THE next afternoon, returning from the unloading of a grain car at his
father's warehouse, he discovered a smartly saddled horse fast to the
marble hitchingpost before his door. It hardly required the glance at
the silver “D” on the headstall to inform him who was within. He found
Ellie and Eliza Dreen in the corner by the Canton tea service, consuming
Pekoe and gingerbread dicky birds. Eliza nodded and smiled over her
shoulder, and resumed an animated projection of an excursion in canoes
on the Wingohocking. She wore a severe coat over white breeches and
immaculate boots with diminutive gold spurs. Beneath a flat straw hat
her hair was confined by a broad ribband low upon her neck, while a pink
stock was held in position by a gaily-checked waistcoat.
Anthony dropped with affected ease on the sofa, and covertly studied the
delicate line of her cheek. He now recalled indignantly that Mrs. Dreen
had said Eliza was not good-looking; while her reference to Eliza's
veracity had been entirely superfluous. She turned toward him, finally,
with an engaging query. He saw across her nose a faint trail of the most
delightful freckles in the world; her eyes were blue, that amazing blue
of bachelor's buttons; while her mouth--he would have sworn this the
first time such simile had been applied to that feature--was like a
roseleaf. He made a totally inadequate reply, when Ellie rose, and,
plate in hand, vanished in quest of a fresh supply of gingerbread. A
sort of desperate, blundering courage took possession of him:
“I have been thinking a lot about you,” he told her; “last night I sat
on your grass and wondered which was your window.”
“What a silly I--we were on the porch all evening.”
“It wasn't that I wanted to talk to you so much,” he tried to explain
his instinctive impulses, desires, “as just to be near you.”
“I think,” she said slowly, “yes, I know--that is the prettiest thing
that has ever been said to me. I thought about you... a little; really
more about myself. I haven't recognized myself at all very lately; I
suppose it's being home again.” She gazed at him candidly, critically.
“You have very unusual eyes,” she remarked unexpectedly; “they are so
transparent. Haven't you _anything_ to hide?”
“Some chicken feathers,” he affirmed. He grew serious immediately. “Your
eyes are like--like--” the name of the flower so lately suggested by
her lucid vision had flown his mind. Suspenders, bachelor's suspenders,
exclusively occurred to him. “An awfully blue flower,” he temporized.
She crossed the room, and bent over the tea roses, freshly placed in the
jar by the door. “I must go,” she said, her back to him; “I have been
here a terrific length of time... I thought perhaps you'd come in....
Wasn't it shocking of me?”
The knowledge that she had considered the possibility of seeing him
filled Anthony with incredulous joy. Then, sitting silently, gazing
fixedly at the floor, he became acutely miserable at the sudden
conviction of his worthlessness; shame prevented him from looking
at her--surely she must see that he, Anthony Ball, the unsuccessful,
without prospect, the truant from life, was an improper object for her
interest. She was so absolutely desirable, so fine.
He recalled what she had said on the night of the dance... about
constancy: if the single devotion of his life would mean anything to
her, he thought grandiloquently, it was hers. He was considering the
possibility of telling her this when Ellie unnecessarily returned with
a replenished plate. He was grateful when neither included him in the
remarks which followed. And he speedily left the room, proceeding to
the pavement, where he stood with his palm resting on the flank of her
horse.
In the slanting rays of the sun the street was a way of gold; when Eliza
appeared she was ringed in the molten glory. She placed her heel in his
hand, and sprang lightly into the saddle; the horse shied, there was
a clatter of hoofs, and she cantered away. Ellie stood on the steps,
graceful, unconcerned; he watched until the upright, mounted figure was
out of sight, then silently passed his sister into the house.