LI
THE HOME-STRETCH
A gold fringe on the purpling hem
Of hills the river runs,
As down its long green valley falls
The last of summer suns.
Along its tawny gravel bed
Broad-flowing, swift, and still,
As if its meadow-levels felt
The hurry of the hill,
Noiseless between its banks of green
From curve to curve it slips;
The drowsy maple shadows rest
Like fingers on its lips.
—Whittier.
To come down from two girls of your own to none, is a long step; and I think if ever Cadet Charlemagne was ready to put the full value on the many fair and gay women at the Point, it was just then, when his sisters had gone. Not another sight of his own to be hoped for till a whole long year should roll away. First-class camp though it was, I think he would have liked the busy term-time better.
But he talked with Miss Lane, he walked with Miss Newcomb; and did the civil thing to a handful of new visitors; went to picnics, teas, and such like merrymakings; and through it all found himself pining for Cherry, and wondering what they were all about at home. In the very midst of the frolic, with bright eyes and soft hands on every side, the refrain of the old song would keep coming up:
"O this is no' my ain lassie!
Fair though the lassie be."
Such a mood works differently with different men; with Magnus it wrought in a very becoming fashion. For the high mark put upon the three girls far away, set the standard for his behaviour to those near by. "Help them," Cherry had said. And so, over his ordinary good manners and winning ways, there had come that grave air of chivalry, that deference to women because they were women, which sets off a man's own manhood as nothing else can. His heart was elsewhere, but his best service was theirs to command. Now and then he ventured a reproof.
"You must not do that," he said one day to Miss Lane; receiving an instant "Thank you!" which spoke her good stuff. And even when he came between Miss Saucy and some lawless escapade with a firm: "You shall not do that!" the words were so courteous and earnest that the girl yielded with:
"There, there—I won't. Hush up!"