Part 38 (1/2)

”No, Mrs. Trott--mother, I'm going to call you mother. I shall not desert you to-night. From the cottage I saw the hea.r.s.e come here this afternoon and a man told me what it meant. This is your first night alone and I must be with you.”

In silence Lizzie acquiesced. Remembering that Mandy had left supper prepared, she went to the kitchen, lighted a lamp, and began putting the food on the table. Tilly joined her, helping at this and that with swift, deft hands. Presently they sat down opposite each other. Neither ate much, though both were pretending to relish the food. The meal was almost concluded when there was a step on the porch and a vigorous rap on the door. Lizzie started and almost paled.

”Stay where you are,” she said to Tilly. ”I'll be back in a moment.”

Tilly heard her light step to the door, then the door opened and a man's voice sounded: ”h.e.l.lo, Liz! What's all this? My G.o.d! old girl, I just got to town and heard at the hotel about all three, and--”

”Hus.h.!.+” Tilly heard Lizzie's voice ring out. ”Go away, and don't come back ever again. Do you hear me--_never again_?”

”But Liz, Liz! Why, old friend--”

”Go away, I tell you! I don't want you here and I won't have it! Tell all the others to stay away--every one, man and woman. I'm done, I tell you. I'm through. Go, go, I tell you! Go!”

There was a mumbled, bewildered protest which grew fainter and fainter till it ended with the clicking of the gate latch, and Lizzie, white and trembling, returned. She resumed her seat, and with unsteady hands took up her knife and fork, but made no comment on the interruption.

Supper over, they rose and put the things away. After this was done they sat talking in the parlor till nine o'clock. Then Tilly said, ”Now you must go to bed, and so must I.”

Lizzie got another lamp, and when she had lighted it she suddenly bethought herself of something. ”You have no nightgown,” she said. ”Is it at the cottage?”

Tilly nodded. ”Yes; I will run over for it, if you will give me a match to light the gas.”

Lizzie averted her eyes, stood silent for a moment, and then said:

”No, no, you mustn't go at this time of night. Some one might see you leaving here or returning. No, no, that would never do, my child. I have a lot of clean nightgowns, but I have--” Lizzie broke off, her face flus.h.i.+ng, her eyes falling.

”Then why don't you lend me--” Tilly had read the thought of her embarra.s.sed hostess, delicate as it was, and yet did not know how to relieve the situation of its tension.

”Oh, I remember now!” Lizzie suddenly e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed in relief. ”I have some that have just been bought and given to me which I've never worn. They are rather too small for me. In fact, they are about your size. Come to my room and I'll get one.”

To the simple, country-bred girl Lizzie's room seemed a luxurious one in the glow of the pink-shaded lamp on the center-table. The imitation damask curtains at the windows had a costly look, and the wide bed with its silk-lined lace covering and great puffy pillows seemed a thing of royal comfort. On the air a mixture of several perfumes floated. While Tilly stood in the doorway, holding her lamp, Lizzie went to a wardrobe, pulled down a long cardboard box, and began to take out some folded garments. Suddenly she turned her back to Tilly, and with a gown of fine linen in her hands she hastily proceeded to remove the pink ribbons and bows from the neck and sleeves.

”It is too gaudy for you, with all these gewgaws on it,” she awkwardly explained, when she noticed that Tilly was watching her. ”It is not what you'd prefer, I'm sure; but maybe you can make it do for once. It has never been worn. It is just from the store. Here, you can see the price-tag on it.”

Tilly took it, was deeply touched, and bent and kissed Lizzie on the brow. ”Good night, mother,” she said, simply. ”Try to sleep. I can see that you need rest. We are both in a sad plight, aren't we?”

”'Mother'! she called me 'mother'!” Lizzie said to herself, as Tilly turned away. She heard the door of John's room being closed, and, peering out into the corridor, she saw that it was dark save for a thread of light beneath the shutter. Then Lizzie, with a strange sense of something new and hitherto unexperienced in her drab life, started to prepare for bed. She had removed the pins from her hair and was about to let it fall, when all at once she paused, reflected for a moment, and then wound her hair up again.

”No, no, I mustn't go to bed,” she said. ”That would never do. The sweet child is in my care, and nothing shall happen to shock her or prevent her from sleeping. Somebody might come--who knows? Some one too drunk to be decent or orderly.”

Therewith, Lizzie got a light shawl, threw it over her shoulders, blew out her lamp, and crept down the stairs. Seating herself at an open window of the parlor, whence she could see the gate and a part of the street leading townward, she determined to remain on guard through the night.

Ten o'clock came and pa.s.sed, eleven, twelve, one, and still she had no desire for sleep. She had decided how she would act if she saw any one approaching the isolated house. She would hurry out, meet the person before he reached the gate, and, if possible, quietly send him away.

At two o'clock she heard footsteps on the opposite side of the street. A man was slowly and cautiously pa.s.sing, his eyes on the house. Lizzie wondered, and when she saw him pause and retrace his steps, still looking in her direction, she became even alarmed. Her anxiety increased, for when the man was opposite the gate he began slowly to cross the street. From his light, furtive steps Lizzie knew that he was trying to avoid being seen or heard.

Rising, she tiptoed from the parlor into the hall and to the door.

Softly she turned the key, that Tilly might not hear, and stepped upon the porch. The sound she made was evidently heard by the man, for he paused in the middle of the street and stood still. Though the moonlight was clear enough, Lizzie failed to recognize in him any acquaintance of hers. She opened the gate and went directly to him.

”What do you want here?” she demanded, facing him sternly.