Part 16 (1/2)

Of one thing she was sure. She wanted with all the intensity of her nature to get away, to leave Merryvale and all its inhabitants, black and white. Why, there was no place to which she could go! To turn down the path to her black mother's cottage, there to find herself a stranger, was more than she could bear; she would not go again until she went to say good-by. But here at the great house life was always difficult. She wearied of Miss Witherspoon and even of her dear Miss Patty; they were so bent upon running her as though she were a private show. She liked Mr. Merryvale sincerely, but she often avoided him, for once he asked her to walk with him and on the way they met his son; and she was in terror lest they two be left together.

For it was the younger man who made life difficult. He would not give up trying to speak with her, while never for a moment would she permit him to see her alone. She had resolved upon this course the night that she had come into his home and she did not mean to swerve from it. If Hertha Williams had not been worthy of a lasting love neither was Hertha Ogilvie. She avoided him, and when he had written her put back the letter unread in his room. But as she saw him at table, his bright face looking all attention if she spoke the simplest word; as she was the recipient of every courtesy from him, when, with the others, they sat in the living-room; as she caught his eye, the rare times that she glanced up when he was near and saw the old look in his face; she feared she could not trust herself if he should speak.

A knock at her door. She did not open it but asked who was there.

There was no answer; and though the knock was repeated she made no motion to open the door.

No, she would not talk with him. He had despised her, and now, as Ellen said, she could despise him. There was tonic in the thought.

”Hertha!” a voice called.

She was standing at the window and despite herself looked down to where Lee Merryvale stood below.

”Come!” he cried.

It sounded like a command. She shook her head angrily and walked back into the room. This was persecution. There was no place for her. Mammy's home was closed and in this she must continually evade one of the household.

Another knock. This time it was Miss Witherspoon. ”May I come in just for a moment?” that lady said.

Hertha smiled pleasantly but inwardly felt resentment.

”I want so much to let you know what I've been thinking about,” Miss Witherspoon announced as she entered the room. ”I've just remembered a nice old couple whom I haven't seen for more than a year who live only a block from the Inst.i.tute. I believe they would be delighted to take you to board.”

”Yes?”

”Mrs. Palmer Field. I remember her well now. Her husband at one time was a clerk in a bank, though I don't know what he may be doing at present.

The last time I saw him he looked too old to be a clerk. Probably they would be very glad to take you in, and would charge you only a dollar more than at Clay House. And there is something, you know, in what Miss Merryvale says about your having some social life. They are quiet, elderly people who sometimes take a student to board. I'll write and tell them about you and see whether they will take you in.”

”I would rather wait, Miss Witherspoon; we start North in a few days.”

”It doesn't do any harm to write; then when we go to see them they will know who you are.”

”Are you telling every one about me?” The question came with a touch of anger.

”Why, yes, what else should I do? You have to tell something of your past, and how much better to have it known so that there will be no questioning. I a.s.sure you every one will be most considerate. Your story, with the legacy left you, has a touch of romance; and what a pretty name, too, 'Hertha,' Is it German?”

”Perhaps.”

”Please excuse me,” the Boston woman said as she moved apologetically toward the door, ”I shouldn't have come in for I know you're tired of all our talk, but I had a new idea and I wanted you to hear it.”

She looked pleasant as she spoke and Hertha smiled back, but when the door was shut the girl threw herself face downward upon the bed. It was a new thought to her that people would know her story, and she resented it. It was partly to escape the story that she was leaving here, and now she was to be discussed and pointed at in Boston as the white girl who grew up among Negroes. Instead of escaping from her past it was to follow her into the land where she had expected to be free.

Another knock at the door. Hertha rose slowly, and without opening, called, ”Who is it?”

”Jes' me, _Miss_ Hertha.”

She opened, to find the cook, Pomona, outside.

”Some one wantin' ter speak wid you, _Miss_ Hertha.”