the next afternoon as the train approached plainton, mrs. cliff found herself a great deal agitated as she thought of the platform at the station. who would be there,—how should she be met? with all her heart she hoped that there would not be anything like a formal reception, and yet this was not improbable. everybody knew she was coming; everybody knew by what train she would arrive. she had written to willy croup, and she was very sure that everybody[pg 8] knew everything that she had written. more than this, everybody knew that she was coming home rich. how rich they were not aware, because she had not gone into particulars on this subject, but they knew that the wealthy mrs. cliff would arrive at 5.20 that afternoon, and what were they going to do about it?
when she had gone home before, all her friends and neighbors, and even distant acquaintances,—if such people were possible in such a little town,—had come to her house to bid her welcome, and many of them had met her at the station. but then they had come to meet a poor, shipwrecked widow, pitied by most of them and loved by many. even those who neither pitied nor loved her had a curiosity to see her, for she had been shipwrecked, and it was not known in plainton how people looked after they had been wrecked.
but now the case was so different that mrs. cliff did not expect the same sort of greeting, and she greatly feared formality. if mr. perley should appear on the platform, surrounded by some of the leading members of his congregation, and should publicly take her by the hand and bid her "welcome home!" and if those who felt themselves entitled to do so, should come forward and shake hands with her, while others, who might feel that they belonged to a different station in life, should keep in the background and wait until she came to speak to them, she would be deeply hurt.
after all, plainton and the people in it were dearer to her than anything else in the world, and it would be a great shock if she should meet formality where[pg 9] she looked for cordial love. she wanted to see mr. perley,—he was the first person she had seen when she came home before,—but now she hoped that he would not be there. she was very much afraid that he would make a stiff speech to her; and if he did that, she would know that there had been a great change, and that the friends she would meet were not the same friends she had left. she was almost afraid to look out of the window as the train slowed up at the station.
the minds of the people of plainton had been greatly exercised about this home-coming of mrs. cliff. that afternoon it was probable that no other subject of importance was thought about or talked about in the town, and for some days before the whole matter had been so thoroughly considered and discussed that the good citizens, without really coming to any fixed and general decision upon the subject, had individually made up their minds that, no matter what might happen afterward, they would make no mistake upon this very important occasion which might subsequently have an influence upon their intercourse with their old, respected neighbor, now millionnaire. each one for himself, or herself, decided—some of them singly and some of them in groups—that as they did not know what sort of a woman mrs. cliff had become since the change in her circumstances, they would not place themselves in false positions. other people might go and meet her at the station, but they would stay at home and see what happened. even mr. perley thought it wise, under the circumstances, to do this.[pg 10]
therefore it was, that when mrs. cliff stepped down upon the platform, she saw no one there but willy croup. if mrs. cliff was a little shocked and a good deal surprised to find no one to meet her but that simple-minded dependant and relative, her emotions were excited in a greater degree by the manner in which she was greeted by this old friend and companion.
instead of rushing toward her with open arms,—for willy was an impulsive person and given to such emotional demonstrations,—miss croup came forward, extending a loosely filled black cotton glove. her large, light-blue eyes showed a wondering interest, and mrs. cliff felt that every portion of her visible attire was being carefully scanned.
for a moment mrs. cliff hesitated, and then she took the hand of willy croup and shook it, but she did not speak. she had no command of words, at least for greeting.
willy earnestly inquired after her health, and said how glad she was to see her, but mrs. cliff did not listen. she looked about her. for an instant she thought that possibly the train had come in ahead of time, but this, of course, was absurd—trains never did that.
"willy," she said, her voice a little shaken, "has anything happened? is anybody sick?"
"oh no!" said willy; "everybody is well, so far as i know. i guess you are wondering why there is nobody here to meet you, and i have been wondering[pg 11] at that too. they must have thought that you did not want to be bothered when you were attending to your baggage and things. is anybody with you?"
"with me!" exclaimed mrs. cliff; "who could be with me?"
"oh, i didn't know," replied the other; "i thought perhaps you might have a maidservant, or some of those black people you wrote about."
mrs. cliff was on the point of telling willy she was a fool, but she refrained.
"here is the baggage-man," said willy, "and he wants your checks."
as mrs. cliff took the little pieces of brass from her purse and handed them to the man, willy looked on in amazement.
"good gracious!" she exclaimed. "seven! i guess you had to pay for extra baggage. shall i get you a carriage, and where do you want to be driven to—to your own house or the hotel?"
now mrs. cliff could not restrain herself. "what is the matter with you, willy? have you gone crazy?" she exclaimed. "of course i am going to my own house, and i do not want any carriage. did i ever need a carriage to take me such a short distance as that? tell the man to bring some one with him to carry the trunks upstairs, and then come on."
"let me carry your bag," said willy, as the two walked away from the station at a much greater pace, it may be remarked, than willy was accustomed to walk.[pg 12]
"no, you shall not carry my bag," said mrs. cliff, and not another word did she speak until she had entered the hallway of her home. then, closing the door behind her, and without looking around at any of the dear objects for a sight of which she had so long been yearning, she turned to her companion.
"willy," she cried, "what does this mean? why do you treat me in this way when i come home after having been away so long, and having suffered so much? why do you greet me as if you took me for a tax collector? why do you stand there like a—a horrible clam?"
willy hesitated. she looked up and she looked down.
"things are so altered," she said, "and i didn't know—"
"well, know now," said mrs. cliff, as she held out her arms. in a moment the two women were clasped in a tight embrace, kissing and sobbing.
"how should i know?" said poor willy, as she was wiping her eyes. "chills went down me as i stood on that platform, wondering what sort of a grand lady you would look like when you got out of the car, with two servant women, most likely, and perhaps a butler, and trying to think what i should say."
mrs. cliff laughed. "you were born addle-pated, and you can't help it. now, let us go through this house without wasting a minute!" willy gazed at her in amazement.
"you're just the same as you always was!" she cried[pg 13] "indeed i am!" said mrs. cliff. "did you clean this dining-room yourself, willy? it looks as spick and span as if i had just left it."
"indeed it does," was the proud reply, "and you couldn't find a speck of dust from the ceiling to the floor!"
when mrs. cliff had been upstairs and downstairs, and in the front yard, the side yard, and the back yard, and when her happy eyes had rested upon all her dear possessions, she went into the kitchen.
"now, willy," she said, "let us go to work and get supper, for i must say i am hungry."
at this willy croup turned pale, her chin dropped, a horrible suspicion took possession of her. could it be possible that it was all a mistake, or that something dreadful had happened; that the riches which everybody had been talking about had never existed, or had disappeared? she might want to go to her old home; she might want to see her goods and chattels, but that she should want to help get supper—that was incomprehensible! at that moment the world looked very black to willy. if mrs. cliff had gone into the parlor, and had sat down in the best rocking-chair to rest herself, and had said to her, "please get supper as soon as you can," willy would have believed in everything, but now—!
the grinding of heavy wheels was heard in front of the house, and willy turned quickly and looked out of the window. there was a wagon containing seven enormous trunks! since the days when plainton[pg 14] was a little hamlet, up to the present time, when it contained a hotel, a bank, a lyceum, and a weekly paper, no one had ever arrived within its limits with seven such trunks. instantly the blackness disappeared from before the mind of willy croup.
"now, you tell the men where to carry them," she cried, "and i will get the supper in no time! betty handshall stayed here until this morning, but she went away after dinner, for she was afraid if she stayed she would be in the way, not knowing how much help you would bring with you."
"i wonder if they are all crack-brained," thought mrs. cliff, as she went to the front door to attend to her baggage.
that evening nearly all plainton came to see mrs. cliff. no matter how she returned,—as a purse-proud bondholder, as a lady of elegant wealth with her attendants, as an old friend suddenly grown jolly and prosperous,—it would be all right for her neighbors to go in and see her in the evening. there they might suit themselves to her new deportment whatever it might be, and there would be no danger of any of them getting into false positions, which would have been very likely indeed if they had gone to meet her at the station.
her return to her own house gave her real friends a great deal of satisfaction, for some of them had feared she would not go there. it would have been difficult for them to know how to greet mrs. cliff at a hotel, even such an unpretentious one as that of plainton. all these friends found her the same warm-hearted, cordial[pg 15] woman that she had ever been. in fact, if there was any change at all in her, she was more cordial than they had yet known her. as in the case of willy croup, a cloud had risen before her. she had been beset by the sudden fear that her money already threatened to come between her and her old friends. "not if i can help it!" said mrs. cliff to herself, as fervently as if she had been vowing a vow to seek the holy grail; and she did help it. the good people forgot what they had expected to think about her, and only remembered what they had always thought of her. no matter what had happened, she was the same.
but what had happened, and how it had happened, and all about it, up and down, to the right and the left, above and below, everybody wanted to know, and mrs. cliff, with sparkling eyes, was only too glad to tell them. she had been obliged to be so reserved when she had come home before, that she was all the more eager to be communicative now; and it was past midnight before the first of that eager and delighted company thought of going home.
there was one question, however, which mrs. cliff successfully evaded, and that was—the amount of her wealth. she would not give even an approximate idea of the value of her share of the golden treasure. it was very soon plain to everybody that mrs. cliff was the same woman she used to be in regard to keeping to herself that which she did not wish to tell to others, and so everybody went away with imagination absolutely unfettered.
