Mr. Simlins stood on his doorstep and surveyed such portion of his fair
inheritance as his eye could reach from that point. Barns and outhouses
already in good order, Mr. Simlins favoured with a mental coat of
paint; fences were put up and gate-posts renewed, likewise in
imagination. Imagination went further, and passed from the stores of
yellow grain concealed by those yellow clapboards, to the yellow
stubble-fields whence they had come; so that on the whole Mr. Simlins
took rather a glowing view of things, considering that it was not yet
sunrise. The cloudless October sky above his head suggested only that
it would be a good day for digging potatoes,--the white frost upon the
ground made Mr. Simlins 'guess it was about time to be lookin' after
chestnuts.' The twitter of the robins brought to mind the cherries they
had stolen,--the exquisite careering of a hawk in the high blue ether,
spoke mournfully of a slaughtered chicken: the rising stir of the
morning wind said plainly as a wind could (in its elegant language)
that 'if it was goin' to blow at that rate, it would be plaguey rough
goin' after round clams.' With which reflection, Mr. Simlins turned
about and went in to his early breakfast of pork and potatoes,--only,
as he was not a 'teacher,' they were hot and not cold.
Thus pleasantly engaged--discussing his breakfast,--Mr. Simlins was
informed by one of his 'help,' that a boy wanted to see him. Which was
no uncommon occurrence, for all the boys about Pattaquasset liked Mr.
Simlins.
"Just as lieves see him as not," said Mr. Simlins--"if he don't want my
breakfast. Come in, there, you!"--
And Dromy Tuck presented himself.
"'Early bird catches the worm,'" said Mr. Simlins. "Don't want my
breakfast, Dromy, do you?"
"Had mine afore I started," replied Dromy. "But the thing's here. Mr.
Linden says as how we wants your nuts off o' them trees over to
Neanticut--and he says if you don't want 'em, why it'll fit, he says.
And if you do, why you may keep 'em that's all."
"What's Mr. Linden goin' to do with the nuts, s'pos'n he gets 'em?"
"_He_ aint agoin' to get 'em," said Droiny--"it's us;--us and him. You
see we did somethin' to please him, and so now he said as how he'd like
to do somethin' to please us, if he only knowed what it was. And there
wa'n't a boy of the hull on 'em as didn't say he'd rather go after nuts
than any other livin' thing whatsomedever."
"And now I s'pose you're askin' for them particular nuts to please me.
It's a round game we're on," said Mr. Simlins. "How're you goin' to get
to Neanticut? same way Jack went up his bean?--won't pay."
"He didn't tell--" said Dromy. "He don't say everything to oncet,
commonly."
"When 'you goin'?"
"Don' know, sir. Mr. Linden said as how we'd better go afore the nuts
did. And Saturday aint fur off."
"Saturday--well! You tell Mr. Linden, if he'll send Reuben Taylor here
Saturday morning, he can take the big wagon; it'll hold the hull on ye,
and I guess I'll do without the team; and if he wants to go into the
old house and make a fire in case you want something to eat afore you
get home, there's not a soul in it and no wood nother--but you can pick
it up; and I'll give Reuben the key. Now don't you splice the two ends
o' that together by the way."
Great was the stir in a certain stratum of Pattaquasset that day! Many
and startling were the demands for pies, cheese, and gingerbread, to be
answered on the ensuing Saturday. Those good housewives who had no boys
at school or elsewhere, thought it must be 'real good fun' to help them
get ready for such a frolic,--those who _had_ boys--wished they had
none! As to the rest, the disturbance spread a little (as disturbances
are wont) from its proper sphere of action. Two boys even invaded Mrs.
Derrick's peaceful dwelling, and called down Faith from conquering
Peru. These were Reuben Taylor and Joe Deacon; for Joe with a slight
variation of the popular adage, considered that 'once a scholar, always
a scholar.' Reuben seemed inclined on his part to leave the present
business in Joe's hands, but a sharp nudge from that young gentleman's
elbow admonished him not only to speak but to speak quickly. Reuben
modestly preferred his modest request, guiltless of any but the most
innocent arrangement of his words.
"We boys are all going over to Neanticut nutting, next Saturday, Miss
Faith," he said, "and we thought as Mr. Linden was going, maybe you'd
like to go too--and we'd all enjoy it a great deal more."
"There ain't room in the wagon," put in Joe--"but I s'pose you kin fix
that."
"Joe!" said Reuben flushing up. "There's plenty of room, Miss
Faith--there isn't one of us that wouldn't find it, somehow. I could
walk easy enough, I know that."
Faith flushed up too on her part a little, unconsciously; and asked who
else was going.
"Sam _aint_"--said Joe, as if that was all he cared about.
"Only the boys, Miss Faith," said Reuben with another glance at his
comrade. "But it's a pretty place over there,--and so's the ride.
There's room for Mrs. Derrick too if she'd like it," Reuben added,--"I
suppose we shall be gone all day."
"It's very good of you to come and ask me, both of you," said Faith,
evidently in perplexity;--"and I should like to go dearly if I can,
Reuben--but I am afraid I can't. I am glad if the wagon's big enough to
hold you all without me. You'll have a great time."
"You may say that!" said Joe--while Reuben looked down, disappointed.
"We didn't know whether you would," he said--"but Mr. Linden said you
wouldn't be displeased at our asking. We asked him first, Miss
Faith--or we shouldn't have made so free. And you shall have some of
the nuts, anyway!"
A little cheered with which view of the subject, Reuben made his bow,
and Joe Deacon whistled after him out of the gate.
Faith looked after them, disappointed too. There was a grave set of the
lines of her mouth, and it was with rather a thoughtful face that she
looked down the road for a minute. Then remembering the volume of
Prescott in her hand, which her finger still kept open, she went up
stairs again and set herself down to finish her treasure. Faith's
reading-place, it must be known, was no other than a deep window-seat
in Mr. Linden's room. That was a large, old-fashioned room, as has been
said, with brown wainscottings and corner and window cupboards; and
having on two sides a pleasant exposure, the light generally made it a
winsome place to look at. Now, in this October weather, it came in
mellow and golden from a softened sun and changing foliage; the brown
wood and white walls and dark old furniture and rich bindings of books,
all mingled in the sunlight to make a rich sunny picture.
There were pictures outside too and pleasant ones. From the south
window, straight down the street, the houses and trees and the brown
spire of the Methodist church stretched away--roofs and gable ends and
the enormous tufty heads of the elm trees that half hung over them. At
the back of these houses, the eye went uninterruptedly over meadows and
fields to the belt of woods which skirted at a little distance the line
of the shore from the Lighthouse to Barley Point--here and there a
break through which a schooner might be seen standing up or down the
Sound; elsewhere only its topsails might be discerned above the woods.
The western window took in the break where Barley Point lay; and
further on in the southwest a distant glimpse of the Sound, with the
little brown line of Monongatesak Point. The lane leading to the shore
ran off due west, with houses, gardens, orchards, bordering it and
spotting the country generally. A fair country--level and rich--all the
range west and northwest was uninterrupted smooth fields; the eye had
full sweep to the wide horizon; the dotting of trees, barns and houses,
only enriched it, giving the sweet air of peaceful and happy occupation.
Faith's place was the deep low sill, or seat, of that western window.
There often Faith's book rested, while on the floor before it the
reader sat. This time the book was near finished, and a few more leaves
turned over changed the 'near' into 'quite.' Faith stood then
considering the books. The name of Prescott on another volume had
tempted her, for she had taken it down and considered the title page;
before settling to it, Faith laid her hand on one of another set not
yet much examined; a set of particular outside beauty. But what was the
inside? For Faith stood by the cupboard door, not looking here and
there, but leaf by leaf walking into the middle of the book. Faith
rested the volume on the shelf and turned over more leaves; and at last
dropped down by her window seat, laid the book there, put her cheek on
her hand as usual, a cheek already flushed, and lost herself in the
very beams of the afternoon sun.
It might have been a dream, it might have been a vision (only that
_vision_ it was not)--it might have been reality; wrapped up in her
book, what should Faith know? Yet when some crisis was turned over with
the leaf, and the real world began to supplant the unreal, Faith
started up and looked round. Had she heard a step? a rustling of paper
on the table? The door was firmly shut, the shadowy corner near by had
lost the sunbeams, but was else unchanged; the table looked just as
before--unless--Had there been a letter lying there when she came
in?--Faith never could tell.
The door opened now, however, and Mrs. Derrick entered--peering in
somewhat anxiously.
"Why here you are, pretty child!" she said, "I began to think you were
lost! Mrs. Somers has been here, and so's Miss Harrison, and they
wanted to see you ever so much. I don't think that's a good cheese we
cut last night, Faith,--I guess I'll cut another."
Faith was an image of innocent guilt; and without daring to ask if it
was tea-time, she ran down stairs. Her mother followed and stood by,
not with any thought of overseeing but for the pleasure thereof.
"Well child," she said, "are you learning all the world up? What's in
the oven now?"
"Don't you think that is good?"--
The question had reference to the freshly cut cheese, of which Faith
presented her mother with a small morsel. Mrs. Derrick
tasted--critically, but the first topic was the most interesting.
"What's made your cheeks burn?" she said laying her hand softly against
the rose-colour. "If you're going to study yourself into a fever,
Faith, _I_'m not going to stand by and see it."
"No fear, mother. I forgot myself. Is Mr. Linden come in?"
"He must be--he always is by this time. Miss Harrison says the Doctor's
got back, Faith."
Faith took up her cheese and walked in with it. The tea-table stood
alone. But the tea hour being come, and Mr. Linden known to be surely
there within five minutes of the tea hour, the tea was made--and not a
minute too soon.
Faith was not on this occasion talkative, nor anybody else. The meal
proceeded rather silently. Spoons spoke in low tones, knives made
themselves busy; and Cindy put her head in at the door and withdrew it
with the mental ejaculation,
"My! if they baint settin' there yet!"
At this point Mr. Linden spoke. "And so, Miss Faith, you have no fancy
for nuts to crack?"
Faith flushed a little and hesitated.
"I didn't say so, Mr. Linden."
"Have you any dislike to Neanticut?"
"Not the least," she said laughing.
"I dare not go further, and inquire as to the company. Don't you know
how to drive, Miss Faith?"
"And what if I do?" said Faith.
"Is there any insuperable objection to your driving Mrs. Derrick over
to Neanticut Saturday morning? It would be so comfortable to know there
were people there--and fires--in case it was a cold morning," said Mr.
Linden demurely. "I could send Reuben with you, and the key."
"O that's good!" cried Faith clapping her hands. "Mother, will you go?"
"Why don't I always, just where you want me to, child?" said her
mother. "I should like to go to Neanticut, besides. I haven't been
there this long while. But I guess you and I can open the house, Faith,
without Reuben Taylor."
"After all, Mr. Linden," said Faith, "there is a great objection to my
driving mother over there,--because she'll drive me."
"There is a great objection to your opening the house--for Reuben has
the key--or will have it; and keys you know, are matters of trust, and
not transferable. I don't know but Mr. Simlins would make an exception
in your favour,--but I shall not ask him."
"I am glad to have Reuben along," said Faith. "And I suppose we must
take our dinner with us, Mr. Linden?"
"I have no doubt there will be dinner enough from other quarters," he
answered, "but how much of it will be like Mrs. Seacomb's tea I cannot
say. I think it would be safe to take a very little basket--such as
would suffice for two ladies."
"O with Reuben we can manage nicely," said Faith joyously. He looked at
her--pleased with her pleasure.
"Don't make any grand preparation for me," he said,--"you know I must
eat in commons--for the same reason that I cannot offer to drive you
over."
"Does that mean that you will have to take a piece out of everybody's
basket?"
"As near as possible!"
Faith shook her head, but made no further remark.
Early Saturday morning, before any other steps had brushed the dew from
the grassy roadside, Reuben Taylor was on his way from the rocky coast
point where he lived to the smooth well-ordered abode of Mr. Simlins.
Receiving from that gentleman the key of the old house at Neanticut,
and having harnessed the horses to the big wagon under his special
directions, Reuben drove down to the village, put horses and wagon in
safe keeping, and reported himself at Mrs. Derrick's. All things there
being in readiness, that small turn-out was soon on its way; leaving
Mr. Linden to look after his own much larger consignment. And despite
the presence of Reuben Mrs. Derrick chose to drive; because, as she
said, "when she had the reins in her own hands, she knew which way the
horse was going."
The road for awhile went on towards Mrs. Seacomb's, but passing the
turn into the woods kept on its uneven way to the ferry. The natural
hedges--all glittering with dew--shewed little colour but in the
leaves. The fair clethra and the sweet clematis had ended their short
reign and were gone, and high-coloured sumachs flamed out in
insurrection. Now the country became more hilly, and where the eastern
portion of Pattaquasset lay close upon the Mong, the road went down by
a succession of steep pitches to its shore Then the road ran on through
a sort of half drained marsh--varied in its course by holes and logs
and a little bridge, and then they were at the ferry.
Now the ferry between Pattaquasset and Neanticut was--and is, as I
trust it will always be--propelled by wind power. No plodding horses to
distract one's eyes from the surrounding peace,--no puffing steam to
break with its discord the sweet rush of the water,--but a large,
flat-bottomed boat, a white sail, and a Yankee steersman. The only evil
attendant upon these advantages is, that the establishment cannot be
upon both sides at once--and that the steersman, like other mortals,
must take his dinner. This time it happened to be breakfast; for having
been much interrupted and called for at the hour when he should have
taken that refreshment, long Tim declared "he would have it now, and no
mistake!" The little fact that two ladies were waiting for him on the
other side, did not in the least affect his appetite or his
deliberation.
"Faith," said her mother when they had waited about a quarter of an
hour, "if 'tother wagon should catch up we shouldn't get there first!"
Faith laughed and said, "Well, mother!"
"Well, child," said her mother cheerfully, while Reuben waved fresh
signals to the obdurate ferryman, "I'm sure I don't mind, if you don't."
"He's coming out now!" said Reuben,--"or his wife is--and that's just
as good."
And so it appeared; for a short vision of a red petticoat and blue
jacket on the other bank, was followed by the ferryman himself,--the
white sail rose up above the little boat, and she floated smoothly
over. Then Mrs. Derrick drove carefully across the boat bridge, and
long Tim pushed off into the stream. How pretty it was! the winding
river above, with its woody banks, and villages, and spires; and its
broader bends below, towards the Sound. They were about midway in the
stream when Reuben suddenly cried out--
"Look, Miss Faith!"--
And there came the great wagon, at not the slowest possible rate, over
the long marsh road.
The first sight of the ferryboat and her freight was the signal for a
simultaneous shout from the whole wagon load--which long Tim took for a
summons to himself.
"'Taint no sort o' use hollerin' like _that_," he said, with a little
turn of his steering oar; "'cause I aint a goin' back till I get
somewheres to go back _from_--nor then neither mabbe. I kin count
dollars whar they kint count cents, neow."
And 'neow' the little wagon was beyond pursuit,--up the hill from the
ferry, on over the farm road, drove Mrs. Derrick--somewhat at the
quickest; until the old untenanted house rose just before them, and
Reuben sprang down to take the reins and help the ladies out.
It was a pleasant old farmhouse that, in spite of its deserted
condition. They went to the kitchen, bright with windows looking out to
grass fields and trees. Mrs. Derrick stood at open door and window,
recalling scenes and people she remembered there, or watching for the
big wagon to make its appearance; while Reuben and Faith went to the
outhouses, and finally by dint of perseverance found a supply of wood
in an old rotten tumbled-down fence. Mrs. Derrick proclaimed that the
wagon was coming, as the foragers returned; but there was a splendid
blaze going up chimney before the aforesaid conveyance drew up at the
door, and the whole first party turned out to see it unload.
The wagon was unloaded in the twinkling of an eye; then came rummaging
for baskets; then so many boys and so many baskets hopped and hummed
round, like a little bevy of wasps--with nothing at least of the bee
business-character about them.
"Mr. Linden, be we going to stop here?"--
"Is here where the trees be, Mr. Linden?"--
"Mr. Linden, Joe Deacon aint behaving nohow!"
"Mr. Linden, will we leave our baskets and come back to the house? or
will they be to go along?"--inquired a more sober tongue.
While others were giving their opinion in little asides that it was
'prime'--and 'fust-rate'--and arguing the comparative promise of
chestnut and hickory trees. And one of the bigger boys of the party,
_not_ distinguished for his general good qualities, sidling up to
Reuben, accosted him under breath with a sly,
"So you druv Mr. Linden's sweetheart. Aint you spry!"
If Reuben had been in that line, he would probably have sent the
offender head first down the bank,--as it was, he said quietly,
"I wouldn't let Mr. Linden hear me say that, Phil, if I was you."
"Don't mean ter. Aint you great! But I say,--Joe Deacon says you did."
"Joe Deacon's made a mistake for once in his life," said Reuben rather
contemptuously--"and it isn't the first, by several."
"Reuben," said Mr. Linden approaching the group, "you may all go and
find where the best trees are, and then come back and report to me. I
put you in charge. Understand"--he added, raising his voice a little,
"Reuben Taylor is leader of the search--whoever does not obey his
orders, does not obey mine."--And in a minute the courtyard was clear.
Then Mr. Linden turned and walked up to the house.
"Now what are you ladies going to do with yourselves?" he said. "Will
you come out and sit under the trees and look on--taking the chance of
being hit by a stray nut now and then?"
"We can't go wrong to-day," said Faith, with whom the spirit of
enjoyment was well at play. "When mother feels in the mood of it we'll
come. We can find you--we know where to look. Weren't you obliged to us
for doing the waiting at the ferry?"
"And for looking so picturesque in the distance,--it was quite a thing
to be grateful for. I think you will have no difficulty in finding
where we are--there will be noise enough to guide you. I hope you have
not brought a book along, Miss Faith."
"Why, Mr. Linden?"
"The 'running' brooks are good letter-press," he said--"and the grey
stones, and that white oak in the meadow. And is not that woodpecker a
pretty illustration?"
"I have looked at them often," said Faith. "I don't know how to _read_
them as you do. There isn't any brook here, though, that I know of, but
Kildeer river. You'll like Neanticut, Mr. Linden. I'm so glad you let
us come. I'll read everything--that I can."
"I don't know how long everything'll last you, child--at the rate
you've gone on lately," said Mrs. Derrick who stood in the doorway.
Faith smiled again, and shook her head a little at the same time as her
eye went from the woodpecker to the green leaves above his head, then
to the bright red of some pepperidge trees further off, to the lush
grass of the meadow, and on to the soft brownish, reddish, golden hues
of distant woodland. Her eye came back as from a book it would take
long to read thoroughly.
"I am so glad it is such a day!" she repeated.
"I see my boys are coming back," Mr. Linden said, with a smile which
hardly belonged to them,--"I must go and get their report. Au revoir,
Miss Faith." And he went forward into the midst of the little swarm--so
manageable in his hands, so sure to sting anybody else.
"Child," said Mrs. Derrick, looking over Faith's head from her more
elevated position of the door-sill (looking _at_ it too); "Child, why
don't you get--" and there, for the first and last time in her life,
Mrs. Derrick stopped short in the middle of a sentence.
"What, mother?"
But Mrs. Derrick replied not.
"What do you want me to get, mother?"
"I don't know as I want you to get anything,--child you've got enough
now for me. Not that he wouldn't like it, either," said Mrs. Derrick
musingly--"because if he wouldn't, _I_ wouldn't give much for him. But
I guess it's just as well not." And Mrs Derrick stroked her hand fondly
over Faith's head, and told her that if she stood out there without a
bonnet she would get sunburnt.
"But mother!" said Faith at this enigmatical speech, "what do you mean?
_Who_ wouldn't like _what?_"
"What does it signify, child?--since I didn't say it?"
"But mother," persisted Faith gently, "what had I better get that I
haven't?"
"I don't know as you _had_ better get it, child--and I never said he
wouldn't like it, I'm sure," said Mrs. Derrick with a little
self-vindication.
"Who, mother?"
"Why--nobody," said Mrs. Derrick,--"who's talking of anybody?"
"Dear mother," said Faith, "don't you mean to tell me what you mean?"
"I guess it's just as well not," her mother repeated. "The fact that
he'd like it don't prove anything."
Faith looked at her, coloured a little, laughed a little, and gave up
the point.
The morning passed on its pleasant way in quietness; at least with the
old farmhouse and its two occupants. Mrs. Derrick was not without her
knitting, and having come from the door sat comfortably click-clacking
her needles together--and her thoughts too perhaps--before the cheerful
blaze of the fence sticks. Faith _had_ a book with her--a little
one--with which she sat in the kitchen doorway, which looked towards
the direction the nut party had taken; and apparently divided her
attention between that volume and the one Mr. Linden had recommended.
For she looked down at the one and looked off at the other by turns, in
a sort of peaceful musing and note-taking, altogether suited to the
October stillness and beauty. Now and then she got up to replenish the
fire. And then the beauty and her musing got the better of the reading,
and Faith sat with her book in her hand, looking out into the
dream-provoking atmosphere. No sound came from the far-off nut trees;
the crickets and grasshoppers and katydids alone broke the stillness of
the unused farm. Only they moved, and the wind-stirred leaves, and the
slow-creeping shadows.
When these last were but an hour's length from the tree stems, Faith
proposed an adjournment to the nut trees before the party should come
back to lunch. The fire was mended, the pot of coffee put on to warm;
and they locked the door and set out.
It was not hot that day, even under the meridian sun. They crossed an
orchard, and one or two farm fields, on the skirts of which grew single
trees of great beauty. White oaks that had seen hundreds of years, yet
stood in as fresh and hale green youth as the upstart of twenty;
sometimes a hemlock or a white pine stretching its lithe branches far
and wide and generously allowed to do so in despite of pasture and
crops. Then came broken ground, and beyond this a strip of fallow at
the further border of which stood a continuous wall of woodland, being
in fact the crest of the bank of the little river Faith had referred to.
And now, and truly for one or two fields before, the shouts and cries
of the nut-hunters rang through the air. For just edging, and edging
into, the border of trees last spoken of, were the great chestnuts and
hickories; and underneath and among them many little dark spots were
flying about; which spots, as Mrs. Derrick and Faith came up, enlarged
into the familiar outlines of boys' caps, jackets, and trowsers, and
ran about on two legs apiece.