Martha By-the-Day
Page 15
CHAPTER XV
Sam Slawson had gone to the Adirondacks in January, personally conductedby Mr. Blennerhasset, Mr. Ronald's secretary, Mr. Ronald, in the mostunemotional and business-like manner, having assumed all theresponsibilities connected with the trip and Sam's stay at theSanatorium.
It was Claire who told Mr. Ronald of the Slawsons' difficulty. HowMartha saw no way out, and still was struggling gallantly on, tryingsingle-handed to meet all obligations at home and, in addition, send herhusband away.
"That's too much--even for Martha," he observed.
"If I only knew how to get Sam to the mountains," Claire said in a sortof desperation.
"You have just paved the way."
"How?"
"You have told me."
"You are going to help?"
"Yes."
"O, how beautiful!"
"I am glad that, for once, I have the good fortune to please you."
Claire's happy smile faded. She turned her face away, pretending tobusy herself with Radcliffe's books.
"I see I have offended once more."
She hesitated a moment, then faced him squarely.
"There can be no question of your either pleasing or offending me, Mr.Ronald. What you are doing for Martha makes me glad, of course, but thatis only because I rejoice in any good that may come to her. I would nottake it upon myself to praise you for doing a generous act, or to blameyou if you didn't do it."
"'Cr-r-rushed again!'" observed Francis Ronald gravely, but with alurking, quizzical light of laughter in his eyes.
For an instant Claire was inclined to be resentful. Then, her sense ofhumor coming to the rescue, she dropped her heroics and laughed outblithely.
"How jolly it must be to have a lot of money and be able to do all sortsof helpful, generous things!" she said lightly.
"You think money the universal solvent?"
"I think the lack of it the universal _in_solvent."
"I hope you don't lay too much emphasis on it."
"Why?"
"Because it might lead you to do violence to your better impulses, yourhigher instincts."
"Why should a man think he has the right to say that sort of thing to awoman? Would you consider it a compliment if I suggested that yourprinciples were hollow--negotiable? That they were For Sale or To Let,like an empty house?"
"I suppose most men would tell you they have no use for principle intheir business--only principal."
"And you think women--"
"Generally women have both principle and interest in the business oflife. That's why we look to them to keep up the moral standard. That'swhy we feel it to be unworthy of her when a girl makes a mercenarymarriage."
The indignant blood sprang to Claire's cheeks. What business had he tointerfere in her affairs, to warn her against marrying Bob Van Brandt,assuming that, if she did marry him, it would be only for money. She wasglad that Radcliffe bounded in just then, throwing himself upon her inhis eagerness to tell her all that had befallen him during their longseparation of two hours, when he had been playing on the Mall underBeetrice's unwatchful eye.
In spite of Martha, Claire had just been on the point of confessing toMr. Ronald. He had seemed so friendly, so much less formidable than atany time since that first morning. But she must have been mistaken, forhere were all the old barriers up in an instant, and with them theresentful fire in her heart.
Perhaps it was the memory of this conversation that made her feel so illat ease with Robert Van Brandt. She could not understand herself. Whyshould she feel so uncomfortable with her old friend? She could not helpbeing aware that he cared for her, but why did the thought of histelling her so make her feel like a culprit? Why should he not tell her?Why should she not listen? One thing she felt she knew--if he did tellher, and she refused to listen, he would give it up. He would notpersist.
She remembered how, as a little girl, she had looked up to himreverentially as "big Robby Van Brandt." He was a hero to her in thosedays, until--he had let himself be balked of what he had started out toget. If he had only persisted, _in_sisted, who knows--maybe--.
She was sure that if he offered her his love and she refused to acceptit, he would not, like the nursery-rhyme model, try, try again. He wouldgive up and go away--and in her loneliness she did not want him to goaway. Was she selfish? she wondered. Selfish or no, she could not bringherself to follow Martha's advice and "let'm get his perposal offn hischest."
It was early in April before he managed to do it.
She and Radcliffe had gone to the Park. Radcliffe was frisking about inthe warm sunshine, while Claire watched him from a nearby bench, when,suddenly, Mr. Van Brandt dropped into the seat beside her.
He did not approach his subject gradually. He plunged in desperately,headlong, heartlong, seeming oblivious to everything and every one saveher.
When, at last, he left her, she, knowing it was for always, was sorelytempted to call him back. She did care for him, in a way, and the lifehis love opened up to her would be very different from this. And yet--
She closed her cold fingers about Radcliffe's little warm ones, and roseto lead him across the Plaza. She did not wonder at his being soconveniently close at hand, nor at his unwonted silence all the wayhome. She had not realized, until now that it was snapped, how much thelink between this and her old home-life had meant to her. It meant somuch that tears were very near the surface all that day, and even atnight, when Martha was holding forth to her brood, they were notaltogether to be suppressed.
"Easter comes early this year," Mrs. Slawson observed.
"'M I going to have a new hat?" inquired Cora.
"What for do you need a new hat, I should like to know? I s'pose youthink you'll walk up Fifth Avenoo in the church parade, an' folks'llstare at you, an' nudge each other an' whisper--'Looka there! That'sMiss Cora Slawson that you read so much about in the papers. That one onthe right-hand side, wearin' the French _shappo_, with the white ribbon,an' the grand vinaigrette onto it. Ain't she han'some?'"
"I think you're real mean to make fun of me!" pouted Cora.
"I got a dollar an' a half for the Easter singin'," announced Sammy."Coz I'm permoted an' I'm goin' to sing a solo!"
"Careful you don't get your head so turned you sing outer the other sideo' your mouth," cautioned Martha. "'Stead o' crowin' so much, you bettermake sure you know your colic."
"What you goin' to do with your money?" inquired Francie, unable toconceive of possessing such vast riches.
"I do' know."
"Come here an' I'll tell you," said his mother. "Whisper!"
At first Sammy's face did not reveal any great amount of satisfaction atthe words breathed into his ear, but after a moment it fairly glowed.
"Ain't that grand?" asked Martha.
Sammy beamed, then went off whistling.
"He's goin' to invest it in a hat for Cora as a s'prise, me addin' mymite to the fun' an' not lettin' him be any the wiser. An' Cora, she'sgoin' to get _him_ a pair o' shoes with her bank pennies, an' be thisan' be that, the one thinks he's clothin' the other, an' is proud asPunch of it, which they're learnin' manners the same time they're bein'dressed," Martha explained to Claire later.
"I wish you'd tell that to Radcliffe," Claire said. "He loves to hearabout the children, and he can learn so much from listening to what istold of other kiddies' generosities and self-denials."
Martha shook her head. "There's nothin' worth tellin'," she said. "An'besides, if I told'm, he might go an' tell his mother or his UncleFrank, an' they might think I was puttin' in a bid for a Easter-egg onmy own account. Radcliffe is a smart little fella! He knows a thing ortwo--an' sometimes three, an' don't you forget it."
That Radcliffe "knew a thing or two--an' sometimes three," he provedbeyond a doubt to Martha next day when, as she was busy cleaning hisUncle Frank's closet, he meandered up to her and casually observed:
"Say, you know what I told you once 'bout Miss Lang bein' Mr. VanBrandt's best girl?"
"Well, she ain't!"
"Why ain't she?"
"I was lookin' out o' the window in my mother's sittin'-room yesterdaymornin', an' when my mother an' my Uncle Frank they came up frombreakfast, they didn't see me coz I was back o' the curtains. My mothershe had a letter Shaw, he just gave her, and when she read it sheclapped her hands together an' laughed, an' my Uncle Frank he said, 'Whysuch joy?' an' she said, 'The greatest news! Amy Pelham is engaged toMr. Van Brandt!' An' my Uncle Frank, his face got dark red all at once,an' he said to my mother, 'Catherine, are you 'sponsible for that?' an'she said, 'I never lifted a finger. I give you my word of honor, Frank!'An' then my Uncle Frank he looked better. An' my mother she said, 'Yousee, he couldn't have cared for Miss Lang, after all--I mean, the way wethought.' An' he said, 'Why not?' An' she said, 'Coz if he had askedher, she would have taken him, for no poor little governess is going tothrow away a chance like that. No sensible girl would say _no_ to BobVan Brandt with all his 'vantages. She'd jump at him, an' you couldn'tblame her.'
"An' then my mother an' my Uncle Frank _they_ jumped, for I came outfrom behind the curtains where I'd been lookin' out, an' I said, 'Shewould too say _no_! My Miss Lang, she's sensible, an' one time in thePark, when Mr. Van Brandt he asked her to take him an' everything he had(that's what he said! "Take me an' everything I have, an' do what youwant with me!"), Miss Lang she said, "No, Bob, I can't! I wish I could,for your sake, if you want me so--but--I can't." An' Mr. Van Brandt hefelt so bad, I was sorry. When I thought Miss Lang was his best girl, Ididn't like him, but I didn't want him to feel as bad as that. An' hewent off all alone by himself, an' Miss Lang--'Only I couldn't tell anymore, for my Uncle Frank, he said reel sharp, 'That's enough,Radcliffe!' But last night he brought me home a dandy boat I can sail onthe Lake, with riggin' an' a center-board, an', O, lots o' things! An'so I guess he wasn't so very mad, after all."