CHAPTER XLVIII.MRS. CHURCHILL AND EDNA.
It was Saturday morning, and Mrs. Churchill was feeling very lonely and desolate, and missing her late companion more than she did Roy.
“It is strange how she has grown into my love, and how much she is to me,†she said softly to herself, as she feared that her dress was not quite as it should be, and her hair somewhat awry.
She had depended altogether upon Miss Overton to care for her personal appearance, and felt her absence more sensibly for it.
“A letter, ma’am,†her maid said, bringing it in and placing it in her hand.
Mrs. Churchill was sure that Roy had written nothing which a third person might not see, so she asked her maid to read it, and listened with a strange feeling to what Roy said of Edna.
“Thanks: you may go now,†she said to her maid, who went out and left her alone.
Roy would be there Monday night, and with him Charlie’s wife.
“Poor Charlie,†she whispered to herself, and tried to believe that the tears which rolled down her cheeks were prompted by sorrow for him, instead of sorrow for the fact that Edna was found and was coming there to live. “I mean to be glad, and I am glad. I am going to like her, and I do like her,†she said to herself; but she did not sleep much that night, and nearly all the next day she sat out by Charlie’s grave, trying by thinking of him and his love forEdna Browning, to awaken a feeling of genuine affection in her own breast.
But she could not do it. The most she could effect was a determination to be very kind to the girl, and to make it as pleasant for her as possible. To this end she gave orders that the largest and best sleeping-room in the house should be prepared for her on Monday, and as far as her sight would admit, gave it her personal inspection.
“If it was only Miss Overton coming to-night, how happy I should be,†she said, when after all was done, and the day nearly gone, she sat down by the fire in the library to wait for the travellers.
It was very quiet and lonely there, and she fell asleep at last, and did not hear the carriage when it went to the station nor when it returned. But Roy soon found her, and putting both his arms around her, kissed her forehead lovingly.
“Wake up, mother,†he said, and there was a ring of some great joy in the tone of his voice. “Wake up, mother; I have brought Edna to you. Here she is,—right here; let me put her hand in yours and see if you have ever felt one like it.â€
Roy was greatly excited, and something of his nervousness communicated itself to his mother, who trembled like a leaf, and whose sight seemed dimmer than ever as she turned her eyes toward the little figure, the rustle of whose dress she heard, and whose hands took hers in their own and held them fast, while a voice, which thrilled through every nerve, said, “Mother, dear mother, Charlie’s mother and mine,—the only one I ever knew! You liked me some, I know, as Miss Overton; love me, won’t you, as Edna, and forgive the deception.â€
Mrs. Churchill was pale as death, and for an instant could not speak; but she held close to the soft hands, and benther face down over the young girl who had knelt before her, and whose head was in her lap.
“What is it? How is it? I do not understand at all. Roy, tell me what it means. You bring me one you say is Edna, Charlie’s wife; and she calls me mother with Miss Overton’s voice. Is it, can it be they are the same? That the girl I already love as my daughter is really mine?â€
“Yes, mother, really yours in more senses than one,†Roy said; and then as briefly as possible he told Edna’s story, and why she had come to them in disguise, and how he had loved her even when pledged to another, and that she had promised to love him in return, and was to be his wife.
“Oh, I am so glad, so glad! Kiss me, Edna,†Mrs. Churchill said, adopting the new name at once, and holding her daughter to her in an embrace which assured Roy that all was well between his mother and his future wife. “You would think me foolish if you knew how I did dread your coming here,†Mrs. Churchill said to Edna when she was a little composed and could talk about the matter calmly. “I was afraid it would not be so pleasant for Miss Overton and myself with a third party, but I am so glad now, so glad.
“It is so nice to have you back, and to know you will never go again,†she continued; and then Edna told her of her promise to Aunt Jerry to return to Allen’s Hill and remain there for a time at least before her marriage.
“She has some claim on me; she is all alone, and I must do so much for her,†Edna said, while Mrs. Churchill did feel a little chill when she thought of the woman with the dreadful name who had written so familiarly to her, and who was Edna’s aunt and had a claim on her.
But she loved the niece well enough to tolerate the aunt, and suggested that the latter should come there if she wished for her niece’s society. But Edna knew this wouldnever do, and persisted in her plan of returning to the Hill after a few days at Leighton and a flying visit to Uncle Phil. Mrs. Burton, who called next day, received the intelligence quite as well as could be expected. The fact that Georgie had known who Edna was, and had indorsed her too, and even spoken to Roy about her, and given her consent, went a long way toward reassuring her. What Georgie sanctioned was right, and she kissed Edna kindly, and cried over her a good deal, and said she should like her for Georgie’s sake, and hoped she would try tofillpoor Georgie’s place in Roy’s heart, and be a comfort to Mrs. Churchill.
In order to keep Edna with them as long as possible, Roy telegraphed for Uncle Phil to come to Leighton, and the next day’s train brought the old man with his quaint sayings and original style of dress. He knew how it was going to end, and was not surprised, and he wished Edna much joy, and congratulated Roy upon his good fortune in securing so great a happiness.
“The neatest, prettiest girl in the world, with the trimmest ankles except one,—that’s Maude; and Roy, Edna must be married from my house, and in my church. I claim that as my right. Never should have built the pesky thing that’s been such a plague to me if it had not been for Maude and Edna, and that sermon about the synagogue. Not that I’m sorry, though the bother has worn me some thin. We’ve got a nice man, too, now; had himtwo weeks, and like him tip-top. Neither one nor the other; Ritual nor anti-ritual, but common sense. Don’t mind Ruth Gardner more than if she was a gnat. Yes, yes; a good fellow, who speaks to everybody, slaps you on your back sometimes, and acts as if he liked the old man; and he must marry Dotty. She’ll be the first bride in church, and I’ll have it trimmed if it costs me my farm. Yes, Dot must go from my house.â€
Edna favored this, and as Roy did not object, it was arrangedthat after a few weeks stay with Aunt Jerry, Edna should go to Rocky Point and be married in Uncle Phil’s church. Christmas was the very latest time of which Roy would hear. “Georgie said I was not to wait,†was the argument which he used with all, and which finally prevailed; and so, after a week at Leighton, Edna returned to Allen’s Hill, accompanied by Roy, who, during the six weeks that she staid there, spent nearly half his time there and on the road. “He was as tickled as a boy with a new top,†Aunt Jerry said, but she liked him nevertheless, and paid him every possible attention, and made Parker House rolls and Graham muffins alternately, and used her best dishes every day, and hired a little girl to wait upon the table when he was there, because he “was used to such fol-de-rol,†and it pleased Edna too. Aunt Jerry seemed greatly changed; and if uniform kindness and gentleness of manner could avail to blot out all remembrance of a past which had not been pleasant, it was surely blotted from Edna’s mind, and she felt only love and gratitude for the peculiar woman who stood upon the door-step and cried when at last the carriage which was to take Roy and Edna to the train, drove away from her door and left her all alone.