Hills of the Shatemuc Part 18

"Busy!" said her father, -- "I guess _you_ were busy!"

She made herself busy then, for putting both arms round his neck she pressed and kissed his face, till feeling grew too excited with the indulgence of it, and she lay with her head quite still upon his shoulder where n.o.body could see her eyes.

The father's eyes told tales.

"I think Winifred has forgotten me," observed Rufus.

But Winifred was in no condition to answer the charge.

"Winifred doesn't forget anybody," said her father fondly.

"We're none of us given to forgetting. I am thankful that we have one thing that some richer folks want -- we all love one another. Winifred, --I thought you were going to shew me that black kitten o' your'n?"

"I haven't any kitten, papa, -- it is Asahel's."

"Well, let Asahel bring it then."

Which Asahel did.

"Have you looked at the cattle, Mr. Landholm?" said his wife.

"No -- not yet -- this is the first specimen of live stock I've seen," said Mr. Landholm, viewing attentively a little black kitten which was sprawling very uncomfortably upon the painted floor. "I've heard of 'em though. Asahel has been giving me a detail at length of all the concerns of the farm. I think he'll make an excellent corresponding secretary by and by."

"I was only telling papa what Governor had been doing," said Asahel.

"You were afraid he would be forgotten. There, my dear, I would let the little cat go back to its mother."

"No papa, -- Asahel wanted you should know that _Governor_ didn't forget."

"Did you ever hear of the time, Asahel," said his elder brother, "that a cat was sold by the length of her tail?"

"By the length of her tail!" said Asahel unbelievingly.

"Yes -- for as much wheat as would cover the tip of her tail when she was held so --"

And suiting the action to the word, Rufus suspended the kitten with its nose to the floor and the point of its tail at the utmost height it could reach above that level. Winifred screamed; Asahel sprang; Rufus laughed and held fast.

"It's a shame!" said Winifred.

"You have no right to do it!" said Asahel. "It _isn't_ the law, if it was the law; and it was a very cruel law!"

But Rufus only laughed; and there seemed some danger of a break in that kindliness of feeling which their father had vaunted, till Mrs. Landholm spoke. A word and a look of hers, to one and the other, made all smooth; and they went on again talking, of happy nothings, till it was time to separate for the night. It was only then that Mr. Landholm touched on any matter of more than slight interest.

"Well, Rufus," he said when at last they rose from their chairs, -- "are you all ready for College?"

"Yes sir."

A little shadow upon both faces -- a very little.

"I am glad of it. Well keep ready; -- you'll go yet one of these days -- the time will come. You must see if you can't be contented to keep at home a spell. We'll shove you off by and by."

Neither party very well satisfied with the decision, but there was no more to be said.

To keep at home was plain enough; to be contented was another matter. Rufus joined again in the farm concerns; the well-worn Little River broadcloth was exchanged for homespun; and Winthrop's plough, and hoe, and axe, were mated again as in former time they used to be. This at least was greatly enjoyed by the brothers. There was a constant and lively correspondence between them, on all matters of interest, past, present, and future, and on all matters of speculation attainable by either mind; and though judgments and likings were often much at variance, and the issues, to the same argument, were not always the same with each; on one point, the delight of communication, they were always at one. Clearly Rufus had no love for the axe, nor for the scythe, but he could endure both while talking with Winthrop; though many a time it would happen that axe and scythe would be lost in the interest of other things; and leaning on his snathe, or flinging his axe into a cut, Rufus would stand to argue, or demonstrate, or urge, somewhat just then possessing all his faculties; till a quiet reminder of his brother's would set him to laughing and to work again; and sweetly moved the scythes through the gra.s.s, and cheerily rung the axes, for the winrows were side by side and the ringing answered from tree to tree. And the inside of home gave Rufus pleasure too. Yet there were often times, -- when talk was at a standstill, and mother's "good things" were not on the table, with a string of happy faces round it, and neither axe nor scythe kept him from a present feeling of inaction, -- that the shadow reappeared on Rufus's brow. He would sit in the chimney corner, looking far down into the hearth-stones, or walk moodily up and down the floor, behind the backs of the other people, with a face that seemed to belong to some waste corner of society.

"My son," said Mrs. Landholm, one evening when Mr. Landholm was out and the little ones in bed, -- "what makes you wear such a sober face?"

"Nothing, mother, -- only that I am doing nothing."

"Are you sure of that? Your father was saying that he never saw anybody sow broadcast with a finer hand -- he said you had done a grand day's work to day."

An impatiently drawn breath was the answer.

"Rufus, n.o.body is doing _nothing_ who is doing all that G.o.d gives him leave to do."

"No mother -- and n.o.body ever _will_ do much who does not hold that leave is given him to make of himself the utmost that he can."

"And what is that?" she said quietly.

n.o.body spoke; and then Rufus said, not quietly,

"Depends on circ.u.mstances, ma'am; -- some one thing and some another."

"My son Rufus, -- we all have the same interest at heart with you."

"I am sorry for it, ma'am; I would rather be disappointed alone."

"I hope there will be no disappointment -- I do not look for any, in the end. Cannot you bear a little present disappointment?"

"I do bear it, ma'am."

"But Winthrop has the very same things at stake as you have, and I do not see him wear such a disconsolate face, -- ever."

"Winthrop --" the speaker began, and paused, every feature of his fine face working with emotion. His hearers waited, but whatever lay behind, nothing more of his meaning came out.

"Winthrop what? --" said his brother laughing.

"You are provokingly cool!" said the other, his eye changing again.

"You have a right to find fault with that," said Winthrop still laughing, "for certainly it is a quality with which _you_ never provoked anybody."

Rufus seemed to be swallowing more provocation than he had expressed.

"What were you going to say of me, Rufus?" said the other seriously.

"Nothing --"

"If you meant to say that I have not the same reason to be disappointed that you have, you are quite right."

"I meant to say that; and I meant to say that you do not feel _any_ disappointment as much as I do."