A BRAVE HEART
Three days passed, and still no rain fell to save the withering grain.
On the evening of the fourth day, Beatrice was walking home alone from
one of the neighboring farms. She was lost in painful thought and
scarcely noticed where she was until she passed a clump of prominent
trees which she knew was at the edge of Harding's place. Then she
stopped and looked about her.
The sun had dipped, but an angry orange glow flushed the wide horizon
and the sky overhead was a cold dark blue. The great sweep of grain
caught the fading light, and Beatrice knew enough about farming to see
how it had suffered. She could not look at it unmoved; the sight was
pitiful. The wheat had cost long and patient labor, and she knew with
what hope and ambition the man who had sown it had worked. It was only
after years of strenuous toil, careful thought, and stern economy, that
he had been able to break the broad belt of prairie, and in doing so he
had boldly staked his all. Now it looked as if he had lost, and she was
grieved to see so much effort thrown away.
Harding had transgressed, but the work he did was good, and Beatrice
began to wonder how far that might atone for his lack of principle.
Human character was mixed; men might be true in many ways, and yet fall
victims to a besetting sin. But it was a sin Beatrice could not forgive.
Harding had sought the other woman while he professed his love for her.
In Beatrice, pride, fastidiousness, and Puritanical convictions
converged.
Letting her eyes travel farther along the grain, she started as she saw
him. He had not noticed her, for he stood looking at his crop. His
figure was outlined against the last of the light, and his pose was
slack and stamped with dejection. It was obvious that he thought himself
alone, for Harding was not the man to betray his troubles.
Beatrice's heart suddenly filled with pity. He must be very hard hit;
and she believed that it was not the loss of fortune he felt most.
Everything had gone against him. One could not refuse a man compassion
because his sin had found him out.
To her surprise, she felt that she must speak to him. She did not know
what she meant to say, but, half hesitating, she moved forward. Harding
looked round at her step, and the fading glow struck upon his face.
It was brown and thin, and marked by a great physical weariness. The
toil he had borne since the thaw came and the suspense he had suffered
had set their stamp on him; he looked fined down, his face had an
ascetic cast.
Beatrice caught her breath. By some strange inward power she grasped the
truth. This man had done no wrong; there was no deceit in him. What she
had believed of him was impossible! All that she had seen and heard
condemned him; there was no weak point in the evidence of his guilt; but
she trusted the prompting of her heart. Calm judgment and logical
reasoning had no place in this matter. She had wronged him. And how she
must have hurt him!
She held out both her hands, and there were tears in her eyes.
"Craig," she said, "I've come back. I couldn't stay away."
Harding could not speak. He took her into his arms--and suddenly the
earth seemed to be giving way under his feet; his brain reeled and a
great blackness settled down over him.
"Why, you're ill!" Beatrice exclaimed. "Oh, I have brought you to this!"
The anguish in her cry cut through him as he was losing consciousness,
and he pulled himself together.
"No," he smiled, "I'm not ill; but you must give me a moment to realize
that I really have you again."
They walked back the few paces to the trail. An old log lay beside it,
half buried in grass and wild flowers, and here they sat together, in
the cool stillness of the dusk, until the darkness came down and hovered
round them. Out of the early night sky, one star shone down on them,
like a blessing.
For the time being, it was nothing to them that the prairie sod was
cracked and parched, and that the destroying wind would rise again at
dawn.
* * * * *
On the way back to the Grange, Beatrice brought up the subject which she
felt must be talked of and then dropped for good.
"How dreadfully mistaken I was about--the girl!" she said, hesitatingly.
"How did you find it out?"
"I haven't really found out anything; I'm afraid I can't explain. I
suddenly saw the truth, and wondered why I had been blind."
"Do you mean----"
"I mean that I should never have left you, Craig dear. I know that you
never saw that girl before in your life--but I did not know it until I
saw you standing there, in the wheat, this evening."
Harding dropped the hand he was holding, and caught her to him.
"Dear!" was all he said.
"Can you explain what happened in Winnipeg?" she asked as they walked on
again.
"No; I'm puzzled. But, for your sake, I shall not rest until I've
cleared myself." Then, with a sudden shock, he remembered the wheat they
had left. "But I was forgetting--I may be a ruined man."
"And I the daughter of another," Beatrice answered with a smile. "That
could make no difference, Craig; and we're not ruined yet. Still,
because I was hard and unjust at first, I should like you to remember
that I came to you when you were in trouble, and didn't ask whether you
were innocent or not."
"I'll remember it," said Harding, "as long as I live."
When they reached the house, Mowbray and his wife were sitting on the
veranda, and Lance came down the steps to meet them with his hand held
out. Neither spoke, but Harding was touched by the sincerity of his
welcome.
Beatrice ran up the steps to her mother, and Harding, after a word of
greeting turned away. He felt that, until he had cleared himself, it
would be more becoming in him to keep away from the Colonel and Mrs.
Mowbray.
The next morning Mowbray called Beatrice into his study.
"I am glad that your confidence in Harding has returned," he said. "You
must, however, understand that the situation is still awkward."
"Yes; Craig and I talked it over last night."
"You talked this matter over!" Mowbray exclaimed.
"Of course," said Beatrice calmly. "It's of some importance to me. Are
you surprised?"
"I must admit that I am. When I was young, a well-brought-up girl would
hardly have ventured to mention such subjects to her mother, much less
discuss them with her lover."
Beatrice smiled at him.
"I'm afraid your feelings must get many a rude jar in these degenerate
times. Still, you know things are changing."
"That's true," said Mowbray. "I've had cause to realize it of late. For
example, your brother Lance goes off to Winnipeg on some mysterious
business without consulting me, and only tells me in a casual manner
that he may have to go again. Respect for parents is not a
characteristic of your generation. But I want to speak about Harding."
He talked very kindly and shrewdly, and when Beatrice left him she
sought her favorite place in the shadow of a nearby bluff to think over
what he had said.
There was less wind for the next two days, and driving sand no longer
raked the grain. From early morning dingy clouds rolled up slowly from
the west, and though not a drop of rain fell the distance grew blurred.
The horses on the range were restless and galloped furiously now and
then; the gophers scurried up and down the trails; men at work grew
impatient over trifling obstacles, and often stopped to watch the
clouds. These rolled on and vanished in the east, while many an anxious
farmer wondered when the last would rise from the horizon and leave the
pitiless sky uncovered again. Thirsty wild creatures stirred in the
shadow of the bluffs and rustled through the withered grass beside the
dried-up creeks. Leaves fluttered and hung still again with a strange
limpness, their under sides exposed. It was as if the sun-scorched waste
and all that lived on it were panting for the rain. And still the clouds
that never broke rolled slowly on.
At dusk on the second evening, Beatrice and Harding walked across the
prairie, speaking in low voices, anxious and yet serene.
"What are you thinking of, Craig?" Beatrice asked presently.
"Of the weather," Harding answered. "Wondering if these clouds will
break or clear away again. It looks as if our future hung upon the
chance of a storm. If it doesn't come, there's a long uphill fight
before us; and I hate to think of what you may have to bear."
"I'm not afraid," said Beatrice. "If I stayed at Allenwood, I should not
escape. Perhaps I have missed something by getting through life too
easily. I really don't think I'm much weaker, or less capable, than
Effie Broadwood, and she's not cast down."
Harding kissed the hand he held.
"A brave heart like yours carries one a long way, but training and
experience are needed. Grit alone is not much use when you're up against
a thing you don't know how to do."
"It helps you to learn. Am I so very stupid? Don't you see, dear, that I
want to prove that I can be useful?"
"To carry heavy pails, bake, and mend old overalls? That would be an
unthinkable waste of fine material. It's your business to be your
beautiful and gracious self, a refining influence, a light in the home!"
Beatrice laughed.
"I'm afraid when you think about me you lose your usual sense. I should
be as useful if I were made of painted wax, and you'd get tired of your
goddess some day and want to break me up. I'm alive, you know. I want to
be in the midst of the strife. I hear the bugles call."
Harding kissed her tenderly.
"I'm afraid we'll have to fall in with the firing line, but it will be
my business to shield you from harm," he said.
"It's a good fight," she answered with sparkling eyes; "you have taught
me that. The flag goes steadily forward with the pioneers in the van.
There are great alkali barrens, rocks, and muskegs to be overcome, arid
plains to be watered, forests cleared, the waste places to be made
fruitful. That's why we have painted the Beaver of Industry in the
field. But we have our camp-followers--and I might have been
one--useless idlers, grafters, and dishonest contractors who rob the
fighting men."
"When we've broken the wilderness, we'll have time to deal with them;
but I'm afraid many a pioneer will go down before we march much
farther."
"Ah!" said Beatrice softly. "But whether the fight is hard or not, you
must teach me to do my part."
She stopped, holding out her hands with an excited cry:
"The rain, Craig; the rain!"
Her hands felt wet, something drummed upon her broad straw hat, and the
dust leaped up from the grass; then the quick patter ceased, and there
was stillness again. It lasted for several minutes while both stood
tense and still, scarcely venturing to hope. Then there was a roar in
the distance and a puff of cool wind, and Harding, touching the girl's
arm, hurried her forward.
"It's coming!" he said hoarsely. "Coming in earnest!"
"Oh, let's stay!" cried Beatrice. "I want to feel it's true!"
Harding laughed, but led her on, and presently they met the advancing
rain. It beat, wonderfully refreshing, on their hot faces, and soon
Beatrice's thin dress was soaked. Steam rose from the parched earth;
there was a hothouse smell, a dull roar, and a rustle among the beaten
grass, and the fading light was shut off by a curtain of falling water.
Alternating between happy laughter and silence, during which their
thankfulness became too deep for speech, they hurried toward Harding's
farm, and Beatrice threw her arms round Hester's neck when she met her
at the door.
"Oh!" she cried. "Our troubles are over! The rain! The rain!"