The coast of Maine was in former years brought so near to foreign shores
by its busy fleet of ships that among the older men and women one still
finds a surprising proportion of travelers. Each seaward-stretching
headland with its high-set houses, each island of a single farm, has
sent its spies to view many a Land of Eshcol; one may see plain,
contented old faces at the windows, whose eyes have looked at far-away
ports and known the splendors of the Eastern world. They shame the easy
voyager of the North Atlantic and the Mediterranean; they have rounded
the Cape of Good Hope and braved the angry seas of Cape Horn in small
wooden ships; they have brought up their hardy boys and girls on narrow
decks; they were among the last of the Northmen’s children to go
adventuring to unknown shores. More than this one cannot give to a young
State for its enlightenment; the sea captains and the captains’ wives of
Maine knew something of the wide world, and never mistook their native
parishes for the whole instead of a part thereof; they knew not only
Thomaston and Castine and Portland, but London and Bristol and Bordeaux,
and the strange-mannered harbors of the China Sea.
One September day, when I was nearly at the end of my summer at Dunnet
Landing, Mrs. Todd came home from a long, solitary stroll in the wild
pastures, with an eager look as if she were just starting on a hopeful
quest instead of returning. She brought a little basket with
blackberries enough for supper, and held it towards me so that I could
see that there were also some late and surprising raspberries sprinkled
on top, but she made no comment upon her wayfaring. I could tell plainly
that she had something very important to say.
“You haven’t brought home a leaf of anything,” I ventured to this
practiced herb-gatherer. “You were saying yesterday that the witch hazel
might be in bloom.”
“I dare say, dear,” she answered in a lofty manner; “I ain’t goin’ to
say it wasn’t; I ain’t much concerned either way ’bout the facts o’
witch hazel. Truth is, I’ve been off visitin’; there’s an old Indian
footpath leadin’ over towards the Back Shore through the great heron
swamp that anybody can’t travel over all summer. You have to seize your
time some day just now, while the low ground’s summer-dried as it is
to-day, and before the fall rains set in. I never thought of it till I
was out o’ sight o’ home, and I says to myself, ‘To-day’s the day,
certain!’ and stepped along smart as I could. Yes, I’ve been visitin’. I
did get into one spot that was wet underfoot before I noticed; you wait
till I get me a pair o’ dry woolen stockings, in case of cold, and I’ll
come an’ tell ye.”
Mrs. Todd disappeared. I could see that something had deeply interested
her. She might have fallen in with either the sea-serpent or the lost
tribes of Israel, such was her air of mystery and satisfaction. She had
been away since just before mid-morning, and as I sat waiting by my
window I saw the last red glow of autumn sunshine flare along the gray
rocks of the shore and leave them cold again, and touch the far sails of
some coastwise schooners so that they stood like golden houses on the
sea.
I was left to wonder longer than I liked. Mrs. Todd was making an
evening fire and putting things in train for supper; presently she
returned, still looking warm and cheerful after her long walk.
“There’s a beautiful view from a hill over where I’ve been,” she told
me; “yes, there’s a beautiful prospect of land and sea. You wouldn’t
discern the hill from any distance, but ’tis the pretty situation of it
that counts. I sat there a long spell, and I did wish for you. No, I
didn’t know a word about goin’ when I set out this morning” (as if I had
openly reproached her!); “I only felt one o’ them travelin’ fits comin’
on, an’ I ketched up my little basket; I didn’t know but I might turn
and come back time for dinner. I thought it wise to set out your
luncheon for you in case I didn’t. Hope you had all you wanted; yes, I
hope you had enough.”
“Oh, yes, indeed,” said I. My landlady was always peculiarly bountiful
in her supplies when she left me to fare for myself, as if she made a
sort of peace-offering or affectionate apology.
“You know that hill with the old house right on top, over beyond the
heron swamp? You’ll excuse me for explainin’,” Mrs. Todd began, “but you
ain’t so apt to strike inland as you be to go right along shore. You
know that hill; there’s a path leadin’ right over to it that you have to
look sharp to find nowadays; it belonged to the up-country Indians when
they had to make a carry to the landing here to get to the out’ islands.
I’ve heard the old folks say that there used to be a place across a
ledge where they’d worn a deep track with their moccasin feet, but I
never could find it. ’Tis so overgrown in some places that you keep
losin’ the path in the bushes and findin’ it as you can; but it runs
pretty straight considerin’ the lay o’ the land, and I keep my eye on
the sun and the moss that grows one side o’ the tree trunks. Some
brook’s been choked up and the swamp’s bigger than it used to be. Yes; I
did get in deep enough, one place!”
I showed the solicitude that I felt. Mrs. Todd was no longer young, and
in spite of her strong, great frame and spirited behavior, I knew that
certain ills were apt to seize upon her, and would end some day by
leaving her lame and ailing.
“Don’t you go to worryin’ about me,” she insisted, “settin’ still’s the
only way the Evil One’ll ever get the upper hand o’ me. Keep me movin’
enough, an’ I’m twenty year old summer an’ winter both. I don’t know why
’tis, but I’ve never happened to mention the one I’ve been to see. I
don’t know why I never happened to speak the name of Abby Martin, for I
often give her a thought, but ’tis a dreadful out-o’-the-way place where
she lives, and I haven’t seen her myself for three or four years. She’s
a real good interesting woman, and we’re well acquainted; she’s nigher
mother’s age than mine, but she’s very young feeling. She made me a nice
cup o’ tea, and I don’t know but I should have stopped all night if I
could have got word to you not to worry.”
Then there was a serious silence before Mrs. Todd spoke again to make a
formal announcement.
“She is the Queen’s Twin,” and Mrs. Todd looked steadily to see how I
might bear the great surprise.
“The Queen’s Twin?” I repeated.
“Yes, she’s come to feel a real interest in the Queen, and anybody can
see how natural ’tis. They were born the very same day, and you would be
astonished to see what a number o’ other things have corresponded. She
was speaking o’ some o’ the facts to me to-day, an’ you’d think she’d
never done nothing but read history. I see how earnest she was about it
as I never did before. I’ve often and often heard her allude to the
facts, but now she’s got to be old and the hurry’s over with her work,
she’s come to live a good deal in her thoughts, as folks often do, and I
tell you ’tis a sight o’ company for her. If you want to hear about
Queen Victoria, why Mis’ Abby Martin’ll tell you everything. And the
prospect from that hill I spoke of is as beautiful as anything in this
world; ’tis worth while your goin’ over to see her just for that.”
“When can you go again?” I demanded eagerly.
“I should say to-morrow,” answered Mrs. Todd; “yes, I should say
to-morrow; but I expect ’twould be better to take one day to rest, in
between. I considered that question as I was comin’ home, but I hurried
so that there wa’n’t much time to think. It’s a dreadful long way to go
with a horse; you have to go ’most as far as the old Bowden place an’
turn off to the left, a master long, rough road, and then you have to
turn right round as soon as you get there if you mean to get home before
nine o’clock at night. But to strike across country from here, there’s
plenty o’ time in the shortest day, and you can have a good hour or
two’s visit beside; ’tain’t but a very few miles, and it’s pretty all
the way along. There used to be a few good families over there, but
they’ve died and scattered, so now she’s far from neighbors. There, she
really cried, she was so glad to see anybody comin’. You’ll be amused to
hear her talk about the Queen, but I thought twice or three times as I
set there ’twas about all the company she’d got.”
“Could we go day after to-morrow?” I asked eagerly.
“’Twould suit me exactly,” said Mrs. Todd.