XXIV
Concerning information, Mark Twain wrote that it appeared to stew out ofhim naturally, like the precious ottar of roses out of the otter. Withthe narrator of this episodical history, however, things are verydifferent. And just how the good fairy, Maud Darling, was enabled tokeep her promises to the outlaws seems to him of no great moment. Butthe money _was_ returned to the express company; the police _were_called off; and the four robbers, with the woman to cook for them, wentto work at building a log house on the point of pines to be occupied inthe near future by the Carolinians.
They were not sorry to have been turned from a life of sin. It is onlywhen a life of sin is gilded, padded, and pleasant that people hate toturn from it. When virtue entails being rained on, starved, and hunted,it isn't a very pleasant way of life, either.
The face of the young female bandit lost its look of premature old age.She went about her work singing, and the humming of the kettle was heraccompaniment. The four men looked the other men of the camp in the faceand showed how to lay trees by the heels in record time. To theirwell-swung and even better-sharpened axes even the stems of oaks were aswax candles. It became quite "the thing" for guests at The Camp to goout to the point and admire the axe-work and all the processes offrontier house-building.
When people speak of "love in a cottage," there rises nearly always, inmy mind, the memory of a log house that a friend of mine and I cameacross by the headwaters of a great river in Canada.
It stood--the axe marks crisp, white, and blistered with pitch--upon thebrink of a swirling brown pool full of grilse. The logs of which it wasbuilt had been dragged from a distance, so that in the immediateneighborhood of the cabin was no desolation of dead tree-tops and dyingstumps. Everything was wonderfully neat, new, and in order. About thepool and the cabin the maples had turned yellow and vermilion. And abovewas the peaceful pale blue of an Indian-summer sky.
We opened the door, held by a simple latch, and found ourselves in thepleasantest of rooms, just twenty feet by fifteen. The walls and thefloor had been much whitened and smoothed by the axe. The place smeltvaguely of pitch and strongly of balsam. There was a fireplace--the fireall laid, a bunk to lie on, a chair to sit on, a table to write on, abroom to sweep with. And neatly set upon clean shelves were various jamsin glass, and meats, biscuits, and soups in tins. There was also awriting (on birch bark) over the shelves, which read: "Help yourself."
We took down the shutters from the windows and let in floods of autumnsun. Then we lighted the fire, and ate crackers and jam.
It hurt a little to learn at the mouth of our guide that the cabinbelonged to a somewhat notorious and decidedly crotchety New Yorkfinancier who controlled the salmon-fishing in those waters. I hadpictured it as built for a pair of eminently sensible and supernaturallyromantic honeymooners or for a poet. And I wanted to carry away thatimpression. For in such a place love or inspiration must have lastedjust as long as the crackers and jam. And there is no more to be said ofa palace.
One day Mary Darling and Sam Langham visited the new cabin. And Samsaid: "If one of the happy pair happened to know something of cooking,what a place for a honeymoon!"
Shortly afterward, Phyllis and Herring came that way, and Herring said:"If I was in love, and knew how to use an axe, I'd build just such ahouse for the girl I love and make her live in it. I believe I will,anyway."
"Believe what?" asked Phyllis demurely. "Believe you will make her livein it?"
"Yes," he said darkly--"no matter who she is and no matter how afraid ofthe mice and spiders with which such places ultimately become infested."
Lee and Renier visited the cabin, also. They remarked only that it had awonderfully smooth floor, and proceeded at once thereon, Lee whistlingexquisitely and with much spirit, to dance a maxixe, which was greatlyadmired by the ex-outlaws.
Maud came often with the Carolinians, and as for Eve, she came once ortwice all by herself.
Jealousy is a horrid passion. It had never occurred to Eve Darling thatshe was or ever could be jealous of anybody. And she wasn't--exactly.But seeing her sisters always cavaliered by attractive men and slippingcasually into thrilling and even dangerous adventures with themdisturbed the depths of her equanimity. It was delightful, of course, tobe made much of by Arthur and to go upon excursions with him as of old.But something was wanting. Arthur's idea of a pleasant day in the woodswas to sit for hours by a pool and attempt to classify the croaks offrogs, or to lie upon his back in the sun and think about the girl infar-off China whom he loved so hopelessly.
Thanks to her excellent subordinate, and to her own administrativeability, Laundry House made fewer and fewer encroachments upon Eve'sleisure. And often she found that time was hanging upon her hands withgreat heaviness. Memory reminded her that things had not always beenthus; for there are men in this world who think that she was the mostbeautiful of all the Darlings.
It was curious that of all the men who had come to The Camp, Mr. BobJonstone had the most attraction for her. They had not spoken half adozen times, and it was quite obvious that his mind, if not his heart,was wholly occupied with Maud. Wherever you saw Maud, you could bepretty sure that the Carolinians, hunting in a couple, were not far off.Of the two, Colonel Meredith was the more brilliant, the more showy, andthe better-looking. Added to his good breeding and lazy, pleasant voicewere certain Yankee qualities--a total lack of gullibility, a certaintrace of mockery, even upon serious subjects. Mr. Jonstone, on the otherhand, was a perfect lamb of earnestness and sincerity. If he heard of aninjustice his eyes flamed, or if he listened to the recital of somepathetic happening they misted over. Once beyond the direct influence ofhis cousin there was neither mischief in him nor devilment. It was forthis reason, and in this knowledge, that he had put his newly acquiredmoneys in trust for himself.
In the little house by the lake where the cousins still slept,conversation seldom flagged before one or two o'clock in the morning.Having said good-night to each other at about eleven, one or the otherwas pretty sure to let out some new discovery about the Darlings ingeneral and Maud Darling in particular, and then all desire for sleepvanished and their real cousinly confidences began.
But these confidences had their limits, for neither confessed to beingsentimentally interested in the young lady, whereas, within limits, theyboth were. And each enjoyed the satisfaction of believing (quiteerroneously) that he deceived the other. I do not wish to convey theimpression that they were actually in love with her.
When you are really in love, you are also in love before breakfast.That is the final test. And when love begins to die, that is the timewhen its weakening pulse is first to be concerned. What honest man hasnot been mad about some pretty girl (in a crescendo of madness) from teatime till sleep time and waked in the morning with no thought but fortoast and coffee the soonest possible? and gone about the business ofthe morning and early afternoon almost heart-whole and fancy-free, andrelapsed once more into madness with the lengthening of the shadows? Aman who proposes marriage to a girl until he has been in love with herfor twenty-four consecutive hours is a light fellow who ought to bekicked out of the house by her papa. As for the girl, let her be surethat he is bread and meat to her, comfort and rest, demigod and man,wholly necessary and not to be duplicated in this world, before she evensays that she will think about it.
In the early morning there would arise in the house of the Caroliniansthe sounds of whistling, of singing, laughter, scuffling, and runningwater. So that a girl who really wanted either of them must, inlistening, have despaired.
As for Maud Darling, she was disgusted with herself--theoretically. Butpractically she was having the time of her life. In theory, she feltthat no self-respecting girl ought to be unable to decide which of thetwo young men she liked the better. In practice, she found a constantpondering of this delicate question to be delightful. It was verycomfortable to know that the moment she was free to play there were twopleasant companions ready and waiting.
Sentiment and gayety attended
their goings and comings. The Carolinians,fortified by each other's presence, were veritable Raleighs ofextravagant devotion. In engineering, for instance, so that Maud shouldnot have to step in a damp place, there were displayed enough gallantryand efficiency to have saved her from an onslaught of tigers. If thetrio climbed a mountain, Maud gave herself up to the heart-warmingdelight of being helped when help was not in the least necessary. Inshort, she behaved as any natural young woman would, and should. Sheflirted outrageously. But in the depths of her heart a genuinefriendship for the Carolinians was conceived and grew in breadth andstrength. What if they did out-gallant gallantry?