“She was a wicked, heartless hussy! and if I know her, I'll never
speak to her again; for if he was really in earnest, she ought to be
killed for laughing at him.”
“So ought you, then, for making fun of poor Fisher when he went down
on his knees behind the huckleberry bushes last summer. He was
earnest enough, for he looked as black-and-blue as his berries when
he got home. Your theory is all right, ma'am, but your practice is
all bosh.”
“Hold your tongue about that silly thing. Boys in college think they
know everything, can do everything, have everything, and only need
beckon, and all womankind will come and adore. It made a man of him,
and he'll thank me for taking the sentimental nonsense and conceit
out of him. You will need just such a lesson at the rate you go on,
and I hope Fan will give it to you.”
“When the lecture is over, I'll go on with the joke, if you want to
know it.”
“Isn't this enough?”
“Oh, bless you, no! the cream of it is to come. What would you give
to know who the lady was?”
“Five dollars, down, this minute.”
“Very good, hand 'em over, and I'll tell you.”
“Truly, Dick?”
“Yes, and prove it.”
Dolly produced her purse, and, bill in hand, sat waiting for the
disclosure. Dick rose with a melo-dramatic bow,--
“Lo, it was I.”
“That's a great fib, for I saw you flying about the whole evening.”
“You saw my dress, but I was not in it.”
“Oh! oh! who _did_ I keep going to, then? and what _did_ I do to
make a fool of myself, I wonder?”
Purse and bill dropped out of Dolly's hand, and she looked at her
brother with a distracted expression of countenance. Dick rubbed his
hands and chuckled.
“Here's a jolly state of things. Now I'll tell you the whole story.
I never thought of doing it till I saw Bopp and told him who you
were; but on my way for Fan I wondered if he'd get puzzled between
you two; and then a grand idea popped into my head to puzzle him
myself, for I can take you off to the life. Fan didn't want me to,
but I made her, so she lent me hoops and gown and the pink domino,
and if ever I thanked my stars I wasn't tall, I did then, for the
things fitted capitally as to length, tho' I kept splitting
something down the back, and scattering hooks and eyes in all
directions. I wish you could have heard Jack roar while they rigged
me. He had no dress, so I lent him mine, till just before the masks
were taken off, when we cut home and changed. He told me how you
kept running to him to tie up your slippers, find your fan, and tell
him funny things, thinking it was me. I never enjoyed anything so
much in my life.”
“Go on,” said Dolly in a breathless sort of voice, and the deluded
boy obeyed.
“I knew Bopp, and hovered near till he came to find out who I was. I
took you off in style, and it deceived him, for I'm only an inch or
two taller than you, and kept my head down in the lackadaisical way
you girls do; I whispered, so my voice didn't betray me; and was
very clinging, and sweet, and fluttery, and that blessed old goose
was sure it was you. I thought it was all over once, for when he
came the heavy in the recess, I got a bit flustered, he was so
serious about it, my mask slipped, but I caught it, so he only saw
my eyes and forehead, which are just like yours, and that finished
him, for I've no doubt I looked as red and silly as you would have
done in a like fix.”
“Why did you say No?” and Dolly looked as stern as fate.
“What else should I say? You told me you wouldn't have him, and I
thought it would save you the bother of saying it, and him the pain
of asking twice. I told him some time ago that you were a born
flirt; he said he knew it; so I was surprised to hear him go on at
such a rate, but supposed that I was too amiable, and that misled
him. Poor old Bopp, I kept thinking of him all night, as he looked
when he said, 'They told me you had no heart, now I believe it, and
I thank you for that No.' It was rather a hard joke for him, but
it's over now, and he won't have to do it again. You said I wouldn't
dare tell him about you; didn't I? and haven't I won the”--
The rest of the sentence went spinning dizzily through Dick's head,
as a sudden tingling sensation pervaded his left ear, followed by a
similar smart in the right; and, for a moment, chaos seemed to have
come again. Whatever Dolly did was thoroughly done: when she danced,
the soles of her shoes attested the fact; when she flirted, it was
warm work while it lasted; and when she was angry, it thundered,
lightened, and blew great guns till the shower came, and the whole
affair ended in a rainbow. Therefore, being outwitted, disappointed,
mortified, and hurt, her first impulse was to find a vent for these
conflicting emotions, and possessing skillful hands, she left them
to avenge the wrong done her heart, which they did so faithfully,
that if ever a young gentleman's ears were vigorously and completely
boxed, Dick was that young individual. As the thunder-clap ceased,
the gale began and blew steadily for several minutes.
“You think it a joke, do you? I tell you, it's a wicked, cruel
thing; you've told a lie; you've broken August's heart, and made me
so angry that I'll never forgive you as long as I live. What do you
know about my feelings? and how dare you take it upon yourself to
answer for me? You think because we are the same age that I am no
older than you, but you're mistaken, for a boy of eighteen _is_ a
boy, a girl is often a woman, with a woman's hopes and plans; you
don't understand this any more than you do August's love for me,
which you listened to and laughed at. I said I didn't like him, and
I didn't find out till afterward that I did; then I was afraid to
tell you lest you'd twit me with it. But now I care for no one, and
I say I do like him,--yes, I love him with all my heart and soul and
might and I'd die this minute if I could undo the harm you've done,
and see him happy. I know I've been selfish, vain, and thoughtless,
but I am not now; I hoped he'd love me, hoped he'd see I cared for
him, that I'd done trifling, and didn't mind if he _was_ poor, for
I'd enough for both; that I longed to make his life pleasant after
all his troubles; that I'd send for the little sister he loves so
well, and never let him suffer any more; for he is so good, so
patient, so generous, and dear to me, I cannot do enough for him.
Now it's all spoilt; now I can never tell him this, never comfort
him in any way, never be happy again all my life, and you have done
it.”
As Dolly stood before her brother, pouring out her words with
glittering eyes, impetuous voice, and face pale with passionate
emotion, he was scared; for as his scattered wits returned to him,
he felt that he had been playing with edge tools, and had cut and
slashed in rather a promiscuous manner. Dazed and dizzy, he sat
staring at the excited figure before him, forgetting the indignity
he had received, the mistake he had made, the damage he had done, in
simple wonder at the revolutions going on under his astonished eyes.
When Dolly stopped for breath, he muttered with a contrite look,--
“I'm very sorry,--it was only fun; and I thought it would help you
both, for how the deuce should I know you liked the man when you
said you hated him?”
“I never said that, and if I'd wanted advice I should have gone to
mother. You men go blundering off with half an idea in your heads,
and never see your stupidity till you have made a mess that can't be
mended; we women don't work so, but save people's feelings, and are
called hypocrites for our pains. I never meant to tell you, but I
will now, to show you how I've been serving you, while you've been
harming me: every one of those notes from Fan which you admire so
much, answer so carefully, and wear out in your pocket, though
copied by her, were written by me.”
“The devil they were!” Up flew Dick, and clapping his hand on the
left breast-pocket, out came a dozen pink notes tied up with a blue
ribbon, and much the worse for wear. He hastily turned them over as
Dolly went on.
“Yes, I did it, for she didn't know how to answer your notes, and
came to me. I didn't laugh at them, or make fun of her, but helped
her silly little wits, and made you a happy boy for three months,
though you teased me day and night, for I loved you, and hadn't the
heart to spoil your pleasure.”
“You've done it now with a vengeance, and you're a pair of deceitful
minxes. I've _paid_ you off. I'll give Fan one more note that will
keep her eyes red for a month; and I'll never love or trust a girl
again as long as I live,--never! never!”
Red with wrath, Dick flung the treasured packet into the fire,
punched it well down among the coals, flung away the poker, and
turned about with a look and gesture which would have been comically
tragic if they had not been decidedly pathetic, for, in spite of his
years, a very tender heart beat under the blue jacket, and it was
grievously wounded at the perfidy of the gentle little divinity whom
he worshipped with daily increasing ardor. His eyes filled, but he
winked resolutely; his lips trembled, but he bit them hard; his
hands doubled themselves up, but he remembered his adversary was a
woman; and, as a last effort to preserve his masculine dignity, he
began to whistle.
As if the inconsistencies of womankind were to be shown him as
rapidly as possible, at this moment the shower came on, for, taking
him tenderly about the neck, Dolly fell to weeping so infectiously,
that, after standing rigidly erect till a great tear dropped off the
end of his nose, ignominiously announcing that it was no go, Dick
gave in, and laying his head on Dolly's shoulder, the twins quenched
their anger, washed away their malice, and soothed their sorrow by
one of those natural processes, so kindly provided for poor
humanity, and so often despised as a weakness when it might prove a
better strength than any pride.
Dick cleared up first, with no sign of the tempest but a slight mist
through which his native sunshine glimmered pensively.
“Don't dear, don't cry so; it will make you sick, and won't do any
good, for things will come right, or I'll make 'em, and we'll be
comfortable all round.”
“No, we never can be as we were, and it's all my fault. I've
betrayed Fan's confidence, I've spoiled your little romance, I've
been a thoughtless, wicked girl, I've lost August; and, oh, dear me,
I wish I was dead!” with which funereal climax Dolly cried so
despairingly that, like the youngest Miss Pecksniff, she was indeed
“a gushing creature.”
“Oh, come now, don't be dismal, and blame yourself for every trouble
under the sun. Sit down and talk it over, and see what can be done.
Poor old girl, I forgave you the notes, and say I _was_ wrong to
meddle with Bopp. I got you into the scrape, and I'll get you out if
the sky don't fall, or Bopp blow his brains out, like a second
Werther, before to-morrow.”
Dick drew the animated fountain to the wide chair, where they had
sat together since they were born, wiped her eyes, laid her wet
cheek against his own, and patted her back, with an idea that it was
soothing to babies, and why not to girls?
“I wish mother was at home,” sighed Dolly, longing for that port
which was always a haven of refuge in domestic squalls like this.
“Write, and tell her not to stay till Saturday.”
“No; it would spoil her visit, and you know she deferred it to help
us through this dreadful masquerade. But I don't know what to do.”
“Why, bless your heart, it's simple enough. I'll tell Bopp, beg his
pardon, say 'Dolly's willing,' and there you are all taut and
ship-shape again.”
“I wouldn't for the world, Dick. It would be very hard for you, very
awkward for me, and do no good in the end; for August is so proud
he'd never forgive you for such a trick, would never believe that I
'had a heart' after all you've said and I've done; and I should only
hear with my own ears that he thanked me for that No. Oh, why can't
people know when they are in love, and not go heels over head before
they are ready!”
“Well, if that don't suit, I'll let it alone, for that is all I can
suggest; and if you like your woman's way better, try it, only
you'll have to fly round, because to-morrow is the last night, you
know.”
“I shan't go, Dick.”
“Why not? we are going to give him the rose-wood set of things, have
speeches, cheers for the King of Clubs, and no end of fun.”
“I can't help it; there would be no fun for me, and I couldn't look
him in the face after all this.”
“Oh, pooh! yes, you could, or it will be the first time you dared
not do damage with those wicked eyes of yours.”
“It is the first time I ever loved any one.” Dolly's voice was so
low, and her head drooped so much, that this brief confession was
apparently put away in Dick's pocket, and being an exceedingly novel
one, filled that inflammable youth with a desire to deposit a
similar one in the other pocket, which, being emptied of its
accustomed contents, left a somewhat aching void in itself and the
heart underneath. After a moment's silence, he said,--
“Well, if you won't go, you can settle it when he comes here, though
I think we should all do better to confess coming home in the dark.”
“He won't come here again, Dick.”
“Won't he! that shows you don't know Bopp as well as I. He'll come
to say good-by, to thank mother for her kindness, and you and me for
the little things we've done for him (I wish I'd left the last
undone!), and go away like a gentleman, as he is,--see if he don't.”
“Do you think so? Then I must see him.”
“I'm sure he will, for we men don't bear malice and sulk and bawl
when we come to grief this way, but stand up and take it without
winking, like the young Spartan brick when the fox was digging into
him, you know.”
“Then, of course, you'll forgive Fan.”
“I'll be hanged if I do,” growled Dick.
“Ah ha! your theory is very good, sir, but your practice is bosh,”
quoted Dolly, with a gleam of the old mischief in her face.
Dick took a sudden turn through the room, burst out laughing, and
came back, saying heartily,--
“I'll own up; it is mean to feel so, and I'll think about forgiving
you both; but she may stop up the hole in the wall, for she won't
get any more letters just yet; and you may devote your epistolary
powers to A. Bopp in future. Well, what is it? free your mind, and
have done with it; but don't make your nose red, or take the starch
out of my collar with any more salt water, if you please.”
“No, I won't; and I only want to say that, as you owe the
explanation to us both, perhaps it would be best for you to tell
August your part of the thing as you come home to-morrow, and then
leave the rest to fate. I can't let him go away thinking me such a
heartless creature, and once gone it will be too late to mend the
matter. Can you do this without getting me into another scrape, do
you think?”
“I haven't a doubt of it, and I call that sensible. I'll fix it
capitally,--go down on my knees in the mud, if it is necessary;
treat you like eggs for fear of another smash-up; and bring him home
in such a tip-top state, you'll only have to nod and find yourself
Mrs. B. any day you like. Now let's kiss and be friends, and then go
pitch into that pie for luncheon.”
So they did, and an hour afterward were rioting in the garret under
pretence of putting grandma's things away; for at eighteen, in spite
of love and mischief, boys and girls have a spell to exorcise blue
devils, and a happy faculty of forgetting that “the world is hollow,
and their dolls stuffed with saw-dust.”
Dick was right, for on the following evening, after the lesson, Mr.
Bopp did go home with him, “to say good-by, like a gentleman as he
was.” Dolly got over the first greeting in the dusky hall, and as
her guest passed on to the parlor, she popped her head out to ask
anxiously,--
“Did you say anything, Dick?”
“I couldn't; something has happened to him; he'll tell you about it.
I'm going to see to the horse, so take your time, and do what you
like,” with which vague information Dick vanished, and Dolly wished
herself anywhere but where she was.
Mr. Bopp sat before the fire, looking so haggard and worn out that
the girl's conscience pricked her sorely for her part in the change,
but plucking up her courage, she stirred briskly among the tea-cups,
asking,--
“What shall I give you, sir?”
“Thank you, I haf no care to eat.”
Something in his spiritless mien and sorrowful voice made Dolly's
eyes fill; but knowing she must depend upon herself now, and make
the best of her position, she said kindly, yet nervously,--
“You look tired; let me do something for you if I can; shall I sing
for you a little? you once said music rested you.”
“You are kind; I could like that I think. Excoose me if I am dull, I
haf--yes, a little air if you please.”
More and more disturbed by his absent, troubled manner, Dolly began
a German song he had taught her, but before the first line was sung
he stopped her with an imploring--
“For Gott sake not that! I cannot hear it this night; it was the
last I sung her in the Vaterland.”
“Mr. Bopp, what is it? Dick says you have a trouble; tell me, and
let us help you if we can. Are you ill, in want, or has any one
wronged or injured you in any way? Oh, let me help you!”
Tears had been streaming down Mr. Bopp's cheeks, but as she spoke he
checked them, and tried to answer steadily,--
“No, I am not ill; I haf no wants now, and no one has hurt me but in
kindness; yet I haf so great a grief, I could not bear it all alone,
and so I came to ask a little sympathy from your good Mutter, who
has been kind to me as if I was a son. She is not here, and I
thought I would stop back my grief; but that moosic was too much;
you pity me, and so I tell you. See, now! when I find things go
bright with me, and haf a hope of much work, I take the little store
I saved, I send it to my friend Carl Hoffman, who is coming from my
home, and say, 'Bring Ulla to me now, for I can make life go well to
her, and I am hungry till I haf her in my arms again.' I tell no
one, for I am bold to think that one day I come here with her in my
hand, to let her thank you in her so sweet way for all you haf done
for me. Well, I watch the wind, I count the days, I haf no rest for
joy; and when Carl comes, I fly to him. He gifs me back my store, he
falls upon my neck and does not speak, then I know my little Kind
will never come, for she has gone to Himmel before I could make a
home for her on earth. Oh, my Ulla! it is hard to bear;” and, with a
rain of bitter tears, poor Mr. Bopp covered up his face and laid it
down on his empty plate, as if he never cared to lift it up again.
Then Dolly forgot herself in her great sympathy, and, going to him,
she touched the bent head with a soothing hand; let her tears flow
to comfort his; and whispered in her tenderest voice,--
“Dear Mr. Bopp, I wish I could heal this sorrow, but as I cannot,
let me bear it with you; let me tell you how we loved the little
child, and longed to see her; how we should have rejoiced to know
you had so dear a friend to make your life happy in this strange
land; how we shall grieve for your great loss, and long to prove our
respect and love for you. I cannot say this as I ought, but, oh, be
comforted, for you will see the child again, and, remembering that
she waits for you, you will be glad to go when God calls you to meet
your Ulla in that other Fatherland.”
“Ah, I will go now! I haf no wish to stay, for all my life is black
to me. If I had found that other little friend to fill her place, I
should not grieve so much, because she is weller there above than I
could make her here; but no; I wait for that other one; I save all
my heart for her; I send it, but it comes back to me; then I know my
hope is dead, and I am all alone in the strange land.”
There was neither bitterness nor reproach in these broken words,
only a patient sorrow, a regretful pain, as if he saw the two lost
loves before him and uttered over them an irrepressible lament. It
was too much for Dolly and with sudden resolution she spoke out fast
and low,--
“Mr. Bopp, that was a mistake. It was not I you saw at the masque;
it was Dick. He played a cruel trick; he insulted you and wronged me
by that deceit, and I find it very hard to pardon him.”
“What! what is that!” and Mr. Bopp looked up with tears still
shining in his beard, and intense surprise in every feature of his
face.
Dolly turned scarlet, and her heart beat fast as she repeated with
an unsteady voice,--
“It was Dick, not I.”
A cloud swept over Mr. Bopp's face, and he knit his brows a moment
as if Dolly had not been far from right when she said “he never
would forgive the joke.” Presently, he spoke in a tone she had never
heard before,--cold and quiet,--and in his eye she thought she read
contempt for her brother and herself,--
“I see now, and I say no more but this; it was not kind when I so
trusted you. Yet it is well, for you and Richart are so one, I haf
no doubt he spoke your wish.”
Here was a desperate state of things. Dolly had done her best, yet
he did not, or would not, understand, and, before she could restrain
them, the words slipped over her tongue,--
“No! Dick and I never agree.”
Mr. Bopp started, swept three spoons and a tea-cup off the table as
he turned, for something in the hasty whisper reassured him. The
color sprang up to his cheek, the old warmth to his eye, the old
erectness to his figure, and the eager accent to his voice. He rose,
drew Dolly nearer, took her face between his hands, and bending,
fixed on her a look tender yet masterful, as he said with an
earnestness that stirred her as words had never done before,--
“Dollee, _he_ said No! do _you_ say, Yes?”
She could not speak, but her heart stood up in her eyes and answered
him so eloquently that he was satisfied.
“Thank the Lord, it's all right!” thought Dick, as, peeping in at the
window ten minutes later, he saw Dolly enthroned upon Mr. Bopp's knee,
both her hands in his, and an expression in her April countenance
which proved that she found it natural and pleasant to be sitting
there, with her head on the kind heart that loved her; to hear herself
called “_meine leibchen;_” to know that she alone could comfort him for
little Ulla's loss, and fill her empty place.
“They make a very pretty landscape, but too much honey isn't good
for 'em, so I'll go in, and we'll eat, drink, and be merry, in honor
of the night.”
He rattled the latch and tramped on the mat to warn them of his
approach, and appeared just as Dolly was skimming into a chair, and
Mr. Bopp picking up the spoons, which he dropped again to meet Dick,
with a face “clear shining after rain;” and kissing him on both
cheeks after the fashion of his country, he said, pointing to
Dolly,--
“See, it is all fine again. I forgif you, and leave all blame to
that bad spirit, Mephistopheles, who has much pranks like that, but
never pays one for their pain, as you haf me. Heart's dearest, come
and say a friendly word to Richart, then we will haf a little
health,--Long life and happiness to the King of Clubs and the Queen
of Hearts.”
“Yes, August, and as he's to be a farmer, we'll add another,--'Wiser
wits and better manners to the Knave of Spades.'”