that afternoon maxwell occupied himself in unpacking his trunks and arranging his room. as the finishing touch, he drew out of a leather case an exquisite miniature of a beautiful girl, which he placed on the mantelpiece, and at which he gazed for a long time with a wistful light in his fine gray eyes. then he threw himself on the lounge, and pulling a letter from his inner pocket, read:
"don't worry about expenses, dear. six hundred is quite enough for two; we shall be passing rich! you must remember that, although i am a 'college girl,' i am not a helpless, extravagant creature, and i know how to economize. i am sure we shall be able to make both ends meet. with a small house, rent free, a bit of ground for a vegetable garden, and plenty of fresh air, we can accomplish almost anything, and be supremely happy together. and then, when you win advancement, as of course you will very soon, we shall appreciate the comforts all the more from the fact that we were obliged to live the simple life for a while.
"you can't possibly imagine how i miss you, sweetheart. do write as soon as possible and tell me all about durford. if i could just have one glimpse of you in your new quarters--but that would only be a wretched aggravation; so i keep saying to myself 'some day, some day,' and try to be patient. god bless you and good-by."
* * * * *
donald folded the letter carefully, kissed it, and tucked it away in his pocket. clasping his hands behind his head, he gazed at the ceiling.
"i wonder if i'd better tell mrs. burke about betty. i don't care to pass myself off as a free man in a parish like this. and yet, after all, it's none of their business at present. i think i'd better wait and find out if there's any possibility of making her happy here."
there was a knock at the door.
"talk of angels," murmured maxwell, and hurriedly returned the miniature to its case before opening the door to mrs. burke, who came to offer assistance.
"don't bother to fuss for me," she said as he hastened to remove some books and clothes from a chair, so that she might sit down. "i only came up for a moment to see if there was anything i could do. think you can make yourself pretty comfortable here? i call this room 'the prophet's chamber,' you know, because it's where i always put the visitin' parsons."
"they're lucky," he replied. "this room is just delightful with that jolly old fireplace, its big dormer windows, and the view over the river and the hills beyond: i shall be very comfortable."
"well, i hope so. you know i don't think any livin'-room is complete without a fireplace. next to an old friend, a bright wood fire's the best thing i know to keep one from getting lonesome."
"yes--that and a good cigar."
"well, i haven't smoked in some time now," mrs. burke replied, smiling, "so i can't say. what a lot of things you've got!"
"yes, more than i thought i had."
"i do love to see a man tryin' to put things to rights. he never knows where anything belongs. what an awful lot of books you've got! i suppose you're just chuck full of learnin', clean up to your back teeth; but we won't any of us know the difference. most city parsons preach about things that are ten miles over the heads of us country people. you can't imagine how little thinkin' most of us do up here. we're more troubled with potato bugs than we are with doubts; and you'll have to learn a lot about us before you really get down to business, i guess."
"yes, i expect to learn more from you than you will from me. that's one of the reasons why i wanted to come so far out in the country."
"hm! i hope you won't be disappointed."
mrs. burke adjusted her glasses and gazed interestedly about the room at some pictures and decorations which maxwell had placed in position, and inquired:
"who is the plaster lady and gentleman standin' on the mantelpiece?"
"the venus de milo, and the hermes of praxiteles."
"well, you know, i just can't help preferrin' ladies and gentlemen with arms and legs, myself. i suppose it's real cultivated to learn to like parts of people done in marble. maybe when i go down to the city next fall to buy my trousseau, i'll buy a few plasters myself, to make the house look more cheerful-like."
maxwell caught at the word "trousseau," and as mrs. burke had spoken quite seriously he asked:
"are you going to be married, mrs. burke?"
"no such thing! but when a handsome young widow like me lives alone, frisky and sixty-ish, with six lonesome, awkward widowers in the same school district, you can never tell what might happen any minute; 'in time of peace prepare for war,' as the paper says."
maxwell laughed reassuringly.
"i don't see why you laugh," mrs. burke responded, chuckling to herself. "'taint polite to look surprised when a woman says she's a-goin' to get married. every woman under ninety-eight has expectations. while there's life there's hope that some man will make a fool of himself. but unless i miss my guess, you don't catch me surrenderin' my independence. as long as i have enough to eat and am well, i'm contented."
"you certainly look the picture of health, mrs. burke."
"oh, yes! as well as could be expected, when i'm just recoverin' from a visit from mary sam."
"what sort of a visitor is that?" asked maxwell, laughing.
"mary sam is my sister-in-law. she spends a month with me every year on her own invitation. she is what you'd call a hardy annual. she is the most stingy and narrow-minded woman i ever saw. the bark on the trees hangs in double box-plaits as compared with mary sam. but i got the best of her last year. while i was cleanin' the attic i came across the red pasteboard sign with 'scarlet fever' painted on it, that the board of health put on the house when nickey had the fever three years ago. the very next day i was watchin' the 'bus comin' up main street, when i saw mary sam's solferino bonnet bobbin' up and down inside. before she got to the house, i sneaked out and pinned up the sign, right by the front door. she got onto the piazza, bag, baggage, and brown paper bundles, before she caught sight of it. then i wish you could have seen her face: i wouldn't have believed so much could be done with so few features."
"she didn't linger long?" laughed the parson, who continued arranging his books while his visitor chatted.
"linger? well, not exactly. she turned tail and run lickety-spindle back for the 'bus as if she had caught sight of a subscription paper for foreign missions. i heard jim anderson, who drives the 'bus, snicker as he helped her in again; but he didn't give me away. jim and i are good friends. but when she got home she wrote to sally ramsdale to ask how nickey was; and sally, not bein' on to the game, wrote back that there was nothin' the matter with nickey that she knew of. then mary sam wrote me the impudentest letter i ever got; and she came right back, and stayed two months instead of one, just to be mean. but that sign's done good service since. i've scared off agents and tramps by the score. i always hang it in the parlor window when i'm away from home."
"but suppose your house caught fire while you were away?"
"well, i've thought of that; but there's worse things than fire if your insurance is all right."
mrs. burke relapsed into silence for a while, until maxwell opened a box of embroidered stoles, which he spread out on the bed for her inspection.
"my! but aren't those beautiful! i never saw the like before. where did you get 'em?"
"they were made by the 'sisters of st. paul' in boston."
hepsey gazed at the stoles a long time in silence, handling them daintily; then she remarked:
"i used to embroider some myself. would you like to see some of it?"
"certainly, i should be delighted to see it," donald responded; and mrs. burke went in search of her work.
presently she returned and showed maxwell a sample of her skill--doubtless intended for a cushion-cover. to be sure it was a bit angular and impressionistic. like browning's poems and turner's pictures, it left interesting room for speculation. to begin with, there was a dear little pink dog in the foreground, having convulsions on purple grass. in the middle-distance was a lay-figure in orange, picking scarlet apples from what appeared to be a revolving clothes-horse blossoming profusely at the ends of each beam. a little blue brook gurgled merrily up the hill, and disappeared down the other side only to reappear again as a blue streak in an otherwise crushed-strawberry sky. a pumpkin sun was disappearing behind emerald hills, shooting up equidistant yellow rays, like the spokes of a cart-wheel. underneath this striking composition was embroidered the dubious sentiment "there is no place like home."
maxwell examined carefully the square of cross-stitch wool embroidery, biting his lip; while hepsey watched him narrowly, chuckling quietly to herself. then she laughed heartily, and asked:
"confess now; don't you think it's beautiful?"
donald smiled broadly as he replied:
"it's really quite wonderful. did you do it yourself?"
"to be sure i did, when i was a little girl and we used to work in wool from samplers, and learn to do alphabets. i'm glad you appreciate it. if you would like to have me embroider anything for the church, don't hesitate to ask me." she busied herself examining the stoles again, and asked:
"how much did these things cost, if you don't mind my askin'?"
"i don't know. they were given to me by a friend of mine, when i graduated from the seminary."
"hm! a friend of yours, eh? she must think an awful lot of you."
hepsey gave donald a sharp glance.
"i didn't say it was a lady."
"no, but your eyes and cheeks did. well, it's none of my business, and there's no reason that i know of why the devil should have all the bright colors, and embroideries, and things. are you high church?"
maxwell hesitated a moment and replied:
"what do you mean by 'high church?'"
"the last rector we had was awful high." hepsey smiled with reminiscent amusement.
"how so?"
"we suspected he didn't wear no pants durin' service."
"how very extraordinary! is that a symptom of ritualism?"
"well, you see he wore a cassock under his surplice, and none of our parsons had ever done that before. the senior warden got real stirred up about it, and told mr. whittimore that our rectors always wore pants durin' service. mr. whittimore pulled up his cassock and showed the warden that he had his pants on. the warden told him it was an awful relief to his mind, as he considered goin' without pants durin' service the enterin' wedge for popish tricks; and if things went on like that, nobody knew where we would land. then some of the women got talkin', and said that the rector practiced celibacy, and that some one should warn him that the parish wouldn't stand for any more innovations, and he'd better look out. so one day, virginia bascom, the senior warden's daughter, told him what was being said about him. the parson just laughed at ginty, and said that celibacy was his misfortune, not his fault; and that he hoped to overcome it in time. that puzzled her some, and she came to me and asked what celibacy was. when i told her it was staying unmarried, like st. paul--my, but wasn't she mad, though! you ought to have seen her face. she was so mortified that she wouldn't speak to me for a week. well, i guess i've gossiped enough for now. i must go and make my biscuits for supper. if i can help you any, just call out."
