CHAPTER VII
OLD PLOD IDEALIZED
Adah brought me up my dinner, and I at once noted that she was in aflutter of unusual excitement. Her mother had undoubtedly prepared herfor the arrival of the expected guest, and made known also hisrelations to one of whom she had been somewhat jealous, and it wouldseem that the simple-hearted girl could not disguise her elation.
I was in too bitter a mood to endure a word, and yet did not wish tohurt her feelings; therefore she found me more absorbed in my paper andpreoccupied than ever before.
"Thank you, Miss Adah," I said, cordially but briefly. "Editors arewretched company; their paper is everything to them, and I've somethingon my mind just now that's very absorbing."
"Thee isn't strong enough to work yet," she said sympathetically.
"Oh, yes," I replied, laughing bitterly; "I'm a small edition ofSamson. Besides, I'm as poor as Job's impoverished turkey, and must getto work again as soon as possible."
"There is no need of thee feeling that way; we--" and then she stoppedand blushed.
"I know all about 'we,'" I laughed; "your hearts are as large as thiswide valley, but then I must keep my self-respect, you know. You haveno idea how happy you ought to be in such a home as yours."
"I like the city better," she replied, blushing, and she hastily leftthe room.
My greed for work departed as abruptly. "Poor child!" I muttered."'Life is a tangle,' as Miss Warren said, and a wretched one, too, formany of us."
Mrs. Yocomb soon after came in, and looked with solicitude at my almostuntasted dinner.
"Why, Richard," she said, "thy appetite flags strangely. Isn't thydinner to thy taste?"
"The fault is wholly in me," I replied.
"Thee doesn't look so well--nothing like so well. Has Adah saidanything to trouble thee?" she asked apprehensively.
"No, indeed; Adah is just as good and kind as she can be. She'sbecoming as good as she is beautiful. Every day increases my respectfor her;" and I spoke earnestly and honestly.
A faint color stole into the matron's cheek, and she seemed pleased andrelieved, but she remarked quietly:
"Adah's young and inexperienced." Then she added, with a touch ofmotherly pride and solicitude, "She's good at heart, and I think istrying to do right."
"She will make a noble woman, Mrs. Yocomb--one that you may well beproud of, or I'm no judge of character," I said, with quiet emphasis."She and Zillah have both been so kind to me that they already seemlike sisters. At any rate, after my treatment in this home I shallalways feel that I owe to them a brother's duty."
The color deepened in the old lady's face, that was still so fair andcomely, and tears stood in her eyes.
"I understand thee, Richard," she said quietly. "I thought I loved theefor saving our lives and our home, but I love thee more now. Still theecannot understand a mother's heart. Thee's a true gentleman."
"Dear Mrs. Yocomb, you must learn to understand me better or I shallhave to run away in self-defence. When you talk in that style I feellike an arrant hypocrite. I give you my word that I've been swearingthis very forenoon."
"Who was thee swearing at?" she asked, in much surprise.
"Myself, and with good reason."
"There is never good reason for such wickedness," she said gravely, butregarding me with deep solicitude. Presently she added, "Thee has hadsome great provocation?"
"No; I've been honored with unmerited kindness and trust, which I haveill requited." "Emily Warren has been to see thee?"
"Yes."
"Did she tell thee?"
"Yes; and I feel that I could throttle that man. Now you know what aheathen savage I am."
"Yes," she said dryly, "thee has considerable untamed human nature."Then added, smiling, "I'll trust him with thee, nevertheless. I'minclined to think that for her sake thee'd do more for him than for anyman living. Now wouldn't thee?"
"Oh, Satan take him! Yes!" I groaned. "Forgive me, Mrs. Yocomb. I'm sounmanned, so desperate from trouble, that I'm not fit for decentsociety, much less your company. You believe in a Providence: why wasthis woman permitted to enslave my very soul when it was of no use?"
"Richard Morton," she said reproachfully, "thee is indeed unmanned.Thee's wholly unjust and unreasonable. This gentleman has been EmilyWarren's devoted friend for years. He has taken care of her littleproperty, and done everything for her that her independent spirit wouldpermit. He might have sought an alliance among the wealthiest, but hehas sued long and patiently for her hand--"
"Well he might," I interrupted irritably. "Emily Warren is the peer ofany man in New York."
"Thee knows New York and the world in general well enough to be awarethat wealthy bankers do not often seek wives from the class to whichEmily belongs, though in my estimation, as well as in thine, no otherclass is more respectable. But I'm not blinded by prejudice, and Ithink it speaks well for him that he is able to recognize and honorworth wherever he finds it. Still, he knew her family. The Warrens werequite wealthy, too, at one time."
"What is his name?" I asked sullenly.
"Gilbert Hearn." "What, Hearn the banker, who resides on Fifth Avenue?"
"The same."
"I know him--that is, I know who he is--well." Then I added bitterly,"It's just like him; he has always had the good things of this world,and always will. He'll surely marry her."
"Has thee anything against him?"
"Yes, infinitely much against him: I feel as if he were seeking tomarry my wife."
"That's what thee said when out of thy mind," she exclaimedapprehensively. "I hope thee is not becoming feverish?" "Oh, no, Mrs.Yocomb, I've nothing against him at all. He is pre-eminentlyrespectable, as the world goes. He is shrewd, wonderfully shrewd, andalways makes a ten-strike in Wall Street; but his securing Miss Warrenwas a masterstroke. There, I'm talking slang, and disgracing myselfgenerally." But my bitter spirit broke out again in the words, "Neverfear; Gilbert Hearn will have the best in the city; nothing less willserve him."
"Thee is prejudiced and unjust. I hope thee'll be in a better moodto-morrow," and she left my room looking hurt and grieved.
I sank back in my chair in wretched, reckless apathy, and from thedepths of my heart wished I had died.
After a little time Mrs. Yocomb came hastily in, looking half ashamedof her weakness, and in her hands was a bowl of delicious broth.
"My heart relents toward thee," she said, with moist eyes. "I ought tohave made more allowance for one whose mother left him much too early.Take this, every drop, and remember thy pledge to get well and be agenerous man. I'll trust thee to keep thy word," and she departedbefore I could speak.
"Well, I should be a devil incarnate if I didn't become a man after herkindness," I muttered, and I gulped down the broth and my evil mood atthe same time.
At the end of an hour I could almost have shaken hands with GilbertHearn, who prospered in all that he touched.
As the sun declined I heard the rustle of a silk on the stairway. Amoment later Miss Warren mounted the horseblock and stood waiting forReuben, who soon appeared in the family rockaway.
I thought the maiden looked a trifle pale in contrast with her lightsilk, but perhaps it was the shadow of the tree she stood under; but Imuttered, "Even his critical taste can find no fault with that form andface; she'll grace his princely home, and none will recognize the truthmore clearly than he."
She hesitatingly lifted her eyes toward my window, and I started back,forgetting that I was hidden by the half-closed blind; but my facesuffused with pleasure as I said to myself:
"Heaven bless her! she does not forget me wholly, even on the thresholdof her happiness."
At that moment Old Plod, passing through the yard in his early Saturdayrelease from toil, gave a loud whinny of recognition. The young girlstarted visibly, sprang lightly down from the block and caressed hergreat heavy-footed pet, and then, without another glance at my window,entered the rockaway, and was driven rapidly toward the distant depotat which she w
ould welcome the most fortunate man in the world.
I now felt sure that I had guessed her associations with the oldplow-horse, and, sore-hearted as I was, I laughed long and silentlyover the quaint fancy.
"Truly," I muttered, "the courtly and elegant banker would not feelflattered if he knew about it. How in the world did she ever come tounite the two in her mind?"
But as I thought it all over I was led to conclude that it was naturalenough. The lonely girl had no doubt found that even in the bestsociety of a Christian city she must ever be warily on her guard. Shewas beautiful, and yet poor and apparently friendless; and, as she hadintimated, she had found many of the young and gay ready to flatter,and with anything but sincere motives. The banker, considerably hersenior, had undoubtedly proved himself a quiet, steadfast friend. Hewas not the fool to neglect her as did those stupid horses, for anyoats the world could offer, and she always found him, like Old Plod,ready to drop everything for her, and well he might. "No matter howdevoted he has been, he can never plume himself on any magnanimity," Isaid to myself. "She probably finds him a trifle formal and sedate, andrather lacking in ideality, just as Old Plod is very stolid till sheappears; but then he is safe and strong, and very kind to a friendlessgirl, who might well shrink from the vicissitudes of her lot, and wouldnaturally be attracted by the protection and position which he couldoffer. In spite of the disparity of years, a woman might easily love aman who could do so much for her, and the banker is still wellpreserved and handsome. Of course Emily Warren does love him: all thewealth of Wall Street could not buy her. Yes, in a world full oflightning flashes she has made a thrifty and excellent choice. I may aswell own it, in spite of every motive to prejudice. Gilbert Hearn isnot my ideal man by any means. Good things are essential to him. Hewould feel personally aggrieved if the weather was bad for two days insuccession. He is very charitable and public-spirited, and he likes ourpaper to recognize the fact: I have proof of that too. Alms given inthe dark are not exactly wasted--but I'm thinking scandal. He so likesto let his 'light so shine.' He's respectability personified, and thetoil-worn girl will be taken into an ark of safety.
"I suppose I ought to be magnanimous enough to think that it's all forthe best, since he can do infinitely more for her than I ever could.She will be the millionaire's wife, and I'll go back to my dingy littleoffice and write paragraphs heavy enough to sink a cork ship. Thus willend my June idyll; but should I live a century I will always feel thatGilbert Hearn married my wife."