CHAPTER XIVRIGHTING THE WRONG
Mrs. Pledger heard the story with ejaculations of surprise and incredulity. That Mr. Marsh could have been guilty of a fraud she would not believe until she read his letter.
“Well, if that don’t beat me! Who can we trust, I’d like to know,” she said; then, as her loyalty to the dead asserted itself, she continued: “Well, I don’t care. He was a good man, and repented and God forgave him, and he is in heaven with Eli, who did a mean trick putting the farm out of his hands. I’m glad for the girls. Have you told Katy?”
He had not, but he did the next day. Katy was of a very different temperament from Sherry and received the news almost as if she had expected it.
“I am glad for Sherry and me,” she said, “but sorry for you, who have put so much expense on a place which did not belong to you, and I don’t see how we can pay you either, unless you rent the place for summer boarders until you are paid.”
Alex. knew her scheme was impracticable, but it was like her sense of justice.
“That can’t be,” he said. “You would not like to turn Maplehurst into a boarding-house. Sherry would not like it either. How is she to-day?”
“Better, but very weak,” was Katy’s reply. “She must not be excited in the least the doctor says. You must wait.”
And Alex. did wait very impatiently for Sherry’s convalescence. It progressed rapidly when once it began, and she was at last well enough to take a drive with him along the regular highway for a mile or two, when he turned into a grassy road leading into the woods, where in a clearing picnics had been held. The tables and seats were still there, and on one of the latter he sat down with Sherry, asking if she were tired from the drive.
“Tired!” she said, with a merry laugh. “No. It is so nice to be out again, to feel that I am getting well, that I could shout for joy; it is so lovely here in the shade, with the sunshine trying to find us through the trees, that I wish it might go on forever.”
Her cheeks were flushed, her eyes were shining and there was a ring of gladness in her voice which made Alex. take one of her hands in his and hold it fast while he said, “I am glad you are so happy, and I think I can make you happier. I have brought you here to tell you something which will surprise you.”
Was it his love he was going to declare? It seemed like it, and Sherry’s whole soul sprang to meet it. During her convalescence she had learned to love the master of Maplehurst, and with her woman’s intuition guessed that he loved her. She could flirt with the young men at Buford, and keep half a dozen in her train, each thinking he was the favored one. But with Alex. it was different. She must deal fairly with him, and her eyes were cast down as she asked:
“What do you wish to tell me?”
She expected a declaration of love and was not prepared for the story Alex. told her, making her feel as if her blood were leaving her drop by drop until she was cold as the stones around her. Then she cried,—not a low cry, but loud with sobs, which shook her whole body and made Alex. pass his arm around her, and draw her head down upon his shoulder, where she let it lie. Through all the telling his love for her had shown itself, and it was to that she was responding, rather than to the story she heard of the sudden prosperity which was hers.
When her sobs had ceased Alex. said to her: “Have you nothing to say to this good fortune? Don’t you understand that Maplehurst is yours?”
Then she lifted up her head and dashing the tears away turned her bright eyes upon him and said: “I won’t have it! I’ll never take it from you, never! I give it back,—my share of it, and I’ll make Katy give hers,—and you must take it.”
Alex. had not intended to speak of the subject uppermost in his mind so soon, but something in Sherry’s face wrung it from him, and drawing it closer to him, he said: “I can only do that by taking you with it.”
“Take me, then!” was Sherry’s prompt answer, as she hid her face in his bosom and began to cry again.
After that it was very easy, and they sat for an hour or more talking of the past when Alex. first saw her at the theatre and again in the Park; of his callon Mrs. Pledger and learning that her name was Sherry; of the dog named for her, and the share she had in his thoughts until she came to Maplehurst.
“Don’t talk about that,” Sherry said, with a sound of more tears in her voice. “It was a foolish girl’s quixotic idea. I wish I could blot it out.”
“I don’t,” Alex. replied. “I am glad of it, as it brought you to me, who might never have found you, or the letter either, which takes Maplehurst from me and gives me you in return, a priceless payment, for which I can never be sufficiently thankful; and now, Sherry, kiss me in token that you are mine.”
Only the birds singing in the trees heard or saw the reply, but Alex. was satisfied, and a great light of pride and joy was in his eyes when on his return to the house he said to his mother and sister: “Congratulate me, Sherry is to be my wife.”
They were expecting it, and if in their hearts there was a wish that it was otherwise they did not show it. They would a little rather that Alex.’s wife had never been a waitress, but that could not be helped. The circumstances made a difference. It was a girlish escapade over which they would laugh when they talked of her to their friends. That she would be a leader in any society they knew, and remembering Maplehurst, made up their minds that Alex. had done well, and that in all probability they could come again to this charming spot, which had never seemed so lovely as when they thought it lost. It had been thought desirable to keep the story of the finding of the deed and letter from the household generally untilSherry knew of it. Now that secrecy was no longer necessary, Mrs. Pledger took it upon herself to carry the news to the employees. She and Katy had heard of the engagement from Alex., and Sherry had been kissed and congratulated and made to lie down, as Mrs. Pledger said she did the first thing after Joel had proposed and left, she was so wobbly in her knees.
“I’m going to tell ’em,” she said to Alex., as she heard the clatter of dishes in the servants’ dining-room, where they were having their lunch.
Nos. 2 and 3 had gone, as their services were not needed, but Polly was still there and listened open-mouthed until it came to the engagement, when she gave a shout and insisted upon three cheers from her companions, which they gave with a will, bringing Mrs. Groves to the door, asking: “Why this noise? Are you crazy?”
“Yes,” Polly answered, “crazy with joy! No. 1 is the owner of Maplehurst. They have found papers in the chest proving it, and she is to marry Mr. Marsh! He proposed this morning. Hurrah!”
Mrs. Groves’ chin dropped, but not until she said to Mrs. Pledger: “And so she’s got him at last. Perseverance sometimes has its reward.”
Mrs. Pledger was angry, and replied: “Reward or not, my niece is worthy of Mr. Marsh, and you know it, and have known it all the time that she was your superior, and that is why you badgered her so much. That is the way of some mean minds. Sherry is now the mistress of Maplehurst, and I don’t believeyouwill come here another year. Good-morning!”
She made a mocking curtesy and left Mrs. Groves more discomfited than she had ever been in her life. She had looked forward to several seasons at Maplehurst, with the fine salary she received. But that was now impossible. “New lords, new laws,” she said to herself. “I must stand it. I wish I had been a little softer to the girl,” and calling to No. 4 reproved her sharply for some trifling omission on the table. Polly, who felt intuitively that Mrs. Groves’ day was over, went on humming to herself and took her time to make the required change.
The next day Mrs. Pledger started for New York, enjoining upon Katy and Sherry that they spend a few days with her on their way to Buford. To Alex. she said: “An old woman’s advice is not good for much, but I’m going to give it just the same. Don’t put off the wedding. Marry as soon as Sherry is well,—say the last of September, and if you will be happier to own Maplehurst with all its jimcracks buy Katy’s share. She will sell. I’ve sounded her. Sherry’s is the same as yours now. Have another house party next summer, but don’t put that Groves woman at the head. They all hate her like pizen. Put me at the head, if you like. I can save you dollars and run things as well as she has.”
Alex. laughed and said he would remember her advice, especially with regard to the wedding, which he would like to have at once. As to Maplehurst, it would take some time to settle everything and know what belonged to the Crosby heirs and what to him, but Craig Saltus and a first-class lawyer in New Yorkwere seeing to that. Relieved of care in that direction, Alex.’s good times came back like good measure pressed down and running over, and the world had never been so bright as during the two weeks he stayed at Maplehurst, while Sherry was recovering her strength and growing each day more beautiful, it seemed to him.
Sometimes he drove with her through the lovely country, but oftener sat by her under the maple tree watching the kindling light in her eyes and the dimples coming and going with her blushes, as he told his love over and over again, dating its beginning at the time he saw her at the opera, and its rapid growth when he waltzed with her on the piazza and nearly bumped his head against hers as they bent over the salad plate, and its completion when she turned to him for help against Mrs. Groves’ insinuations.
Alex. was very happy, and it was with regret that he at last left Maplehurst to accompany Katy and Sherry to Buford, where Mrs. Sherman received him as her future son-in-law, and the people came flocking in, ostensibly to see Sherry after her illness, but really to see Alex. He had in mind a trip to Europe for the winter, and as he had a dread of the sea he insisted that their marriage should take place before the autumnal storms came on.
“No need for finery. We can get that in Paris,” he said, and with his push and breeziness he carried his point, and invitations were issued for the last of September.
It was a large wedding, for all Buford was invited,with many of Alex.’s acquaintances from New York. Among the guests were Nos. 2, 3 and 4,—“treated just as good as anybody,” Polly said, when discussing the affair with her friends. “Say,” she whispered to Sherry, when presented to her by an usher, “say, be you going to Maplehurst next summer?”
“Perhaps,” Sherry answered, and Polly continued, “Well, rememberme, will you, and let me wait on your table; but for pity’s sake don’t have that old cat Groves there! If you do, excuse me!”
She curtesied and passed on to make room for others. Mrs. Groves had not been included in the list of guests, and she gnashed her teeth when she heard of the grand wedding and who were there.
“Evidently my connection with the Marshes is ended,” she said, “and I working like a slave to please them! I call that the basest ingratitude, and all on account of that girl who made me so mad with her chin in the air and her way of looking at me.”
The next day Mrs. Groves advertised for a position as housekeeper in some hotel, or as a chaperone to a party of young ladies during the next summer.
The winter which followed the wedding was passed mostly in Italy. April and May were given to Paris and Switzerland, and one day in June the BufordGazetteannounced the return of Mr. and Mrs. Alexander Marsh, who were to reopen their country house at Maplehurst and entertain a large house party. All the necessary steps had been taken with regard to the place. Alex. had paid Mrs. Sherman and Katy the money left by Amos Marsh in banks and stocks,—asum sufficient to insure their independence the rest of their lives. The wrong had been righted. Maplehurst was virtually his, Sherry was his, and he was steeped in times so good that he occasionally trembled lest the cup he was drinking should be dashed from his thirsting lips. Sherry would prefer a more quiet life than Alex. who is the happiest when a great many people around him are having a good time as well as himself. And he had it last summer. Maplehurst was full, and Sherry as the mistress was the star around which everyone revolved. The Marshes were there, and Sherry’s mother and Katy and Mrs. Pledger. Nos. 2 and 3 were missing. One was married, and one slept under the flowers in Mount Auburn, but Polly was there and was advanced to Mrs. Groves’ place, which she filled admirably and satisfactorily to all parties. The dog was there, too, and Alex. tried to change his name back to Laddie, but couldn’t.
“One Sherry is enough for me,” he said, but the dog was obstinate, paying no attention when called by the old name.
He was Sherry, and whenever he heard the name, whether addressed to him or to his mistress, he pricked up his ears and started for the stick he expected thrown for his diversion.
As I write the last page of this story a fierce blizzard is sweeping over the hills and mountains of New Hampshire and the highways are blocked with snow. Alex. and Sherry are in Florida, but invitations are already out for a large house party in July, whenthere will again be sounds of revelry by day and night at Maplehurst, which is now cold and silent in the grip of midwinter, with no sign of life except when Bowles goes up to see that all is safe.
THE END.
THE END.
THE END.