 Part 1, Chapters 1 and 2 of Bessie's Fortune This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Bessie's Fortune by Mary Jane Holmes 1. The Gerald's of Boston Mrs. Geraldine Gerald of Boston had in her girlhood been Miss Geraldine Gray of Allington, one of those quiet, pretty little towns which so thickly dot the hills and valleys of New England. Her father, who died before her marriage, had been a sea-captain and a man of great wealth, and was looked upon as a kind of autocrat, whose opinion was a law and whose friendship was an honour. When a young lady, Miss Geraldine, had chafed at the stupid town and the stupider people as she designated the citizens of Allington, and had only been happy when the house at Gray's Park was full of guests after the manner of English houses, where hospitality is dispensed on a larger scale than is common in America. She had been abroad and had spent some weeks in Derbyshire at the Peacock Inn close to the park of Chatsworth, which she admired so much that on her return to Allington she never rested until the five acres of land, in the midst of which her father's house stood, were improved and fitted up as nearly as possible like the beautiful grounds across the sea. With good taste and plenty of money, she succeeded beyond her most sanguine hopes, and Gray's Park was the pride of the town and the wonder of the entire county. A kind of show place it became, and Miss Geraldine was never happier or prouder than when strangers were going over the grounds or through the house, which was filled with rare pictures and choice statuary gathered from all parts of the world, for Captain Gray had brought something curious and costly from every port at which his vessel touched, so that the house was like a museum, or as Miss Geraldine fancied, like the palaces and castles in Europe which are shown to strangers in the absence of the family. At the age of twenty-two, Miss Geraldine had married Burton Gerald, a young man from one of the leading banks in Boston, and whose father, Peter Gerald, had for years lived on a small farm a mile or more from the town of Allington. So far as Geraldine knew, the Gerald blood was as good as the Gray's, even if old Peter did live a hermit life and wear a drab overcoat, which must have dated back more years than she could remember. No one had ever breathed a word of censure against the peculiar man, who was never known to smile, and who seldom spoke except he was spoken to, and who, with his long white hair falling around his thin face, looked like some old picture of a saint when on Sunday he sat in his accustomed pew by the door, and, like a publican, seemed almost to smite upon his breast as he confessed himself to be a miserable sinner. Had Burton Gerald remained at home and been content to till the barren soil of his father's rocky farm, not his handsome face or polished manners, or adoration of herself as the queen of Queens could have won a second thought from Geraldine for she hated farmers who smelled of the barn and wore cowhide boots and what sooner have died than been a farmer's wife. But Burton had never tilled the soil nor worn cowhide boots nor smelled of the barn, for when he was a mere boy his mother died, and an old aunt who lived in Boston took him for her own and gave him all the advantages of a city education until he was old enough to enter one of the principal banks as a clerk. Then she died and left him all her fortune except a thousand dollars which she gave to his sister Hannah, who still lived at home upon the farm and was almost as silent and peculiar as the father himself. Very one of the gray girls, if you can, the aunt had said to her nephew upon her deathbed, It is a good family and blood is worth more than money. It goes further toward securing you a good position in Boston society. The Gerald blood is good for aunt I know, though not equal to that of the grays. Your father is greatly respected in Allington, where he is known, but he is a codger of the strictest type and clings to everything old fashioned and outre. He has resisted all my efforts to have him change the house into something more modern even when, for the sake of your mother, I offered to do it at my own expense. Especially was I anxious to tear down that projection which he calls a lean-to, but when I suggested it to him and said I would bring a carpenter at once he flew into such a passion as fairly frightened me. The lean-to should not be touched for a million of dollars, he preferred it as it was, he said, so I let him alone. He is a strange man and, and, Berton, I may be mistaken, but I have thought there was something he was hiding. Else why does he never smile or talk or look you straight in the face? And why is he always brooding with his head bent down and his hands clenched together? Yes, there is something hidden and Hannah knows it, and this it is which turned her hair gray so early and has made her as queer and reticent as your father. There is a secret between them, but do not try to discover it. There may be disgrace of some kind which would affect your whole life so let it alone. Make good use of what I leave you and marry one of the grays. Lucy is the sweeter and the more amiable, but Geraldine is more ambitious and will help you to reach the top. This was the last conversation Mrs. Weatherby ever held with her nephew for in two days more she was dead and Berton buried her in Mount Auburn and went back to the house which was now his, conscious of three distinct ideas which even during the funeral had recurred to him constantly. First, that he was the owner of a large house and twenty thousand daughters. Second, that he must marry one of the grays if possible. And third, that there was some secret between his father and his sister Hannah. Something which had made them what they were. Something which had given his father the name of the half-crazy hermit and to his sister that of the recluse. Something which he must never try to unearth lest it bring disquiet and disgrace. The last word had an ugly sound to Berton Gerald who was more ambitious even than his aunt. More anxious that people in high positions should think well of him and he shivered as he repeated it to himself while all sorts of fancies flitted through his brain. Nonsense he exclaimed at last as he arose and walking to the window looked out upon the common where groups of children were playing. There is nothing hidden. Why should there be? My father has never stolen or forged or embezzled or set anyone's house on fire. They esteem him a Satan Allington and I know he reads his Bible all the time when he is not praying and once he was on his knees in his bedroom a whole hour for I timed him and thought he must be crazy. Of course so good a man can have nothing concealed and yet... Here Berton shivered again and continued, and yet I always seem to be in a nightmare when I am at the old hut and once I told Hannah I believe the house was haunted for I heard strange sounds at night, soft footsteps and moans and whisperings and the old dog Rover howled so dismally that he kept me awake and made me nervous and wretched. I don't remember what Hannah said except that she made light of my fears and told me that she would keep Rover in her room at night on the floor by her bed which she did ever after when I was at home. No, there is nothing but I may as well sound Hannah a little and then we'll go to her at once. When Mrs. Weatherby died her nephew sent a message to his father and sister announcing her death and the time of the funeral. He felt at his duty to do so much but he did not say to them, come I expect you. In fact a way down in his heart there was hope that they would not come. His father was well enough in Allington where he was known, but what a figure he would cut in Boston in his old drab silk too and white hat which he had worn since Berton could remember. Hannah was different and must have been pretty in her early girlhood. Indeed she was pretty now and no one could look into her pale sad face and soft dark eyes or listen to her low sweet voice without being attracted to her and knowing instinctively that in spite of her plain quakerish dress she was a lady in the true sense of the word. So when she came alone to pay the last token of respect to the aunt who had never been very gracious to her Berton felt relieved though he wished that her bonnet was a little more fashionable and suggested her buying a new one which he would pay for. But Hannah said no very quietly and firmly and that was the end of it. The old style bonnet was worn as well as the old style cloak and Berton felt keenly the difference between her personal appearance and his own. He, the Boston dandy with every article of dress as faultless as the best tailor could make it, and she, the plain country woman with no attempt at style or fashion, with nothing but her own sterling worth to commend her and this was far more priceless than all the wealth of the Indies. Hannah Gerald had been tried in the fire and had come out purified and almost Christlike in her sweet gentleness and purity of soul. She knew her brother was ashamed of her, whether designately or not he always made her feel it, but she had felt at her duty to attend her aunt's funeral even though it stirred anew all the bitterness of her joyless life. And now the funeral was over and she was going home that very afternoon to the gloomy house among the rocks where she had grown old and her hair gray long before her time, going back to the burden which pressed so heavily upon her and from which she shrank as she had never done before. Not that she wished to stay in that grand house where she was so sadly out of place but she wanted to go somewhere, anywhere so that she escaped from the one spot so horrible to her. She was thinking of all this and standing with her face to the window when her brother entered the room and began abruptly. I say Hannah, I want to ask you something. Just before Aunt Weatherby died she had a long talk with me on various matters and among other things she said she believed there was something troubling you and father, some secret you were hiding from me and the world. Is it so? Do you know anything which I do not? Yes, many things. The voice which gave this reply was not like Hannah's voice but was hard and sharp and sounded as if a great ways off and Burton could see how violently his sister was agitated even though she stood with her back to him. Suddenly he remembered that his aunt had also said, if there is a secret never seek to discover it lest it should bring disgrace. And here he was trying to find out almost before she was cold. A great fear took possession of Burton then for he was the various moral coward in the world and before Hannah could say another word he continued, yes, Aunt Weatherby was right. There is something, there has always been something. But don't tell me, please, I'd rather not know. He spoke very gently for him for somehow there had been awakened within him a great pity for his sister and by some sudden intuition he seemed to understand all her loneliness and pain. If there had been a wrongdoing it was not her fault and as she still stood with her back to him and did not speak he went up to her and laying his hand upon her shoulder said to her, I regret that I asked a question which has so agitated you and believe me I am sorry for you for whatever it is you are innocent. Then she turned toward him with a face as white as ashes and a look of terror in her large black eyes before which he quailed. Never in his life since he was a little child had he seen her cry but now after regarding him fixedly a moment she broke into such a wild fit of sobbing that he became alarmed and passing his arm around her led her to a seat and made her lean her head upon him while he smoothed her heavy hair which was more than half gray and she was only three years his senior. At last she grew calm and rising up said to him, excuse me I'm not often so upset I have not cried in years not since Rover died hear her voice trembled again but she went on quite steadily he was all the companion I had you know and he was so faithful so true. Oh it almost broke my heart when he died and left me there alone. There was a world of pathos in her voice as she uttered the last two words there alone and it flashed upon Burton that there was more meaning in them than was at first indicated that to live there alone was something from which his sister recoiled. Standing before her with his hand still upon her head he remembered that she had not always been as she was now so quiet and impassive with no smile upon her face no joy in her dark eyes. As a young girl in the days when he too lived at home and slept under the rafters in the low-roofed house she had been full of life and frolic and played with him all day long. She was very pretty then and her cheeks now so colorless were red as the Damasque roses which grew by the kitchen door while her wavy hair was brown like the chestnuts they used to gather from the trees in the rocky pastureland. It was wavy still and soft and luxuriant but it was iron gray and she wore it plain in a knot at the back of her head and only a few short hairs which would curl about her forehead in spite of her softened the severity of her face. Just when the change began in his sister Burton could not remember for on the rare occasions when he visited his home he had not been a close observer and had only been conscious of a desire to shorten his stay as much as possible and return to his aunt's house which was more to his taste. He should die if he had to live in that lonely spot he thought and in his newly awakened pity for his sister he said to her impulsively, don't go back there to stay, live with me. I am all alone and must have someone to keep my house. You and I can get on nicely together. He made no mention of his father and he did not have mean what he said to his sister and had she accepted his offer he would ever regretted that it had ever been made. But she did not accept it and she answered him at once. No Burton, so long as father lives I must stay with him and you will be happier without them with me. We are not at all alike. But I thank you for asking me all the same and now it is time for me to go if I take the four o'clock train. Father will be expecting me. Burton went with her to the train and saw her into the car and bought her Harper's monthly and bought her goodbye and then in passing out met and lifted his hat to the Mrs. Gray, Lucy and Geraldine who had been visiting in Boston and were returning to Allington. This encounter drove his sister from his mind and made him think of his aunt's injunction to marry one of the Grays. Lucy was the prettier and gentler of the two, the one whom everybody loved and who would make him the better wife. Probably too she would be more easily one than the haughty Geraldine who had not many friends and so before he reached his house on Beacon Street he had planned a matrimonial campaign and carried it to a successful issue and made sweet Lucy Gray the mistress of his home. It is not our purpose to enter into the details of Burton's wooing. Suffice it to say that it was unsuccessful for Lucy said no very promptly and then he tried the proud Geraldine who listened to his suit and after a little accepted him quite as much to his surprise as to that of her acquaintances who knew her ambitious nature. Anything to get away from stupid Allington she said to her sister Lucy who she never suspected had been Burton's first choice. I hate the country and I like Boston and like Mr. Gerald well enough. He is good-looking and well-mannered and has a house in twenty thousand dollars, a good position in the bank and no bad habits. Of course I would rather that his father and sister were not such oddities, but I am not marrying them and shall take good care to keep them in their places which places are not in Boston. And so the two were married Burton Gerald and Geraldine Gray and there was a grand wedding at Gray's Park and the supper was served on the lawn where there was a dance and music and fireworks in the evening and Sam Lawton a half-witted fellow went up in a balloon and came down on a pile of rocks on the Gerald farm and broke his leg and people were there from Boston and Wooster and Springfield and New York but very few from Allington for the reason that very few were bitten. Could Lucy have had her way the whole town would have been invited but Geraldine overruled her and made herself life long enemies of the people who had known her from childhood. Peter Gerald stayed at home just as Burton hoped he would but Hannah was present in a new gray silk with some old lace and a bit of scarlet ribbon at her throat and her hair arranged somewhat after the fashion of the times. This was the suggestion of Lucy Gray who had more influence over Hannah Gerald than anyone else in the world and when she advised the new silk and the old lace and the scarlet ribbon Hannah assented readily and looked so youthful and pretty in spite of her thirty years that the Reverend Mr. Sanford who was a bachelor and had preached in Allington for several years paid her marked attention helping her to ISIS and walking with her for half an hour on the long terrace in a corner of the park. There was a trip to Saratoga and Newport and the Catskills and then early in September Burton brought his bride to the house on Beacon Street which Geraldine at once remodeled and fitted up in a style worthy of her means and of the position she met her husband to occupy. He was a growing man and from being clerk in a bank soon came to be cashier and then president and money and friends poured in upon him and Geraldine's drawing rooms were filled with the elite of the city. The fashionables, the scholars, the artists and musicians and whoever was in any degree famous met with favor for Mrs. Geraldine who liked nothing better than to fill her house with such people and fancy herself a second Madame Dostal in her character as hostess. All this was very pleasing to Burton who having recovered from any sentimental feeling he might have entertained for Lucy blessed the good fortune which gave him Geraldine instead. He never asked himself if he loved her. He only knew that he admired and revered and worshipped her as a woman of genius and tact that what she thought he thought what she wished he wished and what she did he was bound to say was right and make others think so too. There had been a condescension on her part when she married him and she never let him forget it while he too mentally acknowledged it and felt that for it he owed her a perfect allegiance from which he never swerved. Just a year after the grand wedding at Gray's Park there was born to Burton and Geraldine a little boy so small and frail and puny that much solicitude would have been felt for him had there not been a greater anxiety for the young mother who went so far down toward the river of death that every other thought was lost in the great fear for her. Then the two sisters Hannah and Lucy came the latter giving all her time to Geraldine and the former devoting herself to the feeble little child whose constant wail so disturbed the mother that she begged them to take it away where she could not hear it cry it made her so nervous. Geraldine did not like children and she seemed to care so little for her baby that Hannah who had loved it with her whole soul the moment she took it in her arms and felt it soft cheek against her own said to her brother one day I must go home tomorrow but let me take baby with me his crying disturbs your wife who hears him however far he may be from her room he is a weak little thing but I will take the best care of him and bring him back a healthy boy Burton saw no objection to the plan and readily gave his consent provided his wife was willing although out of danger Geraldine was still too sick to take care of her baby and so it went with Hannah to the old home among the rocks where it grew round and plump and pretty and filled the house with the music of its going and its laughter and learn to stretch its fat hands toward the old grandfather who never took it in his arms or laid his hands upon it but Hannah once saw him kneeling by the cradle where the child was sleeping and heard him whisper through his tears God bless you my darling boy and may you never know what it is to sin as I have sinned until I am not worthy to touch you with my finger oh God forgive and make me clean as this little child then Hannah knew why her father kept aloof from his grandson and pitied him more than she had done before it was the first of October before Geraldine came up to Allington to claim her boy of whom she really knew nothing only once since her marriage had she been to the farmhouse and then she had driven to the door in her handsome carriage with the high stepping bays and had held up her rich silk dress as she passed through the kitchen into the best room around which she glanced a little contemptuously not as well furnished as my cook's room she thought but she tried to be gracious and said how clean everything was and asked Hannah if she did not get very tired doing her own work and praised the Dalias growing by the south door and ate a few plums and drank some water which she said was so cold that it made her think of the famous well at Carersbrook Castle on the Isle of Wight your well must be very deep where is it she asked not because she cared but because she must say something on being told it was in the woodshed she started for it and mistaking the door was walking into a bedroom when she was seized roughly by her father-in-law whose face was white as ashes and whose voice shook as he said not in the air this is the way for an instant Geraldine looked at him in surprise he seemed so agitated then thinking to herself that probably his room was in disorder and the bed unmade she dismissed it from her mind and went to investigate the well whose water tasted like that at Carersbrook Castle half an hour in all she remained at the farmhouse and that was the only time she had honored it with her presence until the day when she came to take her boy away not yet fully recovered from her dangerous illness she assumed all the errors of an invalid and kept her wraps around her and shrank a little when her husband put her boy on her lap and asked her if he was not a beauty and did not do justice to Hannah's care and the brindle cow whose milky had fed upon and in truth he was a healthy beautiful child with eyes as blue as the skies of June and light chestnut hair which lay in thick girls upon his head but he was strange to Geraldine and she was strange to him and after regarding her a moment with his great blue eyes he turned toward Hannah and with a quivering lip began to cry for her and Hannah took him in her arms and hugging him to her bosom felt that her heart was breaking she loved him so much he had been so much company for her and had helped to drive away in part the horror with which her life was invested and now he was going from her all she had to love in the wide world and so far as she knew the only living being that loved her with a pure unselfish love oh brother oh sister she cried as she covered the baby's dimpled hands with kisses don't take him from me let me have him let him stay a while longer I shall die here alone with baby gone but mrs. Geraldine said no very decidedly for though as yet she cared but little for her child she cared a great deal for the proprieties and her friends were beginning to wonder at the protracted absence of the boy so she must take him from poor Hannah who tied on his scarlet cloak and cap of costly lace and carried him to the carriage and put him into the arms of the red-haired German woman who was hereafter to be his nurse and win his love from her then the carriage drove off but as long as it was in sight Hannah stood just where it had left her watching it with a feeling of such utter desolation as she had never felt before oh baby baby come back to me she moaned piteously what shall I do without you God will comfort you my daughter he can be more to you than baby was the old father said to her and she replied I know that yes but just now I cannot pray and I am so desolate the burden was pressing more heavily than ever and Hannah's face grew whiter and her eyes larger and sadder and brighter as the days went by and there was nothing left of baby but a rattle box with which she had played and the cradle in which he had slept this last she carried to her room upstairs and made at the shrine over which her prayers were said not twice or thrice but many times a day for Hannah had early learned to take every care great and small to God knowing that peace would come at last though it might tarry long Geraldine sent her a black silk dress and a white paisley shawl in token of her gratitude for all she had done for the baby she also wrote her a letter telling of the grand christening they had had and of the handsome robe from Paris which baby had worn at the ceremony we have called him gray Geraldine wrote and perhaps he will visit you again next summer but it was not until gray was two years old that he went once more to the farmhouse and stayed for several months while his parents were in Europe what a summer that was for Hannah and how swiftly the days went by while the burden pressed so lightly that sometimes she forgot it for hours at a time and only remembered it when she saw her persistently her father shrank from the advances of the little boy who utterly ignoring his apparent indifference pursued him constantly lying him with questions and sometimes regarding him curiously as if wondering at his silence one day when the old man was sitting in his armchair under the apple trees in the yard gray came up to him with his straw hat hanging down his back his blue eyes shining like stars and all over his face that sweet smile which made him so beautiful folding his little white hands together upon his grandfather's knee he stood a moment gazing fixedly into the sad face which never relaxed a muscle though every nerve of the wretched man was strung to its utmost tension and quivering with pain the searching blue eyes of the boy troubled him for it seemed as if they pierced to the depths of his soul and saw what was there dada gray said at last take me peace ice tired oh how the old man long to snatch the child to his bosom and cover his face with the kisses he had so hungered to give him but in his morbid state of mind he dared not lest he should contaminate him so he restrained himself with a mighty effort and replied no gray no I cannot take you I am tired too is you sick was gray's next question to which his grandfather replied no I am not sick while he clasped both his hands tightly over his head out of reach of the baby fingers which sometimes tried to touch them is you sorry then gray continued and the grandfather replied yes child very very sorry there was a sound of a sob in the old man's voice and gray's blue eyes opened wider as they looked wistfully at the lips trembling with emotion has you been a naughty boy he said and with a sound like a moan grand bodger old replied yes yes very very naughty god grant you may never know how naughty then why don't ante Hannah set you up in a bedroom gray asked with the utmost gravity for in his mind a naughtiness and being shut up in his aunt's bedroom the only punishment ever inflicted upon him were closely connected with each other almost anyone would have smiled at this remark but grandpa Gerald did not on the contrary there came into his eyes a look of horror as he exclaimed shut me in the bedroom that would be dreadful indeed then springing up he hurried away into the field and disappeared behind a ledge of rocks where unseen by any eye saved that of God he wept more bitterly than he had ever done before why oh why he cried must this innocent baby's questions torture me so and why can I never take him in my arms or lay my hands upon him lest they should leave a stain then holding up before him his hard toil worn hands he tried to recall what it was he had heard or read of another than himself who tried to read his hands of the foul spot and could not only the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin he whispered to himself while his lips moved spasmodically with the prayer habitual to them four words forgive me lord forgive it had always been a strong desire with gray to be led around the premises by his grandfather who had steadily resisted all advances of that kind until with a child's quick intuition gray seemed to understand that his grandfather's hands were something he must not touch that afternoon however as mr. Gerald was walking on the green sword by the kitchen door with his head bent down in his hands clasped behind him gray stole noiselessly up to him and grasping the right hand in both his own held it fast while he jumped up and down as he called out to Hannah who was standing near I started I started that does and and I'll sell keep it too and is it hard like that and the baby's lips were pressed upon the rough hand which lay helpless and subdued in the two small palms holding it so tight it was like the casting out of an evil spirit and grandpa Gerald felt half his burden rolling away beneath that caress there was a healing power in the touch of gray's lips and the stain if stain there were upon the wrinkled hand was kissed away and the pain and remorse were not so great after that gray had conquered and was free to do what he pleased with the old man who became his very slave and going wherever gray liked whether up the steep hillside in the rear of the house or down upon the pond nearby where the white lilies grew and where there was a little boat in which the old man and the child spent hours together during the long summer afternoons in the large woodshed opposite the well and very near the window of grandpa Gerald's bedroom a rude bench had been placed for the use of peyote and wash basins but gray had early appropriated this to himself and persisted in keeping his placings there in spite of all his grandfather's remonstrances to the contrary if his toys were removed 20 times a day to some other locality 20 times a day he brought them back and arranging them upon the bench sat down by them defiantly kicking vigorously against the side of the house in token of his victory and wholly unconscious that every thought of his little heel sent a stab to his grandfather's heart what if he should kick through the clapboards what if the floor should cave in such were the questions which tortured the half crazed man as he wiped the perspiration from his face and wondered at the perversity of the boy in selecting that spot of all others where he must play and sit and kick as only a healthy act of child can do but after the day when gray succeeded in capturing his hands grand pa Gerald ceased to interfere with the playhouse and the boy was left in peace upon the bench though his grandfather often sat near and watched him anxiously and always seemed relieved when the child tired of that particular spot and wandered elsewhere in quest of amusement there was however one place in the house which grain never sought to penetrate and that was his grandfather's bedroom it is true he had never been allowed to enter it for one of Hannah's first lessons was that her father did not like children in his room ordinarily this would have made no difference with gray who had a way of going where he pleased but the gloomy appearance of the room where the curtains were always down did not attract him and he would only go as far as the door and look in saying to his aunt bears in there gray not go and Hannah let him believe in the bears and breathe more freely when he came away from the door though she frequently whispered to herself sometime gray will know for I must tell him and he will help me this fancy that gray was to lift the cloud which overshadowed her was a consolation to Hannah and helped to make life and durable when at last his parents returned from Europe and he went to his home in Boston after that Gray spent some portion of every summer at the farmhouse growing more and more fond of his aunt Hannah not was standing her quiet manner and the severe plainness of her personal appearance so different from his mother and his aunt Lucy gray his aunt Hannah always wore a calico dress or something equally as plain and inexpensive and her hands were rough and hard with toil for she never had anyone to help her she could not afford it she said and that was always her excuse for the self-denials she practiced and still Gray knew that she sometimes had money for he had seen his father give her gold in exchange for bills and he once asked her why she did not use it for her comfort there was a look of deep pain in her eyes and her voice was sadder than its want as she replied I cannot touch that money it is not mine it would be stealing to take a penny of it gray saw the question troubled his aunt Hannah and so he said no more on the subject but thought when he was a man and had means of his own he would improve and beautify the old farmhouse which though scrupulously neat and clean was in its furnishing plain in the extreme not a superfluous article except what had been sent from Boston had been bought since he could remember and the carpet and chairs and curtains in the best room had been there ever since his father was a boy and still gray loved the place better than Gray's Park where he was always a welcome guest and where his aunt Lucy petted him if possible more than did his aunt Hannah and a sweet Lucy gray in her trailing dress of rich black silk with ruffles of soft lace at her throat and wrists and costly diamonds on her white fingers made a picture perfectly harmonious with Gray's natural taste and ideas of a lady she was lovely as are the pictures of Murillo's Madonna's and Gray who knew her story reverenced her as something saintly and pure above any woman he had ever known and here perhaps as well as elsewhere we may very briefly tell her story in order that the reader may better understand her character end of chapters one and two part one chapter three of Vessie's fortune by Mary Jane Holmes this LibriVox recording is in the public domain three Lucy she was five years older than her sister Geraldine and between the two there had been a brother Robert or Robin as he was familiarly called a little blue-eyed golden-haired boy with a face always wreathed in smiles and a mouth which seemed made to kiss and be kissed in return he was three years younger than Lucy who having been petted so long as the only child looked somewhat a skance at the brother who had come to interfere with her and as he grew older and developed that wonderful beauty and winning sweetness for which he was so remarkable the demon of jealous he took possession of the little girl who felt at times as if she hated him for the beauty she envied so much oh I wish she was blind she once said in anger when his soft blue eyes had been extolled in her hearing and compared with her own which were black as midnight and bright as the wintry stars and as if in answer to her wish an accident occurred not long after which darkened forever the eyes which had caused her so much annoyance just how it happened no one knew the two children had been playing in the dining room when a great crash was heard and a wild cry and Robin was found upon the floor screaming with agony while near him lay a broken cup which had contained a quantity of red pepper which the housemate had left upon the sideboard until ready to replenish the castor Lucy was crying too with pain for the fiery powder was in her eyes also but she had not received as much as Robin who from that hour never again saw the light of day there were weeks of fearful suffering when the little hands were tied to keep them from the eyes which the poor baby who was only two years and a half old said might Robin so bad and which when at last the pain had ceased and the inflammation subsided were found to be hopelessly blind blind blind oh Robin I wish I was dead Lucy had exclaimed when they taught her the sad news and with a bitter cry she threw herself beside her brother on his little bed and sobbed piteously oh Robbie Robbie you must not be blind can't you see me just a little try Robbie you must see me you must slowly the lids unclosed and the sightless eyes turned upward toward the white face above them and then Lucy saw there was no hope the beautiful blue she had so envied in her wicked moods was burned out leaving only a blood shot whitish mass which would never again in this world see her or any other object no sister the little boy said I can't see you now it marks some yet but by my ICU don't tie and the little hand was raised and groped to find the bowed head of the girl weeping in such agony beside him what for a tie so ICU by my he persisted as Lucy made no reply but wept on until her strength was exhausted and she was taken from the room in a state of unconsciousness which resulted in a low nervous fever from which she did not recover until Robbie was as well as he ever would be and his voice was heard again through the house and baby laughter for he had not yet learned what it was to be blind and helpless Lucy had said when questioned with regard to the accident that she had climbed up in a chair to get some sugar for herself and Robin from the bowl on the shelf of the sideboard that she saw the cup of pepper took it up to see what it was and that it dropped from her hand directly into the face of Robin who was looking up at her thus she was answerable for his blindness and she grew suddenly old beyond her years and devoted herself to her brother with a solicitude and care marvelous in one so young for she was not yet six years old I must be his eyes always as long as I live she said and she seldom left his side or allowed another to care for him in the least he slept in a little cot near hers she undressed him at night and dressed him in the morning and gave him his breakfast always selecting the deities bits for him and giving him the larger share of everything together they wandered in the park she leading him by the hand and telling him where they were or carrying him in her arms when the way was rough and then when she put him down always kissing him tenderly while on her face was a look of sadness pitiful to see in one so young when she was seven years old and Robin for her mother who had been an invalid ever since the birth of Geraldine died and that made Lucy's burden still heavier to bear they told her her mother would not live till night and with a look on her face such as a martyr might wear when going to the stake Lucy put Robin from her and going to her mother's room asked to be left alone with her there is something I must tell her I cannot let her die until I do she said and so the watchers went out and left the mother and child together what Lucy had to tell no one knew but when at the going down of the sun the mother was dying Lucy's head was upon her neck and so long as life remained the pale hand smooth the dark traces of the sobbing girl and the white lips whispered softly God bless my little Lucy he knows it all he can forgive all try to be happy and never forsake poor Robbie never mother never was Lucy's reply and she kept the vow to the letter becoming mother sister nurse and teacher all in one to the little blind Robin who loved her in return with all the intensity of his nature it was the wish of Mr. Gray that Lucy should be sent to school with children of her age but she objected strongly as it would take her so much from Robin so a governess was employed in the house and whatever Lucy learned she repeated to her brother who drank in her lesson so eagerly that he soon became her equal in everything except the power to read and write particularly was he interested in the countries of Europe which he hoped to visit some day in company with his sister not that I can ever see them he said but I shall know just how they look because you will describe them so vividly and I can hear the dash of the sea at Naples and feel the old pavements in Pompeii and the hot lava of Vesuvius and oh perhaps we shall go to the holy land and stand just where Christ once stood and you will see the hills he looked upon and the spot on which he suffered and I shall be so glad and somehow feel nearer to him and oh if he could be there as he was once a man you know I'd cry to him louder than ever old Bartimus did and tell him I was a little blind boy from America but that I loved him and wanted him to make me see and he would I know such were the dreams of the enthusiastic boy but they were never to be realized always delicate as a child he grew more and more so as he became older so that at last all mental labor was put aside and when he was sixteen and Lucy nineteen they took him to St. Augustine where he could hear the moan of the sea and fancy it was the Mediterranean and far off Italy Lucy was of course with him and made him see everything with her eyes and took him to the old fort and led him upon the sea wall and through the narrow streets and out beneath the orange trees where he liked best to sit and feel the soft warm air upon his face and inhale the sweet perfume of the southern flowers but all this did not give him strength on the contrary the hectic plush on his cheek deep and daily his hands grew thinner and paler and the eyelid seemed to droop more heavily over the sightless eyes Robin was going to die and he knew it and talked of it freely with his sister and of heaven where Christ would make him whole it will be such joy to see he said to her one night when they sat together by the window of his room with a silvery moonlight falling on his beautiful face and making it like the face of an angel such joy to see again and the very first one I shall look at after Christ and mother will be the old blind Bartimus who sat by the roadside and begged I have not had to do that and my life has been very very happy for you have been my eyes and made me see everything you know I have a faint recollection of the grass and the flowers and the trees in the park and that has helped me so much and I have you in my mind too and you are so lovely I know for I have heard people talk of your sweet face and beautiful eyes starry eyes I have heard them called oh Robbie Robbie don't came like a cry of pain from Lucy's quivering lips but Robin did not heed her and went on starry eyes that's just what they are I think and I can imagine how lovingly they look at me and how pityingly too there is always something so sad in your voice when you speak to me and I say to myself that's how Lucy's look at me just as her voice sounds when it says brother Robbie I shall know you in heaven the moment you come and I shall be waiting for you and when I see your eyes I shall say that is sister Lucy come at last oh it will be such joy no night no blindness no pain and you with me again as you have been here only there I shall be the guide and lead you through the green pastures beside the still waters where never fading flowers are blooming sweeter than the orange blossoms near our window Lucy was sobbing hysterically with her head in his lap while he smoothed the dark braids of her hair and tried to comfort her by asking if she ought not to be glad that he was going where there was no more night for him and where she too would join him in a little while it is not that Lucy cried though it breaks my heart to think of you gone forever how can I live without you what shall I do when my expiatory work is finished expiatory work Robin repeated questioningly what do you mean what have you to expiate you the noblest most unselfish sister in the world much much oh Robbie I cannot let you die with this upon my mind even if the confession turn your love for me into hate and you do love me I have made your life a little less sad that it might have been but for me yes sister you have made my life so full of happiness that darkened as it is I would like to cling to it longer though I know heaven is so much better thank you Robbie thank you for that Lucy said then lifting up her head and looking straight into her brother's face she continued you say you have a faint recollection of the grass and the flowers and the trees in the park have you also any remembrance however slight how I looked when we were little children playing together at home I don't know for sure Robin replied while for an instant a deep plush stained his pale cheeks I don't know for sure sometimes out of those dim shadows of the past which I have struggled so hard to retain there comes a vision of a little girl or rather there is a picture which comes before my mind more distinct than the grass and the trees and the flowers though I always try to put it away but it repeats itself over and over again and I see it in my dreams so vividly and especially of late when life is slipping from me what is the picture Lucy said and her face was whiter than the one above her it is this Robin replied I seem to see myself looking up without stretched arms toward a little girl who is standing above me looking down at me with a face which cannot cannot be the one I shall welcome to heaven and know as my sisters for this in the picture has a cruel expression on it and there is hatred in the eyes which are so large and black and stare so fixedly at me then there is a crash and darkness and a horrible pain and loud cries and the eyes fade away in the blackness and I know no more till you are sobbing over me and begging me to say that I can see you I remember that I am sure or else it has been told to me so often that it seems as if I did but the other the face above me is all a fancy and a delusion of the brain you never looked at me that way never could here he paused and the girl beside him withdrew herself from him and clasping her hands tightly together knelt abjectly at his feet as she said oh Robbie Robbie my darling if you could know with what shame and anguish and remorse I am kneeling before you you would pity and perhaps forgive me when I have told you what I must tell you now but don't touch me don't put your hands upon me for that would quite unnerve me she continued as she saw the thin hands groping to find her sit quite still and listen and then if you do not loathe me with a loathing unutterable call me sister once more and that will be enough the old cathedral clock was striking twelve when that interview ended and when it struck the hour of midnight again Robin Gray lay dead in the room which looked toward the sea and the soft wind sweet with the perfume of roses and orange blossoms kissed his white face and stirred the thick curls of golden hair clustering about his brow as is often the case with consumptives his death had been sudden at the last so sudden that loosely scarcely realized that he was dying until she held him dead upon her bosom but so long as life lasted he kept repeating her name in accents of unutterable tenderness and love Lucy Lucy my precious sister God bless you for all you have been to me and comfort you when I am gone darling darling Lucy I love you so much Lucy Lucy Lucy where are you you must not leave me give me your hand till I reach the riverbank where the angels are waiting for me I can see them and the beautiful city over the dark river though I can't see you but I shall in heaven and I am almost there goodbye goodbye Lucy it almost seemed as if he were calling to her from the other world for death came and froze her name upon his lips which never moved again and Lucy's work was done other hands than hers cared for the dead body which was embalmed and then sent to its northern home there were crowds of people at the church where the funeral was held and where Robin had been baptized the son of Captain Gray was worthy of respect and the citizens turned out all mass so there was scarcely standing room in the aisles for all who came to see the last of Robin very touchingly the rector spoke of the deceased whose short life had been so pure and holy and then he eulogized the sister who had devoted herself so unselfishly to the helpless brother and who he said could have nothing to regret nothing to wish undone so absolute and entire had been her sacrifice hitherto Lucy sat as rigid as a stone but as she listened to her own praises she moved uneasily in her seat and once put up her hand deprecatingly as if imploring him to stop when at last the services were over and the curious ones had taken their last look at the dead and the undertaker came forward to close the coffin lid her mind which had been strained to its utmost gave way and not realizing what she did or meant to do she arose suddenly and gliding swiftly past her father stepped to the side of the coffin and throwing back her heavy-craped veil stooped and kissed the eyelids of her brother saying as she did so dear Robbie can you see me now and you know what I'm going to do there was a glitter in her eyes which told that she was half crazed and her father arose to lead her to her seat beside him but she waved him back authoritatively and in a clear distinct voice which rang like a bell through the church said to the astonished people wait a little there is something I must tell you I have tried to put it away but I cannot my brain is on fire and will never be cool again until I confess by Robbie's coffin then you may judge me as you please it will make no difference for I shall have done my duty and cease to live a lie for my life has been one long series of hypocrisies and deceit our clergyman has described me as a saint worthy of a martyr's crown and some of you believe him and look upon the care I gave to Robbie as something unheard of and a wonderful and I have let you think so and felt myself the various hypocrite that ever breathed don't you know that what I did was done in expiation of a crime a horrid cruel deed for I put out Robbie's eyes I made him blind I knew you would shut her and turn from me in loathing she continued in a louder clearer tone as she felt the thrill of surprise which ran through the assembly and grew more and more excited but it is the truth I tell you I put out those beautiful eyes of which I was so envious because the people praise them so much I could not bear it and the demon of jealousy had full possession of me young as I was and sometimes when I saw him preferred to me I wished him dead dead just as he is now oh Robbie my heart is breaking with agony and shame but I must go on I must tell how I hated you and the pretty baby ways which made you so attractive and when I climbed up in the chair after the lumps of sugar and saw the cup of cayenne pepper and you standing below me with wide open eyes and outstretched hands asking me to give that devil took possession of me and whispered that now was my chance to ruin those eyes looking up so eagerly at me I had heard that red pepper would make one blind and and oh horror how can I tell the rest Lucy's voice was like a wailing cry of agony as covering her white face with her hands she went on I held the cup toward Robbie and said is this what you want and when in his ignorance he answered yes give me some I dropped it into his hand saying to myself it is not my fault if he gets it in his eyes you know the rest how from that moment he never looked on me or anyone again but you do not cannot know the anguish and remorse which filled my soul when I realized what I had done from that day to the hour of Robbie's death there has never been a moment when I would not have given my sight yes my life for his and that is why I have been the devoted sister as you have called me I was trying to atone and I did a little Robbie told me so for I confessed it all to him before he died I told him how vile I was and he forgave me and he loved me just the same and went to sleep with my name on his lips I can see it there now the formation of the word Lucy and it will be the first theaters when he welcomes me to heaven if I am permitted to enter there I have made this confession because I thought I ought that you might not think me better than I am I know you will despise me but it does not matter Robbie forgave and loved me to the last and that alone will keep me from going mad she sees speaking and with a low gasping sob fell forward into the arms of her father who had stepped to her side in time to receive her it was a blustering March day when they buried Robert Gray in the cemetery at Allington while his sister who had been taken directly from the church to her home lay unconscious in her room only moaning occasionally and whispering of Robbie whose eyes she had put out people will hate me always she said when after weeks of brain fever she was herself again but in this she was mistaken for the people who knew her best loved her most and as the years went on and all felt the influence of her pure stainless unselfish life they came to esteem her as almost a saint and no house was complete which had not in it some likeness of the sad but inexpressibly sweet face which had a smile for everyone and which was often a scene in the cheerless houses where hunger and sickness were there Lucy Gray was a ministering angel and the good she did could never be told in words but was known and felt by those who never breathed the prayer which did not have in it a thought of her and a wish for her happiness when Gray was first laid in her arms and she saw in his great blue eyes a look like those other eyes hidden beneath the coffin lid she felt as if Robbie had come back to her and there awoke within her a love for the child greater even than his own mother felt for him and yet so wholly unselfish was her nature that she never mourned or uttered a word of protest when as the boy grew older he evinced a preference for the farmhouse and the pasture rather than for the grand old place at Gray's Park where since her sister's marriage and her father's death she had lived alone Hannah needs him more than I do she would say to herself but her sweet face was always brighter and in her great black eyes there was a softer light when she knew he was coming to break the monotony of her lonely life after her marriage Geraldine did not often honor Allington with her presence it was far too quiet there to suit her and Lucy lived too much the life of a recluse no little breakfast no lunches no evening parties at which she could display her elegant Paris costumes nothing except now and then a stupid dinner party to which the rector and his wife were invited and that detestable miss McPherson who said such rude things and told her her complexion was not what it used to be and that she looked older than her sister Lucy miss McPherson was an abomination and going to the country was a bore but still Geraldine felt obliged to visit Allington occasionally and especially on Thanksgiving day when it is expected that the sons and daughters of New England will return to the old home and grow young again under the roof which sheltered their childhood and so on the morning when our story properly opens Mr. and Mrs. Burton Gerald and their son Gray a well grown lad of 14 left their home on Beacon Street and with crowds of other city people took the train for the country to keep the festival day and of chapter three part one chapters four and five of Vessie's fortune by Mary Jane Holmes this LibriVox recording is in the public domain four Thanksgiving day at Gray's Park the season had been unusually warm and pleasant for New England and until the morning of Thanksgiving day the grass upon the lawn at Gray's Park had been almost as fresh and green as in the May days of spring for only the autumnal rains had fallen upon it and the November wind had blown as softly as if it had just kissed the wave of some southern sea word was summer always but with the dawning of Thanksgiving day there was a change and the carriage which was sent from Gray's Park to the station to meet the guests from Boston was covered with snow and Mrs. Geraldine shivered and drew her fur lined cloak more closely around her as she stepped from the train and looking roofily down at her little French boots said petulantly why do they never clear the snow from the platform I wonder and how am I to walk to the carriage it is positively ankle deep and I was silk stockings on Mrs. Geraldine was not in an enviable frame of mind she had declined an invitation to a grand dinner party for the sake of going to Allington where it was always snowing or raining or doing something disagreeable and her face was anything but pleasant as she stood there in the snow a very slave to her opinions and wishes her husband always thought as she thought and fondly agreed with her that going to Allington was a bore and that he did not know how she was to wade through all that snow and thin boots and silk stockings and not endanger her life by the exposure only gray was happy gray grown from the blue eyed baby boy who used to dig his little heels so vigorously into the rotten baseboard under the bench in the woodshed of the farmhouse into the tall blue eyed open-faced lad of 14 of whom it could truly be said that never had his parents been called upon to blush for a mean or vicious act committed by him faulty he was of course with a hot temper when roused and a strong indomitable will which however was seldom exercised on the wrong side honorable generous affectionate and pure in all his thoughts as a young girl he was the idol of his aunts and the pride of his father and mother the latter of whom he treated with a teasing playfulness such as he would have shown to a sister if he had one Mrs. Gerald was very proud of her bright handsome boy and had a brilliant career marked out for him and over first then Harvard and two years or more at Oxford and then some high-born English wife for Mrs. Gerald was thoroughly European in her tastes and toadied to the English in a most disgusting manner during her many trips across the water she had been presented to the Queen had attended by invitation a garden party and a ball at which the Prince and Princess of Wales were present and had spent several weeks in the country houses of some of the wealthy English consequently she considered herself quite au fait with their style and customs which she never failed to discount upon greatly to the amusement of her listeners and the mortification of Gray who was now old enough to see how ridiculous it made his mother appear. Gray was delighted to go to Allington and the grandest dinner party in the world with all the peers of England as guests would have been a small compensation for the good cheer he expected both at Gray's park and at the farmhouse. He was glad too for the snow and as the express train sped swiftly on and he watched it from the window falling in blinding sheets and covering all the hilltops he thought what fun it would be on the moral to drive his Aunt Lucy's bays over to the farmhouse after his Aunt Hannah whom he would take for a long drive across the country and frighten with the rapidity with which the bays would skim along. Hurrah! There's Allington and there's Tom. He cried springing up as the train shot under the bridge near the station. Come on mother I have your traps great box little box soapstone and bag. Here we are. And my eyes what a blizzard it's storming great guns but here goes and the eager boy jumped from the car into the snow and shook hands with Tom his Aunt Lucy's coachman and the baggage master and the boy from the market where his aunt bought her meat and saw Sullivan the fiddler the most shiftless easygoing fellow in Allington who wore one of Gray's discarded hats given to him the previous year. Hello hello how are you he kept repeating as one after another pressed up to him all glad to welcome the city boy who was so popular among them hearing his mother's lamentations over the snow he said to the coachman here Tom take these traps while I carry mother to the carriage then turning to her he continued now little mother it will never do for those silk stockings to be spoiled when there is a great strapping fellow like me to whom you are only a feather's weight and lifting the lady in his arms as if she had really been a child he carried her to the carriage and put her in tucking the blankets around her and carefully brushing the snow from her bonnet now father jump in and let me shut the door I'm going on the box with Tom I like the snow and it is not cold I am going to drive myself and in spite of his mother's protestations Gray mounted to the box and taking the reins started the willing horses at a rapid rate towards Gray Park where Miss Lucy waited for them. Bounding up the steps Gray dashed into the hall and shaking the snow from his coat and cap seized his aunt around the waist and after two or three hearty kisses commenced waltzing around the parlor with her talking incessantly and telling her how delighted he was to be at Gray's Park again. Only think I have not seen you for more than a year and I've been to Europe since and I'm a traveled young man don't you see marks of foreign culture in me and you laughed mischievously for he knew his aunt would comprehend his meaning then to he continued I'm an and over chap now but find it awful pokey I almost wish I had gone to East Hampton such fun as the boys have there sent a whole car load of gates down to Springfield one night I'd like to have seen the East Hamptonites when they found their gates gone and the Springfielders when they opened that car hello mother isn't it jolly here and don't you smell the mince pies I'm going to eat two pieces and the wild boy waltzed into the library in time to see his mother drop languidly into an armchair with the air of one who had endured all it was possible to endure and who considered herself a martyr pray be quiet and come in and fasten my cloak you forget that your aunt Lucy is no longer young to be world round like a top young or not she is as pretty as a girl any day gray replied releasing his aunt and hastening to his mother knowing her sister's dislike to the country miss gray had spared no pains to make the house as attractive as possible there was no furnace but there were fires in every great and in the wide fireplace in the large dining room where the bay window looked out upon the hills and the pretty little pond Lucy's greenhouse had been stripped of its flowers which in bouquets and baskets and bowls were seen everywhere while pots of azaleas and camellias and rare lilies stood in every nook and corner filling the rooms with a perfume like early June when the air is full of sweetness but mrs. Geraldine found the atmosphere stifling and asked that a window might be opened and that gray would fight her smelling salts directly as her head was beginning to ache gray knew it always ached when she wasn't a crank as he called her moods and he brought her salts and ended her cloak and bonnet and kissed her once or twice while his father who was hot because she was hot said it was like an August day all over the house and opened a window but shut it almost immediately for a cloud of snow came drifting in and mrs. Geraldine knew she should get neuralgia in such a frightful draft come to your room and lie down he will feel better when you are rested Lucy said with a troubled look on her sweet face as she led the way to the large cheerful chamber which her sister always occupied when at Gray's Park what time do you dine Geraldine asked as she caught the savory smell of something cooking in the kitchen I have fixed the dinner hour at half past two Lucy replied and Geraldine rejoined half past two what a heathenish hour and I do so detest early dinners yes I know Lucy answered in an apologetic tone but Hannah cannot stay late on account of her father then turning to her brother-in-law who had just come in she added you know I suppose that your father has not been as well as usual for several weeks Hannah thinks he is failing very fast yes she wrote me to that effect Burton replied but she is easily alarmed and so I did not attach much importance to it do you think him seriously ill I don't know except from Hannah herself as he sees no one I was there yesterday but he would not allow me to enter his room I am told that he has taken a fancy that no one shall go into his bedroom but Hannah and the doctor that looks as if his mind might be a little unsettled instantly there came back to Burton's mind what his aunt had said to him on her dying bed there is a secret between them but never try to discover it lest it should affect you too there may be disgrace in it years had passed since Burton heard these words and much good fortune had come to him he had married Geraldine Gray and had become president of a bank he had increased in wealth and distinction until no one stood higher on the social platform of Boston than he did he had been to the legislature twice and to Congress once and was the honorable Burton Gerald respected by everyone and what to his narrow mind was better still he was looked upon as an aristocrat of the bluest type none of his friends had ever seen the queer old hermit at the farmhouse or Hannah either for that matter for she had seldom been in Boston since Gray was a baby and on the rare occasions when she did go she only passed the day and had her lunch in the privacy of Mrs. Geraldine's room once or twice a year as was convenient Burton had been to the farmhouse to see his father whom he always found the same silent brooding man with hair as white as snow and shoulders so bent that it was difficult to believe he had ever been upright and so gradually Burton had ceased to wonder at his father's peculiarities and had forgotten his suspicions but now they returned to him again and he shivered as they are swept suddenly over him one of those undefinable presentments which sometimes come to us and for which we cannot account what time is Hannah coming he asked I hardly know Lucy replied the boy who stays here to do the outdoor work is to bring her as soon as she can leave her father who will have no one with him in his room during her absence he is very anxious to see Gray but I doubt if he will even let him into the bedroom during this conversation Gray had listened intently and now he exclaimed I have it my dinner will taste better if I see grandpa first and show him my Alpenstock with all those names burned on it I mean to drive over after Aunt Hannah myself it would be such fun to surprise them both Gray are you crazy to think of going out in this storm Mrs. Gerald exclaimed but Gray persisted and pointing to the window said it is not snowing half as fast as it did and look there's a bit of blue sky I can go can't I Aunt Lucy yes if Tom is willing Lucy said a little doubtfully or she stood somewhat in awe of Tom who did not like to harness oftener than was necessary foe I'll risk Tom Gray said Tom knows me and in less than ten minutes one of the bays was harnessed to the cutter and Gray was driving along in the direction of the farmhouse which for the first time in his life struck him as something weird like and dreary standing there alone among the rocks with the snow piled upon the roof and clinging in masses to the small window panes I don't wonder mother thinks it seems like some old haunted house we read about it is just a spot for a lively ghost I wish I could see one he thought as he drove into the side yard and giving his horse to the care of the chore boy Sam who was in the barn he went stamping into the kitchen five the old man and the boy old Mr. Gerald had failed rapidly within a few weeks but as long as possible he dressed himself every day and sat in his armchair in the kitchen for the front room was rarely used in winter at one time when Hannah saw how weak her father was growing and knew that he must soon take to his bed she suggested that he should occupy the south room it was so much more sunny and cheerful than his sleeping apartment which was always dark and gloomy and cheerless but her father said no very decidedly it has been a part of my punishment to keep watch in that room all these dreadful years and I shall stay there till I die and Hannah when I cannot get up anymore but must lie there all day and all night long don't let anyone in not even miss gray for it seems to me there are mirrors everywhere in that the walls and floor have tongues and I am getting such a coward Hannah such a coward I am too old to confess it now God has forgiven me I am sure of that and the world need not know what we have kept so long you and I how long is it Hannah my memory fails me and sometimes it seems a thousand years I have suffered so much and then again it is but yesterday last night how long did you say Hannah thirty one years next Thanksgiving was Hannah's reply spoken oh so mournfully low thirty one years and you were a girl of fifteen and your hair was so brown and glossy just like your mother's Hannah just like hers and now it is so gray poor child I am so sorry for you but God knows all you have borne for me and someday you will shine as a star in his crown well I if I am permitted to enter the gates must have the lowest seat it was the last of October when this conversation took place and the next day but one the old man did not get up as usual but stayed in bed all that day and the next and the next until it came to be understood between himself and Hannah that he would never get up again shall I send for Burton Hannah asked and he replied no he does not care to come and why trouble him sooner than necessary he is not like you he is grand and high and ashamed of his old father but he is my son and I must see him once more he will be up on Thanksgiving day and I shall live till then don't send for him I cannot have him in this room can't have anybody don't let them in can no one see under the bed no father no one can see no one shall come in Hannah answered then for weeks she kept her lonely watch over the half-crazed old man who started at every sound and whispered piteously don't let them come here Hannah I am too old and there is Gray the boy for his sake Hannah we will not let them come for me now no father they shall not come Gray need not know Hannah always replied though she had secretly cherished a hope that sometime in the future when the poor old father was dead she would tell Gray and ask his help to do what she fully meant to do when her hands bound for 30 years should be loosened from the chain she could trust Gray could tell him everything and feel sure that his earnest truthful blue eyes would look just as lovingly at her as ever and that he would comfort and help her as no one else could do such was the state of affairs at the farmhouse on the morning of Thanksgiving day when Hannah was making her preparations to go to Gray's park for two hours or more just to sit through the dinner and see Gray whom she had not seen since his return from Europe her father was not as well that morning Thanksgiving was always a terrible anniversary for him for as on that day the several members of a family meet again around the old hearth stone so the ghosts of the past all came back to torture him and fill him with remorse how it blows he said as the wind shook the windows of his room and went screaming around the corner of the house how it blows and I seem to hear voices in the storm your voice Hannah as it sounded 30 years ago when you cried out so loudly and I struck you for it and beat old rover to do you remember it yes yes father but don't talk of it today try to forget try to think only that gray is here that you will see him tomorrow gray the boy with the big blue eyes which looks so straight at you that I use sometimes to wonder if he did not see into my heart and know what I was hiding the old man replied gray the little boy who would sit on that bench in the wood shed and kick the floor until I sweat at every pore with fear and whom I would not touch till he captured my hands and held them in his soft warm ones and kissed them to my wicked old hands kissed by gray's baby lips would he touch them now if he knew I used to think if I lived till he was a man I would tell him and maybe you will do it after I am dead he is coming here tomorrow you say and Burton but Burton isn't like gray he is proud and wordly and a little hard I am afraid but the boy tell him how I love him try to make him understand and when he comes tomorrow maybe he will kiss me again it will be for the last time I shall never see him more but hark what's that don't you hear bells and there is the stamping of feet at the door go child quickly and not let them in here Hannah too heard the sound in the opening of the kitchen door and hurrying from her father's bedside she called out sharply who is it who's there my name is Norval on the Grampian Hills was replied in the well-remembered voice of gray who continued merrily as he approached her and you dear aunt Hannah you are the dame with a wonderful name which forward and backward still reads the same he did not attempt to waltz with her as he had done with Lucy he had tried it once but she went the wrong way and he told her there was no more dance in her than in the kitchen tongs so now he only wound his arms around her and kissed her many times and when she sat down in a chair he stood over her and smoothed her hair and thought how great had grown within the year he had no suspicion that there was any secret sorrow weighing upon her but he knew that her life was a hard one owing to the peculiarities of his grandfather and now as he looked at her he felt a great pity for her and there was a lump in his throat as he stooped to kiss her again and said poor auntie you look so tired and pale his grandpa so very sick and more troublesome than usual Hannah had not cried in years indeed it was the effort of her life to keep her tears back but now at the sound of gray sympathetic voice in the touch of his fresh warm lips upon her own she broke down entirely and for a few moments sobbed as if her heart would break while gray in great concern knelt down before her and tried to comfort her what is it auntie you said is it because you are so lonely and are afraid grandpa will die I'll take care of you then and we will go to Europe together and you shall ride on a mule and cross the male to glass I used to think when I was over there how we would someday go together and I would show you everything at the mention of Europe Hannah's tears ceased and commanding her voice she said abruptly did you go to Wales yes we went there first don't you remember without answering that question Hannah continued did you go to Carnarvon Carnarvon I guess we did we spent a whole day at the old castle and went all over it and into the room where the first Prince of Wales was born it isn't much bigger than our bathroom but I tell you those old ruins are grand and with all the boys enthusiasm over his first trip to Europe gray launched out into a graphic description of what he had seen and done repeating everything ridiculous in order to make his aunt Hannah laugh you ought to have heard father try to talk French he said it was enough to kill one with laughing he bought a little book and would study some phrase and then fire it off at the waiters screaming at the top of his voice as if that would make them understand better and once it was too funny we were in a shop in Lucerne and father wanted to know the price of something so he held it up before a little dapper man with blue eyes and yellow hair and said come beyond that's the way he pronounced it come beyond but the man didn't come beyond worth a cent and only stared at him as if he thought him a lunatic then father tried again and yelled as loud as he could free free ha muchy muchy then there was a glimmer of a smile on the man's face and one father wholly out of patience roared out damn nation are you a fool he replied no but I'm a Yankee like yourself and the price of the carving is 25 francs and sure enough he was a chap from Maine after that father always asked them first if they party who said English mother got on better because she knew more of the language and always gave a twist to the words which made them sound Frenchy but she was afraid to talk much for fear she'd make a mistake and Miss Grundy would laugh at her she is awfully afraid of Miss Grundy especially if the guiness homo happens to be English but I did not care I wanted to learn and I studied in the railway car and at the table and in bed and had a teacher when we stayed long enough in a place and then I plunged in mistake or no mistake and talk to everybody I used to sit on the box with the driver when we drove so as to talk to him and you have no idea what a lot you pick up that way or how glad they are to help you and now though I do not suppose I always use good grammar or get the right accent I can parlay with the best of them and can speak German to a little I think I have improved some don't you Auntie of course she did and she told him so and smiled fondly upon the bright handsome boy knowing that in what he said of himself there was neither conceit nor vanity but a frankness and openness which she liked to see in him and now for grandpa he suddenly exclaimed he will think I am never coming and before she could stop him he had entered the low dark room where on the bed pushed close to the side wall near the woodshed and just where it had stood for 30 years the old man lay or rather sat for he was bolstered upright with chair and pillows behind him his long white hair parted in the middle and combed behind his ears and his arms folded across his bosom at gray's abrupt entrance he started and his face flushed for a moment but when he saw who it was the look of fear gave way to one of joy and his pale face lighted up with gladness as he welcomed the eager boy who told him first how sorry he was to find him so sick and then what a grand time he had in Europe I have been to the top of Regi and old Pilatus and Vesuvius and Fleger and cross the Mardeglass and Tate Noir and the Saint-Plon and they are all here on my Alpenstock look see but no you cannot it is so dark I'll raise the curtain and gray hastened to the window while his grandfather cried out an alarm stop gray stop I'll call your aunt Hannah Hannah come here she was at his side in an instant bending over him while he whispered is it safe can he see nothing sure nothing father nothing was the reply and thus we assured the old man took the Alpenstock which had done such good service and looked at the queer names burned upon it a lingering longest upon the first one gray Gerald Boston Massachusetts 1800 blank very rapidly gray talked of his travels and the wonders beyond the sea but after all America is best he said and I am glad I am an American Boston is the place to be born in don't you think so grandpa yes yes did you go to Wales to Carnarvon the old man said so abruptly the gray stopped short and stared at him blankly his aunt Hannah had asked the same question could it be they were more interested in Carnarvon than in Mont Blanc and Vesuvius if so he would confine himself to Carnarvon and he began again to describe the old castle and the birth room of the first Prince of Wales then his grandfather interrupted him by asking did you hear of any family there by the name of Rogers Rogers no why did you ever know anyone by that name who lived in Carnarvon gray asked and his grandfather replied yes a great many years ago longer than you can remember Joe will Rogers that was the name and he had a sister Elizabeth you did not hear of her father father you are talking too much you are getting excited and tired Hannah interpose in some alarm but her father replied no I am not afraid of gray now that I see his face again it's a face to be trusted gray would not harm his old grandfather would you boy and the childish old man began to cry piteously while gray looked inquiringly at his aunt and touched his forehead meaningly as much as to say I know I understand a little out of his head she let him think so and laying his hand on his grandfather's hair gray said don't cry of course I would not harm you the best grandpa in all the world no no gray the worst the worst and yet it does me good to know you love and respect me and you always will when I am dead and gone won't you even if you should ever know how bad I was and you may some time for it is impressed on me this morning that in some way you will help Hannah out of it you too and no more poor Hannah she has suffered so much for my sake be good to her gray when I am gone be good to Hannah poor Hannah yes grandpa I will gray said in a tearful voice as he involuntarily wound his arms around the woman he was to be good to I will always care for aunt Hannah and lover above all women don't you worry about that she shall live with me when I am a man and we will go to Europe together yes to carnarvon perhaps mr. Gerald interposed and then said suddenly do you remember the day you caught and kissed my old hands and did me so much good would you mind kissing them again this one it burns so and aches and he raised his thin right hand which gray took in his own and kissed reverently and lovingly saying as he did so poor tired hand which has done so much hard work but never a bad act oh oh my boy my boy you hurt me grandpa cried as he snatched his hand from gray who looked at him wonderingly and said I am sorry I did not mean to hurt you is your hand sore sore yes sore than you know or guess so sore that it takes down to my very heart come gray I think it is time we were off father is getting tired and excited you will see him again tomorrow Hannah said and her father rejoined tomorrow who knows today is all we can call our own and I will bless my boy today kneel down gray and let me put both hands on your head with a feeling of awe gray knelt beside the bed while his grandfather laid his hands on his head and said may God bless my boy gray and make him a good man not like me the chief of sinners but Christ's like and pure so that he may one day reach the eternal home where I hope to meet him through the merits of the blood of Jesus which cleanseth from all sin all sin even mine God bless my boy it seemed like a funeral and gray's eyes were full of tears as he rose from his knees and said goodbye grandpa we must go now but I will come again tomorrow and stay all day and all the next for I do not go back to and over till Monday and next summer I will spend all my vacation with you goodbye and stooping he kissed the white forehead and quivering lips around which a smile of peace was setting then he left the room never dreaming that it was goodbye forever once in the open air with his aunt Hannah by his side the cloud which in the sick room had settled upon him lifted and he talked and laughed merrily as they drove swiftly toward gray's park where dinner was waiting for them and of chapters four and five part one chapters six and seven of Bessie's fortune by Mary Jane Holmes this LibriVox recording is in the public domain six Miss Betsy MacPherson the table was laid in the large dining room which faced the south and whose long French windows looked into the terraced flower garden and upon the evergreens fashioned after those in the park at Versailles when alone Lucy took all her meals in the pleasant little breakfast room where only two pictures hung upon the wall and both of Robin one taken in all his infantile beauty when he was two years old and the other at the age of fourteen after the lovely blue eyes which smiled so brightly upon you from the first canvas were darkened forever and the eyelids were closed over them this was Lucy's favorite room for their Robin seemed nearer to her but Geraldine did not like it it was like attending a funeral all the time she said and so though it was quite large enough to accommodate her Thanksgiving guests Lucy had ordered the dinner to be served in the larger room which looked very warm and cheerful with the crimson hangings at the windows and the bright fire on the hearth after having regaled herself with a glass of sherry a biscuit a piece of sponge cake and some fruit Mrs Geraldine had descended to the dining room to see a new rug of which Lucy had told her glancing at the table which was glittering with china and glass and silver she began counting one two three four five six places you surely did not expect Burton's father Lucy flushed a little as she replied oh no the sixth place is for Miss McPherson Miss McPherson what possessed you to invite her I detest her with her sharp tongue and prying ways why she is positively rude at times and exasperates me so Geraldine said angrily and her sister rejoined I know she is peculiar and outspoken but at heart she is true a steal and I thought she would be very lonely taking her Thanksgiving dinner alone and then she will be glad to see you and inquire about her brother's family whom she knows you met abroad yes we spent a week with her brother the Honorable John McPherson and his wife Lady Jane at the House of Captain Smithers in Middlesex Miss McPherson is at least well connected Geraldine said mollified at once as she recalled her intimacy with Lady Jane McPherson to be acquainted with the titled lady was in her opinion something to be proud of and since her return from Europe she had wearied and disgusted her friends with her frequent illusions to Lady Jane and her visit to Penwin Park where she had met her and Miss McPherson was her sister-in-law and on that account she must be tolerated and treated at least with a show of friendship so when she heard she had arrived she went to meet her with a good deal of gosh and demonstration which however did not in the least mislead the lady with regard to her real sentiment for she and Geraldine had always been at odds and from the very nature of things there could be no real sympathy between the fashionable lady of society whose life was all a deception and the blunt outspoken woman who called a spade a spade and whose rule of action was as she expressed it the naked truth and nothing but the naked truth had she worn false teeth and supposed anyone thought them natural she would at once have taken them out to show that they were not and as to false hair and frizzes and powder and all the many devices used as she said to build a woman she abominated them and preferred to be just what the Lord had made her without any attempt to improve upon his work once Lucy Gray had asked her why she did not call herself Elizabeth or Lizzie instead of Betsy which was so old fashioned and she had retorted sharply that though of all names upon earth she thought Betsy the worst it was given to her by her sponsors and baptism and Betsy she would remain to the day of her death she was tall and angular with large features sharp nose and little bright black bead like eyes which seem to look you through and read your most secret thoughts as her name indicated she was of scotch descent indeed her grandfather was scotch by birth but he had moved into England where her father and mother and herself were born so that she called herself English though she gloried in her scotch blood and her scotch face which was unmistakable after her birth her father had bought a place in Bangor Wales which she called Stonely and there her two brothers Hugh and John were born and her parents had died she had come alone to Allington when comparatively young and settling down quietly had for a time watched closely the habits of the people around her and posted herself thoroughly with regard to the workings and institutions of a republic and then she adopted them heartily and became an out and out American and only lamented that she could not vote and take part in the politics of the country of her past life she never spoke and of her family seldom her father and mother were dead she had two brothers both well enough in their way but only unlike each other she had once told Lucy Gray whom she had always liked and with whom she was more intimate than with anyone else in Allington unless it were Hannah Gerald although very proud of her family name and family blood she was no boaster and no one in Allington would ever have known that one of her brothers had been in Parliament and that his wife was a Lady Jane Trevelyan if chance had not thrown them in the way of Mrs. Geraldine once and only once had she returned to her native land and that two or three years before our story opens then she had been absent three or four months and when she returned to Allington she seemed grimmer and sterner than ever and more intolerant of everything which did not savor of the naked truth and yet as Lucy Gray had said of her to her sister she was true as steal to her friends and at heart was one of the kindest and best of women and with the exception of Miss Lucy Gray no one in Allington was found so often in the houses of the poor as she and though she rebuked sharply when it was necessary and told them they were dirty and shipless when they were she made her kindness felt in so many ways that she was if possible more popular than Lucy herself for while Lucy only gave them money and sympathy she helped them with her hands and if necessary swept their floors and washed their faces and made their beds and sometimes took their children home and kept them with her for days such was Miss Betsy MacPherson who as she is to figure conspicuously in this story merits this introduction to the reader and who in her black silk of a dozen years old with a long heavy gold chain around her neck and a cap fashioned after the English style upon her head stood up very tall and stiff to receive Mrs Geraldine but did not bend her head when she sought was that lady's intention to kiss her I know she would as soon kiss a piece of soul leather is me and I would rather kiss a flower barrel than that powdered face was her thought and so she only gave her hand to Mrs Gerald who told her how glad she was to see her and how much she was pleased with her brother the honorable John MacPherson and his charming wife the Lady Jane why have you never spoken of them to us I should be proud of such relatives she said and Miss MacPherson replied what's the use I'm no better no worse for them just then the sound of bells was heard and Hannah and Gray came in and were received most cordially by Miss MacPherson who and bent to them as she had not done to the Boston lady indeed there was something even tender in her voice as she spoke to Hannah and inquired after her father then turning to Gray she laid one hand on his head and taking his chin in the other looked searchingly in his face as she said I wonder if you are the same boy I used to like so much or has a trip to Europe spoiled you as it does so many Americans not a bit of it Gray answered merrily Europe is grand Europe is beautiful but she is very old and I like young America better with her freedom and her go ahead even if she is not as intensely respectable and dignified as her mother across the water the dinner bell here put an end to the conversation and Lucy preceded her guest to the dining room followed by her brother who had been more than usually affectionate in his greeting to his sister whom he took in to dinner while Gray escorted his mother and Miss MacPherson seven the dinner at which Bessie is introduced the soup and fish had been served and during the interval while Mr. Gerald carved the big turkey which Anna had contributed and which she had fattened all the summer in anticipation of Gray's return and this very dinner Mrs. Geraldine took occasion to introduce her favorite subject of conversation Europe and its customs which she thought so infinitely superior to those this side the water umph ejaculated Miss MacPherson with an upward toss of the chin then turning to Gray she said and did you too like all the foreign habits no indeed was Gray's reply just thinking of having your coffee and roll brought to you in the morning while you are in bed and eating it in the smelling room without washing your hands and then going to sleep again that is what I call very nasty as the English say though they do not use the word in that sense you forget that Miss MacPherson is English Mrs. Gerald said and the lady in question at once rejoined never mind I do not believe in spoiling a story for relations sake or countries either and I fully agree with Gray that the continental habit of breakfasting in bed with unwashed face and hands is a very nasty one in the American sense of the word I never did it and never would you have been on the continent then Mr. Gerald asked and instantly there came upon Miss MacPherson's face an expression of bitter pain as if some sad memory had been stirred then quickly recovering herself she answered yes I was at school in Paris a year and traveled another year all over Switzerland Germany and Italy it may seem strange to Gray who probably cannot realize that I was ever young to know that I too have my Alpenstock as a voucher for the mountains I have climbed and the chasms I have crossed did you go to Monte Carlo the question was addressed to Gray who replied yes we were there four days did you play no I did not even see them play they would not let me in I was too young and I should not have played anyway for I promised Aunt Lucy I would not Gray said and Miss MacPherson replied with startling vehemence that's right my boy that's right never never play for money so long as you live you have no idea what perils lurk around the gaming table or what an accursed spot Monte Carlo is beautiful as it is to look at those lovely grounds are haunted with the ghosts of the suicides who ruined body and soul have rushed unprepared into the presence of their maker none of the guests that ever seen Miss MacPherson so excited and for a moment there was silence while they gazed at her wonderingly as she sat with lips compressed and nostrils dilated looking intently over their heads at something they could not see but which evidently was very vivid to her Mrs. Geraldine was the first to speak and she said half laughingly you are quite as much prejudiced against rouge a noir as your brother for when I told him I tried my luck at Monte Carlo and won $25 he seemed horrified and I think it took him some hours to regard me with favor again yes and he had reason the MacPherson's of all good cause to abhor the very name of gambling Miss MacPherson replied hitching her chair a little further away from Geraldine is from something poisonous then in her characteristic way of suddenly changing the conversation she said you saw my nephew Neil MacPherson oh yes Mrs. Geraldine replied we saw a good deal of him he is very fine looking with such gentlemanly manners for a boy I should be glad if Gray would imitate him and she glanced at her son on whose face a cloud instantly fell Miss MacPherson sought and turning to him she asked how did you like Neil boys are sometimes better judges of each other than older people did you think him very nice remembering Miss MacPherson's love for the naked truth Gray spoke out boldly no madam at first I did not like him at all we had a fight a fight Miss MacPherson repeated in surprise as did both Hannah and Lucy simultaneously while Mrs. Gerald interposed I think Gray I would not mention that as it reflects no credit upon you but he insulted me first Gray replied and Miss MacPherson insisted tell it Gray and do not admit anything because I am his aunt tell it exactly as it was I want the truth thus encouraged Gray began I know I did not do right but he made me so angry it was the 4th of July and we were at Melrose stopping at the George Inn while Mr. MacPherson's family were at the Abbey Hotel close to the old ruin there were several Americans at our house and because of that the proprietor hung out our national flag it was such a lovely morning and when I went into the street and saw the stars and stripes waving in the English wind I hurried with all my might and threw up my cap in the air may I ask why you are making so much noise somebody said close to me and turning round I saw a lad about my own age wearing a tall stove pipe hat for he was an eaten boy his manner provoked me quite as much as his words it was so overbearing and picking up my cap I said why it's the 4th of July and that is the Star-Spangled Banner Star-Spangled Fiddlestick he retorted tapping the ground with the tip of his boot and so you are a Yankee I heard there was a lot of them here yes I'm a Yankee I replied add genuine down Easter and proud of it too and who are you I why I am Neil MacPherson an eaten boy and my father is the honorable John MacPherson and my mother is Lady Jane MacPherson he replied in a tone intended to annihilate me holy but I stood my ground and said oh you are Neil MacPherson are you and your father is an honorable and your mother a lady well I am Gray Gerald of Boston and my father is an honorable and my mother is a lady too now really you make me laugh he cried your father may be an honorable I believe you have such things but your mother is not a lady there are no ladies in America born ladies such as we have in the United Kingdom and pray what have you Yankees done except to make money that you should all be so infernally proud of your country and that rag pointing to the flag by this time my blood was up and I squared up to him saying what have we done we have whipped Johnny Bull just as I'm going to thrash you under that very flag which you were pleased to designate a rag he saw I meant business and bucked off saying oh but you can't I'm the son of Lady Jane MacPherson you know and you can't touch me we'll see if I can't I answered and then I pitched in and thrashed him till he cried for quarter and I let him go threatening all sorts of vengeance upon me the worst of which was that he would tell his mother and have me arrested for assault and battery that was my introduction to Neil MacPherson and I am ashamed of it now for I came to like him very much during the recital Miss MacPherson had laughed until the tears ran down her cheeks a thing very unusual to her while neither Hannah nor Lucy could repress a smile at Grey's earnestness but Mr. Gerald looked very grave and his wife annoyed and displeased I am glad to hear you acknowledge that you are ashamed Mr. Gerald said or I was very much ashamed that a son of mine should so far forget himself as to fight a stranger whom he had never seen before but in justice to you I must add what you have admitted which is that you went and apologized to the boy for the affront did you miss MacPherson said turning to Grey who replied yes and I must say that he received my rather bungling apology better than I supposed he would all right he said offering me his hand I dare say I was a cat to say what I did of your flag but you needn't have hit me quite so hard where did you learn boxing I never learned it I told him it was natural to all the Yankees who were born with clenched fists ready to go at it he believed me and said really is that so and then he invited me to play billiards with him and we got to be good friends and he asked all sorts of questions about America and said that our girls were the prettiest in the world when they were young all the English say that and Neil had heard it forty times so it was not original with him he said however that pretty as they were his cousin Bessie was far prettier that she was a most beautiful little creature and as sweet as she was beautiful Bessie Miss MacPherson exclaimed with a peculiar ring in her voice and a manner of greater interest than she had a Winston Grey's recital of his encounter with Neil do you mean the daughter of Archibald MacPherson my nephew and did you see her did you see Archie gray colored and replied no I did not for mother wish to punish me for fighting Neil and so when a Mrs. Smithers asked us to spend a week with the MacPherson's at her home in Middlesex I was left behind in London with some friends but I had great fun I went to the tower and the circus and the Abbey and the museum and everywhere though I was sorry not to see Bessie who with her father and mother was also at Captain Smithers you saw them then Miss MacPherson continued addressing herself to Mrs. Gerald you saw Archie and his wife and Bessie what is Archie like I never saw him but I have his wife she was the daughter of a milliner or dressmaker or ballet dancer from Wales in the vicinity of Bangor or Carnarvon I believe Carnarvon Hannah repeated quickly while a sudden pallor came to her lips and forehead but no one noticed it and Geraldine hesitated a little uncertain as to how far she dared to tell the truth and not give offense but she was soon relieved from all uneasiness on that score by Miss MacPherson who noticing her hesitancy said don't be afraid to tell me exactly as it is for were Archie ten times my nephew I would rather hear the whole truth just as Gray told it of Neil so then what did you think of Archie I have an idea he is a good natured good for nothing shiftless fellow who never earned a penny in his life and who gets his living from anyone who will give it to him she spoke with a great asparity of manner and then waited for Geraldine who replied you have stated the case in much stronger language than I should have done but in the main I believe you are right Mr. Archibald MacPherson is one whom you could not possibly mistake for other than a gentleman he is courteous and kind and agreeable but very indolent I should say for he never stands when he can sit and never sits when he can recline indeed his position is always a lounging one and he impressed me as if he were afraid of falling to pieces if he exerted himself just so that is what I thought Miss Betsy said emphatically he takes it from his father rather than his mother she I believe had some energy and snap she was a chorus singer in some opera and I did not like the match though I now believe she was too good for you and now for Archie's wife Daisy they call her what of her Mrs. Gerald evidently had no scruples about freeing her mind with regard to Daisy MacPherson and she answered promptly I did not like her at all neither did Lady Jane and I tried my best to keep aloof from her but could not she is pushing and aggressive and sweetly unconscious that she is not wanted and yet she is exceedingly pretty with that innocent kind of face and childish appealing way which women detest but which takes with the men and Mrs. Geraldine glance sharply at her husband who was just then very busy with his pudding and pretended not to hear her while she went on she has some accomplishments speaks French and German I believe perfectly sings simple ballads tolerably well but rolls her eyes frightfully it is so conscious of herself that she disgusts you I should call her a regular Becky sharp always managing to get the best of everything and as she told me herself always having on her list two or three invitations for as many weeks to as many different places but how does she do it Miss Betsy asked and Mrs. Gerald replied I hardly know nor do the ladies themselves sometimes as in the case of Mrs. Smithers the invitation is genuine and sincere but often it is a mere form at which Daisy jumps at once thanking the lady sweetly and either asking her to fix a time or more frequently fixing it herself to suit her own convenience she has a most wonderful talent to forgetting presents of clothes and jewelry for herself and to Bessie and that is the way they live for they have no means or at least very little except what she manages to get from the men by Filipina's or bets or games at cards and chess where they allow her to win because she almost begs them to let her do so she even got five pounds from my husband on a wager which he did not at first think in earnest and again the black eyes flashed at Burton who now looked up from the orange she was peeling and said laughingly yes Daisy did me out of twenty five dollars in the neatest possible manner and would have fleeced me out of twenty five more if I had not been on my guard against her she got twenty five pounds out of Lord Hardy who was a guest at the Smithers but he acted as if it were a pleasure to be cheated by so pretty a woman and she is the prettiest woman I ever saw Miss Betsy said again while Geraldine continued yes she is pretty with a pink and white complexion blue eyes and golden hair which curls naturally and which she still wears hanging down her back so as to show it to good advantage and she is a woman of thirty no Geraldine you are mistaken Mr. Gerald said quickly you forget that she was married at seventeen and Bessie is only eight so at the most Daisy cannot be more than twenty six I am glad you know her age so well Mrs. Geraldine retorted I think twenty six too old to wear one's hair streaming down the back we were all disgusted and especially Lady Jane whose room was just across the hall directly opposite hers she told me herself that she would never have accepted Mrs. Smithers invitation had she known that adventurous was to be there and yet she was very kind to little Bessie indeed no one could look at that child and not love her at once and pity her too for the influence with which she was surrounded yes Bessie tell me of her and Miss McPherson leaned forward eagerly they pretend she was named for me then why not call her Betsy if that is her name would you call a child Betsy Hannah asked joining for the first time in the conversation no of course not I think it hard but if I was christened Betsy no power on earth could turn me into a Bessie but go on and tell me about her and she turned to Mrs. Geraldine who continued she has her mother's wonderful beauty with all its refinement of her father in such a sweet expression that you feel like kissing her her eyes like her mothers are blue but so clear and dark that at times they seemed almost black especially when there came into them as their often did a troubled look when Daisy was relating some of her adventures which we knew could not be true at such times it was curious to watch the child as she listened with her great wide open eyes and flush cheeks while her breath came in short gasps as if she were longing to contradict her mother and this she sometimes did mama mama please she would say haven't you forgotten wasn't it this way but a look would silence her and they would settle upon her face and about her mouth that patient sorrowful expression pitiful to see in one so young and her father was he fond of her miss McPherson asked a mrs. Gerald replied yes very and she of him she seemed to recognize the difference between him and her mother and kept by him most of the time it was a very pretty sight to see her with her arms around his neck and her bright head leaning on his arm while she looked up at him so lovingly and sympathizingly to as they watched the maneuvers of her mother once I heard her say to him when Daisy was flirting more than usual and attracting all eyes to her I shall never do like that but mama is very pretty isn't she yes darling very pretty he answered and then they kissed each other very quietly I wish you could see Bessie it was not often that Geraldine praised anything or anybody as she praised this little English girl who had made a strong impression upon her and of whom she might have said more if Miss McPherson had not rejoined I did see her once and her mother too I was home three years ago you know and I went to Aberystwyth in Wales where I heard Archie was staying but I did not make myself known to him I was so disgusted with what I heard of his wife's conduct which he allowed without a word of protest but I was anxious to see the child and one morning I sat on a bench on the marine terrace watching a group of children playing near me I was almost sure that the one with the blue eyes and bright hair was Archie's and so I called out Betsy McPherson are you there instantly she came to me and folding her hands in my lap looked up at me with her wondering eyes and said I am Bessie McPherson not Betsy weren't you christened Betsy I asked and she replied yes but they never call me that it's a horrid name mama says then why did she give it to you I said and she answered with the utmost gravity for some old auntie in America who has money but she never sent me a thing nor answered papa's letter I think she is mean don't you I did not tell her what I thought of the old auntie though I could not repress a smile at her frankness which pleased me more than prevarication would have done where is your papa I asked and she replied at the queen's hotel but it is awful expensive there and papa says we can't afford it much longer but mama says we must stay till she finds some place to visit there she is now and that is Lord Hardy with her they are going over to the old ruins and she pointed to a young woman in the distance bedisoned out in white muslin and blue ribbons with her yellow hair hanging down her back and her big straw hat in her hand instead of on her head and she was talking and laughing and cocketing with a short spindle leg chap not much taller than herself and looking with his light curly hair and mustache like a poodle dog who did you say he was I asked and the child answered me Lord Hardy mama's friend he is very rich and very nice he gives me lots of things and sometimes buys us all first class tickets and then it is so grand I don't like to go second class but you see papa is very poor how then can he afford to stop at expensive hotels I asked and she said while a shadow came over her face we couldn't if we didn't have one small room on the top floor where I sleep on the lounge I never go to Tabla Dote but stay in my room and eat whatever mama can slip into her pocket without the waiter seeing her sometimes it is not much and then I am so hungry but mama will get us an invitation to visit somebody soon and then I can eat all I want the guests had listened very attentively to this recital and none more so than gray who leaned eagerly forward with quivering lips and moistened eyes as he exclaimed poor little girl how I wish she had some of my dinner why didn't you bring her home with you away from her wicked mother miss McPherson did not reply for their dawned upon her suddenly a fear less she had talked too much and her manner changed at once while she sank into an abstracted mood and her eyes hadn't them a far off look as if she was seeing the child who came to her upon the sands of Aberystwyth and looked into her face with eyes she had never been able to forget and which she could now see so plainly though the little girl was thousands of miles away dinner being over Hannah said it was time for her to go home and Lucy accordingly ordered the sleigh to be brought to the door he will come tomorrow as early as possible Hannah said to her brother who replied yes immediately after breakfast for I must go back to Boston on the afternoon train I have an engagement for Saturday so soon Hannah said in a tone of disappointment I hoped you would stay longer father will be so sorry he has anticipated your visit so much it is impossible I have promised for Saturday and must keep the appointment and Burton Gerald leisurely scraped and trimmed his thumbnail but did not explain that the appointment he must keep was with the members of his club who gave a dinner on Saturday he knew very well that he could remain in Allington until Saturday afternoon and then reach home in time for the dinner but the place was almost as distasteful to him as to his wife and he gladly seized upon any pretext to shorten his stay as much as possible shall I tell father that you will come with Burton tomorrow Hannah asked her sister who instantly assumed that air of invadillism which he found so convenient when anything disagreeable was suggested for her to do drawing her shall more closely about her and glancing with a little shiver at the window she replied no I hardly think I shall go out tomorrow it will be so cold and probably stormy but you may expect me for a little while on Saturday if the day is fine but I shall come and stay till Monday and I hope you have a lot of mince pies baked up last Thanksgiving we were in Paris and had pea soup and brains and eels and stewed celery for dinner gray said as he kissed his aunt and bad her goodbye end of chapter six and seven