Part 20 (1/2)
”Listen--they are coming.”
Angelo got out then and clambered in beside her, and they both peered into the darkness whence footsteps came. The two were walking slowly, Hiltze leading the girl carefully. She walked shrinkingly, her face showing deathly pale in the shadowy night.
Eveley got out at once and went to meet them, surprised at the great wave of tenderness sweeping over her. She felt somehow that it was a daughter of hers, coming back to her out of suffering and sorrow. She put her arms protectingly about the girl, and kissed her cheek.
”Marie,” she said softly, ”you are going to be my sister. I--I think I love you already. I felt it when I saw you come out of the darkness.”
The girl did not speak, but her slender fingers closed convulsively about Eveley's, and there was a catch like a little sob in her throat.
Eveley herself helped her into the car, and pulled the rugs and blankets about her.
”It is very foggy, and the air is cold. We do not want a little sick girl on our hands. Pull them close about you. Oh, your cape is very light--you must take my furs. It is much warmer in front, and I do not need them.
Now, are you all ready? This is my little pal Angelo Moreno with me, but don't pay any attention to him to-night. You will see him again. Now, all ready and off we go.”
Angelo sat silently musing in his corner during the long ride back to town, and Eveley sang softly almost beneath her breath. In the back seat there was silence, too. Only once Eveley turned to call to them blithely:
”I was frightened and anxious at first, but now I feel happy and full of hope. I think you are going to bring me great good fortune, Sister Marie.”
”You are--most heavenly kind,” said Marie, in slow soft English, with the exquisite toning of her Spanish tongue.
”Oh, Marie,” cried Eveley rapturously. ”Those are the first words I ever heard you say--such kind and loving words. I shall never forget them.”
The rest of the ride was taken in absolute silence, and at the door of her cottage when she ran the car into the garage, Angelo carried Marie's bag up the steps silently, and Hiltze helped her, while Eveley ran hospitably in front to have the window open and the lights on. She thrust out an eager hand to help Marie through the window, and then she gaily faced their escorts.
”Not to-night,” she cried. ”You can not come in even for a minute. Sister Marie and I are going to have hot chocolate all by ourselves, and--and find out how we like each other's looks. Many thanks--good night.”
Then she closed the window and turned to the slender shrinking figure at her side, drawing back the heavy hood that s.h.i.+elded the girl's face to look into the features of the little foreign waif she had taken to her heart.
CHAPTER XIV
NEW LIGHT ON LOYALTY
A quick thrill of pleasure swept over Eveley as she looked into the face of her young guest.
”Duty?” No, it would be a joy to teach this soft and lovely creature the glorious principles of freedom, justice and equality. This was Eveley's sphere--she felt it--she knew it. She took Marie's slender hands in both of hers, and squeezed them rapturously.
”Oh, I am so happy,” she cried ecstatically. ”I think you are adorable.”
For Marie's soft dark eyes, the soft waves of dark hair drooping over the low forehead, the slender oval of the olive tinted face, the crimson curving lips, the shrinking figure presented such a picture of exquisite helplessness that Eveley's brave and buoyant soul rose leaping to the appeal.
She removed the dark cape from Marie's shoulders, and took her bag, leading her into the small east bedroom which had been so charmingly dressed for her.
”This is your home now, Marie, I hope for a long, long time. It is your home, and you are as free as a bird. You are not my servant, but my sister and my friend. I want you to be happy. You are to think as you like, do as you like, go or stay as you like. You are mistress of your own life, now and all the time.”
”It is very lovely,” said Marie softly. ”And you are an angel from Heaven.”
”Not a bit of it,” laughed Eveley. ”You do not know me. I am the humanest thing you ever saw in your life.” She lifted Marie's bag lightly to a low table. ”Now, this door opens to the bath--my bedroom door leads into it from the opposite side. And this is your closet, and these drawers are all empty, so use them as you wish. Why don't you put on a negligee, now, and rest? And while you are alone for a minute, to collect yourself and unpack your bag, I shall run out and put on the chocolate. We must have a hot luncheon after our cold ride. Are you very cold? I think I'd better light the fire in your grate--it is all ready. There, that is better now.
If I ever do get married I must certainly have wonderful luck, if there is any faith in signs, for I do build the fieriest fires. Now, do not hurry, I'll come back in a few minutes. I think I shall put on a negligee too,” she added, as Marie drew a silk gown from her bag. ”And then we'll be surely settled down and right at home together.”
With a warm and dazzling smile, she ran out to put the chocolate on the grill, and arrange the sandwiches and fruit and cake on the table around the bowl of drooping roses, and then, humming blithely, hurried into her own room to change from her heavy dress to a soft house gown.