Chapter XIII: Separations

"THIS is the day Nan sails," announced Val at the breakfast-table a few days later.

"And to think we are none of us there to see her off," said Theo, regretfully.

"Oh, she'll not want for friends," responded Val. "Her own family will be there, the Parkhursts and all, and a lot of the League students. Katherine Armistead is going too, you know, and there will be any number of people to wish her 'bon voyage.'"

"Yes, I know; but I'll venture to say she will miss us."

"Just to think of it! I'll be the next one to go," said Val. "It makes me feel creepy whenever the thought comes to me. Now, Colonel, don't look at me with that judicial expression of yours. I don't doubt there are cold crims going down your own back this blessed minute."

"What are crims?" asked Jack.

"Oh," replied Val, nothing abashed, "they are something between chills and creeps."

"And creeps?"

"Find out for yourself," retorted Val. "If your imagination cannot supply a meaning, you aren't very inventive. We know, don't we, Archie?" nodding in the direction of her cousin.

"H'm. What? I wasn't listening," responded Archie. And rising with some muttered excuse, he left the table abruptly.

For the rest of the day, no one of them saw him, though in the evening he appeared, calm and unruffled, but nobody asked him to account for his absence.

"Is Jack anywhere about?" asked Mr. Smith, coming into the sitting-room where Miss Nelson was.

"He and Theo have gone to Preston," Miss Nelson informed him. "Come in, Colonel; I want to talk to you. I feel very happy about those two, but they must not think of marrying yet. Shouldn't you say so?"

Mr. Smith was thoughtful.

"Theo is too young," continued Miss Nelson. "At least, in my opinion, a girl should be fully developed, mentally, morally, and physically, before she takes the responsibilities of married life upon her."

"And a man should be equally so, and furthermore, should be fully established in business," asserted Mr. Smith. "It won't hurt them to wait a couple of years. You have heard Jack's plans?"

"Yes. I suppose any more thanks would burden you, Mr. Smith, but you know what I think."

Mr. Smith waived aside any continuance of that special subject, and went on, saying, "The site I have selected for our enterprise is between here and Preston, you know."

"And you think they could live at Preston?"

"Could they not?"

"I should think very easily. I should be glad to have it so, for Cousin Betty's sake. In leaving the place to Theo, I think she hoped it might eventually be Theo's home."

"Jack is not rich, you know."

"No, but the present manager of Preston is quite capable of making the most out of the place, and it need not be kept up expensively. We are not worldly-minded, as you know, Colonel, yet I must confess to having had a small regret for the vanished wealth, though I have tried to repress it. I should like to feel that Theo had an abundance."

"She is not the girl to care," returned Mr. Smith; "and they will always have enough; there is little doubt of that. Jack has the elements of a successful man in him,—force, perseverance, and energy; otherwise I should not, from purely selfish motives, care to consider this scheme."

"Tell me just when you expect to consummate your plans."

"I shall probably complete the sale in a few days, and the ground will be broken at once for the building, which I shall hope may be carried on as speedily as possible. Jack will remain here to see that it is. I do not say to Val how long I shall remain with her and my sister, but certainly not more than six months. One of my objects in going to England is to attend to business there connected with this very enterprise. I should like to interest some foreign capitalists in my project, and then I can believe our success is assured."

"How glad I am we are not to lose Jack from our midst. He can find a pleasant boarding-place, I am sure, and everybody will be happy."

"And—yes, it is better for those two to wait. I quite agree with you, Miss Nelson, for many reasons. Too many young people plunge into matrimony with nothing ahead for a rainy day. Then comes illness and trouble, and with trouble often discontent, recrimination on one side, bitterness on the other, and finally a breach which can never be healed. A little foresight and patience might have saved the victim of many an unhappy marriage from much misery. The trouble is, it all seems smooth sailing, and youth forgets to look out for breakers ahead."

"It would be too much to expect a perfectly peaceful voyage for our young people. Theo is a little obstinate, and Jack is determined and has something of a temper; so I have no doubt those qualities will give rise to some disquieting moments. But they are only flaws in otherwise admirable characters, or rather they are faults of disposition rather than of character."

"We cannot expect to meet angels walking the earth," remarked Mr. Smith.

"No. Jack and Theo are quite human, but their future happiness lies in the entire respect they have for each other. Neither has anything to withhold from the other. They are both very truthful, honorable, and sincere, so what may disturb them will likely be a very small tempest. I do not believe my children are phenomenal, though I have been criticised for thinking them incapable of many little defects too often very palpable in young people."

"They are not, perhaps, phenomenal, but they represent examples of a fine order. I should be sorry if there were not more such," responded Mr. Smith.

"I should be sorry, indeed. What would become of our standards, if no one nearly approached them?"

"The trouble is that the majority of young people are very 'heady' nowadays. We are old-fashioned, Miss Janet, and we believe that the majority of young people are not as fine as 'the flock.' I am quite sure, too, that there are many persons who have never come across such really fine types; so they are very incredulous when told that such boys and girls can and do exist."

"And what of Archie? I sometimes feel very anxious for my boy."

"Don't worry about Archie; there is good stuff in him. He is sure to make his way. I don't say he will ever win great distinction, but he will win friends. And I believe he is better suited to this locality than to New York, where a certain keenness and wiliness are needful. Yes, I think Archie has decided wisely: his people know him and he knows his people. There is a great deal in that. Then, too, Archie's temptations will be fewer here."

"I think he recognizes that," replied Miss Nelson, "and believes his only chance of saving is to be where there is little temptation to spend. That is the lion in Archie's path; but you relieve me immensely, Colonel. These have been anxious days for most of us, and to feel that the way is made straight is a great comfort."

Miss Nelson was silent for a few moments, and then she turned again to her friend.

"And Val," she said, "our little Val, she is such a bright, merry little soul, we shall miss her sadly. I hope her travels may not spoil her. My last little child leaves me with Val." And auntie sighed.

Then she continued: "Since we seem to be criticising them all, I must say how gratified I am at Val's improvement. She has overcome much that I once feared would mar her. She has not as deep, as intense a nature as Theo, but she is, perhaps, better balanced in consequence. Impulsive and demonstrative as she seems, she really has good judgment; she is losing her love of admiration in some degree, or rather she desires now to be admired more for any real merit she may possess than for her looks or her coquetries. And yet I dread her going from me, even into as good hands as your sister's."

"Val will be immensely improved by travel," Mr. Smith assured her, "and though she may come back a full-fledged young lady, she will be a very charming one, I'll guarantee. I have promised the child to go with her to some impossible place," he said, rising. "She has no regard for my old bones, and I am to climb rocks and slide down banks for her amusement this afternoon."

Which meant that Val had insisted upon her guardian going to the woods with her, saying, pathetically, that Theo had Jack, and Archie had gone off by his "loney." So she had no one, for auntie was busy, and there was no one left, and she was lonesome; so wouldn't the Colonel take her to the woods? She was afraid to go alone, and she was blue, so nothing but the woods would cure her. And there was such an irresistible expression in her big blue eyes that the Colonel consented, though he knew she would lead him a dance.

The place was very quiet after they had all gone out. Auntie was taking her nap. Mammy had finished her work and was sitting, clumsily mending an apron. Tatty, down in the garden, was amusing herself with Posie-Cossie, who had been sent home by each outgoing party, and was inconsolable till Tatty came to his rescue.

Presently Mammy felt two soft hands over her eyes. Theo had returned from her drive, and had come to consult Mammy on some domestic question.

"I knows dem han's," said Mammy. "I'se knowed 'em uvver sence dey was little teenchy bits o' baby han's. Yuh cyarnt fool yo' old Mammy."

Theo laughed and came around in front of the old woman.

"What are you doing, Mammy?" she asked.

"I'se tryin' ter patch up dis yer ole ap'on, honey; hit's good 'nuff fur was'in' water on, an' meal, an' dat kin' er truck. Somehow er, 'nuther, my ole eyes isn't es good es dey was, an' hit tek me a pow'ful time," and Mammy wiped her glasses and laid them aside.

Theo took them up and examined them.

"Why, Mammy, what glasses are these?"

"Dey de ones my ole mammy wo', honey. Dey's jis' es good es dey uvver was."

Theo turned over the big spectacles with their broad steel rims. "Why, Mammy, you can't see with them, don't you know? Why, ever so long ago you were using them. I got you another pair, didn't I?"

"Yuh sutt'nly did, chile. I rickleck jes' es easy how yuh come an' say,—

"'Mammy, what yuh tryin' 'er do?'

"An' I say, 'I th'eadin' a needle, but hit mus' hev a cu'ious little eye.'

"An' yuh takin' hit outen my han' an' th'ead it jes es easy; an' I say, 'My, my!'"

"Yes; and I found that these glasses did not suit you at all."

"Den," continued Mammy, "yuh goes down street, an' comes home with a whole mess o' specs, an' I tries 'em on, fust one, then t'other, till I sees mos' like I hed new eyes." Mammy dwelt upon this with much satisfaction.

"But what has become of those glasses? Are they broken?"

"Naw, indeedy, dey isn't. Dey is brandy-spandy, jes' es bright es dey wus dat day."

"Then what is the matter with them? Why don't you wear them?"

"Law, honey," exclaimed Mammy, "yuh reckon I gwine ter 'hack' 'em? Uh, uh! I w'ars 'em to church an' Sundays, but dese yer is whole es dey uvver was, an' I 'bleedged to w'ar 'em out. What good 'nough fur my ole mammy, good 'nough fur me."

Theo laughed till Mammy was really offended and cast injured looks at her "baby," as she still continued to call Theo.

But no amount of persuasion on Theo's part could convince the old woman that it would not be a wilful extravagance to put aside her old spectacles, and she continued to wear them "week-days."

Mammy's delight in Theo's plans was very great. She greatly approved of "Mars' Jack," and she talked of the "weddin'" whenever Theo would allow her an opportunity, expatiating upon the glories of the cake she would bake, and feeling quite indignant that Theo would not promise to invite half the county.

"Dat ain't no way ter hev' a weddin'," she would say when Theo explained her modest plans. "Why, honey, when my ole mistis' got ma'ied dey wasn't scasely room to step roun' de house, an' de ca'ages blocked up de whole place outside. What yuh reckon yo' grandma say ter dat sorter little no-'count weddin' yuh 'scribe? I say, Miss Val do better 'n dat. She mek mo' show. Yuh better look out, Miss Theo; Miss Val be finer 'n yuh."

"I don't care; I hope she will," was Theo's reply. "I should love to have her be as fine as she likes."

And Mammy had no further argument to bring, though again and again she recurred to the subject.

Mr. Smith returned to New York a few days after this, having completed the arrangements for his business projects. And Jack forthwith was plunged into the preliminary management.

Val was all excitement over her proposed trip, and the preparations for this occupied the minds of Miss Nelson and Theo as much as of Val herself. Finally, she started off in company with Mr. Smith, who had come down for a final consultation with Jack.

And now it was Val who was to see the world, while Theo remained quietly at home, to watch the twittering birds coming and going under the eaves of the old house, to see the seasons change the familiar trees from green to russet, and to dream away the hours contentedly in her little corner of the universe for the three years that lay ahead of this parting.