Meg, of Valencia Part 4

There was nothing more said for a few minutes; then he remarked carelessly, "You didn't tell me where you were going."

"I am going to see my cousin-in-law. I hate her, but I love her husband."

"That's frankness that might be misunderstood."

"I know it," Meg replied earnestly, "but it's true. You see, Ada has always felt that she married beneath her, and she has convinced poor Charlie that she did. But how she came to cherish such a notion I don't know, for he's the salt of the earth!"

"Was it a question of family?"

"Yes. Her father was at one time pretty well off, and at the time she married Charlie some people thought she might have done better.

Charlie's one of those big-souled men who never acc.u.mulate anything, and he is blunt and hearty in his manner. Now she thinks because she crooks her little finger when she drinks a gla.s.s of water, that she is more refined than he!"

Robert laughed boyishly at her quaint description, and said, "I think I know them-not this particular couple, but their prototypes."

"Are there others like Charlie, I wonder," she said musingly. "He stands out so in my mind because he's the best, the very best man I ever saw."

After a short walk, she stopped in front of a modest two-story house, and turning to her companion, said coaxingly, "Come in with me, and meet Ada-then you'll see for yourself."

"You are sure it won't be an intrusion?"

"Of course I'm sure," was the response.

They were admitted by a tall, overgrown girl of thirteen, who beamed with pleasure when she saw Meg. "Come into the sitting-room," she said; "Papa's in there, and he will be so glad to see you."

"Why, what's he doing at home in the middle of the day?" Meg asked.

"He's not feeling very well-just indigestion, he says," answered the child, leading the way.

The room they entered was forlorn in the extreme, and in it was everywhere evidence of the taste of the wife, as well as of her notably poor housekeeping. There was dirt in the corners of the room, and dust on the few uncomfortable, cheap, but ornate chairs. There was a rug with big bouquets of red roses upon the floor, and soiled, sleazy, fringed silk drapes hung over the few highly colored, gaudily framed pictures. The wall paper was as startling as the rug, and at the windows were coa.r.s.e, cheap lace curtains.

Charlie Walker was a huge, broad-shouldered blond, with kind blue eyes, a roaring laugh which always made his refined wife shudder, and a hand-clasp that was warm and cordial.

He looked so pleased when he saw Meg, that it was plain to see how well he liked her. As for the child, who had inherited her father's size, blondness, and disposition, she evidently regarded her small, grown-up cousin as a veritable princess in a fairy tale.

Meg noticed with concern that Charlie really looked ill, but it was a habit with her to say but little about such things; so, instead of questioning him fully, she looked around the untidy room and asked, "Where's Ada?"

"Gone to her card club," replied Charlie.

The child, Gertie, had taken up the mending-basket and was painfully trying to darn a large hole in one of her father's socks. It was evident that she had had no training, but was trying to teach herself, that she might a.s.sume that part of the household tasks.

"Let me do that," said Meg impulsively, and taking it from the girl, began deftly putting in the st.i.tches.

Charlie watched her a moment, and then remarked, answering the unspoken accusation of her mind, "Ada had so much to do this week that she couldn't get around to it."

Meg drew the thread viciously and made no reply.

"She has had to practice a good deal for that concert she is to take part in," he said.

Still Meg did not speak, and the set of her lips impelled him to add anxiously, yet with a certain amount of dignity, "It is in accordance with my wishes, that she keeps up her music."

"Yes, of course it is," answered Meg meekly, for, as she told Robert afterwards in discussing it, "Big as that man is, I would no more hurt him than I would a baby."

After that, Charlie drew Robert into the conversation. Each man had taken the measure of the other, and approved. They had talked indifferently for awhile on matters pertaining to the town, when the front door opened and a step was heard in the hall.

Robert, looking at Charlie Walker, saw a light leap into his eyes, as he turned toward the door leading into the hall. "What manner of woman is this?" he asked himself, "who can bring such a look to a man's face after so many years of married life?" All unconsciously his eyes wandered to Meg.

Mrs. Walker was pretty, in rather a coquettish way; with soft brown hair and eyes, a weak red mouth, and a complexion which still retained its girlish fairness. Her hands were little, white, helpless ones, and about her was an air of childish innocence and irresponsibility. Her dress was in keeping with the furnis.h.i.+ng of the room, cheaply pretentious and ornate.

Robert felt instinctively that while such a woman could never possess any attraction for him, she was the type some men would die for,-notably, her husband.

The talk was desultory for a while, and then Meg asked her cousin to play for them, "Which was generous of me," she confided later, to Robert, "for it showed her to the best advantage."

Without demur she seated herself at the piano and at once began to play with such sweetness and power that Robert was amazed. Glancing toward her husband, whose face reflected his appreciation of the music, as well as his adoration of the performer, Robert felt that he held the key to the puzzle.

As they were walking home, Meg asked him suddenly, "What did you think of my kin-folks?" As he paused, she continued, "Never mind the house,-I know what you thought of that,-but tell me what you think of Charlie?"

"He is a man I could love like a brother. I have never felt so drawn to a stranger."

"You dear boy!" cried Meg impulsively; "I always knew you were nice, but I never dreamed you were _that_ nice. You see, Cousin Charlie is my hobby, for I think he is a grand character, and I want him to be appreciated."

"Is he not?"

"By everybody but his wife."

"I thought that, but I didn't want to judge her hastily," commented Robert.

"She does not appreciate him," Meg vehemently exclaimed. "I wish I could shake a little sense into her. He was too sick a man to be left this afternoon, but she didn't know it, or didn't care if she did know it. Why, if I had a husband like that, and he had nothing more serious the matter with him than a boil, I would stay with him!"

"I believe you would." She looked up suddenly, surprised by a new note in Robert's voice, and found him looking at her earnestly. The interchange of glances embarra.s.sed both of them, and to cover it, he continued rather hastily, "I don't understand how a woman of her evident lack of feelings can have such a divine conception of music."

"I can explain that," said Meg confidentially. "It was a case of mixed ident.i.ty. That gift was meant for me, but got switched around some way.

I have the love of music, the capacity to suffer manifested by her playing, while she,-she simply expresses what I feel."

Robert smiled at her whimsical conceit, but made no reply. At her gate she put her hand in his and said, "Good-bye," simply and quietly. All the defiance and willfulness which usually characterized her were gone, and in their place was a gracious sweetness which enveloped and engrossed him the rest of the evening.

CHAPTER VII.

"Alas! how light a cause may move Dissension between hearts that love."

Meg came down-stairs to breakfast humming a gay little air to herself, and looking so young and fresh that Mrs. Weston looked at her disapprovingly as she took her seat at the table.

The morning light was unmerciful, showing up the wrinkles and sallowness of the fretful little woman, in direct contrast to the smooth purity of Meg's skin and the brightness of her eyes. The elder woman wore a somewhat soiled blue wrapper, and there was not the care bestowed upon her appearance that usually characterized it.

She glanced pettishly at Meg as she poured the coffee, and said, "I don't see why you always wear white."