Tony Butler Part 60

That same book,--how it rankled, like a barbed arrow, in his side!--that same book said that men are always wrong in their readings of woman,--that they cannot understand the finer, nicer, more subtle springs of her action; and in their coa.r.s.er appreciation they constantly destroy the interest they would give worlds to create. It was as this thought flashed across his memory the car-driver exclaimed aloud, "Ah, Master Tony, did ever you see as good a pony as you? he 's carried the minister these eighteen years, and look at him how he jogs along to-day!"

He pointed to a little path in the valley where old Dr. Stewart ambled along on his aged palfrey, the long mane and flowing tail of the beast marking him out though nigh half a mile away.

"Why didn't I think of that before?" thought Tony. "Dolly Stewart is the very one to help me. She has not been bred and brought up like Alice, but she has plenty of keen woman's wit, and she has all a sister's love for me, besides. I 'll just go and tell her how we parted, and I 'll ask her frankly what she says to it."

Cheered by this bright idea, he pursued his way in better spirits, and soon reached the little path which wound off from the high-road through the fields to the Burnside. Not a spot there una.s.sociated with memories, but they were the memories of early boyhood. The clump of white thorns they used to call the Forest, and where they went to hunt wild beasts; the little stream they fancied a great and rapid river, swarming with alligators; the gra.s.sy slope, where they had their house, and the tiny garden whose flowers, stuck down at daybreak, were withered before noon!--too faithful emblems of the joys they ill.u.s.trated!

"Surely," thought he, "no boy had ever such a rare playfellow as Dolly; so ready to take her share in all the rough vicissitudes of a boy's pleasures, and yet to bring to them a sort of storied interest and captivation which no mere boy could ever have contributed. What a little romance the whole was,--just because she knew how to impart the charm of a story to all they did and all they planned!"

It was thus thinking that he entered the cottage. So still was everything that he could hear the scratching noise of a pen as a rapid writer's hand moved over the paper. He peeped cautiously in and saw Dolly seated, writing busily at a table all strewn over with ma.n.u.script: an open book, supported by other books, lay before her, at which from time to time she glanced.

Before Tony had advanced a step she turned round and saw him. "Was it not strange, Tony?" said she, and she flushed as she spoke. "I felt that you were there before I saw you; just like long ago, when I always knew where you were hid."

"I was just thinking of that same long ago, Dolly," said he, taking a chair beside her, "as I came up through the fields. There everything is the same as it used to be when we went to seek our fortune across the sandy desert, near the Black Lake."

"No," said she, correcting; "the Black Lake was at the foot of Giant's Rock, beyond the rye-field."

"So it was, Dolly; you are right."

"Ah, Master Tony, I suspect I have a better memory of those days than you have. To be sure, I have not had as many things happening in the mean while to trouble these memories."

There was a tone of sadness in her voice, very slight, very faint, indeed, but still enough to tinge these few words with melancholy.

"And what is all this writing about?" said he, moving his hands through the papers. "Are you composing a book, Dolly?"

"No," said she, timidly; "I am only translating a little German story.

When I was up in London, I was lucky enough to obtain the insertion of a little fairy tale in a small periodical meant for children, and the editor encouraged me to try and render one of Andersen's stories; but I am a very sorry German, and, I fear me, a still sorrier prose writer; and so, Tony, the work goes on as slowly as that bridge of ours used long ago. Do you remember when it was made, we never had the courage to pa.s.s over it! Mayhap it will be the same with my poor story, and when finished, it will remain unread."

"But why do you encounter such a piece of labor?" said he. "This must have taken a week or more."

"A month yesterday, my good Tony; and very proud I am, too, that I did it in a month."

"And for what, in heaven's name?"

"For three bright sovereigns, Master Tony!" said she, blus.h.i.+ng.

"Oh, I didn't mean that," said he, in deep shame and confusion. "I meant only, why did you engage on such a hard task."

"I know you did n't mean it, Tony; but I was so proud of my success as an author it would out. Yes," said she, with a feigned air of importance, "I have just disposed of my copyright; and you know, Tony, Milton did not get a great deal more for 'Paradise Lost.' You see,"

added she, seriously, "what with poor papa's age and his loneliness, and my own not over-great strength, I don't think I shall try (at least, not soon) to be a governess again; and it behoves me to be as little as I can of a burden to him; and after thinking of various things, I have settled upon this as the best."

"What a good girl you are!" said he, and he fixed his eyes full upon her; nor did he know how admiringly, till he saw that her face, her forehead, and even her neck were crimson with shame and confusion.

"There is no such great goodness, in doing what is simply one's duty,"

said she, gravely.

"I don't know that, Dolly."

"Come, come, Tony, you never fancied yourself a hero, just because you are willing to earn your bread, and ready to do so by some sacrifice of your tastes and habits."

The allusion recalled Tony to himself and his own cares, and after a few seconds of deep thought, he said, "I am going to make the venture now, Dolly. I am called away to London by telegraph, and am to leave to-morrow morning."

"Are you fully prepared, Tony, for the examination?"

"Luckily for me, they do not require it Some accidental want of people has made them call in all the available fellows at a moment's warning, and in this way I may chance to slip into the service unchallenged."

"Nay, but, Tony," said she, reproachfully, "you surely could face the examination?"

"I could face it just as I could face being shot at, of course, but with the same certainty of being bowled over. Don't you know, Dolly, that I never knew my grammar long ago till you had dinned it into my head; and as you never come to my a.s.sistance now, I know well what my fate would be."

"My dear Tony," said she, "do get rid once for all of the habit of underrating your own abilities; as my dear father says, people very easily make self-depreciation a plea of indolence. There, don't look so dreary; I 'm not going to moralize in the few last minutes we are to have together. Talk to me about yourself."

"It was for that I came, Dolly," said he, rising and taking a turn or two up and down the room; for, in truth, he was sorely puzzled how to approach the theme that engaged him. "I want your aid; I want your woman's wit to help me in a difficulty. Here's what it is, Dolly," and he sat down again at her side, and took her hand in his own. "Tell me, Dolly," said he, suddenly, "is it true, as I have read somewhere, that a woman, after having made a man in love with her, will boast that she is not in the least bound to requite his affection if she satisfies herself that she has elevated him in his ambition, given a higher spring to his hope,--made him, in fact, something better and n.o.bler than his own uninspired nature had ever taught him to be? I 'm not sure that I have said what I meant to say; but you 'll be able to guess what I intend."

"You mean, perhaps, will a woman accept a man's love as a means of serving him without any intention of returning it?"

Perhaps he did not like the fas.h.i.+on in which she put his question, for he did not answer, save by a nod.

"I say yes; such a thing is possible, and might happen readily enough if great difference of station separated them."

"Do you mean if one was rich and the other poor?"

"Not exactly; because inequalities of fortune may exist between persons of equal condition."

"In which case," said he, hurriedly, "you would not call their stations unequal, would you?"

"That would depend on how far wealth contributed to the habits of the wealthier. Some people are so accustomed to affluence, it is so much the accompaniment of their daily lives, that the world has for them but one aspect."

"Like our neighbors here, the Lyles, for instance?" said he.

Dolly gave a slight start, like a sudden pang of pain, and grew deadly pale. She drew away her hand at the same time, and pa.s.sed it across her brow.

"Does your head ache, dear Dolly?" asked he, compa.s.sionately.

"Slightly; it is seldom quite free of pain. You have chosen a poor guide, Tony, when there is a question of the habits of fine folk.

None know so little of their ways as I do. But surely you do not need guidance. Surely you are well capable of understanding them in all their moods."

With all her attempts to appear calm and composed, her lips shook and her cheeks trembled as she spoke; and Tony, more struck by her looks than her words, pa.s.sed his arm round her, and said, in a kind and affectionate voice, "I see you are not well, my own dear Dolly; and that I ought not to come here troubling you about my own selfish cares; but I can never help feeling that it's a sister I speak to."

"Yes, a sister," said she, in a faint whisper,--"a sister!"

"And that your brother Tony has the right to come to you for counsel and help."

"So he has," said she, gulping down something like a sob; "but these days, when my head is weary and tired, and when--as to-day, Tony--I am good for nothing--Tell me," said she, hastily, "how does your mother bear your going away? Will she let me come and sit with her often? I hope she will."

"That she will, and be so happy to have you too; and only think, Dolly, Alice Lyle--Mrs. Trafford, I mean--has offered to come and keep her company sometimes. I hope you 'll meet her there; how you 'd like her.

Dolly!"