CHAPTER XXII
The change to Virginia was perhaps appreciated by no one more than PeterSnooks, that by no means unimportant member of the Dale family, whoseactivity knew no bounds. He raced madly about the plantation, to theconsternation of the chickens and the terror of Mrs. Driscoe, who, neverhaving owned dogs, fancied he was going to take up everything by theroots. But Peter Snooks behaved admirably. To be sure, he chasedchickens, but what canine could resist that temptation? And it wasrecorded to his credit that he never hurt one of them. With Julie notwell and Bridget and the two younger girls scarcely leaving her, PeterSnooks was forced to seek companionship out of the family--quite a neworder of things--and chose George Washington, greatly to the delight ofthat ebony mite. What games they had out in the carriage-house and whatantics the two cut upon the lawn playing circus for the edification ofthe people on the verandah! Hester herself was sometimes inspired to gointo the ring and put Snooks through his tricks, which were many,herself performing some ridiculous caper which was received with wildapplause. But Snooks had the best time when Hester and Nannie wentriding, and he raced alongside and often way ahead, to his own evidentdelight though not always to the comfort of the horses.
Nannie, these days, was the happiest girl in the County, for she had hertwo cousins whom she adored and every prospect of a speedy adjustment ofher love affair. She nearly hugged Julie to death whenever she thoughtof it and confided to Hester when they went off together that beingengaged was just the loveliest thing in the world.
It would have been impossible to find two girls in greater contrast thanHester and Nannie, for all they were such chums. Nannie, in her whitefrocks and big sun hats, was a sweet little maiden whose soft brown eyesdid not belie her disposition. She had a soft, drawling voice and dearlittle clinging ways that made the Colonel's sobriquet of "Puss" seemmost fitting. She was fast growing to womanhood, but was in all thingschildishly appealing, though that she was not without character wasshown in various ways, culminating in her loyalty to Sidney Renshawe inspite of the painful opposition.
Hester wore white muslin frocks and big hats, too--relics of their lastyear's Paris shopping. It had always been the avowed wish of theirfather that in the event of his dying before them they should not wearblack. He had the strongest aversion to the garb of mourning and thegirls remembered and respected his wishes. So they had made no change intheir wardrobe, though since they had come down to Virginia theyconfined themselves almost wholly to white.
Simple enough these frocks were, but Hester wore hers with an air thatgave them something of her personality and made her distinctive wherevershe appeared. There was never anything nondescript about Hester. And hermoods were so many and so varied that her cousin Nancy, who did not inthe least understand her, told the Colonel despairingly that she must bea witch--there certainly was not a drop of Fairleigh blood in her.Julie, forced to be quiet through indisposition, was regarded by hercousin as really quite patrician and not in the least--and this was awonderful admission--not in the least vulgarized by work. ColonelDriscoe agreed to her last statement and let the rest go. He found thatthe simplest way to avoid argument.
Kenneth Landor became a frequent caller and grew to be an immensefavorite with the household, but he seldom had the satisfaction of morethan a few words with Hester. One morning he rode over and deemed theFates more than kind when, finding Julie on the porch, she sent him downinto the garden, where she said he would find Hester helping GeorgeWashington pick blackberries.
His first glimpse of her was a sun-bonnet; then two sadly stained handsreaching up among the bushes, then a white figure in sharp reliefagainst the green; then Peter Snooks barked and she turned and saw him.
"Good morning," she said sweetly, from out of her sun-bonnet, giving hima look that seemed propitious. "Have a blackberry?"
"Thanks, don't mind if I do. May I help pick?"
"If you like. I can't stop, you know, for old Aunt Rachael is expectingthem for dinner. We're great cronies, she and I. I steal out to thekitchen quarters often to see her when Cousin Nancy is not looking."
"Do you mind pushing back that sun-bonnet?" he asked beseechingly. "Iknow you're inside of it somewhere and I should like to see you."
She laughed and pushed it half way back. "If that does not suit you I'lltake it off altogether."
"Oh, don't do that, it's so--so nice," not daring to say how adorable hethought she was in it. "I like it the way you have it now. I never knewsun-bonnets could be so frilled and furbelowed."
"It is Nannie's--she is making Julie and me each one. She says they area fad this year. They are pretty, aren't they? But somehow they feel hotand then I just tie the strings loose and let it hang down my back likethat. Cousin Nancy says a girl who will do that has absolutely no regardfor her complexion. It would be funny, wouldn't it, if I took toworrying about things like that? Why, where is George Washington? Gone?And you're shockingly lazy! You haven't picked a berry since you came!"
"I--I beg your pardon," scarcely able to take his eyes off her, "Ireally mean to help."
"How is Captain Loomis?" she asked, seeing that he seemed unable to domuch of anything but stare at her. "Have you seen him to-day?"
"That little Virginian? He haunts our camp and talks to me by the hourabout you! He is madly in love with you."
"He is too silly to be anything else," munching a berry.
"I do not like your way of putting it."
"I mean," she explained, swinging her sun-bonnet by one string, "that hedoes not know how to be sensible and I do not like him well enough tobother to teach him, so, as he is around a good deal I have to politelyput up with him. I should think you knew me well enough by this time toknow how I hate silly people."
"Do you ever politely put up with me?"
"Sometimes," teasingly.
"Hester, Hester," called a fresh young voice, "are you down there? Comeup out of the garden quick! It's so cool this morning father says he'lltake us over to camp to see that fascinating Mr. Landor."
Hester ducked her head in her sunbonnet and fled.
When she reappeared half an hour later she was in her riding habit,looking so trig and tailor-made and altogether conventional that Kennethwondered if she could be the same mischievous sprite who had run awayfrom him in the garden.
It was arranged that Landor should escort them over, and the adroitHester managed that he should start off in advance with Nannie, she andthe Colonel bringing up the rear. Julie and Mrs. Driscoe waved them off,then returned to their work of sewing for the soldiers. For Mrs. Driscoewas the president of a ladies' patriotic aid society and found plentyfor herself and the girls to do.
Hester looked forward with eagerness to reaching Camp Alger, which,though only six miles distant from Wavertree Hall, they had not yetvisited. She rode along at first chatting gayly to the Colonel but atlast was forced to keep her mouth closed on account of the dust. And whothat experienced it, will ever forget the dust of that June in Virginia!Inches deep on the roads it lay in a thick brown powder which, at theslightest disturbance from man or beast, rose in choking waves, coveringand submerging everything; while in the immediate vicinity of Alger,where the sentries warned every one that a gait other than a walk wasnot permitted in and about the camp, it smothered them to the verge ofsuffocation.
They approached their destination by way of the little village of FallsChurch, where over the rough and winding road traveled a constantprocession. It was said by the darkies in Virginia that spring, that allthe "poor white trash" in Fairfax County had abandoned their farms andtaken to "toting" people to Camp Alger. Vehicles of every descriptionwere going back and forth carrying people from the station to the camp,sometimes officers, sometimes soldiers, often visitors; in every casethe seating capacity of buggy, carryall or wagon was stretched to itsutmost capacity. Intermingled with this motley array were the armywagons loaded with camp provisions and paraphernalia, on the top ofwhich usually perched two or more soldiers. These, drawn by four mulesand driven
by an antiquated darky, seemed to Hester the most interestingthing on the road, though possibly she made an exception in favor of themounted orderlies flashing in and out through the crowd or an occasionalmounted officer who saluted Kenneth and stared at the girls in openadmiration.
As they crossed the picket lines, the camp lay before them--row afterrow of tents (reminding Hester of the card houses she used to build whenshe was little) not "gleaming white" like the tents of story but brownwith the dust. Desiring to show them about before dismounting Kennethtook them on by his troop and through the roads leading by the variousregiments. Of the thirty thousand men, more than half were encamped inthe fields, now resembling arid plains, so destitute were they ofvegetation; while the rest, more fortunate, were scattered through thesurrounding woods, lost to sight except for the flutter of a flag abovethe trees.
The party did not attempt to cover the full length of the camp, for thesun was getting very hot and Kenneth was anxious to get them back to histroop in time for dinner. This, her first meal at an officer's mess andin a tent, was one of the most novel and delightful Hester had everknown. Kenneth counted it the second time they had broken bread togetherand was blissfully happy. When it was over, in a fit of excessivemagnanimity he hunted up Charley Bemis who he knew would like to seeHester again and brought him up to his tent, where the Colonel and thegirls were resting. A little later they all strolled together over tothe troopers' quarters, young Bemis being anxious to show them the troopmascot, a stunning bull-terrier. Down here, too, were the horses,picketed back of the tents, while working among them were severaltroopers, one of whom Hester especially noticed tall and very blonde,his skin tanned to a deep brown. He wore the regulation campaign outfit,but his shirt was sleeveless. About his neck was knotted a yellowhandkerchief, his soft hat was pushed well back with an upward turn tothe front and he was busily engaged grooming his horse.
"That man," said Kenneth, seeing that Hester observed him, "is thepresident of our coaching club at home and drives the best horses inRadnor. It's great the way he, and in fact all the fellows have buckleddown to work. He's a chum of mine and I'd like immensely to have himmeet you; I think you would enjoy him, too, but I won't call him over.It would embarrass him to death to be caught like that."
Hester looked at the trooper in admiration.
"Let's get out of the way before he discovers us," she said tactfully,"though I'd like to march straight over there and tell him how proud Iam of him."
Nannie, who had ideas of her own, rode off with her father when theystarted home. A mile or two on, the Colonel stopped and waited for themto overtake them, when he said, if Hester and Landor would excuse themhe and Nannie would stop at the house in front of which they had haltedand make a call. So the girl and man rode on alone through the beautifulwoods which led to--was it happiness or only Wavertree Hall?
"Have you enjoyed it?" he asked when they had gone a little way.
"Oh! so much."
"Even if you had to politely put up with me?"
"Well, there were others, you see. Mr. Bemis, and all those charmingofficers at dinner. Now I think of it, you never took us to the Virginiacamp. Is Captain Loomis away?" looking up at him as if the whereaboutsof that individual was the thing which most concerned her.
He laid his hand for a moment over hers. "It's no use," he said, "youcan't put me off with Loomis or any other man."
The intense subdued manner in which he said it deepened the color in hercheeks, but her dimples played mischievously.
"What are you going to do about it?" she asked.
"Hester," he replied, "do you remember a night in April when you and Italked together and you were kind and said things that would inspire aman to do anything? It was the first time you had ever been serious withme and you thought it was the first time I knew of the serious side ofyou, but that was not true. You turned my life into a new, betterchannel from the moment I first set eyes on you, dear. And I loved youso that night on the coach that I didn't know how I was ever going toget through without telling you, but I didn't want to take advantage ofyour goodness and I knew you cared nothing for me, though I wasdetermined you should some day." His voice rang out in the masterful wayshe had so often berated to Julie. "I am telling you this now because myopportunities of seeing you are so few and soon they may end altogether.Oh! Hester," he cried, finding it impossible to restrain himself anylonger, "couldn't you learn to love me a little before I go away?"
She had listened with eyes gazing straight ahead of her. As he finishedshe turned and looked at him fearlessly.
"Are you quite sure I have not learned already?" she said. And then ashe was about to speak, "No, no, do not answer me. I cannot answer thequestion myself. Sometimes I like you and sometimes I want to run awayfrom you and sometimes--sometimes--"
He held his breath and waited.
But she did not finish it.
"We should never get on," she said argumentatively, "we quarrel all thetime. At least you do--I've an angelic disposition," complacently.
"I quarrel with you? How could I!" endeavoring to fall in with her mood."It is you who say shocking things to me, you bad thing; and sometimes,ah! sometimes, dear, you do hurt."
She touched him impulsively. "It is only teasing. I never mean tohurt--I wouldn't do it intentionally for the world." How penitent andsweet her voice was!
"Then won't you be kind to me, please, and love me a little bit?"
"A little bit? Would that satisfy you?"
"No," honestly, "it would not. Oh! my dear, I will be very patient ifonly you will try."
"I don't have to," she said.
"No," despairingly, "you don't have to.'
"Because--because--I do."
The ambiguity of this might have been mystifying to any but a drowningman ready to clutch at a straw. Kenneth was raised to a seventh heavenof bliss and promptly kissed her; at which she blushed furiously andpushed him away.
"You must not believe everything I say," she protested.
"But I do and I want to and I shall," exultantly. "Oh, my dear, my dear,will you say it all over again?"
"Certainly not," with pretended severity. And then with a light happylaugh, "Do you remember how I snubbed you on the street corner the dayyou met me at Dr. Ware's?"
"Do I? Well, I should say I did! But you were even worse at Jack's. Youplunged me into the depths of despair, from which I never should havearisen if you hadn't been so charming at Mrs. Lennox's musicale. Thatnight I began to take notice again, as it were."
"Notice of Jessie Davis? I heard you were in love with her."
"As if I had eyes for any one but you! I used to fairly haunt dear oldJack's place in the hope of running across you, but you always managedto elude me."
"I used to think at first," she said seriously, "that you were justcurious about us, because we were poor and earned our own living andwere not like the girls in your set, and I resented it. That made menasty to you, though I liked you all the time. Then, well,--do you knowwhat I believe made me care for you? If you laugh," earnestly, "I'llnever forgive you. It was because you took such care of me at thewedding and never offered me a bit of cake! You suspected we had madeit, didn't you? And I thought any man who had tact enough for that wouldbe my undoing and I should not wonder," with a swift look from under herlong lashes, "if it were true, but you will never tell a soul I toldyou, will you?" beseechingly. "It's a secret--the undoing, you know."
"Darling," he said, "I knew more about you and your work than youthought and that is why it was like wrenching my heart out to come away.I wanted to stay there where I could work for you and wait and hope thatI might make your life easier. Then when you talked to me that night Iknew that whether you ever loved me or not you would want me to go."
"Yes," she said.
"And now if you only loved me enough to marry me I might at least leaveyou my name and the protection of my father, whose home would gladlyopen to you and Julie if he knew. _Couldn't_ you do it, dear heart?"
"I--I don't know," she said so low that he could scarcely hear her. "Ido love you, but it is all so new and strange that I cannot realize whatit means or even if it means as much as it should to the man I marry. Iwant to be honest--and you offer me so much that I don't know what tosay. I don't love you as I love Julie, and perhaps after that you willnot want me to love you at all."
"Yes, dear, I shall. If you care for me in any sort of way I am thankfuland love is a thing that grows and grows. Some day I believe you willlove me as much as you do Julie, but in a different way. There is roomin your heart, dear, for both of us if you will only let me in."
"That is just the way Julie puts it," she answered. "She is going tomarry Dr. Ware."
"She is? Jove! what an ideal match!"
"That's what I think. I would not have believed that I could contemplatesharing Julie and be as happy about it as I am. The night she told me Idanced for joy! She needs a man to take care of her, and I love him withall my heart; it changes nothing inwardly and everything outwardly. I amgoing to live with them but I shall not mind being dependent on them forawhile. At first I thought I couldn't, but they have made me promise.Dr. Ware is so dear. He says what is his, is Julie's, and what's Julie'sis mine, and," laughing, "there is no getting around that, is there?Julie and I have always gone shares. Besides, I'm going to study to be atrained nurse when Julie is married. I couldn't just sit down and beidle the rest of my days."
"Thank God your work is over!"
"Not my work but that work. No one will ever know how hard it was; therewas so little profit in most of the things we made that we could notafford to hire the necessary assistance and had to take the brunt ofeverything ourselves. We should have kept on until we 'died in ourtracks,' to quote Bridget, if it had been necessary, but I thank God,too, that we are not obliged to. It taught us a great many things, thepoverty and hardship and all," she continued, feeling his interest, "andwe shall be able to understand life and help people a great deal betterbecause of it. Julie and I have had so many talks together both with Dr.Ware here and since he went North about all the things we mean to do. Welook forward to a very busy life."
"I am supremely glad that things have come out this way, dear," he said,"only," wistfully, "all these plans make me feel as if you had littleneed of me. Won't you please," gazing pleadingly in her eyes which shonesteadfastly into his, "won't you please see if you can't make a placesomewhere for me?"
Far off through the woods came the note of a bugle. Hester drew in herbreath.
"Perhaps," she said softly as they turned in the avenue, "I do need youand want you, too. Will you wait and see?"