CHAPTER XXVA MOONLIGHT INTERVIEW
Mrs. Archibald retired to her cabin, but she did not feel in the least like going to bed. Her husband had long been asleep in his cot, and she still sat by the side of the little window looking out upon the moon-lighted scene; but the beauty of the night, if she noticed it at all, gave her no pleasure. Her mind was harassed and troubled by many things, chief among which was her husband’s unfinished sentence in which he had said that he would try to avoid any unpleasantness, but at the same time had intimated that if the unpleasant thing were forced upon him he was ready to meet it.
Now, reason as she would, Mrs. Archibald could not banish from her mind the belief that Arthur Raybold would come to their camp some time during the next day. In fact, not having heard otherwise, she supposed he had come to the camp-fire that night. She was filled with anger and contempt for the young man who was determined to force himself on their party in this outrageous manner, and considered it shameful that their peaceful life in these woods had been so wickedly disturbed. No wonder she did not want to sleep; no wonder she sat at the window thinking and thinking.
Presently she saw some one walking over the open space towards the cabin, and she could not fail to recognize the figure with the long stride, the folded arms, and the bowed head. He passed the window and then he turned and repassed it, then he turned and walked by again, this time a little nearer than before.
“This is too much!” said Mrs. Archibald. “The next thing he will be tapping at her window. I will go out and speak my mind to him.”
Opening the door very softly, and without even stopping to throw a shawl over her head and shoulders, Mrs. Archibald stepped outside into the night. Raybold was now at a little distance from the cabin, in the direction of Camp Roy, and was just about to turn when she hurried up to him.
“Mr. Raybold,” she said, speaking low and rapidly, “if you possessed a spark of gentlemanly feeling you would be ashamed to come into this camp when you have been ordered out of it. My husband has told you he does not want you here, and now I tell you that I do not want you here. It pains me to be obliged to speak to any one in this manner, but it is plain that no other sort of speech will affect you. Now, sir, I know your object, and I will not have you wandering up and down here in front of our cabin. I wish you to go to your own camp, and that immediately.”
Raybold stood and listened to her without a word until she had finished, and then he said:
“Madam, there has been a good deal of talk about knowing ourselves and showing ourselves to others. Now I know myself very well indeed,and I will show myself to you by saying that when my heart is interested I obey no orders, I pay no attention to mandates of any sort. Until I can say what I have to say I will watch and I will wait, but I shall not draw back.”
For the first time in fifteen years Mrs. Archibald lost her temper. She turned pale with anger. “You contemptible scoundrel! Go! Leave this camp instantly!”
He stood with arms folded and smiled at her, saying nothing. She trembled, she was so angry. But what could she do? If she called Mr. Archibald, or if he should be awakened by any outcry, she feared there would be bloodshed, and if she went to call Matlack, Mr. Archibald would be sure to be awakened. But at this moment some one stepped up quickly behind Raybold, and with a hand upon his shoulder, partly turned him around.
“I think,” said the bishop, “that I heard this lady tell you to go. If so, go.”
“I did say it,” said Mrs. Archibald, hurriedly. “Please be as quiet as you can, but make him go.”
“Do you hear what Mrs. Archibald says?” asked the bishop, sternly. “Depart, or—”
“Do you mean to threaten me?” asked Raybold.
The bishop stepped close to him. “Will you go of your own accord,” he asked, “or do you wish me to take you away?”
He spoke quietly, but with an earnestness that impressed itself upon Raybold, who made a quick step backward. He felt a natural repugnance,especially in the presence of a lady, to be taken away by this big man, who, in the moonlight, seemed to be bigger than ever.
“I will speak to you,” said he, “when there are no ladies present.” And with this he retired.
“I am so much obliged to you,” said Mrs. Archibald. “It was a wonderful piece of good fortune that you should have come at this minute.”
The bishop smiled. “I am delighted that I happened here,” he said. “I heard so much talking this evening that I thought I would tranquillize my mind by a quiet walk by myself before I went to bed, and so I happened to see you and Raybold. Of course I had no idea of intruding upon you, but when I saw you stretch out your arm and say ‘Go!’ I thought it was time for me to come.”
“I feel bound to say to you,” said Mrs. Archibald, “that that impertinent fellow is persisting in his attentions to Miss Dearborn, and that Mr. Archibald and I will not have it.”
“I imagined that the discussion was on that subject,” said the bishop, “for Mr. Clyde has intimated to me that Raybold has been making himself disagreeable to the young lady.”
“I do not know what we are going to do,” said Mrs. Archibald, reflectively; “there seems to be no way of making an impression upon him. He is like his sister—he will have his own way.”
“Yes,” said the bishop, with a sigh, “he is like his sister. But then, one might thrash him, but what can be done with her? I tell you, Mrs. Archibald,” he said, turning to her, earnestly, “it is getting to be unbearable. The whole evening,ever since you left the camp-fire, she has been talking to me on the subject of mental assimilation—that is, the treatment of our ideas and thoughts as if they were articles of food—intellectual soda biscuit, or plum pudding, for instance—in order to find out whether our minds can digest these things and produce from them the mental chyme and chyle necessary to our intellectual development. The discourse was fortunately broken off for to-night, but there is more of it for to-morrow. I really cannot stand it.”
“I wouldn’t stand it,” said Mrs. Archibald. “Can’t you simply go away and leave her when she begins in that way?”
The bishop shook his head. “No,” he said, “that is impossible. When those beautiful eyes are fixed upon me I cannot go away. They charm me and they hold me. Unless there is an interruption, I must stay and listen. The only safety for me is to fly from this camp. At last,” he said, smiling a little sadly, “I am going to go. I did not want to do this until your camp broke up, but I must.”
“And you are really going to-morrow?” she asked.
“Yes,” he said. “I have positively decided upon that.”
“I am sorry to hear it,” she said. “Good-night.”
When Mrs. Archibald entered her cabin she found her husband sleeping soundly, and she again sat down by the window. There was no such thing as sleep for her; her mind was more tossed and troubled than it had been before shewent out. The fact that the bishop was going away made the matter worse, for just as she had found out that he was willing to help her, and that he might be able to keep Raybold away from them without actual violence—for she saw that the young boaster was afraid of him—he had told her he must leave, and in her heart she did not blame him. With great fear and anxiety she looked forward to the morrow.
It was about two o’clock when Mrs. Archibald suddenly arose from her seat by the window and lighted a candle. Then she pulled down the shades of the windows, front and back, after which she went to her husband’s cot and put her hand upon his shoulder.
“Hector,” said she, “wake up.”
In a moment Mr. Archibald was staring at her. “What is the matter?” he exclaimed. “Are you sick?”
“No,” said she, “but I have something very important to say to you. I want you to get up and go away with me, and take Margery.”
Mr. Archibald sat up in bed. He was now in full possession of his senses. “What!” said he, “elope? And where to?”
“Yes,” said she, “that is exactly what I mean, and we will go to Sadler’s first, and then home.”
“Do you mean now?” said he.
“Yes—that is, as soon as it is light,” she replied.
“Are you positively sure you are awake, Harriet?” asked Mr. Archibald.
“Awake!” she said. “I have not been asleep to-night. Don’t you see I am dressed?” Andshe drew a chair to the bedside and sat down. “I know more about what is going on than you do, Hector,” she said, “and I tell you if we stay any longer in this camp, there is going to be great trouble. That young Raybold pays no attention to what you said about keeping away from us. He comes here, when he pleases, and he says he intends to come. I asked you to take a walk with me this evening because I saw him coming to the camp-fire and I knew that you would resent it. To-night I saw him walking up and down in front of our cabin, and I believe he intended to try to speak to Margery. I went out to him myself, and he was positively insulting. If the bishop had not happened to come up, I believe he would have stayed here and defied me. But he made him go.
“Now that you know this, Hector, it is very certain that there will be trouble between you and that young man, and I do not want that. And, besides that, there is his sister; she is as determined to preach as he is to speak to Margery. The bishop says he can’t stand her any longer, and he is going away to-morrow, and that will make it all the worse for us—especially for you, Hector. I cannot endure this state of things; it has made me so nervous I cannot get to sleep, and, besides, it is not right for us to keep Margery where she must be continually guarded from such a man. Now it may seem foolish to run away, but I have thought over the matter for hours and hours, and it is the only thing to do; and what is more, it is very easy to do. If we announce that we are going, we willall go, and the chief cause of quarrels and danger will go with us. I know you, Hector; you will not stand his impertinence.
“It will be daylight between three and four o’clock, and we three can start out quietly and have a pleasant walk to Sadler’s. It is only four miles, and we can take our time. We need not carry anything with us but what we choose to put in our pockets. We can pack our bags and leave them here, and Mr. Sadler will send for them. When we get there we can go to bed if we like, and have time enough for a good sleep before breakfast, and then we can take the morning stage and leave this place and everybody in it. Now please don’t be hasty and tell me all this is foolish. Remember, if you stay here you have a quarrel on your hands, and I shall have hours of misery until that quarrel is settled; and no matter how it is settled, things will be disagreeable afterwards.”
“Harriet,” said Mr. Archibald, suddenly twisting himself so that he sat on the side of the bed, “your idea is a most admirable one. It suits me exactly. Let us run away. It is impossible for us to do anything better than that. Have you told Margery?”
“No,” she answered, “but I will go to her at once.”
“Be quick and quiet, then,” said her husband, who had now entered fully into the spirit of the adventure; “nobody must hear us. I will dress, and then we will pack.”
“Margery,” said Mrs. Archibald, after three times shaking the sleeping girl, “you must get up.Your uncle and I are going away, and you must go with us.”
Margery turned her great eyes on Mrs. Archibald, but asked no questions.
“Yes,” said Mrs. Archibald, “we cannot stay in this camp any longer, on account of Mr. Raybold and various other things. Matters have come to a crisis, and we must go, and more than that, we must slip away so that the others may not go with us.”
“When?” asked Margery, now speaking for the first time.
“As soon as it is daylight.”
“So soon as that?” said the girl, a shadow on her brow which was very plain in the light of the candle which Mrs. Archibald had brought with her. “Surely not before breakfast?”
“Margery,” said Mrs. Archibald, a little sharply, “you do not seem to understand—you are not awake; we must start as soon as it is light. But we cannot discuss it now. We are going, and you must go with us. You must get up and pack your things in your bag, which we shall send for.”
Suddenly a light came into Margery’s eyes and she sat up. “All right,” said she, “I will be ready as soon as you are. It will be jolly to run away, especially so early in the morning,” and with that she jumped out of bed.
CHAPTER XXVIAN ELOPEMENT
A little more than an hour after Mrs. Archibald had made known her project to her husband the three inhabitants of the cabin stole softly out into the delicate light of the early dawn.
Mr. Archibald had thought of leaving a note for Matlack, but his wife had dissuaded him. She was afraid that the wrong person might get hold of it.
“When we are safely at Sadler’s,” she said, “we can send for our bags, with a note to Matlack. It will not matter then who knows.” She had a firm belief in the power of the burly keeper of the inn to prevent trouble on his premises.
With careful but rapid steps the little party passed along the open portion of the camp, keeping as far as possible from the tent wherein reposed Corona and Mrs. Perkenpine, and soon reached the entrance of the wood road. Here it was not quite so light as in the open, but still they could make their way without much trouble, and after a few minutes’ walking they felt perfectly safe from observation, and slackening their pace, they sauntered along at their ease.
The experience was a novel one to all of them; even Mr. Archibald had never been in the woodsso early in the morning. In fact, under these great trees it could scarcely be said to be morning. The young light which made its uncertain way through the foliage was barely strong enough to cast a shadow, and although these woodland wanderers knew that it was a roadway in which they were walking, that great trees stood on each side of them, with branches reaching out over their heads, and that there were bushes and vines and here and there a moss-covered rock or a fallen tree, they saw these things not clearly and distinctly, but as through a veil. But there was nothing uncertain about the air they breathed; full of the moist aroma of the woods, it was altogether different from the noonday odors of the forest.
Stronger and stronger grew the morning light, and more and more clearly perceptible became the greens, the browns, and the grays about them. Now the birds began to chatter and chirp, and squirrels ran along the branches of the trees, while a young rabbit bounced out from some bushes and went bounding along the road. This early morning life was something they had not seen in their camp, for it was all over before they began their day. There was a spring by the roadside, which they had noticed when they had come that way before, and when they reached it they sat down and ate some biscuit which Mrs. Archibald had brought with her, and drank cool water from Mr. Archibald’s folding pocket-cup.
The loveliness of the scene, the novelty of the experience, the feeling that they were getting away from unpleasant circumstances, and in aperfectly original and independent fashion, gave them all high spirits. Even Mrs. Archibald, whose sleepless night might have been supposed to interfere with this morning walk, declared herself as fresh as a lark, and stated that she knew now why a lark or any other thing that got up early in the morning should be fresh.
They had not left the spring far behind them when they heard a rustling in the woods to the right of the road, and the next moment there sprang out into the open, not fifty feet in front of them, a full-grown red deer. They were so startled by this apparition that they all stopped as if the beautiful creature had been a lion in their path. For an instant it turned its great brown eyes upon them, and then with two bounds it plunged into the underbrush on the other side of the road. Mrs. Archibald and Margery had never before seen a deer in the woods.
The young girl clapped her hands. “It all reminds me of my first night at the opera!” she cried.
Two or three times they rested, and they never walked rapidly, so it was after five o’clock when the little party emerged into the open country and approached the inn. Not a soul was visible about the premises, but as they knew that some one soon would be stirring, they seated themselves in three arm-chairs on the wide piazza to rest and wait.
Peter Sadler was an early riser, and when the front hall door was open he appeared thereat, rolling his wheeled chair out upon the piazza with a bump—though not with very much of a bump,for the house was built to suit him and his chair. But he did not take his usual morning roll upon the piazza, for, turning his head, he beheld a gentleman and two ladies fast asleep in three great wicker chairs.
“Upon my soul!” he exclaimed. “If they ain’t the Camp Robbers!” At this exclamation they all awoke.
Ten minutes after that the tale had been told, and if the right arm of Mr. Sadler’s chair had not been strong and heavy it would have been shivered into splinters.
“As usual,” cried the stalwart Peter, “the wrong people ran away. If I had seen that bicycle man and his party come running out of the woods, I should have been much better satisfied, and I should have thought you had more spirit in you, sir, than I gave you credit for.”
“Oh, you mistake my husband altogether!” cried Mrs. Archibald. “The trouble with him is that he has too much spirit, and that is the reason I brought him away.”
“And there is another thing,” exclaimed Margery. “You should not say Mr. Raybold and his party. He was the only one of them who behaved badly.”
“That is true,” said Mrs. Archibald. “His sister is somewhat obtrusive, but she is a lady, gentle and polite, and it would have been very painful to her and as painful to us had it been necessary forcibly to eject her brother from our camp. It was to avoid all this that we—”
“Eloped,” interjected Mr. Archibald.
“‘IF THEY AIN’T THE CAMP ROBBERS!’”
“‘IF THEY AIN’T THE CAMP ROBBERS!’”
The good Peter laughed. “Perhaps you are right,” said he. “But I shall have a word with that bicycle fellow when he comes this way. You are an original party, if there ever was one. First you go on somebody else’s wedding-journey, and then you elope in the middle of the night, and now the best thing you can do is to go to bed. You can have a good sleep and a nine-o’clock breakfast, and I do not see why you should leave here for two or three days.”
“Oh, we must go this morning,” said Mrs. Archibald, quickly. “We must go. We really cannot wait until any of those people come here. It makes me nervous to think about it.”
“Very good, then,” said Peter. “The coach starts for the train at eleven.”
Mrs. Archibald was a systematic woman, and was in the habit of rising at half-past seven, and when that hour arrived she awoke as if she had been asleep all night. Going to the window to see what sort of a day it was, which was also her custom, she looked out upon the lawn in front of the house, and her jaw dropped and her eyes opened. There she beheld Margery and Mr. Clyde strolling along in close converse. For a moment she was utterly stupefied.
“What can this mean?” she thought. “How could they have missed us so soon? We are seldom out of our cabin before eight o’clock. I cannot comprehend it!” And then a thought came to her which made her face grow pale. “Is it possible,” she said to herself, “that any of the others have come? I must go immediately and find out.”
In ten minutes she had dressed and quietly left the room.
When Margery saw Mrs. Archibald descending the piazza, steps, she left Mr. Clyde and came running to meet her.
“I expect you are surprised to see me here,” she said, “but I intended to tell you and Uncle Archibald as soon as you came down. You see, I did not at all want to go away and not let Mr. Clyde know what had become of me, and so, after I had packed my bag, I wrote a little note to him and put it in a biscuit-box under a stone not far from my window, which we had arranged for a post-office, just the day before.”
“A post-office!” cried Mrs. Archibald.
“Yes,” said Margery. “Of course there wasn’t any need for one—at least we did not suppose there would be—but we thought it would be nice; for, you must know, we are engaged.”
“What!” cried Mrs. Archibald. “Engaged? Impossible! What are you talking about?”
“Yes,” said Margery, “we are really engaged, and it was absolutely necessary. Under ordinary circumstances this would not have happened so soon, but as things were it could not be delayed. Mr. Clyde thought the matter over very carefully, and he decided that the only way to keep me from being annoyed and frightened by Mr. Raybold was for him to have the right to defend me. If he told Mr. Raybold I was engaged to him, that of course would put an end to the young man’s attentions. We were engaged only yesterday, so we haven’t had any time to tell anybody, but we intended to do it to-day, beginning with you and Uncle Archibald. Harrison came over early to the post-office, hoping to find some sort of a note,and he was wonderfully astonished when he read what was in the one I put there. I told him not to say anything to anybody, and he didn’t, but he started off for Sadler’s immediately, and came almost on a run, he says, he was so afraid I might go away before he saw me.”
“Margery,” exclaimed the elder lady, tears coming into her eyes as she spoke, “I am grieved and shocked beyond expression. What can I say to my husband? What can I say to your mother? From the bottom of my heart I wish we had not brought you with us; but how could I dream that all this trouble would come of it?”
“It is indeed a very great pity,” said Margery, “that Mr. Clyde and I could not have been engaged before we went into camp; then Mr. Raybold would have had no reason to bother me, and I should have had no trouble with Martin.”
“Martin!” cried Mrs. Archibald. “What of him?”
“Oh, he was in love with me too,” replied the young girl, “and we had talks about it, and I sent him away. He was really a young man far above his station, and was doing the things he did simply because he wanted to study nature; but of course I could not consider him at all.”
“And that was the reason he left us!” exclaimed Mrs. Archibald. “Upon my word, it is amazing!”
“Yes,” said Margery; “and don’t you see, Aunt Harriet, how many reasons there were why Mr. Clyde and I should settle things definitely and become engaged? Now there need be no further trouble with anybody.”
Distressed as she was, Mrs. Archibald could not refrain from smiling. “No further trouble!” she said. “I think you would better wait until Mr. Archibald and your mother have heard this story before you say that.”
Mr. Archibald was dressing for breakfast when his wife told him of Margery’s engagement, and the announcement caused him to twirl around so suddenly that he came very near breaking a looking-glass with his hair-brush. He made a dash for his coat. “I will see him,” he said, and his eyes sparkled in a way which indicated that they could discover a malefactor without the aid of spectacles.
“Stop!” said his wife, standing in his way. “Don’t go to them when you are angry. We have just got out of trouble, and don’t let us jump into it again. If they are really and truly engaged—and I am sure they are—we have no authority to break it off, and the less you say the better. What we must do is to take her immediately to her mother, and let her settle the matter as best she can. If she knows her daughter as well as I do, I am sure she will acquit us of all blame.”
Mr. Archibald was very indignant and said a great deal, but his wife was firm in her counsel to avoid any hard words or bad feeling in a matter over which they had now no control.
“Well,” said he, at last, “I will pass over the whole affair to Mrs. Dearborn, but I hope I may eat my breakfast without seeing them. Whatever happens, I need a good meal.”
When Mr. Archibald came out of the breakfast-room,his mind considerably composed by hot rolls and coffee, he met Margery in the hall.
“Dear Uncle Archibald,” she exclaimed, “I have been waiting and waiting for you. I hope you are not angry. Please be as kind to us as you can, and remember, it was just the same with us as it was with you and Aunt Harriet. You would not have run away from the camp in the middle of the night if you could have helped it, and we should not have been engaged so suddenly if we could have helped it. But we all had to do what we did on account of the conduct of others, and as it is settled now, I think we ought all to try to be as happy as we can, and forget our troubles. Here is Harrison, and he and I both pray from the bottom of our hearts that you will shake hands with him. I know you always liked him, for you have said so. And now we are both going to mother to tell her all about it.”
“Both?” said Mr. Archibald.
“Yes,” said Margery; “we must go together, otherwise mother would know nothing about him, and I should be talking to no purpose. But we are going to do everything frankly and openly and go straight to her, and put our happiness in her hands.”
Mr. Archibald looked at her steadfastly. “Such ingenuousness,” he said, presently, “is overpowering. Mr. Clyde, how do you do? Do you think it is going to be a fine day?”
The young man smiled. “I think it is going to be a fine lifetime,” said he.
The party was gathered together on the piazza, ready to take the coach. The baggage had arrivedfrom the camp in a cart; but Phil Matlack had not come with it, as he remained to take down his tent and settle affairs generally. They were all sorry not to see him again, for he had proved himself a good man and a good guide; but when grown-up married people elope before daybreak something must be expected to go wrong. Hearty and substantial remembrances were left for him, and kind words of farewell for the bishop, and even for Miss Corona when she should appear.
Peter Sadler was loath to part with his guests. “You are more interesting now than ever you were,” he said, “and I want to hear all about that hermit business; you’ve just barely mentioned it.”
“My dear sir,” said Mr. Archibald, with a solemn visage, “sooner or later Miss Corona Raybold will present herself at this inn on her way home. If you want to know anything about her plan to assist human beings to assert their individualities, it will only be necessary to mention the fact to her.”
“Good-bye, then,” said Peter, shaking hands with Mr. and Mrs. Archibald. “I don’t know what out-of-the-way thing you two will do next, but, whatever it is, I hope it will bring you here.”
CHAPTER XXVIIMRS. PERKENPINE DELIGHTS THE BISHOP
It was the bishop who first appreciated the fact that a certain air of loneliness had descended upon the shore of the lake. He had prepared breakfast at his camp, but as Mr. Clyde did not make his appearance he went to Camp Rob to look for him. There he saw Matlack and his assistant busy in their kitchen tent, and Mrs. Perkenpine was also engaged in culinary matters. He had left Arthur Raybold asleep at Camp Roy, but of the ladies and gentleman who were usually visible at the breakfast-hour at Camp Rob he saw no signs, and he approached Mrs. Perkenpine to inquire for Clyde. At his question the sturdy woman turned and smiled. It was a queer smile, reminding the bishop of the opening and shutting of a farm gate.
“He’s a one-er,” said she. “Do you suppose he could ketch a rabbit, no matter how fast he ran?”
“Come, now,” said the bishop, “he wasn’t trying to do that?”
“He was either doin’ that, or else he was runnin’ away. I seed him early this mornin’—I wasn’t up, but I was lookin’ round—and I thought from the way he was actin’ that he’d set a rabbit-trapand was goin’ to see if he’d caught anything, and pretty soon I seed him runnin’ like Sam Hill, as if his rabbit had got away from him. But perhaps it wasn’t that, and maybe somebody skeered him. Anyway, he’s clean gone.”
The bishop stood and reflected; the affair looked serious. Clyde was a practical, sensible fellow—and he was gone. Why did he go?
“Have you seen any of the Archibalds yet?” he asked.
“No,” said she; “I guess they’re not up yet, though it’s late for them. My young woman ain’t up nuther, but it ain’t late for her.”
The bishop walked slowly towards the cabin and regarded it earnestly. After a few minutes inspection he stepped up to the door and knocked. Then he knocked again and again, and hearing nothing from within he became alarmed, and ran to Matlack.
“Hello!” he cried. “Something has happened to your people, or they have gone away. Come to the cabin, quick!”
In less than a minute Matlack, the bishop, and Bill Hammond were at the cabin, and the unfastened door was opened wide. No one was in the house, that was plain enough, but on the floor were four bags packed for transportation.
Matlack looked about him, and then he laughed. “All right,” said he; “there ain’t no need of worryin’ ourselves. They haven’t left a thing of theirs about, everything’s packed up and ready to be sent for. When people do that, you may be sure nothing’s happened to them. They’ve gone off, and I bet it’s to get rid of that young woman’spreachin’. But I don’t blame them; I don’t wonder they couldn’t stand it.”
The bishop made no reply. Remembering his recent conversation with Mrs. Archibald, he believed that, if they had quietly gone away, there was a better reason for it than Miss Raybold’s fluency of expression. It was possible that something might have happened after he had retired from the scene the night before, for when he went to sleep Raybold was still walking up and down in the moonlight.
His mind was greatly disturbed. They were gone, and he was left. “What are you going to do?” he asked Matlack.
“Nothin’ just now,” said the guide. “If they don’t send for their things pretty soon, I’ll go over to Sadler’s and find out what’s the matter. But they’re all right. Look how careful them bags is strapped up!”
The bishop left the cabin and walked thoughtfully away in the direction of Camp Roy. In two minutes he had made up his mind: he would eat his breakfast—he could not travel upon an empty stomach—and then he would depart. That was imperative.
When he reached the camp he found that Raybold had risen and was pouring out for himself a bowl of coffee. Seeing the bishop approach, the young man’s face grew dark, as might have been expected from the events of the night before, and he hurriedly placed some articles of food upon a plate, and was about leaving the stove when the bishop reached him. Raybold turned with a frown, and what was meant to be a glare.
“I shall bide my time,” said he, and with his coffee and his plate he retired to a distance.
The bishop smiled but made no answer, and sat down and ate his meal in peace; then he prepared to depart. He had nothing but a little bag, and it did not take long to put in order the simple culinary department of the camp. When all was done he stood for some minutes thinking. There was a path through the woods which led to the road, so that he might go on to Sadler’s without the knowledge of any one at Camp Rob, but he felt that he ought to see Matlack and tell him that he was going. If anything went wrong at Camp Roy he did not wish to be held responsible for it. Mr. Archibald could afford to go away without saying anything about it, but he could not, and, besides, if he should happen to see Miss Raybold it would be far more gentlemanly to tell her that he was going and to bid her goodbye, than to slip off through the woods like a tramp. He would go, that he was determined upon; but he would go like a man.
When he reached Camp Rob the first person he saw was Miss Raybold, standing near her tent with a roll of paper in her hand. The moment she perceived him she walked rapidly towards him.
“Good-morning,” she said. “Did you know that the Archibalds had gone? I never was so amazed in all my life. I was eating my breakfast when a man and a cart drove up to their cabin, and Mrs. Perkenpine, running to see what this meant, soon came back and told me that the family of three had departed in the night, and had sent this cartfor their baggage. I think this was a very uncivil proceeding, and I do not in the least understand it. Can you imagine any reason for this extremely uncourteous action?”
The bishop could imagine reasons, but he did not care to state them.
“It may be,” he said, with a smile, “that they discovered that their natures demanded hotel beds instead of camp cots, and that they immediately departed in obedience to the mandates of their individualities.”
“But in so doing,” said Miss Raybold, “they violated the principles of association. Our scheme included mutual confidence as well as self-investigation and assertion. I must admit that Mr. Archibald disappointed me. I think he misunderstood my project. By holding one’s self entirely aloof from humanity one encourages self-ignorance. But perhaps our party was somewhat too large—the elements too many and inharmonious—and I see no reason why we who remain should relinquish our purpose. I believe it will be easier for us to become truly ourselves than when our number was greater, and so I propose that we make no change whatever in our plans; that we live on, for the time agreed upon, exactly as if the Archibalds were here. And now, if you have a few minutes to spare, I would like to read you something I wrote this morning before I left my tent. I was awake during the night, and thought for a long time upon the subject of mental assimilation, the discussion of which we did not finish last evening, and this morning, while my thoughts were fresh, I putthem upon paper, and now I would like to read them to you. Isn’t there some shady place where we might sit down? There are two camp-chairs; will you kindly place them under this tree?”
The bishop sighed, but he went for the chairs. It would be too hard for him to tell her he was going to leave the camp, and he would not try to do it. He would slip off as soon as he had a chance, and leave a note for her. She would not perhaps like that, but it was the best he could do.
The reading of the paper occupied at least half an hour, and when it was finished, and Corona had begun to make some remarks on a portion of it which she had not fully elaborated, Mrs. Perkenpine approached, and stood before her.
“Well, miss,” said she, “I’m off.”
Miss Raybold fixed her eye-glasses upon her. “What do you mean?” she asked.
“I’m goin’ back to Sadler’s,” she replied. “Phil’s goin’, and I’m goin’. He’s jest told me that the cart’s comin’ back for the kitchen fixin’s and his things, and him and Bill Hammond is goin’ to Sadler’s with it; and if he goes, I goes.”
This speech had a very different effect upon its two hearers. Corona was as nearly angry as her self-contained nature would permit; but, although he did not allow his feelings to betray him, the bishop was delighted. Now they must all go, and that suited him exactly.
“It is a positive and absolute breach of contract!” exclaimed Miss Raybold. “You agreed to remain in my service during my stay in camp, and you have no right to go away now, no matter who else may depart.”
Mrs. Perkenpine grinned. “That sort of thing was all very well a week ago,” said she, “but it won’t work now. I’ve been goin’ to school to myself pretty steady, and I’ve kept myself in a good deal, too, for not knowin’ my lessons, and I’ve drummed into me a pretty good idea of what I be, and I can tell you I’m not a woman as stays here when Phil Matlack’s gone. I’m not a bit scary, but I never stayed in camp yet with all greenhorns but me. When I find myself in that sort of a mess, it’s my nater to get out of it. Phil says he’s goin’ to start the fust thing this afternoon, and that’s the time I’m goin’, and so, if you would like to go, you can send word by that man in the cart to have you and your things sent for, and we can all clear out together.”
“Positively,” exclaimed Corona, turning to the bishop, “this is the most high-handed proceeding I ever heard of!”
“That’s ’xactly what I think,” said Mrs. Perkenpine; “it most takes my breath away to think how high-handed I am. Before I knowed myself I couldn’t have been that way to save my skin. There didn’t use to be any individdlety about me. You might take a quart of huckleberries and ask yourself what it was particular ’bout any one of them huckleberries—’xceptin’ it might be green, and it’s a long time since I was that way—and you’d know jest as much about that huckleberry as I knowed about myself. Now it’s different. It’s just the same as if there was only one huckleberry in a quart box, and it ain’t no trouble to see all around that.”
“I think, Miss Raybold,” said the bishop, “thatthis good woman has prosecuted her psychical researches with more effect than any of us.”
“Bosh!” exclaimed Miss Raybold. “Do you really think I must leave this camp at the dictation of that person?”
“’Scuse me,” said Mrs. Perkenpine, “but I’m goin’ to scratch things together for movin’. We’ll have dinner here, and then we’ll pack up and be off as soon as the carts come. That’s what Phil says he’s goin’ to do.”
With a satisfied mind and internal gratitude to Mrs. Perkenpine, who had made everything easy for him, the bishop endeavored to make Corona feel that, as her departure from the camp was inevitable, it would be well not to disturb her mind too much about it. But it was of no use trying to console the lady.
“It is too bad,” she said; “it is humiliating. Here I believed that I was truly myself; that I was an independent entity; that I was free to assert my individual nature and to obey its impulses, and now I find that I am nothing but the slave of a female guide. Actually I must obey her, and I must conform to her!”
“It is true,” said the bishop, musingly, “that although we may discover ourselves, and be greatly pleased with the prospect of what we see, we may not be permitted to enter into its enjoyment, and must content ourselves with looking over the fence and longing for what we see.”
Corona faintly smiled. “When we have climbed high enough to see over that fence,” she said, “it becomes our duty to break it down.”
“When I was in England,” said the bishop, “Isaw a fence—an oak fence—which they told me had stood for four hundred years. It looked awfully tough, and it now reminds me of some of the manners and customs of civilization.”
“When you were in England,” said Corona, “did you visit Newnham College?”
He never had. But she told him that she had been there for two years. “And now,” she continued, “there may be time enough before I must pack up my effects to finish what I was going to say to you about approximate assimilations.”
CHAPTER XXVIIITHE HERMITS CONTINUE TO FAVOR ASSOCIATION
When the Archibald party reached the capital city of their State, the four of them took a carriage and drove immediately to the Dearborn residence. Margery had insisted that Mr. Clyde should go with them, so that he and she should present themselves together before her parents. In no other way did she believe that the subject could be properly presented. The Archibalds did not object to this plan; in fact, under the circumstances, they were in favor of it. During the journey young Clyde had produced a very favorable impression upon them. They had always liked him well enough, and now that they examined his character more critically, they could not fail to see that he was a kind-hearted, gentlemanly young man, intelligent and well educated, and, according to private information from Margery, his family was of the best.
Arrived at the Dearborn door, they found the house in the possession of one female servant, who informed them that Mr. Dearborn was in Canada, on a fishing expedition; that Mrs. Dearborn had gone to attend some sort of a congress at Saratoga, and that she did not expect to be at home until the following Friday, three days after, whichwas the day on which she had expected her daughter to be brought back to her. This was disheartening, and the four stood upon the steps irresolute. Margery ought to go to her mother, but neither of the Archibalds wished to go to Saratoga, nor could they despatch thither the prematurely betrothed couple.
“I know what we must do,” said Mrs. Archibald, “we must go home.”
“But, my dear,” said her husband, “we agreed to stay away for a month, and the month is not yet up.”
“It doesn’t matter,” said she. “Kate and her husband will take us in for the few days left. When we explain all that we have gone through, she will not be hard-hearted enough to make us go to a hotel until Friday; Margery can come with us.”
Margery turned upon Mrs. Archibald a pair of eyes filled with earnest inquiry.
“I know what you want,” said Mrs. Archibald. “No, he can go to a hotel in the town; and I shall write to your mother to come to us as soon as she returns; then you two can present yourselves together according to your plans. There is no use talking about it, Hector; it is the only thing we can do.”
“We shall break our word to the newly married,” said her husband. “Isn’t there a State law against that?”
“When we made that arrangement,” said his wife, going down the steps, “we did not know our individual selves; now we do, and the case is different. Kate will understand all that when I explain it to her.”
They drove back to the station, and took a train for home.
Mr. and Mrs. Bringhurst were sitting in the cool library about nine o’clock that evening; he was reading while she was listening, and they were greatly astonished when they heard a carriage drive up to the front door. During their domestic honey-moon they had received no visitors, and they looked at each other and wondered.
“It is a mistake,” said he; “but don’t trouble yourself. Mary has not gone to bed, and she will hear the bell.”
But there was no bell; the door was opened, and in came father and mother, followed by a strange young couple.
“It is wonderful!” exclaimed Kate, when at last everybody had been embraced or introduced. “A dozen times during the last week have we talked about the delight it would give us if our father and mother could be here to be entertained a little while as our guests in our own house—for you gave it to us for a month, you know. But we refrained from sending you an invitation because we did not want to cut off your holiday. And now you are here! The good fairies could not have arranged the matter better.”
When all the tales had been told; when the assertion of individuality and the plans of hermit association had been described and discussed, and the young Bringhursts had told how they, too, without knowing it, had been associate hermits, devoting their time not to the discovery of their own natures, but of the nature of each other, and how perfectly satisfied they had been with the results,it was very late, and young Clyde was not allowed to go out into the darkness to find a hotel.
It was on Thursday afternoon that Mrs. Dearborn arrived at the Archibalds’ house. The letter she had received had made her feel that she could not wait until the end of the congress.
“Now, mother,” said Margery, when the two were alone together, “you have seen him and you have talked to him, and Uncle Hector has told you how he went to the office of Glassborough & Clyde and found he was really their nephew, and all about him and his family; and you have been told precisely why it was necessary that we should engage ourselves so abruptly on account of the violent nature of Mr. Raybold and the trouble he might cause, not only to us, but to dear Aunt Harriet and Uncle Archibald. And now we come just like two of your own children and put the whole matter entirely into your hands and leave you to decide, out of your own heart, exactly when and where we shall be married, and all about it. Then, when father comes home, you can tell him just what you have decided to do. You are our parents, and we leave it to you.”
“What in the world,” said Mrs. Dearborn, an hour later, when she was talking to the two married ladies of the household, “can one do with a girl like that? I do not believe dynamite would blow them apart; and if I thought it would I should not know how to manage it.”
“No,” said Mrs. Archibald, “I am afraid the explosion would be as bad for you as it would be for them.”
“Don’t try it,” said Mrs. Kate. “I take a great interest in that budding bit of felicity; I consider it an outgrowth of our own marriage and honey-moon. When we sent out that wild couple, my father and mother, on a wedding-tour, we did not dream that they would bring back to us a pair of lovers, who never would have been lovers if it had not been for us, and who are now ready for a wedding-tour on their own account, as soon as circumstances may permit. And so, feeling a little right and privilege in the matter, I am going to ask you, Mrs. Dearborn, to let them be married here whenever the wedding-day shall come, and let them start out from this house on their marriage career. Now don’t you think that would be a fine plan? I am sure your daughter will like it, when she remembers what she owes us; and if Mr. Clyde objects I will undertake to make him change his mind.”
When the plan was proposed in full counsel, it was found that there would be no need for the exercise of Mrs. Kate’s powers of persuasion.
About ten days after Mrs. Dearborn and Margery had returned to their home, and Clyde had followed, to move like a satellite in an orbit determined by Mrs. Dearborn, Mr. Archibald was surprised, but also very much pleased, to receive a visit from the bishop.
“I could not refrain,” said that expansive individual, “from coming to you as soon as circumstances would allow, and, while expressing to you the great obligations under which you have placed me, to confide to you my plans and my prospects.You have been so good to me that I believe you will be pleased to know of the life work to which I have determined to devote myself.”
“I am glad to hear,” said the other, “that you have made plans, but you owe nothing to me.”
“Excuse me,” said the bishop, “but I do. This suit of clothes, sir, is the foundation of my fortunes.”
“And well earned,” said Mr. Archibald. “But we will say no more about that. Have you secured a position? Tell me about yourself.”
“I have a position,” said the bishop. “But would you prefer that I tell you of that first, or begin at the beginning and briefly relate to you what has happened since I saw you last?”
“Oh, begin at the beginning, by all means,” said Mr. Archibald. “I was sorry to be obliged to leave you all so unceremoniously, and I greatly desire to know what happened after we left.”
“Very good, then,” said the bishop, “I will give you our history in as few words as I can. On the afternoon after your departure we all went to Sadler’s—that is, Miss Raybold and myself and the three guides; for Raybold, when he heard that Miss Dearborn and Mr. Clyde had gone, immediately left for Sadler’s, hoping, I think, to find you all there. From what I heard, I think he and Peter Sadler must have had words. At any rate, he discovered that his case was hopeless, and he had himself driven to the station in a carriage, not choosing to wait until our arrival. I have since heard that he has determined to relinquish the law and devote himself to the dramatic arts.
“For some reason or other, Peter Sadler was very glad to see me, and congratulated me heartily on the favorable change in my appearance. He called me his favorite tramp, and invited me to stop at his hotel for a time, but I consented to stay a few days only, for I felt I must go to see the gentleman to whom I wished to engage myself as librarian before my new clothes had lost their freshness. Miss Raybold arranged to stay at Sadler’s for a week. She liked the place, and as she had planned to remain away from home for a fortnight, she did not wish to return before the time fixed upon. There were a good many people at Sadler’s, but none of them seemed to interest her. She decidedly preferred to talk to Sadler or to me; but although Peter is a jolly fellow, and had some lively conversations with her, he does not seem to care for protracted mental intercourse, and it became so plain to me that she depended upon me, in so large a degree, for companionship and intellectual stimulus, that I did not leave as soon as I intended. It was on Wednesday, in fact, that I steeled my heart and told her that I must positively depart early the following morning, or I could not expect to reach my destination before the end of the week. It was that evening, however, that we became engaged to be married.”
“What?” cried Mr. Archibald. “Did you dare to propose yourself to that classic being?”
“No,” replied the other, “I cannot, with exactness, say that I did. It would be difficult, indeed, for me to describe the manner in which we arrived at this most satisfactory conclusion. MissRaybold is a mistress of expression, and, without moving a hair’s-breadth beyond the lines of maidenly reserve which always environ her, she made me aware, not only that I desired to propose marriage to her, but that it would be well for me to do so. There were objections to this course, which, as an honest man, I could not refrain from laying before her, and with my proposition I stated these objections, but they were overruled to my entire satisfaction, and she consented to become Mrs. Bishop.”
“Mrs. Bishop?” said the other, inquiringly.
“Oh yes; Bishop is my name—Henry C. Bishop. It was this name which suggested the title which was playfully given to me. Before our compact was made I had told Miss Raybold all about my family. She did not ask me to do so, but I knew she desired the information, for I had learned to read those beautiful eyes.”
“But,” said Mr. Archibald, “how about your position? Did you get the place as librarian?”
“No,” said the other, “I did not ask for it. The question of my vocation has been settled most admirably. There never was a human being more frank, more straightforward and pertinent than Miss Raybold. She knows what she wants, and she makes her plans to get it. With regard to means she is sufficiently endowed, but the life work to which she has devoted herself is far more than she can ever accomplish alone. She needs the constant assistance of a sympathetic and appreciative nature, and that, I am happy to say, I am able to give to her; and were I to devote myself to any other calling whichwould interfere with that assistance, I should be doing her a positive wrong. Therefore, should I state it in definite words, I should say that I am to become my wife’s private secretary. That is my position, and it suits me admirably; and I may add that Corona assures me that she is thoroughly well pleased. We are to be married in the fall, and I hope it will not be long before we shall have the pleasure of meeting again our former companions of the hermit camp.”
“By-the-way,” said Mr. Archibald, as his visitor was about to leave, “tell me something of Matlack. I had a great liking for our guide.”
“All that I can tell you is this,” said Mr. Bishop, smiling: “Not long after we arrived at Sadler’s, he went to Peter and asked him if he intended to send out a camping party to any considerable distance. It so happened that a couple of gentlemen were going to a point on the very limits of Sadler’s jurisdiction, and with them Matlack petitioned to go, although another guide had been appointed. I made inquiries, and found that, for some reason, probably connected with the persistencies of the female sex, Matlack had become a sort of Daniel Boone and wanted to go away as far as possible from his kind.”
“I hope,” said Mr. Archibald, “that our example has not made a real hermit of him. Good-bye. I am very sorry that Mrs. Archibald is not at home; but in both our names I wish you and your future wife the best of good fortunes.”
“Father,” exclaimed Mrs. Kate, when she heard of this interview, “now you must grant me one more favor! Here is another pair of lovers whoowe everything to our honey-moon and your wedding-tour. We ought to know them, for we made them what they are. So let us invite them here, and let them be married from this house. I do not believe Miss Raybold has a proper home of her own; and, in any case, the only way they can pay us what they owe us is to give us the pleasure of seeing them wedded here.”
Mr. Archibald rose to his feet. “No, madam!” said he. “I am willing, to a certain extent, to make this house a source of hymeneal felicity, but I draw the line at the bishop. I do not intend that my home shall become a matrimonial factory!”