PETER'S ROOM IS AGAIN OCCUPIED
LIFE was very dull round Beaver Dam after Peter had gone away. John and
Constance Starkley and Flora and Emma felt that every room of the old
house was so full of memories of the three boys that they could not
think of anything else. John Starkley worked early and late, but a sense
of numbness was always at his heart. There were times when he glowed
with pride and even when he flamed with anger, but he was always
conscious of the weight on his heart. His grief was partly for his
wife's grief.
He awoke suddenly very early one morning and heard his wife sobbing
quietly. That had happened several times before, and sometimes she had
been asleep and at other times awake. Now she was asleep, lonely for her
boys even in her dreams. He thought of waking her; and then he reflected
that, if awake, she would hide her tears, which now perhaps were giving
her some comfort in her dreams.
But he could not find his own sleep again. He lighted a candle, put on a
few clothes and went downstairs to the sitting room. There were books
everywhere, of all sorts, in that comfortable and shabby room. The brown
wooden clock on the shelf above the old Franklin stove ticked drearily.
It marked ten minutes past two. Mr. Starkley dipped into a volume of
Charles Lever and wondered why he had ever laughed at its impossible
anecdotes and pasteboard love scenes. He tried a report of the New
Brunswick Agricultural Society and found that equally dry. A flyleaf of
Treasure Island held his attention, for on it was penned in a round
hand, "Flora with Dick's love, Christmas, 1914."
"He was only a boy then," murmured the father. "Less than a year ago he
was only a boy, and now he is a man, knowing hate and horror and
fatigue--a man fighting for his life. They are all boys! Henry and
Peter--Peter with his grand farm and fast mares, and his eyes like
Connie's."
John Starkley got out of his chair, trembling as if with cold. He walked
round the room, clasping his hands before him. Then he took the candle
from the table and held it up to the shelf above the stove. There stood
photographs of his boys, in uniform. He held the little flame close to
each photograph in turn.
"Three sons," he said. "Three good sons--and not one here now!"
A cautious rat-tat on the glass of one of the windows brought him out of
his reveries with a start. He went to the window without a moment's
hesitation, held the candle high and saw a face looking in at him that
he did not recognize for a moment. It was a frightened and shamed face.
The eyes met his for a fraction of a second and then shifted their
glance.
"James Hammond!" exclaimed Mr. Starkley. "Of all people!"
He set the candle on the table and pushed up the lower sash of the
window, letting in a gust of cold wind that extinguished the light
behind him. He could see the bulk of his untimely visitor against the
vague starlight.
"Come in, James," he said. "By the window or the door, as you like."
"Thank you, Mr. Starkley," said Hammond in guarded tones. "The window
will do. No strangers about, I suppose? Just the family?"
"Only my wife and daughters," replied the farmer, and turned to relight
the candle.
Jim Hammond got quickly across the sill, pulled the sash down, and after
it the green-linen shade. He stood near the wall, twirling his hat in
his hand and shuffling his feet. When Mr. Starkley turned to him, he
swallowed hard, glanced up and then as swiftly down again.
"Queer time to make a call," said Hammond at last. "Near three o'clock,
Mr. Starkley. I was glad to see your light at the window. I was scared
to tap on the window, at first, for fear you'd send me away."
"Send you away?" queried the farmer. "Why did you fear that, Jim? You,
or any other friend, are welcome at this house at any hour of the day or
night. But I must admit that your visit has taken me by surprise. I
thought you were far away from this peaceful and lonely country, my
boy--far away in Flanders."
The blood flushed over Jim's face, and he stared at the farmer.
"You thought I was in Flanders," he said. "In Flanders--me! So you don't
know about me, Mr. Starkley? Peter didn't tell you about me?
That--that's impossible. Don't you know--and every one else?"
"I don't know what you are talking about," replied Mr. Starkley, as he
pushed Jim into an armchair. "I can see that you are tired, however, and
in distress of some sort. Why are you here, Jim--and why are you not in
uniform? Tell me--and if I can help you in any way you may be sure that
I will. Rest here and I'll get you something to eat. I did not notice at
first how bad you look, Jim."
"Never mind the food!" muttered young Hammond. "I'm not hungry, sir--not
to matter, that is. But I'm dog-tired. I've been hiding about in the
woods and in people's barns for a long time--and walking miles and
miles. I--you say you don't know--I am a deserter--and worse."
"You didn't go to France with your regiment? You deserted?"
"I didn't go anywhere with it. Why didn't Peter tell you? I came home on
pass--and gave them the slip. I--Peter was sent here to fetch me back.
And he didn't tell you! And you thought I was in France! I came here
because I was ashamed to go home."
He suddenly leaned forward in his chair, with his elbows on his knees,
and covered his face with his hands. His shoulders shook. John Starkley
continued to gaze at him in silence for a minute or two, far too amazed
and upset and bewildered to know what to say or do. He felt a great pity
for the young man, whom he had always known as a prosperous and
self-confident person. To see him thus--shabby, weary, ashamed and
reduced to tears--was a most pitiful thing. A deserter! A coward! But
even so, who was he to judge? Might not his sons have been like this,
except for the mercy of God? Even now any one of his boys, or all three
of them, might be in great need of help and kindness. He went over and
laid a hand gently on his visitor's shoulder.
"I don't know what you have done, exactly, or anything at all of your
reason for doing it, but you are the son of a friend of mine and have
been a comrade of one of my sons," he said. "Look upon me as a friend,
Jim. You say you are a deserter. Well, I heard you. It is bad--but here
is my hand."
Jim Hammond raised his head and looked at Mr. Starkley with a
tear-stained face.
"Do you mean that?" he asked; and at the other's nod he grasped the
extended hand.
Mr. Starkley asked him no more questions then, but brought cold ham from
the pantry and cider from the cellar and ate and drank with him. The
visitor's way with the food and drink told its own story and sharpened
the farmer's pity. They went upstairs on tiptoe.
"This is Peter's room," said Mr. Starkley. "Sleep sound and as long as
you please--till dinner time, if you like. And don't worry, Jim."
The farmer returned to his own room and found his wife sleeping quietly.
He wakened her and told her of young Hammond's visit and all that he
knew of his story.
"I am glad you took him in," she said. "We must help him for our boys'
sakes, even if he is a deserter."
"Yes," answered Mr. Starkley, "we must help him through his shame and
trouble--and then he may right the other matter of his own free will.
We'll give him a chance, anyway."
It was dinner time when Jim Hammond awoke from his sleep of physical and
nervous exhaustion. He was puzzled to know where he was at first, but
the memory of the night's adventure came to him, bringing both shame and
relief. He had no watch to tell him the time, and there was no clock in
the room. He had brought nothing with him--not a watch, or a dollar, or
a shirt--nothing except his guilt and his shame. He flinched at the
thought of meeting Mrs. Starkley and the girls.
A knock sounded on the door, and John Starkley looked in and wished him
good morning. "If you get up now, Jim, you'll be in time for dinner," he
said. "Here is hot water and a shaving kit--and a few duds of Henry's
and Peter's you can use if you care to. Set your mind at rest about the
family, Jim. I have told my wife all that I know myself, and she feels
as I do. As for the girls--well, I will let them know as much as is
necessary. We mean to help you to get on your feet again, Jim."
The deserter shaved with care, dressed in his own seedy garments and
went slowly downstairs. He entered the kitchen. Mrs. Starkley and Flora
were there, busy about the midday dinner. They looked up at him and
smiled as he appeared in the doorway, but their eyes and Flora's quick
change of color told him of the quality of their pity. They would feel
the same, he knew, for any broken and drunken tramp in the ditch. But he
was a more despicable thing than a drunken tramp. He was a deserter, a
coward. They knew that of him, for he saw it in their eyes that tried to
be so frank and kind; and that was not the worst of him. He could not
advance from the threshold or meet their glances again.
Mrs. Starkley went to the young man quickly and, taking his hand in
hers, drew him into the room. Flora came forward and gave him her hand
and said she was glad to see him; and then Emma came in from the dining
room and said, "Hello, Mr. Hammond! I hope you can stay here a long
time; we are very lonely."
His heart was so shaken by those words that his tongue was suddenly
loosened. He looked desperately, imploringly round, and his face went
red as fire and then white as paper.
"I'll stay--if you'll let me--until I pick up my nerve again," he said
quickly and unsteadily. "Keep me hidden here from Stanley and my folks.
I'll work like a nigger. I am a deserter, as you all know--and I know
that Peter didn't tell you so. I'd do anything for him, after that. I'm
a runaway soldier, but it wasn't because I was afraid to fight. I'll
show you as soon as I'm fit--I'll go and fight. It was my beastly temper
and drink that did for me. I've been near crazy since. But I'll show you
my gratitude some day--if you give me a chance now to work round to
feeling something like a man again."
Flora and Emma were tongue-tied by the stress of their emotions. They
could only gaze at their guest with tear-dimmed eyes. But Mrs. Starkley
went close to him and put a hand on each of his drooped shoulders.
"Of course, my dear boy," she said. "You are only a boy, Jim, a year or
two younger than Henry, I think. Trust us to help you."
During dinner they talked about the country, the war, the weather and
the stock--about almost everything but Jim Hammond's affairs.
"What do you want me to do this afternoon?" asked Jim when the meal was
over. "I don't know much about farm work, but I can use an axe and can
handle horses."
"I was ploughing this morning; and this may be our last day before the
frost sets in hard," said Mr. Starkley. "What about hitching Peter's
mares to a second plow?"
"Suit me fine," said Jim.
It was a still, bright October afternoon, with a glow in the sunshine, a
smell of fern and leaf in the air and a veil of blue mist on the farther
hills. Frosts had nipped the surface of things lightly a score of times
but had not yet struck deep. Jim Hammond, in a pair of Peter's
long-legged boots, guided a long plough behind Peter's black and sorrel
mares. The mares pulled steadily, and the bright plough cut smoothly
through the sod of the old meadow. Over against the fir woods on the far
side of the meadow John Starkley went back and forth behind his grays.
Jim rested frequently at the end of a furrow, for he was not in the pink
of condition. He noticed, for the first time in his life, the faint
perfume of the turned loam and torn grass roots. He liked it. His
furrows, a little uneven at first, became straighter and more even until
they were soon almost perfect.
As the red sun was sinking toward the western forests, Emma appeared,
climbing over the rail fence from a grove of young red maples. She
carried something under one arm. She waved a hand to her father but came
straight to Jim. He stopped the mares midway the furrow.
"I made these gingernuts myself," said Emma, holding out an uncovered
tin box to him. "See, they are still hot. Have some."
He accepted two and found them very good. The girl looked over his work
admiringly and told him she had never seen straighter furrows except a
few of Peter's ploughing. Then she warned him that in half an hour she
would blow a horn for him to stop and went across to her father with
what was left of the gingernuts. Hammond went on unwinding the old sod
into straight furrows until the horn blew from the house.
After supper he played cribbage with Mr. Starkley; and that night he
slept soundly and without dreaming. He awoke early enough to do his
share of the feeding and milking before breakfast. The ploughs worked
again that day, but the next night brought a frost that held tight.
The days went by peacefully for Jim Hammond. He never went on the
highway or away from Beaver Dam and Peter's place. Sometimes, when
people came to the house, he sat by himself in his room upstairs. He did
his share of all the barn work, twice a week helped Mrs. Starkley and
the girls with the churning and cut cordwood and fence rails every day.
He never talked much, but at times his manner was almost cheerful. And
so the days passed and October ran into November. Snow came and letters
from France and England. The family treated him like one of themselves,
with never a question to embarrass him or a word to hurt him. He heard
news of his family occasionally, but never tried to see them.
"They think I am somewhere in the States, hiding--or that's what father
thinks," he said to Flora. "Some day I'll write to mother--from France."
December came and Christmas. Jim kept house that day while the others
drove to Stanley and attended the Christmas service in the church on the
top of the long hill. A week later a man in a coonskin coat drove up to
the kitchen door. Jim recognized him through the window as the
postmaster of Stanley and retired up the back stairs. John Starkley, who
had just come in from the barns, opened the door.
"A cablegram for you, Mr. Starkley," said the postmaster. "It was wired
through from Fredericton."
He held out the thin envelope. Mr. Starkley stared at it, but did not
move. His eyes narrowed, and his face looked suddenly old.
"No call to be afraid of it," said the postmaster, who was also the
telegraph operator. "I received it and know what's in it."
Mr. Starkley took it then and tore it open.
"Peter wounded. Doing fine. Dick Starkley" is what he read. He sighed
with relief and called to Mrs. Starkley and the girls. Then he invited
the man from Stanley in to dinner, saying he would see to the horse in a
minute.
"You can't expect much better news than that from men in France," John
Starkley said to his wife. "Wounded and doing fine--why, that's better
than no news, by a long shot. He will be safe out of the line now for
weeks, perhaps for months. Perhaps he will even get to England. He is
safe at this very minute, anyway."
He excused himself, went upstairs and told Jim Hammond the news.
"That is twice for Peter already," he said, "once right at home and once
in Flanders. If this one isn't any worse than the first, we have nothing
to worry about."
"I hope it is just bad enough to give him a good long rest," said Jim in
a low voice.
The postmaster stayed to dinner, and Emma smuggled roast beef and
pudding up to Jim in his bedroom. No sooner had that visitor gone than
another drove up. This other was Vivia Hammond; and once more Jim
retired to his room. Vivia had heard of the cablegram, but nothing of
its import. Her face was white with anxiety.
"What is it?" she cried. "The cable--what is it about?"
"Peter is right as rain--wounded but doing fine," said John.
Vivia cried and then laughed.
"I love Peter, and I don't care who knows it!" she exclaimed. "I hope he
has lost a leg, so they'll have to send him home. That sounds
dreadful--but I love him so--and what does a leg matter?" She turned to
Mrs. Starkley. "Did he ever tell you he loved me?" she asked.
"He didn't have to tell us," answered Mrs. Starkley, smiling.
"He does! He does!" exclaimed the girl, and then began to cry again; and
Jim, imprisoned upstairs, wished she would go home.