CHAPTER III
"Julie, it is too absolutely appalling to realize!" Hester pressed hernose against the window and looked out over the river dejectedly. Afresh September gale was blowing, ruffling the surface of the water intominiature waves and rattling the window panes with a suggestion ofautumn days to come. Julie shivered a little, and crossed to thefireplace, where a few pine logs sputtered on the hearth. She lookeddown without seeing them. Her thoughts were turned within.
"Julie! do say something!" exclaimed her sister. "I can't bear to haveyou so still."
"I am thinking, dear; trying to grasp what it all means."
"Julie, what can we do?"
"Do? Well, we will do something."
"Of course we will, old girl." Hester left the window, and crossing theroom put her arms around her sister. "The two main things are to takecare of Dad and earn our own living. We couldn't be dependent on Dr.Ware, Julie. Do you suppose he meant he wanted to give us a home andeverything?"
"I don't know, Hester. He is so generous and so fond of Dad I believe hewould; but that would not be right. I wonder what we can do to beself-supporting? We have the usual accomplishments, and I suppose wehave average intelligence, don't you?" she asked, anxiously.
"I would back the intelligence against the accomplishments any day,"said Hester, sagely. "We have not had the usual sort of bringing up, sowe can't do the usual thing."
"Like teaching, you mean, or--or things like that? No, we can't. We arenot trained or qualified for any sort of position, and only one of uscould work away from home anyway, for we can't both leave Daddy."
Hester's forehead was creased into little wrinkles of perplexity. "Ifonly I were a man!" she exclaimed, "I might stand some chance--I knowhow to do such a lot of mannish things. Why, I could be an engineer if Iwere put to it, Julie! You know I've run the engine attached to 'TheHustle' many a time; the men used to let me do it." She drew in herbreath with a little gasp of remembrance. "As it is," she continued, "Isuppose I'll have to be a companion or something equally commonplace andladylike," she ended in a tone of disgust.
"I suppose so," agreed her sister reluctantly; "but, dear, the worst ofthat is it will separate us, and I don't believe either one of us couldstand that." Julie's lip quivered. "Isn't it humiliating to have such afeeling of utter helplessness?"
"Yes, it is." Hester gave herself a shake. "I cannot seem to take it allin yet, Julie--what it all means. It seems to me we must be some othergirls talking, not ourselves at all. Somehow it never entered my mindthat dreadful things could happen to us--not while we had Dad to takecare of us."
"But that is just it now, Hester dear; we haven't Dad to take care ofus--it is we who must take care of him."
"We'll do it, too," said Hester, with a ring in her voice. "I'm goingdown now to the kitchen to see about making him some wine jelly. Bridgetsaid she did not believe Dr. Ware would let him eat it, but I feel as ifI must be doing something. Come, Peter Snooks," to the dog that wasnever far out of sight, "we'll at least make a pretense of being useful.Now don't you sit there and cry," she said from the door to her sister."You just hold tight on to yourself, and think out something clever--I'msure you can," convincingly.
Julie acknowledged this flattery by a wan little smile, and followingHester out of the room, went in to see her father. The nurse was sittingnear the bed, but moved aside as she entered.
Mr. Dale partially opened his eyes as his daughter drew near, but closedthem again instantly. His drawn, haggard face showed the strain he hadundergone in the months before the final collapse of his business hadstricken him down. A look of tender pity came into Julie's face as sheknelt by the bed and laid her hand over his. He was breathing heavily,as if asleep, and she dared not speak. It seemed to her inconceivablethat her bright, energetic father could be lying there as helpless as alittle child! She put her head down on the bed, while her mind revertedto their recent conversation with Dr. Ware and the subsequent talk whichhad half stunned their senses. They must think, Hester said, and she wasright; but it almost seemed to her it would be a relief to stop thinkingfor a moment, so rapidly had the events of the past two days beencrowded in upon them.
All this passed through her mind in a tumult of confused ideas, throughwhich ran the predominating thought of work, in obtaining which she knewDr. Ware would help them. But how, and what and where? In the firstshock of their trouble it was not possible to see the way clearly, nor,indeed, to half understand the problems confronting them. Julie feltthis and knew she must be patient, though inwardly a wave of resentmentthat such things should be, surged in her heart rebelliously. The nextinstant she thrust down this feeling with a fierce determination tocontrol herself, and spreading out her hands, for the first time in herlife regarded them critically. They were not beautiful, like Hester's,but they were slender and white, and she suddenly felt a contempt fortheir delicacy, while a consciousness that she had never exactedanything from them caused her to view them in a new light. Why not workwith her hands! Why not put her fingers to some use and see what theywere capable of, making each one a vital thing full of strength andcharacter. The idea delighted her, and she closed her fingers in a tightgrip as if testing their possibilities. "Oh, Daddy, dear!" she halfwhispered, with her head pressed close against him, "we will amount to_something_." Then rising from the bed, she stooped to kiss him, andwent in search of Hester.
When Dr. Ware came again they convinced him of their determination towork, and he promised to look about and see what opening could be foundfor them. He had only a moment to give them that morning, but said heshould return in the evening to have a long talk. When Hester kept him asecond longer to display, with considerable pride, the wine jelly shehad made for her father, he shook his head.
"Not just yet, my dear," he said, kindly. Her disappointment was soevident that the good Doctor felt inclined to eat it himself by way ofproving his admiration of her culinary skill, and then--he had aninspiration.
"Hester," he said, "will you do me a favor?"
"Indeed, I will."
"I should like to carry that jelly off with me; it fairly makes my mouthwater. If you'll give it to me, my dear, I will allow your father to eatan unlimited amount of it later on; and then think how busy you will be!Come, is it a bargain?"
"Dr. Ware! As if you need ask! Why, you know I'd just love to give it toyou."
She had arranged the jelly in a dainty dish, and now ran into thedining-room for a doily, which she wrapped about it.
"Won't you let us send it over to you, Dr. Ware?" Julie asked.
"No, thank you, Julie; I'm going to drive right home," and the Doctorwent off with the dish in his hand.
When he reappeared that evening he astonished the girls by approachingthem silently, while he bowed with great ceremony before Hester, to whomhe held out a package and said: "Allow me to congratulate you, my dear."
Greatly mystified, Hester took the package and unwrapped it, to find theglass jelly dish she had given him that morning, in the bottom of whichlay a two-dollar bill. She looked up at him wonderingly.
"It is yours, Hester," he said. "I plead guilty. I took that jelly to acrotchety old patient of mine who is boarding, and reviles all the jellyhis nurse buys for him. I told him I thought I had found some that wouldplease him, and I was right. He devoured half of it while I was there.Then he insisted on paying for it. I did not tell him where it camefrom, but he wants some more, and he said that was what it was worth."He was watching her closely.
She had taken up the bill, and was handling it nervously, a deep flushon her bewildered young face. "Julie," she exclaimed, breathlessly,turning instinctively to her sister, "Julie, I've _earned_ some money!"
"How splendid!" Julie stared at the bill as if it were different fromany she had seen before. Hester threw her arms impulsively around Dr.Ware's neck. "This is the only way I know how to thank you," she cried.
"I shall instantly create a demand for your jelly, my dear, if I amalways to get a commission like this,"
the Doctor laughingly remarked,delighted at the success of his venture.
"Are you serious, Dr. Ware? Do you suppose I could make jelly to sell?"she asked, anxiously.
"Why not, Hester?"
The girl was silent for a moment then suddenly she cried, "Julie Dale,we'll _cook_ for a living!"
"Cook!" repeated Julie, incredulously, "I don't know a thing aboutcooking."
"No, but I do. Don't you know how Cousin Nancy was always fussingbecause I would haunt the kitchen down there? I learned how to makejelly from her old colored mammie, and heaps of things beside. Ofcourse, I never actually put my hand into anything--old Rachel wouldn'tlet me, but I saw how she did lots of things, and her cakes were famousall through the County, you know they were. If we can sell wine jelly weought to be able to sell other things, don't you think so, Dr. Ware?"
"I do indeed, my dear; I think your idea is excellent."
"Hester, I will learn, I am sure I can," cried Julie hurriedly. "I'maching to get my fingers into something."
"Of course you'll learn--we'll both have to learn as we go along, andeven if we don't succeed it's worth trying."
"As for that," said the Doctor, "anything you may attempt will be moreor less in the nature of an experiment."
"Yes," acquiesced Hester, "and if we do succeed it means workingtogether, Julie dear, in a place of our own, and being with Dad. Justthink what that would mean!"
"Everything!" assented her sister. "I believe you've hit upon away--there always is a way, if one keeps looking!"
"One of the first things to ascertain," said Dr. Ware, "is the cost ofmaterials and the market price of such things as you suggest making."
"Yes," confessed Hester. It had never occurred to her in the wholecourse of her young life to consider the cost of anything.
From this the talk went on to other things relative to the change aboutto take place, and Dr. Ware remained several hours in earnestconversation with them. At the end of that time, when he rose to takehis departure, there was, added to the affection already in his heart, atremendous feeling of admiration and respect for these girls, whosespirits flashed undaunted; while they, on their part, were experiencingthrough him the depths of human kindness.
"We mean to be worthy of all you are doing for us," said Julie, stoppinga moment to steady her voice, "and we mean to make our fight as bravelyas you and Daddy did years ago, when you tramped through the Wildernesstogether."
The Doctor straightened his shoulders and made a military salute. "On tovictory!" was all he said.