Читать книгу Other Things Being Equal - Emma Wolf - Страница 4

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A humming-bird dipped through the air and lit upon the palm-tree just below the open window; the long drowsy call of a crowing cock came from afar off; the sun spun down in the subdued splendor of a hazy veil. It was a dustless, hence an anomalous, summer’s afternoon in San Francisco.

Ruth Levice sat near the window, lazily rocking, her long lithe arms clasped about her knees, her face a dream of the day. The seasons single out their favorite moods: a violet of spring-time woos one, a dusky June rose another; to-day the soft, languorous air had, unconsciously to her, charmed the girl’s waking dream.

So removed was she in spirit from her surroundings that she heard with an obvious start a knock at the door. The knock was immediately followed by a smiling, plump young woman, sparkling of eye, rosy of cheek, and glistening with jewels and silk.

“Here you are, Ruth,” she exclaimed, kissing her heartily; whereupon she sank into a chair, and threw back her bonnet-strings with an air of relief. “I came up here at once when the maid said your mother was out. Where is she?”

“Out calling. You look heated, Jennie; let me fan you.”

“Thanks. How refreshing! Sandal-wood, is it not? Where is your father?”

“He is writing in the library. Do you wish to see him?”

“Oh, no, no! I must see you alone. I am so glad Aunt Esther is out. Why aren’t you with her, Ruth? You should not let your mother go off alone.”

The young girl laughed in merry surprise.

“Why, Jennie, you forgot that Mamma has been used all her life to going out without me; it is only within the last few months that I have been her companion.”

“I know,” replied her visitor, leaning back with a grim expression of disapproval, “and I think it the queerest arrangement I ever heard of. The idea of a father having the sole care of a daughter up to her twenty-first birthday, and then delivering her, like a piece of joint property, over to her mother! Oh, I know that according to their lights it did not seem absurd, but the very idea of it is contrary to nature. Of course we all know that your father was peculiarly fitted to undertake your training, and in this way your mother could more easily indulge her love of society; but as it is, no wonder she is as jealous of your success in her realm as your father was in his; no wonder she overdoes things to make up for lost time. How do you like it, Ruth?”

“What?” softly inquired her cousin, slowly waving the dainty fan, while a smile lighted up the gravity of her face at this onslaught.

“Going out continually night after night.”

“Mamma likes it.”

“Cela va sans dire. But, Ruth—stop fanning a minute, please—I want to know, candidly and seriously, would you mind giving it up?”

“Candidly and seriously, I would do so to-day forever.”

“Ye-es; your father’s daughter,” said Mrs. Lewis, speaking more slowly, her bright eyes noting the perfect repose of the young girl’s person; “and yet you are having some quiet little conquests—the golden apples of your mother’s Utopia. But to come to the point, do you realize that your mother is very ill?”

“Ill—my mother?” The sudden look of consternation that scattered the soft tranquillity of her face must have fully repaid Mrs. Lewis if she was aiming at a sensation.

“There, sit down. Don’t be alarmed; you know she is out and apparently well.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean that Aunt Esther is nervous and hysterical. The other day at our house she had such an attack of hysteria that I was obliged to call in a neighboring doctor. She begged us not to mention it to either of you, and then insisted on attending a meeting of some sort. However, I thought it over and decided to let you know, as I consider it serious. I was afraid to alarm Uncle, so I thought of telling you.”

“Thank you, Jennie; I shall speak to Father about it.” The young girl’s tone was quite unagitated; but two pink spots on her usually colorless cheeks betrayed her emotion.

“That is right, dear. I hope you will forgive me if I seem meddlesome, but Jo and I have noticed it for some time; and your father, by allowing this continual gayety, seems to have overlooked what we find so sadly apparent. Of course you have an engagement for to-night?”

“Yes; we are going to a reception at the Merrills’.”

“Merrill? Christians?” was the sharp reply.

“The name speaks for itself.”

“What does possess your parents to mix so much with Christians?”

“Fellow-feeling, I suppose. We all dance and talk alike; and as we do not hold services at receptions, wherein lies the difference?”

“There is a difference; and the Christians know it as well as we Jewish people. Not only do they know it, but they show it in countless ways; and the difference, they think, is all to their credit. For my part, I always feel as if they looked down on us, and I should like to prove to them how we differ on that point. I have enough courage to let them know I consider myself as good as the best of them.”

“Is that why you wear diamonds and silk on the street, Jennie?” asked Ruth, her serious tones implying no impudence, but carrying a refined reproach.

“Hardly. I wear them because I have them and like them. I see no harm in wearing what is becoming.”

“But don’t you think they look aggressive on the street? They attract attention; and one hates to be conspicuous. I think they are only in place at a gathering of friends of one’s own social standing, where they do not proclaim one’s moneyed value.”

“Perhaps,” replied Mrs. Lewis, her rosy face a little rosier than before. “I suppose you mean to say it is vulgar; well, maybe so. But I scarcely think a little outward show of riches should make others feel they are better because they do not care to make a display. Besides, to be less personal, I don’t think any Christian would care to put himself out to meet a Jew of any description.”

“Don’t you think it would depend a great deal both on Jew and Christian? I always have been led to believe that every broad-minded man of whatever sect will recognize and honor the same quality in any other man. And why should I not move on an equality with my Christian friends? We have had the same schooling, speak the same language, read the same books, are surrounded by the same elements of home refinement. Probably if they had not been congenial, my father would long ago have ceased to associate with them. I think the secret of it all is in the fact that it never occurred to us that the most fastidious could think we were anything but the most fastidious; and so we always met any one we desired to meet on a level footing. I have a great many pleasant friends in the court of your Philistines.”

“Possibly. But not having been brought up by your father, I think differently, and perhaps am different. Their ways are not my ways; and what good can you expect from such association?”

“Why, pleasant companionship. What wouldst thou more?”

“I? Not even that. But tell me, can’t you dissuade Aunt Esther from going to-night? Tell your father, and let him judge if you had better not.”

“I really think Mamma would not care to go, for she said as much to Father; but, averse as he generally is to going out, he insists on our going to-night, and, what is more, intends to accompany us, although Louis is going also. But if you think Mamma is seriously run down, I shall tell him immediately, and—”

A blithe voice at the door interrupted her, calling:

“Open the door, Ruth; my hands are full.”

She rose hastily, and with a signal of silence to her loquacious cousin, opened the door for her mother.

“Ah, Jennie, how are your, dear? But let us inspect this box which Nora has just handed me, before we consider you;” and Mrs. Levice softly deposited a huge box upon Ruth’s lace-enveloped bed.

She was still bonneted and gloved, and with a slight flush in her clear olive cheek she looked like anything but a subject for fears. From the crown of her dainty bonnet to the point of her boot she was the picture of exquisite refinement; tall, beautifully formed, carrying her head like a queen, gowned in perfect, quiet elegance, she appeared more like Ruth’s older sister than her mother.

“Ruth’s gown for this evening,” she announced, deftly unfolding the wrappings.

“Yellow!” exclaimed Mrs. Lewis, in surprise.

“Corn-color,” corrected Mrs. Levice, playfully; “how do you think it will suit my girlie?” She continued, shaking out the clinging silken crepe.

“Charmingly; but I thought Ruth objected to anything but white.”

“So she does; she thinks white keeps her unnoticed among the rest. This time, however, my will overrode hers. Eh, Daughter?”

The girl made a low courtesy.

“I am only lady-in-waiting to your Majesty, O Queen,” she laughed. She had hardly glanced at the gown, being engaged in a silent scrutiny of her mother’s face.

“And how is my prime minister this afternoon?” Mrs. Levice was drawing off her gloves, and Ruth’s look of pained discovery passed unnoticed.

“I have not been down since luncheon,” she replied.

“What! Then go down at once and bring him up. I must see that he gets out of his studiousness and is clothed in festive mind for this evening. Come to my sitting-room, Jennie, and we can have a comfortable chat.”

Left to herself, Ruth hesitated before going to her father with her ill-boding tidings. None knew better than she of the great, silent love that bound her parents. As a quiet, observant child, she had often questioned wherein could be any sympathy between her father, almost old, studious, and reserved, and her beautiful, worldly young mother. But as she matured, she became conscious that because of this apparent disparity it would have been still stranger had Mrs. Levice not loved him with a feeling verging nearer humble adoration than any lower passion. It seemed almost a mockery for her to have to tell him he had been negligent—not only a mockery, but a cruelty. However, it had to be done, and she was the only one to do it. Having come to this conclusion, she ran quickly downstairs, and softly, without knocking, opened the library door.

She entered so quietly that Mr. Levice, reading by the window, did not glance from his book. She stood a moment regarding the small thoughtful-faced, white-haired man.

If one were to judge but by results, Jules Levice would be accounted a fortunate man. Nearing the allotted threescore and ten, blessed with a loving, beloved wife and this one idolized ewe-lamb, surrounded by luxury, in good health, honored, and honorable—trouble and travail seemed to have passed him by. But this scene of human happiness was the result of intelligent and unremitting effort. A high state of earthly beatitude has seldom been attained without great labor of mind or body by ourselves or those akin to us. Jules Levice had been thrown on the world when a boy of twelve. He resolved to become happy. Many of us do likewise; but we overlook the fact that we are provided with feet, not wings, and cannot fly to the goal. His dream of happiness was ambitious; it soared beyond contentment. Not being a lily of the field, he knew that he must toil; any honest work was acceptable to him. He was possessed of a fine mind; he cultivated it. He had a keen observation; he became a student of his fellow-men; and being strong and untiring, he became rich. This was but the nucleus of his ambitions, and it came to him late in life, but not too late for him to build round it his happy home, and to surround himself with the luxuries of leisure for attaining the pinnacle of wide information that he had always craved. His was merely the prosperity of an intellectual, self-made man whose time for rest had come.

Ruth seated herself on a low stool that she drew up before him, and laid her hand upon his.

“You, darling?” He spoke in a full, musical voice with a marked French accent.

“Can you spare me a few minutes, Father?”

“I am all ears;” he shut the book, and his hand closed about hers.

“Jennie was here just now.”

“And did not come in to see me?”

“She had something to tell me.”

“A secret?”

“Yes; something I must repeat to you.”

“Yes?”

“Father—Jennie thinks—she has reason to know that—dear, do you think Mother is perfectly well?”

“No, my child; I know she is not.”

This quiet assurance was staggering.

“And you allow her to go on in this way without calling in a physician?” A wave of indignant color suffused her cheeks.

“Yes.”

“But—but—why?” She became a little confused under his calm gaze, feeling on the instant that she had implied an accusation unjustly.

“Because, Ruth, I have become convinced of it only within the past week. Your mother knows it herself, and is trying to hide it from me.”

“Did she admit it?”

“I have not spoken of it to her; she is very excitable, and as she wishes to conceal it, I do not care to annoy her by telling her of my discovery.”

“But isn’t it wrong—unwise—to allow her to dissipate so much?”

“I have managed within the past week to keep you as quiet as possible.”

“But to-night—forgive me, Father—you insist on our going to this reception.”

“Yes, my sweet confessor; but I have a good reason—one not to be spoken of.”

“ ‘Those who trust us educate us,’ ” she pleaded in wistful earnestness.

“Then your education is complete. Well, I knew your mother would resist seeing any physician, for fear of his measures going contrary to her desires; so I have planned for her to meet to-night a certain doctor whom I would trust professionally with my wife’s life, and on whom I can rely for the necessary tact to hide the professional object of their meeting. What do you think of my way, dear?”

For answer she stooped and kissed his hand.

“May I know his name?” she asked after a pause.

“His name is Kemp—Dr. Herbert Kemp.”

“Why, he lives a few blocks from here; I have seen his sign. Is he an old physician?”

“I should judge him to be between thirty-five and forty. Not old certainly, but one with the highest reputation for skill. Personally he is a man of great dignity, inspiring confidence in every one.”

“Where did you meet him?”

“In the hospitals,” said her father quickly. “But I will introduce him to you to-night. Don’t lose your head when you talk to him.”

“Why should I?”

“Because he is a magnificent fellow; and I wish my daughter to hold her own before a man whom I admire so heartily.”

“Why, this is the first time you have ever given me worldly advice,” she laughed.

“Only a friendly hint,” he answered, rising and putting his book in its place with the precision of a spinster.