If Fred Brent had needed anything to increase his consciousness of the
new feeling that had come to him, he could not have done better to get
it than by going to see Eliphalet Hodges next day. His war of thought
had gone on all night, and when he rose in the morning he thought that
he looked guilty, and he was afraid that Miss Prime would notice it and
read his secret. He wanted rest. He wanted to be secure from any one who
would even suspect what was in his heart. But he wanted to see and to
talk to some one. Who better, then, than his old friend?
So he finished his morning's chores and slipped away. He would not pass
by Elizabeth's house, but went by alleys and lanes until he reached his
destination. The house looked rather silent and deserted, and Mr.
Hodges' old assistant did not seem to be working in the garden as usual.
But after some search the boy found his old friend smoking upon the back
porch. There was a cloud upon the usually bright features, and the old
man took his pipe from his mouth with a disconsolate sigh as the boy
came in sight.
"I 'm mighty glad you 've come, Freddie," said he, in a sad voice. "I
've been a-wantin' to talk to you all the mornin'. Set down on the side
o' the porch, or git a chair out o' the house, ef you 'd ruther."
The boy sat down, wondering what could be the matter with his friend,
and what he could have to say to him. Surely it must be something
serious, for the whole tone and manner of his companion indicated
something of import. The next remark startled him into sudden suspicion.
"There 's lots o' things made me think o' lots of other things in the
last couple o' days. You 've grown up kind o' quick like, Freddie, so
that a body 'ain't hardly noticed it, but that ain't no matter. You 're
up or purty nigh it, an' you can understand and appreciate lots o' the
things that you used to could n't."
Fred sat still, with mystery and embarrassment written on his face. He
wanted to hear more, but he was almost afraid to listen further.
"I 'ain't watched you so close, mebbe, as I 'd ought to 'a' done, but
when I seen you yistiddy evenin' holdin' that little girl in yore arms I
said to myself, I said, ''Liphalet Hodges, Freddie ain't a child no
more; he 's growed up.'" The boy's face was scarlet. Now he was sure
that the thoughts of his heart had been surprised, and that this best of
friends thought of him as "fresh," "mannish," or even wicked. He could
not bear the thought of it; again the tears rose in his eyes, usually so
free from such evidences of weakness. But the old man went on slowly in
a low, half-reminiscent tone, without looking at his auditor to see what
effect his words had had. "Well, that was one of the things that set me
thinkin'; an' then there was another." He cleared his throat and pulled
hard at his pipe; something made him blink,--dust, or smoke, or tears,
perhaps. "Freddie," he half sobbed out, "old Bess is dead. Pore old Bess
died last night o' colic. I 'm afeared the drive to the picnic was too
much fur her."
"Old Bess dead!" cried the boy, grieved and at the same time relieved.
"Who would have thought it? Poor old girl! It seems like losing one of
the family."
"She was one of the family," said the old man brokenly. "She was more
faithful than most human beings." The two stood sadly musing, the boy as
sad as the man. "Old Bess" was the horse that had taken him for his
first ride, that winter morning years before, when the heart of the
child was as cold as the day. Eliphalet Hodges had warmed the little
heart, and, in the years that followed, man, child, and horse had grown
nearer to each other in a queer but sympathetic companionship.
Then, as if recalling his mind from painful reflections, the elder man
spoke again. "But it ain't no use a-worryin' over what can't be helped.
We was both fond o' old Bess, an' I know you feel as bad about losin'
her as I do. But I 'm a-goin' to give her a decent burial, sich as a
Christian ought to have; fur, while the old mare was n't no perfessor,
she lived the life, an' that 's more 'n most perfessors do. Yes, sir, I
'm a-goin' to have her buried: no glue-man fur me. I reckon you 're
a-wantin' to know how old Bess dyin' an' yore a-savin' 'Lizabeth could
run into each other in my mind; but they did. Fur, as I see you standin'
there a-holdin' the little girl, it come to me sudden like, 'Freddie 's
grown now, an' he 'll be havin' a girl of his own purty soon, ef he
'ain't got one now. Mebbe it 'll be 'Lizabeth.'" The old man paused for
a moment; his eyes rested on the boy's fiery face. "Tut, tut," he
resumed, "you ain't ashamed, air you? Well, what air you a-gittin' so
red fur? Havin' a girl ain't nothin' to be ashamed of, or skeered about
neither. Most people have girls one time or another, an' I don't know of
nothin' that 'll make a boy or a young man go straighter than to know
that his girl's eyes air upon him. Don't be ashamed at all."
Fred still blushed, but he felt better, and his face lightened over the
kindly words.
"I did n't finish tellin' you, though, what I started on. I got to
thinkin' yesterday about my young days, when I had a girl, an' how I
used to ride back an' forth on the pore old horse right into this town
to see her; an' as I drove home from the picnic I talked to the old nag
about it, an' she whisked her tail an' laid back her ears, jest like she
remembered it all. It was on old Bess that I rode away from my girl's
house after her first 'no' to me, an' it seemed then that the animal
sympathised with me, fur she drooped along an' held down her head jest
like I was a-doin'. Many a time after that we rode off that way
together, fur the girl was set in her ways, an' though she confessed to
a hankerin' fur me, she wanted to be independent. I think her father put
the idee into her head, fur he was a hard man, an' she was his all, his
wife bein' dead. After a while we stopped talkin' about the matter, an'
I jest went an' come as a friend. I only popped the question once more,
an' that was when her father died an' she was left all alone.
"It was a summer day, warm an' cheerful like this, only it was evenin',
an' we was a-settin' out on her front garden walk. She was a-knittin',
an' I was a-whippin' the groun' with a switch that I had brought along
to touch Bess up with now an' then. I had hitched her out front, an' she
kep' a-turnin' her eyes over the fence as ef she was as anxious as I
was, an' that was mighty anxious. Fin'ly I got the question out, an' the
girl went all red in a minute: she had been jest a purty pink before.
Her knittin' fell in her lap. Fust she started to answer, then she
stopped an' her eyes filled up. I seen she was a-weak'nin', so I thought
I 'd push the matter. 'Come,' says I, gentle like, an' edgin' near up
to her, 'give me my answer. I been waitin' a long time fur a yes.' With
that she grabbed knittin', apron, an' all, an' put 'em to her eyes an'
rushed into the house. I knowed she 'd gone in to have a good cry an'
settle her nerves, fur that 's the way all women-folks does: so I knowed
it was no use to bother her until it was done. So I walks out to the
fence, an', throwin' an arm over old Bess's back, I told her all about
it, jest as I 'm a-tellin' you, she a-lookin' at me with her big meltin'
eyes an' whinnyin' soft like.
"After a little while the girl come out. She was herself ag'in, but
there was a look in her face that turned my heart stone-cold. Her voice
sounded kind o' sharp as she said, ''Liphalet, I 've been a-thinkin'
over what you said. I 'm only a woman, an' I come purty near bein' a
weak one; but I 'm all right now. I don't mind tellin' you that ef I was
ever goin' to marry, you 'd be my choice, but I ain't a-goin' to have my
father's sperrit a-thinkin' that I took advantage of his death to marry
you. Good-bye, 'Liphalet.' She held out her hand to me, an' I took it.
'Come an' see me sometimes,' she said. I could n't answer, so I went out
and got on old Bess an' we jogged away. It was an awful disappointment,
but I thought I would wait an' let my girl come aroun', fur sometimes
they do,--in fact mostly; but she has never give me a sign to make me
think that she has. That was twenty years ago, an' I 've been waitin'
faithful ever sence. But it seems like she was different from most
women, an' 'specially good on holdin' out. People that was babies then
have growed up an' married. An' now the old companion that has been with
me through all this waitin' has left me. I know what it means. It means
that I 'm old, that years have been wasted, that chances have been lost.
But you have taught me my lesson, Bess. Dear old Bess, even in yore last
hours you did me a service, an' you, Freddie, you have given me the
stren'th that I had twenty years ago, an' I 'm a-goin' to try to save
what remains of my life. I never felt how alone I was until now." He was
greatly agitated. He rose and grasped the boy's arm. "Come, Freddie," he
said; "come on. I 'm a-goin' ag'in to ask Miss Prime to be my wife."
"Miss Prime!" exclaimed Fred, aghast.
"Miss Prime was my sweetheart, Freddie, thirty years ago, jest like
'Lizabeth is yor'n now. Come along."
The two set out, Hodges stepping with impatient alacrity, and the boy
too astounded to speak.
It was a beautiful morning at the end of June. The sense of spring's
reviving influence had not yet given way to the full languor and
sensuousness of summer. The wind was soft and warm and fragrant. The air
was full of the song of birds and the low droning of early bees. The
river that flowed between the green hills and down through Dexter was
like a pane of wrinkled glass, letting light and joy even into the
regions below. Over the streets and meadows and hills lay a half haze,
like a veil over the too dazzling beauty of an Eastern princess. The hum
of business--for in the passing years Dexter had grown busy--the roar of
traffic in the streets, all melted into a confused and intoxicating
murmur as the pedestrians passed into the residence portion of the town
to the cottage where Miss Prime still lived. The garden was as prim as
ever, the walks as straight and well kept. The inevitable white curtains
were fluttering freshly from the window, over which a huge matrimony
vine drooped lazily and rung its pink and white bells to invite the
passing bees.
Eliphalet paused at the gate and heaved a deep sigh. So much depended
upon the issue of his present visit. The stream of his life had been
flowing so smoothly before. Now if its tranquillity were disturbed it
never could be stilled again. Did he dare to risk so much upon so
hazardous a chance? Were it not better to go back home, back to his old
habits and his old ease, without knowing his fate? That would at least
leave him the pleasure of speculating. He might delude himself with the
hope that some day--He faltered. His hand was on the gate, but his face
was turned back towards the way he had come. Should he enter, or should
he go back? Fate decided for him, for at this juncture the door opened,
and Miss Hester appeared in the doorway and called out, "Do come in,
'Liphalet. What air you a-standin' out there so long a-studyin' about,
fur all the world like a bashful boy?"
The shot told. He was a bashful boy again, going fearfully, tremblingly,
lovingly, to see the girl of his heart; but there was no old Bess to
whinny encouragement to him from over the little fence. If he blushed,
even the scrutinising eyes of Miss Prime did not see it, for the bronze
laid on his face by summers and winters of exposure; but he felt the hot
blood rush up to his face and neck, and the perspiration breaking out on
his brow. He paused long enough to mop his face, and then, saying to
Fred, in a low tone, "You stay in the garden, my boy, until it 's all
over," he opened the gate and entered in the manner of one who leads a
forlorn hope through forest aisles where an ambush is suspected. The
door closed behind him. Interested, excited, wondering and fearing,
doubting and hoping, Fred remained in the garden. There were but two
thoughts in his head, and they were so new and large that his poor boy's
cranium had room for no more. They ran in this wise: "Miss Prime is
Uncle 'Liphalet's girl, and Elizabeth is mine."
Within, Miss Prime was talking on in her usual decided fashion, while
the man sat upon the edge of his chair and wondered how he could break
in upon the stream of her talk and say what was in his heart. At last
the lady exclaimed, "I do declare, 'Liphalet, what kin be the matter
with you? You 'ain't said ten words sence you 've been a-settin' there.
I hope you 'ain't talked yoreself entirely out with Fred. It does beat
all how you an' that boy seem to grow thicker an' thicker every day. One
'ud think fur all the world that you told him all yore secrets, an' was
afeared he 'd tell 'em, by the way you stick by him; an' he 's jest as
bad about you. It 's amazin'."
"Freddie 's a wonderful good boy, an' he 's smart, too. They ain't none
of 'em a-goin' to throw dust in his eyes in the race of life."
"I 'm shore I 've tried to do my dooty by him the very best I could, an'
ef he does amount to anything in this world it 'll be through hard
labour an' mighty careful watchin'." Miss Hester gave a sigh that was
meant to be full of solemnity, but that positively reeked with
self-satisfaction.
"But as you say, 'Liphalet," she went on, "Fred ain't the worst boy in
the world, nor the dumbest neither, ef I do say it myself. I ain't
a-sayin', mind you, that he 's anything so great or wonderful; but I 've
got to thinkin' that there 's somethin' in him besides original sin, an'
I should feel that the Lord had been mighty favourin' to me ef I could
manage to draw it out. The fact of it is, 'Liphalet, I 've took a
notion in my head about Fred, an' I 'm a-goin' to tell you what it is. I
've decided to make a preacher out o' him."
"H'm--ah--well, Miss Hester, don't you think you 'd better let the Lord
do that?"
"Nonsense, 'Liphalet! you 'ain't got no insight at all. I believe in
people a-doin' their part an' not a-shovin' everything off on the Lord.
The shiftless don't want nothin' better than to say that they will leave
the Lord to take care o' things, an' then fold their arms an' set down
an' let things go to the devil. Remember, Brother Hodges, I don't mean
that in a perfane way. But then, because God made the sunlight an' the
rain, it ain't no sign that we should n't prune the vine."
Miss Hester's face had flushed up with the animation of her talk, and
her eyes were sparkling with excitement.
Eliphalet looked at her, and his heart leaped. He felt that the time had
come to speak.
"Miss Hester," he began, and the hat in his hand went round and round
nervously.
"'Liphalet, fur goodness' sake do lay yore hat on the table. You 'll
ruin the band of it, an' you make me as nervous as a cat."
He felt a little dampened after this, but he laid down the offending hat
and began again. "I 've been thinkin' some myself, Miss Hester, an' it
's been about you."
"About me? La, 'Liphalet, what have you been a-thinkin' now?" The "now"
sounded as if his thoughts were usually rather irresponsible.
"It was about you an'--an'--old Bess."
"About me an' old Bess! Bless my soul, man, will you stop beatin' about
the bush an' tell me what on airth I 've got to do with yore horse?"
"Old Bess is dead, Miss Hester; died last night o' colic."
"Well, I thought there was somethin' the matter with you. I 'm mighty
sorry to hear about the poor old creatur; but she 'd served you a long
while."
"That 's jest what set me a-thinkin': she has served me a long while,
an' now she 's dead. Do you know what that means, Miss Hester? It means
that we 're a-gittin' old, you an' me. Do you know when I got old Bess?
It was nigh thirty years ago: I used to ride her up to this door an'
tie her to that tree out there: it was a saplin' then. An' now she 's
dead."
The man's voice trembled, and his listener was strangely silent.
"You know on what errands the old horse used to bring me," he went on,
"but it was n't to be,--then. Hester," he rose, went over to her, and
looked down into her half-averted face, which went red and pale by
turns,--"Hester, 'ain't we wasted time enough?"
There was a long pause before she lifted her face: he stood watching her
with the light of a great eagerness in his eyes. At last she spoke.
There was a catch in her voice; it was softer than usual.
"'Liphalet," she began, "I 'm right glad you remember those days. I
'ain't never furgot 'em myself. It 's true you 've been a good, loyal
friend to me, an' I thank you fur it, but, after all these years--"
He broke in upon her with something like youthful impetuosity. "After
all these years," he exclaimed, "an endurin' love ought to be rewarded.
Hester, I ain't a-goin' to take 'no' fur an answer. I 've got lots o'
years o' life in me yet,--we both have,--an' I ain't a-goin' on with an
empty home an' an empty heart no longer."
"'Liphalet, you ain't a young man no more, an' I ain't a young woman,
an' the Lord--"
"I don't care ef I ain't; an' I don't believe in shovin' everything off
on the Lord."
"'Liphalet!" It was a reproach.
"Hester!" This was love. He put his arm around her and kissed her. "You
're a-goin' to say yes, ain't you? You ain't a-goin' to send me away
miserable? You 're a-dyin' to say yes, but you 're a-tryin' to force
yoreself not to. Don't." He lifted her face as a young lover might, and
looked down into her eyes. "Is it yes?"
"Well, 'Liphalet it 'pears like you 're jest so pesterin' that I 've got
to say yes. Yes, then." And she returned the quiet but jubilant kiss
that he laid upon her lips.
"After all these years," he said. "Sorrow may last fur a night, but joy
cometh in the mornin'. It was a long night, but, thank the Lord, mornin'
's broke." Then, rising, he went to the door and called joyously,
"Freddie, come on in: it 's all over."
"'Liphalet, did that boy know what you was a-goin' to say?"
"Yes, o' course he did."
"Oh, my! oh, my! Well, I 've got a good mind to take it all back. Oh,
my!" And when Fred came in, for the first time in her life Miss Prime
was abashed and confused in his presence.
But Eliphalet had no thought of shame. He took her by the hand and said,
"Freddie, Miss Hester's consented at last: after thirty years, she 's
a-goin' to marry me."
But Miss Hester broke in, "'Liphalet, don't be a-puttin' notions in that
boy's head. You go 'way, Fred, right away."
Fred went out, but he felt bolder. He went past Elizabeth's house
whistling. He did n't care. He wondered if he would have to wait thirty
years for her. He hoped not.