Part 19 (1/2)
The girl flushed, then was vexed at her embarra.s.sment and changed suddenly to the old, appealing Phbe.
”I remember, Davie. You were my salvation that day, you and Mother Bab.”
Before they could answer she added with seeming innocency, yet with a swift glance into the face of the farmer boy, ”I must go now so I'll be home when Phares comes to invite me to that sale. I'm going with him; I'm wild to go.”
”Yes?” David said slowly.
”Yes,” she repeated, a teasing look in her eyes.
”Mommie, isn't she fine?” David said after Phbe was gone and he lingered in the house.
”Mighty fine. But she is so different from the general run of girls; she's so lively and bright and sweet, so sensitive to all impressions.
She's anxious to get to the city to study music. It would be a wonderful experience for her--and yet----”
”And yet----” echoed David, then fell into silence.
Mother Bab was thinking of her boy and Phbe, of their gay comrades.h.i.+p.
How friendly they were, how well-mated they appeared to be, how appreciative of each other. Could they ever care for each other in a deeper way? Did the preacher care for the playmate of his childhood as she thought David was beginning to care?
”Well, I must go again, mommie. I came in for a drink at the pump and heard you and Phbe. Now I must hustle for I have a lot to do before sundown--ach, why aren't we rich!”
”Do you wish for that?”
”Certainly I do. Not wealthy; just to have enough so we needn't lie awake wondering if the dry spell or the wet spell or the hail will ruin the crops. I wish I could find an Aladdin's lamp.”
”Davie”--the smile faded from her face--”don't get the money craze.
Money isn't everything. This farm is paid for and we can always make a comfortable living. Money isn't all.”
”No, but--but it means everything sometimes to a young, single fellow.
But don't you worry; the crops are fine this year, so far.”
The mother did not forget his words at once. ”It must be,” she thought, ”that David wants Phbe and feels he must have more money before he can ask her to marry him. Will men never learn that girls who are worth getting are not looking so much for money but the man. The young can't see the depth and fullness of love. I've tried to teach David, but I suppose there's some things he must learn for himself.”
CHAPTER X
AN OLD-FAs.h.i.+ONED COUNTRY SALE
A WEEK later Phares and Phbe drove into the barnyard of a farm six miles from Greenwald, where the old-fas.h.i.+oned sale was scheduled to be held.
”We are not the first, after all,” said the preacher as he saw the number of conveyances in and about the barnyard. He smiled good-humoredly as he led the way--he could afford to smile when he was with Phbe.
All about the big yard of the farm were placed articles to be sold at public auction. It was a miscellaneous collection. A cradle with miniature puffy feather pillows, straw tick and an old patchwork quilt of pink and white calico stood near an old wood-stove which bore the inscription, CONOWINGO FURNACE. Corn-husk shoe-mats, a quilting frame, rocking-chairs, two spinning-wheels, copper kettles, rolls of hand-woven rag carpet, old oval hat-boxes and an old chest stood about a huge table which was laden with jars of jellies. Chests, filled with linens and antique woolen coverlets, afforded a resting place for the fortunate ones who had arrived earliest. A few antique chairs and tables, a mahogany highboy in excellent condition and an antique corner-cupboard of wild-cherry wood occupied prominent places among the collection.
Truly, the sale warranted the attention it was receiving.
”I'd like to bid on something--I'm going to do it!” Phbe said as they looked about. ”When I was a little girl and went to sales with Aunt Maria I coaxed to bid, just for the excitement of bidding. But she always made me tell what I wanted and then she bid on it.”
”What do you want to buy?” asked the preacher.