"Shades of evening, close not o'er us,
Leave our lonely bark awhile;
Morn, alas! will not restore us
Yonder dear and fading isle.
Though 'neath distant skies we wander,
Still with thee our thoughts must dwell:
Absence makes the heart grow fonder--
Isle of beauty, fare thee well!"
--THOMAS HAYNES BAYLY.
"We are engaged."
Dr. Gaston, who was standing, sat down as though struck down. Miss Lois
jumped up, and began to laugh and cry in a breath. Père Michaux, who was
sitting with his injured foot resting on a stool, ground his hands down
suddenly on the arms of his chair with a sharp displeasure visible for
an instant on his face. But only for an instant; it was gone before any
one saw it.
"Oh, my darling boy!" said Miss Lois, with her arms round Rast's neck.
"I always knew you would. You are made for each other, and always were.
_Now_ we shall have you both with us always, thank the Lord!" Then she
sobbed again, and took a fresh and tighter hold of him. "I'll take the
boys, dear; you need not be troubled with them. And I'll come over here
and live, so that you and Annet can have the church-house; it's in much
better repair; only there should be a new chimney. The dearest wish of
my heart is now fulfilled, and I am quite ready to die."
Rast was kind always; it was simply impossible for him to say or do
anything which could hurt the feelings of any one present. Such a course
is sometimes contradictory, since those who are absent likewise have
their feelings; but it is always at the moment agreeable. He kissed Miss
Lois affectionately, thanked her, and led her to her chair; nor did he
stop there, but stood beside her with her hand in his until she began to
recover her composure, wipe her eyes, and smile. Then he went across to
Dr. Gaston, his faithful and early friend.
"I hope I have your approval, sir?" he said, looking very tall and
handsome as he stood by the old man's chair.
"Yes, yes," said the chaplain, extending his hand. "I was--I was
startled at first, of course; you have both seemed like children to me.
But if it must be, it must be. Only--make her happy, Rast; make her
happy."
"I shall try, sir."
"Come, doctor, acknowledge that you have always expected it," said Miss
Lois, breaking into permanent sunshine, and beginning to wipe her
spectacles in a business-like way, which showed that the moisture was
ended for the present.
"No--yes; I hardly know what I have expected," answered the chaplain,
still a little suffocated, and speaking thickly. "I do not think I have
expected anything."
"Is there any one else you would prefer to have Rast marry? Answer me
that."
"No, no; certainly not."
"Is there any one you would prefer to have Anne marry?"
"Why need she marry at all?" said the chaplain, boldly, breaking
through the chain of questions closing round him. "I am sure you
yourself are a bright example, Miss Hinsdale, of the merits of single
life."
But, to his surprise, Miss Lois turned upon him.
"What! have Anne live through my loneliness, my
always-being-misunderstood-ness, my general sense of a useless ocean
within me, its breaking waves dashed high on a stern and rock-bound
coast?" she said, quoting vehemently from the only poem she knew.
"Never!"
While Dr. Gaston was still gazing at her, Rast turned to Père Michaux.
"I am sure of your approval," he said, smiling confidently. "I have had
no doubt of that."
"Haven't you?" said the priest, dryly.
"No, sir: you have always been my friend."
"And I shall continue to be," said Père Michaux. But he rose as he
spoke, and hobbled into the hall, closing the door behind him.
Tita was hurrying through the garden on her way from the heights; he
waited for her.
"Where have you been?" he asked, sternly.
The child seemed exhausted, her breath came in panting gasps; her skirt
was torn, her hair streaming, and the dark red hue of her face was
changed to a yellow pallor.
"I have run and run, I have followed and followed, I have listened with
my ear on the ground; I have climbed trees to look, I have torn a path
through bushes, and I have not found them," she said, huskily, a slight
froth on her dry lips as she spoke, her eyes bright and feverish.
"They are here," said Père Michaux; "they have been at home some time.
What can you have been about, Angélique?"
"I have told you," said the child, rolling her apron tightly in her
small brown hands. "I followed his track. He went down the north path. I
traced him for a mile; then I lost him. In the fir wood. Then I crept,
and looked, and listened."
"You followed Rast, then, when I told you to go to Anne! Enough. I
thought, at least, you were quick, Tita; but it seems you are dull--dull
as an owl," said the priest, turning away. He hobbled to the front door
and sat down on the threshold. "After all my care," he said to himself,
"to be foiled by a rolling stone!"
Through the open window he heard Miss Lois ask where Anne was. "Did she
not come back with you, Rast?"
"Yes, but she was obliged to go directly to the kitchen. Something about
the tea, I believe."
"Oh no; it was because she did not want to face us," said Miss Lois,
archly. "I will go and bring her, the dear child!"
Père Michaux smiled contemptuously in the twilight outside; but he
seemed to have recovered his equanimity also. "Something about the tea!"
he said to himself. "Something about the tea!" He rose and hobbled into
the sitting-room again with regained cheerfulness. Miss Lois was leading
in Anne. "Here she is," said the old maid. "I found her; hiding, of
course, and trembling."
Anne, smiling, turned down her cuffs, and began to light the lamp as
usual. "I had to watch the broiling of the birds," she said. "You would
not like to have them burned, would you?"
Père Michaux now looked thoroughly happy. "By no means," he replied,
hobbling over and patting her on the head--"by no means, my dear." Then
he laughed contentedly, and sat down. The others might talk now; he was
satisfied.
When the lamp was lighted, everybody kissed Anne formally, and wished
her happiness, Père Michaux going through the little rite with his
finest Parisian courtesy. The boys added their caresses, and Gabriel
said, "Of course _now_ you won't go away, Annet?"
"Yes, dear, I must go just the same," said the sister.
"Certainly," said Père Michaux. "Erastus can not marry yet; he must go
through college, and afterward establish himself in life."
"They could be married next spring," suggested Miss Lois: "we could help
them at the beginning."
"Young Pronando is less of a man than I suppose, if he allows any one
save himself to take care of his wife," said Père Michaux,
sententiously.
[Illustration: TITA LISTENING.]
"Of course I shall not," said Rast, throwing back his handsome head with
an air of pride.
"That is right; stand by your decision," said the priest. "And now let
us have tea. Enough has happened for one day, I think, and Rast must go
at dawn. He can write as many letters as he pleases, but in real life he
has now to show us what metal he is made of; I do not doubt but that it
will prove pure ore."
Dr. Gaston sat silent; he drank his tea, and every now and then looked
at Anne. She was cheerful and contented; her eyes rested upon Rast with
confidence; she smiled when he spoke as if she liked to hear his voice;
but of consciousness, embarrassment, hesitation, there was not a trace.
The chaplain rubbed his forehead again and again, and pushed his wig so
far back that it looked like a brown aureole. But if he was perplexed,
Miss Lois was not; the happy old maid supplied all the consciousness,
archness, and sentimental necessities of the occasion. She had kept them
suppressed for years, and had a large store on hand. She radiated
romance.
While they were taking tea, Tita entered, languid and indifferent as a
city lady. No, she did not care for any tea, she said; and when the
boys, all together, told her the great news, she merely smiled, fanned
herself, and said she had long expected it.
Miss Lois looked up sharply, with the intention of contradicting this
statement, but Tita gazed back at her so calmly that she gave it up.
After Père Michaux had left her in the hall, she had stolen to the back
door of the sitting-room, laid her ear on the floor close to the crack
under it, and overheard all. Then, trembling and silent, she crept up to
her own room, bolted the door, and, throwing herself down upon the
floor, rolled to and fro in a sort of frenzy. But she was a supple,
light little creature, and made no sound. When her anger had spent
itself, and she had risen to her feet, those below had no consciousness
that the ceiling above them had been ironed all over on its upper side
by the contact of a fierce little body, hot and palpitating wildly.
Père Michaux threw himself into that evening with all the powers he
possessed fully alert; there were given so many hours to fill, and he
filled them. The young lover Rast, the sentimental Miss Lois, the
perplexed old chaplain, even the boys, all gave way to his influence,
and listened or laughed at his will. Only Tita sat apart, silent and
cold. Ten o'clock, eleven o'clock--it was certainly time to separate.
But the boys, although sleepy and irritable, refused to go to bed, and
fought with each other on the hearth-rug. Midnight; the old priest's
flow of fancy and wit was still in full play, and the circle unbroken.
At last Dr. Gaston found himself yawning. "The world will not stop, even
if we do go to bed, my friends," he said, rising. "We certainly ought
not to talk or listen longer to-night."
Père Michaux rose also, and linked his arm in Rast's. "I will walk home
with you, young sir," he said, cordially. "Miss Lois, we will take you
as far as your gate."
Miss Lois was willing, but a little uncertain in her movements; inclined
toward delay. Would Anne lend her a shawl? And, when the young girl had
gone up stairs after it, would Rast take the candle into the hall, lest
she should stumble on her way down?
"She will not stumble," said Père Michaux. "She never stumbled in her
life, Miss Lois. Of what are you thinking?"
Miss Lois put on the shawl; and then, when they had reached the gate,
"Run back, Rast," she said; "I have left my knitting."
"Here it is," said the priest, promptly producing it. "I saw it on the
table, and took charge of it."
Miss Lois was very much obliged; but she was sure she heard some one
calling. Perhaps it was Anne. If Rast--
"Only a night-bird," said Père Michaux, walking on. He left Miss Lois at
the church-house; and then, linking his arm again in Rast's, accompanied
him to his lodgings. "I am going to give you a parting present," he
said--"a watch, the one I am wearing now. I have another, which will do
very well for this region."
The priest's watch was a handsome one, and Rast was still young enough
to feel an immense satisfaction in such a possession. He took it with
many thanks, and frankly expressed delight. The old priest accompanied
his gift with fatherly good wishes and advice. It was now so late that
he would take a bed in the house, he thought. In this way, too, he would
be with Rast, and see the last of him.
But love laughs at parsons.
Père Michaux saw his charge to bed, and went to bed himself in an
adjoining room. He slept soundly; but at the first peep of dawn his
charge was gone--gone to meet Anne on the heights, as agreed between
them the night before.
O wise Père Michaux!
The sun was not yet above the horizon, but Anne was there. The youth
took her hands in his, and looked at her earnestly. He was half
surprised himself at what he had done, and he looked at her again to see
how it had happened. All his life from earliest childhood she had been
his dearest companion and friend; but now she was his betrothed wife,
would she be in any way different? The sun came up, and showed that she
was just the same--calm, clear-eyed, and sweet-voiced. What more could
he ask?
"_Do_ you love me, Annet?" he said more than once, looking at her as
though she ought to be some new and only half-comprehended person.
"You know I do," she answered. Then, as he asked again, "Why do you ask
me?" she said. "Has not my whole life shown it?"
"Yes," he answered, growing more calm. "I believe you _have_ loved me
all your life, Annet."
"I have," replied the girl.
He kissed her gently. "I shall always be kind to you," he said. Then,
with a half-sigh, "You will like to live here?"
"It is my home, Rast. However, other places will not seem strange after
I have seen the great city. For of course I must go to New York, just
the same, to learn to be a teacher, and help the children: we may be
separated for years."
"Oh no; I shall be able to take care of you all before long," said Rast,
grandly. "As soon as I have been through college I shall look about and
decide upon something. Would you like me to be a lawyer? Or a surgeon?
Then there is always the army. Or we might have a farm."
"There is only Frobisher's."
"Oh, you mean here on the island? Well, Frobisher's would do. We could
repair the old house, and have a pony-cart, and drive in to town." Here
the steamer sounded its first whistle. That meant that it would start in
half an hour. Rast left the future and his plans in mid-air, and took
Anne in his arms with real emotion. "Good-by, dear, good-by," he said.
"Do not grieve, or allow yourself to be lonely. I shall see you soon in
some way, even if I have to go to New York for the purpose. Remember
that you are my betrothed wife now. That thought will comfort you."
"Yes," said Anne, her sincere eyes meeting his. Then she clung to him
for a few moments, sobbing. "You must go away, and I must go away," she
said, amid her tears: "nothing is the same any more. Father is dead, and
the whole world will be between us. Nothing is the same any more.
Nothing is the same."
"Distance is nothing nowadays," said the youth, soothing her; "I can
reach you in almost no time, Annet."
"Yes, but nothing is the same any more; nothing ever will be the same
ever again," she sobbed, oppressed for the first time in her life by the
vague uncertainties of the future.
"Oh yes, it will," said her companion, decidedly. "I will come back here
if you wish it so much, and you shall come back, and we will live here
on this same old island all our lives. A man has but to choose his home,
you know."
Anne looked somewhat comforted. Yet only part of her responded to his
words; she still felt that nothing would ever be quite the same again.
She could not bring back her father; she could not bring back their long
happy childhood. The door was closed behind them, and they must now go
out into the wide world.
The second whistle sounded--another fifteen minutes gone. They ran down
the steep path together, meeting Miss Lois on her way up, a green
woollen hood on her head as a protection against the morning air.
"You will want a ring, my dears," she said, breathlessly, as she kissed
them--"an engagement ring; it is the custom, and fortunately I have one
for you."
With a mixture of smiles and tears of delight and excitement, she took
from a little box an old-fashioned ring, and handed it to Rast.
"It was your mother's, dear," she said to Anne; "your father gave it to
me as a memento of her when you were a baby. It is most fit that you
should wear it."
Rast examined the slender little circlet without much admiration. It was
a hoop of very small rubies placed close together, with as little gold
visible as was possible. "I meant to give Annet a diamond," he said,
with the tone of a young duke.
"Oh no, Rast," exclaimed the girl.
"But take this for the present," urged the old maid. "You must not let
her go from you without one; it would be a bad sign. Put it on yourself,
Rast; I want to see you do it."
Rast slipped the circlet into its place on Anne's finger, and then, with
a little flourish which became him well, he uncovered his head, bent his
knee, and raised the hand to his lips.
"But you have put it on the right hand," said Miss Lois, in dismay.
"It does not make any difference," said Rast. "And besides, I like the
right hand; it means more."
Rast did not admire the old-fashioned ring, but to Anne it was both
beautiful and sacred. She gazed at it with a lovely light in her eyes,
and an earnest thoughtfulness. Any one could see how gravely she
regarded the little ceremony.
When they came back to the house, Dr. Gaston was already there, and Père
Michaux was limping up the path from the gate. He caught sight of Rast
and Anne together. "Check!" he said to himself. "So much for being a
stupid old man. Outwitted yesterday by a rolling stone, and to-day by
your own inconceivable dullness. And you gave away your watch--did
you?--to prevent what has happened! The girl has probably bound herself
formally, and now you will have her conscience against you as well as
all the rest. Bah!"
But while thinking this, he came forward and greeted them all happily
and cheerfully, whereas the old chaplain, who really had no especial
objection to the engagement, was cross and silent, and hardly greeted
anybody. He knew that he was ill-tempered, and wondered why he should
be. "Anything unexpected is apt to disturb the mind," he remarked,
apologetically, to the priest, taking out his handkerchief and
rubbing his forehead violently, as if to restore equanimity by
counter-circulation. But however cross or quiet the others might be,
Miss Lois beamed for all; she shed forth radiance like Roman candles
even at that early hour, when the air was still chill and the sky gray
with mist. The boys came down stairs with their clothes half on, and
then Rast said good-by, and hurried down to the pier, and they all stood
together on the old piazza, and watched the steamer back out into the
stream, turn round, and start westward, the point of the island soon
hiding it from view. Then Dr. Gaston took his unaccountable ill temper
homeward, Père Michaux set sail for the hermitage, Anne sat down to sew,
and only Miss Lois let every-day life take care of itself, and cried on.
"I know there will be no more storms," she said; "it isn't that. But it
is everything that has happened, Anne dear: the engagement, and the
romance of it all!"
Tita now entered: she had not appeared before. She required that fresh
coffee should be prepared for her, and she obtained it. For the Irish
soldier's wife was almost as much afraid of her as the boys were. She
glanced at Miss Lois's happy tears, at Anne's ruby ring, at the general
disorder.
"And all this for a mere boy!" she said, superbly.
Miss Lois stopped crying from sheer astonishment. "And pray, may I ask,
what are you?" she demanded.
"A girl; and about on a line with the boy referred to," replied Miss
Tita, composedly. "Anne is much too old."
The boys gave a laugh of scorn. Tita turned and looked at them, and they
took to the woods for the day. Miss Lois cried no more, but began to
sew; there was a vague dread in her heart as to what the winter would be
with Tita in the church-house. "If I could only cut off her hair!" she
thought, with a remembrance of Samson. "Never was such hair seen on any
child before."
As Tita sat on her low bench, the two long thick braids of her black
hair certainly did touch the floor; and most New England women, who,
whether from the nipping climate or their Roundhead origin, have, as a
class, rather scanty locks, would have agreed with Miss Lois that "such
a mane" was unnatural on a girl of that age--indeed, intolerable.
Amid much sewing, planning, and busy labor, time flew on. Dr. Gaston did
not pretend to do anything else now save come down early in the morning
to the Agency, and remain nearly all day, sitting in an arm-chair,
sometimes with a book before him, but hardly turning a page. His dear
young pupil, his almost child, was going away. He tried not to think how
lonely he should be without her. Père Michaux came frequently; he spoke
to Tita with a new severity, and often with a slight shade of sarcasm in
his voice. "Are you not a little too severe with her?" asked Miss Lois
one day, really fearing lest Tita, in revenge, might go out on some dark
night and set fire to the house.
"He is my priest, isn't he, and not yours? He shall order me to do what
he pleases, and I shall do it," answered the small person whom she had
intended to defend.
And now every day more and more beautiful grew the hues on the trees; it
was a last intensity of color before the long, cold, dead-white winter.
All the maple and oak leaves were now scarlet, orange, or crimson, each
hue vivid; they died in a glory to which no tropical leaf ever attains.
The air was warm, hazy, and still--the true air of Indian summer; and as
if to justify the term, the Indians on the mainland and islands were
busy bringing potatoes and game to the village to sell, fishing, cutting
wood, and begging, full of a tardy activity before the approach of
winter. Anne watched them crossing in their canoes, and landing on the
beach, and when occasionally the submissive, gentle-eyed squaws,
carrying their little pappooses, came to the kitchen door to beg, she
herself went out to see them, and bade the servant give them something.
They were Chippewas, dark-skinned and silent, wearing short calico
skirts, and a blanket drawn over their heads. Patient and uncomplaining
by nature, they performed almost all the labor on their small farms,
cooked for their lords and masters, and took care of the children, as
their share of the duties of life, the husbands being warriors, and
above common toil. Anne knew some of these Chippewa women personally,
and could talk to them in their own tongue; but it was not old
acquaintance which made her go out and see them now. It was the feeling
that they belonged to the island, to the life which she must soon leave
behind. She felt herself clinging to everything--to the trees, to the
white cliffs, to the very sunshine--like a person dragged along against
his will, who catches at every straw.
The day came at last; the eastern-bound steamer was at the pier; Anne
must go. Dr. Gaston's eyes were wet; with choked utterance he gave her
his benediction. Miss Lois was depressed; but her depression had little
opportunity to make itself felt, on account of the clamor and wild
behavior of the boys, which demanded her constant attention. The clamor,
however, was not so alarming as the velvety goodness of Tita. What could
the child be planning? The poor old maid sighed, as she asked herself
this question, over the life that lay before her. But twenty such lives
would not wear out Lois Hinsdale. Père Michaux was in excellent spirits,
and kept them all in order. He calmed the boys, encouraged Anne, cheered
the old chaplain and Miss Lois, led them all down the street and on
board the boat, then back on the pier again, where they could see Anne
standing on the high deck above them. He shook the boys when they howled
in their grief too loudly, and as the steamer moved out into the stream
he gave his arm to Miss Lois, who, for the moment forgetting everything
save that the dear little baby whom she had loved so long was going
away, burst into convulsive tears. Tita sat on the edge of the pier, and
watched the boat silently. She did not speak or wave her handkerchief;
she shed no tears. But long after the others had gone home, when the
steamer was a mere speck low down on the eastern horizon, she sat there
still.
Yes, Anne was gone.
And now that she was gone, it was astonishing to see what a void was
left. No one had especially valued or praised her while she was there;
she was a matter of course. But now that she was absent, the whole life
of the village seemed changed. There was no one to lead the music on
Sundays, standing by the organ and singing clearly, and Miss Lois's
playing seemed now doubly dull and mechanical. There was no one going up
to the fort at a certain hour every morning, passing the windows where
the fort ladies sat, with books under her arm. There was no one working
in the Agency garden; no one coming with a quick step into the butcher's
little shop to see what he had, and consult him, not without hidden
anxiety, as to the possibility of a rise in prices. There was no one
sewing on the piazza, or going out to find the boys, or sailing over to
the hermitage with the four black-eyed children, who plainly enough
needed even more holy instruction than they obtained. They all knew
everything she did, and all her ways. And as it was a small community,
they missed her sadly. The old Agency, too, seemed to become suddenly
dilapidated, almost ruinous; the boys were undeniably rascals, and Tita
"a little minx." Miss Lois was without doubt a dogmatic old maid, and
the chaplain not what he used to be, poor old man--fast breaking up.
Only Père Michaux bore the test unaltered. But then he had not leaned
upon this young girl as the others had leaned--the house and garden, the
chaplain as well as the children: the strong young nature had in one way
supported them all.
Meanwhile the girl herself was journeying down the lake. She stood at
the stern, watching the island grow distant, grow purple, grow lower and
lower on the surface of the water, until at last it disappeared; then
she covered her face and wept. After this, like one who leaves the
vanished past behind him, and resolutely faces the future, she went
forward to the bow and took her seat there. Night came on; she remained
on deck through the evening: it seemed less lonely there than among the
passengers in the cabin. She knew the captain; and she had been
especially placed in his charge, also, by Père Michaux, as far as one of
the lower-lake ports, where she was to be met by a priest and taken to
the eastern-bound train. The captain, a weather-beaten man, past middle
age, came after a while and sat down near her.
"What is that red light over the shore-line?" said Anne to her taciturn
companion, who sat and smoked near by, protecting her paternally by his
presence, but having apparently few words, and those husky, at his
command.
"Fire in the woods."
"Is it not rather late in the season for a forest fire?"
"Well, there it is," answered the captain, declining discussion of the
point in face of obvious fact.
Anne had already questioned him on the subject of light-houses. Would he
like to live in a light-house?
No, he would not.
But they might be pleasant places in summer, with the blue water all
round them: she had often thought she would like to live in one.
Well, _he_ wouldn't.
But why?
Resky places sometimes when the wind blew: give him a good stiddy boat,
now.
After a time they came nearer to the burning forest. Anne could see the
great columns of flame shoot up into the sky; the woods were on fire for
miles. She knew that the birds were flying, dizzy and blinded, before
the terrible conqueror, that the wild-cats were crying like children,
that the small wolves were howling, and that the more timid wood
creatures were cowering behind fallen trunks, their eyes dilated and
ears laid flat in terror. She knew all this because she had often heard
it described, fires miles long in the pine forests being frequent
occurrences in the late summer and early autumn; but she had never
before seen with her own eyes the lurid splendor, as there was no
unbroken stretch of pineries on the Straits. She sat silently watching
the great clouds of red light roll up into the dark sky, and the shower
of sparks higher still. The advance-guard was of lapping tongues that
caught at and curled through the green wood far in front; then came a
wall of clear orange-colored roaring fire, then the steady incandescence
that was consuming the hearts of the great trees, and behind, the long
range of dying fires like coals, only each coal was a tree. It grew
late; she went to her state-room in order that the captain might be
relieved from his duty of guard. But for several hours longer she sat by
her small window, watching the flames, which turned to a long red line
as the steamer's course carried her farther from the shore. She was
thinking of those she had left behind, and of the island; of Rast, and
her own betrothal. The betrothal seemed to her quite natural; they had
always been together in the past, and now they would always be together
in the future; she was content that it was so. She knew so little of the
outside world that few forebodings as to her own immediate present
troubled her. She was on her way to a school where she would study hard,
so as soon to be able to teach, and help the children; the boys were to
be educated one by one, and after the first year, perhaps, she could
send for Tita, since Miss Lois never understood the child aright,
failing to comprehend her peculiar nature, and making her, poor little
thing, uncomfortable. It would be a double relief--to Miss Lois as well
as Tita. It was a pity that her grand-aunt was so hard and ill-tempered;
but probably she was old and infirm. Perhaps if she could see Tita, she
might take a fancy to the child; Tita was so small and so soft-voiced,
whereas she, Anne, was so overgrown and awkward. She gave a thought of
regret to her own deficiencies, but hardly a sigh. They were matters of
fact which she had long ago accepted. The coast fire had now faded into
a line of red dots and a dull light above them; she knelt down and
prayed, not without the sadness which a lonely young traveller might
naturally feel on the broad dark lake.
At the lower-lake port she was met by an old French priest, one of Père
Michaux's friends, who took her to the railway station in a carriage,
bought her ticket, checked her trunk, gave her a few careful words of
instruction as to the journey, and then, business matters over, sat down
by her side and talked to her with enchanting politeness and ease until
the moment of departure. Père Michaux had arranged this: although not of
their faith, Anne was to travel all the way to New York in the care of
the Roman Catholic Church, represented by its priests, handed from one
to the next, and met at the entrance of the great city by another, who
would cross the river for the purpose, in order that her young island
eyes might not be confused by the crowd and turmoil. At first Dr. Gaston
had talked of escorting Anne in person; but it was so long since he had
travelled anywhere, and he was so absent-minded, that it was evident
even to himself that Anne would in reality escort him. Miss Lois had the
children, and of course could not leave them.
"I would go myself if there was any necessity for it," said Père
Michaux, "but there is not. Let me arrange it, and I promise you that
Anne shall reach her school in safety; I will have competent persons to
meet her all along the route--unless, indeed, you have friends of your
own upon whom you prefer to rely?"
This was one of the little winds which Père Michaux occasionally sent
over the self-esteem of his two Protestant companions: he could not help
it. Dr. Gaston frowned: he had not an acquaintance between New York and
the island, and Père Michaux knew it. But Miss Lois, undaunted, rushed
into the fray.
"Oh, certainly, it would be quite easy for us to have her met by friends
on the way," she began, making for the moment common and Protestant
cause with Dr. Gaston; "it would require only a few letters. In New
England I should have my own family connections to call upon--persons of
the highest respectability, descendants, most of them, of the celebrated
patriot Israel Putnam."
"Certainly," replied Père Michaux. "I understand. Then I will leave Anne
to you."
"But unfortunately, as Anne is going to New York, not Boston, my
connections do not live along the route, exactly," continued Miss Lois,
the adverb standing for a small matter of a thousand miles or so; "nor,"
she added, again admitting Dr. Gaston to a partnership, "can we make
them."
"There remain, then, the pastors of your church," said the priest.
"Certainly--the pastors. It will be the simplest thing in the world for
Dr. Gaston to write to them; they will be delighted to take charge of
any friend of ours."
The chaplain pushed his wig back a little, and murmured, "Church
Almanac."
Miss Lois glanced at him angrily. "I am sure I do not know what Dr.
Gaston means by mentioning 'Church Almanac' in that way," she said,
sharply. "We know most of the prominent pastors, of course. Dr.
Shepherd, for instance, and Dr. Dell."
Dr. Shepherd and Dr. Dell, who occasionally came up to the island during
the summer for a few days of rest, lived in the lower-lake town where
Anne's long railway journey began. They were not pastors, but rectors,
and the misuse of the terms grated on the chaplain's Anglican ear. But
he was a patient man, and accustomed now to the heterogeneous phrasing
of the Western border.
"And besides," added Miss Lois, triumphantly, "there is the bishop!"
Now the bishop lived five miles farther. It was not evident, therefore,
to the ordinary mind what aid these reverend gentlemen could give to
Anne, all living, as they did, at the western beginning of her railway
journey; but Miss Lois, who, like others of her sex, possessed the
power (unattainable by man) of rising above mere logical sequence, felt
that she had conquered.
"I have no bishops to offer," said Père Michaux, with mock humility;
"only ordinary priests. I will therefore leave Anne to your care, Miss
Lois--yours and Dr. Gaston's."
So the discussion ended, and Miss Lois came off with Protestant colors
flying. None the less Père Michaux wrote his letters; and Dr. Gaston did
not write his. For the two men understood each other. There was no need
for the old chaplain to say, plainly, "I have lived out of the world so
long that I have not a single clerical friend this side of New York upon
whom I can call"; the priest comprehended it without words. And there
was no need for Père Michaux to parade the close ties and net-work of
communication which prevailed in the ancient Church to which he
belonged; the chaplain knew them without the telling. Each understood
the other; and being men, they could do without the small teasing
comments, like the buzzing of flies, with which women enliven their
days. Thus it happened that Anne Douglas travelled from the northern
island across to the great city on the ocean border in the charge of the
Roman Catholic Church.
She arrived in New York worn out and bewildered, and having lost her
sense of comparison by the strangeness and fatigue of the long journey,
she did not appreciate the city's size, the crowded streets, and roar of
traffic, but regarded everything vaguely, like a tired child who has
neither surprise nor attention to give.
At length the carriage stopped; she went up a broad flight of stone
steps; she was entering an open door. Some one was speaking to her; she
was in a room where there were chairs, and she sank down. The priest who
had brought her from the other side of the river was exchanging a few
words with a lady; he was going; he was gone. The lady was coming toward
her.
"You are very tired, my child;" she said. "Let me take you a moment to
Tante, and then you can go to your room."
"To Tante?" said Anne.
"Yes, to Tante, or Madame Moreau, the principal of the school. She
expects you."