Part 20 (2/2)

Mr. Leslie did not reply immediately; after a while he rose and stood leaning against a tree. ”Mrs. Sheldon,” he said, looking down at her with a smile, ”you will not lose Sibyl.”

”What do you mean, Mr. Leslie?”

”Only this; she will not go to Saratoga,” replied the clergyman, walking away towards the ravine.

”Well!” thought Aunt Faith, as she recovered from her astonishment, ”if I did not know Sibyl so well, I should be inclined to think Mr.

Leslie was right. If any one can break through her worldliness, he can; but I fear it is too strong even for him.”

In the meanwhile the rest of the party were loitering in the glen by the brook. Gideon Fish after gorging himself with jelly-cake, was inclined to be sportive.

”Oh!” he cried, throwing himself back upon the moss, ”I feel like a child let loose from school! Let us indulge our lighter natures; let us for once give up deep thought! Mr. Leslie, it will do _you_ good also. I remember once when some of my college-mates happened to meet at our house last summer, we were sitting on the piazza talking together, and all unwittingly we got so deep down among the ponderous mysteries of psychology; so wrought with the mighty thoughts evolved from our own brains; so uplifted in grappling with gigantic reasonings, that, fearful for our very sanity, we rushed out upon the lawn like children; we rolled upon the gra.s.s; we found a ball and tossed to each other; anything,--anything to keep ourselves down to earth.”

”But, Gideon,” said Mr. Leslie, smiling, ”my reason is in no danger of any such overthrow. I never climbed to such heights as you describe.”

”Probably not; very few, if any, mortal minds have ever ascended as high as ours did that afternoon,” replied Gideon. ”Miss Darrell, I see a delicate little tendril on the other side of the brook. Shall we go over and pluck it?”

”No,” said Bessie, shortly; ”I don't care for tendrils.”

”I will go with you, Mr. Fish,” said Rose Saxon rising, and of course Gideon was obliged to accompany her, although she was not the companion he preferred. As Rose turned away, she looked meaningly at Bessie, who started, and then smiled to herself. After five or ten minutes when the tendril-hunters had disappeared on the other side of the glen, Bessie suddenly proposed that they should all cross over, and, after some persuasion, she succeeded in getting the whole party across the brook. Then she lured them on slowly, turning here and there, until she caught the sound of voices. ”Hus.h.!.+” she said, ”what is that?” They all stopped, and distinctly heard Rose Saxon's voice, somewhat louder than usual, coming from behind some high bushes. ”No, Mr. Fis.h.!.+” she said, emphatically, ”it can never be. I must request you to say no more; this subject must be set at rest forever.” Then they heard Gideon; ”Excuse me Miss Saxon, but--” ”Not another word, Mr. Fis.h.!.+” interrupted Rose, cutting short his sentence. ”I would not wound you needlessly, but we are not suited to each other. I have long known your secret,--I have tried to ward off this avowal,--I beg you to say no more.”

”Miss Saxon, I a.s.sure you--” began Gideon, in an agitated voice, but Rose stopped him again; ”Mr. Fish, if you _will_ persist in speaking, I must leave you,” she said, pus.h.i.+ng aside the bushes and disclosing the party on the other side to her companion's gaze. ”What, Bessie!--all of you here? How very embarra.s.sing!” Gideon Fish gave one look at the company and then turned and retreated down the glen; when he was out of hearing, the two girls ran away into the wood to indulge in a hearty laugh. They made no confessions to the others, but every one suspected the truth, and when poor Gideon returned to take them aside, one by one, and a.s.sure them that he had ”no idea what Miss Saxon meant,” that he ”admired her exceedingly, but as for anything serious the thought had never occurred to him,” that he was ”speaking to her of the tendrils, when suddenly, without any connection, she began talking in the most singular way,” his auditors would laugh merrily and turn away, leaving Gideon more miserable than ever.

”My good fellow,” said Hugh gravely, when his turn came, ”let me give you a piece of advice. Don't try to back out of it now. We all heard you; and we all feel for you. Miss Saxon is a charming young lady, but if she does not like you, you must bear it like a man.”

”But I never intended,--I never thought of such a thing,--it is all a mistake!” stammered the unfortunate Gideon.

”Of course it was a mistake,” replied Hugh. ”You thought she liked you and she didn't. If I was you I wouldn't say any more about it.”

So poor Gideon got but cold comfort in his trouble. He wandered about looking half-angry, half-perplexed; he almost began to think he had said something to Rose, after all!

”The mighty thoughts evolved from his brain are in some confusion, I fear,” whispered Bessie to Rose; ”he will have no trouble in keeping himself down to earth _this_ afternoon, I think.”

After some hours, the party a.s.sembled in the glen to join in a round game. ”It is very dark,” said Aunt Faith, looking up through the thick foliage; ”I fear we are going to have a storm.”

”Let us run down to the lakesh.o.r.e and look,” said Bessie, and several of the young people started down the glen, followed by the rest of the party at a slower pace; all but Sibyl who still remained on the rock with Graham Marr.

When they reached the beach, a threatening expanse of sky and water met their gaze; the lake was unusually still, but its blue changed into a leaden gray, and out in the west a white streak followed by a black line told of the approaching squall. In the south, and east, the sky was clear and summer-like, but from the north-west great clouds came rolling up, looking black and menacing, and the air was oppressively close.

”A thunder-storm!” said Hugh, ”and close upon us too!”

”Oh, I am so terribly afraid of thunder!” said Edith Chase, turning pale. ”What shall we do?”

”Why did we not notice the storm before?” said Aunt Faith, in dismay; ”it must have been some time coming up.”

”No, Aunt,” said Bessie; ”probably not more than ten minutes. That is what I mean when I call the western lakes treacherous; the changes are so sudden.”

”You are right, Miss Darrell,” said Mr. Gay, looking over the dark water with an uneasy expression in his face; ”I don't think much of these fresh water mill-ponds. On the ocean, now, we know what to expect.”

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