CHAPTER XVII
PEGGY COMES TO A DECISION
IT was mid-afternoon on a crisp February day when Graham called Peggyon the phone. In his preliminary "Hello" she detected an unwonted noteof excitement.
"Hello, Graham. Yes, it's Peggy."
"I want you to take dinner with me to-night."
"Take dinner? Why, I can't possibly, Graham. I've got quite a lot ofcramming to do for the mid-year examinations. And I haven't even lookedat my lessons for to-morrow."
"Hang your lessons."
Peggy pricked up her ears. "What did you say?" she queriedincredulously.
"I said, 'Hang your lessons,' and I'll add, 'Hang your examinations.'I've got to see you and have a long talk."
One of the advantages of habitual faithfulness to duty is that the rarerelapse into irresponsibility comes as a delightful holiday. Peggy'sface suddenly crinkled into a charming smile. It was a pity Grahamcould not see it.
"Oh, well," she said demurely, "if it's terribly important--"
"It is."
"Then I suppose I must let you have your way."
"I'll call for you at half past six and we'll dine at the McLaughlin."
"The McLaughlin! You haven't happened to come into a fortune since lastevening, have you!"
"Not exactly. It's a celebration."
"What for?"
"That's telling. See you at six-thirty, Peggy darling. Good-by." AndGraham rang off in a hurry, as if he feared her powers of persuasion,and suspected that if he gave her half a chance she would have thewhole story out of him over the wire.
Peggy went back to her books with a smile which proved her thinkingof something very different from history or economics. She was wellaware that she would go to the class next day without her usualcareful preparation, but having made up her mind to accede to Graham'srequest, she had no intention of spoiling her pleasure by thinking ofslighted tasks. And though she made a valiant effort at concentrationin the short time left her for study, her attempt was not particularlysuccessful. The dinner was a celebration, Graham had said. She rackedher brain to recall some anniversary that had momentarily escaped herrecollection, but without results.
Peggy was dressed by six o'clock, having spent an unprecedentedly longtime over her toilet. The McLaughlin, though not the largest hotel inthe city, was one of the most exclusive, and the costumes seen in thedining-room were frequently of an elegance compared with which Peggy'slittle evening frock was almost dowdy. But neither at the McLaughlinnor elsewhere was one likely to see a face more charming than thatwhich looked back at Peggy from her mirror, so that her haunting fearthat Graham might be ashamed of her was entirely unfounded.
Mrs. Raymond left the dining table to see the young couple off. "Havea good time, dears," she said, and was pleased but not surprised whenGraham followed Peggy's example, and stooping kissed her. She stood atthe window looking after them as they went down the street. What a dearboy Graham was! In the far-off, nebulous future when Peggy began tothink of being married, she could trust her to Graham without a fear.And then they would live near, where she could see Peggy every day.Mrs. Raymond told herself she would not have anything different.
"Mother," called Mr. Raymond's voice from the dining-room, "yourdinner's getting cold."
Meanwhile Peggy, tilting her head on one side like an inquisitivecanary, was asking Graham, "What is it we are going to celebrate?"
"Washington's birthday and the Fourth of July, Christmas and NewYear's."
"Now, Graham, really I want to know."
"I'll tell you when the time comes. It's not the sort of thing to besprung on the street."
"Oh, how interesting!" But though Peggy stopped asking questions, hercuriosity grew prodigiously. Silent as Graham was as to the occasionof this unwonted festivity, she realized that there was about himan atmosphere of suppressed excitement. Sometimes, when his eyeswere on her, he seemed to be looking through her at something big inthe distance. Peggy was at the age when thrills and mysteries arealways welcome. She climbed aboard the street-car all a-tingle withpleasurable excitement.
The dining-room at the McLaughlin impressed Peggy with its grandeur.The hour was still early for fashionable diners, and less than half ofthe tables were occupied. But the rows of waiters in black clothes andgleaming shirt fronts, and the scrape of violins in the background,gave Peggy an uneasy sense of being out of place. But Graham, convincedthat he was escorting the queen rose of the rose-bud garden of girls,walked to his place as sure of himself as a young prince. And what hesaw in Peggy's eyes was not of a sort to lessen his self-confidence.
Peggy soon perceived that her customary little hints regarding economywere to have no weight on this particular occasion. Graham beganwith oysters and then appealed to Peggy as to her choice in soups.And perceiving that he was determined to be extravagant, for all shecould say or do, Peggy gave herself up to enjoying the fruits of hisextravagance. This was clearly Graham's night. Peggy decided not to askagain about his secret till he told her of his own accord.
"PEGGY LOOKED AT HIM WITHOUT REPLYING"]
As a matter of fact, Graham seemed in no hurry to take her into hisconfidence. The meal went on through its leisurely courses, the tablesabout them gradually filling, till the attentive waiter set theirdessert before them--French pastries with small cups of deliciouslyfragrant coffee. Peggy tasted and sipped and smiled, and looked acrossthe table with such an air of radiant happiness that if Graham had keptthe smallest fragment of a heart in his possession, he would have beenforced to surrender it on the spot.
He laid down his fork and leaned toward her. "Peggy, I've got mypromotion."
"Oh, Graham!"
"They want me to go to South America for two years," Grahamcontinued, speaking with curious breathlessness. "They're not askingme to stay permanently, you understand. But they want a man here who'sthoroughly familiar with conditions down there."
Peggy looked at him without replying, all the radiant happiness drainedfrom her face. South America! Her sensations were almost the same aswhen he went to France, except that now she had no patriotic ardorto sustain her. He was to be away two years, and yet his mood wasexultant, and he seemed to expect her congratulations.
Peggy rallied her courage and lifted her eyes with a wan little smile."When--when do they want you to go?" Her fork clattered against herplate, and she laid it down. She conceived on the instant an intenseloathing for French pastry.
"In July."
"Oh!" Peggy winked hard. It would be a shame to spoil that beautifuldinner by crying. And besides, it was a long time before Graham wouldhave to go, from February to July. Then a dreadful thought wrung herheart. If six months was a long time, what of two years?
Graham's face seemed to waver as he leaned toward her across the littleround table. His voice sounded far-off and unfamiliar. "What do yousay, Peggy? Shall we go?"
"I--I--what are you talking about Graham?"
"You're always saying how you'd love to travel. Don't you see this isyour chance."
"Do you--do you mean--"
"Yes, of course I do. Won't you marry me, Peggy, and go along? I can'tleave you for two years. I can't. When I came back from the other sideI promised myself I'd never be separated from you again by anythingless than a world war. If I went by myself, Peggy, it would be goinginto exile for two years. But with you along, it would be a two-years'honeymoon. Think what it would be to see those new countries together."
"I suppose it would be a good thing for our Spanish," said Peggy, andthe inane remark set them both to laughing, which undoubtedly wasa good thing. When the paroxysm was over, Peggy wiped her eyes andstruggled to be reasonable. "But, Graham, I don't graduate till thetwelfth of June."
"And I don't sail till the sixth of July. Loads of time."
"But I always meant to earn my living for a few years after Igraduated, before--"
"I wouldn't have stood for that, Peggy, not if I was making enough totake care of you, and I shall be."
&nbs
p; Peggy was breathing fast. It was hard to realize that she and Grahamwere sitting there in the McLaughlin dining-room, discussing thequestion of whether or not they should be married in July. For excepton one memorable occasion, when Graham had been on the point of goingacross and Peggy had been ready to marry him at a moment's notice, shehad felt about her marriage much as her mother did, as if it belongedto the misty, distant, indeterminate future. And now the six monthsshe had assured herself was a long time had dwindled down almost tonothing. July! It was incredibly, overwhelmingly near.
"We'll have to see what father and mother think." She tried to make hervoice matter-of-fact, but it had an unnatural tension. Graham on theother side of the little table, nodded agreement.
"Of course we'll see what they think. But we know they can say onlyone thing. It's such a reasonable solution that only one opinion ispossible. Don't you like your dessert, Peggy? Won't you have someice-cream?"
Peggy protested she liked her desert, and finished it without tasting amorsel. Then they went home and proceeded to bomb the peaceful Raymondhousehold with Graham's astounding proposition. And while Mrs. Raymondbegan by pronouncing it out of the question, before the evening endedshe was driven to admit the reasonableness of Graham's plan. It wastrue that Peggy's marriage would follow rather closely on the heelsof her graduation, but thanks to common-sense hours of sleep, and anabundance of outdoor exercise, she had come through her four years'college course in radiant health. A separation of two years just nowwould be hard for both, and especially for Graham. Indeed Grahamfrankly declared that he would not go without Peggy, and yet to refusesuch a chance was to prejudice his future success.
When Peggy went to bed that night she knew the whole thing was settled.To be sure, both her father and mother had warned her against a hastydecision, insisting that she take plenty of time to think the matterover. But Peggy knew what the final verdict would be, and she was sureGraham also knew it, by the triumph in his eyes as he kissed her goodnight.
Changes! She lay in her little white bed and thought of the new lifeopening before her, strange countries, unfamiliar tongues, aliencustoms, even the dear, friendly constellations replaced by unknownstars. And the queerest part of all was that she herself would nolonger be Peggy Raymond, but a strange young woman, Margaret Wylie byname. Peggy gave a little incredulous laugh. It was astonishing how theworld had turned upside down since morning.
Peggy Raymond's Way; Or, Blossom Time at Friendly Terrace Page 17