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Un dea aymbolea suivants apparattra sur la dernlAre image de cheque microfiche, selon le caa: le aymbde — ^ aignifie "A 8UIVRE", le aymbole y aignifie "FIN". Mapa, piatea, charta, etc., may be filmed at different reduction ratioa. Thoae too large to be entirely included in one expoaure are filmed beginning in the upper left hend corner, hft to right and top to bottom, aa many frames es required. The following diagrama iiluatrata the method: Lea cartea, planches, tableeux, etc., peuvent itre filmte A dea taux de rMuction diff«renta. Loraque le document eat trop grand pour #tre reproduit en un seul clichi. 11 eat filmi i partir de Tangle sup^rieur gauche, de gauche i droite, et de haut en bea, en prenent le nombre d'Imagea nAceaaaire. Lea diagrammea auivanta illuatrent la mithode. irrata to pelura, in* n 31X 1 2 3 1 1 2 3 m 6 DEFICIENT SAINTS DERRICK AND FAIRY PRINCE. {See Pag* 318.) J'k EFICIENT SAINTS t Cal£ 0f ^u'ns . Ki> BEAT ' -•■■••. A CHARr.JTTH," " kc-; <.!.,. wili the dty's alleys, 1 Ake the -ffiootli-shorji plain. Give U) us thf ct-.s s- uiit^„c. Rock?, and n- n CUustratrt bo fKANK i MhKKil.L ^^ * -1. ?/«.) BOSTON L. e, FAGf A: iiii.: ANU FAIRV J'RINCE. (S'et fiagejiS.) DEFICIENT SAINTS ^ Ealt of iSSattu BY MARSHALL SAUNDERS AUTHOR OF " BEAUTIFUL JOE," " ROSE A CHARLITTE," "THE KING OF THE PARK," ETC. " Keep who will the city's alleys, Take the smooth-shorn plain. Give to us the cedar valleys, Kocks, and hills of Maine ! " SUttstrattH bu FRANK T. MERRILL BOSTON L. C. PAGE AND COMPANY (incorporatbd) t899 BDBB Copyright, i8gg By L. C. Page and Company (iBcorporated) Entered at Stationers' Hall, London. i i i 1 i ! L.i . ffolonial ^tr«« : EleetrotTped and Printed by C. H. Simcnds & Co. Boston, U. S. A. TO THE CITIZENS ' OF BEAUTIFUL BANGOR THIS STORY IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED BY THE AUTHOR CONTENTS. '.- fTKK I. II. III. IV. V. VI. VII. VIII. IX. X. XI. XII. XIII. XIV. XV. XVI. XVII. XVIII. XIX. XX. The Elect Lady and Her Death-book An Unexpected Daughter-in-L/5 w To Him the World Was Gay A Favour Solicited A Pastoral Visit .... Stern Her Face and Masculine Her Stride A DAivE WITH A Strange Guide . Of Mixed Blood . , . , Tell Me Your Secrets . . , A Reform in the Bill of Fare . In the Midst of Life We Are in Death It Is All True .... A Dinner-party .... UNQUIF.T Hearts .... A Family Cemented by Love A Partial Surrender . Captain White Chooses a Monument A Step in Advance .... The Church or the United Brethren Loses Its Pastor Burglars at French Cross . PAOB II 24 34 51 62 73 81 98 III 122 136 148 163 178 191 200 217 230 243 254 CONTENTS. CHAPTER XXI. XXII. XXIII. XXIV. XXV. XXVI. XXVII. xxvin. A,Xj.X. XXX. XXXI. XXXII. XXXIII. XXXIV. Miss Gastonguay Interviews Her Pris- oner .... Criminal Records . When a Man's Happy . An Invitation to a Picnic In the French Cross Wood The Picnic and the Old Prison Well H. Robinson and His Revelation Captain White's Ba.x Play . News of the Wanderer The Return of the Wanderer H. Robinson Again . A Branch Cut Off . The Puritans Have Triumphed 1 The Son of the Morning PAGH 266 280 316 322 336 350 363 369 378 390 406 418 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. PACB Frontispiece Derrice and Fairy Prince . •"Derrice, this is Mr. Mercer'" .... 26 "'I have a message to you from this brother'" 140 "She seized a stick ... and gently stirred the sleeper with it" 266 i DEFICIENT SAINTS. CHAPTER I. THE ELECT LADY AND HER DEATH - BOOK. In the dining-room of the old stone Mercer mansion in the town of Rossignol, Me.. Mrs. Hip- polyta Prymmer, sanctified vessel and uncommon samt, charter member of the church of the United Brethren, chief leader in religious work, and wag- gishly nicknamed by the ungodly about her "the elect lady," sat looking earnestly at her death-book. This death-book was her never-failing source of interest and chastened entertainment. In it she had enrolled the names of the various friends of whom she had been deprived by death, and for its enlarge- ment and adornment she collected photographs, cut- tmgs from newspapers, and items of information, with an assiduity superior to that of some of her acquaintances, who prepared scrap-books merely for purposes of diversion and amusement. II 12 DEFICIENT SAINTS. The covers of the book were ornamented with two silver plates engraved with the names and ages of her two deceased husbands, — Sylvester Mercer and Zebedee Prymmei'. These plates had been taken from the coffins of the two worthy men before they had been lowered to their graves. Wedged under each plate were locks of hair shorn from the heads of the dead men. Sylvester, according to his coffin- plate, had been a man in the prime of life. His lock of hair was soft and brown, while that of Zebedee Prymmer, whose age was given as sixty-five, was stiff and grizzled. Mrs. Prymmer did not quail as her eye ran over these somewhat ghastly souvenirs. She even sighed gently, and with eyes partly closed, — for she nearly knew the contents of the book by heart, — repeated softly some lines addressed to herself, written by Zebedee Prymmer before death, but worded as if they had been penned after his flight to regions above. " Mourn not, oh loved, oh cherished dear, I have no longer foes to fear, From here above, far in the sky, I see the pit wherein they'll lie. ♦* They digged around me in the dust, But Providence sustained the Just, Come soon and join the dear upright, And triumph over sons of spite." THE ELECT LADY AND HER DEATH- BOOK. 1 3 Mrs. Prymmer, musing enjoyably over these lines, had her attention distracted by her cat, who was mewing around her feet, turning his sleek face up to her sleek face, and pretending that he thought it was breakfast-time instead of bedtime. " I sha'n't give you any milk," she said> severely, "you had enough for your supper; go to bed." The cat fled down-stairs, and Mrs. Prymmer gazed across the room at the clock. The sight of her round gray eyes was undimmed. All her bodily faculties were in a good state of preservation, and undeterred by the mournful fact that she had laid two husbands in the grave, she was, perhaps, by no means averse to taking a third one. In the course of time she would probably have another offer, for Rossignol was a marrying-place, and she was some- what of a belle among elderly widowers, being still good-looking in spite of the artificial and unpleasing compression of her lips, and the two lines up and down the corners of her mouth. She began to wonder just how her son would take the news of another marriage on her part. She was a little afraid of this son, although she loved him better than any one else in the world. He was the only living person admitted into her death-book, and drawing his photograph from between the leaves, she looked at it half lovingly, half apprehensively. It was a not unstriking face that confronted her. He 14 DEFICIENT SAINTS. was a curious combination, this boy of hers, — half Englishman, half Yankee. His tall, firmly built figure, his reserve, and his pale face were a legacy fiom his father, who was of direct English ancestry ; his business ability and calculating ways, and his granite-coloured eyes, that so swiftly and unerringly measured his fellow men with respect to their use- fulness or uselessness to him, were direct gifts to him through his mother from a generation or two of New England traders. She wondered once more just how he would look and what he would say if some one were to observe suddenly to him, " So I hear your mother is going to be married again." Her plump shoulders quivered nervously, and she looked deeper into his fathomless eyes. Probably he would be annoyed at first, but in time he would calm down, and would go on living with her and a third husband just as he had lived with her and a second one. " He never liked Zebedee," she reflected, comfort- ably, "yet he was always respectful to him. He's a pretty good boy is Justin," and she passed one hand caressingly over the pale, composed face, and wished earnestly that he would come home from the long and mysterious journey that he had undertaken some weeks ago. The house was very quiet now that he was away. THE ELECT LADY AND HER DEATH BOOK. 1 5 A cousin who boarded with her was also absent, and her solitary maid servant, who should have been in bed, was roaming the streets with a sailor lover. " Half-past ten," said Mrs. Prymmer, in a voice that boded no good to the loitering maid, " and her hour is ten sharp. There she is, — the witch," as a ring at the bell resounded through the silent house. She got up and went quickly through the hall. " Mary ! " she said as she opened the door. " Mary ! " There was something so aggravating in her tone that it checked the apology on the lips of the be- lated girl, and made her toss her head angrily. " Mary," repeated her mistress, warningly, " if this happens again I shall consider it my duty to dismiss you without a character." The maid hurried up-stairs, her back respectful, her face working vigorously as she made mouths at an imaginary mistress in front of her. Mrs. Prymmer was about to follow her when her attention was caught by a sound of sleigh-bells com- ing from the snowy street. The old stone house, in common with most of its neighbours, was perched on a bank som^ distance from the street, and was ap- proached by several flights of steps cut into the terraces before it. A sleigh was drawn up to the pavement below, and slowly descending from it was her son, whom t6 DEFICIENT SAINTS. she had supposed to be in California. She held her breath with pleasure. She had got him hack again, her one and only child, her son by her first marriage, — young Justin Mercer, junior deacon in the church of the United Brethren, the hope of the older mem- bers of the fiock and the model of the rising genera- tion. In unbounded pride she noted his firm step, his unruffled appearance, the uprightness of his figure, and the cool flash of the eye behind the glasses that he always wore. Instead of looking like one arriving home from a journey, he had rather the appearance of one just about to leave home, and as calmly as if he had seen her a few hours before he bent his tall figure to bestow a filial embrace upon her. In a sudden upsurging of maternal affection she responded warmly and involuntarily, until the re- membrance of his abrupt departure made her draw back and sur/ey him silently. " Are you not glad to ^ave me back } " he asked, with a slight smile. " Yes, though your going away was none of the pleasantest," she said, in an injured voice, while with the tips of her fingers she arranged on ^ her temples the thick crimped hair slightly disturbed by his caress. ** I am sorry for it, mother," he said, with the same curious smile, " and I regret to state that, unpleasant THE ELECT LADY AND HER DEATH -BOOK. 1 7 as it was, you may find it was not equal to my return." " What do you mean ? " she said, peevishly, " and why doesn't that man fetch in your things ? " " I told him to hold his horses until I came back. I have a present for you," and he turned and went down the steps while his mother returned to the shelter of the porch. Suddenly she became as rigid as the door-post behind her. The present w?»s taking on the shape of all things in the world most hateful to her. A young girl of medium height was coming up the steps, and bending over her in a protecting attitude was her son Justin. They paused for an instant before her. Mrs. Prymmer had a brief confused vision of a big, beauti- ful wax doll whose limpid eyes shone out of a mist of light hair, then her son flashed her a swift glance, and seeing that he could hope for no response, laid a hand on the shoulder of the vision and with- drew it. Mrs. Prymmer, brushing by the cabman who was staggering in under the weight of a trunk, marched solemnly into the hall, opened the door of the parlour, and, lighting the gas, sat down in an arm- chair of imposing proportions and awaited an ex- planation. Her son had conducted his companion to the i8 DEFICIENT SAINTS. dining-room. She heard a few low-spoken words, then his heavy step came through the hall, and, en- tering the room, he sat before her. " I don't know what some women would call this," she said, compressing her lips till there was nothing but a thin streak of red between them, " but I call it an insult." " It is not intended as an insult," he said. " Per- haps if you will wait till I explain — " "You can't explain s./ay the fact that that is a woman," replied Mrs. Prymmer, pointing an accusing finger toward the next room. No, he could not. With all the words that he could utter, with all the stock of logic at his com- mand, Justin Mercer could not disprove the fact that in the room beyond them was a young and uncom- monly beautiful woman. "What do you mean by saying that she is a present for me.?" asked his discomfited mother. "I have one girl now. I suppose this is some creature you have picked up on your travels." Justin Mercer was not a man given to unseemV mirth, yet at this disdainful remark he made a sound in his throat closely approaching a laugh. "Did you look at her, mother ? " Mrs. Prymmer for a few instants forgot her ven- geance in her curiosity. It was no servant, but a lady that had passed her in the doorw y. The THE ELECT LADY AND HER DEATH- BOOK. 1 9 delicate face, with its clear-cut features and limpid eyes, was a refined and not a vulgar one. " Who is she ? " she asked, peremptorily. " She is my wife," he said, quietly. " Your wife," gasped Mrs. Prymmer, and she half rose from her chair, then staggered into it again, and laid her hand against the high back for support, while all the furniture in the room, presided over by her son's sober face, whirled slowly by her in a distracted procession. "Shall I get you a glass of water.?" he asked, sympathetically. She made a prohibitory gesture. This was only the reflex action of the blow struck when first she had seen the young girl accompanying him up the steps. She knew then that he had brought home a wife. Moistening her dry lips with her tongue so that she might compass the words, she articulated, "This is the fruit of disobedience." Her son did not reply to her, but there was no sign of regret on his face, no word of apology on his tongue. He had found the fruit sweet, and not bitter, — he had plucked it in defiance of her well- known wishes. She had lost the little boy that she had led by the hand for years, — the young man that had lingered by her side, apparently indifferent to dl feminine society but her own. She had lost him for ever, and, making a motion of h^ plump 30 DEFICIENT SAINTS. hands as if she were washing him and his affairs from them, she got up and moved toward the dcor. "Don't you want to hear about my journey?" he asked, kindly. She did indeed want to hear. She was suffering from a burning inquisitiveness> yet she affected indif- ference, and said, coldly, "I do, if you will tell me the truth." ^«j^^ " Did I ever tell you a lie ? " ^^^m " No, but I daresay you will begin now, — * by their fruits ye shall know them.' I thought you were never going to get married." " I never said so." '' You acted it." ** You had better sit down, and I will tell you how it happened," he said, soothingly. Mrs. Prymmer hesitated, then, dominated by his slightly imperious manner and her own ungovernable curiosity, she took on the air of a suffering martyr, and reseated herself. There was a large mirror over the mar*:elpiece, and the young man, catching in it a glimpse of the contrast between his own pale face and the ruddy one of his mother, murmured, " You are very fresh- looking for fifty-five years." It was not like Justin Mercer to make a remark about the personal appearance of man, woman, or child. His mother glanced at him in surprise. THE ELFCT LADY AND HER DEATH- BOOK. then for a brief space of time was mollified by his approval of her comfortable appearance, although she murmured a stem reference to gray hairs that are brought down by sorrow to the grave. " Your face is xull," he went on, in his composed voice, " and your hair is thick and glossy like a girl's, and your eyes are bright, — as bright as Derrice's there — " The mention of his wife's name was inopportune. " Is that what you call her ? " asked his mother, with a scornful compression of the lips. " Yes, Derrice Lancaster." Mrs. Prymmer's countenance grew purple. " She is not a daughter of that man ? " " She is." "Help, Lord, for ihe godly man ceaseth," mur- mured the lady, upon whom these repeated blows were beginning to have the effect of inducing irrel- evancy of Scripture quotations. " If you like, I will tell you from the first," said her son. ** Do you want her to hear ? " asked Mrs. Prymmer, with a glance toward the sliding doors that divided the two rooms. The young man's face changed quickly, and mut- tering, "It would be just like her to listen, — the little witch," he got up and approached the doors. " Hello," said a mischievous voice, and he caught 32 DEFICIENT SAINTS. H - a gleam of bright eyes and a smiling face at the gaping crack. Hastily opening the doors, he passed through, and, firmly closing them behind him, stood over the beautiful but slightly unformed and unde- velop'jd figure sitting on the sofa, that was drawn close up to tho doors. " Derrice," he said, reprovingly. "What a trying time you are having with your mamma," she said; saucily. "I was just aboi't to interrupt. I want to go to bed." " Very well," he said, submissively, and, preceding her into the hall, he picked up a small leather bag. Mrs. Prymmer, peering out of the front room, saw them go by, — her son with the girl's cloak thrown over his shoulder, his head inclined toward her, as he talked in a low voice. " Bewitched ! " she exclaimed, furiously, and, creep- ing to the door-sill, she listened to their further movements. Ever since his childhood her son had occupied a large room at the back of the house overlooking the garden. Mrs. Prymmer heard him open the door of this room and ask his wife to stand still while he found a match. Then there was a silence, and she pictured the girl's critical glance running over the muffled furniture, the covered bed, and the drawn blinds. Presently there was the sound of the strange voice THE ELECT LAD V AND HER DEA TH- BOOK. 2$ in the hall, "I cannot sleep in that room. It is damp, and the sheets are clammy." "But, Derrice," said her son's clear tones in remonstrance. "I am not mistaken," repeated the girl, "where are your other sleeping-rooms ? " " If Micah is at home we haven't any," he said, decidedly. " Most of our bedrooms are shut up." "Then I shall have to sit up all night or go to a hotel," said the girl, with equal decision. Mrs. Prymmer felt herself called upon to save the family reputation. She stepped into the hall, and in a voice choking with wrath called up the staircase, "Micah isn't home, —put her in his room." The girl looked over the railing at her. It seemed to Mrs. Prymmer that her eyes were rolling mis- chievously. « Thank you," she said, sweetly, then she retired, and her disconcerted mother-in-law went back to the parlour. CHAPTER II. AN UNEXPECTED DAUGHTER-IN-LAW. When Justin returned to the parlour there was a slight flush on his face, and, taking off his spectacles, he wiped them with a somewhat weary air. " I guess you've got a handful in your new wife," said his mother, with resentful relish. He gave her an unexpected smile. " She hasn't been brought up as we have — " Then he par.sed and fell into a reverie out of which his mother inexorably roused him. " I wish you would get on with your story. I don't want to stay here all night.' Justin put on his glasses, brushed bacK the thick hair from his forehead, and, leaning forward in his chair, said, firmly, "It is just five weeks to-day since I came home with a telegram from Mr. Lancaster asking me to go to see him on urgent business." "Yes, and I advised you not to go," sAd Mrs. Prymmer, squeezing her lips together. " * The way of transgressors is hard.' " "You advised me not to go because you knew nothing of the circumstances. You know that I AN UNEXPECTED DAUGHTER IN-LAW. 25 cannot give you the details cf my business transac- tions. Can't you trust me to do what is right in such cases ? " "Put -not your trust in princes," she said, stub- bornly. " A man should have no secrets from his mother." " You forget *■'*''♦■ I am not a boy," he said, calmly. Then he went on, " I hurried to California and found Mr. Lancaster in a seaside place sitting in the sun parlour of a hotel. He was pleased that I had come so quickly, and talked over his affairs with me — " " It's a very odd thing," interrupted Mrs. Prymmer, " that a man who has travelled as much as this Mr. Lancaster of yours should do all his business in a little place like this. Why doesn't he go to banks in New York 0/ Boston ? " " He probably knows his own mind," said Justin, with an unmoved face. " That day I did some writ- ing for him, then he looked out the window. There was a long beach where a small number of young people were bathing in the surf. Mr. Lancaster said, * You have never met my daughter, — come out, and I will introduce you. The bathing season has not begun, but she often gets up a party in the spirit of adventure.' We went outside, and when he called, *Derrice,* one of the bathers came toward us. I saw that she was a pretty girl — " " Well — " said Mrs. Pr3rmmer, in an icy voice. r^ 26 DEFICIENT SAINTS. Her son had paused; it was intensely distasteful to him to give her this account of his journey, and he was only urged to it by a strict sense of duty. But not for worlds would he describe to her or to any one living his sensations on first meeting the girl who had become his wife. Through half-shut eyes he gazed at his mother, his memory busy re- calling the scene on the California beach, — the dripping, glistening sea-nymph dancing over the sands in her short frock and black stockings, her face radiant, her teeth shining, her slender feet spuming the ground, her whole being so instinct with life and happiness that she seemed to be an incarnation of perpetual grace and motion. She danced to meet him and he — stiff, awkward — had stood motionless, struck with admiration, his whole soul for the first time prostrate before femi- nine graces and perfection. But he must continue his recital, and, rousing him- self with an effort, he went on. "Her father said, ' Derrice, this is Mr. Mercer,* and she shook hands with me. Then he asked her to go out and let me see how well she could swim. She rushed into the breakers — They are very high out there and come in in three rows howling and plunging like dogs, and throwing up spray half as high as this house. She dived through one line and another and another, then we saw her head rising beyond them. After a time eful and luty. >r to ; the -shut y re- -the • the i, her ■ feet istinct be an irkward on, his femi- ig him- said, hands let me nto the d come >gs, and She er, then a time ;r "♦DERRICE, THIS IS MR. MERCER.' I AN UNEXPECTED DAUGHTER-IN-LAW. 27 I wondered why she didn't come in, but no one else seemed uneasy. The other young people had sat down on the hot sand, and her father was taken up with pride in her strength, when some one waved a marine glass from the hotel veranda and cried, *The tide has turned, — Miss Derrice can't get in, she has been floating for some time.' " Justin stopped again, and once more lived over his brief experience on the shores of the Pacific, — the quick agony of the father who turned and measured the strength of the young men before him, their responsive looks as they ran like deer down the beach to launch a boat, the cries of consternation of the girls as they hurried into the sea and stretched out helpless hands, and the furious beating and protesting of his own heart at the sudden snatching of his newly found treasure from him by the cruel sea. He would recover her alone and unaided, or he would die with her, and, tearing off his boots and coat, he had plunged through the rows of indignant breakers that slapped and buffeted him until he reached a region of calm where warm waves lapped his throat and playfully tried to blind his eyes with spray. In deliberate haste, for he was strong and broad of limb, he had hurried to the spot where she lay rising and fdling on the water, her face like a lily-bud, her limbs stretched out like folded leaves. The glare of the sun^ the brass of the sky, his steady. 28 DEFICIENT SAINTS. cool head, his beating heart, the look the girl gave him when she raised her head from the waves as from a pillow, — to his dying day he would never forget it all, and he grew pale at the remembrance. His musings were interrupted by his mother's harsh voice, " Why couldn't she get in ? " "When the tide turns the undertow is frightful. Several drowning accidents had occurred there, it being a hard place to launch a boat, and as the bathing season had not begun, the life-saving appli- ances were not in readiness.'* Mrs. Prymmer asked no question for a time, but encouraged by a gleam of sympathy on her face, Justin observed, dryly, "She was afraid we could not get out to her, and she was repeating poetry to keep herself from losing her presence of mind." " I guess she wasn't much frightened," observed Mrs. Prymmer, hardening her heart again. "She has a good deal of nerve," said Justin, quietly. " She doesn't look it, but she has." " Well, they must have got her in," said his mother, impatiently, " as she is here ; how did they do it ? " "I swam out and stayed by her," he said, laconi- cally, " till the boat came. It kept upsetting in the breakers." " Why didn't her father go out } It was a queer thing to let you risk your life." " He could not swim, and he was paralysed with AN UNEXPECTED DAUGHTER-IN-LAW, 29 fright." Justin lowered his eyes, for there was a mist on his glasses. Ah, that meeting between father and daughter when the boat came in ! He had turned aside quickly from it, but not quickly enough to escape the expression in the eyes of the half-fainti.g man as he held out his arms to his recovered daughter. " Did you make up your mind then to marry her } " pursued his mother, in a voice so harsh that it was almost a croak. " No ; I had already done so." " You were pretty quick about it.* " I am not always slow." " And she jumped at the chance.' " Not exactly," and, throwing back his head, he stared at her through his glasses. "If you will recall some of your own experiences when in love, you may remember some of the ways of your *> >> sex. The obstinate face opposite him did not relax. No; although she had twice been wooed and suc- cessfully won, his mother had never felt in the slightest degree the influence of the gentle passion. She had not the remotest conception of the strength of a loving attachment except as she had felt it to a limited extent in the guise of maternal affection. However, she was not going to tell her son this, so she said, commandingly, " Go on with your story." 1r 30 DEFICIENT SAINTS. " There isn't much more to tell. The experience in the sea had given her a shock, and she was pale and quiet for a day or two, then she was all right and was about with her father all the time, and I — of course I was there." He stopped in a somewhat lame fashion, and Mrs. Prymmer said, scornfully, " I guess her father made the match." Justin maintained a discreet silence. It would be sacrilege to relate to this unsympathetic listener the history of the steady, sharp oversight that the father had taken in all matters pertaining to his daughter. Justin would not tell her that Mr. Lancaster had spoken first, — that one day he had turned to him with an abrupt, "You love my daughter, don't you } " Mrs. Prymmer would only sneer if she should be told that her son's voice had trembled as he had answered, "Yes," and that his cheek had burned under the glance of Mr. Lancaster's keen eyes. Nor would he favour ber with an account of his love- making to the sr.oiled and wayward Derrice. It would not inspire his mother with the same intensity of interest with which it had inspired her son. Therefore he remained thoughtful until she broke the silence by an accusation that goaded him into a response. " You promised your father when*he died that you would take care of me." A^T UNEXPECTED DAUGHTER-IN-LAW. 31 " I know I did. I have married the only woman I have ever seen who would not be jealous of a mother's appropriation of a son." Mrs. Prymmer thought over this sentence and decided that it contained an innuendo. " You must choose between us," she said, angrily, "a man must leave father and mother, and cleave to his wife." " I know it. I should be the last one to gainsay instructions ifrom the Bible." "My house is not large enough for both," she continued, " I never wanted a daughter-in-law. You have forced one on me." "You are considerably upset to-night, mother," he said, gently. " I ought to have warned you of my marriage by telegram, but I thought I had rather break it to you myself ; you had better think over the matter of our leaving your house." Her house, yes, it certainly was hers ; for she had taken good care that her first husband should leave her in possession of all his worldly goods, and that their son should be dependent on her. How- ever, she was not devoid of feeling, and she knew Justin was net thinking of losing the shelter of her roof, but rather of the sundering of the close ties between them, and, as this thought presented itself, her shrewd and calculating mind recalled the hand- some gown of her daughter-in-law, and the costly fur cloak slipping from her shoulders. T IT i 32 DEFICIENT SAINTS. ■Ir 3 " Is that Mr. Lancaster as rich as folks say ? " she asked, with a softening of her tone. " No," he replied, briefly. " I suppose if anything happened to her you would get his money." Justin surveyed her in such austere disapproba- tion that she was daunted, and stammered, " You are so queer about money, •^— your business is to han- dle it, yet you haven't any respect for it, not a mite. You fling good money after bad." Justin understood her reference, and knew that it afforded him just grounds for a retort, yet he con- tented himself with a silent stare at her until she went on, meekly, " You needn't take your wife away for a day or two. I will make it a subject of prayer, and if the Lord directs, of course you will have to stay." "Of course." Her resentment did not return to her, although h^'s tone was ironical. He had oftended her terribly, this inflexible young son of hers, and even though the new member of their family was ushered in with the glamour of wealth about her, this was but a salve, a flattering ointment for a grievous wound. But after all, he was her son, her only son, and her mother's heart was touched as she got up to leave him. "Justin," she said, and though she was not moved enough for tears, a little — a very little — whimper AN ONEXPECTED DAUGHTER-IN-LAW, 3S came at her bidding, "you have broken my heart, but I forgive you." « No, mother, not broken," he said, also rising and laying a hand on her shoulder. "Yes, broken," she persisted; "but you are my boy. Don't — don't let her take you away from me." "Mother, am I likely to forget the long years that we have spent here together ; the sicknesses you have nursed me through?" " No, no, I can trust you," and she deposited her thick head of hair on his breast ; " but what made you marry that chit of a thing? She looks as if she hadn't done growing. Now if it had been a woman — " " She is Older than she looks," he said, with a smile, " and she will be more tractable than a woman, and it was either • take her or lose her.' Her father is a man of decision." " And you — you like her ? " said Mrs. Prymmer, raising her head. He gently put her aside, and his face grew crim- son. " I love her," he said, shortly. Mrs. Prymmer went slowly from the room. She was confused in her mind, and falling on her knees by her bedside she wrestled in agitated prayer for a blessing on her son, a judgment on her daughter-in- law, and miraculous strength for herself, to bear this new and heavy cross that had been laid upon her. CHAPTER III. TO HIM THE WORLD WAS GAY. Captain White was just getting home. For twenty years he had boarded with his cousin, Mrs. Hippolyta Prymmer, and now neither the rjeai nros pect of seeing her again after an absence o^i oorne months, nor any dislike for a smart rain that had begun to fall, made him quicken his footsteps as he sauntered deliberately along the concrete sidewalks of the little town. He was r, short, dark man, with a slender bod), a pair of waggish, twinkling, black eyes, a sleek, dark head, and an ever present smell of fish about his garments. By fish he breathed and moved and had his being, and from the instant that the profitubk herring was drawn from its native element, Captaui White hung over it, superintending every detail of its curing*, preparation, and shipping, for heme and foreign markets. Being a retired sea-captain and present fish mer- chant, his duties were supposed to end with the placing of a cargo of fish on board a vessel, ]}ut at 34 TO HIM THE WORLD WAS GAY. SS times h.!S affection for his old employment would break forth so strongly that, without a word of warn- ing to Mrs. Prymmer, he would precipitate himself upon a departing schooner, and the town of Rossi- gnol would know him not for a month or two. It was after one of these hasty departures that he was now returning. .He strolled along the lower streets of the town, his fun-loving eyes rolling in- quiringly at every one he met, his hands in the pockets of his short nautical jacket, his elbows sway- ing gently like two pectoral fins propelling him through the air, until he arrived below the old stone mansion, when he drew his hands from his pockets, ran briskly up the three short flights of steps, and rang the bell. " How de do, Mary," he said, briefly, to the maid when she opened the door. Upon ordinary occasions he never spoke to her. This greeting was reserved for the important event of his return from, a voyage. Mary smiled^, and, not daring to return his saluta- tion lest she should incur a reprimand from the highest authority in the house for undue familiarity with the masculine part of it, made haste to disap- pear down a back stairway. Captain White shook himself, thereby scattering a shower of wet on the oil-cloth of the floor, hung up his cap, and walked down the hall to the dining-room. I'- 36 DEFtCIBNT SAWTS. ** I'll find them just the same as usual, I suppose/' he muttered, giving a slap to his sleek head that always looked as if he had just dipped it in water, " same old table, same old chairs around it, same old fire, same old girl with same old stocking or same old death-book." He opened the door. Yes, there she sat, her thick hair parted decently in the middle, her black gown decently disposed about her portly figure, her lips decently compressed, her fingers clicking the needles of the knitting with which she invariably disciplined or amused herself during the successive evenings of her life, her eyes fixed on her son, who sat in a loose coat and carpet slippers, diligently reading the evening paper as Captain White had seen him read it a thousand times before. The very fire was crackling as it had crackled ever since he had had acquaintance with this hearthstone. He could even tell the hour of the evening by it, for Mrs. Prymmer from motives of economy always started it with wood but continued it with coal. It was now just eight o'clock, for the wood was n'^arly gone. A match had been touched to it at seven precisely, and at a quarter to eight a shovelful of coal had been lifted on it by the careful hand of his cousin. "Well, Micah," she said, deliberately, "you have got back." TO HIM THE WORLD WAS GAY. 37 Captain White did not answer her. It did not seem worth while to confirm a statement that bore truth on the face of it, and moreover he, though a man possessing a fair amount of composure, was completely dumbfounded by his discovery of a curi- ous addition to this hitherto contracted family circle. The big family lounge, commonly pushed away in a corner, was drawn up near the fire, and on it, com- fortably surrounded by cushions, reclined a girl who was not a Rossignol girl, nor anything approaching to a Rossignol giri, as far as Captain White could make out. She had been reading and had fallen asleep over her book, and she lay like a beautiful statue while Justin and his mother were apparently paying no more attention to her than if she really were something without life. Captain White rubbed his hand across his eyes and looked again. The girl was still there, and, with a puzzled expression of face equivalent to a spoken " I give it up," he sat down beside the door, one of his peculiarities being a reluctance to approach a fire. " How are you, Micah ? " said Justin, laconically. " First-rate," responded Captain White, " and how's yourself ? " '» All right." "You don't look it." m 38 DEFICIENT SAINTS. " I've been away. I guess a long jourrey doesn't agree with me." " Where have you been } " "To California." " To California ! " exclaimed Captain White, in a surprise that was ludicrous, and his gaze again went to the girl as if seeking from her a reason for this extraordinary departure on the part of his hitherto home-loving cousin. Justin's eyes went with him, then, to the further mystification of Captain White, the young man's face took on an expression more soft, more tender, than any that he had ever seen there before, while he murmured some unintelligible remark below his breath. There was a change, too, in Mrs. Prymmer. She had laid down her knitting, and her mouth was slowly opening and shutting as it had a habit of doing when she was surprised or deeply moved, and before it settled down to the firm compression of displeasure. Captain White's glance wandered to the third member of this eccentric family circle. There was a change in her, too. The Sleeping Beauty was wak- ing up. With a yawn and a little stretch of her rounded limbs, she had lifted the heavy lids of her light blue eyes, and was staring at him with a curious intentness of gaze that reminded him, in a casual w.y, of the expression he had seen on the TO HFM THE WORLD WAS GAY. 39 faces of children who were grappling with and about to seize upon some problem hitherto beyond their solution. "Derrice," said Justin, quietly, "this is Cousin Micah." She was smiling at him now, gently and wistfully, and, like a baby learning to walk, was slowly putting her small feet to the floor, trying them, as if doubt- ful whether she could stand on them. A flood of benevolence came over Captain White. " Give her a hand," he said to Justin. " Steady her off that lounge." The young man drew back. " Go yourself, Micah. You have aroused her." Justin's tone was distinctly mischievous, and Cap- tain White's surprised eyes forgot to twinkle and went in a maze of bewilderment toward Mrs. Prym- mer, whose countenance was slowly taking on a frozen aspect. Who was this girl, who was alternately stopping and advancing in a peculiar kind of a walk that he had never seen before off the stage? Perhaps she was some actress who, for reasons best known to herself, had descended upon his puritanical cousins. Well, he had never yet run from a woman, and he didn't propose to do so now, and, drawing a long breath, he stood up and manfully awaited her approach. w 40 DEFICIENT SAINTS. Nov/ she was sentimental. There was a tear in her eye, and her lip was trembling, as she stretched out her hand to him. " Captain White, I am glad to see you. It was stupid in me to fall asleep over my book. I would have kept awake if I had known you were coming." "Say something sympathetic, can't you.?" said Justin, stepping forward, and whispering in his ear. " Bless my heart and soul, how can W* ejaculated Captain White. " Now, if I had her alone — " and confusedly folding his arms, he retired to his seat. To Justin's irrepressible delight, his young wife, in a state of utter fascination, drew nearer to the rough-coated stranger. " You go away from home a good deal, don't you .? " she said, wistfully. " I hope that you will be able to stay with us now." " Now, for ihe love of mercy," said the sea-faring man, turning in quiet desperation to Justin, and speaking under his breath, " tell me who this is .? " " She is my wife," said the young man. Captain White fell into a state of speechless unbe- lief until he found confirmation of the announcement in the expression of Mrs. Prymmer's face. Justin must indeed be married to this lovely creature. Where had he got her? He rubbed both hands over his smooth head and was about to subside into ctupid perplexity, when he discovered that the girl's face was quivering in a pitiful manner that threatened TO HIM THE WORLD WAS GAY, 41 a feminine outbreak of some sort. Her face did not belie its promise. In one minute she had burst into violent weeping, and Justin, springing forward, was leading her from the room. Captain White fixed his attention on the onl) member of the family left to him. " Hippolyta, can you let a little light in on these queer proceedings } What, you are not cracked, too, — you, best hope of the elect in Rossignol .^ " His cousin was, indeed, in a state of collapse. She had just seen tumbling to the ground a fragile house of cards that she had been erecting, or, rather, a castle in Spain, — for she would be shocked at the mention of anything so worldly and pernicious as bits of painted cardboard in connection with her name. All day long she had contemplated with the utmost satisfaction the prostration of her daughter- in-law after her long journey. Derrice had lain in bed till the evening ; she had been on the sofa until Captain White's arrival. She seemed utterly over- come. Perhaps it was the will of the Lord that, in a short time, this flaxen-haired doll should be laid in the grave, and she would then again have her son to herself. Now, in some unaccountable way, the girl had been roused to unusual animation by the ap- pearance of Captain Wl^.ite. Her cheeks had flushed, she had seemed interested and pleased. This fit of tears was but a manifestation of temper, — "girls' 42 DEFICIENT SAINTS. II tricks," she muttered, angrily. The will of the Lord was not to have her sicken and die, — it was clash- ing with her will, with hers, acknowledged saint, the most devout woman in the town of Rossignol. There was something radically wrong with the order of things, and she felt stunned, and in no condition to talk. One or two ineffectual attempts she made to answer her cousin's inquiries, then, with a ponderous and unsteady step, she rushed from the room. Captain White stretched his lean neck around the door-post. " She's off on a gale with passion for her sail. Never saw such queer doings in this house before. That lass has doddered them, — guess I'll get something to eat. In every sudden squall of life, fortify yourself by a visit to the pantry. It's wonderful how the stomach backs up your sta)ring powers," and, wandering out into the hall, he saun- tered down a staircase to the lower part of the house. His brief warning ejaculations of " Hey ! Hist ! Hello ! " at the kitchen door not being answered, he pushed it open and walked in, saying, "Just as I thought. She's off. Never saw such a house; whenever they've nothing to do they sneak off to bed." Adjoining the kitchen was a small pantry where Captain White was soon standing beside sparsely laiien shelves. There was nothing on the lower -^^s TO HIM THE WORLD WAS GAY. 43 ones worthy of his famished condition but a beef bone destined for the soup pot on the morrow. This he seized, and while gnawing the meat from it with his strong sailor's teeth that had been sharp- ened during the early part of his life by attacks on salt junk and hard tack, his scintillating eyes flashed longingly up to the top shelf where stood an inviting procession of newly baked mince pies. " Most women wouldn't make soup of that bone," he said, as he rapped a tune on the shelf wit!i the denuded bone, " but it's a chance if Hippolyta doesn't wash and dress ii and put it in a pot and make a liquor that we'll drink and all go stagjgering about with weakness from it. Clever woman that. Most women would have wasted a supper on me to-night, but she never thought of it. However, I'm not one to sing sour grapes. Here goes," and being too short to reach the pies he drew up his legs, sprang in the air like a jack-in-the-box and seized one of them. " It's a good big pie, but I can manage a quarter," he said, and drawing a clasp-knife from his vest he cut out a wedge-shaped piece that he transferred by slow degrees to his mouth. " That's a superfine pie," he said, presently, " but flat, — on account of me, poor miserable sinner," and rolling his glance upward, he drew a flask from the breast of his coat and sprinkled a part of its contents over the pie. 44 DEFICIENT SAINTS. ii! In a few minutes the entire pie was disposed of, and he was deep in another. "Guess I'd better stop," he said, presently, " or a herring with a mouth as big as a church will swallow me to-night. Is there any further iniquity I can commit.? Cousin Hippolyta can't be any madder than she will be when she sees those empty plates — Oh, here's the cream for breakfast. I'll drink that," and he seized a flat- bottomed dish and carried it to his mouth. " Now seeing I've been as bad as I can be," he said, after he had chased a remaining skin of cream around the dish until he had caught it with his little finger, " I'll go above. I wish I could put this thing on Mi.ry," and he set one plate inside a ^er, " but even if this crockery was found in her pocket, they'd get after me. Mary is a church-member, and I'm a reprobate," and wiping his creamy lips and gaily humming, "We were three jolly sailors," he went up-stairs. He found the parlour deserted. The fire that he had left burning cheerily was now sulking under a heap of ashes, and the lights were turned out, — sure proofs that his Cousin Hippolyta, supposing him to be in bed, had descended and made preparations for the night. "Just nine o'clock," he said, leaning over the grate to examine his battered silver watch by a persevering gleam of firelight. "I wonder what TO HIM THE WORLD WAS GAY. 45 Justin is doing. I'll take an observation," and he went up-stairs on tiptoe. Tie door of a small dressing-room adjoining Justin's bedroom stood open, and Captain White, who possessed an uncommon sharpness of hearing, thought that he detected a faint noise as he peered in. " Hello, Justin, are you there } " he whispered. "Yes," said the young man, leaving the dark window where he was standing and coming out into the dimly lighted hall. " Won't she let you in > " "She isn't here, Micah." " Where do you keep her } ** " On the flat above you." "Up with Mary — in the attic. What's that for > " " Well — you might be able to guess if you tried," said the young man, and he glanced toward the closed door of his mother's room. " H'm — doesn't want to be too near her mother- in-law," reflected Captain White. Then he seized Jus- tin by the arm as if he were a prisoner. "Come up to my den." Marching him up another flight of stairs, he con- ducted him to a front room. " There, now," he said, " sit down. I know that Morris chair is in the exact place I left it, in this well-rigged house. I can give 1 ! I ■-^^ I ■:l!ii'!| 46 DEFICIEN7 SAINTS. you a push that will land you in it, though I can't see a thing with those confounded curtains down. You'd better keep on your feet, though, till I strike a light. Your mother'd get after me if I broke one of your legs. Jemima Jane, here v/e are as snug as pos- sible," and he turned up two gas-jets to the extent of their lighting ability, and then, dropping into a chair, reached out his hand to a drawer and took from it a pipe. Justin, who did not smoke, took off his glasses and indulged in his frequent occupation of polishing them with his handkerchief, blinking his eyes mean- while in the strong light. " How Did are you ? " asked Captain White, as he stuffed his pipe full of tobac o. "Thirty." " Lack-a-daisy, it seems only the other day you were born." Justin did not reply to him. He was not much of a talker at any time, and at present he was in a reflective condition of mind in which he did not care to discuss any subject, not even the circum- stances connected with his own birth. "You have known me for a long time," said Captain White, brusquely, "do you happen to put any kind of trust in me ? " Justin struggled out of his reverie. " Yes, Micah, you know 1 do." TO HIM THE WORLD WAS GAY. 47 " Then for goodness' sake tell me what has brought this change in you, for, hang me, if you didn't look like all the minor prophets rolled in one when I went away. My namesake, and Habakkuk and Malachi and all the rest, would have appeared like grinning idiots alongside of you, and now I have actually seen your teeth six times since I entered this blessed door." Justin not only favoured him with another sight of his big white teeth, that were set slafe-like in his square jaw, but he burst into a low, hearty laugh. " I guess it must be dolly, Micah." " That's your wife." "Yes, she's my wife fast enough." " Did you marry her in California ? " « Yes." " When did you get back ? " " Yesterday." " What sent you there ? " *'Mr. Lancaster was there; he telegraphed for me ; she is his daughter." Captain White took his pipe from his mouth, uttered a low, significant whistle, and measured Justin with a penetrating glance, but he asked no more questions, not being one to pry into another man's secrets. " Your mother seems a trifle put out," he observed, after a time. 4^ r>£FlCtENT SAINTS. w ; ! , . ;;l " Natutally she would be," replied Justin, signifi- cantly. Captain White in his turn began to laugh, at first silently and noiselessly, then with such a hearty and irrepressible explosion that Justin gazed at him in some astonishment. "Excuse me," said the elder man, waving his pipe, apologetically, "but it makes me curl up inside to think of you as a married man, you, a brat of a boy. I don't think I'm old enough yet to launch myself in the narrow matrimonial boat, and I've seen craft of all kinds sail in and out of this Bay for over fifty years." " I'm not young, — I'm old," muttered the young man, suddenly getting up and stretching out his arms, "and I'm tired from that pull across the continent. I guess I'll go to bed." " Wait a bit — what made your dolly cry to-night ? I didn't frighten her, did I ? " " No ; you reminded her of her father. She's been grieving all day 'or him." " Her father — do I look like him .? " " I never thought so till you came in this evening. When she saw the resemblance I caught it. You are like him, only his hair isn't quite as smooth as yours, and he is taller, but he wears dark clothes like yours, and he is lean and swarthy-complexioned, and he has small eyes — " TO HIM THE WORLD JVA6 GAY. 49 « Small eyes — " repeated Captain White. His companion did not hear him. He had sprung up with the utmost celerity, and had hurried to the hall and up the next staircase to the floor above, from whence there had been a sound of something falling. " It's against orders to leave that door open when I smoke," said Captain White, following him ; "how- ever, the family is a trifle upset to-night, and I might as well be hanged for a sailor as a cabin-boy," and he continued to embrace affectionately with his lips the stem ot his well-worn pipe, while he paced defiantly up and down the hall. " What was the trouble ? " he asked, when Justin came presently down the steps. '* She upset a table with a jug of water on it and wet her feet." " You get a girl in the house and you'll have to dance attendance on her, young man. Has she got comfortable quarters up there ? " " Yes ; we moved some furniture into those two empty front rooms, and I'm going to get her some more things." " Why didn't you marry a Rossignol girl ? Judg- ing from the eye-snap I had at this one, she's about as much out of your line of life as the admiral of a fleet is out of mine." " I guess all girls have spoiled ways, Micab." ill I 50 DEFICIENT SAINTS. m " Oh, hooks and ninepins — what a baby you are, Justin," and Captain White wagged his head and burst into an uneasy chuckling laugh. " You don't know any more about women than a moon-calf, but she'll teach you, lad, she'll teach you." Justin did not answer him. "Don't hear me," soliloquised Captain White, "the muscles of his ears are nearly tearing themselves out of place to hear if there is any sound from that girl. Oh, this is comedy to see young tombstone-face, young blank- wall prancing to the whims of a girl — I might as well retire — he don't pay any attention to me. I guess I better set my mind alarm for six o'clock in the morning. I've drunk up Pretty-face's cream, and I'll have to rise early and capture some milkman. I guess — " and he paused and raised one lean, hairy paw to the ceiling — " that you up there, young miss, won't ever sit down and cry because you threw this old sardine a sweet smile for your father's sake," and with this prophetic remark he put aside his pipe, and, stripping off his clothes with the rapidity of lightning, was in two minutes in bed and sound asleep. CHAPTER IV. A FAVOUR SOLICITED. Mrs. Prymmer's next-door neighbour was her clergyman, — the Rev. Bernal Huntmgton, pas- tor of the church of the United Brethren. It was an immense satisfaction to her to have so near the one who ministered to her in spiritual things, but whether it was an equal satisfaction to the Rev. Mr. Huntington that young man had never been heard to assert. The third day after Justin's arrival home was Sunda), and a solemn quiet brooded over the little parsonage standing half hidden in the shadow of the stone mansion. The services of the day were over, and the minis- ter had shut himself up in his study. He had preached two moving sermons, conducted a Bible class and attended a funeral out in the country. Probably he was tired. Even his magnificent physique was capa- ble of fatigue, and to the minds of several of his fair parishioners, whose thoughts had a trick of running toward and after him, he was at the present moment 51 52 DEFICIENT SAINTS. pictured in a recumbent attitude on his haircloth sofa, musing in orthodox fashion on the stirring evangeUcal eloquence with which he had that day delighted the hearts of his hearers. But the minister was not resting. The sly, sleepy fire spying at him from the small stove could have revealed another state of affairs. Stealthily it watched him as he inwardly raged to and fro in the tiny room, threading his way among tables and chairs, foot- stools, and heaped-up books and piles of manuscript. " Peace, peace to the weary," he had been preaching, but there was no peace for his soul. He was in the throes of some mental conflict t'lat furrowed his handsome face with emotion. Not only mentally but physically was he out of touch with his environment. The badly made cleri- cal coat hung scantily over his athletic figure. His well-shaped auburn head almost touched the low ceiling. He seemed like a triumphant wrestler thrust from the prize-ring into the deserted haunt of a dead clergyman. He had taken the place of a man much older than himself, a consistent saint, a model of all the virtues. He had just been thinking about this man, and an unutterable disgust of self oppressed him. "Un- worthy — unworthy," he muttered, "I must give it up. I shall leave here. This is unendurable." He was stretching out his arms as if to fly away A FAVOUR SOLICITED. 53 to a more congenial atmosphere when his attention was distracted by a clattering outside his door and a subsequent exclamation. " Look out, my dear boy ! I'm coming ; what — no light!" and a little woman bearing a huge bowl in her hands rushed in, and, stumbling over papers and books, managed to deposit her burden on the stove. She was a very commonplace little woman. Her age hovered about the middle time of life, though she had a quick, alert, almost girlish manner. Her prevailing colour was drab, — hair, dress, and com- plexion. She wore a black lace cap on her head. Each side of it were pendent curls embracing her cheeks of dubious complexion. Her eyes were bright and sharp, and she had a way of holding her head well up and looking shrewdly through her spectacles at persons to whom she was talking, as if to delude them into the belief that she was a very fierce and quarrel- some little woman, a regular Tartar, a woman who could neither be deceived nor beguiled into any- thing approaching to softness or amiability of be- haviour. The young man sulking in a comer of the room came forward, and, running his eyes over the various articles of furniture, all veterans in the service of the ministry, chose for her a green-covered chair of An eccentric shape, known to the initiated as be- 54 DEFICIENT SAINTS. ing fashioned from two barrels and stuffed with rags. She shook her curls, and, waving him toward it, perched herself on a stool at a little distance. " Make haste, and take your gruel. It's nice and hot now, though I had a great time to get the fire to burn up. Rebecca is so forgetful, — she always neglects to put fresh coal on before she goes to bed." "I don't want it," he muttered. "I'm not an invalid, and I hate sloppy things." " No, you're not an invalid, thank God, such as my dear husband became, but still you must keep your strength up. I don't know that gruel is the best thing," and she doubtfully scanned his hercu- lean proportions. "You look as if a joint of mea^. would suit you better. There's some cold hash in the pantry ; would you like it .? " " No, no," he said, hurriedly seating himself, and dipping a large silver spoon into the gruel. " Don't trouble yourself. I'll eat this." " It doesn't worry me when you quarrel with your food," she said, in her sprightly way. " You just do it if you want to ; I know you've been used to better things." "This is good enough for me," he said, taking the gruel with the utmost rapidity in order to get quickly through with it. llSijIili A FAVOUR SOLICITED. 55 " I often think how good you are," she went on, in a sweet, motherly tone, "you are the best of my children." "No, no," he ejaculated, suddenly putting the bowl from him and flinging himself out of his chair, "not the best." The little woman gazed mildly into the corner where he had again tsiken refuge. She could not see him plainly. The lazy fire, that she had stirred, had again fallen into sluggishness and slyness. She seized a match from the mantel and lighted the gas in order that she might the better survey the cul- tured yet almost brutal beauty of visage that had so strange an influence over all her sex. " My dear boy," she pursued, " you're excited. You have worked too hard to-day. You had better go to bed." " I am not tired, I am not excited, but I hate this hypocritical life — " She would not allow him to proceed. " I am not listening," and she put both hands over her ears. "Come, n'^w. and sit down again and take your gruel. I've got something interesting to tell you." Like a sullen child he allowed himself to be once more persuaded mto a seat. She put the bowl in his hand, and with tears of pleasure glistening in her sharp little eyes sat down and poured forth a volume of talk. 56 DEFICIENT SAINTS. It was not, as usual, news of the church and con- gregation, for her mind was running on the Prymmer- Mercer household. Years ago Sylvester Mercer had built this house for his beloved pastor, her husband. It was the smallest house on the street, but it was comfortable ; and ever since she had come to it as a bride there had been a constant and friendly commu- nication between the two houses. The clergyman knev/ all about Justin's journey to California, his re- turn, and the dismay of Mrs. Prymmer at the arrival of the young wife, but he was at all ^imes an absent- minded listener, and the lutle woman, fearing that he had forgotten the story, was telling it to him again. "Poor Mrs. Prymmer, I'm sorry for her. She tries not to show it too much, but just fancy her state of mind, — a daughter-in-law to walk in on her so suddenly. I wish, I wish, my dear boy, that you would call on her." She checked her busy tongue for a minute to scrutinise nervously her companion. It was no ordi- nary favour of an ordinary clergyman that she was asking. This haughty apostle of peace was first of all a preacher of the Word. It was tacitly understood between pastor and people, that there should be as little communication as possible in the way of visiting. Confidential communications were not to his liking, and this idiosyncrasy was pardoned in him only in view of his being the most remarkable brand A FAVOUR SOLICITED. 57 snatched from the burning that had ever been held aloft in the town of Rossignol. He knew that only stress of circumstances would induce his housekeeper to ask such a favour of him as a call at a house where there was to be neither a funeral nor a wedding, and, holding this same house- keeper in an affection that was almost filial, he threw her a glance that emboldened her to proceed. "You see, my dear boy, young men will marry. There's no use in mothers holding out ; but if they are smoothed down at first it makes things a lot easier, especially if the daughter-in-la\y has to live in the same house with them." " My sympathy is with the daughter-in-law in this case," said the young man, brusquely. " Mine, too," said the little woman, then she made haste to qualify her remark, " but Mrs. Prymmer is a very thoughtful woman ; only yesterday she brought over two jars of strawberry preserves." Mr. Huntington suppressed a slight sneer as he thought of the absent Mrs. Prymmer, and, wearily trying to exhibit a little interest in the subject in order to gratify his housekeeper, asked, "What is the daughter-in-law like } " " She is like a wax doll," said Mrs. Negus, promptly, " those big ones you see in shop windows, with yellow hair and pink cheeks. I have only seen her for a minute, though. I ran in before church this evening, 58 DEFICIENT SAINTS. 1 I flii! i ; ilium i mm i! inii and Mrs. Prymmer let me take a peep at her as she sat in the parlour playing on the organ to her hus- band. I couldn't see her eyes. I guess they are blue — Dear me, this is very frivolous conversation for an old lady on Sabbath Day. Did you have a good service out at Indian Gardens this evening } " " Yes, very good." " We had a very poor preacher in your place. I heard some of the people grumbling because you were away." The cloud came back to his brow. "If they knew," he said, passionately, "if they knew — " She jumped to her small feet. " I think I'll run away. You ought to go to bed. I'll have breakfast a little later in the morning. You'll think about call- ing on Mrs. Prymmer .? " "No, not think about it, I'll do it. It is only those social, prattling 'sits I object to. I am glad to please you, — you, who have been more like a true mother than my — than many mothers are." "Ah, you have a kind heart," she said, slowly shaking her head, "a good, kind heart. You are a comfort to me, a great comfort, and I know it will also please you to do good to Mrs. Prymmer. She has always been so sore about that Mr. Lancaster, — and to think that her son should go and marry his daughter." At the mention of Mr. Lancaster's name a curi- A FAVOUR SOLICITED. 59 ous gleam shot across Mr. Huntington's brown eyes. " What Mr. Lancaster do you mean } " "Dear me, you're the least inclined to gossip of any man I ever saw. Why, I heard Mrs. Prymmer myself telling you all about that rich man who is so odd, and who often sends for Justin to go away and see him. Don't you know she asked you not to tell ? " " I don't remember hearing of him." "Gossip just goes in one ear and out the other with you," she said, admiringly. " Well, he's a man that — " " What is the Christian name of this young lady } " asked the clergyman, as she paused to take breath for what promised to be a lengthy recital. " Derrice ; I don't know whether she has any middle name or not, but I can easily find out. I wish you would take an interest in her, for if you do, and just speak to Mrs. Prymmer a few words about submission to the will of Providence, it will comb things out beautifully. You have a kind of way with women that makes them mind what you say." The young clergyman's face grew a yet deeper colour. " What way do you mean 1 " " A kind of settling way. Just look at the quar- rels you've made up in this church. You see you have had experience in life. You have been rich and influential, and you have travelled more than 60 DEFICIEIVT SAINTS. \mm the most of us. That gives you weight," and in sturdy, honest admiration, her dun-coloured eyes shone briskly at him through her glasses. "I have not had as much experience as you think," he said, with only a remnant of his irrita- tion. She had exorcised the demon, — she could now leave him, and a sudden cry hastened her tar- rying feet. "Goodness, there is that baby again. If he has croup I'll have to send out and borrow alum. I haven't a bit in the house." Her thoughts, however, were not altogether on the baby, as her little feet pattered over the painted wooden floor of the hall. " Thank God, that fit came on him when he was alone. It is strange that he gets so dissatisfied. I wish I could always be with him, but that's impossible — Now, baby, what's the mattei- with you ? " and she bent over a red-faced child sitting up and coughing in a crib. Mr. Huntington closed and locked the door after she left the room. His next proceeding was to dig a hole in a flower-pot on the window and empty the rest of the gruel in it. Then he took from a shelf a small box and, drawing a key from his pocket, threw back the lid. Inside were several photographs, all of women. He turned them out to find a pencil sketch at the bottom. A young girl sat in the centre of a clearing among prairie grass, her hands crossed, her face turned up to the sky. At a little A FAVOUR SOLICITED. 6l distance stood a man watching her. The girl was the young wife next door, the man was himself, — Bernal Huntington, former worldling, now a humble minister of the gospel. "Little Derrice," he murmured, and he put the sketch back in the box and replaced it on the shelf. As he did so, his eyes fell on a framed crucifixion on the wall. His expression altered again, and ejaculat- ing, *' God be merciful to me, a sinner ! " he fell on his knees and sank into a paroxysm of prayer. ! Ill i CHAPTER V. A PASTORAL VISIT. Justin Mercer's former monotonous life was at an end. With a faint red spot on either cheek, and with much internal diversion, he sat at the breakfast- table the next morning watching his wife. At first she would eat nothing. Her disdainful glance played over the porridge dish, the slices of cold meat, and the cold bread and cheese that were all the table contained, and she successively refused every one of them. Then, just as he was deliberat- ing what to do, Captain White came to the rescue. " I'll toast you a slice of bread, miss," and, suiting the action to the word, he sprang at the loaf like a benevolent tiger, and hastily cutting a slice rushed to the fire with it, suspended on one of Mrs. Prym- mer's best silver forks. That lady surveyed him in speechless indignation while he nicely browned the bread, buttered it, and handed it to the girl who, thanking him by a smile, sat eating it with her gaze riveted on him. He, with eyes twinkling phosphorescently, demurely finished A PASTORAL VISIT. 63 his porridge, and held out his saucer for more, that was reprovingly bestowed on him by Mrs. Prymmer. Justin saw that Derrice was completely fascinated by his cousin, on account of his resemblance to her father, and also because of his kindness of heart that with feminine insight she readily divined under his odd manners. His mother repelled her, though at the same time the exaggeration of the mother-in-law attitude seemed to afford secret and irrepressible amusement to the young girl. Mrs. Prymmer's repugnance was too overwrought to be genuine, too ridiculous to be taken seriously. There were stormy times ahead for him with these two women. The daughter-in-law would ridicule the mother-in-law ; the mother-in- law would, probably, fall into a rage with the daughter-in-law, and, perhaps, drive her from the house. He would have to take sides ; but there was no use in anticipating the storms, and with calm but surreptitious intt est he watched Derrice as she scrutinisetl the room. The fami. had once been rich, or at least well-to-do, the girl deciu 1. The house was large and imposing, the rooms had been well furnished, but room furniture and table furniture had sadly deteriorated. The silk coverings of the chairs were worn, the expensive china was chipped and in odd pieces. Either short- ness of means or a slight parsimony had attacked 64 DEFICIENT SAINTS. the household presided over by the stony dame at the head of the table. Presently Justin saw his wife's gaze settle on the doorway, and, just as he turned to find out what new object had engaged her attention, a meek voice mur- mured, "The minister is in the parlour." The rigid outline of Mrs. Prymmer's figure imme- diately softened into a gracious one. "Bring him in," she said, hospitably. Mr. Huntington's stalwart form soon took the place vacated by Mary, and Mrs. Prymmer, bustling forward, with her plump palm outstretched, exclaimed in deep gratification, " This is a great honour, brother pastor. Sit down and have some breakfast." "I have had my breakfast, thank you," and he glanced expectantly but without the slightest recog- nition at Derrice, who stared at him first in blank amazement, and then, springing to her feet with head thrown back, speechlessly extended both hands to him. Mrs. Prymmer did not see the girl's pretty atti- tude. She had opened her mouth to make the necessary introduction, and was trying to disengage from the roof of it the tongue that so much hated the task set before it. However, there was no need for an introduction. Mr. Huntington, with more warmth than she had ever seen him bestow on any member of his fiock, was shaking hands with her 4" -2 . -tM A PASTORAL VISIT. 65 daughter-in-law, who plaintively murmured, " How delightful to see you ! Why did not some one tell me you were here ? " Mrs. Prymmer was exceedingly disturbed. The young wife was an acquaintance of the minister's former worldly days, — days that it was not wise to remember. Or was he more than an acquaintance, a dear friend perhaps, for he certainly, with great kindness and almost with authority, was begging her to continue her breakfast, — which she did, only occa- sionally glancing at him over her shoulder, with faintly pink cheeks. Mrs. Prymmer, emerging from her temporary eclipse, began a conversation with him, largely of an interrogatory character. " You don't look well," she said, at last. " I guess you tired yourself out yesterday." " H'm, yes, a clerical blue Monday," he said, giv- ing her his words but fixing his attention on Derrice. At his remark, she turned and flashed him an amused, puzzled glance that took in his tall figure, his handsome head, his rather shabby black coat, and his man-of-the-world ease of position and manner, so much at variance with the awkward angularity of Captain White's attitude, and the composed rigidity of her husband's. By and by Captain White jerked himself from the room, and soon after, Justin, with a reserved nod to i I 66 DEFICIENT SAINTS. \ 'i, the clergyman, followed him. Mrs. Prymmer assisted the maid in clearing the dishes from the table, while Derrice sat down by the fire opposite the caller, and carried on with him a conversation so full of references to former days that it was quite unin- telligible to Mrs. Prymmer. However, she had not the slightest intention of leaving her daughter-in-law alone with the clergyman, and, seating herself between them after the servant had disappeared, she broke in upon a remark of Derrice's, with a suave inquiry as to how many people had stood up for prayer at the close of the service the evening before. " Two," he replied, with a stare which caused Mrs. Prymmer to unfold her fat hands from over the long white apron she always wore, and to rise in some confusion to her feet. She was not wanted, she had better leave the room. She would not, however, be cheated out of all her rights, and in a choking voice she said, "I have some things to see to in the kitchen ; can't we have a word of prayer before I go?" " Did you have prayers this morning ? " inquired her spiritual adviser, coldly. « Yes," she faltered. He said nothing more, and with lingering steps and a furious glance at Derrice she went reluctantly from the room. A PASTORAL VISIT. «y Derrice was convulsed with laughter, some of which escaped into outward expression. "You think I am acting a part," said Mr. Hunt- ington, dryly. " Not acting — you are the part — it is superb. But then, you were always good at amateur theatricals. What have you turned clergyman for ? " " I had to do so." " The coat is delicious," she said, peeping around to get a glimpse of the long black tails. "Thank Heaven for this bit of comedy in the heavy tragedy of my life during the last few weeks." " This also is tragedy," he said, seriously. " But why have I not known you were here } " " No one knew that I had ever met you, and how was I to know that Mrs. Justin Mercer was Miss Derrice Lancaster } " " And you live here } " "Yes, next door. These people here are some of my parishioners." " And do you — what \z it you call it — preach in that coat ? " " No, I preach in my shirt-sleeves," he said, irritably. Derrice wrinkled her forehead. Now that the first blush of greeting was over she had leisure to scruti- nise him. Where was the gay carelessness, almost 6s DEFICIENT SAINTS. iCl recklessness, of demeanour that had characterised her friend in former days ? Gone like a dream of youth, — this moody, reserved man with the flushed face had slipped in among the ranks of the middle- aged. " What has brought on this metamorphosis ? " she asked, dubiously. " Don't talk about me," he said, wearily, " you will hear gossip ad nauseam. Tell me what you have been doing since I had the pleasure of meeting you .? " " Ah," she said, mournfully, " how far off it seems. I was revelling in my release from a brief term of school life, and the freedom of renewed travel with my father. We went to Europe, then we came to New York, and after that went to South America and California. Then my father wanted me to marry — " Mr. Huntington surveyed her keenly. Her face was distressed, her lips trembling, and she looked as if she were about to cry, yet she controlled herself, and went on in a light tone, " Isn't his mother queer, — she simply detests me. I never had any one do that before." Mr. Huntington strode to the door, and, finding it ajar, shrugged his shoulders, fastened it, and returned to his seat. " She is a trying woman. If you are as mischievous as in former days, Derrice, I would A PASTORAL VISIT. 69 give a year's salary to have you stay here and help me discipline her." " But I don't want to stay here," she said, pitifully. " I want my husband to go away and travel with me and my father." " Can he do that ? " " He does not say. Just now he cannot leave the bank. Perhaps later on I can get him to do it." " And you would not go without him ? " " Well, you see," she replied, " he is rather fond of me, and if I leave him he says — Well, I fancy he would be lonely." " I suppose he says his heart would break." Derrice laughed nervously, and he went on. " Let it break. Other hearts have broken. It is a shame to keep you here. You were not born for the arid atmosphere of a New England town." Derrice stopped laughing, and surveyed the friendly, handsome face beyond her. "Have you married ? " " No." " Why did you not ask me ? " she said, mischie- vously. " I knew better, and you were too young. I think your father took you to Europe to get rid of me, though he probably did not tell you so." Her face clouded. " My dear father — I think of him all the time. I wish to please him. I know -^ 1 ■' ip I ii Hi' 70 DEFICIENT SAINTS. oh, I know, Mr. Huntington, that he would like me to stay here, but I do not wish to do so. It is such a conflict. If he only knew how I miss him, — how I hate to be away from him. He never used to have me do anything I disliked," and she tried to cover with her hands the sudden tears. " Poor child ! " said the clergyman ; then he rose and stood over her. " Can you not think of some worse trouble that might have befallen you "i " " No, no, no, — I worship my father, — he was so strange, — I am afraid that I shall never live with him again. I think he wanted to get rid of me. Perhaps he is going to r • — marry himself." "You are about eighteen now, Derrice, are you not ? " asked Mr. Huntington, gently. " Yes, on my last birthday." " Little Derrice, you are too young yet to know the priceless blessing of an unselfish love. You have married an honest man, and one devoted to you. Do not despise his affection. I have lived longer than you, and let me tell you that love is seldom found in its purity, — is seldom bestowed on a worthy object. You do well to stay here, to wait and be patient." Derrice, in suppressed surprise, wiped away her tears. The clergyman had suddenly lost his irritable and disturbed manner. He was earnest, impressive, even ardent. Thank you," she said, gravely. *' I will think of u i: -i ^ PASTORAL VISIT. 71 :e me to > such a -how I to have cover le rose f some le was /e with of me. re you what you say. It is a consolation to find you here for you recall happier days, - days spent with my dear father." She was going to cry again, —what a child she was!— and warmly clasping her hand, th2 young clergyman hurried from the room. know u have u. Do r than und in object. It." ly her ritable jssive, ink of CHAPTER VI. STERN HER FACE AND MASCULINE HER STRIDE. Mr. Huntington, after leaving the Mercer man- sion, stood for a minute on the sidewalk, in deepest thought. He turned his face toward his own house, then, looking in the direction of the up-ri^'er suburbs of the town, he turned his head back again, like one drawn two ways, and, finally coming to a decision, hailed a passing car, and was whirled rapidly in the direction his thoughts had taken. A few minutes later he had reached the terminus of the car line, and was picking a somewhat muddy way toward a long, high-shouldered house of foreign aspect, situated on the river bank, and showing him a broad, friendly face at the end of an avenue of poplars. " Is Miss Gastonguay at home } " he asked of an old man servant, who opened the door to him. " Yes, sir, — she's just a-scolding of old Tribula- tion," said the demure old man, with ill-concealed satisfaction. '* Look at him — " and he threw open the door of a near parlour. 7« STERN HER FACE. 73 The handsome furniture of the room was pushed on one side, and in the middle of the polished floor stood a second old man, his gray head bent over the handle of a broom, tears raining from his eyes to the floor. " You sha'n't have one morsel of food to-day, if you don't do this room better," a decided feminine voice was saying. " Now go right over it again." The clergyman stood silently gazing at the straight back of his hostess. She was dressed in a scant blue serge skirt, a man's coat, a man's hat, thick boots were on her feet, and she carried a riding-whip in her hand. Her hair was cut short, her sex would have been indeterminate to a stranger, but the clergy- man knew her well as Miss Jane Gastonguay, — an eccentric, kind-hearted old maid, who loved to mas- querade in semi-masculine garments. Presently the ceasing of the old man's flow of croco- dile tears caused her to turn around. " Oh, you are here," she said, coolly, to the clergyman, " I just want some one in your profession to hear me register a vow to send this old fool back to the poorhouse, if he does not mend his ways. This room was to have been done by eight o'clock, and my fine gentleman here lies in bed and smokes instead of sweeping it, — some day he will burn us all up. You would think he was the millionaire and \ the pauper, How old are you, idiot ? " ■a I 74 DEFICIENT SAINTS. ti \\ iiiiiS Six — sixty," sobbed the old man. "That's a falsehood. Tell me the truth, quick now, or you will go right out of this house." " Six — six — ty — five, ma'am." " A mere boy, — only one year older than I am. I know an old man of eighty who would be glad to take your place. Haven't I fed and clothed you for years > " " Ye — jres, ma'am," he stammered. " And this is the way you serve me. Well, as I said before, if I have any more trouble with you, back you go to the poorhouse," and, loftily holding up her head, she swaggered from the room. " And you, too, Prosperity," she exclaimed, paus- ing in the hall to reprove the second grayhead, who was openly chuckling over his companion's discom- fiture. " Your dusting lately is shameful ; just look at this chair," and she ran her forefinger over the back of one standing near her. "Go get a cloth." The old man, with a ludicrous descent from gratifi- cation to mortification, fairly ran down the hall, while Miss Gastonguay preceded the clergyman into a music-room, where she seated herself on a piano stool and motioned him to a monk's bench. "I shall not detain you," he said, "I see you are going out." No hurry," she replied, airily. " I am just going « 4 m' STERN HER FACjZ. 7S to try a new colt in the field yDnder, — you want money, I suppose." " Not this time," he replied, in his smooth, pol- ished tones. " I want to ask a favour of another order." " What is it ? " she said, abruptly. " Have you heard of Justin Mercer's marriage .^" " Good gracious, yes, — .s this place so large that we should miss an important piece of gossip like that ? The whole town is ringing with it." " Have you thought of calling on his wife } " "I — Wherefore should I enter the doors of those sour-faced Puritans .? " " The daughter-in law is different." " Is she } I am glad to hear it." " I used to know her two years ago She was a charming young girl. I think possi'uly you and Miss Chelda would enjoy her acquaintance." "Chelda may, I assure you I shall not trouble myself about her. Here, Chelda — Chelda — come speak to Mr. Huntington. You're somewhere near, you young sly-boots, for I hear you." A tall, dark girl, with a graceful figure and an attractive if enigmatic face, came from the hall, and exchanged a calm " Good morning " with the clergy- man. "Chelda, will you go call on the new Mrs. Mer- cer?" said Miss Gastonguay, abruptly. *'I don't I 1 Tfi'sis: 76 DEFICIENT SAINTS. Ill l! want to be bothered with her. I know too many girls now." " Do you wish me to go } " asked the young lady, addressing their caller, and narrowing her long liquid eyes as she spoke. " Of course he does,'" said Miss Gastonguay "That is what he's here for. You only want to gain time to make up your mind. Will you go } " "Yes, I will, aunt." "Thank you," said Mr. Huntington, rising. "I do not think you will regret it." "I think we should be grateful to you," said the young lady. "There are few desirable people In Rossignol, and you would not call our attention to any one who would be undesirable." She spoke sweetly and smoothly, yet her tones flowed into ber relative's ear with a hidden meaning. "Now what do you mean by that, Chelda?" she asked. Chelda glinced at their caller. He understood her, and he at once lost the contented, alnost exalted expression that he had brought away from the Mer- cer mansion, and took on instead his usual one of slight moodiness. " She means," he said, hastily, " that my duties call me among a cl«ss of people with whom it would not be your good pleasure to associate." ♦•And I am called the most radical woman in STERI^ I/lSR fACJ^. 77 Rossignol ! " said Miss Gastonguay. "Thank you, young ecclesiastic." " I referred to your niece, rather than to you," he said, with a bow. " Oh, Chelda, — yes, she is an aristocrat,' said Miss Gastonguay." It i^ born in her, she can't help it. You ought to understand her, in view of your former life. Come, now, do you love all those dirty mill hands and slovenly women you work among .? " " I do not think we need discuss that point. There is duty to be considered as well as pleasure." "But if one can combine both," said Chelda; "it is possible." "The question is to know your duty," he replied. " It is our duty to be happy," said the young lady, blandly, yet with a certain boldness. The clergyman looked straight into her eyes. They were wide open. Their usual filmy appearaiijc was gone. What he saw seemed to fascinate and yet repel him, for with his hands he made a ges- ture as if he would be gone, yet his feet still lingered. Miss Gastonguay's abrupt voice disenchanted him. " Come back to lunch, Mr. Huntington. I daresay you are taking your Monday walk in this direction." He started slightly. " I am, yet I thought of returning to my study." I 1 ili'*^ 7* DEFICIENT SAINTS. He had retreated toward the door, but the young lady moved a step toward him. " How devoted you are to that desk of yours. How you must miss your former life of freedom." The cloud on his brow grew more heavy, and seeing it, Miss Gastonguay exclaimed, hospitably, " Let the musty old Negus books alone, and go take your constitutional on the river road. Then after lunch Chelda will drive you in town and make her call on your friend, the bride. You will, won't you, Chelda.?" " Certainly," said the young lady, sweetly, but without eagerness. The clergyman flashed one rapid glance about the quiet elegance of the roon-, and another at his ec- centric and unconventional hostess and her graceful niece. These surroundings were more congenial to him in his present state of mind than the dingy parson- age. •• I will come back, thank you," he said, and, hurrying from the house, he went down the road at a swinging gait. Miss Gastonguay, with her little manly swagger, followed him to the big hall door. " Chelda, that man does not seem happy lately." "Perhaps he is working too bard." " Ke '3n't in love wirt; you, is he ? " asked Miss Gastonguiiy, sliarply. ^L ■ STERN HER FACE. 79 Chelda discreetly lowered her eyes. "I don't know." " You wouldn't marry him if he were. You are too fond of your own comfort to tie yourself to a poor clergympn." "You are right, aunt, I shall never marry a clergyman." "I believe," continued Miss Gastonguay, in a puzzled voice, " that he likes to come to this house. He once told me that it reminded him of his father's house on the Hudson. Have they ever forgiven him for turning parson, do you know } " " No ; his father has cut him out of his will, and has requested him not to go home." "A cold-hearted money-bags, nourished on the milk of Wall Street. Chelda, do you believe that among foreign aristocracy there is half the scorn for the lowly born, the toiling poor, that there is among our so-called American aristocrats } " *'I do not know, aunt, n^" acquaintance with the foreign nobility being limited. ' "You have met them travelling, — those counts and countesses, dukes and duchesses, — you have seen that they have some bowels of compassion ; but our rich people here, — they are grossly material. It is money, money, how much have you ? What is the biggest piece of foolery you can perpetrate with it ? Some day we shall have a labour war ; the poor will H ,<^ WW So DEFICIENT SAlNfS. f rise up against them," and shaking her head and scolding to herself she started in the direction of her stables. Chelda, with the train of her Parisian gown rustling daintily over the bare and polished steps of the staircase, went up to the top of the house, where she sat sunning her sleek, beautiful self and observing the country for miles around. Sometimes she picked up a field-glass beside her to better watch the move- ments of a stalwart pedestrian on the high-road. " He has one devil nov ; Heaven grant that he may return with seven more,'' she murmured, joyfully. w i ii.'i CHAPTER VII. A DRIVE WITH A STRANGE GUIDE. Two women — two of Mrs. Prymmer's chosen friends and satellites — were calling on Derrice. Mrs. Prymmer had sent a message to her room, and now sat smoothing her white apron, enjoyably antici- pating the effect that Derrice's red silk and cash- mere gown would produce on her callers, yet at the same time a prey to secret annoyance to think that she herself was only of secondary importance. To her chagrin, the girl sauntered into the room in a dull brown walking suit, and with a single eye- glass mischievously fixed under one light eyebrow. Mrs. Prymmer was speechless. Such a thing had never before been heard of in the length and breadth of Rossignol, — that one human being should, through a solitary piece of glass, dare to stare at, examine, and confuse another human being not blessed with a single piece of glass. "The girl was as full of tricks as a monkey," she indignantly reflected. '■* Did you want me .? " asked Derrice. **Yes," stammered her mother-in-law, recovering Si Iff 32 DEFICIENT SAINTS. her breaith, and she waved her hand toward the little dowdy v/idow in the black bonnet and bead cape, and the young woman in the painful green dress, who was her daughter, and the bride of a carpenter who lived around the corner. "You have come to see me, — how kind in you," said Derrice, in her infantine manner, and with so much sweetness that the two visitors, who were not of her world and never would be, immediately fell into a profound conviction that they were her friends for life. The little widow, who was a kind-hearted person, but of limited ideas and education, felt a strange flutter of interest as she regarded the beautiful, gracious girl, and, losing her first fear of the eye- glass, immediately expressed a hope that Derrice felt pretty smart after her journey. "Oh, yes, thank you, I am used to travelling." The carpenter's wife, who had, until Derrice's entrance into the room, been troubled with a nervous choking in her throat, now lost all embarrassment, and interrupted a remark of her mother by an eager inquiry as to whether Derrice would "appear out" next Sunday. Derrice hesitated, and looked at her mother-in-law. " She means," said Mrs. Prymmer, solemnly, " will you attend divine service ? It is the custom for brides." A DRIVE WITH A STRANGE GUIDE. 83 "Yes," chimed in the widow, "then they stay home for three days and receive visits. Will you do so, dear ? " "Well, I don't know," laughed Derrice. "Have you any saints' bones or other curiosities in your church ? " " No, dear, no dead saints. We've got plenty of live ones." " I like them better dead. I haven't gone into a church for years except for sight-seeing." " Why, ain't you a professor } " asked the carpen- ter's bride, and in her dismay she leaned forward and laid a cotton-gloved hand on Derrice' s knee. " No, I never taught anything. I suppose teachers do have to go to church. Mine always did." " She means a professor of religion," interposed Mrs. PryrAimer. "Oh, like )^ou," said Derrice, innocently. "No, I have not that honour." " I wish you'd join our church," said the widow and her daughter in a breath. " Perhaps I will some day, if I stay here long enough," said Derrice, amiably. "We've got such a good preacher," said the younger woman, enthusiastically. '*Is it Mr. Huntington } " asked Derrice. " Yes ; did any one tell you about his conver- sion ? " V :<; I' .iM ' s i! A 84 DEFICIENT SAINTS. " No, not yet." " I wonder that you haven't, sister," said the widow, turning to Mrs. Prymmer, " but I suppose you haven't had time to tell everything yet. Oh, it was such a remarkable thing. He was a wild young fellow. He had a friend called Denham — " "Yes, Mr. John Denham, I have met him," said Derrice. The little widow's eyes flashed curiously, but she would not stop to ask questions now. She would tell her story first. *♦ This Mr. Denham was always with him. They were two reckless, careless, godless, swearing, drinking young men — " " Oh, not as bad as that," said Derrice, mildly. " My dear, people has told us — Well, they was going on their ways of sin when one day there come a change. They was in a railroad accidei.t, and poor Mr. Denham he was torn almost to pieces. He lived only a little while, but his mother come to him, and before he died he repented of his wild ways, he gave his heart to his Maker, and he begged Mr. Hunt- ington to do the same. He was shocked most to death. After he buried his friend, he did change. He went to a theological seminary and studied for a while ; then Mr. Negus died, and he was supplying for this church and we called him. Such sermons as he used to preach, — the church would be crowded twice a day and wagons standing all the way down to A DRIVE WITH A STRANGE GUIDE. 85 the stables. Now the excitement's wearing away, because he's been with us for some time, but we had a powerful revival, didn't wc, sister ? " and she ap- pealed to Mrs. Prymmer. " Thank the Lord, yes, — ninety-five baptisms." Derrice's face had grown white. " You say that Mr. Denham is dead } " " Yes, dear, dead and buried. Was he a friend of yours } " " Scarcely a friend ; I did not know him as well as I knew Mr. Huntington. He was rather an ac- quaintance." The eye-glass fell from under Derrice's brow. She seemed disinclined to iialk, and her visitors rose to take leave. " You'll come see us, dear ? " said the widow. " Certainly ; where do you live ? " " Here, dear, is a card, — Mrs. James, 38 Pownall." "Pownall; is it street, avenue, square — f" " Street, dear, always understood. Good-bye. I'm real glad to make your acquaintance," and squeezing her hand until the girl winced with pain, and recovered only to wince again under an alarming muscular pres- sure from the carpenter's bride, the little widow reluctantly tore herself away. Mrs. Prymmer let them out at the street door, compressed her lips as the widow whispered, " Ain't she a beauty ? What a pity slie don't go to church I " IMAGE EVALUATION TEST 1 ARGET (MT-3) // ^ %J/ ' '^"'^ 5< V ^ *>- 1.0 I.I I 1^ 12.0 iL25 i 1.4 11.6 ^ .V I^olQgFaphJc ^Sciences CorpaiBtion 4^ o <<>. <^.1. 33 wnT MAIN tTRMT WntTM.N.V. I4SM (71«)I73-4M3 ;\ N • : ,» '%^ •♦ ' 6^ DEFICIENT SAINTS. and then moved slowly back in the direcaon of the parlour. She would address a remonstrance to Derrice on the subject of the eye-glass, but on her appearance the girl lost with such rapidity her sad, reflective atti- tude, and putting her glass in her eye fixed it with such a defiant expression on her mother-in-law, that that good lady was surprised and confused, and could only mutter a hasty, " Are you going out ? " " Yes," said Derrice, briefly, and she was just about to sweep by her when she was checked by a question from the hall in an animated voice, " Is Mrs. Mercer at home } Mrs. Mercer, not Mrs. Prymmer, ~ I don't want to see her." Mrs. Prymmer heard the clearly spoken sentence, yet she rushed forward with outstretched hand, "Why, Miss Gastungup.v. you're a sight for sore eyes." "Am \} " said the lady, coolly, aiid overlooking the offered hand. " I don't think your eyes have ever beheld me with much favour since I sat on the bench behind you and the other small girls at school, and for the sake of example exposed your cheating at lessons to the master Do go away, Hippolyta Prymmer, — you hat;? me, you know you do, and upon my word I've no love for you. Wliat is the use of being sneaky when old age is creeping on you ? We kept it up when we were young ; do let us get through the death-dance honestly. " Mrs. Prymmer with an indignant face retreated A DRIVE WITH A STRANGE GUIDE. into the hall, and left her daughter-in-law alone i^dth hsr caller. "That's the way to manage her, my dear," said Miss Gastonguay, shortly. " She is a born bully ; if you don't bully her, she will bully you. She ought to have died in her cradle and gone a happy infant to paradise. Will you come and take a drive with me > My niece was to call this afternoon on you, but she is off somewhere gallivanting with the cleig>'- man, so I thought I'd come myself. First I said I wouldn't, then I repented, like the man in the Bible. Come, put your hat on, child. I'm all right. You needn't distrust me, I'm Jane Gastonguay, spinster, and owner of half Rossignol. You couldn't sell this house you are standing in without my permission. Mr. Huntington sent me, so he will vouch for me. I'll neither upset you nor throw you in among the ice-blocks in the river. Come, I can't wait." Derrice suppressed the surprise with v/hich «he at first surveyed the little, gentlemanly, shorMegged lady in the broadcloth coat, and with a murmured, " You are very kind," hurried up-stairs and got a hat and jacket. A few minutes later they were going side by side down the stone steps and across the snow-covered patch of lawn to the street. "Have you seen Rossignol yet?" asked Miss Gastonguay. SB DEFICIENT SAINTS. "No, except for one or two short walks up and down this avenue." "We don't call this an avenue, child, we call it a street, in spite of the magnificent elms," said Miss Gastonguay, stepping to the gutter and picking up a fur lap-robe. "Now where is that bi-at of a pony?" and putting two fingers in her mouth she whistled shrilly. "Look at him coming from the parsonage," she went on, "his mouth full of bread and sugar and rattling my new cart over the gutters. I declare there is nothing bigger than his appetite but the public debt of Maine. Come here, you villain. You are worse than z. dog, creeping around to back doors while your mistress is calling." Derrice smiled as the fat white animal, with a mischievous roll of his light eyes at his mistress, hurried down the drive to the street, and, with the dexterity of a veteran, wheeled the cart directly in front of her. Derrice got in, and Miss Gastonguay, after a soft slap on the animal's neck, followed her. " It is * joiiy,* as English people say, that you have not seen the town." said Miss up the lines. "I love to get hold Gastonguay, picking : new peoph Don't you know a thing about it? Hasn't your husband told you?" "Well, really, I have slept the most of (he time A DRIVE WITH A STRANGE GUIDE. 89 since arriving. I was tired from my journey, and I have asked few questions." " You don't want to be too communicative," said Miss Gastonguay, turning her sharp black eyes on her. « You are quite a woman of the world, baby though you seem. Well, I'll not bother you till after you have had a chance to ask some one if I am quite respectable and one to be encouraged, though it will be hard work for me to restrain myself, as I am little better than an interrogation point. You don't belong to New England?" " No, — to New York more than any place, but I have nc home. My mother died when I was a baby, and my father has had me travelling with him almost ever since, though sometimes he would put me in a school for awhile." " You must miss him." " I do," said Derrice, quietly. " You won't like living here if you have been a globe-trotter." "Perhaps I may." "My child, —you know you can think of nothing more dismal." " I will not say that. Miss Gastonguay.'' "But you feel it. I can look into the minds of my fellow beings. The time before this when I was reincarnated, I was a witch." Perrice looked at her in irresistible amuseipent, 90 DEFICIENT SAINTS. u