IV.

The period of waiting was one of direct contrast to these high moments

of recognition. The very slowness of the morning hours wasted that sense

of excitement with which we had begun the day. Mrs. Todd came down from

the mount where her face had shone so bright, to the cares of common

life, and some acquaintances from Black Island for whom she had little

natural preference or liking came, bringing a poor, sickly child to get

medical advice. They were noisy women, with harsh, clamorous voices, and

they stayed a long time. I heard the clink of teacups, however, and

could detect no impatience in the tones of Mrs. Todd’s voice; but when

they were at last going away, she did not linger unduly over her

leave-taking, and returned to me to explain that they were people she

had never liked, and they had made an excuse of a friendly visit to save

their doctor’s bill; but she pitied the poor little child, and knew

beside that the doctor was away.

“I had to give ’em the remedies right out,” she told me; “they wouldn’t

have bought a cent’s worth o’ drugs down to the store for that dwindlin’

thing. She needed feedin’ up, and I don’t expect she gets milk enough;

they’re great butter-makers down to Black Island, ’tis excellent

pasturage, but they use no milk themselves, and their butter is heavy

laden with salt to make weight, so that you’d think all their ideas come

down from Sodom.”

She was very indignant and very wistful about the pale little girl. “I

wish they’d let me kept her,” she said. “I kind of advised it, and her

eyes was so wishful in that pinched face when she heard me, so that I

could see what was the matter with her, but they said she wa’n’t

prepared. Prepared!” And Mrs. Todd snuffed like an offended war-horse,

and departed; but I could hear her still grumbling and talking to

herself in high dudgeon an hour afterward.

At the end of that time her arch enemy, Mari’ Harris, appeared at the

side door with a gingham handkerchief over her head. She was always on

hand for the news, and made some formal excuse for her presence,—she

wished to borrow the weekly paper. Captain Littlepage, whose housekeeper

she was, had taken it from the post-office in the morning, but had

forgotten, being of failing memory, what he had done with it.

“How is the poor old gentleman?” asked Mrs. Todd with solicitude,

ignoring the present errand of Maria and all her concerns.

I had spoken the evening before of intended visits to Captain Littlepage

and Elijah Tilley, and I now heard Mrs. Todd repeating my inquiries and

intentions, and fending off with unusual volubility of her own the

curious questions that were sure to come. But at last Maria Harris

secured an opportunity and boldly inquired if she had not seen William

ashore early that morning.

“I don’t say he wasn’t,” replied Mrs. Todd; “Thu’sday’s a very usual day

with him to come ashore.”

“He was all dressed up,” insisted Maria—she really had no sense of

propriety. “I didn’t know but they was going to be married?”

Mrs. Todd did not reply. I recognized from the sounds that reached me

that she had retired to the fastnesses of the kitchen closet and was

clattering the tins.

“I expect they’ll marry soon anyway,” continued the visitor.

“I expect they will if they want to,” answered Mrs. Todd. “I don’t know

nothin’ ’tall about it; that’s what folks say.” And presently the

gingham handkerchief retreated past my window.

“I routed her, horse and foot,” said Mrs. Todd proudly, coming at once

to stand at my door. “Who’s comin’ now?” as two figures passed inward

bound to the kitchen.

They were Mrs. Begg and Johnny Bowden’s mother, who were favorites, and

were received with Mrs. Todd’s usual civilities. Then one of the Mrs.

Caplins came with a cup in hand to borrow yeast. On one pretext or

another nearly all our acquaintances came to satisfy themselves of the

facts, and see what Mrs. Todd would impart about the wedding. But she

firmly avoided the subject through the length of every call and errand,

and answered the final leading question of each curious guest with her

noncommittal phrase, “I don’t know nothin’ ’tall about it; that’s what

folks say!”

She had just repeated this for the fourth or fifth time and shut the

door upon the last comers, when we met in the little front entry. Mrs.

Todd was not in a bad temper, but highly amused. “I’ve been havin’ all

sorts o’ social privileges, you may have observed. They didn’t seem to

consider that if they could only hold out till afternoon they’d know as

much as I did. There wa’n’t but one o’ the whole sixteen that showed

real interest, the rest demeaned themselves to ask out o’ cheap

curiosity; no, there wa’n’t but one showed any real feelin’.”

“Miss Maria Harris, you mean?” and Mrs. Todd laughed.

“Certain, dear,” she agreed, “how you do understand poor human natur’!”

A short distance down the hilly street stood a narrow house that was

newly painted white. It blinded one’s eyes to catch the reflection of

the sun. It was the house of the minister, and a wagon had just stopped

before it; a man was helping a woman to alight, and they stood side by

side for a moment, while Johnny Bowden appeared as if by magic, and

climbed to the wagon-seat. Then they went into the house and shut the

door. Mrs. Todd and I stood close together and watched; the tears were

running down her cheeks. I watched Johnny Bowden, who made light of so

great a moment by so handling the whip that the old white Caplin horse

started up from time to time and was inexorably stopped as if he had

some idea of running away. There was something in the back of the wagon

which now and then claimed the boy’s attention; he leaned over as if

there were something very precious left in his charge; perhaps it was

only Esther’s little trunk going to its new home.

At last the door of the parsonage opened, and two figures came out. The

minister followed them and stood in the doorway, delaying them with

parting words; he could not have thought it was a time for admonition.

“He’s all alone; his wife’s up to Portland to her sister’s,” said Mrs.

Todd aloud, in a matter-of-fact voice. “She’s a nice woman, but she

might ha’ talked too much. There! see, they’re comin’ here. I didn’t

know how ’twould be. Yes, they’re comin’ up to see us before they go

home. I declare, if William ain’t lookin’ just like a king!”

Mrs. Todd took one step forward, and we stood and waited. The happy pair

came walking up the street, Johnny Bowden driving ahead. I heard a

plaintive little cry from time to time to which in the excitement of the

moment I had not stopped to listen; but when William and Esther had come

and shaken hands with Mrs. Todd and then with me, all in silence, Esther

stepped quickly to the back of the wagon, and unfastening some cords

returned to us carrying a little white lamb. She gave a shy glance at

William as she fondled it and held it to her heart, and then, still

silent, we went into the house together. The lamb had stopped bleating.

It was lovely to see Esther carry it in her arms.

When we got into the house, all the repression of Mrs. Todd’s usual

manner was swept away by her flood of feeling. She took Esther’s thin

figure, lamb and all, to her heart and held her there, kissing her as

she might have kissed a child, and then held out her hand to William and

they gave each other the kiss of peace. This was so moving, so tender,

so free from their usual fetters of self-consciousness, that Esther and

I could not help giving each other a happy glance of comprehension. I

never saw a young bride half so touching in her happiness as Esther was

that day of her wedding. We took the cake and wine of the marriage feast

together, always in silence, like a true sacrament, and then to my

astonishment I found that sympathy and public interest in so great an

occasion were going to have their way. I shrank from the thought of

William’s possible sufferings, but he welcomed both the first group of

neighbors and the last with heartiness; and when at last they had gone,

for there were thoughtless loiterers in Dunnet Landing, I made ready

with eager zeal and walked with William and Esther to the waterside. It

was only a little way, and kind faces nodded reassuringly from the

windows, while kind voices spoke from the doors. Esther carried the lamb

on one arm; she had found time to tell me that its mother had died that

morning and she could not bring herself to the thought of leaving it

behind. She kept the other hand on William’s arm until we reached the

landing. Then he shook hands with me, and looked me full in the face to

be sure I understood how happy he was, and stepping into the boat held

out his arms to Esther—at last she was his own.

I watched him make a nest for the lamb out of an old sea-cloak at

Esther’s feet, and then he wrapped her own shawl round her shoulders,

and finding a pin in the lapel of his Sunday coat he pinned it for her.

She looked at him fondly while he did this, and then glanced up at us, a

pretty, girlish color brightening her cheeks.

We stood there together and watched them go far out into the bay. The

sunshine of the May day was low now, but there was a steady breeze, and

the boat moved well.

“Mother’ll be watching for them,” said Mrs. Todd. “Yes, mother’ll be

watching all day, and waiting. She’ll be so happy to have Esther come.”

We went home together up the hill, and Mrs. Todd said nothing more; but

we held each other’s hands all the way.

XXIV.

THE BACKWARD VIEW.

At last it was the time of late summer, when the house was cool and damp

in the morning, and all the light seemed to come through green leaves;

but at the first step out of doors the sunshine always laid a warm hand

on my shoulder, and the clear, high sky seemed to lift quickly as I

looked at it. There was no autumnal mist on the coast, nor any August

fog; instead of these, the sea, the sky, all the long shore line and the

inland hills, with every bush of bay and every fir-top, gained a deeper

color and a sharper clearness. There was something shining in the air,

and a kind of lustre on the water and the pasture grass,—a northern look

that, except at this moment of the year, one must go far to seek. The

sunshine of a northern summer was coming to its lovely end.

The days were few then at Dunnet Landing, and I let each of them slip

away unwillingly as a miser spends his coins. I wished to have one of my

first weeks back again, with those long hours when nothing happened

except the growth of herbs and the course of the sun. Once I had not

even known where to go for a walk; now there were many delightful things

to be done and done again, as if I were in London. I felt hurried and

full of pleasant engagements, and the days flew by like a handful of

flowers flung to the sea wind.

At last I had to say good-by to all my Dunnet Landing friends, and my

homelike place in the little house, and return to the world in which I

feared to find myself a foreigner. There may be restrictions to such a

summer’s happiness, but the ease that belongs to simplicity is charming

enough to make up for whatever a simple life may lack, and the gifts of

peace are not for those who live in the thick of battle.

I was to take the small unpunctual steamer that went down the bay in the

afternoon, and I sat for a while by my window looking out on the green

herb garden, with regret for company. Mrs. Todd had hardly spoken all

day except in the briefest and most disapproving way; it was as if we

were on the edge of a quarrel. It seemed impossible to take my departure

with anything like composure. At last I heard a footstep, and looked up

to find that Mrs. Todd was standing at the door.

“I’ve seen to everything now,” she told me in an unusually loud and

businesslike voice. “Your trunks are on the w’arf by this time. Cap’n

Bowden he come and took ’em down himself, an’ is going to see that

they’re safe aboard. Yes, I’ve seen to all your ’rangements,” she

repeated in a gentler tone. “These things I’ve left on the kitchen table

you’ll want to carry by hand; the basket needn’t be returned. I guess I

shall walk over towards the Port now an’ inquire how old Mis’ Edward

Caplin is.”

I glanced at my friend’s face, and saw a look that touched me to the

heart. I had been sorry enough before to go away.

“I guess you’ll excuse me if I ain’t down there to stand round on the

w’arf and see you go,” she said, still trying to be gruff. “Yes, I ought

to go over and inquire for Mis’ Edward Caplin; it’s her third shock, and

if mother gets in on Sunday she’ll want to know just how the old lady

is.” With this last word Mrs. Todd turned and left me as if with sudden

thought of something she had forgotten, so that I felt sure she was

coming back, but presently I heard her go out of the kitchen door and

walk down the path toward the gate. I could not part so; I ran after her

to say good-by, but she shook her head and waved her hand without

looking back when she heard my hurrying steps, and so went away down the

street.

When I went in again the little house had suddenly grown lonely, and my

room looked empty as it had the day I came. I and all my belongings had

died out of it, and I knew how it would seem when Mrs. Todd came back

and found her lodger gone. So we die before our own eyes; so we see some

chapters of our lives come to their natural end.

I found the little packages on the kitchen table. There was a quaint

West Indian basket which I knew its owner had valued, and which I had

once admired; there was an affecting provision laid beside it for my

seafaring supper, with a neatly tied bunch of southernwood and a twig of

bay, and a little old leather box which held the coral pin that Nathan

Todd brought home to give to poor Joanna.

There was still an hour to wait, and I went up to the hill just above

the schoolhouse and sat there thinking of things, and looking off to

sea, and watching for the boat to come in sight. I could see Green

Island, small and darkly wooded at that distance; below me were the

houses of the village with their apple-trees and bits of garden ground.

Presently, as I looked at the pastures beyond, I caught a last glimpse

of Mrs. Todd herself, walking slowly in the footpath that led along,

following the shore toward the Port. At such a distance one can feel the

large, positive qualities that control a character. Close at hand, Mrs.

Todd seemed able and warm-hearted and quite absorbed in her bustling

industries, but her distant figure looked mateless and appealing, with

something about it that was strangely self-possessed and mysterious. Now

and then she stooped to pick something,—it might have been her favorite

pennyroyal,—and at last I lost sight of her as she slowly crossed an

open space on one of the higher points of land, and disappeared again

behind a dark clump of juniper and the pointed firs.

As I came away on the little coastwise steamer, there was an old sea

running which made the surf leap high on all the rocky shores. I stood

on deck, looking back, and watched the busy gulls agree and turn, and

sway together down the long slopes of air, then separate hastily and

plunge into the waves. The tide was setting in, and plenty of small fish

were coming with it, unconscious of the silver flashing of the great

birds overhead and the quickness of their fierce beaks. The sea was full

of life and spirit, the tops of the waves flew back as if they were

winged like the gulls themselves, and like them had the freedom of the

wind. Out in the main channel we passed a bent-shouldered old fisherman

bound for the evening round among his lobster traps. He was toiling

along with short oars, and the dory tossed and sank and tossed again

with the steamer’s waves. I saw that it was old Elijah Tilley, and

though we had so long been strangers we had come to be warm friends, and

I wished that he had waited for one of his mates, it was such hard work

to row along shore through rough seas and tend the traps alone. As we

passed I waved my hand and tried to call to him, and he looked up and

answered my farewells by a solemn nod. The little town, with the tall

masts of its disabled schooners in the inner bay, stood high above the

flat sea for a few minutes, then it sank back into the uniformity of the

coast, and became indistinguishable from the other towns that looked as

if they were crumbled on the furzy-green stoniness of the shore.

The small outer islands of the bay were covered among the ledges with

turf that looked as fresh as the early grass; there had been some days

of rain the week before, and the darker green of the sweet-fern was

scattered on all the pasture heights. It looked like the beginning of

summer ashore, though the sheep, round and warm in their winter wool,

betrayed the season of the year as they went feeding along the slopes in

the low afternoon sunshine. Presently the wind began to blow, and we

struck out seaward to double the long sheltering headland of the cape,

and when I looked back again, the islands and the headland had run

together and Dunnet Landing and all its coasts were lost to sight.

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