floated out through the open door greeted Mrs. -Carruth as she entered the packing room. - -"May I share the joke?" she asked. "I'm sure it must be a good one, and -rich as the odors floating out to tempt nose and palate. Cut it quickly, -Honey; I know it must be chilled enough and it does smell so good. Mary, -you are a master hand. M--mm--m! A veritable lump of delight, though still -slightly warm," she ended as Constance dropped into her mouth a square -of the nut fudge she had just cut from the great mass covering the -table. - -"Sit down, Mumsey, dear, and be good, consequently happy, while we work -like beavers. How does it chill so rapidly? Quick! Mary, you cut at that -end while I work at this. We've pounds and pounds to get done this -morning if we are to fill all the orders." - -For a few moments only the swift swish of the great knives as they cut -the candy could be heard, now and again one girl or the other catching -up a square upon the end of her knife and pausing just long enough to -offer it to Mrs. Carruth. Presently all was cut, and as it lay cooling -they set to work upon the next batch to be made, Mary cleaning the fudge -kettle while Constance got out another for the walnut creams. Each kind -of candy had its special cooking utensils, and no others were ever used -for it. In a few minutes Constance had a second batch of candy bubbling -upon her range, ready to turn over to Mary when she should have finished -washing the kettles and other articles used in making the fudge. - -"I came out to be useful; may I prove it?" asked Mrs. Carruth. - -"Just sit and watch us work. That helps," answered Mary, as she relieved -Constance. - -"Will you be just a heap happier if I let you help wrap the fudge in -paraffin paper?" asked Constance as she nestled her head for a moment in -her mother's neck. "Eh? Will you? You busy body. Why can't you let us do -all the work and so win all the glory? I suspect you're a terribly -selfish mother; yes, I do. You needn't protest. You won't even let your -girls, real own ones or adopted ones, make their sticky marks in this -world in peace. You must come poking out here to buzz around in the hive -and beg honey." - -"I don't have to beg, for it is voluntarily given," laughed Mrs. -Carruth, kissing the soft cheek so close to her lips. "This kind I mean, -and I know of none sweeter." - -"Gross flattery! Now I _know_ you are scheming, so 'fess right off," -cried Constance, whirling around to peer into her mother's face, and -break into a merry laugh. - -Mrs. Carruth pursed up her lips into a derisive pucker, and looked into -the merry eyes of this sunshiny daughter. - -"And if I am, what then?" she asked. - -"I knew it!" was the triumphant retort. "But I dare not waste time -bringing you to order now. Yes, you may help wrap. If anything will -wheedle you into being good, letting you get busy will," ended -Constance, turning to the table and deftly lifting the squares to the -flat pans upon which they were to be carried to the packing room. - -"Shoo along in there and get busy if you must, and while you are getting -sticky enough to satisfy even yourself, you will tell me what is -simmering. And mind, Mary can hear, too; so if it is too anarchistic she -will come to the rescue. Oh, you can't do as you used to. Whyfor do I -make candy by the pounds innumerable? Whyfor do I send it to tickle many -palates? Whyfor do I take in dollars galore? All, _all_ to keep you from -running off on some wild project whereby you shall earn as many more -dollars to my utter undoing, lost glory and disgrace appalling to -contemplate in a girl who has a tendency to grow fat--yes, fat!" - -As she rattled on with her nonsense Constance worked busily getting out -her paraffin paper, the necessary boxes and the dainty ribbons with -which to tie them. Then seating herself beside her mother, who was -already busy wrapping the fudge in its little squares of paraffin, she -began packing the candy in its boxes. - -"Now, what is it?" she asked, looking quizzically into the sweet, -lovable face. Mrs. Carruth laughed a low, little laugh as she asked: -"Why are you so sure that it is anything?" - -"I know the signs. They have periodical simmerings, sort of seismic -rumblings, so to speak," nodded Constance, working swiftly. - -"I feel such a drone in a busy hive--" began Mrs. Carruth, then -hesitated. - -"I knew it! Mary, it has bubbled to the surface again," Constance called -into the kitchen, where brisk footsteps testified to the occupant's -industry. - -"Shall I come to your rescue?" was the laughing question. - -"Not yet; I'm still able to handle her, though there is no telling how -soon she will get beyond me. I'll call you if I see signs," was called -back. "Now go on, you incorrigible woman, and tell your long-suffering -child what bee you have buzzing in your bonnet now. A brand new fall -bonnet, too! It's outrageous to so misuse it after all the trouble I've -been put to to induce you to indulge in it at all, and not sneak off to -Madame Elsie with a lot of old finery to be made over into a creation -warranted (by her) to deceive the keenest eye. Oh, I know your sly ways, -and have to lie awake nights to think how to thwart them. You sly, -wicked woman, to deprive me of my sorely needed rest and beauty sleep. -Why, I'm growing thin--" - -"Alas for consistency!" interrupted Mrs. Carruth, derisively. "A moment -ago you assured me you were growing fat. That scores me one, and -entitles me to have my little say-so and hold my own against this -conspiracy of--how many shall I say? Six. Yes, think of the outrageous -odds brought against one weak woman." - -"Weak! Weak! Why, it requires all the energy and shrewdness the combined -force can bring to bear upon her to keep her within bounds, doesn't it, -Mary?" - -"And we don't always do it then," was the bantering reply. - -"No, we do not," was the emphatic agreement. "Neither Mammy, Charles, -Eleanor, Jean, Hadyn, you, nor I can feel sure that we have settled her -vaulting ambitions at once and for all time. Is your candy ready for me -yet?--Don't need me? Very well, I'll keep at this job, then; it's a -co-operative job, and the hardest part of it is to hold down my rival. -There, those boxes are all packed, and now, Madame busy-body, I'm ready -to listen. No, you are not going to tie bows while you talk, it gives -you too great an advantage. Look right straight into my eyes, and while -you confess your desires to transgress you shall keep up a sub-conscious -train of thought along this line: 'This is my second daughter, Constance -Blairsdale Carruth. She is past nineteen years of age. She weighs one -hundred and eighteen pounds. She still possesses all her faculties -unimpaired. Is endowed (I hope!) with the average degree of intelligence -and common sense. She has never been ill a day in her life (whistle and -knock wood when you think that), and she is taking mighty good care of -the health she enjoys. She has been at work four years transmuting -syrups and sugars into dollars and cents, in which undertaking she has -met with rather amazing success, and is going to meet with even greater. -Her plan is to make one dear, blessed little mother quite independent, -and--please God--(these words were spoken in a mere whisper)--she will -compass it. Now, are you going to let her do all this quite untrammeled, -or are you going to worry her by suggesting all manner of wild plans for -doing things for yourself?" - -Constance had risen from her chair while speaking, and dropped upon her -knees before her mother to clasp her arms about her waist and look into -the face she loved best on earth. The girl's expression was half grave, -half merry, though wholly sweet and winning. - -Mrs. Carruth took the upraised face in both her hands, bent toward it, -rested her lips upon the soft, silky hair, and said gently: - -"Dear heart, dear heart; my dauntless little daughter. Yes, you _are_ -doing all and far more than you have said, and that is exactly the -reason I wish to contribute my share. Can't you see, dear, that I feel -such a dull, dull drone in this busy hive?" - -"Dull?--when you keep the hive in such running order that we never even -suspect where the machinery which runs it is located. Dull?--when you -keep our home as charming in every detail as it was when you had ample -means at your command to conduct it. Dull?--when you are here every -moment as its sweet and gracious head to make it such a home as few know -in this northern world, where homes for the most part mean simply a roof -to cover one, and under which food is served three times daily. Mother, -can't you see and feel what you are doing for us girls? How you are -surrounding us with an atmosphere so beautiful, so exceptional in these -days of hurry and bustle that its influence must bide with us all our -days and remain a dear memory all our lives? We may leave it sooner or -later, other duties may call us away, but nothing, nothing can ever -deprive us of all this--" Constance raised one arm to sweep it -comprehensively over the room in which they sat and all-embracingly -beyond. "So please let all rest as it is. Let Nonnie work away at -college, and later--" here a merry twinkle filled the girl's eyes--"let -her, well, let her take up the co-ed plan, if she likes. Things seem -shaping that way if the signs can be trusted. Let me boil a way to fame -and fortune. Let Jean--if Fate so decrees--though by the same token I've a -notion she won't, follow in Nonnie's footsteps. Alack! Jean's energies -do not point toward the campus of ---- college. I misdoubt," and Constance -smiled. Then, turning serious again, she resumed: "Will you promise me -something?" - -"Will you first listen to my little plan?" was her mother's counter -question. - -"Yes, I'll listen." - -"You know how I delight in fancy work, dear, and there is such a field -for embroidery and other kinds I do so well. The Woman's Exchange, you -know." - -"You may do all you want to--yards, pounds, dozens, heaps--however it is -described--but you must do it for _our_ home, not other people's. I'll -tell you what you may do, all against the coming climax, for it is -coming, you mark my words: You begin right now and make dozens of the -daintiest pieces of underwear imaginable--" - -"Oh, Constance!" cried Mrs. Carruth, reproachfully, the softest rose -creeping into her cheeks. - -"Can't help it!" protested Constance. "I know that co-ed plan will -develop. My heart! Do you think I'm blind as a bat? When a man bids a -girl good-bye at a railway station and helps her on board the -smoking-car instead of the Pullman, and neither of them knows the -difference--well. You just wait till spring, my lady. It is a case of 'I -smell a mouse, I feel him in the air,' etc., get busy, Mumsey, get busy. -The entire winter won't be too long, I tell you; for when that explosion -takes place it will be with a bang, you mark my words." - -"Connie, Connie, this is dreadful!" - -"May be," answered Constance, wagging her head dubiously; "but I'm -afraid we must resign ourselves to it. Mercy only knows how she will -come home at Thanksgiving. I believe he is to meet her. I'm prepared for -a box car or even a flat car. Yes, it is dreadful, you are quite right. -Wonder how it will affect me if I ever succumb? But take my advice, get -busy, Mumsey, and, dear, remember this--" Swiftly the tone changed from -the jesting one to the tenderest as the girl rested her head upon her -mother's shoulder: "You represent _home_ to us girls. Without you it -would be the harp without its strings, the organ without its pipes. It -would disintegrate. Keep it for us. Try to feel that you are doing far -more in our busy hive by just being our Queen Bee than you ever could by -going abroad in the land to gather the honey. Let _us_ do that, and -remember this--I read it not long ago and I'll never forget it:-- - - "'The beautiful gracious mother, - Wherever she places her chair, - In the kitchen (this one) or the parlor, - The center of home is there.' - -"Ready for me in there, Mary? Mother is perishing for occupation, and -I've scolded her as much as I dare," and, with a tender kiss upon her -mother's cheek, the girl ran swiftly into the next room. - - - - -CHAPTER V - -MAMMY MAKES INVESTIGATIONS. - - -"Bress de Lord, we ain't got ter run no counter on Thanksgiving Day!" -was Mammy's fervent exclamation, as she rose from her bed on the Monday -preceding Thanksgiving Day. Hurrying across the room she opened the -draughts in the little stove, for Charles' rheumatic twinges must not be -aggravated by the sudden chill of rising from a warm bed to dress in a -cold room. The fire had been carefully covered the night before, and -now, replenished by a few shovelfuls of coal, and a vigorous shake of -the revolving grate, was soon snapping and roaring right comfortably. -The rattling had served more than one end, as had the clatter made by -putting on the fresh fuel. Although Mammy had no idea of permitting her -spouse to contract a cold from dressing in a cold room, she, on the -other hand, saw no reason why he should indulge in over-many morning -winks after she, herself, had risen and begun the duties of the day. - -"Eh? Um, yas, Honey," came in somnolent tones from the billows of -feathers in which Charles' shiny bald pate, with its fringe of snowy -wool, was nearly buried. Mammy could not abide the new-fangled hair -mattresses, but clung tenaciously to her bygone ideas of "real downright -comfort fer a body dat's clar beat out when de day's done. No, sir-ee! -Don't talk ter me ob dese hyar ha'r mattresses. I ain't got a mite er -use fer 'em needer has Charles, _if I ses-so_. Give me de suah 'nough -fedders wid de down on 'em; none ob yo' hawse ha'r stuffed bags. De -fedders fits wherever dey teches, 'an snugs up mighty soft on de achy -spots, but dose highfalutin' h'ar mattresses,--well, dey jest lak dese -hyar Norf folks we meet up wid: ef yo' kin fit _dem_, well an' good, -yo's all right, but does yo' t'ink dey's gwine ter try fer ter fit yo'? -Go 'long, chile." - -Consequently the bed, which stood in the bedroom of the little cottage -in which Mammy and Charles lived, boasted a feather bed, the like of -which for downiness and size was rarely seen. It had been made by Mammy -herself of the downiest of feathers, plucked by her own hand from the -downiest of her own geese, hatched under her own critical eyes when she -was a young woman on her old master's plantation. It had taken many -geese, many days, much drying and curing to achieve such a triumph; and -the "baid" was Mammy's most cherished possession. The airings, sunnings, -beatings and renovatings to which it had been subjected during the years -she had owned it would have totally wrecked any less perfect article of -household economy; but it had survived all, and each morning, after its -prescribed hours of airing, was "spread up" into a most imposing mound, -covered with a "croshey" spread, made by the sanctified hands of "ol' -Miss" (Mrs. Carruth's mother), and still further adorned by "piller -shams," made by "Miss Jinny" herself. - -More than one of Mrs. Carruth's guests had been conducted through -Mammy's cottage by its proud inmate, and the "baid" and its coverings -displayed with justifiable pride. - -"Yas, wake up!" commanded Mammy, making her own toilet with despatch. -"We's got a pile o' wo'k ter do terday, an' I'se gotter see dat dose no -count nigger gals what's a-pertendin' ter do Miss Jinny's wo'k -now-a-days gits a move on 'em. Dey pesters me mightily, dough I ain't -let 'em 'spect it, I tells yo'. Ef I did dey'd jes nachelly climb right -ober de house an' ebery las' pusson in it. But I knows how ter han'le -'em ef Miss Jinny don't. She t'ink she gwine do it jes lak she useter -back yonder on her Pa's plantation, but it don' do up hyar. Trouble is -wid dese hyar Norf niggers dey ain' know dey _is_ niggers, and dey gits -mighty mix in dey minds twell somebody come along and tells 'em jest -'zackly what dey is, an' whar dey b'longs at. I done tol' dem two in -yonder, an' I reckon dey's learnt a heap since I done took 'em in han'. -Yas, I does. Dey don' come a-splurgin' an' a-splutterin' roun' me no mo' -wid dey, 'Dis hyar ain' ma juty. I ain' 'gaged fer ter do dat wuk.' My -Lawd! I come pretty nigh bustin' dat Lilly May's haid las' week when I -tell her ter do sumpin' an' she say dat ter me. She foun' out what her -juty was, an' she ain't fergit it again, I tell yo'. Now come 'long -down, Charles, I gwine have brekfus ready befo' yo' get yo' wool -breshed," and off hurried the old woman to begin the routine of her more -than busy day. - -The clock was striking five when Charles came slowly down the stairs and -entered the immaculate kitchen. The past three years have dealt kindly -with the old couple in spite of their incessant labors. Mammy has not -changed in the least. Charles is a trifle more bent, perhaps, but the -three years have certainly not detracted from the old man's appearance, -nor have they robbed him of any strength. Indeed, he seems in better -health and physical condition than upon the day he celebrated his golden -wedding. Mammy has made up for the lost years by caring for him as she -would have cared for a child. - -The business which they started in the Arcade has flourished and -prospered beyond their wildest hopes. Charles still holds the honorary -position of "Janitor-in-Chief" at the Arcade, a sinecure in every sense -of the word excepting one; he keeps the acting janitor up to the high -mark in the performance of _his_ duties, greatly to Mr. Porter's -amusement. He also keeps the dapper mulatto youth, who now serves at the -lunch counter headed due north. To that young man Charles is "Mr. -Devon," of the firm of "Blairsdale & Devon." - -At the cottage Mammy still cooks, bakes, preserves and concocts with all -her wonderful skill, assisted by a little colored girl, the eldest of -those whom Jean impressed upon Mammy's wedding day. - -Oh, Mammy is a most important personage these days. - -Breakfast over in the little cottage, and it was a breakfast fit for a -king, Mammy began issuing her orders like a general, and Charles lived -only to obey. - -"Now hike in dar an' git de furnace a-goin' good, an' den go 'long ter -de gre't house an' have it good an' warm befo' dem chillern wakes up. I -cyant have em' ketchin' cold, an' de mawnin's right snappy," she said, -as dish-towel in hand she looked out of her kitchen door at the -glistening world, for a heavy hoar frost covered lawn and foliage, -prophesying a storm before many days. - -"Here, put on yo' coat! What's de use ob my rubbin' yo' shoulder wid -linnimint ef yo' gwine right spang out dis here warm kitchen inter de -chill ob de mawnin' widout wroppin' up? Laws-a-massy, it tek mos' de -whole endurin' time ter keep you from doin' foolishnesses, I clar it -do." - -Charles chuckled delightedly. It was, on the whole, rather flattering to -be so cherished and looked after as he had been during the last three -years. Poor old soul, those he had spent alone had been barren enough of -care or comforts. - -"You needn't ter snort dat-a-way," protested his dominating wife. "I's -only jes' a-watchin' out fer my _own_ sake. I'se got a sight ter do -'sides nussin' rheumatics an' tekin' keer sick folks wid a misery in dey -backs." - -"Honey, yo's a wonder. Yas, yo' _is_," was Charles' parting rejoinder, -as he toddled off to the duties, which to him, as well as to Mammy, were -labors of love. Before many minutes had passed the little candy kitchen -was snug and warm for its mistress, and then the old man made his way to -the "gre't house," as he and Mammy, true to earlier customs, always -called the home which sheltered their white folks. Mammy had already -finished her own household tasks and met him at the door. Together they -entered the silent house, their key making not the slightest sound, lest -they disturb the sleeping inmates. The maids now in Mrs. Carruth's -service did not sleep in the house, but came at seven each morning, and -woe betide the tardy one! Mammy was always on hand, and her greeting was -governed by the moment of the said damsel's arrival. There were a few -duties, however, which Mammy would permit no other than herself to -perform. She must see that the breakfast table was properly laid, the -breakfast under way and the rooms dusted, aired and warmed before she -stole softly upstairs to call her "chillern." Then she turned all over -to her dusky satellites, and at once became grand high potentate and -autocrat. - -It was a few minutes past seven when she entered Mrs. Carruth's room -with a cheery "Mawnin', honey. 'Spose ef I lets yo' sleep any longer yo' -gwine give me sumpin' I ain't cravin' fer ter git. Cyant fer de life er -me see why yo' boun' ter git up dese mawnin's. Why won' yo' let me bring -up yo' tray, honey?" said the good old soul, moving softly about the -room, raising the window shades and turning on the valve of the -radiator. - -"Because I have all I can do as it is to keep you and the girls from -spoiling me completely," returned Mrs. Carruth, as she rose from her bed -and stepped into the adjoining bathroom, where Mammy already had her -bath prepared. - -"Well, it's de biggest job we-all ever is tackled," insisted the old -woman, as she placed a chair before the dressing table and took from the -closet the garments Mrs. Carruth would need for the day. Since sunnier -times had come to this home Mammy had fallen back into old habits. The -"chillern," as she called Eleanor, Constance and Jean, were called -before their mother was awakened, but "Miss Jinny" claimed her undivided -attention, and it would have nearly broken Mammy's loving old heart had -Mrs. Carruth denied her this privilege, so long made impossible by the -strenuous days and manifold duties following upon the misfortunes which -succeeded Mr. Carruth's death. - -The delight of Mammy's life was to assist at her "Miss Jinny's" toilet, -as she had done in her mistress' girlhood days--to brush and arrange the -still abundant hair, and to hand her a fresh handkerchief and say, as -she had said to the young girl years ago: - -"Gawd bless yo', honey! Yo' is as sweet as de roses dis mawnin'." - -When all was completed to her satisfaction, and Mrs. Carruth was about -to leave the room, Mammy remarked, with well-assumed indifference: - -"I 'spose dat Lilly done got Miss Nonnie's room all fix jes right, but I -reckons I better cas' ma eyes ober it; cyant trus' dese girls wid no -'sponserbility, nohow." - -"I think everything is in perfect order, Mammy, but I dare say you will -feel happier if you give those little touches which you alone can give. -Eleanor will recognize them and be happier because you gave them. It -will be a joy to us all to have her back again, won't it, although she -has not been away so very long after all." - -"No'm, she ain't. How long she gwine be wid us dis time?" - -"Not quite a week, Mammy. She will reach here this afternoon and must -leave us early Saturday; Thanksgiving holidays are short ones. We shall -have her longer at Christmas, then we will count the days till Easter, -and after that to June, when we will have her for a long, long holiday, -and college days will be ended." - -"M'm-u'm," nodded Mammy, drawing the coverings from the bed and laying -them carefully over chairs to air. "Spec she'll find dat trip down from -up yonder mighty tiresome. Trabblin' all alone is sort of frazzlin'." - -"She is hardly likely to travel alone. Mammy. So many of her college -mates will be journeying the same way, and even if they were not, she -will be pretty sure to meet Mr. Forbes; he was obliged to run up to -Springfield on Saturday and expects to return to-day. They may meet on -the same train." - -Mammy was looking out of the window. It would have made very little -difference had she been facing Mrs. Carruth. Her face was absolutely -inscrutable, as she answered: - -"'Spec dat would save Miss Nonnie a heap ob trouble. Yas'm, mebbe dey -will meet up wid one anoder." - -Mrs. Carruth went upon her way to the breakfast room. Mammy had learned -all she wished to know. - -At four o'clock that afternoon Miss Jean Carruth was perched upon her -point of vantage, from which every object approaching her home could be -descried. It was not a particularly easy point to reach, but that only -added to its attraction; nobody else was likely to choose it. Nearly -everyone sought the terrace, the piazza, or the upper windows in -preference to the stable roof, even though the stable roof boasted a -delightful assortment of gables and dormer windows, to say nothing of a -broad gutter, around which one could prance at the imminent risk of a -header to the ground, at least twelve feet below. In the golden haze of -that mellow November afternoon, for autumn lingered late this year, Jean -sat curled up in her corner, her chin resting in her palms, and her -wonderful eyes fixed upon the road leading up the hill to her home. It -was in reality more street than road, but was nearly always mentioned as -the "hill road," owing to its contrast to the broader highway from which -it branched and zig-zagged up the hill to the more sparsely settled -section of Riveredge. The watcher commanded all its length. Presently -the shining eyes lighted up with a queer, half-delighted, half-defiant -expression. Far down the road a vehicle was approaching; it was one of -the railroad station surreys, and in it were seated two people, besides -the driver: two people quite oblivious to all the rest of the world, if -one could judge by their absorbing interest in each other, for the keen -eyes watching them could discern this, even from their owner's distance -from the surrey. - -"Um." The utterance might be interpreted almost any way. Then, "_Now_, I -dare say, we've got to have him here all this evening, and all -to-morrow, and all the next day, and all every day; and I don't want him -around every single minute. My goodness, it was bad enough before Nonnie -left for ---- College; we never could get a single word in edgeways. I -wonder if he's going to board here? I used to like him when he just came -to see us all, but now he's tickled to death if everybody's engaged when -he shows up; _everybody but Nonnie_. I reckon I've got to take things in -hand. Nonnie's only twenty-one, and he's, he's? I do believe he's about -_forty-one_, though I never could get him to tell. But it doesn't make -any difference! He's too old for Nonnie, and I'm not going to let him -have her," was the emphatic conclusion to this monologue, as Jean -scrambled to her feet and gave a defiant nod toward the vehicle, which -had just drawn up in front of the carriage block. At that moment Mrs. -Carruth and Constance hurried down the steps to greet the new arrivals. -Evidently the welcome accorded the masculine member of the party aroused -a keen sense of resentment in Jean, and some manner of outlet for her -feelings became imperative. Physical exercise was her usual -safety-valve, and in this instance she chose one which had on former -occasions proved effective, and more than once brought Mammy to the -verge of nervous prostration, and the dire prophecy that "sooner or -later dat chile gwine brek her neck." As before stated, the gutter was -wide, it was also a stoutly constructed one of galvanized iron, but it -had _not_ been designed for a promenade, much less a running track for -athletic training. Nevertheless, it had to serve as one this time, for -Jean started running around it as though bent upon its destruction, or -her own. It came near proving her own, for just as Homer Forbes was -placing a couple of suit cases upon the piazza he chanced to catch sight -of the prancing demoiselle, and with a shout of: "Great Josephus! Are -you courting sudden death?" made a wild dash for the stable. - -With a defiant skip, Jean made for the other side at top speed, lost her -balance, slipped, and the next second was hanging suspended by her arms -between earth and sky. Had she not been lithe as a cat she never could -have saved herself. Forbes was nearly petrified. - -"Hang on! Confound it, what took you up there, anyway?" he cried, with -no little asperity, as the others hurried across the lawn to the trapeze -performer's rescue. - -"My feet took me up and my hands are keeping me here. Stand from under! -I'm going to drop." - -"Drop nothing!" was the very un-savant like retort. "You'll break both -your legs. Hold on till I can get up there," and the would-be rescuer -darted within the stable. - -How she managed it no one could quite grasp, but there was a flutter of -skirts, a swing, and Jean was in a little heap upon the soft turf. -Springing lightly to her feet and dusting the grass from her palms, she -said: - -"Hello, Nonnie! I got _him_ out of the way long enough to hug you -without having him watch how it's done. Reckon he'll learn soon enough -without me to teach him. Come on into the house, quick. He'll find out -that I'm not killed when he looks out of the window." - -If Mrs. Carruth seemed resigned, Constance quite convulsed and Eleanor -unduly rosy, Jean seemed oblivious of those facts. - - - - -CHAPTER VI - -THANKSGIVING. - - -With the happier outlook resulting from Constance's success in her -candy-making, it had been deemed advisable to send Jean to the private -school from which Eleanor had graduated. Consequently, that autumn Jean -had been enrolled among its pupils, and her place in the public school -at which she and Constance had been pupils knew her no more, and Jean -was much divided in her mind as to whether she was made happier or -otherwise by the change. In the old school were many friends whom she -loved dearly, and whom she missed out of her daily life. In the new one -was her boon companion, Amy Fletcher, and also a number of the girls -whom she constantly met in the homes of her mother's friends. But Jean -was a loyal little soul, and her interest in her fellow-beings a lively -one. She could hardly have been her mother's daughter otherwise. -Naturally in the public school were many children from the less -well-to-do families of Riveredge, and not a few from those in very -straitened circumstances. Among the latter were three girls very near -Jean's own age. They were sisters, and were ambitious to complete the -grammar school course, in order to fit themselves for some employment. -There were other children older and other children younger; in fact, -there seemed to be no end to the children in the Hodgeson family, a new -one arriving upon the scene with the punctuality of clockwork. This fact -had always disturbed Jean greatly. - -"If there only _would_ come an end to the Hodgesons," she lamented to -her mother. "The trouble is, we no sooner get settled down and think -we've reached the end than we have to begin all over again. Those babies -keep things terribly stirred up. Don't you think you could make Mrs. -Hodgeson understand that she could get on with fewer of them, Mother? -You see, the clothes never do hold out, and as for that last baby -carriage you managed to get for her, why, it's just a wreck already. The -other day, when I went by there on my way to the Irving School, I saw -Billy Hodgeson riding the newest and the next newest, and the _third_ -newest in it, and the third newest had a puppy in his arms. No carriage -could stand all that, could it?" - -"I'm afraid not, dear. Perhaps we had better ask some other friends if -they have a carriage they no longer need." - -"Oh, no, don't! Please, don't! If you do, Mrs. Hodgeson will think she's -got to get a brand new baby to put into it, for the old babies wouldn't -match, you know. No, please, don't." - -"Very well; we must let them get on with the old ones, both babies and -carriage, I see," Mrs. Carruth answered, much amused. - -"Yes, I really would; but here is something that's bothering me," and -Jean snuggled close into the encircling arms of the big chair in which -she and her mother sat for this twilight hour conference. - -"What are they going to do when Thanksgiving Day comes? No turkey on -earth would be big enough to go 'round, even if they could buy one, -which I don't believe they can. I was talking to Mrs. Hodgeson about it -just the other day, and she said she was afeered her man couldna buy one -nohow this year; they was so terrible intortionate in the prices," -concluded Jean, lapsing unconsciously into the slipshod Mrs. Hodgeson's -vernacular. - -"I think she must have meant extortionate," corrected Mrs. Carruth. - -"Perhaps she did; I don't know. But I'll bet five cents they won't have -a thing when the day comes around, and I think that's awful." - -"We are sending out a number of baskets from the church, and I have -asked that one be sent to the Hodgesons," was Mrs. Carruth's hopeful -reply. It was not welcomed as she anticipated. - -"That won't do a bit of good," answered Jean, with a dubious shake of -her copper-tinted head. "Not a _single bit_, for when Mrs. Hodgeson said -she reckoned they'd have to get along without a turkey I said right off -that I thought I could manage one all right, 'cause you could get one -sent to her. My, but she got mad! And she told me she guessed she could -get along without no charity turkey; that Hodgeson always _had_ managed -to fill up the young ones somehow, and if he couldn't do it on turkey -this year he could do it on salt pork. Ugh! Wouldn't that be awful? Why, -Mammy won't have salt pork near her except for seasoning use, as she -calls it. No, we've got to do something else for those everlasting -Hodgesons." - -Mrs. Carruth thought the term well applied, even though she did not say -so; they were everlasting. But she was hardly prepared for Jean's -solution of the problem with which she had seen fit to burden her -youthful shoulders. - -Mrs. Carruth's Thanksgiving guests were Hadyn Stuyvesant and Homer -Forbes. Her table was laid for six, and a pretty table it was, -suggestive in its decorations of the day. According to her Southern -traditions, the meal was ordered for two o'clock instead of the more -fashionable hour favored by her Northern friends. Her guests had -arrived, and Charles, the very personification of the old family -servitor, had just announced with all the elegance and mannerism of -which he was capable: - -"De Madam is sarved." - -Upon this day Mammy had taken affairs strictly into her own hands. No -one except herself should prepare her Miss Jinny's Thanksgiving dinner. -The other servants might assist Charles in serving it, but the actual -preparation and cooking must be done by her own faithful hands. -Consequently all the marketing for this occasion had been personally -looked to by Mammy and Charles. In their chariot of state, drawn by -Baltie, they had driven to South Riveredge, selected every article, and -carried it home in their own baskets. Once that lordly turkey had been -scientifically poked and pinched by her and met with approval, she was -not going to let it out of her sight "an' have no secon'-rater sont up -to de house instid." Mammy had small faith in Northern tradesmen. So to -her cabin all had been sent, there to be prepared and cooked by her on -"de fines' range in de worl'!" as she confidently believed her own to -be, and truly it was a wondrous feast which now stood ready for Charles' -serving, the two maids to dart like shuttles between Mammy's cabin and -the great house. - -It was Hadyn Stuyvesant who with graceful bow offered his arm to Mrs. -Carruth, while Homer Forbes turned to the two girls. As she rose to -accept Hadyn's arm Mrs. Carruth paused a moment, doubt and indecision in -her eyes, and asked: - -"Where is Jean?" - -"She left the room just a short time ago, mother. Shall I call her?" -asked Constance. - -"Yes, do, dear. We will wait just a moment for you." - -Constance left the room, to return in two minutes with consternation -written upon her face. - -"Where is she and what--?" asked Mrs. Carruth, resignation to any -possibility descending upon her. - -"She has just come in, mother, and--and--" the words ended in a laugh as -Constance collapsed upon a chair. - -"What is it, Connie?" demanded Eleanor. "What has Jean done now?" - -"Where's my little sister?" asked Hadyn. "You can't make me believe she -has broken all the laws of the Medes and Persians." - -"No, not those old fogies, but, oh, dear, what do you suppose she has -done?--invited, sans ceremony, Victoria Regina, Mary Stuart, and Adelaide -Elizabeth Hodgeson to dine with her!" - -"Constance! Never!" cried Mrs. Carruth. - -"She has. They are up in her room this very minute putting the finishing -touches to their very unique toilets." - -"Go get 'em. Fetch 'em on. We'll entertain 'em right royally! I know -that National bird is a bouncer, and big enough to feed a dozen -Hodgesons as well as all present," was Hadyn's laughing command. - -"Oh, Hadyn, we can't," protested Eleanor, whose dignity and sense of -propriety were continually receiving slight jars from this friend of the -household. - -"Why not? It will be the experience of their lives--an education by -practical illustration of manners polite. How can you hesitate, Eleanor? -I thought you were a strong advocate of settlement work, and here you -are overlooking an opportunity sent to your very door. Who was it I -heard talking about 'neglected opportunities' not long since? A most -edifying dissertation, if I recollect aright, too." - -"I second the motion. Such a zest to a meal may never again be offered. -Yes, Mrs. Carruth, you've got it to do. It is clearly a duty brought to -your door," added Homer Forbes. "Moreover, it will give me a wonderful -opportunity to pursue my psychological studies. Didn't know I was -knee-deep in them, did you, Eleanor? Fact, however. Human emotions as -the direct result of unsuspected mental suggestion, etc. Bring on your -subjects, Constance." - -"I give in. Do as you've a mind to, you incorrigible children, only bear -this in mind--you are _not_ to tease those girls and make them miserable. -Jean has made one wild break, but there shall be no more if I can -prevent it. Since she has brought them here, and you _will_ dine with -them, so be it; but you are not to tease them, you madcap men," was Mrs. -Carruth's final dictum. - -"Not a tease, not a smile out of order," agreed Hadyn, though his -twinkling eyes half belied his words. - -"You just watch us entertain 'em," insisted Homer. - -"I'll watch, you may be sure of that," laughed Mrs. Carruth. "Now fly, -Connie, and summon our unexpected guests." - -We will pass over the oysters, which were disposed of as never before -oysters had been, and the soup, which disappeared audibly. That dinner -was a genuine Southern one, and no item was lacking. At length arrived -the critical moment when the bird of national fame should have appeared, -but--didn't. There was a long, ominous delay. Charles bustled and fussed -about, one eye upon his mistress, the other upon the pantry. No one -noticed that Jean's conversational powers, never mediocre, were now -phenomenal. She talked incessantly and as rapidly as a talking machine, -albeit her listeners seemed to offer small encouragement for such a -ceaseless flow of language. They sat with their eyes fastened to their -plates--plates which would require very little scraping before washing. -To and from pantry and dining room vibrated Charles. The vegetables, -relishes, jellies--in short, everything to be served with the turkey--was -placed in tempting array upon the sideboard; but still no sign of the -festive bird itself, and Charles' perturbation was increasing by the -second. As on many another occasion it was Mammy who supplied the -climax. At this crucial moment she appeared in the doorway of the -pantry, her eyes blazing, her face a thundercloud, as she stammered: - -"Miss Jin-n-n-ninny! M-m-iss Jinny! Please, ma'am, fergive me fer -'trudin' in 'pon yo' when yo' is entertainin'; but 'tain't lak dey was -strangers, dey's all ob de family, so to speak, ma'am" (Mammy was too -excited to notice that the cheeks of two individuals seated at that -board had turned a rosy, rosy pink), "an' I jes' natchelly _got_ to -speak ma min' or bus'--" - -"Why, Mammy, what has happened?" interrupted Mrs. Carruth, quite aware -that Mammy managed to find mares' nests when others were unable to do -so, but surprised by this one, nevertheless. Mammy did not often -overstep the lines set by convention; but on this occasion she certainly -seemed tottery. - -"De bird! De tuckey! It's gone! It's done been stole right out ob ma -wamin oven yonder. I done had it all cook to a tu'n, an' set up in ma -oven fer ter keep it jes' ter de true livin' p'int ob sarvin', an den I -run inter Miss Connie's kitchen fer ter git some ob dem little frilly -papers I need fer its laigs, an--an' it mus' 'a' been stole whilst I was -in dar, er else de very debbil hisself done fly away wid it right from -unner ma nose, kase I ain't been outer dat kitchen one single minnit -since--not one!" emphasized Mammy, with a wag of her turbaned head, her -talking machine running down simply because her breath had given out. - -If poor Mammy had needed anything to further outrage her feelings and -put a climax to her very real distress, the roar which at that instant -arose from two masculine throats would have been more than enough; but -when Homer Forbes turned a reproachful face toward her and asked, "Mammy -Blairsdale, do you mean to tell me that our goose--" - -"No, sah! No, sah! de _tuckey_!" corrected Mammy instantly. - -"Well, then, our turkey is cooked--" - -"Cooked! Cooked! Ef it was only de _cookin'_ dat pestered me I wouldn't -be pestered," was Mammy's Hibernian reply. "It's done been _stole_, sah! -Clean, cl'ar stole out ob ma kitchen." - -"Let's go find the thief, Forbes!" cried Hadyn, casting his napkin upon -the table and springing to his feet. "Come on. Mammy, whom do you -suspect? Which way shall we run? What must we do with him when we -overhaul him?" - -"Oh, yo' jes' a-projeckin, I knows dat all right, but I tells you dat -bird ain' got no ekal in dis town. I done supervise his p'ints masef, -an' he's de best to be had. If yo' wants to know who I thinks is got -him, I thinks it's a man what done stop at ma door when I was a-stuffin' -dat tucky early dis mawnin'. He was a tromp, an' he ax me fer somethin' -ter eat. I ain't ginnerly got no use fer tromps, but dis hyer was de -Thanksgivin' mawnin', an' seem lak I couldn't turn him away hungry." - -"We'll find him! Come on, Forbes! Where's that stout walking-stick, Mrs. -Carruth? Bring along the wheelbarrow for the remains, Charles--of the -turkey, I mean." - -Haydn was making for the door, Forbes hard upon his heels, when Jean -darted to her mother's side to draw her head toward her and whisper -something into the listening ear. Jean's guests sat like graven images. -Constance and Eleanor were ready to shriek at the absurdity of the -situation. - -"Hadyn, Homer, come back! Mammy, send in the quail pie and all the other -good things you've prepared; we shall not starve. Ladies and gentlemen, -circumstances render explanations somewhat embarrassing at this moment. -Don't be distressed, Mammy. On with the feast, Charles. - -"Why? what? where? who?" were the words which rattled about Mrs. -Carruth's ears. - -Mammy gave one glance at Jean, who had returned to her seat. She had not -been in this family sixty-eight years without arrogating a few -prerogatives. Then, but for Mrs. Carruth's upraised hand, Etna would -have broken forth. But Jean knew her hour of reckoning would come later. -Her conversational powers seemed to have suffered a reaction. Her chair -was next Hadyn's. As he returned to his place he bent low, slipped his -arm about the subdued little figure, and asked in a tone which it would -have been hard to resist: - -"Little Sister, what did you do with that turkey?" - -"Rolled it in a big towel, put it in a basket, and carried it to the -Hodgesons' with mother's Thanksgiving compliments, when I went after the -girls. They wouldn't eat a _charity_ turkey, but a compliment turkey was -different," was whispered back in a voice suspiciously charged with -tears. - -"I call you a trump!" Then in a lower tone he turned to Constance, who -sat at the other side, and said: "Who gives himself with his gift, -serves three." - - - - -CHAPTER VII - -EXPANSION. - - -The short Thanksgiving holiday ended, Eleanor returned to college and -Jean to school, found Constance busier than ever in her kitchen, for the -holiday season was her hardest time, and this year promised to be an -exceptional one. An extra supply of candy must be made for the booth in -the Arcade, as well as for those who sold her candies on commission in -other towns. Then, too, an unusual number of private orders had already -come in. These all meant incessant work for Constance and Mary Willing. - -The first week in December she entered the kitchen where Mary was just -cutting into squares great masses of chocolate caramels. She had been -hard at work all the morning, and her face was flushed from her -exertions. - -"Oh, I'm afraid you are nearly done up," cried Constance, contritely. -"You have been working so hard ever since eight o'clock, and it is now -past eleven. I am so sorry to leave all this work to you while I do the -easy part." - -"Do you call it easy work to write about two dozen letters, keep track -of all the orders which are pouring in now, and run accounts -straight?--to say nothing of ordering our supplies. _I_ don't, and I'm -thanking my lucky stars that I can do _my_ share of the work with a big -spoon instead of a pen," was Mary's cheerful reply, as she raised her -arm to push back from her forehead an unruly lock of hair which fell -across her eyes. - -"Let me," said Constance quickly, lifting the soft strand into place. -"You are all sticky, and when one's hands are sticky that is the time -for hair to grow rampant and one's nose to itch! I've been there too -many times myself not to know all about it, I tell you. But that isn't -what I came downstairs to say! Do you know that this pile of letters has -set me thinking, Mary? If things go on at this rate you and I can never -in the world handle the business. Why, it has taken me the whole morning -to look after the letters and acknowledge the orders which came by the -early mail. I haven't been able to do one single stroke in here, and now -I have got to go down to South Riveredge. Charles told Mammy that we -ought to have more space there for our goods, and he wished I would see -Mr. Porter about it at once. He thinks we ought to rent one of the other -spaces for the Christmas season, anyway, and have someone there to -attend to it. What do you think? And do you know of someone we could -get? You see Christmas is only three weeks off, and whatever we do we've -got to do at once." - -As Constance talked she wielded a big knife and helped briskly. Mary did -not answer at once; her pretty forehead wore a perplexed pucker. At -length she said: - -"I know a girl who could take charge of it I think, although I don't -know whether you'd like her or not." - -Constance smiled as she answered: "Suppose you tell me who she is, then -maybe I can tell you whether I like her or not." - -"It's Kitty Sniffins. We used to go to school together." - -"I don't know her at all, so I'm a poor judge of her qualifications, am -I not? But if you think she is the sort of girl we would like to have -there, I am sure she needs no other recommendation, Mary. What is her -address?" - -"Her brother is an insurance agent down on State Street. You might see -him. They moved not long ago, and I don't know where they live now." - -"Oh----," exclaimed Constance, light beginning to dawn upon her. She had -not heard the name Sniffins since the year in which she began her -candy-making, as the result of the burning of their home, and the name -had not figured very pleasantly in the experience of that October, or -the months which followed. Still, the sister might prove very unlike the -brother, and just now time was precious. If she was to act upon Charles' -suggestion she must act immediately. - -"I think I'll drop her a note in care of her brother; I don't like to go -to his office. She can call here," said Constance. - -Mary glanced up quickly to ask: - -"Is there any reason, Miss Constance, why you would prefer someone -else?" for something in Constance's tone made her surmise that for some -reason which she failed to comprehend Kitty Sniffins did not meet with -her young employer's approval. - -"If I have one it is too silly to put into words," laughed Constance, -"so I will not let it influence me. I dare say Kitty Sniffins is a right -nice girl and will sell enough candy to make me open my eyes. At all -events, I'll have a pow-wow with her. But before she can sell candy or -anything else she must have a place to sell it in, and it's up to me to -scuttle off to the Arcade as fast as I can go. And, by the way, you've -got to have more help here, Mary. Yes, you _have_. You need not shake -your head. As matters are shaping I shall have to give every moment of -my time to the business of this great and glorious enterprise. Now whom -shall I get? What is Fanny doing this fall? She left school in the -spring, didn't she?" - -"Yes. She is helping mother sew, but----" and an eager light sprang into -Mary's eyes. Fanny Willing was a younger sister, a rather delicate girl, -who was growing more delicate from the hours spent at work in the close -rooms of her home, and running a heavy, old-fashioned sewing machine. -She was a plain, quiet little thing, very unlike her striking-looking -older sister, and as such had not found favor in her mother's eyes. In -her younger days Mrs. Willing had boasted a certain style of beauty, and -with it had contrived to win a husband whom she felt would elevate her -to a higher social plane, but her hopes had never been realized. -Probably every family has a black sheep; Jim Willing had figured as that -unenviable figure in his. It was the old story of the son born after his -parents had been married a number of years, and several older sisters -were waiting to spoil him; plenty of money to fling about, a wild -college career of two years, marriage with a pretty housemaid -and--disinheritance. It had required only twenty-three years to bring it -all to pass, and the next twenty-three completed the evil. At forty-six -Jim Willing looked like a man of fifty-six--so can dissipation and moral -degeneration set their seal upon their victims. Gentle blood? What had -it done for him? Very little, because he had permitted it to become -hopelessly contaminated. And his children?--they were working out the -problem of heredity; paying the penalties of an earlier generation; -demonstrating the commandment which says, "unto the third and fourth -generation." A cruel, relentless one, but not to be lightly broken. - -In Mary was one illustration of it; Fanny another. Each was to "drie her -weird," as the Scotch say. - -"Do you think your mother can spare her?" - -"I'm sure she can. The fact is, Fanny has been trying to get some work -in one of the shops in South Riveredge. Sewing doesn't agree with her, -somehow; she seems to grow thinner every day; she ain't--_isn't_, I -mean--very strong, you see." - -"Will you send word to her, Mary? I think this sort of work will be -better for her than the sewing, and we'll talk about the salary when she -comes over." - -"She'll be a mighty lucky girl just to _get_ here, salary or _no_ -salary!" was Mary's positive reply. "If you don't mind I'll run down -home this afternoon and tell her to come early to-morrow morning. I'll -have all this batch made, and the rest can wait until the morning; we've -got a good lot ahead already." Mary's eagerness manifested itself in her -every action, and Constance nodded a cheerful approval as she laid down -her big knife and turned to leave the kitchen. - -"Go ahead, partner, but I must be off now." - -"So the business is expanding?" exclaimed Mr. Porter, heartily, when -Constance had explained to him her wish to rent an arch for her -Christmas trade. "Good! I knew it would. Couldn't possibly help it with -such candy as that to back it up. But mind, you are not to forget my -Christmas order in all your bustle and hurry for other people. Twenty -pounds----" - -"What!" cried Constance, aghast at the recklessness of her oldest -customer. - -"Now, that will do, young lady. Will you please answer me this! Why must -I always be looked upon as a mild sort of lunatic when I give you an -order? 'Twas ever thus! Why, you hooted my first order, and you have -kept on hooting every single one since. I wonder I haven't transferred -my patronage long since. Trouble is you realize where you have me -cornered. You know I can't duplicate those candies anywhere. Now come -along with me and let us arrange for the new quarters which are to -replace the outgrown ones, and--mark my word--this business will never -again contract to the old space. This is where my business acumen shows -itself. Once I've got you into the bigger stand, and the rent into my -coffers, I mean to keep you there, even if I have to get out and drum up -the extra trade to meet the extra outlay. Co-operation." - -Constance was too accustomed to this good friend's nonsense to see -anything but the deepest interest for her welfare underlying it. She -knew that, with all his seeming badinage, he was looking further ahead -than she, with her still limited experience, even after four years in -her little business world, could look, for her's, while exceptional for -her years and sex, could never match that of this man of the great, -active business world. But if Mr. Porter was far-seeing in some -directions, in others he was short-sighted, and his range of vision was -to be broadened by one who dwelt in a far humbler walk of life--Mammy -Blairsdale. - -Upon this particular morning Mammy had elected to drive in state to -South Riveredge, ostensibly to cast a critical eye over the -Blairsdale-Devon Lunch Counter, but in reality to convey to it a very -special dainty for her pet customer--Hadyn Stuyvesant. - -In addition to a few hundred other side issues to her business, Mammy -had raised poultry during the previous summer, and, curiously enough, to -every chick hatched out, there had pecked themselves into the world -about four roosters, until poor Mammy began to believe her setting eggs -must have had a spell cast upon them. As the summer advanced such an -array of lordly, strutting, squawking young cocks never dominated a -poultry yard, and the sequel was inevitable. When they arrived at the -_crowing age_ the neighbors arose in revolt! Such a vociferous, -discordant collection of birds had never fought and crowed themselves -into public notice. Mammy became almost distracted, and was at her wits' -end until a diplomatic move struck her: those roosters should win not -only fame for themselves, but for their owner also; and not long -afterward first one neighbor then another was mollified and highly -flattered to receive a fine daintily broiled, fried, or roasted young -bird, cooked as only Mammy knew how to cook a fowl, garnished as only -Mammy knew how to garnish, and accompanied by a respectful note, _not_ -written by Mammy, but by Jean, somewhat in this strain: - -"Will Mrs. ---- please accept this dish with the most respectful -compliments of Mammy Blairsdale, who _hopes_ this noisy rooster will -never disturb her any more?" - -Oh, "sop to Cerberus!" Could diplomacy go further? - -It was one of the most vociferous of her flock which now lay upon his -lordly back, his legs pathetically turned to the skies, his fighting and -his squaking days ended forever, that reposed in Mammy's warming can, to -be transferred to Charles' warming oven, there to await Hadyn's arrival. - -As Constance and Mr. Porter drew near the lunch counter, Mammy was -giving very explicit directions to Charles. Constance and Mr. Porter -were too occupied to be aware of her presence; not she of theirs, -however. - -Mr. Porter conducted Constance to the arch next but one to that in which -the lunch counter stood, only separated from it by the cigar stand. - -"Now here is a space which you can have as well as not, and it is close -enough to Charles for him to cast an eye over it from time to time." - -"And may I rent it for one month?" asked Constance. - -"Better rent it for one year," urged Mr. Porter. "It's in a mighty good -location." - -"And _I_ call it a mighty _po'_ location," broke in an emphatic voice. -"A _mighty_ po' one, and no kynd ob a place fo' one ob ma chillen fer to -be at. _Gobblin_ men-folks hyar at de lunch stan'; _smokin'_ men-folks -at de nex' one; an' we kin bress Gawd ef we don't fin' oursefs wid -_guzzlin_ men-folks on yonder at de tother side befo' long." - -"Now, now! Hold on, Mammy! Go slow," broke in Mr. Porter, laughingly. -"You know the Arcade doesn't stand for _that_ sort of thing. Don't hit -us so hard." - -"How I gwine know what it boun' ter stan' fer if _it_ lak ter stan' fer -lettin' dat chile rint a counter nex' door to a segar stan'?" snapped -Mammy, her eyes fixed upon the luckless superintendent, personifying the -strongly emphasized _it_. - -"Well, it's lucky we found you here. Now, we never took _that_ side of -the question into consideration, did we, little girl? Yes, I guess -Mammy's judgment beats ours. Great head! So come on, Mammy, and let us -have your sound advice in this choice of bigger quarters for Miss -Constance. You see, _I_ predict that she will never return to the -smaller ones again." - -"Don't need no gre't secon'-sight fer ter make _dat_ out, I reckon," was -the superior retort. - -Mr. Porter looked crushed and then dropped behind Mammy, who went -sailing majestically down the Arcade, to stop at the very first and most -pretentious of all the Arches--one which had been rented until very -recently by a stationer, who had profited so handsomely that he had -built a large shop not far from the Arcade, and now wished to sub-let -this arch until his lease expired. Next to it was a florist's stand, and -opposite a stationer's, each of a very high order. Constance stood -aghast at Mammy's audacity. - -"Why, Mammy, this is the highest-priced arch in the Arcade," she -exclaimed. - -"Well, what _dat_ got ter do wid it, Baby? Ain't your candy _de -highest-priced candy_? _An' ain' you de very high-water mark quality?_ -Who gwine ter 'spute dat? Go 'long an' rint yo' place; yo' all matches -p'intedly," and with this speech Mammy stalked back to her own quarters. - -Constance gave one look at Mr. Porter, then sank upon one of the little -benches within the arch. - -"By George, she's right and I'm a blockhead! Think I'd better turn over -my job to her and go down into the engine-room until I learn to read -human nature as _she_ can. Yes, it is the finest, highest-priced arch in -the building, but it didn't take that old black woman five seconds to -discover the match for it." - -"But, Mr. Porter," protested Constance, "of all the extravagant steps, -and for Mammy, above all others, to urge it. That conservative creature! -And the way she expressed it! _Why_ was I born a Blairsdale? It will -shorten my years, I know, to have to live up to the name," and Constance -broke into a merry laugh. - -"Perhaps the burden will be lifted before long, and such a calamity to -your friends averted," answered Mr. Porter, soberly, but with twinkling -eyes. The one o'clock whistle had just blown in a building hard by, and -the Arcade's elevator was beginning to bring down the people from the -floors above. Among them was Hadyn Stuyvesant, who went at once to the -luncheon counter, quite unaware of the presence of a certain little lady -near the entrance of the Arcade; but her back was toward the elevator. -For one second she glanced at Mr. Porter entirely innocent of the -purport of his words. Then, catching sight of the mischievous eyes -twinkling at her, she rose suddenly to her feet, saying: "Come at once -and let me learn what this rash step will cost me." - -With a low laugh Mr. Porter strode toward his office beside a very -rosy-cheeked young girl. - - - - -CHAPTER VIII - -VAULTING AMBITIONS. - - -In the course of a few days Constance's new quarters in the Arcade were -in operation, for Mr. Porter lost no time in fitting up Arch Number One. -The little booth beneath the stairs was dismantled to furnish forth the -new one. Down at the kitchen Mary and her sister Fanny, who had come to -assist in the work, were doing their best to keep abreast of the orders -pouring in with each mail, while Mrs. Carruth, her ambitions at length -achieved, was attending to the correspondence, since Constance's time -must for a little while be given to the new booth. She had not received -a reply to her letter to Kitty Sniffins, and for the time being was too -occupied with the demands of the new booth to take further steps in the -matter. Indeed, she had about made up her mind to look for someone else, -once order was brought out of the confusion of moving and settling, for -some indefinable instinct caused her to feel an aversion to engaging -Kitty Sniffins. Had she been asked to state why, she would have found it -difficult to put her objection into actual words, and more than once she -reproached herself for entertaining it at all. Nevertheless, she could -not free herself from it, but was too busy just then to dwell upon it. -In the course of a few days everything would be settled and in running -order; and meanwhile she, herself, would go to the Arcade each day -where, with Charles as her Majordomo, body-guard and faithful friend, -she was a veritable queen of her little realm, and woe betide the -individual so reckless as to forget that he or she was in the presence -of a Blairsdale. - -The pretty Arch had been in perfect running order for one week when -Constance began to cast about for someone to take her place, since -neither she herself, nor her family felt content to have her make the -journey to and from South Riveredge each day, or to spend her time at -the Arch. On the previous Saturday she had put a carefully-worded -advertisement in the _Riveredge Times_, the answers to be sent to Arch -No. 1, Arcade Building; and upon her arrival at her Arch on this Monday -morning she found dozens of letters from girls, and even men, asking -employment. She was reading one of the letters when a shadow fell across -the page, and raising her eyes she saw a young man standing at the -counter. Thinking he had come to purchase a box of candy, she rose from -her chair and stood waiting for him to make his wants known to her. -Instead of doing so, he raised his hat, and with a most impressive bend -of his long, loosely-hung figure, and a smile which irritated her by its -self-complacency, said: - -"How are you, Miss Carruth? You're sure putting up a big show here, -ain't you?" - -"What can I do for you?" asked Constance, with quiet dignity. - -"Guess you can't do nothing for _me_, but maybe I can do something for -_you_. Candy ain't in my line. Never spent none o' my solid cash for the -stuff, but I'm glad other people do; plenty of fools in this world to -help wise folks get rich, ain't there?" - -"Will you please state your business?" and Constance took up another -letter as a hint to her unwelcome visitor that her time, if not his, was -of some value. - -"Got a pile o' answers, ain't you? That's just what I thought, and it's -just what brought me down here this early. This letter come for Kitty in -my care 'most a week ago, but she's down in the city doin' somethin' or -'nother; don't 'mount to much, I guess, though. I knew she hadn't no -friends up yonder in swell Riveredge, and when I saw your ad. in the -_Riveredge Times_ it didn't take me no time to put two and two together. -Oh, I'm fly, I am! I knowed--_knew_--the postmark meant something about -that candy kitchen, 'cause Mary Willing and Kit used to be school pals, -and I guessed you was a-lookin' for more help, and I don't often guess -wrong, neither. I sent a telegraph to Kit to come on home this mornin' -to see you, but I weren't goin' to take any chances, so I come right up -to clench the job for her." - -"Then I assume that you are Miss Sniffins' brother. May I ask why you -felt so sure that the letter sent to your care was from me, or had -anything to do with my need of more help in this business?" - -The smile and wink which prefaced his reply nearly proved the last -straw. Quietly reaching below the counter, Constance pressed an electric -button. She had been wise beyond her years when she had this connection -made between her Arch and Charles' counter. Sniffins did not notice the -motion. - -"Well, you see, I'm boss in my own house and run the wimmin-folks. When -I suspicioned what the letter was, I just took French leave, so to -speak, and opened and read it----" - -"What!" The indignation in Constance's tone was a trifle disconcerting -even to the thick-skinned Sniffins, and he had the grace to color -slightly. But it was only momentary. He rarely forgot Sniffins. - -"Oh, that's all O. K. All in the family, you see. Kit won't dare kick; -she ain't the kickin' kind--not with _me_, anyhow. She knows too well -which side her bread's buttered to kick. _I'm_ the head of things down -yonder in our house, and as long as I can earn the pile and put up the -cash for 'em Ma and Kit can toe the mark. But I don't see no reason why -they shouldn't add some to the pile. We ain't, so-to-speak, _rich_ yet, -but we ain't _poor_; oh, no-siree, we ain't poor. That savings bank next -door knows we ain't poor no more, and it knows we're goin' to be----" - -"Yes, Charles, I need you," interrupted Constance, for unobserved by her -visitor old Charles had drawn near, and now stood just behind Sniffins, -and had heard a good portion of his senseless boasting. - -"Yas, Mist'ess, I's right hyer fer ter sarve yo'." - -Sniffins turned quickly. - -"Hello, old stager, where did you come from?" - -Charles paid no more attention to him than he would have paid to a stray -dog--not as much. - -"Will you please remain at the counter a few moments, Charles. When your -sister returns she may call here to see me, Mr. Sniffins. Good-morning." -And without another glance at the man Constance walked quickly away from -the counter, and down to the 'phone booth, where she called a number. -Sniffins' eyes followed her. When she disappeared he turned to Charles -and, with an unpleasant sneer, remarked: "Workin' for her livin' an' -tryin' ter play the big-bug, too, ain't she?" - -"Does yo' wish fer ter purchase some of dis hyer candy, sah?" asked -Charles, icily. - -"No, I don't, an' if I did I ain't takin' it from niggers." - -"No, sah, I don' reckon yo' is, kase--Mor'in', Massa Po'tah, I'se right -glad fer ter see a _gemmen_, sah. Dey's mighty skurse sometimes. How kin -I sarve yo', sah?" - -"Morning, Charles. Where is my little girl this morning? Gone to the -telephone booth? Be back pretty quick, won't she? I want to speak to her -a moment." - -"She'll return, sah, when de air's better fer her ter breve; it got sort -o' foul-like, an' if you'se no objections I'se gwine raise de winder -jist a trifle." - -"Do, by all means. Must keep the air pure and sweet for that little -lady." - -"Yas, sir: Yas, sir: Dat's percis'ly what I's amin' ter do. _Dat's_ why -I'se always on han'." - -"Good! We'll watch out for her, won't we? Hello, Sniffins. How about -that big deal you were going to put through for me? I haven't heard much -about it lately." - -"Oh, you'll hear from that all right, all right. Trouble is you expect a -man to do in two weeks somethin' most men needs two months to do." - -"Well if _you_ take two months to settle that matter for me, the other -fellow, _who can_ do it in two weeks, will win out, you mark my word. So -you'd better not take time to buy candy at ten A. M. on Monday -mornings," for in some way Mr. Porter had gathered from Charles the true -situation, and had given this broad hint. Sniffins was not given to -taking hints, but he dared not go counter to Mr. Porter's implied wish -that he leave the Candy Arch. Still, he was bound to have his last shot, -and, with what he intended to be a telling glance, he said: - -"You tell Miss Carruth that my sister will take that position, and I'll -call 'round later to arrange about her salary." - -"It will not be necessary for you to do so, Mr. Sniffins; I have just -'phoned to someone else." Constance had returned so quietly that no one -was aware of her approach. - -"How do you do, Mr. Porter? I am glad to see you. What can I do for you? -Come into my sanctum." - -She led the way to the rear of the Arch, where a little inclosure held -her desk and two chairs. Sniffins turned to leave the Arch. At the -entrance he came face to face with Hadyn Stuyvesant. The look which -accompanied the nod Sniffins gave him was not pleasant. Hadyn did not -know him at all, and looked at him in surprise, believing him to have -mistaken him for someone else. But Sniffins knew Hadyn. - -"So _he's_ on there, too, is he? Guess he can see through a millstone -most as far as other folks can. If that girl keeps on she's goin' to be -rich, _rich_. That business has growed--ah, grown--like a--a--well, it's -_grown_. 'For' long she's goin' to have a big thing in it. Wake up, -Sniffins, my boy. You're got as good a chance as any other fellow, an' -you're no sloach on looks, neither. Get busy and spruce up more'n ever. -Buy some new clothes, old man; you'll find 'em a good investment, I tell -you. Get Kit down there _somehow_; that's your best wedge for gettin' -into the swell set up yonder. Kit's half-way good-lookin', and ain't got -the spunk of a mouse to do any way except the way _I_ tell her." - -By the time this monologue came to an end Sniffins had turned into his -office on State Street, and there found his sister awaiting him. She had -returned to South Riveredge nearly frightened to death by his telegram. - -"Ah, cut it out! What's the use whooping things up for nothing?" was his -short ordering. "Nobody's dead nor dyin', but I want you to get down to -the Arcade and _get this job_, see? Don't come back here whinin' that -you _can't_. You're _got_ to get it, or you can dust out o' South -Riveredge an' your happy home. Now listen to what I'm tellin' you: Don't -you let on _who_ you _are_. If you do the jig's up, for that high and -mighty sprig down there ain't got no sort o' use for _me_. But I'll -_tame_ her. I ain't seen the girl yet I couldn't tame. But I want you -there 'cause I want to keep track of the revenue, do you see? and if -your head's worth half a muttonhead you can't _help_ gettin' a good idea -of what that business is worth, and that's what I mean to know. She -don't know you from a hole in the ground, and you ain't goin' to let -her----" - -"But she will know my name, Lige." - -"How will she know your name if you don't _tell_ her your name? You've -got a middle name, ain't you? Well, what's the matter with that? -Katherine Boggs is all right, ain't it? You haven't _got_ to tack on the -Sniffins." - -"Oh, I'd forget, and people would know me, and I'd be scared to death to -do it, Lige." - -"Now see here: You'll be scared to death if you _don't_ do it, let me -tell you, for I'll scare you myself. Now get down there and do the job -right up to the mark." - -About half an hour later a sweet-faced, timid girl presented herself at -Constance's Arch. She seemed unduly agitated, and her hands trembled as -she rested them on the counter, to ask if Miss Carruth was to be seen. - -"I think she can be," answered Constance, smiling encouragingly at the -perturbed little figure before her, for Constance was too much her -mother's child not to feel the deepest sympathy for such a girl. - -"Is she in?" ventured her visitor. - -"I am Miss Carruth. What can I do for you?" - -"Oh! Why, you want a girl, a clerk?" - -"I do. Come into my little office; no one will interrupt us there. Sit -down; you seem tired. Now tell me all about it. I've had such a pile of -letters that I hardly know which to answer. By the way, I have just -'phoned to one who gave me her number but not her name. I asked her to -call at once. I wonder if you can be No. 795?" Constance paused with a -most encouraging smile upon her lips and light in her eyes. - -"Yes--oh--no; I mean----" - -"Why are you so nervous? It will not be a very difficult undertaking, -I'm sure, just to sit here and sell boxes of candy, and I'm not _half_ -as formidable a young woman as you must have pictured me. The hours are -not so very long, and there will be a good many spare moments. The -salary is seven dollars a week. Do you care to consider it, Miss----?" - -"S--Boggs, I mean Miss Boggs. Yes, I'll take it, I want it very much, -I'll try to please you----" - -Constance looked at the girl. What ailed her? Why this feverish -eagerness to secure the position, and why a degree of nervousness which -almost amounted to a panic? - -"Will you please give me your address? And"--Constance hesitated. She was -upon the point of asking for references, but sympathy for the girl -withheld her from doing so. - -The girl gave an address in a distant part of the town, and rose to go. -Constance's look held her. There was nothing alarming in the quiet gaze -of those deep brown eyes; on the contrary, it was soothing, if -compelling. - -"Do you mind telling me why you are so agitated? I can see no cause for -it, yet there may be one which I do not guess, and if I can help remove -it I shall be glad to do so. It troubles me to see you disturbed. -Perhaps a good deal depends upon your securing a situation at once, and -if that is the cause of your trouble we have removed it, haven't we? for -you are already engaged." - -"Oh, yes, I know I'm very foolish; I do want the situation; I've _got_ -to take it; I'll do my very, very best; I truly will. Please excuse me. -When must I come?" - -"Can you come this afternoon? I am very anxious to get back to my duties -in my candy kitchen, and if you can arrange to come here after luncheon, -I shall have time to show you the little things you would like to learn, -and to-morrow morning you can get along without me." - -"Yes, I'll come. I'll be here at two o'clock, and I'll try so hard to -please you, Miss Carruth." For a moment a smile lighted up the girl's -face and quite transformed it. - -She was a plain, colorless little thing, but something in her smile made -her very attractive. - -"I shall be here. Good-bye for a couple of hours." - -The girl hurried away. - -"Well, if she isn't one of the oddest little creatures I've ever come -across. I am sure I don't know what impelled me to engage her, for I -dare say I could have found a dozen others much better qualified to -attend to things here, but--somehow--well, I dare say, there's a lot of -mother in me, and when our sympathies are aroused we sometimes do queer -things." - -Constance was not conscious of having spoken aloud, as she moved about -the Arch arranging and giving a touch here and there, until a laughing -voice asked: - -"What is this I'm listening to? A budding elocutionist practicing her -monologue?" - -"Does sound a little like it, doesn't it? but it's nothing half so -brilliant. In fact, you might suspect me of bordering on mental -aberration instead if I told you, so I reckon I won't. But I am starved -even if you are not. Let us go see what Blairsdale _and_ Devon have to -offer to-day." - -A moment later Constance and Hadyn Stuyvesant were seated in the little -screened-off corner back of Charles' counter, his duties transferred to -his satellite, as he laid before his young mistress, and the one whom in -his faithful old heart he had long cherished a wish to call his "Young -Massa," the dainties especially prepared for them by Mammy. - - - - -CHAPTER IX - -AT MERRY YULETIDE. - - -"Hurry, Eleanor. We are all waiting for you," called Constance from the -terrace, where a group of young people stood waiting for the tardy one. - -It was the day following Christmas, and such a day as long dwells in -one's memory of perfect winter days; scarcely a cloud in the sky, and -the air filled with a crispness which set one's blood a-tingle. The -world wore her white robes of the season, bedecked with a thousand -sparkling jewels. The river was frozen nearly across, and on its -glistening surface groups of skaters darted about, or pushed ice-chairs, -in which were seated older or less vigorous bodies for whom skating was -not. - -Early in December, when the weather had turned unusually cold for the -season, the river had commenced to freeze over. It had been thirty years -since such heavy ice had formed, and those who recalled that time -predicted that the present cold snap would hold as that one had held, -and the New Year find, as it had then found, the sleighs crossing to the -opposite shore. - -Eleanor Carruth had returned from college three days before Christmas, -to find everyone in the liveliest, gayest mood, and each moment crowded -to its very limit with duties or pleasures. Christmas in Mrs. Carruth's -home had always been a day of "good will toward man" in its truest, -sweetest sense. No one had time to think of self in her desire to think -of others. For more than sixty years Mammy's voice had been the first -one to cry "Christmas gif'" to her children, as she went from bed to bed -in the chill Christmas dawn. Try as they might in bygone years, none of -the other servants on the old plantation had been able to creep up to -the bedchambers before her, and now in the newer life of the Northern -world, to which she had followed those she loved, she had never missed -her greeting. In the dark, difficult days when resources were limited -and every penny had to be so carefully expended, the Christmas gifts had -been very simple little remembrances interchanged, but old Mammy had -invariably managed to have _some_ trifle for her "chillen," and they -would sooner have gone without their own than have failed to have their -token of the season lying at her door on Christmas morning. - -But happier days had now dawned for all, and the Christmas day just -passed had been a red-letter one for the family. True, Eleanor's -resources were not yet equal to Constance's. Eleanor's spending money -was derived from the source which, prior to her entrance in college, had -caused Mammy such deep concern. Eleanor still coached a number of the -less brilliant lights of the college. In this way she felt more -independent of her aunt and less dependent upon Constance. - -Constance protested and scolded, declaring that it was perfect nonsense -for Eleanor to so burden herself, since the candy kitchen was more than -equal to the demands made upon it. But Eleanor was a Carruth. - -As the party stood waiting for her, Jean, keeping fast hold of Haydn's -hand and jigging up and down in her impatience to be off, Forbes talking -to one of Eleanor's friends, and the others all chatting at once, -Eleanor came hurrying from the house, carrying in her hand a pair of -shining skates, and carefully tucked under her arm a _broom_. - -Haydn was the first to spy it. His eyes began to twinkle, and he quickly -slipped over to Constance's side. - -"Is this a very mid-winter madness?" he asked under his breath. - -Constance glanced up quickly. Her eyes instantly caught the twinkle, and -darted toward Forbes, who was too deeply engaged in trying to prove to -his rather skeptical listener that the soft little wraith-like clouds -beginning to gather overhead meant wind, and perhaps more snow also, -within twenty-four hours, to be aware of Eleanor's unusual departure in -the line of impedimenta. Neither Constance nor Hadyn intended to spoil -the joke by jogging their wits, and the others who were alive to the fun -preferred to see it to the end. - -Eleanor hurried up to Forbes and said, as though to confirm his -argument: - -"Yes, it _is_ clouding over, isn't it? Mammy says it is going to snow -and urged me to carry this umbrella. I can always trust Mammy's 'bones,' -she ended as she held forth the broom to the bewildered man, who looked -from her face to it as though questioning her sanity." - -Then Eleanor wakened. - -"Oh, why--I thought--why, how did I get this?" - -"Let me relieve you of your strange burden, Eleanor. Still want an -umbrella? I'll fetch one if you say so, but you may find the broom more -useful, on second thought. Let's take it along to clear away the light -snow which fell last night. Come on, people! If we expect to get up an -appetite for Mammy's luncheon at two o'clock, we'd best make a move -toward the river," cried Hadyn, leading the way with the broom -shouldered like a musket, and Jean in full prance beside him. - -It was a merry party which gathered upon the crystal surface of the -river that morning. For many days Jack Frost had been busy, and had done -his wonderful work most effectively, completing it during the previous -night by a light coating of diamond-dust, which glistened and sparkled -in the clear sunshine, or swirled up in fantastic spirals as the skaters -whirled away through it. The boathouse at the river's edge served as a -shelter for the chilled ones, and, far-sighted woman! Mammy had sent -Charles down there with a great basket of sandwiches, and a heaterful of -steaming chocolate. Somehow nature had made a big mistake when she -fashioned Mammy: she should have formed a man, a _white_ man, and cast -his lot among the great commerical lights of his day. - -The chocolate heater had to be replenished more than once, and the -manner in which the sandwiches vanished was almost miraculous. - -Eleanor, Constance and Jean were as much at home upon their skates as -upon the soles of their feet, and Hadyn had skated ever since he could -move without assistance; but Forbes had acquired the art during a winter -spent in Northern Europe, and at a date not so remote as to have -lessened the novelty of the experience. He had brought with him from -Holland a pair of skates of truly remarkable design, and it was upon -these "ice boats," as Hadyn instantly dubbed them, that he was now -demonstrating the extraordinary agility of the Dutch skaters. - -"Stand off! Make way!" cried Hadyn, as Forbes, one arm about Eleanor's -waist and the other holding her hand aloft in what he fondly believed to -be a perfect imitation of the Dutch peasants' graceful poise and motion, -bore down upon the party, his long, upturned skates and still longer -legs causing Eleanor to cast skittish glances in their direction as she -swung along beside him. - -"Great! How do you do it, old man?" asked Hadyn as Eleanor was almost -hurled into his arms, Forbes' momentum carrying him on and past them -like a runaway motor-car. - -"Simplest thing in the world! Be back in a second to show you how. -Nothing like it! Absolutely--" but he was carried beyond his hearers, -whose eyes followed his wild evolutions with more or less apprehension -for "what next?" since it seemed contrary to all laws of gravitation for -any human being to maintain his equilibrium very long if he took such -chances. - -"He has turned! He's coming back! Now watch out, Hadyn, and learn how -it's done," laughed Constance, as this skated "Ichabod Crane" bore down -upon them, hair blown on end, arms flying, legs cutting capers legs -never before had cut, and upon his face the expression of "do or die, -man, for _she_ is watching you." - -"Gee, what a swathe he cuts!" cried another man, as the light snow lying -upon the ice flew from beneath the rushing skates. - -"Now watch out! Clear the track! Look sharp, and you'll all catch the -knack of it without half trying. Nothing easier," shouted the skater as -he drew nearer, pride in his eyes, glory descending upon him. But alack! -it's said 'a haughty spirit goeth before a fall.' There _may_ have been -an ice fissure. Forbes insisted there _was_ one in which he caught his -skate; but there certainly _was_ the fall both actual and figurative. As -the enthusiast came within ten feet of his spellbound audience, a pair -of very long legs came up, and a very loosely-hung body came down with -dispatch. The legs flew apart until the figure resembled an ice-boat -under full headway, nor did its momentum perceptibly lessen as it sped -past its audience, the light snow piling up in front of it and flying -over its shoulders as it flies back from a snow-plow. For fully thirty -feet the wild figure slid along before it lost its impetus. Then it came -to a dazed stop. Only one of the audience was prepared to go to its aid; -the others were entirely helpless, and were hanging upon each other's -necks--let us hope in tears of sympathy. - -"Can--can I help you?" stammered Hadyn, as he bent over to raise the -prone one. "You--you rather came a cropper that time, and--and--" - -"Get behind me, for heaven's sake. Do you think a man can slither along -on the ice for thirty feet and--and not damage his garments? Quick, -before all those people get wise. Is your long cape in the boathouse? -Yes? Thanks, I'll take it, and I don't care a hang if _you freeze_;" and -scrambling to his feet Forbes sped for the boathouse, and the world saw -him not again that day. - -Scarcely had Forbes left the party on the pond when a new member was -added to it, or, at least, arrived upon the scene with a very firmly -fixed intention of being added to it if he could contrive to be. - -He was arrayed, from his standpoint of a proper toilet for the occasion, -in a costume altogether irresistible, and which it had cost him no -little time and outlay to procure. - -Heavy tan shoes, a plaided Scotch tweed suit, a sweater of gorgeous red, -and a sealskin cap. - -With many a curve and flourish, for the man _could_ skate, he came up to -the group, and with a most impressive bow to Constance, raised the fur -cap, and, standing uncovered, said: - -"Good-morning, Miss Carruth. Fine sport, ain't it? May I compliment you -on your skating? You ain't got a rival on the ice, nor off it, neither." - -For a moment Constance was at a loss to place the man, then she recalled -his visit to her Candy Arch about three weeks before. It was Elijah -Sniffins. - -The very audacity of this move deprived her of speech for a moment, and -the others with her were too amazed to come to her rescue. Indeed, they -did not know the man at all, and, consequently, did not realize the -extent of his presumption. - -Then Constance came to herself. Looking straight into the man's eyes, -her own ominous with indignation, and her cheeks flushing with -resentment, she replied: - -"Haven't you made a slight mistake, Mr. Sniffins? I believe the business -matter upon which you called at the Arcade was settled then and there, -for I had already made other arrangements. I hardly think there is -anything more to be discussed." - -"Oh, that's all in the sweet bygones. You needn't think I've got to talk -business every time we meet any mor'n you have; I just give myself a -holiday once in so often just like you do, and this is one of 'em. Great -day for a holiday. But, by the way, did you get a nice girl for your -counter?--one that's goin' to have some snap to her and do a rushin' -business with all the young folks anxious to get rid of their money?" - -"She is quite satisfactory, thank you, and good-morning, Mr. Sniffins." - -"Oh, I say, won't you give me just one turn? Never see anyone could -skate like you--" - -"Hadyn, isn't it about time we went home? Just one more spin, please," -and turning toward Hadyn Stuyvesant Constance held out both hands toward -him. He had turned to speak to another member of the party, and until -that moment had not been aware of Sniffins' intrusion. At sight of -Constance's face his own changed, and he gave a quick glance at the man, -who seemed undecided as to whether it would be wiser to accept his -dismissal or persist in his unwelcome attentions. It may have been -something in Hadyn's glance which deterred him, for with another -impressive bow he skated rapidly away, muttering: - -"Little snob! Thinks she's out of sight; but she ain't any better'n -others who are makin' their pile, and I'll learn her yet." - -"Who is he? What is the matter, little girl?" asked Hadyn, as he and -Constance swung away over the ice. - -"Why, it's that odious man. I don't know what to make of him. This is -the second time he has forced himself upon me, and why he does so is -more than I can fathom. He is the Fire Insurance Agent down in State -Street; and the only time we have ever had any intercourse whatsoever -with him was when the house burned. But _I_ did not see him even then. -Mother or Mammy were the only ones who had any dealings with him at that -time, though once later, when the Candy Booth in the Arcade caught fire, -he did speak to me, now I remember, though I had quite forgotten it. -What in this world can the man want? I declare he half frightens me, he -is so audacious." - -She then told Hadyn of Sniffins' visit to the Arcade. He listened -attentively, seeing far more in it than the girl beside him guessed, but -taking care not to let her know. - -"And you did not engage his sister, after all?" he inquired. - -"No; I have a Katherine Boggs doing duty there. She's a quiet, nice -little thing, and not likely to do the 'rushin' business with all the -young fools,' which this idiot seems to think a requisite qualification. -Ugh! How I loathe the very sight of that man! It's mighty lucky I did -not engage his sister, isn't it? He would have used her as a wedge to -force his presence upon me, though why on earth he wishes to is more -than I can understand." - -The face she turned up to Hadyn's was the very personification of -sweetness and modesty. - -He looked at her, a slight color creeping into his own and a light -filling his eyes, which for the first time since she had known him sent -an odd little thrill to the girl's heart, which caused it to beat a -trifle quicker, and her eyes to fall before his. It was all over in a -moment, and all he said was: - -"Keep your modesty, little girl. It is a valuable asset to womanhood. -And now we must get back home, or the little Mother and Mammy will get -after us." - - - - -CHAPTER X - -"THEN CAME THE WILD WEATHER." - - -January and February, blustery, wild months, crept slowly away, and -March, still more blustery, came in. The cold and dampness told upon -poor old Charles, and more than one day found him a fast prisoner in the -"baid," which, in spite of Mammy's conviction "dat it fair hit de sore -spots," frequently failed to find Charles', and only served to smother -his groans. Then one day, when, in spite of his spouse's protests, he -insisted upon going to the Arcade in a driving snowstorm, the climax was -reached, and when Charles reached his little cabin at nightfall he was -"cl'ar beat out an' ready fer ter drap," as Mammy told Mrs. Carruth. The -next day he was downright ill, and a physician had to be summoned. - -"Seem lak, seem lak de very ol' boy hisself done got inter dat man," -scolded Mammy, her wrath the outcome of nervous irritation, for Charles -was the pride and the love of her life. "No matter how I is ter argify -wid him, he just natcherly boun' ter go 'long ter dat Arcyde yistiddy, -an' now see what done come of it! Gawd bress ma soul, I reckons I'd -smack him good ef he warn't lyin' dar groanin' so wid his misery dat he -lak 'nough wouldn't feel de smacks I give him. Tch! tch!" and Mammy -shook her head ominously. - -"Poor Charles! I'll go right out to the cabin, Mammy, and sit with him -while you look after your cooking; it's too bad, too bad; but I think he -will soon be about again." - -"Yes, an' ef yo' goes out in dis hyar blizzardy weather I'll have two -sick folks on my han's 'stid o' one. Now, see here, Miss Jinny, yo' min' -me an' stay indoors! Yo' hear me?" - -"Nonsense, Mammy. Do you think I shall take cold by walking from here to -your cabin? How foolish," protested Mrs. Carruth. "Your luncheon counter -cannot be neglected, and with but one pair of hands how can you do your -cooking and nurse Charles, too?" - -As she spoke Mrs. Carruth tied a scarf over her head and wrapped a long, -heavy cloak about her, Mammy never for a second ceasing to protest. - -"Now come, Mammy," she said, leading the way to the back door, Mammy -following and scolding every step of the way. As they opened the door -leading to the back porch they were assailed by a gust of wind and a -whirl of snow which blinded them, and at the same time nearly carried -them off their feet. - -"Mighty man! Go 'long back, Miss Jinny' Go back! Dis hyar ain't no -fittin' place fer yo', I tells yo'," gasped Mammy, turning to bar Mrs. -Carruth's progress, for even Mammy's weight was as a straw against the -gale which swept around the corner of the porch. But slight as she was, -Mrs. Carruth was not to be overborne. For a moment she laid hold of the -porch railing to steady herself, then with a firm hold upon her flapping -cloak braced herself against the wind, and started for the cottage. -Mammy was for once silenced, simply because the words were swept from -her lips as soon as she tried to form them. - -Earlier in the morning an attempt had been made to clear a path to the -cottage; but in such a wild, howling blizzard a half hour was more than -enough to set man's work at naught, and Mrs. Carruth and Mammy had to -flounder through the snowdrifts as best they could, and were breathless -when they reached the bottom of the garden. - -"Fo' Gawd's sake, come unner de lee ob de house 'fore yo' is blown daid -unner ma eyes, honey," panted Mammy. "Oh, why for is we ever come ter -sech a place fer ter live! We all gwine be froz daid 'fore we kin draw -our brefs. Come in de house, Miss Jinny, come in," and, half dragging, -half carrying her mistress, Mammy led her into the cabin where the -little darkey, Mammy's handmaiden, stood with her eyes nearly popping -out of her head with fright, for she had been watching them from the -safe shelter of the kitchen. - -Mrs. Carruth dropped upon a chair well-nigh exhausted, for even though -the cabin was barely two hundred feet from the house, it had required -all the strength she could summon to battle her way to it in the force -and smother of the blizzard. - -"Why--why, I'd no idea it was so terrible," she panted. "I've never known -such a storm." - -"Ain't I tell yo' so? Ain't I tell yo' not ter come out in it? An' how I -is ter git yo' back ter de house is mo'n I kin tell," deplored Mammy, as -she hastily divested herself of her own wrappings and then turned to -remove her mistress'. - -"Yo' foots is soppin', soakin' wet. Yo' mought as well not 'a' had no -rubbers on 'em, fer yo' is wet ter de knees. Hyer, you no 'count -Mirandy, get me some hot water, an' den hike upstairs fo' de bottle ob -alcohol, yo' hyer me!" stormed Mammy, relieved to find someone to vent -her irritation upon. "An' yo' ain't gwine back ter dat house whilst dis -storm is ragin', let me tell yo'." - -"I am all right, Mammy; this is mere folly. I shall be as dry as a bone -in just a few minutes," protested Mrs. Carruth. - -"Yis! Yis! An' lak enough chilled to de bone, too. Now, yo' min' what I -tells you," and, in spite of their protests, Mrs. Carruth was presently -rubbed and warmed into dry garments and comfort. It was well Constance's -Candy Kitchen communicated with Mammy's quarters, and that a supply of -clothing was always kept in it. It was deserted this morning, for Mary -and Fanny had gone home on the previous, Saturday afternoon, and the -storm had made it impossible for them to return. A large supply of candy -had been sent to the Arcade on Saturday morning; so even if customers -were courageous enough to face the blizzard in quest of sweets there -would be no lack of of sweets to please the sweet tooth, and Constance -was glad of the respite the storm gave her, for, like many another busy -little business woman, she found many things to attend to in the house -when she could steal the time from her regular duties. - -This morning she was busy with a dozen little odd bits of work, while -Jean, school impossible in such weather, was lost to all the outer world -in a new book. - -When Mrs. Carruth was made comfortable she went upstairs to Charles. She -found him in a sorry plight, and saw at once that poor old Charles was -in a more serious condition than Mammy realized, troubled as she was -about him; but this was carefully concealed from the old woman. - -"We have both to take our scolding now," she said as she seated herself -near him. "Mammy will never forgive either of us for disobeying her, -Charles. But what can I do for you?" - -Charles was too stiff and full of pain to move, but he tried to smile -bravely as he answered: - -"Reckons we'd better a-minded her, Honey. Reckons we had. She's a mighty -pert 'oman, she is, an' when she say do, we better _do_, an' when she -say don't, we better _don't_, dat's suah. An' jes' look at me! Hyar I -layin' lak I tied han' an' foot, an' de bis'ness down yonder gwine ter -rack an' ruin, lak 'nough, wid dat no 'count boy a-runnin' it. And -Charles groaned in tribulation of spirit. - -"Wait a moment; I'll see that all goes well down there," answered Mrs. -Carruth, soothingly, and slipping away from the room she went into the -deserted Bee-hive to 'phone to the Arcade. After considerable delay she -got Mr. Porter and told him the situation. He was all interest, and -begged her to tell Charles that if necessary he himself would mount -guard over the luncheon counter. She next called Hadyn, and asked him to -let her know how all went at the candy booth. He assured her that all -was well, but that business did not seem to be flourishing. - -"Will you please tell Miss Boggs to close it for the day and to go home -at once, Hadyn? The storm grows worse every moment, I believe, and if -she remains there any longer she may not be able to get home." - -"I'll tell her, and I'll see that she gets home, too. Don't worry, -little mother. I'll be down a little later to see how you all fare." - -"Oh, no! No! Don't try to come. We are all right, and you must not try -to drive here in this awful storm. Promise me that you won't, Hadyn." - -"Can't make rash promises, and Comet has breasted even worse storms than -this," was the laughing answer. "Who is looking after your furnace, now -that Charles is down and out?" - -"Mr. Henry's man. He was here this morning, and will be back this -evening. We lack nothing, and we don't want you under _any_ -circumstances. Please, say you won't try to come." - -"Not unless----" Then there was a whirr and one or two disconnected words -and the connection broke short off. No wires could long withstand the -weight of ice and snow and the force of wind wrenching at them. Mrs. -Carruth tried again and again to get the connection, but all to no -purpose, and with a strange apprehension in her heart she returned to -Charles' bedside to reassure him regarding his luncheon counter. - -At noon the doctor called to see Charles, and during Mammy's absence -from the room Mrs. Carruth contrived to have a word with him. - -"He's a pretty old man, and took big chances yesterday. If it were only -the rheumatism I had to contend with, I should not feel the least -concern for him. That is painful, I know, but not dangerous, as it has -settled in his limbs; but I don't like this temperature and breathing. -Yet I dare say, if I use a stethoscope, he will think he is a dead man -already. These colored people are difficult patients to handle, what -with their ignorance and their emotional temperaments they are far worse -than children, for we can compel children to do as we think best." - -Mrs. Carruth smiled. "You do not know the ante-bellum negro," she said. - -"Maybe I do not, but I know the post-bellum, I can tell you, and I've -very little use for them." - -"Do you wish to examine Charles?" she asked, quietly. - -"If he had been a white man, I should have done so last night when I was -first called to attend him; but I came near being mobbed the last time I -tried to use a stethoscope on a negro patient. The family thought I was -about to remove the woman's lungs, I believe." - -"Charles, I wish Dr. Black to examine you very thoroughly while he is -here--as thoroughly as if he were treating me. There is nothing to alarm -you; but we cannot treat you understandingly unless he learns exactly -where the greatest difficulty lies." - -"Wha' he gwine do to me?" asked Charles, his eyes opening wide. - -"Examine your lungs and heart to see if they are sound and strong." - -"He gwine cut me wide open?" cried the old man. - -Just then Mammy entered. It was well she did. "Luty, Luty, dat man gwine -projec' wid me, honey; don' you let him." - -For a moment Mammy seemed ready to take the defensive, and Dr. Black -shrugged his shoulders in a manner which indicated: "I told you so." -Perhaps it was the shrug--Mammy wasn't slow to grasp a situation--but more -likely it was the look in her Miss Jinny's eyes, for, turning to the -doctor, she said, with the air of an African queen: - -"Yo' is de perfessional 'tendant, an' I wishes yo' fer ter do what yo' -an' ma Miss Jinny knows fer ter be right wid de patient." - -When Dr. Black left a few moments later, he said to Mrs. Carruth, who -had followed him downstairs, while Mammy remained behind to alternately -berate and calm Charles: - -"If we can keep the fever down, the old fellow may escape with nothing -worse than his rheumatic twinges--hard to bear, but not alarming; but I -don't like the other symptoms. He was too old to take such chances. Can -you let me hear from him about eight this evening?" - -"Every hour if necessary. He is like one of our own family to us, and -nothing we can do for him or Mammy can ever repay their devotion to us. -Would it not be better for you to call again?" - -"I'd gladly do so, but I am likely to be summoned to a patient in -Glendale at any moment, and with this storm----" And the doctor waved his -hand toward the turmoil beyond the windows. - -"I know it. I will 'phone if----" Then Mrs. Carruth paused in dismay. -"What if the wires were down?" - -"My wire was all right when I left home less than an hour since, and you -may not need me, after all. I hope you will not." - -"Amen to that hope," said Mrs. Carruth, fervently, and, bidding the -doctor good-bye, she returned to Charles. - -As the day dragged on the storm increased in violence. Mammy would not -hear of Mrs. Carruth returning to the house, but prepared a dainty tray -for her and ordered her into the Bee-hive to partake of her luncheon, -and afterward to lie down. Perhaps she would not have been so ready to -comply with the old woman's wishes had she not resolved upon a course -which she felt sure Mammy would combat with all her strength. This was -to spend the night with Charles, whose condition did not improve. Toward -evening Jean came battling out to the cottage, followed by Constance, -greatly to Mammy's consternation. - -"I 'clar's ter goodness, yo's all gone crazy!" she stormed as they came -in from the Bee-hive. "Fo' de Lawd's sake, wha' brung you chillun out -hyer? Ain' yo' Ma an' me got 'nough fer ter pester us wid dat sick man -up dar widout any mo' tribberlations 'scendin' 'pon us? Go 'long back, I -tells yo'; 'fo' we's driven cl'ar crazy." - -"Hush, Mammy, dear," said Constance. "I want mother to go back to the -house and let me take her place with Charles. I am so strong that it -won't tire me, and you know I'm a good nurse, don't you?" - -"And so am I, Mammy. You know I am," broke in Jean. "Please, please let -me stay." - -For a moment Mammy looked as though she were about to take a wild flight -into the wilder weather outside, and her wits along with her; then she -stamped her foot and said: - -"Yo' chillern come an' talk wid yo' ma." - - - - -CHAPTER XI - -IN THE VALLEY. - - -"No, dear. I shall not wear myself out," said Mrs. Carruth, gently, -though firmly. "I want you to go back to the house to look after the -maids and Jean----" - -"Oh, I don't want to go back! Please, please let me sleep in the -Bee-hive, mother. Please, please do," begged Jean, clasping her arms -about her mother's waist. Constance interrupted: - -"Yes, mother, do. I will go back if you are determined not to, for I -dare say the maids would be panic-stricken if left alone; but Jean might -just as well remain here with you," for into Constance's active brain -had sprung an idea which she wished to carry out, and she knew she could -count upon Jean's co-operation. - -"But you and the maids would be quite alone in the house," demurred Mrs. -Carruth. - -"And do you think Jean would be big and valiant enough to protect me -from prowlers?" smiled Constance. "It would be a hard-pressed burglar -who would venture forth this night, I'm thinking." - -Just then a sound overhead caused Mrs. Carruth to raise her hand to -enjoin silence, and Mammy was heard to say soothingly: - -"Dar, dar, honey, jis' let me raise an' ease yo' up a leetle, so's yo' -hits de sof'est fedders in de baid," and quickly upon the softer, more -soothing tones followed: "Yit what in de name o' man ever done teken yo' -out of dis house yistiddy's mo'n I can tell. Ef yo'd done taken heed ter -ma' wo'ds yo' wouldn' never come ter dis hyer pass." - -Then followed a series of groans from the patient. - -"Mammy is getting worn out and consequently irritable," said Mrs. -Carruth. "Yes, you may remain, Jean, but Constance must go back, and I -must go to Charles. If Mammy has much more to tax her strength and mind -she will be ill, and she is in no mood to care for Charles now; she will -do more harm than good. Good-night, darling. Don't worry about me I will -'phone over to the house if I need anything in the night." And Mrs. -Carruth hurried upstairs. - -"Come into the Bee-hive, Jean," whispered Constance. The little girl -followed. - -"Now, dear," said Constance, earnestly, "you and I have got to take -matters into our own hands. Can I trust you, Jean?" Constance dropped -upon a chair, and placing both arms about the little sister looked -straight into her eyes. - -The look was returned as steadfastly, and the fine little head poised in -a manner which would have delighted an artist's soul, as Jean asked: - -"Don't you know you can, Connie?" - -"Yes, I do! And here is the situation: Before we came over here I tried -to 'phone over to mother, but even our wire is out of order. I dare say -every wire is, and that the trouble is in the central office, owing to -this storm. I did not tell mother because it would only alarm her, and -she may not have occasion to use the 'phone at all; I earnestly hope she -will not until it is repaired. I shall go home, but I shall not go to -bed. You stay here in the Bee-hive, but don't undress, Jean; roll this -warm rug around you and cuddle down on the couch. I know you will drop -asleep, but I know you will not sleep so soundly that you will be lost -to the world altogether. I shall be on the couch in the library and can -see this window from there. If Charles grows worse, or you think mother -is worn out and needs me, will you flash the electric light three times? -I shall know what it means and come straight over." Constance spoke very -quietly, but very earnestly. - -"I'll do it. I may go to sleep, but somehow I know I shall wake up if I -am needed, Connie. Even if I am only fourteen years old I can be a -little woman, as mother so often says I am." - -"I know you can, dear, and you are, Jean; even if in many ways you are -younger than most girls of your age. I don't think any of us have grown -up quite so fast as the girls around us. Mother says we have not, and -she does not wish us to, because there are so many more years in which -we must be old than in which we can be young; but I reckon we can rise -to a situation when occasion demands, and, somehow, I feel that we will -both be needed to-night. Dear old Charles, he is pretty sick, I know, or -mother would not look so anxious, and _such_ a night as this is. Why, -Jean, we could not get a message to Dr. Black however badly we might -need him. We must depend entirely upon ourselves." - -"I wonder Champion did not come over." - -"He 'phoned mother this morning, but before she got all his message the -connection broke, and, I dare say, the roads have been almost -impassable." - -"Impassable roads would never keep him from coming," cried the -"Champion's" champion. "There must have been something worse than the -roads. I don't know what, but I know it was something," insisted Jean. - -"Yes, I am sure there must have been, he is always so thoughtful for -us," replied Constance, a soft light springing into her eyes as she -recalled Hadyn's unvarying kindness from the first moment she knew him. -"Now, good-night, honey. I hope you won't need me at all, but I know you -will be on the lookout if you do." - -A moment later Constance was struggling back to the house through the -blinding storm and snowdrifts. As she entered the back door the front -one opened to admit a snow-covered, panting figure, and Hadyn confronted -her. - -"Great Scott! Where have you come from?" he demanded. - -"I might ask the same question," panted Constance, divesting herself of -her cloak, and shaking it to free it from the snow which covered it. -"Get out of your coat, quick, and give it to Lilly to hang in the -kitchen until it is dry. What under the sun possessed you to try to come -here to-night, you madman?" - -"Under the sun? Nay, lady, neither sun nor moon. I fear you are -wandering. Is it a case of blizzard-madness?" answered Hadyn, as he -slipped off his big ulster and cap and gave them to the maid. - -"Now, come along in here and tell me all the little mother couldn't tell -me. Where is she, and where is my little sister?" - -"Lilly, please bring some more logs for the library fire. Come in here, -Hadyn, and I'll tell you all about it. Mother and Jean are over With -Charles and Mammy, and I'm here to mount guard over the house and maids, -who, luckily, are storm-bound." - -"But why on earth aren't you all here? The little mother and Jean have -no business to be anywhere else on such a villainous night. Let me go -right over after them," and Hadyn turned toward the door. - -"Stop! Wait! Listen to me!" - -"Oh, of course, Mademoiselle la General," laughed Hadyn, as Constance -laid a detaining hand upon his arm. "I'm listening." - -"Then sit down to do it and hear the whole story. When you really know -all about it you can help me; but you might as well whistle to the wind -out yonder as to hope to get mother back here to-night. Yes, Lilly, put -the logs in the basket, and you and Rose please stay in the kitchen -until eleven. I will be out to speak to you when Mr. Stuyvesant goes." - -"When he _does_," said Hadyn, under his breath, then louder: "It must be -rather satisfying to have such a flower-garden right indoors when it is -whooping things up so outside," and he nodded toward the maid just -leaving the room. "If you could only have a 'Violet' and a 'Pansy,' and -one or two other blossoms, you'd have a whole greenhouse." - -Constance laughed outright as she answered: - -"We've had wood nymphs, and some of the months--May and June, for -instance--and several jewels, to say nothing of a few royalties, so -nothing will surprise us now; but Mammy seems equal to all of them put -together. And apropos of Mammy, let me tell you all about her and -Charles." - -They sat down before the blazing logs while Constance told of the -experiences of the past twenty-four hours. Hadyn listened with a -troubled face. - -"I'd no idea it was so serious," he said, when she finished, "but I am -mighty glad I came over to-night. And now you are to heed what _I_ say: -you may sit here with me until eleven if you will. I'll be right glad of -your company. _Then_ you are going upstairs to bed--_yes_, you are, too. -Now, it is no use 'argifyin',' to quote Mammy. I'll stay here in the -library snug, warm, and as comfortable as any man could wish to be. I -shall see Jean's light if she signals, and I'll be good--yes, honest I -will. You doubt it, I know, and you think I will sneak over yonder and -be more bother than I am worth; but I give you my word I won't. I'll do -exactly as you would do if you were here alone." - -Constance raised her eyes to his, and little guessed how hard it was for -the man who looked into their pure, trustful depths to refrain from -holding out his arms to the girl who had grown so dear to him during the -past three and a half years. - -"I'll take you at your word," she answered. - -"Good. Now sit down and toast your toes before this blaze. By Jove, is -there anything like blazing logs and soft lamplight? They spell -_h-o-m-e_, don't they?" and Hadyn glanced around the cosy room as though -to him, at least, it held the sweetest elements of home a man could ask -for. - -Softly the little clock ticked the moments and hours away as they sat -there together, talking over a hundred little happenings of the past -years, now and then glancing over to the Bee-hive. But all was quiet. A -dim light shone in Mammy's bedroom, and in the Bee-hive Jean's shaded -electric light cast a faint halo upon the snow which continued to whirl -by the window, although the wind had died down a little and the storm -seemed less violent. Shortly after ten Constance went out to the kitchen -to see that the storm-bound maids were comfortable. Cots had been placed -in the laundry for them, and they were probably far better off than they -would have been in their own home. - -"Now, are you sure _you_ will be comfortable?" she asked Hadyn when she -returned to the library. He glanced about the room, at the cheerful fire -and the divan, with its numberless pillows, and smiled significantly. -"Only trouble is, I may be _too_ comfortable," he said. "But you need -not worry," as a slight shade of doubt crossed Constance's face. "I -won't go to the Land o' Nod. But _you_ must, so good-night, little girl. -Go on upstairs and sleep well. I know just what that room looks like; I -shall never forget the night you gave it up to me. If I had known it a -little sooner, I should not have let you do so, although the memory of -it has been one of the sweetest ones of my life. Good-night." - -"Good-night, Hadyn, and--thank you a thousand times." - -If Haydn held the slender fingers an extra moment, and looked earnestly -into the beautiful eyes raised to his, he was hardly to be blamed. - -Turning to the book shelves, he selected a book and went back to his -chair before the fire. Eleven and twelve were struck by the clock on the -mantle shelf, but all was quiet in the little cottage at the foot of the -garden. Then came three single strokes in succession; twelve-thirty, -one, one-thirty. Hadyn remembered no more. His wild struggle through the -storm earlier in the evening, the silent house, the warmth, the -luxurious depth of the Morris chair had all conspired against his -resolutions, and three o'clock was striking when he started wide awake -with a sense of calamity at hand and the deepest contrition in his -heart--an hour and a half blotted out as though they had never been! - - - - -CHAPTER XII - -OF THE SHADOW. - - -As the night wore on, Mrs. Carruth and Mammy grew more and more anxious -for their patient. The severe weather told upon him in spite of the even -temperature of the cottage, and he suffered as a man upon the rack. With -the intense pain came higher temperature, and by one o'clock Mrs. -Carruth began to see that further medical advice was imperative; -something more than they could do must be done for Charles, for he could -not endure such torture for many more hours. Furthermore, his breathing -had become very labored, and Mrs. Carruth feared the worst from that -symptom. Without saying anything to Mammy she slipped noiselessly into -the Bee-hive, meaning to 'phone to Dr. Black. In that little sanctum all -was snug and quiet. Noiselessly removing the receiver, she tried to call -up central. There was no response, and a shadow fell across her face. -Then she tried her own home, but without result; the storm had -completely disorganized the entire service. She was sorely troubled and -about to slip back to Charles, when Jean's face appeared at the top of -the stairway, and she called softly: - -"Mother, is Charles worse?" - -"Why, dearie! What are you doing out of your bed at this hour?" - -"Don't scold me, Mumsey, I haven't been in it, only lying on the -outside, 'cause I thought you might need me; do you?" - -"No, honey, certainly not. You must undress at once and get into bed." - -"But, mother, _is_ Charles worse? If he isn't please let me go and sit -with Mammy while you come in here and go to bed; you have been up all -night. If he isn't worse you can be spared, and I'll be all the help -Mammy needs. If he is worse you need me, anyway. I've had a long rest, -and been asleep, too, though I tried hard not to." - -As she talked, Jean tiptoed down the stairs, and, coming close to her -mother, slipped her arms about her waist and nestled her head against -her shoulder. The past three months had made a great change in Jean. For -a long time it seemed as though she never meant to grow another inch, -for at thirteen she was no taller than a child of eleven, although plump -and strong beyond the average child. Then she suddenly took a start and -shot up, up, up, until now she was fully as tall as Constance, but -slight and pliable as a willow wand. - -Mrs. Carruth laid her arms caressingly about her shoulders, and rested -her cheek against the wonderful hair: hair of the deepest, richest -bronze, and soft and wavy to a degree. - -"My little woman," she said, very tenderly. - -"If I truly am, then let me do a little woman's part. You are tired and -terribly worried about Charles. Let me come in and help." - -"There is so little we can do, Jean. We have done practically all we -know how to do, and Dr. Black asked me to 'phone if there seemed to be -any pronounced change. I haven't said anything to Mammy, because I do -not want to alarm her more than I must; but I would give anything to -communicate with him, and the wires are down." - -"Yes, I know they are; Connie told me so before she went home, and that -was one reason she wanted me to stay here: she was afraid you would need -help during the night and be unable to get it." - -Mrs. Carruth was about to reply, when Mammy's frightened face appeared -in the doorway. - -"Yes, Mammy! What is it?" - -Poor old Mammy! One of the child-race, she was pitifully at a loss in -the face of such a situation as the present crisis. Had it been any of -her white folks she would have been efficient to the last degree, -carrying out the precepts of "ole Miss," who "raised" her, remembering -with marvellous accuracy each detail of that ante-bellum training, and -performing each with a patience and tenderness incomprehensible to those -who have never known the heart-service rendered by those old-time -servitors. But, strange anomaly, though a characteristic so very marked -in her race, Mammy was utterly helpless when it came to taking the -initiative for Charles or herself in sickness. Then she turned to her -"white folks," and if her Miss Jinny had bidden her drink strychnine, or -give it to Charles, she would have obeyed her unquestionably. Strange -people that they are! - -"Please, come quick, Miss Jinny! I'se powerful trebbled. Charles he -sought o' wanderin' in his min' and talkin' a heap o' foolishness." - -Without a word Mrs. Carruth hurried from the Bee-hive in Mammy's wake, -Jean, unnoticed, close behind her. As she entered the room Charles was -sitting upright, talking wildly and gesticulating to some imaginary -person at the foot of his bed. Mammy, true to her instincts, flung her -apron over her head, and, dropping upon her knees in the middle of the -floor, cried: - -"He sees de hants! He sees de hants! His hours done numbered!" and -followed it up with earnest petitions for Charles' life. Mrs. Carruth -knew colored people too well to waste time in expostulations. She knew -that the only way to bring Mammy back to her senses was to set about -doing for Charles the things which Mammy, in a more rational frame of -mind, would have done herself. Hurrying to his bedside, she said to the -semi-delirious old man: - -"Why, Charles, did you miss me when I went to speak to Miss Jean? It is -Jean you wish to see, isn't it? Well, here she is right at the foot of -the bed, but you can talk to her quite as well when you are lying down. -There, that is better," as Charles, in obedience to her gentle easing -down, let her lay him back among his pillows. Mammy caught sight of the -act, and it recalled her to her senses quicker than a whip lash could -have done. Springing to her feet, she hurried to the bedside, and taking -her mistress by both hands forced her into the chair near at hand, -exclaiming under her breath: - -"Bress Gawd, baby! wha', wha' yo' mean by liftin' dat heavy man?" - -Mrs. Carruth had not misjudged, but she was none the less concerned for -Charles who continued to ramble on to Jean, who stood at the foot of the -bed. A distant clock struck one-thirty. Mammy was doing all she could to -quiet Charles, while Mrs. Carruth slipped into the adjoining room to -prepare some medicine for him. Jean chose that moment to hurry back to -the Bee-hive. A moment later the electric drop light was flashing its -message across the snow-bound garden to the darkened house beyond. There -was no response. Again and again Jean turned the switch, flashing out -across the snow the bright light from the Tungsten bulb, and watching -eagerly for some response, but the house remained perfectly dark; and at -length, in despair, she gave up signalling and went swiftly back to -Mammy's side of the cottage. Creeping softly up to the bedroom she -looked in. Her mother was too much occupied with Charles to notice her -return, and Mammy was placing hot water bags at the old man's feet. From -the anxious look upon her mother's face, Jean knew that she was -seriously alarmed for Charles, who was trembling and quivering with a -sudden chill. Without a word she turned and sped back to the Bee-hive. -Five minutes later she opened the door and slipped out into the night. -The storm had nearly ceased, but the clouds, driven by a wild, bleak -wind, were still scudding across the sky. There was no moon, and it -would have been a brave star which dared send its cheerful gleam through -that cloud rack. Upon the ground the snow lay in deep wind-driven banks, -in some places higher than Jean's head. All the world was dark, silent, -awesome. Jean never paused. She had formed her plans upon the instant, -and was acting upon them as promptly. A hundred feet from the cottage -old Baltie's stable loomed in the darkness, the snow upon the eastern -side of it banked high as the little window over his stall. Luckily the -doors were upon the southern, more protected side of the building; and -after struggling and wallowing through the snow until she was nearly -breathless, Jean reached them. Pausing a moment to recover her breath, -she inserted the key in the lock and opened the smaller door. She was -instantly greeted by a soft nicker. Baltie never slept when the -footfalls, however light, of those he loved drew near. - -"Baltie, Baltie, dear," cried Jean, softly, running to the box and -opening the door, switching on the light as she ran. But neither light -nor darkness meant anything to Baltie. His sensitive ears bounded his -world of darkness, and love did the rest. His head was in Jean's arms in -a moment. - -"Can you do it, dear? Can you do it for Charles and Mammy? I wouldn't -ask you to if I could go alone, but you are bigger and stronger than I -am, Baltie, even if you are so old. Can you take me to Dr. Black's -through this deep snow? It isn't so very far, Baltie, and we'll be -careful. Can you, Baltie? We must have him, for Charles is so sick." - -For answer the horse nestled closer to the girl, and nickered -repeatedly. - -"I know you mean 'yes,' dear. I know you do. I'll be careful, Baltie. -I'll cover you up all warm and snug." - -As she talked, Jean threw over Baltie's head the head and neck blanket, -which Charles had insisted must be part of the old horse's impedimenta -during the severe winter months. Deftly pushing his ears into the ear -coverings, she drew the hood over his head, his soft eyes shining upon -her like two moons from the circular openings, and buttoned it around -his throat. An extra blanket was quickly added, and then the old saddle -was strapped on. Leading Baltie to the door, Jean switched off the -electric light, gave one lithe little spring and landed across the -saddle. It had not taken her long to shift from her ordinary clothing -into Constance's divided riding skirt up there in the Bee-hive, or to -add the heavy outer garments the inclement weather made necessary. - -"Now, Baltie, we must go, we must, dear. Please, please do your best for -Charles and Mammy, they have been so good to you." - -As though he understood every word spoken to him, the horse bent to the -driving wind and plunged into the unbroken road. Dr. Black's home was -less than a mile from Mrs. Carruth's, and ordinarily Jean could have -walked it in less than fifteen minutes, or run it in ten, and had often -done so; but all walks and roadways were now completely obliterated. She -must trust to her sense of direction and to Baltie's wonderful instinct. - -On plodded the good old creature, breaking into a light lope where the -wind had swept the street comparatively free of snow, wallowing, -pounding, pawing into the drifts where they barred his progress, -snorting his protest, not at Jean, but at the elements, though never -pausing in his efforts, which made him breathe hard, and more than once -slow up for his second wind. - -Jean had ridden from her earliest childhood, and had a man's seat in the -saddle. Now she leaned forward, her arms clasped about the great, -heaving neck, the while speaking encouraging words into the ears laid -back to catch her voice. As they drew near the more thickly settled -portion of Riveredge, the blank, dense silence in which it lay impressed -her strongly. During the first half mile the electric lights at measured -intervals cast their fantastic gleam and shadows upon the snow. In this -section they were numerous and brought into stronger relief the ghostly -houses. Far off some shivering dog howled dismally, and instantly Jean -thought of old Mammy's superstitions, and her convictions "dat ef he -howl _two_ times an' stop, it sure is fer a man ter die." This dog had -howled "two times." Jean was not superstitious, but she was the child of -southern-born parents, and had been "raised" by a very typical southern -"Mammy." Tradition is very hard to overcome. She shivered, but not from -the biting cold, though her feet were numb from it. - -Not a human being was in sight as she turned into the street upon which -Dr. Black's house stood five blocks further down. They might almost as -well have been fifty, for the street was narrower than most of the -others, and running north and south had caught the full brunt of the -northeaster. More than one piazza and front door was banked nearly to -the piazza roof, and the street itself practically impassable. - -Baltie had come bravely thus far, but such a white mountain as now lay -before him was enough to daunt a young horse, much less an old blind -one. He stopped, his flanks heaving, his head drooping. Jean was almost -ready to give up in despair, for the cold had chilled her to the bone, -and feet and hands were almost without sensation. - -"Oh, Baltie, Baltie, my dear old horse, can't you go a little further? -Can't you, dear? Please, please try just once more. It's only a very -little way now; only such a little way! I can see the light in front of -Dr. Black's door. I'd get off your back and walk, or try to, if I didn't -know that I couldn't go five steps. Come, Baltie, please try just once -more." - -Perhaps it was Jean's pleading, perhaps Baltie's wind had returned; at -all events, he raised his head, gave a wild snort, a mad plunge, and, -after a desperate struggle, floundered up to Dr. Black's gate. The house -was barely twenty feet from it, but the snow was up to Jean's waist. - -She never knew how she forced her way through it, or reached the -electric button. She only knew she must do it somehow. When, in response -to its prolonged jingling by his bedside, Dr. Black came back to this -world of real things from the world of dreams, into which a long, hard -day of work and exposure had carried him, and making a hurried toilet -hastened down to the door, he found a huddled heap upon the doormat, and -saw in the drifts beyond a quivering, panting horse. - -In two minutes the whole household was astir, kind Mrs. Black had Jean -up in her bedroom, the doctor administering restoratives, the doctor's -man had led Baltie around to the stable and was caring for him with all -possible despatch. - -"Look after her, Polly, and don't let her leave that bed until I say she -may. I must be off to Mrs. Carruth's. I don't believe she even knows -this child is here. It's all the result of this confounded storm and the -wires being down. Such a blizzard as this hasn't struck Riveredge in -thirty years." - -It did not take Dr. Black as long to reach Mrs. Carruth's home as it had -taken Jean to reach his, and when he arrived he found a distracted -household. Hadyn had rushed over to the Bee-hive to find Jean vanished, -Mrs. Carruth entirely absorbed with Charles, who was in a very critical -condition, and Mammy nearly beside herself. As Hadyn, in spite of Mrs. -Carruth's protests, insisted upon going after Dr. Black, he was -confronted by that gentleman at the very door. - - - - -CHAPTER XIII - -AFTERMATH. - - -That storm of March, 19--, claimed many a victim. More than one was -frozen to death, many died from the exposure, and many more were -invalids for months as the result of it. All that terrible night Dr. -Black worked over old Charles, with Mammy and Hadyn to aid him, and -Constance to vibrate between the house and the cottage, for with the -first peep of dawn Mr. Henry's man came over to dig out the snow-bound -family and make a path from house to cottage. Mrs. Carruth, upon -learning of Jean's desperate rush for Dr. Black and her collapse at his -doorstep, started instantly for his home. Charles could claim a great -deal from her, but the claim of her own was far greater, and Dr. Black's -sleigh and powerful horse carried her to Jean as quickly as the great -snowdrifts permitted. - -But Jean was really none the worse for her mad ride once she was warmed -and had partaken of Mrs. Black's cup of steaming hot chocolate. She was -as strong and pliable as a hickory sapling, which, the storm having -passed over it, springs erect and is as vigorous as ever. Mrs. Black -soon reassured Mrs. Carruth, and at length had the satisfaction of -seeing them both fast asleep in her guest room, Mrs. Carruth's arm, even -in her sleep, laid caressingly and protectingly across Jean's shoulder. -Both were worn out, and noon had struck before they wakened to reproach -themselves for their long rest and to make inquiry for Charles. Dr. -Black had just returned, and reported a decided improvement in the old -man. - -"And Baltie--dear old Baltie?" demanded Jean. - -"Baltie is sure enough in clover, little girl," answered the good -doctor. "Dried clover, and last summer's clover, to be sure, but none -the less clover, for Dick has nearly buried him in it, and the old -fellow seems none the worse for his struggle through snowdrifts. But you -are both trumps--the queen of hearts and the king, by George! I don't -know how you did it!" - -"We _had_ to do it. There wasn't anyone else to." - -Dr. Black took the earnest face in both his hands, and, looking into the -hazel eyes, said: - -"It is a pity a few more are not convinced of that 'we had to.'" - -Then he drove his guests back to their home. It was agreed that Baltie -should not be taken out of Dr. Black's stable until the weather -moderated. - -A week passed. Charles was out of danger, but still required the closest -attention, and Constance insisted upon a nurse from Memorial Hospital. -Mammy protested, but her protests were of no avail. Constance saw very -quickly that weeks of careful nursing lay ahead, and she would not -permit her mother to overtax her strength. Mammy must attend to her -cooking and the luncheon counter, now that Charles could not. Constance -had her own hands full with her candy kitchen, for, even with Mary and -Fanny Willing to assist her, she had all she could do to keep abreast of -her orders. So the nurse took command in Mammy's bedroom, and Mammy had -to yield. - -Perhaps no one felt the situation half as keenly as Hadyn did. That he -had dozed off in that hour and a half in which so much occurred filled -him with a remorse he could not overcome. He had been left at a post of -duty at a critical hour, and he had failed ignominiously. He would not -admit any extenuating circumstances, for he sincerely felt that there -were none. If others had kept awake when it was imperative to keep -awake, why had he not done so? If little Jean had been able to do so, -and when he had failed her had undertaken such a ride, undaunted by the -hour, the darkness, the loneliness and the terrific storm, while he -dozed snugly before the open fire--oh, it was intolerable, disgraceful! -And these friends had done so much for him! True, no harm had come to -Jean or to the others, but Hadyn shuddered when he pictured what might -have happened in those ninety minutes. Coax and urge as he would he -could not induce Jean to admit that she had signalled to the house for -aid, albeit he felt as certain that she had done so as if he had seen -the electric light flashed. When he urged she simply closed her lips and -shook her head, and as no one else, not even Constance, could enlighten -him, he had to let the matter drop. - -In the course of the next week Baltie came hobbling back to his home. In -spite of all the care given him at Dr. Black's, the old horse showed the -effects of his exposure and the terrible tax upon his strength that wild -night; yet none who loved him so well dreamed that the great summons had -really come to the animal which had given more than thirty years of -faithful service to his friends. From little colthood he had been -Grandfather Raulsbury's pet until the old man's death. Then had come the -dreadful interval of evil days when Jabe Raulsbury had so misused him, -to be followed by the happier ones with the Carruths--days of unremitting -care, affection and happiness for Baltie and those who loved him, and -especially to Jean and Mammy. And how generously he had requited their -devotion to him! Indeed, the last act of his life was to be recorded as -one of service to those he loved--a service which had undoubtedly saved -the life of one who had tenderly ministered to his comfort. But for -Baltie's devotion Charles' life could not have been saved, all agreed, -and the one who loved the blind horse more than any other excepting Jean -would have mourned her old husband. Mammy's heart was large enough to -take in all the world if they needed her love and care, though she often -hid that fact beneath an assumed aggressiveness. That was Mammy's way. - -From the hour that Baltie had become the joint property of Jean and -Mammy, and later the ownership had embraced Charles, they had not missed -visiting his stable the first thing in the morning. For a long time -Mammy's was the first voice the blind old horse heard when he greeted -the morning sunlight which streamed into his big box stall; Mammy's the -first hand to minister to his comfort and caress him. Then, as soon as -she was dressed, Jean flew to the stable, and a pretty scene always -followed. When Charles came into the family he was the one to go first -to the stable; but neither Jean nor Mammy ever failed to visit Baltie a -little later, and during those years he had become almost human. Only -human speech seemed denied him, but this lack he supplied by his own -Houyhnhum language, and the silent but most eloquent language of the -eyes and ears which God has given mute creatures--each so very wonderful -if dull humans will only try to learn them. In the audible one are -almost as many inflections as in the broader range of the human voice, -and it is a dull intellect indeed which cannot interpret: - -"I love you. I am cold. I am hungry. I am parched with thirst," and a -hundred other sentences, or read the language of the eyes and ears. - -And Baltie's vocabulary was a liberal one; his conversational powers, -exceptional; his friends understanding the keenest. - -As often occurs, that blizzard, which is now history, was followed by -weather as soft and balmy as mid-April rather than late March. As if by -magic the snow disappeared, running away in rivers of water and leaving -the turf beneath showing promising bits of green, which made one feel -little tingles of joy at the hint of springtime. Only in sunless spots -did banks of snow linger surlily and soiled, like some malign creature -beaten, but yet too vindictive to withdraw. The stable fronted south, -and all the graciousness of that early spring sunshine fell upon it and -entered its doors the minute they were opened. In spite of her anxiety -for Charles, and her increased labors as the result of his illness and -convalescence, Mammy had somehow found time to visit Baltie each day, -though she was not often able to do so early in the morning. It was Jean -who ran out to him long before anyone else was astir, and more than once -had Constance been obliged to go out after her, lest she forget -breakfast, school, and everything else. - -Baltie had been back in his own stable about a week when he began to -show signs that the wonderful machinery which had endured for so many -years was wearing out. Had Charles or Mammy been looking after him then, -they would have recognized the signs; but Mr. Henry's man, though he did -everything for Baltie's comfort, saw in him nothing but a worn-out old -horse, which must very soon go the way of all old worn-out horses, and -Jean lacked experience to understand. So the climax came when no one -dreamed it was pending. - -It was a wonderful morning in mid-April. Out in the garden some pioneer -robins had ventured into the northern world, and were calling madly to -one another of the grave responsibilities of selecting building sites, -and constructing homes against the arrival of their wives, who had, like -themselves, been wintering in the South. On the southern terrace a few -venturesome crocuses popped their heads up through the moist earth to -smile a "howdy, friend," at a passerby. Off in the distance the river -lay like a mirror, with vast ice floes dropping down stream with the -tide, crystal barges for Elaine, and moving as silently, each duplicated -in the water mirror that floated them, as were also the opposite shore -and mountains. A wonderful picture, mirage-like in its outline and -exquisite coloring. Those who knew that river best read the signs -unerringly. The farmers living in the environs of Riveredge called this -peculiar atmospheric condition a "weather breeder." - -There was something in Jean which fairly leaped out to meet the newly -awakened world and springtide. From a little child she had lived very -close indeed to nature's heart. The first balmy breath of spring seemed -to intoxicate her; the first bird-call could throw her into an ecstacy; -an early spring blossom invariably caused a rapture; summer's languor -and richness bore her off into a beautiful world of her own; autumn's -"mellow, yellow, ripening days, floating in a golden coating of a -dreamy, listless haze," conveyed her instantly into dreamland; winter's -frost and sparkle produced the wildest exhilaration. Was it any wonder -that, coming out into the early morning sunlight of that soft springlike -day, with bird notes filling the air, and her own pulses thrilling with -life at its dawn, Jean's cheeks glowed and her eyes sparkled with the -very joy of living? - -It was still very early and no one yet astir. Over in Mammy's cottage a -faint smoke wraith floated up from the chimney, telling that Mammy was -astir. Jean had thrown a warm cape about her, for the morning air still -had its chill, and, enticed by the sunlight, she ran down the piazza -steps, inhaling deep breaths of the delicious air. Pausing a moment to -revel in it all, her eyes fell upon the stable. The next second she was -darting away like a swallow, no premonition in her heart of what lay -behind its closed doors. - -Opening the door she entered with a soft whistle. When had there failed -to be an instant response to that whistle? This time there was silence -only. - -"Oh, Baltie, dear! Come, Baltie!" she called, running across to the box -stall and opening the door. Then there was a low cry, and Jean stood for -a moment as though petrified. On the sweet, clean straw lay the old -horse, body inert, limbs relaxed, head resting upon its bed of soft -straw as a tired, worn-out veteran's might rest upon his pillow, his -eyes closed, and without a flutter of the delicate nostrils to indicate -breathing. Life seemed extinct. With a piteous cry Jean glided to the -horse's head and dropped upon her knees, clasping her arms about the -silky neck. - -"Baltie, oh, Baltie, dear, look at me! Speak to me," she begged. - -The eyelids fluttered, and the faintest possible nicker was breathed -through the nostrils as he strove to raise his head. Too late! The angel -of death was about to claim one of his most faithful creatures, and, let -us hope, the recording angel was already checking off the deeds of a -devoted life and a disposition which many of his friends claiming -immortality might emulate. - -"Oh, my Baltie, my Baltie!" sobbed Jean, slipping into a sitting -position and lifting the horse's head into her lap. "Must you leave me? -Must your life end now? I love you so, Baltie, I love you so! You have -been so good, so faithful! How can I let you die? how can I?" and with -heartbreaking sobs Jean buried her head in the silky forelock as her -arms clasped the great head. - -Slowly the sunlight which Baltie and Jean so loved crept around and -looked into the window of the stall. On a branch just beyond the window -a bluebird caroled as though not in all the sunlit world was there -sorrow or death. - -In the stall Jean sat motionless. Her first impulse had been to rush for -aid; but who could aid in this extremity? Instinctively the girl knew it -to be the end, and somehow, in her great love for her pet, she did not -wish anyone else to intrude upon the moment of his passing. She had no -idea of the flight of time. Ten minutes or an hour might have passed -without her noting them. Baltie lay perfectly still, his head in her -lap, her arms clasping his neck. Gently, sweetly as he had lived, so was -Baltie slipping out of the world of sentient creatures. Only the -faintest flutter of breath indicated that life lingered. His effort to -greet the one he loved seemed to have demanded his last atom of -vitality. After a little Jean's sobs ceased, though tears still fell -upon the satiny head. She did not know how long she had been in the -stall, when just the softest sigh was breathed from the delicate -nostrils, a faint quiver passed over the great frame, and Baltie was at -rest forever. Gently as he had lived, so had Baltie died. - -Two hours later Mammy came out to the stable in quest of Jean. - - - - -CHAPTER XIV - -IN THE SPRINGTIDE. - - -It is probable that not even those who loved her best realized how Jean -had loved the pet which had been her daily companion for nearly four -years. The very fact that she had rescued him from a miserable death, -nursed and tended him to restored health, had felt his love for her -growing with each day, made Baltie nearer and dearer to her than a -young, vigorous horse could ever have been. - -Baltie was now resting in his lowly bed at the foot of the garden, but -Jean did not cease to grieve for him. When Mammy had found her with -Baltie's head in her lap that morning there had been a pathetic little -scene--for Mammy loved the old horse as dearly as Jean loved him; but had -she been entirely indifferent to him, the fact that her baby loved him -would have been enough to exalt him above all other animals in Mammy's -sight. Jean was utterly exhausted by her grief and benumbed from her -cramped position when Mammy found her, and the good old soul was -genuinely alarmed when she tried to help the child to her feet. Baltie's -weight and her cramped position had completely arrested circulation. In -spite of her own grief Mammy lifted Baltie's head from Jean's lap, laid -it gently upon the straw and then helped the girl up, or tried to, for -Jean was too numb to stand. - -"Bress Gawd, what comin' to us nex'?" she cried, half carrying Jean to -the house, where Constance met them. - -It was hours before Jean could walk unaided, and many days before the -girl smiled again. Mrs. Carruth grew troubled, and one afternoon spoke -to Hadyn about her. - -"I am so distressed about it. She is filled with remorse for having -taken Baltie out that night, and that, added to her grief for him, is -making the child positively ill. I have done my best to make her -understand that Baltie had already lived far beyond a horse's allotted -years, and that very soon he must have come into his long rest, but I -seem to make no impression." - -"If I had been on hand when needed he would be alive this minute, and my -little girl happy and cheery as ever," protested Hadyn. "I'll never, -never forgive myself that lapse as long as I live, and nothing I can do -will ever atone for it. It was the most contemptible failure of which I -have ever been guilty; but I declare to you, I'm going to do something -to make reparation. Where is Jean now?" - -"She went down to the Arcade for Constance about an hour ago, but she -ought to be back very soon." - -"I'll walk down and meet my little sister. I've a scheme simmering far -back in my witless mind which may take form and shape if I can keep -awake. Au revoir, little mother," and with the grace so characteristic -of him, Hadyn raised her hand and pressed his lips to it! There was no -one on earth he loved as he loved this gentle, gracious woman. - -Riveredge in its late April dress was very dainty. She seemed to be -preparing for Easter, which this year fell late in the month, and over -all the world lay the softest veil of gossamer green. The air was -redolent of cherry and apple blossoms, and filled with bird notes. - -As Hadyn walked down the steep roadway, which led from the Carruth's to -the broader highway, he saw Jean coming toward him and waved his hand in -greeting. As he hurried toward her he called: - -"Well met, little sister," raising his hat and extending his hand. - -A quick light sprung into Jean's eyes. "I like that," she said, with a -quaint, little upraising of her head. - -"Like what, Jean?" - -"I like to have a man bow as you do, Champion. Because I'm only fourteen -and still wear short skirts some of them seem to think a nod and -'how-d'-do' is all that is required of them, but I don't agree with -them." - -Hadyn did not betray the amusement this characteristic little comment -caused him. He knew Jean to be more observing of the amenities than most -girls of her age, and that all her Southern instincts demanded the -chivalrous attention which generations of her ancestors had received -from men. Many of her girl friends laughed at her and teased her, but -that did not lower her standard of what was due womanhood from manhood. - -"I should be unworthy the name you've given me if I forgot," said Hadyn. - -"It wouldn't make one bit of difference whether I had given you that -name or not, you couldn't be different." - -"Thank you. But where are you going now?" - -"Nowhere in particular. Amy is away and Connie up to her eyes in the -month's accounts. So I'm adrift." - -"How would you like to come for a walk in the woods with me? I am not -going back to the office this afternoon, for the fever is on me. The -call of the woods gets into my blood sometimes, and then I've got to -tramp. Only trouble is, I can't always get a tramping companion. Will -you come?" - -"I'd love to, but I must let mother know, she might worry." - -"She won't, because she knows I came to ask you to go with me if I could -find you." - -They struck into a side road, which presently became a mere wood path -leading up the mountain, and from which a little higher up an exquisite -picture of the river and opposite mountains could be seen. Hadyn, -pausing at a broad, flat rock, said: - -"Let's sit down and enjoy all this. Come, sit beside me, little sister." - -Jean dropped down upon the lichen-covered rock, warm and dry in the -afternoon sunshine which fell upon it, and said: - -"Isn't it beautiful? Isn't all the world beautiful? Why need anybody or -anything in it ever die, and why will other people make them. Oh, -Champion, if I only hadn't made Baltie!" and quick tears sprung into her -eyes. During the two weeks since Baltie's death Jean had actually lost -flesh and grown pale in her sorrow and remorse for what she believed to -be purely the result of her want of thought. - -Hadyn put his hand on hers and, looking into her eyes, asked: - -"Little sister, do you know how that hurts _me_? It was not your want of -forethought that night, but my faithlessness which carried you out into -that terrible storm, and I shall never, never forgive myself. You might -have been the victim instead of old Baltie, but as it is his life paid -the penalty of my lapse. True, he was very old and might not have lived -a great deal longer, but his end certainly would not have been hastened, -or your loving heart grieving as it now is had I done my duty. Can you -ever forgive me, dear?" - -As Hadyn talked a swift change swept over Jean's expressive face; a new -light sprung into her eyes, and she said: - -"Why, Champion, I never for one single second blamed you. Did you think -I did? Oh, you couldn't think that, not when you know how dearly I love -you, and how good you've always been to Baltie and me. Why, you saved -his life, you know, and have always helped me look out for him; and -you've done hundreds and hundreds of things for us both. Please, please -never say that again. You didn't know I was going to signal that night." - -"Ah, but I _did_ know it, and it was only upon that condition that -Constance consented to go upstairs to bed. She thought she could trust -me to answer that signal, but you see she couldn't, and all this is the -result. You are grieving for your pet until you are almost ill from it, -and I feel like--like, oh, like the most contemptible thing that ever -happened. What can I do to help, little one? It hurts me to see you or -yours unhappy." - -"I shall not be unhappy," was Jean's instant assertion. "I do miss -Baltie terribly, for I loved him, and--and he seemed so much mine, and -was so good and faithful--" here a little sob checked her words. Hadyn -slipped his arms about her, and she leaned her head upon his shoulder. -This big "brother" was a great source of strength and comfort to her. -Then she resumed: "But I shall not let it make you unhappy, too. I dare -say I am silly--the girls laugh at me and say I am, but I can't help -it--when I love anybody, or anything, I _love_ them, and that's all there -is about it. Baltie knew me better than he knew anyone else, and loved -me better. No one knows or believes how he understood me, or I him, and -it is no use trying to make them; but I feel as if some part of me had -gone without having him to love and visit and pet every day, and have -him snuggle up to me. I wish horses could have monuments raised to their -memory, and some record kept of their good deeds and faithfulness for -people to read. My goodness, more good things could be said of Baltie -this minute, and they'd be true, too, than can be said of that dreadful -old Jabe Raulsbury; and yet when he died last year they put up a -tombstone for him the very first thing, and what do you think they had -inscribed on it?" - -"I'm sure I don't know," and Hadyn smiled at the thought of any -commendatory legend being placed upon the monument of the irascible -Jabe, whose life had been one long series of quarrels with his -neighbors, brutality to the dumb creatures which had lucklessly fallen -into his hands, and whose last act had been to fly into a wild rage and -beat his wife. Fortunately, it had been his last transgression, for a -neighbor, hearing her screams, had rushed to her aid, and Jabe, hearing -his approach, and starting to escape by a back door, had pitched -headlong through an open trap-door and into his cellar. Several broken -bones and some internal injuries brought him his just desserts of four -months' torture, ending in his death, and the town drew a sigh of -relief. Then his widow erected a monument to his memory. It bore this -memorial to the deceased Jabe: - - "A loving husband, tender brother. - Never shall we find another," - -The first statement was open to doubt, also, the second, for Ned -Raulsbury, who had not had the pleasure of fraternal intercourse with -his brother Jabe for many years, unless a ten years' lawsuit to secure -his own share of the estate represented it, probably congratulated -himself that he was not likely to "find another." - -Jean repeated the legend with infinite scorn, and Hadyn laughed -outright. Then growing serious again, he said: - -"Perhaps a better record of Jabe's true character is preserved in his -neighbors' memory of him, and I should think that Mrs. Raulsbury might -now draw her first free breath. It _is_ true that a man's death can -sometimes bring oblivion of his evil deeds. Poor old Baltie might have -told a few of Jabe's, but even had he possessed human speech I doubt if -he would have so employed it. Baltie was a gentleman. And, Little -Sister, as a gentleman he must have a monument. Yes, I mean it. A shaft -shall mark the old horse's resting-place down there in the garden, and I -shall have it erected; it is the least I can do under the circumstances. -Don't say anything about it to anyone. What would you like inscribed on -it, dear?" - -As Hadyn talked in his deep, softly-modulated voice, Jean's face grew -radiant. At his concluding question she clasped his hand in both of hers -and pressed her lips to it again and again, exclaiming: - -"No one but you would ever have understood! No, not anyone. You have -_always_ understood; right from the very first day I knew you. Baltie -would never have been saved on that awful day, or ever have been mine at -all, if it hadn't been for you, Champion, and oh, how hard, hard, hard I -love you for it. Please don't ever go away from us; I couldn't live -without you now; none of us could; you'll be just one of us always, -won't you, Champion?" - -Jean was too deeply in earnest to be aware that Hadyn's face was -flushing, or of the strange expression creeping into his eyes: a light -of wonderful tenderness and yearning. He looked steadily into the eyes -regarding him so earnestly as he said: - -"Little Sister, do you realize that your home is the only real home I -have known in many years? That when you and Eleanor and Constance agreed -to share with me 'a part of Mother,' as you so sweetly expressed it, you -made me your debtor forever and ever? Can you understand how very dear -that little Mother of yours is to me, or how much her daughters' welcome -into their home has done to spare me a great many lonely hours? True, -there are many friends in the outer world, but that house was once my -Mother's home, you know, and all my boyhood was spent in it. To go back -to it under almost any conditions would seem almost like entering my own -doors, but to be welcomed to it as I have been makes it--well, some day -you may understand just what it _does_ make it, little girl. And now I -want to tell you something else: You miss old Baltie, I know, and -nothing can ever quite fill his place for you, but your heart is big, -true and warm enough to hold another, isn't it? For some time I have -been dissatisfied with the care given Comet down in that South Riveredge -boarding stable. They are careless in grooming him, and someone, I can't -find out which man, is not treating him kindly. Comet never knew the -meaning of a harsh or impatient word until he went there, never feared a -blow----" - -"Strike Comet!" cried Jean, all her sense of justice outraged. - -"Not exactly strike him, I think, but there are many ways of making a -high-strung, thoroughbred horse's life a torture. A sudden slap when -grooming him, a shout if he does not step around briskly, or even a blow -on his muzzle with the curry-comb. They may not inflict any great amount -of pain, but they soon get on his nerves, and the next thing we know we -have a horse that starts and plunges at the first sharp word; jerks his -head up if anyone raises a hand toward it; shrinks at the sight of a -curry-comb as from an instrument of torture. Comet never before -manifested any of those signs, but now I'm beginning to notice them, and -I don't like it a little bit. I wouldn't have that horse ruined for ten -times his price in dollars, and so I'm going to see what I can do to -place him where all chance of it will be removed." - -"Where, where are you going to send him?" cried Jean, clasping her hands -in her eagerness. - -"How would you like to have him come and live down yonder with you?" -asked Hadyn, nodding toward Jean's home, which could be seen from their -woodland nook. - -"In our stable: Comet? To be there all the time so I could go out to see -him every single day, and he'd grow to love me just as Baltie did? Do -you really mean it? Could I?" - -"I think Comet will meet your advances more than half way. He has been -treated like a child since his colthood, and you know how he understands -_me_. I've had a long talk with the little mother, and she has agreed to -let me keep Comet down there, and my man Parsons is to take care of him, -to sleep in the coachman's room upstairs and board with Mammy. You know -most of his color find 'just naturally doing nothing' quite to their -liking; but Parsons seems to be of different clay, so we will make him -happy by keeping him busy. Good plan all around, don't you think so?" - -"I think you are just the splendidest, dearest man that ever lived, and -Comet shall have the best care in all the world, and if any living being -so much as points a finger at him I'll--I'll--well, I just tell you, -they'd better not! Now, let's go right back home and tell Connie all -about it. You know she loves Comet as much as you or I love him, and -she'll be tickled to death to have him right there," and Jean bounded to -her feet all enthusiasm, her eyes shining and cheeks glowing, for -something to love and care for was absolutely essential to Jean's -happiness. - -And so it came to pass that about a week later Comet was installed in -the Carruth stable, and if ever a horse came into an earthly paradise, -Comet came into one in this new home. - -Jean was in a rapture, and truly no horse-lover could fail to fall -complete victim to Comet's charms. It was the balm needed for Jean's -sorrow for Baltie, and when, in the course of the following weeks, a -granite shaft was placed over Baltie's grave, the little girl was as -happy as she well could be. - -The shaft bore the legend: - - TO BALTIE. - - _For Thirty Years a Faithful Friend and Servitor._ - - Perhaps in some more blissful realm - Your eyes will beam on us again, - And we shall find that great and small, - God _is_ the father of us all. - - - - -CHAPTER XV - -MAMMY MAKES A DISCOVERY. - - -June had come, and with June came Eleanor's graduation. During her -various holidays Eleanor had returned to Riveredge, and with each return -of Eleanor there was vigorous renewal of visits from Homer Forbes. -Forbes seemed deeply occupied in the intervals, and those most -interested in the progress of affairs at the Irving School wondered at -his long absence during the afternoons and his frequent walks up the -mountain to a plateau at its summit. More than once had some of the -pupils of the Irving School met him as he strolled along toward it, head -bent in deepest meditation, hat drawn down over his eyes, hands clasped -behind him, and "munchin', munchin', munchin', fer all de spi't an' -image ob a goat," said Mammy, who frequently came upon him as he passed -through the Arcade, for he never set forth upon his rambles without -fortifying himself with a box of Constance's candies. - -Since the fall Jean had not journeyed to the Irving School with her -candies, so the sweet-tooth Forbes was obliged to go after his sweeties -or do without them. But it did not seem to inconvenience him. The Arcade -lay upon his way, and nothing short of dynamite was ever likely to hurry -him. He would buy his box of chocolates and start off, leaving behind -him a little trail of the paraffin papers in which they had been -wrapped, and by which anyone so minded might have followed him miles. -Sometimes, if he had absent-mindedly forgotten to eat any luncheon, he -would supplement his box of candies with some of Mammy's sandwiches, and -it was upon one of these occasions that his call at Mammy's counter led -to a curious disclosure. - -With the warm spring weather Charles' health improved steadily; but -Mammy had no idea of risking a repetition of her recent experiences by -permitting Charles to take needless risks. On dull days or damp ones -Charles must bide at home in his cottage, or do little indoor jobs for -his mistress. True, Hadyn's man left very little for the old man to do, -for Hadyn had been very careful to tell Parsons that Mrs. Carruth must -not want for any service he could render her, and at the same time -tactfully spare old Charles' feelings. And Parsons was a clever young -negro, as well as a devoted one to Hadyn. - -And it so fell out that Mammy went down to the Arcade rather oftener -than usual that spring, and consequently saw many things. Among others -was the frequency with which Mr. Elijah Sniffins haunted Arch Number -One. - -Now, Mammy had absolutely no use for Mr. Elijah Sniffins, as may be -remembered. Of course, she conceded him the right to purchase all the -candy he wished; but why should he dawdle over his selection, and then -tarry to talk with Miss Boggs until the girl seemed almost panic -stricken? As near as Mammy could discover, she wished him anywhere but -in Arch Number One, and one Saturday morning Mammy took it upon herself -to keep a sharp lookout. Several times during the morning she made -excuses to go down to the counter for boxes of candy for some of her own -customers, and twice found Sniffins there engaged in a very confidential -conversation with Miss Boggs. Upon her approach he made most impressive -bows to the young lady, and departed with slow insolence. - -"'Pears lak dat man powerful set 'pon dese hyer candies," remarked -Mammy. - -"Yes, I guess he does like them pretty well," answered Miss Boggs. - -"You know him quite a spell back?" was Mammy's next question. - -"Oh, yes, for some time," was the hasty answer. "Did you want some more -of those pralines, Mammy?" and Miss Boggs fluttered nervously among the -boxes in the case, bending low to avoid Mammy's sharp eyes. As Mammy -stood talking Homer Forbes came strolling up to the candy counter. - -"Good-morning, Mammy Blairsdale. As usual, you have a watchful eye upon -Miss Constance's interests, I see." - -"Mor'in', Marsa Fo'bes. Yas, sir. Dat's what ma eyes were done give me -fo', an' dey ain't often playin' me no tricks, neider. Dey's good, sharp -eyes, if dey _is_ ol' ones," was Mammy's sibyl-like answer. - -"You proved that fact to me many months ago," said Forbes, with one of -his whimsical, inscrutable smiles. "I should hate to have a guilty -conscience and have you cast your eyes upon me. I'd give myself away as -sure as shooting. I'd be sure you'd read my secret if I had one. Lucky I -haven't!" - -"Yas, sir, 'tis. Mos' culled folks has de gif ob secon' sight, dey say. -I ain't rightly know what secon' sight is mase'f, but I knows dis much -p'intedly: I knows dat dey ain't many folks what kin fool me fer long. -Dey like 'nough fool me a little while, but I ketches dem sooner or -later. Yas, sah, I does. Yo' gwine for one ob yo' strolls terday? 'Pears -lak yo' powerful taken wid dat mountain walk, yo' go 'long up dat a-way -so f'equently. Better stop ter ma lunch counter an' git a snack ter take -'long wid yo'." - -How innocent the words, yet what a strange effect they produced upon -Miss Boggs. Forbes did not notice it at all, but Mammy missed nothing. - -"Good idea. I'll be along presently," said Forbes, as he selected his -box of chocolates, and reached into the pocket of his trousers for the -change, rather abstractedly staring at Miss Boggs as he did so. The girl -seemed greatly disconcerted by the look, though, as a matter of fact, -Forbes himself was barely aware of her presence. It was not lost upon -Mammy, who had given one swift, backward glance as she turned to go down -the Arcade. A moment later Forbes reached her counter. - -"Give me a good snack to-day, Mammy Blairsdale. I've much on my mind -these days, and must keep the brain well fed." - -"Reckons yo'll find _dat_ wholesome-lak," returned Mammy, handing him a -neat little package. - -"What's the damage?" he asked. - -"None 'tall lessen yo' drap it, er sits on it. If yo' does dat it'll -squash." - -"Nonsense! How much?" - -"Ain't I say nothin', sah?--wid de complements ob de firm," was Mammy's -grandiloquent answer. Then, coming closer, she asked: - -"Massa Fo'bes, I wonner if yo' kin he'p me wid somepin what's pesterin' -ma min' mightily?" - -"I'll help you if I can, Mammy Blairsdale. What is it?" - -"Kin yo' tell me who dat girl down yonder is?" - -"Which girl?" asked Forbes, turning to look down the corridor. - -"None yo' kin _see_. I means de one dat's yonder at Miss Constance's -counter." - -"Oh, that one? Why, she is a Miss Boggs, isn't she?" - -"No, she _ain't_," contradicted Mammy, emphatically. "She may _call_ -herse'f Miss Boggs if she wanter, but I'll bait yo' she ain't Miss Boggs -no mo'n I'm Miss Brown! I'se seen dat girl somewhar's else befo', an' -I'se gwine ter fin' more 'bout her dan I knows now. She favors someone -else I knows, an' I ain't got er mite er use fer dat someone else, -neider. Is yo' know Mr. 'Lijer Sniffins?" - -"The Fire Insurance Agent down on State Street?" - -"Yas, sir, dat's him I means." - -"Yes, by sight, and enough to have him insure the few worldly goods I -possess." - -"He's at dat counter de hull endurin' time, 'specially when he git a -notion Miss Constance gwine come down, and he'n dat girl jes' as thick -as thieves." - -"He and Miss Constance?" cried Forbes, aghast. - -"Gawd bress ma soul, _no_, sir. I means dat Miss Boggs; an' what I wants -ter fin' out is what fo' he got any call ter jist na'chelly live dar." - -"Maybe it's a charming romance right under your very eyes, Mammy -Blairsdale. Surely you do not wish to play the kill-joy?" - -"Kill-joy! Huh!" retorted Mammy. "I ain't gwine be no fool, neider. I -tells yo' I never _is_ like dat man, an' if he's takin' ter pesterin' -dat girl he gotter quit; an' if 'tain't de girl it's some other -divilmint he got in his haid. I ain' trus' him no furder'n I kin see his -shadder; no, I ain'." - -"Has he been there when Miss Constance was at the counter?" - -"If he ain't bin dar, he bin whar he kin watch her 'thout her -s'pici'nin' it. Time'n agin I'se done seen him tip in dat men's -furnishin' Arch, Number Six, pertendin' lak he buyin' neckties an' all -kynds ob fummadiddles. Reckon he do buy a heap, too, for he jes' -splurgin' fer fair dese days." - -"Dare say he is trying to make a good impression upon the lady of his -heart," laughed Forbes. - -"D'ssay he tryn' fer ter mak' a 'pression on someone else, an' he better -quit if he knows what's good fer him. Now, what dat girl scuttlin' down -yonder fer?" was her quick exclamation. Over Forbes' shoulder she had -caught sight of Miss Boggs hurrying down the corridor, ostensibly toward -the lavatory. - -"Candy makes her fingers sticky, Mammy Blairsdale," was Forbes' -half-idle comment as he turned to look over his shoulder in the -direction of Mammy's glance. At that very instant Miss Boggs' profile -was distinctly outlined against the white marble wall behind her, and, -strange coincidence, Elijah Sniffins, turning suddenly around the -corner, came face to face with her. For a brief second each face was -distinctly outlined, then the man and girl passed their opposite ways. - -But in that instant Forbes had received an impression swift as an -electric shock. When he turned to look at Mammy, she remarked: - -"Reckons yo' ain't so near-sighted as dem glasses 'ceivin' folks inter -believin', sah." - -"Where does Sniffins live, Mammy?" - -"Don' know no mo'n de daid," scoffed Mammy. - -"Where does _Miss Boggs_ live?" - -"Bress de Lawd!" exclaimed the old woman, apparently apropos of nothing. - -"Guess I'll cut out the stroll up Mount Parnassus and look after my -insurance. I'm afraid I ought to renew that premium pretty soon. -Good-bye, Mammy Blairsdale. I'll see you later." - -"Good-bye, sah! Yas, sah, reckon yo' had better see me later." - -With his package of luncheon and box of candies, and, as usual, leaving -a trail of paraffin papers behind him, Forbes strolled out of the -Arcade, incidentally noting that Sniffins was selecting cigars at the -counter next Mammy's. Once he was beyond the portals of the Arcade, his -accustomed deliberation of air and manner fell from him, and with a -muttered "I'll learn what is back of all that or jump overboard" he sped -along toward State Street at a rate which would have startled his -friends had any chanced to meet him. - -No one but the office boy was in Sniffins' office. - -"Where's Mr. Sniffins?" demanded Forbes. - -"Dunno." - -"When will he be back?" - -"Dunno." - -"What in thunder _do_ you know, then?" - -"Nothin'." - -"Right you are, son!" and turning Forbes pretended to leave the office. -Suddenly pausing, he whirled around to say: - -"Give me Sniffins' home address; I'll 'phone to him there this evening." -It was a venture, but worth while. - -"Six-twenty Westbank Road." - -"Thanks. Good-day." - -"Day," and the boy returned to the fascinations of "Tom, the -Cow-puncher." - -Then Forbes went his way up the mountains, having accomplished his -object much quicker than he had hoped to. Had anyone been watching him, -once he reached the summit, they might have questioned his sanity. -Deliberately placing his candy box and his luncheon upon a stump, he -began pacing off distances: twenty long strides toward the river, then -twenty at right-angles, pausing to peer toward the mighty stream flowing -six hundred feet below him, for the cliffs were precipitous at that -point. - -"Good site. Magnificent view. Constant inspiration. Bound to succeed. -Purely classical. This will emphasize the illusion. But it must not -_prove_ an illusion; no, not for a moment. It will be a beautiful -reality--a crystallized dream. We will set up our Lares and Penates in -its very center--ahem! I mean--I mean--well I'll try to persuade her to set -hers up beside mine. Wonderful girl! extraordinary, very! Fell in with -my idea at once--at least thought the plan--what was it she pronounced it? -Ah, I recall, 'truly altruistic.' Truly altruistic. Yes, that was it. -Excellent choice of words. Invariably apt and to the point. Yes, the -building shall face this way. Her window--my Lord!" and the monologue -came to an abrupt end as the speaker, turning a vivid scarlet, made a -grab for his edibles, and, seating himself upon a warm rock, began to -devour his luncheon with the dispatch of the animal Mammy insisted he -resembled. The sun was sinking into the West when Forbes came strolling -up to Mrs. Carruth's piazza, where the family had gathered for their -afternoon tea which old Charles was serving. It was the delight of -Charles' heart to serve this little repast. - -This time it was iced tea and lemonade, with some of Mammy's flaky -jumbles and a box of Constance's candy. That piazza was an inviting -spot. Hammocks, lounging chairs and bamboo settees made it more than -luxurious, and the family spent all the time possible in this corner, -which seemed to catch every passing breeze from the river. - -They rose to welcome their guest and offer him refreshment. It was -Eleanor who first reached him, and it was beside Eleanor he ensconced -himself upon one of the pillow-laden settees. - -"Where on earth have you been, you tramp?" asked Hadyn where he swayed -idly back and forth in a hammock, Jean nestling beside him. Jean was -never ten feet from Hadyn if she could help it. His arm encircled her, -and her head rested against his shoulder as she watched Forbes. Jean was -growing into a very beautiful young girl, though still a child at heart. -"A thin slip of a girl like a new morn" exactly described her. Though -Jean was not thin. She was simply lithe and supple. - -"Just on one of my strolls up the mountain. Great old mountain! Fine -view up there! Wonderful place for a residence!" replied Forbes, -devouring jumbles at an alarming rate and quenching his thirst with -glass after glass of lemonade. - -"Great if you have an idea of perfecting an aeroplane. Personally, I'd -not relish rambling up there twice daily, and at present the trail -leaves something to be desired for vehicles which navigate upon this -mundane sphere," laughed Hadyn. - -"How do you know that Mr. Forbes hasn't already invented an air-ship?" -asked Constance. "I hear he goes up there very often, and he may have -ways and means of which we are ignorant." - -"Only Shank's mare," answered Forbes, stretching out a pair of long, -dusty legs. "Jove! I am a sight. I didn't know I was so disreputable. -Beg your pardon, Mrs. Carruth, for intruding upon you like this. Truth -is, I hurried down that trail like an avalanche, for I'd spent more time -at Mammy's counter than usual. By the way, Miss Constance, Mammy asked -me to look up an address for her. Will you please give it to her for -me?" - -"Certainly." - -"Tell her it is 620 Westbank Road." - -"Six-twenty Westbank Road!" repeated Constance, in a surprised voice. -"Why, that is Katherine Boggs' address, and I am almost sure that Mammy -knows it. Why did she ask for Katherine's address, I wonder?" - -"Don't know, I'm sure, for Mammy's ways and wishes are beyond the ken of -the average mortal," laughed Forbes, as he rose to take leave. As he was -about to descend the steps he turned to Eleanor. - -"By the way, if you haven't anything special on hand for to-morrow -afternoon, won't you come for a stroll with me?" he asked. - -"Now, don't you do it, Eleanor," broke in Hadyn. "He means to drag you -clear to the top of that mountain, and these July days are over-warm for -violent exertion. Can't you see, Forbes, that the very thought of it is -making her cheeks flush?" - -"Here, eat another jumble, quick!" cried Constance, catching up the -plate and rushing to the hammock. - -Eleanor and Forbes had sauntered off down the terrace. Hadyn took a -jumble, and with a laugh crowded the whole cake into his mouth, his eyes -dancing with mischief. - -At that moment Mammy popped her head out upon the piazza to ask: - -"Is yo' chillen all got 'nough jumbles?" - -"One of them has more than he can manage," was Constance's merry reply. -"Look at him, Mammy. It was the only way I could close his mouth when he -was inclined to say more than was wise." - -"Don' believe dat, nohow. Marse Hadyn ain' never is ter say wha' he no -b'isness ter," asserted Mammy. - -"Hah! I've _one_ champion, anyway," choked Hadyn. - -"Two," corrected Jean. - -"Oh, Mammy," called Constance after the retreating figure. "Mr. Forbes -says the address you wanted is 620 Westbank Road." - -"Huh? Wha' yo' say?" cried Mammy, whirling about and coming out upon the -piazza again, her face a study. - -"Yes, Miss Boggs' address, Mammy. Why did you ask Mr. Forbes about it? I -could have given it to you, you know." - -"My Lawd!" was Mammy's brief retort, and, turning as quickly as she had -come, she hurried indoors once more. - -"I shall never understand Mammy if I live to be a hundred years old" -said Constance. "I often believe I've solved her riddle, then presto! -here comes a new phase." - -"Leave her alone, Constance. Don't try to solve it. Just take her as she -is, and make sure that her 'chillen' come first in her thoughts," said -Hadyn. "But, by the by, will you come for a ride to-morrow afternoon?" - -"Gladly." - - - - -CHAPTER XVI - -MAMMY A SHERLOCK HOLMES. - - -During the following week Independence Day was celebrated, and such had -become the fame of both Mammy's luncheons and Constance's candies, that -these two busy women found every moment filled more than full. - -Each had reason to remember another July Fourth, and Mary Willing most -reason of all. The Mary Willing of this year bore little resemblance to -the Mary Willing of that one, and a happier girl it would have been hard -to find. Fanny was now staying with Mary, sharing with her the pretty -little room in Mrs. Carruth's home, and had quite won her way into Mrs. -Carruth's heart by her sweet, gentle ways. - -During the spring poor, shiftless Jim Willing had taken himself and his -family out West, thanks to Hadyn's influence in securing for him a -position upon a large farm in Minnesota, where he was not only compelled -to work, but where also, thanks to Hadyn, he could not loaf and drink, -for the man whom he served was not to be trifled with. In May the family -had emigrated, to the intense satisfaction of those most deeply -interested in Mary and Fanny, and the boundless relief of their -neighbors. - -In the course of the week which followed her suspicions concerning -Katherine Boggs, Mammy began to lay her plans, and, as usual, with her -accustomed shrewdness. She did not wish Constance to suspect her -interference, but she was fully resolved to get to the bottom of the -matter. Mammy had already formed her opinion, and Mammy was not often -wrong. Fate seemed to favor her, for one morning, when she happened to -be at her counter, Elijah Sniffins entered the Arcade, and going to the -cigar stand bought a cigar, which he lighted and began to smoke. He then -strolled down toward the candy counter. It was a warm, sultry day, with -scarcely a breath stirring. The window giving upon the street in the -Arch was open, as was the door leading from Constance's little office, -to a short hall communicating with the side street. From her counter -Mammy watched Sniffins until he entered the candy Arch, and then -slipping out of the rear door of the Arcade made her way around the -block and entered Constance's office by the side door. - -For greater protection Constance had hung China silk curtains across the -grillwork, which divided her office from the counter, but these, while -affording her perfect seclusion, did not cut off the sound of a -customer's footfalls. - -Under ordinary circumstances, Mammy would have scorned to resort to such -measures to obtain her end, but she felt pretty sure that her Miss -Constance was being tricked for some purpose, and felt herself justified -in fighting fire with fire. - -With exceptional wisdom for her years Constance had arranged with -Charles and Mammy a little code of signals on the electric buttons -beside her desk and under the counter in her Arch. The signals had -served to good purpose, as has already been shown, for old Charles had -come most opportunely when needed one morning. The code was simple: One -ring meant, "Are you there?"; two, "Come to my counter"; three, "Please -'phone up to Mr. Porter that Miss Carruth needs him at once." This last -call was clearly an emergency call and had never been put to the test; -but both Mammy and Charles, as well as the young colored boy who served -at Mammy's counter, knew that it must not be disregarded for one instant -if it did come. Constance never knew why she had added it to the simple -little code, for she certainly never anticipated any special need for -it. Still, it was a comfort to the young girl to feel that, should -anything serious occur, she could instantly turn to Mr. Porter. - -Mammy entered the office unheard by the two people in the Arch, the -rumble of vehicles in the street drowning all sound of her footfalls. -Sniffins was standing at the counter in earnest conversation with Miss -Boggs. Presently Mammy overheard these words: - -"Lige, I _can't_! I just can't any longer. She's too lovely to me." - -"Ah, shut up that stuff. What does she do for you, anyway! Nothin' mor'n -anybody else would, an' she gets enough out o' you for seven dollars a -week. Gosh, she's makin' seventy if she's makin' a cent. Here, lemme see -that last memorandum of sales made." - -"I haven't got it here," was the low-spoken reply. - -"Then where have you got it? I want it, do you understand." - -"I don't see why you want it. I don't see what good it does you, anyway, -to know how much candy is sold here," was the querulous answer. - -"Ah, what do you know, anyway? You never did have enough sense to go in -out of the rain. _I_ know what I want it for. When I'm sure this -business is makin' the right-sized pile, I'm goin'--well, never mind what -I'm going to do. But what I want you to do right now is to strike for -ten dollars a week--see? You've been here six months on seven dollars, -an' that's long and plenty. Now we're going to have more of the -profits." - -Katherine merely shook her head stubbornly. - -"Does that mean that you won't?" asked Lige, in an ugly tone. - -"Yes, it does." - -"All right, all right. Then you can dust your sweet self out of 620 -mighty quick. No happy home for you of my puttin' up unless you do as I -say, Miss Prude. Now where's that memorandum I want?" - -As he spoke Lige made a move as though he intended to go behind the -counter. Poor, simple little Katherine! She had never been intended to -play a double game. - -At that moment Mammy pressed the button four times. Here was a situation -needing a firmer hand than hers. A moment later the boy at Mammy's Arch -was 'phoning up to Mr. Porter's office. - -"Please, sir, I just got four rings from Miss Carruth's candy Arch, and -Mrs. Blairsdale, she say if ever I git _that_, I must call you up right -smart, and ask you please to go there, 'cause Miss Constance ain't never -goin' to ring four rings unless she need you quick." - -"I'll be there inside of two minutes, Fred," and the receiver was -snapped back. - -"Get away, Lige; are you crazy?" cried Katherine, under her breath, at -the same time foolishly making a dash for her pocketbook which lay upon -a shelf behind her. As she clasped it Lige caught her wrist in a grip -which made her cry aloud in pain. At that moment Mr. Porter entered the -Arch. Lige dropped Katherine's arm and made a dash for Constance's -sanctum, but Mammy had anticipated all this; she had shut and locked the -door leading to the side street. - -"Mebby yo' t'ink mos' eve'ybody as big a fool as yo' is, Mr. Sniffins, -but yo' see dey's _some_ wise an' hones' ones yit, don' yo'? Now, sah, -yo' set yo'sef right spang down on dat ar' cheer t'will I ax yo' a few -ques'ions, wha' Massa Po'tah gwine hyar, an' dat po' li'l fool out -yonder gwine 'splain ef we ses-so. Yas, Massa Po'tah, _I'se_ runnin' -t'ings just now, an', please, sah, keep yo' eye on dat skunk, fo' I -tells yo' he ain't nothin' in de roun' worl' else. Now, _Miss Sniffins_, -yo' please, ma'am, come on hyar, too, fo' yo's needed p'intedly." - -In spite of the serious side of the question, Mr. Porter could not help -smiling at Mammy's generalship. Sniffins stood in the middle of the -room, glowering like a trapped animal, and Katherine entered it -trembling like a leaf. Notwithstanding her righteous wrath, Mammy could -not help pitying the shrinking little figure, and, placing a chair for -her, she said kindly: - -"Dar, dar, chile, don' yo' git so pannicky. Nobody ain' gwine kill yo' -whilst Massa Po'tah an' me close by, dough, Gawd knows wha' dat low-down -sumpin'-nurrer lak ter do if he git a chance; _I_ ain' speculatin'." - -"Mammy, what is the meaning of all this?" interrupted Mr. Porter at this -juncture. - -"Dat's jist 'xactly what I don' sent fo' yo' fer ter fin' out, sah. -Dere's been some sort of debbilmint gwine on hyar fer a right smart -while, an' I'se made it ma b'isness fer ter git scent of it an' trail -it, I has. Dat ar'--dat ar', my Gawd! I spec's I _gotter_ call him a man -kase dar don' seem to be no yether name fo' him, but _he's_ at de bottom -ob it, an' wha' fo' he is, is jist what I means fer ter fin' out befo' I -lets him outer dis hyar office. Now, sah, Massa Po'tah, yo' kin hab de -bench an' question de prisoner." - -Porter had seen enough upon entering the Arch to make him realize that -Mammy had pretty good grounds for her words and the rage which seemed to -almost consume her. Ordinarily Mammy's face was wonderfully serene, but -Mammy was a pure-blooded African negro, born of an African slave -captured and brought to the United States when the slave trade was a -flourishing and disgraceful source of revenue, and Mammy was born not -long after her mother's capture. In moments of excitement all her racial -characteristics dominated to a degree that transformed her. At the -present moment there was a fierce conflict between heredity and -tradition, and the environment and training of a lifetime. - -"Mammy, tell me what took place before I came upon the scene," said Mr. -Porter. "I mean within the last half hour, not before." - -Mammy repeated all she had seen and heard. As she talked Mr. Porter rang -the janitor's bell. When the man appeared he said to him: "Get Terry and -wait with him out in the main corridor. Do it quickly, and don't make a -fuss." Terry was the house detective. - -"Now, Sniffins, sit down and explain what I saw as I entered the Arch. -There is something wrong here, and I've got to get to the bottom of it -right off. It will be useless to beat about the bush now. Mammy has seen -and heard enough to make things very disagreeable for you, I fancy, and -certainly I've seen pleasanter spectacles than your conduct with Miss -Boggs as I entered-----" - -"She ain' Miss Boggs no mo'n I is," broke in Mammy. - -Sniffins would not answer. Mr. Porter turned to the trembling little -figure at the opposite side of the room, real pity in his kind eyes. -Sniffins glowered at her. Catching the look, Mr. Porter turned upon him -like lightning. - -"If you try to intimidate that child, by the great Jehosaphat I'll -either give myself the satisfaction of thrashing you, or turning you -over to Terry on an accusation you'll not like. Now quit it! You haven't -a thing in the world to fear, Miss Boggs; I guess it is all far less -grave than it seems to you this minute. So tell me the whole truth." - -Mr. Porter's voice had changed rapidly from the severe tones directed -toward Sniffins, and now held only encouragement for the terrified girl. -After a few spasmodic sobs she faced him and said: - -"No, Mr. Porter, I shall not try to keep up this deceit any longer. I -told Lige when I began it that it would be useless. I'm not the kind of -girl who can do such things; I'm not smart enough." - -"Reckons yo's too smart fer ter try ter be what he is," broke in Mammy. -Mr. Porter held up his hand to enjoin silence, but if Mammy consented to -keep her tongue still, she could still wag her head and use her eyes, -and to some purpose. - -"My name isn't Boggs, but Sniffins----" - -"What I done tole yo'!" exploded Mammy. - -"Lige is my brother. He wanted me to take the situation. At first I did -not know why he was so anxious for me to. I thought it was just because -he wanted me to have one which he believed might lead to something a -good deal better later on, because Miss Carruth's candy business was -growing fast, and I might get to be a forewoman, or something like that. -You see, I used to know Mary Willing at school, and she and Fanny are -both doing so well, but----" and Katherine hesitated. - -"Go on, Miss Sniffins," said Mr. Porter, encouragingly; but the look -Elijah Sniffins gave his sister was not pleasant. - -"Well, he just made me take this place, and wouldn't let me tell my real -name; and I've been scared nearly to death every day of my life for fear -Mary Willing would come down here, and that would be the end of it all. -But that wasn't the worst; pretty soon I guessed just why Lige wanted me -here, and--and--oh, it seemed as though I just couldn't stand it another -minute; I was so ashamed. Miss Carruth is so kind to me, and has always -been." - -"And the true reason?" interrogated Mr. Porter. - -"Oh, I _can't_ tell it," cried the girl, turning scarlet and burying her -face in her hands. - -"It will be better to do so here than to do so elsewhere, will it not? I -am determined to get to the bottom of all this, now that I have begun, -and much prefer to keep it quiet for the sake of all concerned. I think -I already guess more than you realize. I shall ask a few questions to -make it easier for you?" - -"She ain't got to answer none if she don't want ter," was Elijah's surly -remark. - -"Will you kindly keep quiet until your information is desired?" said Mr. -Porter, quietly. "Your brother wished you to have this situation for two -reasons, I take it: The first for the income and prospective -advancement; the second because it brought you in close touch with Miss -Carruth and might prove a wedge for his social aspirations, which I hear -are ambitious." - -The girl nodded assent. - -"You objected to the deceit practiced and rebelled. Was that the cause -of his anger and gross rudeness as I entered?" - -"Partly." - -"And the rest?" - -"He made me keep strict account of the sales and profits and give him a -memorandum each week," whispered Katherine. - -"Indeed. And to what end?" - -"He said--he said, he'd make up his mind that he would get to know and -would marry Miss Carruth if the business got to be--to be--a big one----" - -"My Gawd a-mighty!" cried Mammy, flying out of the chair upon the edge -of which she had been sitting, her old face the picture of consternation -and amazement. It was not surprising that Sniffins sprung from his -simultaneously and made toward the door, for Mammy certainly was wrath -and retribution incarnate. - -Mr. Porter barred the way of one and said sternly: "Mammy, sit down!" - -"But--but--but--Massa Po'tah, is yo' hyar wha' dat man a-sayin'? _Is_ yo'? -He--he marry ma Miss Jinny's daughter? Why, he ain', he ain' fitten fer -ter bresh her shoes! Lemme jes' lay ma hans on him an' frazzle him out." - -Mammy was nearly beside herself with indignation. - -"Mammy, do you wish to remain here and hear the rest of this ridiculous -story, or must I have Sniffins and his sister taken up to my office? It -is too public here for loud talking, and if you wish to save your little -girl deep mortification, and her mother the keenest distress, you will -control yourself. This is the greatest folly I could have believed any -sane being capable of, but if it gets noised abroad it will soon grow -into a scandal, as you must realize. Remember this, every one present, -Miss Carruth must never learn one word about it if we can keep it from -her. Now, go on, Miss Sniffins, and tell all the rest of this wretched -folly and, yes, downright rascality, for your brother has placed himself -in a very unenviable position." - -"You can't _prove_ nothin'," protested Sniffins. - -"Prove anything! Man, are you altogether a fool? Intimidating your -sister into masquerading under an assumed name, to say nothing of -handing over a private memoranda of another person's business affairs, -and, by the way, Miss Sniffins, I'll take charge of that last -memorandum, if you please," said Mr. Porter, extending his hand toward -Katherine. - -"No, I'm hanged if you do," blustered Sniffins, springing toward her. - -With a grip like iron Mr. Porter forced him back upon his chair. -Katherine handed him a slip of paper from her purse. - -"Thank you. Now, Sniffins, I've just a few concluding words to say to -you, but you will do well to heed them: In the first place, you have -made an ass of yourself pure and simple. In the second, you are pretty -close to being something far worse. You have done some queer things -lately, and tried some very questionable tricks down there on State -Street, as you know even better than I do, although, as I hinted to you -some time ago, I know enough, and a heap more than you suspect. I don't -want to make trouble for you, or any other man just beginning his -career, but I won't stand for rascality. Now here is your chance and you -have no choice but to take it: You gave your sister no choice, remember, -and now it's your turn to eat a little of your own loaf. Ask to be -transferred to some other office--the further away the better." - -"Ah--what sort of a game are you puttin' up?" snarled Sniffins. - -"It is you, not I, who have put up the game, and since you've begun it -you may as well make up your mind to play it out. You can easily get -transferred, and that is just what you've got to do. This place has -grown too warm for you in a good many ways. Your mother is fairly -well-to-do, and your sister has this situation." - -"But I can't keep it! I can't!" lamented Katherine. - -"You must. Once your brother is away you have nothing to apprehend." - -"But my name! What will Miss Carruth think?" deplored Katherine. - -"Will you leave that to me?" asked Mr. Porter, real compassion in his -voice and face for this unhappy little victim of an unscrupulous will. - -"I want to stay, oh, I _do_ want to, for Miss Carruth is always so -lovely to me." - -"You's gwine fer ter stay, too," announced Mammy, autocratically, -hastily going to Katherine's side to soothe and pat as she would have -consoled a distressed child. - -"Oh, Mammy, Mammy, she won't let me stay," sobbed the contrite little -soul. - -"How she gwine know anything 'bout dese hyer doin's?" demanded Mammy. - -"I don't see how she can help it." - -"Well, den, I does." - -"Keep your situation, Miss Sniffins, and also keep quiet. I shall tell -Miss Constance that you gave the assumed name because you feared she -might feel some prejudice against engaging you if she learned you were -Mr. Sniffins' sister; I am sure that is a pretty valid reason, for she -has every reason to wish to avoid him; he has never figured pleasantly -in her affairs. And now I think we have had enough of all this. But -remember this, Sniffins: I mean exactly what I have said, and South -Riveredge is no place for your future business operations. You have come -pretty near making a serious mess of things for yourself and everyone -connected with you, and a halt has been called. Move on, and take a word -of advice from a business man of double your years--_move straight -hereafter_. Now go." - -Sniffins left the office by the side door, which Mammy unlocked and held -open with this parting shot: - -"Ain' I done told yo' long time ergo dat _some_ day niggers gwine fer -ter hol' open de do' fo' yo' stid of yo' fo' _dem_?" - -Mammy had never forgotten or forgiven the experience of her first visit -to Elijah Sniffins' office, and she was settling an old score. Then, -turning to Katherine, she asked: - -"Wha yo' gwine spen' de nex' few days, honey? I would'n aim fer ter go -home ef I was yo'." - -"I shall stay with a friend here in South Riveredge. I believe Lige -would half kill me if I went home, he's so awful mad." - -"Dat's right, yo' keep 'way f'om dat man." - -"Yes, it is wiser, Miss Sniffins. Don't worry, all will come out right -in the end; he has just lost his head--that's all. Now mind what I say, -both of you: Not one word of all this anywhere else. I wouldn't have all -this folly come to that little girl's ears for all I'm worth. It's -almost incredible that anyone could act like such a fool. Paugh! it -makes me ill. I feel as though some loathsome beast had drawn near that -little girl of ours," and with a quick "good-day" Mr. Porter turned and -strode from the office, out through the Arch and into the main corridor, -where the janitor and Terry stood quietly talking together. They glanced -up as he drew near. - -"Oh, Donnely," he said to the janitor, "just take a look at that faucet -in Arch Number One, will you? It's leaking a little; and Terry, if -you'll come up to my office with me you can get those papers now as well -as any time." A word, a smile to those in the other Arches, and not a -thought was given by anyone to what might have been a very unpleasant -episode in Constance Carruth's career. - - - - -CHAPTER XVII - -CUPID IN SPECTACLES. - - -If Constance had any suspicion that a most unusual scene had taken place -in Arch Number One, she gave no sign of it. - -Within a few days after that occurrence Mr. Porter 'phoned down to her -counter one morning, and asked her if she could come up to his office -before she returned to her home, giving as a reason his wish to talk -over some plans he had in mind for the Arch. She went up immediately, -and as simply as possible he told her of Katherine Sniffins' unfortunate -deception, her reason for taking the position under an assumed name, and -her distress and remorse for having practiced such a deceit. He did his -best to spare Katherine and to convince Constance that her only reason -for such deceit had been her eagerness to secure the position, and her -fear that she could not do so if Constance knew her to be Elijah -Sniffins' sister. - -At first Constance was strongly inclined to resent it all, and to sever -relations with the victim of Elijah Sniffin's scheming, but gradually, -as Mr. Porter talked, her sense of justice prevailed, and her resentment -changed to pity, and with that the day was won. - -Perhaps Mr. Porter's casually dropped remark regarding Mr. Elijah -Sniffins' sudden departure from South Riveredge to take charge of one of -the company's offices in the far West, and the added information that he -would not return to his former home, was the final straw which turned -the balance in Katherine's favor. Constance was a generous-hearted girl, -to whom petty resentment was impossible. And so that chapter in the -lives of the girls, so utterly unlike in character, was closed, and -Constance never knew what an exceedingly unpleasant one it might have -been for her but for Mammy's ceaseless vigilance and Mr. Porter's -wisdom. For a few days, it is true, she was somewhat disturbed, and it -needed all her self-control and dignity to help her through the -half-hour's talk with Katherine, but once that ordeal was over she -dismissed it all forever, and was the same sweet, gracious little -employer whom Katherine had always known. If Katherine had admired her -before, she openly adored her now, and confided to Mary Willing, whom -she met not long after, that she "didn't know there _could_ be girls -like Constance Carruth," and forthwith eulogized her until, had -Constance heard it, she might have been forgiven if she had begun to -feel around her own shoulder blades for sprouting wings. - -Mary let her talk on, secretly rejoicing in every word spoken in praise -of her idol, then with a most superior -"why--anybody--could--have--told--you--that" air, she said: - -"It's all very well, I dare say, for people to work like everything to -reform girls who have actually _done_ wrong and are in disgrace, but -from my standpoint, if a few more people would do the things Mrs. -Carruth and Miss Constance are doing as a matter of course every day of -their lives, there wouldn't be so many girls in need of reforming, -because they would be helped to have a little common sense and an idea -of the fitness of things before they went too far. Everybody knows what -a silly little fool I used to be whenever a man came near me, and I'd be -one yet if it hadn't been for those blessed people; but I tell you they -made me sit up and take notice, and they did it so beautifully, and with -so much love and sweet fellowship thrown in, that I'd die to-morrow if -it could save just one hair of their dear heads. You may think I'm just -talking for effect, but I'm not. I mean every single word I say, and if -you ever get to know them as Fanny and I do, you will feel exactly the -same way, you see if you don't." - -"I do already, though I can't talk as you do," answered Katherine, -simply. - -"They have helped me that way, too," added Mary. "My goodness, how I -used to talk and what awful words I used before I knew them! But they -teach you without letting you ever guess they are teaching, and you -learn because you can't help it. Good-bye. Come down and see me some -time." - -"Can I come to see you down there?" - -"Why not? The little sitting-room up over the candy kitchen is just like -our own. Miss Constance told me to invite any of my girl friends to -visit me whenever I wished to, and we have lovely times up there -evenings when the work is done. Sometimes Mrs. Carruth or Miss Constance -come out to sit with us a little while. They always say they have come -out to welcome their guests, because Fanny's guests and mine are theirs, -too. Isn't that a sweet way of putting it? We know, though, that they do -it because they want our friends to feel at home, and there hasn't been -a single evening when they haven't sent Mammy up with some cake, or -lemonade, or something nice, and I can always take a pound of candy if I -want to. Oh, there's no place in all the world like the 'Bee-hive,' I -tell you!" And, with a happy smile, Mary went upon her way. - -Not long after this something else came up that filled the Carruth -household with subject for thought. - -Before leaving college, Eleanor had been offered a position in a girls' -school. The school was one widely known, and prepared a great many -pupils for Eleanor's alma mater. She had been highly recommended by its -faculty, and had fully decided to accept the position. All that remained -to complete the arrangements was her final acceptance above her own -signature and that of the school's principal. This she was on the point -of settling when she returned to Riveredge, then a trifle changed her -decision. Homer Forbes came home with her, and on the way she told him -of her plans. - -He listened with great interest, although without comment, meanwhile -gazing abstractedly out of the Pullman car window until Eleanor began to -wonder if he heard one word she said, and, if the truth must be -confessed, was not a little piqued at his seeming unconcern. - -As usual, when thinking deeply, he munched away upon something. This -time it happened to be a long spiral of paper he had absently torn from -a magazine and twisted into a lamplighter, and Eleanor found herself -subconsciously wondering how much of it would disappear before he -recovered his wits and spoke. - -About four inches of it had vanished, and, had Mammy been present, her -theory of the goat would surely have been substantiated, when he gave -his paper fodder a toss, and, turning toward her, said: - -"Don't sign that contract until you get home and have thought it over a -week. Then if you _do_ sign it, do so for six months--one term--only." - -"But," interrupted Eleanor, "that seems to me a most improvident step, -for right in the dead of the winter it would leave me without occupation -or the prospect of any." - -"No, it wouldn't, either. Do you think I would suggest such a step if I -didn't have something up my sleeve for you a mighty sight better--er, -ahem! I mean if I hadn't been on the lookout for something desirable--or, -or, at least, something I feel you would consider." - -"What is it?" was Eleanor's very natural and direct question. - -"Eh? Ah, well, er--a little enterprise, a scheme, a--er--What station is -this we're drawing into?" and this discussion was sidetracked instantly, -leaving Eleanor to wonder if Forbes had lost his senses. - -She had been home a little more than a week when he asked her to take a -walk with him, and had led her a wild scramble to the top of the -mountain to the plateau heretofore mentioned, where he unfolded a plan -which caused Eleanor to collapse upon a nearby rock and sit looking at -him in a bewildered manner. Again and again during the ensuing weeks had -they toiled up the mountain, and each time had returned grimy, gratified -and garrulous, heads nodding, hands gesticulating and oblivious of any -other human being on top of the round world. - -Mrs. Carruth watched developments with resignation; Constance with open -amusement; Mammy with a division between tolerance and contempt--the -saving grace in the cause being that Forbes could remotely claim kinship -with the Blairsdales. But it was upon Jean that the effect was the -funniest. Jean had spent all her life with people older than herself. -There had been no little children in her home, and her interests had -naturally centered upon her older sisters and around their affairs. She -had a wise little head upon her fourteen-year-old shoulders, and older -people would have been somewhat surprised could they have known the -"long, long thoughts" which passed through it. More than once had she -seen Forbes and Eleanor start off and toil up the mountain, and more -than once had she been an unobserved follower. She never followed close -enough to overhear their conversation; that would have been contrary to -her sense of honor. Still, she was determined to know where they went, -and, if her eyes could inform her, why they went, and her deductions -came nearer the mark than the two would have believed possible. - -And so had passed the summer days, and now September was at hand, and in -a very short time Eleanor would start for Forest Lodge--the school in -which she had accepted a position for six months--_not longer_. Forbes' -influence had prevailed. - -Early one morning the 'phone rang. Eleanor was wanted. - -"I know what it is," cried Jean, who happened to be near it and turned -to receive the message: "It's Mr. Forbes, and he wants Eleanor to play -Pilgrim's Progress with him again, I'll bet a cookie." The funny -one-sided conversation began only to be interrupted by Jean, who -exclaimed: - -"What makes you think you're talking to Eleanor? Are our voices so alike -as all that? Hold the wire while I call her, and don't waste all those -nice speeches on me," and with a chuckle Jean turned to call Eleanor. - -That afternoon Forbes called for Eleanor, and just as they were about to -start upon their pilgrimage Jean came tearing out upon the piazza with -two gorgeously colored laundry bags, rose-flowered and highly -decorative, which she plumped down upon the piazza. - -"Jean!" expostulated Mrs. Carruth. "What in this world?" - -"Well, I don't see any sense in playing a game unless you have the -'impurtenances,' as Mammy calls them: it must seem sort of half played. -So I've filled these bags full of newspapers, and if you'll each sling -one over your shoulders you'll be sure enough 'pilgrims,' and goodness -knows you climb up that mountain often enough to give 'Pilgrim's -Progress' to the life!" - -Then Jean fled, and so did Eleanor and Forbes. - -Panting and hot, in the course of time they reached the summit of the -mountain and the plateau, every square foot of which should have been -known to them by this time. Seating themselves upon the log, which had -done duty many times before, Forbes at once began to unroll a great -blueprint which he held at arm's length, and said: - -"_Now_, I can show you the tangible evidence of my dreams. You see the -plan is this:" - -But, alack! the best-_drawn_ plans, etc., and this plan was printed upon -the stiffest of architect's paper, and had been rolled tightly for -several days: Forbes' fingers were a trifle shaky for some reason; one -edge of the outspread roll slipped from them and quick as a flash coiled -up upon itself, sweeping his glasses from his nose and hurling them ten -feet away, where they crashed upon a rock and shivered to atoms. - -Now, if anyone reading this is solely and entirely dependent upon a pair -of glasses to see anything ten inches beyond her own nose, she will -understand how Forbes felt at that particular moment--maybe. - -They bounded to their feet and inanely rushed for the wrecked glasses, -knowing perfectly well that only bits of scattered crystal lay upon that -merciless rock. Eleanor dropped upon her knees and began frantically to -gather up the fragments, Forbes towering above her and blinking like an -owl which has suddenly been routed out of a hollow tree into the glaring -sunshine. A fragment, about two-thirds, of the lense of the right eye -still held to the nose-clip. Eleanor pounced upon this, crying: - -"Ah, here is a little piece, a very little piece! Do you think you can -see with that? See just a little, little bit? Enough to look over the -plans? I'll read the specifications to you. I'll do anything, anything -to help you, I feel so terribly sorry. Let me be your eyes for just a -little while, for I know how disappointed you must be," and there was -almost a sob in her voice as she rose to her feet and held the hopeless -bit of eyeglass toward him. - -He took it, deliberately opened the patent clip and as deliberately -snapped it upon his nose, Eleanor watching him as though worlds trembled -in the balance. - -If half a loaf is better than no bread, I dare say two-thirds of an -eyeglass are better than no eyeglass at all; and who in such a vital -moment would have dared hint that Forbes looked slightly batty as he -cocked one eye at the lady before him? Certainly not the lady, who was -the very picture of Dolores at that instant. Then Forbes came to the -front splendidly. Indeed, he came with a rush and a promptitude which no -one could have foreseen; he made one step forward, and the next instant -held the lady in his arms, as his words poured deliciously into the ear -so near his lips: - -"My eyes! My eyes! You shall be my eyes, my ears, my soul!--yes, my very -body and boots. No! no! I don't mean that! Oh, hang it all, what made me -say that foolish thing? I mean you _are_ my eyes and my very soul! -Without your inspiration my very mind would be a blank. With you the -dreams of my life will be crystallized into beautiful realities. Never, -never shall I let you leave me! Never depart from your home until this -one we have pictured and planned stands ready to receive you within its -walls, to be its cherished, adored light; its inner shrine, at which I -shall be the chief worshipper, my goddess of sweetness, light and -intellect! My inspiration to ideals beyond man's conception." - -But let us draw down that thick fir bough as a curtain. - -Off yonder, upon a moss-covered stone, sat a little figure, hugging his -knees and swaying backward and forward in an abandonment of hilarious -mirth. At his feet lay a bow, beside him an empty quiver. On his wee -nose the wreck of a pair of thick-lensed eyeglasses. - - - - -CHAPTER XVIII - -HARVEST TIME. - - -The September days were exceptionally warm ones, but no one seemed to -mind them because the evenings were cool. The two pilgrims continued -their progress, advancing rapidly and in such a rosy atmosphere that the -millennium seemed close at hand. Whatever Homer Forbes' plans were, and -as yet only he and Eleanor seemed to know much about them, they -evidently met the entire approval of the lady in the question, for she -threw herself into the process of perfecting them with an ardor that -nearly drove her family frantic. No matter where they turned, they found -plans and specifications lying about, and Eleanor's room resembled an -architect's drafting-office. Not long after that walk up the mountain -there had been a closeted hour's talk with Mrs. Carruth, and when Homer -Forbes came out of the library at the end of it he was in such a -perturbed state of mind that he nearly fell over Mammy as he rushed -through the hall, out of the front door and across the piazza, to vanish -down the road and leave the family staring after him; at least, that -portion of the family which happened to be seated there. Hard upon his -heels followed Mammy, crying: - -"Gawd bress ma soul! what Miss Jinny done ter dat man? 'Pears lak he -gone plum loony." Then, turning to Mrs. Carruth, who followed not far -behind, Mammy continued: "Miss Jinny, is dat man gone cl'ar crazy?" - -Mrs. Carruth smiled as she replied: - -"They sometimes call it 'a very mid-summer madness,' Mammy, but -mid-summer has passed, hasn't it? It's not dangerous, however. You would -better go upstairs and ask Miss Nornie. I am sure she can tell you more -about Mr. Forbes than I can. At all events, she has decided to let him -guide her through life, so she must have an abiding faith in him, and I -have told him he may do so if she wishes it. By the spring you will have -to climb to the top of Mt. Parnassus if you wish to see your Miss -Nornie, I think." - -"Whar _dat_ place at?" demanded Mammy, while Hadyn gave a low whistle, -and Constance cried, "What did I tell you, Mumsey?" as Jean jumped up -and down in her excitement. - -"You had better go upstairs and ask Miss Nornie, Mammy," and straightway -Mammy whirled about and started upstairs to Eleanor's room, where she -found her buried neck-deep in a pile of drafting papers, triangles, -compasses and pencils; though just what she was drawing plans for Mammy -could not guess. When questioned of late Eleanor had given negative, -abstracted replies which more than once nearly convulsed her hearers, -and upon one occasion she had brought consternation upon the family by -emptying a brimming washbowl of water into her scrap-basket instead of -her slop-jar. Evidently the scrap-basket had figured more prominently in -her thoughts of late than had her washbowl. - -As Mammy appeared at the door Eleanor was bending over a great blueprint -plan which she had spread upon the floor. It was a tremendous affair, -fully two by four feet, and Eleanor was down upon her knees, hands -outspread and locks flying, too absorbed to be aware of Mammy's -presence. - -"Peripatos, peristyle penetralia," murmured the engrossed one, tracing -with a slender forefinger the lines upon her plan, then repeating, -"Penetralia, penetralia. How interesting." - -"What in de name o' man is you jabberin' about, anyway, Miss Nornie?" - -Eleanor came to an upright position with a start, crying: - -"Goodness, Mammy, how you startled me!" - -"Yo' better had git up f'om dat floor 'stid o' bendin' ober dat sky-blue -sheet o' paper what done look lak it got Chinee writin' an' drawin' on -it. Yo' face make out de res' ob de colors fer de hull 'Merican flag: -red, white an' blue alltergedder. 'Taint no kynd ob a day fer ter be -bendin' ober lak yo' is. Nex' t'ing yo' know yo' gwine git rush o' blood -ter de haid, an' dat's bad, I tells yo'! Wha' yo' gwine do wid all dat -blue stuff, anyway? Yo' ain' tell me one single t'ing 'bout it, an' I -ain' know wha' 'tis. An' I wants fer ter know, too, if yo' gwine be home -ter lunch ter day." Mammy's sharp eye scrutinized the rosy face before -her. - -"O, you needn't bother about me, Mammy. Mr. Forbes will be over shortly -and we are going for a tramp." - -"Tromp! tromp!" echoed Mammy. "Tromp on sich a hot day as dis hyar wid -de fermom'ter jist nachelly climbin' cl'ar out er sight? Is you done -gone silly, yo' an' dat Perfesser Fo'bes? Yo' stay ter home in dis cool -house what I done darken up fer ter keep out de sizzlin', billin' heat. -It fa'r scoch de very skin off yo' body. Don' yo' let dat man drag yo' -up dat mountain on sich a day, I tells yo'." - -"Oh, we don't mind it, and the woods are so cool. Just put up one of -your delicious little luncheons for us, and we'll be more than -supplied." - -"Cool in de woods! Yis, when yo' gits to em, but yo's got right smart -ter walk fo' yo' comes ter dem, an' I ain' pinin' fer no sich 'xertion -on such a frazzlin'-out day. But I reckons I jist better save ma' bref -dan spend it a-talkin'. Yo' lunch gwine be ready fo' yo' when yo' ready -fo' it; but what I wants ter know now is, what all _dat_ meanin'," and -Mammy pointed again to the big blueprint. - -Eleanor was not given to emotion but there come times in every life when -one's emotions are more easily played upon than at others. The past week -had held such moments for Eleanor. Of all Mammy's children Eleanor had -been the least demonstrative. She rarely caressed the old woman as -Constance and Jean did. Now, however, she bounded to her feet and, -rushing to Mammy, cried: - -"Oh, Mammy! Mammy! Do you believe in dreams? Don't you think they come -true sometimes?" - -"A heap o' times!" interjected Mammy. - -Eleanor sighed ecstatically. I _knew_ you would say so, Mammy. "And -_ours_ will, won't it?" - -"Who 'ours?'" demanded Mammy, her lips pursed up, and distrust in her -eyes. - -"Homer's and mine! Homer! Isn't that a name to inspire one? Fate must -have ordained that he should bear such a name. Only a classic poet's -could be in harmony. It must be the purest, the best, the finest, the -most perfect," rhapsodized Eleanor. - -Mammy looked at her a little anxiously, and asked: - -"Isn't yo' better lay down on dat baid yonder? Yo's been a bendin' ober -dose papers twell yo' haid's achin', I'se feered." - -"Ah, no, Mammy, but think of it! To live in a Grecian dwelling! A -perfect reproduction of an Athenian temple. With the fountain of -Hippocrene in it's center, from which a rill will flow murmuring all the -day. Helicon's harmonious stream. We shall call it Helicon Hall, and -there we shall train the youthful mind to a deep appreciation of true -beauty. In the central court, overroofed with glass and filled with -tropical plants, will be our hearth stone, our altar, on either side of -which will stand our lares and penates. Could any other mind have -conceived this wonderful dream in this prosaic age? See, see our plans, -Mammy? How clear, how concise, how graphic. Ah, I can picture it -all--all." - -"Well den I cyant!" cried Mammy, losing patience, "and I don' reckon yo' -Ma nor none ob de yethers kin. At any rate, I got sumpin else ter do -'sides standin' hyar listenin' at what I sets down as jist foolishness; -an' ef I was yo' Ma I'd tell yo' not ter go a-climbin' up dat mountain -no mo' twell de wedder done cool off some," and with this admonition -Mammy left the dreamer to her dreams. But before we take a long leave of -her, we will add, by the way, that in the course of time this dream -crystallized into a large building, in the form of the Parthenon, -wherein this modern Socrates, Professor Homer Forbes, and a charming -Hypatia, his wife, led the minds of affluent youths, whose parents were -willing to indulge them in such luxuries, along paths of learning -literally flower-strewn. Reclining at length upon the green sward of the -court of Helicon Hill, they drank in the words of wisdom falling from -the lips of their preceptors. Eleanor had achieved her ideals: Homer -Forbes his. What more could mortals ask? - -And the lares and penates? Well, Jean was rather practical. Those old -Greek fireside gods might be all very well in their way, but Greece had -seen _her_ day. In the present one there was a quaint little grinning -"god of things, as they ought to be," to which Jean pinned greater -faith; and when, one beautiful April day, Homer Forbes and his bride -returned from their wedding journey, and entered the inner court of -Helicon Hall, where the (let us hope) sacred fire burned upon the -hearth, the first thing upon which Eleanor's eyes rested in these -classic surroundings was "Billykin," perched above the blazing logs. - -And in the interval between that warm September day and the lighting of -that hearth by loving hands for the home-coming of the idealists? Ah, -life holds some sweet moments, and this old world is not such a bad one, -after all. But we anticipate. - -October came again, and all the world was beautiful in its golden haze. -With Eleanor's engagement to Homer Forbes, and her complete absorption -in her demi-god, who had changed her plans so completely, her future so -entirely, Eleanor plunged headlong into consummating his dreams so far -as in her power lay. This left Constance largely to herself and her own -plans. All had gone well with her, and, with the beginning of the social -season in Riveredge and elsewhere, Constance's business grew very brisk. -She was kept busy from morning to evening. It was a wonderfully happy -life for her. To be the chief support of her family, to give to her -mother the thousand little luxuries she had known in earlier life, to -give to Jean every possible advantage, both educational and social, and -still have time to enjoy life at its heyday herself--why--surely, no more -could be asked. - -Mary and Fanny Willing were as happy and content as two girls well could -be, and worked and sang from dawn to twilight. With the autumn even more -help became necessary to keep abreast of the orders; and, through Hadyn, -Constance secured the services of a man in whom Hadyn was deeply -interested. He had known him in college days, but days of adversity had -overtaken him, and for two years he had seemed to be the very toy of an -adverse fate. In that interval his family had slipped into the Great -Beyond, and the small nest-egg left him had been swept from him by the -failure of the company in which it was invested, throwing Edward DeLaney -upon his own resources. - -Upon Hadyn's advice he was engaged by Constance as bookkeeper and a sort -of general superintendent, dividing his time between the Candy Kitchen, -the Arcade, and the other booths, which, in the course of time had been -established elsewhere. He was only twenty-five, but an able, manly -fellow, quick-witted and resourceful. He took firm hold of affairs -instantly, and, during the course of the ensuing winter, Constance more -than once thanked the lucky star which had guided this tall, clear-eyed, -finely-set-up six-foot laddie to her Candy Kitchen. No one could look -into those fine, hazel eyes without trusting them instantly, nor see the -lines of that resolute, yet tender mouth without reading the man's -character. His skin was as fair and as clear as a child's, and his smile -as winning. He speedily found his way into the home circle, and just the -degree of happiness it brought to him few guessed. - -But this is dipping into the future by several months. At present we are -in October's golden glow. - -"What a day!" cried Hadyn, as he and Constance came out upon the piazza -one beautiful afternoon when luncheon was over. - -"Isn't it simply heavenly? It seems to me we never have such days -excepting during October. Look at the coloring over on that mountain and -on our own hills. It is perfectly intoxicating. It makes me feel like -doing something out of the usual order, and yet I ought to go out yonder -to the Candy Kitchen and lend a hand with the thousand and one things to -be attended to. I tell you, Hadyn Stuyvesant, I am rapidly becoming a -power in the commercial world," laughed Constance. - -"You are a greater power already than you guess. Before you know it that -business will have grown beyond its boundaries again, and even greater -expansion will be necessary. But just now let's 'forget it,' and go for -a ride up that glorious mountain. I'll 'phone down to Pringle's for -Lightfoot, and we'll have an afternoon fit for the gods." - -"Done! I'm only human, and the call of the woods on such a day as this -drowns the call of duty. But I hate to take Comet from you; you seem so -much a part of each other." - -"Since he came to live here he has become a part of you all, and more -nearly _human_ than ever. Jean has seen to that. How that child loves -animals! I've a little scheme in the back part of my head which I mean -shall take tangible form when her next birthday comes around." - -"Oh, what is it?" cried Constance, for everything concerning Jean held -the keenest interest for her. - -"Tell you after we've had our ride. I'm off now for my togs. See you -inside half an hour. Tell Parsons to saddle Comet for you," and with a -wave of his hand Hadyn hurried away to get into his riding clothes. An -hour later they rode away from the house, as bonny a pair as eyes could -rest upon, and upon which one pair did rest with the love and devotion -one often sees in the eyes of a dog; Mammy raised her apron, wiped a -tear from her lids, and said softly to herself: - -"_Dem's ma chillen._ Yis, jist ma own God-blessedest ones what ever _is_ -live! Him, too. Miss Nornie kin tek up wid dat Perfesser man ef she -wanter, but _gimme dat one ridin' 'way yonder_. He's de very cream ob -all creation, an' he gwine be mighty good ter ma baby, too. I ain't need -no secon' sight fer ter read _dat_ writin'. An' he gwine fin' out what a -pearl o' price he gettin', too, dough I reckons he got some notion o' -dat a'reddy. An' he gwine git somepin' he ain' countin' 'pon a mite, an' -would be clar _'bove_ countin' 'pon anyhow; he gwine git a wife wha' got -her _own nes'aig_. Charles an' me ain' run dat ar' lunch counter all dis -time jist fer fun an' de reppitation it done give us; no, sir-ee! We -done put 'side 'nough fer ter give each o' ole Massa's gran'chillen dey -_dots_, as dose French folks calls it. Yis, we is, an' I's proud ob it, -too. It's de onlies' way we kin eber show em dat dey's ours, an' we's -deirs. Mebbe Massa Stuyvesant got a-plenty, an' mebbe Massa Fo'bes is -got, too, a-plenty fer 'em bofe--I dunno--but I knows dis much: A 'omans a -mighty sight mo' self-respectin' an', an' sort o' stan'in' firm on her -own foots ef she knows dars a stockin'full o' gol' wha' she kin turn -inside-out ef she want ter 'thout axin' 'by yo' leave, Mr. Man,' no -matter how she love him or he love her. An' me an' Charles done fix dat -all right, so we has. Gawd bress ma chillen! Gawd bress em! Dey's filled -ma soul wid joy all de days of ma life, and dey's made Charles' foots -fer ter walk in de green past'ers endurin' his declinin' years. Oh, we's -happy, we is, wid de Gawd-blessedes' white folks two ol' cullered folks -ever is know." - - - - -CHAPTER XIX - -THREE LITTLE WOMEN'S SUCCESS - - -How quickly things come about in this world. Barely an hour had passed -since good old Mammy watched her "baby" ride away so happily. Never were -hearts lighter than those of the riders. The girl mounted upon the -beautiful thoroughbred bay horse, which had grown to know and love her -voice and touch as he knew and loved his master's; his splendid head -tossing up and down in his delight; his superb neck arching in pride; -his delicate nostrils distended to draw in delicious whiffs of the -pine-scented air; his dainty hoofs barely touching the ground! Grace, -beauty, strength incarnate as the play of the great muscles beneath that -satiny coat carried him forward--one of God's most perfect creatures. The -girl riding cross-saddle felt the thrill of his action to her -finger-tips. Her body swayed with every motion of the beautiful horse. -She seemed a very part of him; he of her. The man riding beside her upon -his fine gray was fully alive to the beauty of both rider and horse, and -his eyes rested upon them with intense admiration. The soft light of the -woods seemed reflected in the eyes she turned toward him--its mystery in -the smile which curved his lips. It was a happy world, and these two -could enjoy its beauty. - -The horse Hadyn rode was a high-strung, nervous creature, alert to every -sound or motion about him. As they passed through the town he had shied -more than once, and required firm handling; but up in this silent -mountain road there was little to excite him, and Comet's example had a -quieting influence. They had nearly reached the summit of the mountain, -and just ahead the road made a sharp turn. They were close upon it when -a warning honk! honk! caused Haydn to tighten his hold upon his reins. -Then around the turn whirled a huge touring car. It was all over in a -moment. The car skidded, hurled itself against the riders, the chauffeur -made a desperate attempt to control his machine, but failed, and it tore -on down the mountain entirely beyond his control, leaving behind it a -prone horse and a madly excited one, which, in spite of its rider's -strenuous efforts to control it, dashed on a quarter of a mile up the -mountain before he could stop it, turn and gallop back to the spot where -the accident occurred. Those minutes seemed like years to Hadyn. -Flinging himself from the horse, though still holding the bridle rein, -he cried: - -"My God, my darling!" as he caught Constance in his arms. She did not -appear to notice his act or his words, but stood, white and trembling, -pointing to Comet. - -"But you, you, my little girl! my little girl!" - -"No, no! I'm not hurt a particle. Quick! tie that mad brute to a tree -and _do_ something. I slid off as Comet fell. I'm not hurt; but he, _he_ -is dying. Oh, Comet! Comet!" And with a heart-breaking sob she fell upon -her knees beside the horse. The radiator of the car had struck his -forehead and stunned him, but the heavy lantern had torn that jagged -wound in the perfect foreleg just below the shoulder, and from it his -life blood was gushing with every heart-throb. - -"But, Constance! Constance! my little girl, you must be hurt!" cried -Hadyn, bending over her. - -"I'm not! I'm not, I tell you," she cried, impatiently. "Go tie that -horse and come here. We _must_ save Comet!" - -With the keenest anguish he had ever known Hadyn hurried the still -restless horse to a sapling, tied him securely, and then returned to -Constance, who was upon her knees striving to stanch the red stream -flowing from the powerful leg. Puny effort! A moment before the splendid -creature lying there upon the ground had been life, strength, vigor, -beauty incarnate. Now--an inanimate mass. - -"My little one, oh, my little one, come away! come away! This is no -place for you," begged Hadyn, striving to draw her from the scene. She -turned upon him like a fury, echoing indignantly: - -"Come away! come away! What are you saying, Hadyn? With Comet dying? For -he is. Quick! help me. We must stop this! I'm afraid an artery is -severed. Make a tourniquet of your handkerchief or something. Oh, _do! -do!_" she urged, frantically. - -"Oh, this is horrible! horrible! I would rather have him die a hundred -deaths than have you pass through all this!" cried Hadyn, as he tied his -handkerchief about the horse's leg and sought to twist it tight enough -to stop the flow. It was useless. It needed a stouter bandage than that. -The girl saw this, and the next instant had unbuckled the bridle rein, -and was kneeling and binding it around the leg above that ragged wound. -Then quickly slipping her riding-crop through the loop with Hadyn's -assistance, she turned it tighter and tighter, and presently had the joy -of seeing that red flow lessen. "Oh, for help! Is _no_ one within a -hundred miles of us?" she moaned. "Hold this, Hadyn, and let me ride for -someone," she cried. - -"Constance! Never! Do you realize the state you are in?"--for the girl -had given no thought to self in her excitement. One glance at her habit -was enough. - -"And do you think I would let you mount that mad brute? Had he not -plunged aside, he, instead of Comet, would be lying before us this -minute. - -"Then you must go. Go at once, Hadyn. Ride to Pringle's for the -ambulance and help." - -"And leave you here alone on this mountain road with that horse, which -may revive from this blow and struggle? Constance, are you mad?" - -"No, I was never saner in all my life; but, unless you go, _I_ shall. He -won't struggle; he knows my voice, and he is already too weak from -this--_this_ awful thing to try to struggle," and she pointed -shudderingly at the discolored earth. "Hadyn, dear, dear Hadyn, please, -please go," she implored, turning up to him a pair of eyes swimming in -tears. "I shall know what to do. Oh, please trust me! Please, do!" - -For one moment the man looked at the woman dearer to him than all the -world beside, then stooping over her he rested his lips first upon one -eyelid then the other, and said very, very gently: - -"God bless and guard you, my darling. I shall go as quickly as that -beast can take me, and I shall never forget _this_. Comet, Comet, old -man, we've fought some tough fights; but this is the toughest of all," -and, bending over the horse, he ran his hand along the silky neck. - -The faintest flutter of the nostrils acknowledged the caress, and the -next second Hadyn had flung himself upon Lightfoot, and was riding down -that mountain road at a pace which threatened destruction. Constance had -never for a second lessened her firm hold upon the riding-crop, but her -eyes followed the rider, and her lips murmured: - -"A moment ago I was a girl and did not realize. Now I know. Oh, Hadyn, -Hadyn, come safely back to us!" and still holding that life-saving -little riding-crop she laid her head down upon the beautiful neck and -sobbed as though her heart would break. - -Animals which are constantly with human beings learn to understand the -tones which varying emotions govern, just as a human being learns to -understand the wonderful language of the so-called dumb creatures. Comet -had been Hadyn's closest companion for years, and during the past six -months had been petted and cared for by all in Mrs. Carruth's home. But -it was Constance whom he had grown to love best; Constance who rode him -when Hadyn was at his office; and many a delightful hour's exercise had -she taken on the splendid horse. - -Very gradually Comet came back to the world of real things around him. -The great eyes opened and the delicate nostrils quivered. There was a -slight effort to rise, but close to his ear murmured the voice he had -learned to love and obey as an army horse obeys the voice of his master. - -"Steady, Comet! Dear, dear Comet, keep quiet. There, old fellow! There! -Steady! steady!" - -The ears were turned to catch each tone; the eyes shone with a human -intelligence; the nostrils breathed audibly, but the horse lay as quiet -as though life had departed, and Constance did not move. - -How long the minutes seemed! How far away from human aid that mountain -road! How solemn, how silent the great woodland, stretching, stretching -away in a vista of glorious colors! Overhead the soft October winds -whispered and sighed in the tree-tops; and with each sigh a few -brilliant leaves fluttered to the ground--dear Nature's coverlid for some -baby growth to be nestled for its long winter's sleep. Far away the -crows cawed and called to one another. Overhead, ominous shadow! a hawk -circled. And then, as though to dispel a sign so baleful, clear, sweet, -exquisite as a voice from Paradise, came the liquid notes of a hermit -thrush--a late lingerer whom his mates had left behind when they took -flight to sunnier climes against the coming of bitter days. - -The notes brought comfort to the girl. She had always loved them. No -other bird-call meant so much to her as this, for it was associated with -some of the sweetest and, yes, the saddest experiences of her life, and -now it held a meaning it had never before held. All her life these notes -would stand above all others. The experience was, indeed, bittersweet. -She did not know how long she had lain there, for time seemed at a -standstill, when along the ground she heard the rapid thud, thud of a -horse's flying feet, and raising her head she saw Hadyn returning, -Lightfoot in a lather and his flanks heaving. Hadyn flung himself from -the horse, which was now too spent to do anything but stand and pant, -and hurried to Constance's side. Dropping upon his knees beside her, he -drew her into his arms as she rose to her knees from her prone position, -though she never for an instant relaxed her hold upon the crop. Comet -nickered faintly, but for the first time in his life failed to hear his -master's response to that greeting. - -Like a weary little child Constance let her head fall, upon the shoulder -so near it, and whispered: - -"Oh, Hadyn, the minutes have seemed so long to us!" - -"My little girl! my little girl! Dear, dear heart!--so courageous, so -brave, so strong! So perfect a woman in your tenderness combined with -your strength. This hour has shown me what you are to me; what life -would be without you. I thought I knew before, but I did not. And you, -dear heart?" - -There was no answer, but the softly perfumed hair nestled still closer -against him. His arm tightened about her, and he said gently: - -"I've waited four years for this moment, dear, but I never dreamed of -such a setting for it. No words are necessary to tell me what I've won -by waiting; but--the Ambulance is not far behind, and will be here in a -few moments. My sign and seal, dear. May I claim it now? Then let me -hold the crop and you go ever yonder." - -Without a word the pure, beautiful face was raised to his, and in that -moment Hadyn Stuyvesant felt that Paradise could not be far removed from -such lips, for none could be purer or holier, and into his life at that -instant came all that is best in manhood. - -"Now go, my darling." Constance shook her head and smiled a gentle -refusal. - -"Please." - -"No, dear; not until the Veterinary takes it from my hands. Yours are -trembling, and it might loosen. There comes the Ambulance now. It will -only be a moment longer." - -When the panting horses which drew the Ambulance came to a standstill -the Veterinary sprang from it and hurried to the group. - -"By George, Miss Carruth, have _you_ done this?" he exclaimed. "Well, -you can thank this young lady, Stuyvesant, for saving a valuable horse's -life. Now, turn your patient over to me, Miss Carruth, and we will get -him into the Ambulance and down the hill as fast as we can. There, -that's right. Now, Stuyvesant, get her away from this place. A carriage -is right behind us, and you must take her home. What an experience for a -girl! Jo, you take charge of Lightfoot yonder." - -Hadyn bent over to stroke his pet, and Constance knelt to press her lips -to the great neck, then with Hadyn's aid struggled to her feet. She was -cramped and stiff, but Hadyn's arm supported her, and more than one pair -of eyes followed the girl admiringly as he led her to the carriage which -just then drew up. - -"Don't give a thought to this, Stuyvesant. We will do everything -possible, and Miss Carruth needs you more than Comet does now," the -Veterinary called after them. - -"I'll have her safely home in twenty minutes!" Hadyn called back. - -Neither ever forgot that drive down the mountain. Until the strain was -removed the girl did not realize how great it had been during the -foregoing hour. Constance was thankful for the sheltering cover of that -depot carriage and the strong arm encircling her. Her own strength -seemed suddenly to have left her. Only Mrs. Carruth and Mammy were at -home when they reached there. Hadyn half carried Constance to them. - -"Bress Gawd! what done happen?" cried Mammy, almost taking the worn-out -girl in her arms. "Has you done fell off Comet?" - -"Hadyn, what is it?" cried Mrs. Carruth. - -"She is not harmed, but is nervously exhausted. Will you believe me, and -let Mammy put her to bed for a few hours? Go, rest, my darling," he -said, taking Constance's face in his hands and pressing his lips to -her's. - -"Glory be ter Gawd! Come wid me, baby. D'ere's nothin' wrong wid you, I -knows. Ef you's done had a fright, _he_ gwine be de bes' medicine -bimeby. Go 'long wid yo' boy, Miss Jinny--yo's got one now--an' leave dis -hyar chile ter me." - -"Constance, darling, tell me first that you are not injured," said Mrs. -Carruth, tenderly taking the girl in her arms. - -Constance nestled against her and whispered softly: - -"Not hurt a particle, Mother, only a little shaky, and, oh, _so_ happy! -Let Mammy help me while Hadyn tells you," and smiling through her tears -the girl was led upstairs by Mammy's ever ready, loving arms. - -Mrs. Carruth's eyes followed her a moment, then turned to encounter -Hadyn's looking at her with a tenderness she never forgot as he extended -his arms and said: - -"My little mother! My little mother! Will you let these serve and hold -you henceforth? May I be, as dear old Mammy says, 'your boy?' You do not -know how I have longed to be that in reality all these years that I have -been waiting. Come!" - - "In the beautiful days of long ago," - When all this world was so new and fair, - An Angel came from the world above - To bestow the gift of all gifts most rare. - And what was this blessing?--this priceless boon, - To bring to mortals the greatest good? - Ah! need I whisper that name so dear-- - God's precious gift of Motherhood? - -Perhaps but once in her life can a woman know a more precious moment -than that in which she gives her daughter into the love and keeping of -the man she has learned to love, and this mother realizes that he is now -her son. The sense of rest, peace, protection that came to Mrs. Carruth -when this strong man held her in his arms, and called her by that -tenderest of all names, "Mother," passes all power to describe. From -that instant he _was_ "her boy," for the man ever remains "the boy" in -the mother's love, and Hadyn had rich store of Mrs. Carruth's. - -Leading her to a settee, with arm still circling her, he told her the -whole story. When it was ended he asked gently: - -"And can the heart find room for another son, little Mother?" - -Taking the fine, strong face in her hands, she kissed him very tenderly, -saying: - -"I think you have always been that to me, dear. Yes, from the first hour -I knew you. I am very, very happy in my newest son, and can trust my -little girl to his care with all faith and confidence." - -"God bless you!" whispered Hadyn. - -"Who is here?" cried Jean at the door of the library, and running in -came to a sudden standstill. Neither her mother nor Hadyn spoke, and for -a moment Jean stood motionless in the middle of the room, her eyes -turned first upon one face then upon the other, her expressive face -changing as her emotions changed. Then impulsively as she did -everything, she ran toward them and, dropping upon her knees beside -Hadyn, clasped her arms around his neck, and, nestling her cheek against -his, cried: - -"Now I _know_ you are all mine, and everyone may know how hard I love -you, for any girl may love a brother all she wants to." - -That was a wonderfully sweet moment for Hadyn. - -Does much more remain to be told? - -Yes, but that is another story. - -THE END. - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Three Little Women's Success, by -Gabrielle E. 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