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Title: The Road to Understanding
Author: Eleanor H. Porter
Release Date: January 27, 2011 [eBook #35093]
Language: English
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THE ROAD TO UNDERSTANDING
[Illustration: AT SIGHT OF HER THE DOCTOR LEAPED FORWARD WITH A LOW CRY
(p. 174)]
THE ROAD TO UNDERSTANDING
by
ELEANOR H. PORTER
Author of "Just David"
[Illustration]
Boston and New York
Houghton Mifflin Company
1917
Copyright, 1917, by Eleanor H. Porter
TO
MY FRIEND
_Miss Grace Wheeler_
CONTENTS
I. FROSTED CAKES AND SHOTGUNS 1
II. AN ONLY SON 24
III. HONEYMOON DAYS 33
IV. NEST-BUILDING 43
V. THE WIPE 61
VI. THE HUSBAND 75
VII. STUMBLING-BLOCKS 82
VIII. DIVERGING WAYS 104
IX. A BOTTLE OF INK 125
X. BY ADVICE OF COUNSEL 155
XI. IN QUEST OF THE STARS 172
XII. THE TRAIL OF THE INK 182
XIII. A WOMAN'S WON'T 199
XIV. AN UNDERSTUDY 210
XV. A WOMAN'S WILL 225
XVI. EMERGENCIES 241
XVII. PINK TEAS TO FLIGHTY BLONDES 258
XVIII. A LITTLE BUNCH OF DIARIES 265
XIX. THE STAGE IS SET 284
XX. THE CURTAIN RISES 293
XXI. THE PLAY BEGINS 302
XXII. ACTOR AND AUDIENCE 314
XXIII. "THE PLOT THICKENS" 330
XXIV. COUNTER-PLOTS 339
XXV. ENIGMAS 348
XXVI. THE ROAD TO UNDERSTANDING 357
ILLUSTRATIONS
AT SIGHT OF HER THE DOCTOR LEAPED FORWARD WITH A LOW
CRY (p. 174) _Frontispiece_
HE WAS LOOKING AT HER LOVELY, GLORIFIED FACE 6
JOHN DENBY WENT STRAIGHT TO HIS SON AND LAID BOTH HANDS ON HIS
SHOULDERS 150
"SO I RANG THE BELL" 310
_From drawings by Mary Greene Blumenschein_
CHAPTER I
FROSTED CAKES AND SHOTGUNS
If Burke Denby had not been given all the frosted cakes and toy shotguns
he wanted at the age of ten, it might not have been so difficult to
convince him at the age of twenty that he did not want to marry Helen
Barnet.
Mabel, the beautiful and adored wife of John Denby, had died when Burke
was four years old; and since that time, life, for Burke, had been
victory unseasoned with defeat. A succession of "anything-for-peace"
rulers of the nursery, and a father who could not bring himself to be
the cause of the slightest shadow on the face of one who was the
breathing image of his lost wife, had all contributed to these
victories.
Nor had even school-days brought the usual wholesome discipline and
democratic leveling; for a pocketful of money and a naturally generous
disposition made a combination not to be lightly overlooked by boys and
girls ever alert for "fun"; and an influential father and the scarcity
of desirable positions made another combination not to be lightly
overlooked by impecunious teachers anxious to hold their "jobs." It was
easy to ignore minor faults, especially as the lad had really a
brilliant mind, and (when not crossed) a most amiable disposition.
Between the boy and his father all during the years of childhood and
youth, the relationship was very beautiful--so beautiful that the entire
town saw it and expressed its approval: in public by nods and admiring
adjectives; in private by frequent admonitions to wayward sons and
thoughtless fathers to follow the pattern so gloriously set for them.
Of all this John Denby saw nothing; nor would he have given it a thought
if he had seen it. John Denby gave little thought to anything, after his
wife died, except to business and his boy, Burke. Business, under his
skillful management and carefully selected assistants, soon almost ran
itself. There was left then only the boy, Burke.
From the first they were comrades, even when comradeship meant the
poring over a Mother Goose story-book, or mastering the intricacies of a
game of tiddledywinks. Later, together, they explored the world of
music, literature, science, and art, spending the long summer playtimes,
still together, traveling in both well-known and little-known lands.
Toward everything fine and beautiful and luxurious the boy turned as a
flower turns toward the light, which pleased the man greatly. And as the
boy had but to express a wish to have it instantly find an echo in his
father's heart, it is not strange, perhaps, that John Denby did not
realize that, notwithstanding all his "training," self-control and
self-sacrifice were unknown words to his son.
One word always, however, was held before the boy from the very
first--mother; yet it was not as a word, either, but as a living
presence. Always he was taught that she was with them, a bright,
beauteous, gracious being, loving, tender, perfect. Whatever they saw
was seen through her eyes. Whatever they did was done as with her.
Stories of her beauty, charm, and goodness filled many an hour of
intimate talk. She was the one flawless woman born into the world--so
said Burke's father to his son.
Burke was nearly twenty-one, and half through college, when he saw Helen
Barnet. She was sitting in the big west window in the library, with the
afternoon sun turning her wonderful hair to gold. In her arms she held a
sleeping two-year-old boy. With the marvelous light on her face, and the
crimson velvet draperies behind her, she looked not unlike a pictured
Madonna. It was not, indeed, until a very lifelike red swept to the
roots of the girl's hair that the young man, staring at her from the
doorway, realized that she was not, in truth, a masterpiece on an
old-time wall, but a very much alive, very much embarrassed young woman
in his father's library.
With a blush that rivaled hers, and an incoherent apology, he backed
hastily from the room. He went then in search of his father. He had
returned from college an hour before to find his father's youngest
sister, Eunice, and her family, guests in the house. But this
stranger--this bewilderingly beautiful girl--
In the upper hall he came face to face with his father.
"Dad, who in Heaven's name is she?" he demanded without preamble.
"_She?_"
"That exquisitely beautiful girl in the library. Who is she?"
"In the library? Girl? Nonsense! You're dreaming, Burke. There's no one
here but your aunt."
"But I just came from there. I saw her. She held a child in her arms."
"Ho!" John Denby gave a gesture as if tossing a trivial something aside.
"You're dreaming again, Burke. The nursemaid, probably. Your aunt
brought one with her. But, see here, son. I was looking for you. Come
into my room. I wanted to know--" And he plunged into a subject far
removed from nursemaids and their charges.
Burke, however, was not to be so lightly diverted. True, he remained for
ten minutes at his father's side, and he listened dutifully to what his
father said; but the day was not an hour older before he had sought and
found the girl he had seen in the library.
She was not in the library now. She was on the wide veranda, swinging
the cherubic boy in the hammock. To Burke she looked even more
bewitching than she had before. As a pictured saint, hung about with
the aloofness of the intangible and the unreal, she had been beautiful
and alluring enough; but now, as a breathing, moving creature treading
his own familiar veranda and touching with her white hands his own
common hammock, she was bewilderingly enthralling.
Combating again an almost overwhelming desire to stand in awed worship,
he advanced hastily, speaking with a diffidence and an incoherence
utterly foreign to his usual blithe boyishness.
"Oh, I hope--I didn't, did I? _Did_ I wake--the baby up?"
With a start the girl turned, her blue eyes wide.
"_You?_ Oh, in the library--"
"Yes; an hour ago. I do hope I didn't--wake him up!"
Before the ardent admiration in the young man's eyes, the girl's fell.
"Oh, no, sir. He just--woke himself."
"Oh, I'm so glad! And--and I want you to forgive me for--for staring at
you so rudely. You see, I was so surprised to--to see you there
like--like a picture, and-- You will forgive me--er-- I don't know your
name."
"Barnet--Helen Barnet." She blushed prettily; then she laughed, throwing
him a mischievous glance. "Oh, yes, I'll forgive you; but--I don't know
your name, either."
"Thank you. I knew you'd--understand. I'm Denby--Burke Denby."
"Mr. Denby's son?"
"Yes."
"Oh-h!"
At the admiration in her eyes and voice he unconsciously straightened
himself.
"And do you live--here?" breathed the girl.
To hide the inexplicable emotion that seemed suddenly to be swelling
within him, the young man laughed lightly.
"Of course--when I'm not away!" His eyes challenged her, and she met the
sally with a gurgle of laughter.
"Oh, I meant--when you're not away," she bridled.
He watched the wild-rose color sweep to her temples--and stepped nearer.
"But you haven't told me a thing of yourself--yet," he complained.
She sighed--and at the sigh an unreasoning wrath against an unknown
something rose within him.
"There's nothing to tell," she murmured. "I'm just here--a nurse to
Master Paul and his brother." Denby's wrath became reasoning and
definite. It was directed against the world in general, and his aunt in
particular, that they should permit for one instant this glorious
creature to sacrifice her charm and sweetness on the altar of menial
services to a couple of unappreciative infants.
"Oh, I'm so sorry!" he breathed, plainly aglow at the intimate
nearness of this heart-to-heart talk. "But I'm glad--you're _here_!"
Once more, before he turned reluctantly away, he gazed straight into her
blue eyes--and the game was on.
It was a pretty game. The young man was hard hit, and it was his first
wound from Cupid's dart. Heretofore in his curriculum girls had not been
included; and the closeness of his association with his father had not
been conducive to incipient love affairs. Perhaps, for these reasons, he
was all the more ardent a wooer. Certainly an ardent wooer he was. There
was no gainsaying that--though the boy himself, at first, did not
recognize it as wooing at all.
It began with pity.
He was so sorry for her--doomed to slave all day for those two rascally
small boys. He could not keep her out of his mind. As he tramped the
hills the next morning the very blue of the sky and the softness of the
air against his cheek became a pain to him--_she_ was tied to a stuffy
nursery. His own freedom of will and movement became a source of actual
vexation--_she_ was bound to a "do this" and a "do that" all day. He
wondered then, suddenly, if he could not in some way help. He sought her
as soon as possible.
"Come, I want you to go to walk with me. I want to show you the view
from Pike's Hill," he urged.
"Me? To walk? Why, Mr. Denby, I can't!"
Again the wild-rose flush came and went--and again Burke Denby stepped
nearer.
"Why not?"
"Why, I couldn't leave the children; besides--it's Master Paul's nap
hour."
"What a pity--when it's so beautiful out! To-morrow, then, in the
morning?"
She shook her head.
"I couldn't, Mr. Denby."
"The afternoon, then?"
"No."
"Is it because you don't _want_ to?"
"_Want to!_"
At the look of longing that leaped to her face, the thwarted youth felt
again the fierce wrath he had known the first day of their meeting.
"Then, by Jove, you shall!" he vowed. "Don't they ever give you any time
to yourself?"
She dimpled into shy laughter.
"I shall have a few hours Thursday--after three."
"Good! I'll remember. We'll go then."
And they went.
To Burke Denby it was a wonderful and a brand-new experience. Never had
the sky been so blue, the air so soft, the woods so enchantingly
beautiful. And he was so glad that they were thus--for her. She was
enjoying it so much, and he was so glad that he could give this
happiness to her! Enthusiastically he pointed out here a bird and there
a flower; carefully he helped her over every stick and stone;
determinedly he set himself to making her forget her dreary daily tasks.
And when she lifted her wondering eyes to his face, or placed her
half-reluctant fingers in his extended hand, how he thrilled and tingled
through his whole being--he had not supposed that unselfish service to a
fellow-being could bring to one such a warm sense of gratification.
At the top of the hill they sat down to rest, before them the wonderful
panorama of grandeur--the green valley, the silvery river, the
far-reaching mauve and purple mountains.
"My, isn't this real pretty!" exclaimed the girl.
[Illustration: HE WAS LOOKING AT HER LOVELY, GLORIFIED FACE]
The young man scarcely heard the words, else he would have frowned
unconsciously at the "real pretty." He was looking at her lovely,
glorified face.
"I thought you'd like it," he breathed.
"Oh, I do."
"I know another just as fine. We'll go there next."
A shadow like a cloud crossed her face.
"But I have so little time!"
The cloud leaped to his face now and became thunderous.
"Shucks! I forgot. What a nuisance! Oh, I say, you know, I don't think
you ought to be doing--such work. Do you--forgive me, but do you
really--have to?"
"Yes, I have to."
She had turned her face half away, but he thought he could see tears in
her eyes.
"Are you--all alone, then? Haven't you any--people?" His voice had grown
very tender.
"No--no one. Father died, then mother. There was no one else--to care;
and no--money."
"Oh, I'm so--so sorry!"
He spoke awkwardly, with obvious restraint. He wanted suddenly to take
her in his arms--to soothe and comfort her as one would a child. But she
was not a child, and it would not do, of course. But she looked so
forlorn, so appealing, so sweet, so absolutely dear--
He got abruptly to his feet.
"Come, come, this will never do!" he exclaimed blithely. "Here I
am--making you talk of your work and your troubles, when I took you up
here with the express intention of making you forget them. Suppose we go
through this little path here. There's a dandy spring of cold water
farther on. And--and forgive me, please. I won't make you--talk any
more."
And he would not, indeed, he vowed to himself. She was no child. She was
a young woman grown, and a very beautiful one, at that. He could not
console her with a kiss and a caress, and a bonbon, of course. But he
could give her a bit of playtime, now and then--and he would, too. He
would see to it that, for the rest of her stay under his father's roof,
she should not want for the companionship of some one who--who "cared."
He would be her kind and thoughtful good friend. Indeed, he would!
Burke Denby began the very next morning to be a friend to Miss Barnet.
Accepting as irrevocable the fact that she could not be separated from
her work, he made no plans that did not include Masters Paul and Percy
Allen.
"I'm going to take your sons for a drive this morning, if you don't
mind," he said briskly to his aunt at the breakfast table.
"Mind? Of course I don't, you dear boy," answered the pleased mother,
fondly. "_You're_ the one that will mind--as you'll discover, I fear,
when you find yourself with a couple of mischievous small boys on your
hands!"
"I'm not worrying," laughed the youth. "I shall take Miss Barnet along,
too."
"Oh--Helen? That's all right, then. You'll do nicely with her," smiled
Mrs. Allen, as she rose from the table. "If you'll excuse me, I'll go
and see that the boys are made ready for their treat."
Burke Denby took the boys for a drive almost every day after that. He
discovered that Miss Barnet greatly enjoyed driving. There were picnics,
too, in the cool green of the woods, on two or three fine days. Miss
Barnet also liked picnics. Still pursuant of his plan to give the
forlorn little nursemaid "one good time in her life," Burke Denby
contrived to be with her not a little in between drives and picnics.
Ostensibly he was putting up swings, building toy houses, playing ball
with Masters Paul and Percy Allen; but in reality he was trying to put a
little "interest" into Miss Helen Barnet's daily task. He was so sorry
for her! It was such a shame that so gloriously beautiful a girl should
be doomed to a slavery like that! He was so glad that for a time he
might bring some brightness into her life!
"And do you see how perfectly devoted Burke is to Paul and Percy?" cried
Mrs. Allen, one day, to her brother. "I had no idea the dear boy was so
fond of children!"
"Hm-m. Is he really, indeed," murmured John Denby. "No, I had not
noticed."
John Denby spoke vaguely, yet with a shade of irritation. Fond as he was
of his sister and of his small nephews, he was finding it difficult to
accustom himself to the revolutionary changes in his daily routine that
their presence made necessary. He was learning to absent himself more
and more from the house.
For a week, therefore, unchallenged, and cheerfully intent on his
benevolent mission, Burke Denby continued his drives and picnics and
ball-playing with Masters Paul and Percy Allen; then, very suddenly,
four little words from the lips of Helen Barnet changed for him the
earth and the sky above.
"When I go away--" she began.
"When you--_go--away_!" he interrupted.
"Yes. Why, Mr. Denby, what makes you look so--queer?"
"Nothing. I was thinking--that is, I had forgotten--I--" He rose to his
feet abruptly, and crossed the room. At the window, for a full minute,
he stood motionless, looking out at the falling rain. When he turned
back into the room there was a new expression on his face. With a quick
glance at the children playing on the rug before the fireplace, he
crossed straight to the plainly surprised young woman and dropped
himself in a chair at her side.
"Helen Barnet, will you--marry me?" he asked softly.
"_Mr. Denby!_"
With a boyish laugh Burke Denby drew his chair nearer. His face was
alight with the confident happiness of one who has never known rebuff.
"You are surprised--and so was I, a minute ago. You see, it came to me
all in a flash--what it would be to live--without you." His voice grew
tender. "Helen, you will stay, and be my wife?"
"Oh, no, no--I mustn't, I can't! Why, of course I can't, Mr. Denby,"
fluttered the girl, in a panic of startled embarrassment. "I'm sure
you--you don't want me to."
"But I do. Listen!" He threw another quick glance at the absorbed
children as he reached out and took possession of her hand. "It all came
to me, back there at the window--the dreariness, the emptiness
of--everything, without _you_. And I saw then what you've been to me
every day this past week. How I've watched for you and waited for you,
and how everything I did and said and had was just--something for you.
And I knew then that I--I loved you. You see, I--I never loved any one
before,"--the boyish red swept to his forehead as he laughed
whimsically,--"and so I--I didn't recognize the symptoms!" With the
lightness of his words he was plainly trying to hide the shake in his
voice. "Helen, you--will?"
"Oh, but I--I--!" Her eyes were frightened and pleading.
"Don't you _care_ at all?"
She turned her head away.
"If you don't, then won't you let me _make_ you care?" he begged. "You
said you had no one now to care--at all; and I care so much! Won't you
let--"
Somewhere a door shut.
With a low cry Helen Barnet pulled away her hand and sprang to her feet.
She was down on the rug with the children, very flushed of face, when
Mrs. Allen appeared in the library doorway.
"Oh, here you are!" Mrs. Allen frowned and spoke a bit impatiently.
"I've been hunting everywhere for you. I supposed you were in the
nursery. Won't you put the boys into fresh suits? I have friends calling
soon, and I want the children brought to the drawing-room when I ring,
and left till I call you again."
"Yes, ma'am."
With a still more painful flush on her face Helen Barnet swept the
blocks into her apron, rose to her feet, and hurried the children from
the room. She did not once glance at the young man standing by the
window.
Mrs. Allen tossed her nephew a smile and a shrug which might have been
translated into "You see what we have to endure--so tiresome!" as she,
too, disappeared.
Burke Denby did not smile. He did frown, however. He felt vaguely
irritated and abused. He wished his aunt would not be so "bossy" and
disagreeable. He wished Helen would not act so cringingly submissive. As
if she-- But then, it would be different right away, of course, as soon
as he had made known the fact that she was to be his wife. Everything
would be different. For that matter, Helen herself would be different.
Not only would she hold her head erect and take her proper place, but
she would not--well, there were various little ways and expressions
which she would drop, of course. And how beautiful she was! How sweet!
How dear! And how she had suffered in her loneliness! How he would love
to make for her a future all gloriously happy and tender with his
strong, encircling arms!
It was a pleasant picture. Burke Denby's heart quite swelled within him
as he turned to leave the room.
Upstairs, the girl, the cause of it all, hurried with palpitating
nervousness through the task of clothing two active little bodies in
fresh garments. That her thoughts were not with her fingers was evident;
but not until the summoning bell from the drawing-room gave her a few
minutes' respite from duty did she have an opportunity really to think.
Even then she could not think lucidly or connectedly. Always before her
eyes was Burke Denby's face, ardent, pleading, confident. And he
expected-- Before she saw him again she must be ready, she knew, with
her answer. But how _could_ she answer?
Helen Barnet was lonely, heartsick, and frightened--a combination that
could hardly aid in the making of a wise, unprejudiced decision,
especially when one was very much in love. And Helen Barnet knew that
she was that.
Less than two years before, Helen Barnet had been the petted daughter of
a village storekeeper in a small Vermont town. Then, like the proverbial
thunderbolt, had come death and financial disaster, throwing her on her
own resources. And not until she had attempted to utilize those
resources for her support, had she found how frail they were.
Though the Barnets had not been wealthy, the village store had been
profitable; and Helen (the only child) had been almost as greatly
overindulged as was Burke Denby himself. Being a very pretty girl, she
had become the village belle before she donned long dresses. Having been
shielded from work and responsibility, and always carefully guarded from
everything unpleasant, she was poorly equipped for a struggle of any
sort, even aside from the fact that there was, apparently, nothing that
she could do well enough to be paid for doing it. In the past twenty
months she had obtained six positions--and had abandoned five of them:
two because of incompetency, two because of lack of necessary strength,
one because her beauty was plainly making the situation intolerable. For
three months now she had been nurse to Masters Paul and Percy Allen. She
liked Mrs. Allen, and she liked the children. But the care, the
confinement, the never-ending task of dancing attendance upon the whims
and tempers of two active little boys, was proving to be not a little
irksome to young blood unused to the restraints of self-sacrifice. Then,
suddenly, there had come the visit to the Denby homestead, and the
advent into her life of Burke Denby; and now here, quite within her
reach, if she could believe her eyes and ears, was this dazzling,
unbelievable thing--Burke Denby's love.
Helen Barnet knew all about love. Had she not lisped its praises in odes
to the moon in her high-school days? It had to do with flowers and music
and angels. On the old porch back home--what was it that long-haired boy
used to read to her? Oh, Tennyson. That was it.
And now it had come to _her_--love. Not that it was exactly unexpected:
she had been waiting for her lover since she had put up her hair, of
course. But to have him come like this--and such a lover! So rich--and
he was such a grand, handsome young man, too! And she loved him. She
loved him dearly. If only she dared say "yes"! No more poverty, no more
loneliness, no more slaving at the beck and call of some hated employer.
Oh, if she only dared!
For one delirious moment Helen Barnet almost thought she did--dare.
Then, bitterly, the thought of his position--and hers--rolled in upon
her. Whatever else the last two wretched years had done for her, it had
left her no illusions. She had no doubts as to her reception, as Burke
Denby's wife, at the hands of Burke Denby's friends and relatives. And
again, whatever the last two years had done for her, they had not robbed
her of her pride. And the Barnets, away back in the little Vermont town,
had been very proud. To Helen Barnet now, therefore, the picture of
herself as Burke Denby's wife, flouted and frowned upon by Burke Denby's
friends, was intolerable. Frightened and heartsick, she determined to
beat a hasty retreat. It simply could not be. That was all. Very likely,
anyway, Burke Denby had not been more than half in earnest himself.
The bell rang then again from the drawing-room, and Helen went down to
get the children. In the hall she met Burke Denby; but she only shook
her head in answer to his low "Helen, when may I see you?" and hurried
by without a word, her face averted.
Three times again within the next twenty-four hours she pursued the same
tactics, only to be brought up sharply at last against a peremptory
"Helen, you shall let me talk to you a minute! Why do you persist in
hiding behind those two rascally infants all the time, when you know
that you have only to say the word, and you are as free as the air?"
"But I must--that is--I can't say the word, Mr. Denby. Truly I can't!"
His face fell a little.
"What do you mean? You can't mean--you _can't_ mean--you won't--marry
me?"
She threw a hurried look about her. He had drawn her into the curtained
bay window of the upper hallway, as she was passing on to the nursery.
"Yes, I mean--that," she panted, trying to release her arm from his
clasp.
"Helen! Do you mean you don't _care_?" he demanded passionately.
"Yes, yes--that's what I mean." She pulled again at her arm.
"Helen, look at me. You can't look me straight in the eye and say you
don't--_care_!"
"Oh, yes, I can. I--I--" The telltale color flooded her face. With a
choking little breath she turned her head quite away.
"You do--you do! And you shall marry me!" breathed the youth, his lips
almost brushing the soft hair against her ear.
"No, no, Mr. Denby, I can't--I--_can't_!" With a supreme effort she
wrenched herself free and fled down the hall.
If Helen Barnet thought this settled the matter, she ill-judged the
nature of the man with whom she had to deal. Unlimited frosted
cakes and shotguns had not taught Burke Denby to accept no for an
answer--especially for an answer to something he had so set his heart
upon as he had this winning of Helen Barnet for his wife.
Burke Denby did not know anything about love. He had never sung odes to
the moon, or read Tennyson to pretty girls on secluded verandas. He had
not been looking for love to meet him around the bend of the next
street. Love had come now as an Event, capitalized. Love was Life, and
Life was Heaven--if it might be passed with Helen Barnet at his side.
Without her it would be-- But Burke ignored the alternative. It was not
worth considering, anyway, for of course she would be at his side.
She loved him; he was sure of that. This fancied obstacle in the way
that loomed so large in her eyes, he did not fear in the least. He
really rather liked it. It added zest and excitement, and would make his
final triumph all the more heart-warming and satisfying. He had only to
convince Helen, of course, and the mere convincing would not be without
its joy and compensation.
It was with really pleasurable excitement, therefore, that Burke Denby
laid his plans and carried them to the triumphant finish of a carefully
arranged tête-à-tête in the library, when he knew that they would have
at least half an hour to themselves.
"There, I've got you now, you little wild thing!" he cried, closing the
library door, and standing determinedly with his back to it, as she made
a frightened move to go, at finding herself alone with him.
"But, Mr. Denby, I can't. I really must go," she palpitated.
"No, you can't go. I've had altogether too much trouble getting you
here, and getting those blessed youngsters safely away with their mamma
for a bit of a drive with my dad."
"Then you _planned_ this?"
"I did." He was regarding her with half-quizzical, wholly fond eyes.
"And I had you summoned to the library--but I was careful not to say who
wanted you. Oh, Helen, Helen, how can you seek to avoid me like this,
when you know how I love you!" There was only tenderness now in his
voice and manner. He had taken both her hands in his.
"But you mustn't love me."
"Not love--my wife?"
"I'm not your wife."
"You're going to be, dear."
"I can't. I told you I couldn't, Mr. Denby."
"My name is 'Burke,' my love."
His voice was whimsically light again. Very plainly Mr. Burke Denby was
not appreciating the seriousness of the occasion.
She flushed and bit her lip.
"I think it's real mean of you to--to make it so hard for me!" she half
sobbed.
With sudden passion he caught her in his arms.
"Hard? _Hard?_ Then if it's hard, it means you _do_ love me. As if I'd
give you up now! Helen, why do you torture me like this? Dearest, _when_
will you marry me?"
She struggled feebly in his arms.
"I told you; never."
"Why not?"
No answer.
"Helen, why not?" He loosened his clasp and held her off at arms'
length.
"Because."
"Because what?"
No answer again.
"You aren't--promised to any one else?" For the first time a shadow of
uneasy doubt crossed his face.
She shook her head.
"Oh, no."
"Then what is it?"
Her eyes, frightened and pleading, searched his face. There was a tense
moment of indecision. Then in a tragic burst it came.
"Maybe you think I'd--marry you, and be your wife, and have all your
folks look down on me!"
"Look _down_ on you?"
"Yes, because I'm not so swell and grand as they are. I'm only--"
With a quick cry he caught her to himself again, and laid a reproving
finger on her lips.
"Hush! Don't you let me hear you say that again--those horrid words! You
are you, _yourself_, the dearest, sweetest little woman that was ever
made, and I love you, and I'm going to marry you. Look down on you,
indeed! I'd like to see them try it!"
"But they will. I'm only a nurse-girl."
"Hush!" He almost shook her in his wrath. "I tell you, you are
_you_--and that's all I want to know. And that's all anybody will want
to know. I'm not in love with your ancestors, or with your relatives, or
your friends. I don't love you because you are, or are not, a
nurse-girl, or a school-teacher, or a butterfly of fashion. I even don't
love you because your eyes are blue, or because your wonderful hair is
like the softest of spun gold. It's just because you are you,
sweetheart; and you, _just you_, are the whole wide world to me!"
"But--your father?"
"He will love you because I love you. Dad is my good chum--he's always
been that. What I love, he'll love. You'll see."
"Do you think he really will?" A dawning hope was coming into her eyes.
"I'm sure he will. Why, dad is the other half of myself. Always, all the
way up, dad has been like that. And everything I've wanted, he's always
let me have."
She drew a tremulous breath of surrender.
"Well, of course, if I thought you all _wanted_ me--"
"_Want you!_" With his impulsive lips on hers she had her answer, and
there Burke Denby found his.
CHAPTER II
AN ONLY SON
Proud, and blissfully happy in his victory, Burke went to his father;
and to his father (so far as the latter himself was concerned) he
carried a bombshell.
For two reasons John Denby had failed to see what was taking place in
his own home. First, because it would never have occurred to him that
his son could fall in love with a nursemaid; secondly, because he had
systematically absented himself from the house during the most of his
sister's visit, preferring to take his sister away with him for drives
and walks rather than to stay in the noisy confusion of toys and babies
that his home had become. Because of all this, therefore, he was totally
unprepared for what his son was bringing to him.
He welcomed the young man with affectionate heartiness.
"Well, my boy, it's good to see you! Where have you been keeping
yourself all these two weeks?"
"Why, dad, I've been right here--in fact, I've been very much right
here!"
The conscious color that crept to the boy's forehead should have been
illuminating. But it was not.
"Yes, yes, very likely, very likely," frowned the man. "But, of course,
with so many around-- But soon we'll be by ourselves again. Not but
what I'm enjoying your aunt's visit, of course," he added hastily. "But
here are two weeks of your vacation gone, and I've scarcely seen you a
minute."
"Yes; and that's one thing I wanted to talk about--college," plunged in
the boy. "I've decided I don't want to finish my course, dad. I'd rather
go into business right away."
The man drew his brows together, but did not look entirely displeased.
"Hm-m, well," he hesitated. "While I should hate not to see you
graduated, yet--it's not so bad an idea, after all. I'd be glad to have
you here for good that much earlier, son. But why this sudden
right-about-face? I thought you were particularly keen for that degree."
Again the telltale color flamed in the boyish cheeks.
"I was--once. But, you see, then I wasn't thinking of--getting married."
"Married!" To John Denby it seemed suddenly that a paralyzing chill
clutched his heart and made it skip a beat. This possible future
marriage of his son, breaking into their close companionship, was the
dreaded shadow that loomed ever ahead. "Nonsense, boy! Time enough to
think of that when you've found the girl."
"But I have found her, dad."
John Denby paled perceptibly.
"You have--what?" he demanded. "You don't mean that you've-- Who is
she?"
"Helen. Why, dad, you seem surprised," laughed the boy. "Haven't you
noticed--suspected?"
"Well, no I haven't," retorted the man grimly. "Why should I? I never
heard of the young lady before. What is this--some college tomfoolery? I
might have known, I suppose, what would happen."
"College! Why, dad, she's _here_. You know her. It's Helen,--Miss
Barnet."
"Here! There's no one here but your aunt and--" He stopped, and half
started from his chair. "You don't--you can't mean--your aunt's
nursemaid!"
At the scornful emphasis an indignant red dyed the boy's face.
"I didn't think that of you, dad," he rebuked.
Angry as he was, the man was conscious of the hurt the words gave him.
But he held his ground.
"And I did not think this of you, Burke," he rejoined coldly.
"You mean--"
"I mean that I supposed my son would show some consideration as to the
woman he chose for his wife."
"Father!" The boyish face set into stern lines. The boyish figure drew
itself erect with a majesty that would have been absurd had it not been
so palpably serious. "I can't stand much of this sort of thing, even
from you. Miss Barnet is everything that is good and true and lovely.
She is in every way worthy--more than worthy. Besides, she is the woman
I love--the woman I have asked to be my wife. Please remember that when
you speak of her."
John Denby laughed lightly. Sharp words had very evidently been on the
end of his tongue, when, with a sudden change of countenance, he relaxed
in his chair, and said:--
"Well done, Burke. Your sentiments do you credit, I'm sure. But aren't
we getting a little melodramatic? I feel as if I were on the stage of a
second-rate theater! However, I stand corrected; and we'll speak very
respectfully of the lady hereafter. I have no doubt she is very good and
very lovely, as you say; but"--his mouth hardened a little--"I must
still insist that she is no fit wife for my son."
"Why not?"
"Obvious reasons."
"I suppose you mean--because she has to work for her living," flashed
the boy. "But that--excuse me--seems to me plain snobbishness. And I
must say again I didn't think it of you, dad. I supposed--"
"Come, come, this has gone far enough," interrupted the distraught,
sorely tried father of an idolized son. "You're only a boy. You don't
know your own mind. You'll fancy yourself in love a dozen times yet
before the time comes for you to marry."
"I'm not a boy. I'm a man grown."
"You're not twenty-one yet."
"I shall be next month. And I _do_ know my own mind. You'll see, father,
when I'm married."
"But you're not going to be married at present. And you're never going
to marry this nursemaid."
"Father!"
"I mean what I say."
"You won't give your consent?"
"Never!"
"Then-- I'll do it without, after next month."
There was a tense moment of silence. Father and son faced each other,
angry resentment in their eyes. Then, with a sharp ejaculation, John
Denby got to his feet and strode to the window. When he turned a minute
later and came back, the angry resentment was gone. His mouth was stern,
but his eyes were pleading. He came straight to his son and put both
hands on his shoulders.
"Burke, listen to me," he begged. "I'm doing this for two reasons.
First, to save you from yourself. You've known this girl scarcely two
weeks--hardly an adequate preparation for a lifetime of living together.
And just here comes in the second reason. However good and lovely she
may be, she couldn't possibly qualify for that long lifetime together,
Burke. Simply because she works for her living has nothing to do with
it. She has not the tastes or the training that should belong to your
wife--that _must_ belong to your wife if she is to make you happy, if
she is to take the place of--your mother. And that is the place your
wife will take, of course, Burke."
Under the restraining hands on his shoulders the boy stirred restlessly.
"Tastes! Training! What do I care for that? She suits my tastes."
"She wouldn't--for long."
"You wait and see."
"Too great a risk to run, my boy."
"I'll risk it. I'm going to risk it."
Again there was a moment's silence. Again the stern lines deepened
around the man's lips. Then very quietly there came the words:--
"Burke, if you marry this girl, you will choose between her and me. It
seems to me that I ought not to need to tell you that you cannot bring
her here. She shall never occupy your mother's chair as the mistress of
this house."
"That settles it, then: I'll take her somewhere else."
If Burke had not been so blind with passion he would have seen and felt
the anguish that leaped to his father's eyes. But he did not stop to see
or to feel. He snapped out the words, jerked himself free, and left the
room.
This did not "settle it," however. There were more words--words common
to stern parents and amorous youths and maidens since time immemorial. A
father, appalled at the catastrophe that threatened, not only his
cherished companionship with his only son, but, in his opinion, the
revered sanctity of his wife's memory, wrapped himself in forbidding
dignity. An impetuous lover, torn between the old love of years and the
new, quite different one of weeks, alternately stormed and pleaded. A
young girl, undisciplined, very much in love, and smarting with hurt
pride and resentment, blew hot and cold in a manner that tended to drive
every one concerned to distraction. As soon as possible a shocked,
distressed Sister Eunice packed her trunks and betook herself and her
offending household away.
In time, then, a compromise was effected. Burke should leave college
immediately and go into the Works with his father, serving a short
apprenticeship from the bottom up, as had been planned for him, that he
might be the master of the business, in deed as well as in name, when he
should some day take his father's place. Meanwhile, for one year, he was
not to see or to communicate with Helen Barnet. If at the end of the
year, he was still convinced that his only hope of happiness lay in
marriage to this girl, all opposition would be withdrawn and he might
marry when he pleased--though even then he must not expect to bring his
bride to the old home. They must set up an establishment for themselves.
"We should prefer that,--under the circumstances," had been the prompt
and somewhat haughty rejoinder, much to the father's discomfiture.
Grieved and dismayed as he was at the airy indifference with which his
son appeared to face a fatherless future, John Denby was yet pinning his
faith on that year of waiting. Given twelve months with the boy quite to
himself, free from the hateful spell of this designing young woman, and
there could be no question of the result--in John Denby's mind. In all
confidence, therefore, and with every sense alert to make this year as
perfect as a year could be, John Denby set himself to the task before
him.
It was just here, however, that for John Denby the ghosts walked--ghosts
of innumerable toy pistols and frosted cakes. Burke Denby, accustomed
all his life to having what he wanted, and having it _when_ he wanted
it, moped the first week, sulked the second, covertly rebelled the
third, and ran away the last day of the fourth, leaving behind him the
customary note, which, in this case, read:--
_Dear Dad_: I've gone to Helen. I had to. I've lived a
_year_ of misery in this last month: so, as far as I am
concerned, I _have_ waited my year already. We shall be
married at once. I wrote Helen last week, and she consented.
Now, dad, you'll just have to forgive me. I'm twenty-one.
I'm a man now, not a boy, and a man has to decide these
things for himself. And Helen's a dear. You'll see, when you
know her. We'll be back in two weeks. Now don't bristle up.
I'm not going to bring her home, of course (at present),
after the very cordial invitation you gave me not to! We're
going into one of the Reddington apartments. With my
allowance and my--er--wages (!) we can manage that all
right--until "the stern parent" relents and takes his
daughter home--as he should!
Good-bye,
BURKE.
John Denby read the letter once, twice; then he pulled the telephone
toward him and gave a few crisp orders to James Brett, his general
manager. His voice was steady and--to the man at the other end of the
wire--ominously emotionless. When he had finished talking five minutes
later, certain words had been uttered that would materially change the
immediate future of a certain willful youth just then setting out on
his honeymoon.
There would be, for Burke Denby, no "Reddington apartment." There would
also be no several-other-things; for there would be no "allowance" after
the current month. There would be only the "wages," and the things the
wages could buy.
There was no disputing the fact that John Denby was very angry. But he
was also sorely distressed and grieved. Added to his indignation that
his son should have so flouted him was his anguish of heart that the old
days of ideal companionship were now gone forever. There was, too, his
very real fear for the future happiness of his boy, bound in marriage to
a woman he believed would prove to be a most uncongenial mate. But
overtopping all, just now, was his wrath at the flippant assurance of
his son's note, and the very evident confidence in a final forgiveness
that the note showed. It was this that caused the giving of those stern,
momentous orders over the telephone--John Denby himself had been
somewhat in the habit of having his own way!
The harassed father did not sleep much that night. Until far into the
morning hours he sat before the fireless grate in his library, thinking.
He looked old, worn, and wholly miserable. In his hand, and often under
his gaze, was the miniature of a beautiful woman--his wife.
CHAPTER III
HONEYMOON DAYS
It was on a cool, cloudy day in early September that Mr. and Mrs. Burke
Denby arrived at Dalton from their wedding trip.
With characteristic inclination to avoid anything unpleasant, the young
husband had neglected to tell his wife that they were not to live in the
Denby Mansion. He had argued with himself that she would find it out
soon enough, anyway, and that there was no reason why he should spoil
their wedding trip with disagreeable topics of conversation. Burke
always liked to put off disagreeable things till the last.
Helen was aware, it is true, that Burke's father was much displeased at
the marriage; but that this displeasure had gone so far as to result in
banishment from the home, she did not know. She had been planning,
indeed, just how she would win her father-in-law over--just how sweet
and lovely and daughterly she would be, as a member of the Denby
household; and so sure was she of victory that already she counted the
battle half won.
In the old days of her happy girlhood, Helen Barnet had taken as a
matter of course the succumbing of everything and everybody to her charm
and beauty. And although this feeling had, perforce, been in abeyance
for some eighteen months, it had been very rapidly coming back to her
during the past two weeks, under the devoted homage of her young husband
and the admiring eyes of numberless strangers along their honeymoon way.
It was a complete and disagreeable surprise to her now, therefore, when
Burke said to her, a trifle nervously, as they were nearing Dalton:--
"We'll have to go to a hotel, of course, Helen, for a few days, till we
get the apartment ready. But 'twon't be for long, dear."
"Hotel! Apartment! Why, Burke, aren't we going home--to _your_ home?"
"Oh, no, dear. We're going to have a home of our own, you know--_our_
home."
"No, I didn't know." Helen's lips showed a decided pout.
"But you'll like it, dear. You just wait and see." The man spoke with
determined cheeriness.
"But I can't like it better than your old home, Burke. I _know_ what
that is, and I'd much rather go there."
"Yes, yes, but--" Young Denby paused to wet his dry lips. "Er--you know,
dear, dad wasn't exactly--er--pleased with the marriage, anyway, and--"
"That's just it," broke in the bride eagerly. "That's one reason I
wanted to go there--to show him, you know. Why, Burke, I'd got it all
planned out lovely, how nice I was going to be to him--get his paper and
slippers, and kiss him good-morning, and--"
"Holy smoke! Kiss--" Just in time the fastidious son of a still more
fastidious father pulled himself up; but to a more discerning bride, his
face would already have finished his sentence. "Er--but--well, anyhow,
dear," he stammered, "that's very kind of you, of course; but you see
it's useless even to think of it. He--he has forbidden us to go there."
"Why, the mean old thing!"
"Helen!"
Helen's face showed a frown as well as a pout.
"I don't care. He is mean, if he is your father, not to let--"
"Helen!"
At the angry sharpness of the man's voice Helen stopped abruptly. For a
moment she gazed at her husband with reproachful eyes. Then her chin
began to quiver, her breath to come in choking little gasps, and the big
tears to roll down her face.
"Why, Burke, I--"
"Oh, great Scott! Helen, dearest, don't, _please_!" begged the dismayed
and distracted young husband, promptly capitulating at the awful sight
of tears of which he was the despicable cause. "Darling, don't!"
"But you never sp-poke like that to me b-before," choked the wife of a
fortnight.
"I know. I was a brute--so I was! But, sweetheart, _please_ stop," he
pleaded desperately. "See, we're just pulling into Dalton. You don't
want them to see you crying--a bride!"
Mrs. Burke Denby drew in her breath convulsively, and lifted a hurried
hand to brush the tears from her eyes. The next moment she smiled,
tremulously, but adorably. She looked very lovely as she stepped from
the car a little later; and Burke Denby's heart swelled with love and
pride as he watched her. If underneath the love and pride there was a
vague something not so pleasant, the man told himself it was only a
natural regret at having said anything to cast the slightest shadow on
the home-coming of this dear girl whom he had asked to share his life.
Whatever this vague something was, anyway, Burke resolutely put it
behind him, and devoted himself all the more ardently to the comfort of
his young wife.
In spite of himself, Burke could not help looking for his father's face
at the station. Never before had he come home (when not with his
father), and not been welcomed by that father's eager smile and
outstretched hand. He missed them both now. Otherwise he was relieved to
see few people he knew, as he stepped to the platform, though he fully
realized, from the sly winks and covert glances, that every one knew who
he was, and who also was the lady at his side.
With only an occasional perfunctory greeting, and no introductions,
therefore, the somewhat embarrassed and irritated bridegroom hurried his
bride into a public carriage, and gave the order to drive to the Hancock
Hotel.
All the way there he talked very fast and very tenderly of the new home
that was soon to be theirs.
"'Twill be only for a little--the hotel, dear," he plunged in at once.
"And you won't mind it, for a little, while we're planning, will you,
darling? I'm going to rent one of the Reddington apartments. You
remember them--on Reddington Avenue; white stone with dandy little
balconies between the big bay windows. They were just being finished
when you were here. They're brand-new, you see. And we'll be so happy,
there, dearie,--just us two!"
"Us two! But, Burke, there'll be three. There'll have to be the hired
girl, too, you know," fluttered the new wife, in quick panic. "Surely
you aren't going to make me do without a hired girl!"
"Oh, no--no, indeed," asserted the man, all the more hurriedly, because
he never had thought of a "hired girl," and because he was rather
fearfully wondering how much his father paid for the maids, anyway.
There would have to be one, of course; but he wondered if his allowance
would cover it, with all the rest. Still, he _could_ smoke a cigar or
two less a day, he supposed, if it came to a pinch, and--but Helen was
speaking.
"Dear, dear, but you did give me a turn, Burke! You see, there'll just
have to be a hired girl--that is, if you want anything to eat, sir," she
laughed, showing all her dimples. (And Burke loved her dimples!) "I
can't cook a little bit. I never did at home, you know, and I should
hate it, I'm sure. It's so messy--sticky dough and dishes, and all
that!" Again she laughed and showed all her dimples, looking so
altogether bewitching that Burke almost--but not quite--stole a kiss. He
decided, too, on the spot, that he would rather never smoke another
cigar than to subject this adorable little thing at his side to any task
that had to do with the hated "messy dough and sticky dishes." Indeed he
would!
Something of this must have shown in his face, for the little bride
beamed anew, and the remainder of the drive was a blissfully happy duet
of fascinating plans regarding this new little nest of a home.
All this was at four o'clock. At eight o'clock Burke Denby came into
their room at the hotel with a white face and tense lips.
"Well, Helen, we're in for it," he flung out, dropping himself into the
nearest chair.
"What do you mean?"
"Father has cut off my allowance."
"But you--you've gone to work. There's your wages!"
"Oh, yes, there are my--wages."
Something in his tone sent a swift suspicion to her eyes.
"Do you mean--they aren't so big as your allowance?"
"I certainly do."
"How perfectly horrid! Just as if it wasn't mean enough for him not to
let us live there, without--"
"Helen!" Burke Denby pulled himself up in his chair. "See here, dear, I
shan't let even you say things like that about dad. Now, for heaven's
sake, don't let us quarrel about it," he pleaded impatiently, as he saw
the dreaded quivering coming to the pouting lips opposite.
"But I--I--"
"Helen, dearest, don't cry, please don't! Crying won't help; and I tell
you it's serious business--this is."
"But are you sure--do you know it's true?" faltered the young wife, too
thoroughly frightened now to be angry. "Did you see--your father?"
"No; I saw Brett."
"Who's he? Maybe he doesn't know."
"Oh, yes, he does," returned Burke, with grim emphasis. "He knows
everything. They say at the Works that he knows what father's going to
have for breakfast before the cook does."
"But who is he?"
"He's the head manager of the Denby Iron Works and father's right-hand
man. He came here to-night to see me--by dad's orders, I suspect."
"Is your father so awfully angry, then?" Her eyes had grown a bit
wistful.
"I'm afraid he is. He says I've made my bed and now I must lie in it.
He's cut off my allowance entirely. He's raised my wages--a little, and
he says it's up to me now to make good--with my wages."
There was a minute's silence. The man's eyes were gloomily fixed on the
opposite wall. His whole attitude spelled disillusion and despair. The
woman's eyes, questioning, fearful, were fixed on the man.
Plainly some new, hidden force was at work within Helen Denby's heart.
Scorn and anger had left her countenance. Grief and dismay had come in
their place.
"Burke, _why_ has your father objected so to--to me?" she asked at last,
timidly.
Abstractedly, as if scarcely conscious of what he was saying, the man
shrugged:--
"Oh, the usual thing. He said you weren't suited to me; you wouldn't
make me happy."
The wife recoiled visibly. She gave a piteous little cry. It was too
low, apparently, to reach her husband's ears. At all events, he did not
turn. For fully half a minute she watched him, and in her shrinking eyes
was mirrored each eloquent detail of his appearance, the lassitude, the
gloom, the hopelessness. Then, suddenly, to her whole self there came an
electric change. As if throwing off bonds that held her she flung out
her arms and sprang toward him.
"Burke, it isn't true, it isn't true," she flamed. "I'm going to make
you happy! You just wait and see. And we'll show him. We'll show him we
can do it! He told you to make good; and you must, Burke! I won't have
him and everybody else saying I dragged you down. I won't! _I won't!_ I
WON'T!"
Burke Denby's first response was to wince involuntarily at the shrill
crescendo of his wife's voice. His next was to shrug his shoulders
irritably as the meaning of her words came to him.
"Nonsense, Helen, don't be a goose!" he scowled.
"I'm not a goose. I'm your wife," choked Helen, still swayed by the
exaltation that had mastered her. "And I'm going to help you win--_win_,
I say! Do you hear me, Burke?"
"Of course I hear you, Helen; and--so'll everybody else, if you don't
look out. _Please_ speak lower, Helen!"
She was too intent and absorbed to be hurt or vexed. Obediently she
dropped her voice almost to a whisper.
"Yes, yes, I know, Burke; and I will, I will, dear." She fell on her
knees at his side. "But it seems as if I must shout it to the world. I
want to go out on the street here and scream it at the top of my voice,
till your father in his great big useless house on the hill just has to
hear me."
"Helen, Helen!" shivered her husband.
But she hurried on feverishly.
"Burke, listen! You're going to make good. Do you hear? We'll show them.
We'll never let them say they--beat us!"
"But--but--"
"We aren't going to say 'but' and hang back. We're going to _do_!"
"But, Helen, how? What?" demanded the man, stirred into a show of
interest at last. "How can we?"
"I don't know, but we're going to do it."
"There won't be--hardly any money."
"I'll get along--somehow."
"And we'll have to live in a cheap little hole somewhere--we can't have
one of the Reddingtons."
"I don't want it--now."
"And you'll have to--to work."
"Yes, I know." Her chin was still bravely lifted.
"There can't be any--maid now."
"Then you'll have to eat--what I cook!" She drew in her breath with a
hysterical little laugh that was half a sob.
"You darling! I shall love it!" He caught her to himself in a revulsion
of feeling that was as ardent as it was sudden. "Only I'll so hate to
have you do it, sweetheart--it's so messy and doughy!"
"Nonsense!"
"You told me it was."
"But I didn't know then--what they were saying about me. Burke, they
just shan't say I'm dragging you down."
"Indeed they shan't, darling."
"Then you will make good?" she regarded him with tearful, luminous eyes.
"Of course I will--with _you_ to help me."
Her face flamed into radiant joy.
"Yes, _with me to help_! That's it, that's it--I'm going to _help_ you,"
she breathed fervently, flinging her arms about his neck.
And to each, from the dear stronghold of the other's arms, at the
moment, the world looked, indeed, to be a puny thing, scarcely worth the
conquering.
CHAPTER IV
NEST-BUILDING
It is so much easier to say than to do. But nothing in the experience of
either Burke Denby or of Helen, his wife, had demonstrated this fact for
them. Quite unprepared, therefore, and with confident courage, they
proceeded to pass from the saying to the doing.
True, in the uncompromising sunlight of the next morning, the world did
look a bit larger, a shade less easily conquerable; and a distinctly
unpleasant feeling of helplessness assailed both husband and wife. Yet
with a gay "Now we'll go house-hunting right away so as to save paying
here!" from Helen, and an adoring "You darling--but it's a burning
shame!" from Burke, the two sallied forth, after the late hotel
breakfast.
The matter of selecting the new home was not a difficult one--at first.
They decided at once that, if they could not have an apartment in the
Reddington Chambers, they would prefer a house. "For," Burke said, "as
for being packed away like sardines in one of those abominable little
cheap flat-houses, I won't!" So a house they looked for at the start.
And very soon they found what Helen said was a "love of a place"--a
pretty little cottage with a tiny lawn and a flower-bed.
"And it's so lucky it's for rent," she exulted. "For it's just what we
want, isn't it, dearie?"
"Y-yes; but--"
"Why, Burke, don't you like it? _I_ think it's a dear! Of course it
isn't like your father's house. But we can't expect that."
"Expect that! Great Scott, Helen,--we can't expect this!" cried the man.
"Why, Burke, what do you mean?"
"It'll cost too much, dear,--in this neighborhood. We can't afford it."
"Oh, that'll be all right. I'll economize somewhere else. Come; it says
the key is next door."
"Yes, but, Helen, dearest, I know we can't--" But "Helen, dearest," was
already halfway up the adjoining walk; and Burke, with a despairing
glance at her radiant, eager face, followed her. There was, indeed, no
other course open to him, as he knew, unless he chose to make a scene on
the public thorough-fare--and Burke Denby did not like scenes.
The house was found to be as attractive inside as it was out; and
Helen's progress from room to room was a series of delighted
exclamations. She was just turning to go upstairs when her husband's
third desperate expostulation brought her feet and her tongue to a
pause.
"Helen, darling, I tell you we can't!" he was exclaiming. "It's out of
the question."
"Burke!" Her lips began to quiver. "And when you know how much I want
it!"
"Sweetheart, don't, please, make it any harder for me," he begged. "I'd
give you a dozen houses like this if I could--and you know it. But we
can't afford even this one. The rent is forty dollars. I heard her tell
you when she gave you the key."
"Never mind. We can economize other ways."
"But, Helen, I only get sixty all told. We can't pay forty for rent."
"Oh, but, Burke, that leaves twenty, and we can do a lot on twenty. Just
as if what we ate would cost us that! I don't care for meat, anyhow,
much. We'll cut that out. And I hate grapefruit and olives. They cost a
lot. Mrs. Allen was always having them, and--"
The distraught husband interrupted with an impatient gesture.
"Grapefruit and olives, indeed! And as if food were all of it! Where are
our clothes and coal and--and doctor's bills, and I don't-know-what-all
coming from? Why, great Scott, Helen, I smoke half that in a week,
sometimes,--not that I shall now, of course," he added hastily. "But,
honestly, dearie, we simply can't do it. Now, come, be a good girl, and
let's go on. We're simply wasting time here."
Helen, convinced at last, tossed him the key, with a teary "All
right--take it back then. I shan't! I know I should c-cry right before
her!" The next minute, at sight of the abject woe and dismay on her
husband's face, she flung herself upon him with a burst of sobs.
"There, there, Burke, here I am, so soon, making a fuss because we can't
afford things! But I won't any more--truly I won't! I was a mean, horrid
old thing! Yes, I was," she reiterated in answer to his indignant
denial. "Come, let's go quick!" she exclaimed, pulling herself away, and
lifting her head superbly. "I don't want the old place, anyhow. Truly, I
don't!" And, with a dazzling smile, she reached out her hand and tripped
enticingly ahead of him toward the door; while the man, bewildered, but
enthralled by this extraordinary leap from fretful stubbornness to gay
docility, hurried after her with an incoherent jumble of rapturous
adjectives.
Such was Mr. and Mrs. Burke Denby's first experience of home-hunting.
The second, though different in detail, was similar in disappointment.
So also were the third and the fourth experiences. Not, indeed, until
the weary, distracted pair had spent three days in time, all their
patience, and most of their good nature, did they finally arrive at a
decision. And then their selection, alas, proved to be one of the
despised tiny flats, in which, according to the unhappy young
bridegroom, they were destined to be packed like sardines.
After all, it had been the "elegant mirror in the parlor," and the "just
grand" tiled and tessellated entrance, that had been the determining
factors in the decision; for Burke, thankful that at last something
within reach of his pocketbook had been found to bring a sparkle to his
beloved's eyes, had stifled his own horror at the tawdry cheapness of
it all, and had given a consent that was not without a measure of relief
born of the three long days of weary, well-nigh hopeless search.
Dalton, like most manufacturing towns of fifteen or twenty thousand
souls, had all the diversity of a much larger place. There was West
Hill, where were the pillared and porticoed residences of the
pretentious and the pretending, set in painfully new, wide-sweeping,
flower-bordered lawns; and there was Valley Street, a double line of
ramshackle wooden buildings with broken steps and shutterless windows,
where a blade of grass was a stranger and a flower unknown, save for
perhaps a sickly geranium on a tenement window sill. There was Old
Dalton, with its winding, tree-shaded streets clambering all over the
slope of Elm Hill, where old colonial mansions, with an air of aloofness
(borrowed quite possibly from their occupants), seemed ever to be
withdrawing farther and farther away from plebeian noise and publicity.
There was, of course, the mill district, where were the smoke-belching
chimneys and great black buildings that meant the town's bread and
butter; and there were the adjoining streets of workmen's houses, fitted
to give a sensitive soul the horrors, so seemingly endless was the
repetition of covered stoop and dormer window, always exactly the same,
as far as eye could reach. There was, too, the bustling, asphalted,
brick-blocked business center; and there were numerous streets of
simple, pretty cottages, and substantial residences, among which, with
growing frequency, there were beginning to appear the tall,
many-windowed apartment houses, ranging all the way from the exclusive,
expensive Reddington Chambers down to the flimsy structures like the one
whose tawdry ornamentation had caught the fancy of Burke Denby's
village-bred wife.
To Burke Denby himself, late of Denby House (perhaps the most aloof of
all the "old colonials"), the place was a nightmare of horror. But
because his wife's eyes had glistened, and because his wife's lips had
caroled a joyous "Oh, Burke, I'd _love_ this place, darling!"--and
because, most important of all, if it must be confessed, the rent was
only twenty dollars a month, he had uttered a grim "All right, we'll
take it." And the selection of the home was accomplished.
Not until they were on the way to the hotel that night did there come to
the young husband the full realizing sense that housekeeping meant
furniture.
"Oh, of course I _knew_ it did," he groaned, half-laughingly, after his
first despairing ejaculation. "But I just didn't think; that's all. Our
furniture at home we'd always had. But of course it does have to be
bought--at first."
"Of course! And _I_ didn't think, either," laughed Helen. "You see, we'd
always had _our_ furniture, too, I guess. But then, it'll be grand to
buy it. I love new things!"
Burke Denby frowned.
"Buy it! That's all right--if we had the money to pay. Heaven only
knows how much it'll cost. I don't."
"But, Burke, you've got _some_ money, haven't you? You took a big roll
out of your pocket last night."
He gave her a scornful glance.
"Big roll, indeed! How far do you suppose that would go toward
furnishing a home? Of course I've got some money--a little left from my
allowance--but that doesn't mean I've got enough to furnish a home."
"Then let's give up housekeeping and board," proposed Helen. "Then we
won't have to buy any furniture. And I think I'd like it better anyhow;
and I _know_ you would--after you'd sampled my cooking," she finished
laughingly.
But her husband did not smile. The frown only deepened as he
ejaculated:--
"Board! Not much, Helen! We _couldn't_ board at a decent place. 'Twould
cost too much. And as for the cheap variety--great Scott, Helen! I
wonder if you think I'd stand for that! Heaven knows we'll be enough
gossiped about, as it is, without our planting ourselves right under the
noses of half the tabby-cats in town for them to 'oh' and 'ah' and 'um'
every time we turn around or don't turn around! No, ma'am, Helen! We'll
shut ourselves up somewhere within four walls we can call home, even if
we have to furnish it with only two chairs and a bed and a kitchen
stove. It'll be ours--and we'll be where we won't be stared at."
Helen laughed lightly.
"Dear, dear, Burke, how you do run on! Just as if one minded a little
staring! I rather like it, myself,--if I know my clothes and my back
hair are all right."
"Ugh! Helen!"
"Well, I do," she laughed, uptilting her chin. "It makes one feel so
sort of--er--important. But I won't say 'board' again, _never_,--unless
you begin to scold at my cooking," she finished with an arch glance.
"As if I could do that!" cried the man promptly, again the adoring
husband. "I shall love everything you do--just because it's _you_ that
do it. The only trouble will be, _you_ won't get enough to eat--because
I shall want to eat it all!"
"You darling! Aren't you the best ever!" she cooed, giving his arm a
surreptitious squeeze. "But, really, you know, I am going to be a
bang-up cook. I've got a cookbook."
"So soon? Where did you get that?"
"Yesterday, while you went into Stoddard's for that house-key. I saw one
in the window next door and I went in and bought it. 'Twas two dollars,
so it ought to be a good one. And that makes me think. It took all the
money I had, 'most, in my purse. So I--I'm afraid I'll have to have some
more, dear."
"Why, of course, of course! You mustn't go without money a minute." And
the young husband, with all the alacrity of a naturally generous nature
supplemented by the embarrassment of this new experience of being asked
for money by the girl he loved, plunged his hand into his pocket and
crowded two bills into her unresisting fingers. "There! And I won't be
so careless again, dear. I don't ever mean you to have to _ask_ for
money, sweetheart."
"Oh, thank you," she murmured, tucking the bills into her little
handbag. "I shan't need any more for ever so long, I'm sure. I'm going
to be economical _now_, you know."
"Of course you are. You're going to be a little brick. _I_ know."
"And we won't mind anything if we're only together," she breathed.
"There won't be anything to mind," he answered fervently, with an ardent
glance that would have been a kiss had it not been for the annoying
presence of a few score of Dalton's other inhabitants on the street
together with themselves.
The next minute they reached the hotel.
At nine o'clock the following morning Mr. and Mrs. Burke Denby sallied
forth to buy the furniture for their "tenement," as Helen called it,
until her husband's annoyed remonstrances changed the word to
"apartment."
Burke Denby learned many things during the next few hours. He learned
first that tables and chairs and beds and stoves--really decent ones
that a fellow could endure the sight of--cost a prodigious amount of
money. But, to offset this, and to make life really worth the living,
after all, it seemed that one might buy a quantity sufficient for one's
needs, and pay for them in installments, week by week. This idea, while
not wholly satisfactory, seemed the only way of stretching their limited
means to cover their many needs; and, after some hesitation, it was
adopted.
There remained then only the matter of selection; and it was just here
that Burke Denby learned something else. He learned that two people,
otherwise apparently in perfect accord, could disagree most violently
over the shape of a chair or the shade of a rug. Indeed, he would not
have believed it possible that such elements of soul torture could lie
in a mere matter of color or texture. And how any one with eyes and
sensibilities could wish to select for one's daily companions such a
mass of gingerbread decoration and glaring colors as seemed to meet the
fancy of his wife, he could not understand. Neither could he understand
why all his selections and preferences were promptly dubbed "dingy" and
"homely," nor why nothing that he liked pleased her at all. As such was
certainly the case, however, he came to express these preferences less
and less frequently. And in the end he always bought what she wanted,
particularly as the price on her choice was nearly always lower than the
one on his--which was an argument in its favor that he found it hard to
refute.
Tractable as he was as to quality, however, he did have to draw a sharp
line as to quantity; for Helen;--with the cheerful slogan, "Why, it's
only twenty-five cents a week more, Burke!"--seemed not to realize that
there was a limit even to the number of those one might spend--on sixty
dollars a month. True, at the beginning she did remind him that they
could "eat less" till they "got the things paid for," and that her
clothes were "all new, anyhow, being a bride, so!" But she had not said
that again. Perhaps because she saw the salesman turn his back to laugh,
and perhaps because she was a little frightened at the look on her
husband's face. At all events, when Burke did at last insist that they
had bought quite enough, she acquiesced with some measure of grace.
Burke himself, when the shopping was finished, drew a sigh of relief,
yet with an inward shudder at the recollection of certain things marked
"Sold to Burke Denby."
"Oh, well," he comforted himself. "Helen's happy--and that's the main
thing; and I shan't see them much. I'm away days and asleep nights." Nor
did it occur to him that this was not the usual attitude of a supposedly
proud bridegroom toward his new little nest of a home.
Getting settled in the little Dale Street apartment was, so far as Burke
was concerned, a mere matter of moving from the hotel and dumping the
contents of his trunk into his new chiffonier and closet. True, Helen,
looking tired and flurried (and not nearly so pretty as usual), brought
to him some borrowed tools, together with innumerable curtains and rods
and nails and hooks that simply must be put up, she said, before she
could do a thing. But Burke, after a half-hearted trial,--during which
he mashed his thumb and bored three holes in wrong places,--flew into a
passion of irritability, and bade her get the janitor who "owned the
darn things" to do the job, and to pay him what he asked--'twould be
worth it, no matter what it was!
With a very hasty kiss then Burke banged out of the house and headed for
the Denby Iron Works.
It was not alone the curtains or the offending hammer that was wrong
with Burke Denby that morning. The time had come when he must not only
meet his fellow employees, and take his place among them, but he must
face his father. And he was dreading yet longing to see his father. He
had not seen him since he bade him good-night and went upstairs to his
own room the month before--to write that farewell note.
Once, since coming back from his wedding trip, he had been tempted to
leave town and never see his father again--until he should have made for
himself the name and the money that he was going to make. Then he would
come back and cry: "Behold, this is I, your son, and this is Helen, my
wife, who, you see, has _not_ dragged me down!" He would not, of course,
_talk_ like that. But he would show them. He would! This had been when
he first learned from Brett of the allowance-cutting, and of his
father's implacable anger.
Then had come the better, braver decision. He would stay where he was.
He would make the name and the money right here, under his father's very
eyes. It would be harder, of course; but there would then be all the
more glory in the winning. Besides, to leave now would look like
defeat--would make one seem almost like a quitter. And his father hated
quitters! He would like to show his father. He _would_ show his father.
And he would show him right here. And had not Helen, his dear wife, said
that she would aid him? As if he could help winning out under those
circumstances!
It was with thoughts such as these that he went now to meet his father.
Especially was he thinking of Helen, dear Helen,--poor Helen, struggling
back there with those abominable hooks and curtains. And he had been
such a brute to snap her up so crossly! He would not do it again. It was
only that he was so dreading this first meeting with his father. After
that it would be easier. There would not be anything then only just to
keep steadily going till he'd made good--he and Helen. But now--father
would be proud to see how finely he was taking it!
With chin up and shoulders back, therefore, Burke Denby walked into his
father's office.
"Well, father," he began, with cheery briskness. Then, instantly, voice
and manner changed as he took a hurried step forward. "Dad, what is it?
Are you ill?"
So absorbed had Burke Denby been over the part he himself was playing in
this little drama of Denby and Son, that he had given no thought as to
the probable looks or actions of any other member of the cast. He was
quite unprepared, therefore, for the change in the man he now saw before
him--the pallor, the shrunken cheeks, the stooped shoulders, the
unmistakable something that made the usually erect, debonair man look
suddenly worn and old.
"Dad, you are ill!" exclaimed Burke in dismay.
John Denby got to his feet at once. He even smiled and held out his
hand. Yet Burke, who took the hand, felt suddenly that there were
uncounted miles of space between them.
"Ah, Burke, how are you? No, I'm not ill at all. And you--are you well?"
"Er--ah--oh, yes, very well--er--very well."
"That's good. I'm glad."
There was a brief pause. A torrent of words swept to the tip of the
younger man's tongue; but nothing found voice except another faltering
"Er--yes, very well!" which Burke had not meant to say at all. There was
a second brief pause, then John Denby sat down.
"You will find Brett in his office. You have come to work, I dare say,"
he observed, as he turned to the letters on his desk.
"Er--yes," stammered the young man. The next moment he found himself
alone, white and shaken, the other side of his father's door.
To work? Oh, yes, he had come to work; but he had come first to talk.
There were a whole lot of things he had meant to say to his father.
First, of course, there would have had to be something in the nature of
an apology or the like to patch up the quarrel. Then he would tell him
how he was really going to make good--he and Helen. After that they
could get down to one of their old-time chats. They always had been
chums--he and dad; and they hadn't had a talk for four weeks. Why, for
three weeks he had been saving up a story, a dandy story that dad would
appreciate! And there were other things, serious things, that--
And here already he had seen his father, and it was over. And he had not
said a word--nothing of what he had meant to say. He believed he would
go back--
With an angry gesture Burke Denby turned and extended his hand halfway
toward the closed door. Then, with an impatient shrug, he whirled about
and strode toward the door marked "J. A. Brett, General Manager."
If young Denby had obeyed his first impulse and reëntered his father's
office he would have found the man with his head bowed on the desk, his
arms outflung.
John Denby, too, was white and shaken. He, too, had been dreading this
meeting, and longing for it--that it might be over. There was now,
however, on his part, no feeling of chagrin and impotence because of
things that had not been said. There was only a shuddering relief that
things had _not_ been said; that he had been able to carry it straight
through as he had planned; that he had not shown his boy how much
he--cared. He was glad that his pride had been equal to the strain; that
he had not weakly succumbed at the first glimpse of his son's face, the
first touch of his son's hand, as he had so feared that he would do.
And he had not succumbed--though he had almost gone down before the
quick terror and affectionate dismay that had leaped into his son's
voice and eyes at sight of his own changed appearance. (Why _could_ not
he keep those abominable portions of his anatomy from being so
wretchedly telltale?) But he had remembered in time. Did the boy think,
then, that a mere word of sympathy now could balance the scale against
so base a disregard of everything loyal and filial a month ago? Then he
would show that it could not.
And he had shown it.
What if he did know now, even better than he had known it all these last
miserable four weeks, that his whole world had lain in his boy's hand,
that his whole life had been bounded by his boy's smile, his whole soul
immersed in his boy's future? What if he did know that all the power and
wealth and fame of name that he had won were as the dust in his
fingers--if he might not pass them on to his son? He was not going to
let Burke know this. Indeed, no!
Burke had made his own bed. He should lie in it. Deliberately he had
chosen to cast aside the love and companionship of a devoted father at
the beck of an almost unknown girl's hand. Should the father then offer
again the once-scorned love and companionship? Had he no pride--no
proper sense of simple right and justice? No self-respect, even?
It was thus, and by arguments such as these, that John Denby had lashed
himself into the state of apparently cool, courteous indifference that
had finally carried him successfully through the interview just closed.
For a long time John Denby sat motionless, his arms outflung across the
letters that might have meant so much, but that did mean so little, to
him--now. Then slowly he raised his head and fixed somber, longing eyes
on the door that had so recently closed behind his son.
The boy was in there with Brett now--his boy. He was being told that his
wages for the present were to be fifteen dollars a week, and that he was
expected to live within his income--that the wages were really very
liberal, considering his probable value to the company at the first. He
_would_ begin at the bottom, as had been planned years ago; but with
this difference: he would be promoted now only when he had earned it. He
would have been pushed rapidly ahead to the top, had matters been as
they once were. Now he must demonstrate and prove his ability.
All this Brett was telling Burke now. Poor Burke! Brett was so harsh, so
uncompromising. As if it weren't tough enough to have to live on a
paltry fifteen dollars a week, without--
John Denby sighed and rose to his feet. Aimlessly he fidgeted about the
spacious, well-appointed office. Twice he turned toward the door as if
to leave the room. Once he reached a hesitating hand toward the
push-button on this desk. Then determinedly he sat down and picked up
one of his letters.
Brett was right. It was the best way; the only way. And it was well,
indeed, that Brett had been delegated to do the telling. If it had been
himself now--! Shucks! If it had been himself, the boy would only have
had to _look_ his reproach--and his wages would have been doubled on the
spot! Fifteen dollars a week--_Burke!_ Why, the boy could not-- Well,
then, he need not have been so foolish, so headstrong, so heartlessly
disregardful of his father's wishes. He had brought it upon himself,
entirely, entirely!
Whereupon, with an angry exclamation, John Denby shifted about in his
hand the letter which for three minutes he had been holding before his
eyes upside down.
CHAPTER V
THE WIFE
Helen Denby had never doubted her ability to be a perfect wife. As a
girl, her vision had pictured a beauteous creature moving through a
glorified world of love and admiration, ease and affluence.
Later, at the time of her marriage to Burke Denby, her vision had
altered sufficiently to present a picture of herself as the sweet
good-angel of the old Denby Mansion, the forgiving young wife who lays
up no malice against an unappreciative father-in-law. Even when, still
later (upon their return from their wedding trip and upon her learning
of John Denby's decree of banishment), the vision was necessarily warped
and twisted all out of semblance to its original outlines, there yet
remained unchanged the basic idea of perfect wifehood.
Helen saw herself now as the martyr wife whose superb courage and
self-sacrifice were to be the stepping-stones of a husband's magnificent
success. She would be guide, counselor, and friend. (Somewhere she had
seen those words. She liked them very much.) Unswervingly she would hold
Burke to his high purpose. Untiringly she would lead him ever toward his
goal of "making good."
She saw herself the sweet, loving wife, graciously presiding over the
well-kept home, always ready, daintily gowned, to welcome his coming
with a kiss, and to speed his going with a blessing. Then, when in due
course he had won out, great would be her reward. With what sweet pride
and gentle dignity would she accept the laurel wreath of praise (Helen
had seen this expression somewhere, too, and liked it), which a
remorseful but grateful world would hasten to lay at the feet of her who
alone had made possible the splendid victory--the once despised, flouted
wife--the wife who was to drag him down!
It was a pleasant picture, and Helen frequently dwelt upon
it--especially the sweet-and-gentle-dignity-wife part. She found it
particularly soothing during those first early days of housekeeping in
the new apartment.
Not that she was beginning in the least to doubt her ability to be that
perfect wife. It was only that to think of things as they would be was a
pleasant distraction from thinking of things as they were. But of course
it would be all right very soon, anyway,--just as soon as everything got
nicely to running.
Helen did wonder sometimes why the getting of "everything nicely to
running" was so difficult. That a certain amount of training and
experience was necessary to bring about the best results never occurred
to her. If Helen had been asked to take a position as stenographer or
church soloist, she would have replied at once that she did not know how
to do the work. Into the position of home-maker, however, she stepped
with cheerful confidence, her eyes only on the wonderful success she was
going to make.
To Helen housekeeping was something like a clock that you wound up in
the morning to run all day. And even when at the end of a week she could
not help seeing that not once yet had she got around to being the
"sweet, daintily gowned wife welcoming her husband to a well-kept home,"
before that husband appeared at the door, she still did not doubt her
own capabilities. It was only that "things hadn't got to running yet."
And it was always somebody else's fault, anyway,--frequently her
husband's. For if he did not come to dinner too early, before a thing
was done, he was sure to be late, and thus spoil everything by her
trying to keep things hot for him. And, of course, under such
circumstances, nobody could _expect_ one to be a sweet and daintily
gowned wife!
Besides, there was the cookbook.
"Do you know, Burke," she finally wailed one night, between sobs, "I
don't believe it's good for a thing--that old cookbook! I haven't got a
thing out of it yet that's been real good. I've half a mind to take it
back where I got it, and make them change it, or else give me back my
money. I have, so there!"
"But, dearie," began her husband doubtfully, "you said yourself
yesterday that you forgot the salt in the omelet, and the baking powder
in the cake, and--"
"Well, what if I did?" she contended aggrievedly. "What's a little salt
or baking powder? 'Twasn't but a pinch or a spoonful, anyhow, and I
remembered all the other things. Besides, if those rules were any good
they'd be worded so I _couldn't_ forget part of the things. And, anyhow,
I don't think it's very nice of you to b-blame me all the time when I'm
doing the very best I can. I _told_ you I couldn't cook, but you _said_
you'd like anything I made, because I did it, and--"
"Yes, yes, darling, and so I do," interrupted the remorseful husband,
hurriedly. And, to prove it, he ate the last scrap of the unappetizing
concoction on his plate, which his wife said was a fish croquette.
Afterwards still further to show his remorse, he helped her wash the
dishes and set the rooms in order. Then together they went for a walk in
the moonlight.
It was a beautiful walk, and it quite restored Helen to good nature.
They went up on West Hill (where Helen particularly loved to go), and
they laid wonderful plans of how one day they, too, would build a big
stone palace of a home up there--though Burke did say that, for his
part, he liked Elm Hill quite as well; but Helen laughed him out of that
"old-fashioned idea." At least he said no more about it.
They talked much of how proud Burke's father was going to be when Burke
had made good, and of how ashamed and sorry he would be that he had so
misjudged his son's wife. And Helen uttered some very sweet and
beautiful sentiments concerning her intention of laying up no malice,
her firm determination to be loving and forgiving.
Then together they walked home in the moonlight; and so thrilled and
exalted were they that even the cheap little Dale Street living-room
looked wonderfully dear. And Helen said that, after all, love was the
only thing that mattered--that they just loved each other. And Burke
said, "Yes, yes, indeed."
The vision of the sweet, daintily gowned wife and the perfect home was
very clear to Helen as she dropped off to sleep that night; and she was
sure that she could begin to realize it at once. But unfortunately she
overslept the next morning--which was really Burke's fault, as she said,
for he forgot to wind the alarm clock, and she was not used to getting
up at such an unearthly hour, anyway, and she did not see why _he_ had
to do it, for that matter--he was really the son of the owner, even if
he was _called_ an apprentice.
This did not help matters any, for Burke never liked any reference to
his position at the Works. To be sure, he did not say much, this time,
except to observe stiffly that he _would_ like his breakfast, if she
would be so good as to get it--as if she were not already hurrying as
fast as she could, and herself only half-dressed at that!
Of course the breakfast was a failure. Helen said that perhaps some
people could get a meal of victuals on to the table, with a hungry man
eyeing their every move, but she could not. Burke declared then that he
really did not want any breakfast anyway, and he started to go; but as
Helen only cried the more at this, he had to come back and comfort
her--thereby, in the end, being both breakfastless and late to his work.
Helen, after he had gone, spent a blissfully wretched ten minutes
weeping over the sad fate that should doom such a child of light and
laughter as herself to the somber rôle of martyr wife, and wondered if,
after all, it would not be really more impressive and more
soul-torturing-with-remorse for the cruel father-in-law, if she should
take poison, or gas, or something (not disfiguring), and lay herself
calmly down to die, her beautiful hands crossed meekly upon her bosom.
Attractive as was this picture in some respects, it yet had its
drawbacks. Then, too, there was the laurel wreath of praise due her
later. She had almost forgotten that. On the whole, that would be
preferable to the poison, Helen decided, as she began, with really
cheerful alacrity, to attack the messy breakfast dishes.
It was not alone the cooking that troubled the young wife during that
first month of housekeeping. Everywhere she found pitfalls for her
unwary feet, from managing the kitchen range to keeping the living-room
dusted.
And there was the money.
Helen's idea of money, in her happy, care-free girlhood, had been that
it was one of the common necessities of life; and she accepted it as she
did the sunshine--something she was entitled to; something everybody
had. She learned the fallacy of this, of course, when she attempted to
earn her own living; but in marrying the son of the rich John Denby, she
had expected to step back into the sunshine, as it were. It was not easy
now to adjust herself to the change.
She did not like the idea of asking for every penny she spent, and it
seemed as if she was always having to ask Burke for money; and, though
he invariably handed it over with a nervously quick, "Why, yes,
certainly! I don't mean you to have to ask for it, Helen"; yet she
thought she detected a growing irritation in his manner each time. And
on the last occasion he had added a dismayed "But I hadn't any idea you
could have got out so soon as this again!" And it made her feel very
uncomfortable indeed.
As if _she_ were to blame that it took so much butter and coffee and
sugar and stuff just to get three meals a day! And as if it were her
fault that that horrid cookbook was always calling for something she did
not have, like mace, or summer savory, or thyme, and she had to run out
and buy a pound of it! Didn't he suppose it took _some_ money to stock
up with things, when one hadn't a thing to begin with?
Helen had been on the point of saying something of this sort to her
husband, simply as a matter of self-justification, when there
unexpectedly came a most delightful solution of her difficulty.
It was the grocer who pointed the way.
"Why don't you open an account with us, Mrs. Denby?" he asked smilingly
one day, in reply to her usual excuse that she could not buy something
because she did not have the money to pay for it.
"An account? What's that? That wouldn't make me have any more money,
would it? Father was always talking about accounts--good ones and bad
ones. He kept a store, you know. But I never knew what they were,
exactly. I never thought of asking. I never had to pay any attention to
money at home. What is an account? How can I get one?"
"Why, you give your orders as usual, but let the payment go until the
end of the month," smiled the grocer. "We'll charge it--note it down,
you know--then send the bill to your husband."
"And I won't have to ask him for any money?"
"Not to pay us." The man's lips twitched a little.
"Oh, that would be just grand," she sighed longingly. "I'd like that.
And it's something the way we're buying our furniture, isn't
it?--installments, you know."
The grocer's lips twitched again.
"Er--y-yes, only we send a bill for the entire month."
"And he pays it? Oh, I see. That's just grand! And he'd like it all
right, wouldn't he?--because of course he'd have to pay some time,
anyhow. And this way he wouldn't have to have me bothering him so much
all the time asking for money. Oh, thank you. You're very kind. I think
I will do that way if you don't mind."
"We shall be glad to have you, Mrs. Denby. So we'll call that settled.
And now you can begin right away this morning."
"And can I get those canned peaches and pears and plums, and the grape
jelly that I first looked at?"
"Certainly--if you decide you want 'em," mumbled the grocer, throwing
the last six words as a sop to his conscience which was beginning to
stir unpleasantly.
"Oh, yes, I want 'em," averred Helen, her eager eyes sweeping the
alluringly laden shelves before her. "I wanted them all the time, you
know, only I didn't have enough money to pay for them. Now it'll be all
right because Burke'll pay--I mean, Mr. Denby," she corrected with a
conscious blush, suddenly remembering what her husband had said the
night before about her calling him "Burke" so much to strangers.
Helen found she wanted not only the fruits and jelly, but several other
cans of soups, meats, and vegetables. And it was such a comfort, for
once, to select what she wanted, and not have to count up the money in
her purse! She was radiantly happy when she went home from market that
morning (instead of being tired and worried as was usually the case);
and the glow on her face lasted all through the day and into the
evening--so much so that even Burke must have noticed it, for he told
her he did not know when he had seen her looking so pretty. And he gave
her an extra kiss or two when he greeted her.
The second month of housekeeping proved to be a great improvement over
the first. It was early in that month that Helen learned the joy and
comfort of having "an account" at her grocer's. And she soon discovered
that not yet had she probed this delight to its depths, for not only the
grocer, but the fishman and the butcher were equally kind, and allowed
her to open accounts with them. Coincident with this came the discovery
that there were such institutions as bakeries and delicatessen shops,
which seemed to have been designed especially to meet the needs of just
such harassed little martyr housewives as she herself was; for in them
one might buy bread and cakes and pies and even salads and cold meats,
and fish balls. One might, indeed, with these delectable organizations
at hand, snap one's fingers at all the cookbooks in the world--cookbooks
that so miserably failed to cook!
The baker and the little Dutch delicatessen man, too (when they found
out who she was), expressed themselves as delighted to open an account;
and with the disagreeable necessity eliminated of paying on the spot for
what one ordered, and with so great an assortment of ready-to-eat foods
to select from, Helen found her meal-getting that second month a much
simpler matter.
Then, too, Helen was much happier now that she did not have to ask her
husband for money. She accepted what he gave her, and thanked him; but
she said nothing about her new method of finance.
"I'm going to keep it secret till the stores send him the bills," said
Helen to herself. "Then I'll show him what a lot I've saved from what he
has given me, and he'll be so glad to pay things all at once without
being bothered with my everlasting teasing!"
She only smiled, therefore, enigmatically, when he said one day, as he
passed over the money:--
"Jove, girl! I quite forgot. You must be getting low. But I'm glad you
didn't have to ask me for it, anyhow!"
Ask him for it, indeed! How pleased he would be when he found out that
she was never going to ask him for money again!
Helen was meaning to be very economical these days. When she went to
market she always saw several things she would have liked, that she did
not get, for of course she wanted to make the bills as small as she
could. Naturally Burke would wish her to do that. She tried to save,
too, a good deal of the money Burke gave her; but that was not always
possible, for there were her own personal expenses. True, she did not
need many clothes--but she was able to pick up a few bargains in bows
and collars (one always needed fresh neckwear, of course); and she found
some lovely silk stockings, too, that were very cheap, so she bought
several pairs--to save money. And of course there were always car-fares
and a soda now and then, or a little candy.
There were the "movies" too. She had fallen into the way of going rather
frequently to the Empire with her neighbor on the same floor. It did her
good, and got her out of herself. (She had read only recently how every
wife should have some recreation; it was a duty she owed herself and her
husband--to keep herself youthful and attractive.) She got lonesome and
nervous, sitting at home all day; and now that she had systematized her
housekeeping so beautifully by buying almost everything all cooked, she
had plenty of leisure. Of course she would have preferred to go to the
Olympia Theater. They had a stock company there, and real plays. But
their cheapest seats were twenty-five cents, while she might go to the
Empire for ten. So very bravely she put aside her expensive longings,
and chose the better part--economy and the movies. Besides, Mrs. Jones,
the neighbor on the same floor, said that, for her part, she liked the
movies the best,--you got "such a powerful lot more for your dough."
Mrs. Jones always had something bright and original like that to
say--Helen liked her very much! Indeed, she told Burke one day that Mrs.
Jones was almost as good as a movie show herself. Burke, however, did
not seem to care for Mrs. Jones. For that matter, he did not care for
the movies, either.
No matter where Helen went in the afternoon, she was always very careful
to be at home before Burke. She hoped she knew what pertained to being
a perfect wife better than to be careless about matters like that! Mrs.
Jones was not always so particular in regard to her husband--which only
served to give Helen a pleasant, warm little feeling of superiority at
the difference.
Perhaps Mrs. Jones detected the superiority, for sometimes she laughed,
and said:--
"All right, we'll go if you must; but you'll soon get over it. This
lovey-dovey-I'm-right-here-hubby business is all very well for a while,
but--you wait!"
"All right, I'm waiting. But--you see!" Helen always laughed back,
bridling prettily.
Hurrying home from shopping or the theater, therefore, Helen always
stopped and got her potato salad and cold meat, or whatever else she
needed. And the meal was invariably on the table before Burke's key
sounded in the lock.
Helen was, indeed, feeling quite as if she were beginning to realize her
vision now. Was she not each night the loving, daintily gowned wife
welcoming her husband to a well-ordered, attractive home? There was even
quite frequently a bouquet of flowers on the dinner table. Somewhere she
had read that flowers always added much to a meal; and since then she
had bought them when she felt that she could afford them. And in the
market there were almost always some cheap ones, only a little faded. Of
course, she never bought the fresh, expensive ones.
After dinner there was the long evening together. Sometimes they went
to walk, after the dishes were done--Burke had learned to dry dishes
beautifully. More often they stayed at home and played games, or
read--Burke was always wanting to read. Sometimes they just talked,
laying wonderful plans about the fine new house they were going to
build. Now that Helen did not have to ask Burke for money, there did not
seem to be so many occasions when he was fretful and nervous; and they
were much happier together.
All things considered, therefore, Helen felt, indeed, before this second
month of housekeeping was over, that she had now "got things nicely to
running."
CHAPTER VI
THE HUSBAND
Burke Denby had never given any thought as to whether he were going to
be a perfect husband or not. He had wanted to marry Helen, and he had
married her. That was all there was to it, except, of course, that they
had got to show his father that they could make good.
So far as being a husband--good, bad, or indifferent--was concerned,
Burke was not giving any more thought to it now than he had given before
his marriage. He was quite too busy giving thought to other
matters--many other matters.
There was first his work. He hated it. He hated the noise, the smell,
the grime, the overalls, the men he worked with, the smug
superciliousness of his especial "boss." He felt abused and indignant
that he had to endure it all. As if it were necessary to put him through
such a course of sprouts as this! As if, when the time came, he could
not run the business successfully without all these years of dirt and
torture! Was an engineer, then, made to _build_ an engine before he
could be taught to handle the throttle? Was a child made to set the type
of a primer before he could be taught his letters? Of course not! But
they were making him not only set the type, but go down into the mines
and dig the stuff the type was made of before they would teach him his
letters. Yet they pretended it all must be done if he would ever learn
to read--that is, to run the Denby Iron Works. Bah! He had a mind to
chuck it all. He would if it weren't for dad. Dad hated quitters. And
dad was looking wretched enough, as it was.
And that was another thing--dad.
Undeniably Burke was very unhappy over his father. He did not like to
think of him, yet his face was always before him, pale and drawn, as he
had seen it at that first interview after his return. As the days
passed, Burke, in spite of his wish not to see his father, found himself
continually seizing every opportunity that might enable him to see him.
Daily he found himself haunting doorways and corridors, quite out of his
way, when there was a chance that his father might pass.
He told himself that it was just that he wanted to convince himself that
his father did not look quite so bad, after all. But he knew in his
heart that it was because he hoped his father would speak to him in the
old way, and that it might lead to the tearing down of this horrible
high wall of indifference and formality that had risen between them.
Burke hated that wall.
The wall was there, however, always. Nothing ever came of these
connivings and loiterings except (if it were during working hours) a
terse hint from the foreman, perhaps, to get back on his job. How Burke
hated that foreman!
And that was another thing--his position among his fellow workmen. He
was with them, but not of them. His being among them at all was plainly
a huge joke--and when one is acting a tragedy in all seriousness, one
does not like to hear chuckles as at a comedy. But, for that matter,
Burke found the comedy element always present, wherever he went. The
entire town took himself, his work, and his marriage as a huge joke--a
subject for gay badinage, jocose slaps on the back, and gleeful cries
of:--
"Well, Denby, how goes it? How doth the happy bridegroom?"
And Burke hated that, too.
It seemed to Burke, indeed, sometimes, that he hated everything but
Helen. Helen, of course, was a dear--the sweetest little wife in the
world. As if any one could help loving Helen! And however disagreeable
the day, there was always Helen to go home to at night.
Oh, of course, he had to take that abominable flat along with
Helen--naturally, as long as he could not afford to put her in a more
expensive place. But that would soon be remedied--just as soon as he got
a little ahead.
This "going home to Helen" had been one of Burke's happiest
anticipations ever since his marriage. It would be so entrancing to find
Helen and Helen's kiss waiting for him each night! Often had such
thoughts been in his mind during his honeymoon trip; but never had they
been so poignantly promising of joy as they were on that first day at
the Works, after his disheartening interview with his father. All the
rest of that miserable day it seemed to Burke that the only thing he was
living for was the going home to Helen that night.
"Home," to Burke, had always meant a place of peace and rest, of
luxurious ease and noiseless servants, of orderly rooms and well-served
meals, of mellow lights and softly blended colors. Unconsciously now
home still meant the same, with the addition of Helen--Helen, the center
of it all. It was this dear vision, therefore, that he treasured all
through his honeymoon trip, that he hugged to himself all that wretched
first day of work, and that was still his star of hope as he hurried
that night toward the Dale Street flat. If he had stopped to think, he
would have realized at once that this new home of a day was not the old
home of years. But he did not stop to think of anything except that for
the first time in his life he was going home from work to Helen, his
wife.
Burke Denby never forgot the shock of that first home-going. He opened
the door of his apartment--and confronted chaos: a surly janitor
struggling with a curtain pole, a confusion of trunks, chairs, a
stepladder, and a floor-pail, a disorder of dishes on a coverless table,
a smell of burned milk, and a cross, tired, untidy wife who flung
herself into his arms with a storm of sobs.
"Home," after that, meant quite something new to Burke Denby. It meant
Helen, of course, but--
Still it would be only for a little while, after all, he consoled
himself each day. Just as soon as he got ahead a little, it would be
different. He could sell the stuff, then; and the very first thing to go
would be that hideous purple pillow on the red plush sofa--for that
matter, the sofa would follow after mighty quick. And the chairs, too.
They were a little worse to sit on than to look at--which was
unnecessary. As for the rugs--when it came to those, it would be his
turn to select next time. At all events, he would not be obliged to have
one that, the minute you opened the door, bounced into your face and
screamed "Hullo! I'm here. See me!" How he hated that rug! And the
pictures and those cheap gilt vases--everything, of course, would be
different in the new home.
Nor did Burke stop to think that this constant shifting, in one's mind,
of things that are, to things that may some time be, scarcely makes for
content.
Still, Burke could not have forgotten his house-furnishings, even if he
had tried to do so, for he had to make payments on them "every few
minutes," as he termed it. Indeed, one of the unsolved riddles of his
life these days was as to why there were so many more Mondays (the day
he paid his installments) than there were Saturdays (the day the Works
paid him) in a week. For that matter, after all was said and done,
perhaps to nothing was Burke Denby giving more thought these days than
to money.
Burke's experience with money heretofore had been to draw a check for
what he wanted. True, he sometimes overdrew his account a trifle; but
there was always his allowance coming the first of the month; and
neither he nor the bank worried.
Now it was quite different. There was no allowance, and no bank--save
his pocket, and there was only fifteen dollars a week coming into that.
He would not have believed that fifteen dollars a week could go so
quickly, and buy so little. Very early in the first month of
housekeeping all that remained of his allowance was gone. What did not
go at once to make payments on the furniture was paid over to Helen to
satisfy some of her many requests for money.
And that was another of Burke's riddles--why Helen needed so much money
just to get them something to eat. True, of late, she had not asked for
it so frequently. She had not, indeed, asked for any for some time--for
which he was devoutly thankful. He would not have liked to refuse her;
and he certainly was giving her all that he could afford to give,
without her asking. A fellow must smoke some--though Heaven knew he had
cut his cigars down, both in quantity and quality, until he had cut out
nearly all the pleasure!
Still he was glad to do it for Helen. Helen was a little brick. How
pretty she looked when she was holding forth on his "making good," and
her not "dragging" him "down"! Bless her heart! As if she could be
guilty of such a thing as that! Why, she was going to drag him up--Helen
was!
And she was doing pretty well, too, running the little home, for a girl
who did not know a thing about it, to begin with. She was doing a whole
lot better than at first. Breakfast had not been late for two weeks, nor
dinner, either. And she was almost always at the door to kiss him now,
too, while at the first he had to hunt her up, only to find her crying
in the kitchen, probably--something wrong somewhere.
Oh, to be sure, he _was_ getting a little tired of potato salad, and he
always had abhorred those potato-chippy things; and he himself did not
care much for cold meat. But, of course, after she got a little more
used to things she wouldn't serve that sort of trash quite so often. He
would be getting real things to eat, pretty soon--good, juicy beefsteaks
and roasts, and nice fresh vegetables and fruit shortcakes, with muffins
and griddle-cakes for breakfast. But Helen was a little brick--Helen
was. And she was doing splendidly!
CHAPTER VII
STUMBLING-BLOCKS
Mrs. Burke Denby was a little surprised at the number of letters
directed to her husband in the morning mail that first day of November,
until she noticed the familiar names in the upper left-hand corners of
several of the envelopes.
"Oh, it's the bills," she murmured, drawing in her breath a little
uncertainly. "To-day's the first, and they said they'd send them then.
But I didn't think there'd be such a lot of them. Still, I've had things
at all those places. Well, anyway, he'll be glad to pay them all at
once, without my teasing for money all the time," she finished with
resolute insistence, as she turned back to her work.
If, now that the time had come, and the bills lay before her in all
their fearsome reality, Helen was beginning to doubt the wisdom of her
financial system, she would not admit it, even to herself. And she still
wore a determinedly cheerful face when her husband came home to dinner
that night. She went into the kitchen as he began to open his mail--she
was reminded of a sudden something that needed her attention. Two
minutes later she nearly dropped the dish of potato salad she was
carrying, at the sound of his voice from the doorway.
"Helen, what in Heaven's name is the meaning of these bills?" He was in
the kitchen now, holding out a sheaf of tightly clutched papers in each
hand.
Helen set the potato salad down hastily.
"Why, Burke, don't--don't look at me so!"
"But what does this mean? What are these things?"
"Why, they--they're just bills, I suppose. They _said_ they'd be."
"Bills! Great Cæsar, Helen! You don't mean to say that you _do_ know
about them--that you bought all this stuff?"
Helen's lip began to quiver.
"Burke, don't--please don't look like that. You frighten me."
"Frighten you! What do you think of _me_?--springing a thing like this!"
"Why, Burke, I--I thought you'd _like_ it."
"_Like_ it!"
"Y-yes--that I didn't have to ask you for money all the time. And you'd
have to p-pay 'em some time, anyhow. We had to eat, you know."
"But, great Scott, Helen! We aren't a hotel! Look at
that--'salad'--'salad'--'salad,'" he exploded, pointing a shaking finger
at a series of items on the uppermost bill in his left hand. "There's
tons of the stuff there, and I always did abominate it!"
"Why, Burke, I--I--" And the floods came.
"Oh, thunderation! Helen, Helen, don't--please don't!"
"But I thought I was going to p-please you, and you called me a h-hotel,
and said you a-abominated it!" she wailed, stumbling away blindly.
With a despairing ejaculation Burke flung the bills to the floor, and
caught the sob-shaken little figure of his wife in his arms.
"There, there, I was a brute, and I didn't mean it--not a word of it.
Sweetheart, don't, please don't," he begged. "Why, girlie, all the bills
in Christendom aren't worth a tear from your dear eyes. Come, _won't_
you stop?"
But Helen did not stop, at once. The storm was short, but tempestuous.
At the end of ten minutes, however, together they went into the
dining-room. Helen carried the potato salad (which Burke declared he was
really hungry for to-day), and Burke carried the bills crumpled in one
hand behind his back, his other arm around his wife's waist.
That evening a remorseful, wistful-eyed wife and a husband with an
"I'll-be-patient-if-it-kills-me" air went over the subject of household
finances, and came to an understanding.
There were to be no more charge accounts. For the weekly expenses Helen
was to have every cent that could possibly be spared; but what she could
not pay cash for, they must go without, if they starved. In a pretty
little book she must put down on one side the money received. On the
other, the money spent. She was a dear, good little wife, and he loved
her 'most to death; but he couldn't let her run up bills when he had
not a red cent to pay them with. He would borrow, of course, for
these--he was not going to have any dirty little tradesmen pestering him
with bills all the time! But this must be the last. Never again!
And Helen said yes, yes, indeed. And she was very sure she would love to
keep the pretty little book, and put down all the money she got, and all
she spent.
All this was very well in theory. But in practice--
At the end of the first week Helen brought her book to her husband, and
spread it open before him with great gusto.
On the one side were several entries of small sums, amounting to eight
dollars received. On the other side were the words: "Spent all but
seventeen cents."
"Oh, but you should put down what you spent it for," corrected Burke,
with a merry laugh.
"Why?"
"Why, er--so you can see--er--what the money goes for."
"What's the difference--if it goes?"
"Oh, shucks! You can't keep a cash account that way! You have to put 'em
both down, and then--er--balance up and see if your cash comes right.
See, like this," he cried, taking a little book from his pocket. "I'm
keeping one." And he pointed to a little list which read:--
Lunch $.25
Cigar .10
Car-fare .10
Paper .02
Helen 2.00
Cigars .25
Paper .02
"Now that's what I spent yesterday. You want to put yours down like
that, then add 'em up and subtract it from what you receive. What's left
should equal your cash on hand."
"Hm-m; well, all right," assented Helen dubiously, as she picked up her
own little book.
Helen looked still more dubious when she presented her book for
inspection the next week.
"I don't think I like it this way," she announced, with a pout.
"Why not?"
"Why, Burke, the mean old thing steals--actually steals! It says I ought
to have one dollar and forty-five cents; and I haven't got but fourteen
cents! It's got it itself--somewhere!"
"Ho, that's easy, dear!" The man gave an indulgent laugh. "You didn't
put 'em all down--what you spent."
"But I did--everything I could remember. Besides, I borrowed fifty cents
of Mrs. Jones. I didn't put that down anywhere. I didn't know where to
put it."
"Helen! You borrowed money--of that woman?"
"She isn't 'that woman'! She's my friend, and I like her," flared Helen,
hotly. "I had to have some eggs, and I didn't have a cent of money. I
shall pay her back, of course,--next time you pay me."
Burke frowned.
"Oh, come, come, Helen, this will never do," he remonstrated. "Of course
you'll pay her back; but I can't have my wife borrowing of the
neighbors!"
"But I had to! I had to have some eggs," she choked, "and--"
"Yes, yes, I know. But I mean, we won't again," interrupted the man
desperately, fleeing to cover in the face of the threatening storm of
sobs. "And, anyhow, we'll see that you have some money now," he cried
gayly, plunging his hands into his pockets, and pulling out all the
bills and change he had. "There, 'with all my worldly goods I thee
endow,'" he laughed, lifting his hands above her bright head, and
showering the money all over her.
Like children then they scrambled for the rolling nickels and elusive
dimes; and in the ensuing frolic the tiresome account-book was
forgotten--which was exactly what Burke had hoped would happen.
This was the second week. At the end of the third, the "mean old thing"
was in a worse muddle than ever, according to Helen; and, for her part,
she would rather never buy anything at all if she had got to go and tell
that nuisance of a book every time!
The fourth Saturday night Helen did not produce the book at all.
"Oh, I don't keep that any longer," she announced, with airy
nonchalance, in answer to Burke's question. "It never came right, and I
hated it, anyhow. So what's the use? I've got what I've got, and I've
spent what I've spent. So what's the difference?" And Burke, after a
feeble remonstrance, gave it up as a bad job. Incidentally it might be
mentioned that Burke was having a little difficulty with his own cash
account, and was tempted to accuse his own book of stealing--else where
did the money go?
It was the next Monday night that Burke came home with a radiant
countenance.
"Gleason's here--up at the Hancock House. He's coming down after
dinner."
"Who's Gleason?"
Helen's tone was a little fretful--there was a new, intangible something
in her husband's voice that Helen did not understand, and that she did
not think she liked.
"Gleason! Who's Doc Gleason!" exclaimed Burke, with widening eyes. "Oh,
I forgot. You don't know him, do you?" he added, with a slight frown.
Burke Denby was always forgetting that Helen knew nothing of his friends
or of himself until less than a year before. "Well, Doc Gleason is the
best ever. He went to Egypt with us last year, and to Alaska the year
before."
"How old is he?"
"Old? Why, I don't know--thirty--maybe more. He must be a little more,
come to think of it. But you never think of age with the doctor. He'll
be young when he's ninety."
"And you like him--so well?" Her voice was a little wistful.
"Next to dad--always have. You'll like him, too. You can't help it. He's
mighty interesting."
"And he's a doctor?"
"Yes, and no. Oh, he graduated and hung out his shingle; but he never
practiced much. He had money enough, anyway, and he got interested in
scientific research--antiquarian, mostly, though he's done a bit of
mountain-climbing and glacier-studying for the National Geographic
Society."
"Antiquarian? Oh, yes, I know--old things. Mother was that way, too. She
had an old pewter plate, and a dark blue china teapot, homely as a hedge
fence, I thought, but she doted on 'em. And she doted on ancestors, too.
She had one in that old ship--Mayflower, wasn't it?"
Burke laughed.
"Mayflower! My dear child, the Mayflower is a mere infant-in-arms in the
doctor's estimation. The doctor goes back to prehistoric times for his
playground, and to the men of the old Stone Age for his preferred
playmates."
"Older than the Mayflower, then?"
"A trifle--some thousands of years."
"Goodness! How can he? I thought the Mayflower was bad enough. But what
does he do--collect things?"
"Yes, to some extent; he has a fine collection of Babylonian tablets,
and--"
"Oh, I know--those funny little brown and yellow cakes like soap, all
cut into with pointed little marks--what do you call it?--like your
father has in his library!"
"The cuneiform writing? Yes. As I said, the doctor has a fine collection
of tablets, and of some other things; but principally he studies and
goes on trips. It was a trip to the Spanish grottoes that got him
interested in the archæological business in the first place, and put him
out of conceit with doctoring. He goes a lot now, sometimes
independently, sometimes in the interest of some society. He does in a
scientific way what dad and I have done for fun--traveling and
collecting, I mean. Then, too, he has written a book or two which are
really authoritative in their line. He's a great chap--the doctor is.
Wait till you see him. I've told him about you, too."
"Then you told him--that is--he knows--about the marriage."
"Why, sure he does!" Burke's manner was a bit impatient. "What do you
suppose, when he's coming here to-night? Now, mind, put on your
prettiest frock and your sweetest smile. I want him to see _why_ I
married you," he challenged banteringly. "I want him to see what a
treasure I've got. And say, dearie, _do_ you suppose--_could_ we have
him to dinner, or something? Could you manage it? I wanted to ask him
to-night; but of course I couldn't--without your knowing beforehand."
"Mercy, no, Burke!" shuddered the young housekeeper. "Don't you
dare--when I don't know it."
"But if you do know it--" He paused hopefully.
"Why, y-yes, I guess so. Of course I could get things I was sure of,
like potato salad and--"
Burke sat back in his chair.
"But, Helen, I'm afraid--I don't think--that is, I'm 'most sure Gleason
doesn't like potato salad," he stammered.
"Doesn't he? Well, he needn't eat it, then. We'll have all the more left
for the next day."
"But, Helen, er--"
"Oh, I'll have chips, too; don't worry, dear. I'll give him something to
eat," she promised gayly. "Do you suppose I'm going to have one of your
swell friends come here, and then have you ashamed of me? You just wait
and see!"
"Er, no--no, indeed, of course not," plunged in her husband feverishly,
trying to ward off a repetition of the "swell"--a word he particularly
abhorred.
Several times in the last two months he had heard Helen use this
word--twice when she had informed him with great glee that some swell
friends of his from Elm Hill had come in their carriage to call; and
again quite often when together on the street they met some one whom he
knew. He thought he hated the word a little more bitterly every time he
heard it.
For several weeks now the Denbys had been receiving calls--Burke Denby
was a Denby of Denby Mansion even though he was temporarily marooned on
Dale Street at a salary of sixty dollars a month. Besides, to many, Dale
Street and the sixty dollars, with the contributory elements of
elopement and irate parent, only added piquancy and interest to what
would otherwise have been nothing but the conventional duty call.
To Helen, in the main, these calls were a welcome diversion--"just
grand," indeed. To Burke, on whom the curiosity element was not lost,
they were an impertinence and a nuisance. Yet he endured them, and even
welcomed them, in a way; for he wanted Helen to know his friends, and to
like them--better than she liked Mrs. Jones. He did not care for Mrs.
Jones. She talked too loud, and used too much slang. He did not like to
have Helen with her. Always, therefore, after callers had been there,
his first eager question was: "How did you like them, dear?" He wanted
so much that Helen should like them!
To-night, however, in thinking of the prospective visit from Gleason, he
was wondering how the doctor would like Helen--not how Helen would like
the doctor. The change was significant but unconscious--perhaps all the
more significant because it was unconscious.
Until he had reached home that night, Burke had been so overjoyed at the
prospect of an old-time chat with his friend that he had given little
thought to Gleason's probable opinion of the Dale Street flat and its
furnishings. Now, with his eyes on the obtrusive unharmony all about
him, and his memory going back to the doctor's well-known fastidiousness
of taste, he could think of little else. He did hope Gleason would not
think _he_ had selected those horrors! Of course he had already
explained--a little--about his father's disapproval of the marriage, and
the resulting cutting-off of his allowance; but even that would not
excuse (to Gleason) the riot of glaring reds and pinks and purples in
his living-rooms; and one could not very well explain that one's wife
_liked_ the horrors-- He pulled himself up sharply. Of course Helen
herself was a dear. He hoped Gleason would see how dear she was. He
wanted Gleason to like Helen.
As the hour drew near for the expected guest's arrival, Burke Denby,
greatly to his vexation, found himself growing more and more nervous. He
asked himself indignantly if he were going to let a purple cushion
entirely spoil the pleasure of the evening. Not until he had seen
Gleason that afternoon had he realized how sorely he had missed his
father's companionship all these past weeks. Not until he had found
himself bubbling over with the things he wanted to talk about that
evening had he realized how keenly he had missed the mental stimulus of
that father's comradeship. And now, for the sake of a purple cushion,
was he to lose the only chance he had had for weeks of conversing with
an intelligent--
With an almost audible gasp the shocked and shamed husband pulled
himself up again.
Well, of course Helen was intelligent. It was only that she was not
interested in, and did not know about, these things he was thinking of;
and--
The doorbell rang sharply, and Burke leaped to his feet and hastened to
press the button that would release the catch of the lock at the
entrance below.
"Why, Burke, you never called down through the tube at all, and asked
who it was," remonstrated Helen, hurrying in, her fingers busy with the
final fastenings of her dress.
"You bet your life I didn't," laughed Burke, a bit grimly. "You've got
another guess coming if you think I'm going to hold Doc Gleason off at
the end of a 'Who is it?' bellowed into his ear from that impertinent
copper trumpet down there."
"Why, Burke, that's all right. Everybody does it," maintained Helen. "We
have to, else we'd be letting all sorts of folks in, and--"
At a warning gesture from her husband she stopped just as a tall,
smooth-shaven man with kind eyes and a grave smile appeared at the open
hallway door.
"Glad to see you, doctor," cried Burke, extending a cordial hand, that
yet trembled a little. "Let me present you to my wife."
"Pleased to meet you, I'm sure," bobbed Helen. And because she was
nervous she said the next thing that came into her head. "And I hope
you're pleased to meet me, too. All Burke's friends are so swell, you
know, that--"
"Er--ah--" broke in the dismayed husband.
But the visitor advanced quietly, still with that same grave smile, and
clasped Mrs. Denby's extended hand.
"I am very sure Burke's friends are, indeed, very glad to meet you," he
said. "Certainly I am," he finished, with a cordial heartiness so nicely
balanced that even Burke Denby's sensitive alertness could find in it
neither the overzealousness of insincerity nor the indifference of
disdain.
Even when, a minute later, they turned and went into the living room,
Burke's still apprehensive watchfulness could detect in his friend's
face not one trace of the dismayed horror he had been dreading to see
there.
"Gleason's a brick," he sighed to himself, trying to relax his tense
muscles. "As if I didn't know that every last gimcrack in this miserable
room would fairly scream at him the moment he entered that door!"
In spite of everybody's very evident efforts to have everything pass off
pleasantly, the evening was anything but a success. Helen, at first shy
and ill at ease, said little. Then, as if suddenly realizing her
deficiencies as a hostess, she tried to remedy it by talking very loud
and very fast about anything that came into her mind, reveling
especially in minute details concerning their own daily lives, ranging
all the way from stories of the elopement and the house-furnishing on
the installment plan to hilarious accounts of her experiences with the
cookbook and the account-book.
Very plainly Helen was doing her best to "show off." From one to the
other she looked, with little nods and coquettish smiles.
To Gleason her manner said: "You see now why Burke fell in love with me,
don't you?" To Burke it said: "There, now I guess you ain't ashamed of
me!"
The doctor, still with the grave smile and kindly eyes, listened
politely, uttering now and then a pleasant word or two, in a way that
even the distraught husband could not criticize. As for the husband
himself, between his anger at Helen and his anger at himself because of
his anger at Helen, he was in a woeful condition of nervousness and
ill-humor. Vainly trying to wrest the ball of conversation from Helen's
bungling fingers, he yet felt obliged to laugh in apparent approval at
her wild throws. Nor was he unaware of the sorry figure he thus made of
himself. Having long since given up all hope of the anticipated chat
with his friend, his one aim now was to get the visit over, and the
doctor out of the house as soon as possible. Yet the very fact that he
did want the visit over and the doctor gone only angered him the more,
and put into his mouth words that were a mockery of cordiality. No
wonder, then, that for Burke the evening was a series of fidgetings,
throat-clearings, and nervous laughs that (if he had but known it) were
fully as distressing to the doctor as they were to himself.
At half-past nine the doctor rose to his feet.
"Well, good people, I must go," he announced cheerily. (For the last
half-hour the doctor had been wondering just how soon he might make that
statement.) "It's half-past nine."
"Pshaw! That ain't late," protested Helen.
"No, indeed," echoed Burke--though Burke had promptly risen with his
guest.
"Perhaps not, to you; but to me--" The doctor let a smile finish his
sentence.
"But you're coming again," gurgled Helen. "You're coming to dinner.
Burke said you was."
Burke's mouth flew open--but just in time he snapped it shut. He had
remembered that hospitable husbands do not usually retract their wives'
invitations with a terrified "For Heaven's sake, no!"--at least, not in
the face of the prospective guest. Before he could put the new, proper
words into his mouth, the doctor spoke.
"Thank you. You're very kind; but I'm afraid not--this time, Mrs. Denby.
My stay is to be very short. But I'm glad to have had this little
visit," he finished, holding out his hand.
And again Burke, neither then, nor when he looked straight into the
doctor's eyes a moment later, could find aught in word or manner upon
which to pin his watchful suspicions.
The next moment the doctor was gone.
Helen yawned luxuriously, openly-- Helen never troubled to hide her
yawns.
"Now I like _him_," she observed emphatically, but not very distinctly
(owing to the yawn). "If all your swell friends were--"
"Helen, for Heaven's sake, _isn't_ there any word but that abominable
'swell' that you can use?" interrupted her husband, seizing the first
pretext that offered itself as a scapegoat for his irritation.
Helen laughed and shrugged her shoulders.
"All right; 'stuck up,' then, if you like that better. But, for my part,
I like 'swell' best. It's so expressive, so much more swell--there, you
see," she laughed, with another shrug; "it just says itself. But,
really, I do like the doctor. I think he's just grand. Where does he
live?"
"Boston." Burke hated "grand" only one degree less than "swell."
"Is he married?"
"No."
"How old did you say he was?"
"I didn't say. I don't know. Thirty-five, probably."
"Why, Burke, what's the matter? What are you so short about? Don't you
_like_ it that I like him? I thought you wanted me to like your
friends."
"Yes, yes, I know; and I do, Helen, of course." Burke got to his feet
and took a nervous turn about the tiny room.
Helen watched him with widening eyes. The look of indolent satisfaction
was gone from her face. She was not yawning now.
"Why, Burke, what _is_ the matter?" she catechized. "Wasn't I nice to
him? Didn't I talk to him, and just lay myself out to entertain him?
Didn't I ask him to dinner, and--"
"Dinner!" Burke fairly snarled the word out as he wheeled sharply. "Holy
smoke, Helen! I wonder if you think I'd have that man come here to
dinner, or come here ever again to hear you-- Oh, hang it all, what am I
saying?" he broke off, jerking himself about with a despairing gesture.
Helen came now to her feet. Her eyes blazed.
"I know. You was ashamed of me," she panted.
"Oh, come, come; nonsense, Helen!"
"You was."
"Of course I wasn't."
"Then what was the matter?"
"Nothing; nothing, Helen."
"There was, too. Don't you suppose I know? But I tried to do all right.
I tried to make you p-proud of me," she choked. "I know I didn't talk
much at first. I was scared and stupid, he was so fine and grand. And I
didn't know a thing about all that Egyptian stuff you was talking about.
Then I thought how 'shamed you'd be of me, and I just made up my mind I
_would_ talk and show him it wasn't a--a little fool that you'd married;
and I s'posed I was doing what you wanted me to. But I see now I
wasn't. I wasn't fine enough for your grand friend. I ain't never fine
enough for 'em. But I don't care. I hate 'em all--every one of 'em! I'd
rather have Mrs. Jones twice over. _She_ isn't ashamed of me. I thought
I was p-pleasing you; and now--now--" Her words were lost in a storm of
sobs.
There was but one thing to be done, of course; and Burke did it. He took
her in his arms and soothed and petted and praised her. What he said he
did not know--nor care, for that matter, so long as it served ever so
slightly to dam the flood of Helen's tears. That, for the moment, was
the only thing worth living for. The storm passed at last, as storms
must; but it was still a teary little wife that received her husband's
good-night kiss some time later. Burke did not go to sleep very readily
that night. In his mind he was going over his prospective meeting with
his friend Gleason the next day.
What would Gleason say? How would he act? What would he himself say?
What _could_ he say? He could not very well apologize for--
Even to himself Burke would not finish the sentence.
Apologize? Indeed, no! As if there were anything, anyway, to apologize
for! He would meet Gleason exactly as usual. He would carry his head
high. There should be about him no air of apology or appeal. By his
every act and word he would show that he was not in need of sympathy,
and that he should resent comment. He might even ask Gleason to dinner.
He believed he _would_ ask him to dinner. In no other way, certainly,
could he so convincingly show how--er--proud he was of his wife.
Burke went to sleep then.
It had been arranged that the two men should meet at noon for luncheon;
and promptly on time Burke appeared at the hotel. His chin was indeed
high, and for the first two minutes he was painfully guarded and
self-conscious in his bearing. But under the unstudied naturalness of
the doctor's manner, he speedily became his normal self; and in five
minutes the two were conversing with their old ease and enthusiasm.
The doctor had with him an Egyptian scarab with a rarely interesting
inscription, a new acquisition; also a tiny Babylonian tablet of great
value. In both of them Burke was much interested. In the wake then of a
five-thousand-year-old stylus, it is not strange that he forgot present
problems.
"I'm taking these up to-night for your father to see," smiled the
doctor, after a short silence. "He writes me he's got a new tablet
himself; a very old one. He thinks he's made a discovery on it, too. He
swears he's picked out a veritable thumb-mark on one side."
"Nonsense! Dad's always discovering things," grinned Burke. "You know
dad."
"But he says this is a sure thing. It's visible with the naked eye; but
under the microscope it's wonderful. And-- But, never mind! We'll see
for ourselves to-night. You're coming up, of course."
"Sure! And I want to see--" The young man stopped abruptly. A painful
color had swept to his forehead. "Er--no. On second thoughts I--I can't
to-night," he corrected. In its resolute emphasis his voice sounded
almost harsh. "But you--you're coming to dinner with us--to-morrow
night, aren't you?"
"Oh, no; no, thank you," began the doctor hastily. Then, suddenly, he
encountered his friend's steadfast eye upon him. "Er--that is," he
amended in his turn, "unless you--you are willing to let me come very
informally, as I shall have to leave almost at once afterwards. I'm
taking the eight-thirty train that evening."
"Very good. We shall expect you," answered the younger man, with a
curious relaxation of voice and manner--a relaxation that puzzled and
slightly worried the doctor, who was wondering whether it were the
relaxation of relief or despair. The doctor was not sure yet that he had
rightly interpreted that steadfast gaze. Two minutes later, Burke, once
again self-conscious, constrained, and with his head high, took his
leave.
On his way back to work Burke berated himself soundly. Having
deliberately bound himself to the martyrdom of a dinner to his friend,
he was now insufferably angry that he should regard it as a martyrdom at
all. Also he knew within himself that there seemed, for the moment,
nothing that he would not give to spend the coming evening in the quiet
restfulness of his father's library with the doctor and an Egyptian
scarab.
As if all the Egyptian scarabs and Babylonian tablets in the world
_could_ balance the scale with Helen on the other side!
CHAPTER VIII
DIVERGING WAYS
Of course the inevitable happened. However near two roads may be at the
start, if they diverge ever so slightly and keep straight ahead, there
is bound to be in time all the world between them.
In the case of Burke and Helen, their roads never started together at
all: they merely crossed; and at the crossing came the wedding. They
were miles apart at the start--miles apart in tastes, traditions, and
environment. In one respect only were they alike: undisciplined
self-indulgence--a likeness that meant only added differences when it
came to the crossing; and that made it all the more nearly impossible to
merge those two diverging roads into one wide way leading straight on to
wedded happiness.
All his life Burke had consulted no one's will but his own. It was not
easy now to walk when he wanted to sit still, nor to talk when he wanted
to read; especially as the one who wanted him to walk and to talk
happened to be a willful young person who all _her_ life had been in the
habit of walking and talking when _she_ wanted to.
Burke, accustomed from babyhood to leaving his belongings wherever he
happened to drop them, was first surprised and then angry that he did
not find them magically restored to their proper places, as in the days
of his boyhood and youth. Burke abhorred disorder. Helen, accustomed
from her babyhood to being picked-up after, easily drifted into the way
of letting all things, both hers and his, lie as they were. It saved a
great deal of work.
Even so simple a matter as the temperature of a sleeping-room had its
difficulties. Burke liked air. He wanted the windows wide open. Helen,
trained to think night air was damp and dangerous, wanted them shut. And
when two people are sleepy, cross, and tired, it is appalling what a
range of woe can lie in the mere opening and shutting of a window.
Burke was surprised, annoyed, and dismayed. Being unaccustomed to
disappointments he did not know how to take them gracefully. This being
married was not proving to be at all the sort of thing he had pictured
to himself. He had supposed that life, married life, was to be a new
wonder every day; an increasing delight every hour. It was neither.
Living now was a matter of never-ending adjustment, self-sacrifice, and
economy. And he hated them all. In spite of himself he was getting into
debt, and he hated debt. It made a fellow feel cheap and mean.
Even Helen was not what he had thought she was. He was ashamed to own
it, even to himself, but there was a good deal about Helen that he did
not like. She was not careful about her appearance. She was actually
almost untidy at times. He hated those loose, sloppy things she
sometimes wore, and he abominated those curl-paper things in her hair.
She was willful and fretful, and she certainly did not know how to give
a fellow a decent meal or a comfortable place to stay. For his part, he
did not think a girl had any right to marry until she knew something
about running a simple home.
Then there was her constant chatter. Was she not ever going to talk
about anything but the silly little everyday happenings of her work? A
fellow wanted to hear something, when he came home tired at night,
besides complaints that the range didn't work, or that the grocer forgot
his order, or that the money was out.
Why, Helen used to be good company, cheerful, often witty. Where were
her old-time sparkle and radiance? Her talk now was a meaningless
chatter of trivial things, or an irritating, wailing complaint of
everything under the sun, chiefly revolving around the point of "how
different everything was" from what she expected. Great Scott! As if
_he_ had not found some things different! _That_ evidently was what
marriage was--different. But talking about it all the time did not help
any.
Couldn't she read? But, then, if she did read, it would be only the
newspaper account of the latest murder; and then she would want to talk
about that. She never read anything worth while.
And it was for this, this being married to Helen, that he had given up
so much: dad, his home, everything. She didn't appreciate it--Helen
didn't. She did not rightly estimate what he was being made to suffer.
That there was any especial meaning in all this that he himself should
take to heart--that there was any course open to him but righteous
discontent and rebellion--never occurred to Burke. His training of
frosted cakes and toy shotguns had taught him nothing of the traditional
"two bears," "bear" and "forbear." The marriage ceremony had not meant
to him "to be patient, tender, and sympathetic." It had meant the "I
will" of self-assertion, not the "I will" of self-discipline. That Helen
ought to change many of _her_ traits and habits he was convinced. That
there might be some in himself that needed changing, or that the mere
fact of his having married Helen might have entailed upon himself
certain obligations as to making the best of what he had deliberately
chosen, did not once occur to him.
As for Helen--Helen was facing her own disillusions. She was not trying
now to be the daintily gowned wife welcoming her husband to a well-kept
home. She had long since decided that that was impossible--on sixty
dollars a month. She was tired of being a martyr wife. Even the laurel
wreath of praise had lost its allurement: she would not get it,
probably, even if she earned it; and, anyway, she would be dead from
trying to get it. And for her part she would rather have some fun while
she was living.
But she wasn't having any fun. Things were so different. Everything was
different. She had not supposed being married was like this: one long
grind of housework from morning till night, and for a man who did not
care. And Burke did not care--now. Once, the first thing he wanted when
he came into the house was a kiss and a word from her. Now he wanted his
dinner. And he was so fussy, too! _She_ could get along with cold
things; but he wanted hot ones, and lots of them. And he always wanted
finger-bowls and lots of spoons, and everything fixed just so on the
table, too. He said it wasn't that he wanted "style." It was just that
he wanted things decent. As if she hadn't had things decent herself--and
without all that fuss and clutter!
After dinner he never wanted to talk now, or to go to walk. He just
wanted to read or study. He said he was studying; something about his
work. As if once he would have cared more for any old work than for her!
And she was so lonely! There was nobody now for her to be with. Mrs.
Jones had moved away, and there were never any callers now. She had
returned every one of the calls she had had from Burke's fine friends.
She had put on her new red dress and her best hat with the pink roses;
and she had tried to be just as bright and entertaining as she knew how
to be. But they never came again, so of course she could not go to see
them. She _had_ gone, once or twice. But Burke said she must not do
that. It was not proper to return your own calls. If they wanted to see
her they would come themselves. But they never came. Probably, anyhow,
they did not want to see her; and that was the trouble. Not that she
cared! They were a "stuck-up" lot, anyway; and she was just as good as
they were. She had told one woman so, once--the woman that carried her
eyeglasses on the end of a little stick and stared. That woman always
had made her mad. So it was just as well, perhaps, that they did not
come any more, after all. Burke was ashamed of her, anyway, when they
did come. She knew that. He did not like anything she did nowadays. He
was always telling her he did wish she would stop saying "you was," or
holding her fork like that, or making so much noise eating soup, and a
dozen other things. As if nobody in the house had a right to do anything
but _his_ way!
It had been so different at home! There everything she did was just
right. And she was never lonely. There were the parties and the frolics
and the sleigh-rides, and the girls running in all the time, and the
boys every evening on the porch, or in the parlor, or taking her
buggy-riding. Nothing there was ever complete without her. While here--
Well, who supposed being married meant working like a slave all day, and
being cooped up all the evening with a man whose nose was buried in a
book, and who scarcely spoke to you!
And there was the money. Burke acted, for all the world, as if he
thought she ate money, and ate it whether she was hungry or not, just
to spite him. As if she didn't squeeze every penny till it fairly
shrieked, now; and as if anybody could make ten dollars a week go
further than she did! To be sure, at first she had been silly and
extravagant, running up bills, and borrowing of Mrs. Jones, as she did.
And of course she was a little unreasonable and childish about keeping
that account-book. But that was only at the first, when she was quite
ignorant and inexperienced. It was very different now. She kept a cash
account, and most of the time it came right. How she wished she had an
allowance, though! But Burke utterly refused to give her that. Said
she'd be extravagant and spend it all the first day. As if she had not
learned better than that by bitter experience! And as if anything could
be worse than the way they were trying to get along now, with her
teasing for money all the time, and him insisting on seeing the bills,
and then asking how they _could_ manage to eat so many eggs, and saying
he should think she used butter to oil the floors with. He didn't see
how it could go so fast any other way!
And wasn't he always telling her she did not manage right? And didn't he
give her particular fits one day and an awful lecture on wastefulness,
just because he happened to find half a loaf of mouldy bread in the jar?
Just as if _he_ didn't spend something--and a good big something,
too!--on all those cigars he smoked. Yet he flew into fits over a bit of
mouldy bread of _hers_.
To be sure, when she cried, he called himself a brute, and said he
didn't mean it, and it was only because he hated so to have her pinching
and saving all the time that it made him mad--raving mad. Just as if she
was to blame that they did not have any money!
But she was to blame, of course, in a way. If it had not been for her,
he would be living at home with all the money he wanted. Sometimes it
came to her with sickening force that maybe Burke was thinking that,
too. Was he? Could it be that he was sorry he had married her? Very
well--her chin came up proudly. He need not stay if he did not want to.
He could go. But--the chin was not so high, now--he was all there was.
She had nobody but Burke now. _Could_ it be--
She believed she would ask Dr. Gleason some time. She liked the doctor.
He had been there several times now, and she felt real well acquainted
with him. Perhaps he would know. But, after all, she was not going to
worry. She did not believe that really Burke wished he had not married
her. It was only that he was tired and fretted with his work. It would
be better by and by, when he had got ahead a little. And of course he
would get ahead. They would not always have to live like this!
* * * * *
It was in March that Burke came home to dinner one evening with a
radiant face, yet with an air of worried excitement.
"It's dad. He's sent for me," he explained, in answer to his wife's
questions.
"Sent for you!"
"Yes. He isn't very well, Brett says. He wants to see me."
"Humph! After all this time! I wouldn't go a step if I was you."
"Helen! Not go to my father?"
Helen quaked a little under the fire in her husband's eyes; but she held
her ground.
"I don't care. He's treated you like dirt. You know he has."
"I know he's sick and has sent for me. And I know I'm going to him.
That's enough for me to know--at present," retorted the man, getting to
his feet, and leaving his dinner almost untasted.
Half an hour later he appeared before her, freshly shaved, and in the
radiant good humor that seems to follow a bath and fresh garments as a
natural consequence. "Come, chicken, give us a kiss," he cried gayly;
"and don't sit up for me: I may be late."
"My, but ain't we fixed up!" pouted Helen jealously. "I should think you
was going to see your best girl."
"I am," laughed Burke boyishly. "Dad was my best girl--till I got you.
Good-bye! I'm off."
"Good-bye." Helen's lips still pouted, and her eyes burned somberly as
she sat back in her chair.
Outside the house Burke drew a long breath, and yet a longer one. It
seemed as if he could not inhale deeply enough the crisp, bracing air.
Then, with an eager stride that would cover the distance in little more
than half the usual time, he set off toward Elm Hill. There was only
joyous anticipation in his face now. The worry was all gone. After all,
had not Brett said that this illness of dad's was nothing serious?
For a week Burke had known that something was wrong--that his father was
not at the Works. In vain had he haunted office doors and corridors for
a glimpse of a face that never appeared. Then had come the news that
John Denby was ill. A paralyzing fear clutched the son's heart.
Was this to be the end, then? Was dad to--die, and never to know, never
to read his boy's heart? Was this the end of all hopes of some day
seeing the old look of love and pride in his father's eyes? Then it
would, indeed, be the end of--everything, if dad died; for what was the
use of struggling, of straining every nerve to make good, if dad was not
to be there to--know?
It had been at this point that Burke, in spite of his hurt pride, and of
his very lively doubts as to the cordiality of his reception, had almost
determined to go himself to the old home and demand to see his father.
Then, just in time, had come Brett's wonderful message that his father
wished to see him, and that he was not, after all, fatally or even
seriously ill.
Dad was not going to die, then; and dad wished to see him--_wished_ to
see him!
Burke drew in his breath now again, and bounded up the great stone steps
of Denby Mansion, two at a time. The next minute, for the first time
since his marriage the summer before, he stood in the wide, familiar
hallway.
Benton, the old butler, took his hat and coat; and the way he took them
had in it all the flattering deference of the well-trained servant, and
the rapturous joy of the head of a house welcoming a dear wanderer home.
Burke looked into the beaming old face and shining eyes--and swallowed
hard before he could utter an unsteady "How are you, Benton?"
"I'm very well, sir, thank you, sir. And it's glad I am to see you,
Master Burke. This way, please. The master's in the library, sir."
Unconsciously Burke Denby lifted his chin. A long-lost something seemed
to have come back to him. He could not himself have defined it; and he
certainly could not have told why, at that moment, he should suddenly
have thought of the supercilious face of his hated "boss" at the Works.
Behind Benton's noiseless steps Burke's feet sank into luxurious velvet
depths. His eyes swept from one dear familiar object to another, in the
great, softly lighted hall, and leaped ahead to the open door of the
library. Then, somehow, he found himself face to face with his father in
the dear, well-remembered room.
"Well, Burke, my boy, how are you?"
They were the same words that had been spoken months before in the
President's office at the Denby Iron Works, and they were spoken by the
same voice. They were spoken to the accompaniment of an outstretched
hand, too, in each case. But, to Burke, who had heard them on both
occasions, they were as different as darkness and daylight. He could not
have defined it, even to himself; but he knew, the minute he grasped the
outstretched hand and looked into his father's eyes, that the hated,
impenetrable, insurmountable "wall" was gone. Yet there was nothing
said, nothing done, except a conventional "Just a little matter of
business, Burke, that I wanted to talk over with you," from the elder
man; and an equally conventional "Yes, sir," from his son.
Then the two sat down. But, for Burke, the whole world had burst
suddenly into song.
It was, indeed, a simple matter of business. It was not even an
important one. Ordinarily it would have been Brett's place, or even one
of his assistants', to speak of it. But the President of the Denby Iron
Works took it up point by point, and dwelt lovingly on each detail. And
Burke, his heart one wild pæan of rejoicing, sat with a grave
countenance, listening attentively.
And when there was left not one small detail upon which to pin another
word, and when Burke was beginning to dread the moment of dismissal,
John Denby turned, as if casually, to a small clay tablet on the desk
near him. And Burke, following his father into a five-thousand-year-old
past to decipher a Babylonian thumb-print, lost all fear of that dread
dismissal.
Later came old Benton with the ale and the little cakes that Burke had
always loved. With a pressure of his thumb, then, John Denby switched
off half the lights, and the two, father and son, sat down before the
big fireplace, with the cakes and ale between them on a low stand.
Behind the century-old andirons, the fire leaped and crackled, throwing
weird shadows over the beamed ceiling, the book-lined walls, the
cabinets of curios, bringing out here and there a bit of gold tooling
behind a glass door or a glinting flash from bronze or porcelain. With a
body at ease and a mind at rest, Burke leaned back in his chair with a
long-drawn sigh, each tingling sense ecstatically responsive to every
charm of light and shade and luxury.
Half an hour later he rose to go. John Denby, too, rose to his feet.
"You'll come again, of course," the father said, as he held out his
hand. For the first time that evening there was a faint touch of
constraint in his manner. "Suppose you come to dinner--Sunday. Will
you?"
"Surely I will, and be glad--" With a swift surge of embarrassed color
Burke Denby stopped short. In one shamed, shocked instant it had come to
him that he had forgotten Helen--_forgotten_ her! Not for a long hour
had he even remembered that there was such a person in existence.
"Er--ah--that is," he began again, stammeringly.
An odd expression crossed John Denby's countenance.
"You will, of course, bring your wife," he said. "Good-night."
Burke mumbled an incoherent something and fled. The next moment he found
himself in the hall with Benton, deferential and solicitous, holding his
coat.
Again out in the crisp night air, Burke drew a long breath. Was it true?
Had dad invited him to dinner next Sunday? _And with Helen?_ What had
happened? Had dad's heart got the better of his pride? Had he decided
that quarreling did not pay? Did this mean the beginning of the end? Was
he ready to take his son back into his heart? He had not said anything,
_really_. He had just talked in the usual way, as if nothing had
happened. But that would be like dad. Dad hated scenes. Dad would never
say: "I'm sorry I was so harsh with you; come back--you and Helen. I
want you!"--and then fall to crying and kissing like a woman. Dad would
never do that.
It would be like dad just to pick up the thread of the old comradeship
exactly where he had dropped it months ago. And that was what he had
seemed to be doing that evening. He had talked just as he used to
talk--except that never once had he mentioned--mother. Burke remembered
this now, and wondered at it. It was so unusual--in dad. Had he done it
purposely? Was there a hidden meaning back of it? He himself had not
liked to think of mother, lately; yet, somehow, she seemed always to be
in his mind. In spite of himself he was always wondering what she would
think of--Helen. But, surely, dad--
With his thoughts in a dizzy whirl of excitement and questionings, Burke
thrust his key into the lock and let himself into his own apartment.
The hall--never had it looked so hopelessly cheap and small. Burke,
still under the spell of Benton's solicitous ministrations, jerked off
his hat and coat and hung them up. Then he strode into the living-room.
Helen, fully dressed, was sitting at the table, reading a magazine.
"Hullo! Sitting up, are you, chicken?" he greeted her, brushing her
cheek with his lips. "I told you not to; but maybe it's just as well you
did-- I might have waked you," he laughed boyishly. "Guess what's
happened!"
"Got a raise?" Helen's voice was eager.
Her husband frowned.
"No. I got one last month, you know. I'm getting a hundred now. What
more can you expect--in my position?" He spoke coldly, with a tinge of
sharpness. He was wondering why Helen always managed to take the zest
out of anything he was going to do, or say. Then, with an obvious
effort at gayety, he went on: "It's better than a raise, chicken. Dad's
invited us to dinner next Sunday--both of us."
"To dinner! Only to dinner?"
"_Only_ to dinner! Great Cæsar, Helen--_only_ to dinner!"
"Well, I can't help it, Burke. It just makes me mad to see you jump and
run and be so pleased over just a dinner, when it ought to be for every
dinner and all the time; and you know it."
"But, Helen, it isn't the _dinner_. It's that--that dad _cares_." The
man's voice softened, and became not quite steady. "That maybe he's
forgiven me. That he's going to be now the--the old dad that I used to
know. Oh, Helen, I've _missed_ him so! I've--"
But his wife interrupted tartly.
"Well, I should think 'twas time he did forgive you--and I'm not saying
I think there was anything to forgive, either. There wouldn't have been,
if he hadn't tried to interfere with what was our own business--yours
and mine."
There was a brief silence. Burke, looking very white and stern, had got
to his feet, and was moving restlessly about the room.
"Did you think he was--giving in?" asked Helen at last.
"He was very kind."
"What did you tell him?"
"What do you mean?"
"About the dinner, Sunday."
"I don't know, exactly. I said--something; yes, I think. I meant it for
yes--then." The man spoke with sudden utter weariness.
There was another brief silence. A dawning shrewdness was coming into
Helen's eyes.
"Oh, of course, yes. We'd want to go," she murmured. "It _might_ mean he
was giving in, couldn't it?"
There was no reply.
"Do you think he _was_ giving in?"
Still no reply.
Helen scowled.
"Burke, why in the world don't you answer me?" she demanded crossly.
"You were talkative enough a minute ago, when you came in. I should
think you might have enough thought of _my_ interests to want us to go
to live with your father, if there's any chance of it. And while
'twouldn't be _my_ way to jump the minute he held out his hand, yet if
this dinner really means that we'll be going up there to live pretty
soon, why--"
"Helen!" Burke had winced visibly, as if from a blow. "_Can't_ you see
anything, or talk anything, but our going up there to live? It's enough
for me that dad just looked at me to-night with the old look in his
eyes; that somehow he's smashed that confounded wall between us; that--
But what's the use? Never mind the dinner. We won't go."
"Nonsense, Burke! Don't be silly. Of course--we're going! I wouldn't
miss it for the world--under the circumstances." And Helen, with an air
of finality, rose to her feet to prepare for bed.
Her husband, looking after her with eyes that were half resigned, half
rebellious, for the second time that evening gave a sigh of utter
weariness, and turned away.
They went to the dinner. Helen became really very interested and
enthusiastic in her preparations for it; and even Burke, after a time,
seemed to regain a little of his old eagerness. They had, to be sure,
nearly a quarrel over the dress and hat that Helen wished to wear. But
after some argument, and not a few tears, she yielded to her husband's
none too gently expressed abhorrence of the hat in question (which was a
new one), and of the dress--one he had always disliked.
"But I wanted to make a good impression," pouted Helen.
"Exactly! So do I want you to," returned her husband significantly. And
there the matter ended.
It was not a success--that dinner. Helen, intent on making her "good
impression," very plainly tried to be admiring, entertaining, and
solicitous of her host's welfare and happiness. She resulted in being
nauseatingly flattering, pert, and inquisitive. John Denby, at first
very evidently determined to give no just cause for criticism of his own
behavior, was the perfection of courtesy and cordiality. Even when,
later, he was unable quite to hide his annoyance at the persistent and
assiduous attentions and questions of his daughter-in-law, he was yet
courteous, though in unmistakable retreat.
Burke Denby--poor Burke! With every sense and sensitiveness keyed to
instant response to each tone and word and gesture of the two before
him, each passing minute was, to Burke, but a greater torture than the
one preceding it. Long before dinner was over, he wished himself and
Helen at home; and as soon as was decently possible after the meal, he
peremptorily suggested departure.
"I couldn't stand it! I couldn't stand it another minute," he told
himself passionately, as he hurried Helen down the long elm-shaded walk
leading to the street. "But dad--dad was a brick! And he asked us to
come again. _Again!_ Good Heavens! As if I'd go through that again! It
was so much worse _there_ than at home. But I'm glad he didn't put her
in mother's chair. I don't think even I could have stood that--to-day!"
"Well, that's over," murmured Helen complacently, as they turned into
the public sidewalk,--"and well over! Still, I didn't enjoy myself so
very much, and I don't believe you did, either," she laughed, "else you
wouldn't have been in such a taking to get away."
There was no answer. Helen, however, evidently sure of her ground, did
not seem to notice. She yawned pleasantly.
"Guess I'm sleepy. Ate too much. _'Twas_ a good dinner; and, just as I
told your father, things always taste especially good when you don't
get much at home. I said it on purpose. I thought maybe 'twould make him
think."
Still silence.
Helen turned sharply and peered into her husband's face.
"What's the matter?" she demanded suspiciously. "Why are you so glum?"
Burke, instantly alert to the danger of having another scene such as had
followed Gleason's first visit, desperately ran to cover.
"Nothing, nothing!" He essayed a gay smile, and succeeded. "I'm stupid,
that's all. Maybe I'm sleepy myself."
"It can't be you're put out 'cause we came away so early! You suggested
it yourself." Her eyes were still suspiciously bent upon him.
"Not a bit of it! I wanted to come."
She relaxed and took her gaze off his face. The unmistakable sincerity
in his voice this last time had carried conviction.
"Hm-m; I thought you did," she murmured contentedly again. "Still, I was
kind of scared when you proposed it. I didn't suppose 'twas proper to
eat and run. Mother always said so. Do you think he minded it--your
father?"
"Not a bit!" Burke, in his thankfulness to have escaped the threatened
scene, was enabled to speak lightly, almost gayly.
"Hm-m. Well, I'm glad. I wouldn't have wanted him to mind. I _tried_ to
be 'specially nice to him, didn't I?"
"You did, certainly." Burke's lips came together a little grimly; but
Helen's eyes were turned away; and after a moment's pause she changed
the subject--to her husband's infinite relief.
CHAPTER IX
A BOTTLE OF INK
Burke Denby did not attempt to deceive himself after that Sunday dinner.
His marriage had been a mistake, and he knew it. He was disappointed,
ashamed, and angry. He told himself that he was heartbroken; that he
still loved Helen dearly--only he did not like to be with her now. She
made him nervous, and rubbed him the wrong way. Her mood never seemed to
fit in with his. She had so many little ways--
Sometimes he told himself irritably that he believed that, if it were a
big thing like a crime that Helen had committed, he could be heroic and
forgiving, and glory in it. But forever to battle against a succession
of never-ending irritations, always to encounter the friction of
antagonistic aims and ideals--it was maddening. He was ashamed of
himself, of course. He was ashamed of lots of things that he said and
did. But he could not help an explosion now and then. He felt as if
somewhere, within him, was an irresistible force driving him to it.
And the pity of it! Was he not, indeed, to be pitied? What had he not
given up? As if it were his fault that he was now so disillusioned! He
had supposed that marriage with Helen would be a fresh joy every
morning, a new delight every evening, an unbelievable glory of
happiness--just being together.
Now--he did not want to be together. He did not want to go home to
fretfulness, fault-finding, slovenliness, and perpetual criticism. He
wanted to go home to peace and harmony, big, quiet rooms, servants that
knew their business, and--dad.
And that was another thing--dad. Dad had been right. He himself had been
wrong. But that did not mean that it was easy to own up that he had been
wrong. Sometimes he hardly knew which cut the deeper: that he had been
proved wrong, thus losing his happiness, or that his father had been
proved right, thus placing him in a position to hear the hated "I told
you so."
That Helen could never make him happy Burke was convinced now. Never had
he realized this so fully as since seeing her at his father's table that
Sunday. Never had her "ways" so irritated him. Never had he so
poignantly realized the significance of what he had lost--and won. Never
had he been so ashamed--or so ashamed because he was ashamed--as on that
day. Never, he vowed, would he be placed in the same position again.
As to Helen's side of the matter--Burke quite forgot that there was such
a thing. When one is so very sorry for one's self, one forgets to be
sorry for anybody else. And Burke was, indeed, very sorry for himself.
Having never been in the habit of taking disagreeable medicine, he did
not know how to take it now. Having been always accustomed to consider
only himself, he considered only himself now. That Helen, too, might be
disappointed and disillusioned never occurred to him.
* * * * *
It was perhaps a month later that another invitation to dinner came from
John Denby. This time Burke did not stutter out a joyous, incoherent
acceptance. He declined so promptly and emphatically that he quite
forgot his manners, for the moment, and had to attach to the end of his
refusal a hurried and ineffectual "Er--thank you; you are very kind, I'm
sure!" He looked up then and met his father's eyes. But instantly his
gaze dropped.
"Er--ah--Helen is not well at all, dad," he still further added,
nervously. "Of course I'll speak to her. But I don't think we can come."
There was a moment's pause. Then, very gravely, John Denby said: "Oh, I
am sorry, son."
Burke, with a sudden tightening of his throat, turned and walked away.
"He didn't laugh, he didn't sneer, he didn't look _anyhow_, only just
plain sorry," choked the young man to himself. "And he had such a
magnificent chance to do--all of them. But he just--understood."
Burke "spoke to Helen" that night.
"Father asked us to dinner next Sunday; but--I said I didn't think we
could go. I told him you weren't feeling well. I didn't think you'd want
to go; and--I didn't want to go myself."
Helen frowned and pouted.
"Well, I've got my opinion of folks who refuse an invitation without
even asking 'em if they want to go," she bridled. "Not that I mind much,
in this case, though,--if it's just a dinner. I thought once, maybe he
meant something--that he was giving in, you know. But I haven't seen any
signs of _that_. And as for just going to dinner--I can't say I am
'specially anxious for that--mean as I feel now."
"No, I thought not," said Burke.
And there the matter ended. As the summer passed, Burke fell into the
way of going often to see his father, though never at meal-time. He went
alone. Helen said she did not care to go, and that she did not _see_
what fun Burke could find in it, anyway.
To Burke, these hours that he spent with his father chatting and smoking
in the dim old library, or on the vine-shaded veranda, were like a
breeze blowing across the desert of existence--like water in a thirsty
land. From day to day he planned for these visits. From hour to hour he
lived upon them.
To all appearances John Denby and his son had picked up their old
comradeship exactly where the marriage had severed it. Even to Burke's
watchful, sensitive eyes the "wall" seemed quite gone. There was,
however, one difference: mother was never mentioned. John Denby never
spoke of her now.
There was plenty to talk about. There were all the old interests, and
there was business. Burke was giving himself heart and soul to business
these days. In July he won another promotion, and was given an advance
in wages. Often, to Burke's infinite joy, his father consulted him about
matters and things quite beyond his normal position, and showed in other
ways his approval of his son's progress. Helen, the marriage, and the
Dale Street home life were never mentioned--for which Burke was
thankful.
"He _couldn't_ say anything I'd want to hear," said Burke to himself, at
times. "And I--_I_ can't say anything _he_ wants to hear. Best forget
it--if we can."
To "forget it" seemed, indeed, in these days, to be Burke's aim and
effort. Always had Burke tried to forget things. From the day his
six-months-old fingers had flung the offending rattle behind him had
Burke endeavored to thrust out of sight and mind everything that
annoyed--and Helen and marriage had become very annoying.
Systematically, therefore, he was trying to forget them. His attitude,
indeed, was not unlike that of a small boy who, weary of his game of
marbles, cries, "Oh, come, let's play something else. I'm tired of
this!"--an attitude which, naturally, was not conducive to happiness,
either for himself or for any one else--particularly as the game he was
playing was marriage, not marbles.
The summer passed and October came. Life at the Dale Street flat had
settled into a monotony of discontent and dreariness. Helen,
discouraged, disappointed, and far from well, dragged through the
housework day by day, wishing each night that it were morning, and each
morning that it were night--a state of mind scarcely conducive to
happiness on her part.
For all that Burke was away so many evenings now, Helen was not so
lonely as she had been in the spring; for in Mrs. Jones's place had come
a new neighbor, Mrs. Cobb. And Mrs. Cobb was even brighter and more
original than Mrs. Jones ever was, and Helen liked her very much. She
was a mine of information as to housekeeping secrets, and she was
teaching Helen how to make the soft and dainty little garments that
would be needed in November. But she talked even more loudly than Mrs.
Jones had talked; and her laugh was nearly always the first sound that
Burke heard across the hall every morning. Moreover, she possessed a
phonograph which, according to Helen, played "perfectly grand tunes";
and some one of these tunes was usually the first thing that Burke heard
every night when he came home. So he called her coarse and noisy, and
declared she was even worse than Mrs. Jones; whereat Helen retorted that
of course he _wouldn't_ like her, if _she_ did--which (while possibly
true) did not make him like either her or Mrs. Cobb any better.
The baby came in November. It was a little girl. Helen wanted to call
her "Vivian Mabelle." She said she thought that was a swell name, and
that it was the name of her favorite heroine in a perfectly grand book.
But Burke objected strenuously. He declared very emphatically that no
daughter of his should have to go through life tagged like a vaudeville
fly-by-night.
Of course Helen cried, and of course Burke felt ashamed of himself.
Helen's tears had always been a potent weapon--though, from over-use,
they were fast losing a measure of their power. The first time he saw
her cry, the foundations of the earth sank beneath him, and he dropped
into a fathomless abyss from which he thought he would never rise. It
was the same the next time, and the next. The fourth time, as he felt
the now familiar sensation of sinking down, down, down, he outflung
desperate hands and found an unexpected support--his temper. After that
it was always with him. It helped to tinge with righteous indignation
his despair, and it kept him from utterly melting into weak
subserviency. Still, even yet, he was not used to them--his wife's
tears. Sometimes he fled from them; sometimes he endured them in dumb
despair behind set teeth; sometimes he raved and ranted in a way he was
always ashamed of afterwards. But still they had the power, in a
measure, to make his heart like water within him.
So now, about the baby's name, he called himself a brute and a beast to
bring tears to the eyes of the little mother--toward whom, since the
baby's advent, he felt a remorseful tenderness. But he still maintained
that he could have no man, or woman, call his daughter "Vivian Mabelle."
"But I should think you'd let me name my own baby," wailed his wife.
Burke choked back a hasty word and assumed his pet
"I'll-be-patient-if-it-kills-me" air.
"And you shall name it," he soothed her. "Listen! Here are pencil and
paper. Now, write down a whole lot of names that you'd like, and I'll
promise to select one of them. Then you'll be naming the baby all right.
See?"
Helen did not "see," quite, that she would be naming the baby; but,
knowing from past experience of her husband's temper that resistance
would be unpleasant, she obediently took the paper and spent some time
writing down a list of names.
Burke frowned a good deal when he saw the list, and declared that it was
pretty poor pickings, and that he ought to have known better than to
have bound himself to a silly-fool promise like that. But he chose a
name (he said he would keep his word, of course), and he selected
"Dorothy Elizabeth" as being less impossible than its accompanying
"Veras," "Violets," and "Clarissa Muriels."
For the first few months after the baby's advent, Burke spent much more
time at home, and seemed very evidently to be trying to pay especial
attention to his wife's comfort and welfare. He was proud of the baby,
and declared it was the cutest little kid going. He poked it in its
ribs, thrust a tentative finger into the rose-leaf of a hand (emitting a
triumphant chuckle of delight when the rose-leaf became a tightly
clutching little fist), and even allowed the baby to be placed one or
twice in his rather reluctant and fearful arms. But, for the most part,
he contented himself with merely looking at it, and asking how soon it
would walk and talk, and when would it grow its teeth and hair.
Burke was feeling really quite keenly these days the solemnity and
responsibility of fatherhood. He had called into being a new soul. A
little life was in his hands to train. By and by this tiny pink roll of
humanity would be a prattling child, a little girl, a young lady. And
all the way she would be turning to him for companionship and guidance.
It behooved him, indeed, to look well to himself, that he should be in
all ways a fit pattern.
It was a solemn thought. No more tempers, tantrums, and impatience. No
more idle repinings and useless regrets. What mattered it if he were
disillusioned and heartsick? Did he want this child of his, this
beautiful daughter, to grow up in such an atmosphere? Never! At once,
therefore, he must begin to cultivate patience, contentment,
tranquillity, and calmness of soul. He, the pattern, must be all things
that he would wish her to be.
And how delightful it would be when she was old enough to meet him on
his own ground--to be a companion for him, the companion he had not
found in his wife! She would be pretty, of course, sweet-tempered, and
cheerful. (Was he not to train her himself?) She would be capable and
sensible, too. He would see to that. To no man, in the future, should
she bring the tragedy of disillusionment that her mother had brought to
_him_. No, indeed! For that matter, however, he should not let her marry
any one for a long time. He should keep her himself. Perhaps he would
not let her marry at all. He did not think much of this marriage
business, anyway. Not that he was going to show that feeling any longer
now, of course. From now on he was to show only calm contentment and
tranquillity of soul, no matter what the circumstances. Was he not a
father? Had he not, in the hollow of his hand, a precious young life to
train?
Again all this was very well in theory. But in practice--
Dorothy Elizabeth was not six months old before the young father
discovered that parenthood changed conditions, not people. He felt just
as irritated at the way Helen buttered a whole slice of bread at a time,
and said "swell" and "you was," as before; just as impatient because he
could not buy what he wanted; just as annoyed at the purple cushion on
the red sofa.
He was surprised and disappointed. He told himself that he had supposed
that when a fellow made good resolutions, he was given some show of a
chance to keep them. But as if any one _could_ cultivate calm
contentment and tranquillity of soul as he was situated!
First, there were not only all his old disappointments and annoyances to
contend with, but a multitude of new ones. It was as if, indeed, each
particular torment had taken unto itself wife and children, so numerous
had they become. There was really now no peace at home. There was
nothing but the baby. He had not supposed that any one thing or person
could so monopolize everything and everybody.
When the baby was awake, Helen acted as if she thought the earth swung
on its axis solely to amuse it. When it slept, she seemed to think the
earth ought to stand still--lest it wake Baby up. With the same
wholesale tyranny she marshaled into line everything and everybody on
the earth, plainly regarding nothing and no one as of consequence,
except in its relationship to Baby.
Such unimportant things as meals and housework, in comparison with Baby,
were of even less than second consequence; and Burke grew to feel
himself more and more an alien and a nuisance in his own home. Moreover,
where before he had found disorder and untidiness, he now found positive
chaos. And however fond he was of the Baby, he grew unutterably weary of
searching for his belongings among Baby's rattles, balls, shirts, socks,
milk bottles, blankets, and powder-puffs.
The "cool, calm serenity" of his determination he found it difficult to
realize; and the delights and responsibilities of fatherhood began to
pall upon him. It looked to be so long a way ahead, even to teeth,
talking, and walking, to say nothing of the charm and companionship of a
young lady daughter!
Children were all very well, of course,--very desirable. But did they
never do anything but cry? Couldn't they be taught that nights were for
sleep, and that other people in the house had some rights besides
themselves? And must they _always_ choose four o'clock in the morning
for a fit of the colic? Helen said it was colic. For his part, he
believed it was nothing more or less than temper--plain, right-down
temper!
And so it went. Another winter passed, and spring came. Matters were no
better, but rather worse. A series of incompetent maids had been adding
considerably to the expense--and little to the comfort--of the
household. Helen, as a mistress, was not a success. She understood
neither her own duties nor those of the maid--which resulted in short
periods of poor service and frequent changes.
July came with its stifling heat, and Dorothy Elizabeth, now twenty
months old, showed a daily increasing disapproval of life in general and
of her own existence in particular. Helen, worn and worried, and half
sick from care and loss of sleep, grew day by day more fretful, more
difficult to get along with. Burke, also half sick from loss of sleep,
and consumed with a fierce, inward rebellion against everything and
everybody, including himself, was no less difficult to get along with.
Of course this state of affairs could not continue forever. The tension
had to snap sometime. And it snapped--over a bottle of ink in a baby's
hand.
It happened on Bridget's "afternoon out," when Helen was alone with the
baby. Dorothy Elizabeth, propped up in her high-chair beside the
dining-room table, where her mother was writing a letter, reached
covetous hands toward the fascinating little fat black bottle. The next
instant a wild shout of glee and an inky tide surging from an
upside-down bottle, held high above a golden head, told that the quest
had been successful.
Things happened then very fast. There were a dismayed cry from Helen,
half a-dozen angry spats on a tiny hand, a series of shrieks from
Dorothy Elizabeth, and a rapidly spreading inky pall over baby, dress,
table, rug, and Helen's new frock.
At that moment Burke appeared in the door.
With wrathful eyes he swept the scene before him, losing not one detail
of scolding woman, shrieking child, dinnerless table, and inky chaos.
Then he strode into the room.
"Well, by George!" he snapped. "Nice restful place for a tired man to
come to, isn't it? This is your idea of a happy home, I suppose!"
The overwrought wife and mother, with every nerve tingling, turned
sharply.
"Oh, yes, that's right--blame me! Blame me for everything! Maybe you
think _I_ think this is a happy, restful place, too! Maybe you think
this is what _I_ thought 'twould be--being married to you! But I can
tell you it just isn't! Maybe you think I ain't tired of working and
pinching and slaving, and never having any fun, and being scolded and
blamed all the time because I don't eat and walk and stand up and sit
down the way you want me to, and-- Where are you goin'?" she broke off,
as her husband reached for the hat he had just tossed aside, and started
for the door.
Burke turned quietly. His face was very white.
"I'm going down to the square to get something to eat. Then I'm going up
to father's. And--you needn't sit up for me. I shall stay all night."
"_All--night!_"
"Yes. I'd like to sleep--for once. And that's what I can't do--here."
The next moment the door had banged behind him.
Helen, left alone with the baby, fell back limply.
"Why, Baby, he--he--" Then she caught the little ink-stained figure to
her and began to cry convulsively.
In the street outside Burke strode along with his head high and his jaw
sternly set. He was very angry. He told himself that he had a right to
be angry. Surely a man was entitled to _some_ consideration!
In spite of it all, however, there was, in a far-away corner of his
soul, an uneasy consciousness of a tiny voice of scorn dubbing this
running away of his the act of a coward and a cad.
Very resolutely, however, he silenced this voice by recounting again to
himself how really abused he was. It was a long story. It served to
occupy his mind all through the unappetizing meal he tried to eat at the
cheap restaurant before climbing Elm Hill.
His father greeted him cordially, and with no surprise in voice or
manner--which was what Burke had expected, inasmuch as he had again
fallen into the way of spending frequent evenings at the old home.
To-night, however, Burke himself was constrained and ill at ease. His
jaw was still firmly set and his head was still high; but his heart was
beginning to fail him, and his mind was full of questionings.
How would his father take it--this proposition to stay all night? He
would understand something of what it meant. He could not help but
understand. But what would he say? How would he act? Would he say in
actions, if not in words, that dreaded "I told you so"? Would it unseal
his lips on a subject so long tabooed, and set him into a lengthy
dissertation on the foolishness of his son's marriage? Burke believed
that, as he felt now, he could not stand that; but he could stand less
easily going back to the Dale Street flat that night. He could go to a
hotel, of course. But he did not want to do that. He wanted dad. But he
did not want dad--to talk.
"How's the baby?" asked John Denby, as Burke dropped himself into a
chair on the cool, quiet veranda. "I thought she was not looking very
well the last time Helen wheeled her up here." Always John Denby's first
inquiry now was for his little granddaughter.
"Eh? The baby? Oh, she--she's all right. That is"--Burke paused for a
short laugh--"she's _well_."
John Denby took his cigar from his lips and turned sharply.
"But she's _not_--all right?"
Burke laughed again.
"Oh, yes, she's all right, too, I suppose," he retorted, a bit grimly.
"But she was--er--humph! Well, I'll tell you." And he gave a graphic
description of his return home that night.
"Jove, what a mess!--and _ink_, too," ejaculated John Denby, with more
than a tinge of sympathy in his voice. "How'd she ever manage to clean
it up?"
Burke shrugged his shoulders.
"Ask me something easy. I don't know, I'm sure. I cleared out."
"Without--your dinner?" John Denby asked the question after a very
brief, but very tense, silence.
"My dinner--I got in the square."
Burke's lips snapped together again tight shut. John Denby said nothing.
His eyes were gravely fixed on the glowing tip of the cigar in his hand.
Burke cleared his throat and hesitated. He had not intended to ask his
question quite so soon; but suddenly he was consumed with an
overwhelming desire to speak out and get it over. He cleared his throat
again.
"Dad--would you mind--my sleeping here to-night? It's just that I--I
want a good night's sleep, for once," he plunged on hurriedly, in answer
to a swift something that he saw leap to his father's eyes. "And I can't
get it there--with the baby and all."
There was a perceptible pause. Then, steadily, and with easy cordiality,
came John Denby's reply.
"Why, certainly, my boy. I'm glad to have you. I'll ring at once for
Benton to see that--that your old room is made ready for you," he added,
touching a push-button near his chair.
Later, when Benton had come and gone, with his kindly old face alight
and eager, Burke braced himself for what he thought was inevitable.
Something would come, of course. The only question was, what would it
be?
But nothing came--that is, nothing in the nature of what Burke had
expected. John Denby, after Benton had left the veranda, turned to his
son with a pleasantly casual--
"Oh, Brett was saying to-day that the K. & O. people had granted us an
extension of time on that bridge contract."
"Er--yes," plunged in Burke warmly. And with the words, every taut nerve
and muscle in his body relaxed as if cut in twain.
It came later, though, when he had ceased to look for it. It came just
as he was thinking of saying good-night.
"It has occurred to me, son," broached John Denby, after a short pause,
"that Helen may be tired and in sore need of a rest."
Burke caught his breath, and held it a moment suspended. When before had
his father mentioned Helen, save to speak of her casually in connection
with the baby?
"Er--er--y-yes, very likely," he stammered, a sudden vision coming to
him of Helen as he had seen her on the floor in the midst of the inky
chaos a short time before.
"You're not the only one that isn't finding the present state of affairs
a--a bed of roses, Burke," said John Denby then.
"Er--ah--n-no," muttered the amazed husband. In his ears now rang
Helen's--"Maybe you think I ain't tired of working and pinching and
slaving!" Involuntarily he shivered and glanced at his father--dad could
not, of course, have _heard_!
"I have a plan to propose," announced John Denby quietly, after a
moment's silence. "As I said, I think Helen needs a rest--and a change.
I've seen quite a little of her since the baby came, you know, and I've
noticed--many things. I will send her a check for ten thousand dollars
to-morrow if she will take the baby and go away for a time--say, to her
old home for a visit. But there is one other condition," he continued,
lifting a quick hand to silence Burke's excited interruption. "I need a
rest and change myself. I should like to go to Alaska again; and I'd
like to have you go with me. Will you go?"
Burke sprang to his feet and began to pace up and down the wide veranda.
(From boyhood Burke had always "thrashed things out" on his feet.) For a
full minute now he said nothing. Then, abruptly, he stopped and wheeled
about. His face was very white.
"Dad, I can't. It seems too much like--like--"
"No, it isn't in the least like quitting, or running away," supplied
John Denby, reading unerringly his son's hesitation. "You're not
quitting at all. I'm asking you to go. Indeed, I'm begging you to go,
Burke. I want you. I need you. I'm not an old man, I know; but I feel
like one. These last two years have not been--er--a bed of roses for me,
either." In spite of a certain lightness in his words, the man's voice
shook a little. "I don't think you know, boy, how your old dad
has--missed you."
"Don't I? I can--guess." Burke wheeled and resumed his nervous stride.
The words, as he flung them out, were at once a challenge and an
admission. "But--Helen--" He stopped short, waiting.
"I've answered that. I've told you. Helen needs a rest and a change."
Again to the distraught husband's ears came the echo of a woman's
wailing--"Maybe you think I ain't tired of working and pinching and
slaving--"
"Then you don't think Helen will feel that I'm running away?" A growing
hope was in his eyes, but his brow still carried its frown of doubt.
"Not if she has a check for--ten thousand dollars," replied John Denby,
a bit grimly.
Burke winced. A painful red reached his forehead.
"It is, indeed, a large sum, sir,--too large," he resented, with sudden
stiffness. "Thank you; but I'm afraid we can't accept it, after all."
John Denby saw his mistake at once; but he did not make the second
mistake of showing it.
"Nonsense!" he laughed lightly, with no sign of the sudden panic of
fear within him lest the look on his son's face meant the downfall of
all his plans. "I made it large purposely. Remember, I'm borrowing her
husband for a season; and she needs some recompense! Besides, it'll mean
a playday for herself. You'll not be so unjust to Helen as to refuse her
the means to enjoy that!--not that she'll spend it all for that, of
course. But it will be a comfortable feeling to know that she has it."
"Y-yes, of course," hesitated Burke, still frowning.
"Then we'll call that settled."
"I know; but-- Of course if you put it _that_ way, why, I--"
"Well, I do put it just that way," nodded the father lightly. "Now,
let's go in. I've got some maps and time-tables I want you to see. I'm
planning a different route from the one we took with the doctor--a
better one, I think. But let's see what you say. Come!" And he led the
way to the library.
Burke's head came up alertly. His shoulders lost their droop and his
brow its frown. A new light flamed into his eyes and a new springiness
leaped into his step. Always, from the time his two-year-old lips had
begged to "see the wheels go 'round," had Burke's chief passion and
delight been traveling. As he bent now over the maps and time-tables
that his father spread before him, voice and hands fairly trembled with
eagerness. Then suddenly a chance word sent him to his feet again, the
old look of despair on his face.
"Dad, I can't," he choked. "I can't be a quitter. You don't want me to
be!"
[Illustration: JOHN DENBY WENT STRAIGHT TO HIS SON AND LAID BOTH HANDS
ON HIS SHOULDERS]
With a sharp word John Denby, too, leaped to his feet. Something of the
dogged persistence that had won for him wealth and power glowed in his
eyes as he went straight to his son and laid both hands on his
shoulders.
"Burke, I had not meant to say this," he began quietly; "but perhaps
it's just as well that I do. Possibly you think I've been blind all
these past months; but I haven't. I've seen--a good deal. Now I want you
and Helen to be happy. I don't want to see your life--or hers--wrecked.
I believe there's a chance yet for you two people to travel together
with some measure of peace and comfort, and I'm trying to give you that
chance. There's just one thing to do, I believe, and that is--to be away
from each other for a while. You both need it. For weeks I've been
planning and scheming how it could be done. How do you suppose I
happened to have this Alaska trip all cut and dried even down to the
train and boat schedules, if I hadn't done some thinking? To-night came
my chance. So I spoke."
"But--to be a quitter!"
"You're not quitting. You're--stopping to get your breath."
"There's--my work."
"You've made good, and more than good there, son. I've been proud of
you--every inch of the way. You're no quitter there."
"Thanks, dad!" Only the sudden mist in his eyes and the shake in his
voice showed how really moved Burke was. "But--Helen," he stammered
then.
"Will be better off without you--for a time."
"And--I?"
"Will be better off without her--for the same time. While I--shall be,
oh, so infinitely better off _with_ you. Ah, son, but I've missed you
so!" It was the same longing cry that had gone straight to Burke's heart
a few minutes before. "You'll come?"
There was a tense silence. Burke's face plainly showed the struggle
within him. A moment more, and he spoke.
"Dad, I'll have to think it out," he temporized brokenly. "I'll let you
know in the morning."
"Good!" If John Denby was disappointed, he did not show it. "We'll let
it go till morning, then. Meanwhile, it can do no harm to look at these,
however," he smiled, with a wave of his hand toward the maps and
time-tables.
"No, of course not," acquiesced Burke promptly, relieved that his father
agreed so willingly to the delay.
Half an hour later he went upstairs to his old room to bed.
It was a fine old room. He had forgotten that a bedroom could be so
large--and so convenient. Benton, plainly, had been there. Also,
plainly, his hand had not lost its cunning, nor his brain the memory of
how Master Burke "liked things."
The arrangement of the lights, the glass of milk by his bed, the
turned-down spread and sheet, the latest magazine ready to his
hand--even the size and number of towels in his bathroom testified to
Benton's loving hand and good memory.
With a sigh that was almost a sob Burke dropped himself into a chair and
looked about him.
It was all so peaceful, so restful, so comfortable. And it was so quiet.
He had forgotten that a room could be so quiet.
In spite of his weariness, Burke's preparations for bed were both
lengthy and luxurious--he had forgotten what absolute content lay in
plenty of space, towels, and hot water, to say nothing of soap that was
in its proper place, and did not have to be fished out of a baby-basket
or a kitchen sink.
Burke did not intend to go to sleep at once. He intended first to settle
in his mind what he would do with this proposition of his father's. He
would have to refuse it, of course. It would not do. Still, he ought to
give it proper consideration for dad's sake. That much was due dad.
He stretched himself luxuriously on the bed (he had forgotten that a bed
could be so soft and so "just right") and began to think. But the next
thing he knew he was waking up.
His first feeling was a half-unconscious but delightful sensation of
physical comfort. His next a dazed surprise as his slowly opened eyes
encountered shapes and shadows and arc-light beams on the walls and
ceiling quite unlike those in his Dale Street bedroom. Then instantly
came a vague but poignant impression that "something had happened,"
followed almost as quickly by full realization.
Like a panorama, then, the preceding evening lay before him: Helen, the
crying baby, the trailing ink, the angry words, the flight, dad, his
welcome, the pleasant chat, the remarkable proposition. Oh, yes! And it
was of the proposition that he was going to think. He could not accept
it, of course, but--
What a trump dad had been to offer it! What a trump he had been in the
_way_ he offered it, too! What a trump he had been all through about it,
for that matter. Not a word of reproach, not a hint of patronage. Not
even a look that could be construed into that hated "I told you so."
Just a straight-forward offer of this check for Helen, and the trip for
himself, and actually in a casual, matter-of-fact tone of voice as if
ten-thousand-dollar checks and Alaskan trips were everyday occurrences.
But they weren't! A trip like that did not drop into a man's plate every
day. Of course he could not take it--but what a dandy one it would be!
And with dad--!
For that matter, dad really needed him. Dad ought not to go off like
that alone, and so far. Besides, dad _wanted_ him. How his voice had
trembled when he had said, "I don't think you know, boy, how your old
dad has missed you"! As if he didn't, indeed! As if he hadn't done
_some_ missing on his own account!
And the check. Of course he could not let Helen accept that,
either,--ten thousand dollars! But how generous of dad to offer it--and
of course it _would_ be good for Helen. Poor Helen! She needed a rest,
all right, and she deserved one. It _would_ be fine for her to go back
to her old home town for a little while, and no mistake. Not that she
would need to spend the whole ten thousand dollars on that, of course.
But even a little slice of a sum like that would give her all the frills
and furbelows she wanted for herself and the baby, and send them into
the country for all the rest of the summer, besides leaving nine-tenths
of it for a nest-egg for the future. And what a comfortable feeling it
would give her--always a little money when she wanted it for anything!
No more of the hated pinching and starving, for he should tell her to
spend it and take some comfort with it. That was what it was for.
Besides, when it was gone, _he_ would have some for her. What a boon it
would be to her--that ten thousand dollars! Of course, looking at it in
that light, it was almost his _duty_ to accept the proposition, and give
her the chance to have it.
But then, after all, he couldn't. Why, it was like accepting charity; he
hadn't earned it. Still, if hard work and anguish of mind counted, he
_had_ earned it twice over, slaving away at the beck of Brett and his
minions. And he had made good--so far. Dad had said so. What a trump dad
was to speak as he did! And when _dad_ said a thing like that, it meant
something!
Well, there was nothing to do, of course, but to go back and buckle down
to work--and to life in the Dale Street flat. To be sure, there was the
baby. Of course he was fond of the baby; and it was highly interesting
to see her achieve teeth, hair, a backbone, and sense--if only she would
hurry up a little faster, though. Did babies always take so long to grow
up?
Burke stretched himself luxuriously and gazed about the room. The
arc-light outside had gone out and dawn was approaching. More and more
distinctly each loved object in the room was coming into view. To his
nostrils came the perfume of the roses and honeysuckles in the garden
below his window. To his ears came the chirp and twitter of the
bird-calls from the trees. Over his senses stole the soothing peace of
absolute physical ease.
Once more, drowsily, he went back to his father's offer. Once more, in
his mind, he argued it--but this time with a difference. Thus, so
potent, sometimes, is the song of a bird, the scent of a flower, the
shape of a loved, familiar object, or even the feel of a soft bed
beneath one.
After all, might he not be making a serious mistake if he did not accede
to his father's wishes? Of course, so far as he, personally, was
concerned, the answer would be an unequivocal refusal of the offer. But
there was his father to consider, and there was Helen to think of; yes,
and the baby. How much better it would be for them--for all of them, if
he accepted it!
Helen and the baby could have months of fresh air, ease, and happiness
without delay, to say nothing of innumerable advantages later. Why, when
you came to think of it, that would be enough, if there were nothing
else! But there was something else. There was dad. Good old dad! How
happy he'd be! Besides, dad really needed him. How ever had he thought
for a moment of sending dad off to Alaska alone, and just after an
illness, too! What could he be thinking of to consider it for a moment?
That settled it. He should go. He would stifle all silly feelings of
pride and the like, and he would make dad, Helen, and the baby happy.
Which question having been satisfactorily decided, Burke turned over and
settled himself for a doze before breakfast. He did not get it, however.
His mind was altogether too full of time-tables, boat schedules,
mountain peaks, and forest trails.
Jove, but that was going to be a dandy trip!
* * * * *
It was later, while Burke was leisurely dressing and planning out the
day before him, that the bothersome question came to him as to how he
should tell Helen. He was reminded, also, emphatically, of the probable
scene in store for him when he should go home at six o'clock that night.
And he hated scenes. For that matter, there would probably be another
one, too, when he told her that he was going away for a time. To be
sure, there was the ten-thousand-dollar check; and of course very soon
he could convince her that it was really all for her best happiness.
After she gave it a little thought, it would be all right, he was
positive, but there was certain to be some unpleasantness at first,
particularly as she was sure to be not a little difficult over his
running--er--rather, _going_ away the night before. And he wished he
could avoid it in some way. If only he did not have to go home--
His face cleared suddenly. Why, of course! He would write. How stupid of
him not to have thought of it before! He could say, then, just what he
wanted to say, and she would have a chance to think it over calmly and
sensibly, and see how really fine it was for her and the baby. That was
the way to do it, and the only way. Writing, he could not be unnerved by
her tears (of course she would cry at first--she always cried!) or
exasperated into saying things he would be sorry for afterwards. He
could say just enough, and not too much, in a letter, and say it right.
Then, early in the following week, just before he was to start on his
trip he would go down to the Dale Street house and spend the last two or
three days with Helen and the baby, picking up his traps, and planning
with Helen some of the delightful things she could do with that ten
thousand dollars. By that time she would, of course, have entirely
come around to his point of view (even if she had not seen it quite
that way at first), and they could have a few really happy days
together--something which would be quite impossible if they should meet
now, with the preceding evening fresh in their minds, and have one of
their usual wretched scenes of tears, recriminations, and wranglings.
For the present, then, he would stay where he was. Helen would be all
right--with Bridget. His father would be overjoyed, he knew; and as for
the few toilet necessities--he could buy those. He needed some new
things to take away. So that was settled.
With a mind at rest again and a heart aflame with joy, Burke hurried
into his garments and skipped downstairs like a boy.
His face, before his lips got a chance, told his father of his decision.
But his lips did not lag long behind. He had expected that his father
would be pleased; but he was not quite prepared for the depth of emotion
that shook his father's voice and dimmed his father's eyes, and that
ended the half-uttered declaration of joy with what was very near a sob.
If anything, indeed, were needed to convince Burke that he was doing
just right in taking this trip with his father, it could be needed no
longer after the look of ineffable peace and joy on that father's face.
Breakfast, with so much to talk of, prolonged itself like a college
spread, until Burke, with a cry of dismay, pulled out his watch and
leaped to his feet.
"Jove! Do you know what time it is, dad?" he cried laughingly. "Behold
how this life of luxury has me already in its clutches! I should have
been off an hour ago."
John Denby lifted a detaining hand.
"Not so fast, my boy," he smiled. "I've got you, and I mean to keep
you--a few minutes longer."
"But--"
"Oh, I telephoned Brett this morning that you wouldn't be down till
late, if you came at all."
"You telephoned _this morning_!" puzzled Burke, sinking slowly into his
chair again. "But you didn't know then that I--" He stopped once more.
"No, I didn't know then that you'd agree to my proposition," answered
John Denby, with a characteristically grim smile. "But I knew, if you
did agree, we'd _both_ have some talking to do. And if you didn't--_I_
should. I meant still to convince you, you see."
"I see," nodded the younger man, smiling in his turn.
"So I wouldn't go down this morning. We've lots of plans to make.
Besides, there's your letter."
"Yes, there's--my--letter." This time the young man did not smile. "I've
got to write my letter, of course."
CHAPTER X
BY ADVICE OF COUNSEL
Helen Denby received the letter from her husband at two o'clock by a
special messenger.
Helen had passed a sleepless night and an unhappy morning. The surge of
bitter anger which at first, like the ink, had blackened everything it
touched, soon spent itself, and left her weak and trembling. Dorothy
Elizabeth, after her somewhat upsetting day, sank into an unusually
sound slumber; but her mother, all through the long night watches, lay
with sleepless eyes staring into the dark, thinking.
Helen was very angry with Burke. There was no gainsaying that. She was a
little frightened, too, at what she herself had said. In a soberer
moment she would not have spoken quite like that, certainly. But it had
been so hateful--his asking if she called that a happy home! As if she
did not want a happy home as much as he ever could!
To Helen, then, came her old vision of the daintily gowned wife
welcoming her husband to the well-kept home; and all in the dark her
cheek flushed hot.
How far short, indeed, of that ideal had she fallen! And she was going
to be such a help to Burke; such an inspiration; such a guide,
counselor, and friend! (Swiftly the words came galloping out of that
long-forgotten honeymoon.) Had she helped him? Had she been an
inspiration, and a guide, and a counselor, and a friend? Poor Burke! He
_had_ given up a good deal for her sake. (With the consciousness of that
vacant pillow by her side, a wave of remorseful tenderness swept over
her.) And of course it must have been hard for him. They had told him
not to marry her, too. They had warned him that she was not suited to
him, that she would drag him--
With a low cry Helen sat up in bed suddenly.
"_Drag him down!_"
Had she dragged him down? No, no, not that--never that! She had been
careless and thoughtless. She had not been a good housekeeper; and maybe
sometimes she had been fretful and fault-finding, and--and horrid. But
she loved him dearly. She had always loved him. It only needed something
like this to show her how much she loved him. Why, he was Burke, her
husband--Baby's father! As if ever she could let it be said that she had
dragged him down!
Quivering, shaken with sobs, she fell back on the pillow. For a few
moments she cried on convulsively. Then, with a tremulous indrawn
breath, she opened her eyes and stared into the dark again. A new
thought had come to her.
But there was time yet. Nothing dreadful had happened. She would show
Burke, his friends, everybody, that she had not dragged him down. From
now on she would try. Oh, how she would try! He should see. He _should_
find a happy home when he came at night. She knew more, now, than she
did, about housekeeping. Besides, there was more money now,--a little
more,--and she had some one to help her with the work. Bridget was
really doing very well; and there was Mrs. Cobb, so kind and helpful.
She would go to her for advice always. Never again should Burke come
home and find such a looking place. Baby should be washed and dressed.
She herself would be dressed and waiting. Dinner, too, even on Bridget's
day out, should be all ready and waiting. As if ever again she would run
the risk of Burke's having to flee from his own home because he could
not stand it! He should see!
It was in this softened, exalted state of mind that Helen rose the next
morning and proceeded to begin the carrying-out of her vows, by essaying
the almost hopeless task (with Bridget's not overcheerful assistance) of
putting into spotless order the entire apartment.
At two o'clock, when Burke's letter came, she was utterly weary and
almost sick; but she was still in the softened, exalted state of the
early morning.
With a wondering, half-frightened little cry at sight of the familiar
writing, she began to read. John Denby's check for ten thousand dollars
had fallen into her lap unnoticed.
_My dear Helen_ [she read]: First let me apologize for
flying off the handle the way I did last night. I shouldn't
have done it. But, do you know? I believe I'm glad I
did--for it's taught me something. Maybe you've discovered
it, too. It's this: you and I have been getting on each
other's nerves, lately. We need a rest from each other.
Now, don't bristle up and take it wrong, my dear. Just be
sensible and think. How many times a day do we snap and
snarl at each other? You're tired and half sick with the
work and the baby. I'm tired and half sick with _my_ work,
and we're always rubbing each other the wrong way. That's
why I think we need a vacation from each other. And dad has
made it possible for us to take one. He wants me to go to
Alaska with him on a little trip. I want to go, of course.
Then, too, I think I ought to go. Dad needs me. Not that he
is old, but he is just getting over an illness, and his head
bothers him a lot. I can be of real use to him.
At his own suggestion he is sending you the enclosed check.
He wants you to accept it with his best wishes for a
pleasant vacation. He suggests--and I echo him--that it
would be a fine idea if you should take the baby and go back
to your home town for a visit. I know your father and mother
are not living; but there must be some one there whom you
would like to visit. Or, better yet, now that you have the
means, you would probably prefer a good hotel for
headquarters, and then make short visits to all your
friends. It would do you worlds of good, and Baby, too.
And now--I'm writing this instead of coming to tell it face
to face, because I believe it's the best way. I'll be frank.
After last night, we might say things when we first met that
we'd be sorry for. And I don't want that to happen. So I'm
going to stay up here for a day or two.
Let me see--to-day is Friday. We are due to leave next
Wednesday. I'll be down the first of the week to say
good-bye and pick up my traps. Meanwhile, chicken, you'll be
all right with Bridget there; and just you put your wits to
work and go to planning out that vacation of yours, and how
you're going to spend the money. Then you can be ready to
tell me all about it when I come down.
Your affectionate husband,
BURKE.
Helen's first feeling, upon finishing the note, was one of utter
stupefaction. With a dazed frown and a low ejaculation she turned the
letter over and began to read it again--more slowly. This time she
understood. But her thoughts were still in a whirl of surprised
disbelief. Then, gradually, came a measure of conviction.
Fresh from her vigils of the night before, with its self-accusations and
its heroic resolutions, she was so chastened and softened that there was
more of grief than of anger in her first outburst.
She began to cry a little wildly.
Burke was going away. He _wanted_ to go. He said they--they got on each
other's nerves. He said they needed a vacation from each other. _Needed_
one! As if they did! It wasn't that. It was his father's idea. _She_
knew. It was all his fault! But he was going--Burke was. He said he was.
There would not be any chance now to show him the daintily gowned wife
welcoming her husband home to a well-kept house. There would not be any
chance to show how she had changed. There would not be--
But there would be--after he came back.
Helen stopped sobbing, and caught her breath with a new hope in her
eyes. Dorothy Elizabeth began to cry, and Helen picked her up and
commenced to rock her.
Of course there _would_ be time after he came back. And, after all,
might it not be the wisest thing, to be away from each other for a time?
Why, even this little while--a single night of Burke's being gone--had
shown her where she stood!--had shown her where it was all leading to!
Of course it was the best way, and Burke had seen it. It was right that
he should go. And had they not provided for her? She was to go-- There
was a check somewhere--
Burrowing in her lap under Dorothy Elizabeth's warm little body, Helen
dragged forth an oblong bit of crumpled paper. Carefully she spread it
flat. The next moment her eyes flew wide open.
One thousand dollars! No, _ten_ thousand! It couldn't be! But it was.
Ten thousand dollars! And she had been scolding and blaming them, when
all the time they had been so generous! And it really _was_ the best
way, too, that they should be apart for a while. It would give her a
chance to adjust herself and practice--and it would need some practice
if she were really going to be that daintily gowned young wife welcoming
her husband to a well-kept home! And with ten thousand dollars! What
couldn't they get with ten thousand dollars?
Dorothy Elizabeth, at that moment, emitted a sharp, frightened cry. For
how was Dorothy Elizabeth to know that the spasmodic pressure that so
hurt her was really only a ten-thousand-dollar hug of joy?
In less than half an hour, Helen, leaving the baby with Bridget, had
sought Mrs. Cobb. She could keep her good news no longer.
"I came to tell you. I'm going away--Baby and I," she announced
joyously. "We're going next week."
"Jiminy! You don't say so! But you don't mean you're goin' away ter
_live_?"
"Oh, no. Just for a visit to my old home town where I was born--only
'twill be a good long one. You see, we need a rest and a change so
much--Baby and I do." There was a shade of importance in voice and
manner.
"That you do!" exclaimed Mrs. Cobb, with emphasis. "And I'm glad you're
goin'. But, sakes alive, I'm goin' ter miss ye, child!"
"I shall miss you, too," beamed Helen cordially.
"How long you goin' ter be gone?"
"I don't know, exactly. It'll depend, some, on Burke--I mean Mr.
Denby--when he wants me to come back."
"Oh, ain't he goin', too?" An indefinable change came to Mrs. Cobb's
voice.
"Oh, no, not with us," smiled Helen. "He's going to Alaska."
"To--_Alaska_! And, pray, what's he chasin' off to a heathen country
like that for?"
"Tisn't heathen--Alaska isn't," flashed Helen, vaguely irritated without
knowing why. "Heathen countries are--are always hot. Alaska's cold.
Isn't Alaska up north--to the pole, 'most? It used to be, when I went to
school."
"Maybe 'tis; but that ain't sayin' why he's goin' there, instead of with
you," retorted Mrs. Cobb. In spite of the bantering tone in which this
was uttered, disapproval was plainly evident in Mrs. Cobb's voice.
"He's going with his father," answered Helen, with some dignity.
"His father! Humph!"
This time the disapproval was so unmistakably evident that Helen flamed
into prompt defense, in righteous, wifely indignation.
"I don't know why you speak like that, Mrs. Cobb. Hasn't he got a right
to go with his father, if he wants to? Besides, his father needs him.
Burke says he does."
"And _you_ don't need him, I s'pose," flamed Mrs. Cobb, in her turn,
nettled that her sympathetic interest should meet with so poor a
welcome. "Of course it's none of my business, Mis' Denby, but it seems a
shame to me for him ter let you and the baby go off alone like this, and
so I spoke right out. I always speak right out--what I think."
Helen flushed angrily. However much she might find fault with her
husband herself, she suddenly discovered a strong disinclination to
allowing any one else to do so. Besides, now, when he and his father
had been so kind and generous--! She had not meant to tell Mrs. Cobb of
the ten-thousand-dollar check, lest it lead to unpleasant questioning as
to why it was sent. But now, in the face of Mrs. Cobb's unjust
criticism, she flung caution aside.
"You're very kind," she began, a bit haughtily; "but, you see, this time
you have made a slight mistake. I don't think it's a shame at all for
him to go away with his father who needs him; and you won't, when you
know what they've sent me. They sent me a check this afternoon for ten
thousand dollars."
"_Ten--thousand--dollars!_"
"Yes," bowed Helen, with a triumphant "I-told-you-so" air, as Mrs.
Cobb's eyes seemed almost to pop out of her head. "They sent it this
very afternoon."
"For the land's sake!" breathed Mrs. Cobb. Then, as her dazed wits began
to collect themselves, a new look came to her eyes. "They _sent_ it?"
she cried.
"By special messenger--yes," bowed Helen, again importantly.
"But how funny to _send_ it, instead of bringing it himself--your
husband, I mean."
Too late Helen saw her mistake. In a panic, now, lest unpleasant truths
be discovered, she assumed an especially light, cheerful manner.
"Oh, no, I don't think it was funny a bit. He--he wanted it a surprise,
I guess. And he wrote--a letter, you know. A lovely letter, all about
what a good time Baby and I could have with the money."
The suspicion in Mrs. Cobb's eyes became swift conviction. An angry red
stained her cheeks--but it was not anger at Helen. That was clearly to
be seen.
"Look a-here, Mis' Denby," she began resolutely, "I'm a plain woman, and
I always speak right out. And I'm your friend, too, and I ain't goin'
ter stand by and see you made a fool of, and not try ter lift a hand ter
help. There's somethin' wrong here. If you don't know it, it's time you
did. If you _do_ know it, and are tryin' ter keep it from me, you might
just as well stop right now, and turn 'round and tell me all about it.
As I said before, I'm your friend, and--if it's what I think it
is--you'll _need_ a friend, you poor little thing! Now, what is it?"
Helen shook her head feebly. Her face went from white to red, and back
again to white. Still determined to keep her secret if possible, she
made a brave attempt to regain her old airiness of manner.
"Why, Mrs. Cobb, it's nothing--nothing at all!"
Mrs. Cobb exploded into voluble wrath.
"Nothin', is it?--when a man goes kitin' off ter Alaska, and sendin' his
wife ten thousand dollars ter go somewheres else in the opposite
direction! Maybe you think I don't know what that means. But I do! And
he's tryin' ter play a mean, snivelin' trick on ye, and I ain't goin'
ter stand for it. I never did like him, with all his fine, lordly airs,
a-thinkin' himself better than anybody else what walked the earth. But
if I can help it, I ain't goin' ter see you cheated out of your just
deserts."
"_Mrs. Cobb!_" expostulated the dismayed, dumfounded wife; but Mrs. Cobb
had yet more to say.
"I tell you they're rich--them Denbys be--rich as mud; and as for pokin'
you off with a measly ten thousand dollars, they shan't--and you with a
baby ter try ter bring up and edyercate. The idea of your standin' for a
separation with only ten thousand--"
"Separation!" interrupted Helen indignantly, as soon as she could find
her voice. "It isn't a separation. Why, we never thought of such a
thing;--not for--for _always_, the way you mean it."
"What is it, then?"
"Why, it's just a--a playday," stammered Helen, still trying to cling to
the remnant of her secret. "He _said_ it was a playday--that I was to go
off and have a good time with Baby."
"If it's just a playday, why didn't he give it to you ter take it
_tergether_, then? Tell me that!"
"Why, he--he's going with his father."
"You bet he is," retorted Mrs. Cobb grimly. "And he's goin' ter keep
with his father, too."
"What do you mean?" Helen's lips were very white.
Mrs. Cobb gave an impatient gesture.
"Look a-here, child, do you think I'm blind? Don't ye s'pose I know how
you folks have been gettin' along tergether?--or, rather, _not_ gettin'
along tergether? Don't ye s'pose I know how he acts as if you wasn't the
same breed o' cats with him?"
"Then you've seen--I mean, you think he's--ashamed of me?" faltered
Helen.
"Think it! I _know_ it," snapped Mrs. Cobb, ruthlessly freeing her mind,
regardless of the very evident suffering on her listener's face; "and
it's just made my blood boil. Time an' again I've thought of speakin' up
an' tellin' ye I jest wouldn't stand it, if I was you. But I didn't. I
ain't no hand ter butt in where it don't concern me. But ter see you so
plumb fooled with that ten thousand dollars--I jest can't stand it no
longer. I _had_ ter speak up. Turnin' you off with a beggarly ten
thousand dollars--and them with all that money! Bah!"
"But, Mrs. Cobb, maybe he's coming back," stammered Helen faintly, with
white lips.
"Pshaw! So maybe the sun'll rise in the west termorrer," scoffed Mrs.
Cobb; "but I ain't pullin' down my winder shades for it yet. No, he
won't come back--ter _you_, Mis' Denby."
"But he--he don't say it's for--for all time."
"'Course he don't. But, ye see, he thinks he's lettin' ye down
easy--a-sendin' ye that big check, an' tellin' ye ter take a playday. He
don't want ye ter suspect, yet, an' make a fuss. He's countin' on bein'
miles away when ye _do_ wake up an' start somethin'. That's why I'm
a-talkin' to ye now--ter put ye wise ter things. I ain't goin' ter
stand by an' see you bamboozled. Now do you go an' put on your things
an' march up there straight. I'll take care of the baby, an' be glad to,
if you don't want ter leave her with Bridget."
"_I go up there?_" Helen's voice was full of dismayed protest.
"Sure! You brace right up to 'em, an' tell 'em you've caught on ter
their little scheme, and you ain't goin' ter stand for no such nonsense.
If he wants ter git rid of you an' the baby, all well an' good. That is,
I'm takin' it for granted that you wouldn't fight it--the divorce, I
mean."
"_Divorce!_" almost shrieked Helen.
"But that he's got ter treat ye fair and square, an' give ye somewheres
near what's due ye," went on Mrs. Cobb, without apparently noticing
Helen's horrified exclamation. "Now don't cry; and, above all things,
don't let 'em think they've scared ye. Just brace right up an' tell 'em
what's what."
"Oh, but Mrs. Cobb, I--I--" With a choking sob and a hysterical shake of
her head, Helen turned and fled down the hall to her own door. Once
inside her apartment she stumbled over to the crib and caught the
sleeping Dorothy Elizabeth into her arms.
"Oh, Baby, Baby, it's all over--all over," she moaned. "I can't ever be
a daintily gowned wife welcoming him to a well-kept home now.
Never--never! I can't welcome him at all. He isn't coming back. He
doesn't _want_ to come back. He's ashamed of us, Baby,--_ashamed of
us_!"
Dorothy Elizabeth, roused from her nap and convulsively clutched in a
pair of nervous hands, began to whimper restlessly.
"No, no, Baby, not of you," sobbed Helen, rocking the child back and
forth in her arms. "It was me--just me he was ashamed of. What shall I
do, what _shall_ I do?"
"And I thought it was just as he said," she went on chokingly, after a
moment's pause. "I thought it was a vacation he wanted us to take,
'cause we--we got on each other's nerves. But it wasn't, Baby,--it
wasn't; and I see it now. He's ashamed of me. He's always been ashamed
of me, 'way back when Dr. Gleason first came--he was ashamed of me then,
Baby. He was. I know he was. And now he wants to get away--quite away,
and never come back. And he calls it a _vacation_! And he says _I'm_ to
have one, too, and I must tell him all about it when he comes down next
week. Maybe he thinks I will. _Maybe he thinks I will!_
"We won't be here, Baby,--we won't! We'll go
somewhere--somewhere--anywhere!--before he gets here," she raved,
burying her face in the baby's neck and sobbing hysterically.
Once again Helen passed a sleepless night. Never questioning now Mrs.
Cobb's interpretation of her husband's conduct, there remained only a
decision as to her own course of action. That she could not be there
when her husband came to make ready for his journey, she was convinced.
She told herself fiercely that she would take herself and the baby
away--quite away out of his sight. He should not be shamed again by the
sight of her. But she knew in her heart that she was fleeing because she
dared not go through that last meeting with her husband, lest she should
break down. And she did not want to break down. If Burke did not want
_her_, was it likely she was going to cry and whine, and let him know
that she _did_ want him? Certainly not!
Helen's lips came together in a thin, straight line, in spite of her
trembling chin. Between her hurt love and her wounded pride, Helen was
in just that state of hysterics and heroics to do almost
anything--except something sane and sober.
First, to get away. On that she was determined. But where to go--that
was the question. As for going back to the old home town--as Burke had
suggested--_that_ she would not do--now. Did they think, then, that she
was going back there among her old friends to be laughed at, and gibed
at? What if she did have ten thousand dollars to spend on frills and
finery to dazzle their eyes? How long would it be before the whole town
found out, as had Mrs. Cobb, that that ten thousand dollars was the
price Burke Denby had paid for his freedom from the wife he was ashamed
of? Never! She would not go there. But where could she go?
It was then that a plan came to her--a plan so wild and dazzling that
even her frenzied aspiration scouted it at first as impossible. But it
came again and again; and before long her fancy was playing with it, and
turning it about with a wistful "Of course, if I could!" which in time
became a hesitating "And maybe, after all, I _could_ do it," only to
settle at last into a breathlessly triumphant "I will!"
After that things moved very swiftly in the little Denby flat. It was
Saturday morning, and there was no time to lose.
First, Helen gathered all the cash she had in the house, not forgetting
the baby's bank (which yielded the biggest sum of all), and counted it.
She had nineteen dollars and seventeen cents. Then she rummaged among
her husband's letters and papers until she found a letter from Dr.
Gleason bearing his Boston address. Next, with Bridget to help her, she
flung into her trunk everything belonging to herself and the baby that
it was possible to crowd in, save the garments laid out to wear. By
three o'clock Bridget was paid and dismissed, and Helen, with Dorothy
Elizabeth, was waiting for the carriage to take them to the railroad
station.
With the same tearless exaltation that had carried her through the
prodigious tasks of the morning, Helen picked up her bag and Dorothy
Elizabeth, and followed her trunk down the stairs and out to the street.
She gave not one backward glance to the little home, and she carefully
avoided anything but an airy "Good-bye" to the watching Mrs. Cobb in
the window on the other side. Not until the wheels began to turn, and
the journey was really begun, did Helen's tearless exaltation become the
frightened anxiety of one who finds herself adrift on an uncharted sea.
Then Helen began to cry.
CHAPTER XI
IN QUEST OF THE STARS
In a roomy old house on Beacon Hill Dr. Frank Gleason made his home with
his sister, Mrs. Ellery Thayer. The family were at their North Shore
cottage, however, and only the doctor was at home on the night that
Hawkins, the Thayers' old family butler, appeared at the library door
with the somewhat disconcerting information that a young person with a
baby and a bag was at the door and wished to speak to Dr. Gleason.
The doctor looked up in surprise.
"Me?" he questioned. "A woman? She must mean Mrs. Thayer."
"She said you, sir. And she isn't a patient. I asked her, thinking she
might have made a mistake and took you for a real doctor what practices.
She said she didn't want doctoring. She wanted you. She's a young person
I never saw before, sir."
"But, good Heavens, man, it's after eleven o'clock!"
"Yes, sir." On the manservant's face was an expression of lively
curiosity and disapproval, mingled with a subdued but unholy mirth which
was not lost on the doctor, and which particularly exasperated him.
"What in thunder can a woman with a baby want of me at this time of--
What's her name?" demanded the doctor.
"She didn't say, sir."
"Well, go ask her."
The butler coughed slightly, but made no move to leave the room.
"I did ask her, sir. She declined to give it."
"Declined to-- Well, I like her impertinence."
"Yes, sir. She said you'd"--the servant's voice faltered and swerved
ever so slightly from its well-trained impassiveness--"er--understand,
sir."
"She said I'd--the deuce she did!" exploded the doctor under his breath,
flushing an angry red and leaping to his feet. "Didn't you tell her Mrs.
Thayer was gone?" he demanded at last, wheeling savagely.
"I did, sir, and--"
"Well?"
"She said she was glad; that she wanted only you, anyway."
"_Wanted only--!_ Comes here at this time of night with a bag and a
baby, refuses to give her name, and says I'll understand!" snarled the
doctor. "Oh, come, Hawkins, this is some colossal mistake, or a fool
hoax, or-- What kind of looking specimen is she?"
Hawkins, who had known the doctor from his Knickerbocker days, was
guilty of a slow grin.
"She's a--a very good looker, sir."
"Oh, she is! Well--er, tell her I can't possibly see her; that I've gone
to bed--away--sick--something! Anything! Tell her she'll have to see
Mrs. Thayer."
"Yes, sir." Still the man made no move to go. "She--er--beg pardon,
sir--but she'll be that cut up, I fear, sir. You see, she's been cryin'.
And she's young--very young."
"Crying!"
"Yes, sir. And she was that powerful anxious to see you, sir. I had hard
work to keep her from coming _with_ me. I did, sir. She's in the hall.
And--it's raining outside, sir."
"Oh, good Heavens! Well, bring her in," capitulated the doctor in
obvious desperation.
"Yes, sir." This time the words were scarcely out of his mouth before
the old man was gone. In an incredibly short time he was back with a
flushed-faced, agitated young woman carrying a sleeping child in her
arms.
At sight of her, the doctor, who had plainly braced himself behind a
most forbidding aspect, leaped forward with a low cry and a complete
change of manner.
"_Mrs. Denby!_" he gasped. But instantly he fell back; for the young
woman, for all the world like a tenpenny-dreadful stage heroine, hissed
out a tragic "Sh-h! I don't want anybody to know my name!" with a
cautious glance toward the none-too-rapidly disappearing Hawkins.
"But what does this mean?" demanded Frank Gleason, when he could find
words. "Where's Burke?"
"He's left me."
"Left you! Impossible!"
"Yes." She drew in her breath convulsively. "He says it's only to Alaska
with his father; but that's just to let me down easy."
"Oh, but, Mrs. Denby--"
"You needn't try to make me think any different," she interposed
wearily, sinking into the chair the doctor placed for her; "'cause you
can't. I've been over everything you could say. All the way down here I
didn't have anything to do only just to think and think. And I see
now--such lots of things that I never saw before."
"But, why--how do you know--what made you think he has--left you?"
stammered the doctor.
"Because he's ashamed of me; and--"
"Oh, Mrs. Denby!"
"You don't have to say anything about that, either," said Mrs. Denby
very quietly. And before the dumb agony in the eyes turned full upon
him, he fell silent.
"There ain't any question as to what _has_ been done; it's just what I'm
_going_ to _do_," she went on wearily again. "He sent me ten thousand
dollars--Burke's father did; and--"
"John Denby sent you ten thousand dollars!" exploded the doctor, sitting
erect.
"Yes; a check. I've got it here. He sent it for a playday, you know,"
nodded Mrs. Denby, shifting the weight of the heavy baby in her arms.
"And--and that's why I came to you."
"To--to me," stammered the doctor, growing suddenly alertly miserable
and nervous again. "A--a playday! But I--I--that is--how--"
"Oh, I'm not going to take the playday. I couldn't even _think_
play--now," she choked. "It's--" Then in a breathless burst it came.
"Doctor, you can--you _will_ help me, won't you?--to learn to stand and
walk and talk and eat soup and wear the right clothes and finger nails
and hair, you know, and not say the wrong things, and everything the way
Burke's friends do--you and all the rest of them--_you_ know, so _I_ can
be swell and grand, too, and he won't be ashamed of me! And _is_ ten
thousand dollars enough to pay--for learning all that?"
From sheer inability to speak, the man could only fall back in his chair
and stare dumbly.
"Please, _please_ don't look at me like that," besought the young woman
frenziedly. "It's just as if you said you _couldn't_ help me. But you
can! I know you can. And I can _do_ it. I know that, too. I read it in a
book, once, about a girl who--who was like me. And she went away and got
perfectly grand clothes, and learning, and all; and then she came back;
and he--he didn't know her at first--her husband, and he fell in love
with her all over again. And she didn't have near so much money as I've
got. Doctor, you _will_ help me?"
The doctor, with his shocked, amazed eyes on the piteously pleading face
opposite, threw up his hands in despair.
"But I--you--Burke-- Oh, Heavens, my dear lady! How utterly, utterly
impossible this all is! Come, come, what am I thinking of?--and you with
not even your hat off yet! And that child! I'll call Hawkins at once. He
and his wife are all there are left here, just now,--my sister's at the
beach. But they'll make you and little Miss Dorothy Elizabeth here
comfortable for the night. Then, to-morrow, after a good sleep,
we'll--we'll fix it all up. I'll get Burke on the long distance, and--"
"Dr. Gleason," interrupted Helen Denby, with a calmness that would have
deceived him had he not seen her eyes, "my husband isn't worrying about
me. He thinks I'm at home now. When he finds I'm not, he'll think I've
gone to my old home town where he _told_ me to go for a visit. He won't
worry then. So that's all right. Don't you see? He's sent me
away--_sent_ me. If you tell him now that I am here, I will walk right
straight out of that door, and neither you nor him nor anybody else I
know shall ever see me again."
"Oh, come, come," protested the doctor, again helplessly.
Once more Helen interrupted.
"Doctor, why can't you be straight with me?" she pleaded. "I had to come
to you. There wasn't anybody else I _could_ go to. And there isn't any
other way out of it--but this. I tell you I've been doing some
_thinking_. All the way down here it's been just think, think, think."
The doctor wet his lips.
"But, if--if Burke knew--"
"Look a-here," cut in Helen resolutely, "you've been to our house quite
a lot since Burke and me was married. You think I made Burke real happy,
don't you?"
There was no answer.
"You might just as well say the words with your lips, Doctor. Your face
has said them," observed Helen, a little dryly.
"Well--no, then;--but I feel like a brute to say it."
"You needn't. I made you. Besides, I'm glad to have you say it. We're
right out in the open, now, and maybe we can get somewhere. Look a-here,
do you know?--for the first time in my life to-day I was sorry for John
Denby. I was! I got to thinking, with Dorothy Elizabeth all safe and
snug in my arms, how, by and by, she'd be a little girl, and then a
young lady. And she was so sweet and pretty, and--and I _loved_ her so!
And I got to thinking how I'd feel if somebody took her away from me the
way I took Burke away from his father, and married her when I didn't
want her to, any more 'n Burke's father wanted _him_ to; and I--I could
see then how he must have felt, worshiping Burke as he did. I know--I
used to see them together, when I was nurse there with Mrs. Allen's
children. I never saw a father and son so much like--chums. He doted on
Burke. I know now how he felt. And--and it's turned out the way he
said. I hain't been the one for Burke at all. I've--I've dragged him
down."
"Mrs. Denby, please--" begged the doctor.
But she paused only long enough to shake her head.
"Yes, I have. I know. I've been thinking it all over--the life we've led
together, and what he might have had, if he hadn't had--if it hadn't
been for me. And that's why, now, I want to see if--if I can't learn how
to--to make him not ashamed of me. And it ain't for me, only, it's for
Dorothy Elizabeth. I want to teach her. It's bad enough to have him
ashamed of me; but I--I just couldn't stand it if he should ever be--be
ashamed of--_her_. And now--won't you help me, please? Remember, Burke
don't _want_ me at home, now, so I'm not displeasing him. _Won't_ you
help me? It's my only--chance!"
The doctor sprang to his feet. His eyes were moist and his voice shook
when he spoke.
"Help you! I'll help you to--to bring down the moon and all the stars,
if you say the word! Mrs. Denby, you're a--a little brick, and there's
no end to the way I respect and admire you. Of course I'll help
you--somehow. Though _how_ I haven't the faintest idea. Meanwhile you
must get some rest. As I told you, my sister is at the beach, and there
are only Hawkins and his wife here to keep the house open. But they'll
make you comfortable for the night, and we'll see to-morrow what can be
done. We'll have some kind of a plan," he finished, as he crossed the
room to ring the bell.
"Oh, thank you, thank you!" breathed Helen. "But, remember, please, I'm
not Mrs. Denby. I'm Mrs. Darling--my mother's maiden name," she begged
in a panic, as the doctor touched the bell.
* * * * *
True to his promise, Frank Gleason had a plan, of a sort, ready by
morning. He told it at the breakfast table.
"I'm going to take you to my sister, provided, of course, that you
agree," he announced. "Five minutes' talk with her on this matter will
be worth five years' with me. I shouldn't wonder if she kept you
herself,--for a time, with her. And you couldn't be in a better place.
Perhaps you'll be willing to help her with the children--and she'll be
glad of that, I know."
"But--my money--can't I pay--money?" faltered Helen.
He shook his head.
"Not if we can help it. Your money you'll need later for Miss
Dorothy--unless you are willing to make yourself known to your husband
sooner than you seem now to be willing to. We'll invest it in something
safe and solid, and it'll bring you in a few hundred a year. You'll have
that to spend; and that will go quite a way--under some circumstances."
"But I--I want to--to learn things, you know," stammered Helen; "how to
be--be--"
"You'll learn--lots of things, if you live with my sister," remarked the
doctor significantly.
"Oh!" smiled Helen, with a sigh of relief and content.
The doctor sighed, too,--though not at all with either relief or
content. To the doctor, the task before him loomed as absurd and unreal
as if it were, indeed, the pulling-down of the stars and the moon--the
carrying-out of his extravagant promise of the night before.
CHAPTER XII
THE TRAIL OF THE INK
Burke Denby was well pleased with the letter that he had sent to his
wife, enclosing the ten-thousand-dollar check. He felt that it was both
conclusive and diplomatic; and he believed that it carried a frankness
that would prove to be disarming. He had every confidence that Helen
would eventually (if not at once) recognize its logic and
reasonableness, and follow its suggestions. With a light heart,
therefore, he gave himself up to the enjoyment of the day with his
father. By Saturday, however, a lively curiosity began to assail him as
to just how Helen did take the note, after all. There also came
unpleasantly to him a recurrence of the uncomfortable feeling that his
abrupt departure from home Thursday night had been neither brave nor
kind, and, in fact, hardly decent, under the circumstances. He decided
that he would, when he saw Helen, really quite humble himself and
apologize roundly. It was no more than her due, poor girl!
By Sunday, between his curiosity and his uneasy remorse, he was too
nervous really to enjoy anything to the full; but he sternly adhered to
his original plan of not going down to the Dale Street flat before
Monday, believing, in his heart, that nothing could do so much good to
both of them, under the circumstances, as a few days of thought apart
from each other. Monday, however, found him headed for Dale Street; but
in an hour he was back at Elm Hill. He was plainly very angry.
"She's gone," he announced, with a brevity more eloquent of his state of
mind than a flood of words would have been.
"Gone! Where?"
"Home--to spend that ten thousand dollars, of course. She left this."
With a frown John Denby took the proffered bit of paper upon which had
been scrawled:--
I hope you'll enjoy your playday as much as I shall mine.
Address me at Wenton--if you care to write.
HELEN.
"Where did you find this?"
"On my chiffonier. I didn't think that--of Helen."
"And there was nothing to show _when_ she left?"
"Nothing--except that the apartment was in spick-and-span order from end
to end; and _that_ must have taken _some_ time to accomplish."
"But perhaps the neighbors would--"
"There's no one she knows but Mrs. Cobb," interrupted Burke, with an
impatient gesture. "Do you suppose I'm going to her and whimper, 'My
wife's gone. Please, do you know when she went?' Not much! I saw
her--the dear creature! And one glance at her face showed that she was
dying to be asked. But I didn't afford her that satisfaction. I gave
her a particularly blithe 'Good-morning,' and then walked away as if I'd
_known_ I was coming home to an empty house all the time. But, I repeat,
I'm disappointed. I didn't think this of Helen--running off like this!"
"You think she was angry, then, at your letter?"
"Of course she was--at that, and at the way I left her the other night.
I _was_ a bit of a cad there, I'll admit; but that doesn't excuse her
for doing a trick like this. I wrote her a good letter, and you sent her
a very generous check; and I told her I was coming to-day to pick up my
traps and say good-bye. She didn't care to see me--that's all. But she
might have had some thought that I'd like to see my daughter before I
go. If there was time I'd run up there. But it's out of the
question--with only to-morrow before we start."
"Wenton is her home town, I suppose."
"Yes. She left there, you know, two years before I saw her. Her father
died and then her mother; and she had to look out for herself. I shall
write, of course, and send it up before I go. And I shall try to write
decently; but I will own up, father, I'm mad clear through."
"Too bad, too bad!" John Denby frowned and shook his head again. "I must
confess, Burke, that I, too, didn't quite think this--of Helen."
"I don't know her street address, of course." Burke was on his feet,
pacing back and forth. "But that isn't necessary. It's a small town--I
know that. I told her I thought she'd like the hotel best; but she may
prefer to go to some friend's home. However, that doesn't signify.
She'll get it all right, if I direct it simply to Wenton. But I can't
have a reply before I leave. There isn't time, even if she deigned to
write--which I doubt, in her present evident frame of mind. Pleasant,
isn't it? Makes me feel real happy to start off with, to-morrow!"
"No, of course it doesn't," admitted John Denby, with a sigh. "But,
come, Burke,"--his eyes grew wistful,--"don't let this silly whim of
Helen's spoil everything. Fretting never did help anything, and perhaps,
after all, it's the best thing that could have happened. A meeting
between you, in Helen's present temper, could have resulted only in
unhappiness. Obviously Helen is piqued and angry at your suggesting a
separation for a time. She determined to give it to you--but to give it
to you a little sooner than you wanted. That's her way of getting back
at you. That's all. Let her alone. She'll come to her senses in time.
Oh, _write_, of course," he hastened to add, in answer to the expression
on his son's face. "But don't expect a reply too soon. You must remember
you gave Helen a pretty big blow to her pride. I _wish_ she had looked
at the matter sensibly, of course; but probably that was too much to
expect."
"I'm afraid it was--of--" Biting his lips, Burke pulled himself up
sharply. "I'll go and write my letter," he finished wearily, instead.
And John Denby echoed the long sigh he drew.
It was January when John Denby and his son returned from their Alaskan
trip. The long and rather serious illness of John Denby in November, and
the necessary slowness of their journeying thereafter, had caused a
series of delays very trying to both father and son.
To neither John Denby nor Burke had the trip been an entire success.
Burke, in spite of his joy at being with his father and his delight in
the traveling itself, could not get away from the shadow of an upturned
bottle of ink in a Dale Street flat. At times, with all the old boyish
enthusiasm and lightness of heart, he entered into whatever came; but
underneath it all, and forever cropping uppermost, was a surge of anger,
a bitterness of heart.
Not once, through the entire trip, had Burke heard from his wife. Their
mail, of course, had been infrequent and irregular; but, from time to
time, a batch of letters would be found waiting for them, and always,
with feverish eagerness, Burke had scanned the envelopes for a sight of
Helen's familiar scrawl. He had never found it, and he was very angry
thereat. He was not worried or frightened. Any Denby of the Dalton
Denbys was too well known not to have any vital information concerning
him or her communicated to the family headquarters. If anything had
happened to either Helen or the child, he would have known of it, of
course, through Brett. This silence could mean, therefore, but one
thing: Helen's own wish that he should not hear. He felt that he had a
right to be angry. He pictured Helen happy, gay in her new finery,
queening it over her old school friends in Wenton, and nursing wrath and
resentment against himself (else why did she not write?)--and the
picture did not please him.
He had suggested separation (for a time), to be sure; but he had not
suggested total annihilation of all intercourse! If she did not care to
say anything for herself, she might, at least, be decent enough to let
him hear as to the welfare of his child, he reasoned indignantly.
On one course of action he was determined. As soon as he returned home
he would go to Helen and have it out with her. If she _wished_ to carry
to such absurd lengths her unreasonable pique at his perfectly
reasonable suggestion, he wanted to know it at once, and not live along
this way!
Under these circumstances it is not strange, perhaps, that the trip, for
Burke, was not an unalloyed joy; and the delays, in addition to giving
him no little anxiety for his father, fretted him almost beyond
endurance.
As to John Denby--he, too, could not get away from the shadow of an
upturned bottle of ink. Besides suffering the reflection of its effect
on his son, in that son's moodiness and frequent lack of enthusiasm, he
had no small amount of it on his own account.
Burke's word-picture of that evening's catastrophe had been a vivid one;
and John Denby could not forget it. He realized that it meant much in
many ways. The fact that it had been followed by Helen's ominous
silence did not lessen his uneasy questionings. He wondered if, after
all, he had done the wise thing in bringing about this temporary
separation. He still believed, in his heart, that he had. But he did not
seem to find much happiness in that belief. In spite of his supreme joy
and content in his son's companionship, he found himself many a time
almost wishing the trip were over. And the delays at the end were fully
as great a source of annoyance to himself, as they were to his son. He,
as well as Burke, therefore, heaved a long sigh of relief as the train
drew into the Dalton station, bringing into view the old Denby family
carriage (John Denby did not care for motor cars), with old Horace on
the box, and with Brett near by, plainly waiting to extend a welcoming
hand. Brett's face was white and a little strained-looking. John Denby,
noticing it through the car window, remarked to his son:--
"Guess Brett will be glad to see us. He looks tired. Overworked, I fear.
Faithful fellow--that, Burke! We owe him our trip, anyway. But who
supposed it was going to prolong itself away into January like this?"
"Who did, indeed?" murmured Burke, as he followed his father from the
car.
* * * * *
Burke Denby had not been at home half an hour, when, his face drawn and
ashen, he strode into the library where his father was sitting before
the fire.
"Father, Helen has not been at Wenton at all," he said in the tragically
constrained voice of a man who is desperately trying to keep himself
from exploding into ravings and denunciations.
John Denby came erect in his chair.
"_Not been there_-- What do you mean? How do you know?"
"Brett. I found these upstairs in my room--_every letter I've written
her_--even the first one from here before I left--returned unopened,
marked 'unclaimed, address unknown,' together with a letter from Brett
in explanation. I've just been talking with him on the 'phone, too."
"So that's it--why he looked so at the station! What did he say? Why
didn't he let you know before?"
"He says it was a long time before the first letter came back. He knew
we were away up in the mountains, and would be very likely started for
home before he could reach us with it, anyway. And there wouldn't be a
thing we could do--up there, except to come home; and we'd already be
doing that, anyway. And this would only worry us, and trouble us, and
make our return trip a horror--without helping a bit."
"Quite right. Brett is always right," nodded John Denby.
"Then, of course, came the delay, your sickness, and all. Of course he
wouldn't let us know then--when we _couldn't_ come. By that time other
letters I had written on the way out began to come back from Wenton. (I
always used my own envelopes with the Dalton address in the corner, so
of course they all showed up here in time.) When the second and third
came he knew it wasn't a mistake. He'd been hoping the first one was,
somehow, he said."
"Yes, yes, I see. And of course it might have been. But what did he do?
Didn't he do--anything?"
"Yes. First, he said, he kept his own counsel--here in town. He knew
we'd want to avoid all gossip and publicity."
"Of course!"
"He put the thing into the hands of a private detective whom he could
trust; and he went himself to Wenton--for a vacation, apparently."
"Good old Brett! Wise, as usual. What did he find?"
"Nothing--except that she was not there, and hadn't been there since she
left some years ago, soon after her mother's death. He says he's
positive of that. So he had to come back no wiser than he went."
"But--the detective."
"Very little there. Still, there was something. He traced her to
Boston."
"_Boston!_"
"Yes."
"What friends has she in Boston?"
"None, so far as I know. I never heard her mention knowing a soul there.
Still, I believe she had a--a position there with some one, before she
went to Aunt Eunice; but I don't know who it was."
"There's Gleason--she knows him."
Burke gave his father a glance from scornful eyes.
"My best friend! She'd be apt to go to him, wouldn't she, if she were
running away from me? Besides, we've had three or four letters from him
since we've been gone. Don't you suppose he'd tell us of it, if she'd
gone to him?"
"Yes, yes, of course," frowned John Denby, biting his lips. "It's only
that I was trying to get hold of some one--or something. Think of
it--that child alone in Boston, and--no friends! Of course she had
money--that is, I suppose she cashed it--that check?" John Denby turned
with a start.
"Oh, yes. I asked Brett about that. I hoped maybe there'd be a clue
there, if she got somebody to cash it for her. But there was nothing.
She got the money herself, at the bank here, not long after we went. So
she must have come back for a time, anyway. Brett says Spawlding, at the
bank, knew her, of course, and so there was no question as to
identification. Still it was so large a one that he telephoned to Brett,
before he paid it, asking if it were all right--you being away. Brett
evidently knew you had given her such a check--"
"Yes, I had told him," nodded John Denby.
"So he said yes, it was. He says he supposed she had come down from
Wenton to get it cashed, and that she would leave the bulk of it there
in the bank to her credit. Anyway, all he could do was to assure
Spawlding that you had given her such a check just before you went
away."
"Yes, yes, I see," nodded John Denby again.
"She didn't leave any of the money, however. She took it all with her."
"Took it _all_--ten thousand dollars!"
"Yes. The detective, of course, is still working on the case. He got to
Boston, but there he's up against a blank wall. He's run a fine-tooth
comb through all sorts of public and private institutions in Boston and
vicinity without avail. He's made a thorough search at the railroad
station. He can't find a person who has any recollection of a young
woman and child answering their description, arriving on that date, who
seemed to be troubled or in doubt where to go. He questioned the matron,
ticket-men, cabbies, policemen--everybody. Of course every one had seen
plenty of young women with babies in their arms--young women who had the
hair and eyes and general appearance of Helen, and who were anxious and
fretted. (They said young women with babies were apt to be anxious and
fretted.) But they didn't remember one who asked frantic questions as to
what to do, and where to go, and all that--acting as we think Helen
would have acted, alone in a strange city."
"Poor child, poor child!" groaned John Denby. "Where can--"
But his son interrupted sternly.
"I don't _know_ where she is, of course. But don't be too sure it is
'poor child' with her, dad. She's doing this thing because she _wants_
to do it. Don't forget that. Didn't she purposely mislead us by that
note she left on my chiffonier? She didn't say she _had_ gone to Wenton,
but she let me think she had. 'Address me at Wenton, if you care to
write,' she said. And don't forget that she also said: 'I hope you'll
enjoy your playday as much as I shall mine.' Don't you worry about
Helen. She's taken my child and your ten thousand dollars, and she's off
somewhere, having a good time;--and Helen could have a good time--on ten
thousand dollars! Incidentally she's also punishing us. She means to
give us a good scare. She's waiting till we get home, and till the
money's gone. Then she'll let herself be found."
"Oh, come, come, Burke, aren't you just a little bit--harsh?"
remonstrated John Denby.
"I don't think so. She deserves--something for taking that child away
like this. Honestly, as my temper is now, if it wasn't for the baby, I
should feel almost like saying that I hoped she wouldn't ever come back.
I don't want to see her. But, of course, with the baby, that's another
matter."
"I should say so!" exclaimed John Denby emphatically.
"Yes; but, see here, dad! Helen knew where she was going. She's gone to
friends. Wouldn't she have left some trace in that station if she'd been
frightened and uncertain where to go? Brett says the detective found one
cabby who remembered taking just such a young woman and child from an
evening train at about that time. He didn't recollect where he took her,
and he couldn't say as to whether she had been crying, or not; but he's
positive she directed him where to go without a moment's hesitation. If
that was Helen, she knew where she was going all right."
John Denby frowned and did not answer. His eyes were troubled.
"But perhaps here--at the flat--" he began, after a time.
"The detective tried that. He went as a student, or something, and
managed to hire a room of Mrs. Cobb. He became very friendly and chatty,
and showed interest in all the neighbors, not forgetting the vacant flat
on the same floor. But he didn't learn--much."
"But he learned--something?"
An angry red mounted to Burke's forehead.
"Oh, yes; he learned that it belonged to a poor little woman whose
husband was as rich as mud, but quite the meanest thing alive, in that
he'd tried to buy her off with ten thousand dollars, because he was
ashamed of her! Just about what I should think would come from a woman
of Mrs. Cobb's mentality!"
"Then she knew about the ten-thousand-dollar check?"
"Apparently. But she didn't know Helen had gone to Boston. The detective
found out that. She told him she believed she'd gone back home to her
folks. So Helen evidently did not confide in her--or perhaps she
intentionally misled her, as she did us."
"I see, I see," sighed John Denby.
For a minute the angry, perplexed, baffled young husband marched back
and forth, back and forth, in the great, silent room. Then, abruptly, he
stopped short, and faced his father.
"I shall try to find her, of course,--though I think she'll let us hear
from her of her own accord, pretty soon, now. But I shan't wait for
that. First I shall go to Aunt Eunice and see if she knows the names of
any of the people with whom Helen used to live, before she came to her.
Then, whatever clues I find I shall endeavor to follow to the end.
Meanwhile, so far as Dalton is concerned,--_my wife is out of town_.
That's all. It's no one's business. The matter will be hauled over every
dinner-table and rolled under the tongue of every old tabby in town. But
they can only surmise and suspect. They can't know anything about it.
And we'll be mighty careful that they don't. Brett--bless him!--has been
the soul of discretion. We'll see that we follow suit. _My wife is out
of town!_ That's all!" And he turned and flung himself from the room.
As soon as possible Burke Denby went to his Aunt Eunice and told her his
sorry tale. From her he obtained one or two names, and--what he eagerly
grasped at--an address in Boston. Each of these clues he followed
assiduously, only to find that it led nowhere. Angrier, but no wiser, he
went back home.
The detective, too, reported no progress. And as the days became weeks,
and the weeks a month, with no word of Helen, Burke settled into a
bitterness of wrath and resentment that would not brook the mention of
Helen's name in his presence.
Burke was feeling very much abused these days. He was, indeed, thinking
of himself and pitying himself almost constantly. The woman to whom he
had given his name (and for whom he had sacrificed so much) had made
that name a byword and a laughing stock in his native town. He was
neither bachelor nor husband. He was not even a widower, but a
nondescript thing to be pointed out as a sort of monster. Even his child
was taken away from him; and was doubtless being brought up to hate
him--Burke forgot that Dorothy Elizabeth was as yet but slightly over
two years old.
As for Helen's side of the matter--Burke was too busy polishing his own
shield of defense to give any consideration to hers. When he thought of
his wife, it was usually only to say bitterly to himself: "Humph! When
that ten thousand dollars is gone we'll hear from her all right!" And he
was not worrying at all about her comfort--with ten thousand dollars to
spend.
"She knows where _she_ is, and she knows where _I_ am," he would declare
fiercely to himself. "When she gets good and ready she'll come--and not
until then, evidently!"
In March a line from Dr. Gleason said that he would be in town a day or
two, and would drop in to see them.
With the letter in his hand, Burke went to his father.
"Gleason's coming Friday," he announced tersely.
"Well?"
"We've got to settle on what to tell him."
"About--"
"Helen--yes. Of course--he'll have to know something; but--I shall tell
him mighty little." Burke's lips snapped together in the grim manner
that was becoming habitual with him.
Gleason came on Friday. There was an odd constraint in his manner. At
the same time there was a nervous wistfulness that was almost an appeal.
Yet he was making, obviously, a great effort to appear as usual.
Not until Burke found himself alone with his guest did he speak of his
wife. Then he said:--
"You know, of course, that Helen has--er--that she is not here."
"Yes." There was a subdued excitement in the doctor's voice.
"Of course! Everybody knows that, I suppose," retorted Burke bitterly.
He hesitated, then went on, with manifest effort: "If you don't mind,
old fellow, we'll leave it--right there. There's really nothing that I
care to say."
A look of keen disappointment crossed the doctor's face.
"But, Burke, if you knew that your wife--" began the doctor imploringly.
"There are no 'ifs' about it," interrupted Burke, with stern
implacability. "Helen knows very well where I am, and--she isn't here.
That's enough for me."
"But, my dear boy--" pleaded the doctor again.
"Gleason, please, I'd rather not talk about it," interrupted Burke Denby
decidedly. And the doctor, in the face of the stern uncompromisingness
of the man before him, and of his own solemn, but hard-wrung promise,
given to a no less uncompromising little woman whom he had left only the
day before, was forced to drop the matter. His face, however, still
carried its look of troubled disappointment. And he steadfastly refused
to remain at the house even for a meal--a most extraordinary proceeding
for him.
"He's angry, and he's angry with me," muttered Burke Denby to himself,
his eyes moodily fixed on the doctor's hurrying figure as it disappeared
down the street. "He wanted to preach and plead, and tell me my 'duty.'
As if I didn't know my own business best myself! Bah! A fig for his
'ifs' and 'buts'!"
CHAPTER XIII
A WOMAN'S WON'T
Two days after his visit to Dalton, Frank Gleason dropped himself into a
low chair in his sister's private sitting-room in the Beacon Hill house.
"Well?" prompted Mrs. Thayer, voice and manner impatiently eager.
"Nothing."
"Nothing! But there must have been something!"
"There wasn't a thing--that will help."
"But, aren't they frightened--anxious--anything? Don't they _care_ where
she is?"
"Oh, yes; they care very much," smiled the doctor wearily; "but not in
the way that is going to help any. I couldn't get _anything_ out of
Burke, and I didn't get much more out of his father. But I did a
little."
"They don't know, of course, that she's here?"
"Heavens, I hope not!--under the circumstances. But I felt all kinds of
a knave and a fool and a traitor. I got away as soon as possible. I
couldn't stay. I hoped to get something--anything--that I could use for
a cudgel over Helen, to get her to go back, you know. But I couldn't get
a thing. However, I shall keep on urging, of course."
"But what _did_ they say?"
"Burke said nothing, practically. Nor would he let me say anything. He
is very angry (his father told me that), and very bitter."
"But isn't he frightened, or worried?"
"Not according to his father. It seems they have had a detective on the
case, and have traced her to Boston. There the trail ends. But they have
found out enough to feel satisfied that no evil has befallen her. Burke
argues that Helen is staying somewhere (with friends, he believes)
because she wants to. Such being the case he doesn't want her back until
she gets good and ready to come. He does want the baby. John Denby told
me, in fact, that he believed if Burke found them now, as he's feeling,
he'd insist on a separation; and that the baby should be given to him."
"Given to him, indeed!" flashed Mrs. Thayer angrily. "And yet, in the
face of that, you sit there and say you shall urge her to go back, of
course."
Frank Gleason stirred uneasily.
"I know, Edith, but--"
"There isn't any question about it," interrupted Mrs. Thayer decidedly.
"That poor child stays where she is now."
"Oh, but, Edith, this sort of thing can't go on forever, you know,"
remonstrated the doctor nervously, his forehead drawn into an anxious
frown.
"I wasn't talking about forever," returned the lady, with tranquil
confidence. "I was talking about _now_, to-day, next week, next year, if
it's necessary."
"_Next year!_"
"Certainly--if Burke Denby hasn't come to his senses by that time. Why,
Frank Gleason, don't you suppose I'd do anything, _everything_, to help
that child keep her baby? She worships it. Besides, it's going to be the
making of her."
"I know; but if they could be brought together--Burke and his wife, I
mean--it seems as if--as if--" The man came to a helpless pause.
"Frank, see here," began Edith Thayer resolutely. "You know as well as I
do that those two people have been wretched together for a year or more.
They are not suited to each other. They weren't in the first place. To
make matters worse, they were both nothing but petted, spoiled children,
no more fit to take on the responsibilities of marriage than my Bess and
Charlie would be. All their lives they'd had their own dolls and
shotguns to do as they pleased with; and when it came to marrying and
sharing everything, including their time and their tempers, they flew
into bits--both of them."
"Yes, I know," sighed the man, still with a troubled frown.
"Well, they're apart now. Never mind who was to blame for it, or whether
it was or wasn't a wise move. It's done. They're apart. They've got a
chance to think things over--to stand back and get a perspective, as it
were. Helen thinks she can metamorphose herself into the perfect wife
that Burke will love. Perhaps she can. Let us say she has one chance in
a million of doing so;--well, I mean she shall have that chance,
especially as the alternative--that is, her going back home now--is sure
to be nothing but utter wretchedness all round."
Frank Gleason shook his head.
"Yes, yes, very plausible--to _say_, of course. I see she's talked you
over. She did me. I was ready to pull the moon down for her footstool
that first night she came to me. I'm ready to do it now--when I'm with
her. But away from her, with a chance to think,--it really is absurd,
you know, when you come right down to it. Here are Burke and his father,
my good friends, hunting the country over for Burke's wife and child.
And here am I, harboring her and abetting her, and never opening my
head. Really, it's the sort of thing that you'd say--er--couldn't
happen, you know."
"But it _is_ happening; and so far as their finding her is concerned,
you said yourself, long ago, that it was the safest hiding-place in the
world, for they'd never think of looking in it. They've never been in
the habit of coming here, and their friends don't know us. As for the
servants, and the few of my friends who see her, she's merely Mrs.
Darling. That's all. Besides, you're entirely leaving out of
consideration Helen's own attitude in the matter. I haven't a doubt but
that, if you did tell, she'd at least _attempt_ to carry out her crazy
threats of flight and oblivion. Really, Frank, so far as being a friend
is concerned, you're being the truest friend, both to Burke and his
father, and to Helen, by keeping her and protecting her from herself
and others--to say nothing of the real help I hope I'm being to her."
"I know, I know," sighed the man, thrusting his hands into his pockets,
and scowling at the toe of his shoe. "You 're a brick, Edith! It's been
simply marvelous to me--the way you've taken hold. Even that first awful
Sunday morning last July, when I showed you what I'd brought you, didn't
quite bowl you over."
"It did almost," laughed Edith; "especially when she blurted out that
alarming speech, after you'd told me who she was."
"What _did_ she say? I don't remember."
"She said, tragically, frenziedly: 'Oh, Mrs. Thayer, you will help me,
won't you?--to be swell and grand and _know_ things, so's Burke won't be
ashamed of me. And if you can't make _me_ so, you will Baby, won't you?
I'll do anything--everything you say. Oh, please say you will. I _know_
you're Burke's kind of folks, just to look at you, and at this--the
house, and all these swell fixings! You will, won't you? Oh, please say
you will!'"
"Gorry! Did she say that--all that?"
"Every bit of it--and more, that I can't remember. You see, I couldn't
say anything--not anything, for a minute. And the more she said, the
less I _could_ say. Probably she saw something of the horror and dismay
in my face, and that's what made her so frenzied in her appeal."
"No wonder you were struck dumb at her nerve and at mine in asking you
to take her in," laughed the doctor softly.
"Oh, but 'twas for only a minute. I capitulated at once, first because
of the baby--she was such a dear!--then because of the mother's love for
it. I thought I'd seen devotion, Frank, but never have I seen it like
hers."
"How is she doing, really, about--well, er--this private
self-improvement association of hers?" The doctor's smile was eager and
quizzical. "I've been away so much, and I've seen so little of her for
months past--how _is_ she doing?"
"Splendidly! She's a daily marvel to me, she's so patient and
painstaking. Oh, of course, she hasn't _learned_ so very much--yet. But
she's so alert and earnest, and she watches everything so! Indeed, if it
weren't really so pitiful and so tragic, it would be perfectly funny and
absurd. The things she does and says--the things she asks me to teach
her! Feverishly and systematically she's set herself to becoming 'swell'
and 'grand.'"
"Swell! Grand!"
"Oh, yes, I know," laughed the lady, answering his shuddering words and
gesture. "And--we've nearly eliminated those expressions from our
vocabulary now. Burke didn't like them either, she says."
"I can imagine not," observed the doctor dryly.
"Of course all the teaching in the world isn't going to accomplish the
thing she wants," went on Mrs. Thayer, a little soberly. "I might teach
her till doomsday that clothes, jewels, grooming, and perfume don't
make the lady; and unless she learns by intuition and absorption what
_does_ make the lady, she'll be little better off than she was before.
But she puts me now through a daily catechism until sometimes I am
nearly wild. 'Do ladies do this?' 'Do ladies do that?' she queries at
every turn, so that I am almost ready to fly off into a veritable orgy
of slang and silliness, just from sheer contrariety. I can tell you,
Frank, this attempting to teach the intangible, evanescent thing I'm
trying to teach Helen Denby isn't very easy. If you think it is, you try
it yourself."
"Heaven forbid!" shrugged the man. "But I'll risk you, Edith. But, tell
me--does she help you any, in any way? Do you think you can--keep her,
for a while?"
"Keep her? Of course I shall keep her! Do you suppose I'd turn that
child adrift now? Besides, she's a real help to me with the children.
And I know--and she knows--that in helping me she is helping herself,
and helping Dorothy Elizabeth--'Betty' she calls her now. We're getting
along beautifully. We--"
There came the sound of hurried steps, then the sudden wide flinging of
the door, and the appearance of a breathless young woman.
"Oh, Mrs. Thayer, they said the doctor had come, and--" Helen Denby
stopped short, her abashed eyes going from one to the other of the
expressive faces before her. "Oh, I--I beg your pardon," she faltered.
"I hadn't ought to have burst in like this. Ladies don't. You said
yesterday that ladies never did. But I--I--doctor, you went to--to
Dalton?" she appealed to the man.
"Yes, Mrs. Denby."
"And you saw--them? Burke and his father?"
"Yes."
"But, you didn't--you _didn't_ tell them I was here?"
"Of course not! Didn't I promise you I wouldn't?"
Helen Denby relaxed visibly, and dropped herself into a low chair near
by. The color came back to her face.
"I know; but I was so afraid they'd find out--some way."
"They didn't--from me."
She raised startled eyes to his face.
"You don't mean they _do_ know where I am?"
"Oh, no. But--" The doctor stirred uneasily. "Mrs. Denby, don't you
think-- Won't you let me tell them where you are?"
"Do they want to know?"
"Yes. They are trying very hard to find you."
"Of course. But if they find me--what then? Does Burke--want me?"
The doctor flushed.
"Well, he--yes--that is, he--well, of course--"
"You don't have to say any more, doctor," interposed Helen Denby,
smiling a little sadly.
The red deepened on the doctor's face.
"Well, of course, Burke is very angry and very bitter, just now," he
explained defensively. "But if you two could be brought together--" He
paused helplessly.
She shook her head.
"'Twould be the same old story--only worse. I see so many things now
that I never saw before. Even if he said right now that he wanted me, I
wouldn't go back. I wouldn't dare to. 'Twouldn't be a day before he'd be
ashamed of me again. Maybe some time I'll learn--" She paused, her eyes
wistfully fixed out the window. "But if I don't"--she turned almost
frenziedly--"Betty will. Betty is going to be a lady from right now.
Then some day I'll show her to him. He won't be ashamed of Betty. You
see if he is!"
Again the doctor stirred uneasily.
"But, think! How can I go on from day to day and not let your husband
know--"
Helen Denby sprang to her feet. The wild look of that first night of
flight came into her eyes, but her voice, when she spoke, was very calm.
"Dr. Gleason," she began resolutely, "it's just as I told you before.
Unless you'll promise not to tell Burke where I am, till I say the word,
I shall take Betty and go--somewhere. I don't know where. But it'll be
where you can't find me--any of you."
"Oh, come, come, my dear child--"
"Will you promise?"
"But just think how--"
"I _am_ thinking!" choked Helen. "But _you_ don't seem to be. _Can't_
you see how I want to stay here? I've got a chance, maybe, to be like
you and your sister, and all the rest of Burke's swell--I mean, like
Burke's friends," she corrected, with a hot blush. "And, anyhow, Betty's
got a chance. We've made a start. We've begun. And here you want to go
and tip it all over by telling Burke. And there can't anything good
happen, if Burke knows. Besides, didn't he say himself that we _needed_
to have a vacation from each other? Now, won't you promise, please?"
With a despairing cry the doctor threw up his hands.
"Oh, good Heavens, yes! Of course I'll promise," he groaned. "I suspect
you could make me promise to shave my head and dance the tango
barefooted down Washington Street, if you set out to. Oh, yes, I'll
promise. But I can tell you right now that I shall wake up in the dead
of night and pinch myself to make sure I _have_ promised," he finished
with wrathful emphasis.
Helen laughed light-heartedly. She even tossed the doctor a playful
glance as she turned to go.
"All right! I don't care a mite how much you pinch yourself," she
declared. "You've promised--and that's all I care for!" And she left the
room with buoyant step.
"You see," observed Mrs. Thayer significantly, as the door closed behind
her.
"Yes, I see--so far," nodded Dr. Frank Gleason with a sigh. "But I do
wish I could see--what the end is going to be."
"It isn't given to us to see ends," responded Mrs. Thayer sententiously.
"We can only attend to the beginnings and make them right."
"Humph!" grunted her brother, with some asperity. "I'm not saying I like
the beginning, in this case. Honestly, to speak plainly, my dear Edith,
I consider this thing one big fool business, from beginning to end."
There was a moment's pause; then very quietly Mrs. Thayer asked:--
"Can you suggest, dear, all things considered, anything else for us to
do than what we _are_ doing?"
"No--confound it! And that's what's the matter," groaned Frank Gleason.
"But that isn't saying that I _like_ to play the fool."
"Well, I shouldn't worry. I'm not worrying," replied his sister, with an
enigmatic smile.
"Maybe not. But I'm glad I'm going on that Arctic trip, and that it's
just next month. I'd as soon not see much of the Denbys just now. Feel
too much like the evil-eyed, double-dyed villain in a dime movie,"
growled the doctor, getting to his feet, and striding from the room.
CHAPTER XIV
AN UNDERSTUDY
Soon after the doctor started on his trip to the North the Thayers
closed their Beacon Street home and went to their North Shore cottage.
The move was made a little earlier than usual this year, a fact which
pleased the children not a little and delighted Helen Denby especially.
"You see, I'm always so afraid in Boston," she explained to Mrs. Thayer,
as the train pulled out of the North Station.
"Afraid?"
"That somewhere--on the street, or somewhere--I'll meet some one from
Dalton, or somebody that knew--my husband."
Mrs. Thayer frowned slightly.
"Yes, I know. And there was danger, of course! But--Helen, that brings
up exactly the subject that I'd been intending to speak to you about.
Thus far--and advisedly, I know--we have kept you carefully in the
background, my dear. But this isn't going to do forever, you know."
"Why not? I--I like it."
Mrs. Thayer smiled, but she frowned again thoughtfully.
"I know, dear; but if you are to learn this--this--" Mrs. Thayer
stumbled and paused as she always stumbled and paused when she tried to
reduce to words her present extraordinary mission. "You will have to--to
learn to meet people and mingle with them easily and naturally."
The earnest look of the eager student came at once to Helen Denby's
face.
"You mean, I'll have to meet and mingle with swell people if I, too,
am-- Oh, that horrid word again! Mrs. Thayer, _why_ can't I learn to
stop using it? But you mean-- I know what you mean. You mean I'll have
to meet and mingle with--with ladies and gentlemen if I'm to be one
myself. Isn't that it?"
"Y-yes, of course; only--the very words 'lady' and 'gentleman' have been
so abused that we--we--Oh, Helen, Helen, you do put things so baldly,
and it sounds so--so-- Don't you see, dear? It's all just as I've told
you lots of times. The minute you begin to talk about it, you lose it.
It's something that comes to you by absorption and intuition."
"But there are things I have to learn, Mrs. Thayer,--real things, like
holding your fork, and clothes, and finger nails, and not speaking so
loud, and not talking about 'folks' being 'swell' and 'tony,' and--"
"Yes, yes, I know," interrupted Mrs. Thayer, with a touch of
desperation. "But, after all, it's all so--so impossible! And--" She
stopped abruptly at the look of terrified dismay that always leaped to
Helen Denby's eyes in response to such a word. "No, no, I don't mean
that. But, really, Helen," she went on hurriedly, "the time has come
when you must be seen more. And it will be quite safe at the shore, I am
sure. You'll meet no one who ever saw you in Dalton; that is certain."
"Then, of course, if you say I'll have to--I'll have to. That's all."
"I do say it."
"My, but I dread it!" Helen drew in her breath and bit her lip.
"All the more reason why you should do it then," smiled Mrs. Thayer
briskly. "You're to learn _not_ to dread it. See? And it'll be easier
than you think. There are some very pleasant people coming down. The
Gillespies, Mrs. Reynolds and her little Gladys,--about Betty's age, by
the way,--and next month there'll be the Drew girls and Mr. Donald Estey
and his brother John. Later there will be others--the Chandlers, and Mr.
Eric Shaw. And I'm going to begin immediately to have them see you, and
have you see them."
"They'll know me as 'Mrs. Darling'?"
"Of course--a friend of mine."
"But I want to--to help in some way."
"You do help. You help with the children--your companionship."
"But that's the way I've learned--so many things, Mrs. Thayer."
"Of course. And that's the way you'll learn--many other things. But
there are others--still others--that you can learn in no way as well as
by association with the sort of well-bred men and women you will meet
this summer. I don't mean that you are _always_ to be with them, my
dear; but I do mean that you must be with them enough so that it is a
matter of supreme indifference to you whether you are with them or not.
Do you understand? You must learn to be at ease with--anybody. See?"
Helen sighed and nodded her head slowly.
"Yes, I think I do, Mrs. Thayer; and I will try--so hard!" She
hesitated, then asked abruptly, "Who is Mr. Donald Estey, please?"
There was an odd something in Mrs. Thayer's laugh as she answered.
"And why, pray, do you single him out?"
"Because of something--different in your voice, when you said his name."
Mrs. Thayer laughed again.
"That's more cleverly put than you know, child," she shrugged. "I never
thought of it before, but I fancy we all do say Mr. Donald Estey's
name--with a difference."
"Is he so very important, then?"
"In his own estimation--yes! There! I was wrong to say that, Helen, and
you must forget it. Mr. Donald Estey is a very wealthy, very capable,
very delightful and brilliant young bachelor. He is a little spoiled,
perhaps; but that's our fault and not his, I suspect, for he's petted
and made of enough to turn any man's head. He's very entertaining. He
knows something about everything. He can talk Egyptian scarabs with my
brother, and Irish crochet with me, and then turn around and discuss
politics with my husband, and quote poetry to Phillis Drew in the next
breath. All this, of course, makes him a very popular man."
"But he's a--a real gentleman, the kind that my husband would like?"
"Why, of--of course!" Mrs. Thayer frowned slightly; then, suddenly, she
laughed. "To tell the truth he's very like your husband, in some ways,
I've heard my brother say--tastes, temperament, and so forth."
An odd something leaped to Helen Denby's eyes.
"You mean, what _he_ likes, Burke likes?" she questioned.
"Why, y-yes; you might put it that way, I suppose. But never mind.
You'll see for yourself when you see him."
"Yes, I'll see--when I see him." Helen Denby nodded and relaxed in her
seat. The odd something was still smouldering in her eyes.
"Then it's all settled, remember," smiled Mrs. Thayer. "You're not to
run and hide now when somebody comes. You're to learn to meet people.
That's your next lesson."
"My next lesson--my next lesson," repeated Helen Denby, half under her
breath. "Oh, I hope I'll learn so much--in this next lesson! I won't run
and hide now, indeed, I won't, Mrs. Thayer!"
And at the glorified earnestness of her face, Mrs. Thayer, watching,
felt suddenly her own throat tighten convulsively.
In spite of her valiant promise, Helen Denby, a week later, did almost
run and hide when the Gillespies, the first of Mrs. Thayer's guests,
arrived. Held, however, by a stern something within her, she bravely
stood her ground and forced herself to meet Mr. and Mrs. Gillespie and
their daughters, Miss Alice and Miss Maud. It was not so difficult the
next week when Mrs. Reynolds came, perhaps because of the pretty little
Gladys, so near her own Betty's age.
Fully alive to her own shortcomings, however, embarrassed, and
distrustful of herself, Helen was careful never to push herself forward,
never to take the initiative. And because she was so quiet and
unobtrusive, her intense watchfulness, and slavish imitation of what she
saw, passed unnoticed. Gradually, as the days came and went, the
tenseness of her concentration relaxed, and she began to move and speak
with less studied caution. It was at this juncture that Mr. Donald Estey
arrived. Instantly into her bearing sprang an entirely new, alert
eagerness. But this, too, passed unnoticed, for the change was not in
herself alone. The entire household had made instant response to the
presence of Mr. Donald Estey. The men sharpened their wits, and the
women freshened their furbelows. Breakfast was served on the minute with
never a vacant chair; and even the steps of the maids in the kitchen
quickened.
Because Mr. Donald Estey was always surrounded by an admiring group, the
fact that "that quiet little Mrs. Darling" was almost invariably one of
the group did not attract attention. It was Mr. Donald Estey himself, in
fact, who first noticed it; and the reason that he noticed it was
because once, when she was not there, he found himself looking for her
eager face. He realized then that for some time he had been in the habit
of finding his chief inspiration in a certain pair of wondrously
beautiful blue eyes bent full upon himself.
Not that the encountering of admiring feminine eyes bent full upon him
was a new experience to Mr. Donald Estey; but that these eyes were
different. There was something strangely fascinating and compelling in
their earnest gaze. It was on the day that he first missed them that he
suddenly decided to cultivate their owner.
He began by asking casual questions of his fellow guests, but he could
find out very little concerning the lady. She was a Mrs. Darling, a
friend of their hostess (which he knew already). She was a widow, they
believed, though they had never heard her husband mentioned. She was
pleasant enough--but so shy and retiring! Charming face she had, though,
and beautiful eyes. But did he not think she was--well, a little
peculiar?
Mr. Donald Estey did not answer this, directly. He became, indeed,
always very evasive when his fellow guests turned about and began to
question him. Very soon, too, he ceased his own questioning. But that
he had not lost his interest in Mrs. Darling was most unmistakably shown
at once, for openly and systematically he began to seek her society--to
the varying opinions (but unvarying interest) of the rest of the house
party.
If Mr. Donald Estey had expected Mrs. Darling to be shy and coy at his
advances, he found himself entirely mistaken. She welcomed him with a
frank delight that was most flattering, at the same time most puzzling,
owing to a certain elusive quality that he could not name.
Mr. Donald Estey thought that he knew women well. It pleased his fancy
to think that he had his feminine friends nicely pigeonholed and
labeled, and that he had but to pass an hour or two of intimate talk
with any woman to be able at once to ticket her accurately. His first
hour of intimate talk with Mrs. Darling, however, left him confused and
baffled--but mightily interested: in the course of that one hour he had
shelved her in almost every one of his pigeonholes, only to find at the
end of it that she was still free and uncatalogued.
She was a flirt; she was not a flirt. She was sincere; she was
hypocritical. She was brilliantly subtle; she was incredibly stupid. She
was charming; she was commonplace. She was as clear as crystal; she was
as inscrutable as a sphinx--and she was all these things in that one
short first hour. At the end of it, Mr. Donald Estey, with a long breath
and a frown, but with a quickened pulse, decided that he would have
another hour with her as soon as possible.
He had no difficulty in obtaining it. Mrs. Darling, indeed, seemed quite
as desirous of his society as he was of hers; yet there was still the
elusive something in her manner that robbed it of all offensive
eagerness. Again to-day, after the hour's intimate talk, Estey found
himself confused and baffled, with the lady still outside his
pigeonholes. Nor did he find the situation changed the next day, or the
next. Then suddenly he awoke to a new element in the case--the
extraordinary deference that was being paid his lightest wish or
preference on the part of Mrs. Darling.
At first, doubting the accuracy of his suspicions, he systematically put
her to the test, choosing purposely the most obvious and unmistakable.
Blue was his favorite color, he said: she appeared in blue the next day.
Browning was his best-loved poet, he declared: in less than an hour he
found her poring over "Pippa Passes" in the library. A woman who could
talk, and talk well, on current events won his sincere admiration every
time, he told her: he wondered the next morning how late she must have
sat up the night before, studying the merits and demerits of the four
presidential candidates.
Mr. Donald Estey was flattered, amused, and curiously interested. Not
that what looked to be a determined assault upon his heart was exactly a
new experience for him; but that the circumstances in this case were so
out of the ordinary, and that he was still trying to "place" this young
woman. He was not sure even, always, that she was trying to make a bid
for his affections. He was not sure, either, of his own mind regarding
her. In spite of his interest, he was conscious, sometimes, of a
distinct feeling of aversion toward her. She was not always, to his
mind, quite--the lady, though she was improving in that respect. (Even
in his thoughts the word gave him a shock: he could hardly imagine a
candidate for the position of Mrs. Donald Estey in need
of--improvement!) But she was beautiful, and there was something
wonderfully alluring in her eager way of listening to his every word.
She was, indeed, not a little refreshing after the languid conservatism
of some of the sophisticated young women one usually found at these
country houses. Besides, was she, after all, really in love with him?
Very likely she was not. At all events, it could do no harm--this mild
flirtation--if flirtation it were! He would not worry about it. Plenty
of time yet to--to withdraw. He had but to receive (apparently) a
summoning message, and he could go at once. That would, of course, end
the affair. Meanwhile-- But just exactly what type of woman was she,
anyway?
Still amused, interested, and contentedly secure, therefore, Mr. Donald
Estey pursued for another week his pleasant pastime of finding just the
proper pigeonhole for this tantalizing will-o'-the-wisp of femininity;
then, sharply, he received a jolt that left him figuratively--almost
literally--breathless and gasping.
They were talking of marriage.
"But you yourself have never married," she said.
"No, I have never married."
"I wonder why."
Mr. Donald Estey frowned and stirred restlessly--there were times when
Mrs. Darling's unconventionality was not "refreshing."
"Perhaps--the right girl has never found me," he shrugged.
"Oh, Mr. Estey, please, what sort of a girl would be the right one--for
you?"
"Well, really--er--" He stopped and stirred again uneasily--there was an
almost frenzied earnestness in her face and manner that was somewhat
disconcerting.
"That might be hard telling," he evaded banteringly.
"But you _could_ tell me, Mr. Estey. I know you could. And, oh, won't
you, please?"
"Why, er--Mrs. Darling!" He gave an embarrassed laugh as he sought for
just the right word to say. "You seem--er--extraordinarily interested."
He laughed again--to hide the fact that he knew that he had said just
the _wrong_ thing.
"I am interested. Indeed, Mr. Estey, it would mean--you cannot know what
it would mean--if you'd tell me."
"Why--er--really--"
"Yes, yes, I know. I hadn't ought to talk like this. Ladies don't. I can
see it in your face. But it's because I want to _know_ so--because I
must know. Please, won't you tell me?"
With a quick lifting of his head Mr. Donald Estey pulled himself sharply
together. Flattering as it was to be thus deferred to, this
flirtation--if flirtation it were--had gone quite far enough. He laughed
again lightly and sprang to his feet.
"Couldn't think of it, Mrs. Darling. Really, I couldn't, you know!"
"Mr. Estey!" She, too, was on her feet. She had laid a persuasive hand
on his arm. "Please, you think I'm joking; but I'm not. I really mean
it. If you only would do it--it would mean so much to me! And
don't--don't look at me like that. I _know_ I'm not being proper, and I
know ladies don't do so--what I'm doing. But when I saw it--such a
splendid chance to ask you, I--I just had to do it."
"But--but--" The startled, nonplussed man stuttered like a bashful
schoolboy; "it really is so--so absurd, Mrs. Darling, when you--er--stop
to think of it."
She sighed despairingly, but she did not take her hand from his arm.
"Then, if"--she spoke hurriedly, and with evident embarrassment--"if you
won't tell me that way, won't you please tell me another? Could
you--would you-- Am I _any_ like that girl, Mr. Estey?"
Mr. Donald Estey was guilty of an actual gasp of dismay. In a whirl of
vexation at the situation in which he found himself, he groped blindly
for a safe way out. Of course young women (young women such as he knew)
did not really propose to one; but was it possible that that was exactly
what this somewhat remarkable young widow was doing? It seemed
incredible. And yet--
"Am I, Mr. Estey? Or do you think I could--learn?"
"Why, er--er--"
"I mean, would you--could you marry--_me_?"
Every vestige of self-control slipped from the tortured man like a
garment. Conscious only of an insane desire to flee from this wretched
woman who was about to march him to the altar willy-nilly, he quite
jerked his arm free.
"Well, really, Mrs. Darling, I--I--"
"You wouldn't, I can see you wouldn't!" There was a heartbroken little
sob in her voice.
"But--but, Mrs. Darling! Oh, hang it all! What a perfectly preposterous
situation!" he stormed wrathfully. "I don't want--to marry anybody. I
tell you I'm not a marrying man! I--" He stopped short at the astounding
change that had come to the little woman opposite.
She was staring into his face with a growing terror that suddenly, at
its height, broke into a gale of hysterical laughter. She covered her
face with her hands and dropped into the chair behind her.
"Oh, oh, you didn't--you didn't--but you _did_!" she choked, swaying
her body back and forth. The next moment she was on her feet, facing
him, a new something in her eyes. The laughter was quite gone. "You
needn't worry, Mr. Donald Estey." She spoke hurriedly, and with all the
wild _abandon_ of her old self. "I wasn't asking you to marry me--so you
don't have to refuse." Her voice quivered with hurt pride.
"Why, of course not, of course not, my dear lady!" He caught at the
straw. "I never thought--"
"Yes, you did; and you was floundering around trying to find a way to
say no. I wasn't good enough for you. And that's just what I was trying
to find out, too,--but it hurt, just the same, when I did find out!"
"Oh, but, Mrs. Darling, I didn't mean--"
"Yes, you did. I saw it in your eyes, and in the way you drew back. Only
I--I didn't mean _you_. I never thought of your taking it that way--that
I wanted to marry _you_. It was some one else that I meant."
"Some one _else_?" The stupefaction in the man's face deepened.
"Yes. You don't know him. But they said you was--_were_, I mean, like
him; that what _you_ liked, he would like. See? And that's why I tried
to find out what--what you did like, so I could learn to be what would
please him."
The petted idol of unnumbered drawing-rooms blinked his eyes.
"You mean you were using _me_ as an--er--understudy?" he demanded.
"Yes--no--I don't know. I was just trying to walk and talk and breathe
and move the way you wanted me to, so I could do it by and by for--him."
Mr. Donald Estey drew in his breath.
"Well, by--Jove!"
"And I'm going to." She lifted her chin determinedly. "_I'm going to!_
And now you know--why I asked you what I did. I was hoping I--I had
gained a little in all these weeks. I've been trying so hard. And before
you came, when Mrs. Thayer told me you were like--like the man I love, I
determined then to watch you and study you, and do everything the way
you liked, if I could find out what it was. And now to have you think I
was _asking_ you to--to-- As if I'd ever marry--_you_!" she choked. The
next moment, with a wild fling of her arms, she was gone.
Alone, Mr. Donald Estey drew a long breath. As he turned, he faced his
own image in the mirror across the room. Slowly he advanced toward it.
There was a quizzical smile in his eyes.
"Donald, me boy," he apostrophized, "you have been rejected. Do you
hear? _Rejected!_ Jove! But what an extraordinary young woman!" His eyes
left the mirror and sought the door by which she had gone.
Mr. Donald Estey did not see Mrs. Darling again during his stay. A
sudden indisposition prevented her from being among the guests for some
days.
CHAPTER XV
A WOMAN'S WILL
Dr. Gleason's Arctic trip, designed to cover a year of research and
discovery, prolonged itself into three years and two months. Shipwrecks,
thrilling escapes, months of silence, and a period when hope for the
safety of the party was quite gone, all figured in the story before the
heroic rescue brought a happier ending to what had come so near to being
another tragedy of the ice-bound North.
It was June when Frank Gleason, in the care of a nurse and a physician,
arrived at his sister's summer cottage by the sea.
For a month after his coming Frank Gleason was too ill to ask many
questions. But with returning strength came an insistence upon an answer
to a query he had already several times put to his sister.
"Edith, what of the Denbys? Where is Helen? Why do you always evade any
questions about her?"
"She is here with me."
"Here--_still_?"
"Yes. And she's a great comfort and help to me."
"And Burke doesn't know yet where she is?"
"Not that we know of."
"Impossible--all this time!"
"Oh, I don't know. All our friends know her as 'Mrs. Darling.' The
Denbys never come here, and they'd never think of looking here for her,
anyway. We figured that out long ago."
"But it can't go on forever! When is she going back?"
An odd look crossed Mrs. Thayer's face.
"I don't know, Frank; but not for some time--if ever--I should judge,
from present indications."
"'If ever'! Good Heavens, Edith, what do you mean?" demanded the doctor,
pulling himself up in his chair. "I _knew_ no good would come of this
tom-foolishness!"
"There, there, dear, never mind all this now," begged his sister.
"Please don't try to talk about it any more."
"But I will talk about it, Edith. I want to know--and you might just as
well tell me in the first place, and not hang back and hesitate,"
protested the doctor, with all the irritability of a naturally strong
man who finds himself so unaccountably weak in his convalescence.
"What's the trouble? Hasn't that--er--fool-improvement business worked
out? Well, I didn't think it would!"
Edith Thayer laughed softly.
"On the contrary, it's working beautifully. Wait till you see her. She's
a dear--a very charming woman. She's developed wonderfully. But along
with it all has come to her a very deep and genuine, and rather curious,
humility, together with a pride, the chief aim of which is to avoid
anything like the position in which she found herself as the
mortifying, distress-causing wife of Burke Denby."
"Humph!" commented the doctor.
"That Burke doesn't love her, she is thoroughly convinced. To go to him
now, tacitly asking to be taken back, she feels to be impossible. She
has no notion of going where she isn't wanted; and she feels very sure
she _isn't_ wanted by either Burke or his father. Of course the longer
it runs, and the longer she stays away, the harder it seems for her to
make herself known."
"Oh, but this _can't_ go on forever," protested Frank Gleason again,
restlessly. "I'll see Burke. As soon as I'm on my feet again I shall run
up there."
"But you've given your promise not to tell, remember."
"Yes, yes, I know. I shan't tell, of course. But I can bring back
something, I'm sure, that will--will cause this stubborn young woman to
change her mind."
"I doubt it. Helen says she's not ready to go back yet, anyway."
"Not sufficiently 'improved,' I suppose," laughed the doctor, a little
grimly.
"Perhaps. Then, too, she has other plans all made."
"Oh, she has!"
"Yes. She's going abroad. Do you remember Angie Reynolds?--Angie Ried,
you know--married Ned Reynolds."
"Yes. Nice girl!"
"Well, they're going abroad for some years--some business for the firm,
I believe. Anyway, Ned will have to be months at a time in different
cities, and Angie and little Gladys are going with him. They have asked
Helen and Betty to go, too; and Helen has agreed to go."
"And leave you?"
At the indignant expression on her brother's face, Edith Thayer laughed
merrily.
"But, my dear Frank, I thought you were just threatening to _get_ Helen
to leave me!" she challenged.
"So I was," retorted the doctor, nothing daunted. "But it was to get her
to go home, where she belonged; not on any wild-goose chase like this
abroad business. What does she want?--to be presented at court? Maybe
she thinks that's going to do the job!"
"Oh, come, come, Frank, now you're sarcastic!" Mrs. Thayer's voice was
earnest, though her eyes were twinkling. "It isn't a wild-goose chase a
bit. It's a very sensible plan. In the first place, it takes Helen out
of the country--which is wise, if she's still going to try to keep her
whereabouts a secret from Burke; for eventually some one, somewhere,
would see her--some one who knew her face. She can't always live so
secluded a life as she has these past three years, of course,--we have
spent the greater share of that time at the beach here, coming early and
staying late.
"But that isn't all. Angie has taken a great fancy to both Helen and
Dorothy Elizabeth, and she likes to have Gladys with them. The children
are the same age--about five, you know--and great cronies. Angie is
taking Helen as a sort of companion-governess. Her duties will be light
and congenial. Both the children will be in her charge, and their
treatment and advantages will be identical. There will be a nursery
governess under her, and she herself will be much with Angie, which will
be invaluable to her, in many ways. And, by the way, Frank, the fact
that a woman like Angie Reynolds is taking her for a traveling companion
shows, more conclusively than anything else could, how greatly improved
Helen is--what a really charming woman she has come to be. But it is a
splendid chance for her, certainly, and especially for Betty--her whole
life centers now in Betty--and I urged her taking it. At first she
demurred, on account of leaving me; but I succeeded in convincing her
that it was altogether too good an opportunity to lose."
"Opportunity, indeed! When does she go?"
"The last of next month."
"Oh, that's all right, then. I shall see Burke long before that." The
doctor settled back in his chair with a relieved sigh.
His sister eyed him with a disturbed frown.
"Frank, dear, you can't do anything," she ventured at last. "Didn't I
tell you she wasn't ready to go back?"
"But she'll have to go--some time."
"Perhaps. But wait. I'm not going to say another word now, nor let you.
Wait till you see her--and you shall see her in a day or two--just as
soon as you are strong enough. But not another word now." And to make
sure that he obeyed, Mrs. Thayer rose laughingly and left the room.
It was four days later that Frank Gleason for the first time ventured
downstairs and out into the warm sunshine on the south veranda. Hearing
a child's gleeful laugh and a woman's gently remonstrative voice,--a
voice that he thought he recognized,--he walked the length of the
veranda and rounded the corner.
His slippered feet made no sound, so quite unheralded he came upon the
woman and the little girl on the wide veranda steps. Neither one saw
him, and he stopped short at the corner, his eyes alight with sudden
admiration.
Frank Gleason thought he had never seen a more lovely little girl.
Blue-eyed, golden-haired, and rosy-cheeked, she was the typical
child-beautiful of picture and romance. A-tiptoe on the topmost step she
was reaching one dimpled hand for a gorgeous red geranium blooming in a
pot decorating the balustrade. In the other hand, tightly clutched, was
another gorgeous blossom, sadly crushed and broken. She was laughing
gleefully. Near her, but not attempting to touch her, was a woman the
doctor recognized at once. It was Helen--but Helen with a subtle
difference of face, eyes, hair, dress, and manner that was at once
illuminating but baffling.
"Betty, dear," she was saying gently, "no, no! Mother said not to pick
the flowers."
The child turned roguish, willful eyes.
"But I wants to pick 'em."
"Mother can't let you, dear. And see, they are so much prettier
growing!"
The small red lips pouted. The little curly head gave a vigorous shake.
"But I wants 'em to grow in my hands--so," insisted a threateningly
tearful voice, as the tightly clutched flower was thrust forward for
inspection.
"But they won't grow there, darling. See!--this one is all crumpled and
broken now. It can't even lift its poor little head. Come, we don't want
the rest to be like that, do we? Come! Come away with me."
The young eyes grew mutinous.
"I wants 'em to grow in my hand," insisted the red lips again.
"But mother doesn't." There was a resolute note of decision in the quiet
voice now; but suddenly it grew wonderfully soft and vibrant. "And daddy
wouldn't, either, dearie. Only think how sorry daddy would be to see
that poor little flower in Betty's hand!"
As if in response to a potent something in her mother's voice, Betty's
eyes grew roundly serious.
"Why--would daddy--be sorry?"
"Because daddy loves all beautiful things, and he wants them to stay
beautiful. And this poor little flower in Betty's hand won't be
beautiful much longer, I fear. It is all broken and crushed; and
daddy--"
With a sudden sense of guilt, as if trespassing on holy ground, the
doctor strode forward noisily.
"So this is Dorothy Elizabeth and her mother--" he began gayly; but he
could get no further.
Helen Denby turned with a joyous cry and an eagerly extended hand.
"Oh, Dr. Gleason, I'm so glad! You _are_ better, aren't you? I'm so glad
to see you!"
"Yes, I'm better. I'm well--only I can't seem to make people believe it.
And you-- I don't need to ask how you are. And so this big girl is the
little Dorothy Elizabeth I used to know. You have your mother's eyes, my
dear. Come, won't you shake hands with me?"
The little girl advanced slowly, her gaze searching the doctor's face.
Then, in her sweet, high-pitched treble, came the somewhat disconcerting
question:--
"Is you--daddy?"
The doctor laughed lightly.
"No, my dear. I'm a poor unfortunate man who hasn't any little girl like
you; but we'll hope, one of these days, you'll see--daddy." He turned to
Helen Denby with suddenly grave, questioning eyes.
"Betty, dear,"--Mrs. Denby refused to meet the doctor's gaze,--"go carry
the flower to Annie and ask her please to put it in water for you; then
run out and play with Bessie in the garden. Mother wants to talk to Dr.
Gleason a few minutes." Then, to the doctor, she turned an agitated
face. "Surely, didn't your sister--tell you? I'm going to London with
Mrs. Reynolds."
"Yes, she told me. But perhaps I was hoping to persuade you--to do
otherwise."
Her eyes grew troubled.
"But it's such a fine chance--"
"For more of this 'improvement' business, I suppose," cut in the doctor,
a bit brusquely.
She turned reproachful eyes upon him.
"Oh, please, doctor, don't make fun of me like--"
"As if I'd make fun of you, child!" cut in the doctor, still more
sharply.
"Oh, but I can't blame you, of course," she smiled wistfully; "and
especially now that I see myself how absurd I was to think, for a
minute, that I could make myself over into a--a--the sort of wife that
Burke Denby would wish to have."
"Absurd that you could-- Come, come! _Now_ what nonsense are you
talking?" snapped the doctor.
"But it isn't nonsense," objected Helen Denby earnestly. "Don't you
suppose I know _now_? I used to think it was something you could learn
as you would a poem, or that you could put on to you, as you would a new
dress. But I know now it's something inside of you that has to grow and
grow just as you grow; and I'm afraid all the putting on and learning in
the world won't get _me_ there."
"Oh, come, come, Mrs. Denby!" expostulated the doctor, in obvious
consternation.
"But it's so. Listen," she urged tremulously. "Now I--I just can't like
the kind of music Burke does,--discords, and no tune, you know,--though
I've tried and tried to. Day after day I've gone into the music-room and
put in those records,--the classics and the operatic ones that are the
real thing, you know,--but I can't like them; and I still keep liking
tunes and ragtime. And there are the books, too. I can't help liking
jingles and stories that _tell_ something; and I don't like poetry--not
real poetry like Browning and all the rest of them."
"Browning, indeed! As if that counted, child!"
"Oh, but it's other things--lots of them; vague, elusive things that I
can't put my finger on. But I know them now, since I've been here with
your sister and her friends. Why, sometimes it isn't anything more than
the way a woman speaks, or the way she sits down and gets up, or even
the way a bit of lace falls over her hand. But they all help. And
they've helped me, too,--oh, so much. I'm so glad now of this chance to
thank you. You don't know--you can't know, what it's been for me--to be
here."
"But I thought you just said that you--you _couldn't_--that is, that
you'd--er--given up," floundered the doctor miserably, as if groping for
some sort of support on a topsy-turvy world.
"Given up? Perhaps I have--in a way--for myself. You see, I know now
that you have to begin young. That's why I'm so happy about Betty. I
don't mind about myself any more, if only I can make it all right for
her. Dr. Gleason, I couldn't--I just _couldn't_ have her father ashamed
of--Betty!"
"Ashamed of that child! Well, I should say not," blustered the doctor
incoherently; "nor of you, either, you brave little woman. Why--"
"Betty _is_ a dear, isn't she?" interrupted the mother eagerly. "You
_do_ think she'll--she'll be everything he could wish? I'm keeping him
always before her--what he likes, how he'd want her to do, you know. And
almost always I can make her mind now, with daddy's name, and--"
The doctor interrupted with a gesture of impatience.
"My dear lady, can't you see that now--right _now_ is just the time for
you to go back to your husband?"
The eager, pleading, wistful-eyed little mother opposite became suddenly
the dignified, stern-eyed woman.
"Has he said he wanted me, Dr. Gleason?"
"Why--er--y-yes; well, that is, he-- I know he has wanted to know where
you were."
"Very likely; but that isn't wanting _me_. Dr. Gleason, don't you think
I have any pride, any self-respect, even? My husband was ashamed of me.
He asked me to go away for a time. He wrote me with his own hand that he
wanted a vacation from me. Do you think _now_, without a sign or a word
from him, that I am going creeping back to him and ask him to take me
back?"
"But he doesn't know where you are, to _give_ you a sign," argued the
doctor.
"You've seen him, haven't you?"
"Why, y-yes--but not lately. But--I'm going to."
A startled look came into her eyes. The next minute she smiled sadly.
"Are you? Very well; we'll see--if he says anything. You won't tell him
where I am, I know. I have your promise. But, Dr. Gleason,"--her voice
grew very sweet and serious,--"I shall not be satisfied now with
anything short of a happy married life. I know now what marriage is,
where there is love, and trust in each other, and where they like to do
and talk about the same things. I've seen your sister and her husband.
Unless I can _know_ that I'm going to bring that kind of happiness to
Burke, I shall not consent to go back to him. I will give him his
daughter. Some time, when she is old enough, I want him to see her. When
I know that he is proud of my Betty, I may not--mind the rest so much,
perhaps. But now--now--" With a choking little cry she turned and fled
down the steps and out on to the garden path.
Baffled, irritated, yet frowningly admiring, the doctor stalked into the
house.
In the hall he came face to face with his sister. She fluttered into
instant anxiety.
"Why, Frank--_outdoors_? Who said you could do that?"
"I did. Oh, the doctor said so, too," he flung out hurriedly, answering
the dawning disapproval in her eyes. "I'm going to Dalton next week."
"Oh, but, Frank--"
"Now, please don't argue. I'm going. If you and the doctor can get me
well enough to go--all right. But I'm going whether I'm well enough or
not."
"But, Frank, dear, you can't _do_ anything. You know you promised."
"Oh, I shan't break any promises, of course. But I'm going to see Burke.
I'm going to find out if he really is ninny enough to keep on holding
off, at the end of a silly quarrel, the sweetest little wife a man ever
had, and--"
"I opine you've seen Helen," smiled Edith Thayer, with a sudden twinkle.
"I have, and--doesn't like Browning, indeed! And can't help liking
tunes! Oh, good Heavens, Edith, if Burke Denby doesn't-- Well, we'll see
next week," he glowered, striding away, followed by the anxious but
still twinkling eyes of his sister.
In accordance with his threat, and in spite of protests, the doctor went
to Dalton the next week. But almost by return train he was back again,
stern-lipped and somber-eyed.
"Why, Frank, so soon as this?" cried his sister. "Surely Burke Denby
didn't--"
"I didn't see him."
"His father, then?"
"Neither one. They're gone. South America. Bridge contract. Went
themselves this time."
"Oh, that explains it--why we haven't heard from them since you came
back. I _had_ thought it strange, Frank, that not a word of
congratulation or even inquiry had come from them."
"Yes, I know. I--I'd thought it strange myself--a little. But that
doesn't help this thing any. I can't very well go to South America to
see Burke, just now--though I'd like to."
"Of course not. Besides, don't forget that you very likely wouldn't
accomplish anything if you did see him."
So deep was the sudden gloom on the doctor's face at her words that the
lady added quickly: "You did find out something in Dalton, Frank! I know
you did by your face. You saw some one."
"Oh, I saw--Brett."
"Who's he?"
"Denby's general manager and chief factotum."
"Well, he ought to know--something."
"He does--everything. But he won't tell--anything."
"Oh!"
"And it's right that he shouldn't, of course. It's his business to keep
his mouth shut--and he knows his business as well as any man I can think
of. Oh, he was perfectly civil, and apparently very gracious and
open-hearted in what he said."
"What _did_ he say?"
"He said that they had gone to South America on a big bridge contract,
and that they wouldn't be home for four or five months yet. He said that
they were very well, and that, probably, when they came back from this
trip, they would go to South Africa for another six months. I couldn't
get anywhere near asking about Helen, and Burke's present state of mind
concerning her. He could scent a question of that sort forty words away;
and he invariably veered off at a tangent long before I got to it. It
was like starting for New York and landing in Montreal! I had to give it
up. So far as anything I could learn to the contrary, Mr. Burke Denby
and his father are well, happy, and perfectly content to build bridges
for heathens and Hottentots the rest of their natural existence. And
there you are! How, pray, in the face of that, are we going to keep
Helen from running off to London?"
"I shouldn't try."
"But--oh, hang it all, Edith! This can't go on."
"Oh, yes, it can, my dear; and I'm inclined to think it's going on just
right. Very plainly they aren't ready for each other--yet. Let her go to
London and make the best of all these advantages for herself and Betty;
and let him go on with his bridge-building for the Hottentots. 'Twill do
them good--both of them, and will be all the better for them when they
do come together."
"Oh, then they _are_ to come together some time!"
"Why, Frank, of course they are! You couldn't keep them apart,"
declared the lady, with smiling confidence.
"But, Edith, you haven't ever talked like this--before," puzzled the
doctor, frowning.
"I've never known before that Burke Denby was building bridges for the
Hottentots."
"Nonsense! That's their business. They've always built bridges."
"Yes, but Master Burke and his father haven't always gone to superintend
their construction," she flashed. "In other words, if Burke Denby is
trying so strenuously to get away from himself, it's a pretty sure sign
that there's something in himself that he wants to get away from! You
see?"
"Well, I should like to see," sighed the doctor, with very evident
doubt.
CHAPTER XVI
EMERGENCIES
In September Helen Denby and Dorothy Elizabeth went to London. With
their going, a measure of peace came to Frank Gleason. Not having their
constant presence to remind him of his friend's domestic complications,
he could the more easily adopt his sister's complacent attitude of
cheery confidence that it would all come out right in time--that it
_must_ come out right. Furthermore, with Helen not under his own roof,
he was not so guiltily conscious of "aiding and abetting" a friend's
runaway wife.
Soon after Helen's departure for London, a letter from Burke Denby in
far-away South America told of the Denbys' rejoicing at the happy
outcome of the Arctic trip, and expressed the hope that the doctor was
well, and that they might meet him as soon as possible after their
return from South America in December.
The letter was friendly and cordial, but not long. It told little of
their work, and nothing of themselves. And, in spite of its verbal
cordiality, the doctor felt, at its conclusion, that he had, as it were,
been attending a formal reception when he had hoped for a cozy chat by
the fire.
In December, at Burke's bidding, he ran up to Dalton for a brief visit,
but it proved to be as stiff and unsatisfying as the letter had been.
Burke never mentioned his wife; but he wore so unmistakable an
"Of-course-I-understand-you-are-angry-with-me" air, that the doctor
(much to his subsequent vexation when he realized it) went out of his
way to be heartily cordial, as if in refutation of the disapproval
idea--which was not the impression the doctor really wished to convey at
all. He was, in fact, very angry with Burke. He wanted nothing so much
as to give him a piece of his mind. Yet, so potent was Burke's dignified
aloofness that he found himself chattering of Inca antiquities and
Babylonian tablets instead of delivering his planned dissertation on the
futility of quarrels in general and of Burke's and Helen's in
particular.
With John Denby he had little better success, so far as results were
concerned; though he did succeed in asking a few questions.
"You have never heard from--Mrs. Denby?" he began abruptly, the minute
he found himself alone with Burke's father.
"Never."
"But you--you would like to!"
The old man's face became suddenly mask-like--a phenomenon with which
John Denby's business associates were very familiar, but which Dr. Frank
Gleason had never happened to witness before.
"If you will pardon me, doctor," began John Denby in a colorless voice,
"I would rather not discuss the lady. There isn't anything new that I
can say, and I am beginning to feel--as does my son--that I would
rather not hear her name mentioned."
This ended it, of course. There was nothing the doctor could say or do.
Bound by his promise to Helen Denby, he could not tell the facts; and
silenced by his host's words and manner, he could not discuss
potentialities. There was nothing for it, therefore, but to drop the
subject. And he dropped it. He went home the next day. Resolutely then
he busied himself with his own affairs. Determinedly he set himself to
forget the affairs of the Denbys. This was the more easily accomplished
because of the long silences and absences of the Denby men themselves,
and because Helen Denby still remained abroad with Angie Reynolds.
In London Helen Denby was living in a new world. Quick to realize the
advantages that were now hers, she determined to make the most of
them--especially for Betty. Always everything now centered around Betty.
In Mrs. Reynolds Helen had found a warm friend and sympathetic ally, one
who, she knew, would keep quite to herself the story Helen had told her.
Even Mr. Reynolds was not let into the inner secret of Helen's presence
with them. To him she was a companion governess, a friend of the
Thayers', to whom his wife had taken a great fancy--a most charming
little woman, indeed, whom he himself liked very much.
Freed from the fear of meeting Burke Denby or any of his friends, Helen,
for the first time since her flight from Dalton, felt that she was
really safe, and that she could, with an undivided mind, devote her
entire attention to her self-imposed task.
From London to Berlin, and from Berlin to Genoa, she went happily, as
Mr. Reynolds's business called him. To Helen it made little difference
where she was, so long as she could force every picture, statue,
mountain, concert, book, or individual to pay toll to her insatiable
hunger "to know"--that she might tell Betty.
Mrs. Reynolds, almost as eager and interested as Helen herself,
conducted their daily lives with an eye always alert as to what would be
best for Helen and Betty. Teachers for Gladys and Betty--were teachers
for Helen, too; and carefully Mrs. Reynolds made it a point that her own
social friends should also be Helen's--which Helen accepted with
unruffled cheerfulness. Helen, indeed, had now almost reached the goal
long ago set for her by Mrs. Thayer: it was very nearly a matter of
supreme indifference to her whether she met people or not, so far as the
idea of meeting them was concerned. There came a day, however, when, for
a moment, Helen almost yielded to her old run-and-hide temptation.
They were back in London, and it was near the close of Helen's third
year abroad.
"I met Mr. Donald Estey this morning," said Mrs. Reynolds at the
luncheon table that noon. "I asked him to dine with us to-morrow night.
He is here for the winter."
"So? Good! I shall be glad to see Estey," commented her husband.
Once Helen would have given a cry, dropped her fork with a clatter, or
otherwise made her startled perturbation conspicuous to all. That only
an almost imperceptible movement and a slight change of color resulted
now showed something of what Helen Denby had learned during the last few
years.
"You say Mr. Donald Estey will be--here, to-morrow?" she asked quietly.
"Yes. You remember him," nodded Mrs. Reynolds. "He was at the Thayers'
at the same time I was there six years ago--tall, good-looking fellow
with glasses."
"Yes, I remember," smiled Helen. And never would one have imagined that
behind the quiet words was a wild clamor of "Oh, what shall I do--what
shall I do--what _shall_ I do?"
What Helen Denby wanted to do was to run away--far away, where Mr.
Donald Estey could never find her. Next best would be to tell Mrs.
Reynolds that she could not see him; but to do that, she would have to
tell why--and she did not want to tell even Mrs. Reynolds the story of
that awful hour at the Thayers' North Shore cottage. True, she might
feign illness and plead a headache; but Mrs. Reynolds had said that Mr.
Estey was to be in London all winter--and she could not very well have a
headache all winter! There was plainly no way but to meet this thing
fairly and squarely. Besides, had not Mrs. Thayer said long ago that
emergencies were the greatest test of manners, as well as of ropes and
housewives, and that she must always be ready for emergencies? Was she
to fail now at this, her first real test?
Mr. Donald Estey was already in the drawing-room when Helen Denby came
down to dinner the following evening. She had put on a simple white
dress--after a horrified rejection of a blue one, her first choice. (She
had remembered just in time that Mr. Donald Estey's favorite color was
blue.) She was pale, but she looked charmingly pretty as she entered the
room.
"You remember Mr. Estey," Mrs. Reynolds murmured. The next moment Helen
found her hand in a warm clasp, and a pair of laughing gray eyes looking
straight into hers.
"Oh, yes, I remember him very well," she contrived to say cheerfully.
"And I remember Mrs. Darling very well," came to her ears in Mr. Donald
Estey's smoothly noncommittal voice. Then she forced herself to walk
calmly across the room and to sit down leisurely.
What anybody said next she did not hear. Somewhere within her a voice
was exulting: "I've done it, I've done it, and I didn't make a break!"
It was a small table, and conversation at dinner was general. At first
Helen said little, not trusting herself to speak unless a question made
speech imperative; but gradually she found the tense something within
her relaxing. She was able then to talk more freely; and before the
dinner was over she was apparently quite her usual self.
As to Mr. Donald Estey--Mr. Donald Estey was piqued and surprised, but
mightily interested. Half his anticipated pleasure in this dinner had
been the fact that he was to see Mrs. Darling again. She would blush and
stammer, and be adorably embarrassed, of course. He had not forgotten
how distractingly pretty she was when she blushed. He would like to see
her blush again.
But here she was--and she had not blushed at all. What had happened? A
cool little woman in a cool little gown had put a cool little hand in
his, with a cool "Oh, yes, I remember him very well." And that was all.
Yet she was the same Mrs. Darling that he had met six years before, and
that had-- But was she the same, really the same? _That_ Mrs. Darling
could never have carried off a meeting like this with such sweet
serenity. He wondered--
Mr. Donald Estey was still trying to pigeonhole the women he met.
Mr. Donald Estey found frequent opportunity for studying his new-old
friend during the days that followed, for they were much together. In
Mrs. Reynolds's eyes he made a very convenient fourth for a day's
sight-seeing trip or a concert, and she often asked him to join them.
Also he made an even more convenient escort for herself and Helen when,
as often happened, Mr. Reynolds was unable to accompany them.
In one way and another, therefore, he was thrown often with this
somewhat baffling young woman, who refused to be catalogued. The very
fact that he still could not place her made him more persistent than
ever. Besides, to himself he owned that he found her very charming--and
very charming all the time. There was never on his part now that old
feeling of aversion, of which he used to be conscious at times. And she
was always quite the lady. He wondered how he could ever have thought
her anything else. True, on that remarkable occasion six years before,
she had said something about learning how to please--But he was trying
to forget that scene. He did not believe that everything was quite
straight about that extraordinary occasion. There must have been, in
some way, a mistake. He did not believe, anyway, that it signified. At
all events, he was not going to worry about a dead and gone past like
that.
Mr. Donald Estey was not the only one that was trying to forget that
occasion. Helen herself was putting it behind her whenever the thought
of it entered her head. Thinking of it brought embarrassment; and she
did not like to feel embarrassed. She believed that he was trying to
show that he had forgotten it; and if he were disposed to forget the
ridiculous affair, surely she should be more than glad to do it. And she
considered it very fine of him--very fine, indeed. She liked him, too.
She liked him very much, and she enjoyed being with him. And there could
be no harm now, either, in being with him all she liked, for he could
never make the mistake of thinking she cared for him particularly. He
understood that she loved some one else. They might be as friendly as
they pleased. There could never--thank Heaven!--be any misunderstanding
about their relationship.
Confidently serene, therefore, Helen Denby enjoyed to the full the
stimulus of Mr. Donald Estey's companionship. Then, abruptly, her house
of cards tumbled about her ears.
"Mrs. Darling, will you marry me?" the man asked one day. He spoke
lightly, so lightly that she could not believe him serious. Yet she gave
him a startled glance before she answered.
"Mr. Estey, please don't jest!"
"I'm not jesting. I'm in earnest. Will you marry me?"
"_Mr. Estey!_" She could only gasp her dismay.
"You seem surprised." He was still smiling.
"But you can't--you can't be in earnest, Mr. Estey."
"Why not, pray?"
"Why, you know--you must remember--what I--I told you, six years ago."
The red suffused her face.
"You mean--that you cared for some one else?" He spoke gravely now. The
smile was quite gone from his eyes. "But, Mrs. Darling, it's just there
that I can't believe _you're_ in earnest. Besides, that was six years
ago."
"But I am in earnest, and it's the same--_now_," she urged feverishly.
"Oh, Mr. Estey, please, please, don't let's spoil our friendship--this
way. I thought you understood--I supposed, of course, you understood
that I--I loved some one else very much."
"But, Mrs. Darling, you said that six years ago, and--and you're still
free _now_. Naturally no man would be such a fool as to let-- So I
thought, of course, that you had--had--" He came to a helpless pause.
The color swept her face again.
"But I told you then that I was--was learning--was trying to learn-- Oh,
why do you make me say it?"
He glanced at her face, then jerked himself to his feet angrily.
"Oh, come, come, Mrs. Darling, you don't expect me to believe that you
now, _now_ are still trying to learn to please (as you call it) some
mythically impossible man!"
"He's not mythically impossible. He's real."
"Then he's blind, deaf, and dumb, I suppose!" Mr. Donald Estey's voice
was still wrathful.
In spite of herself Helen Denby laughed.
"No, no, oh, no! He's--" Suddenly her face grew grave, and very earnest.
"Mr. Estey, I can't tell you. You wouldn't understand. If you--you care
anything for me, you will not question me any more. I _can't_ tell you.
Please, please don't say any more."
But Mr. Donald Estey did say more--a little more. He did not say much,
for the piteous pleading in the blue eyes stayed half the words on his
lips before they were uttered. In the end he went away with a baffled,
hurt pain in his own eyes, and Helen did not see him again for some
days. But he came back in time. The pain still lurked in his eyes, but
there was a resolute smile on his lips.
"If you'll permit, I want things to be as they were before," he told
her. "I'm still your friend, and I hope you are mine."
"Why, of course, of course," she stammered. "Only, I--you--"
As she hesitated, plainly disturbed, he raised a quick hand of protest.
"Don't worry." His resolute smile became almost gay. "You'll see how
good a friend I can be!"
If Mr. Donald Estey was hoping to take by strategy the citadel that had
refused to surrender, he gave no sign. As the days came and went, he was
clearly and consistently the good friend he had said he would be; and
Helen Denby found no cause to complain, or to fear untoward results.
And so the winter passed and spring came; and it was on a beautiful day
in early spring that Helen took Betty (now nine years old) to one of
London's most famous curio-shops. There was to be an auction shortly of
a very valuable collection of books and curios, and the advertising
catalogue sent to Mr. Reynolds had fallen into Helen's hands.
It was no new thing for Helen to haunt curio-shops and museum-cabinets
given over to Babylonian tablets and Egyptian scarabs. Helen had never
forgotten the little brown and yellow "soap-cakes" which were so
treasured by Burke and his father, and of which she had been so jealous
in the old days at Dalton. At every opportunity now she studied them.
She wanted to know something about them; but especially she wanted Betty
to know about them. Betty must know something about everything--that was
of interest to Burke Denby.
To-day, standing with Betty before a glass case of carefully numbered
treasures, she was so assiduously studying the catalogue in her hand
that she did not notice the approach of the tall man wearing glasses,
until an amused voice reached her ears.
"Going in for archæology, Mrs. Darling?"
So violent was her start that it looked almost like one of guilt.
"Oh, Mr. Estey! I--I didn't see you."
His eyes twinkled.
"I should say not--or hear me, either. I spoke twice before you deigned
to turn. I did not know you were so interested in archæology, Mrs.
Darling."
She laughed lightly.
"I'm not. I think it's--" Her face changed suddenly. "Oh, yes, I'm
interested--very much interested," she corrected hastily. "But I mean
I--I don't know anything about it. But I--I'm trying to learn. Perhaps
you-- _Can_ you tell me anything about these things?"
Something in her face, the fateful "learn," and her embarrassed manner,
sent his thoughts back to the scene between them years before. Stifling
an almost uncontrollable impulse to query, "Is it to please _him_, then,
that you must learn archæology?" he shrugged his shoulders and shook his
head.
"I'm afraid not," he smiled. "Oh, I know a _little_ something of them,
it's true; but I've just been chatting with a man out in the front shop
who could talk to you by the hour about those things--and grow fat on
it. He's looking at a toby jug now. Shall I bring him in?"
"No, no, Mr. Estey, of course not!"
"But, really, you'd find him interesting, I'm sure. I met him in Egypt
last year. His name is Denby--a New Englander like-- Why, Mrs. Darling,
what is the matter? Are you faint? You're white as chalk!"
She shook her head.
"No, no, I'm all right. Did you mean"--with white lips she asked the
question--"Mr. John Denby?" She threw a quick look at Betty, who was now
halfway across the room standing in awed wonder before a huge Buddha.
"No, this is Burke Denby, John Denby's son. I met them both last year.
But you seem to-- Do you know them?"
"Yes." She said the word quietly, yet with an odd restraint that puzzled
him. He saw that the color was coming back to her face--what he could
not see or know was that underneath that calm exterior the little woman
at his side was wildly adjuring herself: "Now, mind, mind, this is an
emergency. Mind you meet it right!" He saw that she took one quick step
toward Betty, only to stop and look about her a little uncertainly.
"Mr. Estey,"--she was facing him now. Her chin was lifted determinedly,
but he noticed that her lips were trembling. "I do not want to see Mr.
Burke Denby, and he _must not_ see me. There is no way out of this
place, apparently, except through the front shop, where he is. I want
you to go out there and--and talk to him. Then Betty and I can slip by
unnoticed."
"But--but--" stammered the dumfounded man.
"Mr. Estey, you _will_ do what I ask you to--and please go--_quickly_!
He's sure to come out to see--these." She just touched the case of
Babylonian tablets.
To the man, looking into her anguished eyes, came a swift, overwhelming
revelation. He remembered, suddenly, stories he had heard of a tragedy
in Burke Denby's domestic affairs. He remembered words--illuminating
words--that this woman had said to him. It could not be-- And yet--
He caught his breath.
"Is he--are you--"
"I am Mrs. Burke Denby," she interrupted quietly. "You will not betray
me, I know. Now, will you go, please?"
For one appalled instant he gazed straight into her eyes; then without a
word he turned and left her.
He knew, a minute later, that he was saying something (he wondered
afterward what it was) to Mr. Burke Denby out in the main shop. He knew,
too, without looking up, that a woman and a little girl passed quietly
by at the other side of the room and disappeared through the open
doorway. Then, dazedly, Mr. Donald Estey looked about him. He was
wondering if, after all, he had not been dreaming.
That evening he learned that it was not a dream. Freely, and with a
frank confidence that touched him deeply, the woman he had known as Mrs.
Darling told him the whole story. He heard it with naturally varying
emotions. He tried to be just, to be coolly unprejudiced. He tried also,
to hide his own heartache. He even tried to be glad that she loved her
husband, as she so unmistakably did.
"And you'll tell him now, of course--where you are," he said, when she
had finished.
"No, no! I can't do that."
"But do you think that is--right?"
"I am sure it is."
"But if your husband wants you--"
"He doesn't want me."
"Are you sure?"
"Very sure."
A curious look came to the man's eyes, a grim smile to his lips.
"Er"--he hesitated a little--"you don't want to forget that--er--you
have long ago qualified for--that _understudy_. You remember that--_I_
wanted you."
The rich color that flamed into her face told that she fully understood
what he meant, yet she shook her head vehemently.
"No, no! Ah, please, don't jest about--that. I was very much in
earnest--indeed, I was! And I thought then--that I really could--could--
But I understand--lots of things now that I never understood before. It
is really all for Betty that I am working now. I want to make
_her_--what he would want her to be."
"Nonsense, my dear woman! As if you yourself were not the most--"
She stopped him with a gesture. Her eyes had grown very serious.
"I don't want you to talk that way, please. I would rather think--just
of Betty."
"But what about--him?"
"I don't know." Her eyes grew fathomless. She turned them toward the
window. "Of course I think and think and think. And of course I
wonder--how it's all coming out. I'm sure I'm doing right now, and I
think--I was doing right--then."
"Then?"
"When I went away--at the first. I can't see how I could have done
anything else, as things were. Some way, all along, I've felt as if I
were traveling a--a long road, and that on each side was a tall hedge. I
can't look over it, nor through it. I can't even look ahead--very far.
The road turns--so often. But there have never been any
crossroads--there's never been any other way I could take, as I looked
at it. Don't you see, Mr. Estey?"
"Yes, I think I see." The old baffled pain had come back to his eyes,
but she did not seem to notice it. Her gaze had drifted back to the
window.
"And so I feel that now I'm still on that road and that it's
leading--somewhere; and some day I shall know. Until then, there isn't
anything I can do--don't you see?--there isn't anything I can do but to
keep--straight ahead. There really isn't, Mr. Estey."
"No, I suppose there isn't," said Mr. Donald Estey, rising to his feet
with a long sigh.
CHAPTER XVII
PINK TEAS TO FLIGHTY BLONDES
One by one the years slipped by, swiftly, with little change. In Boston,
the doctor, trying not to count them, still had not forgotten. From
Helen, through his sister, came glowing accounts of concerts, lectures,
travels, and language-lessons for herself and Betty. From Dalton, both
directly and indirectly, began to come reports of a new gayety at the
old Denby Mansion. Dinners and house-parties, and even a ball or two,
figured in the reports.
Vexed and curious, the doctor--who had, of late, refused most of his
invitations to Dalton--took occasion, between certain trips of his own,
to go up to the little town, to see for himself the meaning of this, to
him, unaccountable phase of the situation.
There was a big reception at Denby Mansion on the evening of the day of
his arrival. The hotel parlor and office were abuzz with stories of the
guests, decorations, and city caterer. There came to the doctor's ears,
too, sundry rumors--some vague, others unpleasantly explicit--concerning
a pretty little blonde widow, who was being frequently seen these days
in the company of Burke Denby, the son.
"Of course he'd have to get a divorce--but he could do that easy,"
overheard the doctor in the corridor. "His wife ran away, didn't she,
years ago? I heard she did."
Uninvited and unheralded, the doctor attended the reception. Passing up
the old familiar walk, he came to an unfamiliar, garish blaze of lights,
a riot of color and perfume, a din of shrieking violins, the swish of
silken skirts, and the peculiarly inane babble that comes from a
multitude of chattering tongues.
Gorgeous lackeys reached unfamiliar hands for his hat and coat, and the
doctor was nearly ready to turn and flee the delirium of horror, when he
suddenly almost laughed aloud at sight of the half-perplexed,
half-terrified, wholly disgusted face of Benton. At that moment the old
manservant's eyes met his own, and the doctor's eyes grew suddenly moist
at the beatific joy which illumined that harassed, anxious old face.
Regardless of the trailing silks and billowing tulle between them,
Benton leaped to his side.
"Praise be, if it ain't Dr. Gleason!" he exulted, incoherent, but
beaming.
"Yes; but what is this, Benton?" laughed the doctor. "What is the
meaning of all this?"
The old butler rolled his eyes.
"Blest if I know, sir--indeed, I don't. But I'm thinking it's gone crazy
I am. And sometimes I think maybe the master and young Master Burke,
too, are going crazy with me. I do, sir!"
"I can well imagine it, Benton," smiled the doctor dryly, as he began to
make his way toward the big drawing-room where John Denby and his son
were receiving their guests.
The doctor could find no cause to complain of his welcome. It was
cordial and manifestly sincere. He was introduced at once as an old and
valued friend, and he soon found himself the center of a plainly
admiring group. It was very evidently soon whispered about that he was
_the_ Dr. Frank Gleason of archæological and Arctic fame; and his only
difficulty, after his first introduction, was to find any time for his
own observations and reflections. He contrived, however, in spite of his
embarrassing popularity, to see something of his hosts. He talked with
them, when possible, and he watched them with growingly troubled eyes.
Many times that evening he saw the mask drop over John Denby's face.
Twice he saw a slow turning away as of ineffable weariness. Once he saw
a spasm as of pain twitch his lips; and he noted the quick, involuntary
lifting of his hand to his side. He saw that usually, however, the
master of Denby House stood tall and straight and handsome, with the
cordial, genial smile of a perfect host.
As to Burke--it was when the doctor was watching Burke that the trouble
in his eyes grew deepest. True, on Burke's face there was no mask of
inscrutability, in his eyes was no weariness, on his lips no quick spasm
of pain. He was gay, alert, handsome, and apparently happy.
Nevertheless, the frown on the doctor's face did not diminish.
There was a look of too much wine--slight, perhaps, but unmistakable--on
Burke Denby's face, that the doctor did not like. The doctor also did
not like the way Burke devoted himself to the blonde young woman who was
so eternally at his elbow.
This was the widow, of course. The doctor surmised this at once.
Besides, he had met her. Her name was Mrs. Carrolton, and Mrs. Carrolton
was the name he had heard so frequently in the hotel. The doctor did not
like the looks of Mrs. Carrolton. She was beautiful, undeniably, in a
way; but her blue eyes were shifting, and her mouth, when in repose, had
hard lines. She was not the type of woman he liked to have Burke with,
and he would not have supposed she was the sort of woman that Burke
himself would care for. And to see him now, hanging upon her every
word--
With a gesture of disgust the doctor turned his back and stalked to the
farther side of the room, much to the surprise of a vapid young woman,
to whom (he remembered when it was too late) he had been supposed to be
talking.
A little later, in the dining-room, where he had passed so many restful
hours with Burke and his father, about the softly lighted table, the
doctor now, in the midst of a chattering, thronging multitude, attempted
to keep his own balance, and that of a tiny, wobbly plate,
intermittently heaped with salads, sandwiches, cakes, and creams, which
he was supposed to eat, but which he momentarily and terrifyingly
expected to deposit upon a silken gown or a spotless shirt-front.
The doctor was one of the first of John Denby's guests to make his
adieus. He had decided suddenly that he must get away, quite away, from
the sight of Burke and the little widow. Otherwise he should say
something--a very strong something; and, for obvious reasons, he really
could say--nothing.
Disgusted, frightened, annoyed, and aggrieved, he went home the next
morning. To his sister he said much. He could talk to his sister. He
gave first a full account of what he had seen and heard in Dalton,
omitting not one detail. Then, wrathfully, he reproached her:--
"So you see what's come of your foolishness. Burke isn't building
bridges for the Hottentots now. He's giving pink teas to flighty
blondes."
Mrs. Thayer laughed softly.
"But that's only another way of trying to get away from himself, Frank,"
she argued.
"Yes, but I notice he isn't trying to get away from the widow," he
snapped.
A disturbed frown came to the lady's face.
"I know." She bit her lips. "I am a little worried at that, Frank, I'll
own. I've wondered, often, if--if there was ever any danger of something
like that happening."
"Well, you wouldn't wonder any longer, if you should see Mrs. Nellie
Carrolton," observed the doctor, with terse significance.
There was a moment's silence; then, sharply, the doctor spoke again.
"I'm going to write to Helen."
"Oh, Frank!"
"I am. I've got to. I don't think it's right not to."
"But what shall you--tell her?"
"That she'd better come home and look after her property; if she
doesn't, she's likely to lose it. That's what I'm going to tell her."
"Oh, Frank!" murmured his distressed sister again; but she made no
further demur. And that night the letter went.
In due course came the answer. It was short, but very much to the point.
The doctor read it, and said a sharp something behind his teeth. Without
another word he handed the note to his sister. And this is what she
read:--
_Dear Dr. Gleason_:--
He isn't my property. I can't lose him, for I haven't him to
lose. He took himself away from me years ago. If ever I'm to
win him back, I must win him--not compel him. If he thinks
he's found some one else--all the more reason why I can't
come back now, until he knows whether he wants her or not.
But if I came now, and he should want her-- Really, Dr.
Gleason, I don't want the same man to tell me twice to--go.
HELEN D.
"Hm-m; just about what I expected she'd say," commented the doctor's
sister tranquilly, as she laid the letter down.
"Oh, you women!" flung out the doctor, springing to his feet and turning
wrathfully on his heel.
The doctor was relieved, but not wholly eased in his mind some days
later when he heard indirectly that Denby Mansion was closed, and that
the Denbys were off again to some remote corner of the world.
"Well, anyhow, the widow isn't with him now," he comforted himself
aloud.
"Building bridges for the Hottentots again?" smiled his sister.
"Yes. Australia this time."
"Hm-m; that's nice and far," mused the lady.
"Oh, yes, it's far, all right," growled the doctor, somewhat
belligerently. "Anyhow, it's too far for the widow, thank Heaven!"
The doctor went himself "far" before the month was out. Already his
plans were made for a six months' trip with a research party to his pet
hunting-ground--the grotto land of northern Spain. Once more the
calmness of silence and absence left Edith Thayer with only Helen
Denby's occasional letters to remind her of Burke Denby and his
matrimonial problem.
CHAPTER XVIII
A LITTLE BUNCH OF DIARIES
It was three years before the doctor went up to Dalton again. It was on
a sad errand this time. John Denby had died suddenly, and after an
hour's hesitation, the doctor went up to the funeral.
There were no garish lights and shrieking violins to greet him as he
passed once more up the long, familiar walk. The warm September sun
touched lovingly the old brass knocker, and peeped behind the stately
colonial pillars of the long veranda. It gleamed for a moment on the
bald heads of the somber-coated men filing slowly through the wide
doorway, and it tried to turn to silver the sable crape hanging at the
right of the door.
Not until that evening, after the funeral, did the doctor have the
opportunity for more than a formal word of greeting and sympathy with
Burke Denby. He had been shocked in the afternoon at the changes in the
young man's face; but he was more so when, at eight o'clock, he called
at the house.
He found Burke alone in the library--the library whose every book and
chair and curio spoke with the voice of the man who was gone--the man
who had loved them so well.
Burke himself, to the doctor, looked suddenly old and worn, and
infinitely weary of life. He did not at once speak of his father. But
when he did speak of him, a little later, he seemed then to want to talk
of nothing else. Things that his father had done and said, his little
ways, his likes and dislikes, the hours of delight they had passed
together, the trips they had taken, even the tiddledywinks and Mother
Goose of childhood came in for their share. On and on until far into the
night he talked, and the doctor listened, with a word now and then of
sympathy or appreciation; but with a growing ache in his heart.
"You have been, indeed, a wonderful father and son," he said at last
unsteadily.
"There was never another like us." The son's voice was very low.
There was a moment's silence. The doctor, his beseeching eyes on the
younger man's half-averted face, was groping in his mind for the right
words to introduce the subject which all the evening had been at the
door of his lips--Helen. He felt that now, with Burke's softened heart
to lend lenience, and with his lonely life in prospect to plead the need
of companionship, was the time, if ever, that an appeal for Helen might
be successful. But the right words of introduction had not come to him
when Burke himself began to speak again.
"And it's almost as if I'd lost both father and mother," he went on
brokenly; "for dad talked so much of mother. To him she was always with
us, I think. I can remember, when I was a little boy, how real she was
to me. In all we did or said she seemed to have a part. And always, all
the way up, he used to talk of her--except for the time when--"
He stopped abruptly. The doctor, watching, wondered at the white
compression that came suddenly to his lips. In a moment it was gone,
however, and he had resumed speaking.
"Of late years, dad has seemed to talk more than ever of mother, and he
spoke always as if she were with us. And now I'm alone--so utterly
alone. Gleason--how ever am I going to live--without--dad!"
The doctor's heart leaped with mingled fear and elation: fear at what he
was about to do; elation that his chance to do it had come. He cleared
his throat and began, courageously, though not quite steadily.
"But--there's your wife, Burke. If only you--" He stopped short in
dismay at the look that had come into Burke Denby's face.
"My wife! My wife! Don't speak of my wife now, man, if you want me to
keep my reason! The woman who brought more sorrow to my father than any
other living being! What do you think I wouldn't give if I could blot
out the memory of the anguish my marriage brought to dad? I can see his
eyes now, when he was pleading with me--_before_ it. Afterwards--Do you
know what a brick dad was afterwards? Well, I'll tell you. Never by so
much as a look--much less a word--has he reproached or censured me. At
first he--he just put up a wall between us. But it was a wall of grief
and sore hurt. It was never anger. I know that now. Then, one day,
somehow, I found that wall down, and I looked straight into dad's eyes.
It was never there again--that wall. I knew, of course, that dad had
never--forgotten. The hurt and grief were still there,--that I could so
disobey him, disregard his wishes,--but he would not let them be a wall
between us any longer. Then, when it all turned out as it did-- But he
never once said, 'I told you so,' nor even looked it. And he was kind
and good to Helen always. But when I think how I--I, who love him
so--brought to him all that grief and anguish of heart, I-- My wife,
indeed! Gleason, I never want to see her face again, or hear her name
spoken!"
"But your--your child," stammered the dismayed doctor faintly.
A shadow of quick pain crossed the other's face.
"I know. And that's another thing that grieved dad. He was fond of his
little granddaughter. He used to speak of her, often, till I begged him
not to. She's mine, of course; but she's Helen's, too,--and she is being
brought up by Helen--not me. I can imagine what she's being
taught--about her father," he finished bitterly.
"Oh, but I'm sure-- I know she's--" With a painful color the doctor,
suddenly warned from within just in time, came to a frightened pause.
Burke, however, lifting a protesting hand, changed the subject abruptly;
and the relieved doctor was glad, for once, not to have him wish to talk
longer of his missing wife and daughter.
Very soon the doctor said good-night and left the house. But his heart
was heavy.
"Perhaps, after all," he sighed to himself, "it wasn't just the time to
get him to listen to reason about Helen--when it was his runaway
marriage that had so grieved his father years ago; and his father
now--just gone."
From many lips, before he left town the next morning, Dr. Gleason
learned much of the life and doings of the Denbys during the past few
years. Perhaps the death of John Denby had made the Dalton tongues
garrulous. At all events they were nothing loath to talk; and the
doctor, eager to obtain anything that would enable him to understand
Burke Denby, was nothing loath to listen.
"Yes, sir, he hain't been well for years--John Denby hain't," related
one old man into the doctor's attentive, sympathetic ears. "And I ain't
sayin' I wonder, with all he's been through. But you said you was a
friend of his, didn't ye?"
The doctor inclined his head.
"I am, indeed, an old friend of the family."
"Well, it's likely, then, you know something yourself of what's
happened--though 'course you hain't lived here to see it all. First, ye
know, there was his son's marriage. And that cut the old man all
up--runaway, and not what the family wanted at all. _You_ know that, of
course. But they made the best of it, apparently, after a while, and
young Denby took hold first-rate at the Works. Right down to the
beginnin' he went, too,--overalls and day wages. And he done
well--first-rate!--but it must 'a' galled some. Why, once, fur a spell,
he worked _under my son_--he did. The men liked him, too, when they got
over their grinnin' and nonsense, and see he was in earnest. _You_ know
what a likely chap young Denby _can_ be, when he wants to."
"None better!" smiled the doctor.
"Yes. Well, to resume and go on. Somethin' happened one day--in his
domestic affairs, I mean. The pretty young wife and kid lit out for
parts unknown. And the son went back to his dad. (He and his dad always
was more like pals than anythin' else.) Some says he sent her away--the
wife, I mean. Some says she runned away herself. Like enough _you_ know
the rights of it."
There was a suggestion of a pause, and a sly, half-questioning glance;
but at the absolute non-committalism of the other's face, the narrator
went on hastily.
"Well, whatever was the rights or wrongs of it, she went, and hain't
been seen in these 'ere parts since, as I know of. Not that I _should_
know her if I did see her, howsomever! Well, that was a dozen--yes,
fourteen years ago, I guess, and the old man hain't been the same since.
He hain't been the same since the boy's marriage, for that matter.
"Well, at first, after she went, the Denbys went kitin' off on one o'
them trips o' theirn, that they're always takin'; then they come home
and opened up the old house, and things went on about as they used to
'fore young Denby was married. But the old man fell sick--first on the
trip, then afterwards, once or twice. He wa'n't well; but that didn't
hinder his goin' off again. This time they went with one of their
bridges. Always, before, they'd let Henry or Grosset manage the job; but
this time they went themselves. After that they went lots--to South
America, Africa, Australia, and I don't know where. They seemed restless
and uneasy--both of 'em.
"Then they begun ter bring folks home with 'em: chaps who wore purple
silk socks and neckties, and looked as if they'd never done a stroke of
work in their lives; and women with high heels and false hair. My, but
there was gay doin's there! Winters there was balls and parties and
swell feeds with nigger waiters from Boston, and even the dishes and
what they et come from there, too, sometimes, they say. Summers they
rode in hayracks and autymobiles, and danced outdoors on the
grass--shows, you know. And they was a show with the women barefooted
and barearmed, and--and not much on generally. My wife seen 'em once,
and she was that shocked she didn't get over it for a month. She said
she was brought up to keep a modest dress on her that had a decent waist
and skirt to it. But my Bill (he's been in Boston two years now) says
it's a pageant and Art, and all right. That you can do it in pageants
when you can't just walkin' along the street, runnin' into the
neighbors'. See?"
"I see," nodded the doctor gravely.
"Oh, well, of course they didn't go 'round like that all the time. They
played that thing lots where they have them little balls and
queer-looking sticks to knock 'em with. They played it all over Pike's
Hill and the Durgin pasture in Old Dalton; and they got my grandson to
be a--a--"
"Caddie?" hazarded the doctor.
"Yes; that's what they called it. And he made good money, too,--doin'
nothin'. Wish't they'd want me for one! Well, as I was sayin', they had
all this comp'ny, an' more an' more of it; and they give receptions an'
asked the hull town, sometimes. My wife went, and my darter. They said
it was fine and grand, and all that, but that they didn't believe old
John liked it very well. But Mr. Burke liked it. That was easy to be
seen. And there was a pretty little widder there lots, and _she_ liked
it. Some said as how they thought there'd be a match there, sometime, if
he could get free. But I guess there wa'n't anythin' ter that. Anyhow,
all of a sudden, somethin' happened. Everythin' stopped right off
short--all the gay doin's and parties--and everybody went home. Then,
the next thing we knew, the old house was dark and empty again, and the
Denbys gone to Australia with another bridge."
"Yes, I know. I remember--that," interposed the doctor, alert and
interested.
"Did you see 'em--when they come back?"
"No."
"Well, they didn't look like the same men. And ever since they've been
different, somehow. Stern and silent, with never a smile for anybody,
skursley. No balls an' parties now, you bet ye! Week in and week out,
jest shut up in that big silent house--never goin' out at all except to
the Works! Then we heard he was sick--Mr. John. But he got better, and
was out again. The end come sudden. Nobody expected that. But he was a
good man--a grand good man--John Denby was!"
"He was, indeed," agreed the doctor, with a long sigh, as he turned
away.
This story, with here and there a new twist and turn, the doctor heard
on all sides. And always he listened attentively, hopefully, eager, if
possible, to find some detail that would help him in some further plea
to Burke Denby in behalf of the far-away wife. Even the women wanted to
talk to him, and did, sometimes to his annoyance. Once, only, however,
did his irritation get the better of his manners. It was when the woman
of whom he bought his morning paper at the station newsstand, accosted
him--
"Stranger in these parts, ain't ye? Come to the fun'ral, didn't ye?"
"Why--y-yes."
"Hm-m; I thought so. He was a fine man, I s'pose. Still, I didn't think
much of him myself. Used to know him too well, maybe. Used to live next
his son--same floor. My name's Cobb--and I used to see--" But the doctor
had turned on his heel without even the semblance of an apology.
Ten minutes later he boarded the train for Boston.
To his sister again he told the story of a Dalton trip, and, as before,
he omitted not one detail.
"But I can't write, of course, to Helen, now," he finished gloomily.
"That is, I can't urge her coming back--not in the face of Burke's angry
assertion that he never wants to see her again."
"Of course not. But don't worry, dear. I haven't given up hope, by any
means. Burke worshiped his father. His heart is almost breaking now, at
his loss. It is perfectly natural, under the circumstances, that he
should have this intense anger toward anything that ever grieved his
loved father. But wait. That's all we can do, anyway. I'll write to
Helen, of course, and tell her of her father-in-law's death, but--"
"You wouldn't tell her what Burke said, Edith!"
"Oh, no, no, indeed!--unless I _have_ to, Frank--unless she asks me."
But Helen did ask her. By return steamer came her letter expressing her
shocked distress at John Denby's death, and asking timidly, but
urgently, if, in Mrs. Thayer's opinion, it were the time now when she
should come home--if she would be welcomed by her husband. To this, of
course, there was but one answer possible; and reluctantly Mrs. Thayer
gave it.
"And to think," groaned the doctor, "that when now, for the first time,
Helen is willing to come, we have to tell her--she can't!"
"I know, but"--Edith Thayer resolutely blinked off the tears--"I haven't
given up yet. Just wait."
And the doctor waited. It was, indeed, as his sister said, all that he
could do. From time to time he went up to Dalton and made his way up the
old familiar walk to have a chat with the taciturn, somber-eyed man
sitting alone in the great old library. The doctor never spoke of Helen.
He dared not take the risk. Burke Denby's only interests plainly were
business, books, and the rare curios he and his father had collected. A
Mrs. Gowing, a distant cousin, had come to be his housekeeper, but the
doctor saw little of her. She seemed to be a quiet, inoffensive little
woman, plainly very much in the background.
There came an evening finally, however, when, much to the doctor's
beatific surprise, Burke Denby, of his own accord, mentioned his wife.
It was nearly two years after John Denby's death. The doctor had run up
to Dalton for an overnight visit, and had noticed at once a peculiar
restlessness in his host's manner, an odd impatience of voice and
gesture. Then, abruptly, in answer to the doctor's own assertion that
Burke needed something to get him away from his constant brooding in the
old library,--
"Need something?" he exclaimed. "Of course I need something! I need my
wife and child. I need to live a normal life like other men. I need--
But what's the use?" he finished, with outflung hands.
"I know; but--you, yourself--" By a supreme effort the doctor was
keeping himself from shouting aloud with joy.
"Oh, yes, I know it's all my own fault," cut in Burke crisply. "You
can't tell me anything new on that score, that I haven't told myself.
Yes, and I know I haven't even been willing to have her name spoken," he
went on recklessly, answering the amazement in the doctor's face. "For
that matter, I don't know why I'm talking like this now--unless it's
because I've always said to you more than I've said to any one
else--except dad--about Helen. And now, after being such a cad, it seems
almost--due to her that I should say--something. Besides, doesn't
somebody say somewhere that confession is good for the soul?"
There was a quizzical smile on his lips, but there was no smile in his
eyes.
The doctor nodded dumbly. Afraid of saying the wrong thing, he dared not
open his lips. But, terrified at the long silence that followed, he
finally ventured unsteadily:--
"But why--this sudden change, Burke?"
"It's not so sudden as you think." Burke's eyes, gloomily fixed on the
opposite wall, did not turn as he spoke. "It's been coming gradually for
a long time. I can see that now. Still, the real eye-opener finally came
from--mother."
"_Your--mother!_"
"Yes, her diary--or, rather, diaries. I found them a month ago among
father's things. I can't tell you what was in them. I wouldn't, of
course, if I could. They're too--sacred. Perhaps you think even I should
not have read them; perhaps I shouldn't. But I did, and I'm glad I did;
and I believe she'd have wanted me to.
"Of course, at first, when I picked one of them up, I didn't know what
it was. Then I saw my name, and I read--page after page. I was a
baby--her baby. Gleason, can you imagine what it would be to look deep
down into the soul of a good woman and read there all her love, hopes,
prayers, and ambitions for her boy--and then suddenly realize that you
yourself were that boy?"
There was no answer; and Burke, evidently expecting none, went on with
the rush of abandonment that told of words suddenly freed from long
restraint.
"I took up then the first one--the diary she kept that first year of her
marriage; and if I had felt small and mean and unworthy before-- On and
on I read; and as I read, I began to see, dimly, what marriage
means--for a woman. They were very poor then. Father was the grandson of
the younger, runaway son, Joel, and had only his trade and his day
wages. They lived in a shabby little cottage on Mill Street, long since
destroyed. This house belonged to the other branch of the family, and
was occupied by a rich old man and his daughter. Mother was gently
reared, and was not used to work. Those first years of poverty and
privation must have been wickedly hard for her. But the little diaries
carried no complaints. They did carry weariness, often, and sometimes a
pitiful terror lest she be not strong enough for what was before her,
and so bring disappointment and grief to 'dear John.' But always, for
'dear John,' I could see there was to be nothing but encouragement and a
steadfast holding forth of high aims and the assurance of ultimate
success.
"Then, one by one, came the babies, with all the agony and fears and
hopes they brought with them. Three came and slipped away into the great
unknown before I came--to stay. About that time father's patents began
to bring success, and soon the money was pouring in. They bought this
house. It had been one of their dreams that they would buy it. The old
man had died, and the daughter had married and moved away, and the house
had been for sale for some time. So they bought it, and soon after I was
born we came here to live. Then, when I was four years old, mother died.
"That is the story--the bald story. But that doesn't tell you anything
of what those diaries were to me. In the light they shed I saw my own
marriage--and I was ashamed. I never thought of marriage before from
Helen's standpoint. I never thought what she had to suffer and endure,
and adapt herself to. I know now. Of course, very soon after our
marriage, I realized that she and I weren't suited to each other. But
what of it? I had married her. I had effectually prevented her from
finding happiness with any other man; yet it didn't seem to occur to me
that I had thereby taken on myself the irrevocable duty of trying to
make her happy. I have no doubt that my ways and aims and likes and
dislikes annoyed her as much as hers did me. But it never occurred to
me that my soft greens and browns and Beethoven harmonies got on her
nerves just exactly as her pinks and purples and ragtime got on mine. I
was never in the habit of looking at anybody's happiness but my own; and
_I_ wasn't happy. So I let fling, regardless."
Burke paused, and drew a long sigh. The doctor, puffing slowly at his
cigar, sedulously kept his face the other way. The doctor, in his fancy,
had already peopled the old room with a joyous Helen and Dorothy
Elizabeth; and he feared, should he turn, that his face would sing a
veritable Hallelujah Chorus--to the consequent amazement of his host.
"Mother had trials of her own--lots of them," resumed Burke, after a
moment's silence. "She even had some not unlike mine, I believe, for I
think I could read between the lines that dad was more than a bit
careless at times in manner and speech compared to the polished ways of
the men of her family and social circle. But mother neither whined nor
ran away. She just smiled and kept bravely straight ahead; and by and by
they were under her feet, where they belonged--all those things that
plagued. But I--I both whined and ran away--because I didn't like the
way my wife ate her soup and spread her bread. They seem so small
now--all those little ways I hated--small beside the big things that
really counted. Do you know? I believe if more people would stop making
the little things big and the big things little, there'd be a whole heap
more happiness lying around in this old world! And Helen--poor Helen!
She tried-- I know she tried. Lots of times, when I was reading in the
diaries what mother said about dad,--how she mustn't let him get
discouraged or downhearted; how she must tell him she just knew he was
going to succeed,--lots of times then I'd think of Helen. Helen used to
talk that way to me at the first! I wonder now if Helen kept a diary!
And I can't help wondering if, supposing I had been a little less apt to
notice the annoyances, and a little more inclined to see the good-- Bah!
There, there, old man, forgive me," he broke off, with a shrug. "I
didn't mean to run on like this. I really didn't--for all the world like
the heart-to-heart advice to the lovelorn in a daily news column!"
"I'm glad you did, Burke." The doctor's carefully controlled voice
expressed cheery interest; that was all. "And now what do you propose to
do?"
"Do? How? What do you mean?"
"Why, about--your wife, of course."
"Nothing. There's nothing I can do. And that's the pity of it. She will
go on, of course, to the end of her life, thinking me a cad and a
coward."
"But if you could be--er--brought together again," suggested the doctor
in a voice so coldly impersonal it was almost indifferent.
"Oh, yes, of course--perhaps. But that's not likely. I don't know where
she is, remember; and she's not likely to come back of her own accord,
after all this time. Besides, if she did, who's to guarantee that a few
old diaries have changed me from an unbearably selfish brute to a
livably patient and pleasant person to have about the house? Not but
what I'd jump at the chance to try, but-- Well, we'll wait till I get
it," he finished dryly, with a lightness that was plainly assumed.
"Well, anyway, Burke, you've never found any one else!" The Hallelujah
Chorus did almost sing through the doctor's voice this time.
"No, I've been spared that, thank Heaven. There was one--a Mrs.
Carrolton."
"Yes, I met her--at that reception, you know," said the doctor,
answering the unspoken question.
"Oh, yes, I remember. Well, I did come near--but I pulled myself up in
time. I knew, in my heart, she wasn't the kind of woman-- Then, too,
there was Helen. It was only that I was feeling particularly reckless
that fall. Besides, I know now that I've cared for Helen--the real
Helen--all the time. And there _is_ a real Helen, I believe, underneath
it all. As I look back at them--all those years--I know that during
every single one of them I've been trying to get away from myself. If it
hadn't been for dad--and that's the one joy I have: that I was able to
be with dad. They weren't quite lost--those years, for they brought him
joy."
"No, they've not been lost, Burke," said the doctor, with quiet
emphasis.
Burke laughed a little grimly.
"Oh, I know what you mean, of course. I've been 'tried as by fire'--eh?
Well, I dare say I have--and I've been found woefully wanting. But
enough of this!" he broke off abruptly, springing to his feet. "You
don't happen to know of a young woman who has the skill of experience,
the wisdom of age, the adaptability of youth, and the patience of Job
all in one, do you?" he demanded.
The doctor turned with startled eyes.
"Why, Burke, after all this, you don't mean--"
"No, it's not a wife I'm looking for," interposed Burke, with a
whimsical shrug. "It's a--a stenographer or private secretary, only she
must be much more than the ordinary kind. I want to catalogue all this
truck father and I have accumulated. She must know French and German--a
little Greek and Hebrew wouldn't be amiss. And I want one that would be
interested in this sort of thing--one who will realize she isn't
handling--er--potatoes, say. My eyes are going back on me, too, and I
shall want her to read to me; so I must like her voice. I don't want
anything, you see," he smiled grimly.
"I should say not," laughed the doctor, rising. "But before you can give
me any more necessary qualifications, I guess I'd better be going to
bed."
"I don't wonder, after the harangue I've given you. But--you don't know
of such a person, do you?"
"I don't."
"No, I suppose not--nor anybody else," finished Burke Denby, a profound
gloom that had become habitual settling over his face.
"If I do I'll send her to you," nodded the doctor, halfway through the
door. The doctor was in a hurry to get up to his room--he had a letter
to write.
"Thanks," said Burke Denby, still dryly, as he waved his hand in
good-night.
"Stenographer, indeed!" sang the doctor under his breath, bounding up
the stairs like a boy. "Wait till he sees what I am going to get him!"
he finished, striding down the hall and into his own room.
Before he slept the doctor wrote his letter to Helen. It was a long one,
and a joyous one. It told everything that Burke had said, even to his
plaintive plea for a private secretary.
There could be no doubt now, no further delay, declared the doctor.
Helen would come home at once, of course. It only remained for them to
decide on the mere details of just how and when. Meanwhile, when might
they expect her in Boston? She would come, of course, to his sister's
first; and he trusted it would be soon--very soon.
Addressing the letter to Mrs. Helen Darling, the doctor tucked it into
his pocket to be mailed at the station in the morning. Then, for the few
hours before rising time, he laid himself down to sleep. But he did not
sleep. His brain was altogether too actively picturing the arrival of
Helen Denby and her daughter at the old Denby Mansion, and the meeting
between them and the master of the house. And to think that at last it
was all coming out right!
CHAPTER XIX
THE STAGE IS SET
Impatient as was the doctor for an answer to his letter, it came before
he expected, for a cablegram told of Helen's almost immediate departure
for America.
"I thought that would fetch her," he crowed to his sister. "And she'll
be here just next week Wednesday. That'll get her up to Dalton before
Sunday."
"Perhaps," observed Mrs. Thayer cautiously.
"No 'perhaps' to it," declared the doctor,--"if the boat gets here. You
don't suppose she's going to delay any longer now, do you? Besides,
isn't she starting for America about as soon as she can? Does that look
as if she were losing much time?"
"No, it doesn't," she admitted laughingly.
The doctor and his sister were not surprised to see a very lovely and
charming Helen with the distinction and mellow maturity that the dozen
intervening years had brought. Her letters had shown them something of
that. But they were not prepared for the changes those same years had
wrought in Dorothy Elizabeth.
To Helen, their frank start of amazement and quick interchange of
glances upon first sight of the girl were like water to a long-parched
throat.
"You do think she's lovely?" she whispered to the frankly staring
doctor, as Mrs. Thayer welcomed the young girl.
"Lovely! She's the most beautiful thing I ever saw!" avowed the doctor,
with a laughing shrug at his own extravagance.
"And she's just as sweet and dear as she is lovely," whispered back the
adoring mother, as the girl turned to meet the doctor.
"You've your mother's eyes, my dear," said the doctor, very much as he
had said it to the little Betty years before.
"Have I?" The girl smiled happily. "I'm so glad! I love mother's eyes."
It was not until hours later, when Betty had gone to bed, that there was
any opportunity to talk over plans. Then, before the fire in the
library, Helen found herself alone with the doctor and his sister.
"You see, I came almost as soon as I could," she began at once. "I did
stay one day--for a wedding."
"A wedding?"
"Yes, and some one you know, too-- Mr. Donald Estey."
"Really?" cried Mrs. Thayer.
"Jove! After all this time?" The doctor's eyebrows went up.
"Yes. And I'm so glad--especially glad for--for he thought once, years
ago, that he cared for some one else. And I like to know he's
happy--now."
"Hm-m," murmured the doctor, with a shrewd smile and a sidelong glance
at his sister. "So he's happy--_now_, eh?"
"Oh, very! And she's a beautiful girl."
"As beautiful as--Betty, say?" The doctor's voice was teasing.
A wonderful light came to Helen's face.
"You do think she's beautiful, don't you?" she cried, with a smile that
told she needed no answer.
"She's a dear--in every way," avowed Mrs. Thayer.
"And to think of all this coming to Burke Denby, without even a turn of
his hand," envied the doctor. "Lucky dog! And to get you _both_! He
doesn't deserve it!"
"But he isn't going to get us both!" Helen's eyes were twinkling, but
her mouth showed suddenly firm lines.
The doctor wheeled sharply.
"What do you mean? Surely, _now_ you aren't going to--to--" He stopped
helplessly.
"He's going to get _her_--but not me."
"Oh, come, come, Helen, my dear!" protested two dismayed voices.
But Helen shook her head decidedly.
"Listen. I've got it all planned. You said he wanted a--a sort of
private secretary or stenographer, didn't you?"
"Why, y-yes."
"Well, I'm going to send Betty."
"Betty!"
"Certainly. She can fill the position--you needn't worry about that.
She's eighteen, you know, and she's really very self-reliant and
capable. She doesn't understand shorthand, of course; but she can write
his letters for him, just the same, and in three or four languages, if
he wants her to. She can typewrite. Mr. Reynolds got a typewriter for
the girls long ago. And she _loves_ to fuss over old books and curios.
She and Gladys have spent days in those old London shops."
"A real Denby digger--eh?" smiled the doctor.
"Yes. And I've been so glad she was interested--like her father."
"But you don't mean you're going to give your daughter up," cried Mrs.
Thayer, aghast, "and not go yourself!"
"You couldn't! Besides, as if Burke would stand for that," cut in the
doctor.
"But he isn't going to know she _is_ his daughter," smiled Helen.
"Not know she is his daughter!" echoed two voices, in stupefaction.
"No--not yet. She'll be his private secretary. That is all. I'm relying
on you to--er--apply for the situation for her." Helen's eyes were
merry.
"Oh, nonsense! This is too absurd for words," spluttered the doctor.
"I don't think so."
"His own daughter writing his letters for him, and living with him day
by day, and he not to know it? Bosh! Sounds like a plot from a shilling
shocker!"
"Does it? Well, I ought not to mind that, ought I?--you know 'twas a
book in the first place that set me to making myself 'swell' and
'grand,' sir." In Helen's eyes was still twinkling mischief.
"Oh, but, my dear," remonstrated Mrs. Thayer with genuine concern. "I do
think this is impossible."
The expression on Helen Denby's face changed instantly. Her eyes grew
very grave, but luminously tender. Her lips trembled a little.
"People, dear people, if you'll listen just a minute I think I can
convince you," she begged. "I have it all planned out. Betty and I will
go to Dalton and find a quiet little home somewhere. Oh, I shall keep
well out of sight--never fear," she nodded, in reply to the quick doubt
in the doctor's eyes. "Betty shall go every morning to her father's
house, and--I'm not afraid of Betty. He will love her. He can't help it.
And he will see how dear and sweet and good she is. Then, by and by, he
shall know that she is his--his very own."
"But--but Betty herself! Can she act her part in this remarkable
scheme?" demanded the doctor.
"She won't be acting a part. She'll just be acting herself. She is not
to know anything except that she is his secretary."
"Impossible!" ejaculated two voices.
"I don't think so. Anyway, it's worth trying; and if it works it'll
mean--everything." The last word was so low it was scarcely above a
whisper.
"But--yourself, my dear," pleaded Mrs. Thayer. "Where do you come in?
What part have you in this--play?"
The rich red surged from neck to brow. The doctor and his sister could
see that, though they could not see Helen Denby's face. It was turned
quite away. There was a moment's silence; then, a little breathlessly,
came the answer.
"I--don't--know. I suppose that will be--the 'curtain,' won't it?
And--I've never been sure of the ending--yet. But--" She hesitated; then
suddenly she turned, her eyes shining and deeply tender. "Don't you see?
It's the only way, after all. I can't very well go up to Dalton and ring
his doorbell and say, 'Here, behold your wife and daughter. Won't you
please take us in?'--can I? Though at first, when I heard of his
father's death and thought of him so lonely there, I did want to
do--just that. But I knew that wasn't best, even before your letter came
telling me--what he said.
"But now--why, this is just what I've wanted from the first--to show
Betty to him, some time, when he didn't dream who she was. I wanted to
_know_ that he wasn't--ashamed of her. And this (his wanting a
secretary) gave me a better chance than I ever thought I could have.
Why, people, dear people, don't you see?--with this I shan't mind now
one bit all these long, long years of waiting. Won't you help
me--please? I can't, of course, do it without your help."
The doctor threw up both his hands--his old gesture of despair.
"Help you? Of course we'll help you, just as we did before--to get the
moon, if you ask for it. I feel like a comic opera and a movie farce all
in one; but never mind. I'll do it. Now, what is it I _am_ to do?"
Helen relaxed into such radiant joyousness and relief, that she looked
almost like the girl Burke Denby had married nineteen years before.
"You dear! I knew you would!" she breathed.
"Yes; but what is it?" he groaned in mock despair. "Speak out. I want to
know the worst at once. What _am_ I to do?"
"Please, you're to go up to Dalton and tell Mr. Burke Denby you think
you've found a young woman who will make him an excellent secretary.
Then, if he consents to try her, you're to find a little furnished
apartment on a nice, quiet street, not too far from the Denby Mansion,
of course, where we can live. Then I'd like a note of introduction for
Betty to take to her father: she's the daughter of an old friend whom
you've known for years--see?--and you are confident she will give
satisfaction. That's all. Now, I'm sure--isn't all that quite--easy?"
"Oh, very easy,--very easy, indeed!" replied the doctor, with another
groan. "You little witch! I declare I believe you'll carry this absurd,
preposterous thing through to a triumphant finish, after all."
"Thank you. I _knew_ you wouldn't fail me," smiled Helen, with tear-wet
eyes.
"But, my dear, I don't think yet that everything is quite clear,"
demurred Mrs. Thayer. "How about Betty? Just what does Betty know of her
father?"
A look very like fear crossed the bright face opposite. "She knows
nothing, of course, of--of my leaving home and the cause of it. I've
never told her anything of her father except to hold him up as a symbol
of everything good and lovable. When she was a little girl, you know, I
could always do anything with her by just telling her that daddy wanted
it so."
"But where does she think he is? Now that she is older, she must have
asked some questions," murmured Mrs. Thayer.
Helen shook her head. A faint smile came to her lips. "She hasn't; but
I've been so afraid she would, and I've been dreading it always. Then
one day Mrs. Reynolds told me something Betty said to her. Since then
I've felt a little easier."
"Does Mrs. Reynolds know who you really are?" interposed the doctor.
"Yes, oh, yes. I told her long ago--even before she took me to London
with her, in fact. I thought she ought to know. I've been so glad,
since, that I did. It saved me from lots of awkward moments. Besides, it
enabled her to be all the more help to me."
"But what was it Betty said to her?" asked Mrs. Thayer.
"Oh, yes; I didn't tell you, did I? It was this. She asked Mrs. Reynolds
one day: 'Did you ever know my father?' And of course Mrs. Reynolds
said, 'No.' Then Betty said: 'He is dead, you know. Oh, mother never
told me so, in words; but I understand that he is, of course. She just
used to say that I mustn't ask for daddy. He couldn't be with us now.
That was all. At first, when I was little, I thought he was away on a
journey. Then, when I got older, I realized it was just mother's
beautiful way of putting it. So now I like to think of him as being just
away on a journey. And of _course_ I never say anything to mother. But I
do wish I could have known him. He must have been so fine and
splendid!'"
"The dear child!" murmured Mrs. Thayer.
The doctor turned on his heel and walked over to the window abruptly.
There was a moment's silence; then softly, Helen said, as she rose to
her feet: "So you see now I'm not worrying so much for fear she will
question me; and I shall be so happy, by and by, when she finds that
daddy has been, after all, only on a journey."
Edith Thayer, alone with her brother, after Helen Denby had gone
upstairs, wiped her eyes.
It was the doctor who spoke first.
"If Burke Denby doesn't fall head over heels in love with that little
woman and _know_ he's got the dearest treasure on earth, I--I shall do
it myself," he declared savagely. He, too, was wiping his eyes.
His sister laughed tremulously.
"Well, I am in love with her--and I'm not ashamed to own it," she
declared. "How altogether dear and charming and winsome she is! And when
you think--what these years have done for her!"
CHAPTER XX
THE CURTAIN RISES
It was, indeed, quite "easy"--surprisingly so, as the doctor soon found
out. Not without some trepidation, however, had he taken the train for
Dalton the next morning and presented his proposition to the master of
Denby House.
"I think I've found your private secretary," he began blithely, hoping
that his pounding heart-throbs did not really sound like a drum.
"You have? Good! What's her name? Somebody you know?" questioned Burke
Denby, with a show of interest.
"Yes. She's a Miss Darling, and I've known her family for years." (The
doctor gulped and swallowed a bit convulsively. The doctor was feeling
that the very walls of the room must be shouting aloud his secret--but
he kept bravely on.) "She doesn't know shorthand, but she can typewrite,
and she's very quick at taking dictation in long hand, I fancy; and she
knows several languages, I believe. I'm sure you'll find her capable and
trustworthy in every way."
"Very good! Sounds well, sure," smiled Burke. "And here, for my needs,
speed and shorthand are not so necessary. I do only personal business at
the house. What salary does she want?"
So unexpected and disconcerting was this quite natural question that the
doctor, totally unprepared for it, nearly betrayed himself by his
confusion.
"Eh? Er--ah--oh, great Scott! Why didn't they--I might have known--" he
floundered. Then, sharply, he recovered himself. "Well, really," he
laughed lightly, "I'm a crackerjack at applying for a job, and no
mistake! I quite forgot to ask what salary she did expect. But I don't
believe that will matter materially. She'll come for what is right, I'm
sure; and you'll be willing to pay that."
"Oh, yes; it doesn't matter. I'll be glad to give her a trial, anyway;
and if she's all you crack her up to be I'll pay her _more_ than what's
right. When can she come? Where does she live?"
"Well, she's going to live here in Dalton," evaded the doctor
cautiously. "She's not here yet; but she and her mother are
coming--er--next week, I believe. Better not count on her beginning work
till the first, though, perhaps. That'll be next week Thursday. I should
think they ought to be--er--settled by that time." The doctor drew a
long breath, much after the fashion of a man who has been crossing a bit
of particularly thin ice.
"All right. Send her along. The sooner the better," nodded Burke, the
old listless weariness coming back to his eyes. "I certainly need--some
one."
"Oh, well, I reckon you'll have--some one, now," caroled the doctor, so
jubilantly that it brought a frown of mild wonder to Burke Denby's
face.
Later, the doctor, still jubilant and confident, hurried down the Denby
walk intent on finding the "modest little apartment" for Helen.
"Oh, well, I don't know!" he exulted to himself, wagging his head like a
cocksure boy. "This comic-opera-farce affair may not be so bad, after
all. Anyhow, I've made my first exit--and haven't spilled anything yet.
Now for scene second!"
Finding a satisfactory little furnished apartment, not too far from the
Denby home, proved to be no small task. But by sacrificing a little on
the matter of distance, the doctor was finally enabled to engage one
that he thought would answer.
"Only she'll have to ride back and forth, I'm afraid," he muttered to
himself, as he started for the station to take his train. "Anyhow, I'm
glad I didn't take that one on Dale Street. She'd meet too many ghosts
of old memories on Dale Street."
Buying his paper at the newsstand in the station, the doctor himself
encountered the ghost of a memory. But he could not place it until the
woman behind the counter cried:--
"There! I thought I'd seen you before. You come two years ago to the
Denby fun'ral, now, didn't ye? I tell ye it takes me ter remember
faces." Then, as he still frowned perplexedly, she explained: "Don't ye
remember? My name's Cobb. I used ter live--" But the doctor had turned
away impatiently. He remembered now. This was the woman who didn't
"think much of old Denby" herself.
On Monday Helen Denby and her daughter went to Dalton. At Helen's urgent
insistence the doctor refrained from accompanying them.
"I don't want you to be seen with us," Helen had protested.
"But why not?" he had argued rebelliously. "I thought I was a friend of
your family for years."
"I know; but I--I just feel that I'd rather not have you with us. I
prefer to go alone, please," she had begged. And perforce he had let her
have her own way.
It was on a beautiful day in late September that Helen Denby and her
daughter arrived at the Dalton station. Helen, fearful either that her
features would be recognized, or that she would betray by word or look
her knowledge of the place, and so bring an amazed question to Betty's
lips, had drawn a heavy veil over her face. Betty, cheerily interested
in everything she saw, kept up a running fire of comment.
"And so this is Dalton! What a funny little station--and for so big a
place, too! It seemed to be big, as we came into it. Is Dalton a large
town, mother?"
"Why, rather large. It used to be--that is, it must be a good deal over
fifteen thousand now, I suppose," murmured the mother, speaking very
unconcernedly.
"Then you've been here before?"
Helen, realizing that already she had made one mistake, suddenly became
convinced that safety--and certainly tranquillity of mind--lay in
telling the truth--to a certain extent.
"Oh, yes, I was here years ago. But the place is much changed, I fancy,"
she answered lightly. "Come, dear, we'll take a taxi. But first I want a
paper. I want to look at the advertisements for a maid, and--"
She had almost reached the newsstand when, to Betty's surprise, she
turned sharply about and walked the other way.
"Why, mother, I thought you said you wanted a paper," cried Betty,
hurrying after her and plucking at her arm.
"But I didn't-- I don't-- I've changed my mind. I won't get it, after
all, just now. I'd rather hurry right home."
She spoke rapidly, almost feverishly; and Betty noticed that she engaged
the first cabby she saw, and seemed impatiently anxious to be off. What
she did not see, however, was that twice her mother covertly glanced
back at the newsstand, and that her face behind the veil was gray-white
and terrified. And what Betty did not know was that, as the taxi
started, her mother whispered frenziedly to herself:--
"That was--that was--Mrs. Cobb. She's older and grayer, but she's got
Mrs. Cobb's eyes and nose. And the wart! I'd know that wart anywhere.
And to think how near I came to _speaking_ to her!"
It was a short drive, and Helen and her daughter were soon in the
apartment the doctor had found for them. To Helen it looked like a haven
of refuge, indeed. Her near encounter with Mrs. Cobb at the station had
somewhat unnerved her. But with four friendly walls to protect her, and
with no eyes but her daughter's in sight, Helen drew a long breath of
relief, and threw off her veil, hat, and coat.
"Oh, isn't this dear!" she exclaimed, sinking into a chair, and looking
admiringly about the pretty rooms. "And just think--this is home, our
home! Oh, dearie, we're going to be happy here, I'm sure."
"Of course we are! And it is lovely here." The words were all right, but
voice and eyes showed a trace of uneasiness.
"Why, dearie, _don't_ you like it?" asked the girl's mother anxiously.
"Yes, oh, yes; I like it all--_here_. It's only that I was thinking, all
of a sudden, about that Mr. Denby. I was wondering if I should like it
there--with him."
"I think you will, dear."
"But it'll all be so new and--and different from what I've been used to.
Don't you see?"
"Of course, my dear; but that's the way we grow--by encountering things
new and different, you see. But come, we've got lots of things new and
different right here that we haven't even seen yet. I'm going hunting
for a wardrobe," finished the mother lightly, springing to her feet and
picking up her hat and coat.
It was a pretty little apartment of five rooms up one flight,
convenient, and tastefully furnished.
"I don't think even Burke could find fault with this," thought Helen, a
bit wistfully, as her eyes lingered on the soft colorings and
harmonious blendings of rugs and hangings. Aloud she said:--
"Dear me! I feel just like a little girl with a new doll-house, don't
you?"
"Yes; and when our trunks come, and we get our photographs and things
out, it will be lovely, won't it?"
Helen, at one of the windows, gave a sudden exclamation.
"Why, Betty, from this window we can see--"
"See what?" cried Betty, hurrying to the window, as her mother's words
came to an abrupt halt.
"The city, dear, so much of it, and--and all those beautiful houses over
there," stammered Helen. "See that church with the big dome, and the
tall spire next it; and all those trees--that must be a park," she
hurried on, pointing out anything and everything but the one big old
colonial house with its tall pillars that stood out so beautifully fine
and clear against the green of a wide lawn on the opposite hill.
"Oh-h! what a lovely view!" exclaimed Betty, at her side. "Why, I hadn't
noticed it at all before, but we're on a hill ourselves, aren't we?"
"Yes, dear,--West Hill. That's what I think they used to call it."
Helen was not at the window now. She had turned back into the room with
almost an indifferent air. But afterwards, when Betty was busy
elsewhere, she went again to the window and stood for long minutes
motionless, her eyes on the big old house on the opposite hill. It was
ablaze, now, for the last rays of the sun had set every window
gorgeously aflame. And not until it stood again gray and cold in the
gathering dusk did Helen turn back into the room; and then it was with
tear-wet eyes and a long sigh.
Getting settled was much the same thing that getting settled is always
apt to be. There were the same first scrappy, unsatisfying meals, the
same slow-emerging order from seemingly hopeless confusion, the same
shifting of one's belongings from shelf to drawer and back again. In
this case, however, there were only the trunks and their contents to be
disposed of, and the getting settled was, after all, a short matter.
Much to Betty's disapproval, her mother early announced her intention of
doing without a maid.
"Oh, but, mother, dear, you shouldn't. Besides, I thought you said you
were going to have one."
"I thought at first I would, but I've changed my mind. There will be
just us two, and I'd rather have a stout woman come twice a week for the
laundry and cleaning. With you gone all day I shall need something--to
take up my mind."
Betty said more, much more; but to no purpose. Her mother was still
obdurate. It was then that into Betty's mind came a shrewd suspicion,
but she did not give it voice. When evening came, however, she did ask
some questions. It was the night before she was to go for the first time
to take up her work.
"Mother, how did we happen to come up here, to Dalton?"
"Happen to come up--here?" Helen was taken by surprise. She was fencing
for time.
"Yes. What made us come here?"
"Why, I--I wanted to be near to make a home for you, of course, while
you were at work."
"But why am I going to work?"
Helen stirred restlessly.
"Why, my dear, I've told you. I think every girl should have something
whereby she could earn her bread, if it were necessary. And when this
chance came, through Dr. Gleason, I thought it was just the thing for
you to do."
Indifferently Betty asked two or three other questions--immaterial,
irrelevant questions that led her quite away from the matter in hand.
Then, as if still casually, she uttered the one question that had been
the purpose of the whole talk.
"Mother, have we very much--money?"
"Why, no, dear, not so very much. But I wouldn't worry about the money."
The answer had come promptly and with a reassuring smile. But Betty
tossed both the promptness and the reassuring smile into the limbo of
disdain. Betty had her answer. She was convinced now. Her mother was
poor--very poor. That was why there was to be no maid. That was why she
herself was to go as secretary to this Mr. Denby the next day. Mother,
poor, dear mother, was poor! As if _now_ she cared whether she liked the
place or not! As if she would not be glad to work her fingers off for
mother!
CHAPTER XXI
THE PLAY BEGINS
"I shall take you over, myself," said Helen to her daughter as they rose
from the breakfast table that first day of October. "And I shall show
you carefully just how to come back this afternoon; but I'm afraid I
shall have to let you come back alone, dear. In the first place, I
shouldn't know when you were ready; and in the second place, I shouldn't
want to go and wait for you."
"Of course not!" cried Betty. "As if I'd let you--and you don't even
have to go with me. I can find out by asking."
"No, I shall go with you." Betty noticed that her mother's cheeks were
very pink and her eyes very bright. "Don't forget the doctor's letter;
and remember, dear, just be--be your own dear sweet self."
"Why, mother, you're--_crying_!" exclaimed the dismayed Betty.
"Crying? Not a bit of it!" The head came proudly erect.
"But does it mean so much to you that I--that I--that he--likes me?"
asked Betty softly.
The next moment, alarmed and amazed, she found her mother's convulsive
arms about her, her mother's trembling voice in her ears.
"It'll mean all the world to me, Betty--oh, Betty, my baby!"
"Why, mother!" exclaimed the girl, aghast and shaken.
But already her mother had drawn herself up, and was laughing through
her tears.
"Dear, dear, but only look at the fuss this old mother-bird is making at
the first flight of her young one!" she chattered gayly. "Come, no more
of this! We'll be late. We'll get ready right away. You say you have the
letter from the doctor. Don't forget that."
"No, I won't. I have it all safe," tossed the girl over her shoulder, as
she hurried away for her hat and coat. A minute later she came back to
find her mother shrouding herself in the black veil. "Oh, mother, dear,
_please_! You aren't going to wear that horrid veil to-day, are you?"
she remonstrated.
"Why, yes, dear. Why not?"
"I don't like it a bit. And it's so thick! I can't see a bit of _you_
through it."
"Can't you? Good!" (Vaguely Betty wondered at the almost gleeful tone of
the voice.) "Then nobody can see my eyes--and know that I've been
crying."
"Ho! they wouldn't, anyway," frowned Betty. "Your eyes aren't red at
all, mother."
But the mother only laughed again gleefully--and fastened the veil with
still another pin. A minute later mother and daughter left the house
together.
It was not a long ride to the foot of the street that led up the hill to
Burke Denby's home. With carefully minute directions as to the return
home at night, Helen left her daughter halfway up the hill, with the
huge wrought-iron gates of the Denby driveway just before her.
"And now remember everything--_everything_, dear," she faltered,
clinging a little convulsively to her daughter's arm. "Dear, dear, but
I'm not sure I ought to let you go--after all," she choked.
"Nonsense, mumsey! Of course you ought to let me go!"
"Then you must remember to tell me everything--when you come home
to-night--_everything_. I shall want to know every single little thing
that's happened!"
"I will, dear, I will. And don't worry. I'm sure I'm going to do all
right," comforted the girl, plainly trying to quiet the anxious fear in
her mother's voice. "And what a beautiful old place it is!" she went on,
her admiring eyes sweeping the handsome house and spacious grounds
beyond the gates. "I shall love it there, I know. And I'm so glad the
doctor got it for me. Now, don't worry!" she finished with a gay wave of
her hand as she turned and sped up the hill.
The mother, with a last lingering look and a sob fortunately smothered
in the enshrouding veil, turned and hurried away in the opposite
direction.
Many times before Betty's return late that afternoon, Helen wondered
that a day, just one little day, could be so long. It seemed to her that
each minute was an hour, and each hour a day, so slowly did the clock
tick the time away. She tried to work, to sew, to read. But there
seemed really nothing that she wanted to do except to stand at one of
the windows, her eyes on the massive, white-pillared old house set in
its wide sweep of green on the opposite hill.
What was happening over there? Was there a possible chance that Burke
would question, suspect, discover--anything? How would he like--Betty?
How would Betty like him? How would Betty do, anyway, in such a
position? It was Betty's first experience in--in working for any one;
and Betty--sweet and dear and loving as she was--had something of the
Denby will and temper, as her mother had long since discovered. Betty
was fearless and high-spirited. If she did not like--but what was
happening over there?
And what would the outcome be? After all, perhaps, as the doctor had
said, it was something of a comic opera and farce all in one--this thing
she was doing. Very likely the whole thing, from the first, when she ran
away years ago, had been absurd and preposterous, just as the doctor had
said. And very likely Burke himself, when he found out, would think so,
too. It was a fearsome thing--to take matters in her own hands as she
had done, and attempt to twist the thread in Fate's hands, and wrest it
away from what she feared was destruction--as if her own puny fingers
could deal with Destiny!
And might it not be, after all, that she had been chasing a
will-o'-the-wisp of fancied "culture" all these years? True, she no
longer said "swell" and "grand," and she knew how to eat her soup
quietly; but was that going to make Burke--love her? She realized now
something of what it was that she had undertaken when she fled to the
doctor years ago. She realized, too, that during these intervening years
there had come to her a very real sense of what love, marriage, and a
happy home ought to mean--and what they must mean if she were ever to be
happy with Burke, or to make him happy.
But what was taking place--over there?
At ten minutes before five Betty reached home. Her mother met her
halfway down the stairs.
"Oh, Betty, you--you _are_ here!" she panted. "Now, tell me
everything--every single thing," she reiterated, almost dragging the
girl into the apartment, in her haste and excitement. "Don't skip
anything--not the least little thing; for a little thing might mean so
much--to me."
"Why, mother!" exclaimed Betty, her laughing eyes growing vaguely
troubled. "Do you really _care_ so much?"
With a sudden tightening of the throat Helen pulled herself up sharply.
She gave a light laugh.
"Care? Of course I care! Don't you suppose I want to know what my baby
has been doing all the long day away from me? Now, tell me. Sit right
down and tell me from the beginning."
"All right, I will," smiled Betty. To herself she said: "Poor mother! As
if I wouldn't work my fingers off before I'd fail her, when she cares so
much--when she _needs_ so much--what I earn!" Then, aloud, cheerily,
she began:--
[Illustration: "SO I RANG THE BELL."]
"Well, first, I walked up that long, long walk through that beautiful
lawn to the house; but for a minute I didn't ring the bell. It was so
beautiful--the view from that veranda, with the sun on the reds and
browns and yellows of the trees everywhere! Then I remembered suddenly
that I hadn't come to make a call and admire the view, but that I was a
business woman now. So I rang the bell. There was a lovely old brass
knocker on the great door; but I saw a very conspicuous push-button, and
I concluded that was for real use."
"Yes, yes. And were you--frightened, dear?"
"Well, 'nervous,' we'll call it. Then, as I was planning just what to
say, the door opened and the oldest little old man I ever saw stood
before me."
"Yes, go on!"
"He was the butler, I found out afterwards. They called him Benton. He
seemed surprised, somehow, to see me, or frightened, or something.
Anyway, he started queerly, as his eyes met mine, and he muttered a
quick something under his breath; but all I could hear was the last,
'No, no, it couldn't be!'"
"Yes--yes!" breathed Helen, her face a little white.
"The next minute he became so stiff and straight and dignified that even
his English cousin might have envied him. I told him I was Miss Darling,
and that I had a note to Mr. Denby from Dr. Gleason.
"'Yes, Miss. The master is expecting you. He said to show you right in.
This way, please,' he said then, pompously. And then I saw that great
hall. Oh, mother, if you could see it! It's wonderful, and so full of
treasures! I could hardly take off my hat and coat properly, for
devouring a superb specimen of old armor right in front of me. Then
Benton took me into the library, and I saw--something even more
wonderful."
"You mean your--er--Mr. Denby?" The mother's face was aglow.
Betty gave a merry laugh.
"Indeed, I don't! Oh, he was there, but he was no wonder, mother, dear.
The wonder was cabinet after cabinet filled with jades and bronzes and
carved ivories and Babylonian tablets and-- But I couldn't begin to tell
you! I couldn't even begin to see for myself, for, of course, I had to
say something to Mr. Denby."
"Of course! And tell me--what was he--he like?"
"Oh, he was just a man, tall and stern-looking, and a little gray. He's
old, you know. He isn't young at all"--spoken with all the serene
confidence of Betty's eighteen years. "He has nice eyes, and I imagine
_he'd_ be nice, if he'd let himself be. But he won't."
"Why, Betty, what--what do you mean?"
Betty laughed and shrugged her shoulders.
"Oh, mother, dear, you'd have to see him really to know. It's just
that--that he's so used to having his own way that he takes it as a
matter of course, as his right."
"Oh, my dear!"
"But he does. It shows up in everything that everybody in that house
does. I could see that, even in this one day I was there. Benton, Sarah
(the maid), Mrs. Gowing (the old cousin housekeeper)--even the dog and
the cat show that they've stood at attention for Master Burke Denby all
their lives. You just wait till I get _my_ chance. I'll show him
somebody that isn't standing at salute all the time."
"_Betty!_" There was real horror in the woman's voice this time.
Again Betty's merry laugh rang out.
"Don't look so shocked, dearie. I shan't do anything or say anything to
imperil my--my job." (Betty's eyes twinkled even more merrily over the
last word.) "It's just that I don't think any living man has a right to
make everybody so afraid of him as Mr. Denby very plainly has done. And
I only mean that if the occasion ever came up, I should let him know
that I am not afraid of him."
"Oh, Betty, Betty, be careful, be _careful_. I beg of you, be careful!"
"Oh, I will. Don't worry," laughed the girl. "But, listen, don't you
want me to go on with my story?"
"Yes--oh, yes!"
"Well, where was I? Oh, I know--just inside the library door. Very good,
then. Ruthlessly suppressing my almost overwhelming longing to pounce
on one of those alluring cabinets, I advanced properly and held out my
note to Mr. Denby. As I came near I fancied that he, too, gave a slight
start as he looked sharply into my face; and I thought I caught a real
gleam of life in his eyes. The next instant it was gone, however (if
indeed it had ever been there!), and he had taken my note and waved me
politely to a chair."
"Yes, go on, go on!"
"Yes; well, do you know?--that's exactly what I felt like saying to
him," laughed Betty softly. "He just glanced at the note with a low
ejaculation; then he sat there staring at nothing for so long that I
began to think I should scream from sheer nervousness. Then, perhaps I
stirred a little. At all events, he turned with a start, and then is
when I saw, for just a minute, how kind his eyes could be.
"'There, there, my child, I beg your pardon,' he cried. 'I quite forgot
you were here. Something--your eyes, I think--set me to dreaming. Now to
business! Perhaps you'll be good enough to take some letters for me.
You'll find pencils, pen, and paper there at your right.' And I did. And
I began. And that's all."
"All! But surely there was more!"
"Not much. I took dictation in long hand for perhaps a dozen
letters--most of them short ones. He said he was behind on his personal
correspondence. Then he went away and left me. He goes down to his
office at the Denby Iron Works every forenoon, I understand. Anyway,
there I was, left in that fascinating room with all those cabinets full
of treasures that I so longed to explore, but tied to a lot of scrawly
notes and a typewriter. I forgot to say there was one of those
disappearing typewriters in a desk over by the window. It wasn't quite
like Gladys's, but the keyboard was, and I very soon got the run of it.
"At one o'clock he came back. I had the letters all done, and they
looked lovely. I was rather proud of them. I passed them over for
him to sign, and waited expectantly for a nice little word of
commendation--which I didn't get."
"Oh, but I'm sure he didn't--didn't realize that--that--"
"Oh, no, he didn't realize, of course, that this was my maiden effort at
private secretarying," laughed Betty, a little ruefully, "and that I
wanted to be patted on the head with a 'Well done, little girl!' He just
shoved them back for me to fold and put in the envelopes; and just then
Benton came to announce luncheon."
"But tell me about the luncheon."
"There isn't much to tell. There were just us three at the table, Mr.
Denby, Mrs. Gowing, and myself. There was plenty to eat, and it was very
nice. But, dear, dear, the dreariness of it! With the soup Mrs. Gowing
observed that it was a nice day. With the chicken patties she asked if I
liked Dalton; and with the salad she remarked that we had had an
unusually cold summer. Dessert was eaten in utter silence. Why, mother,
I should die if I had to spend my life in an atmosphere like that!"
"But didn't Mr. Denby say--anything?"
"Oh, yes. He asked me for the salt, and he gave an order to Benton. Oh,
he's such fascinating company--he is!"
At the disturbed expression on her mother's face, Betty gave a playful
shrug. "Oh, I know, he's my respected employer, and all that," she
laughed; "and I shall be very careful to do his bidding. Never fear! But
that doesn't mean that I've got to love him."
Helen Denby flushed a painful red.
"But I wanted--I hoped you would--er--l-like him, my dear," she
faltered.
"Maybe I shall--when I get him--er--trained," retorted Betty, flashing a
merry glance into her mother's dismayed eyes. "Don't worry, dear. I was
a perfect angel to him to-day. Truly I was. Listen! After luncheon Mr.
Denby brought me three or four newspapers which he had marked here and
there; and for an hour then I read to him. And what do you think?--when
I had finished he said, in that crisp short way of his: 'You have a good
voice, Miss Darling. I hope you won't mind if I ask you to read to me
often.' And of course I smiled and said no, indeed, I should be glad to
read as often as he liked."
"Of course!" beamed the mother, with so decided an emphasis that Betty
exclaimed warningly:--
"Tut, tut, now! Don't _you_ go to tumbling down and worshiping him like
all the rest."
"W-worshiping him!" Helen Denby's cheeks were scarlet.
"Yes," nodded Betty, with tranquil superiority. "It isn't good for him,
I tell you. He doesn't get anything but worship from every single one of
those people around him. Honestly, if he should declare that the earth
was flat, I think that ridiculous old butler and that scared cousin
housekeeper would bow: 'Just as you say, sir, just as you say.' Humph!
He'd better tell _me_ the world is flat, some day."
"Oh, Betty! Betty!" implored Betty's mother.
But Betty only went on with a merry toss of her head:--
"Well, after the reading there were other letters, then some work on a
card-index record of his correspondence. After that I came home. But,
mother, oh, mother, only think what it'll be when we begin to catalogue
all those treasures in his cabinets. And we're going to do it. He said
we were. It seems as if I just couldn't wait!"
"But you will be careful what you say to him, dear," begged the mother
again, anxiously. "He wouldn't understand your mischief, dear, and
I--I'm sure he wouldn't like it."
Betty stooped to give a playful kiss.
"Careful? Why, mumsey, dear, when we get at those cabinets he may tell
me a dozen times the earth is flat, if he wants to, and I won't so much
as blink--if I think there's any danger of my getting cheated out of
that cataloguing!"
CHAPTER XXII
ACTOR AND AUDIENCE
Helen did not go with her daughter to Denby House the second morning.
Betty insisted that she was quite capable of taking the short trip by
herself and Helen seemed nothing loath to remain at home. Helen never
seemed, indeed, loath to remain at home these days--especially during
daylight. In the evening, frequently, she went out for a little walk
with Betty. Then was when she did her simple marketing. Then, too, was
the only time she would go out without the heavy black veil. Betty,
being away all day, and at home only after five o'clock, did not notice
all these points at first. As time passed, however, she did wonder why
her mother never would go out on Sunday. Still, Betty was too thoroughly
absorbed in her own new experiences to pay much attention to anything
else. Every morning at nine o'clock she left the house, eager for the
day's work; and every afternoon, soon after five, she was back in the
tiny home, answering her mother's hurried questions as to what had
happened through the day.
"And you're so lovely and interested in every little thing!" she
exclaimed to her mother one day.
"But I _am_ interested, my dear, in every little thing," came the quick
answer. And Betty, looking at her mother's flushed face and trembling
lips felt suddenly again the tightening at her throat--that her success
or failure should mean so much to mother--dear mother who was trying so
hard not to show how poor they were!
For perhaps a week Betty reported little change in the daily routine of
her work. She wrote letters, read from books, magazines, or newspapers,
worked on the card-index record of correspondence, and sorted papers,
pamphlets, and circulars that had apparently been accumulating for
weeks.
"But I'm getting along beautifully," she declared one day. "I've got
Mrs. Gowing thawed so she actually says as many as three sentences to a
course now. And you should see the beaming smile Benton gives me every
morning!"
"And--Mr. Denby?" questioned her mother, with poorly concealed
eagerness.
Betty lifted her brows and tossed her young head.
"Well, he's improving," she flashed mischievously. "He asked for the
salt _and_ the pepper, yesterday. And to-day he actually observed that
he thought it looked like snow--at the table, I mean. Of course he
speaks to me about my work through the day; but he doesn't say any more
than is necessary. Truly, mother, dear, I'd never leave my happy home
for _him_."
"Oh, Betty, how can you say--such dreadful things!"
Betty laughed again mischievously.
"Don't worry, mumsey. He'll never ask me to do it! But, honestly,
mother, I can't see any use in a man's being so stern and glum all the
time."
"Does he really act so unhappy, then?"
At an unmistakable something in her mother's voice Betty looked up in
surprise.
"Why, mother, that sounded exactly as if you were _glad_ he was
unhappy!" she exclaimed.
Helen, secretly dismayed and terrified, boldly flaunted the flag of
courage.
"Did I? Oh, no," she laughed easily. "Still, I'm not so sure but I am a
little glad: if he's unhappy, all the more chance for you to make
yourself indispensable by helping him and making him happy. See?"
"Happy!" scoffed Betty with superb disdain; "why, the man doesn't know
what the word means."
"But perhaps he has seen--a great deal of trouble, dear." The mother's
eyes were gravely tender.
"Perhaps he has. But is that any reason for inflicting it on other
people by reflection?" demanded Betty, with all of youth's intolerance
for age and its incomprehensible attitudes. "Does it do any possible
good, either to himself or to anybody else, to retire behind a frown and
a grunt, and look out upon all those beautiful things around him through
eyes that are like a piece of cold steel? Of course it doesn't!"
"Oh, Betty, how can you!" protested the dismayed mother again.
But Betty, with a laugh and a spasmodic hug that ended in a playful
little shake, retorted with all her old gay sauciness:--
"Don't you worry, mumsey. I'm a perfect angel to that man." Then,
wickedly, she added as she whisked off: "You see, I haven't yet had a
chance to poke even one finger inside of one of those cabinets!"
It was three days later that Betty, having put on her hat and coat at
Denby House, had occasion to go back into the library to speak to her
employer.
"Mr. Denby, shall I--" she began; then fell back in amazement. The man
before her had leaped to his feet and started toward her, his face white
like paper.
"Good God!--_you!_" he exclaimed. The next instant he stopped short, the
blood rushing back to his face. "Oh, _Miss Darling_! I--er--I thought,
for a moment, you were-- _What a fool!_" With the last low muttered
words he turned and sat down heavily.
Betty, to whom the whole amazing sentence was distinctly audible, lifted
demure eyes to his face.
"I beg your pardon, you said--" The sentence came to a suggestive pause.
Into Betty's demure eyes flashed an unmistakable twinkle.
The man stared, frowned, then flushed a deeper red as full comprehension
came. He gave a grim laugh.
"I beg your pardon, Miss Darling. That epithet was meant for me--not
you." He hesitated, his eyes still searching her face. "Strange--strange!"
he muttered then; "but I wonder what made you suddenly look so much
like-- Take off your hat, please," he directed abruptly. "There!" he
exclaimed triumphantly, as Betty pulled out the pins and lifted the hat
from her head, "that explains it--your hat! Before, when I first saw
you, your eyes reminded me of--of some one, and with your hat on the
likeness is much more striking. For a moment I was actually fool enough
to think--and I forgot she must be twice your age now, too," he finished
under his breath.
Betty waited a silent minute at the door; then, apparently still
unnoticed, she turned and left the room, pinning her hat on again in the
hall.
To her mother that afternoon she carried a jubilant countenance. "Well,
mother, he's alive! I've found out that much," she announced merrily.
"He? Who?"
"Mr. Burke Denby, to be sure."
"Alive! Why, Betty, what do you mean?"
"He's alive--like folks," twinkled Betty. "He's got memory, a heart, and
I _think_ a sense of humor. I'm sure he did laugh a little over calling
me a fool."
"A fool! Child, what have you done now?" moaned Betty's mother.
"Nothing, dear, nothing--but put on my hat," chuckled Betty
irrepressibly. "Listen, and I'll tell you." And she drew a vivid picture
of the scene in the library. "There, what did I tell you?" she demanded
in conclusion. "Did I do anything but put on my hat?"
"Oh, but Betty, you mustn't, you can't--that is, you must-- I mean,
_please_ be careful!" On Helen's face joy and terror were fighting a
battle royal.
"Careful? Of course I'm careful," cried Betty. "Didn't I stand as still
as a mouse while he was sitting there with his beetling brows bent in
solemn thought? And then didn't I turn without a word and pussy-step out
of the room when I saw that he had ceased to realize that there was such
a being in the world as little I? Indeed, I did! And not till I got out
of doors did I remember that I had gone into that library in the first
place to ask a question. But I didn't go back. The question would
keep--and that was more than I could promise of his temper, if I
disturbed him then. So I came home. But I just can't wait now to get
back. Only think how much more interesting things are going to be now!"
"Why, y-yes, I suppose so," breathed Helen, a little doubtfully.
"Oh, yes, I shall be watching always for him to come alive again.
Besides, it's so romantic! It's a love-story, of course."
"Why, Betty, what an idea!" The mother's face flamed instantly scarlet.
"Why, of course it is, mother. If you could have seen his face you'd
have known that no one but somebody he cared very much for could have
brought _that_ look to it. You see, he thought for a moment that I was
she. Then he said, 'What a fool!' and sat down. Next he just looked at
me; and, mother, in his eyes there were just years and years of sorrow
all rolled into that one minute."
"Were there--really?" The mother's face was turned quite away now.
"Yes. And don't you see? I'm not going to mind now ever what he says and
does, nor how glum he is; for I _know_ down inside, he's got a heart.
And only think, _I look like her_!" finished Betty, suddenly springing
to her feet, and whirling about in ecstasy. "Oh, it's so exciting, isn't
it?"
But her mother did not answer. She did not seem to have heard, perhaps
because her back was turned. She had crossed the room to the window.
Betty, following her, put a loving arm about her shoulders.
"Oh, and, mother, look!" she exclaimed eagerly. "I was going to tell
you. I discovered it last Sunday. You can see the Denby House from here.
Did you know it? It's so near dark now, it isn't very clear, but there's
a light in the library windows, and others upstairs, too. See? Right
through there at the left of that dark clump of trees, set in the middle
of that open space. That's the lawn, and you can just make out the tall
white pillars of the veranda. See?"
"Oh, yes, I see. Yes, so you can, can't you?"
Helen's voice was light and cheery, and carefully impersonal, carrying
no hint of her inward tumult, for which she was devoutly thankful.
In spite of her high expectations, Betty came from Denby House the next
afternoon with pouting lips.
"He's just exactly the same as ever, only more so, if anything," she
complained to her mother. "He dictated his letters, then for an hour, I
think, he just sat at his desk doing nothing, with his hand shielding
his eyes. Twice, though, I caught him looking at me. But his eyes
weren't kind and--and human, as they were yesterday. They were their
usual little bits of cold steel. He went off then to his office at the
Works (he said he was going there), and he never came home even to
luncheon. I didn't have half work enough to do, and--and the cabinets
were locked. I tried them. At four he came in, signed the letters, said
good-afternoon and stalked upstairs. And that's the last I saw of him."
Nightly, after this, for a time, Betty gave forth what she called the
"latest bulletin concerning the patient":--
"No change."
"Sat up and took notice."
"Slight rise in temper."
"Dull and listless."
Such were her reports. Then came the day when she impressively announced
that the patient showed really marked improvement. He asked her to pass
not only the salt and the pepper, but the olives.
"And, indeed, when you come to think of it," she went on with mock
gravity, "there's mighty little else he can ask me to pass, in the way
of making voluntary conversation; for Benton and Sarah do everything
almost, except lift the individual mouthfuls for our consumption."
"Oh, Betty, Betty!" protested her mother.
"Yes, yes, I know--that was dreadful, wasn't it, dearie?" laughed Betty
contritely. "But you see I have to be so still and proper up there that
home becomes a regular safety-valve; and you know safety-valves are
necessary--absolutely necessary."
Helen, gazing with fond, meditative eyes at the girl's bright face, drew
a tremulous sigh.
"Yes, I know, dear; but, you see, I'm so--afraid."
"You shouldn't be--not with a safety-valve," retorted Betty. "But,
really," she added, turning back laughingly, "there is one funny thing:
he never stays around now when there's any chance of his seeing me with
my hat on again. I've noticed it. Every single night since that time he
did see me a week ago, he's bade me his stiff good-afternoon and gone
upstairs _before_ I'm ready to leave."
"Betty, really?" cried Helen so eagerly that Betty wheeled and faced her
with a mischievous laugh.
"Who's interested _now_ in Mr. Burke Denby's love-story?" she
challenged. But her mother, her hands to her ears, had fled.
It was the very next afternoon that Betty came home so wildly excited
that not for a full five minutes could her startled mother obtain
anything like a lucid story of the day. Then it came.
"Yes, yes, I know, dear, of course you can't make anything out of what I
say. But listen. I'll begin at the beginning. It was like this: This
morning he had only a few letters for me. Then, in that tired voice he
uses most of the time, he said: 'I think perhaps now, we might as well
begin on the cataloguing. Everything else is pretty well caught up.' I
jumped up and down and clapped my hands, and--"
"You did _what_?" demanded her mother aghast.
Betty's nose wrinkled in a saucy little grimace.
"Oh, I mean _inside of me_. _Outside_ I just said, 'Yes, sir,' or 'Very
well, Mr. Denby,' or something prim and proper like that.
"Well, then he showed me huge drawers full of notes and clippings in a
perfectly hopeless mass of confusion, and he unlocked one of the
cabinets and took out the dearest little squat Buddha with diamond eyes,
and showed me a number on the base. 'There, Miss Darling,' he began
again in that tired voice of his, 'some of these notes and clippings are
numbered in pencil to correspond with numbers like these on the curios;
but many of them are not numbered at all. Unfortunately, many of the
curios, too, lack numbers. All you can do, of course, is to sort out the
papers by number, separating into a single pile all those that bear no
number. I shall have to help you about those. You won't, of course, know
where they go. I may have trouble myself to identify some of them.
Later, after the preliminary work is done, each object will be entered
on a card, together with a condensed tabulation of when and where I
obtained it, its age, history--anything, in short, that we can find
pertaining to it. The thing to do first, however, is to go through these
drawers and sort out their contents by number."
"Having said this (still in that weary voice of his), he put back the
little Buddha,--which my fingers were just tingling to get hold
of,--waved his hand toward the drawers and papers, and marched out of
the room. Then I set to work."
"But what did you do? How did you do it? What were those papers?"
"They were everything, mumsey: clippings from magazines and papers and
sales catalogues of antiques, typewritten notes, and scrawls in long
hand telling when and where and how Mr. Burke Denby or his father had
found this or that thing. But what a mess they were in! And such a lot
of them without the sign of a number!
"First, of course, I took a drawer and sorted the numbers into little
piles on the big flat library table. Some of them had ten or a dozen,
all one number. That work was very easy--only I did so want to read
every last one of those notes and clippings! But of course I couldn't
stop for that then. But I did read some of the unnumbered ones, and
pretty quick I found one that I just knew referred to the little
diamond-eyed Buddha Mr. Denby had taken out of the cabinet. I couldn't
resist then. I just had to go and get it and find out. And I did--and it
was; so I put them together on the library table.
"Then I noticed in the same cabinet a little old worn toby jug--a
shepherd plaid--about the oldest and rarest there is, you know; and I
knew I had three or four unnumbered notes on toby jugs--and, sure
enough! three of them fitted this toby; and I put _them_ together, with
the jug on top, on the library table. Of course I was wild then to find
some more. In the other cabinets that weren't unlocked, I could see,
through the glass doors, a lot more things, and some of them, I was
sure, fitted some of my unnumbered notes; but of course they didn't do
me any good, as I couldn't get at them. One perfectly beautiful Oriental
lacquered cabinet with diamond-paned doors was full of tablets, big and
little, and I was crazy to get at those-- I had a lot of notes about
tablets. I did find in my cabinet, though, a little package of Chinese
bank-notes, and I was sure I had something on those. And I had. I knew
about them, anyway. I had seen some in London. These dated 'way back to
the Tang dynasty--sixth century, you know--and were just as smooth!
They're made of a kind of paper that crumples up like silk, but doesn't
show creases. They had little rings printed on them of different sizes
for different values, so that even the ignorant people couldn't be
deceived, and--"
"Yes, yes, dear, but go on--go on," interrupted the eager-eyed mother,
with a smile. "I want to know what happened _here_--not back in the
sixth century!"
"Yes, yes, I know," breathed Betty; "but they were _so_
interesting--those things were! Well, of course I put the bank-notes
with their clippings on the table; then I began on another drawer. It
got to be one o'clock very soon, and Mr. Denby came home to luncheon. I
wish you could have seen his face when he entered the library and saw
what I had done. His whole countenance lighted up. Why, he looked
actually handsome!--and he's forty, if he's a day! And there wasn't a
shred of tiredness in his voice.
"Then when he found the bank-notes and the Buddha and the toby jug with
the unnumbered clippings belonging to them, he got almost as excited as
I was. And when he saw how interested I was, he unlocked the other
cabinets--and how we did talk, both at once! Anyhow, whenever I stopped
to get my breath he was always talking; and I never could wait for him
to finish, there was so much I wanted to ask.
"Poor old Benton! I don't know how many times he announced luncheon
before it dawned over us that he was there at all; and he looked
positively apoplectic when we did turn and see him. I don't dare to
think how long we kept luncheon waiting. But everything had that flat,
kept-hot-too-long taste, and Benton and Sarah served it with the air of
injured saints. Mrs. Gowing showed meek disapproval, and didn't make
even one remark to a course--but perhaps, after all, that was because
she didn't have a chance. You see, Mr. Denby and I talked all the time
ourselves."
"But I thought he--he never talked."
"He hasn't--before. But you see to-day he had such a lot to tell me
about the things--how he came by them, and all that. And every single
one of them has got a story. And he has such wonderful things! After
luncheon he showed them to me--some of them: such marvelous bronzes and
carved ivories and Babylonian tablets. He's got one with a real
thumb-print on it--think of it, a thumb-print five thousand years old!
And he's got a wonderful Buddha two thousand years old from a Chinese
temple, and he knows the officer who got it--during the Boxer Rebellion,
you know. And he's got another, not so old, of Himalayan Indian wood,
exquisitely carved, and half covered with jewels.
"Why, mother, he's traveled all over the world, and everywhere he's
found something wonderful or beautiful to bring home. I couldn't begin
to tell you, if I talked all night. And he seemed so pleased because I
was interested, and because I could appreciate to some extent, their
value."
"I can--imagine it!" There was a little catch in Helen Denby's voice,
but Betty did not notice it.
"Yes, and that makes me think," she went on blithely. "He said such a
funny thing once. It was when I held in my hand the Babylonian tablet
with the thumb-mark. I had just been saying how I wished the little
tablet had the power to transport the holder of it back to a vision of
the man who had made that thumb-print, when he looked at me so queerly,
and muttered: 'Humph! they _are_ more than potatoes to you, aren't
they?' Potatoes, indeed! What do you suppose made him say that? Oh, and
that is when he asked me, too, how I came to know so much about jades
and ivories and Egyptian antiques."
"What did you tell him?"
At the startled half terror in her mother's voice Betty's eyes widened.
"Why, that I learned in London, of course, with you and Gladys and Miss
Hughes, poking around old shops there--and everywhere else that we could
find them, wherever we were. _You_ know how we used to go 'digging,' as
Gladys called it."
"Yes, I know," subsided the mother, a little faintly.
"Well, we worked all the afternoon--_together!_--Mr. Denby and I did.
What do you think of that?" resumed Betty, after a moment's pause. "And
not once since this morning have I heard any tiredness in Mr. Burke
Denby's voice, if you please."
"But how--how long is this going to take you?"
"Oh, ages and ages! It can't help it. Why, mother, there are such a lot
of them, and such a whole lot about some of them. Others, that he
doesn't know so much about, we're going to look up. He has lots of books
on such things, and he's buying more all the time. Then all this stuff
has got to be condensed and tabulated and put on cards and filed away.
But I love it--every bit of it; and I'm so excited to think I've really
begun it. And he's every whit as excited as I am, mother. Listen! He
actually forgot all about running away to-night before I put on my hat.
And I never thought of it till just as I was pinning it on. He had
followed me out into the hall to tell me something about the old armor
in the corner; then, all of a sudden, he stopped--_off--short_, just
like that, and said, 'Good-night, Miss Darling,' in his old stiff way.
As he turned and went upstairs I caught sight of his face. I knew then.
It was the hat. I had reminded him again of--_her_. But I shan't mind,
now, if he is stern and glum sometimes--not with a Babylonian tablet or
a Chinese Buddha for company. Oh, mother, if you could see those
wonderful things. But maybe sometime you will. I shouldn't wonder."
"Maybe sometime--I--will!" faltered the mother, growing a little white.
"Why, Betty, what do you mean?"
"Why, I mean, maybe I can take you sometime-- I'll ask Mr. Denby by and
by, after we get things straightened out, if he won't let me bring you
some day to see them."
"Oh, no, no, Betty, don't--_please_ don't! I--I couldn't think of such a
thing!"
Betty laughed merrily.
"Why, mumsey, you needn't look so frightened. They won't bite you. There
aren't any of those things _alive_, dear!"
"No, of course not. But I'm--I'm sure I--I wouldn't be able to
appreciate them at all."
"But in London you were _trying_ to learn to be interested in such
things," persisted Betty, still earnestly. "Don't you know? You said you
_wanted_ to learn to like them, and to appreciate them."
"Yes, I know. But I'm sure I wouldn't like to--to trouble Mr.
Denby--here," stammered the mother, her face still very white.
CHAPTER XXIII
"THE PLOT THICKENS"
It was shortly before Christmas that Frank Gleason ran up to Dalton. He
went first to see Burke Denby.
Burke greeted him with hearty cordiality.
"Hullo, Gleason! Good--you're just in time for dinner. But where's your
bag? You aren't going back to-night!"
"No, but I am to-morrow morning, very early, so I left my grip at the
hotel. Yes, yes, I know--you'd have had me here, and routed the whole
house up at midnight," he went on laughingly, shaking his head at
Burke's prompt remonstrations, "if I but said the word. But I'm not
going to trouble you this time. I'll be delighted to stay to dinner,
however,--if I get an invitation," he smiled.
"An invitation! As if you needed an invitation for--anything, in this
house," scoffed Denby. "All mine is thine, as you know very well."
"Thanks. I've half a mind to put you to the test--say with that pet
thumb-marked tablet of yours," retorted the doctor, with a lift of his
eyebrows. "However, we'll let it go at a dinner this time.--You're
looking better, old man," he said some time later, as they sat at the
table, his eyes critically bent on the other's face.
"I am better."
"Glad to hear it. How's business?"
"Very good--that is, it _was_ good. I haven't been near the Works for a
week."
"So? Not--sick?"
"Oh, no; busy." There was the briefest of pauses; then, with
disconcerting abruptness, came the question: "Where'd you get that girl,
Gleason?"
"G-girl?" The doctor wanted a minute to think. Incidentally he was
trying to swallow his heart--he thought it must be his heart--that big
lump in his throat.
"Miss Darling."
"Miss Darling! Oh!" The doctor waved his hand inconsequently. He still
wanted time. He was still swallowing at that lump. "Why, she--she--I
told you. She's the daughter of an old friend. Why, isn't she all
right?" He feigned the deepest concern.
"_All right!_"
Voice and manner carried a message of satisfaction that was
unmistakable. But the doctor chose to ignore it. The doctor felt himself
now on sure ground. He summoned a still deeper concern to his
countenance.
"Why, Denby, you don't mean she _isn't_ all right? What's the trouble?
Isn't she capable?--or don't you like her ways?"
"But I mean she _is_ all right, man," retorted the other impatiently.
"Why, Gleason, she's a wonder!"
Gleason, within whom the Hallelujah Chorus had become such a shout of
triumph that he half expected to see Burke Denby cover his ears,
managed to utter a cool--
"Really? Well, I'm glad, I'm sure."
"Well, she is. She's no ordinary girl." ("If Helen could but hear that!"
exulted the doctor to himself.) "Why, what do you think? She can
actually tell _me_ some things about my own curios!"
"Then they are more than--er--potatoes to her? You know you said--"
"Yes, I know I did. But just hear this. In spite of her seeming
intelligence and capability, I'd been dreading to open those cabinets
and let her touch those things dad and I had spent so many dear years
together gathering. But, of course, I knew that that was silly. One of
my chief reasons for getting her was the cataloguing; and it was absurd
not to set her at it. So one day, after everything else was done, I
explained what I wanted, and told her to go ahead."
"Well, and--did she?" prompted the doctor, as the other paused.
"She did--_exactly_ that. She went ahead--'way ahead of what I'd told
her to do. Why, when I got home, I was amazed to see what she'd done.
But best of all was her interest and her enthusiasm, and the fact that
she knew and appreciated what they were. You see that's one of the
things I'd been dreading--her ignorance--her indifference; but I dreaded
more that she might gush and say, 'Oh, how pretty!' And I knew if she
did I'd--I'd want to knock her down."
"So glad--she didn't!" murmured the doctor.
His host laughed shamefacedly.
"Oh, yes, I know. That was rather a strong statement. But you see I felt
strongly. And then to find-- But, Gleason, she really is a wonder. We're
working together now-- _I'm_ working. As I said, I haven't been to the
office for a week."
"Is she agreeable--personally?"
"Yes, very. She's pleasant and cheerful, bright, and very much of a
lady. She's capable, and has uncommon good sense. Her voice, too, is
excellent for reading. In short, she is, as I told you, a wonder; and
I'm more than indebted to you for finding her. Let's see, you say you do
know her family?"
Gleason got suddenly to his feet.
"Yes, oh, yes. Good family, too! Now I'm sorry to eat and run, as the
children say, but I'll have to, Burke, to-night. One or two other little
matters I'll have to attend to before I sleep. But, as I said a few
minutes ago, I'm glad to see you in better spirits. Keep on with the
good work."
The doctor seemed nervous, and anxious to get away; and in another
minute the great outer door had closed behind him.
"Hm-m! Wonder what's his rush," puzzled Burke Denby, left standing in
the hall.
There was a slight frown on his face. But in another minute it was gone:
he had remembered suddenly that he had promised Miss Darling that he
would try to find certain obscure data regarding the tablet they had
been at work upon that afternoon. It was just as well, perhaps, after
all, that the doctor had had to leave early--it would give more time for
work.
With an eager lifting of his head Burke Denby turned and strode into the
library.
Meanwhile, hurrying away from Denby House was the doctor, his whole self
a Hallelujah Chorus of rejoicing. His countenance was still aglow with
joy when, a little later, he rang the bell of a West Hill
apartment-house suite bearing the name, "Mrs. Helen Darling."
To his joy he found Helen alone; but hardly had he given her a hasty
account of his visit to Burke Denby, and assured her that he was
positive everything was working out finely, when Betty came in from the
corner grocery store, breezy and smiling.
"Oh, it's Dr. Gleason!" she welcomed him. "Now, I'm glad mother didn't
go with me to-night, after all,--for we'd both been out then, and we
shouldn't have seen you."
"Which would have been my great loss," bowed the man gallantly, his
approving eyes on Betty's glowing face.
"Oh, but ours, too,--especially mine," she declared. "You see, I've been
wishing you'd come. I wanted to thank you."
"To thank me?"
"Yes; for finding this lovely place for me."
"You like it, then?"
"I love it. Why, Dr. Gleason, you have no idea of the wonderful things
that man-- But you said you knew him," she broke off suddenly. "Don't
you know him?"
"Oh, yes, very well."
"Then you've been there, of course."
"Many times."
"Oh, how silly of me!" she laughed. "As if I could tell _you_ anything
about antiques and curios! But hasn't he some beautiful things?"
"He has, indeed. But how about the man? You haven't told me at all how
you like Mr. Denby himself."
Betty glanced at her mother with a roguish shrug.
"Well, as I tell mother, now that I've got him trained, he does very
well."
"My _dear_!" murmured her mother.
"Trained?" The question was the doctor's.
"Yes. You see at first he was such a bear."
"Oh, Betty!" exclaimed her mother, in very genuine distress.
But Betty plainly was in one of her most mischievous moods. With another
merry glance at her mother she turned to the doctor.
"It's only this, doctor. You see, at first he was so silent and solemn,
and Benton and Sarah and Mrs. Gowing were so scared, and the whole house
was so scared and silent and solemn, that it seemed some days as if I
should scream, just to make a little excitement. But it's all very
different now. Benton and Sarah are all smiles, Mrs. Gowing actually
laughs sometimes, and the only trouble is there isn't time enough for
Mr. Denby to get in all the talking he wants to."
"Then Mr. Denby seems happier?"
"Oh, very much. Of course, at first it was just about the work--we're
cataloguing the curios; but lately it's been in other ways. Why, the
other day he found I could play and sing a little, and to-day he asked
me to sing for him. And I did."
Helen sat suddenly erect in her chair.
"Sing? You sang for Mr. Denby?" she cried, plainly very much agitated.
"But you hadn't told me--that!"
"I hadn't done it till this afternoon, just before I came home," laughed
Betty.
"But what did you sing? Oh, you--you didn't sing any of those foolish,
nonsensical songs, did you?" implored Helen, half rising from her chair.
"But I did," bridled Betty. Then, as her mother fell back dismayed, she
cried: "Did you suppose I'd risk singing solemn things to a man who had
just learned to laugh?"
"But, _ragtime_!" moaned Helen, "when he's always hated it so!"
"'Always hated it so'!" echoed Betty, with puzzled eyes. "Why, I hadn't
played it before, dearie. I hadn't played anything!"
"No, no, I--I mean always hated everything gay and lively _like_
ragtime," corrected Helen, her cheeks abnormally pink, as she carefully
avoided the doctor's eyes. "Why didn't you play some of your good music,
dear?"
"Oh, I did, afterwards, of course,--MacDowell and Schubert, and that
lullaby we love. But he liked the ragtime, too, all right. I know he
did. Besides, it just did me good to liven up the old house a bit. I
know Benton was listening in the hall, and I'm positive Sarah and the
cook had the dining-room door open. As for Mrs. Gowing, she--dear old
soul--just sat and frankly cried. And the merrier I sang, the faster the
tears rolled down her face--but it was for joy. I could see that. And
once I heard her mutter: 'To think that ever again I should hear music
and laughter--_here_!' Dr. Gleason, did Mr. Denby ever love somebody
once, and do I look like her?"
Taken utterly by surprise, the doctor, for one awful minute, floundered
in appalled confusion. It was Helen this time who came to the rescue.
"I shall tell the doctor he needn't answer that question, Betty," she
said, with just a shade of reproval in her voice. "If he did know of
such a thing, do you think he ought to tell you, or anybody else?"
Betty laughed and colored a little.
"No, dear, of course not. And I shouldn't have asked it, should I?"
"But what makes you think he has?" queried the doctor, with very much
the air of a small boy who is longing yet fearing to investigate the
reason for the non-explosion of a firecracker.
"Because he said twice that I reminded him of some one, particularly
with my hat on; and both times, afterward, he looked so romantic and
solemn"--Betty's eyes began to twinkle--"that I thought maybe I was on
the track of a real, live love-story, you see. But he hasn't said
anything about it lately; so perhaps I was mistaken, after all. You see,
really, he's quite like folks, now, since we've been working on the
curios."
"And how are you getting along with those?"
"Very well, only it's slow, of course. There is such a mass of material,
and so much to look up and study up besides. We're just getting it
together and tabulating it now on temporary sheets. We shan't begin the
real cataloguing on the final cards until we have all our material in
hand, Mr. Denby says."
"But you aren't getting tired of it?"
"Not a bit! I love it--even the digging after dates. I'm sure _you_ can
understand that," she smiled.
"Yes, I can understand that," he smiled back at her. And now, for the
first time for long minutes, he dared to look across the room into Helen
Denby's eyes.
CHAPTER XXIV
COUNTER-PLOTS
In thinking it over afterwards Burke Denby tried to place the specific
thing that put into his mind that most astounding suggestion. He knew
very well the precise moment of the inception of the idea--it had been
on Christmas night as he sat before the fire in his gloomy library. But
what had led to it? Of just what particular episode concerning his
acquaintance with this girl had he been thinking when, like a blinding
flash out of the dark, had leaped forth those startling words?
He had been particularly lonely that evening, perhaps because it was
Christmas, and he could not help comparing his own silent fireside with
the gay, laughter-filled, holly-trimmed homes all about him. Being
Christmas, he had not had even the divertisement of his secretary's
presence--companionship. Yes, it was companionship, he decided. It could
not but be that when she brought so much love and enthusiasm to the
work, as well as the truly remarkable skill and knowledge she displayed.
And she was, too, such a charming girl, so bright and lovable. The house
had not been the same since she came into it. He hoped he might keep
her. He should not like to let her go--now. But if only she could be
there all the time! It would be much easier for _her_--winter storms
were coming on now; and as for him--he should like it very much. The
evenings were interminably long sometimes. He wondered if, after all, it
might not be arranged. There was a mother, he believed. They lived in an
apartment on West Hill. But she could doubtless be left all right, or
she might even come, too, if it were necessary. Surely the house was
large enough, and she might be good company for his cousin. And it would
be nice for the daughter. It might, indeed, be a very suitable
arrangement all around.
Of course, if he had a wife and daughter of his own, he would not have
to be filling his house with strangers like this. If Helen had not--
Curious, too, how the girl was always making him think of Helen--her
eyes, especially when she had on her hat, and little ways she had--
It came then, with an electric force that brought him to his feet with
almost a cry:--
"What if she were--maybe she _is_--your daughter!"
As he paced the room feverishly, Burke Denby tried to bring the chaos of
thoughts into something like order.
It was absurd, of course. It could not be. And yet--there were her eyes
so like Helen's, and the way she had of pushing back her hair, and of
lifting her chin when she was determined about something. There were,
too, actually some little things in her that reminded him of--himself.
And surely her remarkable love and aptitude for the work she was doing
for him now ought to mean--something.
But could it be? Was it _possible_? Would Helen do such a fantastic
thing--send him his own daughter like this? And the doctor--this girl
had been introduced by him. Then he, too, must be in the plot. "A
daughter of an old friend." Yes, that might be. But would Gleason lend
himself to such a wild scheme? It seemed too absurd to be possible. And
yet--
His mind still played with the idea.
Just what did he know about this young woman? Very little. What if,
after all, it were Dorothy Elizabeth? And it might be, for all he _knew_
to the _contrary_. She was about the right age, he should judge--his
little girl would be eighteen--by now. Her name was Elizabeth; she had
told him that, at the same time saying that she was always called
"Betty." There was a mother--but he had never heard the girl mention her
father. And they had dropped, as it were, right out of a clear sky into
Dalton, and into his life. Could it be? Of course it really was too
absurd; but yet--
With a sudden setting of his jaws the man determined to put his
secretary through a course of questions, the answers to which would
forever remove all doubt, one way or another. If at the onset of the
questioning she grew suddenly evasive and confused, he would have his
answer at once: she was his daughter, and was attempting to keep the
knowledge from him until such time as her mother should wish to let the
secret out. On the other hand, even if she were not confused or evasive
as to her answers, she still might be his daughter--and not know of the
relationship. In which case his questions, of course, must be carried to
the point where he himself would be satisfied. Meanwhile he would think
no more about it; and, above all, he would keep his thoughts from
dwelling on what it would be if--she were.
Having reached this wise decision, Burke Denby tossed his half-smoked
cigar into the fire and attempted to toss as lightly the whole subject
from his mind--an attempt which met with sorry success.
* * * * *
Burke Denby plumed himself that he was doing his questioning most
diplomatically when, the next morning, he began to carry out his plans.
With almost superhuman patience he had waited until the morning letters
were out of the way, and until he and his secretary were working
together over sorting the papers in a hitherto unopened drawer.
"Did you have a pleasant Christmas, Miss Darling?" Careless as was his
apparent aim, it was the first gun of his campaign.
"Yes, thank you, very pleasant."
"I didn't. Too quiet. A house needs young people at Christmas. If only I
had a daughter now--" He watched her face closely, but he could detect
no change of color. There was only polite, sympathetic interest. "Let me
see, you live with your mother, I believe," he finished somewhat
abruptly.
"Yes."
"Have you lived in Dalton long?"
"Only since October, when I came to you."
"Do you like it here?"
"Oh, yes, very well."
"Still, not so well as where you came from, perhaps," he smiled
pleasantly.
Betty laughed.
"But I came--from so many places."
"That so?"
"Paris, Berlin, London, Genoa,--mostly London, of late."
"But you are American born!"
"Oh, yes."
"I thought so. Still, it is a little singular, having been gone so long,
that you are so American in your speech and manner. You aren't a bit
English, Miss Darling."
Betty laughed again merrily.
"How mother would love to hear you say that!" she cried. "You see,
mother was so afraid I would be--English, or something foreign--educated
as I was almost entirely across the water. But we were with Americans
all the time, and our teachers, except for languages, were Americans,
whenever possible."
"Hm-m; I see. And now you are here in America again. And does your
mother like it--here?"
"Why, I think so."
"And does she like Dalton, too? Perhaps she has been here before,
though." The casual way in which the question was put gave no
indication of the way the questioner was holding his breath for the
answer.
"Oh, yes. She was here several years ago, she says."
"Indeed!" To Burke Denby it was as if something within him had suddenly
snapped. He relaxed in his chair. His eyes were still covertly searching
Betty's serene face bent over her work. Within himself he was saying:
"Well, _she_ doesn't know, whatever it is." Aloud he resumed: "And were
you, too, ever here?"
"Why, yes; but I don't remember it. I was only a year or two old, mother
said."
The man almost leaped from his chair. Then, sternly, he forced himself
to work one full minute without speaking. A dozen agitated questions
were clamoring for utterance, but he knew better than to give them
voice. With a cheery casualness of manner, that made him inordinately
proud of himself, he said:--
"Well, I certainly am glad you came now. I'm sure I don't know what I
should have done, if you hadn't. But, by the way, how did you happen to
come to me?" Again he held his breath.
"Why, through Dr. Gleason. You knew that!"
"Yes, but I know only that. You never did--exactly this sort of work
before, did you?"
"No--oh, no. But there has to be a beginning, you know; and mother says
she thinks every girl ought to know how to do something, so that she
can support herself if it is necessary. And in our case I think--it is
necessary."
Low as the last words were, the man's sensitively alert ear caught them.
"You mean--"
"I mean--I think mother is--is poor, and is trying to keep it from me."
The words came with all the impetuosity of one who has found suddenly a
sympathetic ear for a long-pent secret. "I can see it in so many
ways--not keeping a maid, and being so--so anxious that I shall do well
here. And--and she doesn't seem natural, some way, lately. She's
unhappy, or something. And she goes out so little--almost never, except
in the evening."
"She doesn't care to--to see people, perhaps." By a supreme effort Burke
Denby hid the fever of excitement and rejoicing within him, and toned
his voice to just the right shade of solicitous interest.
"No, she doesn't," admitted Betty, with a long sigh. Then, impulsively,
she added: "She seems so very afraid of meeting people that I've
wondered sometimes if maybe she had old friends here and--and didn't
want to meet them because--perhaps, her circumstances were changed now.
That isn't like mother, but-- Oh, I shouldn't say all this to you, Mr.
Denby. I--I didn't think, really. I spoke before I thought. You seemed
so--interested."
"I am interested, my dear--Miss Darling," returned the man, not quite
steadily. "I--I think I should like to know--your mother."
"She's lovely."
"Are you--like her?" He had contrived to throw into his eyes a merry
challenge--against her taking this as she might take it.
But Betty was too absorbed to be flippant, or even merrily
self-conscious.
"Why, I don't know, but I don't think so--except my eyes. Every one says
my eyes _are_ like hers."
Burke Denby got suddenly to his feet and walked quite across the room.
Apparently he was examining a rare old Venetian glass Tear Vase,
especially prized by him for its associations. In reality he was trying
to master the tumult within him. He had now not one remaining doubt.
This stupendous thing was really so. She was his Elizabeth; his--Betty.
Yet there remained still one more test. He must ask about her--father.
And for this he must especially brace himself: he could imagine what
Helen must have taught her--of him.
Very slowly, the vase still unconsciously clutched in his hand, Burke
Denby walked back to the table and sat down.
"Well, as I said, I should like to see your mother," he smiled. "I feel
that I know her already. But--your father; I don't think you have told
me a thing about your father yet."
A rapt wistfulness came to the girl's face.
"Father! Oh, but I never stop talking when I get to telling of him. You
see, I never knew him."
"No?"
Infinite longing and tenderness were coming into the man's eyes.
"But I know _about_ him. Mother has told me, you see. So I know just how
fine and noble and splendid he was, and--"
"_Fine--he--was?_" The words, as they fell from Burke Denby's dry lips
were barely audible.
"Oh, yes. You see, all the way, ever since I could remember, daddy has
been held up to me as so fine and splendid. Why, I learned to hold my
fork--and my temper!--the way daddy would want me to. And there wasn't a
song or a sunset or a beautiful picture that I wasn't told how daddy
would have loved it. Mother was always talking of him, and telling me
about him; so I feel that I know him, just as if he were alive."
"As--if--he--_were_--alive!" Burke Denby half started from his chair,
his face a battle-ground for contending emotions.
"Yes. But he isn't, you see. He died many, many years ago."
There was the sudden tinkling of shattered glass on a polished floor.
"Oh, Mr. Denby!" exclaimed Betty in consternation. "Your beautiful
vase!"
The man, however, did not even glance at the ruin at his feet. Still, he
must have realized what he had done, thought Betty, for, as he crossed
to his desk and sat down heavily, she heard him mutter:--
"To think I _could_ have been--such a fool!"
CHAPTER XXV
ENIGMAS
Not until Burke Denby became convinced that Miss Elizabeth Darling was
not his daughter did he realize how deeply the thought that she might be
had taken hold of his very life--how closely entwined in his affections
she had become. From the first minute the electrifying idea of her
possible relationship had come to him, he had (in spite of his
determination to the contrary) reveled in pictures of what his home
would be with a daughter like that to love--and to love him. Helen, too,
was in the pictures--true, a vague, shadowy Helen, yet a Helen idealized
and glorified by the remorseful repentance born of a bunch of worn
little diaries. Then to have the beautiful vision shattered by one word
from the girl's own lips--and just when he had attained the pinnacle of
joyous conviction that she was, indeed, his little girl of the long
ago--it seemed as though he could not bear it.
And, most anguishing of all, there was no chance that there was a
mistake. Even if the incongruity of her description of her father as
applied to himself could be explained away, there was yet the
insurmountable left. With his own ears he had heard her say that her
father was dead--had been dead for many years. That settled it, of
course. There could be no mistake about--death.
After the first stunning force of the disappointment, there came to
Burke Denby the reaction--in the case of Burke Denby a characteristic
reaction. It became evident, to some extent, the very next day. For the
first time in weeks he did not work with his secretary over the
cataloguing at all during the day. He dictated his letters, then left at
once for his office at the Works. At luncheon he relapsed into his old
stern silence; and in the afternoon, beyond giving a few crisp
directions, he showed no interest in Betty's work, absenting himself
most of the time from the room.
Yet not in the least was all this consciously planned on his part. He
felt simply an aversion to being with this girl. Even the sight of her
bright head bent over her work gave him a pang, the sound of her voice
brought bitterness. Above all, he dreaded a glance from her
eyes--Helen's eyes, that had lured him for a brief twenty-four hours
into a fool's paradise of thinking they might, indeed, be--Helen's eyes.
Burke was grievously disappointed, ashamed, and angry; and being
accustomed always to acting exactly as he felt, he acted now--as he
felt. He was grievously disappointed that his brief dream of a daughter
in his home should have come to naught. He was ashamed that he should
have allowed himself to be deluded into such a dream, and angry that the
thing had so stirred him--that he could be so stirred by the failure of
so absurd and preposterous a supposition to materialize into fact.
As the days passed, matters became worse rather than better. Added to
his disappointment and chagrin there came to be an unreasoning wrath
that this girl was not his daughter, together with a rebellion at his
lonely life, and an overmastering self-pity that he should be so abused
of Fate. It was then that he began systematically to avoid, so far as
was possible, being with the girl at all, save for the necessary
dictation and instructions. This was the more easily accomplished, as
the cataloguing now had almost arrived at the stage where it was a mere
matter of copying and tabulating the mass of material already carefully
numbered to correspond with the equally carefully numbered curios in the
cabinets.
In spite of it all, however, Burke Denby knew, in his heart, that he was
becoming more and more fond of this young girl, more and more interested
in her welfare, more and more restless and dissatisfied when not in her
presence, more and more poignantly longing to make her his daughter by
adoption, now that it was settled beyond question that she was not his
by the ties of flesh and blood. Outwardly, however, he remained the
stern, unsmiling man, silent, morose, and anything but delightful as a
daily companion.
To Betty he had become the unsolvable enigma. That this most unhappy
change should have been brought about by the breaking of the Venetian
Tear Vase, she could not believe--valuable and highly treasured as it
was; yet, as she looked back, the change seemed to have dated from the
moment of the vase's shattering on the library floor, the day after
Christmas.
At first she had supposed the man's sudden reversion to gloom and
silence was a mere whim of the mind or a passing distemper of the body.
But when day after day brought no light to his eye, no smile to his lip,
no elasticity to his step, she became seriously disturbed, particularly
as she could not help noticing that he no longer worked with her; that
he no longer, in fact, seemed to want to remain in the library even to
hear her read to him.
She was sorely troubled. Not only did she miss the pleasure and stimulus
of his presence and interest in the work, but she feared lest in some
way she had disappointed or offended him. She began to question herself
and to examine critically her work.
She could find nothing. Her work had been well done. She knew that.
There was absolutely no excuse for this sudden taciturn aloofness on his
part. After all, it was probably nothing more than what might be
expected of him--a going back to his usual self. Without doubt the
strange thing was, not that he was stern and silent and morose now, but
that, for a brief golden period, he had come out of his shell and acted
like a human being. Doubtless it was under the sway of his interest in
his curios, and his first delight at seeing them being brought into
something like order, that he had, for a moment, as it were, stirred
into something really human. And his going back to his original sour
unpleasantness now was merely a reversion to first principles.
That it should be so vexed Betty not a little.
And when they were having such a good time! Surely, for a man that
_could_ be so altogether charming and delightful to be habitually so
extremely undesirable and disagreeable was most exasperating. And he had
been such good company! How kind he had been, too, when she had told him
so much of her own life and home! How interested he had shown himself to
be in every little detail, just as if he really cared. And now--
With a tense biting of her lip Betty reproached herself bitterly for
being so free to tell of her own small affairs. She ought to have known
that any interest a man like that could show was bound to be superficial
and insincere. What a pity she should lose, for once, her reserve! Well,
at least she had learned her lesson. Never again would she be guilty of
making a confidant of Mr. Burke Denby, no matter how suave and
human-like he might elect to become for some other brief week in the
future!
To her mother Betty said very little of all this. True, at the first, in
her surprise at the remarkable change in her employer's attitude, she
had told her mother of his reversion to gloom and sternness; but it had
seemed to worry and disturb her mother so much that Betty had stopped at
once. And always since then she had avoided speaking of his continued
disagreeableness, and skillfully evaded answering pertinent questions.
She told herself that she realized, of course, it was because her mother
was so fearful that something would happen that this fine position, with
the generous pay, should be lost. Dear mother--who thought she was
hiding so shrewdly the fact of how poor they were!
There was something else that Betty did not tell her mother, also, and
that was of her first peculiar and annoying experience with the woman at
the newsstand at the station. It was about two weeks after Christmas
that Betty had first seen the woman. Mr. Denby had asked her to go
around by the station on her way home and purchase for him the December
issue of "Research." He said it was not a very popular magazine, and
that the woman was one of the few agents in town who kept it for sale.
There was an article on Babylonian tablets in the December number, and
he wished to see it.
The station was not very far from her home, and Betty was glad to do the
errand, of course; but when she arrived at the newsstand she found a
most offensive person who annoyed her with questions--a large woman with
unpleasantly prominent eyes and a wart on her chin.
"Yes, Miss, I've got the magazine right here," she said with alacrity,
in reply to Betty's request. "But, say, hain't I seen you before
somewheres?"
Betty shook her head.
"I don't think so," she smiled. "At least, I do not remember seeing you
anywhere."
"Well, don't you come here often, to the station, or somethin'?"
persisted the woman.
"No, I have never been here before--except the day I arrived in town
last September."
"H-m; funny!" frowned the woman musingly. "I'm a great case fur faces,
an' I don't very often make a mistake. I could swear I'd seen you
somewheres."
Betty smiled and shook her head again, as she turned away with her
magazine.
Twice after that Mr. Denby had sent her to this same newsstand for a
desired periodical; and on both occasions the woman had been cheerfully
insistent in her questions, and in her reiterations that somewhere she
certainly had seen her, as she never made mistakes in faces.
"An' yer workin' fur Burke Denby on the hill, ain't ye?" she asked at
last.
Betty colored.
"I am working for Mr. Denby--yes."
"H-m; like him?"
"If you'll give me my change, please," requested Betty then, the flush
deepening on her cheeks. "I am in some haste."
The woman laughed none too pleasantly.
"You don't want ter answer, an' I ain't sayin' I wonder," she chuckled.
"He's a queer bug, an' no mistake, an' I don't wonder ye don't like
him."
"On the contrary, I like him very much," flashed Betty, hurriedly
catching up her magazine, and almost snatching the coins from the
woman's hand, in her haste to be away.
Betty had not told her mother of these encounters. More and more plainly
Betty was seeing how keenly averse to meeting people her mother was, and
how evasive she was in her answers to the questions the market-men
sometimes put to her. Instinctively Betty felt that these questions of
the newsstand woman would distress her mother very much; so Betty kept
them carefully to herself.
The conviction that her mother was fearful of meeting old friends in
Dalton was growing on Betty these days, and it disturbed her greatly.
Moreover she did not like a certain growing restless nervousness in her
mother's manner, nor did she like the increasing pallor of her mother's
cheek. Something, somewhere, was wrong. Of this Betty became more and
more strongly convinced. Nor did a little episode that took place late
in January tend to weaken this belief.
They had gone to market--Betty and her mother. Lured by an attractive
"ad," they had gone farther from home than usual, and were in a store
not often visited by them. They had given their order and turned to go,
when suddenly Betty found herself whisked about by her mother's frantic
clutch on her arm and led swiftly quite across the store to the opposite
door. There, still impelled by that unyielding clutch on her arm, she
found herself dodging in and out of the throngs of customers on their
way to the street outside. Even there their pace did not slacken until
they were well around the corner of the block.
"Why, mother," panted Betty then, laughing, "I should think you were
running away from all the plagues of Egypt."
"I--I was--worse than the plagues of Egypt," laughed her mother, a bit
hysterically.
"Why, mother!" cried Betty, growing suddenly alert and anxious.
"There, there, dear, it was nothing. Never mind!" declared her mother.
But even as she spoke she looked back fearfully over her shoulder.
"But, mother, what _was_ it?"
"Nothing. Just a--a woman I didn't want to see. I used to know her years
ago, and she was--such a talker! We wouldn't have got home to-night."
"But we shan't now--if we keep on this way," laughed Betty uneasily, her
troubled eyes on her mother's face. "We're going in quite the opposite
direction from home."
"Dear, dear, so we are! We must have turned the wrong way when we came
out from the store."
"Yes, we--did," agreed Betty. Her words were light--but the troubled
look had not left her eyes.
CHAPTER XXVI
THE ROAD TO UNDERSTANDING
It was on a gray morning early in February that Betty found her employer
pacing the library from end to end like the proverbial caged lion. When
he turned and spoke, she was startled at the look on his face--a worn,
haggard look that told of sleeplessness--and of something else that she
could not name.
He ignored her conventional morning greeting.
"Miss Darling, I want to speak to you."
"Yes, Mr. Denby."
"Will you come here to live--as my daughter?"
"Will I--what?" The amazement in Betty's face was obviously genuine.
"You are surprised, of course; and no wonder. I didn't exactly what you
call 'break it gently,' did I? And I forgot that you haven't been
thinking of this thing every minute for the last--er--month, as I have.
Won't you sit down, please." With an abrupt gesture he motioned her to a
chair, and dropped into one himself. "I can't, of course, beat about the
bush now. I want you to come here to this house and be a daughter to me.
Will you?"
"But, _Mr. Denby_!"
"'This is so sudden!' Yes, I know," smiled the man grimly. "That's what
your face says, and no wonder. It may seem sudden to you--but it is not
at all so to me. Believe me, I have given it a great deal of thought. I
have debated it--longer than you can guess. And let me tell you at once
that of course I want your mother to come, too. That will set your mind
at rest on that point."
"But I--I don't think yet that I--I quite understand," faltered the
girl.
"In what way?"
"I can't understand yet why--why you want me. You see, I--I have thought
lately that--that you positively disliked me, Mr. Denby." Her chin came
up with the little determined lift so like her mother.
With a jerk Burke Denby got to his feet and resumed his nervous stride
up and down the room.
"My child,"--he turned squarely about and faced her,--"I want you. I
need you. This house has become nothing but a dreary old pile of horror
to me. You, by some sweet necromancy of your own, have contrived to make
the sun shine into its windows. It's the first time for years that there
has been any sun--for me. But when you go, the sun goes. That's why I
want you here all the time. Will you come? Of course, you understand I
mean adoption--legally. But I don't want to dwell on that part. I want
you to _want_ to come. I want you to be happy here. Won't you come?"
Betty drew in her breath tremulously. For a long minute her gaze
searched the man's face.
"Well, Miss Betty?" There was a confident smile in his eyes. He had the
air of a man who has made a certain somewhat dreaded move, but who has
no doubt as to the outcome.
"I'm afraid I--can't, Mr. Denby."
"You--_can't_!"
Betty, in spite of her very real and serious concern and anxiety, almost
laughed at the absolute amazement on the man's face.
"No, Mr. Denby."
"May I ask why?" There was the chill of ice in his voice.
Again Betty felt the almost hysterical desire to laugh. Still her face
was very grave.
"You-- I-- In the end you would not want me, Mr. Denby," she faltered,
"because I--I should not be--happy here."
"May I ask why--_that_?"
There was no answer.
"Miss Darling, why wouldn't you be happy here?"
Genuine distress came into Betty's face.
"I would rather not say, Mr. Denby."
"But I prefer that you should."
"I can't. You would think me--impertinent."
"Not if I tell you to say it, Miss Betty. Why can't you be happy here?
You know very well that you would have everything that money could buy."
"But what I want is something--money can't buy."
"What do you mean?"
No reply.
"Miss Darling, what do you mean?"
With a sudden fierce recklessness the girl turned and faced him.
"I mean _that_--just that--what you did now, and a minute ago. The way
you have of--of expecting everybody and everything to bend to your will
and wishes. Oh, I know, it's silly and horrible and everything for me to
say this. But you _made_ me do it. I told you it was impertinent! Don't
you see? I'd have to have love and laughter and sympathy and interest
and--and all that around me. I _couldn't_ be happy here. This house is
like a tomb, and you--sometimes you are jolly and kind and--and _fine_.
But I never know _how_ you're going to be. And I'd die if I had to worry
and fret and fear all the time how you _were_ going to be! Mr. Denby,
I--I couldn't live in such a place, and mother couldn't either. And I--
Oh, what have I said? But you made me do it, you made me do it!"
For one long minute there was utter silence in the room. Burke Denby, at
the library table, sat motionless, his hand shading his eyes. Betty, in
her chair, wet her lips and swallowed convulsively. Her eyes were
frightened--but her chin was high.
Suddenly he stirred. His hand no longer shaded his face. Betty, to her
amazement, saw that his lips were smiling, though his eyes, she knew,
were moist.
"Betty, my dear child, I thought before that I wanted you. I know now
I've _got_ to have you."
Betty, as if the smile were contagious, found her own lips twitching.
"What--do you mean?"
"I mean that your fearless little tirade was just what I needed, my
dear. I _have_ expected everything and everybody to bend to my will and
wishes. I suspect that's what's been the matter, too, all the way up. I
thought once, long ago, I'd learned my lesson. But it seems I haven't.
Here I am up to the same old tricks again. Will you come and--er--train
me, Betty? I will promise to be very docile."
Betty did laugh this time--and the tension snapped. "Train"--the very
word with which she had shocked her mother weeks before!
"Seriously, my dear,"--the man's face was very grave now,--"I want you
to talk this thing over with your mother. I am a lonely old man--yes,
old, in spite of the fact that I'm barely forty--I feel sixty! I want
you, and I need you, and--notwithstanding your unflattering opinion of
me, just expressed--I believe I can make you happy, and your mother,
too. She shall have every comfort, and you shall have love and laughter
and sympathy and interest, I promise you. Now, isn't your heart
softening just a wee bit? _Won't_ you come?"
"Why, of course, I--appreciate your kindness, Mr. Denby, and"--Betty
drew a tremulous breath and looked wistfully into the man's pleading
eyes--"it would be lovely for--mother, wouldn't it? She wouldn't have to
worry any more, or--or--"
Burke Denby lifted an imperative hand. His face lighted. He sprang to
his feet and spoke with boyish enthusiasm.
"The very thing! Miss Darling, I want you to go home and bring your
mother back to luncheon with you. Never mind the work," he went on, as
he saw her quick glance toward his desk. "I don't want to work. I
couldn't--this morning. And I don't want you to. I want to see your
mother. I want to tell her--many things--of myself. I want her to see
me, and see if she thinks she could give you to me as a daughter, and
yet not lose you herself, but come here with you to live."
"But I--I could tell her this to-night," stammered Betty, knowing still
that, in spite of herself, she was being swept quite off her feet by the
extraordinary enthusiasm of the eager man before her.
"I don't want to wait till to-night. I want to see her now.
Besides,"--he cocked his head whimsically with the confident air of one
who knows his point is gained,--"I want a magazine, and I forgot to ask
you to get it for me last night. I want the February 'Research.' So
we'll just let it go that I'm sending you to the station newsstand for
that. Incidentally, you may come back around by your mother's place and
bring her with you. There, now surely you won't object to--to running an
errand for me!" he finished triumphantly.
"No, I surely can't object to--to running an errand for you," laughed
Betty, as she rose to her feet, a pretty color in her face. "And
I--I'll try to bring mother."
It was in a tumult of excitement and indecision that Betty hurried down
the long Denby walk that February morning. What would her mother say?
How would she take it? Would she consent? Would she consent even to go
to luncheon--she who so seldom went anywhere? It was a wonderful
thing--this proposal of Mr. Denby's. It meant, of course,--everything,
if they accepted it, a complete metamorphosis of their whole lives and
future. It could not help meaning that. But would they be happy there?
Could they be happy with a man like Mr. Denby? To be sure, he said he
would be willing to be--trained. (Betty's face dimpled into a broad
smile somewhat to the mystification of the man she chanced to be meeting
at the moment.) But would he be really kind and lovable like this all
the time? He had been delightful once before--for a few days. What
guaranty had they that he would not again, at the first provocation,
fall back into his old glum unbearableness?
But what would her mother say? Well, she would soon know. She would get
the magazine, then hurry home--and find out.
It was between trains at the station, and the waiting-room was deserted.
Betty hurriedly told the newsstand woman what she wanted, and tried to
assume a forbidding aspect that would discourage questions. But the
woman made no move to get the magazine. She did not seem even to have
heard the request. Instead she leaned over the counter and caught
Betty's arm in a vise-like grip. Her face was alight with joyous
excitement.
"Well, I am glad to see you! I've been watchin' ev'ry day fur you. What
did I tell ye? _Now_ I guess you'll say I know when I've seen a face
before! _Now_ I know who you are. I see you with your mother at Martin's
grocery last Sat'day night, and I tried ter get to ye, but I lost ye in
the crowd. I see _you_ first, then I see her, and I knew then in a
minute who you was, and why I'd thought I'd seen ye somewheres. I
hadn't--not since you was a kid, though; but I knew yer mother, an'
you've got her eyes. You're Helen Denby's daughter. My, but I'm glad ter
see ye!"
Betty, plainly distressed, had been attempting to pull her arm away from
the woman's grasp; but at the name a look of relief crossed her face.
"You are quite mistaken, madam," she said coldly. "My mother's name is
not Helen Denby."
"But I see her myself with my own eyes, child! Of course she's older
lookin', but I'd swear on my dyin' bed 'twas her. Ain't you Dorothy
Elizabeth?"
Betty's eyes flew wide open.
"You--know--my--_name_?"
"There! I knew 'twas," triumphed the woman. "An' ter think of you comin'
back an' workin' fur yer father like this, an'--"
"My--_what_?"
It was the woman's turn to open wide eyes of amazement.
"Do you mean to say you don't know Burke Denby is your father?"
"But he isn't my father! My father is dead!"
"Who said so?"
"Why, mother--that is--I mean--she never said-- What do you mean? He
can't be my father. My mother's name is Helen Darling!" Betty was making
no effort to get away now. She was, indeed, clutching the woman's arm
with her free hand.
The woman scowled and stared. Suddenly her face cleared.
"My Jiminy! so that's her game! She's keepin' it from ye, I bet ye," she
cried excitedly.
"Keeping it from me! Keeping what from me? What are you talking about?"
Betty's face had paled. The vague questions and half-formed fears
regarding her mother's actions for the past few months seemed suddenly
to be taking horrible shape and definiteness.
"Sakes alive! Do you mean ter say that you don't know that Burke Denby
is your father, an' that he give your mother the go-by when you was a
kid, an' she lit out with you an' hain't been heard of since?"
"No, no, it can't be--it can't be! My father was good and fine, and--"
"Rats! Did she stuff ye ter that, too? I tell ye _'tis_ so. Say, look
a-here! Wa'n't you down ter Martin's grocery last Sat'day night at nine
o'clock?"
"Y-yes."
"Well, wa'n't you there with yer mother?"
"Y-yes." A power entirely outside of herself seemed to force the answers
from Betty's lips.
"Well, I see ye. You was tergether, talkin' to the big fat man with the
red nose. I started towards ye, but I lost ye in the crowd."
Betty's face had grown gray-white. She remembered now. That was the
night her mother had run away from--something.
"But I knew her," nodded the woman. "I knew she was Helen Denby."
"But maybe you were--mistaken."
"Mistaken? Me? Not much! I don't furgit faces. You ask yer mother if she
don't remember Mis' Cobb. Didn't I live right on the same floor with her
fur months? Hain't yer mother ever told ye she lived here long ago?"
Betty nodded dumbly, miserably.
"Well, I lived next to her, and I knew the whole thing--how she got the
letter tellin' her ter go, an' the money Burke Denby sent her--"
"Letter! Money! You mean he wrote her to--go--away? He _paid_ her?" The
girl had become suddenly galvanized into blazing anger.
"Sure! That's what I'm tellin' ye. An' yer mother went. I tried ter stop
her. I told her ter go straight up ter them Denbys an' demand her
rights--an' _your_ rights. But she wouldn't. She hadn't a mite o' spunk.
Just because he was ashamed of her she--"
"Ashamed of her! _Ashamed_ of my mother!"--if but Helen Denby could have
seen the flash in Betty's eyes!
"Sure! She wa'n't so tony, an' her folks wa'n't grand like his, ye know.
That's why old Denby objected ter the marriage in the first place. But,
say, didn't you know any of this I'm tellin' ye? Jiminy! but it does
seem queer ter be tellin' ye yer own family secrets like this--an' you
here workin' in his very home, an' not knowin' it, too. If that ain't
the limit--like a regular story-book! Now, I ain't never one ter butt in
where 'tain't none of my affairs, but I've got ter say this. You're a
Denby, an' ought ter have some spunk; an' if I was you I'd brace right
up an'-- Here, don't ye want yer magazine? What are ye goin' ter do?"
But the girl was already halfway across the waiting-room.
If Betty's thoughts and emotions had been in a tumult on the way to the
station, they were in a veritable chaos on the return trip. She did not
go home. She turned her steps toward the Denby Mansion; and because she
knew she could not possibly sit still, she walked all the way.
So this was the meaning of it--the black veil daytimes, the walks only
at night, the nervous restlessness, the unhappiness. Her mother _had_
had something to conceal, something to fear. Poor mother--dear
mother--how she must have suffered!
But why, _why_ had she come back here and put her into that man's home?
And why had she told her always how fine and noble and splendid her
father was. Fine! Noble! Splendid, indeed! Still, it was like
mother,--dear mother,--always so sweet and gentle, always seeing the
good in everything and everybody! But why had she put her there--in that
man's house? How could she have done it?
And Burke Denby himself--did he know? Did he suspect that she was his
daughter? Adopt her, indeed! Was _that_ the way he thought he could pay
her mother back for all those years? And the grief and the hurt and the
mortification--where did they come in? Ashamed of her! _Ashamed of her,
indeed!_ Why, her little finger was as much finer and nobler and-- But
just wait till she saw him, that was all!
Like the overwrought, half-beside-herself young hurricane of
wrathfulness that she was, Betty burst into the library at Denby House a
few minutes later.
The very sight of her face brought the man to his feet.
"Why, Betty, what's the matter? Where's your mother? Couldn't she come?
What is the matter?"
"Come? No, she didn't come. She'll never come--never!"
Before the blazing wrath in the young eyes the man fell back limply.
"Why, Betty, didn't you tell her--"
"I've told her nothing. I haven't seen her," cut in the girl crisply.
"But I've seen somebody else. I know now--everything!"
From sheer stupefaction the man laughed.
"Aren't we getting a little--theatrical, my child?" he murmured mildly.
"You needn't call me that. I refuse to recognize the relationship," she
flamed. "Perhaps we are getting theatrical--that woman said it was like
a story-book. And perhaps you thought you could wipe it all out by
adopting me. Adopting me, indeed! As if I'd let you! I can tell you it
isn't going to _end_ like a story-book, with father and mother and
daughter--'and they all lived happily ever after'--because I won't let
it!"
"What do you mean by that?" The man's face had grown suddenly very
white.
Betty fixed searching, accusing eyes on his countenance.
"Are you trying to make me think you don't know I'm your daughter;
that--"
"Betty! Are you really, really--my little Betty?"
At the joyous cry and the eagerly outstretched arms Betty shrank back.
"Then you _didn't_ know--that?"
"No, no! Oh, Betty, Betty, is it true? Then it'll all be right now. Oh,
Betty, I'm so glad," he choked. "My little girl! Won't you--come to me?"
She shook her head and retreated still farther out of his reach. Her
eyes still blazed angrily.
"Betty, dear, hear me! I don't know-- I don't understand. It's all too
wonderful--to have it come--_now_. Once, for a little minute, the wild
thought came to me that you might be. But, Betty, you yourself told me
your father was--dead!"
"And so he is--to me," sobbed Betty. "You aren't my father. My father
was good and true and noble and--you--"
"And your mother _told_ you that?" breathed the man, brokenly. "Betty,
I--I-- Where is she? Is she there--at home--now? I want to--see her!"
"I shan't let you see her." Betty had blazed again into unreasoning
wrath. "You don't deserve it. You told her you were ashamed of her.
_Ashamed of her!_ And she's the best and the loveliest and dearest
mother in the world! She's as much above and beyond anything you--you--
_Why_ she let me come to you I don't know. I can't think why she did it.
But now I--I--"
"Betty, if you'll only let me explain--"
But the great hall door had banged shut. Betty had gone.
Betty took a car to her own home. She was too weak and spent to walk.
It was a very white, shaken Betty that climbed the stairs to the little
apartment a short time later.
"Why, Betty, darling!" exclaimed her mother, hurrying forward. "You are
ill! Are you ill?"
With utter weariness Betty dropped into a chair.
"Mother, why didn't you tell me?" she asked dully, heartbrokenly. "Why
did you let me come here and go to that house day after day and not
know--anything?"
"Why, what--what do you mean?" All the color had drained from Helen
Denby's face.
"Did you ever know a Mrs. Cobb?"
"That woman! Betty, she hasn't--has she been--talking--to you?"
Betty nodded wearily.
"Yes, she's been talking to me, and-- Oh, mother, mother, _why_ did you
come here--_now_?" cried Betty, springing to her feet in sudden frenzy
again. "How could you let me go there? And only to-day--this morning, he
told me he wanted to adopt me! And you--he was going to have us both
there--to live. He said he was so lonely, and that I--I made the sun
shine for the first time for years. And afterwards, when I found out
_who_ he was, I thought he meant it as a salve to heal all the
unhappiness he'd caused you. I thought he was trying to _pay_; and I
told him--"
"You _told_ him! You mean you've seen him since--Mrs. Cobb?"
"Yes. I went back. I told him--"
"Oh, Betty, Betty, what are you saying?" moaned her mother. "What have
you done? You didn't tell him _that_ way!"
"Indeed I did! I told him I knew--everything now; and that he needn't
think he could wipe it out. And he wanted to see you, and I said he
couldn't. I--"
An electric bell pealed sharply through the tiny apartment.
"Mother, that's he! I know it's he! Mother, don't let him in," implored
Betty. But her mother already was in the hall.
Betty, frightened, despairing, and angry, turned her back and walked to
the window. She heard the man's quick cry and the woman's sobbing
answer. She heard the broken, incoherent sentences with which the man
and the woman attempted to crowd into one brief delirious minute all the
long years of heartache and absence. She heard the pleading, the
heart-hunger, the final rapturous bliss that vibrated through every tone
and word. But she did not turn. She did not turn even when some minutes
later her father's voice, low, unsteady, but infinitely tender, reached
her ears.
"Betty, your mother has forgiven me. Can't--you?"
There was no answer.
"Betty, dear, he means--we've forgiven each other, and--if _I_ am happy,
can't you be?" begged Betty's mother, tremulously.
Still no answer.
"Betty," began the woman again pleadingly.
But the man interposed, a little sadly:--
"Don't urge her, Helen. After all, I deserve everything she can say, or
do."
"But she doesn't understand," faltered Helen.
The man shook his head. A wistful smile was on his lips.
"No, she doesn't--understand," he said. "It's a long road
to--understanding, dear. You and I have found it so."
"Yes, I know." Helen's voice was very low.
"And there are sticks and stones and numberless twigs to trip one's
feet," went on the man softly. "And there are valleys of despair and
mountains of doubt to be encountered--and Betty has come only a little
bit of the way. Betty is young."
"But"--it was Helen's tremulous voice--"it's on the mountain-tops
that--that we ought to be able to see the end of the journey, you know."
"Yes; but there are all those guideboards, remember," said the man, "and
Betty hasn't come to the guideboards yet--regret--remorse--forgiveness--
patience, and--atonement."
There was a sudden movement at the window. Then Betty, misty-eyed, stood
before them.
"I know I am--on the mountain of doubt now, but"--she paused, her gaze
going from one to the other of the wondrously glorified faces before
her--"I'll try so hard to see--the end of the journey," she faltered.
"Betty!" sobbed two adoring voices, as loving arms enfolded her.
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