THE HAUGHTY GWYNETTE
True to his promise, Harold took Charles to the “big house” just before
five, the hour of his mother’s appointing.
“You have a beautiful home,” the visiting lad remarked as he was led
along box-edged paths and paused to gaze into the mirror-clear,
sun-sparkled water in the pond lily garden. Lotus flowers were lying on
the still blue surface, waxen lovely and sweetly fragrant.
They went up the marble steps, crossed the portico and entered a long
wide hall which led directly to the front door through the windows of
which the late afternoon sun was streaming.
“The library is my favorite room,” Harold said. “I will leave you there
while I go up and see if mother is ready to meet my new friend.”
They were nearing a wide door where rich, crimson velvet portiers hung,
when Harold heard his name spoken back of him. Turning, he saw Miss Dane
beckoning to him. After speaking with her he said: “Charles, wait in the
library for me. I won’t be gone long. Mother wishes to speak to me alone
for just a few moments.”
Charles stopped to look at a very beautiful painting before he stepped
between the velvet portiers. At once he saw that the room was occupied.
“Pardon me!” he exclaimed. A girl had risen and was staring at him with
amazement, but her momentary indignation was changed to interest when she
saw how good-looking and well-dressed he was. With a graciousness she
could always assume when she wished, Gwynette assured him: “Indeed you
are not intruding. I heard my brother tell you to wait here until he
came. Won’t you be seated? I am Gwynette, Harold’s sister. He may have
told you about me?” The lad was amazed. Even while he was assuring the
girl that he had indeed heard of her his thought was inquiring, “How
could Harold find it hard to care for such a graceful, beautiful sister,
even though she was adopted.”
Gwynette had resumed the seat she had occupied formerly, a deep softly
upholstered leather chair drawn close to the wide hearth on which a drift
log was burning with flames of many colors.
“And I,” the lad sat in the chair on the opposite side of the hearth to
which she motioned him, “since Harold is not here to introduce me, will
tell you who I am and how I happen to be here.” Then he hesitated, gazing
inquiringly at the girl whose every pose was one of grace. “You probably
know my sister, Lenora Gale, since she was at the Granger Place Seminary
for a time.”
If there was a stiffening on the part of the girl, it was not
perceptible. If her thought was rather disdainfully “another farmer”, she
did not lessen her apparent interest. Her reply, though not enthusiastic,
was in the affirmative, modified with, “I really cannot say that I knew
your sister well, however. She was not in my classes and our rooms were
far apart.”
Then, with just the right amount of seeming solicitude, “She is quite
well now, I hope. I understand that she went to stay at my mother’s farm
with our overseer’s family.”
Charles glanced up at her quickly. Gwyn could not long play a part
without revealing her true self. “Very wonderful people, the Warners,”
was what the young man said. “It has been a privilege to meet them.
Lenora, I am glad to say, is daily becoming stronger and within a
fortnight we will be able to travel to our far-away home.”
He paused and the girl said, now with less interest, “A ranch, I
understand.”
“Yes, a ranch.” Silence fell between them. Gwynette gazed into the fire,
torn between her scorn for her companion’s station in life and her
admiration of his magnetic personality. Suddenly she smiled at him and
Charles felt that he had never seen any girl more beautiful. “Do you
know,” she said with apparent naivete, “it is hard for me to believe that
you are a farmer; you impress me as being a gentleman to the manner
born.”
The lad, who was her senior by several years, smiled. “Miss Gwynette,” he
retorted, “I am far more proud of being a rancher than I would be of
inheriting a title.”
Harold returned just then to say that his mother was ready to receive
their guest. The younger lad was amazed at the graciousness with which
his usually fretful sister assured Charles Gale that she was indeed glad
he was to be with them for dinner.
When the two boys were quite out of hearing, Harold gave a low whistle.
Clapping his friend on the shoulder, he said softly: “Charles, you’re a
miracle worker. I haven’t seen such a radiant smile from Gwyn in more
days than I can remember.” The other lad replied in a low voice, “I’m
glad you took me into your confidence. I may be able to help you solve
your problem.”
Harold asked with sincere eagerness, “You think that perhaps Gwyn can be
changed without taking the extreme measure of telling her that she is
Jenny Warner’s own sister?”
Charles nodded. “The ideal thing would be to so change Gwynette that she
would be glad to learn that she had a sister all her very own.” Harold
shook his head. “Can’t be done, old man, unless that sister proved to be
an heiress or an earl’s daughter.” The boy laughed at a sudden
recollection. “Poor Gwyn had a most unfortunate experience and sort of
made herself the laughing stock of her crowd over at the seminary,” he
confided. “She heard that there was a girl in the school whose father was
a younger son of English nobility who might some day be Lady
Something-or-other. Gwyn decided that _that_ girl should be cultivated,
but, unfortunately, the young lady had requested that her identity be
kept a secret. No one but Miss Granger knew it. The principal had been
proud, evidently, of the fact that a member of a noble English family
attended her school, and had let that much be known.” Charles smiled. “I
thought America was democratic and cared nothing for class,” he said.
They had stopped on the circling, softly-carpeted stairway while they
talked. Being far from the library, they had no fear of being overheard
by Gwyn. Harold replied: “Well, there are some of us who care nothing at
all for class, but every country has its snobs and Gwyn is one,
unfortunately.”
Charles appeared interested. “Did she manage to identify the girl who
might some day have a title?”
Again Harold laughed. “Poor Gwyn, it really was very funny. She selected
a big, handsome blonde who ordered the maids about in an imperious manner
and, more than that, she gave a dance at The Palms, inviting her to be
the guest of honor. I brought down a bunch of cadets from the big town
and it happened one of them hailed from Chicago, and so did the handsome
blonde. He told us that she was a Swede and that her father had made a
fortune raising pigs!”
Charles could not refrain from smiling. “That was hard on your sister,
wasn’t it?” he said.
The other lad nodded. “I wouldn’t dare refer to it in Gwyn’s hearing, but
come on! Mother will wonder where we are all this time.”
Mrs. Poindexter-Jones was as much pleased with Harold’s new friend as
Gwynette had been, and, in the brief ten moments that the boys stayed
with the invalid, she became convinced that he was just the lad she would
like to have in the cliff cabin with her son. When the nurse appeared
with a warning nod at Harold, the boys at once arose, and the woman,
reclining among her pillows, smiled as she held out a frail hand.
“Charles Gale,” she said kindly, “we are glad indeed to have you with us.
Remain as long as you can, and, when your sister is stronger, I would
like to have that dear little Warner girl bring her to call upon me.”
On the way down the wide circling flight of stairs Charles said softly,
“Your mother seems to like Jenny Warner.” The other nodded. “Yes, she
does. She wonders if, had she chosen Jeanette, as she calls her, and the
Warners had taken Gwynette, the girls would have been different. Susan
Warner declares that if her Jenny had been brought up as a princess she
would still have been simple and loving, going about doing good as she
does now. She is the bright angel to a family of Italians living in
Sycamore Canyon.”
Soft chimes from the dining-room told them that the dinner hour had
arrived, and so Harold went to the library to escort his sister, Charles
following. Again the bright smile greeted them. Rising, the girl said,
“Brother, Ma Mere told me, when I arrived from the seminary this
afternoon, that I need not remain here this summer unless I so desire.”
To Charles she explained, “I did feel so neglected when Mother sent me to
this out-of-the-way country school. I wanted to be with her in France.
The resort where she was staying is simply charming, and one meets people
there from the very best English families. For some reason, however, I
had to be buried out here.” Then, after an expressive shrug, she added
with renewed interest: “Ma Mere has heard of a select party sailing from
San Francisco next week, and if I wish, I may join it.”
While Gwyn had been talking, they had sauntered to the dining-room and
were seated in a group at one end of the long, highly-polished table.
Charles, listening attentively, now realized how truly selfish the girl
was. He was recalling another girl in a far-distant scene. When their
mother had been ill, Lenora could hardly be persuaded to leave her
bedside long enough to obtain the rest she needed, and that illness had
lasted many months. Indeed, it was not until after the mother had died
that the girl could be persuaded to think of herself, and then it was
found, as Charles and his father had feared, that she had used up far
more vitality than she could spare and she had not been strong since. He
tried not to feel critically toward the beautiful girl at his side.
Purposely he did not glance at Harold. That boy had flushed
uncomfortably, and, at, last, he spoke his thoughts, which he evidently
had tried to refrain from doing. “Gwyn, don’t you suppose, if you stayed
at home, you might make our mother’s long hours in bed pleasanter for
her?”
The girl’s tone was just tinged with irritation. “No, Harold, I do not.
Mother does not find my companionship restful and Miss Dane surely does
for her all that is humanly possible.” Gwyn was distinctly uncomfortable.
She felt that the conversation was not putting her in an enviable light
and she had truly wished to impress Charles Gale, for the time being, at
least. She had no desire to have the admiration a lasting one, since he
was merely a rancher’s son.
Gwynette had one ambition and that was to make a most desirable marriage
soon after her eighteenth birthday, which was not many months away. She
was convinced that, after her debut into San Francisco’s most select
“Younger Set”, she would soon meet the man of her dreams. She never
doubted but that _he_ at once would love her and desire to make her his
wife. But just now it would be gratifying to her vanity to have so
handsome a young giant as Charles Gale admire her. Poor Gwyn at that
moment was far from having accomplished this. Charles _did_ admire
beauty, and thought how charming she would be, were she not so
superlatively selfish.
Harold changed the subject. “Gwyn, we boys are going to the farm after
dinner. Will you go with us? Charles naturally wishes to spend the
evenings with his sister.”
Both boys waited, though not appearing to do so, for the girl’s reply.
Her brother well knew that she would not want to go to the farm and
associate with her mother’s servants, as she called Susan and Silas
Warner and their granddaughter, but, on the other hand, Harold could
easily see that his sister was much impressed with Charles Gale and might
wish to accompany them for the sake of his companionship if for no other
reason.
Gwyn _did_ accept, after a moment’s thought. She knew that, all alone in
the big house, she would be frightfully bored. And so, half an hour
later, the three started out across the gardens, under the pines and
along the cliff, where in the early twilight a full moon, rising from the
sea, was sending toward them a path of silver. Gwynette paused and looked
out across the water for a long silent moment. When she spoke, it was to
her brother. “Harold, I’ve never before been along this cliff. In fact,”
this to Charles, “all of my life has been spent either in San Francisco
or abroad. This is the first year that Mother has seemed to want to come
to Santa Barbara. I always supposed it was because it reminded her of our
father, who died here so long ago.”
“Then you do not know the beautiful spots that are everywhere around your
own home,” Charles said, and his voice was more kindly than it had been.
He was sorry for the girl who had been brought up among people who
thought that ascending the social ladder was the one thing to be desired.
He knew, for Harold had told him, how sincerely the mother regretted all
this, but now that the girl’s character was formed, they feared that only
some extreme measure, such as revealing to her who she really was, could
change her. Charles, who was a deep student of human nature, felt that
the girl’s sincere joy in the loveliness of the path of silver light on
the sea was a hopeful sign. Harold was thinking, “That is the first
resemblance to Jenny Warner that I have noticed. _She_ loves nature in
all its moods.” At their first tap on the front door, it was flung open
and Jenny, in her yellow dress, greeted them joyfully, pausing, however,
and hesitating when she saw by whom the boys were accompanied. One
glimpse into the old-fashioned farm “parlor”, with its haircloth-covered
furniture, its wax wreath under a glass, its tidies on the chairs, its
framed mottoes on the walls, beside chromo pictures of Susan and Si
Warner made when they were married, filled Gwynette with shuddering
dread. She couldn’t, she wouldn’t associate with these people as equals.
Had she not been an honored guest in the homes of millionaires in San
Francisco and abroad? But, distasteful as it all was to her, she found
herself advancing over the threshold when Charles stepped aside to permit
her to enter ahead of him. Jenny, remembering her promise to Harold, held
out her hand, rather diffidently, but Gwynette was apparently looking in
another direction, and so it was Harold who took it, and, although his
greeting was the customary one, his eyes expressed the gratitude that he
felt because Jenny had _tried_ to fulfill her promise to him. “Don’t
bother about it any more,” he said in a low voice aside, “it isn’t worth
it.” Of course the girl did not know just what he meant, but she resolved
not to be discouraged by one failure.