WHEN Dr. Cheyney came down-stairs he found Colonel Royall alone, and he
was able to reassure him about the patient in the west room.
“He’s going to live,” he said; “he’s had a close squeak, but he’ll
pull through unless something else happens. Lucky thing, too, for Zeb
Bartlett.”
“That poor boy is an idiot,” said the colonel reflectively. “I can’t
see what he did it for?”
“Mad at Caleb for one thing,” said Dr. Cheyney, “has been for some time
because he couldn’t beg from him all the while. Then he was set on, had
a pistol given him, I reckon.”
“Eh?” exclaimed the colonel, startled.
“Reckon so,” said the doctor mildly; he did not add that in the
Commonwealth attorney’s office it was known to be Jacob Eaton’s pistol;
“got some fool notion about his sister.”
“That’s a pretty bad business,” said Colonel Royall.
“Quite so!” agreed the doctor dryly.
At that moment the door opened and Diana came in; she was leading a
child by the hand, and a dog followed her. Dr. Cheyney took off his
spectacles.
“I’ll be jiggered!” he said abruptly.
Colonel Royall smiled faintly. “She would have her way,” he said
apologetically. “I objected, but Diana rules the roost.”
Diana’s sad eyes met the doctor’s with a flash of humor. “I shan’t let
you stay if you worry him,” she said.
The doctor held out his hand to Sammy, but Sammy refused to leave
Diana; he clung to her skirts and hid his face in the folds.
“Seems to take kindly to you, Diana,” remarked the doctor.
She blushed. “He’s friendly enough,” she explained, “if you give him
pennies.”
“Wants a penny!” said Sammy instantly, his tousled yellow head
appearing from Diana’s skirt.
Dr. Cheyney explored his pockets and found a new one. “Come and get
it,” he said.
Sammy moved over slowly and doubtfully, taking two steps backward to
one forward every time.
“Suspicious, eh?” said the doctor, displaying the penny at a nearer
view.
Sammy fell upon it and ran back to Diana, clasping it close in his fist.
“An embryo financier,” said the colonel, musing, “and the dog isn’t
what one would call a prize-winner,” he added.
“Caleb took ’em both in,” said the doctor; “he’s made that way. After a
while we’ll understand him.”
“Some people say that he had good reason to take in the boy,” remarked
Colonel Royall without malice.
“Father,” said Diana, “I wouldn’t have believed it of you, talking
scandal, and he’s our guest!”
“That’s right, keep him down, Diana,” said the doctor; “the fact is
there’s nothing so cruel as people’s tongues. Now I know Sammy’s father
and sometimes I’m tempted, sore tempted, to go and post it by the
wayside.”
“I wish you would!” said Diana with sudden feeling, “it’s only just
to--to Mr. Trench.”
“That’s so--she’s right, William,” said her father, half smiling.
Dr. Cheyney reflected; his lined old face lost some of its whimsical
humor, but it gained in sympathy and strength. “I’ve held my tongue to
shield others,” he said at last, “to spare the feelings of a family I
love. What would you do about it, David? Do you think it’s right to
plaster a scandal on to folks?”
Diana glanced quickly at her father, keenly aware of his concealment
and that this all must touch him to the quick. The old man looked very
old indeed.
“I don’t think it’s right to let the thing attach itself to Mr. Trench
if you know he’s innocent,” he said at length.
“I reckon he’d be satisfied to be justified here,” said Dr. Cheyney,
his eyes resting on Diana as she bent down and caressed Sammy.
“You’ll have to make it public to be of any use to him now,” said
Colonel Royall, “the other story has been in every newspaper in the
State.”
“I know it,” said Dr. Cheyney, “but, David, it will come home to you
here. Sammy’s father is Jacob Eaton.”
There was silence for a few moments, and then Colonel Royall said:
“It is singular that that young man has managed to inflict so many
mortifications upon his family. Poor Jinny! She was always quoting him
as a pink of propriety.”
“The result of a mollycoddle,” said the doctor shortly. “Now you know
the facts, David, and it’s up to you. Shall I tell them?”
Colonel Royall meditated. “Poor Jinny!” he said again, “she’s been so
proud of him, and now--one blow on another, no wonder she’s given up.
Poor Jinny!”
“Father,” said Diana, “we’ve no right to consider even Cousin Jinny,
only Mr. Trench.”
The force of her conviction showed through her reserve. She felt that
Caleb Trench had borne enough at the hands of their relatives, and that
he should be the scapegoat of one of Jacob’s sins was too much.
Colonel Royall raised his bowed head. “She’s right, William,” he said,
pathetically resigned; “tell it to the world.”
Dr. Cheyney rose. “Well, it has seemed like kicking a man who was
down,” he remarked, “but, as Diana says, there is Caleb Trench.”
Diana followed him out into the hall. “Dr. Cheyney,” she said, “why
did no one tell me about my mother?”
The old man put his hand on her shoulder. “Diana,” he said, “it was
David’s wish, and we all respected it. I wish”--he paused--“I wish
Letty had not come back. But she wanted to see you. Natural enough, I
reckon, only she ought to have been natural in that way at first.”
“It was cruel not to tell me,” said Diana, “but I will not tell him
so--dear father!”
The doctor looked at her thoughtfully. “You’re a good girl, Diana,” he
said.
They walked together to the door. “Doctor, do you believe that--that my
mother is unhappy?” she asked at last. “I could not go to her: I will
not leave him.”
“Unhappy? No, child, not more so than others,” said the old man. “She’s
got to bear her burden, Diana, that’s the law of life. Don’t you fret;
she’s rich, courted, influential, I’ve known it for years.”
“I don’t see how she could treat my father so!” cried the girl.
“Thank God, you never will!” said the doctor with conviction.
“She wants to see him,” the girl faltered, “I--you--”
“I’ll tell him,” said William Cheyney.