CHAPTER XI
Mother and Son
Miss Upton had looked upon the parting amenities of the two young peoplewith beaming approval; and Geraldine's first words when they were aloneastonished her.
As soon as they were inside the shop and the door closed, the young girllooked earnestly into her friend's eyes. Miss Mehitable returned herregard affectionately. The golden hair had been wound up and securedwith Mrs. Barry's hairpins.
"I wish there were some way by which I need never see him again," shesaid.
"Why, Miss Melody, child, what do you mean? Every word I told you in myletter was true. Perhaps you never got it, but I told you that he is the_finest_--"
"Yes, yes, I believe it," was the hasty reply. "I did receive yourletter, and some time I'll tell you how, and what a comfort it was tome. Oh, Miss Upton"--the girl threw her arms around the stoutfigure--"I can't tell you what it means to me for you to take me in; andthis is your shop you told me of--" she released Miss Mehitable andlooked about--"and I'm going to tend it for you and help you in everyway I can. It is paradise--paradise to me, Miss Upton."
Her fervor brought a lump to her companion's throat, but she knew thatMrs. Whipp was listening from the sitting-room, and Miss Mehitable didlove peace.
"Yes, yes, dear child; it'll all come out right," she said vaguely,patting the white shoulder. "I have another good helper and I want youto meet her. Come with me." She led the girl through the shop.
Mrs. Whipp had retreated violently from the front window when she sawthe closed car drive up, and now she was standing, at bay as it were,with eyes fixed on the doorway through which her employer would bringthe stranger. Pearl was placidly purring in the last rays of the sinkingsun, her milk-white paws tucked under her soft breast, the onlyunexcited member of the family.
Mrs. Whipp had excuse for staring as the young girl came into view.Short wisps of golden hair waved about her face. Her beauty struck asort of awe to the militant woman, who was standing on a mental fence inarmed neutrality holding herself ready to spring down on that side whichwould regard the stranger as an interloper come to sponge on Miss Upton,or possibly she might descend upon the other side and endure thenewcomer passively.
"This is our little girl, Charlotte," said Miss Mehitable; "our littlegirl to take care of, and who wants to take care of us. This is Mrs.Whipp, Geraldine."
Charlotte blinked as the newcomer's face relaxed in her appealing smile,and she came forward and took Mrs. Whipp's hard, unexpectant hand in hersoft grasp. "Such a fortunate girl I am, Mrs. Whipp," she said, "I'msure I shall inconvenience you at first (this fact had been too plainlylegible on the weazened face to be ignored), but I will try to make upfor it--try my very best, and it may not be for long."
Charlotte mumbled some inarticulate greeting, falling an instant victimto the young creature's humility and loveliness.
"I look very queer, I know," continued Geraldine, "but you see I justcame down out of the sky."
"She really did," put in Miss Upton. "She came in Mr. Barry'sareoplane."
"Shan't I die!" commented Mrs. Whipp, continuing to stare with apertinacity equal to Rufus Carder's own. "I believe it. She looks likean angel," she thought. Miss Mehitable watched her melting mood withinward amusement.
"What a beautiful cat!" said Geraldine. "She's tame, isn't she? Will shelet you touch her?"
"Well," said Charlotte with a broader smile than had been seen on hercountenance for many a day, "I guess they don't have cats in the sky."She lifted Pearl and bestowed her in Geraldine's arms.
The girl met the lazy, golden eyes rather timorously, but she took her.
"All the cats where--where I was--were wild--and no one--no one fedthem, you see."
"Well, this cat is named Pearl," said Miss Mehitable. "She's Charlotte'sjewel and you can bet she does get fed. How about us, Charlotte?" Sheturned to the waiting table. "I want to give Miss Melody her supper andput her to bed, and after she has slept twelve hours we'll get her totell us how it feels to fly. Thank Heaven, she's here with no brokenbones."
Meanwhile Ben Barry had reached home and made a rather formal toilet forthe evening meal. Even before his mother saw it, she knew she was goingto be disciplined. While the waitress remained in the room the youngman's gravity and meticulous politeness would have intimidated mostmothers with a conscience as guilty as Mrs. Barry's. She was forced toraise her napkin several times, not to dry tears, but to conceal smileswhich would have been sure to add fuel to the flame.
She showed her temerity by soon dismissing the servant. Her son met hertwinkling eyes coldly. She leaned across the table toward him andrevealed the handsome teeth he had inherited.
"Now, Benny, don't be ridiculous," she said.
This beginning destroyed his completely. He arrived at his climax atonce.
"How could you be so heartless!" he exclaimed. "She had told me shewanted you to love her. Your coldness shocked her."
This appeal, so pathetic to the speaker, caused Mrs. Barry again toraise her napkin to her rebellious lips.
"I tell you," went on Ben heatedly, "she has been through so much thatthe surprise and humiliation of your manner made her faint."
"Now, dear, be calm. Didn't I bring her to again? Didn't I do up herhair--it's beautiful, but I like it better wound up, in company--didn'tI want to give her--"
"Do you suppose," interrupted Ben more hotly, "do you suppose she wasn'tconscious, and hurt, too, by her unconventional appearance?"
He was arraigning his parent now with open severity.
"How about my shock, Ben? I'm old-fashioned, you know. You come, leadingthat odd little waif and displaying so much--well, enthusiasm, wasn'tit--wasn't the whole thing a little extreme?"
"Yes, the situation was certainly very extreme. An old rascal hadmanaged to capture that flower of a girl, and made her believe that tosave her dead father's good name she must marry him. I come along withthe Scout and pick her up out of a field where she was walking, herunning, and yelling, and firing his gun at us. There was scarcely timefor her to put on a traveling costume to accord with your ideas ofdecorum, was there?"
Mrs. Barry's eyes widened as they gazed into his accusing ones.
"How dreadful," she said.
"Yes; and even in all her relief at escaping, Miss Melody was in doubtas to whether she was not deserting her father's cause--torn, as thebooks say, with conflicting emotions. You may think it was all verypleasant."
"Benny, I think it was dreadful! Awfully hard for you, dear; and, oh,that wretch might have disabled the plane and hurt you! Why did I everlet you have it?"
"To save her! That's why you let me have it."
His mother regarded his glowing face. "What a wretched mess!" she wasthinking. "What a bother that the girl is so pretty!"
"You remember the other evening when I came home from that motor-cycletrip, and the next day Miss Upton came and told you Miss Melody'sstory?"
"Yes, dear." Mrs. Barry added apologetically, "I'm afraid I didn't paystrict attention."
"Well, it is a pity that you did not, for I've known ever since that daythat Geraldine Melody is the only girl I shall ever marry."
His mother's heart beat faster as she marked the expression in thosesteady, young eyes.
There was silence for a space between them. She was the first to speak,and she did so with a cool, unsmiling demeanor which reminded him ofchildhood days when he was in disgrace.
"Then you care nothing for what sort of mind and character are possessedby your future wife. The skin-deep part is all that interests you."
"That's what she said," he responded quickly. "I suggested that she putaffairs in a shape where it would be of no use for an irritatingconscience to try to make trouble. I urged her to marry me thisafternoon before we came home."
Mrs. Barry's nonchalance deserted her with a rush. Her face becamecrimson.
"How--how criminal!" she ejaculated.
"That's what she said," returned Ben. "She asked if I hadn't a mot
her. Itold her I had a glorious one; and she just looked at me and said: 'Andyou would do that to her just because I have nice eyes.'"
Mrs. Barry bit her lip and did not love the waif the more that she hadbeen able to defend her.
"What is the use of being a mother!" she ejaculated. "What is the use ofexpending your whole heart's love on a boy for his lifetime, when hewill desert you at the first temptation!"
"Well, she wouldn't let me, dear," said Ben more gently, flushing andfeeling his first qualm. "I would stake my life that she is as beautifulwithin as without and that you would have a treasure as well as I. Itwasn't deserting you. I was thinking of you. I felt she was worthy ofyou and no one else is."
"This is raving, Ben," said his mother, quiet again. "He has escaped,"she thought, "and now nothing will come of it." She raised her droopinghead and again regarded him deprecatingly. "Let us talk of somethingelse," she added.
"No," he returned firmly; "not until you understand that I am entirelyin earnest. You had your love-affair, now I am having mine, and I amgoing through with it, openly and in the sight of all men. I urged her asecond time to marry me this afternoon, and she looked at me soberlywith those glorious eyes and her only answer was: 'I want your mother tolove me.'" Ben looked off reminiscently. "It encouraged me to hope thatshe cares for me a little that your coldness bowled her over socompletely."
Mrs. Barry looked at him helplessly, and this time when she put up hernapkin she touched a corner of her eye.
"We stopped at the landing-field at Townley and had our talk," he wenton.
"And she seemed refined?" Mrs. Barry's voice was a little uncertain.
"Exquisite!" he exclaimed.
"You have standards, Ben," she said. "You couldn't be totally fooled bybeauty."
He smiled upon her for the first time and a very warming light shone inhis eyes. "The best," he replied, leaning toward her. "You."
She drew a long, quavering breath; but she scorned weeping women.
Ben watched her repressed emotion.
"Now you examine, Mother," he said gently. "Take your New Englandmagnifying-glass along, and when she will see you, put her to the test."
"When she will see me? What do you mean?" asked Mrs. Barry quickly.
"Well"--Ben shrugged his shoulders--"we'll see. How much she was hurt,how long it will last, I don't know, of course. You can try."
"_Try!_" repeated the queen of Keefe, her handsome face coloring faintlyabove her white silken gown.
"Yes. Miss Upton will be a good go-between, when she is placated. Yousaw the partisan in her."
Of course, it was all very absurd, as Mrs. Barry told herself when theyarose from the table; but there was no denying that her throne wastottering. Her boy was no longer all hers. Bitter, bitter discovery formost mothers to make even when the rival is not Miss Nobody fromNowhere.
The next morning betimes Ben presented himself at the Emporium. He droveup in his roadster and rushed in upon Miss Upton with an arm full ofapple blossoms.
"How is she?" he inquired eagerly.
"Hush, hush! I think she's goin' to sleep again. She's had herbreakfast."
"Mother sent her these," he went on, laying the fragrant mass on thecounter behind which Miss Mehitable was piling up goods for packing.
She looked at him and the corners of her mouth drew down. "Ben Barry,what do you want to tell such a lie for?"
"Because I think it sounds nice," he returned, unabashed. "Really, Ithink she would if she dared, you know. We had it out last night. Nowwhat are you going to do about Miss Melody's clothes?"
"Yes, what am I?" said Miss Upton. "Say, Ben"--she gave his arm a pushand lowered her voice--"what do you s'pose Charlotte's doin'? She's outin the shed washin' and ironin' Geraldine's clothes." She lifted herplump shoulders and nudged Ben again. They both laughed.
"Good for Lottie!" remarked Ben.
"Oh, she's in love, just in love," said Miss Mehitable. "It's too funnyto see her. She wants to wait on the child by inches; but clothes--Ben!You should have seen Geraldine in my--a--my--a wrapper last night!" MissMehitable gave vent to another stifled chuckle. "She was just lost init, and we had to hunt for her and fish her out and put her intosomething of Charlotte's. Charlotte was tickled to death." Again thespeaker's cushiony fist gave Ben's arm an emphatic nudge.
He smiled sympathetically. "I suppose so," he said; "but aren't yougoing to town to-day to buy her some things?"
"What with?" Miss Upton grew sober and extended both hands palms upward."I've been thinkin' about it while I was workin' here. She's got to haveclothes. I shouldn't wonder if some o' my customers had things theycould let us have. Once your mother would 'a' been my first thought."
"Hand-me-downs?" said Ben, flushing. "Nothing doing. Surely you havecredit at the stores."
"Yes, I have, but it's my habit to pay my bills," was the defiant reply,"and that girl needs everything. I can't buy 'em all."
Ben patted her arm. "Don't speak so loud, you'll wake the baby. You buythe things, Mehit. I'll see that they're paid for."
"How your mother'd love that!"
"My mother will have nothing to do with it."
"Why, you ain't even self-supportin' yet," declared Miss Upton bluntly."'T ain't anything to your discredit, of course; you ain't ready," sheadded kindly.
Ben's steady eyes kept on looking into hers and his low voice replied:"My father died suddenly, you remember. He had destroyed one will andnot yet made another. I have money of my own, quite a lot of it, to tellthe truth. Now if you'd just let me fly you over to town--"
Miss Mehitable started. "Fly me over, you lunatic!"
"Well, let us go in the train, then. I'll go with you. I know in ageneral way just what she ought to wear. Soft silky things and a--adroopy hat."
"Ben Barry, you've taken leave o' your senses. Don't you know thateverything I get her, that poor child will want to pay for--work, andearn the money? If I buy anything for her, it's goin' to be somethin'she can pay for before she's ninety."
Ben sighed. "All right, Mehit! have it your own way, only get a move. Ican't take her out till she gets a hat."
"You haven't got to take her out," retorted Miss Upton decidedly. "Shedon't want to go out with you. It was only last night she was sayin' shewished she might never see you again."
"Huh!" ejaculated Ben. "Poor girl, I'm sorry for her, then. She is goingto stumble over me every time she turns around. She is going to see metill she cries for mercy."
He smiled into Miss Upton's doubtful, questioning face for a silentspace.
"Don't worry about that," he said at last. "Just go upstairs and put onyour duds, like the dear thing you are, and get the next train." Thespeaker looked at his watch. "You can catch it all right."
"I never heard o' such a thing," said Miss Mehitable. She had made hersemi-annual trip to the city. The idea of going back again with nopreparation was startling--and also expensive.
Ben perceived that if there were to be any initiative here he would haveto furnish it.
"You don't expect to open the shop again until you have moved, do you?"
"No," admitted Miss Upton reluctantly.
"Then you can take your time. Take these flowers upstairs, ask her whatsize things she wears, and hurry up and catch the train."
Miss Upton brought her gaze back from its far-away look and she appearedto come to herself. "Look here, Ben Barry, I'm not goin' to be crazyjust because you are. Her clean clothes'll be all ready for her bynight. I can buy her a sailor hat right here in the village and maybe ajacket. She's got to go to town with me. The idea of buyin' a lot ofclothes and maybe not havin' 'em right."
"You're perfectly correct, Miss Upton."
The young man took out his pocket-book and handed his companion a bill."This is for your fares," he said.
Miss Mehitable's troubled brow cleared even while she blushed, seeingthat he had read her thoughts.
"I don't know as this is exactly proper, Ben," she said doubtfully.
/> "Take my word for it, it is," he replied. "Let me be your conscience fora few weeks. I may not see you for a day or two. I have another littlejob of kidnapping on hand; so I put you on your honor to do your part."
He was gone, and Miss Upton, placing the sturdy stems of the appleblossoms in a pitcher of water, carried them upstairs. She tiptoed intothe room where Geraldine was in bed, but the girl was awake and gave anexclamation of delight.
"Have you an apple tree, too?" she asked.
"No, Mr. Barry brought these over."
The girl's face sobered as she buried it in the blooms Miss Uptonoffered. Miss Mehitable looked admiringly at the golden braids hangingover the pillows.
"Do you feel rested?" she asked.
"Perfectly, and I know I have taken your bed. To-night we will make me anice nest on the floor."
Miss Upton smiled. "Oh, I've got a cot. We'll do all right. Do yous'pose there is any way we could get your clothes from that fiend on thefarm?" she added.
Geraldine shrank and shook her head. "I wouldn't dare try," she replied.
"Then you and I've got to go to town to-morrow," said Miss Upton, "andget you something."
The girl returned her look seriously and caught her lip under her teethfor a silent space.
"Yes, I know what you're thinkin'," said Miss Mehitable cheerfully; "butthe queerest thing and the nicest thing happened to me this mornin'. Igot some money that I didn't expect. Just in the nick o' time, you see.We can go to town and--"
Geraldine reached up a hand and took that of her friend, her facegrowing eager.
"How splendid!" she exclaimed. "Then we will go and get me the verysimplest things I can get along with and we'll keep account of everycent and I will pay it all back to you. Do you know I think this bed ofyours is full of courage? At any rate, when I waked up this morning Ifound all my hopefulness had come back. I feel that I am going to makemy living and not be a burden on anyone. It's wonderful to feel thatway!"
"Of course you are, child." Miss Upton patted the hand that graspedhers. "But first off, you'll have to help me move. I've got a lot o'packin' to do, you understand. I'm movin' my shop to Keefeport. I alwaysdo summers."
For answer Geraldine, who had been leaning on her elbow, sat up quickly,evidently with every intention of rising.
"Get back there," laughed Miss Mehitable. "Your clothes ain't ironedyet. I'll move the apple blossoms up side of you--"
"Don't, please," said Geraldine, as she lay down reluctantly. "I thinkI'd rather they would keep their distance--like their owner."
"Now, child," said Miss Mehitable coaxingly. "Mrs. Barry's one o' thegrandest women in the world. I felt pretty hot myself yesterday--I mightas well own it--but that'll all smooth over. She didn't mean a thingexcept that she was surprised."
"We can't blame her for that," returned Geraldine, "but--but--I'm sorryhe brought the flowers. I wonder if you couldn't make himunderstand--very kindly, you know, Miss Upton, that I want to be--justto be forgotten."
Miss Upton pursed her lips and her eyes laughed down into the earnestface. "I'm afraid, child, I don't know any language that could make himunderstand that."
Geraldine did not smile. She felt that in those intense hours ofyesterday, freed from every convention of earth, they two had lived alifetime. She would rather dwell on its memory henceforth than run therisk of any more shocks. Peace and forgetfulness. That is what she feltshe needed from now on.
"He said he was goin' on another kidnappin' errand now," remarked MissUpton.
The girl looked up quickly from her introspection. A startled looksprang into her eyes and she sat up in bed.
"Oh, Miss Upton, you know him!" she exclaimed, gazing at her friend."Does he keep solemn promises?"
"I'm sure he does, child. What's the matter now?"
"He promised me--oh, he promised me, he wouldn't go back to that farmalone." The girl's eyes filled with tears that overflowed on hersuddenly pale cheeks.
Miss Mehitable sat down on the edge of the bed and patted her, whileGeraldine wiped the drops away with the long sleeve of Charlotte'sunbleached nightgown. "Then he won't, dear, don't you worry," she saidcomfortingly. "Where's that courage you were talkin' about just now?"
"That was for myself," said the girl grievously, accepting thehandkerchief Miss Upton gave her.
"Who else does he want out o' that God-forsaken place?" asked Miss Uptonimpatiently. "I wish to goodness that boy could stay put somewhere."
"It's a servant, a dwarf, a poor little friendless boy who was kind tome there. If it hadn't been for him I shouldn't be here now. I should bedying--there! Mr. Barry is going to get him and bring him away. Oh, whydidn't I prevent him!" Geraldine broke down completely, weepingbroken-heartedly into the handkerchief.
Miss Upton smiled over her head. She knew nothing of Rufus Carder'sshot-gun, and she was thinking of Geraldine's earnest request that BenBarry should forget her.
"Now, stop that right away, my child," she said, enjoying herselfhugely. She had seen Ben Barry's heart in his eyes as he came walkingunder the apple blossoms yesterday and this revelation of Geraldine'swas most pleasing.
"Stop cryin'," she said with authority. "Ben Barry's just as smart as heis brave. He ain't goin' to take any foolish risk now that you're safe.I don't know what he wants the boy for, but probably it's some goodreason; and if you don't stop workin' yourself up, you won't be fit togo to town to-morrow. I want you should stay in bed all day. Now, youbehave yourself, my lamb. Ben'll come back all right."
Geraldine flushed through her tears. It was heavenly to be scolded bysomeone who loved her.
She looked at the pitcher exiled to the bureau. "I--I think you might aswell move the apple blossoms here," she said, wiping her eyes andspeaking meekly.
"All right," said Miss Mehitable, beaming, and she proceeded to set alight stand beside the bed and placed the rosy mass upon it.
Toward night came a parcel-post package for Miss Geraldine Melody. MissUpton and Charlotte both stood by with eager interest while the girl satup in bed and opened it. None of the three had ever seen such a box ofbon-bons as was disclosed. It was a revelation of dainty richness, andthe older women exclaimed while Geraldine bowed her fair head over thisnew evidence of thoughtfulness. The long sleeves of Charlotte'snightgown, the patchwork quilt of the bed, the homely surroundings, allmade the contrast of the gift more striking. There was a card upon it.Ben Barry's card: Geraldine turned it over and read: "Is the princesshappy?"
She was back among the clouds, the bright spring air flowing past her,each breath a wonderful memory.
The two women looked at one another. They saw her close her hand on thecard. She lifted the box to them, and raised her pensive eyes.
"It is for us all," she said softly; but her ardent thought wasrepeating:
"He would--he _will_ take care of himself, for me!"
In Apple-Blossom Time: A Fairy-Tale to Date Page 11