Saunders spent the end of that week on his plantation in the mountains.
On Saturday morning he dropped in at Drake's to see Dolly. John Webb
came to the door in response to his rap. He was quite unchanged. Even
the clothes he was wearing had the same look as those he wore five
years before.
"She ain't here," he said. "I seed 'er, with some books an' papers
under 'er arm, headed for the schoolhouse just after breakfast. I
reckon she's got some examples to work or compositions to write. They
are fixin' for a' exhibition of some sort for the last Friday in this
month. Dolly writes a big part o' the stuff the scholars read in
public, an' you bet some of it is tiptop. When she is in a good humor
she can compose a' article that will make a dog laugh. She is out o'
sorts to-day."
"Oh, is that so?" Saunders was moving toward the gate. "Has anything
gone wrong?"
"She is bothered about George," Webb answered. "It is first one thing
and then another with her. George's crop is a failure this year and he
is up to his neck in debt. On top o' that he wants to get married. You
know him an' Ida Benson are crazy to get tied, and it was to come off
in the fall, but George won't be able to buy a new shirt, to say
nothin' of a whole outfit. The boy is awful downhearted, and so is his
gal. Dolly busted out an' cried last night while George was a-talkin'.
She says Ida will be the makin' of the boy, but they can't stir a peg
as it is, for they hain't got a dollar betwixt 'em."
"Well, I'll walk by the schoolhouse and see if Dolly is there,"
Saunders remarked. "It is on my way home."
As he drew near the little building at the roadside he noticed that the
front door was open, and, peering in, he saw Dolly at her desk. She was
not at work; indeed, she seemed quite preoccupied with her thoughts,
for she was staring fixedly at an open window, a troubled frown on her
sweet face. She heard Saunders's step at the door, and, seeing him
enter, she began to smile.
"You caught me," she laughed, impulsively. "I was having one of my
silly fits of blues. I am glad you came in. You always make me ashamed
of my despondency."
"You are freer from it than any human being I ever saw," he declared,
as he shook hands with her. "I seldom have the blues; but if I did, one
thought of your wonderful patience would knock them higher than a kite."
She laughed merrily, her eyes twinkling, the warm color flushing her
face, as was always the case when she was animated. "I suppose it is
generally due to one's point of view," she said. "When it concerns
myself I can manage very well, but if it is any one else--"
"A dear brother, for instance," Saunders put in, sympathetically, "and
his laudable desire to marry a worthy girl."
She looked at him steadily in mild surprise. "I see you know," she
nodded. "I suppose half the county are sorry for that pair. George does
try so hard, and yet everything the poor boy touches goes the wrong
way. It is not his fault. He is young and inexperienced and so full of
hope. He is so downhearted to-day that he wouldn't go to work. He got a
letter from Cross & Mayhew last night. You know they advanced him his
supplies for this season and took a mortgage on his crop as security.
It seems that they sent a man out here the other day to see how he was
getting on. The man reported the condition of George's crop, and they
wrote him that they would not credit him for his supplies next season.
That was the last straw. I found him actually crying down at the barn.
He had gone into the stall where his horse was feeding and had his arms
around the animal's neck. Mr. Saunders, you can't imagine my feelings.
I love my brother with all my heart. I offered to help him with part of
my wages, but he was too proud to accept a cent. That letter from Cross
& Mayhew humiliated him beyond description. It bowed him down; young as
he is, he is actually crushed. He is coming here this morning to talk
to me. He wants to go West with the hope that he may get started there
and come back for Ida. I can't bear to have him go--I simply can't
stand it. I want him to stay here at home. It is the place for them
both."
"I think so, too," Saunders said, sympathetically. "There is no better
spot on earth for a young farmer."
"I am glad you agree with me"--Dolly brightened a little--"and if you
should get a chance I wish you would advise him to stay. You have
wonderful influence, with both him and my father."
"I didn't know that," Saunders said, modestly.
Dolly smiled, a far-off expression in her deep eyes. "They think you
are the best and wisest man in the world. And as for Ann, do you know
you did me a wonderful favor in regard to her?"
"You surprise me." Saunders flushed red. "I didn't know that I had
ever--I don't remember-"
"No, I'm sure you don't, and I didn't mention it, but I'm going to tell
you now, for I am very, very grateful. You know, perhaps, that Ann used
to care a good deal for that reckless fellow Abe Westbrook?"
"Yes, I remember seeing them together frequently," Saunders answered.
"Well, he became more and more dissipated and so bold and ill-bred that
he even came to see her when he was intoxicated. I was afraid to call
father's attention to it for two reasons--first, father's temper, and
then the fear I had that Ann might elope with the fellow. So I had to
be very, very cautious. I tried talking to Ann, but it went in at one
ear and out at the other. Nothing I said had the slightest effect on
her. Then she got to meeting him at different places away from home,
and I was almost crazy. Then you, as you always have done, came to my
aid."
"I? Why, Dolly, I am sure that I have never--"
"You don't remember it"--Dolly's voice shook, and a delicate glow
suffused her face--"but I'll remind you. You recall the picnic over the
mountain last spring?"
"The day you didn't go," Saunders nodded. "I remember looking for you
everywhere."
"Well, that day, when all the girls felt so highly honored by your
presence, and you were so nice to them, you paid a good deal of
attention to Ann, asking her to drive home with you."
"Of course I remember that," Saunders said; "I enjoyed the drive very
much."
"It wasn't anything you said, exactly," Dolly went on, "but you may
remember that Abe was drinking that day and misbehaved badly before
every one, even when they were all eating lunch together. Ann told me
all about it. She came to my bed away in the night and waked me. She
told me she had made up her mind never to see Westbrook again. In
contrasting him with you she saw what a failure he was. She said she
had never before so plainly seen her danger. She saw the look of
disgust in your face while Abe was acting so badly, and your failure to
refer to the incident on the way home impressed her. That happening
completely turned her round, opened her eyes, and already she has
stopped thinking of him."
Saunders was modestly trying to formulate some protest when, looking
toward the door, Dolly suddenly exclaimed: "Oh, there is George now!
Don't leave," for Saunders was rising. "I can see him at home."
"I must be going, anyway," Saunders said, rather nervously, "but if you
will let me I'd like to take you for a drive this afternoon. We could
pass the new schoolhouse and see how it is coming on."
"I'll be glad to go," Dolly answered. "I understand the men are making
fine progress."
Seeing Saunders coming out, George stepped aside just outside the door
to let him pass, and they met face to face. The banker's sympathies
were deeply touched by the dejected mien of the courageous young man,
whom he had always liked.
"Hello, George," he greeted him, cordially. "Your sister tells me you
are thinking of pulling up stakes and moving West."
"Yes, I think it is about the best thing for me, now, Mr. Saunders,"
George answered, gloomily. "I've given this thing a fair test. Perhaps
out there among strangers I may have a change of luck. I can't make it
go here. I'm a drawback to myself and everybody else. Even Dolly is
upset by my troubles, and when she gives up things are bad, sure
enough. You can't imagine how a fellow feels in my fix."
"I think I can, George." Glancing back, Saunders noted that Dolly was
looking straight at them. He put his hand on the young man's shoulder
and let it rest there gently while he went on: "Still, George, I would
not advise you to leave home. You see, here you are surrounded by old
friends and relatives. Among total strangers the fight for success
would be even harder, and I am afraid you'd be homesick for these old
mountains. I have met a good many who have come back after a trial at
farming out there. They all say this country is as good as any."
"But I am actually at the end of my rope." George's voice shook afresh,
and the shadow about his eyes deepened. "Has Dolly told you about Cross
& Mayhew?"
"Yes, and I'm sorry you ever got in with them. George, they are nothing
more nor less than licensed thieves. Have you ever calculated how much
they make out of you?"
"Oh, I know their profit is big," George sighed, "but men of my stamp
have to go to them when they need a stake to pull through on."
"I have figured on their method," Saunders said, "and I am quite sure
that they get as their part fully half of the earnings of their
customers. It may interest you to know, George, that our bank lends
that firm money at only seven or eight per cent., which they turn over
to you at no less than fifty."
"I see," George sighed; "the poor man has the bag to hold. Money makes
money."
"I have a plan in my head, George"--Saunders was somewhat embarrassed,
and looked away from the dejected face before him--"which, it seems to
me, might help both you and me in a certain way."
"What is that?" George stared, wonderingly, his fine lips quivering.
"To begin with, George, I think that your bad crop this season is due
largely to the poor land you rented. I noticed it early in the year and
was afraid you'd not accomplish much."
"It was all I could get," George said. "I tried all around, but every
other small farm either was to be worked by the owner or was rented
already. It was root hog or die with me, Mr. Saunders."
"You have seen the Warner farm, haven't you?" the banker inquired.
"You bet I have!" George responded. "It is the prettiest small place in
this valley."
"Well, I bought it the other day for two thousand dollars," Saunders
said. "Warner owed me some money, and I had to take the farm to secure
myself. Things like that often come up in a bank, you know."
"Well, you are safe in it, Mr. Saunders," George said. "You never could
lose in a deal like that. It has a good house on it, and every foot of
the land is rich. It has a fine strip of woodland, too."
"I really have no use for the place," Saunders went on, more awkwardly.
"If it adjoined my plantation I would like it better, but it is too far
away for my manager to see it often. I want to sell it, and it struck
me that if you could be persuaded to give up this Western idea maybe
you could take it off my hands at what it cost me."
"I? huh! That _is_ a joke, Mr. Saunders," George laughed. "If farms
were going at ten cents apiece I couldn't buy a pig-track in a free
mud-hole."
"I wouldn't require the money down," Saunders went on, still clumsily.
"In fact, I could give you all the time you wanted to pay for it. I
know you are going to succeed--I know it as well as I know anything;
and you ought to own your own place. I am willing to advance money for
your supplies--and some to get married on, too. You and your sweetheart
could be very snug in that little house."
George stared like a man waking from a perplexing dream. His
toil-hardened, sun-browned hands were visibly quivering, his mouth was
open, his lower lip twitching.
"You _can't_ mean it--you _can't_ be in earnest!" he gasped, leaning
heavily against the door-jamb, actually pale with excitement.
"Yes, I mean it, George." Saunders put his hand on the broad shoulder
again. "And I hope you will take me up. You will be doing me a favor,
you see. I lend money every day to men I don't trust half as much as I
do you."
At this juncture Dolly hurried down the aisle, a look of fresh anxiety
on her face. "What is the matter, George?" she asked, eying her brother
in surprise. "What has happened?"
Falteringly and with all but sobs of elation, George explained
Saunders's proposition. "Did you ever in your life think of such a
thing?" he cried. "Dolly, I'm going to take him up. If he is willing to
risk me I'll take him up. I'll work my fingers to the bone rather than
see him lose a cent. I'm going to take him up--I tell you, Sis, I'm
going to take him up!"
Dolly said nothing. A glow of boundless delight suffused her face,
rendering her unspeakably beautiful. Her eyes had a depth Saunders had
never beheld before. He saw her round breast quiver and expand in tense
agitation. She put her arm about her brother's neck and kissed him on
the cheek. Then, without a word, her hand on her lips as if to suppress
a rising sob, she turned back into the schoolhouse and, with head down,
went to her desk, where she sat with her back to the door.
"She's gone off to cry," George chuckled. "She's that way. She never
gives up in trouble, but when she is plumb happy like she is now she
can't hold in. Look, I told you so--she's wiping her eyes, dear, dear
old girl. Now, I'm going to run over and tell Ida. Lord, Lord, Mr.
Saunders, she'll be tickled to death! Just this morning I told her I
was going away. Good-by; God bless you!"
When George was gone Saunders stood at the door and wistfully looked in
at Dolly. An impulse that was almost overpowering drew him to her, but
he put it aside.
"She wants to be alone," he reflected. "If I went now, feeling like
this, I'd say something I ought not to say and be sorry I imposed on
her at such a time. No, I will have to wait. I have waited all these
years, and I can wait longer. To win I could wait to the end of time."
Turning, he strode into the wood. Deeper and deeper he plunged, headed
toward the mountain, feeling the cooling shade of the mighty trees,
whose branches met and interlaced overhead. Reaching a mossy bank near
a limpid stream, he threw himself down and gave himself up to reveries.