DR. CLAYTON'S VISIT.
Very slowly passed the days of my second week, for my mind was
constantly dwelling upon the important _Thursday_, which came at
last, and, with more than usual care, I dressed myself for school,
sporting a pale blue and white muslin, which mother said I must wear
only on great occasions. And this, to me, was a great occasion; and
if, for want of a better mirror, I at noon went down to a clear
spring in the woods, and there gave a few smoothing touches to my
toilet, it was a weakness of which, in a similar way, many an older
female has been guilty. On my return to the schoolhouse, I requested
one of the larger girls to sweep the floor as clean as she possibly
could, while two or three of the boys were sent after some green
boughs to hang over the windows.
"I'll bet we are going to have company; I thought so this morning
when I see the schoolma'am all dressed up," whispered one to
another--and after a time, Jim Maxwell's sister ventured to ask me,
not who was coming, but "how many."
With a blush, I replied, "Nobody but Dr. Clayton," wondering why his
name should cleave so to the roof of my mouth! In a few minutes, the
fact that Dr. Clayton was coming was known both indoors and out, and
when I saw how fast John Thompson took himself home, after learning
the news, I involuntarily felt as if some evil were impending--a
presentiment which proved correct, for not long after school
commenced, there came a gentle rap at the outer door, which caused a
great straightening up among the scholars, and brought me instantly
to my feet, for I supposed, of course, he had come. What, then, was
my surprise when, instead of him, I met a haughty, looking young
lady, who, frowning majestically upon me, introduced herself as "Miss
Thompson," saying she had come to visit the school.
I had never before had so good a view of her, and now, when I saw how
dignified she appeared, and that there really was in her manner
something elegant and refined, I not only felt myself greatly her
inferior, but I fancied that Dr. Clayton would also observe the
difference between us when he saw us together. After offering her
the seat of honor--my splint-bottomed chair--I proceeded with my
duties as composedly as possible, mentally hoping that the doctor
would come soon. She probably divined my thoughts, for once, when I
cast a wistful glance over the long hill, she said, "You seem to be
constantly on the lookout. Are you expecting any one?"
Involuntarily my eyes sought hers, but I quailed beneath their
quizzical expression, and scarcely knowing what I said, replied, "No,
ma'am," repenting the falsehood the moment it was uttered, and
half-resolving to confess the truth, when she rejoined, "Oh, I
thought you were," while at the same moment a little girl, who had
been asleep, rolled from her seat, bumping her head, and raising such
an outcry that, for a time, I forgot what I had said, and when it
again recurred to me I thought it was too late to rectify it. It was
the second falsehood I remembered telling, and it troubled me
greatly. Turn it which way I would it was a lie still, and it smote
heavily upon my conscience. Slowly the afternoon dragged on, but it
brought no Dr. Clayton; and when, at a quarter of four, I called up
my class of Abecedarians to read, what with the lie and the
disappointment, my heart was so full that I could not force back all
the tears which struggled so fiercely for egress; and when it came
Willie Randall's turn to read, two or three large drops fell upon his
chubby hand, and, looking in my face, he called out in a loud,
distinct voice--"You're cryin', you be!"
This, of course, brought a laugh from all the scholars, in which I
was fain to join, although I felt greatly chagrined that I should
have betrayed so much weakness before Dell Thompson, who, in
referring to it when school was out, said, "she supposed I wanted to
see my mother, or somebody!"
The sarcastic smile which dimpled the corners of her mouth angered
me, and when, at last, I was alone, my long pent-up tears fell in
copious showers. It is my misfortune never to be able to cry without
disfiguring my face, so that it is sometimes almost hideous to look
upon; and now, as I slowly walked home, I carefully kept my parasol
lowered, so that no one should see me. But I could not elude the
vigilance of Mrs. Ross, who, as usual, was at her post in the
doorway. Although I knew she was a dangerous woman, I rather liked
her, for there was, to me, something winning in her apparent
friendliness, and we had come to be quite intimate, so much so that I
usually called there on my way to or from school; but now, when she
bade me come in, I declined, which act brought her at once to the
gate, where she obtained a full view of my swollen features.
"Laws a mercy!" she exclaimed, "what's up now? Why, you look like a
toad. What's the matter?"
"Nothing much," I said, and this was all she could solicit from me.
That night she called at Mr. Randall's, and after sitting awhile,
asked me "to walk a little piece with her." I saw there was
something on her mind, and conjecturing that it might have some
connection with me, I obeyed willingly, notwithstanding Mrs.
Randall's silent attempts to keep me back. Twitching my sleeve when
we were outside the gate, Mrs. Ross asked if "it were true that I
cried because Dr. Clayton didn't come as he promised?"
"Why, what do you mean?" I said. To which she replied, by telling me
that after I left her, she just ran in to Cap'n Thompson's a minute
or two, when, who should she find there but Dr. Clayton, and when
Dell told him she'd been to visit the school, he said, "Ah, indeed, I
was intending to do so myself this afternoon, but I was necessarily
detained by a very sick patient."
"'That explains why she cried so,' said Dell, and then," continued
Mrs. Ross, "she went on to tell him how you looked out of the winder,
and when she asked you if you expected anybody, you said 'No,' and
then at last you cried right out in the school."
"The mean thing!" I exclaimed. "Did she tell Dr. Clayton all that?"
"Yes, she did," answered Mrs. Ross; "and it made my blood bile to
hear her go on makin' fun of you, that is, kinder makin' fun."
"And the doctor, what did he say?" I asked. To which she replied,
"Oh, he laughed, and said it was too bad to disappoint you, if it
affected you like that, but he couldn't help it."
I hardly knew at which I was most indignant, Dr. Clayton or Dell, and
when I laid my aching head on my pillow, my last thoughts were, that
"if Dr. Clayton ever did come to school I'd let him know I didn't
care for him--he might have Dell Thompson and welcome!"
I changed my mind, however, when early the next afternoon, the
gentleman himself appeared to vindicate his cause, saying he was
sorry that he could not have kept his appointment, adding, as he
finally relinquished my hand, "You had company, though, I believe,
and so, on the whole, I am glad I was detained, for I had rather
visit you alone."
Much as I now esteem Dr. Clayton, I do not hesitate to say that he
was then a male flirt, a species of mankind which I detest. He was
the handsomest, most agreeable man I had ever seen, and by some
strange fascination, he possessed the power of swaying me at his
will. This he well knew, and hence the wrong he committed by working
upon my feelings. Never passed hours more agreeably to me than did
those of that afternoon. And I even forgot that I was to go home
that night, and that in all probability father would come for me as
soon as school was out, thus preventing the quiet talk alone with Dr.
Clayton, which I so much desired: so when, about four o'clock, I saw
the head of old Sorrel appearing over the hill, my emotions were not
particularly pleasant, and I wished I had not been so foolish as to
insist upon going home every week. The driver, however, proved to be
Charlie, and this in a measure consoled me, for he, I knew, was good
at taking _hints_, and would wait for me as long as I desired; so I
welcomed him with a tolerably good grace, introducing him to Dr.
Clayton, who addressed him as Mr. Lee, thereby winning his friendship
at once and forever!
When school was out and the scholars gone, I commenced making
preparations for my departure, shutting down the windows and piling
away books, slowly and deliberately, while Charlie, who seemed in no
hurry, amused himself by whipping at the thistle-tops which grew near
the door. At last Dr. Clayton, turning to him, said, "And so you
have come to carry your sister home, when I was promising myself that
pleasure?"
Charlie glanced at my face, and its expression, doubtless, prompted
his answer, "You can do so now, if you choose, for I like to ride
alone."
Of course I disclaimed against such an arrangement, but my objections
were overruled, and almost before I knew what I was doing, I found
myself seated in Dr. Clayton's covered buggy, with him at my side.
Telling Charlie "not to be surprised if he did not see us until
sunset," he drove off in a different direction from Meadow Brook,
remarking to me that "it was a fine afternoon for riding and he meant
to enjoy it."
I hardly know whether he had any object in passing Captain
Thompson's, but he certainly did so, bowing graciously and showing
his white teeth to Dell, who, from a chamber window, looked haughtily
down upon me, and as I afterwards learned, made fun of my pink
sunbonnet and little yellow dotted shawl. The sight of her naturally
led him to speak of her, and much to my surprise, he asked me how I
liked her! I could not answer truthfully and say, "very well;" so I
replied that "I hardly knew her. She was very fine-looking, and I
presumed she was very intelligent and accomplished."
"You are a good-hearted little girl, Rose," said he, "to speak thus
of her. Do you suppose she would do the same by you if asked a
similar question?"
"Oh, no," I answered eagerly, "she couldn't say I was fine looking.
Nobody ever said that."
"If I should tell you that _I_ think you better looking than Dell
Thompson, what would you say?" he asked, looking under my bonnet,
while, with glowing cheeks, I turned my head away, and replied, "I am
sure you would not mean it. I know I am ugly, but I do not care so
much about it now as I used to."
There was a silence for some minutes, and when he spoke again, it was
of faces, which, without regularity of features or brilliancy of
complexion, still had an expression exceedingly pleasing and
attractive. "I do not say yours is such a face," said he, "for I
never flatter; but I do say, and I mean it, too, that I like your
looks far better than I do Miss Thompson's."
If I had cried then, as I wished to, I should have done a most
foolish thing; but by a strong effort of the will, I forced down my
tears, and changing the conversation, commenced talking on subjects
quite foreign to Dell Thompson, or good looks. I found Dr. Clayton a
most agreeable companion, and ere the close of that ride, he was "all
the world" to me. In short, I suppose I was as much in love as a
child of thirteen can well be, and when we at last reached home and I
introduced him to my mother and sisters, I blushed like a guilty
thing, stealing out of the room as soon as possible, and staying out
for a long time, although I wanted so much to be back there with him.
"Catched a beau, hain't you? and a handsome one too!" said Sally,
applying her eye to the keyhole and thus obtaining a view of his face.
Tommy Trimmer, a little boy, five years of age, who lived near by,
and who chanced to be there, overheard her, and when Dr. Clayton, who
was very fond of children, coaxed him into his lap, he asked,
pointing to me, "Be you Rosa's beau? Sally said you was!"
The doctor laughed aloud, referring Tommy to me for an answer, and
telling him "it was just as I said."
"Rose is altogether too young to be riding round with beaux. It will
give her a bad name," said grandma, when at last the doctor was gone.
No one made any answer until Lizzie, who was more of my way of
thinking, said, "You must have had beaux early, grandma, for you
wasn't quite fifteen when you were married; I saw it so in the Bible!"
Of course, grandma had nothing to offer in her own defense, save the
very correct remark, that "girls nowadays were not what they were
when she was young;"--and here the conversation ceased.