By the Way of the Silverthorns

by Grace Livingston Hill

  “Of course not,” said Link bowing gravely.

  “The car is at the side entrance. I’ll bring her out,” said Mr. Hollis.

  Link slid out through the heavy portieres and disappeared from Minnie Lazarelle’s sight, and Mr. Hollis stepped to her side, and took a firm grip of her bare arm.

  “Come!” he ordered in a low tone, “Come with me!” and Minnie looking up was a little frightened at the stern look on her semi-relative’s face, though she had still no intention of stirring. She wore a well-feigned look of surprise on her face, till suddenly the chair upon which she was sitting began to move backward, and the grip on her arm forced her to rise.

  “Why, where? What?” she asked in a tone which she tried to make bright.

  Over across the table the bridegroom was asking in a low tone, “Who is she? Do I know her?” and Sydney was trying to explain briefly, while the rest of the guests were helpfully covering this forced exit with cheerful conversation in voices that were a bit too loud and excited, and with eyes that tried to seem oblivious to what was going on. None of them liked the girl who was being led out of the room, but they were too well-bred to let her realize that they were aware of her humiliation. Besides, they all loved their hostess and were glad to ignore what must be a great annoyance to her well-planned festivity.

  Minnie Lazarelle was led away from the room so forcibly that she had trouble in keeping her footing, and no leisure to cry out or refuse to go. Skillfully, too, she was guided out of view of the guests, down the back hall to the side entrance from which she had gone a little while before.

  Link had the car at the door when they came out, Mr. Hollis setting the pace rapidly, and Minnie dragging back as much as she dared.

  Thelma, always helpful, was at the door with the young woman’s wrap which she had left on the back of the chair from which she had been lifted, and her suitcase which she had dropped at the front door as she entered. Thelma never had to be told such things.

  “Now, Minnie,” said Mr. Hollis, “Mr. Silverthorn has very kindly offered to take you back to Mrs. Fremont’s. You have made us a great deal of trouble already, and if there is any more I shall certainly have to call in the police. Some of us will be seeing you sometime tomorrow, and in the meantime Mrs. Fremont will look after you. Thanks, Link, and please hurry back as soon as possible. No more nonsense, Minnie!”

  Link had his foot on the clutch and the car started on its short journey swiftly.

  Minnie, utterly taken by surprise, and rather intrigued by having such a good-looking young escort, was silent for the first few minutes, studying the young man’s profile in the shadows of the car. She was planning just how she should open the conversation with him so that she would have his influence on her side, and perhaps force him to take her back to the house where she so greatly desired to be tonight. She had nursed her desires until she was thoroughly convinced that she was slighted by not having had an invitation to this wedding. What she wanted to do was to get it back on the Hollises for the shabby way in which they had treated her, bringing it out into the open that she was not of the wedding party. But the trouble was she did not know this young man. He had not been with the rest of the crowd on the few occasions when she had been with them, and she was not sure just what approach would be best to use. So for the first few seconds she was quiet.

  But before she had decided what to say, Link spoke himself.

  “Just what did you hope to gain by pulling off a stunt like that, Miss Lazarelle?” he said. “Surely you know that no one admires what you have done. All our crowd love and admire the Hollises, and not one of us likes to see them humiliated. I scarcely see how Sydney can ever bear to look at you again. As for the rest of us, we all feel that you have committed an outrage. Not one of the fellows could ever admire you even though you are all made up in that outlandish style. You don’t know how a decent fellow despises a girl who would carry on the way you have been doing. Why don’t you snap out of this and try to behave like a regular human being? I can’t see what possible fun you could get out of a stunt like this. You’re not drunk, are you?”

  In utmost astonishment Minnie listened. She was shaken beyond anything at hearing an estimate of her appearance and character that nobody had ever dared give her before, certainly no interesting young man. Suddenly shame came to her. Shame was almost a stranger to her. She had been doing as she pleased, saying what she pleased, all her life. And she had always reacted in such unexpected ways when anyone dared to call her down that her victims were left speechless with rage.

  And so when shame touched her her anger boiled to fury’s heat and she opened her mouth to give a choice answer. But instead, shameful angry tears stung her eyes, and dulled the sharpness of the words she would have uttered, and she sat there dumb.

  So, this was McRae Silverthorn’s adored brother! The man who had selected that nifty dress for his sister. The man whom all the crowd admired! And he was talking to her like this!

  As the car drew up at the curb and stopped she ventured a trembling protest:

  “I don’t see what I’ve done that was so awful! I had a perfect right in—”

  “Oh, yes, you do! You know exactly how you have behaved! You planned to do it. You thought perhaps if you succeeded in getting your way and being at that dinner, and the other festivities, that you would have a good time and some pleasant friends. But you wouldn’t! Not a soul of the crowd would have wanted to have anything to do with you. Don’t you know that? You wouldn’t have been good company either, and you wouldn’t have been admired by anyone. You know it isn’t necessary for you to be like this. You wouldn’t be bad looking if you’d wash all that tawdry makeup off, and fix your hair neatly, and stop wearing flimsy finery. You’d have to change your line, but you probably could learn to behave like a lady! Why don’t you try it?”

  Suddenly Minnie took refuge in tears.

  “I’ve never really had half a chance!” she sobbed. “I never had a nice home like other girls. And I never got invited to nice parties, not had nice boy friends. I always had to get in anywhere I went by my wits. Nobody wants me.”

  “I don’t doubt it,” said Link severely. “Not if you’ve always acted the way you have been doing tonight. But you mustn’t blame it on fate or your environment or anything like that. It’s all your own fault and you know it! Now, will you get out? This is the house, and you can see perfectly well that there’s no movie-thriller going on inside or out. Get out, please! I haven’t much time.”

  He got out, and went around to the other side of the car. He helped her out, keeping a firm hold of her arm, and so propelled her up the curb, across the sidewalk, and up the walk to the door, not lingering on the way in spite of the drag of Minnie’s reluctant feet.

  But even as he reached to touch the doorbell Minnie started back sharply.

  “Don’t!” she said in a low tearful tone. “I can ring my own bell. You go on back. I can let myself in.”

  “No you don’t!” said Link firmly. “I agreed to see you safely inside, and I mean to do it. You aren’t going to have any more chances to pull a stunt like that tonight. And by the way, remember what I said. If you try any more monkey shines to worry my friends I personally will see that you get your come-uppance, and I don’t mean maybe. Do I have you word of honor or haven’t you any honor?”

  He looked sternly down at her in the starlight.

  “Yes!” she gasped, struggling to fight back the unaccustomed tears.

  And just then the door swung open and Mrs. Fremont stood there in the bright light. Link put forward his ward and introduced her, pleasantly enough, but with a look on his nice firm lips that meant business.

  “This is Miss Lazarelle, Mrs. Fremont. Mr. Hollis asked me to bring her over to be sure she found the way. He said to tell you it was very kind of you to take care of her tonight and they will be telling you so themselves later.”

  “Why, we’re delighted,” said Mrs. Fremont, possessing herself of the reluctant h
and of the unwilling guest, and smiling warmly upon her and the young man, including them both in that smile, as if Link and the girl were friends. That inclusive smile did something soothing to the overwrought nerves of the girl, and Minnie looked up almost gratefully.

  “Now,” said Mrs. Fremont with welcome in her eyes, “you’ll come in, Link, and have dinner with us, won’t you? We’re just about to sit down and I’m sure it will make Miss Lazarelle feel a lot more at home if you stay.”

  “That’s very kind of you,” said Link warmly, “but I’m being waited for, and I can’t possibly stay tonight.”

  Minnie lifted wistful eyes toward the young man as he backed away toward the door. Would a young man like that ever bring her to a place and stay there because he wanted to be with her, she wondered?

  And then she suddenly roused to the moment. Something was due him from her, some thanks. Could he drag the words from her bitter lips after the drubbing he had given her?

  “Thanks awfully for showing me the way,” she murmured, lifting her miserable eyes to his face with a swift glance, hoping he didn’t know how deep he had gone into her soul with his scathing words.

  “So sorry you can’t stay, Link,” murmured Mrs. Fremont with a kindly hand on the girl’s arm. “We’ll try to take good care of this young woman.”

  If that detaining hand had not been possessively on her arm when the door opened to let Link out, she felt she would have bolted straight out too and vanished into the night. Only, she reflected as she was ushered upstairs to a pleasant guest room to take off her wrap, that it wouldn’t be so easy to disappear into the night from a young man like that. He was capable of handling any girl who tried to get away from him, and of course under the present circumstances he wouldn’t hesitate to call in the police if it became necessary. Then she winced as she remembered his tone while he was berating her, his keen sarcasm, his strong frank words that left no room for doubt of what he meant. The unbidden tears sprang into evidence again as she turned to the mirror and pretended to arrange her hair and powder her nose. Of course she didn’t care what this plain elderly woman thought of her. Or did she, perhaps, after all? If what had just been said to her was true, and she was as unprepossessing as that young man had said, was there a sense in which she ought to care for what anyone thought?

  But what was the word “ought”? Why ought she to be anything unless she wanted to be? Why indeed, except perhaps it was the only way to win the admiration she so much desired.

  Her poor selfish blinded mind could not follow her argument further. Mrs. Fremont was waiting for her. The most delicious savory smells were coming up the stairs to tantalize an appetite already whetted by the fragrance of the festive dinner over at the Hollis house. And now the Hollis dinner was definitely out of the picture. So she turned and meekly walked downstairs after her hostess.

  If they hadn’t sent that Silverthorn man over with her, if they had just sent her over with the chauffeur, or with a taxi man again, she might have played a trick and somehow forced her way back to the Hollis house and the privileges of the evening. But after that dressing down that Link had given her she could never go back and face them—face him again, and brazen off some new form of excuse. She shivered as she remembered Link’s eyes that had looked at her with scorn. Even in the darkness of the car she had felt it piercing her soul, and she had never felt scorn before. She had always laughed at it. What power did the young man have, that he could do this to her?

  So she went down to dinner, and met half a dozen other young people, though whether they were boarders or just friends of Mrs. Fremont she was not able to tell. They were very fond of her, that was evident, and they were having a very good time, and ordinarily she would have entered in loudly and boldly and had a royal time making them all as uncomfortable as she could.

  But somehow tonight she couldn’t get away from the feeling that Link Silverthorn was there looking at her. She could not feel the release from his eyes. If wasn’t in the least likely that he was casting another thought in her direction, but her soul so shrank from the memory of his words that it was just as if he were sitting across from her watching her every move, and condemning her.

  If Link had been there he might have been surprised at her quiet attitude. It wasn’t at all that she was trying to be what he had suggested. It was just that his words had deflated her lifetime habit of regarding herself as a smart person who always gave back a little better, or rather worse, than she got. She had always prided herself on being able to match wits and humiliate anybody, no matter how dignified or clever or proud they were! And she had always supposed that such triumphs would bring her into the limelight and win her admiration. She had learned tonight that it did not; that the limelight and admiration were not synonymous. She had learned that there were young men who despised a girl who would do a thing such as she had done, and she was utterly dumbfounded. She couldn’t even hold her own and speak up proudly to this quiet old woman. She didn’t understand it. She felt awkward and out of place. She felt numbed in her mind, shaken, shocked, like one who had been running hard to attain a certain goal and had suddenly stubbed her toe and gone flat, striking her head and stunning every sense. She couldn’t even rouse herself when others spoke to her. She felt when she tried to smile that the muscles of her face were stiff, and she wasn’t quite sure when she thought she made the motion of a smile, whether it really appeared on her face or was merely a contortion.

  Constantly before her eyes was the thought of the young man who had scolded her and scorned her. She had had older people lecture her before, but never a young person like that. Oh, the girls had often said scathing sarcastic things, but she had put that down to the fact that girls were always jealous. She hadn’t thought much of that. The boys never scolded her. The nice ones evaded her—and the others she never sought. But a good looking young man, lecturing her in all seriousness like a grandfather! Telling her frankly that no one could like her, and most astonishing of all, telling her she could be different if she chose! It was astounding. That after all was the crux of the matter! That she could be different if she chose.

  It was just as if a great couturier had told her her clothes were all wrong, and she should go to his establishment and be outfitted anew!

  Minnie had always thought more of clothes than any other subject, unless it was young men, and it was suddenly through clothing that she began to see her way beyond what had happened. She could be different if she wanted to! It all amounted to that. Did she want to?

  After dinner the young people adjourned to the piano, and all began to sing. Minnie pleaded a headache, excused herself and went to lie down. She had meant to get over to the church rehearsal and watch the fun, but now all that had faded from her desire. She definitely did not want to appear before any of that crowd. Not after what that handsome Silverthorn man had said. She was experiencing a vision of her real self, perhaps for the first time in her life, and she didn’t enjoy it.

  She decided she would lie down a few minutes and sort of get over the shock of all that had happened, and perhaps by half past eight or so she would come back to normal and feel like running over to the church to watch them.

  But as she lay there and reviewed the afternoon and evening she was more and more averse to appearing before any of the wedding crowd that night. And while she was thinking about it, planning how she could go early to the wedding tomorrow and get away up in the gallery somewhere out of sight behind a pillar where she could just peek out and get a glimpse of the procession and the ceremony, she fell asleep.

  Chapter 4

  When Link came back to the Hollis dining room he slid into his seat at the table so quietly that he was scarcely noticed.

  Paul Redfern had caught the look of alertness on Mr. Hollis’s face, the quick glance behind him, the relief in his eyes, and knew that the envoy had returned and that the girl was not with him.

  So with the courtesy and tact that was a part of his careful training, Paul had a s
tory both absorbing and amusing to tell, and he timed it to the instant as Link approached the doorway, so that the entire table was giving him attention as Link slipped in as silently as a shadow. It was not until the story was finished that one by one the company realized that Link was back among them. It was all effected so neatly that at first they wondered if he really had gone to take that girl away, or had there been some other reason for his leaving for the instant? Minnie herself would have been greatly astonished if she could have known how small a ripple her passage through that dining room had made.

  For the moment only one or two of the company remembered the brief break when Minnie had made them all feel so uncomfortable. Link’s sister Rae, of course, was one, sitting there so quietly in the dress that had almost been snatched from her, scarcely able to eat while Link had been gone.

  Now as she looked at her brother from across the table she thought he looked disturbed, as if the encounter had been unpleasant for him. Well, how could it help being that? Minnie was that way. She had been fortunate herself to get away from Minnie this afternoon. It hadn’t been kind of Mr. Hollis to ask Link to take her away, and yet he knew Link better than any of the other men, and it really was a compliment to his dependability. And poor Mr. Hollis! What else could he do?

  The other one who noticed Link was Curlin Grant. Curlin was about the best friend Link had, and he was sitting across from Rae, making talk with Lou McHale. But Rae could see that Curlin was paying more attention to Link than he was to Lou. Curlin was a good true friend, and Curlin was reading his friend’s face, just as his sister was doing.