It was not long before I was established in my new situation. Mr. Bray
said, roughly,--
"I s'pose new friends is better than them your father picked out for
you; leastways you must try 'em and see. I don't say as I wouldn't on no
account take you back, if I found you couldn't git along without me. You
mustn't have that look of bein' twenty mile away, when a hoss's leg is
in your hand, and you're ready to shoe him; for I sha'n't be by to bring
you back again."
Mrs. Bray said,--
"Well, it is rather a long ride for the grand folks 'way down to Lower
Warren, and Amos bein' a family man, of course they wouldn't expect him
to be a-movin' to suit them; and as he's had the trainin' of you, they
think it'll be all right. I hope it will, I'm sure."
Little Annie looked sadder than usual, but said nothing, until the
morning when I was to commence work at the new forge; then she followed
me to the door with her little straw basket, in which she had packed a
nice lunch, covered with lilac-leaves from the bush by the front door.
"You said you shouldn't have time to come home to dinner, as you go to
Hillside this afternoon, Sandy," she said, apologetically, as she
slipped it into my hand. "I hope it will be long before you go away
altogether, it would be so lonely without you"; and the tears filled her
blue eyes.
Why was that gentle, appealing beauty always luring me back to the
village life, whose rustic, homely ways I was learning to despise? I
could not tell; but she, part and parcel of it though she was, bound to
it by parentage and pursuits, had never failed to touch my heart. I
stooped and kissed her, as I so often had done before, and answered,
laughing,--
"Go away? Never, Annie, until I take you with me."
She blushed; the old happiness stole back into her eyes at the first
kind word from me, and she returned to her simple, daily tasks; while I,
filled with ambition and pride in my new life, soon dismissed her from
my mind.
I had meant to ask Annie to help me in arranging my new forge, as she
had helped me with my first picture; and when the necessary purchases
were made and in their places, when the woman living in the other part
of the building I occupied had swept my floor and washed my solitary
window, which was at one end and looked toward the hill, I resolutely
determined to delay the unpacking of a box of pictures and books, of
which the latter were to fill a small shelf above, and the former to
hang around the window, until I could bring Annie up the next day to
assist me. Deciding to read, therefore, until some custom should fall to
me, I knocked a narrow board off the top of the box and slipped out a
single book, when I heard the tramp of horses' feet, and, going to the
door, saw the party from Hillside returning from a horseback ride. Mr.
Lang, mounted on his magnificent horse, hurried forward and rode fairly
within the smithy.
"Why, Sandy, actually established? I thought it was but right that
Warrior should be your first visitor. See how he paws! He knows you, and
will be getting a shoe off for your benefit."
I patted my old friend, who arched his neck still more proudly, as
though hardly brooking the familiarity, when Miss Merton, Miss Darry,
and Mr. Leopold rode up.
"Are you entirely ready for work, Sandy?" asked Miss Darry, after the
first greeting.
"Ready for work, but not quite in order here," I replied.
"But if anything is lacking, why have a book there? Why not arrange
matters at once?" she continued, with her customary energy.
"What is that shelf for? and that old box? You may as well confess to
any little adornments at once."
"I _have_ a few books, and just one or two old pictures there," I
replied, reluctantly; "but I have made up my mind not to arrange them
until to-morrow: little Annie Bray can help me then, and the poor child
has seldom anything to amuse her."
"Nonsense, Sandy! Little Annie Bray cannot put the books on that high
shelf without your assistance, and very probably you will have other
employment to-morrow. Then you will make yourself late for Mr. Leopold,
and will begin wrong, which is about equal to going wrong all the way
through. I have half a mind to dismount and help you myself. It will be
a charming combination of forge and studio, won't it, Mr. Leopold?"
Mr. Leopold smiled, but assented, as though his interest in the matter
was by no means proportioned to hers; and I could but notice that both
Miss Merton and Mr. Lang looked as if quite enough of this sunny spring
morning had been spent in examination of the new forge. So I replied,
hastily,--
"Oh, well, Miss Darry, if it will give you any satisfaction, I'll finish
my work here at once."
"Thank you, Sandy. And now I think of it, Alice, a Madeira vine can be
trained from the shelf up over the window to make a delightful green
curtain. A man, you know, never understands exactly how to plan these
things."
"Ah, but I have planned, Miss Darry. This box will occupy the window;
but it is to be filled with water, aquatic plants, insects, and tiny
fish, for Annie's pleasure, when she makes me a visit."
"You mean to establish a kind of nursery, I see. I hope you won't waste
your time, Sandy," retorted Miss Darry.
I could not fail to see that her disapproval of my interest in Annie
Bray had not abated; for no plans formed with reference to her seemed to
meet with approbation. And so I was the more pleased when Miss Merton
turned to me, as they were about to ride away, saying,--
"I forgot to ask you the other evening to bring that sweet little girl
to Hillside some day, or let her come alone. I will find plenty of
amusement for her that shall not interfere with the work which Miss
Darry is so desirous should go on."
They all laughed merrily, as they rode away; but I felt in no gay mood.
I was provoked that I had yielded so readily to Miss Darry's wishes, and
irritated by her evident dislike to the only person in the world whose
affection I possessed.
"_Why not_ dismount and help me herself?" I muttered, impatiently, as I
broke open the cover of my box. "Far above me as she is, she has no
right to interfere with my friendship with Annie, if she does not give
me her own in its place."
However, as the morning wore on, I became interested in my new
arrangements; the decorations of my low attic bedroom were displayed to
greater advantage in the forge, where I should now pass so much more of
my time; and as for Annie, after all, she would enjoy seeing it far
better when completed. Before noon, too, I had opened an account with
one of the most prosperous farmers in the neighborhood, and in hard
manual labor my excitement passed away; and I presented myself at
Hillside at the appointed hour, as grateful to us inmates as ever.