CHAPTER IV
WHEREIN THE SINTONS ARE DISAPPOINTED, AND MRS. COMSTOCK LEARNS THAT
SHE CAN LAUGH
With the first streak of red above the Limberlost Margaret Sinton
was busy with the gingham and the intricate paper pattern she had
purchased. Wesley cooked the breakfast and worked until he thought
Elnora would be gone, then he started to bring her mother.
"Now you be mighty careful," cautioned Margaret. "I
don't know how she will take it."
"I don't either," said Wesley philosophically, "but
she's got to take it some way. That dress has to be finished by
school time in the morning."
Wesley had not slept well that night. He had been so busy framing
diplomatic speeches to make to Mrs. Comstock that sleep had little
chance with him. Every step nearer to her he approached his position
seemed less enviable. By the time he reached the front gate and
started down the walk between the rows of asters and lady slippers
he was perspiring, and every plausible and convincing speech had
fled his brain. Mrs. Comstock helped him. She met him at the door.
"Good morning," she said. "Did Margaret send you
for something?"
"Yes," said Wesley. "She's got a job that's too big
for her, and she wants you to help."
"Of course I will," said Mrs. Comstock. It was no one's
affair how lonely the previous day had been, or how the endless
hours of the present would drag. "What is she doing in such
a rush?"
Now was his chance.
"She's making a dress for Elnora," answered, Wesley. He
saw Mrs. Comstock's form straighten, and her face harden, so he
continued hastily. "You see Elnora has been helping us at harvest
time, butchering, and with unexpected visitors for years. We've
made out that she's saved us a considerable sum, and as she wouldn't
ever touch any pay for anything, we just went to town and got a
few clothes we thought would fix her up a little for the high school.
We want to get a dress done to-day mighty bad, but Margaret is slow
about sewing, and she never can finish alone, so I came after you."
"And it's such a simple little matter, so dead easy; and all
so between old friends like, that you can't look above your boots
while you explain it," sneered Mrs. Comstock. "Wesley
Sinton, what put the idea into your head that Elnora would take
things bought with money, when she wouldn't take the money?
Then Sinton's eyes came up straightly.
"Finding her on the trail last night sobbing as hard as I ever
saw any one at a funeral. She wasn't complaining at all, but she's
come to me all her life with her little hurts, and she couldn't
hide how she'd been laughed at, twitted, and run face to face against
the fact that there were books and tuition, unexpected, and nothing
will ever make me believe you didn't know that, Kate Comstock."
"If any doubts are troubling you on that subject, sure I knew
it! She was so anxious to try the world, I thought I'd just let
her take a few knocks and see how she liked them."
"As if she'd ever taken anything but knocks all her life!"
cried Wesley Sinton. "Kate Comstock, you are a heartless, selfish
woman. You've never shown Elnora any real love in her life. If ever
she finds out that thing you'll lose her, and it will serve you
right."
"She knows it now," said Mrs. Comstock icily, "and
she'll be home to-night just as usual."
"Well, you are a brave woman if you dared put a girl of Elnora's
make through what she suffered yesterday, and will suffer again
to-day, and let her know you did it on purpose. I admire your nerve.
But I've watched this since Elnora was born, and I got enough. Things
have come to a pass where they go better for her, or I interfere."
"As if you'd ever done anything but interfere all her life!
Think I haven't watched you? Think I, with my heart raw in my breast,
and too numb to resent it openly, haven't seen you and Mag Sinton
trying to turn Elnora against me day after day? When did you ever
tell her what her father meant to me? When did you ever try to make
her see the wreck of my life, and what I've suffered? No indeed!
Always it's been poor little abused Elnora, and cakes, kissing,
extra clothes, and encouraging her to run to you with a pitiful
mouth every time I tried to make a woman of her."
"Kate Comstock, that's unjust," cried Sinton. "Only
last night I tried to show her the picture I saw the day she was
born. I begged her to come to you and tell you pleasant what she
needed, and ask you for what I happen to know you can well afford
to give her."
"I can't!" cried Mrs. Comstock. "You know I can't!"
"Then get so you can!" said Wesley Sinton. "Any day
you say the word you can sell six thousand worth of rare timber
off this place easy. I'll see to clearing and working the fields
cheap as dirt, for Elnora's sake. I'll buy you more cattle to fatten.
All you've got to do is sign a lease, to pull thousands from the
ground in oil, as the rest of us are doing all around you!"
"Cut down Robert's trees!" shrieked Mrs. Comstock. "Tear
up his land! Cover everything with horrid, greasy oil! I'll die
first."
"You mean you'll let Elnora go like a beggar, and hurt and
mortify her past bearing. I've got to the place where I tell you
plain what I am going to do. Maggie and I went to town last night,
and we bought what things Elnora needs most urgent to make her look
a little like the rest of the high school girls. Now here it is
in plain English. You can help get these things ready, and let us
give them to her as we want----"
"She won't touch them!" cried Mrs. Comstock.
"Then you can pay us, and she can take them as her right----"
"I won't!"
"Then I will tell Elnora just what you are worth, what you
can afford, and how much of this she owns. I'll loan her the money
to buy books and decent clothes, and when she is of age she can
sell her share and pay me."
Mrs. Comstock gripped a chair-back and opened her lips, but no words
came.
"And," Sinton continued, "if she is so much like
you that she won't do that, I'll go to the county seat and lay complaint
against you as her guardian before the judge. I'll swear to what
you are worth, and how you are raising her, and have you discharged,
or have the judge appoint some man who will see that she is comfortable,
educated, and decent looking!"
"You--you wouldn't!" gasped Kate Comstock.
"I won't need to, Kate!" said Sinton, his heart softening
the instant the hard words were said. "You won't show it, but
you do love Elnora! You can't help it! You must see how she needs
things; come help us fix them, and be friends. Maggie and I couldn't
live without her, and you couldn't either. You've got to love such
a fine girl as she is; let it show a little!"
"You can hardly expect me to love her," said Mrs. Comstock
coldly. "But for her a man would stand back of me now, who
would beat the breath out of your sneaking body for the cowardly
thing with which you threaten me. After all I've suffered you'd
drag me to court and compel me to tear up Robert's property. If
I ever go they carry me. If they touch one tree, or put down one
greasy old oil well, it will be over all I can shoot, before they
begin. Now, see how quick you can clear out of here!"
"You won't come and help Maggie with the dress?"
For answer Mrs. Comstock looked around swiftly for some object on
which to lay her hands. Knowing her temper, Wesley Sinton left with
all the haste consistent with dignity. But he did not go home. He
crossed a field, and in an hour brought another neighbour who was
skilful with her needle. With sinking heart Margaret saw them coming.
"Kate is too busy to help to-day, she can't sew before to-morrow,"
said Wesley cheerfully as they entered.
That quieted Margaret's apprehension a little, though she had some
doubts. Wesley prepared the lunch, and by four o'clock the dress
was finished as far as it possibly could be until it was fitted
on Elnora. If that did not entail too much work, it could be completed
in two hours.
Then Margaret packed their purchases into the big market basket.
Wesley took the hat, umbrella, and raincoat, and they went to Mrs.
Comstock's. As they reached the step, Margaret spoke pleasantly
to Mrs. Comstock, who sat reading just inside the door, but she
did not answer and deliberately turned a leaf without looking up.
Wesley Sinton opened the door and went in followed by Margaret.
"Kate," he said, "you needn't take out your mad over
our little racket on Maggie. I ain't told her a word I said to you,
or you said to me. She's not so very strong, and she's sewed since
four o'clock this morning to get this dress ready for to-morrow.
It's done and we came down to try it on Elnora."
"Is that the truth, Mag Sinton?" demanded Mrs. Comstock.
"You heard Wesley say so," proudly affirmed Mrs. Sinton.
"I want to make you a proposition," said Wesley. "Wait
till Elnora comes. Then we'll show her the things and see what she
says."
"How would it do to see what she says without bribing her,"
sneered Mrs. Comstock.
"If she can stand what she did yesterday, and will to- day,
she can bear 'most anything," said Wesley. "Put away the
clothes if you want to, till we tell her."
"Well, you don't take this waist I'm working on," said
Margaret, "for I have to baste in the sleeves and set the collar.
Put the rest out of sight if you like."
Mrs. Comstock picked up the basket and bundles, placed them inside
her room and closed the door.
Margaret threaded her needle and began to sew. Mrs. Comstock returned
to her book, while Wesley fidgeted and raged inwardly. He could
see that Margaret was nervous and almost in tears, but the lines
in Mrs. Comstock's impassive face were set and cold. So they sat
while the clock ticked off the time--one hour, two, dusk, and no
Elnora. Just when Margaret and Wesley were discussing whether he
had not better go to town to meet Elnora, they heard her coming
up the walk. Wesley dropped his tilted chair and squared himself.
Margaret gripped her sewing, and turned pleading eyes toward the
door. Mrs. Comstock closed her book and grimly smiled.
"Mother, please open the door," called Elnora.
Mrs. Comstock arose, and swung back the screen. Elnora stepped in
beside her, bent half double, the whole front of her dress gathered
into a sort of bag filled with a heavy load, and one arm stacked
high with books. In the dim light she did not see the Sintons.
"Please hand me the empty bucket in the kitchen, mother,"
she said. "I just had to bring these arrow points home, but
I'm scared for fear I've spoiled my dress and will have to wash
it. I'm to clean them, and take them to the banker in the morning,
and oh, mother, I've sold enough stuff to pay for my books, my tuition,
and maybe a dress and some lighter shoes besides. Oh, mother I'm
so happy! Take the books and bring the bucket!"
Then she saw Margaret and Wesley. "Oh, glory!" she exulted.
"I was just wondering how I'd ever wait to tell you, and here
you are! It's too perfectly splendid to be true!"
"Tell us, Elnora," said Sinton.
"Well sir," said Elnora, doubling down on the floor and
spreading out her skirt, "set the bucket here, mother. These
points are brittle, and should be put in one at a time. If they
are chipped I can't sell them. Well sir! I've had a time! You know
I just had to have books. I tried three stores, and they wouldn't
trust me, not even three days, I didn't know what in this world
I could do quickly enough. Just when I was almost frantic I saw
a sign in a bank window asking for caterpillars, cocoons, butterflies,
arrow points, and everything. I went in, and it was this Bird Woman
who wants the insects, and the banker wants the stones. I had to
go to school then, but, if you'll believe it"--Elnora beamed
on all of them in turn as she talked and slipped the arrow points
from her dress to the pail--"if you'll believe it--but you
won't, hardly, until you look at the books--there was the mathematics
teacher, waiting at his door, and he had a set of books for me that
he had telephoned a Sophomore to bring."
"How did he happen to do that, Elnora?" interrupted Sinton.
Elnora blushed.
"It was a fool mistake I made yesterday in thinking books were
just handed out to one. There was a teachers' meeting last night
and the history teacher told about that. Professor Henley thought
of me. You know I told you what he said about my algebra, mother.
Ain't I glad I studied out some of it myself this summer! So he
telephoned and a girl brought the books. Because they are marked
and abused some I get the whole outfit for two dollars. I can erase
most of the marks, paste down the covers, and fix them so they look
better. But I must hurry to the joy part. I didn't stop to eat,
at noon, I just ran to the Bird Woman's, and I had lunch with her.
It was salad, hot chocolate, and lovely things, and she wants to
buy most every old scrap I ever gathered. She wants dragonflies,
moths, butterflies, and he--the banker, I mean--wants everything
Indian. This very night she came to the swamp with me and took away
enough stuff to pay for the books and tuition, and to-morrow she
is going to buy some more."
Elnora laid the last arrow point in the pail and arose, shaking
leaves and bits of baked earth from her dress. She reached into
her pocket, produced her money and waved it before their wondering
eyes.
"And that's the joy part!" she exulted. "Put it up
in the clock till morning, mother. That pays for the books and tuition
and--" Elnora hesitated, for she saw the nervous grasp with
which her mother's fingers closed on the bills. Then she continued,
but more slowly and thinking before she spoke.
"What I get to-morrow pays for more books and tuition, and
maybe a few, just a few, things to wear. These shoes are so dreadfully
heavy and hot, and they make such a noise on the floor. There isn't
another calico dress in the whole building, not among hundreds of
us. Why, what is that? Aunt Margaret, what are you hiding in your
lap?"
She snatched the waist and shook it out, and her face was beaming.
"Have you taken to waists all fancy and buttoned in the back?
I bet you this is mine!"
"But you needn't, now! I can buy every single stitch I need
myself. Next summer I can gather up a lot more stuff, and all winter
on the way to school. I am sure I can sell ferns, I know I can nuts,
and the Bird Woman says the grade rooms want leaves, grasses, birds'
nests, and cocoons. Oh, isn't this world lovely! I'll be helping
with the tax, next, mother!"
Elnora waved the waist and started for the bedroom. When she opened
the door she gave a little cry.
"What have you people been doing?" she demanded. "I
never saw so many interesting bundles in all my life. I'm `skeered'
to death for fear I can't pay for them, and will have to give up
something."
"Wouldn't you take them, if you could not pay for them, Elnora?"
asked her mother instantly.
"Why, not unless you did," answered Elnora. "People
have no right to wear things they can't afford, have they?"
"But from such old friends as Maggie and Wesley!" Mrs.
Comstock's voice was oily with triumph.
"From them least of all," cried Elnora stoutly. "From
a stranger sooner than from them, to whom I owe so much more than
I ever can pay now."
"Well, you don't have to," said Mrs. Comstock. "Maggie
just selected these things, because she is more in touch with the
world, and has got such good taste. You can pay as long as your
money holds out, and if there's more necessary, maybe I can sell
the butcher a calf, or if things are too costly for us, of course,
they can take them back. Put on the waist now, and then you can
look over the rest and see if they are suitable, and what you want."
Elnora stepped into the adjoining room and closed the door. Mrs.
Comstock picked up the bucket and started for the well with it.
At the bedroom she paused.
"Elnora, were you going to wash these arrow points?"
"Yes. The Bird Woman says they sell better if they are clean,
so it can be seen that there are no defects in them."
"Of course," said Mrs. Comstock. "Some of them seem
quite baked. Shall I put them to soak? Do you want to take them
in the morning?"
"Yes, I do," answered Elnora. "If you would just
fill the pail with water."
Mrs. Comstock left the room. Wesley Sinton sat with his back to
the window in the west end of the cabin which overlooked the well.
A suppressed sound behind him caused him to turn quickly. Then he
arose and leaned over Margaret.
"She's out there laughing like a blamed monkey!" he whispered
indignantly.
"Well, she can't help it!" exclaimed Margaret.
"I'm going home!" said Wesley.
"Oh no, you are not!" retorted Margaret. "You are
missing the point. The point is not how you look, or feel. It is
to get these things in Elnora's possession past dispute. You go
now, and to-morrow Elnora will wear calico, and Kate Comstock will
return these goods. Right here I stay until everything we bought
is Elnora's."
"What are you going to do?" asked Wesley.
"I don't know yet, myself," said Margaret.
Then she arose and peered from the window. At the well curb stood
Katharine Comstock. The strain of the day was finding reaction.
Her chin was in the air, she was heaving, shaking and strangling
to suppress any sound. The word that slipped between Margaret Sinton's
lips shocked Wesley until he dropped on his chair, and recalled
her to her senses. She was fairly composed as she turned to Elnora,
and began the fitting. When she had pinched, pulled, and patted
she called, "Come see if you think this fits, Kate."
Mrs. Comstock had gone around to the back door and answered from
the kitchen. "You know more about it than I do. Go ahead! I'm
getting supper. Don't forget to allow for what it will shrink in
washing!"
"I set the colours and washed the goods last night; it can
be made to fit right now," answered Margaret.
When she could find nothing more to alter she told Elnora to heat
some water. After she had done that the girl began opening packages.
The hat came first.
"Mother!" cried Elnora. "Mother, of course, you have
seen this, but you haven't seen it on me. I must try it on."
"Don't you dare put that on your head until your hair is washed
and properly combed," said Margaret.
"Oh!" cried Elnora. "Is that water to wash my hair?
I thought it was to set the colour in another dress."
"Well, you thought wrong," said Margaret simply. "Your
hair is going to be washed and brushed until it shines like copper.
While it dries you can eat your supper, and this dress will be finished.
Then you can put on your new ribbon, and your hat. You can try your
shoes now, and if they don't fit, you and Wesley can drive to town
and change them. That little round bundle on the top of the basket
is your stockings."
Margaret sat down and began sewing swiftly, and a little later opened
the machine, and ran several long seams.
Elnora returned in a few minutes holding up her skirts and stepping
daintily in the new shoes.
"Don't soil them, honey, else you're sure they fit," cautioned
Wesley.
"They seem just a trifle large, maybe," said Elnora dubiously,
and Wesley knelt to feel. He and Margaret thought them a fit, and
then Elnora appealed to her mother. Mrs. Comstock appeared wiping
her hands on her apron. She examined the shoes critically.
"They seem to fit," she said, "but they are away
too fine to walk country roads."
"I think so, too," said Elnora instantly. "We had
better take these back and get a cheaper pair."
"Oh, let them go for this time," said Mrs. Comstock. "They
are so pretty, I hate to part with them. You can get cheaper ones
after this."
Wesley and Margaret scarcely breathed for a long time.
When Wesley went to do the feeding. Elnora set the table. When the
water was hot, Margaret pinned a big towel around Elnora's shoulders
and washed and dried the lovely hair according to the instructions
she had been given the previous night. As the hair began to dry
it billowed out in a sparkling sheen that caught the light and gleamed
and flashed.
"Now, the idea is to let it stand naturally, just as the curl
will make it. Don't you do any of that nasty, untidy snarling, Elnora,"
cautioned Margaret. "Wash it this way every two weeks while
you are in school, shake it out, and dry it. Then part it in the
middle and turn a front quarter on each side from your face. You
tie the back at your neck with a string--so, and the ribbon goes
in a big, loose bow. I'll show you." One after another Margaret
Sinton tied the ribbons, creasing each of them so they could not
be returned, as she explained that she was trying to find the colour
most becoming. Then she produced the raincoat which carried Elnora
into transports.
Mrs. Comstock objected. "That won't be warm enough for cold
weather, and you can't afford it and a coat, too."
"I'll tell you what I thought," said Elnora. "I was
planning on the way home. These coats are fine because they keep
you dry. I thought I would get one, and a warm sweater to wear under
it cold days. Then I always would be dry, and warm. The sweater
only costs three dollars, so I could get it and the raincoat both
for half the price of a heavy cloth coat."
"You are right about that," said Mrs. Comstock. "You
can change more with the weather, too. Keep the raincoat, Elnora."
"Wear it until you try the hat," said Margaret. "It
will have to do until the dress is finished."
Elnora picked up the hat dubiously. "Mother, may I wear my
hair as it is now?" she asked.
"Let me take a good look," said Katharine Comstock.
Heaven only knows what she saw. To Wesley and to Margaret the bright
young face of Elnora, with its pink tints, its heavy dark brows,
its bright blue-gray eyes, and its frame of curling reddish-brown
hair was the sweetest sight on earth, and at that instant Elnora
was radiant.
"So long as it's your own hair, and combed back as plain as
it will go, I don't suppose it cuts much ice whether it's tied a
little tighter or looser," conceded Mrs. Comstock. "If
you stop right there, you may let it go at that."
Elnora set the hat on her head. It was only a wide tan straw with
three exquisite peacock quills at one side. Margaret Sinton cried
out, Wesley slapped his knee and sighed deeply while Mrs. Comstock
stood speechless for a second.
"I wish you had asked the price before you put that on,"
she said impatiently. "We never can afford it."
"It's not so much as you think," said Margaret. "Don't
you see what I did? I had them take off the quills, and put on some
of those Phoebe Simms gave me from her peacocks. The hat will only
cost you a dollar and a half."
She avoided Wesley's eyes, and looked straight at Mrs. Comstock.
Elnora removed the hat to examine it.
"Why, they are those reddish-tan quills of yours!" she
cried. "Mother, look how beautifully they are set on! I'd much
rather have them than those from the store."
"So would I," said Mrs. Comstock. "If Margaret wants
to spare them, that will make you a beautiful hat; dirt cheap, too!
You must go past Mrs. Simms and show her. She would be pleased to
see them."
Elnora sank into a chair and contemplated her toe. "Landy,
ain't I a queen?" she murmured. "What else have I got?"
"Just a belt, some handkerchiefs, and a pair of top shoes for
rainy days and colder weather," said Margaret.
"About those high shoes, that was my idea," said Wesley.
"Soon as it rains, low shoes won't do, and by taking two pairs
at once I could get them some cheaper. The low ones are two and
the high ones two fifty, together three seventy-five. Ain't that
cheap?"
"That's a real bargain," said Mrs. Comstock, "if
they are good shoes, and they look it."
"This" said Wesley, producing the last package, "is
your Christmas present from your Aunt Maggie. I got mine, too, but
it's at the house. I'll bring it up in the morning."
He handed Margaret the umbrella, and she passed it over to Elnora
who opened it and sat laughing under its shelter. Then she kissed
both of them. She brought a pencil and a slip of paper to set down
the prices they gave her of everything they had brought except the
umbrella, added the sum, and said laughingly: "Will you please
wait till to-morrow for the money? I will have it then, sure."
"Elnora," said Wesley Sinton. "Wouldn't you----"
"Elnora, hustle here a minute!" called Mrs. Comstock from
the kitchen. "I need you!"
"One second, mother," answered Elnora, throwing off the
coat and hat, and closing the umbrella as she ran. There were several
errands to do in a hurry, and then supper. Elnora chattered incessantly,
Wesley and Margaret talked all they could, while Mrs. Comstock said
a word now and then, which was all she ever did. But Wesley Sinton
was watching her, and time and again he saw a peculiar little twist
around her mouth. He knew that for the first time in sixteen years
she really was laughing over something. She had all she could do
to preserve her usually sober face. Wesley knew what she was thinking.
After supper the dress was finished, the pattern for the next one
discussed, and then the Sintons went home. Elnora gathered her treasures.
When she started upstairs she stopped. "May I kiss you good-night,
mother?" she asked lightly.
"Never mind any slobbering," said Mrs. Comstock. "I
should think you'd lived with me long enough to know that I don't
care for it."
"Well, I'd love to show you in some way how happy I am, and
how I thank you."
"I wonder what for?" said Mrs. Comstock. "Mag Sinton
chose that stuff and brought it here and you pay for it."
"Yes, but you seemed willing for me to have it, and you said
you would help me if I couldn't pay all."
"Maybe I did," said Mrs. Comstock. "Maybe I did.
I meant to get you some heavy dress skirts about Thanksgiving, and
I still can get them. Go to bed, and for any sake don't begin mooning
before a mirror, and make a dunce of yourself."
Mrs. Comstock picked up several papers and blew out the kitchen
light. She stood in the middle of the sitting- room floor for a
time and then went into her room and closed the door. Sitting on
the edge of the bed she thought for a few minutes and then suddenly
buried her face in the pillow and again heaved with laughter.
Down the road plodded Margaret and Wesley Sinton. Neither of them
had words to utter their united thought.
"Done!" hissed Wesley at last. "Done brown! Did you
ever feel like a bloomin', confounded donkey? How did the woman
do it?"
"She didn't do it!" gulped Margaret through her tears.
"She didn't do anything. She trusted to Elnora's great big
soul to bring her out right, and really she was right, and so it
had to bring her. She's a darling, Wesley! But she's got a time
before her. Did you see Kate Comstock grab that money? Before six
months she'll be out combing the Limberlost for bugs and arrow points
to help pay the tax. I know her."
"Well, I don't!" exclaimed Sinton, "she's too many
for me. But there is a laugh left in her yet! I didn't s'pose there
was. Bet you a dollar, if we could see her this minute, she'd be
chuckling over the way we got left."
Both of them stopped in the road and looked back.
"There's Elnora's light in her room," said Margaret. "The
poor child will feel those clothes, and pore over her books till
morning, but she'll look decent to go to school, anyway. Nothing
is too big a price to pay for that."
"Yes, if Kate lets her wear them. Ten to one, she makes her
finish the week with that old stuff!"
"No, she won't," said Margaret. "She'll hardly dare.
Kate made some concessions, all right; big ones for her-- if she
did get her way in the main. She bent some, and if Elnora proves
that she can walk out barehanded in the morning and come back with
that much money in her pocket, an armful of books, and buy a turnout
like that, she proves that she is of some consideration, and Kate's
smart enough. She'll think twice before she'll do that. Elnora won't
wear a calico dress to high school again. You watch and see if she
does. She may have the best clothes she'll get for a time, for the
least money, but she won't know it until she tries to buy goods
herself at the same rates. Wesley, what about those prices? Didn't
they shrink considerable?"
"You began it," said Wesley. "Those prices were all
right. We didn't say what the goods cost us, we said what they would
cost her. Surely, she's mistaken about being able to pay all that.
Can she pick up stuff of that value around the Limberlost? Didn't
the Bird Woman see her trouble, and just give her the money?"
"I don't think so," said Margaret. "Seems to me I've
heard of her paying, or offering to pay those who would take the
money, for bugs and butterflies, and I've known people who sold
that banker Indian stuff. Once I heard that his pipe collection
beat that of the Government at the Philadelphia Centennial. Those
things have come to have a value."
"Well, there's about a bushel of that kind of valuables piled
up in the woodshed, that belongs to Elnora. At least, I picked them
up because she said she wanted them. Ain't it queer that she'd take
to stones, bugs, and butterflies, and save them. Now they are going
to bring her the very thing she wants the worst. Lord, but this
is a funny world when you get to studying! Looks like things didn't
all come by accident. Looks as if there was a plan back of it, and
somebody driving that knows the road, and how to handle the lines.
Anyhow, Elnora's in the wagon, and when I get out in the night and
the dark closes around me, and I see the stars, I don't feel so
cheap. Maggie, how the nation did Kate Comstock do that?"
"You will keep on harping, Wesley. I told you she didn't do
it. Elnora did it! She walked in and took things right out of our
hands. All Kate had to do was to enjoy having it go her way, and
she was cute enough to put in a few questions that sort of guided
Elnora. But I don't know, Wesley. This thing makes me think, too.
S'pose we'd taken Elnora when she was a baby, and we'd heaped on
her all the love we can't on our own, and we'd coddled, petted,
and shielded her, would she have made the woman that living alone,
learning to think for herself, and taking all the knocks Kate Comstock
could give, have made of her?"
"You bet your life!" cried Wesley, warmly. "Loving
anybody don't hurt them. We wouldn't have done anything but love
her. You can't hurt a child loving it. She'd have learned to work,
to study, and grown into a woman with us, without suffering like
a poor homeless dog."
"But you don't see the point, Wesley. She would have grown
into a fine woman with us; but as we would have raised her, would
her heart ever have known the world as it does now? Where's the
anguish, Wesley, that child can't comprehend? Seeing what she's
seen of her mother hasn't hardened her. She can understand any mother's
sorrow. Living life from the rough side has only broadened her.
Where's the girl or boy burning with shame, or struggling to find
a way, that will cross Elnora's path and not get a lift from her?
She's had the knocks, but there'll never be any of the thing you
call `false pride' in her. I guess we better keep out. Maybe Kate
Comstock knows what she's doing. Sure as you live, Elnora has grown
bigger on knocks than she would on love."
"I don't s'pose there ever was a very fine point to anything
but I missed it," said Wesley, "because I am blunt, rough,
and have no book learning to speak of. Since you put it into words
I see what you mean, but it's dinged hard on Elnora, just the same.
And I don't keep out. I keep watching closer than ever. I got my
slap in the face, but if I don't miss my guess, Kate Comstock learned
her lesson, same as I did. She learned that I was in earnest, that
I would haul her to court if she didn't loosen up a bit, and she'll
loosen. You see if she doesn't. It may come hard, and the hinges
creak, but she'll fix Elnora decent after this, if Elnora doesn't
prove that she can fix herself. As for me, I found out that what
I was doing was as much for myself as for Elnora. I wanted her to
take those things from us, and love us for giving them. It didn't
work, and but for you, I'd messed the whole thing and stuck like
a pig in crossing a bridge. But you helped me out; Elnora's got
the clothes, and by morning, maybe I won't grudge Kate the only
laugh she's had in sixteen years. You been showing me the way quite
a spell now, ain't you, Maggie?"
In her attic Elnora lighted two candles, set them on her little
table, stacked the books, and put away the precious clothes. How
lovingly she hung the hat and umbrella, folded the raincoat, and
spread the new dress over a chair. She fingered the ribbons, and
tried to smooth the creases from them. She put away the hose neatly
folded, touched the handkerchiefs, and tried the belt. Then she
slipped into her white nightdress, shook down her hair that it might
become thoroughly dry, set a chair before the table, and reverently
opened one of the books. A stiff draught swept the attic, for it
stretched the length of the cabin, and had a window in each end.
Elnora arose and going to the east window closed it. She stood for
a minute looking at the stars, the sky, and the dark outline of
the straggling trees of the rapidly dismantling Limberlost. In the
region of her case a tiny point of light flashed and disappeared.
Elnora straightened and wondered. Was it wise to leave her precious
money there? The light flashed once more, wavered a few seconds,
and died out. The girl waited. She did not see it again, so she
turned to her books.
In the Limberlost the hulking figure of a man sneaked down the trail.
"The Bird Woman was at Freckles's room this evening,"
he muttered. "Wonder what for?"
He left the trail, entered the enclosure still distinctly outlined,
and approached the case. The first point of light flashed from the
tiny electric lamp on his vest. He took a duplicate key from his
pocket, felt for the padlock and opened it. The door swung wide.
The light flashed the second time. Swiftly his glance swept the
interior.
"'Bout a fourth of her moths gone. Elnora must have been with
the Bird Woman and given them to her." Then he stood tense.
His keen eyes discovered the roll of bills hastily thrust back in
the bottom of the case. He snatched them up, shut off the light,
relocked the case by touch, and swiftly went down the trail. Every
few seconds he paused and listened intently. Just as he reached
the road, a second figure approached him.
"Is it you, Pete?" came the whispered question.
"Yes," said the first man.
"I was coming down to take a peep, when I saw your flash,"
he said. "I heard the Bird Woman had been at the case to-day.
Anything doing?"
"Not a thing," said Pete. "She just took away about
a fourth of the moths. Probably had the Comstock girl getting them
for her. Heard they were together. Likely she'll get the rest to-morrow.
Ain't picking gettin' bare these days?"
"Well, I should say so," said the second man, turning
back in disgust. "Coming home, now?"
"No, I am going down this way," answered Pete, for his
eyes caught the gleam from the window of the Comstock cabin, and
he had a desire to learn why Elnora's attic was lighted at that
hour.
He slouched down the road, occasionally feeling the size of the
roll he had not taken time to count.
The attic was too long, the light too near the other end, and the
cabin stood much too far back from the road. He could see nothing
although he climbed the fence and walked back opposite the window.
He knew Mrs. Comstock was probably awake, and that she sometimes
went to the swamp behind her home at night. At times a cry went
up from that locality that paralyzed any one near, or sent them
fleeing as if for life. He did not care to cross behind the cabin.
He returned to the road, passed, and again climbed the fence. Opposite
the west window he could see Elnora. She sat before a small table
reading from a book between two candles. Her hair fell in a bright
sheen around her, and with one hand she lightly shook, and tossed
it as she studied. The man stood out in the night and watched.
For a long time a leaf turned at intervals and the hair-drying went
on. The man drew nearer. The picture grew more beautiful as he approached.
He could not see so well as he desired, for the screen was of white
mosquito netting, and it angered him. He cautiously crept closer.
The elevation shut off his view. Then he remembered the large willow
tree shading the well and branching across the window fit the west
end of the cabin. From childhood Elnora had stepped from the sill
to a limb and slid down the slanting trunk of the tree. He reached
it and noiselessly swung himself up. Three steps out on the big
limb the man shuddered. He was within a few feet of the girl.
He could see the throb of her breast under its thin covering and
smell the fragrance of the tossing hair. He could see the narrow
bed with its pieced calico cover, the whitewashed walls with gay
lithographs, and every crevice stuck full of twigs with dangling
cocoons. There were pegs for the few clothes, the old chest, the
little table, the two chairs, the uneven floor covered with rag
rugs and braided corn husk. But nothing was worth a glance except
the perfect face and form within reach by one spring through the
rotten mosquito bar. He gripped the limb above that on which he
stood, licked his lips, and breathed through his throat to be sure
he was making no sound. Elnora closed the book and laid it aside.
She picked up a towel, and turning the gathered ends of her hair
rubbed them across it, and dropping the towel on her lap, tossed
the hair again. Then she sat in deep thought. By and by words began
to come softly. Near as he was the man could not hear at first.
He bent closer and listened intently.
"--ever could be so happy," murmured the soft voice. "The
dress is so pretty, such shoes, the coat, and everything. I won't
have to be ashamed again, not ever again, for the Limberlost is
full of precious moths, and I always can collect them. The Bird
Woman will buy more to-morrow, and the next day, and the next. When
they are all gone, I can spend every minute gathering cocoons, and
hunting other things I can sell. Oh, thank God, for my precious,
precious money. Why, I didn't pray in vain after all! I thought
when I asked the Lord to hide me, there in that big hall, that He
wasn't doing it, because I wasn't covered from sight that instant.
But I'm hidden now, I feel that." Elnora lifted her eyes to
the beams above her. "I don't know much about praying properly,"
she muttered, "but I do thank you, Lord, for hiding me in your
own time and way."
Her face was so bright that it shone with a white radiance. Two
big tears welled from her eyes, and rolled down her smiling cheeks.
"Oh, I do feel that you have hidden me," she breathed.
Then she blew out the lights, and the little wooden bed creaked
under her weight.
Pete Corson dropped from the limb and found his way to the road.
He stood still a long time, then started back to the Limberlost.
A tiny point of light flashed in the region of the case. He stopped
with an oath.
"Another hound trying to steal from a girl," he exclaimed.
"But it's likely he thinks if he gets anything it will be from
a woman who can afford it, as I did."
He went on, but beside the fences, and very cautiously.
"Swamp seems to be alive to-night," he muttered. "That's
three of us out."
He entered a deep place at the northwest corner, sat on the ground
and taking a pencil from his pocket, he tore a leaf from a little
notebook, and laboriously wrote a few lines by the light he carried.
Then he went back to the region of the case and waited. Before his
eyes swept the vision of the slender white creature with tossing
hair. He smiled, and worshipped it, until a distant rooster faintly
announced dawn.
Then he unlocked the case again, and replaced the money, laid the
note upon it, and went back to concealment, where he remained until
Elnora came down the trail in the morning, appearing very lovely
in her new dress and hat.