Читать книгу The Daughter of the House - Carolyn Wells - Страница 4

Table of Contents

DAVID LANG HAD such a nice, sensible, square sounding name, it was a pity that he wrote it with a final curlicue of a flourish.

But that flourish was the key note to his whole nature. It was that flourish that made him wear obvious patterned suits, and a collar whose points flared up and out over a black bow tie in an almost Pecksniffian manner.

It was that flourish that made him call his home-site Langdene, after rejecting Langfield, Langlands and even Lang Manor.

His whole life was a flourish.

Successful, rich, retired, he gave himself over to fatuous self-appreciation, and promptly became self-centred, self-important and decidedly selfish.

Yet he was a lovable man, and those who loved him ignored his colossal self-esteem, and rated him at their own values. And those values were high. Lang had hosts of friends, he was adored by his family and household, and his neighbors had nothing but good words for him.

He was a bore only when he indulged in his pet faults of bumptiousness and braggadocio. To be sure he would have indignantly denied the possession of these traits, but nevertheless he had them and had them bad.

With a flourish of his hand he would sweep the acreage of Langdene and descant on its expensive appointments. With a flourish of rhetoric he would eulogize his charming wife and beautiful daughter, to their everlasting chagrin and embarrassment. With a flourish of erudition he would inform weary listeners of the rarity and value of the specimens in his collection of early glass.

This was his hobby—not an objectionable one, save when he flourished about it. And most praiseworthy were the zeal and patience he had shown and the efficiency he had exercised in his many and long searchings for the rare and curious treasures of which he now had cabinets full.

In this avocation of his he was ably helped by a young man who rejoiced in the picturesque name of Dane Wyatt, but who signed it without a flourish.

Wyatt was not a confidential secretary, indeed, he was not a secretary at all; his official title seemed to be merely the assistant. And it expressed his work, for he knew the old glass as well as if not better than his employer and his aid was invaluable.

Some people waggishly said that Langdene was built like a ladder lying on the ground. This was far from being strictly true, but it was long and straight, and most of the ground floor rooms could be entered at the front and exit made at the back, if one chose.

But there were breaks and juts and angles and there were steps between rooms and pleasant alcoves and balconies, so that the house, though of no strictly adhered to type of architecture, was roomy, light and airy, and most delectable to live in.

Midway of the length was the great front entrance, wide and hospitable, with porch and porte cochère, and a descending series of terraces to a broad sweep of lawn.

Straight through the house ran the hall, used as a lounge and made comfortable accordingly. Then, at the back were long porches, a tea porch and an uncovered deck that overlooked the Long Garden, as the landscape gardener had dubbed his floral masterpiece.

All of which, you see, was the direct result of that flourish after David Lang’s autograph.

His own two personal rooms were at one end of the house. These did not each run full depth, but with his library in front and his museum back of it, took up the space. The house faced north, leaving the southern exposure for the lovely back porches and gardens.

Lang’s rooms, at the east end opened onto a sun parlor, which also boasted a fireplace, for the library chimney at that end made it practicable.

Therefore, the sun parlor, always warmed, naturally or artificially, and yet cool and shaded when desired, by reason of its many and various shades and blinds was a favorite gathering place at all seasons. It gave no access to the house except through the library, but David Lang was no curmudgeon and minded this not a whit. Young people might traipse through while he was reading but it never bothered him at all.

Yet this was merely his own little reading room. The real library came next, with its shelves of sets and bindings. In David’s reading room were only his reference works and books of which he was himself fond.

The larger library opened on into the lounge hall. Then there was the great drawing room, the smaller living room and the dining rooms, all superbly appointed and adorned with flourishes.

And there you have Langdene. Beautiful in spite of its excessive claims to beauty, charming in spite of its evident insistence on its charm.

Lang himself didn’t look like Pecksniff, except for his foolish collar. He was a well set up man of fifty-two, with hair almost white, and with a silvery sheen. Also it curled a little, and was worn a trifle long—with a slight flourish.

For the rest, he had dark eyes, clear, healthy skin and a mouth and chin a little weak, but dignified, even pompous.

Eleanor Lang, his wife, had no flourishes—she scorned boasting and rather belittled herself and her belongings than otherwise.

Except for her cherished possession of chronic ill health. She would have summarily dismissed a doctor who encouraged her to believe she was growing better physically, and, knowing this, her physician humored her until she bid fair to become a contented hypochondriac.

Young looking for her half century, modish and careful in her dress, she was as deeply absorbed in her collection of symptoms and minor ailments as her husband was in his glassware.

Her daughter she loved in a mild impassive way, but her nature was not of the maternal, and she had always felt that when she had properly looked after Rosemary’s food, attire and manners, her duty by her offspring was done.

The girl was called Mary by her own choice, and most of the rest of her life was ordered by her own choice.

Her father loved her, but his own self loomed so large, and his collection was growing so numerous that there was small room left in his heart for Mary, the daughter of the house.

The two Langs and the valued assistant, Wyatt, sat in the sun parlor, one July afternoon.

It was fortunate that Dane Wyatt bore a well sounding name, for his physical appearance was far from distinguished.

A square-jowled face surmounted an almost equally square torso, the whole supported by short legs and long feet. Yet the ever present and world-embracing smile that decorated the homely face was so engaging and so infectious that most people who knew him liked Dane.

“You see,” David Lang was saying, “I shall never be content until I get a Henry Clay cup plate with the right sort of border. The one I have is all very well, but I want—”

An interruption arrived in the shape of a young man who burst in upon them impetuously, and flung himself on a wicker lounge.

“Mary’s broken the engagement again!” he groaned, and his lugubrious face left no room for doubt as to the truth of his statement.

“H’m,” said David Lang, superiorly. “And for the same reason, I suppose.”

“Yep,” admitted the sad one, forlornly, then recovering a trifle, he reached out for a small smoking stand, and proceeded to solace himself with a cigarette.

“What have you been up to with Giulia?” Mrs. Lang inquired, in a disinterested, detached manner.

“Oh, just sauntering about—”

“Why do you do it?” Dane Wyatt demanded. He was by no means of the lower classes. “Why saunter with the serpentine Giulia when Mary is perfectly able to walk?”

At this juncture Mary made her appearance.

Just the regulation type of the modern damozel.

Pretty, of course; slim, of course; lithe, graceful, dainty—all those things, and exquisitely groomed and garbed. Her smart sports suit was a marvel of green and white stuff, and from her perfectly hatted head to her perfectly shod feet, she was a joy to look upon.

Incidently, she had hair, eyes and skin of varying shades of brown, and as she flung her hat on a bench, it transpired that her hair was bobbed and was very dark and very straight.

The glance she threw at the young man was also dark and straight, and her heavy brows drew together in anger as she replied to Wyatt’s question.

“Just because Giulia is serpentine!” she cried; “she glides up to Forrester just like her prototype in the Garden of Eden slid around, and she tries to lure him away from me! Good Lord, she’s welcome to him! I don’t want him!”

She gave a look of intense scorn at the contrite figure on the couch and went on with her tirade.

“You needn’t think, Forrester Carr, that I’m so daft over you I can’t see straight! Giulia Castro is a horrid old Italian—”

“She isn’t horrid and she isn’t old and she isn’t Italian—” Carr returned with a decided show of spirit. “I don’t care for her at all, but I can’t hear her slandered—”

“Oh, slandered!” Mary glared at him. “She’s old compared to me—”

“Yes,” said her fiancé, “and she’s horrid compared to you, and she’s Italian compared to you.” Clearly, he meant to make up.

Mary was mollified at this, but not yet ready to show it.

“Where’d you go with her?” she demanded.

“To the end of the rainbow,” Carr returned, for he saw she was melting and delighted to tease her.

Forrester Carr was a first class fiancé. He had all the ear-marks of a proper husband for Mary, and both families were pleased with the trothplight.

More pleased than, at times, the young people were themselves.

For Carr was impulsive, dictatorial and a born tease. Mary was imperious, exacting and a little spoiled. So there was now and then friction.

A new thorn had showed itself with the arrival of Giulia Castro, a young widow, who had taken a rentable cottage on the Lang estate.

She was not Italian but her husband had been and she had revamped her name to please him.

She was a siren if not a serpent, and though Carr jested about his liking for her, she had rather bewitched him, and he turned it to good account for a chance to torment Mary.

Not that Carr didn’t love the girl he was engaged to. But he was mercurial and a little fickle and, too, he had a bit of Petruchio about him in his determination to tame Mary. So Giulia was made part of the taming process.

Mrs. Lang rose to go into the house. She was always a little bored by these engagement breakings and she wished the children would be more reasonable.

“Don’t forget, Mary, it’s Hester’s day,” she said, as she left them. “Come in very shortly.”

“Yes, Mother,” and Mary’s naturally sweet voice was a contrast to her shrill notes of anger.

“You may go now,” she said, looking at Carr with indifference. “I don’t think I shall ever want to see you again, but if I do, I’ll send for you.”

“May as well stick around a while,” returned the irrepressible one. “You might change your mind suddenly, you know.”

“All right, stick it, then. I’m going in to see Nurse Brace.” Picking up her hat, Mary sauntered to the house door, and after politely seeing her through it, Forry Carr returned laughing.

“Don’t think I tease her too much, Mr. Lang,” he said, “really, she can do with a bit of taking down—”

“Oh, all right—all right—” and David Lang showed his impatience of the subject; “now, Dane, as I say, I must have a Henry Clay cup plate, and you must run up to New England somewhere and stalk it.”

“All right, sir,” agreed Wyatt, and then their talk became technical beyond Carr’s comprehension.

He was glad when another man appeared on the sun porch.

Alexander Lang, a few years younger than his brother David, lived at Langdene, and lived, it must be confessed, on his brother’s bounty.

Not that David minded this. He had been successful, financially, poor Alex hadn’t. Why not give him a share? No reason, whatever.

That settled the matter for David. Alex was welcome to a home, a living, recreations—in fact, pretty much whatever he wanted, and David didn’t begrudge him a cent.

No one else objected, for Uncle Alex was a good sort, always ready to sympathize or advise, and quite capable of doing so.

“Come for a walk, Forry,” Alex said, and the two men strolled away.

“What’s up?” the elder asked, briefly.

“Mary’s jealous of Mrs. Castro.”

“Again or yet.”

“Both. But, I say, Uncle Alex, I did it on purpose—provoked her, I mean. I can’t let that girl ride over me roughshod!”

“No, I suppose not. But—aren’t you playing with fire?”

“Of course I am. Fire is my pet toy.”

“Well, my boy, you know your own business, but I’d hate to see a real break between you and Mary.”

“Oh, it won’t come to that. Mary’s too fond of me—”

“Tut, tut, that’s a shameful attitude to hold—”

“Yes, it is. I apologize all round. And I didn’t exactly mean it that way. I mean, we’re too fond of each other—”

“That’s better. Well, did you tame your little Shrew?”

“Dunno yet. It’s Miss Brace’s day. But I’m not worrying. And Mary isn’t a shrew. She’s an obstinate little cat, but I’d not like her without spunk, you know.”

Meanwhile the obstinate little cat was transformed into a sweet, pliable girl as she and her mother sat in the lounge talking to Nurse Brace.

A stalwart, gaunt looking woman, there was yet the sure smile of motherliness in the deep gray eyes and an inflection of tenderness in the hard voice.

Nurse Brace had helped to bring Mary into the world. She had tended her through her babyhood, and even now, when her charge was a grown-up young woman the nurse journeyed to see her once every month as regular as the day came round.

Mrs. Lang looked on Hester more as an old friend than a servant, and all through Mary’s life the mother and the nurse had discussed the child’s well-being in all its phases, whether mental, moral or dietary.

“Yes, Mary’s all right,” Mrs. Lang was saying, “but I’m poorly. I think now I have heart trouble.”

“Oh, Hesty,” Mary smiled at her, “don’t listen to mother’s symptoms, let me tell you my troubles.”

It was clear to be seen Nurse Brace was the repository of the secrets of both these women, and it was equally plain that she was eager and glad to hear all they had to tell.

The merest glance showed the contrast in the two natures of the older women.

Mrs. Lang, delicate, refined, haughty, and with but slight interest in her daughter, and Hester Brace, less fine of fibre, but fairly tingling with love and affection that might have been given to the daughter she never bore.—

Some women are born maternal yet never have a child on which to lavish tender care. Others marry and bear children with no more real love for them than that of an animal for its offspring.

Hester looked long and intently at Mary.

“You’ve not changed in the month,” she said, critically, “yet you look different, too—”

“It’s my bobbed hair,” Mary said, “isn’t it just darling?”

“No,” Brace said, bluntly, “I’m not keen about it. But I suppose it’s the fashion.”

“Yes,” said Eleanor Lang, “it’s the fashion. I didn’t like it at first, but I’m getting used to it. You’ll learn to like it, Hester. Now, I’d like you to listen while I tell you about this pain in my heart.”

“Oh, Mother, Hesty isn’t a doctor. Do consult Mason about your symptoms and let’s have a pleasant chat with nurse.”

“Meaning gossip of your own affairs, I suppose. I do think, Mary, you might have a little consideration for your own mother!”

“You stay here by me, Lamb,” the nurse said, drawing Mary down by her side. “We’ll listen to the symptoms—I may be able to help, if they’re within my experience and knowledge. If not, no harm done.”

So Mary sat by, and heard again rehearsed aches and pains which, she felt sure were largely imaginary, and which Nurse Brace listened to with anxious attention.

“I doubt if I can help you, Mrs. Lang,” she said, at last, compassion in her tone. “I’m not sure you’re affected quite as you say you are, but if so, you need a doctor not a nurse. That is, a doctor first. And if he says a nurse, and if you want me, I’ll be glad to come.”

“Oh, could you, Nurse? Could you leave the hospital and come to me I’m not sure I need you—yet—”

“Oh, land, Mrs. Lang, dear, you have no need for me. You see a doctor and he’ll put you straight. But, if you ever should need me—yes, I could come. I’m thinking of giving up hospital work anyway, and taking only private cases. So if ever you want me, just let me know, and I’ll come if it’s possible. And now, Mary, dearie, it’s your turn. Tell old Hester what’s it all about.”

“You sha’n’t call yourself old,” and Mary looked reproachfully into the gray eyes that were indeed still young in their expression, though the hair above them was fairly gray, too.

“Will you have tea here, Nurse, or go outside?” asked her hostess, kindly. “It’s cooler out there.”

“No, ma’am, I don’t want to see the menfolks. Let me have it here. I must be going soon. I’m late today. But I felt I must see you—both.”

“Yes, of course,” and Mary patted the large, strong hand.

And then, as she had done ever since she could talk, Mary unburdened her heart to Nurse Brace. She told her all about the perfidy of Forrester Carr, and Brace listened to every word, gravely and with the deepest interest and sympathy. But when the tragic tale was finished, she smiled at the girl.

“Going to hold him off long?” she asked, understandingly.

Mary pouted. “Now, Brace dear, do take it seriously,” she pleaded.

“Nonsense, Mary,” her mother laughed, as she poured out the tea. “Brace can’t take your foolish quarrels seriously any more than your father and I can. It’s too silly—”

“I guess it isn’t silly when the man who is engaged to you goes skylarking off with a snake-in-the-grass widow that’s just trying her best to steal him away! I guess you wouldn’t like it Hesty, if a horrid widow person tried to steal your young man!”

“I never had a ‘young man,’ Mary dear,” and the nurse spoke wistfully, “but” and her gray eyes flashed, “if I had had—nobody should have stolen him from me—nobody!”

Her voice rang out so determinedly that Mrs. Lang opened her eyes.

“Why, Brace,” she cried, “you’re quite dramatic! Really, you ought to be on the stage.”

The nurse looked a trifle ashamed, and smiled uncomfortably.

“It’s nonsense, ma’am,” she said. “But I don’t hold with lovers’ quarrels. I think they’re dangerous to both sides. Now, Miss Mary, dear, you take my advice, don’t you have tiffs with your beau unless you want to lose him. I know how you think it piques him, and makes you seem more precious and worth while—but it isn’t really so. The real thing is faith and loyalty and agreement on both sides.”

“Why, Hesty,” Mary’s eyes filled, “how well you put it. And I do believe you are right. I shall whistle Forry back this very evening. But I say, Nursie, do you know the Castro person?”

“I think I saw her, as I passed the cottage. She sat on the verandah, or rather, she lounged in a hammock. She held a book, but she wasn’t reading. She was peering up the road—”

“Oho! Looking for Forry to come! I see. And, Nursie,” Mary could be a very wheedling, “let me off now, and I’ll run after my swain. I’ll see you for a longer time when you come again—but I must snatch my brand from the burning!”

With a butterfly kiss on the cheek of the grimfaced woman, Mary ran off to the sun parlor and joined the group of men there.

Hester Brace was grim-faced, but it was because of the sorrow and pain that had filled her life, both her own and others. Joys she had had, but far more of grief, and it had left its ineradicable mark.

One of her bright spots was this occasional visit to the Langs, and though mother and daughter appreciated what it meant to the lonely woman, yet each was a bit glad when the visit was over.

“Mary’s looking well,” Eleanor Lang said, as conversation flagged.

“Yes—except for that bobbed hair. Oh, well, girls will be girls. Does she use paint and powder?”

“I’m afraid she does, Hester,” the mother admitted.

“And—” Brace’s voice dropped low, “does she—smoke?”

Mrs. Lang almost laughed outright at the horror in the gray eyes.

“Why—yes, she does,” she declared. “But all the girls do now, and if her parents don’t object, surely you needn’t worry.”

This was meant as a slight rebuke and was taken as such.

“No,” Hester Brace said, gravely, “no, I needn’t worry. And I sha’n’t, Mrs. Lang. You see, I’ve suspected these things for some time, and I wanted to be sure.”

“Well, be sure, Hester.” Eleanor Lang smiled. “But be sure, too, that Mary is moderate in her use of these things you condemn, and that she does nothing that does not have my full sanction. And I’m rather conservative, as you know, Hester.”

“I do know, ma’am—none better than I. From the day I first saw you in the hospital, before Mary had seen the light of day, until now, never have I known you to err in taste or judgment.”

Eleanor Lang did not deem this speech impertinent or presumptuous. Nurse Brace was a privileged person. Usually she was in merrier mood. Seldom indeed had she been as serious as today. But Eleanor Lang ascribed it to some hard work or some hopeless case, and was a bit more kind and attentive herself in consequence.

And soon after Hester Brace went away.

“In the grumps, wasn’t she?” Mary asked, as her mother reappeared.

“Not that, exactly. But a little downcast over something, poor soul.”