“Oh indeed!” said Olive less cordially.
“This is the busy time of the year.”
“All times a-year is the busy time in my ’pinion and ’sperience,” said Uncle David smiling comprehensively, “but most everyone spares time one way or ’nother to get married if they have a mind that way. Come along an’ see Brother and Sister Dummy. That ain’t their name, but we call ’em so, they’re deaf and mostly dumb now. They’re real good folks too.”
A sad-eyed red-haired man shook hands with her, and a sad-eyed woman kissed her. They put into her hand a slip of paper on which was written a message of welcome.
“They can talk a little, but they can’t hear one mite, and they don’t like to talk, because they can’t tell when they are whispering and when they are yelling, and it makes strangers jump to hear them sometimes.”
Olive felt drawn towards this poor silent pair, but did not know how to express her sympathy. There were others in the room, but before she had time to speak to them the door opened and Madame Morozoff-Smith entered, and from that moment she seemed to see no one else. Madame was a remarkable looking woman. She was tall, large and fair, with keen grey eyes, full red lips, and a mass of pale gold hair rising over a forehead that was broad and smooth. A woman of indeterminate age with an air of youthfulness and command about her. She was dressed in a dark dress and wore a bright bunch of ribbons in her hair. It looked at first sight like a rose, only roses don’t grow on the prairie in the month of May. She came straight to where Olive was standing. She gave one the impression of floating, for although a large woman, she walked so lightly as to make no noticeable sound on the wooden floor. Taking Olive’s two hands in her warm large grasp, she kissed her on the forehead murmuring “Welcome,” and then stepping back she said in a clear voice that vibrated through the room:
“Ah! now I understand that hurried courtship and swift marriage. I see what it was in Brother Ezra’s case. It was love at first sight. You are very pretty. I suppose, however, you know that very well. It is a secret seldom kept from young girls.”
Olive was so startled by this unexpected address that she blushed to the roots of her black hair. Ezra stood looking down at his little wife smiling with pleasure. He was delighted to think that Madame found her so pretty. He had indeed thought her beautiful from the first moment when his eyes had rested on her, but then he loved her, and it was but natural that in his eyes she should be lovely. Madame, however, judged her unprejudiced, and yet if his delighted heart had room for one regret, it was that Madame’s praise had been so very public. If she had only whispered it softly to him in that wonderful voice of hers, which had often caught up his inmost thoughts and clothed them in words of eloquence, how much more precious would the tribute have been. He dismissed the half-formed regret as unworthy, and took himself to task for not exulting at this moment. The meeting of Madame and Olive was an event in his life. Olive, his sweet little rose-bud of a wife, on the one hand, and Madame, his venerated, nay his worshipped, friend, on the other. The one, the companion of his heart: the other, the guide of his mind who embodied in herself all that he held highest in the possibilities of womanhood, his true and noble-hearted friend, his inspired leader. How blest was the portion of him who stood that night the husband of the one, the disciple of the other! Ezra’s dark eyes shone with joy, and his square chin quivered with the smiles that lurked about his lips. He was not a handsome man, perhaps, but there was something grand in the large full forehead, strong eyebrows, and deep dark eyes. His massive frame bespoke strength, which in itself has always a great attraction for women.
When Madame had addressed those words to the new sister all the members of the Community had scanned her narrowly, for the opinion of their leader had immense weight with the Pioneers. The men looked at Olive with increased admiration, and the women with envy. Only Uncle David appeared disappointed and wiped his face many times with his red pocket-handkerchief saying, “Wal, wal, now,” in a tone of earnest reproof.
After this bewildering introduction in which her vanity had been not a little excited, Olive received a salutary check from the words of Brother Wright.