On the afternoon of the day on which Mrs Keswick's letter arrived at
Midbranch, Peggy had great news to communicate to Aunt Judy, the cook:
"Miss Rob's gwine to Mahs' Junius' house in de kerridge, an' I's gwine
'long wid her to set in front wid Sam."
"Mahs' Junius aint got no house," said Aunt Judy, turning around very
suddenly. "Does you mean she gwine ter old Miss Keswick's?"
"Yaas," answered Peggy.
"Well, den, why don' you say so? Dat aint Mahs' Junius' house nohow,
though he lib dar as much as he lib anywhar. Wot she gwine dar fur?"
"Gwine to git married, I reckon," said Peggy.
"Git out!" ejaculated Aunt Judy. "Wid you fur bride'maid?"
"Dunno," answered Peggy. "She done tole me she didn't think she'd have
much use fur me, but Mahs' Robert, he said it were too far fur her to go
widout a maid; but ef she want me fur bride'maid I'll do dat too."
"You bawn fool!" shouted Aunt Judy. "You ain't got sense 'nuf to hock
the frocks ob de bridesmaids. An dat's all fool talk about Miss Rob
gwine dar to be married. When she an' Mahs' Junius hab de weddin',
dey'll hab it h'yar, ob course. She gwine to see ole Miss Keswick, coz
dat's de way de fus' fam'lies allus does afore dey hab dere weddin'. I's
pow'ful glad she's gwine dar, instid ob ole Miss Keswick comin' h'yar. I
don' wan' her kunjerin' me, an' she'd do dat as quick as winkin' ef de
batter bread's a leetle burned, or dar's too much salt in de soup. You's
got to keep youse'f mighty straight, you Peggy, when you gits whar ole
Miss Keswick is. Don' you come none ob your fool tricks, or she kunjer
you, an' one ob your legs curl up like a pig's tail, an' neber uncurl no
moh'. How you like dat?"
To this Peggy made no reply, but with her eyes steadfastly fixed on Aunt
Judy, and her lower jaw very much dropped, she mentally resolved to keep
herself as straight as possible during her stay at the Keswick's.
"Dar's ole Aun' Patsy," continued the speaker. "It's a mighty long time
sence I've seen Aun' Patsy. Dat was when I went ober dar wid Miss Rob's
mudder when de two fam'lys was fren's. I was her maid, an' went wid her
jes as Mahs' Robert wants you ter go 'long wid Miss Rob. He ain't gwine
to furgit how they did in de ole times when de ladies went visitin' in
dere kerridges fur to stay free, four days. Aun' Patsy were pow'ful ole
den, but she didn't die soon 'nuf, an' ole Miss Keswick she kunjer her,
an' now she can't die at all."
"Neber die!" ejaculated Peggy.
"Neber die, nohow!" answered Aunt Judy. "Mighty offen she thought she
gwine to die but 'twarnt no use. She can't do it. An' de las' time I
hear ob her, she alibe yit, jes' de same as eber. An' dar was Mahs' John
Keswick. She cunjer him coz he rode de gray colt to de Coht House when
she done tole him to let dat gray colt alone, coz 'twarnt hisen but
hern, an' he go shoot hese'f dead by de gate pos'. You's got to go fru
by dat pos' when you go inter de gate."
"Dat same pos'!" cried Peggy.
"Yaas," said Aunt Judy, "dat same one. An' dey tells me dat on third
Chewsdays, which is Coht day, de same as when he took de gray colt, as
soon as it git dark he ghos' climb up to de top ob dat pos', an' set dar
all night."
With a conjuring old woman in the house, and a monthly ghost on the
gate-post outside, the Keswick residence did not appear as attractive to
Peggy as it had done before, but she mentally determined that while she
was there she would be very careful to look out sharp for herself, a
performance for which she was very well adapted.
It was on a pleasant autumn morning that Mr Brandon very carefully
ensconced his niece in the family carriage, with Peggy and a trusty
negro man, Sam, on the outside front seat. "I would gladly go with you,
my dear," he said, "even without the formality of an invitation, but it
is far better for you to go by yourself. My very presence would provoke
an antagonism in the old lady, while with you, personally, it is
impossible that any such feeling should exist. I hope your visit may do
away with all ill feeling between our families."
"I want you to understand, uncle," said Miss Roberta, "that I am making
this visit almost entirely to please you, and I shall do everything in
my power to make Mrs Keswick feel that you and I are perfectly well
disposed toward her; but you can't expect me to exhibit any great warmth
of friendship toward a person who once used such remarkable and violent
expressions in regard to me."
"But those feelings, my dear," said Mr Brandon, "if we are to believe
Mrs Keswick's letter, have entirely disappeared."
"It is quite natural that they should do so," said Roberta, "as there is
no longer any reason for them. And there is another thing I want to
impress on your mind, Uncle Robert, you must expect no result from this
visit except a renewal of amity between yourself and Mrs Keswick."
"I understand it perfectly," said the old gentleman, feeling quite
confident that if his family and Mrs Keswick should once again become
friendly, the main object of his desires would not be difficult of
accomplishment. "And now, my dear, I will not detain you any longer. I
hope you may have a very pleasant visit, and I advise you to cultivate
that young Mrs Null, whom I take to be a very sensible and charming
person." And then he kissed her good-bye and shut the carriage door.
It was about the middle of the afternoon when Sam drove through the
outer Keswick gate, and Peggy, who had jumped down to open said gate,
had made herself positively sure that, at present, there was no ghost
sitting upon the post. Before she reached the house, Roberta began to
wonder a good deal if she should find Mrs Keswick the woman she had
pictured in her mind. But when the carriage drew up in front of the
porch there came out to meet her, not the mistress of the estate, but a
much younger lady, who tripped down the steps and reached Roberta as she
descended from the carriage.
"We are very glad to see you, Miss March," she said. "My aunt is not
here just now, but will be back directly."
"This is Mrs Null, isn't it?" said Roberta, and as the other smiled and
answered with a slight flush that it was, Roberta stooped just the
little that was necessary, and kissed her. Mrs Keswick's niece had not
expected so warm a greeting from this lady, to whom she was almost a
stranger, and instantly she said to herself: "In that kiss Freddy dies
to you." For some days she had been turning over and over in her mind
the question whether or not she should tell Roberta March that she was
not Mrs Null. She greatly disliked keeping up the deception where it was
not necessary, and with Roberta, if she would keep the secret, there was
no need of this aerial matrimony. Besides her natural desire to confide
in a person of her own sex and age, she did not wish Mr Croft to be the
only one who shared her secret; and so she had determined that her
decision would depend on what sort of girl Roberta proved to be. "If I
like her I'll tell her; if I don't, I won't," was the final decision.
And when Roberta March looked down upon her with her beautiful eyes and
kissed her, Freddy Null departed this life so far as those two were
concerned.
Mrs Keswick had, apparently, made a very great miscalculation in regard
to the probable time of arrival of her guest, for Miss March and Peggy,
and even Sam and the horses, had been properly received and cared for,
and Miss March had been sitting in the parlor for some time, and still
the old lady did not come into the house. Her niece had grown very
anxious about this absence, and had begun to fear that her aunt had
treated Miss March as she had treated her on her arrival, and had gone
away to stay. But Plez, whom she had sent to tell his mistress that her
visitor was in the house, returned with the information that "ole miss"
was in one of the lower fields directing some men who were digging a
ditch, and that she would return to the house in a very short time. Thus
assured that no permanent absence was intended, she went into the parlor
to entertain Miss March, and to explain, as well as she could, the state
of affairs; when, as she entered the door, she saw that lady suddenly
arise and look steadfastly out of the window.
"Can that be Mr Croft?" Miss March exclaimed.
The younger girl made a dash forward and also looked out of the window.
Yes, there was Mr Croft, riding across the yard toward the tree where
horses were commonly tied.
"Did you expect him?" asked Roberta, quickly.
"No more than I expected the man in the moon," was the impulsive and
honest answer of her companion.
"I am very glad to see you, Mrs Null," said Lawrence, when that lady met
him on the porch. And when he was shown into the parlor, he greeted Miss
March with much cordiality, but no surprise. But when he inquired after
other members of the family, he was much surprised to find that Mr
Keswick had gone to Washington. "Was not this very unexpected, Mrs
Null?" he asked.
"Why, no," she answered. "Junius told us, almost as soon as he came
here, that he would have to be in Washington by the first of this week."
Mr Croft did not pursue this subject further, but presently remarked:
"Are you and I the first comers, Miss March?"
Roberta looked from one of her companions to the other, and remarked: "I
do not understand you."
Lawrence now perceived that he was treading a very uncertain and,
perhaps, dangerous path of conversation, and the sooner he got out of it
the better; but, before he could decide what answer to make, a silent
and stealthy figure appeared at the door, beckoning and nodding in a
very mysterious way. This proved to be the plump black maid, Letty, who,
having attracted the attention of the company, whispered loudly, "Miss
Annie!" whereupon that young lady immediately left the room.
"What other comers did you expect?" then asked Roberta of Mr Croft.
"I certainly supposed there would be a small company here," he said,
"probably neighborhood people, but if I was mistaken, of course I don't
wish to say anything more about it to the family."
"Were you invited yourself?" asked Roberta.
Croft wished very much that he could say that he had accidentally
dropped in. But this he could not do, and he answered that Mrs Keswick
asked him to come about this time. He did not consider it necessary to
add that she had written to him at the Springs, renewing her invitation
very earnestly, and mentioning that Miss March had consented to make one
of the party.
This was as far as Roberta saw fit to continue the subject, on the
present occasion; and she began to talk about the charming weather, and
the pretty way in which the foliage was reddening on the side of a hill
opposite the window. Mr Croft was delighted to enter into this new
channel of speech, and discussed with considerable fervor the
attractiveness of autumn in Virginia. Miss Annie found Letty in a very
disturbed state of mind. The dinner had been postponed until the arrival
of Miss March, and now it had been still further delayed by the
non-arrival of the mistress of the house, and everything was becoming
dried up, and unfit to eat. "This will never do!" exclaimed Miss Annie.
"I will go myself and look for aunt. She must have forgotten the time of
day, and everything else."
Putting on her hat she ran out of the back door, but she did not have to
go very far, for she found the old lady in the garden, earnestly
regarding a bed of turnips. "Where have you been, my dear aunt?" cried
the girl. "Miss March has been here ever so long, and Mr Croft has come,
and dinner has been waiting until it has all dried up. I was afraid that
you had forgotten that company was coming to-day."
"Forgotten!" said the old lady, glaring at the turnips. "It isn't an
easy thing to forget. I invited the girl, and I expected her to come,
but I tell you, Annie, when I saw that carriage coming along the road,
all the old feeling came back to me. I remembered what its owners had
done to me and mine, and what they are still trying to do, and I felt I
could not go into the house, and give her my hand. It would be like
taking hold of a snake."
"A snake!" cried her niece, with much warmth. "She is a lovely woman!
And her coming shows what kindly feelings she has for you. But, no
matter what you think about it, aunt, you have asked her here, and you
must come in and see her. Dinner is waiting, and I don't know what more
to say about your absence."
"Go in and have dinner," said Mrs Keswick. "Don't wait for me. I'll come
in and see her after a while; but I haven't yet got to the point of
sitting down to the table and eating with her."
"Oh, aunt!" exclaimed Annie, "you ought never to have asked her if you
are going to treat her in this way! And what am I to say to her? What
excuse am I to make? Are you not sick? Isn't something the matter with
you?"
"You can tell them I'm flustrated," said the old lady, "and that is all
that's the matter with me. But I'm not coming in to dinner, and there is
no use of saying anything more about it."
Annie looked at her, the tears of mortification still standing in her
eyes. "I suppose I must go and do the best I can," she said, "but, aunt,
please tell me one thing. Did you invite any other people here? Mr Croft
spoke as if he expected to see other visitors, and if they ask anything
more about it, I don't know what to say."
"The only other people I invited," said the old lady with a grim grin,
"were the King of Norway, and the Prime Minister of Spain, and neither
of them could come." Annie said no more, but hurrying back to the
house, she ordered dinner to be served immediately. At first the meal
was not a very lively one. The young hostess _pro tempore_ explained the
absence of the mistress of the house by stating that she had had a
nervous attack--which was quite true--and that she begged them to excuse
her until after dinner. The two guests expressed their regret at this
unfortunate indisposition, but each felt a degree of embarrassment at
the absence of Mrs Keswick. Roberta, who had heard many stories of the
old woman, guessed at the true reason, and if the distance had not been
so great, she would have gone home that afternoon. Lawrence Croft, of
course, could imagine no reason for the old lady's absence, except the
one that had been given them, but he suspected that there must be some
other. He did his best, however, to make pleasant conversation; and
Roberta, who began to have a tender feeling for the little lady at the
head of the table, who, she could easily see, had been placed in an
unpleasant position, seconded his efforts with such effect that, when
the little party had concluded their dinner with a course of hot pound
cake and cream sauce, they were chatting together quite sociably.
In about ten minutes after they had all gone into the parlor, Miss Annie
excused herself, and presently returned with a message to Miss March
that Mrs Keswick would be very glad to see her in another room. This was
a very natural message from an elderly lady, who was not well, but
Roberta arose and walked out of the parlor with a feeling as if she
were about to enter the cage of an erratic tigress. But she met with no
such creature. She saw in the back room, into which she was ushered, a
small old woman, dressed very plainly, who came forward to meet her,
extending both hands, into one of which Roberta placed one of her own.
"I may as well say at once, Roberta March," said Mrs Keswick, "that the
reason I didn't come to meet you when you first arrived was, that I
couldn't get over, all of a sudden, the feelings I have had against your
family for so many years."
"Why then, Mrs Keswick," said Roberta, very coldly, "did you ask me to
come?"
"Because I wanted you to come," said Mrs Keswick, "and because I thought
I was stronger than I turned out to be; but you must make allowances for
the stiffness which gets into old people's dispositions as well as their
backs. I want you to understand, however, that I meant all I said in
that letter, and I am very glad to see you. If anything in my conduct
has seemed to you out of the way, you must set it down to the fact that
I was making a very sudden turn, and starting out on a new track in
which I hope we shall all keep for the rest of our lives."
Roberta could not help thinking that the sudden turn in the new track
began with the visit of her uncle to this house, and that the old lady
need not have inflicted upon her the disagreeable necessity of
witnessing a hostess taking a very repulsive cold plunge; but all she
said was that she hoped the families would now live together in friendly
relations; and that she was sure that, if this were to be, it would give
her uncle a great deal of pleasure. She very much wanted to ask Mrs
Keswick how Mr Croft happened to be here at this time, but she felt that
her very brief acquaintance with the lady would not warrant the
discussion of a subject like that.
"She is very much the kind of woman I thought she was," said Roberta to
herself, when, after some further hospitable remarks from Mrs Keswick,
the two went to the parlor together to find Mr Croft. But that
gentleman, having been deserted by all the ladies, was walking up and
down the greensward in front of the house, smoking a cigar. Mrs Keswick
went out to him, and greeted him very cordially, begging him to excuse
her for not being able to see him as soon as he came.
Lawrence set all this aside in his politest manner, but declared himself
very much disappointed in not seeing Mr Keswick, and also remarked that
from what she had said to him on his last visit he had expected to find
quite a little party here.
"I am sorry," said the old lady, "that Junius is away, for he would be
very glad to see you, and it never came into my mind to mention to you
that he was obliged to be in Washington at this time. And, as for the
party, I thought afterwards that it would be a great deal cosier just to
have a few persons here."
"Oh, yes," said Lawrence, "most certainly, a great deal cosier."
Mrs Keswick ate supper with her guests, and behaved very well. During
the evening she sustained the main part of the conversation, giving the
company a great many anecdotes and reminiscences of old times and old
families, relating them in an odd and peculiar way that was very
interesting, especially to Croft, to whom the subject matter was quite
new. But, although her three companions listened to the old lady with
deferential attention, interspersed with appropriate observations, each
one made her the object of severe mental scrutiny, and endeavored to
discover the present object of her scheming old mind. Roberta was quite
sure that her invitation and that of Mr Croft was a piece of artful
management on the part of the old lady, and imagined, though she was not
quite sure about it, that it was intended as a bit of match-making. To
get her married to somebody else, would be, of course, the best possible
method of preventing her marrying Junius; and this, she had reason to
believe, was the prime object of old Mrs Keswick's existence. But why
should Mr Croft be chosen as the man with whom she was to be thrown. She
had learned that the old lady had seen him before, but was quite certain
that her acquaintance with him was slight. Could Junius have told his
aunt about the friendship between herself and Mr Croft? It was not like
him, but a great many unlikely things take place.
As for Lawrence, he knew very well there was a trick beneath his
invitation, but he could not at all make out why it had been played. He
had been given an admirable opportunity of offering himself to Miss
March, but there was no reason, apparent to him, why this should have
been done.
Miss Annie, watching her aunt very carefully, and speaking but seldom,
quite promptly made up her mind in regard to the matter. She knew very
well the bitter opposition of the old woman to a marriage between Junius
and Miss March; and saw, as plainly as she saw the lamp on the table,
that Roberta had been brought here on purpose to be sacrificed to Mr
Croft. Everything had been made ready, the altar cleared, and, as well
as the old lady's grindstone would act, the knife sharpened. "But," said
Miss Annie to herself, "she needn't suppose that I am going to sit quiet
and see all this going on, with Junius away off there in Washington,
knowing nothing about any of it."
Miss Roberta retired quite early to her room, having been fatigued by
her long drive, and she was just about to put out her light when she
heard a little knock at the door. Opening it slightly, she saw there
Junius Keswick's cousin, who also appeared quite ready for bed.
"May I come in for a minute?" said Annie.
"Certainly," replied Miss March, admitting her, and closing the door
after her.
"I have something to tell you," said the younger lady, admiring as she
spoke, the length of her companion's braided hair. "I intended to keep
it until to-morrow, but since I came up stairs I felt I could not let
you sleep a night under the same roof with me without knowing it. I am
not Mrs Null."
"What!" exclaimed Roberta, in a tone which made Annie lift up her hands
and implore her not to speak so loud, for fear that her aunt should hear
her. "I know she hasn't come up stairs yet, for she sits up dreadfully
late, but she can hear things, almost anywhere. No, I am not Mrs Null.
There is no such person as Mr Null, or, at least, he is a mere gaseous
myth, whom I married for the sake of the protection his name gave me."
"This is the most extraordinary thing I ever heard," said Roberta. "You
must tell me all about it."
"I don't want to keep you up," said Annie, "you must be tired."
"I am not tired," said Roberta, "for every particle of fatigue has flown
away." And with this she made Annie sit down beside her on the lounge.
"Now you must tell me what this means," she said. "Can it be that your
aunt does not know about it?"
"Indeed, she does not," said Annie. "I married Freddy Null in New York,
for reasons which we need not talk of now, for that matter is all past
and gone; but when I came here, I found almost immediately, that he
would be more necessary to me in this house than anywhere else."
"I cannot imagine," said Roberta, "why a gaseous husband should be
necessary to you here."
"It is not a very easy thing to explain," said the other, "that is, it
is easy enough, but--"
"Oh," said Roberta, catching the reason of her companion's hesitation,
"I don't think you ought to object to tell me your reason. Does it
relate to your cousin Junius?"
"Well," said Annie, "not altogether, and not so much to him as to my
aunt." "I think I see," said Roberta. "A marriage between you two would
suit her very well. Are you afraid that she would try to force him on
you?"
"Oh, no;" said Annie, "that would be bad enough, but it would not be so
embarrassing, and so dreadfully unpleasant, as forcing me on him, and
that is what aunt wants to do. And you can easily see that, in that
case, I could not stay in this house at all. I scarcely know my cousin
as a man, my strongest recollection of him being that of a big and very
nice boy, who used to climb up in the apple-trees to get me apples, and
then come down to the very lowest branch where he could drop the ripest
ones right into my apron, and not bruise them. But, even if I had been
acquainted with him all these years, and liked him ever so much, I
couldn't stay here and have aunt make him take me, whether he wanted
to, or not. And, unless you knew my aunt very well, you could not
conceive how unscrupulously straightforward she is in carrying out her
plans."
"And so," said Roberta, "you have quite baffled her by this little ruse
of a marriage."
"Not altogether," said Annie with a smile, "for she vows she is going to
get me divorced from Mr Null."
"That is funnier than the rest of it," said Roberta, laughing. And they
both laughed together, but in a subdued way, so as not to attract the
attention of the old lady below stairs. "And now, you see," said Annie,
"why I must be Mrs Null while I stay here. And you will promise me that
you will never tell any one?"
"You may be sure I shall keep your queer secret. But have you not told
it to any one but me?"
"Yes," said Annie, "but I have only told it to one other, Mr Croft. But
please don't speak of it to him."
"Mr Croft!" exclaimed Roberta. "How in the world did you come to tell
him? Do you know him so well as that?"
"Well," said Annie, "it does seem out of the way, I admit, that I should
tell him, but I can't give you the whole story of how I came to do it.
It wouldn't interest you--at least, it would, but I oughtn't to tell it.
It is a twisty sort of thing."
"Twisty?" said Roberta, drawing herself up, and a little away from her
companion.
Annie looked up, and caught the glance by which this word was
accompanied, and the tone in which it was spoken went straight to her
soul. "Now," said she, "if you are going to look at me, and speak in
that way, I'll tell you every bit of it." And she did tell the whole
story, from her first meeting with Mr Croft in the Information Shop,
down to the present moment.
"What is your name, anyway?" said Roberta, when the story had been told.
"My name," said the other, "is Annie Peyton."
"And now, do you know, Annie Peyton," said Roberta, passing her fingers
gently among the short, light-brown curls on her companion's forehead,
"that I think you must have a very, very kindly recollection of the boy
who used to come down to the lowest branches of the tree to drop apples
into your apron."