Philip, true to his promise to himself, deliberately set about the
business of making friends with Jacqueline's lover. He found the matter
less difficult than he had expected. Channing was an agreeable surprise
to him. There was an atmosphere about him, man of the world that he was,
as comforting to the young country cleric as an open fire to one
unconsciously chilled. Philip recognized in the other a certain finish,
a certain fine edge of culture and comprehension, that had set his own
father apart from the people about them, kept him always a stranger in
his environment, even to the perceptions of a young boy. With Channing
he found many tastes in common, the love of books, of music, of art in
every form; as well as a keen interest in the study of humanity, pursued
by both from vastly different angles, but with equal ardor. Philip came
to understand very well the man's fascination for Jacqueline; but the
better he understood it, the more uneasy he became.
Channing's life seemed so rounded, so filled, so complete--what
permanent place was there in it for a crude, untrained little country
girl? He suspected that the author thought of her, as everybody else had
thought of her, as a charming, impulsive, beautiful child, whose
blandishments were almost impossible to resist; and he knew men well
enough to guess that Channing had not tried very hard to resist them.
Why should he? She was too young to be taken seriously, and she was very
sweet. Philip himself, lover of another woman as he was, had more than
once been quite uncomfortably stirred by the near sweetness of
Jacqueline.... Neither as priest nor as man could he bring himself to
condemn a thing he so well understood. The sense of responsibility
deepened. What was he to do about it?
Percival Channing, on his part, always sensitive to environment, gave of
his very best to Philip, reason enough for liking whoever brought it
forth. But he had other reasons for liking the grave, simple, courteous
young countryman--a sincere respect for his courage in choosing to live
out his life in the very shadow of his father's disgrace, and also a
very sincere if pagan admiration for the other's physical prowess--the
admiration of the weakling for the man who is as nature meant men to be.
On the occasion of Philip's initial visit at Holiday Hill, Channing had
stood on the porch watching him ride away, his well-knit body moving in
the perfect accord with his horse that means natural horsemanship,
taking a gate at the foot of the road without troubling to open it, in
one long, clean leap that brought an envious sigh from the watcher.
"What a man!" thought Channing. "I'll bet he doesn't know what a
headache is, nor a furry tongue, nor a case of morning blues.--Heigho
for the simple life!"
It was not Philip's last visit to Holiday Hill; and more than once on
returning from his pastoral rounds, he found Channing in possession of
the rectory, deep in one of his father's French books, practising rather
futilely with the punching bag that decorated one corner of the
living-room, or prowling about with an appreciative eye for old bindings
and portraits, and what egg-shell china was left to remind Philip
vaguely of the vague, fragile lady who had been his mother.
Farwell, too, came to the rectory; an adaptable, friendly soul,
accustomed to fit himself comfortably into whatever surroundings offered
themselves, but underneath his casual exterior extremely observant and
critical of such things as seemed to him important. Philip, having dined
in some elegance at Holiday Hill, had the courage to invite the two to
one of his own simple suppers. And as his ancient negress selected that
occasion, out of sheer excitement, to revert to her unfortunate habits,
Philip himself cooked the meal, serving it without apology or
explanation upon a cloth of fine yellowed damask, with his mother's
egg-shell china, and certain spoons and forks that bore upon their
attenuated tips the worn outlines of a crest. The table was drawn into a
window, through which the scent of Philip's little garden floated in.
There were flowers upon the table, too; garden roses in a low pewter
bowl, and wax tapers in very beautiful bronze candelabra, at sight of
which Farwell's eyes widened enviously.
The actor, an æsthete to his finger-tips, looked with satisfaction about
the long, low room, wainscoted in vari-colored books, its great
old-fashioned fireplace filled with fragrant pine-boughs, and overhung
by a portrait in an oval frame of a dim gentleman in a stock; the mantel
crowded with pipes, a punching-bag and dumb-bells in one end of the
room, in the other an old square piano, open and inviting, showing
evidence of constant use; shabby, comfortable chairs; a large desk with
many pigeon-holes, very neat and business-like. Indeed, the whole room,
despite its odd agglomeration of furnishings, was neat, meticulously
neat, even to the spotless curtains, darned in many places by Jemima and
the ladies of the Altar Guild.
Farwell spoke his thought aloud, "There's more character in this room of
yours, Benoix, than in all that fine, self-conscious, art-y house of
mine," he declared. "It could give pointers to any studio I know. It's
the real thing!"
Philip flushed with surprise and pleasure. His unpretentious household
gods were very dear to him, dear as they are sometimes to women. They
meant more than furniture to the lonely young man; they meant home, and
kindred, and all the gentler things that life had denied him.
Channing became lyrical over the salad, and was moved to propose a
toast. He lifted his glass of beer--the best Philip's cellar afforded.
"Here's to the greatest nation on earth, one drop of whose blood is
worth more to Art than all the stolid corpuscles that clog the veins of
lesser races. Without it what man can hope to write great prose, or
paint great pictures, or mix a great salad? _Vive la France!_--Benoix,
who taught you how to cook?"
"My father," said Philip, in a low voice. He had not often occasion to
speak of his father, except to Mrs. Kildare.
"I knew it! There's nothing Anglo-Saxon or negroid about this cooking.
Again I say, _Vive la France!_"
After they had gone, Philip did not go immediately to bed. He was too
excited--as excited, he thought, smiling, as little Jemima had been with
the success of her first party. He put out the lights, and sat by his
window in the dark for a long time, going over in his mind the talk of
that night. Good man-talk it had been, touching on all the big things
that occupy the world's thought to-day, which hitherto Philip had got
for himself only out of books and periodicals. He had listened eagerly
to these young men, who were interested in larger matters than crops and
stock-breeding and local politics. And they had listened to him--he knew
that. More than once a remark of Channing recurred to him: "You're too
big for this place, you know. Before long you'll be moving on."
It was a thought that he had often put deliberately out of his mind. His
bishop had been the first to suggest it, some years before.
He looked now through the darkness toward Storm. "Moving on"? with his
lady there, alone, deserted? He tried to picture Kate Kildare away from
her environment of field and wood and open spaces, sharing with him that
crowded intense life of cities toward which his mind yearned. But it was
impossible. Once more he put ambition from him--if it was ambition that
called. What right has a priest with ambition?
No!--exile he might be, but exile he would remain, and gladly. What were
they all but exiles--her daughters, his father in prison and out of
prison, James Thorpe, who stayed because she might miss his
friendship--all exiles from the world that called them, because of Kate
Kildare?
"It's enough to be near her," he said to himself with a little sigh,
looking once more through the darkness toward Storm.
With Farwell and Channing, too, on their way home, some glow of that
good talk lingered.
"There's something about the chap--I don't know what it is," murmured
Farwell, vaguely.
Channing nodded comprehension. "It's that you want him to like you,
somehow. You want him to--respect you, I think."
Farwell looked around at him mockingly. "What a novel and virtuous
sentiment! You'll be getting religion next." He added after a moment,
"Can't say you're going about it exactly the right way, if you really
want the dominie's respect, you know."
Channing flushed. "You mean the girl? It's not his girl, Morty--it's the
mother he's after. If it were the girl--damned if I wouldn't get out of
the way and give him a clear field!"
Farwell jeered. "Yes, you would! With the quarry in full view?"
"In full pursuit, you mean," said Channing, ruefully. "I wish I could
make you understand that this affair isn't entirely of my own seeking,
Farwell!"
His companion yawned. "Awkward to be so damned fascinating, isn't it?
Look out--one of these days some of your fair friends are going to band
themselves together, and catch you unawares, and marry you, my boy."
"One isn't a Mormon, worse luck," grunted the other.