Tess of the Storm Country Part 34

"He's a-been prayin' since Daddy went away--that air somethin'," Tess said stubbornly.

Professor Young rose--then seated himself again. He had come for something else, something that meant work and satisfaction for him.

"Now that your father is sure to be saved, will you leave this hut?" he asked peremptorily.

"Nope!"

"But it's not fit for you to be here alone, Tessibel. Listen ... I'll save your father's squatter rights, if you will study in some good school until he returns."

"Aw, cuss! Who air to pay all the money?" Tess got to her feet with effort.

"I will," deliberately answered Young.

"Nope, I air goin' to stay here," snapped Tess. "I can fish and live likes I have been doin' till Daddy comes. I promised him I'd stay. I can read the Bible now," she e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed, promptly producing the book from under the blankets of the bed. "I's a-readin it every day.... If ye don't believes, ye can listen and see."

She tossed back the curls from her shoulders as she ended emphatically: "I air a goin' to bring Daddy home through this here book--the student says."

Again the terrible jealousy of the handsome student flashed alive in the professor. Tess had opened the Bible to a chapter she had never read before.

"And straightway in the morning," she spelled, "the chief priests--Aw, that ain't no good! Wait till I find about Daddy."

Then suddenly she threw the Bible down upon the floor.

"There air places what says as how Daddy air a comin' home. The student says it air there. I ain't found it yet but I air a-lookin' for it every day. 'Tain't in that place where I just read about them geezers, the priests."

The lawyer stood up. A pain seized him. He would save this ignorant girl in spite of herself, marry her in spite of Frederick Graves. It would be as difficult as scaling the icy mountains, but he would force her to love him more than the whole world.

"You understand," he said shortly, "that these good people have given money toward helping your father come home. It will be some time before the trial will come up, but when it does--I will bring him back to you."

The a.s.surance in his tones brought Tess to his side.

"Ye be a lawyer," she said abruptly, "and the squatters says as how lawyers air liars and tramps, but ye ain't no tramp, and ye ain't no liar, ye ain't--and when I sells a lot of fish I air bringin' ye the money for what ye air a doin' for Daddy and me. I says once and I says again as how ye air Daddy's friend, and I air glad that the student's meeting-house folks gived ye a little money to help us."

Mist had gathered in her eyes and she slipped her fingers into Professor Young's. She laid her lips upon his hand, covering it with tears and kisses. Opening the shanty doors, she said:

"I likes ye, I likes ye, but how much a squatter's brat likes don't make no difference. Ye go now, for the tracks get dark about five."

"I have my horse at the top of the hill," replied Young, confusedly.

The sensation from the moist lips upon his flesh prompted him for one brief moment to take the girl to him. He was filled with a strange desire to force this rude shanty maid from her surroundings and place her in another life with him.

CHAPTER XXVI

That night, as Tessibel slept and dreamed of Frederick, another girl waited for her lover. Teola Graves watched for the approach of Dan Jordan with strange emotions. When he was with her, his great strength and constant a.s.surances that everything would go rightly with them gave the girl courage and confidence. But in the night-watches, when youthful sleep refused to come, she was afraid--afraid!

She stood just outside the door, upon the veranda, shrinking from the raw winter wind. Relievedly she noticed Dan's tall form, when he swung around the corner.

"You should not stand in the night wind, dear," Dan chided, gently kissing her. "There! now, I have come for a good chat. Teola, do not look so sad--please."

The little drawing-room in the Rectory was partially dark when they seated themselves on the divan.

"I am so unhappy Dan; so different from what I used to be. Then, life was sweet and I was glad to live--"

"But you don't want to be dead now, sweetheart!--Think of it, Teola.

When I shall have finished college, I shall be of age. We will go away from Ithaca, and no one will ever know--"

"But we shall know, Dan. If I had only been a good girl!"

Dan was visibly moved.

"Let's make a bargain," said he suddenly. "To-night we won't talk of anything but the pleasantest of things. I have something funny to tell you."

"I have something to tell you, too," breathed Teola.

"Is it pleasant?" demanded the boy, bending and forcing the lowered eyes to his.

Teola shook her head.

"Then we will leave it until to-morrow," he exclaimed. "I'll tell you my news. Shorts, Spuddy and Swipes are in disgrace at the fraternity. If Shorts would keep away from those other two fellows, he might get through college. It was really their fault Frederick was stolen."

"What have they done now?" asked Teola listlessly. She had little interest in the boys of the society, for, nestled close to her heart, was a secret she could not forget. She had a realization that something unusual had fallen upon her of which she was afraid.

"Well, you see," explained Dan, "there is a comic opera playing here.

This afternoon, Swipes, Shorts and Spuddy took some of the chorus girls to the house, when the other fellows were away. They might have known the officers would have found it out. Sure enough, they did! The little rascals were all drunk on champagne, and the girls had to be sent to their hotels in carriages. The kids received a great beating, let me tell you. They are all in bed, in the cupola prison rooms, trying to get over big heads."

Teola wanted to smile, to be happy, but the smiles refused to come. Dan turned the subject.

"Haven't they gathered a deal of money for Skinner?"

Teola nodded, and presently responded,

"Yes, and father thinks it is so strange. Mrs. Hall and Professor Young were at the bottom of the plan. They think the Skinner girl is a great marvel. I, too, think she is beautiful--and so does Frederick."

"She has a lot of courage," mused Dan, thinking of the girl who had rescued the cla.s.s president from the hands of his enemies. Teola knew nothing of this episode, for Frederick had asked him to be silent upon it.

"Your father does not wish the man liberated?" The question in Dan's voice brought a flush to Teola's pale face.

"No; he thinks the tribe is a menace to the town, and he is sure the man is guilty. They do tell dreadful things of them, and I can't help but believe some of the tales, although I feel sorry for the girl. But her coming to the toffy pull that night made a great deal of trouble for brother and me."

"So I supposed. But I love you, Teola, for the manner in which you treated her."

Teola straightened herself from her lover's arms, and was about to speak. She would tell him, then, tell him her secret--tell all the fears that weighed upon her heart, as if they were loaded with lead. He would comfort, and tell her not to worry--cheer her, until she could smile again and be happy.