II

One summer afternoon two years later the Ripley sisters were again

drinking tea in their attractive summer-house. In the interval the

peaceful current of their lives had been stirred to its depths by

unlooked-for happenings. Very shortly after their refusal of Mr.

Anderson’s offer, their only brother, whose home was on the Hudson

within easy distance of New York, had died suddenly. He was a widower;

and consequently the protection of his only daughter straightway

devolved on them. She was eighteen and good-looking. This they knew

from personal observation at Thanksgiving Day and other family

reunions; but owing to the fact that Mabel Ripley had been quarantined

by scarlet fever during the summer of her sixteenth year, and in

Europe the following summer, they were conscious, prior to her arrival

at The Beaches, that they were very much in the dark as to her

characteristics.

She proved to be the antipodes of what they had hoped for. Their

traditions had depicted a delicate-appearing girl with reserved

manners and a studious or artistic temperament, who would take an

interest in the garden and like nothing better than to read aloud to

them the new books while they did fancy-work. A certain amount of coy

coquetry was to be expected--would be welcomed, in fact, for there

were too many Miss Ripleys already. Proper facilities would be offered

to her admirers, but they took for granted that she would keep them at

a respectful distance as became a gentlewoman. She would be urged to

take suitable exercise; they would provide a horse, if necessary; and

doubtless some of the young people in the neighborhood would invite

her occasionally to play tennis.

Mabel’s enthusiasm at the nearness of the sea took precedence over

every other emotion as she stood on the piazza after the embraces were

over.

“How adorably stunning! I must go out sailing the first thing,” were

her words.

Meanwhile the aunts were observing that she appeared the picture of

health and was tall and athletic-looking. In one hand she had carried

a tennis-racket in its case, in the other, a bag of golf clubs, as she

alighted from the vehicle. These evidently were her household gods.

The domestic vision which they had entertained might need

rectification.

“You sail, of course?” Mabel asked, noticing, doubtless, that her

exclamation was received in silence.

Aunt Rebecca shook her head. “I haven’t been in a sail-boat for twenty

years.”

“But whose steam yacht is that?”

“It belongs to Mr. Anderson, a wealthy neighbor.”

“Anyhow, a knockabout is more fun--a twenty-footer,” the girl

continued, her gaze still fixed on the haven which the indentations of

the coast afforded, along which at intervals groups of yachts, large

and small, floated at their moorings picturesque as sea-gulls on a

feeding-ground.

“There is an old rowboat in the barn. I daresay that Thomas, the

coachman, will take you out rowing sometimes after he has finished his

work,” said Aunt Carry kindly.

“Do you swim?” inquired Aunt Rebecca, failing to note her niece’s

bewildered expression.

“Like a duck. I’m quite as much at home on the water as on land. I’ve

had a sailboat since I was thirteen, and most of our summers have been

spent at Buzzard’s Bay.”

“But you’re a young lady now,” said Aunt Rebecca.

Mabel looked from one to the other as though she were speculating as

to what these new protectors were like. “Am I?” she asked with a

smile. “I must remember that, I suppose; but it will be hard to change

all at once.” Thereupon she stepped lightly to the edge of the cliff

that she might enjoy more completely the view while she left them to

digest this qualified surrender.

“‘No pent-up Utica contracts her powers,’” murmured Miss Rebecca, who

was fond of classic verse.

“It is evident that we shall have our hands full,” answered Miss

Carry. “But she’s fresh as a rose, and wide-awake. I’m sure the dear

girl will try to please us.”

Mabel did try, and succeeded; but it was a success obtained at the

cost of setting at naught all her aunts’ preconceived ideas regarding

the correct deportment of marriageable girls. The knockabout was

forthcoming shortly after she had demonstrated her amphibious

qualities by diving from the rocks and performing water feats which

dazed her anxious guardians. Indeed, she fairly lived in her

bathing-dress until the novelty wore off. Thomas, the coachman, who

had been a fisherman in his day, announced with a grin, after

accompanying her on the trial trip of the hired cat-boat, that he

could teach her nothing about sailing. Henceforth her small craft was

almost daily a distant speck on the horizon, and braved the seas so

successfully under her guidance that presently the aunts forbore to

watch for disaster through a spyglass.

She could play tennis, too, with the best, as she demonstrated on the

courts of The Beaches Club. Her proficiency and spirit speedily made

friends for her among the young people of the colony, who visited her

and invited her to take part in their amusements. She was prepared to

ride on her bicycle wherever the interest of the moment called her,

and deplored the solemnity of the family carryall. When her aunts

declared that a wheel was too undignified a vehicle on which to go out

to luncheon, she compromised on a pony cart as a substitute, for she

could drive almost as well as she could sail. She took comparatively

little interest in the garden, and was not always at home at

five-o’clock tea to read aloud the latest books; but her amiability

and natural gayety were like sunshine in the house. She talked freely

of what she did, and she had an excellent appetite.

“She’s as unlike the girls of my day as one could imagine, and I do

wish she wouldn’t drive about the country bareheaded, looking like a

colt or a young Indian,” said Miss Rebecca pensively one morning, just

after Mabel’s departure for the tennis-court. “But I must confess that

she’s the life of the place, and we couldn’t get on without her now. I

don’t think, though, that she has done three hours of solid reading

since she entered the house. I call that deplorable.”

“She’s a dear,” said Aunt Carry. “We haven’t been much in the way of

seeing young girls of late, and Mabel doesn’t seem to me different

from most of those who visit her. Twenty years ago, you remember,

girls pecked at their food and had to lie down most of the time. Now

they eat it. What I can’t get quite used to is the habit of letting

young men call them by their first names on short acquaintance. In my

time,” she added with a little sigh, “it would have been regarded as

inconsistent with maidenly reserve. I’m sure I heard the young man who

was here last night say, ‘I’ve known you a week now; may I call you

Mabel?’”

As to young men, be it stated, the subject of this conversation showed

herself impartially indifferent. Her attitude seemed to be that boys

were good fellows as well as girls, and should be encouraged

accordingly. If they chose to make embarrassing speeches regarding

one’s personal appearance and to try to be alone with one as much as

possible, while such favoritism was rather a fillip to existence, it

was to be considered at bottom as an excellent joke. Young men came

and young men went. Mabel attracted her due share. Yet evidently she

seemed to be as glad to see the last comer as any of his predecessors.

Then occurred the second happening in the tranquil existence of the

maiden ladies. One day at the end of the first summer, an easterly

day, when the sky was beginning to be obscured by scud and the sea was

swelling with the approach of a storm, Dan Anderson, the only son of

his father, was knocked overboard by the boom while showing the heels

of his thirty-foot knockabout to the hired boat of his neighbor, Miss

Mabel Ripley. They were not racing, for his craft was unusually fast,

as became a multi-millionaire’s plaything. Besides, he and the girl

had merely a bowing acquaintance. The _Firefly_ was simply

bobbing along on the same tack as the _Enchantress_, while the

fair skipper, who had another girl as a companion, tried vainly, at a

respectful distance, to hold her own by skill.

The headway on Dan’s yacht was so great that before the two dazed

salts on board realized what had happened their master was far astern.

They bustled to bring the _Enchantress_ about and to come to his

rescue in the dingy. Stunned by the blow of the--spar, he had gone

down like a stone; so, in all probability, they would have been too

late. When he came up the second time it was on the port bow of the

_Firefly_, but completely out of reach. Giving the tiller to her

friend, and stripping off superfluous apparel, Mabel jumped overboard

in time to grasp and hold the drowning youth. There she kept him until

aid reached them. But the unconscious victim did not open his eyes

until after he had been laid on the Misses Ripley’s lawn, where, by

virtue of brandy from the medicine-closet and hot-water bottles, the

flickering spark of life was coaxed into a flame.

It was an agitating experience for the aunts. But Mabel was none the

worse for the wetting; and though she naturally made light of her

performance, congratulations on her pluck and presence of mind came

pouring in. David Walker suggested that the Humane Society would be

sure to take the matter up and confer a medal upon the heroine. The

members of the Anderson family came severally to express with emotion

their gratitude and admiration. The father had not been there since

his previous eventful visit, though once or twice he had met his

neighbors on the road and stopped to speak to them, as if to show he

harbored no malice in spite of his disappointment.

Now with a tremulous voice he bore testimony to the greatness of the

mercy which had been vouchsafed him.

The third and last happening might be regarded as a logical sequel to

the second by those who believe that marriages are made in heaven. It

was to ponder it again after having pondered it for twenty-four hours

that the Ripley sisters found themselves in their pleached garden at

the close of the day. That the event was not unforeseen by one of them

was borne out by the words of Miss Carry:

“I remember saying to myself that day on the lawn, Rebecca, that it

would be just like the modern girl if she were to marry him; because

she saved his life, I mean. If he had saved hers, as used to happen,

she would never have looked at him twice. I didn’t mention it because

it was only an idea, which might have worried you.”

“We have seen it coming, of course,” answered Miss Rebecca, who was

clasping the points of her elbows. “And there was nothing to do about

it--even if we desired to. I can’t help, though, feeling sorry that

she isn’t going to marry some one we know all about--the family, I

mean.

“Well,” she added with a sigh, “the Andersons will get our place in

the end, after all, and we shall be obliged to associate more or less

with multi-millionaires for the rest of our days. It’s depressing

ethically; but there’s no use in quarrelling with one’s own flesh and

blood, if it is a modern girl, for one would be quarrelling most of

the time. We must make the best of it, Carry, and--and try to like

it.”

“He really seems very nice,” murmured Miss Carry. “He gives her some

new jewel almost every day.”

Miss Rebecca sniffed disdainfully, as though to inquire if love was to

be attested by eighteen-carat gold rather than by summer blooms.

The sound of steps on the gravel path interrupted their confabulation.

“It is Mr. Anderson, _père_” said Miss Carry laconically.

“He is coming to take possession,” responded her sister.

The crunch of the gravel under his solid, firm tread jarred on their

already wearied sensibilities. Nevertheless they knew that it behooved

them to be cordial and to accept the situation with good grace. Their

niece was over head and ears in love with a young man whose personal

character, so far as they knew, was not open to reproach, and who

would be heir to millions. What more was to be said? Indeed, Miss

Rebecca was the first to broach the subject after the greetings were

over.

“Our young people seem to have made up their minds that they cannot

live apart,” she said.

“So my son has informed me.”

Mr. Anderson spoke gravely and then paused. His habitually confident

manner betrayed signs of nervousness.

“I told him this morning that there could be no engagement until after

I had talked with you,” he added.

One could have heard a pin drop. Each of the sisters was tremulous to

know what was coming next. Could he possibly be meditating purse-proud

opposition? The Ripley blue blood simmered at the thought, and Miss

Rebecca, nervous in her turn, tapped the ground lightly with her foot.

“The day I was first here,” he resumed, “you ladies taught me a

lesson. I believed then that money could command anything. I

discovered that I was mistaken. It provoked me, but it set me

thinking. I’ve learned since that the almighty dollar cannot buy

gentle birth and--and the standards which go with it.”

Unexpectedly edifying as this admission was, his listeners sought in

vain to connect it with the immediate issue, and consequently forebore

to speak.

“The only return I can make for opening my eyes to the real truth is

by doing what I guess you would do if you or one of your folk were in

my shoes. I’m a very rich man, as you know. If your niece marries my

son her children will never come to want in their time. He’s a good

boy, if I do say it; and I should be mighty proud of her.”

Miss Carry breathed a gentle sigh of relief at this last avowal.

“I don’t want her to marry him, though, without knowing the truth, and

perhaps when you hear it you’ll decide that she must give him up.”

Thereupon Mr. Anderson blew his nose by way of gathering his faculties

for the crucial words as a carter rests his horse before mounting the

final hill when the sledding is hard.

“I’m going to tell you how I made my first start. I was a clerk in a

bank and sharp as a needle in forecasting what was going to happen

downtown. I used to say to myself that if I had capital it would be

easy to make money breed money. Well, one day I borrowed from the

bank, without the bank’s leave, $3,000 in order to speculate. I won on

that deal and the next and the next. Then I was able to return what

I’d borrowed and to set up in a small way for myself in the furniture

business. That was my start, ladies--the nest-egg of all I’ve got.”

He sat back in his chair and passed his handkerchief across his

forehead like one who has performed with credit an agonizing duty.

There was silence for a moment. Unequivocal as the confession was,

Miss Rebecca, reluctant to believe her ears, asked with characteristic

bluntness:

“You mean that you--er--misappropriated the money?”

“I was an embezzler, strictly speaking.”

“I see.”

“Perhaps you wonder why I told you this,” he said, bending forward.

“No, we understand,” said Miss Rebecca.

“We understand perfectly,” exclaimed Miss Carry with gentle warmth.

“It’s very honest of you, Mr. Anderson,” said Miss Rebecca after a

musing pause.

“I’ve never been dishonest since then,” he remarked naïvely. “But a

year ago I wouldn’t have told you this, though it’s been in the back

of my mind as a rankling sore, growing as I grew in wealth and

respectability. I made a bluff at believing that it didn’t matter, and

that a thing done has an end. Well, now I’ve made a clean breast of it

to the ones who have a right to know. I should like you to tell

Mabel.”

As he spoke the lovers appeared in the near distance at the edge of

the lawn, coming up from the beach. “But I don’t think it will be

necessary to tell my son,” he added yearningly.

“Certainly _not_” said Miss Rebecca with emphasis.

The sisters exchanged glances, trying to read each other’s thoughts.

“It’s a blot in the ‘scutcheon, of course,” said Miss Rebecca. “It’s

for our niece to say.” But there was no sternness in her tone.

This gave Miss Carry courage. Her hand shook a little as she put down

her teacup, for she was shy of taking the initiative. “I think I know

what she would say. In our time it would probably have been different,

on account of the family--and heredity; but Mabel is a modern girl.

And a modern girl would say that she isn’t to marry the father but the

son. She loves him, so I’m certain she would never give him up.

Therefore is it best to tell her?”

Daniel Anderson’s face was illumined with the light of hope, and he

turned to the elder sister, whom he recognized as the final judge.

Miss Rebecca sniffed. Her ideas of everlasting justice were a little

disconcerted. Nevertheless she said firmly after brief hesitation:

“I was taught to believe that the sins of the fathers should be

visited on the children; but I believe, Carry, you’re right.”

“Bless you for that,” exclaimed the furniture king. Then, groping in

the excess of his emotion for some fit expression of gratitude, he

bent forward and, taking Miss Rebecca’s hand, pressed his lips upon

her fingers as an act of homage.

Miss Carry would have been justified in reflecting that it would have

been more fitting had he kissed her fingers instead. But she was used

to taking the second place in the household, and the happy expression

of her countenance suggested that her thoughts were otherwise engaged.