THE HERMITS CONTINUE TO FAVOR ASSOCIATION
When the Archibald party reached the capital city of their State, the four
of them took a carriage and drove immediately to the Dearborn residence.
Margery had insisted that Mr. Clyde should go with them, so that he and
she should present themselves together before her parents. In no other way
did she believe that the subject could be properly presented. The
Archibalds did not object to this plan; in fact, under the circumstances,
they were in favor of it. During the journey young Clyde had produced a
very favorable impression upon them. They had always liked him well
enough, and now that they examined his character more critically, they
could not fail to see that he was a kind-hearted, gentlemanly young man,
intelligent and well educated, and, according to private information from
Margery, his family was of the best.
Arrived at the Dearborn door, they found the house in the possession of
one female servant, who informed them that Mr. Dearborn was in Canada, on
a fishing expedition; that Mrs. Dearborn had gone to attend some sort of a
congress at Saratoga, and that she did not expect to be at home until the
following Friday, three days after, which was the day on which she had
expected her daughter to be brought back to her. This was disheartening,
and the four stood upon the steps irresolute. Margery ought to go to her
mother, but neither of the Archibalds wished to go to Saratoga, nor could
they despatch thither the prematurely betrothed couple.
"I know what we must do," said Mrs. Archibald, "we must go home."
"But, my dear," said her husband, "we agreed to stay away for a month, and
the month is not yet up."
"It doesn't matter," said she. "Kate and her husband will take us in for
the few days left. When we explain all that we have gone through, she will
not be hard-hearted enough to make us go to a hotel until Friday; Margery
can come with us."
Margery turned upon Mrs. Archibald a pair of eyes filled with earnest
inquiry.
"I know what you want," said Mrs. Archibald. "No, he can go to a hotel in
the town; and I shall write to your mother to come to us as soon as she
returns; then you two can present yourselves together according to your
plans. There is no use talking about it, Hector; it is the only thing we
can do."
"We shall break our word to the newly married," said her husband. "Isn't
there a State law against that?"
"When we made that arrangement," said his wife, going down the steps, "we
did not know our individual selves; now we do, and the case is different.
Kate will understand all that when I explain it to her."
They drove back to the station, and took a train for home.
Mr. and Mrs. Bringhurst were sitting in the cool library about nine
o'clock that evening; he was reading while she was listening, and they
were greatly astonished when they heard a carriage drive up to the front
door. During their domestic honey-moon they had received no visitors, and
they looked at each other and wondered.
"It is a mistake," said he; "but don't trouble yourself. Mary has not gone
to bed, and she will hear the bell."
But there was no bell; the door was opened, and in came father and mother,
followed by a strange young couple.
"It is wonderful!" exclaimed Kate, when at last everybody had been
embraced or introduced. "A dozen times during the last week have we talked
about the delight it would give us if our father and mother could be here
to be entertained a little while as our guests in our own house--for you
gave it to us for a month, you know. But we refrained from sending you an
invitation because we did not want to cut off your holiday. And now you
are here! The good fairies could not have arranged the matter better."
When all the tales had been told; when the assertion of individuality and
the plans of hermit association had been described and discussed, and the
young Bringhursts had told how they, too, without knowing it, had been
associate hermits, devoting their time not to the discovery of their own
natures, but of the nature of each other, and how perfectly satisfied they
had been with the results, it was very late, and young Clyde was not
allowed to go out into the darkness to find a hotel.
It was on Thursday afternoon that Mrs. Dearborn arrived at the Archibalds'
house. The letter she had received had made her feel that she could not
wait until the end of the congress.
"Now, mother," said Margery, when the two were alone together, "you have
seen him and you have talked to him, and Uncle Hector has told you how he
went to the office of Glassborough & Clyde and found he was really their
nephew, and all about him and his family; and you have been told precisely
why it was necessary that we should engage ourselves so abruptly on
account of the violent nature of Mr. Raybold and the trouble he might
cause, not only to us, but to dear Aunt Harriet and Uncle Archibald. And
now we come just like two of your own children and put the whole matter
entirely into your hands and leave you to decide, out of your own heart,
exactly when and where we shall be married, and all about it. Then, when
father comes home, you can tell him just what you have decided to do. You
are our parents, and we leave it to you."
"What in the world," said Mrs. Dearborn, an hour later, when she was
talking to the two married ladies of the household, "can one do with a
girl like that? I do not believe dynamite would blow them apart; and if I
thought it would I should not know how to manage it."
"No," said Mrs. Archibald, "I am afraid the explosion would be as bad for
you as it would be for them."
"Don't try it," said Mrs. Kate. "I take a great interest in that budding
bit of felicity; I consider it an outgrowth of our own marriage and
honey-moon. When we sent out that wild couple, my father and mother, on a
wedding-tour, we did not dream that they would bring back to us a pair of
lovers, who never would have been lovers if it had not been for us, and
who are now ready for a wedding-tour on their own account, as soon as
circumstances may permit. And so, feeling a little right and privilege in
the matter, I am going to ask you, Mrs. Dearborn, to let them be married
here whenever the wedding-day shall come, and let them start out from this
house on their marriage career. Now don't you think that would be a fine
plan? I am sure your daughter will like it, when she remembers what she
owes us; and if Mr. Clyde objects I will undertake to make him change his
mind."
When the plan was proposed in full counsel, it was found that there would
be no need for the exercise of Mrs. Kate's powers of persuasion.
* * * * *
About ten days after Mrs. Dearborn and Margery had returned to their home,
and Clyde had followed, to move like a satellite in an orbit determined by
Mrs. Dearborn, Mr. Archibald was surprised, but also very much pleased, to
receive a visit from the bishop.
"I could not refrain," said that expansive individual, "from coming to you
as soon as circumstances would allow, and, while expressing to you the
great obligations under which you have placed me, to confide to you my
plans and my prospects. You have been so good to me that I believe you
will be pleased to know of the life work to which I have determined to
devote myself."
"I am glad to hear," said the other, "that you have made plans, but you
owe nothing to me."
"Excuse me," said the bishop, "but I do. This suit of clothes, sir, is the
foundation of my fortunes."
"And well earned," said Mr. Archibald. "But we will say no more about
that. Have you secured a position? Tell me about yourself."
"I have a position," said the bishop. "But would you prefer that I tell
you of that first, or begin at the beginning and briefly relate to you
what has happened since I saw you last?"
"Oh, begin at the beginning, by all means," said Mr. Archibald. "I was
sorry to be obliged to leave you all so unceremoniously, and I greatly
desire to know what happened after we left."
"Very good, then," said the bishop, "I will give you our history in as few
words as I can. On the afternoon after your departure we all went to
Sadler's--that is, Miss Raybold and myself and the three guides; for
Raybold, when he heard that Miss Dearborn and Mr. Clyde had gone,
immediately left for Sadler's, hoping, I think, to find you all there.
From what I heard, I think he and Peter Sadler must have had words. At any
rate, he discovered that his case was hopeless, and he had himself driven
to the station in a carriage, not choosing to wait until our arrival. I
have since heard that he has determined to relinquish the law and devote
himself to the dramatic arts.
"For some reason or other, Peter Sadler was very glad to see me, and
congratulated me heartily on the favorable change in my appearance. He
called me his favorite tramp, and invited me to stop at his hotel for a
time, but I consented to stay a few days only, for I felt I must go to see
the gentleman to whom I wished to engage myself as librarian before my new
clothes had lost their freshness. Miss Raybold arranged to stay at
Sadler's for a week. She liked the place, and as she had planned to remain
away from home for a fortnight, she did not wish to return before the time
fixed upon. There were a good many people at Sadler's, but none of them
seemed to interest her. She decidedly preferred to talk to Sadler or to
me; but although Peter is a jolly fellow, and had some lively
conversations with her, he does not seem to care for protracted mental
intercourse, and it became so plain to me that she depended upon me, in so
large a degree, for companionship and intellectual stimulus, that I did
not leave as soon as I intended. It was on Wednesday, in fact, that I
steeled my heart and told her that I must positively depart early the
following morning, or I could not expect to reach my destination before
the end of the week. It was that evening, however, that we became engaged
to be married."
"What?" cried Mr. Archibald. "Did you dare to propose yourself to that
classic being?"
"No," replied the other, "I cannot, with exactness, say that I did. It
would be difficult, indeed, for me to describe the manner in which we
arrived at this most satisfactory conclusion. Miss Raybold is a mistress
of expression, and, without moving a hair's-breadth beyond the lines of
maidenly reserve which always environ her, she made me aware, not only
that I desired to propose marriage to her, but that it would be well for
me to do so. There were objections to this course, which, as an honest
man, I could not refrain from laying before her, and with my proposition I
stated these objections, but they were overruled to my entire
satisfaction, and she consented to become Mrs. Bishop."
"Mrs. Bishop?" said the other, inquiringly.
"Oh yes; Bishop is my name--Henry C. Bishop. It was this name which
suggested the title which was playfully given to me. Before our compact
was made I had told Miss Raybold all about my family. She did not ask me
to do so, but I knew she desired the information, for I had learned to
read those beautiful eyes."
"But," said Mr. Archibald, "how about your position? Did you get the place
as librarian?"
"No," said the other, "I did not ask for it. The question of my vocation
has been settled most admirably. There never was a human being more frank,
more straightforward and pertinent than Miss Raybold. She knows what she
wants, and she makes her plans to get it. With regard to means she is
sufficiently endowed, but the life work to which she has devoted herself
is far more than she can ever accomplish alone. She needs the constant
assistance of a sympathetic and appreciative nature, and that, I am happy
to say, I am able to give to her; and were I to devote myself to any other
calling which would interfere with that assistance, I should be doing her
a positive wrong. Therefore, should I state it in definite words, I should
say that I am to become my wife's private secretary. That is my position,
and it suits me admirably; and I may add that Corona assures me that she
is thoroughly well pleased. We are to be married in the fall, and I hope
it will not be long before we shall have the pleasure of meeting again our
former companions of the hermit camp."
"By-the-way," said Mr. Archibald, as his visitor was about to leave, "tell
me something of Matlack. I had a great liking for our guide."
"All that I can tell you is this," said Mr. Bishop, smiling: "Not long
after we arrived at Sadler's, he went to Peter and asked him if he
intended to send out a camping party to any considerable distance. It so
happened that a couple of gentlemen were going to a point on the very
limits of Sadler's jurisdiction, and with them Matlack petitioned to go,
although another guide had been appointed. I made inquiries, and found
that, for some reason, probably connected with the persistencies of the
female sex, Matlack had become a sort of Daniel Boone and wanted to go
away as far as possible from his kind."
"I hope," said Mr. Archibald, "that our example has not made a real hermit
of him. Good-bye. I am very sorry that Mrs. Archibald is not at home; but
in both our names I wish you and your future wife the best of good
fortunes."
"Father," exclaimed Mrs. Kate, when she heard of this interview, "now you
must grant me one more favor! Here is another pair of lovers who owe
everything to our honey-moon and your wedding-tour. We ought to know them,
for we made them what they are. So let us invite them here, and let them
be married from this house. I do not believe Miss Raybold has a proper
home of her own; and, in any case, the only way they can pay us what they
owe us is to give us the pleasure of seeing them wedded here."
Mr. Archibald rose to his feet. "No, madam!" said he. "I am willing, to a
certain extent, to make this house a source of hymeneal felicity, but I
draw the line at the bishop. I do not intend that my home shall become a
matrimonial factory!"
THE END
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End of Project Gutenberg's The Associate Hermits, by Frank R. Stockton