THE TURN OF THE WHEEL
A week later St. Quentin dropped in at Mrs. Lee's for a cup of tea. He
would have preferred to have Carol brew it, for she had not only learned
how in Russia, but had brought with her a brand of tea which, to St.
Quentin's mind, was not to be ignored for mere conversation, and once
drunk, was not to be forgotten. When Mrs. Lee was out, Carol dispensed
this tea, but when Addie was in her own house, she was mistress of it in
more ways than tea-drinking.
St. Quentin found several people there for whom he had little use, so he
sat silent until they had gone and no one except Kate, Adelaide, and
Carol were left.
Carol was wearing a pale blue velvet gown trimmed with sable and a
picture hat with a long white ostrich plume which swept her shoulder.
Both St. Quentin and Kate plied her with admiring comments until Addie
could bear it no longer, and excused herself with unnatural abruptness.
"There are more ways than one of killing a cat," murmured St. Quentin,
stooping for Kate's immense ermine muff, which she had dropped for the
third time, "than by choking it to death with cream."
Kate laughed delightedly.
Carolina turned from the doorway.
"Don't go, either of you," she said. "I am only going for some tea.
Noel, ring for some more hot water, will you?"
"I wonder how it would be," said Kate, dreamily, "to be born without any
relations at all! Could one manage to be happy, do you think?"
"Carol couldn't. She is very fond of Sherman."
"I wouldn't be fond of any brother who had lost all his own fortune and
mine and was millions in debt besides. One couldn't love a fool, you
know."
"I know. But do you remember what Carol said about wanting to be poor?"
"Of course I remember!" said Kate, "but I d-didn't believe her then and
I d-don't believe her now. Carol was s-simply lying--that's the answer
to that!"
"Lying about what?" asked Carolina, reentering, with a square box in her
hand. The box was of old silver, heavily carved and set with turquoise.
"Lying about being g-glad Sherman has lost all your money. Of course
you were lying, w-weren't you? No-nobody but a raving maniac could be
glad to be p-poor."
"Then I am a raving maniac," said Carolina, pouring the delicately
brewed tea carefully into the tall, slender glasses. "Lemon or rum,
Kate?"
"W-which will I like best? I--I've had four cups already to-day."
"Then you'd better have rum. It makes you sleep when you have had too
much tea."
"Lemon for me, please," said St. Quentin.
"I remembered that," said Carolina, smiling. "And three lumps."
"P-put in some m-more rum, Carol. I can't taste it."
"What a Philistine!" cried St. Quentin. "To insult such tea with rum."
"It's quite g-good," murmured Kate, with her glass to her lips. "When
y-you have enough of it."
"So you really think I can't mean it when I tell you I am glad that
Sherman has lost all our money?" said Carolina. "Of course I am sorry
on Addie's account--she cares a great deal and is quite miserable over
her future prospects. But she has ten thousand a year from her own
estate, so she can still educate the children and get along in some
degree of comfort. But as for me"--she leaned forward in her chair with
the whimsical idea of testing their calibre kindling in her eyes--"if
you will believe me and will not scoff, I will tell you what my plan
is."
"Promise," said Kate, briefly.
"If Sherman can manage it, I want," said Carolina, slowly, but with an
odd gleam in her eye, "to buy an abandoned farm in New England and raise
chickens."
In spite of her promise, Kate looked at the beautiful face and figure of
the girl in blue velvet and sables who said this, and burst into a
shriek of laughter, which St. Quentin, after a moment's decorous
struggle, joined.
"I know," said Carolina, leaning back, still with that curious look in
her eyes. "I know it sounds absurd. I know you are thinking of me out
feeding chickens in these clothes. But oh, if you only knew how tired I
am of--of everything that my life has held hitherto. If you only knew
how unhappy I am! If you only knew how I want a farm with pigs and
chickens and cows and horses. If you only knew how I long to plant
things and see them grow. But above everything else in the world, if
you only knew how I want a dark blue print dress! I saw a country girl
in one once when I was a child in England, and I've never been really
happy since."
She joined in the burst of laughter which followed.
"But do things grow on farms in New England?" asked Kate. "And isn't
that just why so many are abandoned?"
"I suppose so," answered Carolina, "but those are the only ones which
are cheap, and chickens don't need a rich soil. All you've got to do is
to--"
"I'd go South," interrupted Kate, "or to California, where the c-climate
would help some. I've read in the papers how farmers suffer when their
crops fail. I--I'd hate to think of you suffering if your turnips
didn't sprout properly, Carol!"
"Laugh if you want to, but I'll get my farm in some way."
"How about the old Lee estate in South Carolina?" asked St. Quentin.
For the first time in his life St. Quentin was actually conscious that
Carolina was mocking him. The thought was startling. Why should she
dissemble? Carolina's face fell, and a trace of bitterness crept into
her voice. This seemed so natural that he forgot his curious suspicion.
"I suppose that went, too. I haven't questioned Sherman, but he told me
everything was gone. That, although the house was burned during the war,
and only the land itself remained, is the only thing I regret about our
loss. I did love Guildford."
"But you never saw it!" exclaimed Kate.
Carolina's eye flashed with enthusiasm.
"I know that! Nevertheless, I love it as I love no spot on earth
to-day."
There was a little pause, full of awkwardness for the two who had
accidentally brought Carolina's loss home to her. To Carolina it
brought home a sense of real guilt. If she had believed that Guildford
was lost she would have screamed aloud and gone mad before their very
eyes. She was almost afraid to juggle with the truth even to protect
her sacred enthusiasm from their profane eyes.
It was St. Quentin who spoke first.
"I can understand wanting a farm or country estate in England," he
began. "I myself enjoy the thought of thatched roofs and cattle
standing knee-deep in waving, grassy meadows; of tired farm horses; of
mugs of ale and thick slices of bread and the sweat of honest toil--"
"On another person's brow!" interrupted Carolina. "You want your farm
finished. I want to make mine. I want to see it grow. I almost
believe when it was complete, that I would want to leave it."
"You'd want to leave it long before that," cried Kate.
"Oh, can't you understand my idea?" cried Carolina, with sudden passion.
"I want to get back to Nature and sit in the lap of my mother earth!"
St. Quentin nodded his head.
"I do understand," he said, "and _apropos_ of your idea, I have a piece
of news for you."
Carolina looked at him distrustfully.
"You will take that look back when you hear," he said, with a trifle of
reproach in his tone. "I know you expect no help from any of
us--discouragements, rather--but I have only to-day heard of business
which calls me to Maine, and as I expect to be obliged to wait there a
fortnight, I will devote that time to looking up a farm for your
purpose."
"You will?" cried Carolina, in a faint voice. Her deception was already
tripping her up.
Kate looked at him with undisguised amazement, mingled with a little
reluctant contempt.
St. Quentin's eyes dilated when he saw the flash of personal interest in
Carolina's demeanour. Her eyes and voice and manner all underwent a
subtle but delightful change. For the first time, although he was
distantly related to her family and had known her since childhood, she
seemed to approach him of her own accord. Hitherto her fine sense of
pride had kept her individuality inviolate. She was not a girl to
permit familiarity even from an intimate. She seemed to hold aloof even
from Kate's verbal impertinences, but this was largely due to the fact
that Kate's own nature was such that she never attempted to break down
the barriers in deeds. There was always a dignified reserve between
them--a respect for each other's privacy, which was the foundation for
their friendship. One of the greatest proofs of this was that neither
had ever thought of suggesting that they spend the night together, with
the result that they had never exchanged indiscreet secrets.
Of the relations in which St. Quentin stood to the two; neither had
given any particular thought until that moment. Kate surprised the look
in St. Quentin's eyes and the response in Carolina's attitude. Carolina
had never appeared to her friend "so nearly human," as she expressed it
to herself, as at that moment. It gave her two distinct shocks of
surprise. One, that Carolina was, for the first time in her life,
really interested in something, and therefore she was honest in wishing
to be poor and left free to pursue her idea. The other, and a far more
disquieting one, was the fact that St. Quentin's glance at Carolina had
brought a distinct pang to Kate's heart.
She regarded both emotions with dismay. They threatened an upheaval in
her life.
She dropped her muff, and, as St. Quentin did not even see it, she
stooped hastily for it herself, murmuring:
"That let's me down hard!" But with characteristic energy she wasted no
time in repining nor even in analyzing her emotions. She was not yet
sure whether she was experiencing wounded vanity or the first pangs of a
love-affair. She was extraordinarily healthy-minded and instinctively
loyal.
It was this latter feeling which prompted her to leave herself out of
the matter, for the present, at least, and to be sure wherein lay her
friend's happiness before she proceeded further.
As she and St. Quentin left the house together, they met Sherman Lee
just coming up the steps, looking pale and anxious.
"Is Carol at home?" he inquired, eagerly, and before they could reply,
added, "and alone?"
"Yes, she is," answered Kate, "and if you hurry, you will be in time to
get a cup of tea."
He thanked them and ran hastily up the steps.
"How I admire a woman's tact," said St. Quentin, giving her a grateful
glance.
"How do you mean?" asked Kate to gain time, though the quick colour flew
to her face.
"My man's first idea would have been to ask Sherman what the matter
was--he was plainly distraught--"
"And to offer to help him!" said Kate.
"Perhaps. But your woman's quickness leaped ahead of my blundering
intentions with the instinctive knowledge that any cognizance of his
manner, no matter how friendly, would be unwelcome. Therefore you sent
him away with the comforting assurance in his mind that we had noticed
nothing amiss. Thus, in an instant, you saved the feelings and kept
intact the _amour propre_ of two men."
"That's what women are for!" said Kate, bluntly.