About a year after Flora's marriage I received a letter from Aunt
Lucinda with a pressing invitation that we should go at once to Fulton;
she wished me also to write, requesting my mother to join us at Montreal
and accompany us. This letter surprised me not a little, but I was well
aware that Aunt Lucinda must have some particular reason for this sudden
and unexpected invitation; and I at once wrote to my mother, informing
her of her request, and two days later she arrived at my home in
Montreal. We enjoyed a pleasant journey, and again my eyes rested with
delight upon the familiar scenes of the village of Fulton. Uncle Nathan
met us at the railway station, looking as hale and hearty as ever. On
our way to the farm I ventured to inquire what had caused our invitation
to visit them at this particular time; he answered me only by repeating
the old saying, "Ask me no questions and I'll tell you no lies," and so
we made no further inquiries. When Aunt Lucinda came forward to welcome
us, I at once noticed the remarkable change in her appearance; one would
have supposed that at least ten years had been taken from her age since
I last saw her, and her whole manner was so cheerful and sprightly that
I was at a loss to understand what could have happened; but I never
dreamed of the truth till after tea, when Aunt Lucinda rose and said: "I
want to see you, Walter, alone in the parlor." I followed her, secretly
wondering what wonderful revelation I was to listen to. When we were
seated, she said with her old abrupt manner, "Well, Walter, you have
heard Nathan talk about Joshua Blake, he has come back and we are going
to be married to-morrow and I have sent for you to attend the wedding.
You may well look astonished to hear an old woman like me talk about
getting married; and the land knows what Deacon Martin's folks will say;
but as long as they have liberty to say whatever they please, they
needn't complain. You remember hearing Nathan laugh about Joshua Blake
and his red hair years ago, perhaps you thought there was no such person
in the world but there was. Joshua was an only child, his parents lived
over at the village, and we went to school together. His hair was not a
real blazin' red but only a dark auburn, for all of Nathan's nonsense
about it. Well, we loved each other, when mere children. As we grew
older I could see but one fault in Joshua, he was inclined to be
unreasonably jealous, and that was the beginning of our trouble. I was
young and giddy, and much as I loved him rather enjoyed teasing him, and
doing trifling things which I knew would vex him, while at the same time
I cared for no one else in the world; and I am now ashamed to say I
often accepted of the attentions of others for the mischievous delight I
took in making him angry and seeing him look cross, and it may be there
was a lurking pride in knowing that I had the power to make him jealous.
Truly, Walter, the human heart is a singular compound of good and evil.
I shall ever remember the last evening we spent together, it was at a
party. I know not what spirit of mischief possessed me, but I took
particular pains to annoy Joshua by my giddy and frivolous conduct. When
we were ready to return home he offered me his arm without speaking,
this made me angry and I walked proudly by his side. We walked on in
silence till we reached the gate at my own home. As he was turning away
he said, 'I suppose, Miss Adams, it will cause you no sorrow if I tell
you this is probably the last time we shall ever meet.' I know that even
then, had I answered him differently the matter would not have ended as
it did, but my spirit rose proud and defiant, and I said with a tone of
mock levity, 'How long a journey do you purpose taking, Mr. Blake? is it
to the grist-mill, or to the sawmill, which is a little farther away?'
'You may make light of my words, if you choose,' replied he; 'but I am
in no mood for jesting. The truth is, Miss Adams, that I can no longer
endure this life of suspense and torture, and it is evident you care
more for a giddy throng of admirers than for the love of one who has
loved you from childhood. I leave here to-morrow morning, trusting to
time and distance to assist me in forgetting you.' He looked earnestly
in my face, in the bright moonlight, as he said these words, but could
read there nothing but self-will and defiance. It is even now a matter
of wonder to me what caused me to act as I did, against my own feelings.
He held out his hand, saying: 'Let us at least part as friends, Miss
Adams.' I gave him my hand, saying lightly: 'I hope, Mr. Blake, you
won't be like the boy who ran away from home and came back to stay the
first night.' I turned and walked toward my own door, and he went away
without speaking another word. I watched him in the clear moonlight till
a turn in the road hid him from my view. Had I entertained the slightest
idea that he would fulfil his threat of going away, I know I should have
acted differently; and it was not till I learned, the next day, that he
had left Fulton and gone no one knew whither, that I realized what I had
done. I knew not whether his parents had a suspicion of the cause of his
sudden departure, if they had they never named it to me. I told my
sorrow to no one but my mother, but Nathan always said he knew well
enough without being told by any one. I can tell you, Walter, my sin did
not go unpunished; for, inconsistent as my conduct has been, I loved
Joshua Blake with a deep affection, and when my tortured mind pictured
him as a wandering exile from his home, through my absurd and foolish
conduct, you may be sure he did not suffer alone. And if I hadn't turned
kind of cross and crusty, I am afraid I should have gone crazy, and it
was certainly better to be cross than crazy. That is twenty-five years
ago. As I was employed in the garden one morning a few weeks ago, an
acquaintance from the village passing by said to me: 'Have you heard
the news, Miss Adams, that has almost turned every one's head over at
Fulton: Joshua Blake, whom every one had given up for dead years ago,
has come home.' I grew cold as ice, and I never could tell how I reached
the house. I could hardly believe it, and yet something told me it was
true, and that very evening he came over here; but, instead of the youth
who went away, I saw, a middle-aged man with gray-hair, which Nathan
said was an improvement, allowing that some gray looked better than all
red. It sounds foolish enough for young people to talk love, but for old
people like Joshua Blake and I, it is unpardonable. He told me he had
resolved never to return to his native land again, till, by the merest
chance, he met a man in Australia who informed him of the death of his
father, and that his father had said upon his death-bed, that all that
gave him the least anxiety was his aged partner, who, at his death,
would be left quite alone in the world. 'Then,' continued he, 'I thought
of the sin I had committed in so long neglecting my parents, and I
resolved to atone for my past neglect, by hastening home to care for my
mother, should I find her still alive; and the happiness is yet left me
of watching over the declining years of my aged mother.' For awhile I
refused to listen to him when he spoke about marriage, and told him it
was better we should remain only as friends; but he talked and talked,
and kept saying that, as we loved each other in youth, we could yet
spend the evening of our lives together; and I at last said yes, only to
stop his talking, and if we should happen not to agree, we shall have
less time to quarrel than if we had got married twenty-five years ago;
but, I rather think we have both got sobered down, so we can get along
peaceably. And now, Walter, you go right off to bed, for you must get up
bright and early to-morrow morning, to assist in the preparations for
the wedding." Aunt Lucinda looked very becoming in her bridal dress of
gray silk with its rich lace trimming, and she looked younger and
handsomer than I had ever seen her before, when Joshua Blake placed the
marriage ring upon her finger; he was a fine-looking man, but I could
not help thinking that the mixture of gray in his auburn locks was more
of an improvement than otherwise. He had returned to Fulton a rich man,
and on the same spot where stood his father's old house, he erected and
furnished a beautiful residence, which every one allowed was an ornament
to the village; and removed thither with his wife and aged mother a
short time after his marriage. My aunt's marriage made quite a change
in the home arrangements at Uncle Nathan's, but he finally persuaded my
mother to sell her old house and Elmwood, to come and reside with him.
It was some time before my mother could make up her mind to leave her
old home, hallowed by so many associations of the past; but, judging the
lonely situation of the brother, who had done so much for me, she at
length consented; and my uncle's home is now presided over by my mother,
who was always his favorite sister. Cousin Silas's eldest daughter, now
an intelligent girl of eighteen, stays with my mother, as an assistant
companion; and the summer gathering of friends from the dusty city is
now held at Uncle Nathan's farm-house instead of my mother's old home at
Elmwood.