THE WORLD GOES WRONG WITH MR. RAYBOLD
The next morning Mr. Archibald started out, very early, on a fishing
expedition by himself. He was an enthusiastic angler, and had not greatly
enjoyed the experience of the day before. He did not object to shooting if
there were any legitimate game to shoot, and he liked to tramp through the
mountain wilds under the guidance of such a man as Matlack; but to keep
company all day with Raybold, who, in the very heart of nature, talked
only of the gossip of the town, and who punctuated his small talk by
intermittent firing at everything which looked like a bird or suggested
the movements of an animal, was not agreeable to him. Clyde was a better
fellow, and Mr. Archibald liked him, but he was young and abstracted, and
the interest which clings around an abstracted person who is young is
often inconsiderable, so he determined for one day at least to leave Sir
Cupid to his own devices, for he could not spend all his time defending
Margery from amatory dawdle. For this one day he would leave the task to
his wife.
That day Mr. Raybold was in a moody mood. Early in the morning he had
walked to Sadler's, his object being to secure from the trunk which he had
left there a suit of ordinary summer clothes. He had come to think that
perhaps his bicycle attire, although very suitable for this sort of life,
failed to make him as attractive in the eyes of youth and beauty as he
might be if clothed in more becoming garments. It was the middle of the
afternoon before he returned, and as he carried a large package, he went
directly to his own camp, and in about half an hour afterwards he came
over to Camp Rob dressed in a light suit, which improved his general
appearance very much.
In his countenance, however, there was no improvement whatever, for he
looked more out of humor than when he had set out, and when he saw that
Mrs. Archibald was sitting alone in the shade, reading, and that at a
considerable distance Harrison Clyde was seated by Margery, giving her a
lesson in drawing upon birch bark, or else taking a lesson from her, his
ill-humor increased.
"It is too bad," said he, taking a seat by Mrs. Archibald without being
asked; "everything seems to go wrong out here in these woods. It is an
unnatural way to live, anyhow, and I suppose it serves us right. When I
went to Sadler's I found a letter from my sister Corona, who says she
would like me to make arrangements for her to come here and camp with us
for a time. Now that suits me very well indeed. My sister Corona is a very
fine young woman, and I think it would be an excellent thing to have two
young ladies here instead of one."
"Yes," said Mrs. Archibald, "that might be very pleasant. I should be glad
for Margery to have a companion of her own sex."
"I understand precisely," said Raybold, nodding his head sagaciously; "of
her own sex. Yes, I see your drift, and I agree with you absolutely. There
is a little too much of that thing over there, and I don't wonder you are
annoyed."
"I did not say I was annoyed," said Mrs. Archibald, rather surprised.
"No," he answered, "you did not say so, but I can read between the lines,
even spoken lines. Now when I heard that my sister wanted to come out
here," he continued, "at first I did not like it, for I thought she might
be some sort of a restraint upon me; but when I considered the matter
further, I became very much in favor of it, and I sent a telegram by the
stage telling her to come immediately, and that everything would be ready
for her. My sister has a sufficient income of her own, and she likes to
have everything suited to her needs. I am different. I am a man of the
world, and although I do not always care to conform to circumstances, I
can generally make circumstances conform to me. As Shakespeare says, 'The
world is my pottle, and I stir my spoon.' You must excuse my quoting, but
I cannot help it. My life work is to be upon the stage, and where one's
mind is, there will his words be also."
Mr. Raybold was now in a much more pleasant mood than when he came to sit
in the shade with Mrs. Archibald. He was talking; he had found some one
who listened and who had very little to say for herself.
"Consequently," he remarked, "I ordered from Mr. Sadler the very best tent
that he had. It has two compartments in it, and it is really as
comfortable as a house, and as my sister wrote that she wished a female
attendant, not caring to have her meals cooked by boys--a very flippant
expression, by-the-way--I have engaged for her a she-guide."
"A what?" asked Mrs. Archibald.
"A person," said he, "who is a guide of the female gender. She was the
wife of a hunter who was accidentally shot, Sadler told me, by a young man
who was with him on a gunning expedition. I told Sadler that it was
reprehensible to allow such fellows to have guns, but he said that they
are not as dangerous now as they used to be. This is because the guides
have learned to beware of them, I suppose. This woman has lived in the
woods and knows all about camp life, and Sadler says there could not be a
better person found to attend a young lady in camp. So I engaged her, and
I must say she charged just as much as if she were a man."
"Why shouldn't she," said Mrs. Archibald, "if she is just as good?"
To this remark Raybold paid no attention. "I will tell you," he said,
"confidentially, of course, and I think you have as much reason to be
interested in it as I have, why I came to view with so much favor my
sister's coming here. She is a very attractive young woman, and I think
she cannot fail to interest Clyde, and that, of course, will be of
advantage to your niece."
"She is not my niece, you know," said Mrs. Archibald.
"Well," said he, "it is all the same. 'Let it be a bird wing or a flower,
so it pleases'--a quotation which is also Avonian--and if Clyde likes
Corona he will let Miss Dearborn alone. That's the sort of man he is."
"And in that case," said Mrs. Archibald, "I suppose you would not be
unwilling to provide Margery with company."
"Madam," said the young man, leaning forward and fixing his eyes upon the
ground, and then turning them upon her without moving his face towards
her, "with me all that is a different matter. I may have occasion later to
speak to you and your husband upon the subject of Miss Dearborn."
"In which case," said Mrs. Archibald, quickly, "I am sure that my husband
will be very glad to speak to you. But why, may I ask, were you so
disturbed when you came here, just now? You said the world was going
wrong."
"I declare," said he, knitting his brows and clapping one hand on his
knee, "I actually forgot! The world wrong? I should say it was wrong! My
sister can't come, and I don't know what to do about it."
"Can't come?" asked Mrs. Archibald.
"Of course not," said he, all his ill-humor having returned. "That fellow,
the bishop, is in our camp and in Clyde's bed. Clyde foolishly gave him
his bed because he said the cook-tent was too cramped for a man to stay in
it all day."
"Why need he stay?" asked Mrs. Archibald. "Has he taken cold? Is he
sick?"
"No indeed," said Raybold. "If he were sick we might send for a cart and
have him taken to Sadler's, but the trouble is worse than that. His
clothes, in which he foolishly jumped into the water, have shrunken so
much that he cannot get them on, and as he has no others, he is obliged to
stay in bed."
"But surely something can be done," said Mrs. Archibald.
"No," he interrupted, "nothing can be done. The clothes have dried, and if
you could see them as they hang up on the bushes, you would understand why
that man can never get into them again. The material is entirely
unsuitable for out-door life. Clyde proposes that we shall lend him
something, but there are no clothes in this party into which such a
sausage of a man could get himself. So there he is, and there, I suppose,
he will remain indefinitely; and I don't want to bring my sister to a camp
with a permanently occupied hospital bed in it. As soon as I agreed to
Corona's coming I determined to bounce that man, but now--" So saying, Mr.
Raybold rose, folded his arms, and knit his brows, and as he did so he
glanced towards the spot where Margery and Clyde had been sitting, and
perceived that the latter had departed, probably to get some more birch
bark; and so, with a nod to Mrs. Archibald, he sauntered away, bending his
steps, as it were accidentally, in the direction of the young lady left
alone.
When Mr. Archibald heard, that evening, of the bishop's plight and
Raybold's discomfiture, he was amused, but also glad to know there was an
opportunity for doing something practical for the bishop. He was beginning
to like the man, in spite of his indefiniteness, so he went to see the
bedridden prelate who was neither sick nor clerical, and with very little
trouble induced him to take a few general measurements of his figure.
"It is so good of you," said the delighted recumbent, "that I shall not
say a word, but step aside in deference to your conscience, whose
encomiums will far transcend anything I can say. You will pardon me, I am
sure, if I make my measurements liberal. The cost will not be increased,
and to live, move, and breathe in a suit of clothes which is large enough
for me is a joy which I have not known for a long time. Shoes, did you
say, sir? Truly this is generosity supereminent."
"Yes," said Mr. Archibald, laughing, "and you also shall have a new hat. I
will fit you out completely, and if this helps you to make a new and a
good start in life, I shall be greatly gratified."
"Sir," said the bishop, the moisture of genuine gratitude in his eyes,
"you are doing, I think, far more good than you can imagine, and pardon me
if I suggest, since you are going to get me a hat, that it be not of
clerical fashion. If everything is to be new, I should like everything
different, and I am certain the cost will be less."
"All right," said Mr. Archibald. "I will now make a list of what you need,
and I will write to one of my clerks, who will procure everything."
When Mr. Archibald went back to his camp he met Raybold, stalking moodily.
Having been told what had been done for the bishop's relief, the young man
was astonished.
"A complete outfit, and for him? I would not have dreamed of it; and
besides, it is of no use; it must be days before the clothes arrive, and
my sister wishes to come immediately."
"Do you suppose," exclaimed Mr. Archibald, "that I am doing this for the
sake of your sister? I am doing it for the man himself."
When Mr. Archibald told his wife of this little interview they both
laughed heartily.
"If Mr. Raybold's sister," said she, "is like him, I do not think we shall
care to have her here; but sisters are often very different from their
brothers. However, the bishop need not prevent her coming. If his clothes
do not arrive before she does, I am sure there could be no objection to
her tent being set up for a time in some of the open space in our camp,
and then we shall become sooner acquainted with her; if she is a suitable
person, I shall be very glad indeed for Margery to have a companion."
"All right," said Mr. Archibald; "let her pitch her tent where she
pleases. I am satisfied."