Then with a feeling of relief which he strove to put down, but which nevertheless persisted in making itself felt in a curious lightening of his spirits, he was again walking rapidly and without thought of his destination. Somber bars of crimson and purple crossed the west, and behind them, flaming up toward the zenith in a pa.s.sionate splendor of light, streamed long, golden rays from out the heart of that glory upon which no human eye may look. The angry wind had fallen to quiet, and higher up, floating in a sea of purest violet, those despised and flouted rags of clouds were seen, magically changed to rose and silver.

Chapter XXIII

f.a.n.n.y Dodge sat by the pleasant west window of the kitchen, engaged in reading those aimless shreds of local information which usually make up the outside pages of the weekly newspaper. She could not possibly feel the slightest interest in the fact that Mr. and Mrs.

James M. Snider of West Schofield were entertaining a daughter, whose net weight was reported to be nine and three quarters pounds; or that Miss Elizabeth Wardwell of Eltingville had just issued beautifully engraved invitations to her wedding, which was to take place on the seventeenth day of October--yet she went on reading. Everybody read the paper. Sometimes they talked about what they read. Anyway, her work was over for the day--all except tea, which was negligible; so she went on, somewhat drearily suppressing a yawn, to a description of the new water-works, which were being speedily brought to completion in "our neighboring enterprising town of Brookville."

f.a.n.n.y already knew all there was to tell concerning the concrete reservoir on the mountain, the big conduit leading to the village and the smaller pipes laid wherever there were householders desiring water. These were surprisingly few, considering the fact that there would be no annual charge for the water, beyond the insignificant sum required for its up-keep. People said their wells were good enough for them; and that spring water wasn't as good as cistern water, when it came to washing. Some were of the opinion that Lydia Orr was in a fool's hurry to get rid of her money; others that she couldn't stand it to be out of the limelight; and still other sagacious individuals felt confident there was something in it for "that girl." f.a.n.n.y had heard these various views of Miss Orr's conduct. She was still striving with indifferent success to rise above her jealousy, and to this end she never failed to champion Lydia's cause against all comers. Curiously enough, this course had finally brought her tranquillity of a sort and an utter unprotesting acquiescence.

Mrs. Whittle had been overheard saying to Mrs. Fulsom that she guessed, after all, f.a.n.n.y Dodge didn't care so much about the minister.

f.a.n.n.y, deep once more in the absorbing consideration of the question which had once been too poignant to consider calmly, and the answer to which she was never to know, permitted the paper to slide off her knee to the floor: Why had Wesley Elliot so suddenly deserted her?

Surely, he could not have fallen in love with another woman; she was sure he had been in love with her. However, to kiss and forget might be one of the inscrutable ways of men. She was really afraid it was.

But Wesley Elliot had never kissed her; had never even held her hand for more than a minute at a time. But those minutes loomed large in retrospect.

The clock struck five and f.a.n.n.y, roused from her reverie by the sudden sound, glanced out of the window. At the gate she saw Elliot.

He stood there, gazing at the house as if uncertain whether to enter or not. f.a.n.n.y put up a tremulous hand to her hair, which was pinned fast in its accustomed crisp coils; then she glanced down at her blue gown.... Yes; he was coming in! The bell hanging over the pa.s.sage door jangled shrilly. f.a.n.n.y stood stock-still in the middle of the floor, staring at it. There was no fire in the parlor. She would be forced to bring him out to the kitchen. She thought of the wide, luxuriously furnished rooms of Bolton house and unconsciously her face hardened. She might pretend she did not hear the bell. She might allow him to go away, thinking none of the family were at home. She pictured him, standing there on the doorstep facing the closed door; and a perverse spirit held her silent, while the clock ticked resoundingly. Then all at once with a smothered cry she hurried through the hall, letting the door fall to behind her with a loud slam.

He was waiting patiently on the doorstep, as she had pictured him; and before a single word had pa.s.sed between them she knew that the stone had been rolled away. His eyes met hers, not indeed with the old look, but with another, incomprehensible, yet wonderfully soul-satisfying.

"I wanted to tell you about it, before it came to you from the outside," he said, when they had settled themselves in the warm, silent kitchen.

His words startled f.a.n.n.y. Was he going to tell her of his approaching marriage to Lydia? Her color faded, and a look of almost piteous resignation drooped the corners of her mouth. She strove to collect her scattered wits, to frame words of congratulation with which to meet the dreaded avowal.

He appeared in no hurry to begin; but bent forward, his eyes upon her changing face.

"Perhaps you know, already," he reflected. "She may have told your brother."

"Are you speaking of Miss Orr?"

Her voice sounded strange in her own ears.

"Yes," he said slowly. "But I suppose one should give her her rightful name, from now on."

"I--I hadn't heard," said f.a.n.n.y, feeling her hard-won courage slipping from her. "Jim didn't tell me. But of course I am not--surprised."

He evidently experienced something of the emotion she had just denied.

"No one seemed to have guessed it," he said. "But now everything is plain. Poor girl!"

He fell into a fit of musing, which he finally broke to say:

"I thought you would go to see her. She sorely needs friends."

"She has--you," said f.a.n.n.y in a smothered voice.

For the life of her she could not withhold that one lightning flash out of her enveloping cloud.

He disclaimed her words with a swift gesture.

"I'm not worthy to claim her friendship, nor yours," he said humbly; "but I hope you--sometime you may be able to forgive me, f.a.n.n.y."

"I don't think I understand what you have come to tell me," she said with difficulty.

"The village is ringing with the news. She wanted every one to know; her father has come home."

"Her father!"

"Ah, you didn't guess, after all. I think we were all blind. Andrew Bolton has come back to Brookville, a miserable, broken man."

"But you said--her father. Do you mean that Lydia Orr--"

"It wasn't a deliberate deception on her part," he interrupted quickly. "She has always been known as Lydia Orr. It was her mother's name."

f.a.n.n.y despised herself for the unreasoning tumult of joy which surged up within her. He could not possibly marry Andrew Bolton's daughter!

He was watching her closely.

"I thought perhaps, if she consented, I would marry Lydia Orr," he forced himself to tell her. "I want you to know this from me, now. I decided that her money and her position would help me.... I admired her; I even thought at one time I--loved her. I tried to love her....

I am not quite so base as to marry without love.... But she knew. She tried to save me.... Then her father--that wretched, ruined man came to me. He told me everything.... f.a.n.n.y, that girl is a saint!"

His eyes were inscrutable under their somber brows. The girl sitting stiffly erect, every particle of color drained from her young face, watched him with something like terror. Why was he telling her this?--Why? Why?

His next words answered her:

"I can conceive of no worse punishment than having you think ill of me." ... And after a pause: "I deserve everything you may be telling yourself."

But coherent thought had become impossible for f.a.n.n.y.

"Why don't you marry her?" she asked clearly.

"Oh, I asked her. I knew I had been a cad to both of you. I asked her all right."

f.a.n.n.y's fingers, locked rigidly in her lap, did not quiver. Her blue eyes were wide and strange, but she tried to smile.

His voice, harsh and hesitating, went on: "She refused me, of course.

She had known all along what I was. She said she did not love me; that I did not love her--which was G.o.d's truth. I wanted to atone.

You see that, don't you?"

He looked at f.a.n.n.y and started.

"My G.o.d, f.a.n.n.y!" he cried. "I have made you suffer too!"

"Never mind me."