SOME CONFIDENCES
Aunt Susan now looked up-to-date, younger and happier, and she was most
grateful for everything that Ethel had done for her. They all went to
theaters, moving picture shows, and twice a week Tom would hire a motor
and they'd take long drives far into the country.
Ethel now knew why Aunt Susan loved the man so dearly. She praised him
constantly and the girl thought: "Well, if as Dorothy Kip expresses it
he's doing these kind acts to 'build character' with Aunt Susan, at
least he's an excellent actor."
They visited the Insane Asylum. It was like a lovely summer hotel and
the nurses were most solicitous and polite to the patients. Ethel could
understand how they might be cured,--how their poor tired and sick
brains were rested and strengthened by humane treatment. It was a
wonderful revelation to the young girl--this charity of Aunt Susan's.
What a good, worthy woman, and after her death what a reward awaited her
if we are to be rewarded according to our good deeds.
Ethel was changing. She had lost a good deal of her worldly pride.
Cousin Kate was expected the following week and she was looking forward
to trying on her Camp Fire costume, and to the happy days that were to
come.
One morning Aunt Susan sat by the window sewing. She looked actually
lovely, or at least Ethel thought so, and longed for Grandmamma to see
the change that she had wrought. As she gazed upon the old lady she said
to herself: "Perhaps, it is because I'm growing so fond of her."
Aunt Susan had on a white silk sacque that Ethel had made, trimmed with
rare old lace ruffles at the wrist and collar, while her hair was very
white and pretty. There was a gentle breeze blowing in at the window,
and little curly locks fell upon her forehead.
Ethel was knitting a sweater. She had learned the stitch in the town
where she had bought her wool, and she was making one for her mother.
In after years she never knitted that she didn't think of the
conversation that took place between Aunt Susan and herself. The ground
was covered with white petals of apple and cherry blossoms and it was as
though the snow had fallen in May. She remembered everything connected
with that conversation, and later in life she could close her eyes and
hear the robins calling and see the butterflies flitting among the
bushes, for that morning was the turning point in her life.
"Aunt Susan," began the girl, knitting very rapidly, "Mr. Tom tells me
that his mother was your pupil. Did you teach very long?"
"Yes, Ethel," she replied, "I taught for years. Father, although a rich
man, expected his girls to do something, and there he was wise. He
always said that a girl should have some occupation the same as a boy;
then, when ship-wrecks came, they'd know how to swim. In other words,
when one's money was taken away there would be something to fall back
upon. Your grandmother took music lessons and taught for a while, but
she was pretty and during her first visit to New York, Archie Hollister
fell desperately in love and married her. Tom's mother was a fine
character and my favorite pupil. In so many ways Tom resembles her. She
was clever and bright, and so is Tom. Why, Ethel, he has more than paid
me for what I have done for him and Freddie. Today he's not twenty-five
and he's one of our cleverest lawyers. I shouldn't be surprised if some
day Ohio would send him to Congress. You know some of our cleverest men
come from this state,--presidents and statesmen--and Aunt Susan's
cheeks grew pink with excitement.
"And dear little Fred," she continued--"he was more like a baby. He sort
of clung to me; but, Ethel, they were like my own children, and you've
no idea how happy they made me."
"Aunt Susan," said Ethel, with her cheeks aflame, "don't think me
impertinent but you seem different from an----"
"An old maid," laughed Aunt Susan, "that's what you dared not say."
Ethel nodded and continued: "From the different photographs I have seen
of you, you must have been lovely. Why have you never married?"
Aunt Susan blushed and said in a low voice: "Ethel, I have been
married."
The girl started.
"Haven't you noticed that people call me _Mrs._ Carpenter?"
"Yes," replied the girl, drawing nearer with wonder in her eyes, "but I
know several maiden ladies who are called 'Mrs.' Mamma has a second
cousin--she's dead now, I mean--but I remember her. She speculated in
Wall Street and had an office, and she insisted upon being called Mrs."
"Yes, I've heard of women like her," replied Aunt Susan, "but I married
a man by the same name, although no relation. Has your grandmother never
spoken of him?"
"Never," replied the girl.
"Well, Alice has always hidden the family skeleton, but I will tell you
all about it.
"When I was about thirty-six years of age I married Robert Carpenter. I
was alone and wealthy. I loved him and tried to make his life happy,
but he drank. He had inherited that habit from his father, and drinking
led to gambling. He grew worse and worse. One night under the influence
of drink he came home and seemed determined to pick a quarrel. Seeing
that he was irresponsible I made no reply to his very insulting remarks.
That angered him beyond endurance. He struck and threw me across the
room. Then he left the house.
"Over on the hill by the Asylum is the grave of my little son who was
born and died that night."
Ethel started.
"Yes, my dear, I have been a wife and mother. Of course, I knew nothing
until the next day. I recovered consciousness but Robert had gone. He
had taken all of my money that he could find in the house and he had not
gone alone. His companion was a disreputable woman from the town."
Aunt Susan paused and looked over toward the little grave on the
hillside.
"It seemed," she continued, "as though God, who knew my sorrow at losing
my little one, sent me my two dear boys--Tom and Fred. They came into my
life when I most needed them and were my greatest comfort, for I was a
lonely woman, my dear. One day I received a letter written in a strange
hand saying that my husband was ill and not likely to live--that he
wished for me, to ask my forgiveness, and he begged me for God's sake to
go to him. I went. He was in Detroit in a squalid boarding house. I was
shocked at the change. I had not realized that a man could so lose his
good looks as he had done. I took him to a clean place kept by a woman
who had been highly recommended. Upon my arrival he wept bitterly and
begged my pardon. Then I was glad that I had never divorced him as my
friends had advised, for the poor man had been deserted by his companion
when the money had gone. He had kept on sinking lower and lower, ashamed
to appeal to me until when what he thought to be his last illness came
upon him he sent for me to ask my forgiveness."
"Did you give it?" asked the girl.
"Yes, Ethel, I did, and I gave it freely, because for the year past he
had been stone blind. I was so glad that I could cheer him up and make
the few remaining days of his life liveable."
"Did you ask him of his companion?" asked Ethel.
"No, he never spoke of her, nor did I. Had he wished to have told me he
would have done so. Robert had many loveable traits--yes, many noble
traits--but it was drink that ruined him. He was not mercenary. I had
money, but until he began to drink he was too proud to take it from me.
He was truly fond of me and would have married me had I been poor, but
of course after he had started the downward course he lost his pride.
"Well, I joined him in Detroit and stayed until after he died. His sight
never returned, but I read to him and cheered him up, and I had the
satisfaction of knowing that I made the last part of his life happier.
That's all, my dear. It is almost too sad to tell to a young girl."
Ethel sat and gazed upon her,--the woman who had shown such mercy to a
brute,--a wife deserted by her husband,--a mother never able to feel the
hand of her little child upon her cheek,--a woman whose life had been
spent in helping others, with no thought of self. The tears came into
the girl's eyes. She seemed to behold a bright halo about Aunt Susan's
head, and it filled her with awe. Suddenly she saw herself as she really
was,--the daughter of a selfish, mercenary mother, whose sole ambition
was for her future position in life. And this was her mission--to visit
this noble woman with a view to ingratiating herself and becoming her
heiress,--to make her think she loved her,--to make herself
indispensable to her. Yes, those were her mother's words. She had
destroyed the letter lest it should be seen, but she knew it by heart.
The young girl saw it all. Her lips quivered and she felt so utterly
unworthy that she fell on her knees and buried her face in Aunt Susan's
lap, sobbing bitterly.