 Story number 14 of Lucy Maud Montgomery Short Stories, 1896 to 1901. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org, recording by Anna-Lisa Ott. Lucy Maud Montgomery Short Stories, 1896 to 1901 by Lucy Maud Montgomery, The Red Room. You would have me tell you the story, grandchild, just a sad one and best forgotten. If you remember it now, there are always sad and dark stories in old families such as ours. Yet I have promised to must keep my word, so sit down here at my feet and rest your bright head on my lap, that I may not see in your young eyes the shadows my story will bring across their bonny blue. I was a mere child when it all happened, yet I remember it but too well. And I can recall how pleased I was when my father's stepmother, Mrs. Montresor, she not liking to be called grandmother, seemed she was but turned a fifty and a handsome woman still, wrote to my mother that she must send little Beatrice up to the Montresor Place for the Christmas holidays. So I went joyfully, though my mother grieved to part with me. She had little to love save me. My father, Conrad Montresor, having been lost at sea, went but three months wed. My aunts were wont to tell me how much I resembled him, being so they said a Montresor to the backbone, and this I took to mean commendation. For the Montresors were well descended and well thought of family, and the women were noted for their beauty. This I could well believe, since of all my aunts there was not one but was counted a pretty woman. Therefore I took heart of grace when I thought of my dark face and spikling shape, hoping that when I should be grown up I might be counted not unworthy of my race. The place was an old-fashioned mysterious house such as I delighted in, and Mrs. Montresor was ever kind to me, albeit a little stern, for she was a proud woman and cared but little for children, having none of her own. But there were books there to pour over without latter hindrance, for nobody questioned of my whereabouts if I but kept out of the way, and strange dim family portraits on the walls to gaze upon until I knew each proud old face well and had visioned a history for it in my own mind. For I was given to dreaming and was older and wiser than my years, having no childish companions to keep me still a child. There are always some of my aunts at the place to kiss and make much of me for my father's sake, for he had been their favorite brother. My aunts, there were eight of them, had all married well, so said people who knew, and lived not far away, coming home often to take tea with Mrs. Montresor, who had always gotten unwell with her step-daughters, or to help prepare for some festivity or other, for they were notable housekeepers every one. They were all at the Montresor place for Christmas, and I got more petting than I deserved, albeit they looked after me somewhat more strictly than did Mrs. Montresor, and saw to it that I did not read too many fairy tales or sit up later at night than became of my years. But it was not for fairy tales and sugar plums nor yet for petting that I rejoiced to be at the place at the time. Though I spoke none of it to anyone, I had a great longing to see my uncle Hugh's wife, concerning whom I had heard much, both good and bad. My uncle Hugh, albeit the oldest of the family, had never married until now, and all the countryside rang with talk of his young wife. I did not hear as much as I wished, for the gossips took heed to my presence when I drew near, and turned to other matters. Yet, being somewhat keener of comprehension than they knew, I heard and understood not a little of their talk. And so I came to know that neither Proud Mrs. Montresor, nor my good aunts, nor even my gentle mother, were with over much favor on what my uncle Hugh had done. And I did hear that Mrs. Montresor had chosen a wife for her stepson, of good family and of some beauty, and that my uncle would have none of her, a thing Mrs. Montresor found hard to pardon. Yet, might so have done, had done my uncle on his last voyage to the Indies, for he went often in his own vessels. Married and brought home a foreign bride of whom no one knew ought, saved that her beauty was a thing to dazzle the day and that she was of some strange alien blood, such as ran not in the blue veins of the Montresors. Some had much to say of her pride and insolence, and wondered if Mrs. Montresor would tamely yield her mistress ship to the stranger. But others, who were taken with her loveliness and grace, said that the tales told were born of envy and malice, and that Alicia Montresor was well worthy of her name and station. So I halted between two opinions and thought to judge for myself. But when I went to the place my uncle Hugh and his bride were gone for a time, even to swallow my disappointment and bid their return with all my small patients. But my aunts and their stepmother talked much of Alicia, and they spoke slightly of her, saying that she was but a light woman and that no good would come of my uncle Hugh's having wed her, with other things of a like nature. Also, they spoke of the company she gathered around her, thinking her to have strange and unbecoming companions for a Montresor. And all this I pondered much over, although my good aunt supposed that such a chid as I would take no heed to their whisperings. When I was not with them, helping to whip eggs and stone raisins and being watched to see that I ate not more than one out of five, I was surely to be found in the wing hall, pouring over my book and grieving that I was no more allowed to go into the red room. The wing hall was a narrow one and dim, connecting the main rooms of the place with the older wing, built in a curious way. The hall was lighted by small, square-pained windows, and at its end a little flight of steps led up to the red room. Whenever I had been at the place before, and this was often, I had passed much of my time in the same red room. It was Mrs. Montresor's sitting room then, where she wrote her letters and examined household accounts, and sometimes had an old gossip into tea. The room was low-ceiling and dim, hung with red damask and with odd, square windows high up under the eaves, and a dark wainscotting all around it. And there I loved to sit quietly on the red sofa and read my fairy tales, or to talk dreamily to the swallows fluttering crazily against the tiny panes. When I had gone this Christmas to the place, I soon bethought myself of the red room, for I had a great love for it. But I had gotten no further than the steps when Mrs. Montresor came sweeping down the hall in haste, and catching me by the arm pulled me back as roughly as if it had been Bluebeard's chamber itself into which I was venturing. Then seeing my face, which I doubt not was startled enough, she seemed to repent of her haste and patted me gently on the head. There, there, little Beatrice, did I frighten you, child? Forgive an old woman's thoughtlessness. But be not too ready to go where you are not bidden, and never vent your foot in the red room now, for it belongs to your uncle Hugh's wife. And let me tell you, she is not over fond of intruders. I felt sorry over much to hear this, nor could I see why my new aunt should care if I went in once in a while, as had been my habit, to talk to the swallows and misplace nothing. But Mrs. Montresor saw to it that I obeyed her, and I went no more to the red room, but busied myself with other matters. For there were great doings at the place and much coming and going. My aunts were never idle. There was to be much festivity Christmas week and a ball on Christmas Eve. And my aunts had promised me, though not till I had wearied them of my coaxing, that I should stay up that night and see as much of the gaiety as was good for me. So I did their errands and went early to bed every night without complaint. Though I did this the more readily for that when they thought me safely asleep, they would come in and talk around my bedroom fire, saying that of Alicia, which I should not have heard. I'll ask him the day when my uncle Hugh and his wife were expected home, but not until my scanty patience was well-nigh wearied out. And we were all assembled to meet them in the great hall, where a ready-fire light was gleaming. My aunt Frances had dressed me in my best white frock and my crimson sash, and much lamenting over my skinny neck and arms and made me behave prettily as became I bringing up. So I slipped in a corner my hands and feet cold with excitement for I think every drop of blood in my body had gone to my head and my heart beat so hardly that it even pained me. Then the door opened and Alicia for so I was used to hearing her called nor did I even think of her as my aunt and my own mind came in a little in the rear of my tall, dark uncle. She came proudly forward to the fire and stood there superbly while she loosened her cloak, nor did she see me at all at first, but nodded a little disdainfully, it seemed, to Mrs. Montresor and my aunts who were grouped about the drying room door very ladylike and quiet. But I neither saw nor heard odd at the time save her only. For her beauty, when she came forth from her crimson cloak and hood was something so wonderful that I forgot my manners and stared at her as one fascinated as indeed I was for never had I seen such loveliness and hardly dreamed it. Pretty woman I had seen in plenty for my aunts and my mother were counted fair but my uncle's wife was as little like to them as a sunset glow to pale moonshine or a crimson rose to white day lilies. Nor can I paint her to you in words as I saw her then with the long tongues of firelight licking her white neck and wavering the rich masses of her red gold hair. She was tall, so tall that my aunts looked but insignificant beside her and they were of no mean height as became their race. Yet no queen could have carried herself more royally and all the passion and fire of her foreign nature burned in her splendid eyes that might have been dark or light for odd that I could ever tell but which seemed always like pools of warm flame now tender, now fierce. Her skin was like a delicate white rose leaf and when she spoke I told my foolish self that never had I heard music before nor do I ever again think to hear a voice so sweet, so liquid as that which rippled over her ripe lips. I had often in my own mind pictured this my first meeting with Alicia now in one way now in another but never had I dreamed of her speaking to me at all so that it came to me as a great surprise when she turned out her lovely hands said very graciously and this must be the little Beatrice I have heard much of you come kiss me child and I went despite my un-Elizabeth black frown for the glamour of her loveliness was upon me and I no longer wondered that my uncle Hugh should have loved her very proud of her he was too yet I felt rather than saw for I was sensitive and quick of perception as old young children ever are that there was something other than pride and love in his face when he looked on her and more in his manner than the fond lover as it were a sort of lurking mistrust nor could I think though to me the thought seemed as treason that she loved her husband over much for she seemed half condescending and half disdainful to him yet one thought not of this in her presence but only remembered it when she had gone when she went out it seemed to me that nothing was left so I crept lonesomely away to the wing-hall and sat down by a window to dream of her and she filled my thought so fully that it was no surprise when I raised my eyes and saw her coming down the hall alone her bright head shining against the dark old walls when she paused by me and asked me lightly of what I was dreaming since I had such a sober face I answered her truly that it was of her where at she laughed as one not El pleased and said half mockingly waste not your thought so Beatrice but come with me child if you will for I have taken a strange fancy to your solemn eyes perchance the warmth of your young life may thaw out the ice that has frozen around my heart ever since I came among these cold Montresores and though I understood not her meaning I went glad to see the red room once more so she made me sit down and talk to her which I did her shyness was no failing of mine and she asked me many questions and some that I thought she should not have asked but I could not answer them so to her little harm after that I spent a part of every day with her in the red room and my uncle he was there often and he would kiss her and praise her loveliness not heeding my presence for I was but a child yet it ever seemed to me that she endured rather than welcomed his fresses and at times the ever-burning flame in her eyes glowed so luridly that a chill dread would creep over me and I would remember that my Aunt Elizabeth had said she being a bitter-tongued woman though kind of hard that the strange creature would bring on us all some evil fortune yet then would I strive to banish such thoughts and chide myself for doubting one so kind to me when Christmas Eve, June 9 my silly head was full of the ball day and night but a grievous disappointment befell me for I awakened that day very ill with a most severe cold and though I bore me bravely my aunt discovered it soon when despite my piteous pleadings I was put to bed where I cried bitterly and would not be comforted for I thought I should not see the fine folk and more than all Alicia but that disappointment at least was spared me for at night she came into my room knowing of my longing she was ever indulgent to my little wishes and when I saw her I forgot my aching limbs and burning brow and even the ball I was not to see was mortal creature so lovely as she standing there by my bed her gown was of white and there was nothing I could like into the stuff to save moonshine falling a thwart of frosted pain and out from it swelled her gleaming breast and arms so bare that it seemed to me a shame to look upon them yet it could not be denied they were of wondrous beauty white as polished marble and all about her snowy throat and rounded arms and in the masses of her splendid hair sparkling gleaming stones with hearts of pure light which I now know to have been diamonds but knew not then for never had I seen odd of their like and I gazed at her drinking in her beauty until my soul was filled and she stood like some goddess before her worshipper and I think she read my thoughts in my face and liked it for she was a vain woman and to such even the admiration of a child is sweet then she leaned down to me until her splendid eyes looked straight and I dazzled once tell me Beatrice for they say the word of a child is to be believed tell me do you think me beautiful I found my voice and told her truly that I thought her beautiful beyond my dreams of angels as indeed she was we're at she smiled as one well pleased then my uncle Hugh came in and though I thought that his face darkened as he looked on the naked splendor of her breasts and arms as if he liked not that the eyes yet he kissed her with all the lovers fond pride while she looked at him half mockingly then said he sweet will you grant me a favor and she answered it may be that I will and he said do not dance with that man tonight Alicia I must trust him much his voice had more of a husband's command than a lover's entreaty she looked at him with some scorn but when she saw his face grow black for the Montresores brooked tired of their authority as I had good reason to know she seemed to change and a smile came to her lips though her eyes glowed bay fully then she laid her arms around his neck and though it seemed to me that she had as soon strangled him as embraced him her voice was wondrous sweet and caressing as she murmured in his ear he laughed and his brow cleared though he said still sternly do not try me too far Alicia then they went out little in advance and very stately after that my aunts also came in very beautifully and modestly dressed but they seemed to me as nothing after Alicia for I was caught in a snare of her beauty and the longing to see her again so grew upon me that after a time I did an undutiful and disobedient thing I had been straightly tried to stay in bed which I did not but got up and put on again for it was in my mind to go quietly down if by chance I might see Alicia myself unseen but when I reached the great hall I heard steps approaching and having a guilty conscience I slipped aside into the blue parlor and hid me behind the curtains lest my aunts should see me then Alicia came in and with her a man whom I had never seen before yet I instantly bethought myself of a lean black snake with a glittering and evil eye which I had seen in Mrs. Montressor's garden two summers ago and which was like to have bitten me John the gardener had killed it and I barely thought that if it had a soul it must have gotten into this man Alicia sat down and he beside her and when he had put his arms about her he kissed her face and lips nor did she shrink from his embrace but even smiled and leaned nearer to him with a little smooth motion as they talked to each other in some strange foreign tongue I was but a child and innocent I knew I ought of honor and dishonor yet it seemed to me that no man should kiss her save only my Uncle Hugh and from that hour I mistrusted Alicia though I understood not then what I afterwards did and as I watched them not thinking of playing the spy I saw her face grow suddenly cold and she straightened herself up and pushed away her lover's arms then I followed her guilty eyes to the door where stood my Uncle Hugh and all the pride and passion of the Montressor his lowering brow yet he came forward quietly as Alicia and a snake drew apart and stood up at first he looked not at his guilty wife but at her lover and smote him heavily in the face where at he being a coward at heart as are all villains turned white and slunk from the room with a muttered oath nor was he stained my Uncle turned to Alicia and very calmly and terribly he said from this hour you are no longer wife of mine and there was that in his tone was told that his forgiveness and love should be hers never more then he motioned her out and she went like a proud queen with her glorious head erect and no shame on her brow as for me when they were gone I crept away dazed and bewildered enough and went back to my bed having seen and heard more than I had mine for as disobedient people and eavesdroppers ever do for who he kept his word and Alicia was no more wife to him save only a name yet of gossip or scandal there was none for the pride of his race kept secret his dishonor nor did he ever seem other than a courteous and respectful husband nor did Mrs. Montessor and my aunts though they wondered much among themselves learn odd for they dared question neither their brother nor Alicia who carried herself as loftily as ever and seemed to pine for neither lover nor husband as for me no one dreamed I knew odd of it and I kept my own counsel as to what I had seen in the blue parlor on the night of the Christmas ball after the new year I went home but ere long Mrs. Montessor sent for me again saying that the house was lonely without little Beatrice so I went again and found the all unchanged that the place was very quiet and Alicia went out but little from the red room of my uncle Hugh I saw little save when he went and came on the business of his estate somewhat more gravely and silently than a viewer or brought to me books and sweetmeats from town but every day I was with Alicia in the red room where she would talk to me often time wildly and strangely but always kindly and though I think Mrs. Montessor liked our intimacy none too well she said no word and I came and went as I listed with Alicia though never quite liking her strange ways and the restless fire in her eyes nor would I ever kiss her after I had seen her lips pressed by the snakes though she sometimes coats me and grew petish and vexed when I would not but she guessed not of my reason March came in that year like a lion exceedingly hungry and fierce and my uncle Hugh had ridden away through the storm nor thought to be back for some days in the afternoon I was sitting in the wing hall dreaming dreams when Alicia called me to the red room and as I went I marveled anew at her loveliness for the blood was leaping in her face and her jewels were dim before the luster of her eyes her hand when she took mine was burning hot and her voice had a strange ring come little Beatrice she said come talk to me for I know not what to do with my lone self today time hangs heavily in this gloomy house I do verily think this red room has an evil influence over me see if your childish prattle can drive away the ghosts that ride in these dark old corners ghosts of a ruined and shameful life nay shriek not do I talk wildly I mean not all I say my brain seems on fire little Beatrice come it may be you know some grim old legend of this room it must surely have one never place fitter for a dark deed tush never be so frightened child forget my vagaries tell me now and I will listen we're at she cast herself lightly on the satin couch and turned her lovely face on me so I gathered up my small wits and told her that I what I was not supposed to know how that generations had gone a Montresor had disgraced himself and his name and that when he came home to his mother she had met him in this same red room and flung at him taunts and reproaches forgetting whose breast had nourished him and he frantic with shame and despair turned his sword as his own heart and so died but his mother went mad with her remorse and was kept a prisoner in the red room until her death so lately told I the tale as I had heard my aunt Elizabeth tell it when she knew not I listened or understood Alicia heard me through and said nothing save that it was a tale worthy of the Montresors where I had bribled for I too was a Montresor and proud of it but she took my hand soothingly in hers and said little Beatrice if tomorrow or the next day they should tell you those cold proud women that Alicia was unworthy of your love tell me would you believe them and I remembering what I had seen in the blue parlor was silent for I could not lie so she flung my hand away with a bitter laugh and picked lightly from the table near a small dagger with a jeweled handle it seemed to me a cruel looking toy and I said so where at she smiled and drew her white fingers down a thin shining blade in a fashion that made me cold such a little blow with this she said such a little blow and the heart beats no longer the wary brain rests the lips and eyes smile never again to her a short path out of all difficulties my Beatrice and I understanding her not yet shivering begging her to cast it aside which she did carelessly and putting a hand under my chin she turned up my face to hers little Grave-eyed Beatrice tell me truly would it grieve you much if you were never again to sit here with Alicia in the same red room and I made answer earnestly that it would glad that I could say so much truly then her face grew tender and she sighed deeply presently she opened a quaint inlaid box and took it from a shining gold chain of rare workmanship and exquisite design and this she hung around my neck nor would she suffer me to thank her but laid her hand gently on my lips now gold she said but ere you leave me little Beatrice grant me but one favor it may be that I shall never ask another of you your people I know those cold Montresores care little for me but with all my faults I have been ever kind to you so when the morows come and they tell you that Alicia is as one worse than the dead think not of me with scorn only but grant me a little pity for I was not always what I am now I never have become so had a little child like you been always near me to keep me pure and innocent and I would have you but once my ear arms around my neck and kiss me and I did so wondering much at her manner for it had in it a strange tenderness and some sort of hopeless longing then she gently put me from the room and I sat musing by the hall window until night felt darkly and the fearsome night it was of storm and blackness it was that my uncle Hugh had not returned in such a tempest yet ere the thought had grown cold the door opened and he strode down the hall his cloak drenched and the wind twisted in one hand a whip as though he had butt then sprung from his horse in the other what seemed like a crump of letter nor was the night blacker than his face and he took no heed of me as I ran after to him thinking selfishly of the sweet meets he had promised to bring me but I thought no more of them of the red room Alicia stood by the table hooded in cloaks for a journey but her hooded slipped back and her face rose from at marble white save where her wrathful eyes burned out with dread and guilt and hatred in their depths while she had one arm raised as if to thrust him back as for my uncle he stood before her and I saw not his face but his voice was low and terrible speaking words I understood not then afterwards I came to know their meaning and he cast foul squirm from her that she should have thought to fly with her lover and swore that not should again thwart his vengeance with other threats wild and dreadful enough yet she said no word until he had done and then she spoke but what she said I know not save that it was full of hatred and defiance and wild accusation such as a mad woman might have uttered and she defied him even then to stop her flight though she told her to cross that threshold would mean her death for he was a wrong and desperate man and thought nothing to save his own dishonor then she made as if to pass him but he caught her by her white wrist she turned on him with fury and I saw her right hand reach stealthily out over the table behind her where lay the dagger let me go she hissed and he said I will not then she turned herself about and struck at him with the dagger and I saw such a face as was hers at that moment he fell heavily yet held her even in death so that she had to rent herself free with a shriek that rings yet in my ears in the night when the wind wails over the rainy moors she rushed past me unheating and fled down the hall like a hunted creature and I heard the heavy door clang hollily behind her as for me I stood there looking at the dead man for I could neither move nor speak and was like to have died of horror and presently I knew nothing nor did I come to my recollection for many a day when I lay a bed sick of a fever and more like to die than live so that when at last I came out from the shadow of death Michael Hugh had been long cold in his grave and the hue and cry for his guilty wife was well my over since not had been seen or heard of her since she fled the country with her foreign lover when I came rightly to my remembrance they questioned me as to what I had seen and heard in the red room and I told them as best I could the much aggrieved to my questions they would answer nothing saved to fit me to stay still and think not of the matter then my mother sorely vexed over my adventures which in truth would but sorry ones for a child took me home nor would she let me keep Alicia's chain but made away with it how I knew not in little care for the sight of it was loathsome to me it was many years ere I went again to Montresor place and I never saw the red room more for Mrs. Montresor had the old wing torn down deeming it sorrowful memories dark heritage enough for the next Montresor so grandchild the sad tale has ended and you will not see the red room when you go next month Montresor place the swallow still built under the eaves though I know not if you will understand their speech as I did end of the red room recording by Annalisa Ott Story 15 of Lucy Maud Montgomery Short Stories 1896-1901 This is a LibriVox recording All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Lucy Maud Montgomery Short Stories 1896-1901 by Lucy Maud Montgomery The Setness of Theodosia When the Theodosia Ford married Wesley Brooke after a courtship of three years everybody concerned was satisfied there was nothing particularly romantic in either the courtship or marriage Wesley was a steady well meaning rather slow fellow comfortably off he was not at all handsome but Theodosia was a very pretty girl with the milky coloring of an auburn blonde and a blue eyes she looked mild and Madonna like and was known to be sweet tempered Wesley's older brother Irving Brooke had married a woman who kept him in hot water all the time so Heatherton folks said but they thought there was no fear of that with Wesley and Theodosia they would get along together all right only old Jim Parmaly shook his head and said they might and then again they might not he knew the stock they came of and it was a kind you could never predict about Wesley and Theodosia were third cousins this meant that old Henry Ford had been the great great grandfather of them both Jim Parmaly who was 90 had been a small boy when this remote ancestor was still alive I mind him well said old Jim on the morning of Theodosia's wedding day there was a little group about the blacksmith's forge old Jim was in the center he was a fat twinkling-eyed old man fresh and ruddy in spite of his 90 years and he went on he was the saddest man you'd ever see or want to see when old Henry Ford made up his mind on any point a cyclone wouldn't turn him a hair's breadth no nor an earthquake neither didn't matter a might how much he suffered for it he'd stick to it if it broke his heart there was always some story or other going round about old Henry's setness the family weren't quite so bad only Tom he was Docia's great grandfather and a regular chip of the old block since then it's cropped out now and again all through the different branches of the family I mistrust if Docia hasn't got a spice of it and Westbrook too but maybe not old Jim was the only croaker Wesley and Thea Docia were married in the golden prime of the Indian summer and settled down on their snug little farm Docia was a beautiful bride and Wesley's pride in her was amusingly apparent he thought nothing too good for her the heatherton people said it was a sight to make an old heart young to see him march up the aisle of the church on Sunday in all the glossy splendor of his wedding suit his curly black head held high and his round boyish face shining with happiness stomping and turning proudly at his pew to show Thea Docia in they always sat alone together in the big pew and Alma Spencer who sat behind them declared that they held each other's hands all through the service this lasted until spring then came a sensation and scandal such as decorus heatherton had not known since the time Isaac Allen got drunk at Centerville fair and came home and kicked his wife one evening in early April Wesley came home from the store at the corner where he had lingered to talk over politics and farming methods with his cronies this evening he was later than usual and Thea Docia had his supper kept warm for him she met him on the porch and kissed him he kissed her in return and held her to him for a minute with her bright head on his shoulder the frogs were singing down in the south meadow swamp and there was a splendor of silvery moonrise over the wooded heatherton hills Thea Docia always remembered that moment when they went in Wesley full of excitement began to talk of what he had heard at the store Ogden Green and Tom Carey were going to sell out and go to Manitoba there were better chances for a man out there he said in heatherton he might slave all his life and never make more than a bear living out west he might make a fortune Wesley talked on in this strain for some time rehashing all the arguments he had heard Green and Carey use he had always been rather disposed to grumble at his limited chances in heatherton and now the Great West seemed to stretch before him full of alluring prospects and visions Ogden and Tom wanted him to go to he said he had half a notion too heatherton was a stick in the mud sort of place anyhow what say Docia he looked across the table at her his eyes bright and questioning Thea Docia had listened in silence as she poured his tea and passed him her hot flaky biscuits there was a little perpendicular wrinkle between her straight eyebrows I think Ogden and Tom are fools she said crisply they have good farms here what do they want to go west for or you either don't get silly notions in your head west Wesley flushed wouldn't you go with me Docia he said trying to speak lightly no I wouldn't said Thea Docia in her calm sweet voice her face was serene but the little wrinkle had grown deeper he would normally have known what it meant he had seen the same expression on old Henry Ford's face many a time Wesley laughed good humordly as if at a child his heart was suddenly set on going west and he was sure he could soon bring Thea Docia around he did not say anything more about it just then Wesley thought he knew how to manage women when he broached the subject again two days later he told him plainly that it was no use she would never consent to leave heatherton and all her friends and go out to the prairies the idea was just rank foolishness and he would soon see that himself all this Thea Docia said calmly and sweetly without any trace of temper or irritation Wesley still believed that he could persuade her and he tried perseveringly for a fortnight by the end of that time he discovered that Thea Docia was not a great great granddaughter of old Henry Ford for nothing not that Thea Docia ever got angry neither did she laugh at him she met his arguments and pleadings seriously enough but she never wavered if you go to Manitoba west you'll go alone she said I'll never go so there is no use in any more talking Wesley was a descendant of old Henry Ford too Thea Docia's unexpected opposition browsed all the latent stubbornness of his nature he went over to centerville oftener and kept his blood at fever heat talking to green and Carrie who wanted him to go with them and spared no pains at inducement the matter was gossiped about in heatherton of course people knew that Wesley Brook had caught the western fever and wanted to sell out and go to Manitoba while Thea Docia was opposed to it they thought Docia would have to give in in the end but said it was a pity west brook couldn't be contented to stay where he was well off Thea Docia's family naturally sided with her and tried to dissuade Wesley but he was mastered by that resentful irritation browsed in a man by opposition where he thinks he should be master which will drive him into any cause one day he told Thea Docia that he was going she was working her butter in her little snowy clean dairy under the great willows by the well Wesley was standing in the doorway his stout broad-shouldered figure filling up the sunlit space he was frowning and sullen I'm going west in two weeks time with the boys Docia he said stubbornly you can come with me or stay here just exactly as you please but I'm going Thea Docia went on spatting her balls of golden butter on the print in silence she was looking very neat and pretty in her big white apron her sleeves rolled up high above her plump dimpled elbows and her ready hair curling about her face and her white throat she looked as pliable as her butter her silence angered her husband he shuffled impatiently well what have you to say Docia nothing said Docia if you have made up your mind to go go you will I suppose but I will not there is no use in talking we've been over the ground often enough Wes the matter is settled up to that moment Wesley had always believed that his wife would yield at last when she saw that he was determined now he realized that she never would under that exterior of milky dimpled flesh and calm blue eyes was all the iron will of old dead and forgotten Henry Ford this mildest and meekest of girls and wives was not to be moved a hairs breath by all argument or entreaty or insistence on a husband's rights a great sudden anger came over the man he lifted his hand and for one moment it seemed to Thea Docia as if he meant to strike her then he dropped it with the first he crossed his lips you listen to me he said thickly if you don't go with me I'll never come back here never when you want to do your duty as a wife you can come to me but I'll never come back he turned on his heel and strode away Thea Docia kept on spatting her butter the little perpendicular wrinkle had come between her brows again at that moment an odd almost resemblance to the old portrait of her great great grandfather which hung on the parlor wall at home came out on her girlish face the fortnight passed by Wesley was silent and sullen never speaking to his wife when he could avoid it Thea Docia was as sweet and serene as ever she made an extra supply of shirts and socks for him put up his lunch basket and packed his trunk carefully he did not sell his farm Irving Brook rented it Thea Docia was to live in the house the business arrangements were simple and soon concluded heatherton folks gossiped a great deal they all condemned Thea Docia even her own people sided against her now they hated to be mixed up in a local scandal and since Wes was bound to go they told Thea Docia that it was her duty to be with him no matter how much she disliked it it would be disgraceful not to they might as well have talked to the four winds Thea Docia was immovable they coaxed and argued and blamed it all came to the same thing even those of them who could be set enough themselves on occasion could not understand Thea Docia who had always been so tractable they finally gave up as Wesley had done baffled time would bring her to her senses they said he just had to leave that still stubborn kind alone on the morning of Wesley's departure Thea Docia arose at sunrise and prepared a tempting breakfast Irving Brook's oldest son Stanley, who was to drive Wesley to the station, came over early with his express wagon Wesley's trunk, corded and labeled stood on the back platform the breakfast was a very silent kneel when it was over Wesley put on his hat and overcoat and went to the door around which Thea Docia's morning glory vines were beginning to twine the sun was not yet above the trees and the long shadows lay on the dewy grass the wet leaves were flickering on the old maples that grew along the fence between the yard and the clover field beyond the skies were all pearly blue clean swept of clouds from the little farmhouse the green meadows sloped down to the valley where a blue haze wound in and out like a glistening ribbon Thea Docia went out and stood looking inscrutably on while Wesley and Irving hoisted the trunk into the wagon and tied it then Wesley came up the porch steps and looked at her Docia, he said a little huskily, I said I wouldn't ask you to go again but I will, will you come with me yet? no, said Thea Docia gently he held out his hand he did not offer to kiss her goodbye, Docia goodbye, Wes there was no tremor of an eyelash with her Wesley smiled bitterly and turned away when the wagon reached the end of the little lane he turned and looked back for the last time through all the years that followed he carried with him the picture of his wife as he saw her then standing amid the airy shadows and wavering golden lights of the morning the wind blowing the skirt of her pale blue wrapper about her feet and ruffling the locks of her bright hair into a delicate golden cloud then the wagon disappeared around a curve in the road and Thea Docia turned and went back into her desolate home for a time there was a great buzz of gossip over the affair people wondered over it and finally understood better than the others when he met Thea Docia he looked at her with a curious twinkle in his keen old eyes looks as if a man could bend her any way he'd a mind to, doesn't she he said looks is deceiving it'll come out in her face by and by she's too young yet but it's there it does seem unnatural to see a woman so stubborn you'd kinder look for it more in a man Wesley wrote a brief letter to Thea Docia when he reached his destination he said he was well and was looking about for the best place to settle he liked the country fine he was at a place called Red Butte and guessed he'd locate there two weeks later he wrote again he had taken up a claim of 300 acres Green and Cary had done the same they were his nearest neighbors and were three miles away and knocked up a little shack was learning to cook his own meals and was very busy he thought the country was a grand one and the prospects good Thea Docia answered his letter and told him all the Heatherton news she signed herself Thea Docia Brooke but otherwise there was nothing in the letter to indicate that it was written by a wife to her husband at the end of a year Wesley wrote and once more asked her to go out to him she had gone well and was sure she would like the place it was a little rough to be sure but time would improve that won't you let Bygones be Bygones Docia he wrote and come out to me do my dear wife Thea Docia wrote back refusing to go she never got any reply nor did she write again people had given up talking about the matter and asking Thea Docia when she was going out to West Heatherton had grown used to the chronic scandal within its decorous borders Thea Docia never spoke of her husband to anyone and it was known that they did not correspond she took her youngest sister to live with her she had her garden and hens and a cow the farm brought her enough to live on and she was always busy when fifteen years had gone by there were naturally some changes in Heatherton sleepy and progressive as it was most of the old people were in the little hillside burying ground that fronted the sunrise old Jim Parmalie was there with his recollections of four generations men and women who had been in their prime when Wesley went away were old now and the children were grown up and married Thea Docia was thirty-five and was nothing like the slim dimpled girl who had looked on the porch steps and watched her husband drive away in the morning fifteen years ago she was stout and comely the auburn hair was darker and arched away from her face in smooth shining waves instead of the old time curls her face was unlined and fresh collared but no woman could live in subjection to her own unbending will for so many years and not show it nobody looking at Thea Docia now would have found it hard to believe that a woman with such a determined immovable face could stick to a course of conduct in defiance of circumstances Wesley Brook was almost forgotten people knew through correspondence of Green and Carey that he had prospered and grown rich the curious old story had crystallized into accepted history a life may go on without ripple or disturbance for so many years that it may seem to have settled into a lasting calm then a sudden wind of passion may sweep over it and leave behind a wake of tempestuous waters such a time came at last at Thea Docia one day in August Mrs. Emery Merritt dropped in Emery Merritt's sister was Ogden Green's wife and the Merritts kept up an occasional correspondence with her hence Cecilia Merritt always knew what was to be known about Wesley Brook and always told Thea Docia because she had never been expressly forbidden before today she looked slightly excited secretly she was wondering if the news she brought would have any effect whatever on Thea Docia's impassive calm do you know Docia Wesley's real sick in fact Phoebe Green says they have very poor hopes of him he was kind of ailing all the spring it seems and about a month ago he was took down with some kind of slow fever they have out there Phoebe says they have a hired nurse from the nearest town doctor but she reckons he won't get over it that fever goes awful hard with a man of his years Cecilia Merritt who was the fastest talker in Heatherton had got this out before she was brought up by a queer sound half gasp half cry from Thea Docia the latter looked as if someone had struck her a physical blow Mercy Docia you ain't going to faint I didn't suppose you'd care you never seemed to care did you say asked Thea Docia thickly that Wesley was sick dying well that's what Phoebe said she may be mistaken Docia Brook you're a queer woman I never could make you out and I never expect to I guess only the Lord who made you can translate you Thea Docia stood up the sun was getting low and the valley beneath them ripening to harvest was like a river of gold she folded up her sewing with a steady hand it's five o'clock so I'll ask you to excuse me Cecilia I have a good deal to attend to you can ask Emery if he'll drive me to the station in the morning I'm going out to West well for the land's sake said Cecilia Merritt Phoebe as she tied on her gingham sun bonnet she got up and went home in a daze Thea Docia packed her trunk and worked all night dry-eyed with agony and fear tearing at her heart the iron will had snapped at last like a broken reed and fierce self-condemnation seized on her I've been a wicked woman she moaned a week from that day Thea Docia climbed down from the dusty stage that had brought her from the station over the prairies to the unpretentious little house where Wesley Brook lived so like what Ogden Green's wife had been fifteen years before the Thea Docia involuntarily exclaimed Phoebe came to the door beyond her Thea Docia saw the white-capped nurse her voice trembled does, does Wesley Brook live here she asked the girl nodded yes but he is very ill at present nobody is allowed to see him Thea Docia put up her hand and loosened her bonnet strings as if they were choking her she had been sick with the fear that Wesley would be dead before she got to him the relief was almost overwhelming but I must see him she cried hysterically she the calm easygoing Docia hysterical I am his wife and oh if he had died before I got here the nurse came forward in that case I suppose you must she conceded I do not expect you I must prepare him for the surprise she turned to the door of a room opening off the kitchen but Thea Docia who had hardly heard her was before her she was inside the room before the nurse could prevent her then she stood, afraid and trembling her eyes searching the dim apartment hungrily when they fell on the occupant of the bed Thea Docia started in bitter surprise all unconsciously she had been expecting to find Wesley as he had been when they parted could this gaunt haggard creature with the unkempt beard and prematurely gray hair and the hollow beseeching eyes be the ruddy boyish faced husband of her youth she gave a choking cry of pain and shame and the sick man turned his head their eyes met amazement, incredulity, hope, dread, all flashed in succession over Wesley Brooke's lined face he raced himself feebly up Docia he murmured Thea Docia staggered across the room and fell on her knees by the bed she clasped his head to her breast and kissed him again and again oh Wes, Wes can you forgive me I've been a wicked stubborn woman and I've spoiled our lives forgive me he held his thin trembling arms around her and devoured her face with his eyes Docia, when did you come? did you know I was sick? Wes, I can't talk till you say you've forgiven me oh Docia, you have just as much to forgive we were both so set I should have been more considerate just say I forgive you, Docia she entreated I forgive you, Docia he said gently and oh it's so good to see you once more, darling there hasn't been an hour since I left you that I haven't longed for your sweet face if I had thought you really cared I'd have gone back but I thought you didn't it broke my heart you did though, didn't you oh yes, yes, yes she said holding him more closely with her tears falling when the young doctor from Red Butte came that evening he found a great improvement in his patient joy and happiness those old world physicians had done what drugs and medicines had failed to do I'm going to get better, Doc said, Wesley my wife has come and she's going to stay you didn't know I was married, did you? I'll tell you the story someday I proposed going back east but Docia says she'd rather stay here I'm the happiest man in Red Butte, Doc he squeezed the Docia's hand as he had used to do so long ago in Heatherton Church and Docia smiled down at him there were no dimples now but her smile was very sweet the ghostly finger of old Henry Ford pointing down through the generations had lost its power to brand with its malediction the life of these his descendants Wesley and Theodosia had joined hands with their long lost happiness end of the setness of Theodosia Stories 16 of Lucy Mod Montgomery Short Stories 1896-1901 this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Sarah Jennings Lucy Mod Montgomery Short Stories 1896-1901 by Lucy Mod Montgomery the story of an invitation Bertha Sutherland hurried home from the post office and climbed the stairs of her boarding house to her room on the third floor her roommate Grace Maxwell was sitting on the divan by the window looking out into the twilight a year ago Bertha and Grace had come to Dartmouth to attend the academy and found themselves roommates Bertha was bright, pretty and popular the favourite of her classmates and teachers Grace was a grave, quiet girl dressed in mourning she was quite alone in the world the aunt who had brought her up having recently died at first she felt shy with bright and brilliant Bertha but they soon became friends and the year that followed was a very pleasant one it was almost ended now for the terminal exams had begun and in a week's time the school would close for the holidays have some chocolates Grace said Bertha Gailey I got such good news in my letter tonight that I felt I must celebrate it fittingly so I went into Carter's and invested all my spare cash and caramels it's really fortunate the term is almost out for I'm nearly bankrupt I have just enough left to furnish a tuck out for commencement night and no more what is your good news may I ask said Grace you know I have an Aunt Margaret commonly called Aunt Meg out at Riversdale don't you there never was such a dear, sweet, jolly Auntie in the world I had a letter from her tonight listen I'll read you what she says I want you to spend your holidays with me my dear Mary Fairweather and Louise Fish I'm going to so there is just room for one more and that one must be yourself come to Riversdale when school closes and I'll feed you on strawberries and cream and pound cake and donuts and mince pies and all the delicious indigestible things that schoolgirls love and careful mothers condemn Mary and Lou and Lil are girls after your own heart I know and you shall all do just as you like and we'll have picnics and parties and Mary doings galore there said Bertha how delightful it must be to have friends like that to love you and plan for you said Grace wistfully I am sure you will have a pleasant vacation birdie as for me I am going into Clarkman's bookstore until school reopens I saw Mr. Clarkman today and he agreed to take me Bertha looked surprised she had not known what Grace's vacation plans were I don't think you ought to do that Grace she said thoughtfully you're strong and you need a good rest it will be awfully trying to work at Clarkman's all summer there's nothing else for me to do said Grace trying to speak cheerfully you know I'm as poor as the proverbial church mouse birdie and the simple truth is that I can't afford to pay my board all summer and get my winter outfit unless I do something to earn it I shall be too busy to be lonesome and I shall expect long newsy letters from you telling me all your fun passing your vacation on to me second hand you see well I must set to work at those algebra problems I tried them before dark but I couldn't solve them my head ached and I felt so stupid how glad I shall be when exams are over I suppose I must revise that senior English this evening said Bertha absently but she made no move to do so she was studying her friend's face how very pale and thin Grace looked surely much paler and thinner than when she had come to the academy and she had not by any means been plumping Rosie then I believe she could not stand two months at Clarkman's thought Bertha if I were not going to Aunt Meg's I would ask her to go home with me or even if Aunt Meg had room for another guest I'd just write her all about Grace and ask if I could bring her with me Aunt Meg would understand she always understands but she hasn't so it can't be just then a thought darted into Bertha's brain what nonsense she said aloud so suddenly and forcibly that Grace fairly jumped what is oh nothing much said Bertha getting up briskly see here I'm going to get to work I've wasted enough time she curled herself up on the Devann and tried to study her senior English but her thoughts wandered hopelessly and finally she gave it up in despair and went to bed there she could not sleep and wrestled with herself it was after midnight when she sat up in bed and said solemnly I will do it next day Bertha wrote a confidential letter to Aunt Meg she thanked her for her invitation and then told her all about Grace and what I want to ask Aunt Meg is that you will let me transfer my invitation to Grace and ask her to go to Riversdale this summer in my place don't think me ungrateful no I'm sure you won't you always but you can't have us both and I'd rather Grace should go it will do her so much good and I have a lovely home of my own to go to and she has none Aunt Meg understood as usual and was perfectly willing so she wrote to Bertha and enclosed a note of invitation for Grace I shall have to manage this affair very carefully reflected Bertha Grace must never suspect that I did it on purpose I will tell her that circumstances have prevented me from accepting Aunt Meg's invitation that is true enough no need to say that the circumstances are hers not mine and I'll say I just asked Aunt Meg to invite her in my place and that she has done so when Grace came home from her history exam that day Bertha told her story and gave her Aunt Meg's cordial note you must come to me in Bertha's place wrote the letter I feel as if I knew you from her letters and I will consider you as a sort of honorary niece and I'll treat you as if you were Bertha herself isn't it splendid of Aunt Meg said Bertha diplomatically of course you'll go Gracie oh I don't know said Grace in bewilderment are you sure you don't want to go Bertha indeed I do want to go dreadfully said Bertha frankly but as I've told you it is impossible but if I am disappointed Aunt Meg mustn't be you must go Grace and that is all there is about it in the end Grace did go a little puzzled and doubtful still but thankful beyond words to escape the drudgery of the counter and the noise and heat of the city Bertha went home feeling a little bit blue and secret it cannot be denied but also feeling quite sure that if she had to do it all over again she would do just the same the summer slipped quickly by and finally two letters came to Bertha one from Aunt Meg and one from Grace lovely time wrote the letter and oh birdie what do you think I am to stay here always oh of course I am going back to school next month but this is to be my home after this Aunt Meg she makes me call her that says I must stay with her for good in Aunt Meg's letter was this paragraph Grace is writing to you and will have told you that I intend to keep her here you know I have always wanted a daughter of my own but my greedy brothers and sisters would never give me one of theirs so I intend to adopt Grace she is the sweetest girl in the world and I am very grateful to you for sending her here you will not know her when you see her she has grown plump and rosy Bertha folded her letters up with a smile I have a vague delightful feeling that I am the good angel in a story book she said end of the story of an invitation story 17 of Lucy Mama short stories 1896-1901 this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Maria Therese Lucy Maude Montgomery short stories 1896-1901 by Lucy Maude Montgomery The Touch of Fate Mrs. Major Hill was in her element this did not often happen for in the remote prairie town of the Canadian Northwest where her husband was stationed there were few opportunities for matchmaking and Mrs. Hill was or believed herself to be a born matchmaker Major Hill was in command of the detachment of Northwest Mounted Police at Dufferin Bluff Mrs. Hill was want to declare that it was the most forsaken place to be found in Canada or out of it but she did her very best to brighten it up and it is only fair to say that the NWMP officers and men seconded her efforts when Violet Thayer came west to pay a long promise visit to her old school fellow Mrs. Hill's couple happiness bubbled over in her secret soul she vowed that Violet should never go back east unless they chose taste to prepare a wedding trousseau there were at least half a dozen eligible among the MPs and Mrs. Hill after some reflection settled on Ned Madison as the flower of the flock he and Violet are simply made for each other she told Major Hill the evening before Miss Thayer's arrival he has enough money and he is handsome and fascinating and Violet is a beauty and a clever woman into the bargain they can't help falling in love I'm sure it's fate perhaps Miss Thayer may be booked elsewhere already suggested Major Hill he had seen more than one of his wife's card castles fall into heartbreaking ruin oh no Violet would have told me if that were the case it's really quite time for her to think of settling down she's 25 you know the men all go crazy over her but she's dreadfully hard to please however she can't help liking Ned he hasn't a single fault I firmly believe it is foreordained and in this belief Mrs. Hill rested securely but nevertheless did not fail to concoct several feminine artifices for the helping on of foreordination it was a working belief with her that it was always well to have the gods in your debt Violet Thayer came saw and conquered within 36 hours of her arrival at Dufferin Bluff the half dozen eligible at her feet not to mention a score or more ineligible she would have been surprised indeed had it been otherwise Miss Thayer knew her power and was somewhat unduly fond of exercising it but she was a very nice girl into the bargain and so thought one and all of the young men who frequented Mrs. Hill's drawing room and counted it richly worthwhile merely to look at Miss Thayer after having seen nothing for weeks half flabby, half green girls and blue-haired squalls Madison was foremost in the field, of course Madison was really a nice fellow and quite deserved on Mrs. Hill's and cameums he was good-looking and well-groomed could sing and dance divinely and play the violin to perfection the other MPs were all jealous of him and more so than ever when Violet Thayer came they did not consider that any one of them had the ghost of a chance against them Violet liked Madison and was very chummy with him after her own fashion she thought all the MPs were nice boys and they amused her for which she was grateful she'd expected Duffer and Bluff to be very dull and doubtless it would paw after a time before change it was delightful the sixth evening after her arrival found Mrs. Hill's room crowded as usual with MPs Violet was looking her best in a distracting new gown Sergeant Fox afterwards described it to a brother officer as a stunning sort of rig between a cream and a blue and a brown she flirted impartially with all the members of her circle at first but gradually narrowed down to Ned Madison much to the light of Mrs. Hill who was hovering around like a small, brilliant butterfly Violet was talking to Madison and watching John Spencer out of the tail of her eye Spencer was not an MP he had some government posts at Duffer and Bluff and this was his first call at Lone Poplar Villa since Miss Thayer's arrival he did not seem to be dazzled by her at all and after his introduction he promptly retired to a corner with major Hill where they talked the whole evening about the trouble on the Indian reservation at Lune Lake possibly this indifference peaked Miss Thayer possibly she considered it refreshing after the servile congratulation of the MP's at any rate when all the latter were gathered about the piano singing a chorus with gusto she shook Madison off and went over to the corner where Spencer deserted by the major whose base was wounded was sitting in solitary state he looked up indifferently as Violet shimmered down on the van beside him Sergeant Robinson who was watching him jealously from the corner beyond the palms of his eyes or at least one of them for such a favor mentally vowed that Spencer was the dullest fellow he had ever put those useful members on don't you sing, Mr. Spencer? asked Violet by way of beginning a conversation as she turned her splendid eyes full upon him Robinson would have lost his head under them but Spencer kept his heroically no this was calm brief reply given without any bluntness anything more in spite of her social experience Violet felt disconcerted if he doesn't want to talk to me I won't make him, she thought crossly no man had ever snubbed her so before Spencer listened immovably to the music for a time then he turned to his companion with a palpable effort to be civilly sociable how do you like the West, Mr. Thayer? he said Violet smiled while most men found dangerous very much so far as I have seen there is a flavor about the life here that I like but I dare say it would soon fall it must be horribly lonesome here most of the time especially in winter the MPs are always growling that it is return Spencer with a slight smile for my own part I never find it so Violet decided that his smile was very becoming to him and that she liked the way his dark hair grew her forehead I don't think I've seen you at Lone Poplar Villa before, she said no, I haven't been here for some time I came up tonight to see the major about the loon lake trouble otherwise you wouldn't have come, thought Violet flattering, very allowed, she said is it serious? oh no, a mere squabble among the Indians have you ever visited the reservation, Mr. Thayer? no well, you should get some of your MP friends to take you out it would be worthwhile why don't you ask me to go yourself said Violet audaciously Spencer smiled again have I failed in politeness by not doing so? I fear you would find me an insufferably dull companion so he was not going to ask her after all Violet felt peaked she was also conscious of a sensation very near akin to disappointment she looked across at Madison how trim and dapper he was I hate a band box man, she said to herself Spencer, meanwhile, picked up one of Mrs. Hill's novels from the stand beside him foals of habit, he said glancing at the cover I see it is making quite a sensation down east I suppose you've read it yes, it is very frivolous and clever all froth was a lightful froth did you like it? Spencer balanced the novel reflectively on his slender brown hand well, yes, rather but I don't care for novels as a role I don't understand them the hero of this book, now do you believe that a man in love would act as he did? I don't know, said Violet imusedly you ought to be a better judge than I you are a man I have never loved anybody so I am in no position to decide says Spencer there was a little self-consciousness in his voice as if he were telling her a fact concerning the Loon Lake trouble Violet rose to the occasion you have an interesting experience to look forward to, she said Spencer turned his deep-set gray eye squarely upon her I don't know that when I said I had never loved I meant more than the love of a man for some particular woman I meant love in every sense I do not know what it is to have an affection for any human being my parents died before I can't remember my only living relative was a penurious old uncle who brought me up for shame's sake and kicked me out on the world as soon as he could I don't make friends easily I have a few acquaintances whom I like but there is not a soul on earth whom I care or who cares for me whether revelation love will be to you when it comes said Violet softly again he looked into her eyes do you think it will come? he asked before she could reply Mrs. Hill pounced upon them Violet was wanted to sing Mr. Spencer would excuse her wouldn't he? Mr. Spencer did so obligingly moreover he got up and made his hostess good night Violet gave him her hand you will call again she said Spencer looked across at Madison perhaps it was accidental I think not he said if, as you say, love will come some time it would be a very unpleasant revelation if it came in hopeless guise and one never knows what may happen Miss Thayer was conscious of a distinct fluttering of her heart as she went across to the piano this was a new sensation for her and worthy of being analysed after the MPs had gone she asked Mrs. Hill who Mr. Spencer was oh, John Spencer said Mrs. Hill carelessly he said the head of the land office here that's really all I know about him Jack says he's a downright good fellow and all that, you know but he's no earthly good in the social way he can't talk or he won't he's flat so different from Mr. Madison isn't he? very, said Violet emphatically after Mrs. Hill had gone out Violet walked to the nearest mirror and looked at herself with her forefinger in the dimple of her chin it is very odd, she said she did not mean the dimple Spencer had told her he was not coming back she did not believe this but she did not expect him for a few days consequently when he appeared the very next evening she was surprised Madison to whom she was talking when Spencer entered does not know to this day what she had started to say to him for she never finished her sentence I wonder if it is the Loone Lake affair again she thought nervously Mrs. Hill came up at this point and whisked Madison off for a waltz Spencer, seeing his chance came straight across the room to her Sergeant Robinson who is watching them as usual is willing to make affidavit the Miss Thayer changed color after his greetings Spencer said nothing he sat beside her and they watched Mrs. Hill and Madison dancing Violet wondered why she did not feel bored when she saw Madison coming back to her she was conscious of an unreasonable anger with him she got up abruptly let us go out on the veranda she said imperiously she is absolutely stifling in here they went out it was very cool and dusky the lights of the town twinkled out below them and the prairie bluffs behind them were dark and sibilant I am going to dive over to Loone Lake tomorrow afternoon to look into affairs there said Spencer will you go with me Violet reflected a moment you did not ask me as if you really wanted me to go she said Spencer put his hand over the white fingers that rested on the railing he bent forth until his breath stirred the tendrils of hair on her forehead yes I do he said distinctly I want you to go with me to Loone Lake tomorrow more than I ever wanted anything in my life before later on when everybody had gone Violet had her bag quarter of an hour with Mrs. Hill that lady felt herself aggrieved I think you treated poor Ned very badly to night Vi he felt really blue over it and it was awfully bad for him to go out with Spencer as you did and stay there so long now you oughtn't flirt with him he doesn't understand the game I'm not going to flirt with him said Miss Thayer calmly oh I suppose it's just your way only don't turn the poor fellow's head by the way Ned is coming up with his camera tomorrow afternoon to take us all I'm afraid he won't find me at home so Violet sweetly I am going out to Loone Lake with Mr. Spencer Mrs. Hill found soft to bed in a pet she was disgusted with everything she declared to the major things had been going so nicely and now they were all muddled isn't Madison coming up to time queried the major sleepily Madison it's Violet she's behaving abominably she treated poor Ned shamefully tonight you saw yourself how she acted with Spencer and she's going to Loone Lake with him tomorrow she says I'm sure I don't know what she can see in him he's the dullest pokeyest fellow alive so different from her in every way perhaps that is why she likes him suggested the major the attraction of opposites and all that you know Mrs. Hill crossly told him he didn't know anything about it so being a wise man he held his tongue during the next two weeks Mrs. Hill was the most dissatisfied woman in the four districts in every MP down to the Rawls recruit anathomized Spencer in secret a dozen times a day Violet simply dropped everyone else including Madison in the coolest most unmistakable way one night Spencer did not come to Loone Poplar Villa Violet looked for him to the last when she realized that he was not coming she went to the veranda to have it out with herself as she sat held up in a dim corner beneath a silkily rustling western maple two MPs came out and not seeing her went on with their conversation heard about Spencer question one no what of him well they say Miss Thayer has thrown him over yesterday I was passing here about four in the afternoon Spencer coming in I went down to the land office and was chatting to Cripsen and the door opened about half an hour later and Spencer burst in he was pals of dead and looked wild has Vice gone to rainy river about those crown lands yet he jerked out Cripsen said no but tell him he needed I'm going myself said Spencer and out he bolted he posted off to rainy river today and won't be back for fortnight she'll be gone then her other tough on Spencer after the way she encouraged him returned the other as they passed out of ear shot Violet got up all the collars were gone and she swept into Mrs. Hill dramatically Edith she said in the cold steady voice that to those who knew her meant breakers ahead for somebody Mr. Spencer was here yesterday when I was riding with the major was he not what did you tell him about me Mrs. Hill looked at Byleth's blazing eyes and will it I didn't tell him anything much what was it Mrs. Hill began to sob don't look at me like that Violet he just dropped in and we were talking about you at least I was and I had heard that Harry St. Marre was paying you marked attention before you came west and that some people thought you were engaged and so and so you told Mr. Spencer that I was engaged to St. Marre no I just hinted I didn't mean any harm I never dreamed you really could care I thought you were just amusing yourself and so did everybody and I wanted Ned Madison Violet had turned very pale I love him she said and you have sent him away he's gone to Rainy River I shall never see him again oh yes you will back when he knows you can write him tell him do you suppose I am going to write and ask him to come back said Violet Wiley I have enough pride left yet to keep me from doing that for a man at whose head I've thrown myself openly yes openly and who has never in words at least told me cared anything about me I will never forgive you Edith then Mrs. Hill found herself alone with her lacerated feelings after soothing them with a good cry to work thinking seriously there was no doubt she had muddled things badly but there was no use leaving them in a muddle when a word or two fitly spoken might set them straight Mrs. Hill sat down and wrote a very diplomatic letter before she went to bed and the next morning she waylaid Sergeant Fox and asked him if he would ride down to Rainy River with a very important message for Mr. Spencer Sergeant Fox wondered what it could be but it was not his to reason why it was his only to mount and ride with all due speed for Mrs. Hill's whims and wishes were as stringent and binding as the rules of the force that evening when Mrs. Hill and Violet the latter very silent and regal were sitting on the veranda a horseman came galloping up the Rainy River trail Mrs. Hill excused herself and went in five minutes later John Spencer covered with the alkali dust of his 20 miles ride dismounted at Violet's side the MPs gave a concert at the barracks that night and Mrs. Hill and her major went to it as well as everyone else of any importance in town except Violet and Spencer they sat on major hills veranda and watched the moon rising over the bluffs and making milk white reflections in the prairie lakes it seems a year of misery since last night sighed Violet happily you couldn't have been quite as miserable as I was says Spencer earnestly you were everything to me other men have little reels and driplets of affection for sisters and cousins and aunts but everything in me went out to you do you remember you told me the first time we met that love would be a revelation to me it has been more it has been a new gospel I hardly did hope you would care for me even yet I don't know why you do I love you said Violet gravely because you were you then which, of course there could be no better reason end of The Touch of Fate Recording by Maria Cherise Story number 18 of Lucy Mod Montgomery Short Stories 1896-1901 this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Recording by Lucy Mod Montgomery Short Stories 1896-1901 by Lucy Mod Montgomery The Waking of Helen Robert Reeves looks somewhat curious at the girl who was waiting on him at his solitary breakfast he had not seen her before arriving at his summer boarding house only the preceding night it was a shabby farmhouse on the inland shore of a large bay that was noted for its tides and had wonderful possibilities of light and shade for an impressionist Reeves was an enthusiastic artist it mattered little to him that the boarding accommodations were most primitive the people uncultured and dull the place itself utterly isolated as long as he could revel in those transcendent sunsets and sunrises those marvellous moonlights those wonderful purple shores and sweeps of shimmering blue water the owner of the farm was Angus Fraser and he and his wife seemed to be a reserved uncouth pair with no apparent interest in life save to scratch a bare living out of their few stony acres he had an impression that they were childless and was at a loss to place this girl who poured his tea and brought in his toast she did not resemble either Fraser or his wife she was certainly not beautiful being very tall and rather awkward and dressed in a particularly unbecoming dark print wrapper her luxuriant hair was thick and black and was coiled in a heavy knot at the nape of her neck her features were delicate but irregular and her skin was very brown her eyes attracted Reeves' notice especially they were large and dark and full of a half unconscious wistful longing as if a prison soul behind them was clearly trying to reveal itself Reeves could find out nothing of her from herself for she responded to his tentative questions about the place in the briefest fashion afterwards he interviewed Mrs Fraser cautiously and ascertained that the girl's name was Helen Fraser and that she was Angus' niece her father and mother are dead and we've brought her up Helen's a good girl in most ways a little obstinate and sulky now and then generally she's steady enough and as for work there ain't a girl in Bay Beach can come up to her in house or field Angus calculates she saves a man's wage is clear now I ain't got nothing to say against Helen nevertheless Reeves felt somehow that Mrs Fraser did not like her husband's niece he often heard her scolding or nagging Helen at her work and noticed that the latter never answered back but once after Mrs Angus' tongue had been especially bitter he met the girl hurrying along the hall from the kitchen with her eyes full of tears Reeves felt as if someone had struck him a blow he went to Angus and his wife that afternoon he wished to paint a sure picture he said and wanted a model would they allow Mrs Fraser to pose for him he would pay liberally for her time Angus and his wife had no objection they would pocket the money and Helen would have to dispel every day as well as not Reeves told Helen of his plan himself meeting her in the evening as she was bringing the cows home from the low shore pastures beyond the marsh he was surprised at the sudden illumination of her face it almost transfigured her from a plain sulky looking girl into a beautiful woman but the glow passed quickly she ascended to his plan quietly almost lifelessly he walked home with her behind the cows and talked of the sunset and the mysterious beauty of the bay and the purple splendor of the distant coasts she listened in silence only once when he spoke of the distant murmur of the open sea she lifted her head and looked at him what does it say to you she asked it speaks of eternity and to you it calls me she answered simply it and it hurts me too I can't tell how or why sometimes it makes me feel as if I were asleep I wanted to wake and didn't know how she turned and looked out over the bay a dying gleam of sunset broke through a cloud and fell across her hair for a moment she seemed the spirit of the shore personified all its mystery all its uncertainty all its elusive charm it has possibilities thought Reeves next day he began his picture at first he had thought of painting her as the incarnation of a sea spirit but decided that her moods were too fitful so he began to sketch her as waiting a woman looking out across the bay with a world of hopeless longing in her eyes the subject suited her well and the picture grew apace when he was tired of work he made her walk around the shore with him or row up the head of the bay in her own boat he tried to draw her out at first with indifferent success she seemed to be frightened of him he talked to her of many things the far outer world whose echoes never reached her foreign lands where he had traveled famous men and women whom he had met music, art and books when he spoke of books he touched the right chord one of those transfiguring flashes he delighted to evoke now passed over her plain face that is what I've always wanted she said hungrily and I never get them Aunt hates to see me reading she says it is a waste of time and I love it so I read every scrap of paper I can get hold of but I hardly ever see a book the next day Reeves took his tenacin to the shore and began to read the words of the king to her it is beautiful with her soul verbal comment but her rapt eyes said everything after that he never went out with her without a book now one of the poets now some prose classic he was surprised by her quick appreciation of and sympathy with the finest passages gradually too she forgot her shyness and began to talk she knew nothing of his world but her own world she knew and knew well she was a mind of traditional history about the bay she knew the rocky coast by heart and every old legend that clung to it they drifted into making excursions along the shore and explored its wildest retreats the girl had an artist's eye for scenery and color effect you should have been an artist Reeves told her one day when she had pointed out to him a light falling through a cleft in the rocks across a dark green pool at their base I would rather be a writer she said slowly if I could only write something like those books you have read to me what a glorious destiny it must be to have something to say that the whole world is listening for and to be able to say it in words that will live forever it must be the noblest human lot yet some of those men and women neither good nor noble said Reeves gently and many of them were unhappy Helen dismissed the subject as abruptly as she always did when the conversation touched too nearly on the sensitive edge of her soul dreams do you know where I'm taking you today? she said no where? to what the people here call the Kelpie's Cave I hate to go there I believe there's something uncanny about it I think you will like to see it it's a dark little cave in the curve of a small cove and on each side the headlands of rock run far out at low tide we can walk right round but when the tide comes in it fills the Kelpie's Cave if you were there and let the tide come past the points you would be drowned unless you could swim for the rocks are so steep and high it is impossible to climb them Reeves was interested was anyone ever caught by the tide? yes returned Helen with a shutter once long ago before I was born a girl went around the shore to the cave and fell asleep there and the tide came in and she was drowned she was young and very pretty and was too been married the next week I've been afraid of the place ever since the treacherous cave proved to be a picturesque and innocent looking spot each of glittering sand before it and the high gloomy walls of rock on either hand I must come here some day and sketch it said Reeves enthusiastically and you must be the Kelpie Helen and sit in the cave with your hair wrapped about you and seaweed clinging to it do you think a Kelpie would look like that said the girl dreamily I don't I think it is a wild wicked little sea imp malicious and mocking he sits here and watches for victims well never mind your sea Kelpies Reeves said fishing out his long fellow they are a tricky folk if all tales be true and it is supposed to be a very rash thing to talk about them in their own haunts I want to read you the building of the ship you will like it I'm sure when the tide turned they went home we haven't seen the Kelpie after all said Reeves I shall see him some day said Helen gravely I think he's waiting for me there in that gloomy cave of his and some time or other he will get me Reeves smiled at the gloomy fancy and Helen smiled back at him with one of her sudden radiances the tide was creeping swiftly up over the white sands the sun was low and the bay was swimming in a pale blue glory they parted at Clam Point Reeves to wander on up the shore he thought of Helen at first and the wonderful change that had come over her of late then he began to think of another face a marvelously lovely one with blue eyes as tender as the waters before him then Helen was forgotten the summer waned swiftly one afternoon Reeves took a fancy to revisit the Kelpie's cave Helen could not go it was harvest time and she was needed in the field she said to him half seriously the tide will turn early this afternoon and you are given to daydreaming I'll be careful he promised laughingly and he meant to be careful but somehow when he reached the cave its unwholesome charm overcame him and he sat down on the boulder at its mouth an hour yet before tide time he said just enough time to read that article on Impressionist in my review and then stroll home by the sand shore from reading he passed to daydreaming and daydreaming drifted into sleep with his head pellowed on the rocky walls of the cave how long he had slept he did not know but he woke with a start of horror he sprang to his feet realizing his position instantly the tide was in far in past the headlands already above and beyond him towered the pitiless unscalable rocks there was no way of escape Reeves was no coward but life was sweet to him and to die like that like a drowned rat in a hole to be able to do nothing but wait for that swift and sure oncoming death he reeled against the damp rock wall and for a moment sea and sky and prisoning headlands and white line tide whirled before his eyes then his head grew clear he tried to think how long had he not more than twenty minutes at the outside well death was sure and he would meet it bravely but to wait to wait helplessly he should go mad with the horror of it before those endless minutes would have passed he took something from his pocket and bent his head over it pressing his lips to it repeatedly and then when he raised his face again a dory was coming around the headland on his right he was in it Reeves was dizzy again with a shock of joy and thankfulness he ran down over the little stretch of sand still uncovered by the tide and around to the rocks of the headlands against which the dory was already grating he sprang forward impulsively and caught the girl's cold hands in his as she dropped the oars and stood up Helen you've saved me how can I ever thank you I he broke off abruptly she was looking up at him breathlessly and voicelessly with her whole soul in her eyes he saw in them a revelation that amazed him he dropped her hands and stepped back as if she had struck him in the face Helen did not notice the change in him she clasped her hands together and her voice trembled oh I was afraid I should be too late when I came in from the field and Hannah said you had not come back it was tide time and I felt somehow that it had caught you in the cave I ran down over the marsh and took Joe Simmons' dory if I had not got here in time she broke off shiveringly Reeve stepped into the dory and took up the oars the Kelpie would have been sure of its victim then he said trying to speak lightly it would have almost served me right for neglecting your warning I was very careless you must let me row back I'm afraid you've overtast your strength trying to cheat the Kelpie Reeve's rowed homeward in an absolute silence Helen did not speak and he could not when they reached the dory anchorage he helped her out I think I'll go out to the point for a walk he said I want to steady my nerves you must go right home and rest don't be anxious I won't take any more chances Helen went away without a word and Reeve's walked slowly out to the point he was grieved beyond measure at the discovery he believed he had made he had never dreamed of such a thing he was not a vain man and was utterly free from all tendency to flirtation it had never occurred to him that the waking of the girl's deep nature might be attended with disastrous consequences he had honestly meant to help her be done he felt very uncomfortable he could not conscientiously blame himself but he saw that he had acted foolishly and of course he must go away at once and he must also tell her something she ought to know he wished he had told her long ago the following afternoon was a perfect one Reeve's was sketching on the sand shore when Helen came she sat down on a camp stool a little to one side to speak after a few moments Reeve's pushed away his paraphernalia impatiently I don't feel in a mood for work he said it is too dreamy a day one ought to do nothing to be in keeping besides I'm getting lazy now that my vacation is nearly over I must go in a few days he avoided looking at her so he did not see the sudden pallor of her face so soon she said it was excessive of no particular feeling yes I ought not to have lingered so long my world will be forgetting me and that will not do it has been a very pleasant summer and I shall be sorry to leave Bay Beach but you will come back next summer asked Helen quickly you said you would Reeve's nerfed himself for his very distasteful task perhaps he said with an attempt at carelessness if I do so I shall not come alone somebody who is very dear to me will come with me as my wife I have never told you about her Helen but you and I are such good friends that I do not mind doing so now I am engaged to a very sweet girl and we expect to be married next spring there was a brief silence Reeve's had been vaguely afraid of a scene when he found his fear unrealised Helen sat very still he could not see her face did she care after all was he mistaken when she spoke her voice was perfectly calm thank you it is very kind of you to tell me about her I suppose she is very beautiful yes here is her picture you can judge for yourself Helen took the portrait from his hand and looked at it steadily it was a miniature painted on ivory and the face looking out from it was certainly lovely it is no wonder you love her said the girl in a low tone as she handed it back it must be strange to be so beautiful as that Reeve's picked up his Tennyson shall I read you something what will you have read Elaine please I want to hear that once more Reeve's felt a sudden dislike to her choice wouldn't you prefer something else he asked hurriedly turning over the leaves Elaine is rather sad shan't I read Guinevere instead no said Helen in the same lifeless tone I have no sympathy for Guinevere she suffered and her love was unlawful but she was loved in return she did not waste her love on someone who did not want for it Elaine did and her life went with it read me the story Reeve's obeyed when he had finished he held the book out to her Helen will you take this Tennyson from me in remembrance of our friendship and of the Kelpie's cave I shall never forget that I owe my life to you thank you she took the book and placed a little thread of crimson seaweed between the pages of Elaine then she rose I must go back now Aunt will need me thank you again for the book Mr. Reeve's and for all your kindness to me Reeve's was relieved when the interview was over her calmness had reassured him she did not care very much after all it was only a passing fancy and when he was gone she would soon forget him he went away a few days later and Helen bade him an impassive goodbye when the afternoon was far spent she stole away from the house to the shore with her Tennyson in her hand and took her way to the Kelpie's cave the tide was just beginning to come in she sat down on the big boulder where Reeve's had fallen asleep beyond stretched the gleaming blue waters mellowing into a hundred fairy shades horizonward the shadows of the rocks were around her in front was the white line of the incoming tide it had almost reached the headlands a few minutes more an escape would be cut off yet she did not move when the dark green water reached her and the lapping wavelets swished up over the hem of her dress she lifted her head and a sudden strange smile flashed over her face perhaps the Kelpie understood it End of The Waking of Helen Recording by Jadapi www.publicdomainaudiobooks.blogspot.com Story 19 of Lucy Maud Montgomery Short Stories 1896-1901 This is a LibriVox recording All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Recording by Andrea Keane Lucy Maud Montgomery Short Stories 1896-1901 by Lucy Maud Montgomery The Way of the Winning of Anne Jerome Irving had been courting Anne Stockard for fifteen years he had begun when she was twenty and he was twenty-five and now that Jerome was forty and Anne, in a village where everybody knew everybody else's age had to own to being thirty-five the courtship did not seem any nearer climax than it had at the beginning but that was not Jerome's fall, poor fellow At the end of the first year he had asked Anne to marry him and Anne had refused Jerome was disappointed but he kept his head and went on courting Anne just the same, that is he went over to Essex Stockard's house every Saturday night and spent the evening he walked home with Anne from prayer meeting and singing school and parties when she would let him and he asked her to go to all the concerts and socials and quilting frolics that came off Anne never would go, of course but Jerome faithfully gave her the chance Old Essex rather favored Jerome's suit for Anne was the plainest of his many daughters and no other fellow seemed at all anxious to run Jerome off the track but she took her own way with the true Stockard firmness and matters were allowed to drift on at the will of time or chance three years later Jerome tried his luck again with precisely the same result he had asked Anne regularly once a year to marry him and just as regularly Anne said no, a little more briskly and a little more decidedly every year now in the mellowness of a 15 year old courtship Jerome did not mind it at all he knew that everything comes to the man who has the patience to wait time, of course, had not stood still with Anne and Jerome or with the history of deep meadows at the Stockard homestead the changes had been many and marked every year or two there had been a wedding in the big brick farmhouse and one of old Essex girls had been the bride each time Julia and Grace and Celia and Betty and Theodosia and Clementina Stockard were all married and gone but Anne had never had another lover there had to be an old maid in every big family she said and she was not going to marry Jerome Irving just for the sake of having misses on her tombstone old Essex and his wife had been put away in the deep meadows burying ground the broad fertile Stockard acres passed into Anne's possession she was a good businesswoman and the farm continued to be the best in the district she kept two hired men and a servant girl and the sixteen year old of Vareld the sister lived with her there were few visitors in the Stockard place now but Jerome dropped in every Saturday night with clockwork regularity and talked to Anne about her stock and advised her regarding the rotation of her crops and the setting out of her orchards and at ten o'clock he would take his hat and cane until Anne to be good to herself and go home Anne had long since given up trying to discourage him she even accepted attentions from him now that she had used to refuse he always walked home with her from evening meetings and was her partner in the games at quilting parties it was great fun for the young folks old Jerome and Anne were a standing joke in deep meadows but the older people had ceased to expect anything to come of it Anne laughed at Jerome as she had always done and would not have owned for the world that she could have missed him Jerome was useful she admitted and a comfortable friend he would have liked him well enough if he would only omit that ridiculous yearly ceremony of proposal it was Jerome's 40th birthday when Anne refused him again he realized this as he went down the road in the moonlight and doubt and dismay began to creep into his heart Anne and he were both getting old there was no disputing that fact it was high time that he brought her to terms if he was ever going to Jerome was an easygoing mortal and always took things placidly but he did not mean to have all those 15 years of patient courting go for nothing he had thought Anne would get tired of saying no sooner or later and say yes if for no other reason than to have a change but getting tired did not seem to run in the stockered blood she had said no that night just as coolly and decidedly and unsentimentally as she had said it 15 years before Jerome had the sensation of going around in a circle and never getting any further on he made up his mind that something must be done and just as he got to the brook that divides deep meadows west from deep meadows central an idea struck him it was a good idea and amused him he laughed aloud and slapped his thigh much the amusement of two boys who were sitting unnoticed on the railing of the bridge there is old Jerome going home from seeing Anne Stockard said one wonder what on earth he's laughing at seems to me if I couldn't get a wife without hoeing a 15 year row I'd give up trying but then the speaker was a Hamilton never had any perseverance Jerome although a well to do man owning a good farm had so to speak no home of his own the old Irving Homestead belonged to his older brother who had a wife and family Jerome lived with them and was so used to it he didn't mind at forty a lover must not waste time Jerome thought out the details that night and next day he opened the campaign but it was not until the evening after that that Anne Stockard heard the news it was her niece Octavia who told her the latter had been having a chat up the lane with Sam Mitchell and came in with a broad smile on her round rosy face and twinkle in her eyes I guess you've lost your bow this time and Anne it looks as if he meant to take you at your word at last what on earth do you mean asked Anne a little sharply she was in the pantry counting eggs and Octavia's interruption made her lose her count now I can't remember if it was six or seven dozen I said last I shall have to count them all over again I wish Octavia that you could think of something besides bows all the time well but listen persisted Octavia wickedly Jerome Irving was at the social at the Cherry Valley parsonage last night and he had Harriet Warren there took her there and drove her home again I don't believe it cried Anne before she thought she dropped an egg into the basket so abruptly that the shell broke oh it's true enough Sam Mitchell told me he was there and saw him Sam says he looked quite beaming and was dressed to kill and followed Harriet around like her shadow I guess you won't have any more bother with him and Anne in the process of picking the broken egg out of the whole ones Anne had recovered her equanimity she gave a careful little laugh well it's to be helped so goodness knows it's time he tried somebody else go and change your dress for milking Octavia and don't spend quite so much time gosping up the lane Sam Mitchell he always was a fetch and carry young girls ought to be so pert when the subdued Octavia had gone and toss the broken eggshell out of the pantry window viciously enough there's no fool like an old fool Jerome Irving always was an idiot the idea of his going after Harriet Warren he's old enough to be her father and a warren too I've seen the time and Irving wouldn't be seen on the same side of the road with a warren well anyhow I don't care and he needn't will it will be a relief not to have him hanging around any longer it might have been a relief but Anne felt strangely lonely as she walked home alone from prayer meeting the next night Jerome had not been there the warrens were Methodists and Anne rightly guessed that he had gone to the Methodist prayer meeting at Cherry Valley dancing attendance on Harriet she said to herself scornfully when she got home she looked at her face in the glass more critically than she had done for years Anne the record at her best had never been pretty when young she had been called gawky she was very tall and her figure was lank and angular she had a long pale face and dusky hair her eyes had been good a glimmering hazel large and long lashed they were pretty yet but the crow's feet about them were plainly visible there were brackets around her mouth too and her cheeks were hollow Anne suddenly realized as she had never realized before that she had grown old that her youth was left far behind she was an old maid and Harriet Warren was young and pretty Anne's long thin lips suddenly quivered I declare I'm a worse fool than Jerome she said angrily when Saturday night came Jerome did not the corner of the big old fashioned porch where he usually sat looked bare and lonely Anne was short with Octavia and boxed the cat's ears and raged at herself what did she care if Jerome Irving never came again she could have married him years ago she had wanted to everybody knew that at sunset she saw a buggy drive past her gate even at that distance she recognized Harriet Warren's handsome high colored profile it was Jerome's new buggy and Jerome was driving the wheel spokes flashed in the sunlight as they crept up the hill perhaps they dazzled Anne's eyes a little at least for that or some other reason she dabbed her hand viciously over them as she turned sharply about and went upstairs Octavia was practicing your music lesson in the parlor below and singing in a sweet shrill voice the hired men were laughing and talking in the yard Anne slammed down her window and banged her door and then laid down on her bed she said her head ached the deep meadows people were amused and made joking remarks to Anne which she had to take amiably because she had no excuse for presenting them in reality they stung her pride unendorably when Jerome had gone she realized that she had no other intimate friend and that she was a very lonely woman whom nobody cared about one night it was three weeks afterward she met Jerome and Harriet squarely she was walking to church with Octavia and they were driving in the opposite direction Jerome had his new buggy in crimson laprobe his horse's coat shone like satin and had rosettes of crimson on his bridle Jerome was dressed extremely well and looked quite young with his round, ruddy, clean-shaven face and clear blue eyes Harriet was sitting primly and consciously by his side she was a very handsome girl with bold eyes and was somewhat overdressed she wore a big flowery hat and a white lace veil and looked at Anne with a supercilious smile Anne felt dowdy and old she was very pale Jerome lifted his hat and bowed pleasantly as they drove past suddenly Harriet laughed out Anne did not look back but her face crimson darkly was that girl laughing at her? she trembled with anger and a sharp hurt feeling when she got home that night she sat a long while by her window Jerome was gone and he let Harriet war and laugh at her and he would never come back to her well it did not matter but she had been a fool only it had never occurred to her that Jerome could act so if I had thought he would I might not have been so sharp with him was as far as she would let herself go even in thought when four weeks had elapsed Jerome came over one Saturday night he was fluttered and anxious but hid it in a masterly manner Anne was taken by surprise she had not thought he would ever come again and was off her guard he had come around the porch corner abruptly as she stood there in the dark good evening Anne he said easily and unblushingly Anne choked up she was very angry or thought she was Jerome appeared not to notice her lack of welcome he sat coolly down on his old place his heart was beating like a hammer but Anne did not know that I suppose she said cuttingly that you're on your way down to the bridge it's almost a pity for you to waste time stopping here at all any more than you have of late no doubt Harriet will be expecting you a gleam of satisfaction flashed over Jerome's face he looked shrewdly at Anne who was not looking at him but was staring uncompromisingly out over the poppy-beds a jealous woman always gives herself away if Anne had been indifferent she would not have given him that slap in the face I don't know if she will he replied coolly I didn't say for sure whether I'd be down tonight or not it's so long since I had a chat with you I thought I'd drop in for a spell but of course if I'm not wanted I can go where I will be Anne could not get back to herself control her nerves were all strung up as she would have said she had a feeling that she was right on the brink of a scene but she could not help herself I guess it doesn't matter much what I want she said stonely at any rate it hasn't seemed that way lately you don't care of course oh no Harriet Warren is all you care about well I wish you joy ever Jerome looked puzzled or pretended to in reality he was hugging himself with the light I don't just understand you Anne he said hesitatingly you appear to be vexed about something I oh no I'm not Mr Irving of course old friends don't count now well I've no doubt new ones will wear just as well if it's about my going to see Harriet said Jerome easily I don't see as how it can matter much to you goodness knows you took enough pains to show me you didn't want me I don't blame you a woman has a right to please herself and a man ought to have sense to take his answer and go I hadn't and that's where I made my mistake I don't mean to pester you anymore but we can be real good friends can't we I'm sure I'm as much your friend as I ever was now I hold that this speech of Jerome's delivered in a cool matter of fact tone as of a man stating a case with dispassionate fairness was a masterpiece it was the last cleverly executed movement of the campaign if it failed to affect a capitulation he was a defeated man but it did not fail and it got to that point where an excited woman must go mad or cry and cried she sat flatly down on a chair and burst into tears Jerome's hat went one way in his cane another Jerome himself spring across the intervening space and dropped into a chair beside and he caught her hand in his and threw his arm boldly around her waist goodness gracious and you care after all tell me that I don't suppose it matters to you if I do so Dan it hasn't seemed to matter anyhow and look here didn't I come after you for 15 years it's you I've always wanted and want yet if I can get you I don't care a rap for Harriet Warren or anyone but you now that's the truth right out and no doubt it was and and was convinced of it but she had to have her cry out on Jerome's shoulder and it soothes her nerves wonderfully later on Octavia slipping noiselessly up the steps in the dusk saw a sight that transfixed her with astonishment when she recovered herself she turned and fled wildly around the house running bump into Sam Mitchell who was coming across the yard from a twilight conference with a hired men goodness Tabby what's the matter you look as if you'd seen a ghost Octavia leaned up against the wall in spasms of mirth oh Sam she gasped old Jerome curving and aunt Anne are sitting round there in the dark on the front porch and he had his arms around her kissing her and they never saw nor heard me no more and if they were deaf and blind Sam gave a tremendous whistle and then went off into a shout of laughter whose echoes reached even to the gloom of the front porch in the ears of the lovers but they did not know he was laughing at them and would not have cared if they had they were too happy for that there was a wedding that fall and Anne Stockard was the bride when she was safely his Jerome confessed all and was graciously forgiven but it was kind of mean to Harriet said Anne rebukingly to go with her and get her talked about and then drop her as you did don't you think so yourself Jerome her husband's eyes twinkled well hardly that you see Harriet's engaged that Johnson fellow out west tank generally known but I knew it and that's why I picked on her I thought it probable that she'd be willing enough to flirt with me for a little diversion if I was old Harriet's that sort of a girl and I made up my mind that if that didn't fetch it nothing would and I'd give up for good and all but it did didn't it Anne I should say so it was horrid of your Jerome but I dare say it's just as well you did or I'd likely never have found out that I couldn't get along without you I did feel dreadful poor Octavia could tell you I was as cross as X how did you come to think of it Jerome a fellow had to do something said Jerome miraculously and I'd have done most anything to get you and that's a fact and there it was courting 15 years and nothing to show for it I don't know though how I did come to think of it guess it was a sort of inspiration anyhow I've got you and that's what I set out to do in the beginning End of the Way of the Winning of Anne Recording by Andrea Keane