Mr. and Mrs. Birch had given up the restaurant in the Colony at the time
he was required to take a position in the interests of the Society. He
turned out to be a splendid organizer and they had gone from city to
city to get the colonies in line. In the meantime two children had been
born, and first one, then the other had been left at the original Colony
on account of the parents traveling about. Both Mr. and Mrs. Birch were
good talkers and very much in demand. Everywhere they went success
followed the enterprise. Just at this time they were staying at the
hotel in the Colony to be near their children and to arrange to have
their shares transferred to another part of the country where the
weather was not so severe. In fact it was summer there all the year and
they preferred making it their home. Six years had been devoted to the
society; now they intended to live a domestic life and be with their
children.
Mrs. Birch and Scoris Vivian had always been friends and while the
Birches were going from place to place, Scoris (after moving to the
society) saw that their babies had enough attention that they should not
feel the loss of their parents; in that way she had become very much
attached to them, and to the little tots she was a second mother, in
fact they called her “’nother mamma,” to express their own sentiments.
Their father had been trying to teach the youngest one to call her Miss
Vivian, but she shook her head and said, “No, her is another mamma.”
Living in the Colony had brought about very close friendships. Those who
had to keep their little ones in the nursery while employed could not
give them all the fondling that children crave, but others were glad to
take an hour every day or so. There was not a child in the nursery but
what it had some one or other to take it out and give it recreation if
it was only to take a walk. The lady principal of the establishment knew
every one in the place and knew who to trust with their care.
Scoris felt the loss of the Little Birches more than she had
anticipated, and when an invitation came for her to visit their parents
she gladly accepted.
Paul Arling and his mother had just nicely settled in the Colony and
Scoris was glad to get away for a time to overcome what she considered
her foolish attachment for him. She had always thought it more womanly
to let others see that you care for them, than to hide it, so while they
had lived in the city the family had been more intimate than she
intended they should in the Colony. Like many others she had found that
to let a man see that you care for him is a mistake until they are ready
to declare themselves. She knew his position but thought he could
confide in her under the circumstances if he actually cared as much for
her as at first she thought he did. In bitterness she realized that a
spark of fire may be quenched if not allowed to burn too long, so she
made up her mind that a change would indicate her indifference to him
and possibly bring it about. Time had passed quickly nevertheless since
she had been associated with the society, and she had formed habits that
brought her in touch with nearly every family there. One thing, no one
in the association knew that her heart had gone out to Paul Arling. It
was only in the secret of her own soul that she acknowledged it.
In this new country the change had been so complete that she forgot she
ever had any other motive for going away than pleasure. The society
papers had announced her arrival and before she knew it all kinds of
demonstrations were on foot to honor her as the Honorable Scoris Vivian,
who had helped to bring about the conditions under which they all were
prospering. She had forgotten that she ever had heartache for everyone
treated her as if she was a princess and she was beginning to believe
that she liked this new country better than the old. Men who were
wealthy as well as devoted to the cause of the people, asked her to
marry them. One in particular wouldn’t take no for an answer and he paid
her such marked attention and had said so persistently that he would win
her that it was announced in the papers that there was an engagement.
There was much to see and the warm climate made a difference in the
buildings which interested her, for instead of building them in
apartments as in her home Colony, they were built separately because
land was not so expensive nor was building material.
Laborers, machinists and builders were not as plentiful as land, but
almost any one could put up a shelter, and improve upon it as their
shares increased. She thought what a fine place it would be for aged or
delicate people who suffer from severe climates, and she was looking
around for possible employment for them. She knew that with the
automobile system they could be sent there. She was interested in “the
Solar system” that had been discovered there also, and intended to bring
it before the home Colony when she returned. Her attention had been
wholly on the affairs of the society, so she was not aware of the
personal interest that she was attracting.
Her letters to her mother described the system instead of telling them
news about herself.
“The Solar system was produced by using mirrors shaped like a large
basin,” she wrote. “This was so arranged that it reflected the rays of
the sun and the heat generated was focused upon a large, furnace-boiler,
producing steam, this in turn was used to produce electricity and was
stored in a storage battery. The reason the mirror had to be a basin
shape was to focus the rays of the sun directly upon one spot, otherwise
the heat wouldn’t be sufficient to produce the steam. It was so
inexpensive that it soon revolutionized every other system of heating,
lighting or producing electricity in that part of the country. It could
be erected on the top of a house, or on a building built for that
purpose which was found best where new conditions were practiced as they
were in this colony. The fact that heat could be secured by reflecting
the sun’s rays on a mirror was one of the greatest factors in making
this colony a success. Its simplicity placed it within the reach of any
intelligent person. Of course all kinds of patents were claimed for the
different patterns, but even the trusts could not monopolize the sun,
and small boys began to shape pieces broken from glasses in their homes
or go to the factory and collect any kind and shape them together in a
circular basin with the use of plaster paris and then stand it against
the wall or a box and let it reflect the sun upon a pail of water
suspended from a string that couldn’t come in contact with the rays.”
Helen and her mother were talking about Scoris’ letter and the advantage
of the solar system would be to all the colonies. Presently Helen says I
am sorry for Paul for I know he has always loved Scoris, and she doesn’t
deny what the papers are saying.
While they were talking Paul Arling’s mother called. She said she had
come to ask if it was true that Scoris was going to marry someone out in
the new Colony?
Mrs. Vivian told her that Scoris had never written them about it, but
she hadn’t denied it either. That possibly she had intended waiting
until she came home before letting them know.
They had been old friends, Mrs. Arling reminded Mrs. Vivian, and she had
hoped that some day Scoris would have been her daughter-in-law.
Mrs. Vivian sat with her chin resting on her hand, looking away out to
the future; in thought she, too, had wished that Paul and Scoris would
marry sometime.
“Our dreams rarely come true,” she replied, softly. “I had hoped that
all my children would be near me while I live, but, ah, well,” she
sighed, “Scoris has always been a sensible girl and I am sure will not
make a mistake.”
Mrs. Arling reported the conversation to Paul and it seemed to him a
fact that he had lost Scoris after all these years waiting to have
something to offer her. He didn’t try to hide his grief from his mother,
and when he told her why he hadn’t spoken to Scoris, she reminded him
that he had been in fault.
“You must remember that it is the custom for women to keep silence on
that subject. I always supposed that there was an understanding between
you.”
“To tell the truth, so did I,” he answered.
“There you go!” she said. “Like all the rest of men, taking things for
granted. I would sooner have had one room for the rest of my life than
to have come between you two. Why, with the advantages we have here in
this colony I would have been more comfortable, for I would have less
care.”
[Illustration: PRINCESS LOVECHILD.]
There was a touch of human nature; she had been selfish, and now as she
thought she had made her son unhappy she blamed him.
“I see I am to blame,” he soliloquized when alone. “I should have
consulted her; perhaps she would have married me now. I have enough to
start with, for it doesn’t require as much in a colony like this, where
you are sure of employment as long as you need it.”
He had invested a small sum in starting some exchanges and the dividends
had been unusually large. “If I could only have had it before!” he said
to himself; “I would have known just what to do. Now I suppose I have
lost her.”
About this time Helen’s engagement had been announced to a young Prince
and he saw the effect Scoris’ engagement had upon Paul Arling, for Paul
had been unable to hide it. The four had been constant companions in the
city and he believed that Scoris cared for Paul. One evening he called
for him to take him automobiling and after they had left the Colony
behind and were going slowly through a cool stretch of bush, where the
trees almost touched their heads, the Prince said:
“Helen and I are going to be married in the fall.”
“And I suppose Scoris will be married also?” Paul questions.
“I don’t know,” the Prince answered. “You are referring to that
announcement in the paper. She will be home in two weeks, and we will
know then. I am disappointed, old fellow,” he continued, “for I used to
think that your heart was in that direction.”
“It was, and is yet,” Paul answered softly. “I am dazed with the news.
You know, Charley, I had nothing to offer her until now.”
“Well, neither had I; but I let Helen know I loved her, so she wouldn’t
learn to care for some one else.”
“But you hadn’t anyone else to support, as I had,” Paul said. “I will go
away before she comes back,” he continued. “I never could live here and
witness that wedding. I don’t know when I began to love Scoris Vivian.
Long before I saw her she was my ideal in imagination, and I knew her to
be my fate when she appeared.”
“And you never told her this?” Charley asks.
“How could I, when I was not able to give her a home such as she
deserves?”
“Paul Arling, the trouble with you is that you are too cautious. I
didn’t even have a position when this Colony started, but I pitched
right in and now I can take life easy. I was bound to win and nothing
daunted me. I kept Helen posted all the time, and she encouraged me to
succeed.”