Part 45 (1/2)
”I took a longer ramble than I intended,” I replied, with a laugh. ”I think I lost myself a little. I don't deserve any supper, and only want a cup of tea.” Miss Warren played very softly for a moment, and I knew she was listening to my lame excuses.
”It doesn't matter what thee wants; I know what thee needs. Thee isn't out of my hands altogether yet; come right into the dining-room.”
”I should think you would be slow to revolt against such a benign government,” remarked Mr. Hearn most graciously, and the thought occurred to me that he was not displeased to have me out of the way so long.
”Yes, indeed,” chimed in Mr. Yocomb; ”we're always all the better for minding mother. Thee'll find that out, Richard, after thee's been here a few weeks longer.”
”Mr. Yocomb, you're loyalty itself. If women ever get their rights, our paper will nominate Mrs. Yocomb for President.”
”I've all the rights I want now, Richard, and I've the right to scold thee for not taking better care of thyself.”
”I'll submit to anything from you. You are wiser than the advanced female agitators, for you know you've all the power now, and that we men are always at your mercy.”
”Well, now that thee talks of mercy, I won't scold thee, but give thee thy supper at once.”
”Thee always knew, Richard, how to get around mother,” laughed the genial old man, whose life ever seemed as mellow and ripe as a juicy fall pippin.
Adah followed her mother in to a.s.sist her, and I saw that Miss Warren had turned toward us.
”Why, Richard Morton!” exclaimed Mrs. Yocomb, as I entered the lighted dining-room. ”Thee looks as pale and haggard as a ghost. Thee must have got lost indeed and gone far beyond thy strength.”
”Can--can I do anything to a.s.sist you, Mrs. Yocomb?” asked a timid voice from the doorway.
I was glad that Adah was in the kitchen at the moment, for I lost at once my ghostly pallor. ”Yes,” said Mrs. Yocomb heartily, ”come in and make this man eat, and scold him soundly for going so far away as to get lost when he's scarcely able to walk at all. I've kind of promised I wouldn't scold him, and somebody must.”
”I'd scold like Xanthippe if I thought it would do any good,” she said, with a faint smile; but her eyes were full of reproach. For a moment Mrs. Yocomb disappeared behind the door of her china closet, and Miss Warren added, in a low, hurried whisper to me, ”You promised me to get well; you are not keeping your word.”
”That cuts worse than anything Xanthippe could have said.”
”I don't want to cut, but to cure.”
”Then become the opposite of what you are; that would cure me.”
”With such a motive I'm tempted to try,” she said, with a half-reckless laugh, for Adah was entering with some delicate toast.
”Miss Adah,” I cried, ”I owe you a supper at the Brunswick for this, and I'll pay my debt the first chance you'll give me.”
”If thee talks of paying, I'll not go with thee,” she said, a little coldly; and she seemingly did not like the presence of Miss Warren nor the tell-tale color in my cheeks.
”That's a deserved rebuke, Miss Adah. I know well enough that I can never repay all your kindness, and so I won't try. But you'll go with me because I want you to, and because I will be proud of your company.
I shall be the envy of all the men present.”
”They'd think me very rustic,” she said, smiling.
”Quite as much so as a moss-rose. But you'll see. I will be besieged the next few days by my acquaintances for an introduction, and my account of you will make them wild. I shall be, however, a very dragon of a big brother, and won't let one of them come near you who is not a saint--that is, as far as I am a judge of the article.”
”Thee may keep them all away if thee pleases,” she replied, blus.h.i.+ng and laughing. ”I should be afraid of thy fine city friends.”
”I'm afraid of a good many of them myself,” I replied; ”but some are genuine, and you shall have a good time, never fear.”