Part 24 (2/2)
A laugh went up, and then, at sight of Mrs. Makely heading our little party, the people round h.o.m.os civilly made way for us. She rushed upon him, and seized his hand in both of hers; she dropped her fan, parasol, gloves, handkerchief, and vinaigrette in the gra.s.s to do so. ”Oh, Mr.
h.o.m.os,” she fluted, and the tears came into her eyes, ”it was beautiful, _beautiful_, every word of it! I sat in a perfect trance from beginning to end, and I felt that it was all as true as it was beautiful. People all around me were breathless with interest, and I don't know how I can ever thank you enough.”
”Yes, indeed,” the professor hastened to say, before the Altrurian could answer, and he beamed malignantly upon him through his spectacles while he spoke, ”it was like some strange romance.”
”I don't know that I should go so far as that,” said the banker, in his turn, ”but it certainly seemed too good to be true.”
”Yes,” the Altrurian responded, simply, but a little sadly; ”now that I am away from it all, and in conditions so different, I sometimes had to ask myself, as I went on, if my whole life had not hitherto been a dream, and Altruria were not some blessed vision of the night.”
”Then you know how to account for a feeling which I must acknowledge, too?” the lawyer asked, courteously. ”But it was most interesting.”
”The kingdom of G.o.d upon earth,” said the minister--”It ought not to be incredible; but that, more than anything else you told us of, gave me pause.”
”You of all men?” returned the Altrurian, gently.
”Yes,” said the minister, with a certain dejection, ”when I remember what I have seen of men, when I reflect what human nature is, how can I believe that the kingdom of G.o.d will ever come upon the earth?”
”But in heaven, where He reigns, who is it does His will? The spirits of men?” pursued the Altrurian.
”Yes, but conditioned as men are here--”
”But if they were conditioned as men are there?”
”Now, I can't let you two good people get into a theological dispute,”
Mrs. Makely pushed in. ”Here is Mr. Twelvemough dying to shake hands with Mr. h.o.m.os and compliment his distinguished guest.”
”Ah, Mr. h.o.m.os knows what I must have thought of his talk without my telling him,” I began, skilfully. ”But I am sorry that I am to lose my distinguished guest so soon.”
Reuben Camp broke out: ”That was my blunder, Mr. Twelvemough. Mr. h.o.m.os and I had talked it over conditionally, and I was not to speak of it till he had told you; but it slipped out in the excitement of the moment.”
”Oh, it's all right,” I said, and I shook hands cordially with both of them. ”It will be the greatest possible advantage for Mr. h.o.m.os to see certain phases of American life at close range, and he couldn't possibly see them under better auspices than yours, Camp.”
”Yes, I'm going to drive him through the hill country after haying, and then I'm going to take him down and show him one of our big factory towns.”
I believe this was done, but finally the Altrurian went on to New York, where he was to pa.s.s the winter. We parted friends; I even offered him some introductions; but his acquaintance had become more and more difficult, and I was not sorry to part with him. That taste of his for low company was incurable, and I was glad that I was not to be responsible any longer for whatever strange thing he might do next. I think he remained very popular with the cla.s.ses he most affected; a throng of natives, construction hands, and table-girls saw him off on his train; and he left large numbers of such admirers in our house and neighborhood, devout in the faith that there was such a commonwealth as Altruria, and that he was really an Altrurian. As for the more cultivated people who had met him, they continued of two minds upon both points.
THE END
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