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diff --git a/old/aiken10.txt b/old/aiken10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..903d896 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/aiken10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8279 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook Aikenside, By Mary J. Holmes + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**EBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These EBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers***** + + +Title: Aikenside + +Author: Mary J. Holmes + +Release Date: November 2004 [EBook #6954] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on February 16, 2003] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + + + + + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AIKENSIDE, BY MARY J. HOLMES *** + + + +This eBook was produced byJuliet Sutherland, Charles Franks and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team + + + + + +AIKENSIDE + +MARY J. HOLMES + + + +Author of "Maggie Miller," "Dora Drane," "English Orphans," "The +Homestead on the Hillside," "Meadowbrook Farm," "Lena Rivers," +"Rosamond," "Cousin Maude," "Tempest and Sunshine," "Rector of St. +Marks," "Mildred," "The Leighton Homestead," "Miss McDonald" + + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +THE EXAMINING COMMITTEE. + + +The good people of Devonshire were rather given to quarreling-- +sometimes about the minister's wife, meek, gentle Mrs. Tiverton, whose +manner of housekeeping, and style of dress, did not exactly suit them; +sometimes about the minister himself, good, patient Mr. Tiverton, who +vainly imagined that if he preached three sermons a week, attended the +Wednesday evening prayer-meeting, the Thursday evening sewing society, +officiated at every funeral, visited all the sick, and gave to every +beggar who called at his door, besides superintending the Sunday +school, he was earning his salary of six hundred per year. + +Sometimes, and that not rarely, the quarrel crept into the choir, and +then, for one whole Sunday, it was all in vain that Mr. Tiverton read +the psalm and hymn, casting troubled glances toward the vacant seats +of his refractory singers. There was no one to respond, unless it were +good old Mr. Hodges, who pitched so high that few could follow him; +while Mrs. Captain Simpson--whose daughter, the organist, had been +snubbed at the last choir meeting by Mr. Hodges' daughter, the alto +singer--rolled up her eyes at her next neighbor, or fanned herself +furiously in token of her disgust. + +Latterly, however, there had come up a new cause of quarrel, before +which every other cause sank into insignificance. Now, though the +village of Devonshire could boast but one public schoolhouse, said +house being divided into two departments, the upper and lower +divisions, there were in the town several district schools; and for +the last few years a committee of three had been annually appointed to +examine and decide upon the merits of the various candidates for +teaching, giving to each, if the decision were favorable, a little +slip of paper certifying their qualifications to teach a common +school. Strange that over such an office so fierce a feud should have +arisen; but when Mr. Tiverton, Squire Lamb and Lawyer Whittemore, in +the full conviction that they were doing right, refused a certificate +of scholarship to Laura Tisdale, niece of Mrs. Judge Tisdale, and +awarded it to one whose earnings in a factory had procured for her a +thorough English education, the villagers, to use a vulgar phrase, +were at once set by the ears, the aristocracy abusing, and the +democracy upholding the dismayed trio, who, as the breeze blew harder, +quietly resigned their office, and Devonshire was without a school +committee. + +In this emergency something must be done, and, as the two belligerent +parties could only unite on a stranger, it seemed a matter of special +providence that only two months before, young Dr. Holbrook, a native +of modern Athens, had rented the pleasant little office on the village +common, formerly occupied by old Dr. Carey, now lying in the graveyard +by the side of some whose days he had prolonged, and others whose days +he had surely shortened. Besides being handsome, and skillful, and +quite as familiar with the poor as the rich, the young doctor was +descended from the aristocratic line of Boston Holbrooks, facts which +tended to make him a favorite with both classes; and, greatly to his +surprise, he found himself unanimously elected to the responsible +office of sole Inspector of Common Schools in Devonshire. It was in +vain that he remonstrated, saying he knew nothing whatever of the +qualifications requisite for a teacher; that he could not talk to +girls, young ones especially; that he should make a miserable failure, +and so forth. The people would not listen. Somebody must examine the +teachers and that somebody might as well be Dr. Holbrook as anybody. + +"Only be strict with 'em, draw the reins tight, find out to your +satisfaction whether a gal knows her P's and Q's before you give her a +stifficut. We've had enough of your ignoramuses," said Colonel Lewis, +the democratic potentate to whom Dr. Holbrook was expressing his fears +that he should not give satisfaction. Then, as a bright idea suggested +itself to the old gentleman, he added: "I tell you what, just cut one +or two at first; that'll give you a name for being particular, which +is just the thing." + +Accordingly, with no definite idea as to what was expected of him, +except that he was to find out "whether a girl knew her P's and Q's," +and was also to "cut one or two of the first candidates," Dr. Holbrook +accepted the office, and then awaited rather nervously his initiation. +He was not easy in the society of ladies, unless, indeed, the lady +stood in need of his professional services, when he lost sight of +_her_ at once, and thought only of her disease. His patient once +well, however, he became nervously shy and embarrassed, retreating as +soon as possible from her presence to the covert of his friendly +office, where, with his boots upon the table and his head thrown back +in a most comfortable position, he sat one April morning, in happy +oblivion of the bevy of girls who must, of course, ere long-invade his +sanctum. + +"Something for you, sir. The lady will wait for an answer," said his +"chore boy," passing to his master a little three-cornered note, and +nodding toward the street. + +Following the direction indicated, the doctor saw, drawn up near his +door, an old-fashioned one-horse wagon, such as is still occasionally +seen in New England. A square boxed, dark green wagon, drawn by a +sorrel horse, sometimes called by the genuine Yankee "yellow," and +driven by a white-haired man, whose silvery locks, falling around his +wrinkled face, gave to him a pleasing, patriarchal appearance, which +interested the doctor far more than did the flutter of the blue ribbon +beside him, even though the bonnet that ribbon tied shaded the face of +a young girl. The note was from her, and, tearing it open, the doctor +read, in the prettiest of all pretty, girlish handwriting: + +"Dr. Holbrook." + +Here it was plainly visible that a "D" had been written as if she +would have said "Dear." Then, evidently changing her mind, she had +with her finger blotted out the "D," and made it into an oddly shaped +"S," so that it read simply: + +"Dr. Holbrook--Sir: Will you be at leisure to examine me on Monday +afternoon, at three o'clock? + + "MADELINE A. CLYDE. + +"P. S.--For particular reasons I hope you can attend to me as early as +Monday. M. A. C." + +Dr. Holbrook knew very little of girls, but he thought this note, with +its P. S., decidedly girlish. Still he made no comment, either verbal +or mental, so flurried was he with knowing that the evil he so much +dreaded had come upon him at last. Had it been left to his choice, he +would far rather have extracted every one of that maiden's teeth, than +to have set himself up before her like some horrid ogre, asking what +she knew. But the choice was not his, and, turning to the boy, he +said, laconically, "Tell her to come." + +Most men would have sought for a glimpse of the face under the bonnet +tied with blue, but Dr. Holbrook did not care a picayune whether it +were ugly or fair, though it did strike him that the voice was +singularly sweet, which, after the boy had delivered his message, said +to the old man, "Now, grandpa, we'll go home. I know you must be +tired." + +Slowly Sorrel trotted down the street, the blue ribbons fluttering in +the wind, while one little ungloved hand was seen carefully adjusting +about the old man's shoulders the ancient camlet cloak which had done +duty for many a year, and was needed on this chill April day. The +doctor saw all this, and the impression left upon his mind was, that +Candidate No. 1 was probably a nice-ish kind of a girl, and very good +to her grandfather. But what should he ask her, and how demean himself +toward her? Monday afternoon was frightfully near, he thought, as this +was only Saturday; and then, feeling that he must be ready, he brought +out from the trunk, where, since his arrival in Devonshire, they had +bean quietly lying, books enough to have frightened an older person +than poor little Madeline Clyde, riding slowly home with grandpa, and +wishing so much that she'd had a glimpse of Dr. Holbrook, so as to +know what he was like, and hoping he would give her a chance to repeat +some of the many pages of geography and "Parley's History," which she +knew by heart. How she would have trembled could she have seen the +formidable volumes heaped upon his table and waiting for her. There +were French and Latin grammars, "Hamilton's Metaphysics," "Olmstead's +Philosophy," "Day's Algebra," "Butler's Analogy," and many others, +into which poor Madeline had never so much as looked. Arranging them +in a row, and half wishing himself back again to the days when he had +studied them, the doctor went out to visit his patients, of which +there were so many that Madeline Clyde entirely escaped his mind, nor +did she trouble him again until the dreaded Monday came, and the hands +of his watch pointed to two. + +"One hour more," he said to himself, just as the roll of wheels and a +cloud of dust announced the approach of something. + +Could it be Sorrel and the square-boxed wagon? Oh, no; far different +from grandfather Clyde's turnout was the stylish carriage and the +spirited bays dashing down the street, the colored driver reining them +suddenly, not before the office door, but just in front of the white +cottage in the same yard, the house where Dr. Holbrook boarded, and +where, if he ever married in Devonshire, he would most likely bring +his wife. + +"Guy Remington, the very chap of all others whom I'd rather see, and, +as I live, there's Agnes, with Jessie. Who knew she was in these +parts?" was the doctor's mental exclamation, as, running his fingers +through his hair and making a feint of pulling up the corners of his +rather limp collar, he hurried out to the carriage, from which a +dashing looking lady of thirty, or thereabouts, was alighting. + +"Why, Agnes, I beg your pardon, Mrs. Remington, when did you come?" he +asked, offering his hand to the lady, who, coquettishly shaking back +from her pretty, dollish face a profusion of light brown curls, gave +him the tips of her lavender kids, while she told him she had come to +Aikenside the Saturday before; and hearing, from Guy that the lady +with whom he boarded was an old friend of hers, she had driven over to +call, and brought Jessie with her. "Here, Jessie, speak to the doctor. +He was poor dear papa's friend," and a very proper sigh escaped Agnes +Remington's lips as she pushed a little curly-haired girl toward Dr. +Holbrook. + +The lady of the house had spied them by this time, and came running +down the walk to meet her rather distinguished visitor, wondering, it +may be, to what she was indebted for this call from one who, since her +marriage with the supposed wealthy Dr. Remington, had rather cut her +former acquaintances. Agnes was delighted to see her, and, as Guy +declined entering the cottage just then, the two friends disappeared +within the door, while the doctor and Guy repaired to the office, the +latter sitting down in the very chair intended for Madeline Clyde. +This reminded the doctor of his perplexity, and also brought the +comforting thought that Guy, who had never failed him yet, could +surely offer some suggestions. But he would not speak of her just now; +he had other matters to talk about, and so, jamming his penknife into +a pine table covered with similar jams, he said: "Agnes, it seems, has +come to Aikenside, notwithstanding she declared she never would, when +she found that the whole of the Remington property belonged to your +mother, and not your father." + +"Oh, yes. She got over her pique as soon as I settled a handsome +little income on Jessie, and, in fact, on her too, until she is +foolish enough to marry again, when it will cease, of course, as I do +not feel it my duty to support any man's wife, unless it be my own, or +my father's," was Guy Remington's reply; whereupon the penknife went +again into the table, and this time with so much force that the point +was broken off; but the doctor did not mind it, and with the jagged +end continued to make jagged marks, while he continued: "She'll hardly +marry again, though she may. She's young--not over twenty-six--- + +"Twenty-eight, if the family Bible does not lie; but she'd never +forgive me if she knew I told you that. So let it pass that she's +twenty-six. She certainly is not more than three years your senior, a +mere nothing, if you wish to make her Mrs. Holbrook;" and Guy's dark +eyes scanned curiously the doctor's face, as if seeking there for the +secret of his proud young stepmother's anxiety to visit plain Mrs. +Conner that afternoon. But the doctor only laughed merrily at the idea +of his being father to Guy, his college chum and long-tried friend. + +Agnes Remington--reclining languidly in Mrs. Conner's easy-chair, and +overwhelming her former friend with descriptions of the gay parties +she had attended in Boston, and the fine sights she saw in Europe, +whither her gray-haired husband had taken her for a wedding tour-- +would not have felt particularly flattered, could she have seen that +smile, or heard how easily, from talking of her, Dr. Holbrook turned +to another theme, to Madeline Clyde, expected now almost every moment. +There was a merry laugh on Guy's part, as he listened to the doctor's +story, and, when it was finished, he said: "Why, I see nothing so very +distasteful in examining a pretty girl, and puzzling her, to see her +blush. I half wish I were in your place. I should enjoy the novelty of +the thing." "Oh, take it, then; take my place, Guy," the doctor +exclaimed, eagerly. "She does not know me from Adam. Here are books, +all you will need. You went to a district school once a week when you +were staying in the country. You surely have some idea, while I have +not the slightest. Will you, Guy?" he persisted more earnestly, as he +heard wheels in the street, and was sure old Sorrel had come again. + +Guy Remington liked anything savoring of a frolic, but in his mind +there were certain conscientious scruples touching the justice of the +thing, and so at first he demurred; while the doctor still insisted, +until at last he laughingly consented to commence the examination, +provided the doctor would sit by, and occasionally come to his aid. + +"You must write the certificate, of course," he said, "testifying that +she is qualified to teach." + +"Yes, certainly, Guy, if she is; but maybe she won't be, and my orders +are, to be strict--very strict." + +"How did she look?" Guy asked, and the doctor replied: "Saw nothing +but her bonnet. Came in a queer old go-giggle of a wagon, such as your +country farmers drive. Guess she won't be likely to stir up the bile +of either of us, particularly as I am bullet proof, and you have been +engaged for years. By the way, when do you cross the sea again for the +fair Lucy? Rumor says this summer." + +"Rumor is wrong, as usual, then," was Guy's reply, a soft light +stealing into his handsome eyes. Then, after a moment, he added: "Miss +Atherstone's health is far too delicate for her to incur the risks of +a climate like ours. If she were well acclimated, I should be glad, +for it is terribly lonely up at Aikenside." + +"And do you really think a wife would make it pleasanter?" Dr Holbrook +asked, the tone of his voice indicating a little doubt as to a man's +being happier for having a helpmate to share his joys and sorrows. + +But no such doubts dwelt in the mind of Guy Remington. Eminently +fitted for domestic happiness, he looked forward anxiously to the time +when sweet Lucy Atherstone, the fair English girl to whom he had +become engaged when, four years before, he visited Europe, should be +strong enough to bear transplanting to American soil. Twice since his +engagement he had visited her, finding her always lovely, gentle, and +yielding. Too yielding, it sometimes seemed to him, while occasionally +the thought had flashed upon him that she did not possess a very +remarkable depth of intellect. But he said to himself, he did not +care; he hated strong-minded women, and would far rather his wife +should be a little weak than masculine, like his Aunt Margaret, who +sometimes wore bloomers, and advocated women's rights. Yes, he greatly +preferred Lucy Atherstone, as she was, to a wife like the stately +Margaret, or like Agnes, his pretty stepmother, who only thought how +she could best attract attention; and as it had never occurred to him +that there might be a happy medium, that a woman need not be brainless +to be feminine and gentle, he was satisfied with his choice, as well +he might be, for a fairer, sweeter flower never bloomed than Lucy +Atherstone, his affianced bride. Guy loved to think of Lucy, and as +the doctor's remarks brought her to his mind, he went off into a +reverie concerning her, becoming so lost in thought that until the +doctor's hand was laid upon his shoulder by way of rousing him, he did +not see that what his friend had designated as a go-giggle was +stopping in front of the office, and that from it a young girl was +alighting. + +Naturally very polite to females, Guy's first impulse was to go to her +assistance, but she did not need it, as was proven by the light spring +with which she reached the ground. The white-haired man was with her +again, but he evidently did not intend to stop, and a close observer +might have detected a shade of sadness and anxiety upon his face as +Madeline called cheerily out to him: "Good-by, grandpa. Don't fear for +me; I hope you have good luck;" then, as he drove away, she ran a step +after him and said; "Don't look so sorry, for if Mr. Remington won't +let you have the money, there's my pony, Beauty. I am willing to give +him up." + +"Never, Maddy. It's all the little fortin' you've got. I'll let the +old place go first;" and, chirruping to Sorrel, the old man drove on, +while Madeline walked, with a beating heart, to the office door, +knocking timidly. + +Glancing involuntarily at each other, the young men exchanged meaning +smiles, while the doctor whispered softly: "Verdant--that's sure. +Wonder if she'll knock at a church." + +As Guy sat nearest the door, it was he who held it ajar while Madeline +came in, her soft brown eyes glistening with something like a tear, +and her cheeks burning with excitement as she took the chair indicated +by Guy Remington, who unconsciously found himself master of +ceremonies. + +Poor little Madeline! + + + + +CHAPTER II + +MADELINE CLYDE. + + +Madge her schoolmates called her, because the name suited her, they +said; but Maddy they called her at home, and there was a world of +unutterable tenderness in the voices of the old couple, her +grandparents, when they said that name, while their dim eyes lighted +up with pride and joy when they rested upon the young girl who +answered to the name of Maddy. Their only daughter's only child, she +had lived with them since her mother's death, for her father was a sea +captain, who never returned from his last voyage to China, made two +months before she was born. Very lonely and desolate would the home of +Grandfather Markham have been without the presence of Madeline, but +with her there, the old red farmhouse seemed to the aged couple like a +paradise. + +Forty years they had lived there, tilling the rather barren soil of +the rocky homestead, and, saving the sad night when they heard that +Richard Clyde was lost at sea, and the far sadder morning when their +daughter died, bitter sorrow had not come to them; and, truly thankful +for the blessings so long vouchsafed them, they had retired each night +in peace with God and man, and risen each morning to pray. But a +change was coming over them. In an evil hour Grandpa Markham had +signed a note for a neighbor and friend, who failed to pay, and so it +all fell on Mr. Markham, who, to meet the demand, mortgaged his +homestead; the recreant neighbor still insisting that long before the +mortgage should be due, he certainly would be able himself to meet it. +This, however, he had not done, and, after twice begging off a +foreclosure, poor old Grandfather Markham found himself at the mercy +of a grasping, remorseless man, into whose hands the mortgage had +passed. It was vain to hope that Silas Slocum would wait. The money +must either be forthcoming, or the red farmhouse be sold, with its few +acres of land. Among his neighbors there was not one who had the money +to spare, even if they had been willing to do so. And so he must look +among strangers. + +"If I could only help," Madeline had said one evening when they sat +talking over their troubles; "but there's nothing I can do, unless I +apply for our school this summer. Mr. Green is committeeman; he likes +us, and I don't believe but what he'll let me have it. I mean to go +and see;" and, ere the old people had recovered from their +astonishment, Madeline had caught her bonnet and shawl, and was flying +down the road. + +Madeline was a favorite with all, especially with Mr. Green, and as +the school would be small that summer, the plan struck him favorably. +Her age, however, was an objection, and he must take time to see what +others thought of a child like her becoming a schoolmistress. Others +thought well of it, and so before the close of the next day it was +generally known through Honedale, as the southern part of Devonshire +was called, that pretty little Madge Clyde had been engaged as +teacher, she receiving three dollars a week, with the understanding +that she must board herself. It did not take Madeline long to +calculate that twelve times three were thirty-six, more than a tenth +of what her grandfather must borrow. It seemed like a little fortune, +and blithe as a singing bird she flitted about the house, now stopping +a moment to fondle her pet kitten, while she whispered the good news +in its very appreciative ear, and then stroking her grandfather's +silvery hair, as she said: + +"You can tell them that you are sure of paying thirty-six dollars in +the fall, and if I do well, maybe they'll hire me longer. I mean to +try my very best. I wonder if ever anybody before me taught a school +when they were only fourteen and a half. Do I look as young as that?" +and for an instant the bright; childish face scanned itself eagerly in +the old-fashioned mirror, with the figure of an eagle on the top. + +She did look very young, and yet there was something womanly, too, in +the expression of the face, something which said that life's realities +were already beginning to be understood by her. + +"If my hair were not short I should do better. What a pity I cut it +the last time; it would have been so long and splendid now," she +continued, giving a kind of contemptuous pull at the thick, beautiful +brown hair on whose glossy surface there was in certain lights a +reddish tinge, which added to its beauty. + +"Never mind the hair, Maddy," the old man said, gazing fondly at her +with a half sigh as he remembered another brown head, pillowed now +beneath the graveyard turf. "Maybe you won't pass muster, and then the +hair will make no difference. There's a new committee-man, that Dr. +Holbrook, from Boston, and new ones are apt to be mighty strict." + +Instantly Maddy's face flushed all over with nervous dread, as she +thought: "What if I should fail?" fancying that to do so would be an +eternal disgrace. But she should not. She was called by everybody the +very best scholar in school, the one whom the teachers always put +forward when desirous of showing off, the one whom Mr. Tiverton, and +Squire Lamb, and Lawyer Whittemore always noticed so much. Of course +she should not fail, though she did dread Dr. Holbrook, wondering much +what he would ask her first, and hoping it would be something in +arithmetic, provided he did not stumble upon decimals, where she was +apt to get bewildered. She had no fears of grammar. She could pick out +the most obscure sentence and dissect a double relative with perfect +ease; then, as to geography, she could repeat whole pages of that, +while in the spelling-book, the foundation of a thorough education, as +she had been taught, she had no superiors, and but a very few equals. +Still she would be very glad when it was over, and she appointed +Monday, both because it was close at hand, and because that was the +day her grandfather had set in which to ride to Aikenside, in an +adjoining town, and ask its young master for the loan of three hundred +dollars. + +He could hardly tell why he had thought of applying to Guy Remington +for help, unless it were that he once had saved the life of Guy's +father, who, as long as he lived, had evinced a great regard for his +benefactor, frequently asserting that he meant to do something for +him. But the something was never done, the father was dead, and in his +strait the old man turned to the son, whom he knew to be very rich, +and who he had been told was exceedingly generous. + +"How I wish I could go with you clear up to Aikenside! They say it's +so beautiful," Madeline had said, as on Saturday evening they sat +discussing the expected events of the following Monday. "Mrs. Noah, +the housekeeper, had Sarah Jones there once, to sew, and she told me +all about it. There are graveled walks, and nice green lawns, and big, +tall trees, and flowers--oh! so many!--and marble fountains, with gold +fishes in the basin; and statues, big as folks, all over the yard, +with two brass lions on the gateposts. But the house is finest of all. +There's a drawing-room bigger than a ballroom, with carpets that let +your feet sink in so far; pictures and mirrors clear to the floor-- +think of that, grandpa! a looking-glass so tall that one can see the +very bottom of their dress and know just how it hangs. Oh, I do so +wish I could have a peep at it! There are two in one room, and the +windows are like doors, with lace curtains; but what is queerest of +all, the chairs and sofas are covered with real silk, just like that +funny, gored gown of grandma's up in the oak chest. Dear me! I wonder +if I'll ever live in such a place as Aikenside?" + +"No, no, Maddy, no. Be satisfied with the lot where God has put you, +and don't be longing after something higher, Our Father in heaven +knows just what is best for us; as He didn't see fit to put you up at +Aikenside, 'tain't noways likely you'll ever live in the like of it." + +"Not unless I should happen to marry a rich man. Poor girls like me +have sometimes done that, haven't they?" was Maddy's demure reply. + +Grandpa Markham shook his head. + +"They have, but it's mostly their ruination; so don't build castles in +the air about this Guy Remington." + +"Me! Oh, grandpa, I never dreamed of Mr. Guy!" and Madeline blushed +half indignantly. "He's too rich, too aristocratic, though Sarah said +he didn't act one bit proud, and was so pleasant, the servants all +worship him, and Mrs. Noah thinks him good enough for the Queen of +England. I shall think so, too, if he lets you have the money. How I +wish it was Monday night, so we could know sure!" + +"Perhaps we both shall be terribly disappointed," suggested grandpa, +but Maddy was more hopeful. + +She, at least, would not fail, while what she had heard of Guy +Remington, the heir of Aikenside, made her believe that he would +accede at once to her grandpa's request. + +All that night she was working to pay the debt, giving the money +herself into the hands of Guy Remington, whom she had never seen, but +who came up in her dreams the tall, handsome-looking man she had so +often heard described by Sarah Jones after her return from Aikenside. +Even the next day, when, by her grandparent's side, Maddy knelt +reverently in the small, time-worn church at Honedale, her thoughts, +it must be confessed, were wandering more to the to-morrow and +Aikenside, than to the sacred words her lips were uttering. She knew +it was wrong, and with a nervous start would try to bring her mind +back from decimal fractions to what the minister was saying; but Maddy +was mortal, and right in the midst of the Collect, Aikenside and its +owner would rise before her, together with the wonder how she and her +grandfather would feel one week from that Sabbath day. Would the +desired certificate be hers? or would she be disgraced forever and +ever by a rejection? Would the mortgage be paid and her grandfather at +ease, or would his heart be breaking with the knowing he must leave +what had been his home for so many years? Not thus was it with the +aged disciple beside her--the good old man, whose white locks swept +the large lettered book over which his wrinkled face was bent, as he +joined in the responses, or said the prayers whose words had over him +so soothing an influence, carrying his thoughts upward to the house +not made with hands, which he felt assured would one day be his. Once +or twice, it is true, thoughts of losing the dear old red cottage +flitted across his mind with a keen, sudden pang, but he put it +quickly aside, remembering at the same instant how the Father he loved +doeth all things well to such as are His children. Grandpa Markham was +old in the Christian course, while Maddy could hardly be said to have +commenced as yet, and so to her that April Sunday was long and +wearisome. How she did wish she might just look over the geography, by +way of refreshing her memory, or see exactly how the rule for +extracting the cube root did read, but Maddy forebore, reading only +the Pilgrim's Progress, the Bible, and the book brought from the +Sunday school. + +With the earliest dawn, however, she was up, and her grandmother heard +her repeating to herself much of what she dreaded Dr. Holbrook might +question her upon. Even when bending over the washtub, for there were +no servants at the red cottage, a book was arranged before her so that +she could study with her eyes, while her small, fat hands and dimpled +arms were busy in the suds. Before ten o'clock everything was done, +the clothes, white as the snowdrops in the garden beds, were swinging +on the line, the kitchen floor was scrubbed, the windows washed, the +best room swept, the vegetables cleaned for dinner, and then Maddy's +work was finished. "Grandma could do all the rest," she said, and +Madeline was free "to put her eyes out over them big books if she +liked." + +Swiftly flew the hours until it was time to be getting ready, when +again the short hair was deplored, as before her looking-glass +Madeline brushed and arranged her shining, beautiful locks. Would Dr. +Holbrook think of her age? Suppose he should ask it. But no, he +wouldn't. If Mr. Green thought her old enough, surely it was not a +matter with which the doctor need trouble himself; and, somewhat at +ease on that point, Madeline donned her longest frock, and, standing +in a chair, tried to discover how much of her pantalets was visible. + +"I could see splendidly in Mr. Remington's mirrors," she said to +herself, with a half sigh of regret that her lot had not been cast in +some such place as Aikenside, instead of there beneath the hill in +that wee bit of a cottage, whose rear slanted back until it almost +touched the ground. "After all, I guess I'm happier here," she +thought. "Everybody likes me, while if I were Mr. Guy's sister and +lived at Aikenside, I might be proud and wicked, and--" + +She did not finish the sentence, but somehow the story of Dives and +Lazarus, read by her grandfather that morning, recurred to her mind, +and feeling how much rather she would rest in Abraham's bosom than +share the fate of him who once was clothed in purple and fine linen +she pinned on her little neat plaid shawl, and, tying the blue ribbons +of her coarse straw hat, glanced once more at the formidable cube +root, and then hurried down to where her grandfather and old Sorrel +wore waiting for her. + +"I shall be so happy when I come back, because it will then be over, +just like having a tooth out, you know," she said to her grandmother, +who bent down for the good-by kiss without which Maddy never left her. +"Now, grandpa, drive on; I was to be there at three," and chirruping +herself to Sorrel, the impatient Madge went riding from the cottage +door, chatting cheerily until the village of Devonshire was reached; +then, with a farewell to her grandfather, who never dreamed that the +man whom he was seeking was so near, she tripped up the flagging walk, +and, as we have seen, soon stood in the presence of not only Dr. +Holbrook, but also of Guy Remington. + +Poor, poor little Madge! + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +THE EXAMINATION. + + +It was Guy who received her, Guy who pointed to a chair, Guy who +seemed perfectly at home, and, naturally enough, she took him for Dr. +Holbrook, wondering who the other black-haired man could be, and if he +meant to stay in there all the while. It would be very dreadful if he +did, and in her agitation and excitement the cube root was in danger +of being altogether forgotten. Half guessing the cause of her +uneasiness, and feeling more averse than ever to taking part in the +matter, the doctor, after a hasty survey of her person, withdrew into +the background, and sat where he could not be seen. This brought the +short dress into full view, together with the dainty little foot, +nervously beating the floor. + +"She's very young," he thought; "too young, by far," and Maddy's +chances of success were beginning to decline even before a word had +been spoken. + +How terribly still it was for the time, during which telegraphic +communications were silently passing between Guy and the doctor, the +latter shaking his dead decidedly, while the former insisted that he +should do his duty. Madeline could almost hear the beatings of her +heart, and only by counting and recounting the poplar trees growing +across the street could she keep back the tears. What was he waiting +for, she wondered, and, at last, summoning all her courage, she lifted +her great brown eyes to Guy, and said, pleadingly: + +"Would you be so kind, sir, as to begin?" + +"Yes, certainly," and electrified by that young, bird-like voice, the +sweetest save one he had ever heard, Guy knocked down from the pile of +books the only one at all appropriate to the occasion, the others +being as far beyond what was taught in the district schools as his +classical education was beyond Madeline's common one. + +Remembering that the teacher of whom he had once been for a week a +pupil, in the town of Framingham, had commenced operations by +sharpening a lead pencil, so he now sharpened a similar one, +determining as far as he could to follow that teacher's example. Maddy +counted every fragment as it fell upon the floor, wishing so much that +he would commence, and fancying that it would not be half so bad to +have him approach her with some one of those terrible dental +instruments lying before her, as it was to sit and wait as she was +waiting. Had Guy Remington reflected a little, he would never have +consented to do the doctor's work; but, unaccustomed to country +usages, especially those pertaining to schools and teachers, he did +not consider that it mattered which examined that young girl, himself +or Dr. Holbrook. Viewing it somewhat in the light of a joke, he rather +enjoyed it; and as the Framingham teacher had first asked her pupils +their names and ages, so he, when the pencil was sharpened +sufficiently, startled Madeline by asking her name. + +"Madeline Amelia Clyde," was the meek reply, which Guy quickly +recorded. + +Now, Guy Remington intended no irreverence; indeed, he could not tell +what he did intend, or what it was which prompted his next query: + +"Who gave you this name?" + +Perhaps he fancied himself a boy again in the Sunday school, and +standing before the railing of the altar, where, with others of his +age, he had been asked the question propounded to Madeline Clyde, who +did not hear the doctor's smothered laugh as he retreated into the +adjoining room. + +In all her preconceived ideas of this examination, she had never +dreamed of being catechised, and with a feeling of terror as she +thought of that long answer to the question, "What is thy duty to thy +neighbor?" and doubted her ability to repeat it, she said: "My +sponsors, in baptism gave me the first name of Madeline Amelia, sir," +adding, as she caught and misconstrued the strange gleam in the dark +eyes bent upon her, "I am afraid I have forgotten some of the +catechism; I did not know it was necessary in order to teach school." + +"Certainly, no; I do not think it is. I beg your pardon," were Guy +Remington's ejaculatory replies, as he glanced from Madeline to the +open door of the adjoining room, where was visible a slate, on which, +in huge letters, the amused doctor had written "Blockhead." + +There was something in Madeline's quiet, womanly, earnest manner which +commanded Guy's respect, or he would have given vent to the laughter +which was choking him, and thrown off his disguise. But he could not +bear now to undeceive her, and, resolutely turning his back upon the +doctor, he sat down by that pile of books and commenced the +examination in earnest, asking first her age. + +"Going on fifteen," sounded older to Madeline than "Fourteen and a +half," so "Going on fifteen" was the reply, to which Guy responded: +"That is very young, Miss Clyde." + +"Yes, but Mr. Green did not mind. He's the committeeman. He knew how +young I was," Madeline said, eagerly, her great brown eyes growing +large with the look of fear which came so suddenly into them. + +Guy noticed the eyes then, and thought them very bright and handsome +for brown, but not so bright or handsome as a certain pair of soft +blue orbs he knew, and feeling a thrill of satisfaction that sweet +Lucy Atherstone was not obliged to sit there in that doctor's office +to be questioned by him or any other man, he said: "Of course, if your +employers are satisfied it is nothing to me, only I had associated +teaching with women much older than yourself. What is logic, Miss +Clyde?" + +The abruptness with which he put the question startled Madeline to +such a degree that she could not positively tell whether she had ever +heard that word before, much less could she recall its meaning, and so +she answered frankly, "I don't know." + +A girl who did not know what logic was did not know much, in Guy's +estimation, but it would not do to stop here, and so he asked her next +how many cases there were in Latin! + +Maddy felt the hot blood tingling to her very fingertips, the +examination had taken a course so widely different from her ideas of +what it would probably be. She had never looked inside a Latin +grammar, and again her truthful "I don't know, sir," fell on Guy's +ear, but this time there was a half despairing tone in the young voice +usually so hopeful. + +"Perhaps, then, you can conjugate the verb _Amo,_" Guy said, his +manner indicating the doubt he was beginning to feel as to her +qualifications. + +Maddy knew well what "conjugate" meant, but that verb _Amo_, what +could it mean? and had she ever heard it before? Mr. Remington was +waiting for her; she must say something, and with a gasp she began: "I +amo, thou amoest, he amoes. Plural: We amo, ye or you amo, they amo." + +Guy looked at her aghast for a single moment, and then a comical smile +broke all over his face, telling poor Maddy plainer than words could +have done, that she had made a most ridiculous mistake. + +"Oh, sir," she cried, her eyes wearing the look of the frightened +hare, "it is not right. I don't know what it means. Tell me, teach me. +What is it to amo?" + +To most men it would not have seemed a very disagreeable task, +teaching young Madeline Clyde "to amo," as she termed it, and some +such idea flitted across Guy's mind, as he thought how pretty and +bright was the eager face upturned to his, the pure white forehead, +suffused with a faint flush, the cheeks a crimson hue, and the pale +lips parted slightly as Maddy appealed to him for the definition of +"amo." + +"It is a Latin verb, and means 'to love'" Guy said, with an emphasis +on the last word, which would have made Maddy blush had she been less +anxious and frightened. + +Thus far she had answered nothing correctly, and, feeling puzzled to +know how to proceed, Guy stepped into the adjoining room to consult +with the doctor, but he was gone. So returning again to Madeline, Guy +resumed the examination by asking her how "minus into minus could +produce plus." + +Again Maddy was at fault, and her low-spoken "I don't know" sounded +like a wail of despair. Did she know anything, Guy wondered, and +feeling some curiosity now to ascertain that fact, he plied her with +questions philosophical, questions algebraical, and questions +geometrical, until in an agony of distress Maddy raised her hands +deprecatingly, as if she would ward off any similar questions, and +sobbed out: + +"Oh, sir, no more. It makes my head so dizzy. They don't teach that in +common schools. Ask me something I do know." + +Suddenly it occurred to Guy that he had gone entirely wrong, and +mentally cursing himself for the blockhead the doctor had called him, +he asked, kindly: + +"What do they teach? Perhaps you can enlighten me?" + +"Geography, arithmetic, grammar, history, and spelling-book," Madeline +replied, untying and throwing off her bonnet, in the vain hope that it +might bring relief to her poor, giddy head, which throbbed so +fearfully that all her ideas seemed for the time to have left her. + +This was a natural consequence of the high excitement under which she +was laboring, and so, when Guy did ask her concerning the books +designated, she answered but little better than before, and Guy was +wondering what he should do next, when the doctor's welcome step was +heard, and leaving Madeline again, he repaired to the next room to +report his ill success. + +"She does not seem to know anything. The veriest child ought to do +better than she has done. Why, she has scarcely answered half a dozen +questions correctly." + +This was what poor Maddy heard, though it was spoken in a low whisper; +but every word was distinctly understood and burned into her heart's +core, drying her tears and hardening her into a block of marble. She +knew that Guy had not done her justice, and this helped to increase +the torpor stealing over her. Still she did not lose a syllable of +what was saying in the back office, and her lip curled scornfully when +she heard Guy remark: "I pity her; she is so young, and evidently +takes it so hard. Maybe she's as good as they average. Suppose we give +her the certificate." + +Then Dr. Holbrook spoke, but to poor, dazed Maddy his words were all a +riddle. It was nothing to him--who was he that he should be dictating +thus? There seemed to be a difference of opinion between the young +men, Guy insisting that out of pity she should not be rejected; and +the doctor demurring on the ground that he ought to be more strict. As +usual, Guy overruled, and seating himself at the table, the doctor was +just commencing: "I hereby certify--" while Guy was bending over him, +when the latter was startled by a hand laid firmly on his arm, and +turning quickly he confronted Madeline Clyde, who, with her short hair +pushed from her blue-veined forehead, her face as pale as ashes, save +where a round spot of purplish red burned upon her cheeks, and her +eyes gleaming like coals of fire, stood before him. + +"He need not write that," she said, huskily, pointing to the doctor, +"It would be a lie, and I could not take it. You do not think me +qualified. I heard you say so. I do not want to be pitied. I do not +want a certificate because I am so young, and you think I'll feel +badly. I do not want--" + +Her voice failed her, her bosom heaved, and the choking sobs came +thick and fast, but still she shed no tear, and in her bright, dry +eyes there was a look which made both those young men turn away +involuntarily. Once Guy tried to excuse her failure, saying she no +doubt was frightened. She would probably do better again, and might as +well accept the certificate, but Madeline still said no, so decidedly +that further remonstrance was useless. She would not take what she had +no right to, she said, but if they pleased she would wait there in the +back office until her grandfather came back; it would not be long, and +she should not trouble them. + +Guy brought her the easy-chair from the front room and placed it for +her by the window. With a faint smile she thanked him and said: "You +are very kind," but the smile hurt Guy cruelly, it was so sad, so full +of unintentional reproach, while the eyes she lifted to his looked so +grieved and weary that he insensibly murmured to himself: "Poor +child!" as he left her, and with the doctor repaired to the house, +where Agnes was impatiently waiting for them. Poor, poor little Madge! +Let those smile who may at her distress; it was the first keen +disappointment she had ever had, and it crushed her as completely as +many an older person has been crushed by heavier calamities. + +"Disgraced for ever and ever," she kept repeating to herself, as she +tried to shake off the horrid nightmare stealing over her. "How can I +hold up my head again at home where nobody will understand just how it +was; nobody but grandpa and grandma? Oh, grandpa, I can't earn that +thirty-six dollars now. I most wish I was dead, and I am--I am dying. +Somebody--come--quick!" + +There was a heavy fall, and while in Mrs. Conner's parlor Guy +Remington and Dr. Holbrook were chatting gayly with Agnes, a childish +figure was lying upon the office floor, white, stiff, and insensible. + +Little Jessie Remington, tired of sitting still and listening to what +her mamma and Mrs. Conner were saying, had strayed off into the +garden, and after filling her chubby hands with daffodils and early +violets, wended her way to the office, the door of which was partially +ajar. Peering curiously in, she saw the crumpled bonnet, with its +ribbons of blue, and, attracted by this, advanced into the room, until +she came where Madeline was lying. With a feeling that something was +wrong, Jessie bent over the prostrate girl, asking if she were asleep, +and lifting next the long, fringed lashes drooping on the colorless +cheek. The dull, dead expression of the eyes sent a chill through +Jessie's frame, and hurrying to the house she cried: "Oh, Brother Guy, +somebody's dead in the office, and her bonnet is all jammed!" + +Scarcely were the words uttered ere Guy and the doctor both were with +Madeline, the former holding her tenderly in his arms, while he +smoothed the short hair, thinking even then how soft and luxuriant it +was, and how fair was the face which never moved a muscle beneath his +scrutiny. The doctor was wholly self-possessed. Maddy had no terrors +for him now. She needed his services, and he rendered them willingly, +applying restoratives which soon brought back signs of life in the +rigid form. With a shiver and a moan Madeline whispered: "Oh, grandma, +I'm so tired," and nestled closer to the bosom where she had never +dreamed of lying. + +By this time both Mrs. Conner and Agnes had come out, asking in much +surprise who the stranger could be, and what was the cause of her +illness. As if there had been a previous understanding between them, +the doctor and Guy were silent with regard to the recent farce enacted +there, simply saying it was possible she was in the habit of fainting; +many people were. Very daintily, Agnes held up and back the skirt of +her rich silk as if fearful that it might come in contact with +Madeline's plain delaine; then, as it was not very interesting for her +to stand and see the doctor "make so much fuss over a young girl," as +she mentally expressed it, she returned to the house, bidding Jessie +do the same. But Jessie refused, choosing to stay by Madeline, whom +they placed upon the comfortable lounge, which she preferred to being +taken to the house, as Guy proposed. + +"I'm better now, much better," she said. "Leave me, please. I'd rather +be alone." + +So they left her, all but Jessie, who, fascinated by the sweet young +face, climbed upon the lounge and, laying her curly head caressingly +against Madeline's arm, said to her: "Poor girl, you're sick, and I am +so sorry. What makes you sick?" + +There was genuine sympathy in that little voice, and it opened the +pent-up flood beating so furiously, and roused Maddy's heart. With a +cry as of sudden pain she clasped the child in her arms and wept out a +wild, stormy fit of weeping which did her so much good. Forgetting +that Jessie could not understand, and feeling it a relief to tell her +grief to some one, she said, in reply to Jessie's oft repeated +inquiries as to what was the matter: "I did not get a certificate, and +I wanted it so much, for we are poor, and our house is mortgaged, and +I was going to help grandpa pay it." + +"It's dreadful to be poor!" sighed little Jessie, as her waxen fingers +threaded the soft, nut-brown hair resting in her lap, where Maddy had +lain her aching head. + +Maddy did not know who this beautiful child was, but her sympathy was +very sweet, and they talked together as children will, until Mrs. +Agnes' voice was heard calling to her little girl that it was time to +go. + +"I love you, Maddy, and I mean to tell brother about it," Jessie said, +as she wound her arms around Madeline's neck and kissed her at +parting. + +It never occurred to Maddy to ask her name, so stupified she felt, and +with a responsive kiss she sent her away. Leaning her head upon the +table, she forgot all but her own wretchedness, and so did not see the +gayly-dressed, haughty-looking lady who swept past the door, +accompanied by Guy and Dr. Holbrook. Neither did she hear, or notice, +if she did, the hum of their voices as they talked together for a +moment, Agnes asking the doctor very prettily to come up to Aikenside +while she was there, and bring his ladylove. Engaged young men like +Guy were so stupid, she said, as with a merry laugh she sprang into +the carriage; and, bowing gracefully to the doctor, was driven rapidly +toward Aikenside. + +Rather slowly the doctor returned to the office, and after fidgeting +for a time among the powders and phials, summoned courage to ask +Madeline how she felt, and if any of the fainting symptoms had +returned. + +"No, sir," was all the reply she gave him, never lifting up her head, +or even thinking which of the two young men it was speaking to her. + +There was a call just then for Dr. Holbrook, and leaving his office in +charge of Tom, his chore boy, he went away, feeling slightly +uncomfortable whenever he thought of the girl to whom he felt that +justice had not been done. + +"I half wish I had examined her myself," he said. "Of course she was +excited, and could not answer; beside, hanged if I don't believe it +was all humbug tormenting her with Greek and Latin. Yes; I'll question +her when I get back, and if she'll possibly pass, give her the +certificate. Poor child; how white she was, and what a queer look +there was in those great eyes, when she said: 'I shall not take it.'" + +Never in his life before had Dr. Holbrook been as much interested in +any female who was not sick as he was in Madeline, and determining to +make his call on Mrs. Briggs as brief as possible, he alighted at her +gate, and knocked impatiently at her door. He found her pretty sick, +while both her children needed a prescription, and so long a time was +he detained that his heart misgave him on his homeward route, lest +Maddy should be gone, and with her the chance to remedy the wrong he +might have done her. + +Maddy was gone, and the wheel ruts of the square-boxed wagon were +fresh before the door when he came back. Grandpa Markham had returned, +and Madeline, who recognized old Sorrel's step, had gathered her shawl +around her and gone sadly out to meet him. One look at her face was +sufficient. + +"You failed, Maddy?" the old man said, fixing about her feet the warm +buffalo robe, for the night wind was blowing cool. + +"Yes, grandpa, I failed." + +They were out of the village and more than a mile on their way home +before Madeline found voice to say so much, and they were nearer home +by half a mile ere the old man answered back: + +"And, Maddy, I failed too." + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +GRANDPA MARKHAM. + + +Mrs. Noah, the housekeeper at Aikenside, was slicing vegetable oysters +for the nice little dish intended for her own supper, when the head of +Sorrel came around the corner of the building, followed by the square- +boxed wagon containing Grandpa Markham, who, bewildered by the beauty +and spaciousness of the grounds, and wholly uncertain as to where he +ought to stop, had driven over the smooth-graveled road around to the +front kitchen door, Mrs. Noah's spacious domain, as sacred as Betsey +Trotwood's patch of green. + +"In the name of wonder, what codger is that? and what is he doing +here?" was Mrs. Noah's exclamation, as she dropped the bit of salsify +she was scraping, and hurrying to the door, called out: "I say, you, +sir, what made you drive up here, when I've said over and over again, +that I wouldn't have wheels tearing up turf and gravel?" + +"I--I beg your pardon. I lost my way, I guess, there was so many +turnin's, I'm sorry, but a little rain will fetch it right," grandpa +said, glancing ruefully at the ruts in the gravel and the marks on the +turf. + +Mrs. Noah was not at heart an unkind woman, and something in the +benignant expression of grandpa's face, or in the apologetic tone of +his voice, mollified her somewhat, and without further comment she +stood waiting for his next remark. It was a most unfortunate one, for +though as free from weakness as most of her sex, Mrs. Noah was +terribly sensitive as to her age, and the same census-taker would +never venture twice within her precincts. Glancing at her dress, which +was this leisure afternoon much smarter than usual, grandpa concluded +she could not be a servant; and as she seemed to have a right to say +where he should drive and where he should not, the meek old man +concluded she was a near relation of Guy--mother, perhaps; but no, +Guy's mother was dead, as grandpa well knew, for all Devonshire had +heard of the young bride Agnes, who had married Guy's father for money +and rank. To have been mistaken for Guy's mother would not have +offended Mrs. Noah particularly; but how was she shocked when Grandpa +Markham said: + +"I come on business with Squire Guy. Are you his gran'marm?" "His +gran'marm!" and Mrs. Noah bit off the last syllable spitefully. "Bless +you, man, Squire Guy, as you call him, is twenty-five years old." + +As Grandpa Markham was rather blind, he failed to see the point, but +knew that in some way he had given offense. + +"I beg your pardon, ma'am; I was sure you was some kin--maybe an +a'nt." + +No, she was not even that; but willing enough to let the old man +believe her a lady of the Remington order, she did not explain that +she was simply the housekeeper, she simply said: + +"If it's Mr. Guy you want, I can tell you he is not at home, which +will save your getting out." + +"Not at home, and I've come so far to see him!" grandpa exclaimed, and +in his voice there was so much genuine disappointment that Mrs. Noah +rejoined, quite kindly: + +"He's gone over to Devonshire with the young lady his stepmother. +Perhaps you might tell your business to me; I know all Mr. Guy's +affairs." + +"If I might come in, ma'am," he answered, meekly, as through the open +door he caught glimpses of a cheerful fire. "It's mighty chilly for +such as me." He did look cold and blue, Mrs. Noah thought, and she +bade him come in, feeling a very little contempt for the old-fashioned +camlet cloak in which his feet became entangled, and smiling inwardly +at the shrunken, faded pantaloons, betokening poverty. + +"As you know all Squire Guy's affairs," grandpa said, when he was +seated before the fire, "maybe you could tell whether he would be +likely to lend a stranger three hundred dollars, and that stranger +me?" + +Mrs. Noah stared at him aghast. Was he crazy, or did he mean to insult +her master? Evidently neither. He seemed as sane as herself, while no +one could associate an insult with him. He did not know anything. That +was the solution of his audacity, and pityingly, as she would have +addressed a half idiot, Mrs. Noah made him understand how impossible +it was for him to think her master would lend to a stranger like him. + +"You say he's gone to Devonshire," grandpa said, softly, with a quiver +on his lip when she had finished. "I wish I'd knew it; I left my +granddarter there to be examined. Mabby I'll meet him going back, and +can ask him." + +"I tell you it won't be no use. Mr. Guy has no three hundred dollars +to throw away," was Mrs. Noah's rather sharp rejoinder. + +"Wall, wall, we won't quarrel about it," the old man replied, in his +most conciliatory manner, as he turned his head away to hide the +starting tear. + +Grandfather Markham's heart was very sore, and Mrs. Noah's harshness +troubled him. He could not bear to think that she really was cross +with him, besides that he wanted something to carry Maddy besides +disappointment, so by way of testing Mrs. Noah's amiability and +pleasing Maddy, too, he said, as he arose: "I'm an old man, lady, old +enough to be your father." Here Mrs. Noah's face grew brighter, and +she listened attentively while he continued: "You won't take what I +say amiss, I'm sure. I have a little girl at home, a grandchild, who +has heard big stories of the fine things at Aikenside. She has a +hankerin' after such vanities, and it would please her mightily to +have me tell her what I saw up here, so maybe you wouldn't mind +lettin' me go into that big room where the silk fixin's are. I'll take +off my shoes, if you say so." + +"Your shoes won't hurt an atom; come right along," Mrs. Noah replied, +now in the best of moods, for, except her cup of green tea with +raspberry jam and cream, she enjoyed nothing more than showing their +handsome house. + +Conducting him through the wide, marbled hall, she ushered him into +the drawing-room, where for a time he stood perfectly bewildered. It +was his first introduction to rosewood, velvet, and brocatelle, and it +seemed to him as if he had suddenly been transported to fairy-land. + +"Maddy would like this--it's her nature," he whispered, advancing a +step or two, and setting down his feet as softly as if stepping on +eggs. + +Happening to lift his eyes before one of the long mirrors, he spied +himself, wondering much what that "queer-looking chap" was doing there +in the midst of so much elegance, and why Mrs. Noah did not turn him +out! Then mentally asking forgiveness for this flash of pride, and +determined to make amends, he bowed low to the figure in the glass, +which bowed as low in return, but did not reply to the very good-natured +remark: "How d'ye do--pretty well, to-day?" + +There was a familiar look about the round cape of the camlet cloak, +and Grandpa Markham's face turned crimson as the truth burst upon him. + +"How 'shamed of me Maddy would be," he thought, glancing sidewise at +Mrs. Noah, who had witnessed the blunder, and was now looking from the +window to hide her laughter. + +Grandpa believed she did not see him, and comforted with that assurance, +he began to remark upon the mirror, saying "it made it appear as if +there was two of you," a remark which Mrs. Noah fully appreciated. He +saw the silk chairs, slyly touching one to see if it did feel like the +gored, peach-blossom dress worn by his wife forty-two years ago that +very spring. Then he tried one of them, examined the rare ornaments, and +came near bowing again to the portrait of the first Mrs. Remington, so +natural and lifelike it looked standing out from the canvas. + +"This will last Maddy a week. I thank you, ma'am. You have added some +considerable to the happiness of a young girl, who wouldn't disgrace +even such a room as this," he said, as he passed into the hall. + +Mrs. Noah received his thanks graciously, and led him to the yard, +where Sorrel stood waiting for him. + +"Odd, but clever as the day is long," was Mrs. Noah's comment, as, +after seeing him safe out of her yard, she went back to her vegetable +oysters boiling on the stove. + +Driving at a brisk trot through the grounds, Sorrel was soon out upon +the highway; and with spirits exhilarated by thoughts of going home, +he kept up the trot until, turning a sudden corner, his master saw the +carriage from Aikenside approaching at a rapid rate. The driver, Paul, +saw him too, but scorning to give half the road to such as Sorrel and +the square-boxed wagons, he kept steadily on, while Grandpa Markham, +determined to speak with Guy, reined his horse a little nearer, +raising his hand in token that the negro should stop. As a natural +consequence, the wheels of the two vehicles became interlocked, and as +the powerful grays were more than a match for Sorrel, the front wheel +of Grandpa Markham's wagon was wrenched off, and the old man +precipitated to the ground; which, fortunately for him, was in that +locality covered with sand banks, so that he was only stunned for an +instant, and thus failed to hear the insolent negro's remark: "Served +you right, old cove; might of turned out for gentlemen;" neither did +he see the sudden flashing of Guy Remington's eye, as, leaping from +his carriage, he seized the astonished African by the collar, and, +hurling him from the box, demanded what he meant by serving an old man +so shameful a trick and then insulting him. + +All apology and regret, the cringing driver tried to make some excuse, +but Guy stopped him short, telling him to see how much the wagon was +damaged, while he ran to the old man, who had recovered from the first +shock and was trying to extricate himself from the folds of his camlet +cloak. Nearby was a blacksmith's shop, and thither Guy ordered his +driver to take the broken-down wagon with a view to getting it +repaired. + +"Tell him I want it done at once." he said, authoritatively, as if he +well knew his name carried weight with it; then, turning to grandpa, +he asked again if he were hurt. + +"No, not specially--jolted my old bones some. You are very kind, sir," +grandpa replied, brushing the dust from his pantaloons and then +involuntarily grasping Guy's arm for support, as his weak knees began +to tremble from the effects of excitement and fright. + +"That darky shall rue this job," Guy said, savagely, as he gazed +pityingly upon the shaky old creature beside him. "I'll discharge him +to-morrow." + +"No, young man. Don't be rash. He'll never do't again; and sprigs like +him think they've a right to make fun of old codgers like me," was +grandpa's meek expostulation. + +"Do, pray, Guy, how long must we wait here?" Agnes asked, impatiently, +leaning back in the carriage and partially drawing her veil over her +face as she glanced at Grandpa Markham, but a look from Guy silenced +her; and turning again to grandpa, he asked: + +"What did you say? You have been to Aikenside to see me?" + +"Yes, and I was sorry to miss you. I--I--it makes me feel awkward to +tell you, but I wanted to borrow some money, and I didn't know nobody +as likely to have it as you. That woman up to your house said she +knowed you wouldn't let me have it, 'cause you hadn't it to spare. +Mebby you haven't," and grandpa waited anxiously for Guy's reply. + +Now, Mrs. Noah had a singular influence over her young master, who was +in the habit of consulting her with regard to his affairs, and nothing +could have been more unpropitious to the success of grandpa's suit +than the knowing she disapproved. Beside this, Guy had only the +previous week lost a small amount loaned under similar circumstances. +Standing silent for a moment, while he buried and reburied his shining +patent leather boots in the hills of sand, he said at last: "Candidly, +sir, I don't believe I can accommodate you. I am about to make repairs +at Aikenside, and have partially promised to loan money on good +security to a Mr. Silas Slocum, who, 'if things work right,' as he +expressed it, intends building a mill on some property which has come, +or is coming, into his hands." + +"That's mine--that's mine, my homestead," gasped grandpa, turning +white almost as his hair blowing in the April wind. "There's a stream +of water on it, and he says if he forecloses and gets it he shall +build a mill, and tear our old house down." + +Guy was in a dilemma. He had not asked how much Mr. Markham wanted, +and as the latter had not told him, he naturally concluded it a much +larger sum than it really was, and did not care just then to lend it. + +"I tell you what I'll do," he said, after a little. "I'll drop Slocum +a note to-night saying I've changed my mind, and shall not let him +have the money. Perhaps, then, he won't be so anxious to foreclose, +and will give you time to look among your friends." + +Guy laid a little emphasis on that last word, and looking up quickly +grandpa was about to say: "I am not so much a stranger as you think. I +knew your father well;" but he checked himself with the thought: "No, +that will be too much like begging pay for a deed of mercy done years +ago." So Guy never suspected that the old man before him had once laid +his sire under a debt of gratitude. The more he reflected the less +inclined he was to lend the money, and as grandpa was too timid to +urge his needs, the result was that when at last the wheel was +replaced, and Sorrel again trotting on toward Devonshire, he drew +after him a sad, heavy heart, and not once until the village was +reached did he hear the cheery chuckle with which his kind master was +wont to encourage him. + +"Poor Maddy! I dread tellin' her the most, she was so sure," grandpa +whispered, as he stopped before the office door, where Maddy waited +for him. + +But Maddy's disappointment was keener than his own, and so after the +sorrowful words, "and I failed, too," he bent himself to comfort the +poor child, who, leaning her throbbing head against his shoulder, +sobbed bitterly, as in the soft spring twilight they drove back to the +low red cottage where grandma waited for them. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +THE RESULT. + + +It was Farmer Green's new buggy and Farmer Green's bay colt which, +three days later than this, stopped before Dr. Holbrook's office. Not +the square-boxed wagon, with old Sorrel attached; the former was +standing quietly in the chip-yard behind the low red house, while the +latter with his nose over the barnyard fence, neighing occasionally, +as if he missed the little hands which had daily fed him the oatmeal +he liked so much, and which now lay hot and parched and helpless upon +the white counterpane Grandma Markham had spun and woven herself. +Maddy might have been just as sick as she was if the examination had +never occurred, but it was natural for those who loved her to impute +it all to the effects of excitement and cruel disappointment, so there +was something like indignation mingling with the sorrow gnawing at the +hearts of the old couple as they watched by their fever-stricken +darling. Farmer Green, too, shared the feeling, and numerous at first +were his mental animadversions against that "prig of a Holbrook." But +when Maddy grew so bad as not to know him or his wife, he laid aside +his prejudices, and suggested to Grandpa Markham that Dr. Holbrook be +sent for. + +"He's great on fevers," he said, "and is good on curin' sick folks," +so, though he would have preferred some one else should have been +called, confidence in the young doctor's skill won the day, and +grandpa consented. + +This, then, was the errand of Farmer Green, and with his usual +bluntness, he said to the recreant doctor, who chanced to be at home: + +"Wall, you nigh about killed our little Madge t'other day, when you +refused the stifficut, and now we want you to cure her." + +The doctor looked up in surprise, but Farmer Green soon explained his +meaning, making out a most aggravated case, and representing Maddy as +wild with delirium. + +"Keeps talkin' about the big books, the Latin and the Hebrew, and even +the Catechism, as if such like was 'lowed in our school. I s'pose you +didn't know no better; but if Maddy dies, you'll have it to answer +for, I reckon." + +The doctor did not try to excuse himself, but hastily took down the +medicines he thought he might need, and stowed them carefully away. He +had expected to hear from that examination, but not in this way, and +rather nervously he made some inquiries, as to how long she had been +ill, and so forth. + +Maddy's case lost nothing by Mr. Green's account, and by the time the +doctor's horse was ready, and he on his way to the cottage, he had +arrived at the conclusion that of all the villainous men outside the +walls of the State's prison, he was the most villainous, and Guy +Remington next. + +What a cozy little chamber it was where Maddy lay, just such a room as +a girl like her might be supposed to occupy, and the bachelor doctor +felt like treading upon forbidden ground as he entered the room so +rife with girlish habits, from the fairy slippers hung on a peg, to +the fanciful little workbox made of cones and acorns. Maddy was +asleep, and sitting down beside her, he asked that the shawl which had +been pinned across the window might be removed so that he could see +her, and thus judge better of her condition. They took the shawl away, +and the sunlight came streaming in, disclosing to the doctor's view +the face never before seen distinctly, or thought about, if seen. It +was ghastly pale, save where the hot blood seemed bursting through the +cheeks, while the beautiful brown hair was brushed back from the brow +where the veins were swollen and full. The lips were slightly apart, +and the hot breath came in quick, panting gasps, while occasionally a +faint moan escaped them, and once the doctor heard, or thought he +heard, the sound of his own name. One little dimpled hand lay upon the +bedspread, but the doctor did not touch it. Ordinarily he would have +grasped it as readily as if it had been a piece of marble, but the +sight of Maddy, lying there so sick, and the fearing he had helped to +bring her where she was, awoke to life a curious state of feeling with +regard to her, making him almost as nervous as on the day when she +appeared before him as candidate No. 1. + +"Feel her pulse, doctor; they are faster most than you can count," +Grandma Markham whispered; and thus entreated, the doctor took the +soft hand in his own, its touch sending through his frame a thrill +such as the touch of no other hand had ever sent. + +Somehow the act reassured him. All fear of Maddy vanished, leaving +behind only an intense desire to help, if possible, the young girl +whose fingers seemed to cling around his own as he felt for and found +the rapid pulse, + +"If she could awaken," he said, laying the hand softly down and +placing his other upon her forehead, where the great sweat drops lay. + +And, after a time, Maddy did awaken, but in the eyes fixed, for a +moment, so intently on him, there was no look of recognition, and the +doctor was half glad that it was so. He did not wish her to associate +him with her late disastrous disappointment; he would rather she +should think of him as some one come to cure her, for cure her he +would, he said to himself, as he gazed into her childish face and +thought how sad it was for such as she to die. When first he entered +the cottage he had been struck with the extreme plainness of the +furniture, betokening that wealth had not there an abiding place, but +now he forgot everything except the sick girl, who grew more and more +restless, talking of him and the Latin verb which meant "to love," she +said, and which was not in the grammar. + +"Guy was a fool and I was a brute," the doctor muttered, as he folded +up the bits of paper whose contents he hoped might do much toward +saving Maddy's life. + +Then, promising to come again, he rode rapidly away, to visit other +patients, who, that afternoon, were in danger of being sadly +neglected, so constantly was their young physician's mind dwelling +upon the little, low-walled chamber where Maddy Clyde was lying. As +night closed in she knew them all, and heard that Dr. Holbrook had +been there prescribing for her. Turning her face to the wall, she +seemed to be thinking; then, calling her grandmother to her, she +whispered: "Did he smooth my hair back and say, 'poor child?'" + +Her grandmother hardly thought he did, though she was not in the room +all the time, she said. "He had stayed a long while and was greatly +interested." + +Maddy had a vague remembrance of such an incident, and in her heart +forgave the doctor for his rejection, thinking only how handsome he +had looked, even while tormenting her with such unheard of questions, +and how kind he was to her now. The sight of her grandfather awakened +a new train of ideas, and bidding him to sit beside her, she asked if +their home must be sold. Maddy was not to be put off with an evasion, +and so grandpa told her honestly at last that Slocum would foreclose, +but not while she was sick; he had been seen that day by Mr. Green, +and had promised so much forbearance. + +This was the last rational conversation held with Maddy for many a +week, and when next morning the doctor came, there was a look of deep +anxiety upon his face as he watched the alarming symptoms of his +delirious patient, who talked incessantly, not of the examination now, +but of the mortgage and the foreclosure, begging the doctor to see +that the house was not sold, to tell them she was earning thirty-six +dollars by teaching school, that Beauty should be sold to save their +dear old home. All this was strange at first to the doctor, but the +rather voluble Mrs. Green, who had come to Grandma Markham's relief, +enlightened him, dwelling with a kind of malicious pleasure upon the +fact that Maddy's earnings, had she been permitted to get a +"stifficut," were to be appropriated toward paying the debt. + +If the doctor had hated himself the previous day when he from the red +cottage gate, he hated himself doubly now as he went dashing down the +road, determined to resign his office of school inspector that very +day. And he did. + +Summoning around him those who had been most active in electing him, +he refused to officiate again, assuring them that if any more +candidates came he should either turn them from his door or give them +a certificate without asking a question. + +"Put anybody you like in my place," he said; "anybody but Guy +Remington. Don't for thunder's sake take him." + +There was no probability of this, as Guy lived in another town, and +could not have officiated had he wished. But the doctor was too much +excited to reason upon anything save Madeline Clyde's case. That he +perfectly understood; and during the next few weeks his other patients +waited many times in vain for his coming, while he sat by Maddy's side +watching every change, whether for the worse or better. Even Agnes +Remington was totally neglected; and so one day she sent Guy down to +Devonshire to say that as Jessie seemed more than usually delicate, +she wished the doctor to take her under his charge and visit her at +least once a week. The doctor was not at home, but Tom said he +expected him every moment. So seating himself in the armchair, Guy +waited until he came. + +"Well, Hal," he began, jocosely, but the joking words he would have +uttered next died on his lips as he noticed the strange look of +excitement and anxiety on the doctor's face. "What is it?" he asked. +"Are all your patients dead?" + +"Guy," and the doctor came closely to him, whispering huskily, "you +and I are murderers in the first degree. Yes; and both deserve to be +hung. Do you remember that Madeline Clyde whom you insulted with your +logic and Latin verbs? She'd set her heart on that certificate. She +wanted the money, not for new gowns and fooleries mind, but to help +her old grandfather pay his debts. His place is mortgaged. I don't +understand it; but he asked some old hunks to lend him the money, and +the miserly rascal, whoever he was, refused. I wish I had it. I'd give +it to him out and out. But that's nothing to do with the girl--Maddy +they call her. The disappointment killed her, and she's dying--is +raving crazy--and keeps talking of that confounded examination. I tell +you, Guy, my inward parts get terribly mixed up when I hear her talk, +and my heart thumps like a trip-hammer. That's the reason I have not +been up to Aikenside. I wouldn't leave Maddy so long as there was +hope. I did not tell them this morning. I couldn't make that poor +couple feel worse than they are feeling; but when I looked at her, +tossing from side to side and picking at the bedclothes, I knew it +would soon be over--that when I saw her again the poor little arms +would be still enough and the bright eyes shut forever. Guy, I +couldn't see her die--I don't like to see anybody die, but her, Maddy, +of all others--and so I came away. If you stay long enough, you'll +hear the bell toll, I reckon. There is none at Honedale Church, which +they attend. They are Episcopalians, you see, and so they'll come up +here, maybe. I hope I shall be deafer than an adder." + +Here the doctor stopped, wholly out of breath, while Guy for a moment +sat without speaking a single word. Jessie, in his hearing, had told +her mother what the sick girl in the doctor's office had said about +being poor and wanting the money for grandpa, while Mrs. Noah had +given him a rather exaggerated account of Mr. Markham's visit; but he +had not associated the two together until now, when he saw the whole, +and almost as much as the doctor himself regretted the part he had had +in Maddy's illness and her grandfather's distress. + +"Doc," he said, laying his hand on the doctor's arm, "I am that old +hunks, the miserly rascal who refused the money. I met the old man +going home that day, and he asked me for help. You say the place must +be sold. It never shall, never. I'll see to that, and you must save +the girl." + +"I can't, Guy. I've done all I can, and now, if she lives, it will be +wholly owing to the prayers that old saint of a grandfather says for +her. I never thought much of these things until I heard him pray; not +that she should live anyway, but that if it were right Maddy might not +die. Guy, there's something in such a prayer as that. It's more +powerful than all my medicine swallowed at one grand gulp." + +Guy didn't know very much about praying then, and so he did not +respond, but he thought of Lucy Atherstone, whose life was one hymn of +prayer and praise, and he wished she could know of Maddy, and join her +petitions with those of the grandfather. Starting suddenly from his +chair, he exclaimed, "I'm going down there. It will look queerly, too, +to go alone. Ah, I have it! I'll drive back to Aikenside for Jessie, +who has talked so much of the girl that her lady mother, forgetting +that she was once a teacher, is disgusted. Yes, I'll take Jessie with +me, but you must order it; you must say it is good for her to ride, +and, Hal, give me some medicine for her, just to quiet Agnes, no +matter what, provided it's not strychnine." + +Contrary to Guy's expectations, Agnes did not refuse to let Jessie go +for a ride, particularly as she had no suspicion where he intended +taking her, and the little girl was soon seated by her brother's side, +chatting merrily of the different things they passed upon the road. +But when Guy told her where they were going, and why they were going +there, the tears came at once into her eyes, and hiding her face in +Guy's lap she sobbed bitterly. + +"I did like her so much that day," she said, "and she looked so sorry, +too. It's terrible to die!" + +Then she plied Guy with questions concerning Maddy's probable future. +"Would she go to heaven, sure?" and When Guy answered at random, +"Yes," she asked, "How did he know? Had he heard that Maddy was that +kind of good which lets folks in heaven? Because, Brother Guy," and +the little preacher nestled closely to the young man, fingering his +coat buttons as she talked, "because, Brother Guy, folks can be good-- +that is, not do naughty things--and still God won't love them unless +they--I don't know what, I wish I did." + +Guy drew her nearer to him, but to that childish yearning for +knowledge he could not respond, so he said: + +"Who taught you all this, little one?--not your mother, surely." + +"No, not mamma, but Miriam, the waiting-maid we left in Boston. She +told me about it, and taught me to pray different from mamma. Do you +pray, Brother Guy?" + +The question startled the young man, who was glad his coachman spoke +to him just then, asking if he should drive through Devonshire +village, or go direct to Honedale by a shorter route. + +They would go to the village, Guy said, hoping that thus the doctor +might be persuaded to accompany them. This diverted Jessie's mind, and +she said no more of praying; but the first tiny grain was sown, the +mustard seed, which should hereafter spring up into a mighty tree, the +indirect result of Maddy's disappointment and almost fatal illness. +They found the doctor at home and willing to go with them. Indeed, so +impatient had he become listening for the first stroke of the bell +which was to herald the death he deemed so sure, that he was on the +point of mounting his horse and galloping off alone, when Guy's +invitation came. It was five miles from Devonshire to Honedale, and +when they reached a hill which lay halfway between, they stopped for a +few moments to rest the tired horses. Suddenly, as they sat waiting, a +sharp, ringing sound fell on their ears, and grasping Guy's knee, the +doctor said, "I told you so; Madeline Clyde is dead." + +It was the village bell, and its twice three strokes betokened that it +tolled for somebody youthful, somebody young, like Maddy Clyde. Jessie +wept silently, but there were no tears in the eyes of the young men, +as with beating hearts they sat listening to the slow, solemn sounds +which came echoing up the hill. There was a pause; the sexton's +dirgelike task was done, and now it only remained for him to strike +the age, and tell how many years the departed one had numbered. + +"One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten;" Jessie +counted it aloud, while every stroke fell like a heavy blow upon the +hearts of the young men, who a few weeks ago, knew not that such as +Maddy Clyde had ever had existence. + +How long it seemed before another stroke, and Guy was beginning to +hope they'd heard the last, when again the dull, muffled sound came +floating on the air, and Dr. Holbrook's black, bearded lip half +quivered as he now counted aloud, "one, two, three, four, five." + +That was all; there it stopped; and vain were all their listenings to +catch another note. Fifteen years, and only fifteen had passed over +the form now forever still. + +"She was fifteen," Guy whispered, remembering distinctly to have heard +that number from Maddy herself. + +"I thought they told me fourteen, but of course it's she," the doctor +rejoined. "Poor child, I would have given much to have saved her." + +Jessie did not talk; only once, when she asked Guy, if it was very far +to heaven, and if he supposed Maddy had got there by this time. + +"We'll go just the same," said Guy. "I will do what I can for the old +man;" and so the carriage drove on, down the hill, across the +meadow-land, and past a low-roofed house whose walls inclosed the +stiffened form of him for whom the bell had tolled, the boy, fifteen +years of age, who had been the patient of another than Dr. Holbrook. + +Maddy was not dead, but the paroxysm of restlessness had passed, and +she lay now in a heavy sleep so nearly resembling death that they who +watched, waited expectantly to see the going out of her last breath. +Never before had a carriage like that from Aikenside stopped at that +humble cottage, but the neighbors thought it came merely to bring the +doctor, whom they welcomed with a glad smile, making a way for him to +pass to Maddy's bedside. Guy preferred waiting in the carriage until +such time as Grandpa Markham could speak with him, but Jessie went +with the doctor into the sick room, startling even the grandmother, +and causing her to wonder who the richly-dressed child could be. + +"Dying, doctor," said one of the women, affirmatively, not +interrogatively; but the doctor shook his head, and holding in one +hand his watch he counted the faint pulse beats as with his eye he +measured off the minute. + +"There are too many here," he said. "She needs the air you are +breathing," and in his singular, authoritative way, he cleared the +crowded room of the mistaken friends who were unwittingly breathing up +Maddy's very life. + +All but the grandparents and Jessie; these he suffered to remain, and +sitting down by Maddy, watched till the long sleep was ended. Silently +and earnestly the aged couple prayed for their darling, asking that if +possible she might be spared, and God heard their prayers, lifting, at +last, the heavy fog from Maddy's brain, and waking her to life and +partial consciousness. It was Jessie who first caught the expression +of the opening eyes, and darting forward, she exclaimed, "She's waked +up, Dr. Holbrook. She will live." + +Wonderingly Maddy looked at her, and then as a confused recollection +of where they had met before crossed her mind, she smiled faintly, and +said: + +"Where am I now? Have I never come home, and is this Dr. Holbrook's +office?" + +"No, no; it's home, your home, and you are getting well," Jessie +cried, bending over the bewildered girl. "Dr. Holbrook has cured you, +and Guy is here, and I, and--" + +"Hush, you disturb her," the doctor said, gently pulling Jessie away, +and himself asking Maddy how she felt. + +She did not recognize him. She only had a vague idea that he might be +some doctor, but not Dr. Holbrook, sure; not the one who had so +puzzled and tortured her on a day which seemed now so far behind. From +the white-haired man kneeling by the bedside there was a burst of +thanksgiving for the life restored, and then Grandpa Markham tottered +from the room, out into the open air, which had never fallen so +refreshingly on his tried frame as it fell now, when he first knew +that Maddy would live. He did not care for his homestead; that might +go, and he still be happy with Maddy left. But He who had marked that +true disciple's every sigh, had another good in store, willing it so +that both should come together, even as the two disappointments had +come hand in hand. + +From the soft cushions of his carriage, where he sat reclining, Guy +Remington saw the old man as he came out, and alighting at once, he +accosted him pleasantly, and then walked with him to the garden, +where, on a rustic bench, built for Maddy beneath the cherry trees, +Grandpa Markham sat down to rest. From speaking of Madeline it was +easy to go back to the day when Guy had first met grandpa, whose +application for money he had refused. + +"I have thought better of it since," he said, "and am sorry I did not +accede to your proposal. One object of my coming here to-day was to +say that my purse is at your disposal. You can have as much as you +wish, paying me whenever you like, and the house shall not be sold. +Slocum, I understand, holds the mortgage. I will see him to-morrow and +stop the whole proceeding." + +Guy spoke rapidly, determined to make a clean breast of it, but +grandpa understood him, and bowing his white head upon his bosom, the +big tears dropped like rain upon the turf, while his lips quivered, +first with thanks to the Providence who had truly done all things +well, and next with thanks to his benefactor. + +"Blessings on your head, young man, for making me so happy. You are +worthy of your father, and he was the best of men." + +"My father--did you know him?" Guy asked, in some surprise, and then +the story came out, how, years before, when a city hotel was on fire, +and one of its guests in imminent danger from the locality of his +room, and his own nervous fear which made him powerless to act, +another guest braved fearlessly the hissing flame, and scaling the +tottering wall, dragged out to life and liberty one who, until that +hour, was to him an utter stranger. + +Pushing back his snowy hair, Grandfather Markham showed upon his +temple a long, white scar, obtained the night when he periled his own +life to save that of another. There was a doubly warm pressure now of +the old man's hand, as Guy replied, "I've heard that story from father +himself, but the name of his preserver had escaped me. Why didn't you +tell me who you were?" + +"I thought 'twould look too much like demanding it as a right--too +much like begging, and I s'pose I felt too proud. Pride is my +besetting sin--the one I pray most against." + +Guy looked keenly now at the man whose besetting sin was pride, and as +he marked the cheapness of his attire, his pantaloons faded and short, +his coat worn threadbare and shabby, his shoes both patched at the +toes, his cotton shirt minus a bosom, and then thought of the humble +cottage, with its few rocky acres, he wondered of what he could be +proud. + +Meantime, for Maddy, Dr. Holbrook had prescribed perfect quiet, +bidding them darken again the window from which the shade had been +removed, and ordering all save the grandmother to leave the room and +let the patient sleep, if possible. Even Jessie was not permitted to +stay, though Maddy clung to her as to a dear friend. In a few +whispered words Jessie had told her name, saying she came from +Aikenside, and that her Brother Guy was there, too, outdoors, in the +carriage. "He heard how sick you were at Devonshire, this morning, and +drove right home for me to come to see you. I told him of you that day +in the office, and that's why he brought me, I guess. You'll like Guy. +I know all the girls do--he's so good." + +Sick and weary as she was, and unable as yet to comprehend the entire +meaning of all she heard, Maddy was conscious of a thrill of pride in +knowing that Guy Remington, from Aikenside, was interested in her, and +had brought his sister to see her. Winding her feeble arms around +Jessie's neck, she kissed the soft, warm cheek, and said, "You'll come +again, I hope." + +"Yes, every day, if mamma will let me. I don't mind it a bit, if you +are poor." + +"Tut, tut, little tattler!" and Dr. Holbrook, who, unseen by the +children, had all the while been standing near, took Jessie by the +arm. "What makes you think them poor?" + +In the closely-shaded room Maddy could see nothing distinctly, but she +heard Jessie's reply: "Because the plastering comes down so low, and +Maddy's pillows are so teenty, not much bigger than my dolly's. But I +love her; don't you doctor?" + +Through the darkness the doctor caught the sudden flash of Maddy's +eyes, and something impelled him to lay his cool, broad hand on her +forehead, as he replied, "I love all my patients;" then, taking +Jessie's arm, he led her out to where Guy was waiting for her. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +CONVALESCENCE. + + +Had it not been for the presence of Dr. Holbrook, who, accepting Guy's +invitation to tea, rode back with him to Aikenside, Mrs. Agnes would +have gone off into a passion when told that Jessie had been "exposed +to fever and mercy knows what." + +"There's no telling what one will catch among the very poor," she said +to Dr. Holbrook, as she clasped and unclasped the heavy gold bracelets +flashing on her white, round arm. + +"I'll be answerable for any disease Jessie caught at Mr. Markham's," +the doctor replied. + +"At Mr. Who's? What did you call him?" Agnes asked, the bright color +on her cheek fading as the doctor replied: + +"Markham--an old man who lives in Honedale. You never knew him, of +course." + +Involuntarily Agnes glanced at Guy, in whose eye there was, as she +fancied, a peculiar expression. Could it be he knew the secret she +guarded so carefully? Impossible, she said to herself; but still the +white fingers trembled as she handled the china and silver, and for +once she was glad when the doctor took his leave, and she was alone +with Jessie. + +"What was that girl's name?" she asked, "the one you went to see?" + +"Maddy, mother--Madeline Clyde. She's so pretty. I'm going to see her +again. May I?" + +Agnes did not reply directly, but continued to question the child with +regard to the cottage which Jessie thought so funny, slanting away +back, she said, so that the roof on one side almost touched the +ground. The window panes, too, were so very tiny, and the room where +Maddy lay sick was small and low. + +"Yes, yes, I know," Agnes said at last, impatiently, weary of hearing +of the cottage whose humble exterior and interior she knew so much +better than Jessie herself. + +But this was not to be divulged; for surely the haughty Agnes +Remington, who, in Boston, aspired to lead in society into which, as +the wife of Dr. Remington, she had been admitted, and who, in +Aikenside, was looked upon with envy, could have nothing in common +with the red cottage or its inmates. So when Jessie asked again if she +could not visit Maddy on the morrow, she answered decidedly: "No, +daughter, no. I do not wish you to associate with such people," and +when Jessie insisted on knowing why she must not associate with such +people as Maddy Clyde, the answer was: "Because you are a Remington," +and as if this of itself were of an unanswerable objection, Agnes sent +her child from her, refusing to talk longer on a subject so +disagreeable to her and so suggestive of the past. It was all in vain +that Jessie, and even Guy himself, tried to revoke the decision. +Jessie should not be permitted to come in contact with that kind of +people, she said, or incur the risk of catching that dreadful fever. + +So day after day, while life and health were slowly throbbing through +her veins, Maddy waited and longed for the little girl whose one visit +to her sick room seemed so much like a dream. From her grandfather she +had heard the good news of Guy Remington's generosity, and that, quite +as much as Dr. Holbrook's medicines, helped to bring the color back to +the pallid cheek and the brightness to her eyes. + +She was asleep the first time the doctor came after the occasion of +Jessie's visit, and as sleep, be said, would do her more good than +anything he might prescribe, he did not awaken her; but for a long +time, as it seemed to Grandma Markham, who stood very little in awe of +the Boston doctor, he watched her as she slept, now clasping the +blue-veined wrist as he felt for the pulse, and now wiping from her +forehead the drops of sweat, or pushing back her soft, damp hair. It +would be three days before he could see her again, for a sick father +in Cambridge needed his attention, and after numerous directions as to +the administering of sundry powders and pills, he left her, feeling +that the next three days would be long ones to him. Dr. Holbrook did +not stop to analyze the nature of his interest in Maddy Clyde--an +interest so different from any he had ever felt before for his +patients; and even if he had sought to solve the riddle, he would have +said that the knowing how he had wronged her was the sole cause of his +thinking far more of her and of her case than of the thirty other +patients on his list. Dr. Holbrook was a handsome man, a thorough +scholar, and a most skillful physician; but ladies who expected from +him those little polite attentions which the sex value so highly +generally expected in vain, for he was no ladies' man, and his +language and manners were oftentimes abrupt, even when both were +prompted by the utmost kindness of heart. In his organization, too, +there was not a quick perception of what would be exactly appropriate, +and so, when, at last, he was about starting to visit Maddy again, he +puzzled his brains until they fairly ached with wondering what he +could do to give her a pleasant surprise and show that he was not as +formidable a personage as her past experience might lead her to think. + +"If I could only take her something," he said, glancing ruefully +around his office. "Now, if she were Jessie, nuts and raisins might +answer--but she must not eat such trash as that," and he set himself +to think again, just as Guy Remington rode up, bearing in his hand a +most exquisite bouquet, whose fragrance filled the medicine-odored +office at once, and whose beauty elicited an exclamation of delight +even from the matter-of-fact Dr. Holbrook. + +"I thought you might be going down to Honedale, as I knew you returned +last night, so I brought these flowers for your patient with my +compliments, or if you prefer I give them to you, and you can thus +present them as if coming from yourself." + +"As if I would do that," the doctor answered, taking the bouquet in +his hand the better to examine and admire it. "Did you arrange it, or +your gardener?" he asked, and when Guy replied that the merit of +arrangement, if merit there were, belonged to himself, he began to +deprecate his own awkwardness and want of tact. "Here I have been +cudgeling my head this half hour trying to think what I could take her +as a peace offering, and could think of nothing, while you--Well, you +and I are different entirely. You know just what is proper--just what +to say, and when to say it--while I am a perfect bore, and without +doubt shall make some ludicrous blunder in delivering the flowers. +To-day will be the first time really that we meet, as she was sleeping +when I was there last, while on all other occasions she has paid no +attention whatever to me." + +For a moment Guy regarded his friend attentively, noticing now that +extra care had been bestowed upon his toilet, that the collar was +fresh from the laundry, and the new cravat tied in a most +unexceptionable manner, instead of being twisted into a hard knot, +with the ends looking as if they had been chewed. + +"Doc," he said, when his survey was completed, "how old are you-- +twenty-five or twenty-six?" + +"Twenty-five--just your age--why?" and the doctor looked with an +expression so wholly innocent of Guy's real meaning that the latter, +instead of telling why, replied: + +"Oh! nothing; only I was wondering if you would do to be my father. +Agnes, I verily believe, is more than half in love with you; but, on +the whole, I would not like to be your son; so I guess you'd better +take some one younger--say Jessie. You are only eighteen years her +senior." + +The doctor stared at him amazed, and when he had finished said with +the utmost candor: "What has that to do with Madeline? I thought we +were talking of her." "Innocent as the newly-born babe," was Guy's +mental comment, as he congratulated himself on his larger and more +varied experience. + +And truly Dr, Holbrook was as simple-hearted as a child, never +dreaming of Guy's meaning, or that any emotion save a perfectly proper +one had a lodgment in his breast as he drove down to Honedale, +guarding carefully Guy's bouquet, and wishing he knew just what he +ought to say when he presented it. + +Maddy had gained rapidly the last three days. Good nursing and the +doctor's medicines were working miracles, and on the morning when the +doctor, with Guy's bouquet, was riding rapidly toward Honedale, she +was feeling so much better that in view of his coming she asked if she +could not be permitted to receive him sitting in the rocking-chair, +instead of lying there in bed, and when this plan was vetoed as +utterly impossible, she asked, anxiously: + +"And must I see him in this nightgown? Can't I have on my pink gingham +wrapper?" + +Hitherto Maddy had been too sick to care at all about her personal +appearance, but it was different now. She did care, and thoughts of +meeting again the handsome, stylish-looking man who had asked her to +conjugate _amo_ and whom she fully believed to be Dr. Holbrook, +made her rather nervous. Dim remembrances she had of some one gliding +in and out, and when the pain and noise in her head was at its +highest, a hand, large, and, oh! so cool had been laid upon her +temples, quieting their throbbings and making the blood course less +madly through the swollen veins. They had told her how kind, how +attentive he had been, and to herself she had said: "He's sorry about +that certificate. He wishes to show me that he did not mean to be +unkind. Yes; I forgive him: for I really was very stupid that +afternoon." + +And so, in a most forgiving frame of mind, Maddy submitted to the +snowy robe which grandma brought in place of the coveted gingham +wrapper, and which became her well, with its daintily-crimped ruffles +about the neck and wrists. Those wrists and hands! How white and small +they had grown! and Maddy sighed, as her grandmother buttoned together +the wristbands, to see how loose it was. + +"I have been very sick," she said. "Are my cheeks as thin as my arms?" + +They were not, though they had lost some of their symmetrical +roundness. Still there was much of childish beauty in the young, eager +face, and the hair had lost comparatively none of its glossy +brightness. + +"That's him," grandma said, as the sound of a horse's gallop was +heard, and in a moment the doctor reined up before the gate. + +From Mrs. Markham, who met him in the door, he learned how much better +she was; also how "she has been reckoning on this visit, making +herself all a-sweat about it." + +Suddenly the doctor felt returning all his old dread of Maddy Clyde. +Why should she wrong herself into a sweat? What was there in that +visit different from any other? Nothing, he said to himself, nothing; +and yet he, too, had been more anxious about it than any he had ever +paid. Depositing his hat and gloves upon the table, he followed Mrs. +Markham up the stairs, vaguely conscious of wishing she would stay +down, and very conscious of feeling glad; when just at Maddy's door +and opposite a little window, she espied the hens busily engaged in +devouring the yeast cakes, with which she had taken so much pains, and +which she had placed in the hot sun to dry. Finding that they paid no +heed to her loud "Shoo, shoos," she started herself to drive them +away, telling the doctor to go right on and to help himself. + +The perspiration was standing under Maddy's hair by this time, and +when the doctor stepped across the threshold, and she knew he really +was coming near her, it oozed out upon her forehead in big, round +drops, while her cheeks glowed with a feverish heat. Thinking he +should get along with it better if he treated her just as he would +Jessie, the doctor confronted her at once, and asked: + +"How is my little patient to-day?" + +A faint scream broke from Maddy's lips, and she involuntarily raised +her hands to thrust the stranger away. This black-eyed, black-haired, +thick-set man was not Dr. Holbrook, for he was taller, and more +slight, while she had not been deceived in the dark brown eyes which, +even while they seemed to be mocking her, had worn a strange +fascination for the maiden of fourteen and a half. The doctor fancied +her delirious again, and this reassured him at once. Dropping the +bouquet upon the bed, he clasped one of her hands in his, and without +the slightest idea that she comprehended him, said, soothingly: + +"Poor child, are you afraid of me--the doctor, Dr. Holbrook?" Maddy +did not try to withdraw her hand, but raising her eyes, swimming in +tears, to his face, she stammered out: + +"What does it mean, and where is he--the one who--asked me--those +dreadful questions? I thought that was Dr. Holbrook." + +Here was a dilemma--something for which the doctor was not prepared, +and with a feeling that he would not betray Guy, he said: + +"No; that was some one else--a friend of mine--but I was there in the +back office. Don't you remember me? Please don't grow excited. Compose +yourself, and I will explain all by and by. This is wrong. 'Twill +never do," and talking thus rapidly he wiped away the sweat, about +which grandma had told him. + +Maddy was disappointed, and it took her some time to rally +sufficiently to convince the doctor that she was not flighty, as he +termed it; but composing herself at last, she answered all his +questions, and then, as he saw her eyes wandering toward the bouquet, +he suddenly remembered that it was not yet presented, and placing it +in her hands, he said: + +"You like flowers, I know, and these are for you. I----" + +"Oh! thank you, thank you, doctor; I am so glad. I love them so much, +and you are so kind. What made you think to bring them? I've wanted +flowers so badly; but I could not have them, because I was sick and +did not work in the garden. It was so good in you," and in her delight +Maddy's tears dropped upon the fair blossoms. + +For a moment the doctor was sorely tempted to keep the credit thus +enthusiastically given; but he was too truthful for that, and so +watching her as her eyes glistened with pleased excitement, he said: + +"I am glad you like them, Miss Clyde, and so will Mr. Remington be. He +sent them to you from his conservatory." + +"Not Mr. Remington from Aikenside--not Jessie's brother?" and Maddy's +eyes now fairly danced as they sought the doctor's face. + +"Yes Jessie's brother. He came here with her. He is interested in you, +and brought these down this morning." + +"It was Jessie, I guess, who sent them," Maddy suggested, but the +doctor persisted that it was Guy. + +"He wished me to present them with his compliments. He thought they +might please you." + +"Oh! they do, they do!" Maddy replied. "They almost make me well. Tell +him how much I thank him, and like him too, though I never saw him." + +The doctor opened his lips to tell her she had seen him, but changed +his mind ere the words were uttered. She might not think as well of +Guy, he thought, and there was no harm in keeping it back. + +So Maddy had no suspicion that the face she thought of so much +belonged to Guy Remington. She had never seen him, of course; but she +hoped she would some time, so as to thank him for his generosity to +her grandfather and his kindness to herself. Then, as she remembered +the message she had sent him, she began to think that it sounded too +familiar, and said to the doctor: + +"If you please, don't tell Mr. Remington that I said I liked him--only +that I thank him. He would think it queer for a poor girl like me to +send such word to him. He is very rich, and handsome, and splendid, +isn't he?" + +"Yes, Guy's rich and handsome, and everybody likes him. We were in +college together." + +"You were?" Maddy exclaimed. "Then you know him well, and Jessie, and +you've been to Aikenside often? There's nothing in the world I want so +much as to go to Aikenside. They say it is so beautiful." + +"Maybe I'll carry you up there some day when you are strong enough to +ride," the doctor answered, thinking of his light buggy at home, and +wondering he had not used it more, instead of always riding on +horseback. + +Dr. Holbrook looked much older than he was, and to Maddy he seemed +quite fatherly, so that the idea of riding with him, aside from the +honor it might be to her, struck her much as riding with Farmer Green +would have done. The doctor, too, imagined that his proposition was +prompted solely from disinterested motives, but he found himself +wondering how long it would be before Maddy would be able to ride a +little distance, just over the hill and back. He was tiring her all +out talking to her; but somehow it was very delightful there in that +sick room, with the summer sunshine stealing through the window and +falling upon the soft reddish-brown head resting on the pillows. Once +he fixed those pillows, arranging them so nicely that grandma, who had +come in from her hens and yeast cakes, declared "he was as handy as a +woman," and after receiving a few general directions with regard to +the future, "guessed, if he wasn't in a hurry, she'd leave him with +Maddy a spell, as there were a few chores she must do." + +The doctor knew that at least a dozen individuals were waiting for him +that moment; but still he was in no hurry, he said, and so for half an +hour longer he sat there talking of Guy, and Jessie, and Aikenside, +and wondering he had never before observed how very becoming a white +wrapper was to sick girls like Maddy Clyde. Had he been asked the +question, he could not have told whether his other patients were +habited in buff, or brown, or tan color; but he knew all about Maddy's +garb, and thought the dainty frill around her slender throat the +prettiest "puckered piece" that he had ever seen. How, then, was Dr. +Holbrook losing his heart to that little girl of fourteen and a half? +He did not think so. Indeed, he did not think anything about his +heart, though thoughts of Maddy Clyde were pretty constantly with him, +as after leaving her he paid his round of visits. + +The Aikenside carriage was standing at Mrs. Conner's gate when he +returned, and Jessie came running out to meet him, followed by Guy, +while Agnes, in the most becoming riding habit, sat by the window +looking as unconcerned at his arrival as if it were not the very event +for which she had been impatiently waiting, Jessie was a great pet +with the doctor, and, lifting her lightly in his arms, he kissed her +forehead where the golden curls were clustering and said to her: + +"I have seen Maddy Clyde. She asked for you, and why you do not come +to see her, as you promised." + +"Mother won't let me," Jessie answered. "She says they are not fit +associates for a Remington." + +There was a sudden flash of contempt on the doctor's face, and a gleam +of wrath in Agnes' eyes as she motioned Jessie to be silent, and then +gracefully received the doctor, who by this time was in the room. As +if determined to monopolize the conversation, and keep it from turning +on the Markhams, Agnes rattled on for nearly fifteen minutes, scarcely +allowing Guy a chance for uttering a word. But Guy bided his time, and +seized the first favorable opportunity to inquire after Madeline. + +She was improving rapidly, the doctor said, adding: "You ought to have +seen her delight when I gave her your bouquet." + +"Indeed," and Agnes bridled haughtily; "I did not know that Guy was in +the habit of sending bouquets to such as this Clyde girl. I really +must report him to Miss Atherstone." + +Guy's seat was very near to Agnes, and while a cloud overspread his +fine features, he said to her in an aside: + +"Please say in your report that the worst thing about this Clyde girl +is that she aspires to be a teacher, and possibly a governess." + +There was an emphasis on the last word which silenced Agnes and set +her to beating her French gaiter on the carpet; while Guy, turning +back to the doctor, replied to his remark: + +"She was pleased, then?" + +"Yes; she must be vastly fond of flowers, though I sometimes fancied +the fact of being noticed by you afforded almost as much satisfaction +as the bouquet itself. She evidently regards you as a superior being, +and Aikenside as a second Paradise, and asking innumerable questions +about you and Jessie, too." + +"Did she honor me with an inquiry?" Agnes asked, her tone indicative +of sarcasm, though she was greatly interested as well as relieved by +the reply: + +"Yes; she said she heard that Jessie's mother was a beautiful woman, +and asked if you were not born in England." + +"She's mixed me up with Lucy. Guy, you must go down and enlighten +her," Agnes said, laughing merrily and appearing more at ease than she +had before since Maddy Clyde had been the subject of conversation. + +Guy did not go down to Honedale--but fruit and flowers, and once a +bottle of rare old wine, found their way to the old red cottage, +always brought by Guy's man, Duncan, and always accompanied with Mr. +Remington's compliments. Once, hidden among the rosebuds, was a +childish note from Jessie, some of it printed and some in the uneven +hand of a child just commencing to write. + +It was as follows: + +"DEAD MADDY: I think that is such a pretty name, and so does Guy, and +so does the doctor, too. I want to come see you, but mamma won't let +me. I think of you ever so much, and so does Guy, I guess, for he +sends you lots of things. Guy is a nice brother, and is most as old as +mamma. Ain't that funny? You know my first ma is dead. The doctor +tells us about you when he comes to Aikenside. I wish he'd come +oftener, for I love him a bushel--don't you? Yours respectfully, + +"JESSIE AGNES REMINGTON. + +"P. S.--I am going to tuck this in just for fun, right among the buds, +where you must look for it." + +This note Maddy read and reread until she knew it by heart, +particularly the part relating to Guy. Hitherto she had not +particularly liked her name, greatly preferring that it should have +been Eliza Ann, or Sarah Jane; but the knowing that Guy Remington +fancied it made a vast difference, and did much toward reconciling +her. She did not even see the clause, "and the doctor, too." His +attentions and concern she took as a matter of course, so quietly and +so constantly had they been given. The day was very long now which did +not bring him to the cottage; but she missed him much as she would +have missed her brother, if she had had one, though her pulse always +quickened and her cheeks glowed when she heard him at the gate. The +inner power did not lie deeper than a great friendliness for one who +had been instrumental in saving her life. They had talked over the +matter of her examination, the doctor blaming himself more than was +necessary for his ignorance as to what was required of a teacher; but +when she asked who was his proxy, he had again answered, evasively: "A +friend from Boston." + +And this he did to shield Guy, whom he knew was enshrined in the +little maiden's heart as a paragon of all excellence. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +THE DRIVE. + + +Latterly the doctor had taken to driving in his buggy, and when Maddy +was strong enough he took her with him one day, himself adjusting the +shawl which grandma wrapped around her, and pulling a little farther +on the white sunbonnet which shaded the sweet, pale face, where the +roses were just beginning to bloom again. The doctor was very happy +that morning, and so, too, was Maddy, talking to him upon the theme of +which she never tired, Guy Remington, Jessie and Aikenside. Was it as +beautiful a place as she had heard it was, and didn't he think it +would be delightful to live there? + +"I suppose Mr. Guy will be bringing a wife there some day when he +finds one," and leaning back in the buggy Maddy heaved a little sigh, +not at thoughts of Guy Remington's wife, but because she began to feel +tired, and thus gave vent to her weariness. + +The doctor, however, did not so construe it. He heard the sigh, and +for the first time when listening to her as she talked of Guy, a keen +throb of pain shot through his heart, a something as near akin to +jealousy as it was possible for him then to feel. But all unused as he +was to the workings of love he did not at that moment dream of such an +emotion in connection with Madeline Clyde. He only knew that something +affected him unpleasantly, prompting him, for some reason, to tell +Maddy Clyde about Lucy Atherstone, who, in all probability, would one +day come to Aikenside as its mistress. + +"Yes, Guy will undoubtedly marry," he began, just as over the top of +the easy hill they were ascending horses' heads were visible, and the +Aikenside carriage appeared in view. "There he is now," he exclaimed, +adding quickly: "No, I am mistaken, there's only a lady inside. It +must be Agnes." + +It was Agnes driving out alone, for the sole purpose of passing a +place which had a singular attraction for her, the old, red cottage in +Honedale. She recognized the doctor, and guessed whom he had with him, +Putting up her glass, for which she had no more need than Jessie, she +scrutinized the little figure bundled up in shawls, while she smiled +her sweetest smile upon the doctor, showing to good advantage her +white teeth, and shaking back her wealth of curls with the air and +manner of a young coquettish girl. + +"Oh, what a handsome lady! Who is she?" Maddy asked, turning to look +after the carriage now swiftly descending the hill. + +"That was Jessie's mother, Mrs. Agnes Remington," the doctor replied. +"She'll feel flattered with your compliment." + +"I did not mean to flatter. I said what I thought. She is handsome, +beautiful, and so young, too. Was that a gold bracelet which flashed +so on her arm?" + +The doctor presumed it was, though he had not noticed. Gold bracelets +were not new to him as they were to Maddy, who continued: + +"I wonder if I'll ever wear a bracelet like that?" + +"Would you like to?" the doctor asked, glancing at the small white +wrist, around which the dark calico sleeve was closely buttoned, and +thinking how much prettier and modest-looking it was than Agnes' +half-bare arms, where the ornaments were flashing. + +"Y-e-s," came hesitatingly from Maddy, who had a strong passion for +jewelry. "I guess I would, though grandpa classes all such things with +the pomps and vanities which I must renounce when I get to be good." + +"And when will that be?" the doctor asked. + +Again Maddy sighed, as she replied: "I cannot tell. I thought so much +about it while I was sick, that is, when I could think; but now I'm +better, it goes away from me some. I know it is wrong, but I cannot +help it. I've seen only a bit of pomp and vanity, but I must say that +I like what I have seen, and I wish to see more. It's very wicked, I +know," she kept on, as she met the queer expression of the doctor's +face;" and I know you think me so bad. You are good--a Christian, I +suppose?" + +There was a strange light in the doctor's eye as he answered, half +sadly: "No, Maddy, I am not what you call a Christian, I have not +renounced the pomps and vanities yet." + +"Oh, I'm so sorry," and Maddy's eyes expressed all the sorrow she +professed to feel. "You ought to be, now you've got so old." + +The doctor colored crimson, and stopping his horse under the dim +shadow of a maple in a little hollow, he said: + +"I'm not so very old, Maddy; only twenty-five--only ten years older +than yourself; and Agnes' husband was more than twenty years her +senior." + +The doctor did not know why he dragged that last in, when it had +nothing whatever to do with their conversation; but as the most +trivial thing often leads to great results, so far from the pang +caused by Maddy's thinking him so old, was born the first real +consciousness he had ever had that the little girl beside him was very +dear, and that the ten years difference between them might prove a +most impassable gulf. With this feeling, it was exceedingly painful +for him to hear Maddy's sudden exclamation: + +"Oh, oh! over twenty years--that's dreadful. She must be most glad +he's dead. I would not marry a man more than five years older than I +am." + +"Not if you loved him, and he loved you very, very dearly?" the doctor +asked, his voice low and tender in its tone. + +Wholly unsuspicious of the wild storm beating in his heart, Maddy +untied her white sunbonnet, and, taking it in her lap, smoothed back +her soft hair, saying, with a long breath: "Oh! I'm so hot," and then, +as just thinking of his question, replied: "I shouldn't love him--I +couldn't. Grandma is five years younger than grandpa, mother was five +years younger than father, Mrs. Green is five years younger than Mr. +Green, and, oh! ever so many. You are warm, too; ain't you?" and she +turned her innocent eyes full upon the doctor, who was wiping from his +lips the great drops of water, induced not so much by the heat as by +the apparent hopelessness of the love he now knew was growing in his +heart for Maddy Clyde. Recurring again to Agnes, Maddy said: "I wonder +why she married that old man? It is worse than if you were to marry +Jessie." + +"Money and position were the attractions, I imagine," the doctor said. +"Agnes was poor, and esteemed it a great honor to be made Mrs. +Remington." + +"Poor, was she?" Maddy rejoined. "Then maybe Mr. Guy will some day +marry a poor girl. Do you think he will?" + +Again Lucy Atherstone trembled on the doctor's lips, but he did not +speak of her--it was preposterous that Maddy should have any thoughts +of Guy Remington, who was quite as old as himself, besides being +engaged, and with this comforting assurance the doctor turned his +horse in the direction of the cottage, for Maddy was growing tired and +needed to be at home. + +"Perhaps you'll some time change your mind about people so much older, +and if you do you'll remember our talk this morning," he said, as he +drove up at last before the gate. + +Oh, yes! Maddy would never forget that morning or the nice ride they'd +had. She had enjoyed it so much, and she thanked him many times for +his kindness, as she stood waiting for him to drive away, feeling no +tremor whatever when at parting he took and held her hand, smoothing +it gently, and telling her it was growing fat and plump again. He was +a very nice doctor, much better than she had imagined, she thought, as +she went slowly to the house and entered the neat kitchen, where her +grandmother sat shelling peas for dinner, and her grandfather in his +leathern chair was whispering over his weekly paper. + +"Did you meet a grand lady in a carriage?" grandma asked, as Maddy sat +down beside her. + +"Yes; and Dr. Holbrook said it was Mrs. Remington, from Aikenside, Mr. +Guy's stepmother, and that she was more than twenty years younger than +her husband--isn't it dreadful? I thought so; but the doctor didn't +seem to," and in a perfectly artless manner Maddy repeated much of the +conversation which had passed between the doctor and herself, +appealing to her grandma to know if she had not taken the right side +of the argument. + +"Yes, child, you did," and grandma's hands lingered among the light +green peas in her pan, as if she were thinking of an entirely foreign +subject. "I knows nothing about this Mrs. Remington, only that she +stared a good deal at the house as she went by, even looking at us +through a glass, and lifting her spotted veil after she got by. She +may have been as happy as a queen with her man, but as a general thing +these unequal matches don't work, and had better not be thought on. +S'posin' you should think you was in love with somebody, and in a few +years, when you got older, be sick of him. It might do him a sight of +harm. That's what spoilt your poor Great-uncle Joseph, who's been in +the hospital at Worcester goin' on nine years." + +"It was!" and Maddy's face was all aglow with the interest she always +evinced whenever mention was made of the one great living sorrow of +her grandmother's life--the shattered intellect and isolation from the +world of her youngest brother, who, as she said, had for nearly nine +long years been an inmate of a madhouse. + +"Tell me about it," Maddy continued, bringing a pillow, and lying down +upon the faded lounge beneath the window. + +"There is no great to tell, only he was many years younger than I. +He's only forty-one now, and was thirteen years older than the girl he +wanted. Joseph was smart and handsome, and a lawyer, and folks said a +sight too good for the girl, whose folks were just nothing, but she +had a pretty face, and her long curls bewitched him. She couldn't have +been older than you when he first saw her, and she was only sixteen +when they got engaged. Joseph's life was bound up in her; he worshiped +the very air she breathed, and when she mittened him, it almost took +his life. He was too old for her, she said, and then right on top of +that we heard after a little that she married some big bug, I never +knew who, plenty old enough to be her father. That settled it with +Joseph; he went into a kind of melancholy, grew worse and worse, till +we put him in the hospital, usin' his little property to pay the bill +until it was all gone, and now he's on charity, you know, exceptin' +what we do. That's what 'tis about your Uncle Joseph, and I warn all +young girls of thirteen or fourteen not to think too much of nobody. +They are bound to get sick of 'em, and it makes dreadful work." + +Grandma had an object in telling this to Maddy, for she was not blind +to the nature of the doctor's interest in her child, and though it +gratified her pride, she felt that it must not be, both for his sake +and Maddy's, so she told the sad story of Uncle Joseph as a warning to +Maddy, who could scarcely be said to need it. Still it made an +impression on her, and all that afternoon she was thinking of the +unfortunate man, whom she had seen but once, and that in his prison +home, where she had been with her grandfather the only time she had +ever ridden in the cars. He had taken her in his arms then, she +remembered, and called her his little Sarah. That must have been the +name of his treacherous betrothed. She would ask if it were not so, +and she did. + +"Yes, Sarah Morris, that was her name, and her face was handsome as a +doll," grandma replied, and wondering if she were as beautiful as +Jessie, or Jessie's mother, Maddy went back to her reveries of the +poor maniac, whom Sarah Morris had wronged so cruelly. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +SHADOWINGS OF WHAT WAS TO BE. + + +It was very pleasant at Aikenside that afternoon, and the cool breeze +blowing from the miniature fish pond in one corner of the grounds, +came stealing into the handsome parlors, where Agnes Remington, in +tasteful toilet, reclined languidly upon the crimson-hued sofa, +bending her graceful head to suit the height of Jessie, who was +twining some flowers among her curls, and occasionally appealing to +Guy to know "if it was not pretty." + +In his favorite seat in the pleasant bay window, opening into the +garden, Guy was sitting, apparently reading a book, though his eyes +did not move very rapidly down the page, for his thoughts were on some +other object. When his pretty stepmother first came to Aikenside, +three months before, he had been half sorry, for he knew just how his +quiet would be disturbed, but as the weeks went by, and he became +accustomed to Jessie's childish prattle and frolicsome ways, while +even Agnes herself was not a bad picture for his handsome home, he +began to feel how he should miss them when they were gone, Jessie +particularly, who made so much sunshine wherever she went, and who was +very dear to the heart of the half-brother. Full well he knew Agnes +would rather stay there, that her income did not warrant as luxurious +a home as he could give her, and that by remaining at Aikenside during +the warmer season she could afford to board through the winter in +Boston, where her personal attractions secured her quite as much +attention as was good for her. Had she been more agreeable to him he +would not have hesitated to offer her a home as long as she chose to +remain, but, as it was, he felt that Lucy Atherstone would be much +happier alone with him. Lucy, however, was not coming yet, and until +she did come Agnes perhaps might stay. It certainly would be better +for Jessie, who could have a teacher in the house, and it was upon +these matters that he was reflecting. + +As if divining his thoughts Agnes said to him rather abruptly: + +"Guy, Ellen Laurie writes me that they are all going to Saratoga for a +time, and then to Newport, and she wished I would join them. Do you +think I can afford it?" + +"Oh, yes, that's splendid, for I'll stay here while you are gone, and +I like Aikenside so much better than Boston. Mamma can afford it, +can't she, Guy?" Jessie exclaimed, dropping her flowers and springing +upon her brother's knee. + +Smoothing her bright hair and pinching her soft cheek, Guy replied: + +"That means, I suppose, that I can afford it, don't it? but, puss, I +was thinking just now about your staying here where you really do +improve." + +Then turning to Agnes he made some inquiries as to the plans proposed +by the Laurie's, ascertaining that Agnes' plan was as follows: He +should invite her to go with him to Saratoga, or Newport, or both, and +that Jessie meantime should remain at Aikenside, just as she wished to +do. + +Guy could not find much pleasure in escorting Agnes to a fashionable +watering place, particularly as he was, of course, expected to pay the +bills, but he sometimes did unselfish things; and as he had not been +very gracious to her on the occasion of her last visit to Aikenside, +he decided to martyr himself and go to Saratoga. But who would care +for Jessie? She must not be left wholly with the servants. A governess +of some kind must be provided, and he was about speaking of this to +Agnes, when the doctor was announced, and the conversation turned into +another channel. Agnes Remington would not have confessed bow much she +was interested in Dr. Holbrook. Indeed, only that morning in reply to +a joking remark made to her by Guy, she had petulantly exclaimed: + +"The idea of my caring for him, except as a friend and physician. Why, +he must be younger than I am, or at most about my age. A mere boy, as +it were." + +And yet, in making her toilet that afternoon, she had arranged every +part of her dress with direct reference to the "mere boy," her heart +beating faster every time she remembered the white sunbonnet and the +Scotch plaid shawl she had seen beside him in the drive that morning. +Little Maddy Clyde would hardly have credited the story had she been +told that the beautiful lady from Aikenside was positively jealous of +Dr. Holbrook's attentions to herself; yet so it was, and the jealousy +was all the more bitter when she remembered who Madeline was, and how +startled that aged couple of the red cottage would be, could they know +who she was. But they did not; she was quite sure of that; and so she +had ventured to pass their door, her heart throbbing with a strange +sensation as the old waymarks came in view, waymarks which she +remembered so well, and around which so many sad memories were +clustering. Agnes was not all bad. Indeed, she was scarcely worse than +most vain, selfish fashionable women; and all that day, since her +return from riding, haunting, remorseful thoughts of the long ago had +been clinging to her, making her more anxious to leave that +neighborhood for a time at least, and in scenes of gayety forget, if +possible, that such things as broken vows or broken hearts existed. + +The arrival of the doctor dissipated her sadness in a measure, and +after greeting him with her usual expressions of welcome, she said, +half playfully, half spitefully: + +"By the way, doctor, who was that old lady, all bent up double in +shawls and things, whom you were taking out for an airing?" + +Guy looked up quickly, wondering where Agnes could have seen the +doctor, who, conscious of a sudden pang, answered, naturally: + +"That old lady, bent double and bundled in shawls, was young Maddy +Clyde, to whom I thought a short ride might do good." + +"Oh, yes; that patient about whom Jessie has gone mad. I am glad to +have seen her." + +There was unmistakable irony in her voice now, and turning from her to +Guy, the doctor continued: + +"The old man was telling me to-day of your kindness in saving his +house from being sold. It was like you, Guy; and I wish I, too, had +the means to be generous, for they are so very poor." + +"I'll tell you," said Jessie, who had stolen to the doctor's side, and +lain her fat, bare arm upon his shoulder, as if he had been Guy. "You +might give Maddy the doctor's bill. I remember how mamma cried, and +said she never could pay papa's bill when it was sent in." + +"Jessie!" said Agnes and Guy, simultaneously, while the doctor +laughingly pulled one of her long, bright curls. + +"Yes, I could do that. I'd thought of it, but they might not accept +it, as they are proud as well as poor." + +"Mr. Markham has no one to care for but his wife and this Madeline, +has he?" Agnes asked, and the doctor replied: + +"I did not suppose so until a few days since, when I learned from a +Mr. Green that Mrs. Markham's youngest and now only brother has been +an inmate of a lunatic asylum for years; and that though they cannot +pay his entire expenses, of course they do all they can toward +providing him with comforts." + +"What is a lunatic asylum, mother? What does he mean?" Jessie asked, +but it was the doctor, not Agnes, who explained to the child what a +lunatic asylum was. + +"Is insanity hereditary in this family?" Guy asked. + +Agnes' cheek was very white, though her face was fumed away as the +doctor answered: "I do not know; I did not ask the cause. I only heard +the fact that such a man as Joseph Mortimer exists." + +For a moment there was silence in the room, and then Guy told the +doctor of what himself and Agnes were speaking when he arrived. + +"I suppose it's of no use asking you to join us for a week or so." + +"There was not," the doctor said. "His patients needed him and he must +stay at home." + +"Doctor, how would this Maddy Clyde do to stay here with Jessie while +we are gone, partly as companion and partly as her teacher?" was Guy's +next question, which brought Mrs. Agnes at once from her reverie. + +"Guy," she exclaimed, "are you crazy? That child Jessie's governess! +No, indeed! I shall have a teacher from Boston--one whose manners and +style are unexceptionable." + +Guy had a will of his own, and few could provoke it into action as +effectually as Agnes, who, in thus opposing him, was working directly +against herself. Paying her no attention, except to bow in token that +he heard, Guy asked Jessie her opinion. + +"Oh, it will be splendid! Can she come to-morrow? I shan't care how +long you are gone if I can have Maddy here, and doctor will come up +every day, will you, doctor?" and the soft eyes looked up pleadingly +into the doctor's face. + +"It is not settled yet that Maddy comes," the doctor replied, adding +as an answer to Guy's question: "If Agnes could be willing, I do not +think you could do better than to secure Miss Clyde's services. Two +children will thus be made happy, for Maddy, as I have told you, +thinks Aikenside must be a little lower only than Paradise. I shall be +happy to open negotiations, if you say so." + +"I'll ride down and let you know to-morrow," Guy said. "These domestic +matters, where there is a difference of thinking, had better be +discussed alone," and he turned good-humoredly toward Agnes, who knew +it was useless to oppose him then. + +But oppose him she did that night, after the doctor had gone, taking +at first the high stand that sooner than have a country girl like +Maddy Clyde associated daily with her daughter, whether as teacher or +companion, she would give up Saratoga and stay at home. Guy could not +explain why it was that opposition from Agnes always aroused all his +powers of antagonism. Yet so it was, and now he was as fully +determined that Maddy Clyde should come to Aikenside as Agnes was that +she should not. He knew, too, how to attain this end without further +altercation. + +"Very well," was his quiet reply, "you can remain at home if you +choose, of course. I had intended taking you myself, wherever you +wished to go; and not only that, but I was about to ask how much was +needed for the necessary additions to your wardrobe, but if you prefer +remaining here to giving up a most unfounded prejudice against a girl +who never harmed you, and whom Jessie already loves, you can do so," +and Guy walked from the room, leaving Agnes first to cry, then to +pout, then to think it all over, and finally to decide that going to +Saratoga and Newport under the protection of Guy, was better than +carrying out a whim, which, after all, was nothing but a whim. + +Accordingly next morning as Guy was in his library reading his papers, +she went tripping up to him, and folding her white hands upon his +shoulder, said, very prettily: + +"I was real cross last night, and let my foolish pride get the +ascendency, but I have considered the matter, and am willing for this +Miss Clyde to come, provided you still think it best." + +Guy's mustache hid the mischievous smile lurking about his mouth, and +he received the concession as graciously as if he did not know +perfectly the motive which impelled it. As she had commenced being +amiable she seemed determined to continue it, and offered herself to +write a note soliciting Maddy's services, + +"As I am Jessie's mother, it will be perfectly proper for me to hire +and manage her," she said, and as Guy acquiesced in this suggestion, +she sat down at the writing desk, and commenced a very pleasantly +worded note, in which Miss Clyde was informed that she had been +recommended as a suitable person with whom to leave Jessie during the +summer and a part of the autumn, and that she, Jessie's mother, wrote +to ask if for the sum of one dollar per week she were at liberty to +come to Aikenside as governess, or waiting-maid. + +"Or what?" Guy asked, as she read to him what she had written. "Maddy +Clyde will not be waiting-maid in this house, neither will she come +for one dollar per week as you propose. I hire her myself. I have +taken a fancy to the girl. Commence again; substitute companion for +waiting-maid, and offering her three dollars per week instead of one." + +As long as Guy paid the bill Agnes could not demur to the price, +although remembering a time when she had taught a district school for +one dollar per week and boarded around besides. She thought three +dollars far too much. But Guy had commanded, and him she generally +obeyed, so she wrote another note, which he approved, and sealing it +up sent it by a servant down to the red cottage. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +THE DECISION. + + +The reception of Agnes' note produced quite a commotion at the red +cottage, where various opinions were expressed as to the prime mover +of the plan, grandpa thinking that as Mrs. Agnes wrote the note, and +was most interested in it, she, of course, had suggested it, grandma +insisting that it was Jessie's doings, while Maddy, when she said +anything, agreed with her grandmother, though away down in her heart +was a tiny spot warm with the half belief that Mr. Guy himself had +first thought of having her at Aikenside, where she would rather go +than to any other spot in the wide world; to Aikenside, with its +shaven lawn, almost large enough to be called a park, with its shaded +paths and winding walks, its costly flowers and running vines, its +fountains and statuary, its fish pond and grove, its airy rooms, its +marbled hall, its winding stairs, with banisters of rosewood, its +cupola at the top, from which so many miles of hill and meadow land +could be discerned, its bay windows and long piazzas, its sweet-faced, +golden-haired Jessie, and its manly, noble Guy. Only the image of +Agnes, flashing in silk and diamonds was a flaw on the picture's fair +surface. From thoughts of her Maddy had insensibly shrank, until she +met her in the carriage, and then received the note asking her +services. These events wrought in her a change, and dread of Mrs. +Agnes passed away. She should like her, and she should be so happy at +Aikenside, for, of course, she was going, and she began to wish the +doctor would come so as to tell her how long before she would be +strong enough to perform the duties of teacher to little Jessie. + +At first Grandpa Markham hesitated. It might do Maddy a deal of hurt +to go to Aikenside, he said, her humble home would look mean to her +after all that finery, while the temptations to vanity and ambition +would be greater there than at home; but Maddy put all his objections +aside, and long before the doctor came she had written to Mrs. Agnes +that she would go. The doctor could not understand why it was that in +Maddy's home he did not think as well of her going to Aikenside as he +had done the evening previous. She looked so bright, so pure, so +artless, sitting by her grandfather's knee, that it seemed a pity to +transplant her to another soil, while, hidden in his heart where even +he did not know it was hidden, was a fear of what might be the effect +of daily intercourse with Guy. Still he said it was the best thing for +her to do, and laughingly remarked that it was far better than +teaching the district school, and then he asked if she would ride +again that day; but to this Mrs. Markham objected. It was too soon, +she said, Maddy had hardly recovered from yesterday's fatigue, +suggesting that as the doctor was desirous of doing good to his +convalescent patients, he carry out poor old deaf Mary Barnes, who +complained that he stayed so long with the child at "granther +Markham's" as to have but a moment to spare for her. + +Instantly the eyes of Mrs. Markham and the doctor met, the latter +feeling very uncomfortable, while the former was confirmed in the +suspicion raised by what Maddy told her the day before. + +It was the doctor who carried Maddy's answer to Agnes, the doctor who +made all the succeeding arrangements, deciding that Maddy would not be +wholly strong until the very day fixed upon by Agnes for her departure +for Saratoga. For this Guy was sorry. It would have been an easy +matter for him to have ridden down to the cottage, and seen the girl +in whom he was beginning to feel so much interest that in his last +letter to Lucy he had mentioned her as about to become his sister's +governess; but he did not care to see her there. It seemed to him that +the surroundings of that slanting-roofed house did not belong to her, +and he would rather meet her in his own more luxurious home. But the +doctor's word was law, and so, on the first day of August he followed +Agnes and her three huge traveling trunks to the carriage, and was +driven from the house to which Maddy was coming that afternoon. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +AT AIKENSIDE. + + +It was a long, tiresome ride, for grandpa, from Honedale to Aikenside, +and as he was not in his wife's secret, he accepted thankfully the +doctor's offer to take Maddy there himself. With this arrangement +Maddy was well pleased, as it would thus afford her the opportunity +she had so much desired, of talking with the doctor about his bill, +and asking him to wait until she had earned enough to pay it. + +To the aged couple, parting for the first time with their darling, the +day was very sad, but they would not intrude their grief upon the +young girl looking so eagerly forward to the new life opening before +her; only grandpa's voice faltered a little when, in the morning +prayer, he commended his child to God, asking that she might be kept +from temptation, and that the new sights and scenes to which she was +going might not beget in her a love of the world's vanities, or a +disgust for her old home; but that she might come back to it the same +loving, happy child as she was then, and never be ashamed of the +parents to whom she was so dear. There was an answering sob from the +chair where Maddy knelt, and after the devotions were ended she wound +her arm around her grandfather's neck, and parting his silvery locks, +said to him, earnestly; + +"Grandpa, do you think I could ever be ashamed of you and grandma?" + +"I hope not, darling; it would break our hearts; but finery and things +is mighty apt to set folks up, and after you've walked a spell on them +velvet carpets, you'll no doubt think your feet make a big noise on +our bare kitchen floor." + +"That may be, but I shan't be ashamed of you. No, not if I were Mrs. +Guy Remington herself." And Maddy emphasized her words with a kiss, as +she thought how nice it would be provided she were a widow, to be Mrs. +Guy Remington, and have her grandparents live at Aikenside with her. + +"But, pshaw! I'll never be Mrs. anybody; and if I am, I'll have to +have a husband, which would be such a bother!" was her next mental +comment, as, leaving her grandfather, she went to help her grandmother +with the breakfast dishes, wondering when she would wipe those blue +cups again, and how she should probably feel when she did. + +Quickly the morning passed, and just as the clock struck two the +doctor's buggy appeared over the hill. Up to this moment Maddy had +only been happy in anticipation; but when, with her shawl and bonnet +on, she stood waiting while the doctor fastened her little trunk, and +when she saw a tear on the wrinkled faces of both her grandparents, +her fortitude gave way; and 'mid a storm of sobs, she said her good-bys +and received her grandfather's blessing. + +It was very pleasant that afternoon, for the summer breeze was blowing +cool across the fields, where the laborers were busy; and with the +elasticity of youth, Maddy's tears stopped their flowing, but not +until the dear old home had disappeared, and they were some distance +on the road to Aikenside. + +"I wonder how I shall like Mrs. Remington and Mr. Guy?" was the first +remark she made. + +"You'll not see them immediately. They left this morning for +Saratoga," the doctor replied. + +"Left! Mr. Guy gone!" Maddy repeated in a disappointed tone. + +"Are you very sorry?" the doctor asked, and Maddy replied: + +"I did want to see him once; you know I never have." + +It would be such a surprise to find that Guy was no other than the +terrible inspector, that he would not undeceive her, the doctor +thought; and so he relapsed into a thoughtful mood, from which Maddy +aroused him by breaking the subject of the unpaid bill, asking if he'd +please not trouble grandpa, but wait until she could pay it. + +"Perhaps it's wrong asking it when you were so good, but if you only +will take me for payment," and Maddy's soft brown eyes were lifted to +his face. + +"Yes, Maddy, I'll take you for payment," the doctor said, smiling, +half seriously, as his eyes rested fondly upon her. + +Even then stupid Maddy did not understand him, but began to calculate +out loud how long it would take to earn the money. She'd heard people +say that the doctor charged a dollar a visit to Honedale, and he'd +been so many, many times, that it would take a great many weeks to pay +him; besides, there was the debt to Mr. Guy. She wanted to help pay +that, but did not see how she could, unless he waited, too. Did the +doctor think he would? It seemed terrible to the doctor that one so +young as Maddy should be harassed with the payment of debts, and he +felt a most intense desire for the right to shield her from all such +care, but he must not speak of it then; he'd rather she should remain +a little longer an artless child, confiding all her troubles to him as +if he had been her brother. + +"There's Aikenside," he said, at last, and it was not long before they +passed through the gate, guarded by the great bronze lions, and struck +into the graveled road leading to the house. + +"It's grander, finer, than I ever dreamed. Oh! if I could some time +have just such a home! and doctor, look! What does make that water go +up in the air so? Is it what they call a fountain?" + +In her excitement Maddy had risen, and with one hand resting on the +doctor's shoulder, was looking around her eagerly. Guy Remington would +have laughed, and been gratified, too, could he have heard the +enthusiastic praises heaped upon his home by the little schoolgirl as +she drove up to his door. But Guy was away in the dusty cars, and only +Jessie stood on the piazza to receive her teacher. There were warm +words of welcome, kisses and hugs; and then Jessie led her friend to +the chamber she was to occupy. + +"Mother wanted you to sleep the other side of the house, but Brother +Guy said no, you should have a pleasant room; and when Guy says a +thing, it's so. It's nice in here, and close to me. See, I'm right +here," and Jessie opened a door leading directly to her own sleeping +room. + +"Here's one trunk," she continued, as a servant brought up and set +down, a little contemptuously, the small hair-cloth box containing +Maddy's wardrobe. "Here's one; where's the rest?" and she was flying +after Tom, when Maddy stopped her, saying: + +"I have but one--that's all." + +"Only that little, teenty thing? How funny. Why, mamma carried three +most as big as my bed to Saratoga. You can't have many dresses. What +are you going to wear to dinner?" + +"I've been to dinner." And Maddy looked up in some surprise. + +"You have! We never have it till five, when Guy is at home; but now +they are gone, Mrs. Noah says we will have it at one, as folks ought +to do. To-day I coaxed her to wait till you come, and the table is all +set out so nicely for two. Can you carve, and do you like green turtle +soup?" + +Maddy was bewildered, but managed to reply that she could not carve, +that she never saw any green turtle soup, and that she supposed she +should wear to dinner the delaine she had on. "Why, we always change, +even Mrs. Noah," Jessie exclaimed, bending over the open trunk and +examining its contents. + +Two calicoes, a blue muslin, a gingham and another delaine, beside the +one she had on. That was the sum total of Maddy's wardrobe, and Jessie +glanced at it a little ruefully as Maddy carefully shook out the +nicely folded dresses and laid them upon the bed. Here Mrs. Noah was +heard calling Jessie, who ran away leaving Maddy alone for a moment. + +Maddy had seen the look Jessie gave her dresses, and for the first +time there dawned upon her mind the possibility that her plain +apparel, and ignorance of the ways of Aikenside might be to her the +cause of much mortification. + +"And grandma said they were so nice, too--doing them up so carefully," +she said, her lip beginning to quiver, and her eyes filling with +tears, as thoughts of home came rushing over her. + +She could not force them back, and laying her head upon the top of the +despised hair trunk, she sobbed aloud. Guy Remington's private room +was in that hall, and as the doctor knew a book was to have been left +there for him, he took the liberty of getting it; passing Maddy's door +he heard the low sound of weeping, and looking in, saw her where she +sat or rather knelt upon the floor. + +"Homesick so soon!" he said, advancing to her side, and then amid a +torrent of tears, the whole came out. + +Maddy never could do as they did there, and everybody would laugh at +her so for an awkward thing; she never knew that folks ate dinner at +five instead of twelve--she should surely starve to death--she +couldn't carve--she could not eat mud-turtle soup, and she did not +know which dress to wear for dinner--would the doctor tell her? There +they were, and she pointed to the bed, only five, and she knew Jessie +thought it so mean. + +Such was the substance of Maddy's passionate outpouring of her griefs +to the highly perplexed doctor, who, after quieting her somewhat, +ascertained that the greatest present trouble was the deciding what +dress was suitable to the occasion. The doctor had never made dress +his study, but as it happened he liked blue, and so suggested it, as +the one most likely to be becoming. + +"That!" and Maddy looked confounded. "Why, grandma never let me wear +that, except on Sunday; that's my very best dress." + +"Poor child; I'm not sure it was right for you to come here where the +life is so different from the quiet, unpretentious one you have led," +the doctor thought, but he merely said: "It's my impression they wear +their best dresses here, all the time." + +"But what will I do when that's worn out! Oh, dear, dear, I wish I had +not come!" and another impetuous fit of weeping ensued, in the midst +of which Jessie came back, greatly disturbed on Maddy's account, and +asking eagerly what was the matter. + +Very adroitly the doctor managed to draw Jessie aside, while as well +as he was able he gave her a few hints with regard to her intercourse +with Maddy, and Jessie, who seemed intuitively to understand him, went +back to the weeping girl, soothing her much as a little mother would +have soothed her child. They would have such nice times, when Maddy +got used to their ways, which would not take long, and nobody would +laugh at her, she said, when Maddy expressed her fears on that point. +"You are too pretty even if you do make mistakes!" and then she went +into ecstasies over the blue muslin, which was becoming to Maddy, and +greatly enhanced her girlish beauty. The tear stains were all washed +away, Jessie using very freely her mother's _eau-de-cologne_, and +making Maddy's cheeks very red with rubbing, the nut-brown hair was +brushed until it shone like satin, a little narrow band of black +velvet ribbon was pinned about Maddy's snowy neck, and then she was +ready for that terrible ordeal, her first dinner at Aikenside. The +doctor was going to stay, and this helped to relieve her somewhat. + +"You must come to the housekeeper's room and see her first," Jessie +said, and with a beating heart and brain bewildered by the elegancies +which met her at every turn, Maddy followed to where the dreaded Mrs. +Noah, in rustling back silk and a thread lace collar, sat sewing and +greatly enjoying the leisure she had in her master's absence. + +Mrs. Noah knew who Maddy was, remembering the old man said that she +would not disgrace a drawing-room as fine as that at Aikenside. She +had discovered, too, that Mrs. Agnes was opposed to her coming, that +only Guy's determined will had brought her there; and this, if nothing +else, had disposed her to feel kindly toward the little governess. She +had expected to see her rather pretty, but was not prepared to find +her what she was. Maddy's was a singular type of beauty--a beauty +untarnished by any selfish, uncharitable, or suspicious feeling. Clear +and truthful as a mirror, her brown eyes looked into Mrs. Noah's, +while her low courtesy--so full of deference, found its way straight +to that motherly heart. + +"I am glad to see you, Miss Clyde," she said, "very glad." + +Maddy's lip quivered a little and her voice shook as she replied: + +"Please call me Maddy. They do at home, and I shan't be quite so--so--" + +She could not say "homesick," lest she should break out again into a +fit of crying, but Mrs. Noah understood her, and remembering her own +experience when first she went from home, she involuntarily stooped to +kiss the pure, white forehead of the girl, who henceforth was sure of +one friend at least at Aikenside. + +The dinner was a success, so far as Maddy was concerned. Not a single +mistake did she perpetrate, though her cheeks burned painfully as she +felt the eyes of the polite waiters fixed so often upon her, and +fancied they might be laughing at her. But they were not, and thanks +to the kind-hearted Guy, they thought of her only with respect, as one +who was their superior and must be treated accordingly. Knowing how +different everything was at Aikenside from that to which she had been +accustomed, Guy, with the thoughtfulness natural to him, had taken the +precaution of speaking to each of the servants concerning Miss Clyde, +Jessie's teacher. As he could not be there himself when she first came +it would devolve upon them, more or less, to make it pleasant for her +by kind, civil attentions, he said, hinting at the dire displeasure +sure to fall on any one who should be guilty of a misdemeanor in that +direction. To Paul, the coachman, he had been particular in his +charges, telling him who Maddy was, and arguing that from the +insolence once given to the grandfather the offender was bound to be +more polite to the grandchild. The carriage was to be at hers and +Jessie's command, Paul never refusing a reasonable request to drive +the young ladies when and where they wished to go, while a pretty +little black pony, recently broken to the saddle for Agnes, was to be +at Miss Clyde's service, if she chose to have it. As Guy's slightest +wish was always obeyed, Maddy's chances for happiness were not small, +notwithstanding that she felt so desolate and lonely when the doctor +left her, and standing by Jessie she watched him with a swelling heart +until he was lost to view in the deepening twilight. + +Feeling that she must be homesick, Mrs. Noah suggested that she try +the fine piano in the little music-room. + +"Maybe you can't play, but you can drum 'Days of Absence,' as most +girls do," and opening the lid she bade Maddy "thump as long as she +liked." + +Music was a delight to Maddy, who coveted nothing so much as a +knowledge of it, and sitting down upon the stool, she touched the +soft-toned instrument, ascertaining by her far several sweet chords, +and greatly astonishing Jessie, who wondered at her skill. Twice each +week a teacher came up from Devonshire to give lessons to Jessie, but +as yet she could only play one scale and a few simple bars. These she +attempted to teach to Maddy, who caught at them so quickly and +executed them so well that Jessie was delighted. Maddy ought to take +lessons, she said, and some time during the next day she took to Mrs. +Noah a letter which she had written to Guy. After going into ecstasies +over Maddy, saying she was the nicest kind of a girl, that she prayed +in the morning as well as at night, and looked so sweet in blue, she +asked if she couldn't take music lessons, too, advancing many reasons +why she should, one of which was that she could play now a great deal +better than herself. + +It was several days before an answer came to this letter, and when it +did it brought Guy's consent for Maddy to take lessons, together with +a note for Mr. Simons, requesting him to consider Miss Clyde his +pupil, on the same terms with Jessie. + +Though greatly pleased with Aikenside, and greatly attached to Jessie, +Maddy had had many hours of loneliness when her heart was back in the +humble cottage where she knew they were missing her so much, but now a +new world, a world of music, was suddenly opened before her, and the +homesickness all disappeared. It had been arranged with Mrs. Noah, by +Agnes, that Jessie should only study for two hours each day, +consequently Maddy had nearly all the time to herself, and well did +she improve it, making so rapid progress that Simons looked on amazed +declaring her case to be without a parallel, while Jessie was left far +behind. Indeed, after a short time Maddy might have been her teacher, +and was of much service to her in practicing her lessons. + +Meanwhile the doctor came often to Aikenside, praising Maddy's +progress in music, and though he did not know a single note, +compelling himself to listen while with childlike satisfaction she +played him her last lesson. She was very happy now at Aikenside, where +all were so kind to her, and half wished that the family would always +remain as it was then, that Agnes and Guy would not come home, for +with their coming she felt there would be a change. It was nearly time +now to expect them. Indeed, Guy had written on one Saturday that they +should probably be home the next, and during the ensuing week +Aikenside presented that most uncomfortable phase of a house being +cleaned. Everything must be in order for Mr. Guy, Mrs. Noah said, +taking more pains with his rooms than with the remaining portion of +the building. Guy was her idol; nothing was too good for him, few +things quite good enough, and she said so much in his praise that +Maddy began to shrink from meeting him. What would he think of her? +Perhaps he might not notice her in the least, and that would be +terrible. But, no, a man as kind as he had shown himself to her, would +at least pay her some attention, and so at last she began to +anticipate his coming home, wondering what their first meeting would +be, what she should say to him, and what he would think of her. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +GUY AT HOME. + + +Saturday came at last, a balmy September day, when all nature seemed +conspiring to welcome the travelers for whom so extensive preparations +were making at Aikenside. They were expected at about six in the +afternoon, and just before that hour the doctor rode up to be in +readiness to meet them. In the dining-room the table was set as Maddy +had never seen it set before, making, with its silver, its china, and +cut-glass, a glittering display. There was Guy's seat as carver, with +Agnes at the urn, while Maddy felt sure that the two plates between +Agnes and Guy were intended for Jessie and herself, the doctor +occupying the other side. Jessie would sit next her mother, which +would leave her near to Guy, where he could see every movement she +made. Would he think her awkward, or would he, as she hoped, be so +much absorbed with the doctor as not to notice her? Suppose she should +drop her fork, or upset one of those queer-looking goblets, more like +bowls than anything else? It would be terrible, and Maddy's cheeks +tingled at the very thought of such a catastrophe. Were they goblets +really, those funny colored things, and if they were not, what were +they? Summoning all her courage, she asked the doctor, her prime +counselor, and learned that they were the finger-glasses, of which she +had read, but which she had never seen before. + +"Oh, must I use them?" she asked, in so evident distress that the +doctor could not forbear a laugh as he told her it was not of the +slightest consequence whether she used them or not, advising her to +watch Mrs. Agnes, who was _au fait_ in all such matters. + +Six o'clock came, but no travelers. Then an hour went by, and there +came a telegram that the cars had broken down and would not probably +arrive until late in the night, if indeed they did till morning. +Greatly disappointed, the doctor, after dinner, took his leave, +telling the girls they had better not sit up. Consequently, at a late +hour they both retired, sleeping so soundly as not to near the noise +outside the house; the banging of doors, the setting down of trunks, +the tramp of feet, Mrs. Noah's words of welcome, one pleasant voice +which responded, and another more impatient one which sounded as if +its owner were tired and cross. + +Agnes and Guy had come. As a whole, Agnes' season at Saratoga had been +rather disagreeable. Guy, it is true had been exceedingly kind. She +had been flattered by brainless fops. She had heard herself called +"that beautiful Mrs. Remington," and "that charming young widow," but +no serious attentions had been paid, no millionaire had asked to be +her second husband. If there had, she would have said yes, for Agnes +was not averse to changing her state of widowhood. She liked the +doctor, but if he did not propose, and some other body did, she should +accept that other body, of course. This was her intention when she +left Aikenside, and when she came back, it was with the determination +to raise the siege at once, and compel the doctor to surrender. She +knew he was not wealthy as she could wish, but his family were the +Holbrooks, and as she positively liked him, she was prepared to waive +the matter of money. In this state of mind it is not surprising that +the morning of the return home she should listen with a troubled mind +to Jessie's rather exaggerated account of the number of times the +doctor had been there, and the nice things he had said to her and +Maddy. + +"He had visited them ever so much, staying ever so long. I know Maddy +likes him; I do, anyway," Jessie said, never dreaming of the passion +she was exciting, jealousy of Maddy, hatred of Maddy, and a desire to +be revenged on a girl whom Dr. Holbrook visited "ever so much." + +What was she that he should care for her? A mere nothing--a child, +whom Guy had taken up. Pity there was a Lucy Atherstone in the way of +his making her mistress of Aikenside. It would be a pretty romance, +Guy Remington and Grandpa Markham's grandchild. Agnes was nervous and +tired, and this helped to increase her anger toward the innocent girl. +She would take immediate measures, she thought, to put the upstart +down, and the sight of Flora laying the cloth for breakfast suggested +to her the first step in teaching Maddy her place. + +"Flora," she said, "I notice you are arranging the table for four. +Have we company?" + +"Why, no, ma'am; there's Mr. Guy, yourself, Miss Jessie, and Miss +Clyde," was Flora's reply, while Agnes continued haughtily: "Remove +Miss Clyde's plate. No one allows their governess to eat with them." + +"But, ma'am," and Flora hesitated, "she's very pretty, and ladylike, +and young; she has always eaten with Miss Jessie and Dr. Holbrook when +he was here. He treats her as if she was good as anybody." + +In her eagerness to serve Maddy and save her from insult, Flora was +growing bold, but she only hurt the cause by mentioning the doctor. +Agnes was determined now, and she replied: + +"It was quite right when we were gone, but it is different now, and +Mr. Remington, I am sure, will not suffer it." + +"Might I ask him?" Flora persisted, her hand still on the plate. + +"No," Agnes would attend to that, and also see Miss Clyde. All Flora +had to do was to remove the plate, which she finally did, muttering to +herself: "Such airs! but I know Mr. Guy won't stand it." + +Meantime Maddy had put on her prettiest delaine, tied her little +dainty black silk apron, Mrs. Noah's gift, and with the feeling that +she was looking unusually well, started for the parlor to meet her +employer, Mrs. Agnes. Jessie had gone in quest of her brother, and +thus Agnes was alone when Maddy Clyde first presented herself before +her. She had not expected to find Maddy so pretty, and for a moment +the hot blood crimsoned her cheek, while her heart throbbed wildly +beneath the rich morning dress. Dr. Holbrook had cause for being +attracted by that fresh, bright face, she thought, and so she steeled +herself against the better impulses of her nature, impulses which +pleaded that for the sake of the past she should be kind to Maddy +Clyde. + +"Ah, good-morning. You are Jessie's governess, I presume," she said, +bowing distantly, and pretending not to notice the hand which Maddy +involuntarily extended toward her. "Jessie speaks well of you, and I +am very glad you suit her. You have had a pleasant time, I trust?" + +Her voice was so cold and her manner so distant that Maddy's eyes for +an instant filled with tears, but she answered civilly that she had +been very happy, and everybody was very kind. It was harder work to +put down Maddy Clyde than Agnes had expected, and after a little +further conversation there ensued a silence, which neither was +inclined to break. At last, summoning all her courage, Agnes began: + +"Excuse me, Miss Clyde, but your own good sense, of which I am sure +you have an abundance, must tell you that now Mr. Remington and myself +are at home, your intercourse with our family must be rather +limited--that is--ahem--that is, neither Mr. Remington nor myself are +accustomed to having our governess very much with us. I suppose you +have had the range of the parlors, sitting there when you liked, and +all this was perfectly proper. Mind, I am finding no fault with you. +It is all quite right," she continued, as she saw the strange look of +terror and surprise visible on Maddy's face. "The past is right, but +in future it will be a little different, I am willing to accord to a +governess all the privileges possible. They are human as well as +myself, but society makes a difference. Don't you know it does?" + +"Yes--no--I don't know. Oh, pray tell me what I am to do!" Maddy +gasped, her face as white as ashes, and her eyes wearing as yet only a +scared, uncertain look. + +With little, graceful tosses of the head, which set in motion every +one of the brown curls, Mrs. Agnes replied: + +"You are not, of course, to go to Mr. Remington. It is my matter, and +does not concern him. What I wish is this: You are to come to the +parlor only when invited, and are not to intrude upon us at any time, +particularly when company is here, such as--well, such as Dr. +Holbrook, if you please. As you cannot be with Jessie all the while, +you will, when your labors as governess are over, sit in your own +room, or the schoolroom, or walk in the back yard, just as the higher +servants do--such as Mrs. Noah and the sewing girl, Sarah. +Occasionally we shall have you in to dine with us, but usually you +will take your meals with Mrs. Noah and Sarah. By following these +directions you will, I think, give entire satisfaction." + +When Mrs. Agnes had finished this, Maddy began to understand her +position, and into her white face the hot blood poured indignantly. +Wholly inexperienced, she had never dreamed that a governess was not +worthy to sit at the same table with her employer, that she must never +enter the parlors unbidden, or intrude herself in any way. No wonder +that her cheeks burned at the degradation, or that, for an instant, +she felt like defying the proud woman to her face. But the angry words +trembling on her tongue were repressed as she remembered her +grandfather's teachings; and with a bow as haughty as any Mrs. Agnes +could have made, and a look on her face which could not easily be +forgotten, she left the room, and in a kind of stunned bewilderment +sought the garden, where she could, unseen, give way to her feelings. + +Once alone, the torrent burst forth, and burying her face in the soft +grass, she wept bitterly, never hearing the step coming near, and not +at first heeding the voice which asked what was the matter. Guy +Remington, too, had come out into the garden, accidentally wandering +that way, and so stumbling upon the little figure crying in the grass. +He knew it was Maddy, and greatly surprised to find her thus, asked +what was the matter. Then, as she did not hear him, he laid his hand +gently upon her shoulder, compelling her to look up. In all her +imaginings of Guy, she had never associated him with the man who had +so puzzled and confused her, and now she did not for a time suspect +the truth. She only thought him a guest at Aikenside; some one come +with Guy, and her degradation seemed greater than before. She was not +surprised when he called her by name; of course he remembered her, +just as she did him; but she did wonder a little what Mrs. Agnes would +say, could she know how kindly he spoke to her, lifting her from the +grass and leading her to a rustic seat at no great distance from them. + +"Now, tell me why you are crying so?" he said, brushing from her silk +apron the spot of dirt which had settled upon it. "Are you homesick?" +he continued, and then Maddy burst out again. + +She forgot that he was a stranger, forgot everything except that he +sympathized with her. + +"Oh, sir," she sobbed, "I was so happy here till they came home, Mrs. +Remington and Mr. Guy. I never thought it was a disgrace to be a +governess; never heard it was so considered, or that I was not good +enough to eat with them till she told me this. Oh, dear, dear!" and +choked with tears Maddy stopped a moment to take breath. + +She did not look up at the young man beside her, and it was well she +did not, for the dark expression of his face would have frightened +her. Half guessing the truth, and impatient to hear more, he said to +her: + +"Go on," so sternly, that she started, and replied: + +"I know you are angry with me and I ought not to have told you." + +"I am not angry--not at you at least--go on," was Guy's reply, and +Maddy continued: + +"She told me that now they had come home it would be different, that +only when invited must I come to the parlor, or anywhere, but must +stay in the servants' part, and eat with Mrs. Noah and Sarah. I'd just +as soon do that. I am no better than they, only, only--the way she +told me made me feel so mean, as if I was not anybody, when I am," and +here Maddy's pride began to rise. "I'm just as good as she, if grandpa +is poor, and I won't stay here to be treated like a nigger by her and +Mr. Guy. I liked him so much too, because he was kind to grandpa and +to me when I was sick. Yes, I did like him so much." + +"And how is it now?" Guy asked, wondering who in the world she thought +he was. "How is it now?" + +"I s'pose it's wicked to feel such things on Sunday, but, somehow, +what she said keeps making me so bad that I know I hate her, and I +guess I hate Mr. Guy!" + +This was Maddy's answer, spoken deliberately, while she looked up at +the young man, who, with a comical expression about his mouth, +answered back: + +"I am Mr. Guy." "You, you! Oh, I can't bear it! I will die!" and Maddy +sprang up as quickly as if feeling an electric shock. + +But Guy's arm was interposed to stop her, and Guy's arm held her back, +while he asked where she was going. + +"Anywhere, out of sight where you can never see me again," Maddy +sobbed vehemently. "It is bad enough to have you think me a fool, as +you must; but now, oh what do you think of me?" + +"Nothing bad, I assure you," Guy said, still holding her wrist to keep +her there. "I supposed you knew who I was, but as you did not, I +forgive you for hating me so cordially. If you thought I sanctioned +what Mrs. Remington has said to you, you had cause to dislike me, but +Miss Clyde, I do not, and this is the first intimation I have had that +you were to be treated other than as a lady. I am master of Aikenside, +not Mrs. Agnes, who shall be made to understand it." + +"Oh, please don't quarrel about me. Let me go home, and then all will +be well," Maddy cried, feeling, at that moment, more averse to leaving +Aikenside than she could have thought it possible. + +"We shall not quarrel, but I shall have my way; meanwhile go to your +room and stay there until told that I have sent for you." + +They went to the house together, but separated in the hall; Maddy +repairing to her room, while Guy sought Mrs. Agnes. The moment she saw +his face she knew a storm was coming, but was not prepared for the +biting sarcasm and bitter reproaches heaped upon her by one who, when +roused, was a perfect hurricane. + +Maybe she had forgotten what she was when his father married her, he +said, but he had not, and he remembered well the wonder expressed by +many that his father should stoop to marry a poor school teacher. +"Yes, that's what you were, madam, much as you despise Maddy Clyde for +being a governess; you were one once yourself, and before that time +mercy knows what you were--a hired girl, perhaps--your present airs +would seem to warrant as much!" + +Guy was in a sad passion by this time, and failed to note the effect +his last words had on Agnes, who turned livid with rage and terror; +but smothering down her wrath, she said beseechingly: + +"Pray, Guy, do not be so angry; I know I am foolish about some things, +and proud people who 'come up' as you say always are, I guess; I know +that marrying your father made me what I am, but everybody does not +know it, and it is not necessary they should. I don't remember exactly +what I did say to this Clyde girl, but I thought it would be +pleasanter for you, pleasanter for us all, not to have her always +around; it seems she has presided at the table when Dr. Holbrook was +here to tea, and even you can't think that quite right." + +"I don't know why," and at mention of Dr. Holbrook Guy's temper burst +out again. "Agnes, you can't deceive me; I know the secret of your +abominable treatment of Maddy Clyde is jealousy." + +"Guy--jealous, I jealous of that child;" and Agnes' voice was +expressive of the utmost consternation. + +"Yes, jealous of that child; you think that because the doctor has +been kind to her, perhaps he wants her some time for his wife. I hope +he does; I mean to help it on; I'll tell him to have her, and if he +don't I'll almost marry her myself!" and Guy paced up and down the +parlor, chafing and foaming like a young lion. + +Agnes was conquered, and quite as much bewildered as Maddy had been; +she heard only in part how Maddy Clyde was henceforth to be treated. + +"Yes, yes," she gasped at last, as Guy talked on, "stop now, for +mercy's sake, and I'll do anything, only not this morning, my head +aches so I cannot go to the breakfast table; I must be excused," and +holding her temples, which were throbbing with pain, induced by strong +excitement, Agnes hurried to her own room and threw herself upon the +bed, angry, mortified and subdued. + +The breakfast bell had rung twice while Guy was holding that interview +with Agnes, and at last Mrs. Noah came up herself to learn the cause +of the delay; standing in the hall she heard a part of what was +transpiring in the parlor. Mrs. Noah was proud and jealous of her +master's dignity, and once or twice the thought had crossed her mind +that perhaps when he came home Maddy would be treated more as some +governesses were treated by their employers, but to have Agnes take +the matter up was quite a different thing, and Mrs. Noah smiled with +grim satisfaction, as she heard Guy issuing orders as to how Miss +Clyde should be treated. Standing back to let Agnes pass, she waited a +moment, and then, as if she had just come up, presented herself before +Guy, asking if he were ready for breakfast. + +"Yes, call Miss Clyde; tell her I sent for her," was Guy's answer, and +forthwith Mrs. Noah repaired to Maddy's room, finding her still +sobbing bitterly. + +"I cannot go down," she said; "my face is all stains, and it's so +dreadful, happening on Sunday, too. What would grandpa say?" + +"You can wash off the stains. Come," Mrs. Noah said, pouring water +into the bowl, and bidding Maddy hurry, "as Mr. Guy was waiting +breakfast for her." + +"But I am not to eat with them," Maddy began, when Mrs. Noah stopped +her by explaining how Guy ruled that house, and Agnes had been +completely routed. + +This did not quiet Maddy particularly, and her heart beat painfully as +she descended to the parlor, where Guy was still walking up and down. + +"Come, Miss Clyde, Jessie is nearly famished," he said pleasantly, as +Maddy appeared, and without the slightest reference to what had passed +he drew Maddy's arm within his own, and giving a hand to Jessie, who +had just come in, he went to the breakfast room, where Maddy was told +to preside. + +Guy watched her closely without seeming to do so, mentally deciding +that she was neither vulgar nor awkward. On the contrary, he thought +her very pretty, and very graceful for one so unaccustomed to society. +Nothing was said of Agnes, who kept her room the entire day, and did +not join the family until evening, when Guy sat upon the piazza with +Jessie in his lap, while Maddy was not very far away. At first there +was much constraint between Agnes and Maddy, but with Guy to manage, +it soon wore away, and Agnes felt herself exceedingly amiable when she +reflected how gracious she had been to her rival. + +But Maddy could not so soon forget. All through the day the conviction +had been settling upon her that she could not stay at Aikenside, and +so on the following morning, just after breakfast was over, she +summoned courage to ask Mr. Guy if she might talk with film. Leading +the way to his library, he bade her sit down, while he took the chair +opposite, and then waited for her to commence. + +Maddy was afraid of Guy. He did not seem quite like Dr. Holbrook. He +was haughtier in his appearance, while his rather elaborate style of +dress and polished manners gave him, in her estimation, a kind of +superiority over all the men she had ever met. Besides that, she +remembered how his dark eyes had flashed when she told him what she +did the previous day, and also that she had said to his face that she +hated him. She could not bear to leave a bad impression on his mind, +so the first words she said to him were: + +"Mr. Remington, I can't stay here after all that has happened. It +would not be pleasant for me or Mrs. Agnes, so I am going home, but I +want you to forget what I said about hating you yesterday. I did not +then know who you were. I don't hate you. I like you, and I want you +to like me." + +She did not look at him, for her eyelids were cast down, and her +lashes were wet with the tears she could scarcely keep from shedding. +Guy had never known much about girls of Maddy's age, and there was +something extremely fascinating in the artless simplicity of this half +child, half woman, sitting there before him, and asking him so +demurely to like her. She was very pretty, he thought, and with proper +culture would make a beautiful woman. Then, as he remembered his +avowed intention of urging the doctor to make her his wife some day, +the idea flashed upon him that it would be very generous, very +magnanimous in him to educate that young girl expressly for the +doctor, and though he hardly seemed to wait at all ere replying to +Maddy, he had in the brief interval formed a skeleton plan, and saw it +in all its bearings and triumphal result. + +"I am much obliged for your liking me," he said, a very little +mischievously. "You surely have not much reason so to do when you +recall the incidents of our first interview. Maddy--Miss Clyde--I have +come to the conclusion that I knew less than you did, and I beg your +pardon for annoying you so terribly." + +Then briefly Guy explained to her how it all had happened, blaming +himself far more than he did the doctor, who, he said, had repented +bitterly. "Had you died, Miss Clyde, when you were so sick, I half +believe he would have felt it his duty to die also. He likes you very +much; more indeed than any patient I ever knew him to have," and Guy's +eyes glanced curiously at Maddy to witness the effect his words might +have upon her. But Maddy merely answered: + +"Yes, I think he does like me, and I know I like him." + +Mentally chastising himself for trying to find in Maddy's head an idea +which evidently never was there, he began to speak of her proposition +of leave, saying he should not suffer it, Jessie needed her and she +must stay. She was not to mind the disagreeable things Mrs. Remington +had said. She was tired and nervous, and so gave way to some very +preposterous notions, which she had picked up somewhere. She would +treat Maddy better hereafter, and she must stay. It was pleasanter for +Jessie to have a companion so near her own age. Then, as he saw signs +of yielding in Maddy's face, he continued: + +"How would you like to turn scholar for a short time each day, I being +your teacher? Time often hangs heavily upon my hands, and I fancy the +novelty of the thing would suit me. I have books. I will appoint your +lessons and the hour for recitation." + +Guy's face was scarlet by the time he finished speaking, for suddenly +he remembered to have heard or read of a similar instance which +resulted in the marriage of the teacher and pupil; besides that it +would subject him to so much remark, when it was known that he, the +fashionable and fastidious Guy, was teaching a pretty, attractive girl +like Maddy Clyde, and he sincerely hoped she would decline. But Maddy +had no such intention. Always in earnest herself, she supposed every +one else meant what they said, and without ever suspecting the +peculiar position in which such a proceeding would place both herself +and Guy, her heart leaped up at the idea of knowing what was in the +books she had never dared hope she might study. With her beautiful +eyes full of tears, which shone like diamonds, as she lifted them to +Guy's face, she said: + + "Oh, I thank you so much. You could not make me happier, and I'll try +so hard to learn. They don't teach such things at the district school; +and when there was a high school in Honedale I could not go, for it +was three dollars a quarter, and grandpa had no three dollars for me. +Uncle Joseph needed help, and so I stayed at home. It's dreadful to be +poor, but, perhaps, I shall some time be competent to teach in a +seminary, and won't that be grand? When may I begin?" + +Guy had never met with so much frankness and simplicity in any one, +unless it were in Lucy Atherstone, of whom Maddy reminded him +somewhat, except that the latter was more practical, more--he hardly +knew what--only there was a difference, and a thought crossed his mind +that if Maddy had had all Lucy's advantages, and was as old, she would +be what the world calls smarter. There was no disparagement to Lucy in +his thoughts, only a compliment to Maddy, who was waiting for him to +answer her question. There was no retracting now; he had offered his +services; she had accepted; and with a mental comment: "I dread Doc's +fun the most, so I'll explain to him how I am educating her for the +future Mrs. Dr. Holbrook," he replied: + +"As soon as I am rested from my journey, or sooner, if you like; and +now tell me, please, who is this Uncle Joseph of whom you speak?" + +He remembered what the doctor had said of a crazy uncle, but wishing +to hear Maddy's version of it, put to her the question he did. + +"Uncle Joseph is grandma's youngest brother," Maddy answered, "and he +has been in the lunatic asylum for years. As long as his little +property lasted, his bills were paid, but now they keep him from +charity, only grandpa helps all he can, and buys some little nice +things which he wants so badly, and sometimes cries for, they say. I +picked berries all last summer, and sold to buy him a thin coat and +pants. We should have more to spend than we do, if it were not for +Uncle Joseph," and Maddy's face wore a thoughtful expression as she +recalled all the shifts and turns she'd seen made at home that the +poor maniac might be more comfortable. + +"What made him crazy?" Guy asked, and after a moment's hesitancy Maddy +replied: "I don't believe grandma would mind my telling you, though +she don't talk about it much. I only knew it a little while ago. He +was disappointed once. He loved a girl very much, and she made him +think that she loved him. She was many years younger than Uncle +Joseph--about my age at first, and when she grew up she said she was +sick of him, because he was so much older. He wouldn't have felt so +badly, if she had not gone straight off and married a rich man who was +a great deal older even than Uncle Joseph; that was the hardest part, +and he grew crazy at once. It has been so long that he never can be +helped, and sometimes grandma talks of bringing him home, as he is +perfectly harmless. I suppose it's wicked, but I most hope she won't, +for it would be terrible to live with a crazy man," and a chill crept +over Maddy, as if there had fallen upon her a foreshadowing of what +might yet be. "Mr. Remington," she continued suddenly, "if you teach +me, I can't, of course, expect three dollars a week. It would not be +right." + +"Perfectly right," he answered. "Your services to Jessie will be worth +just as much as ever, so give yourself no trouble on that score." + +He was the best man that ever lived, Maddy thought, and so she told +the doctor that afternoon when, as he rode up to Aikenside, she met +him out on the lawn before he reached the house. + +It did strike the doctor a little comically that one of Guy's habits +should offer to turn school teacher, but Maddy was so glad, that he +was glad too, and doubly glad that across the sea there was a Lucy +Atherstone. How he wished that she was there now as Mrs. Guy, and he +must tell Guy so that very day. Seated in Guy's library, the +opportunity soon occurred, Guy approaching the subject himself by +saying: + +"Guess, Hal, what crazy project I have just embarked in." + +"I know without guessing; Maddy told me," and the doctor's eyebrows +were elevated just a little as he crossed his feet upon the window +sill and moved his chair so as to have a better view of Maddy and +Jessie romping in the grass. + +"And so you don't approve?" was Guy's next remark, to which the doctor +replied: + +"Why, yes; it's a grand thing for her, providing you know enough to +teach her; but, Guy, this is a confounded gossiping neighborhood, and +folks will talk, I'm afraid." + +"Talk about what!" and Guy bridled up as his independent spirit began +to rise, "What harm is there in my doing a generous act to a poor girl +like Maddy Clyde? Isn't she graceful as a kitten, though?" and Guy +nodded toward the spot where she was playing. + +It annoyed the doctor to have Guy praise Maddy, but he would not show +it, and answered calmly: + +"It's all right in you, but just because the poor girl is Maddy Clyde, +folks will talk. She is too handsome, Guy, for Madam Grundy to let +alone. If Lucy were only here, it would be different. Why, in the name +of wonder, are you two not married, if you are ever going to be?" + +"Jealous, as I live!" and Guy's hand came down playfully on the +doctor's shoulder. "I did not suppose you had got as far as that. You +are afraid of the effect it may have on me teaching a sweet-faced +little girl how to conjugate amo; and to cover up your own interest, +you bring Lucy forward as an argument. Eh, Hal, have I not probed the +secret?" + +The doctor was in no mood for joking, and only smiled gloomily, while +Guy continued: + +"Honestly, doctor, I am doing it for you. I imagine you fancy her, as +well you may. She'll make a splend'd woman, but she needs educating, +of course, and I am going to do it. You ought to thank me, instead of +looking so like a thundercloud," and Guy laughed merrily. + +The doctor was ashamed of his mood, and could not tell what spirit +prompted him to answer: + +"I am obliged to you, Guy; but as far as I am concerned, you may spare +yourself the trouble. If my wife needs educating, I can do it myself." + +Guy was puzzled. Could it be that, after all, he was deceived, and the +doctor did not care for Maddy? It might be, and he hastened to change +the conversation to another topic than Maddy Clyde. The doctor stayed +to dinner, and as Guy watched him closely, he made up his mind that he +did care for Maddy Clyde, and this confirmed him in his plan of +educating her for him. + +Magnanimous Guy! He felt himself very good, very generous, very +condescending, and very forgiving, the early portion of the afternoon; +but later in the day he began to view Guy Remington in the light of a +martyr, said martyrdom consisting in the scornful toss of the head +with which Agnes had listened to his plan, and the open opposition of +Mrs. Noah. + +"Was he beside himself, or what?" this worthy asked. "She liked Maddy +Clyde, to be sure, but it wasn't for him to demean himself by turning +her school master. Folks would talk awfully, and she couldn't blame +'em; besides, what would Lucy say to his bein' alone in a room with a +girl as pretty as Maddy? It was a duty he owed her at any rate to tell +her all about it, and if she said 'twas right, why, go it." + +This was the drift of Mrs. Noah's remarks, and as Guy depended much on +her judgment, he decided to write to Lucy to see if she had the +slightest objections to his teaching Maddy Clyde. Accordingly he wrote +that very night, telling her frankly all he knew concerning Maddy +Clyde, and narrating the circumstances under which he first had met +her, being careful also to repeat what he knew would have weight with +an English girl like Lucy, to wit, that though poor, Maddy's father +and grandfather Clyde had been gentlemen, the one a clergyman, the +other a sea captain. Then he told of her desire for learning, and his +plan to teach her himself, of what the doctor and Mrs. Noah said about +it, and his final determination to consult her. Then he described +Maddy herself, feeling a strange thrill as he told how pure, how +innocent, how artless and beautiful she was, and asked if Lucy feared +aught from his association with her. + +"If you do," he wrote, "you have but to say so, and though I am +committed, I will extricate myself in some way rather than wound you +in the slightest degree." + +It would be some time ere an answer to this letter could be received, +and until such time Guy could not honorably hear Maddy's lessons as he +had agreed to do. But Maddy was not suspicious, and accepting his +trivial excuse, waited patiently, while he, too, waited for the +letter, wondering what it would contain. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +A GENEROUS LETTER. + + +At last the answer came, and it was Maddy who brought it to Guy. She +had been home that day, and on her return had ridden by the office as +Guy had requested her to do. She saw the letter bore a foreign +postmark, also that it was in the delicate handwriting of some female, +but the sight did not affect her in the least. Maddy's heart was far +too heavy that day to care for a trifle, and so placing the letter +carefully in her basket she kept on to Aikenside. + +The letter was decidedly Lucy-ish in all that pertained to her +"dearest darling," her "precious Guy," but when she came to Maddy +Clyde, her true, womanly nature spoke; and Guy, while reading it, felt +how good she was. Of course he might teach Maddy Clyde all he wished +to teach her, and it made Lucy love him better to know that he was +willing to do such things. She wished she was there to help him; they +would open a school for all the poor, but she did not know when mamma +would let her come. That pain in her side was not any better, and her +cough had come earlier this season than last. The physician had +advised a winter in Naples, and they were going before very long. It +would be pleasant there, no doubt, only she should be farther away +from her boy Guy, but she would think of him, oh, so often, teaching +that dear little Maddy Clyde, and she would pray for him, too, just as +she always did. Then followed a few more lines sacred to the lover's +eye, lines which told how pure was the love which sweet Lucy +Atherstone bore for Guy Remington, who, as he read, felt his heart +beat with a throb of pain, for Lucy spoke to him now for the first +time of what might possibly be. + +"I've dreamed about it nights," she said. "I've thought about it days, +and tried so hard to be reconciled; to feel that if God will have it +so, I am willing to die before you have ever called me your little +wife, or I have ever called you husband. Heaven is better than earth, +I know, and I am sure of going there, I think, but oh, dear Guy, a +life with you looks so very sweet, that sometimes your little Lucy +shrinks from the dark grave, which would hide her forever from you. +Guy, you once said you never prayed, and it made me feel so badly, but +you will, when you get this, won't you? You will ask God to make me +well, and may be He will hear you. Do, Guy, please do pray for your +Lucy, far away over the sea." + +Guy could not resist that touching appeal, "to pray for his little +Lucy," and though his lips were all unused to prayer, bowing his head +upon his hands he did ask that she might live, beseeching the Father +to send upon him any calamity save this one--Lucy must be spared. Guy +felt better for having prayed, it was something to tell Lucy, +something that would please her well, and though his heart yet was +very sad, a part of the load was lifted, and he could think of Lucy +now without the bitter pain her letter first had cost him. Was there +nothing that would save her, nobody who could cure her? Her disease +was not hereditary; surely it might be made to yield; had English +physicians no skill, would not an American do better? It was possible, +and if that mother of Lucy's would let her come where doctors knew +something, she might get well; but she wouldn't; she was determined +that no husband should be burdened with an ailing wife, and so if the +mountain would not come to Mahomet, why, Mahomet must go to the +mountain, and Guy fairly leaped from his chair as he exclaimed: "I +have it--Doc!--he's the most skillful man I ever knew; I'll send him +to England; send him to the Atherstones; he shall go to Naples with +them as their family physician; he can cure Lucy; I'll speak to him +the very next time he comes here;" and with another burden lifted from +his mind, Guy began to wonder where Maddy was, and why that day had +been so long. + +He knew she had returned, for Flora had said she brought the letter, +and he was about going out, in hopes of finding her and Jessie, when +he heard her in the hall, as she answered some question of Mrs. +Noah's; stepping to the door, he asked her to come in, saying he +would, if she chose, appoint the lessons talked about so long. +Ordinarily, Maddy's eyes would have flashed with delight, for she had +anticipated so much from these lessons; now, however, there was a sad +look upon her face and she could scarcely keep from crying as she came +at Guy's bidding, and sat upon the sofa, near to his armchair. Somehow +it rested Guy to look at Maddy Clyde, who, having recovered from her +illness, seemed the very embodiment of perfect health, a health which +glowed and sparkled all over her bright face; showing itself as well +in the luxuriance of her glossy hair as in the brilliancy of her +complexion, and the flash of her lustrous eyes. How Guy wished that +Lucy could share in what seemed almost superfluity of health; and why +shouldn't she? Dr. Holbrook had cured Maddy; Dr. Holbrook could cure +Lucy; and so for the present dismissing that from his mind, he turned +to Maddy, and said the time had come when he could give those promised +lessons, asking if she would commence to-morrow, after she was through +with Jessie, and what she would prefer to take up first? + +"Oh, Mr. Remington," and Maddy began to cry: "I am afraid I cannot +stay they need me at home, or maybe Grandpa said so and I don't want +to go, though I know it's wicked not to; oh, dear, dear!" + +Here Maddy broke down entirely, sobbing so convulsively that Guy +became alarmed, and wondered what he ought to do to quiet her. As she +sat the bowed head was just within his reach, and so he very naturally +laid his hand upon it, and as if it had been Jessie's smoothed the +silken hair, while he asked why she must go home. Had anything +occurred to make her presence more necessary than it was at Aikenside? +and into the young man's heart there crept a feeling that Aikenside +would be very lonely without Maddy Clyde. + +Controlling her voice as well as she was able, Maddy told him how the +physicians at the asylum had written that as Uncle Joseph would in all +human probability never be perfectly sane, and as a change of scene +would do him good, Mr. Markham had better try taking him a while; that +having been spoken with upon the subject, he seemed as anxious as a +little child, even crying when the night came around and he was not at +home, as he expressed it. "They have kept him so long," Maddy said, +"that grandpa thought it his duty to relieve them, though he can't +well afford it, and so he's coming next week, and grandma will need +some one to help, and I must go. I know it's wrong, but I do not want +to go, try as I will" + +It was a gloomy prospect to exchange Aikenside for the humble home +where poverty had its abode, and it was not very strange that Maddy +should shrink from it at first. She did not stop to ask what was her +duty, or think how much happiness her presence might give her +grandparents, or how much she might cheer and amuse the weak imbecile, +her uncle. She was but human, and so when Guy began to devise ways of +preventing her going, she listened, while the pain at her heart grew +less as her faith in Guy grew stronger. He would drive down with her +to-morrow, he said, and see what could be done. Meanwhile she must dry +her eyes and go to Jessie, who was calling her. + +As Guy had half expected, the doctor came around that evening, and +inviting him into his private room, Guy proceeded at once to unfold +his scheme, asking him first: + +"How much he probably received a year for his services as physician." + +The doctor could not tell at once, but after a little thought made an +estimate, and then inquired why Guy had asked the question. + +"Because, Doc, I have a project on foot. Lucy Atherstone is dying with +what they call consumption. I don't believe those old fogies +understand her disease, and if you will go over to England and +undertake her cure, I'll give you just double what you'll get by +remaining here. They are going to Naples for the winter, and, +undoubtedly, will spend some time in Paris. It will be just the thing +for you. Lucy and her mother will be glad of your services when they +know I sent you, Lucy likes you now. Will you go? You can trust Maddy +to me. I'll take good care that she is worthy of you when you come +back." + +At the mention of Maddy's name, the doctor's brow darkened. He was +sure that Guy meant kindly, but it grated on his feelings to be thus +joked about what he knew was a stern reality. Guy's project appeared +to him at first a most insane one, but as he continued to enlarge upon +it, and the advantage it would be to the doctor to travel in the old +world, a feeling of enthusiasm was kindled in his own breast; a desire +to visit Naples and France, and the places he had dreamed of as a boy, +but never hoped to see, Guy's plan began to look more feasible, and +possibly he might have yielded but for one thought, and that a thought +of Maddy Clyde. He would not leave her alone with Guy, even though Guy +was true to Lucy as steel. He would stay; he would watch; and in time +he would win the young girl waiting now for him in the hall below, +waiting to tell him 'mid blushes of shame and tears of regret how she +had meant to pay him with her very first wages, but now, Uncle Joseph +was coming home, and he must wait a little longer. + +"Would he, could he be so good?" and unmindful of Guy's presence Maddy +laid her hand confidingly upon his arm, while her soft eyes looked +beseechingly into his. + +How the doctor wished Guy was away, and kindly taking the hint, Guy +left them together in the lighted hall. Sitting down on the sofa, and +making Maddy sit beside him, the doctor began: + +"Maddy, you know I mean what I say, at least to you, and when I tell +you that I never think of that bill except when you speak of it, you +will believe me. I know your grandfather's circumstances, and I know, +too, that I did much to induce your sickness, consequently if I made +one out at all, it would be a very small one." + +He did not get any further, for Maddy hastily interrupted him, and +while her eyes flashed with pride, exclaimed: + +"I will not be a charity patient! I say I will not! I'd be a hired +girl before I'd do it!" + +It troubled the doctor to see Maddy so disturbed about dollars and +cents--to know that poverty was pressing its iron hand upon her young +heart; and only because she was so young did he refrain from offering +her then and there a resting place from the ills of life in his +sheltering love. But she was not prepared, and he should only defeat +his object by his rashness, so he restrained himself, though he did +pass his arm partly around her waist as he said to her: + +"I tell you, Maddy, honestly, that when I want that bill liquidated +I'll ask you. I certainly will, and I'll let you pay it, too. Does +that satisfy you?" + +Yes, Maddy was satisfied, and after a little the doctor continued: + +"By the way, Maddy, I have some idea of going to Europe for a few +months, or a year or more. You know it does a physician good to study +awhile in Paris. What do you think of it? Shall I go?" + +The doctor had become quite necessary to Maddy's happiness. He it was +to whom she confided all her little troubles, and to lose him would be +a terrible loss, and so she answered that if it would be much better +for him she supposed he ought to go, though she should miss him sadly +and be so lonely without him. + +"Would you, Maddy? Are you in earnest? Would you be lonelier for my +being gone?" the doctor asked, eagerly. With her usual truthfulness, +Maddy replied: "Of course I should;" and, when, after the conference +was ended, the doctor stood for a moment talking with Guy, ere bidding +him good-night, he said: "I think I shall not accept your European +proposition. Somebody else must cure Lucy." + +The next day, as Guy had proposed, he rode down to Honedale, taking +Maddy with him, and offering so many reasons why she should not be +called home, that the old people began to relent, particularly as they +saw how Maddy's heart was set on the lessons Guy was going to give +her. She might never have a like opportunity, the young man said, and +as a good education would put her fa the way of helping them when they +were older and needed her more, it was their duty to leave her with +them. He knew they objected to her receiving three dollars a week, but +he should pay it just the same, and if they chose they might, with a +part of it, hire a little girl to do the work which Maddy would do +were she at home. All this sounded very feasible, especially as it was +backed up by Maddy's eyes, brimful of tears, and fixed pleadingly upon +her grandfather. The sight of them, more than Guy's arguments, +influenced the old man, who decided that if grandma were willing Maddy +should stay, unless absolutely needed at the cottage. Then the tears +burst forth, and winding her arms around her grandfather's neck, Maddy +sobbed out her thanks, asking if it were selfish and wicked and +naughty in her to prefer learning rather than staying there. + +"Not if that's your only reason," grandpa replied. "It's right to want +learning, quite right; but, if my child is biased by the fine things +at Aikenside, and hates to come back to her poor home, because 'tis +poor, I should say it was very natural, but not exactly right." + +Maddy was very happy after it was settled, and chatted gayly with her +grandmother, while Guy went out with her grandfather, who wished to +speak with him alone. + +"Young man," he said, "you have taken a deep interest in me and mine +since I first came to know you, and I thank you for it all. I've +nothing to give in return except my prayers, and those you have every +day; you and that doctor. I pray for you two just as I do for Maddy. +Somehow you three come in together. You're uncommon good to Maddy. +'Tain't every one like you who would offer and insist on learning her. +I don't know what you do it for. You seem honest. You can't, of +course, ever dream of making her your wife, and, if I thought--yes, if +I supposed"--here grandpa's voice trembled, and his face became a +livid hue with the horror of the idea--"if I supposed that in your +heart there was the shadow of an intention to deceive my child, to +ruin my Maddy, I'd throttle you here on the spot, old as I am, and +bitterly as I should repent the rashness." + +Guy attempted to speak, but grandpa motioned him to be silent, while +he went on: + +"I do not suspect you, and that's why I trust her with you. My old +eyes are dim, but I can see enough to know that Maddy is beautiful. +Her mother was so before her, and the Clydes were a handsome race. My +Alice was elevated, folks thought, by marrying Captain Clyde, but I +don't think so. She was pure and good as the angels, and Maddy is much +like her, only she has the ambition of the Clydes: has their taste for +everything a little above her. She wouldn't make nobody blush if she +was mistress of Aikenside." + +Grandpa felt relieved when he had said all this to Guy, who listened +politely, smiling at the idea of his deceiving Maddy, and fully +concurring with grandpa in all he said of her rare beauty and natural +gracefulness. On their return to the house grandpa showed Guy the +bedroom intended for Uncle Joseph, and Guy, as he glanced at the +furniture, though within himself how he would send down from Aikenside +some of the unused articles piled away on the garret when he +refurnished his house. He was becoming greatly interested in the +Markhams, caring nothing for the remarks his interest might excite +among the neighbors, some of whom watched Maddy half curiously as in +the stylish carriage, beside its stylish owner, she rode back to +Aikenside in the quiet, autumnal afternoon. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +UNCLE JOSEPH. + + +In course of time Uncle Joseph came as was arranged, and on the day +following Maddy and Guy rode down to see him, finding him a tall, +powerfully built man, retaining many vestiges of manly beauty, and +fully warranting all Mrs. Markham had said in his praise. He seemed +perfectly gentle and harmless, though when Guy was announced as Mr. +Remington, Maddy noticed that in his keen black eyes there was for an +instant a fiery gleam, but it quickly passed away, as he muttered: + +"Much too young; he was older than I, and I am over forty. It's all +right." + +And the fiery eye grew soft and almost sleepy in its expression, as +the poor lunatic turned next to Maddy, telling her how pretty she was, +asking if she were engaged, and bidding her be careful that her +_fiance_ was not more than a dozen years older than herself. + +Uncle Joseph seemed to take to her from the very first, following her +from room to room, touching her fair, soft cheeks, smoothing her +silken hair, telling her Sarah's used to curl, asking if she knew +where Sarah was, and finally crying for her as a child cries for its +mother, when at last she went away. Much of this Maddy had repeated to +Jessie, as in the twilight they sat together in the parlor at +Aikenside; and Jessie was not the only listener, for, with her face +resting on her hand, and her head bent eagerly forward, Agnes sat, so +as not to lose a word of what Maddy was saying of Uncle Joseph. The +intelligence that he was coming to the red cottage had been followed +with a series of headaches, so severe and protracted that Dr. Holbrook +had pronounced her really sick, and had been unusually attentive. +Anxiously she had waited for the result of Maddy's visit to the poor +lunatic, and her face was colorless as marble as she heard him +described, while a faint sigh escaped her when Maddy told what he had +said of Sarah. + +Agnes was changed somewhat of late. She had grown more thoughtful and +quiet, while her manner toward Maddy was not as haughty as formerly. +Guy thought her improved, and thus was not so delighted as he would +otherwise have been, when, one day, about two weeks after Uncle +Joseph's arrival at Honedale, she startled him by saying she thought +it nearly time for her to return to Boston, if she meant to spend the +winter there, and asked what she should do with Jessie. + +Guy was not quite willing for Agnes to leave him there alone, but when +he saw that she was determined, he consented to her going, with the +understanding that Jessie was to remain--a plan which Agnes did not +oppose, as a child so large as Jessie might stand in the way of her +being as gay as she meant to be in Boston. Jessie, too, when +consulted, said she would far rather stay at Aikenside; and so one +November morning, Agnes, wrapped in velvet and furs, kissed her little +daughter, and bidding good-by to Maddy and the servants, left a +neighborhood which, since Uncle Joseph was so near, had become so +intolerable that not even the hope of winning the doctor could avail +to keep her in it. + +Guy accompanied her to the city, wondering why, when he used to like +it so much, it now seemed dull and tiresome, or why the society he had +formerly enjoyed failed to bring back the olden pleasure he had +experienced when a resident of Boston. Guy was very popular there, and +much esteemed by his friends of both sexes, and great were the efforts +made to entertain and keep him as long as possible. But Guy could not +be prevailed upon to stay there long, and after seeing Agnes settled +in one of the most fashionable boarding houses, he started for +Aikenside. + +It was dark when he reached home, and as the evening had closed in +with a heavy rain, the house presented rather a cheerless appearance, +particularly as, in consequence of Mrs. Noah's not expecting him that +day, no fires had been kindled in the parlors, or in any room except +the library. There a bright coal fire was blazing in the grate, and +thither Guy repaired, finding, as he had expected, Jessie and her +teacher. Not liking to intrude on Mr. Guy, of whom she still stood +somewhat in awe, Maddy soon arose to leave, but Guy bade her stay; he +should be lonely without her, he said, and so bringing her work she +sat down to sew, while Jessie looked over a book of prints, and Guy +upon the lounge studied the face which, it seemed to him, grew each +day more and more beautiful. Then he talked with her of books, and the +lessons which were to be resumed on the morrow, watching Maddy as her +bright face sparkled and glowed with excitement. Then he questioned +her of her father's family, feeling a strange sense of satisfaction in +knowing that the Clydes were not a race of whose blood any one need be +ashamed; and Maddy was more like them he was sure than like the +Markhams, and Guy shivered a little as he recalled the peculiar +dialect of Mr. and Mrs. Markham, and remembered that they were Maddy's +grandparents. Not that it was anything to him. Oh, no, only as an +inmate of his family he felt interested in her, more so perhaps than +young men were apt to be interested in their sister's governess. + +Had Guy then been asked the question, he would, in all probability, +have acknowledged that in his heart there was a feeling of superiority +to Maddy Clyde; that she was not quite the equal of Aikenside's heir, +nor yet of Lucy Atherstone. It was natural; he had been educated to +feel the difference, but any haughty arrogance of which he might have +been guilty was kept down by his extreme good sense and generous, +impulsive nature. He liked Maddy; he liked to look at her as, in the +becoming crimson merino which he really and Jessie nominally had given +her, she sat before him, with the firelight falling on her beautiful +hair, and making shadows on her sunny face. + +Guy was luxurious in his tastes, and it seemed to him that Maddy was +just the picture to set off that room, or in fact all the rooms at +Aikenside. She would disgrace none of them, and he found himself +wishing that Providence had made her something to him--sister or +cousin, or anything that would make her one of the Remington line. + +And now, my reader, do not fall to abusing Guy, or accuse him of +forgetting Lucy Atherstone, for he did not. He thought of her many +times that evening, and in his dreams that night Lucy and Maddy shared +pretty equally, but the latter was associated with the lessons of the +morrow, while Lucy was the bright daystar for which he lived and +hoped. + +It did not take long for the people of Sommerville to hear that Guy +Remington had actually turned schoolmaster, having in his library for +two hours or more each day Jessie's little girl-governess, about whose +brilliant beauty there was so much said--people wondering, as people +will, where it would end, and if it could be possible that the haughty +Guy had forgotten his English Lucy and gone to educating a wife. + +The doctor, to whom these remarks were sometimes made, silently +gnashed his teeth, then said savagely that "if Guy chose to teach +Maddy Clyde, he did not see whose business it was," and then rode over +to Aikenside to see the teacher and pupil, half hoping that Guy would +soom tire of his project and give it up. But Guy grew more and more +pleased with his employment, until, at last, from giving Maddy two +hours of his time, he came to give her four, esteeming them the +pleasantest of the whole twenty-four. Guy was proud of Maddy's +improvement, praising her often to the doctor, who also marveled at +the rapid development of her mind and the progress she made, grasping +a knotty point almost before it was explained, and retaining with +wonderful tenacity what she learned. + +It mattered nothing to Guy that neighbors gossiped there were none +familiar enough to tell him what was said, except the doctor or Mrs. +Noah; and so he heard few of the remarks made so frequently, As in +Honedale, so in Sommerville Maddy was a favorite, and those who +interested themselves most in the matter never said anything worse of +her and Mr. Guy than that he might perhaps be educating his own wife, +and insinuating that it would be a great "come up" for Grandfather +Markham's child. But Maddy never dreamed of such a thing, and kept on +her pleasant way, reciting every day to Guy and going every Wednesday +to the red cottage, whither, after the first visit to Uncle Joseph, +Guy never accompanied her. Jessie, on the contrary, went often to +Honedale, where one at least always greeted her coming, stealing up +closely to her, and whispering softly: "My Daisy is come again." + +From the first Uncle Joseph had taken to Jessie, calling her Sarah for +a while, and then changing the name to "Daisy"--"Daisy Mortimer, his +little girl," he persisted in calling her, watching from his window +for her coming, and crying whenever Maddy appeared without her. At +first Agnes, from her city home, forbade Jessie's going so often to +see a lunatic; but when Jessie described the poor, crazy man's delight +at sight of her, telling how quiet and happy he seemed if he could but +lay his hand on her head, or touch her hair, she withdrew her +restrictions, and, as if moved to an unwonted burst of tenderness, +wrote to her daughter: "Comfort that crazy man all you can; he needs +it so much." + +A few weeks after there came another letter from Agnes, but this time +it was to Guy, and its contents darkened his handsome face with anger +and vexation. Incidentally Agnes had heard the gossip, and written it +to Guy, adding in conclusion: "Of course I know it is not true, for +ever if there were no Lucy Atherstone, you, of all men, would not +stoop to Maddy Clyde. I do not presume to advise, but I will say this, +that now she is growing a young lady, folks will keep on talking so +long as you keep her there in the house; and it's hardly fair toward +Lucy." + +This was what knotted up Guy's forehead and made him, as Jessie said, +"real cross for once." Somehow, he fancied, latterly, that the doctor +did not like Maddy's being there, while even Mrs. Noah managed to keep +her out of his way as soon as the lessons were ended. What did they +mean? what were they afraid of, and why did they presume to interfere +with him? he'd know, at all events; and summoning Mrs. Noah to his +presence, he read that part of Agnes' letter, pertaining to Maddy, and +then asked what it meant. + +"It means this, that folks are in a constant worry, for fear you'll +fall in love with Maddy Clyde." + +"I fall in love with that child!" Guy repeated, laughing at the idea, +and forgetting that he had long since, accused the doctor of doing +that very thing. + +"Yes, you," returned Mrs. Noah, "and 'taint strange they do; Maddy is +not a child: she's nearer sixteen than fifteen, is almost a young +lady; and if you'll excuse my boldness, I must say, I ain't any too +well pleased with the goin's on myself; not that I don't like the +girl, for I do, and I don't blame her an atom. She's as innocent as a +new-born babe, and I hope she'll always stay so; but you, Mr. Guy, +you--now tell me honest--do you think as much of Lucy Atherstone, as +you used to, before you took up school-keepin'?" + +Guy did not like to be interfered with, and naturally high-spirited, +he at first flew into a passion, declaring that he would not have +folks meddling with him, that he thought of Lucy Atherstone all the +time, and he did not know what more he could do; that 'twas a pity if +a man could not enjoy himself in his own way, provided that way were +harmless, that he'd never, in all his life, spent so happy a winter as +the last; that--- + +Here Mrs. Noah interrupted him with: "That's it, the very _it_; +you want nothing better than to have that girl sit close to you when +she recites, as she does; and once when she was workin' out some of +them plusses and minuses, and things, her slate rested on your knee; +it did, I saw it with my own eyes; and then, let me ask, when Jessie +is drummin' on the piano, why don't you bend over her, and turn the +leaves, and count the time, as you do when Maddy plays; and how does +it happen that lately Jessie is one too many, when you hear Maddy's +lessons. She has no suspicions, but I know she ain't sent off for +nothin'; I know you'd rather be alone with Maddy Clyde than to have +anybody present, isn't it so?" + +Guy began to wince. There was much truth in what Mrs. Noah had said. +He did devise various methods of getting rid of Jessie, when Maddy was +in his library, but it had never looked to him in just the light it +did when presented by Mrs. Noah, and he doggedly asked what Mrs. Noah +would have him do. + +"First and foremost, then, I'd have you tell Maddy yourself that you +are engaged to Lucy Atherstone; second, I'd have you write to Lucy all +about it, and if you honestly can, tell her that you only care for +Maddy as a friend; third, I'd have you send the girl---" + +"Not away from Aikenside! I never will!" and Guy sprang to his feet. + +The mine had exploded, and for an instant the young man reeled, as he +caught a glimpse of where he stood; still he would not believe it, or +confess to himself how strong a place in his affections was held by +the beautiful girl now no longer a child. It was almost a year since +that April afternoon when he first met Maddy Clyde, and from a timid, +bashful child, of fourteen and a half, she had grown to the rather +tall, and rather self-possessed maiden of fifteen and a half, almost +sixteen, as Mrs. Noah said, "almost a woman;" and as if to verify the +latter fact, she herself appeared at that very moment, asking +permission to come in and find a book, which had been mislaid, and +which she needed in hearing Jessie's lessons. + +"Certainly, come in," Guy said, and folding his arms he leaned against +the mantel, watching her as she hunted for the missing book. + +There was no pretense about Maddy Clyde, nothing put on for effect, +and yet in every movement she showed marks of great improvement, both +in manner and style. Of one hundred people who might glance at her, +ninety-nine would look a second time, asking who she was. Naturally +graceful and utterly forgetful of herself, she always appeared to good +advantage, and never to better than now, when two pairs of eyes were +watching her, as standing on tiptoe, or kneeling upon the floor to +look under the secretary, she hunted for the book. Not the remotest +suspicion had Maddy of what was occupying the thoughts of her +companions, though as she left the room and glanced brightly up at +Guy, it struck her that his face was dark and moody, and a painful +sensation flitted through her mind that in some way she had intruded. + +"Well," was Mrs. Noah's first comment, as the door closed on Maddy, +but as Guy made no response to that, she continued: "She is pretty. +That you won't deny." + +"Yes, more than pretty. She'll make a most beautiful woman." + +Guy seemed to talk more to himself than to Mrs. Noah, while his foot +kicked the fender, and he mentally compared Lucy and Maddy with each +other, and tried to think that it was not the result of that +comparison, but rather Mrs. Noah's next remark, which affected him +unpleasantly. The remark or remarks were as follows: + +"Of course she'll make a splendid woman. Everybody notices her now for +her beauty, and that's why you've no business to keep her here where +you see her every day. It's a wrong to her, lettin' yourself alone." + +Guy looked up inquiringly, and Mrs. Noah continued: + +"I've been a girl myself, and I know that Maddy can't be treated as +you treat her without its having an effect. I've no idea that it's +entered her head yet, but it will by-and-by, and then good-by to her +happiness." + +"For pity's sake, what do you mean? Do explain, and not talk to me in +riddles. What have I done to Maddy, or what am I going to do?" + +Gay spoke savagely, and his boots were in great danger of being burned +as he kicked vigorously against the fender. Coming nearer to him, and +lowering her voice, Mrs. Noah replied: + +"You are going to teach her to love you, Guy Remington, just as sure +as my name is Noah." + +"And is that anything so very bad, I'd like to know. Most girls do not +find love distasteful," and Guy walked hastily to the window, where he +stood for a moment gazing out upon the soft April snow, which was +falling, and feeling anything but satisfied either with the weather or +himself; then walking back, and taking a seat before the fire, he +said: "I understand you now. You would save Maddy Clyde from sorrow, +and you are right. You know more of girls than I do. She might in time +get to--to--think of me as she ought not. I never looked upon it in +this light before. I've been so happy with her;" here Guy's voice +faltered a little, but he recovered himself and went on: "I will tell +her about Lucy tonight, but the sending her away, I can't do that. +Neither will she be happy to go back where I took her from, for though +the best of people, they are not like Maddy, and you know it." + +Yes, Mrs. Noah did know it, and pleased that her boy, as she called +Guy, had shown some signs of penitence and amendment, she said she did +not think it necessary to send Maddy home; she did not advise it +either. She liked the girl, and what she advised was this, that Guy +should send Maddy and Jessie both to boarding school. Agnes, she knew, +would be willing, and it was the best thing he could do. Maddy would +thus learn what was expected of a teacher, and as soon as she +graduated, she could procure some eligible situation, or if Lucy were +there, and desired it, she could come and stay forever for all what +sue cared, + +"And during the vacations, where must she go then?" Guy asked. + +"Go where she pleases, of course. As Jessie is so fond of her, and +they are much like sisters, it will not be improper for her to come +here, as I see, provided Agnes is here. Her presence, of course, would +make a difference," Mrs. Noah replied, while Guy continued: + +"I know you are right; that is, I do not wish to do Maddy a harm by +placing temptation in her way, neither will I have everybody meddling +with my business. I tell you I won't. I don't mean you, for you have a +right to say what no one else has," and he glanced half angrily at +Mrs. Noah. "Pity if I can't take an interest in a girl, because I once +wronged her, without every old woman in Christendom thinking she needs +to fall in love with me, and so be ruined for life. Maddy Clyde has +too good sense for that, or will have when I tell her about Lucy." + +"And you will do so?" Mrs. Noah said coaxingly. + +"Of course I will, and write to Lucy, too, telling her how you talked, +and how I care no more for Maddy than I do for Jessie." + +"And will that be true?" Mrs. Noah asked. + +Guy could not look her fully in the face then, so he kicked the grate +until the concussion sent the red-hot coals out upon the carpet as he +replied: + +"True? Yes, every word of it." + +Mrs. Noah noted all this, and thinking within herself: + +"I orto have took him in hand long ago," she came up to him and said +kindly, soothingly: "We shall all miss Maddy; I as much as any one, +but I do think it best for her to go to school; and so, after tea, +I'll manage to keep Jessie with me, and send Maddy to you, while you +tell her about Lucy and the plan." + +Guy nodded a little jerking kind of a nod, in token of his assent, and +then with that perversity which prompts women particularly to press a +subject after enough has been said upon it, Mrs. Noah, as she turned +to leave the room, gave vent to the following: + +"You know, Guy, as well as I, that pretty and smart as she is, Maddy +is really beneath you, and no kind of a match, even if you wan't as +good as married, which you be;" and the good lady left the room in +time to escape seeing the sparks fly up the chimney, as Guy now made a +most vigorous use of the poker, and so did not finish the scorching +process commenced on the end of his boot. + +Mrs. Noah's last remark awakened in Guy a Singular train of thought. +Yes, Maddy was his inferior as the world saw matters, and settling +himself in the chair he tried to fancy what that same world would say +if he should make Maddy his wife. Of course he had no such intention, +he was just imagining something which never could possibly happen, +because in the first place he wouldn't marry Maddy Clyde if he could, +and he couldn't if he would! Still, it was not an unpleasant +occupation fancying what folks, and especially Agnes, would say if he +did, and so he sat dreaming about it until the bell rang for supper, +when with a nervous start he woke from the reverie, and wishing the +whole was over, started for the supper. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +MADDY AND LUCY. + + +Supper was over, and Guy was back again in his library. He had not +stopped as he usually did, to romp with Jessie or talk to Maddy Clyde, +until it was so dark that he could not see her sparkling face, but had +come directly back, dropping the heavy curtains and piling fresh coal +upon the fire. Mrs. Noah had lighted the lamps and then gone after +Maddy, explaining to Jessie how she must stay with her while Maddy +went to Mr. Guy, who wanted to talk with her. + +"Is he angry with me, Mrs. Noah?" and remembering his moody looks when +she went in quest of the book, Maddy felt her heart misgive her as to +what might be the result of an interview with Guy. + +Mrs. Noah, however, reassured her, and Maddy stole for a moment to her +own room to see how she was looking. The crimson dress, with its soft +edge of lace about the slender throat, became her well, and smoothing +the folds of her black silk apron, whose jaunty shoulder pieces gave +her a very girlish appearance, she went down to where Guy was waiting +for her. He heard her coming, and involuntarily drew nearer to him the +chair where he intended she should sit. But Maddy took instead a +stool, and leaning her elbow on the chair, turned her face fully +toward him, waiting for him to speak. + +"Maddy," he began, "are you happy here at Aikenside?" + +"Oh, yes, very, very happy," and Maddy's soft eyes shone with the +happiness she tried to express. + +It was at least a minute before he spoke again, and when he did, it +came out how he had concluded it best to send her and Jessie to +school, for a year or two at least; not that he was tired of teaching +her, but it would be better for her, he thought, to mingle with other +girls and learn the ways of the world. Aikenside would still be her +home, still the place where her vacations would be spent with Jessie +if she chose, and then he spoke of New York as the place he had in +view, and asked her what she thought of it. + +Maddy was too much stunned to think of anything at first. That the +good she had coveted most should be placed within her grasp, and by +Guy Remington too, was almost too much to credit. She was happy at +Aikenside, but she had never expected her life there to continue very +long, and had often wished that when it ended she might devise some +means of entering a seminary as other young ladies did. But she had +never dreamed of being sent to school by Guy, nor could she conceive +of his motive. He hardly knew himself, only he liked her, and wished +to do something for her. This was his reply to her tearful question: + +"Oh, Mr. Remington, you are so good to me; what makes you?" + +He liked her, and all over Maddy's face there spread a beautiful flush +as the words rang in her ears. And then she told Guy how much she +wished to be a teacher, and so take care of her grandparents and her +poor Uncle Joseph. It seemed almost cruel for that young creature to +be burdened with the care of those three half-helpless people, and Guy +shuddered just as he usually did when he associated Maddy with them, +but when he listened while she told him of all the castles she had +built, and in every one of which there was a place for "our folks," as +she termed them, it was more in the form of a blessing than a caress +that his hand rested on her shining hair. + +"You are a good girl, Maddy," he said, "and I am glad now that I have +concluded to send you where you can be better fitted for the office +you mean to fill than you could be here, but I shall miss you sadly. I +like little girls, and though you can hardly be classed there now, you +seem to me much like Jessie, and I take pleasure in doing for you as I +would for her. Maddy---" + +Guy stopped, uncertain what to say next, while Maddy's eyes again +looked up inquiringly. + +He was going now to tell "the little girl much like Jessie" of Lucy +Atherstone, and the words would not come at first. + +"Maddy," he said, again blushing guiltily, "I have said I liked you, +and so I hope will some one else. I have written of you to her." + +Up to this point Maddy had a vague idea that he meant the doctor, but +the "her" dispelled that thought, and a most inexplicable feeling of +numbness crept over her as she asked faintly: + +"Written to whom?" + +Guy did not look at Maddy. He only knew that her head moved out from +beneath his hand as he replied: + +"To Miss Atherstone--Miss Lucy Atherstone. Have you never heard of +her?" + +No, Maddy never had, and with that same numbness she could not +understand, she listened while Guy told her who Lucy Atherstone was, +and why she was not at that moment the mistress of Aikenside. There +was no reason why Guy should be excited, but he was, and he talked +very rapidly, never once glancing at Maddy until he had finished +speaking. She was looking at him intently, wondering if he could hear +as she did the beatings of her heart. Had her life depended upon it, +she could not at first have spoken, for the numbness which, like bands +of steel, seemed to press all the feeling out of it. She did not know +why it was that hearing of Lucy Atherstone should affect her so. +Surely she ought to be glad for Guy that he possessed the love of so +sweet a creature as he described her to be. He was glad, she knew, he +talked so energetically--so much as if it were a pleasure to talk; and +she was glad, too, only it had taken her so by surprise to know that +Mr. Guy, whom she had rather considered as exclusively her own and +Jessie's was engaged, and that some time, before long it might be, +Aikenside would really have a mistress. She did not quite understand +Guy's last words, although she was looking at him, and he asked her +twice if she would like to see Lucy's picture ere she comprehended +what he meant. + +"Yes," came faintly from the parted lips, about which there was a +slight quiver as she put up her hand to take the case Guy drew from +his bosom. + +Turning it to the light she gazed silently upon the sweet young face, +which seemed to return her gaze with a look as earnest and lifelike as +her own. + +"What do you think of her--of my Lucy? Is she not pretty?" Guy asked, +bending down so that his dark hair swept against Maddy's, while his +warm breath touched her burning cheeks. + +"Yes, she's beautiful, oh! so beautiful, and happy, too. I wish I had +been like her. I wish--" and Maddy burst into a most uncontrollable +fit of weeping, her tears dropping like rain upon the inanimate +features of Lucy Atherstone. + +Guy looked at her amazed, his own heart throbbing with a keen pang of +something undefinable as he listened to her stormy weeping. What did +ail her? he wondered. Could it be that the evil against which he was +providing had really come upon her? Was Maddy more interested in him +than he supposed? He hoped not, though with a man's vanity he felt a +slight thrill of satisfaction in thinking that it might be so. Guy +knew this feeling was not worthy of him, and he struggled to cast it +off, while he asked Maddy why she cried. + +Child as she was, the real cause of her tears never entered her brain, +and she answered: + +"I can't tell why, unless I was thinking how different Miss Atherstone +is from me. She's rich and handsome. I am poor and homely, and--" + +"No, Maddy, you are not;" and Guy interrupted her. + +Gently lifting up her head, he smoothed back her hair, and keeping a +hand on each side of her face, said, pleasantly: + +"You are not homely. I think you quite as pretty as Lucy; I do, +really," he continued, as her eyes kindled at the compliment. "I am +going to write to her to-night, and shall tell her more about you. I +want you to like each other very much when she comes, so that you may +live with us. Aikenside would not be Aikenside without you, Maddy." + +In all his wooings of Lucy Atherstone, Guy's voice had never been +tenderer in its tone than when he said this to Maddy, whose lip +quivered again, and who involuntarily laid her head now upon his knee +as she cried a second time, not noisily, but quietly, softly, as if +this crying did her good. For several minutes they sat there thus, the +nature of their thoughts known only to each other, for neither spoke, +until Maddy, half ashamed of her emotions, lifted up her head, and +said: + +"I do not know what made me cry, only I'd been so happy here that I +guess I'd come to think that you only liked Jessie and me. Of course I +knew that some time you would see and think all the world of somebody +else, but I did not expect it so soon. I am afraid Miss Atherstone +will not fancy me, and I know most I shall not feel as free here, +after she comes, as I do now. Then your being so good, sending me to +school, helped me to cry more, and so I was very foolish. Don't tell +Miss Atherstone that I cried. Tell her, though, how beautiful she is, +and how glad I am that she loves you, and is going to be your wife." + +Maddy's voice was very steady in its tone. She evidently meant what +she said, but Guy, the bad man, did not feel as graciously as he ought +to have felt in knowing that Maddy Clyde was glad "Lucy loved him, and +was to be his wife," + +Guy was rather uncomfortable, and as Maddy was in some way associated +with his discomfort, he did not oppose her when she arose to leave +him. + +Had Maddy been more a woman, or less a child, she would have seen that +it was well for her to know of Lucy Atherstone before her feelings for +Guy Remington had assumed a definite form. As it was, she never +dreamed how near she was to loving Aikenside's young heir; and while +talking with Jessie of the grand times they should have at school, she +marveled at that little round spot of pain which was burning at her +heart, or why she should wish that Guy would not speak of her in his +letter to Lucy Atherstone. + +But Guy did speak of her, frankly confessing the interest he felt in +her, telling just how people were beginning to talk, and asking Lucy +if she cared, declaring that if she did, he would not see Maddy Clyde +any more than was necessary. In a little less than four weeks there +came an answer from Lucy, who, with health somewhat improved, had +returned to England, and wrote to Guy from Brighton, where she +expected to spend the summer, half hoping Guy might join her there, +though she could not urge it, as mamma still insisted that she was not +able to take upon herself the duties of a wife. Then she spoke of +Maddy Clyde, saying "She was not one bit jealous of her dear Guy, Of +course ignorant, meddling people, of whom she feared there were a +great many in America, would gossip, but he was not to mind them." +Then she said that if Maddy were willing, she would so much like her +picture, as she had a curiosity to know just how she looked, and if +Maddy pleased, "would she write a few lines, so as not to seem so much +a stranger?" + +Lucy Atherstone had been educated to think a great deal of birth, and +blood, and family, and Guy never did a wiser thing than when he told +her that according to English views, Maddy was a lady. It went far +toward reconciling Lucy to his interest in one whom her haughtier and +more sanguine mother called a rival, advising her mother to ignore her +altogether. But Lucy's was a different nature, and though it cost her +pride a pang, she asked for a line from Maddy, partly to mortify that +pride, and partly to prove to Guy how free she was from jealousy. + +"Darling little Lucy, I do love her very dearly," was Guy's comment, +as he finished reading her letter, feeling somewhat as if her mother +were a kind of cruel ogress, bent on preventing him from being happy. +Then, as he remembered Lucy's hope that he might join her, and thought +how much easier of access New York was than Brighton, he said, half +petulantly: + +"I've been to England for nothing times enough. When that mother of +hers says I may have Lucy, I'll go again, but not before. It don't +pay." + +And crushing the letter into his pocket, he went out upon the piazza +where were assembled Maddy, Jessie and Mrs. Agnes, the latter of whom +had come to Aikenside the day before. + +At first she had objected to the boarding-school arrangement, saying +Jessie was too young, but Guy as usual had overruled her objections, +as he had those of Grandpa Markham, and it was now a settled thing +that Maddy and Jessie both should go to New York, Mrs. Agnes to +accompany them if she chose, and having a general supervision of her +child. This was Guy's plan, the one which had prevailed with the +fashionable woman, who, tired of Boston, was well pleased with the +prospect of a life in New York. Guy's interest in Maddy was wholly +inexplicable to her, unless she explained it on the principal that in +the Remington nature there was a fondness for governesses, as had been +exemplified in her own history. That Guy would ever marry Maddy she +doubted, but the mere possibility of it made her set her teeth firmly +together as she thought how embarrassing it would be to acknowledge as +the mistress of Aikenside the little girl whom she had sought to +banish from her table. Since her return she had had no opportunity of +judging for herself how matters stood, and was consequently much +relieved when, as Guy joined them, he began at once to speak of Lucy, +telling of the letter, and her request for Maddy's picture. + +"Me? Mine? You cannot mean that?" Maddy exclaimed, her eyes opening +wide with wonder, but Guy did mean it, and began to plan a drive on +the morrow to Devonshire, where there was at that time a tolerably +fair artist. + +Accordingly the next day the four went down to Devonshire, calling +first upon the doctor, whose face brightened when he heard why they +had come. During the weeks that had passed, the doctor had not been +blind to at that was passing at Aikenside, and the fear that Guy was +more interested in Maddy than he ought to be, had grown almost to a +certainty. Now, however, he was not so sure. Indeed, the fact that Guy +had told her of Lucy Atherstone would indicate that his suspicions +were groundless, and he entered heartily into the picture plan, saying +laughingly that if he supposed Miss Lucy would like his face he'd sit +himself, and bidding Guy be sure to ask her. The doctor's gay spirits +helped raise those of Maddy, and as that little burning spot in her +heart was fast wearing away, she was in just the mood for a most +admirable likeness. Indeed, the artist's delight at his achievement +was unbounded, as he declared it the very best picture he had ever +taken. It was beautiful, even Agnes acknowledged to herself, while +Jessie wait into raptures, and Maddy blushed to hear her own praises. +Guy said nothing, except to ask that Maddy should sit again; this was +good, but a second might be better. So Maddy sat again, succeeding +quite as well as at first, but as the artist's preference was for the +former, it was left to be finished up, with the understanding that Guy +would call for it. As the ladies passed down the stairs, Guy lingered +behind, and when sure they were out of hearing, said in a low voice: + +"You may as well finish both; they are too good to be lost." + +The artist bowed, and Guy, with a half guilty blush, hurried down into +the street, where Agues was waiting for him. Two hours later, Guy, in +Mrs. Conner's parlor, was exhibiting the finished picture, which in +its handsome casing, was more beautiful than ever, and more natural, +if possible. + +"I think I might have one of Maddy's," Jessie said, half poutingly; +then, as she remembered the second sitting, she begged of Guy to get +it for her, "that was a dear brother." + +But the "dear brother" did not seem inclined to comply with her +request, putting her off, until, despairing of success, Jessie, when +alone with the doctor, tried her powers of persuasion on him, coaxing +until in self-defense he crossed the street, and entering the +daguerrean gallery asked for the remaining picture of Miss Clyde, +saying that he wished it for little Miss Remington. + +"Mr. Remington took them both," the artist replied, commencing a +dissertation on the style and beauty of the young girl, all of which +was lost upon the doctor, who, in a kind of maze, quitted the room, +and returning to Jessie, said to her carelessly: "He hasn't it. You +know they rub out those they do not use. So you'll have to do without; +and, Jessie, I wouldn't tell Guy I tried to get it for you." + +Jessie wondered why she must not tell Guy, but the fact that the +doctor requested her not was sufficient. Consequently Guy little +guessed that the doctor knew what it was he carried so carefully in +his coat pocket, looking at it earnestly when at home and alone in his +own room, admiring its soft, girlish beauty, half shrinking from the +lifelike expression of the large, bright eyes, and trying to convince +himself that his sole object in getting it was to give it to the +doctor after Maddy was gone! It would be such a surprise, and the +doctor would be so glad, that Guy finally made himself believe that he +had done a most generous thing! + +"I am going to send Lucy your picture to-day, and as she asked that +you should write her a few lines, suppose you do it now," Guy said to +Maddy next morning, as they were leaving the breakfast table. + +It was a sore trial to Maddy to write to Lucy Atherstone, but she +offered no remonstrance, and so accompanying the picture was a little +note, filled mostly with praises of Mr. Guy, and which would be very +gratifying to the unsuspecting Lucy. + +Now that it was fully decided for Jessie to go with Maddy, her lessons +were suspended, and Aikenside for the time being was turned into a +vast dressmaking and millinery establishment. With his usual +generosity, Guy had given Agnes permission to draw upon his purse for +whatever was needed, either for herself or Jessie, with the definite +understanding that Maddy should have an equal share of dress and +attention. + +"It will not be necessary," he said, "for you to enlighten the +citizens of New York with regard to Maddy's position. She goes there +as Jessie's equal, and as such her wardrobe must be suitable." + +No one could live long with Maddy Clyde without becoming interested in +her, and in spite of herself Agnes' dislike was wearing away, +particularly as of late she had seen no signs of special attention on +the doctor's part. He had gotten over his weakness, she thought, and +so was very gracious toward Maddy, who, naturally forgiving, began to +like her better than she had ever dreamed it possible for her to like +so proud and haughty a woman. Down at the cottage in Honedale there +were many consultations held and many fears expressed by the aged +couple as to what would be the result of all Guy was doing for their +child. Womanlike, Grandma Markham felt a flutter of pride in thinking +that Maddy was going to school in a big city like New York. It gave +her something to talk about with her less fortunate neighbors, who +wondered, and gossiped, and envied, but could not bring themselves to +feel unkindly toward the girl Maddy, who had grown up in their midst, +and who as yet was wholly unchanged by prosperity. Grandpa Markham, on +the contrary, though pleased that Maddy should have every opportunity +for acquiring the education she so much desired, was fearful of the +result--fearful that there might come a time when his darling would +shrink from the relations to whom she was as sunshine to the flowers. +He knew that the difference between Aikenside and the cottage must +strike her unpleasantly every time she came home, and he did not blame +her for her always apparent readiness to go back. That was natural, he +thought, but a life in New York, that great city which to the simple- +hearted old man seemed a very Babylon of iniquity, was different, and +for a time he demurred to sending her there. But Guy persuaded him, +and when he heard that Agnes was going, too, he consented, for he had +faith in Agnes as a protector. Maddy had never told him of the scene +which followed that lady's return from Saratoga. Indeed, Maddy never +told anything but good of Aikenside or its inmates, and so Mrs. Agnes +came in for a share of the old people's gratitude, while even Uncle +Joseph, hearing daily a prayer for the "young madam," as grandpa +termed her, learned to pray for her himself, coupling her name with +that of Sarah, and asking in his crazy way that God would "forgive +Sarah" first, and then "bless the madam--the madam--the madam." + +A few days before Maddy's departure, grandpa went up to see "the +madam;" anxious to know something more than hearsay about a person to +whose care his child was to be partially intrusted. Agnes was in her +room when told who wanted to see her. Starting quickly, she turned so +deadly white that Maddy, who brought the message, flew to her side, +asking in much alarm, what was the matter. + +"Only a little faint. It will soon pass off," Agnes said, and then, +dismissing Maddy, she tried to compose herself sufficiently to pass +the ordeal she so much dreaded, and from which there was no possible +escape. + +Thirteen years! Had they changed her past recognition? She hoped, she +believed so, and yet, never in her life had Agnes Remington's heart +beaten with so much terror and apprehension as when she entered the +reception room where Guy sat talking with the infirm old man she +remembered so well. He had grown older, thinner, poorer looking, than +when she saw him last, but in his wrinkled face there was the same +benignant, heavenly expression which, when she was better than she was +now, used to remind her of the angels. His snowy hair was parted just +the same as ever, but the mild blue eye was dimmer, and it rested on +her with no suspicious glance as, partially reassured, she glided +across the threshold, and bowed civilly when Guy presented her. + +A little anxious as to how her grandfather would acquit herself, Maddy +sat by, wondering why Agnes appeared so ill at ease, and why her +grandsire started sometimes at the sound of her voice, and looked +earnestly at her. + +"We've never met before to my knowledge, young woman," he said once to +Agnes, "but you are mighty like somebody, and your voice when you talk +low keeps makin' me jump as if I'd heard it summers or other." + +After that Agnes spoke in elevated tones, as if she thought him deaf, +and the mystified look of wonder did not return to his face. Numerous +were the charges he gave to Agnes concerning Maddy, bidding her be +watchful of his child, and see that she did not "get too much drinked +in with the wicked things on Broadway!" then, as he arose to go, he +laid his trembling hand on her head and said solemnly: "You are young +yet, lady, and there may be a long life before you. God bless you, +then, and prosper you in proportion as you are kind to Maddy. I've +nothing to give you nor Mr. Guy for your goodness only my prayers, and +them you have every day. We all pray for you, lady, Joseph and all, +though I doubt me he knows much the meaning of what he says." "Who, +sir? What did you say?" and Agnes' face was scarlet, as grandpa +replied: "Joseph, our unfortunate boy; Maddy must have told you, the +one who's taken such a shine to Jessie. He's crazy-like, and from the +corner where he sits so much, I can hear him whispering by the hour, +sometimes of folks he used to know, and then of you, who we call +madam. He says for ten minutes on the stretch: "God bless the madam--the +madam--the madam!" You're sick, lady; talkin' about crazy folks +makes you faint," grandpa added, hastily, as Agnes turned white, like +the dress she wore. "No--oh, no, I'm better now," Agnes gasped, bowing +him to the door with a feeling that she could not breathe a moment +longer in his presence. He did not hear her faint cry of bitter, +bitter remorse, as he walked through the hall, nor know she watched +him as he went slowly down the walk, stopping often to admire the fair +blossoms which Maddy did not feel at liberty to pick. "He loved +flowers," Agnes whispered, as her better nature prevailed over every +other feeling, and, starting eagerly forward, she ran after the old +man, who, surprised at her evident haste, waited a little anxiously +for her to speak. It was rather difficult to do so with Maddy's +inquiring eyes upon her, but Agnes managed at last to say: "Does that +crazy man like flowers--the one who prays for the madam?" "Yes, he +used to years ago," grandpa replied; and, bending down, Agnes began to +pick and arrange into a most tasteful bouquet the blossoms and buds of +May, growing so profusely within the borders. + +"Take them to him, will you?" and her hand shook as she passed to +Grandpa Markham the gift which would thrill poor crazy Joseph with a +strange delight, making him hold converse a while with the unseen +presence which he called "she," and then whisper blessings on the +madam's head. Three days after this, a party of four left Aikenside, +which presented a most forlorn and cheerless appearance to the +passers-by, who were glad almost as the servants when, at the +expiration of a week, Guy came back and took up his olden life of +solitude and loneliness, with nothing in particular to interest him, +except his books the letters he wrote to Lucy; unless, indeed, it were +those he was going to write to Maddy, who, with Jessie, had promised +to become his correspondents. Nothing but these and the picture--the +doctor's picture--the one designed expressly for him, and which +troubled him greatly. Believing that he had fully intended it for the +doctor, Guy felt as if it were, in a measure, stolen property, and +this made him prize it all the more. + +Now that Maddy was away, Guy missed her terribly, wondering how he had +ever lived without her, and sometimes working himself into a violent +passion against the meddlesome neighbors who would not let her remain +with him in peace, and who, now that she was gone, did not stop their +talking one whit. Of this last, however, he was ignorant, as there was +no one to tell him how people marveled more than ever, feeling +confident now that he was educating his own wife, and making sundry +hateful remarks as to what he intended doing with her relations. Guy +only knew that he was very lonely, that Lucy's letters seemed insipid, +that even the doctor failed to interest him, as of old, and that his +greatest comfort was in looking at the bright young face which seemed +to smile so trustfully upon him from the tiny casing, just as Maddy +had smiled upon him when, in Madam -----'s parlor, he bade her good-by. +The doctor could not have that picture, he finally decided. Hal +ought to be satisfied with getting Maddy, as of course he would, for +wasn't he educating her for that very purpose? Certainly he was, and, +as a kind of atonement for what he deemed treachery to his friend, he +talked with him often of her, always taking it for granted that when +she was old enough, the doctor would woo and win the little girl who +had come to him in his capacity of inspector, as candidate number one. + +At first, the doctor suspected him of acting a part in order to cover +up some design of his own with regard to Maddy, and affected an +indifference he did not feel; but, as time passed on, Guy, who really +believed himself sincere, managed to make the doctor believe so, too. +Consequently, the latter abandoned his suspicions, and gave himself up +to blissful dreams of what might possibly be when Maddy should have +become the brilliant woman she was sure one day to be. Alas! for the +doctor's dreams. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +THE HOLIDAYS. + + +The summer vacation had been spent by the Remington's and Maddy at the +seaside, the latter coming to the cottage for a week before returning +to her school in New York, and as the doctor was then absent from +home, she did not meet him at all. Consequently he had not seen her +since she left Aikenside for New York. But she was at home now for the +Christmas holidays--was down at the cottage, too; and unusually +nervous for him, the doctor stood before the little square glass in +his back office, trying to make himself look as well as possible, for +he was going that very afternoon to call upon Miss Clyde. He was glad +she was not at Aikenside; he would rather meet her where Guy was not, +and he hoped he might be fortunate enough to find her alone. + +The doctor was seriously in love. He acknowledged that now to himself, +confessing, too, that with his love was mingled a spice of jealousy, +lest Guy Remington should be expending more thought on Maddy Clyde +than was consistent with the promised husband of Lucy Atherstone. He +wished so much to talk with Guy about her, and yet he dreaded it; for +if the talk should confirm his suspicious there would be no hope for +him. No girl in her right mind would prefer him to Guy Remington, and +with a little sigh the doctor was turning away from the glass, when, +as if to verify a familiar proverb, Guy himself drove up in a most +dashing equipage, the silver-tipped harness of his high-mettled steed +flashing in the wintry sunlight, and the bright-hued lining of his +fanciful robes presenting a very gay appearance. + +Guy was in the best of spirits. For an entire half day he had tried to +devise some means to getting Maddy up to Aikenside. It was quite too +bad for her to spend the whole vacation at the cottage, as she seemed +likely to do. He knew she was lonely there; that the bare floor and +low, dark walls affected her unpleasantly. He had seen that in her +face when he bade her good-by, for he had carried her down to the +cottage himself, and now he was going after her. There was to be a +party at Aikenside; the very first since Guy was its master. The +neighbors had said he was too proud to invite them, but they should +say so no more. The house was to be thrown open in honor of Guy's +twenty-sixth birthday, and all who were at all desirable as guests +were to be bidden to the festival. First on the list was the doctor, +who, remembering how averse Guy was to large parties, wondered at the +proceedings. But Guy was all engaged in the matter, and after telling +who were to be invited, added rather indifferently: "I'm going now +down to Honedale after Maddy. It's better for her to be with us a day +or two beforehand. You've seen her, of course." + +No, the doctor had not; he was just going there, he said, in a tone so +full of sad disappointment, that Guy detected it at once, and asked if +anything was the matter. + +"Guy," the doctor continued, sitting down by his friend, "I remember +once your making me your confidant about Lucy. You remember it, too?" + +"Yes, why? well?" Guy replied, beginning to feel strangely +uncomfortable as he half divined what was coming next. + +Latterly Guy had stopped telling the doctor that he was educating +Maddy for him. Indeed, he did not talk of her at all, and the doctor +might have fancied her out of his mind but for the frequent visits to +New York, which Guy found it absolutely necessary to make. Guy did not +himself understand the state of his own feelings with regard to Maddy, +but if compelled to explain them they would have been something as +follows: He fully expected to marry Lucy Atherstone; the possibility +that he should not had never occurred to him, but that was no reason +why Maddy Clyde need be married for these many years. She was very +young yet; there was time enough for her to think of marrying when she +was twenty-five, and in the meanwhile it would be splendid to have her +at Aikenside as Lucy's and his friend. Nothing could be nicer, and Guy +did not care to have this little arrangement spoiled. But that the +doctor had an idea of spoiling it, he had not a doubt, particularly +after the doctor's next remark. + +"I have not seen Maddy since last spring, you know. Is she very much +improved?" + +"Yes, very much. There is no more stylish-looking girl to be seen on +Broadway than Maddy Clyde," and Guy shook down his pantaloons a little +awkwardly. + +"Well, is she as handsome as she used to be, and as childish in her +manner?" the doctor asked; and Guy replied: + +"I took her to the opera once, last month, and the many admiring +glances cast at our box proved pretty positively that Maddy's beauty +was not of the ordinary kind." + +"The opera!" the doctor exclaimed; "Maddy Clyde at the opera! What +would her grandfather say? He is very puritanical, you know." + +"Yes, I know; and so is Maddy, too. She wrote and obtained his consent +before she'd go with me. He won't let her go to a theatre anyhow." + +Here an interval of silence ensued, and then the doctor began again, + +"Guy, you told me once you were educating Maddy Clyde for me, and I +tried then to make you think I didn't care; but I did, oh, so much. +Guy, laugh at me, if you please. I cannot blame you if you do; but the +fact is, I believe I've loved Maddy Clyde ever since that time she was +so sick. At all events, I love her now, and I was going down there +this very afternoon to tell her so. She's old enough. She was sixteen +last October, the--the----" + +"Tenth day," Guy responded, thus showing that he, too, was keeping +Maddy's age, even to a day. + +"Yes, the tenth day," resumed the doctor. "There's 'most eleven years' +difference between us, but if she feels at all as I do, she will not +care, Guy;" and the doctor began to talk earnestly: "I'll be candid +with you, and say that you have sometimes made my heart ache a +little." + +"Me!" and Guy's face was crimson, while the doctor continued: + +"Yes, and I beg your pardon for it; but let me ask you one question, +and upon its answer will depend my future course with regard to Maddy: +You are true to Lucy?" + +Guy felt the blood trickling at the roots of his hair, but he answered +truthfully as he believed: + +"Yes, true as steel;" while the generous thought came over him that he +would further the doctor's plans all he possibly could. + +"Then I am satisfied," the doctor rejoined; "and as you have rather +assumed the position of her guardian or brother, I ask your permission +to offer her the love which whether she accepts it or not, is hers." + +Guy had never felt a sharper pang than that which now thrilled through +every nerve, but he would not prove false to the friend confiding in +him, and he answered calmly: + +"You have my consent; but, Doc, better put it off till you see her at +Aikenside. There's no chance at the cottage, with those three old +people. I wonder she don't go wild. I'm sure I should." + +Guy was growing rather savage about something, but the doctor did not +mind; and grasping his arm as he arose, he said: + +"And you'll manage it for me, Guy? You know how. I don't. You'll +contrive for me to see her alone, and maybe say a word beforehand in +my favor." + +"Yes, yes, I'll manage it. I'll fix it right. Don't forget, day after +to-morrow night. The Cutlers' will be there, and, by the way, Marcia +has got to be a splendid girl. She fancied you once, you know. Old +Cutler is worth half a million." And Guy tore himself away from the +doctor, who, now that the ice was broken, would like to have talked of +Maddy forever. + +But Guy was not thus inclined, and in a mood not extremely amiable, he +threw himself into his sleigh and went dashing down toward Honedale. +For some unaccountable reason he was not now one bit interested in the +party, and, were it not that a few of the invitations were issued, he +would have been tempted to give it up. Guy did not know what ailed +him. He only felt as if somebody had been meddling with his plans, and +had he been in the habit of swearing, he would probably have sworn; +but as he was not, he contented himself with driving like a second +Jehu he reached Honedale, where a pair of soft, brown eyes smiled up +into his face, and a little, fat, warm hand was clasped in his, as +Maddy came even to the gate to meet him. + +She was very glad to see him. The cottage with its humble adornings +did seem lonely, almost dreary, after the life and bustle of New York, +and Maddy had cried more than once to think how hard and wicked she +must be growing when her home had ceased to be the dear old home she +once loved so well. She had been there five days now, and +notwithstanding the efforts of her grandparents to entertain her, each +day had seemed a week in its duration. Neither the doctor nor Guy had +been near her, and capricious little Maddy had made herself believe +that the former was sadly remiss in his duty, inasmuch as he had not +seen her for so long. He had been in the habit of calling every week, +her grandmother said, and this did not tend to increase her +amiability. Why didn't he come now when he knew she was at home? +Didn't he want to see her? Well, she could be indifferent, too, and +when they did meet, she'd show how little she cared! + +Maddy was getting to be a woman with womanly freaks, as the reader +will readily see. At Guy she was not particularly piqued. She did not +take his attentions, as a matter of course; still she thought more of +him, if possible, than of the doctor, during those five days, saying +to herself each morning: "He'll surely come to-day," and to herself +each night: "He will be here to-morrow." She had something to show him +at last--a letter from Lucy Atherstone, who had gradually come to be +her regular correspondent, and whom Maddy had learned to love with all +the intensity of her girlhood. To her ardent imagination Lucy +Atherstone was but a little lower than the angels, and the pure, sweet +thoughts contained in every letter were doing almost as much toward +molding her character as Grandpa Markham's prayers and constant +teachings. Maddy did not know it, but it was these letters from Lucy +which kept her from loving Guy Remington. She could not for a moment +associate him with herself when she so constantly thought of him as +the husband of another, and that other Lucy Atherstone. Not for worlds +would Maddy have wronged the gentle creature who wrote to her so +confidingly of Guy, envying her in that she could so often see his +face and hear his voice, while his betrothed was separated from him by +many thousand miles. Little by little it had come out that Lucy's +mother was averse to the match, that she had in her mind the case of +an English lord, who would make her daughter "My Lady;" and this was +the secret of her deferring so long her daughter's marriage. In her +last letter to Maddy, however, Lucy had written with more than her +usual spirit that she would come in possession of her property on her +twenty-fifth birthday. She should then feel at liberty to act for +herself, and she launched out into joyful anticipations of the time +when she should come to Aikenside and meet her dear Maddy Clyde. +Feeling that Guy, if he did not already know it, would be glad to hear +it, Maddy had all the morning been wishing he would come; and when she +saw him at the gate she ran out to meet him, her eyes and face +sparkling with eager joy as she suffered him to retain her hand while +she said: "I am so glad to see you, Mr. Remington. I almost thought +you had forgotten me at Aikenside, Jessie and all." + +Guy began to exclaim against any one's forgetting her, and also to +express his pleasure at finding her so glad to see him, when Maddy +interrupted him with, "Oh, it's not that; I've something to show you-- +something which will make you very happy. I had a letter from Lucy +last night. When she is twenty-five she will be her own mistress, you +know, and she means to be married in spite of her mother--she says--let +me see--" and drawing from her bosom Lucy's letter, Maddy read, +"'I do not intend to fail in filial obedience, but I have tired dear +Guy's patience long enough, and as soon as I can I shall marry him.' +Isn't it nice?" and returning the letter to its hiding place, Maddy +scooped up in her hand and ate a quantity of the snow beside the path. + +"Yes, it was very nice," Guy admitted, but there was a shadow on his +brow as he followed Maddy into the cottage, where the lunatic, who had +been watching them from the window, shook his head doubtfully and +said, "Too young, too young for you, young man. You can't have our +Sunshine if you want her." + +"Hush, Uncle Joseph," Maddy whispered, softly, taking his arm and +laying it around her neck. "Mr. Remington don't want me. He is engaged +to a beautiful English girl across the sea." + +Low as Maddy's words were, Guy heard them, as well as the crazy man's +reply, "Engagements have been broken." + +That was the first time the possibility had ever entered Guy's brain +that his engagement might be broken, provided he wished it, which he +did not, he said to himself positively. Lucy loved him, he loved Lucy, +and that was enough, so in a kind of abstracted manner arising from +the fact that he was calculating how long it would be before Lucy was +twenty-five, he began to talk with Maddy, asking how she had spent her +time, and so forth. This reminded Maddy of the doctor, who, she said, +had not been to see her at all. + +"He was coming this morning," Guy rejoined, "but I persuaded him to +defer his call until you were at Aikenside. I have come to take you +back with me, as we are to have a party day after to-morrow evening, +and I wish you to be present." + +A party, a big party, such as Maddy had never in her life attended! +How her eyes sparkled from mere anticipation as she looked appealingly +to her grandfather, who, though classing parties with the pomps and +vanities from which he would shield his child, still remembered that +he once was young, that fifty years ago he, too, like Maddy, wanted +"to see the folly of it," and not take the mere word of older people +that in every festive scene there was a pitfall, strewn over so +thickly with roses that it was ofttimes hard to tell just where its +boundary line commenced. Besides that, grandpa had faith in Guy, and +so his consent was granted, and Maddy was soon on her way to +Aikenside, which presented a gayer, busier appearance than she had +ever known before. Jessie was wild with delight, dragging forth at +once the pink dress which she was to wear, and whispering to Maddy +that Guy had bought a dark blue silk for her, and that Sarah Jones was +at that moment fashioning it after a dress left there by Maddy the +previous summer. + +"Mother said plain white muslin was more appropriate for a young girl, +but Brother Guy said no; fee blue would be useful after the party; it +was what you needed, and so he bought it and paid a dollar and three- +quarters a yard, but it's a secret until you are called to try it on. +Isn't Guy splendid?" + +He was indeed splendid, Maddy thought, wondering why he was so kind to +her, and if it would be so when Lucy came. The dress fitted admirably, +only Maddy thought grandpa would say it was too low in the neck, but +Sarah overruled her objections, assisted by Guy, who, when the dress +was completed and tried on for the last time, was called in by Jessie +to see if "Maddy's neck didn't look just like cheese curd," and if +"she shouldn't have a piece sewed on as she suggested." The neck was +_au fait_, Guy said, laughing as Maddy for blushing so, and +saying when he saw how really distressed she seemed that he would +provide her with something to relieve the bareness of which she +complained. "Oh, I know, I saw, I peeked in the box," Jessie began, +but Guy put his hand over the little tattler's mouth, bidding her keep +the result of her peeking to herself. + +And for once Jessie succeeded in doing so, although she several times +set Maddy to guessing what it was Guy had for her in a box! As the +size of the box was not mentioned, Maddy had fully made up her mind to +a shawl or scarf, and was proportionately disappointed when, as she +was dressing for the party, there was sent up to her room a small +round box, scarcely large enough to hold an apple, much less a small +scarf. The present proved to be a pair of plain but heavy bracelets, +and a most exquisitely wrought chain of gold, to which was appended a +beautiful pearl cross, the whole accompanied with the words, "From +Guy." Jessie was in ecstasies again. Clasping the ornaments on Maddy's +neck and arms, she danced around her, declaring there never was +anything more beautiful, or anybody as pretty as Maddy was in her rich +party dress. Maddy was fond of jewelry--as what young girl is not?-- +and felt a flush of gratified pride, or vanity, or satisfaction, +whichever one chooses to call it, as she glanced at herself in the +mirror and remembered the time when, riding with the doctor, she had +met Mrs. Agnes, with golden bracelets flashing on her arms, and wished +she might one day wear something like them. The day had come sooner +than she then anticipated, but Maddy was not as happy in possession of +the coveted ornaments as she had thought she should be. Somehow, it +seemed to her that Guy ought not to have given them to her, that it +was improper for her to keep them, and that both Mrs. Noah and Agnes +thought so, too. She wished she knew exactly what was right, and then, +remembering that Guy had said the doctor was expected early, she +decided to ask his opinion on the subject and abide by it. + +At first Agnes had cared but little about the party, affecting to +despise the people in their immediate neighborhood; but when Guy gave +her permission to invite from the adjoining towns, and even from +Worcester if she liked, her spirits arose; and when her toilet was +completed, she shone resplendent in lace and diamonds and curls, +managing to retain through all a certain simplicity of dress +appropriate to the hostess. But beautiful as Agnes was, she felt in +her jealous heart that there was about Maddy Clyde an attraction she +did not possess. Guy saw it, too, and while complimenting his pretty +mother-in-law, kept his eyes fixed admiringly on Maddy, who started +him into certain unpleasant remembrances by asking if the doctor had +come yet. + +"No--yes--there he was now," and Guy looked into the hall, where the +doctor's voice was heard inquiring for him. + +"I want to see him a minute, alone, please. There's something I want +to ask him." And, unmindful of Agnes' darkening frown, or Guy's look +of wonder, Maddy darted from the room, and ran hastily down the hall +to where the doctor stood, waiting for Guy, not for her. + +He had not expected to meet her thus, or to see her thus, and the +sight of her, grown so tall, so womanly, so stylish and so beautiful, +almost took his breath away. And yet, as he stood with her soft hand +in his, and surveyed her from head to foot, he felt that he would +rather have had her as she was when a dainty frill shaded her pale, +wasted face, when the snowy ruffle was fastened high about her throat, +and the cotton bands were buttoned about her wrists, where gold ones +now were shining. The doctor had never forgotten Maddy as she was +then, the very embodiment, he thought, of helpless purity. The little +sick girl, so dear to him then, was growing away from him now; and +these adornings, which marked the budding woman, seemed to remove her +from him and place her nearer to Guy, whose bride should wear silk and +jewels, just as Maddy did. + +She was very glad to see him, she said, asking in the same breath why +he had not been to the cottage, if she had not grown tall, and if he +thought her one bit improved with living in a city? + +"One question at a time, if you please," he said, drawing her a little +more into the shadow of the door where they would be less observed by +any one passing through. + +Maddy did not wait for him to answer, so eager was she to unburden her +mind and know if she ought to keep the costly presents, at which she +knew he was looking. + +"If he remembers his unpaid bill, he must consider me mighty mean," +she thought: and then, with her usual frankness, she told him of the +perplexity and asked his opinion. + +"It would displease Mr. Guy very much if I were to give them back," +she said: "but it hardly is right for me to accept them, is it?" + +The doctor did not say she ought not to wear the ornaments, though he +longed to tear them from her arms and neck and throw them anywhere, he +cared not where, so they freed her wholly from Guy. + +They were very becoming, he said. She would not look as well without +them; so she had better wear them to-night, and to-morrow, if she +would grant him an interview, he would talk with her further. + +Dissembling doctor! He said all this to gain the desired interview +with Maddy, the interview for which Guy was to prepare her. That he +had not done so he felt assured, but he could not be angry with him, +as he came smilingly toward them, asking if they had talked privacy +long enough, and glancing rather curiously at Maddy's face. There was +nothing in its expression to disturb him, and, offering her his arm, +he led her back to the drawing-rooms where Agnes was smoothing down +the folds of her dress, preparatory to receiving the guests just +descending the stairs. It was a brilliant scene which Aikenside +presented that night, and amid it all Agnes bore herself like a queen, +while Jessie, with her sunny face and golden hair, came in for a full +share of attention. But amid the gay throng there was none so fair or +so beautiful as Maddy, who deported herself with as much ease and +grace as if she had all her life long been accustomed to just such +occasions as this. At a distance the doctor watched her, telling +several who she was, and once resenting by both look and manner a +remark made by Maria Cutler to the effect that she was nobody but Mrs. +Remington's governess, a poor girl whom Guy had taken a fancy to +educate out of charity. + +"He seems very fond of his charity pupil, upon my word. He scarcely +leaves her neighborhood at all," whispered old Mrs. Cutler, the mother +of Maria, who, Guy said, once fancied Dr. Holbrook, and who had no +particular objections to fancying him now, provided it could be +reciprocal. + +But the doctor was only intent on Maddy, knowing always just where she +was standing, just who was talking to her; and just how far from her +Guy was. He knew, too, when the latter was urging her to sing; and, +managing to get nearer, heard her object that no one cared to hear +her. + +"But I do; I wish it," Guy replied in that tone which people generally +obeyed; and casting a half-frightened look at the sea of faces around +her, Maddy suffered him to lead her to the piano, sitting quite still +while he found what he wished her to play. + +It was his favorite song, and one which brought out Maddy's voice in +its various modulations. + +"Oh, please, Mr. Remington, anything but a song. I cannot sing," Maddy +whispered pleadingly; but Guy answered resolutely, "You can." + +There was no appeal after this, but a resigned, obedient look, which +made the doctor gnash his teeth as he leaned upon the instrument. What +right had Guy to command Maddy Clyde, and why should she obey? and +yet, as the doctor glanced at Guy, he felt that were he in Maddy's +place, he should do the same. + +"No girl can resist Guy Remington," he thought. "I'm glad there's a +Lucy Atherstone over the sea." And with a smile of encouragement for +Maddy, who was pale with nervous timidity, he listened while her +sweet, birdlike voice trembled for a moment with fear; and then, +gaining from its own sound, filled the room with melody, and made +those who had wandered off to other parts of the building hasten back +to see who was singing. + +Maria Cutler had presided at the piano earlier in the evening, as had +one or two other young ladies, but to none of these had Guy paid half +the attention he did to Maddy, staying constantly by her, holding her +fan, turning the leaves of music, and dictating what she should play. + +"There's devotion," tittered a miss in long ringlets; "but she really +does play well," and she appealed to Maria Cutler, who answered, "Yes, +she keeps good time, and I should think might play for a dance. I mean +to ask her," and going up to Guy she said, "I wish to speak to--to-- +well, Jessie's governess. Introduce me, please." + +Guy waited till Maddy was through, and then gave the desired +introduction. In a tone not wholly free from superciliousness, Miss +Cutler said: + +"Can you play a waltz or polka, Miss Clyde? We are aching to exercise +our feet." + +Maddy bowed and struck into a spirited waltz, which set many of the +people present to whirling in circles, and produced the result which +Maria so much desired, viz: it drove Guy away from the piano, for he +could not mistake her evident wish to have him as a partner, and with +his arm around her waist he was soon moving rapidly from that part of +the room, leaving only the doctor to watch Maddy's fingers as they +flew over the keys. Maddy never thought of being tired. She enjoyed +the excitement, and was glad she could do something toward +entertaining Guy's guests. But Guy did not forget her for an instant. +Through all the mazes of the giddy dance, he had her before his eye, +seeing not the clouds of lace and muslin encircled by his arm, but the +little figure in blue sitting so patiently at the piano until he knew +she must be tired, and determined to release her. As it chanced, Maria +was again his partner, and drawing her nearer to Maddy, he said, "Your +fingers ache by this time, I am sure. It is wrong to trouble you +longer. Agnes will take your place while you try a quadrille with me." + +"Oh, thank you," Maddy answered. "I am not tired in the least. I had +as lief play till morning, provided they are satisfied with my time +and my stock of music holds out." + +"But it is not fair for one to do all the playing; besides, I want you +to dance with me--so consider yourself invited in due form to be my +next partner." + +Maddy's face crimsoned for an instant, and then in a low voice she +said, "I thank you, but I must decline." + +"Maddy!" Guy exclaimed, in tones more indicative of reproach than +expostulation. + +There were tears in Maddy's eyes, and Maria Cutler, watching her, was +vexed to see how beautiful was the expression of her face as she +answered frankly, "I have never told you that grandpa objected to my +taking dancing lessons when I wrote to him about it. He does not like +me to dance." + +"A saint!" Maria uttered under her breath, smiling contemptuously as +she made a movement to leave the piano, hoping Guy would follow her. + +But he did not at once. Standing for a moment irresolute, while he +looked curiously at Maddy, he said at last: + +"Of course I interfere with no one's scruples of that kind, but I +cannot allow you to wear yourself out for our amusement." + +"I like to play--please let me," was Maddy's reply; and, as the set +upon the floor were waiting for her, she turned to the instrument, +while Guy mechanically offered his arm to Maria, and sauntered toward +the green room. + +"What a blue old ignoramus that grandfather must be, to object to +dancing, don't you think so?" + +Maria laughed a little spitefully, secretly glad that Maddy had +refused, and secretly angry at Guy for seeming to care so much. + +"Say," she continued, as Guy did not answer her, "don't you think it a +sign that something is lacking in brains or education, when a person +sets up that dancing is wicked?" + +Guy would have taken Maddy's side then, whatever he might have +thought, and he replied: + +"No lack of brains, certainly; though education and circumstances have +much to do with one's views upon that subject. For my part, I like to +see people consistent. Now, that old ignoramus, as you call him, lays +great stress on pomp and vanities, and when I asked him once what he +meant by them, he mentioned dancing in particular as one of the things +which you, church people, promise to renounce;" and Guy bowed toward +Maria, who, knowing that she was one of the church people referred to, +winced perceptibly. + +"But this girl--this Maddy. There's no reason why she should decline," +she said; and Guy replied: "Respect for her grandfather, in her case, +seems to be stronger than respect for a higher power in some other +cases." + +"It's just as wicked to play for dancing as 'tis to dance," Maria +remarked impatiently, while Guy rejoined: + +"That is very possible; but I presume Maddy has never seen it in that +light, which makes a difference;" and the two retraced their steps to +the rooms where the gay revelers were still tripping to Maddy's +stirring music. + +After several ineffectual efforts Agnes had succeeded in enticing the +doctor away from the piano, and thus there was no one near to see how +at last the bright color began to fade from her cheeks as the notes +before her ran together, and the keys assumed the form of one huge key +which Maddy could not manage. There was a blur before her eyes, a +buzzing in her ears, and just as the dancers were entering heart and +soul into the merits of a popular polka, there was a sudden pause in +the music, a crash among the keys, and a faint cry, which to those +nearest to her sounded very much like "Mr. Guy," as Maddy fell forward +with her face upon the piano. It was hard telling which carried her +from the room, the doctor or Guy, or which face of the three was the +whitest. Guy's was the most frightened, for the doctor knew she had +only fainted, while Guy, struck with the marble rigidity of the face +so recently flushed with excitement, said at first, "She's dead," +while over him there flashed a feeling that life with Maddy dead would +be desolate indeed. But Maddy was not dead, and Guy, when he went back +to his guests carried the news that she had recovered from her faint, +which she kindly ascribed to the heat of the rooms, instead of fatigue +from playing so long. The doctor was with her and she was doing as +well as could be expected, he said, thinking within himself how he +wished they would go home, and wondering what attraction there was +there, now that Maddy's place was vacant. Guy was a vastly miserable +man by the time the last guest had bidden him good-night, and he had +heard for the hundred-and-fiftieth time what a delightful evening it +had been. Politeness required that he should look to the very last as +pleasant and unconcerned as if upstairs there were no little sick +girl, all alone undoubtedly with Dr. Holbrook, whom he mentally styled +a "lucky dog," in that he was not obliged to appear again in the +parlors unless he chose. + +The doctor knew Maddy did not require his presence after the first +half hour, but he insisted upon her being sent to bed, and then went +frequently to her door until assured by Mrs. Noah that she was +sleeping soundly, and would, if let alone, be well as ever on the +morrow, a prediction which proved true, for when at a late hour next +morning the family met at the breakfast table, Maddy's was the +brightest, freshest face of the whole, not even excepting Jessie's. +Maddy, too, was delighted with the party, declaring that nothing but +pleasurable excitement and heat had made her faint, and then with all +the interest which young girls usually attach to fainting fits, she +asked how she looked, how she acted, if she didn't appear very +ridiculous, and how she got out of the room, saying the only thing she +remembered after falling was a sensation as if she were being torn in +two. + +"That's it," cried Jessie, who readily volunteered the desired +information, "Brother Guy was 'way off with Maria Cutler, and doctor +was with mamma, but both ran, oh, so fast, and both tried to take you +up. I think Miss Cutler real hateful, for she said, so meanlike, 'Do +you see them pull her, as if 'twas of the slightest consequence which +carried her out?'" + +"Jessie," Guy interposed sternly, while the doctor looked +disapprovingly at the little girl, who subsided into silence after +saying, in an undertone, "I do think she's hateful, and that isn't all +she said either about Maddy." + +It was rather uncomfortable at the table after that, and rather quiet, +too, as Maddy did not care to ask anything more concerning her faint, +while the others were not disposed to talk. + +Breakfast over, the two young men repaired to the library, where Guy +indulged in his cigar, while the doctor fidgeted for a time, and then +broke out abruptly: + +"I say, Guy, have you said anything to her about--well, about me, you +know?" + +"Why, no, I've hardly had a chance; and then, again, I concluded it +better for each one to speak for himself;" and carelessly knocking the +ashes from his half-smoked cigar, Guy leaned back in his chair, with +his eyes, and, to all appearance, thoughts, wholly intent upon the +curls of smoke rising above his head. + +"Guy, if you were not engaged, I should be tempted to think you wanted +Maddy Clyde yourself," the doctor suddenly exclaimed, confronting Guy, +who, still watching the rings of smoke, answered with the most +provoking coolness, "You should?" + +"Yes, I should; and I am not certain but you do as it is, Guy," and +the doctor grew very earnest in his manner, "if you do care for Maddy +Clyde, and she for you, pray tell me so before I make a fool of +myself." + +"Doctor," returned Guy, throwing the remains of his cigar into the +grate and folding his hands on his head, "you desire that I be frank, +and I will. I like Maddy Clyde very much--more indeed than any girl I +ever met--except Lucy. Had I never seen her--Lucy, I mean--I cannot +tell how I should feel toward Maddy. The chances are, however, that +much as I admire her, I should not make her my wife, even if she were +willing. But I have seen Lucy. I am engaged to be married. I shall +keep that engagement, and if you have feared me at all as a rival, you +may fear me no longer. I do not stand between you and Maddy Clyde." + +Guy believed that he was saying the truth, notwithstanding that his +heart beat faster than its wont and his voice was a little thick. It +was doubtful whether he would marry Maddy Clyde, if he could. By +nature and education he was very proud, and the inmates of the red +cottage would have been an obstacle to be surmounted by his pride. He +knew they were good, far, far better than himself; but, from his +earliest remembrance, he had been taught that blood and family and +position were all-important; that by virtue of them Remington was a +name of which to be proud; that his father's foolish marriage with a +pretty governess was the first misalliance ever known in the family, +and that he was not likely to follow that example was a point fully +established in his own mind. He might admire Maddy very much, and, +perhaps, build castles of what might possibly have been, had she been +in his sphere of life; but, should he verily think of making her his +wife, the olden pride would certainly come up a barrier between them. +Guy could not explain all this to the doctor, who would have been +tempted to knock him down, if he had; but he succeeded in quieting his +fears, and even suggested bringing Maddy in there, if the doctor +wished to know his fate that morning. + +"I hear her now--I'll call her," he said; and, opening the door, he +spoke to Maddy, just passing through the hall. "Dr. Holbrook wishes to +see you," he said, as Maddy came up to him; and, holding the door for +her to enter, he saw her take the seat he had just vacated. Then, +closing it upon them, he walked away, thinking that last night's +party, or something, had produced a bad effect on him, making him blue +and wretched, just as he should suppose a criminal would feel when +about to be executed. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +THE DOCTOR AND MADDY. + + +Now that they were alone, the doctor's courage forsook him, and he +could only stammer out some commonplace remarks about the party, +asking how Maddy Lad enjoyed it, and if she was sure she had entirely +recovered from the effects of her fainting fit. He was not getting on +at all, and it was impossible for him to say anything as he had meant +to say it. Why couldn't she help him, instead of looking so +unsuspiciously at him with those large, bright eyes? Didn't she know +how dear she was to him? He should think she might. She might have +divined it ere this; and if so, why didn't she blush, or something? + +At last she came to his aid by saying, "You promised to tell me about +the bracelets and necklace, whether I ought to keep them." + +"Yes, oh yes, he believed he did." And getting up from his chair, the +doctor began to walk the floor, the better to hide his confusion. +"Yes, the bracelets. You looked very pretty in them, Maddy, very; but +you are always pretty--ahem--yes. If you were engaged to Guy, I should +say it was proper; but if not, why, I don't know; the fact is, Maddy, +I am not quite certain what I am saying, so you must excuse me. I +almost hated you that day you sent the note, telling me you were +coming to be examined; but I had not seen you then. I did not know +how, after a while--a very little while--I should in all probability-- +well, I did; I changed my mind, and I--I guess you have not the +slightest idea what I mean." And stopping suddenly, he confronted the +astonished Maddy, who replied: + +"Not the slightest, unless you are going crazy." + +She could in no other way account for his strange conduct, and she sat +staring at him while he continued: "I told you once that when I wanted +my bill I'd let you know. I'd ask for pay. I want it now. I present my +bill." + +With a scared, miserable feeling, Maddy listened to him, wondering +where she should get the money, if it were possible for her +grandfather to raise it, and how much her entire wardrobe would bring, +suppose she should sell it! The bill had not troubled her latterly, +for she had fallen into a way of believing that the doctor would wait +until she was graduated and could earn it by teaching. Nothing could +be more inopportune than for him to present it now; and with a +half-stifled sob she began to speak, but he her by a gesture, and +sitting down beside her, said, in a voice more natural than the one with +which he had at first addressed her: + +"Maddy, I know you have no money. It is not that I want, Maddy; I +want--I want--you." + +He bent down over her now, for her face was hidden in her hands, all +sense of sight shut out, all sense of hearing, too, save the words he +was pouring into her ear--words which burned their way into her heart, +making It throb for a single moment with gratified pride, and then +growing heavy as lead as she knew how impossible it was for her to pay +the debt in the way which he desired. + +"I can't, doctor; oh, I can't!" she sobbed. "I never dreamed of this; +never supposed you could want me for your wife. I'm only a little +girl--only sixteen last October--but I'm so sorry for you, who have +been so kind. If I only could love you as you deserve! I do love you, +too; but not the way you mean. I cannot be Maddy Holbrook; no; doctor, +I cannot." + +She was sobbing piteously, and in his concern for her the doctor +forgot somewhat the stunning blow he had received. + +"Don't, Maddy darling!" he said, drawing her trembling form closely to +him, "Don't be so distressed. I did not much think you'd tell me yes, +and I was a fool to ask you. I am too old; but, Maddy, Guy is as old +as I am." + +The doctor did not know why he said this, unless in the first keenness +of his disappointment there was a satisfaction in telling her that the +objection to his age would apply also to Guy. But it did not affect +Maddy one whit, or give her the slightest inkling of his meaning. He +saw it did not, and the pain was less to bear. Still, he would know +certainly if he had a rival, and so he said to her: + +"Do you love some one else, Maddy? Is another preferred before me, and +is that the reason why you cannot love me?" + +"No," Maddy answered, through her tears. "There is no one else. Whom +should I love, unless it were you? I know nobody but Guy." + +That name touched a sore, aching chord in the doctor's heart, but he +gave no sign of the jealousy which had troubled him, and for a moment +there was silence in the room; then, as the doctor began faintly to +realize that Maddy had refused him, there awoke within him a more +intense desire to win her than he had ever felt before. He would not +give her up without another effort, and laying her unresisting head +upon his bosom, he pleaded again for her love, going over all the +past, and telling of the interest awakened when first she came to him +that April afternoon, almost two years ago; then of the little sick +girl who had grown so into the heart never before affected in the +least by womankind, and lastly of the beautiful woman, as he called +her, sitting beside him now in all the freshness of her young +womanhood. And Maddy, as she listened, felt for him a strange kind of +pity, a wish to do his bidding if she only could, and why shouldn't +she? Girls had married those whom they did not love, and been +tolerably happy with them, too. Perhaps she could be so with the +doctor. There was everything about him to respect, and much which she +could love. Should she try? There was a great lump in Maddy's throat +as she tried to speak, but it cleared away and she said very sadly, +but very earnestly, too: + +"Dr. Holbrook, would you like me to say yes with my lips, when all the +time there was something at my heart tugging to answer no?" + +This was not at all what Maddy meant to say, but the words were born +of her extreme truthfulness, and the doctor thus learned the nature of +the struggle which he saw plainly was going on. + +"No, Maddy, I would not have you say yes unless your heart was in it," +he answered, while he tried to smile upon the tearful face looking up +so sorrowfully at him. + +But the smile was a forlorn one, and there came instead a tear as he +thought how dear was the fair creature who never would be his. Maddy +saw the tear, and as if she were a child wiped it from his cheek; +then, in tones which never faltered, she told him it might be in time +she'd learn to love him. She would try so hard, she'd think of him +always as her promised husband, and by that means should learn at last +not to shrink from taking him for such. It might be ever so long, and +perhaps she should be twenty or more, but some time in the future she +should feel differently. Was he satisfied, and would he wait? + +Her little hand was resting on his shoulder, but he did not mind its +soft pressure or know that it was there, so strong was the temptation +to accept that half-made promise. But the doctor was too noble, to +unselfish to bind Maddy to himself unless she were wholly willing, and +he said to her that if she did not love him now she probably never +would. She could not make a love. She need not try, as it would only +result in her own unhappiness. They would be friends just as they +always had been, and none need know of what had passed between them, +none but Guy. "I must tell him" the doctor said, "because he knows +that I was going to ask you." + +Maddy could not explain why it was that she felt glad the doctor would +tell Guy. She did not analyze any of her feelings, or stop to ask why +she should care to have Guy Remington know the answer she had given +Dr. Holbrook. He was going to him now, she was sure, for he arose to +leave her, saying he might not see her again before she returned to +New York. She did not mention his bill. That was among the bygones, a +thing never again to be talked about, and offering him her hand, she +looked for an instant earnestly into his face, then without a word, +hurried from the room, while the doctor, with a sad, heavy heart, went +in quest of Guy. + +"Refused you, did you say?" and Guy's face certainly looked brighter +than it had before since he left the doctor with Maddy Clyde. + +"Yes, refused me, as I might have known she would," was the doctor's +reply, spoken so naturally that Guy looked up quickly to see if he +really did not care. + +But the expression of the face belied the calmness of the voice; and, +touched with genuine pity, Guy asked the cause of the refusal-- +"preference for any one else, or what?" + +"No, there was no one whom she preferred. She merely did not like me +well enough to be my wife, that was all," the doctor said, and then he +tried to talk of something else; but it would not do. The wound was +yet too fresh and sore to be covered up, and in spite of himself the +bearded chin quivered and the manly voice shook as he bade good-by to +Guy, and then went galloping down the avenue. + +Great was the consternation among the doctor's patients when it was +known that their pet physician--the one in whose skill they had so +much confidence--was going to Europe, where in Paris he could perfect +himself in his profession. Some cried, and among them Agnes; some said +he knew enough already; some tried to dissuade him from his purpose; +some wondered at the sudden start, while only two knew exactly why he +was going--Guy and Maddy; the former approving his decision and +lending his influence to make his tour abroad as pleasant as possible; +and the latter weeping bitterly as she thought how she had sent him +away, and that if aught befell him on the sea or in that distant land, +she would be held amenable. Once there came over her the wild impulse +to bid him stay, to say that she would be his wife; but, ere the rash +act was done, Guy came down to the cottage, and Maddy's resolution +gave way at once. + +It would be difficult to tell the exact nature of Maddy's liking for +Guy at that time. Had he offered himself to her she would probably +have refused him even more promptly than she did the doctor; for, to +all intents and purposes, he was, in her estimation, the husband of +Lucy Atherstone. As such, there was no harm in making him her paragon +of all male excellence; and Guy would have felt flattered, could he +have known how much he was in that young girl's thoughts. But now for +a few days he had a rival, for Maddy's thoughts were all given to the +doctor, who came down to see her once before starting for Europe. She +did not cry while he was there, but her voice was strange and hoarse +as she gave him messages for Lucy Atherstone; and all that day her +face was white and sad, as are the faces of those who come back from +burying their dead. + +Only once after the party did she go up to Aikenside, and then, +summoning all her fortitude, she gave back to Guy the bracelets and +the necklace, telling him she ought not to wear them; that ornaments +as rich as these were not for her; that her grandmother did not wish +her to keep them, and he must take them back. Guy saw she was in +earnest, and much against his will he received again the ornaments he +had been so happy in purchasing. + +"They would do for Jessie when she was older," Maddy said; but Guy +thought it very doubtful whether Jessie would ever have them. They +were something he had bought for Maddy, something she had worn, and as +such they were too sacred to be given to another. So he laid them away +beside the picture guarded so carefully from every one. + +Two weeks afterward Aikenside presented again a desolate, shut-up +appearance, for Agnes, Maddy and Jessie had returned to New York; +Agnes to continue the siege which, in despair of winning the doctor, +she had commenced against a rich old bachelor, who had a house on +Madison Square; and Maddy to her books, which ere long obliterated, in +a measure, the bitter memory of all that had transpired during her +winter vacation. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIL + +WOMANHOOD. + + +Two years pass quickly, particularly at school, and to Maddy Clyde, +talking with her companions of the coming holidays, it seemed hardly +possible that two whole years were gone since the eventful vacation +when Dr. Holbrook had so startled her by offering her his hand. He was +in Europe still, and another name than his was on the little office in +Mrs. Conner's yard. To Maddy he now wrote frequently; friendly, +familiar letters, such as a brother might write, never referring to +the past, but telling her whatever he thought would interest and +please her. Occasionally at first, and more frequently afterward, he +spoke of Margaret Atherstone, Lucy's younger sister, a brilliant, +beautiful girl who reminded him, he said, of Maddy, only she was +saucier, and more of a tease; not at all like Lucy, whom he described +as something perfectly angelic. Her twenty-fifth birthday found her on +a sickbed, with Dr. Holbrook in attendance, and this was the reason +given why the marriage between herself and Guy was again deferred. +There had been many weeks of pain, succeeded by long, weary months of +languor, and during all this time the doctor had been with her as the +family physician, while Margaret also had been constantly in +attendance. But Lucy was much better now. She could sit up all day, +and even walk a little distance, assisted by the doctor and Margaret, +whose name had become to be almost as familiar to Maddy as was that of +Lucy. And Maddy, in thinking of Margaret, sometimes wondered "if----" +but never went any farther than that. Neither did she ask Guy a word +about her, though she knew he must have seen her. She not say much to +him of Lucy, but she wondered why he did not go for her, and wanted to +talk with him about it but he was so changed that she dared not. He +was not sociable, as of old, and Agnes did not hesitate to call him +cross, while Jessie complained that he never walked or played with her +now, but sat all day long in a deep reverie of some kind. + +On this account Maddy did not look forward to the coming vacation as +joyfully as she would otherwise have done. Still it was, always +pleasant going home, and she sat talking with her young friends of all +they expected to do, when a servant entered the room and glancing over +the group of girls, singled Maddy out saying, as he placed an unsealed +envelope in her hand. "A telegram for Miss Clyde." + +There was a blur before Maddy's eyes, so that at first she could not +see clearly, and Jessie, climbing on the bench beside her, read aloud: + +"Your grandmother is dying. Come at once. Agnes and Jessie will stay +till next week. + + "Guy Remington" + +It was impossible to go that afternoon but with the earliest dawn she +was up, and unmindful of the snow falling so rapidly, started on the +sad journey home. It was the first genuine storm of the season, and it +seemed resolved on making amends for past neglect, sweeping in furious +gusts against the windows sifting down in thick masses from the leaden +sky, and so impeding the progress of the train that the chill wintery +night had closed gloomily in ere the Sommerville station was reached, +and Maddy, weary and dispirited, stepped out upon the platform, +glancing anxiously around for the usual omnibus, which she had little +hope would be there on such a night. If not, what should she do? This +had been the burden of her thoughts for the last few hours, for she +could not expect Guy to send out his horses in this fearful storm, +much less to be there himself. But Guy was there, and it was his voice +which first greeted her as she stood half blinded by the snow, +uncertain what she must do next. + +"Ah, Mr. Remington, I didn't expect this. I am so glad, and how kind +it was of you to wait for me!" she exclaimed, her voice expressing her +delight, and amply repaying the young man, who had not been very +patient or happy through the six long hours of waiting he had endured. + +But he was both happy and patient now with Maddy's hand in his, and +pressing it very gently he led her into the ladies' room; then making +her sit down before the fire he brushed her snowy garments himself, +and dashing a few flakes from her disordered hair, told her what she +so eagerly asked to know. Her grandmother had had a paralytic stroke, +and the only word she had uttered since was "Maddy." Guy had not been +down himself, but had sent Mrs. Noah as soon as Farmer Green had +brought the news. She was there yet, he said, the storm having +prevented her return. + +"And grandma?" Maddy gasped, fixing her eyes wistfully upon him. "You +do not think her dead?" + +No, Guy did not, and stooping he asked if he should not remove from +the dainty little feet resting on the stove hearth the overshoes, so +full of melting snow. Maddy cared little for her shoes, or herself +just then. She hardly knew that Guy was taking them off, much less +that, as he bent beside her, her hand lay lightly upon his shoulder as +she continued her questionings. + +"She is not dead, you say; but do you think-does any-body think she'll +die? Your telegram said 'dying.'" + +Maddy was not to be deceived, and thinking it best to be frank with +her, Guy told her that the physician, whom he had taken pains to see +on his way to the depot, had said there was no hope. Old age and an +impaired constitution precluded the possibility of recovery, but he +trusted she might live till the young lady came. + +"She must--she will! Oh, grandma, why did I ever leave her?" and +burying her face in her hands. Maddy cried passionately, while the +last three years of her Life passed in rapid review before her +mind--years which she had spent in luxurious ease, leaving her +grandmother to toil in the humble cottage, and die at the last, it +might be, without one parting word for her. + +The feeling that perhaps she had been guilty of neglect, was the +bitterest of all, and Maddy wept on, unmindful of Guy's attempts to +soothe and quiet her. At last, as she heard a clock in the adjoining +room strike eight, she started up exclaiming "I have stayed too long. +I must go now. Is there any conveyance here?" + +"But, Maddy," Guy rejoined, "you cannot go to-night. The roads between +here and Honedale are one unbroken snow bank. It would take hours to +break through; besides you are too tired. You need rest, and must come +with me to Aikenside, where you are expected, for when I found how +late the train would be, I sent back word to have your room and +parlors warmed, and a nice hot supper to be ready for us. You'll +surely go with me, if I think best." + +Guy's manner was more like a lover than a friend, but Maddy was in no +state to remark it. She only felt an intense desire to go home, and +turning a deaf ear to all he could urge, replied: "You don't know how +dear grandma is to me, or you would not ask me to stay. She's all the +mother I ever knew, and I must go. Think, would you stay if the one +you loved best was dying?" + +"But the one I love best is not dying, so I can reason clearly, +Maddy." + +Here Guy checked himself, and listened while Maddy asked again if +there was no conveyance there as usual. + +"None but mine," said Guy, while Maddy continued faintly: + +"And you are afraid it will kill your horses?" + +"No, it would only fatigue them greatly; it's for you I fear. You've +borne enough to-day." + +"Then, Mr. Remington, oh, please send me. I shall die at Aikenside. +John will drive me, I know. He used to like me. I'll ask him," and +Maddy was going in quest of the Aikenside coachman, when Guy held her +back, and said: + +"John will go if I bid him. But you, Maddy, if I thought it was safe." + +"It is. Oh, let me go," and Maddy grasped both his hands beseechingly. + +If there was a man who could resist the eloquent appeal of Maddy's +eyes at that moment, the man was not Guy Remington, and leaving her +alone, he sought out John, asking if it would be possible to get +through to Homedale that night. + +John shook his head decidedly, but when Guy explained Maddy's distress +and anxiety, the negro began to relent, particularly as he saw his +young master, too, was interested. + +"It'll kill them horses," he said, "but mabby that's nothin' to please +the girl." + +"If we only had runners now, instead of wheels, John," Guy said, after +a moment's reflection. "Drive back to Aikenside as fast as possible, +and change the carriage for a covered sleigh. Leave the grays at home +and drive a pair of farm horses. They can endure more. Tell Flora to +send my traveling shawl. Miss Clyde may need it, and an extra buffalo, +and a bottle of wine, and my buckskin gloves, and take Tom on with +you, and a snow shovel; we may have to dig." + +"Yes, yes, I know," and tying his muffler about his throat, John +started off through the storm, his mind a confused medley of ideas, +the main points of which were, bottles of wine, snow shovels, and the +fact that his master was either crazy or in love. + +Meanwhile, with the prospect of going home, Maddy had grown quiet, and +did not refuse the temporary supper of buttered toast, muffins, steak +and hot coffee, which Guy ordered from the small hotel just in the +rear of the depot. Tired, nervous, and almost helpless, she allowed +Guy himself to prepare her coffee, taking it from his hand and +drinking it at his bidding as obediently as a child. There was a +feeling of delicious rest in being cared for thus, and but for the +dying one at Honedale she would have enjoyed it vastly. As it was, +though, she never for a moment forgot her grandmother. She did forget, +in a measure, her anxiety, and was able to think how kind, how +exceedingly kind Guy was. He was like what he used to be, she thought, +only kinder, and thinking it was because she was in trouble, she +accepted all his little attentions willingly, feeling how pleasant it +was to have him there, and thinking once with a half shudder of the +long, cold ride before her, when Guy would no longer be present, and +also of the dreary home where death might possibly be a guest ere she +could reach it. + +It was after nine ere John appeared, his crisp wool powdered with snow +which clung to his outer garments, and literally covered his dark, +cloth cap. + +"'Twas mighty deep," he said, bowing to Maddy, "and the wind was +getting colder. 'Twas a hard time Miss Clyde would have, and hadn't +she better wait?" + +No, Maddy could not wait, and standing up she suffered Guy to wrap her +cloak about her, and fasten more securely the long, warm scarf she +wore around her neck. + +"Drive close to the platform," he said to John, and the covered sleigh +was soon brought to the point designated. "Now then, Maddy, I won't +let you run the risk of covering your feet with snow. I shall carry +you myself," Guy said, and ere Maddy was fully aware of his +intentions, he had her in his arms, and was bearing her to the sleigh. + +Very carefully he drew the soft, warm robe about her, shielding her as +well as he could from the cold; then pulling his own fur collar about +his ears, he sprang in beside her, and, closing the door behind him, +bade John drive on. + +"But, Mr. Remington," Maddy exclaimed in much surprise, "surely you +are not going too? You must not. It is asking too much. It is more +than I expected. Please don't go." "Would you rather I should not--that +is, aside from any inconvenience it may be to me--would you rather go +alone?" Guy asked, and Maddy replied: + +"Oh, no. I was dreading the long ride, but did not dream of your +going. You will shorten it so much." "Then I shall be paid for going," +was Guy's response, as he drew still more closely around her the fancy +buffalo robe. + +The roads, though badly drifted in some places, were not as bad as Guy +had feared, and the strong horses kept steadily on; while Maddy, +growing more and more fatigued, at last fell away to sleep, and ceased +to answer Guy, For a time he watched her drooping head, and then +carefully drawing it to him, made it rest upon his shoulder, while he +wound his arm around her slight figure, and so supported her. He knew +she was sleeping quietly, by her gentle breathings; and once or twice +he involuntarily passed his hand caressingly over her soft, round +cheek, feeling the blood tingle to his finger tips as he thought of +his position there, with Maddy Clyde sleeping in his arms. What would +Lucy say, could she see him? And the doctor, with his strict ideas of +right and wrong, would he object? Guy did not know, and, with his +usual independence, he did not care. At least, he said to himself he +did not care; and so, banishing both the doctor and Lucy from his +mind, he abandoned himself to the happiness of the moment--a singular +land of happiness, inasmuch as it merely consisted in the fact that +Maddy Clyde's young head was pillowed on his bosom, and that, by +bending down, he could feel her sweet breath on his face. Occasionally +there flitted across Guy's mind a vague, uneasy consciousness that +though the act was, under the circumstances, well enough, the feelings +which prompted it were not such as either the doctor or Lucy would +approve. But they were far away; they would never know unless he told +them, as he probably should, of this ride on that wintry night; this +ride, which seemed to him so short that he scarcely believed his +senses when, without once having been overturned or called upon to use +the shovels so thoughtfully provided, the carriage suddenly came to a +halt, and he knew by the dim light shining through the low window that +the red cottage was reached. + +Grandma Markham was dying, but she knew Maddy, and the palsied lips +worked painfully as they attempted to utter the loved name; while her +wasted face lighted up with eager joy as Maddy's arms were twined +about her neck, and she felt Maddy's kisses on her cheek and brow. +Could she not speak? Would she never speak again, Maddy asked +despairingly, and her grandfather replied: "Never, most likely. The +only thing she's said since the shock was to call your name; She's +missed you despatly this winter back, more than ever before, I think. +So have we all, but we would not send for you--Mr. Guy said you was +learning so fast." "Oh, grandpa, why didn't you? I would have come so +willingly," and for an instant Maddy's eyes flashed reproachfully upon +the recreant Guy, standing aloof from the little group gathered about +the bed, his arms folded together, and a moody look upon his face. + +He was thinking of what had not yet entered Maddy's mind, thinking of +the future--Maddy's future, when the aged form upon the bed should be +gone, and the two comparatively helpless men be left alone. + +"But it shall not be. The sacrifice is far too great. I can prevent +it, and I will," he muttered to himself, as he turned to watch the +gray dawn breaking in the east. Guy was a puzzle to himself. He would +not admit that during the past year his liking for Maddy Clyde had +grown to be something stronger than mere friendship, nor yet that his +feelings toward Lucy had undergone a change, prompting him not to go +to her when she was sick, and not to be as sorry as he ought that the +marriage was again deferred. Lucy had no suspicion of the change and +her childlike trust in him was the anchor which held him still true to +her in intentions at least, if not in reality. He knew from her +letters how much she had learned to like Maddy Clyde, and so, he +argued, there was no harm in his liking her too. She was a splendid +girl, and it seemed a pity that her lot should have been so humbly +cast. This was usually the drift of his thoughts in connection with +her; and now, as he stood there its that cottage, Maddy's home, they +recurred to him with tenfold intensity, for well he foresaw that a +struggle was before him if he rescued Maddy as he meant to do from her +approaching fate. + +No such thoughts, however, intruded themselves on Maddy's mind. She +did not look away from the present, except it were at the past, in +which she feared she had erred by leaving her grandmother too much +alone. But to her passionate appeals for forgiveness, if she ever had +neglected the dying one, there came back only loving looks and mute +caresses, the aged hand smoothing lovingly the bowed head, or pressing +fondly the girlish cheeks where Guy's hand had been. With the coming +of daylight, however, there was a change; and Maddy, listening +intently, heard what sounded like her name. The tied tongue was loosed +for a little, and in tones scarcely articulate, the disciple who for +long years had served her Heavenly Father faithfully, bore testimony +to the blessed truth that God's promises to those who love Him are not +mere promises--that He will go with them through the river of death, +disarming the fainting soul of every fear, and making the dying bed +the very gate of heaven. This tribute to the Savior was her first +thought, while the second was a blessing for her darling, a charge to +seek the narrow way now in life's early morning. Disjointed sentences +they were, but Maddy understood them all, treasuring up every word +even to the last, the words the farther apart and most painfully +uttered, "You--will--care--and--comfort----" She did not say whom, but +Maddy knew whom she meant; and without then realizing the magnitude of +the act, virtually accepted the burden from which Guy was so anxious +to save her. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +THE BURDEN. + + +Grandma Markham was dead, and the covered sleigh, which late in the +afternoon plowed its way heavily back to Aikenside, carried only Mrs. +Noah, who, with her forehead tied up in knots, sat back among the +cushions, thinking not of the peaceful dead, gone forever to the rest +which remains for the people of God, but of the wayward Guy, who had +resisted all her efforts to persuade him to return with her, instead +of staying where he was, not needed, and where his presence was a +restraint to all save one, and that one Maddy, for whose sake he +stayed. + +"She'd be vummed," the indignant old lady said, "if she would not +write to Lucy herself if Guy did not quit such doin's," and thus +resolving she kept on her way, while the subject of her wrath was, it +may be, more than half repenting of his decision to stay, inasmuch as +he began to have an unpleasant consciousness of himself being in +everybody's way. + +In the first hour of Maddy's bereavement he had not spoken with her, +but had kept himself aloof from the room where, with her grandfather +and Uncle Joseph, she sat, holding the poor aching head of the latter +in her lap and trying to speak a word of consolation to the old, +broken-hearted man, whose hand was grasped in hers. But Maddy knew he +was there. She could hear his voice each time he spoke to Mrs. Noah, +and that made the desolation easier to bear. She did not look forward +to the time when he would be gone; and when at last he told her he was +going, she started quickly, and with a gush of tears, exclaimed: "No, +no! oh, no!" + +"Maddy," Guy whispered, bending over the strange trio, "would you +rather I should stay? Will it be pleasanter for you, if I do?" + +"Yes--I don't know. I guess it would not be so lonely. Oh, it's +terrible to have grandmother dead!" was Maddy's response; after which +Guy would have stayed if a whole regiment of Mrs. Noah's had +confronted him instead of one. + +Maddy wished it; that was reason enough for him; and giving a few +directions to John, he stayed, thereby disconcerting the neighboring +women who came in to perform the last offices for the dead, and who +wished the young man from Aikenside was anywhere but there, watching +them in all their movements, as they vainly fancied he did. But Guy +thought only of Maddy, watching her so carefully that more than one +meaning glance was exchanged between the women, who, even over the +inanimate form of the dead, spoke together of what might possibly +occur, wondering what would be the effect on Grandpa Markham and Uncle +Joseph. Who would take care of them? And then, in case Maddy should +feel it her duty to stay there, as they half hoped she would, they +fell to pitying the young girl, who seemed now so wholly unfitted for +the burden. + +To Maddy there came no definite idea of the future during the two days +that white, rigid form lay in the darkened cottage; but when, at last, +the deep grave made for Grandma Markham was occupied, and the lounge +in the little front room was empty--when the Aikenside carriage, which +had been sent down for the use of the mourners, had been driven away, +taking both Guy and Mrs. Noah--when the neighbors, too, had gone, +leaving only herself and the little hired girl sitting by the evening +fire, with the grandfather and the imbecile Uncle Joseph--then it was +that she first began to fed the pressure of the burden--began to ask +herself if she could live thus always, or at least for many years--as +long as either of the two helpless men were spared. Maddy was young, +and the world as she had seen it was very bright and fair, brighter +far than a life of laborious toil, and for a while the idea that the +latter alternative must be accepted made her dizzy and faint. + +As if divining her thoughts, poor old grandpa, in his prayers that +night, asked in trembling tones, which showed how much he felt what he +was saying, that God would guide his darling in all she did, and give +her wisdom to make the proper decision; that if it were best she might +be happy there with them, but if not, "Oh, Father, Father!" he sobbed, +"help me and Joseph to bear it." He could pray no more aloud, and the +gray head remained bowed down upon his chair, while Uncle Joseph, in +his peculiar way, took up the theme, begging like a very child that +Maddy might be inclined to stay--that no young men with curling hair, +a diamond cross, and smell of musk, might be permitted to come near +her with enticing looks, but that she might stay as she was and die an +old maid forever! This was the subject of Uncle Joseph's prayer, a +prayer which set the little hired girl to tittering, and would have +wrung a smile from Maddy herself had she not felt all the strange +petition implied. + +With waywardness natural to people in his condition, Uncle Joseph that +night turned to Maddy for the little services his sister had formerly +rendered, and which, since her illness, Grandpa Markham had done, and +would willingly do still. But Joseph refused to let him. Maddy must +untie his cravat, unbutton his vest, and take off his shoes, while, +after he was in bed, Maddy must sit by his side, holding his hand +until he fell away to sleep. And Maddy did it cheerfully, soothing him +into quiet, and keeping back her own choking sorrow for the sake of +comforting him. Then, when this task was done she sought her +grandfather, still sitting before the kitchen fire and evidently +waiting for her. The little hired girl had retired, and thus there was +no barrier to free conversation between them. + +"Maddy," the old man said, "come sit close by me, where I can look +into your face, while we talk over what must be done." + +With a half shudder, Maddy drew a stool to her grandfather's feet, and +resting her head upon his knee, listened while he talked to her of the +future; told her all her grandmother had done; told of his own +helplessness; of the trial it was to care for Uncle Joseph, and then +in faltering tones asked who was going to look after them now. "We +can't live here alone, Maddy. We can't. We're old and weak, and want +some one to lean on. Oh, why didn't God take us with her, Joseph and +me, and that would leave you free, to go back to the school and the +life which I know is pleasanter than to stay here with us. Oh, Maddy! +it comforts me to look at you--to hear your voice, to know that though +I don't see you every minute, you are somewhere, and by and by you'll +come in. I shan't live long, and maybe Joseph won't. God's promise is +to them who honor father and mother. It'll be hard for you to stay, +harder than it was once; but, Maddy, oh, Maddy! stay with me, stay +with me!--stay with your old grandpa!" + +In his earnestness he grasped her arm, as if he thus would hold her, +while the tears rained over his wrinkled face. For a moment Maddy made +no response. She had no intention of leaving him, but the burden was +pressing heavily and her tongue refused to move. Maddy was then a +stranger to the religion which was sustaining her grandfather in his +great trouble, but the teachings of her childhood had not been in +vain. She was God's covenant child. His protecting presence was over +and around her, moving her to the right. New York, with its gay +sights, her school, where in another year she was to graduate, the +trip to the Catskills which Guy had promised Mrs. Agnes, Jessie and +herself, Aikenside with its luxurious ease--all these must be given +up, while, worse than all the rest, Guy, too, must be given up. He +would not come there often; the place was not to his taste, and in +time he would cease to care for her as he cared for her now. "Oh, that +would be dreadful!" she groaned aloud, while here thoughts went +backward to that night ride in the snowstorm, and the numberless +attentions he had paid her then. She would never ride with him +again--never; and Maddy moaned bitterly, as she began to realize +for the first time how much she liked Guy Remington, and how the +giving him up and his society was the hardest part of all. But Maddy +had a brave young heart, and at last, winding her arms around her +grandfather's neck, she whispered: "I will not leave you, grandpa. +I'll stay in grandmother's place." + +Surely Heaven would answer the blessings whispered over Maddy by the +delighted old man, and the young girl taking so cheerfully the burden +from which many would have shrunk, should be blessed by God. + +With her grandfather's hand upon her head, Maddy could almost feel +that the blessing was descending; but when, in her own room, the one +where she had lain sick for so many weary weeks, her courage began to +give way, and the burden, magnified tenfold by her nervous weakness, +looked heavier than she could bear. How could she stay there, going +through each day with the same routine of literal drudgery--drudgery +which would not end until the two for whom she made the sacrifice were +dead. + +"Oh, is there no way of escape, no help?" she moaned, as she tossed +from side to side, "Must my life be wasted here. Surely---" + +Maddy did not finish the sentence, for something checked the words of +repining, and she seemed to hear again her grandfather's voice as it +repeated the promise to those who keep with their whole souls the +fifth commandment. + +"I will, I will," she cried, while into her heart there crept an +intense longing for the love of him who alone could make her task a +light one. "If I were good like grandma, I could bear everything," she +thought, and turning upon her pillow, Maddy prayed an earnest, +childlike prayer, that God would help her do night, that He would take +from her the proud spirit which rebelled against her lot because of +its loneliness, that pride and love of her own ease and advancement in +preference to others' good might all be subdued; in short that she +might be God's child, walking where He appointed her to walk without a +murmur, and doing cheerfully His will. + +Aikenside, and school, and the Catskill Mountains were easier to +abandon after that contrite prayer; but when she thought of Guy, the +fiercest, sharpest pang she had ever felt shot through her heart, +making her cry out so quickly that the little hired girl who shared +her bed moved as if about to waken, but Maddy lay very quiet until all +was still again, when turning a second time to God she tried to pray, +tried to give up what to her was the dearest idol, but she could not +say the words, and ere she knew what she was doing she found herself +asking that Guy should not forsake her. "Let him come," she sobbed, +"let Guy come some time to see me". + +Once the tempter whispered to her, that had she accepted Dr. Holbrook +she would have been spared all this, but Maddy turned a deaf ear to +that suggestion. Dr. Holbrook was too noble a man to have an unloving +wife, and not for a moment did she repent of her decision with regard +to him. She almost knew he would say now that she was right in +refusing him, and right in staying there, as she must. Thoughts of the +doctor quieted her, she believed, not knowing that Heaven was already +owning its submissive child, and breathing upon it a soothing +benediction. The moan of the winter wind and the sound of the snow +beating against her little window ceased to annoy her. Heaven, +happiness, Aikenside and Guy, all seem blended into one great good +just within her reach, and when the long clock below the stairs struck +three, she did not hear it, but with the tear stains upon her face she +lay nestled among her pillows, dreaming that her grandmother had come +back from the bright world of glory to bless her darling child. + +It was broad noon ere Maddy awoke, and starting up she looked about +her in bewilderment, wondering where she was and what agency had been +at work in her room, transforming it from the cold, comfortless +apartment she had entered the previous night into the cheery-looking +chamber, with a warm fire blazing in the tiny fireplace, a rug spread +down upon the hearth, a rocking-chair drawn up before it, and all +traces of the little hired girl as completely obliterated as if she +had never been. In her grief Maddy seemed to have forgotten how to +make things cozy, and as, during her grandmother's illness, her own +room had been left to the care of the hired girl, Nettie, it wore a +neglected, rude aspect, which had grated on Maddy's finer feelings, +and made everything so uninviting. But this morning all was changed. +Some skillful hand had been busy there while she slept, and Maddy was +wondering who it could be, when the door opened cautiously and Flora's +good-humored face looked in--Flora from Aikenside. Maddy knew now to +whom she was indebted for all this comfort, and with a cry of joy she +welcomed the girl, whose very presence brought back something of the +life with which she had parted forever. + +"Flora," she exclaimed, "how came you here, and did you make this fire +and fix the room for me?" + +"Yes, I made the fire," Flora replied, "and fixed up the things a +little, hustlin' that young one's goods out of here; because it was +not fittin' for you to be sleepin' with her. Mr. Guy was mad enough +when he found it out." + +"Mr. Guy, Flora? How should he know of our sleeping "rrangements?" +Maddy asked, but Flora evaded a direct reply, saying, "there was +enough ways for things to get to Aikenside;" then continuing, "How +tired you must be, Miss Maddy, to sleep so sound as never to hear me +at all, though to be sure I tried to be still as a mouse. But let me +help you dress. It's all but noon, and you must be hungry. I've got +your breakfast all ready." + +"Thank you, Flora, I can dress myself," Maddy said, stepping out upon +the floor, and feeling that the world was not as dark as it had seemed +to her when last night she came up to her chamber. + +God was comforting her already, and as she made her simple toilet, she +tried to thank Him for His goodness, and ask for grace to make her +what she ought to be. + +"You have not yet told me why you came here," she said to Flora, who +was busy making her bed, and who replied: "It's Mr. Guy's work. He +thought I'd better come, as you would need help to get things set to +rights, to could go back to school." + +Maddy felt her heart coming up in her throat, but she answered calmly, +"Mr. Guy is very kind--so are you all; but, Flora, I am not going back +to school." "Not going back!" and Flora stopped her bed-making, while +she stared blankly at Maddy. "What be you going to do?" "Stay here and +take care of grandpa," Maddy said, bathing her face and neck in the +cold water, which could not cool the feverish heat she felt spreading +all over them. "Stay here! You are crazy, Miss Maddy! 'Tain't no place +for a girl like you, and Mr. Guy never will suffer it, I know," Flora +rejoined, as she resumed her work, thinking she "should die to be +moped up in that nutshell of a house." With a little sigh as she +foresaw the opposition she should probably meet with from Guy, Maddy +went on with her toilet, which was soon completed, as it did not take +long to arrange the dark calico dress and plain linen collar which she +wore. She was not as fresh-looking as usual that morning, for +excitement and fatigue had lent a paleness to her cheek, and a languor +to her whole appearance, but Flora, who glanced anxiously after her as +she went out, muttered to herself, "She was never more beautiful, and +I don't wonder an atom that Mr. Guy thinks so much of her." The +kitchen was in perfect order, for Flora had been busy there as +elsewhere. The kettle was boiling on the stove, while two or three +little covered dishes were ranged upon the hearth, as if waiting for +some one. Grandpa Markham had gone out, but Uncle Joseph sat in his +accustomed corner, rubbing his hands when he saw Maddy, and nodding +mysteriously toward the front room, the door of which was open, so +that Maddy could hear the fire crackling on the hearth. + +"Go in, go in," Uncle Joseph said, waving his hand in that direction. +"My Lord Governor is in there waiting for you. He won't let me spit on +the floor any more as Martha did, and I've swallowed so much that I'm +almost choked." + +Continual spitting was one of Uncle Joseph's worst habits, and as his +sister had indulged him in it, it had become a source of great +annoyance both to Maddy, and to some one else of whose proximity Maddy +did not dream. Thinking that Uncle Joseph referred to her grandfather, +and feeling glad that the latter had attempted a reform, she entered +the room known at the cottage as the parlor, the one where the rag +carpet was, the six cane-seated chairs and the Boston rocker, and +where now the little round table was nicely laid for two, while cozily +seated in the rocking-chair, reading last night's paper, and looking +very handsome and happy, was Guy! + +When Maddy prayed that he might come and see her she did not expect an +answer so soon, and she started back in much surprise, while Guy came +easily forward to greet her, asking how she was, once telling her she +looked tired and thin, then making her take the chair he had vacated, +he stood over her, smoothing her hair, while he continued: + +"I have taken some liberties, you see, and have made myself quite at +home. I knew how unaccustomed you were to the duties of a house, and +as I saw that girl was wholly incompetent, I denied myself at least +two hours' sleep this morning for the sake of getting here early, +bringing Flora with me and a few things which I thought would be for +your comfort. You must excuse me, but Flora looked so cold when she +came down from your chamber, where I sent her to see how you were, +that with your grandfather's permission I ordered a fire to be kindled +there. I hope you found it comfortable. This house is very cold." + +He kept talking on, and Maddy in a delicious kind of bewilderment +listened to him, wondering if ever before there was a person so kind +and good as Guy. And really Guy was doing great violence to his pride +by being there as he was, but he could do anything for Maddy, and so +he had forced down his pride, trying for her sake to make the cottage +as pleasant as possible. With Flora to assist he had succeeded +wonderfully, and was really enjoying it himself. At first Maddy could +not thank him, her heart was so full, but Guy was satisfied with the +expression of her face, and calling Flora he bade her serve the +breakfast. + +"You know my habits," he said, smilingly, as he took a seat at the +table, "and breakfasting at daylight, as I did, has given me an +appetite; so, with your permission, I'll carve this nice bit of steak +for you, while you pour me a cup of coffee, some of Mrs. Noah's best. +She"--Guy was going to say, "sent it," but as no stretch of the +imagination could construe her "calling him a fool" into sending Maddy +coffee, he added instead, "I brought it from Aikenside, together with +this strawberry jelly, of which I remember you were fond;" and he +helped Maddy lavishly from the fanciful jelly jar which yesterday was +adorning the sweetmeat closet at Aikenside. + +How chatty and social he was, trying to cheer Maddy up and make her +forget that such a thing as death had so lately found entrance there; +talking of Jessie, of Aikenside, of the pleasant little time they +would have during the vacation, and of the next term at school, when +Maddy, as one of the graduating class, would not be kept in as +strictly as heretofore, but allowed to see more of the city. Maddy +felt as if she should die for the pain tugging at her heart, while she +listened to him and knew that the pictures he was drawing were not for +her. Her place was there; and after the breakfast was over and Flora +had cleared the dishes away, she shut the door, so that they might be +alone, and then standing before Guy, she told him of her resolution, +begging of him to help her and not make it harder to bear by devising +means for her to escape what she felt to be an imperative duty. Guy +had expected something like this and was prepared, as he thought, to +combat all her arguments; so when she had finished, he replied that of +course he did not wish to interfere with her duty, but there might be +a question as to what really was her duty, and it seemed to him he was +better able to judge of that than herself. It was not right for her to +bury herself there while her education was unfinished, when another +could do as well. Her superior talents were given to her to improve, +and how could she improve them in Honedale; besides her grandfather +did not expect her to stay. Guy had talked with him while she was +asleep, and the matter was all arranged; a competent woman was to be +hired to take charge of the domestic arrangements, and if it seemed +desirable, two should be procured; anything to leave Maddy free. + +"And grandpa consented to this willingly?" Maddy said, feeling a throb +of pleasure at thoughts of release. But Guy could not answer that the +grandfather consented willingly. + +"He thinks it best. When he comes back you can ask him yourself," he +said, just as Uncle Joseph, opening the door, brought their interview +to a close by asking very meekly, "if it would please the Lord +Governor to let him spit!" + +The blood rushed at once to Maddy's face, and she not repress a smile, +white Guy laughed aloud, saying to her softly: "For your sake, I tried +my skill to stop what I knew must annoy you. Pardon me if I did +wrong;" then turning to Uncle Joseph, he gave the desired permission, +together with the promise of a handsome spittoon, which should be sent +down on the morrow. With a bow Uncle Joseph turned away, muttering to +himself, "High doings now Martha's gone; but new lords, new laws. I +trust he's not going to live here;" and slyly he asked Flora if the +Lord Governor had brought his things! + +At this point Grandpa Markham came in, and to him Guy appealed at once +to know if he were not willing for Maddy to return to school. + +"I said she might if she thought best," was the reply, spoken so sadly +that Maddy's arms were at once twined around the old man's neck, while +she said to him: + +"Tell me honestly which you prefer. I'd like so much to go to school, +but I am not sure I should be happy there, knowing how lonely you were +here at home. Say, grandpa, which would you rather now, honor bright?" +and Maddy tried to speak playfully, though her heart-beats were almost +audible as she waited for the answer. + +Grandpa could not deceive. He wanted his darling sorely, and he wanted +her to be happy, he said. Perhaps they would get on just as well +without her. When Mr. Guy was talking it looked as if they might, he +made it all so plain, but the sight of Maddy was a comfort. She was +all he had left. Maybe he shouldn't live long to pester her, and if he +didn't wouldn't she always feel better for having stayed with her old +grandpa to the last? + +He looked very pale and thin, and his hair was white as snow. He could +not live many years, and turning resolutely from Guy, who, so long as +he held her eye, controlled her, Maddy said: + +"I've chosen once for all. I'll stay with grandpa till he dies," and +with a convulsive sob she clung tightly to his neck, as if fearful +that without such told on him her resolution would give way. + +It was in vain that Guy strove to change Maddy's resolution. She was +wholly decided, and late in the afternoon he rode back to Aikenside, a +disappointed man, with, however, the feeling that Maddy had done +right, and that he respected her all the more for withstanding the +temptation. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +LIFE AT THE COTTAGE. + + +It was arranged that Flora should for the present at least remain at +the cottage, and Maddy accepted the kindness gratefully. She had +become so much accustomed to being cared for by Guy that she almost +looked upon it as a matter of course, and did not think of what others +might possibly say, but when, in as delicate a manner as possible Guy +suggested furnishing the cottage in better style, even proposing to +modernize it entirely in the spring, Maddy objected at once. "They +were already indebted to him for more than they could ever pay," she +said, and she would not suffer it. So Guy submitted, though it grated +upon his sense of the beautiful and refined terribly, to see Maddy +amid so humble surroundings. Twice a week, and sometimes oftener, he +rode down to Honedale, and Maddy felt that without these visits life +would hardly have been endurable. + +During the vacation Jessie spent a part of the time with her, but +Agnes resolutely resisted all Guy's entreaties that she would at least +call once on Maddy, who had expressed a wish to see her, and who, on +account of her grandfather's health, and the childishness with which +Uncle Joseph clung to her, could not well come up to Aikenside. Agnes +would not go down, neither would she give other reason for her +obstinacy than the apparently foolish one that she did not wish to see +the crazy man. Still she did not object to Jessie's going as often as +she liked, and she sent by her many little delicacies from the larder +at Aikenside, some for grandpa, but most for Uncle Joseph, who prized +highly everything coming from "the madam," and sent back to her more +than one strangely worded message which made the proud woman's eyes +overflow when sure that no one could see her. But this kind of +intercourse came to an end at last. The vacation was over, Jessie had +gone back to school, and Maddy began in sober earnest the new life +before her. Flora, it is true, relieved her of all household drudgery, +but no one could share the burden of care and anxiety pressing so +heavily upon her, anxiety for her grandfather, whose health seemed +failing so fast, and who always looked so disturbed if a shadow were +resting on her bright face, or her voice were less cheerful in its +tone, and care for the imbecile Joseph, who clung to her as a puny +child clings to its mother, refusing to be cared for by any one else, +and often requiring of her more than her strength could endure for a +great length of time. She it was who gave him his breakfast in the +morning, amused him through the day, and then, after he was in bed at +night, often sat by his side till a late hour, singing to him old +songs, or telling Bible stories until he fell away to sleep. Then if +he awoke, as he frequently did, there was a cry for Maddy, and the +soothing process had to be repeated, until the tired, pale watcher +ceased to wonder that her grandmother had died so suddenly, wondering +rather that she had lived so long and borne so much. + +Those were dark, wearisome days to Maddy, and the long, cold winter +was gone from the New England hills, and the early buds of spring were +coming up by the cottage door, the neighbors began to talk of the +change which had come over the young girl, once so full of life and +health, but now so languid and pale. Still Maddy was not unhappy, nor +was the discipline too severe, for by it she learned at last the great +object of life; learned to take her troubles and cares to One who +helped her bear them so cheerfully, that those who pitied her most +never dreamed how heavy was her burden, so patiently and sweetly she +bore it. Occasionally there came to her letters from the doctor, but +latterly they gave her less pleasure than pain, for as sure as she +read one of his kind, friendly messages of sympathy and remembrance, +the tempter whispered to her that though she did not love him as she +ought to love her husband, yet a life with him was far preferable to +the life she was living, and a receipt of his letters always gave her +a pang which lasted until Guy came down to see her, when it usually +disappeared. Agnes was now at Aikenside, and thus Maddy frequently had +Jessie at the cottage, but Agnes never came, and Maddy little guessed +how often the proud woman cried herself to sleep after listening to +Jessie's recital of all Maddy had to do for the crazy man, and how +patiently she did it. He had taken a fancy that Maddy must tell him +stories of Sarah, describing her as she was now, not as she used to be +when he knew her, but now. "What is she now? How does she look? What +does she wear? Tell me, tell me!" he would plead, until Maddy, forced +to tell him something, and having distinctly in her mind but one +fashionable woman such as she fancied Sarah might be, told him of +Agnes Remington, describing her as she was in her mature beauty, with +her heavy flowing curls, her brilliant color, her flashing diamonds +and costly laces, and Uncle Joseph, listening to her with parted lips +and hushed breath, would whisper softly, "Yes, that's Sarah, beautiful +Sarah; but tell me--does she ever think of me, or of that time in Hie +orchard when I wove the apple blossoms in her hair, where the diamonds +are now? She loved me then; she told me so. Does she know how sick, +and sorry, and foolish I am?--how the aching in my poor, simple brain +is all for her, and how you, Maddy, are doing for me what it is her +place to do? Had I a voice," and the crazy man now grew excited, as, +raising himself in bed, he gesticulated wildly, "had I a voice to +reach her, I'd cry shame on her, to let you do her work, let you-wear +your young life and fresh, bright beauty all away for me, whom she +ruined." + +The voice he craved, or the echo of it, did reach her, for Jessie had +been present when the fancy first seized him to hear of Sarah, and in +the shadowy twilight she told her mother all, dwelling most upon the +touching sadness of his face when he said, "Does she know how sick and +sorry I am?" + +The pillow which Agnes pressed that night was wet with tears, while in +her heart was planted a germ of gratitude and respect for the young +girl doing her work for her. All that she could do for Maddy without +going directly to her, she did, devising many articles of comfort, +sending her fruit and flowers, the last new book, or whatever else she +thought might please her, and always finding a willing messenger in +Guy. He was miserable, and managed when at home to make others so +around him. The sight of Maddy bearing her burden so uncomplainingly +almost maddened him. Had she fretted or complained could bear it +better, he said, but he did not see the necessity for her to lose all +her spirit or interest in everything and everybody. Once when he +hinted as much to Maddy, he had been awed into silence by the subdued +expression of her face as she told him in part what it was which +helped her to bear and made the rough places so smooth. He had seen +something like this in Lucy, when paroxysms of pain were racking her +delicate frame, but he could not understand it; he only knew it was +something he could not touch--something against which his arguments +beat helplessly, and so, with an added respect for Maddy Clyde, he +smothered his impatience, and determining to help her all he could, +rode down to Honedale every day, instead of twice a week, as he had +done before. + +Attentions so marked could not fail to be commented upon; and while +poor, unsuspecting Maddy was deriving so much comfort from his daily +visits, deeming that day very long which did not bring him to her, the +Honedale gossips, of which there were many, were busy with her +affairs, talking them over at their numerous tea-drinkings, discussing +them in the streets, and finally at a quilting, where they met in +solemn conclave, deciding, that, "for a girl like Maddy Clyde it did +not look well to have so much to do with that young Remington, who, +everybody knew, was engaged to a somebody in England." + +"Yes, and would have been married long ago, if it wasn't for this +foolin' with Maddy," chimed in Mrs. Joel Spike, throwing the chalk +across the quilt to her sister, Tripheny Marvel, who wondered if Maddy +thought he'd ever have her. + +"Of course he wouldn't. He knew what he was about. He was not green +enough to marry Grandpa Markham's daughter; and if she didn't look +out, she'd get herself into a pretty scrape. It didn't look well, +anyhow, for her to be putting on airs, as she had done ever since big +folks took her up, and she guessed she wouldn't be beholden to nobody +for her larnin'." + +All this and much more was discussed, and by the time the patchwork +thing was done, there remained but little to be said either for or +against Guy Remington and Maddy Clyde which had not been said by +either friend or foe. + +Among the invited guests at that quilting was the wife of Farmer +Green, Maddy's warmest friend in Honedale, and the one who did her +best to defend her against the attacks of those whose remarks she well +knew were caused more by envy than any personal dislike to Maddy, who +used to be so much of a pet until her superior advantages separated +her in a measure from them. Good Mrs. Green was sorely tried. Without +in the least blaming Maddy, she, too, had been troubled at the +frequency of Guy's Visits to the cottage. It was not friendship alone +which took him there, she was sure; and knowing that he was engaged, +she feared for Maddy's happiness at first, and afterward, when people +began to talk, she feared for her good name. Something must be done, +and though she dreaded it greatly, she was the one to do it. +Accordingly, next day she started for the cottage, which Guy had just +left, and this, in her opinion, accounted for the bright color in +Maddy's cheek and the sparkle in her eye. Guy had been there, bringing +and leaving a world of sunshine, but, alas, his chances for coming +ever again as he had done were fearfully small, when, at the close of +Mrs. Green's well-meant visit, Maddy lay on her bed, her white, +frightened face buried in the pillows, and herself half wishing she +had died before the last hour had come, with the terrible awakening it +had brought; awakening to the fact that of all living beings, Guy +Remington was the one she loved the best--the one without whose +presence it seemed to her she could not live, but without which she +now knew she must. + +With the best of intentions Mrs. Green had made a bungle of the whole +affair, but had succeeded in giving Maddy a general impression that +folks were talking awfully about Guy's coming there, and doing for her +so much like an accepted lover, when everybody knew he was engaged, +and wouldn't be likely to marry a poor girl if he wasn't; that unless +she wanted to be ruined teetotally, and lose all her friends, she must +contrive to stop his visits, and not see him so much. + +"Yes, I'll do anything, only please leave me now," Maddy gasped, her +face as white as ashes and her eyes fixed pleadingly upon Mrs. Green, +who, having been young herself, guessed the truth, and, as she arose +to go, laid her motherly hand on Maddy's head, saving kindly: + +"Poor child, it's hard to bear now, but you'll get over it in time." + +"Get over it," Maddy moaned, as she shut and bolted the door after +Mrs. Green, and then threw herself upon the bed, "I never shall till I +die." + +She almost felt that she was dying then, so desolate and so dreary the +future looked to her. What was life worth without Guy, and why had she +been thrown so much in his way; why permitted to love him as she knew +she did, if she must lose him now? Maddy could not cry; there was a +tightness about her eyes, and a keen, cutting pain about her heart as +she tried to pray for strength to do what was right--strength to cast +Guy Remington from her heart where it was a sin for him to be; and +then she asked to be forgiven for the wrong she had unwittingly done +to Lucy Atherstone, who trusted implicitly, and who, in her last +letter, had said: + +"If I had not so much faith in Guy I should be jealous of one who has +so many opportunities for stealing his heart from me. But I trust you, +Maddy Clyde. You would not do a thing to harm me, I am sure, and to +lose Guy now, after these years of cruel waiting, would kill me." + +Sweet Lucy, there was in her heart a faint stirring of fear lest +Maddy Clyde might be a shadow in her pathway, else she had never +written that to her. But Lucy's cause was safe in Maddy's hands. +Always too high-souled to do a treacherous act, she was now sustained +by another and holier principle, which of itself would have kept her +from the wrong. But for a few moments Maddy abandoned herself to the +bliss of fancying what it would be to be loved by Guy Remington, even +as she loved him. And as she thought, there crept into her heart the +certainty that in some degree he did love her; that his friendship was +more than a mere liking for the girl to whom he had been so kind. In +Lucy's absence she was essential to his happiness, and that was why he +sought her society so much. Remembering everything that had passed, +but more particularly the incidents of that memorable night ride to +Honedale with all that had followed since, she could not doubt it, and +softly to herself she whispered, "He loves me, he loves me," while +little throbs of joy beat all over her heart; but only for an instant, +and then the note of joy was changed to sorrow as she thought how she +must henceforth seek to kill that love, both for her own sake and +Lucy's. Guy must not come there any more. She could not bear it now, +even if the neighbors had never meddled with her. She could not see +him as she had done, and not betray her real feelings toward him. He +had been there that day; he would come again tomorrow. She could see +him now just as he would look coming up the walk, easy and self- +possessed, confident of his reception, his handsome face beaming all +over with kind thoughtfulness for her, and his voice full of tender +concern as he asked how she was, and bade Flora see that she did not +overtax herself, and all this must cease. She had seen it, heard it +for the last time. No wonder that Maddy's heart fainted within her, as +she thought how desolate, how dreary would be the days when Guy no +longer came. But the victory was gained at last, and strength imparted +for the task she had to do. + +Going to the table she opened her portfolio, the gift of Guy, and with +her gold pen, also his gift, wrote to him what the neighbors were +saying, and that he must come there no more; at least, only once in a +great while, because if he did, she could not see him. Then, when this +was written, she went down to Uncle Joseph, beginning to call for her, +and sat by him as usual, singing to him the songs he loved so well, +and which this night pleased him especially, because the voice which +sang them was so plaintive, so full of woe. Would he never go to +sleep, or the hand which held hers so firmly relax its hold? Never, it +seemed to Maddy, who sat and sang, while the night-bird on a distant +tree, awakened by the low song, uttered a responsive note, and the +hours crept on to midnight. Human nature could endure no more, and +when the crazy man said to her, "Now sing of Him who died on Calvary," +Maddy's answer was a gaping cry as she fell fainting on the pillow. + +"It was only a nervous headache," she said to the frightened Flora, +who came at Uncle Joseph's call, and helped her young mistress up to +bed. "She should be better in the morning, and she would rather be +alone." + +So Flora left her there, but went often to her door, until assured by +the low breathing sound that Maddy was sleeping at last. It was a +heavy sleep, and when Maddy awakened from it the pain in her temples +was there still; she could not rise, and half glad that she could not, +inasmuch as her illness would be a reason why she could not see Guy if +he came. She did not know he was here already, until she heard his +voice speaking to her grandfather. It was later than she imagined, and +he had ridden down early because he could not stay away. + +"I can't see him, Flora," Maddy said, when the latter came up with the +message that Mr. Remington was there with his buggy, and asked if a +little ride would not do her good. "I can't see him, but give him +this," and she placed in Flora's hand the note, baptized with so many +tears and prayers, and the contents of which made Guy furious; not at +her, but at the neighbors, the inquisitive, envious, ignorant, +meddlesome neighbors, who had dared to talk of him, or to breathe a +suspicious word against Maddy Clyde. He would see; he would make them +sorry for it; they should take back every word; and they should beg +Maddy's forgiveness for the pain they had caused her. + +All this, and much more, Guy thought, as with Maddy's note in his hand +he walked up and down the sitting-room, raging like a young lion, and +threatening vengeance upon everybody. This was not the first +intimation Guy had received of the people's gossip, for only that +morning Mrs. Noah had hinted that his course was not at all calculated +to do Maddy any good, while Agnes had repeated to him some things +which she had heard touching the frequency of his visits to Honedale; +but these were nothing to the calmly worded message which banished him +effectually from Maddy's presence. He knew Maddy, and he knew, she +meant what she wrote, but he could not have it so. He must see her; he +would see her; and so for the next half hour Flora was the bearer of +written messages to and from Maddy's room; messages of earnest +entreaty on the one hand, and of firm denial on the other. At last +Maddy wrote: + +"If you care for me in the least, or for my respect, leave me, and do +not come again until I send for you. I am not insensible to your +kindness. I feel it all; but the world is nearer right than you +suppose. It does not look well for you to come here so much, and I +prefer that you should not. Justice to Lucy requires that you stay +away." + +That ended it! That roused up Guy's pride, and writing back: + +"You shall be obeyed. Good-by." He sprang into his buggy, and Maddy, +listening, with head and heart throbbing alike, heard him as he drove +furiously away. + +Those were long, dreary days which followed, and but for her +grandfather's increasing feebleness Maddy would almost have died. +Anxiety for him, however, kept her from dwelling too much upon +herself, but the excitement sad the care wore upon her sadly, robbing +her eye of its luster and her cheek of its remaining bloom, making +even Mrs. Noah cry when she came one day with Jessie to see how they +were getting on. She had heard from Guy of his banishment, and now +that he stayed away, she was ready to step in; so she came, laden with +sympathy and other more substantial comforts brought from the +Aikenside larder. + +Maddy was glad to see her, and for a time cried softly on her bosom, +while Mrs. Noah's tears kept company with hers. Not a word was said of +Guy, except when Jessie told her he was gone to Boston, and it was so +stupid at home without him. + +With more than her ordinary discretion, Flora kept to herself what had +passed when Guy was last there, so Mrs. Noah knew nothing except what +he had told her, and what she read in Maddy's white, suffering face. +This last was enough to excite all her pity, and she treated the young +girl with the most motherly kindness saying all night, and herself +taking care of grandpa, who was now too ill to sit up. There seemed to +be no disease preying upon him, nothing save old age, and the loss of +one who for more than forty years had shared all his joy and sorrow. +He could not live without her, and one night, three weeks after Guy's +dismissal, he said to Maddy, as she was about to leave him: + +"Sit with me, darling, for a little while, if you are not too tired. +Your grandmother seems near me to-night, and so does Alice, your +mother. Maybe I'll be with them before another day. I hope I may if +God is willing, and there's much I would say to you." + +He was very pale, and the great sweat drops stood on his forehead and +under his white hair, but Maddy wiped them away and listened with a +breaking heart while the aged disciple almost home told her of the +peace, the joy, that shone around his pathway to the tomb, and of the +everlasting arm bearing him so gently over Jordan. Then he talked of +herself, blessing her for all she had been to him, telling her how +happy she had made his life since she came home to stay, and how for a +time he had ached so with fear lest she should choose to go back and +leave him to a stranger. "But my darling stayed with her old grandpa. +She'll never be sorry for it, never. I've tried you sometimes, I know, +for old folks ain't like young; but I'm sorry, Maddy, and you'll +forget it when I'm gone, darling Maddy, precious child;" and the +trembling hand rested caressingly on her bowed head as grandpa went on +to speak of his affairs, his little property which was hers after the +mortgage to Mr. Guy was paid. "I've kept up the interest," he said, +"but I could never get him to take any of the principal. I don't know +why he is so good to me. Tell him, Maddy, how I thanked and blessed +him just before I died; tell him how I used to pray for him every day +that he might choose the better part. And he will--I'm sure he will, +some day. He hasn't been here of late, and though my old eyes are dim, +I can see that your step has got slow, and your face whiter by many +shades, since he stayed away. Maddy, child, the dead tell no secrets, +and I shall soon be dead. Tell me, then, what it is between you two. +Does my girl love Mr. Guy?" + +"Oh, grandpa! grandpa!" Maddy moaned, laying her head beside his own +on the pillow. + +It would be a relief to talk with some one of that terrible pain, +which grew worse every day; of that intense longing just for one sight +of the beloved one; of Guy, still absent from Aikenside, wandering +nobody knew where; and so Maddy told the whole story, while the dying +man listened to her, and smoothing her silken hair, tried to comfort +her. + +"The worst is not over yet," he said. "Guy will offer to make you his +wife, sacrificing Lucy for you, and if he does, what will my darling +do?" + +Maddy's heart leaped up into her throat, and for a moment prevented +her from answering, for the thought of Guy's really offering to make +her his wife, to shield her from evil, to enfold her in his tender +love, made her giddy with joy. But it could not be, and she answered +through her tears: + +"I shall tell him no." + +"God bless my Maddy! She will tell him no for Lucy's sake, and God +will bring it right at last," the old man whispered, his voice growing +very faint and tremulous. "She will tell him no," he kept repeating, +until, rousing up to greater consciousness, he spoke of Uncle Joseph, +and asked what Maddy would do with him; would she send him back to the +asylum, or care for him there? "He will be happier here," he said, +"but it is asking too much of a young girl like you. He may live for +years." + +"I do not know, grandpa. I hope I may do right. I think I shall keep +Uncle Joseph with me," Maddy replied, a shudder creeping over her as +she thought of living out all her youth and possibly middle age with a +lunatic. + +But her grandfather's whispered blessings brought comfort with them, +and a calm quiet fell upon her as she sat there listening to the words +of prayer, and catching now and then her own name and that of Guy's. + +"I am drowsy, Maddy. Watch while I sleep. Perhaps I'll never wake +again," grandpa said, and clasping Maddy's hands he fell away to +sleep, while Maddy kept her watch beside him, herself falling into a +troubled sleep, from which she was aroused by a clammy hand pressing +on her forehead, and Uncle Joseph's voice, which said: "Wake, my +child. There's been a guest here while you slumbered," and he pointed +to the rigid features of the newly dead. + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + +THE BURDEN GROWS HEAVIER. + + +Of the days which followed, Maddy had no distinct consciousness. She +only knew that other hands than hers cared for the dead, that in the +little parlor a stiff, white figure lay, that neighboring women stole +in, treading on tiptoe, and speaking in hushed voices as they +consulted, not her, but Mrs. Noah, who had come at once, and cared for +her and hers so kindly. That she lay all day in her own room, where +the summer breeze blew softly through the window, bringing the perfume +of summer flowers, the sound of a tolling bell, of grinding wheels, +the notes of a low, sad hymn, sung in faltering tones, and of many +feet moving from the door. Then friendly faces looked in upon her, +asking how she felt, and whispering ominously to each other as she +answered: + +"Very well; is grandpa getting better?" + +Then Mrs. Noah sat with her for a time, fanning her with a palm-leaf +fan and brushing the flies away. Then Flora came up with a man whom +they called "Doctor," and who gave his sundry little pills and powders +dissolved in water, after which they all went out and left her there +with Jessie who had been crying, and whose soft little hands felt so +cool on her hot head, and whose kisses on her lips made the tears +start, and brought a thought of Guy, making her ask, "if he was at the +funeral." She did not know whose funeral, or why she used that word, +only it seemed to her that Jessie just came back from somebody's +grave, and she asked if Guy was there. "No," Jessie said; "mother +wanted to write and tell him, but we don't know where he is." + +And this was all Maddy could recall of the days succeeding the night +of her last watch at her grandfather's side, until one balmy August +afternoon, when on the Honedale hills there lay that smoky haze so +like the autumn time hurrying on apace, and when through her open +window stole the fragrance of the later summer flowers. Then, as if +waking from an ordinary sleep, she woke suddenly to consciousness, and +staring about the room, wondered if it were as late as the western sun +would indicate, and how she came to sleep so long. For a while she lay +thinking, and as she thought, a sad scene came back to her, a night +when her hot hands had been enfolded in those of the dead, and that +dead her grandfather. Was it true, or was she laboring under some +hallucination of the brain? If true, was that white, placid face still +to be seen in the room below, or had they burial him from her sight? +She would know, and with a strange kind of nervous strength she arose, +and throwing on the wrapper and slippers which lay near, descended the +stairs, wondering to find herself so weak, and half shuddering at the +deep stillness of the house; stillness broken only by the ticking of +the clock and the purring of the house cat, which at sight of Maddy +arose from its position near the door and came forward, rubbing its +sides against her dress, and trying in various ways to evince its joy +at seeing one whose caresses it had missed so long. The little bedroom +off the kitchen where grandpa slept and died was vacant; the old +fashioned coat was put away, as was every vestige of the old man save +the broad-rimmed hat which hung upon the wall just where his hands had +hung it, and which looked so much like its owner that with a gush of +tears Maddy sank upon the bed, moaning to herself, "Yes, grandpa is +dead. I remember now. But Uncle Joseph, where is he? Can he too have +died without my knowledge? and she looked round in vain for the +lunatic, not a trace of whom was to be found. His room was in perfect +order, as was everything about the house, showing that Flora was still +the domestic goddess, while Maddy detected also various things which +she recognized as having come from Aikenside. Who sent them? Did Guy, +and had he been there too while she was sick? The thought brought a +throb of joy to Maddy's heart, but it soon passed away as she began +again to wonder if Uncle Joseph too had died, and where Flora was. It +was not far to the Honedale burying ground. Maddy could see the +headstones from where she sat gleaming through the August sunlight; +could discern her mother's, and knew that two fresh mounds at least +were made beside it. But were there three? Was Uncle Joseph there? By +stealing across the meadow in the rear of the house the distance to +the graveyard was shortened more than half, and could not be more than +the eighth part of a mile, She could walk so far, she knew. The fresh +air would do her good, and hunting up her long unused flat, the +impatient girl started, stopping once or twice to rest as a dizzy +faintness came over her, and then continuing on until the spot she +sought was reached, Three graves, one old and sunken, one made when +the last winter's snow was on the hills, the other fresh and new. That +was all, Uncle Joseph was not there, and vague terror entered Maddy's +heart lest he had been taken back to the asylum. + +"I will get him out," she said; "I will take care of him. I should die +with nothing to do; and I promised grandpa----" + +She could get no farther, for the rush of memories which came over +her, and seating herself upon the ground close to the new grave, she +laid her face upon it, and sobbed piteously: + +"Oh, grandpa. I'm so lonely without you all; I almost wish I was lying +here in the quiet yard." + +Then a storm of tears ensued, after which Maddy grew calm, and with +her head still bent low, did not hear the rapid step approaching, the +mans step coming down the grassy road, coming past the marble +tombstones, on to where that wasted figure was crouching upon the +ground. There it stopped, and in a half whisper called, "Maddy! +Maddy!" Then indeed she started, and lifting up her head saw before +her Guy Remington. For a moment she regarded him intently while he +said to her, oh so kindly, so pityingly. + +"Poor child, you have suffered so much, and I never knew of it till a +few days ago." + +At the sound of that loved voice speaking thus to her, everything else +was forgotten, and with a cry of joy Maddy stretched her hands toward +him, moaning out: + +"Oh, Guy, Guy, where have you been, when I wanted you so much?" + +Maddy did not know what she was saying, or half comprehend the effect +it had on Guy, who forgot everything save that she wanted him, had +missed him, had turned to him in her trouble, and it was not in his +nature to resist her appeal. With a spring he was at her side, and +lifting her in his arms seated himself upon her mother's grave; then +straining her tightly to his bosom, he kissed her again and again. +Hot, burning, passionate kisses they were, which took from Maddy all +power of resistance, even had she wished it, which she did not. Too +weak to reason, or see the harm, if harm there were, in being loved by +Guy, she abandoned herself for a brief interval to the bliss of +knowing that she was beloved, and of hearing him tell her so. + +"Darling Maddy," he said, "I went away because you sent me, but now I +have come back, and nothing shall part us again. You are mine; I claim +you here at your mother's grave. Precious Maddy, I did not know of all +this till three days ago, when Agnes' letter found me almost at the +Rocky Mountains. I traveled day and night, reaching Aikenside this +morning, and coming straight to Honedale. I wish I had come before, +now that I know you wanted me. Say that again, Maddy. Tell me again +that you missed and wanted me." + +He was smoothing her hair now, as her bead still lay pillowed upon his +breast, so he could not see the spasm of pain which contorted her +features as be thus appealed to her. Half bewildered, Maddy could not +at first make out whether it were a blissful dream or a reality, her +lying there in Guy's arms with his kisses on her forehead, lips and +cheek, his words of devotion in her ear, and the soft summer sky +smiling down upon her. Alas, it was a dream from which she was +awakened by the thought of one across the sea, whose place she had +usurped, and this it was which brought the grieved expression to her +face as she answered mournfully: + +"I did want you, Guy, when I forgot; but now--oh, Guy--Lucy +Atherstone!" + +With a gesture of impatience Guy was about to answer, when something +in the heavy fall of the little hand from his shoulder alarmed him, +and lifting up the drooping head he saw that Maddy had fainted. Then +back across the meadow Guy bore her to the cottage, where Flora, just +returned from a neighbor's, whither she had gone upon an errand, was +looking for her in much affright, and wondering who had come from +Aikenside with that wet, tired horse, showing so plainly how hard it +had been driven. + +Up again into her little chamber Maddy was carried and laid upon the +bed, which she never left until the golden harvest sheaves were +gathered in, and the hot September sun was ripening the fruits of +autumn. But now she had a new nurse, a constant attendant, who during +the day seldom left her except to talk with and amuse Uncle Joseph, +mourning below because no one sang to him or noticed him as Maddy used +to do. He had not been sent to the asylum, as Maddy feared, but by way +of relieving Flora had been taken to Farmer Green's, where he was so +homesick and discontented that at Guy's instigation he was suffered to +return to the cottage, crying like a little child when the old +familiar spot was reached, kissing his armchair, the cook-stove, the +tongs, Mrs. Noah and Flora, and timidly offering to kiss the Lord +Governor himself, as he persisted in calling Guy, who declined the +honor, but listened quietly to the crazy man's promise "not to spit +the smallest kind of a spit on the floor, or anywhere, except in its +proper place." + +Guy had passed through several states of mind during the interval in +which we have seen so little of him. Furious at one time, and reckless +as to consequences, he had determined to break with Lucy and marry +Maddy, in spite of everybody; then, as a sense of honor came over him, +he resolved to forget Maddy, if possible, and marry Lucy at once. It +was in this last mood, and while roaming over the Western country, +whither after his banishment he had gone, that he wrote to Lucy a +strange kind of letter, saying he had waited for her long enough, and +sick or well he should claim her the coming autumn. To this letter +Lucy had responded quickly, sweetly reproving Guy for his impatience, +softly hinting that latterly he had been quite as culpable as herself +in the matter of deferring their union and appointing the bridal day +for the--of December. After this was settled Guy felt better, though +the old sore spot in his heart, where Maddy Clyde had been, was very +sore still, and sometimes it required all his powers of self-control +to keep from writing to Lucy and asking to be released from an +engagement so irksome as his had become. Neglecting to answer Agnes' +letters when he first left home, she did not know where he was until a +short time before, when she wrote apprising him of grandpa's death and +Maddy's severe illness. This brought him, while Maddy's involuntary +outburst when she met him in the graveyard, changed the whole current +of his intentions. Let what would come, Maddy Clyde should be his wife +and as such he watched over her, nursing her back to life, and by his +manner effectually silencing all remark, so that the neighbors +whispered among themselves what Maddy's prospects were, and, as was +quite natural, were a very little more attentive to the future lady of +Aikenside. Poor Maddy! it was a terrible trial which awaited her, but +it must be met, and so with prayers and tears she fortified herself to +meet it, while Guy, the devoted lover, hung over her, never guessing +of all that was passing in her mind, or how, when he was out of sight, +the lips he had longed so much to kiss, but never had since that day +in the graveyard, quivered with anguish as they asked for strength to +do right. Oh, how Maddy did love the man she must give up, and how +often went up the wailing cry, "Help me, Father, to do my duty, and +give me, too, a greater inclination to do it than I now possess." + +Maddy's heart did fail her sometimes, and she might have yielded to +the temptation but for Lucy's letter, full of eager anticipations of +the time when she should see Guy never to part again. + +"Sometimes," she wrote, "there comes over me a dark foreboding of +evil--a fear that I shall miss the cup now within my reach; but I pray +the bad feelings away. I am sure there is no living being who will +come between us to break my heart, and as I know God doeth all things +well, I trust Him wholly, and cease to doubt." + +It was well the letter came when it did, as it helped Maddy to meet +the hour she so much dreaded, and which came at last on an afternoon +when Mrs. Noah had gone to Aikenside, and Flora had gone on an errand +to a neighbor's, two miles away, thus leaving Guy free to tell the +story, the old, old story, yet always new to him who tells it and her +who listens--story which, as Guy told it, sitting by Maddy's side, +with her hands in his, thrilled her through and through, making the +sweat drops start out around her lips and underneath her hair--story +which made Guy himself pant nervously and tremble like a leaf, so +earnestly he told it; told how long he had loved her, of the picture +withheld, the jealousy he felt each time the doctor named her, the +selfish joy he experienced when he heard the doctor was refused; told +of his growing dissatisfaction with his engagement, his frequent +resolves to break it, his final decision, which that scene in the +graveyard had reversed, and then asked if she would not be his--not +doubtfully, but confidently, eagerly, as if sure of her answer. + +Alas for Guy! he could not believe he heard aright when, turning her +head away for a moment while she prayed for strength, Maddy's answer +came, "I cannot, Guy, I cannot. I acknowledge the love which has +stolen upon me, I know not how, but I cannot do this wrong to Lucy. +Away from me you will love her again. You must. Read this, Guy, then +say if you can desert her." + +She placed Lucy's letter in his hand, and Guy read it with a heart +which ached to its very core. It was cruel to deceive that gentle, +trusting girl writing so lovingly of him, but to lose Maddy was to his +undisciplined nature more dreadful still, and casting the letter aside +he pleaded again, this time with the energy of despair, for he read +his fate in Maddy's face, and when her lips a second time confirmed +her first reply, while she appealed to his sense of honor, of justice, +of right, and told him he could and must forget her, he knew there was +no hope, and man though he was, bowed his head upon Maddy's hands and +wept stormily, mighty, choking sobs, which shook his frame, and seemed +to break up the very fountains of his life. Then to Maddy there came a +terrible temptation. Was it right for two who loved as they did to +live their lives apart?--right in her to force on Guy the fulfillment +of vows he could not literally keep? As mental struggles are always +the more severe, so Maddy's took all her strength away, and for many +minutes she lay so white and still that Guy roused himself to care for +her, thinking of nothing then except to make her better. + +It was a long time ere that interview ended, but when it did there was +on Maddy's face a peaceful expression, which only the sense of having +done right at the cost of a fearful sacrifice could give, while Guy's +bore traces of a great and crushing sorrow, as he went out from +Maddy's presence and felt that to him she was lost forever. He had +promised her he would do right; had said he would marry Lucy, being to +her what a husband should be; had listened while she talked of another +world, where they neither marry nor are given in marriage, and where +it would not be sinful for them to love each other, and as she talked +her face had shone like the face of an angel. He had held one of her +hands at parting, bending low his head, while she laid the other on it +as she blessed him, letting her snowy fingers thread his soft brown +hair and linger caressingly among his curly locks. But that was over +now. They had parted forever. She was lying where he left her, cold, +and white, and faint with dizzy pain. He was riding swiftly toward +Aikenside, his heart beats keeping time to the swift tread of his +horse's feet, and his mind a confused medley of distracted thoughts, +amid which two facts stood out prominent and clear-he had lost Maddy +Clyde, and had promised her to marry Lucy Atherstone. + +For many days after that Guy kept his room, saying he was sick, and +refusing to see any one save Jessie and Mrs. Noah, the latter of whom +guessed in part what had happened, and imputing to him far more credit +than he deserved, petted and pitied and cared for him until he grew +weary of it, and said to her savagely: "You needn't think me so good, +for I am not. I wanted Maddy Clyde, and told her so, but she refused +me and made me promise to marry Lucy; so I'm going to do that very +thing--going to England in a few weeks, or as soon as Maddy is better, +and before the sun of this year sets I shall be a married man." + +After this all Mrs. Noah's sympathy was in favor of Maddy, the good +lady making more than one pilgrimage to Honedale, where she expended +all her arguments trying to make Maddy revoke her decision; but Maddy +was firm in what she deemed right, and as her health began slowly to +improve, and there was no longer an excuse for Guy to tarry, he gave +out to the neighborhood that he was at last to be married, and started +for England the latter part of October, as unhappy and unwilling a +bridegroom, it may be, as ever wait after a bride. + + + + +CHAPTER XXL. + +THE INTERVAL BEFORE THE MARRIAGE. + + +Maddy never knew how she lived through those bright, autumnal days, +when the gorgeous beauty of decaying nature seemed so cruelly to mock +her anguish. As long as Guy was there, breathing the same air with +herself, she kept up, vaguely conscious of a shadowy hope that +something would happen without her instrumentality, something to ease +the weight pressing so hard upon her. But when she heard that he had +really gone, that a line had been received from him after he was on +board the steamer, all hope died out of her heart, and had it been +right she would have prayed that she might die and forget how utterly +miserable she was. + +At last there came to her three letters, one from Lucy, one from the +doctor, and one from Guy himself. Lucy's she opened first, reading of +the sweet girl's great happiness in seeing her darling boy again, of +her sorrow to find him so thin, and pale, and changed, in all save his +extreme kindness to her, his careful study of her wants, and evident +anxiety to please her in every respect. On this Lucy dwelt, until +Maddy's heart seemed to leap up and almost turn over in its casing, so +fiercely it throbbed and ached with anguish. She was out in the +beechen woods when she read the letter, and laying her face in the +grass she sobbed as she had never sobbed before. + +The doctor's next was opened, and Maddy read with blinding tears that +which for a moment increased her pain and sent to her bleeding heart +an added pang of disappointment, or a sense of wrong done to her, she +could not tell which. Dr. Holbrook was to be married the same day with +Lucy, and to Lucy's sister, Margaret. + +"Maggie, I call her," he wrote, "because that name is so much like my +first love, Maddy, the little girl who though I was too old to be her +husband, and so made me very wretched for a time, until I met and knew +Margaret Atherstone. I have told her of you, Maddy; I would not marry +her without, and she seems willing to take me as I am. We shall come +home with Guy, who is the mere wreck of what he was when I last saw +him. He has told me, Maddy, all about it, and though I doubly respect +you now, I cannot say that I think you did quite right. Better that +one should suffer than two, and Lucy's is a nature which will forget +far sooner than yours or Guy's. I pity you all." + +This almost killed Maddy; she did not love the doctor, but the +knowledge that he was to marry another added to her misery, while what +he said of her decision was the climax of the whole. Had her sacrifice +been for nothing? Would it have been better if she had not sent Guy +away? It was anguish unspeakable to believe so, and the shadowy woods +never echoed to so bitter a cry of pain as that with which she laid +her head on the ground, and for a brief moment wished that she might +die. God pitied His child then, and for the next half hour she hardly +knew what she suffered. + +There was Guy's letter yet to read, and with a listless indifference +she opened it, starting as there dropped into her lap a small _carte +de viste_, a perfect likeness of Guy, who sent it, he said, because +he wished her to have so much of himself. It would make him happier to +know she could sometimes look at him just as he should gaze upon her +dear picture after it was a sin to love the original. And this was all +the direct reference he made to the past except where he spoke of +Lucy, telling how happy she was, and how if anything could reconcile +him to his fate, it was the knowing how pure and good and loving was +the wife he was getting. Then he wrote of the doctor and Margaret, +whom he described as a dashing, brilliant girl, the veriest tease and +madcap in the world, and the exact opposite of Maddy. + +"It is strange to me why he chose her after loving you," he wrote; +"but as they seem fond of each other, their chances of happiness are +not inconsiderable." + +This letter, so calm, so cheerful in its tone, had a quieting effect +on Maddy, who read it twice, and then placing it in her bosom, started +for the cottage, meeting on the way with Flora who was seeking for her +in great alarm. Uncle Joseph had had a fit, she said, and fallen upon +the floor, cutting his forehead badly against the sharp point of the +stove. Hurrying on Maddy found that what Flora had said was true, and +sent immediately for the physician, who came at once, but shook his +head doubtfully as he examined his patient. There were all the +symptoms of a fever, he said, bidding Maddy prepare for the worst. +Nothing in the form of trouble could particularly affect Maddy now, +and perhaps it was wisely ordered that Uncle Joseph's illness should +take her thoughts from herself. Prom the very first he refused to take +his medicines from any one save her or Jessie, who with her mother's +permission stayed altogether at the cottage, and who, as Guy's sister, +was a great comfort to Maddy. + +As the fever increased, and Uncle Joseph grew more and more delirious +his cries for Sarah were heartrending, making Jessie weep bitterly as +she said to Maddy: + +"If I knew where this Sarah was I'd go miles on foot to find her and +bring her to him." + +Something like this Jessie said to her mother when she went for a day +to Aikenside, asking her in conclusion if she thought Sarah would go. + +"Perhaps," and Agnes brushed abstractedly her long, flowing hair, +winding it around her jeweled fingers, and then letting the soft curls +fall across her snowy arms. + +"Where do you suppose she is?" was Jessie's next question, but if +Agnes knew, she did not answer, except by reminding her little +daughter that it was past her bedtime. + +The next morning Agnes' eyes were very red, as if she had been wakeful +the entire night, while her white face fully warranted the headache +she professed to have. + +"Jessie," she said, as they sat together at their breakfast, "I am +going to Honedale to-day, going to see Maddy, and shall leave you +here, as I do not care to have us both absent." + +Jessie demurred a little at first, but finally yielded, wondering what +had prompted this visit to the cottage. Maddy wondered so, too, as +from the window she saw Agnes instead of Jessie alighting from the +carriage, and was conscious of a thrill of gratification that Agnes +would have come to see her. But Agnes' business concerned the sick +man, poor Uncle Joseph, who was sleeping when she came, and so did not +hear her voice as in the tidy kitchen she talked to Maddy, appearing +extremely agitated, and flashing her eyes rapidly from one part of the +room to another, resting now upon the tinware hung upon the wall and +now upon the gourd swimming in the water pail standing in the old- +fashioned sink, with the wooden spout, directly over the pile of +stones covering the drain. These things were familiar to the proud +woman; she had seen them before, and the sight of them now brought to +her a most remorseful regret for the past, while her heart ached +cruelly as she wished she had never crossed that threshold, or +crossing it had never brought ruin to one of its inmates. Agnes was +not the same woman whom we first knew. All hope of the doctor had long +since been given up, and as Jessie grew older the mother nature was +stronger within her, subduing her selfishness, and making her far more +gentle and considerate for others than she had been before. To Maddy +she was exceedingly kind, and never more so in manner than now, when +they sat talking together in the humble kitchen at the cottage. + +"You look tired and sick," she said. "Your cares have been too much +for one not yet strong. Let me sit by him till he wakes, and you go up +to bed." + +Very gladly Maddy accepted the offered relief, and utterly worn out +with her constant vigils, she was soon sleeping soundly in her own +room, while Flora, in the little shed, or back room of the house, was +busy with her ironing. Thus there was none to follow Agnes as she went +slowly into the sick-room where Uncle Joseph lay, his thin face +upturned to the light, and his lips occasionally moving as he muttered +in his sleep. There was a strange contrast between that wasted +imbecile and that proud, queenly woman, but she could remember a time +when the superiority was all upon his side, a time when in her +childish estimation he was the embodiment of every manly beauty, and +the knowledge that he loved her, his sister's little hired girl, +filled her with pride and vanity. A great change had come to them both +since those days, and Agnes, watching him and smothering back the cry +of pain which arose to her lips at sight of him, felt that for the +fearful change in him she was answerable. Intellectual, talented, +admired and sought by all he had been once; he was a mere wreck now, +and Agnes' breath came in short, quick gasps, as glancing furtively +around to see that no one was near, she laid her hand upon his +forehead, and parting his thin hair, said, pityingly: "Poor Joseph." + +The touch awoke him, and starting up he stared wildly at her, while +some memory of the past seemed to be struggling through the misty +clouds, obscuring his mental vision. + +"Who are you, lady? Who, with eyes and hair like hers?" + +"I'm the `madam' from Aikenside," Agnes said, quite loudly, as Flora +passed the door. Then when she was gone she added, softly: "I'm Sarah. +Don't you know me? Sarah Agnes Morris." + +It seemed for a moment to burst upon him in its full reality, and to +her dying day Agnes would never forget the look upon his face, the +smile of perfect happiness breaking through the rain of tears, the +love, the tenderness mingled with distrust, which that look betokened +as he continued gazing at her, but said to her not a word. Again her +hand rested on his forehead, and taking it now in his he held it to +the light, laughing insanely at its soft whiteness; then touching the +costly diamonds which flashed upon him the rainbow hues, he said: +"Where's that little bit of a ring I bought for you?" + +She had anticipated this, and took from her pocket a plain gold ring, +kept until that day where no one could find it, and holding it up to +him, said: "Here it is. Do you remember it?" + +"Yes, yes," and his lips began to quiver with a grieved, injured +expression. "He could give you diamonds, and I couldn't. That's why +you left me, wasn't it, Sarah--why you wrote that letter which made my +head into two? It's ached so ever since, and I've missed you so much, +Sarah! They put me in a cell where crazy people were--oh! so many--and +they said that I was mad, when I was only wanting you. I'm not mad +now, am I, darling?" + +His arm was around her neck, and he drew her down until his lips +touched hers. And Agnes suffered it. She could not return the kiss, +but she did not turn away from his, and she let him caress her hair, +and wind it around his fingers, whispering: "This is like Sarah's, and +you are Sarah, are you not?" + +"Yes, I am Sarah," she would answer, while the smile so painful to see +would again break over his face as he told how much he had missed her, +and asked if she had not come to stay till he died. + +"There's something wrong," he said; "somebody dead, and seems as if +somebody else wanted to die--as if Maddy died ever since the Lord +Governor went away. Do you know Governor Guy?" + +"I am his stepmother," Agnes replied, whereupon Uncle Joseph laughed +so long and loud that Maddy awoke, and, alarmed by the noise, came +down to see what was the matter. + +Agnes did not hear her, and as she reached the doorway, she started at +the strange position of the parties--Uncle Joseph still smoothing the +curls which drooped over him, and Agnes saying to him: "You heard his +name was Remington, did you not--James Remington?" + +Like a sudden revelation it came upon Maddy, and she turned to leave, +when Agnes, lifting her head, called her to come in. She did so, and +standing upon the opposite side of the bed, she said, questioningly: +"You are Sarah Morris?" + +For a moment the eyelids quivered, then the neck arched proudly, as if +it were a thing of which she was not ashamed, and Agnes answered: +"Yes, I was Sarah Agnes Morris; once for three months your +grandmother's hired girl, and afterward adopted by a lady who gave me +what education I possess, together with that taste for high life which +prompted me to jilt your Uncle Joseph when a richer man than he +offered himself to me." + +That was all she said--all that Maddy ever knew of her history, as it +was never referred to again, except that evening, when Agnes said to +her, pleadingly: "Neither Guy nor Jessie, nor any one, need know what +I have told you." + +"They shall not," was Maddy's reply; and from that moment the past, so +far as Agnes was concerned, was a sealed page to both. With this bond +of confidence between them, Agnes felt herself strangely drawn toward +Maddy, while, if it were possible, something of her olden love was +renewed for the helpless man who clung to her now instead of Maddy, +refusing to let her go; neither had Agnes any disposition to leave +him. She should stay to the last, so she said; and she did, taking +Maddy's place, and by her faithfulness and care winning golden laurels +in the opinion of the neighbors, who marveled at first to see so gay a +lady at Uncle Joseph's bedside, attributing it all to her friendship +for Maddy, just as they attributed his calling her Sarah to a crazy +freak. She did resemble Sarah Morris a very little, they said; and in +Maddy's presence they sometimes wondered where Sarah was, repeating +strange things which they had heard of her; but Maddy kept the secret +from every one, so that even Jessie never suspected why her mother +stayed day after day at the cottage; watching and waiting until the +last day of Joseph's life. + +She was alone with him then, so that Maddy never knew what passed +between them. She had left them together for an hour, while she did +some errands; and when she returned, Agnes met her at the door, and +with a blanched cheek whispered: "He is dead; he died in my arms, +blessing you and me; do you hear, blessing me! Surely; my sin is now +forgiven?" + + + + +CHAPTER XXIL + +BEFORE THE BRIDAL. + + +There was a fresh grave made in the churchyard, and another chair +vacant at the cottage, when Maddy was at last alone. Unfettered by +care and anxiety for sick ones, her aching heart was free to go out +after the loved ones over the sea, go to the elm-shaded mansion she +had heard described so often, and where now two brides were busy with +their preparations for the bridal hurrying on so fast. Since the +letter read in the smoky, October woods, Maddy had not heard from Guy +directly, though Lucy had written since, a few brief lines, telling +how happy she was, how strong she was growing, and how much like +himself Guy was becoming. Maddy had been less than a woman if the last +intelligence had failed to affect her unpleasantly. She did not wish +Guy to regret his decision; but to be forgotten so soon after so +strong protestations of affection, was a little mortifying, and +Maddy's heart throbbed painfully as she read the letter, half hoping +it might prove the last she should receive from Lucy Atherstone. Guy +had left no orders for any changes to be made at Aikenside; but Agnes, +who was largely imbued with a love of bustle and repair, had insisted +that at least the suite of rooms intended for the bride should be +thoroughly renovated with new paper and paint, carpets and furniture. +This plan Mrs. Noah opposed, for she guessed how little Guy would care +for the change; but Agnes was resolved, and as she had great faith in +Maddy's taste, she insisted that she should go to Aikenside, and pass +her judgment upon the improvements. It would do her good, she said-- +little dreaming how much it cost Maddy to comply with her wishes, or +how fearfully the poor, crushed heart ached, as Maddy went through the +handsome rooms fitted up for Guy's young bride; but Mrs. Noah guessed +it all, pitying so much the white-faced girl, whose deep mourning +robes told the loss of dear ones by death; but gave no token of that +great loss, tenfold worse than death. + +"It was wicked in her to fetch you here," she said to Maddy, one day +when in Lucy's room she found her sitting upon the floor, with her +head bowed down upon the window sill. "But law, she's a triflin' +thing, and didn't know 'twould kill you, poor child, poor Maddy!" and +Mrs. Noah laid her hand kindly on Maddy's hair. "Maybe you'd better go +home," she continued, as Maddy made no reply; "it must be hard, to be +here in the rooms, and among the things which by good rights should be +yours." + +"No, Mrs. Noah," and Maddy's voice was strangely unnatural, as she +lifted up her head, revealing a face so haggard and white that Mrs. +Noah was frightened, and asked in much alarm if anything new had +happened. + +"No, nothing; I was going to say that I'd rather stay a little longer +where there are signs and sounds of life. I should die to be alone at +Honedale to-morrow. I may die here, I don't know. Do you know that +to-morrow will be the bridal?" + +Yes, Mrs. Noah knew it; but she hoped it might have escaped Maddy's +mind. + +"Poor child," she said again, "poor child, I mistrust you did wrong to +tell him no!" + +"Oh, Mrs. Noah, don't tell me that; don't make it harder for me to +bear. The tempter has been telling me so, all day, and my heart is so +hard and wicked, I cannot pray as I would. Oh, you don't know how +wretched I am!" and Maddy hid her face in the broad, motherly lap, +sobbing so wildly that Mrs. Noah was greatly perplexed, how to act, or +what to say. + +Years ago, she would have spurned the thought that the grandchild of +the old man who had bowed to his own picture should be mistress of +Aikenside; but she had changed since then, and could she have had her +way, she would have stopped the marriage, and, bringing her boy home, +have given him to the young girl weeping so convulsively in her lap. +But Mrs. Noah could not have her way. The bridal guests were, even +then, assembling in that home beyond the sea. She could not call Guy +back, and so she pitied and caressed the wretched Maddy, saying to her +at last: + +"I'll tell you what is impressed on my mind; this Lucy's got the +consumption, without any kind of doubt, and if you've no objections to +a widower, you may----" + +She did not finish the sentence, for Maddy started in horror. To her +there was something murderous in the very idea, and she thrust it +quickly aside. Guy Remington was not for her, she said, and her wish +was to forget him. If she could get through the dreaded to-morrow, she +should do better. There had been a load upon her the whole day, a +nightmare she could not shake off, and she had come to Lucy's room, in +the hope of leaving her burden there, of praying her pain away. Would +Mrs. Noah leave her a while, and see that no one came? + +The good woman could not refuse, and going out, she left Maddy by the +window, watching the sun as it went down, and then watching; the +wintry twilight deepen over the landscape, until all things were +blended together in one great darkness, and Jessie, seeking for her +found her at last, fainting upon the floor. + +Maddy was glad of the racking headache, which kept her in her bed the +whole of the next day, glad of any excuse to stay away from the +family, talking--all but Mrs. Noah--of Guy, and what was transpiring +in England. They had failed to remember the difference in the +longitude of the two places; but Maddy forgot nothing, and when the +clock struck four, she called Mrs. Noah to her and whispered, faintly: + +"They were to be married at eight in the evening. Allowing for +possible delays, it's over before this and Guy is lost forever!" + +Mrs. Noah had no consolation to offer, and only pressed the hot, +feverish hands, while Maddy turned her face to the wall, and did not +speak again, except to whisper, incoherently, as she half slumbered, +half woke: + +"Did Guy think of me when he promised to love her, and does he, can +he, see how miserable I am?" Maddy was indeed passing through deep +waters, and that night, the fourth of December, the longest, dreariest +she ever knew, could never be forgotten. Once past, the worst was +over, and as the rarest metal is purified by fire, so Maddy came from +the dreadful ordeal strengthened for what was before her. Both Agnes +and Mrs. Noah noticed the strangely beautiful expression of her face, +when she came down to the breakfast-room, while Jessie, as she kissed +her pale cheek, whispered: + +"You look as if you had been with the angels." Guy was not expected +with his bride for two weeks, or more, and as the days dragged on, +Maddy felt that the waiting for him was more intolerable than the +seeing him with Lucy would be. Restless and impatient, she could not +remain quietly at the cottage--while at Aikenside, she longed to +return again to her own home, and in this way the time wore on, until +the anniversary of that day when she had come from New York, and found +Guy waiting for her the station. To stay that day in the house so rife +with memories of the dead was impossible, and Flora was surprised and +delighted to hear that both were going up to Aikenside in the vehicle +hired of Farmer Green, whose officiated as driver. It was nearly noon +when they reached their destination, meeting at the gate with Flora's +brother Tom, who said to them: + +"We've heard from Mr. Guy; the ship is in; they'll be here sure +to-night, and Mrs. Noah is turnin' things upside down with the dinner." + +Leaning back in the buggy, Maddy felt for a moment as if she were +dying. Never until then had she realized how, all the while, she had +been clinging to an indefinable hope, a presentiment that something +might yet occur to spare her from a long lifetime of pain, such as lay +before her if Guy were really lost; but the bubble had burst, leaving +her nothing to hope, nothing to cling to, nothing but black despair; +and half bewildered, she received the noisy greeting of Jessie, who +met her at the door, and dragged her into the drawing-room, decorated +with flowers from the hothouse, told her to guess who was coming. + +"I know; Tom told me; Guy is coming with Lucy," Maddy answered, and +relieving herself from Jessie, she turned to Agnes, asking where Mrs. +Noah was, and if she might go to her for a moment. + +"Oh, Maddy, child, I'm sorry you've come to-day," Mrs. Noah said, as +she chafed Maddy's cold hands, and leading her to the fire, made her +sit down, while she untied her hood, and removed her cloak and furs. + +"I did not know it, or I should have stayed away," Maddy replied; "I +shall not stay, as it is. I cannot see them to-day. Charlie will drive +me back before the train is due; but what did he say? And how is +Lucy?" "He did not mention her. There's the dispatch" and Mrs. Noah +handed to Maddy the telegram, received that morning, and which was +simply as follows: + +"The steamer is here. Shall be at the station at five o'clock P. M. +GUY REMINGTON." + +Twice Maddy read it over, experiencing much the same feeling she would +have experienced had it been her death warrant she was reading. + +"At five o'clock. I must go before that," she said, sighing as she +remembered how, one year ago that day, she was traveling over the very +route where Guy was now traveling with his bride. Did he think of it? +think of his long waiting at the depot, or of that memorable ride, the +events of which grew more and more distinct in her memory, making her +cheeks burn even now, as she recalled his many acts of tenderness and +care. + +Laying the telegram on the table, she went with Mrs. Noah through the +rooms, warmed and made ready for the bride, lingering longest in +Lucy's, which the bridal decorations, and the bright fire blazing in +the grate made singularly inviting. As yet, there were no flowers +there, and Maddy claimed the privilege of arranging them for this room +herself. Agnes had almost stripped the conservatory; but Maddy found +enough to form a most tasteful bouquet, which she placed upon a marble +dressing table; then within a slip of paper which she folded across +the top, she wrote: "Welcome to the bride." + +"They both will recognize my handwriting; they'll know I've been +here," she thought, as with one long, last, sad look at the room, she +walked away. + +They were laying the table for dinner now, and with a kind of dizzy, +uncertain feeling, Maddy watched the servants hurrying to and fro, +bringing out the choicest china, and the glittering silver, in honor +of the bride. Comparatively, it was not long since a little, +frightened, homesick girl, she first sat down with Guy at that table, +from which the proud Agnes would have banished her; but it seemed to +her an age, so much of happiness and pain had come to her since then. +There was a place for her there now, a place near Guy; but she should +not fill it. She could not stay; and she astonished Agnes and Jessie, +just as they were going to make their dinner toilet, by announcing her +intention of going home. She was not dressed to meet Mrs. Remington, +she said, shuddering as for the first time she pronounced a name which +the servants had frequently used, and which jarred on her ear, every +time she heard it. She was not dressed appropriately to meet an +English lady. Flora of course would stay, she said, as it was natural +she should, to greet her new mistress; but she must go, and finding +Charlie Green she bade him bring around the buggy. + +Agnes was not particularly surprised, for a vague suspicion of +something like the truth had gradually been creeping into her brain, +as she noted Maddy's pallid face, and the changes which passed over it +whenever Guy was mentioned. Agnes pitied Maddy, for in her own heart +there was a little burning spot, when she remembered who was to +accompany Dr. Holbrook. So she did not urge her to remain, and she +tried to hush Jessie's lamentations when she heard Maddy was going. + +One long, sad, wistful look at Guy's and Lucy's home, and Maddy +followed Charlie to the buggy waiting for her, bidding him drive +rapidly, as there was every indication of a coming storm. + +The gray, wintry afternoon was drawing to a close, and the December +night was shutting down upon the Honedale hills in sleety rain, when +the cottage was reached, and Maddy, passing up the narrow, slippery +walk, entered the cold, dreary room, where there was neither fire nor +light, nor friendly voice to greet her. No sound save the ticking of +the clock; no welcome save the purring of the house cat, who came +crawling at her feet as she knelt before the stove and tried to kindle +the fire. Charlie Green had offered to go in and do this for her, as +indeed he had offered to return and stay all night, but she had +declined, preferring to be alone, and with stiffened fingers she laid +the kindlings Flora had prepared, and then applying the match, watched +the blue flame as it gradually licked up the smoke and burst into a +cheerful blaze. + +"I shall feel better when it's warm," she said, crouching over the +fire, and shivering with more than bodily cold, + +There was a kind of nameless terror stealing over her as she at +thinking of the year ago when the inmates of three graves across the +meadow were there beneath that very roof where she now sat alone. + +"I'll strike a light," she said, rising to her feet, and trying not to +glance at the shadowy corners filling her with fear. + +The lamp was found, and its friendly beams soon dispersed the darkness +from the corners and the fear from Maddy's heart, but it could not +drive from her mind thoughts of what might at that moment be +transpiring at Aikenside. If the bride and groom came at all that +night, she knew they must have been there for an hour or more, and in +fancy she saw the tired, but happy, Lucy, as up in her pleasant room +she made her toilet for dinner, with Guy standing by and looking on. +Just as he had a right to do. Did he smile approvingly upon his young +wife? Did his eye, when it rested on her, light up with the same +expression she had seen so often when it looked at her? Did he commend +her taste and say his little wife was beautiful, as he kissed her +fair, white cheek, or was there a cloud upon his handsome face, a +shadow on his heart, heavy with thoughts of her, and would he rather +it were Maddy there in the bridal room? If so, his burden was hard +indeed, but not so hard as hers, and kneeling on the floor, poor Maddy +laid her head in the chair, and, 'mid piteous moans, asked God, her +Father, to help them both to bear--help her and Guy--making the latter +love as he ought the gentle girl who had left home and friends to live +with him in a far-distant land; asked, too, that she might tear from +her heart every sinful thought, loving Guy only as she might love the +husband of another. + +The prayer ended, Maddy still sat upon the floor, while over her pale +face the lamplight faintly flickered, showing the dark lines beneath +her eyes and the tear stains on her cheek. Without, the storm still +was raging, and the wintry rain, mingled with sleet and snow, beat +piteously against the curtained windows, while the wind howled +mournfully as it shook the door and sweeping past the cottage went +screaming over the hill. But Maddy heard nothing of the tumult. She +had brought a pillow from the bedroom, and placing it upon the chair, +sat down again upon the floor and rested her head upon it. She did not +even know that her pet cat had crept up beside her, purring +contentedly and occasionally licking her hair, much less did she hear +above the storm the swift tread of horses' feet as some one came +dashing down the road, the rider pausing an instant as he caught a +glimpse of the cottage lamp and then hurrying on to the public house +beyond, where the hostler frowned moodily at being called out to care +for a stranger's horse, the stranger meanwhile turning back a foot to +where the cottage lamp shone a beacon light through the inky darkness. +The stranger reached the little gate and, undoing the fastening, went +hurrying up the walk, his step upon the crackling snow catching +Maddy's ear at last and making her wonder who could be coming there on +such a night as this. It was probably Charlie Green, she said, and +with a feeling of impatience at being intruded upon she arose to her +feet just as the door turned upon its hinges, letting in a powerful +draught of wind, which extinguished the lamp and left her in total +darkness. + +But it did not matter. Maddy had caught a sound, a peculiar cough, +which froze the blood in her veins and made her quake with terror +quite as much as if the footsteps hurrying toward her had been the +footsteps of the dead, instead of belonging, as she knew they did, to +Guy Remington--Guy, who, with garments saturated with rain, felt for +her in the darkness, found her where from faintness she had crouched +again beside the chair, drew her closely to him, in a passionate, +almost painful, hug, and said, oh! so tenderly, so lovingly: + +"Maddy, my darling, my own! We will never be parted again." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + +LUCY. + + +Hours had gone by, and the clock hands pointed to twelve, ere Maddy +compelled herself to hear the story Guy had come to tell. She had +thrust him from her at first, speaking to him of Lucy, his wife, and +Guy had answered her back: "I have no wife--I never had one. Lucy is +in heaven," and that was all Maddy knew until the great shock had +spent itself in tears and sobs, which became almost convulsions as she +tried to realize the fact that Lucy Atherstone was dead; that the +bridal robe about which she had written, with girlish frankness, +proved to be her shroud, and that her head that night was not pillowed +on Guy's arm, but was resting under English turf and beneath an +English sky. She could listen at last, but her breath came in panting +gasps; while Guy told her how, on the very morning of the bridal, Lucy +had greeted him with her usual bright smile, appearing and looking +better than he had before seen her look since he reached her mother's +home; how for an hour they sat together alone in a little room sacred +to her, because years before it was there he confessed his love. + +Seated on a low ottoman, with her golden head lying on his lap, she +had this morning told him, in her artless way, bow much she loved him, +and how hard it sometimes was to make her love for the creature second +to her love for the Creator; told him she was not faultless, and asked +that when he found how erring and weak she was, he would bear with her +frailties as she would bear with his; talked with him, too, of Maddy +Clyde, confessing in a soft, low tone, how once or twice a pang of +jealousy had wrung her heart when she read his praises of his pupil. +But she had conquered that; she had prayed it all away, and now, next +to her own sister, she loved Maddy Clyde. Other words, too, were +spoken--words of guileless, pure affection, too sacred even for Guy to +breathe to Maddy; and then Lucy had left him, her hart-bounding step +echoing through the hall and up the winding stairs, down which she +never came again alive, for when Guy next looked upon her she was +lying white as a water lily, her neck and dress and golden hair +stained with the pale red life current oozing from her livid lips. A +blood vessel had been suddenly ruptured, the physician said, and for +her, the fair, young bride, there was no hope. They told her she must +die, for the mother would have them tell her. Once, for a few moments, +there rested on her face a fearfully frightened look, such as a +harmless bird might wear when suddenly caught in a snare. But that +soon passed away as from beneath the closed eyelids the great tears +came gushing, and the stained lips whispered faintly: "God knows best +what's right. Poor Guy!--break it gently to him." + +At this point in the story Guy broke down entirely, sobbing as only +strong men can sob. + +"Maddy," he said, "I felt like a heartless wretch--a most consummate +hypocrite--as, standing by Lucy's side, I met the fond, pitying glance +of her blue eyes, and suffered her poor little hand to part my hair as +she tried to comfort me, even though every word she uttered was +shortening her life; tried to comfort me, the wretch who was there so +unwillingly, and who at this prospect of release hardly knew at first +whether he was more sorry than pleased. You may well start from he in +horror, Maddy. I was just the wretch I describe: but I overcame it, +Maddy, and Heaven is my witness that no thought of you intruded itself +upon me afterward is I stood by my dying Lucy--gentle, patient, loving +to the last. I saw how good, how sweet she was, and something of the +old love, the boy love, came back to me, as I held her in my arms, +where she wished to be. I would have saved her if I could; and when I +called her 'my darling Lucy,' they were not idle words. I kissed her +many times for myself, and once, Maddy, for you. She told me to. She +whispered: 'Kiss me, Guy, for Maddy Clyde. Tell her I'd rather she +should take my place than anybody else--rather my Guy should call her +wife--for I know she will not be jealous if you sometimes talked of +your dead Lucy, and I know she will help lead my boy to that blessed +home where sorrow never comes.' That was the last she ever spoke, and +when the sun went down death had claimed my bride. She died in my +arms, Maddy. I felt the last fluttering of her pulse, the last beat of +her heart. I laid her back upon her pillows. I wiped the blood from +her lips and from her golden curls. I followed her to her early grave. +I saw her buried from my sight, and then, Maddy, I started home; +thoughts of you and thoughts of Lucy blended equally together until +Aikenside was reached. I talked with Mrs. Noah; I heard all of you +there was to tell, and then I talked with Agnes, who was not greatly +surprised, and did not oppose my coming here tonight. I could not +remain there, knowing you were alone. In the bridal chamber I found +your bouquet, with its 'Welcome to the bride.' Maddy, you must be that +bride. Lucy sanctioned it, and the doctor, too, for I told him all. +His own wedding was, of course, deferred, and he did not come home +with me, but he said: 'Tell Maddy not to wait. Life is too short to +waste any happiness. She has my blessing.' And, Maddy, it must be so. +Aikenside needs a mistress; you are all alone. You are mine--mine +forever." + +The storm had died away, and the moonbeams stealing through the window +told that morning was breaking, but neither Guy nor Maddy heeded the +lapse of time. Theirs was a sad kind of happiness as they talked +together, and could Lucy have listened to them she would have felt +satisfied that she was not forgotten. One long, bright curl, cut from +her head by his own hand, was all there was left of her to Guy, save +the hallowed memories of her purity and goodness--memories which would +yet mold the proud, impulsive Guy into the earnest, consistent +Christian which Lucy in her life had desired that he should be, and +which Maddy rejoiced to see him. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + +FINALE. + + +The close of a calm September afternoon, and the autumnal sunlight +falls softly upon Aikenside, where a gay party is now assembled. For +four years Maddy Clyde has been mistress there, and in looking back +upon them she wonders how so much happiness as she has known could be +experienced in so short a time. Never but once has the slightest +ripple of sorrow shadowed her heart, and that was when her noble +husband, Guy, said to her, in a voice she knew was earnest and +determined that he could no longer remain deaf to his country's +call--that where the battle storm was raging he was needed, and like a +second Sardanapalus he must not stay at home. Then for a brief season +her bright face was overcast, and her brown eyes dim with weeping. +Giving him to the war seemed like giving him up to death. But women +can be as true heroes as men. Indeed, it oftentimes costs more courage +for a weak, confiding woman to bid her loved ones leave her for the +field of carnage than it costs them to face the cannon's mouth. Maddy +found it so, but Christian patriotism triumphed over all, and stifling +her own grief, she sent him away with smiles, and prayers, and +cheering words of encouragement, turning herself for consolation to +the source from which she never sued for peace in vain. Save that she +missed her husband terribly, she was not lonely, for her beautiful +dark-eyed boy, whom they called Guy, Jr., kept her busy, while not +very many weeks afterward, Guy, Sr., sitting in his tent, read with +moistened eyes of a little golden-haired daughter, whom Maddy named +Lucy Atherstone, and gazed upon a curl of hair she inclosed to the +soldier father, asking if it were not like some other hair now +moldering back to dust within an English churchyard. "Maggie" said it +was, Aunt Maggie, as Guy, Jr., called the wife of Dr. Holbrook, who +had come to Aikenside to stay, while her husband did his duty as +surgeon in the army. That little daughter is a year-old baby now, and +in her short white dress and coral bracelets she sits neglected on the +nursery floor, while mother and Jessie, Maggie and everybody hasten +out into the yard to welcome the returning soldier, Major Guy, whose +arm is in a sling, and whose face is very pale from the effects of +wounds received at Gettysburg, where his daring courage had well-nigh +won for Maddy a widow's heritage. For the present the arm is disabled, +and so he has been discharged, and comes back to the home where warm +words of welcome greet him, from the lowest servant up to his darling +wife, who can only look her joy as he folds her in his well arm, and +kisses her beautiful face. Only Margaret Holbrook seems a little sad, +she had so wanted her husband to come with Guy, but his humanity would +not permit him to leave the suffering beings who needed his care. +Loving messages he sent to her, and her tears were dried when she +heard from Guy how greatly he was beloved by the pale occupants of the +beds of pain, and how much he was doing to relieve their anguish. + +Jessie, grown to be a most beautiful girl of nearly sixteen, is still +a child in actions, and wild with delight at seeing her brother again, +throws her arms around his neck, telling, in almost the same breath, +how proud she is of him, how much she wished to go to him when she +heard he was wounded, how she wishes she was a boy, so she could +enlist, how nicely Flora is married and settled down at the cottage in +Honedale, and then asks if he knows aught of the rebel colonel to whom +just before the war broke out her mother was married, and whose home +was in Richmond. + +Guy knows nothing of him, except that he is still doing what he deems +his duty in fighting for the Confederacy, but from exchanged +prisoners, who had come up from Richmond, he has heard of a beautiful +lady, an officer's wife, and as rumor said, a Northern woman, who +visited them in prison, speaking kind words of sympathy, and once +binding up a drummer boy's aching head with a handkerchief, which he +still retained, and on whose corner could be faintly traced the name +of "Agnes Remington." + +Jessie's eyes are full of tears as she says: + +"Poor mamma, how glad I am I did not go to Virginia with her. It's +months since I heard from her direct. Of course it was she who was so +good to the drummer boy. She cannot be much of a rebel," and Jessie +glances triumphantly at Mrs. Noah, who, never having quite overcome +her dislike of Agnes, had sorely tried Jessie by declaring that her +mother "had found her level at last, and was just where she wanted to +be." + +Good Mrs. Noah, the ancient man whose name she bore would as soon have +thought of leaving the Ark as she of turning a traitor to her country, +and when she heard of the riotous mob raised against the draft, she +talked seriously of going in person to New York "to give 'em a piece +of her mind," and for one whole day refused to speak to Flora's +husband, because he was a "dum dimocrat," and she presumed was opposed +to Lincoln. With the exception of Maddy, no one was more please to see +Guy than herself. He was her boy, the one she brought up, and with all +a mother's fervor she kissed his bronzed cheek, and told him how glad +she was to have him back. + +With his boy on his sound arm, Guy disengaged himself from the noisy +group and went with Maddy to where the little lady, the child he had +never seen, was just beginning to show signs of resentment at being +left so long alone. + +"Lulu, sissy, papa's come; this is papa," the little boy cried, +assuming the honor of the introduction. + +Lulu, as they called her, was not afraid of the tall soldier, and +stretching out her fat, white hands, went to him readily. Blue-eyed +and golden haired, she bore but little resemblance to either father or +mother, but there was a sweet, beautiful face, of which Maddy had +often dreamed, but never seen, and whether it were in the infantile +features of his little girl. Parting lovingly her yellow curls and +kissing her fair cheek, he said to Maddy, softly, just as he always +spoke of that dead one: + +"Maddy, darling, Margaret Holbrook is right--our baby daughter is very +much like our dear lost Lucy Atherstone." + + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AIKENSIDE BY MARY J. HOLMES *** + +******** This file should be named aiken10.txt or aiken10.zip ******** + +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, aiken11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, aiken10a.txt + +This eBook was produced byJuliet Sutherland, Charles Franks and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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