ON the following morning he wrote a brief, reassuring note to his
father; then, over another page, hesitated with poised pen. “Dear
Eliza,” he finally began, then once more fell into indecision. “I wish
I were back on the Wingo-hocking with you,” he' embarked. “That was
splendid, having you in the canoe, with no one else; the whole world
seemed empty except for you and me. It's no joke of an emptiness without
you.
I have been delayed in reaching California, but I'll soon be out there
now, working like thunder for our wedding.
“Mostly I can't realize it, it's too good to be true--you seem like
a thing I dreamed about, in a dream all full of moonlight and white
flowers. It's funny but I smell lilacs, you know like you picked,
everywhere. Last night, cleaning a car just soaked in dirt and greasy
smells, that perfume came out of nothing, and hung about so real that it
hurt me. And all the time I kept thinking that you were standing beside
me and smiling. I knew better, but I had to look more than once.
“Love's different from what I thought it would be; I thought it would be
all happy, but it's not that, it's blamed serious. I am always flinching
from blows that might fall on you, do you see? Before I went away I
saw a man kiss a woman, and they both seemed scared; I understand that
now--they loved each other.”
He broke off and gazed out the narrow window over the feathery tops of
maples, the symmetrical, bronze tops of a clump of pines. The odor of
lilacs came to him illusively; he was certain that Eliza was standing at
his shoulder; he could hear a silken whisper, feel an intangible thrill
of warmth. He turned sharply, and faced the empty room, the bright,
stentorious clock, the table with the pitcher and glass and serious
volumes. “Hell!” he exclaimed in angry remonstrance at his credulity.
Still shaken by the reality of the impression he wondered if he were
growing crazy? The bell above the washstand rang sharply, and, putting
the incomplete letter in a drawer, he proceeded over the tanbark path
that led to the house.
Annot Hardinge beckoned to him from the porch, and, turning, he passed a
conservatory built against the side of the dwelling, where he saw small,
identical plants ranged in mathematical rows.
“What is your name?” she demanded abruptly, as he stopped before her.
“Anthony,” he told her.
She was dressed in apricot muslin, with a long necklace of alternate
carved gold and amber beads, dependent amber earrings, and a flapping
white hat with broad, yellow ribbands that streamed downward with her
hair. In one hand she held a pair of crumpled white gloves and a soft
gold mesh bag.
“You may bring around the car... Anthony,” she directed. “I want to go
into town.”
In the heart of the shopping district they moved slowly in an unbroken
procession of motor landaulets, open cars and private hansoms, a
glittering, colorful procession winding through the glittering, colorful
cavern of the shop windows. The sidewalks were thronged with women,
brilliant in lace and dyed feathers and jewels, the thin, sustained
babble of trivial voices mingled with the heavy, coiling odors of costly
perfumes.
When a small heap of bundles had been accumulated a rebellious
expression clouded An-not Hardinge's countenance. “Stop at that
confectioner's,” she directed, indicating a window filled with candies
scattered in a creamy tide, bister, pale mauve, and citrine, over
fluted, delicately green satin, against a golden mass of molasses bars.
She soon emerged, with a package tied in silver cord, and paused upon
the curb. “I want to go out... out, into the heart of the country,” she
proclaimed; “this crowd, these tinsel women, make me ill. Drive until I
tell you to stop... away from everything.”
When they had left the tangle of paved streets, the innumerable stone
façades, she directed their course into a ravine whose steep sides were
covered with pines, at the bottom of which a stream foamed whitely over
rocky ledges. Beyond, they rose to an upland, where open, undulating
hills burned in the blue flame of noon; at their back a trail of dust
resettled upon the road, before them a glistening flock of peafowl
scattered with harsh, threatening cries. By a gnarled apple tree, whose
ripening June apples overhung the road, she called, “stop!”
The motor halted in the spicy, dappled shadow of the tree; at one side a
cornfield spread its silken, green tapestry; on the other a pasture was
empty, close-cropped, rising to a coronal of towering chestnuts. The
road, in either direction, was deserted.
Anthony heard a sigh of contentment at his back: relaxed from the
tension of driving he removed his cap, and, with crossed legs,
contemplated the sylvan quiet. He watched a flock of blackbirds wheeling
above the apple tree, and decided that they had been within easy shot.
“Look over your head!” she cried suddenly; “what gorgeous apples.”
He rose, and, measuring the distance in a swift glance, jumped, and
caught hold of a limb, by means of which he drew himself up into the
tree. He mounted rapidly, filling his cap with crimson apples; when his
pockets were full he paused. Down through the screen of leaves he
could see her upturned countenance, framed in the broad, white hat;
her expression was severely impersonal; yet, viewed from that informal
angle, she did not appear displeased. And, when he had descended, she
picked critically among the store he offered. She rolled back the gloves
upon her wrists, and bit largely, with youthful gusto. On the road,
after a moment's hesitation, Anthony embarked upon the consumption of
the remainder. He strolled a short distance from the car, and found a
seat upon a low stone-wall.