In the Days of Poor Richard

  CHAPTER VI

  THE LOVERS

  The fashionable tailor was done with Jack's equipment. Franklin hadseen and approved the admirably shaped and fitted garments. The youngman and his friend Solomon had moved to their new lodgings onBloomsbury Square. The scout had acquired a suit for street wear andwas now able to walk abroad without exciting the multitudes. TheDoctor was planning what he called "a snug little party." So heannounced when Jack and Solomon came, adding:

  "But first you are to meet Margaret and her mother here at half afterfour."

  Jack made careful preparation for that event. Fortunately it was aclear, bright day after foggy weather. Solomon had refused to go withJack for fear of being in the way.

  "I want to see her an' her folks but I reckon ye'll have yer hands fullto-day," he remarked. "Ye don't need no scout on that kind o'reconnoiterin'. You go on ahead an' git through with yer smackin an'bym-by I'll straggle in."

  Precisely at four thirty-five Jack presented himself at the lodgings ofhis distinguished friend. He has said in a letter, when his dramaticadventures were all behind him, that this was the most thrilling momenthe had known. "The butler had told me that the ladies were there," hewrote. "Upon my word it put me out of breath climbing that littleflight of stairs. But it was in fact the end of a long journey. It iscurious that my feeling then should remind me, as it does, of momentswhen I have been close up to the enemy, within his lines, and lyinghard against the ground in some thicket while British soldiers weretramping so near I could feel the ground shake. In the room I saw LadyHare and Doctor Franklin standing side by side. What a smile he woreas he looked at me! I have never known a human being who had such acheering light in his countenance. I have seen it brighten the darkestdays of the war aided by the light of his words. His faith and goodcheer were immovable. I felt the latter when he said:

  "'See the look of alarm in his face. Now for a pretty drama!'

  "Mrs. Hare gave me her hand and I kissed it and said that I hadexpected to see Margaret and hoped that she was not ill. There was athistledown touch on my cheek from behind and turning I saw thelaughing face I sought looking up at me. I tell you, my mother, therenever was such a pair of eyes. Their long, dark lashes and the glowbetween them I remember chiefly. The latter was the friendly light ofher spirit To me it was like a candle in the window to guide my feet.'Come,' it seemed to say. 'Here is a welcome for you.' I saw the pinkin her cheeks, the crimson in her lips, the white of her neck, the glowof her abundant hair, the shapeliness of brow and nose and chin in thatfirst glance. I saw the beating of her heart even. I remember therewas a tiny mole on her temple under the edge of that beautiful, goldencrown of hers. It did not escape my eye. I tell you she was fair asthe first violets in Meadowvale on a dewy morning. Of course she wasat her best. It was the last moment in years of waiting in which herimagination had furnished me with endowments too romantic. I have seengreat moments, as you know, but this is the one I could least afford togive up. I had long been wondering what I should do when it came. Nowit was come and there was no taking thought of what we should do. Thatwould seem to have been settled out of court. I kissed her lips andshe kissed mine and for a few moments I think we could have stood in ahalf bushel measure. Then the Doctor laughed and gave her Ladyship asmack on the cheek.

  "'I don't know about you, my Lady, but it fills me with the glow ofyouth to see such going on,' he remarked. 'I'm only twenty-one andnobody knows it--nobody suspects it even. These wrinkles and gray hairare only a mask that covers the heart of a boy.'

  "'I confess that such a scene does push me back into my girlhood,' saidLady Hare. 'Alas! I feel the old thrill.'

  "Franklin came and stood before us with his hands Upon our shoulders,his face shining with happiness. "'Margaret, a woman needs somethingto hold on to in this slippery world,' said he. 'Here is a man thatstands as firm as an oak tree.'

  "He kissed us as did Lady Hare, also, and then we all sat down togetherand laughed. I would not forget, if I could, that we had to wipe oureyes. No, my life has not been all blood and iron.

  "Would you not call it a wonder that we had kept the sacred fire whichhad been kindled in our hearts, so long before, and our faith in eachother? It is because we were both of a steadfast breed of folk--theEnglish--trained to cling to the things that are worth while. Oncethey think they are right how hard it is to turn them aside! Let usnever forget that some of the best of our traits have come from England.

  "Suddenly Solomon arrived. Of course where Solomon is one would expectsolecisms. They were not wanting. I had not tried to prepare him forthe ordeal. Solomon is bound to be himself wherever he is, am why not?There is no better man living.

  "'You're as purty as a golden robin,' he said to Margaret, shaking herhand in his big one.

  "He was not so much put out as I thought he would be. I never saw agentler man with women. As hard as iron in a fight there has alwaysbeen a curious veil of chivalry in the old scout. He stood and jokedwith the girl, in his odd fashion, and set us all laughing. Margaretand her mother enjoyed his talk and spoke of it, often, after that.

  "'Wal, Mis Hare,' he said to Her Ladyship, 'if ye graft this 'eresprout on yer fam'ly tree I'll bet ye a pint o' powder an' a fish hookye won't never be sorry fer it.'

  "It did not seem to occur to him that there were those to whom a pintof powder and a fish hook would be no great temptation."