The Long, Long Trail
Three hours later, in that same proudly exclusive house, an elderly lady
with gray hair and an aristocratically high, thin nose paced the floor
of her drawing-room with a vigor which denoted some strong emotion.
"I must say, John, that I think the whole affair, whatever it may be, is
highly reprehensible. I supposed James to be up in Canada on a fishing
trip when he telephoned me this morning from somewhere near town with
a--a most extraordinary message----"
She broke off, glancing cautiously toward a room across the hall, and
added: "He said he had something to tell me, and he would be here this
evening. Now you come, and you appear to know something about it, but I
cannot get a word out of you!"
"All I can tell you, Mrs. Abbott, is that if Jimmie does come to-night,
I've got to pay him a thousand bones--dollars, I mean. It was a sort of
a wager, and that must be what he wants to tell you about."
It was an exceedingly stout young man with a round, cherubic countenance
standing by the mantel who replied to her, and the old lady glanced at
him sharply.
"A wager? H-m! Possibly." She paused suddenly. "There's the bell."
A moment later James Tarrisford Abbott, in the most immaculate of dinner
clothes, entered and greeted his aunt, halting with a slight frown as he
encountered the beaming face of the young man who fell upon him.
"Good boy, Jimmie! You made it, after all!"
"With a few hours to spare." Jim darted a questioning glance at his
aunt, and seemed relieved at her emphatic shake of the head.
"I knew we'd lost when Mrs. Abbott told me that you had telephoned to
her from just a little way out of town to-day," Jack Trimble responded.
"I ran over on my way to the club to give her a message from my mother.
Did you have a hard time of it, old man?"
"Hard?" Jim smiled. "I've been a rough-rider in a circus----"
Mrs. Abbott groaned, but Jack Trimble's eyes opened as roundly and wide
as his mouth.
"Thundering--So it was you after all!"
"Me?" Jim demanded with ungrammatical haste.
"You--rough-rider--circus!" Jack exclaimed. "Vera said the chap looked
like you, but it never occurred to me that it could possibly be!"
"So it was Vera, was it?" Jim smiled. "I heard what she said--I mean, it
was repeated to me. You were one of that party?"
"Yes. We were with the Lentilhons in their car, and the funniest thing
happened the next day on the way home! Crusty old farmer wouldn't turn
out on the road, and Guy Lentilhon lost control and smashed straight
through his wagon!" Jack laughed. "W-what do you think it was loaded
with?"
"Eggs!" responded Jim crisply. "I happened to be on it at the time, my
boy, and your sense of humor--I hope you all got what I did! But I must
explain to Aunt Emmy here, or she will think that we are both quite
mad!"
"And I must be off to the club," Jack announced. "I'll break the news to
Billy Hollis that we've lost. See you later, and we'll all settle up.
Good evening, Mrs. Abbott."
When the stout young man had taken his departure, Mrs. Abbott turned to
her nephew between laughter and tears.
"James, this is the maddest of all mad things that you have ever done!"
"Jack doesn't know anything about Lou?" Jim demanded anxiously.
"Certainly not. He has only been here a quarter of an hour, and I kept
her out of the way. But, James, you cannot be serious! You cannot mean
to marry this nameless waif?"
"Stop right there, Aunt Emmy," he interrupted her firmly. "I'm going to
marry, if she will have me, your ward whom you have legally adopted; I
mean, you will have adopted her by the time she has grown up. But I
don't intend to be nosed out by any of these debutante-grabbers; I'm
going to have everything settled before her studies are finished and you
bring her out. I saw her first!"
"H-m. We shall see," Aunt Emmy remarked dryly, adding: "But that can
wait for the moment. What was this ridiculous wager all about, and how
did you get into such horrible scrapes?"
"The whole thing came out of an idle discussion Jack Trimble, Billy
Hollis and I had at the club one night concerning human nature. It
drifted into a debate about charity in general and the kindness shown
toward strangers by country folk in particular, with myself in the
minority, of course," Jim explained.
"They each wagered me a thousand against my five hundred that I couldn't
walk from Buffalo to New York in twenty-five days with only five dollars
in my pocket to start with, and work my way home without begging nor
accepting more than a quarter for each job I managed to secure in any
one time.
"The idea was to see how many of these hard-boiled up-State farmers we
hear so much about would offer you the hospitality reputed to be
extended only by the rural population of the South and West, and how
many would give a foot-sore and weary traveler a lift upon the way.
There were other conditions, too; I was not to use my own surname, not
to go a foot out of the State into either Pennsylvania or New Jersey. I
was not to beg, borrow, or steal, and for the occasional twenty-five
cents I might earn I could only purchase food or actual necessities, not
use it for transportation, and I must not beat my way by stealing rides
on boats or trains or any other conveyances."
While Aunt Emmy sat staring at him in speechless amazement, Jim produced
his little red note-book and laid it before her.
"There's the route I chose over the mountains, my expense account for
each day, and the names and addresses of the people who helped to prove
my contention that, take them by and large, the people of my own State
are as big-hearted as any in the Union, and Jack's money and Billy's
says that they are!
"I'm going to return some of that kindness, Aunt Emmy. There are two
little boys near Riverburgh whose father is dead and who are trying to
do the farm work of men. They are going to a good school this winter,
and there are a few other people who are going to be surprised! By Jove,
I never realized what money was for until now! But best of all, I found
Lou!"
"And what makes you so sure that I am going to adopt her and educate her
and bring her out?" demanded Aunt Emmy. "My dear boy, when you started
on this Canadian fishing trip of yours I knew that something
extraordinary would come of it, but I did not anticipate anything so
bizarre as this! Why do you think that I will interest myself in this
child?"
"Because you won't be able to help it." His face had sobered, and there
was a note in his voice that his aunt had never heard before. "You won't
be able to help loving her when you find out how courageous she is, and
sincere and true! She is the biggest-hearted, most candid, naive
little----"
"She is quite that!" Aunt Emmy interrupted in her turn, with emphasis.
"How I am ever to hide her away until I've had her coached not to drop
her g's, and to realize that there is a 'u' in the alphabet I don't
know, but I'll try. James--I think there are distinct possibilities
there."
"I knew it!" Jim cried. "I knew you wouldn't be able to resist her! For
the Lord's sake, Aunt Emmy, don't let them spoil her! She's so sweet and
simple-hearted, don't let them make her cynical and worldly-wise! I'll
promise not to speak to her, not to let her know how I feel until you
say that I may."
"Will you, James?" There was a faint smile about the delicately lined
lips. "She is a child in many ways, a blank page for most impressions to
be made upon, but in other things she is very much of a woman, and I
rather fancy that what you have to tell her will not be so much of a
surprise."
"You old dear!" Jim sprang to his feet and folded his aunt in his
embrace which threatened her coiffure. "Where is she?"
"In the library waiting for you, Jamie!"
She used the old nursery name, and caught his arm. "She is very young,
but the heart sometimes breaks easily then. Don't speak unless you
yourself are very sure."
Jim smiled, and throwing back his head looked straight into the kindly
old eyes. Then without a word he turned and disappeared through the
door.
* * * * *
"And you're going to be happy here?" It was some time later when Jim had
explained about the wager, and they were sitting together in the
window-seat.
"Happy? Why, Jim, I can't believe I'm awake! I'm going to study an' work
an' try my best to be like her. Seems to me it'll take the rest of my
life, but she says that in a year or two there won't anybody hardly tell
the difference."
"And then, Lou, when the time is past? What then?"
"I don't know." Her tone was serenely unconcerned.
"That trail we've followed together for the last week wasn't so bad, was
it?" he asked. "You were happy in spite of the hardships?"
"It was wonderful!" She drew a deep breath. "I--I wish we could start
again, Jim, and do it all over again, every step of the way!"
"If you feel like that, dear, perhaps some day when you have finished
your studies we will start again on a longer trail." He took one of the
little toil-worn hands in his. "The long, long trail, Lou, only we will
be together! When that day comes, will you take the new road with me?"
She bowed her head, and somehow he found it nestling in the hollow of
his shoulder, and his arms were about her. After a long minute, she
stirred and smiled.
"Well--" she hesitated. "You knew from the very beginning, Jim, that I'd
do anything once!"
THE END