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diff --git a/old/55298-8.txt b/old/55298-8.txt deleted file mode 100644 index cd13c21..0000000 --- a/old/55298-8.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,10931 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Her Husband's Purse, by Helen R. Martin - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world 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. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: Her Husband's Purse - -Author: Helen R. Martin - -Illustrator: John Newton Howitt - -Release Date: August 8, 2017 [EBook #55298] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HER HUSBAND'S PURSE *** - - - - -Produced by Al Haines - - - - - - - - - HER HUSBAND'S PURSE - - BY - HELEN R. MARTIN - - - - ILLUSTRATED BY - JOHN NEWTON HOWITT - - - - GARDEN CITY NEW YORK - DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY - 1916 - - - - - _Copyright, 1916, by_ - DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY - - _All rights reserved, including that of - translation into foreign languages, - including the Scandinavian_ - - - - COPYRIGHT, 1915, 1916, SMITH PUBLISHING HOUSE - - - - -LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS - -"Oh!" her voice rippled with laughter, "this is the twentieth century -A.D., not B.C., Daniel" (see page 180) . . . . . . . . . _Frontispiece_ - -"'Benefactor'?" she read, "'a doer of kindly deeds; a friendly helper.' -You see, I'm _your_ benefactor, according to the Standard" - -Margaret suddenly laid down her napkin and rushed from the room, every -nerve in her sick and quivering with the physical and moral disgust she -felt - -"You will be glad to know, Jennie, that I have persuaded mother to -spend the night with us," Margaret said - - - - -HER HUSBAND'S PURSE - - - -I - -The Pennsylvania town of New Munich was electrified by the sudden and -entirely unlooked-for announcement of the betrothal of Daniel Leitzel, -Esquire; but his two maiden sisters with whom he lived, and to whom the -news was also wholly unexpected, were appalled, confounded. That Danny -should have taken such a step independently of them (who did all his -thinking for him outside of his profession) was a cataclysmal episode. -Of course it never would have happened without their knowledge if Danny -had not been temporarily away from his home on business and far removed -from their watchful care--watchful these twenty years past that no -designing Jezebel might get a chance at the great fortune of their -petted little brother--though it must be admitted that Danny was by -this time of a marriageable age, being just turned forty-five. - -"To think he'd leave us learn about it in the newspapers yet, sooner 'n -he'd come home and face us with it! Yes, it looks anyhow as if he was -ashamed of the girl he's picked out!" exclaimed Jennie, a stern and -uncompromising spinster of sixty, as she and her sister Sadie, sitting -in the elaborately furnished and quite hideous sitting-room of their -big, fine house on Main Street, stared in consternation at the glaring -headlines of the New Munich _Evening Intelligencer_, which announced, -in type that to the sisters seemed letters of flame, the upsetting news -of their idolized brother having been at last matrimonially trapped. -Being confronted with his betrothal in print seemed to make it -hopelessly incontrovertible. They might have schemed to avert the -impending catastrophe of his marriage (in case Danny had been taken in -by an Adventuress) did not the _Intelligencer_ unequivocally state (and -the _Intelligencer's_ statements were scarcely less authoritative to -Jennie and Sadie Leitzel than the Bible itself) that Danny would be -married to the Unknown inside of a month. If the _Intelligencer_ said -so, it seemed useless to try to stop it. - -"To think he'll be married to her already before we get a chance, once, -to look her over and tell him if she'd suit him!" lamented Sadie who -was five years younger than Jennie. - -"Well," pronounced Jennie, setting her thin lips in a hard line, -"she'll find out when she gets here that she ain't getting her fingers -on our Danny's money! She'll get fooled if she's counting on _that_. -She'll soon learn that she'll have to do with just what he likes to -give her and no more! And of course Danny'll consult _us_ as to just -how much he ought to leave her handle. When she finds out," Jennie -grimly prophesied, "that our Danny always does the way we advise him to -and that she'll have to keep on the right side of _us_, I guess she -won't like it very well!" - -"We can only hope that she ain't such a bold, common thing that just -took our Danny in, that way!" sighed Sadie. - -"But why would he hurry it up so, like as if he was afraid we would -mebby put a stop to it? _She_ put him up to fixing it all tight before -he could change his mind!" Jennie shrewdly surmised. - -"It does look that way!" fretted Sadie. - -Jennie, the elder sister, was tall, gaunt, and rawboned. Though -approaching old age, her dominating spirit and grasping ambitions had -preserved her vigour, physically and mentally. Her sharp face was -deeply lined, but the keenness of her eyes was undimmed, her shoulders -were erect, her hair was thick and black. The expression of her thin -slit of a mouth was almost relentlessly hard. - -Sadie, five years younger, had also a will of her own, but happily it -had always operated on a line so entirely in harmony with that of her -sister, that they had lived together all their lives without friction, -the younger woman unconsciously dominated by the elder. Indeed, no one -could abide under the same roof with Jennie Leitzel who ventured openly -to differ with her. Fortunately, even Sadie's passion for dress did -not clash with Jennie's miserliness, for Sadie, too, was miserly, and -Jennie loved to see her younger sister arrayed gorgeously in cheap -finery, her taste inclining to that of a girl of sixteen. A dormant -mother-instinct, too, such as must exist, however obscurely, in every -frame of woman, even in that of a Jennie Leitzel, found an outlet in -coddling Sadie's health and in ministering to and encouraging a certain -plaintiveness in the younger woman's disposition. So, these two -sisters, depending upon and complementing each other, of congenial -temperaments, and with but one common paramount interest in life, the -welfare of their incomparable younger brother whom they had brought up -and of whom they were inordinately proud, lived together in the supreme -enjoyment of the high estate to which their ambitions and their -unflagging efforts had uplifted the Leitzel family--from rural -obscurity to prominence and influence in their county town of New -Munich. - -To be sure, the sisters realized that they held what they called their -"social position" only as appendages to Danny--Danny who had been to -college, who was the head of a great corporation law firm, who was -enormously rich and a highly eligible young man; that is, he used to be -young; and though New Munich regarded him as a confirmed old bachelor, -his sisters still looked upon him as a dashing youth and a great -matrimonial prize. They were not ashamed, but proud, of the fact that -people tolerated them because they were Danny's sisters. - -It may seem strange that anything calling itself "society" could admit -women so crude as Jennie and Sadie, even though they were appendages to -a bait so dazzling as Danny Leitzel, Esquire. But in communities where -the ruling class is descended from the Pennsylvania Dutch, "society" is -remarkably elastic and has almost no closed doors to the appeal of -wealth, however freighted it may be with vulgarity and illiteracy; and, -be it known, Danny's sisters were not only financially independent of -Danny, but even wealthy, quite in their own right. - -In spite of this fact, however, what social footing they had in the -little town of New Munich had not been acquired so easily as to make it -appear to them other than a very great possession. - -As to the big, fine house in which they lived, it had been Danny's -money which, in the early days of his prosperity, had, at his sisters' -instigation, built this grand dwelling on the principal street of New -Munich, to dazzle and catch the town. - -The room in which the sisters sat to-night would have seemed to one who -knew them a perfect expression of themselves--its tawdry grandeur -speaking loudly of their pride in money and display, and of, at the -same time, their penuriousness; the absence of books and of real -pictures, but the obtrusive decorations of heavy gilt frames on -chromos; the luridly coloured domestic carpets; heavy, ugly upholstered -furniture, manifesting the unfortunate combination of ample means with -total absence of culture. It would seem that in a rightly organized -social system women like these would not possess wealth, but would be -serving those who knew how to use wealth. - -"To think our Danny'd marry a stranger, yet, from away down South, when -he could have picked out Congressman Ocksreider's daughter, or Judge -Kuntz's oldest girl--or Mamie Gundaker and her father a bank president! -Any of these high ladies of New Munich he could have!" wailed Sadie. -"They'd be only too glad to _get_ our Danny! And here he goes and -marries a stranger!" - -"It ain't _like_ him that he'd up and do this thing behind our backs, -without askin' our adwice!" Jennie exclaimed. - -"Think of the grand wedding we could have had here in New Munich!" -Sadie sighed. - -"And we don't even know if she's well-fixed or poor!" cried Jennie in a -wildly worried tone. - -"But I hardly think," Sadie tried to comfort her, "that Danny would -pick out a _poor_ girl. Nor a common one, either, so genteel as what -we raised him!" - -"But men get so easy fooled with women, Sadie! If she's smart, she -could easy come over Danny." - -"Unless he got stubborn-headed for her." - -"Well," admitted Jennie, "to be sure Danny can get awful -stubborn-headed sometimes. But if she's smart and found out how rich -he is, she'd take care not to get him stubborn-headed." - -"Yes, that's so, too," nodded Sadie. "I wonder if she's a fancy -dresser?" - -Sadie's love of clothes was second only to her devotion to Danny. She -was dressed this evening in a girlish Empire gown made of red -cheesecloth. - -"What will folks _say_ to this news, anyhow?" scolded Jennie. "I'll -have a shamed face to go on the street, us not knowing anything about -it, not even who she is yet! If folks ast us, Sadie, we must leave on -we did know--we'll just say, 'Oh, it ain't news to _us_!'" - -"But how could we know much when Danny himself has knew her only a -little over a month, Jennie?" - -"Yes, don't it, now, beat all?" - -"Yes, don't it!" - -"That shows what she is--marrying a man she knew only a month or so!" - -"Well, to be sure, it wouldn't take her even a month, Jennie, to see -what a catch our Danny is." - -"If she does turn out to be a common person," said Jennie with her most -purse-proud look and tone, "she's anyhow got to act genteel before -folks and not give Danny and us a shamed face here in New Munich--high -up as we've raised our Danny and hard as we worked to do it yet!" - -"Yes, the idea!" mourned Sadie. - -"Yes, the very idea!" nodded Jennie vindictively. "I shouldn't -wonder," she added anxiously, always concerned for her sister's health -which was really quite remarkably perfect, "if this shock give you the -headache, Sadie!" - -"I shouldn't wonder!" Sadie shook her head sadly. - -"Read me off the piece in the paper and see what it says all," Jennie -ordered. "But sit so the light don't give you the headache." - -Sadie, adjusting her spectacles and turning on the electric table lamp -at her elbow, read the glaring article which had that evening appeared -on the first page of their daily paper and which every household in New -Munich was, they knew, now reading with feelings of astonishment, -curiosity, disappointment or chagrin, as the case might be, for the -sisters were sure that many heartaches among the marriageable maidens -of the town would be caused by the news that Danny was no longer within -their possible reach. These twenty-five years past he and his gold had -been dangling before them--and now to have him appropriated, without -warning, by a non-resident! - -The article was headed in large type: - - - "ONE MORE VICTIM OF CUPID'S DARTS-- - DANIEL LEITZEL LED LIKE A LAMB - TO HYMEN'S ALTAR." - - -Sadie breathed heavily as she read: - - -In a communication received at this office to-day from our esteemed -fellow-citizen, Daniel Leitzel, Esquire, sojourning for the past four -weeks in the balmy South, we are informed of his engagement and -impending marriage to "a young lady of distinguished Southern lineage," -one who, we may feel sure, will grace very acceptably the social circle -here of which Mr. Leitzel is such a prominent, prosperous, and pleasant -member. The news comes to our town as a great surprise, for we had -almost begun to give Danny up as a hopeless bach. He will, however, -lead his bride to Hymen's altar early next month and bring her -straightway to his palatial residence on Main Street, presided over by -his estimable sisters, Miss Jennie and Miss Sadie. New Munich offers -its congratulations to her esteemed fellow-citizen, though some of us -wonder why he found it necessary to go so far away to find a wife, with -so many lovely ladies here in his native town to choose from. Love, -however, we all know, is a capricious mistress and none may guess -whither she may lead. - -The happy and fortunate lady, Miss Margaret Berkeley of Berkeley Hill, -a distinguished and picturesque old colonial homestead two miles out of -Charleston, S.C., is, we are informed, a lineal descendant on her -mother's side of two governors of her native state and the niece of the -learned scholar and eminent psychologist, the late Dr. Osmond Berkeley, -with whom Miss Margaret made her home at Berkeley Hill until his -decease a year ago, since which sad event she has continued to reside -at this same homestead, her married sister and family living with her, -this sister being the wife of a Charleston attorney with whom Daniel -Leitzel, Esquire, has been conducting some legal railroad business in -Charleston and through whom our esteemed fellow-citizen, it seems, met -his happy doom. - -New Munich's most aristocratic society will anticipate with pleasurable -interest the arrival of the happy bride and groom, Mrs. and Mr. Daniel -Leitzel. No doubt many very elegant society events will take place -this winter in honour of the newcomer among us; for New Munich is noted -for its hospitality. - - -"It don't say," Jennie sharply remarked, "whether she's -well-fixed--though to be sure if she comes from such high people they'd -have to be rich." - -"But her grand relations are all deceased, the paper says," returned -Sadie despondently. "You may better believe, Jennie, if she had money, -Danny would have told the noospapers." - -"It says in the paper she's living with her married sister, and it -looks to me," Jennie shrewdly surmised, "as if her brother-in-law (that -lawyer Danny had dealings with) wanted to get rid of her and worked her -off on our Danny. Or else that she took up with Danny to get a home of -her own." - -"Do you _think_ Danny could be so easy worked?" Sadie doubtfully -inquired. - -"He's a man," Jennie affirmed conclusively (though there were those -among Danny's acquaintances who would not have agreed with Jennie); -"and any man can be worked." - -"You think?" - -"To be sure. Danny would have been roped in long ago a'ready if I -hadn't of opened his eyes to it, still, when he was being worked." - -"Yes, I guess," agreed Sadie. "Say, Jennie, what'll Hiram say when he -hears it, I wonder!" - -Hiram was their brother next in age to Jennie, who, upon the family's -sudden, unexpected access to wealth thirty-five years before, through -the discovery of coal on some farm land they owned, had been a young -farmer working in the fields, and had immediately decided to use his -share of the money obtained from leasing the coal land to prepare -himself for what had then seemed to him a dizzy height of ambition, the -highest human calling, the United Brethren ministry. For twenty years -now he had been pastor of a small church in the neighbouring borough of -Millerstown. His sisters were very proud to have a brother who was "a -preacher." It was so respectable. They never failed to feel a thrill -at sight of his printed name in an occasional number of the Millerstown -_New Era_--"Rev. Hiram Leitzel." But Hiram did not, of course, hold -Danny's high place in their regard; Danny, their little brother whom -they had reared and who had repaid them by such a successful career in -money-making that he had, at the age of forty-five, accumulated a -fortune many times larger than that he had inherited. - -"Hiram will take it awful hard that Danny's getting married," affirmed -Jennie. "He'd like you and me an Danny, too, to will our money to -_his_ children. He always hoped, I think, that Danny wouldn't ever get -married, so's his children would get all. To be sure the ministry -ain't a money-making calling and Hiram has jealous feelings over Danny -that he's so rich and keeps getting richer. Hiram likes money, too, as -much as Danny does." - -"I wonder," speculated Sadie, "if Danny's picked out as saving and -hard-working a wife as what Hiram's got." - -The characteristic Leitzel caution that Hiram had exercised in "picking -out" a wife had prolonged his bachelorhood far into middle life. He -had now been married ten years and had four children. - -Keenly as the Leitzels loved money, none of them, not even Hiram -himself, had ever regretted his going into the ministry. It gave him -the kind of importance in the little borough of Millerstown that was -manna to the Leitzel egotism. Hiram really thought of himself (as in -his youth he had always looked upon ministers) as a kind of demigod; -and as the people of Millerstown and even his own wife treated him as -though he were one, he lived in the complacent enjoyment of his -delusion. - -He had greatly pleased his sisters and his brother Daniel by marrying -the daughter of the richest man in his congregation, and they all -approved of the frugality by which he and his wife managed to live on -the little salary he drew from his church, letting his inherited wealth -and that of his wife accumulate for the children. - -"It ain't likely," Jennie replied to Sadie's speculation, "that Danny's -marrying as well as Hiram married, when he's acting without our adwice." - -"No, I guess anyhow not," agreed Sadie. "Say, Jennie!" she suddenly -whispered mysteriously. - -"Well, what?" - -"Will we leave Mom know about Danny's getting married?" - -"Well, to be sure she'll have to find it out," Jennie curtly answered. -"It'll mebby be printed in the _County Gazette_ and she sees that -sometimes." - -"Say, Jennie, if Danny's wife _is_ a way-up lady, what'll she think of -Mom yet, with her New Mennonite garb and her Dutch talk that way, and -all! My goodness!" - -"Well, a body can't help for their step-mothers, I guess!" - -"But she's so wonderful common and ignorant. I guess Danny would be -ashamed to leave his wife see her. And his wife would laugh so at her -clothes and her talk!" - -"But how would his wife ever get a chance to see her? We don't ever -have Mom in here and we never take any one out to see her." - -"That's so, too," Sadie acquiesced. - -"I guess Hiram'll press it more'n ever now that we'd ought to put Mom -to the poorhouse and rent our old home. The land would bring a good -rent, he says, and we've no call to leave her live on it free any -longer. But I tell Hiram it would make talk if we put her to the -poorhouse. Hardly any one knows we _got_ a step-mother, and we don't -want to start any talk." - -"Yes, well, but how could they blame us when she ain't our own mother?" -Sadie protested. - -"But _you_ know how she brags about us so proud to her neighbours out -there in Martz Township--just as if we _was_ her own sons and -daughters--and tells 'em how grand we live and how much Danny is -thought of and how smart he is and what fine sermons Hiram preaches and -how she kep' us all when we were little while Pop drank so and we -hadn't anything but what she earned at the wash-tub! Yes," said Jennie -indignantly, "she tells it all right out perfectly shameless and -anybody to hear her talk would think we was her own flesh and blood!" - -"Yes, it often worries me the way the folks out there talk down on us -and say she always treated us like her own and we always treated her -like a _step_-mother!" fretted Sadie. - -"Well, I guess we needn't mind what such common, poor country folks say -about _us_!" sneered Jennie. "All the same"--she suddenly lowered her -voice apprehensively--"we darsent start folks talking, or first thing -we know they'll be saying we _cheated_ Mom out of her widow's third -because she was too ignorant to claim it!" - -"How would they have dare to say that when the land come from our own -mother in the first place?" pleaded Sadie. "And Danny always says -we've got our moral right to all the money even if we haven't the legal -right." - -"Yes, and he always says, too, that if we ain't awful careful we'll -have a lawsuit yet, and be _forced_ to give a lot of our money over to -Mom! Yes, I often say to Hiram, 'Better leave sleeping dogs lay,' I -say, 'and not go tryin' to put Mom into the poorhouse.'" - -"Yes, I guess anyhow then!" breathed Sadie. - -"By to-morrow"--Jennie veered off from the precarious topic of their -step-mother, for here was ice too thin for even private family -handling--"we'll be getting a letter from Danny giving us the -_de_tails. Say, Sadie, if he don't offer to pay our way, I ain't using -my money to travel that far to his wedding." - -"Nor me, either," said Sadie. "Do you think, Jennie," she anxiously -asked, "folks will talk at our still keeping house for Danny when he's -married? You know how Danny always made us promise we'd stay by him, -married or single?" - -Jennie sniffed. "As if he could get along without us! As if any one -else could learn his ways and how he likes things--and him so -particular about his little comforts! _He_ wouldn't leave us go away! -And look at what he _saves_ with us paying half the household expenses!" - -"And as for his wife's not liking it----" began Sadie. - -"As for her," Jennie sharply put in, "she's coming here without asking -us if we like it--she'll be put in _her_ place right from the start." - -"But if she's got money of her own mebby," Sadie suggested doubtfully, -"she could be independent, too, then." - -"Well, to be sure she'd put her money in her husband's care, wouldn't -she?--and him a lawyer." - -"A body couldn't be sure she'd do that till they saw once what kind of -a person she was, Jennie." - -"Well," Jennie stoutly maintained, "Danny'll _see_ that she does." - -It will be noted that the story of Miss Berkeley's "distinguished -lineage" did not greatly impress Jennie and Sadie Leitzel. They did -not quite understand it. They knew nothing about such a thing as a -distinguished lineage; New Munich "aristocrats" certainly did not have -any; and the sisters' experiences being limited to life as it was in -New Munich, whose "first families" were such only by reason of their -"means," Sadie and Jennie were ignorant of any other measure of -excellence. To be poor and at the same time of any significance, was a -combination unknown to them. - -As the newspapers did not state how closely those ancestral governors -were related to Miss Berkeley, the relationship was undoubtedly so -distant as to be negligible. - -The one thing that would have softened their attitude toward their new -relative would have been an unequivocal statement as to the firm -financial standing of her family. And on that point the newspaper, -though furnished by Daniel himself with the facts, was ominously -silent. The conclusion was unmistakable. She was certainly penniless. - -It was not greatly to be wondered at that the Leitzels worshipped -money. It was money that had done everything for them: it had rescued -them from a fearful struggle for a bare existence on a small, heavily -mortgaged farm; it had freed them from the grind of slavish labour; -from an obscurity that had been bitterly humiliating to the self-esteem -and the ambition which was characteristic of every one of them. It was -money that had given them power, place, influence; that made their -fellowmen treat them with deference and relieved them from the -necessity of treating any one else with deference. They knew of no -worth in life unpurchasable by money. They did not, therefore, know of -their own spiritual pauperism; their abject poverty. - - - - -II - -The betrothal and impending marriage of Daniel Leitzel was the only -topic of discussion that evening at the New Munich Country Club dance. -Certainly New Munich had a Country Club. "Up to date in every -particular." There was nothing in the way of being smartly fashionable -that the town of New Munich lacked. Well, if up to the present it had -lacked old families of "distinguished lineage," who, in these -commercial days, regarded that kind of thing? Anyway, was not that -lack (if lack it had been) now to be supplied by the newcomer, Mrs. -Daniel Leitzel? - -Not only at the Country Club dance, but wherever two or three were -gathered together--at the mid-week Prayer Meeting, at the Woman's -Suffrage Headquarters, at the Ladies' Literary Club, at the Episcopal -Church Vespers, at the auction bridge given at Congressman Ocksreider's -home--Danny Leitzel's betrothal was talked about. - -"Just imagine this 'daughter of a thousand earls----'" - -"Governors, not earls," corrected Mr. Schaeffer, the whist partner of -the first speaker who was Miss Myrtle Deibert, as supper was being -served at eleven o'clock on the card tables at Congressman -Ocksreider's. "A thousand governors and highbrows--shy-lologists, or -something like that--whatever _they_ are!" - -"Well, just imagine such a person living at the Leitzels!" - -"But you don't suppose Danny's sisters will still live with him after -he's married!" exclaimed Mr. Bleichert, the second young man at the -table. - -"If he thinks it more economical, they certainly will," declared Miss -Myrtle Deibert. - -"Whew!" exclaimed Mr. Bleichert. "Good-_night_!" - -"Who would have supposed any nice girl would have married old Danny -Leitzel!" marvelled Mr. Schaeffer. - -"Oh, come now," protested Mr. Bleichert who was a cynic, "why have all -the girls, from the buds just out, up to the bargain-counter maidens in -their fourth 'season,' been inviting Danny Leitzel to everything going, -and running after him heels over head, ever since he built his ugly, -expensive brick house on Main Street? Tell me that, will you?" - -It should be stated here that it was an accepted social custom in New -Munich for the people at one card table to discuss the clothes, -manners, and morals of those at the next table. - -"You know perfectly well," retorted Miss Deibert, "that at least two -girls in this town, when it came to the point of _marrying_ Danny, -chucked it." - -"I should think they might," said Schaeffer. "Why, he isn't a man, -he's a weasel, a rat, a money-slot!" - -"Well, of course, the girl or old maid, 'bird or devil,' that has -caught him at last, isn't marrying him for himself, but for his money," -serenely affirmed Myrtle Deibert. - -"When she meets his two appendages, Miss Jennie and Miss Sadie, she'll -wish she was single again!" predicted Mr. Bleichert. - -"They'll probably think it their business to manage Danny's wife the -way they manage him," Miss Deibert declared. - -"I hope she's a spendthrift," shrugged Mr. Schaeffer. "It would give -Dan Leitzel the shock he needs to find himself married to a -spendthrift." - -"She won't be one after she's Mrs. Daniel Leitzel!" Miss Deibert -confidently asserted. - -"But of course she's rich--Dan Leitzel wouldn't marry a dowerless -woman," said Bleichert. - -"Well, then he won't let her spend _her_ money," Miss Deibert settled -that. - -The second young lady at this card table, a pale, serious-looking girl, -did not join in the discussion, but sat with her eyes downcast, toying -with her food, as the rest chattered. The other three did not give -Miss Aucker credit for remaining silent because she found their gossip -vulgar and tiresome (which was indeed her true reason) but attributed -her disinclination to talk to the fact that during the past year Daniel -Leitzel had been rather noticeably attentive to her; so much so that -people had begun to look for a possible interesting outcome. Miss -Deibert, Mr. Schaeffer, and Mr. Bleichert, therefore, all considered -her demeanour just now to be an indelicately open expression of her -chagrin at the news they discussed. - -"He was her last chance," Miss Deibert was thinking. "She must be -nearly thirty." - -"One would think she wouldn't show her disappointment so frankly," Mr. -Schaeffer was mentally criticising her. - -"You know," chuckled Miss Deibert as she dabbed with her fork at a -chicken croquet, "Danny, away from his sisters and his awful house and -among strangers, would appear so like a perfect gentleman, even if he -_is_ 'a rat, a weasel, a money-slot,' that I think even the descendant -of earls or governors might be deceived. You see he's had so many -advantages; he was only ten years old when they discovered coal on -their land and got rich over night. And from the first, his sisters -gave him every advantage they could buy for him, sending him to the -best private schools, and then to college, and then to the Harvard Law -School; and every one knows that Danny Leitzel is no fool, but a -brilliant lawyer. So I do think that, detached from his setting here, -there's nothing about Danny that would lead an unsuspecting South -Carolina bride to imagine such contingencies as Jennie and Sadie and -that Main Street house. I suppose _she_ lives in an ancestral colonial -place full of antique mahogany, the kind we all buy at junk shops when -we have money enough." - -"What kind of a woman would it be that could stand Dan Leitzel's -penuriousness?" Mr. Schaeffer speculated. "He makes money like rolling -down hill and I've heard him jew down the old chore woman that scrubs -his office and haggle over a fifty-cent bill for supper at the club. -He's the worst screw I ever knew. And mind you, his bride's a Southern -woman, accustomed to liberality and gallantry and everything she won't -find at Danny's house!" - -"Do you know (not many people in New Munich do seem to know) that the -Leitzels' _mother_ is living?" said Miss Deibert. - -"_What?_" - -"I know a woman that knows her. She lives in the Leitzels' old -farmhouse out in Martz Township." - -"But Miss Jennie and Miss Sadie are too old to have a mother living." - -"It's their step-mother. But she brought them up from little children -and I heard she even took in washing to support them when their own -father drank--and now they're ashamed of her and don't have anything to -do with her. I was told she's a dear old soul and never speaks against -them, but is as proud of their rise in the world as if she were their -own mother. The neighbours out there say she has a hard time getting -on and that they don't do a thing for her except let her live in their -old tumble-down farmhouse. Isn't it a shame, as rich as they are!" - -"You can't believe everything you hear." - -"But it would be just like them!" affirmed Bleichert. - -"Mary!" Miss Deibert suddenly laid her hand playfully on that of the -silent Miss Aucker. "Congratulations on _your_ escape, my dear!" - -"I was never in the least danger, Myrtle. Aren't we gossiping rather -dreadfully? I've been wondering"--she looked up with a smile that -transformed her seriousness into a gentle radiance--"what a newcomer -like Mr. Leitzel's wife, doomed to live here, will _do_ with us and our -social life, if she really is a woman of breeding and culture. I -wonder whether it would be possible this winter to make our social -coming together count for something more than--well, than just an utter -waste of time. What is there in it all--our afternoon teas, auction -bridge, luncheons, dinners, dances. The dances are of course the best -thing we do because they are at least refreshing and rejuvenating. But -don't you think, Myrtle, that we might make it all more worth while?" - -"There's the Ladies' Literary Club," Myrtle suggested, "for those that -want something 'worth while,' as you put it. I think it's an awful -bore myself." - -"Of course it is," Mary agreed. - -"But what would you suggest then?" - -"I suppose it is after all a question of what is in ourselves. A dozen -literary clubs at which we read abstracts from encyclopedias wouldn't -alter the fact that when we get together we have so little, so _little_ -to give to each other!" - -"Oh, I don't know!" protested Myrtle. "We all read all the latest -books and magazines and talk about them, and----" - -At an adjoining table another phase of the agitating news was being -threshed out. - -"If she's what the papers say she is, I suppose she'll turn up her nose -at New Munich," said the daughter of the Episcopal rector. - -"Oh, I don't think she need put on any airs!" said Miss Ocksreider, the -hostess's daughter. "I've visited down South and I can tell you we're -enough more up to date here in New Munich. Nearly every one down -there, even their aristocrats, is so poor that up here they wouldn't be -anybody. It's awfully queer the way those Southerners don't care -anything about appearances. They tell you right out they can't afford -this and that, and they don't seem to think anything of wearing clothes -all out of style. There was an awfully handsome new house in the town -where I stopped, and when I asked the hotel clerk who lived in it and -if they weren't great swells, he said: 'Oh, no, they are not in -society; they're not one of our _families_, though they're very nice -people, of course, members of church and good to the poor and all like -that.' 'Not in society in a little town like this Leesburg, and living -in a mansion like _that_?' I said. Yes, that's the way they are down -there." - -"How queer!" came from two of her table companions to whom, like -herself, any but money standards of value were rather vague and hazy. - -"But if they don't care for money down there, then what's this girl -marrying Dan Leitzel for?" one of the men candidly wondered. - -"Well, you know there's no accounting for tastes." - -"I could excuse any woman's marrying for money--in these days it's only -prudent," said the candid one; "but I certainly couldn't respect a -woman that married Dan Leitzel for anything _else_." - -"It's to be hoped she's an up-to-date girl and not a clinging vine, for -Danny will need very firm handling to make him part with enough money -to keep her in gloves and slippers and other necessary luxuries," said -Miss Ocksreider. - -"Yes, if it were only her husband that she'll have to manage; but there -are Miss Jennie and Miss Sadie, too!" cried the rector's daughter. -"Danny doesn't so much as put on a necktie without consulting them. -They even tie it for him and part his hair for him." - -"That may be," said one of the men, "but let me tell you that any one -who thinks Dan Leitzel hasn't any force of character better take -another guess. If he lets his sisters choose his neckties for him, -it's because he doesn't want to do it himself. He's the most -consummately selfish individual I've ever known in the whole course of -my long and useful life and the most immovably obstinate. Weak? Why, -when that fellow takes a notion, he's a mule for sticking to it. -Reason with him? Go out in your chicken yard and reason with your -hens. It wouldn't be as futile!" - -"_He_ may be independent of his sisters, but his wife won't be!" -prophesied the rector's daughter darkly. - -"Anyway," said Miss Ocksreider, "it will be interesting, won't it, to -look on this winter at the drama or comedy or tragedy, as the case may -be, of Danny Leitzel's marriage?" - -"Won't it!" exclaimed in chorus her hearers. - -But at one of the other tables a man was at this moment remarking: "You -may all laugh at Dan Leitzel--he's funny of course--but he's all the -same a man of brains and education, of wealth and influence and power. -In short, he's a _successful_ man. And in Pennsylvania who asks -anything more of a man?" - - - - -III - -Meantime, several hundred miles away, the two objects of all this -criticism and speculation were not so apprehensive for their future as -were the gossips of New Munich, though it must be confessed that the -prospective bridegroom, in spite of his jubilant happiness, did have -one or two misgivings on certain points, and that the bride, while -wholly ignorant of the real calibre of the man she was about to marry, -and having no conception of such a domestic and social environment as -that from which he had sprung, nevertheless did not even imagine -herself romantically in love with him. - -That a girl like Margaret Berkeley could have become involved in a love -affair and an actual betrothal with a man like Daniel Leitzel, while -apparently inexplicable, becomes, in view of her unique history and -present circumstances, not only plausible, but almost inevitable. - -Her entanglement with him may be dated from a certain evening just -twenty-four hours before she met or even heard of him, when a little -episode, trivial enough in itself, opened her eyes to an ugly fact in -her relation with her sister to which she had been rather persistently -blind. - -She had been radiantly happy all that day because of the unusual -circumstance that she had something delightful to anticipate for the -evening. Her godmother, who lived in Charleston, had 'phoned out to -Berkeley Hill to invite her to go with her to see Nazimova in "Hedda -Gabler"; and as Margaret had seen only three plays in all the -twenty-five years of her life (though she had avidly read every classic -drama in the English and French languages) she was greatly excited at -the prospect before her. So barren had her girlhood been of youthful -pleasures, so sombre and uneventful her daily routine, and so repressed -every natural, restless instinct toward brightness and happiness, that -the idea of seeing a great dramatic performance loomed big before her -as an intoxicating delight. All day, alone in her isolated suburban -home, in charge of her elder sister's three small children and of the -two rather decrepit negro servants of the great old place, she had gone -tripping and singing about the house. She had been quite unable to -settle down to the prosaic work of mending the week's laundry, or of -wrestling with the intricacies of Henry James' difficult style in "The -Golden Bowl" in which, the night before, she had been passionately -absorbed. - -She could scarcely wait for her sister Harriet to come home from town, -where she was attending a young matrons' luncheon party, so eager was -she to tell her of the treat she was going to have. - -"She will be so glad for me. I've scarcely been outside the hedge for -a month, and she has been having such a gay time herself--she's so -popular. She'll be so glad I'm going!" she repeated to herself, trying -to ignore the doubt in her heart on that point. - -But when at half-past four in the afternoon Harriet returned, the blow -fell upon Margaret. - -"Harriet, dear!" she exultantly greeted her sister with her splendid -news the moment the latter came into the house, "Aunt Virginia is going -to take me to see Nazimova to-night! Oh!" She laughed aloud, and -danced about the spacious hall in her delight, while her sister, a very -comely young matron of thirty-five, leisurely removed her wraps. - -"But Walter and I are going," Harriet casually remarked as she tossed -her cloak over a carved, high-backed chair. "The editor of the -_Bulletin_ gave Walter two tickets as part payment for some legal -business Walter did for him. Of course you and I can't both be away -from the children. Has the baby had her five o'clock bottle?" - -"It isn't quite five yet." - -"Will you see that she gets it, dearie? I'm so dead tired, I'll have -to rest before dinner if I'm going into the city again to-night. Will -you attend to it?" - -"Yes." - -"That's a dear. I'm going up to lie down. Don't let the children come -to my room and wake me, will you, dear?" she added as she started -languidly upstairs. - -"But, Harriet!" - -"What?" Harriet asked, not stopping. - -"I accepted Aunt Virginia's invitation and she is coming out in her -motor for me!" - -"Too bad! I'm awfully sorry. You'd better 'phone at once or she will -be offended. Tell her that as we are much too poor to _buy_ tickets -for the theatre, we can't possibly refuse to use them on the rare -occasions when they're given to us!" Harriet laughed as she -disappeared around the curve of the winding stairway. - -Margaret sprang after her. "Oh, Harriet! I can't give it up!" Her -voice was low and breathless. - -"But if you 'phone at once Aunt Virginia won't be cross. You know, -dearie, you shouldn't make engagements without first finding out what -ours are." And Harriet moved on up the stairs to her bedroom. - -Margaret was ashamed of her childishness when at dinner that evening -Walter, her brother-in-law, inquiring, in his kind, solicitous way, the -cause of her pallor and silence, she burst out crying and rushed from -the table. - -Walter, looking shocked and distressed, turned to his wife for an -explanation. But Harriet's face expressed blank astonishment. - -"Why, I can't imagine! Unless she's tired out from having had the -children all day. I was at Mrs. Duncan's luncheon, you know. I didn't -get home until nearly five. I'll tell Margaret to go to bed early -to-night and rest up." - -Walter Eastman, searching his wife's face keenly, shrugged his big -shoulders at the impenetrability of its innocent candour. No use to -try to get at the truth of anything from Harriet. She wasn't exactly a -liar, but she had a genius for twisting facts to suit her own selfish -ends--and all Harriet's ends were selfish. Even the welfare of her -children was secondary to her own comfort and convenience. Walter had -no illusions about the wife of his bosom and the mother of his three -children. He knew perfectly well that she loved no one as she loved -herself, and that this dominating self-love made her often cold-blooded -and even sometimes a bit false, though always, he was sure, -unconsciously so. He was still quite fond of her, which spoke well for -them both, considering that they had been married nine years. Of -course, after such a length of time they were no longer "in love." But -Harriet was an easy-going, good-natured woman, when you didn't cross -her; and as he was also easy-going and good-natured, and never crossed -her when he could avoid it, they got on beautifully and had a pretty -good time together. - -Walter wondered sometimes what Harriet would do if placed in -circumstances where her own inclinations would have to be sacrificed -for those of another. For instance, if she and Margaret had to change -places. - -"Take Margaret to the play with you to-night and I'll stay home with -the kiddies, Harriet," he suggested, looking at his wife across their -beautifully appointed dinner-table with its old family china and -silver. Harriet, in her home-made evening gown, graced with -distinction the stately dining-room furnished in shining antique -mahogany, its walls hung with interesting portraits. "If Margaret's -had charge of the children all day, she ought not to have them -to-night." - -"No." Harriet shook her head. "Margaret ought not to go out to-night, -she's too tired. And I want _you_ with me, dear. Margaret is not my -husband, you know. That's the danger of having one of your family -living with you," she sighed. "It is so apt to make a husband and wife -less near to each other. I am always resisting the inclination, -Walter, dear, to pair off with Margaret instead of with _you_. I -resist it for your sake, for the children's sake, for the sake of our -home." - -"I shall feel a selfish beast going to a play and leaving that dear -girl alone here with the babies. They're our babies, not hers, you -know." - -"She loves them like her own; she's crazy about them. They are the -greatest pleasure she has, Walter." - -"Because she hasn't the sort of young pleasures she ought to have. And -because she's so unselfish, Hat, that she lets herself be imposed upon -to the limit! I've been thinking, lately, that we ought to do more -than we do for Margaret; she ought to know girls of her own age; she -ought to have a bit of social life, now that the year of mourning is -over. It's too dull for her, sticking out here eternally, minding our -children and seeing after the house." - -"But she's used to sticking out here and seeing after the house. When -she lived here with Uncle Osmond she had a lot less diversion and life -about her than she has now, and you know how deadly gloomy it was here -then. We've brightened it up and made it a home for Margaret." - -"The fact that she had to sacrifice her girlhood for your uncle is all -the more reason why she shouldn't sacrifice what's left of it for our -children." - -"If Margaret doesn't complain, I don't see why you need, dear." - -"_She'd_ never complain--she never thinks of herself. Your Uncle -Osmond took care not to let her form the habit! For that very reason -we should think _for_ her a bit, Hattie, dear. I say, we've got to let -Margaret in for some young society." - -"When I can't afford to keep up my social end, let alone hers? And if -we should spend money that way for Margaret, where would the children -come in?" - -"Oh, pshaw!" said Walter impatiently. "You're bluffing! You care no -more about the money side of it than I do. You're not a Yankee -tight-wad! Margaret need not live the life of a nursemaid because -we're not rich, any more than you do, honey. It's absurd! And it's -all wrong. What you're really afraid of, Hat, is that if she went -about more, _you'd_ have to stay at home now and then with your own -babies. Eh, dear?" - -But he was warned by the look in his wife's face that he must go no -further. He was aware of the fact that Harriet was distinctly jealous -of his too manifest liking for Margaret. Being something of a -philosopher, he had felt occasionally, when his sister-in-law had -seemed to him more than usually charming and irresistible, that a -wife's instinctive jealousy was really a Providential safeguard to hold -a man in check. - -He wondered often why he found Margaret so tremendously appealing, when -undoubtedly his wife, though ten years older than her sister, was much -the better looking of the two. He was not subtle enough to divine that -it was the absolutely feminine quality of Margaret's personality, the -penetrating, all-pervasive womanliness which one felt in her presence, -which expressed itself in her every movement, in every curve of her -young body--it was this which so poignantly appealed to his strong -virility that at times he felt he could not bear her presence in the -house. - -He would turn from her and look upon his wife's much prettier face and -finer figure, only to have the fire of his blood turn lukewarm. For he -recognized, with fatal clearness, that though Harriet had the -beautiful, clear-cut features and look of high breeding characteristic -of the Berkeley race, her inexpressive countenance betrayed a -commonplace mind and soul, while Margaret, lacking the Berkeley beauty, -did have the family look and air of breeding, which gave her, with her -countenance of intelligence and sensitiveness, a marked distinction; -and Walter Eastman was a man not only of temperament, but of the poetic -imagination that idealizes the woman with whom he is at the time in -love. - -"The man that marries Margaret will never fall out of love with -her--she's magnetic to her finger-tips! What's more, there's something -in her _worth_ loving--worth loving forever!" - -At this stage of his reflections he usually pulled himself up short, -uncomfortably conscious of his disloyalty. Harriet, he knew, was -wholly loyal to him, proud of him, thinking him all that any woman -could reasonably expect a husband to be--a gentleman of old family, -well set up physically, and indeed good-looking, chivalrous to his -wife, devoted to his children, temperate in his habits, upright and -honourable. She did not even criticise his natural indolence, which, -rather than lack of brains or opportunity, kept his law practice and -his earnings too small for the needs of his growing family; but Harriet -preferred to do without money rather than have her husband be a vulgar -"hustler," like a "Yankee upstart." - -It was this same indolence of Walter's, rather than want of force of -character, which led him to stand by passively and see his -sister-in-law constantly imposed upon, as he distinctly felt that she -was, though he realized that Margaret herself, dear, sweet girl, never -seemed conscious of it. Her unexpected outburst at dinner to-night had -shocked and hurt him to the quick. He was sure that something really -outrageous on Harriet's part must have caused it. Yet rather than -"raise a row" with Harriet, he acquiesced in her decision to leave -Margaret at home. It must be said in justice to him that had his -astute wife not kept him in ignorance of their Aunt Virginia's -invitation to Margaret he would undoubtedly have taken a stand in the -matter. Harriet, carefully calculating the limit of his easy -forbearance, knew better than to tell him of that invitation; and she -could safely count upon Margaret not to put her in the wrong with -Walter. - -Margaret, meantime, locked in her room, had quickly got over her -outbreak of weeping and was now sitting upright upon her bed, -resolutely facing her quandary. - -It was Harriet's assumption of authority, with its implication of her -own subservient position, that was opening Margaret's eyes this evening -to the real nature of her position in her sister's household. - -"Suppose I went straight to her just now, all dressed for the theatre, -and told her in an off-hand, careless, artistic manner that I couldn't -possibly break my engagement with Aunt Virginia!" - -Margaret, perched Turk-fashion on the foot of her bed, her hands -clasped about one knee, her cheeks flushed, her eyes very bright, -contemplated in fancy Harriet's consternation at such an unwonted -procedure on her part--and she knew she would not do it. Not because, -like Walter, she was too indolent to wrestle with Harriet's -cold-blooded tenacity; nor because she was in the least afraid of her -sister. After living eight years with Uncle Osmond she would hardly -quail before Harriet! But it was that thing Harriet had said to her -this afternoon--that awful thing that burned in her brain and heart--it -was that with which she must reckon before she could take any definite -stand. "You should not make any engagements without first finding out -what ours are," Harriet had said, which, in view of all the -circumstances, simply meant, "Being dependent upon us for your food and -clothes, your time should be at our disposal. You are no more free to -go and come than are the cook and butler." - -Now of course Harriet would never admit for an instant that she felt -like that. Margaret knew perfectly well that her sister did not -begrudge the little it cost to keep her with them. Harriet was not so -thrifty as that. This attitude, then, was probably only a pretext to -cover something else which Harriet was no doubt unwilling to admit even -to her own soul, that something else which Margaret, herself, had tried -so long not to see, which made her presence at Berkeley Hill unwelcome -to both Walter and Harriet. And Harriet, too proud to acknowledge her -true reason for wishing her sister away, pretended to an economic one. - -"Suppose I said to _her_, 'You must not make engagements without first -finding out what mine are?' Now if she had only said, '_We_ should not -make engagements without first consulting with each other.' But she put -all the obligation where she tries to persuade herself that it belongs." - -When presently Margaret heard her sister and Walter leave the house to -go to the theatre she got up from her bed and went to Harriet's room -adjoining the nursery, to keep guard over the three sleeping children -until their parents came home. - -Lying on a chintz-covered couch at the foot of Harriet's huge -four-posted bed, she thought long and earnestly upon every phase of her -difficult situation, determined that before she slept she would solve -the apparently impossible problem of how she might leave Berkeley Hill. - - - - -IV - -Nine years ago it was that Margaret, a girl of sixteen, had come out -from Charleston to live at Berkeley Hill as nurse, amanuensis, -housekeeper, and companion to her sickly, irritable, and eccentric old -Uncle Osmond Berkeley, eminent psychologist, scholar, and author, who -at that time owned and occupied the Berkeley homestead. It was the -death of her father and Harriet's immediate marriage that, leaving her -homeless and penniless, had precipitated upon her those years of -imprisonment with an irascible invalid. Indeed so completely stranded -had she been that she had accepted only too thankfully her uncle's -grudging offer to give her a home with him on condition that she give -him in return every hour of her time, making herself useful in every -variety of occupation he saw fit to impose, and to do it all with -entire cheerfulness and absolutely no complaining. That was the chief -of his many "unqualified conditions "--a cheerful countenance at all -times, no matter what her fancied reason for dissatisfaction, and no -matter how gloomy he might be. - -"I'm never cheerful," he had affirmed, "and that's why I require you -always to be so. If that seems to you unreasonable and illogical, -you're stupid. Give the matter a little thought and light may come to -you. You'll have plenty of chance, living with me, to develop what -little thinking powers you may have--much more chance than you'd ever -have in a school for young ladies, where you no doubt think I ought to -send you for the next two or three years. Schools for young ladies! -Ha!" he laughed sardonically. "Ye gods! Thank me for rescuing you -from the fate of being 'finished' at one of them! Well named -'finishing schools!' They certainly are a girl's finish so far as -common sense, capacity for usefulness, and ability to think for herself -are concerned! And there actually are parents of daughters who -seriously regard such schools as institutions of 'education!' Yes, -education, by God! You'll get more education, my girl, from one week -of my conversation than you would from a decade of one of those -parasite factories!" - -It was in the library at Berkeley Hill, the stately old country home -which for seven generations had belonged to the Berkeley family, that -this preliminary interview had taken place, her uncle in his reclining -chair before a great open hearth, the firelight playing upon his -pallid, intellectual face crowned with thick, white hair, and upon the -emaciated hands clasping a volume on his knee. Repellently harsh he -seemed to the shrinking maiden standing before him in her deep -mourning, to be inspected, appraised, and catechised; for in spite of -the fact that she had been born and brought up in the city of -Charleston, only two miles away, her uncle had never seen enough of her -to know anything about her. - -Perceiving, now, how the girl shrank from him, his eyes sparkled; there -was something ghoulish in his love of cowing those who served him. For -the past ten years he had had no woman near him save hired attendants -who cringed before his bullying. - -"A human creature who lets itself be bullied deserves no better," was -his theory, and he never spared a sycophant. - -"The day I have you weeping on my hands," he warned his niece as she -stood pale and silent before him, "or even looking as though you were -trying not to weep, out you go!" - -The fact that the girl was scarcely more than a child, that she was -alone and penniless, did not soften him. - -"She's old enough to show her mettle if she has any. If she hasn't, no -loss if she's crushed in the grind of serving me, for I'm useful, and -shall be while I breathe and think." - -"Well, what have you to say for yourself, wench?" he demanded when she -had heard without a word his uncompromising statements as to what he -would require of her in return for the "home" he would give her. - -"I accept all your unqualified conditions, Uncle Osmond," she answered -quietly, no tremor in her voice; and the musical, soft drawl of her -tone fell with an oddly soothing and pleasing effect upon the invalid's -rasped nerves; "if you'll accept my one condition." - -Her uncle's white head jerked like a startled animal's. "What? What?" -he ejaculated after an instant's stunned silence. "_Your_ condition? -Huh! You making a condition, upon my word! What pertness is this? A -'condition' upon which you'll accept my charity!" - -"Not your 'charity.' The self-supporting position of your cheerful, -uncomplaining, industrious, capable, untiring, companionable, -intelligent chattel," came the musical, lazy drawl in reply. "My -condition is that you solemnly promise never again to call me a -'wench.'" - -"I'll call you what I see fit to call you! If you're so damned -squeamish, I won't have you near me! I'd be hurling books at your -head!" - -"I'm not 'damned squeamish,' Uncle Osmond, indeed I'm not. I really -rather like the way you swear, it's so manly and exciting. But I won't -be called a 'wench.'" - -"Why not? I won't have my liberty of speech hampered!" - -"Very well, then, Uncle Osmond, dear, I won't come." - -"You shan't come! I wouldn't have you in the house, Miss Pernicketty!" - -"Good-bye, then. I'm very sorry for you, Uncle Osmond. I'm sure the -loss is yours. I would have been very kind to you." - -"Sorry for me! You think well of yourself, don't you, wench?" - -"At least so well that I'll go out sewing by the day, or stand in a -store, or go on the stage, or turn evangelist (I've heard there's money -in that) before I'll be called a wench!" - -"What in hell do you imagine the word means?" - -"I don't know what it means, but I won't be addressed as a wench." - -"Get the dictionary. Look it up." - -"But I won't be called a wench no matter what it means." - -"_Won't_ be called one! You dictate to me? Understand, girl, nobody -dictates to me! Read Shakespeare's sonnet, _Lucrece_: - -"'_Know, gentle wench, it small avails my mood_.' - -No offence in the word, you see, my authority being our greatest -English poet." - -"Good-bye, Uncle Osmond," she said, turning away and walking toward the -door. - -"Come back and behave yourself!" - -She came back at once. "All right--and don't ever forget your promise." - -"I promised nothing. I never make promises." - -"Your acceptance of my condition is a promise." - -"Acceptance of your condition!" He choked and spluttered over it. - -"And it's a mighty small condition considering all I'm going to do for -you with cheerfulness, amiability, a pleasant smile----" - -"Hold your tongue and speak when you are spoken to!" he growled, -apparently furious, but secretly exulting at the child's refreshing -fearlessness with him. - -It had been an instinct of self-preservation that had led Margaret to -demonstrate to her uncle, in that very first hour with him, that the -line would have to be drawn somewhere in his browbeating. And the word -"wench" had served her purpose. Thereafter, in the eight years that -she lived with him, docile and patient as she always was, he never -forgot, and she never had to remind him, that there was a limit past -which he could not safely venture in the indulgence of his tendency to -tyrannize. - -But her life was hard; most girls would have found its monotony and -self-sacrifice unbearable; its gloomy environment in the great empty -barn of a house too depressing; its close confinement within the narrow -limits of the unkept grounds, overgrown with weeds and bushes, and dark -with big trees and a high hedge of hemlocks, as bad as any jail. There -were sometimes weeks at a stretch during which she saw no human being -save her uncle and the old negro couple who had lived on the place for -a quarter of a century; for though Harriet and her husband lived in -Charleston, her uncle would spare her so seldom to visit them, and was -so exacting as to her speedy return to him that she soon fell into the -way of confining her intercourse with her sister almost entirely to a -weekly exchange of letters. - -In spite, however, of her isolation Margaret felt that there were -compensations in her lot. She had resources within herself in her love -of books, and she found in her uncle's rich intellectual equipment, of -which he freely gave her the benefit in their daily association, a -stimulus, a variety, and even an excitement that meant much more to her -than the usual girl's diversions of frocks, parties, and beaus would -have meant. It is true she often longed for a congenial companion of -her own age, she hungered for affection, she suffered keenly in her -occasional feverish paroxysms of restlessness, and there were times -when the surging fountains of her youth threatened to break down the -barriers that imprisoned a nature that was both large and impassioned. - -"She's temperamental enough!" was her uncle's early conclusion as, from -day to day, the girl's mind and heart were unfolded to his keen -observation. - -Her rare periods of passionate discontent, however, though leaving her -spent and listless for a time after they had passed over her, did not -embitter her. There was a fund of native sweetness in Margaret's soul -that even her life with cynical old Osmond Berkeley could not blight. -That philosopher marvelled often at his inability to spoil her, -remarkably open as he found her young mind to the ideas and theories -which he delighted in impressing upon her. It was indeed amazing how -readily she would select from the intellectual feast daily spread -before her what was wholesome and pure and reject what was morbid. - -"That's right," he would approve when she would frankly refuse to -accept a dogma laid down to her. "Better think for yourself, even -though you think wrongly, than do as the other females of the species -do--believe whatever they are told to believe--or, worse, what it suits -their personal interests to believe. Be everlastingly thankful to me -that I encourage you to think for yourself, to face the _facts_ of -life. George Meredith writes, 'The education of girls is to make them -think that facts are their enemies.' _You_ shall not escape some -knowledge of facts if I can help it!" - -"It's awfully nice of you to care so much about my mind, Uncle Osmond," -she gratefully responded. "To really care for _any_thing about me. I -do love to be mothered and coddled and made much of!" - -"Huh! 'Mothered and coddled and made much of!' You're at the wrong -shop! And don't let me hear you misuse that word 'nice.'" - -"I insist upon being pleased at your caring at least about my mind! -I'd be grateful even to a dog that was good to me." - -"I'm not a dog, and I'm never so 'good' to any one that you could -notice it particularly." - -"Don't try to make yourself out worse than you are; you're bad enough, -honey, in all conscience!" - -"Hold your impudence and bring me Volume Third of Kant's 'Critique.'" - -"Oh, dear!" Margaret sighed as she obeyed, "is it going to be _that_ -awful dope to-day? I hoped up to the last you'd choose an exciting -novel. Do you know I don't think it's womanly to understand Kant's -'Critique.'" - -"I've no desire to be womanly. Do as I tell you." - -In addition to finding his niece capable and patient as a nurse and -housekeeper, Margaret interested him more than any individual he had -known in many years. He secretly blessed the hour when she had come -into his sombre life to enliven and, yes, enrich it. Not for worlds, -however, would he have let _her_ know what she was to him. - -There were rare moments when he was actually moved to an expression of -gratitude and tenderness for his long-suffering victim; but Margaret's -touchingly eager response to such overtures (heart-hungry as she was in -her loneliness) while gratifying him, had always the effect of making -him promptly withdraw into his hard shell again and to counteract, by -his most trying exactions, his momentary softness; so that in time she -learned to dread any least sign of amiability. - -She did not know the full extent of her uncle's selfishness in his -treatment of her: how ruthlessly he schemed to avert the danger which -he thought often threatened him of losing her to some one of the -half-dozen middle-aged or elderly gentlemen of learning who had the -habit of visiting him in his retirement and who, to the last man of -them, whether married or single, adored his niece. It seemed that no -man could lay eyes on her without promptly loving her (what men called -love). Even his physician, happily married and the father of four -lusty boys, was, Berkeley could see, quite mad about her, though -Margaret never discovered it; she only thought him extremely agreeable -and kind and liked him accordingly. Indeed the only fun she ever got -out of this train of admirers was an occasional hour of liberty while -they were closeted with her uncle; for he took care, as soon as he -realized how alluring she was to most men, to have her out of the way -when his acquaintances dropped in, a deprivation to his own comfort for -which the visitor paid in an extra dose of pessimism and irony. - -"When that child falls in love," Berkeley once told himself, "as of -course so temperamental a girl is bound to do sooner or later, it will -go hard with her. Let her wait, however, until I'm gone. Time enough -for her then. I need her. Couldn't endure life without her now that -I'm used to her!" - -So he not only gave her no opportunity to meet marriageable men, he -tried to unsex her, to engraft upon her mind his own cynicism as to the -thing named love, his conviction of its gross selfishness, his scorn of -sentimentality and of "the hypocrisy that would idealize an ephemeral -emotion grounded in base, egoistic appetite." - -"All 'love,' all attraction of whatever nature, is grounded in sex," he -would affirm. "The universe is upheld and constantly recreated by the -ceaseless action of so-called love. A purely natural, physical -phenomenon, therefore. There is not in life such a thing as a -disinterested love." - -"A mother's love?" Margaret once suggested in reply to this avowal. - -"Entirely selfish. She loves her child as part of herself; all her -pride and ambition for it are because it is _hers_." - -"Well, if you call a mother's love selfish, there's no use saying -anything more." - -"And not to mince matters," he reaffirmed, "I want you to know for your -own protection that a man's love for a woman is that of a beast of prey -for its victim!" - -"But I'm so safe here, I don't need such protection; I never see a man. -No one but learned scholars ever come here." - -"'Learned scholars' are not men, then, in your category?" - -"Not the interesting wild kind that you warn me against." - -"The man, woman, or 'learned scholar,' who has not a devil as well as -an angel in his soul, a beast as well as a god, is too limited a -creature to see life whole and big and round." - -"Am _I_, then," she inquired with interest, "a devil and a beast as -well as an angel and a goddess, do you think?" - -"Mostly devil, you! I couldn't stand the angel-goddess combination. -Even you, my girl, are wholly selfish; you would not stay with me for -one day if it were not that I give you a home. Come, now," he invited, -and evidently expected a protest against this assertion. - -"Why, of course I shouldn't. _Why_ would I?" - -He looked rather blank at this, though privately he never failed to -find her honesty refreshing. - -"I never understood," she added, "that it was a question of affection -between you and me, did you, my dear?" - -"'Affection!'" he sneered bitterly. "Affection for ourselves!" - -"Of course. You wouldn't give me a bright and happy home like this if -you did not need me to wait on you thirty-six hours out of the -twenty-four with a cheerful, Cheshire-cat smile, and all for my food, -bed, and two new frocks and hats a year." - -"Have you no appreciation, girl, of the liberal education it is for you -to be with me, to be permitted to read to me, to have such a library as -mine at your command?" - -"Yes, indeed, Uncle Osmond." - -"Well, then?" - -"But I don't stay here for the pleasure of your amiable society, dear," -she assured him, patting his hand. "You're far too much like your old -Scotch Thomas Carlyle that you admire so much. My goodness, what a -life Jane must have led with that old curmudgeon!" - -"Hold your impudent tongue!" - -"Yes, dear." - -"Don't speak to me again to-day!" - -"Thanks; I'm so glad you don't also require me to be brilliantly -conversational. I'd really have to charge extra for that, Uncle -Osmond." - -"Get me my eggnog!" - -In spite of all Osmond Berkeley's precautions, however, Margaret did, -of course, go through the intense and fiery ordeal of "falling in -love"; for when a maiden's budding soul begins to unfold to the beauty -of life, to throb and thrill before the wonder and mystery of the -universe, no walled imprisonment can check the course of nature--she is -bound to suffer the bitter-sweet experience of becoming enamoured of -something, it doesn't much matter what; a cigar-shop Indian will -suffice if nothing more lively comes her way. For circumstances are, -after all, nothing but "machinery, just meant to give thy life its -bent." Berkeley, priding himself on his knowledge of sex-psychology, -knowing that girls isolated in boarding-schools fall in love with their -woman teachers, and in colleges with each other, nevertheless persuaded -himself that he could, in this instance, defeat nature; that Margaret -was being safeguarded too absolutely to admit of her finding any outlet -whatever for the pent-up emotional current of her womanhood. - -But there came to Berkeley Hill one day a stranger, an earnest young -minister of Charleston, who, having read a magazine article of Osmond -Berkeley's in which "the hysterical, unwholesome excitement of -evangelistic revivals" was demonstrated to be purely physiological, -wished to remonstrate with its author and point out to him that he was -grievously mistaken. - -One keenly appraising, glance at the embarrassed, awkward young man as -he was shown into the library where Berkeley sat in his armchair before -the fire, with Margaret at his side reading to him from a just -published work by Josiah Royce, made her uncle decide that it would be -superfluous to send her from the room--"on account of a creature like -this, with no manners, no brains, and an Adam's apple!" - -But it was the young man's deadly earnestness in the discussion between -these two unequal protagonists that impressed itself upon Margaret's -hungry imagination; his courage in coming with what he conceived to be -his burning message of truth to such a formidable "enemy to truth" as -the famous scholar, Dr. Osmond Berkeley. Evidently, the young man's -conscience, in spite of his painful shyness, had lashed him to this -visit, more dreadful than a den of lions. There were still, even in -these days, it seemed, martyrs for religion. - -Now, while Margaret of course recognized the intellectual feebleness of -the young minister's side of the question which was under fire, -nevertheless, before his visit was concluded, his brow wore for her a -halo; his thin little voice was rich music to her quivering nerves; his -unsophisticated manner the outward sign of a beautiful simplicity; his -Adam's apple a peculiar distinction. - -Berkeley, as soon as he found his visitor a bore, made short work of -him and got rid of him without ceremony. In Margaret's eyes the young -man stood up to his rebuffs like a hero and a martyr. - -Her uncle did not notice, upon her return to the library after seeing -the young man into the hall, how bright were her eyes, how flushed her -cheeks, how sensitive the curve of her lips. - -"Ha, ha!" he laughed sardonically, "wouldn't you rather go to hell than -have to hear him preach?" - -"You laugh like a villain in a melodrama!" retorted Margaret. - -"I haven't laughed for twenty years except at damned fools. When did -you ever see a melodrama?" - -"Aunt Virginia took Harriet and me to see _The Two Orphans_ once." - -"Damned presumption of the fellow to come here and take up my time! He -isn't even a gentleman." - -"I thought you prided yourself on not being a snob, Uncle Osmond." - -"Don't be stupid. Breeding is _breeding_." - -"Well, what is good breeding if it isn't being courteous in your own -house? You may call that young man common, but I doubt whether he -bullies women!" - -"You're cross!" he snapped at her. "Look pleasant!" he commanded, -bringing his hand down heavily on the arm of his chair. - -"I won't!" And for the first and only time in all the eight years of -her life with him, Margaret turned upon him with a stamp of her foot. - -He stared at her incredulously. - -"You call _that_ good breeding, do you, stamping your foot at your -benefactor?" - -"'Benefactor?'" Margaret flew across the room and violently turned the -pages of the dictionary on a stand in the corner. "'Benefactor,'" she -read, '"a doer of kindly deeds; a friendly helper.' You see, I'm -_your_ benefactor, according to the Standard." - -"You're begging the question: is it well-bred for a young lady to stamp -her foot?" - -"I'm ashamed that I did it, Uncle Osmond, and I beg your pardon." - -"Your tone is not contrite!" he objected. But an unwonted flash in her -eyes made him see that this was one of the places where he would have -to "draw the line." - -"You are tired," he said abruptly. "No wonder, after listening to the -braying of that evangelical ass for nearly an hour! Put on your wraps -and take a run about the grounds." - -As with a look of relief Margaret turned to leave the room, he added in -a tone that was almost gentle, "Put on your heavy coat, child, the air -is very raw." - -"Thank you, Uncle Osmond." - -"And come back looking cheerful." - -"I shall have to turn Christian Scientist if I'm to be cheerful under -_all_ circumstances--and you say you hate Christian Scientists because -they are _always so damned pleasant_." - -"You can't turn Christian Scientist and live in the same house with -_me_!" - -"But, Uncle Osmond, dear, I'm beginning to see that a Christian -Scientist is the only thing that _could_ live in the same house with -you!" - -With that she left him, to a half-hour of anxious consideration of her -final thrust; for the one dread that hung over his life was the -possibility of Margaret's deserting him. - - - - -V - -Margaret's suddenly conceived passion for the young minister went -through all the usual phases. It was not, of course, the individual -himself, but her impossible inhuman ideal of him, of which she was -enamoured, the man himself was as unknown to her as though she had -never seen him; his image merely served as a dummy to be clothed with -her rich imaginings. The thought of him dwelt with her every moment of -the day, making her absent-minded and listless, or feverishly -talkative. She made excuses to go frequently to town, to a dentist, to -a doctor, to see Harriet, just for a chance to drive past the -minister's parsonage, for even if she did not catch a glimpse of him, -it was manna to her soul to look upon the place of his abode. She -would have delighted to have lain her cheek upon the doorsill his foot -had pressed. The actual sight, once or twice, of his ungainly figure -on the street, set her heart to thumping so that she could not breathe. -Her discovery, through a paragraph in the religious news of a daily -paper, that he was married, did not affect her, for she was not -conscious of any desire to marry him; she only wanted to see him, to -hear him, to feel herself alive in all her being, in his presence. - -Even the sermon she managed to hear him preach one Sunday morning, when -a visit from one of the scholarly gentlemen whom her uncle considered -dangerous, gave her a free half day, even her recognition, through that -sermon, of the man's mental barrenness, did not quench her passion. - -What did finally kill it, after three months of mingled misery and -ecstasy, was an occasion as trivial as that which had given birth to -it. One day, in front of a grocery shop, where some provisions were -being piled into her phaeton, and where, to her quivering delight, the -Object of her adoration just chanced at that moment to come to make -some purchases, she heard him say to a negro employee of the grocer, -"Yes, sir, two pecks of potatoes and a head of cabbage; no, sir, no -strawberries." - -To say "sir" to a negro! The scales fell from Margaret's eyes. Her -heart settled down comfortably in her bosom. Her nerves became quiet. -The young minister stood before her as he was. His Adam's apple was no -longer a peculiar distinction, but an Adam's apple. For this was South -Carolina. - -Thereafter, her uncle found her a much more comfortable companion. But -keenly observant though he was, he had never suspected for a moment, -during those three months of Margaret's obsession, that she was -actually experiencing the thing he was so persistently trying to avert; -for it would not have been conceivable to him that any woman, least of -all his niece, Margaret Berkeley, could fall in love with "a milksop" -like "Rev. Hoops," as the poor man's printed visiting card proclaimed -him. - -Never in all the rest of her life could Margaret laugh at that youthful -ordeal. That she could have been so insanely deluded was a mystery to -wonder over, to speculate about; but the passion itself, the depth, the -height, the glory of it, its revelation of human nature's capacity for -ecstasy--all this was a reality that would always be sacred to her. - -At the same time, her discovery that an emotional experience so intense -and vital, so fundamental, could grow out of an absolute illusion and -be so ephemeral, made her almost as cynical about love as was her uncle -himself; so that always after that the seed of skepticism, which he so -earnestly endeavoured to plant in her mind, fell on prepared soil. - -Had Margaret adopted indiscriminately her uncle's philosophical, -ethical, social, political, or even literary ideas, it would certainly -have unfitted her for living in a society so complacent, optimistic, -and conventional as that of most American communities. As it was, the -opinions she did come to hold, from her intercourse with this fearless, -if pessimistic, thinker, and from her wide and varied reading with him, -and also the ideals of life she formed in the solitude which gave her -so much time for thought, were unusual enough to make her unique among -women. One aspect of this difference from her kind was that she was -entirely free from the false sentimentality of the average young woman, -and this in spite of the fact that she was fervently imaginative and, -in a high degree, sensitive to the beauty and poetry of life. Another -and more radical point of difference was that she had what so very few -women do have--spiritual and intellectual fearlessness. And both of -these mental attitudes she owed not only to her own natural largeness -of heart and mind, but to the strong bias given her by her uncle toward -absolute honesty. - -While, by reason of her more than ordinary mentality, as well as -because of a very adaptable disposition, Margaret bore her life of -self-sacrifice and isolation with less unhappiness than most girls -could have done, there was one phase of it which was vastly harder upon -her. Her nature being unusually strong in its affections, it took hard -schooling indeed before she could endure with stoicism the loveless -life she led. It was upon her relation with her elder sister Harriet, -the only human being who really belonged to her, that she tried to feed -her starved heart, cherishing almost with passion this one living bond; -idealizing her sister and her sister's love for her, looking with an -intensity of longing to the time when she would be free to be with -Harriet, to lavish upon her all her unspent love, to live in the -happiness of Harriet's love for her. - -Harriet's lukewarmness, not manifest under her easy, good-natured -bearing, was destined one day to come as a great shock to Margaret. - -It was one night about five months before her uncle's sudden death that -he talked with her of his will. They were together in the library, -waiting for Henry, the negro manservant, to finish his night's chores -about the place before coming to help the master of the house to bed. - -"I trust, Margaret," Berkeley, with characteristic abruptness, broke a -silence that had fallen between them, "that you are not counting on -flourishing as an heiress when I have passed out?" - -"I must admit," said Margaret apologetically, "that I never thought of -that, stupid as it may seem to you, Uncle Osmond. Now that you mention -it, it _would_ be pleasant." - -"'Pleasant?' To have me die and leave you rich?" - -"I mean only the heiress part would be pleasant--and having English -dukes marrying me, you know, and all that." - -"How many English dukes, pray? I fancy they are a high-priced -commodity, and my fortune isn't colossal." - -"I shouldn't want a really colossal fortune." - -"Modest of you. But," he added, "if I did mean to do you the injury of -leaving you all I have, it would be more than enough to spoil what is -quite too rare and precious for spoiling"--he paused, his keen eyes -piercing her as he deliberately added--"a very perfect woman." - -"Meaning _me_?" Margaret asked with wide-eyed astonishment. - -"So I don't intend to leave you a dollar." - -"Suit yourself, honey." - -"You are like all the Berkeleys, entirely lacking in money sense. Now -the lack of money sense is refreshing and charming, but disastrous. I -shall not leave my money to you for four reasons." He counted them off -on his long, emaciated fingers. "First, because you wouldn't be -sufficiently interested in the damned money to take care of it; -secondly, you'd give it away to your sister, or to her husband, or to -your own husband, or to any one that knew how to work you; thirdly, -riches are death to contentment and to usefulness and the creator of -parasitism; fourthly, I wish you to be married for your good, sweet -self, my dear child, and not for my money." - -"But if I'm penniless, _I_ may have to marry for money. From what you -tell me of love, money is the only thing left to marry for. And if it -has to be a marriage for money, I prefer to be the one who has the -money, if you please, Uncle Osmond." - -"Well, you won't get mine. I tell you you are worth too much to be -turned into one of these parasitical women who are the blot on our -modern civilization. In no other age of the world has there been such -a race of feminine parasites as at the present. Let me tell you -something, Margaret: there is just one source of pure and unadulterated -happiness in life, and that I bequeath to you in withholding from you -my fortune. Congenial work, my girl, is the only sure and permanent -joy. Love? Madness and anguish. Family affection? Endless anxiety, -heartache, care. You are talented, child; discover what sort of work -you love best to do, fit yourself to do it preëminently well, and -you'll be happy and contented." - -"But my gracious! Uncle Osmond, what chance have I to fit myself for -an occupation, out here at Berkeley Hill, taking care of you? These -years of my youth in which I might be preparing for a career I'm -devoting to you, my dear. So I really think it would only be poetic -justice for you to leave me your money, don't you?" - -Her uncle, looking as though her words had startled and surprised him, -did not answer her at once. Considering her earnestly as she sat -before him, the firelight shining upon her dark hair and clear olive -skin, the peculiar expression of his gaze puzzled Margaret. - -"That," he said slowly, "is an aspect of your case I had not -considered." - -"Of course you had not; it wouldn't be at all like you to have -considered it, my dear." - -"Well," he snapped, "my will is made. I'm leaving all I have, except -this place, for the founding of a college which shall be after _my_ -idea of a college. Berkeley Hill, however, must, of course, remain in -the family." - -"Don't, for pity's sake, burden the family (that's Harriet and me) with -Berkeley Hill, Uncle Osmond, if you don't give us the wherewithal to -keep it up and pay the taxes on it!" protested Margaret. - -Again her uncle gazed at her with an enigmatical stare. "Huh!" he -muttered, "you've got some money sense after all. More than any -Berkeley _I_ ever met." - -"I know this much about money," she said sententiously: "that while -poverty can certainly rob us of all that is worth while in life, wealth -can't buy the two essentials to happiness--love and good health." - -"Since when have you taken to making epigrams?" - -"Why, that is an epigram, isn't it! Good enough for a copybook." - -"I tell you, girl, if I leave you rich, I rob you of the necessity to -work, and that is robbing you of life's only worth. The most pitiable -wretches on the face of the earth are idle rich women." - -"If it's all the same to you, Uncle Osmond, I'd rather take my chances -for happiness _with_ riches than without them." - -"I am to understand, then, that you actually have the boldness to tell -me to my face that you expect me to leave to you all I die possessed -of?" - -"Yes, please." - -"It's wonderfully like your damned complacency! Well, as I've told -you, I've already made my will." - -"Here's Henry to take you upstairs. But you can make it over, or add a -codicil. Which shall I bring you to-night, an eggnog or beer?" - -"I'm sick of all your slops. Let me alone." - -"Yes, dear. Good-night," she answered with the perfunctory, artificial -pleasantness which she always employed, as per contract, in responding -to his surliness; and the absurdity, as well as the audacity, of that -bought-and-paid-for cheerfulness of tone, never failed to entertain the -old misanthrope. - -Five months later the will which Osmond Berkeley's lawyer read to the -"mourners" gave Berkeley Hill to Margaret and her sister, Mrs. Walter -Eastman, while all the rest of the considerable estate was left to a -board of five trustees to be used for the founding of a college in -which there should be absolute freedom of thought in every department, -such a college as did not then exist on the face of the earth. - -Harriet's husband, being a lawyer, offered at once to secure for -Margaret, through process of law, a reasonable compensation for her -eight years of service. But Margaret objected. - -"You see Uncle Osmond didn't wish me to have any of his money, Walter." - -"Don't be sentimental about it, Margaret. Your uncle had a lot of -sentiment, didn't he, about your sacrificing your life for him?" - -"He had his reasons for not giving me his money. He sincerely thought -it would be better for me not to have it. He really did have some -heart for me, Walter. I'm not sentimental, but I couldn't touch a -dollar he didn't wish me to have." - -"Then you certainly are sentimental," Walter insisted. - -Almost immediately after the funeral Harriet and her family moved out -from Charleston to live at Berkeley Hill with Margaret, retaining the -two old negroes who for so many years had done all the work that was -done on the estate. - -"We couldn't rent the place without spending thousands in repairing it, -so we'll have to live on it ourselves." - -The sentiment that Margaret and Harriet cherished for this old -homestead which had for so long been occupied by some branch of the -family was so strong as to preclude any idea of selling the place. - -It was Margaret's wish, at this time, to go away from Berkeley Hill and -earn her own living, as much for the adventure of it as because she -thought she ought not to be a burden to Walter. But the Southerner's -principle that a woman may with decency work for her living only when -bereft of all near male kin to earn it for her led Walter to protest -earnestly against her leaving their joint home. - -Harriet, too, was at first opposed to it. - -"You could be such a help and comfort to me, Margaret, dear, if you'd -stay. Henry and Chloe are too old and have too much work to do on this -huge place to help me with the children; and out here I can't do as I -did in Charleston--get in some one to stay with the babies whenever I -want to go anywhere. So you see how tied down I'd be. But with you -here, I should always feel so comfortable about the children whenever I -had to be away from them." - -"But for what it would cost Walter to support me, Harriet, dear, you -could keep a nurse for the children." - -"And spend half my time at the Employment Agency. A servant would -leave as soon as she discovered how lonesome it is out here, a half -mile from the trolley line. It's well Henry and Chloe are too attached -to the place to leave it." - -"So the advantage of having me rather than a child's nurse is that I'd -be a fixture?" Margaret asked, hiding with a smile her inclination to -weep at this only reason Harriet had to urge for her remaining with her. - -"Of course you'll be a fixture," Harriet answered affectionately. -"Walter and I are only too glad to give you a home." - -So, for nearly a year after her uncle's death, Margaret continued to -live at Berkeley Hill. - -Harriet always referred to their home as "My house," "My place," and -never dreamed of consulting her younger sister as to any changes she -saw fit to make in the rooms or about the grounds. - -It was during these first weeks of Margaret's life with Harriet that -she suffered the keen grief of finding her own warm affection for her -sister thrown back upon itself in Harriet's want of enthusiasm over -their being together; her always cool response to Margaret's almost -passionate devotion; her abstinence from any least approach to sisterly -intimacy and confidence. It was not that Harriet disliked Margaret or -meant to be cold to her. It was only that she was constitutionally -selfish and indifferent. - -So, in the course of time, Margaret came to lavish all the thwarted -tenderness of her heart upon her sister's three very engaging children. - -But before that first year of her new life had passed over her head she -came to feel certain conditions of it to be so unbearable that, in -spite of Walter's protests (only Walter's this time), she made a -determined effort to get some self-supporting employment. And it was -then that she became aware of a certain fact of modern life of which -her isolation had left her in ignorance: she discovered that in these -days of highly specialized work there was no employment of any sort to -be obtained by the untrained. School teachers, librarians, newspaper -women, even shopgirls, seamstresses, cooks, and housemaids must have -their special equipment. And Margaret had no money with which to -procure this equipment. There is, perhaps, no more tragic figure in -our strenuous modern life than the penniless woman of gentle breeding, -unqualified for self-support. - -The worst phase of Margaret's predicament was that it had become -absolutely impossible for her to continue to live longer under the same -roof with Walter and Harriet. The simple truth was, Harriet was -jealous of Walter's quite brotherly affection for her--for so Margaret -interpreted his kindly attitude toward her. Having no least -realization of her own unusual maidenly charm, the fact that her -brother-in-law was actually fighting a _grande passion_ for her would -have seemed to her grotesque, incredible; for Walter, being a Southern -gentleman, controlled his feelings sufficiently to treat her always -with scrupulous consideration and courtesy. Therefore, she considered -Harriet's jealousy wholly unreasonable. Why, her sister seemed -actually afraid to trust the two of them alone in the house together! -(Margaret did not dream that Walter was afraid to trust himself alone -in the house with her.) And if by chance Harriet ever found them in a -tête-à-tête, she would not speak to Margaret for days, and as Walter, -too, was made to take his punishment, Margaret was sure he must wish -her away. Of course, since she had become a cause for discord and -unhappiness between Harriet and Walter, she must go. A way must be -found for her to live away from Berkeley Hill. - -It was this condition of things which she faced the night she lay on -the couch in her sister's room keeping guard over her sleeping children -while Harriet and Walter were seeing Nazimova in "Hedda Gabler." - - - - -VI - -Walter Eastman, on his way to town next morning, to his law office, -considered earnestly his young sister-in-law's admonition given him -just after breakfast, that he must that day borrow for her a sufficient -sum of money to enable her to take the course of instruction in a -school for librarians, giving as security a mortgage on her share in -Berkeley Hill. And the conclusion to which his weighty consideration -of the proposition brought him was that instead of mortgaging their -home, he would bring Daniel Leitzel, Esquire, out to Berkeley Hill to -dinner. - -"Margaret's never had a chance. She's never in her life met any -marriageable men. It's about time she did. She hasn't the least idea -what a winner she'd be, given her fling! And the sooner she's -married," he grimly told himself, "the better for me, by heaven!" - -Walter was too disillusioned as to the permanence and reality of love -to feel any scruples about letting Margaret in for matrimony with a man -twenty years her senior and of so little personal charm as was the -prominent Pennsylvania lawyer, Mr. Leitzel, so long as the man was -decent (as Leitzel so manifestly was) and a gentleman. It would have -taken a keener eye than Walter Eastman's to have perceived, on a short, -casual acquaintance, that the well-mannered, able, and successful -corporation lawyer was not, in Walter's sense, a gentleman. For Daniel -had, ever since the age of ten, been having many expensive "advantages." - -And so it came to pass that that same evening found Mr. Leitzel, after -a dainty and beautifully appointed dinner at Berkeley Hill, alone with -his host's young sister-in-law, in the wonderfully equipped library of -the late eminent Dr. Osmond Berkeley. - -His comely hostess, Mrs. Eastman, had excused herself after dinner to -go to her babies, and Eastman himself had just been called to the -telephone. - -Daniel, always astutely observant, recognized their scheme to leave him -alone with this marriageable young lady of the family, while Margaret -herself never dreamed of such a thing. - -Daniel was always conscious, in the presence of young women, of his -high matrimonial value. He had always regarded his future wife, -whoever she might be, as a very fortunate individual indeed. His -sisters, in whom his faith was absolute, had, for twenty-five years, -been instilling this dogma into him. Also, Daniel was mistaking the -characteristic Southern cordiality of this family for admiration of -himself. Especially this attractive girl, alone with him here in the -great, warm, bright room, packed with books and hung with engravings -and prints, manifested in her attentive and pleasant manner how -irresistible she found him. Daniel loved to be made much of. And by -such a girl as this! The blood went to his head as he contemplated -her, seated before him in a low chair in front of the big, -old-fashioned fireplace, dressed very simply all in white. How awfully -attractive she was! Odd, too, for she wasn't, just to say, a beauty. -Daniel considered himself a connoisseur as to girls, and he was sure -that Miss Berkeley's warm olive skin just escaped being sallow, that -her figure was more boyish than feminine, and her features, except, -perhaps, her beautiful dark eyes, not perfect. But it was her -arresting individuality, the subtle magnetism that seemed to hang about -her, challenging his curiosity to know more of her, to understand her, -that fascinated him in a manner unique in his experience of womankind. -Subtle, indeed, was the attraction of a woman who could, in just that -way, impress a mind like Daniel's, which, extraordinarily keen in a -practical way, was almost devoid of imagination. But everything this -evening conduced to the firing of what small romantic faculty he -possessed: the old homestead suggestive of generations of ease and -culture, the gracious, soft-voiced ladies, their marked appreciation of -himself (which was of course his due), the good dinner served on -exquisite china and silver in the spacious dining-room (Daniel, in his -own home, had never committed the extravagance of solid mahogany, -oriental rugs, and family portraits, but he had gone so far as to price -them and therefore understood what an "outlay" must have been made -here). And then the beautiful drawing-room into which he had been -shown upon his arrival, furnished in antique Hepplewhite, the walls -hung with Spanish and Dutch oils. And now this distinguished looking -library in which they sat. Almost all the books Daniel possessed, -besides his law books, were packed into a small oak bookcase in his own -bedroom. But here were books in many languages; hundreds of old -volumes in calf and cloth that showed long and hard usage, as well as -shelves and shelves of modern works in philosophy, science, history, -poetry, and fiction. What would it feel like to have been born of a -race that for generations had been educated, rich, and respectable--not -to remember a time when your family had been poor, ignorant, obscure, -and struggling for a bare existence? In New Munich the "aristocracy" -was made up of people who kept large department or jewellery or drug -stores, or were in the wholesale grocery business; even Congressman -Ocksreider had started life as an office boy and Judge Miller's father -had kept a livery stable. _This_ home seemed to stand for something so -far removed from New Munich values! And these two ladies of the -house--he was sure he had never in his life met any ladies so "elegant -and refined" in their speech, manner, movements, and appearance. - -Daniel's recognition of all this, however, did not humble or abash him. -He had too long enjoyed the prerogative that goes with wealth not to -feel self-assured in any circumstances, and his attitude toward mankind -in general was patronizing. - -It never occurred to him for an instant that a family living like this -could be poor. Wealth seemed to him so essentially the foundation of -civilization that to be enjoying social distinction, ease, comfort, and -even luxury, with comparative poverty, would have savoured of anarchy. - -Margaret, meantime, was regarding "Walter's odd little lawyer-man," who -had been quite carelessly left on her hands, with rather lukewarm -interest, though there were some things about him that did arrest her -curious attention: the small, sharp eyes that bored like gimlets -straight through you, and the thin, tightly closed lips that seemed to -express concentrated, invincible obstinacy. - -"No wonder he's a successful lawyer," she reflected. "No detail could -escape those little eyes, and there'd be no appeal, I fancy, from his -viselike grip of a victim. He'd have made even a better detective." - -The almost sinister power of penetration and strength of will that the -man's sharp features expressed seemed to her grotesquely at variance -with his insignificant physique. - -"There never has been a great woman lawyer, has there?" she asked him, -"except Portia?" - -"'Portia?' Portia who? I had not--you mean, perhaps, some ancient -Greek?" asked Daniel. "Ah!" he exclaimed, '"The quality of mercy is -not strained!' Yes. Just so. Portia. "Merchant of Venice," he -added, looking highly pleased with himself. "I studied drama in my -freshman year at Harvard." - -"Did you?" - -"Yes. My sisters had me very thoroughly educated. Very expensively, -too. But this 'Portia'--she was of course a fictitious, not a -historic, character, if I remember rightly. Women haven't really -brains enough, or of the sort, that could cope with such severe study -as that of the law." He waved the matter aside with a gesture of his -long, thin fingers. - -"I'm not sure of _that_," Margaret maintained. - -"But the courtroom is no place for a decent woman," said Daniel -dogmatically. - -"But she could specialize. These are the days, I'm told, when to -succeed is to specialize. She wouldn't need to practise in the -criminal courts." - -"I trust," said Daniel stiffly, "you are not a Suffragist. You don't -look like one." - -"How do they look?" - -"I never saw one, for we don't have them in New Munich, where I live. -But I'm sure they don't look so womanly as you do." - -"I hope that to look womanly isn't to look stupid," said Margaret -solicitously. - -"Why should it?--though to be sure a woman does just as well if she -isn't too bright." - -"If to be womanly meant all that some men seem to think it means, we'd -have to have idiot asylums for womanly females," declared Margaret. "I -suppose"--she changed the subject and perfunctorily made -conversation--"a lawyer's work is full of interest and excitement?" - -"Well," Mr. Leitzel smiled, "in these days, a lawyer for a corporation -has got to be Johnny-on-the-spot." - -"I have always thought that a general practitioner must often find his -work a terrible strain upon his sympathies," said Margaret. - -"Oh, no; business is business, you know." - -"And necessarily inhuman?" - -"Unhuman, rather. A man must not have 'sympathies' in the practice of -the law." - -"He can't help it, can he?--unless he's a soulless monster." - -Daniel looked at her narrowly. What a queer expression for a young -lady to use: "a soulless monster." - -"Your brother-in-law, for instance," he inquired with his thin, tight -little smile, "does he, as a general practitioner, find his cases a -great strain on his sympathies? - -"Oh, he hasn't enough cases to find them a great strain of any kind." - -"So?" Daniel lifted his pale eyebrows. It was, then, inherited -wealth, he reflected, that maintained this luxurious home, and if so, -this Miss Berkeley, probably, shared that inheritance. His heart began -to thump in his narrow chest. His calculating eye scanned the girl's -figure, from her crown of dark hair to her shapely foot. - -Now it is necessary to state just here that Daniel's one vulnerable -spot being his fondness for young pets of any species and especially -for children, together with his deep-seated aversion to the idea of his -money going to the offspring of his brother Hiram (for, of course, he -would never will a dollar of it away from the Leitzel family), this -shrewd little man never appraised a woman's matrimonial value without -considering her physical equipment for successful motherhood. He had -even read several books on the subject and had paid a big fee to a -specialist to learn how to judge of a woman's health and capacity for -child-bearing. The distinguished specialist had laughed with his -_amante_ afterward at the way he had "bluffed and soaked the rich -little cad." - -"I certainly did make him pay up!" he had chuckled. "And as he'll -never find just the combination of physical and mental endowments I've -prescribed for him, I've saved some woman from the fate of becoming his -wife! Money-making is his passion--a woman will never be--and his -interest in it is matched only by his keenness and his caution. He's a -peculiar case of mental and spiritual littleness combined with an -acumen that's uncanny, that's _genius_!" - -It was, in fact, Daniel's failure to discover a maiden who answered -satisfactorily to all the tests with which this specialist had -furnished him, together with his sister's helpful judgment in "sizing -up" for him any possible candidate for his hand, that had thus far kept -him unmarried; that had, he was sure, saved him from a matrimonial -mistake. - -As to his view of his own fitness for fatherhood, had he not always led -a clean and wholesome life? Was he not expensively educated, clever, -industrious, honest within the law, and eminently successful? What man -could give his children a better heritage? - -Yet the day came when the wife of his bosom wondered whether she -committed a crime in bearing offspring that must perpetuate the soul of -Daniel Leitzel. - -"This estate," Daniel cautiously put out a feeler to Miss Berkeley, -"belonged to your grandfather?" - -"To several of my grandfathers. It came to us from my uncle." - -"A lawyer?" - -"Dr. Osmond Berkeley, the psychologist," Margaret said, thinking this -an answer to the question, for she had never in her life met any one -who did not know of her famous uncle. "My goodness!" she exclaimed as -she saw that Mr. Leitzel looked unenlightened, "you don't know who he -_was_? He's turning in his grave, I'm sure!" - -"I never heard of him," said Daniel sullenly. - -Margaret smiled kindly upon him as she said confidentially: "Between -ourselves, I don't myself know just exactly what a psychologist _is_. -I've been trying for nine years to find out--though my uncle earned his -living by it--and a good living, too." - -"Didn't he ever explain it to you?" - -"Oh, yes. He told me a psychologist was 'one who studies the science -which treats inductively of the phenomena of human consciousness, and -of the nature and relations of the mind which is the subject of such -phenomena.'" - -Daniel looked at her uncertainly. Was she laughing at him? "It's just -mental science, you know," he ventured. "I studied a little mental -science at college. It was compulsory. But I studied it so little, I -didn't really know _very_ much about it." - -"If you had studied it a lot, say under William James or Josiah Royce, -I'm sure you'd know even less about it than you do now. My own -experience is that the more one studies it, the less one knows of it." - -"Are you a college graduate?" Daniel asked with sharp suspicion; he -didn't care about tying up with an intellectual woman. The medical -specialist had said they were usually anæmic, passionless, and -childless. - -"No," Margaret admitted sadly. "I never went to school after I was -sixteen." Daniel breathed again and beamed upon her so approvingly -that she hastened to add: "But I lived here with Uncle Osmond, so I -could not escape a little book-learning. I'm really not an ignorant -person for my years, Mr. Leitzel." - -"I can see that you are not," Daniel graciously allowed. "Are you fond -of reading?" he added, conversationally, not dreaming how stupid the -question seemed to the young lady he addressed. - -"Well, naturally," she said. - -"Yes, I suppose so, with such a library as this in the house. It -belongs to--to you?" - -"What? The books?" she vaguely repeated. "They go, of course, with -the house. Do you accomplish much reading outside of your profession, -Mr. Leitzel?" - -"No." - -"Not even an occasional novel?" - -"I never read novels. I did read 'Ivanhoe' at Harvard in the freshman -English course. But that's the only one." - -Margaret stared for an instant, then recovered herself. "I see now," -she said, "why you have done what they call 'made good.' You have -specialized, excluding from your life every other possible interest -save that one little goal of your ambition." - -"'Little goal?' Not very little, Miss Berkeley! The law business of -which I am the head earns a yearly income of----" - -But he stopped short. If this girl were destined to the good fortune -of becoming Mrs. Leitzel, she must have no idea of the size of his -income. Nobody had, not even his sisters. He often smiled in secret -at his mental picture of the astonishment and delight of Jennie and -Sadie if suddenly told the exact figures; and certainly his wife was -the last person in the world who must know. It might make her -extravagant. - -"The annual earnings of our law-firm," he changed the form of his -sentence, "are sufficient to enable me to invest some money every year, -after paying the twenty-five lawyers and clerks in my employ salaries -ranging from twenty-five hundred dollars a year down to five dollars a -week. So you see my 'goal' was not little." - -"I suppose even your five-dollar-a-week clerks have to be especially -equipped, don't they?" Margaret asked, with what seemed to him stupid -irrelevance, since he was looking for an exclamation of wonder and -admiration at the figures stated. - -"Of course, we employ only experienced stenographers," he curtly -replied. - -"This specializing of our modern life, narrowing one's interests to -just one point; one can't help wondering what effect it's going to have -upon the race." - -"Eugenics," Daniel nodded intelligently. "You are interested in -eugenics?" he politely inquired. "It's quite a fad these days, isn't -it, among the ladies, and even among some gentlemen, if one can believe -the newspapers." - -"It's not my fad," said Margaret. - -"You like children, I hope?" he quickly asked. - -"Do I look like a woman who doesn't?" she protested, not, of course, -following his train of thought. She rose, as she spoke, and went -across the room to turn down a hissing gas-jet. Daniel's eyes followed -her graceful, leisurely walk down the length of the room, and as she -raised her arm above her head, he took in the delicate curve of her -bosom, her rather broad, boyish shoulders, the clear, rich olive hue of -her skin. The specialist he had consulted years ago had said that a -clear olive skin meant not only perfect health, but a warm temperament -that loved children. - -"Anyway," thought Daniel with a hot impulse the like of which his slow -blood had never known, "she's the woman I want! I believe I'd want her -if she didn't have a dollar!" - -It was upon this reckless conclusion that, when she had returned to her -seat, he suddenly decided to put a question to her that would better be -settled before he allowed his feelings to carry him too far. - -"But," thought he as he looked at her, "I've got to put it cautiously -and--and _delicately_." - -"Miss Berkeley?" - -"Yes, Mr. Leitzel?" - -"I've been thinking of buying myself an automobile." - -"Have you?" - -"A very handsome and expensive one, you know." - -"Ah!" - -"Yes. But now I'm hesitating after all." - -"Are you?" - -"Yes. Because there's another expense I may have to meet. I'm going -to ask you a question. Which, in a general way, do you think would -cost more to keep--an automobile or--or a--well, a wife?" - -"Oh, an automobile!" laughed Margaret. - -Daniel grinned broadly as he gazed at her; evidently she suspected the -delicate drift of his idea and was advising him for her own advantage. -Nothing slow about her! - -"Wives are cheap compared to automobiles," she insisted. - -"You really think so?" He couldn't manage to keep from his voice a -slight note of anxiety. "Living here with your married sister, you are -in a position to judge." - -Margaret began to wonder whether this man were a humourist or an idiot. -But before she could reply, their tête-à-tête, so satisfactory to Mr. -Leitzel, was interrupted. Mr. and Mrs. Eastman returned to the library. - -Now as the formality of chaperoning was not practised in New Munich, -Daniel, with all his "advantages," had never heard of it. When, -therefore, the Eastmans settled themselves with the evident intention -of remaining in the room, their guest found himself feeling chagrined, -not only because he preferred to be alone with Miss Berkeley, but -because the conclusion was forced upon him that he must have been -mistaken in assuming that they had designedly left him with her after -dinner. - -This conclusion was confirmed when Miss Berkeley, quite deliberately -leaving the obligation of entertaining him to her elders, changed her -seat to a little distance from him, and in the conversation that -followed took very little part. She even seemed, in the course of a -half-hour, rather bored and--Daniel couldn't help seeing it--sleepy. -Could it be, he wondered with a sinking heart, that she was already -engaged to another man? How else explain this indifference? - -But as the evening moved on, and the married pair, in spite of some -subtle hints on his part, still sat glued to their chairs, though he -could see that they, too, were tired and sleepy, he surmised that their -"game" was to _hinder_ Miss Berkeley's marriage! - -"They'd like to keep her money in the family for _their_ children, I -guess!" he shrewdly concluded. - -The easy indifference to money that was characteristic of the whole -tribe of Berkeleys would have seemed an appalling shortcoming to Daniel -Leitzel had he been capable of conceiving of such a mental state. - -With a mind keen to see minute details, interpreting what he saw in the -light of his own narrow, if astute, vision, and incapable of seeing -anything from another's point of view, he came to more false -conclusions than a wholly stupid and less observant man would have made. - -When after another half-hour Miss Berkeley, evidently considering him -entirely her brother-in-law's guest, rose, excused herself, said -good-night and left the room, Daniel could only reason that Mr. Eastman -had purposely withheld from her all knowledge as to who his dinner -guest was. - -"I'll circumvent _that_ game!" he concluded, opposition, together with -the indifference of the young lady herself, augmenting to a fever heat -his budding passion. "_I'll_ let her know who and what I am!" - -Indeed, by the time he left Berkeley Hill that night, so enamoured was -he with the idea of courting Miss Berkeley, he did not even remember -that in a matter so important he had never in his life gone ahead -without first consulting his sisters' valuable opinion. That phase of -the situation, however, was to come home to him keenly enough later on. - - - - -VII - -Margaret was surprised next morning at breakfast when a humorous -reference on her part to "Walter's funny little Yankee" met with no -response. - -"But, Walter, he's a freak! Didn't you find him so, Harriet?" - -"Oh, I don't know. Walter says he's a wonder in his knowledge of the -law." - -"He has one of the keenest legal minds I've ever met," declared Walter, -"though of course----" He looked at Margaret uncertainly. "Well, -Margaret, after your eight years with a highbrow like your Uncle -Osmond, most other men must seem, by contrast, rather stupid to you. -Even _I_," he smiled whimsically, "must feel abashed before such a -standard as you've acquired. But really, one can't despise a man who -has reached the place in his profession that Leitzel has attained, even -if he is a bit--eh, peculiar." - -It never occurred to Walter to recommend Leitzel by mentioning that he -was a millionaire, the man's prominence in his profession being, in -Eastman's eyes, the measure of his value. - -"It's going to be rather rough on your husband, Margaret," Walter -teased her, "to have to play up to the intellectual taste of a wife -that's lived with Osmond Berkeley." - -"But, Walter, other things may appeal to me: kindness and affection, -for instance. My life, you know," she said gravely, "has been pretty -devoid of that." - -There was a moment's rather awkward silence at the table, which -Margaret herself quickly broke. "This Mr. Leitzel--there's something -positively uncanny in the way he seems to see straight through you to -your back hooks and eyes; and I'm quite sure if there was a small -safety pin anywhere about me last night where a hook and eye should -have been, he knew it and disapproved of it. I'm certain that details -like safety pins interest him; he has that sort of mind, if he is a -great lawyer." - -"Not great," Walter corrected her. "I didn't say great. He's able and -skillful; but, I must admit, very limited in his scope, his field being -merely the legal technicalities involved in the management of a -corporation. However, he's a nice enough little fellow. Didn't you -find him so?" - -"I'm afraid I found him rather absurd and tiresome." - -"Take care, Margaret!" Harriet playfully warned her, "or else--oh! -won't you have to be explaining away and apologizing for the things you -are saying about that man. He's _smitten_ with you!" - -Margaret's eyes rested upon Harriet for a moment, while her quick -intuition recognized just why her joking remarks about Mr. Leitzel had -met with no response in kind: her sister was actually seeing in this -queer little man a possible means of getting rid of her, and Walter was -abetting her! - -She turned at once to the latter, swallowing the lump that had risen in -her throat. "Have you done anything, Walter, about securing me a loan -on our property?" - -"I'm doing my best for you, Margaret." - -"Thank you. Any chance of success?" - -"I think so." He looked at her with a smile that was rather enigmatic, -and she saw that he was really evading her. - -"You know, Margaret," spoke in Harriet, "I shouldn't consent for a -moment to have a mortgage put on my property." - -"Tut, tut, Harriet," Walter checked his wife. "Leave it to me. -Perhaps a mortgage won't be necessary." - -He rose hastily, made his adieus, and departed for his office. - -"Margaret, dear," Harriet began as soon as they were alone, "I assure -you that to an unprejudiced observer, last night, the state of Mr. -Leitzel's mind was only too manifest! You'd have seen it yourself if -you weren't so inexperienced." - -"What are the signs, Harriet? I confess I'd like to be able to -recognize them myself." - -"You sat almost behind him and he nearly cracked his neck trying to -keep you in view. And when Walter drove him to the trolley line he -talked of you all the way: said he liked your 'colouring' and your -'motherly manner,' and your hair and your voice and your smile and your -walk! I'm not making it up--he's simply hard hit, Margaret." - -"You'd like Mr. Leitzel for a brother-in-law, would you, Harriet?" - -"I shouldn't see much of him, living 'way up in Pennsylvania." - -Margaret, who had not yet given up craving wistfully her sister's -affection, turned her eyes to her plate and stirred her coffee to hide -the sensitive quiver of her lips. - -"We'd see each other very seldom, certainly, if I lived in -Pennsylvania," she found voice to say after a moment. "I'll go up to -the baby, now, Harriet, and let Chloe come down." - -When later that morning a delivery wagon left at Berkeley Hill two -boxes, one containing violets, the other orchids, and a boy on a -bicycle arrived with a five-pound box of Charleston's most famous -confectionery, all from Mr. Leitzel to Miss Berkeley, Margaret was -forced to take account of the situation. - -Of course she could not know (fortunately for her admirer) that the -lavishness of his offerings had been carefully calculated to impress -upon her the fact which he suspected her relatives of concealing from -her--the all-persuasive fact that he was rich. - -A telephone call inviting her to go automobiling with him that -afternoon was answered by Harriet, who at once accepted the invitation -for her without consulting her. - -"I'm perfectly willing, dear, to give up Mattie St. Clair's auction -bridge this afternoon and chaperon you," Harriet graciously told her -after informing her of the engagement she had made for her. "Chloe -will have to keep the children." - -Margaret made no reply. All these manifestations of Harriet's eager -anxiety to be rid of her stabbed her miserably. She went away to her -own room, just as soon as her regular domestic routine was -accomplished, and shut herself in to think it all out. - -The fact that she had, because of the secluded life she had led, -reached the age of twenty-five without ever having had a lover, must -account for her feelings this morning toward Daniel Leitzel, her sense -of gratitude (under the soreness of her heart at her sister's attitude -to her) that any human being should like her and be kind, to the extent -of such munificence as this which filled her room with fragrance and -beauty. No wonder that for the time being she lost sight of the little -man's grotesqueness in her keen consciousness of his kindness, and of -the novelty of being admired--by a man. Yes, her momentary blindness -even saw him as a man. Not even the cards which came with his -offerings--the one in the candy box marked "Sweets to the Sweet," and -that with the flowers labelled, - - _Thou shalt not lack_ - _The flower that's like thy face_.--SHAKESPEARE. - -gave her more than a faint, passing amusement. - -"The flower that's like thy face'; he should have sent me a sunflower -or a tiger-lily," she ruefully told herself as she glanced at her dark -head in a mirror. But she recalled something she had once said to her -Uncle Osmond: "I'd be grateful even to a dog that liked me." - -It was Harriet, not Margaret, who was shocked that afternoon at the -revelation of poor Daniel's "greenness" when he found that Mrs. Eastman -expected, as a matter of course, to chaperon her young sister. - -Daniel interpreted this unheard-of proceeding as another proof of his -sharp surmise of the previous night--the penurious determination of the -Eastmans to keep Miss Berkeley unmarried. He resented accordingly the -interference with his own desires and the persecution of the young -lady. He would show this greedy sister of Miss Berkeley that he was -not the man to be balked by her scheming, and incidentally he would win -the admiration and gratitude of the girl herself by his clever foiling -of the designs of her relatives. - -"I'm very good to you and my sister, Mr. Leitzel," Harriet assured him -as she and Margaret shook hands with him in the hall, both of them -wrapped up for riding. "I am giving up an auction bridge this -afternoon to go with you." - -"To go with us? But--but you misunderstood my invitation, I invited -only Miss Berkeley," explained Daniel frankly. - -"Oh, you have another chaperon then? If only you had told me so when -you 'phoned this morning I needn't have given up my bridge party." - -"Told you what, Mrs. Eastman?" - -"That you already had a chaperon." - -"Had a--_what_?" - -"Haven't you a chaperon, Mr. Leitzel?" - -"'Chaperon?' But this isn't a boarding-school, Mrs. Eastman!" - -Harriet turned away to hide her face, but Margaret laughed outright as -she asked him: "Don't they have chaperons in Pennsylvania, Mr. Leitzel, -to protect guileless and helpless maidens of twenty-five from any -breach of strict propriety while out alone with dashing youths like -you?" - -"If my sister went out alone with you in Charleston, Mr. Leitzel," -explained Harriet with dignity, "she would be criticised." - -"But--but," stammered Daniel indignantly, "I'm a trustworthy man, Mrs. -Eastman! A _perfectly_ trustworthy gentleman!" - -"My dear Mr. Leitzel, I know you are! It's only a custom among us -that--oh, come on, let us start! I'm sorry, Mr. Leitzel, but I'm -afraid you'll have to put up with me." - -"Yes, do let us start; we don't want to miss a minute of this lovely -day!" said Margaret brightly, moving toward the door and drawing her -sister with her. "I very seldom get a chance to ride, and I love it. -You are so kind, Mr. Leitzel," she chatted as they went down the steps -to the waiting car, "to give me this pleasure, besides the beautiful -flowers and delicious candy!" And thus Daniel, though inwardly fuming, -and wondering at Miss Berkeley's amiable submission to such -unwarrantable meddling in her personal affairs, was forced to accept -with what grace he could command the doubt cast upon his -"trustworthiness." - -As he assisted the two ladies into the automobile, Harriet of her own -accord took the front seat with the chauffeur; and Daniel, as he -realized how entirely isolated with Miss Berkeley this arrangement left -him, felt himself thoroughly puzzled by the whole incomprehensible -proceeding. - -As on the previous evening Miss Berkeley's Southern cordiality of -manner was interpreted by Daniel during this drive to be a gushing -warmth of feeling for himself, which fanned the flame of his egotism no -less than that of his passion. - -While the car moved swiftly through the picturesque roads outside of -Charleston he discoursed volubly; for Daniel's idea of an enjoyable -conversation was a prolonged, uninterrupted exposition, on his part, to -a silently absorbed listener, of his personal interests, achievements, -excellencies of character, and general worthiness. He knew no greater -joy in life than this sort of expansion before an admiring or envious -companion. He fairly revelled this afternoon in the steady, monotonous -stream of self-eulogy which flowed from his lips. It was meant to -impress profoundly the maiden at his side, and it did. - -"People call me lucky, Miss Berkeley, but it isn't luck; it's deep -thinking. Nobody could be lucky that didn't use his judgment and keep -a sharp lookout for the main chance. To have the wit to see and seize -the main chance," he reiterated with an accent that made Margaret see -the words in large capitals, "that's the secret of success. Don't you -think so?" - -"Yes, indeed--the point of importance being not to confuse one's -values--material success and spiritual defeat not always being -recognized, Mr. Leitzel, as twin sisters. We don't want to miss the -main chance to grow in grace and--dear me!" she pulled herself up. "It -sounds like Marcus Aurelius, doesn't it? Did you make _his_ -acquaintance at Harvard?" - -"Who?" - -"The Roman Emerson." - -"Oh, but Emerson was a New Englander, not a Roman," he kindly set her -right; "known as the Sage of Concord, Massachusetts," he informed her, -looking pleased with himself. - -Harriet in the front seat could not resist turning her head to meet for -an instant Margaret's eye. - -"I had to read a 'Life of Emerson' in my Sophomore year at Harvard," -continued Daniel. "Do you know that his writings never yielded him -more than nine hundred dollars a year! Well educated as he was, he -never made good. A dead failure. Missed the main chance, you see. -Now I have always turned every circumstance and opportunity, no matter -how trifling, to my own advantage. Why, from the time I first began to -practise law, I refused to take any case that I didn't see I was surely -going to win; so, in no time at all, I got a reputation for winning -every case I took. See? I didn't _take_ a case I didn't feel sure of -winning. Good scheme, wasn't it? Well, that far-sighted policy reaped -for me, very early in my career, a big harvest; for when I was just -beginning to be known as the lawyer who never lost a case, there was, -one night, a shocking crime committed in New Munich: a young girl, -daughter of a carpenter, was supposed to have been foully and brutally -murdered by her lover, the son of a petty grocer on one of our side -streets. (My own residence is on Main Street, our principal resident -street, a very fashionable street; house cost me twenty-five -thousand!--one of the finest residences in the town--so considered by -all.) Well, the evidence against the lover was overwhelming (I -couldn't give you the details, Miss Berkeley, it would not be proper, -you being a young, unmarried lady), and early on the morning after the -murder the grocer came to see me on behalf of his son, begging me to -take the case. He gave me all the facts and I saw very soon that the -young man had _not_ committed the crime. But I saw, also, that it -would be very difficult to prove his innocence to a jury, and I knew -the sentiment in the town to be furiously against the young man, -especially among the women, so that I'd be apt to make myself very -unpopular if I took his case; and that even if I cleared him there -would be many who would continue to think him guilty and to think that -I had simply cheated the law by my cleverness; cheated _moral_ justice, -too, and left a foully murdered female go unavenged, all for the sake -of a fee. So I, of course, refused to take the case, though the -grocer, believing me to be the one lawyer who could clear his son (such -was my growing reputation), offered me a very large fee; he was ready -to mortgage his store and house if only I'd take the case and save his -son. The fee he offered certainly did make me hesitate; but you see, I -was never one to let present profit blind me to future advantage. Most -young men, less far-seeing and sharp, would have thought this a great -opportunity to make a hit by clearing a falsely accused and perfectly -innocent boy. But I saw much deeper into the situation, and so refused -the case." - -"Oh!" Margaret cried. "_There_ you surely missed the 'main chance,' -unless you afterward saw your mistake in time to change your mind." - -"No, indeed, I didn't change my mind! And to show you how right I was -in refusing the case, hear, now, of the immediate reward I reaped for -my careful thoughtfulness. Hardly had the father left my office when a -delegation of women of the U. B. Missionary Society (I am a member and -liberal supporter of the U. B. Church of New Munich, my brother Hiram -being an ordained U. B. minister) called at my office to _protest_ -against my taking the case for the young man's defence, the delegation -including two very wealthy and prominent ladies. A false report had -gone forth that I had taken the case. The ladies pointed out to me -that I would be untrue to my Christian professions and unchivalrous to -womanhood if for gold I stood up in court and defended the brutal -murderer of an outraged, innocent female. 'Ladies,' I said to them, -'the case was offered to me, true; with a fee which some lawyers would -have considered sufficient to justify their accepting even such a case -as this. But, ladies, I refused to touch the case!' and, Miss -Berkeley," said Daniel feelingly, a little quiver in his voice, "I wish -you could have seen the look of admiration on the faces of those -ladies, especially on Miss Mamie Welchan's, one of the two unmarried -members of the Missionary Society, daughter of Dr. Welchans, our -leading physician. Well, I certainly had my reward! And that night -the New Munich _Evening Intelligencer_ came out with a long article -commending my fearless and self-sacrificing devotion to duty; and the -Missionary Society passed resolutions of gratitude to me in the name of -Womanhood, as did also the Y.W.C.A., the Epworth League, the Girls' -Friendly of the Episcopal Church (our most fashionable ladies are -members of that Girls' Friendly), also several of the Christian -Endeavour Societies of our town. You may imagine how glad I was I had -refused the case. Just suppose I had accepted it!" he said in -reminiscent horror of such a false step. "For, of course, I had not -foreseen such an ovation as this. While I had seen the bad effects of -accepting, I had not seen the good results of refusing it. Why, from -that very hour, Miss Berkeley, my success was assured! You see, people -believed, then, that I was conscientious, and they trusted me with -their business, and my practice grew so fast that--well, it was only a -few years before I rose to be the leading lawyer of New Munich, and a -few more when I secured the cinch I've got now." - -"Was the young man hanged?" asked Margaret in a low voice, not looking -at him. - -"Oh, _he_," returned Daniel, surprised and chagrined at her ignoring -the real point of his story, which certainly had nothing to do with the -fate of the young man; "they failed to convict him, though every one -believed him guilty. He had to leave New Munich." - -"_Couldn't_ you have proved his innocence?" - -"But, Miss Berkeley, don't you see I'd have ruined myself if I had -tried, and I _made_ myself by refusing that case; I have always -considered that episode the turning-point of my career, the pivot on -which my success turned uppermost; my brother Hiram, who is a -theologian, considered it Providential." - -"'Providential' that a young girl should be brutally murdered and a -young man falsely accused so that you might--'succeed?'" - -"I should say, rather, that by the ruling of Providence the chance was -given me to refuse the case and thereby win the enthusiastic approval -and endorsement of the best class of our community." - -Margaret was silent. - -"She isn't as bright as I had supposed she was," thought Daniel, -disappointed at her want of admiration of his yarn. "I wonder if she'd -bear me stupid children! If I thought so, I certainly wouldn't marry -her." - -"Early in my career," he, however, resumed his monologue, "I took a -stand for temperance. I'm a total abstainer, Miss Berkeley, and I have -found that on the whole it has been to my advantage, for besides being -more economical, it has seemed more consistent with my Christian -professions. To be sure, when the liquor men of our precinct -practically offered to send me to Congress if I would uphold their -interests, I did regret that I had taken such a decided stand for -temperance that I couldn't becomingly diverge from it. I would have -liked well enough to go to Congress. Jennie and Sadie would have -liked, too, to have me a Congressman, and my brother Hiram thought if I -were in Congress I could maybe work him in as chaplain of the Senate. -He doesn't get a very big salary from his church at Millerstown, Pa., -though he manages to live on it without touching his capital. But no! -I told the liquor men I would not go back on the principles for which I -had stood for so many years. You might think I was foolishly standing -in my own light, Miss Berkeley, but I ask you, how would it have looked -for a church member, a consistent, practical Christian, an upholder of -and contributor to the Woman's Temperance Union, to turn around and -stand for the liquor interests? How would it have _looked_? Why," -exclaimed Daniel, "it would have looked pretty inconsistent, and I -wouldn't risk it. Anyway, see what I _saved_ in the past twenty years -by not standing for treats? 'Come and have a drink on me,' says a -grateful client, when I've won his case for him, and I always say, 'I -don't drink'; but if I did drink, to be sure I'd have to take my turn -at the treats, too, don't you see, and that kind of thing does go into -money. I've saved a good income by standing for temperance, besides -earning the approval of an excellent element in the community. But it -isn't always easy to say, 'I don't drink.' Some men take offence at -it, and some laugh at you. I'll never forget how embarrassed I was the -first time Congressman Ocksreider's daughter invited me to a -fashionable dinner at her home and they served wine. I didn't know how -they'd take it if I declined to drink, and I wanted to stand in with -them. I was, at that time, very much complimented at their inviting -me; they were the most prominent people in New Munich. And yet, -sitting opposite me at the table, was a prominent member of the U. B. -Church, who would certainly have a laugh on me if I took wine. _He_ -wasn't temperance. Now wasn't that a fix for me? My, but I was -embarrassed! Well, Mrs. Congressman Ocksreider, a lady of very kind -feelings, came to my help; the minute she saw how mixed-up I was, she -told the waiter to pour grape juice into my glass. It's sickening -stuff, but I was willing to drink it rather than forswear my principles -right before my fellow church member. Yes, it takes moral courage, -Miss Berkeley, to stand by your principles as I have always stood by -mine. And now I see my further reward in sight, for look how things -are swinging my way: temperance, Governors, Congressmen, Presidents! I -may yet get to Congress on the local option issue. It looks that way." - -He paused to get his breath. Margaret made no comment on his long -harangue, and Harriet did not turn her head. For a while they rode in -silence. But at last Margaret, feeling it incumbent upon her to talk -to her entertainer, roused herself from her rather unpleasant reverie. - -"You spoke of two women, Mr. Leitzel--'Jennie and Sadie'--are they -relatives of yours?" - -"My sisters who raised and educated me, who made me what I am!" he -replied in a tone of admiration for this remarkable feat his sisters -had wrought. "All I am I owe to them!" - -"They are to be congratulated." - -"Thank you, Miss Berkeley." Daniel bowed. - -"You're welcome, Mr. Leitzel. Shall we go home now? I feel ill." - -"Motor riding makes you ill?" inquired Daniel solicitously. - -"Under some circumstances. To-day it does." - -Daniel at once gave the order to the chauffeur to return to Berkeley -Hill. - -Harriet, on the front seat, wondered, as she stared thoughtfully at the -long, straight road ahead of her, whether "the game was up." - -"I'm afraid he's more of a dose than Margaret can swallow!" she thought -anxiously. - -When they reached home, however, she invited Mr. Leitzel to stop and -dine with them. Margaret looked at her reproachfully as he eagerly -accepted the invitation. It was two long hours before dinner time. - -"You will have to excuse me. I shall have to go upstairs and lie -down," Margaret hastily said as they entered the house; and before any -one could reply, she flew upstairs and shut herself in her own room. - -Harriet, to her consternation, found herself with Mr. Leitzel on _her_ -hands--and Walter not due at home for an hour and a half! - -"I'll have the children brought down," she quickly decided. "That will -help me out." - -Little did she dream that by this simple manoeuvre of introducing the -children into the comedy she was turning the tide of her sister's life -and settling her fate. - - - - -VIII - -Three weeks later, when Margaret came to review the course of events -which had strangely led to the almost unbelievable fact of her -betrothal to Daniel Leitzel, she realized that the "turn for the -worse," as she called it, had come to her upon watching Mr. Leitzel -with Harriet's children on that evening after the automobile ride which -had made her spiritually ill. Squatting on the floor with the three -babies gathered about him, he had actually become human and tender and -self-forgetful; and he had exhibited a cleverness in entertaining and -fascinating the bright, eager children that had evoked her admiration -and almost her liking. - -She had not come downstairs until just a half-hour before dinner, and -as she had entered the library, dressed in a low-necked, short-sleeved -summer gown of pale pink batiste, she had noted, without much interest, -Mr. Leitzel's countenance of vivid pleasure as, from his place on the -floor, unable to rise because of the children sprawling all over him, -he had gazed up at her. But when, after watching him play for a -half-hour with the babies, she had presently relieved him of the -youngest to give it its bottle, she really began to feel, before the -ardent look he fixed upon her as she sat holding the hungry, drowsy -infant to her heart, a faint stirring of her blood. - -"The Madonna and the Child!" he had said adoringly, and Margaret was -astonished to find herself blushing; to discover that _this_ man could -bring the faintest warmth to her cheeks! - -In the course of that evening, during dinner and later when the -children had been taken to bed by Harriet, and Mr. Leitzel was again, -as on the previous night, left on her hands, she could not be -indifferent to the novel experience of finding herself the object of a -fixity and intensity of admiration which, from a man so self-centred, -suggested the possession on her part of an unsuspected power. - -Even his occasional conversational _faux pas_ did not break the -peculiar spell he cast upon her by his devotion. - -"Have you read many of these books?" he asked her, glancing at the -shelves near him. "Here are about twenty books all by one man--James. -Astonishing! What does he find to write about to such an extent?" - -"They are the works of the two Jameses, the brothers Henry and William, -the novelist and the psychologist, you know; only, Uncle Osmond -insisted upon cataloguing Henry, also, with the psychologists." - -"The James brothers? I've heard more about Jesse than about the other -two. Jesse was an outlaw, you remember. The other two, then, were -respectable?" - -"'Respectable?' Henry and William James? I'm sure they would hate to -be considered so!" - -Daniel nodded knowingly. "Bad blood all through, no doubt." - -"Yes," said Margaret gravely, "of the three I prefer Jesse. He at -least was not a psychologist, nor did he write in English past finding -out! By the way, I remember Uncle Osmond used to say," she added, a -reminiscent dreaminess in her eyes which held Daniel's breathless gaze, -"that only in a very primitive or provincial society was a regard for -respectability paramount, and that in an individual of an upper class -it bespoke either assinine stupidity or damned hypocrisy." - -Daniel started and stared until his eyes popped, to hear that soft, -drawling voice say "damned," even though quoting. Why, one would think -a nice girl would be embarrassed to own a relative who used profane -language, instead of _flaunting_ it! - -"Wasn't your uncle a Christian?" he asked dubiously. - -"Oh, no!" she laughed. - -Now what was there to laugh at in so serious a question? Daniel was -finding Miss Berkeley's conversation extremely upsetting. - -"He died unsaved?" he asked gravely. - -"I suppose a mediæval theologian would have said he did." - -"I trust he didn't influence _you_, Miss Berkeley!" - -"But of course, I got lots of ideas from him, for which I'm very -thankful. If it had not been for his interesting mind, I could never -have lived so long with his devilish disposition, or, as he used to -call it, his 'hell of a temper.'" ("If he's going to fall in love with -me," Margaret was saying to herself, as she saw his shocked -countenance, "he's got to know the worst--I won't deceive him.") - -"I'm addicted to only two vices, Mr. Leitzel: profanity and beer." - -Daniel smiled faintly, she looked so childishly innocent. "You are -different from any girl I ever met. As a conversationalist especially. -New Munich girls never talk the way you do." - -"You mean they are not profane?" - -"You're only joking, aren't you?" asked Daniel anxiously. "I didn't -refer merely to your using oaths, but the ideas you occasionally -express; that, for instance, about 'respectability,' I'm sure I never -heard our New Munich young ladies say things like that. However," he -added, his face softening and beaming, "nothing you could do or say -could ever counteract for me the impression you made upon me as you sat -there to-night holding that baby!" - -"You are very fond of children, aren't you, Mr. Leitzel?" she asked -graciously. - -"Well, I should say! I'd like to have a large family, even if it is -expensive!" - -"So should I," said Margaret frankly; and Daniel had a moment's doubt -as to the maidenly modesty of this reply, much as he approved of the -sentiment. - -After that evening, during the next three weeks, the course of Daniel's -love ran swiftly, if not always smoothly; for his usually unreceptive -soul was so deeply penetrated by the personality of this maiden whom he -desired that he actually felt, intuitively, her aversion to certain -phases of his mind the worthiness of which he had never before had a -doubt, and he therefore curbed, somewhat, the expression of his real -self, adapting his discourse, though vaguely, to the evident tastes of -the woman whose favour he sought. Also, his genuine interest in her -made him less obnoxiously egotistical. Indeed, all his most offensive -traits were, at this time, and unfortunately for poor Margaret's fate, -kept so much in abeyance, and so strongly did she, quite unconsciously, -bring out the little best that was in him, that her earlier impression -of him was speedily coloured over by the more gracious effect he -produced as a self-effacing and worshipful lover--a lover to one who, -for many years, had not been treated with even common consideration. - -Had Daniel had the least idea how little Margaret was touched by the -_material_ value of the gifts he daily laid at her feet, he would -certainly have saved himself some of the heavy expenditure he -considered necessary for the accomplishment of his courting. If he had -known that it was only the attention, the thoughtfulness, the devotion -showered upon her constantly that meant so much to her whose life had -hitherto been one long siege of self-sacrifice, he would surely have -limited the quality, if not the quantity, of his offerings. - -As Margaret came to realize that she was drifting surely, fatally, into -the arms of Daniel Leitzel, her conscience forced her to try to justify -her selling herself for a home. - -"To marry without love? But I might have married 'Reverend Hoops' for -love! And he was so much worse--less possible," she amended her -reflections, "than Daniel is. It was really _love_ that I felt for -that poor, bow-legged Hoops! Yes, the sort of love that would make -marriage a madness of ecstasy! Too great, indeed, for a human soul to -bear! And even if one did not presently discover one's mate to be a -delusion with an Adam's apple, who said 'Yes, sir,' to a negro, even if -he continued to seem to you a worthy object of love, such an -intoxication of happiness as I felt over my imaginary Hoops could not -possibly continue, one's strength couldn't sustain it--one would end -with nervous prostration! - -"Hattie and Walter, when they married, were romantically in love, and -now, what could be more prosaic than their jog-trot relation? So much -for love." She missed that phase of the question. - -But there was another aspect of a loveless marriage that had to be -reckoned with. - -"How would I be better than a woman of the streets? Yes I would be -better, for I would bear children. But children born outside of love? -Well, Reverend Hoops might have been the father of my children even -after I, recovered from 'loving' him, and every one of my children -might have had an Adam's apple. Better, it seems to me, to marry with -eyes open and not blinded by love.' Then, at least, one would not have -to suffer a dreadful flop afterward. The higher one's ideal in -marriage, the more certainly does one seem doomed to bitter -disillusionment. Probably the jog-trot, commonplace relation between a -man and woman, recognized and accepted as such, is the only one likely -to endure. Insist upon romance, and the end, I verily believe, is -divorce. Daniel couldn't make me unhappy any more than he could make -me happy--there's that comfort at least. - -"As for a great passion of the soul, the man capable of it is certainly -a _rara avis_ and isn't likely to come _my_ way. If I thought," said -Margaret to herself, her heart beating thickly at the vision she called -up from the depths in her, "that life held anywhere for me such a great -spiritual passion, given and returned----" Her face turned white, she -closed her eyes for an instant upon the too dazzling light of the -vision. "But then," she resumed her self-justification, "if the -highest ideal of marriage is unrealizable, should one compromise with a -lower ideal, or avoid marriage altogether? I remember Uncle Osmond -once said it was a psychological fact that a woman was happier even in -a loveless marriage than in a single life. And, dear me, the race -can't stop because poets have dreamed of a paradise which earth does -not know!" - -It seemed to be another trick of the irony of fate that while -everything in Margaret's environment and in her education conduced to -make her walk blindly into such a marriage as this with Daniel Leitzel, -nothing in her whole life had in the least fitted her for meeting and -coping with that which was before her as the wife of such a man as -Daniel really was. - -She was glad that the form which her lover's proposal of marriage -assumed obviated any necessity on her part for salving over her own -lack of sentiment. - -"Of course, you have surmised ere this, Miss Berkeley--Margaret--that I -intended to make you an offer of marriage, to ask you to become--_my -beloved wife_!" he said impressively, and Margaret checked her -inclination to beg him not to make it sound too much like a tombstone -inscription. "My proposal may seem to you precipitate; I am aware it -is unusual to propose on so short a courtship; you perhaps think I -ought to keep on paying attentions to you for at least several months -longer. But I can spare so little time away from my business. And to -court you by correspondence--well, I am certainly too much of a -gentleman to send typewritten letters, dictated to my stenographer, to -a lady, especially one so refined as you are and one whom I want to -make my wife. And to write out letters myself, that's something I have -neither time nor inclination for. And something I'm not used to -either. So, I thought that while I'm down here on the spot, I might as -well stay and conclude the matter. That is why I have been so pressing -in my attentions to you--not to lose time, you see, which is money to -me and should be to every man. So with as much haste as was consistent -with propriety and tact, Miss Berkeley, I've been leading up to this -present hour in which I offer you my hand and heart and," he added, his -tone becoming sentimental, "my life's devotion." - -It sounded for the most part like a lawyer's brief, Margaret thought, -as, sitting white and quiet, she listened to him. - -"You have given me every reason to think, Miss Berkeley, by your -reception of my assiduous attentions, that my suit was agreeable to you -and that you would accept me when I asked you to, in spite of the -evident opposition of your sister and her husband." - -"But they are not opposed to you. Why, what could have made you think -so? They have been very kind to you, Mr. Leitzel." - -"To me personally, yes; kind and hospitable. But as your suitor? No. -Have they not persistently put themselves in the way of my seeing you -alone, and thus tried to interfere with my taking from them you and -your--taking you from them?" he hastily concluded. - -Daniel had been, all through this courtship, strangely, and to himself -incomprehensibly, shy about making any inquiries as to Margaret's -dowry, though he fairly suffered in the repression of his desire to -know what she was "worth." He wondered what it really was that made -him tongue-tied whenever he thought of "sounding" her? Perhaps it was -that she, on her side, was so persistently reticent not only as to her -own property but with regard to _his_ possessions. Never had she even -hinted any curiosity as to his income, though he had several times led -up to the subject in order to give her the necessary opportunity. The -matter would, of course, have to be talked out between them _some_ -time. Daniel was all prepared with his own story; he knew just exactly -what statements he was going to "hand out" to his future wife and what -he was _not_ going to tell. But the strange thing was she didn't seem -to feel the least interest in the matter. - -When Margaret tried just now to assure him that her relatives' supposed -interference with his attentions to her was wholly imaginary, she -received her first glimpse of the notorious obstinacy of the little -lawyer, and she recognized, with some consternation, that when once an -idea had found lodgment in his brain, it was there to stay; no -reasoning or proof could dislodge it. - -"Since your relatives are opposed to your marrying," he reiterated his -conviction at the end of her proofs to the contrary, "I think it would -be well if we got married before I returned to New Munich. This would -not only save me the expense of another trip South, but would avert any -further plotting on the part of your family. I'm afraid to leave the -spot," he affirmed, "without taking you with me. Anyway, I _can't_." -His face flushed and he fairly caught his breath as he gazed at her. -"I'm thinking of you day and night, every hour, every minute! If I -went back without you I couldn't work. I'm just crazy about you!" - -It was this outburst of feeling that just saved the day for Daniel, his -cold-blooded dissection of his penurious motives in his swift -lovemaking having almost turned the tide against him. - -"If we marry at all," said Margaret in a matter-of-fact tone, "I agree -with you that it might as well be at once." - -"'If at all?' Ah!" said Daniel almost coquettishly, "that's to remind -me that you haven't accepted me yet? I'm going ahead too fast, am I? -My feelings ran away with me, Margaret, for the moment because it's -simply unthinkable to me that you should refuse me--I mean, I could not -think of life without you now that I know and love you." - -"Very well, I'll marry you, Mr. Leitzel. I might as well. But if it -is to be done, we shall have to have a quiet wedding, you know." - -Calmly as she spoke, the colour dyed her cheeks as she realized the -fatal finality of the words she uttered. Deep down in her soul, not -clearly recognized by herself, was a vague sense of guilt in the thing -she was doing, all her logic to the contrary notwithstanding. For -every normal woman feels instinctively that the human relation which -may make her a mother, if it is not a sacred and ennobling relation, -must be a degrading one, and no experiences of life, however -embittering, can ever wholly obliterate this profound intuition. -Cynical as were Margaret's theories of love and marriage, she could -never have given herself to Daniel Leitzel had she not felt goaded to -it by her unfitness to earn her living, and by her sister's desire to -have her away. And even these two driving circumstances could not -wholly exonerate her to herself from the charge before her conscience -of unworthy weakness in taking an easy way out instead of grappling -with her difficulty and conquering it, as great souls, she very well -knew, have ever done. - - - - -IX - -It was the day after Daniel's "proposal" that, as Margaret stood before -her bureau in her bedroom dressing to receive her lover, Harriet, who -had been quite unable to disguise her satisfaction over the betrothal, -knocked at her door and came into her room. - -"Can't I help you dress, dear?" she asked kindly. - -"Will you hook this thing up the back, please, Hattie?" - -"Oh, but you are rash to wear this new chiffon waist, Margaret; chiffon -mashes so easily, you know." - -"But I'm not going out; I shall not be putting a wrap over it," said -Margaret, looking at Harriet in surprise. - -"I know you're not going out, but, Margaret, chiffon mashes so -_easily_!" - -"Well, I'll try to remember not to hold any of the children, though I'd -rather mash the waist than forego that pleasure. Still, clothes are -scarce and I've got no money for a trousseau----" - -"Donkey! This will be your first tête-à-tête with Mr. Leitzel since -your engagement, and he's quite crazy about you--and chiffon is most -perishable." - -Margaret looked at her blankly. - -"Do you see _no_ connection between the two facts, you goose?" demanded -Harriet. - -"Oh!" exclaimed Margaret. "Now I see what you mean!" - -"Really?" - -"But, Hattie, dear, you needn't be so--so explicit." - -"'Explicit!' I nearly had to draw a diagram! Look here, Margaret, -you're too thin; there's no excuse for anybody's looking as thin as you -do when cotton wadding is so cheap." - -"Recommend it to Mr. Leitzel; he's thinner than I am." - -"I came in to tell you that Walter has ordered the wedding -announcements and they will be finished in ten days; you and I and Mr. -Leitzel can meantime be addressing the envelopes. I've drawn up a list -of names; you can look over it and see whether I've forgotten any one. -You must get Mr. Leitzel's list to-day." - -"Very well." - -Margaret turned away to her closet to hide the quick tears that sprang -to her eyes at her sister's quite cold-blooded eagerness to speed her -on her way. Harriet seemed to be almost feverishly fearful that -something might intervene to stop the marriage if it were not quickly -precipitated. - -It was when her betrothed gave her, that evening, a diamond ring, that -Margaret's strongest revulsion came to her, so strong that when she had -conquered it, by reminding herself again of all the arguments by which -she had brought herself to this pass, she had overcome for good and all -any last remaining hesitation to accept her doom. - -"You may think I was very extravagant, Margaret," Daniel said, as he -held her hand and slipped the beautiful jewel upon her finger. "It -cost me three hundred dollars. But you see, dear, a diamond is always -property; capital safely invested. I'm only too glad and thankful that -I can afford to give my affianced bride a costly diamond engagement -ring. Is it tight enough?" he anxiously inquired. "I'm afraid it is a -little loose; you better have it made tighter; no extra charge for -that, they told me at the jeweller's. You might lose it if it's loose." - -Margaret had a momentary impulse to tear the ring from her finger and -fling it in his face, and such impulses were so foreign to her gentle -disposition that she marvelled at herself. - -"I'm glad it's property, Daniel," she returned with a perfunctory -facetiousness, "for if you don't use me well, I can sell out to Isaac -or Israel and run off! Or, if business got dull with you, we could -fall back on our diamond ring!" - -"_My_ business get dull!" he laughed. It was rather delightful to know -she was marrying him with so little idea of his great possessions; -another proof of the fascination he had always had for ladies, -according to Jennie and Sadie. - -He was beginning to feel a little nervous at the thought of his -sisters. Jennie, especially, would not like it that he was going ahead -and getting married without consulting her. Of course, she and Sadie -would both see, as soon as they came to know Margaret, that he had, -even without their help, "struck a bonanza" in getting such a wife; so -sweet-tempered and unselfish, so lovely looking, so healthy, such "a -perfect lady," so "refined," except when she said "damn" and -"devilish." He must warn her not to forget herself before his -sisters--they'd never get over the shock. He had no doubt that -eventually Jennie and Sadie would be as delighted with his "choice" as -he was himself. He had told them so in his letter to them that day, -assuring them that they would find his bride possessed of every quality -they had always insisted upon in the girl he made his wife. - -It did seem strange not to be able to tell them what Margaret's fortune -was. He knew how eager they must be to know. He was beginning to feel -very restive himself at not being enlightened on that score. - -"Funny how I can't bring myself to ask her about it!" he wondered at -himself for the hundredth time. "But she seems so disinterested in her -love for me, how can I seem less so in mine for her? It would not look -well!" - -"Harriet wants you to draw up your list," Margaret here reminded him, -"for the wedding announcements; she'd like to have it to-day." - -"_Harriet_ wants---- Is she running this wedding?" he asked -suspiciously. - -"Yes, quite so. You and she and I have got to address envelopes all -day to-morrow, you know." - -"Very well. I have already made out my list. It took a good deal of -careful and thoughtful discrimination," he said, drawing a document -from his pocket and unfolding it, "though not nearly so much as it -would if I were being married in New Munich and having a large wedding. -Mere announcements--one doesn't have to draw the line so carefully, you -know, as in the case of invitations to one's house." - -"'Draw the line?'" repeated Margaret questioningly; for social caste in -South Carolina, being less fluid than in Pennsylvania, her family for -generations had scarcely even rubbed against people of any other status -than its own; and the gradations and shades of social difference with -which Daniel had wrestled in making his list was something quite -outside her experiences. - -"Well, you see, every one we send announcements to," Daniel elucidated -his meaning, "is bound to call on you; only too glad of the chance. -And, naturally, you don't want undesirable people calling on you. If -you didn't return their calls, you would make enemies of them; and -while I am so fortunately situated that that would not make any -material difference to us, still it is better to avoid making enemies -if possible." - -"But--I don't understand. How do you happen to have acquaintances that -are 'undesirable,' and in what sense undesirable--so much so as to make -it awkward to have to return their calls?" - -"Well, for instance, the clerks employed in my office. I think they -may perhaps club together and give us a handsome wedding-present if we -send them cards. And if they do, I suppose their wives will feel -privileged to call." - -"And their wives are 'undesirable?' Yes, I suppose I see what you -mean. How awfully narrow our lives are, aren't they? I imagine it -might be a very broadening and interesting experience to really make -friends with other classes than our own. I've never had the shadow of -a chance to." - -Daniel's glow of pride in realizing that he was marrying a woman whose -aristocratic ignorance of other classes than her own was so absolute as -to make her suppose naïvely that it might be "broadening and -interesting" to know such, quite counteracted the disturbing effect of -this absurd suggestion. He had only to remember his sisters' long -struggle for recognition and their present precarious foothold in New -Munich "society" to appreciate to the full the (to him) wonderful fact -that his wife and all her "kin," as they called their relatives, "could -have it to say" they had always been "at the top." - -That such a wife might find his sisters "undesirable" did not occur to -him, his sense of his sisters' crudities being dulled by familiarity -with them, and his standard of value being so largely a financial one. - -"When folks call on you in New Munich, Margaret," said Daniel, "Jennie -and Sadie will be a great help to you in telling you whom of your -callers you must cultivate and whom you must not." - -"But aside from your employees and their wives there would be only your -family's friends, of course?" Margaret asked, again puzzled. - -"Well, some people prominent in our church, but not in society, and a -few others, may bother us some. You need not worry about it; Jennie -and Sadie will separate the sheep from the goats for you," he smiled. - -"You have told me so little of your people. Your sisters live in New -Munich?" - -"I ought to have mentioned before this, dear, that my sisters keep -house for me. They will continue to live with me." - -"Oh!" Margaret's heart bounded with a great relief at this -information, though even to her own secret consciousness it seemed -disloyal to rejoice that she was not going to be thrown alone upon the -society of Daniel Leitzel; the prospect had already begun to seem -rather appalling. - -"No use in our setting up a separate establishment," continued Daniel; -"it's so much cheaper for us all to live together, my sisters being -such excellent managers." - -Margaret, not gathering from this that his sisters shared with him the -expense of the "establishment," but concluding, rather, that they were -dependent upon him, hastened to assure him that she would not wish him, -on her account, to assume the support of two households. - -"To tell you the truth, Margaret, I shouldn't know how to get on -without Jennie and Sadie, they understand me and all my little habits -so well, and they do take such care of my comforts, which is a great -thing to a man who constantly uses his brain so strenuously as I do." - -Again Margaret inwardly congratulated herself that it would not devolve -upon _her_ to take care of his comforts and learn all his "little -habits," which occupation appeared to her a pitiable waste of a woman's -life--in the case of any but a _great_ man. - -"When I did it for Uncle Osmond," she reflected, "it seemed worth while -because of what he was giving to the world almost up to the day of his -death." - -"The work of a corporation lawyer," she asked Daniel, "is it anything -more than a money-making job?" - -"Anything _more_?" repeated Daniel, shocked at the suggestion that it -could be anything more. "Isn't that enough?" - -"Dear me, no! When two women spend their lives keeping a man fit for -his work, they surely want to know that his work is worth such a price; -that it is benefiting society." - -"Well, of course, any money-making 'job,' as you call it (I would -hardly call my legal work a 'job') must benefit society; if I make -money, I not only can support a family but can give to public -charities, and to the church." - -"There's nothing in that, Daniel; I have studied enough social and -political economy to know, as you, too, certainly must know, that -society has outgrown the philanthropy and charity idea; has learned to -hate philanthropy and charity; people are demanding the right to earn -their own way and keep their self-respect." - -"I'm afraid, Margaret," said Daniel gravely, "your irreligious uncle -gave you some rather unladylike ideas. However," he smiled, "my -Christian influence on you, as fond of me as you are, will soon make -you forget his infidel teachings. For goodness' sake, dear, don't -forget yourself and repeat such atheistic thoughts before my sisters or -indeed to any one in New Munich. Our best society is very critical." - -It flashed upon Margaret to wonder, with a sudden sense of despair, -what her uncle would have said to her marrying Daniel Leitzel. - -"If I don't do it quickly, I can't hold out!" she miserably thought. - -But she realized that she confronted a worse fate in the alternative of -remaining with Hattie. - -"How old are your sisters?" she asked. - -"They are both elderly women, though as vigorous as they ever were." - -Margaret told herself that she would be so much kinder to them than -Hattie had ever been to her. "They shall never feel unwelcome in my -home," she resolved. - -"Are they your only relatives in New Munich?" she inquired. - -"In New Munich, yes. But Hiram lives in Millerstown nearby." - -"Your parents are not living?" - -"My mother--no, my parents are not living." - -"You seem not quite sure," she smiled. - -Daniel coloured uncomfortably. The thought of his Mennonite -step-mother gave him his first humiliating sense of inferiority to a -Berkeley of Berkeley Hill. What a shock it would be to "a perfect -lady" like Margaret if she ever met the old woman! He would try to -avert such a stab to his self-respect. - -"I suppose," he thought with some bitterness, "I can't get out of -telling her about mother; she's bound to hear of her some time, and -even perhaps meet her." - -"I have a step-mother," he said testily. - -"She lives in New Munich?" - -"No, fifteen miles out in the country. We don't see much of her." - -"I don't see her name here," said Margaret, glancing down the list he -had given her. - -"No; it won't be necessary to send her a card." - -"You are not friendly with her? She was not a good step-mother to you?" - -"Oh, yes; no one could be unfriendly with her--that is, she's an -inoffensive, good-hearted old woman. But--well, we see very little of -her; she's not a blood-relative, you know." - -"But surely, if you are not at daggers' points with her, you would send -your father's widow an announcement of your wedding!" - -"But--we don't think very much of her, Margaret; we're not, just to -say, intimate with her." - -"You say, though, that she is 'inoffensive and good-hearted,' and she -was your father's wife?" repeated Margaret, looking mystified. - -"Oh, well," Daniel gave in, "I'll add her name if you think I--I ought -to. She'll be so pleased; she'll tell it all over the township! I -mean"--he pulled himself up--"well, you see, she's old and no use to -any one and I'm afraid she's going to be, after a while, something of a -burden to us all." - -Margaret remained silent, as Daniel took a pencil from his vest-pocket -and scribbled at the end of his wedding list. - -"There," he said, handing the paper back to her. "Anything to please -you, my dear!" - -"Daniel?" - -"Well, dearest?" - -"I don't like the way you speak of that old lady." - -"But haven't I consented to send cards to her, Margaret?" - -"Yes. And I'm sure that a man who loves children as you do, who gives -money to charities and the church, as you tell me you do, couldn't be -thoughtless of the aged. I don't want to believe you could." - -"No, indeed! I gave one hundred dollars last year to our U. B. Church -Home for Old Ladies." He drew out his purse, extracted a newspaper -clipping, and passed it to her, "My name heads the list, you see." - -"Oh, Daniel, and you were going to neglect to send an announcement of -your wedding to the 'aged, inoffensive, kind-hearted, but useless and -burdensome' widow of your father!" - -"But, Margaret," he protested, his self-esteem wincing at her -disapproval, "if ever you see her, you'll not blame me! You'll -understand. Anyway, family sentiment among you Southerners is so much -stronger, I've always been told, than with us in the North." - -"I'm sure it must be." - -"My step-mother is too poor, too, to send us a wedding present," he -added as a mitigating reason for his "neglect." - -Margaret, having no conception of his penuriousness (he seemed so -lavishly generous to her), took such speeches as this for a childish -simplicity, the eccentricity of legal genius, perhaps. Had she known -that he actually felt it wasteful to invest an expensively engraved -card and a stamp where there would be no return of any kind, she would -have advised him to consult an alienist. - -Little did she and Daniel dream that the sending of that wedding -announcement to old Mrs. Leitzel of Martz Township was going to make -history for the entire Leitzel family. - - - - -X - -The marriage of Daniel Leitzel took place in the fall, and during all -the following winter New Munich kept up its lively interest in the -bride, and discussed freely and constantly her personality, looks, -manner, clothes, opinions, and, most impressive of all, her unique -style of speech on occasions; it also speculated boldly and with the -keenest curiosity as to how she "got on" with Danny and her "in-laws." - -As the _Weekly Intelligencer_ had predicted, many "social events" -celebrated the marriage. To entertain the bride and groom came to be -such a social distinction that people vied with each other in the -extravagant elaborateness of their parties; and not to have met Mrs. -Leitzel proved one to be socially obscure. - -To the men of New Munich it was a "seven days' wonder" that a woman of -such charm and distinction should have "tied up" with a man like Dan. - -"How did a weasel like Dan Leitzel ever put it over a girl like _that_? -Why, he's at least twice her age!" - -But the women, noting that the bride's clothes with the exception of -her two evening gowns, however graceful and becoming, were home-made, -and that though the lace on some of them was real and rare, it was very -old, did not wonder so much at the marriage. - -"She is certainly making a hit with New Munich," was the verdict at -first. "Isn't she the very dearest thing that ever happened?" - -Margaret's amiable, sympathetic manner, her simplicity, her occasional -drollery, the distinction of her fine breeding, fascinated these people -of a different tradition and fibre. - -"No wonder Danny Leitzel looks like another man!" his acquaintances -commented. "Why, he's taking on flesh! He looks ten years younger! -Do you notice how spryly he walks? And how radiantly he beams on -everybody, the old skinflint! Yes, he certainly had his usual luck -when he got that young wife of his!" - -It was another cause for wonder and widespread comment that the maiden -sisters, too, looked brighter and younger since the advent of their -brother's bride. - -"They're awfully proud of her and of the fuss being made over her and -Danny! Who would have dreamed that Miss Jennie and Miss Sadie could -get on peaceably with their brother's wife, living in the same house -with her! It seems unbelievable." - -"Oh, wait! She's a new thing just now, but wait! We shall presently -see and hear--what we shall see and hear! If they get on peaceably, -I'll warrant it's not because Miss Jennie and Miss Sadie are angels. -It's Mrs. Danny that's so awfully easy-going they can't quarrel with -her. But of course it can't possibly last. If she is easy-going, she -isn't a jelly-fish. They're bound to clash after a while. You'll see -what you'll see!" - -"Even the bride herself looks happy," one maiden pensively remarked. -"I shouldn't think she would. _I_ couldn't have married Dan Leitzel." - -"You don't know what you might have done _if tempted_," a friend of the -maiden pointedly suggested. - -"But she seems to be devoted to Danny. She really acts so." - -"Oh, that's just her Southern warmth of manner. Don't take _that_ -seriously. As if a stunning girl like that could be in love with -_him_!" - -"But I heard she was poor and dependent and that Danny's devotion and -goodness to her made her just adore him! An old man's darling, you -know!" - -There were only one or two people who, more observant than -communicative, noted that Mrs. Leitzel, though lazily good-humoured and -apparently happy, had a strained expression in her large, soft eyes, a -veiled, elusive look of trouble, almost of suffering. - -Meantime, the people of New Munich were not more astonished than were -Daniel's sisters themselves at the relation which they found themselves -sustaining toward his wife. It had taken only a few days of -association with Margaret to disarm them of their stiffness, suspicion, -and jealousy of their brother's devotion to her. They found her so -surprisingly willing to take second place in her husband's house, so -disinclined to usurp any of the prerogatives which they had so long -enjoyed (and which they knew most people would think should now be -hers) that in spite of many things about her which they could not -understand or approve, they presently succumbed to the subtle spell of -her magnetism and her docility and became almost as enthusiastic about -her as was Danny himself. - -Long and earnest were the discussions they held in secret over her. - -"Her clothes are so plain," lamented Sadie. "You could hardly call 'em -such a trussoo, could you? All she's got is just her travelling suit -with two silk waists, two house dresses, one afternoon dress, and two -evening dresses. And her underclothes ain't fancy like a bride's. -When I asked her to show me her wedding underclothes, she said she -didn't get any new, she hadn't needed any! To be sure, what she has -got is awful fine linen and hand embroidered, but it ain't made a bit -fancy and no coloured ribbons at. All plain white," said Sadie in a -tone of keen disappointment. - -"And her evening dresses," said Jennie; "she says the lace on 'em she -'inherited.' Putting old second-hand lace on your wedding outfit yet! -I told her I'd anyhow think she'd buy new for her wedding outfit. And -she said, 'But I couldn't afford to buy lace like this. My -great-grandmother wore this lace on a ball gown.'" - -"She ain't ashamed to say right out she can't afford this and that," -said Sadie wonderingly. - -"Well, to be sure, that's just to us, and we're her folks now. She'd -know better than to say it outside." - -"Well, I guess anyhow _then_!" Sadie fervently hoped. - -"But it looks as if she didn't _have_ much, don't it?" - -"I'm afraid it does." Sadie shook her head. - -"What I want to know is, did she or didn't she bring Danny _any_thing?" -Jennie worried. - -"It's hard to say," sighed Sadie. - -"I don't like to ask her right out, just yet anyhow. After a while I -will mebby," said Jennie. - -"She's wonderful genteel, the most genteel lady I ever saw," remarked -Sadie. "And how she speaks her words so pretty! _Buttah_ for butter; -and _haose_ for house. It sounds grand, don't it?" - -"It's awful high-toned," Jennie granted. "I wonder what Hiram's Lizzie -will have to say when she sees her once. Won't Lizzie look common -anyhow, alongside of her?" - -"Well, I guess!" - -"Hiram will have more jealous feelings than ever when he sees what a -genteel lady Danny picked out; ain't?" - -"Yes, anyhow!" - -"And that makes something, too, being high-toned that way; it makes -near as much as money," said Jennie thoughtfully. - -"Still, I don't believe Danny would have married her if she hadn't -anything," Sadie speculated. - -"Well, I guess not, too, mebby. I _hope_ not. It's next Sabbath we're -invited to Millerstown to spend the day at Hiram's, you mind?" she told -Sadie; "if only you don't take the cold or have the headache," she -added, insisting always upon regarding Sadie as an invalid to be -coddled. - -"You know, Jennie, Danny always says he has so ashamed for our Hiram's -common table manners. I guess he won't like it, either, before -Margaret that Hiram eats so common, for all he's a minister." - -"Yes, well, but supposing she met _Mom_ by chance, what would she -think? Danny better consider of _that_ before he worries over our -Hiram." - -"Yes, I guess, too," Sadie agreed. - -Meantime, Margaret, during these first months after her marriage, was -living through a succession of spiritual upheavals and epochs which, -under a calm and even phlegmatic exterior, were completely hidden from -those about her. - -Her earliest impressions in her new and strange environment at the -Leitzels' home in New Munich were confused and bewildering; for so -isolated and narrow had her life hitherto been, that vulgarity in any -form had never, up to this time, touched or come nigh her, and she did -not understand it, did not know how to meet or cope with it. - -But the second stage of her experience, as the situation became less -confused, more definite, was, in spite of Daniel's devotion to her, for -which she was grateful, a transitory sense of humiliation, of -mortification, that she had married into a family that was -"straight-out common"--she, a Berkeley. It was probably the first time -in her life that she had ever given a thought to the fact that she was -a Berkeley. But since to a Southerner of good family, to be well-born -was a detail of inestimable importance, she had naturally assumed that -any man whom Walter brought into his home and presented to her and -Hattie must be worthy of that honour. It was on this assumption that -so many of Daniel's peculiarities had failed to mean to her what she -could now see they meant--sheer commonness. Why had Walter taken it -for granted so easily that because a man was a successful and prominent -lawyer he was a gentleman? Yes, her own sister's husband had let her -go so far as to _marry_ into a family of whom he knew either too little -or too much! - -"I trusted Walter so entirely, I didn't even think of questioning him -on such a matter!" she reflected with some bitterness upon his -willingness to sacrifice her in order to preserve the peace of his own -home. - -"There are two kinds of lower class people, common people and people -who are only just plain," she philosophized. "If Daniel's family were -just plain, I could take them to my heart and be glad for the -broadening experience of knowing and loving them. I could get over my -prejudices about blood--I recognize that they _are_ prejudices--and I -wouldn't even mind his sisters' peculiarities. But they are not just -plain. They are---- Oh, my good Lord!" she almost moaned, covering -her face with her hands. - -However, all the experiences of Margaret's life had taught her, through -very severe discipline, to accept philosophically whatever -circumstances fell to her lot and to extract from alien conditions -whatever of comfort could possibly be found in them. So, the third -stage of the strenuous crisis through which she was passing was more -cheerful. She found herself so interested in the novelty of the life -and characters about her that it began to seem like the open page of an -absorbing story. Indeed, so interested did she become, that for a time -she forgot to think of it all in its relation to her own life. That -phase was destined to be forced upon her later with added poignancy. -But for the time being, even the fearfully vulgar taste of Daniel's -house and its furnishings, the like of which she had never beheld, and -Sadie's youthful _toilettes_--her empire gowns, middie blouses with -Windsor ties, and hats with little velvet streamers down the -back--served only to greatly entertain her. - -"Sadie was always such a fancy dresser that way," Jennie would explain -with pride. "Yes, she's a girl that's wonderful for dress." - -Jennie's invariable reference to her younger sister as "a girl" seemed -intended to carry out the idea of Sadie's sixteen-year-old style of -dress. - -"I suppose one couldn't make Sadie understand," thought Margaret, "that -she'd be better dressed with one frock of good material, simply and -suitably made, than with all that huge closet full of cheap trash." - -But she was wise enough not to attempt reforms, or even suggestions, in -any direction, in her new home. - -In view of the fact that Daniel's sisters lived here dependent upon -him, as Margaret supposed, Sadie's abundant finery seemed to her rather -extravagant. "He's a very indulgent brother," she decided. - -Walter's wedding gift to her had been a check for fifty dollars, which -she was sure he must have borrowed on his life insurance. She was at -present using this for pocket money. It was characteristic of her not -to give one anxious thought to the time when it would all be spent. -She was scarcely aware of the fact that the subject of money had never -yet come up between her and Daniel, and she would have been amazed -indeed to know how often her husband tried in vain to broach the topic -which was to him of such paramount importance, and to her so negligible -a detail in a life full of interests that had nothing to do with money. - -The attitude of Daniel's sisters toward him seemed to Margaret not by -any means the least of the curiosities of her new life: their -obsequious admiration of him, their abject obedience to every least -wish of his, their minute attention to his physical comforts and to the -fussy details of his daily routine, from his morning bath up to his -glass of hot milk at bedtime. - -"And they've done this all his life! No wonder he's a----" - -But she checked, even to her own consciousness, any admission of what -she really thought he was. - -Daniel, meantime, discovering through the many social affairs to which -he took his bride that she was so greatly admired by the men of his -world as to make them look upon him with envy (and to be looked upon -with envy was sweet to his soul), opened up his heart and his purse to -the extent of suggesting to his wife and his sisters that they -celebrate his marriage and return the lavish hospitality that had been -extended to them in New Munich by giving a large reception. - -It was one Saturday afternoon as they all sat together in the -"sitting-room" after their midday dinner, Daniel's offices being closed -on Saturday afternoon to give his large staff of clerks a half holiday. -Jennie had pushed Daniel's own easy-chair to the open fire for him, and -he was lounging in it luxuriously. - -"And I'm going to do it up in style. I'll have a caterer from -Philadelphia," he announced, to the astonishment of his sisters. - -"Oh, Danny, a caterer yet!" breathed Sadie, awestruck. - -"It'll come awful high, Danny!" Jennie warned him. - -"I know it will. I know that. But all the same I'm going to _do_ it!" -responded Daniel heroically. - -"Well," said Jennie, "I hope you'll tell the caterer, Danny, not to -give us one of these lap-suppers the kind they had at Mrs. Congressman -Ocksreider's, you mind. I like to sit up to a table when I eat. Mrs. -Ocksreider's so stout, she hasn't _got_ a lap, and it looked awful -inconvenient to her. Oh, it was _swell_ enough, to be sure, but you -didn't get very full. We didn't overload our stomachs, I can tell you." - -"We'll have small tables, then," Daniel agreed. - -"Sadie," Jennie suddenly ordered her sister solicitously, "sit out of -the window draft or you'll get the cold in your head yet." - -Sadie obediently pulled her chair away from the window. - -"I'm thirsty," Daniel announced; and at the word Jennie rose. - -"I'll fetch you a drink, Danny." - -In a moment she returned and stood by her brother's chair while he -leisurely sipped the water she had brought him. This spectacle, a -man's remaining seated while a woman stood, to which Margaret was -becoming accustomed, had at first seemed to her quite awful. - -"And you, Margaret," Daniel said as he sipped his water, "must have a -new dress--gown, as you call it--for the party. You have worn those -same two evening dresses of yours to about enough parties, I guess. -Let Sadie help you choose a new one. And get something elegant and -showy. I won't mind the cost. Sadie, you'll know what she ought to -get; her own taste is too plain. I want her to do me credit!" he -grinned, returning the empty glass to Jennie, who took it away. - -"I'll help you pick out just the right thing," responded Sadie, eager -for the orgy of planning a new evening costume, while Margaret, as she -glanced at Sadie's ill-fitting, gay plaid blouse of cheap silk, made by -a cheap seamstress, and at the coquettish patch of black court plaster -off her left eye, concealed her amusement at her vision of herself in a -garb of her sister-in-law's devising. - -"Daniel," she suddenly said, wishing to divert the talk from clothes, -and curious, also, to "try out" her husband on a certain point, "I'm -thirsty." - -Daniel, not yet very far recovered from the attentive lover stage, -jumped up at once to get her a drink, quite as he would have done -before their marriage, and Margaret smiled as she saw Jennie and Sadie -look shocked at what she knew they felt to be her very unwifely -attitude. - -"My dears," she told them while Daniel was gone, "I've got to try to -keep him in training, you spoil him so dreadfully." - -"How high dare she go, Danny, for her new dress?" Sadie inquired when -her brother returned with the water. - -"Well, what do _you_ pay for a party dress?" - -"My new white silk cost me sixteen-fifty." - -"That's a showy, handsome dress all right. You may spend twenty -dollars, Margaret," he said magnanimously. - -"We'll go downtown right after breakfast on Monday morning, Margaret," -said Sadie, "and pick out the goods and take it to Mrs. Snyder, my -dressmaker. She charges five dollars to make a dress, but she gives -you your money's worth; she makes them so nice and fancy. Your dresses -ain't fussed up enough, Margaret." - -Margaret wondered what would be the effect upon them if she told them -that just the mere making of one of her "plain" gowns, by a good -dressmaker, had cost nearly twice what Daniel "allowed" her for the -goods, "findings," and making of a new one. But she decided to spare -them the shock. - -"Simple clothes suit me better," she said. "Unless I go to a -high-priced dressmaker, I can do much better making my gowns myself." - -"But I don't begrudge the high price, Margaret," urged Daniel; "you let -Sadie's Mrs. Snyder make you a dress." - -"Yes," said Jennie with decision, "you can't appear among our friends -any more, Margaret, in such plain-looking dresses as you've been -wearing. It would really give me a shamed face if you weren't -so--well, even in plain clothes, you're awful aristocratic looking, and -you'll look just grand in the dress Sadie's Mrs. Snyder will make you -for five dollars." - -Though Margaret was perfectly willing to take a subordinate place in -her husband's household, she no more dreamed of his sisters interfering -in her personal affairs than she thought of interfering with theirs, so -in spite of Jennie's authoritative tone, she answered pleasantly: "Too -bad you don't like my Mennonite taste, for you know, I'd love to adopt -the 'plain' garb of these Mennonite women and girls one sees on the -streets on market days. What could be more quaint and fetching than -their spotless white caps on their glossy hair? Ah, I think they're a -sly lot, these Mennonite girls. Don't tell me they don't know how -bewitching they look in their unworldly garb intended to put down -woman's natural vanity! So I won't get a new gown just now." - -"Why not, when Danny offers you the money?" asked Sadie, astonished, -while Jennie frowned disapprovingly. - -"Here," said Daniel, taking a bank book and a fountain pen from his -pocket, and rapidly making out a check, "you take this, Margaret, and -let Sadie's Mrs. Snyder make you a nice party dress." - -Margaret laughed a little as she took the check, feeling it useless to -explain to them how impossible it would be to buy with twenty dollars, -even at a bargain sale, anything so beautiful as her two gowns made by -a skilled and artistic designer and trimmed with her -great-grandmother's Brussels rose point. - -Daniel looked chagrined and his sisters rather indignantly surprised -that she did not thank him for the money. He thought he was being -tremendously generous. But Margaret, inasmuch as they had been married -two months and this was the first money he had offered her, received it -as a matter of course; her husband had, at the altar, endowed her with -his "worldly goods" and what was his was hers; that was her quite -simple view of their financial relation. - -"I don't want to spend this on a gown, Daniel," she said to the -consternation of her hearers, as she tucked it into the bosom of her -blouse, "for I don't need any; the ones I have are really all right, my -dear; far better than anything I've seen on any woman in New Munich." - -"But I gave it to you for a frock!" Daniel exclaimed, his eyes bulging. -"I want you to have a fancy, dressy frock for our reception." - -"My dear," Margaret patted his bald head, "you know a lot more about -law than about a woman's frocks. You leave that to me." - -Before he could reply, the one maid of the household entered the room, -and presented a card-plate to Jennie. - -"More callers--what a pile!" said Jennie as she took ten cards from the -plate. - -"Yes, and it's only one lady in the parlour settin'!" exclaimed the -Pennsylvania Dutch maid. "It wonders me that she gives me so many -tickets!" - -"Well, would you look, Danny! If it ain't Miss Hamilton!" exclaimed -Jennie with a contemptuous shrug. "Ain't she got nerve!" - -"What! Well, well! Tut, tut, tut!--my stenographer calling on my -wife! Yi, yi! Because she and her parents sent us a little bit of a -vase for a wedding gift, she has the presumption to think she can make -your acquaintance, my dear!" - -"That exquisite little Venetian glass vase!" said Margaret eagerly. -"It's one of the loveliest gifts we received." - -"It looks as if it cost fifty cents," commented Jennie. "And they're -not just to say poor either; her father is the high school principal -and her mother's the Episcopal Church organist." - -"But why ten cards," asked Daniel, "if she came by herself?" - -"Her father's and mother's cards as well as her own; and for all of -us," explained Margaret as she glanced over them. - -"And is that the proper way to do?" asked Daniel, impressed. - -"It is in South Carolina; I can't answer for New Munich." - -"_Her_ puttin' on airs like that!" wondered Sadie, "when they ain't in -society." - -Margaret rose to go to the parlour. "Are you coming?" she asked of -Jennie and Sadie. - -"We are not acquainted with our Danny's hired clerk," said Jennie -primly, "and don't wish to be. I'll call the hired girl back and tell -her to excuse you, Margaret, and us, too." - -"No, I want to meet Miss Hamilton. I've been anxious to make the -acquaintance of the giver of that rare little vase; she must be a -person of taste. Shall I, then, excuse you?" she asked the other two -women, moving a step toward the door. But Daniel took her hand to -detain her. "Have yourself excused; I'd rather you did; it's not well -to mix business and society. It was bold of Miss Hamilton to come -here, and we must not encourage her to come again." - -Strangely enough, this sort of a contingency had not arisen before, for -the simple reason that on every occasion, hitherto, when people had -called whom Jennie and Sadie considered undesirable acquaintances for -her, Margaret had happened to be out. They had either just thrown away -the cards of such visitors, or had explained to Margaret that she must -not return their visits. Margaret had not discussed the matter with -them, but had kept the addresses of every visitor of whom she was -informed, intending, of course, to call upon them all as soon as New -Munich "society" would cease from its siege of entertaining her. - -"But, Daniel," she patiently answered him, "I'm quite serious in -telling you that a person who could select such a thing of beauty as -that Venetian vase, I'm sure I shall find much more interesting -than--than some of the people I've been meeting, kind and hospitable -though they've been." - -"But it's very bad policy to encourage familiarity in subordinates. -She _works_ for me, Margaret." - -"Don't you see, Daniel, that's why it behooves me not to be excused to -her?" she smiled, withdrawing her hand, patting his cheek, and sailing -out of the room. - -"But, Margaret!" he called after her, only to hear her voice in the -room beyond greeting, with her Southern cordiality, his hired secretary. - -Daniel looked the annoyance and astonishment he felt. If she _would_ -see Miss Hamilton, against his expressed wish, she needn't treat her -like an equal--actually gush over her. Why! hear the two of them -laughing and chattering over there in the parlour! She might at least -be reserved and on her dignity with people beneath her. - -"For goodness' sake, tell your wife, Danny," spoke in Jennie, voicing -his own thought, "not to make herself so friendly and common to -everybody. _Your_ wife don't have to! She has the right to be a -little proud with people. I tell her, still, when callers come, 'To -this one you can be as common as you want; but to this one, not so -common.' But she don't seem to understand; leastways, she don't listen -to me; she's the same to everybody, _whether_ or no. Or else she's -just as likely as not to make herself common with a person like this -Miss Hamilton and be awful quiet and indifferent-like with Mrs. -Congressman Ocksreider and her daughter, or Judge Miller's family! You -better talk to her and tell her what's what." - -"It's funny," said Daniel, puzzled, "that she wouldn't know that much -without being told." - -"Yes, I think, then!" said Jennie, "and her as tony a person as what -she seems to be." - -"Yes, anyhow!" corroborated Sadie. - -"Her being so friendly with everybody," continued Jennie, "is likely to -make trouble when we come to send out invitations for your grand party. -To be sure, the ones she made herself so common with will look to be -invited; ain't?" - -"But I want the party to be very exclusive, mind!" warned Daniel. - -"To be sure you do. Trust me to see to that," promised Jennie. - -"Will you hear those two in there laughing together like two -school-girls!" wondered Sadie. "My goodness! And Miss Hamilton -working for you for eight dollars a week!" - -"I've had to raise her to ten," said Danny ruefully. "A lawyer in -Lancaster offered her fifteen, and I couldn't let her go, she's too -useful; so much better educated than the general run of stenographers. -If she didn't prefer to live in New Munich with her parents, I'd have -to compete with big city prices to keep her." - -"Is she that smart, Danny?" Jennie asked, a touch of respect in her -tone, her estimate of Miss Hamilton rising just two dollars' worth. -"They say, too, that her father's such a smart high school teacher. -Yes, they say the school board had to raise his salary, too, to keep -him." - -"It's very bad," said Daniel thoughtfully, "to have people who work for -you know how valuable they are to you. Miss Hamilton knows she's worth -money to me and so she gives herself airs--acts sometimes as though -_she_ hired _me_ at ten dollars a week!--and then has the presumption -to come here and call on my wife! I'd fire her if I could get any one -_half_ as good. But she knows she's got the whip-handle. It's much -better, much better, for an employee to feel _uncertain_ of his or her -place. By the way," he added, drawing a purse from his pocket and -taking a dollar from it, "you know we're all to go to Millerstown to -have dinner at Hiram's to-morrow, so you'd better go out this -afternoon, girls, and buy some presents for the four children. Here's -a dollar--that's from Margaret and me; and if you each give fifty -cents, that will make two dollars: enough to buy a nice little present -for each one of them from all of us." - -"All right, Danny," responded Jennie, taking the dollar. "I can get -red booties for the baby, a hair ribbon for Naomi, a game for Zwingli, -and a story book for Christian. Won't they be pleased?" - -"And now," said Daniel, taking out his watch, "I've got just an hour to -spare--let us make out the list of names for our party; for when Miss -Hamilton goes, I'm going to 'phone for an automobile and take Margaret -out for a little ride, and talk to her about some things." - - - - -XI - -Margaret's instinct for self-preservation, being rapidly educated along -new lines since her marriage, closed her lips in the presence of Jennie -and Sadie upon the great delight she found in her new acquaintance, her -husband's secretary; for though the standards of value which the -Leitzels held as to most things in life had at first seemed to her -incomprehensible, she was of late beginning to have a glimmering -understanding of them. So, upon returning to the sitting-room after -Miss Hamilton's call, she repressed any expression of her happiness, -and not until she and Daniel were alone in the automobile which he had -hired this afternoon for her pleasure, and incidentally for his own, -did she speak of it. She had not yet learned the necessity of hiding -from him, also, almost everything that she felt and thought. - -"This is a red letter day for me, Daniel. I've found a friend! I've -never had an intimate girl friend--oh! but I've yearned for one! Of -all the many people I've met since I came here, there hasn't been one -except that Miss Mary Aucker, who has since gone to Boston for the -winter, whose society I'd prefer to that of a book or solitude. I'm -not naturally a very good 'mixer,' I'm afraid, but in ten minutes Miss -Hamilton and I--well, we simply found each other, deep down where we -both live! It's such a novel and wonderful experience to me!" she -softly exclaimed, her eyes shining. "It's going to give me the -greatest happiness I've ever known!" - -"The greatest happiness you've ever known! Why, Margaret----" - -"I mean that I've ever known with a woman," she said soothingly. - -"But, my dear!" he exclaimed, "what can you be thinking of? You can't -make a friend of _my secretary_!" - -"If she is a lady?" - -"But she isn't. They don't go anywhere, these Hamiltons!" - -"They are a cultured New England family, Daniel, and if they don't go -into society here, it is probably because they don't want to. I'm sure -I can't imagine why they _should_ want to. I don't mean, dear," she -quickly added, not at all sincerely, "to cast any reflection upon your -New Munich society; I'm speaking of society in general. It is rather -unsatisfactory, isn't it? I wouldn't give up the friendship I'm going -to have with Miss Hamilton for all the rest of New Munich society, I -assure you." - -"But you must give it up! Why, my dear, the Hamiltons are _renters_!" - -"'Renters?'" - -"Yes, renters!" - -"What are 'renters?'" - -"You know what I mean--they don't own the house they live in, they rent -it." - -"Oh!" Margaret fell back laughing against the seat of the car. "Of -course if I had known that, Daniel, I shouldn't have found Miss -Hamilton congenial, sympathetic, and companionable. Oh, Daniel!" she -gasped with laughing. - -But Daniel's sense of humour was not developed. - -"You must be on your guard more, my dear," he gravely warned her, "or -you will be getting yourself involved most uncomfortably with -troublesome people. Do let Jennie and Sadie be your guides as to whom -you should cultivate here and whom keep at a proper distance." - -"Jennie and Sadie be my--select my friends for me?" - -"Instruct you as to those _among_ whom you may select for yourself," he -amended it. "They know New Munich and you don't." - -"And they," thought Margaret wonderingly, "think themselves 'above' a -cultured, sophisticated, well-bred girl like Miss Hamilton--they!" - -"But, Daniel," she asked, genuinely puzzled, "that nice little woman -that called yesterday, that I liked so much, said her husband was a -grocer. I confess it rather shocked me. But you all seemed to approve -of _her_. In New Munich is a grocer better than a teacher?" - -"He's a wholesale grocer, which makes a vast difference, of course." - -"Does it? And was the drygoods person who was with her also wholesale?" - -"Mrs. Frantz? No, but she's rich, very rich. They own their handsome -home at the head of our block. Listen, Margaret! While you were in -the parlour with Miss Hamilton, Jennie and Sadie helped me make up the -list for our party, and even I myself could not have discriminated more -astutely than they did (Jennie especially) as to whom we ought to -invite and whom we ought not. On Monday I'll have one of my office -clerks address the envelopes for the invitations on a typewriter." - -"Oh, my God, Daniel! You can't send typewritten invitations!" - -"For goodness' sake, Margaret, cut out _swearing_! I'd be horribly -mortified if any one heard you!" - -Margaret was silent. - -Daniel turned to glance at her uneasily, fearing he had offended her, -but she was red with suppressed laughter and as she met his eye it -broke forth in a little squeal. - -"Oh, Daniel," she sighed, "swearing isn't as bad as slang, dear. I'd -much rather hear you say 'Damn it' than 'cut it out.'" - -She looked so pretty in her sable furs, another inheritance from an -ancestor, that, the automobile being covered, he seized her face in his -two hands and held his lips to hers for a long minute. - -"Daniel," she said when he at last released her, "remind me to look -over the list before you send the invitations. I may want to add some -names." - -"I don't think you will, dear. We drew up the list very carefully." - -"I'll glance over it." - -"But, Margaret," he firmly insisted, "the list is complete as it -stands. You can't add any name to it that would not be objectionable -to my sisters and me." - -"I understand that the party is to be a large general affair, not small -and exclusive? In that case, you know, we shall have to invite every -one who has called and sent us gifts." - -"Impossible! Why, our butcher sent us a gilt-framed Snow-Scene! and -Sadie's dressmaker a souvenir spoon!" - -"Then at least we must invite every one who has called on me." - -"By no means. Wait until you have lived here long enough to have -gotten your bearings and you'll see how right Jennie and Sadie and I -are in drawing the line so carefully." - -Margaret wisely desisted from further discussion of the matter, though -she felt troubled by her conviction that she would certainly not find -on that list the names of the few women of the town who had really -interested her and who were probably "renters" or self-supporting or -something else which, by the Leitzel standard, would class them with -"dogs and sorcerers." But it was she and Daniel who were giving the -party, and even though Jennie and Sadie did keep house for them, she -was of course the nominal mistress of her husband's home and -responsible for the courtesy or discourtesy extended to their -acquaintances; and she did not like the idea of being made to appear a -petty snob in the eyes of the few people of New Munich for whose -opinion of her she cared. But what could she do about it? - -"The people they seem to approve of have been the most vulgar who have -called on me," she reflected. "And the few persons of breeding and -education I've met here they have flouted. Yet I recognize the -delicacy of their position--Jennie's and Sadie's--living here in their -brother's house and dependent upon him. I don't want to assert myself -in a way to make them feel their dependence. What can I do?" - -"Another thing, Margaret," said Daniel in a tone of authority, "I want -to ask you not to make yourself common with people beneath you." - -"Make myself 'common?'" - -"Why, you are as common with my secretary as you are with Mrs. -Ocksreider or Mrs. and Miss Miller!" - -"I'm 'common?'" - -"Don't you think you are?" - -"Well, in Charleston we weren't considered just to say common people, -Daniel, though perhaps we were over-estimated." - -"Good heavens, Margaret, I don't mean that you _yourself_ are common; I -certainly wouldn't have married you if I had thought that. I mean you -make yourself--well, too democratic. That's what I mean, too -democratic." - -"The prerogative of the well-born, Daniel, who don't feel the -_necessity_ for snobbishness. Have you fixed the date for the party?" - -"Yes, the twenty-second; three weeks from yesterday. I'll have the -house decorated by a Lancaster florist and I'll have a caterer from -Philadelphia." He repeated with relish his astonishing intention. - -"But, Daniel, are you sure we can afford all that?" - -He laughed exultantly. "Well, my dear, I've never given a large party -and I'm going to impress the town! It will be the swellest thing that -was ever given here! Why shouldn't it be? I can afford it--that is," -he pulled himself up, "I can afford it _once_ in a while, and," he -added with feeling, "I'm celebrating the happiest event of my whole -life. You're worth all that it will cost, Margaret!" - -"Thanks!" - -"You're welcome, my dear." - -"We must invite your step-mother to the party, Daniel." - -A slight start expressed Daniel's disturbed surprise at this unexpected -suggestion. - -"She's too old and too--well, too unworldly." - -He winced from the discovery that Margaret must some time make, that -his step-mother was a Mennonite, talked Pennsylvania Dutch, was wholly -uneducated and, in short, a disgrace to the Leitzel family. - -"We must send her a card, Daniel, whether she comes or not." - -"No, no; she might take a notion _to_ come!" - -"But that would be lovely! I am so fond of old ladies. Why do you say -'No?'" - -"I don't want her 'round!" he snapped fretfully. "Don't send her an -invitation! She lives only fifteen miles from here and I do believe -she'd _come_ if she were invited, she's so proud of being related to -us! You see, Margaret," he added, preparing the way a bit, "she's not -exactly our equal, I'm sorry to tell you." - -"Then," thought Margaret, "she's undoubtedly a very superior woman!" - -"Daniel!" she suddenly proposed, "if she lives only fifteen miles away, -let's motor out to see her." - -"We haven't time," said Daniel shortly. - -"Some other time then? I'd like to meet her." - -"Perhaps." - -"Won't she be at Hiram's to-morrow at the family party at Millerstown?" - -"No." - -"Why not?" - -"Because Hiram won't invite her. We have very little to do with her, -my dear, except to give her her home." - -"_You_ do that?" She wondered at the number of people he supported. - -"Well, she lives in our old home near our coal lands. We don't charge -her any rent." - -"I'm going out to see her some time, Daniel. Since you don't care to -visit her, I'll take Miss Hamilton. I'd like to see your coal lands -and your old home." - -Daniel looked apoplectic. "Margaret!" he gasped. "Listen to me! -Don't speak to any one of my step-mother! Hardly any one knows we have -one and we don't want them to know it." - -"Gracious! Why not?" - -"We're ashamed of her, Margaret. She's not a lady, though I don't see -why that should reflect on us, since she isn't a blood relation. And -as to Miss Hamilton, haven't I made it clear to you that it would -humiliate me unbearably to have my wife seen in company with my -stenographer?" - -"Oh, but, Daniel, my dear, because her family are 'renters?' There, -there," she patted him, "don't worry about me. I'm twenty-five years -old, you know, and am surely competent to choose my own friends. And -it's better to be renters than rotters. Let us go home, now, will you? -It's getting late, and I'm cold--and hungry. Jennie promised us -buckwheat cakes for supper. Tell me all about your brother Hiram's -family," she added when Daniel had ordered the chauffeur to turn home. -"How many children has he? I'll be so glad to get some children into -my arms again--I'm so awfully homesick for Hattie's babies!" - -There was a little catch in her voice and Daniel answered -sympathetically: "I'd like to see Hattie's babies again myself! They -certainly are nice little children--the most aristocratic looking -children, Margaret, I ever saw. I hope," he lowered his voice, "that -_our_ children will be as aristocratic looking." - -Margaret closed her eyes for an instant as though to shut out some -things she did not wish to see. - -"How many children?" she repeated after a moment. - -"Four: Zwingli, Naomi, Christian, and Daniel. Daniel, the baby, is my -namesake of course. You see, Hiram had about decided I wasn't going to -marry and that having no children of my own, I'd do well by my -namesake. But," Daniel chuckled, "I fooled him, didn't I?" - -"Do you like his wife?" - -"Oh, yes, he did very well, very well indeed. Lizzie's worth thirty -thousand dollars." - -He paused expectantly. Here was Margaret's chance to speak up and tell -him what she was worth. - -"If she's worth that much," was Margaret's comment, "she certainly -ought to be all wool and a yard wide. But I asked whether you liked -her." - -"Why, yes, she's a good wife," returned Daniel, disappointed, his tone -dejected. _Why_ couldn't he make Margaret talk property? "Hiram -married the richest woman in Millerstown. And she's a very capable and -economical woman, too. You'll hear my brother preach to-morrow," he -added with pride, cheering up a bit. "He's a fine preacher. So -considered in Millerstown. If he had gone into the ministry younger, -he'd have made his mark in his profession just as I have done in the -law; but he was nearly thirty when he began to study. Yes," said -Daniel as the car drew up at their door, "you'll hear a great sermon -when you hear my brother Hiram preach." - - - - -XII - -It was the next day on the train on their way to Millerstown, to visit -Hiram's church and his family, that an illuminating little incident -occurred in the matter of the gifts they were taking to the children. - -"What's that package you have, Margaret?" Jennie inquired, rather in -the tone of a demand, as the four of them sat in two facing seats of a -day coach, Jennie and Sadie having both offered Daniel the seat by the -window and regarding Margaret with evident disapproval because she had -not offered hers. - -"A book for the children," Margaret replied, thinking Jennie's question -and tone both somewhat surprisingly impertinent. "An illustrated book -of Bible stories. I found very little to choose from in the New Munich -shops; this was the best thing I could find. I'm sure your brother -Hiram will approve of such a proper book, though it's at the same time -one that even naughty little boys will love--just full of gruesome -pictures. That's why I got it." - -"But Hiram's boys ain't naughty; they're awful well-behaved," Sadie -corrected this unjust aspersion. - -"I hope not too well-behaved, or I shan't feel at home with them. I -like 'the dear, delightful bad ones,' as Riley calls them." - -"You had no need to buy them a present, Margaret," Jennie reproved her. -"Danny gave me a dollar yesterday for you and him, and then I and Sadie -each put fifty cents at--and I got nice presents for the children from -us all together." - -"What did you pay for the book, Margaret?" asked Daniel. "It looks -large." - -"I forget exactly; three dollars, I believe, or two-fifty." - -"Tut, tut!" exclaimed Daniel hastily. "You're too extravagant!" - -"My goodness! Two-fifty or three dollars yet!" cried Jennie. "Money -must be a-plenty with you, Margaret." - -"I'll tell you what," suggested Daniel fussily: "keep back the presents -you brought along, Jennie, and give the book from us all, and then the -next time we come to Hiram's we can use those other presents." - -"Yes, well, but," objected Jennie, "then I and Sadie won't have paid -our full share if Margaret gave two-fifty or three dollars for the book -yet." - -"Which was it, Margaret?" Daniel inquired a bit sharply. "Surely you -know whether you paid two-fifty or three dollars for the book?" - -"Does it matter? If you require the exact statistics I remember the -price of the book was three-fifty, and they offered it to me for three." - -"Then, Jennie," said Daniel, "you and Sadie each give a quarter more -and we'll save back the other things until the next time." - -And to Margaret's unspeakable astonishment her husband's sisters opened -their purses, counted out twenty-five cents each and passed it over to -Daniel, who serenely received it and dropped it into his own purse. - -"If you're playing a game," said Margaret, holding out her hand, "I'll -take my share, please--two and a quarter." - -"But you and I are one," said Daniel jocularly, "and what's mine is----" - -"Your own?" asked Margaret as he hesitated. - -Daniel laughed with appreciation of this witty retort. It was -discouraging to Margaret that he always laughed when she was fatuous -and never when she said a thing she considered rather good. - -"And, my dear," he admonished her, "remember after this that we always -put together to buy for Hiram's children. We can do better that way, -not only for the children, but it comes lighter on each one of us." - -Margaret did not reply. The incident, somehow, struck a chill to her -heart. - -"It must be," she concluded, "that Jennie and Sadie have some little -income of their own and are not entirely dependent upon Daniel." - -If this were true, she felt it would exonerate her from some of the -forbearance she had been so carefully practising. - -As they reached Millerstown just in time for the opening of the service -at Hiram's church, Margaret first saw her brother-in-law from the front -pew, as he stood before his congregation in his pulpit. - -"You take notice," Jennie had warned her on their way from the station -to the church, "how the folks in Hiram's church look when we come in -and walk up to the front pew." - -"At me?" - -"Well, at you, mebby, _this_ Sunday, because this is the first time -they are seeing you. But it's Danny they look at mostly, such a way-up -lawyer as he is, coming into their church. And every year he gives -them a contribution yet." - -There actually was a stir in the congregation as the party of four was -ushered to the pew reserved for them, and Margaret noted curiously the -look of satisfaction it brought to the faces of her husband and his -sisters. - -The village volunteer choir was singing a "selection" as they entered: - - "We're going home to glory - In the good old-fashioned way." - - -In Hiram's prayer, which followed, he informed God, whom he addressed -in epistolary style as "Dear God," that "the good old-fashioned way" -was plenty good enough for the members of the Millerstown United -Brethren Church. - -Margaret, unable to keep her mind on the rambling discourse intended to -be a prayer, noted that the speaker's accent and diction, while not -illiterate, were very crude, that he took a manifest pleasure in the -hackneyed religious phrases which rolled stentoriously from his lips, -and that he wore an expression, as he prayed, of smug -self-satisfaction. She also observed that, like Daniel, he was small, -slight, and insignificant looking; and she suddenly realized, with a -sinking of her heart, that in this uncouth village preacher she really -saw her husband as he would assuredly appear if stripped of the veneer -which an earlier training and a college education had given him. - -As they sat down after the prayer, Sadie whispered to her: "That's -Hiram's Lizzie over there with three of the children." And glancing -across the aisle, Margaret saw in the opposite front pew a buxom, -matronly young woman, dressed somewhat elaborately in clothes of -village cut and with a rather heavy but honest and wholesome -countenance; her three children, shining from soap and water, and -dressed also elaborately in village style, were gathered with her in -the pew. - -In the sermon that Hiram preached Margaret couldn't help suspecting -that he was, this morning, doing some "special stunts" to impress her, -so often did his complacent glance wander down to meet her upward, -attentive gaze. For indeed she couldn't help listening to him, so -astonishing did his so-called sermon seem to her, so colossal his -self-approval. - -His theme was Lot's unfortunate career in Sodom, and in his -extraordinary paraphrasing of the scriptural story he gave it as his -opinion that probably one of the causes leading to Lot's downfall was -the ambition of Mrs. Lot and her daughter to get into Sodom's Four -Hundred. From the Lot family as social climbers in Sodom, the preacher -launched forth into a denunciation of the idle, dissipated lives of -fashionable women (with which he assumed a first-hand intimacy), a -denunciation that seemed rather irrelevant as spiritual food for his -simple village hearers. He hauled into his discourse, without regard -to sequence of ideas, time, space, or logic, Martha and Mary of the New -Testament, saying that some one had once asked him which of the two -he'd have preferred to marry. "Martha before dinner and Mary after -dinner," had been his response, and his congregation rippled with -amusement and almost applauded. A few moments later he was moving them -to tears by his deep-toned, solemn references to death and the grave -and "the hollow sounds of clods of earth falling upon the coffin lid." - -Before pronouncing the Benediction he asked the congregation to "tarry -a moment for social intercourse"; and in the exchange of greetings -which followed, Margaret could see how Daniel, Jennie, and Sadie -revelled in the obsequiousness of most of these shy villagers before -their pastor's distinguished brother and his two elaborately arrayed -sisters; for Jennie and Sadie looked very expensive indeed in their -near-seal coats which they were sure none but an expert could -distinguish from sealskin. - -When they presently went over to the parsonage, Jennie informed -Margaret that Lizzie's father had "furnished for her." The parlour -which they entered was fitted out in heavy old-gold plush sofa and -chairs, a marble-topped centre table, a gilt-framed motto over the -mantel, "Welcome," and a rug in front of the sofa stamped with the -words, "Sweet Home." - -At the abundant and well-cooked dinner to which they all gathered -immediately after church and which was served without any superfluous -ceremony, since "Hiram's Lizzie" kept but one "hired girl," Hiram -entirely monopolized the table talk, even Daniel being no match in -egotism for his clerical brother, and Jennie managing with difficulty -to wedge in an occasional warning to Sadie to refrain from eating -certain things that might give her "the indigestion." - -As for the children, they sat in awed silence under the double spell of -their father's flow of speech and the presence of a stranger, their new -aunt. They were all three rather dull, heavy children, from whom -Margaret's friendly and playful overtures could extract very little -response. - -Hiram boasted about himself so shamelessly that Margaret wondered why -his wife, sensible woman as she appeared to be, did not blush for him. -But Lizzie's Pennsylvania German sense of deep loyalty to her spouse, -her reverence for him as a minister, no less than her natural -simplicity and stupidity, blinded her to his painfully obvious -weaknesses and made her see in him only those things in which he was -her superior. He, on his part, patronized her kindly. She could not -have suited him better if she had been made to order. - -"Yes, I'm often told by folks who hear me preach or lecture that I'm a -born orator. That's what they say I am--a born orator. No credit to -me--comes natural. You noticed, sister-in-law, my sermon this morning -was entirely extemporaneous. Only a few notes to guide me. Nothing at -all but a few notes. And did I pause for a word, sister-in-law, did I?" - -"I didn't _hear_ you pause, brother-in-law," responded Margaret, adding -to herself, "You big wind-bag! If you ever did pause for a word, your -words might occasionally mean something." - -"You might think I spent a great deal of time in the preparation of my -sermons," continued Hiram. "Any one _would_ think so that heard me. -But I can prove it by Lizzie that I don't have to. Give me a text and -get me started and it's like rolling down hill for me. Natural gift. -Couldn't help it if I wanted to. Have my people laughing one minute, -crying the next--story of Mary and Martha--clods of earth falling on -coffin lid--humour and pathos alternately. That's oratory, -sister-in-law. Why, they think here in Millerstown that they can't -have any kind of a celebration without me to speak--Fourth of July, -Memorial Day, Lincoln's and Washington's Birthday celebrations, -Y.M.C.A. meetings, Y.W.C.A. rallies, W.C.T.U. gatherings, S.P.C.A. -anniversaries. I'm constantly in demand, constantly. Nothing quite -right unless Reverend Leitzel's there to speak! Ain't it so, Lizzie?" - -"Yes, indeed, it's something wonderful the way they're after him all -the time to speak," said Lizzie with pride. - -"When I take my month's vacation in the summer and they have to listen -to a substitute for four Sundays, oh, my, but then you hear them growl! -'The substitute may be a good enough preacher' they say to me, 'but he -won't be our Reverend Leitzel.' And when I come back to them -again--well, the way they flock to hear me the very first Sunday, and -the way they tell me, 'That substitute never made us laugh once; he -never made us shed a tear. There's no sermons like yours, Reverend -Leitzel!' Ain't they always glad to see me back again, Lizzie, after -my vacation?" - -"Well, I guess!" replied Lizzie, holding a large slice of bread on her -palm and spreading it with butter for Zwingli. - -"I'm even invited to New Munich sometimes to give an address and to -Lebanon and even to Reading yet, and that's a big place. You see they -know I have the power to hold an audience. I never _fail_ to hold my -audience. Did you ever see me fail to hold my audiences, Lizzie?" - -"No, indeed, they're always sorry when he stops preaching!" affirmed -Lizzie. - -"I was once approached by some men who offered to finance me as an -evangelist, and if I had consented I'd be as rich a man to-day as -brother Daniel is, for there ain't a more money-making profession -to-day than Evangelism, every one knows that. Look at Billy Sunday's -rake-offs! But I had to refuse them because they wanted me to do a -certain thing that my conscience wouldn't leave me do: they said a -feature of my evangelistic campaign would have to be addresses to -audiences of Women Only, on Eugenics; that you couldn't have a swell, -up-to-date evangelistic campaign without that big drawing card. Well, -I said I could easy do that; so that part was all right. _But_ when -they told me that in order to make it a go, I'd have to interduce into -my talk to Women Only, one or two _sudgestive remarks_, I refused!" -said Hiram heroically. "Not one sudgestive remark will I make, I told -them. 'Take me or leave me, but I won't make _one sudgestive remark_ -to an audience of Women Only!' So," he concluded grandly, "by standing -up for my principles, you see, I lost a fortune!" - -Margaret glanced, now and then, at Daniel and his sisters to learn from -their faces whether they considered Hiram sane; but they, far from -looking alarmed or disgusted, seemed to regard the bouquets he flung at -himself as a personal tribute to themselves, his near relatives, who -could at least inhale their fragrance. - -"Yes, Hiram's a born preacher, that I will say," remarked Jennie. - -"Yes, from a little boy, yet, he always wanted to be a preacher," added -Sadie. - -"He's got the gift all right," affirmed Daniel emphatically. - -An expectant pause, just here, made Margaret realize that they were -waiting for her to cast her bouquet at Hiram's feet. She was an -amiable creature and would have been perfectly willing to oblige them -if her wits had been more agile; but for the life of her she could -think of nothing to say that would not too deeply perjure her soul. - -Her silence, however, in no way daunted Hiram. - -"How did _you_ like my sermon this morning, sister-in-law?" he frankly -inquired. - -"It was the best--of its kind--I ever heard," responded Margaret, -looking at him without blinking. - -"Thank you," he bowed. "I'm sure you are perfectly sincere, too, in -your complimentary opinion." - -"Perfectly sincere," said Margaret. - -"In what church were _you_ raised?" - -"My family has a perpetual life ownership of a pew in the oldest -Episcopal Church in Charleston, but I must admit that it isn't often -occupied." - -"You are a Christian, I trust?" said Hiram gravely. - -Margaret did not think a reply necessary, or perhaps advisable. So she -made none. - -"Are you a Christian, sister-in-law?" Hiram solemnly repeated. - -"I'm a Democrat, a Suffragist, a Southerner--I don't know what all!" -said Margaret flippantly. - -"Do you mean to tell me, sister-in-law, that you ain't a Christian?" - -"I consider that a very personal question, and if you call me -'sister-in-law' again, I'll--I'll steal your little girl here," she -added, slipping her arm about the unresponsive child at her side, "and -take her home with me. Do you want to come to New Munich with your new -aunt, my dear?" she asked the child. - -"Yes, ma'am." - -This digression diverted the talk for a time from the all-engrossing -topic of Hiram's oratorical prowess, and as there now ensued the -distracting clatter of clearing the laden table for dessert, the -respite continued a bit longer. - -But after dinner, when they were again gathered in the parlour, Hiram -continued his monologue with unabated relish, pacing the length of the -room as he talked, his well-disciplined, or utterly phlegmatic, -children sitting in silence among their elders, Daniel fondly holding -on his knee Christian, the youngest of the three (there was a rather -new baby upstairs), and letting him play with his big gold watch. - -Having got the impression that Margaret was an "unbeliever," Hiram -entered upon a polemic in defence of "the faith once delivered to the -saints," sweeping from the earth with one fell stroke all the results -of German scholarship in Biblical criticism, refuting in three -sentences the arguments (as he understood them) of Darwin, Spencer, and -Huxley, putting Matthew Arnold severely in his place as "a back -number," rating Emerson as "a gross materialist," and himself as a -godly and spiritually minded favourite of Almighty God. - -Margaret soon began to feel very restive under this continued deluge. -She would have liked a chance to cultivate the children, or to talk to -Lizzie and try to discover whether that good, sensible face had -anything behind it besides an evidently doting belief in her husband. - -"Probably not," she mused, while Hiram continued to blow his trumpet. -"A merciful Providence, foreseeing her marriage to this unspeakable -ass, made her brainless. Oh! What would Uncle Osmond have done with a -creature like this Hiram? What would happen, I wonder, if I said -'damn' before him? If it weren't for the feelings of Daniel and his -sisters, I'd certainly try it on him. If I find myself alone with him, -I'm _going_ to swear! I'll swear at him! I'll say, 'You little damn -fool!'" - - - - -XIII - -It was not until the hour for leaving Millerstown, when Margaret was -taken by her hostess to an upstairs' bedroom to rearrange her hair -before starting, that she and Hiram's wife were given an opportunity -for a word together. What, then, was her chagrin to have Lizzie at -once take up her husband's eulogistic harangue where he had left it off. - -"Daniel and Jennie and Sadie always say their New Munich preacher seems -so slow and uninteresting after they've heard Hiram. I guess you'll -think, too, next Sunday, their minister's a poor preacher towards what -Hiram is." - -"I don't go to church _every_ Sunday. To tell you the truth, Lizzie, -I'm not awfully fond of sermons." - -"Oh, ain't you? I do like a good sermon, the kind Hiram preaches." - -"You never get tired of them?" - -"Not of Hiram's," said Lizzie, shocked. - -"Of course not of Hiram's," Margaret hastily concurred. - -"Does Danny insist you go along to the U. B. Church, or do you attend -the Episcopal?" - -"The Episcopalians are trying to gather me into their fold and Daniel -seems to want me to go there." - -"It's so much more tony than at the U. B. Church," nodded Lizzie -understandingly. "Yes, Danny often said already that if he hadn't a -brother that is a U. B. preacher, he'd join to the Episcopals. But it -wouldn't look nice for him to leave the U. B's when Hiram's minister of -the U. B. Church, would it?" - -"It wouldn't look nice for him to leave it for the other reason you -mentioned." - -"That the Episcopals are so tony that way? Well, but Danny thinks an -awful lot of that--if a thing is tony or not. Don't _you_, too? You -look as if you did." - -"The word isn't in my vocabulary, Lizzie. Let me have another look at -the baby before I go, won't you?" - -"He looks like Hiram--ain't?" said the mother fondly as they stood -beside the crib in her bedroom and gazed down upon the sleeping infant. -"I hope he gives as smart a man as what his father is." - -"But, Lizzie, don't you think the room is too close for him?" Margaret -gasped, loosening the fur at her throat in the stifling atmosphere of -the chamber. - -"Yes," Lizzie whispered, "but Jennie and Sadie are so _old_-fashioned -that way, they think it's awful to have fresh air at a baby. When they -go, I open up." - -"But," asked Margaret, surprised, "why do you have to be -'old-fashioned' because they are?" - -"Hush--sh! They're coming upstairs to get their coats and hats. A -person darsent go against them, especially Jennie. Haven't you found -_that_ out yet? I've been _wondering_ how you were getting on with -them; they'll want to boss you so!" - -"Oh, I was bossed for nine years by the uncle with whom I lived, so -I've learned how to--I'm used to it," she judiciously returned. - -"Do you think you can stick it out with them?" Lizzie whispered. -"Don't you think mebby one of these days they'll go _too_ far and -you'll answer them back? And I guess they often bragged to you -already, didn't they--how they never get over an in_sult_?" - -"I trust I shall never insult them!" - -"Well, I'm as peaceable as most," said Lizzie, "but I often felt glad -already that we live a little piece away from Jennie and Sadie, though -I know I oughtn't to say it.' - -"But I still don't see, Lizzie, why you keep this room air-tight -because they don't like fresh air," said Margaret, puzzled. "Do you -mean you'd rather damage your baby than have them quarrel with you?" - -"Well, I open up as soon as they go. You see if they ever get mad at -me, they'd cut our children out of their will." - -"Their will? I thought Daniel supported them." - -Lizzie stared incredulously. "Danny supported them?" she repeated -hoarsely. "Och, my souls! You thought that! As if he would!" - -Lizzie looked so contemptuous of Margaret's intelligence that the -latter realized their opinion of each other's brilliancy was mutual. - -"But," Margaret argued, "Daniel would have to support them if they were -penniless. They are too old to support themselves." - -"They have their own good incomes this long time already," stated -Lizzie. "Do you mean to say," she asked wonderingly, "that you thought -they _hadn't_ anything and yet you didn't mind Daniel's keeping them at -his house with _you_ there?" - -"Why should that make any difference to me--their 'having' anything?" - -"Say!" said Lizzie, her dull eyes wide open. "I always heard how in -the South it gives easy-going people, but I never thought they would be -_that_ easy-going!" - -"Suppose _your_ husband wanted his sisters to live here," Margaret -asked curiously, "you would not consent to it? You'd oppose Hiram, -would you? I can't seem to see you doing that, Lizzie." - -"But Hiram wouldn't want Jennie and Sadie to live here! He'd know -better. He'd know that, peaceable as I am, I couldn't hold out with -them; and to be sure, Hiram and I would both feel awful bad to have -them get down on us. Why, they've got, anyhow, a hundred thousand -dollars apiece!" - -"And wear near-seal coats," said Margaret thoughtfully, "and rhinestone -rings! How queer!" - -"Yes, ain't their coats grand? They paid fifty dollars apiece for -them! Maybe Danny will get you one like them some time." - -"God forbid! I'd get a divorce if he did! Come, Lizzie, don't you be -a coward--let some air into this room. I'll stand by you and take your -part!" she said, holding up her muff as if it were a revolver and -aiming toward the next room, in which they could hear the voices of -Jennie and Sadie. "Advance at your peril!" she dramatically addressed -the closed door between the two rooms. - -Lizzie stared in dumb wonder and slowly shook her head. "No, I darsent -get Jennie mad at me. Wait till you have a baby once and you will see -how they'll want to tell you the way to raise it. You'll have to mind -them if you want your children to inherit from them." - -"Oh, Lizzie, it doesn't pay to sell one's soul for a mess of pottage!" - -Scarcely had she spoken when she looked for Lizzie to respond, "You -married Danny!" But this bright retort did not apparently occur to -Lizzie, for she only stared at Margaret dumbly. - -"Well," thought Margaret, "of course a woman who considered Hiram a -prize wouldn't think Daniel needed to be apologized for." - -"Lizzie," she changed the subject abruptly, "have you ever seen your -husband's step-mother?" - -"Once or twice or so, yes." - -"I've been in New Munich two months and have not yet met her, though, -you know, she lives only fifteen miles away." - -"Yes, well, but we don't associate with her much. She's very plain and -common that way, and Jennie and Sadie are so proud and high-minded, you -know. They're ashamed of their step-mother." - -"And you, Lizzie, are you ashamed of her?" - -"Oh, well, me, I'm not so proud that way. But Hiram he would not like -for me to take up with her, he feels it so much that they have to leave -her live rent free in their old home when she ain't their own mother; -but Daniel and the girls won't put her to the poorhouse for fear it -would make talk, and that wouldn't do, you see, Daniel being such a -consistent church member and Hiram a minister. She used to come here -to see us once in a while and Hiram used to be ashamed to walk with her -to the depot when she would go away, because she is a Mennonite and -dresses in the plain garb, and it _looks_ so for a United Brethren -minister to walk through the town with a Mennonite. People would have -asked him, next time they saw him, who she was. So he used to make -Naomi walk with her to the depot. Naomi didn't like it either, she was -afraid her girl friends might laugh at her grandmother. But her father -always made her go. And then after a while grandmom she stopped coming -in to see us any more. You see," Lizzie lowered her voice, "the -Leitzels don't want folks to know about their step-mother." - -"Because she is 'plain and common?'" - -"Yes, and because it could make trouble. I don't rightly understand, -but I think they're afraid some one might put her up to bringing a -law-suit about the property. But I tell Hiram he needn't be afraid of -that; no one could make her do anything against any of them, she's too -proud of them and she's such a good-hearted old soul, she wouldn't hurt -a cat." - -Margaret was silently thoughtful as she drew on her gloves. - -"About six months back," Lizzie continued, "she surprised us all by -coming in again to see us; it was so long since she'd been to see us, -we never looked for her. And to be sure, we never encouraged her to -come, either, Hiram feeling the way he does. Well, she come in to tell -us she didn't feel able to do for herself any more out there alone on -the old place--she supported herself raising vegetables in the -backyard--and now, she said, she's too old any more to do it, and -wouldn't we give her a home, or either Hiram, or either Danny and the -girls. Well, the girls and Danny wouldn't hear to it. Me, I said if -she was strong enough to help me with the work a little, I could send -off my hired girl and take her. But Hiram said she wouldn't be able to -do the washing like our hired girl did, and we couldn't keep her _and_ -the hired girl; and anyhow he couldn't have her living with us, her -being a Mennonite. 'It stands to reason!' Hiram said. So she went -back home again and I haven't seen her since. I pity her, too, livin' -alone out there, as old as what she is. I can't think _how_ she makes -out, either! What makes it seem so hard is that she was such a good, -kind step-mother to them all while they were poor, and it was only her -hard work that kept a roof over them for many years while their father -drank and didn't do anything for them." - -Margaret still made no comment, though she was looking very grave and -thoughtful. - -"Would it mebby make you ashamed, too," asked Lizzie, "before your -grand friends in New Munich, to have her 'round, she talks so Dutch and -ignorant?" - -"No," Margaret shook her head, "I'm not 'proud and high-minded' like -Jennie and Sadie." - -"Well," admitted Lizzie confidentially, "I'm not, either; I told Hiram -once, 'You have no need to feel ashamed of her. Wasn't Christ's father -nothing but a carpenter?' But Hiram answered me, 'Och, Lizzie, you're -dumb! Joseph was no blood relation to Christ.'. 'Well,' I said, -'neither is your step-mother your blood relation.'" - -"I suppose," Margaret speculated, "if their step-mother had money to -leave them, they wouldn't feel so 'high-minded' about her, would they?" - -"Oh, no," Lizzie readily assented; "that would make all the difference! -But, you see, she hasn't a thing but what she gets from the vegetables -she can raise." - -"I do begin to see," nodded Margaret. - -"Danny never told us," Lizzie ventured tentatively, curiosity evidently -getting the better of delicacy, "what you're worth!" - -"What I'm 'worth?' He hasn't tried me long enough to find out. But I -hope I'll be worth as much to him as you are to Hiram--giving him -children and making a home for him." - -"But I mean," explained Lizzie, colouring a little at her own temerity, -but with curiosity oozing from every pore of her, "what did you _bring_ -Danny? I guess Jennie and Sadie told you already that I brought Hiram -thirty thousand. And I'll get more when my father is deceased." - -"Are both your parents living?" asked Margaret with what seemed to -Lizzie persistent evasion. - -"My mother died last summer," she returned in a matter-of-fact, almost -cheerful tone of voice. "Pop had her to Phil-delph-y and she got sick -for him, and he had to bring her right home, and in only half a day's -time, she was a corpse already!" said Lizzie brightly. - -"As though she expected me to say, 'Hurrah! Good for Mother!'" thought -Margaret wonderingly. - -"_Did_ you inherit, too, from your parents?" persisted her inquisitor. - -"All my virtues and all my vices, I believe," answered Margaret, -turning away and walking to the door. "Shall we go down now?" - -Lizzie took a step after her: "Maybe you think I spoke too soon?" she -asked anxiously. - -"'Spoke too soon?'" - -"Asking you what you're worth. To be sure it ain't any of my business. -But I thought I'd ask you once. Hiram would be so pleased if after you -go I could tell him. He wonders so, did his brother Danny do as well -as he did. But I guess I spoke too soon." - -She paused expectantly. - -"Never mind," said Margaret dully, again turning away. - -"Say!" said Lizzie solicitously, "you look tired and a little pale. -Would you feel for a cup of tea before you go?" - -"No thank you, Lizzie." - -Just here the door opened softly and Jennie and Sadie came into the -room and went to the crib of the slumbering baby. - -"Yes, he looks good," nodded Jennie approvingly. "You have got the -room nice and warm, Lizzie. Just you keep the air off of him and he'll -never get sick for you. There's a doctor's wife lives near us and you -ought to see, Lizzie, the outlandish way she raises that baby! Why, -any time you pass the house you can see the baby-coach out on the front -porch standing, whether it's cold _or_ warm! A doctor's wife, mind -you, exposing her young baby like that! Till they're anyhow eight -months old already, they shouldn't be taken into the air, winter or -summer. If you didn't keep little Danny in the house all the time, -you'd soon see how he'd ketch cold for you!" - -Lizzie looked at Margaret solemnly, with an expression that might have -been interpreted as a wink. - -"He certainly is a fine boy!" murmured Sadie fondly, looking upon the -little pink and white baby with a vague yearning in her old face. - -"Yes," said Jennie pensively, "babies are such nice little things. I -often think it's such a pity there ain't a more genteel way of getting -them." - -Lizzie nudged Margaret behind Jennie's back. - -"It's a pity they have to grow up to be men," said Margaret. - -As they all went downstairs, Lizzie held Margaret back for an instant -to whisper to her: "I don't know what loosened up my tongue to-day, to -say the things to you I did! Hiram would be cross if he knew how free -I told you things." - -"About his step-mother, you mean?" - -"No, I mean about Jennie and Sadie. You might go and _tell_ them what -I said!" - -"Yes, I might, if I were the villainess of a play and wanted to make -them cut your children out of their wills!" - -"You _won't_ tell, will you?" Lizzie pleaded. "It ain't that _I'd_ -care so much (though to be sure, I'd like to think the children would -inherit all they could), but it's Hiram would be so displeased at me -talking to you the way I did." - -"Don't give yourself any anxiety, Lizzie; of course I shall not 'tell.'" - -Margaret reflected, on the way home, as, quiet and rather white, she -leaned back in her seat in the train, pleading fatigue and a headache -to escape conversation, that this day, somehow, marked an epoch in her -understanding of the Leitzel family. She had suddenly, after two -months of incredible obtuseness, recognized that they measured -everything in life--duty, friendship, religion, love--by just one thing. - -"Yet Daniel married a dowerless wife!" she marvelled. - -The wild suspicion crossed her mind that Walter might have misled -Daniel into thinking her an heiress, even as he had let her assume that -her lover was well-born. - -But she was instantly ashamed of herself for even conceiving of such -treachery on Walter's part. - - - - -XIV - -Sadie Leitzel looked as though she were about to collapse with the -pressure of all that she had to communicate to Jennie when next morning -she returned alone, at noon, from a shopping excursion upon which she -had started out just after breakfast with Margaret. - -Dropping her bundles upon the centre table in the sitting-room, where -Jennie sat in the bay window darning Daniel's socks, she dropped -herself upon the sofa with a long breath of mingled excitement and -exhaustion. - -"Well, did she get her dress? And where is she at?" Jennie inquired. - -"No, she didn't get her dress!" breathed Sadie, taking off, one by one, -her veil, gloves, hat, furs, overshoes, and coat. "I guess she didn't -have an _intention_ of getting a dress when she started out with me! I -had the hardest time to get her to even look at their things at -Fahnestock's. She seems to think, Jennie, that New Munich hasn't -anything good enough for her to wear!" - -"Did she say that?" demanded Jennie. - -"Well, when she had only just gave a careless glance at some of their -_ready_-made evening dresses, she shook her head and said to me, -'There's nothing here; I'll have to wait until I go to Philadelphia -some time.' And when I wanted her, then, to get goods and take it to -Miss Snyder, she said Fahnestock's had such a cheap, poor quality of -goods, not worth making up!" - -"Well," pronounced Jennie, "I guess if our New Munich stores are good -enough for you and me, they're plenty good enough for as plain a -dresser as what she is! Our clothes are a lot dressier than hers! The -idea!" - -"Yes, the very idea!" - -"And after Danny's telling her he _wanted_ her to have a new dress! -And me telling her that her dresses that she's got give us all a shamed -face!" - -"All she got new for herself," said Sadie, "was another pair of those -long white kid gloves at four-fifty a pair. I told her silk ones would -do just as good, and them you can wash. But she didn't listen to me; -she just took my hand and held it out to the saleslady and told her to -measure it and," added Sadie, a veiled pleasure coming into her eyes, -"she got _me_ a pair of long white kid gloves, too, and paid for them -out of that twenty-dollar check Danny gave her!" - -"Oh!" cried Jennie, shocked, "when Danny gave it to her for a dress -yet! What'll he say anyhow?" - -"She knows he's so crazy about her, she don't seem afraid to do -anything!" said Sadie. - -"He'll soon stop giving her money if she spends it on other ones -instead of for what he tells her to buy!" - -"Yes, I guess! But me--I never had any long white kid gloves before, -Jennie!" Sadie could not repress her beaming pleasure. "They'll feel -grand, I guess." - -"Four-fifty is too much to put into a pair of gloves; your white silk -ones would do plenty good enough." - -"But she got you a pair, too, Jennie! Here they are," added Sadie, -fumbling among her packages on the table. "She asked me your size and -got you a pair, too." - -"I won't wear them! I'll get the money back and give it to Danny!" -declared Jennie, who, according to her lights, was as scrupulous as she -was "close." "It ain't right to Danny for her to squander his money -like that. My gracious! Thirteen-fifty for just gloves! You ought to -take yours back, too, Sadie!" - -"But the saleslady tried one of mine on and stretched them," returned -Sadie, not very regretfully. "And mind, Jennie," she hastily diverted -her sister from her suggestion, "mind what she did with the rest part -of the twenty dollars!" - -"What?" demanded Jennie. - -"She spent every cent of it buying presents for her sister's children -in Charleston! When I told her Danny wouldn't like it at all for her -to do that, she said, 'Oh, but Daniel loves my little nephew and -nieces; he will be glad to have me send them something from us both'; -and she put in the package a card, 'From Daniel and Margaret for the -three dearest babies in the world.'" - -"My souls!" Jennie exclaimed. "What'll Danny say yet--her using up all -that twenty dollars and nothing to show for it!" - -"Except three pairs of white kid gloves." Sadie shook her head -pensively, but still with a covert gleam of pleasure in her own share -of the "rake-off." - -"Well," said Jennie with emphasis, "I'll certainly give her a piece of -my mind! Where is she at?" - -"She said as it was twelve o'clock, she'd go to Danny's office and walk -home with him for dinner; and what do you think she gave me as her -reason for doing that?" - -"Well, what?" - -"She said she wanted a chance to see that Hamilton girl again that -works for our Danny! Did you ever?--when we all _told_ her already she -can't associate with Danny's clerk!" - -"Well, Sadie," said Jennie grimly, "Margaret's easy-going and she -thinks we're the same. She'll have to learn her mistake, that's all. -She ain't going to run with that Hamilton girl, and that's all there is -to it! Enough said!" - -"Och, Jennie, if you'd been along this morning you'd have wondered at -her the way she acts, speaking so awful friendly and pleasant to the -girls that waited on us in the store and even saying, 'Thank you, my -dear,' to a little cash-girl! Yes, making herself that familiar! And -then when Mrs. Congressman Ocksreider come along through the store and -I poked Margaret that she should stop and speak to her, Margaret just -nodded and walked right a-past her, though you could see that Mrs. -Ocksreider was going to stop and talk to us! And, Jennie, I wanted the -store-girls to see us conversing with Mrs. Ocksreider. I would have -stopped and talked with her myself, _whether_ or no, but she looked mad -and sailed right a-past me the way Margaret had sailed a-past _her_, -and I heard two girls at the button counter tittering and saying, 'Did -you ever get left?' I was so cross at Margaret, I told her, 'You -hardly spoke to her and she's Mrs. Congressman Ocksreider and worth a -half a million dollars!' and Margaret answered me, 'I didn't think she -was worth two cents any time I've talked with her. But if she's a -member of Congress! Why, Sadie, you are deceiving me, Pennsylvania is -not yet a Suffrage state!' she said, and I told her I didn't say it was -and certainly hoped it never would be. 'But,' I said, 'that's neither -here nor there, whether Pennsylvania's a Suffrage state! What _I_ wish -is that if you have to cut any one, let it be cash-girls and not our -most high-toned lady-friends,' I said." - -"And what," asked Jennie, "did she answer to _that_?" - -"She said, 'Oh, Sadie, I feel quite too humble to want to 'cut' _any_ -one, even pretentious people like your Congressman's ordinary little -wife!' 'Well,' I said. '_You're_ got no need to feel humble, now that -you're married to our _Danny_!' But, Jennie," said Sadie, looking -bewildered, "think of calling Mrs. Ocksreider 'ordinary little wife!'" - -"Well, I think! It was enough to give you the headache, Sadie, such a -morning as you've had!" - -"But _do_ you think, mebby," Sadie asked, a little awe-struck, "that -Governors are higher than Congressmen--Margaret thinking herself better -than Mrs. Ocksreider yet!" - -"It would look that way," said Jennie, also impressed. - -"Here she and Danny come!" Jennie announced at the sound of the opening -of the front door. "They're _laughing_; so I guess he don't know yet -about that twenty dollars!" - -"And I guess she listened to me after all," added Sadie, "about going -in there to his office and acting familiar with Miss Hamilton, or else -Danny wouldn't be _laughing_ with her!" - -Had they known what had really taken place in Daniel's office while -they had been sitting here discussing Margaret (who, to tell the truth, -was far more of an enigma to them than they were to her), they would -have considered Daniel's laughter, just now, as he entered the house -with her, to be nothing short of lunacy. - -A half-hour earlier Daniel, on returning to his private office from a -tour of inspection through his other offices, had heard, to his -surprise, from the adjoining room where his secretary was supposed to -be working, her voice in earnest conversation with some one. The door -between his room and hers was ajar and he could distinctly hear what -she was saying, the character of which was so far removed from any -phase of the legal business of his office that Daniel was dumbfounded. -It was sacrilege to introduce here anything that did not pertain -strictly to the work of the firm. - -"The religious introspection," Miss Hamilton was saying, "so widely -engendered by Emerson's writings in men and women of a high type, has -come to seem to us, in these days, rather morbid; we consider it as -unwholesome, now, to think too much about our spiritual, as about our -physical, health. Then, too, the struggle for existence being sharper, -people have less time to sit down and investigate their souls; they've -got to keep going, or be left behind in the race." - -"In their effort to win in the race, however--what they call -winning--they're very likely to lose their own souls; and 'What -profiteth it a man?'" spoke another voice in reply, a voice that -brought a quick flush to Daniel's face; a flush of strangely mingled -emotions: of anger that she was here with his secretary, and of the joy -with which the sound of her voice, the mere ripple of her skirts, never -failed to thrill him. - -"The art of Mrs. Humphry Ward," Miss Hamilton was again speaking (he -had missed a connecting link through the shock of discovering -Margaret's presence), "has been a steady, upward growth and -development: every novel produced by her is more artistic than its -predecessor. But though her art is now at its climax, she is no longer -read as she used to be, because her point of view is one that the world -has passed by; the women of her books are the ideal feminine creations -of fifty years ago and they don't interest us any longer. Now most of -us have not yet grown up to Bernard Shaw's point of view, yet we are -nearer to him than to Mrs. Ward. To my mind the whole feminist problem -is an economic one. No man or woman can be spiritually free who is -economically dependent, Emerson and Marcus Aurelius and the Christian -Scientists to the contrary notwithstanding. Even the vote isn't going -to help women until they make up their minds to 'get off of men's -backs,' as Charlotte Perkins Gilman says." - -"How about married women who are bearing children?" asked Margaret. -"They've got to be financially dependent on some one." - -"Since the state does not support women who are giving citizens to it -and who are thereby disabled from self-support, they should have a -legal right over a fair proportion of their husband's income." - -"But in America men don't need to be coerced by laws to treat women -generously," suggested Margaret. - -"That's your Southern idea. A self-respecting human being does not -want generosity; she does not want to stretch out her hand and ask for -what she needs. It is humiliating, degrading. Fancy a grown woman -asking a man, '_May_ I buy a hat to-day?' I'd rather take in stairs to -scrub!" - -"Well," Margaret returned, "I shall educate _all_ my daughters to -professions, because, quite apart from the economic side of it, women -become such drivelling fools when they live in aimless idleness, when -they have no definite interest in life. And they are so discontented -and restless. An occupation, an interest, surely makes for happiness -and for a higher personal development." - -"I believe," said Miss Hamilton, "that a mother wrongs a daughter, just -as much as she would wrong a son, when she fails to educate her for a -self-supporting occupation. Look at these women of New Munich who live -only to kill time--how they lack the personal dignity, the character, -that a life of service, of _producing_, gives to either man or woman! -Of course mere work doesn't ennoble--beasts of burden can work--it's -work that vitally interests us, as you say, and that we love for its -own sake, that is the joy and health of any soul." - -"Do you love being Mr. Leitzel's secretary like that?" - -"Of course not. Being Mr. Leitzel's secretary is two thirds drudgery -and only one third humanly interesting. I'm threatening to take to the -platform to expound the Truth that women who have to support themselves -are invariably overworked, while women who live on men haven't enough -to do to keep them wholesome. Middle-aged married women, for instance, -whose children are grown up, go almost insane for want of an interest -in life. No wonder human creatures so situated grow fretful and petty -and small-souled." - -"Perhaps the window-smashing Suffragette is only reacting from too long -want of occupation," suggested Margaret. "The emptiness of her life -makes her hysterical and she shrieks with rage and throws things! But, -my dear, why do you, clever as you are, remain in a position that is -two thirds drudgery? Drudgery is for dull people, who of course prefer -it to work that would tax them to think." - -"It is a stepping-stone for me to the bigger work I shall some day do, -Mrs. Leitzel." - -"What is that?" - -"Something splendid!" Miss Hamilton responded in a voice of quite -girlish delight. "Something in which you shall have a share, if you -will, a very big share! I'll tell you all about it one of these days. -We haven't time now. It's lunch time and I have only a half-hour." - -"When can we get together again?" Margaret eagerly asked. "I am just -living for these times with you!" - -"And you must know," responded Miss Hamilton with feeling, "what they -mean to me, starved as I've been for companionship in a place like New -Munich! Well, I'm free every evening. And we could take walks any -afternoon between five and seven that you were not engaged." - -"Then as soon as people have finished giving parties in my honour, I -shall be free to be with you as much as you'll let me be, Miss -Hamilton. I shan't have to go to parties that are not given specially -for me." - -"Of course not. You couldn't keep it up. For a woman like you it -would be too deadly." - -This, to Daniel, was a new and upsetting point of view; he was so sure -that all women in Miss Hamilton's position were envious of the social -rioting of women placed as his wife was. And here was Margaret -planning to discard "society" for evenings and rambles with his -stenographer! As if Miss Hamilton were not uppish enough already from -her constant offers of higher salaries! Why, even as it was, he could -hardly put up with her air of independence; and if he permitted his -wife to take her up as an intimate friend--well, of course he would -have to emphatically put a stop to the thing. He thought he had -expressed himself definitely enough to Margaret last Saturday while -they were automobiling, but evidently he had not. - -"I'll make myself unmistakably clear this time!" he resolved. "I'll -let Margaret know that I am not accustomed to having my wishes set -aside as of no importance!" - - - - -XV - -Ten minutes later he and Margaret sat facing each other from either -side of his flat-topped office-desk. - -Miss Hamilton's conscience-clear self-possession as she had passed -through his office to go to her luncheon, and his wife's equally -guiltless aspect as she had greeted him with cheerful affection, had -been a little disarming, it is true, to his determined purpose. But -Daniel was not readily diverted from a line he had decided upon, and -Margaret's easy indifference to his expressed wish as to her -associating with Miss Hamilton had aroused his obstinacy. And Daniel's -obstinacy was a snag to be reckoned with. - -So, seated opposite her at his desk, he had expounded to her very -forcibly his reasons for prohibiting any social relations whatever with -any one of his office staff. - -"And now," he concluded his harangue, "I _lay my command_ upon you, my -dear." - -"Oh, but, my dear!" laughed Margaret, "that's rather absurd, you know! -Now listen, Daniel. If you warned me against Miss Hamilton as a person -who was immoral or illiterate or ill-bred, I should of course see the -reasonableness of your objection to her. But when she is really -superior in every respect to every one of the people you do want me to -be intimate with: better born, better bred, more intelligent; when my -intimacy with her is going to mean to me more than I have words to -express--a close friendship with a congenial and stimulating mind and -character--you can't expect me to give it up for such reasons as you -offer me, Daniel, chief among them being that she works for her living. -But in the South we are so used, since the war, to seeing gentlewomen -work for their living, and we are so unused to meeting, socially, -people like the Ocksreiders and the Millers, who tell me (one of them -did) that her house is 'het by steam' and who say, 'Outen the -light'--well, dear, you see," she concluded, rising, "it is ridiculous -to discuss it. Let us go home to luncheon." - -"Sit down, Margaret." - -"But I'm famishing, Daniel. I'm weak with hunger. You'll have to take -me home in a taxicab if you don't take me soon." - -"Sit down! You've got to promise to obey me in this matter, Margaret." - -"Oh!" her voice rippled with laughter, "this is the twentieth century -A.D., not B.C., Daniel. You're mixed in your dates! And you seem to -forget you married me, you didn't adopt me." - -"You must drop at once any further relations with my secretary." - -"But, dear," she exclaimed in surprise, "haven't I yet made it clear to -you that I don't intend to?" - -"I am accustomed to being obeyed, Margaret!" - -"By whom? Your wives?" - -"Come, come, I want your promise." - -"Daniel," she plead with him, "please don't be so tiresome! I am sure -that you, clever lawyer that you are, must recognize that my position -is quite impregnable and yours weak and indefensible, asking me to be -friends with people who 'outen the light' and to cut one with whom I -can have such improving conversations as that to which you -ignominiously listened just now! Why didn't you honourably close your -door? Could you _understand_ our deep remarks, Daniel?" - -"I'm waiting for your promise, Margaret." - -Again Margaret rose. "I'm hungry and I'm going home." - -"Margaret," said Daniel incredulously, "surely you are not deliberately -refusing what I ask of you?" - -"As surely as I'd refuse to walk a tight-rope at your behest, my lord." - -"You defy me?" he asked quietly, his lips white. - -It was her turn, now, to look incredulous. "But, Daniel, how can you -take it to heart like this? How can you suppose yourself better -qualified than I am to choose my friends? Next thing," she laughed, -"you'll be telling me what books I may not read!" - -"Do you intend to obey me?" - -"I hope I know my wifely duty too well to spoil you, my dear. 'Obey' -you indeed!" She tweaked the tip of his nose derisively. - -"You will obey me, Margaret, or----" He paused helplessly. - -"Obey me!" she mocked him, "or die, woman! Well, Daniel, if it comes -to force"--she looked at her pink finger nails--"I can scratch!" - -She suddenly bent and kissed his forehead. "Do come home!" - -"When I've had your promise." - -"Daniel, a woman in these days who 'obeys' her husband ought to be -ostracized, or arrested and confined in an institution for dangerous -lunatics!" - -Daniel looked at her meditatively. "I'm certainly up against it!" he -was saying to himself. "I could be firm against tears or temper; but -when she just jokes about it and laughs at me and goes on doing as she -pleases, what can I do with her?" - -"Margaret," he said, "I've never quarrelled with any one in my life, -but," he added, a little icy gleam in his eyes that did chill her for -the moment, "I've _always had my own way_!" - -"Which has, of course, been dreadfully bad for you. It's well you've -married a wife that is going to be _very firm_ with you!" - -Daniel bit his lip to keep from laughing. Not for an instant did he -think of yielding. The difficulty of the situation served only to -aggravate his obstinacy. There was more than one way of getting a -thing, and Daniel was not at all above resorting to cunning. Half the -successes of his career had been the result of his cunning. He did not -call it that; he named it subtlety, far-sightedness. - -"I want to ask you something, Margaret; sit down." - -She sighed and dropped again into the chair opposite him. - -"You bought your new dress--frock--gown, this morning?" - -She shook her head, too weary and hungry to speak. - -"You didn't?" - -"I told you I didn't intend to get anything." - -"But we all told you to! _I_ wish you to!" - -"Can't get anything in New Munich. Don't suppose you'd want me to go -to Philadelphia or Lancaster just now, for a gown, with the expense of -the party on your hands?" - -"That would be an unnecessary extravagance." - -"I shall buy no clothes in this village while I have what I have." - -"And that twenty dollars I gave you?" - -"What about it?" - -"I gave it to you for a gown." - -"_I_ know you did. But I told you last Saturday I didn't want one." - -"Did you cash the check?" - -"Yes." - -"Where is the money?" - -"Spent." - -"What! Spent for _what_?" - -"Oh, Daniel, you _busy_body! Well, it was spent for kid gloves and -presents for Hattie's babies from you and me. We needed the gloves; I -didn't need a gown; you seemed anxious to have me squander twenty -dollars, so I sent six dollars' worth of things to the babies in -Charleston." - -"Without consulting me!" - -"But there was nothing to consult about. And you seemed so determined -to have me spend twenty dollars." - -"For a frock." - -Margaret flopped her head wearily on her hand and did not answer. - -"You say 'we' needed the gloves. Did you buy _me_ some? I don't need -any." - -"I bought some for Jennie and Sadie," she answered mechanically. - -Daniel's face turned red. "What did you spend on _them_?" - -"I don't know--twice four-fifty. _You_ multiply it." - -"Nine dollars for gloves for them! Good heavens! But, Margaret, they -have their _own_ money." - -"That's nice of them--I mean for them. Ah, Daniel, won't you come -home?" - -"The time has come, Margaret, when you and I must come to an -understanding about your--your income." - -"Won't it do after dinner?" - -"It is a matter for private discussion and we are here alone now. Let -us settle it. In the first place," he said impressively, "it is time -that _I_ took over the management of your finances. Does Walter have -them in charge?" - -"Daniel," said Margaret gravely, a faint colour coming to her cheeks, -"Walter surely did not give you to understand that _I_ had any money?" - -"No. _You_ did." - -"I? How?" - -"You said you were one of your uncle's heirs." - -"Only to the old homestead, Berkeley Hill. Nothing else." - -They looked at each other across the table, Daniel's small, keen eyes -meeting steadily her faintly troubled ones. - -"Did you think I had money, Daniel?" - -"What is the homestead supposed to be worth and how many heirs are -there?" - -"Hattie and I own it. I don't know what it is worth. It is awfully -out of repair, you know." - -"But Walter pays you rent, of course, for your share in it?" - -"Oh, no, he couldn't afford to." - -"Couldn't afford to? When they live like millionaires! Oriental rugs, -a butler to wait on the table, solid silver, and expensive -china--anyway, it _looked_ expensive. And they can't afford to pay you -rent?" - -"All those things were inherited, Daniel, along with the place, the -butler included." - -"Then _you_ own those rugs and that silver and china?" - -"Jointly with my sister, yes." - -"But that's property, Margaret. How, then, are you receiving your -share?" - -"I'm not receiving it." - -"Why not? I hate that slipshod Southern way of doing business! You -ought, of course, to be drawing an income from your half of that place." - -"But it yields no income." - -"Isn't any of the land cultivated?" - -"The land consists of two square miles of woodland about the house. -Walter says the place, as it is, couldn't even be rented; and none of -us have any money to spend in fixing it up; so there you are. It's a -home for Hattie's family, that's all." - -"Gracious!" - -"Is it a shock to you to find me penniless?" asked Margaret gravely. -"Wouldn't you have married me if you had known?" - -She was acutely conscious of the fact that since she had married him -for a home, she certainly could not judge him very critically if he -_had_ married her for a supposed fortune. - -Daniel looked at her speculatively. Would he have married her if he -had known? Well, he was pretty certain that he would have; that at -that time, incredible as it might seem, her charm for him outmeasured -any dower a wife might have brought him. But now? Did he rue his -"blind and headlong" (so he considered it) yielding to her fascination? - -His eyes swept over her appraisingly, over her dark hair, her soft dark -eyes, the curve of her red lips, her broad, boyish shoulders, her fine -hands clasped on the top of the desk, and he knew that he adored her. -Not even in the face of the shock he felt at learning of her -pennilessness, and on the head of her audacious defiance of his wishes, -could he regret for an instant that she was his--his very own. And it -suddenly came to him, with a force that sent the blood to his face, -that her being comparatively penniless (for of course he'd insist on -getting _some_thing out of that Berkeley Hill estate), her present -absolute dependence upon him made her all the more his own, his -property, subject to his will. If she were penniless, he held her in -his power. It was with the primitive instinct of a savage that he -gloated over his possession, the most precious of all his possessions. - -"I shall teach her this much about the value of money (of which she -seems as ignorant as a child): that the price of her board and clothing -is obedience to me!" - -"Yes, Margaret," he at length replied, "I would have married you if I -had known you were penniless. I married you because I loved you." - -She did not tell him that there he had the advantage of her. She -envied him his clear conscience in the matter. A shade of respect for -him came into her countenance as she looked at him, a respect she could -not feel for herself on the same score. - -He took a small blank book from his desk and a crisp ten-dollar bill -from his purse and laid them before her. - -"This is the first of the month, I shall give you ten dollars a month -for pocket money, and you will keep an account of your expenditures in -this book and show it to me at the first of each month. Anything you -need to buy which this allowance won't cover you can ask me about. You -seem to know nothing of the value of money, and it's time you learned. -I can't trust you with more than a small sum, since you at once go off -and squander it on other people instead of spending it for yourself--or -for what you were told to spend it for. No more of that, my dear! -Your allowance is for your own needs. When you want to make gifts, you -consult me." - -She dropped the money into her bag, but she did not pick up the blank -book. - -Daniel took it up and held it out to her. She hesitated, but dreading -further discussion with him if she informed him that she had no -intention of accounting to him, like a school-girl, for her use of ten -dollars a month, she tucked the book also into her bag. - -"You must sign over to me the power of attorney to collect rent from -your brother-in-law for your half of that estate. I shall look into -the matter, and if I feel that the property justifies it, I'll expend -some money on it, and then we can rent it at a high rate, too high, -probably, for Walter's means. He'll have to move out and live -elsewhere." - -Again she did not contradict him, while she privately determined to -write to Walter herself that very day and warn him that she was not a -party to any suggestions which Daniel might make as to Berkeley Hill. - -And Daniel was privately telling himself that it would not be any time -at all before he would contrive to get over into his own hands that -entire estate. - -"Also," he said to her, "I shall claim for you one half of all the -contents of the house, the books, pictures, china, silver, -furniture----" - -"Butler," inserted Margaret. - -"Well, we'll leave them the butler," grinned Daniel. "He appeared to -be more out of repair than anything else on the place." - -The bare suggestion of bringing their family heirlooms into such a -setting as that of Daniel's New Munich house seemed to Margaret like -horrible sacrilege. - -"I'd like to see anybody make Harriet strip Berkeley Hill of half its -belongings!" she smiled. - -"But if half its belongings are _yours_?" - -"Uncle Osmond never meant them to be taken from the old home." - -"His will doesn't say so, does it?" - -"Of course not. He gave us credit for a few decent feelings." - -Daniel regarded her in perplexity. How was it that she could weakly -let herself be so absurdly imposed upon by her sister and -brother-in-law as to her own property, all she had in the world, and -yet, when it came to a matter like this of his secretary, be so hard to -manage by a man of his resolution? - -"He gave you credit, too, it seems, for having no business sense. -Well, fortunately for you, you've got _me_ to take care of that end for -you now. I'll make that estate _yield_ something to your sister's -advantage as well as yours. And now," he concluded, rising, slipping -into his overcoat, and picking up his hat, "just one more word: -understand, my dear, that when you act like a naughty, disobedient, -small girl"--he punctuated his words by tapping her shoulder with his -derby--"you will be treated like one and have your allowance cut off. -Eh? So I trust we'll hear no more of this nonsense about my secretary." - -"I trust so, too." - -"Good!" - -"But," added Margaret as they went forth together to the street, "I -don't just see how you're going to get out of supporting your legal -wife, so long as I consent to _let_ you support me." - -"You 'consent' to _let_ me? Now what do you mean by that nonsense? -Some of that 'Feminist' talk, is it, that Miss Hamilton was trying to -stuff you with?" - -"Never mind," said Margaret. "I won't explain what I mean, for if I -do, you'll begin to argue with me; and I refuse to argue any more about -anything until I have had a good, square meal." - -And so it was that in spite of the revelations of the past hour in -Daniel's office, and the talk so illuminating to them both, Jennie and -Sadie had the surprise of hearing them come into the house together, -laughing and talking as though nothing whatever had occurred to call -for their brother's solemn displeasure with his heedless and -irresponsible wife. - - - - -XVI - -Margaret did not, of course, think for an instant of giving up her -friendship with Catherine Hamilton; but when she suggested the Hamilton -family and a few other people whom she liked, but whose names were not -on the invitation list, be invited to their big reception, she met with -an opposition to which she was obliged to yield. - -"To invite such folks as those Hamiltons, that don't even own their own -home, _little_ as it is--well, it would just lower the tone of the -party, that's all!" Jennie pronounced. - -"But I'll be responsible for keeping up the tone of the party!" -Margaret gayly volunteered. - -She quickly recognized, however, that in a matter like this, -coöperation or compromise between the Leitzels and her was impossible -and that she must stand aside and let them give their party in their -own way. She carried her self-obliteration so far as to even refrain -from suggesting, on the auspicious day of the party, the removal from -the dining-room sideboard of the life-sized, navy-blue glass owl which -was a water pitcher, and the two orange-coloured glass dishes that -stood on easels on either side of the owl. - -She did spend rather a troubled half-hour in wondering how, since the -invitations were of course in her name and Daniel's, Catherine Hamilton -would regard the fact that she was not invited. But the absurdity of -the Leitzels' delusion that they could withhold or bestow social -recognition upon her friend must be so manifest to Catherine that -surely she could not take it seriously. It seemed to Margaret that to -let this trifling, vulgar episode cast even a shadow upon the ideal -friendship into which she and Catherine were growing was to belittle -and dishonour it. - -"I can't offer her any explanation. I can only trust to her -large-minded understanding of my situation." - -She had an uncomfortable consciousness that it was a situation which -Catherine herself would not have tolerated. - -"Even 'Hiram's Lizzie' considers it unbearable," she reflected. "Why, -I can't offer any least hospitality to any one unless my sisters-in-law -approve of the individual! I can't ask Catherine Hamilton to dine or -lunch with me! Which means, of course, that I can't accept her -hospitality. It's rather grotesque!" - -Yet when she considered how devotedly Daniel's sisters served him, how -minutely they attended to every little detail of his comfort, in a way -most men, she was sure, would have found harassing, but which to Daniel -seemed essential to his well-being, she knew that he would never be -able, without great misery, to live apart from them, and that he -certainly would not entertain the idea for a moment. - -"And as for them, their occupation, their purpose in life, would be -taken from them, if they didn't have Daniel to fuss over." - -Two days before the date of the reception the evening papers gave New -Munich a lurid description, furnished by Jennie and Daniel, of every -detail of it, the Philadelphia caterer and the Lancaster florist being -advertised in headlines that made Margaret's flesh creep. She had a -vision of the consternation of her Charleston relatives should they -ever see that paper, and she was thankful that the distance that -separated her from them precluded the possibility of their learning of -her association with such blatant vulgarity--unless (awful thought!) -Daniel should be visited with the idea of mailing them a marked copy! - -When, the next afternoon, Margaret was out for a country walk with -Catherine Hamilton after office hours, she decided that it would be -better to refer casually to the prospective party, rather than so -obviously avoid mentioning it. - -"Fancy me to-morrow night, Catherine, lined up with Mr. Leitzel and his -sisters for two or three hours to shake hands with over one hundred -people and make to each one precisely the same inspired remark: 'Mrs. -Blank, how do you do? I am glad to see you. I am so glad you got -here!' If I could only vary it a bit! But no, I shall have to say -those self-same words exactly one hundred and seven times. Isn't it -deplorable?" - -A faint tremor in her voice as she asked the question caused her friend -to turn and look into her face; and something in the strained -expression of the beautiful eyes which Catherine Hamilton was growing -to love moved this rather austere young woman to a sudden pity; for -Catherine, though a girl of keen wit and of a strong, independent -spirit, was full of feeling; a combination of qualities which gave her -a charm for those of her own sex that she did not have for men. - -Obeying an impulse of her heart, she suddenly stopped in the woodsy -path where they walked, put her arms around Margaret and clasped her -close. - -And Margaret, at the unexpected touch of understanding love, almost the -first she had ever known in her life, held herself rigid in her -friend's embrace that she might not burst into passionate crying, while -she clenched her teeth to choke down the pent-up emotion which in this -moment could hardly keep its bounds. - -She released herself quickly, and for an instant turned away. - -When she again spoke, her voice was even and natural. She had not let -herself shed one betraying tear. - -"You promised to tell me, Catherine, about that career of yours, you -know, to which your present work is a stepping-stone, and what _my_ -part is to be in it." - -Catherine, eager to launch forth upon her hobby to her new friend, -glowed with enthusiasm as she talked. - -"I have come from a race, Margaret, that for generations have been -teachers, college professors, ministers, public school -superintendents--the pedagogue seems to be born in every one of us. -And it's in me strong. So I am going to devote my life to the -establishing of a school for girls in which all the training shall -converge to one ideal--that of service--as over against that of the -usual finishing school, whatever that ideal is! And, Margaret, here's -my point: I'm going to make my school fashionable, a formidable rival -of those futile, idiotic institutions in which girls from the country -are taught how they must enter a drawing-room or step into an -automobile, and are quite incidentally instructed, cautiously and -delicately, in every 'branch' in the whole category of learning, so -that they may be able to 'converse' on any subject whatever without -betraying the awful depths of their ignorance!--the vast expanse of -their shallowness. My school shall teach girls that life is meant for -earnest work, because work means physical and spiritual health and -happiness. My school shall make girls ashamed to admit they've ever -been to the other sort of 'finishing' school. It's going to put that -sort of school out of business, Margaret! I tell you, the coming woman -is going to be the efficient woman. The unqualified of our sex will -take a back seat, just as unqualified men do." - -"I'm of course entirely in sympathy with your idea, Catherine, but I -hope your 'service' education includes home-making and motherhood. -Leave us a few of the old-fashioned women, won't you?" - -"My dear, don't worry about homes and husbands and babies. It is the -futile fashionable woman, not the disciplined, thoughtful, college-bred -woman, that refuses to have children. I've never known an earnest -woman that didn't love children and yearn for motherhood. The trouble -is, men are afraid of the earnest kind. They marry the frivolous, -parasitical women, who live upon them like lotus flowers, sapping their -vitality and giving nothing in return. Yet you'll find men opposing -college education for women, not realizing that a woman who has stood -the discipline of a college course has developed a force of character -that does not shrink for a moment from the further discipline and -burden of motherhood, but welcomes it as her privilege and blessing, -while the so-called 'society woman' will none of it. You know," -Catherine continued, "in the days when home-making was necessarily an -absorbing occupation, it lent to women a dignity of character quite -wanting in our present-day large class of feminine parasites, a class -that has grown out of the new and easier domestic conditions and the -too-great concentration of wealth in the hands of a few. That's the -explanation of woman's latter-day restlessness; she's fighting against -the deterioration which comes with idleness and too-easy conditions of -life. She's fighting for her very life! _That's_ what the 'feminist -movement' means." - -"And my part in your fine scheme?" asked Margaret, her face glowing -with responsive enthusiasm. - -"As a rich and influential woman, you will countenance and patronize my -school; perhaps send me your daughters; be a stock-holder in it; you -can even be fitting yourself, meantime, if you like, to be a teacher in -it." - -"But, Catherine--'rich and influential?' I? I am neither!" - -Catherine looked at her curiously. "What do you call 'rich,' Margaret?" - -"Oh, I don't know. I've never handled money in my life. I've always -had everything I actually required right at my hand. I am afraid I am -absurdly ignorant about money. I never had any of my own." - -As Margaret spoke, she glanced up to meet in Catherine's eyes a -puzzled, questioning expression which she failed to interpret. - -"But surely you know that Mr. Leitzel is very rich?" said Catherine. - -"It is such a relative term. My sister's family think themselves -awfully poor, but they live more comfortably and spend money more -freely than the Leitzels do. Of course I understand that you -Northerners are all more frugal than Southerners are," she ended -vaguely. - -Catherine laughed oddly. "You _are_ an innocent!" - -"I'm beginning to realize that I am," nodded Margaret, feeling a -something behind Catherine's tone and countenance that she did not -quite get. - -"I might have been reared in a convent for all I've seen of life, -Catherine." - -"Yet you've not lacked the essentials," returned Catherine with evident -relief at turning the talk from the subject of money. - -"The essentials to what?" - -"To making you a truly fine and charming woman. You've lived in an -environment of culture, of big ideas; and you've had no sordid money -cares to embitter you or blunt the sensitive fineness of your spirit." - -"But my life has lacked one great essential, Catherine--affection, -love." - -"Your uncle must have loved you, dear, he _must_ have. For you are -lovable, you know. Well, rather!" - -"He loved me as his handmaid who kept him comfortable. If ever I tried -to be affectionate with him, he would act like a hyena!" - -"If he was human, he loved you!" - -"He wasn't human, that was it. He had all run to intellect and hadn't -a vulnerable spot left." - -"Did you love _him_?" - -"I wanted to, but he wouldn't have it. When he died, I did miss him -keenly, he had grown to be a habit with me; a stimulant, too. No one -could live with Uncle Osmond and not keep very much alive. So of -course my life seemed suddenly very empty without him: he had been my -chief care and thought for so many years. I suppose I shall never -quite get over missing him. But I can't say I ever really grieved for -him." - -When about a half-hour later, at the end of an exhilarating and -satisfying time together which put a new seal upon their friendship, -the two young women parted to go to their homes, Catherine considered, -as she walked slowly, to give herself time to think, how strange it was -that she, as Mr. Daniel Leitzel's confidential secretary, knew so very -much more about him and his affairs than did his own wife. - -"She actually does not know that she has married a multi-millionaire. -And I don't believe it would impress her greatly to discover that she -had. She _is_ unique! For a woman like Margaret to find herself tied -up with those Leitzels, oh!" Catherine laughed to herself at what -seemed to her the extreme absurdity of the combination. "But it is so -tragic, too! Why on earth did she marry him if not for his money? -Will she, I wonder, ever reach the point of telling me why she did? -No," she shook her head conclusively, "not so long as she continues to -live with him will any one ever hear one disloyal syllable from her, -I'm sure. If she ever came to the point of rectifying by divorce the -blunder she made in marrying him, for whatever mysterious reason, then -perhaps she'll explain herself to me." - -Catherine wondered how long it would take Margaret to find out that she -was married to one of the richest men in the state. - -"If I ever see her inconvenienced by lack of funds, I'll enlighten her -with some facts and figures known only to her husband and myself," she -resolved. "Even I don't know all he has, though I do know what the -public doesn't dream of." - -She was aware that her employer had, before ever trusting her with any -knowledge of his financial affairs, tested and proved her to be a very -safe repository of his secrets. - -"But his wife, supposed to be one with himself and endowed with all his -worldly goods, has a right to know the extent of them. If I don't -supply her with any actual facts (which would, of course, roll from her -like drops of mercury, leaving no least impression), I can, without -treachery to Mr. Leitzel, give her to understand that her husband -doesn't spend, in the course of a year, more than one thirtieth of the -interest on his capital." - -She doubted, however, whether even a succinct statement like that would -make any difference to Margaret unless she became a mother; for -Catherine believed she had succeeded, though with some difficulty, in -impressing upon her friend her own theory that the divine right of -motherhood ought to make a woman, by law, a full and equal partner in -all her husband's "worldly goods." - -"I certainly did have a time persuading her that my theory is of any -importance in our modern social economy. Wait until the poor child -learns to know the Pennsylvania Dutch idea of woman's economic -position, and until she begins to get a _little_ acquainted with the -man she has married!" - -She drew a long breath as she reached the front door of her "rented" -home. "Well," she concluded, "my intimacy with my employer's wife -promises some excitement!" - - - - -XVII - -In spite of the forbearance which Margaret felt she had exercised in -her desire to be scrupulously considerate of Daniel and his sisters in -everything pertaining to the party, the night of this much-advertised -"social event" found her in serious disfavour not only with her -sisters-in-law, but with her husband himself; first, because of her -persistence in ignoring their dictation as to the sort of gown she -should wear; secondly, their discovery that she was taking daily walks -with Miss Hamilton; for though Margaret would not stoop to any secrecy -as to her relation with Daniel's secretary, yet she had not gone out of -her way to publish it, and so the walks had been going on for some time -before her three monitors learned of them; thirdly, the exception they -had taken to her telling some callers, by whose patronage they felt -honoured, that she could not afford a new set of furs! Mrs. Ocksreider -had spoken admiringly of the furs she had seen Margaret wearing one day -and had asked where she had bought them, and Margaret had replied that -she had never bought any furs in her life; that she had always been too -_poor_ (Danny's wife admitting poverty!), and that these furs had been -her grandmother's!--telling Mrs. Ocksreider, of all people, that she -wore her grandmother's old clothes! - -But Mrs. Ocksreider's reply had been puzzling to Jennie and Sadie: - -"Oh, but my dear Mrs. Leitzel, to have had a grandmother who wore -sable! It ought to admit you to the D.A.R's! No wonder you flaunt -them and refuse to buy new ones!" - -Then Margaret had further mortified them before this same formidable -social leader of New Munich by refusing her invitation to join the -Women's Auxiliary of the Episcopal Church, which, as Jennie and Sadie -well knew, was made up of New Munich's "leading society ladies"; so -what was their horror to hear Margaret reply, "It's very charitable of -you to fancy that I'd be of the least use to you. But I've always -hated Women's Auxiliaries!" And she said it with such a musical drawl -that Mrs. Ocksreider, instead of showing how offended she must be, had -laughed as though she found it _funny_. But the idea of saying you -hated Women's Auxiliaries! It was next thing to saying that you hated -the Bible! Never had Jennie and Sadie experienced such a painful -half-hour as that of this call. - -Fourthly, Daniel's sisters had at last discovered, through persistent -prying, that his wife did not have an independent income; and Margaret, -her wits sharpened by her new environment to recognize things at first -unthinkable to her, saw that this discovery made Jennie and Sadie feel -more free than ever to dictate to her and interfere with her liberty. - -All these little episodes combining to bring upon her the displeasure -of the household, the night of the party found her in a not very -cheerful frame of mind, though the deep satisfaction that was hers in -the great friendship that had come into her life, the most vital human -relation that she had ever known, made it impossible for these smaller -things to disturb her fundamentally, as otherwise they might have done. - -There had been one event of that day that had somewhat brightened for -her the gloom of the home atmosphere: a belated wedding-gift had come -from Daniel's step-mother--a patchwork quilt--accompanied by a letter -addressed to Daniel and his wife, written for the old woman by the -district school teacher. - -"'It's a very humble present I am sending you,'" Daniel had read the -letter aloud at the breakfast table. "'But it's the work of my old -hands, dear children, the last I'll ever do--and the love of my heart -went into every stitch of it. I was so proud that you sent me such a -notice of your wedding; to remember your old mother, Danny, when you -were so happy yourself. I've been working on the quilt ever since I -got the notice about the wedding already, and now I'd like so well to -see your wife, Danny. I'll try, if I am strong enough, to take the -train in, one of these days, and see you both. I'll come back the same -day so as not to make any of you any extra work or trouble. I would -like to see the lady you married, Danny, before I die, and give her an -old woman's wishes for a happy, useful life with my good son that I am -so proud of. I wish I could live long enough to see your first baby, -Danny, but I guess it won't be many months any more before I must go to -my long home.'" - -"Yes, that's always the way she talks--she 'hasn't long to live' just -to work on our feelings so as to make us give her more!" Jennie -commented. "She has no need to come in here to see Margaret. She -makes herself very bold to offer to. And she can't spare the car fare, -little as what she has to go on. What's Margaret to her anyhow? And -she's likely to be too feeble to get back if she comes in. Then we'd -have her on our hands yet!" - -But Margaret had spent an hour of the morning in writing to Mrs. -Leitzel, acknowledging her gift, telling her how glad she would be to -see one who had done so much for Daniel when he was a boy. For their -step-mother's self-sacrificing devotion to them all in their childhood -had been made known to Margaret through many an unwitting, significant -remark dropped in her presence. She concluded her letter: - - -I am coming out to see you very soon, certainly some day next week. -Daniel will bring me if he has time. If not, I'll go myself. Until -then; with my heartfelt thanks for the work of your dear hands, which I -shall use with pride and with grateful thoughts of you, - - I am your affectionate daughter, - MARGARET BERKELEY LEITZEL. - - -All that day, through the constant little rasping antagonisms which -Margaret, despite her good intentions, seemed unable to avert in any -intercourse between herself and the Leitzels, she felt that consolatory -bit of kindness and good will which had come to her from the old woman -in the country. And when she stood at night with her husband and his -sisters to receive their guests (Sadie in pink satine) the friendly -spirit of her aged mother-in-law was with her still in the background -of her consciousness, softening the light of her eyes and making human -the perfunctory smile of her lips as she repeated her conventional -formula of greeting over and over; so that people marvelled at the -apparent continued tranquillity of this incongruously assorted -household. - -When later in the evening Margaret was free to move about among her -guests, Daniel's cold displeasure with her was greatly modified as he -witnessed again to-night, as on many previous occasions, how attractive -she undoubtedly was to the men of his world. His uncannily keen little -eyes read in the faces of his male guests, as they approached and -talked with Margaret, the covetousness they felt for this rare -possession of his. No acquisition of all his acquisitive career had -ever given him a more delectable joy than his realization of the worth, -in other men's eyes, of his charming wife. - -Had he overheard the view of her which was ventilated, though -surreptitiously, by some of the guests over their supper, his -satisfaction might have been somewhat modified. - -"I think she's a scream!" declared Myrtle Deibert to the group at her -table. "Did you hear what she said to me as we were leaving the -Country Club dance last Wednesday evening, when I remarked to her, -'Your husband is so awfully in love with you, Mrs. Leitzel; just see -how he is _beaming_ on you from clear across the room!' 'Scowling at -me, you mean,' she corrected me. 'Don't you hear our taxicab -registering out there while I linger to talk to you?" - -This anecdote was met with a shout of laughter, the point of which -would certainly have remained obscure to Daniel Leitzel. - -"Of course you all heard of her telling mother," said Miss Ocksreider, -"that she hated Women's Auxiliaries? And that she wore her -grandmother's old furs because she _couldn't afford_ to buy new ones? -Mother says"--she lowered her voice and the group at the table closed -in a bit closer to catch her words--"that it was a perfect circus to -see the consternation of Miss Jennie and Miss Sadie when she said she -was _poor_. Isn't it queer how they are so proud of their money and -yet so afraid to _spend_ it?" - -"Did you hear," inquired Mrs. Eshelman, "what Mrs. Leitzel said to me -last Sunday after church when I told her I'd put a five-dollar gold -piece on the collection plate in mistake for a nickel and I had half a -mind to ask the usher to let me have it back. 'You might as well,' she -said, 'for you know the _Lord_ won't give you credit for more than five -cents.'" - -"She certainly does go to the ragged edge," Mr. Eshelman added his -quota; "I asked her this evening whether she had been to hear the -evangelist's address to Women Only, and she said no, what she wanted to -hear was a talk to Men Only!" - -"What do you think she said to me when I told her," said Mrs. -Hostetter, "what a bad boy the son of the Presbyterian pastor is. -'This proverbial badness of minister's children,' she said, 'is often, -I think, just the hypocrisy of the minister breaking out.' 'But all -ministers are not hypocrites,' I said to her, shocked. 'Of course, -unconsciously hypocrites,' she answered. 'They don't deceive any one -else as they deceive themselves.' Isn't she _queer_?" added Mrs. -Hostetter, genuinely puzzled. - -"She's a peach!" declared Mr. Hostetter. - -"Danny must think so," declared Mr. Eshelman, "to open up like _this_ -in her honour!" indicating the elaborate supper provided by the city -caterer. "Terrapin, mind you, at Danny Leitzel's!" - -"And the 'floral decorations!'" breathed Miss Deibert with an -appreciative glance at the roses and palms that decorated the -dining-room. "It doesn't seem possible, _does_ it?" - -"This party is _costing_ Danny something!" grinned Hostetter. - -"And to think," said Mrs. Hostetter, "that Dan Leitzel has married a -_penniless_ bride--as she certainly gives it out that she _is_! It -doesn't seem possible." - -"The power of one little woman!" said Mr. Hostetter pensively. "I tell -you that girl's eyes, and her voice, and her figger, and her teeth and -lips, would melt any man's heart, even one of flint like Dan Leitzel's!" - -"That will _do_, Jacob!" stiffly admonished Mrs. Hostetter. - -"Will you look at that blue glass owl on the sideboard," said Miss -Ocksreider. "Wouldn't you think Mrs. Leitzel would have removed it -before this party?" - -"She wouldn't dare! Miss Jennie thinks it's choice!" responded Mrs. -Eshelman. "She got it ten years ago at the ninety-nine-cent store for -Danny's Christmas present, and she told me at the time that she knew it -was an awful price to pay for a mere pitcher, but that they needed a -handsome ornament for the top of their sideboard. No, indeed, Mrs. -Leitzel wouldn't dare discard that old owl!" - -"How she manages to steer her way peaceably among the three members of -this household!" murmured Miss Deibert. - -"She's a wonder!" - -"And she certainly knows how to keep her opinions to herself," said -Mrs. Hostetter. "No one gets a word out of her as to what she thinks -of her in-laws!" - -"Then she _is_ a wonder!" volunteered Hostetter. - -"Wouldn't I like to be her father confessor!" exclaimed Miss Deibert. -"I don't know what I wouldn't give for an X-ray view of her mind!" - -It was a curious fact that the only person present at the Leitzels' -notable party who was quite unimpressed by the expensiveness of the -affair was Margaret herself. - -What did impress her, as she chatted with her guests and ate her -supper, was the subtlety with which one can be penetrated by the -spiritual atmosphere of a given group; she felt so acutely that of this -gathering to-night as compared with the fine aroma of any social -collection of her Southern environment, with its old inherited -simplicity and culture. She had thought, in the first weeks of her New -Munich life, that the difference must be only external, for she was not -only democratically disposed by nature, but the rather socialistic -theories with which her uncle had imbued her inclined her to a large -view of any social discrepancies. - -To-night, however, it was borne in upon her that she was an alien in -this company; that she could more readily find a real point of contact -and sympathy with the plainest sort of day-labouring people; with, for -instance, the Leitzels' cook, who was at least genuine and not -pretentious, than with these people who knew no ideals except those of -material possession and whose purpose in life seemed to be, on the part -of the women, to outshine their acquaintances and kill time; and on -that of the men to make money enough to allow the women to pursue this -useful and exalted career. - -"People who are poor enough to be obliged to work," she spoke out her -reflections to the lawyer, Henry Frantz, who happened to be sipping -coffee with her, "have really purer and more wholesome views of life -than--than we have" (she indicated, by a turn of her hand, the company -at large). "I begin to understand, Mr. Frantz, why, in the history of -nations, we see decay set in just as soon as a climax of prosperity has -been reached. To survive the deadening influence of great wealth, -well, it's only the fittest among nations and individuals who are -strong enough to do it, isn't it?" - -"But it is only where there is a leisure class that we find art and -culture," suggested Mr. Frantz. - -"The great minds and the great characters of the world, however, have -never come from an environment of wealthy leisure. In our own country, -has any one of our really great Presidents been educated in private -schools? Nearly every citizen of eminent usefulness is a public school -product." - -"A notable exception--your husband," he replied. - -"'Citizen of eminent usefulness,'" she musingly experimented with her -phrase. "Would Mr. Leitzel come under that head?" - -"He's a lawyer of state-wide, if not national, reputation, Mrs. -Leitzel." - -"I know. Are they an eminently useful class--corporation lawyers? I -merely ask for information. My ignorance on most subjects is -unfathomable." - -"Well, we couldn't get along without them." - -"Corporations couldn't. But aren't we beginning to think we could get -along without corporations?" - -"Boneheads may think so. It is civilization that has built up -corporations, and every time a corporation is dissolved we take a -backward step in civilization." - -"If public utilities," said Margaret dogmatically, quoting her Uncle -Osmond, "were conducted for the benefit not of corporations, but by the -Government for the benefit of the whole people, we'd have a full -treasury without taxing the people." - -Mr. Frantz looked at her and broke into irrepressible laughter. -"Excuse me, Mrs. Leitzel, but that anything looking so girlish and -pretty, that anything even remotely associated with my good friend -Danny Leitzel, should be giving out remarks like that--well, it's a -little too much for me, you see! Did you and my friend Danny exchange -views on social economics before you were married?" - -"We didn't have time to exchange views on anything. We knew each other -just six weeks before we were married." - -"And have been getting acquainted since?" - -"I'm inclined to think a six weeks' acquaintance just as good as a -lifetime one for finding out what kind of a mate your lover is going to -make." - -"Exactly. No good at all, eh?" - -"Not much," she smiled. - -"I wonder," speculated Mr. Frantz, eying her curiously, "if there was -ever a married pair whose ideal of each other grew _higher_ after -marriage. Think so?" - -"Surely. Their lives being a daily unfolding of new beauties and -excellences to each other." - -"Oh, but I'm afraid you're a sentimentalist." - -"Southerners generally are, but they're saved, you know, by their -unfailing sense of humour," she responded, turning from him to give -some attention to the man seated on the other side of her at the little -supper table. - -Mrs. Leitzel's adroitness in avoiding thin ice was the despair of the -gossips of New Munich. - - - - -XVIII - -Margaret's radiant happiness in the discovery she made on the very day -after the party, that she was embarked on the wonderful passage to -motherhood, fraught with its strangely mingled suffering and bliss, was -somewhat tempered by the consciousness that the coming child would have -to be a Leitzel; there was no escaping that catastrophe. She tried to -persuade herself that the Leitzel characteristics, if properly -educated, might not be so very lamentable; but her deep-down conviction -that her child ran the risk of inheriting a small, mean soul gave her -no little anxiety and self-reproach. - -"My penalty for trying to compromise with life's austerities!" she -grimly told herself with sad misgiving. - -Her husband's joy and pride in the prospect of being a father consoled -her somewhat, it was so human and normal of him; though even here the -taint of greed entered in, he was so inordinately pleased that his -money would not have to be left to Hiram's children. - -Indeed, during the earlier weeks of her pregnancy, Margaret tried hard -to keep her mind off the topics discussed in the bosom of the family, -so fearful was she of the effect, upon her child, of her own recoil -from the Leitzel view of life. - -She found that they never would get done talking about the cost of that -party; it was evidently going to occupy them for the rest of their -mortal lives. The worst of it was they so insisted upon impressing it -upon _her_. - -"Hiram never spent that much for a party for his Lizzie, and _she_ -brought her husband thirty thousand dollars. It ain't many husbands -that would so spend for a wife that--well, don't you think, too, -Margaret, that Danny's awful generous _considering_?" - -"Considering what, Jennie?" - -"Ach, Margaret, don't be so dumb! Considering you ain't got anything." - -"Oh, yes, I have something--youth and health and intelligence and good -temper. I'm a prize. Daniel thinks so." - -"But you see," interposed Sadie, "our Danny could have had any of our -rich town girls here." - -"And yet preferred me. His good taste. The only instance of it I've -ever noticed." - -She knew the puzzled despair of her husband's sisters over their -inability to make her humbly grateful for that she, a penniless bride, -had been "chosen" by their brother. But that she should fail to -appreciate the expenditure for the party given in her honour was too -much. - -"Why, Danny's bills come to three hundred dollars yet!" Jennie told her -with heat. "And Sadie ain't well yet from over-eating that rich supper -we had that night off of the Philadelphia caterer!" - -"Yes, I feel it yet," said Sadie plaintively. "Just to think, -Margaret, that Danny spent three hundred dollars for the party for you!" - -"Did he get off so easily as that? The flowers were so abundant and -the supper so nice, I would have supposed they would have cost more -than that, if I had thought about the cost." - -"Well, why _didn't_ you think about the cost, when it was all for -_you_?" - -"I didn't think about it, my dears, because the cost of things doesn't -interest me; I have so many more interesting things to think about. -This, for instance," she said, holding up the dainty baby dress on -which she had been sewing as they all sat together in the sitting-room, -awaiting Daniel's coming home to his noon dinner. - -"But it's a wife's place to----" - -Daniel's entrance cut short Jennie's admonitions. The dinner-table -talk, however, scarcely relieved the tension on Margaret's nerves. - -Daniel was always expansive as to his business "deals" when he felt -complacent, and to-day his state of mind was one of unusual -satisfaction, for just before dinner Margaret had displayed to him -(surreptitiously, to spare the virgin squeamishness of Jennie and -Sadie) the baby things upon which she had been working, and his delight -in them was like unto that of a woman. He was therefore talkative and -confidential over his roast beef. - -"Well, Margaret, you can be proud of the way your husband upholds -Christian principles in this community. I received in my morning's -mail a letter from the Board of Managers of the Y.W.C.A. thanking me -for the stand I took at the meeting yesterday afternoon of the -stockholders of the Country Club on the question of Sunday sports. -Some of the men want tennis and golf allowed on Sunday, but _I_ stand -for the sanctity of the Sabbath, and I wouldn't give in one inch. I'm -the biggest stockholder of the club and they can't go against my vote -in anything. I may say I _rule_ the Country Club. One fellow, Abe -Meyers, got up and declared he'd organize a _new_ country club before -he'd 'submit to the tyranny of one hidebound Pharisee!' What do you -think of that?" chuckled Daniel. "'The tyranny of one hidebound -Pharisee!' Sour grapes, of course. He hasn't the cash or the -influence to organize another club. I told them that so long as _I_ -was a member of that club, the sanctity of the Sabbath should be -preserved. Golf and tennis six days of the week, but on the Sabbath, -_no sports_; and I said I knew I had behind me the support of our -Christian community. You see, Margaret, if I withdrew, the club -couldn't go on." - -"That very fact," said Margaret, her voice rather weak, "ought, I -should think, make you unwilling to impose your theories upon the other -members. _Noblesse oblige_, you know." - -But Daniel was incapable of seeing this point of view. - -"The evening papers," he continued, his eyes gleaming with -satisfaction, "will give a full account of the meeting yesterday and -publish, also, the letter of thanks sent to me by the Y.W.C.A. I -handed that letter to a reporter of the _Intelligencer_. You'll see it -in to-night's paper, Margaret." - -"Oh!" breathed Jennie and Sadie, awe and admiration in their tones, and -worship in the glances sent across the table to Daniel. "Here, Emmy," -Jennie ordered the maid, "don't you see Mr. Danny's milk glass is -empty? Fill it up. Do you like these pickles, Danny? They're the -first I opened yet." - -"They're of just precisely the degree of sourness I like," Daniel -nodded approvingly. - -"Danny's so much for sour," Jennie informed Margaret. "Yes, you took -notice already, I guess, how he eats sour all the time at his meals, -even up to his pie. I have to put up a lot of pickles and Chili sauce -and chow-chow for him. Ain't, Danny? And he says no one's sour tastes -so good to him as what mine does. I don't know what he _would_ do," -she said in consternation, "if I was taken and he couldn't have his -sour any more." - -"There's Heinz's fifty-seven varieties," said Margaret. - -"Heinz!" scoffed Jennie. "Our Danny eat that Heinz stuff, used as he -is to good home-made sour! Well, Margaret, you don't mean to tell me -you'd feed that to our Danny! I'd turn in my grave!" - -"I'd 'feed him' Heinz's fifty-seven varieties and tell him I'd made -them myself; a plan, you see, which would make Daniel happy while it -saved my time and energies for something more useful than pickles." - -"You'd deceive him?" exclaimed Sadie, scandalized. "Tell a lie to your -own husband yet!" - -"Is a lie ever justifiable?" asked Margaret ponderously. "History and -psychology answer, Yes; to the insane, the nervously distorted, and to -spoiled and pampered men creatures." - -"Well, you'd have a hard time fooling our Danny! He ain't so easy -fooled. A good thing he's got us to look after him if you wouldn't -even put up sour for him!" - -"Now I begin to see," said Margaret, "that the man, Heinz, creator of -'sour,' is a human benefactor and should have a noble monument erected -to him by put-upon wives. I'll start the movement." - -"A stroke of luck," Daniel here broke into the dispute, "came to me -to-day. You remember, Margaret, the leather store on the corner of -Third and Prince streets?" - -"Yes." - -"Danny owns near that whole block," Jennie quickly informed her, though -Margaret's persistent indifference to such facts was a constant -irritation to her and Sadie. - -"I've been getting one hundred dollars a month rent for that store," -Daniel stated, while his sisters listened breathlessly to such -fascinating statistics. "Three months ago, George Trout, the renter, -came to me and said he'd have to have more storeroom for his growing -business and wanted me to extend the room back into the lot. He laid -it off to me how I ought to do this for him because he had rented that -room from me for the past fifteen years and had never been a day late -with his rent, not even when I had suddenly and unexpectedly raised his -rent two years ago from seventy-five to one hundred dollars a month; -and he argued that he himself had paid for the repairs and the upkeep -of his storeroom for the past eight years; that his successful leather -shop had increased the value of my property; and that I certainly owed -it to him to extend the floor space. Well, I simply told him that if -the place was too small for him, he was perfectly welcome to move; that -I certainly wouldn't incur the expense of enlarging the store when I -could so easily rent it any time as it was. He argued and fussed -'round my office and said he'd been my faithful tenant for fifteen -years and I had never done a thing for him and that I knew perfectly -well he couldn't move his business, for there wasn't another vacant -storeroom in the town in a location that wouldn't kill his business -dead. Yes, I said I knew that all right. 'And,' said he, 'I -absolutely require more floor space.' 'Yes, I know that, too,' I said, -'but it's no concern of mine; _I_ have no stock in your business, Mr. -Trout. I'm your landlord, and you know business is always strictly -business with me. I can rent that storeroom the very hour you move out -of it.' He tried to tell me again about his keeping up the repairs, -but I cut that short and said he'd got my answer and now I was busy. -Well, I certainly was amused to see how mad he looked as he flung -himself out of my office. But," said Daniel, his eyes narrowing to the -look of cunning from which Margaret was learning to wince as from a -touch on a bared nerve, "the affair has turned out just as I foresaw it -would! That's the secret of my success, Margaret, as Jennie and Sadie -can tell you. I look at every proposition, no matter how small a one, -to find in it the main chance--the chance for _me_. I saw there'd be -only one thing for Trout to do: enlarge the store at his own expense. -No more than right that he should. No least reason why _I_ should do -it." - -"Of course not!" exclaimed Jennie and Sadie in one breath, while -Margaret, looking rather wan, did not raise her eyes from her plate, -for the self-complacency of her husband's countenance, as he told his -yarn, was more than she could stand. - -"So, last week," Daniel went on, "when the changes in the storeroom -were completed, I went in and took a look around. Trout spent about -eight hundred dollars on the job. Of course this enlargement increases -the value of the property and demands higher rent. So, yesterday," -Daniel smiled, "I notified him that his rent was raised twenty-five -dollars a month. He came storming into my office and said the bills -for the repairs should be sent to me. I pointed out to him that I -couldn't be held legally responsible for them, as I had not had them -made; and that he could take his choice: pay the increased rent or get -out. Well, you see, there was nothing else for him to do but pay the -higher rent. Anything else spelt ruin for him. He knew that as well -as I did. He had to swallow the pill," grinned Daniel, "though it did -go down hard! Yes, that's the way I turn things, even little things, -right around to my profit, Margaret. Pretty cute, isn't it?" - -"If I were Mr. Trout," Margaret returned, looking white, "I'd set fire -to your damned store and burn it to the ground!" - -There was an instant's silent, awful consternation, when Margaret -suddenly laid down her napkin and rushed from the room, every nerve in -her sick and quivering with the physical and moral disgust she felt. - -[Illustration: Margaret suddenly laid down her napkin and rushed from -the room, every nerve in her sick and quivering with the physical and -moral disgust she felt] - -When before returning to his office Daniel went to their bedroom, where -Margaret, weak and despairing, lay prone upon the bed, he found the -door locked against him. - -"I insist upon coming in, Margaret!" - -"Go away!" she faintly called. - -"Open the door!" he commanded. - -"I won't! I can't! I don't dare to! I'm dangerous! Go away from me!" - -"Get up and open this door!" - -"If I did, I'd--I'd scratch you! Keep away from me!" - -Daniel telephoned for the doctor. - -"My gracious!" exclaimed Jennie, as they all awaited the coming of the -physician in the sitting-room, "Hiram's Lizzie never carried on like -_this_ when she was expecting!" - -"No, she certainly didn't," echoed Sadie; "for all she might have had a -little more right to; while Margaret, here, coming to Danny without -nothing at all, up and sasses him like what she did at dinner yet! -Don't it wonder you?" - -Daniel, lounging in his own big chair before the fire, pouted like a -thwarted, spoiled child. - -"What got into her, anyhow, to act so hystericky all of a sudden?" -Sadie speculated. - -"Saying she'd set fire to Danny's store!" exclaimed Jennie indignantly. -"And _swearing_ yet! My gracious!" - -"It certainly does, now, beat all!" said Sadie mournfully. - -"I certainly didn't think she'd turn out like _this_!" scolded Jennie. -"You hadn't ought to have picked out a wife, Danny, without me looking -her over for you first." - -"I can't do anything with her!" snapped Daniel spitefully. "Nothing I -can say will make her stop running with Catherine Hamilton. She tells -me to my face she won't give her up. And she won't, either!" - -"Och, Danny, I wouldn't _take_ it off of her!" said Jennie harshly. - -"Well, what can a man do?" he fretfully demanded. - -"Discharge Miss Hamilton." - -"She's invaluable to me. She's in my confidence in a business way. I -_can't_ discharge her. It wouldn't matter to her anyway. Every lawyer -in town that has any practice would like to employ her. What I'm -afraid of is that she'll _resign_. Oh, if she were afraid of losing -her job, then I could easily fix Margaret!" - -"It looks, Danny, as if Margaret took up with your clerk just to spite -and worry you; for what else _would_ she run with her for?" - -"Well, if you'd hear them talking together once!" Daniel sullenly -responded. - -"Well, if we did?" questioned Jennie curiously. - -"You wouldn't understand a word they were saying!" snapped her brother. - -"Do they talk so dumb?" asked Sadie wonderingly. - -"They seem to think it means something--the stuff they get off to each -other!" - -"It certainly does spite me, Danny," said Jennie with sympathetic -indignation, "to have your wife use you like this! And when I think -how you could have married most anybody!" - -"Here comes the doctor," announced Sadie. "Supposing she won't leave -_him_ in her room?" - -"Och, but that would make talk!" exclaimed Jennie. "I'll go up and -tell her she _has_ to open!" - -Margaret, meantime, her sudden gust of passion subsided, realized how -foolishly she was acting. - -"I can't say I didn't marry him with my eyes open," she prodded -herself. "_I_ have no right to scorn him and fly out at him. I see -that well enough, alas! I owe him everything I can reasonably give him -to make up for my lack of love." - -Her sense of her obligation to Daniel did not, however, and never -could, include the denial of such fundamental principles as her -friendship with Catherine Hamilton, or her own personal freedom in so -far as it did not clash with his just rights. - -Margaret was not so stupid as to suppose for a moment that she could, -by any utmost effort on her part, lead Daniel to see a case like that -of George Trout's store rent as _she_ saw it. That he could flaunt and -boast of such "deals" proved him too hopelessly obsessed. - -"If he were ashamed of it and tried to hide it, there might be some -hope of redeeming him. As it is, I certainly shan't waste myself in -any such futile endeavour. But if I outlive Daniel, I shall pay to -George Trout or his heirs that eight hundred dollars on the very day -that I get possession of my widow's third. Or, if I have a son, _he_ -shall discharge that debt!" - -However, by the time Jennie knocked on her door demanding admission for -the doctor, she was in a sufficiently chastened frame of mind to -receive both him and her husband with all the outward semblance of a -dutifully happy wife. - - - - -XIX - -Accustomed as Margaret was to the Southern ideal of the chivalry due to -a pregnant wife; reared in a state where a fundamental principle of -marriage is that the husband's share in the burden and sacrifice of -bringing a child into being shall consist in cherishing the mother of -his child with reverence and tenderness, so that her difficult ordeal -be made as bearable as unselfish love can make it, and that she be -upheld throughout her trial by the man's strength and devotion; and -that the husband who did not so regard his wife was a cur to be -horsewhipped--Margaret had to learn, during her weary, waiting months, -that this attitude of the Southern gentleman would have seemed to the -average Pennsylvania German ridiculous sentimentality, his view being -that woman was created, in the Providence of God, to be a breeder and -that was all there was to it; that in merely fulfilling her natural -function she was in no more need of sympathy or help or compassion than -a cow in the same condition; that her inclination during pregnancy to -tears, tantrums, fretfulness, indolence, a muddy complexion, a -phlegmatic indifference to everything except the making of baby -clothes, not even her husband getting, at this time, any consideration -to speak of at her hands--these things were recognized by him as -burdens to be borne either with stoicism, or, for the sake of the -child, peremptorily prohibited. - -So, it was a matter of wonder to Margaret, rather than of distress, -that Daniel should be so extremely moderate in his expression of -concern or sympathy for her condition. So used as he was to being -taken care of by his sisters, it would have been a wholly unnatural -attitude on his part, she saw, to be actively solicitous for a woman. -He would have felt he lowered his dignity and made himself absurd if he -had put himself out for her comfort in the many little ways he might -have done and which she had at first looked to see him do. - -But, as Daniel told her one day when she expressed some of the wonder -she felt at his lack of chivalry toward her, he had never seen Hiram -bother about Lizzie when she was in that condition, and it was after -all only Nature. - -"A baby's teething is only Nature, but we help and comfort it, don't -we? I did expect you'd get a _little_ bit excited over my health! It -would all be so much easier to bear," she spoke rather to herself than -to him, knowing his impenetrability, "if one were treated as a _woman_!" - -"As a woman?" Daniel inquired, puzzled. - -"Yes, instead of as a cow." - -"A cow?" - -"Treated as a _Southerner_ treats a woman." - -"Now I should think," was Daniel's complacent reply, "that when a -husband acts toward his wife as I saw your brother-in-law act toward -your sister, like a butler or a porter, she wouldn't _respect_ him." - -"The mediæval peasant idea that if her husband doesn't beat her, he -doesn't love her," said Margaret. - -But the dreariness of mind Daniel's attitude caused her she, with a -sort of mediæval superstition, almost welcomed as being at least some -expiation for the sin of her loveless marriage. - -Margaret was disappointed to find, as the days passed over her head, -that because of her inability to ride on the cars without great -physical distress, she was obliged to postpone the promised visit to -her mother-in-law; and at last, when her appearance made the little -trip no longer possible, she wrote to Mrs. Leitzel and explained the -reason for her not keeping her promise. - -"But just as soon as your grandchild is able to travel," she concluded -her letter, "I shall bring it (not knowing its gender) out to see you." - -It seemed to Margaret that, unaggressive though she was, the weeks -before her confinement were constantly marked by contentions, -apparently inevitable, between her and Daniel about the many things of -life which they viewed from diametrically opposed standpoints. Her -monthly account of her expenditures with her ten dollars allowance was -one of these points of difference. The first time Daniel asked her to -produce the little account book he had given her she took it from her -desk, scribbled a few words in it, and cheerfully handed it to him, and -he read on one page, "Daniel gave me ten dollars," and on the opposite -page, "All spent. Balances exactly." - -Daniel looked up from the book inquiringly. - -"That's as much of an account as you'll ever get from me, Daniel, as to -what I did with ten dollars in a whole month! Did you actually suppose -I'd give you the items, like a little school-girl?" - -And no amount of persuasion, or of fretting and fuming on his part, -could induce her to submit to him an itemized account of her allowance. - -Her South Carolina property was another bone of contention. - -"I can't get a word from that brother-in-law of yours in reply to my -letter to him!" Daniel complained one September evening when they were -alone in their bedroom just after supper, Margaret, in a pink silk -negligé, lying on a couch at the foot of the bed and Daniel seated in -an armchair beside her. "The slipshod business ways of those -Southerners! What does the man mean?" - -"He's such a procrastinator! I must admit Walter's rather lazy. -Clever, though. He's considered a mighty intelligent lawyer." - -"A clever lawyer has some sense of business, which he does not seem to -have!" - -"Don't you be so sure of that!" - -"What do you mean?" - -"Oh, nothing." - -"Well, he does seem to have enough sense of business about him to -defraud you out of what belongs to you!" snapped Daniel. - -"Walter is an honourable gentleman," Margaret quietly affirmed, "with a -sense of honour, Daniel, that to you would be as incomprehensible as a -Sanscrit manuscript, or a page of Henry James." - -"The quixotic 'sense of honour' of a South Carolinian!" scoffed Daniel. -"Oh, I know all about that. Impracticable moonshine! Nothing in it, -Margaret. Has no market value." - -"No, thank God, it has no market value." - -"You're a little simpleton, my dear, about 'values' of any kind, and I -wish you wouldn't swear!" - -"Can't one thank God except in church and at the vulgar hour of -feeding?" - -"Be reverent!" Daniel, looking shocked, reproved her. "And I don't -see where his sense of honour comes in in his behaviour as to your -property!" - -"Don't bother about my property, Daniel," Margaret wearily advised. -"It's not worth bothering about." - -"It's all you have, though," Daniel ruefully retorted. - -Margaret offered no reply to this. - -"I want you to write to Walter, Margaret, and see whether _you_ can get -an answer out of him." - -"What about?" - -"What _about_? Haven't I just been telling you? You write and demand -of him why I receive no answer from him to my repeated inquiries as to -your property." - -"But I have told you all there is to know about it, Daniel." - -"Margaret," Daniel patiently answered, "I have already explained to you -how I can make that estate yield you a handsome income." - -"By depriving my sister of a home? No, thank you." - -"Naturally your sister would also profit by what I would do for the -estate." - -"Profit at your expense? Not if you could help it, Daniel." - -Daniel laughed appreciatively at this flattering tribute to his -business acumen. - -"I think I see, Daniel, how you would manage the 'deal.' You'd improve -the estate, rent it at a high figure, and keep the rent (at least my -share, if not my sister's) to pay you for what you had spent." - -"Pretty good, my dear! You have some business cleverness yourself, I -see, after all! Sufficient, at any rate, to recognize that you ought -to be getting your share of your uncle's bequest. Just inform your -brother-in-law, in your letter, that you are going to sign over to me -the power of attorney to manage your affairs. _That_ will bring him to -time and fetch an answer!" - -"But I'm not." - -"Not what?" - -"Not going to sign away any 'power' I may have. I didn't know I had -any. It's a pleasant surprise. I shall certainly hold on to it. I -need it, whatever it is." - -"Without power of attorney to act for you, Margaret, I can't help you. -You'll _have_ to give it to me," said Daniel firmly. "I'll bring up a -paper from the office on Monday and Jennie and Sadie will witness your -signature. Can't you get up and write to Walter now? I'll dictate the -letter." - -"I wouldn't rise from this comfortable couch, Daniel, if the house were -on fire." - -"It's very bad, very bad indeed, I'm sure, for you to lie about so -much." - -"If you were carrying a weight of several tons, I guess you wouldn't be -on your feet when you didn't have to." - -"'Several tons?' That's a gross exaggeration, Margaret." - -"I never was strong on figures or statistics," Margaret admitted. - -"Won't you _try_ to get up and write the letter? I very much wish you -to," urged Daniel, still quite unable to credit the fact which in these -days frequently confronted him, that any feminine member of his -household could fail to jump at his least bidding. - -"What do you want me to write?" Margaret parried. - -"Great heavens!" Daniel cried, exasperated. "I've told you only about -a dozen times!" - -"A dozen? A gross exaggeration, I'm sure. And to call upon the -heavens is irreverent. There, there, I won't tease you," she patted -his hand; and he immediately clasped and held it, for he still adored -her. "But as I've told you, Daniel, that I won't sign over to you the -power of attorney, there's nothing to write to Walter about." - -"Is this your idea of not 'teasing' me? I've said that without the -power of attorney, I can't help you." - -"I don't want that kind of help, my dear, thank you very much." - -"Will you write the letter before I go to the office to-morrow morning?" - -"Telling Walter I'm not signing over to you the power of attorney? Is -that necessary?" - -"Very well, Margaret." Daniel rose with dignity and turned away from -her. "I'll dictate to my stenographer what I wish you to say to Walter -and I'll bring the letter up from the office for your signature." - -"Daniel!" Margaret suddenly exclaimed at mention of his stenographer. - -He turned about and looked at her. - -"Did you _give_ Catherine the note I sent her this morning?" - -"I certainly did _not_." - -"_Why_ not?" - -"You ask me to play the messenger boy to my own clerk! I read your -silly note, my dear, and burned it." - -Margaret, sinking a bit lower among the cushions of the couch, did not -trust herself to answer. - -"Now, my dear," said Daniel, "since you can no longer go out, you can -take advantage of the chance that fact gives you, to _drop_ this -unseemly intimacy, which no doubt by this time you find burdensome -enough, especially as you have seen how exceedingly annoying it is to -my sisters and to me. We are willing to overlook your having flouted -our wishes if you'll now----" - -"Has Miss Hamilton been to see me and been turned away?" demanded -Margaret, who for the past two weeks had neither seen nor heard a word -from her friend, her notes and telephone calls having both failed to -bring any response. She had been deeply wounded and worried at -Catherine's seeming unfaithfulness to her in her time of dire need; and -she had suffered keenly from the deadly loneliness that had engulfed -her; for she had, through almost daily association for many weeks, -become so deeply bound to Catherine that she felt she could never again -know happiness if she lost her. While she had indeed suspected that -some treachery on the part of the Leitzels was keeping Catherine away, -yet she did not understand how her friend could possibly have failed to -receive at least some of the communications she had sent to her; -letters which she would have supposed _must_ bring Catherine to her -side, if she had to storm the house to get there. - -"Have your sisters sent my friend away when she came to see me and kept -it from me that she was here?" Margaret repeated in a tone so quiet -that Daniel never suspected the volcano it covered. - -"She has been told by Jennie every time she called that you wished to -be excused. This unseemly intimacy is to _cease_! You will have to -understand, Margaret, that I am not a man to be trifled with by a mere -woman--a mere girl, I might say!" - -"Brave and manly of you, Daniel, certainly." - -"If you don't watch out, you will be the cause of my losing the most -valuable clerk in New Munich and one to whom I have confided important -_private_ business matters, for, if I must, I shall tell her _straight_ -that I object to her running after my wife!" - -"Oh!" - -"I have already hinted to her that you are at last coming to your -senses and getting over your silly infatuation for her. I intimated to -her that it was only your appreciation of her valuable services to me -which had led you to be very nice and friendly to her." - -"Do you suppose for an instant, Daniel, that she was idiot enough to -believe that?" - -"Why shouldn't she believe it?" - -"Because she knows me--and she also knows you." - -But though Margaret assured herself many times in the course of the -wakeful, restless night which followed that Catherine would not believe -Daniel's absurd story nor let the family attitude toward her come -between them, she really suffered an agony of doubt and fear lest the -friendship so precious to her should not be able to stand under the -pressure brought to bear upon it. - -"Surely Catherine will think I am asking too much of her, to expect her -to stick to me through all this! But oh! I can't give her up, I -can't! I will not let them separate us!" - -The next morning, as soon as Daniel had left the house for his office, -she hurried to the telephone and called up Miss Hamilton, knowing that -her only chance of getting Catherine was when Daniel was not in his -office. She actually trembled with apprehension for fear she should be -told that Miss Hamilton had not yet reached the office. But to her joy -it was Catherine's own voice that answered her. - -"Oh, Catherine! It's Margaret! Catherine, listen! I've been -_wanting_ you so! I didn't know why you didn't come, and I only -learned last night. Catherine, I'm coming right down to the office, -now, in a taxicab, and I want you to come out with me for an hour, for -I _must_ see you to straighten things out. Tell the powers that be -that you've a headache or small-pox symptoms or something and just -_come_. Will you?" - -"I will, dear. I'll leave a note on my desk and walk out now, and meet -you at the door when you get here." - -"I'll be as quick as I can." - -She hung up the receiver. But just as she was going to lift it again, -to call the taxicab office, her eyes fell upon Jennie and Sadie -congregated a few feet away from her, Sadie staring at her in -consternation and Jennie in wrath and indignation. - -"Margaret!" Jennie suddenly came to her and forcibly pushed her from -the telephone. "You ain't to call a taxicab, so you ain't, Margaret! -Our Danny ain't to be spited so when _I'm_ close by!" - -"Very well," answered Margaret coolly, "I'll go next door and use Mrs. -Kaufman's telephone." - -"But," gasped Sadie, "that'll make talk yet!" - -Margaret, not replying, started for the door. - -"Margaret!" cried Jennie sharply, hurrying after her and catching her -arm, "how that'll _look_ yet--you going into the neighbours' to 'phone! -You _darsent_ go round to our neighbours' making talk!" she commanded. -"I won't leave you do it.'" - -"Then will you let me use the telephone here?" - -"No, I won't, not for no such a purpose--to go down to see our Danny's -clerk when he don't give you dare to. You're near worrying my poor -brother to death with the way you act!" - -"Please let go my arm, Jennie." - -"You pass me your promise, then, that you'll behave yourself. You're -_all_ the time raising excitements in our peaceful home that gives -Sadie the indigestion!" - -Margaret wrenched herself free and went to the front door; but Jennie -got there first, turned the key and removed it from the lock. - -"I ain't leaving you disgrace us with our neighbours!" she indignantly -affirmed. - -Margaret, looking white but resolute, went to a side window, raised it, -and called into the Kaufmans' dining-room where the family was then -breakfasting, while Jennie and Sadie, foiled, but horrified and -incredulous of her audacity, fell back. - -"Will you please be so very kind, Mrs. Kaufman," Margaret called across -the space between the two windows, when Mrs. Kaufman had raised hers, -"as to 'phone for a taxicab for me at once. I have to hurry down to -Mr. Leitzel's office. I shall be so much obliged, and I'm very sorry -to trouble you at breakfast." - -"We're just done, Mrs. Leitzel, and I'll be very glad to oblige you. -Nothing wrong, I hope?" - -"No, but I _must_ get to the office as quickly as I can. Will you -please tell them to hurry with the taxicab, Mrs. Kaufman?" - -"Yes, of course I will--don't mention it! Your telephone out of order?" - -"I can't use it," said Margaret, and with a nod and a smile, she closed -the window. - -She turned slowly and looked at her sisters-in-law. They, almost -leaning upon each other for support, were regarding her as though she -were a dangerous lunatic. Without a word, she went past them and -upstairs to get her wraps. When she came down five minutes later the -taxicab was at the door and Jennie was at the 'phone calling up -Daniel's office. - -Margaret found, however, that the front door was now unlocked. They -evidently felt too uncertain of her to try her any further. - - - - -XX - -Margaret wondered whether, if Jennie succeeded in warning Daniel of her -coming, he would again contrive to prevent Catherine's seeing her. - -"Wouldn't it make a good Movie! I might have it copyrighted!" she -shrugged. - -But she told the chauffeur to hurry, hoping that she might, even yet, -get to the office before Daniel got there. - -"If I don't, and if he tries to keep Catherine from coming down to -me--well, if I didn't look such a sight, I would go right up into the -office!" - -When, however, the taxicab drew up before the building of which the -second floor was occupied by Daniel's law offices, and she leaned for -an instant out of the cab window, she saw her husband coming down the -street. Jennie, then, had been too early for him. Margaret looked -about hastily for Catherine, but she saw nothing of her. She shrank -far back, then, in the cab to prevent Daniel's seeing her, for he was -now close by. - -She saw him hesitate at the door of the building and glance inquiringly -at the cab; then, curiosity moving him, for Daniel had the petty -curiosity of an unoccupied woman, he came over to the curb and looked -into the window of the cab. - -Margaret met his glance calmly. All she cared about was that he should -not prevent her meeting Catherine. - -"Why, Margaret! You out of doors! What for? You came for me? Is -anything wrong?" - -"I came out for some fresh air." - -"But to come out on the street!" he protested, scandalized. - -"I'm not exposed to view." - -"But the chauffeur has seen you!" whispered Daniel, actually colouring -with embarrassment. - -"He doesn't mind it nearly as much as you do, Daniel. I think he'll -recover; he looks robust." - -"But what have you come down to my office for?" - -As Margaret at this moment saw Catherine coming out of the building, -she promptly answered, "To see Miss Hamilton and clear matters up with -her. Here she is now." - -Daniel turned about sharply, and Catherine, nodding a cheerful -good-morning to him, stepped into the cab and bent over Margaret to -kiss her. - -"But, Miss Hamilton," cried Daniel as his clerk settled Herself -comfortably beside his wife, "why are you not at your desk?" - -"I left a note on your desk, Mr. Leitzel, asking you to excuse me for -an hour. I shall be back before ten," she replied, drawing the cab -door shut and speaking to him through the open window. - -"To the park," Margaret ordered the chauffeur. "Good-bye, Daniel." - -"Miss Hamilton," faltered Daniel, but before he could collect his wits -to decide _how_ he ought to meet so unprecedented a situation, the car -started and whirled down the street. - -Slowly and thoughtfully he turned into his office building. Never -before in all his life had his will been so frustrated as by this young -wife of his hearth and home upon whom he showered every comfort, every -luxury and indulgence. That any one whom he supported should disobey, -defy, and thwart him! It was beyond belief. How did she dare to do it? - -"But _what's_ a man to do with a wife who doesn't care for his -displeasure any more than if he were an old cat!" he raged. "Oh, -well," he tried to console himself, "it won't be long, now, until the -baby comes, and then surely she'll be different. She'll have to be! -I'll find _some_ means of teaching her that my wishes can't be -disregarded!" - -Miss Hamilton's note which he found on his desk stated succinctly that -she had an imperative engagement this morning which would make her an -hour late. - -Daniel, sinking limply into his desk-chair, crushed the note in his -long, thin fingers and tossed it into his waste-basket, with the -murderous wish that it was his clerk's head he was smashing. - -"What will they be when they get the vote?" he groaned. "Women," he -said spitefully but epigrammatically, "are the pest of men's lives!" - -Margaret, meantime, without once directly referring to her husband and -his sisters, had managed to convey to Catherine an explanation of the -silence and desolation that had existed between them during the past -two weeks; and she was now making a compact with her which she felt -must insure them both against any future misunderstanding. - -"Tell me first, Catherine, that our friendship means more to you -than--than any petty considerations! Please, Catherine, tell me that -it does! For I just must have you, you know! You are more to me than -I can possibly be to you, for you have your mother, while I----" - -She hesitated and Catherine said, "And you, Margaret, will soon have -your child. Will that make you need me any less? I don't believe it -will, dear. And _my_ other dear ones can't in the least fill your -place in my life. I can't give you up any more than you can spare me. -Nothing," she said with decision, "shall separate us." - -"Then," said Margaret, pressing Catherine's hand, "hereafter, when you -come to see me, ring the bell four times by twos, and I, knowing about -the hour to look for you, will be on hand to let you in myself." - -"All right. I will." - -"Catherine! You _are_ large-minded!" - -"My dear!" protested Catherine, "'large-minded' to be indifferent to -the eccentricities of--well," she closed her lips on the rest of her -sentence, "two illiterate, vulgar old women," was what she had nearly -said; but she left it to Margaret's imagination to finish her remark. - -"While you are ill in bed, I suppose I shan't be able to get near you," -she ventured. "It will be dreadful if I have to wait nearly a month -before I can see that baby! It's going to be awfully dear to me, -Margaret! Next thing to having one of my own." - -"I couldn't wait a whole month to show it to you. I'll ask the doctor -to bring you to me." - -"We'll manage somehow," affirmed Catherine. - -Margaret, looking rather pale, did not answer, and Catherine suddenly -put her arms about her and kissed her. - -"You poor child!" she said tenderly. - -"I'm not a good fighter," Margaret sadly shook her head. "And there -are so many, many adjustments to be made, I----" - -She stopped short and bit her lips to keep back the tears that sprang -to her eyes. - -"At least," said Catherine encouragingly, "you seem to be coming to -your ordeal, dear, with plenty of courage; and that's the main thing -just now." - -"Oh, Catherine, I'm willing to go through a lot for the sake of holding -a baby of my own to my heart!" - -"Then you think, Margaret, that motherhood is going to be all that it's -cracked up to be?" - -"Under ideal conditions," said Margaret, "I can see nothing greater to -be desired." - -"But do the ideal conditions ever exist?" - -"I suppose they seldom do." - -"Sometimes I've had my doubts," said Catherine. "The male poets and -painters exalt the beauty, the holiness of motherhood, and the women -bear the burden and pain of it." - -"But when women whose lives have had the largest horizon--women like -Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Margaret Fuller--have declared that -their motherhood was the crown and climax of all their experiences of -life, I suppose the poets and painters are not very wrong about it, -Catherine." - -"I hope they are not, since all my instincts about it are entirely -primitive and I feel that nothing in the world will compensate me if -I've got to go through life childless." - -"There would be one compensation," said Margaret earnestly. - -"What?" - -"Sometimes, since I've known I was going to have a child, the -responsibility, the almost crushing responsibility, has seemed more -than I could bear. That's what I meant when I spoke of ideal -conditions." - -Catherine held back her mental reply to this, which was, "Yes, we -_should_ be careful whom we marry, and _why_ did you tie up with a -little rat like Danny Leitzel?" - -What she did say was: "You didn't feel this crushing sense of -responsibility until after you found yourself pregnant?" - -"No. Before that I thought only of my own happiness in having a baby -to cherish. But, Catherine, when we look about us and see what life -can do to us, I wonder how we ever dare, under any conditions, to bring -a child into this awful world!" - -"We can't question the foundations of the universe, however." - -"No, but we can question modern civilization, which produces a huge -population of criminals, lunatics, degenerates, and incapables." - -"Think of pleasant things, my dear!" - -"I try to. To tell you the truth, in spite of my heavy sense of -responsibility, I can hardly wait, Catherine, until I have my baby! I -want to show you the lovely little embroidered dress Harriet sent me. -Will you come in to see it and me this afternoon after four o'clock?" - -"Yes." - -"I'll be on the watch." - -"All right," Catherine nodded. - -"The baby received another present, the other day, which touched me -very much," added Margaret. "A cunning pair of socks from its -grandmother which she knit herself." - -"Its grandmother? But----" - -"I mean Mr. Leitzel's step-mother." - -"Oh!" - -"Did you ever happen to see her, Catherine?" - -"Once. She came to the office once to see Mr. Leitzel." - -Catherine's tone of withdrawal, as though she feared to be questioned, -piqued Margaret's interest. - -"What was your impression of her?" - -"Margaret, your husband's mother has an unforgettable face! There's a -benediction in it, such sweetness, refinement, and simplicity shine in -her countenance. When she had talked to me for a while, I felt as a -good Catholic must who has been blessed by the Pope. Just the sort of -person (with a heart too tender to hurt a fly) to be herself easily -victimized by the human vultures that prey upon the too confiding." - -"Has anybody victimized her?" Margaret casually inquired. - -Catherine hesitated an instant before she answered: "Righteousness _is_ -sometimes a breastplate to protect the otherwise defenceless. It is -that dear old woman's extraordinary conscientiousness that has saved -her from being _entirely_ devoured by the vultures, though she has -certainly been gnawed at pretty hard. I can't explain to you, now, -just what I mean. Some day, perhaps." - -"Oh, do tell me, Catherine." - -Again Catherine hesitated before she replied: "She made a certain -promise to her husband on his deathbed which her conscience has never -allowed her to break, though she has always believed that she was -acting against her own interests in keeping it. But it's her loyalty -to her promise that's been her breastplate; that has saved her from the -vultures." - -Margaret considered in silence this suggestive bit of information. It -was rather more lucid to her than Catherine suspected. But she was -impressed with the sudden realization she had of her friend's intimate -knowledge of Daniel's affairs and it flashed upon her that perhaps his -seemingly unreasonable objections to their intimacy might have quite -another explanation than that he had given it. - -In this, however, she was mistaken. Daniel entirely trusted the -discretion of his clerk. Not so much because he believed her bound in -honour to keep his secrets as because it was the part of a first-class -clerk (which she was) to be discreetly silent as to her employer's -business operations. - -"And now, my dear," Catherine broke in on her thoughts, "since we've -threshed things out and have made a compact that we will not again -misunderstand each other, I think I'd better get back to my 'job.'" - -Margaret gave the order to the chauffeur; and when a little while -later, alone in the taxicab on her way home, she found her heart -overflowing with a sense of the fulness, the richness of life, and -considered how strenuously Daniel and his sisters tried to take from -her the comfort, the happiness, of companionship with Catherine and how -impossible it would be to make them see what that companionship meant -to her, she felt greatly strengthened in her resolve to resist, -steadily and persistently, their aggressions upon her personal liberty. - -At her own door, as she opened her purse to pay for the cab, she found -she had remaining of her monthly allowance only two dollars and the -chauffeur's price was three dollars. She hesitated an instant, then -telling the man to charge the cab to Mr. Leitzel, she got out hastily -and went indoors. - -"Rather hard on Daniel to make him pay the costs of my plots gotten up -to circumvent _his_ plots! He won't like it. Ah, I've a bright idea! -I'll tell him to deduct the three dollars from my next 'allowance.' -That will appease him." - -But on second thoughts she realized that that same bright idea would -surely occur to Daniel without any suggestion from her. - - - - -XXI - -Margaret felt an impersonal curiosity as to what Daniel would say to -her when he came home to his dinner at noon. Jennie and Sadie were -also curious as to that. But Daniel himself was curious, too. How -_was_ a husband to meet such unnatural behaviour in a wife? Did other -men's wives so disregard their husbands' wishes and commands? If women -got much more independent it would break up the holy estate of -matrimony altogether. - -He finally decided, on his homeward walk, that about the only course -open to him was to take refuge in a dignified silence, though now that -Margaret's time was drawing near, he felt sufficiently apprehensive of -the outcome to be very leniently inclined toward her. Funny how he -cared for her when she treated him the way she did! He could not help -it, somehow. She certainly had a way with her! Well, when she was -over her trial and quite herself again, he'd have another try at -bringing her to a proper sense of the confederation to which he was -accustomed and which was his due. - -He wondered uneasily what the people of the town thought of this -incongruous intimacy between his clerk and his wife. It certainly -passed his comprehension as much as it did that of his sisters that a -girl as "high-toned" as Margaret was should insist upon being intimate -with his stenographer. That Miss Hamilton was equally "high-toned," he -was incapable of recognizing. Jennie had voiced his own sentiments -when a few days before she had exclaimed, "When she _could_ run with -_any_body, she goes and picks out an office clerk! It's nothing else, -Danny, but that she's bound to act con_tra_ry, to show us she don't -care if she _didn't_ bring you a dollar to her name!" - -However, a letter which he found on the hall table when he reached home -diverted not only his own attention, but that of the whole household, -from Margaret's case. - -It was from the school teacher of Martz Township, who wrote in behalf -of his step-mother; and after dinner, as the family sat together, as -was their custom, in the sitting-room, for an hour before Daniel went -again to his office--Jennie and Sadie fussing about him to make him -comfortable, adjusting the window-blind, placing his chair, handing him -the newspaper, retying his necktie, brushing his coat collar--Daniel -presently opened and read the letter he had received. - -Margaret listened to it and to the lengthy discussion which followed -with an attention that was to bear early and abundant fruit. - - -"DEAR FRIEND: - -"I am writing for Mrs. Leitzel, to leave you know she had it so bad in -her lungs here the past couple weeks the neighbours thought it would -give pneumonia, but she got better and now she's up again, but very -weak, and I'm leaving you know that we think she ought not to live -alone a half a mile away from her nearest neighbour, because if she got -so sick that she couldn't help herself, she might die before her -neighbours found it out yet that she needed help. And she's too feeble -any more to make up her fires and fetch her water from the spring and -chop her wood. The house not having any modern improvements, and so -much out of repair, it makes it harder, too, for such an old woman. -And she has hardly anything to live on. The neighbours say she had -either ought to have some one with her, or you ought to take her to -your home to live. If not, she'll have to go the poorhouse, and that -of course you would not want, either. - -"She is better now and says to tell you not to worry, but I warn you -she may get down sick again any time, as old as what she is. And I -think you have got good cause to worry, though I told her I'd tell you -not to. If it hadn't been for the neighbours doing for her this last -couple weeks, she'd have died. - - "Yours truly, - "MAYBELLE RAUCH. - -"P.S. She says she sends her love to all and that you have got no need -to worry." - - -But Daniel and his sisters did seem to think they had "need to worry" -very much, at the startling revelations of this letter, not the -revelations as to their step-mother's sufferings and needs, but as to -the neighbourhood publicity given to their neglect of her. - -"To think she'd go and have that busybody teacher and all her other -neighbours in and complain to 'em all like this, so's they write to us -yet and ask for help for her! Well, this beats all! She never went -_this_ far before!" scolded Jennie. - -"Yes, I don't see why she couldn't leave us know herself if she's got -any complaints, and not put it out to the whole township like this!" -Sadie worried. - -"It certainly will make talk out there!" Daniel frowned. - -"Enough to get into the newspapers if she doesn't watch out!" - -"But how," Margaret ventured a question, "could she let you know except -in the way she's taking, since she can't write herself? And how could -she help having the neighbours in if she was ill and helpless and -alone?" - -"She could anyhow have sent us a postal card to say she was sick and -wanted one of us to come out," said Jennie. - -"Would you have gone to her?" - -"Of course one of us would have gone." - -"Maybe she couldn't even write a postal card, or get out to mail it if -she did write it, if she's so old and feeble, and was ill." - -"If that was the case," said Daniel, "then to avoid a repetition of the -occurrence, I don't see what else we are to do but put her into a home." - -"You know how she's against that, Danny," said Jennie. "If you decide -to do it, you'll have a time with her! And those neighbours all taking -her part!" - -"This impertinent teacher," said Daniel, tapping the letter he held, -"has the face to reproach us, you notice, for not keeping the place in -repair! It wasn't our business to keep it in repair when we never get -any rent for it." - -"Yes, it does seem as if Mom might have kept it in repair when she was -getting it rent free," said Jennie. "_I_ don't see why she has not -been able to save something in all these years from what she's earnt -from her vegetable garden." - -"She certainly hasn't managed good," said Sadie. - -"And to think of the cheek of those neighbours!" said Jennie -wrathfully. "Saying we had ought to take her in here to live with us -yet! As if she was our own flesh and blood!" - -"What would _Hiram_ say to something like this coming!" Sadie -speculated; "when _he_ thinks we did too much in not charging her rent." - -"Well," Daniel suddenly announced with a magnanimous air that seemed to -swell his chest, "I'll send her a check. I'll send her five dollars. -Maybe I'll make it ten." - -"Ten dollars yet, Danny!" said Sadie, regarding her brother with -affectionate admiration. - -"I'm not sure I'll send as much as ten. But anyhow five." - -"She'll be sure to show the check around to prove to those neighbours -how good you are to her." - -"And there will be some among them," said Daniel indignantly, "that -will be ready enough to call it stingy!" - -"Oh, well, some folks would say it was stingy if you sent her -twenty-five dollars yet!" - -"If you and Sadie want to put a little to what I send," Daniel -tentatively suggested, "we might make it ten or fifteen." - -"Well," said Jennie reluctantly, "it _ain't_ fair for you to pay all, -either. What do you say, Sadie?" - -"Well," Sadie hesitatingly agreed; "for all, I did want to get a new -fancy for my white hat. How much will you give, Jennie?" - -"Well, if you and I each give two-fifty to Danny's five or ten, _that_ -ought to stop her neighbours' talking out there." - -"All right," Sadie pensively agreed. - -"No use asking Hiram to contribute," Daniel growled, "when he thinks we -ought to charge her rent for the place. He gets angry whenever he -hears I gave her a little. I told him once, 'If I can better afford -than you can to give her a little, and I don't ask you to help out, -what are you kicking about?' 'It's the principle of it,' he said. 'If -you give her money, it's admitting you owe it to her, or you wouldn't -give it to her. Now I contend that we don't owe her anything.' 'Well, -then,' I said, 'when I give her a little now and then, I'll put it down -on my accounts under Christian Charities. Will that satisfy you?' But -no, even that didn't satisfy him. He's all for putting her to a home. -And it looks now as if that's what we'll have to do pretty soon," -Daniel concluded, rising to go to his office. - -Margaret looked on in silence as Jennie and Sadie each counted out -carefully from their purses two dollars and a half and passed it over -to their brother. - -"I'll send a check, then, to mother for fifteen dollars," he said as he -put the money into his own purse. "I'll make it fifteen," he nodded. -"I'm willing to make it fifteen. That will certainly settle the -gossips out there and keep her going for a while comfortably." - -He came across the room to Margaret's chair by the window. - -"Good-bye, my dear," he said, bending to kiss her; and it took all her -self-control not to shrink in utter repugnance from his caress. - -"Oh!" she inwardly moaned as she turned to gaze out of the window when -he had gone, "what crime have I committed in marrying a man I----" - -But even her innermost secret thought recoiled from the admission that -she _despised_ her husband, the father of her child. - -She went upstairs to her room to spend the time, while she waited for -the hour of Catherine's arrival, in putting some last touches to the -baby outfit she had made and in writing a note to Daniel's step-mother -expressing her sympathy with her recent illness and reiterating her -promise to come to see her as soon as possible after her confinement. - -"I'll mail it _myself_," she decided as she sealed and stamped her -letter, "or give it to Catherine to mail." - -At four o'clock, feeling a little nervous, but quite determined, she -went downstairs to await the signal ring at the door. As it was ten -days since Catherine had been to the house, Margaret hoped that Emmy, -the maid, was off her guard, unless the episode of this morning had -caused Jennie and Sadie to renew their watchfulness. - -"It's so stupid of them, to say the least, to imagine I'd submit to -such interference in my own personal affairs!" she reflected. - -She knew their suspicions would be aroused if they found her in the -parlour, for of late she spent most of her time in her own room. But -she felt quite ready to deal with them as effectively as she had done -that morning. - -She had not been downstairs long when a ring at the door-bell brought -her to her feet, only to sink down again trembling, for it was not the -four by twos agreed upon between her and Catherine; and a moment later -Mrs. Ocksreider was shown into the parlour. Jennie and Sadie came -directly into the room to receive with much satisfaction this -distinguished and now frequent visitor who, until Daniel's marriage, -had confined her calls on them to once a year; and they looked -surprised to see Margaret already there. - -"Were you _expecting_ Mrs. Congressman Ocksreider that you're down -already?" Jennie suspiciously inquired, when the sisters had greeted -Mrs. Ocksreider obsequiously. - -"No, but I'm expecting Miss Hamilton," Margaret quietly announced. "I -have an appointment with her at four-thirty. When she comes, I shall -have to ask you all to excuse me." - -Jennie and Sadie looked the consternation they felt at Margaret's -audacity, not to say disrespect, in asking such a person as Mrs. -Ocksreider to excuse her because of an appointment with that Hamilton -girl! - -"It's to be hoped," Jennie rapidly thought, "that Mrs. Ocksreider will -think it's a _business_ appointment she's got with our Danny's clerk," -while Sadie ostentatiously consulted her new wrist-watch to see how -soon they might expect the objectionable Miss Hamilton. - -"You and your husband's stenographer seem to be great friends," said -Mrs. Ocksreider with what seemed to Margaret a rather malicious -enjoyment of her sisters-in-law's evident discomfiture. - -"We are," said Margaret. - -"I've always heard those Hamiltons very well spoken of, as very nice, -worthy people," Mrs. Ocksreider said in a tone of kindly condescension. -"Where do they live, Mrs. Leitzel?" - -That Mrs. Ocksreider shouldn't even know where they lived, put them of -course outside the pale. Jennie and Sadie suffered acutely at -Margaret's reply. - -"They live in a small rented house on Green Street," she said, and -added: "One of the few really distinguished homes in our town." - -"'Distinguished?'" repeated Mrs. Ocksreider, puzzled. - -"I mean, rather, it is a home that has distinction, by reason of its -inmates and its furnishings." - -"Its furnishings?" questioned Mrs. Ocksreider, still puzzled. - -"Its pictures and books and general good taste. One of the few -households that _have_ pictures and books." - -"Oh, but we all have pictures and books, Mrs. Leitzel!" - -"_Real_ pictures, I mean, and real books, too." - -"But I'm sure most families of our class have the classics in their -homes," Mrs. Ocksreider protested. - -"The classics' do help to furnish a room nicely, don't they?" Margaret -granted. "But the Hamiltons have books which they _read_. French and -German as well as English." - -"Well, of course, a public school teacher's home would be likely to -have all kinds of books," Mrs. Ocksreider conceded, "that society -people wouldn't buy." - -"Of course," Margaret agreed. - -"But I don't see why that should make their little home on Green Street -what you called it--'distinguished.'" - -"But I said the furnishings _and_ the inmates gave it distinction. You -see, I know because I am very intimate with them." - -"I have heard that you were. It is so nice for your husband's little -stenographer that you should take her up like that. It's so unusual, -too. She's very fortunate, I'm sure." - -"It's rather she that has taken me up. I'm quite proud that she thinks -me worth the time she gives me. You see she's more than Mr. Leitzel's -stenographer: she's an able law clerk. Mr. Leitzel says she's -indispensable to him." - -"Then he and his sisters share your enthusiasm over the Hamiltons?" -Mrs. Ocksreider inquired in a tone of polite skepticism. - -"I am the only one of us all who is intimate with them," Margaret -complacently stated. - -"I didn't see them at your reception last fall, did I?" - -"They didn't come," Margaret readily answered. "You know they don't go -into society at all." - -Jennie and Sadie felt cold as they heard these shameless admissions, -their Danny's wife bragging of her intimacy with people whom she openly -advertised as living in a rented house on a side street and as not -going into society! Not to go into society was, in the Leitzels' eyes, -to be so abjectly unimportant as to make you want to get off the earth. -And Margaret _flaunted_ it! - -"Ain't she the con_tra_ry piece though!" Jennie inwardly raged. - -"Ah!" Margaret almost jumped from her chair as the door-bell at this -moment rang "four by twos." - -"That's Miss Hamilton now," she announced, rising and walking as -quickly as she could (which was not very quick) across the room. "Will -you please excuse me, Mrs. Ocksreider? I am sorry, but it is an -appointment----" - -But as she reached the door which opened into the hall, she saw the -front door closed abruptly by Emmy, the maid. - -Instantly stepping back into the parlour, Margaret hurried to the -window, rapped upon it, then raised it and leaned out to speak to Miss -Hamilton on the pavement. "Emmy made a mistake; I _am_ at home, -Catherine. Come back, and I'll open the door." - -She closed the window and again made her way heavily across the room, -smiling in a friendly way upon Mrs. Ocksreider as she passed her. "A -mistake of the maid's. I'm seeing so few people just now," she dropped -an explanation on her way. - -Mrs. Ocksreider's subsequent description of the scene, in which the -Leitzel sisters' horror at Mrs. Leitzel's innocent candour about "those -Hamiltons," and the young woman's clever outwitting of her two would-be -"keepers," afforded most delectable entertainment to New Munich society -for two months to come. - - - - -XXII - -It was late in October that the twins were born, a boy and a girl, and -Margaret did not rise from her bed for a month. It was six weeks -before she got downstairs. - -Long before the trained nurse left her, she realized what, before her -confinement, she had dimly foreseen, the struggle to the death which -she would certainly have with Jennie's strong prejudices in favour of -old-fashioned country methods of taking care of a baby. It was only -the doctor's powers of persuasion that induced the nurse, harassed -beyond endurance by Jennie's interference with her methods, to remain -with her patient until she was no longer needed. - -"You poor thing, you certainly are up against it!" was her parting bit -of sympathy to Margaret. "She'll kill off those precious twinlets for -you, or she'll kill _you_. _One_ of you has got to die! The woman's a -holy terror, my dear! And the other one, that wears Mother Hubbards -and Kate Greenaways and Peter Thompsons and Heaven knows what, she's -nearly as bad as her sister about these babies. _I_ don't know what -you're going to do! You may be able to protect them when you're _with_ -them; but you've got to get out _some_times for an airing without -dragging the baby-coach along, and those two"--indicating, with a twirl -of her thumb, the twins' redoubtable aunts--"will certainly kill off -your babies for you while you're out." - -"If you're sure of that I'll never _go_ out." - -"And you can't look for your husband to help you any," continued the -nurse. "Crazy as he is over the twinnies, he'll _help_ the old ladies -kill them off, because he thinks their ancient ideas are right. The -old ladies, for that matter, are nearly as crazy over the babies as he -is. You'd think nobody but Mr. Danny Leitzel had ever _had_ twins -before. I never saw such a looney lot of people. But it's their love -for those children that's going to make them kill them, for it does -beat all the way you can't knock a new idea into any of them." - -In the very hour of the nurse's departure, Jennie, supported by Sadie -as always, swooped down upon Margaret to insist, with the triple force -of conviction, of tyranny, and of her love for Danny's precious babies, -that they be brought up as she knew how babies should be, and not by -the murderous modern methods of exposing them to the night air, of -bathing them all over every day even in winter, of feeding them, even -up to the age of one year, on nothing but milk, of taking them outdoors -every day in winter as well as in summer. - -"Many's the little green mound in the cemetery that hadn't _ought_ to -be there!" Sadie sentimentally warned Margaret. "So you let _us_ teach -you how to take care of Danny's babies!" - -Well, the conflict or convictions between the mother, on the one side, -and the aunts and the father on the other, was not settled in a day, -nor yet in a week. It was, indeed, prolonged to the inevitable end. -But while the strife and tumult of battle raged, the mother's will was -carried out, at the cost to her of a nervous energy she was in no wise -strong enough to expend. - -The fact that the twins thrived wonderfully under Margaret's régime did -not in the least modify the Leitzels' prejudice against it. Daniel -could not help believing profoundly in the wisdom of his sisters, since -they had made such a success of _him_. And never once in his life had -he failed to "come out on top" when following their advice. He admired -and respected them; and he felt as much affection for them as he was -capable of feeling for any one. So that, with his loyalty to them -challenged by that force which to most men is the strongest in -life--the love of a woman--the atmosphere of his home was, just at -present, rather uncomfortably surcharged. - -But in spite of this and of his actual bewilderment at the continued -obstinacy of a wife who, though tenderly beloved, indulged, and petted, -dared to stand out against not only his sisters but against himself, -Daniel was so radiantly proud and happy at finding himself the father -of a son and daughter at one stroke that he discussed with every one he -met the charms, the characteristics, the food, and the habits of his -offspring; told his colleagues in business what food-formula agreed -with his girl baby, who was being brought up on the bottle, the mother -being able to nurse only one child and that one being, of course, by -his wish, the boy; delivered to every one who would hear him his views -on Modern Fallacies in the Care of Infants; and invited the opinions -even of his employees as to suitable or desirable names for the -daughter, the son being of course Daniel, Junior. - -It was one mild day in January, when, after a siege of more than -usually bitter opposition on Jennie's part to the twins being kept on -the piazza all the morning, Margaret found herself, during the -afternoon, in a blessed solitude in the family sitting-room, Jennie and -Sadie having gone out calling. So tired and heartsick was she that she -did not even feel any desire to call up Catherine and ask her to share -her few hours of freedom from interference and fear of harm to her -babies. The twins were again healthily sleeping on the porch outside -the sitting-room and Margaret gave herself up to the sweet peace of -this respite, reading, dreaming, resting, when presently the door-bell -rang, and a moment later Emmy ushered into the sitting-room a feeble -old woman dressed in the plain religious habit of the Mennonites. - -Margaret instantly knew who the visitor was, and as she went to her, -took her two hands in both her own, kissed her and looked down into the -motherly old face with its expression of childlike innocence and -sweetness, she was thankful that the rest of the family was not at home -and that she could for a little while bask in the warmth of this kindly -human countenance. - -When she had made her visitor comfortable in Danny's big easy-chair -before the fire and had had Emmy bring in some hot tea and toast, the -old woman's beaming gratitude betrayed how unlooked-for were such -attentions in this home of her step-children. - -"I'll soon get my breath," she feebly said as she sipped her tea. "I -do get out of puff so quick, still, since my lungs took so bad this -fall." - -"It was really too much of a trip for you to take, and all alone," said -Margaret solicitously. "I was just this very day deciding that I would -go out to see you some time this week, if I could manage it. It's very -hard for me to get away or I should have been to see you before this." - -"Well, my dear, what brang me in to-day was that I just had to see -Danny and the girls on a little business, and so my neighbour fetched -me in in his automobile. I couldn't spare the money to come by train. -But," she said tremulously, "he made his automobile go so unmannerly -fast, I didn't have no pleasure. He said he ain't commonly got the -fashion of going so fast, but, you see, he raced another automobile. -He took me along for kindness, but indeed I'm sorry to say I didn't -enjoy myself." - -"It was a strain on you, I can see," said Margaret sympathetically. - -"But the tea's making me feel all right again," said Mrs. Leitzel -reassuringly. "It's wonderful kind of you to give it to me; but I -didn't want to make no bother. I seen Danny down at his office, and -when he told me the girls wasn't home this after, I came up here on the -chanct of seein' you alone, and them dear little twinses! Indeed I -felt I _got_ to see them two twin babies before I died a'ready. You -see I knowed by your nice letters to me that you'd treat me kind, and -indeed I had afraid to try to go back home alone on the train; I -conceited that mebby _you'd_ take me to the depot," she said with timid -wistfulness, "and put me on the right train, and then I wouldn't have -been so afraid. Danny thinks I went straight off home by myself. But -indeed I didn't darst to." - -"Of course I'll take care of you. But you must not think of leaving -before to-morrow when you've had a chance to get thoroughly rested." - -"Oh, but, my dear," said Mrs. Leitzel nervously, "Danny give me the -money to pay my way back home and he thinks I went. And you see, it -would put the girls out to have to make up the spare bed just for _me_." - -"But who could be more important than you--you who took care of them -all when they were children? Indeed I shan't let you go a step to-day." - -"Did _they_ tell you I took care of them, my dear?" asked Mrs. Leitzel, -puzzled. "Because they never talked to me that way. And Danny tried -to show me this after, when I put it to him that now I couldn't hold -out no longer to support myself gardening on the old place--he said I -hadn't no claim on him. I don't know," she added sadly, "what I'll do. -I'm too old and feeble to work any more, my dear. God knows I would if -I could. I'd work for all of them as well as for myself, the way I -used to, if I had strength to. But I come in to-day to tell Danny that -at last I'm done out. Yes, the doctor says I got tendencies and things -and that I got to be awful careful." - -"'Tendencies?'" asked Margaret. - -"He says I got somepin stickin' in me." - -"Something sticking in you! Do you mean that you swallowed a bone or -something?" - -"No, my dear, I didn't swallow nothin'. I got a tendency stickin' in -me that might give pneumonia. So I come to ask Danny to-day if--if he -couldn't mebby spare me something," she faltered, "to live on for the -little time I got left, so that"--a childlike fear in her aged eyes--"I -don't have to go to the poorhouse!" - -"When you told Danny all this," asked Margaret, laying her hand on Mrs. -Leitzel's, "he said you had no claim on him?" - -The old woman's lips quivered and she pressed them together for an -instant before she answered. - -"He told me he'd talk it all over oncet with Hiram and the girls. -But," she shook her head, "I'm afraid Hiram's less merciful than any of -my children and he'll urge 'em to put me to such a home for paupers; -and, oh, Margaret--dare I call you Margaret?" - -"What else would you call your son's wife, dearie?" - -"I have so glad Danny has such a sweet wife! I wouldn't of believed -_he'd_ marry a lady that would be so nice and common to me. It wonders -me! I can't hardly believe it!" - -"But you are good to _me_, making me that lovely quilt and the baby -socks. I use the quilt all the time and one of the twins is wearing -the socks _now_. How could even Hiram be hard to _you_?" - -"But Hiram and the others is wery different to what you are." Mrs. -Leitzel shook her head. "Danny says if he did pay me a little to live -on, Hiram would have awful cross at him. You see, my dear, the reason -I ain't got anything saved, as they think I had ought to have, is that -I never could make enough off of the wegetables I raised in the -backyard to keep myself and pay for all the repairs on the old place, -for all I done a good bit; enough anyhow to keep the old place from -fallin' in on me. I don't know how I'd of lived all these years if it -hadn't of been for the kindness of my neighbours. And now Danny says -if I can't keep myself at _all_ no more----" Again she pressed her -lips together for an instant. "He don't see nothing for it but that I -go to a old woman's home. He calls it a old woman's home, but he means -the poorhouse." - -"Mother," said Margaret, clasping the hand she held, "I wish you would -tell me the whole story of your life with Daniel and Hiram and 'the -girls.' Begin, please, away back at 'Once upon a time.'" - -Mrs. Leitzel smiled as she looked gently and gratefully upon Daniel's -young wife who wasn't too proud to call her "Mother." - -"Well, my dear, I married John Leitzel when Danny was only six months -old, because them children needed a mother. John drank hard and it was -too much for them young folks to earn the living and keep house and -take care of a baby. I married John because I pitied 'em all and so's -I could take hold and help. Jennie was fifteen, Sadie ten, and Hiram -five, and then the baby, Danny. I sent the three older ones to school -and I took in washings and kep' care of the baby and did the -housekeeping and the sewing. I kep' Jennie in school till she could -pass the County Superintendent's examination a'ready and get such a -certificate you mind of, and get elected to teach the district school. -And with all my hard work, I kep' her dressed as well as I otherwise -could. For I was always handy with the needle and Jennie and Sadie was -always so fond for the clo'es. Well, when at last Jennie come home -with her certificate to teach, my but we was all proud! Indeed, I -wasn't more proud when Hiram got his paper that he was now a real -preacher--sich a seminary preacher, mind you!--though that was a long -time afterward. Well, I thought it would go easier for me, mebby, when -Jennie got her school. But you see, she had so ambitious to dress nice -and do for Danny (he was such a smart little fellah) that I had still -to take in washings and go out by the day to work. Hiram he worked the -little farm we had and I helped him, too, in the busy seasons to save -the cost of a hired man, for our place had such a heavy mortgage that -the interest took near all we could scrape together. Yes, for nine -years and a half we struggled along like that, and then at last John -died. And mind you, the wery next month after he died, we all of a -suddint found coal on our land! Yes, who'd ever of looked for such an -unexpected ewent as that! Ain't?" - -"To whom did the land belong?" asked Margaret. - -"It had belonged to my husband's first wife, but she had willed it over -to him before she died. So it was hisn." - -"Oh, but, my dear, then you were entitled to one third of it, if you -didn't sign away your rights." - -"Indeed, no, I didn't sign nothing. Leave me tell you something, my -dear: John on his deathbed he thanked me for all I done and his dying -orders to me was, 'Don't you never leave Jennie and the rest get you to -sign away your rights in the farm that you worked so hard to keep in -the family. If it wasn't for you,' he said, 'we would of been sold out -of here long ago, and the children all bound out and me in the -poorhouse! And if I had the money for a lawyer, I'd sign the whole -farm over to you before I die.' 'No, John,' I said, 'that wouldn't be -right, neither, to give it to me over your children's heads.' 'Well, -anyway,' he says, 'it's too late now, so you just pass me your solemn -promise on my deathbed that you'll never leave 'em persuade you to sign -nothing without you first leave one of your Mennonite brethren look it -over and say you ain't signin' away your rights.' So I passed my -promise and I've kep' it, though it has certainly went hard for me to -keep it. Danny worried me often a'ready these thirty years back, to -sign a paper, and it used to make him wonderful put out when I had to -tell him, still, that I'd sign if he'd leave one of our Mennonite -brethren read it first and say if I was breakin' my word to John or no. -Danny always said he didn't want our affairs made so public and the -Mennonite brother would have too much to say. So then I had to say I -couldn't sign it; I couldn't break my word to John on his deathbed. -Many's the time I was sorry I passed that promise to John--they all -have so cross at me because I won't sign nothin'. You see, they always -was generous to me, giving me the house and backyard to live in without -rent. But to be sure I couldn't break my word to my dying man!" - -Margaret saw that there had been no self-interest in her refusal to -sign away her rights, but that the binding quality of a deathbed -promise was to her a fetish, a superstition. And it was this, no -doubt, that Catherine had meant in speaking of her "breast-plate of -righteousness," her conscientious devotion to her solemn vow had -shielded her from the snare of the fowler; from "the greed of the -vulture," Catherine had said. - -"And lately," Mrs. Leitzel continued her story, "Danny didn't bother me -no more to sign nothing. But to-day," she concluded, suddenly looking -very weak and helpless, as she leaned far back in her chair, "to-day he -ast me again, and he said it couldn't make no matter to me now when I -was so near my end, and if I'd sign a paper he'd not leave the others -put me to the poorhouse. But I told him if I was so soon to come -before my Maker, I darsent go with a broken promise on my soul. If -only I hadn't never passed that promise, my dear! John meant it in -kindness to me, but you see," she suddenly sobbed, "it's sendin' me to -the poorhouse to end my days!" - -"Oh, but my dear!" exclaimed Margaret, her face flushed with -excitement, "why didn't you, from the very first, get your one third -interest in those coal lands? You were and are entitled to it!" - -"Well," said Mrs. Leitzel, "right in the beginning when they first -found the coal, they got me to say I'd be satisfied to take the house -and backyard for my share; not to keep, of course, but to live on for -the rest of my life; and seeing the land had been their own mother's, -that was a lot more'n I had the right to look for. To be sure," she -gently explained, "you couldn't expect your step-children to care for -you as your own flesh and blood might." - -"You cared for them as though they were your own flesh and blood. Tell -me, you did not sign an agreement, did you, to accept the house and -backyard in lieu of your one third interest in the estate?" - -"No, for that would of been breakin' the promise I passed to John. For -you see, Danny never _would_ leave one of the brethren look over the -paper he wanted me to sign, and say whether I could do it without -breakin' my word. So I never signed nothing." - -"Then the only thing you need to establish your absolute right in one -third of the income of the coal lands (now enjoyed by your -step-children and excluding you) is the proof that the title to those -lands was vested absolutely in your husband at the time of his death. -If it wasn't, you have no case. If it was, you've plenty of money! -You see, my brother-in-law is a lawyer and I've imbibed a little bit of -legal knowledge. But I have an intimate friend, Miss Catherine -Hamilton, who knows nearly as much law as Daniel does and I'll get her -to look up the court-house records for your husband's title to that -land, and _then_, my dear, if we find it---- Oh, my stars!" - -"But, Margaret," the old woman protested fearfully, "you'll get 'em all -down on you if you go and do somepin like _that_!" - -"You see," Margaret gravely explained, "_I_ am living on this money -which belongs to you, and my children will be living on it, inheriting -it. I couldn't bear that, of course." - -"Do you mean," faltered Mrs. Leitzel, "you think they _cheated_ me? -There's others tried to hint that to me and I wouldn't never listen to -it. Why, Hiram's a Christian minister and they're all church members -and professin' Christians! They wouldn't _steal_, my dear--and from an -old woman like me!" - -"It's been done, however, by church members and professing Christians. -We'll investigate it, my dear," Margaret firmly repeated. - -"But I wouldn't want to be the cause of you and Danny's fallin' out, -little girl! That I certainly wouldn't. And, dear me!--if you got -Jennie down on you yet!" - -"She couldn't be much more down on me than she is. And during all -these years, you know, _you've_ stood up to them for the sake of a -sacred promise. I hope I haven't less courage." - -"Don't you think Danny's too smart a lawyer, my dear, for you to get -'round him?" Mrs. Leitzel anxiously tried to avert the disaster which -Margaret's suggestion surely presaged. - -"My brother-in-law is a smart lawyer, too. I'll write to him this very -night, put the case to him (omitting names) and ask his advice. Oh," -she suddenly lowered her voice, "here come 'the girls.' Do not breathe -a word of what I've said to you!" - -"Oh, no, indeed I won't. I know how cross they'd have at me! My -dear," she added, clinging to Margaret's hand, "stay by me, will you? -Please! Jennie and Sadie won't like it so well that I come. I -conceited I'd get away before they got back, and they're likely to -scold me some, my dear, and----" - -Margaret stooped over her impulsively and kissed her forehead. "Come -out to the porch with me and see the babies." When a moment later -Jennie and Sadie came into the room they saw, through the long French -window opening on to the porch, their step-mother bending over the -sleeping infants in the big double coach, and Margaret standing at her -side, her arm about her waist. - - - - -XXIII - -"Why!" exclaimed Jennie as she grudgingly shook hands with her -step-mother when Margaret returned with her to the sitting-room. "You -_here_! We saw Danny downtown just now and he said he gave you money -to get home." - -"Yes," added Sadie, also shaking hands reluctantly, "we didn't look to -see you here. Anyhow _Danny_ thought you went to the depot from his -office." - -"But," smiled Margaret, "she gave me the pleasant surprise of a call. -I am so glad, because I wanted so much to know her, my husband's mother -and the babies' grandmother! How pretty your flowers look, Sadie!" she -added diplomatically and quite insincerely, for she groaned inwardly at -the bunch of little artificial roses Sadie girlishly wore on the lapel -of her coat. - -"What is _this_ to do?" Jennie suddenly demanded as her eyes fell upon -the tea-table. - -"We've been having tea and toast." - -"Well!" breathed Sadie. - -"Upon my word!" exclaimed Jennie. "You stopped Emmy in her Sa'urday's -work to make tea and toast in the middle of the afternoon yet!" - -"It took her just fifteen minutes." - -"She ain't ever to be hindered in her Sa'urday's work! She has a cake -to bake for Sunday then!" - -"But you know," said Margaret patiently, "you stopped her on wash day -to make tea for Mrs. Ocksreider." - -"Well, but Mom ain't used to tea in the afternoon and Mrs. Ocksreider -is. Anyhow, who's keeping house here, Margaret?" - -"But surely I may have a cup of tea with your mother if I wish to, in -this house!" - -"But it up-mixes my accounts when you do somepin like this. Danny pays -half of all the expenses here and Sadie and I pay half." - -"Oh, I see," Margaret breathed rather than spoke. "But after all, -Jennie, it's quite a simple matter--charge the tea, sugar, milk, bread, -and butter to Daniel's side of your account and I'll take the -responsibility of it." - -Jennie turned abruptly to her step-mother. "It's getting late on you, -Mom, to get out home. You don't want to get there after dark, with a -half a mile to walk from the station yet. Before I take off my coat -and hat, I better see you on the street car that'll take you to the -depot for the five o'clock train." - -"Yes, Jennie," the old woman submissively answered, "I was just a-goin' -to start to go when you come." - -She rose with an effort from the comfortable chair before the fire in -which Margaret had again placed her. But Margaret at once pressed her -back into her seat. - -"You will be glad to know, Jennie, that I have persuaded mother to -spend the night with us," she said, "as she is too tired from her -journey to go back before to-morrow." - -[Illustration: "You will be glad to know, Jennie, that I have persuaded -mother to spend the night with us," Margaret said] - -"She never stops the night with us, Margaret," Jennie coldly returned. -"Come on, Mom, I'll put you on the street car." - -"But isn't it nice," cried Margaret, holding her arm around Mrs. -Leitzel to keep Jennie off, "that I've succeeded in _coaxing_ her to -stay to-night? Such a pleasant surprise for Daniel when he comes home, -to find you here, dear! What is home without a grandmother? Good -discipline for Daniel, too, to have to give up this armchair for one -evening! Even I have to get out of it when he wants it. But naturally -he can't put his _mother_ out of the only really comfortable chair in -the house." - -"But Danny paid for that chair," explained Sadie. "It would be -funny--ain't?--if he couldn't sit in his own chair when he wants!" - -"The spare-room bed ain't made up," Jennie frowned at Margaret. "And -nobody has time to make it up at four o'clock on Saturday afternoon! -Anyhow, strangers stopping over night is apt to give Sadie the -headache. And Mom never _wants_ to be away from her own bed. She -won't can home herself in a strange bed, can you, Mom?" - -But Margaret spoke before Mrs. Leitzel could reply. "_I'll_ make up -the guest bed. It won't take me ten minutes. Mother"--she patted Mrs. -Leitzel's shoulder--"I'll be right downstairs again in ten minutes." - -But Mrs. Leitzel clung to her hand. "Don't let me alone with--stay by -me, Margaret----" she pitifully pleaded. - -"You shall come upstairs with me, then, to my room," Margaret said, -helping her, now, to rise to her feet. - -"No, Margaret, Mom's to go back on the five o'clock train," affirmed -Jennie peremptorily. "Our Danny give her the money to go back. It -ain't for _you_ to be using our clean linens to make up the spare bed. -Come on, Mom." - -Jennie laid an ungentle grasp upon her step-mother's arm, but Margaret, -her face suddenly ablaze with indignation, confronted her. - -"Jennie! This is my husband's home, and his feeble mother shall be his -guest and mine until to-morrow morning." - -"She ain't his mother, she ain't even a blood relation. And what right -have _you_, I'd like to know, to meddle in our family affairs?" Jennie -fiercely demanded. "It's just your con_tra_riness that makes you want -to do everything that you see will spite us; for what other reason -would a person like you have for taking up with an uneducated old woman -like Mom? You wouldn't _look_ at a person like her if it was not to -spite us!" - -"What right have I? The right of the humane to protect the helpless -from brutality, under any and all circumstances, without exception. -She shall not leave this house to-day!" - -"Now, Mom," Sadie turned on her step-mother, "you see what you make by -coming here like this, without leaving us know! Ain't you worrying us -enough all the time, without raising more trouble between us and -Danny's wife yet?" - -"Yes, yes, I'll go. Please, my dear"--she turned to Margaret,--"leave -me go. I'd rather die on the way home than stay and make it unhappy -for you, Margaret! Danny will take up for them, you know, so I can't -stay and make trouble. Leave me go, my dear!" - -"But if you don't make your mother welcome here," Margaret addressed -both Jennie and Sadie, "I shall have to go with her. I can take her to -Catherine Hamilton's for the night. Or," she added with sudden -inspiration, "to Mrs. Ocksreider's, and ask _her_ if she won't give her -a bed until the morning. She shall not take that journey to-night!" - -Jennie glared in baffled fury, while Sadie turned white with dismay. - -"Danny won't leave you do such an outrageous thing!" the elder sister -said hoarsely. - -"Daniel can't stop me. Come, mother." - -"You don't mean to say you'd do as mean a thing as that--take _Mom_ to -_Mrs. Ocksreider's_!" - -"But I am so sure that Mrs. Ocksreider is the very person who would be -very glad to receive her for the night." - -"You up and tell me to my face you'd disgrace us like that!" - -"But where would the _disgrace_ come in?" asked Margaret innocently. - -"Where would the disgrace come in?" repeated Jennie hotly. "_Don't_ -you see any disgrace in telling Mrs. Ocksreider that we won't leave our -mother (even if she is our step-mother) sleep at our place over night?" - -"Then you admit that you _are_ acting disgracefully in turning her out?" - -"You wait till Danny comes home and he'll show you if you can go -against me like this in his house!" Jennie violently threatened, more -furious than ever at being trapped by her own words. "Now you leave -Mom be till I take her out to the car!" - -"No, Jennie, if she goes I go with her--to our friend, Mrs. Ocksreider. -Therefore, it behooves you----" - -But it was just at this instant that the sitting-room door opened and -Daniel walked into their midst. - -"Margaret! I've got an automobile at the door. Get your hat----" - -He stopped short in astonishment at sight of his step-mother, at -Margaret's attitude of shielding her against the evidently furious -antagonism of Jennie and the cold disapproval of Sadie. - -"Well?" he demanded testily. "What's up? How did you get up _here_, -mother?" - -"Yes, how did she, when you gave her the money to go home yet?" scolded -Sadie. - -Margaret, leaving the statement of the situation to Jennie, remained -silent. - -"Who brought you up here?" Daniel inquired of the old woman. - -"I come by myself, Danny. I wanted to see your wife and the twinses, -and I conceited I'd be gone before the girls got home. But I'll go -right aways now. I'm sorry I come. I didn't want to make no -trouble--I----" - -She made a movement from Margaret's side, but the latter clasped her -firmly. - -"Margaret," commanded Daniel, "let her go." - -"I have invited her to spend the night here, Daniel. She is not able -to go home to-night." - -"I'll take care of that--this is not your affair. Let her alone! Take -your hands off her!" - -"Will you let her spend the night here?" - -"I said I would take care of that. Take your hands off her." - -Margaret obeyed. - -"Now come here, mother." - -Mrs. Leitzel walked feebly toward him, but Margaret walked beside her. - -"Now, you see, Danny, how con_tra_ry she acts!" Jennie broke forth. "I -wanted to take Mom out to the trolley car and Margaret would not leave -her come along, when Mom said she _wanted_ to come, too!" - -"Well, _I'm_ here now," returned Daniel grimly. "I'll take you to the -station, mother," he pronounced conclusively, taking the old woman's -arm. - -"Daniel! Your mother can't go home alone this evening! It will be -cruel of you to send her!" - -Daniel, ignoring her, led his mother to the hall. - -"I tell you I'm going to stop this cruelty!" cried Margaret, darting -upstairs to get her wraps. - -She was down again almost immediately, her coat over her arm, but when -she reached the sidewalk the automobile containing her husband and his -mother was beyond her reach. - -"I may be able to get to the station before that five o'clock train!" -she thought, starting almost on a run to go the length of the town to -the depot, putting on her coat and gloves as she went. "I believe his -mother will die on the way if she goes, and has to walk that half-mile -alone in the dark, after being subjected to all this horrible scene! -Oh, my God! What people they are!" - -She realized, on her way, that her purse was empty, her monthly -allowance having been spent, and that she had not even money for -trolley car fares--a serious handicap in her efforts to help Mrs. -Leitzel. - -When, panting for breath, a sharp pain in her side, she reached the -station, the train to Martz was just pulling out. - -Daniel, smiling blandly, came toward her along the platform. - -"God help me!" was the cry of her heart, "that I cannot even hate -him--he is too utterly pitiable! If I could hate him, there might be -some hope for us!" - -"Want to take a little ride, my dear?" he inquired, waving his hand to -the waiting automobile. - -"Take me home," she returned weakly, feeling suddenly collapsed and -helpless. - -"You know," he said as he helped her into the car, "you ought not to -excite yourself like this--it's bad for Daniel Junior's milk--about -something, too, that is no concern of yours. And I want to warn you -also," he added, lowering his voice so that the chauffeur might not -hear him, as the car turned into the street, "that you've _got_ to -refrain from offending Jennie and Sadie so constantly. They have a -_lot_ of money to leave to our children. Keep on offending them as you -are doing and they'll will all they have to Hiram's children!" said -Daniel in a tone that expressed all the horror that such a possibility -contained for him. - -Margaret did not reply. - -"You get me?" Daniel inquired. - -"Considerations like that, Daniel, have never entered into my -philosophy of life, thank God!" - -"Margaret, you really must break yourself of this dreadful habit of -swearing! It's so unladylike! And so unchristian!" - -"Oh, my good Lord, Daniel! Don't dare to talk to me about anything's -being 'unchristian,' when you have just done a cruel, _cruel_ thing to -your aged, helpless mother! I don't profess and loudly flaunt _my_ -'Christian principles,' but I do believe in the Golden Rule. Evidently -you don't. Don't _speak_ to me!" - -"Hoity-toity! Cut out these tantrums, Margaret; they're bad for the -boy, you know." - -"Why don't you tell the Y.W.C.A. about your smart 'deal' with your -tenant, George Trout, and your treatment of your step-mother? Maybe -they'd send you another congratulatory letter that you could have -published in the _Intelligencer_." - -"You heed my warning about offending Jennie and Sadie," was Daniel's -reply. - -"At the time of your father's death was the title of the farm at Martz -vested absolutely in him?" - -Margaret had the satisfaction of seeing Daniel start and turn red at -her question, as he turned abruptly and looked at her. - -"What makes you ask that?" he nervously demanded. - -"Was it?" she repeated. - -"Why do you wish to know?" - -"It was," she affirmed. - -"_How_ do you know?" he sharply questioned. - -"That same old Woman's Intuition." - -"I insist on your answering me intelligibly! What do you know of -business matters like that anyhow?" - -"Not much, but a little." - -"Understand, Margaret, once and for all, that my business affairs and -that of my folks are no least concern of yours!" - -"_Yours_ are." - -"They are not!" - -"Oh, yes, they are, Daniel. You and I are life partners and I am the -mother of your heirs. Therefore, I have _every_thing to do with your -business. Neither I nor my children shall live on stolen money." - -"Stolen money! You talk to _me_ of 'stolen money,' when I stand in -this community as the one honest, upright, Christian lawyer! Gracious, -Margaret, I certainly expected that after the children were born I'd -have back again the sweet girl I married! I'm beginning to feel that -I've been awfully taken in!" - -Margaret leaned back in the automobile, closed her eyes, and did not -answer. During the remainder of the ride the silence between them was -unbroken. - - - - -XXIV - -Immediately after dinner Margaret went to her room, got into a negligé, -and sitting down to her writing-desk, began a letter to Walter. - -She stated the case of the Leitzel coal lands under the guise of -Western gold mines and asked her brother-in-law to give her all -possible light on the legality of the case for the benefit of the -"grandmother." - -"If the laws governing such a case differ greatly in the different -states," she wrote, "please give me all the _general_ information on -the subject that you can. This is a very important matter to me, -Walter, though I can't tell you _why_; nor can I explain to you why I -consult you rather than Daniel on a question of law. The fact is, I am -preparing a little surprise for Daniel." - -At this point in her letter she paused, resting her elbow on her desk -and her head on her hand. "Walter will see right through my disguises -and subterfuges," she reflected. "He will understand _perfectly_ what -the surprise is that I am preparing for Daniel. And in his reply he -will undoubtedly tell me what the law of _Pennsylvania_ is governing -such a case as I've outlined. Well," she drearily sighed, "I can't -help it if he does see through it, I can't be a party to defrauding -that old woman, as I _would_ be if I consented to live here on money -that ought to be hers." - -She took up her pen again and dipped it into her ink, but the bedroom -door opened and Daniel entered. - -She looked so pretty in the dainty pink negligé which she wore, and -with her abundant dark hair hanging in two heavy braids down her back, -that Daniel, despite the coldness which had prevailed at dinner, came -to her side, put his bony arm about her shoulders and patted her bare -arm. - -"Writing to Walter, I see," he remarked; and quickly she covered her -letter with a blotter. - -"Yes," she answered. - -"Glad you are. I've not _yet_ got an answer out of him. Are you, my -dear, repenting of your unwifely behaviour and writing to him what I -want you to?" - -"I'm doing what I consider my wifely duty, yes." - -"Good! I knew I'd get my sweet girl back again! Let me see what -you've written. All this!" he exclaimed, reaching across the desk to -pick up her letter; but Margaret, looking at him in startled amazement, -held him off. - -"I haven't said you could read my letter, Daniel." - -"Do you have secrets from me, Margaret?" - -"Do you have any from me, Daniel?" - -"That's neither here nor there. Come, let me see your letter, my dear!" - -"I don't wish to. Why do you want to?" - -"You are writing something to your brother-in-law you don't want me to -know about?" he accused her, his narrow gaze piercing her. - -Margaret quickly decided to resort to guile. - -"Daniel," she smiled upon him, "I'm preparing a little surprise for -you." - -"A surprise?" he repeated suspiciously. - -"Yes. Now, while I am finishing my letter, I want you to do something -for me. Will you?" - -"What?" - -"Is there any way of finding out by telephone or telegraph," she asked, -her eyes big and sad, her lips drooping, "whether your poor mother is -by this time safe at home? I shan't sleep a wink to-night from -worrying over that half-mile walk she had to take after dark!" - -"She didn't have to take the half-mile walk. I arranged for that. I -gave her a quarter to pay for a 'bus ride from the station to her house -and I 'phoned to Abe Schwenck to meet her train with the 'bus. Could I -have done _more_?" - -"You really did all that?" she asked, her face lighting up with relief. - -"I did all that. So you see I'm not 'cruel' and hard-hearted. I did -all that for one who is no relation to me and has no claim on me." - -"The claim of gratitude?" Margaret suggested; "or of mere humanity?" - -"As for gratitude, haven't we repaid her for her ten years' service for -us by our thirty years of taking care of her?" - -"Taking care of her?" - -"We've never charged her a cent of rent for the only home she has had -for thirty years." - -"_Why_ wouldn't you let her stay here to-night?" - -"Because we don't want to start that kind of thing, or she'd be here on -our hands _all_ the time. Once we take her in, we'll never be able to -shake her off, and we don't want her." - -"I see." - -"Of course you see. Now give me a kiss, and promise me you will turn -over a new leaf and not be so stubborn about the care of the babies and -about Catherine Hamilton and about all the other little matters in -which you tease me so that I've got indigestion!" he said fretfully. - -"I act only as I must, Daniel," said Margaret sadly. "It gives me -worse than indigestion!" - -"Look at Hiram's Lizzie! _She_ never antagonizes the girls the way you -do!" he complained, genuine anxiety in his voice. - -"She doesn't live with them." - -"Well, but don't you see that's where we have the advantage over Hiram? -They'll get more attached to our children because they'll see more of -them. If you acted toward my sisters as you should, as your duty to me -and to your children requires that you should, they might leave nearly -all they have to our children, giving Hiram's children merely small -bequests." - -"If I should let them have their way with our babies, they certainly -would leave all their money to Hiram's children, for there wouldn't -_be_ any babies in this house. They'd kill them off with slow torture." - -"Hiram's children haven't died and Lizzie does with them as Jennie and -Sadie have always advised her to do." - -"Exceptions to every rule," Margaret briefly replied, perfectly willing -to shield Lizzie. - -"Well," said Daniel emphatically, "you keep up your present injudicious -course, and the day will come when your children themselves will -reproach you for having deprived them, by your sheer perversity, of -what was justly their due." - -"I hope to bring them up too well for that." - -"And I hope to bring them up to have a little more judgment about money -than you have, my dear! Well, I should say so! or they would be -ill-prepared to take care of all they will inherit!" - -"They will inherit a great deal, will they?" Margaret casually inquired. - -"Enough to need some common sense in the management of it." - -"Couldn't you spare a little from what they'll inherit to keep that -dear old step-mother of yours for her remaining years?" - -"Margaret!" said Daniel curtly, "I tell you again I want no -interference from you in my family affairs!" - -"Well, then, can you, or can you not, _afford_ to give me more than ten -dollars a month for pocket money? I find it embarrassing to be out of -money so often as I am. It is my right to know what you can afford to -let me have." - -"If you would keep an account and submit it to me, I could judge better -of the justice of your request for more. Ten dollars a month seems to -me considerable money for a woman to spend on _nothing_, for you are -not expected to buy your clothing and food with your allowance!" - -Margaret, toying with her pen, her eyes downcast, did not answer. - -"If I did increase your allowance, it would be just like you to pass it -on to my step-mother! Positively, I believe that's what you do want to -do with it!" - -"You are giving me credit I don't deserve. I was asking for the money -for myself. I am so often embarrassed for lack of money. I had to -borrow a dollar from Catherine Hamilton yesterday to pay Mrs. Raub for -washing my hair. Catherine said she'd collect it from you." - -"Jennie and Sadie wash their own heads." - -"My hair is so thick I can't dry it myself and, you know, it would be -bad for the baby's food if I took cold." - -"Adopt the rule which helped to make my success, Margaret: never let -yourself get entirely out of money. And, my dear, if you'd do what I -ask you to--give me power of attorney--you'd have a little income of -your very own. Why, don't you feel under some obligation to do -something for me, in return for all I do for you?" - -"Have I done nothing for you? I have given you a son and a daughter. -Can anything you ever have or ever will do for me cover _that_ debt?" - -"Well," Daniel smiled, patting her neck, "you did pretty well by me in -that instance, I must admit; and I promise you this: when you can -persuade Walter Eastman to do what's fair by you as to Berkeley Hill, I -will increase your allowance." - -Margaret lifted her eyes, grave and melancholy, to Daniel's face bent -smilingly above her. "Catherine Hamilton mentioned yesterday, Daniel, -when I was obliged to borrow a dollar from her, that she felt safe in -lending it to me as you were a millionaire and your income was twenty -times (or fifty, I forget her figures) more than you spent." - -"She has no business discussing my finances!" - -"She didn't discuss them. She quite casually dropped the remark (which -I confess I found rather startling in view of some things) that you -were a millionaire and could not begin to spend even a small part of -your enormous income. Yet you let your old step-mother suffer and -subject me to the embarrassment of borrowing money to pay a -hairdresser!" - -"It's your own bad management that obliges you to borrow at any time," -Daniel coolly returned, not at all disturbed. "And your constant -disregard of my wishes, my dear, would justify my cutting off your -allowance altogether! But I don't do it, do I? As for Miss Hamilton, -she's not the excellent clerk I took her for! She has no sort of -business to discuss my income and my expenditures." - -"I envy her!" Margaret suddenly cried out passionately. "She is at -least independent, self-supporting, not a miserable parasite! I wish I -were in her place, working honestly for wages that you would have to -pay me, instead of being in the degrading position of having to ask you -for money which you refuse me! I'd better have gone and worked in a -factory than have done what I did!" - -Her face fell on her arms and wild sobs shook her. - -"Margaret!" Daniel cried in alarm and distress, his arm about her. "My -dear! You'll injure yourself and Daniel Junior, if you do so! _Stop_ -going on so! Oh!" he exclaimed, "you've waked the babies with your -noise!" - -A little cry from the adjoining nursery brought Margaret to her feet. -Daniel, infatuated quite humanly with his beautiful babies, followed -her eagerly, as, forgetful instantly of her own troubles, she went to -minister to her children. - - - - -XXV - -In reply to her letter to her brother-in-law, Margaret received from -him, a week later, a telegram that puzzled her greatly. - - -_Charleston, S.C._ - -Important Berkeley estate business brings me to New Munich Thursday, -February tenth. - -WALTER. - - -She had ten days before his coming to anticipate with some uneasiness -the shock he would certainly get in making the acquaintance of her -husband's sisters and in seeing the kind of home she lived in. - -"If only I could dispose of that navy blue owl on the sideboard!" she -worried. "And of all that imitation onyx in the parlour! And the -'oil-paintings' in the sitting-room! As for Jennie and Sadie -themselves---- Oh, what can Walter be coming here for? I don't -suppose they've discovered coal on _our_ estate. I hope not, such a -dirty mess as it would make! More like _our_ luck to discover we -don't, after all, own the place." - -But she found, when she announced her brother-in-law's prospective -visit, that she herself had not yet got all the shocks and surprises -the Leitzels were capable of affording her. Her Southern sentiment of -hospitality received another unexpected blow in discovering that Jennie -and Sadie quite seriously objected to entertaining her brother-in-law -at their home. - -"We ain't used to comp'ny stopping here," Jennie explained to her. -"Danny's business acquaintances always go to the _ho_tel. It wouldn't -suit me just so well. We ain't so young as we used to be, and it would -certainly be a worry to me to have company stopping here. You'd best -not begin that kind of thing, Margaret. If your brother-in-law slep' -and eat here, it would mebby give our Sadie the headache." - -That New Munich hospitality, instead of being a condition of daily life -as with Southerners, was so specialized an occasion as to cause the -upsetting of a household and the expenditure of the nervous energy of a -whole family, Margaret had come to recognize. People did not "keep -open house"; they "entertained." But how was she to spring such a -thing upon Walter, who knew no other standard of hospitality than that -of the open Southern home? How explain to him upon his arrival that -her home and her husband's was not open to him, and that he must stop -at a hotel? - -She had not at all solved the problem when in a wholly unlooked-for way -it was solved for her. Confined to bed one day with a violent -headache, and quite helpless to protect her babies from Jennie's -hygienic theories, the twins were kept by their aunt in a hot, airtight -room such as Jennie considered their proper environment, with the -result that they cried all day; and the next day had heavy colds--their -first disorder of any kind since their birth. But when Margaret, -herself recovered, insisted upon taking them, suffering from influenza -as they were, out into the chill air of a cold day in January, Jennie's -thwarted will, thwarted affection, and wild anxiety for these babies of -Danny's whom she loved almost fiercely, broke all bounds, and she gave -Margaret her ultimatum. - -"Or either you keep those children in the house till they're well -already, or either I and Sadie leave this house where we have to look -on at such croolities, and go to keep house by ourselves! Yes, this -very day we go!" - -Margaret paused in the strenuous work of getting little Daniel's arms -into his coat sleeves, preparatory to his outing, and gazed up at -Jennie with such a light of joyful hope in her eyes that Jennie, had -she not been too blindly furious to see it, would certainly have -withdrawn this proffered happiness from her now heartily detested -sister-in-law. - -"If Danny wasn't in Philadelphia to-day, I'd 'phone to his office and -have him _make_ you keep them in!" she raged frantically. "They'll get -pneumonia, so they will!" - -"Daniel couldn't make me, Jennie. I act under the doctor's orders. -Daniel's a lawyer, not a physician. I'm taking the babies out to -_save_ them from having pneumonia." - -"Daniel couldn't make you, couldn't he? Well, I can! Yes, and I mean -what I say! You take these babies out on a day like this when they're -sick, and I and Sadie _move out this very day_!" she harshly -reiterated, under the delusion that Margaret would never put her to the -test: for not only was Jennie incapable of realizing Margaret's utter -indifference to the economic advantage of their joint housekeeping, but -it also seemed to her wholly incredible that her sister-in-law could -subject her devoted and indulgent husband to the suffering he would -certainly undergo if deprived of his sisters' constant ministrations to -his comforts. - -"And when Danny comes home from Philadelphia to-night and finds us -_gone_ and our half of the furniture being moved out, what do you think -he'll say to _you_ for driving us out?" - -Margaret, realizing that she must conceal the heaven opened up by this -unexpected ultimatum, quickly cast down her eyes, that her tormentor -might not see her quivering eagerness. - -"I'll _goad_ her to moving out!" she desperately resolved. "Oh! if -only I can make it impossible for her to back down from her threat." - -She suddenly raised her eyes again and laughed sarcastically. "Oh, you -can't scare me with your threats! _You'll_ not go!" - -"You'll see whether we won't! You just dare to take those sick -children outside this house, and you won't find I and Sadie here when -you come home!" - -"That won't worry me. You'll be back soon enough. Catch _you_ leaving -your brother's house! Oh, no, my dear, you don't fool me for one -minute. Why, where on earth would you go?" - -"Maybe you don't know," put in Sadie triumphantly, "that Jennie and me -_own_ the nice empty house at the corner that the tenants moved out of -because we wouldn't repaper!" - -"Yes," exclaimed Jennie, "we own it and it's empty; and it's all been -cleaned only last week a'ready. So then you _see_ if we couldn't move -out of here perfectly convenient!" - -Margaret's hopes rose higher, while at the same time she suffered -fearful misgivings lest by any inadvertency on her part they be dashed. - -"Ha!" she laughed derisively and most artificially. "You'd never move -in there and lose the rent of that house! You can't fool me! _I'm_ -not scared. Come, baby dear, other little arm now!" she said, tugging -at Daniel Junior's coat. "_Fancy_ your moving out! Ha!" - -Her utterly unnatural tone of taunting sarcasm ought not to have -deceived even so slow a mind as Jennie Leitzel's, but the woman's rage -dulled what penetration she ordinarily had and she was completely -misled. - -"I'm not _trying_ to fool you!" she almost screamed. "I tell you that -sure as you go out the door with those two twins, my brother, when he -comes home this evening, will find us and our furniture _gone_, never -to come back! I'll prove it to you, I'll _prove_ it! And we'll take -Emmy along, and there'll be no dinner _for_ my poor brother when he -comes home!" - -"Oh, yes, there will," Margaret laughed quite sardonically. "There -will be dinner and there will be two dear, devoted sisters. If you do -take your departure, you'll be _back_ soon enough!" Her unnatural -tones kept it up, every phrase carefully calculated to force the -consummation she so devoutly wished, though inwardly her very soul was -sick at the part she played; for deep down in her heart there was an -undercurrent of pity for these poor creatures so limited in their -capacity for happiness and yet capable of fiercely loving the babies so -dear to them all and the brother they had cherished from babyhood. - -"You'll _see_, then, if we'll come back again!" Jennie hoarsely harked -back at her. "Yes, you'll see! And you'll see what Danny'll----" - -Margaret having tucked the babies warmly into their coach, laughed -again devilishly as she wheeled them out to the porch. - -"_You'll_ be back! Bye-bye until I _see_ you again!" And with a peal -of mocking laughter, so cleverly melodramatic that she marvelled at her -own hitherto unsuspected histrionic talent, she disappeared. - -And so it transpired that the marriage of Daniel Leitzel afforded one -more sensation to New Munich's not yet surfeited taste for gossip -concerning their notable townsman; for when Daniel got home that -evening at seven o'clock he found a dismantled and disordered house, no -dinner, no cook, no sisters; only two sweetly sleeping babies in the -nursery and a wife with a face uplifted with a new-born happiness and -peace. So deep was the serenity that had settled upon her and upon the -servantless, dismantled, and disordered household, that Daniel's rage -and grief, his bitter reproaches, his lamentations over the extra -expense his home would now be to him passed over her head as though it -were nothing more than the somewhat irritating cackle of an old hen. - -Daniel, after a call on his sisters at their new home down at the -corner and a long and painful interview with them, in which they -affirmed that unless he exercised his marital and scriptural authority -to make Margaret apologize and promise that in the future she would -treat them and their wishes with the consideration which was their due, -they would not return to his house, though from this close proximity to -him they could and would continue to see after his comforts--after this -most unsatisfactory and upsetting conversation with his sisters, Daniel -went to his bed very late that night, feeling, for the first time in -his life, that he was abused of Fate; but Margaret lay awake long, -revelling ecstatically in the realization that now at last she had a -home of her very own; two lovely babies on whom she could expend the -pent-up riches of her heart and in whom her own highest ideals might -perhaps be wrought out; a friend who deeply shared her life and whom -now she could freely bring into the sanctum of her own home. Oh, life -was full and rich! She was young, she was strong, she was happy. - -The husband asleep at her side was a negligible quantity in her -estimate of her blessings; he was a responsibility she had incurred and -to which she certainly meant to be faithful. It was not in his power -to make her very unhappy. - -But Margaret was, in fact, rejoicing a little too soon. Jennie and -Sadie had gone out from her home, but they had not yet gone out of her -life, as she was to realize later. - -Daniel's anger was not modified when, next morning, he was obliged, for -the first time in his life, to get up and attend to the furnace and the -kitchen range. Margaret judiciously repressed her amusement at his -plight. - -"Oh, well, dear, you are not the only one. It's the first time in my -life I ever had to get up and get breakfast," she offered what seemed -to him most irrelevant consolation. - -"Marriage," she reflected philosophically when, without kissing her -good-bye, he left her to go to his office, "must be an adjusting of -one's self to, and acceptance of, the inevitable, Daniel being the -Inevitable!" - -She decided, as she called up the Employment Office, that she needed -three servants, but she did not have the temerity to engage more than -one. For here was a point at which Daniel held the whip-hand: he could -refuse to pay the wages of those he considered superfluous, and she had -no money of her own. - -"As Jennie and Sadie paid half of Emmy's wages," she reflected, "it -will go hard with Daniel to have to pay the maid entirely himself. -Anyway," she rejoiced, "I shan't now have to send Walter to a hotel." - - - - -XXVI - -Margaret bent all her energies to readjusting the household--_her_ -household now--in preparation for Walter's visit, to which she could, -under these changed conditions, look forward with eager pleasure. But -here again she ran upon a snag. - -"Every cloud has a silver lining," Daniel sentimentally remarked, -preparatory to the discussion of the new furniture necessary to replace -what his sisters had removed. "You can now have your own things sent -up from the Berkeley Hill home. Half of all that old mahogany, silver, -rugs, books, and pictures. I couldn't afford to _buy_ such valuable -furniture as you've got there. And solid silver, too." - -"Strip Berkeley Hill, my sister's home! and bring those things into -this house!" Margaret almost gasped. "But don't you see, Daniel, this -isn't the sort of house for old colonial furniture? It would be -incongruous. What this house needs is early Victorian." - -"The freightage on your things won't come to nearly so much as new -furniture would cost, even though we bought the grade of stuff the -girls had here. And you can tell your sister Harriet that _I'll_ pay -for the crating and packing. It isn't right that I should, for they've -had the use of your things all this time, but you can tell her I'm -perfectly willing to do that. Or, never mind writing to her; we can -arrange it with Walter when he comes." - -So strong was Margaret's sentiment for Berkeley Hill that it would have -hurt her as much to see its familiar furnishings in this alien setting -in New Munich as it would have hurt Harriet to strip her home. She did -not, however, pursue the discussion with Daniel. Walter would be -privately informed as to her wishes in the matter; and the places left -bare by Jennie's and Sadie's departure would remain bare until Daniel -saw fit to buy furniture to fill them. - -Meantime, she managed, though with difficulty, to prepare, with what -furniture she had, a comfortable room for her brother-in-law. - -"If Daniel were poor, I'd feel I _ought_ to help him out, painful as it -would be to me to see any part of Berkeley Hill installed here. But he -doesn't need to be helped out. Far from it!" - -Daniel assumed Walter's visit to mean that at last this slow-moving -Southerner had got round to the point of noticing his insistent demands -for a settlement of Margaret's share in Berkeley Hill. So he awaited -his arrival with much complacency. - -Walter Eastman reached New Munich at ten o'clock one Wednesday morning -and Margaret met him at the station. By the time Daniel came home to -luncheon at one o'clock the "important Berkeley Hill business" of which -Walter had telegraphed was entirely concluded between him and Margaret, -as were also a few other items of importance. - -"For the present, Walter, I prefer not to tell Daniel about this news -you have brought me," she suggested at the end of their interview, -which, by the way, found her rather white and agitated. - -"But of course you understand, my dear," returned Walter, "that you -can't keep him in ignorance of it long?" - -"Of course not. Just a few days. Perhaps not so long." - -"Any special reason for deferring such a pleasant announcement?" - -"I want to spring it on him as a palliative, a sort of compensation, -for something else which won't prove so pleasant." - -"Ah, by the way," said Walter with apparent irrelevancy, crossing his -long legs as they sat together on a sofa of the now very bare -sitting-room, "what was the meaning, Margaret, of all that bluff you -put up on me about Western gold mines owned by a friend of yours who -thought perhaps his step-mother had a legal claim, and so forth. Quite -a case you made out!" - -"It's a true case. I'm much interested in it. And Daniel's clerk -happened to know that the land was vested in the step-mother's husband -at the time of his death and that he died without a will. What I want -you to tell me now is this: can any power on earth keep that widow from -her one third interest in those coal--gold mines, if she claim her -share?" - -"No, if she has never signed away her rights." - -"She hasn't done that." - -"You say your husband's clerk was working on the case? Then it's the -case of a client of his?" - -"Yes, the case of a client of his." - -"And a friend of yours, you said?" - -"Yes. His clerk wasn't exactly working on it; she simply told me, when -I asked her, that she knew the mining land to have been vested -absolutely in the husband." - -"And you wrote me that the step-mother has not had her share because -she's too ignorant to claim it, and that she's in want. That right?" - -"Yes." - -"I should say, then, no mercy should be shown those who have defrauded -her. They should be made to pay up, especially as it was this old -woman's hard labour and self-sacrifice in the first place (so you -wrote) that saved the home and land for the family." - -"Tell me, Walter, dear, _how_ shall the old woman set about getting her -dues?" - -"Simply hire a lawyer to bring suit." - -"But her religion forbids her to go to law." - -"Then you're stumped. Nothing to be done." - -"But I've learned that sometimes the New Mennonites allow some one else -to bring suit _for_ them." - -"Aha!" laughed Walter. "All right. Let her have her lawyer bring suit -for her." - -"Can he surely recover her share?" - -"Surely, if all the facts you've given me are correct, her share can be -reclaimed without a struggle." - -"I'm certain that all the facts I've given you are correct." - -"You seem to be certain of a good deal about these far-distant -acquaintances of whom I never heard, Margaret." - -Margaret cast down her eyes, her face flushing; but after an instant: -"Thank you, Walter," she said. "I'm very much indebted to you. One -more favour: kindly refrain from mentioning this case of the silver -mines to Daniel." - -"'Silver' mines?" - -"Gold mines. Ah, here he comes now! And not a word, remember, of the -news you've brought me!" - -"All right, my dear." - -"And as for the furnishings of Berkeley Hill; sit tight and don't -argue. Daniel always comes round to my way in the end, but it takes a -bit of time and diplomacy." - -"Poor Daniel, he's like the rest of us, henpecked lot that we are!" -Walter teased her. "He comes round to your way because he's got to; no -escape! But if I know your Pennsylvania Dutch Daniel, Margaret, and -his letters to me have been very self-revealing, he wishes sometimes -that the good old wife-beating days were with us yet!" - -"No, Daniel isn't like that; he isn't a bit _brutal_--at least in the -sense of rough. He's very gentle, really." - -Daniel, now knowing his brother-in-law to be an impecunious and, by -Leitzel standards, rather an incapable, unimportant sort of a man, -manifested in his curt greeting of him the small esteem he felt for him. - -But he found, during his noon hour of respite, that his repeated -efforts to talk business with this discounted individual were very -skilfully parried. - -"We have a pretty big bill, Eastman, against that South Carolina -estate," he began over his soup. "A whole year's rent, you know, for -Margaret's half of the house, land, and furniture. But Margaret is -willing to waive that, in fact, _quite_ willing, and I concur in her -willingness. We shan't press that. We'll let that go, especially now -that you've come to settle up. If you'd waited much longer, we might -not have been so willing to waive the year's rent. Eh, Margaret?" - -"_Please_, Daniel!" Margaret murmured, hot with shame as she saw -Walter's crimson embarrassment and rising anger. - -"Well, of course, I don't mean," said Daniel, who considered himself a -remarkably tactful man, "that Margaret would have gone so far as to -bring suit. Not against her own sister, certainly. Nor would _I_, -either, sanction such an extreme measure. But right is right, you -know, and law is law." - -"I've got a case on my hands," retorted Walter, avoiding Margaret's -eye, "of a widow who for over thirty years has received no rent for her -third share of some mines--oh, silver mines." - -"You ought to draw a big fee for a case like that!" exclaimed Daniel, -his eyes gleaming. "A regular big haul; enough to set you up for life! -Silver mines! Well, I should say!" - -"I don't expect to get much out of it." - -"You'll never get much out of anything," grumbled Daniel, "the way -_you_ do business!" - -"Sometimes, however, business men are so extremely devoted to their own -interests, to the exclusion of all human appeal and all natural ties, -that their 'vaulting ambition o'erleaps itself.'" - -"Ah, Shakespeare!" nodded Daniel. "Very aptly quoted. Yes, but the -prudent, astute business man looks ahead and on all sides before he -'vaults.' I've never taken one hasty, ill-considered step in my life. -And look at the result! I've a--a very comfortable living," he -concluded, with a furtive glance at his wife. - -"The modern rule for getting rich," Walter, having quite recovered his -equanimity, casually remarked, "seems to be to skin other people." - -"Ah, but you go about it too clumsily, my friend!" returned Daniel, -grinning. "Don't try to skin people who have all the law and, I may -say, all the brains on their side!" - -Walter stared. "_I_ try to skin people!" - -"Well, it wouldn't be very civil of me, would it, when you are my guest -at my own table, to accuse you of trying to skin my wife and me of her -half of Berkeley Hill? I hope I am a man of too much tact to commit a -breach of hospitality and etiquette like that! But this I will say----" - -Margaret, however, seeing her husband to-day with Walter's eyes, was so -swept with shame that she could not endure it. "Daniel!" she -interposed, fearing that Walter, with Southern heat, would rise and -slay her husband, "do let me enjoy Walter for one day without bothering -about business, won't you? Wait until to-night to talk things out." - -"As I'm obliged to get back to the office by two o'clock, I suppose I -shall have to wait until this evening. But I've already waited over a -year!" said Daniel, glancing at Walter to note the embarrassment he -expected his brother-in-law to feel at this thrust. - -But Walter was, by this time, beyond feeling anything but wonder and -amusement at Leitzel's conversation, with, also, a sense of -consternation at his fresh realization of poor Margaret's fate in being -saddled to a "mate" like this, who, apparently, let her have none of -the compensations which his huge wealth might have afforded her. - -"But you know," he trivially replied to Daniel's thrust, "'all things -come to him who waits.' You waited pretty long for a wife, didn't you, -Mr. Leitzel, and now you've _got_ one--very much so!--a hotheaded -little Southerner, with ideals of chivalry and honour and honesty which -I fear must make your hair stand up sometimes, you bloated capitalist! -Yes, in these days, when a man marries, he finds himself very _much_ -married, eh, Leitzel?" he inquired with a lightness which Daniel -thought extremely unbecoming under the circumstances. - -"Well," he retorted irritably, "I'll admit that sometimes I do think -I'm a little too much married!" - -"I'm afraid we've lost the art of keeping them within their 'true -sphere'; they've got rather beyond us in these days, haven't they?" - -"They're not nearly so womanly as they used to be!" said Daniel -sullenly. - -"But what are we going to do about it, poor shrimps that we are? -Suppose, for instance, that a man's wife has a quixotic idea of honour, -eccentric scruples about using money she thinks was not come by in -quite an ideal way, what's a corporation lawyer going to _do_ about it, -if she sets up her will, eh?" - -"There are the quite easy divorce courts," said Daniel darkly. - -"But there is also alimony." - -"The marriage laws of our land," affirmed Daniel, "ought to be revised." - -"They will be, as soon as women get the vote," said Walter. "And -then----" - -But Margaret, fearing the lengths to which her brother-in-law might go -in this reckless mood, brought the talk abruptly to an end. - -"It's a quarter to two, Daniel. You'll be late to your office. I'll -have dessert brought in at once. And you know it always takes you -fifteen minutes to say good-bye to the children. It feels so grand, -Walter, to refer to 'the children!' In the plural! I can't yet -believe or realize it! And as for Daniel--well, he's a Comic -Supplement, you know, about those twins," she rattled on, keeping the -talk, during the remainder of the luncheon, away from thin ice. So -that at last, when Daniel rose to go away, the suspicion roused by his -brother-in-law's remarks had been brushed aside and lost sight of; for -the time being, at least. - - - - -XXVII - -Daniel Leitzel's marriage had revealed to him a trait in himself of -which he had never before been conscious, a trait which no -circumstances of his life, hitherto, had roused into action; he -discovered, through his love for Margaret, that he could be intensely -jealous. Any least bit of her bestowed otherwhere than upon himself -was sure to arouse in his heart this most painful emotion. He was -jealous of her passion for books; of her friendship for Catherine -Hamilton; of her devotion to the twins; and now, to-day, of her -evidently chummy relation with her brother-in-law. It was, then, not -only his eagerness to get down to real business with Walter Eastman -that made him hurry through his office work and get home an hour -earlier than usual, but it was also the uncomfortable jealousy he felt -for Eastman, together with a return, during the afternoon, of the vague -suspicion Eastman's rambling, enigmatical remarks at luncheon had -roused in his mind, that goaded him. - -The fact was that some things Walter had said, as they kept recurring -to Daniel, were coming to have a sinister significance. - -To his keen disappointment and chagrin, however, he found, when he got -home, that neither his wife nor their guest was in the house. - -Seeking out the very capable maid Margaret had succeeded in securing, -he discovered her in a state of sulky indignation that would scarcely -vouchsafe to him a civil or intelligible answer to his inquiries. - -"Where is Mrs. Leitzel, Amanda?" - -"I don't know where your wife's at. She went out with that fellah," -the girl crossly replied. - -"'Fellah?'" repeated Daniel, indignant in his turn at what, even in a -New Munich servant, seemed very rude familiarity. - -"The fellah you're eatin' and sleepin' here," elucidated Amanda. - -"Did she take the twins with her?" - -"No, sir, she did _not_; she left 'em in _my_ charge!" - -"Why, then, are you not with them?" Daniel asked in quick anxiety. - -"I _was_ with 'em till them two women come in here interferin'!" - -"Two women? Ah, my sisters! Are they here? Where are they?" - -"Out there on the porch wakin' up them two babies your wife left -asleep, with me in _charge_ of 'em! If them women hadn't of been two -of them to one of me, they wouldn't of got the chanct to wake up them -twinses, you bet you!" - -Daniel banged the kitchen door spitefully and started for his sisters, -his sore and lacerated soul crying out for the sympathy, the -consolation their own aggrieved spirits would offer to his wrongs and -worries at the hands of a wife who, owing him everything, seemed to -find her chief occupation in irritating and thwarting him. - -He found Jennie and Sadie bending solicitously over the twins, who, -roused from their regular sleep, were wailing fretfully. - -"Yes, Danny, no wonder your poor babies cry!" Jennie exclaimed as he -appeared. "All alone out here in the cold, on a day like this yet! -Yes, this is where we found 'em when we come in! This is where you can -find 'em most any time!" - -"We saw Margaret start out walking with a strange young man, Danny," -Sadie explained, "and we come right over to see whatever had she done -with these poor babies; and this is where we found them--alone out here -in the cold." - -"They wasn't alone, no such a thing!" Amanda shouted from the doorway -whither she had followed Daniel. "I was right in here with my eye on -'em every minute, like Missus give me my orders before she went out -a'ready! I'm a trustworthy person, I'd like you to know, if I am a -poor workin' girl, and I ain't takin' no in_sults_!" - -"Nobody is blaming _you_," Daniel snapped back at her. - -"Yes, they are, too! These here two women come in here and begun -orderin' me round like as if _they_ was hirin' me! I take my orders -from _one_ Missus, not from three!" - -"We told her to bring the coach indoors and she flatly refused!" cried -Jennie. - -"My orders," said Amanda, folding her arms and standing at defiance, -"was to leave 'em out. When Missus tells me to bring 'em in, I'll -bring 'em in. Not _till_." - -"Amanda," said Daniel impressively, "these ladies are my sisters and -when they tell you to do a thing, you must do it." - -"Do they hire me and pay me my wages?" - -"_I_ hire you and pay you your wages." - -"Then have I got _four_ bosses yet at this here place? Not if I know -it!" - -"Take this coach into the house!" ordered Daniel. - -"When Missus tells me to. See?" - -"Danny," Sadie offered a suggestion, "leave me take the babies over to -our house while their mother is away. The idea of her going off like -this and leaving these poor infant twins in the care of a hired girl -that she ain't had but a week and don't know anything about! Don't it -beat all!" - -"I'd thank you not to pass no insinyations against my moral character!" -Amanda retorted. "If them twinses own mother could trust 'em to me, I -guess it's nobody else's business to come in here interferin'. I -wasn't told, when I took this place, that I'd be up against a bunch -like _this_, tryin' to order me round and passin' in_sults_ at me!" - -"That will do, Amanda," said Daniel with dignity. "Go out to your -kitchen." - -Amanda flounced away, as Sadie wheeled the baby-coach down the paved -garden path to the sidewalk, followed by anxious cautions from Jennie -to "go slow" and not strain her back pushing that heavy coach. - -"You poor Danny!" Jennie commiserated with him as they together entered -the parlour. "The way Margaret uses you, it most makes me sick! Even -her hired girl she teaches to disrespect you! Ain't?" - -"My life with Margaret is not exactly a 'flowery bed of ease,'" Daniel -ruefully admitted. - -"If only you hadn't of been so hasty to get married already, Danny! -You could of done so much better than what you did!" - -"But with all Margaret's faults," Daniel retorted, his pride of -possession pricked by the form of Jennie's criticism, "she's the most -aristocratic lady I ever met." - -"Oh, well, but I don't know about that either, Danny. It seems to me -she has some wonderful common ways. I never told you how one day when -our hired girl was crying with a headache, Margaret went and _put her -arm around her_ yet and called her 'my dear,' and made her lay down -till she rubbed her head for her! I told her afterward, she could be -good to Emmy without making herself _that_ common with her." - -"And what did she say?" - -"Och, she just laughed. You know how easy she can laugh. At most -anything she can fetch a silly laugh." - -Jennie walked into the sitting-room as she talked, inspecting -Margaret's makeshift arrangements to conceal the gapes caused by the -removal of the furniture which was hers and Sadie's. - -"I'm awful sorry, Danny, that you'll have the expense of new furniture, -when if Margaret had treated us right, we never would have left you. -And the very day you can make her pass her promise that she'll act -right to us, we'll be right back." - -"I'll never get her to," Daniel pouted. "She's too glad you're gone." - -"'Glad!'" echoed Jennie, horrified at the idea that her act of -vengeance in her sudden departure with her things an act so fearfully -expensive and inconvenient to her and Sadie, should be affording joy to -her enemy. - -"She was working you all the time to get you to go. She's half crazy -with delight at keeping house by herself. I certainly can't get her to -promise anything that would bring you _back_." - -"Oh!" Jennie gasped, her face almost gray from her deep sense of -defeat. "But look how we took all the care of housekeeping off of her! -And how it saved _expense_ for us to live together and----" - -"She never thinks of the _expense_ of anything!" - -"And to think," said Jennie, her voice choked, "she feels _glad_ to put -you to all that exter expense and she with not a dollar of her own! -Och, Danny, I don't know how you take it so good-natured off of her! I -can't bear to see you used so! And to think that you'll have to spend -for furniture if she keeps on being too stubborn-headed to apologize to -us!" - -"Well, as to the furniture, Jennie, her brother-in-law is here, and I'm -going to have him ship to us the furniture that belongs to Margaret -from her old home. It's very handsome and expensive furniture. Much -more expense than I could afford to buy. It's the handsomest furniture -I ever saw." - -"But I didn't know she had _any_thing!" Jennie exclaimed in surprise. - -"She has nothing but a half interest in a tumbledown old country place." - -"And look at how lordly she wants to act to you, and to us yet, that -have our own independent incomes!" - -They had reached the dining-room in their inspection of the house, and -Jennie noticed at once that the navy blue owl which for ten years had -stood on the sideboard was not there. - -"Oh!" she cried in a tragic voice, "is the owl broke?" - -"No. Margaret won't have it on the sideboard." - -"Won't have it on the sideboard! And haven't _you_ something to say if -that owl shall stand on the sideboard or no?" - -"I told her you and Sadie wouldn't like it when you found she had taken -it off." - -"Danny!" Jennie said in a sepulchral tone, "mebby she's fooling you: -mebby her dopplig (awkward) hired girl broke the owl, or either -Margaret broke it herself, and is afraid to tell you. Do you _think_ -mebby?" - -"No, it's up in the garret. She told Amanda to put it clear out of -sight in the garret." - -"Garret! The blue owl pitcher! But _why_ don't she want it here?" -Jennie demanded in mingled anger and wonder. - -"Margaret don't like that owl, Jennie." - -"To spite _you_ does she say she don't like it and put it in the -garret." - -"I told her I would miss it. I'm so used to it." - -"And don't she care if you want it on the sideboard setting, Danny?" - -"She said she'd save up and buy me a cut-glass pitcher to take its -place." - -"Well, to think you haven't the dare to have your own owl on the -sideboard setting when you want it, Danny! We'll see once if you -can't!" - -She suddenly strode to the door leading into the kitchen and pulled it -open. - -"Amanda, go up to the garret and fetch down the blue owl pitcher you -took up there." - -"When Missus sends me." - -"Danny!" Jennie appealed to her brother, "do you hear the impudence she -give me?" - -"Amanda," Daniel commanded, stepping to the door, "go up to the garret -and fetch down that blue glass pitcher as my sister tells you to do." - -"Missus told me to pack it away in the garret and I done it. When she -tells me to unpack it, I'll unpack it. Not till." - -"Amanda," said Daniel, looking white and obstinate, "you'll go upstairs -and bring down that owl, or you'll pack your things and leave this -house." - -"I'll leave this here house when Missus sends me! I like the place and -I'm stayin' till I'm fired by _her_. Not till." - -"If you're not out of here in half an hour"--Daniel took out his watch -and glanced at it--"I'll send for the police and have you ejected." - -Amanda glared for an instant. "Well, my goodness!" she exclaimed at -length, "to think of my gettin' up against a common bunch like this -here, when I thought (judgin' by Missus) that I was gettin' into a -_swell_ family, the kind I'm used to! All right! Suits _me_ to go. I -never worked anyhow at a house where they kep' only one maid. I'm used -to livin' with _aristocrats_!" she flung her parting shaft as she cast -off her white apron, stamped out of the kitchen and upstairs to her -room. - -"Now," Jennie triumphed as she and Daniel went back to the -sitting-room, "when Margaret comes home, she'll find out how nice it is -to have no hired girl and _us_ not here to cook, and her with company -to supper, and the babies over at our place where _she--can't--come_!" -she said with a cold-blooded incisiveness. "Mebby, after all, Danny, -she will wish she had us back here to keep care of things for her." - -"I'd like to know," Daniel pouted, "why she stays out so long with -Walter Eastman! I came home early on purpose to talk business with -him. I have several things of importance to settle up with him. I -want to get through with it and see him off, for I'm in a hurry to get -Margaret's furniture here, and to see what can be done with her -property down there. I'm sure _I_ can make it worth something. I'll -get Eastman's wife to give me a mortgage on it and then I'll----" - -The banging of the front door checked him. "They are back at last," he -said. - -"No, it's that sassy hired girl going," said Jennie with satisfaction -as she glanced from the window and saw the girl departing with a heavy -suit-case. - -"I guess," said Daniel, "I'll have to eat my supper over at your house, -Jennie, if you'll invite me. It looks as if there wouldn't be any -supper here. Or, if there is, it will be late. And you know how I -like to have my meal on time." - -"Of course you do. You come right along home with me, Danny, and get -your nice, warm supper at the time you're used to it! Emmy's making -waffles for supper this evening." - -"I'll leave a note for Margaret," said Daniel, going to a desk in a -corner of the room. "She might be frightened if she came in and found -us all gone and no explanation." - -"Leave her _be_ frightened; she _needs_ to worry about you, Danny!" - -"Yes, but it would be bad for Daniel Junior's milk to have her get -frightened." - -Jennie turned away primly. The frankness of speech upon ordinarily -unmentionable topics, which had seemed unavoidable since the advent of -the twins, was a severe strain upon her virgin sense of propriety. - -"Come on, Danny, it's five o'clock and we eat at half-past. I want for -you to have your nice, hot waffles right off the stove." - -As they left the house, Daniel saw, a few pavements off, Margaret and -Walter coming leisurely toward home, Margaret talking with eager -animation and Walter laughing in evidently keen enjoyment. - -Daniel set his teeth as he whirled about and moved at his sister's side -in the opposite direction. - -"All right!" he determined resentfully, looking like an angry bantam, -"I won't come home with the babies to-night until I'm _good and ready_." - - - - -XXVIII - -When again, the next morning, Daniel was obliged to arise betimes and -start up the fires, he felt a little regretfully that perhaps he had -been a bit hasty in discharging the capable, if impertinent, Amanda. - -"She was never impertinent to _me_," Margaret replied to his reason for -sending away her excellent maid. "And of course she did perfectly -right in refusing to take orders from Jennie that were directly -contrary to mine." - -"But from me?" - -"But you say you told her she must obey your sisters even when that -meant disobeying me. But there! I won't discuss it! Be sure, -however, that I shall take steps to protect myself against an -interference with my affairs that upsets my household. I shall -instruct my next maid that when Jennie and Sadie appear, she's to stand -by her job and 'phone for the police!" - -After breakfast that morning Daniel decided that he would not depart -for his office until he had "had it out" with his brother-in-law. - -But Walter's ideas as to the obligations of hospitality differed rather -widely from Daniel's. As a guest in Daniel's house, he could not -transact the business he meant that day to put through. So he declined -emphatically his host's invitation to come with him to the sitting-room -to "talk business." - -"At your office, Mr. Leitzel." - -Daniel's insistence that it suited him better to have it over right -here, "without any further procrastination," did not move Walter from -his persistent refusal to discuss their affairs under this roof. He -felt rather sure that in any business discussion he might have with -Daniel Leitzel he would be tempted to use language which a gentleman -cannot use to his host. After the interview, he intended to take his -suit-case and go to the Cocalico Hotel. - -Arrived at Leitzel's private office (Daniel feeling not at all amiable -at being forced to this second futile postponement of the adjustment -which surely Eastman must realize was inevitable) Walter stretched -himself out lazily in a comfortable chair by the window, lit a cigar, -and waited complacently for Daniel to open up fire. - -So Daniel, feeling strong in the righteousness of his cause, outlined -elaborately his plan to improve Berkeley Hill and rent it for the -benefit of the joint owners; or, if Walter and Harriet preferred, he -would take a mortgage against Harriet's half of the estate. - -Walter heard him through without a word of comment. - -"I wish," Daniel finally concluded, "to begin work on the place at once -to make it marketable. Can you give me the names and addresses of any -reliable contractors of Charleston?" - -"Plenty of them." - -"Good," said Daniel, taking from his pocket a notebook and pencil. -"Well?" - -"But it is quite useless for you to write to a contractor," said -Walter, blowing a long line of smoke from his mouth: "first, because -Mrs. Eastman would not consent to mortgage away her half of Berkeley -Hill; secondly, neither Margaret nor my wife would consent to such -alterations as you propose, which would indeed quite ruin the place; -thirdly, Margaret wishes her sister to continue to live at Berkeley -Hill." - -The cool effrontery of this latter made Daniel stare. - -"And you," he sharply demanded, "wouldn't you feel a little more -comfortable if you paid _rent_ for the house you live in?" - -"But why," smiled Walter, "should my 'feeling' in the matter interest -_you_?" - -"Bluff and impudence won't carry you through when I'm on the job, -Eastman! You'll have to come to terms or get into trouble. We'll -seize your wife's half of the estate for back rent, and then you'll -have nothing, whereas as I propose to work this thing----" - -"Your methods of 'working' business deals, Leitzel, are perfectly -familiar to me and I prefer to have nothing to do with them." - -"You prefer to continue to live in Margaret's house without in any way -compensating her? Well, I warn you, I don't intend to stand for it. -Since you take the stand you do, I'll make you pay rent for the past -year and a half!" - -"Margaret didn't tell me she had given you power of attorney over her -property. I happen to know that she and my wife have a perfectly good -understanding as to Berkeley Hill. It isn't at all necessary for you -and me to discuss it." - -"Oh, yes, it is, unless you want me to----" - -"There is a much more important matter," Walter interposed, "that we -need to discuss." - -Daniel's sharp little eyes bored into his like two gimlets. "Eh? -What?" - -"The case of your step-mother's right to one third of her husband's -estate." - -"What do you mean?" - -"Your wife's conscience, which you will of course think quixotic, but -which I, being of her own class and kind and country, quite understand, -will not permit her to live on money gotten by the defrauding of a -helpless and ignorant old woman; nor will she consent to her children's -inheriting such dishonest money. I must tell you this morning, Mr. -Leitzel, that you and your sisters and brother must at once restore to -your step-mother what is her own, or I will bring suit for her." - -Daniel, though looking white, nevertheless answered quite steadily: "My -step-mother is a New Mennonite; they do not sue at the law." - -"But get others to sue for them." - -"Did Margaret send for you to come up North for _this_?" Daniel -demanded, a steel coldness in his voice and look. - -"She did not send for me at all. I came to see her on quite another -matter--connected with the Berkeley Hill estate." - -"Indeed? But she has given you these data which you are using as -blackmail, has she, as to my father's widow, her religion, her rights, -her wrongs, her ignorance, and so forth?" - -"Margaret has not once mentioned to me your father's widow." - -"Then what do you mean? How do you know Margaret objects to the source -of my wealth? And what's your authority for all the rest of your -bluff?" - -"I know she objects to the source of your wealth because I know _her_, -as you, Leitzel, could not know her if you lived with her through three -lifetimes, since you are not, as I've already intimated, of her race or -class or country. I learned all the facts--the _facts_, notice--as to -the illegal withholding from your step-mother of her share of her -husband's estate entirely through surmise." - -"'Surmise?' You surmised them! How extraordinarily perspicuous! It's -rather surprising so sharp a lawyer has not made more of a success of -himself, eh?" - -"Your idea of success and mine would differ as widely as does your -understanding and mine of your wife. To get down to business, Mr. -Leitzel, you must at once restore to your step-mother her share in her -husband's estate, or we bring suit." - -"'We?' Who?" - -"I, for the old woman." - -"And what," Daniel asked, his lips stiff, "do you think you are going -to _get_ out of this?" - -"A reasonable fee." - -"Margaret authorizes you to say all this to me?" - -"She doesn't know I'm saying it. Has no least idea I meant to say it." - -"Oh, so you are acting independently, as a counterstroke to save -yourself from being forced to pay rent for the good home you and your -family enjoy?". - -"I am acting independently of Margaret anyway," returned Walter, quite -unruffled. - -"Margaret will forbid it!" - -"If I were not taking up this case with you this morning, Leitzel, -Margaret would herself, I am confident, put it into the hands of -another lawyer, who might not be so interested as I am in keeping it -out of the newspapers. Margaret would probably bungle the thing and -get herself into a mess of trouble, so I've decided I'd better do it -for her and do it with a minimum of fuss and worry for her." - -"She has told you she was going to put it into a lawyer's hands?" - -"She has told me nothing; at least she _thinks_ she has told me -nothing." - -"What do you mean by that--that she _thinks_ she has told you nothing?" - -"I've said that I've _surmised_ the facts I hold." - -"Well, your 'surmises' are all wrong! Margaret would not set a lawyer -to bringing suit against me! She's not quite a fool! She wouldn't -deliberately disgrace the father of her children!" - -"She would consider, rather, her children's shame in inheriting tainted -money." - -"I'll have her down here"--Daniel rose suddenly, though his knees shook -under him--"and put it to her, and you'll _see_ whether she is loyal to -her husband or not!" - -"Wait!" Walter checked him. "You will have her here of course if you -like, but don't you think she's been subjected to about enough -unpleasantness and nervous strain since yesterday afternoon? I can -give you the answer she'd have for you: you will restore to your -step-mother her third, or she will first institute a suit to make you -do it and then (as so drastic a measure as that will make your living -together rather unendurable) she will come home to Charleston with me." - -"And the twins?" - -"Would of course come with her." - -"And _you'd_ support them?" sneered Daniel. - -"Margaret would be amply able to support them. She wanted to postpone -telling you what it was that brought me North to see her just at this -time, but I persuaded her this morning to let me tell you at once. It -was this: a later will of her Uncle Osmond's has been found, in a -volume of Kant's 'Critique,' giving Margaret an annual income of five -thousand dollars. As the trustees of the estate had not yet begun the -work of founding their free-thought college, the matter was easily -adjusted. Uncle Osmond's change of heart, he states in a note, was -brought about by a talk he had with Margaret one night in which he -discussed his will with her and she pointed out to him that having -given to him those years of her life in which a girl might prepare -herself for a career, or at least for self-support, she would, if he -left her dowerless, be stranded high and dry. So the old curmudgeon -drew up a new will giving her a comfortable income, had it witnessed by -two psychologists from two Western universities who called on him one -day, stuck it into a damned old work on philosophy that no one would -ever dream of looking into except by accident, and so two years and a -half passed by before it was discovered." - -Under the double shock of being threatened in one moment with a lawsuit -that would rob him and his sisters and brother of a large part of their -income from their coal lands, and in the next moment learning the -joyful news that his wife was heiress to an annual income of five -thousand dollars, Daniel felt weak, almost helpless. - -He rallied after a few moments sufficiently to suggest feebly that he -would compromise in the case of his step-mother: give her a comfortable -income for the rest of her life. - -"For you see," he reasoned, "after all, the land was my own mother's, -and my step-mother has no moral right to it." - -"No use for you and me to discuss the _moral_ values of anything, -Leitzel," said Walter; "our points of view, as I've said before, being -too widely different. So we'll stick to the legal aspect, please." - -"Well, then, look at the matter practically. My step-mother would have -no _use_ for the large income she would receive from one third of the -estate. Her needs are too simple. It would simply be wasted." - -"That's a question for her, not for her lawyer. The more she has, the -better her sons and daughters will treat her, I guess, human nature -being what it is!" - -"What's more," argued Daniel, "she'd be under the necessity of making a -will, and at her time of life and in her state of health, that would -worry and tax her, and quite unnecessarily. I can settle a nice income -upon her that will more than cover all her simple, modest needs." - -"And hold it over her constantly that she is beholden to your -generosity! Your tender consideration that she shall not be worried -with the making of a will does credit to your heart! But you've let -her be worried for the past decade with impending starvation or the -poorhouse!" - -"And you want to tell me," Daniel burst out, "that Margaret hasn't -talked to you!" - -"Of 'a friend' of hers 'out West.' Of course I saw right through that." - -"So that," said Daniel bitterly, "was what that long letter was about -that I saw her writing to you one night, when she threw dust in my eyes -by saying she had 'a little surprise' for me up her sleeve!" - -"Aha!" laughed Walter. "Margaret always was cute!" - -"'Cute!' You call it 'cute,' to be underhanded with her own husband; -to plot to rob her own children of a large part of their inheritance; -to act in every possible way she can devise against my interests and -those of my family! And don't you see," he tackled another line of -argument, "that it will be extremely difficult to avert a public -scandal if we actually make over to my step-mother all this money? -Whereas a compromise----" - -"The only rule I know for averting scandals," said Walter, "is to live -honestly. Yes, it may cause comment, but not so much as a lawsuit -would cause." - -"You won't consider a compromise?" - -"Not for an instant. Except this," Walter added, lifting his hand; "we -will waive a claim for the accrued profits of past years." - -There was a long silence between them, Daniel nervously tapping his -foot on the fender before which he sat, and Walter lounging back in his -chair, looking so lazy and indifferent, it was difficult for Daniel to -believe that this man held in his hands the power to force a man like -himself, rich, influential, secure, to give up a large part of his -annual income. - -Well, there seemed to be no use in prolonging the present interview; -Daniel rose slowly to bring it to an end. - -"There seems nothing more to be said, Mr. Eastman." - -"But I must see this thing through, Mr. Leitzel, before I return to the -South, and I've got to return soon, so you must let me have my answer -not later than to-morrow. That will give you time to see your brother -and sisters." - -"Also time to see my step-mother, who, I happen to know, will not -_permit_ you to bring suit. She will consent to a compromise, and an -easy one." - -"You think so?" Walter smiled confidently, though on this point he did -not feel confident. "But whatever your step-mother may consent to, -your wife will _not_ consent to a compromise. She hasn't the sort of -conscience that compromises. And she considers this _her_ concern and -her children's. I am quite sure that if you don't make full -restitution to your step-mother, Margaret will go home with me, which, -from what I have witnessed of her life here, I think may be the best -thing she can do." - -"Her life here," said Daniel coldly, "is none of your business." - -He turned away abruptly, as though unable to bear more, and walked -quickly from the room. - -"And from beginning to end," said Walter to himself as he yawned and -stretched himself, "I was guessing! Wasn't absolutely sure that the -case _was_ Leitzel's step-mother's! Well," he concluded as he rose -lazily and strolled out of the building, "I'm enjoying my visit up here -quite a lot!" - -But as he went through the streets to the Cocalico Hotel, his face was -very sober. - -"To think of a woman like Margaret being tied up for life to a little -spider like that! Why didn't I _see_ it when he came a-courting her! -Ah, well," he drew a long breath, "I'll do my darndest to make it up to -her! I'll see the poor old Leitzel woman myself this morning, and I'll -get in _my_ good strokes _there_ before Dan Leitzel gets near her." - - - - -XXIX - -Again New Munich was shaken to its foundations by another startling -episode in the chronicles of the Leitzels--the resurrection, as it -were, of their New Mennonite step-mother, who took up her residence in -a pretty little old stone house a few doors from Daniel's gaudy -mansion; the most expensive location in the town, with the trained -nurse, who had taken care of Mrs. Danny Leitzel when the twins were -born, established in charge of the old woman's cozy small home, as her -companion and housekeeper. - -"What would we do without you Leitzels to keep us interested, not to -say excited?" Mrs. Ocksreider remarked to Margaret one day when she met -her on the street. "_I_ never knew they _had_ a step-mother." - -"She has always lived out in the country at their old home," said -Margaret, "but we all thought she ought to be nearer to us now that she -is getting so feeble and helpless; so we brought her in town." - -"You mean _you_ brought her in?" - -"Mr. Leitzel and I, of course." - -"Did she tell you I had called on her?" Mrs. Ocksreider inquired rather -defiantly, not wholly free from an uncomfortable sense of embarrassment -at the blatant curiosity that had taken her there. - -"No, but I saw your card there with a number of others," said Margaret. - -"You are with the old lady a great deal, aren't you? It is so nice of -you!" - -"I am very fond of Mrs. Leitzel," Margaret replied. - -"Well, she _is_ a dear," said Mrs. Ocksreider heartily; "one of the -sweetest little women I ever met. How prettily and cozily you have -fixed up her house! She told me you had done it all!" - -"I did enjoy getting her settled near me," Margaret smiled. "She's the -greatest comfort and blessing to me--to _any_ one who has the good -fortune to come into contact with her. I have known few people in my -life so guileless, so kindly disposed toward every one! The world -needs more of such souls, doesn't it, as a little leaven in the -hardness and sordidness all about us?" - -"Indeed we do!" Mrs. Ocksreider piously agreed. "And the dear old lady -is equally fond of you, my dear," she assured Margaret, patting her -arm. "She seems so _grateful_ to you," she added, putting out a feeler. - -"Yes?" said Margaret noncommittally. - -"I see Miss Jennie and Miss Sadie going in to see her very often, too," -said Mrs. Ocksreider tentatively. - -"Oh, yes, every day. They are very attentive to their mother," -Margaret replied quite soberly. - -"Are they so fond of her, too?" Mrs. Ocksreider asked, curiosity fairly -radiating from her ample countenance. "I had never in all these years -of my acquaintance with them heard them so much as refer to their -step-mother." - -"But you were never more than very formally acquainted with them," -Margaret returned in a tone of dismissing the discussion. "Has Miss -Ocksreider got back from New York?" - -"No, I expect her to-night. Come in to see her, Mrs. Leitzel--she -adores you! And so few of us see anything of you at all since your -babies came. You don't go anywhere any more, do you? Society -certainly does miss you." - -"You are very kind to say that. I am very much tied down, of course." - -"If you could get a good, capable nurse," suggested Mrs. Ocksreider, -again tentatively. Margaret did not know that the town was agog at the -fact, that, rich as Danny Leitzel was, his wife kept no child's nurse -for her babies. - -"I am trying to get one, Mrs. Ocksreider." - -"If I hear of one, I'll send her to you. Of course you were at the -luncheon yesterday, however? _Every_ one was at _that_." - -"What luncheon?" asked Margaret vaguely. - -"_What_ luncheon? She asks what luncheon!" exclaimed Mrs. Ocksreider, -casting up her eyes in horror. "The Missionary Jubilee Luncheon of -course!" - -"Oh!" cried Margaret, blushing, for this Missionary Jubilee Luncheon -had been an orgy of religious sentimentality in which the entire town -had united and nothing else had been talked of for weeks. "I had -forgotten all about it. I wasn't out of the house yesterday," she -added apologetically. - -"But didn't Miss Jennie and Miss Sadie tell you? I remember seeing -_them_ in the throngs." - -"They didn't speak of it," replied Margaret, not adding the information -for which Mrs. Ocksreider yearned, that they did not, these days, tell -her anything, since they "did not speak as they passed by." - -"But Mrs. Leitzel," pursued Mrs. Ocksreider, "how _could_ you 'forget' -a thing like our Missionary Jubilee, unless you were deaf, dumb, and -blind?" - -"Miss Hamilton never spoke of it to me, and I don't see many other -people. The truth is," Margaret owned up, "she and I were not -specially interested in it." - -"Oh! Why not?" - -"Well, I'm inclined to think that the so-called 'heathen' religions -are, in most cases, as good as, or better than, the substitute offered -by the half-educated missionaries." - -"'Half-educated!' Oh, but our missionaries are not half-educated, Mrs. -Leitzel!" exclaimed Mrs. Ocksreider, shocked. "Do you know, sometimes -I think you are not religious! And one of the women missionaries said -yesterday that a woman without religion was like a flower without -fragrance, or a landscape without atmosphere." - -"Epigrammatic," nodded Margaret, undisturbed. "I doubt whether she -thought that up herself." - -"Oh, but she was a beautiful speaker! I only just wish you had heard -her! You believe at least in a Supreme Being, don't you, Mrs. Leitzel?" - -The absurdity of such discussion on the sidewalk was too much for -Margaret's gravity and she helplessly laughed. But Mrs. Ocksreider -looked so grieved over her that she sobered up and answered, "I hope I -have a religion." - -"What _is_ your religion, Mrs. Leitzel?" - -"Well, I have ideals. Any one with ideals is religious." - -"Is _that_ all the religion you have?" - -"It's more than I can manage to live up to, and we'd better not have -_very_ much more religion than we can live out, do you think so?" - -This was rather too deep water for Mrs. Ocksreider and she changed the -subject. "Oh, well, every one has to settle these questions her own -way. I should think," she quickly added, evidently not willing to miss -her chance of clearing up a matter that was in her mind, "that Miss -Jennie and Miss Sadie would be rather jealous of their mother's -devotion to you. She talks so much of you and she never speaks of -them." - -"I'm new, you see," said Margaret, starting to move on as she felt the -ice getting thin. How these New Munich women could pry! "Good-bye," -she nodded as she hurried away before she could be further sounded. - -"I don't wonder, though," she thought on her way home, "that people are -curious and suspicious. How Jennie and Sadie can have the face, after -years of cruel neglect of their mother, to lavish upon her, now that -she has a fortune to will away, such obsequious and constant attention -and devotion--oh, it's nauseating! And their mother isn't a fool; she -is not taken in by it for one minute, I can see that." - -It was only that morning that, when she had run in to see Mrs. Leitzel -for a minute, she had found her just concluding a strictly private -interview with her New Mennonite preacher and a young lawyer of the -town whom Margaret knew by sight. - -"Don't tell Danny what you seen here, my dear, will you?" the old woman -nervously asked when they were alone. "Danny would take it hard that I -got another lawyer to tend to my business. But you see, Margaret, I -have afraid Danny would lawyer my money all off of me if he got at it." - -"I'll not say a word to him," Margaret had reassured her. - -"Jennie and Sadie, and Hiram when he comes to see me, now, once a week, -worries me so to make my will," she continued in a distressed voice. -"Hiram he tells me Danny's got so much more'n what he has and you got -more'n what his Lizzie has, so I had ought to leave what I got to _his_ -children. And Jennie and Sadie says they can't hardly get along since -they had to give up so much to me and I had ought to leave it to them -when I die, because Danny's got a-plenty to do with a'ready and a rich -wife yet, and Hiram lives so tight he don't _need_ more'n what he's -got. 'And, anyway,' Jennie says to me, 'of course I and Sadie would -will all _we_ had to Danny's and Hiram's children. You could even make -your will so's we'd _have_ to, Mom.' And then Danny he comes in and he -says, 'You know, mother, it was my wife that has been so kind and -generous to you, persuading us all that even if the coal lands did -belong, in the first place, to my own mother, we ought to give you your -share. It was _Margaret_ that wouldn't leave us put you in a home, -where Hiram and Jennie and Sadie were all for puttin' you. And I -listened on Margaret, mother, and wouldn't do it; so I don't think it -would be more'n right for you to leave your share of my mother's estate -to _me_, seeing that it was through my wife that you got any of it.' -Well, Margaret, they all kep' worryin' me so that now to-day I did make -my will oncet. Now I can say to 'em when they ast me about it, that my -will is made a'ready." - -"It is too bad that you should be worried about it so!" said Margaret -sympathetically. - -"Even Hiram's Lizzie comes to see me and asks me about my will, for all -I think it's Hiram puts her up to it; she don't _want_ to do it. I -took notice a'ready, my dear, you are the only one of 'em all that -never spoke nothin' to me yet how I was a-goin' to will away my money. - -"We have more interesting things to talk about, haven't we? I've run -in this morning to tell you that Mary Louise has beat Sonny cutting -teeth--she has _two_, and he hasn't one, the lazy fellow! I'll wager, -grossmutter, she'll keep ahead of him straight through life!" - -"But Sonny's anyhow fatter'n sister," maintained the proud grandmother, -between whom and Margaret there was kept up a constant play of -favouritism as to the babies. - -"Jennie says I'm letting Sonny get too fat and that it's dreadfully -unwholesome." - -"Sonny ain't too fat!" the jealous grandmother retorted indignantly; -"he's wery _neat_!" - -"If he would only draw the line at being 'neat,' but he's getting a -tummy like an alderman's!" Margaret anxiously declared. - -They laughed together over the joke and the old woman looked up fondly -into the bright, sweet face at her side. - -"You always cheer me up, dearie, when you come. The others never talk -to me about _nothin'_ except how I'm a-goin' to make my will, and how -I'm spendin' so much of my income, and how extravagant _you_ fitted up -this house for me with money that was rightly _theirn_; and oh, my -dear, I got so tired of hearin' about the money off of 'em! The only -other thing they ever want to talk about----" - -She stopped short and closed her lips. - -"Is the wicked, designing Jezebel that Danny has for a wife! Oh, yes, -I know. It's too bad, my dear, that they should fret you so! But -perhaps now that you can tell them your will is made, they'll stop -teasing you. I'm going to bring the babies in to see you this -afternoon. I must run along now; I have to go downtown and get Sonny -some new booties; he chewed up the last pair and they didn't agree with -him." - -Again the old woman laughed delightedly. Margaret could not realize -what a refreshment and comfort she was to her. - -"But before you go, Margaret, I want to ast you what Hiram means by -this here postal card I got off of him this morning in the mail." - -Margaret took the card offered to her and read: - - -"D. V. will come to see you Saturday to read the Scriptures with you -and have prayer with you. - - "In haste, your affectionate son, - "REV. HIRAM LEITZEL." - - -"I don't know who this D. V. _is_ that's coming," said Mrs. Leitzel -anxiously. "Do you, my dear? And I haven't the dare to hear religious -services with a world's preacher; it's against the rules of meeting." - -"'D. V.' stands for two Latin words, '_Deo volente_,' 'God willing.' -Hiram means _he_ will be here, God willing. I hope for your sake, God -won't be willing!" - -"Oh, but ain't you and Hiram got the grand education!" exclaimed Mrs. -Leitzel admiringly. "Well, if he does come, I can't leave him have no -religious services with me. Us New Mennonites, you know, we darsent -listen to no other preachers but our own, though I often did wish -a'ready I _could_ hear one of Hiram's grand sermons. They do say he -can stand on the pulpit just elegant!" - -Margaret kissed her, without comment upon Hiram's greatness as a -preacher, and came away. - -She was sincerely sorry that Daniel's sisters must, in the nature of -things, continue to regard her with bitter antagonism. She could have -borne it with perfect resignation if circumstances had not constantly -brought them together, for Jennie and Sadie came almost daily to her -home to see after their brother's little comforts and to fondle his -precious babies for an hour, though they never in their visits deigned -to recognize Margaret's existence. They would sail past her in her own -front hall, without speaking to her, and go straight to the nursery, or -to Daniel in his "den." - -Having been the means of depriving them of some of their income, she -was unwilling to take from them, also, the pleasure they had in the -babies; so beyond a mild suggestion to Daniel that he might tell them -they must treat her with decent courtesy in her own home, or else stay -away from it, she did not interfere with their visits, though she tried -to keep out of their way when they did come. - -Daniel, on his part, was aghast at the bare suggestion of further -endangering his children's inheritance by telling his sisters they must -be civil to his wife in her own home or stay away. He considered -Margaret's sense of values to be hopelessly distorted. - -It was not surprising that Margaret and old Mrs. Leitzel turned with -infinite relief from the society of the rest of the Leitzels to find in -each other an escape from a materialism as deadly to the soul's true -life as ashes to the palate. It was of the babies they talked mainly: -of their cunning ways; of Margaret's plans and ambitions for them; of -the new clothes she was making for them; of Daniel's devotion to and -pride in them. - -Mrs. Leitzel also heard with delighted interest Margaret's anecdotes of -her sister's children: how little Walter had called up the family -doctor on the telephone to ask whether when you got chicken-pox you got -feathers, and the doctor had said, "Not only feathers, but you crow -every morning," and now little Walter prayed every night that he might -soon have chicken-pox; also, how three-year-old Margaret, after an -operation for a swollen gland in her neck, had informed some visitors, -"I had an operation on my neck and the doctors cut it out." - -Mrs. Leitzel, in her turn, would relate to her by the hour anecdotes of -her past life, some of which proved very illuminating to Margaret as to -the Leitzel characteristics, and gave her much food for thought. - -"I used to have so afraid to be all alone--I can't tell you what it is -to me to feel so safe like what I do now, with this here kind Miss -Wenreich takin' care of me; and not bein' afraid to take a second cup -of tea when I feel fur it; because _now_ when my tea is all, I kin buy -more; and havin' no fear of freezin' to death if my wood gets all fur -me and I not able to go out and chop more; and not being forced any -more to eat _only_ just what would keep me alive. To have now full and -plenty and to feel safe and at peace--and to have you to love me! And -the dear babies! - -"One day, my dear, sich a sharper come to my house out there in the -country and he says, 'Where's your husband at?' Well, he looked so -wicked (fur all, he was nice dressed) that I didn't say to him, 'I'm a -widow, my husband ain't livin'!' I had so afraid if he knowed I was -alone, he might do me somepin. So I sayed, 'You kin tell me your -business, I'm the same as Mister.' 'You run things and handle the -money, do you?' he ast me. 'Well, then, I want you to give some fur to -buy Bibles fur the poor.' I said I didn't have no money to spare, but -I had an exter Bible I could give him. I knowed well enough he was a -sharper, but I thought mebby my old Bible might do him some good. So I -offered it to him. But he said the Lord didn't want no second-hand -stuff fur His poor. 'You're not a Christian,' he said, 'if you won't -give any to buy _new_ Bibles fur the poor.' And Margaret, he looked so -ugly, I had so afraid of him, I shook all over; but I purtended to call -Mister, and him dead near twenty years. Well, but at that, the sharper -took hisself off! Goodness knows what he might of done at me if I -hadn't of purtended to call Mister! Ain't? Well," she drew a long -sigh, "them worryin' days is all over now, thanks to you, my dear. -It's as Danny says: I'd be in the poorhouse if it hadn't of been fur -you." - -Margaret often marvelled, as she found herself deriving the keenest -pleasure from old Mrs. Leitzel's happiness and deep content, how the -Leitzels could so blindly miss, in their selfish materialism, the true -sources of joy in life. - - - - -XXX - -When a year after she had moved into town old Mrs. Leitzel died, it was -Margaret's private conviction that the Leitzels had worried her to -death trying to find out how she had made her will. It is said that -people of mild temper are usually obstinate, and the fact stands that -no one of them ever succeeded in getting from the old woman the least -hint as to the disposition she had made of her large property. - -"She would tell _you_," Daniel used to urge Margaret to find out the -coveted secret. - -"But I don't care to know." - -"I do. Find out for _me_." - -"Not for any consideration on earth or in heaven, my dear, would I lift -my finger about a matter which is so absolutely Mrs. Leitzel's own -private and personal concern and no one else's." - -The suspense and impatience with which, after her death, they awaited -the reading of the will, seemed to let loose every primitive animal -instinct of covetousness, and scarcely could they restrain, within -decent bounds, their fierce suspicions of each other and their hawklike -greed for the prey at stake. - -When it was found that after a bequest to the New Mennonite -denomination, and one to the nurse, Miss Wenreich, the entire remainder -of the fortune of the deceased was left unconditionally to Margaret, -the sensations and sentiments of the Leitzels were dynamic. Even -Daniel was more chagrined than pleased. An economically independent -wife, he had already found, was not the sort of whom Petruchio (who -expressed Daniel's idea exactly) could have said: - - "I will be master of what is mine own: - She is my goods, my chattels; she is my house, - My household stuff, my field, my barn, - My horse, my ox, my ass, my anything; - And here she stands, touch her whoever dares." - - -One couldn't maintain the Petruchio attitude, which was certainly the -true and orderly one, toward a wife who had a large income of her own -and was strangely lacking in a proper respect for her husband. - -It was not until Daniel discovered that Margaret had scruples about -accepting the money that he found himself as fearful lest it should -pass out of his family into the hands of strangers as he had hitherto -been eager to get it into his own hands. The pious and solemn -arguments he employed to convince her of her duty in the matter, far -from having any weight with her, rather confirmed her in her feeling -that, having forced the Leitzels to give up a third of their -possessions to their step-mother, it put her too much in the light of a -self-interested plotter to have the money come round eventually to her. - -It was, however, Catherine Hamilton who convinced her that she could -justly keep it. - -It was a trial to Catherine to be obliged, when speaking of the -Leitzels to Margaret, always to curb her tongue to a hypocritical form -of respect for them; for Margaret would not countenance any reflections -upon them. So Catherine's remarks, in the present instance, though -clearly conveying her meaning, were veiled. - -"Do you think, Margaret, that the Leitzels, _for their own spiritual -discipline_, ought to lose or get that money? Was old Mrs. Leitzel -wise or wrong in willing it away from them? Will you be wronging or -helping their immortal souls--if they have any," Catherine ventured -rather fearfully to add, "if you give it back to them? Another thing: -you have already learned enough about married life to know that only in -economic independence can a woman have any moral or spiritual freedom; -can she be a personality in herself, distinct from her husband's. With -all this money of your own, you will be free to control the education -of your children as you could not if your husband's money had to pay -for their education. Of course, in most cases, I suppose mothers and -fathers have no difficulty in agreeing perfectly about their children's -education; but when they differ radically, what a boon to a -conscientious mother to have means at her command to do for her -children what she thinks essential for their welfare in life! My dear, -it's the solution of the whole confounded 'woman movement' that women -shall be freed from an economic slavery which balks their efficiency as -mothers, as citizens, and even as wives. Also, with all this money of -your own, think what you can do to help me capitalize and organize my -ideal school for girls! Why, I can begin next week!" - -"And we _will_ begin next week! I've thought of another thing: I can -now use the money Uncle Osmond left me to help educate Hattie's -children. She and Walter are the sort that will never be affluent. -They care too little about money ever to acquire any." - -"And you can have an automobile of your own in which you will now and -then take my mother out for an airing to her great benefit!" added -Catherine. - -"It shall be at her disposal," declared Margaret. - -Another thing had occurred to her while Catherine had been speaking: -Daniel, she knew, would never allow her a just portion of his wealth -for the upkeep of their home and the rearing of their children. Every -dollar of his that she spent would have to be discussed and argued -about. This fortune which Mrs. Leitzel had left to her was really only -her fair share in her husband's possessions, which she could use freely -and quite independently of him. - -When once she was convinced that she was justified in keeping the -money, the frenzied raging of the Leitzels affected her not at all, -though Hiram's fury and agony carried him to the length of telling her -to her face that she was stealing the money (his own mother's money) -from _his_ children to give it to her own son and daughter. - -As for Daniel, his chagrin over his step-mother's will swung round, in -the end, to a chuckling glee over his wife's cleverness. - -"After all, Margaret, you do have some business ability! I declare you -outwitted us all with the cute way you managed to get things into your -own hands! That wasn't a bad deal, my dear, not at all a bad deal, and -I shouldn't have supposed it was _in_ you! You seemed to care so -little for money! And to think that all the while you were working -such a clever scheme as this! Well, I knew when I decided to marry you -that you weren't stupid. I trust that Daniel Junior will inherit the -joint business acumen of his mother and father. He'll be some business -man if he does, won't he?" - -"God forbid!" was Margaret's reply, which Daniel thought quite -idiotically irrelevant. But he was ceasing to try to understand what -seemed to him his wife's unexplainable inconsistencies. - -He even came, in time, to submit, without fretting, to Margaret's ideas -of running a household; finding her innovations, which had at first -seemed to him madly extravagant, to be as necessary to his comfort and -convenience as to hers. But he never did get so used to them as to -cease to feel an immense pride in what Jennie and Sadie called -"Margaret's tony ways." He always covertly watched the faces of guests -in his home (for they had guests now) to note wonder and admiration at -the elegance of its appointments, the formal service at meals, the -dainty tea table brought into the parlour every day at five, and the -many other fastidious trifles introduced into their daily life. - -It is to be noted that though the intimacy of Catherine and Margaret -continued throughout their lives, Catherine never once found courage to -put to her friend and confidante the question to which she could not, -in her knowledge of Margaret's character, find any answer: "What in the -world was it that ever induced you to marry Daniel Leitzel?" - -It was only through motherhood, which was to Margaret her religion, -that she learned, among other great lessons, how mistaken she had been -in selling herself for a home. And the paramount ideal which she -always held up to her boy and girl, as being the foundation of -everything that was worth while in life, was the highest conception of -mated love which she could possibly give them. - - - -THE END - - - - - - - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Her Husband's Purse, by Helen R. Martin - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HER HUSBAND'S PURSE *** - -***** This file should be named 55298-8.txt or 55298-8.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/5/5/2/9/55298/ - -Produced by Al Haines -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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