Partners (21 page)

It hadn't been much work to prepare that meal, to warm the chickens and cook the peas and potatoes and slice the tomatoes. The coleslaw had traveled in a glass jar from New England, and the old sprigged china had belonged to Aunt Ettie's mother. It seemed a charmed meal; the apple pie and cheese made just the right ending.

"Like old times, Aunt Ettie," said Reuben with a tender light in his eyes.

After the meal was ended, Reuben and Noel went out and helped wash the dishes and put them away in the little new corner cupboards, and they let Gillian wipe the silver, which they brought her on a tray with a clean towel. Then Noel put it away in the small sideboard drawer. Oh, it was just like a real little family, as Noel announced joyously. And then after supper, Reuben brought out his games and they played Chinese checkers for a game or two, till Reuben thought it was time for the invalid to get to bed. So he suddenly gathered her up in his arms as if she had been delicate glass and might break. Gillian gasped, and laughed, and then lay still in wonder to think she was being taken care of this way. And for a long time after they had said good night and she had crept into her sweet, comfortable bed, she lay thinking it all over and lecturing herself to the end that she was not to allow herself to presume upon all of this, not even in her thoughts. For Mr. Remington was a very important man in the firm, and going to be still more important. Moreover, Miss Glinden herself was interested in him, and probably he in her, and she must not get notions in her head or get to thinking too much of him, for he was a very attractive man and she was a little nobody to whom he was merely being kind. But try as she would she couldn't get away from the memory of how gently he had carried her, as if she was really something precious, perhaps as her mother must have carried her when she was little. How grand it was that Noel had such a friend! For, leaving herself entirely out of the matter, he was the kind of man who would likely always be a kindly friend to Noel.

So when morning came, there was johnnycake and new-laid eggs, poached like little golden disks, and strawberries, also from the home garden. Oh, Aunt Ettie had done a great deal in those few days before she left her New England home, and she was just reveling in taking care of this new delightful family.

So by morning Reuben hadn't any idea left of going away that day. He was much more interested in staying. He proposed that they take a ride and get lunch on the beach somewhere, or take it with them.

So Aunt Ettie packed chicken sandwiches and pie and gingerbread and pickles and cheese, and went along, and such a day they had! Noel and Reuben put on their bathing suits and took a good dip in the ocean, and Gillian and Aunt Ettie sat on the shore in sand chairs that had been scooped out for them, and watched. And when the two bathers came out, refreshed and happy-looking, Gillian was like a new creature, with all the worry and wrinkles blown away and the look of a sweet, happy child on her face.

When they were ready to start back, Reuben stooped and picked her up again and carried her across the sand to the car, Aunt Ettie watching with entire satisfaction. This girl was different, just as her boy had claimed. Well, that was nice. Only why was he going away so soon? With a nice girl like that, why wasn't he staying and having a good time? Could it be that there was another girl somewhere that he had to go and see?

So Aunt Ettie began to worry about that.

"Your vacation isn't over yet, is it, Reuben?" she asked at supper that night after she had dealt out the excellent fried fish that lay in a fragrant brown heap on the big platter.

"Oh, no, Aunt Ettie," said Reuben. "It's only just begun."

"Then what do you have to go away for? I don't see why this place isn't as good as you can find for a vacation."

"Yes, I guess it is," said Reuben, "but, you see, I got into some things before I found this place, and I have to fulfill them. I promised several people, and they wouldn't understand why I couldn't come."

"I should think it was your vacation," said Aunt Ettie discontentedly. "I should think you had a right to spend it as you please."

"Yes, you would think that, wouldn't you? But there are reasons, and one can't exactly be rude about such things, you know. Besides, one is a wedding of one of my old college friends, and I've promised to be the best man."

"Oh, well, a wedding, of course, but that only takes a few minutes, or at least it couldn't take but one day."

"Well, you may be sure I'll get back as soon as I decently can, from that and all the other things. You know, I like it down here, and you all seem to be fairly good playmates. I think I could have a rare good time. However, I guess I've got to do the proper thing, especially as some of it involves the people for whom I work."

Gillian looked up thoughtfully and remembered a golden-haired girl who had passed through the office, toward her father's inner sanctum, and returned a little later in company with young Mr. Remington. She had caught a sentence as they passed the desk where she sat.

"I certainly shall be terribly disappointed if you're not there on time!"
And her little trilling ripple of a laugh followed, wafting back through the swinging door into the hallway.

"Well," said Reuben, smiling indulgently, "I think I'll take another day at least. I shall not go until day after tomorrow."

"Oh, goody, goody, goody!" shouted Noel, putting down his fork and clapping his hands exultantly.

And all this tended to make Reuben feel that he really belonged in this little cottage and was happier than he had been since his mother died.

The next day they concentrated on the house, getting it in full running order, unpacking the rest of Aunt Ettie's goods and marveling on how much she had been able to cram into that one vanload. Also, how many things she had thought of and known that they would need. Reuben entered into the life there as if he were back in the old days, when his father and mother would go away for a little trip and leave him in the care of faithful Aunt Ettie. The other two forlorn children, after the first few hours, entered into the friendly atmosphere, too, and seemed to feel as much at home as the rest. And then they drove to the next little town, where there was a florist, and came back with more flowers for the window boxes and more flowers for the little garden beds that Reuben, with the earnest assistance of Noel, dug for them. Aunt Ettie stood around and gave directions, beaming delightedly on them all. She hadn't had such a good time in years.

They took a ride in the early sunset glow, drove to a point that jutted far out into the ocean, where both sunset and sunrise could be seen, and they parked the car and sat to watch the sunset, Noel nestling between Reuben and Gillian. As they drove back along the beach, they watched the pearly tints of rainbow beauty begin to ripple over the sea.

"I used to know a poem something about that," said Reuben. "I can't remember who wrote it. It began, 'Where the quiet-colored end of evening smiles, miles and miles.' "

"Oh, yes," said Gillian. "I love that." And she went on with it, reciting it exquisitely:

 

" 'On the solitary pastures where our sheep,

Half asleep,

Tinkle homeward through the twilight, stray or stop,

As they crop--

Was the site once of a city, great and gay

(So they say).'

 

"That is Robert Browning. I learned that when I was a little girl. I could always see a picture of it, with the sheep coming homeward through the colored twilight. It almost seems as if I had really had a great oil painting of that once, it was so thoroughly fixed in my memory."

"Oh, did you?" said Reuben, watching the expression of the sweet face. "I think I must have had such a vision myself, for the picture seems very real to me, too. I think they used to pay much more attention to such exquisite poetry in the days when I was a boy than they seem to now, for I can't remember that my young cousins had anything to do with poetry during the year I lived with my uncle, except to avoid it whenever it was mentioned. They were in high school, but they seemed to regard poetry as sissified and to be held in utter contempt. It may be that their teachers didn't intend that reaction to their English course, but that's the way it seemed to turn out. But--you are a little younger than I am. I'm curious to know how you came to know and love poetry."

"Oh--I had a mother," said Gillian, her face kindling with fervor. "She loved poetry, and she read it to me and made me memorize a great deal, and often recite it. It was like lovely books and pictures stored away in our minds. It was my mother who taught me to love poetry."

"Yes, I know you had a wonderful mother," said Reuben with a significant look toward Noel, whose sweet eyes were lifted, watching the evening sky. "I had one myself, but perhaps I haven't stayed as true to what she taught me as you have. I do have a lot of poetry in my head, however; and sometimes it comes out."

"My mother began with the Bible," said Gillian, her face sweetly reminiscent of other days. "And that is poetry, so much of it, you know, although it doesn't rhyme. It was through the Bible that Mother taught me to love poetry."

"There's a song about the Twenty-third Psalm," remarked Noel suddenly. "Sing it, Gillian. 'The Lord's my shepherd, I'll not want.' " So they sang the old psalm. And Reuben remembered enough of it himself to limp along with tenor accompaniment.

Suddenly Reuben laid his hand across Gillian's hand that lay in her lap.

"See!" he said, pointing to the sea with his other hand. "Over there to your right! The new moon, so very slender it is, scarcely more than a pencil line in a lovely curve."

"Oh, yes," said Noel. "See, Gillian. It is like the blade of a sickle that the man cuts the grass with at the edge of the sidewalk. And there's a little star, just one, coming out to walk behind the moon, like the little pageboy in my storybook who always attended the young prince when he went out to ride in his little gold chariot. Look, sister! Look up there! The sky is so clear. Don't you think if we had some very strong glasses we could see all the way through it, and see some angels going by? Maybe we could see our mother and Jesus if we had the right kind of glasses."

"Not yet, Noel dear! Not till we go up there. We have only our earthly eyes yet and we can only see them by faith. Now see, there comes a lovely ship, and it's sailing right across the front of the moon. Isn't that a lovely sight? Oh, this night is marvelous!"

"Yes," said Reuben reverently. "It's a night to remember always, in such company as I have with me now. I dread to go away tomorrow!"

"But you'll come back?" asked Noel anxiously.

"Oh, yes, I'll come back!"

"How lovely and smooth that beach looks, with the tide so far out; it seems like a marble pavement, with a path of silver just beyond. How I would love to walk out there toward the water, just a few steps. Don't you think I could?" Gillian asked Reuben.

"Why, yes," said Reuben, "if you feel like it. This beach is marvelously smooth and hard when the tide is out. It is the finest beach on the coast. Here, let me help you. You mustn't walk far, for I don't want you to be all tired out while I am away."

He helped her out and slipped his arm under hers, supporting her wrist comfortably and making her feel that walking was one of the easiest things she ever did.

Noel went around to his other side and took his hand, nestling against his arm, and Reuben felt a great tenderness come into his heart for these two who were for the time being under his care, and also a great reluctance to leave them. Yet he must go to Glindenwold. Tomorrow night was the last night of the play, and he didn't want to be actually rude to his employer's daughter.

So at last they went quietly back to the cottage, where they found that Aunt Ettie had been making bread, because she knew Reuben loved homemade bread, and baking a batch of caraway cookies--also because he liked them.

 

 

Reuben had meant to go early in the morning, but he was lured into going in swimming just once more before he left, and then afterward he sat on the porch reciting poetry with Gillian until a delightful lunch was forthcoming unexpectedly, served out on the terrace looking toward the sea.

Aunt Ettie was the siren who lured him to stay on.

"Reuben, I wonder if you could help me set up that other bed in my room," she said, coming out to the porch after she had finished putting away the lunch dishes. "I thought I didn't want it because it takes up so much room, but the cot isn't very comfortable, and I believe I'd sleep better on my own bed."

"Of course!" said Reuben readily. And when the bed was up, there was Aunt Ettie up on a stepladder hanging some curtains, so Reuben stayed to hang the curtains. So, with Noel and Gillian going back and forth putting little dainty touches to Aunt Ettie's room and then to some of the other rooms, the afternoon sped away incredibly fast, till Reuben suddenly found he had missed the four o'clock train and would have to go in his car.

"Well, that's all right," he said. "Perhaps it would be more convenient to have my car with me anyway; then I am freer. Besides, I have one or two errands that I really ought to do before I go out to Glindenwold."

Gillian caught her breath as Glindenwold was mentioned. It suddenly seemed to bring down a curtain between them and their new friend who had been so wonderful to them. After he had been to Glindenwold, he probably would forget all about the simple pleasures in the little white cottage by the sea.

Then she chided herself. Why shouldn't he forget? She hadn't expected this pleasant easy day or two would last forever. And she simply must not get to depending on this young man who had many other more important interests than looking after two orphans who in a few days must get back and hustle for themselves as they had been doing. Only now that she had had a little breathing space, and kindness, and someone to sympathize, she surely ought to be able to do better than before. As soon as he was gone she must sit down and think out a way to put Noel in a place where he would be happy and comfortable as well as safe.