MARIA
"My dearest Vesta, what a pleasure to see you! You are looking wretched,
simply wretched! How thankful I am that I came!"
Mrs. Pryor embraced her cousin with effusion. She was short and fair,
with prominent eyes and teeth, and she wore a dress that crackled and
ornaments that clinked. Miss Vesta, in her dove-colored cashmere and
white net, seemed to melt into her surroundings and form part of them,
but Mrs. Pryor stood out against them like a pump against an evening
sky.
"It was very kind of you to come, Maria," said Miss Vesta, "very kind
indeed. I trust you had a comfortable journey, and are not too tired."
"My dear," said Mrs. Pryor, buoyantly, "I am never tired. Watchspring
and wire--Mr. Pryor always said that was what his little Maria was made
of. But it would have made no difference if I had been at the point of
exhaustion, I would have made any effort to come to you. Darracott
blood, my love! Any one who has a drop of Darracott blood in his veins
can call upon me for anything; how much more you, who are my own first
cousin. Poor, dear Phoebe, what a loss! You are not in black, I see.
Ah! I remember her peculiar views. You feel bound to respect them. I
consider that a mistake, Vesta. We must respect, but we are not called
upon to imitate, the eccentricities--"
"I share my sister's views," said Miss Vesta, tranquilly. "Will you have
a cup of tea now, Maria, or would you like to go to your room at once?"
"Neither, my dear, just at this moment," said Mrs. Pryor, vivaciously.
"I must just take a glance around. Dear me! how many years is it since I
have been in this house? Had Phoebe aged as much as you have, Vesta?
Single women, of course, always age faster,--no young life to keep them
girlish. Ah! you must see my two sweet girls. Angels, Vesta! and
Darracotts to their finger-ends. I feel like a child again, positively
like a child. The parlor is exactly as I remember it, only faded. Things
do fade so, don't they? It's a mistake not to keep your furniture fresh
and up to date. I should re-cover those chairs, if I were you; nothing
would be easier. A few yards of something bright and pretty, a few
brass-headed nails--why, I could do it in a couple of hours. We must see
what we can do, Vesta. And it is a pity, it seems to me, to have
everything so bare, tables and all. Beautiful polish, to be sure, but
they look so bleak. A chenille cover, now, here and there, a bright
drape or two, would transform this room; all this old red damask is
terribly antiquated, my dear. It comes of having no young life about
you, as I said. My girls have such taste! You should see our parlor at
home--not an inch but is covered with something bright and æsthetic. Ah!
here are the portraits. Yes, to be sure. Do you know, Vesta, I have
often thought of writing to you and Phoebe--in fact, I was on the
point of it when the sad news came of poor Phoebe's being taken--about
these portraits of Grandfather and Grandmother Darracott. Grandmother
Darracott left them to your branch, I am well aware of that; but justice
is justice, and I do think we ought to have one of them. We have just as
much Darracott blood in our veins as you have, and you and Phoebe were
always Blyth all over, while the Darracott nose and chin show so
strongly in me and my children. You have no children, Vesta, and I
always think it is the future generations that should be considered. We
are passing away, my dear,--in the midst of life, you know, and poor
Phoebe's death reminds us of it, I'm sure, more than ever--you don't
look as if you had more than a year or two before you yourself,
Vesta,--but--well--and so--I confess it seems to me as if you might feel
more at ease in your mind if we had one of the portraits. Of course I
should be willing to pay something, though I always think it a pity for
money to pass between blood relations. What do you say?"
She paused, somewhat out of breath, and sat creaking and clinking, and
fanning herself with a Chinese hand-screen.
Miss Vesta looked up at the portraits. Grandmother Darracott in turban
and shawl, Grandfather Darracott splendid with frill and gold seals,
looked down on her benignantly, as they had always looked. They had been
part of her life, these kindly, silent figures. She had always felt
sure of Grandmother Darracott's sympathy and understanding. Sometimes
when, as a child, she fancied herself naughty (but she never was!), she
would appeal from the keen, inquiring gaze of Grandfather Darracott to
those soft brown eyes, so like her own, if she had only known it; and
the brown eyes never failed to comfort and reassure her.
Part with one of those pictures? A month ago the request would have
brought her distress and searchings of heart, with wonder whether it
might not be her duty to do so just because it was painful; but Miss
Vesta was changed. It was as if Miss Phoebe, in passing, had let the
shadow of her mantle fall on her younger sister.
"I cannot consider the question, Maria!" she said, quietly. "My dear
sister would have been quite unwilling to do so, I am sure. And now, as
I have duties to attend to, shall I show you your room?"
Miss Vesta drifted up the wide staircase, and Mrs. Pryor stumped and
creaked behind her.
"You have put me in Phoebe's room, I suppose," said the visitor, as
they reached the landing. "So near you, I can give you any attention you
may need in the night. Besides, the sun--oh, the dimity room! Well, I
dare say it will do well enough. Stuffy, isn't it? but I am the easiest
person in the world to satisfy. And _how_ is Aunt Marcia? I shall go to
see her the first thing in the morning; she will hardly expect me to
call this afternoon, though I could make a special effort if you think
she would feel sensitive."
"Indeed, Maria, I am very sorry, but I don't feel sure--in fact, I
rather fear that you may not be able to see Aunt Marcia, at all events
just at present."
"Not be able to see her! My dear Vesta, what can you mean? Why, I am
going to _stay_ with Aunt Marcia. I wrote to her as well as to you, and
said that I should divide my visit equally between you. Of course I feel
all that I owe to you, my love; I have made all my arrangements for a
long stay; indeed, it happens to fit in very well with my plans, but I
need not trouble you with details now. What I mean to say is, that in
spite of all I owe to you, I have also a sacred duty to fulfil toward my
aunt. It is impossible in the nature of things that she should live much
longer, and as her own niece and the mother of a family I am bound,
solemnly bound, to soothe and cheer a few, at least, of her closing
days. I suppose the dear old thing feels a little hurt that I did not go
to her first, from what you say; old people are very tetchy, I ought to
have remembered that, but you were the one in affliction, and I felt
bound--but I will make that all right, never fear, in the morning.
There, my dear, don't, I beg of you, give yourself the slightest
uneasiness about the matter! I am quite able to take care of myself, and
of you and Aunt Marcia into the bargain. You do not know me, my dear!
Yes, Diploma can bring me the tea now, and I will unpack and set things
to rights a bit. You will not mind if I move the furniture about a
little? I have my own ideas, and they are not always such bad ones.
Good-by, my love! Go and rest now, you look like a ghost. I shall have
to take you in hand at once, I see; so fortunate that I came.
_Good_-by!"
Miss Vesta, descending the stairs with a troubled brow, was met by
Diploma with the announcement that Doctor Stedman was in the parlor.
"Oh!" Miss Vesta breathed a little sigh of pleasure and relief, and
hastened down.
"Good afternoon, James! I am rejoiced to see you. I--something
perplexing has occurred; perhaps you may be able to advise me. Sister
Phoebe would have known exactly what to do, but I confess I am
puzzled. Our--my cousin, Mrs. Pryor, has arrived this afternoon."
"Mrs. Pryor!" said Doctor Stedman. "Any one I ought to know?"
"Maria Darracott. Surely you remember her?"
"Hum! yes, I remember _her_. She hasn't come here, to this house?"
"Yes; she is up-stairs now, unpacking her trunk. She has come to make a
long stay, it would appear from the size of the trunk. Of course I
am--of course it was very kind in her to come, and I shall do my best to
make her stay agreeable; but--James, she intends to make Aunt Marcia a
visit, too, and Aunt Marcia absolutely refuses to see her. What shall I
do?"
Doctor Stedman chuckled. "Do? I wish you had followed your aunt's
example; but that was not to be expected. Hum! I don't see that you can
do anything. Your aunt is not amenable to the bit, not even the
slightest snaffle; as to driving her with a curb, I should like to see
the man who would attempt it. Won't see her, eh? ho! ho! Mrs. Tree is
the one consistent woman I have ever known."
"But Maria is entirely unconvinced, James; I cannot make any impression
upon her. She is determined to go to see Aunt Marcia to-morrow, and I
fear--"
"Let her go! she is of age, if I remember rightly; let her go and try
for herself. You are not responsible for what occurs. Vesta--let me look
at you! Hum! I wish you would turn this visitor out, and go away
somewhere for a bit."
"Go away, James? I?"
"Yes, you! You are not looking at all the thing, I tell you. It's all
very well and very--everything that is like you--to take this trouble
simply and naturally, but whatever you may say and believe, there is the
shock and there is the strain, and those are things we have to pay for
sooner or later. Go away, I tell you! Send away this--this visitor, give
Diploma the key, and go off somewhere for a month or two. Go and make
Nat a visit! Poor old Nat, he's lonely enough, with little Vesta and her
husband in Europe. Think what it would mean to him, Vesta, to have you
with him for awhile!"
"My dear James, you take my breath away," said Miss Vesta, fluttering a
little. "You are most kind and friendly, but--but it would not be
possible for me to go away. I could not think of it for a moment, even
if the laws of hospitality did not bind me as long as Maria--my own
cousin, remember, James--chooses to stay here. I could not think of
it."
"I should like to know why!" said Doctor Stedman, obstinately. "I should
like to know what your reasons are, Vesta."
"Oh!" Miss Vesta sighed, as if she felt the hopelessness of fluttering
her wings against the dead wall of masculinity before her; nevertheless
she spoke up bravely.
"I have given you one reason already, James. It would be not only
unseemly, but impossible, for me to leave my guest. But even without
that, even if I were entirely alone, still I could not go. My duties;
the house; my dear sister's ideas,--she always said a house could not be
left for a month by the entire family without deteriorating in some
way--though Diploma is most excellent, most faithful. Then,--it is a
small matter, but--I have always cared for my seaward lamp in person. I
have never been away, James, since--I first lighted the lamp. Then--"
"I am still waiting for a reason," said Doctor Stedman, grimly. "I have
not heard what I call one yet."
The soft color rose in Miss Vesta's face, and she lifted her eyes to his
with a look he had seen in them once or twice before.
"Then here is one for you, James," she said, quietly. "I do not wish to
go!"
Doctor Stedman rose abruptly, and tramped up and down the room in moody
silence. Miss Vesta sighed, and watched his feet. They were heavily
booted, but--no, there were no nails in them, and the shining floor
remained intact.
Suddenly he came to a stop in front of her.
"What if I carried you off, you inflexible little piece of porcelain?"
he said. "What if--Vesta,--may I speak once more?"
"Oh, if you would please not, James!" cried Miss Vesta, a soft hurry in
her voice, her cheeks very pink. "I should be so truly grateful to you
if you would not. I am so happy in your friendship, James. It is such a
comfort, such a reliance to me. Do not, I beg of you, my dear friend,
disturb it."
"But--you are alone, child. If Phoebe had lived, I had made up my mind
never to trouble you again. She is gone, and you are alone, and tired,
and--I find it hard to bear, Vesta. I do indeed."
He spoke with heat and feeling. Miss Vesta's eyes were full of
tenderness as she raised them to his.
"You are so kind, James!" she said. "No one ever had a kinder or more
faithful friend; of that I am sure. But you must never think that, about
my being alone. I am never alone; almost never--at least, not so very
often, even lonely. I live with a whole life-full of blessed memories.
Besides, I have Aunt Marcia. She needs me more and more, and by and by,
when her marvellous strength begins to fail,--for it must fail,--she
will need me constantly. I can never, never feel alone while Aunt Marcia
lives."
"Hum!" said Doctor Stedman. "Well, good-by! Poison Maria's tea, and I'll
let you off with that. I'll send you up a powder of corrosive sublimate
in the morning--there! there! don't look horrified. You never can
understand--or I never can. I mean, I'll send you some bromide for
yourself. Don't tell me that you are sleeping well, for I know better.
Good-by, my dear!"