'Can you tell me that it is?' he said, looking across the table to her with a gaze that would find the truth.
'Would you be glad?' she answered. 'And will you tell me why?'
Then Dingee came in with coffee, and a bouquet; and Hazel sat playing idly with the flowers while Dingee set out the cups, the scent of heliotrope and geranium filling the room. While Dingee was near, Mr. Falkirk was silent; but eyeing the girl however, the flowers, her action, with a glance that took it all in and lost no item; not a graceful movement nor a tint of the picture.
'Yes,' he said firmly when the boy was gone, 'I should be glad. You are just fit for the play you are playing now; it is not played out, and should not be, for some time to come. You are young, and ought to be free; and you are rich, Miss Hazel, and ought not to marry somebody who will ruin you.'
For a minute Hazel spoke not for surprise, and then she let a prudent pause lap on to that. For she had no mind just then to get up a tirade for Mr. Rollo's benefit, and all the same she felt her blood stirring.
'Is this all I am fit for?' she said: but the laugh was a little nervous.
'I said nothing you need take umbrage at,' her guardian returned somewhat bitterly. 'I spoke only in care for you, Miss Hazel; not in depreciation. I am about the last man in the world to do that.'
'It is nothing very new for you to speak in depreciation of me, sir,' said his ward, in her old privileged manner. 'You know you never did think I was good for much.'
'Enough to be worth taking care of,' growled Mr. Falkirk in a tone which bespoke a mingling of feelings.
'Well, sir,I never was fond of that processbut I have submitted indifferently well, I hope.'
'Allow me to ask, Miss Hazel,what sort of care do you expect in the future?'
Hazel fairly looked at him and opened her eyes. 'Really, Mr.Falkirk,' she said, 'you are very amazing!'
'You know, I must suppose, that your_guardian_has proved himself unfit to take care of your fortune, inasmuch as he has thrown away his own. And when fortune is gone, Miss Kennedy, the means of taking care of you are gone along with it. I warn you, though it may not be in time.'
Wych Hazel's hands took a great grip of each other. It was pretty hard to bear this to-day.
'For the last year and a half, Mr. Falkirk, the care of mein every respecthas been referred, and referred, and referred, to other judgment than your own. I used to think you were tired of me, that you had lost your wits Now, you think I have lost mine.'
'The judgment which I was obliged to consult, and which could not hurt you as long as I remained a consenting party, will have no restraint when my decisions are dispensed with. He can pitch all your thousands after his own, if he thinks proper.'
'Yes, you can do anything with an "if," ' said Hazel, trying to keep herself quiet.
'He will think it proper,' said Mr. Falkirk.
'You must have learned a good deal in three minutes, sir.'
'He is an enthusiasta fanatic, I should call it; and an enthusiast sees but one object in the universe, andthatthe object of his enthusiasm. It is all right, to him; but it is all wrong for you.'
It might have been the sheer pressure of excitement, it might have been some idea that the present object of Mr. Rollo's enthusiasm was nearer at hand than Mr. Falkirk thought; but Wych Hazel's sweet laugh rang out. She knew again that the laugh was nervous, but it was uncontrollable none the less.
Mr. Falkirk's countenance changed slightly, as though he had winced with some secret pain; but it did not come out in words, if the feeling existed. He waited till the laugh had died away, and even the stillness spoke of reaction in the mind of the laugher; and then he went on with a quiet unchanged tone,
'There is no use in going into this now. I wish merely to say, Miss Hazel, that the habit of taking care for your interests is too old with me, and has become too strong, to be immediately laid aside. I shall do my best to procure a settlement of your proprietyas much of it as possibleupon yourself; and I mention this now simply to beg of you that you will not interpose any sentimental or quixotic objection on your own part. I shall endeavour to get Dr. Maryland to back me; he must see the propriety of the step. I only ask you to keep still.'
Mr. Falkirk rose. In a moment Wych Hazel was at his side, linking her little hands on his arm in the old fashion.
'What have I done,' she said, 'that you speak so to me? Have I been so wayward and wilful that I have really chafed all your love away, and there is nothing left but dry care?'
He touched her hand as he rarely had ever done, with a caressing, glancing touch, slight and short; but the man was silent. Wych Hazel drew him along, softly walking him up and down through the room, but she too said nothing, feeling perplexed and hurt, and not well knowing why. It was nothing new for Mr. Falkirk's words to be dry, but to-night they were so hard!and when had he ever called her Miss Kennedy, in the worst of times? For once her instinct was at fault.
'I must go,' said Mr. Falkirk, stopping short after a turn or two.
'It is such an old story for me to make mistakes' Hazel began hesitatingly.
'Have you made this one unwittingly?' he asked with sudden eagerness.
Hazel dropped his arm and stood off with the air which Mr.Falkirk knew very well.
'This one does not happen to exist,' she said. 'But I meanI should think you were so used to the reality, sir, that the idea would not give you much trouble. And there is one thing more I ought to say.'
'I am not troubled by an idea, Miss Hazel. What is the other thing?'
Not an easy one to speak, by the shewing, as she stood there gathering her forces. But the words came clear and low.
'It will be a good day for me, Mr. Falkirk,I shall have more hope of myself,when I am as willing to be poor for the sake of other people, asMr. Rollois. Would you feel more sure of my being taken care of, if you knew that he spent all he has upon himself?'
'Yes. He is spending it upon a vagarya chimera; and that is as much as to say he is throwing it into a quicksand. He will go down with it.'
'I wonder what will be the result of that?' said Wych Hazel, in the cool way she could sometimes assume when she felt particularly hot.
'I don't like to look at the result,' said Mr. Falkirk. 'I will go, if you please, Miss Hazel.But if you will be so good as not to oppose me, the result shall not be your destitution.'
'Oppose you!' said Hazel. 'With such an object in view!'But then the mocking tone changed, and she said sorrowfully'I beg your pardon, Mr. Falkirk!But you are vexed, sir, and then you always vex me. AndI was not just ready for this to-night.'
'You need not be vexed that I want to take care of you,' Mr. Falkirk returned.
'No, sir. There are great many things I need not be,' said Hazel.
'I will try to do it. I may not succeed. Good-night.'
She put her hands on his arm again, following his lead now towards the door. But on the way another thought struck her.
'Mr. Falkirk,' she said suddenly, 'if you try to do something which you know I would not likeor in a way I should not like,you must remember that I will never say yes to it. Not if there were fifty quicksands in the way!'
'Miss Hazel,' returned her guardian, 'I have not so long held my office without finding out that it is impossible to tell beforehand what you would like, or in what way you would like it. I must work in the dark; unless you prefer to give me illumination.'
'I should like,' said Hazel bravely, 'what Mr. Rollo would have a right to like. I suppose Mr. Falkirk will know what that is.'
'Pardon me. My only concern is with whatyouwould have a right to like.'
'Very well,' she answered,'if you choose to put it so. But I could have no right to like anything which should seem like a reflection,anything that could cast the least possible shade of dishonour.Further than that, I do not see how it matters.'
'Does it matter to you whether you are your own mistress or not?' said Mr. Falkirk, confronting her now with the question.
'I suppose that is past praying for,' said Hazel with a deep blush.'But I never have been, yet.'
'You have in money matters.'
'About my own silks and sugarplums. No further, sir.'
'Do you wish it to be "no further" always?'
'I like my own way better than anything in the world,' said Hazel, 'except'and she paused, and the crimson mounted again, 'except the honour and dignity and standing of the people I love. You know better than I, Mr. Falkirk, whether both things can be cared for together; but if one has to go down, it must be my will.'
'If it can be done consistently with other people's "dignity and standing," you would like to have control of your own property?'
'It cannot be so done.'
'It can be so doneif I and Dr. Maryland do it.'
'No,' said Hazel, 'there is too much of it.'
'Will you please explain?'
'Too much money,too much land,the property is too large.'
'Too large to be divided, that is.'
Hazel turned off with a gesture of distressful impatiencethen faced her guardian again.
'Don't you see, Mr. Falkirk?' she said,'do you need to be told?Mr. Rollo could not possibly be only my agent.'
'I do not see that he need. You are competent surely to spend your own money, in the way you like best.'
'Very competent!' said Hazel gravely. 'And to manage my estate. Then I will begin at once, if you please, Mr. Falkirk, and you can send up to-morrow all the deeds and leases and writings in your possession. It will be quite a nice little amusement for me.'
'Miss Hazel, you talk nonsense,' said her guardian. 'I cannot deliver up my charge, except in hands that will have absolute rule over it; unless I can secure a separate portion for you. The will makes him master, in the event of his marrying you.'
Hazel made no reply. The speech was full of words that she did not like. And Mr. Falkirk quitted the room.
If he had wished to render his ward uncomfortable, he had made a hit,stirring up thoughts and questions which had been ready enough before, only always held in check by the presence and influence that were stronger yet. But to-night she was heart-sore to begin with, and it had chafed her extremely that not all her pleading of the night before had carried a single point. The words "master," and "absolute control," came with particular jarring effect. She brought a foot-cushion to the front of the fire, there where she was in the dining-room; and rested her head upon her hands and thought.
All Hazel's news thus far had come from Dr. Maryland's house; brought by Primrose or sent in a note. There was not much to tell; at least not much that anybody wanted to tell. The sick-beds in the two cabins, the heavy atmosphere of disease, the terrible quarantine, the weary tension of day and night, the incessant strain on the physical and mental strength of the few nurses,nobody wrote or spoke of these. The suspense, nobody spoke of that either. The weeks of October and November slowly ran out, and the days of December began to follow.
One mild, gentle winter morning, Dr. Maryland's little old gig mounted the hill to Chickaree.
Dr. Maryland had not been there, as it happened, for a long time; not since the event which had made such a change in all the circumstances of its mistress; nor in all that time had he seen Hazel. The place looked wintry enough to-day, with its bare trees, and here and there the remnant of a light snow that had fallen lately; but the dropped leaves were carried away, and the sweep shewed fresh touches of the rake; everything was in perfect order. Dingee ushered the visiter into the great drawing-room, to warm himself by a corresponding fire; and there in a minute Hazel joined him, looking grave and flushed. The doctor had not sat down; he turned to face her as she came in.
'Well, my dear!' said he cheerily. 'How do you do?'
'Very well, sir, thank you.'
'You are all alone? Mr. Falkirk is away, I understand; just gone?'
'Yes, sir.'
'Gone to a sick sister in England, and left you alone.'
'Yes, sir. It is nothing very new for me to be alone,' said Hazel.
'But for you to be so much alone? Well, I suppose he thought there would be soon somebody to take care of you. We have the good news now that those poor people seem to be all getting well. Arthur reports that there are no new cases. I am most thankful!'
Hazel answered with merely a gesture of assent. She had no words to say that she could say.
'I suppose Dane would be soon out of quarantine now.But he is not quite well himself, Arthur tells me; knocked up by watching and incessant exertions, I suppose.'
For a minute Hazel held her breathgrowing so white that even the old doctor must see it. Then she turned away from him in a gentle, noiseless way, and leaned her head down upon the back of her chair. She must have support somewhere.
'It is nothing but a low feverish affection,' Dr. Maryland hastened to say. 'May be tedious, perhaps, for a while, but shews no dangerous symptoms at present. We must not anticipate evil, my dear.'
Hazel did not answer that; but presently she sat up again and asked one or two quiet questions as to time and place.
'He is at Gyda's, my dear; they took him up there, being the nearest place. Mrs. Boërresen is a good nurse, and devoted to him; and so is Arthur. He will not want anything. Hazel, my child, can you cast your cares off on the one arm strong to help?'
She started up and went to the fire, picking up brands and pushing the red coals right and left, until the wood burst out into brilliant flame. And all the time she was saying to herself, 'He will not have me,he does not want me.' But she came back to her place again without a word. Dr. Maryland looked on, pitying, feeling for her, and yet oddly without anything to say. He had lived so long and seen so much of life and had got so far above its changes; more, he had lived so much in his study and felt life so little except in contemplation, and with so small an admixture of practical experience of human nature, that he looked at the young thing before him and was conscious of his unreadiness, and in some sort of his unfitness, to minister to her.
'Are you lonely, my dear? Would you like to have Primrose come and keep you company?'
'Oh no!' said Hazel hastily. Then she began again, and tried to catch up her eager words and soften off their corners; speaking with a wistful affectionate tone that was half pleading, half deprecating. 'I meanI do not want anybody with me, sir. I am out a great dealand sometimes very busy at home. Andsome other time, maybe, Primrose will come.'
Dr. Maryland considered her with a recognizing smile on his lips, and a very tender look in his thoughtful eyes.
'I understand,' he said. 'There is room in the house for only one presence just now.Are you going to be a true helpmeet to Dane, Hazel, in all his work?'
'I do not know, sir.'Hazel always classed such questions, coming to a preoccupied mind, under the general head of "pins and needles," and never by any chance gave them much of an answer.
'He will want a helpmeet. A wife can hinder her husband, or help him, very materially. Dane has taken a great deal on his shoulders. He thinks you will be a help to him; "the best possible," he told me one day, when I ventured to ask him.'
The words shook her so, coming close as they did upon the news of his illness, upon thoughts of his danger, that for a minute Hazel moved like one in bodily pain; and more than one minute went by, before she answered, low and huskily,'He knew I would try.'
'My dear, there is only one way,' the old doctor said very tenderly. 'Dane has set out to follow his Master. If you would help him, you must follow with him.'
Hazel glanced up at the kind face from under her eyelashes. Could she dare open her heart to him? No,young as she was, her life experience had cut deeper channels than Dr. Maryland's own; he could not follow her; it was no use; she must bear the trials and work out her problems alone.
'I know, sir,' she said gently. But she said no more. And perhaps Dr. Maryland had an intuitive sense that the right words could not be spoken just then, and that the wrong ones would be worse than an impertinence. For he only looked gravely at the young creature, and added no more either of counsel or comfort at that time. He did not stay long, nor talk much while he staid, of anything; but he was thoughtfully observant of Hazel. He gave her a parting shot on taking leave.
'Good-bye, my dear,' he said with a kind and shrewd smile. 'I hope Dane will not let you have your own way too much for your good;but I am afraid of it!'
The girl's eyes flashed up at him then, as if she thought there was rather less danger of that than of any other one thing in the world. Then she ran down the steps after her old friend, and gave little finishing touches to his comfort in the shape of a foot-muff and an extra lap-robe, and held his hand for a minute in both hers,all with very few words and yet saying a great deal. And when Dr. Maryland reached home, he found that a basket of game had in some surreptitious manner got into his gig.
'Small danger of that!' Hazel thought, going back to his remark, as she went back into the house. But it was not such a question that brought the little hands in so weary fashion over her face. She stood very still for a minute, and then went swiftly upstairs to finish the work which Dr. Maryland had interrupted.Thatcould not wait; and Hazel was learning, slowly, that the indulgence of one's own sorrowcan. So the work was well done; only with two or three sighs breathed over it, which gave kind Mrs. Bywank a heartache for the rest of the day. But then Hazel hastily swallowed a cup of the chicken broth and went off to her room. It had come now, without if or perhaps, and she could only sit down and face it. The one person in all the world to whom she belonged,the only one that belonged to her!
For a while, in the bitterness of the knowledge that he was sick, Hazel seemed to herself half benumbed; and sat stupidly dwelling on that one fact, feeling it, and yet less with a sense of pain than of an intolerable burden. A weight that made her stir and move sometimes, as if she could get away from it so. It was no use to tell her not to anticipate; to say he was not much sick; that was thin ice, which would not bear. And now on a sudden Hazel found herself confronted with a new enemy, and was deep in the fight. What then? Only her own will in a new shape.
She had come out so gently and sweetly, so clearly too, from the months of restless perplexity and questioning; she had agreed, she had decided, that her will should be the Lord's will. Now came a sudden sharp test. She had chosen heaven, with earth yet in her hand,how if earth were taken away? And what if to do the Lord's will should be all that was left her, to fill her life? Did her consent, did her acceptance, reach so far?
AndOh how hard that was!to study the question, she must throw full upon it the light (or the darkness) of things that might be. Things that she would not have let any one say to her, knife- edged possibilities, came and went and came again, till Hazel stopped her ears and buried her face in the cushions and did everything in the world to shut them out. What use? shehadto consider them. Was she willing now that the Lord should do what he pleased with _him?_She could not word it any other way. And the fight was long: and time and again pain came in such measure that she could attend only to that. And so the day went by, with occasional interruptions, and then the unbroken night.
She could submit,she mustsubmit:could she accept? Nothing was anything without that. And she was getting almost too worn out to know whether she could or not. So she would sit, with her face buried in her hands, putting those fearful questions to herself, and with answering shivers running over her from head to foot. Then would come an interval of restless pacing the floor, thinking all sorts of things; chiefly, that the very minute it was light she would set off for Morton Hollow. What would that serve? what could she do, if she were there? But one Hand could meddle with these things, and work its will. And for a while a bitter sense of the Lord's absolute power seemed to lie on her head and heart till she felt crushed. She could not walk any longer, she could not debate questions; she could only lay her head against the arm of the chair and sit still, bearing that dull pain, and starting at the sharp twinges that now and then shot through it.
There came to her at last, as she sat there, suddenly, the old words. Words read to her so long ago, and learned so lately. They had reached her need then, and there she had in a sort left them, bound up with that. But once more now they came, so new, so glorious, all filled with light.
"For the love of Christ constraineth us"!The key to life work, but no less to life endurance. And the key turned softly, and the bolts flew back, and Wych Hazel covered her face saying eagerly, 'Yes, yes!'
But then, even with the saying, she broke quite down, and a stormy flood of tears swept over her, and left her at last asleep.
There was no going back when the day dawned. But Hazel soon found that this question was not to be ended once for all, like the other. It came up anew with each new morning, and must be so met, and answered: in full view of what unknown possibilities the day might bring or the night have brought, the assenting 'yes' must be spoken. The struggle was long, sometimes, and sometimes it was late before she left her room; but those who saw her face of victory when she came would remember it always.
Still, the days were long. And hearts are weak; and Hazel grew exceedingly weary. Chafing most of all against the barriers that kept her from Morton Hollow. At first, when Dr. Maryland left her that night she thought she should go with the sunrise next day. Then recollected herself.
'I said I would follow his biddingif I could,' she remembered, 'and Icanwait one day.'
And so shecouldwait two, and so she waited on. One day shemustgo; the next, she would write and ask permission. 'But he never asked me to write!'she thought suddenly, covering her face in shame. 'What would he think of me?' But oh, why had he given such orders?
It was the old story,she was supposed to have no discretion.
'I dare say he thought I should rush over if I had a fingerache!' she said with some natural indignation. Was she then really so little to be trusted? Wych Hazel sat down to study the matter, and as usual, before the exercise had gone on long, she began to foot up hard things against herself. How she had talked to him that night! what things she had told him! Then afterwards, what other things she had proposed to do,propositions that were stamped at once with the seal of impropriety. Hazel pressed her hands to her cheeks, trying to cool off those painful flushes. Wellhe should see now!She could wait, if he could. Which praiseworthy climax was reachedlike the top of Mount Washingtonin a shower of rain. But the whole effect of the musings was to make her shrink within herself, and take up again all the old shyness which had been yielding, little by little, before the daily intercourse of the month past. Prim found her very stately over reports, after this; and even good Dr. Maryland would often fare no better, and betake himself home in an extremely puzzled state of mind. That the girl was half breaking her heart over the twofold state of things, nobody would have guessed. Unless, possibly, Mrs. Bywank.
Meantime, the purchase of the Hollow property from Gov. Powder had been completed; and the fine fall weather tempting people to stay and come, and the region being thus all full of guests, Chickaree had been regularly besieged during most of these two months. And almost at the time the sickness broke out in the Hollow, Mr. Falkirk had been summoned to England, where his only remaining sister was living, with the news that she was very ill. Mr. Falkirk had nevertheless stood to his post, until the fever was gone in the Hollow and he saw that Rollo would soon be able to resume his place. And then he had gone, much to Wych Hazel's disgust. 'It seems,' she said, 'that I can never want anybodyeven my own guardians,so much as somebody else!'
The days lingered along, but no worse news came. Rollo was slowly regaining his usual condition. Still December was half gone before with all his good will he could undertake the drive from the Hollow to Chickaree.
Late one afternoon Dr. Arthur set him down at the old house door. A cool winter breeze was fitfully rustling the dry leaves and giving a monitory brush past the house now and then; whispering that Christmas was near, and snow coming. Staying for no look at the sunlight in the tree-tops, Rollo marched in and went straight to the red room. He stood suddenly still on opening the door. No one was there, not even the presence of a fire, but chair and foot-cushion stood as they had been left two months before; the ashes had not been removed, and the flowers in the vase had faded and dropped with no renewal. Rollo next went down the hall to Mrs. Bywank's quarters. Here a side door stood open, and Mrs. Bywank herself stood on the steps shading her eyes and gazing down the road.
'What are you looking for, Mrs. Bywank?' said a cheery voice behind her.
'Mr. Rollo!' cried the old housekeeper turning with a delighted face. 'I am glad to see you again sir, surely! And well-nigh yourself again! I am just looking for Miss Wychit is time she was home.'
'Where is she?'
'Off and away,' said Mrs. Bywank, with the smile of one who knows more than his questioner. 'She's a busy little mortal, these days.'
'What does she find to be busy about?'
'I should like to tell you the whole story, sir,if we had time,' saidMrs. Bywank with a glance down the road. 'She'll never tellandI think you ought to know. Step this way, Mr. Rollo, and you cansee just as well and be more comfortable.'
Mrs. Bywank led the way to a little corner room where fire and easy chairs and a large window commanding the approach.
'I suppose you'd like to hear, sir,' she said as she replenished the fire, 'how the world has gone on down this way for two months back?'
'Very much,'Dane said gravely, with however a restless look out of the window.
'Well sir, about the first days I cannot say much. I hardly saw MissWych at all. She used to dress up and come down and meet Mr.Falkirk, and then she'd go back to her room, and there she staid.Only she'd given me orders about the articles for the Hollow.
'So one morning, just as the beef and things were brought into my kitchen, and one of the maids had gone down for a kettle, in walked Miss Wych. 'Byo,' says she, 'I am going to make everything myself in future.''But my dear!' said I, 'you do not know how.'
'I am going to learn,' says she.
'Well,' said I, 'you can look on and learn.'
'I will do it and learn,' says sheand she marched right up to me and untied my big apron and put it on herself; for I don't believethenshe had an apron belonging to her.'
Without ceasing to keep watch of the window, Dane's eyes gave token of hearing and heeding, growing large and soft, with a flash coming across them now and then.
'It's a nice business to hinder Miss Wych when she has a mind,' Mrs. Bywank went on; 'but I couldn't see her tiring herself over the fireso I said, 'But my dear, think of your hands! No gloves!'
'What about my hands?' says she.
'Cooking is bad for them, Miss Wych,' says I.
'Is it?' said she. 'Well, they've had their share of being ornamental.What is the first thing to do, Byo?'
'So I felt desperate,and said I, 'My dear, when Mr. Rollo comes back he will not like to find your hands any different from what they are now.'She turned round upon me so,' said Mrs. Bywank laughing a little, 'that I didn't know what she would say to me for my impertinence. However, she only gave me one great look out of her eyes, and then stood looking down at her hands, and then she ran off,and was gone a good little while. And I felt so bad I couldn't set to work nor anything, till at last I knew it must be done, and I told the girl to set the kettle on. And just then back she came, lookingWell, you'll know some day, sir, how Miss Wychcanlook,' said Mrs. Bywank with dim eyes. 'However, the gloves were on; and she just took hold, steady and quiet as an old hand, and never opened her lips but to ask a question. Of course I sat by and directed, and I kept a girl there to lift and run; but from that day Miss Wych made every single thing that went to the Hollow or to you, sirwith her own little fingers. So that kept her fast all the mornings.'
Dane's eyes did not leave the window. His lips took a firmer compression.
'Then in the afternoons she just shut herself up again,and I knew that would no do, and I begged her to go out. So she said at last she couldn't go and come without such a trainand it did seem as if people were bewitched, sure enough,' said Mrs. Bywank. 'I think there neverwassuch a run on the house. What with you sick and Mr. Falkirk somehow not taking much noticeYou know he's gone, sir?'
'Yes.'
'Miss Wych took it rather to heart,' said Mrs. Bywank. 'She couldn't see why he went. But I asked her then why she didn't ride in the woods where nobody'd meet her.'If there was anything to do there!' she said. 'But nobody lives in my woods.''Ask Reo,' says I. 'He goes everywhere.'
'So I don't know what Reo told her, but now she's out all the afternoon; busy somewhere. And there!' said Mrs. Bywank, as a horseman passed the window,'it's hard to blame her for staying late. But there she comes!'and the old housekeeper went softly from the room.
At a little distance now he could see the brown horse and his rider, with Lewis following. Coming slowly at first, then with sudden haste as she saw a horseman at the door. Hazel knew her mistake in a moment, but she kept up her pace as the unwelcome visiter came on to meet her; and just at the steps deftly jumped herself off, giving no chance to civilities. Then after a few words of colloquy dismissed the intruder, and came slowly up the steps. There paused, looking wistfully down the empty road, and finally came in, taking notes and messages from Dingee.
'Give me tea directly,' she said. 'And admit no one, on any pretence whatever.'
'Mas' Falkirk?' suggested Dingee. 'Spose done come home?'
'Mr. Falkirk never asks admittance.'
'Mas' Rollo?'
'Did you hear what I said!'exclaimed his mistress; and Dingee vanished.
Wych Hazel turned for one more look at the road, drew a deep sigh that was half patient and half impatient; and then slowly pulling off cap and gloves came forward to the corner room, chanting softly to herself as she came
' "Endlich blüht die Aloe,
"Endlich trägt der Palmbaum Früchte;
"Endlich schwindet Furcht und Weh,
"Endlich wird der Schmerz zu nichte;
"Endlich nah't das Freudenthal;
"Endlich, endlich kommt einmal!" '
But with the first step inside the door the girl stopped short, folding her hands over her eyes as if they were dazzled.
'Endlich?' repeated Rollo. But then there was a long silence.
'Endlichwhat?'
'Kommt einmal.But I thought it never would!'
'Ah, what do you know about it? I am very tired of living without you, Wych!'
'Yes.'Words were like sighs to-day.
'Yes? Doyousay so? What do you know? There has been all these weeks a visionary presence of youthat was not youflitting before me continually; standing beside me, coming and going, by night and by day, with the very rustle of your garments and the look of your brown eyes; but I could not touch it, and it did not speak to me; it smiled at me, but the lips were silent; and the eyes sparkled and were sometimes wistful, but it passed on and vanished. It mocked me, it tantalized me. The experience was good for me perhaps; I was obliged to remind myself that I had something else to live for. In the night watches this presence came and brushed by melooked in at the doorstood between the rising sun and my eyeshovered like a vision in the moonlight; sorrowed over me when I was weary, and comforted me when I was sick. I mean, the vision did; but the fact of the vision tantalized me. Is this hand true flesh and blood?' He tried it with his lips. A shadow as of what had been came over the girl's face. She answered unsteadily
'You did not stand by me in my watches. You have been off at the very ends of the earth!AndO won't you let me go and get off my habit?'
'How long will you take?'
'Two minutes.'
If there were suspicious wet eyelashes when Miss Wych came back, she had at least by that time got herself in hand, as well as got rid of her habit. She came in noiseless and grave and quiet, in a soft shimmering rustle of deep red silk, and held out her hand again.
'You should not have stirred out, such a cold day,' she said. 'But come into the other room; it is warmer there.'
Dane had not sat down, he was standing watching for her; and now drew her within his arms again, in a seeming ignoring of her invitation.
'Have you been a good child all these weeks?'
'No.'
'Wherein not?'
'Primrose would have settled composedly down, and been happy in obeying orders. I wasn't a bit.'
'People are not all good after the same fashion,' said Dane laughing, holding her fast and looking at her. 'My little Wych was not happy, nor submissivebut obeyed orders nevertheless.'
'No,' said Wych Hazel slowly, 'I am not sure that I did. I had said I would keep away if I couldand I remembered how you might look at me if I went. So it was better to stay and die quietly at home.'
'Is that the footing on which we are to live in the future?' said Dane laughing and kissing her. He evidently was rather in a gay mood.
For all answer, Hazel drew him across the hall to the dining room, and sounding her whistle began to make preparations for tea; with a speed and energy before which Dingee flew round like a cat. Then, dismissing him, Hazel crossed over with soft steps to the side of the lounge and stood there a moment, looking down, searching out the traces of illness and fatigue. Dane was paler and thinner certainly than he had been two months before. But his colour was the colour of health, and his gray eye had certainly suffered from no faintness. It was very bright now as it met hers, and he sprang up.
'Nothing ails me,' he said. 'I am only tired with twelve miles in Arthur's buggy. You will have no doubt how I am, when you see how much work I mean to do before I go away.'
'You will not do any work to-night,' said Wych Hazel decidedly. And then she made herself very busy about Mr. Rollo's tea, with quiet dictatorship making him take and not take, as she saw fit. But I suppose he was easy to rule to-night, and had besides matter for study in the grave mouth and the eyes that would hardly meet his. Perhaps he began to observe that there was more work to do than he had been aware. Perhaps he saw, that in these two months of separation the old timidity, the old reserve, had grown up and flourished to an alarming extent. Just at first, when he came, defences had not been up, or his sudden appearance had flung them down; but it was rather the Wych Hazel of last year than of last October who sat before him now. Betraying herself now and then, it is true, by a look or a tone, but still on the whole keeping close guard. Clearly this was not to be an evening of confidences. Rollo made his observations for a little time; and then enquired gravely,
'What have you done with Mr. Falkirk?'
'His sister in England wanted him. He went to her. One ought to have six guardians, you perceive.'
'How do you expect to be taken care of this winter, in such a state of things?'
'I ought to give more trouble than ever,' said the girl, shaking her head,'after such an apprenticeship at taking care of myself.'
'I hope not,' said Dane demurely. 'But Hazel, it is time we began to talk about business. There is a great deal to be said, at least, before Arthur comes to fetch me. Do you know it is just a week, or little more, to Christmas?'
'Yes,' said Hazel. 'I know.'
'I might divide my subject categorically in two parts; how Christmas is to be kept in the Hollow, and how we shall keep it here. I want your best attention on both heads.'
'I have not thoughtI tried not to think. I wished Christmas a hundred miles away!'
'I am quite unable to fathom the mystery of that statement.'
'Yes, of course,' said Hazel; 'how should you know? But if you had been shut off here' and she gave her plate a little push, sitting back in her chair, as she might have done,and had donein many of the weary days gone by.
'Meanwhile Christmas is not a hundred miles off,' said Dane watching her. 'How shall we keep it?'
'I don't know. I never did keep it much.'
'First, there is the Hollow.'
'O in the Hollow!yes, certainly. They must all have a Christmas dinner, for one thing.'
'Well, go on. I want your help. I suppose they never keptChristmas much, either. What shall I do for them?'
'How many Christmas trees would reach through the Hollow?'
Dane shook his head. 'I am afraid we are hardly ready for that. And there is scant time. I must be content to do without the poetry, this year, and make everybody happy prosaically.'
'With roast beef and plum pudding,' said Hazel. 'But then I would rather find out real wants, and supply them. Could that be done?'
'Hardly. Not in detail. The time is too short. In general, there is always the want of good cheer and of joy-taking; or of anything to give cause for joy. How would it do, for Christmas, to send in supplies for a good dinner to every house? Then we can take breath and think about New Year's Day.'
'I suppose that could not fail. But then, to make them feel really like Christmas, they ought to have something they donotneed.'
'I am open to suggestions,' said Dane smiling. 'As much as they are to the fruits of them. What shall I give them that they do not need? I think you are quite right, by the by; though it is not the precise light in which the subject is commonly viewed by the benefactors of their species.'
'Yes,' said Hazel. 'As if sleighing on the bare ground was good enough for people who generally walk. But you want them to forget the ground for a while, and go softly, and hear the bells.'
'What shall be the bells in this case?' said Rollo with his lips curling. 'Red apples? Or would pound papers of tea ring better? Or both make a chime?'
'With a small tinkle of sugarplums.And oh,' said Hazel eagerly, 'do give them some little niceties to put on! Or let me. I have great faith in the power of fresh collars and ribbands.'
'Cannot manage anything of that sort up here,' said Dane demurely. 'That will have to wait for New Year's Day. Three hundred and fifty pieces of roasting beefthree hundred and fifty pounds green teaditto bushels of red applesthree hundred and fifty pounds sugar candy? Will that meet your notions of a chime of bells for Christmas?'
Hazel mused over it.
'Perhaps'she said slowly. 'It is very difficult to know what will meet one's notions. If I could, I should like to give a littlejust a littlebit of a touch to every spot that wants touching. A touch of light to the shadow, a touch of healing to the pain; a flower for every barren place. And so I should not like to give them a Christmas which they could eat quite all up.'
Dane's lips had been giving way, and now he laughed out.
'You are as impracticable as if you were a fairy. All that takestime, Wych; and as I am not by nature knowing of all things, it takes study. One day you will accomplish it. But in the mean time, I should think they could not quite eat up their whole Christmas in a moment; and as I said, we will see what can be done for New Year. If you approve. At the same time, the subject is open for discussion.'
'But you need not think me more visionary than I am,' said Hazel with a shy glance and laugh. 'I did not mean anything quite silly. Of course_all_ the barren places,only God could fill them. But a touch to the sorrow, and a touch to the need, and a touch to the forlornness,thatis what I meant.'
'I did not think you meant anything silly. Tell me more in particular. I thought I was giving a touch to the need, with the beef; and a touch to the pleasure, with the apples and candy; and a touch to the comfort, with the tea. What shall I add to the list?'
'Perhaps nothing,' said Hazel. 'But I meant You know, all those things are down on the same level,and I wanted to get in strength and exhilaration of some other sort. Though I suppose,' she added gravely, 'I cannot guess how much even ofthatmay be in roast beef when one has never had it before. Strength and hope and purpose may come that way too.'
'They do,' said Dane gravely.
'Well then, you have only to go straight on. Maybe they could not understand some tunes yet, if the bells rang them out.'
'Straight on,' said Dane smiling. 'And that will furnish me with full occupation between this and Christmas. Now another thing. I feel for the people in the other mills,don't you?'
'O the other mills!' said Hazel. 'I feel for anybody who has any connection with John Charteris.'
'What can I do?'
'One would like to buy them all up! But failing that What did you think to do?'
'May I have your thoughts first?'
'I was only thinking,' said Hazel, 'that it would not be good taste to go in among the Charteris men at all as among your own. Anything there, I should think, must be more general and less personal. Or done by somebody else.'
'Whom, for instance?'
'If Josephine had married anything but diamonds'said Hazel, 'I might get hold of her. Or I might do it. But I suppose you would not like that. How could one manage?' The question put to the depths of her tea-cup.
'Why should I not like it?'
Wych Hazel laughed a little. 'Really,' she said, 'I do not know. Only you generally do dislike what I doand I am seldom so happy as to know why.'
'That is a statement which one may call unanswerable,' said Rollo with a significant line of lip. 'And how you dare say it, is more than I can understand. How could one manage? Nothing easier. I draw you a cheque, and you write me an order. Unless you prefer to employ another agent.'
'O I was not thinking of money,' said Hazel. 'But it would not be quite courteous to enact Christmas in the mills without a word to the ownerbad as he is. I wonder if I could get hold of Josephine and hide behind her?'
'No. But you can try it.What have you been doing, these two months?'
'Studying,in brief. I do not mean that I have done nothing else.'
'Learning what?' They had left the supper-table and stood together before the fire.
'Learning?that is another matter. When you study between fights, and fight between studies.'
'Hard learningwell learnt!' said he softly. 'Tell me more. Tell me results, Hazel.'
Hazel leaned her chin upon her hand, looking thoughtfully into the fire. 'Results?' she said. 'The result was unconditional surrender. At least I thought sountil'
'Until?'
'Until to-night. It is so good to have you back again!'she said with the same brown-study air.
Half laughing, with extreme tenderness at the same time and also the expression of great gladness, both his arms enfolded her, and they stood quite silent for a few minutes, till Dane stooped to reach her lips.
'You shall tell me the rest when you like,' said he. 'Do you want to tell me any more now?'
'You would not like the rest. It was a very dark time, at first, when you failed me.'
He was quite silent again. Then drew her off to the sofa.
'I have another subject to talk about, Hazel.'
'Well, I am ready to listen.'
'You remember, I had two subjects to discuss with you. Christmas in the Hollow we have arranged for. Now about Christmas here. My time is disposed of till the day is over. Then I must go to New York. I have a variety of business to attend to. I want furniture for my new coffee room, books for the school, furniture for the new cottages, gifts for New year. I intend to set up a grocery store also. For all these affairs, and for others, I must go to town the day after Christmas. I propose that we go together.'
'Yes, I want to go,' said Wych Hazel. 'I need a week in town, to get ready for the winter here.'
'Perhaps I shall be gone longer than a week,' said Dane, keeping his gravity.
'O wellI can easily find an escort back, if I get through first.'
'But I should not like that,' said Dane looking her in the face with his gray eyes very much alive. 'I want your help in my workI want you with me every minuteI am tired of living without you. Don't you understand?'
'Yes, I understand that,' said the girl. Who should, if she did not!
Dane's lips gave way. 'You do not understand much!' said he. 'Don't you see, Hazel, I am making the audacious proposal that I should carry my wife with me?'
The girl gave a spring away from him which at once put the breadth of the fireplace between her and any such notion.
'You characterize the idea so happily,' she said, 'that I will leave it there. Will you come into the other room, and rest, and be reasonable?' And Hazel disappeared into the hall and blew a ringing blast on her whistle for Dingee and lights. In the little corner room, when Mr. Rollo arrived there, he found a grand fire, and two arm-chairs on extremely opposite sides of the hearthstone, and Dingee and his young mistress intent upon the first efforts of the newly lighted wax candles. The tall white candles, their heavy, old-fashioned silver holders; and the dark red dress, and dark brown hair; and the swarthy cheeks of the little attendant,were all aglow in the firelight. Wych Hazel's face was as far as possible kept out of sight. Dane stood beside the mantelpiece, resting his arm there and looking on; patiently, to outward seeming, so far as any expression of impatience was concerned.
Wych Hazel stood still for a minute after Dingee had gone, then with a slow, grave step went over and placed herself in one of the armchairs.
'Why don't you sit down?' she said. 'It is not good for you to stand.'
'People sit down to rest.'
'Well, as you are tired already, it is the only thing for you to do.'
'I have not gained my cause, and I cannot rest till I do. Bid me rest,Hazel! on that understanding of it.'
'Certainly not,' said Hazel. 'I cannot afford to lose my wits.'
'I am tired of living without you, Wych. Whether you have any sympathy with that feeling I do not ask. I only ask you to consider what regard it fairly deserves.'
'People do not feel apart, unless there is a barrier between,' saidHazel. 'As when you barred me out of Morton Hollow.'
'Inconsistent'said Dane smiling; 'and weakly delusive. Hazel, you must give me a Christmas gift, and you must let it be that thing which of all others I want the most.'
'If you put it to me what you want,' said Wych Hazel, 'I should say, patience, and moderation, and a little practical common sense.'
'You are not the embodiment of those things,' said he daringly, 'and yet I want you.'
'Everything that is worth having, is worth waiting for,' said Hazel composedly. 'You have enough of me now to criticizethat ought to content you.'
'Does it content you?'
Hazel started up, and went to him, just touching each arm with one of her little hands.
'Olaf,'she said, 'will you please to sit downand hush? You know what you promised when I should say that again'
He took her in his arms and kissed her very fondly, and laughed a little; but holding her yet, became serious again.
'I am bound!' he said. 'But the nature of the case obliges me to premise a question or two. Am I not to speak on this subject again till you bid me?'
'No. Yes. That is preposterous. What is your next question?'
'How long must I wait first?'
'Just as long as you can.'
'Till to-morrow, then. Think of it, Hazel.'
Quitting the subject then, Dane went off into talk that would not even remind her of it, unless by some delicate chain of association. He gave her the story of his two months. The sick people had been at the first removed to the end of the valley, in some shanties apart from all the rest; and there he and they had been in quarantine together. There the fearful disease had seized one after another of that little band of poor Germans last-arrived, till ten of them were down with it at once. Everybody fled the spot; would not come near enough even to receive messages; and not for love nor money could help be got for nursing. Only old Gyda; and she and Rollo had had it all to do between them; even to washing the clothes the sick persons wore or had on their beds. Dr. Arthur of course had done all he could, but he had other sick beds to attend to; it was out of the question that he should devote himself solely to those at the end of the Hollow; especially as every visit there made needful a careful disinfecting and purifying process before he could approach anybody else, sick or well. Rollo and Gyda had struggled on together, one watching while the other slept. And so Dane would go from one sick-bed to the next, till he had made the round, and begin again; through it all thinking of what he had left at Chickaree, and of Hazel's pleadings that he had been obliged to disallow, scarce daring to think of the possible joy of going back to her again when the distress should be over. For he could not tell that it would ever be over without first laying himself as low as those whom he tended. The shanties where the sick lay, little better than sheds, had been very good for them but very trying sometimes to the watchers. However, the abundance of fresh air, and the careful quarantine, with a blessing upon the means used, had availed. No outsider had caught the infection, and only two of the sick had died. Those two, Rollo and Arthur had buried, alone and by night.
Softly, slowly, as a man who felt deeply the shadow of fear under which he had been passing and from out of which he had come, Dane told Hazel all this. And as one hears the verification of some fearful dream, so Hazel listened. She had taken her foot-cushion again, and sat with varying colour and averted eyes, and now and then a "yes" of full intelligence. For the scanty details she had received from time to time, had been more than filled out by her imagination; and point by point she seemed to know the story before it was told. By and by one hand came upon the arm of Rollo's chair, and then she leaned her forehead down against that hand, and so sat when the story was finished. Once or twice a quick shiver went over her; otherwise she was quite still.
'I was not unhappy, Wych,' said Dane after a little pause. 'My latent longing for you it is impossible to tell; but I could not let it come to the front then. And there is a walk and a place "with Jesus only," which at the time is joyful, and on looking back to it seems to have wanted nothing.'
Her head stirred a little; presently, she answered,'I did not think you were unhappy. If I had, I believe it would have been a help sometimes.'
'Hey?a help? How?'
'You would not have seemed so far off. And I should not have seemed so much alone.'
'That was a mistake, Hazel.'
'I only said it seemed so. But there was a certain truth in it, too; because happy people never do guess exactly what goes on in the rest of the world.'
'Pray, do the unhappy people?'
But Hazel caught the sound of steps, and started away from her foot-cushion time enough to meet Dr. Arthur midway in the room.
'Rested, Dane?' said the doctor, standing before his late patient.
'That does not sound like a complicated question,' said Dane; 'but it means a good deal. I am ready.'
'What he wants,' said Dr. Arthur, turning gravely to Wych Hazel, 'is a change. If your grace could persuade him to go off for a while, in the right company, he would come back a new man.'
'I shall have a change this week,' said Dane rising. 'Come along, old fellow, or I shall prescribe for you.I shall be here as early as I can, Hazel; before dinner.'
Wych Hazel ordered an early lunch for herself, and a fire in the red room, and fresh flowers for its adornment; and with these last she was busyhumming over them the spell of an old German choralwhen Rollo came in. The air was dainty with fragrance and sweet sounds. He smiled at it, and at Hazel; but after the first greeting was grave again.
'I have got news for you to-day,' he said.
'Have you?' said Hazel, intent on placing a Safrano rose. Then the tone caught her attention and she looked up hastily.
'Not more sickness?'
He shook his head. 'Paul Charteris has stopped work.'
'Is that all?' said Wych Hazel. 'The wonder to me is that such men ever go on.'
'He has not failed. He has stopped work. That is enough, of you knew what it means.'
'Not that all his men are turned adrift?'
'Just that. Three or four hundred families.'
'But they cannot move off and find work in the dead of winter!What is the man thinking of?'
'Only, I suppose, of what are called the exigencies of business. There is not a good market, just now, for his cloths; he would be largely out of pocket presently if he went on paying out, with nothing coming in.'
'Couldhe do it?'
'I cannot tell.'
She bent thoughtfully over her flowers for a minute, touching them here and there; then looked up again.
'Have the same exigencies come near you?'
He smiled. 'No. I am sound yet.'
'ButI have heard business enough talked, if I could only remember it!does not such a state of things by and by touchallgoods and mills and mill-owners?'
'Sometimes. But nothing threatens me at present. Perhaps Charteris is less strong than he has been supposed. Perhaps he has been speculating.'
Hazel finished her flowers with another touch or two, and gathering up the scattered rose leavescrimson and white and buffshowered them gently down upon the hand that rested near her on the table. Then she glanced up with a laugh.
'You know,' she said, 'the Charteris mills aremydepartment.'
'Indeed! How am I to understand that statement?'
'Oyou thought Christmas was not susceptible of extensions.Gentlemen's ideas, being so strong, sometimes move slowly.'
'Ladies' thoughts, being so subtle, are sometimes difficult to pursue,' said Dane; but his brow was grave.
'I am talking nonsense,' said the girl, 'but I mean sense. There is money enough,and those people cannot starve, either with hunger or cold. And you have all your own men on your own hands,andI begin to understand what Dr. Arthur meant by "possible corners." Don't you see that the other part of the Hollow falls naturally to me? What is the matter? Are you afraid I will support them on pound-cake and sugarplums?'
Dane's eyes leapt, and darkened, and lightened; but after all, his answer was sober.
'That will do; but you cannot permanently support Mr. Charteris's mill hands on charity. The only sure method of relief would be to buy up the mills.'
'Then we can run them against each other!' said Wych Hazel.'What a splendid thought! I shall be a better neighbour that Mr.Charteris. I will only undersell you just a little.'
Dane smiled, but this time he said nothing. Only watched her continually.
'Then as Mr. Falkirk's consent might be difficult to get,he is a little insane upon mills just now,perhaps the purchase had better be made with the remains of my last winter's legacy. Over which, you know, nobody has any control but my own wise self.'
'How much do you suppose the purchase of those mills might require?'
'I have no idea. The legacy was largeand there is a good deal left.'
'A few hundred thousands?'
No, not so much as that. Well,then I must have another ugly talk with Mr. Falkirk. He would not listen toyou, one minute.'
'I should not listen to you, either, Wych; and I should have to be taken into consultation, you know.'
'Is not your consent enough, without consultation?'
'I could not properly give it.'
'Dear me,' said the girl, 'what a word 'properly' is! I think I never wanted to do anything, or go anywhere, that it did not rise up before me like a five-barred gate. What can I 'properly' do, sir, if you please, in the premises?'
Looking with his mighty gray eyes into her face,soft they were too, and persuading, as well as mighty,he said in a sort of whisper,
'Go with me to New York, Wych! Then we can make it all right.'
Her face grew suddenly grave with a frightened look, as if she had stepped into a net, or caught herself in a trap.
'We were not talking of that,' she said hurriedly,'and there is no need to talk of that. And you promised.'
'There is no need to talk about it, if it is ever to be done,' said Dane smiling. 'If you will think about itwhich I believe you never do, you will perceive that unless we are to be separated all our lives, we must some time or other be married. And the best way with anything you are afraid of, is to do it, and have it over!'
He had smiled, and his accent was very winning; but he grew grave again, and stood with folded arms looking at Wych Hazel. Even then he would not use persuasions; he would not have her against her will; but he watched her anxiously. If she refused him now, it might be long before he brought up the subject again. He would not tell her that, either; he left her free; and waited to see how the delicate balances of her mind would turn. But he sighed a little as she hesitated, and then smiled again as he spoke; a smile very frank and sweet.
'Be brave, Hazel! If you are ever going to trust me, you may as well do it at once.'
Hazel turned away and sat down on her foot-cushion, and buried her face in her hands. Was she ever to be done with fights and perplexities? was she ever to be quietly happy, like other people? Last night she had been sober for very joy, at first; and now after all those long, bitter two months, there was no sweet sunshine to follow. For being married did not look at all sweet to Hazel: it was true, she had hardly thought of it at all. Well, she could do as she pleased. Yes,but she knew, without seeing, the disappointment to somebody else. That she did not quite understand it, did not hide the fact. And can a woman who loves, ever really prefer her own pleasure? She looked up with even a pale face, and the wet eyelashes that so few people had ever seen.
'You do not remember'she said. 'You do not seem to understand!'
'You are the shyest bird that ever flew without wings!' said Dane drawing another low seat to her side. 'I understand wet eyes too well. I remember only that I have been waiting a year and half for you. But if I wait all my life, Hazel, I will not have you at such cost as that. If your heart is not as mine,that it would be our happiness to be together,I will go back to my work and wait another six months.'
He spoke gently and gravely, and stooped as he spoke to kiss the wet eyes.
'Statements'said the girl, in an impatient tone which yet faltered and broke before it got through.
'You shall make the statements,' said Dane, getting her hand in his, and holding it with that gentle, firm clasp which, in some hands, expresses so much; soothing and steadying and sympathizing, and claiming too; all at once. 'What is the matter, my little Wych?'
Hazel paused, summoning her courage; enforcing quiet.
'It is no use to bring up such things,' she said, speaking very slowly. 'To talk of trustandliking to be togethermixing them up with 'if' and 'but.' Unless I have proved all that, I never can. But there are a great many reasons,and you would call them fudge. And I know they are not fudge. And if you were to knock them down fifty times, they would rise up, fresh and strong as ever, after all.'
'I shall not play at that game of ten-pins. Do you think in your conscience I have any reasons?'
'Something that goes by the name, I daresay,' said Hazel sedately. 'But it is all different on your side,you wait, or you hurry, just which you choose; and you are free through the one and through the other, and after both.'
'Free? As a man whose heart is chained, and whose hands are fettered. Was I free to marry you a year ago? or even to speak my thought? Am I 'free' now, Hazel?'
She half laughed.
'How would you like to cut short the one time of your life when you had a little power, even to say no? AndMr. Rolloyou have been away two months. And October was very short.'The girlish voice grew low and timid: Hazel knew that her arguments were strong only to her.
Dane lifted to his lips the little fingers he held.
'And so you have made up your mind that your power will be at an end when you are married? Am I going to love you less?or will you love me less?'
'I did not mean power over you,' said Hazel; 'I meant independent power. And I have not much now, except when you happen not to care about using your own. As last night at tea.'
Dane could not help laughing a little again, but below that he was desperately serious.
'I will not have you troubled,' he said. 'Rather than that, I will go back and wait for you as Jacob did for Rachel; though I will not emulate his estimate of time, the circumstances being not similar. But, Hazel, there is something more to be thought of, which we have not touched. I cannot have you living alone here as you have been for the last three weeks or more.'
'Mr. Falkirk may be back. And you will be near enough to exercise any amount of supervision. And I will be good. If I can!'