Janice Meredith Part 15

"What?" demanded the squire. "My bond-servant?"

"Ay. 'T is he duz the trainin', so Phil tells me."

Mr. Meredith opened the door into the hall, and bawled, "Peg!" Without waiting to give the maid time to answer the summons he roared the name again, and continued to fairly bellow it until the appearance of the girl, whom he then ordered to "find Charles and send him here." Slightly relieved, he stamped back to the fire, muttering to himself in his ire.

A pause for a moment ensued, and then the elder Hennion spoke: "Waal, Meredith, hev yer rumpus with yer servant, but fust off let me say the say ez me and Phil come fer."

"And what 's that?"

"I rayther guess yer know areddy," continued the father, while the son's face became of the colour of the hickory embers. "My boy 's in a mighty stew about yer gal, but he can't git the pluck ter tell her; so seem' he needed some help an since I'd come ez far ez Brunswick, says I we'll make one ride of it, an' over we comes ter tell yer fair an' open what he's hangin' araound fer."

Another red face was hurriedly concealed by its owner stooping over her tambour-frame, and Janice st.i.tched away as if nothing else were worth a second thought. It may be noted, however, that, as a preliminary to further work the next morning, a number of st.i.tches had to be removed.

"Ho, ho!" laughed the squire, heartily, and slapping Phil on the shoulder. "A shy bird, but a sly bird, eh? Oh, no!

Mr. Fox thought the old dogs did n 't know that he wanted little Miss Duck."

Already in an agony of embarra.s.sment, this speech reduced Phil to still more desperate straits. He could look at his father only in a kind of dumb appeal, and that individual, seeing his son 's helplessness, spoke again.

"I'd hev left the youngsters ter snook araound till they wuz able ter fix things by themselves," Mr. Hennion explained.

"But the times is gittin' so troublous thet I want ter see Phil sottled, an' not rampin' araound as young fellers will when they hain't got nuthin' ter keep them hum nights. An' so I reckon thet if it ever is ter be, the sooner the better. Yer gal won't be the wus off, hevin' three men ter look aout fer her, if it duz come on ter blow."

"Well said!" answered the squire. "What say ye, Matilda?"

"Oh, dadda," came an appeal from the tambour-frame, "I don't want to marry. I want to stay at home with--"

"Be quiet, child," spoke up her mother, "and keep thine opinion to thyself till asked. We know best what is for thy good."

"He, he, he!" snickered the elder Hennion. "Gals hain't changed much since I wuz a-courtin'. They allus make aout ter be desprit set agin the fellers an' mortal daown on marryin', but, lordy me! if the men held off the hussies 'ud do the chasm'."

"Thee knows, Lambert," remarked his better half, "that I think Janice would get more discipline and greater G.o.dliness in--"

"I tell ye he sha'n't have her," broke in the squire. "No man who preaches against me shall have my daughter; no, not if 't were Saint Paul himself."

"For her eventual good I--"

"d.a.m.n her eventual--"

"I fear 't will come to that."

"Well, well, Patty, perhaps it will," acceded the squire.

"But since 't is settled already by foreordination, let the la.s.s have a good time before it comes. Wouldst rather marry the parson than Phil, Janice?"

"I don 't want to marry any one," cried the girl, beginning to sob.

"A stiff-necked child thou art," said her mother, sternly.

"Dost hear me?"

"Yes, mommy," responded a woful voice.

"And dost intend to be obedient?"

"Yes, mommy," sobbed the girl.

"Then if thee'll not give her to the parson, Lambert, 't is best that she marry Philemon. She needs a husband to rule and chasten her."

"Then 't is a bargain, Hennion," said Mr. Meredith, offering a hand each to father and son.

"Yer see, Phil, it 's ez I told yer," cried the elder.

"Naow hev dun with yer stand-offishness an' buss the gal.

Thet 'ere is the way ter please them."

Philemon faltered, glancing from one to another, for Janice was bent low over her work and was obviously weeping,-- facts by no means likely to give courage to one who needed that element as much as did the suitor.

"A noodle!" sn.i.g.g.e.red Mr. Hennion. "'T ain't ter be wondered at thet she don't take ter yer. The jades always snotter first off but they 'd snivel worse if they wuz left spinsters--eh, squire?"

Thus encouraged, Phil shambled across the room and put his hand on the shoulder of the girl. At the first touch Janice gave a cry of desperation, and springing to her feet she fled toward the hall, her eyes still so full of tears that she did not see that something more than the door intervened to prevent her escape. In consequence she came violently in contact with Charles, and though to all appearance he caught her in his arms only to save her from falling, Janice, even in her despair, was conscious that there was more than mere physical support.

To the girl it seemed as if an ally had risen to her need, and that the moment's tender clasp of his arms was a pledge of aid to a sore-stricken fugitive.

"How now!" cried the squire. "Hast been listening, fellow?"

"I did not like to interrupt," said Charles, drily.

"I sent for ye, because I'm told ye've been inciting rebellion against the king."

The man smiled. "'T is little inciting they need," he answered.

"Is 't true that ye've been drilling them?" demanded the squire.

"Ask Phil Hennion," replied the servant.

"What mean ye?"

"If 't is wrong for me to drill, is 't not wrong for him to be drilled?"

"How?" once more roared the squire. "Dost mean to say that Phil has been drilling along with the other villains?"

"Naow, naow, Meredith," spoke up the elder Hennion.

"Boys will be boys, yer know, an'--"

"That's enough," cried the father. "I'll have no man at Greenwood who takes arms against our good king. Is there no loyalty left in the land?"

"Naow look here, Meredith," Mr. Hennion argued. "Theer ain't no occasion fer such consarned highty-tighty airs. Yer can't keep boys from bein' high-sperited. What 's more--"

"High-spirited!" snapped the squire. "Is that the name ye give rebellion, Justice Hennion?"

"Thet 'ere is jest what I wuz a-comin' ter, Meredith,"

went on his fellow-justice. "Fust off I wuz hot agin his consarnin' himself, an' tried ter hold him back, but, lordy me! young blood duz love fightin', an' with all the young fellows possest, an' all the gals admirin', I might ez well a-tried ter hold a young steer. So, says I, 't is the hand of Providence, fer no man kin tell ez what 's ahead of us. There ain't no good takin' risks, an' so I'll side in with the one side, an' let Phil side in with t' other, an' then whatsomever comes, 't will make no differ ter us. Naow, ef the gal kin come it over Phil ter quit trainin', all well an' good, an'--"

"I'll tell ye what I think of ye," cried Mr. Meredith.