 Chapter 29 The Same Person Among other eminently sensible movements upon his part, Mr. Earl McIntyre showed the most surprising interest in the missionary convocation. He had not heard Mr. Randall's great speech, and before the coming of that gentleman's family, had been heard to say that he was glad he had not because he had been called upon already to hear as much about it as mortal man could endure. Nevertheless he heard, or at least he was present where he could have heard if he chose to listen, every other missionary, home or foreign, who spoke at that gathering during the next five days. To be sure there were reasons for this which he believed must be apparent to people of common sense. His father had a heavy business on his mind, the details of which must receive more or less attention, and a new maid in his mother's department demanded some of her time. He was the only member of the family who chanced just then to be quite at leisure to entertain their guests. So mindful of his promise to his mother to aid in a bet her hospitable designs, he gave the most careful attention to Mr. and Mrs. and Ms. Randall, surprising even his mother with the thoughtfulness of his courtesies. In going to and from the evening meetings, when both his father and mother were of the party, the family carriage seemed quite full, and with marked solicitude for the comfort of his elders, he decreed that Ms. Randall should take a seat in his own single carriage and make more room for the others. Moreover there was a river and there were rowboats. In fact he had one of his own, and Ms. Randall had lived all her life far inland. It seemed no more than attending to the demands of courtesy to plan that she should have opportunities now for such enjoyments, especially as neither her father nor mother were fond of rowing. So in the early evenings before the church services began, he seized the opportunity to show the inland bred girl the beauties of their river scenery, and if sometimes they rowed farther than they had meant and were late in reaching the crowded church, neither of them seemed to be deeply grieved there at. Nor had these two any lack of topics for conversation when they were left dependent on each other's society. In truth the number and variety of topics for which they seemed to have an equal affinity might have astonished an unsympathetic outsider. On the first evening of their acquaintance, Ms. Randall had made a surprising remark. They were together in his mother's garden, whether she had bade her son take their guest to see her chrysanthemums that were in their glory, and all the while Esther exalted in them he was conscious that she was bestowing curious glances on him as one trying to place a half-forgotten scene. At last she spoke, half-allowed, as one who did not realize that she had a listener. It is certainly the same person. Is it, he asked, shall I be glad or sorry? Then she looked directly at him and laughed. I think you have a right to be glad, she said, but you don't know anything about it. I wanted to ask you then, but I never expected to have the opportunity if possibly the name of your mother's friend was Esther Reid, the friend who died when she was nineteen, was it? He looked exceedingly surprised. My mother had a friend named Esther Reid, he said, and she died when she was nineteen, but how you know of it or what you mean, I am at a loss to understand. Isn't it wonderful, she said, that her name was Esther Reid, my father's friend? Yet it seemed to me at the time that it must be. I was named for her. I am Esther Reid Randall. So was I, he said, smiling. I am Earl Reid McIntyre. But what does all this mean? When and where did you hear about my mother's friend? And that took them back to the college town and the Sunday morning service in Dr. Armitage's church, that never to be forgotten Sunday in which Esther Randall found her soul and its master. But she did not tell him then what cause he had to be glad for the utterances of that hour. They began to feel, however, like old acquaintances, and presently Mr. McIntyre, still lingering over that Sabbath memory, said, Why, perhaps you know my friend Langham, he is from that college. Professor Langham, said Esther, is he your friend? Her tone expressed astonishment and he laughed a little as he answered. Yes, in a way, we meet each other daily in term time and always exchange friendly greetings and take an occasional walk together and often have to serve on the same committees. Isn't that friendship? Will you tell me why you are so astonished? There is no reason, said Esther, flushing deeply and feeling glad that the dusk was falling rapidly. Only I, he, she was vexed with herself over her confusion. All I mean is, she began again speaking rapidly. It did not seem to me you are sufficiently alike to be friends. Do people have to be alike to be friends, Ms. Randall? Then, seeing that for some reason the topic embarrassed her, he added quietly, Mr. Langham and I are new friends. I did not meet him when I was West and at once changed the subject. They did not refer to it again until they had become old friends. Missionary rallies, though as long drawn out as that memorable one, will come to an end. The last day and hour came and the Randalls, although held for the Sabbath after the close so that Mr. Randall might preach for Pastor Evans in the Tenth Street Church, reached the hour and moment when they said goodbye and departed for the old home in the waiting mothers, Helen's mother first. Mr. Earl McIntyre had made every conceivable arrangement for the journey and had been at great pains to explain that it would be necessary for them to leave the through train at the junction forty miles distant and wait two hours for the accommodation. Then, at the last moment, he had discovered some business which should be attended to in that direction, so he went down with them, agreeing to see that they boarded the right train. What possible business can Earl have at the junction, questioned his bewildered father after the guests had departed. I never knew of his having any acquaintances or interests there. I think, said the hesitating mother, that perhaps the chief part of his business is to see that our guests get safely away from the junction and have as comfortable accommodations as possible for the remainder of their journey. Humpf! said the father, who wished to have a quiet evening with his son before the world's work rushed in on them again and who resented the junction as an interloper. I should call that courtesy gone mad. That would be enough if the ladies were traveling alone. Mr. Randall knows what he is about and is entirely capable of taking care of his family. I never knew Earl to be so overcome with politeness as to plan to wait unnecessarily at a stupid junction for two whole hours with not an interesting thing to take his attention. Mrs. McIntyre looked at the merchant prince about whom she had heard for years that he had one of the keenest, most trusted brains in the business world and said to her inner self, how stupid great men can be on occasion. Ah, well, let it be. He will learn in time what there is at the junction that was interesting. But the mother knew then and knew that she was not dearest any more. All these people went their ways and lived their lives and a whole year passed and it was the ninth day of October and wonderful things were happening to the ladies of the Tenth Street Church. The ladies' aid was gathered in full force for its important fall meeting which was to initiate the winter's campaign of work. Financially the year had been discouraging to the Tenth Street women. They had worked valiantly, but without the leader to whom they had been accustomed it seemed to them that they had accomplished very little. Not once had they ventured on a church supper or fair or festival. It had been found that with one consent they shrank from any aggressive movements unless they could have the help of Mrs. John Potter. And that good woman sorely tried though she was by her inactivity and with her opposition to any and everything missionary in its character utterly annihilated ever since she listened to missionary Randall's two hours plea was still engaged in being a woman of her word. She had kept herself carefully posted on the efforts of the women and knew that they had not been able to pay one penny of the original debt that indeed the prompt payment of the interest had together with their other obligations taxed them sorely. She felt deeply for them and longed in every fiber of her being to be at work in their behalf yet she told herself grimly that business was business and set her lips firmly and wondered drearily how it would all end. If she could only afford to quietly transfer a thousand dollars of her own money to that ridiculous bank account of three dollars and sixty five cents that would settle the whole matter and she could go to work again. But this the good woman knew that she could not afford to do so she sighed and waited. And yet on this ninth day of October all the members of the ladies aid and a large number who were not members were gathered by special invitation read by Pastor Evans from the pulpit in Mrs. John Potter's pleasant rooms busy with needles and tongues. While Mrs. John Potter herself bustled about her dining room adding last touches to the table where she meant to spread a bountiful thanksgiving feast and desired to have everything ready before the business meeting which was always held at exactly five o'clock should be called to order. To understand the situation it will be necessary to go back a few weeks to an August evening in the McIntyre home. A rainy evening which the McIntyre's mother and son were spending in what they called the small house under circumstances that were rather depressing. They had spent most of the summer at a quiet seaside resort and being in town for a few days preparatory to a western trip they had come down to the small house that had been closed all summer to look after certain matters demanding attention their plan had been to return to town by the evening train but they discovered it to be necessary to spend the night and wait for daylight to complete some of their tasks the rooms in which they were thus compelled to spend the evening were not in spiriting much of the furniture was shrouded in pale gray dresses and looked in the dim light like ghosts of pleasant hours that were gone standing solemnly about in the great quiet rooms the rain beat steadily against the windows making it necessary to keep them closed and so adding to the general sense of discomfort Mr. Earl McIntyre wandered blisslessly about trying to find something to interest him he knew there was a letter from the west awaiting him at home and he wanted it the knowledge that he could not have it until the next day increased his sense of dreariness and general discomfort it is strange he said to his mother what a difference little things make in a home this room hasn't been changed much since last fall and yet it doesn't look like the same place his mother smiled sympathetically she understood better than he did what he missed from the room she began to talk to him about the people and the church their interest in which dated back to his childhood mrs. Evans is rather troubled about the church debt she told him they haven't been able to reduce it at all this year and now the holder of the mortgage wants his money they are almost afraid of a foreclosure though of course that will not be allowed i thought they ate and drank that debt up long ago said her son listlessly oh no they only ate at it but they haven't even done that this year they are afraid to launch out without mrs. john potter's help mrs potter with a start and a sudden accession of interest is she dead oh no indeed she is very much alive and is engaged in being a woman of her word she laughed over the remembrance of the curious trouble as it had been detailed to her that afternoon and gave her son a graphic account of the assessment and its results i don't know when i have laughed so heartily she said as i did when mrs. Evans was telling me about the letter mrs potter wrote to the ladies it sounded so exactly like her she is a very bright capable woman it seems a pity that she should spoil her usefulness and happiness by this dreadful streak of obstinacy doesn't it the young man laughed in an absent-minded way shows spirit he said is the face of the dead just a thousand then after a few minutes of silence mother wasn't mrs potter the moving spirit in that plan to send for ester and her mother indeed she was she dreamt the entire afternoon to accomplish it think how thoroughly interested she was in missions then and yet she will not give up the stand she took about that fifty dollars even to help the missionary society that is principle i suppose she thinks her son said with an amused laugh after that he relapsed into a silence so thoughtful that his mother forbore to disturb it end of chapter 29 recording by trisha g chapter 30 of ester reed's namesake this liber box recording is in the public domain ester reed's namesake by pansy chapter 30 something portentious was about to happen on the morning following mr mackentire's visit with his mother during which he learned certain interesting particulars about the 10th street church debt this is john potter had a collar no less a personage than professor mackentire as she was always careful to call him he came before her breakfast dishes were well out of the way and flurried that excellent woman not a little she had a very slight acquaintance with this great man and stood fully as much in awe of him as she did of anybody which however is not saying a great deal she found him very genial and friendly interested in her fall flowers which he compared favorably with his mother's and he offered to send her from town a new variety of dahlia in less than five minutes she was quiet at her ease and enjoying the call by the way he said with a sudden change of subject i wonder if you can keep a secret isn't it generally supposed that ladies cannot i don't know about other people said mrs potter but i know that i can do what i say i will i am a woman of my word so i have understood at this point mr mackentire passed his hands skillfully over his mustache to suppress a smile and hurried on the fact is i want to secure your help in a little matter and i must first tell you that i am about to be married mrs potter gave a little start of surprise and her face expressed the keenest interest this was a very rare secret indeed to be entrusted to her keeping more than one member of the lady's aid had been heard to say that she did not believe earl mackentire would ever marry and it happens continued her collar that the lady i am to marry is especially interested in you mercy me said mrs john potter in a flutter of excitement is it somebody i know to herself she was saying good land i hope it isn't that yellow haired girl who was with them a year ago last june she might have a reason for remembering me i know i turned around to her one night in meeting and asked her if she didn't think she could keep from whispering just through prayer time and we wouldn't mind about the sermon i do hope she isn't the one meantime she was hearing every word that mr mackentire said and because of this interest not only in you but in the church which you represent she would like to offer through you in honor of our marriage day a little gift toward the paying of that church debt in which we know you are peculiarly interested the day is set for the 9th of october which is a sort of anniversary day with us mrs potter carried on her mental comments it's the very day the randle girl and her mother came to the missionary meeting i remember it because it was john's birthday now mrs potter may i ask you to receive the gift for me and hold it until the 9th of october presenting it to your lady's aid on that day as a souvenir of the occasion what a delightful commission but mrs potter must be honest though the opportunity of her life was lost i am not their treasurer anymore she said sadly so i have understood but i do not care to ask any other person to serve us and as i am compelled to leave town this morning i thought if i might put this little matter in your hands to attend to at the right moment it would be an accommodation mrs potter thought swiftly i guess i can pass on a little money to them even if i'm not their secretary she told herself sternly any honest woman could do that without affecting her word i'll do it she said briefly in the tone that one might have used if he were saying i'll do it though my life should be the forfeit mr mackentire drew out his pocketbook i have made it in the form of a check mrs potter payable to your order if you will kindly hold it and the secret i mentioned until the ninth day of october and then arrange its payment in any manner that best suits you mrs mackentire electon myself will be most grateful to you my goodness said mrs john potter as she stood check in hand at the front window and watched her collar making rapid strides toward the station i was that flurried and bewildered that i never asked him who the lady was nor why she had any interest in me well well i wouldn't have thought that i could be such a goose it can't be that yellow haired girl she wouldn't want me to handle any of her money i wonder what this check is they're rich those mackentires i shouldn't wonder a bit if it was a good fifty dollars same as we made at the supper wouldn't that be great now if it should be the exact sum i guess those ladies that voted it would feel cheap then as she thought these excited thoughts she opened with eager hands to fold a check you could have knocked me down with a feather was her description of it when on the ninth day of october soon after five o'clock she was able to tell the story but at the moment all she said in almost frightened gasps was my goodness gracious and now it is time to return to mrs john potter's large old-fashioned parlor and watch the busy needles and listen to the busy tongues i wonder if mrs potter isn't about ready to come in said the president it is almost five o'clock what do you suppose is going to happen asked another pausing in her work to make her words more impressive i never was so surprised in my life as when i heard mr evans read that notice from the pulpit asking us here i didn't believe she would ever do it well said one of the gardener girls i was never so surprised in my life as i was when we received professor macintyre's wedding cards mary and i noticed last year that he was very polite to that girl but they were his mother's guests and he is polite to everybody i never saw a more polite young man in all my life than professor macintyre never i guess nobody else ever did said little mrs hunt i couldn't help but notice him one day last spring when that sarah barnes was sewing there a plain homely girl without any style of any kind and as freckled as she can be in the bargain and if he didn't hold open the gate for her and lift his hat as she walked out of it as though she was a queen although the wedding which they all knew was in progress that day had been discussed in all its bearings until one would have supposed that there was nothing left to be said no matter what subject was under discussion they presently returned to it with renewed vigor i suppose the ceremony is over by this time said mrs stillman glancing at the clock and she's mrs earle macintyre forever and always i wonder how she feels i'm glad they have such a nice day for the wedding but then land it may rain cats and dogs out there they say it is more than a thousand miles from here i guess it is nearer two thousand said one of the gardener girls doesn't it seem just like a storybook her coming away out here in search of him as one may say though of course she didn't think of such a thing she was a sweet pretty modest girl i liked her looks the first time i set eyes on her and i saw her that first evening when professor macintyre brought her into church it's my belief that he was struck with her from the first minute if you think of it he always had her with him he is downright in love with her i'm sure of that mrs baker says we ought to see the suite of rooms he has had furnished all new for her in the big house she said if two or three of us wanted to come in before the folks get back she'd show them to us and that reminds me how nice she is going to have it all around do you remember that professor langham who was down here with the macintyre's last spring it seems he's married a college friend of hers of mrs baker do you mean interposed one of the good women who liked to have pronouns and antecedents in their places the gardener girl gave her an annoyed glance and said of course not professor langham as i was saying has married a college friend of miss randals or else he's going to i don't know which the most intimate friend she had in college mrs baker said and she used to know professor langham too he is from that college where she graduated you know so i suppose that will make it pleasanter yet and he is fixing up rooms just around the corner from the macintyre's they aren't much like the macintyre's rooms mrs baker said but real nice and cozy so she won't be all together among strangers as one may say though of course when her husband is at home she won't feel any call to be lonesome i do think he is the very nicest young man that was ever made and i must say i'm real glad she has got him she seemed to think the world of her father and mother and now she can do for them he'll do for them said the member who was an intimate friend of the housekeeper at the macintyre's big house she had bided her time knowing that she had a delicious budget of news for them i don't suppose you have heard what a surprise he gave them did you well i have i was in town yesterday and i got an hour to run in and see mrs baker and she told me all about it he got it up for her father and mother the girl knew about it and helped keep it secret i tell you he did it up in fine style but what was it said two voices at once and nearly all the needles waited why he took the two grandmothers and the three aunts along with his folks out to the wedding paid all the bills and took the sunset limited vestibule parlor car buffet and all the other things train wasn't that a thing worth doing it seems none of them have ever been out there and he made up his mind they should all have a good time together it must be nice to be able to do things like that well they can afford it said mrs jacob smith beginning to sew mr smith was saying last night that mr warren macintyre was one of the richest men in the city and growing richer every day and the professor is his only child that girl has certainly done well for herself and all her folks probably she'll never have to cut up her petticoat again to make shirts for anybody i guess and i for one am real glad that ladies interrupted the president of the ladies aid it is exactly five o'clock and we must come to order it once for business it was at that moment that mrs john potter entered the room and those who glanced at her face felt a kind of delicious ah steal over them something portentious was about to happen the first formalities were passed over with commendable speed and the president announced that their former beloved and honored treasurer mrs john potter had a communication to make then mrs potter arose shook out the folds of her handsome black dress and began ladies of the 10th street church i need not say that i am glad to see you all here today and i am sure no one but myself can know how glad i am to be counted once more among you you have been so good as to tell me a number of times that you missed me but i know you can't have missed me as much as i have you i need not go over in detail the circumstances that have served to keep us apart you all understand them you remember that i said i could not meet with you as a worker again until the sum of three dollars and sixty five cents placed in the bank subject to my call had increased to the sum of one thousand dollars i suppose you thought that was a wild and foolish statement and it was i am free to confess that it would have been more sensible in me a good deal to have worked right along with you and on my best instead of fixing myself so that being a woman of my word i couldn't ever expect the chance of being counted with you again but the lord is often better to us than we deserve to me anyhow and i'm about ready to believe that the age of miracles isn't passed at all ladies something a good deal like a miracle has taken place that lonesome little three dollars and sixty five cents that i've taken care of so long has sprouted and spread itself beyond all bounds in this tin box which i hold in my hand there are some gold pieces each one of them worth twenty dollars look there is one of them do you take it in twenty dollars in gold and it belongs to the ladies aid of the tenth street church to be used toward paying off the debt well how many of them are there do you say two five ten how large is your faith ladies there are fifty twenty dollar gold pieces in this box one thousand dollars in gold ladies i have the greatest pleasure of telling you that this wonderful gift is from mrs. earle mackentire in honor of her wedding and anniversary day it is just a year today you remember since we had the pleasure of looking at her for the first time and she has chosen to mark the event in this blessed way and give me a chance to share in the joy mrs. potter stopped abruptly for her voice grew too husky to proceed and the president of the ladies aid had at that moment an inspiration now she said gleefully we can have our treasurer once more all in favor of electing mrs. john potter treasurer of the ladies aid please rise in a twinkling every woman was on her feet some were laughing and exclaiming one or two were wiping away the tears they loved their church these women and the debt had hung like a millstone about their necks for years and years and they all liked mrs. john potter and had missed and mourned her they gathered about her and shook hands and congratulated themselves and her and were all but overwhelmed with joy it was the president again who kept a cool head and called them to order ladies she said tapping with her silver thimble on the table we have almost lost our wits with joy and no wonder with mrs. potter's permission we will in a few minutes adjourn to the dining room for supper and wait until we are calmer before we transact any more business but before that let us all join hands and bow our heads and say as a prayer thank god for mrs. earle mackentire and mrs. john potter and this they did while down the cheeks of the strong-minded woman of her word rolled on molested great shining tears of joy end of chapter 30 recording by trisha g end of ester reed's namesake by pansy