Part 71 (1/2)
”It wouldn't have done any good. I tried to do that.”
”And wouldn't they listen?”
”No. They burned my--my house and tried to shoot me.”
”Oh! How could they!” And then, gently, ”Oh, Peter. You _have_ had troubles, haven't you?”
”I don't mind. If I hadn't had them, I wouldn't have come here and I wouldn't have found you.”
”So after all, I ought to be glad they did fire you out,” she said gently.
”But aren't you curious to know _why_ they did?”
”I am, if you want to tell me, but even if it was bad, I don't care _what_ you did, Peter.”
He took her fingers to his lips.
”It wasn't so very bad after all, Beth. It wasn't so much what I did as what my--er--my family had done that made them angry.”
”Well, _you_ weren't responsible for what your kin-folks did.”
Peter laughed softly.
”_They_ seemed to think so. My--er--my kin-folks were mixed up in politics in Russia and one of my cousins had a pretty big job--too big a job for _him_ and that's the truth.” A cloud pa.s.sed for a moment over Peter's face and he looked away.
”But what did _his_ job have to do with _you_?” she asked.
”Well, you see, we were all mixed up with him, just by being related--at least that's what the people thought. And so when my cousin did a lot of things the people thought he oughtn't to do and didn't do a lot of other things that they thought he _ought_ to have done, they believed that I was just the same sort of man that he was.”
”How unjust, Peter!”
He smiled at the ceiling.
”I thought so. I told them what I thought. I did what I could to straighten things out and to help them, but they wouldn't listen.
Instead they burned my--my house down and I had to run away.”
”How terrible for you!” And then, after a pause, ”Was it a pretty house, Peter?”
”Yes,” he replied slowly, ”it was. A very pretty house--in the midst of a forest, with great pines all about it. I wish they hadn't burned that house, Beth, because I loved it.”
”Poor dear! I'm _so_ sorry.”
”I thought you would be, because it was a big house, with pictures, books, music----”
”All burned! Land's sakes alive!”
”And a wonderful grand piano.”
”Oh, Peter!” And then with a flash of joy, ”But you're goin' to have another grand piano just like it soon.”