LOVE AIR EVERYWHERE THE HULL TIME
The moment the red-brown eyes fell upon Professor Young, the pale face
of the girl lit with a radiant smile.
"Oh, ye've come!... God sent ye, didn't He?"
At the sight of the tall, commanding lawyer, the officer and his
powerful principal stepped each to one side of the path in front of the
house and left Tess standing in the doorway, with trembling arms
outstretched to her approaching friend. Young came directly to her,
ignoring his brother-in-law.
"My dear," he murmured, snatching her hands, "you needed me! Poor child,
you certainly did!"
"Are you coming in," pausing on the threshold, he spoke to Waldstricker,
"or are you going on to Ithaca, Ebenezer?"
A smile passed over the elder's lips. He was secretly much amused at the
professor's assumption of authority.
"I'm coming in," said he. "I've something to show you."
Evidently not impressed by his brother-in-law's statement, Deforrest led
the passive girl back from the threshold of the shanty into the kitchen.
"Let me take off your wraps, dear child," he said tenderly.
Waldstricker's growing amusement found audible expression in a
condescending laugh.
"Wait a minute, Forrie," he commanded, spreading his feet pompously.
"She can't take 'em off. She's coming with us."
"And why with you?" Young asked, in simulated surprise.
Waldstricker fairly gloated with joy. Never had he felt so righteous and
uplifted. By his brother-in-law's actions, he was assured he did not
know of the warrant for Tessibel Skinner. But the girl's attitude
amazed him. To the quiet dignity with which she had submitted to arrest,
there had succeeded an air of complete detachment as though her
responsibility, even her interest in the matter, had wholly ceased.
Mutely watching the two strong men, she seemed like some small prey over
which fierce forces fought. Young began to remove the hat from her
bronze curls.
"We're going to take her away," cut in Waldstricker, putting one hand in
his pocket.
"Where to?" demanded Young, laying the hat on the table.
"To a--to a--" Waldstricker hesitated.
The frown on Young's brow deepened. He had paused for the other's
explanation, his under lip gathered between his teeth. Then, he laid his
hand protectingly on that of the silent, white-faced girl. Tessibel's
fingers turned upward and closed over his, and they stood thus a moment,
Waldstricker contemplating them through half-closed lids, one corner of
his mouth superciliously curled.
"You haven't told me where you were going to take her," Deforrest
insisted.
Bitter anger rose in Eb's throat. He had been balked at every turn he'd
taken against this red-headed girl, and instead of helping him,
Deforrest was aiding her. He did not intend that Madelene should suffer
any more, and he imagined his own home life would be more peaceful when
Tessibel Skinner was wiped from its horizon.
"If you'll have it plain," he cried triumphantly, "she's going to be
sent to a reform school! If ever a girl needed correcting, she does.
She's already been served with the warrant."
Young muttered under his breath. Holding out his hand, he said,
"Let me see the warrant."
Ebenezer pointed to the paper on the floor where Tess had dropped it.
Stooping, he picked it up.
"Look that over!" he said and handed it to the lawyer.
Professor Young took the paper, and before reading it, looked
reassuringly at Tess with that wide, white-toothed smile of his that
always cheered her heart.
"Sit down," he told her. "You do look tired, child."
With one swift glance at Waldstricker's face, she obeyed him.
Deforrest merely glanced at the paper in his hand.
"Oh, is that all you have?" he asked the constable.
"Yes, sir," the officer replied obsequiously.
"You're sure you haven't anything else?"
"Quite sure, sir," was the answer.
"That being the case," said Deforrest, quietly, "I'll match it
with--with this."
He drew from his pocket another paper which he tendered the officer.
After the man scanned it, he handed it without a word to Waldstricker.
The elder in his turn read it through. It was an order from the court
recalling the warrant obtained by Ebenezer Waldstricker for Tessibel
Skinner's arrest. The constable grinned sheepishly at Waldstricker.
"I guess that ends my usefulness here," he said, smiling admiringly at
Professor Young. "Good afternoon, miss! Goodday, gentlemen!"
Waldstricker, murder in his heart, took one stride toward Young, as the
door closed behind the departing man.
"How'd you find out this was to happen today?" he gritted through his
teeth. "I insist upon knowing."
"A little bird told me," grinned Professor Young. Then, glancing at
Tess, and seeing how white she was, there rose within him a righteous
indignation, and he went on, "You might employ your time to better
advantage than torturing--"
For a moment he didn't know what to call Tessibel. She was no longer a
child, no longer a little girl, although she looked deplorably young and
sick as she sat huddled in the chair.
"Tormenting women," he finished, sharply. "And, Ebenezer, unless you
want to make an enemy of me, you better let Tess alone. You can't do
anything to harm her, for I won't let you. I may as well tell you, too,
that the day after her father's death I constituted myself her guardian,
and I'll move Heaven and earth to prevent any one harming her. Just
remember that when you plot against her next time.... Now go home and
forget there are such people as squatters.... You'll be happier, and so
will I."
"Deforrest," Waldstricker appealed, changing his belligerent tactics,
"if you keep this thing up, you'll rue it! You know very well Bishop is
hidden somewhere in this squatter settlement. I can only get him by
rooting his people out one by one; if you'll have that court order
rescinded and let me send the girl away, I'll make it possible for you
to run for Governor next fall."
For one minute, the lawyer surveyed Waldstricker critically. He reached
one hand toward Tess. She got to her feet, grasping his fingers with
hers.
"Ebenezer," Young said with great deliberation, "if I crawled across
this girl's body into the Governor's chair, I'd be the basest cur alive.
And furthermore, you promise too much! You can't deliver the goods!
What! _You_ name the next Governor! Why you can't even remove this
little squatter girl from her lonely hut!"
Waldstricker shrank from the scorn in his brother-in-law's voice, opened
the door and strode out.
"Tess," Deforrest said, putting an arm around her, "when are you going
to let me take you away from such things as this? I shudder to think
what might have happened if I hadn't come today, and I've got to go away
again."
Tess smiled up at the big man. Drawing herself erect and lifting her
head proudly, she looked into his face, exultantly, full of buoyant joy
at the tremendous proof of Love's protecting power in the hour of her
great need.
"I jest knowed old Eb couldn't get me," she asserted. "Jesus sent ye
jest in the nick of time, didn't he, huh?"
"But, my dear, listen," Young argued, his love making him apprehensive.
"It's awful for you to be here alone and unprotected. Let me take you
away somewhere."
"I ain't alone," Tess insisted confidently, serene courage resounded in
the sweet voice. "Jesus air here an' He keeps me safe all the time. He
got Daddy out of Auburn an' kept Andy an' me in the shanty. Why, He sent
you today. I know He won't let nothin' bad happen to me."
Untroubled, the brave eyes looked into his, conveying a message of
courage and perfect peace that somehow uplifted the man's anxious
thought to catch a glimpse of her exalted faith.
"But you know, Tess," he continued, "you are not so well this winter and
you ought to have some one here to look after you."
Tess shook her head, the bronze curls twisting and falling over her
shoulders and upon the arms embracing her.
"No, siree," she answered. "I can't have any one here, on 'count of
Andy. Oh, ye mustn't worry 'bout me. I air all right an' will be every
minute."
"At least, dear," Deforrest insisted, "let me get a doctor and nurse
when--when--"
The brilliant head suddenly bowed itself forward against Young's rough
coat. For a moment, her high courage faltered, but not for long. Surely,
the same power that had cared for her today would see her through this
other trial.
"Nope, not any doctor or nurse," she refused. "I'll have Mother Moll.
She knows what to do an' she air safe."
Withdrawing herself from Young's arms, she took his hand and kissed it.
"God sure air good to Tessibel," she murmured.
A moment they stood there. Then the lawyer took up his hat and turned to
the door.
"You know, Tess, I love you and want to help you always."
In the doorway, he paused and with bared head heard the girl's parting
speech.
"Sure, ye're lovin' me an' I air lovin' you, too. I know Mr. Young, love
air here an' everywhere the hull time."