Part 13 (1/2)
CHAPTER VIII
WILLA SITS IN
”Well, what do you think of her?” Mason North's eyes twinkled as he put the question to the Ripley Halsteads in solemn conference on the following evening.
”A very interesting young woman,” Halstead replied emphatically.
”She's refres.h.i.+ngly genuine and original, in this artificial, cut-and-dried age.”
Mrs. Halstead shuddered.
”Aboriginal, I should say,” she murmured. ”And quite astonis.h.i.+ngly impervious to the social amenities.”
”I gathered that, myself,” Mason North nodded. ”I talked to her till I was blue in the face, but unless she could see a direct reason for doing a thing, or not doing it, she followed her own instinct.”
”It wouldn't lead her far wrong,” declared Halstead. ”She may lack the minor hypocrisies, but she'll wall herself in with them soon enough, the Lord knows. She's willing to listen to reason, that's something.
”The life down there may have been rough, but it has not destroyed her native fineness and high principle. I don't say that I should care to have Angie go through such an experience, but it might have made a man of Vernon to buck up against it. Look at young Thode!”
”Kearn Thode?” The attorney glanced up quickly. ”I thought he was out West?”
”No. Larkin tells me he sent him to Mexico a few months ago. I wonder if Willa happened to run across him? He's a splendid fellow and Larkin banks on his judgment and efficiency. That's the sort of life to bring out the best in a man, or a woman either, to judge from our small cousin. I like her independence, I don't mind telling you. It shows self-reliance and strength.”
”But Willa has not the slightest idea of obligation,” his wife remarked. ”She seems rather to look on the situation as one for mutual commiseration. Any other poor, neglected, friendless creature from the backwoods would be transported into the seventh heaven at such great good fortune, but she accepts it as a more or less onerous duty.”
”You wouldn't call her exactly friendless if you had witnessed the parting ovation she received; the whole town turned out. She's more than a popular favorite down there, she's an idol. Everyone seems to wors.h.i.+p her, down to the lowest half-breed. If we handle her right, I shouldn't wonder if she turns out to be a mighty-fine woman.”
”If we do?” Mrs. Halstead raised her eyebrows. ”Perhaps you have some method to suggest. I admit that for the moment I am baffled. She refused flatly last night to go out of mourning, and I was really thankful for it after reflection; we can at least keep her in the background now, until I have succeeded in eliminating some of those frightful gambling expressions from her vocabulary. She seems to have been pa.s.sionately fond of the impossible person who brought her up. I shudder to think of the impression she would make now on our circle of friends. She doesn't seem in the least ashamed of her past environment, or desirous of concealing her connection with such a character.”
The attorney chuckled.
”I wouldn't advise you to tackle that subject for awhile,” he said.
”You ought to have heard the flaying she gave me when I suggested that no one but the immediate family need know about her foster father. Her opinion of her respected grandfather, in comparison with Gentleman Geoff, was illuminating.”
He gave them the gist of it, and Mrs. Halstead listened with tightened lips.
”I shall tell Willa quite plainly that we and our friends are not interested in her past but only in what she is and may become. She appears to have at least a glimmering of sense and she must soon perceive for herself how disgraceful the whole unfortunate affair would seem to outsiders.” She paused. ”There is something that I do not quite understand about Willa. You are sure, Mason, that she has no vulgar, clandestine affair on her hands?”
”Good heavens, I should hope not! We've got enough to contend with as things stand without that.” The attorney bounced forward in his chair.
”What on earth put such an idea into your head, my dear Irene?”
”She was already in the breakfast-room when I came down this morning, and I thought she looked remarkably fresh, but with these naturally pale people you never can tell.” Mrs. Halstead, too, leaned forward impressively. ”Willa said nothing about having been out, and naturally such a possibility never occurred to me, but Welsh tells me she drove up in a taxi-cab at half-past nine. She must have slipped out very early, for he did not see her go.”
”Surely you questioned her?” her husband asked. North was speechless.
”'She had been out to take a look about the city.'” Mrs. Halstead shrugged. ”She hadn't thought it worth while mentioning; she had always gone and come as she pleased.”
”Exactly the same stall she gave me!” the attorney exploded. ”We'd better look into this, for she gave me the slip half a dozen times on the train and in stations and I never could get any satisfaction out of her.”
”I explained that young ladies did not go about alone in that fas.h.i.+on, at least unless their families knew and sanctioned it, and I pointed out the danger of losing her way. She promised to be more careful another time, but her manner was ambiguous, to say the least. She may have privately intended to be careful lest her future expeditions be discovered, but I have arranged to circ.u.mvent that. Whatever we do, we must have no breath of gossip until she is firmly established.”
If Willa was aware of the respectful surveillance to which she was subjected thereafter she made no sign, possibly because she eluded it whenever she felt inclined with the utmost ease, and no tales were carried back. The servants beneath Mrs. Halstead's iron rule were too fearful of losing their positions to admit a failure of duty unless they were cornered and secretly they sympathized with the strange young lady. Thus Willa came and went as her pleasure dictated in the early-morning hours.