At dusk the simple ceremony was read, Dr. Clarkson of the College
officiating. Sydney Schubert played the Bridal Chorus from Lohengrin
as Mr. Denslow descended the stairs with his daughter. Before them
Eileen walked, her head bowed, her face pale and serious. In the cozy
angle of the hall, Lary and Dr. Schubert met them. The formality
was a concession to Theodora. The murmured responses were all but
extinguished by Mrs. Trench’s sudden flood of weeping. When it was
over, Eileen said to Judith, between lips that hissed with anger:
“I could have choked her. She just did that for effect. Mrs. Henderson
cried when her daughter was married, and mamma thinks it’s the proper
thing. She nearly disrupted Sylvia’s wedding--and every one in church
knew she was pleased as Punch to get Sylvia off her hands.”
Mrs. Trench led the way to the dining-room, where the bridal party was
served by Nanny and Drusilla, with Mrs. Dutton in the kitchen. In the
domestic realm of the two households the colour line had never been
drawn. Nanny hailed from that section of New England where a dark skin
excites the same kind of interest that a green rose or a two-headed
calf would elicit. Mrs. Dutton, Judith perceived early in the days of
her tenancy, found a malicious pleasure in her own function as a social
link between Mrs. David Trench and her negro cook--a link that Mrs.
Trench saw fit to ignore, since the breaking of it had thus far baffled
even her resourcefulness.
Later in the evening, while Syd and Eileen played poignant melodies,
with David leaning over the piano, and Lavinia told Dr. Clarkson
of the great Denslow wealth--her daughter-in-law’s exalted social
position--Mr. Denslow and Dr. Schubert talked of old times in
Rochester, where the youthful physician had had his first hospital
experience, where Denslow, a poor boy with an iron will, had found
the open path to fortune through a painful accident and a sojourn in
a hospital ward. They drifted to the laboratory experiments, which
Judith’s father had never taken the trouble to inquire about. This was
just another of the girl’s wild goose chases. He wondered why he had
such a damnably unsatisfactory family.
“I shall miss her, cruelly. You don’t know what it has meant to my boy
and me--having a woman in the house four mornings a week. I wanted
to train Eileen to help me with the experiments; but your daughter
tells me they are taking the child with them, to study under a famous
violinist. I have salvaged only one thing out of the wreck of our two
households. They are leaving Nanny with me. I have worried with six
housekeepers since my faithful Sophie died, two years ago.”
The disposition of Nanny was Lavinia’s bright inspiration. Obviously
Nanny must not go to New York--to return a year later and spread gossip.
When Dutton had taken Mr. Denslow to the station, the wedding guests
went home. At the door, Theodora paused and looked ruefully back. They
had ignored her completely, and was not she responsible for it all?
Even Lary’s kiss had been abstracted. But then, Lary did not know.
None of the others knew why there was a wedding at Vine Cottage, that
evening. Only she and Judith understood--and one of them must have
forgotten, now that the fairy tale had come true.
She looked at the Beloved, standing there in the light of the little
apricot lamp, and her throat swelled with loneliness and misery. She
was not jealous--even if they were taking Eileen for a year in New
York. Some one had to stay and take care of daddy--and she could do
that much better than Eileen, or even Lary. Another thought came to
her, just as Judith perceived her and held out her enticing arms.
“You--you still think it was dishonourable--showing you the poem Lary
wrote?”
“No, darling. It was a stroke of genius. You have the head of a
diplomat. I want you to do something really truly dishonourable for
your sister Judith. After we have gone, I want you to rummage through
Lary’s things until you find those two sheets of paper--the original
ones. Pry open the lid of his desk, if there is no other way, and send
them to me. I am going to have them framed!”