At first nobody knew him; then the Hotchkisses knew him, and then it
seemed as if everybody had always known him. He had run the gauntlet of
gossip and come through without a scratch. He was first noticed sitting
in the warm corner made by Willcox's annex and the covered passage that
leads to the main building. Pairs or trios of people, bareheaded, their
tennis clothes (it was a tennis year) mostly covered from view by clumsy
coonskin coats, passing Willcox's in dilapidated runabouts drawn by
uncurried horses, a nigger boy sitting in the back of each, his thin
legs dangling, had glimpses of him through the driveway gap in the tall
Amor privet hedge that is between Willcox's and the road. These pairs or
trios having seen would break in upon whatever else they may have been
saying to make such remarks as: "He can't be, or he wouldn't be at
Willcox's"; or, contradictorily: "He must be, or he'd do something
besides sit in the sun"; or, "Don't they always have to drink lots of
milk?" or, "Anyway, they're quite positive that it's not catching"; or,
"Poor boy, what nice hair he's got."
With the old-timers the new-comer, whose case was otherwise so
doubtful, had one thing in common: a coonskin coat. It was handsome of
its kind, unusually long, voluminous, and black. The upturned collar
came above his ears, and in the opening his face showed thin and white,
and his eyes, always intent upon the book in his lap, had a look of
being closed. Two things distinguished him from other men: his great
length of limb and the color and close-cropped, almost moulded, effect
of his hair. It was the color of old Domingo mahogany, and showed off
the contour of his fine round head with excellent effect.
The suspicion that this interesting young man was a consumptive was set
aside by Willcox himself. He told Mrs. Bainbridge, who asked (on account
of her little children who, et cetera, et cetera), that Mr. Masters was
recuperating from a very stubborn attack of typhoid. But was Mr. Willcox
quite sure? Yes, Mr. Willcox had to be sure of just such things. So Mrs.
Bainbridge drove out to Miss Langrais' tea at the golf club, and passed
on the glad tidings with an addition of circumstantial detail. Mister
Masters (people found that it was quite good fun to say this, with
assorted intonations) had been sick for many months at--she thought--the
New York Hospital. Sometimes his temperature had touched a hundred and
fifteen degrees and sometimes he had not had any temperature at all.
There was quite a romance involved, "his trained nurse, my dear, not one
of the ordinary creatures, but a born lady in impoverished
circumstances," et cetera, et cetera. And later, when even Mister
Masters himself had contradicted these brightly colored statements, Mrs.
Bainbridge continued to believe them. Even among wealthy and idle women
she was remarkable for the number of impossible things she could believe
before breakfast, and after. But she never made these things seem even
half plausible to others, and so she wasn't dangerous.
Mister Masters never remembered to have passed so lonely and dreary a
February. The sunny South was a medicine that had been prescribed and
that had to be swallowed. Aiken on the label had looked inviting enough,
but he found the contents of the bottle distasteful in the extreme. "The
South is sunny," he wrote to his mother, "but oh, my great jumping
grandmother, how seldom! And it's cold, mummy, like being beaten with
whips. And it rains--well, if it rained cats and dogs a fellow wouldn't
mind. Maybe they'd speak to him, but it rains solid cold water, and it
hits the windows the way waves hit the port-holes at sea; and the only
thing that stops the rain is a wind that comes all the way from Alaska
for the purpose. In protected corners the sun has a certain warmth. But
the other morning the waiter put my milk on the wrong side of my chair,
in the shade, namely, and when I went to drink it it was frozen solid.
You were right about the people here all being kind; they are all the
same kind. I know them all now--by sight; but not by name, except, of
course, some who are stopping at Willcox's. We have had three ice
storms--_'Kennst du das Land wo die Citronen blühen?_' I am getting to
_kennst_ it very well. But Willcox, who keeps a record of such things,
says that this is the coldest winter Aiken has known since last winter!
"But in spite of all this there is a truth that must be spoken. I feel a
thousand times better and stronger than when I came. And yesterday,
exercising in the privacy of my room, I discovered that there are once
more calves upon my legs. This is truth, too. I have no one to talk to
but your letters. So don't stint me. Stint me with money if you can
(here I defy you), but for the love of Heaven keep me posted. If you
will promise to write every day I will tell you the name of the
prettiest girl in Aiken. She goes by eight times every day, and she
looks my way out of the corner of her eye. And I pretend to be reading
and try very hard to look handsome and interesting.... Mother! ... just
now I rested my hand on the arm of my chair and the wood felt hot to the
touch! It's high noon and the sun's been on it since eight o'clock, but
still it seems very wonderful. Willcox says that the winter is
practically over; but I begged him not to hurry...."
Such was the usual trend of his letters. But that one dated March 7
began with the following astonishing statement:
"I love Aiken ..." and went on to explain why.
But Mister Masters was not allowed to love Aiken until he had come
through the whole gauntlet of gossip. It had first been suggested that
he was a consumptive and a menace ("though of course one feels terribly
sorry for them, my dear"). This had been disproved. Then it was spread
about that he belonged to a wealthy family of Masters from the upper
West Side ("very well in their way, no doubt, and the backbone of the
country, my dear, but one doesn't seem to get on with them, and I
shouldn't think they'd come to Aiken of all places"). But a gentleman
who knew the West Side Masters, root and branch, shook his head to this,
and went so far as to say, "Not much, he isn't"; and went further and
shuddered. Then it got about that Mister Masters was poor (and that made
people suspicious of him). Then it got about that he was rich (and that
made them even more so). Then that he wrote for a living (and that was
nearly as bad as to say that he cheated at cards--or at least it was the
kind of thing that _they_ didn't do). And then, finally, the real truth
about him, or something like it, got out; and the hatchet of suspicion
was buried, and there was peace in Aiken. In that Aiken of whose peace
the judge, referring to a pock-marked mulatto girl, had thundered that
it should not be disturbed for any woman--"no--not even were she Helen
of Troy."
This was the truth that got out about Mister Masters. He was a nephew of
the late Bishop Masters. His mother, on whom he was dependent, was very
rich; she had once been prominent in society. He was thirty, and was
good at games. He did not work at anything.
So he was something that Aiken could understand and appreciate: a young
man who was well-born, who didn't have to work--and who didn't _want_
to.
But old Mrs. Hotchkiss did not know of these things when, one bright day
in passing Willcox's (she was on one good foot, one rheumatic foot, and
a long black cane with a gold handle), she noticed the young man pale
and rather sad-looking in his fur coat and steamer-rug, his eyes on his
book, and stopped abruptly and spoke to him through the gap in the
hedge.
"I hope you'll forgive an old woman for scraping an acquaintance," she
piped in her brisk, cheerful voice, "but I want to know if you're
getting better, and I thought the best way to find out was to stop and
ask."
Mister Masters's steamer-rug fell from about his long legs and his face
became rosy, for he was very shy.
"Indeed I am," he said, "ever so much. And thank you for asking."
"I'm tired," said the old lady, "of seeing you always sitting by
yourself, dead tired of it. I shall come for you this afternoon at four
in my carriage, and take you for a drive...."
"It was abrupt," Mister Masters wrote to his mother, "but it was kind.
When I had done blushing and scraping with my feet and pulling my
forelock, we had the nicest little talk. And she remembered you in the
old days at Lenox, and said why hadn't I told her before. And then she
asked if I liked Aiken, and, seeing how the land lay, I lied and said I
loved it. And she said that that was her nice, sensible young fellow, or
words to that effect. And then she asked me why, and I said because it
has such a fine climate; and then she laughed in my face, and said that
I was without reverence for her age--not a man--a scalawag.
"And do you know, Mrs. Hotchkiss is like one of those magic keys in
fairy stories? All doors open to her. Between you and me I have been
thinking Aiken's floating population snobbish, purse-proud, and
generally absurd. And instead, the place seems to exist so that kindness
and hospitality may not fail on earth. Of course I'm not up to genuine
sprees, such as dining out and sitting up till half-past ten or eleven.
But I can go to luncheons, and watch other people play tennis, and poke
about gardens with old ladies, and guess when particular flowers will be
out, and learn the names of birds and of hostile bushes that prick and
of friendly bushes that don't.
"All the cold weather has gone to glory; and it's really spring because
the roosters crow all night. Mrs. Hotchkiss says it's because they are
roosters and immoral. But I think they're crowing because they've
survived the winter. I am...."
Aiken took a great fancy to Mister Masters. First because Aiken was
giving him a good time; and second because he was really good company
when you got him well cornered and his habitual fright had worn off. He
was the shyest, most frightened six-footer in the memory of Aiken. If
you spoke to him suddenly he blushed, and if you prepared him by first
clearing your throat he blushed just the same. And he had a crooked,
embarrassed smile that was a delight to see.
But gradually he became almost at ease with nearly everybody; and in the
shyest, gentlest way enjoyed himself hugely. But the prettiest girl in
Aiken had very hard work with him.
As a stag fights when brought to bay, so Mister Masters when driven into
a corner could talk as well and as freely as the next man; but on his
own initiative there was, as we Americans say, "nothing doing." Whether
or not the prettiest girl in Aiken ever rolled off a log is unknown;
but such an act would have been no more difficult for her than to corner
Mister Masters. The man courted cornering, especially by her. But given
the desired situation, neither could make anything of it. Mister
Masters's tongue became forthwith as helpless as a man tied hand and
foot and gagged. He had nothing with which to pay for the delight of
being cornered but his rosiest, steadiest blush and his crookedest and
most embarrassed smile. But he retained a certain activity of mind and
within himself was positively voluble with what he would say if he only
could.
I don't mean that the pair sat or stood or walked in absolute silence.
Indeed, little Miss Blythe could never be silent for a long period nor
permit it in others, but I mean that with the lines and the machinery of
a North Atlantic liner, their craft of propinquity made about as much
progress as a scow. Nevertheless, though neither was really aware of
this, each kept saying things, that cannot be put into words, to the
other; otherwise the very first cornering of Mister Masters by little
Miss Blythe must have been the last. But even as it was way back at the
beginning of things, and always will be, Beauty spoke to Handsome and
Handsome up and spoke back.
"No," said little Miss Blythe, upon being sharply cross-questioned by
Mrs. Hotchkiss, "he practically never does say anything."
Mrs. Hotchkiss dug a little round hole in the sand with her long black
cane, and made an insulting face at little Miss Blythe.
"Some men," said she, "can't say 'Boo' to a goose."
If other countries produce girls like little Miss Blythe, I have never
met a specimen; and I feel very sure that foreign young ladies do not
become personages at the age of seventeen. When she met Mister Masters
she had been a personage for six years, and it was time for her to yield
her high place to another; to marry, to bear children, and to prove that
all the little matters for which she was celebrated were merely passing
phases and glitterings of a character which fundamentally was composed
of simple and noble traits.
Little Miss Blythe had many brothers and sisters; no money, as we reckon
money; and only such prospects as she herself might choose from
innumerable offers. She was little; her figure looked best in athletic
clothes (low neck didn't do well with her, because her face was tanned
so brown) and she was strong and quick as a pony. All the year round she
kept herself in the pink of condition ("overkept herself" some said)
dancing, walking, running, swimming, playing all games and eating to
match. She had a beautiful, clean-cut face, not delicate and to be
hidden and coaxed by veils and soft things, but a face that looked
beautiful above a severe Eton collar, and at any distance. She had the
bright, wide eyes of a collected athlete, unbelievably blue, and the
whites of them were only matched for whiteness by her teeth (the deep
tan of her skin heightened this effect, perhaps); and it was said by one
admirer that if she were to be in a dark room and were to press the
button of a kodak and to smile at one and the same instant, there would
be a picture taken.
She had friends in almost every country-clubbed city in America.
Whenever, and almost wherever, a horse show was held she was there to
show the horses of some magnate or other to the best advantage. Between
times she won tennis tournaments and swimming matches, or tried her hand
at hunting or polo (these things in secret because her father had
forbidden them), and the people who continually pressed hospitality upon
her said that they were repaid a thousand-fold. In the first place, it
was a distinction to have her. "Who are the Ebers?" "Why, don't you
know? They are the people Miss Blythe is stopping with."
She was always good-natured; she never kept anybody waiting; and she
must have known five thousand people well enough to call them by their
first names. But what really distinguished her most from other young
women was that her success in inspiring others with admiration and
affection was not confined to men; she had the same effect upon all
women, old and young, and all children.
Foolish people said that she had no heart, merely because no one had as
yet touched it. Wise people said that when she did fall in love sparks
would fly. Hitherto her friendships with men, whatever the men in
question may have wished, had existed upon a basis of good-natured
banter and prowess in games. Men were absolutely necessary to Miss
Blythe to play games with, because women who could "give her a game"
were rare as ivory-billed woodpeckers. It was even thought by some, as
an instance, that little Miss Blythe could beat the famous Miss May
Sutton once out of three times at lawn-tennis. But Miss Sutton, with the
good-natured and indomitable aggression of her genius, set this
supposition at rest. Little Miss Blythe could not beat Miss Sutton once
out of three or three hundred times. But for all that, little Miss
Blythe was a splendid player and a master of strokes and strategy.
Nothing would have astonished her world more than to learn that little
Miss Blythe had a secret, darkly hidden quality of which she was
dreadfully ashamed. At heart she was nothing if not sentimental and
romantic. And often when she was thought to be sleeping the dreamless
sleep of the trained athlete who stores up energy for the morrow's
contest, she was sitting at the windows in her night-gown, looking at
the moon (in hers) and weaving all sorts of absurd adventures about
herself and her particular fancy of the moment.
It would be a surprise and pleasure to some men, a tragedy perhaps to
others, if they should learn that little Miss Blythe had fancied them
all at different times, almost to the boiling point, and that in her own
deeply concealed imagination Jim had rescued her from pirates and Jack
from a burning hotel, or that just as her family were selling her to a
rich widower, John had appeared on his favorite hunter and carried her
off. The truth is that little Miss Blythe had engaged in a hundred love
affairs concerning which no one but herself was the wiser.
And at twenty-three it was high time for her to marry and settle down.
First because she couldn't go on playing games and showing horses
forever, and second because she wanted to. But with whom she wanted to
marry and settle down she could not for the life of her have said.
Sometimes she thought that it would be with Mr. Blagdon. He _was_ rich
and he _was_ a widower; but wherever she went he managed to go, and he
had some of the finest horses in the world, and he wouldn't take no for
an answer. Sometimes she said to the moon:
"I'll give myself a year, and if at the end of that time I don't like
anybody better than Bob, why...." Or, in a different mood, "I'm tired of
everything I do; if he happens to ask me to-morrow I'll say yes." Or,
"I've ridden his horses, and broken his golf clubs, and borrowed his
guns (and he won't lend them to anybody else), and I suppose I've got to
pay him back." Or, "I really _do_ like him a lot," or "I really don't
like him at all."
Then there came into this young woman's life Mister Masters. And he
blushed his blush and smiled his crooked smile and looked at her when
she wasn't looking at him (and she knew that he was looking) and was
unable to say as much as "Boo" to her; and in the hidden springs of her
nature that which she had always longed for happened, and became, and
was. And one night she said to the moon: "I know it isn't proper for me
to be so attentive to him, and I know everybody is talking about it,
but--" and she rested her beautiful brown chin on her shapely, strong,
brown hands, and a tear like a diamond stood in each of her unbelievably
blue eyes, and she looked at the moon, and said: "But it's Harry Masters
or--_bust_!"
Mr. Bob Blagdon, the rich widower, had been content to play a waiting
game; for he knew very well that beneath her good-nature little Miss
Blythe had a proud temper and was to be won rather by the man who should
make himself indispensable to her than by him who should be forever
pestering her with speaking and pleading his cause. She is an honest
girl, he told himself, and without thinking of consequences she is
always putting herself under obligations to me. Let her ride down
lover's lane with young Blank or young Dash, she will not be able to
forget that she is on my favorite mare. In his soul he felt a certain
proprietorship in little Miss Blythe; but to this his ruddy,
dark-mustached face and slow-moving eyes were a screen.
Mr. Blagdon had always gone after what he wanted in a kind of slow,
indifferent way that begot confidence in himself and in the beholder;
and (in the case of Miss Blythe) a kind of panic in the object sought.
She liked him because she was used to him, and because he could and
would talk sense upon subjects which interested her. But she was afraid
of him because she knew that he expected her to marry him some day, and
because she knew that other people, including her own family, expected
this of her. Sometimes she felt ready to take unto herself all the
horses and country places and automobiles and yachts, and in a life
lived regardless of expense to bury and forget her better self. But more
often, like a fly caught in a spider's web, she wished by one desperate
effort (even should it cost her a wing, to carry out the figure) to free
herself once and forever from the entanglement.
It was pleasant enough in the web. The strands were soft and silky;
they held rather by persuasion than by force. And had it not been for
the spider she could have lived out her life in the web without any very
desperate regrets. But it was never quite possible to forget the spider;
and that in his own time he would approach slowly and deliberately, sure
of himself and of little Miss Fly....
But, after all, the spider in the case was not such a terrible fellow.
Just because a man wants a girl that doesn't want him, and means to have
her, he hasn't necessarily earned a hard name. Such a man as often as
not becomes one-half of a very happy marriage. And Mr. Bob Blagdon was
considered an exceptionally good fellow. In his heart, though I have
never heard him say so openly, I think he actually looked down on people
who gambled and drank to excess, and who were uneducated and had
acquired (whatever they may have been born with) perfectly empty heads.
I think that he had a sound and sensible virtue; one ear for one side of
an argument, and one for the other.
There is no reason to doubt that he was a good husband to his first
wife, and wished to replace her with little Miss Blythe, not to supplant
her. To his three young children he was more of a grandfather than a
father; though strong-willed and even stubborn, he was unable half the
time to say no to them. And I have seen him going on all-fours with the
youngest child perched on his back kicking him in the ribs and urging
him to canter. So if he intended by the strength of his will and of his
riches to compel little Miss Blythe to marry (and to be happy with him;
he thought he could manage that, too), it is only one blot on a decent
and upright character. And it is unjust to have called him spider.
But when Mister Masters entered (so timidly to the eye, but really so
masterfully) into little Miss Blythe's life, she could no longer
tolerate the idea of marrying Mr. Blagdon. All in a twinkle she knew
that horses and yachts and great riches could never make up to her for
the loss of a long, bashful youth with a crooked smile. You can't be
really happy if you are shivering with cold; you can't be really happy
if you are dripping with heat. And she knew that without Mister Masters
she must always be one thing or the other--too cold or too hot, never
quite comfortable.
Her own mind was made up from the first; even to going through any
number of awful scenes with Blagdon. But as time passed and her
attentions (I shall have to call it that) to Mister Masters made no
visible progress, there were times when she was obliged to think that
she would never marry anybody at all. But in her heart she knew that
Masters was attracted by her, and to this strand of knowledge she clung
so as not to be drowned in a sea of despair.
Her position was one of extreme difficulty and delicacy. Sometimes
Mister Masters came near her of his own accord, and remained in bashful
silence; but more often she was obliged to have recourse to "accidents"
in order to bring about propinquity. And even when propinquity had been
established there was never any progress made that could be favorably
noted. Behind her back, for instance, when she was playing tennis and he
was looking on, he was quite bold in his admiration of her. And whereas
most people's eyes when they are watching tennis follow the flight of
the ball, Mister Masters's faithful eyes never left the person of his
favorite player.
One reason for his awful bashfulness and silence was that certain
people, who seemed to know, had told him in the very beginning that it
was only a question of time before little Miss Blythe would become Mrs.
Bob Blagdon. "She's always been fond of him," they said, "and of course
he can give her everything worth having." So when he was with her he
felt as if he was with an engaged girl, and his real feelings not being
proper to express in any way under such circumstances, and his nature
being single and without deceit, he was put in a quandary that defied
solution.
But what was hidden from Mister Masters was presently obvious to Mr.
Blagdon and to others. So the spider, sleepily watching the automatic
enmeshment of the fly, may spring into alert and formidable action at
seeing a powerful beetle blunder into the web and threaten by his
stupid, aimless struggles to set the fly at liberty and to destroy the
whole fabric spun with care and toil.
To a man in love there is no redder danger signal than a sight of the
object of his affections standing or sitting contentedly with another
man and neither of them saying as much as "Boo" to the other. He may,
with more equanimity, regard and countenance a genuine flirtation, full
of laughter and eye-making. The first time Mr. Blagdon saw them together
he thought; the second time he felt; the third time he came forward
graciously smiling. The web might be in danger from the beetle; the fly
at the point of kicking up her heels and flying gayly away; but it may
be in the power of the spider to spin enough fresh threads on the spur
of the moment to rebind the fly, and even to make prisoner the doughty
beetle.
"Don't you ride, Mister Masters?" said Mr. Blagdon.
"Of course," said the shy one, blushing. "But I'm not to do anything
violent before June."
"Sorry," said Mr. Blagdon, "because I've a string of ponies that are
eating their heads off. I'd be delighted to mount you."
But Mister Masters smiled with unusual crookedness and stammered his
thanks and his regrets. And so that thread came to nothing.
The spider attempted three more threads; but little Miss Blythe looked
serenely up.
"I never saw such a fellow as you, Bob," said she, "for putting other
people under obligations. When I think of the weight of my personal ones
I shudder." She smiled innocently and looked up into his face. "When
people can't pay their debts they have to go through bankruptcy, don't
they? And then their debts all have to be forgiven."
Mr. Blagdon felt as if an icy cold hand had been suddenly laid upon the
most sensitive part of his back; but his expression underwent no change.
His slow eyes continued to look into the beautiful, brightly colored
face that was turned up to him.
"Very honorable bankrupts," said he carelessly, "always pay what they
can on the dollar."
Presently he strolled away, easy and nonchalant; but inwardly he carried
a load of dread and he saw clearly that he must learn where he stood
with little Miss Blythe, or not know the feeling of easiness from one
day to the next. Better, he thought, to be the recipient of a painful
and undeserved ultimatum, than to breakfast, lunch, and dine with
uncertainty.
The next day, there being some dozens of people almost in earshot, Mr.
Blagdon had an opportunity to speak to little Miss Blythe. Under the
circumstances, the last thing she expected was a declaration; they were
in full view of everybody; anybody might stroll up and interrupt. So
what Mr. Blagdon had to say came to her with something the effect of
sudden thunder from a clear sky.
"Phyllis," said he, "you have been looking about you since you were
seventeen. Will I do?"
"Oh, Bob!" she protested.
"I have tried to do," said he, not without a fine ring of manliness.
"Have I made good?"
She smiled bravely and looked as nonchalant as possible; but her heart
was beating heavily.
"I've liked being good friends--_so_ much," she said. "Don't spoil it."
"I tell her," said he, "that in all the world there is only the one
girl--only the one. And she says--Don't spoil it.'"
"Bob----"
"I will _make_ you happy," he said.... "Has it never entered your dear
head that some time you must give me an answer?"
She nodded her dear head, for she was very honest.
"I suppose so," she said.
"Well," said he.
"In my mind," she said, "I have never been able to give you the same
answer twice...."
"A decision is expected from us," said he. "People are growing tired of
our long backing and filling."
"People! Do they matter?"
"They matter a great deal. And you know it."
"Yes. I suppose they do. Let me off for now, Bob. People are looking at
us...."
"I want an answer."
But she would not be coerced.
"You shall have one, but not now. I'm not sure what it will be."
"If you can't be sure now, can you ever be sure?"
"Yes. Give me two weeks. I shall think about nothing else."
"Thank you," he said. "Two weeks.... That will be full moon.... I shall
ask all Aiken to a picnic in the woods, weather permitting ... and--and
if your answer is to be my happiness, why, you shall come up to me, and
say, 'Bob--drive me home, will you?'"
"And if it's the other answer, Bob?"
He smiled in his usual bantering way.
"If it's the other, Phyllis--why--you--you can walk home."
She laughed joyously, and he laughed, just as if nothing but what was
light and amusing was in question between them.
Along the Whiskey Road nearly the whole floating population of Aiken
moved on horseback or on wheels. Every fourth or fifth runabout carried
a lantern; but the presence in the long, wide-gapped procession of
other vehicles or equestrians was denoted only by the sounds of voices.
Half a dozen family squabbles, half a dozen flirtations (which would
result in family squabbles), and half a dozen genuine romances were
moving through the sweet-smelling dark to Mr. Bob Blagdon's picnic in
Red Oak Hollow. Only three of the guests knew where Red Oak Hollow was,
and two of these were sure that they could only find it by daylight; but
the third, a noted hunter and pigeon shot, rode at the head of the
procession, and pretended (he was forty-five with the heart of a child)
that he was Buffalo Bill leading a lost wagon-train to water. And though
nobody could see him for the darkness, he played his part with minute
attention to detail, listening, pulling up short, scowling to right and
left, wetting a finger and holding it up to see from which direction the
air was moving. He was so intent upon bringing his convoy safely through
a hostile country that the sounds of laughter or of people in one
runabout calling gayly to people in another were a genuine annoyance to
him.
Mr. Bob Blagdon had preceded his guests by half an hour, and was already
at the scene of the picnic. Fate, or perhaps the weather bureau at
Washington, had favored him with just the conditions he would have
wished for. The night was hot without heaviness; in the forenoon of
that day there had been a shower, just wet enough to keep the surfaces
of roads from rising in dust. It was now clear and bestarred, and
perhaps a shade less dark than when he had started. Furthermore, it was
so still that candles burned without flickering. He surveyed his
preparations with satisfaction. And because he was fastidious in
entertainment this meant a great deal.
A table thirty feet long, and low to the ground so that people sitting
on rugs or cushions could eat from it with comfort, stood beneath the
giant red oak that gave a name to the hollow. The white damask with
which it was laid and the silver and cut glass gleamed in the light of
dozens of candles. The flowers were Maréchal Niel roses in a long bank
of molten gold.
Except for the lanterns at the serving tables, dimly to be seen through
a dense hedgelike growth of Kalmia latifolia, there were no other lights
in the hollow; so that the dinner-table had the effect of standing in a
cave; for where the gleam of the candles ended, the surrounding darkness
appeared solid like a wall.
It might have been a secret meeting of smugglers or pirates, the
Georgian silver on the table representing years of daring theft; it
seemed as if blood must have been spilled for the wonderful glass and
linen and porcelain. Even those guests most hardened in luxury and
extravagance looked twice at Mr. Bob Blagdon's picnic preparations
before they could find words with which to compliment him upon them; and
the less experienced were beside themselves with enthusiasm and delight.
But Mr. Bob Blagdon was wondering what little Miss Blythe would think
and say, and he thought it unkind of her, under the circumstances, to be
the last to arrive. Unkind, because her doing so was either a good omen
or an evil one, and he could not make up his mind which.
The guests were not homogeneously dressed. Some of the men were in
dinner clothes; some were in full evening dress; some wore dinner coats
above riding breeches and boots; some had come bareheaded, some with
hats which they did not propose to remove. Half the women were in low
neck and short sleeves; one with short curly hair was breeched and
booted like a man; others wore what I suppose may be called theatre
gowns; and a few who were pretty enough to stand it wore clothes suited
to the hazards of a picnic in the woods.
Mr. Blagdon's servants wore his racing colors, blue and silver,
knee-breeches, black silk stockings, pumps with silver buckles, and
powdered hair. They were men picked for their height, wooden faces, and
well-turned calves. They moved and behaved as if utterly untouched and
uninterested in their unusual and romantic surroundings; they were like
jinns summoned for the occasion by the rubbing of a magic lamp.
At the last moment, when to have been any later would have been either
rude or accidental, little Miss Blythe's voice was heard calling from
the darkness and asking which of two roads she should take. Half a dozen
men rushed off to guide her, and presently she came blinking into the
circle of light, followed by Mister Masters, who smiled his crookedest
smile and stumbled on a root so that he was cruelly embarrassed.
Little Miss Blythe blinked at the lights and looked very beautiful. She
was all in white and wore no hat. She had a red rose at her throat. She
was grave for her--and silent.
The truth was that she had during the last ten minutes made up her mind
to ask Mr. Bob Blagdon to drive her home when the picnic should be over.
She had asked Mister Masters to drive out with her; and how much that
had delighted him nobody knew (alas!) except Mister Masters himself. She
had during the last few weeks given him every opportunity which her
somewhat unconventional soul could sanction. In a hundred ways she had
showed him that she liked him immensely; and well--if he liked her in
the same way, he would have managed to show it, in spite of his shyness.
The drive out had been a failure. They had gotten no further in
conversation than the beauty and the sweet smells of the night. And
finally, but God alone knows with what reluctance, she had given him up
as a bad job.
The long table with its dozens of candles looked like a huge altar, and
she was Iphigenia come to the sacrifice. She had never heard of
Iphigenia, but that doesn't matter. At Mister Masters, now seated near
the other end of the table, she lifted shy eyes; but he was looking at
his plate and crumbling a piece of bread. It was like saying good-by.
She was silent for a moment; then, smiling with a kind of reckless
gayety, she lifted her glass of champagne and turned to the host.
"To you!" she said.
Delight swelled in the breast of Mr. Bob Blagdon. He raised his hand,
and from a neighboring thicket there rose abruptly the music of banjos
and guitars and the loud, sweet singing of negroes.
Aiken will always remember that dinner in the woods for its beauty and
for its gayety. Two or three men, funny by gift and habit, were at their
very best; and fortune adapted the wits of others to the occasion. So
that the most unexpected persons became humorous for once in their
lives, and said things worth remembering. People gather together for one
of three reasons: to make laws, to break them, or to laugh. The first
sort of gathering is nearly always funny, and if the last isn't, why
then, to be sure, it is a failure. Mr. Bob Blagdon's picnic was an
uproarious success. Now and then somebody's whole soul seemed to go
into a laugh, in which others could not help joining, until
uncontrollable snorts resounded in the hollow and eyes became blinded
with tears.
And then suddenly, toward dessert, laughter died away and nothing was to
be heard but such exclamations as: "For Heaven's sake, look at the
moon!" "Did you ever see anything like it?"
Mr. Blagdon had paid money to the owner of Red Oak Hollow for permission
to remove certain trees and thickets that would otherwise have
obstructed his guests' view of the moonrise. At the end of the vista
thus obtained the upper rim of the moon now appeared, as in a frame.
And, watching in silence, Mr. Blagdon's guests saw the amazing luminary
emerge, as it were, from the earth like a bright and blameless soul from
the grave, and sail clear, presently, and upward into untroubled space;
a glory, serene, smiling, and unanswerable.
No one remembered to have seen the moon so large or so bright. Atomized
silver poured like tides of light into the surrounding woods; and at the
same time heavenly odors of flowers began to move hither and thither, to
change places, to return, and pass, like disembodied spirits engaged in
some tranquil and celestial dance.
And it became cooler, so that women called for light wraps and men tied
sweaters round their necks by the arms. Then at a long distance from
the dinner-table a bonfire began to flicker, and then grow bright and
red. And it was discovered that rugs and cushions had been placed (not
too near the fire) for people to sit on while they drank their coffee
and liquors, and that there were logs to lean against, and boxes of
cigars and cigarettes where they could most easily be reached.
It was only a question now of how long the guests would care to stay. As
a gathering the picnic was over. Some did not use the rugs and cushions
that had been provided for them, but strolled away into the woods. A
number of slightly intoxicated gentlemen felt it their duty to gather
about their host and entertain him. Two married couples brought candles
from the dinner-table and began a best two out of three at bridge.
Sometimes two men and one woman would sit together with their backs
against a log; but always after a few minutes one of the men would go
away "to get something" and would not return.
It was not wholly by accident that Mister Masters found himself alone
with little Miss Blythe. Emboldened by the gayety of the dinner, and
then by the wonder of the moon, he had had the courage to hurry to her
side; and though there his courage had failed utterly, his action had
been such as to deter others from joining her. So, for there was nothing
else to do, they found a thick rug and sat upon it, and leaned their
backs against a log.
Little Miss Blythe had not yet asked Mr. Blagdon to drive her home.
Though she had made up her mind to do so, it would only be at the last
possible moment of the twelfth hour. It was now that eleventh hour in
which heroines are rescued by bold lovers. But Mister Masters was no
bolder than a mouse. And the moon sailed higher and higher in the
heavens.
"Isn't it wonderful?" said little Miss Blythe.
"Wonderful!"
"Just smell it!"
"Umm."
Her sad, rather frightened eyes wandered over to the noisy group of
which Mr. Bob Blagdon was the grave and silent centre. He knew that
little Miss Blythe would keep her promise. He believed in his heart that
her decision would be favorable to him; but he was watching her where
she sat with Masters and knew that his belief in what she would decide
was not strong enough to make him altogether happy.
"_And_ he was old enough to be her father!" repeated the gentleman in
the Scotch deer-stalker who had been gossiping. Mr. Blagdon smiled, but
the words hurt--"old enough to be her father." "My God," he thought,
"_I_ am old enough--just!" But then he comforted himself with "Why not?
It's how old a man feels, not how old he is."
Then his eyes caught little Miss Blythe's, but she turned hers instantly
away.
"This will be the end of the season," she said.
Mister Masters assented. He wanted to tell her how beautiful she looked.
"Do you see old Mr. Black over there?" she said. "He's pretending not to
watch us, but he's watching us like a lynx.... Did you ever start a
piece of news?"
"Never," said Mister Masters.
"It would be rather fun," said little Miss Blythe. "For instance, if we
held hands for a moment Mr. Black would see it, and five minutes later
everybody would know about it."
Mister Masters screwed his courage up to the sticking point, and took
her hand in his. Both looked toward Mr. Black as if inviting him to
notice them. Mr. Black was seen almost instantly to whisper to the
nearest gentleman.
"There," said little Miss Blythe, and was for withdrawing her hand. But
Masters's fingers tightened upon it, and she could feel the pulses
beating in their tips. She knew that people were looking, but she felt
brazen, unabashed, and happy. Mister Masters's grip tightened; it said:
"My master has a dozen hearts, and they are all beating--for _you_." To
return that pressure was not an act of little Miss Blythe's will. She
could not help herself. Her hand said to Masters: "With the heart--with
the soul." Then she was frightened and ashamed, and had a rush of color
to the face.
"Let go," she whispered.
But Masters leaned toward her, and though he was trembling with fear and
awe and wonder, he found a certain courage and his voice was wonderfully
gentle and tender, and he smiled and he whispered: "Boo!"
Only then did he set her hand free. For one reason there was no need now
of so slight a bondage; for another, Mr. Bob Blagdon was approaching
them, a little pale but smiling. He held out his hand to little Miss
Blythe, and she took it.
"Phyllis," said he, "I know your face so well that there is no need for
me to ask, and for you--to deny." He smiled upon her gently, though it
cost him an effort. "I wanted her for myself," he turned to Masters with
charming frankness, "but even an old man's selfish desires are not proof
against the eloquence of youth, and I find a certain happiness in saying
from the bottom of my heart--bless you, my children...."
The two young people stood before him with bowed heads.
"I am going to send you the silver and glass from the table," said he,
"for a wedding present to remind you of my picnic...." He looked upward
at the moon. "If I could," said he, "I would give you that."
Then the three stood in silence and looked upward at the moon.