Further Chronicles of Avonlea - Lucy Maud Montgomery (best reads .TXT) š
- Author: Lucy Maud Montgomery
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Frankās presence of mind had returned to him. He knew all about Rachel and her father. She had told him everything.
āIāll go after her,ā he said gently. āGet me my hat and coat. Iāll slip down the back stairs and over to the Cove.ā
āYou must get out of the pantry window, then,ā said Mrs. Spencer firmly, mingling comedy and tragedy after her characteristic fashion. āThe kitchen is full of women. I wonāt have this known and talked about if it can possibly be helped.ā
The bridegroom, wise beyond his years in the knowledge that it was well to yield to women in little things, crawled obediently out of the pantry window and darted through the birch wood. Mrs. Spencer had stood quakingly on guard until he had disappeared.
So Rachel had gone to her father! Like had broken the fetters of years and fled to like.
āIt isnāt much use fighting against nature, I guess,ā she thought grimly. āIām beat. He must have thought something of her, after all, when he sent her that teapot and letter. And what does he mean about the āday they had such a good timeā? Well, it just means that sheās been to see him before, sometime, I suppose, and kept me in ignorance of it all.ā
Mrs. Spencer shut down the pantry window with a vicious thud.
āIf only sheāll come quietly back with Frank in time to prevent gossip Iāll forgive her,ā she said, as she turned to the kitchen.
Rachel was sitting on her fatherās knee, with both her white arms around his neck, when Frank came in. She sprang up, her face flushed and appealing, her eyes bright and dewy with tears. Frank thought he had never seen her look so lovely.
āOh, Frank, is it very late? Oh, are you angry?ā she exclaimed timidly.
āNo, no, dear. Of course Iām not angry. But donāt you think youād better come back now? Itās nearly eight and everybody is waiting.ā
āIāve been trying to coax father to come up and see me married,ā said Rachel. āHelp me, Frank.ā
āYouād better come, sir,ā said Frank, heartily, āIād like it as much as Rachel would.ā
David Spencer shook his head stubbornly.
āNo, I canāt go to that house. I was locked out of it. Never mind me. Iāve had my happiness in this half hour with my little girl. Iād like to see her married, but it isnāt to be.ā
āYes, it is to beāit shall be,ā said Rachel resolutely. āYou SHALL see me married. Frank, Iām going to be married here in my fatherās house! That is the right place for a girl to be married. Go back and tell the guests so, and bring them all down.ā
Frank looked rather dismayed. David Spencer said deprecatingly: āLittle girl, donāt you think it would beāā
āIām going to have my own way in this,ā said Rachel, with a sort of tender finality. āGo, Frank. Iāll obey you all my life after, but you must do this for me. Try to understand,ā she added beseechingly.
āOh, I understand,ā Frank reassured her. āBesides, I think you are right. But I was thinking of your mother. She wonāt come.ā
āThen you tell her that if she doesnāt come I shanāt be married at all,ā said Rachel. She was betraying unsuspected ability to manage people. She knew that ultimatum would urge Frank to his best endeavors.
Frank, much to Mrs. Spencerās dismay, marched boldly in at the front door upon his return. She pounced on him and whisked him out of sight into the supper room.
āWhereās Rachel? What made you come that way? Everybody saw you!ā
āIt makes no difference. They will all have to know, anyway. Rachel says she is going to be married from her fatherās house, or not at all. Iāve come back to tell you so.ā
Isabellaās face turned crimson.
āRachel has gone crazy. I wash my hands of this affair. Do as you please. Take the guestsāthe supper, too, if you can carry it.ā
āWeāll all come back here for supper,ā said Frank, ignoring the sarcasm. āCome, Mrs. Spencer, letās make the best of it.ā
āDo you suppose that I am going to David Spencerās house?ā said Isabella Spencer violently.
āOh you MUST come, Mrs. Spencer,ā cried poor Frank desperately. He began to fear that he would lose his bride past all finding in this maze of triple stubbornness. āRachel says she wonāt be married at all if you donāt go, too. Think what a talk it will make. You know she will keep her word.ā
Isabella Spencer knew it. Amid all the conflict of anger and revolt in her soul was a strong desire not to make a worse scandal than must of necessity be made. The desire subdued and tamed her, as nothing else could have done.
āI will go, since I have to,ā she said icily. āWhat canāt be cured must be endured. Go and tell them.ā
Five minutes later the sixty wedding guests were all walking over the fields to the Cove, with the minister and the bridegroom in the front of the procession. They were too amazed even to talk about the strange happening. Isabella Spencer walked behind, fiercely alone.
They all crowded into the little room of the house at the Cove, and a solemn hush fell over it, broken only by the purr of the sea-wind around it and the croon of the waves on the shore. David Spencer gave his daughter away; but, when the ceremony was concluded, Isabella was the first to take the girl in her arms. She clasped her and kissed her, with tears streaming down her pale face, all her nature melted in a motherās tenderness.
āRachel! Rachel! My child, I hope and pray that you may be happy,ā she said brokenly.
In the surge of the suddenly merry crowd of well-wishers around the bride and groom, Isabella was pushed back into a shadowy corner behind a heap of sails and ropes. Looking up, she found herself crushed against David Spencer. For the first time in twenty years the eyes of husband and wife met. A strange thrill shot to Isabellaās heart; she felt herself trembling.
āIsabella.ā It was Davidās voice in her earāa voice full of tenderness and pleadingāthe voice of the young wooer of her girlhoodāāIs it too late to ask you to forgive me? Iāve been a stubborn foolābut there hasnāt been an hour in all these years that I havenāt thought about you and our baby and longed for you.ā
Isabella Spencer had hated this man; yet her hate had been but a parasite growth on a nobler stem, with no abiding roots of its own. It withered under his words, and lo, there was the old love, fair and strong and beautiful as ever.
āOhāDavidāIāwasāallātoāblame,ā she murmured brokenly.
Further words were lost on her husbandās lips.
When the hubbub of handshaking and congratulating had subsided, Isabella Spencer stepped out before the company. She looked almost girlish and bridal herself, with her flushed cheeks and bright eyes.
āLetās go back now and have supper, and be sensible,ā she said crisply. āRachel, your father is coming, too. He is coming to STAY,āāwith a defiant glance around the circle. āCome, everybody.ā
They went back with laughter and raillery over the quiet autumn fields, faintly silvered now by the moon that was rising over the hills. The young bride and groom lagged behind; they were very happy, but they were not so happy, after all, as the old bride and groom who walked swiftly in front. Isabellaās hand was in her husbandās and sometimes she could not see the moonlit hills for a mist of glorified tears.
āDavid,ā she whispered, as he helped her over the fence, āhow can you ever forgive me?ā
āThereās nothing to forgive,ā he said. āWeāre only just married. Who ever heard of a bridegroom talking of forgiveness? Everything is beginning over new for us, my girl.ā
IV. JANEāS BABY
Miss Rosetta Ellis, with her front hair in curl-papers, and her back hair bound with a checked apron, was out in her breezy side yard under the firs, shaking her parlor rugs, when Mr. Nathan Patterson drove in. Miss Rosetta had seen him coming down the long red hill, but she had not supposed he would be calling at that time of the morning. So she had not run. Miss Rosetta always ran if anybody called and her front hair was in curl-papers; and, though the errand of the said caller might be life or death, he or she had to wait until Miss Rosetta had taken her hair out. Everybody in Avonlea knew this, because everybody in Avonlea knew everything about everybody else.
But Mr. Patterson had wheeled into the lane so quickly and unexpectedly that Miss Rosetta had had no time to run; so, twitching off the checked apron, she stood her ground as calmly as might be under the disagreeable consciousness of curl-papers.
āGood morning, Miss Ellis,ā said Mr. Patterson, so somberly that Miss Rosetta instantly felt that he was the bearer of bad news. Usually Mr. Pattersonās face was as broad and beaming as a harvest moon. Now his expression was very melancholy and his voice positively sepulchral.
āGood morning,ā returned Miss Rosetta, crisply and cheerfully. She, at any rate, would not go into eclipse until she knew the reason therefor. āIt is a fine day.ā
āA very fine day,ā assented Mr. Patterson, solemnly. āI have just come from the Wheeler place, Miss Ellis, and I regret to sayāā
āCharlotte is sick!ā cried Miss Rosetta, rapidly. āCharlotte has got another spell with her heart! I knew it! Iāve been expecting to hear it! Any woman that drives about the country as much as she does is liable to heart disease at any moment. I never go outside of my gate but I meet her gadding off somewhere. Goodness knows who looks after her place. I shouldnāt like to trust as much to a hired man as she does. Well, it is very kind of you, Mr. Patterson, to put yourself out to the extent of calling to tell me that Charlotte is sick, but I donāt really see why you should take so much troubleāI really donāt. It doesnāt matter to me whether Charlotte is sick or whether she isnāt. YOU know that perfectly well, Mr. Patterson, if anybody does. When Charlotte went and got married, on the sly, to that good-for-nothing Jacob Wheelerāā
āMrs. Wheeler is quite well,ā interrupted Mr. Patterson desperately. āQuite well. Nothing at all the matter with her, in fact. I onlyāā
āThen what do you mean by coming here and telling me she wasnāt, and frightening me half to death?ā demanded Miss Rosetta, indignantly. āMy own heart isnāt very strongāit runs in our familyāand my doctor warned me to avoid all shocks and excitement. I donāt want to be excited, Mr. Patterson. I wonāt be excited, not even if Charlotte has another spell. Itās perfectly useless for you to try to excite me, Mr. Patterson.ā
āBless the woman, Iām not trying to excite anybody!ā declared Mr. Patterson in exasperation. āI merely called to tell youāā
āTo tell me WHAT?ā said Miss Rosetta. āHow much longer do you mean to keep me in suspense, Mr. Patterson. No doubt you have abundance of spare time, butāIāhave NOT.ā
āāthat your sister, Mrs. Wheeler, has had a letter from a cousin of yours, and sheās in Charlottetown. Mrs. Roberts, I think her name isāā
āJane Roberts,ā broke in Miss Rosetta. āJane
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