"Yes."
"You love the girl?" she continued, after a pause.
"I _do_ love the girl!" I said, earnestly,--for, now that the curtain
was lifted, she might see all she chose.
"And she loves you?"
"No,--I think so,--I don't know," was my satisfactory reply.
"But why don't you ask her?"
"I _have_ asked her."
"And what did she say? I wish, Charley, you would begin at the beginning
and tell me all about it. How can I help you, if I don't know?"
I was glad enough to do it. I began at the beginning, and told all there
was to tell. It was not much,--for the beauty, the goodness, the
patience of Rachel could not be told. When all was over, she said,--
"I am glad you have told me, for I can make you easy on one point. She
loves you. Ah, I can see! Women can always see, but men are stupid. Your
declaration was too sudden. She might have thought you were forced into
it. She is too high-minded to take advantage of a moment when your
feelings were all excited. Wait awhile. Let her see that you do not
change, and she will give you just such an answer as you will like to
hear. Why, Charley, I like her better for not accepting you than for
anything you have told about her."
"Well, Fanny," I said, half sighing, "it may be so,--I hope it may be
so; but if it does turn out as you say, how shall we manage about Aunt
Huldah? You know how she feels; and then there is Alice."
"What a brother you are!" exclaimed Fanny. "No sooner do I get you out
of one difficulty than you go beating against another! Perhaps _I_
shan't like her; then how will you manage about _me_? It is not every
girl I will take for a sister! And as for Alice, do you think she is
waiting for you all this time, vain man? She's got another beau. But
now," she went on, as soon as she could stop laughing, "go to bed, and
sleep easy, knowing that Rachel loves you, for I have said it. She loves
you too well to take you at your word. I hope she isn't too good for
you. I will think it all over, and see what can be done. Good night!
Kiss me now for what I have told you, just as you would Rachel, if she
had told you herself."
And I did, almost.
The next afternoon Fanny and I went out for a long walk. Aunt Huldah
encouraged our going, for she was coloring, and wanted from the store
both indigo and alum.
"Do you know the person with whom Rachel is staying?" asked Fanny, as
soon as we were fairly started.
"Mrs. James? Yes, she is a nice young woman."
"Do you think Rachel would like to learn the milliner's trade? It would
be a good thing for her."
"So it would; but where?"
"Does she know much of your friends, of how you are situated?"
"No. In the few hours we were together I was too much occupied in
drawing her out to speak of my own affairs."
"I suppose she knows where you live?"
"I don't know; I think, if I spoke of any place, it was Cambridge,--I
hailed from there."
"Well," said Fanny, thoughtfully, "perhaps it will make no difference.
Anyway, it will do to try it. There are many Brownes. Besides, Aunt
Huldah will be different. She will be Sprague, I shall be only Fanny,
and Charley will be Charley."
"My dear Fanny!" I exclaimed, "what _are_ you saying?"
"Why, you see, buddy,"--she often called me "buddy" for
"brother,"--"that, if Rachel loves you, and you love her, you will
_have_ each other. If Aunt Huldah is angry, and won't give you any of
her money, still you will be married, even if you both have to work by
the day. Does this seem clear?"