The Gold of Chickaree

by Susan Warner; Anna Bartlett Warner

CHAPTER XXVII.

THE WORLD AND HIS WIFE.

The purchases for Chickaree and the Hollow, the various packages that found their destination in Dr. Maryland's house, had all been sent straight off where they were to go. There were however many things bought during those two days of New York's work, which had no destination; at least, none as yet known. Such articles had been ordered to the hotel. And it followed, that in the course of a day or two thereafter, the rooms of the suite occupied by Mr. and Mrs. Rollo presented the appearance of a house from which the inhabitants are meditating an immediate journey with all their effects. Packages of all sizes and descriptions had accumulated, to a number which became intrusive upon the notice of said inhabitants.

'What shall we do to make a clearance?' Rollo had said, laughing, as his eyes went round the parlour. 'I wish, Hazel, you would look at these things, and see what use you can find for them. Take Byrom to open packages and do them up again, and let him ticket them according to your orders. Will you? and when I come home I will help. It is a most ridiculous assortment!'

Accordingly, after luncheon, Hazel put on an apron and summoned Byrom, whom she could not have earlier; she was not afraid of interruptions, not being supposed, as she thought, to be in town. The task set her was an amusing piece of work enough, remembering as she did how and where and why many of the articles had come to be bought. Here were baskets, what an array of baskets! which had been purchased from a poor little discouraged seller of wickerware. A large order had first gone off to Morton Hollow; then as Rollo walked round the store he had picked up this and that and bade the woman send it to the hotel; till the dim eyes had brightened up and the hopeless face had taken quite another expression. Here was a package of stationery. Hazel remembered the sickly-looking man who had sold it, in a little shop, far down Broadway; she recollected Rollo's cheery talk to the man and some counsel he had given him about his health; which counsel, coming from so free a purchaser, who paid cash with so ready a hand, stood a fair chance of being followed. Here were books, and there were books; here were pictures; there was a package of hardware. Well Hazel remembered a little corner shop into which her husband had turned to get a dog-chain; and where, finding a slim girl keeping shop, and learning that she was doing it for her father who was ill, he had gone on to buy a bewildering variety of things, which he would not order sent to Chickaree, there being perhaps no one in the shop to pack them. Hazel smiled as she recollected how Rollo found out that he wanted all sorts of things from that little establishment, and how the little girl had looked at him and sprung to serve him before he got through.

Byrom was busy unpacking and Hazel examining; the room was in a confusion of papers and twines and ropes; when the door opened, and there entered upon the scene no less a person than Josephine Charteris, née Powder. The lady's look, on taking the effect of things, it is impossible to describe. Hazel was gloved in dainty buff gauntlets, the folds of her scarlet dress half smothered in the great white apron, ruffled and fluted and spotless,and looked indescribably busy.

'Josephine Powder!I am not receiving company!' she exclaimed.

'Nonsense! I am glad of it. I want to see you, and I don't want to see other people. How you do look, Hazel! Wellhave you really gone and got married, and told nobody? Is it true?'

'Telling people is not one of my strong points,' said Hazel. 'Phoebe, bring a duster to this chair for Mrs. Charteris.'

'It is one your weak points, I think,' said Josephine. 'Never mind the chair. What made you do things in that way?'

Wych Hazel dismissed her attendants, and went back to her foot- cushion among the packages. 'What makes one do anything?' she asked, beginning upon a series of troublesome knots.

'Hm!' said Josephine.'Not being able to help yourself.'

'O is that it?' said Hazel. 'Therehappily for you, I have found some sugarplums. Do you buy so many now-a-days that you have no taste for more?'

'What on earth are you about?'

'Hard at work on chaos!'

'What sort of chaos?'

'Don't you see?' said Wych Hazel. 'Here are six brackets together, for instance, which should be one in a place; and I am puzzled in what light to hang these pictures;and these books have no place where to be. And if you want needles, Josephine, or a thimbleor a sewing-bird, or any little trifle like notepaper or a clotheshamper, help yourself!'And her sweet laugh rung out, half for nervousness and half for fun.

'How long have you been married?' was the other lady's impetuous question.

'Since some time last year,' said Hazel, dragging up another package.

'Don't be wicked, Hazel! Were you married at Christmas? Kitty
Fisher says so, and I didn't believe it. Were you really?'

'I suppose Dr. Maryland does such things "really," when he does them at all.'

'Yes!' said Josephine, after a moment's pause and with a half groan, 'that's the worst of it. I wish I could know it was a sham. I think marriages ought to be broken, if people want them broken. The law ought to be so.'

Hazel was silent.

'Don't you think, that when people are tired of each other, they ought not to be bound to live together?'

'But you were tired to begin with.'

'No, I wasn't; not so. I thought I could get along with John Charteris. He wasn't a beauty, nor a distinguished speaker, but I thought I could get along with him. Hazel, I hated him before I had been married a week. Men are at your feet till you are tied to them, fast; and thenit's very hard, Hazel!the man is the master, and he likes it.'

'Is that Mr. Charteris?' said Hazel.

'It is every man!'

'Some flourish their sceptres with a difference,' said Hazel, her lips at play. 'Take another bonbon?'

'It's nothing to laugh at!' said the girl bitterly. 'I know you will tell me you warned me,but what could I do? They were all at me; mamma said I must be married some time; and I thought it didn't make much difference; and nowI think I'll run away. Do you like your husband?'

'No,' said Hazel with indescribable arch of her brows, which was however extremely stately. But as she spoke, the very flush of the morningall light and joy and promisestirred and mantled and covered her face. It was unmistakeable; words could not have been clearer. She bent down over her parcels. And Josephine, watching her keenly, saw and read. It was very bitter to her.

'Why,' she said incredulously, though she was not incredulous, 'you used to hate him a year ago. Do you remember when he would not let you ride home with us from the Seatons' one night, and how furious you were? Has he changed?'

'As I never remember hating anybody in my life,' said Wych hazel, 'it is perhaps useless to discuss the question. Do you spend the winter here?'

'He had money enough of his own,' Josephine went on,'he had no business to marry you. Wellmarriage is a lottery, they say; and I have drawn John Charteris. I suppose I must wear him out. If I could wear him out!If it was only Jack Charteris!but he is the sort of man you couldn't say "Jack" to. Spend the winter here? No, I think not. I shall go to Washington by and by. But I don't see that it signifies much where one is; life is flat when one can't flirt; and John won't let me do that any more, unless I do it on the sly. Do you expect to have anything in the world your own way, with Dane Rollo?'

Hazel felt herself (privately) getting rather "furious" now. Yet the girl at her side stirred her pity, too.

'What sort of man can you say "Jack" to?' she enquired, as if she had heard no question.

'You know. A fellow that's anyhow jolly. What are all these things here for?'

'If I were you,' said Hazel, 'I would make Mr. Charteris so "jolly" (lend me your word for once) that he would be delighted to have me say "Jack." '

'I don't want him to be delighted,' said Josephine, 'nor to call him Jack. And a man that smokes all the time can't be made jolly. He didn't use to let me see it, you know; and now he don't care. He ought to live in a house by himself, that's all chimney!'

'Counter attractions would work a cure,' said Wych Hazel, ready to laugh at her own suddenly developed wisdom. 'If you make yourself disagreeable, Josephine, I should think he would smoke, and hide you in a haze.'

'I don't!' said the girl indignantly. 'And nothing on earth will cure a man who smokes. He likes it better than anything except money; far better than me. Try to get your husband'

Josephine broke suddenly off. The door had opened noiselessly, and Mrs. Powder entered, followed immediately by Miss Molly Seaton.

Greetings and congratulations passed of course, according to form.

'Dane is not at home, my dear?' said the elder lady.

'Husbands are not gallant in these days, mamma,' said Josephine.

'But Mr. Rollo is!' said Molly rashly.

'So it seems,' said Josephine laughing. 'Left his lady-love to put his affairs in order; while he is having a good sleighride somewhere, you bet! But you see, she is busy, like a good child.'

'And what are you doing, my dear?' said Mrs. Powder.

Juts then the set of Hazel's head would have told keen eyes what she was doing mentally. She was still in her camelshair morning robe; the scarlet folds and the white apron, and herself, making a brilliant spot down among the packages.

'I am putting Mr. Rollo's affairs in order,' she said composedly.

'My dear,' said Mrs. Powder benevolently, 'I am sure he does not want you to open his packages for him.'

'I should think you were going to open a shop, if I didn't know better,' remarked Molly in evident great curiosity.

'She won't tell,' said Josephine. 'I suppose she is keeping her own secret. She wants me to believe that she don't feel the chains of wedlock a bit.'

'Maybe it is too soon for that,' said Molly.

'O is it!' said Mrs. Charteris. 'I should like to see that. Just as soon as the minister has done, and said, "I pronounce you man and wife,"from that minute a man is changed. He is your very obedient servant when he walks up the aisle; dear me, when he comes down!'

'But you are joking, Mrs. Charteris,' said Molly, half alarmed.

'After that, he has the power, and you are queen no longer, but must follow him round the world if he beckons; and he knows it, and he lets you know it too.'

'That is a foolish way of talking, Josephine,' said her mother. 'Of course, there is a certain truth in it, and there ought to be. A man is the head of his house. The only thing to be desired is, that he should rule it well.'

'I don't care whether it is well or ill,' rejoined Josephine. 'What I object to is being ruled at all. It is horrid! You can't talk, mamma, because you know you always held the reins yourself. It's intolerable to have to ask a man for money, unless he is your own father; and to have him put his nose into your affairs and say this must be and that mustn't be. Women know just as well as men how things ought to be.'

'I think they do,' said Molly.

'And better,' added Josephine.

But at this point Hazel gave way and laughed. Such a ring of appreciation and merriment and gladness of heart, as was good to hear. The soft notes made Mrs. Powder smile; but poor Josephine, who could not laugh so, turned aside quick to hide the very different change which came over her face. Before anything further could be said, the door opened again and Rollo came in. He came in with a look upon his face which changed when he saw the three people he had not expected to see. It did not grow less bright, but it changed; the look that was for his wife was for no other upon earth; nor even for her in the presence of others. He went through the necessary greetings and congratulations with a manner of courtly carelessness, which involuntarily made Hazel think of those first days when she knew him at Catskill.

'Do you want to buy anything, ladies?' said he then, setting on the table a bronze standish which Hazel had just freed from its wrappings.

'Will you tell us what all this means, Dane?' said Mrs. Powder.

'Santa Claus's spillings out of his sleigh.'

'Spillings!' echoed the lady. 'What must the sleigh load have been!'

'O that's the way these people do things,' said Josephine. 'What I should like to know, is where the sleigh load went to.'

'Down various chimneys, of course,' said Dane.

'Do you know,' the lady went on, 'it is very mean of you, Dane Rollo, to have gone and married the only rich woman in our part of the country. You ought to have left her for somebody else.'

'If you would like a basket,' said Rollo coolly, pulling some of his wickerware into line, 'you may have one. I can afford it.'

'May I have one too?' queried Molly.

'Help yourself.Mrs. Powder, you are a housekeeperare there none among all these varieties that would serve a purpose for you? Mrs. Charteris, aren't you fond of flowers? I will bestow upon you this big flower-holder.'

It was one of the best specimens of the poor basket-maker's work, being a delicate wicker stand, pretty enough for the drawing-room or a boudoir. Josephine silently accepted the gift, looking at it with strange eyes; while Molly set about a search for what might serve her turn. Mrs. Powder sat as a spectator, curious, and at the same time amused.

'We have got more than baskets here,' Rollo went on, pulling off twine and paper. 'Here is a tea-kettle. Who wants this article? Here is an hour-glass.'

'O let me have that!' quoth Molly Seaton. 'I never saw an hour- glass before. What's this in it?'

'Minutes and seconds,' said Josephine.

'No, but really. It would be dreadful to see one's minutes and seconds running away in this manner. What is this in the glass?'

'Did you never hear of the sands of life, child?' said Mrs. Powder.

'They were brought from the shores of time, too,' added Josephine, 'by an adventurous traveller.'

'What is it?' cried a lively voice from the again opening door. 'A reception at the opening of spring goods? I come in, because I hear sounds' And Miss Kitty Fisher presented herself, stopping just inside the door. 'I do vow!' she said. 'What is it?"All for Love"? or "She stoops to Conquer"? Katharine and Petruchio seems to be played out. Well, if I were a turtledove in a big cage!'

'You would coo, I suppose,' said Josephine scornfully. 'Turtledoves always do, and they are a great humbug.'

'I should doubtless bob my head to the other turtledove,' said Kitty, making a profound reverence to the gentleman present.

Rollo came forward and offered the lady his arm; then gravely led her across the big room among baskets and packages to where Wych Hazel was seated on her low cushion.

'Duchess,' said he with stately form, 'Primrose's cousin Kitty desires to be recommended to your grace.'

'No, I don't,' said Kitty. 'That's a fib. The duchess and I were well "acquaint" when Duke did not stand quite so high in favour. But I am thankful for my part, you two people have given up mischief and settled down. Sit still among your baskets, child; they become you.'

'Perhaps you will sit down among the baskets too,' said Dane.
'Don't you want one?'

'It's only to look and choose, Kitty,' said Molly Seaton. 'Such another chance you won't have again.'

'If you have one large enough to hold her valentines,' said Hazel with a glance at "Duke,"'that might do.'

'Valentines!' echoed Kitty Fisher,'you'd better! Richard is going into a decline, madam, I suppose you know. And the major is drowning careand himself with it. And Lancaster's pining for war and a stray bullet;and Stuart Nightingale Then in town here there's a list of killed, wounded and missing as long as my arm. O I must tell you the best joke. There was a parcel of men dining at the club the other day, and toasting Miss Kennedy, witch, sorceress, etc.till they couldn't see. Then in rushes Tom McIntyre, out of breath, and says, "Miss Kennedy is extinct!"I'd rather have seen their faces,' said Kitty, stopping to laugh, 'than get Stuart's best philopoena!'

'It really is unkind,' said Josephine, 'to take people so by surprise, without letting them get accustomed to the idea. Of course they are liable to fall into all sorts of ridiculous situations.'

'You have undertaken a great deal, Dane,' said Mrs. Powder, 'in venturing to marry a lady accustomed to so much admiration.'

'I like whatever I have to be admired,' said Rollo coolly.

'But how do you expect she will do without it in future?'

Dane lifted his eyes for a second to the lady with a certain hidden sparkle in their gravity, and asked her, so seriously that she was entrapped by it, 'If she thought admiration was bad for people in general?' Mrs. Powder fell into the snare, and before she knew it was involved in a deep philosophical and moral discussion, as far as heaven from earth removed from all personalities. The younger ladies however found this tiresome.

'Do leave that mamma!' said Josephine. 'The question is, whether he and Hazel are going to give us a grand reception, and challenge the admiration of the world by something the like of which was never seen before. A scene out of the Arabian Nights, with enchantment, flowers, fruits and singing birds. They ought, for they can. What's the use of having money?'

'I dare say they will do something of that sort,' said the elder lady smiling. 'It really is Society's due, I think; especially as they have cheated the world with a private wedding.'

'I like to pay my dues,' said Dane carelessly, turning over and unpacking things all the while. 'Mrs. Powder, there is a paper knife for you.'

'But you don't do it,' the lady went on, smiling at the same time over the paper knife, which was very pretty. 'Now will you and Hazel hold a reception, as you ought to do, and let people see her as your wife?'

'No fear they won't see her,' put in Kitty Fisher. 'I know some people who mean to have a good time when he's away at the mills. Where are your presents, child? I came to see you on purpose to see them. I suppose they are the ninth wonder. You have seen them, Mrs. Powder?'

'I have seen nothing,' said that lady blandly, for however she disapproved of Kitty's style of application, I have no doubt she would have liked it to be successful.'I have seen nothing, except baskets.'

'There is a good deal here besides,' said Rollo. 'Mrs. Charteris, don't you want a bread trencher? Or a rocking chair? And here are pens.'

'Thank you. Are you going to set up a shop?'

'That is what I was going to ask him,' said Molly Seaton.

'When I do, you will not be able to buy it,' said Rollo; 'so make the most of your advantage now.'

It was a very silent young duchess that sat there, all this while, amid the medley of people and things. The colour sometimes coming, and sometimes going; a smile ditto; the little fingers busy with packages, the head of brown curls bent over them. Well she knew how Rollo was shielding her by his play, amusing her inquisitive visiters, at the same time attending to her slightest movement; for his fingers came to help hers whenever a knot was too hard, or a paper wrap too obstinate, or an article too heavy for them.

'Well,' Kitty repeated, eyeing her, 'where are the presents?'

'Not on exhibition,' said Wych Hazel. 'Except in detail.'

'Don't see the details yet,' said Miss Fisher examining her. 'I have seen that opal pin beforebewildering thing! Josephine, haven't you seen them either?'

'Kitty, you are very impudent!' said Mrs. Powder laughing.

'Presents are good for nothing but to be shewn,' remarked Mrs.
Charteris.

'My present is worth more than that,' said Rollo. 'It has "Waste not, want not," carved on it, if you will notice. That may be very useful to you and Mr. Charteris.'

'I wonder who is impudent now!' said Josephine.

'Well what did you wear, child?' pursued Miss Fisher. 'Stephen Kingsland fell back in a swoon when he found he had missed your wedding dress.'

'Well, I think people have duties to society,' uttered Molly Seaton.

'And society's bound to make 'em pay,' said Miss Fisher. 'I won't rest till I have seen those presents, you may be sure.'

'Use your eyes, then,' said Wych Hazel with a warning flush which Kitty remembered. 'Because they are not labelledand never will be.'

Kitty winked at Mrs. Powder.

'Stupid!' she cried,'use my eyes, to be sure! Why there's the big apron! Of course that's a present, only she don't like to say so. The child's turned economical. Nobody ever saw Miss Kennedy protect her dress, I'll warrant. Pretty pattern, isn't it? I wonder if I could get itagainst my moonso-calledof honey?'

'The apron would be no use without the economy,' said Rollo.

'What have people so rich as you to do with economy?'

'Nobody needs it more.'

'Hear him! Then I don't know what economy means,' cried Kitty.

'I doubt if you do, my dear,' said Mrs. Powder.

'What it means?' echoed Josephine. 'Economy is being mean and pinching.'

'Economy is saving,' added Molly.

'Looks awfully proper and matronly,' said Kitty, going back to the apron. 'When will you give your first ball, Hazel? It might be a calico ball, you know,and then all the dresses would help out with the mill hands.'

'The first ball I give,' said Hazel, gravely examining a pasteboard box filled with the article, 'will probably be one of soap,but just when it will be, I do not know.'

'And do you mean your first cards issued to be wool cards, my dear?' said Kitty with secret delight.

'Kitty,' said Rollo, 'suppose you take a sugarplumand behave yourself.'

'O I can't stay,' said Kitty giving way a little. 'I only came just to '

'That's what I came for too,' said Josephine; 'and now I am going.'

'We have all got more than we came for, then,' said Molly; 'but I have staid too long, too. Will you take me home Phinney.'

The ladies swept away; the room was full of rustling silks for a moment, and then was clear. Rollo came back from putting them into their respective carriages, and stood and smiled at Hazel.

'It has come at last!' he said.