CHAPTER XXVII
A MODERN "ST. GEORGE AND THE DRAGON"
BARBY was at home again. Georgina, hearing the jangle of a bell, randown the street to meet the old Towncrier with the news. She knew now,how he felt when he wanted to go through the town ringing his bell andcalling out the good tidings about his Danny to all the world. That'sthe way she felt her mother's home-coming ought to be proclaimed. It wassuch a joyful thing to have her back again.
And Grandfather Shirley wasn't going to be blind, Georgina confided inher next breath. The sight of both eyes would be all right in time. Theywere so thankful about that. And Barby had brought her the darlingestlittle pink silk parasol ever made or dreamed of, all the way fromLouisville, and some beaten biscuit and a comb of honey from thebeehives in her old home garden.
It was wonderful how much news Georgina managed to crowd into the shorttime that it took to walk back to the gate. The Burrells had left townand Belle had gone home, and Richard had sent her a postal card from BarHarbor with a snapshot of himself and Captain Kidd on it. And--shelowered her voice almost to a whisper as she told the next item:
"Barby knows about Danny! Belle said I might tell her if she'd promisenot to let it get back to Mr. Potter."
They had reached the house by this time, and Georgina led him in toBarby who rose to welcome him with both hands outstretched.
"Oh, Uncle Darcy," she exclaimed. "I know--and I'm _so_ glad. And Justinwill be, too. I sent Georgina's letter to him the very day it came. Iknew he'd be so interested, and it can do no harm for him to know, awayoff there in the interior of China."
Georgina was startled, remembering the letter which _she_ had sent tothe interior of China. Surely her father wouldn't send that back toBarby! Such a panic seized her at the bare possibility of such a thing,that she did not hear Uncle Darcy's reply. She wondered what Barby wouldsay if it should come back to her. Then she recalled what had happenedthe first few moments of Barby's return and wondered what made her thinkof it.
Barby's first act on coming into the house, was to walk over to the oldsecretary where the mail was always laid, and look to see if any letterswere waiting there for her. And that was before she had even stopped totake off her veil or gloves. There were three which had arrived thatmorning, but she only glanced at them and tossed them aside. The oneshe wanted wasn't there. Georgina had turned away and pretended that shewasn't watching, but she was, and for a moment she felt that the sun hadgone behind a cloud, Barby looked so disappointed.
But it was only for a moment, for Barby immediately began to tell aboutan amusing experience she had had on her way home, and started upstairsto take off her hat, with Georgina tagging after to ask a thousandquestions, just as she had been tagging ever since.
And later she had thrown her arms around her mother, exclaiming as sheheld her fast, "You haven't changed a single bit, Barby," and Barbyanswered gaily:
"What did you expect, dearest, in a few short weeks? White hair andspectacles?"
"But it doesn't seem like a few short weeks," sighed Georgina. "It seemsas if years full of things had happened, and that I'm as old as youare."
Now as Uncle Darcy recounted some of these happenings, and Barbyrealized how many strange experiences Georgina had lived through duringher absence, how many new acquaintances she had made and how much shehad been allowed to go about by herself, she understood why the childfelt so much older. She understood still better that night as she satbrushing Georgina's curls. The little girl on the footstool at her kneewas beginning to reach up--was beginning to ask questions about thestrange grown-up world whose sayings and doings are always so puzzlingto little heads.
"Barby," she asked hesitatingly, "what do people mean exactly, when theysay they have other fish to fry?"
"Oh, just other business to attend to or something else they'd ratherdo."
"But when they shrug their shoulders at the same time," persistedGeorgina.
"A shrug can stand for almost anything," answered Barby. "Sometimes itsays meaner things than words can convey."
Then came the inevitable question which made Georgina wish that she hadnot spoken.
"But why do you ask, dear? Tell me how the expression was used, and Ican explain better."
Now Georgina could not understand why she had brought up the subject. Ithad been uppermost in her mind all evening, but every time it reachedthe tip of her tongue she drove it back. That is, until this last time.Then it seemed to say itself. Having gone this far she could not lightlychange the subject as an older person might have done. Barby was waitingfor an answer. It came in a moment, halting but truthful.
"That day I was at the Bazaar, you know, and everybody was saying hownice I looked, dressed up like a little girl of long ago, I heard Mrs.Whitman say to Miss Minnis that one would think that Justin Huntingdonwould want to come home once or twice in a lifetime to see me; and MissMinnis shrugged her shoulders, this way, and said:
"'Oh, he has other fish to fry.'"
Georgina, with her usual aptitude for mimicry, made the shrug soeloquent that Barby understood exactly what Miss Minnis intended toconvey, and what it had meant to the wondering child.
"Miss Minnis is an old cat!" she exclaimed impatiently. Then she laiddown the brush, and gathering Georgina's curls into one hand, turned herhead so that she could look into the troubled little face.
"Tell me, Baby," she demanded. "Have you heard anyone else say thingslike that?"
"Yes," admitted Georgina, "several times. And yesterday a woman who cameinto the bakery while I was getting the rolls Tippy sent me for, askedme if I was Doctor Huntingdon's little girl. And when I said yes, sheasked me when he was coming home."
"And what did you say?"
"Well, I thought she hadn't any right to ask, specially in the way shemade her question sound. She doesn't belong in this town, anyhow. She'sonly one of the summer boarders. So I drew myself up the way the Duchessalways did in 'The Fortunes of Romney Tower.' Don't you remember? and Isaid, 'It will probably be some time, Madam.' Then I took up my bag ofhot rolls and marched out. I think that word Madam always sounds sofreezing, when you say it the way the Duchess was always doing."
"Oh, you ridiculous baby!" exclaimed Barby, clasping her close andkissing her again and again. Then seeing the trouble still lingering inthe big brown eyes, she took the little face between her hands andlooked into it long and intently, as if reading her thoughts.
"Georgina," she said presently, "I understand now, what is the matter.You're wondering the same thing about your father that these busybodiesare. It's my fault though. I took it for granted that you understoodabout his long absence. I never dreamed that it was hurting you in anyway."
Georgina hid her face in Barby's lap, her silence proof enough that hermother had guessed aright. For a moment or two Barby's hand strayedcaressingly over the bowed head. Then she said:
"I wonder if you remember this old story I used to tell you, beginning,'St. George of Merry England was the youngest and the bravest of theseven champions of Christendom. Clad in bright armor with his magicsword Ascalon by his side, he used to travel on his war horse in farcountries in search of adventure.' Do you remember that?"
Georgina nodded yes without raising her head.
"Then you remember he came to a beach where the Princess Saba called tohim to flee, because the Dragon, the most terrible monster ever seen onearth, was about to come up out of the sea and destroy the city. Everyyear it came up to do this, and only the sacrifice of a beautiful maidencould stop it from destroying the people.
"But undismayed, Saint George refused to flee. He stayed on and foughtthe dragon, and wounded it, and bound it with the maiden's sash and ledit into the market place where it was finally killed. And the peoplewere forever freed from the terrible monster because of his prowess. Doyou remember all that?"
Again Georgina nodded. She knew the story well. Every Christmas as farback as she could remember she had eaten her bit of plum pudding from acertain rare old blue pla
te, on which was the picture of Saint George,the dragon and the Princess.
"Nowadays," Barby went on, "because men do not ride around 'clad inbright armor,' doing knightly deeds, people do not recognize them asknights. But your father is doing something that is just as great andjust as brave as any of the deeds of any knight who ever drew a sword.Over in foreign ports where he has been stationed, is a strange diseasewhich seems to rise out of the marshes every year, just as the dragondid, and threaten the health and the lives of the people. It isespecially bad on ship-board, and it is really harder to fight than areal dragon would be, because it is an invisible foe, a sickness thatcomes because of a tiny, unseen microbe.
"Your father has watched it, year after year, attacking not only thesailors of foreign navies but our own men, when they have to live inthose ports, and he made up his mind to go on a quest for this invisiblemonster, and kill it if possible. It is such a very important quest thatthe Government was glad to grant him a year's leave of absence from theservice.
"He was about to come home to see us first, when he met an old friend, avery wealthy Englishman, who has spent the greater part of his lifecollecting rare plants and studying their habits. He has written severalvaluable books on Botany, and the last ten years he has been especiallyinterested in the plants of China. He was getting ready to go to thevery places that your father was planning to visit, and he had with himan interpreter and a young American assistant. When he invited yourfather to join him it was an opportunity too great to be refused. ThisMr. Bowles is familiar with the country and the people, even speaks thelanguage himself a little. He had letters to many of the high officials,and could be of the greatest assistance to your father in many ways,even though he did not stay with the party. He could always be incommunication with it.
"So, of course, he accepted the invitation. It is far better for thequest and far better for himself to be with such companions.
"I am not uneasy about him, knowing he has friends within call in caseof sickness and accident, and he will probably be able to accomplish hispurpose more quickly with the help they will be able to give. You knowhe has to go off into all sorts of dirty, uncomfortable places, risk hisown health and safety, go among the sick and suffering where he canwatch the progress of the disease under different conditions.
"The whole year may be spent in a vain search, with nothing to show forit at the end, and even if he is successful and finds the cause of thisstrange illness and a remedy, his only reward will be the satisfactionof knowing he has done something to relieve the suffering of hisfellow-creatures. People can understand the kind of bravery that shows.If he were rescuing one person from a burning house or a sinking boatthey would cry out, 'What a hero.' But they don't seem to appreciatethis kind of rescue work. It will do a thousand times more good, becauseit will free the whole navy from the teeth of the dragon.
"If there were a war, people would not expect him to come home. We aregiving him up to his country now, just as truly as if he were in themidst of battle. A soldier's wife and a soldier's daughter--it is theproof of our love and loyalty, Georgina, to bear his long absencecheerfully, no matter how hard that is to do; to be proud that he canserve his country if not with his sword, with the purpose and prowess ofa Saint George."
Barby's eyes were wet but there was a starry light in them, as shelifted Georgina's head and kissed her. Two little arms were thrownimpulsively around her neck.
"Oh, Barby! I'm so sorry that I didn't know all that before! I didn'tunderstand, and I felt real ugly about it when I heard people whisperingand saying things as if he didn't love us any more. And--when I said myprayers at bedtime--I didn't sing 'Eternal Father Strong to Save' asingle night while you were gone."
Comforting arms held her close.
"Why didn't you write and tell mother about it?"
"I didn't want to make you feel bad. I was afraid from what CousinMehitable said you were going to _die_. I worried and worried over it.Oh, I had the miserablest time!"
Another kiss interrupted her. "But you'll never do that way again,Georgina. Promise me that no matter what happens you'll come straight tome and have it set right."
The promise was given, with what remorse and penitence no one could knowbut Georgina, recalling the letter she had written, beginning with astern "Dear Sir." But to justify herself, she asked after thehair-brushing had begun again:
"But Barby, why has he stayed away from home four whole years? He wasn'thunting dragons before this, was he?"
"No, but I thought you understood that, too. He didn't come back here tothe Cape because there were important things which kept him inWashington during his furloughs. Maybe you were too small to rememberthat the time you and I were spending the summer in Kentucky he hadplanned to join us there. But he wired that his best friend in the Navy,an old Admiral, was at the point of death, and didn't want him to leavehim. The Admiral had befriended him in so many ways when he first wentinto the service that there was nothing else for your father to do butstay with him as long as he was needed. You were only six then, and Iwas afraid the long, hot trip might make you sick, so I left you withmamma while I went on for several weeks. Surely you remember somethingof that time."
"No, just being in Kentucky is all I remember, and your going away for awhile."
"And the next time some business affairs of his own kept him inWashington, something very important. You were just getting over themeasles and I didn't dare take you, so you stayed with Tippy. So you seeit wasn't your father's fault that he didn't see you. He had expectedyou to be brought down to Washington."
Georgina pondered over the explanation a while, then presently saidwith a sigh, "Goodness me, how easy it is to look at things the wrongway."
Soon after her voice blended with Barby's in a return to the longneglected bedtime rite:
"_Oh, hear us when we cry to Thee, For those in peril on the sea._"
Afterward, her troubles all smoothed and explained away, she lay in thedark, comforted and at peace with the world. Once a little black doubtthrust its head up like a snake, to remind her of Melindy's utterance,"When a man _wants_ to write, he's gwine to write, busy or no busy." Buteven that found an explanation in her thoughts.
Of course, Melindy meant just ordinary men. Not those who had greatdeeds to do in the world like her father. Probably Saint George himselfhadn't written to his family often, if he had a family. He couldn't beexpected to. He had "other fish to fry," and it was perfectly right andproper for him to put his mind on the frying of them to the neglect ofeverything else.
The four months' long silence was unexplained save for this comfortingthought, but Georgina worried about it no longer. Up from below came thesound of keys touched softly as Barby sang an old lullaby. She sang itin a glad, trustful sort of way.
"_He is far across the sea, But he's coming home to me, Baby mine!_"
Lying there in the dark, Georgina composed another letter to send afterher first one, and next morning this is what she wrote, sitting up inthe willow tree with a magazine on her knees for a writing table:
"Dearest Father: I am sorry that I wrote that last letter, becauseeverything is different from what I thought it was. I did not know untilBarby came home and told me, that you are just as brave as St. Georgewas, clad in bright armor, when he went to rescue the people from thedragon. I hope you get the monster that comes up out of the sea everyyear after the poor sailors. Barby says we are giving you to our countryin this way, as much as if there was war, so now I'm prouder of having aSt.-George-and-the-dragon-kind of a father than one like PeggyBurrell's, even if she does know him well enough to call him'Dad-o'-my-heart.' Even if people don't understand, and say things aboutyour never coming home to see us, we are going to 'still bear up andsteer right onward,' because that's our line to live by. And we hope ashard as we can every day, that you'll get the mike-robe you are in kwestof. Your loving little daughter, Georgina Huntingdon."