Part 10 (2/2)

The old Colonel, who had once had a fad for collecting coins, and owned a large a.s.sortment, held out his hand for it. Adjusting his gla.s.ses, he examined it carefully. ”Ah! Most interesting,” he observed. ”Coined in the reign of 'b.l.o.o.d.y Mary,' and bearing the heads of Queen Mary and King Philip. You remember this s.h.i.+lling is mentioned in Butler's 'Hudibras:'

”'Still amorous and fond and billing, Like Philip and Mary on a s.h.i.+lling.'

”You couldn't have a more appropriate token for your cake, my dear,” he said to Eugenia with a smile. Then he laid it on the table, and taking up his papers, pa.s.sed back into his den.

”That's the first time I ever heard my name in a poem,” said Phil. ”By rights I ought to draw that s.h.i.+lling in my share of cake. If I do I shall take it as a sign that history is going to repeat itself, and shall look around for a ladye-love named Mary. Now I know a dozen songs with that name, and such things always come in handy when 'a frog he would a-wooing go,' There's 'My Highland Mary' and 'Mary of Argyle,'

and 'Mistress Mary, quite contrary,' and 'Mary, call the cattle home, across the sands of Dee!'”

As he rattled thoughtlessly on, nothing was farther from his thoughts than the self-conscious little Mary just behind him. n.o.body saw her face grow red, however, for Lloyd's exclamation over the last token made every one crowd around her to see.

It was a small heart-shaped charm of crystal, probably intended for a watch-fob. There was a four-leaf clover, somehow mysteriously imbedded in the centre.

”That ought to be doubly lucky,” said Eugenia. ”Oh, _what_ a dear Stuart was to take so much trouble to get the very nicest things. They couldn't be more suitable.”

”Eugenia,” asked Betty, ”have you thought of that other rhyme that brides always consider? You know you should wear

”'Something old, something new, Something borrowed, something blue.'”

”Yes, Eliot insisted on that, too. The whole outfit will, itself, be something new, the lace that was on my mother's wedding-gown will be the something old. I thought I'd borrow a hairpin apiece from you girls, and I haven't decided yet about the something blue.”

”No,” objected Lloyd. ”The borrowed articles ought to be something really valuable. Let me lend you my little pearl clasps to fasten your veil, and then for the something blue, there is your turquoise b.u.t.terfly. You can slip it on somewhere, undah the folds of lace.”

”What a lot of fol-de-rol there is about a wedding,” said Rob. ”As if it made a particle of difference whether you wear pink or green! _Why_ must it be blue?”

There was an indignant protest from all the girls, and Rob made his escape to the library, calling to Joyce to come and finish the game of chess.

That evening, Mary, sitting on the floor of the library in front of the Poets' Corner, took down volume after volume to scan its index. She was looking for the songs Phil had mentioned, which contained her name. At the same time she also kept watch for the name of Philip. She remembered she had read some lines one time about ”Philip my King.”

As she pored over the poems in the dim light, for only the shaded lamp on the central table was burning, she heard steps on the porch outside.

The rain had stopped early in the afternoon, and the porches had dried so that the hammocks and chairs could be put out again. Now voices sounded just outside the window where she sat, and the creaking of a screw in the post told that some one was sitting in the hammock.

Evidently it was Lloyd, for Phil's voice sounded nearer the window. He had seated himself in the armchair that always stood in that niche, and was tuning a guitar. As soon as it was keyed up to his satisfaction, he began thrumming on it, a sort of running accompaniment to their conversation.

It did not occur to Mary that she was eavesdropping, for they were talking of impersonal things, just the trifles of the hour; and she caught only a word now and then as she scanned the story of Enoch Arden.

The name Philip, in it, had arrested her attention.

”I think the maid of honor ought to wear something blue as well as the bride,” remarked Phil.

”_Why?_” asked Lloyd.

There was such a long pause that Mary looked up, wondering why he did not answer.

”_Why?_” asked Lloyd again.

Phil thrummed on a moment longer, and then began playing in a soft minor key, and his answer, when it finally came, seemed at first to have no connection with what he had been talking about.

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