CHAPTER XIV
AN ASTONISHING QUESTION
"Everybody's here, with all his first wife and children!" criedsomebody, facetiously, as the tin horn was blown to summon the men fromtheir labors in the field to their dinner.
"So they be! So they be! yonder comes Mis' Babcock with all her flock,root and branch. Reckoned she'd strike Skyrie about feedin' time; butthere's plenty, plenty for everyone; and she's a nice woman, a hardworker an' kind neighbor. Sho! Look at Seth Winters! If that man ain't akind of a mesmeriser, or somethin' like it! for he's actually coaxedthat proud Miss Montaigne to join the merry throng! Fact. I just seenhim escortin' her through the gate, an', Dorothy! mind you put on yourbest manners an' treat her real polite, like city folks is supposed toknow how. Since she's put her pride in her pocket an' come, I'd like tohave her see she ain't the only young lady up-mounting. 'Cause youbelong now, you know; you're one of _us_. Go meet her, whilst I fixanother chair right alongside her ma and Mis' Calvert!" directed Mrs.Smith, handing the girl a plate of rusk, with the added injunction:"Take special care o' them biscuit, too, child. I made them myself, Idid, an' I want the 'ristocratics to have first chance at 'em. If somethem men folks tackle them on the road to table, there won't be nothin'left of them but the plate. Take care! I--Why, I don't believe she hearda word I said!"
Dorothy had heard in part. She obediently carried the plate to thetable, though not to that part of it which its owner had designated, andshe had answered: "Yes, Mrs. Smith, I will try." But she had suddenlyperceived a forlorn figure, leaning against the stone wall thatseparated the field from the road, and her interest centered on that.
Poor Peter Piper was peering wistfully into that busy, happy, laughingassemblage of people, as if he longed to be among them yet felt himselfshut out. He had not heard about the "Bee," and even if he had mightnot have comprehended what it meant. Had he been at the blacksmith'shome once after the scheme was started, Seth would assuredly have giventhe half-wit as courteous a chance to share in the fun and labor of thatday as he had given all his other neighbors. But Peter had not been seenby anybody who knew him since that visit of his to Skyrie, in companywith old Brindle. He had departed then, frowning and greatly troubled.Why, his clouded mind could not understand; but something had gonewrong. The once deserted farm had become the home of strangers and hecould visit it no more. Thus much he felt and knew; and that night hedisappeared.
However, the poor fellow's absences were so frequent that nobody missedhim from the neighborhood and Dorothy had utterly forgotten him. Now, asshe saw him, her heart throbbed with pity.
"He looks as if this picnic were Paradise, and he shut out! I'm going toask him here!"
With a swoop upon it Mrs. Smith rescued her fine rusk from the plebeianappetites which would have consumed it and carried it triumphantly tothe "aristocratic" end of the head table, then stood arms akimbo,staring after Dorothy and ejaculating:
"If that don't beat all my first wife's relations! That chit of a childset down the biscuit, but she snatched up a big cake worth twice asmuch. She's going to coax that simpleton with it, just as a body has tocoax a wild critter to come an' be caught. And I plain told her thatHelena Montaigne was here, and 'twas her chanst to make friends with_her_. Pshaw! I don't believe that Dorothy Chester cares a pin whethershe gets in with rich folks or not! 'Tain't five minutes ago 't I heardher sassin' Herbert same as she might one my own boys. Don't stand inawe of nobody, Dorothy don't, an' yet nobody gets mad at her. 'Course, Idon't begrudge Peter Piper a mouthful o' victuals. None of us would, butwhat's _left over_ after the rest is done would be plenty good enoughfor him. Huh! All that splendid chocolate cake--five-layer-thick!"
As Dorothy approached the wall Peter dodged behind it and, for a moment,she thought he had run away. If he had she meant to follow; and withthe ease that her long practice in chasing Hannah had given her shevaulted over the wall to pursue. But he had not run, and she landed onthe further side plump beside him where he sat huddled against thestones.
"Well! It was lucky for you I didn't jump on you instead of by you!"cried the girl, as she, also, sat down on the bank.
Peter shrank aside, as one who wards off a blow, and mumbled somethingwhich she made out to mean:
"I didn't do any harm. I didn't!"
His speech was thick and he lisped like a baby learning to talk, but hisface brightened when she answered quickly:
"Of course you didn't. But why aren't you in there with all the others?You must come, in a minute, back with me. First, see here?"
With the friendliest of smiles she held aloft the monster cake she hadjudged would be the waif's proper share of the feast, choosing for him,as she would for herself, to have the dessert come before the bread andbutter.
Peter's protruding eyes fastened upon the dainty and his mouth openedwidely, and for a time, at least, he knew nothing beyond that cake.Breaking it into bits, Dorothy fed him. He did not offer to take thefood in his own hands, he simply opened that cavernous mouth andreceived with a snap of his jaws the portions she dropped therein. Theoperation became fascinating to the girl and she marveled to see nomovement of swallowing; only that automatic opening and closing, and thesubsequent absorption of the cake.
She had not supposed he would consume the whole loaf at one meal. Hedid. The last morsel followed the first and still there was no sign ofsurfeit, and the girl sprang up, saying:
"Now I must go back to help those ladies wait on the table. Will youcome?"
With some hesitation Peter Piper got to his feet, and now his gaze wasriveted upon her face as closely as it had been upon the chocolate cakeand almost as greedily. As if within her bonny smile and unshrinkingfriendliness he beheld something new and wonderfully beautiful. It wasjust as they stood up that somebody behind the wall called out:
"Well, Peter Piper! Good enough! So you've come to the 'Bee,' too, haveyou? If you'd let me know where you were you'd have had your invitationlong ago. Time enough, though, time enough. Always is to do a good deed,and there's a deal of work yet to be finished before nightfall. Let metell you, Miss Dorothy Chester, there isn't a better gardener anywherearound than our friend Peter! If he'd only stick to it--if the lad wouldonly stick to it!"
It was Seth Winters, of course, who had seen Dorothy's crossing of thefield to that same spot where he, also, had discovered the feathered capof the poor imbecile. He was honestly glad of the lad's return, beingalways somewhat anxious over his long absences. Much experience of lifehad shown him that the world is not very kind to such as Peter, and hetried by fatherly interest and goodness to make up to the boy somewhatfor the harshness of others. Dorothy's action had delighted him: andwith an approving smile he held his hands toward her, across the wall,and bade:
"Give me your hands, lassie! I'll help you back over; and, Peter, come."
Dorothy sprang lightly to the top of the wall and he swung her aslightly down; the half-wit following with a nimbleness one would nothave expected and, like a child, catching hold of the girl's skirt andthus firmly attaching himself to her.
"Why, Peter! Don't do that! Young ladies don't like to drag big fellowslike you around by main force!" remonstrated the smith, smiling andshaking his head at the youth, who merely smiled in return and clutchedthe tighter, even though the girl once or twice tried to loosen hisgrasp, attempting this so gently that it produced no effect; and thusescorted she came back to the stables beneath the trees and to thepresence of Helena, toward whom officious Mrs. Smith immediately forcedher.
Oddly enough, since they were so unlike, there was instant likingbetween the two girls; and with a smile Helena made room for Dorothy onthe bench beside her. But there was no room for Peter, nor would he haveclaimed it now had there been plenty. With intense and haughty surpriseHelena had stared at the unfortunate for a moment, till an amusedcontempt curved her lips in a disdainful smile.
In general, people did not credit the poor creature with sensitiveness;none save Seth Winters believing that he keenly felt the scoffs
andgibes so often put upon him; but he now proved the truth of theblacksmith's opinion. Helena's scornful look did what Dorothy's effortshad failed to do--it loosened Peter's fingers from her skirt and senthim, cowering and abashed, to the furthest limit of the group.Fortunately, for him, straight also to a spot where Herbert Montaignewas merrily helping--or hindering--the women busy cooking over the firesupon the ground. Herbert had seen Dorothy's exit from the field with thegreat cake in hand and had, for an instant, intended pursuit that shouldend in a lark; then he had seen the red feathers of Peter's cap andreflected:
"That girl's got some fellow over there she's going to feed on the sly.They've both dropped down out of sight now--I reckon I won't spoilsport--shouldn't like it myself. It's none of my business anyhow, thoughI wouldn't mind being the fellow in the case--this time."
Also he made it sufficiently his business to watch for the reappearanceof Dolly, minus the cake and attended by Seth and the too appreciativePeter. Then the whole significance of the incident flashed upon him, andto his boyish fancy for the little maid was instantly added a deeprespect.
"Bless my eyes! I called her a 'daisy,' but she's more than that. Thereisn't a girl in a thousand who'd have done that decent thing withoutbeing bidden; but--Hello! seems as if she'd got what Mrs. Smith callsher 'come uppance'! The simpleton has glued himself to her petticoatsand she can't shake him free!" Then a moment more of watching showed himthe result of his sister's haughtiness and made him exclaim aloud: "Goodenough for Helena! The first time I ever knew her confounded pride to beof any use. But here comes the victim of her scorn, and it's up to me tofinish the job Dorothy C. has so well begun!"
In all his life poor Peter Piper had never been so happy as that daymade him. Instead of the indifference or aversion commonly shown him, hewas met with an outstretched hand and the genial greeting of another ladnot much younger than himself; and if, for the sake of impressing othersinto the same friendliness, the greeting was rather overdone, the faultwas on the right side and Peter was too simple to suspect it.
With a confused expression and an unaccountable warmth in his lonelyheart, the "touched of God" accepted the extended hand and cast agrateful glance into Herbert's face. A look that, for an instant,suffused that youngster's own because he felt his present kindness to be"second hand." Then Peter turned about and pointed to where Dorothy nowsat laughing and feasting, and volubly explaining to Mrs. Smith, betweenmouthfuls:
"I really couldn't help taking the nicest cake in sight, dear Mrs.Smith! I knew it was yours and belonged now to the public; and I willmake you another to take its place. I--I hope it wasn't 'stealing----'"she finished, with a momentary gravity.
"Bless all my first wife's relations! Don't let such a horrid word asthat come to this merry 'Bee!' It was yours, your very own, leastwiseyour ma's and pa's, to eat or give away just as you'd ruther. I do stillthink that broken pieces, after the rest has finished, would haveanswered the purpose full as well, but----"
"Broken pieces, Mrs. Smith! On a day like this?" cried Mrs. Calvert,reprovingly. "You do yourself an injustice. If I'm not mistaken you'veput aside some mighty tender pieces of chicken and part of your ownbiscuits for this same poor estray."
The mistress of ceremonies blushed and bridled her head. In truth shehad, indeed, "put aside" the dainties mentioned, but alas! they had beenintended for the delectation of her own and her cronies' palates. Withinstant change of mind, however, she caught up the basket hidden beneaththe table and marched valiantly forward to the spot where Herbert wassupplying Peter with the best of everything he could lay his hands on.Admirably frank--when found out--good Mrs. Smith now added her store toHerbert's, and the half-wit's eyes grew more protruding than ever.Also, to the disgust of both watchful lad and woman, Peter caught thefood from the basket and thrust it within his oilcloth jacket. He knew,if those watching him did not, the terrible pangs of starvation and herewas provision for many a day. Besides, the whole of a rich chocolatecake does have a diminishing effect upon even such appetites as Peter's.
Bounteous as the feast was, but a brief half-hour was permitted for itsconsumption; then the master of the day announced:
"Our job's well begun and so half-done. Now for a fine finishand--home!"
All who were standing hurried to their tasks at this word of command,and all who were sitting as promptly rose. Among them Mrs. Cecil, with asudden realization of her eighty years of cushioned ease and her onehour of sitting on a board. Also, her zest of the occasion had assuddenly passed. She had taken a moment's chance to speak to "Johnnie"of money matters; how it would "really be an accommodation for him totake and use some of her own superfluous ready cash, till such time asSkyrie began to yield a comfortable income"; and to her delicatelyworded offer "Johnnie" had returned a most awkward refusal. He had triedto soften his reply, but not being politic or tactful had succeeded onlyin expressing himself more brusquely. When pressed to tell if any otherperson had superseded her, he had to acknowledge that Friend OliverSands had done so, but that the affair belonged to his wife, etc.
That was the climax. Between the mistress of Deerhurst and the millerthere was a grudge of long standing. Though liberal in her businessdealings the old gentlewoman hated to be cheated, and she had openlydeclared to all who chose to listen that Oliver had cheated her. Shestopped buying her feed of him and went to the extra trouble of sendingall the way to Newburgh for everything in his line that was required atDeerhurst.
Few like to have their kindnesses returned upon themselves,unappreciated: Betty Calvert less than most: so with a feeling ofaffront, which she was too outspoken wholly to corer by politeness, shesaid:
"Mr. Smith, I must go home. May Dorothy Chester take your horse andwagon and drive me there?"
"Of course, and proud to have you use it. But can that little girldrive?" he asked, glancing at the child with a funny smile. Well he knewthe retort he might expect--and presently received, amid a burst ofkindly laughter from others around--from the lady:
"My good Mr. Smith, _I_ sold you that nag. He's twenty years old if aday. A babe in arms could drive him! and I'll send a capable horsemanback with him--and her. Good-day, all; and God speed the finish!"
She said it quite devoutly, thankful for the present help given thecrippled, would-be farmer, and knowing that with even the best of helphis future would be difficult.
A few moments later, for the first time in her life, Dorothy held a pairof reins in her hands, clutching them tightly as if all her strengthwere required to restrain the speed of the venerable animal hitchedbefore the open "democrat" in which she sat, and that nothing couldinduce to anything swifter than a walk. Once she opened her lips andasked, nervously:
"Are you--much afraid, Mrs. Calvert?"
"Not--much!" quavered that lady, in mimicry, and with the most admiringcontemplation of the earnest young face beside her. From the flappingears of their steed Dorothy's own eyes never wavered. It was a wonderfulexperience. To pull on either rein and guide so big a creature to theright or left--Why, she had seen others drive but she had never beforerealized the great intelligence of a horse! Oh! how delightful it wouldbe to own one for one's self! All the inborn love of horseflesh that,till that moment, she had not realized woke up in her small breast, andfinally found voice in the exclamation:
"Oh! If Daisy-Jewel had only been a colt instead of a calf!"
"A perfectly simple matter to change him into one," quietly returnedMrs. Cecil; and hearing her, Dorothy wondered if this old gentlewomanwere in truth the "fairy godmother" to whom she had sometimes likenedher.
The girl did not answer. They had arrived at the gates of Deerhurst andthis young "coachman" was gravely considering how to drive through themwithout hitting either ivy-covered pillar. So earnest was she now thatMrs. Calvert had twice to repeat a question she had long been pondering;but which fell upon Dorothy Chester's ears, at last, with the sound ofan exploding bomb.
"My little Dorothy, will you come to live with me, and become _my_adopted daughter?
"