The Old Gray Homestead

  CHAPTER IX

  Uncle Mat made a determined effort to persuade Sylvia to return to NewYork with him; and though he was not successful, he was not altogetherdiscouraged by her reply.

  "I _have_ been thinking of it," she said, "but I promised Mrs. GrayI'd stay here through the winter, and she'd be hurt and disappointednow if I didn't; besides, I don't feel quite ready for New York myselfyet. I realize that I've remained--nearly long enough--and as soon asthe warm weather comes, I'm going to have my own little houseremodelled and put in order, and move there for the summer. It'll besuch fun--just like doll's housekeeping! Then in the fall--I wontpromise--but perhaps if you still want me, I'll come to you, at leastuntil I decide what to do next."

  "Come now for a visit, if you won't for the rest of the winter."

  "Not yet; by spring I'm afraid I'll have to have some new clothes--I'vehad nothing since I came here except a fur coat, which arrived byparcel post! Sally wants to go away in the Easter vacation, and if youcan squeeze us both into your little guest-room, perhaps we'll cometogether then."

  "You're determined to have some sort of a bodyguard in the shape of yournew friends to protect you from your old ones?"

  "Not quite that. I'll come alone if you prefer it," said Sylvia quickly.

  "No, no, my dear; I should be glad to have Sally. How about Austin, too?He could sleep on the living-room sofa, you know, and that would makefour of us to go about together, which is always a pleasant number.Thomas would be home at that time, and Austin could probably leave moreeasily than at any other."

  "Ask him by all means. I think he would be glad to go."

  Austin was accordingly invited, and accepted with enthusiasm. UncleMat found him in the barn, where he was separating cream with thenew electric separator, but he nodded, with a smile which showed allhis white teeth, as his voice could not be heard above the noise ofthe machine.

  "Indeed, I will," he said heartily, when the current was switched offagain. "How unfortunate that Easter comes so late this year--but thatwill give us all the longer to look forward to it in! I hate to have yougo back, Mr. Stevens, but I suppose the inevitable call of the siren cityis too much for your easily tempted nature!"

  Mr. Stevens laughed, and assented. "How that boy has changed!" he saidto himself as he walked back to the house. "He fairly radiatesenthusiasm and wholesomeness. Well, I'm sorry for him. I wish Sylviawould leave now instead of in the spring, in spite of her promises andscruples and what-not. And I wish, darn it all, that she were as easy toread as he is."

  Austin's existence, just at that time, seemed even more rose-colored thanUncle Mat could suspect. The day after Christmas he pondered for a longtime on the events of the night before, and gave some very anxiousthought to his future line of conduct. At first he decided that it wouldbe best to avoid Sylvia altogether, and thus show her that she hadnothing to dread from him, for her sudden fear had been very hard tobear; but before night another and wiser course presented itself tohim--the idea of going on exactly as if nothing had happened that was inthe least extraordinary, and prove to her that he was to be trusted.Accordingly, assuming a calmness which he was very far from feeling, hestopped at her door again before going upstairs, saying cheerfully:

  "Tell me to go away if you want to; if not, I've come for my firstFrench lesson."

  Sylvia looked up with a smile from the book she was reading. "Entrez,monsieur," she said gayly; "avez-vous apporte votre livre, votre cahier,et votre plume? Comment va l'oncle de votre ami? Le chat de votre mere,est-il noir?"

  Austin burst out laughing at her mimicry of the typical conversation in abeginner's grammar, and she joined him. The critical moment had passed.He saw that he was welcome, that he had risen and not fallen in herregard, though he was far from guessing how much, and opening his book,drew another chair near the fire and sat down beside her.

  "You must have some romances as well as this dry stuff," she said, whenhe had pegged away at Chardenal for over an hour. "We'll read Dumastogether, beginning with the Valois romances, and going straight along inthe proper order. You'll learn a lot of history, as well as considerableFrench. Some of it is rather indiscreet but--"

  "Which of us do you think it is most likely to shock?" he asked, withsuch an expression of mock-alarm that they both burst out laughing again;and when they had sobered down, "Now may we have some Browning, please?"

  So Sylvia reached for a volume from her shelf, and began to read aloud,while Austin smoked; she read extremely well, and she loved it. She wentfrom "The Last Duchess" to "The Statue and the Bust," from "Fra FilippoLippi" to "Andrea del Sarto." And Austin sat before the fire, smoking andlistening, until the little clock again roused them to consciousness bystriking twelve.

  "This will never do!" he exclaimed, jumping up. "I must have regularhours, like any schoolboy. What do you say to Monday, Wednesday, andFriday evenings, from seven-thirty to ten? The other nights I'll bend myenergies to preparing my lessons."

  "A capital idea. Good-night, Austin."

  "Good-night, Sylvia."

  There were, however, no more French lessons that week. The next eveningtwenty young people went off together in sleighs, got their supper atWhite Water, danced there until midnight, and did not reach home untilthree in the morning. The following night there was a "show" inWallacetown, and although they had all declared at their respectivebreakfast-tables--for breakfast is served anywhere from five-thirty tosix-thirty in Hamstead, Vermont--that nothing would keep them out of bedafter supper _that_ night, off they all went again. A "ball" followed the"show," and the memory of the first sleigh-ride proved so agreeable thatanother was undertaken. And finally, on New Year's Eve the Graysthemselves gave a party, opening wide the doors of the fine old house forthe first time in many years. Sylvia played for the others to dance onthis occasion, as she had done at Christmas, but in the rest of themerry-making she naturally could take no part. Austin, however, provedthe most enthusiastic reveller of all, put through his work like chainlightning, and was out and off before the plodding Thomas had fairlybegun. Manlike, it did not occur to him to give up any of thesefestivities because Sylvia could not join in them. For years he hadhungered and thirsted, as most boys do, for "a good time"--and done so invain. For years his work had seemed so endless and yet so futile--forwhat was it all leading to?--that it had been heartlessly and hopelesslydone, and when it was finished, it had left him so weary that he had nospirit for anything else much of the time. Now the old order had, indeed,changed, yielding place to new. Good looks, good health, and a good mindhe had always possessed, but they had availed him little, as they havemany another person, until good courage and high ideals had been added tothem. He scarcely saw Sylvia for several days, and did not even realizeit, they seemed so full and so delightful; then coming out of the houseearly one afternoon intending to go to the barn to do some little oddjobs of cleaning up, he met her, coming towards him on snowshoes, hercheeks glowing, and her eyes sparkling. She waved her hand and hurriedtowards him.

  "Oh, _Austin_! Are you awfully busy?"

  "No, not at all. Why?"

  "I've just been over to my house, for the first time--you know in thefall, I couldn't walk, and then I lost the key, and--well, one thingafter another has kept me away--lately the deep snow. But these last fewdays I got to thinking about it--you've all been gone so much I've beenalone, you see--so I decided to try getting there on snowshoes--justthink of having a house that's so quiet that there isn't even a _road_ toit any more! It was quite a tramp, but I made it and went in, and, oh!it's so _wonderful_--so exactly like what I hoped it was going tobe--that I hurried back to see if you wouldn't come and see it too, andlet me tell you everything I'm planning to do to it?"

  She stopped, entirely out of breath. In a flash, Austin realized, first,that she had been lonely and neglected in the midst of the good timesthat all the others had been having; realized, too, that he had neverbefore seen her so full of vitality and enthusiasm; and then, that,without being even conscious of it, s
he had come instinctively to him toshare her new-found joy, while he had almost forgotten her in his. He wasnot sufficiently versed in the study of human nature to know that it hasalways been thus with men and women, since Eve tried to share her applewith Adam and only got blamed for her pains. Austin blamed himself,bitterly and resentfully, and decided afresh that he was the most utterlyungrateful and unworthy of men. His reflections made him slow inanswering.

  "Don't you _want_ to come?"

  "Of course I want to come! I was just thinking--wait a second, I'll getmy snowshoes."

  "I'm going to tear down a partition," she went on excitedly as theyploughed through the snow together, "and have one big living-room on theleft of the front door; on the right of it a big bedroom--I've always_pined_ for a downstairs bedroom--I don't know why, but I never had onetill I came to your house--with a bathroom and dressing-room behind it;the dining-room and kitchen will be in the ell. I'm sure I can make thatunfinished attic into three more bedrooms, and another bathroom, but Iwant to see what you think. I'm going to have a great deep piazza allaround it, and a flower-garden--and--"

  She could hardly wait to get there. Her enthusiasm was contagious. Austinsoon found himself making suggestions, helping her in her plans. Theywent through every nook and corner of the tiny cottage; he had notdreamed that it possessed the possibilities that Sylvia immediately foundin it. They stayed a long time, and walked home over fields of snow whichthe sinking sun was turning rosy in its glowing light. That eveningAustin came for his lesson again.

  By the second of January, the last of the visitors had gone, and the oldGray place was restored to the order and quiet which had reigned beforethe holidays began. Mrs. Gray was lonely, but her mind was at ease. Shehad been watching Austin closely, and it seemed quite clear to her thatUncle Mat was mistaken about him. The idea that her favorite son wasgoing to be made unhappy was quickly dismissed; and in her rejoicing overthe first payment on their debt at the bank, and in the new position ofimportance and consequence which her husband was beginning to occupy inthe neighborhood, it was soon completely forgotten. The succeeding monthsseemed to prove her right; and the all-absorbing interest in the familywas Mr. Gray's election to the Presidency of the Cooperative CreameryAssociation of Hamstead, and his probable chances of being nominated asFirst Selectman--in place of Silas Jones, recently deceased--at MarchTown Meeting.