A SIMPLE WEDDING
"And so," concluded Suzanna early one afternoon as she stood on a soap
box in her own yard, "the noble knight set forth on his prancing steed,
having finished his deeds of blood. And all about him lay those he had
slain."
The children having listened entranced to the story, now stirred; Maizie
was the first to speak. "I think the knight was horrid," she said.
"I like him," said soft little Daphne who was now a constant, happy
visitor at the Procter home.
"I think a brave knight is bully," said Graham Bartlett, as constant a
visitor as Daphne.
"I would slay mine by the hundred," cried Peter boastfully.
Graham looked off into the distance. "I shall fare forth some day," he
said, "and lead my armies to victory proudly, yet disdainfully. I shall
have no love in my heart, only sternness."
"Drusilla can tell some wonderful tales of knights," said Suzanna. "Does
she tell you stories when you go to visit her, Graham?"
Graham colored hotly. "I haven't been to see her lately," he answered;
then, "I'll tell you, let's go today."
Suzanna bounded away to ask permission of her mother. She returned in a
moment. "Mother says we may go after Peter changes his blouse. Hurry up,
Peter. Don't keep us waiting."
Peter moved reluctantly houseward, and Suzanna ended: "Isn't it fine
that today was teachers' meeting so we could have a holiday?"
Graham looked wistfully at her. He had a tutor, and lessons alone he
felt could not be so interesting as when learned with a number of other
boys and girls.
"Let's go," said Suzanna, "we can walk slowly so Peter can catch up with
us. You mustn't get tired, will you, Daphne?" Daphne was very sure she
would not, and Peter reappearing at the moment, they all started away.
They went out into a sunny day left over from the Indian summer. Still
there was crispness in the air which exhilarated them, moving Peter to
sundry manifestations which Maizie coldly designated as "showing off."
He stood on his head, turned somersaults, cast his voice up to the
heavens, immediately spoiled the crispness of his clean blouse. He was
the fine, free savage, and his sisters finally gave up trying to tame
him.
"It's Thanksgiving weather, isn't it?" said Suzanna. "Come on, let's all
skip."
So they all fell into Peter's spirit, and thus it was that skipping and
singing they reached Drusilla's little home. It was very quiet in that
spot, the garden desolate, the flowers gone. The children instinctively
hushed their songs and went slowly up the front steps.
Graham rang the bell.
The kindly-faced maid answered the ring. "Oh, come in, children," she
cried. "Mrs. Bartlett certainly needs cheering today."
The children, thus cordially invited, trooped in. "Is Drusilla sad
today?" asked Suzanna.
"Well, she's thinking of the past," said the maid. "All day she's been
talking of her early home across the ocean, talking of the familiar
places of her childhood. She insisted even upon my preparing brouse for
her luncheon."
"_Brouse?_" The children were interested. They wanted to know what
brouse was. The maid smiled.
"Why brouse is just bread broken up into a bowl with hot water poured
over it and lots of butter and salt and pepper added. One day when Mrs.
Bartlett was a little girl, her mother took her to the home of an old
nurse, and there she had brouse to eat, and afterwards for one joyful
hour she was allowed to wear the clogs belonging to the nurse's little
granddaughter."
"I know what clogs are," said Graham. "They're wooden shoes that make a
lot of noise and have brass nails in them." He had looked into the
sitting room and was interested in an object there. "What's that?" he
asked. "Can't my grandmother walk?"
The maid's eyes followed his finger. "That's a wheel chair," she said.
"Your grandmother is not so strong as she was in the summer, so I take
her out in the chair when the day is bright. Well, children, go upstairs
quietly. Suzanna knows the way to Mrs. Bartlett's room."
So the children on tiptoes mounted the thickly carpeted stairs. At the
top Suzanna waited for the others, then went down the hall, paused and
knocked softly on the panel to the right, and at the soft invitation to
enter, pushed open wide the door.
Drusilla sat within, her chair drawn close to the window. Her hands were
lying listlessly in her lap. She looked wilted, a flower fading to its
end. She turned to the children and smiled, a very small wistful smile,
but it lit her pale delicate face and made Daphne advance confidentially
to the middle of the room.
"We came to see you," she said in her winsome way.
"I'm very glad," said Drusilla. "Won't you all come close to me?"
The children obeyed. Drusilla looked inquiringly at Graham, and then
said, "Well, my boy, you've grown somewhat."
"Yes, two inches in six months." He wanted to say something to lift the
sadness from her face, and at last he blurted out: "I think you're a
bully grandmother, and I'm coming often to see you."
"Ah, then I'll tell you fine tales of your father when he was a lad of
your age," she answered, well pleased. She put out her white hand and
laid it on his head.
And at the touch there grew in Graham's young soul a wish to defend this
dear old lady, this grandmother. He wanted to fight for her, to do
something great for her. He had visions of himself, a man, wearing her
colors. All his deepest chivalry was aroused. He looked longingly into
her face, and with loving sagacity she read his desire.
"My dear," she said, "I wish you would do something for me."
"Oh, grandmother, what would you like me to do?" he cried.
"The day is so beautiful," she answered. "I've had my windows open and I
know. Would you be my knight and wheel me out?"
"Grandmother, will you let me do that?" His voice rose. "I'll wheel you
down the wide road out into the country." He straightened his shoulders,
pride filled his heart. His grandmother trusted her frail body to his
care!
"Well and good, my boy," she answered. And then to Suzanna: "Will you
tell Letty to get my cape and bonnet. My grandson would take me riding."
Letty, answering Suzanna's call, came at once. She found a very cheerful
mistress and an excited little group of children. She hesitated a moment
when Graham told her he meant to take his grandmother out for a ride.
But noting the earnestness of the boy's manner she made no spoken
objections, but she went to the clothes press and took down Drusilla's
"dolman" and small close fitting bonnet.
"Be very careful of your grandmother," said the maid, as she dressed
Mrs. Bartlett and then offered her arm to steady the slight figure down
the stairs.
"I shall be very careful," promised Graham. Never once in his young life
had any real service been asked of him. He was experiencing for the
first time a sense of responsibility and he grew beneath it.
Downstairs Letty guided the rubber-tired wheel chair out into the hall,
down the front steps. She returned for Drusilla and seating her in the
chair, tucked a soft velvet rug about her.
Graham took his place at the long handled bar. Gently he pushed the
chair and the small cavalcade was on its way.
At first each child was quiet. Graham, ever mindful of the charge which
was his, was very serious and his thoughts turned to his mother.
He wished she had taken this grandmother right into her own home to be
watched over, loved and cared for tenderly. He wondered if his father,
his ever busy father, would have liked that. Oh, why was it considered
better for a grandmother, one who had fancies, to live alone in a small
house, with every comfort it is true, but with no one of her very own
close beside her!
He looked over at Suzanna. She was walking close to Drusilla, and
talking earnestly as was her way. Suzanna never went out into the world
but some object started a train of thought of keen interest. He could
hear snatches of her talk. It was about the trees, stripped bare now,
and their mood sad probably because of their denudement. Suzanna gazed
with concern at their stark limbs stretching out, no longer able to
shelter people or to sing softly when the wind blew through their
leaves.
Drusilla contributed her share, too. She thought the trees knew that
people did not need shelter from the hot sun when the snow was about to
fly. And the snow could lie in such beautiful, straight lines on long,
unleaved limbs.
And so they passed on from subject to subject, while Graham listened.
And then little Daphne grew tired and began to lag. Graham seeing the
child and about to make some suggestion for her comfort, was distracted
by Peter's call. The boy had found a rabbit hole and wished he had Jerry
with him to reach the rabbit, for which cruel wish both Suzanna and
Maizie scolded him roundly. And he gazed at them with the same old
perplexed gaze. Were these not the same sisters who looked complacently
on while a homeless, helpless dog was turned out casually into an
inhuman world?
Well, again he gave up the puzzle of their contrary attitudes. Perhaps
understanding would come in the big-grown-up years.
But when they returned from examining the rabbit hole, they found little
Daphne had curled herself up at Drusilla's feet. Drusilla had moved a
little and the child hopping up on the foot-rest had put her small arms
on Drusilla's knee, dropped her head and gone to sleep. Suzanna
carefully covered her with part of the velvet rug.
So they started away again and came at last to a little lonely church
set back from the road. It was a quaint little edifice, made of
irregular purplish stone. The moss had crept up on one side softly,
protectingly. You thought at once it had been built by loving hands and
that loving souls had worshiped in it. And you knew that under its
assumed and momentary air of expectancy it was sad in having outlived
its usefulness. Its door was swung open hospitably and the children
stopped to look in. Graham wheeled his grandmother close to the door so
she too could gaze within.
There were pews, empty, with worn cushions. A large stained glass window
with one Figure, noble despite the artist's limitations, had caught
lights and sent them down in long sapphire and amethyst fingers. A man
moved about the altar, changing from place to place a vase of white
roses.
"Is that the minister?" whispered Maizie.
Suzanna nodded. "Yes. He's going to offer up prayer, I think."
The minister turned and smiled at the children. He seemed some way to
fit into the soft atmosphere of the place, seeming to belong there.
Suzanna could not fancy him moving in any merely practical environment.
And while the children lingered, and Drusilla looked in through the open
church door, a man and a woman came down the road. The woman walked
slowly and the man had his arm about her in a guarding kind of way.
When they neared the church they stopped. Suzanna, turning, recognized
them and with a joyful cry she ran to meet them.
"Oh, Miss Massey," she cried, "and Robert. Are you out for a walk, too?"
The man looked down at her. "Yes, little girl. We are going into that
old church. Did you see the minister?"
"Yes, he's inside," said Suzanna. She looked at Miss Massey. "You've
been crying," she said.
Miss Massey tried to speak calmly, but there was a little quiver in her
voice. "Because it's all so different from what I dreamed."
"Come, dear," said Robert then, "come with me."
She seemed to take courage from his manliness and the truth of his love
shining forth from his eyes, and so she put her hand into his and walked
up the path with him.
At the door of the church they paused again. Suzanna who had followed
quickly, said, "This is Drusilla, my very best friend."
Miss Massey looked into the sweet old face. Perhaps she thought of her
own mother, for the tears came quickly again. "I'm glad to know you,"
she said simply. And then asked, "Won't you come in and see me married?"
And Drusilla answered: "Indeed, I should like to very much, my dear."
So Robert helped her gently from the wheel chair. He lifted small Daphne
upon the vacated seat and tucked her in carefully. And then they all
entered the church.
The minister came down from the altar. He had lit two candles and they
sent their wavering light out upon the small audience. The Man above the
altar looked down with infinite tenderness upon the pale little bride.
The minister spoke: "Robert, take your bride upon your arm!"
Thus adjured, Robert proffered his arm and Miss Massey put her small
hand upon it. Then slowly they walked behind the minister to the altar.
Suzanna, Maizie, and Peter followed.
Graham offered his support to his grandmother. He had pledged his fealty
to her and he felt grateful that she leaned upon him as slowly she
mounted the four steps which led to the altar.
There they grouped themselves about the bridal pair. Graham stood close
to his grandmother, Suzanna near to Miss Massey, Peter and Maizie at
Robert's right hand.
The minister began: "Dearly beloved, we are gathered here together--"
and on through the beautiful old ceremony.
He came at length to this question: "Who giveth this woman to this man?"
and paused simply in custom. And old John Massey was far distant,
nursing his anger and yet sad, too, because he would not in his temper
attend the marriage of his daughter, though most lovingly and pleadingly
had that daughter begged his presence. And the girl's mother was lying
out on a hillside--where she had lain for many a long year.
And the waiting bride had tears in her heart, till, suddenly, Drusilla,
with a beautiful light in her eyes, stepped forward. She put her
white-veined old hand softly on the bride's arm, and she said in a low
clear voice:
"I do--I give this woman to this man."
And the mother spirit in her spoke so richly that the bride all at once
felt happy and a little awed, too, as though her own mother had for the
moment raised herself and spoken.
And the minister went on with the ceremony till came the end: "And I
pronounce that they are Man and Wife."
And Robert folded his wife in his arms and kissed her while each face,
young and old, pictured the deep solemnity of the moment.
Robert's wife at last turned to Drusilla. She put her arms about the
bravely upstanding figure in its old-fashioned dolman. "Oh, thank you,
thank you," she murmured. "I shall never forget what you've done for me
today."
The color flowed like a wave up over Drusilla's face. With a quick
little breath, she leaned forward and kissed the new wife. She
experienced a sudden glow. It was as though Life for the moment,
forgetful that she was old and laid aside, had called her forward to
fill a need no other was near to fill.
They all left the church after Robert had signed his name in a big book,
and his wife had written hers with a proud little flourish. Robert
helped Drusilla into the wheel chair, after lifting Daphne from her
place on the upholstered cushion. This time the little girl awoke. She
was about to cry when Robert raised her in his arms and carried her down
the road, hushing her against him, while Graham again ordered himself
his grandmother's squire.
And so they went down the road together, all somewhat quiet, even
Peter's exuberant spirits moderated, till they reached Drusilla's home.
The maid, Letty, awaiting her mistress' return, ran down the steps, an
anxious frown between her eyes.
"Come," said Drusilla. "You must all be my guests." She whispered some
words in Letty's ear. The girl smiled and half shyly glanced at Robert
and his bride.
Robert still carrying little Daphne, who had refused to be put down,
said at once: "We should like that very much. I was so hoping you would
ask us."
So they entered the little house. They went into the parlor with its
portrait above the mantel and the lilies of the valley beneath it.
Graham remembered with a little warm feeling that his father had once
left the order at a city florist's for a daily spray of those lovely
bells.
Letty, carrying the dolman and small bonnet, disappeared but in a
miraculously short time returned to announce that tea was ready in the
dining-room.
Drusilla flushed and happy led the way. Robert and his wife followed,
and the children came last. The hostess, from her place at the head of
the table, designated each one's chair, and when all were seated she
bowed her head and offered up a little prayer.
And then Letty brought in hot muffins and marmalade, sweet butter and
fragrant tea. And amidst much laughter and merry words the feast began:
And at the end Drusilla rose, and asking silence, said:
"Robert, today in the name of the bride's mother, I gave her into your
keeping. I can see a promise in your eyes that she will never, never
regret going to you. Love her always."
And Robert, standing, in a deep voice answered: "Drusilla," borrowing
quite unconsciously Suzanna's way of name, "Drusilla, I have taken upon
myself this day the great responsibility of a woman's happiness--" he
paused and bent a look of ineffable tenderness upon his wife--"and
please God I shall keep that responsibility while life lasts."
And they all pushed back their chairs, the children with a little
scraping noise. And Robert looking at his watch thought it was time to
leave, since the train would not wait for laggards.
Then all in a moment it seemed he was going down the path again, his
wife upon his arm. And Graham, who had disappeared kitchenward, returned
and flung a handful of rice after them. At which the bride turned and
laughed and waved her hand.
"It was a real wedding, wasn't it, Drusilla?" said Suzanna, "even to the
rice."
"A real wedding, my little girl," said Drusilla.
Graham spoke: "Grandmother, aren't you glad I wheeled you out today?"
She answered at once. "So very glad, Graham. And I feel happier tonight
than for many a long day."
"And may I do so again soon?" he asked. "And next summer I'll take you
out every day."
A little smile touched her lips. "Next summer--next summer--? Ah,
laddie, come often this winter, if you can."
And then the children started away. And at the last moment Drusilla drew
Suzanna to her. "Little girl," she said lovingly, "I'm so glad you came
once to visit me--that summer day."
"Oh, so am I, Drusilla," Suzanna cried. She looked wistfully into her
friend's face. "Some day I want to do something wonderful for you."
Drusilla, bending low, kissed the upturned face with its big seeking
eyes. But she did not speak. For why make definite by clumsy words the
miracles a little child brings to pass. No, thought Drusilla in her
wisdom, Suzanna should go her way beautifully unconscious of her good
works.