THE TRIALS OF AN HONOURABLE
It was about this time that Mr. Humphrey Crewe was transformed, by one of
those subtle and inexplicable changes which occur in American politics,
into the Honourable Humphrey Crewe. And, as interesting bits of news
about important people are bound to leak out, it became known in Leith
that he had subscribed to what is known as a Clipping Bureau. Two weeks
after the day he left Mr. Braden's presence in the Ripton House the
principal newspapers of the country contained the startling announcement
that the well-known summer colony of Leith was to be represented in the
State Legislature by a millionaire. The Republican nomination, which Mr.
Crewe had secured, was equivalent to an election.
For a little time after that Mr. Crewe, although naturally an important
and busy man, scarcely had time to nod to his friends on the road.
"Poor dear Humphrey," said Mrs. Pomfret, "who was so used to dropping in
to dinner, hasn't had a moment to write me a line to thank me for the
statesman's diary I bought for him in London this spring. They're in that
new red leather, and Aylestone says he finds his so useful. I dropped in
at Wedderburn to-day to see if I could be of any help, and the poor man
was buttonholed by two reporters who had come all the way from New York
to see him. I hope he won't overdo it."
It was true. Mr. Crewe was to appear in the Sunday supplements. "Are our
Millionaires entering Politics?" Mr. Crewe, with his usual gracious
hospitality, showed the reporters over the place, and gave them
suggestions as to the best vantage-points in which to plant their
cameras. He himself was at length prevailed upon to be taken in a rough
homespun suit, and with a walking-stick in his hand, appraising with a
knowing eye a flock of his own sheep. Pressed a little, he consented to
relate something of the systematic manner in which he had gone about to
secure this nomination: how he had visited in person the homes of his
fellow-townsmen. "I knew them all, anyway," he is quoted as saying; "we
have had the pleasantest of relationships during the many years I have
been a resident of Leith."
"Beloved of his townspeople," this part of the article was headed. No,
these were not Mr. Crewe's words--he was too modest for that. When urged
to give the name of one of his townsmen who might deal with this and
other embarrassing topics, Mr. Ball was mentioned. "Beloved of his
townspeople" was Mr. Ball's phrase. "Although a multi-millionaire, no man
is more considerate of the feelings and the rights of his more humble
neighbours. Send him to the Legislature! We'd send him to the United
States Senate if we could. He'll land there, anyway." Such was a random
estimate (Mr. Ball's) the reporters gathered on their way to Ripton. Mr.
Crewe did not hesitate to say that the prosperity of the farmers had
risen as a result of his labours at Wedderburn where the most improved
machinery and methods were adopted. His efforts to raise the
agricultural, as well as the moral and intellectual, tone of the
community had been unceasing.
Then followed an intelligent abstract of the bills he was to introduce
--the results of a progressive and statesmanlike brain. There was an
account of him as a methodical and painstaking business man whose
suggestions to the boards of directors of which he was a member had been
invaluable. The article ended with a list of the clubs to which he
belonged, of the societies which he had organized and of those of which
he was a member,--and it might have been remarked by a discerning reader
that most of these societies were State affairs. Finally there was a pen
portrait of an Apollo Belvidere who wore the rough garb of a farmer (on
the days when the press was present).
Mr. Crewe's incessant trials, which would have taxed a less rugged
nature, did not end here. About five o'clock one afternoon a
pleasant-appearing gentleman with a mellifluous voice turned up who
introduced himself as ex (State) Senator Grady. The senator was from
Newcastle, that city out of the mysterious depths of which so many
political stars have arisen. Mr. Crewe cancelled a long-deferred
engagement with Mrs. Pomfret, and invited the senator to stay to dinner;
the senator hesitated, explained that he was just passing through Ripton,
and, as it was a pleasant afternoon, had called to "pay his respects";
but Mr. Crewe's well-known hospitality would accept no excuses. Mr. Crewe
opened a box of cigars which he had bought especially for the taste of
State senators and a particular grade of Scotch whiskey.
They talked politics for four hours. Who would be governor? The senator
thought Asa Gray would. The railroad was behind him, Mr. Crewe observed
knowingly. The senator remarked that Mr. Crewe was no gosling. Mr. Crewe,
as political-geniuses will, asked as many questions as the emperor of
Germany--pertinent questions about State politics. Senator Grady was
tremendously impressed with his host's programme of bills, and went over
them so painstakingly that Mr. Crewe became more and more struck with
Senator Grady's intelligence. The senator told Mr. Crewe that just such a
man as he was needed to pull the State out of the rut into which she had
fallen. Mr. Crewe said that he hoped to find such enlightened men in the
Legislature as the senator. The senator let it be known that he had read
the newspaper articles, and had remarked that Mr. Crewe was close to the
president of the Northeastern Railroads.
"Such a man as you," said the senator, looking at the remainder of the
Scotch whiskey, "will have the railroad behind you, sure."
"One more drink," said Mr. Crewe.
"I must go," said Mr. Grady, pouring it out, but that reminds me. It
comes over me sudden-like, as I sit here, that you certainly ought to be
in the new encyclopeedie of the prominent men of the State. But sure you
have received an application."
"It is probable that my secretary has one," said Mr. Crewe, "but he
hasn't called it to my attention."
"You must get in that book, Mr. Crewe," said the senator, with an intense
earnestness which gave the impression of alarm; "after what you've told
me to-night I'll see to it myself that you get in. It may be that I've
got some of the sample pages here, if I haven't left them at home," said
Mr. Grady, fumbling in an ample inside pocket, and drawing forth a
bundle. "Sure, here they are. Ain't that luck for you? Listen! 'Asa P.
Gray was born on the third of August, eighteen forty-seven, the seventh
son of a farmer. See, there's a space in the end they left to fill up
when he's elicted governor! Here's another. The Honourable Hilary Vane
comes from one of the oldest Puritan families in the State, the Vanes of
Camden Street--' Here's another. 'The Honourable Brush Bascom of Putnam
County is the son of poor but honourable parents--' Look at the picture
of him. Ain't that a handsome steel-engravin' of the gentleman?"
Mr. Crewe gazed contemplatively at the proof, but was too busy with his
own thoughts to reflect that there was evidently not much poor or
honourable about Mr. Bascom now.
"Who's publishing this?" he asked.
"Fogarty and Company; sure they're the best publishers in the State, as
you know, Mr. Crewe. They have the State printing. Wasn't it fortunate I
had the proofs with me? Tim Fogarty slipped them into me pocket when I
was leavin' Newcastle. 'The book is goin' to press the day after
eliction,' says he, 'John,' says he, 'you know I always rely on your
judgment, and if you happen to think of anybody between now and then who
ought to go in, you'll notify me,' says he. When I read the bills
to-night, and saw the scope of your work, it came over me in a flash that
Humphrey Crewe was the man they left out. You'll get a good man to write
your life, and what you done for the town and State, and all them
societies and bills, won't you? 'Twould be a thousand pities not to have
it right."
"How much does it cost?" Mr. Crewe inquired.
"Sure I forgot to ask Tim Fogarty. Mebbe he has it here. I signed one
myself, but I couldn't afford the steelengravin'. Yes, he slipped one in.
Two hundred dollars for a two-page biography, and, three hundred for the
steelengravin'. Five hundred dollars. I didn't know it was so cheap as
that," exclaimed the senator, "and everybody in the State havin' to own
one in self-protection. You don't happen to have a pen about you?"
Mr. Crewe waved the senator towards his own desk, and Mr. Grady filled
out the blank.
"It's lucky we are that I didn't drop in after eliction, and the book in
press," he remarked; "and I hope you'll give him a good photograph.
This's for you, I'll take this to Tim myself," and he handed the pen for
Mr. Crewe to sign with.
Mr. Crewe read over the agreement carefully, as a business man should,
before putting his signature to it. And then the senator, with renewed
invitations for Mr. Crewe to call on him when he came to Newcastle, took
his departure. Afterwards Mr. Crewe remained so long in reflection that
his man Waters became alarmed, and sought him out and interrupted his
revery.
The next morning Mrs. Pomfret, who was merely "driving by" with her
daughter Alice and Beatrice Chillingham, spied Mr. Crewe walking about
among the young trees he was growing near the road, and occasionally
tapping them with his stout stick. She poked her coachman in the back and
cried:--"Humphrey, you're such an important man now that I despair of
ever seeing you again. What was the matter last night?"
"A politician from Newcastle," answered Mr. Crewe, continuing to tap the
trees, and without so much as a glance at Alice.
"Well, if you're as important as this before you're elected, I can't
think what it will be afterwards," Mrs. Pomfret lamented. "Poor dear
Humphrey is so conscientious. When can you come, Humphrey?"
"Don't know," said Mr. Crewe; "I'll try to come tonight, but I may be
stopped again. Here's Waters now."
The three people in Mrs. Pomfret's victoria were considerably impressed
to see the dignified Waters hurrying down the slope from the house
towards them. Mr. Crewe continued to tap the trees, but drew a little
nearer the carriage.
"If you please, sir," said Waters, "there's a telephone call for you from
Newcastle. It's urgent, sir."
"Who is it?"
"They won't give their names, sir."
"All right," said Mr. Crewe, and with a grin which spoke volumes for the
manner in which he was harassed he started towards the house--in no great
hurry, however. Reaching the instrument, and saying "Hello" in his
usually gracious manner, he was greeted by a voice with a decided
Hibernian-American accent.
"Am I talkin' to Mr. Crewe?"
"Yes."
"Mr. Humphrey Crewe?"
"Yes--yes, of course you are. Who are you?"
"I'm the president of the Paradise Benevolent and Military Association,
Mr. Crewe. Boys that work in the mills, you know," continued the voice,
caressingly. "Sure you've heard of us. We're five hundred strong, and all
of us good Republicans as the president. We're to have our annual fall
outing the first of October in Finney Grove, and we'd like to have you
come down."
"The first of October?" said Mr. Crewe. "I'll consult my engagement
book."
"We'd like to have a good picture of you in our programme, Mr. Crewe. We
hope you'll oblige us. You're such an important figure in State politics
now you'd ought to have a full page."
There was a short silence.
"What does it cost?" Mr. Crewe demanded.
"Sure," said the caressing voice of the president, "whatever you like."
"I'll send you a check for five dollars, and a picture," said Mr. Crewe.
The answer to this was a hearty laugh, which the telephone reproduced
admirably. The voice now lost a little of its caressing note and partook
of a harder quality.
"You're a splendid humorist, Mr. Crewe. Five dollars wouldn't pay for the
plate and the paper. A gentleman like you could give us twenty-five, and
never know it was gone. You won't be wanting to stop in the Legislature,
Mr. Crewe, and we remember our friends in Newcastle."
"Very well, I'll see what I can do. Good-by, I've got an engagement,"
said Mr. Crewe, and slammed down the telephone. He seated himself in his
chair, and the pensive mood so characteristic (we are told) of statesmen
came over him once more.
While these and other conferences and duties too numerous to mention were
absorbing Mr. Crewe, he was not too busy to bear in mind the pleasure of
those around him who had not received such an abundance of the world's
blessings as he. The townspeople of Leith were about to bestow on him
their greatest gift. What could he do to show his appreciation? Wrestling
with this knotty problem, a brilliant idea occurred to him,--he would
have a garden-party: invite everybody in town, and admit them to the
sanctities of Wedderburn; yes, even of Wedderburn house, that they might
behold with their own eyes the carved ivory elephants and other contents
of glass cabinets which reeked of the Sunday afternoons of youth. Being a
man of action, Mr. Pardriff was summoned at once from Leith and asked for
his lowest price on eight hundred and fifty invitations and a notice of
the party in the Ripton Record.
"Goin' to invite Democrats, too?" demanded Mr. Pardriff, glancing at the
check-list.
"Everybody," said Mr. Crewe, with unparalleled generosity. "I won't draw
any distinction between friends and enemies. They're all neighbours."
"And some of 'em might, by accident, vote the Republican ticket," Mr.
Pardriff retorted, narrowing his eyes a little.
Mr. Crewe evidently thought this a negligible suggestion, for he did not
reply to it, but presently asked for the political news in Ripton.
"Well," said Mr. Pardriff, "you know they tried to get Austen Vane to run
for State senator, don't you?"
"Vane Why, he ain't a full-fledged lawyer yet. I've hired him in an
unimportant case. Who asked him to run?"
"Young Tom Gaylord and a delegation."
"He couldn't have got it," said Mr. Crewe.
"I don't know," said Mr. Pardriff, "he might have given Billings a hustle
for the nomination."
"You supported Billings, I noticed," said Mr. Crewe.
Mr. Pardriff winked an eye.
"I'm not ready to walk the ties when I go to Newcastle," he remarked,
"and Nat ain't quite bankrupt yet. The Gaylords," continued Mr. Pardriff,
who always took the cynical view of a man of the world, "have had some
row with the Northeastern over lumber shipments. I understand they're
goin' to buck 'em for a franchise in the next Legislature, just to make
it lively. The Gaylords ain't exactly poverty-stricken, but they might as
well try to move Sawanec Mountain as the Northeastern."
It was a fact that young Tom Gaylord had approached Austen Vane with a
"delegation" to request him to be a candidate for the Republican
nomination for the State senate in his district against the railroad
candidate and Austen's late opponent, the Honourable Nat Billings. It was
a fact also that Austen had invited the delegation to sit down, although
there were only two chairs, and that a wrestling match had ensued with
young Tom, in the progress of which one chair had been broken. Young Tom
thought it was time to fight the railroad, and perceived in Austen the
elements of a rebel leader. Austen had undertaken to throw young Tom out
of a front window, which was a large, old-fashioned one,--and after
Herculean efforts had actually got him on the ledge, when something in
the street caught his eye and made him desist abruptly. The something was
the vision of a young woman in a brown linen suit seated in a runabout
and driving a horse almost as handsome as Pepper.
When the delegation, after exhausting their mental and physical powers of
persuasion, had at length taken their departure in disgust, Austen opened
mechanically a letter which had very much the appearance of an
advertisement, and bearing a one-cent stamp. It announced that a
garden-party would take place at Wedderburn, the home of the Honourable
Humphrey Crewe, at a not very distant date, and the honour of the
bearer's presence was requested. Refreshments would be served, and the
Ripton Band would dispense music. Below, in small print, were minute
directions where to enter, where to hitch your team, and where to go out.
Austen was at a loss to know what fairy godmother had prompted Mr. Crewe
to send him an invitation, the case of the injured horse not having
advanced with noticeable rapidity. Nevertheless, the prospect of the
garden-party dawned radiantly for him above what had hitherto been a
rather gloomy horizon. Since the afternoon he had driven Victoria to the
Hammonds' he had had daily debates with an imaginary man in his own
likeness who, to the detriment of his reading of law, sat across his
table and argued with him. The imaginary man was unprincipled, and had no
dignity, but he had such influence over Austen Vane that he had induced
him to drive twice within sight of Fairview gate, when Austen Vane had
turned round again. The imaginary man was for going to call on her and
letting subsequent events take care of themselves; Austen Vane, had an
uncomfortable quality of reducing a matter first of all to its simplest
terms. He knew that Mr. Flint's views were as fixed, ineradicable, and
unchangeable as an epitaph cut in a granite monument; he felt (as Mr.
Flint had) that their first conversation had been but a forerunner of, a
strife to come between them; and add to this the facts that Mr. Flint was
very rich and Austen Vane poor, that Victoria's friends were not his
friends, and that he had grave doubts that the interest she had evinced
in him sprang from any other incentive than a desire to have
communication with various types of humanity, his hesitation as to
entering Mr. Flint's house was natural enough.
It was of a piece with Mr. Crewe's good fortune of getting what he wanted
that the day of the garden-party was the best that September could do in
that country, which is to say that it was very beautiful. A pregnant
stillness enwrapped the hills, a haze shot with gold dust, like the
filmiest of veils, softened the distant purple and the blue-black shadows
under the pines. Austen awoke from his dream in this enchanted borderland
to find himself in a long line of wagons filled with people in their
Sunday clothes,--the men in black, and the young women in white, with gay
streamers, wending their way through the rear-entrance drive of
Wedderburn, where one of Mr. Crewe's sprucest employees was taking up the
invitation cards like tickets,--a precaution to prevent the rowdy element
from Ripton coming and eating up the refreshments. Austen obediently tied
Pepper in a field, as he was directed, and made his way by a path through
the woods towards the house, where the Ripton Band could be heard playing
the second air in the programme, "Don't you wish you'd Waited?"
For a really able account of that memorable entertainment see the Ripton
Record of that week, for we cannot hope to vie with Mr. Pardriff when his
heart is really in his work. How describe the noble figure of Mr. Crewe
as it burst upon Austen when he rounded the corner of the house? Clad in
a rough-and-ready manner, with a Gladstone collar to indicate the newly
acquired statesmanship, and fairly radiating geniality, Mr. Crewe stood
at the foot of the steps while the guests made the circuit of the
driveway; and they carefully avoided, in obedience to a warning sign, the
grass circle in the centre. As man and wife confronted him, Mr. Crewe
greeted them in hospitable but stentorian tones that rose above the
strains of "Don't you wish you'd Waited?" It was Mr. Ball who introduced
his townspeople to the great man who was to represent them.
"How are you?" said Mr. Crewe, with his eyes on the geraniums. "Mr. and
Mrs. Perley Wright, eh? Make yourselves at home. Everything's free
--you'll find the refreshments on the back porch--just have an eye to the
signs posted round, that's all." And Mr. and Mrs. Perley Wright,
overwhelmed by such a welcome, would pass on into a back eddy of
neighbours, where they would stick, staring at a sign requesting them
please not to pick the flowers.
"Can't somebody stir 'em up?" Mr. Crewe shouted in an interval when the
band had stopped to gather strength for a new effort. "Can't somebody
move 'em round to see the cows and what's in the house and the automobile
and the horses? Move around the driveway, please. It's so hot here you
can't breathe. Some of you wanted to see what was in the house. Now's
your chance."
This graceful appeal had some temporary effect, but the congestion soon
returned, when a man of the hour appeared, a man whose genius scattered
the groups and who did more to make the party a success than any single
individual,--Mr. Hamilton Tooting, in a glorious white silk necktie with
purple flowers.
"I'll handle 'em, Mr. Crewe," he said; "a little brains'll start 'em
goin'. Come along here, Mr. Wright, and I'll show you the best cows this
side of the Hudson Riverall pedigreed prize winners. Hello, Aust, you
take hold and get the wimmen-folks interested in the cabinets. You know
where they are."
"There's a person with some sense," remarked Mrs. Pomfret, who had been
at a little distance among a group of summer-resident ladies and watching
the affair with shining eyes. "I'll help. Come, Edith; come, Victoria
where's Victoria?--and dear Mrs. Chillingham. We American women are so
deplorably lacking in this kind of experience. Alice, take some of the
women into the garden. I'm going to interest that dear, benevolent man
who looks so helpless, and doing his best to have a good time."
The dear, benevolent man chanced to be Mr. Job Braden, who was standing
somewhat apart with his hands in his pockets. He did not move as Mrs.
Pomfret approached him, holding her glasses to her eyes.
"How are you?" exclaimed that lady, extending a white-gloved hand with a
cordiality that astonished her friends. "It is so pleasant to see you
here, Mr.--Mr.--"
"How be you?" said Mr. Braden, taking her fingers in the gingerly manner
he would have handled one of Mr. Crewe's priceless curios. The giraffe
Mr. Barnum had once brought to Ripton was not half as interesting as this
immaculate and mysterious production of foreign dressmakers and French
maids, but he refrained from betraying it. His eye rested on the
lorgnette.
"Near-sighted, be you?" he inquired,--a remark so unexpected that for the
moment Mrs. Pomfret was deprived of speech.
"I manage to see better with--with these," she gasped, "when we get old
--you know."
"You hain't old," said Mr. Braden, gallantly. "If you be," he added, his
eye travelling up and down the Parisian curves, I wouldn't have suspected
it--not a mite."
"I'm afraid you are given to flattery, Mr.--Mr.--" she replied hurriedly.
"Whom have I the pleasure of speaking to?"
"Job Braden's my name," he answered, "but you have the advantage of me."
"How?" demanded the thoroughly bewildered Mrs. Pomfret.
"I hain't heard your name," he said.
"Oh, I'm Mrs. Pomfret--a very old friend of Mr. Crewe's. Whenever he has
his friends with him, like this, I come over and help him. It is so
difficult for a bachelor to entertain, Mr. Braden."
"Well," said Mr. Braden, bending alarmingly near her ear, "there's one
way out of it."
"What's that?" said Mrs. Pomfret.
"Git married," declared Mr. Braden.
"How very clever you are, Mr. Braden! I wish poor dear Mr. Crewe would
get married--a wife could take so many burdens off his shoulders. You
don't know Mr. Crewe very well, do you?"
"Callate to--so so," said Mr. Braden.
Mrs. Pomfret was at sea again.
"I mean, do you see him often?"
"Seen him once," said Mr. Braden. "G-guess that's enough."
"You're a shrewd judge of human nature, Mr. Braden," she replied, tapping
him on the shoulder with the lorgnette, "but you can have no idea how
good he is--how unceasingly he works for others. He is not a man who
gives much expression to his feelings, as no doubt you have discovered,
but if you knew him as I do, you would realize how much affection he has
for his country neighbours and how much he has their welfare at heart."
"Loves 'em--does he--loves 'em?"
"He is like an English gentleman in his sense of responsibility," said
Mrs. Pomfret; "over there, you know, it is a part of a country
gentleman's duty to improve the condition of his--his neighbours. And
then Mr. Crewe is so fond of his townspeople that he couldn't resist
doing this for them," and she indicated with a sweep of her eyeglasses
the beatitude with which they were surrounded.
"Wahn't no occasion to," said Mr. Braden.
"What!" cried Mrs. Pomfret, who had been walking on ice for some time.
"This hain't England--is it? Hain't England?"
"No," she admitted, "but--"
"Hain't England," said Mr. Braden, and leaned forward until he was within
a very few inches of her pearl ear-ring. "He'll be chose all
right--d-don't fret--he'll be chose."
"My dear Mr. Braden, I've no doubt of it--Mr. Crewe's so popular," she
cried, removing her ear-ring abruptly from the danger zone. "Do make
yourself at home," she added, and retired from Mr. Braden's company a
trifle disconcerted,--a new experience for Mrs. Pomfret. She wondered
whether all country people were like Mr. Braden, but decided, after
another experiment or two, that he was an original. More than once during
the afternoon she caught sight of him, beaming upon the festivities
around him. But she did not renew the conversation.
To Austen Vane, wandering about the grounds, Mr. Crewe's party presented
a sociological problem of no small interest. Mr. Crewe himself interested
him, and he found himself speculating how far a man would go who charged
the fastnesses of the politicians with a determination not to be denied
and a bank account to be reckoned with. Austen talked to many of the
Leith farmers whom he had known from boyhood, thanks to his custom of
roaming the hills; they were for the most part honest men whose
occupation in life was the first thought, and they were content to leave
politics to Mr. Braden--that being his profession. To the most
intelligent of these Mr. Crewe's garden-party was merely the wanton whim
of a millionaire. It was an open secret to them that Job Braden for
reasons of his own had chosen Mr. Crewe to represent them, and they were
mildly amused at the efforts of Mrs. Pomfret and her assistants to secure
votes which were as certain as the sun's rising on the morrow.
It was some time before Austen came upon the object of his search--though
scarce admitting to himself that it had an object. In greeting him, after
inquiring about his railroad case, Mr. Crewe had indicated with a wave of
his hand the general direction of the refreshments; but it was not until
Austen had tried in all other quarters that he made his way towards the
porch where the lemonade and cake and sandwiches were. It was, after all,
the most popular place, though to his mind the refreshments had little to
do with its popularity. From the outskirts of the crowd he perceived
Victoria presiding over the punchbowl that held the lemonade. He liked to
think of her as Victoria; the name had no familiarity for him, but seemed
rather to enhance the unattainable quality of her.
Surrounding Victoria were several clean-looking, freckled, and tanned
young men of undergraduate age wearing straw hats with coloured ribbons,
who showed every eagerness to obey and even anticipate the orders she did
not hesitate to give them. Her eye seemed continually on the alert for
those of Mr. Crewe's guests who were too bashful to come forward, and
discerning them she would send one of her lieutenants forward with
supplies. Sometimes she would go herself to the older people; and once,
perceiving a tired woman holding a baby (so many brought babies, being
unable to leave them), Victoria impulsively left her post and seized the
woman by the arm.
"Do come and sit down," she cried; "there's a chair beside me. And oh,
what a nice baby! Won't you let me hold him?"
"Why, yes, ma'am," said the woman, looking up at Victoria with grateful,
patient eyes, and then with awe at what seemed to her the priceless
embroidery on Victoria's waist, "won't he spoil your dress?"
"Bless him, no," said Victoria, poking her finger into a dimple--for he
was smiling at her. "What if he does?" and forthwith she seized him in
her arms and bore him to the porch, amidst the laughter of those who
beheld her, and sat him down on her knee in front of the lemonade bowl,
the tired mother beside her. "Will a little lemonade hurt him? Just a
very, very little, you know?"
"Why, no, ma'am," said the mother.
"And just a teeny bit of cake," begged Victoria, daintily breaking off a
piece, while the baby gurgled and snatched for it. "Do tell me how old he
is, and how many more you have."
"He's eleven months on the twenty-seventh," said the mother, "and I've
got four more." She sighed, her eyes wandering back to the embroidery.
"What between them and the housework and the butter makin', it hain't
easy. Be you married?"
"No," said Victoria, laughing and blushing a little.
"You'll make a good wife for somebody," said the woman. "I hope you'll
get a good man."
"I hope so, too," said Victoria, blushing still deeper amidst the
laughter, "but there doesn't seem to be much chance of it, and good men
are very scarce."
"I guess you're right," said the mother, soberly. "Not but what my man's
good enough, but he don't seem to get along, somehow. The farm's wore
out, and the mortgage comes around so regular."
"Where do you live?" asked Victoria, suddenly growing serious.
"Fitch's place. 'Tain't very far from the Four Corners, on the Avalon
road."
"And you are Mrs. Fitch?"
"Callate to be," said the mother. "If it ain't askin' too much, I'd like
to know your name."
"I'm Victoria Flint. I live not very far from the Four Corners--that is,
about eight miles. May I come over and see you sometime?"
Although Victoria said this very simply, the mother's eyes widened until
one might almost have said they expressed a kind of terror.
"Land sakes alive, be you Mr. Flint's daughter? I might have knowed it
from the lace--that dress must have cost a fortune. But I didn't think to
find you so common."
Victoria did not smile. She had heard the word "common" so used before,
and knew that it was meant for a compliment, and she turned to the woman
with a very expressive light in her eyes.
"I will come to see you--this very week," she said. And just then her
glance, seemingly drawn in a certain direction, met that of a tall young
man which had been fixed upon her during the whole of this scene. She
coloured again, abruptly handed the baby back to his mother, and rose.
"I'm neglecting all these people," she said, "but do sit there and rest
yourself and--have some more lemonade."
She bowed to Austen, and smiled a little as she filled the glasses, but
she did not beckon him. She gave no further sign of her knowledge of his
presence until he stood beside her--and then she looked up at him.
"I have been looking for you, Miss Flint," he said.
"I suppose a man would never think of trying the obvious places first,"
she replied. "Hastings, don't you see that poor old woman over there? She
looks so thirsty--give her this."
The boy addressed, with a glance at Austen, did as he was bid, and she
sent off a second on another errand.
"Let me help," said Austen, seizing the cake; and being seized at the
same time, by an unusual and inexplicable tremor of shyness, thrust it at
the baby.
"Oh, he can't have anymore; do you want to kill him?" cried Victoria,
seizing the plate, and adding mischievously, "I don't believe you're of
very much use--after all!"
"Then it's time I learned," said Austen. "Here's Mr. Jenney. I'm sure
he'll have a piece."
"Well," said Mr. Jenney, the same Mr. Jenney of the apple orchard, but
holding out a horny hand with unmistakable warmth, "how be you, Austen?"
Looking about him, Mr. Jenney put his hand to his mouth, and added,
"Didn't expect to see you trailin' on to this here kite." He took a piece
of cake between his thumb and forefinger and glanced bashfully at
Victoria.
"Have some lemonade, Mr. Jenney? Do," she urged.
"Well, I don't care if I do," he said, "just a little mite." He did not
attempt to stop her as she filled the glass to the brim, but continued to
regard her with a mixture of curiosity and admiration. "Seen you nursin'
the baby and makin' folks at home. Guess you have the knack of it
better'n some I could mention."
This was such a palpable stroke at their host that Victoria laughed, and
made haste to turn the subject from herself.
"Mr. Vane seems to be an old friend of yours," she said.
"Why," said Mr. Jenney, laying his hand on Austen's shoulder, "I callate
he is. Austen's broke in more'n one of my colts afore he went West and
shot that feller. He's as good a judge of horse-flesh as any man in this
part of the State. Hear Tom Gaylord and the boys wanted him to be State
senator."
"Why didn't you accept, Mr. Vane?"
"Because I don't think the boys could have elected me," answered Austen,
laughing.
"He's as popular a man as there is in the county," declared Mr. Jenney.
He was a mite wild as a boy, but sence he's sobered down and won that
case against the railrud, he could get any office he'd a mind to. He's
always adoin' little things for folks, Austen is."
"Did--did that case against the railroad make him so popular?" asked
Victoria, glancing at Austen's broad back--for he had made his escape
with the cake.
"I guess it helped considerable," Mr. Jenney admitted.
"Why?" asked Victoria.
"Well, it was a fearless thing to do--plumb against his own interests
with old Hilary Vane. Austen's a bright lawyer, and I have heard it said
he was in line for his father's place as counsel."
"Do--do people dislike the railroad?"
Mr. Jenney rubbed his beard thoughtfully. He began to wonder who this
young woman was, and a racial caution seized him.
"Well," he said, "folks has an idea the railrud runs this State to suit
themselves. I guess they hain't far wrong. I've be'n to the Legislature
and seen some signs of it. Why, Hilary Vane himself has charge of the
most considerable part of the politics. Who be you?" Mr. Jenney demanded
suddenly.
"I'm Victoria Flint," said Victoria.
"Godfrey!" exclaimed Mr. Jenney, "you don't say so! I might have known
it--seen you on the rud more than once. But I don't know all you rich
folks apart. Wouldn't have spoke so frank if I'd knowed who you was."
"I'm glad you did, Mr. Jenney," she answered. "I wanted to know what
people think."
"Well, it's almighty complicated," said Mr. Jenney, shaking his head. "I
don't know by rights what to think. As long as I've said what I have,
I'll say this: that the politicians is all for the railrud, and I hain't
got a mite of use for the politicians. I'll vote for a feller like Austen
Vane every time, if he'll run, and I know other folks that will."
After Mr. Jenney had left her, Victoria stood motionless, gazing off into
the haze, until she was startled by the voice of Hastings Weare beside
her.
"Say, Victoria, who is that man?" he asked.
"What man?"
Hastings nodded towards Austen, who, with a cake basket in his hand,
stood chatting with a group of country people on the edge of the porch.
"Oh, that man!" said Victoria. "His name's Austen Vane, and he's a lawyer
in Ripton."
"All I can say is," replied Hastings, with a light in his face, "he's one
I'd like to tie to. I'll bet he could whip any four men you could pick
out."
Considering that Hastings had himself proposed--although in a very mild
form--more than once to Victoria, this was generous.
"I daresay he could," she agreed absently.
"It isn't only the way he's built," persisted Hastings, "he looks as if
he were going to be somebody some day. Introduce me to him, will you?"
"Certainly," said Victoria. "Mr. Vane," she called, "I want to introduce
an admirer, Mr. Hastings Weare."
"I just wanted to know you," said Hastings, reddening, "and Victoria--I
mean Miss Flint--said she'd introduce me."
"I'm much obliged to her," said Austen, smiling.
"Are you in politics?" asked Hastings.
"I'm afraid not," answered Austen, with a glance at Victoria.
"You're not helping Humphrey Crewe, are you?"
"No," said Austen, and added with an illuminating smile, "Mr. Crewe
doesn't need any help."
"I'm glad you're not," exclaimed the downright Hastings, with palpable
relief in his voice that an idol had not been shattered. "I think
Humphrey's a fakir, and all this sort of thing tommyrot. He wouldn't get
my vote by giving me lemonade and cake and letting me look at his cows.
If you ever run for office, I'd like to cast it for you. My father is
only a summer resident, but since he has gone out of business he stays
here till Christmas, and I'll be twenty-one in a year."
Austen had ceased to smile; he was looking into the boy's eyes with that
serious expression which men and women found irresistible.
"Thank you, Mr. Weare," he said simply.
Hastings was suddenly overcome with the shyness of youth. He held out his
hand, and said, "I'm awfully glad to have met you," and fled.
Victoria, who had looked on with a curious mixture of feelings, turned to
Austen.
"That was a real tribute," she said. "Is this the way you affect
everybody whom you meet?"
They were standing almost alone. The sun was nearing the western hills
beyond the river, and people had for some time been wending their way
towards the field where the horses were tied. He did not answer her
question, but asked one instead.
"Will you let me drive you home?"
"Do you think you deserve to, after the shameful manner in which you have
behaved?"
"I'm quite sure that I don't deserve to," he answered, still looking down
at her.
"If you did deserve to, being a woman, I probably shouldn't let you,"
said Victoria, flashing a look upwards; "as it is, you may."
His face lighted, but she halted in the grass, with her hands behind her,
and stared at him with a puzzled expression.
"I'm sure you're a dangerous man," she declared. "First you take in poor
little Hastings, and now you're trying to take me in."
"Then I wish I were still more dangerous," he laughed, "for apparently I
haven't succeeded."
"I want to talk to you seriously," said Victoria; "that is the only
reason I'm permitting you to drive me home."
"I am devoutly thankful for the reason then," he said,--"my horse is tied
in the field."
"And aren't you going to say good-by to your host and hostess?"
"Hostess?" he repeated, puzzled.
"Hostesses," she corrected herself, "Mrs. Pomfret and Alice. I thought
you had eyes in your head," she added, with a fleeting glance at them.
"Is Crewe engaged to Miss Pomfret?" he asked.
"Are all men simpletons?" said Victoria. "He doesn't know it yet, but he
is."
"I think I'd know it, if I were," said Austen, with an emphasis that made
her laugh.
"Sometimes fish don't know they're in a net until--until the morning
after," said Victoria. "That has a horribly dissipated sound--hasn't it?
I know to a moral certainty that Mr. Crewe will eventually lead Miss
Pomfret away from the altar. At present," she could not refrain from
adding, "he thinks he's in love with some one else."
"Who?"
"It doesn't matter," she replied. "Humphrey's perfectly happy, because he
believes most women are in love with him, and he's making up his mind in
that magnificent, thorough way of his whether she is worthy to be endowed
with his heart and hand, his cows, and all his stocks and bonds. He
doesn't know he's going to marry Alice. It almost makes one a Calvinist,
doesn't it. He's predestined, but perfectly happy."
"Who is he in love with?" demanded Austen, ungrammatically.
"I'm going to say good-by to him. I'll meet you in the field, if you
don't care to come. It's only manners, after all, although the lemonade's
all gone and I haven't had a drop."
"I'll go along too," he said.
"Aren't you afraid of Mrs. Pomfret?"
"Not a bit!"
"I am," said Victoria, "but I think you'd better come just the same."
Around the corner of the house they found them,--Mr. Crewe urging the
departing guests to remain, and not to be bashful in the future about
calling.
"We don't always have lemonade and cake," he was saying, "but you can be
sure of a welcome, just the same. Good-by, Vane, glad you came. Did they
show you through the stables? Did you see the mate to the horse I lost?
Beauty, isn't he? Stir 'em up and get the money. I guess we won't see
much of each other politically. You're anti-railroad. I don't believe
that tack'll work--we can't get along without corporations, you know. You
ought to talk to Flint. I'll give you a letter of introduction to him. I
don't know what I'd have done without that man Tooting in your father's
office. He's a wasted genius in Ripton. What? Good-by, you'll find your
wagon, I guess. Well, Victoria, where have you been keeping yourself?
I've been so busy I haven't had time to look for you. You're going to
stay to dinner, and Hastings, and all the people who have helped."
"No, I'm not," answered Victoria, with a glance at Austen, before whom
this announcement was so delicately made, "I'm going home."
"But when am I to see you?" cried Mr. Crewe, as near genuine alarm as he
ever got. You never let me see you. I was going to drive you home in the
motor by moonlight."
"We all know that you're the most original person, Victoria," said Mrs.
Pomfret, "full of whims and strange fancies," she added, with the only
brief look at Austen she had deigned to bestow on him. "It never pays to
count on you for twenty-four hours. I suppose you're off on another wild
expedition."
"I think I've earned the right to it," said Victoria;--I've poured
lemonade for Humphrey's constituents the whole afternoon. And besides, I
never said I'd stay for dinner. I'm going home. Father's leaving for
California in the morning."
"He'd better stay at home and look after her," Mrs. Pomfret remarked,
when Victoria was out of hearing.
Since Mrs. Harry Haynes ran off, one can never tell what a woman will do.
It wouldn't surprise me a bit if Victoria eloped with a handsome nobody
like that. Of course he's after her money, but he wouldn't get it, not if
I know Augustus Flint."
"Is he handsome?" said Mr. Crewe, as though the idea were a new one.
"Great Scott, I don't believe she gives him a thought. She's only going
as far as the field with him. She insisted on leaving her horse there
instead of putting him in the stable."
"Catch Alice going as far as the field with him," said Mrs. Pomfret, "but
I've done my duty. It's none of my affair."
In the meantime Austen and Victoria had walked on some distance in
silence.
"I have an idea with whom Mr. Crewe is in love," he said at length.
"So have I," replied Victoria, promptly. "Humphrey's in love with
himself. All he desires in a wife--if he desires one--is an inanimate and
accommodating looking-glass, in whom he may see what he conceives to be
his own image daily. James, you may take the mare home. I'm going to
drive with Mr. Vane."
She stroked Pepper's nose while Austen undid the hitch-rope from around
his neck.
"You and I are getting to be friends, aren't we, Pepper?" she asked, as
the horse, with quivering nostrils, thrust his head into her hand. Then
she sprang lightly into the buggy by Austen's side. The manner of these
acts and the generous courage with which she defied opinion appealed to
him so strongly that his heart was beating faster than Pepper's
hoof-beats on the turf of the pasture.
"You are very good to come with me," he said gravely, when they had
reached the road; "perhaps I ought not to have asked you."
"Why?" she asked, with one of her direct looks.
"It was undoubtedly selfish," he said, and added, more lightly, "I don't
wish to put you into Mrs. Pomfret's bad graces."
Victoria laughed.
"She thought it her duty to tell father the time you drove me to the
Hammonds'. She said I asked you to do it."
"What did he say?" Austen inquired, looking straight ahead of him.
"He didn't say much," she answered. "Father never does. I think he knows
that I am to be trusted."
"Even with me?" he asked quizzically, but with a deeper significance.
"I don't think he realizes how dangerous you are," she replied, avoiding
the issue. "The last time I saw you, you were actually trying to throw a
fat man out of your window. What a violent life you lead, Mr. Vane. I
hope you haven't shot any more people--"
"I saw you," he said.
"Is that the way you spend your time in office hours,--throwing people
out of the windows?"
"It was only Tom Gaylord."
"He's the man Mr. Jenney said wanted you to be a senator, isn't he?" she
asked.
"You have a good memory," he answered her. "Yes. That's the reason I
tried to throw him out of the window."
"Why didn't you be a senator?" she asked abruptly. "I always think of you
in public life. Why waste your opportunities?"
"I'm not at all sure that was an opportunity. It was only some of Tom's
nonsense. I should have had all the politicians in the district against
me."
"But you aren't the kind of man who would care about the politicians,
surely. If Humphrey Crewe can get elected by the people, I should think
you might."
"I can't afford to give garden-parties and buy lemonade," said Austen,
and they both laughed. He did not think it worth while mentioning Mr.
Braden.
"Sometimes I think you haven't a particle of ambition," she said. "I like
men with ambition."
"I shall try to cultivate it," said Austen.
"You seem to be popular enough."
"Most worthless people are popular, because they don't tread on anybody's
toes."
"Worthless people don't take up poor people's suits, and win them," she
said. "I saw Zeb Meader the other day, and he said you could be President
of the United States."
"Zeb meant that I was eligible--having been born in this country," said
Austen. "But where did you see him?"
"I--I went to see him."
"All the way to Mercer?"
"It isn't so far in an automobile," she replied, as though in excuse, and
added, still more lamely, "Zeb and I became great friends, you know, in
the hospital."
He did not answer, but wondered the more at the simplicity and kindness
in one brought up as she had been which prompted her to take the trouble
to see the humblest of her friends: nay, to take the trouble to have
humble friends.
The road wound along a ridge, and at intervals was spread before them the
full glory of the September sunset,--the mountains of the west in
blue-black silhouette against the saffron sky, the myriad dappled clouds,
the crimson fading from the still reaches of the river, and the
wine-colour from the eastern hills. Both were silent under the spell, but
a yearning arose within him when he glanced at the sunset glow on her
face: would sunsets hereafter bring sadness?
His thoughts ran riot as the light faded in the west. Hers were not
revealed. And the silence between them seemed gradually to grow into a
pact, to become a subtler and more intimate element than speech. A faint
tang of autumn smoke was in the air, a white mist crept along the running
waters, a silver moon like a new-stamped coin rode triumphant in the sky,
impatient to proclaim her glory; and the shadows under the ghost-like
sentinel trees in the pastures grew blacker. At last Victoria looked at
him.
"You are the only man I know who doesn't insist on talking," she said.
There are times when--"
"When there is nothing to say," he suggested.
She laughed softly. He tried to remember the sound of it afterwards, when
he rehearsed this phase of the conversation, but couldn't.
"It's because you like the hills, isn't it?" she asked. "You seem such an
out-of-door person, and Mr. Jenney said you were always wandering about
the country-side."
"Mr. Jenney also made other reflections about my youth," said Austen.
She laughed again, acquiescing in his humour, secretly thankful not to
find him sentimental.
"Mr. Jenney said something else that--that I wanted to ask you about,"
she went on, breathing more deeply. "It was about the railroad."
"I am afraid you have not come to an authority," he replied.
"You said the politicians would be against you if you tried to become a
State senator. Do you believe that the politicians are owned by the
railroad?"
"Has Jenney been putting such things into your head?"
"Not only Mr. Jenney, but--I have heard other people say that. And
Humphrey Crewe said that you hadn't a chance politically, because you had
opposed the railroad and had gone against your own interests."
Austen was amazed at this new exhibition of courage on her part, though
he was sorely pressed.
"Humphrey Crewe isn't much of an authority, either," he said briefly.
"Then you won't tell me?" said Victoria. "Oh, Mr. Vane," she cried, with
sudden vehemence, "if such things are going on here, I'm sure my father
doesn't know about them. This is only one State, and the railroad runs
through so many. He can't know everything, and I have heard him say that
he wasn't responsible for what the politicians did in his name. If they
are bad, why don't you go to him and tell him so? I'm sure he'd listen to
you."
"I'm sure he'd think me a presumptuous idiot," said Austen. "Politicians
are not idealists anywhere--the very word has become a term of reproach.
Undoubtedly your father desires to set things right as much as any one
else--probably more than any one."
"Oh, I know he does," exclaimed Victoria.
"If politics are not all that they should be," he went on, somewhat
grimly, with an unpleasant feeling of hypocrisy, "we must remember that
they are nobody's fault in particular, and can't be set right in an
instant by any one man, no matter how powerful."
She turned her face to him gratefully, but he did not meet her look. They
were on the driveway of Fairview.
"I suppose you think me very silly for asking such questions," she said.
"No," he answered gravely, "but politics are so intricate a subject that
they are often not understood by those who are in the midst of them. I
admire--I think it is very fine in you to want to know."
"You are not one of the men who would not wish a woman to know, are you?"
"No," he said, "no, I'm not."
The note of pain in his voice surprised and troubled her. They were
almost in sight of the house.
"I asked you to come to Fairview," she said, assuming a lightness of
tone, "and you never appeared. I thought it was horrid of you to forget,
after we'd been such friends."
"I didn't forget," replied Austen.
"Then you didn't want to come."
He looked into her eyes, and she dropped them.
"You will have to be the best judge of that," he said.
"But what am I to think?" she persisted.
"Think the best of me you can," he answered, as they drew up on the
gravel before the open door of Fairview house. A man was standing in the
moonlight on the porch.
"Is that you, Victoria?"
"Yes, father."
"I was getting worried," said Mr. Flint, coming down on the driveway.
"I'm all right," she said, leaping out of the buggy, "Mr. Vane brought me
home."
"How are you, Hilary?" said Mr. Flint.
"I'm Austen Vane, Mr. Flint," said Austen.
"How are you?" said Mr. Flint, as curtly as the barest politeness
allowed. "What was the matter with your own horse, Victoria?"
"Nothing," she replied, after an instant's pause. Austen wondered many
times whether her lips had trembled. "Mr. Vane asked me to drive with
him, and I came. Won't--won't you come in, Mr. Vane?"
"No, thanks," said Austen, "I'm afraid I have to go back to Ripton."
"Good-by, and thank you," she said, and gave him her hand. As he pressed
it, he thought he felt the slightest pressure in return, and then she
fled up the steps. As he drove away, he turned once to look at the great
house, with its shades closely drawn, as it stood amidst its setting of
shrubbery silent under the moon.
An hour later he sat in Hanover Street before the supper Euphrasia had
saved for him. But though he tried nobly, his heart was not in the
relation, for her benefit, of Mr. Crewe's garden-party.