Part 26 (2/2)
”'Most fifty years ago we was married, Hezekiah an' me,” she began softly. ”We'd saved, both of us, an' we'd planned a honeymoon trip. We was comin' ter Boston. They didn't have any 'lectric-cars then nor any steam-cars only half-way. But we was comin' an' we was plannin' on Bunker Hill an' Faneuil Hall, an' I don't know what all.”
The little lady paused for breath and Harding stirred uneasily in his chair. Livingstone did not move. His eyes were fixed on a mirror across the room. Over at the sideboard the waiter vigorously wiped a bottle.
”Well, we was married,” continued the tremulous voice, ”an' not half an hour later mother fell down the cellar stairs an' broke her hip. Of course that stopped things right short. I took off my weddin' gown an'
put on my old red caliker an' went ter work. Hezekiah came right there an' run the farm an' I nursed mother an' did the work. 'T was more'n a year 'fore she was up 'round, an' after that, what with the babies an'
all, there didn't never seem a chance when Hezekiah an' me could take this trip.
”If we went anywhere we couldn't seem ter manage ter go tergether, an'
we never stayed fer no sight-seein'. Late years my Jennie an' her husband seemed ter think we didn't need nothin' but naps an' knittin', an' somehow we got so we jest couldn't stand it. We wanted ter go somewhere an' see somethin', so.”
Mrs. Warden paused, drew a long breath, and resumed. Her voice now had a ring of triumph.
”Well, last month they got the 'lectric-cars finished down our way. We hadn't been on 'em, neither of us. Jennie an' Frank didn't seem ter want us to. They said they was shaky an' noisy an' would tire us all out. But yesterday, when the folks was gone, Hezekiah an' me got ter talkin' an'
thinkin' how all these years we hadn't never had that honeymoon trip, an' how by an' by we'd be old--real old, I mean, so's we couldn't take it--an' all of a sudden we said we'd take it now, right now. An' we did.
We left a note fer the children, an'--an' we're here!”
There was a long silence. Over at the sideboard the waiter still polished his bottle. Livingstone did not even turn his head. Finally Harding raised his gla.s.s.
”We'll drink to honeymoon trips in general and to this one in particular,” he cried, a little constrainedly.
Mrs. Warden flushed, smiled, and reached for her gla.s.s. The pink lemonade was almost at her lips when Livingstone's arm shot out. Then came the tinkle of shattered gla.s.s and a crimson stain where the wine trailed across the damask.
”I beg your pardon!” exclaimed Livingstone, while the other men lowered their gla.s.ses in surprise. ”That was an awkward slip of mine, Mrs.
Warden. I must have hit your arm.”
”But, Bill,” muttered Harding under his breath, ”you don't mean--”
”But I do,” corrected Livingstone quietly, looking straight into Harding's amazed eyes.
”Mr. and Mrs. Warden are my guests. They are going to drive to Bunker Hill with me by and by.”
When the six o'clock accommodation train pulled out from Boston that night it bore a little old man and a little old woman, gray-haired, weary, but blissfully content.
”We've seen 'em all, Hezekiah, ev'ry single one of 'em,” Abigail was saying. ”An' wan't Mr. Livingstone good, a-gittin' that carriage an'
takin' us ev'rywhere; an' it bein' open so all 'round the sides, we didn't miss seein' a single thing!”
”He was, Abby, he was, an' he wouldn't let me pay one cent!” cried Hezekiah, taking out his roll of bills and patting it lovingly. ”But, Abby, did ye notice? 'Twas kind o' queer we never got one taste of that pink lemonade. The waiter-man took it away.”
When Aunt Abby Waked Up
The room was very still. The gaunt figure on the bed lay motionless save for a slight lifting of the chest at long intervals. The face was turned toward the wall, leaving a trail of thin gray hair-wisps across the pillow. Just outside the door two physicians talked together in low tones, with an occasional troubled glance toward the silent figure on the bed.
”If there could be something that would rouse her,” murmured one; ”something that would p.r.i.c.k her will-power and goad it into action! But this lethargy--this wholesale giving up!” he finished with a gesture of despair.
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