"YOUR GRANDMOTHER, MY DEAR"
Judy had reached the door of her room when the Judge called her.
"Come down," he said, "I want to talk to you."
"I'm tired," said Judy, in a stifled voice, and Anne, who had followed
her, saw that she was crying.
"I know," the Judge's voice was gentle, "I know, but I won't keep you
long. Come."
Judy went reluctantly, and he led the way to the garden bench.
It was very still out there in the garden--just the splash of the
little fountain, and the drone of lazy insects. The moon hung low, a
golden disk above the distant line of dark hills.
"Judy," began the Judge, "do you know, my dear, that you are very like
your grandmother?"
Judy looked at him, surprised at the turn the conversation was taking.
"Am I?" she asked.
"Yes," continued the Judge, "and especially in two things." His eyes
were fixed dreamily on a bed of tall lilies that shone pale in the half
light.
"What things?" Judy was interested. She had expected a lecture, but
this did not sound like one.
"In your love of flowers--and in your temper--my dear."
Judy's head went up haughtily. "Grandfather!"
"You don't probably call it temper. But your grandmother did, and she
conquered hers--and I am going to tell you how she did it, because I
know she would want me to tell you, Judy."
Judy sat sulkily as far from her grandfather as she could get. Her
hands were clasped around her knees and she stared out over the dusky
garden, wide-eyed, and it must be confessed a little obstinate. Judy
knew she had faults, but if the truth must be told, she was a little
proud of her temper--"I have an awful temper," she had confessed on
several occasions, and when meek admirers had murmured, "How dreadful,"
she had tossed her head and had said, "But I can't help it, you know,
all of my family have had tempers," and as Judy's family was known to
be aristocratic and exclusive, her more plebeian friends had envied and
had tried to emulate her, generally with disastrous results.
She was not quite sure that she wanted to conquer it. It often gave
her what she wanted, and that was something.
"The first time I had a taste of your grandmother's temper," the Judge
related, "we had had an argument about a gown. We had been invited to
a great dinner at the Governor's, and she had nothing to wear. She
took me to the shop to see the stuff she wanted. It was heavy blue
satin with pink roses all over it, and there was real lace to trim it
with. It was beautiful and I wanted her to have it, but when they
named the price it was more than I could pay--I was a poor lawyer in
those days, Judy--so I said we would think it over, and we went home.
All the way there your grandmother was very quiet and very white, but
when we reached home and I tried to explain, she simply would not
listen. She would not go to the Governor's, she said, unless she could
have that gown. You can imagine the embarrassment it caused me--it was
as much as my career was worth to stay away from that dinner, and I
couldn't go without her.
"'I won't go. I won't go,' she said over and over again, and when I
had coaxed and coaxed to no effect, I sat down and looked at her
helplessly, and troubled as I was, I could not help thinking that she
was the loveliest creature in the world--with her rose red cheeks and
her flashing eyes.
"She said many cutting things to me, but suddenly she stopped and ran
out of the room, and presently I saw her in the garden, this garden, my
dear, and she was flying around the oval path, as if she were walking
for a wager, her thin ruffles swirling around her, and the strings of
her bonnet fluttering in the wind.
"Around and around she went, and I just sat there and stared. When she
started in there was a deep frown on her forehead, but as she walked I
saw her face clear, and when she had completed the round a dozen times
or more, I saw her throw back her head in a light-hearted way, and then
she ran into the house.
"She came straight to me and threw her arms around my neck. 'John,'
she said, 'John, dear,' and there was the tenderest tremble in her
voice, 'John Jameson, I was a hateful thing.' I tried to stop her, but
she insisted. 'Oh, yes, I was. And I don't want the dress, I will
wear an old one--and I'll make you proud of me--'
"Then all at once she began to sob, and her head dropped on my
shoulder. 'Oh,' she cried, 'how could I say such things to you--how
could I--?'
"'What made you change, sweetheart?' I asked, and she whispered, 'Oh,
your face and the trouble in it.'
"'I made up my mind that I wouldn't say another word until I could get
control of my temper, and so I went into the garden and walked and
walked, and do you know, John Jameson, that I walked around that oval
sixteen times before I could give up that dress.'
"It wasn't the last time she walked around that oval, Judy," the Judge
finished, with a reminiscent smile on his old face, "and so perfectly
did she conquer herself, that when she left me, it was just an angel
stepping from earth to the place where she belonged."
Judy had listened breathlessly. So vivid had been the description,
that she had seemed to see on the garden walk, the slender, imperious
figure, the intent girlish face, and out of her knowledge of her own
nature, she had entered into the struggle that had taken place in her
grandmother's heart, as she flew around the oval of the old garden.
"Oh, grandfather," she said, when the Judge's quavering voice dropped
into silence, "how lovely she was--"
"She was, indeed, and I want you to be as strong."
Judy tucked her hand into his. "I'll try," she said, simply, "thank
you for telling me, grandfather."
"I want you to be happy here, too," said the old man wistfully, and
then as she did not answer, "do you think you can, Judy?"
Judy caught her breath quickly. With all her faults she was very
honest.
She bent and kissed the Judge on his withered cheek. "You are so good
to me," she said, evasively, and with another kiss, she ran up-stairs
to Anne.
Anne was in bed and Judy thought she was asleep, but an hour later as
she lay awake lonely and restless, with her eyes fixed longingly on the
great picture of the sea, a soft seeking hand curled within her own,
and Anne whispered, "I didn't mean to make you unhappy, Judy," and
Judy, clear-eyed and repentant in the darkness of the night, murmured
back, "I was hateful, Anne," and a half hour later, the moon, peeping
in, saw the two serene, sleeping faces, cheek to cheek on the same
pillow.