Read Ebook: Chambers's Journal of Popular Literature Science and Art Fifth Series No. 20 Vol. I May 17 1884 by Various

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'Will that please you?'

She passed her hand timidly through his hair without looking at him.

'I am half ashamed to tell you,' she said huskily, 'because I have done something that you will be angry about.'

'Come on with it, then, and let us get the angry part over as quickly as possible, so that we may have the more time for enjoying ourselves.'

'I always thought that I should never listen to anything which I might not repeat to you, Philip,' she said hesitatingly.

'Well?'

That little word 'yet' seemed to come in as a peacemaker; and Philip felt that it was so. But he looked gravely at the merry fire for a few minutes before he answered, and she now gazed anxiously into his face.

Then, he:

His upturned face still wore the frank, boyish expression which it always assumed when he was with her.

Madge took her hand from his head and clasped it with the other round her knees, whilst she stared into the fire.

She stopped, and the fright showed itself in her eyes again by the clear light of the cheerful fire.

'Why don't you go on?' he asked, after a moment of thoughtful silence. 'Why are you so distressed? Does this confidence, or secret, concern any of us?'

'It concerns YOU--and I may not tell you what it is. That is why I am troubled.'

And again she clasped hands over her head, as if to subdue its throbbing.

He was thoughtful; and an expression appeared on his face, so like the one often seen on his father's, that Madge, whose nerves were quickened by her pain, was startled. But he spoke kindly:

'Have you told--or are you to tell--Aunt Hessy and Uncle Dick?'

'No ... no ... no' . 'I am not to tell them either--not now, that is. By-and-by, you shall all know--you first, Philip.... Don't ask me any more questions. I wish I could have held my tongue altogether--it would have spared you pain, perhaps. But I could not do that. I thought you might blame me afterwards, and maybe misunderstand many things that I may do. There is no wrong meant to any one--no harm. You will see that, when it is explained.'

He rose slowly, and stood with his back to the fire, gazing at her.

'Is not this foolish, Madge?' he said sadly. 'You see what a state you have got into already over a matter which I have no doubt appears to you innocent enough, and is very likely quite trifling in its consequences to me or any one, except yourself. I can see you are going to worry about it--I shall not--and I cannot guess why you should. At the same time, it does not please me to think that you should accept any confidence which you may not share with Aunt Hessy, if not with me.'

She looked at him with such sad eyes: no tears in them, but questioning him, as if inspired by some distant thought, as yet only half comprehended. Her voice, too, seemed to come from a distance.

'I thought you would have trusted me, Philip. I hope you will, when you know that my mother has to do with this promise I have given.'

He placed his hands on her shoulders.

'I did not need that assurance, but am glad that you have told me so much. I do trust you--so much, that if you had simply said you had a secret which was not to be told to me yet a while, I should have thought nothing about it. But when I see that this thing distresses you and makes you ill--come, now, confess you would not have liked me to be indifferent.'

She confessed:

'No; I should not have liked you to be indifferent.'

'Very well, then, you have heard--say, a riddle, about which you think it right to hold your tongue meanwhile. I am content; for I know that you would not hold your tongue if you thought that any harm was to come of it to anybody. So, let it be, until you are ready to give us the answer to this riddle.'

He stooped and kissed her.

He put his hand playfully on her mouth, stopping her.

'We are not going to say anything more about that. I have a lot of things to tell you; and came here in fear and trembling that you would be scolding me roundly for my long absence. But I see you have not missed me so much.'

Something of her bright smile returned as she shook her head disapprovingly.

'You know that I have missed you very much, or you would not have said that. But I knew that you were busy with the work which is to make your name a blessed one all over the world. How I should like to be by your side helping you!'

'You can be, whenever you choose. Why not at once? Although Uncle Shield says he would prefer that I should not marry for a year, I refused to give any promise on that subject, and am free to please you and myself.'

'No, no; I have told you that my ideas are the same as Mr Shield's. You must be quite free to set your plans in good working order before you tie yourself down to me. For you know I shall require such a heap of attention and looking after!'

And the eyes which had been for a second clouded when he pleaded again for their early union, opened upon him with that gentle light which could lead him anywhere. And so he yielded, allowing the subject of greatest import to their future to be put aside once more for matters of the moment. He told her first with what forbearance his father had acted, and how wisely he had dealt with his fortune.

'I did expect to have a bad time with him; but he was kinder to me than ever, and has done exactly what I should have asked him to do if he had consulted me beforehand. I am proud of him, and believe that he will be the first to hold out the hand of friendship, when I come to my grand scene of reconciliation between him and my uncle.--What is the matter with you? Why did you start?'

'A chill--don't mind it, please. I do hope you will manage to bring them together in friendship. You know I have as much interest in it as you now.'

'That is as it ought to be. I am sure that the governor would give in; but Shield passes all my powers of understanding. He won't speak like a sensible man to me, and yet he writes like a philosopher--at least as if he took real interest in what I am doing, and wished me to succeed.'

'Why do you not write to him about your father?'

'I will try to do my part.'

She spoke low, and her thoughts seemed to reach into the future and the past farther than those of her lover. She seemed to feel that her part was a much heavier one than he imagined.

'For that, of course, we must watch our opportunity, and be ready to seize it when it comes. I know you will not fail, and hope I shall not. But there is another thing I want you to do at once.'

'What is that?'

'To bring old Culver into a Christian frame of mind regarding Caleb Kersey. You will manage that by proving to him what a fortune Kersey is going to make as my foreman. I am sure he will do well, and sure too that Pansy will be a lucky woman to have such a husband.'

'I think she would be; and for a time believed that she thought so too. But lately--I do not know why--I have had a suspicion that Pansy does not care so much for Caleb as she used to do.'

'Oh--h,' is the simplest representation of the long-drawn sound emitted by Philip, with many modulations before it passed into silence. It suggested surprise, curiosity, and suspicion, combined with a degree of uneasiness. 'Surely it is not possible that Pansy, who has always appeared to me the model of an innocent country girl, has been only making fun of this sturdy fellow? Can she have taken any other man into her mind? If she has, it will turn the poor chap topsy-turvy.'

'Has he said anything to you about her?'

'No; but I could see the whole thing when we were working at the church decorations. If ever any man was ready to die for a woman, Caleb feels that way towards Pansy. I hope she is not a fool.'

The last phrase was uttered with an excess of energy which the occasion did not seem to demand.

'How could you suppose that?'

'Because she is a woman,' he replied, with forced audacity and an awkward smile. 'Why do you suppose that she is changed?'

'You cannot have noticed her lately, or you would not require to ask. She has grown pale and nervous and forgets what she is told--blushes and grows white without any reason.'

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