But strength did come from his letter; there was a certain magic in his praise and blessing. It gave her something like the natural virtues of mountain coolness and ocean air. Austerely pure, it was. Plainly, pleasure had not made him tarry long.
* * * * *
Beth and Miss Mallory had talked an hour before the name of Jim Framtree was innocently mentioned by the newspaperwoman. It was not Beth's way to betray her fresh start of interest, even though she gained her first clue to the meaning of the fine light she had seen in Bedient's eyes at parting…. The blood seemed to harden in her heart. The familiar sounds of the summer street came up through the open windows with a sudden horror, as if she were a captive on cannibal shores.
"No one knows why he wanted this talk with Mr. Framtree," Miss Mallory was saying. "He wanted it vitally—and you see what came of it—a revolution averted—the fortunes of the whole Island altered for the better—and yet, those were only incidents. He was so ill—that another man would have fallen—and yet he went to The Pleiad—and aboard the Spaniard's yacht, as you read…. I knew his courage before—from the Hedda Gabler night—but it was true, he didn't know me! The only result I know was that Mr. Framtree came to New York——"
It seemed to Beth that her humanity was lashed and flung and desecrated…. "But he did not know," she thought. "He did not know. He could not have hurt me this way. He thought I could not change, that I should always worship the beauty of exteriors. I told him the parable—and he went away—to send me what he thought I wanted!…"
Miss Mallory had come with a tribute of praise to a great artist. She found a woman who was suffering, as she had suffered, in part. A great mystery, too, she found. It was almost too sacred for her to try to penetrate, because it had to do with him…. She wondered at Miss Truba's inability to speak, or to help herself in any way with the things that pressed her heart to aching fullness…. She had found it wonderfully restoring to talk of him—with a woman who knew him—and who granted his greatness from every point.
The long afternoon waned, but still the women were together. All that had taken place was very clear to Beth—even this woman's ministerings.
"And he is better—beyond words, better!" Miss Mallory added. "I received a note from him this morning. The Hatteras arrived yesterday. I came up on the Henlopen eight days ago. So it was my first word. Something great has happened. He is changed and lifted."
"Has Mr. Framtree finished his mission?" Beth asked.
"Yes. He intends to go back to-morrow afternoon. He finished sooner than he thought. He is going to help Mr. Bedient in the administration of the vast property…. It seems that no one ever touches Mr. Bedient, but that some great good comes to him. I am going back, too——"