The Storyteller

New Zealand Tablet, 8 April 1915, Page 3

The Storyteller

OLD HEADS AND YOUNG Dinah, without much enthusiasm, took the three letters the postman handed her, and placed them-beside the master's plate. Presently two doors —one leading from the hall, the other from a side verandah—opened, and father and daughter entered the dining-room. ' Oh, good-morning, daddy!' Peggy called gaily, holding up a cluster of pale yellow roses, still wet with the morning dew. 'The very first June roses!' she cried. ' ' What a flower-lover you are !' Her father smiled indulgently, the thought crossing his mind that she herself was like a fresh, dewy rose. Peggy glanced apprehensively from the flowers she was arranging in a tall, slender vase to grace the, breakfast table, to the pile of letters beside her father's plate. Going up behind his chair, she put two warm arms around his neck, giving him a quick, sympathetic hug then slipped quietly into her place opposite. 1 A letter from Aunt Caroline— two letters from Aunt Caroline,' said her father—' one for you and one for me.' He sat staring in his near-sighted fashion at the two envelopes, scarcely believing his eyes. It was many years since he had received a letter from ' The Maples.' 'From Aunt Caroline!' Peggy echoed, her heart beating quickly. A letter from the great-aunt, of whom she had heard so much, but had never seen, held all sorts of pleasant possibilities. The breach between her dear father and the aunt whom, she felt sure, he still regarded with deep affection, though he seldom mentioned her name nowthe breach which had widened and deepened with the passing years, might still be bridged over. It was, therefore, with joyous expectancy that she tore open the thick, creamy envelope her father handed her. The contents ran as follows: ' My Dear Margaret,—You will, no doubt, be surprised to be addressed in this familiar fashion by a person of whom you may never have heard. The fact that ' blood is thicker than water ' compels me to write this letter to you. ' Passing through your city with a party of friends, recently, en route home from the Bermuda Islands, I caught sight of your face framed in a street-car window. It was the face of my dead sister, your grandmother. Upon making inquiries, I learned that my vagabond nephew had returned to his old home, and was eking out a very scanty living, writing stuff nobody cared to read. Your father and I quarrelled years ago. I vowed I never would look upon his face again. But your facethe face of my dead sister—-haunts me ; and—and, after all, blood is thicker than water. ' I am writing to invite you to an informal afternoon ' affair ' I am giving on the tenth; and also to ask you to spend the week-end with me at The Maples, that we may become acquainted. There will be a few other guests, one of whom—my late husband's nephew, Dr. Robert Chalmersl am anxious to have you meet. 'I . am writing, under separate cover, to your father, who, for all his pig-headedness, was not altogether a fool. He may have learned by this time that there are many viewpoints, and that strong-headed people are apt to recognise only —their own. ' Naturally, I shall wish you to appear well among my guests ; so you will kindly use the enclosed cheque for whatever you may deem necessary. ' Your unknown great-aunt, ' Caroline de Ville.' Crumpling the letter viciously in her hand, Peggy glanced across the table at her father, an indignant flash in her gray eyes; but something in his expression, as he bent over the closely-written pages, stayed the words upon her lips. Dreamy, absent-minded Dick Lihville refolded the letter with hands that trembled

slightly, a startled look in his eyes. He gazed, with a ■ feeling of growing wonder and dismay, at the pretty face opposite, realising with a sort of shock that his little Peggy was really quite grown up. r Why, daddy dear/ Peggy put in anxiously, you look startled! Did she—' ■..">, ' I am startled,' Mr. Linville returned, with his slow, whimsical smile. ' I have just discovered the amazing fact that my little girl is—a woman.' ' 'Oh!' Peggy laughed. 'ls that such a calamity? Girls, like other people, must grow up, you know.' ' Yes, yes, I suppose so !' her father returned vaguely. Peggy laughed outright; then suddenly became grave. 'She has invited me . to attend some "affair" she •is giving on the tenth, and wishes me to remain for the week-end as her guest,' she explained rather hurriedly, fearing that he might ask to read the letter which contained such unkind allusions to himself. ' She also enclosed a cheque, with the request that I procure suitable wearing apparel.' The indignant thrill in the clear young voice was quite apparent; but Dick Linville chose to ignore it. ' Aunt Caroline is quite right,' he said slowly. ' I have been both headstrong and selfish.' ' She is rude and—and horrid !' Peggy cried hotly. 1 Reserve your judgment, my dear,' he said quietly, ' until you have learned the facts in the case. The subject is a painful one, and—' 'Then why speak of it?' Peggy could not refrain from saying. ' It cannot really matter.' 'But it does matter; and I must speak of it, else you will not understand,' Mr. Linville said firmly. ' I owe it to Aunt Caroline and to my conscience to put the whole matter before you, that you may be able to judge fairly.' ' But I shall return the cheque,' Peggy said decidedly, her small head held high. 'Wait!' her father commanded. 'You are natually kind-hearted and usually fair-minded. I think you will see that it will be best not to return it.' He sat for some moments, staring into the depths of his coffee-cup, a slight color in his usually pale face, his fingers playing nervously with a spoon beside his plate. Then, squaring his shoulders, he lifted his head suddenly, his face quite pale again. ' As you know, my parents died when I was but a child/ he began abruptly. ' Aunt Caroline de Ville, . my mother's sister, became a second mother to me; and when her only child, Vincent do Ville, a lad two years my senior, sickened and died, she centred all her affections and worldly hopes in me.' He paused for an instant, frowning into his plate; then, with a sigh, continued : 'I was always stubborn —"pig-headed," I have often been called—bent upon having my own way at any cost. My aunt, a power in the circle in which she moved, was equally strong-willed. As I grew from boyhood into manhood, our wills often clashed, and (I admit it with shame) in nine cases out of ten, I carried the day. But the upheaval came when, my education finished, my aunt tried to force me to enter my uncle's bank, to learn how to take care of the great fortune that was to be mine some day, she said. I know now she was right; but at the time my whole irresponsible, visionary nature revolted at the idea of spending golden years in the commonplace and uncongenial task of counting money and balancing book accounts. My mind was filled with wonderful visions and dreams : and, with the egotism and unbounded assurance of callow youth, I demanded the right to live my own life.' After an instant's pause, he went on hurriedly, as if anxious to finish: ' One day we quarrelled. In my blind, headstrong passion, I forgot all she had done for me. The debt of gratitude which I owed her a life's devotion could scarcely repay. I had some means of my own, and I went abroad, in search of the care-free life of which I had dreamed. For nearly two years I led a Bohemian sort of existence— when the notion seized

me, dreaming impossible dreamsin a word, an , idle, I listless life, tnat shocked my aunt, and frightened \ her " ; into writing me to return. If I must scribble and dawdle through life, she. said, do it at home. 'I might have returned, but it was then I met and married your mother. She was a sweet, gentle girl, much too good for me; but we fell desperately in love with each other, and, after a very short courtship, were married. She was the last of a proud old family, and had no relatives to interfere. Por three years we were blissfully, ideally happy. All my impossible dreams of earthly joy were realised. Your mother was a devout Catholic. The beauty of her religion appealed to my artistic sense, and I was always ready to accompany her to church. The music, the lights and incense delighted me; and most of all I loved to watch her rapt face as she knelt in prayer. I know a goodly share of those prayers were offered for my conversion.' He drew a deep breath, passing his hand for an instant across his eyes. Peggy half rose from her chair, but he motioned her to keep her seat. ' I have told you before/ he resumed, ' how. the light gradually dawned in my soul. I was baptised and received into the Catholic Church. And then, as if her work were finished, your mother died. When the first wild grief had subsided, I awoke to my duties as a father. You were but a year old,, and needed constant care—a woman's care. In my trouble and perplexity, I turned instinctively to Aunt Caroline, the only mother I had ever known. I had received but one letter from her since my marriage—a letter filled with such bitter reproach, together with such unkind allusions to my "Papist" wife} that I never answered it. But now, in my loneliness and despair, I determined to take you to Aunt Caroline, to —' ' 0 father!' Peggy cried, starting up in dismay. ' You never told me that! And did she—she—' Mr. Linville nodded. ' Sherefused to see either of us/ he said without a trace of resentment. ' Her husband had died only a few days before, and she was plunged in deep grief at the time. I had Been a great disappointment to her—how great, I never knew until this morning ' (tapping the letter). 'She had no religious views to sustain her, and she grew bitter and cynical. Ido not wonder now, and 1 do not blame her, that she sent me back as I had come — the life 1 had, against all entreaties and expostulations, deliberately chosen. It was only what I richly deserved, but it seemed a little hard at the time. Wait! I have not much more to tell. I came down here to the old home; and, hunting up my old nurse Dinah, persuaded her (she did not need much persuading) to come home with me. But to return to Aunt Caroline. She is a woman of wide culture and experience, and would be a great help to you in— many ways.' 'We do not need her helpyou and I,' said Peggy, a little proudly. Then she added earnestly: ' But I should like to know her, daddy dear!' Mr. Linville looked relieved. ' You shall know her/ he answered decidedly. ' Father Tracy, to whom I have told the whole wretched story of youthful folly and selfishness, was urging me only last week to make another attempt to see her,' and ask her forgiveness before it was too late. God is so good, my child ! This invitation, coming just now, makes the way easy. We will both go to Aunt Caroline's party.' ' Really ?' Peggy cried joyfully. ' Oh, I shall be only too glad to go with you!' All her resentment and indignation vanished. Warm-hearted and impulsive, she thought only of the pending reconciliation; her vivid fancy picturing many pleasant scenes. ' Aunt Caroline speaks of Uncle Robert's greatnephew, Dr. Chalmers, as being a guest at The Maples. I knew his mother.' Peggy started slightly, struck by a. new note in her father's voice. It was almost as if he were soliciting her favor for this young man. " But she dismissed the thought instantly. He might have added that

Dr. r Chalmers' mother, .Alicia de Ville, was the girl whom his aunt had wished him to marry. 'I cannot use Aunt Caroline's cheque for clothes,' 'she-told her father. But, if you don't mind, I will spend part of it ; - for a new hat.' - ' Do what you please with it,' Mr. Linville was beginning, when Dinah entered, curtesying. j ' A gen'leman to see yo', Marse Dick,' she said, withy a quick glance from one face to the other. si *.■ ' '¥' •1 11. Later in the day, Peggy was standing before the window of Miss Gear's fashionable emporium, gazing admiringly at a large picture hat of pale blue chiffon, with tiny forget-me-nots peeping out from under the brim, when a woman's piercing scream caused her to turn quickly. A little child, escaping from its mother's hand, had darted into the street just as a car swept around the' corner. The driver did not see the child until the machine was almost upon her. He tried to stop, but it was too late. It was Peggy who lifted the apparently lifeless form while the mother, a poor working-woman, too numbed by horror and grief to utter a sound after that one scream, stood near, a picture of despair. 'She is not dead!' an authoritative voice exclaimed. 'Quick! To Mercy Hospital, Peters!' Before Peggy knew just what was happening, she found herself, the child still in her arms, in the tonneau of the car, the half-crazed mother beside her; while the owner of the voice, a dark young man, whom she had never seen before, occupied the seat beside the driver. In a very few minutes they were at Mercy Hospital. Taking the child from Peggy's arms, the young man hurried up the broad steps. ' She is not dead,' he said over his shoulder. ' Try to comfort the mother.' It seemed a long time—a very long time—that they waited. But at last a sweet-faced Sister entered the room. ' She has regained consciousness,' she said, glancing from one to the other. ' It seems almost miraculous ; but, aside from a few bruises, the child is not really injured.' 'Oh, thank God!—thank God!' the mother sobbed convulsively, in sudden relief, the tears streaming down her cheeks. 'You may come with me now to see her,' the Sister said kindly. The woman started toward the door, then stopped suddenly. ' My hand-bag !' she murmured faintly. ' All the money I had in the world was in it, andit is gone!' They searched the room ; Peggy even ran out to look in the automobile: but to no avail. ' I —l must have dropped it in the crowd,' the woman said disconsolately. Peggy drew out her purse. She had had Aunt Caroline's cheque cashed; and the purse contained also the price of the hat she intended purchasing. ' Take this,' she said hurriedly, thrusting it into the woman's hand. Itit is for the little one.' The car was still waiting. And as she hurried down the broad steps, and out into the warm, scented early June air, Peggy carried with her a pleasant, if rather confused, recollection of a strong, dark face, and an authoritative voice. 111. Mrs. Caroline de Ville lived alone with her servants, in the fine oTd colonial mansion, The Maples,' which had been her home for nearly half a century. On this particular afternoon, when the spring flowers made gay the well-kept beds, and the birds, in the safe shelter of the century-old maples, were pouring out their little hearts in sheerest joy, the doors of the old house were thrown wide in hospitable welcome ; and the still handsome mistress received her guests with that exquisite graciousness of manner which seemed so

thoroughly a part of herself, and which had served to keep her a social favorite {all these years.' v ra : -,?: , Into ' this exclusive gathering came Dick Linville and his daughter Peggy. Mrs. de Vine^s attention was •y attracted to them by hearing ■ a rather ; stout, overdressed matron say to her neighbor: '.- ' V " Who are those people -just-: entering the rather shabby but distinguished-looking* man, and the pretty girl with the unfashionable hat?' ~: The hostess glanced quickly toward the door. Her nephew was being greeted by an old acquaintance and she noted, with a '-Tittle tightening of the throat, that his thick brown v hair was generously sprinkled with silver, and that his still handsome 1 face showed unmistakable lines of care. She noted, too, in that , first glance that his coat, though unfashionable in cut, was worn with an air that distinguished him even in that crowd of well-dressed people. * And the girl looks a, thoroughbred!' she tnought, with a thrill of pride. ' That,' she said, turning to the young matron ' that is my nephew, Mr. Richard Linville, with his daughter.' The young matron flushed crimson, murmuring some apology, which the older woman did not wait to hear. ' My dear Dick,' she cried, going forward at once to greet the newcomers, ' I am indeed glad to see you I had begun to fear you were not coming.' Dick Linville's hand closed tightly, for an instant, over the smaller one. That was all. There was no outward show of emotion; yet each knew that the other was glad to be forgiven. ' And this is your daughter ? I am glad to know you my dear!' Come, my dear!' she said to Peggy. 'We will leave your father to renew his acquaintance with these gentlemen, all of whom, I think, are old friends.' In the next room, separated from this one by massive pillars, were two pretty girls dispensing punch. The crowd of young people surrounding them gave way deferentially as Mrs. do Ville and her companion approached. The former glanced quickly around the room : but, evidently, the person she sought was not there. * 'Heis as perverse as —a woman !' she thought, recalling his words when, a few days before, she had, inadvertently, betrayed something of the plan which had been forming in her mind since catching that glimpse of her great-niece's face framed in the streetcar window. light in his handsome eyes, 'it will not be through any mercenary motive, Aunt Caroline; so don't, I beg of you, make any such plans for me, as they can not but end in disappointment. I would spare you that if I could. Let the girl have the estate; she has as much right to it as I nave,' he had added, with rare unselfishness. ' I have my profession, and ' (with a boyish" smile) ' I have sufficient confidence in my own ability to feel that I shall win out.' But Mrs. de "Ville had always found it difficult to give up a cherished hope. If she could succeed in bringing about a meeting between these two perverse young people—for she detected in Peggy's clear, steady glance a perversity equal to that of the young man in question felt sure they must see the wisdom of her plan. ' I expected to find my nephew here,' she said. 'Peggy's quick ear detected the disappointment in her tone.) 'He was called to the hospital this morning, but promised to return.' She might have added that she had with difficulty exacted this promise from him. ' Virginia,' she said, addressing one of the pretty dispensers of the iced beverage, ' I want you to meet my great-niece, Miss Linville. Margaret, my dear, this is Miss Dayton. Your grandmothers were girlhood friends.' • Peggy soon Found herself quite at home with the merry group of young people, who received her with easy courtesy.

' „"; In the music room, a noted pianist was thumping : the piano keys in a manner that caused Peggy to think he must be avenging his' own and all his ancestors' :.« wrongs on' the costly instrument. . Now and then the ' crashing chords ran off into wonderful trills and fy. cadenzas. But in these little lulls Peggy found herself listening, not to the music in the next room, but to'the still more wonderful trills and cadenzas of the wild birds in the maples outside. She was standing beside a low window opening upon a wide veranda. ' She saw her aunt talking with much animation to a . blonde young man, wearing eyeglasses, whom she decided at once was Dr. Robert Chalmers. ■ The music had ceased; and, under cover of the general movement, obeying a sudden impulse, she step- • ped through the low window out upon the wide veranda. Virginia Dayton was about to follow, but some one claimed her attention. So Peggy wandered out alone into the beautiful grounds, her mind filled with the thought that it was here her father played' as a boy. She paused beside a great bed of scarlet tulips, when quick steps on the gravelled walk behind her caused her to start and turn. A servant in livery came into view : he was followed by a white-haired priest. Peggy stepped aside, and stood with bowed head until they passed : for something in the priest's bearing told her that he carried the Blessed Sacrament. Then she turned quickly and followed. They entered a black hallway, from which a flight, of stairs led up to the servants' quarters. As .she ascended the stairs, Peggy heard a. low murmur of voices, winch ceased as the priest approached. lie entered one of the rooms, and a "hush fell upon the servants gathered in the hall. ' What is it?" reggy whispered to a maid standing near her. 'lt's Patterson, (lie old housekeeper. She's dying, Miss: though the doctor declares she's not.' None of us knowed she was a Papist until she begged somebody to get the priest. The young doctor went alter him himself, in his automobile. John had the side gate open, and brought the priest right up. lie's in there now. Oh, there's Hie mistress' hell!' the girl broke oil'. 'She doesn't know. I'll have 10 tell her.' Hut it was Peggy who found and told Mrs. de Ville, persuading that 'adv. who had a horror of unpleasant scenes, to remain with tier guests, and allow her, Peggy, .to look after the sick woman. It took much longer than she expected and, though she hurried hack, the priest had gone when she entered I he room. The woman lay with closed eyes, a look of peace on her careworn face. I'eggv tiptoed across the room, and was stooping to touch the wrinkled hand lying, like a withered leaf, on the coverlet, when a young man bending over a medicine case upon a small stand ill a corner of the room, whom she had not noticed, looked up. He took a step forward. ' You!' he exclaimed in a low tone. Peggy started, the soft color deepening in her cheeks. Turning slowly, she found herself looking into the eyes'of the dark young man with the authoritative voice. 'Oh, is it you!' she said impulsively. 'How is she?' —glancing toward the bed. ' Much better. She is sleeping quietly just now. It was a severe attack of vertigo. She will be all right in a day or so.' 'But' you went for the priest'?' ' Yes,' the young man returned gravely . x ' She has not practised her religion for years. If seems no one in the house was aware that she had ever been a Catholic.' % 'Ah!' Peggy's face told him that she approved his action. Slipping his hand into his pocket, he drew out a small but exceedingly beautiful pearl rosary, with a jewelled on the back of which was engraved the letter ' M.' 'Ah, my rosary! It was my mother's.' Peggy breathed softly, a glad, eager light in her eyes. ' It was in the purse I—l—- ' The woman gave it to me hoping that I might be

able to restore it to you,' he said, as she broke off in some confusion.- 'But you slipped away so quietly no one seemed to have seen or recognised you.' 'Thank you!' she said gratefully. ; > They were standing in the narrow hall. The servants, tUeir panic over, had returned to their duties. The sound of the piano came faintly through the intervening rooms. It reminded Peggy of her promise to report to her aunt any change in the old housekeeper's condition. Murmuring some excuse, she, ran lightly down the stairs, leaving the young doctor gazing after her in some perplexity. ' ' I do not even know her name!' he thought. But evidently she is a guest, and I shall manage somehow In get an introduction.' Mrs. de Ville, who had already sent-her own maid, Jenkins, to sit with the sick woman and attend to her wants, was the centre of a brilliant group when Peggy made her way back into the crowded rooms. The latter waited until she caught her aunt's eye; then bent her head, almost imperceptibly, with a reassuring smile. The older woman returned the smile, with a quick look of relief. ' How pretty she is, and how easily she adapts herself!' Mrs. de Ville reflected, with a thrill of pride, as she watched Peggy join the crowd of young people at the farther end of the room. And it pleased her to note the eagerness with which they received her. 'That stupid hoy!' she thought irritably. 'Why doesn't he come V A half-hour later, Peggy was again standing beside the low, open window: but, with her this time was young Condon, the multi-millionaire. His inane com pliments had begun to pall, and she was meditating a second flight into the beautiful grounds, when a low, masculine voice, raised slightly in laughing protest, caught her ear. She did not move or turn her head, yet she seemed to know the instant his eyes caught sight of her : and she was not surprised when she heard the same voice say, in a quick, low tone ' There she is—there by the window!' A moment later Mrs. de Ville laid a gentle hand upon Peggy's arm. ■Margaret, my dear,' she said, a wonderful gladness in her voice (at which Peggy for an instant marvelled).-—' Margaret, allow me to introduce my nephew, Dr. Robert Chalmers. Robert, this is Miss Linville, the daughter of my nephew, Richard Linville.' In a. flash, the brown and gray eyes met for an instant: and the astonishment written on both faces 'was so apparent that Mrs. de Ville laughed softly, though there was a suspicious moisture in her eyes, as, murmuring something about some one waiting for her, she turned hastily away, taking Mr. Condon with her. The two young people were left comparatively alone. It was Peggy who spoke first. ' I had not Hie faintest idea that you were Dr. Chalmers,' she said slowly. ' I was not anxious to meet that young man,' she added, with a whimsical smile. And I was keeping out of the way of Miss Margaret Linville,' he answered, with an odd, boyish laugh then gravely : 'I humbly beg her pardon!' Peggy laughed. i_ Mrs. de Ville, who was still within hearing, said suddenly to young Condon : ' Help me to find my nephew, Mr. Linville. I have an important message for him.' — Ave Maria.