AN UNEXPECTED MEETING
It was a bright afternoon and white-edged clouds rolled across the sky
before a fresh north-west wind when Helen Festing rode up to a birch
bluff on the prairie. The trees made a musical rustling as they tossed
their branches, tufted with opening leaves. The sweep of white grass was
checkered by patches of green that gleamed when the light touched them
and faded as the shadows swept across the plain. There was something
strangely invigorating in the air, but when she reached the bluff Helen
pulled up her horse and looked about.
She missed the soft blue haze that mellowed the landscape among the
English hills. Every feature was sharp and the colors were vivid; ocher,
green, and silver gleaming with light. Distant bluffs stood out
with sharp distinctness. She thought the new country was like its
inhabitants; they were marked by a certain primitive vigor and their
character was clearly defined. Neither the land nor the people had been
tamed by cultivation yet. One missed the delicate half-tones on the
prairie, but one heard and thrilled to the ringing note of endeavor.
When she looked west the land was empty to the horizon, and a flock of
big sand-hill cranes planed down the wind. An animal she thought was
an antelope moved swiftly through the waves of rippling grass. When she
turned east she saw a plume of black smoke roll across the sky and the
tops of three elevators above the edge of the plain. It was a portent,
a warning of momentous change, in which she and her husband must play
their part. What that part would be she could not tell, but the curtain
was going up, and on the whole she approved the stage and scenery.
Helen had been some time in Canada and did not feel daunted. The
sunshine and boisterous winds were bracing; one felt optimistic on the
high plains, and the wide outlook gave a sense of freedom. She had many
duties, but did not find them burdensome, or feel the strain of domestic
labor she had been warned about. For one thing, her money had enabled
Festing to arrange his household better than he had expected and hire
useful help.
She took a rough trail through the bluff, picking her way among the
holes and rotting stumps, and as she rode out the horse plunged. After
calming the startled animal she saw a dirty handkerchief snapping in the
wind at the top of a stick. Close by a team cropped the grass and the
end of a big plow projected from the back of a wagon. There seemed to be
nobody about, but after riding on a few yards she saw a man lying among
some bushes with a pipe in his mouth. He looked half asleep, but got
up as she advanced, and she stopped her horse with a jerk and tried to
preserve her calm. Charnock stood looking at her with a half-embarrassed
smile.
“Bob!” she exclaimed. “I didn't think I'd ever meet you.”
“I hope it wasn't a shock, and we were bound to meet sooner or later.
The distance between our homesteads isn't great.”
Helen had heard where his homestead was. Indeed, Festing had told her
that if he had known Charnock was coming to Donaldson's farm, he would
have located farther off. She would sooner have avoided the meeting, but
since it had happened, she must not cut it too short.
“But what is the handkerchief for?” she asked. “And why were you lying
there?”
“It's a signal of distress. Another trail crosses the rise a mile off,
and I was waiting in the hope that somebody might come along.”
Helen now noted that a wheel of the wagon leaned to one side, and he
remarked her glance.
“The patent bush has got loose in the hub,” he resumed. “I took the pin
out and then saw I might have trouble if the wheel came off. It has been
threatening to play this trick for some time.”
“Then why didn't you put the bush right before you started?”
“I don't know. I expect you think it's typical.”
Helen laughed. Bob was taking the proper line, and she studied him with
curiosity. He looked older than she thought, but remembering Festing's
hints, she did not see the mark of dissipation she had expected.
Indeed, Charnock, having spent a sober month or two under Sadie's strict
supervision, looked very well. His face was brown, his eyes twinkled,
and his figure was athletic. He did not seem to need her pity, but she
felt compassionate. After all, she had loved him and he had married a
girl from a bar.
“But where were you taking the plow?” she asked.
“To the smith's; one of the free preemptors has a forge some distance
off, and if I'm lucky, I may find him at home.”
“You won't find him at home if you stop here.”
“That's obvious,” said Charnock. “Still, you see, the plow's too heavy
for me to lift out. Unless I do get it out, I can't try to put the wheel
right.”
“Then why not take it to pieces?”
“The trouble is you need a bent spanner to get at some of the bolts.”
“They give you spanners with the plows, and there's a box on the frame
to put them in. I've seen Stephen use the things.”
“Just so,” Charnock agreed. “Stephen's methodical, but when I want my
spanner it isn't in the box.”
“You never were very careful,” Helen remarked.
“I don't know if there's much comfort in feeling that I've paid for my
neglect.”
Helen smiled; she was not going to be sentimental. “If you mean that you
lost the spanner, you don't seem to have suffered much. I think you were
asleep when I rode up. But I was surprised to hear you had begun to farm
again. Do you like it? And how are you getting on?”
“I like a number of things better, but that's not allowed to make much
difference. Sadie has decided that farming is good for me. However, I am
making some progress, though as you know my temperament, I'll admit that
I'm being firmly helped along.”
There was silence for a few moments and Helen pondered. Bob had
generally been tactful and she thought his humor was rather brave. He,
no doubt, imagined she would soon learn all about his affairs and meant
to make the best of things.
In the meantime, Charnock quietly studied her. She looked very fresh and
prettier than he thought. Although she had not ridden much in England,
he noted the grace and confidence with which she managed the spirited
range horse. For all that, he was rather surprised by his sensations. He
had expected to feel some embarrassment and sentimental tenderness when
they met, but she left him cold; his pulse had not quickened a beat.
Still it would be good for Sadie to know Helen, who could teach her
much, and she unconsciously gave him a lead.
“Well,” she said, “I must get home. I shall, no doubt, see you now and
then.”
“Not often, if you leave it to accident,” he replied with a smile. “If
you like to arrange the thing, there's a nice point of etiquette. You
occupied your homestead before we came to ours, but you see we were on
the prairie first. Anyhow, I'd be glad if you will let me bring Sadie
over.”
Helen thought he was going too far. She did not want to arrange for a
meeting and would sooner not receive his wife. After all, the girl had
supplanted her. Still she was curious and could not refuse.
“I'm often busy and daresay Mrs. Charnock is, while Stephen does not
stop work until late. However, if you like to take your chance----”
“Thank you,” said Charnock; “we'll take the risk of finding you not at
home. Now perhaps it wouldn't be much trouble if you told Jasper I'm in
difficulties. You'll see his place when you cross the ravine near the
bluff.”
Helen rode away, but when she saw Jasper's farm it was a mile off the
trail and she had to cross a broken sandy belt. For all that, she smiled
as she made the round. It was typical of Bob to send her. He might have
tethered his horses and walked the distance, but he had a talent for
leaving to somebody else the things he ought to do.
After supper she sat on the veranda, while Festing leaned against the
rails. The house was built of ship-lap boards, with a roof of cedar
shingles, and wooden pillars supporting the projecting eaves. It had
been improved and made comfortable with Helen's money, and with the land
about it, registered as belonging to her. Festing had insisted on this,
rather against her will, because she had meant to make it a gift to him.
The wind, as usual at sunset, had dropped, and clear green sky, touched
with dull red on the horizon, overhung the plain. The air was cold and
bracing; sound carried far, and the musical chime of cowbells came from
a distant bluff. There were not many cattle in the neighborhood, but the
Government was trying to encourage stock-raising and had begun to build
creameries.
Helen meditatively studied her husband. Festing had been plowing since
sunrise and looked tired. Something had gone wrong with his gasoline
tractor, and she knew he had spent two or three hours finding out
the fault. This had annoyed him, because time was valuable and he
was impatient of delay. Helen approved his industry and the stubborn
perseverance that led to his overcoming many obstacles, but sometimes
thought he took things too hard and exaggerated their importance. Now
as he leaned against the balustrade he had the physical grace of a
well-trained athlete, but she thought his look was fretful and his mind
too much occupied.
“I met Bob by the long bluff as I rode home,” she said.
Festing looked up sharply. “Well, I suppose you were bound to meet him
before long. What was he doing at the bluff?”
“Waiting for somebody to help him with his wagon,” Helen answered with a
laugh. “A wheel was coming off.”
“That was like Bob. He has a rooted objection to helping himself when it
means an effort.”
“For all that, you were a friend of his.”
“I'm not his friend now. I've done with the fellow.”
“It's rather awkward,” Helen remarked thoughtfully. “He asked if he
might bring his wife over, and although I wasn't very gracious, I could
not refuse.”
“Oh, well, it doesn't matter. As I won't have a minute until the sowing
is finished, I'll be out when he comes. If he stayed with his work just
now, it would be better for him.”
Helen was silent for a moment. Stephen was made of much finer stuff than
Bob, but he had not the latter's graceful humor and his curtness jarred.
“There's no reason you should resume your friendship if you don't like,”
she said. “All the same, I think you ought to be polite to my guests.”
“I can't pretend. The house is yours, but I don't want the fellow here.”
“But why do you dislike him so much?”
“I don't think you need ask me that. It's dangerous ground, but you
see----”
“I have forgiven him,” Helen answered, smiling. “Indeed, if I hadn't
done so long since, it would be easy to forgive him now. At first, I did
feel dreadfully humiliated, but I soon saw what he had saved me from.
And, of course, if he had kept his promise, I could not have married
you.”
Festing looked at her with surprise. In spite of her refinement, Helen
would now and then talk calmly about matters he shrank from mentioning.
But after the lead she had given him he could be frank.
“Well,” he said, “I haven't forgiven him yet; I couldn't pretend
friendship with anybody who had slighted you. Besides, when I found out
how he had cheated me it was the worst moment of my life. I thought you
would never speak to me again because, through the fellow's treachery,
it was I who hurt you.”
“You're very nice, Stephen,” Helen replied, coloring. “But that's all
finished. Don't you like Bob's wife? I really don't want to meet her,
but one mustn't be a coward.”
“You couldn't be a coward. Sadie has her virtues and is certainly much
too good for Bob, but I don't want her here for all that. Frankly, she's
not your sort, and she's meddlesome. I'm not afraid she'll make you
discontented, but I can't have a girl like that telling you how your
house ought to be run. Although you're a beginner, you manage very well,
and I'd object to improvements on somebody else's plan.”
Helen smiled. “When you talk like that, you're charming; but we'll say
no more about it. You look tired. Are you sure you are not working too
hard? The last time Jasper came he seemed surprised when he saw the
ground you had broken. I imagined he thought you were trying to do too
much.”
As she spoke she glanced at the wide belt of plowing that broke the
delicate green and silver of the grass. In the foreground, the rows of
clods shone with an oily gleam in the fading light. Farther off, the
rows converged and melted into a sweep of purple-brown that narrowed as
it crossed a distant rise. There were two other belts; one where white
grasses broke through the harrow-torn sod, and another flat and smooth
where the land-packer had rolled in the seed. All told of strenuous
effort in which sweating men and horses had been aided by tractor
machines.
“Jasper's conservative and I feel I ought to do as much as I can,”
Festing replied. “When you bought the place you rather put me on my
mettle.”
Helen gave him a sharp glance. “I note that you spoke of it as my house
when you ought to have said ours. I don't like that, Stephen.”
“It is yours. I let you buy it because it's value must go up and the
money's safe. I'm glad, of course, that you have comforts I couldn't
have given you, but it's my business to support my wife, and I've got
to increase my capital. I want to give you things you like, bought with
money I have earned.”
“You really want to feel independent of me,” Helen suggested with a
smile. “I suppose it's an honest ambition, but isn't the distinction you
try to make ridiculous?”
“Perhaps, in a way,” Festing agreed. “All the same, your help makes it
my duty to do my best. I don't want to feel I might be forced to fall
back on your dollars.”
“You are ridiculous, Stephen,” Helen rejoined. “However, let's talk
about something else.”
The talked good-humoredly until the dew and growing cold drove them in.
Next morning Helen got up while the sun rose from behind a bluff on
the edge of the plain, but when she went out on the veranda she saw the
gasoline tractor and gang-plow lurch across the rise. This indicated
that Festing had been at work for some time, and she looked thoughtful
as she went back into the house.
Stephen was doing too much, and she wondered whether he could keep it
up. Things, however, might be easier when the crop was sown, and if not
she must insist upon his hiring extra help. She liked to see him keen
about his work, but for the last few weeks he had scarcely had a minute
to talk to her, and she could not allow him to wear himself out. After
all, her money gave her some power, and there was no reason she should
not use the power for her husband's benefit.