WARNING OR INCENTIVE?
The next morning proved that the wound which Major St. John had
received in the Mexican War was a correct barometer. From a leaden,
lowering sky the rain fell steadily, and a chilly wind was fast
dismantling the trees of their blossoms. The birds had suspended their
nest-building, and but few had the heart to sing.
"You seem to take a very complacent view of the dreary prospect
without," Mrs. Mayburn remarked, as Graham came smilingly into the
breakfast-room and greeted her with a cheerful note in his tones. "Such
a day as this means rheumatism for me and an aching leg for Major St.
John."
"I am very sorry, aunt," he replied, "but I cannot help remembering
also that it is not altogether an ill wind, for it will blow me over
into a cosey parlor and very charming society--that is, if Miss St.
John will give me a little aid in entertaining her father."
"So we old people don't count for anything."
"That doesn't follow at all. I would do anything in my power to banish
your rheumatism and the major's twinges, but how was it with you both
at my age? I can answer for the major. If at that time he knew another
major with such a daughter as blesses his home, his devotion to the
preceding veteran was a little mixed."
"Are you so taken by Miss St. John?"
"I have not the slightest hope of being taken by her."
"You know what I mean?"
"Yes, but I wished to suggest my modest hopes and expectations so that
you may have no anxieties if I avail myself, during my visit, of the
chance of seeing what I can of an unusually fine girl. Acquaintance
with such society is the part of my education most sadly neglected.
Nevertheless, you will find me devotedly at your service whenever you
will express your wishes."
"Do not imagine that I am disposed to find fault. Grace is a great
favorite of mine. She is a good old-fashioned girl, not one of your
vain, heartless, selfish creatures with only a veneer of good breeding.
I see her almost every day, either here or in her own home, and I know
her well. You have seen that she is fitted to shine anywhere, but it is
for her home qualities that I love and admire her most. Her father is
crippled and querulous; indeed he is often exceedingly irritable.
Everything must please him or else he is inclined to storm as he did in
his regiment, and occasionally he emphasizes his words without much
regard to the third commandment. But his gusts of anger are over
quickly, and a kinder-hearted and more upright man never lived. Of
course American servants won't stand harsh words. They want to do all
the fault-finding, and the poor old gentleman would have a hard time of
it were it not for Grace. She knows how to manage both him and them,
and that colored woman you saw wouldn't leave him if he beat and swore
at her every day. She was a slave in the family of Grace's mother, who
was a Southern lady, and the major gave the poor creature her liberty
when he brought his wife to the North. Grace is sunshine embodied. She
makes her old, irritable, and sometimes gouty father happy in spite of
himself. It was just like her to accept of your offer last evening, for
to banish all dullness from her father's life seems her constant
thought. So if you wish to grow in the young lady's favor don't be so
attentive to her as to neglect the old gentleman."
Graham listened to this good-natured gossip with decided interest,
feeling that it contained valuable suggestions. The response seemed
scarcely relevant. "When is she to be married?" he asked.
"Married!"
"Yes. It is a wonder that such a paragon has escaped thus long."
"You have lived abroad too much," said his aunt satirically. "American
girls are not married out of hand at a certain age. They marry when
they please or not at all if they please. Grace easily escapes
marriage."
"Not from want of suitors, I'm sure."
"You are right there."
"How then?"
"By saying, 'No, I thank you.' You can easily learn how very effectual
such a quiet negative is, if you choose."
"Indeed! Am I such a very undesirable party?" said Graham, laughing,
for he heartily enjoyed his aunt's brusque way of talking, having
learned already the kindliness it masked.
"Not in my eyes. I can't speak for Grace. She'd marry you if she loved
you, and were you the Czar of all the Russias you wouldn't have the
ghost of a chance unless she did. I know that she has refused more than
one fortune. She seems perfectly content to live with her father, until
the one prince having the power to awaken her appears. When he comes
rest assured she'll follow him, and also be assured that she'll take
her father with her, and to a selfish, exacting Turk of a husband he
might prove an old man of the sea. And yet I doubt it. Grace would
manage any one. Not that she has much management either. She simply
laughs, smiles, and talks every one into good humor. Her mirthfulness,
her own happiness, is so genuine that it is contagious. Suppose you
exchange duties and ask her to come over and enliven me while you
entertain her father," concluded the old lady mischievously.
"I would not dare to face such a fiery veteran as you have described
alone."
"I knew you would have some excuse. Well, be on your guard. Grace will
make no effort to capture you, and therefore you will be in all the
more danger of being captured. If you lose your heart in vain to her
you will need more than German philosophy to sustain you."
"I have already made to myself in substance your last remark."
"I know you are not a lady's man, and perhaps for that very reason you
are all the more liable to an acute attack."
Graham laughed as he rose from the table, and asked, "Should I ever
venture to lay siege to Miss St. John, would I not have your blessing?"
"Yes, and more than my blessing."
"What do you mean by more than your blessing?"
"I shall not commit myself until you commit yourself, and I do not wish
you to take even the first step without appreciating the risk of the
venture."
"Why, bless you, aunt," said Graham, now laughing heartily, "how
seriously you take it! I have spent but one evening with the girl."
The old lady nodded her head significantly as she replied, "I have not
lived to my time of life without learning a thing or two. My memory
also has not failed as yet. There were young men who looked at me once
just as you looked at Grace last evening, and I know what came of it in
more than one instance. You are safe now, and you may be invulnerable,
although it does not look like it; but if you can see much of Grace St.
John and remain untouched you are unlike most men."
"I have always had the name of being that, you know. But as the peril
is so great had I not better fly at once?"
"Yes, I think we both have had the name of being a little peculiar, and
my brusque, direct way of coming right to the point is one of my
peculiarities. I am very intimate with the St. Johns, and am almost as
fond of Grace as if she were my own child. So of course you can see a
great deal of her if you wish, and this arrangement about whist will
add to your opportunities. I know what young men are, and I know too
what often happens when their faces express as much admiration and
interest as yours did last night. What's more," continued the energetic
old lady with an emphatic tap on the floor with her foot, and a decided
nod of her head, "if I were a young man, Grace would have to marry some
one else to get rid of me. Now I've had my say, and my conscience is
clear, whatever happens. As to flight, why, you must settle that
question, but I am sincere and cordial in my request that you make your
home with me until you decide upon your future course."
Graham was touched, and he took his aunt's hand as he said, "I thank
you for your kindness, and more than all for your downright sincerity.
When I came here it was to make but a formal call. With the exception
of one friend, I believed that I stood utterly alone in the world--that
no one cared about what I did or what became of me. I was accustomed to
isolation and thought I was content with it, but I find it more
pleasant than I can make you understand to know there is one place in
the world to which I can come, not as a stranger to an inn, but as one
that is received for other than business considerations. Since you have
been so frank with me I will be equally outspoken;" and he told her
just how he was situated, and what were his plans and hopes. "Now that
I know there is no necessity of earning my livelihood," he concluded,
"I shall yield to my impulse to rest awhile, and then quite probably
resume my studies here or abroad until I can obtain a position suited
to my plans and taste. I thank you for your note of alarm in regard to
Miss St. John, although I must say that to my mind there is more of
incentive than of warning in your words. I think I can at least venture
on a few reconnoissances, as the major might say, before I beat a
retreat. Is it too early to make one now?"
Mrs. Mayburn smiled. "No," she said, laconically,
"I see that you think my reconnoissance will lead to a siege," Graham
added. "Well, I can at least promise that there shall be no rash
movements."