NOT THE OLD SUMMER.
At no time during the lagging winter did the Professor mention his
renewed obligation, but one night in April he came over with a tune in
his voice, a laugh in his eye, and paid the debt. The bank notes were
not ragged and soiled as if they had been snatched in the dust of a
fierce scuffle; they were new, and as bright as if they had come as a
gracious legacy. And, indeed, they had. A dead "lot," lying in the
neighborhood of a punctured "boom" in Kansas, fluttered with the
returning life of speculative resurrection. A new railway needed the
site for a station. An agent found the Professor, reluctantly offered
him half as much as the property was worth, and he gladly accepted it.
For a day his household was happy in the possession of a set of new
chairs, a rug and a center table, but soon fell to brooding over the
lonesome absence of dining-room linen and new paper on the walls. The
Professor had hoped that he might be able to buy a bookcase for his room
upstairs, but realizing that it was impossible to fill up the rat hole
of want in the floor below, did not dare to speak of his longing. But he
was sharper than his family had suspected. With a wink he told Milford
that he had, in the stealthy hour of midnight, put by enough to enable
him to do a little speculating. Milford had set him an example of
thrift. There was money to be made in buying and selling and he was
going to buy and sell. All that he had needed was an example. A mind
that could weigh a heavy problem could turn a trifle to account. The
ancient philosophers, counseling contentment of the mind, had money
loaned out at interest. It was no wonder that they could be contented.
And, after all, they held the right idea of life, money first and
philosophy afterward. He would go back to first principles; would deal
in cattle, the origin of money. The bicycle might hurt the horse, but it
could not hurt the steer. There was no invention to take the place of a
beefsteak. Some men might argue that it was difficult if not impossible
for a failure to become a success, but all astonishing success had come
out of previous failure. Without failure the world could never have
realized one of its most precious virtues--perseverance. Society placed
a premium upon rascality. He could be a rascal. At one time he had
thought it wise to lie down with his friend, death; but now he felt it
expedient to stand up with his enemy, life.
Milford did not take issue with his newly adopted creed. He brought up a
jug of cider and they drank to it. The Professor had an option on four
bullocks, and they drunk to them. And then filling his cup, the reformed
scholar said:
"To our dear enemies, the ladies."
"No," Milford replied. He had that day received a letter. "I won't drink
to them as our enemies."
"Well, then, as our endeared mistakes."
"No, they are not mistakes."
"Ha! you put me to for a term. What shall we call them?"
"The honest helpers of dishonest men," said Milford.
The Professor frowned. "I cannot subscribe to a sentiment so ruffled and
furbelowed with--shall I say tawdry flounces? Permit me; I have said it.
My dear fellow, in this humid air of American sentimentalism, we are not
permitted to talk rationally about woman. Some man is always ready to
hop up and declare that his mother is a woman. Of course she is. Has any
one ever disputed the fact? His mother is a woman, and so in fact we
hope is the person whom he expects to marry--I say expects to marry, for
it is usually an unmarried man who hops up. I would not abolish
marriage, you understand. I would--well, I would insist upon both
parties having a little more sense. I would enact a law, compelling a
man, before being granted a license, to show a certificate of financial
success. I would inquire into the amount of money he had realized on his
last lot of bullocks."
"You'd have a fine world."
"Wouldn't I? There would be no scuffling for life insurance, no
harassment over wall-paper, no daughters to pity a father's failure. If
I could roll up the surface of the sea into a megaphone, I would shout a
caution to the unmarried world."
"What would you shout, Professor?"
"Shut your eyes on love. If you have no money, throw your license into
the fire and turn the preacher out at the back door. That is what I
would shout."
"There are millions of mistakes," said Milford. "But there are many
happy hits. Your marriage----"
"Thoroughly happy, my dear fellow--as a marriage, you understand. I
wouldn't undo it for the world. My people are everything to me. They are
too much to me, hence my everlasting worry over life insurance. But it
is not possible for the average woman to understand, and nearly every
woman is the average woman. But my worries are over now. I am to start
out anew. Don't think ill of me for not having opened my eyes sooner. An
eye is like a chestnut bur; it doesn't open till it is ripe, and up to
this time mine has been green in ignorance. Don't call me eccentric. I
would rather be called a thief than eccentric. What is eccentricity but
a loose joint, a flaw in the machinery? I am not so much out of the
common. The trouble is that I show effects more plainly perhaps than
other men. But I am serious. I am not light. To the plodder, I have been
chimerical, but I will shame him by becoming a plodder, by out-plodding
him. For the first time in many months, I return to my home as much as
half satisfied with myself."
A few days later Milford saw him in the road, popping a whip behind four
bullocks. Not long afterward, at a farmyard sale, he was seen haggling
for a small flock of sheep. He bought a cow of Mrs. Stuvic. He urged her
to come to terms. He was a man of business, and had no time for words.
"Well, now you have woke up," she said. "Who would thought it? They
might as well go out to the graveyard now and tell the rest of 'em it's
time to get up. Gracious alive, take the cow. I don't want to stand in
the way of a man that's just woke up. Have you quit the mill?"
"No, but since I woke up I do my work in about two-thirds of the time."
"Good for you! Oh, that feller Milford has stirred up the whole
country."
"And when he gets through with that farm, madam, I'll take it. I don't
think he'll stay a great while longer."
"Why, has he said anythin' about goin' away?"
"No, but with my shrewd eye I can see that he's getting restless. But I
have no time to talk to you."
The season for breaking land and planting came, slowly through the
stubborn and lingering cold, and Milford bent himself to the putting in
of a large crop. His letters from Gunhild were rambling, but
affectionate. She was now in Indiana. Her work in Michigan had been but
partly successful. "I'm studying so that after awhile I may teach a
regular school," she said. "But there is so much to learn and the
examination is very hard. I met a man the other day who said that he
knew you. He tried to sell you a book. He said that you were very hard
to deal with. I told him that you must know what you wanted. Mr.
Blakemore was here three days ago, to look at some land. He came to the
house where I board, and said that he is making much money. There was a
church sociable and he wanted me to go with him, but I refused. He said
that I never would succeed as long as I was so particular. And I felt
that you would rather I be particular than to succeed. I do not want any
success that you would not like. His little boy has been sick, but is
well now. They are not coming out to Rollins in the summer. They are
going further away to a more fashionable place. Mrs. Goodwin writes to
me yet, so she has not forgotten me. She says that her discovery is
marvelous. She asked about you. She believes that you will be rich one
of these days. I told her in my letter that I did not want to think so,
but I know that she cannot understand. She will not know that I do not
want you to get so far away from me. But you would not. It is a dream
with me to come out there once again. I never have seen a place more
beautiful. The woods here are not so full of the sketches that no one
can draw, and there are no lakes scattered everywhere. I may come for
one week during the vacation."
June was cool, but July was hot, and with the change in the weather came
Mrs. Goodwin and her discovery, a pale girl with long hands. The
"discoverer" sent for Milford. She was graciously pleased to meet him
again. "I am sorry we can't call back the old summer," she said, giving
him her hand. "But the old summers never come back." She introduced him
to the musical genius, Miss Swartz. Her pale lips parted in a white
smile. Milford asked her to play. Mrs. Goodwin shrugged, glanced at the
piano and said: "I can't let her touch that thing." If Mrs. Stuvic had
heard this remark she would have bundled them off down the road. But she
was out in the orchard at scolding heat with a retired policeman, sent
by the city to board with her during the summer. Miss Swartz languidly
waved herself out of the room, and Mrs. Goodwin, motioning Milford to a
seat beside her on the sofa, commanded him to tell her all about
himself.
"I haven't anything of interest to tell."
"Ah, the same close mouth. You hear from her quite often, I suppose. A
strong woman. Don't you think so? I urged her to stay with me, but she
thought it her duty to go away. Do you expect to reside here
permanently? Gunhild likes this place so much. She's perfectly charmed
with it."
"Which question shall I answer first?"
"Did I ask more than one? I haven't seen you in so long that I must
rattle on at a fearful rate."
"I don't expect to live here permanently."
"Not if she should request it?"
"She will not request it. Our arrangements are not yet quite clear
enough for such requests."
"Indeed? I fancied that it was all understood."
"It is, in a way, but we must have a very serious talk before there can
be--be----"
"Anything definite," she suggested. "Yes, I understand. But this serious
talk? How can that change your plans or have any bearing upon them?"
"That is for her to decide. I had a certain object in view before she
entered into any of my calculations."
"Dear me, we are as far apart as ever. You must know that I dote upon
that girl, and that consequently I am interested in you. But I needn't
tell you this. You know it already."
"Yes, and I am grateful."
"But you will give me no hint as to what your object is. Don't you think
I ought to know it?"
"She doesn't know it yet."
"But you must have told her something."
"A little, and she didn't urge me to tell her more."
"Do I deserve that reproach? I hope not. Really, she and you present a
singular romance."
"It is not a romance; it's only a sort of understanding."
"But you say there is no perfect understanding. Oh, a sort of romance. I
see. Well, you will make her a good husband and consequently a good
living."
A vision of the Professor as he had sat amid his shifting toasts to
woman arose before Milford. "Good husband, I hope; and a good living, I
am determined," he said.
"You couldn't have made a better reply, Mr. Milford, if you had pondered
a week. You are quite happy at times. It was voted last summer that you
had good blood, and you must have it still," she added with a smile.
"Although you call yourself a Westerner, you are really from the East, I
believe."
"Yes, but to live in the West soon rubs out the marks of all sections."
"True enough, I suppose. But do you expect to go back there?"
"Yes, but I don't know how long I'll stay. I may run out and come
straight back. I can't tell. It all depends."
"Upon Gunhild's decision?"
"Not wholly. The fact is I can't explain myself. Oh, I could," he
added, observing her wondering eye, "but I serve my purpose best by----"
"By showing that you have no confidence in me," she suggested. "No," she
hastened to continue, "you have none. You have shown it all along. But
why should I ask you to have confidence? We met by accident at a
farm-house, during a holiday, at a time when real friendships are rarely
formed. Impressed by the ephemeral season, we recognize that we too are
but fleeting, with changing likes and dislikes, the prejudices and
predilections of an hour. Of course, my affection for Gunhild is
lasting. Her interests and mine walk far down the road together, hand in
hand. I could not expect you to see this; you saw her and all else stood
about her in a dim radius. I was a shadow, dim or dark, as the day was
light or heavy, the same as Mrs. Blakemore. My station entitled me to
respect, and you gave it. But you did not feel that my love for the
young woman entitled me to something closer than respect. You are no
common man, Mr. Milford. Your face is a Vandyke conception of a spirit
of adventure. You are a strength repenting a weakness; there are flaws
in you, and yet I could wish that I were the mother of such a son."
"Don't," said Milford, touching her hand; "please don't. I honor you; I
could get down on my knees to you. You're not a shadow. There is nothing
in a shadow that makes a man bow his head in reverence. But I can't tell
you."
"Is it so very bad, Mr. Milford?"
"Yes, it is worse than very bad."
He moved further from her, and looked at her as if he expected her to
move also, but she did not. "There is redemption," she said; "moral
redemption."
"There must be a material redemption," he replied.
"God demands that it must be spiritual," she said.
"But man insists that it must be earthly," he persisted.
"The gospel was tenderest coming from the mouth of one who had been
infamous."
"Yes," he replied, "but then the blood of the Virgin's Son was still red
upon the earth, and in the heart of the changing world that blood atoned
for everything. It is different now. Man may forgive, but he wants the
dollar."
"And he's goin' to get it unless you tie his hands behind him," said
Mrs. Stuvic, stepping into the room. "Yes, you bet! Why don't you have
that girl play the pian, Mrs.--I can't recollect your name to save my
life."
"She didn't bring her music," Mrs. Goodwin replied, and the old woman
"whiffed." "Music the cat's foot! Don't she know a tune? Tell her to
give me a jig and I'll dance it."
"She won't play, Mrs. Stuvic. It's of no use to ask her."
"She won't? Well, then, she needn't. Mebbe she don't like my pian. But I
want to tell you that it's as good as anybody's. I give a hundred and
fifty dollars and a colt for it, and the carpenter painted it fresh
this spring. But if she don't want to play, she needn't. What's become
of that woman--out here last year? Can't think of her name, but her
husband moped about and ended up by callin' your young woman a peach.
What's become of her?"
"She's gone to the seashore, I understand," Mrs. Goodwin answered,
looking slyly at Milford.
"Oh, she has? Well, let her go, there wan't no string tied to her. Bill,
I want you to drive over to Antioch for me if you've got the time, and
you never appear to be busy when there's women around. They've got the
pony hitched up."
Mrs. Goodwin drove with him. Near the old brick house they met the
Professor, leading a calf.
He snatched off his hat, and the calf snatched him off his feet, but he
scrambled up, tied the rope to a fence-post, and was then ready to do
the polite thing, bowing and brushing himself. He had been on the keen
jump, he said, catching drift-wood in the commercial whirlpool, but he
had often thought of Mrs. Goodwin, one of the noblest of her honored
sex. "I have turned from the sylvan paths where wild roses nod," said
he, "turned into the dusty highway of trade, but I have not forgotten
the roses, madam," he declared with a bow. "They come as a sweet
reminiscence of my brighter but less useful days. Permit me to extend to
you----"
The calf broke loose and went scampering down the road, a twinkling of
white hoofs in the black dust; and with a shout the Professor took to
his heels in pursuit.
"Something always happens to that man's dignity," said Mrs. Goodwin,
laughing as they drove on. "Is he ever serious?"
"He may not appear so, but he's serious now," Milford answered, looking
back at him, galloping down the road.
"Couldn't we have helped him in some way?" she asked, now that it was
too late even to think about it.
"We might have shouted advice after him, but that was about all we could
have done," said Milford. "He'll catch him down there. Somebody'll head
him off."
As they drove through the village street, Milford pointed out the place
wherein he had trained himself to meet the man Dorsey. He had worked
during weeks that one minute might be a victory. She told him that it
was the appearance of having a dauntless spirit that at first aroused in
her an interest in him. She detested a quarrel, but she liked a man who
would fight. Her father had been a captain in the navy, and he had
taught her to believe that a courageous knave was more to be admired
than an honest man without nerve. Of course this was an extreme view,
the exaggerated policy of a fighting man, and though she did not accept
it in full, yet it had strongly impressed her. She did not see how a man
could be an American and not be brave. And frankness was a part of
bravery. At least it ought to be. Milford was brave, but not frank
enough, with her. On the way home she returned to the subject. There was
a charm in the confidence of a brave man. It was strange that he had not
told Gunhild more about himself. He surely loved her. She was capable
of inspiring the deepest love. Of course she had seen him in the West,
but had merely seen him, and his life was still a sealed book to her.
Oh, no, she had not complained. That was not her nature.
"She'll know enough one of these days," said Milford. "Perhaps too
much," he added.
"Well, I suppose we must wait," she replied. "And I hope you'll not
think my curiosity idle. All interest is curiosity, more or less, but
all interest is not idle. So you don't know how long you'll remain
here?"
"I haven't staked off the time."
She sighed. She said that the summer had been a disappointment. She had
not been happy since Gunhild left her. Her going away must have been a
wild notion, caught from Milford. There was no necessity for teaching,
till at least she had studied longer herself. She had not been
disappointed in her development, not wholly. Her outcome as a woman had
more than offset her failure as an artist. And she found that it was the
woman whom she had liked, rather than the artist. With her new care it
was different. She was all musician, a genius with whims and caprices, a
moody companion, not capable of inspiring friendship. She had taken her
as a duty, a duty which she felt that she owed to the musical world.
"I am going home to-morrow," she said, when Milford helped her down at
Mrs. Stuvic's gate. "I don't like these new people. They are coarse."
"To-morrow I have business across the country," said Milford. "I may not
see you again."
"I am sorry. Will you do me a favor? When you write to Gunhild tell her
that she must come back to me. I need her."
"I will tell her that you have said so."
"That won't be much of a favor, but tell her. And I want you to promise
one thing--that you will come to see me, when you are married."
"I'll promise that gladly, and keep it. I am very fond of you."
"Are you?"
"Yes. You said you would like to be the mother of such a son. That was
the kindest thing ever said to me. It makes you my mother."
"Oh," she said, falteringly, as he took her hand. "You will understand
me better in the time to come. Good-bye."