Part 13 (2/2)
”Girls!” he exclaimed from the doorway, ”the hunt is on for to-night!
Everybody hurry up! Caroline, Mrs. Matilda wants you to motor out with her to the Forks to see about having Jeff and Tempie get ready for the supper cooking--barbecue, birdies and the hot potato! Milly and Billy Bob are going and Polly and that Boston lad of yours, Caroline--yours if you can hold him, which I don't think you can. And Mrs. Matilda says--”
”Stop,” demanded Phoebe, ”and tell us what you are talking about, David.”
”I'm surprised at you, Phoebe, for being so dense,” answered David with a delighted grin at having created a flurry. ”Didn't you hear me tell Caroline Darrah Brown at least a week ago that possums and persimmons are ripe and that the first night after a rain and a fog we would all turn out and show her how to shake down a few? The whole glad push is going. Mrs. Matilda and I decided it an hour ago while you were still asleep. I've telephoned everybody--possums and persimmons wait for no man.”
”How perfectly delightful,” said Caroline with eyes agleam with enthusiasm. ”Can everybody go?” David had failed to mention Andrew Sevier in his enumeration, an omission that she had instantly caught.
”Yes,” answered David, ”everybody that had engagements we asked the engagement to go, too. Even Andy is going to cut the poems for the lark!
Thuse up a little, Phoebe, please--give us the smile! I'm backing you to shake down ten possums against anybody's possible five.”
”I don't think that I can go,” answered Phoebe quietly. ”Mrs. Cherry has the president of the Federation of Women's Clubs staying with her and I'm going to dine there to-night to discuss the suffrage platform.” There was a cool note in Phoebe's voice and a sudden seriousness had come into her expression.
”Now, Phoebe,” answered David, looking down at her with the quickly concealed tenderness that always flashed up in his eyes when he spoke directly to her, ”do you suppose for one minute that I hadn't fixed all that the first thing? Mrs. Cherry held back a bit but I rabbit-footed the old lady into being wild to go and then wheedled the correct hostess some; and there you are! Caroline is to send them out in her motor and I'm going to make Hob and Tom chase the possum in company of the merry widow and Mrs. Big Bug. Now give me a glad word!”
”I'll see,” answered Phoebe. ”I can let you know by two o'clock whether I can go,” and as she spoke she gathered up her gloves and bag and settled her trim hat by a glance at the long mirror across the room.
”What--what did you say?” demanded David aghast in a second. ”If you think for one minute that I'm going to stand for--”
”But you must remember that my business engagements must always be settled before I can make social ones--at two o'clock then! Good-by, Caroline, dear, such a comfy night under your care! I'm going to stop in the library to speak to the major and then on to the guild if any one calls. Here's to you both!” and she coolly tipped them a kiss from the ends of her fingers.
”Caroline,” remarked David, ”I reckon I must have giggled too loud in my cradle, and the Lord turned around and made Phoebe to settle my glee, don't you think?”
And as Caroline saw him depart with his usual smile and jest she little realized that a jagged wound ran across his blithe heart.
The David within was awakening and developing a highly sensitized nature, which caught Phoebe's note of disapproval, divined its reason and winced under the humiliation of its distrust. The old David would have laughed, chaffed her and gone his way rejoicing--the new David suffered, for a deeply-loved woman can inflict a wound on the inner man that throbs to the depths.
Across the hall Phoebe found the major at his table and, as usual, buried in his books. He was reading one and holding another open in his hand while his pen balanced itself over a page for a note. Phoebe hesitated on the threshold, loath to disturb his feast. But before she could retreat he glanced up and his smile flashed a welcome and an invitation to her, while his books fell together as he rose and held out his hands.
”My dear,” he said, ”I was just reading what Bob Browning says about a 'pearl and a girl'--and thinking of you when up I look to behold you.”
”Thank you, and good morning, Major,” returned Phoebe as a slow smile spread over her grave face. ”I won't disturb you, for I've only a moment!
This hunt to-night--it--it troubles me. Has David forgotten that he is to make a speech on the cutting of the conduit over in the sixteenth ward at half-past seven o'clock? It is one of his most important appointments and--”
”Phoebe,” answered the major as he balanced his pen on one long lean finger, ”do you suppose that women will ever learn that men could dispense with them entirely after their second year--if it wasn't for the loneliness? I see David Kildare failed to make a sufficiently full ap.r.o.n-string report to you this morning of his intentions for the day.”
”Sometimes, Major, you are completely horrid,” answered Phoebe with both a smile and a spark in her eyes, ”but I do care--that is, I'm interested, and--”
”It seems to me,” the major filled in the pause, ”that you are a trifle short on a woman's long suit--patience. Now in the case of David Kildare, you don't want to give him one moment of tortoise speed but must keep him pacing with the hare entirely. Remember the result of that race?”
”But I want him to win--he must! I think--”
”Did you hear that speech he made to the motley and their friends last Monday night? That was as fine an interpretation of the ethics involved in the enforcement of law as I have ever heard or read--delivered to simple minds unversed in the science ethical. He landed hot shot into the very stronghold of the enemy and his audience saw his points. I find the mind of David Kildare rather well provisioned with the diverse ammunition needed in political warfare. The whisky ring is making a stand and fighting the inches of retreat. I believe it to be retreat!”
”But can it be, Major? Andrew says that money is pouring into the city, even from other states. They intend to buy the election, come what will.
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