Part 40 (2/2)
”Why do you always go rootin' up evil like as if you was diggin' fur clams, Benjamin?” inquired Captain Phineas impatiently, ”All Mr.
Galbraith said was he wanted to see Zenas Henry. There surely is no harm in that. Delight bein' his niece, it's only to be expected he'd want to get sight of the folks she is livin' with. Most natural thing in the world, it seems to me. 'Twould be queerer if he didn't show no interest in the people who have brought her up.”
”That's so, Phineas,” Captain Jonas echoed. ”Nothin's likelier than that he's comin' to sorter thank Zenas Henry.”
”Thank us!” Zenas Henry burst out. ”Thank us for bringin' up our own child! What business is it of his? Do we go traipsin' to Belleport to thank him for bein' good to his children?”
”No, no, Zenas Henry,” Captain Phineas replied soothingly. ”Of course he ain't comin' here to thank us. That would be plumb ridiculous.
More probable he's comin' as I said, to make a friendly call since he's a relative.”
But in spite of this rea.s.surance, the ripple of misgiving had not entirely died away before the well-known touring-car with the New York financier in its tonneau made its appearance at the foot of the hill.
”He's comin', Zenas Henry!”
”There he is!”
”That's him!” was the excited comment.
But Zenas Henry maintained a grim silence. He had risen to his full height and now stood braced to meet an ordeal which he dreaded far more than he would have been willing to admit. His gaunt figure was stiff with resolution, his jaw set, his lips compressed. It was the same expression his countenance had worn the night he had gone forth into the storm to rescue the sinking crew of the _Michleen_ from probable death; it was the expression his companions dreaded and feared,--the fighter ready for combat. Yet his antagonist, as he alighted from the motor-car and crossed the gra.s.s in leisurely fas.h.i.+on, appeared to be anything but a formidable adversary. He came toward Delight, who had hurried out to meet him, with easy friendliness, his hands extended and a smile of genuine affection on his face.
”I am glad to see you, my dear,” he said, ”--and in your own home, too.
I fancy you must have thought me a great while in coming. I was detained in New York much longer than I expected; otherwise you would have seen me days ago.”
She smiled up into the kindly gray eyes.
”And my, my, my! What a lot of mischief you and Bob have been getting into in my absence! You sly little puss! You may well blush. The bare idea of your springing a surprise like that on your new uncle!
Bob has told me all about it,” he suddenly became grave, ”and I am very glad for you both. You could not have chosen a finer husband, little girl. Robert Morton is one man in a thousand. We'll talk more of him by and by. Just now I wish to meet all your family. You must present each one, so that I shall not get all these many captains confused.”
How simply and naturally he bridged the awkwardness of the moment!
Before they realized it, Abbie and the three veteran seafarers were chatting gaily with the visitor, and even Zenas Henry was venturing out of his reserve and unbending into geniality when the words ”_and now to business_” chilled the warmth of his mood and sent him back into his sh.e.l.l, thrilling with vague forebodings.
With every eye fixed expectantly upon him, Mr. Galbraith took off his Panama and fanned himself.
”Now that we have put together a few of the links that bind our two families,” he began, ”and laid the foundation for a friends.h.i.+p which I hope the future will foster, there are a few intimate matters of which I wish to speak. First there is Bob Morton, and if you want any rea.s.suring as to his character, I can give it to you. Your own wise and shrewd discrimination has led you to accept him at his face value and your estimate of him has not been a mistaken one. I do not think there is a young man in the world of greater sterling worth than the one your daughter has chosen for a husband.”
At the firm emphasis on the word _daughter_, Zenas Henry's jaw relaxed.
”Of course, you feel the same anxiety for your child that I feel for mine, and realize how much a woman's happiness depends on the man into whose hands she puts her life. In giving up Cynthia I know what it means to you to give up Delight. We parents cannot expect to have all the joy and none of the suffering that comes with having children, however.” He looked at Zenas Henry and a quiet sympathy pa.s.sed from one man to the other. ”But we should be selfish indeed were we to deny to those we love the best gift heaven has to bestow. It is making others happy in their way, not in ours, that tests our real affection for them. And so I know that underneath all your personal regrets you rejoice in the prospect of Delight's marriage as I rejoice in Cynthia's. We shall not always be in this world to safeguard our daughters. How much better to see their future in the protection of younger and stronger men than ourselves!”
”Yes, yes!” murmured Zenas Henry.
”And now I want to speak to Delight, although I am sure she will wish you to hear what I have to say to her. It is a matter of business about which she alone can decide. When Madam Lee, her grandmother, died, she left a large property in real estate and securities which she willed outright to an old friend of whom she was devotedly fond. She felt the Galbraiths were amply provided for and therefore, with the exception of certain jewels and heirlooms that were to be retained in the family, she bequeathed them nothing. We understood the motives that governed her in thus disposing of her property and were in full accord with them. The doc.u.ment, however, was drawn up before she knew of the existence of this other granddaughter, and in view of this fact, the person to whom the property is willed feels that it is only just that the whole or a part of it should be relinquished in Delight's favor.”
There was an instant's pause.
”This the beneficiary does of his own accord, not alone as a matter of duty or as a matter of honor, but because his affection was so deep for Madam Lee that it is a pleasure to him to act as he thinks she would have desired. Had not her end come so suddenly, she would without doubt have made a new will and done this herself.”
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