CHAPTER XXXIX
A GRAY-HAIRED ROMANCE
There had been a time in the long ago of Rockhaven's history when Jess,then a bashful young man, had loved pretty Letty Carver, now the WidowHutton. It had started in her school days, when they romped barefootalong the sandy shore of the harbor, played about the old tide mill,whose wheels then rumbled with each ebb and flow, or gathered shells onthe bits of beach between the island cliffs. When the epoch of spellingschool and walk home from Thursday evening prayer meetings came, it wasLetty whom Jess always singled out, and though she now wore shoes, hewas not always so fortunate. But the little bond of feeling was none theless entrancing; and when later Jess sailed away to the Banks on hisfirst fishing trip, he carried a lock of Letty's jet-black hair as atoken, and her sweet face was ever present in his thoughts. When hereturned, browned but successful, her welcome seemed to grow in warmth;and after two or three voyages, and he could now afford a Sunday suitwhen he visited her, gossip whispered they were likely to make a match.By this time he had begun to build the usual air-castles of youth, andthough his took the shape of a humble dwelling, nestling amid theabutting cliffs in front of which Rockhaven stood, it was none the lessa palace to him, with Letty to be its future queen.
And then the war came on and Jess, partly from patriotism, a little fromlove of adventure, and more to earn the liberal bounty his countryoffered, enlisted in the navy. Had he been a trifle less bashful andsecured the promise which Letty was then willing to give, this historymight never have been written; but Jess, a splendid young fellow, inspite of his surroundings, lacked assurance, and all the bond thatjoined them, when he sailed away, was the hope on his part of what mightbe if he ever came back.
He did in four years, covered with glory, but with a leg maimed by a bitof shell when under Farragut, and before Vicksburg he forgot even Lettyamid the inferno of war.
In the meantime, his younger brother, Jethro, had discovered Letty, andshe, practical as always, was not long in deciding that a suitor withgood legs and a cottage already achieved was preferable to a hero with alame leg and no cottage.
Jess bore his discomfiture philosophically, as was his nature, not evenreproaching Letty by word or look; and though disposed to see a silverlining back of all clouds, this one he thought best to avoid, and sotook himself away. He remained away, a rolling stone for fifteen years,and though he gathered some moss, it failed to efface--Letty.
And then a change came; for one day the smart new fishing schooner hisbrother had just built with his aid sailed away on her second voyage andnever came back, and practical Letty was left a widow with one child, amodest home on Rockhaven, and naught else. As might be expected, shesent at once for Jess, and to him only imparted the facts of thesituation.
Whether it was the smouldering embers of his boyhood illusion or thewinsome ways of the child Mona, now four years old, that influenced him,no one ever knew, but he at once announced that he had decided to abidein Rockhaven for the future and open a store. There was one alreadythere, but the slow growth of the village allowed a fair excuse foranother, and Jess established it. Once more the gossips, who takecognizance of all matters, recalled the youthful attentions of Jess toLetty, and asserted that she would, in suitable time, discard herwidow's weeds and become another Mrs. Hutton. She did put on morecheerful habiliments in due time, but remained a widow still; and thoughJess was a frequent caller, usually walking to church with her and Monaon Sundays, he continued, as he had started, to live by himself over hisstore.
Neither were the gossips enlightened as to the financial standing of thewidow, or how much had been laid away by her husband, or her means of alivelihood.
Jess knew, however, and Jess only; but he was the last person to impartsuch data to a curious public. What they did see was that he at onceassumed a fatherly protectorship over his little niece, and she becamehis sole charge and care in life. Though she ate and slept at home,tripped alone to school, and to church each Sunday hand in hand withUncle Jess, his store was her playhouse and his love her happiness untilgirlhood was reached. Often on summer days he left the store, utterlydisregarding trade, and with her took long rambles over the island,hunting gulls' eggs and gathering shells, flowers, or berries. He builther a boat and taught her to row it in the little harbor, talked to herfor hours of the great world and its people, of the planets and theirmotions, of right and wrong, of religion and God. He aided her in herlessons, teaching her more and faster than she learned at school; andwhen her fingers could reach across the strings of his old brown violin,he taught her the lore of its wondrous voice.
And so the happy years of her girlhood passed, until now, a woman grown,she had learned the lesson of loving, and had come to him with herunspoken plea for help. Never had she appealed to him in vain, and neverwould, so long as his keen mind was active and heart normal. For weekshe pondered over this most difficult of all problems, and then he acted.
"I've got a leetle matter to talk over with yer mother to-night, Mona,"he said, "an' if ye don't mind ye might go an' make a call on one of theneighbors. It's a sorter peculiar business 'n' it's better we're 'lonetill it's settled."
And it was "peculiar," and so much so that Jess talked for one hour withMrs. Hutton in an absent-minded way, while he studied the cheerful openfire, cogitating, meanwhile, how best to utter what he had to say, whileshe sat sewing diligently, on the opposite side of the sitting-roomtable.
"Letty," he said at last, "hev ye noticed Mona hain't been overcheerfulthe last three months, an' seems to be sorter broodin' over suthin'?"
"I have, Jess," replied Mrs. Hutton, looking up; "and it's all due tonotions that Mr. Hardy's put into her head 'bout her playin' an'praisin' her so much. I've knowed all 'long her wastin' time fiddlin'wouldn't serve no good purpose in the long run."
It wasn't an auspicious opening to the subject uppermost in the mind ofJess, but he paid no heed to it. "Letty," he continued calmly, "fiddlin'hain't nothin' to do with the state o' Mona's mind, 'n' if ye'd watchedher as clus as I hev, ye'd know it. Do ye 'member when ye was a gal howHitty Baker, ez used ter live up to the north village, got crossed inlove 'n' kept broodin' on't until one day she was missin', an' 'bout aweek arter they found her hangin' in the old mill? Thar's no tellin'what a gal'll do an' when she'll do it, if she gits to broodin' oversich matters."
"I hope you don't think Mona, brought up as she has been, will be such afool as Hitty Baker was," rejoined Mrs. Hutton, sharply. "Mona's gotmore sense."
"'Tain't a matter o' sense," Jess retorted quickly, "it's a matter o'nater 'n' 'magination, 'n' the more o' them peculiarities a gal's got,the more onsartin she is apt to be, 'n' ez I said, Mona ain't herselfthese days, 'n' unless suthin's done to change the current o' her mind,fust thing you'll find, some day, she's a missin'."
"That's all your notion, Jess," answered Mrs. Hutton, now more arousedthan she was willing to admit; "an' if Mona'd listen to Dave Moore, as Iwant her to, he'd soon cure such whims."
"Did yer mother ever make ye take catnip tea when ye was a gal, Letty,"responded Jess, laconically, "an' how did ye injie the dose?" Then, notwaiting for an answer, he continued, "Dave's catnip tea to Mona, 'n' Itell ye it's better ye quit dosin' her with Dave, 'n' purty soon, too.She's nobody to go to but me, an' I know how she feels, 'n' I don'tthink ye do."
"Have you any better medicine to advise?" came the query, as Mrs. Huttonlaid aside her sewing and looked at Jess.
"I hev," replied Jess, firmly, "only it'll take both on us to give it,'n' that's what I come here for, Letty. Ye know how I feel 'bout Mona,an' one o' these days she'll come into all I've laid by. But that's nosavin' grace jist now."
"An' what'll savin' grace jist now be, I'd like to know," queried themother. "Ain't helping me and having company when she likes, all that'sneedful to take up her mind? She's whimsical, an' that young fellerHardy's put notions into her head she'd be better off without."
Jess was making scant progress toward his ultimate object, and realizedit--als
o that sentiment was a matter quite beyond Mrs. Hutton's ken."Letty," he said at last, almost in desperation, "I've stood by ye 'n'Mona purty middlin' well fer quite a spell now, hain't I? an' ye'll 'lowI kin see a hole in a grinstun if thar is one, 'n' what I've sot my mindon doin' for Mona'll be the best fer her in the long run, an' that is,we take her away from here 'n' give her a chance in the world."
Mrs. Hutton looked at him in amazement, realizing not at all what he hadin mind.
"How can we do that?" she questioned.
"Thar's only one way," he answered hastily, with a now-or-neverdetermination; "I know I'm gittin' 'long in years 'n' one o' my legsain't workin' well, an' the only thing ye kin bank on, Letty, is myheart's in the right place 'n' my feelin's toward ye hain't changed amite in forty year, an'--an' if ye're willin' to chance it, Letty, I'lldo all I kin to make ye happy."
A woman is seldom surprised by a proposal, but Mrs. Hutton was. Forfifteen years now, since she had been a widow, Jess had seemed like agood brother, which in truth he had been in all ways, and never oncehad she surmised he cared for a nearer kinship. Then, as she looked athim, his kindly face aglow with earnest feeling, his keen eyes beneaththeir shaggy eyebrows questioning her, for one instant her heartquivered. Then backward over the flight of time her memory leaped, untilshe saw herself a laughing, care-free girl once more, with life openingbefore her, and this same good friend and brother, grateful for herevery word and smile of favor. Then, too, came a little nagging ofconscience at the way she had ignored him on his return, a limping hero,and how he had never once reproached her for it. And following that, theheaping of coals upon her head when he, coming to her rescue in the hourof poverty and bereavement, had been the only friend she had to leanupon. All the years of his tender thought and care, all his wisecounsel, all his unselfish giving, all his countless deeds of love andforethought came back now in an instant, like a mighty wave of feeling,sweeping all her pride and will before it. And as she bowed her face,covering her eyes with one hand to hide the tears she could not control,once more he spoke.
"Letty," he said, "ye needn't mind answerin' jist now. Think on't, an'to-morrow or next day tell me. Thar ain't no need o' hurry. I've waitedquite a spell now, an' a day or two more won't matter."
"It's absurd," she said at last, when the tide of feeling ebbed, "andeverybody will say so."
"'Tain't their funeral or weddin' either, is it?" he answered. "An' markmy words, Letty, thar's more on 'em here ez'll wish us well than yethink."
But when he came to go she said, "Why didn't you ask me forty years ago,Jess?"
"'Cause I was a durned fool 'n' dassent," he answered, "but I'veoutgrowed it now."
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