WEDDING ISLAMAYMULLINS /tt ~ ANNE'S WEDDING Works of ISLA The Blossom Shop, net $1.00 Anne of the Blossom Shop, net 1.00 Anne's Wedding, net 1.25 THE PAGE COMPANY 53 Beacon Street, Boston, Jlnne. Carter ANNE'S WEDDING A BLOSSOM SHOP ROMANCE BY ISLA MAY MULLINS AUTHOR OP THE BLOSSOM SHOP," "ANNE OF THE BLOSSOM SHOP," ETC. WITH A FRONTISPIECE IN FULL COLOR BY GENE PRESSLER THE PAGE COMPANY BOSTON ^ MDCCCCXVI PRESENTATION Copyright, 1916, by THE PAGE COMPANY All rights reserved First Impression, September, 1916 TO loifcrB* OUtth Louisville, Ky. WHOSE EARNEST WORK HAS WON MY ADMIRATION 2137298 CONTENTS CHAPTEB PAGE I. AN ANNOUNCEMENT PARTY . . i II. GOWNS AND CROWNS 26 III. FRUSTRATED PLANS 38 IV. MAY TRAVELS UNEXPECTEDLY . . 59 V. NEW INDUSTRIES AND PHILOSOPHIES 93 VI. GENE IN THE MOUNTAINS . . .124 VII. A REPULSED PHILANTHROPIST . .146 VIII. BUSY DAYS 158 IX. SUNSET FOR UNCLE SAM . . . .178 X. JOYFUL POSSIBILITIES . . . .191 XI. UNCERTAIN CONSPIRACY .... 208 XII. A STARTLING TURN OF AFFAIRS . . 225 XIII. STRENUOUS THINGS FOR ANNE . . 252 XIV. HAPPINESS DAWNS 283 XV. A BLOSSOM SHOP WEDDING . . .310 ANNE'S WEDDING g^-^= ^g CHAPTER I AN ANNOUNCEMENT PARTY WEDDING finery, girls! Wed- ding finery 1" cried Anne Carter, tripping up the front steps with a lightness that told of supple, much-used muscles in her tall, well-rounded figure, and with sparkling eyes that proclaimed unmistakably sudden climax in womanly happiness. Her sis- ters, May and Gene, "May'n'gene" as she had come to call the "two inseparables," girls of nineteen and twenty, sprang at once from the step where they sat talking Anne's Wedding and cried, "Stop, Anne, and tell us about it I" The radiant girl fluttered aloft a letter bearing English stamping and addressed in a bold, even hand-writing which the other girls had no trouble in identifying, while the dancing feet paused long enough for her to turn and cry again : "Wedding finery! I must get at it! I have never let myself think about it even, for fear it would just run away with me, and I would forget to eat, then vanish into thin air before the time really camel" And a playfully tragic shadow dominated the sparkling gray-blue eyes for an instant, but only to release them again to the high lights of joy. "Oh, girls, hurry, we must begin this minute! Where's mother?" She flew on then through the broad hallway with all the impetuosity of a An Announcement Party child of ten, this young maiden of twenty- two with a gleaming ring on the engage- ment finger and matronly dreams sway- ing her thoughts full four years! For Anne Carter and Donald Thornton had really loved each other since she was fif- teen and he seventeen, but it had taken them several years to find it out, which was all the better for both, and then there had been four years more during which Donald had been working his way up in his father's business, an international one, including England and America in its activities. "I don't want father to have to support me, don't you know, when I marry," he had said to Anne. "Of course the home is waiting for us, and father longing to have you there, but well, when I set up an establishment, even if father is there, I don't want him to meet the bills." Anne's Wedding And so Anne had waited patiently till Donald had made good in the business world and was able to do his part in maintaining the ancestral home of his English mother, with titled antecedents, in adequate style and dignity. This had been much more easily and quickly ac- complished because all the youth's train- ing had been with reference to the busi- ness he was to assume. This training had included two years in a little Alabama town at a college near his American grandparents, for his father had been of the South and he wished the boy to know and love it. There was the strongest bond between the two, and love and loy- alty to his father had spurred the young man on to rapid grasp of the business al- most as urgently as the sweet call across the water from the Southern girl to whom he had plighted his faith. Now word An Announcement Party had come from him that a date must be set as early as possible for the marriage. Anne found "Mother" without diffi- culty, for this tale belongs to a period when mothers were always easily found. Her serene face, full of the home repose of two decades ago, bent above a bit of sewing in her own room and was instantly lifted, smiling and ready at Anne's step. One revealing glance between the two, and throwing her lithe figure at mother's feet, like the little girl of years before, Anne hid the beaming face in her lap and handed up the letter for mother to read. Somehow there were no words for her message now, and there had never been any secrets between this daughter-of-the- heart and mother-instead who had lived under the same roof as members of what had come to be playfully known as "The Blossom Shop Family." It was in a 'Anne's Wedding sense a composite family, but the varying elements were so homogeneous that the pretty title fitted admirably. Mr. Car- ter, a widower with two girls nine and eleven, Anne and May, had married Mrs. Grey, a widow with one small girl, Gene, of eight, who had, just before the mar- riage, been healed by skillful surgeons of congenital blindness. Mrs. Grey and lit- tle Gene, named Eugene for her father, had supported themselves for years before on Mrs. Grey's old home place next door to the Carters by packing and sending to Northern markets flowers from their ample garden, and they had then first termed the old home The Blossom Shop. The place was finally devastated by fire, and an accident to an old trunk as their household things were hurriedly moved, had revealed a lost will which restored to Gene the fortune denied her father, and An Announcement Party brought her into contact with the un- known Northern relatives of her father, to whom she and her mother became greatly attached, in spite of strong pre- vious prejudice on both sides. Then the marriage followed which united mother and child with their dearest friends, the Carters. Anne's letter from Donald was at last read by mother and daughter together, the young cheek pressed close against the older one, and it revealed the fact that some "jolly good things" had come along unexpectedly in the business, and made immediate plans possible for Donald, and wouldn't Anne please hurry those mys- terious preparations brides seem to have to make and set a day in early spring? It was then just at the close of the Christ- mas holiday time, a brief space in which to prepare a young Southern girl, who Anne's Wedding thought little about fashions, to present herself in the midst of an old English family and claim a place among them. No wonder she had fluttered bewilder- ingly when the long-looked-for moment really came, and it was only the mother- instead who could have so quickly turned her thought into orderly, though still joyful lines. The entire trousseau was not planned on the spot, as was first threatened, but there was a going-over of many things between the two, which was a profitable and very precious prelimi- nary. The holiday time meant that May was at home from a mid-West university, where she was taking a course in modern language, for this great university's stamping and finishing of the thorough schooling which she had taken in the home college; Gene Carter Grey (the An Announcement Party 9 Carter had been inserted when the fami- lies combined), her inseparable compan- ion, had not gone with her, for she was taking a year of rest before entering a New England college, that her education might be topped off, she would have said, in the native land of her fore-fathers. Dr. Murton Uncle Doctor, as the girls had come to call him and his wife, Gene's Aunt Martha, were there as they always were for Christmas, and last but not least, in some respects, was Murton Grey Car- ter, the young son of the house, a sturdy boy some eight years old. He could make more noise than all the rest put to- gether, he would have said .himself, and he certainly was not to be left out in any reckoning. So there was a big family council possible, and Anne at once de- cided there must be tea at the Blossom Shop. 10 Anne's Wedding This material Blossom Shop, which had been built on the site of Mrs. Car- ter's old home, was a picturesque, low building of East Indian architecture, whose sloping roof dropped from its high apex in deep, graceful curves to cover generously the broad veranda all around its sides, with an upward tilt of the roof again at the quaint pillars. Within there was a wide fireplace for chilly days, the broad chimney on the inner wall being highly ornamental. The rafters were ex- posed, the walls were ceiled with beauti- ful Southern pine and the deep window- ledges were filled with growing, indoor plants, while Marechal Neil roses cov- ered the exterior with riotous bloom and fragrance. The whole family, includ- ing Uncle Doctor and Aunt Martha, had given great interest and study to the plan- ning of the building, intended as a play- An Announcement Party 11 house for the growing children, with ten- nis court and croquet grounds in the rear, and the result was a beautiful and artistic building within and without, which they all loved. It was always the place for joyful events, especially surprise revela- tions, so when May and Gene plied Anne again with questions, she only put a fin- ger to her lips and gayly announced : "Tea in the Blossom Shop, girls," which might mean anything delightful and mysterious. Then she went next for Mammy Sue, the old colored nurse who had been mother to her and May for a number of years before their father had married Mrs. Grey, and engaged her to come and wait upon the table at tea instead of the young colored maid who usually per- formed that service. "It's for something very special, Mam- my Sue," cried the girl with delightful in- 12 Anne's Wedding sinuation, and Mammy Sue was more flattered to be wanted there than had she been bidden to a feast with the highest of the land. "Bring Uncle Sam, too," Anne called back, as she started away from the cabin to the house again. "He can pour the water," she added, knowing that he must have some part in it. Uncle Sam, an old servant of Mrs. Carter, was Mammy Sue's husband of late years, and the two were devoted to all the children of the combined families. Their light, their joy, all they knew of earthly hope and expectation was bound up in "dem chil- lun." As Mr. Carter came in from business tall, somewhat commanding, with the re- serve of the older fatherhood upon him he, too, was met by Anne with "Tea in The Blossom Shop, father!" But eyes An Announcement Party 13 which would not cease their sparkle, though lips were very demure, made the father search his daughter's face keenly, while his heart gave a quick, startled throb. The thought of Anne's going so far away to make her home was an ever present regret. He asked no question at the end, but she with quick responsive tears for something in his face threw her arms about his neck. That was all between the two, but it had told the news, and volumes besides. With a blazing log on the hearth, light- ing up the ceiled walls, exposed arching rafters, beautifully carved interior chim- ney and growing window plants and vines, the simplest tea in the Blossom Shop was always a pretty affair, and this time the table was made gay with quickly improvised favors: little rolls of Christ- mas green tissue, ribbon-tied in white, 14 Anne's Wedding each with a clear label marked "Secret." "Well," said Uncle Doctor, "who can eat with a secret hanging fire like that?" And he set an example which the rest im- mediately followed, by opening his roll at once, to find a small, dainty card upon which was written in Anne's clear hand : "You are cordially invited to attend the wedding of Anne Carter and Donald Thornton on May first, 18 Really the Murtons, including Murton Grey, were the only ones to be greatly surprised, though Anne's father looked up with a gentle objecting shake of the head over the early date set. Murton Grey said promptly with boy- ish indignation, "Who says so? I don't believe it. Is it true, mother?" 'Well, son," she smiled back with de- termined cheer, "I don't think any of us are quite prepared to believe it, but a An Announcement Party 15 letter that came this afternoon said some very decisive things." "Anne shan't go away across the ocean to live, if she does get married! I'm go- ing to run off with her myself before Don- ald comes for her," said Murton Grey, in bragging, childish futility against the in- evitable. Everybody laughed, and Anne said, "Oh, I'll tell you what will happen, Mur- ton Grey, I'm going to pack you in one of my trunks and run off with you!" A very pleasing prospect that Murton Grey would like nothing better than such a lark, and in his imagination holes were already in the top of the trunk for him to breathe through but he looked up at mother, and then at father, and his bright face was uncertain ; then at Anne again and he did want to be with her always. There was a special bond between him 16 Anne's Wedding and Anne; she had saved his life, some- how, he had in mind, though she always said with a shadow in her eyes, "No, I almost lost it for you by leaving you in your carriage to run down hill into the creek. It was Donald's big dog Rex that saved you." Just how that was, did not matter much, but Murton Grey knew that Anne had always loved him in a way she did no one else. He did not dream, however, that she had whispered to herself over him, many and many a time, "My first baby!" vaguely knowing that through him she came into womanhood after a terrible travail of anguish and remorse for heedless neglect when he had been left to her care, and only a merciful provi- dence prevented his rolling down the wooded slope back of their home into the swift-running creek after spring rains. An Announcement Party 17 Uncle Doctor had a special tie with Anne, too, on account of her badness as a child, both agreed ; in accordance with the theory that like attracts like, the doc- tor always added. He sat now looking earnestly at the girl, as though he could not or would not believe that she was so soon to be married and leave them; while Mammy Sue, waiting on the table in a freshly starched dress and white apron and spotless head handkerchief, crumpled suddenly so she could hardly stand, and Uncle Sam, moving around feebly, but proudly, to pour the water, shook his head mournfully. Aunt Martha, quick to see that the lit- tle announcement party was in a fair way to fall into gloom, came to the rescue by exclaiming, "Another Blossom Shop wed- ding I It is eight years since ours took place here!" And the doctor, reminded 18 Anne's Wedding of that happy event, the crowning one in his life after years of fruitless longing for Miss Martha Grey, the seemingly unat- tainable New England spinster, put self- ishness out of the way and made merry in a fashion of which he only was capable. When supper was over, Anne went to the kitchen and told the news of her com- ing marriage to the housemaid and the cook, and the cook's daughter, Cahaba, a colored girl who had grown up with the girls and whom Aunt Martha had ed- ucated in a Southern college for colored girls. She was now teaching in the town, but was always at the Carters to help in any way she could, out of school hours. Anne knew they were all very interested to hear what had been going on in the Blossom Shop, and she could not deny them the pleasure of sharing her glad ex- pectations. So she told them all, and the An Announcement Party 19 hilarity with which it was received here fully made up for any lack of enthusiasm from the family. "Oh, Miss Anne, is you really going to be married?" "An' go 'way off 'cross the ocean?" added another. "I tell you dat's fine! I bet der won't be anudder girl in dis town what does datl" This last was from the cook, who had no idea what going across the ocean meant, but it was something few folks did that she ever heard about, and, of course, it was something grand! Cahaba did not speak, but her eyes, like big black beads, danced with the in- spiration of a sudden hope. She was of the genuine negro type, black as a coal, but slender of figure, alert, resourceful and with a remarkable gift for mimicry. When Anne left she followed into the 20 Anne's Wedding hall and whispered, "Let me go 'long as lady's maid!" "Sure enough," returned Anne, stop- ping, "but what about the teaching?" "I'll learn more, and teach better, some day," said Cahaba, promptly. "We'll see," laughed Anne, as she went on, and, thinking it over as she went, she decided that it would be fine, sure enough. Cahaba was so sensible and so genteel and really refined with her schooling but it was not a matter that held her thought just then with any seriousness. Next day, Saturday, she was in the pantry a moment hunting a tea-cake an old girlish habit the pantry had an open window on the rear porch, and she heard Cahaba's voice in eloquent discourse to somebody. Peeping out she saw it was the housemaid who was listener. "You jus' oughter see Miss Anne's An Announcement Party. 21 beau," she was saying; "he don't look any more like the young fellows 'round here than a thorough-bred horse does like some rack-a-bones belonging to poor white- trash. He's quality, sure enough! I knew that when I used to see 'em playing tennis and croquet over there in the Blos- som Shop yard, and he was so straight and looked so high, his head always up, and then so gentlemanly to Miss Anne though they did fuss something terrible after a while! Sometimes they'd act jus' like they didn't know the other was on the earth, but jus' the same I knew they were watching each other, out the corners of their eyes. Then they made a trip across the ocean together the doctor and Miss Martha took Miss Anne, and he went 'long at the same time to see his father and they went to his house and saw his mother's portrait hanging over 22 Anne's Wedding the mantel, in a velvet dress, and lace as fine as cobwebs around her throat and hands, just like life; and Miss Anne says it does seem like she is there all the time, Mr. Donald and his father love her so. After all that, I jus' knew they was as sure to marry as to-morrow was to come. When he came back the next year to go to school again they both seemed so grown up, and Miss Anne would sing to him something beautiful for you know she's one of these 'primer-donners' at singing, and he called on her in the parlor, and they was mighty good friends, I tell you, but Miss Anne says they wasn't thinking 'bout being engaged till long after he went home the last time! I don't know what they was thinking 'bout then it beats me! For he was handsome as a picture by this time and Miss Anne was growing pret- tier and prettier every day but this here An Announcement Party love business there ain't no telling 'bout." Anne listened in smiling fascination to this account of her love affai'r and the glowing descriptions of Donald espe- cially held her to the spot while tea-cakes were forgotten. Cahaba's graphic tongue then turned to the present, and she began strutting about the porch. "I tell you, me and Miss Anne are go- ing to be big folks ! We won't be speak- ing to niggers like you, when we come home on visits. Why, Miss Anne will be having a cloth of gold dress, and it will be trimmed in diamonds all round the bottom and the low neck and the teeny short sleeves, which will show those lovely arms of hers ! Then, of course, she will be having a white satin and it will be embroidered in silver not just tinsel, but real silver and beautiful pearls as 24 Anne's Wedding big as butter beans ! Then oh, how it will train," while she swept across the porch with an imaginary train of prodigious length following her. "And / will be putting 'em all on her for I'm to go with her as her 'lady's maid'! "Then she'll have one of them crowns, made of gold and diamonds, on her head you see, in England there are Kings and Queens and folks like Miss Anne, that's real quality, wears crowns every day!" With the advantage of education she could impress her untutored hearer to the nth degree. Anne, listening, was convulsed by this time, and she exclaimed inwardly, "Oh, Cahaba, no amount of schooling can tone down your imagination!" Then she slipped away to laugh over it with her mother, Aunt Martha, May and Gene. With the listening maid taking in and An Announcement Party 25 passing on every word from Cahaba, Anne became Queen of the household, indeed, treated with wonderful deference by serv- ants, and with a tender holding-close from her loved ones who were so soon to lose her. CHAPTER II GOWNS AND CROWNS v^HRISTMAS over, a temporary sep- aration must take place at once for this pleasant family group. May was the first to go, as she must be promptly back at school for the after-holiday opening. They sent her off one morning early, with her always rosy cheeks fresh-flushed from excitement of the coming trip, her dark eyes alert, and animation in every movement from the pretty hair, which matched her eyes, to the trim, well-dressed feet. She was the red rose in her garden of girls, the mother said the Blossom 26 Gowns and Crowns 27 Shop idea for the family being always in her consciousness and May was devel- oping into a very attractive girl whose student tendencies kept social desires pretty well balanced. She could not live to be twenty in a Southern town without feeling strong social appeal, but the fam- ily had traveled a good deal to the North and East, and she also felt strong inclina- tions toward higher study. "I am too lazy to do anything else but study and read," she often laughingly said. "I don't like housework a bit, though I am glad mother made me learn how to do all sorts of things. I am not going to marry, though" (with the calm, unalter- able decisiveness of youth), "I am going to teach and sit in a rocking-chair and study 1" So there was an end of it. The family, assembled at the little sta- 28 Anne's Wedding tion not far from their home, waved her good-by from the platform, while her rosy face looked back from a window, and she waved her handkerchief in re- turn as long as she could see a faint speck of the old home town never dreaming how unexpectedly all plans may be changed. Uncle Doctor, Aunt Martha and Gene went next, a morning or two later. They were off for a trip to the iron and moun- tain regions of the State where little blind children might be hidden away needing treatment, perhaps, which would make the world a place of light and hope and beauty for them. Gene had a large fortune at her disposal, her mother having lost her share of Mr. Grey's estate upon her marriage to Mr. Carter, and she, with her Aunt Martha's help, had established in the East a sanatorium for the blind, to Goivns and Crowns 29 which sightless children could go without money or price for treatment. Gene's first thought, after her own restoration, had been for other children who could not see, and she, Aunt Martha and the doctor had worked out plans for the sana- torium and for reaching needy children. In the South these children were to be found largely in the mountains, for blind- ness is peculiarly prevalent through all the Appalachian range, whose people have been hidden away in inaccessible fastnesses, multiplying and bringing forth generation after generation from the finest Anglo-Saxon stock in America, in a prim- itive ignorance and isolation that is unbe- lievable to those who have not investi- gated these regions. The little party planned the trip for mid-winter, as the traveling would be better than when -the spring rains came on. It would be plea- 30 Anne's Wedding sant to be out in the open, too, in the fresh, crisp winter air. As they stood on the platform at the station waiting for the little train to get ready to make a start always an uncer- tain event the doctor, big and sturdy, affectionately dictatorial and kindly hu- morous, blustered about in his restless way, his hat coming off frequently to stroke an unruly white forelock that the girls had always loved. Aunt Martha was her usual trim self, immaculately dressed, her slender figure and fresh face belying the snow-white hair. Gene, the third traveler, was the delicate pink and gold rose of her mother's garden and it fitted her well ; she was slightly built and delicately poised; her face was fair with only shell-pink in the cheeks; the eyes were sky blue, and the hair a crown of soft, curling gold. "My Marechal Gowns and Crowns 31 Neil," her mother sometimes whispered in her ear, "all the soft tints of the rain- bow which are gathered in its petals, make me think of you." She was a mother who said dear things, sometimes, to her chil- dren. "We will put red roses in Gene's cheeks while we tramp about the mountains," said the doctor to Mr. and Mrs. Carter as they waited. "Anne," turning to her, "don't let those letters between you and Donald plow the ocean too constantly they might bring ship-wreck to some- body." He loved to tease Anne about those letters and then the train showed signs of starting by sending forth a sudden sharp whistle, and the three travelers were soon waving good-by from slowly retreat- ing windows while Mr. and Mrs. Carter, Anne and Murton Grey waved in return. 32 Anne's Wedding With the family back to the normal, Anne and Mrs. Carter could take up the matter of a trousseau. Anne was her mother's "Dorothy Per- kins" of the garden. Full of warm pink glow, her light brown hair catching every bit of sunlight, her gray-blue eyes full of laughter, her capable hands strong and firm, she was indeed like the sturdy pink rambler running swiftly here and there, throwing out a profusion of bloom and fragrance in response to sun and rain. Always enthusiastic, Anne had thought of a thousand things she would and would not get for that trousseau. Now, mother could sit down with her and talk it all over definitely. A nice store of dainty un- dergarments had been growing for sev- eral years, Anne putting many careful stitches into whipped ruffles and lace and beautiful embroidery; these were ready, Gowns and Crowns 33 and gowns and wraps and hats were the things to think of now. "Let's picture how you must look," said Mrs. Carter brightly, as they sat together in her room; "but we must try to forget Cahaba's magnificence," she laughed, u and we won't plan the crowns just yet! "You must be well dressed always everything you have of good even fine material, and while there must be beauty, as a matter of course, there must also be dignity." "Oh, mother, you scare me," cried Anne wide-eyed; "you know dignity is not my strong point!" The mother laughed, "Not stiff dig- nity, no, but you are not lacking in the sort of dignity I mean, when occasion re- quires. As I see you gowned for pres- entation to the Queen, perhaps, I can see 34 Anne's Wedding without a bit of strained imagination all the dignity and poise I want to see." "Mother," cried Anne again, "do you think I can ever stand before the Queen of England and not die on the spot?" "I know you can," laughed the mother once more, then with a sweet dignity which was one of her own chief charms, she added, "Americans have no need to lose their self-respect before any Queen." After Anne had had time to bring her American pride up to the proper stand- ard, Mrs. Carter went on brightly: "There must be heavy white satin for the wedding gown itself, we will wish that for you and it may be needed at that aforesaid presentation 1" "Every time you say anything like that the delightful shivers will continue to run right up my back," cried the girl; then quickly added, in spite of shivers, 35 "and there will be a long veil, won't there with orange blossoms?" she ended breathlessly. "Yes, indeed," smiled the mother. "There must also be a black velvet gown ready for the family laces of which Don- ald has told you, and evening gowns for various affairs, with at least a couple of silks and two or three walking suits of fine woolen goods the English are great walkers, you know, and always dress suit- ably for it do not wear just anything for a walk, as we are likely to do. You will have to observe very closely and conform to English standards, for Donald's sake." "Oh, but, mother, do you think I can ever be discerning enough to see just what I should do?" And there was alarm in the young voice. "I know you will," said the mother, firmly reassuring. "You are really no 36 Anne's Wedding longer the old heedless Anne and love is a wonderful guide for a woman !" Anne's lovely face took on a bit of ex- altation as she pledged in her heart loy- alty to that guiding love even in the small- est detail of the coming life in a new-old world, with its fixed standards and royal ways. "It is going to cost lots of money to get all those fine things and make my trous- seau what it should be, isn't it, mother?" she asked after a time, anxiously, when all the details had been talked over. Mrs. Carter's smile was ready again. "Oh, yes, your father and I have thought of this all along, and have been making provision for it. We feel that you should have everything suitable for your wed- ding outfit. We haven't been extrava- gant for a long time, but we are going to be now!" And the words were scarcely Gowns and Crowns 37 out before she was smothered by two warm arms and a glowing face. So the plans were made, and a trip at once for mother and daughter to New York for the outfit were included in them ; Anne sang only glorias at the piano in her sweet, high soprano, while she absolutely trod on air during the daytime, and was apt to revel by night in gorgeous gowns at functions where Kings and Queens, Lords and Ladies bowed and promenaded through castle and tower and hall! It was fairy land come true for her, and through it all the days hurried on, till it was the one before their intended depar- ture for New York, and then out of a clear, sparkling sky came the hurrying cloud of calamity which, for a time, swept all life's fairies into oblivion. CHAPTER III FRUSTRATED PLANS T, HE last thing had been carefully placed into Anne's trunk for the journey to New York and she was gleefully think- ing, "This time to-morrow mother and I will be on our way," when chancing to glance out the window, she saw her father coming up the front walk with hasty stride. It was an unusual hour for him to be coming home, and with the query in mind as to what he was coming for, she ran down stairs to meet him. So exu- berant and loving was she withal that any chance for fresh contacts, here and there, was welcome. 38 Frustrated Plans 39 Her face was beaming as she opened the door at his touch on the knob, but the gay question, "What brings you home, honorable father?" (she was practicing on formalities these days, to be prepared for association with royalty) died on her lips at sight of his grim face. He did not even seem to see her as he strode past, straight to her mother's room. Anne caught her breath with dismay, and as he mounted the stairs, stood look- ing after him like one stricken herself. It was two hours before there was a move at the door of her mother's room; Anne waited out the time in her own across the hall, two hours of intense sus- pense, anxiety and dread. She prayed every minute, like a little child in sudden distress. At last her father came out, and rising instantly, she looked into his face to see the tenseness broken, but oh, 40 Anne's Wedding the face, the dear loved face, had aged ten years since the morning! Awed, but quieted with the childish prayer, she stepped forward and put out her hands to him. He took them in a grasp that almost hurt. "Daughter^ can you bear disappoint- ment the undoing of all your plans"- then, as her face blanched with a look of terror, he added quickly, "Nothing has- happened to Donald, it is misfortune for us only but it means poverty, child, and no wedding things, for a time, anyway." That would have been the very acme of calamity a few seconds before, but oh, the swift, cruel vision of Donald dead, per- haps, made anything less seem as nothing. Quickly she lifted her lips to his, and said, "Father, I can bear anything that you must bear." Frustrated Plans 41 Her young womanhood, though richly threaded with girlish enthusiasm, was a thing strong and true and ready, she was going to prove. Holding her closely a minute, her fa- ther then released her, saying gently, "Your mother will tell you," and was gone again. She did not have to wait many minutes before the mother's door opened. "You may come now, Anne, and we will talk about it," was the bidding. The mother's voice was quiet, and there was a struggling smile, as she drew Anne in. "Father has told you some- thing, has he not? Well, dear, it does not seem the calamity to me that it does to your father, for I have met poverty be- fore," and the sweet, womanly face put on a reminiscent, old-time bravery, which had carried her blithely through the days 42 Anne's Wedding when she had made a living for her little blind girl, Gene, Uncle Sam and herself. "If it were not for disturbing your plans, it would seem almost nothing," she added quickly. "Mother, I have met my Waterloo, found it a merciful myth, and I am going to try to be ready for anything," cried Anne, smiling bravely, too. Then, see- ing the mother's puzzled expression, she went on quickly, "Oh, I thought some- thing had happened to Donald!" And the words were almost a whisper, drawing the mother's arms about her. "You poor child!" she exclaimed, then, "Now, let's sit down and talk things over," and the girl was instantly at her feet, looking up into her face, prepared determined to bear what she must without complaint. "The trouble is just this," said the Frustrated Plans 43 mother, with the simple directness that was characteristic of her, "your father be- came security for Colonel Thompson on a note some years ago. It was merely a form, the Colonel said, and so it seemed, for with all his wealth there could be no danger. But it is rumored that he has taken to gambling lately and has lost heavily something no one would ever have thought him capable of but he has spent a good deal of time away it seems, and probably has been gambling on cot- ton futures. He never paid that note- has put the parties off from time to time, until at last exasperated, they have brought things to an issue. The Colonel, knowing that this was to come, and car- ing nothing how your father must suffer, has given everything he had left to his sister who, of course, will only hold it nominally, and he can go serenely on his 44 Anne's Wedding wicked way while your father gives up everything he has in the world to pay his debt." The womanly face grew very firm as she told the brief tale, and Anne's in- dignation rose with the climax. "Mother, can such a thing be? It is not right! He ought to be made to pay not my father!" She had to pause for breath. Mrs. Carter had long ago seen the fu- tility of rage against injustice, and the bit- ter toll exacted from him who harbors it, so she relaxed the firm lines in her own face, and said, "It is unjust as it applies in many cases, but it is a law which has been found to be good for business as a whole, and we must abide by its decree with the best grace we can and try to forget Colonel Thompson as much as pos- sible." "I can neve r forget his meanness !" cried Frustrated Plans 45 Anne, with the first hate of her life shin- ing in her clear gray-blue eyes, and the mother said no more, for she knew youth must have more time than middle life to adjust itself. "We will have to make changes in our way of living," she said in matter-of-fact manner. "The house, you know, belongs to you and May; it was the gift of your grandparents to you at their death so we cannot be turned out of house and home," she declared brightly. Anne could not lift the angry cloud from her brow for anger is so much easier to admit than to expel, so she only said bitterly: "Well, I'm glad there is one thing that rascal cannot take from us." Mrs. Carter, seeing the transformation in that hitherto glad young face, suddenly took both slim hands in her own firmly. Anne's Wedding "Anne," she said, "you believe I would not tell anything untrue, do you not?" "Yes," said the girl dully. "Well, I have tried hate in my life, tried it for years, and it only brings the ashes of bitterness to any one who harbors it. I have resolved never to let any in- justice, which may come to me or mine, dim the sunshine for one day with the an- ger and resentment of my own heart. Just think, now, what it will mean if we begin an eternal hatred of Colonel Thompson. Any bright, beautiful day we may start out with gladness in every step for such days are going to come to us again in spite of all this and then we chance to meet Colonel Thompson on the next corner, an'd lo, all the joy of life immediately goes out, while we vent our hate upon yes, upon a shameless man who is not worth one gleam of joy from Frustrated Plans 47 our 'glad morning face,' as Stevenson puts it. Oh, Anne, trust one who has tried it promise me now, before hate gets deep- rooted in your heart, that you will not harbor it." The compelling earnestness of that face which was so dear to her, and that voice which had been so safe a guide for many years, broke the spell of hate in her face, and wondering much what experience mother could have ever had with hate a thing so foreign to any knowledge the girl had ever had of that gentle personality and she faltered- at last, "I will promise to try, mother; that is all I can do just now." "That is all I want," said the mother, for she knew Anne always meant what she said, and would make, even now, a genuine effort. Then, dropping into a playful way which they had always loved 48 Anne's Wedding as children, "You know we are a Blossom Shop family, and we must stick to the cul- tivation of flowers not begin raising dank, ugly weeds !" They laughed a little together, then the mother went on again about family plans : the servants must be dismissed. "I don't know about Uncle Sam and Mammy Sue," she ended with troubled voice; "they need us more than we do them. Yes, we will have to keep and care for them but the others must go, and how. fortunate it is that we know how to do things, all of us!" "Yes, I am glad we do," said Anne in colorless response. "Now, as to your trousseau," went on Mrs. Carter, pressing the girl's hands again, "we will manage that, somehow, after a bit not now, perhaps." This roused Anne, anB stirred all the Frustrated Plans 49 sleeping nobility within her. She had Donald what was any sacrifice she might need to make? "Mother, don't think of that now. I will write to Donald at once" (how her heart swelled with joy that she could!), "and tell him we are in trouble, and don't know just what we can do for a while." Such relief came to the, anxious mother in that satisfactory moment of the daugh- ter's testing, she almost yielded to grate- ful tears ; but with both pairs of eyes shin- ing through a watery veil, they kissed and separated, each to think things out in her own way. When Anne reached her room she looked long at Donald's picture, which al- ways stood on her dresser so life-like- light hair reached back from a broad, high forehead, frank, smiling face, strong and vivid and fine and told him things 50 Anne's Wedding not intended for others; then she slowly crossed the floor and sat down at the front window facing the shrubs and flowers, hyacinths and jonquils sending up their bells and trumpets here and there, mid- winter prophecies of bloom and fragrance on the way. But she did not heed the sweet, familiar scene nor its prophecy. She was facing life in a new way love and duty, selfish-desire and family-loy- alty were sternly arrayed against each other. She had proclaimed victory but a few moments before, declared she had met her Waterloo (Anne's figures of speech were always of English origin), proved it a merciful myth and now she was ready for anything. But in her own room, which had been her palace of dreams, she found that in the talks with father and mother she had only met and conquered an ad- Frustrated Plans 51 vance guard or two, and that a real battle was now before her. Here, on her snow-white bed, had lain, in imagination, the shimmering wedding gown and filmy veil ; before the mirror she had stood arrayed in its soft folds with the filmy cloud about her and Donald, stepping out from his picture, had smiled high approval with glistening eyes and proudful lips while over against these stood grim duty and sacrifice. She fell back a little as the pictures of imagination crowded upon her, and pleaded: "I have not seen him for so long so long if he were here, no great ocean between us, it would be different and the day is set, everything planned Oh, I cannot cannot wait!" Weakness came: she knew that she had only to write to Donald of family troubles with selfish lament, and instantly he 52 Anne's Wedding would write back that he cared nothing for trousseaux he would come immedi- ately for her and then her part in dis- agreeable new conditions at home would be over. With sudden clarifying vision the issue was before her: should she do this, or be true to her best, highest self? Should she claim weak indulgence, or know sacrifice and be strong? Impulsive and heedless by nature, life had already given Anne some valuable les- sons, and her young heart had found a bal- ance and steadiness not always acquired in youth. These came to her rescue. An hour later and the best had won. Quietly she unfastened a jeweled locket which usually hung about her neck, and opening it, looked upon her own mother's girlish face fair counterpart of her own, with the same merry, gray-blue eyes. It Frustrated Plans 53 had been her talisman for good since her fifteenth birthday. "Mother, dearest, you had to leave the one you loved and two babies!" she whispered. So she had made her decision, and get- ting her portfolio, she sat down with her back to Donald's picture, and wrote the letter telling him of the misfortune that had befallen her father, and that not only were wedding preparations impossible just now, but that she was needed in fam- ily readjustment mother simply could not do all the work, May was away at school and must be allowed to finish her course which the school year would com- plete. Their wedding day would have to be postponed. It was a very straight- forward, matter-of-fact letter, perhaps a bit rigid in its determined fidelity to duty, the slender hand gripping the pen tightly 54 Anne's Wedding as she wrote, and the young face finding a new, stern expression which gave the fluffy light brown hair, the sparkling gray-blue eyes and the warm pink cheeks emphatic affront. But, duty done, the grieved young heart plead for its rights, and there followed a broken little para- graph which told of yearning and renun- ciation between its lines. It was done and signed and sealed. Arranging her hair with ready skill, ac- cording to a habit the years had fixed, she took her hat from the wardrobe shelf, for she was an orderly young woman, re- fused again to see Donald's picture as she did it, for she must not weaken now, and went to post the letter herself. It was her first experience in stepping out under a smiling sky, with the air fanning her face in gentle southern-winter mildness, and passing along familiar streets she had Frustrated Plans 55 known since babyhood, to find a sense of strangeness in it all; a shadow beneath the smiling sky, not cast by any floating material cloud, a brooding silence in the soft air, an alien look on familiar scenes which put a spell of awed depression upon the young spirit. But the exercise in warm sun and pleasant air refreshed her in the end, bringing her back to the nor- mal as she was forced to meet young friends on the way home, and to laugh and chat with them as usual. Which was well, for she must learn the artifices of bravery, as well as resigned endurance. At supper father and mother saw no hovering cloud upon the face of this eld- est daughter of the house, but a quiet, womanly courage that gave ease and even pleasure at that first trying meal under the dominion of misfortune, and Murton Grey, the exuberant youngest member, 56 Anne's Wedding did not even suspect that anything was wrong anywhere in the whole happy world! It was better, father and mother had thought, to wait a little till their plans were more definitely mapped out, before telling him of coming changes. Dismissing servants, a few days later, did not prove an easy task; on the contrary, it was most difficult to convince Mandy, the cook, that she must go, and not until a new home was found for her and her be- longings moved there-to, would she leave, and then only with loud lamentation. As for Cahaba, the cook's daughter, whose effects were moved at the same time, she held her head high, ignoring all indications of change and took the entire work upon herself as far as possible. When Mrs. Carter remonstrated, she replied respectfully, but with high spirit: "Why, Miss Alice, what you s'pose Frustrated Plans 57 Miss Martha would think of me if I left you-all now? She'd think I was one of these here niggers that when they look twicet into a spellin' book an' 'rithmetic, jes' unwrops their wooley hair, switches a trailin' dress around" (with mincing mimicry of manner and speech that was overwhelmingly funny), "an' is too triflin' to bake a hoecake!" And her black eyes blazed. "I ain't forgot, Miss Alice, an' I never will that I was nothin' but a little, low- down, 'cornfield nigger' in a shirt tail and a coat of dirt when you picked me up an' brought me here. Think I'm going to leave you now? I don't want no pay. I'll get up early mornings and work after school, and I'll have oodles of time," in- gratiatingly. Her school ma'am speech, which fluc- tuated more or less in precision at home, 58 Anne's Wedding now disappeared altogether in the humil- ity of her pleading. It was a delicate matter for Mrs. Carter to put convincingly the fact that it was not only wages which must be considered, but the number of the family must be re- duced as far as possible and she did not add a further important consideration, that she, herself, could cook much more economically than any servant. Cahaba's eyes grew wide with wonder and dismay. Such a thing as a few more or less to feed making any difference with white folks, had never dawned upon her, and with awed face she slowly wrapped up her apron and left, while Mrs. Carter, sitting in the kitchen alone, shed her first tears since the reverses came. With Mammy Sue and Uncle Sam there was only proud rejoicing that they could not be spared I CHAPTER IV MAY TRAVELS UNEXPECTEDLY LETTER must go to May from her father quite promptly, for, when his fi- nancial status had been thoroughly looked into, it was found that she could not even finish the school year which would give her a diploma and make her ready for teaching. This greatly grieved Anne. "Mother," she said as the two talked it over in the quiet of Mrs. Carter's room, "can't we do something to keep May at school till the end of the year?" "I do not see how, Anne. I have thought of everything, but there is really no way. Schooling in a great university 59 60 Anne's Wedding is a very expensive matter, now, and your father has been obliged to give up everything, absolutely, from which he has derived an income. You know the law business brings in very little in a small town like this, and his income has been al- most entirely from the plantations which he has gradually acquired through the years, farming them on shares with his tenants. These have all been turned over in payment of that debt, now." "Debt!" Anne exclaimed, in a moment's return of that first fiery indignation, and she was going to add "robbery," but a glance into her mother's serene though perplexed face, if the two can be im- agined in combination, restrained her. "No, debt, that is the proper word, Anne. Your father really signed the pa- per which obligated him, we must re- member that, and he was not forced to do May Travels Unexpectedly 61 it. He does not for a moment forget this in all his anxiety. His honor is very precious to him, and must be to us." After a moment she went on: "I have thought of Gene, who has more money than she can spend, and I know will be broken-hearted when she finds that she cannot help us all in this calamity, and I did think your father would let her ad- vance the money for May to finish the year out, but he will not hear of it. I think he must be just a little rigid now, to bear all this, and so 'we must quietly wait till we are all adjusted, and find ourselves together in the new conditions. I don't doubt this is best, really, Anne, in my own heart, however much I may long to spare May her part of grief and disap- pointment." So Mr. Carter's brief letter, stating facts and trying to be kind, reached May 62 Anne's Wedding one busy morning as she sat at her desk in her room at the university. "Why, it cannot be," was her first thought, drawing back in consternation and dropping the letter. "There is some mistake Father not able to keep me at school, just till the end of the term only three and a half months more? It is impossible." Dazed, she picked up another letter which had come in the same mail, not noticing that it was in her mother's hand- writing till she had mechanically torn it open. Then, when she saw the familiar writing, her heart gave a throb of joy. Mother would make it all right, some way she always did! And she eagerly read the eight page letter, but it could not alter facts, these still stood in unmoved phalanx before her. However, there was a warm, tender putting of everything, even a cheery forecast of how busy they May Travels Unexpectedly 63 were going to be with interesting plans, as soon as she got home to help them. This was a bit soothing to the ruffled spirits, but it could not take away the main fact that she must leave school at the end of the first half term, and this con- tinued to rankle terribly. She stopped reading the letter to dry her eyes and lament depressingly, then went on again with dull sensibilities to read of Anne's great disappointment. Her marriage must be postponed. That was startling for a moment, and she gave her sister a fleeting bit of sympathy only to come quickly back to her own grievance. Well, Anne could be married any time, any time it didn't take a diploma to get married but she she couldn't teach till she had her diploma, and now she would never get it. She didn't want to marry she had never seen anybody she 64 Anne's Wedding 'wanted, but she had always thought it would be fine to teach! So, the protesting tearful soliloquy went on, her feelings more and more ag- itated, till when her room-mate came in, she was weeping so the story could hardly be told. It came out in sobbing inter- vals which left the room-mate, a pretty, indulged girl, also in tears. It was not long till the news spread through the school to her friends, who gathered about her at once and May was in a fair way of posing as a martyr, had not a big, whole- souled, abrupt, sensible girl happened in just then and come to the rescue. She was Kate Shaw, the homeliest but best- loved girl in the school. "Now, May Carter," said Kate, with a flourish of her big, kind hand when the story had been unfolded to her, with May gently weeping for an accompaniment, May Travels Unexpectedly 65 "don't you go to feeling sorry for your- self ! That is the worst thing anybody can do! Of course it's bad I'm not saying it isn't for you to have to leave school, but there are lots of things worse! You'll miss final exams, for one thing, when you have to be kept on the rack for days till you find out whether you have passed or not. And then you can go home, and you've got one to go to, and a father and mother there when you get there ! That's what I haven't got just a mean old aunt that makes me walk a chalk line and that's how I came to know that it was no good to feel sorry for yourself. You've just got to take things as they are, and learn how to stand them, and have a good time ! Now, come on here with me," and she put her big arms, which all the girls knew to be tender and strong, around May and laughingly carried her off. 66 Anne's Wedding What more was said to May in the quiet of Kate's room the other girls never knew, but it was something helpful and true out of a lonely experience of life. May held her head up at the end and promised Kate she was not going to "flunk" whatever came. So the first upheaval passed, and, once more in her own room, reading fa- ther's and mother's letters over again, she caught glimpses of their keen regret in this disappointment for her, which she had failed altogether to see in the first selfish reading. A few days later she bade good-by to the school friends and teachers with an aching heart, but a very brave front, con- sidering it was her very first encounter with real trial, and she took the train, with an effort to make the best of every- thing. Kate was the last of all to stoop and kiss her, slipping into the train after May Travels Unexpectedly 67 May was seated ; and then, flying off with- out a word, her tall, swaying figure made a hasty run to get off the car before the train started. Seated in the coach with her belongings comfortably disposed of, and having looked about to see if any one was on board whom she knew or who appeared especially interesting, and deciding to the contrary, May settled herself to read, she thought, but really to think. The past few days had been so exciting she could not hold her attention to a book, it dropped in her lap, and gradually the picture of school life and the girls at the train to see her off became dimmer, while a new-old vision of home grew in definite outline. She knew mother was busy re- adjusting household matters and planning something helpful ; she could not imagine just what, but mother always knew what 68 Anne's Wedding to do in any emergency, and she could not think of the dear face with anything but the bright, capable expression it always wore. Anne would be at her hand, help- ing wherever she could, and making gay while she did it. She couldn't recall Anne without seeing sparkling eyes and hearing ready laughter, so the shadow lifted its heaviest folds, as it readily does for the young, and she looked forward to getting home with growing joy; watched passing town and country and village, or read a little as she felt inclined, till the night came on without incident, and she went to her berth for a night of youth's perfect sleep in spite of life's calamities and the noise of hurtling train and screeching whistles. After having her breakfast next morn- ing she took out her book again, but the brakeman called a station just then, and May Travels Unexpectedly 69 she turned to look out, when a sudden commotion in some seats in front of her caught her attention, and she saw an odd- looking little old lady grab up an old- fashioned green carpet-bag, a faded um- brella and paper lunch box, and rush frantically for the car door. But the conductor met the frantic rush with an emphatic, "No, you don't," hold- ing the old lady firmly while she poured out a volley of vehement French. Then, as the train started once more, May watched interestedly while he led the protesting passenger back to her seat; mopping his brow wearily, he explained to her with marked emphasis that she had all day yet to travel before she reached her destination. The old lady shrank back into her seat under his emphasis, and the conductor, big and forceful but not un- kind walked down the aisle. Stopping 70 Anne's Wedding at the seat of a gentleman in front of May, he paused and relieved his mind. "That's tfre way it has been all night. She got on at Louisville, about nine o'clock, and she wouldn't undress and go to bed. Had her berth made up, but just sat on the edge of it with her hands on her things, and every few minutes she would fly to the door with them, if we made a stop, or if she thought we were going to. A time or two she got plumb outside, and she and me both come mighty near gettin' left while I was gently persuading her to come back. But I got onto her racket at last, and I dropped the gentle act. I just had to," he added apologetically, "she's so determined." Then he lowered his voice: "What folks let a looney like that travel alone for, is beyond me." And as he passed on, evidently the May Travels Unexpectedly 71 easier for freeing his mind, May noticed a tall, well-proportioned gentleman of per- haps twenty-seven to thirty years, who had come in at the last station. He had sat down opposite her and was already deep in a book, so she only gave him passing interest and it was but a few minutes till the old lady became active again. She started down the aisle, this time without her assortment of baggage, her little bent figure alert with springs in every joint, and a wrinkled, smiling old face turned eagerly toward first one, then another of the passengers, seeming to expect that she might know some of them. Coming eag- erly along, she spied a baby to which a young couple were giving devoted care. She darted to the seat opposite which ac- commodated baby's voluminous belong- ings, and sitting upon the edge, she cooed in softest French, "Ah, the darling baby" 72 Anne's Wedding he would understand her language if nobody else could putting her face close to the wee pink one while the young mother bridled and squirmed, and the young father scowled. Then, she was going to take the baby into her arms, whether or no, and alarm took the place of anxiety with the young mother. A lady passenger sitting opposite kindly drew the old lady's attention elsewhere at this juncture, and finally led her back again to her seat, where she remained quiet for a time. May had watched it all with amused interest, and glancing across involunta- rily at her gentleman neighbor who had recently come in, they exchanged a spon- taneous smile. Remembering instantly that he was a stranger and a man, too, her eyes quickly went back to her book, and kept assiduously there. Ere long the May Travels Unexpectedly 73 neighbor left his seat and walked back to the vestibule, and he had not more than left it before the little old lady began her restless investigations once more. This time she passed by the couple with the baby and came eagerly and expectantly on down the aisle toward May's seat. Here she paused, and May watched in- tently to see what she would do. Her interest was with the neighbor's traps, however, and not with May. An unusual hand bag of unmistakable foreign make in the seat had caught her eye. It had been made in her beloved France she knew that in an instant, and with a little glad cry in French she dropped into the seat squarely upon the gentleman's hat I May saw the catastrophe and flew im- pulsively to the rescue. "You have sat upon the gentleman's hat," she cried in spontaneous French, Anne's Wedding which was so good that the little old lady sprang to her feet in response, but her thought was all upon the dear, spoken French, and she embraced May and cried, "You speak the beautiful Frangaisl" Pleased with the compliment, for she did pride herself upon her French, May said: "Just sit here a minute," placing her in her own seat, "and I will talk to you as soon as I straighten the man's hat out." She proceeded to do this, but with poor success, for it was a stiff derby and had been most thoroughly crushed. While she busied herself with it the gentleman himself was suddenly at her elbow. He had seen enough as he entered the coach to guess what had happened and smilingly said, "We have had an accident, have we?" May smiled back in return and replied, May Travels Unexpectedly 75 "I am afraid it was a fatal one for your hat," handing it to him. "I have done the best I could for it, but that was little." "On the contrary, you have proved very valuable first-aid-to-the-injured, and I thank you most warmly." May bowed pleasantly in return and slipped into her seat by the old lady, who was anxiously crying in French, "Tell him I so regret," and the girl turned again toward him to repeat and translate the message. He thanked her once more with earnest assurance that the matter was of no con- sequence whatever; the hat was an old one, quite ready to be retired. May, in turn, repeated this pleasant as- surance to the old lady in French, but her nervousness had increased with the little accident, and the girl impulsively laid her hand on the withered, restless one to hold 76 Anne's Wedding attention while she talked quietly even in the beloved native tongue. But the old lady wanted to talk herself all the time, and it only excited her the more, so May finally took out a book of short stories in French, which she had in her bag, and began reading them aloud to her. The even flow of words in the tongue she knew gradually'quieted the nervous old woman, and May soon found that she was fast asleep. Gently arranging her more com- fortably in the seat, by giving her the whole of it, May slipped noiselessly out, and as she did so, the gentleman across the way looked up pleasantly again, and said softly, "Congratulations!" May smiled unaffectedly in return, and passed along the aisle to a vacant seat further down. She had only sat there a few moments, however, when the gentle- man rose and came back also. May Travels Unexpectedly 77 Stopping by her seat, he said, "I beg pardon most earnestly for seeming to at- tempt to pursue your acquaintance, but I am president of a girls' college," and he handed her a card, "and I have something to say to you that may possibly be of in- terest. I feel impressed that it will be, and my mother has great faith in my im- pressions." His face was plainly one to trust with its brown eyes that looked frankly into hers, its large mouth, a bit crooked at one corner from its firm setting as he concen- trated in reading or study, and then re- laxed in a slow smile which sent the lips up in the center and left one corner still holding to the serious things of life. His hair took care of itself in free, waving, abundant locks that dropped on the high forehead with pleasant ease and fitted well with a manner of dress that was good and 78 Anne's Wedding comfortable, rather than elegant, and evidently did not occupy the owner's thought. He was married, of course, had been May's first subconscious deci- sion about him, and she had given that matter no definite debate since. She was now surprised at his proposi- tion to talk with her, but she, like most Southern-reared girls, did not know pru- dishness, and frankly made place for him, after glancing at his card which read: "Addison Humphrey Vernon, President Addison College for Women, Blakeville, South Carolina." When seated, he turned to her at once with his errand. "The situation is this with me: I am president of a girls' college, you see not by right of attainment, however, I might as well say at once," he put in with that slow smile, and the serious corner almost May Travels Unexpectedly 79 winning the balance of power, "but rather by right of inheritance. My grand- father founded the college; then my fa- ther followed him, and for two years pre- vious to his death I did his work; so, un- tried as I am in many things, the trustees made me president at his death and I am endeavoring to live up to their confidence. "So much for preliminaries," he ended, after a moment's pause, and May listened with interest which was not in the least spoiled by self-consciousness. "Now, for the present: my language teacher married a few days ago after a fashion folks have, you know, sometimes," and again there was the slow smile, "and she gave us no notice didn't know herself, she claims and I suppose that is a way life has too, sometimes, so we must accept it but it did leave us much embarrassed, to say the least. I have some names from 80 Anne's Wedding teachers' agencies," and he took a list of four or five names from his pocket, "but I have just made an unprofitable trip, and I feel I was going to say intuitively, but I believe that is woman's prerogative ex- clusively so I will say, that I have sus- picions that the trip I am on now to see another, is going to result in the same way hence, therefore to be school-manlike I am talking to you, because if you will pardon me, I will say frankly I could not help listening to your fine French in your talk and reading to that old lady, and I have come to inquire if, by any chance, the love of teaching has ever touched your heart." He turned and looked earnestly in her face as he spoke, as though he would wake the teaching instinct within her if he could, and under this compelling gaze she cried eagerly: May Travels Unexpectedly 81 "Oh, I do so want to teach but, I can't," and unheralded, unbidden, de- moralizing tears suddenly threatened to overcome her! She struggled desper- ately with herself while he instantly turned his head and said: "That is true, we cannot always do just what we wish. But, sometimes we are mistaken, about things we can and cannot do! Would you mind if I am not in- truding telling me why you cannot?" Marriage would have been the thing to think of first with so attractive a young woman, but that would not have held tears so near the surface and, somehow, he felt impelled to probe a bit. May had herself pretty well in hand by this time, so she said, with a touch of her father's recent rigidness, "I have no diploma." "No diploma!" And he turned that 82 Anne's Wedding smile in full right of way upon her, while his eyes twinkled so kindly that she re- laxed at once, "A diploma is fine and worth working for, no doubt about that, but it is not the whole of the matter. How near were you to the pesky thing?" he ended, with a homely warmth that won her completely. She told him the whole story then; of the family reverses, and her forced return home with only a half term to complete her course and win her diploma. He questioned her carefully as to the ground she had covered in her study, and at the end he turned to her again with that winning look: "I am fully satisfied, not only with your attainment in scholarship, but also with your tact and readiness in emergency your kindly spirit of helpful- ness in handling that erratic old French woman! I beg your pardon again for May Travels Unexpectedly 83 observing you so closely. I 'want you for French and German teacher in my school. I do not want to look further for a teacher diploma or no diploma!" May was perfectly amazed, and de- lighted beyond measure but would fa- ther let her? She turned her glad, but uncertain face to him. "Oh, I would so love to but I do not know that father would let me. He will think I should complete my course first and he will feel that I am not old enough to teach, yet!" "Well, we will go and ask him any- way," and the combination mouth, with the firm corner in full evidence, was not to be gainsaid. "What do you mean?" asked May, as- tonished. "I mean just that! I will go with you to your home we will reach there by six 84 Anne's Wedding o'clock this evening and I was intending to go on down to Mobile to see a teacher there. Instead, I will stop off and go up to your place to see your father." He did not put it again, "I will go with you," but May was fully conscious that she must appear at the home station, where her father would meet her, with a strange man! What would he think?