Within five or six miles of Chillicothe an approaching horseman was
espied by our travellers, and, as he drew near, Mrs. Nash and her two
boys recognized him with a simultaneous cry of delight.
"Robert!"
"Father, father!"
To which he responded with a glad "Hurrah! so there you are at last!"
as he put spurs to his horse and came dashing up to the side of the
wagon containing his wife and children.
There was a halt of several minutes while joyous greetings, and eager
questions and answers were exchanged; then leaving Mr. Nash in charge
of the slow-moving vehicles, Kenneth and Nellie rode on toward the
town.
It was the afternoon of a perfect day in May. Their path led them,
now through the depths of a forest where grew in abundance the sugar
maple, black walnut, buckeye, hackberry, cherry and other trees which
give evidence of a rich soil; now across a beautiful prairie covered
with grass from four to five feet high, and spangled with loveliest
wild flowers, which with the blossoms of the plum tree, mulberry,
crab apple and red and black haw, fringing the outer edge of the
prairies, filled the air with delicious perfume, and feasted the eye
with beauty.
Nellie was in ecstasies. "It is a paradise, Dr. Clendenin! is it
not?" she cried.
"An earthly one," he answered with his grave kindly smile. "May you
find much happiness in it, little lady."
"And you too, doctor," she said gaily, turning her bright, winsome
face to his. "I'm sure you ought."
"You think it a duty to be happy? and you are right."
"A duty? I never thought of it in that light," she said laughing
lightly.
"Ah! are we not bidden to be content with such things as we have, and
to be always rejoicing?"
They had become excellent friends--these two--as day after day they
rode side by side a little in advance of the wagons.
There was some ten years difference in their ages, a good deal
seemingly at Nell's time of life. She looked up to Kenneth as to one
much older and wiser than herself, and won by his ever ready sympathy
and interest, talked to him with the charming frankness of her
confiding nature and extreme youth. She told the history of her past
years, particularly the last five, which had been spent in a boarding
school in Philadelphia, and about the brother she was going to:--how
he fought bravely for his country in the Continental army, had been
taken prisoner by the British, what he had suffered on one of those
dreadful prison-ships, till peace at last set him free, that he had
married since and now had a family of children.
He was very much older than herself, she explained, being the eldest
born while she was the youngest, and as both parents had died while
she was a mere infant, he was like a father to her. Kenneth seldom
spoke of himself, but she sometimes led him on by her questions to
talk of his home at Glen Forest, his mother and Marian, for both of
whom he evidently cherished a deep and tender affection.
Nell remarked that she had seen them at church once or twice, had
thought Mrs. Clendenin very sweet and noble looking, and Marian the
loveliest of little girls.
"You read them both aright," was Kenneth's answer, with a look and
smile that made him, Nell thought, the handsomest man she had ever
seen.
"If he were not quite so old," she said to herself, "perhaps, I don't
know, but perhaps I might fall in love with him. It would be very
foolish though, for of course he could never care for such a silly
young thing as I am."
She had observed that he seemed a skilful physician and surgeon, and
had discovered that he could tell her a vast deal about trees and
plants and the birds and wild animals of the woods through which they
passed.
They had never met in Philadelphia though living there at the same
time, but it was pleasant to talk with him about the city and its
various attractions.
So they had not been at a loss for subjects of conversation, nor were
they to-day.
Silence fell between them for a few moments after Kenneth's last
remark, then Nell said, with a saucy smile, "So you, I suppose, are
never sad, Dr. Clendenin."
"Alas, Miss Lamar," he answered with a far away look in his eyes, an
expression of keen anguish sweeping across his features, yet passing
away so quickly that she could hardly feel sure it had been there,
"my theory and practice do not always agree."
"Well," said she, "I don't believe there is anybody in the world who
is not sad at times. Yet we have a great deal to make us glad, and
just now I feel as blithe as a bird. We are coming to a river."
"Yes, the Scioto."
"Oh, then we must be near Chillicothe, are we not?"
"Yes, here is the ferry, and yonder, on the farther side, lies the
town."
"That! I see only a few log cabins scattered here and there in a
dense forest."
"True, miss, that is just what it is," said the ferryman, pushing
off, for they were already on board his flat boat; "but you'll find
more houses than you'd think, and the streets marked out quite
straight and wide."
"And can you tell me in which Major Lamar lives?" Nell asked eagerly.
"Certainly, miss, there are not so many of us that we don't all know
each other's faces, and houses too. The major lives on Walnut Street,
but a step from where I shall land you. And yonder he comes," he
added as the boat touched the bank and Romeo and Fairy bounded ashore.
Another moment and the girl was in her brother's arms, weeping for
very joy, as if her heart would break, he soothing her with caresses
and tender, loving words.
"There, there, Nell, darling, my sweet little sister, we're together
at last, and don't mean to be parted ever again. Come, come, don't
spoil your pretty eyes with crying."
She brushed away her tears at that, raised her head, saying, "O
Percy, I'm so glad, so happy! How are Clare and the children?"
Then without waiting for an answer, "Oh how forgetful I am!" she
cried turning to Kenneth, who with half averted face and dewy eyes,
was thinking of Marian, and could almost feel the clinging of her
arms about his neck. "Percy, this is Dr. Clendenin, who has cared for
me like a brother, through all this long, tiresome journey."
The two grasped each other's hands warmly, and the major insisted on
carrying Kenneth off with him to share the hospitality of his house.
It was a pleasant home circle into which he was presently
introduced,--Mrs. Lamar, a fair, graceful, bright-faced lady, still
young, and three or four rosy, bright-eyed boys and girls.
He received a warm welcome, while Nellie was embraced, kissed and
rejoiced over to her heart's content, a heart that went out in strong
affection to her kindred and craved a full return.
The evening meal was already prepared, the table set in the living
room. Its snowy linen, delicate china and shining silver would not
have disgraced a much more lordly dwelling; and the viands which
presently came in smoking from the kitchen, fresh fish, game and hot
corn-bread, might have tempted the appetite of an epicure; much more
that of our travellers, who had fared but indifferently well for some
days past.
The major's house was but a log cabin, the only kind of building
in the settlement at that time, simply furnished, and consisted of
only three rooms beside kitchen and garret; yet a great deal of
comfort and enjoyment were to be found there, and Kenneth was not
ill-pleased to be tendered the freedom of the house, and accepted the
offer with hearty thanks.
"We elect you our family physician, sir, if you will not decline the
office," said the major, as they rose from the table; "and as such
you will of course consider yourself perfectly at home among us."
Kenneth was beginning to express his sense of his host's kindness
when he was interrupted by a hasty summons to the bedside of a sick
woman at the other end of the village.
"Come, Nell, and take a look at Chillicothe," the major said, leading
the way to the grass plot in front of the house, where they seated
themselves upon a log.
There were many such lying about the streets, many trees and stumps
of those which had been felled, still standing; in fact nearly the
whole town was still a wilderness; yet though not a year old, it
already contained, beside private dwellings, two taverns and several
stores and shops of mechanics, but among them all there were but four
shingled houses, and on one the shingles were fastened with pegs. The
streets were very wide and straight, crossing at right angles; not
all cleared yet, but marked out by blazing the trees of the thick
wood in whose midst the town was located.
There were many Indians in the vicinity. They had a town not far
away, on the north fork of Paint Creek, and here in Chillicothe their
wigwams were interspersed among the dwellings of the whites as Nellie
noticed with some uneasiness.
But her brother reassured her. "There is no danger," he said, "they
are perfectly friendly."
"Ah, but they are a treacherous race," she sighed with a dubious
shake of the head.
"Quite a change from Philadelphia, Nell," Clare remarked, joining
them with her knitting in her hand.
"Yes, but it is many weeks since I left there."
"Is it nice in Philadelphia, Aunt Nellie?" asked Bess, the eldest of
the children, hanging affectionately about the young girl. "Do tell
us what it's like, and about the pretty things in the shop windows."
"Another time, Bess," interposed the major. "Run away to your play
now, and let older people talk. Nell, you saw Washington more than
once?"
"Ah yes! many times--and he asked for you, Percy, in the kindest way,
speaking in the highest terms of your services to the country."
"It is like him," the major exclaimed with emotion.
"And this young doctor, Nell," pursued Clare, with a meaning smile,
"what is he like?"
"Just what he has shown himself to-night," the girl answered,
blushing slightly, as she had a trick of doing, the rich blood
showing readily through the clear, transparent skin.
"A handsome, polished, courteous gentleman, intelligent and well
informed above the generality, that is about all one could learn in
so short an interview," and Clare laughed low and musically. "But you
have had an opportunity to study his character pretty thoroughly."
"A thing I never thought of doing," returned Nell, with some
annoyance; "but I can tell you that he is very patient and very kind."
"Any one might well be that to you, Nell," remarked her brother,
regarding her with a proud, affectionate smile.
"But it was not only to me, but to everybody, and to the very horses
and dogs. He seems to be always thinking of others, never of himself,
and to have a kind look or word or smile for the humblest and meanest
creature that crosses his path, and," low and hesitatingly, "I
believe it's because he is a real, true Christian."
"I know it, one can read it in his face," said the major heartily,
"and I am rejoiced; for such men are needed here."
"There they are!" cried Nell, starting up. "See! the wagons are just
crossing the ferry!"
The Nashes and Barbours had been old friends and neighbors of the
Lamars before the emigration of the latter to Ohio, and the major and
his wife now hurried to meet and welcome them; Nell and the children
following.
Kenneth, having bestowed all needed attention upon his patient, was
hurrying toward the ferry also, as indeed was nearly every man and
women in the village, all alike rejoicing in every new accession to
their numbers, and eager for news from the older settlements.
There were joyous greetings, hearty handshakings, and quite a crowd
gathered around Kenneth, giving him welcome, expressing unfeigned
satisfaction with the advent among them of a good physician.
"Why, hollo! I recognize an old friend! Kenneth Clenendin, I was
never more surprised and delighted in my life!" cried a familiar
voice, and our hero's hand was warmly grasped in that of a former
schoolmate, a young man of pleasing, open countenance, and bluff,
hearty manner.
"Is it you, Godfrey Dale?" Kenneth exclaimed, shaking the hand
cordially, his face lighting up with pleasure. "Why, where did you
come from?"
"From Tiffen's tavern over yonder, the sign of the General Anthony
Wayne," returned Dale, laughing.
"You are here as a settler?"
"Yes, and as land agent and lawyer. It's a fine country, Kenneth,
and men of both your profession and mine are needed in it. Come, let
me show you my quarters. You must share them for the present, at all
events."
And linking his arm in that of his friend, he led the way, nearly all
the men of the crowd following.
The General Anthony Wayne was no spacious modern hotel, but like
its neighbors a log building with windows of greased paper, its
accommodations of the plainest.
A cheerful wood fire blazed in its wide chimney, but the evening was
a warm one for the time of year, and the company preferred the outer
air.
They grouped themselves about the door, sitting on stumps and logs,
or leaning against the trees, while Kenneth, the centre of the
throng, patiently answered questions and gave all the information
in his power regarding matters of public interest both at home and
abroad.
The sun went down behind the hill overlooking the valley on the west,
the stars shone from a clear sky overhead, and lights twinkled here
and there among the trees.
Nell, standing in the doorway of her brother's house, asked what they
were, remarking:
"They are many more in number than the cabins."
"Yes," answered Clare, "do you not know that the Indians have a way
of lighting up their wigwams with torches made of the splinters of
birch and pine?"
"I wish," murmured the girl, with a slight shudder, "that they could
be kept away--miles away from the town."