matron thought that perhaps she did not mind going so much after all;
but if she could have seen the lonely motherless girl a few moments
later, she would have known how cruelly hard this new experience was for
her.
Eva did not return to the garden, but, instead, she ran up to the
dormitory, and throwing herself upon the bed, sobbed as though her heart
would break. Then, slipping to her knees, she held her dear mother’s
picture, and prayed for strength to bear this heavy cross bravely and
cheerfully, as that dear mother had taught her.
After a time peace crept into the heart of the girl, and she seemed to
know that in some way all was well. By the time that the other orphans
came into the dormitory for the night, Eva was able to meet them
smilingly; and since most of them believed that she had been greatly
honored to have been the choice of the rich woman, they little dreamed
of the hour of suffering which she had just passed through.
When Eva awoke the next morning, it was with the feeling that something
unusual was going to happen. She looked out at the bare tree-tops in the
orchard and at the gray autumn sky, and then she remembered, and for a
moment her heart sank within her. But suddenly the sun burst through a
rift in the clouds, and the world was bright again.
Eva sprang up to dress, as she thought bravely: “Maybe the sun will
shine through my clouds. Anyway, if I pretend that going to Mrs. Green’s
is something that I very much want to do, it will make it seem easier,
and, as Adele says, every cloud has a sunny side, even if it is very
hard to see just at first.”
Mrs. Friend glanced anxiously at Eva when she entered the dining-room
that morning, her arm linked through Amanda’s, but the bright smile of
greeting dispelled the matron’s fear that she might have cried all
night.
“What a dear, brave girl she is!” Mrs. Friend thought, and she
strengthened her resolve to leave no stone unturned in her effort to
have Eva recalled.
After breakfast Eva went to the dormitory to pack her few belongings,
and Amanda was with her.
“I feel just like crying,” Amanda said, “but when I see how brave you
are, it makes me feel ashamed of myself, for even living here with
orphans won’t be so bad as living with that dreadful woman. Do you
suppose that you are to be sent to school with that prig of a girl?”
“No,” Eva replied. “Mrs. Friend told me that Susetta is to have a tutor
come from the city each day, and I suppose I am to have lessons with
her.”
Poor little Eva little dreamed that educating the orphan was not in Mrs.
Green’s scheme.
Few were the girl’s belongings, and those were soon packed in a satchel
which had belonged to her father. Lovingly Eva touched it, and it was
hard for her to keep back the tears when she remembered the big, fine
man who had owned it. How sad he would be if he knew that his only
little girl—But she put the thought away from her and smiled brightly up
at her friend. It would not do for her to be recalling the once happy
home and the two who had so loved her.
“Amanda,” she said, trying to speak cheerily, “would you like to wear my
blue ring while I am away? Maybe it would be sort of company for you.”
Amanda choked as she replied: “Oh, Eva, I’d be so glad to wear it. Maybe
it would help me to be brave, the way you are. I’ll just look at the
ring and remember that you love me, and then I won’t care so much if the
other girls are mean.”
“There!” Eva announced as she snapped the clasp of the satchel. “My
wardrobe is packed and I am ready to depart for my future palatial
residence at Restwell.” Then she laughingly added, as she caught hold of
her friend and swung her around: “Amanda, do smile! You look as though
you were at a funeral. Really, now, things might be ever so much worse.
I might be going miles and miles away from you, but, as it is, I shall
be near enough to run over and see you often.”
At that moment a small girl put her head in the dormitory-door and
called excitedly: “Eva! Eva Dearman! Are you here? There’s the grandest
kerridge come to get you. My, don’t I envy you though! Wouldn’t I like
to be leavin’ this dismal old orphans’ home and going to live in a
castle, like as not, where there’s servants with gold buttons to wait on
you.”
Eva hurriedly put on her hat and coat, and then, kissing her friend, she
whispered: “Don’t cry, Amanda. Somehow I feel sure that something ever
so nice is going to happen soon for both of us. I can’t think what it
will be, but I feel it in my bones, and you can’t guess what good
prophets my bones are,” she added merrily as they started down the
stairs.
Mrs. Friend was waiting in the hall, and she and Amanda walked out to
the gate with Eva, Amanda carrying the satchel, as she would gladly have
carried all of her friend’s burdens if only she could.
A liveried footman helped Eva into the carriage, to the envy of all the
orphans, who were watching from the windows of the Home.
“My, but ain’t she a lucky girl!” said Jenny Waine to her neighbor.
“For my part,” Sally West replied, “I can’t see why that rich woman
would choose such a pale, skinny girl. You’re much prettier, with your
red cheeks and black eyes.”
“Well, I’m thinking they won’t keep her long,” Jenny replied, with a
toss of her head which set her raven curls to bobbing, “and then maybe
one of us will get the next chance.”
Meanwhile Eva, seated upon the luxurious purple cushions, leaned back
comfortably as she thought, “I’m just going to enjoy every pleasant
thing that comes along and not worry about the future.”
This was a wise decision, but Eva did not find many things to enjoy
during the next few weeks.
CHAPTER THIRTY
EVA HUMILIATED
The spirited horses soon turned in between two high stone gate-posts, on
the top of which two stone lions were crouching. The wide lawns were
beautifully kept, and bright-colored autumn flowers flamed in the neat
beds. Over a smooth, wide drive the carriage rolled with its small
occupant. It did not stop at the front of the house, but went around to
the servants’ entrance, and there a maid, in cap and apron, met Eva and
led her up the back-stairs to a small room which she said was next to
her own.
When Eva had been left alone, she stood very still, looking about her at
the plain furnishings, and then it slowly dawned upon her that, instead
of being there as an equal and a companion for Susetta, she was to be
classed as a servant. Hot tears rushed to her eyes, but she tried to
console herself with the thought that it would not be for long; it could
not be. Mrs. Friend would not permit it. And Adele, what would Adele
say?
There was a rustle in the doorway, and there stood Mrs. Green in an
elaborate rose-colored house-dress.
“I see you’ve come,” she said without a word of greeting. “Here’s a
black dress I want you to wear, and—er—a cap and apron. I like to have
all the—er—helpers around the house dressed alike. Folks who have great
wealth ought to do things stylish.”
“So they should, Mrs. Green,” Eva replied politely.
“Your duties,” Mrs. Green continued, “will be to look after Miss
Susetta’s room, and to mend her clothes, and to ride out with her when I
am not able to go. I hope that you speak English right. I don’t want no
one who talks ignorant associatin’ with my daughter, and me a-paying out
a lot of money for a tutor to come down from the city to teach her.”
“I will try to speak correctly,” Eva said, feeling as though she was
taking a part in a play, everything seemed so unreal and unnatural.
“When you are dressed, you may come to my room, which is at the front of
the second-floor hall.” So saying Mrs. Green, elephantine in her loose
rose-colored house-dress, walked away, and Eva actually laughed to
herself as she made the change. Being able to see the humorous side of a
thing saves many a needless heartache.
Half an hour later she rapped lightly on a closed door on the
second-floor front and was bidden to enter.
Susetta was there, and she jumped up, crying joyfully, “Oh, Eva, I’m so
glad you have come! How I have wanted a girl of my own age to—”
But she got no farther, for her mother, with a frown, said reprovingly,
“Susetta, didn’t I tell you never to speak familiar, like that,
to—er—the helpers?” Then, turning to Eva, she said, “Yonder is some
mending in a basket. You may begin on that.”
Eva sat in a low rocker by a side-window and began to mend the muslin
garments. She liked to sew, and she dearly loved lacy things, so she was
rather enjoying her task. Susetta pouted, but obediently returned to her
seat at the front window. Picking up her book, she tried to read, but,
not being interested, she often looked listlessly down on the park-like
grounds. Suddenly she gave an exclamation of pleasure. “Oh, ma! ma! Do
look!” she cried excitedly. “There’s the banker’s daughter, and the
Doring girl in her pony-cart. They’re coming to call on me.”
Mrs. Green peered out between the curtains as she replied, “I told you
they’d come fast enough when they found out how rich we are. I’m glad
it’s that Doring girl. Her folks belong to one of the oldest families
around, and her grandpa owned ’most all of the land in the town. Those
two girls are just the ones that I want you to know.”
There came a rap on the door, and a maid entered and announced, “Miss
Doring and Miss Drexel to call upon Miss Eva Dearman.”
A deep red mounted to Mrs. Green’s brow, and she replied angrily, “Just
tell them, if you please, that I do not let my servants have company
except on certain days, and that Eva Dearman’s day hasn’t been picked
out yet. What’s more, tell them that the servants’ friends go to the
side-door.”
Mrs. Green was so angry that she hardly knew what she was saying. Eva’s
cheeks flushed, and for a second she felt inclined to resent what had
been said, but wisely she decided to say nothing.
The maid delivered the message which Mrs. Green had sent, and the girls
were very indignant.
“Poor Eva!” Adele said as they were driving away. “If I only had known
that she was to be sent to Mrs. Green’s. I didn’t know a thing about it
until I telephoned to Mrs. Friend an hour ago. But she won’t have to
endure this humiliation much longer. My mother loves Eva, and she will
gladly invite her to visit us indefinitely.”
When Adele reached home she ran into the house, and, pausing in the
lower hall, she called, “Mumsie, where are you?”
“In the library, dear,” a sweet voice replied. And Adele, flushed and
excited, went in and sank down on the stool at her mother’s feet as she
exclaimed, “Oh, mumsie, I am so mad! I never was madder, I guess, in all
my days. I’ve tried and tried to think kind things about that horrid
Mrs. Green, but I just can’t, no matter how hard I try.”
“Mrs. Green!” the mother repeated wonderingly. “Why, pet, what have you
to do with her?”
Then in a rush of words Adele told the whole story. Mrs. Doring, who
truly loved Eva, was surprised that the matron of the Home had allowed
her to be so humiliated. “I will telephone to Mrs. Friend at once,” she
said, as she arose and went into Mr. Doring’s small study.
The matron of the orphanage was also very indignant when she heard that
Eva was being treated as a servant.
“Mrs. Doring,” she said over the wire, “I sincerely hope that you do not
think that I had any knowledge that such was to be the case. Mrs. Green
told me that she wished Eva to be a companion for Susetta, and when I
asked her in what manner the orphan would be able to continue her
studies, Mrs. Green replied that she had engaged a tutor to come from
the city each day, and she inferred, if she did not directly say, that
Eva would have lessons with Susetta. Eva is one of the dearest girls I
have ever known, and I did my best to prevent her going, but the
directors, knowing that the orphanage is much overcrowded, felt that it
is best to find homes for the girls as soon as possible, and, moreover,
they did not wish to offend Mrs. Green, who is a rich woman and might
contribute liberally, and the home is greatly in need of funds.”
“But surely Eva ought not to be sacrificed,” Mrs. Doring replied.
“Couldn’t you send one of the other girls who has not so sensitive a
nature?”
“Unfortunately, Eva was Mrs. Green’s choice,” the matron said sadly.
“Suppose, then, that I take Eva,” Mrs. Doring continued. “I will do so
gladly. In fact, Mr. Doring and I were recently considering the matter,
and had almost decided to ask Eva to become our adopted daughter and a
sister for Adele. The two girls love each other so dearly that I am sure
that it would be a very happy arrangement.”
“It would, indeed,” Mrs. Friend replied, “and I will lay the matter
before the board of directors at their next meeting, which,
unfortunately, will not be for another fortnight. Until that time I
shall be powerless to act in the matter.”
When Mrs. Doring returned to the library, Adele threw her arms about her
and cried joyfully, “Oh, mumsie, I heard what you said about adopting
Eva. How wonderful that would be! When can she come? May I drive over
and get her this very moment? I can’t bear to have her spend a single
night under the same roof with those horrid people.”
“Adele, dear,” her mother said gently, “calling names won’t help Eva.
Mrs. Green has had few opportunities. If she had had the advantages that
we have had, perhaps she would be different. We must remember that.”
“Very well, mumsie,” Adele said contritely. “I’ll try not to think
unkindly of Mrs. Green any more. I’ll try not to think of her at all,
but please do tell me when I may go after my dear sister Eva.”
Then Mrs. Doring told all that the matron had said. “Oh-h!” Adele
sighed. “Then poor Eva must stay there for two long weeks. Well, at
least I will telephone to her and tell her that we are trying to get her
out of her prison.”
A moment later Adele emerged from her father’s study, looking very
unlike her cheerful self. Mrs. Doring put one arm about the girl, as she
laughingly exclaimed, “Well, little Miss Thunder-cloud, what happened?”
“I called up Restwell,” Adele began, “and I asked if I might speak to
Eva Dearman. The butler, I suppose it was, replied, and he said the
servants were not allowed to use the ’phone. Now, how can I let Eva
know? She may fret herself ill.”
“Eva has a brave, noble nature, and I am sure that she will cheerfully
make the best of things, and, Della, two weeks will quickly pass, and
after that we will do all that we can to make up for the unhappy year
that Eva has had.”
However, before the fortnight was over, something very unexpected
happened.
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
SOMETHING UNEXPECTED
The days dragged slowly by for both Eva and Adele. Mrs. Green had been
so angry because the daughters of the two best families in town had
called upon her servant instead of upon her daughter, that she tried
ever after to humiliate the girl, as though in some way it had been her
fault.
Once only did Adele catch sight of Eva, and that was when the orphan was
sitting beside Susetta in a handsome carriage, which was being slowly
driven down the main street of the village. Susetta was elaborately
dressed in a ruffled pale-blue silk, which was partly covered with a
mantle of fluffy white furs. Her pale-blue hat was also fur-trimmed. Eva
Dearman, by contrast, was dressed like a maid, in black, with white cap
and apron. This was the first time that the orphan had been publicly
humiliated, and her face looked very white as Adele passed on her pony.
“Good morning, Eva,” Adele called. A faint smile was the only reply that
she received, but Susetta tossed her head angrily. She was imbibing more
of her mother’s spirit every day.
Adele, who had intended to call upon Amanda at the orphanage, was so
indignant at Eva’s public humiliation that she whirled her pony around
and galloped home as fast as Firefly could go. She found her mother in
the sewing-room. “Oh, mumsie!” she sobbed as she threw her arms about
Mrs. Doring. “I can’t stand it! I won’t stand it!”
“Can’t stand what, pet?” her mother asked, as she smoothed the girl’s
hair.
Then Adele told what she had seen, and she added, “Eva’s family was just
as good as ours, or anybody’s, and she is so sensitive. I could tell by
her white face that she was suffering cruelly, but she held her head
high, and, oh, mumsie, for all the difference in clothes, any one could
tell that Eva was the real lady.”
“Of course, dear,” Mrs. Doring replied. “It is not the work that we do
nor the clothes that we wear, but just what we are, that makes us
gentlewomen. But do not grieve so, Adele. Just think, in four days we
shall have Eva here with us, and after that we will do all that we can
to make her happy.”
“Well,” Adele said with a sigh, as she picked up her riding-hat, “if
there is nothing that I can do about it, I might as well go over and see
Amanda Brown. She is so lonely with Eva away.”
As Adele neared the orphanage, she saw the station-wagon stopping near
the gate. “More orphans being brought to the Home, I suppose,” she
thought, but instead, a man alighted and bade the driver wait. The
stranger was about forty-five years of age, dressed in typical western
style, and as he glanced at the girl, she saw that his weather-browned
face was good-looking and kindly. Adele dismounted, and, tossing
Firefly’s reins over a hitching-post, started up the gravelly walk, just
back of the stranger. He turned and smiled pleasantly at her, as he
asked, “Am I right in believing that this is the county orphanage?”
“Yes, it is,” Adele replied, walking beside him.
“Do you happen to know if this is where my niece, Eva Dearman, is
staying?”
If the skies had opened and an angel had appeared to deliver Eva, Adele
could not have been more surprised.
“Oh, sir!” she cried, scarcely able to believe what she had heard. “Are
you really her uncle? Can it be true that poor Eva has an own relation?”
“Why do you call my niece ‘poor’?” the stranger asked with evident
concern. “Is she ill or in trouble?”
Then Adele told the whole story. The face of Richard Dearman showed deep
feeling as he listened, and then he said almost brokenly, “To think of
my brother’s little girl enduring such humiliation!”
Then he strode to the orphanage door and inquired for Mrs. Friend. The
matron was out and was not expected back for two hours.
The man then turned to Adele, as he asked, “Young lady, will you take me
to the place where my niece is being treated like a servant?”
“Indeed I will, gladly,” Adele replied, and soon they were on the road,
Richard Dearman in the station-wagon, and Adele riding alongside on
Firefly.
Meanwhile Eva, sad and weary, was on her knees, cleaning the hardwood
floor in Susetta’s room. Little did she dream of the great joy that was
coming to her.
When they reached the imposing entrance to the Restwell estate, Adele
bade Mr. Dearman good-by, believing that he would rather meet his niece
alone. Just as the station-wagon stopped at the broad front steps, the
door of the house opened, and a short man, with reddish complexion,
hurried down. Mr. Dearman was at that moment alighting from the wagon,
and the two men met face to face. There was an exclamation of pleased
surprise from Mr. Green, as he hurried forward and extended his hand.
“Well, Dick Dearman!” he cried. “Whatever are you doing so far from the
Woolly West? I swan, I never was so glad to see anybody! I’m sure tired
of these Eastern dudes. The men are decent enough, you understand, but
somehow they are different. Mighty good of you, Dick, to hunt us up.”
Before the visitor had time to explain the truth concerning his errand,
the door opened again, and this time Mrs. Green, in her rose-colored
house-dress, appeared, and Mr. Green called, “Melissy, do see who is
here. Dick Dearman, the Cattle King of Silver Creek, has come to visit
us.”
“How do you do, Mrs. Green,” the newcomer said. “I heard that you had
given up the tavern business and had come east, but I did not dream that
it was you with whom my niece, Eva Dearman, is staying.”
For a moment the face of Mrs. Green became very white and her eyes
looked frightened. She had understood, from what the matron of the Home
had told her, that Eva had no living relation, and now she suddenly
found that Eva had an uncle, who was a man of wealth and influence in
the West. What would he say if he knew how unkind she had been to the
girl? But he must not know. She thought quickly, and aloud she exclaimed
with pretended pleasure, “Well, now, is it possible that you are the
uncle of our dear Eva? I didn’t suppose that she had any own folks, and
I was so taken with her sweet face, when I was over at the orphanage,
that I asked the matron to let her come and live with us, and be a
sister to our lonely little girl.”
Mr. Dearman knew that this was not the truth, but he replied with
extreme politeness. “You were indeed kind to take so much trouble to
make my niece happy, but, as you may surmise, I am very eager to see my
brother’s little girl; that is, if she is here.”
Mrs. Green knew very well that at that moment Eva was cleaning Susetta’s
room, but she answered evasively, “I’m not sure that the girls have come
home as yet. It was such a lovely day, I sent them for a drive.”
Then, turning to Mr. Green, she said: “Pa, you take Mr. Dearman into the
library and I’ll see if I can find Eva. How pleased the dear child will
be!”
Then the flustered woman hurried away. When the two men were in the
library, Mr. Green excused himself, saying that he had an engagement
with his banker, but that he would see their visitor at luncheon. Then
he, too, departed, leaving Mr. Dearman alone.
Meanwhile, Mrs. Green had hastened to her daughter’s room. It was in
perfect order, and Susetta, curled in a chair, was reading a book. The
orphan was not there.
“Wherever is Eva Dearman?” Mrs. Green asked in such an excited tone of
voice that Susetta looked up in surprise and inquired, “What’s wrong,
ma?”
“Wrong? Everything’s wrong!” her mother replied. “Here we’ve been
treating that orphan like a servant, and her uncle has just come for
her, and he’s richer than your own pa even, and what would he say if he
knew how we’d been treating the girl? But he mustn’t know! Susetta, find
Eva at once and dress her up in some of your fine clothes and tell her
that we didn’t intend to have her for a servant any longer. Tell her I
was a-going to adopt her and have her for your sister.”
Then it was that something in Susetta which was like her blunt, honest
father, awoke, and her eyes flashed as she replied,
“I won’t tell Eva any such thing, ma, because it’s a lie.”
The mother cowed before her daughter’s reproof, and then hurried down
the hall to see if Eva was in her room, but she was not there. The girl
had gone down-stairs to replace the cleaning utensils in the
kitchen-closet. She was about to return to her room when the parlor-maid
appeared with a vase of flowers.
“Oh, Eva,” she said, “won’t you please take these into the library? I
have so much to do, I will never get through.”
Eva, always willing to oblige, took the cut-glass vase with its bouquet
of sweet pink roses and went toward the library, little dreaming that
her very own uncle was waiting in there.
The girl had one hand on the silk plush portières, and was about to push
them back, when she heard her name called softly from above.
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
A HAPPY MEETING
Eva paused and looked up the broad stairway. At the top stood Mrs.
Green, frantically beckoning to her.
“Eva,” the woman called in a stage whisper, “don’t go into the library.
Come here, quick!”
The girl, puzzled indeed, was about to obey, when the portières parted
and a tall, good-looking man appeared. He had been examining a painting
near the doorway and had plainly heard the excited stage-whisper, the
meaning of which he had easily interpreted.
Eva stepped back in surprise when she beheld the stranger, and, placing
the vase of flowers on a near-by table, was about to hasten away, when
the man stepped in front of her and held out both his hands. Eva,
glancing at his face, saw in it an expression of love and tenderness
such as she had not seen for many months. What could it mean? Then the
stranger spoke. “Eva,” he said, “I am your Uncle Dick. Mrs. Friend wrote
to me and—” But before he could say another word, the girl had thrown
her arms about his neck, and was clinging to him as though she never
meant to let him go again.
“Oh, Uncle Dick! Uncle Dick!” she sobbed. “Take me away from here!
Please take me away! I’ve tried so hard to be brave, truly I have, but
I’ve been so miserably lonesome without father or mother or any own
folks to love me. How good it was of God to send you to me!”
There were tears also in the eyes of the strong man as he held the
slender girl in a close embrace.