Under the Big Dipper

by Desiderius George Dery

Margaret compromised by agreeing to stay at a farm-house near Mrs. Van Dusen’s place and to use that good lady’s carriage. But she insisted on paying for her board. Mrs. Van Dusen was only too glad that she had been able to prevail over Margaret’s independent spirit to that extent. Her visits to the hospital had made her acquainted with the girl’s fine nature, both in the courage she had evinced in pain, and in the devotion she showed to Helène. Mrs. Van Dusen could not help but look up to so grand and yet so finely democratic a character.

In the younger girl, with the gentle, well-bred bearing which, as she readily saw, but veiled the reticence of inborn dignity, she had found a rare personality. A girl entirely aloof from her surroundings and who was yet self-supporting and happy in the small circle of her life. Mrs. Van Dusen, the society leader and proud wife of one of the wealthy men of New York, could not fail to see that this simple, dignified girl was her equal in everything but worldly gifts. She tried hard to pierce the armor of modesty and unselfishness in which the girl clothed herself; but its very inoffensiveness proved it to be a stronger protection than anything else could have been.

Her son, Howard, had confessed to her that the younger of the two girls had made a deep impression on him, but, he ruefully added, “I’ve not made much headway with her.”

To Helène, the American custom which permitted a young man and girl to meet and converse freely and alone, was one which she either did not understand or did not approve. Van Dusen’s escort to the boarding-house was rather suffered than accepted. Upon arriving at the home, she would bid him good-bye, and take no notice of his hints for an invitation to call. His floral gifts she invariably transferred to Margaret. He had to admit frankly that he had not made a very favorable impression. His mother wisely said nothing.

At the Post’s farm-house Margaret found herself comfortably established on the second floor. She wrote every day to Helène glowing accounts of the beautiful country and urged her to come and visit her for a few days. The people were nice and kind and there was a quaint room which she could have all to herself. She was getting quite strong again and had acquired a tremendous appetite. She pleaded so earnestly that Helène finally agreed to go if Madame Lucile gave the permission.

Certainly the prospect of a vacation did look alluring. She had been working hard during Margaret’s illness and had been very lonely and depressed in spirits. She had even denied herself the few hours of relaxation she had enjoyed when Margaret was at home, and had kept herself confined during the hottest days—a trying ordeal to anyone living in New York, and especially so to a foreigner.

The canny lady from Glasgow was too pleased to extend a vacation to Mademoiselle Heloise, and thus it happened that by the Saturday before Labor Day Helène had made all her preparations and was ready for the great event.

As she was utterly ignorant of ways and means, Mr. Diderot, the fatherly librarian, was duly impressed to act as escort to the dreaded Terminal and Ferry. Mrs. Kane, with many motherly admonitions, kissed her good-bye and put her in charge of her elderly lodger. The old gentleman, proud of his duty, had spruced himself up and assuming a youthful gait, walked vigorously by her side carrying the suit-case. His hailing of the street car was done with a dignity which can be compared only to the bearing of the Mayor escorting the President of the United States to the City Hall.

In the waiting-room at the Ferry, Helène was glad to sit in the cool protection from the heat while Mr. Diderot negotiated the various transactions necessary to obtaining the ticket and checking the baggage for the particular place in the New Jersey vastness to which his charge was bound. The crowd of people hurrying here, there and everywhere, so bewildered the poor girl that she hardly dared to lift her eyes. She almost regretted her step in taking such a long journey alone into an unknown country.

At last her escort returned. She rose eagerly and he led her into the pushing crowd where she was gently propelled through a narrow strait flanked by two sharp-eyed men armed with shining punchers, into a spacious room filled with a motley assortment of people of both sexes and all ages.