CHAPTER XIX
ADAH
I heard often from the farmhouse, and learned that Mr. Hearn had goneto Europe almost immediately, but that he had returned in the latterpart of September, and had spent a week with his little girl, Mrs.Bradford, his sister, accompanying him. "They seem to think Adela isdoing so well," Mrs. Yocomb wrote, "that they have decided to leave herhere through October. Adah spends part of every forenoon teaching thelittle girls." In the latter part of November I received a letter thatmade my heart beat thick and fast.
"We expect thee to eat thy Thanksgiving dinner with us, and we expectalso a friend from the West. I think she will treat thee civilly. Atany rate we have a right to invite whom we please. We drew up apetition to Emily, and all signed it. Father added a direfulpostscript. He said, 'If thee won't come quietly, I will go after thee.Thee thinks I am a man of peace, but there will be commotion andviolence in Ohio if thee doesn't come; so, strong-willed as thee is,thee has got to yield for once.' She wrote father the funniest letterin reply, in which she agreed, for the credit of the Society ofFriends, not to provoke him to extremities. She doesn't know thee iscoming, but I think she knows me well enough to be sure that thee wouldbe invited. Emily writes that she will not return to New York to live,since she can obtain more scholars than she needs at Columbus."
Mrs. Yocomb also added that Adah had left home that day for an extendedvisit in the city, and she gave me her address.
I had written to Adah more than once, and had made out a programme ofwhat we should do when she came to town.
Quite early in the evening I started out to call upon her, but as Idrew near the house I saw that a handsome coupe stood before the door,drawn by two horses, and that the coachman was in livery. My steps werespeedily arrested, for the door of the dwelling was opened, and Mr.Hearn came out, accompanied by Adah. They entered the coupe and weredriven rapidly toward Fifth Avenue. I gave a long, low whistle, andtook two or three turns around the block, muttering, "Gilbert Hearn,but you are shrewd. If you can't have the best thing in the world,you'll have the next best. Come to think of it, she is the best foryou. If this comes about for Adah, I could throw my hat over yondersteeple."
I went back to the house, proposing to leave my card, and thus showAdah that I was not inattentive. The interior of the dwelling, like itsexterior, was plain, but very substantial and elegant. The servanthanded my card to a lady passing through the hall.
"Oh, thee is Richard Morton?" she said. "Cousin Ruth and Adah have toldus all about thee. Please come in, for I want to make thy acquaintance.Adah will be so sorry to miss thee. She has gone out for the evening."
"If she will permit me," I said, "I will call to-morrow, on my waydowntown, for I wish to see her very much."
"Do so, by all means. Come whenever thee can, and informally. Thee'llalways find a welcome here."
Before I was aware I had spent an hour in pleasant chat, for with theYocombs as mutual friends we had common interests.
Mrs. Winfield, my hostess, had all the elegance of Mrs. Bradford; butthere was also a simple, friendly heartiness in her manner that stampedevery word she spoke with sincerity. I was greatly pleased, and feltthat the wealthy banker and his sister could find no fault with Adah'sconnections.
She greeted me the next morning like the sister she had become in verytruth.
"Oh, Richard!" she exclaimed, "I'm so glad to see thee. Why! thee's soimproved I'd hardly know thee. Seems to me thee's grown taller andlarger every way."
"I fear I looked rather small sometimes in the country."
"No, Richard, thee never looked small to me; but when I think what Iwas when thee found me, I don't wonder thee went up to thy room indisgust. I've thought a great deal since that day, and I've read sometoo."
"If you knew how proud of you I am now, it would turn your head."
"Perhaps it isn't very strong. So thee's going to eat thy Thanksgivingdinner at home. I shall be well out of the way."
"You will never be in my way; but perhaps I might have been insomebody's way had I come earlier last night."
"I thought thee was blind," she said, an exquisite color coming intoher beautiful face.
"Never to your interests, Adah. Count on me to the last drop."
"Oh, Richard, thee has been so kind and helpful to me. Thee'll neverknow all that's in my heart. When I think what I was when I first knewthee, I wonder at it all."
"Adah," I said, taking her hand, "you have become a genuine woman. Theexpression of your face has changed, and it has become a fine exampleof the truth, that even beauty follows the law of living growth--fromwithin outward. Higher thoughts, noble principle, and unselfishness aremaking their impress. After our long separation I see the changedistinctly, and I feel it still more. You have won my honest respect,Adah; I predict for you a happy life, and, what is more, you will makeothers happy. People will be the better for being with you."
"Well, Richard, now that we are brother and sister, I don't mindtelling thee that it was thee who woke me up. I was a fool before theecame."
"But the true, sweet woman was in your nature ready to be awakened.Other causes would soon have produced the same effect."
"Possibly; but I don't know anything about other causes. I do knowthee, and I trust thee with my whole heart, and I'm going to talkfrankly with thee because I want to ask thy advice. Thee knows how nearto death I came. I've thought a great deal about it. Having come sonear losing life, I began to think what life meant--what it was--and Iwas soon made to see how petty and silly my former life had been. Myheart just overflowed with gratitude toward thee. When thee was so illI would often lie awake whole nights thinking and trembling lest theeshould die. I felt so strangely, so weak and helpless, that I stretchedout my hands to thee, and thy strong hands caught and sustained methrough that time when I was neither woman nor child. Thee neverhumiliated me by even a glance. Thee treated me with a respect that Idid not deserve, but which I want to deserve. I am not strong, likeEmily Warren, but I am trying to do right. Thee changed a blind impulseinto an abiding trust and sisterly affection. Thee may think I'm givingthee a strange proof of my trust. I am going to tell thee somethingthat I've not told any one yet. Last evening Gilbert Hearn took me tosee his sister, Mrs. Bradford, and I spent the evening with them andlittle Adela. Coming home he asked me to be his wife. I was not so verygreatly surprised, for he spent every First Day in October at our housewhile Adela was with us, and he was very attentive to me. Father andmother don't like it very much, but I think they are a littleprejudiced against him on thy account. I believe thee will tell me thetruth about him."
"Adah dear, you _have_ honored me greatly. I will advise you just as Iwould my own sister. What did you answer him last evening?"
"I told him that I was a simple country girl, and not suited to be hiswife. Then he said that he had a right to his own views about that. Hesaid he wanted a genuine wife--one that would love him and his littlegirl, and not a society woman, who would marry him for his money."
"That is exceedingly sensible."
"Yes, he said he wanted a home, and that he was fond of quiet homelife; that I came of a quiet, sincere people, and that he had seenenough of me to know that he could trust me. He said also that I couldbe both a mother and a companion to Adela, and that the child neededjust such a disposition as I had."
I laughed as I said, "Mr. Hearn is sagacity itself. Even Solomon couldnot act more wisely than he is seeking to act. But what does your heartsay to all this, Adah?"
Her color deepened, and she averted her face. "Thee will think I'mdreadfully matter-of-fact, Richard, but I think that perhaps we aresuited to each other. I've thought about it a great deal. As I saidbefore, my head isn't very strong. I couldn't understand half thethings thee thinks and writes about. I've seen that clearly. Hewouldn't expect a wife to understand his business, and he says he wantsto forget all about it when he comes home. He says he likes a placefull of beauty, repose, and genial light. He likes quiet dinner partiesmade up of his busi
ness friends, and not literary people like thee. Wehaven't got great, inquiring minds like thee and Emily Warren."
"You are making fun of me now, Adah. I fear Miss Warren has thrown meover in disgust."
"Nonsense, Richard. She loves thy little finger more than I am capableof loving any man. She is strong and intense, and she could go withthee in thought wherever thee pleases. I'm only Adah."
"Yes, you are Adah, and the man who has the reputation of having thebest of everything in the city wants you badly, and with good reason.But I want to know what _you_ want."
"I want to know what thee thinks of it. I want thee to tell me abouthim. Does thee know anything against him?"
"No, Adah. Even when I feared he would disappoint my dearest hope, Itold your mother that he was an honorable man. He is exceedingly shrewdin business, but I never heard of his doing anything that was notsquare. I think he would make you a very kind, considerate husband,and, as he says, you could do so much for his little girl. But, rich ashe is, Adah, he is not rich enough for you unless you can truly lovehim."
"I think I can love him in my quiet way. I think I would be happy inthe life I would lead with him. I'm fond of housekeeping, and very fondof pretty things and of the city, as thee knows. Then I could do somuch for them all at home. Father and mother are growing old. Fatherlent money some years ago, and lost it, and he and mother have to worktoo hard. I could do so much for them and for Zillah, and that wouldmake me happy. But I am so simple, and I know so little, that I fear Ican't satisfy him."
"I have no fear on that score. What I am anxious about is, will hesatisfy you? You can't realize how bent upon your happiness I am."
"I thank thee, Richard. I was not wrong in coming to thee. Well, I toldhim that I wanted to think it all over, and I asked him to do the same.He said he had fully made up his mind and that his sister heartilyapproved of his course, and had advised it. He said that he would waitfor me as long as I pleased. Now if thee thinks it's best, thy wordswould have much influence with father and mother."
I raised her hand to my lips, and said, feelingly: "Adah, I am verygrateful for this confidence. I feel more honored that you should havecome to me than if I had been made Governor. In view of what you havesaid, I do think it's best. Mr. Hearn will always be kind andconsiderate. He will be very proud of you, and you will grow rapidly inthose qualities that will adorn your high social position. Do notundervalue yourself. Gilbert Hearn may well thank God for you every dayof his life."
I went down to the office in a mood to write an interminableThanksgiving editorial, for it seemed as if the clouds were allbreaking away.
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