THE PEAK IN DARIEN
Then felt I like some watcher of the skies
When a new planet swims into his ken:
Or like stout Cortez, when with eagle eyes
He stared at the Pacific, and all his men
Look'd at each other with a wild surmise--
Silent, upon a peak in Darien.
--_John Keats._
Behind the yellow walls of the post-office Mr. Homer Hollopeter mourned
deeply and sincerely for his cousin. The little room devoted to
collecting and dispensing the United States mail, formerly a dingy and
sordid den, had become, through Mr. Homer's efforts, cheerfully seconded
by those of Will Jaquith, a little temple of shining neatness, where
even Miss Phoebe's or Miss Vesta's dainty feet might have trod
without fear of pollution. It was more like home to Mr. Homer than the
bare little room where he slept, and now that it was his own, he
delighted in dusting, polishing, and cleaning, as a woman might have
done. The walls were brightly whitewashed, and adorned with portraits of
Keats and Shelley; on brackets in two opposite corners Homer and
Shakespeare gazed at each other with mutual approval. The stove was
black and glossy as an Ashantee chief, and the clock, once an unsightly
mass of fly-specks and cobwebs, now showed a white front as immaculate
as Mr. Homer's own. Opposite the clock hung a large photograph, in a
handsome gilt frame, of a mountain peak towering alone against a clear
sky.
When Mr. Homer entered the post-office the day after Miss Phoebe's
funeral, he carried in his hand a fine wreath of ground pine tied with
a purple ribbon, and this wreath he proceeded to hang over the mountain
picture. Will Jaquith watched him with wondering sympathy. The little
gentleman's eyes were red, and his hands trembled.
"Let me help you, sir!" cried Jaquith, springing up. "Let me hang it for
you, won't you?"
But Mr. Homer waved him off, gently but decidedly.
"I thank you, William, I thank you!" he said, "but I prefer to perform
this action myself. It is--a tribute, sir, to an admirable woman. I wish
to pay it in person; in person."
After some effort he succeeded in attaching the wreath, and, standing
back, surveyed it with mournful pride.
"I think that looks well," he said. "My fingers are unaccustomed to
twine any garlands save those of--a--song; but I think that looks well,
William?"
"Very well, sir!" said Will, heartily. "It is a very handsome wreath;
and how pretty the green looks against the gold!"
"The green is emblematic; it is the color of memory," said Mr. Homer.
"This wreath, though comparatively enduring, will fade, William;
will--a--wither; will--a--become dessicated in the natural process of
decay; but the memory of my beloved cousin will endure, sir, in one
faithful heart, while that heart continues to--beat; to--throb;
to--a--palpitate."
He was silent for a few minutes, gazing at the picture; then he
continued:
"I had hoped," he said, sadly, "that at some date in the near future my
dear cousin would have condescended to visit our--retreat, William, and
have favored it with the seal of her approval. I venture to think that
she would have found its conditions improved; ameliorated--a--rendered
more in accordance with the ideal. But it was not to be, sir, it was
not to be. As the lamented Keats observes, 'The Spirit mourn'd "Adieu!"'
She is gone, sir; gone!"
"I have often meant to ask you, sir," said Will Jaquith, "what mountain
that is. I don't seem to recognize it."
Mr. Homer was silent, his eyes still fixed on the picture. Jaquith,
thinking he had not heard, repeated the question.
"I heard you, William, I heard you!" said Mr. Homer, with dignity. "I
was considering what reply to make to you. That picture, sir, represents
a Peak in Darien."
"Indeed!" said Will, in surprise. "Do you know its name? I did not think
there were any so high as this."
Mr. Homer waved his hands with a vague gesture.
"I do not know its name!" he said, "Therefore I expressly said, _a_
peak. I do not even know that this special mountain _is_ in Darien,
though I consider it so; I consider it so. The picture, William, is a
symbolical one--to me. It represents--a--Woman."
"Woman!" repeated Jaquith, puzzled.
"Woman!" said Mr. Homer. His mild face flushed; he cleared his throat
nervously, and opened and shut his mouth several times.
"I pay to-day, as I have told you, my young friend, a tribute to one
admirable woman; but the Peak in Darien symbolizes--a--Woman, in
general. Without Woman, sir, what, or where, should we be? Until we
attain a knowledge of--a--Woman, through the medium of the--a--Passion
(I speak of it with reverence!), what, or where are we? We journey over
arid plains, we flounder in treacherous quagmires. Suddenly looms before
us, clear against the sky, as here represented, the Peak in
Darien--Woman! Guided by the--a--Passion (I speak of its lofty phases,
sir, its lofty phases!), we scale those crystal heights. It may be in
fancy only; it may be that circumstances over which we have no control
forbid our ever setting an actual foot on even the bases of the Peak;
but this is a case in which fancy is superior to fact. In fancy, we
scale those heights; and--and we stare at the Pacific, sir, and look at
each other with a wild surmise--silent, sir, silent, upon a Peak in
Darien!"
Mr. Homer said no more, but stood gazing at his picture, rapt in
contemplation. Jaquith was silent, too, watching him, half in amusement,
half--or more than half--in something not unlike reverence. Mr. Homer
was not an imposing figure: his back was long, his legs were short, his
hair and nose were distinctly absurd; but now, the homely face seemed
transfigured, irradiated by an inward glow of feeling.
Jaquith recalled Mrs. Tree's words. Had this quaint little gentleman
really been in love with his beautiful mother? Poor Mr. Homer! It was
very funny, but it was pathetic, too. Poor Mr. Homer!
The young man's thoughts ran on swiftly. The Peak in Darien! Well, that
was all true. Only, how if--unconsciously he spoke aloud, his eyes on
the picture--"How if a man were misled for a time by--I shall have to
mix my metaphors, Mr. Homer--by a will-o'-the-wisp, and fell into the
quagmire, and lost sight of his mountain for a time, only to find it
again, more lovely than--would he have any right to--what was it you
said, sir?--to try once more to scale those crystal heights?"
"Undoubtedly he would!" said Mr. Homer Hollopeter. "Undoubtedly, if he
were sure of himself, sure that no false light--I perceive the mixture
of metaphors, but this cannot always be avoided--would again fall
across his path."
"He is sure of that!" said Will Jaquith, under his breath.
He had risen, and the two men were standing side by side, both intent
upon the picture. Twilight was falling, but a ray of the setting sun
stole through the little window, and rested upon the Peak in Darien.
"He is sure of that!" repeated William Jaquith.
When he spoke again, his voice was husky, his speech rapid and broken.
"Mr. Homer" (no one ever said "Mr. Hollopeter," nor would he have been
pleased if any one had), "I have been here six months, have I not? six
months to-morrow?"
"Yes, William," said Mr. Homer, turning his mild eyes on his assistant.
"Have I--have I given satisfaction, sir?"
"Eminent satisfaction!" said Mr. Homer, cordially. "William, I have had
no fault to find; none. Your punctuality, your exactness, your
assiduity, leave nothing to be desired. This has been a great
gratification to me--on many accounts."
"Then, you--you think I have the right to call myself a man once more;
that I have the right to take up a man's life, its joys, as well as its
labors?"
"I think so, most emphatically," cried the little gentleman, nodding his
head. "I think you deserve the best that life has to give."
"Then--then, Mr. Homer, may I have a day off to-morrow, please? I
want"--he broke into a tremulous laugh, and laid his hand on the elder
man's shoulder,--"I want to climb the Peak, Mr. Homer!"
* * * * *
So it came to pass one day, soon after this, that as Mrs. Tree was
sitting by her fire, with the parrot dozing on his perch beside her,
there came to the house two young people, who entered without knock or
ring, and coming hand in hand to her side, bent down, not saying a word,
and kissed her.
"Highty tighty!" cried Mrs. Tree, her eyes twinkling very brightly under
a tremendous frown.
"What is the meaning of all this, I should like to know? How dare you
kiss me, Willy Jaquith?"
"Old friends to love!" said Jocko, opening one yellow eye, and ruffling
his feathers knowingly.
"Jocko knows how I dare!" said Will Jaquith. "Dear old friend, I will
tell you what it means. It means that I have brought you another Golden
Lily in place of the one you said I spoiled. You can only have her to
look at, though, for she is mine, mine and my mother's, and we cannot
give her up, even to you."
"I didn't exactly break my promise, Lily!" cried the old lady; her hands
trembled on her stick, but her cap was erect, immovable. "I didn't tell
him, but I never promised not to tell James Stedman, you know I never
did."
The lovely, dark-eyed girl bent over her and kissed the withered cheek
again.
"My dear! my naughty, wicked, delightful dear," she murmured, "how shall
I ever forgive you--or thank you?"