BEHIND THE BIRCHES
When Linda wrote to Chicago for the dresses to be sent on, she asked
the caretaker of the house to send a photograph of her mother which she
would find in her dresser drawer.
The woman had been in doubt as to which picture was wanted, as there
were several in the box indicated, so she had packed box and all, and
it now lay on Linda's table waiting to be opened.
When the radiant little Cape girl had carried downstairs the last of
her possessions and Mrs. Porter had gone to her own room, Linda turned
her attention to this box.
Taking off the string she lifted the cover, and straight up into her
eyes looked Bertram King. The likeness was a striking one and color
flowed over her face. As she gazed, the thought came to her that
Bertram must have consummated a good business deal on the day he sat
for this.
There was lurking humor in the eyes and lips. It was Bertram at his
best: his most prosperous. A clean-cut face, she thought, as she
looked, a well-born face: intelligent, full of character and confidence.
"Overconfidence," murmured the girl, and turned the picture face
down. She closed her eyes in endurance of the flood of associations
the photograph had evoked, and stood motionless thus for a minute
before delving deeper into the box. It held pictures of several of her
friends, among them one of Fred Whitcomb. Her sad lips smiled as she
encountered his wide-awake countenance.
"Good old Fred," she thought. "Some day I must write to him."
She found her mother's pictures and those of several girl friends: also
one of Mrs. Porter. Some of these she left out; but the one of Bertram
King went back into the box. She took one more glance at it and the
veiled humor in the eyes seemed to mock her. Face down it went in,
quickly, the cover was put on, and the whole placed in her closet.
At the same time her thought was contrasting the pictured face taken
one year ago with Bertram's appearance the last time she saw him.
At the supper table that evening Blanche Aurora, as she waited on
table, was enveloped in the white apron with satiny plaids.
"She's not a bad-looking child," said Linda on one occasion when the
girl had left the room to get more biscuit. "That little turn-up nose
of hers is cute and her teeth are so white."
"Those teeth!" ejaculated Miss Barry. "The time I had! But I finally
taught her to keep them properly."
"Everybody knows happiness is the best beautifier, anyway," remarked
Mrs. Porter. "It looks as if you would have an angel in your kitchen
from now on, Miss Barry."
"Yes, 'looks,'" retorted the hostess. "Familiarity breeds contempt and
I don't know how long Blanche Aurora can be subdued by her dry goods. I
ought to make her put on her brown calico to go home in."
"Oh, don't, Aunt Belinda. Let her have all the fun there is in it."
So Miss Barry consented to leave her "help" in freedom; but the shrewd
little brain under the fluffy red wig was working. Blanche Aurora
knew about where the dividing line would occur in the bosom of her
family between respect and ridicule. She felt instinctively that the
limit would be reached before that crown of glory, the pink bow, should
dazzle the irreverent vision of the home circle. She, therefore, when
the dishes were dried, went to her room, took off the ribbon, and
laid it reverently in her upper drawer beside the blue one. She gazed
soulfully for a minute on the effect, then closed the drawer softly.
There was a clean towel on the bureau and upon it reposed the white
brush and comb and near that a bottle of violet toilet water. Yes, the
last thing the wonderful one had put into her hands was this bottle of
green liquid which the child said to herself "smelled purple."
She hated to go home. A thief might break in during the night and
bereave her. She lifted up the closet curtain and looked at the pretty
blue dress hanging there.
Well, she thought, with firm lips, the thief shouldn't get the pink
one, for she was going to wear it. Further cautious thoughts of rough,
teasing brothers caused her to remove the hairpins from her braids and
let them hang down her back as of old. Then she put on her new white
sweater and started to run across the fields to a properly awestruck
family.
A week later Blanche Aurora was alone in the house one afternoon
cleaning silver. The day was beautiful, and no one stayed indoors who
was not obliged to. She glanced up occasionally at the kitchen clock
and saw that in half an hour she too would be at liberty to go out and
get Miss Linda's rose, and hunt for four-leaved clovers.
She enjoyed finding these and placing them beside Linda's plate at the
table.
"But," objected her friend one day, "I have to find them myself, don't
I, in order that they should bring me luck?"
"Perhaps so," returned the donor; "but while you're waitin' I'd like to
give you some o' my luck.--I got so much."
Indeed, Blanche Aurora was beginning to gain curves, and the round eyes
to find expression.
She sang at her work to-day, the pink bow on her head shaking with her
energy as she rubbed. Suddenly the iron knocker on the front door sent
a sharp rap-tap through the house.
Blanche Aurora arose, laid down a fork, and moved through the rooms to
answer the summons.
Pulling open the door she beheld behind the screen a broad-shouldered
man with a bright, expectant face, and his seeking eyes saw a
pink-and-white aproned figure with red hair, and a perky pink bow atop.
She was delighted at the prompt manner in which the stranger lifted his
hat.
"I wonder if I have the right house," he said.
"I dunno. What house do you want?" came the stentorian response.
"What is your name, please?" asked the young man.
"Blanche Aurora."
He smiled, a nice gleeful smile. "I mean your last name."
"Martin."
"I'm sorry. I'm looking for Miss Barry."
"Oh, she lives here. I'm the help."
"Really? I didn't dream it. I thought you were the nice little daughter
of the house."
"Miss Barry ain't married," replied Blanche Aurora practically, but she
gave full credit to the pink bow.
"Is her niece--is Miss Linda Barry here?" The eagerness of the question
and of the very good-looking visitor was fully appreciated by the
little maid who recognized a kindred spirit.
"Oh, yes, she's here,"--the freckled face shone radiant. "Ain't she
grand?"
"The grandest ever. I want to see her. Aren't you ever going to open
the screen door?"
Upon this the screen door opened. "But she ain't in the house," replied
Blanche Aurora, coming out on the piazza. "There ain't anybody in the
house, so I can't leave it to hunt for her, but I can tell you where I
bet she is."
"You're a good--a particularly good child," was the earnest response as
Blanche Aurora's finger pointed across the field.
"Do you see that clump o' trees and then there's woods beyond?"
"Yes."
"Near them white birches you'll likely find her. Mrs. Porter and she's
got a secret place."
The visitor laughed. "Secret from whom?"
"Everybody but me, I guess."
The man looked at the smile that was keeping his laugh company.
"What do you think they'll say to your telling their secrets?"
"Well"--Blanche Aurora gave a comprehensive glance at the city clothes
and the gay face above her. "I kinder think Miss Linda might be glad to
see you, and if she would, what's the use o' waitin'!"
"That's what I say," was the hearty response. "I can't wait. I'm going
to scour this Cape till I do find her, and then if she _isn't_ glad to
see me, do you know what I'm going to do?"
Blanche Aurora's neatly coiffed head shook a denial.
The visitor grasped her small shoulder with a strong hand.
"I'm going out to that point of rock there,"--he pointed to the height
of the cliff,--"and throw myself--dash myself into the sea!" He scowled
portentously.
"Well, you might wait till she gits used to you," suggested Blanche
Aurora. "She might like you better."
"I've been waiting two years, but your advice may still be good."
"Be you her beau?" the question was roared solemnly.
"I be; and if I don't find her this afternoon you tell her that her
beau has come to town, and for her not to leave the house again till he
arrives."
"All right, sir," answered Blanche Aurora, her eyes nearly starting
from her head with interest as the caller jumped off the piazza and
swung whistling across the field.
The soft turf was springy beneath his feet.
"'A vagrant's morning, wide and blue,'" he muttered to himself.
Gulls wheeled high over his head in the landward sallies from which
they sailed back above the sea, their wings glinting like the distant
"Foam of the waves,
Blown blossoms of ocean,
White flowers of the waters."
Whitcomb strode along, the picture of Linda as he last saw her in the
railway station still fresh in his mind.
Miss Barry's "help" had been galvanized into interest at the mention
of the girl. She had called her "grand." It sounded hopeful.
Beyond the clump of birches, in their favorite spot, the two friends
were sitting against their rock with their books and work.
Talk amounts to very little. It was Emerson who said, "Don't talk! What
you are thunders so loud above what you say, that I can't hear you."
What Mrs. Porter was, had in their daily contact impressed itself so
increasingly upon her young friend, that Linda, though reluctant, had,
through very curiosity, come to be willing to look into the source of
her friend's faith and strength. That little nook behind the birches
had become dear to her. Near by rose the rich dark grove of firs and
pines, the sea murmuring in their tops, and the spring bubbled with a
silvery plashing.
Here Whitcomb found them. They both started at his sudden appearance
and he halted, and rapped on a white birch stem.
"May I come in?" The gay, hearty voice set Linda's heart to beating
fast. "Don't let me disturb you," and the visitor hurried forward, his
hat off, and kneeling on the grass before her, took Linda's hand.
"You have met Mrs. Porter?"
"Once, I think," said that lady, shaking hands graciously with the
young man. The devouring eyes with which he was taking in every detail
of Linda's improved appearance made the older woman certain that here
was the Chicago man whose happiness the girl had said she could not
secure save by extreme measures.
"You look wonderful, Linda. Good for the Cape!" said Fred, seating
himself comfortably on the grass, and continuing to observe her with
huge satisfaction.
"But how did you know where to find us?" inquired the girl.
"Blanche Aurora told me. Happy name! Dickens himself couldn't have done
better. Blanche A-roarer."
"But she didn't know about this place. Nobody knows."
"So she observed--howling it to high heaven; but you might as well try
to keep a locality from the sparrows as from kids of that age."
"Well, I'm glad she did know," said Linda graciously, "It's good to see
you, Fred,--you have a sort of a white, city look, as if a vacation
couldn't hurt you."
"Mrs. Lindsay told me you were related to them," said Mrs. Porter. "I
suppose you came through her."
"Yes, I did. I wouldn't have known there was any place to stay here
except for her; and I did feel a bit seedy, as well as King, so I
pulled up stakes--there being a strong magnet in this vicinity." He
flashed a still further enlightening smile around at Linda.
But Mrs. Porter had suddenly lost interest in his possible romance.
"Mr. King--Bertram," she said, leaning forward. "He has been ill?"
Whitcomb gave a soft significant whistle. "Rather!" he returned briefly.
"I'm his cousin, Mr. Whitcomb. Tell me all about it, please."
"I know you are. He has talked to me of you."
Linda's lips had gained the close line the mention or thought of King
always evoked.
"Good old King. He's some fighter. You ought to be proud of him, Mrs.
Porter."
"I am. Tell me all you know of him, please. How is he now?"
"On the upward way. He's going to come out all right, but"--the speaker
cast an almost apologetic look at Linda--"you doubtless know that
King was up against it for a while. It seems that one night there at
the club when the strain was over, he felt himself going to pieces
and he wrote me a note asking me, in case of his illness, to keep his
papers--the contents of his desk--from Henry Radcliffe until he should
recover."
The blood pressed into Linda's face. She was too charitable to her
friend even to glance her way.
"The note was not finished. King had evidently taken the precaution to
address and stamp the envelope before he began, and the last sane thing
he did was to seal the letter inside it. By the time I received it and
got over to the club, King was gone."
"Gone!" Mrs. Porter gasped. "You said--"
Fred nodded reassuringly toward her questioning face as she leaned
forward.
"Yes, they had taken him to the hospital, you know."
"Oh!" cried Mrs. Porter, "and I here. Why didn't somebody write me?"
Linda sat erect, in an attitude of courteous attention.
"I never thought of it, Mrs. Porter. To tell the truth, I didn't know
till he was convalescing that you were at all near to one another, and
I didn't want to write anything to add to Linda's worries." He glanced
at the girl's unmoved face.
"Did you keep his papers from Henry?" she asked dryly.
"I'll tell you about that."
"But you stayed with him--" There was a little break in Mrs. Porter's
low, even voice. "You helped him."
"You bet I stayed with him, just as much of the time as my boss and the
nurse would stand for. I was there every night."
"Oh, Mr. Whitcomb," exclaimed Mrs. Porter gratefully, "you don't know
what that means to me. Bertram wasn't entirely deserted."
"No. Harriet was up in Wisconsin or she would have wanted to help, too.
Henry kept King's illness from her; because even if she had been at
home she couldn't really have done anything, you know."