Читать книгу Her Lord and Master - Martha Morton - Страница 8

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"Anything, if it's for your good," said Mrs. Stillwater, when the subject of the sailing trip was broached. "Father, this is the finest mignonette I've ever seen."

"Well, I suppose I'll be sick," added Mrs. Bunker dolefully, as she helped her daughter arrange the flowers, "but I'll get used to the motion. As long as we get somewhere sometime, and see something that's worth seeing. Isn't that vase a picture?"

"Well, you must leave that to me, Grandma Chazy. What's the matter with Japan?"

There was a chorus of delight. Indiana jumped wildly up and down the room.

"I'll run in and see the old man to-morrow morning. He'll be glad to hear I'm going to act on his advice. I told him I couldn't pledge myself to do anything until I had first consulted the ladies."

"Well, I guess," said Indiana.

"Let's have lunch; then I must get right down town. You won't see me till dinner."

Their faces fell.

"What are we going to do with ourselves?" said Indiana.

"Go shopping."

This seemed to be a happy idea, and Stillwater congratulating himself that he had suggested an entertainment which appealed to them, kissed his wife, remarking, "Now, don't you go and tire yourself, mother. You can't travel with these other young things."

When Stillwater, the following morning, confided to the noted medical authority that he intended to take his whole family on a sailing voyage to Japan, adding the clause, "We're going to have a real good time," he sank back in his chair, and regarded Stillwater with an expression of patient endurance.

"I thought I had impressed on you, Mr. Stillwater, the necessity of absolute rest and quiet. Rest and quiet; do you understand me?"

"Perfectly! Perfectly! That's what I'm laying my plans for. Three months on a sailing vessel—"

"With your entire family, which includes—?"

"My wife, my daughter, and my mother-in-law."

"A wife, a daughter, and a mother-in-law. None of them deaf or dumb, I presume?"

"Ha, ha, ha! Now you needn't be afraid I shan't have cheerful company. They'll make things hum, I tell you!"

"I don't doubt it for a minute. Mr. Stillwater, I strongly advise this trip without your family. With your family I am as strongly against it. To be confined for three months on a sailing vessel with a wife, a daughter, and a mother-in-law, would be enough to derange any man's nerves, allowing he is perfectly normal when he starts. Now, the consequences in your condition—"

"Now, doctor, you're not sure of your ground. You don't know my family. They're devoted to me."

"Of course," said the Noted Authority, smiling blandly. "That is the trouble."

"Say now. They're not going to do me any harm."

"Intentionally, I hope not."

"Of course they have their little squabbles, but I can manage them all right."

"We might effect a compromise. How old is your daughter?"

"Eighteen. A perfect child. We can do whatever we like with her." Stillwater smiled involuntarily as he uttered this unblushing falsehood, thinking "I mean she can do whatever she likes with us. My words got twisted, that's all."

"Well, suppose we leave your mother-in-law behind, and take your wife and daughter. The latter, I gather, is tractable and easily managed."

"Leave my mother-in-law behind! Oh, I couldn't do that. She's making a great sacrifice for my sake. She's awful seasick but I promised her a good time, once we get to Japan, and I mean to keep my word."

The Noted Authority sighed. "You're quite decided on that point?"

"Quite. Couldn't leave her behind. Wouldn't hurt her feelings for the world."

"There is no more to be said, Mr. Stillwater."

"The sailing trip's off, then?"

"Except you resolve to go alone. In case of nervous derangement I always advise separation. No family."

"Of course, I couldn't presume to argue with you, Doctor. But I'll talk it over with the ladies. They'll never allow me to go alone, though, I'm quite sure of it."

"Is there any necessity to precipitate matters so far?" said the Noted Authority. "Would it not be easier to announce at once quietly and firmly your intention to go, avoiding all preliminary discussion?"

"Oh, you don't know my family; they would not allow that sort of thing. Doctor, are you married?"

"I have been a widower for some years."

"That explains—you've forgotten how it is. You see, my family are a very touchy lot—but I know just how to handle them. We get along swimmingly."

"As these domestic conditions seem inevitable, further discussions seem useless. Talk it over with the ladies. Perhaps with the assistance of your wife, your daughter and your mother-in-law you may arrive at some decision which will be agreeable to all concerned."

"Certainly! Certainly! I'll do as you say—we'll talk it over and we'll hit on something between the lot of us. See you again, Doctor. Good-by."

"He's pretty far gone already, I fear," thought the Noted Authority after Stillwater had departed. "Absolutely afraid to act on his own responsibility."

"What do you think?" cried Stillwater, bursting in on his family about dinner hour. "He won't allow you to go with me on that sailing trip. He says I must go alone."

"Well, pa, you go right back and tell him that we wouldn't think of allowing you to do anything of the kind."

"His office hours are over now, Indiana," said Stillwater, smiling placidly. "Will to-morrow morning do?"

"Oh, father, it would just break my heart to see you going off alone and sick, too."

"Not to be thought of for a minute," said Mrs. Bunker.

"I told him you wouldn't hear of it." Stillwater leaned back in his chair, watching with evident enjoyment the effect of his words. "He said that to confine a perfectly normal person on a sailing vessel for three months with his wife, his daughter, and his mother-in-law, would make him a nervous wreck for life."

"Did he say that, pa?"

"Practically, Indiana."

"Brute," said Mrs. Bunker. "If he once had the privilege of making my acquaintance he might change his views on the matter."

"He might fall all over himself to become one of the sailing party himself then," remarked Stillwater chuckling. "Well, he said I should talk it over with the ladies."

"It's a wonder he gave us that much consideration," said Indiana loftily.

"I reckon he thought he was humoring me. I guess he thinks I'm a gone case." Stillwater slapped his knee. "Well, I've been doing some tall thinking on my own account and it's come to this." He rose and looked at his wife. "In the old days when I was coaxing the ground, I never had these feelings, mother."

"Oh, no!"

"I'm going back to nature. I'm going to buy a farm. I know just where to lay my hands on one in Indiana. Spring is coming. I'm going to live on it and work on it, till I'm a new man again."

"I second that motion," said Mrs. Bunker, bringing her hand down on the table.

"And I," cried Indiana. "We'll all go farming."

"Well, mother, you're not saying a word."

She smiled up at him. Her eyes were full of tears.

"It—it will be like the old days," she said.

"Here are the hats!" cried Indiana, as Kitty, the maid, entered staggering under the weight of a number of boxes. They all became immediately interested in the absorbing question of spring headgear.

"How do you like this?" inquired Mrs. Bunker, perching a black net concoction on her carefully dressed head.

"Very becoming!" answered Indiana, after a critical inspection.

"Suits you fine, grandma!" said Stillwater.

"Shows what you all know!" remarked Mrs. Bunker, looking in the glass. "It's entirely too old for me." She placed it on her daughter's smooth brown coils.

"Ah!" cried Stillwater admiringly. His wife, sitting under inspection, looked inquiringly at Indiana. A mirror held no significance for Mrs. Stillwater. She was always supremely satisfied with whatever her family approved of, for her, in the way of personal adornment.

"I'll take that hat for ma," said Indiana. "It's all right."

"Yes, Mary can afford to wear it," said Mrs. Bunker. "I'm not young enough for a hat like that."

"Ladies," exclaimed Mr. Stillwater, looking at his watch. "This is a pretty interesting show, but excuse me for the liberty of reminding you that there's another, starting at a quarter past eight, at which we've made a solemn resolution to be present."

"Hear! Hear!" cried Indiana.

"It is now seven o'clock. Of course you don't take as long to dress as I do." He made quickly for the door.

"Not a bit longer than other women," cried Indiana.

"Well, we'll leave that question open," said Mr. Stillwater, disappearing.

That evening, as they were stepping from the elevator in their wraps, ready for the theatre, Mrs. Bunker uttered an exclamation of intense surprise.

"Lord Canning!"

"Mrs. Bunker; I am delighted!"

"And Lord Stafford, too!" She shook hands with an elderly gentleman, slightly foppish in appearance. "Well, of all people in the world, to meet you here to-night. I'm just ready to faint."

"Don't! Don't! Mrs. Bunker," said Lord Stafford, with a laugh of intense enjoyment.

"Lord Stafford; Lord Canning; my son-in-law, Mr. Stillwater; my daughter, Mrs. Stillwater, and my grand-daughter, Miss Stillwater."

"Indiana," thought Lord Canning, as he bowed ceremoniously.

"These gentlemen were my constant companions at Cannes last year," said Mrs. Bunker. "We and the Jennings' were together most of the time."

"I'm glad to know you, gentlemen! My mother-in-law's often talked about your kind attention to her abroad."

"Kind attention is no name for it," said Mrs. Bunker. "They gave me the best time I ever had. And now that I've caught them on American ground, I intend to repay it with interest."

"I assure you, Mrs. Bunker, you need feel no sense of obligation," said Lord Canning. "Your companionship was a source of unfailing pleasure."

"What do you think of this big town, Lord Canning?" said Mr. Stillwater, indicating his surroundings by a comprehensive wave of the hand.

"Extraordinary!" answered Lord Canning.

"How long are you going to be here?" inquired Mrs. Bunker of Lord Stafford, while her son-in-law was probing Lord Canning's recently acquired views of America.

"Oh, we're only birds of passage, Mrs. Bunker."

"So are we; but isn't it delightful to meet on the wing?"

"On the wing; ha, ha! Delightful, Mrs. Bunker! Delightful!"

"We start to-morrow for California," said Lord Canning.

"And the day after we return to Indiana," added Mrs. Bunker.

"In the summer we intend to investigate Colorado."

"I have a ranch up in the Rockies," said Stillwater. "Why, this little girl," he brought his hand down on Indiana's shoulders, "learned to shoot up there."

"Indeed!" said Lord Canning.

"Well, you just ought to have seen her once cornering a grizzly. She shot him, too—sure as I stand here."

"Extraordinary!" exclaimed Lord Canning.

"Oh, that's a small matter," remarked Indiana modestly.

"Indeed!" said Lord Canning.

"We shoot bears every day in America," she added airily.

At these words Lord Canning looked about him as though he fully expected one to appear that moment, for the purpose of allowing him to see Miss Stillwater dispatch it with all possible speed, and just as she stood there in her long white opera cloak, holding a bunch of hyacinths.

"Not here!" exclaimed Indiana.

"No?" answered Lord Canning, looking absently at her blonde pompadour, every hair of which seemed to quiver with a distinct life and individuality of its own.

Indiana gave vent to a long peal of merriment.

"No—of course not!" Lord Canning hastened to add. "Not here."

"We used to spend most part of our summers in the Rockies," said Stillwater, "but the last two or three years the ladies have preferred the Adirondacks."

"We thought of giving ourselves a month there in the autumn, before we return to England," said Lord Canning.

"Now's my chance," exclaimed Mrs. Bunker; "you must stay with us, and we'll give you fine hunting."

"Plenty of deer in the North Woods," added Stillwater. "You'll be heartily welcome if you care to rough it with us. Camp life, you know."

"I should be only too delighted," said Lord Canning. "What do you say, Uncle?"

"Charmed!"

"I'm sure we'll make you feel at home," said Mrs. Stillwater.

At these words, uttered with such heartfelt sincerity, the two Englishmen felt at home that very moment. There was a soft domesticity about Mrs. Stillwater, which made itself perceptible even in the brilliant crowded corridor of the Waldorf.

"Now, Lord Stafford," said Mrs. Bunker, "take out your note book; and I'll give you all necessary instructions to reach us."

"I generally manage to get up there in September," said Mr. Stillwater. "But, if anything detains me for a short while—you'll be in good hands."

"Yes, we'll take care of you," said Indiana.

Lord Canning smiled. Indiana immediately decided that his face, though stern in repose, was not unattractive.

"Well, good-bye till the fall," said Mrs. Bunker. "Lord Stafford, do you remember that odd trick you had abroad, of turning up unexpectedly, wherever I happened to be?" She tapped him playfully with a carnation from her bouquet.

"Ha, ha, ha! You see, I haven't lost that trick yet, Mrs. Bunker!" He took the carnation and fastened it in his buttonhole.

"Good-bye, Lord Canning," said Indiana. "Don't forget to look us up, when you come to the woods. I'll show you the sights."

Lord Canning bowed, blushing with embarrassment. No young lady, of the tender age of Indiana, had ever before spoken to him with such freedom, or looked at him with such unconscious, unabashed eyes.

"Lively woman, Mrs. Bunker," remarked Lord Stafford, looking after the party, and inhaling the fragrance of the carnation.

He met with no response.

"Lively woman, eh?" he repeated in a louder tone.

"Yes," answered Lord Canning absently, "very, very young; little more than a child, in spite of her self-assurance—and there's something about her—something—quite—er—different!"