wrartb -ROBIN 
 
 * RACHELS SHARE 
 
 M> irv 
 
 OF THE 
 
 ttffr
 
 A NAMELESS NOBLEMAN. 
 
 A romance of ancient New England and France. The Hartford Courant says, 
 " The author has preserved for us in it the odors of both the rose of Provence and the may- 
 flower of New England." 
 
 A LESSON IN LOVE. 
 
 A brilliant story of modern society in New York. The Alliance calls it " the novel of 
 the year." 
 
 THE GEORGIANS. 
 
 A powerful study of Southern character. " We think this book very close upon Haw- 
 thorne s best effort. . . . The grand and profound climax of the story fingers in the mind 
 like the story of Hester Prynne." 
 
 PATTY'S PERVERSITIES. 
 
 ; A charming story of quiet New-England life." Nora Perry says, "It is the most 
 original story that has appeared for years." 
 
 HOMOSELLE. 
 
 A picture of Virginia plantation life under the old rlgime. The style is pure and ele- 
 gant, abounding in touches of pathos and poetry. " The book would not be out of place 
 next to ' Uncle Tom's Cabin.' " Lite r ary World. 
 
 DAMEN'S GHOST. 
 
 A story of contemporary life in New York. " Deserves to be ranked with the character 
 painting of Dickens.'* Philadelphia Press. 
 
 ROSEMARY AND RUE. 
 
 A romance of France and America at the time of the Revolution. The Literary 
 World says, Its manner is cultivated, delicate, and every way beautifiil. It is full of 
 tenderness and sweetness; it is fragrant with all filial and marital virtues; it is more than a 
 novel; it is a novelty." 
 
 MADAME LUCAS. 
 
 Life and society in St. Louis. " It is pretty in every way."- Boston Budget The 
 Crtttc says: "A very charming bit of work, from an author evidently of much cultivt 
 ban .who has probably travelled a good deal between Canada and St. Petersburg Amone 
 familiar names, it would seem easiest to ascribe the book to Annie Howells Frechette^ 
 
 JAMES R. OSGOOD & CO., 211 TREMONT ST., BOSTON.
 
 ^NY_TUfl/V 
 
 A TALLAHASSEE GIRL. 
 
 " It is almost a perfect piece of work, light, airy, graceful, tender, sympathetic, genu- 
 ine, and impartial." Atlanta Constitution. 
 
 DOROTHEA. 
 
 A QUAINT AND DELIGHTFUL STORY OF PHILADELPHIA, AT THE TIME OF THE CENTENNIAL. 
 
 " The story of it all is told with a brightness and cleverness which at times almost flash 
 into brilliancy, and the book is one to fill out a leisure hour very pleasantly." Literary 
 World. 
 
 THE DESMOND HUNDRED. 
 
 BY THE AUTHOR OF "A NAMELESS NOBLEMAN." 
 
 " The strongest American novel that has been produced in many a year, and by far the 
 best of the present season. " The Churchman. 
 
 LEONE. 
 
 " If the intent of the author was to write what should have above all qualities that of 
 interest, he has ably fulfilled his purpose; for its interest starts in the first pages, and is 
 fanned with unremitting zeal to the last ones, where the reader rises perfectly satisfied with 
 the generous measure. The book is finely planned, and there is considerable art in working 
 the plot, which stands high in relief." Boston Globe. 
 
 DOCTOR BEN. 
 
 An original and striking novel, with a charming and romantic love-story, and treating 
 skilfully and sympathetically on the vexed question of " mininstering to a mind diseased." 
 
 JAMES R. OSGOOD & COMPANY, 
 
 CLARKE&CARRUTH,! 2M TREMONT STREET, BOSTON.
 
 ROUND -ROBIN SERIES 
 
 Rachels Share of the Road 
 
 BOSTON 
 
 JAMES R. OSGOOD AND COMPANY 
 1882
 
 COPYRIGHT, 1882, 
 BY JAMES R. OSGOOD AND COMPANY. 
 
 All rights reserved.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 I. HEADS HAVE IT 5 
 
 II. A DAY LOANED 28 
 
 III. INTERWEAVING THREADS .... 52 
 
 IV. THE DOCTOR'S HOLIDAY . . . 75 
 V. NOT WHOLLY SATISFACTORY 100 
 
 VI. QUARRELLING WITH BREAD AND BUTTER 117 
 
 VII. IN THE SAME BOAT 142 
 
 VIII. A TALE UNTOLD 158 
 
 IX. HERBS AND PROPHECIES .... 180 
 
 X. Two STRONG HANDS 197 
 
 XI. A FAN AND A FACE 212 
 
 XII. A WOMAN'S IMPULSE 243 
 
 XIII. AWAY IN THE DAWN 269 
 
 XIV. AWAY IN THE STORM 289 
 
 XV. WHERE TWO ROADS MEET .... 303 
 
 XVI. "To HAVE AND TO HOLD" . . . 317
 
 Rachel's Share of the Road. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 HEADS HAVE IT. 
 
 TT^ROM the east, along the narrow iron road 
 * that cleft the hill and spanned the river, 
 rushed the morning train, and with clanging 
 bell, shrieking whistle and heavy, panting 
 breath, paused before an unpretending sta- 
 tion. 
 
 " Craig's Cross ! " 
 
 A very few passengers, gathering up wraps 
 and travelling-bags, left the cars; others 
 looked half curiously, half indifferently, from 
 the windows for a moment, and discovering 
 no object of special interest, leaned wearily 
 
 5
 
 6 RACHEUS SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 back in their seats again. But a fragment of 
 the town was visible, and even if fully seen 
 it would not have attracted much attention 
 a small place whose chief importance centred 
 in the great railroad shops clustered there. 
 
 On the long platform fronting the depot 
 were gathered the usual little knots of loun- 
 gers who watched the train with idle interest, 
 while, scattered here and there, were some 
 who scanned its line of windows with anxious 
 faces disappointed faces as it thundered 
 away on its course once more. Apart from all 
 others, at a little distance from the depot itself, 
 and hidden from the observation of the group 
 on the platform, stood a heavy, shabbily 
 dressed figure with one coarse hand resting on 
 the head of an equally heavy and shabby dog. 
 Not near enough to distinguish any one who 
 entered or left the carriages, yet the hungry 
 eyes under the old hat never swerved for an 
 instant from their steadfast watching until the 
 last trail of smoke from the receding engine
 
 HEADS HA VE IT. 7 
 
 had vanished. Then the man turned, not 
 toward the town, but away from it, along a. 
 road winding up the hill, until, reaching a tree 
 that extended its branches over the sunny, 
 dusty grass, he threw himself down beneath 
 its shade. 
 
 "Clingo, you don't know no more nor I do." 
 
 The dog acknowledged his name by a slight 
 motion of his tail, but looked gravely down the 
 road without asserting any claim to superior 
 wisdom. 
 
 The master pushed his hat back from his 
 face a young face only negatively ; it was 
 not old in years, but there was no youthfulness 
 about it rough, sunburned, heavy. He 
 drew his sleeve across his damp forehead, and 
 turned his eyes not unlike the dog's in a 
 certain dumb wistfulness toward tree, cloud 
 and wayside as if seeking counsel. 
 
 " Don't know if he's come ; s'pose 'taint no 
 use noway," he muttered, plucking at a long 
 withe of grass with an odd nervousness in the
 
 8 RACHEL'S SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 great, hard, red hand that was only strong, 
 not quick nor skilful. : 'Taint likely he'd 
 listen. Don't know whether I'll say nothin' if 
 
 I see him a-comin'. Wonder if" 
 
 The sentence was left unfinished in a slowly 
 dawning suggestion. He drew a solitary cop- 
 per from his pocket and poised it on one broad 
 finger. 
 
 "We'll toss up for't, Clingo. Heads, we 
 tries it ; tails, we don't." 
 
 The coin went spinning into the air, and 
 dropped at his feet. Clingo arose and sol- 
 emnly sniffed at it ; then his master examined 
 it. 
 
 "Heads wonst!" 
 
 Again the bit of copper whirled and fell. 
 
 "Heads twicet!" 
 
 "Heads three times. Heads has it." 
 And returning the cent to its place, he leaned 
 back against the tree and waited. 
 
 Up on the hill, in a great pleasant old house 
 lying in roomy, solid comfort behind its old-
 
 HEADS HA VE IT. 9 
 
 fashioned garden of terraces and quaint arbors 
 of clambering roses and nodding tiger-lilies, 
 another also waited. All the view down the 
 slope and away to the distant hills and river 
 was loveliness in the bright morning light, but 
 the gray eyes at the window for once looked 
 straight through the beauty as scarcely seeing 
 it, and watched only for a carriage on the 
 winding road. A tiny clock in the spacious 
 room told the minutes, lessening one by one 
 the number of those that held any expectation 
 in them, and Rachel, noting their flight, sighed 
 a little anxiously, but more wearily. 
 " He isn't coming this morning ! " 
 Doubtless the same thought, concerning the 
 same individual, found expression in many dif- 
 ferent voices, with various intonations of sor- 
 row, vexation or disappointment, as that morn- 
 ing hour passed ; for Judge Lyndal, president 
 of the road, was invariably wanted at one end 
 of the line when he was at the other. It had 
 often amused Rachel the stream of inquiries
 
 10 RACHEL'S SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 made for him in his frequent absences. Anx- 
 ious contractors, eager place-seekers, per- 
 plexed office-men, all wanting to know when 
 the Judge would come home. "As if he were 
 like the sun, and nothing were left for one half 
 the world but waiting and darkness when he 
 visited the other half," she laughingly said. 
 
 She remembered them this morning, finding 
 herself among the waiting ones though her 
 disappointment involved only the postponement 
 of a pleasant trip, planned chiefly for the sake 
 of the cousins who were to accompany her. 
 They had wished to start that morning, but 
 Rachel could not well go until her father re- 
 turned. All the previous day they had ex- 
 pected him, and he had not arrived yet. It 
 was very annoying not that she cared so 
 much for the excursion beyond the feeling, 
 scarcely admitted to her own consciousness, 
 that jaunting with Nan and Heman might be 
 a little less tiresome than staying at home with
 
 HEADS HAVE IT. II 
 
 them. After the first week their visiting to- 
 gether always grew somewhat laborious. 
 
 Perhaps it was only Rachel who found it so 
 "an odd, old-fashioned little thing, suiting 
 exactly the old house and grounds," Nan said 
 of her, so disposing, with calm superiority, of 
 all points in their intercourse where the want 
 of congeniality revealed itself. And of these 
 Nan did not detect many. She had no quick 
 ear for spiritual harmonies, and seldom noticed 
 the subtile jarrings and discords that so per- 
 plexed and wearied Rachel. In truth, Nan 
 was always too deeply absorbed in the rendi- 
 tion of her own little part to ever catch life's 
 music as a whole. So she liked well enough 
 the regular half-yearly visits to her cousin and 
 the old place, thought them the proper 
 thing for certain seasons of the year, though 
 she felt a pitying condemnation of Rachel as 
 a wonder of wasted opportunities. With her 
 father's position and wealth, what place and 
 influence might not be hers if she did but
 
 12 RACHEL'S SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 appreciate her advantages. "It is a positive 
 duty to make the most of what one has," said 
 Nan a favorite axiom, repeated quite as 
 impressively when she discussed the remodel- 
 ling of a gown as when she spoke of a life. 
 
 " Only there is always the question of what 
 is ' the most,' " Rachel answered, with that 
 sudden deepening of her gray eyes that 
 Annice Lisle could not understand. 
 
 A twofold life, a twofold personality, her 
 own sometimes seemed to the young girl, in 
 which " most " or best was not always clearly 
 discernible. In the city, with her father's 
 friends, she had been, or seemed to herself, 
 only a gay young girl, as gloriously appar- 
 elled as the lilies, and far more useless than 
 they, perhaps, but content to enjoy her sur- 
 roundings, and a certain reflected honor and 
 importance. She had thought and talked, 
 with a little harmless, girlish complacency, of 
 "our road." It had meant to her only a high 
 position of responsibility and honor for her
 
 HEADS HAVE IT. 13 
 
 father, deserved, of course, gay parties 
 made up for trial trips with new engines and 
 palace cars, and a pleasant sense of proprietor- 
 ship in it all ; unbounded courtesy and atten- 
 tion to herself whenever she chose to travel up 
 or down the line. 
 
 But here, in the still, grand old home, a 
 deeper meaning seemed to underlie many 
 things. Do souls grow, like their natural sur- 
 roundings? Almost it seemed as if into 
 Rachel's, something of the strength and brave 
 upreaching of the hills were passing ; some- 
 thing of the steady onward sweep of the river 
 looking out from her eyes. Here, in the 
 quiet of hills and river, the narrow iron road, 
 stretching so endlessly away, wore a harder, 
 sterner aspect, and held strange suggestions, 
 sometimes, of those to whom it represented a 
 dreary and toilsome life-track the weary 
 men who laid rail and tie, the anxious men to 
 whom a place on the swift-rushing trains that 
 passed and repassed meant the earning of a
 
 14 RACHEL'S SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 livelihood for themselves and their dear ones ; 
 and the rude cabins by the roadside, where the 
 poor workmen found a shelter when the day's 
 pittance was earned. 
 
 Rachel knew of all these. Some strange 
 acquaintances Judge Lyndal's daughter had 
 made in the long, unquestioned rambles per- 
 mitted to her lonely, motherless childhood. 
 She had known of them without thinking 
 much, however, until of late ; but there was 
 ample space and leisure for thought in that 
 quiet, roomy house on the hillside, where 
 even the vines swayed dreamily, and the 
 rustling leaves whispered of secrets long 
 kept; where the life seemed to have grown 
 even stiller and more uneventful than of old, 
 from its contrast with the city months. 
 
 The sedate old walls entertained but little 
 company. Rachel's stately, invalid grand- 
 mother, the nominal mistress of the place, had 
 neither inclination nor strength for society ; 
 and her wish for seclusion, together with the
 
 HEADS HA VE IT. 15 
 
 Judge's frequent absences, would have ren- 
 dered the gathering of any large circle about 
 her there impracticable to Rachel, if she had 
 wished it. But, accustomed to the existing 
 order as she had been from her childhood, 
 she did not even think of having it otherwise. 
 So she saw few but passing guests grave, 
 business-like men who talked with her father 
 of " bonds," " stocks " and " dividends " save 
 when Nan and Heman came. Their visits 
 had occurred simultaneously the last two or 
 three seasons. 
 
 "I am very sorry we are disappointed," said 
 the young hostess, the pressure of entertaining 
 the two arousing her from the reverie into 
 which she was falling while her eyes scanned 
 the road. "He could not have been on this 
 morning's train. I fear we must wait another 
 day." 
 
 "Well, if we cannot do what we expected, 
 we must try to plan something else equally 
 pleasant and profitable," responded Heman,
 
 1 6 RACHEL'S SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 with cheerful resignation in his carefully mod- 
 ulated tones, but with an air of being all ready 
 to have something planned for him instead. 
 " These bright hours are far too valuable to be 
 wasted in mere regret." 
 
 Rachel felt a mischievous inclination to 
 inquire from which of his six sermons writ- 
 ten, or six hundred yet to be written, he had 
 extracted that edifying platitude ; but, discover- 
 ing Nan's glance of admiring appreciation, she 
 restrained the impulse. Their cousinly rela- 
 tion to Rachel did not extend to each other, 
 but there was manifest, in these later visits, a 
 stronger bond between them than that of kin- 
 ship. 
 
 The sun that smiled upon the nodding lilies 
 and sleepy poppies of the garden that morn- 
 ing beat hot and bright upon the dry and 
 dusty road with its border of soiled and tired- 
 looking daisies, and an old woman who was 
 making the ascent with resolute step assured 
 herself audibly now and then :
 
 HEADS HAVE IT. l*J 
 
 "It's proper warm, I tell ye ! " 
 
 Her dress of faded calico was short and 
 scant, while her antiquated black bonnet, 
 pushed far enough back from her heated face 
 to show a rim of rough gray hair, was the 
 worse for many a bruise and dent. One 
 hand, purple as berry stains could make it, 
 grasped the handle of her gray cotton parasol, 
 while the other carried a large basket of fruit 
 covered carefully with green leaves. As she 
 neared the great tree by the roadside a voice 
 stopped her : 
 
 "Say, do you know if the Judge has got 
 home?" 
 
 "No, I don't. If ye want anj^thing of him 
 it's more'n likely he hain't," answered the old 
 woman, putting down her basket and turning 
 squarely about to view her questioner. "Do 
 ye know what that man makes me think of? 
 a spider. 'Cause all these railroad lines is 
 stretched here and there like a great web, and 
 folks twisted into 'em and wrigglin' about, one
 
 1 8 RACHEL'S SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 way or 'nother ; but when ye want to find the 
 big bug that spins 'em all, why, he's hid away 
 out of sight weavin' and weavin' some- 
 wheres, I'll warrant ! " 
 
 The man under the tree did not appear to 
 comprehend ; he only looked up dully, and 
 the old woman took her basket again. 
 
 "Well, I'm going right there, and I can ask 
 whether he's come, if it'll be any sort of com- 
 fort to ye," she said. 
 
 A touch of eagerness betrayed itself in the 
 heavy face then. 
 
 " Yes'm. Wish you would." 
 
 The woman trudged on again. Reaching 
 the garden gate she turned aside and walked 
 up the gravelled path, with never a glance for 
 the flowers, across the veranda, and, catching 
 sight of the form at the window, straight into 
 the cool, shadowy room where Rachel sat. 
 There, dropping into an easy chair, she 
 deposited her basket beside her, pushed her
 
 HEADS HAVE IT. 19 
 
 % 
 
 battered bonnet a little farther back, and 
 began rocking vigorously to and fro. 
 
 "Good morning, Mrs. Shackles," said 
 Rachel, undismayed, while Nan looked dig- 
 nified but undisguised disapproval. 
 
 " Mornin', child, dear knows about the 
 good ! All out doors is a-blisterin' and a-br'il- 
 in', and here you set loo.kin' as calm and com- 
 for'able as a pond-lily with nothin' but its head 
 out of water. It does 'pear 's if some folks was 
 jest made to set and look aggravatin' in shad- 
 dery places, while other folks travels by in 
 the glare and dust. Want to buy any huckle- 
 berries? Only five cents a quart, and I 
 picked 'em fresh this mornin' up afore day- 
 break." 
 
 She of the sheltered, shady nook had a 
 tender spot in her heart for those of the rough 
 highway. Moreover, this was an old acquain- 
 tance one of the odd delights of her child- 
 hood. The stained, scratched hands and the 
 gray hair held in them a mighty appeal to
 
 20 RACHEL'S SHARE OF THE ROAD, 
 
 her; so she wanted "huckleberries" now, 
 just as she had wanted raspberries earlier, 
 and would be sure to want sassafras later. 
 They were sent out to the kitchen, measured 
 and paid for, but the old woman sat still, rest- 
 ing and moralizing, while her wandering eyes 
 scanned every article in the room, not except- 
 ing, nor abashed by, the gentleman and lady 
 who were strangers to her. 
 
 " Yes'm, huckleberries and milk is partic'lar 
 good 'specially if ye has the milk; some 
 folks hain't. That's what I tell Humphrey 
 when he says why don't we have bread and 
 milk and huckleberries, seein' I'm pickin' so 
 many of 'em. He's al'ays sayin', 'Ask some- 
 body for't;' but I ain't no hand at beggin'. 
 Ho ! hum ! Mebby I'd get along better if I 
 was." 
 
 " Oh, I think Peggy can give you a pail of 
 milk if you would like it," said Rachel 
 cheerily. 
 
 " Dear ! now that's proper good ; but la ! I
 
 HEADS HA VE IT. 21 
 
 hain't got no pail to put it in. I've been 
 wishin' I had one this long time, 'cause 'twould 
 come so handy ; and Humphrey says, ' Why 
 don't you ask some of them folks what's got 
 more'n they want?' But I tells him, 'Hum- 
 phrey Shackles, I never did beg afore I 
 married ye, and I ain't a-goin' to begin now, 
 if I work my fingers off.' So I hain't got no 
 pail, and no prospeck of gettin' none.' 
 
 " No matter ; I'll ask Peggy to put the milk 
 in one that you needn't return," laughed 
 Rachel. 
 
 " Thank ye ; that'll be a comfort jest will. 
 Must be nice to have plenty so's you can give 
 away to the poor and deservin', ain't it now? 
 That's what I told Mrs. Reeves 'tother day, 
 when she give me a wash-tub ; though sakes ! 
 'twant no use 'thout a wash-board, and she 
 never seemed to think of that. 'Course I 
 couldn't ask her, 'cause I don't b'lieve in beg- 
 gin', and so it lays 'round." 
 
 Rachel tried to keep the sparkle of fun from
 
 22 RACHEL'S SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 her eyes, while she wondered what was next 
 on the list; but Heman Weldon could no 
 longer restrain the mild exhortation which he 
 thought the occasion demanded. 
 
 "My cousin follows only her own kindly 
 impulses in this quiet place ; but she would 
 soon discover such encouragement to be not 
 beneficial, but positively injurious, if she had 
 a parish on her hands," he said, with a signi- 
 ficant, reproving glance as he passed from the 
 room. 
 
 He had not expected Mrs. Shackles to com- 
 prehend the remark, but she gleaned some- 
 thing of his meaning, and her sharp eyes fol- 
 lowed him. 
 
 " What does the young man expect to have 
 on his hands ? " she questioned. " Nothin' but 
 what he can wash off eas} 7 , by the looks of 
 'em." 
 
 Rachel bit her lips. 
 
 " He was talking of city work. My cousin 
 intends to be a minister. Mrs. Shackles."
 
 HEADS HA VE IT. 23 
 
 "Preacher? Oh, well, there's some kinds 
 of preachers and then there's other kinds," 
 said the old woman, not quite satisfied. 
 "Dear me, some preach one thing, and some 
 another." 
 
 " But truth is always truth. Heman will 
 preach that " Rachel began the latter sen- 
 tence to herself rather than to either of her 
 auditors, and, recollecting them, suddenly 
 paused. 
 
 "Yes, truth's always truth. Same way 
 apples is always apples, but the dried ones 
 ain't very satisfyin' to most folks, nor partic'lar 
 wholesome either, as I know of," responded 
 Mrs. Shackles, nodding her head by way of 
 emphasis. Then her eyes wandered around the 
 room again, rested meditatively on a bracket, 
 and she took up her former line of remark. 
 
 "Yes, there's lots of things I need frocks 
 and shoes and sich. But nobody don't know 
 about it, and never will by my tellin', so I 
 s'pose I shan't get none."
 
 24 RACHEL'S SHARE OF THE ROAD, 
 
 Rachel had grown suddenly obtuse, and 
 inquired after Humphrey where he was, 
 and what he was doing. 
 
 " Outside somewheres : down at the foot of 
 the hill, a-hangin' round and waitin' ; and I 
 can't tell ye what for, 'cause I don't know. 
 He come along a-ways to-day, and I give him 
 the basket to fetch, seein' I'd been out so long 
 a-pickin'. But he didn't carry it no time afore 
 it give him the cramp in his left hand, and 
 d'rectly it brought a touch of rheumatiz to his 
 right hand, and pretty soon he set down. 
 ' And now I s'pose you've got the dumb ager 
 in both feet ? ' says I ; and he 'lowed mebby 
 he had. So I come on ; and it's likely he's 
 settin' there yet. If there ever was a body 
 good for nothin' it's Humphrey Shackles. 
 He spunks up now and then when I tell him 
 so, and says he'll do somethin' desp'ate yet, 
 when he gets screwed up to the stickin' p'int. 
 And I says, ' Humphrey Shackles, you'll 
 never get screwed to that p'int while there's a
 
 HEADS HA VE IT. 25 
 
 breath of life in ye ' and no more he won't. 
 Well, I must be goin'. I'm 'bliged to ye for 
 the pail and wash-board." 
 
 "Milk," corrected Rachel. 
 
 "Oh, yes, milk. I'm real glad you 
 thought on't. I don't mind takin' things when 
 anybody gives 'em ; but I won't beg, so I 
 s'pose I'll never get no shoes and gowns and 
 sich, bad as I need 'em, 'cause, you see, no- 
 body don't know." 
 
 She drew her old bonnet further over her 
 head, while her eyes sought Rachel's face 
 with a curious sidelong glance to mark the 
 effect of this last carefully aimed hint. It 
 seemed to have glanced off harmlessly, and 
 she took up her basket with a sigh. Then, 
 with a sudden thought of the stranger under 
 the tree, she turned again. 
 
 "S'pose the Judge ain't home now?" 
 
 "No," Rachel answered. "We expected 
 him, but he did not come." 
 
 Which information Mrs. Shackles repeated
 
 26 RACHEL: s SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 when she had passed half way down the 
 road. 
 
 " They looked for him and he didn't come. 
 Everybody's al'ays lookin' for him when he 
 don't come. It's what he's made for, likely. 
 But see here, if you want anything of him you 
 might as well ask her," indicating by a back- 
 ward motion of one stained hand the house she 
 had left. 
 
 "Her?" echoed the man uncomprehend- 
 ingly. 
 
 " His darter. I ain't any hand at beggin' 
 myself, but if I wanted anything I'd ask her," 
 explained Mrs. Shackles. 
 
 " I ain't a beggar ! " A flash of anger 
 kindled the heavy eyes for an instant. "It's 
 only work I want. The folks has got to live 
 Hitty and the children. I promised Meg 
 I'd take care of the children ; but it's been 
 tough work. I thought I could get something 
 in the shops here, but one says one thing, and 
 another says another; and there's so many,
 
 HEADS HA VE IT. 27 
 
 and I hain't got no recommend from nobody. 
 The Judge, he seems the topmost, and I 
 thought mebby if I could ask the powerfullest" 
 said the unconscious St. Christoper slowly 
 rising. 
 
 " Might as well ask her," interposed Mrs. 
 Shackles. 
 
 "Mebby. Don't know if it's any use no- 
 ways ; but we're bound to try 'count of the 
 luck turnin' so, hey, Clingo? Heads has it." 
 
 " 'Course. Heads al'ays has it," muttered 
 Mrs. Shackles uncomprehendingly. "But 
 me and you ain't heads, nor never will be, 
 unless it's in that queer time comin' we're told 
 about, when the last'll be first." And with a 
 final hitch to her basket she went on down the 
 road to meet Humphrey, while the man and 
 dog began slowly to ascend by the way she 
 had come.
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 A DAY LOANED. 
 
 "TV /|"Y dear child ! " expostulated Annice 
 J-*-*- Lisle as the old berry- woman disap- 
 peared from the veranda. Nan was two years 
 older and two inches taller than her cousin, 
 which prove conclusively her superior wisdom 
 and experience, and enabled her always to 
 feel that she spoke from a slight eminence. 
 "How absurd of you to indulge such a char- 
 acter as that ! and to tolerate her manner, 
 which was almost excuse me, my dear 
 neighborly '." 
 
 Rachel laughed. Under the laugh arose 
 an old question "Who is my neighbor?" 
 But she did not utter it. Nan would have 
 considered it either irrelevant or irreverent. 
 A step on the stair interrupted them. Dr. 
 
 28
 
 A DAT LOANED. 29 
 
 Kelsey was coming down from a call upon 
 old Mrs. Lyndal. A venerable, gray-haired 
 physician, the oldest in the place, attended 
 her usually ; Dr. Kelsey only occasionally, 
 when his senior was ill or absent. He bowed 
 to both ladies, though he seemed to see only 
 Rachel, as he passed through the wide hall. 
 On the veranda, his gaze swept the garden ; 
 he paused and glanced again toward the open 
 window. 
 
 "Miss Lyndal, if you cared to send some 
 of those blossoms on a mission this morning, 
 I am going where they would be prized 
 where such things are rare." 
 
 " Surely ! I am glad you told me," was the 
 swift reply. She hastened to the door, then 
 paused. 
 
 "Nan, will you come?" 
 
 A subtile hope, whose springs she did not 
 analyze, that Miss Lisle might deem the sun- 
 shiny garden too warm, was disappointed. 
 Nan, indeed, never grew warm and flushed
 
 30 RACHEL'S SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 and hurried as Rachel did, and when, in a 
 moment, she appeared on the walk she was 
 cool, calm elegance personified. 
 
 -f 
 
 " If you are at leisure ? " began Dr. Kel- 
 sey, as if in half apology for his request. 
 
 "Only too much so," laughed Rachel. "A 
 plan disappointed this morning has left me a 
 day, and I do not know what to do with it." 
 
 " What a pity you cannot lend it ! So many 
 hurried, crowded lives need a little extra time," 
 the doctor answered. 
 
 Possibly he was thinking of his own as one 
 of them, for he made no politely sympathetic 
 inquiries concerning her frustrated plans 
 did not seem to think of them, indeed, but to 
 feel only a covetous, momentary desire to 
 appropriate the spare hours. He caught her 
 glance and smiled at his own earnestness. 
 
 "We have so often to prescribe time as a 
 remedy that it is not wonderful I begin to 
 think of it as a marketable article." 
 
 " Not exactly as a f drug in the market,'
 
 A DA T L OANED. 3 1 
 
 however?" questioned Nan lightly, a trifle 
 condescendingly to this " country doctor," as 
 she mentally styled him. 
 
 He did not appear impressed by her gra- 
 ciousness, however, answering only by a quiet 
 smile, as if the remark naturally called for 
 nothing more, and bestowing his full attention 
 upon the flowers Rachel was selecting cut- 
 ting swiftly and dexterously the stems she 
 touched his hand, white and well-shaped, 
 but large, strong and steady, contrasting 
 oddly with her slender, fluttering fingers. 
 Something in his face, manly and strong 
 rather than handsome, a certain searching 
 earnestness in the clear eyes, as if they had a 
 fashion of looking through externals straight 
 to the heart of things, interested while it 
 piqued Nan. She became doubly gracious, 
 and bestowed upon him, for a little time, her 
 most delicate flattery of attention and enter- 
 taining remark. 
 
 But though he listened appreciatively, evi-
 
 32 RACHEUS SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 dently enjoying the hour, the view from the 
 hillside, and his companionship, he did not 
 linger. And when, seeing his glance follow 
 for an instant the sweep of hill and river, she 
 asked his opinion a question in which a 
 little malice mingled with some vanity of 
 the relative beauty of this scenery and various 
 views in foreign lands, he answered with quiet 
 honesty, 
 
 "I cannot tell, Miss Lisle. I have seen 
 much of our own country in a sort of rough 
 knocking about, scarcely to be dignified as 
 travelling, but I have never been abroad; 
 probably shall never have that pleasure until 
 I have attained old age, wealth and useless- 
 ness at home," concluding his sentence with a 
 laugh, not unabashed by, but simply uncon- 
 scious of, the superiority of the presence in 
 which he stood. 
 
 The flowers gathered, he took his leave 
 hastily, and mounted the horse awaiting him 
 at the gate, pausing a moment, however, to
 
 A DAT LOANED. 33 
 
 select a choice rose-bud from his treasures and 
 fasten it in his button-hole. 
 
 "Cool!" commented Nan, observing the 
 movement. 
 
 Rachel flushed, and answered with a slight 
 embarrassed laugh, 
 
 "A precautionary measure for his health, 
 perhaps ; roses may be disinfectants. Merely 
 professional, like his steady way of looking 
 at one." 
 
 "Looking at one is a very correct way of 
 stating it. He certainly did not look at more 
 than one," replied Nan loftily, turning toward 
 the house. 
 
 Rachel loitered a little, watching the swiftly 
 receding horseman, and so became conscious, 
 a moment later, of a figure outside the wall. 
 A head surmounted by a dilapidated hat ap- 
 peared above the gate, and its owner called, 
 rather hesitatingly and huskily, 
 
 " Marm ! If you please, marm ! " 
 
 Rachel advanced a few steps, but stopped
 
 34 RACHEL'S SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 in alarm as a pair of shaggy paws were placed 
 on the rail, and a huge canine head also ap- 
 peared above the gate. 
 
 "He won't bite, marm. Down, Clingo, 
 down ! " 
 
 "Do you wish to see any one? What is 
 wanted?" inquired Rachel, questioning men- 
 tally whether the intruder were tramp or beg- 
 gar, or might possibly have a legitimate busi- 
 ness errand. 
 
 "If I could speak to you a minute, marm 
 I s'pose the Judge ain't home ? " 
 
 "No," she replied, going a little nearer. 
 Those words, in one form or another, were so 
 familiar, and the voice, despite its roughness, 
 had a touch of entreaty. " He is not at home. 
 Probably he will come this evening, though I 
 could not promise it positively." 
 
 " I don't know whether it's any use if he 
 was s'pose mebby 'tain't ; but then the luck 
 turned so, and I'm in powerful need of 
 work "
 
 A DAT LOANED. 35 
 
 " Work ?" repeated the young lady, catch- 
 ing through that word a clue to his meaning. 
 "You want work, then?" 
 
 "Work in the railroad shops or yards, or 
 anywheres, marm. I don't s'pose the Judge 
 'tends to that sort of thing himself, and mebby 
 'twasn't no use to come ; but there's so many, 
 and one says one thing, and another says 
 another, that 'tain't no use to go to this place 
 till I've been t'other place, and no use to ask 
 this one till I've seen that one, till I'm clean 
 mixed up. And then there's so many want 
 places. Sometimes it seems 's if this world 
 had got crowded so chock full there wasn't no 
 room for a feller noways." 
 
 A slight breeze swept through the garden, 
 rustling the leaves and bending the blossoms, 
 and the man at the gate bared his head to the 
 cool, refreshing breath, revealing a shock of 
 light hair burned and faded by the sun and 
 wind, while he nervously twisted the old hat 
 in his fingers.
 
 3^ RACHEL'S SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 w I hain't got no recommend don't know 
 nobody here, you see. Most folks sort o' 
 belong to somebody, and that keeps 'em 
 along ; but I don't seem to, and I get most 
 tired tryin'. I heard 'em sayin' round the 
 shops ' If the Judge gets back,' and ' When 
 the Judge comes home ; ' and so thinks I he's 
 the powerfullest of all of 'em, and if he'd say 
 the word, but I don't s'pose 'twas any use to 
 ask." 
 
 However it might have been with the Judge, 
 the Judge's daughter grew interested. She 
 felt the sharp contrast between herself and 
 this petitioner outside the gate, and the dumb 
 appealing in the eyes of man and dog touched 
 her. 
 
 "From where did you come?" she asked. 
 
 " Over the river, way back in the country, 
 here a spell, and there a spell, harvestin', 
 wood-choppin' or anything. But it got so 
 there wasn't much of any kind to do round 
 them parts; and the folks has got to live. I
 
 A DAT LOANED. 37 
 
 promised Meg I'd take care of the children. 
 So we travelled across country, stoppin' be- 
 tween whiles this place and that as I'd get 
 odd jobs." 
 
 "You have children, then?" 
 
 "Marm? the twins? They was Meg's. 
 Bill, that's her husband, he'd hired a little 
 place, and I helped him work it some. But 
 he got killed, and Meg, that's my sister, you 
 see, she wasn't strong and well noways, and 
 she jest got thinner and whiter till she looked 
 like moonshine afore she died. And I'd hear 
 her a-cryin' and prayin' at nights 'Oh, my 
 poor babies ! they've got nobody nobody ! ' 
 I couldn't stand it, so I took 'em, one on one 
 arm and t'other on t'other, and says I, 'Look 
 here, Meg, I'll take care of 'em. I ain't like 
 some for gettin' along, but I'll do my level 
 best, I will,' says I. Then she seemed more 
 satisfied like, but she didn't live only a day or 
 two. So I've done as good as I could, but it's 
 been sort of rough, with work hard to get,
 
 3 RACHEL'S SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 and so many of us, Hitty and the children 
 and old Daddy. Do you s'pose, marm," a 
 sudden inspiration illuminating the dull brain, 
 "that the Judge'd take to me any more 
 'count of them twins? 'Cause I could bring 
 'em. Hitty'd fix 'em up. She's a master 
 hand at patchin', if she is little." 
 
 The thought of such a presentation to her 
 father that man of stocks and bonds ! and 
 its probable results, flashed a faint smile over 
 Rachel's lips, but there was a deeper feeling 
 in her eyes as she answered, 
 
 " No, you need not do that. I will speak to 
 my father for you if }^ou wish. You have not 
 told me your name ? " 
 
 "Joe Baines, marm." 
 
 "I will tell him of you. I cannot promise 
 anything. I do not know that he will think 
 he can do anything in the matter of furnishing 
 work for you," pausing with a painful un- 
 certainty in regard to the extent of her influ- 
 ence, "but I will ask him."
 
 A DAT LOANED. 39 
 
 But Joe entertained no doubt of her ability 
 or success. If this young lady, the Judge's 
 own daughter, spoke one word for him, his 
 place must be sure. At last he had a friend 
 at court. And he walked with quickened, 
 lightened step as he retraced his way along 
 the winding road. 
 
 Rachel, walking slowly back to the house, 
 heard, through the open windows, the music 
 of the piano little tinkling sprays and jets 
 of melody interspersed with bits of talk as 
 Nan's skilful fingers strayed over the keys in 
 the pauses of her conversation with Heman. 
 Finding them happily engaged, Rachel lin- 
 gered for a few minutes in the hall, looking 
 out with shadowed, thoughtful eyes on the 
 picture the doorway framed. It was only a 
 few minutes. A door opened far enough to 
 admit the head of Peggy a privileged per- 
 sonage, who was "Mrs. Larrison" to all the 
 household, except her own especial pet and 
 nursling.
 
 40 RACHEL'S SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 "Somebody down stairs wants to know 
 about the Judge. Of course there'll be a 
 whole string of them now ! " she said in her 
 quick, short style. " You've nothing particular 
 to tell them, Miss Rachel? " 
 
 "No." 
 
 Then something the scene at the gate, 
 or, perhaps, those earlier words about lending 
 her spare day to other lives awoke a sud- 
 den resolve to answer the inquiries herself 
 this day. She remembered remorsefully how 
 troubled and anxious were the faces that 
 sometimes presented themselves there. 
 
 tr I can tell them what little I do know ; it 
 may prove some satisfaction. I wish, while I 
 am waiting, I could help some of the others 
 to wait," she said, with a deepening feeling of 
 svmpathy for the disappointed ones. 
 
 A young Irishman looked up with pleasant, 
 though not altogether cheerful, face as she 
 entered the room. 
 
 " It's wantin' to ax about the Judge I was
 
 A DAT LOANED. 41 
 
 beg parding for disturbin' ye, miss. He 
 didn't come home the day ? " 
 
 "No," said Rachel. "We expected him, 
 but he has not come." 
 
 "An' ye can't tell would he be in on the 
 evenin' thrain ? " 
 
 "No," she answered again. "I really don't 
 know anything about it ; I wish I did. We 
 looked for him yesterday, and again this' 
 morning ; but some business has detained him, 
 I suppose, and I cannot tell when he will 
 come." 
 
 The stranger's face fell ; he studied the toe 
 of his boot for a minute or two in silence. 
 
 "I am sorry," said Rachel. 
 
 He looked up then, half laughing, though 
 not very cheerily. 
 
 "An' I'm that same, too, though it's mesilf 
 couldn't be sayin' it would do much good if he 
 was here. Ye see the paymaster's not been 
 'round the long while, an' I'm bothered wid 
 hearin' one thing an' another about his comin' :
 
 42 RACHEL'S SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 so, as I was in town the day, I works out 
 on the road, I thought I'd jist make bould 
 to ax his honor himsilf could he tell me. If 
 it would come in a day or two jist, sure I'd 
 wait though it's hard waitin' ; but, seein' all 
 the onsartainty, I'm thinkin' I'd bether go to 
 Misther Corry an' be done wid it." 
 
 "Why, yes, I presume he could tell you as 
 much about it as any one, quite as much as 
 my father," said innocent Rachel, pleased at 
 the suggestion. 
 
 The man laughed again, not so pleasantly. 
 
 "Faith, that's the last place I'd be goin' for 
 information, thin ! It's to sell my time, I 
 mane." 
 
 "Your time?" repeated the young lady, a 
 little bewildered. "I don't understand. I 
 thought you had sold your time already, 
 that is, that you were working for the railroad 
 company, and they pay you for it." 
 
 " So they does, ma'am, or they promises 
 to, which isn't always the same thing axin'
 
 A DAT LOANED. 43 
 
 yer parding" suddenly remembering to 
 whom he was speaking. "Ye see the pay is 
 long comin' sometimes, an' when the childer 
 get out of clothes an' the shanty out of perta- 
 ties, so the men can't do no longer, why, some 
 of 'em sells their time the bosses' 'count of 
 the days they've worked, that is to Misther 
 Corry." 
 
 "Oh, I see! He advances the money, and 
 receives it afterwards himself from the com- 
 pany? That is kind though, of course, it 
 doesn't cost him anything," the last added 
 reflectively. 
 
 "Not a bit of expinse to him, ma'am," re- 
 sponded the man grimly. " There's the triflin' 
 difference that he makes a good dale by it, 
 seein' he buys the time for fifty cints on the 
 dollar." 
 
 Rachel started. She had been standing 
 carelessly by a window, but she turned sharply 
 about and looked the speaker steadily in the 
 face.
 
 44 RACHEL'S SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 " Do you mean to tell me that when the 
 workmen need the money they have earned, 
 Mr. Corry, an officer of the road, will buy it 
 of them at only half what it is worth half 
 what has been promised them and afterwards 
 obtain for himself the whole amount from the 
 company?" she questioned slowly. 
 
 "That's the way of it, ma'am." 
 
 "Then he does a cruel, dishonest, contemp- 
 tible thing ! " she exclaimed, her gray eyes 
 flashing quite forgetting the dignity of " our 
 road," and speaking not at all like the politic 
 President's daughter. " Takes advantage of 
 their necessity, and uses their poverty to in- 
 crease his own riches ! " 
 
 The stranger's face lighted for a moment 
 at her utter, vehement condemnation, as if he 
 found some comfort in it, albeit only the poor 
 one of hearing another say what he felt, but 
 scarcely dared utter himself. 
 
 " It's like there's more than one thinks that, 
 ma'am, only there's no good of their say in' it.
 
 A DAT LOANED. 45 
 
 But sometimes when they passes the fine house 
 he's buildin', they shakes their fists, but more 
 of 'em laughs an' says, ' I owns that fine win- 
 dy,' ' I paid for that illegant verandy.' Well," 
 with an unsuccessful attempt at jocularity, " I 
 must be goin' to conthribute him another chim- 
 ney or sich-like." 
 
 Rachel watched him with absent, thoughtful 
 eyes as he turned to go. " I wonder," she said 
 rather uncertainly, " I wonder how it would do 
 for me to buy your time ? " 
 
 The good-natured Irish face brightened 
 sharpened somewhat, in truth at thought of 
 making a better bargain with the lady than 
 would be possible with Mr. Corry. 
 
 "An' why shouldn't ye, ma'am, if ye like?" 
 
 " I scarcely know whether I can or not," 
 Rachel proceeded still more hesitatingly. She 
 was as ignorant upon all business matters as 
 the most devout believer in woman's disabilities 
 and inabilities could desire. " Will you let me 
 see the account ? "
 
 46 RACHEL'S SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 They went over it together, he pointing 
 awkwardly, now and then, to some item that 
 needed explanation, while her slender white 
 fingers turned the paper. 
 
 "Ye see ye'll get the whole of it from the 
 company again." 
 
 "Yes, I think I shall," she answered, smil- 
 ing faintly at thought of how unlikely it was 
 that any one would offer her less than its full 
 value, even if she wished it now ; so far she 
 had no doubt of her influence. But it was 
 a sad smile, for why should this paper have 
 more power in her hand than in that of this 
 poor workman, except that his need was 
 greater ! 
 
 " So it's a nice little profit ye can be makin'," 
 suggested the man, waiting with illy concealed 
 eagerness for her offer of terms. 
 
 " Profit ! " She recoiled as if a live coal had 
 been offered for her grasping. " I do not deal 
 in such profit as that. It may be considered a 
 very shrewd way of buying time, but I should
 
 A DAT LOANED. 47 
 
 deem it a miserably poor way of selling more 
 precious things." 
 
 Her words were more for herself than for her 
 listener ; but the quick, uneducated brain, the 
 warm Irish heart, partly comprehended, and 
 the look that flitted over his face told as much. 
 
 " I will take this, dollar for dollar," Rachel 
 said, laying her hand on the paper. " Forty- 
 one dollars and a half, isn't it? " 
 
 Silently, beyond a single very quiet " I'm 
 sure I thank ye, ma'am," the man received the 
 money. The voluble thanks and blessings 
 usually so ready on a Celtic tongue did not 
 come, but Rachel was satisfied that he was 
 neither insensible nor ungrateful. She spurned 
 that thought with some self-scorn, however, 
 when the door had closed behind him. 
 
 " Grateful ! why should he be for receiving 
 only what he has earned? A mere act of jus- 
 tice, and one that cost me nothing." 
 
 She paced the long room once or twice, a 
 hot flush on her young cheek, an indignant
 
 4 RACHEL'S SPIARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 throbbing at her heart. This was not at all 
 what " our road " had meant to her in the city. 
 The deeper meaning that had only been coming 
 to her of late, mere murmurings and sugges- 
 tions, were growing into audible voices now. 
 
 Others came and went that day, and she saw 
 them. The morning's fancy of putting her spare 
 day into other lives clung to her, but more than 
 that, she was awaking to a new strong interest. 
 
 At last, when the long hot day had burned 
 itself into twilight and coolness, the Judge 
 came home. Rachel waited still until, the 
 evening far spent, and the claims of those two 
 rivals, letters and newspapers, satisfied, the 
 Judge leaned back in his chair for a little space 
 with eyes wandering away to the golden stars, 
 though in truth he was thinking of gold more 
 marketable. Then she stole to a seat at his 
 side, and told him something of her day and 
 its revelations. Half smilingly, half absently, 
 he listened, all the more smilingly because 
 absently, perhaps.
 
 A DAY L OANED. 49 
 
 " Sorry for your disappointment, my dear. 
 However, another day will do for your trip, I 
 suppose." 
 
 " Oh, yes ! that is nothing. But, father, 
 about that other?" 
 
 "Other? Oh, your speculation in time, do 
 you mean? That will be made right, of 
 course ; but I fear your tender-heartedness 
 will cost you much annoyance. Your Paddy 
 will undoubtedly tell how well he fared, and 
 you may be tormented by callers and importu- 
 nities without number. I wouldn't advise you 
 to repeat that bit of benevolence." 
 
 w But that wrong, father the men having 
 to submit to such injustice because they can- 
 not wait so long for their money? Cannot 
 that be helped? I thought you could do it." 
 
 " I ? My dear child ! " There was a blend- 
 ing of pity, amusement and impatience in his 
 tone. " Do you think I am the whole railroad 
 company? I find it quite enough to attend to 
 my own duties without shouldering those of
 
 50 RACHELS SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 all the rest. As for the irregular pay-days 
 why, a railroad isn't exactly like a pony-chaise 
 in the matter of expense, and certainly not in 
 the management required to run it. I suspect 
 Corry does drive sharp bargains with the 
 workmen sometimes it is like him ; but they 
 know it, and they should keep out of his 
 clutches. They are a thriftless, improvident 
 set, for the most part, who do not know how 
 to take care of what they get." 
 
 There was a moment's silence in which he 
 bestowed upon her unsatisfied, troubled face 
 a longer scrutiny than he usually gave it. 
 
 "You cannot understand it all, and there is 
 no use in worrying yourself over things that 
 you cannot help nor I either," he said. 
 "About that fellow who asked for work 
 Lane did you call him? Elaine?" 
 
 "Baines." 
 
 "I have nothing to do with that; they 
 employ whom they will at the shops and yards, 
 of course. Still I do not mind speaking to
 
 A DAT L OANED. 5 1 
 
 some of them to give him a chance if they 
 have room for him and it will be any great 
 satisfaction to you. It is doubtful whether he 
 proves worth much, however. But really, 
 Rachel, as I said before, I am not the whole 
 company ; and you must not attempt to satisfy- 
 all the people who come with all sorts of wants 
 and stories, or you will have your hands more 
 than full, and mine too." 
 
 She thanked him gravely for his promise 
 regarding Joe, and the conference ended the 
 talk that Rachel had planned for all the day, 
 that it should be a long, quiet talk, in which 
 she and this busy father of hers should grow 
 better acquainted than they had ever been 
 before ; for she remembered, with a sudden 
 wondering, that she had never bestowed any 
 confidences upon her father, that he had 
 never sought them. But the conversation was 
 ended.
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 INTERWEAVING THREADS. 
 
 A DAY lent to other lives is unlike common 
 ^ loans in that it cannot be returned and 
 become wholly one's own again. It is like the 
 lending of threads to a swift-moving loom : they 
 cannot be separated again, but must run on, 
 twining and interweaving with all the others that 
 make up the fabric. The delayed excursion was 
 undertaken the next morning, a bright beau- 
 tiful morning, fair as that of the previous day. 
 It was only Rachel who was not quite the same, 
 who had grown somewhat wiser, perhaps a 
 little sadder, since yesterday's pondering of 
 vexed problems. But it was a difference felt 
 only by herself, and not apparent to other eyes, 
 certainly not to those of Mr. Stephen Corry, 
 who was leisurely enjoying a cigar while he 
 
 52
 
 INTERWEAVING THREADS. S3 
 
 paced the length of the platform in front of the 
 station and waited for the train. His face, a 
 clearly cut, handsome face, brightened as he 
 saw the party. He tossed the lighted cigar 
 away, and joined them with evident pleasure 
 in his greeting. 
 
 "I heard you were at home, Miss Lyndal, 
 but I did not know that your cousins were 
 here also. Are you going to inspect that 
 famous new tunnel of ours out on the Western 
 Branch? Fortunately for myself, I am bound 
 upon the same errand." 
 
 " Not that our judgment upon the construc- 
 tion of tunnels is particularly valuable," Annice 
 explained. 
 
 " Nor mine," he laughed. 
 
 " ' A tunnel through the hillside grim, 
 A gloomy tunnel is to him, 
 And it is nothing more,' 
 
 Except as it is made so by pleasant company. 
 But my father considers this one a triumph of 
 engineering skill, it is our road, you know,
 
 54 RACHEL'S SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 and as I have already been at home a week 
 it is my duty to visit it. And virtue is its own 
 reward in this case," with another quick glance 
 at Rachel. " There is our train. Allow me, 
 Miss Rachel." And he hastily gathered 
 shawl and veil from the carriage cushions and 
 threw them over his arm. 
 
 This easy familiarity was natural enough. 
 They had met often in the city- Mr. Corry 
 had been a frequent visitor at her uncle's house, 
 joining the family pleasure-parties, and accom- 
 panying Rachel to concert and drive with a 
 sort of friendly intimacy established upon the 
 fact of a common residence at Craig's Cross, 
 and the laughingly acknowledged bond of 
 "our road." She had accepted this state of 
 affairs with scarcely a thought concerning it 
 then, but now, suddenly revived after these 
 quiet months at home, it jarred upon her. 
 There seemed in the assured confident manner 
 the slightest possible hint of a proprietorship 
 in herself as well as in the road. She had
 
 INTERWEAVING THREADS. 55 
 
 never noticed anything of the kind before, but 
 the idea, once suggested, recurred unpleas- 
 antly, and could not be wholly shaken off. 
 It might have been either the cause or the 
 effect of her new involuntary recoil from the 
 old tone of familiar acquaintanceship. She 
 did not question concerning it : she was only 
 conscious of the scarcely defined feeling of con- 
 straint and repulsion. 
 
 Meanwhile the others were chatting anima- 
 tedly of common interests and acquaintances, 
 while they established themselves comfortably 
 in the newest and most luxurious car, to which 
 they had been at once deferentially directed. 
 Meeting Mr. Corry was like a breath from the 
 living, moving world again, Nan declared 
 with her most gracious empressement. 
 
 " And one needs such a breath occasionally 
 in this sleepy little town. Uncle Lyndal's 
 place is lovely, but so still, and your father's 
 beautiful new residence it seems almost a 
 waste to build it here, only, of course, the
 
 5 RACHEL'S SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 demands of his business make that imper- 
 ative." 
 
 Rachel wondered, scanning for a moment 
 his smiling face as he replied, whether he 
 knew what other voices, those of which she 
 had heard yesterday, were saying of that 
 house. Probably the murmurings were too 
 cautious and timid to reach his ears, but was 
 it possible that he knew of the wrong? Even 
 then he might be powerless to prevent it as 
 powerless as herself, she reflected with a sud- 
 den flush sweeping over her face. A little 
 later the train paused for a few minutes at a 
 way station, and he left the car. He was rec- 
 ognized, evidently, as he passed here and 
 there, and presently they saw a man approach 
 eagerly and engage him in conversation. 
 
 " What a contrast between those two men ! " 
 commented Nan as she watched them from 
 the window. " How plainly the vast differ- 
 ence in station, education, refinement and 
 culture betrays itself in the faces and in every
 
 INTERWEAVING THREADS. 57 
 
 attitude and gesture, though we do not hear a 
 word they utter ! " 
 
 A young man, bronzed and bearded, wear- 
 ing the common dress of a workman, was 
 talking rapidly and earnestly, somewhat 
 anxiously, it seemed to Rachel, as she noted 
 the eager look and quick movement. Oppo- 
 site him Mr. Corry's fine figure in the careless 
 perfection of its attire, and his cool handsome 
 face, certainly showed to advantage. In sharp 
 contrast, too, was his half-amused, half-indif- 
 ferent air as he listened, and the smile of good- 
 natured tolerance with which he finally accept- 
 ed a paper offered him, ran over its contents, 
 and drawing out his pocket-book gave some- 
 thing in exchange for it. The whistle sounded 
 its quick summons, and he placed book and 
 paper in his pocket, and returned in the leis- 
 urely fashion of one for whom even time and 
 tide must wait, to his place. 
 
 "You combine business and pleasure?" 
 Nari questioned.
 
 5 RACHEL'S SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 " Oh, I am obliged to do that," he laughed. 
 "These fellows are always wanting something, 
 and they keep too sharp a watch for any one 
 from the office to allow us to pass unnoticed. 
 They are a thriftless, improvident set, earning 
 their wages, and then willing to throw away a 
 goodly slice of them in their hurry to get their 
 money a little sooner than the regular pay- 
 day." 
 
 " But is the pay-day regular? " Rachel asked. 
 " I thought at least I have heard that it is 
 often delayed, and that the workmen scarcely 
 know when to expect it." 
 
 "Well, there are delays, of course," Mr. 
 Corry admitted ; " that is unavoidable at times. 
 But the paymaster's car is sure to come, they 
 have no doubt of that, only they are so eager 
 to spend as fast or a little faster than they earn, 
 that they haven't patience to wait. And fifty 
 cents to-day looks larger than a dollar to- 
 morrow." 
 
 " Then when you buy their time that is
 
 INTERWEAVING THREADS. 59 
 
 what they call it, I believe you do not pay 
 them its full value?" Rachel hesitated a 
 moment before she asked this question, nerving 
 herself to meet the answer from which she 
 shrank. But it did not disturb Mr. Corry. 
 
 w Certainly not," he replied promptly. " If 
 a man has not sense, patience or frugality 
 enough to wait until he can fairly reap the 
 fruit of his labor, he must take the loss his 
 haste or folly brings. Is not that just, Miss 
 Lisle?" 
 
 "I am inclined to think it is kind also," 
 Nan assented. "In my opinion, the surest 
 method of making people choose better ways 
 is not by helping them in their own miserable 
 one, but by allowing them to feel its discom- 
 forts so keenly that they will be forced to seek 
 some plan of improvement." A smiling glance 
 at Rachel pointed the sentence. 
 
 But Rachel's grave eyes were turned to the 
 window again, where the smoke of the flying 
 train threw faint shadows over the hillside.
 
 60 RACHEL'S SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 She did not pursue the subject, but her 
 thoughts, could Mr. Corry have read them, 
 might have slightly disturbed his complacent 
 composure. 
 
 A half hour's ride brought another halt. 
 Large quantities of stone had been brought 
 from a quarry near by for the building of a 
 bridge, and the party left the car to view the 
 work. One of the workmen, fumbling about 
 among the stones in awkward pretence of 
 searching for something lost, contrived to draw 
 near enough to speak to Rachel unheard by 
 the others. Until he addressed her she did 
 not recognize in his working garb the young 
 Irishman whom she had seen the day before. 
 
 M If ye plaze, miss, mebby I was a bit free 
 wid me tongue yestherday talkin' of some 
 folks, ye know," he said, with a significant 
 apprehensive glance in the direction of her 
 companions. " Sure ye wouldn't mintion it 
 where 'twould harm me at all? I'd not like 
 to be losin' me place these times, 'count o'
 
 INTERWEAVING THREADS. 6 1 
 
 them," with a nod towards one of the little 
 cabins on the hillside. 
 
 Under his effort to speak carelessly there 
 was such evident anxiety that she answered 
 at once, 
 
 " Certainly not." Then with a flitting smile, 
 "I will be silent if you are. You must not 
 send others to me with any hope that I can do 
 for them what I did for you I cannot." 
 
 " Sure ye can't, Miss. I'd not be expectin' 
 it," he answered with quick comprehension. 
 Yet his look of relief at her promise was fol- 
 lowed by a shade of disappointment, as if some 
 hope had been quenched. 
 
 Something, a desire to hear an answer from 
 this man's standpoint, prompted her to say, 
 
 " I am told that Mr. Corry thinks the men 
 need not sell their time if they were more 
 careful and patient ; that they are in haste to 
 spend what they earn, and so consider fifty 
 cents to-day worth more than a dollar to-mor- 
 row."
 
 62 
 
 RACHEL'S SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 A queer look passed over the rough face. 
 There was a muttered word smothered in its 
 articulation, and then he replied with grim 
 quietness, 
 
 "When a man's child is sick he's like 
 enough to think the fifty cents to buy it medi- 
 cine to-day is better than two dollars to bury 
 it to-morrow when he's seen it die for want 
 of help. Misther Corry is right, ma'am ; he 
 giner'ly is. An' it's patience we're wantin' ! 
 Faith, it's a fine chance to learn it on this road. 
 Beggin' yer parding, ma'am " with another 
 quick remembrance of whom he was address- 
 ing. 
 
 The girl remembered also, with a sudden 
 flush, that was neither pride nor pleasure, as 
 she turned away. 
 
 "Another of your acquaintances?" ques- 
 tioned Miss Lisle with a slight arching of her 
 eyebrows. 
 
 But Rachel did not explain. She noticed 
 with new interest and deeper thought, that
 
 INTERWEAVING THREADS. 63 
 
 day, the cabins clustered here and there along 
 the road "our road." The feeling of pro- 
 prietorship that had been so gratifying to her 
 girlish fancy was beginning to assume new 
 aspects, and bring its burdens now. A sense 
 of responsibility still clung to her even through 
 the dawning knowledge of her helplessness to 
 right the wrongs she saw ; and through all 
 those bright hours she puzzled her young 
 heart and brain with the tangled questions 
 that have perplexed and saddened so many 
 older, wiser ones why the rich man's flocks 
 and herds must be spared and the poor man's 
 one ewe-lamb be sacrificed? Why Dives 
 must be allowed to enjoy his feast though 
 Lazarus starved at the gate? 
 
 "Cousin Heman," she said one evening 
 when, out on the moonlit veranda, he and 
 Miss Lisle had been discoursing eloquently 
 it was a subject upon which Miss Lisle was 
 always eloquent of the life-work he had 
 chosen, "what would you do if, instead of the
 
 64 RACHEL'S SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 city congregations you know, your parish 
 should be entirely different made up of such 
 people as these in the shops and along the line? 
 What would you teach them? How help 
 them ? " There was some curiosity in the 
 question, but more of wistful earnestness. 
 
 " An improbable and not very flattering sup- 
 position," remarked Nan rather resentfully. 
 "Heman's talents will at least prevent his 
 burial in any obscure corner, I fancy." 
 
 "Well," answered the young gentleman, 
 slowly considering the subject, as if, how- 
 ever, such consideration were new to him, 
 " if I were so situated I should try to do my 
 best for them, of course, the gospel is for all, 
 and to adapt myself to their comprehen- 
 sion." 
 
 "And to inculcate industry, sobriety and 
 contentment with their station," suggested Nan. 
 " I think that is one great need of the poorer 
 classes to learn contentment with their lot." 
 
 " Certainly the very teaching most needed
 
 INTERWEAVING THREADS. 65 
 
 by these classes." He brushed a fallen rose- 
 leaf from his sleeve of immaculate broadcloth. 
 "Certainly." 
 
 Classes ! Rachel wondered if they stood 
 before his mental vision all accurately graded 
 and nicely labelled ! He would preach to them 
 only as " classes : " as individual souls, each 
 with its own separate life, its peculiar tempta- 
 tions and burdens, he would never know them. 
 The varied natures, upreaching, hungering, 
 struggling ; the tired, sensitive hearts, crushed 
 by poverty and failure ; the strong spirits, mad- 
 dened by wrong, or made bitter and faithless 
 by seeing others fling away what would be life 
 to them and theirs, all this he would never 
 understand ; to such he would bring no gospel 
 of hope, patience or strength. 
 
 " I hope you will have your wealthy city 
 congregation," she said with a long breath. 
 
 "Little doubt of that," answered Nan loftily, 
 "though, "she added with a sudden suspicion 
 that some sarcasm might have lurked under
 
 66 RACHEL'S SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 the adjectives, "he will expect to find some 
 poor even the very poor in his parish, of 
 course, since they are everywhere. But they 
 will not be dealt with - at least I should not 
 deal with such persons as you do, Rachel. It 
 is no kindness to pretend that they are upon 
 your own level. I would bestow charity, in- 
 deed, but I should think it my duty to accom- 
 pany it with good advice and careful oversight." 
 
 "Yes, I am not good at that, Nan," laughed 
 Rachel at thought of her cousin bestowing her 
 wise and proper benefactions upon Mrs. 
 Shackles, or Joe Baines whom she had 
 seen once or twice since his first appearance. 
 Yet something in the same thought gathered 
 the tears for an instant under her lashes. "If 
 I were a believer in pre-existence, I should 
 fancy I had sometime been a poor vagabond 
 or outcast myself," sh.e said, " for they touch a 
 spot in my heart that seems sore, as if from 
 some unremembered experience." 
 
 A heathenish creed and preposterous fancy,
 
 INTERWEAVING THREADS. 67 
 
 Miss Lisle's wide-open eyes said one of the 
 constantly recurring proofs of Rachel's oddi- 
 ty. But she and Mr. Weldon dropped at once 
 into a discussion of, or rather conversation 
 upon, Plato, and afterwards the ancient Egyp- 
 tians, who, being conveniently dead, could be 
 classified and disposed of in a proper, comfort- 
 able way, impossible to these troublesome liv- 
 ing subjects. 
 
 Rachel wandered away from their mild meta- 
 physical deductions, down the white gravelled 
 walk to the arched gateway. Looking away 
 down the slope to the river, her gaze was sud- 
 denly recalled. 
 
 "If you please, marm, here's the twins," said 
 Joe Baines in a voice of unmistakable delight, 
 drawing into the full moonlight that fell on the 
 road, two queer, tiny figures that appeared to 
 be only faded aprons surmounted by coarse 
 flopping hats. " Why, Joe ! " exclaimed Rachel, 
 startled, then laughing. "These babies ought 
 to be in bed ! "
 
 68 RACHEL'S SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 "Yes, marm, they mostly do be this time," 
 explained Joe. "But you see, I don't get no 
 time only nights, and 'twas early yet, and 
 moony, so I thought I'd bring 'em round this 
 way, and mebby you'd be out somewheres so's 
 you'd get a look at 'em. 'Most thought we'd 
 have to give it up, though, 'thout seein' ye," 
 he added with a sigh of satisfaction at the suc- 
 cess that had crowned his effort. 
 
 Joe had obtained work in the yards. " Qesar 
 did but carelessly nod on him," and the coveted 
 situation was found for him at once. He was 
 wondrously contented, and cherished an almost 
 worshipful admiration for the " big Judge's 
 darter." 
 
 " Ain't they fine fellows, now ? " he questioned 
 exultingly, pushing the children nearer. "Take 
 off your hats, twins, and bow to the lady." 
 
 Two spasmodic jerks of the two straw extin- 
 guishers followed, and two round tow-heads 
 were revealed.
 
 INTERWEAVING THREADS. 69 
 
 r Very fine boys indeed, Joe," said Rachel 
 appreciatingly. "What are their names?" 
 
 " Nip and Tuck, marm. You see when Meg 
 first left 'em they was that little that some sick- 
 ness was always a-happenin' to 'em, till it 
 seemed 'sif first one'd die, an' then 'sif t'other'd 
 die, an' so we got to callin' 'em that. Josier 
 an' Dan'l they be really, but they don't know 
 nothin' 'bout that. Ain't they grown fine? 
 Oh, we'll get along now, marm ! " 
 
 Rachel praised the round healthful cheeks, 
 and filled the chubby hands with grapes, and 
 Joe turned away with his charge, his heavy 
 face lighted by more than moonbeams. 
 
 Out of the town, away in a wide green mea- 
 dow by the roadside, stood an old railway-car 
 that, long unused, had lately been drawn up 
 there under the shade of a great oak tree, and 
 fitted up, in rude fashion, for a habitation. 
 Weather-beaten and somewhat dilapidated, it 
 yet bore marks of recent patching, and there 
 had been a rough shanty-like addition built
 
 70 RACHEL'S SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 at the back, from the roof of which a rusty 
 piece of stove-pipe protruded, proclaiming the 
 kitchen of the establishment. Inside the car 
 itself a partition had been put up, dividing 
 the once long, narrow apartment into two 
 smaller ones. The seats had nearly all been 
 removed long before it had fallen to its present 
 occupation, but a dilapidated one, carefully 
 propped up, remained at each end of the main 
 apartment, and these, with their faded velvet 
 cushions, were the especial pride of the small 
 mistress of the place, since her domain had 
 little other furnishing. 
 
 An odd little figure was she, in coarse dress, 
 almost as much too long for her as it was too 
 old in style for her twelve or thirteen years, 
 and the small grave face, with its great gray 
 eyes, wore a look of precocious womanliness. 
 There was a care-taking, matronly air in all 
 her movements too, as she stood for a moment, 
 with hand shading her eyes, looking anxiously 
 from the door, and then, turning away, placed
 
 INTERWEAVING THREADS. 7 1 
 
 thread and needle upon the table, and seated 
 herself with a basket of mending. 
 
 The room had one other occupant an old, 
 feeble, white-haired man, holding a violin 
 whose strings he touched occasionally. " Fid- 
 dling Simon " was rapidly becoming known in 
 the town and adjacent country, walking as far 
 as his strength would permit, playing here and 
 there, picking up what pence he could, but 
 scrupulously spending it all for lottery tickets 
 from which he always expected to reap a for- 
 tune. Disappointed again and again, he grew 
 only more confident by failure, and the one 
 joy of his life was to talk of his prospective 
 prizes and the wealth they would bring. 
 
 " Hitty, don't you s'pose it'll come to-morrer 
 
 or next week, mebby?" he asked, as he 
 was always asking. 
 
 w Mebby, Daddy," answered Hitty with 
 thoughts intent upon her work. 
 
 w And then I'll have a new fiddle and clo'es 
 
 we'll all have clo'es and a house with"
 
 72 RACHEL'S SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 "Yes," said Hitty absently, her little red 
 hands awkwardly drawing rents together, and 
 fitting on odd pieces, while a perplexed wrin- 
 kle deepened now and then in her unchildlike 
 forehead. 
 
 " A fine big house with with what'll we 
 have in it, Hitty ? " querulously. 
 
 " Carpets and sofys and pianers," began the 
 little woman in the tone of one repeating a 
 familiar lesson. "There! that's crooked 
 and pictures how will I fix that patch?" 
 
 " Hitty, I don't want so many patches in it ! " 
 expostulated the old man impatiently. 
 
 "No, no, Daddy ! we won't have none in it ! 
 It's pictures I meant pictures," explained 
 Hitty soothingly. 
 
 "An' carriages an' horses. You don't tell 
 nothin' 'bout them ; you used to know all 'bout 
 them." 
 
 " Horses and velvety carriages with lamps 
 to 'em," added the patient young seamstress, 
 enumerating the prospective grandeurs with
 
 INTERWEAVING THREADS. 73 
 
 matter-of-fact tone, and brows still knitted over 
 her patching. 
 
 There was a shuffling heavy step outside, 
 then a scrambling of children's feet, and Joe 
 appeared with the twins. Hitty looked up re- 
 lieved, but her observation was quiet enough : 
 
 "You did be a long time, Joe." 
 
 "Yes, it took a waitin', but she's seen 'em, 
 Hitty she's seen them twins ! "I got 'em 
 right where she could look at 'em square," an- 
 swered Joe exultingly, as if such consumma- 
 tion were worth years of waiting. 
 
 The same feeling seemed to linger long 
 after Hitty, moving about in her grave and 
 housewifely fashion, had disposed of the chil- 
 dren for the night, and returned to her work. 
 He viewed with satisfaction her awkward darn- 
 ing and odd drawing together of rents. 
 
 "You're a master hand at patchin', Hitty. 
 Oh, we're gettin' along now, I tell you, since 
 she got me a place to work the Judge's dar- 
 ter. Some day we'll fix up like folks, if we
 
 74 R ACHED S SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 keep on, and buy them twins some gor-ge-ous 
 aperns ! I've seen the stuff in the stores, and 
 I've kept a thinkin'. Red and blue and po- 
 sies all over it ! " 
 
 "And, Joe," said Hitty, with thoughts going 
 deeper than his, " mebby, some day, when 
 they get bigger and we get on, we can send 
 em' where they'll get learnin' ? " 
 
 " Sure ! we'll have 'em know all what's in 
 books, Hitty." 
 
 " 'Cause I think that's what makes folks like 
 like folks," she said slowly, failing to find 
 any words to express the sense of some great 
 difference between herself and others that she 
 had often felt but did not understand. " Mebby 
 they can tell us some, after a while, Joe?" 
 wistfully. 
 
 "They'll be fine fellers, them twins," af- 
 firmed Joe, shaking his bushy head solemnly. 
 "Wouldn't Meg say we'd done our level best 
 if she could see 'em with them new aperns ? "
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 THE DOCTOR'S HOLIDAY. 
 
 T TEMAN laid an open letter on the table 
 * *- beside him, and looked at Rachel with 
 a smile. 
 
 "I shall have an opportunity of answering 
 practically your question of a few evenings 
 ago." 
 
 "What was it? I did not know I had asked 
 one worth remembering so long." 
 
 " You asked what I would preach to a con- 
 gregation made up of such people as those 
 about Craig's Cross. It seems the city pastors 
 have been holding a series of evening meetings 
 in a school-house some five or six miles from 
 here, each taking charge of it in turn. Dr. 
 Lowe, to whose lot it falls this week, is unable 
 to come, and, hearing that I was in the neigh- 
 
 75
 
 76 RACHEL'S SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 borhood, has written asking me to take his 
 place." 
 
 " Ah, yes, I recollect hearing something about 
 that," said the Judge, drawing on his gloves, 
 and glancing from his watch to the window for 
 his carriage to make its appearance. "Out at 
 Gill's school-house. It is not very far by a 
 direct route over the hills, but five or six miles, 
 I suppose, by the only decent carriage road. 
 However, that will not matter much these 
 bright moonlight nights. I presume the girls 
 will go also ; it is really a rather pleasant drive 
 out there, and you will all enjoy it. Do your 
 best for that meeting, Heman. They are a set 
 that need preaching to badly enough." And 
 the Judge laughed and hurried away. 
 
 One of the girls expressed her approval of 
 the plan so heartily that her enthusiasm fortu- 
 nately covered the slightly hesitating acquies- 
 cence of the other. Rachel's pleasure in the 
 purpose of the expedition was not unqualified, 
 nor did it grow more so when, later in the
 
 THE DOCTOR'S HOLIDAY. 77 
 
 day, she heard Nan, in conversation with 
 Mr. Corry, explaining their engagement for 
 the next evening. His knowledge of the local- 
 ity in question, and his expressions of inter- 
 est in the project, ended very naturally in his 
 joining the party At least it seemed a very 
 natural and most satisfactory arrangement to 
 both Annice and Heman, and Rachel could 
 not refuse to second the invitation. 
 
 "Mr. Corry is so genial, so sensible and 
 practical, that he is always an agreeable 
 acquisition," Miss Lisle remarked to her cousin 
 afterwards, with the air of one whose opinion 
 upon such a subject settled it beyond all con- 
 troversy. It was seemingly allowed to do so. 
 Rachel made no reply. 
 
 A respectable audience in point of numbers 
 and it was quiet and orderly also had 
 gathered in the plain, dimly lighted little build- 
 ing by the time the carriage arrived. 
 
 "If he's a-goin' to preach the Gospil, I'm a- 
 goin' to be there to hear it, 'cause I don't go to
 
 78 RACHEL'S SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 meetin's often, 'count of havin' no clo'es an 
 things to go with," Mrs. Shackles had observed 
 to Humphrey ; and others had apparently been 
 of her opinion. Joe Baines, Hitty and the 
 twins were there a result that had taxed 
 Kitty's powers of preparation to the utmost, 
 and cost Joe an evening of grave planning. 
 The idea had first occurred to him from a bit 
 of talk overheard at the yard. Joe heard 
 many things in that way, seldom talking to 
 the men, or they to him, as he went, day after 
 day, about his work in his dull, heavy, but 
 steady, fashion, not comprehending many of 
 their familiar topics, but wondering and pon- 
 dering often in his slow brain. But this was 
 an item of intelligence that had suddenly as- 
 sumed a possible practical interest to himself, 
 and he explained at home what he had heard 
 as clearly as he understood it. 
 
 "So it's more'n like she'll be there, 'cause 
 he's her cousin. And we'll fix up and go, 
 Hitty, and take them twins ; an' she'll see all
 
 THE DOCTOR'S HOLIDAY. 79 
 
 of us a-hearin' of him !" concluded Joe, reach- 
 ing his grand culmination impressively. 
 
 It was a great undertaking, but it was suc- 
 cessfully carried out. Hitty had done her 
 luckless best poor tired little seamstress ! 
 and, arrayed in marvellous proofs of her indus- 
 try, they occupied a front seat when the party 
 from Judge Lyndal's arrived. They were not 
 disappointed. Joe, earnestly watching for it, 
 did not miss a pleasant glance of recognition 
 from the Judge's daughter, though the corners 
 of her mouth quivered for a moment as she 
 looked in that direction. 
 
 Nan, scanning the congregation and then 
 the young minister, thought proudly how out 
 of place he seemed among them. Rachel 
 thought the same thing, though without the 
 pride, and for a different reason. A moment 
 later she started at an unexpected presence. 
 Dr. Kelsey walked quietly into the room, and 
 sought a retired seat among the listeners. Nan 
 looked a mute interrogation at her cousin.
 
 80 RACHEL'S SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 There was opportunity for nothing more, for 
 Heman was already standing by the plain deal 
 table which served as a desk, and Rachel, 
 with a curious mingling of hope and misgiv- 
 ing, turned resolutely from other thoughts to 
 hear for herself what he had to say to " this 
 class of people." 
 
 There was a description of the dangers and 
 temptations of wealth, and the folly of making 
 its acquirement a chief aim in life, or of sup- 
 posing that its possession could bring happi- 
 ness ; a poetical picture of contented poverty, 
 fashioned after the "Cotter's Saturday Night." 
 The evils of discontent and envy were por- 
 trayed, with a rather vague and abstruse warn- 
 ing against communism and kindred mad- 
 nesses; and many truths and half truths, min- 
 gled with some wholesome and some very 
 doubtful deductions, were set forth in choice 
 language. There was much about the differ- 
 ent allotments of life as of God's appointment, 
 but very little about the Carpenter of Nazareth,
 
 THE DOCTOR'S H OLID AT. 8-1 
 
 who became such for our sakes, and " was 
 tempted in all points like as we are" the 
 Brother and the Lord in one, who went out 
 with the fishermen, and could fill the nets to 
 overflowing when he willed ; who had power 
 to make the few loaves many, and the greater 
 power still to make fasting with Him seem 
 sweeter than feasting elsewhere, and a home 
 in His promised kingdom worth counting all 
 earthly things loss to win. 
 
 Missing this, Rachel wondered, looking on 
 the faces around her keen, intelligent faces, 
 many of them what they thought of it all. 
 There was a listlessness with some, a growing 
 restlessness with others, as the address drew 
 to a close ; and the instant the speaker ceased, 
 a rough-looking man, drawing a long breath 
 that might possibly been one of relief, began 
 to sing, without waiting for any hymn to be 
 announced, 
 
 u We're going home, no more to roam 
 
 No more to sin and sorrow ; 
 No more to wear the brow of care 
 
 We're going home to-morrow.
 
 82 RACHEL'S SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 u For weary feet awaits the street 
 
 All wondrous paved and golden; 
 For hearts that ache, the angels wake 
 The story sweet and olden. 
 
 We're going home, we're going home, 
 We're going home to-morrow." 
 
 In a moment the air of lassitude and weari- 
 ness had vanished, and the people joined in the 
 song with an energy and power that added 
 depth and meaning to the words. It was the 
 homesick longing of souls that had found the 
 way hard. Miss Lisle's fair, delicate face 
 betrayed surprise, annoyance, and the faintest 
 perceptible shade of disgust. Mr. Corry 
 watched the scene curiously, but Rachel, turn- 
 ing a little away from both faces, after a mo- 
 ment or two sang softly with the others. 
 
 There was a brief awkward pause when the 
 singing ended. Mr. Weldon did not know 
 what next to expect, but as nothing came he 
 closed the meeting, the people passed out, and 
 our party made their way to the carriage almost 
 in silence. The promised moonlight had failed
 
 THE DOCTOR'S HOLIDA T. 83 
 
 to appear, and in its stead were heavy clouds 
 which presently deepened to rain. 
 
 "It seems to me," said Nan in an injured 
 tone, "that the city ministers are expending a 
 great deal of labor for a very small return in 
 coming out here every week." 
 
 " Especially if they depend upon the moon- 
 light," laughed Mr. Corry. " Still, it was not 
 a bad audience in quantity, whatever may 
 be said of its quality." 
 
 Mr. Weldon prudently refrained from ex- 
 pressing an opinion. He was beginning to 
 have a glimmering suspicion of the reason 
 why missionaries must often remain so long 
 among their particular branch of heathen 
 before they are able to do any efficient work. 
 He had certainly considered his address very 
 satisfactory when he had prepared it the pre- 
 vious day, and rehearsed it to the well-bred 
 stuffed chairs in his room, and he could not 
 quite account for the sense of discomfort that 
 assailed him now. He ponderer' the subject
 
 4 RACHEL'S SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 during the first mile of the homeward ride, and 
 then meditation and journey came to an abrupt 
 halt together. There was a sudden jar and 
 jolt, the carriage lunged and tipped, and the 
 driver sprang from his seat in time narrowly to 
 escape being thrown from it. 
 
 " Halloo ! What's wrong ? " 
 
 The gentlemen clambered out as the horses 
 stopped, alighting was not easy in the posi- 
 tion the vehicle had assumed, and assisted 
 the ladies to do the same. At that moment a 
 horseman joined them, and Dr. Kelsey's voice 
 inquired the cause of the trouble 
 
 " Something wrong with the carriage ; I 
 can't discover what, in this light or rather in 
 the want of it," answered Mr. Corry, peering 
 at the oddly tangled wheels. 
 
 " Something that'll keep it froro going any 
 further this night, or I'm mistaken," muttered 
 the coachman. . 
 
 Nan moved her foot impatiently on the wet 
 ground. It was not a pleasant place for stand-
 
 THE DOCTOR'S HOLIDAY. 85 
 
 ing, and the slow rain was changing to a brisk 
 shower. 
 
 "This is a fine location for a break-down," 
 she commented. 
 
 "There is a farm-house a little way back 
 from the road where we can find shelter for the 
 ladies," suggested the doctor. "And probably 
 we can borrow a lantern, and so discover the 
 exact extent of the damage, and what can be 
 done about it." 
 
 "Commend me to a surgeon for sensible 
 advice in all cases of fracture ! " declared Mr. 
 Corry in a tone of relief. " I did not know 
 there was a house in the vicinity. Lead the 
 way, Doctor, and we will follow." 
 
 The doctor offered his arm to Rachel. 
 
 "It will be an uncomfortable walk up a 
 rough muddy lane, but it is not a long one." 
 
 The whole party contrived to find consid- 
 erable merriment in it, though they presented 
 a forlornly draggled, appearance when the 
 light from the open door flashed out upon
 
 86 RACHEL'S SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 them. A poor, plain little farm-house it was, 
 but it offered a ready, if somewhat uncouth, 
 hospitality. 
 
 The farmer produced a lantern, and enlisted 
 in the service at once, while his wife lighted a 
 fire in the open grate in the best room, remark- 
 ing that it was " a real chill rain, and an open 
 fire dries damp clothes the fastest, anyhow." 
 
 "How cheery!" exclaimed Rachel, settling 
 her feet on the fender and watching the bright 
 blaze as it lighted up the whitewashed walls 
 
 " For us, but not for the others out in the 
 rain," replied Nan reprovingly. 
 
 They soon returned, however, to report the 
 impossibility of using the carriage that night, 
 and to take counsel as to the course to be pur- 
 sued under the circumstances. 
 
 " Mr. Weldon and yourself might take the 
 horses and ride back to Craig's Cross," said 
 the doctor, turning to Mr. Corry. 
 
 " Only that it seems useless for two of us to 
 go," interposed Heman.
 
 THE DOCTOR'S HOLIDAY. 87 
 
 " And in that way you could secure another 
 conveyance in the town while he might ride 
 directly to Judge Lyndal's, procure extra 
 wraps for the ladies, and explain the cause of 
 the delay to Mrs. Lyndal so that she need suf- 
 fer no alarm. It is important that she should 
 not," proceeded the doctor quietly, without 
 seeming to have heard the interruption. 
 
 "And the ladies, meanwhile?" questioned 
 Mr. Corry, a trifle discontentedly. 
 
 "Can remain here. I have a patient to 
 visit up on the hillside road, but I will wait 
 until you return." 
 
 It was a very sensible arrangement, yet nei- 
 ther of the gentlemen addressed looked partic- 
 ularly well pleased with it. There seemed no 
 good reason for demurring, however, especially 
 as Miss Lyndal promptly approved it and her 
 cousin did not object ; so the plan was accept- 
 ed, and the two rode away upon their mission. 
 
 "Now," said the doctor, turning from the 
 door where he had watched their departure,
 
 00 RACHEL'S SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 "we shall have about two hours of waiting, in 
 which we must try to make ourselves as com- 
 fortable as possible." 
 
 His look and tone said that he expected to 
 be exceedingly comfortable. His manner, 
 indeed, was not unlike that of a school-boy 
 who finds himself in possession of an unexpec- 
 ted holiday. He stirred the fire to a brighter 
 blaze, and drew two stiff wooden rocking- 
 chairs from obscure corners to a pleasanter 
 position. 
 
 " They are the nearest approach to luxury 
 the place affords," he said as he arranged 
 them. "And I suppose it is our duty to be 
 content with them, if we are to practise the 
 teachings Mr. Weldon gave us this day," he 
 added mischievously as he saw the look which 
 Nan bestowed upon the gayly painted mis- 
 fitting back and creaking rockers, as she 
 accepted the chair he offered. 
 
 "We were surprised to see you in such 
 an out-of-the way place as that little school-
 
 THE DOCTOR'S HOLIDAY. 89 
 
 house," said Rachel, recurring to her wonder 
 of early in the evening. " You have not told 
 us how it happened." 
 
 " I had a visit to make in this direction, as I 
 said a few minutes ago. I heard of the meet- 
 ing and stopped there," the doctor explained 
 indefinitely. His attendance might or might 
 not have been in a measure accidental. 
 
 " I trust that case of illness is not a very 
 serious one, since we are so unfortunately de- 
 laying your call," remarked Nan rather stiffly. 
 Heman's sermons were well enough, of course, 
 but she did not enjoy any hint that she was 
 expected to practise them in the way of fore- 
 going luxuries and submitting to inconven- 
 iences. The suggestion, from such a source, 
 savored of presumption ! 
 
 " I trust it is not," the doctor responded se- 
 renely. 
 
 He did not seem at all uneasy about it or 
 disturbed by the delay. When the fire was 
 dancing and sparkling to his satisfaction, he
 
 9^> RACHEL'S SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 sought the kitchen and the hostess, who was 
 knitting and hospitably trying to keep awake 
 while her guests remained, and entered into a 
 secret consultation with 'her concerning the 
 capabilities of her cellar and dairy combin- 
 ing a few adroitly managed suggestions with 
 a judicious tender of ample compensation for 
 extra trouble. He appeared so thoroughly and 
 enjoy ably at ease, so perfectly at home in this 
 unexpected situation, that Nan slightly resent- 
 ed it. It was very pleasant, under the cir- 
 cumstances, to have him there, and to have 
 him so considerate and agreeable ; but consid- 
 ering the company in which he found himself, 
 it did seem as if a more abashed and reverent 
 manner, a little more of admiring awe, might 
 have been expected from this mere country 
 doctor. It suddenly occurred to her that these 
 plain homely surroundings might have some- 
 thing to do with the change for there cer- 
 tainly was a change from his usual reserved 
 professional demeanor. Very possibly he felt
 
 THE DOCTOR'S HOLIDAT. pi 
 
 himself in a more familiar and natural atmos- 
 phere here than in Judge LyndaPs parlors, 
 and other places of their occasional meeting. 
 
 "But it is strange how people can live on 
 year after year in such a way and with such 
 surroundings," she said, uttering her conclud- 
 ing thought aloud as she glanced at the placid 
 pink-and-white faces of "Henry" and "Rosalie" 
 which in glaring water-colors and cheap frames 
 adorned the walls. 
 
 "There is nothing very difficult about it, 
 Miss Lisle, nor very distressing either," assert- 
 ed the doctor. "I speak from experience, for 
 I grew up from boyhood in a farm-house but 
 little larger than this, and not any more luxu- 
 rious. There was a large family of us, boys 
 and girls, and I do assure you we had no idea 
 that we were enduring martyrdom. No," he 
 laughed as he followed Nan's glance toward 
 the pictures again, "we did not possess those 
 gorgeous works of art, but I have no doubt we 
 should have enjoyed them. Our masterpieces
 
 92 RACHEL'S SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 were a bird chalked on the barn-door by a 
 neighbor, and a few cuts clipped from alma- 
 nacs and stray papers, and pasted on the walls 
 of the room we boys occupied a chamber 
 with a sloping ceiling, Miss Lisle ; and the 
 height of our ambition was to grow tall enough 
 to bump our heads against it." 
 
 How audacious he was in the very face of 
 her disdain ! She half enjoyed it herself, and 
 that Rachel did so wholly, her dancing eyes tes- 
 tified. "Children are easily satisfied," vouch- 
 safed Miss Lisle more graciously than might 
 have been expected. 
 
 " But I even find it very pleasant, cosey and 
 homelike now, when I go back for a visit, as 
 I often do," the doctor persisted, but with a 
 momentary softening of his tone, as if some 
 tender memory touched it. 
 
 "One's friends and home, of course "be- 
 gan Nan, and then left the sentence unfinished 
 because she could think of no relevant conclu- 
 sion an awkwardness very unusual with her.
 
 THE. DOCTOR'S HOLIDAY. 93 
 
 In revenge for having been forced into it, she 
 ostensibly changed the subject, spoke of some 
 late magazine sketches on rural life, and glided 
 from thence to books and authors, appealing 
 to the doctor's knowledge of this and his opin- 
 ion of that. She intended to reveal to him in 
 a seemingly unconscious way the superior 
 advantages he had missed. But apparently he 
 had missed very few. She was surprised, 
 though no glance or inflection betrayed it. She 
 dexterously turned to popular lectures. That 
 was more successful. He listened with interest 
 to her glowing descriptions, and asked some 
 questions concerning the topics and their treat- 
 ment, that were not easily answered at least 
 to her own satisfaction ; but he owned, with- 
 out the slightest trace of embarrassment or 
 envy, that he had never heard them. 
 
 "There has not been time, since Craig's 
 Cross does not attract stars of such magnitude. 
 I am trying to cultivate the grace of being sat- 
 isfied to leave some desirable things undone.
 
 94 RACHEL'S SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 In Methuselah's time people must have had a 
 grand chance to do the world thoroughly ; but 
 now life is not long enough." 
 
 Some words about "judging our lives by what 
 we allow to be crowded out of them " flashed 
 through Rachel's thought, but Nan only smiled, 
 and her evenly modulated voice went on : 
 
 "Then I suppose that philosophy has con- 
 soled you for missing some of our great actors 
 and dramas also? It is almost a pity it should 
 have done so. Not that one cares to bestow a 
 too frequent or indiscriminate attendance upon 
 even the so-called best " she guarded her re- 
 mark with a proper remembrance of her future 
 position, and with a haste which seemed to 
 embody some fear that the gentleman before 
 her might immediately begin to squander his 
 time and vitiate his taste if he were not duly 
 warned. "But some are really pure and ele- 
 vating. They delineate a lofty heroism and 
 nobility of character that can scarcely be wit- 
 nessed elsewhere a'truly grand ideal."
 
 THE DOCTOR'S HO LID A T. 95 
 
 tt I do not know," said the doctor reflectively, 
 less as if he were answering her than ponder- 
 ing the subject for his own satisfaction. "I 
 think many of the ' grand deeds,' robbed of their 
 dress, the lights and the general glamour of 
 the surroundings, are not so very uncommon. 
 Take Richelieu's much-admired defence of 
 his ward. Why, I could find a dozen men, 
 any day, on almost any street men carrying 
 prosaic dinner-pails, and going to the most 
 commonplace work who would do as much 
 for a defenceless girl, and then go quietly on 
 their way without rolling their eyes or their 
 R's in making high-sounding speeches about 
 it. Neither they nor any one else would think 
 that they had done anything remarkable." 
 
 Dr. Kelsey could scarcely have known how 
 aggravating he was. Fortunately, the result 
 of his negotiation with the farmer's wife be- 
 came speedily apparent in the spreading of a 
 neat little table, and its furnishing with an 
 array of tempting country dainties that were
 
 96 RACHEL'S SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 enjoyable after the long ride and the cool 
 breeze. Through the open door came the 
 sound of the steadily falling rain. Inside, the 
 fire threw its glow over the rag carpet, the 
 braided mats and the white walls, glistening 
 the plain table service, and lighting up the 
 faces gathered around it. 
 
 " It seems like a chapter out of some other 
 book as if we had stolen a few leaves from 
 a story not our own," said Rachel, surveying 
 her surroundings. 
 
 "I hope it is not to be continued," comment- 
 ed Annice, with a slight shrug of the grace- 
 ful shoulders around which she had thrown a 
 very becoming white shawl. She was looking 
 extremely well. Even an old-fashioned mir- 
 ror, decorated with peacock-plumes and nod- 
 ding asparagus-berries, could tell that, and 
 her brow smoothed as she caught the reflec- 
 tion. 
 
 Rachel laughed softly. She did not echo 
 her cousin's hope, audibly at least, the doctor
 
 THE DOCTOR'S HOLIDAT. 97 
 
 noticed, and she seemed charmingly resigned. 
 A faint flush came to her cheeks and a brighter 
 light to her eyes. She lured the gentleman 
 into a description of the little frame country 
 school-house where his education began, and 
 of the delights of school-teaching with which 
 he had been obliged to diversify his college 
 course. One might have fancied she found 
 a mischievous enjoyment in shocking Miss 
 Lisle's high opinions and prejudices. Perhaps 
 Dr. Kelsey had a motive of his own for soften- 
 ing no rugged outline of the sketches he gave, 
 for allowing the struggle and poverty of ear- 
 lier years, though not vaunted, to stand uncon- 
 cealed. In any case, Miss Lyndal did not 
 appear appalled. The mirthful light in her 
 eyes softened sometimes, that was all. The 
 whole incomprehensible proceeding was of a 
 piece with her toleration of that horrible Mrs. 
 Shackles and her other odd proteges, Nan 
 decided, leaning back in her chair and watch- 
 ing her two companions with a little motion of
 
 9 RACHEL'S SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 her delicate fingers as if she were secretly 
 washing her hands of them. 
 
 However, the man could talk remarkably 
 well, she admitted that. Of course he was a 
 monument of wasted possibilities, but since 
 she was not responsible she need not refuse to 
 be entertained ; and having reached this sen- 
 sible conclusion, she grew more affable again, 
 and had forgotten to watch the clock, when the 
 sound of carriage-wheels startled her. 
 
 " They are coming ! " she said, looking from 
 the window. 
 
 " Did you think we were forever and a day 
 on our mission ? " demanded Mr. Corry cheer- 
 ily. "It seemed so to us, I assure you. And 
 by the way, Doctor, we are bound to confess 
 that we discovered the wisdom of your sugges- 
 tion that two could divide the labor and expe- 
 dite the return." 
 
 Dr. Kelsey bowed silently. Perhaps he 
 began to doubt his own wisdom in the arrange- 
 ment. He sought the farmer and his wife
 
 THE DOCTOR'S HOLIDA Y. 99 
 
 while the party made their hasty preparations 
 for departure, and the darkness hid his grave 
 face as he assisted the ladies into the carriage 
 and turned away with a quietly courteous 
 "good-night." Then he mounted his horse, 
 drew his hat low over his eyes, and plunged 
 into the rain and gloom in an opposite direc- 
 tion. He had had his holiday, and it was 
 over.
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 NOT WHOLLY SATISFACTORY. 
 
 "V TEEDN'T nobody tell me that a meetin' 
 * ^ ain't no use, even if 'tain't a parti c'lar 
 good one ! " declared Mrs. Shackles. She con- 
 sidered that she had reaped substantial benefit 
 by finding in the road the next day a scarf 
 which she recognized as Miss Lyndal's. It 
 was wet and spoiled by the rain, but who could 
 say that honesty did not require her to return 
 it? And that furnished a laudable reason for 
 visiting the great house on the hill no in- 
 significant matter, in what the old woman 
 called " a dry fortnight betwixt berries." 
 
 So, a morning or two later, she set out to 
 restore the bit of lost property, plodding 
 through the hot sun, and mentally recounting 
 all the toils and fatigues she was undergoing,
 
 NOT WHOLLY SATISFACTORY. IOI 
 
 that she might have them in readiness to relate, 
 and so enhance the value of her service. 
 When she reached the house, however, no one 
 was visible on the piazza, or through the front 
 windows ; and after a long and careful scrutiny 
 she was reluctantly obliged to modify her plan 
 and walk around the house. With Miss Rachel 
 not in sight, "Peggy Larrison," as she denom- 
 inated the housekeeper, would never forgive 
 her for summoning any one to the front door. 
 She hesitated a moment on the steps, looking 
 into the wide inviting kitchen. 
 
 " I s'pose Miss Lyndal ain't home ? " she re- 
 marked interrogatively. 
 
 "I suppose she isn't," replied the house- 
 keeper dryly, startled by the voice, and a trifle 
 vexed when she discovered the intruder. "You 
 wouldn't have come to this door if she had 
 been." 
 
 "No more I wouldn't," declared Mrs. 
 Shackles stoutly, " for I wanted to see her 
 'bout something parti c'lar."
 
 102 RACHEL'S SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 A rosy-cheeked maiden, with sleeves rolled 
 above her plump elbows, giggled, and re- 
 marked in an audible aside that it was " a pity 
 Miss Rachel hadn't known." 
 
 "If it is a very important message you might 
 leave it with me, and I'll deliver it as soon 
 as she comes in," suggested Mrs. Larrison, 
 amused at the evident dissatisfaction her pro- 
 posal called forth. 
 
 " 'Tain't just a message. It's something she's 
 lost, and I'm clear beat out bringin' it back 
 through this hot sun. I s'pose I'll have to 
 come ag'in, though." 
 
 Whereupon she was invited to enter, and 
 Rosy-cheeks, by direction, brought her a glass 
 of milk, though the pert damsel tittered again 
 when the stained and road-soiled scarf was 
 displayed, and hazarded the remark that " Miss 
 Rachel might have been able to do without it 
 till sunset, if it was such very hard work to 
 bring it back in the heat of the day.*' 
 
 "Well, it was," responded the old woman
 
 NO T WHOLL T SA TfSFA C TOR T. 103 
 
 severely, " with no better par'sol to keep the sun 
 ofFn this old slitted one. An' I s'pose pretty 
 soon I'll have none, 'cause I hain't got no pros- 
 peck of buy in' none, an' I won't beg for nobody. 
 But, as I tells Humphrey, I guess I'm honest 
 enough to take things back to their owners if 
 I do br'il my head a-doin' it." 
 
 w I presume I can find a light umbrella that 
 you can have, if that is what you want," 
 answered the housekeeper. She was kind- 
 hearted, and if she lacked patience with her 
 visitor, she had a boundless affection for Miss 
 Rachel and a due regard for all her whims. 
 
 Fairly seated, and with such an auspicious 
 opening, Mrs. Shackles was in no haste to 
 depart. She settled herself comfortably, dis- 
 coursed of the berry crop, and gave her opin- 
 ion of the meeting she had attended. 
 
 "Oh, he talked about the Frinch revolution 
 I know it's the style to bring 'most every- 
 thing from the Frinch nowadays, but I didn't 
 know our own revolution had gone out o' fash-
 
 IO4 RACHEL'S SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 ion. My father he fit in it, and most folks 
 thought 'twould last if 'twas home-made. 
 Then he talked about the communion what- 
 ever that may be and the ile-ists, though 
 dear knows nobody ever struck ile in these 
 parts ! I s'pose mebby he writ that sermon for 
 somewhere else, though, an' hadn't time to 
 make it over ; it didn't seem to fit somehow. 
 'Tain't his fault that he's been shut up in one 
 of them theology cemeteries till he don't know 
 nothin' how to talk to folks I don't mean 
 people, I mean folks real human critters! 
 He'll preach at 'em enough, but he'll never 
 preach to 'em, 'cause they won't be there 
 land sakes, no! not within miles of where 
 he's aimin' at." 
 
 " If Mr. Weldon's sermon wasn't appreciated 
 it's not likely the fault was in the preacher," 
 interposed Mrs. Larrison stiffly. She did not 
 relish any criticism of the family. w He is a 
 young man yet, and I daresay he will make 
 a fine minister. Most people grow wiser as
 
 NO T WHOLL T SA TISFA C TOR T. 1 05 
 
 they grow older. Here is that small umbrella 
 and a can of milk if you are going now." 
 
 Mrs. Shackles perceived that she had intro- 
 duced an unfortunate topic, and she accepted 
 the gift and her dismissal with tolerable grace. 
 
 " Yes," she remarked for her own edification 
 as she slowly wended her way around the 
 house, "folks does grow wiser some of 'em. 
 But he ain't one of the kind of cakes that'll ever 
 rise an' run over ; he'll al'ays stay nice and 
 smooth in the same little pan he was first 
 mixed in." 
 
 As she turned the corner and passed out 
 upon the gravelled walk her dim eyes bright- 
 ened. Through the open window she caught 
 the flutter of a light dress, the glimpse of a 
 flitting figure in the shadowy distance of the 
 apartment. Miss Rachel was at home after 
 all, and she would see her " in spite of Peggy 
 Larrison or any of 'em." With this valiant 
 determination she entered hastily, and not until 
 she had uttered her customary " Mornin' ! "
 
 106 RACHEL'S SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 and dropped down upon a chair near the door, 
 did she discover, in the softened light of the 
 room, that she had made a mistake and was 
 confronting not Miss Lyndal but her cousin. 
 
 " Sakes ! it's you ! " she exclaimed with a 
 scarcely flattering emphasis upon the pronoun. 
 " I 'most wonder I couldn't 'a' told that if it does 
 seem nigh about as dark as Egypt here, just 
 comin' in from the light. Miss Rachel ain't to 
 home, I s'pose?" 
 
 Nan was secretly glad of the encounter. 
 There were a few things that this obtrusive old 
 woman needed to be taught, and she had no 
 doubt of her own eminent fitness to teach them. 
 
 " What did you want of Miss Lyndal ? " she 
 asked. 
 
 " Why, she dropped her scarf out o' the car- 
 riage t'other night rich folks al'ays does 
 have more'n they can rightly hold on to an' 
 I've travelled all this way through the blazin', 
 br'ilin' sun to bring it back to her." 
 
 "That is all very well," said Miss Lisle
 
 NOT WHOLLY SATISFACTORY. IO7 
 
 judicially, "but, my good woman, don't you 
 think it would appear better for you to go to 
 the back door when you come to Judge Lyn- 
 dal's house?" 
 
 "Tear better?" Mrs. Shackles scrutinized 
 the fair face opposite her as if she entertained 
 some doubt whether she had heard correctly. 
 " Sakes ! no ! Leastways I ain't so partic'lar 
 'bout my 'pearance as some folks. ' Handsome 
 is as handsome does,' I tells Humphrey when 
 he says what old bunnits I wear, an' no pros- 
 peck of gettin' better. I ain't so stuck up 
 'bout my looks as some folks, though I don't 
 mind ownin' I'd like a new bunnit. But no- 
 body knows it, for I ain't one of the beggin' 
 kind, nor never will be. Only if anybody 
 offers things that fit I ain't too proud to take 'em. 
 Seems like that's what we was put into this 
 world for to help one another an' I ain't 
 goin' to hender nobody from doin' their duty, 
 by not takin' what's offered. My head's 'bout 
 the size o' your'n."
 
 108 RACHEL'S SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 " I think," said Annice, deciding not to ig- 
 nore so broad a hint, ft that I should be doing 
 you no true kindness to give you such an arti- 
 cle. A hat of mine would scarcely be a proper 
 thing for you to wear." 
 
 "Well, now ! do you think they ain't proper 
 too? "asked Mrs. Shackles with an air of 
 mingled surprise and relief. "Now I don't 
 mind tellin' ye that I've al'ays thought them 
 I've seen ye have 6n was kind o' flighty-tighty 
 an' hardly respectable-like," she added confi- 
 dentially. "But I didn't s'pose you thought 
 so, an', thinks I, if a big city lady can stand 'em 
 I s'pose I could 'specially as I wouldn't have 
 to go nowheres much to show it, only to the 
 berry medders an' sich. I'd kiver it up mostly 
 with a veil when I come in to sell berries 
 would if I had a veil, but I hain't got none an' 
 don't know as I never will have. Can't you 
 buy no other kind?" sympathizingly. 
 
 "You misunderstand me entirely," said Nan 
 icily, but with a little red spot beginning to
 
 NOT WHOLLY SATISFACTORY 1 09 
 
 burn on her cheeks. Her new pupil was hor- 
 ribly obtuse. " I mean that you and I are dif- 
 ferent persons " 
 
 " Land sakes ! Yes, I should hope so !" as- 
 sented the old woman with uncomplimentary 
 fervor. " And the parson too he's differenter 
 than either of us. Poor young boy ! I wanted 
 to tell him, when he was a-preachin' away at 
 us folks to be contented with sich things as we 
 have, that all that was easy enough. It's bein' 
 contented with sich things as we haven't 's 
 where the pinch comes. Now I'm contented 
 with my new par'sol that Peggy Larrison jest 
 give me, but I ain't contented with my t'other 
 gown, 'cause I hain't got none. I'm 'bout your 
 size," reflectively, " only a little shorter and 
 broader not so lean an' sprinky ; but gowns 
 '11 stretch awful, an' I don't mind runnin' a 
 tuck " 
 
 "You need not explain. I do not propose 
 to give you one." 
 
 The lady's tone was losing dignity and
 
 HO RACHEL'S SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 growing undeniably sharp. Mrs. Shackles 
 squinted at her critically. 
 
 " Dear ! Well, you needn't snap so ; I ain't 
 a-beggin' ! 'Bout that parson o' your'n, I'll 
 tell ye what he 'minds me of," she pursued, 
 settling herself comfortably. " 'Twas a circus 
 I went to once. I don't go to 'em now, 'cause 
 I don't have no money, an' there's no prospeck 
 of nobody sendin' me a ticket ; but 'twas real 
 moril an' edifyin' 'specially the clownd. I 
 s'pose you go to every one that comes along, 
 seein' you've nothin' to hender? I never seen 
 but the one, an' I s'pose I wouldn't then, but 
 me an' Humphrey wasn't long married, an' 
 'twas sort of our honeymoon leastways our 
 beeswax-moon, for there never was much 
 honey to it, I'll be bound. Anyways we had 
 a quarter, an' I went in bold as a lion, an' 
 Humphrey he crep' urder the canvas. He 
 al'ays says his weddin' trip was a trip over them 
 ropes that most broke his neck an' 'twouldn't 
 V been no great loss neither, he's that shif 'less.
 
 NO T WHOLL r SA TISFA C TOR T. 1 1 1 
 
 But that clownd he jest went flyin' round. He 
 was try in' to help everybody, an' he'd run an' 
 give this rope a little jerk an' then fly an' give 
 that plank a little h'ist, al'ays managin' to take 
 hold an' let go jest the wrong time, ye see, 
 'cause he was so took up with his own little 
 performin' that he didn't rightly see what any- 
 body else was tryin' to do or needin' to have 
 done. 'Clare ! I thought 'bout that circus right 
 in the middle of the meetin' t'other night ! 
 'Cause a body can keep awful busy an' help 
 nobody, if they don't find out first where folks 
 be an' what they're tryin' to do. Should think 
 'twas easy enough for folks to find out 'bout 
 me, though, needin' shoes and bunnits, an' 
 everything." 
 
 "Mrs. Shackles," said Annice severely 
 she was fully nerved to severity by this time 
 " it is a very poor and mistaken kindness for 
 people to give you such things. It only en- 
 courages you to depend upon others instead 
 of upon your own industry. You should be
 
 112 RACHEUS SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 ashamed to do so. You have no right to ask 
 or expect other people to supply your wants. 
 You should try to earn what you need, and to 
 go without what you cannot earn. That is the 
 way to be respectable, if you are poor, and to 
 be independent." 
 
 " La sakes ! " There was a smouldering 
 fire in the dim eyes as they surveyed the dainty 
 silken-robed figure before them. "Nobody 
 oughtn't to have what they can't 'arn, eh ! 
 What a sight o' work you must 'a' done to 'arn 
 all them things you've got silks, laces, din- 
 ners, carriages, fine houses, easy times 
 'arned 'em all yourself! An' your hands don't 
 look like it neither." She glanced from the 
 smooth slender white fingers to her own hands, 
 roughened, knotted and stained. "I wish 
 you'd tell me how you did it, 'cause I'd like to 
 go into that business." 
 
 Truth is a pitiless weapon whatever hand 
 wields it. It suddenly occurred to Annice 
 Lisle that there might be weak points in her
 
 NOT WHOLLY SATISFACTORY. I- 1 3 
 
 armor of virtuous superiority, or at least that un- 
 educated eyes might fancy they detected such. 
 " It looks, if a body didn't know any better, 
 's if Humphrey might be in the same trade ; but 
 he don't 'pear to prosper nigh so well oh 
 my, no ! " pursued the old woman. "Can't 
 you tell me what you've done an' how to do it ? 
 If 'twouldn't be henderin' me from dependin' 
 on my own honest work, I'd like dreadful well 
 to know, 'cause you must have 'arned a good 
 deal in a short time. I don't mind tellin' ye 
 what I've done. I've picked berries in the 
 summer an' dug roots in the fall, an' I've 
 tramped miles through the sun an' rain to sell 
 'em. I've knit stockin's in winter, an' nussed 
 the sick when I could get a chance. I've 
 took care of a shifless man an' buried all my 
 childern ; an' if you think anybody's supported 
 me too much, I don't look as if they'd done it 
 extra sumptuous, for I ain't no beggar an' I 
 never will be. There's a good deal of nice- 
 soundin' talk 'bout stations an' sich, but the
 
 H4 RACHEL'S SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 short of it is that folks is folks, an' the biggest 
 ones on earth is nothin' but folks dressed up 
 that's all. 'Arn all you get, to be sure ! 
 There's them not a thousan' miles from here 
 would be satisfied if they could get all they 
 ; arn. 'Tain't much use goin' round in shiny 
 broadcloth an' preachin' to 'em to be contented 
 with their lot it's the lot some other folks is 
 gettin' they ain't contented with. Humph ! " and 
 with a sniff indicative of other sentiments than 
 respect, Mrs. Shackles arose and departed. 
 
 Half way down the broad walk, she met 
 Miss Lyndal returning. The clouded old 
 brow cleared at her pleasant glance and 
 cheery good-morning. 
 
 " Well, you ain't one of the kind that thinks 
 you was made first an' the rest of the world 
 throwed in for fillin' ! " she muttered. 
 
 " It is very enjoyable filling, such a morning 
 as this," Rachel laughed, without in the least 
 understanding the remark. " Have you walked 
 all the way from home so early ? "
 
 NOT WHOLLY SATISFACTORY. 1*5 
 
 "Every step. Didn't seem so very early 
 neither, with the sun blazin' down on a body ; 
 but Peggy Larrison she give me this par'sol. I 
 come to bring home your scarf what I found 
 in the road where 'twas dropped t'other night." 
 
 " Oh, you did ? Thank you." 
 
 "An' I wanted to see you partic'lar to tell 
 you 'bout one of them Baines babies bein' 
 sick. They live in that old railroad car in the 
 medder, you know." 
 
 M One of the twins? Poor Joe !" exclaimed 
 Rachel, interested at once. 
 
 Mrs. Shackles looked gratified. 
 
 "I thought mebby you'd like to know, an' 
 so I come " she hesitated a moment, and the 
 instinct or habit conquered her late resentment, 
 and the memory of the homily she had just re- 
 ceived, and she added " so I come through 
 the blazin', br'ilin' sun to tell you, though I 
 hain't got no new apern to wear an' no prospeck 
 of gettin' none." 
 
 " If you have taken so much trouble for me,
 
 Il6 RACHEL: S SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 I think I must furnish you one," said Rachel, 
 dropping a bit of silver in her hand. 
 
 "Rachel, how could you?" said her cousin 
 indignantly, as she entered the room. "Actu- 
 ally thanking that impudent, begging old crea- 
 ture for making an errand here to bring back 
 that scarf entirely spoiled by a night in the 
 rain and when you know perfectly well that 
 she expected to be paid for her coming ! " 
 
 "Well," answered Rachel serenely, "if Mr. 
 Corry had found that scarf he would have 
 brought it to me, and you would have been 
 surprised if I had not thanked him in the 
 politest manner possible. Why shouldn't I 
 thank an old woman for the same doubtful 
 service? And Mr. Corry would have expected 
 recompense also to the extent of a half-hour's 
 chat and a few pieces of music. On the whole, 
 I consider the quarter bestowed upon Mrs. 
 Shackles cheaper and more satisfactory."
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 QUARRELLING WITH BREAD AND BUTTER. 
 
 A NOTE lay on Dr. Kelsey's office table 
 a tiny, innocent-looking note, and yet 
 it evidently . caused the doctor no little pertur- 
 bation. He pondered its two or three lines as 
 slowly and carefully as if the clear, legible 
 sentences held something difficult to decipherer 
 understand. Then he laid it slowly down and 
 turned to the book he had been reading ; but in 
 a moment his eyes wandered and he took up the 
 dainty bit of writing again. It was simple 
 enough a mere request that he would call 
 upon a sick child in an old railroad car in 
 the meadow and signed "Rachel Lyndal." 
 There was nothing more ; the most intense gaze 
 could evoke nothing beyond that brief busi- 
 ness-like message. He pushed it aside once 
 
 117
 
 Il8 RACHEL'S SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 more and walked away to a distant window, 
 but there was some magnetism about it that 
 presently drew him back. 
 
 " And it ought to be no more to me than the 
 most commonplace scrawl of a prescription 
 than any ill-spelled order left upon my office 
 slate ! Why should it be?" he muttered, pac- 
 ing restlessly to and fro the length of the dingy 
 room. " It is the wildest infatuation. Reason 
 and common sense tell me that constantly and 
 pitilessly enough, and yet " 
 
 He looked about the sombre little office with 
 its darkened walls, its faded carpet, the plain 
 shelves that held his much-used books, and the 
 table littered with papers and bearing- traces 
 of dust. His office boy was not particularly 
 efficient, but neither did he charge an exorbi- 
 tant price for his services, and the deficiencies 
 in salary and dusting were expected to coun- 
 terbalance each other " with medical atten- 
 dance for the boy's whole family furnished 
 free," the doctor added when he made a men-
 
 BREAD AND BUTTER. Up 
 
 tal summary of the matter. Certainly there 
 was a marked contrast between this place and 
 Judge Lyndal's office at the railway, or the 
 beautiful rooms of his house. Dr. Kelsey had 
 viewed such unimportant differences with phil- 
 osophical serenity when he talked with Miss 
 Lisle, but now, with the beautiful consistency 
 of human nature, he smiled bitterly as he sur- 
 veyed his small domain. 
 
 "The skipper's jerkin ill beseems 
 The lady's silken gown," 
 
 he said. It was an unfortunate quotation, for 
 instantly came those other words : 
 
 " But love hath never known a law 
 Beyond its own sweet will." 
 
 For a moment a sweet, earnest face seemed 
 looking up at him from the paper. Then with 
 a sternness that was almost fierceness, he turn- 
 ed away from the vision, denounced his own 
 "unmitigated folly," and putting on his hat 
 hurried into the street to escape from that
 
 120 RACHEL'S SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 haunting note and his own more haunting 
 thoughts. Once in the open air, he turned his 
 steps as rapidly in the direction of that car 
 in the meadow as if no other patient in all the 
 world had such need of or claim upon his 
 services. 
 
 Yet the illness was not a serious one, he 
 quietly informed Miss Lyndal when he met 
 her on the street an hour later merely a 
 childish indisposition, a sudden cold and tran- 
 sient fever. In his determination to make it 
 manifest that he understood the matter as she 
 doubtless viewed it, a simple item of business, 
 and in no way to be construed as any indica- 
 tion of friendship, he made his explanation of 
 the case so coolly professional that it was 
 rather overdone. The girl's fair face flushed 
 as she passed on. 
 
 " How cool and odd he was ! Exactly as if 
 he were reading some article from a medical 
 journal, instead of talking of a patient in whom 
 he took a particle of interest. Perhaps he
 
 BREAD AND BUTTER. 121 
 
 thought it silly to ask him to go there?" she 
 mused with a blending of surprise and chagrin. 
 Then she laughed. " Merely a childish indis- 
 position, indeed ! I fancy Joe considered it 
 serious enough, another case of c nip and 
 tuck,' probably." 
 
 Her slight resentment vanished, however, 
 when she visited the car herself, and learned 
 that the doctor had spent a half-hour there in- 
 quiring into every detail of the case, giving it 
 his most careful attention, and doing all in his 
 power for the little sufferer. 
 
 "I never did see a doctor so good," said Hitty 
 gravely. "Tuck do be better, too, ma'am." 
 
 Mrs. Shackles was seated on one of the 
 faded red-velvet cushions, and the small mis- 
 tress of the mansion gratefully explained that 
 she had stayed with them a part of the previous 
 night. 
 
 " Ought to know how to take keer of chil- 
 dern after havin' buried all my own," said Mrs. 
 Shackles, as cheerfully as if that consumma-
 
 122 RACHEL'S SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 tion were all that could be desired, and proved 
 possession of the highest skill. 
 
 "An' she brought 'em some milk," pursued 
 Hitty in her sober, pleased way. 
 
 That was what she had done with the milk 
 begged the day before ! Miss Lisle would 
 have been doubly disgusted had she heard the 
 old woman's brisk reply. 
 
 "Land sakes ! I didn't want it. Leastways" 
 suddenly remembering where and how she 
 had obtained it "it ain't good for folks to 
 drink when they've been trampin' through the 
 hot sun an' hain't got no peppermint to take 
 after it, an' no prospeck of gettin' none. Hum- 
 phrey he says to me, 'Why don't we have such 
 things? ' an' I says to him, 'Why don't we keep 
 a drug-store, or a fam'ly carriage?'" 
 
 "We'll have carriages," quavered old Simon, 
 suddenly aroused by the word, "horses an' 
 velvety carriages, when the prize comes to- 
 morrer or next week. D'ye think it'll mebby 
 be to-morrer, Hitty ? "
 
 BREAD AND BUTTER. 123 
 
 "Not 'fore next week, Daddy," said Hitty 
 soothingly. 
 
 "An' next week I'll have a new fiddle with 
 diamonds on it, an' we'll have clo'es an' houses 
 an' pianers pianers Hitty ! " impatiently, 
 " Why can't ye tell the lady we'll be grand 
 folks ourselves next week? Pianers an' 
 what ? " 
 
 " Sofys an' carpets an' mebby gold dishes, 
 Daddy," enumerated Hitty. Then she lifted 
 her appealing eyes to Rachel. "I'm sure 
 Tuck does be better to-day, ma'am?" 
 
 " Dr. Kelsey said he would soon be well 
 again," Rachel answered re-assuringly. She 
 was about to inquire for Joe, but Mrs. Shackles 
 had taken up old Simon's words. 
 
 "Houses an' diamonds? Land sakes ! If 
 you've got any prospeck of all them things 
 you're better off 'n most poor folks, I can tell ye ! 
 There's lots of 'em round here that hain't got 
 no prospeck of nothin' but trouble the men 
 out o' work, an' worse a-threat'nin'. It's very
 
 124 RACHEL'S SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 fine for the bosses at the shops to put off the 
 blasts, or whatsumever they call it, a leetle 
 later an' a leetle later, an' so get hours of extra 
 work crowded in ; but when the men sets up 
 agin it, they're quarrellin' with their bread an' 
 butter, bless ye ! They're that igernant an' 
 blind that they're al'ays a -quarrellin' with their 
 bread an' butter. If they knowed more 'bout 
 communion an' the Frinch revolution they 
 wouldn't do it, but they has such peaceful 
 times, poor folks does, that their bread an' but- 
 ter is mostly all they can quarrel with 
 though there's so little of it that a body wouldn't 
 think there'd be much of a fight neither. So 
 them men's out o' work." 
 
 The old woman was apparently talking to 
 no one but herself. Hitty heard without in 
 the least comprehending she understood 
 very few of Mrs. Shackles' rambling dis- 
 courses. Rachel's attention was seemingly 
 absorbed in watching the flushed face of the 
 little sleeper, but she was startled. Was there
 
 BREAD AND BUTTER. 12$ 
 
 any new trouble? Had Mrs. Shackles any 
 purpose of telling her something which she 
 suspected she did not know, with a thought 
 that she might possibly possess power to help? 
 A faint smile crossed her lips, its sadness 
 tinged with bitterness. She glanced down at 
 the slender hands resting on the back of the 
 old car-seat where the little one lay. 
 
 "As helpless as any other girl's hands. 
 They may wear more costly rings because 
 they belong to Judge Lyndal's daughter, 
 but that is the only way in which they can 
 have any connection with the affairs of the 
 road," she thought. If with that consciousness 
 she could but wash them of all responsiblity 
 "before the multitude," or before her own 
 troubled soul ! but she could not. 
 
 Mrs. Shackles had found a new theme, and 
 was discoursing to Simon of the best time and 
 place for digging sassafras root, though he 
 assured her, with a complacent chuckle, that 
 he should " have to dig for nothin' much longer
 
 126 RACHEL'S SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 not longer 'n next week." It was probable 
 she had meant nothing beyond the pleasure of 
 hearing herself talk, for her voice was still 
 running steadily on as Rachel walked slowly 
 away down the meadow path where the clover- 
 heads were nodding. The fragrance and the 
 quietness lured her on, and it was by a long 
 and circuitous route that she reached home 
 as the last slant beams of the afternoon sun 
 were fading from the piazza. From the room 
 beyond came a little ripple of music, faint and 
 cool like the tinkle of a fountain, and then a 
 murmur of conversation. Nan had been play- 
 ing, and her fingers still wandered occasionally 
 over the keys as she talked a fashion of 
 hers. Heman and Mr. Corry were there, and 
 Rachel would have passed on but for her 
 cousin's quick arresting voice. 
 
 " Oh, my dear," with that peculiar intonation 
 by which Miss Lisle contrived to express sur- 
 prise, a hint of violated proprieties and a gen- 
 eral mingling of toleration and disapproval,
 
 BREAD AND BUTTER. 12*7 
 
 "don't vanish again." One must capture you 
 on the wing if they would have you at all, you 
 are such a bird of long flights. We were just 
 talking of a visit to the railroad shops. It is a 
 long time since I have been through them, and 
 Heman, for some reason, has never inspected 
 them." 
 
 "For a number of reasons," corrected that 
 gentleman meditatively. His visits to Craig's 
 Cross had been fewer than Miss Lisle's, and 
 they occurred always in summer when the 
 shops had only suggested themselves to him 
 as hot, dirty and exceedingly uncomfortable 
 places of resort. Had he heard any call of 
 duty in their direction he would not have 
 shunned them; he was neither cowardly nor 
 insincere, but as a pleasure they were ex- 
 tremely doubtful. However, that was not an. 
 opinion to be expressed if the ladies cared to 
 go. " It is a pity they are not running at night," 
 pursued Miss Lisle. "They would lose their 
 commonplace aspect then, and become more
 
 128 RACHEL'S SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 weird and impressive the foundry particu- 
 larly." 
 
 "The foundry is not running at all," said 
 Mr. Corry. He had rolled forward a chair for 
 Rachel, and was busied in disengaging a cur- 
 tain against which he had inadvertently placed 
 it. "At least it is not doing its regular work, 
 I am sorry to say on your account." 
 
 He spoke carelessly, as if there could be no 
 other cause for regret ; and as Dr. Kelsey, com- 
 ing down from Mrs. Lyndal's room, joined them 
 for a moment, he turned at once to him. If he 
 had hoped to change the conversation he was 
 disappointed. 
 
 "Is it not an unusual time for stopping?" 
 questioned Mr. Weldon after a minute's ponder- 
 ing. " I should have supposed it to be your 
 busiest season." 
 
 " Not exactly that. Still we had no inten- 
 tion of stopping ; the men are responsible for 
 it, not we." Mr. Corry's laugh had a touch of 
 embarrassment. "The moulders are favoring
 
 BREAD AND BUTTER. 1 29 
 
 us with that senseless and rather annoying per- 
 formance, a strike; but the other shops are 
 working as usual, Miss Lisle, and the wood- 
 work and painting departments are, to my 
 mind, much better worth visiting. It is disin- 
 terested of me to say that, too, since the foun- 
 dry is more especially in my province." 
 
 " How long since this happened ? " Rachel 
 asked. 
 
 "Since the foundrymen stopped? Two or 
 three weeks." 
 
 " And what reason did they give ? " 
 
 What a way the girl had of inquiring into 
 such matters as if they particularly interested 
 her! Why could she not call the affair 
 "shocking" or "provoking," or designate it by 
 some other feminine adjective and dismiss it, 
 as another girl would have done? But her 
 gray eyes were as steady and grave as if she 
 were called upon to decide where the right 
 and wrong of the controversy lay, instead of 
 taking it for granted, as Judge Lyndal's daugh-
 
 13 RACHEL'S SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 ter might have been expected to do. It occur- 
 red to Mr. Corry that it might sometimes be 
 inconvenient to be closely related to a woman, 
 however charming, who insisted upon asking 
 such questions. Then he smiled as he reflect- 
 ed that probably she did not ask her father. 
 
 "There was some dissatisfaction about irreg- 
 ular hours, I believe. They complained that 
 the heats were made so late that they were 
 compelled to work over-hours ; and then there 
 was a reduction in wages, and they rebelled 
 against that. They couldn't have everything 
 they wanted, and so they wisely determined 
 to have nothing, and stopped work altogether," 
 Mr. Corry explained, since it seemed impossi- 
 ble to avoid talking "shop." 
 
 "And the reductions were necessary, I sup- 
 pose ? " 
 
 The question was asked wistfully, but the 
 gentleman smiled at its innocent ignorance. 
 
 "Oh, well, times are hard, you know, and 
 there are reductions everywhere. We are
 
 BREAD AND BUTTER. 13* 
 
 only following the general order. You ladies 
 don't understand much about such things in 
 your ' silken bowers.' " He looked admiringly 
 around the pretty room and laughed. 
 
 "We ought at least to understand enough to 
 know whether we have any right to the silken 
 bowers," she said slowly. 
 
 He did not comprehend, perhaps did not 
 hear the remark, but added, 
 
 " They had not sense enough to consult their 
 own interest by making the best of what could 
 not be helped. They are a foolish, obstinate 
 set of fellows, ready to spend a dollar to save 
 fifty cents at any time. So they grumbled 
 and protested, and finally struck. It is no 
 general movement through the shops, but only 
 among the foundrymen. They belong to a 
 trades' union, of course." 
 
 "That whole system of unions is a great 
 evil," said Heman reflectively. " There ought 
 to be some means of eradicating it." 
 
 Dr. Kelsey laughed.
 
 13 2 RACHEL'S SHARE OF THE ROAD 
 
 "Its root is wide-spreading, Mr. Weldon. 
 We physicians divide ourselves into allopathic, 
 homoeopathic, &c., and bar each other out from 
 our societies, and refuse to practise together. 
 You ministers, in your different sects, do the 
 same ; and I do not know why the trades should 
 not have equal rights with the professions in 
 that line." 
 
 " But that is a very different thing entirely 
 different. Why, those trades' unions are dread- 
 ful ! " said Annice decidedly. " Did you ever 
 read ' Put Yourself in His Place ' ? They com- 
 mit such horrible deeds ! " 
 
 " Oh, we have nothing of that sort to contend 
 with," Mr. Corry admitted frankly. "As much 
 as I dislike the organizations in this country, I 
 will do them the justice to confess that I do 
 not believe they either counsel or countenance 
 such proceedings. The deeds of violence we 
 hear of in such connections are usually the 
 acts of irresponsible individuals, or they occur 
 among foreigners the lowest and most igno-
 
 Bit BAD AND BUTTER. 133 
 
 rant of them. Americans, as most of our skilled 
 workmen are, do not take kindly to murdering 
 and incendiarism. Societies, constitutions, 
 laws, and a general fusillade about rights and 
 liberties, suit the national disposition, however, 
 and I must own they find ways of being 
 troublesome enough without firearms or blud- 
 geons. They have actually prevented our 
 hiring other men in their places, by hanging 
 around the stations, watching trains, talking 
 to all we have brought here, and by persua- 
 sion, bribery and their whole representation of 
 the case, have either coaxed or frightened 
 nearly every one away. Besides, a majority 
 of the best workmen, such as we really want, 
 belong to the union, and they, of course, will 
 not come." 
 
 "And meanwhile how are these men sup- 
 porting their families ? " asked Annice. " How 
 silly of them to waste time and money in such 
 petty vengeance ! If they are not willing to 
 work for what you offer, why not leave the
 
 134 RACHEL'S SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 place to others, and go away and find work 
 elsewhere? " 
 
 "That last is not so easily done." There 
 was a perceptible note ot triumph in Mr. Cor- 
 ry's calm voice, and he smiled. "We have 
 taken the liberty of notifying manufacturers in 
 the city and in towns near by, that they will 
 confer a favor upon us by not employing our 
 insubordinate workmen. And a company like 
 ours is not without influence, Miss Lisle. 
 These very independent foundrymen have 
 been refused when they applied for places, 
 and they will probably be wiser if not happier 
 before they reach the end of this little scheme 
 which they were so anxious to inaugurate." 
 
 Rachel's lips were suddenly compressed. 
 
 " Did you say that the railroad company 
 had done this?" she asked. 
 
 " Not formally, as a company, of course; it 
 was scarcely worth that," he answered care- 
 lessly. "The superintendent of the foundry, 
 and some of us connected in one way or another
 
 BREAD AND BUTTER. 135 
 
 with that department; but it had the same 
 weight." 
 
 There was a faint sigh of relief at the 
 answer, but Mr. Cony did not notice it. He 
 had not intended to speak of the matter. It 
 scarcely suited his ideas of a topic for the 
 drawing-room, but since the interest of his 
 hearers had fairly launched him upon it, he 
 was not unwilling to explain it fully. 
 
 " Moreover, since they were so exceedingly 
 particular about their rights and laws," he con- 
 tinued, "we propose to see that they are not 
 defrauded of their rights under a certain law 
 passed by our State legislature. It provides that 
 persons combining together to injure the prop- 
 erty or business of others, as they have done, 
 shall be guilty of conspiracy and subject to the 
 penalty of a heavy fine or a term of imprison- 
 ment in the penitentiary. We intend the ring- 
 leaders in the movement shall have the" 5*il 
 benefit of that latter clause." 
 
 There was a moment's silence.
 
 136 RACHEL'S SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 "That seems pretty severe, under the circum- 
 stances, doesn't it?" Mr. Weldon remarked 
 doubtfully. 
 
 " At first thought, perhaps ; but severity to 
 the few is often kindness to the many, you 
 know, and these fellows need above all things 
 to learn prudence and common sense. The 
 idea of one of the shops being closed for two or 
 three weeks because their demands are not 
 listened to ! A good sharp lesson that will teach 
 them not to quarrel with their bread and but- 
 ter, and not to interfere with that of other peo- 
 ple, will really be a blessing to them, however 
 they learn it ; " and Mr. Corry smiled again a 
 smile that did not soften his handsome face, but 
 only showed its determined lines, and glittered 
 for an instant in the steel-blue eyes. " I fancy 
 they are already somewhat uneasy. They have 
 consulted a lawyer, I understand. But the facts 
 can be proven beyond all possibility of denial, 
 and I do not see how he can by any means 
 save them from the full penalty of the law."
 
 BREAD AND BUTTER. 137 
 
 He picked up Rachel's fan which had fallen 
 to the floor, but she shrank involuntarily from 
 contact with the hand which restored it a 
 white shapely hand, comely enough if one 
 were not in its grasp and her murmured 
 word of acknowledgment was scarcely audible. 
 There was an uncomfortable pause in the con- 
 versation. Then Dr. Kelsey delivered a mes- 
 sage he had brought from Mrs. Lyndal, and 
 turned away. But Rachel, abruptly rising, 
 accompanied him to the hall. Something in 
 her face made him linger a moment. 
 
 "I know about these people, I know their 
 homes," she said, without preface or explana- 
 tion. 
 
 He bowed. "I know them also." 
 
 " They are not criminals, Dr. Kelsey. If the 
 company had a right to decide what they 
 would pay, surely the men had a right to 
 choose whether they would accept or refuse 
 the terms offered them ; and if they were 
 wrong in preventing others from taking the
 
 138 RACHEL'S SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 places they left, was it not at least an equal 
 wrong which barred the way to their obtaining 
 employment elsewhere? They have been hon- 
 est, industrious, useful workers. They do not 
 belong to the class that must be imprisoned 
 for the good of society, they are no crim- 
 inals." 
 
 "There is crime enough in the affair some- 
 where, but I do not agree with Mr. Corry in 
 selection of the ringleaders," said the doctor 
 with grim quietness. 
 
 " I know about their homes," Rachel repeat- 
 ed as if that one thought haunted her "plain, 
 cheerful, cosey little homes, dependent for all 
 their brightness and comfort upon the wages 
 of the one worker, but honest and respectable 
 as any in the land. There are gentle, true- 
 hearted women in them, and sweet little chil- 
 dren, whom this sorrow and shame will crush 
 and kill. And these men are guilty of no 
 crime at least it seems so to me that their 
 families should be left helpless and disgraced,
 
 BREAD AND BUTTER. 139 
 
 and they themselves imprisoned with the most 
 degraded and vicious." 
 
 " Mr. Corry says they are foolish, obstinate 
 and troublesome " Dr. Kelsey closed his 
 lips as if his sentence were not ended, but 
 suppressed. It might be better to leave his 
 whole thought unspoken unless he had oppor- 
 tunity to express it to the gentleman himself. 
 
 "Dr. Kelsey, I must know about this 
 whether anything can be done," she said with 
 voice growing a little unsteady. "Will you 
 inquire for me? Find what lawyer they have 
 engaged, these men, and learn from him? If 
 there should be help needed, anything I can 
 furnish it sounds strangely for me to say it, 
 but I will do it ! " There was a sudden flash 
 in the gray eyes. 
 
 "I understand." The doctor's voice was calm 
 and re-assuring, as if her confidence were the 
 most ordinary and natural thing in the world. 
 " I can easily learn all about it. I will find 
 exactly how the case stands, and let you know."
 
 14 RACHEL'S SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 "Thank you." 
 
 She extended her hand. It was a trembling 
 little hand, just then, seeking strength and 
 support somewhere, and it rested unconscious- 
 ly in his for a moment. For a moment he 
 looked down upon it as if sorely tempted to 
 claim it for a longer, closer holding ; then he 
 bade her a grave good-by and left her. 
 
 " Grandmamma's prescriptions must require 
 minute and explicit directions, and much re- 
 iteration ! " commented Nan with an arch 
 laugh that scarcely glossed the impertinence 
 of the remark. 
 
 Even quiet Rachel could be haughty upon 
 rare occasions. She vouchsafed neither smile 
 nor word of reply, but bestowed upon her 
 cousin a cool inquiring glance which sent that 
 young lady to turning over the contents of a 
 music portfolio, and inspired Heman to remark 
 upon some recent discoveries in Herculaneum. 
 Buried cities were at least safe. But while 
 they talked of exhumations and inscriptions,
 
 BREAD AND BUTTER. 141 
 
 some words from an ancient book were run- 
 ning sadly through Rachel's thought : 
 
 " And on the side of their oppressors there 
 was power : but they had no comforter."
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 IN THE SAME BOAT. 
 
 . KELSEY journeyed cityward, two o*- 
 three days later, in pursuit of drugs and 
 information. For the former he could have 
 sent or could have waited, but he could brook 
 no delay in regard to the latter, nor could he 
 trust another. He had learned that the foun- 
 drymen, wisely divining that their chance for 
 skilful counsel and strong legal support would 
 be greater outside of Craig's Cross, where the 
 influence and power of the railroad company 
 were all-pervasive, had sought aid in the city. 
 He had obtained the name of the firm and 
 determined upon an interview. 
 
 "Yes, sir, y-e-s," answered the gray-haired, 
 keen-eyed gentleman to whom he presently 
 introduced himself and his mission ; " I think 
 
 142
 
 IN THE SAME BOAT. 143 
 
 we have a little matter of that kind on nand ; 
 I recollect it." 
 
 Dr.'Kelsey did not doubt that he recollected 
 clearly, even though the handsomely appoint- 
 ed office, the mighty array of books and 
 papers, and the unconcerned air of the legal 
 gentleman, seemed to imply that the imprison- 
 ment or release of a few workmen, or of a 
 few railroad corporations, or of two thirds of 
 the human family indeed, would be a trifling 
 incident soon banished from the judicial mind 
 by more weighty concerns. 
 
 What did he think of the case ? That it was 
 not easy to discover certainly not until he 
 had found out what he thought of his visitor ; 
 and perceiving this, Dr. Kelsey allowed him 
 to take silent and conversational observations, 
 and facilitated them by explaining, as frankly 
 as it was possible to do, the ground of his 
 interest. The lawver's face slowly cleared. 
 He laughed. 
 
 "You came from Craig's Cross, you see, and
 
 144 RACHEL'S SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 I understand the road pretty nearly own that 
 place, buildings and people, souls and bodies, 
 so I did not know what connection you might 
 have with the matter. Yes, sir, the case has 
 been placed in our hands." 
 
 "And what are the chances for the men, if 
 I may ask? " 
 
 " Chances ? We-11," the lawyer smiled again ; 
 " the law seems to be explicit enough and 
 I suppose there is no doubt of its infringe- 
 ment in this case. There may be some adjust- 
 ment, possibly, or compromise. I have soli- 
 cited an interview in that direction." 
 
 He spoke slowly, his elbows resting on the 
 arms of his chair, the finger-tips of the right 
 hand matching themselves carefully against 
 those of the left, as if he were putting together 
 the pieces of a puzzle. There was a slight 
 sound at the outer door, and the gentleman 
 raised his head ; the air of deliberation suddenly 
 changed to alertness and decision. He glanced 
 at his watch.
 
 IN THE SAME BOAT. 145 
 
 "Pardon me, I have an appointment. No, 
 do not go," as his visitor made a movement 
 toward departure. "If you are at leisure, please 
 remain a few minutes, and I will see you again. 
 I shall not be long occupied, and I may be able 
 to answer your inquiries more definitely." 
 
 A wave of his hand seemed to place the 
 apartment in the doctor's possession, and that 
 gentleman, who had begun to despair of obtain- 
 ing any information, decided to comply with 
 the suggestion and wait a little longer. As he 
 resumed his seat the lawyer vanished into the 
 adjoining office, leaving, either accidentally or 
 designedly, the door between the two rooms 
 ajar. Dr. Kelsey took up a daily paper, one 
 of the articles the waving hand had apparently 
 placed at his disposal, and for a minute or two 
 was only absently conscious of the occupants or 
 conversation of the next room. Some one had 
 entered, and they were talking. It was noth- 
 ing that interested him, of course, beyond a 
 passing reflection that if the new-comer paid
 
 I4 6 RACHEL'S SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 for a legal opinion it was to be hoped he might 
 obtain something worthy of being called one. 
 
 Then his indifference was effectually ban- 
 ished by a voice familiar and unmistakable 
 which reached him clearly. 
 
 "I came merely to avoid the discourtesy of 
 refusing your request, though I regard it as a 
 useless one. I see no necessity for discussing 
 the matter until it is presented in all its bear- 
 ings, and in proper form, before the court," 
 said Mr. Stephen Corry. 
 
 "Let me hope you will not regret coming, 
 nevertheless," replied the lawyer's low bland 
 tones. He had placed chairs by a small table 
 in the centre of the room, where the remainder 
 of the conversation was unavoidably audible to 
 the inmate of the adjoining room. "We may 
 agree upon some plan of adjustment that will 
 obviate the necessity of a trial. We may be 
 able to arrange some terms " 
 
 "We do not wish to make any," interposed 
 Mr. Corry decidedly.
 
 IN THE SAME BOAT, 147 
 
 "Ah? We-11, but courts are large bodies 
 that move slowly, you know, and their deci- 
 sions cannot always be certainly determined " 
 
 "We are content that they shall move slowly, 
 but we expect in this case that they will move 
 very surely," interrupted Mr. Corry again. 
 
 The eyes under the lawyer's bushy gray 
 brows noted the triumph in his face. 
 
 " The laws as administered by our courts 
 are, of necessity, rigid," pursued the attorney, 
 tapping with a pencil the green baize of the 
 table. w They cannot be made flexible enough 
 to accommodate themselves to all the varying 
 circumstances. In this case, now, it is prob- 
 able these men did not know of the existence 
 of a law so defining conspiracy ? " 
 
 w I presume not," Mr. Corry smiled grimly. 
 " People should be wise enough to look before 
 they leap, however. It would have been the 
 part of common sense to discover whether their 
 undertaking was a lawful one before they en- 
 tered upon it."
 
 148 RACHEL'S SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 The lawyer's answering smile was a peculiar 
 one. 
 
 " Many who claim to be far wiser than they 
 fall into that error, Mr. Corry." 
 
 " Possibly." Mr. Corry was not interested in 
 the frailties of humanity in general. "One 
 thing these fellows did know, however that 
 they were injuring us by preventing our hiring 
 others in their stead. They fully intended that." 
 
 " But if that annoyance should cease ? " the 
 attorney suggested. 
 
 " It assuredly will cease with the perpetrators 
 safely behind prison bars. That will be the 
 best guarantee in the world," insisted the 
 younger man's hard triumphant tones. "Be- 
 sides, they will have ample opportunity to med- 
 itate upon the laws of the land, and improve 
 upon their ignorance. The improvement of 
 the condition of the working classes is a ques- 
 tion that is greatly agitating the reformers, you 
 know. We will contribute our mite towards its 
 solution."
 
 IN THE SAME BOAT. 149 
 
 "Ye-s. You think these men should have 
 submitted quietly to the reduction of wages?" 
 
 " It would have been far more sensible than 
 any other course ; but if they did not choose 
 that, they should not have attempted to prevent 
 our hiring others. We intend they shall have 
 cause to repent of that proceeding." 
 
 "I should have supposed you held the 
 means of retaliation in your own hands. 
 Could you not induce other shops and foun- 
 dries not to employ them? Give them a taste 
 of the same medicine, eh?" 
 
 "We attended to that very effectually," said 
 Mr. Corry with his scornful smile once more. 
 "They have had the benefit of an experience 
 in that direction that they will be likely to re- 
 member, I fancy. They have at least learned 
 that our influence is potent in many quarters." 
 
 "Ah!" The keen eyes closed for a mo- 
 ment in apparent meditation. "And now you 
 wish to add a legal prosecution? But these 
 men, so far as I can learn, are not dangerous
 
 15 RACHEL'S SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 members of society, not of the depraved and 
 vicious class at all? And the penitentiary is 
 an ugly place to send a man, Mr. Corry an 
 ugly place. Then there are the families to be 
 considered." 
 
 "They should have considered them," said 
 Mr. Corry shortly ; " it is their business, not 
 ours. Besides, they are not doing much for 
 their families while they are hanging around 
 out of work. But the long and short of the 
 subject is, that we intend these men and all 
 others shall be taught, once for all, that our 
 company, its shops, rules, and whole plans of 
 working, are to be respected and let alone ; 
 that they cannot be trifled with, interfered with, 
 or fought against safely. A sentence of impris- 
 onment, which we fully intend these fellows 
 shall have if we can secure it, and of that we 
 have little doubt, will at least be a salutary 
 warning to others. I may as well tell you at 
 once that you are wasting time in this inter- 
 view. You are acting in the interest of these
 
 IN THE SAME BOAT. !$! 
 
 men, I understand, but we will not quash the 
 case by any compromise or agreement." 
 
 "We-11, I had none to propose," said the 
 lawyer slowly. M I was merely asking you to 
 view it in all its aspects. I think you are cor- 
 rect about the law. If you prosecute you can 
 get the men convicted ; I do not mind giving 
 that as m}' opinion. It is probable you can 
 procure them a term in the penitentiary I do 
 not see how it can be helped. But," the slow 
 speculative manner suddenly vanished, and 
 the keen eyes flashed a fiery glance upon the 
 astonished face opposite them, " as surely as 
 you do it, sir, you shall go with them ! " 
 
 "I what do you mean?" demanded Mr. 
 Corry, surprised even beyond anger for the 
 moment. 
 
 n I mean exactly what I say, sir. You to talk 
 of ' looking before leaping,' and the duty of 
 making sure an act is no infringement of law 
 before committing it, indeed ! You did not 
 even see that you had done precisely what
 
 *5 2 RACHEL'S SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 they did ! If they conspired to prevent your 
 obtaining workmen, you employers also con- 
 spired to prevent their obtaining work else- 
 where, and so successfully, by your own show- 
 ing, as to do them great injury. The law 
 covers the one action as completely as the 
 other, and if you choose to prosecute under it, 
 you shall share whatever measure you mete to 
 others be assured of that! Do you see?" 
 
 Mr. Corry did see. He muttered something 
 about "threats and bravado," but he did not 
 complete the sentence. He was wise enough 
 to understand that he had blundered. The 
 lawyer opened a heavily bound volume and 
 laid it before him. 
 
 "There is the law, sir. You will see that, 
 very stupidly, it cuts both ways." 
 
 Mr. Corry read it in silence ; he seemed dis- 
 posed to remain silent. 
 
 "As I said before," pursued the attorney, 
 calmly, " with proper persistence and manage- 
 ment, you can steer that obnoxious crew into the
 
 IN THE SAME BOAT. 153 
 
 penitentiary, but you, with two or three other 
 gentlemen of your corporation, are in the same 
 boat that is all." 
 
 Mr Corry arose stiffly. 
 
 " It would be folly to pretend that I do not 
 understand you, or that " His face was at 
 white heat, but he held his voice and words in 
 check. "Of course this ends the matter for 
 this time" with savage emphasis on the last 
 two words ; " but I advise you to warn your 
 clients that all interference with our employ- 
 ment of men must cease." 
 
 "Ah ! Thank you for reminding me of that 
 point ! About your opposition to their obtain- 
 ing work elsewhere I presume you will with- 
 draw all that? Notify those manufacturers that 
 your objections to the employment of these men 
 have ceased, or something of that sort? I 
 advise you to nullify, as speedily as possible, 
 any such notices you may have sent out. Such 
 writings prove ugly documents occasionally, 
 Mr. Corry, very ugly. Good-morning, sir."
 
 154 RACHEL'S SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 If Mr. Corry replied, the words were lost in 
 the sharp closing of the door as he departed. 
 The lawyer whistled softly and rubbed his 
 hands together. Then he walked back into 
 the office where Dr. Kelsey awaited him. 
 
 "You heard? " he questioned with a smile. 
 
 "I heard. Thank you forallowing me the 
 privilege." 
 
 " And are you satisfied ? " 
 
 "Perfectly satisfied," laughed the doctor. 
 
 " We-11," the lawyer relapsed into his medi- 
 tative air, w it is strange how blindly people 
 will persist in setting traps for others exactly in 
 their own path." 
 
 "You think Mr. Corry and the others will 
 recall their opposition to the employment of 
 the men elsewhere, as you suggested?" 
 
 "Undoubtedly." The word was slow and 
 emphatic, and a smile twinkled under the bushy 
 eyebrows. " Probably they will compromise 
 in some way and re-employ some of the men 
 themselves, though for a time the civilities
 
 IN THE SAME BOAT. 155 
 
 between the two parties will be as punctilious, 
 and their love for each other as great, as that 
 of two duellists who are watching for a chance 
 to shoot each other ; but they will each have 
 learned something of the other's marksman- 
 ship." 
 
 Comfortably settling himself in a railway 
 carriage that afternoon, for his homeward 
 journey, Dr. Kelsey unexpectedly encountered 
 Mr. Corry as a seat-mate. He had not recog- 
 nized the curled-up figure, with hat drawn low 
 over the face, in time, or he would have 
 avoided a meeting, for that gentleman was 
 evidently not in his most genial humor. Usu- 
 ally his manners and language were unexcep- 
 tionable, but when he remarked upon the 
 disagreeable day, with a forcible adjective, and 
 explained that he had a headache also with 
 an adjective as a reason for drawing his hat 
 down again and making no further attempts 
 at conversation, the doctor gladly excused him 
 from further effort.
 
 IS 6 RACHEL'S SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 He had quite regained his equanimity when 
 they chanced to meet again, several days later, 
 at Judge Lyndal's. 
 
 "By the way, our shops are all running 
 again," he announced carelessly to Miss Lisle. 
 " I mention it that you ladies may know we 
 are ready for a visit, if you are disposed so 
 to honor us. Perhaps Miss Rachel knew 
 already?" with a quick glance. 
 
 Miss Rachel did not commit herself. 
 
 "You have supplied the vacant places, 
 then ? " she questioned. 
 
 "Oh, yes." 
 
 "And what has become of those other men 
 who were so troublesome ? " asked Annice 
 Lisle. 
 
 "Why we re-employed some of them. In 
 fact we thought it better, under the circum- 
 stances, to effect a compromise," explained 
 Mr. Corry graciously. " They are fair work- 
 men we had nothing to complain of in that 
 line and they are ignorant, you know, and
 
 IN THE SAME BOAT. 157 
 
 probably did not understand the full scope of 
 the law they were breaking. They need work, 
 and they have families. In short, we thought it 
 wise to yield a little." 
 
 "It was very kind," said Nan admiringly. 
 "I hope they will at least be grateful." 
 
 Rachel and the doctor exchanged a swift 
 significant glance a delicious bit of con- 
 fidence that made Dr. Kelsey's heart throb. 
 He assured himself, as he rode away, that it 
 was a mere happening, and that his feeling con- 
 cerning it was absurd. Nevertheless, he felt 
 the thrill to his finger-tips whenever he remem- 
 bered the glance of those dark-gray eyes, and 
 it consoled him under the disapproval of one of 
 his most persistent patients, who dated an en- 
 tirely new ache from " that day when you went 
 off so unexpectedly to the city, upon a pressing 
 errand I hope it was a pressing errand that 
 took you from your duty, Doctor and neg- 
 lected to call."
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 A TALE UNTOLD. 
 
 "T^vR. KELSEY'S patients were favored with 
 
 *"-*^ flowers that season. The happening of 
 a single morning grew, no one quite knew why 
 or how, into an established custom, and the 
 luxuriant old garden on the hillside sent its 
 choice treasures of bloom to narrow little homes 
 in the town below whenever the doctor could 
 be the messenger. And as Mrs. Lyndal's ven- 
 erable medical adviser was fast dropping much 
 of his practice into his junior's hands, and as 
 Mrs. Lyndal graciously acquiesced in the 
 change, the elder physician's visits grew rare 
 and Dr. Kelsey's more frequent. 
 
 So, through many mornings, clusters of 
 dewy blossoms awaited him in the spacious 
 
 158
 
 A TALE UNTOLD. 1 59 
 
 hall given him by Rachel, or, if she by 
 chance were absent, placed ready for his find- 
 ing. Annice Lisle began to question whether, 
 entertaining such romantic fancies, he could 
 be sufficiently practical for his profession. Yet 
 nothing could have been more matter-of-fact 
 than the manner in which these floral donations 
 were waited for and received, or the tone in 
 which the occasionally added request was pre- 
 ferred "A stray blossom for the carrier, 
 Miss Lyndal?" .. 
 
 These last rosebud, pansy or spray of 
 dainty whitebells, as Rachel's passing fancy 
 suggested he placed in his button-hole " as 
 carelessly," Nan averred, " as he would cram 
 vials or powders in his pocket." And if, when 
 out on the quiet hillside road, they received 
 more attentive glances, brushed across a mous- 
 tached lip, and were replaced and guarded 
 with jealous care, they never returned to tell 
 the story foolish story at which the doctor 
 himself muttered " Folly ! "
 
 l6o RACHEL'S SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 The weeks, slipping by, sent Heman back 
 to his studies again, and Nan once more to her 
 city home. The garden lost its glories, but 
 the trees, in compensation, hung out their 
 gayest colors. Mrs. Shackles had changed 
 the contents of her basket from the latest ber- 
 ries to roots and herbs, and finally, as the frosts 
 increased, to nuts. 
 
 "An' now it's comin' 'most time when there 
 ain't one airthly thing to gather unless folks 
 would buy snowballs ; an' I hain't saved nigh 
 enough to buy a warm shawl yet, an' I need 
 one," she complained. "It's goin' to be a 
 dreadful hard winter ! " 
 
 Rachel heard that last sentence, repeated 
 in various forms, from many different sources 
 as she talked here and there with the odd ac- 
 quaintances of her rambles, or saw, as she did 
 more and more of late, those who on different 
 errands sought her father at the house. It was 
 growing to be her share of the road, in those 
 days, to meet and know of the troubled anxious
 
 A TALE UNTOLD. l6l 
 
 ones whom she could not help, and to feel a 
 sense of guilt in the sharp contrast of her own 
 sheltered, abundant life. 
 
 " Do not try to carry the weight of all the 
 world's woes, Miss Lyndal," laughed Dr. Kel- 
 sey meeting her in the hall one day ; " it is too 
 heavy a load." Then, noticing and trying to 
 read her clouded face, he added more gravely, 
 "One only can do that has done it. How- 
 ever things seem to go, 'the King never 
 dies.'" 
 
 She smiled, and caught the comforting of 
 the thought. But she could not tell him of that 
 vague but painful sense of responsibility that 
 rested upon her the feeling of guilt, not her 
 own, but another's, that often weighed so op- 
 pressively and made the luxuries lavished 
 upon her seem almost the fruits of robbery. A 
 strange humility was creeping over the girl in 
 the presence of those whom she often met 
 those to whom the winter had indeed grown 
 hard. She knew that scant wages had been
 
 1 62 RACHEL'S SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 still further reduced, and that their tardy pay- 
 ment lessened them yet more. Meanwhile the 
 treasurer's beautiful house was completed, 
 whoever had furnished foundations or walls, 
 and her father had hundreds of dollars to spare 
 for his many plans and schemes. There was 
 a wrong somewhere. She could not untangle 
 the vexed question and read it plainly ; but the 
 pain and doubt of it haunted her, and brought 
 sometimes the thought that she would willingly 
 exchange lots with some of those in the little 
 homes along the line, if so she could feel free 
 from stain and thoroughly honest. Only a girl's 
 morbid fancies? Assuredly her father would 
 have said so had her thoughts been open to his 
 inspection. Even her occasional questions and 
 remarks aroused him one day to an unusually 
 critical scrutiny of her face, and a suggestion 
 that she needed change and something to 
 amuse her a regret that she had not returned 
 to the city with Nan, and then a sudden con- 
 clusion : " I suppose you are puzzling your head
 
 A TALE UNTOLD. 163 
 
 with some of Heman's impracticable ministe- 
 rial nonsense." 
 
 The utter injustice of that remark provoked 
 a smile. Heman might indeed pray, "Give us 
 this day our daily bread," as he had always 
 been taught, but it would certainly never 
 have occurred to him to add, "And keep us 
 from trying to take away that of other people." 
 
 The Judge loved his daughter after his 
 fashion, and when he had leisure. He men- 
 tally decided that all girls liked company and 
 gayety, of course, and another winter some- 
 thing different from life in that quiet old place 
 must be planned for her ; and then he straight- 
 way forgot the matter in interests more absorb- 
 ing. 
 
 But Rachel was content to be in her home. 
 Hers was a healthful nature, however her 
 generous heart and honest soul were wounded 
 by their surroundings. She needed neither 
 excitement nor constant companionship. River, 
 hillside and wood, in their glittering winter
 
 164 RACHEL: s SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 beauty, suited her; and though Dr. Kelsey 
 frequently met her in the dwellings of some 
 of his patients, drawn there not alone by 
 kindness and sympathy, but by that vague 
 sense of some reparation due, he saw her 
 often elsewhere, in the long rides and rambles 
 that now, as in her childhood, were her 
 delight. 
 
 Those chance meetings, the passing saluta- 
 tions, the short rides or walks together, the 
 brief interviews in her home and elsewhere, 
 grown longer of late, though they still seemed 
 so brief, were more to Rachel than she 
 knew. At least she did not analyze their 
 pleasantness. She only realized that the pres- 
 ence of this strong, honest manhood made her 
 world nobler and better ; that the blithe, cheery 
 manner, though it could soften to tenderness 
 when needful, held for her the healthful fresh- 
 ness of a sea-breeze. His straightforward 
 earnestness that pierced through shams to the 
 underlying truth, drew, irresistibly, her confi-
 
 A TALE UNTOLD. 165 
 
 dence ; and the consciousness of his friendship 
 was growing more and more she did not 
 know or question why into a thought of 
 hopefulness and strength. There was, too, a 
 scarcely recognized feeling that if the doubts 
 and questions that troubled her should grow 
 too heavy to be borne alone, she could rely 
 upon his ready comprehension, truth and 
 help. 
 
 To the doctor the subject stood in clearer 
 light. He pondered it often, pacing up and 
 down his office, or staring dreamily into the 
 fire, when an earnest face with its frame of 
 bright hair had looked up at him from the 
 printed pages of heavy books, and obscured 
 dry treatises on tissues and molecules. 
 
 Seeing her, day after day, in her simple, 
 girlish grace, learning the charm of her pure 
 thoughtful womanliness, watching, as they 
 talked together, the deepening and brightening 
 of the gray eyes that read and answered his 
 thoughts so swiftly, it seemed only natural to
 
 1 66 R AC HE US SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 love her nay, impossible to do otherwise. 
 Then he felt that she belonged to him as to no 
 other, and sure of his power and right to win 
 her. But there were other hours, away from 
 her, in his office or on lonely rides, when he 
 remembered the wealth in which her life was 
 cradled, and the position and surroundings 
 that might be hers at will. He assured him- 
 self then that he had but mistaken her frank 
 friendship ; that his love for her was folly, 
 madness. Their paths were wholly unlike, 
 and must lie forever apart. 
 
 The latter mood held the other in abeyance, 
 and guarded look and tone. He had no right 
 to lure her, if indeed he could, to a lot that 
 even to himself looked rugged and hard in 
 contrast with her own. True it held the sweet- 
 ness of honest usefulness. 
 
 " But that she cannot miss. A life like hers 
 is in itself a blessing," he murmured, watching 
 her. 
 
 The old battle had fought itself over, one
 
 A TALE UNTOLD. 167 
 
 wintry day, until, weary of it and himself, he 
 abandoned unsuccessful attempts to study or 
 write, and forsook his office. Swift movement 
 through the cold air would cool his brain and 
 suit his mood, he fancied, and he sought the 
 river, skates in hand. A goodly number of 
 skaters were there before him, enjoying what 
 might prove the last sport of the season, for 
 the ice was already broken in the middle of the 
 river, though a wide smooth border stretched 
 out from the shores. 
 
 It was a pretty sight the blocks of ice 
 piled upon the bank, the clear track and the 
 flying forms. His quick eye recognized at 
 once one slender, gray-robed figure, brightened 
 by dashes of crimson in cap and trimmings, as, 
 a little apart from its companions, it glided 
 away on its course! The motion suited her, 
 he thought. Separate from all others she 
 always seemed to him. He watched, but did 
 not join her. She had not seen him, and he 
 would not seek her, so he went on his own
 
 i68 
 
 RACHEL'S SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 swift way with compressed lips and resolute 
 eyes that scarcely told of pleasure-seeking. 
 
 He shunned companionship as far as possi- 
 ble, exchanging only brief greetings with those 
 whom he met, and skated away where others 
 were not. The river looked dreary in its ici- 
 ness, that day, and the hills, between which it 
 lay, wore an air of desolateness with their 
 gaunt leafless trees and patches of sharp 
 rocks. The western range flung long shadows, 
 but the eastern caught gleams of red gold 
 from the late afternoon sunshine. 
 
 Up and down the long smooth course the 
 doctor passed now away alone, then return- 
 ing for a glimpse of one slender, graceful 
 skater. He was not used to indulging moods 
 and reveries, but he gave them uncontrollable 
 freedom then, and let fancy whisper gloomily 
 that his life must be like this hard, cold track, 
 shut in by barren rugged walls of duty. 
 
 Suddenly a commotion arose among the 
 skaters further out. There were shouts and
 
 A TALE UNTOLD. 169 
 
 cries, a confused mingling of voices, and hur- 
 rying to and fro, that attracted even Dr. Kel- 
 sey's attention. A murmur of "Broken 
 away!" a sharp call, "Oh, be quick!" 
 drew his wandering eyes. A mass of ice had 
 parted from the main body, and was floating 
 out with several persons upon it. One quick 
 glance revealed among them a figure in gray 
 and crimson ; and, pausing for no second 
 glance, he turned in his course and sped rap- 
 idly towards it. 
 
 The floe was already separated from the 
 solid ice by a narrow chasm of dark water. 
 Several leaped across it towards the shore while 
 the doctor was making his way to the place, 
 but a chorus of halloos, startled and question- 
 ing, greeted him as, with one swift bound, he 
 cleared the black, widening line in an oppo- 
 site direction. Neither heeding nor hearing, he 
 swept on towards Rachel, who, after a moment, 
 recognizing, advanced to meet him. She hardly 
 comprehended until then what had happened.
 
 1 70 RACHEUS SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 "Come! quick!" he uttered hoarsely, 
 breathless from the effort he had made, but hur- 
 rying her forward while the steel upon his own 
 feet seemed still to hold the swiftness of wings. 
 
 But it was in vain. Reaching once more 
 the dividing chasm, a single look showed that 
 the feat which had before been difficult was 
 now impossible. The rapidly widening stream 
 forbade all hope of crossing. Others who had 
 also been at the further side of the loosened 
 mass came flying to the verge, and paused in 
 dire dismay as they realized that the chance 
 of escape was gone. Five in all remained as 
 occupants of the treacherous floating island. 
 
 For a moment or two there was a rapid inter- 
 change of shouts useless directions, fruitless 
 appeals or words of encouragement. Then, 
 following each other slowly, the party at last 
 all retreated from the more dangerous margin 
 to the centre of the floe. Rachel looked up at 
 her companion with white face, but with steady 
 eyes still.
 
 A TALE UNTOLD *7l 
 
 "There is nothing to be done nothing that 
 we can do," he said, answering their question- 
 ing. "We must wait for others." 
 
 On the shore the groups were already scatter- 
 ing, clambering up the bank, and flying hither 
 and thither to spread the alarm and bring assist- 
 ance ; though what successful plan of help or 
 rescue could be devised it was difficult to fore- 
 see. But, with that little trembling hand on 
 his arm, Horace Kelsey felt that for him the 
 situation, in all its peril, held compensating 
 sweetness. Yet he with difficulty repressed 
 the words that sprang to his lips, and only 
 strove to uphold her courage with what hope 
 he could offer. 
 
 "I do not understand how you are here," she 
 said wonderingly, a little later, when the first 
 shock and bewilderment of their situation had 
 so far passed as to leave room for surprise at 
 any details. " I did not know you were on the 
 ice. Surely you could not have been on this 
 part of it?"
 
 I7 2 RACHEL'S SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 "Not until a few minutes ago. I saw you, 
 and was coming to join you." 
 
 He did not tell her that he came only when 
 he saw her in danger. 
 
 "You could have escaped if you had not 
 stopped for me," she said, without surmising the 
 whole truth. After a moment she added in a 
 lower tone, "We are in great peril, I suppose, 
 I know it must be so ; and yet we are in 
 health and strength, and the sweet, every-day 
 life so close to us, I cannot realize that death 
 is near." 
 
 " And life is very sweet to you ? " 
 
 It was not wholly an interrogation, but she 
 looked up questioningly. Yet when she had 
 replied she had substituted another word for his. 
 
 "Yes, life is precious." 
 
 Why should it not be, with all that belonged 
 to hers ? For his own But earth's sharp con- 
 trasts grew strangely dim in an hour like this, 
 and he remembered remorsefully the dreary 
 pictures of his own lot he had drawn but a
 
 A TALE UNTOLD. 173 
 
 little while before. With all its work, its hope, 
 its duty, the love of dear ones in that little 
 home far away, its possibilities of usefulness, 
 even if it held no brighter possession, how 
 had he dared to call it barren and hard? 
 
 The sun dropped lower behind the hills, a 
 great red ball that seemed to give out no 
 warmth, and sank out of sight, while the 
 radiance slowly vanished from the eastern hill- 
 tops. The party gathered now in a little knot 
 to talk of their chances, possibilities and proba- 
 bilities, to surmise and hope ; then parted to 
 move up and down on their island, and so bat- 
 tle against the benumbing power of the keen 
 winter air. Thus a weary hour passed, it 
 might have been years, so slowly it crept, 
 and the gray twilight deepened around them. 
 
 "Are you very cold?" the doctor asked, 
 raising Rachel's chilled fingers for a moment 
 to his lips, then holding both her hands in his 
 own. The movement was a passionate caress, 
 but the words were only considerate and kind.
 
 174 RACHEL'S SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 "We must chafe them into warmth. You 
 must not allow chill and numbness to steal 
 your strength, for it will be needed presently. 
 I think in some way they will try to rescue us 
 at the bridge." 
 
 "And if they do not? If they cannot help 
 us there? " she asked. 
 
 He did not answer directly ; only said slowly, 
 after a moment's pause, 
 
 "If all hope fail, when we are sure there is 
 nothing more, I have something to tell you 
 Rachel." 
 
 She scarcely noticed the name, did not won- 
 der at the repressed emotion of the tone. It 
 was no time for commonplaces ; intense feel- 
 ing belonged to such an hour. 
 
 The gray deepened into darkness around 
 them, the stars shone out clear and cold in the 
 far-off sky, and still they drifted helplessly on. 
 The afternoon with its light, its safety and 
 companionship, already seemed ages away, 
 so long this dreadful voyaging appeared. The
 
 A TALE UNTOLD. 1 75 
 
 cold wind swept up the river and chilled 
 them through, and the rattle and crashing of 
 ice around them, with the movement of the 
 water, threatened constantly the destruction of 
 their frail craft ; and every jar and sound was 
 marked as, with straining eyes, and hearing 
 sharpened to painful intentness, they watched 
 and listened. 
 
 They were not left to solitude and darkness. 
 As night fell, fires were kindled here and there 
 along the shore, throwing their red glare out 
 over the water, while their glow along the 
 banks showed many forms moving to and fro. 
 Eager voices hailed them, too cheering hu- 
 man voices, though wind and ice so often 
 drowned the words. Now and then the lighted 
 windows of some house shone upon them, 
 starlike, from the land as they passed, telling 
 of home comfort, shelter and safety. How 
 common, unthought-of blessings, held so light- 
 ly but yesterday, had suddenly grown to ines- 
 timable value !
 
 176 RACHEL'S SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 They talked but little as the weary time 
 lengthened, thought seemed to have passed 
 beyond expression, only breaking the silence 
 when it grew intolerable. At length, down 
 the river, the bridge began to show dimly, a 
 huge, undefined shape. Then suddenly a 
 light flashed out upon it, another and another 
 followed, until lanterns were swinging every- 
 where. Eagerly every eye turned in that direc- 
 tion. Kind hearts and strong hands were wait- 
 ing to help them there, but what would they do? 
 What could they do? Was any salvation pos- 
 sible ? Their brittle ice-boat must be crushed 
 to pieces against those massive piers. Every 
 breath became a prayer as they floated onward. 
 
 " Look sharp there now ! Catch the ropes ! " 
 shouted hoarse excited voices as they swept 
 into the shadow of the bridge. 
 
 A crash, a jar, the ice swaying and crushing, 
 then stayed for a moment. The doctor's quick 
 hand seized one of the lowered ropes, and his 
 strong arm lifted Rachel forward.
 
 A TALE UNTOLD. 1 77 
 
 "Quick! place your foot there, your arm 
 through this loop." 
 
 " You ? " she began. 
 
 But the prompt imperative tone stopped all 
 parley. 
 
 " Be quick ! So ! Hold fast now ! " 
 
 It was but a moment. The ice trembled, 
 whirled and crashed upon the pier again, 
 piling its crumbling fragments high around 
 the pitiless stones ; but a part broke away, 
 shot under the dark arch of the bridge, and 
 floated out down the river again. It held but 
 two persons. 
 
 By the light of the receding lanterns they 
 looked each in the other's face, and slowly 
 realized the danger passed and to come the 
 hope lost, and the darkened prospect before 
 them. 
 
 "Well, comrade," said the doctor's vis-a-vis, 
 drawing a long breath, and trying to speak 
 coolly still, though his voice shook, "we're not 
 dead yet, but our vessel is considerably cir-
 
 1 78 RACHEL'S SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 cumscribed, and we shan't take a long voyage 
 on it, I'm thinking." 
 
 From out the gloom and danger, the very 
 shadow of death, Rachel found herself trans- 
 lated at once to light and safety. Sympathiz- 
 ing faces and kindly questions greeted her as 
 she stood bewildered and trembling. Then 
 the throng moved aside for some one to pass ; 
 her father's arms enfolded her, and his voice, 
 less steady than usual, exclaimed, 
 
 " My daughter ! " 
 
 He drew her toward the carriage waiting 
 near ; but she awakened to full consciousness 
 with that movement, and swept an anxious 
 glance along the bridge, recognizing the two 
 who had been rescued with her, but looking 
 vainly for another. 
 
 "Oh, father! Dr. Kelsey? He saved me." 
 
 " Everything shall be done that can be, my 
 dear. There are two still on the ice. But you 
 must go home at once. You are not safe yet, 
 after this terrible exposure."
 
 A TALE UNTOLD. 1 79 
 
 The carriage robes were piled around her, 
 and she was whirled rapidly away. Her father 
 asked some questions, which she answered me- 
 chanically ; so, also, she listened while he told 
 her how he had just arrived on the train, and 
 was stepping into the carriage when the tidings 
 met him. Her eyes steadily turned to the 
 windows, watched the swaying lanterns on the 
 bridge as long as they were visible. 
 
 In the great house on the hill the girl re- 
 ceived a rapturous welcome. But all the 
 warm blankets and soothing potions that faith- 
 ful Peggy could devise did not for a moment 
 lull her nursling to forgetfulness, until, in the 
 early dawn, came tidings. Far below the 
 town, where the river widened rapidly into 
 the bay, a brave little steam-tug had made its 
 way through the rough waters, and, with great 
 difficulty, rescued the two remaining voyagers, 
 benumbed, almost unconscious, but still living.
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 HERBS AND PROPHECIES. 
 
 TT'S an ill wind that blows nowheres," solilo- 
 * quized Mrs. Shackles, pausing half-way 
 up the hill-road to re-adjust her shawl and 
 change her basket from one hand to the other. 
 " It's dreadful for folks to be carried off on ice, 
 an' such a fuss an' fishin' for 'em ! But seem' 
 they have been in the cold so long, it's more'n 
 like they'll need a power of boneset or mother- 
 wort or some sort of yarb-tea. Leastways they 
 oughter, that's what I say to Humphrey, an' 
 I'm bound to see." 
 
 Arriving at the house, it required considera- 
 ble manoeuvring and the employment of skilful 
 tactics to accomplish her object an interview 
 with the young lady in person. She had a 
 double reason for desiring this. In the first 
 
 180
 
 HERBS AND PROPHECIES. l8l 
 
 place, she was more sure of largess from 
 Rachel's hand, and, besides, she really had a 
 strong affection for the young girl who had 
 always humored and been kind to her 
 treated her "like folks and not like a poor- 
 house," as she assured herself. She wanted 
 to see with her own eyes how she looked, after 
 her perilous adventure. 
 
 That " Peggy Larrison" her contemptuous 
 name for the housekeeper would combat her 
 purpose, she had a strong suspicion amount- 
 ing almost to certainty. On the gravelled walk 
 she paused with a pretence of shifting her bas- 
 ket once more, and surveyed the citadel. 
 Front blinds closed no one in that part of 
 the house then. She followed a winding walk 
 around to a wing often used as a sitting-room, 
 furtively scanned it, and then innocently started 
 as if she had mistaken her way, retraced her 
 steps, and passed around the house to a sunny 
 piazza, on the south. There a low French win- 
 dow revealed within a cheery open fire, and a
 
 l82 RACHEL'S SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 comfortable lounge wheeled before it. A door 
 opened upon the piazza, and Mrs. Shackles' 
 summons sounded there in a moment. 
 
 Mistress Larrison answered in person, and 
 scarcely looked overjoyed a fact that did not 
 disturb the caller. 
 
 " Is Miss Rachel here ? Land sakes ! I 
 mustn't keep the door open a minute for the 
 wind to blow on her," and she pushed in and 
 closed it behind her with marvellous alacrity. 
 
 Then she felt safe ; and dropping into a chair 
 and drawing off her coarse mittens, she held 
 her hands to the comfortable blaze scratched, 
 knotted, calloused hands. If they did solicit 
 help, they had also toiled, and life had been 
 hard. 
 
 " Sakes, child ! I'm glad to see ye safe on 
 that sofy, an' not a-sailin' off on an icicle ! 
 Didn't know you was one of 'em till this noon, 
 an' then says I to Humphrey, ' I'll go up. It's 
 like she'll need some boneset now if she's 
 ever a-goin' to.' ' That's right,' says he, ' al'ays
 
 HERBS AND PROPHECIES. 183 
 
 take time by the flintlock.' An' says I, ' Hum- 
 phrey Shackles, time'll be bald-headed afore 
 you ever take it by any kind of a lock.' An' 
 so it will, too that's why I come. It's dreadful 
 cold, an' I felt powerful weak to-day to walk 
 such a ways, but I thought you might be a- 
 needin' that motherwort." 
 
 "No," laughed Rachel, "I am doing nicely 
 without it ; but I think we must buy a few 
 bunches, since you were kind enough to bring 
 it." 
 
 " Yes, I would child ; it's more'n like you'll 
 need it next time," responded Mrs. Shackles, 
 cheerfully resigned to the postponement. 
 " Boneset's 'mazin' good for aches. I'd like to 
 took some myself t'other night, only I hadn't 
 any sugar to put in it, an' it's 'most killin' 
 without sugar, so I had to do without, bad as 
 I needed it. An' I hain't got none yet." 
 
 " P e ggy can gi ye y u some to take home 
 with you, perhaps," suggested Rachel with 
 proper gravity.
 
 184 RACHEL'S S PI ARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 " Humph ! Of course if you wish it, Miss 
 Rachel," answered Mistress Peggy, half pro- 
 voked, half amused. " Does it take any butter 
 or milk or anything else to make that herb-tea 
 to your taste, Mrs. Shackles ? I'm going out to 
 the kitchen now, and I might as well put them 
 all up at once." 
 
 "Yes, put up some parcels for her," laughed 
 Rachel, but with kindly glance falling on the 
 gray hair and worn hands. 
 
 " 'Bliged to ye, child, I jest am ! " said the old 
 woman brightening. " Don't know how a 
 body'd get along winters, when there ain't no 
 berries nor nothin', if 'twasn't for neighbors. 
 'Cause I get to needin' a good many things, 
 tea and shoes, an' I won't beg, so I don't have 
 no prospeck of gettin' none unless somebody 
 finds it out accidental like. Wasn't you most 
 froze to death sailin' ofFthat way?" she asked, 
 suddenly changing the subject. "An' that 
 (doctor I 'clare for't doctors is the most curious- 
 est mortals ! I s'pose he thought if everybody
 
 HERBS AND PROPHECIES. 185 
 
 aboard was goin' to freeze or drown they'd 
 need a doctor along to take care on 'em, though 
 I don't see how he calc'lated he was goin' to be 
 able to do it. But they said the way he le'pt 
 across onto that ice jest when everybody else 
 was skippin' off, it was astonishin'." 
 
 " When ? " asked Rachel, rousing to sudden 
 interest. 
 
 " Why, jest after it broke loose, an' was float- 
 in' off, bless ye ! Didn't you see him ? They 
 said he come tearin' like a whirlwind down 
 from somewheres near the shore, an' jumped 
 onto that floatin' ice like it was his last chance 
 for life. Like to 'a' been the last thing he 
 ever did do, too, 'cause he was pretty well 
 used up when that steam-tug took him off. 
 Folks asked him what he jumped on for, an' 
 all he'd tell 'em was that he'd expected to jump 
 off again. Now that's that I call bein' dread- 
 ful venturesome ! " 
 
 A rosy flush crept over Rachel's face. She 
 laughed nervously, and tears filled her eyes.
 
 l86 RACHEL'S SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 "I think Mrs. Larrison will soon have the 
 packages ready for you and I am not very 
 strong to-day," she said, abruptly dismissing 
 her visitor. 
 
 Mrs. Shackles was quite ready then to ac- 
 cept the implied direction and follow the 
 housekeeper to the kitchen, and once there she 
 was in no haste to depart. Shelter from the 
 cold wind without, a comfortable chair, the 
 pleasant warmth and the tokens of abundance 
 that surrounded her on every side, were all 
 seductive. She arranged with what she con- 
 sidered unusual skill her hints and suggestions 
 of articles that would be acceptable, and when 
 the housekeeper could no longer be induced 
 to understand, she lingered still, basking in 
 the cheeriness of the fire, and bestowing her 
 conversation impartially upon whoever hap- 
 pened to come within range. She discussed 
 the weather, the ice on the river, the late acci- 
 dent, and dropped finally upon an inexhausti- 
 ble topic the times.
 
 HERBS AND PROPHECIES. 187 
 
 " Land sakes ! but they're hard. Don't look 
 much like it here, but there's plenty of folks 
 that knows it. Bad weather an' lots out of 
 work. An' them that has any is screwed down 
 one month, an' pinched down a little more 
 another month, an' don't get what scantiness is 
 a-comin' to 'em when they'd oughter, so they 
 can't calc'late on nothin'. I s'pose if that 
 young preacher man was 'round he'd think 
 every thing'd go all right, an' they'd get over 
 knowin' they needed vittles an' clo'es if he could 
 preach 'em one of his sermons on the Frinch 
 revolution, or somethin'. There is folks that 
 think they could mend all the rents an' breaks 
 in creation if they jest could get at 'em with 
 their little brush an' bottle of glue. 
 
 " Tell 'em to 'conomize ! Sakes ! why, they 
 can't unless they've got somethin' to 'conomize 
 on. Well, things'll come to a stickin' p'int yet 
 yes, sooner'n most folks think. Things are 
 a-brewin' an' a-brewin', an' they'll be heard from 
 some day. Some folks'll be 'mazin' 'stonished."
 
 1 88 RACHEUS S PI ARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 "What do you mean by that? " questioned a 
 rosy-cheeked maid, pausing broom in hand, 
 impressed more by the speaker's emphatic nods 
 than by her words. 
 
 " Mean 'zactly what I say," replied Mrs. 
 Shackles, taking care to say nothing exactly, 
 and not quite sure what she did mean, but 
 growing more mysterious on that account. " I 
 don't tell all I hear. There's some things I 
 know, an' more I don't ; but every see-saw has 
 got two ends to it, an' when one of 'em comes 
 up the other'll go down. Wait an' you'll see." 
 
 The girl stared for a moment in round-eyed 
 wonder, and then hastened away in obedience 
 to a call. But the old woman talked on with 
 or without a listener. She carefully examined 
 her faded dress, and dried by the fire every 
 part that could possibly have acquired damp- 
 ness from contact with the light snow on the 
 hillside ; she warmed her feet slowly and 
 thoroughly, placing but one at a time upon the 
 fender; pinned and unpinned her shawl,
 
 HERBS AND PROPHECIES. 189 
 
 arranged and re-arranged the bundles Mrs.Lar- 
 rison had given her, and lingered until every 
 pretext for tarrying was exhausted, and the 
 lengthened shadows of the great leafless trees 
 warned her of approaching sunset. Even then 
 she went reluctantly, pausing on the threshold 
 with a bright thought. 
 
 " Tell Miss Rachel I'll be sure to come round 
 pretty often an' see how she's gettin' on, so if 
 she needs any roots or sassafrax or anything, 
 she can get it handy. I like to be 'bligin', 
 'specially when folks is sick, if my shoes do be 
 pretty bad to walk so far, an' I can't tell when 
 I'll get no more. I wears sevens." 
 
 She wisely closed the door without waiting for 
 reply, and departed with the cheering thought 
 that she would at least be expected again. 
 
 Rachel watched her going down the hill as, 
 from her nook among the sofa-pillows, she had 
 watched every one who passed along the road 
 that afternoon. She was not looking for any 
 one, certainly not for the one of whom she
 
 19 RACHEL'S SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 was thinking most. The old woman's story 
 had explained his presence with her on the 
 ice, but it had aroused a whirl of thoughts 
 and questions that she could neither still nor 
 answer. She had heard nothing beyond the 
 tidings of his safety in the early morning, but 
 she assured herself that, even with his vigorous 
 strength and power of endurance, it would be 
 days before he could resume his round of duty ; 
 yet all the while her gray eyes watched the 
 road. 
 
 To see him again his own strong, blithe self, 
 moving once more in an every-day world, 
 would banish that horrible vision of darkness 
 and cold that haunted even yet her closed eyes, 
 she thought. By some strange fascination she 
 found all her reveries continuing that perilous 
 voyage wondering what would have been 
 had no rescue reached her at the bridge, and 
 she also had been swept through the danger- 
 ous arch down the river? What was it he 
 would have said to her when he deemed all
 
 HERBS AND PROPHECIES. 191 
 
 hope gone? His words, unpondered at the 
 time, recurred to her now. Again and again 
 she assured herself that it was nothing her 
 hand but laid upon his lips to restore its vanish- 
 ing warmth ; his words but a deferring all talk 
 of desperate measures until they should find 
 themselves indeed in extremis. However she 
 argued it down, the question returned, What 
 would he have said when no hope of life 
 remained? 
 
 Old Mrs. Lyndal, insisting that her grand- 
 child should pass the earlier hours of the day 
 in her luxurious invalid room, the only one 
 in the house, she fancied, where absolute 
 repose could be obtained, greatly regretted 
 that such shock and exposure had been borne. 
 
 "Though all escaped, it is exceedingly un- 
 fortunate that it ever happened," she said. 
 
 But even she noticed that the girl, with eyes 
 fixed on the glowing coals, did not answer. 
 If she only knew there might be words worth 
 going down to the gates of death to hear !
 
 I9 2 RACHEL'S SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 But it was nothing. Dr. Kelsey called in a 
 day or two, as usual. Rachel had dreamed, 
 in girlish fashion, of that first meeting of the 
 way in which she would thank him for the self- 
 forgetfulness, the promptness and courage that 
 had secured her safety, and should she dare 
 to allude to the way in which he had come to 
 her? But it happened not at all as she had 
 planned. He came, in his accustomed way, 
 to visit Mrs. Lyndal, and Rachel met him in 
 her room. 
 
 " I wish you would also bestow some atten- 
 tion upon my granddaughter this morning, Dr. 
 Kelsey, and prescribe proper tonics or restora- 
 tives," said the old lady in her stately, deliber- 
 ate fashion. " It is impossible that Miss Lyndal 
 should not have been greatly shaken and pros- 
 trated by her exposure the other night which 
 only your courage and presence of mind pre- 
 vented from resulting in a fearful calamity." 
 
 The doctor turned and met Rachel's extended 
 hand.
 
 HERBS AND PROPHECIES. Ip3 
 
 "I do not know how to thank you," she 
 faltered. 
 
 " I am glad of it. Pray do not try to learn," 
 he laughed; then added more gravely, "You 
 must not overrate the most natural of acts. 
 In so far as I was of any service to you, the 
 deed was its own full recompense." 
 
 He was his cool, quiet, ordinary self, recog- 
 nizing, apparently, no occasion for gratitude. 
 He inquired after her health in half friendty, 
 half professional style, adverting but slightly 
 to their adventure, and laughing a little at the 
 sensation the papers had made of it. Under 
 his calm manner her glowing grateful thought 
 could find no expression beyond a few brief 
 sentences that sounded to herself exceedingly 
 tame and commonplace. 
 
 "We do not forget what we owe you, Dr. 
 Kelsey, but I cannot bear to think of the danger, 
 even yet," said Mrs. Lyndal shudderingly. 
 
 "You are right. It is better not to recall it," 
 assented the doctor.
 
 194 RACHEL'S SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 Then the subject dropped. How foolish of 
 her to have thought of anything more ! the 
 girl murmured to herself with a causeless flush 
 on her cheeks. Her imagination had 'grown 
 feverish and wild with the intense excitement 
 of those few hours : that was all. She had not 
 been quite herself, or such insane fancies 
 would never have floated through her brain, 
 she whispered to quiet her womanly pride ; and 
 then resolutely strove to forget all troublesome 
 wondering and dreaming in the old avocations 
 that had healthfully busied head and hands. 
 Yet, through the days, when her eyes fell now 
 and then upon those determinedly busy hands, 
 some old words of Mrs. Browning's mean- 
 ingless words to her, and she could not tell 
 why they so haunted her repeated them- 
 selves persistently : 
 
 " Kissed 
 
 The fingers of this hand wherewith I write, 
 And, ever since, it grew more clean and white, 
 Slow to world-greetings, quick with its ' Oh, list! ' 
 When angels speak."
 
 HERBS AND PROPHECIES. 19$ 
 
 When Judge Lyndal first met Dr. Kelsey 
 after that eventful evening he expressed his 
 " sense of great indebtedness " in fitting and 
 proper language, without interruption. Judge 
 Lyndal was not one to be interrupted in any 
 speech he began to make ; it must needs have 
 its course. Yet Dr. Kelsey did not find it as 
 oppressive as Rachel's unfinished, stammering 
 sentences had been. He even found a queer 
 thought of addresses before corporations and 
 stockholders flitting through his mind while 
 he listened courteously, and responded as 
 briefly as possible. 
 
 In truth, the Judge did feel a weight of obli- 
 gation that was somewhat burdensome. He 
 disliked debts personal ones ; if it could have 
 been shifted to the company, it would have 
 been a great relief. The chief trouble was 
 that there appeared no immediate way of liqui- 
 dating this claim. If the doctor had been a 
 man to who he could have offered money, 
 and so settled the matter, or if he had been
 
 196 RACHEL'S SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 nearly or remotely connected with the road, so 
 that some lucrative position could have been 
 bestowed upon him, and thus the Judge's ap- 
 preciation of the service he had rendered be at 
 once handsomely and finally expressed, it 
 would have been an infinite relief. As it was, 
 he could but utter his thanks in words and a 
 clasp of the hand, and wait. 
 
 It was only waiting. The Judge had a creed 
 that all benefits were really remunerable ; that 
 all services rendered by one man to another 
 would, sooner or later, present their claim for 
 payment in some shape or other. And this 
 would probably prove no exception. Some- 
 time, undoubtedly, some favor or bestowment 
 would be expected of him, without mention, 
 but in remembrance, of this rescue of his 
 daughter ; he should grant it, and the obliga- 
 tion would be cancelled. Meanwhile, the im- 
 possibility of making any immediate return 
 greatly increased his respect for Dr. Kelsey.
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 TWO STRONG HANDS. 
 
 TT was a dreary day, the sky gray with clouds 
 from which fell a heavy mist that never 
 deepened into rain, but had fallen steadily since 
 early morning, penetrating everywhere with its 
 chill and damp, and pressing back upon the 
 little town the black smoke from stacks and 
 chimneys. In the great yard around the shops 
 the general cheerlessness was intensified. 
 Sooty engines stood here and there, some puff- 
 ing sullenly, others black and lifeless. Trucks, 
 disabled cars, switches, implements, all were 
 chill and slippery with the clinging damp. 
 The great arched doorways of the buildings 
 looked dim and shadowy enough to be the en- 
 trances to caverns, while out from the foundry 
 the furnace fires showed only a dull red glare. 
 
 IQ7
 
 198 RACHEL'S SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 Smoke, damp, chill and dreariness over 
 everything, a heavy oppressive atmosphere 
 that pressed upon spirits, as upon the outer 
 world, shutting out light and hopefulness. 
 
 " Never saw anything like this wretched 
 fog," muttered a man in the yard as a wet bar 
 slipped from his grasp. 
 
 "Unless it is the company itself a great, 
 cold, heavy hand, crushing everything under 
 it down, down," answered his companion with 
 lowered voice a man with keener, more intel- 
 ligent face. 
 
 Joe Baines heard them, but they paid no 
 attention to him scarcely any one about the 
 place did. All talked before him, seldom any 
 one to him, since he manifested little inclina- 
 tion to join their conversation, and equally 
 small comprehension of their topics. 
 
 " A fellow like a crow-bar good for heavy 
 work, if somebody furnishes the brains to put 
 him to use," one of them said of him ; and the 
 verdict was generally accepted.
 
 TWO STRONG HANDS. 199 
 
 But Joe felt the gloom of this day. The 
 days in the yard had been growing more and 
 more dreary of late, though he scarcely knew 
 why. He had, in truth, understood but little 
 of the talk of " per cent off," " reduction " and 
 " cutting down " that he heard all around him. 
 The terms so freely used by the others had no 
 very clear meaning for him ; but he knew when 
 his wages fell short, again and again, of what 
 he had expected ; when all his and Kitty's slow 
 counting, laying out dollar by dollar pitifully 
 few ! on the rough table, their two beads bent 
 above it, failed to make the pittance amount to 
 what it had done the month before. 
 
 He knew what the falling short meant, too 
 that the pairs of small stout shoes, so sorely 
 needed, so long promised and looked forward 
 to, could not be purchased ; that Hitty's tired, 
 patient fingers must still patch the garments 
 not worth patching, only that no other could 
 be supplied. Such simple, homely little plans 
 of outlay ! but they had meant much in that
 
 200 RACHEL'S SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 old railway-car, and they were thwarted. Joe 
 wondered silently at first, and then asked a 
 fellow-workman : 
 
 " Why don't I get so much money from 'em 
 as I did?" 
 
 "Why, because there's been a reduction 
 ten per cent. Hain't you found that out before ? 
 Tisn't you, it's all of us." 
 
 Joe pondered, not much enlightened. 
 
 " Yes ; they says something like that to me 
 at the office. I didn't know. What do they 
 do it for?" he asked again directly. 
 
 "What for? Why, to squeeze a little more 
 out of our pockets to put into their own, where 
 there are enough sight more dollars now than 
 we'll ever have coppers. The treasurer wants 
 a new steeple to his house, maybe, or the 
 president a finer palace-car to ride in." 
 
 If Joe did not fully understand the language, 
 and accepted the last sentences literally, he 
 did comprehend the bitterness of the man's 
 tone ; that held a meaning that made itself felt,
 
 TWO STRONG HANDS. 2OI 
 
 and, slowly, besides his disappointment, there 
 began to grow and rankle a sense of wrong. 
 So, though he did not know the signs of dull 
 times, or foresee, as did others, any other effects 
 that might follow, the anxiety, dissatisfaction 
 and foreboding around him pressed upon him 
 also in a vague, indefinite way. He wondered, 
 that day, what the two men, talking together, 
 meant by a heavy, crushing hand? Yet, while 
 he wondered, he seemed to feel something of 
 its weight. 
 
 But he was utterly unprepared for what 
 came at nightfall his discharge. There had 
 seemed so much coming and going in the great 
 shops, such an endless amount to do, so much 
 wealth back of it all, that it had never occurred 
 to him that, having once secured a place, he 
 could not stay there so long as he faithfully 
 performed the work assigned him. He looked 
 blankly in the face of the one who told him. 
 It was not a pleasant task, that agent's ; he 
 was but obeying orders, he explained. There
 
 202 RACHEL'S SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 was no great press of business just now ; they 
 were reducing the force of workmen, and some 
 others from the yard and shops would be sent 
 away. Then he grew impatient at the bewil- 
 dered stare, and cut his communication short 
 by telling him where and when to apply for 
 the money due him. 
 
 " I dunno the folks has to live I dunno 
 what'll I do," stammered Joe, blundering into 
 speech at last, and drawing his hand across 
 his forehead, as if the mist of the day were 
 creeping over his brain. 
 
 "Well, I don't know about that, my man; 
 it's much the same with everybody, I suppose. 
 I'm sorry ; but you will have to look about and 
 find what you can do. You've a pair of good 
 strong hands to work with." 
 
 There was a touch of contempt in the good- 
 natured pity of the voice. Why not take things 
 like a man? Where was the use of whining? 
 
 Good strong hands ! Joe looked at them as 
 he walked slowly homeward ; looked at them
 
 TWO STKONG HANDS. 203 
 
 again in the evening, after he had told Hitty, 
 and she sat sewing with that anxious unchild- 
 like wrinkle between her brows, and grave 
 lines about her mouth. He spread out the 
 broad palms and the great rough ringers. 
 They were his only capital, his one chance; 
 all the dependence of his little household old 
 Daddy, Hitty and Meg's children. 
 
 "Joe," said Hitty, looking wistfully at her 
 brother's heavy face, "mebby she could get 
 you in somewheres ? " 
 
 "The Judge's darter?" Joe slowly shook 
 his head. " 'Tain't no use. They don't want 
 nobody in any of the places now : they said 
 so." 
 
 He had a vague idea that the fact of Miss 
 Lyndal's agency in securing the place would 
 have held it for him if anything could, and 
 since that had not sufficed, all hope of other 
 work about the shops was vain. 
 
 The next day he wandered through the 
 little old town, here and there, up and down,
 
 204 RACHEL'S SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 seeking for work. But nobody wanted help 
 at least his help. He was told so in a 
 variety of ways, civil, careless or gruff, but 
 the import was always the same. The days 
 grew drearily alike a continual wandering, 
 a monotonous repetition of the one inquiry, 
 and always the same reply. Hitty presently 
 ceased to question when he came home at 
 night to the meagre supper growing more 
 and more scant as the days passed, for the 
 poor little housewife was economizing their 
 slender store to the utmost. One look at his 
 dull unlighted face told the cheerless story, 
 and she sighed, and stayed her burdened, pa- 
 tient heart on to-morrow always to-morrow. 
 
 It was hard, waiting thus, with that sick- 
 ening, gnawing anxiety slowly devouring 
 strength and hope, to bestow even the sem- 
 blance of interest upon Daddy's grand vaga- 
 ries, that grew only more querulously import- 
 unate as the days grew harder. 
 
 " Don't ye s'pose it'll come next week, Hitty,
 
 T WO STRONG HANDS. 205 
 
 my big prize how many thousings? Won't 
 it, child?" 
 
 " Mebby, Daddy. 
 
 "An' we'll have houses an' new clo'es an' 
 dinners with meat we don't have none no 
 more. Hitty," fretfully, "if you was to tell 
 them stores 'bout my money a-comin', wouldn't 
 they let ye have meat?" 
 
 " I'm 'fraid not, Daddy ; we'd better wait." 
 
 Joe extended his search into the country, 
 going out first in one direction, then in another. 
 But there was little work to be obtained among 
 the farmers at that season, and, in truth, the 
 large, awkward, heavy-faced man, poorly 
 clothed, and accompanied by his great gaunt 
 dog, was not a prepossessing applicant. More 
 than one timid dame fancied the household 
 would scarcely sleep securely if he were 
 beneath its roof. This he did not know, but 
 he soon knew, by painful experience, that 
 houses or even out-buildings where he could 
 obtain a place to sleep by honestly asking for
 
 2O6 RACHEL } S SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 it were very few, so he adopted the alternative 
 of omitting the formality of a permission, and 
 secreting himself when and where he could. 
 One night he crept into a barn, and, beguiled 
 by the unusual luxury of a bed in the hay, and 
 wearied by his journeying, he slept late, and 
 was only aroused in the morning by a rude 
 shake, and a voice demanding in no gentle 
 tones : 
 
 " Halloo ! What are you doing here ? " 
 
 " Sleepin' I guess." Joe sat up and look- 
 ed into the irate face of the proprietor as if he 
 were not sure about it. " I had to sleep some- 
 wheres." 
 
 "Well, I didn't build my barn for a hotel, 
 and I'd like to know how you got into it. Be 
 off now, and don't send any more of your gang 
 here, for I'll warrant you the door will be 
 locked another night. This is no place for 
 tramps." 
 
 " If you could anyways tell me where there 
 is a right place for me, I'd be off mighty quick,"
 
 TWO STRONG HANDS. 2O7 
 
 said Joe, slowly brightening into argument. 
 "For I've looked a long while, an' I hain't 
 found none yet." 
 
 It was a very simple observation, but the 
 farmer found it not quite easy to answer. 
 
 " Why, there ought to be somewhere, if you 
 are willing to work," he said, somewhat molli- 
 fied. " More than likely you are not, though." 
 
 Joe looked down at his hands. What were 
 they for if not for work ? It began to seem as 
 if they had been put into a world where they 
 did not belong. The farmer's eyes followed 
 the mute glance. 
 
 " Well, no, they don't look as if they had 
 mostly been kept idle," he admitted as if a 
 question had been asked. " There's my wood- 
 pile over there, and if you've a mind to earn a 
 breakfast by splitting wood, you can have it." 
 
 Joe looked at him, looked at the wood-pile, 
 and walked towards it without wasting words. 
 There was no doubt that breakfast was earned. 
 The farmer, watching the heavy steady strokes,
 
 raised no question upon that point, and the 
 bountiful meal was such as Joe had seldom 
 tasted. He enjoyed it, too, until a sudden 
 thought made him drop knife and fork. 
 
 " What's the matter now ? " asked the round- 
 eyed girl who was attending to his wants and 
 keeping guard over the silver spoons. 
 
 " Nothin', only Hitty an' the children an' 
 it kinder chokes," he answered slowly. 
 
 The girl's eyes grew rounder still, and she 
 confided to the farmer, a little later, that she 
 " guessed that man was a little out." 
 
 " He's sense enough to work, anyhow," re- 
 sponded that practical man, proceeding to sug- 
 gest a plan that had come into his mind. 
 " Look here," he said to Joe, " I've been intend- 
 ing to have that big shed torn down and moved 
 to the other corner of the lot. I want a new 
 foundation dug, too, and if you choose to stay 
 and help me, why, I'll see what you can do, 
 and pay you what is fair. I don't know how 
 long it will take."
 
 TWO STKOWG HANDS. 209 
 
 Joe assented eagerly, though with few words. 
 His heart grew lighter as soon as his hands 
 were busy, and he plodded on, obeying direc- 
 tions faithfully, bringing little judgment or skill 
 to the labor, but using his great strength 
 lavishly. Once more he had something to 
 carry to his little household, and his old con- 
 tent gradually returned as the busy days 
 passed. But at the end of two weeks the work 
 was done. 
 
 "I like you first-rate, and I'd keep you 
 longer if I had anything more for you to do, 
 but I haven't," the farmer explained. "You 
 see it's rather dull times, too, so a man has to 
 get along with hiring as little help as he can. 
 After two or three months I may need some- 
 body for a while if you should be along 
 then." 
 
 "Yes," Joe answered dully, doubtfully. 
 
 And so the dreary wandering began again. 
 Now and then he obtained employment else- 
 where for a few hours, once or twice for a day
 
 210 RACHEL'S SHARE OF THE ROAD 
 
 or two; but it was only some transient work, 
 nothing that could give steady occupation. 
 These occasional earnings, carried to Hitty, 
 helped to eke out the small sum she so care- 
 fully hoarded, but they were only brief respites 
 in his tiresome tramp and quest 
 
 Together they traversed the quiet country 
 roads, mile after mile, master and dog the 
 dog in dumb faithfulness, the master in dumb 
 persistence. Neither knew anything better to 
 do. " Good strong hands to work with ! " 
 The words repeated themselves in the still- 
 ness of fields and lonely roadsides, and grew 
 into a mockery. He clasped and unclasped 
 the rough fingers, clenched them, wrenched 
 branches from the trees overhead. What was 
 the use of their strength ? They were power- 
 less to win bread for Hitty and the children. 
 
 In the town he dropped into a way of linger- 
 ing around the shops and yard, watching the 
 work he could not share. Locomotives, 
 coaches and great buildings, all representing
 
 TWO STRONG HANDS. 211 
 
 so much wealth, and yet no room for him ! He 
 felt defrauded, wronged, as if this great power 
 of men and machinery were in league against 
 him, crushing him out. He listened eagerly 
 to all the talk he heard about the place, and if 
 he comprehended its technicalities no more 
 clearly than of old, nor followed its reasoning 
 and deductions, he had become alive to com- 
 plaints and murmurs, and he adopted their 
 spirit, and intensified their bitterness. Some- 
 where there was cruelty and wrong. Some- 
 body was to blame. 
 
 They must live old Daddy, Hitty and the 
 children. He had promised Meg to take care 
 of the children ; that one thought was clear 
 enough through all. There must be a place 
 somewhere, but he had no money with which 
 to seek it : what they had must be left with Hitty ; 
 and so, penniless and on foot, he started, finally, 
 for a distant city. When he could earn no food 
 by the way, and when he could do no longer 
 without it, he begged it. Sometimes it was
 
 212 RACHEL'S SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 given kindly or carelessly, more than once it 
 was refused, with the information that a strong 
 fellow like him ought to go to work. It began 
 to seem to his dull apprehension that this was 
 an exceedingly unreasonable world, and that, 
 somehow, it was at enmity with him. 
 
 The city bewildered him. He had never 
 before been where there was such jostling, 
 hurrying and crowding as in its business tho- 
 roughfares. It was not a great city as maps 
 and statistics of population rated it, but it was 
 immense in Joe's eyes. It was no place for him ; 
 he realized that fact in a few hours. "Too 
 many folks here a'ready," he muttered ; yet he 
 tried again and again for work vainly. He 
 began to watch the faces and forms of those 
 who passed him ; they all seemed to have 
 somewhere to go, something to do. He looked 
 in at the windows of beautiful houses, as he 
 walked slowly by them rooms rich with 
 treasure of which Daddy in his wildest fancies 
 never dreamed. Why should some have so
 
 TWO STRONG HANDS. 213 
 
 much, while others had nothing? The question 
 did not form itself distinctly ; it but lay in his 
 thought a sense of injustice and wrong. 
 
 At night he wandered back to the only place 
 that had held for him any familiar look the 
 depot. The trains coming and going, the cars 
 standing here and there, were like the shops 
 and yard at home. Some of them might have 
 come from there the long iron road connect- 
 ed the two places. He picked his way across 
 rails and around engines, until, at a short dis- 
 tance from the station, he found on a side track 
 an empty freight car, detached, alone and, for- 
 tunately, unlocked. As he examined it in the 
 dim light that came from distant lamps, it 
 seemed to him more like a friend than anything 
 else he had met in that dreary, jostling town. 
 He had helped to move such cars often in the 
 yard, in the good times already they were 
 beginning to seem far away when he, too, had 
 somewhere to go, and something to do, and 
 could carry home his earnings. Maybe this
 
 214 RACHEL'S SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 car had been there then. He patted the rough 
 boards at the thought, almost as if they were 
 Clingo's rough head. Poor Clingo ! how he 
 had tried to come with him, and howled and 
 lamented at being left behind ! It was better to 
 leave him with Hitty and the children. 
 
 " Them little fellers ! Wish I could feel their 
 arms round my neck ! " 
 
 There was a sudden choking in his throat, 
 as if the little arms were even then pressing too 
 closely, as he stretched himself upon his hard 
 bed. 
 
 How long he slept, utterly wearied by the 
 day's journeying and fruitless search, he did 
 not know. A lantern flashing in his face, a 
 rough grasp and a peremptory voice, aroused 
 him. 
 
 " Here, sir ! Out of that ! " 
 
 A vigilant member ofthe police, on his round, 
 had discovered him. Any vagrants sleeping 
 in the cars were a prey to be pounced upon at 
 once, and he did his duty. With scarcely
 
 TU'O STRONG HANDS. 215 
 
 time to open his heavy eyes, Joe was dragged 
 from his refuge, he did not know why, nor by 
 whom. His confused, half-uttered protest and 
 question elicited a brief explanation that but 
 bewildered him the more. What had " officers " 
 and " law " to do with him ? He had hurt no- 
 body done no harm. 
 
 In his ignorance and alarm he grew belli- 
 gerent, and thus drew upon his stupid head a 
 swift blow that in no wise enlightened his fac- 
 ulties. Then he was hurried again through 
 the dreary streets, and passed the remainder 
 of the night in the city prison, with fearful 
 company. He did not understand much of the 
 next morning's proceeding, nor know why the 
 bald-headed gentleman before whom he was 
 brought should be, as he phrased it, " so down 
 onto him." 
 
 Poor Joe ! His appearance was against him. 
 His blundering, uncommunicative replies, and 
 the little he told about himself, were unsatisfac- 
 tory ; the way in which he had been found,
 
 2l6 RACHEL" S SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 and his resistance of the officer, marked him as 
 a suspicious, if not dangerous, character. More- 
 over, the city had decided to give that pesti- 
 ferous class tramps a wholesome horror 
 of their boundaries ; so Joe received a sentence 
 of three days on the city works a mere salu- 
 tary warning, it was considered. 
 
 The city improved its roads in that way ; 
 bands of prisoners, under guard, broke stone 
 to grade its streets and repair its wharves. 
 So there was brief employment found for Joe's 
 strong hands, but no wages to carry home to 
 Hitty. Three days like a criminal on the 
 public works, three nights in that wretched 
 prison den ! Joe thought a great deal, for him, 
 in that time. He did not acquire any clearer 
 idea of the law, or the reasons for such treat- 
 ment ; his acquisitions were of another sort, and 
 rapid bitterness, blind hatred and defiance. 
 
 Something was against him, somebody or 
 everybody, cruel, tyrannical, unjust, trying 
 to crush the life out of him and his. The antag-
 
 TWO STRONG HANDS. 21 fj 
 
 onistic power resolved itself into the one of 
 which he knew most. The railroad had 
 cheated him of his wages, little by little, then 
 it had taken away his work and turned him 
 out. He could find nothing to do, and was 
 abused because he did nothing. He had no 
 money to enable him to travel in search of em- 
 ployment, and was called a tramp, and impris- 
 oned because he travelled on foot and was pen- 
 niless. He had been dragged out of the empty 
 car, the one place where he felt sure of a 
 right to sleep, and ill-treated for being found 
 in it. That, also, must have been the work of 
 the railroad, he thought ; they owned the cars. 
 Why should they have all the wealth, the right 
 *md power of the world, and crowd him out of 
 place and bread? Why should this man, 
 standing guard over him, have the power to 
 keep him toiling there without wages the 
 wages he would have been so glad to earn, at 
 this work or any other, for Hitty and the 
 children? He hammered out no answer from
 
 2l8 RACHEL'S SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 the stones, but the burning sense of wrong 
 strengthened hour by hour. 
 
 Once a bright little boy came to the officer's 
 side for a few minutes, was noticed and petted, 
 asked for and received money to spend for some 
 trifle, and trotted merrily away. Joe watched 
 with a sudden fierce gleam in the eyes under 
 the shaggy brows. 
 
 " No better'n Meg's babies no better'n 
 them ! " he muttered. " I promised I'd do my 
 level best for 'em, an' now it's this way ! " 
 
 When the three days were ended he scarcely 
 needed the half-threatening, half-contemptuous 
 injunction to " move on " and not allow himself 
 to be caught there again. He felt no inclination 
 either to linger or revisit the place. Naturally, 
 also, after his experience there, he did not deem 
 it safe to visit other strange cities ; so he turned 
 his steps homeward. This time he did not 
 walk quite all the way. He watched the trains 
 carefully, and whenever he could steal a ride of 
 a few miles, he did so. Apart from the rest and
 
 TWO STRONG HANDS. 219 
 
 help on his journey, he found a satisfaction in 
 doing this. The railroad was his enemy, had 
 wronged him whenever and wherever it could, 
 and anything he could take from it was fair 
 reprisal. Not that he reasoned the subject out 
 thus ; he only felt it with a feeling deeper than 
 thought. 
 
 He was not shrewd or skilful enough to ac- 
 complish his purpose often, or for long, how- 
 ever ; and when he did ride unmolested for a 
 few miles, it was more than once because some 
 one, pitying him, chose not to see ; but this 
 he did not know. He reached again the little 
 old town, and anxious-faced Hitty welcomed 
 him back, though he brought no good tidings. 
 The twins greeted him rapturously, but, alas ! 
 needily, also. The little outstretched arms 
 were not more patient than the wants. Resum- 
 ing his search in the country, he obtained em- 
 ployment for a few days, and so, once more, 
 added a little to their nearly empty purse ; then 
 followed enforced idleness again.
 
 220 RACHEL'S SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 "'Pears like," said Hitty, dropping her tired 
 hands one night from the little patch she was 
 vainly trying to fit into a large hole, M as if 
 everything was just like that as if it had to, 
 and couldn't."
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 A FAN AND A FACE. 
 
 T~) ACHEL, sitting in her carriage one day, 
 * V waiting for a few minutes at the station 
 for an incoming train, discovered Joe lounging 
 near. 
 
 "Why, Joe ! not at work to-day?" she said 
 wonderingly. He seemed to her like a great 
 clock that, once started, would be sure to run 
 on in unvarying monotonous round. Any 
 deviation was unexpected. 
 
 "Hain't had none this long time,". he an- 
 swered, something in his voice and manner 
 striking her strangely. 
 
 " You have none ? How did that happen ? " 
 
 "Dunno. S'pose somebody wanted my 
 bread-money to buy 'em a few more extrys 
 with," he answered, repeating the thought
 
 222 RACHEL'S SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 that, in one form or another, he had heard so 
 often. His eyes fell on the handsome equipage 
 with a sullen look unlike the old satisfied, 
 worshipful glance which he had been wont to 
 bestow upon the lady and all her belongings. 
 She had been kind to him, but she had every- 
 thing. 
 
 Then the Judge came up, and Joe fell back, 
 not unwillingly, and the carriage turned. 
 
 "The train is five minutes behind time. We 
 will drive over to the shade of that tree and 
 wait," announced the Judge. 
 
 " Oh, father, Joe is out of work ! " the girl ex- 
 claimed in pained surprise. 
 
 "The condition of a good many Joes, my 
 dear," laughed the gentleman. " Whom do 
 you mean ? " 
 
 "The one who stood by the carriage Joe 
 Baines." 
 
 "Joe Baines?" The Judge reflected a mo- 
 ment. " Oh, that fellow who came to you for 
 a place last summer? Yes, he was sent away
 
 A FAN AND A FACE. 223 
 
 some weeks ago, when they were reducing the 
 force of workmen." 
 
 "You knew of it, then?" 
 
 " Yes ; I remember now that the yard-master 
 mentioned his name to me about that time, 
 because, I suppose, as I had suggested his 
 coming he thought I might have some special 
 wish for his remaining. Of course I had no 
 preference for one man above another knew 
 nothing about him, in fact, and had forgotten 
 sending him there. They said he was willing 
 and faithful enough, but an awkward blunder- 
 ing fellow, with a good deal of mere brute 
 strength, and not much wit in the use of it ; 
 so he was one of the first to be spared." 
 
 Rachel thought of Hitty and of the twins in 
 their wondrous new apparel of which Joe had 
 been so proud. It was strange that she had 
 not heard before, but it was well he had not 
 come to- her ; she could have done nothing. 
 Only, now that she knew, she would see 
 them.
 
 224 RACHEL'S SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 " Why was the force reduced ? " she asked 
 after an interval of silence. 
 
 " So many were not needed. Times are 
 rather dull." 
 
 " And you could not afford to keep them ? " 
 
 " Afford ? " The Judge laughed. " That is 
 rather an odd way of putting it, my dear. I 
 suspect the company could raise enough to pay 
 their wages and an inconsiderable trifle be- 
 sides if that is what you mean. But really 
 the shops are not carried on for the sole benefit 
 of the men, but in the interest of the company." 
 
 She flushed slightly under the good-humored 
 mockery of the tone, but ventured another 
 question : 
 
 "The wages have been reduced lately, too?" 
 
 "Yes, and salaries of men running on the 
 line. Certainly, the one thing follows the 
 other. When there is an over-supply of labor 
 it commands a lower price, and vice versa. 
 Supply and demand regulate the whole matter, 
 Rachel always have, and always will. But,
 
 A FAN AND A FACE. 22$ 
 
 my dear, you had better leave the subject to 
 business heads. You will find it too knotty to 
 be easily understood." 
 
 That was a dismissal of the subject. It was 
 as well, since nothing could be gained by dis- 
 cussing it. The train came panting in, a mo- 
 ment later, and they greeted Nan, for whom 
 they had been waiting. She had only come 
 out for a day or two, the immediate occasion 
 being a party at Craig's Cross. Mr. Corry, 
 having fully and leisurely completed his beauti- 
 ful house, opened it that night for a grand 
 reception. The cars would bring many guests 
 from the city a train, indeed, had been 
 placed at their disposal by the treasurer, who 
 liked to do things magnificently upon occasions 
 and all the arrangements were of a most 
 elaborate and expensive order. 
 
 The Judge had knitted his brows for a mo- 
 ment when he first heard what was proposed. 
 
 " Rather a pity to do it just now. It is well 
 to pay some regard to popular feeling, even
 
 226 
 
 RACHEL'S SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 though it is prejudiced and ignorant," he com- 
 mented. " However, it is Corry's affair, not 
 mine." 
 
 Something, it might have been her ignorance 
 of supply and demand, caused Rachel to push 
 aside, almost with a shudder, and lock hastily 
 out of sight some costly jewels when she was 
 dressing that evening. Her cousin rallied her 
 upon the simplicity of her attire. 
 
 " Have you lived in this rural atmosphere 
 until you are really metamorphosed into a field 
 daisy? Not but that you look exceedingly 
 pretty," she hastened to add graciously. 
 
 Nan was herself in full splendor of plumage 
 and spirits. " I may laugh at Craig's Cross as 
 rural, Rachel, but there is certainly nothing 
 that looks like it in this," she said, as the car- 
 riage bore them to the entrance, where a line 
 of carriages was arriving, depositing its gay 
 freight and withdrawing. 
 
 " How exceedingly rich and tasteful ! " Nan 
 remarked approvingly again as she surveyed
 
 A FAN AND A FACE. 227 
 
 the handsome appointments of the dressing- 
 room, where the murmur of conversation min- 
 gled with the soft rustle of silks and laces, as 
 gloves were buttoned and flowers and tresses 
 received a final touch of adjustment. "The 
 house is almost perfect, Rachel." 
 
 She said it as though Rachel, for some rea- 
 son, might be expected to feel a peculiar inter- 
 est in this house ; but the girl did not notice the 
 tone, she scarcely heard the words, in a sudden 
 remembrance of other words spoken long ago. 
 She wondered if they belonged here ? 
 
 "Woe to him that increaseth that which is not 
 his! 
 
 "Woe to him that coveteth an evil covetous- 
 ness to his house, that he may set his nest on 
 high. 
 
 " For the stone shall cry out of the wall, and 
 the beam out of the timber shall answer it." 
 
 They seemed like well-conducted stones and 
 beams that night, however. If they had any 
 voices, moaning, protesting, mournful voices,
 
 228 RACHEL'S SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 they were drowned by the merry musical 
 ones of the guests, who proclaimed this a bril- 
 liant affair. The spacious rooms, with their 
 fair plenishing, their lights, flowers and richly 
 dressed throng, were beautiful as a picture, 
 and Rachel and her cousin found themselves in 
 a moment among a group of city acquaintances 
 who exclaimed and questioned over the choice 
 of the former in spending the preceding winter 
 at home. 
 
 "Not that it isn't delightful here, of course, 
 lovely in summer, but wasn't it rather dull 
 in winter? It usually is in small towns. 
 Besides, we missed you." 
 
 " Oh, was it last winter that you had that ad- 
 venture on the ice ? How romantic ! " exclaimed 
 a lady with a waving pink fan which seemed 
 to act as a social bird of prey, fluttering in the 
 atmosphere, pouncing down upon unsuspecting 
 conversational items, and bearing them to its 
 owner for dissection. "Was it just as the pa- 
 pers related it ? Do tell us about it ! "
 
 A FAN AND A FACE. 229 
 
 Fortunately Mrs. Cony, large-framed and 
 easy-tempered, not over sensitive and a trifle 
 voluble, interposed just there. Though, after 
 her first sentence, Rachel was less grateful for 
 the interruption. 
 
 "Oh, you must not try to persuade Miss 
 Lyndal away from home every winter. We 
 are too glad to keep her here, I assure you. 
 Her presence makes the place attractive for 
 certain other people whom business does not 
 leave so free to come and go as you young 
 ladies are," with a meaning glance and smile. 
 
 The pink fan darted down upon the sugges- 
 tion at once, and gave it a little investigating 
 peck. 
 
 " Oh ! that is it ? Now I thought there must 
 be some good reason " 
 
 Then fresh arrivals happily dissolved the 
 group, but later in the evening the fluttering 
 rosy feathers were again at Rachel's side. 
 
 "What a charming window-nook this is ! Just 
 the place for a cosey chat ; and Mr. Stephen
 
 230 RACHEL'S SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 Corry evidently thinks so, for he is coming this 
 way." 
 
 If he had thought so, and it was possible, 
 since the charms of music in an adjoining room 
 had caused the little alcove to be for the time 
 partially deserted, he was not left to choose 
 upon whom he would bestow his conversation. 
 The bird of prey seized upon his first remark. 
 
 "You have been visible at intervals, but you 
 have flitted here and there, like a fair ghost, 
 just out of reach, all the evening," he said to 
 Rachel. 
 
 "Which has been half an hour long as yet," 
 she laughed. 
 
 "Oh, there is no question that it has seemed 
 longer than that to him ! " interposed the fan 
 broadly. " Speaking of ghosts, Mr. Corry, 
 what do you think of these new spirit manifes- 
 tations materializations, I mean. Do you 
 know, I attended one of the seances lately? 
 And really it was the strangest thing ! " 
 
 Nan, talking with a gentleman near them,
 
 A FAN AND A FACE. 231 
 
 suddenly started with half-suppressed ejacula- 
 tion. 
 
 " What is it? " inquired her vis-a-vis and Mr. 
 Corry in the same breath, noticing the move- 
 ment and her glance of alarm. 
 
 " Nothing a face," she laughed uneasily to 
 cover her momentary loss of self-possession. 
 "It is gone now a man's face, rough and 
 wild, looking in at that open window. One of 
 the coachmen, perhaps, anxious for a closer 
 view of the pleasures in-doors, but it was so 
 near that it startled me." 
 
 "Talk of angels and see their wings," para- 
 phrased pink-feathers briskly. " Perhaps my 
 mentioning the spirits has brought us a mani- 
 festation." 
 
 " Are you a medium ? " inquired a languid 
 gentleman. 
 
 " Not consciously. I'm sure I should never 
 choose such a gift, or profession, whichever it 
 is." The talons had clutched another topic 
 with the last sentence, and dragged it forward
 
 232 RACHEL'S SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 triumphantly. "What do you think of women 
 in the professions ? " 
 
 " Oh, they grace them, undoubtedly," mistily 
 but politely. 
 
 " Flattery ! But really I do not see the need 
 for so much talk about 'rights,' 'public opinion,' 
 and all that. If there is any work a woman 
 wants to do, and can do, why doesn't she stop 
 talking about objections, and insisting that 
 everybody shall be willing, and just prove her 
 right by doing it? " 
 
 It appeared probable that the dashing bird 
 would successfully pounce upon, bring to 
 earth and safely dispose of all problems, social, 
 political and religious, before supper. Mr. 
 Corry, who had gone to order an investigation 
 of the appearance at the window, returned to 
 Rachel. 
 
 "Would you like to go to the library? I 
 have a portfolio of Swiss and German views, 
 some of them very fine, which I should like to 
 show you."
 
 A FAN AND A FACE. 233 
 
 "Annice's judgment will be more valuable 
 than mine." Rachel turned quickly to her 
 cousin. " But we shall both enjoy them, shall 
 we not, Nan ? " 
 
 "I shall, certainly, but not just now Mr. 
 Corry will excuse me, I am sure. If Mr. 
 Sheldon will take me to his sister, I must beg 
 to be allowed a little chat with her. I have 
 not seen her since her return, you know." 
 
 Her glance and smile said plainly that she 
 considered herself as conferring, gracefully, a 
 favor by her refusal to be included in the invi- 
 tation. Rachel felt the meshes of the net that 
 was so persistently weaving around her. Why 
 should every one seem so sure of that which 
 had never been defined even in her own 
 thought until it became so as an impossibility ? 
 She would gladly have declined to be present 
 that evening if she could have done so, still 
 more gladly would she have refused the Ute-a- 
 tete that she felt was desired. Her efforts to 
 avoid it had been vain, however ; perhaps they
 
 234 RACHEL'S SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 had been cowardly also. She arose there 
 seemed nothing else to do and with hand 
 just touching his arm walked slowly through 
 the crowded rooms to the library beyond. It 
 was not large, but lofty, and well lined with 
 books and pictures. Folding-doors connected 
 it with the other apartments, and it was in full 
 view of the many promenaders. Still, fewer 
 people were there, and sitting by one of the 
 tables and slowly scanning the views which 
 Mr. Corry was inclined to treat very uncere- 
 moniously when they were fairly before him 
 there was opportunity for little snatches of 
 quiet talk. He congratulated himself upon 
 this fact after a few minutes. 
 
 "For it is a pleasure very rarely accorded 
 me of late. I scarcely ever see you except in 
 a crowd," he added discontentedly. "I saw 
 more of you when you were in the city." 
 
 "Yes you were at leisure, and you were 
 often at my uncle's. This is Wartburg Castle, 
 is it not ? "
 
 A FAN AND A FACE. 235 
 
 "I believe so. Fine, isn't it?" carelessly; 
 then plunging into the other topic again. 
 
 "But it is not just that, Miss Rachel. 
 There is a difference beyond mere happen- 
 ing or circumstance some change in your- 
 self." 
 
 He had expected his assertion would be 
 either questioned or explained away, but after 
 a moment she answered simply, 
 
 " Yes, it is true, there is. I have learned 
 more of myself and of my life." 
 
 "But should that cause a change towards 
 your friends? towards me? " he asked reproach- 
 fully. "We were friends, or I thought we were, 
 and something has come between us. I can- 
 not understand what or why, but I feel It sen- 
 sibly and painfully." 
 
 " No, there is nothing. I think there is no 
 difference that has not always existed," she 
 said slowly and honestly, "only nothing 
 brought it so clearly into view as now. I am 
 older. Life has deeper meanings for me. I
 
 236 RACHEL'S SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 cannot take its mere sparkle and foam and be 
 content any longer that is all." 
 
 " And you class me with the froth and foam ?" 
 "No, not that, certainly." She flushed. It 
 was hard to speak the simple truth and -yet say 
 no more than it was absolutely needful should 
 be said. " I mean that it was in quest of such 
 things in our pleasure-seeking that we met 
 so often. We were more frequent companions 
 then, but we are as much as nearly friends 
 now as we ever were." 
 
 " That is saying very little for any bond be- 
 tween us then," he declared impetuously. 
 "Miss Lyndal Rachel, I cannot be satisfied 
 to discuss this subject in such a metaphysical 
 roundabout way. It is not simply an interest- 
 ing problem to me : it is far more. You must 
 have seen my wish, my hope, in all these 
 months, that your friendship might grow to 
 something deeper and stronger to at least 
 some faint return of the feeling I have cher- 
 ished for you."
 
 A FAN AND A FACE. 237 
 
 She lifted her earnest eyes steadily to his 
 face for a moment. 
 
 "You mistake, Mr. Corry, I am sure you 
 do," she answered gravely, kindly, but with 
 the deliberateness of full conviction. "You 
 are mistaking both yourself and me. It is not 
 really myself that you care for, but only some 
 fancy that you have called by my name. We 
 are too far apart in all our thoughts and plans. 
 We view everything from a different stand- 
 point. You would see it soon as clearly as I 
 do now." 
 
 "Perhaps. I certainly have not viewed this 
 matter in the light that you do if that is a 
 proof of my moral obtuseness," he said bitterly. 
 Then his pride asserted itself, and he added 
 coldly, " Pardon me ; I have no right, no desire, 
 to press a plea that is utterly distasteful to you." 
 
 "I am sorry "she began. But she could 
 not soften what she had said with any sincere 
 assurance of friendship or esteem, and the bro- 
 ken little sentence had to stand alone.
 
 238 RACHEL'S SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 Through all the talk the sketches had been 
 taken up one by one, held before unseeing 
 eyes, and mechanically laid aside, until half of 
 Germany had been traversed. But now a con- 
 strained silence fell that soon grew intolerable. 
 Rachel closed the portfolio at last. 
 
 " Shall we return to the drawing-room ? " she 
 suggested. 
 
 "If you wish ;" and presently they were part 
 of the general stream of conversation and 
 laughter again, with the music floating in rip- 
 ples and sparkles on the current. 
 
 Rachel stole a glance at her companion's 
 face. It was grave, cold and dissatisfied. 
 An odd little smile crossed her lips as she men- 
 tally added that last word. It suddenly re- 
 minded her of the Frenchman who expressed 
 his sorrow at the death of his wife by stating 
 that he was " ver mooch dissatisfied." " That is 
 really all in this case," she thought with a sigh 
 of relief. " He is disappointed in his plans, his 
 pride is hurt, but there is no real heart-wound."
 
 A FAN AND A FACE. 239 
 
 The rosy bird of prey swooped down upon 
 them before they had time to separate. 
 
 "Have you been looking at pictures in the 
 library? I hear you have some very fine ones 
 there, Mr. Corry. Do you know, I am quite 
 charmed with this place? If I really did be- 
 lieve in women going into professions and 
 business, and all that, I should adopt railroad- 
 ing as my calling at once." 
 
 " Not along the line, I trust. It is hard work, 
 at least it looks so, and the cabins, though 
 they have the merit of simplicity, are not al- 
 ways constructed upon strictly aesthetic princi- 
 ples." 
 
 Mr. Corry might have thought of a dozen 
 pleasanter replies if he had been in an amiable 
 mood, but he was not. The fan fluttered vig- 
 orously, and the laugh that sounded above it 
 had a sudden metallic click in it, as if it cover- 
 ed the aiming of a pistol. 
 
 "Oh, you think we ladies are so stupid that 
 we should be content with the drudgery? No,
 
 240 RACHEL'S S PI ARE OF THE ROAD, 
 
 indeed, Mr. Corry, I know very well that all 
 the profits are higher up, among the officers. 
 I'd be one of those ! There are handsome pro- 
 fits in reducing wages, and not freight or trav- 
 elling rates, and in a host of nice shrewd 
 ways that have no drudgery about them. By 
 the way, I heard, the other day, that you and 
 some others two or three prominent members 
 of your company had bought a large tract of 
 land out at Henderson. The 'bog farm,' we 
 used to call it : it is so marshy." 
 
 " My father and some others own property 
 there, I believe. Are you interested in trans- 
 fers of real estate ? " 
 
 "I certainly shouldn't be in that piece, it's 
 so drearily flat and malarious, unless I did 
 belong to a railway company, you know. That 
 might alter the case, for I hear it sold very low, 
 it surely ought, and that it will be made 
 very profitable by moving some of the railroad 
 shops out there, and building a lot of cheap 
 houses, which the workmen will either have to
 
 A FAN AND A FACE. 241 
 
 buy or rent at the price set upon them. Are 
 the shops to be moved out there, Mr. Corry ? " 
 
 " There has been talk of removing some of 
 the shops, and that is a favorable point on the 
 line for their location, that is all," admitted Mr. 
 Corry stiffly. "As for the workmen being 
 obliged to go there, that is mere talk, of course." 
 
 " But there will have to be workmen in the 
 shops, will there not? and whoever does work 
 there will have to live there, won't they ? " per- 
 sisted pink-fan sweetly. 
 
 "They will do so, I presume; they will 
 choose to do so." 
 
 " From necessity yes, I see. Well, I hope 
 their share of the profits will be sufficient to 
 keep them in quinine, for it is a dreadful 
 aguish place, Mr. Corry." 
 
 Another whirl of the gay kaleidoscope threw 
 different pieces together, and gave Mr. Corry 
 an opportunity to escape. 
 
 "Now, do you know," said pink-feathers 
 turning to Rachel for a parting remark before
 
 242 RACHEL'S SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 she whisked away with a blond moustache, "he 
 looked half vexed, but I believe, after all, 
 gentlemen like a lady's conversation to be like 
 wine with a little tang to it." 
 
 Rachel answered only with an amused smile, 
 yet under the amusement was a throb of the 
 old pain. Through all the glint and bright- 
 ness ran the sombre thread of wrong and suf- 
 fering. A solemn undertone thrilled for her 
 through all the music. And then, with a sud- 
 den glance towards the window, she saw and 
 recognized what Nan had seen earlier in the 
 evening, a haggard face looking in, a face 
 like that of Joe Baines.
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 A WOMAN'S IMPULSE. 
 
 '"T^HE air about Craig's Cross was heavy 
 with rumors, and the hush of the mid- 
 summer day seemed but the stillness of expec- 
 tancy. Wild stories had flitted over the tele- 
 graph wires, and were retold in printed sheets, 
 of uprisings, riots, madness and violence. 
 Like some fierce conflagration, the trouble 
 spread from point to point for suffering, in- 
 justice, ignorance and bitter discontent had 
 been slowly preparing the way, and it needed 
 but a breath to fan the hidden fires to a flame. 
 
 The sympathies of the old town by the river 
 were divided. Many condemning lawlessness 
 and violence, yet openly sided with the strikers 
 in their demands, while others reiterated busi- 
 ness-like statements of the regulating power of 
 
 243
 
 244 RACHEL'S SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 supply and demand. Corporations and indi- 
 viduals had a right to obtain labor at the lowest 
 rates possible, and if the men were dissatisfied, 
 they could seek better places elsewhere. But 
 all the talk of outsiders availed little ; it settled 
 nothing. 
 
 "There will be no trouble here," asserted the 
 railway officers with a somewhat nervous show 
 of confidence. "No danger," repeated the 
 authorities of the town. Yet many anxious 
 glances were cast towards the great shops, 
 deserted by their workmen, and, for the most 
 part, closed and silent, while, gathered in 
 groups in the yard, along the line or at 
 street corners, men talked in lowered tones, but 
 with excited faces and eager gestures. There 
 had been no outbreak, but the intense feeling 
 was evident and ominous. 
 
 A train bearing several companies of infan- 
 try passed over the road, running very slowly 
 through the town, and pausing for a few min- 
 utes at the station, so that a full display of the
 
 A WOMAN'S IMPULSE. 245 
 
 military force on board was effected. What- 
 ever was the intention of the exhibition, the 
 result was not desirable. It was regarded as 
 a menace on one side, and called forth sneer- 
 ing and wrathful words from the other. Were 
 the company trying to intimidate them ? They 
 intended to hold their protest against the last 
 reduction of wages, and were not to be fright- 
 ened so easily. They had made no threats, 
 and if the railroad intended that for one, it 
 would better have been omitted. A resort to 
 force would not be one-sided. 
 
 "There are ways enough, if they have no 
 more sense than to start that sort of thing. 
 Trains can be wrecked and shops burned here 
 as well as at other places. They'd find it 
 wouldn't pay." 
 
 Mere words, wild words, bandied here and 
 there in the hour's fierce excitement. Those 
 who uttered them did not for a moment con- 
 template the deeds of which they spoke. But 
 there was one lingering now on the outskirts
 
 246 RACHEL'S SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 of this group, now of that, and listening to 
 everything said, to whom all this was more 
 than talk. Joe said nothing, and the others 
 paid little more heed to him than to the great 
 dog at his side. Both were to them stupid, 
 good-natured and inoffensive : that was all. 
 
 There was something different from that, 
 however, looking out of Joe's eyes of late 
 the look of a hunted creature turning at bay. 
 The days had grown only harder in the poor 
 little home. All his efforts could not save its 
 inmates from absolute want. He seldom ob- 
 tained employment, and had found, at best, 
 but transient bits of work that had barely suf- 
 ficed to keep them in food ; and he could see 
 no hope or promise for the future. Dark 
 thoughts thronged his dull brain in his desper- 
 ation, and he grew more and more at enmity 
 with the great, prosperous, hard world that 
 seemed so mercilessly crowding and crushing 
 him with the proud, careless ones, who were 
 flinging away what would be life to him and his.
 
 A WOMAN'S IMPULSE. 247 
 
 There was cruel wrong and injustice some- 
 where, and it became for him embodied in the 
 power, wealth and activity of the great railroad, 
 as, day after day, drawn by habit, he wandered 
 around the place where he had been so glad to 
 work. The great shops, the far-reaching 
 lines, the rushing trains with their throngs of 
 passengers, and the well-dressed officers, hold- 
 ing place and authority, represented to him all 
 might and treasure. Yet all chance had been 
 taken away from him to add a little more to 
 this wealth already boundless. Hitty and the 
 children must starve for that ! They had told 
 him here to find work elsewhere, when their 
 power was everywhere to prevent his doing it. 
 They were the cause of all his weary wander- 
 ing, suffering and destitution. They had 
 everything, while he was imprisoned for sleep- 
 ing an hour in one of their cars. 
 
 The utterances ot dissatisfaction and sharp 
 criticism among the men, he had gathered and 
 interpreted literally ; so, also, he placed his
 
 248 RACHEL'S SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 own construction upon what he heard now. 
 There was such a thing as fighting the giant. 
 Others, wronged too far, were taking ven- 
 geance, and working ruin and loss in return. 
 He listened with a fierce exultation born of his 
 desperation and pain. Ah ! that was a thing 
 to do ! Let them learn what suffering, loss 
 and ruin were, too. His strong hands could 
 help that work if they could find no other, and 
 he pondered the new thought. 
 
 To Rachel those days were wellnigh intol- 
 erable. The storm, long gathering, seemed 
 bursting now, and the comparative quiet of the 
 little town was, to her apprehensive thought, 
 but the hush before a thunder peal. If there 
 had been only danger and no guilt, if she 
 could have stifled the torturing fear that the 
 luxury of her life was built upon a wrong, that 
 a woeful weight of responsibility for these 
 things might rest upon one very near to her, 
 the rest, whatever came, could have been 
 calmly borne. But the old burden pressed
 
 A WOMAN'S IMPULSE. 249 
 
 more heavily now, and the tangled questions 
 would not separate into threads of right and 
 wrong, so that she could clearly understand. 
 
 A feverish unrest was upon her, she could 
 compose herself to no ordinary occupations. 
 She shunned her grandmother's room, where 
 the old lady gravely hoped the law would lay 
 its hands, not only upon the rioters, but upon 
 all malcontents as well. She shrank equally 
 from hearing the talk among the lower mem- 
 bers of the household, where all wild and ex- 
 aggerated rumors were gathered and repeated. 
 She wandered restlessly through the house, 
 until the stillness of the rooms grew insupport- 
 able, the atmosphere heavy with doubt and 
 pain, and she sought relief in escaping from it 
 for a time. 
 
 She would visit Hitty, she decided, as she 
 passed through the quaint old garden, bright 
 again with all its summer glory. It was no 
 short ramble she wanted, but a long brisk 
 walk, with some definite object in view. Pos-
 
 250 RACHEL'S SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 sibly she could aid Hitty in some way, she 
 did not dream how sorely they needed aid, 
 and the walk down the hillside, along a 
 sloping bank above the railway, and through a 
 strip of wood to the meadow, suited her. There 
 was sweetness, rest and a freer air under the 
 overhanging branches of the great trees. Na- 
 ture, going steadily on with her varied and 
 beautiful work, smiling in her perfect peace, 
 repeated some remembered words : "After all, 
 however things seem to go, the King never 
 dies, and 'His kingdom ruleth over all.'" 
 And the troubled heart, hearing, grew calmer. 
 Kitty's grave face lightened a little at the 
 sight of her visitor. Such a thin worn young 
 face it had grown ! its look of serious satisfac- 
 tion and matronly content quite banished by 
 the anxious lines between the eyes, and the sad 
 drawing of the mouth. Rachel noticed it even 
 before she had accepted the chair of state, the 
 one velvet-covered seat of the old car, to which 
 Hitty invited her, and wondered at so great a
 
 A WOMAN'S IMPULSE. 251 
 
 change. It was difficult to obtain any definite 
 knowledge of their affairs from the child, for, 
 never voluble, the brave little housewife con- 
 fined her few remarks to the weather and the 
 twins, and said not a word of wants. It would 
 have required a spirit of coarser fibre than Miss 
 Lyndal's to have disregarded that quiet un- 
 childlike dignity by any direct questioning. 
 She only wondered and surmised, until she 
 chanced to inquire for Joe. 
 
 " He don't be at home, ma'am, not since 
 mornin'." 
 
 "Is he at work, then?" asked Rachel in 
 pleased surprise. Something might have hap- 
 pened. Perhaps her father had done something 
 for him after all. 
 
 "Oh, no, ma'am ! there don't hardly ever be 
 no work for him now," answered Hitty as if 
 astonished at such ignorance. " 'Cause Joe's 
 looked most everywheres. Don't they be hard 
 times, ma'am?" she asked as if in sudden relief 
 at finding some one to whom she could speak
 
 252 RACHEL'S SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 of this topic. " I don't know how they'll come 
 now. Joe says it's a sin and robbery to poor 
 folks, and don't ought to be. And everybody 
 do be sayin' it, that them as has been at it ought 
 to lose things, too, and have 'em burned up and 
 took away. I can't just see the rights of it 
 all." She knitted her brows. "Joe do be that 
 down and mad-like, but he says that's how it'll 
 be for evenness." 
 
 She uttered it all simply, not seeming to com- 
 prehend the full import of what she was saying, 
 or that it could have any special relation to or 
 interest for her visitor. But Rachel shuddered, 
 and interposed hurriedly : 
 
 " That is all wrong ; it will help nothing 
 tell Joe so. And Hitty, do not repeat this to 
 any one else what you have just said to me." 
 
 The grave eyes were lifted in wonder at her 
 earnestness, but Hitty only answered quietly : 
 
 "No, ma'am, not if you think it do be best 
 not." 
 
 "People might misunderstand," Rachel ex-
 
 A WOMAN'S IMPULSE. 253 
 
 plained briefly. Then she abruptly changed 
 the subject, and turned to the children, poor 
 little Nip and Tuck, who, in garments woefully 
 patched and many-colored, moving monuments 
 of Kitty's skill, were playing near her. She 
 could devise, while she talked with them, no 
 better plan of aiding the little household, and 
 so, presently, placed money in each small 
 palm. 
 
 "A birthday gift," she hastily explained to 
 Hitty, who had informed her that they would 
 " be goin' on four next month." 
 
 " I may not know or remember the exact day 
 if I wait, and you will know what to buy for 
 them better than I. Spend it as you think 
 best." 
 
 It is doubtful if Hitty had ever before known 
 even a mention of birthday gifts ; but she ac- 
 cepted it simply, as she did everything. 
 
 "Yes, ma'am, we're 'bliged to you," with a 
 queer little bob of a courtesy as the young 
 lady arose.
 
 254 RACHEL'S SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 The call, short as it was, furnished food for 
 thought so deep that Rachel was walking 
 homeward with unseeing eyes for all around 
 her, until, the wood quite passed, some one 
 scrambling up the bank from the railway sud- 
 denly stood in her path. 
 
 "Sakes alive! You here, child?" ejacu- 
 lated Mrs. Shackles, as, with bonnet awry and 
 face flushed and excited, she confronted the 
 girl ; "I was lookin' for somebody 'mazin' quick. 
 There's rails tore up right down here, an' 
 some trains do run yet, if things is all at sixes 
 an' sevens. Sakes ! why, the first one that 
 comes'll be pitched nobody knows where 
 into the river, most like ! " 
 
 " Rails displaced ! where ? " questioned Ra- 
 chel, rapidly separating the one grain of in- 
 formation from the mass of comment. 
 
 " Where I come from, right down the bank 
 here." 
 
 She led the way, and Rachel followed to 
 where, along its shelf on the hillside, a slop-
 
 A WOMAN'S IMPULSE. 255 
 
 ing bank above it, but steep descent below, 
 ran the narrow iron road. There was a fear- 
 ful gap in it now, the rails torn up by some 
 determined han'd that had evidently intended 
 the work of destruction to be thorough. The 
 girl's face paled as she looked. 
 
 " We must get word to the station." She 
 paused for an instant. Some one must keep 
 guard there, meanwhile, lest a train should 
 come from the opposite direction. Their reg- 
 ular running had been rendered impossible by 
 the trouble at various points, but there was 
 still communication between Craig's Cross and 
 the city, and she could not tell when a train 
 might appear. She dared not leave Mrs. 
 Shackles in charge, lest, in case warning were 
 needed, she might fail to give one that would 
 be understood. "You must go, I think, and I 
 will watch here. Be sure you make them 
 know, and send some one quickly. Oh, I 
 wish there were some one else to go ! " 
 
 For the old woman's step, though steady,
 
 256 RACHEL'S SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 had lost the fleetness of youth, and she was 
 weary, too, with miles of rambling among the 
 berry-bushes. As if in answer to the wish, a 
 boy appeared upon the river bank, and Rachel's 
 clear call summoned him. He comprehended 
 at once, gave one startled glance at the riven 
 track, nodded intelligently to her brief direc- 
 tion, and, with an emphatic "Yes, sir!" sped 
 away towards the town. Rachel watched him 
 out of sight, then turned her anxious gaze to a 
 curve in the road the first point at which 
 an incoming train could be seen. A light 
 zephyr-like shawl hung over her arm, a fleecy 
 thing of scarlet and white. It must serve as a- 
 signal in case of danger, and her fingers rested 
 upon it nervously. Mrs. Shackles had drawn 
 a long breath of relief at the securing of 
 another messenger, and seated herself upon 
 the bank to rest and wait the outcome of the 
 affair. 
 
 " Dear ! how things do happen ! How'd it 'a' 
 been now, if I hadn't come 'long this way with
 
 A WOMAN'S IMPULSE. 257 
 
 my berries ? Now if Humphrey'd 'a' been here, 
 he might 'a' been some use for once. I says to 
 him he'd better come, seein' as I get so tired, 
 an' fetch the berries. But he says, ' No, I'll stick 
 up to my name,' cause he's heard somewheres 
 that Humphrey means purtector of home, an' 
 it's made him more shif'less'n ever. An' I says 
 to him, 'You purtects home the same way a 
 scarecrow does acorn-field, Humphrey Shack- 
 les, doin' nothin' but hangin' round an' look- 
 in' ragged.' An' so he does, too ! Don't s'pose 
 the company'll give any rickompense for savin' 
 that smash-up ; an' if they do, that boy'll get it, 
 an' me a-seein' it first, too, an' a-needin' things 
 so bad. But I don't s'pose nobody '11 think to 
 tell 'em?" and she cast a sidelong questioning 
 glance at Rachel. 
 
 But the girl did not hear her. She still 
 stood by the road, and her glance had fallen 
 upon something lying on the ground near her, 
 beside the broken track a rough, cheap 
 pocket-knife. Quietly she placed her foot
 
 258 RACHEL: s SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 upon it, covering it from sight, waited until 
 Mrs. Shackles' observation was withdrawn, 
 then picked it up and threw it over the bank, 
 as far down among the tangled weeds and 
 bushes as she could send it. She did not 
 ask herself why she did it she but obeyed an 
 impulse. 
 
 The old woman, fanning herself with a huge 
 leaf she had plucked, was again engrossed by 
 her own eloquence. 
 
 " Dear sakes ! what times ! Everybody ag'in 
 everybody, an' all the world crooked. Soldiers 
 a-shootin' an' rioters a-burnin' an' tearin', that's 
 what it's come to ! I've been a-sayin' things 
 would happen, but nobody would bTeve it. 
 Thought folks could stand everything. They 
 says, ' Half a loaf is better'n no bread.' Course 
 it is ! Any fool knows that. But it's the earnin' 
 a whole loaf an' then seein' somebody else 
 slash off the biggest end of it afore ye git it 
 that's what grinds ! " 
 
 Rachel did not know how long she talked.
 
 A WOMAN'S IMPULSE. 259 
 
 The voice seeme'd to run on monotonously for 
 an interminable time, while she stood there 
 watching for sound or curl of smoke around 
 the curve. At last, in the direction of the sta- 
 tion, a black moving body appeared, resolving 
 itself gradually into a party of men, guided by 
 the boy whom she had sent. There was no 
 lack of willing hands to aid in repairing the 
 damage, nor of stern voices to express abhor- 
 rence of the deed committed, even among those 
 who had suggested the possibility of such retri- 
 bution befalling the road. They were sincere 
 in their utter condemnation, too. Wild and ex- 
 aggerated speech might be only an American 
 citizen's prerogative, but an act like this was 
 inhuman. 
 
 Rachel lingered but a moment after the relief 
 arrived. She shrank from all questioning, 
 though, indeed, there was nothing to tell be- 
 yond the mere fact of the way in which the mis- 
 chief was discovered. She had not realized 
 how strong was her excitement, nor how tense
 
 260 RACHEL'S SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 it had held her nerves, until she was free and 
 all danger past ; then she found her temples 
 throbbing and her step unsteady as she walked 
 again along the winding road. A rattle of 
 carriage-wheels sounded behind her, the vehi- 
 cle drew nearer, and paused at her side. 
 
 " Miss Lyndal ! " said a quick, clear voice, 
 and Dr. Kelsey sprang to the ground. "You 
 must ride home." 
 
 He did not ask her to do so, but his swift 
 glance at her face said that he read her fatigue 
 and unfitness to walk, and she accepted the 
 authoritative tone as "professional," and yield- 
 ed ; nor was she quite sure, in. her secret 
 heart, that she disliked that prompt and decid- 
 ed way of taking her in charge. Only she 
 could not talk to any one then. That also he 
 seemed to understand, and, after the inter- 
 change of a few commonplace sentences, quiet- 
 ly left her to her thoughts. 
 
 Confused and troubled thoughts they were, 
 that, even when she had reached the silence of
 
 A WOMAN'S IMPULSE. 261 
 
 her own room, she could not disentangle. 
 What had she learned beyond what every one 
 knew? There was nothing to be done, no in- 
 formation to give. Kitty's words had been 
 but a repetition, doubtless, of the talk Joe had 
 heard in many places, from many careless or 
 angry lips. It pointed to no one in particular. 
 Yet even while the girl so assured herself, a 
 fear, so strong that it was almost knowledge, 
 pressed upon her with the weight of a dread 
 secret. 
 
 The long slant rays of sunlight faded from 
 hillside and garden, and twilight settled down 
 upon them and enveloped the town below. 
 Yet, even after the roofs and chimneys of the 
 latter were veiled in the gray and deepening 
 gloom, Rachel's eyes turned constantly thither- 
 ward, watching for, apprehending, she knew 
 not what. Suddenly the sharp clang of a bell 
 was heard the quick, imperative fire-alarm, 
 caught up in a moment, and re-echoed by 
 hoarse voices. From the house on the hill a
 
 262 RACHEL'S SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 pillar of smoke was discernible in the direction 
 of the shops. Presently it grew luminous, and 
 then a slender shaft of flame shot upward 
 towards the sky. 
 
 Standing by an open window, Rachel 
 watched with a shivering dread of something 
 more than loss, while the blaze widened and 
 brightened, then speedily wavered and grew 
 low and lurid, as if beneath some mighty op- 
 posing force, and died in clouds of smoke 
 again. With straining gaze she strove to 
 pierce the enfolding cloud, but she could see 
 nothing more, and, forsaking her unsatisfactory 
 post of observation, she threw a light shawl 
 around her, and passed down the walk to the 
 gate. Over the hills beyond the river the moon 
 was rising, showing as yet but a faint line of 
 light. From the town came a confused mur- 
 mur, a mingling of sounds breaking the stillness 
 of the summer night. But by and by, separating 
 itself and growing distinct, the listener caught 
 the tread of hurrying feet and distant, excited
 
 A WOMAN'S IMPULSE. 263 
 
 voices, as of some one running, and others in 
 pursuit. 
 
 She drew back a little, within the shadow 
 of the arched gateway, as a dark form ap- 
 peared, showing but dimly in the faint light, 
 and then a heavy panting breath fell on her 
 ear. 
 
 "Joe ! Joe Baines ! " she said with sure in- 
 tuition. 
 
 "They's hard after me," answered Joe in a 
 husky, breathless whisper, scarcely pausing. 
 " I'm 'most beat out." 
 
 " Quick ! follow me ! " 
 
 She turned out of the path into the cover of 
 trees and shrubbery, and so, unobserved, hast- 
 ened towards the house while he followed un- 
 questioningly. Around to a side entrance, 
 through a quiet, unlighted h'all, and up a flight 
 of stairs to a remote unoccupied room, she 
 swiftly led the way. 
 
 " Stay here, and be silent. Do not attempt 
 to go until I come again," she said hurriedly.
 
 264 RACHEL: s SHARE OF THE ROAD 
 
 Then closing the door upon him, she enforced 
 her order by turning the key in the lock. 
 
 Lanterns were flashing along the hillside, 
 and voices sounded outside the garden wall as 
 she descended to the hall. The pursuers had 
 lost sight of the fugitive. They had been a little 
 further up the road, and turned again baffled. 
 
 " He has dodged in here ! Must have come 
 in here ! " declared a chorus of excited tones 
 at the gateway, and in a moment the lights 
 were twinkling amid the shrubbery. Two or 
 three, leaders of the party, consulted hastily 
 for a minute, then advanced to the house and 
 were admitted. 
 
 What had she done ! Why had she done 
 it ! Rachel did not pause to answer the doubt 
 and question flashed through her mind. She 
 hesitated a moment, and then, as the only nat- 
 ural thing to be done, entered the room from 
 which the voices issued. Her grandmother 
 was there. The alarm of fire had drawn her 
 from her own apartment to the parlors below,
 
 A WOMAN'S IMPULSE. 265 
 
 which overlooked the town ; and the startled 
 servants were lingering about the doorway 
 while the officers explained their errand. 
 
 " Yes'm, he was as good as seen to set the fire. 
 It was the carpenter-shop, and meant to sweep 
 the whole thing, but it was discovered soon 
 enough to stop it before any great damage 
 was done. Some one saw him creeping away 
 with sticks and stuff in his hand. We gave 
 chase, but lost him up hereabouts. He must 
 be round here somewhere." 
 
 " No one here would harbor such a wretch for 
 an instant," answered the old lady with stately 
 dignity. "We should certainly aid his capture 
 by any means in our power. Judge Lyndal's 
 position is a sufficient guaranty of that." 
 
 " Oh, certainly, madam ! certainly," interpos- 
 ed the officer, somewhat abashed. "We only 
 meant he might have slipped in unknown, or 
 have been seen by some one who didn't know 
 what he was," with a glance towards the 
 servants.
 
 266 RACHEL'S SHARE OF' THE ROAD. 
 
 They declared at once that they had seen no 
 suspicious character, no stranger of any sort 
 about the place. 
 
 "Do you know who he is?" asked Rachel. 
 She wondered afterwards that she had sufficient 
 presence of mind to frame the question, or com- 
 mand of voice to ask it. But she did ask it 
 quite calmly. 
 
 "No, ma'am miss queerly enough, we've 
 no idea ; only it was some big fellow. He wasn't 
 seen close by, you know. Most likely he was 
 the same one that tore up the track this after- 
 noon." 
 
 "Search the grounds thoroughly, or any- 
 where about the place that you may think ne- 
 cessary. Our people will afford you any help 
 in their power," said Mrs. Lyndal, again ex- 
 pressing the hope that such villany might be 
 speedily brought to justice. 
 
 But Rachel said nothing, though she watch- 
 ed the torches and lanterns scouring the 
 grounds unavailingly, and saw the search
 
 A WOMAN'S IMPULSE. 267 
 
 guided by some of the servants to whom the 
 sensation and excitement were not a disagreea- 
 ble novelty prosecuted even in the lower halls 
 and some portions of the house where a fugitive 
 might possibly have slipped in unobserved. 
 And silently she watched the discomfited band 
 finally turn away and disappear up the road. 
 
 A little later her father came, only for a brief 
 stay, however ; he was going out that evening 
 by a special train. There would be no further 
 danger at Craig's Cross, he said, so vigilant a 
 guard would be kept. The mischief already 
 done had been, as nearly as he could learn, but 
 the work of one. 
 
 " What would be done with him if if he 
 were discovered? " asked Rachel doubtfully. 
 
 There was a sudden flint-like flash in the 
 Judge's eyes, a cold hard ring to his voice, as 
 he answered quietly, 
 
 " He will be sent to the penitentiary for 
 the longest term the law can give, if my in- 
 fluence or money will avail anything. I would
 
 268 RACHEL'S SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 use both unsparingly to have him made a con- 
 spicuous example." 
 
 The girl's lips closed again over her secret 
 pale quivering lips that seemed to herself 
 almost Judas-like as, presently, she raised them 
 for her father's matter-of-course, pre-occupied 
 kiss of good-by.
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 AWAY IN THE DAWN. 
 
 TN her beautiful room, where every surround- 
 ing was a suggestion of luxurious ease 
 and repose, Rachel's light feet paced restlessly 
 that night. To and fro, with bowed head and 
 tightly clasped hands, as if hurrying steps 
 might aid her escape from the maze of conflict- 
 ing thoughts. What had she done? What 
 must she do ? What impulse was it heavenly 
 or insane? had prompted her to take into 
 her weak, ignorant girlish hands this fearful 
 weight of responsibility ? 
 
 At an earlier hour, while some of the house- 
 hold were yet astir, she had borne food to her 
 prisoner ; but she had only placed it upon a 
 small table just within the door, and briefly 
 
 whispered that he must still wait. She could 
 
 269
 
 270 RACHEL'S SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 'decide upon nothing then, and though hours 
 had since passed she still pondered in doubt 
 and dread. Every righteous conviction, every 
 humane feeling within her, shrank in horror 
 from the crimes this man had committed or 
 attempted. The law laid heavy doom upon 
 such, justly. Had she any right, ought she to 
 have had a wish, to interpose? Was she wiser 
 than all the world besides, that she had dared 
 to thwart its justice and shield this criminal? 
 She knew how sternly nearly every voice 
 would condemn her act ; how the most chari- 
 table, knowing it, would judge it but the 
 weakest of pity, a short-sighted and culpable 
 pity, that could turn such a man loose upon 
 society again. 
 
 Did God view it just the same ? she wondered, 
 lifting her eyes. Oh, if she knew ! or if the 
 decision could but rest with another ! But her 
 own act had made it hers, and she must accept 
 it now with whatever it involved. And more, 
 through all the turmoil of feeling, she could
 
 A WA T IN THE DA WN. 271 
 
 not regret what she had done. Some simple 
 words of Kitty's ran, a steady undertone, 
 through all her perplexity : " I don't know what 
 we'd do 'thout Joe he do be that good to us. 
 Ever sence Meg died, him an' me has kept us 
 all, somehow." She remembered the unvarying 
 good-nature of his heavy face as she had seen 
 him in the months past, his simple content- 
 ment and satisfaction with the hard work that 
 provided so coarsely for his little home ; his 
 awkward gratitude to herself, and his uncouth, 
 but honest and unselfish, pride in that burden- 
 some legacy of a dead sister, the twins. 
 
 Were others guiltless in this change that des- 
 peration had wrought? Did the sin of this 
 day's deed lie indeed no further back than in 
 poor Joe's own dull brain and rough hands? 
 If but a tithe of the money offered so lavishly 
 to procure his conviction and lengthened pun- 
 ishment had been expended in keeping him 
 useful and innocent ! 
 
 Rachel was no mere sentimentalist. She
 
 272 RACHEL'S SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 cherished no Utopian dreams of having the 
 world's treasures equally divided. She was 
 brave enough to have accepted honest poverty 
 if it had fallen to her lot, and she was cultured 
 and luxurious enough to have thoroughly en- 
 joyed honest wealth and all it brought. But it 
 was the knowledge that had come to her 
 through her share of the road the wrongs she 
 knew, and others but dimly surmised that 
 made her sometimes feel among these people 
 almost the humility of one who had defrauded 
 them. As she looked around her room, rich 
 and beautiful in all that money could bestow 
 and perfect taste dispose, a sudden vision of 
 Joe in prison garments toiling on through 
 weary hopeless years of bondage poor, igno- 
 rant, desperate, only more brutalized by what 
 he suffered smote her with its sharp con- 
 trast. 
 
 " It shall not be ! " she said. " I do not know 
 if it is Heaven's justice or only a woman's pity 
 that I am showing, but, at least, God has put
 
 A WA T IN THE DA WN. 273 
 
 into my hands the power to give him one more 
 chance, and I can do nothing else." 
 
 From a small cabinet near her, a dainty 
 combination of pearl and ebony, she drew a 
 roll of bills, smiling half sadly as she remem- 
 bered the careless lavishness with which they 
 had been given her. " I suppose a marvellous 
 outfit must be arranged for that wonderful re- 
 ception at Corry's," her father had said, drop- 
 ping the money in her lap. His paternal duty 
 thus done, he was not one to notice afterwards 
 whether she appeared in velvet or serge ; and 
 for herself she had felt no inclination for dis- 
 play or novelty. So the sum given her had 
 remained intact, and there seemed to her a 
 peculiar fitness in using it as she now designed. 
 
 In the gray of the early dawn she sought 
 again the distant room where her captive 
 waited. The dull face dull still, but haggard 
 and wretched turned towards her as she 
 entered. She had not thought what she should 
 say to him, had planned no wise speech of
 
 274 RACHEL'S SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 advice or warning, but as she met his look, the 
 words burst forth impetuously : 
 O Joe ! Why did you do it? " 
 
 He began twisting his great hands nervously 
 together, and repeated the thought that had 
 been in his mind for days. 
 
 "They've been hard on me everybody 
 has." 
 
 "And you, knowing how hard it is to bear 
 all this, would have brought the same on others 
 if you could? You would burn the shops, and 
 so throw other poor men out of work, and leave 
 their families to suffer as yours has done ? " she 
 demanded. "And that broken track O 
 Joe! how could you plan so awful a deed? 
 Throwing over that bank cars filled with men, 
 women and little innocent children those 
 who never harmed you to be crushed, 
 mangled or burned to death ! " 
 
 A look of mingled bewilderment and dread 
 crept gradually over his face as he slowly 
 caught the meaning of her words. His eyes
 
 A WA T IN THE DA WN 275 
 
 opened wide, as if, even before his sluggish 
 sight, a vision of horror were rising. 
 
 "I I didn't think noways 'bout them 
 the folks. 'Twas the comp'ny," he muttered. 
 
 " The company ! It would have been only 
 loss of property to them," she said sadly, M only 
 a matter of dollars ! But what money could 
 undo all the suffering of those thrown out of 
 work by the burning of the shops, or bring 
 back the murdered to those who loved them ? " 
 
 Her look and tone seemed to reach his com- 
 prehension more clearly than her language. 
 He crouched lower on the floor in the corner 
 where he sat. The uneasy motion of his 
 hands grew more rapid, a visible tremor shook 
 his frame, then he drew a long breath as if 
 trying to shake off some horrible nightmare. 
 
 "'T ain't done! " 
 
 "No, thank God!" 
 
 "So I does." He looked up as if her excla- 
 mation had been an injunction. " I didn't mean 
 nothin' to 'em to them folks. I wouldn't
 
 276 RACHEL'S SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 have hurt none of 'em. But it's been hard on 
 me," going back to the old explanation. 
 "They turns me out, an' I couldn't get no 
 work. They tells me two big hands'll earn 
 me a livin', but they gives me nothin' to do. 
 Went everywheres, an' nobody would have me. 
 If I asks for things to eat, why, they tells me a 
 big beggar like me better go to work an' I 
 can't get none nowheres. When I goes a-look- 
 in', they locks me up an' calls me a tramp. 
 That's how it's been. 'Tain't no use ; there's 
 nothin' nowheres. Hitty an' the babies must 
 live. I promised Meg I'd take care of 'em, 
 do my level best, an' now they're gettin' 
 hungrier an' raggeder " 
 
 There was a choking sound in his throat. 
 He looked down again at the empty, impotent 
 hands. 
 
 " I can't do nothin' . There's houses an' 
 houses I looked in winders, trampin' up an' 
 down all rich an' soft ; an' folks wearin' gold 
 an' shinin' stones, just in their hair or on their
 
 A WA T IN THE DA WN. 277 
 
 necks, that'd keep Hitty an' the childern. 
 They has all, an' we has nothin'. 'Tain't right 
 God knows 'tain't right ! " 
 
 " Aye ! He does ! " the girl answered solemn- 
 ly, tears standing in the earnest eyes fixed full 
 upon him. 
 
 "An' now it's this way. 'Tain't no use; 
 they'll ketch me, I s'pose." 
 
 " No," she said, "they will not. O Joe ! I 
 hardly know if I am right or wrong, paying 
 a premium on crime, or saving a soul, but I 
 will help you. You must go away. No one 
 knows who is guilty, but they will if you stay." 
 For, aside from the hopelessness of his obtain- 
 ing employment there, she knew that he could 
 not be trusted to guard his own secret. "You 
 must leave here and go away to the West. 
 Far away it is not so crowded, and you may 
 find something to do ; or you may buy land 
 it is very cheap there. 
 
 He had been listening attentively, and his 
 gaze brightened a little as at some new hope.
 
 278 RACHEL'S SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 "If I could anyways 'cause I helped Meg's 
 husband. It's better'n shops ; you can't be 
 turned out." 
 
 "Try to get a little place, then, for yourself. 
 You can find where, and this will help you." 
 She placed the roll of bills in his hand. " And 
 as soon as you can, send for Hitty and the 
 children. I will look after them until then." 
 
 He looked at her, then at the money in his 
 hand, turning it over slowly. It seemed an 
 immense sum. 
 
 " Do not lose it ; be careful, and tell no one 
 what has happened here. O Joe " she 
 paused. As she had once said to Annice 
 Lisle, she was "not good at preaching," but a 
 few earnest words came from her full heart. 
 "Whatever happens, whoever else may be hard, 
 Christ cares. He, too, was poor and ill-treated. 
 For His sake suffer wrong, if you must, but 
 never do it. Some day," dropping uncon- 
 sciously into an old phrase, "the Judge will 
 come home."
 
 A WA T IN THE DA WN, 279 
 
 She opened the door, waited while he care- 
 fully stowed away the money she had given 
 him, then led the way through the hushed and 
 sleeping house, down to the outer door by 
 which she had admitted him. 
 
 " Go over the hill into the country, and follow 
 the highway until you strike the railroad ten or 
 twelve miles from here," she advised. 
 
 There was a faint gleam of light across the 
 gray of the east, but the strange, sweet still- 
 ness of a summer morning lay over the earth. 
 Until he breathed the outer air, and saw the 
 free road before him, Joe scarcely seemed to 
 understand what had been done for him. He 
 glanced at the sky, then at Rachel, silently, 
 but with a look in his eyes that his dog's might 
 have worn dumb, appealing, almost adoring. 
 He descended the steps, turned suddenly on 
 the lower one, and pressed his lips to the hem 
 of her white dress, then walked swiftly away. 
 
 Languor and heavy eyes awakened neither 
 surprise nor inquiry that morning. The state
 
 280 RACHEL'S SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 of affairs in the town, and the alarm of the pre- 
 vious evening, were deemed a sufficient expla- 
 nation, and Rachel was thankful that she so 
 escaped all questioning ; that the fits of abstrac- 
 tion, the pre-occupied manner which all her 
 efforts could not make quite natural, passed un- 
 noticed, or, at least, unremarked. She tried to 
 atone for the night's vigil by sleeping as the 
 morning hours wore away, but slumber would 
 not come at call. She started nervously at 
 every sound. Every step seemed bringing the 
 tidings of Joe's capture ; every peal of the door- 
 bell held some message of dread. She was 
 tortured by fears that she had not given him 
 sufficient directions or cautions, that he had 
 not fully understood her, that something she 
 had done, or left undone, would mar all. She 
 was in no mood to review the matter calmly, if 
 indeed there had been use in reviewing it at 
 all. 
 
 " Mrs. Lyndal says she would be glad if you 
 could bring your work to her room for an hour
 
 A WA T IN THE DA WN. 28 1 
 
 or two," announced rosy-cheeked Hannah, 
 pausing at the open door and looking in upon 
 Rachel, whose u sole occupation was that of 
 gazing dreamily from the window. " O Miss 
 Rachel, wouldn't it be a dreadful thing if some- 
 body should try to burn this house down? I 
 dreamed about it last night." 
 
 "I do not think there is any danger," the 
 young lady answered. Then she thought of 
 Mr. Corry's house and all that had been said 
 of it, and was silent for a moment. " Still I do 
 not believe it will be molested," she said aloud, 
 as the conclusion of her reflection. 
 
 " But there's been so many queer doings and 
 troubles," suggested Hannah doubtfully. "And 
 Mrs. Shackles said the other day that there 
 were signs in the sky, too." 
 
 " Mrs. Shackles' signs in the sky are like 
 her roots in the earth a part of her stock in 
 trade," Rachel smiled ; and the girl went away, 
 not wholly understanding, but somewhat re- 
 assured.
 
 282 RACHEL: s SHARE OF TPIE ROAD. 
 
 The one topic was everywhere. If she tried 
 to escape from her own tormenting thoughts by 
 talking with any one, it confronted her at the 
 first sentence. She shrank from complying 
 with her grandmother's request, but it could 
 not be refused. Its wording reminded her that 
 she had no employment ; and taking up a bit 
 of embroidery, a mere pretext for busying 
 fingers, she passed slowly up the stairs, won- 
 dering anxiously whether there could be any 
 special reason for the invitation any infor- 
 mation received, or troublesome questions that 
 might be asked. But there was nothing. 
 
 " Only this seems the quietest room in the 
 house, my dear, and you must need rest after 
 last night," explained the old lady. " I am not 
 naturally timid, I am sure, but I really was 
 unable to sleep after all the disturbance. The 
 idea of that wretch being secreted somewhere 
 about the grounds, or possibly in the house it- 
 self, was horrible ! I am sure I should never 
 have thought of it if those men had not sug-
 
 A WA T IN THE DA WN. 283 
 
 gested it by their absurd search. They seemed 
 so sure that they had traced him so far. You 
 do not suppose it possible, Rachel, that he 
 can be lurking anywhere about the prem- 
 ises?" 
 
 v No, I am sure he is not, "'answered Rachel 
 positively. "I have not the slightest fear of 
 that." 
 
 " I did not say that I had fear," said the old 
 lady, slightly resenting that word. "But it 
 would be a very grave misfortune to have such 
 a villain elude justice through any carelessness 
 or over-confidence of ours, aside from any 
 danger of his attempting any further deeds of 
 violence here. I think it might be only a 
 proper precaution to have the servants search 
 the house thoroughly by daylight every room 
 from attic to cellar, and the grounds and out- 
 buildings." 
 
 " Yes ; I will go and give the order, grand- 
 mamma," said Rachel hurriedly. 
 
 "There is no need, my child; I will ring,"
 
 284 RACHEL'S SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 began Mrs. Lyndal with her usual stately 
 composure. But Rachel arose at once. 
 
 "I will explain it to Larrison," she said, and 
 hastened away to avoid further objection, her 
 heart beating quickly with a new fear. What 
 if some trace had been left, some article 
 dropped? She ran to the unfrequented stair- 
 way, and followed the route she had taken the 
 previous evening until she stood again in the 
 distant unoccupied room. There was nothing 
 to tell the story. So still, commonplace and 
 undisturbed it looked, that she could have 
 fancied the whole occurrence had been but a 
 feverish dream. Her throbbing pulses grew 
 slower. She went down and conferred with 
 Mrs. Larrison, and returned to the invalid's 
 room again. " I presume they will discover 
 nothing, but at least it will give them some- 
 thing to do, and satisfy them so that they will 
 stop chattering and imagining everything, I 
 hope," commented Mrs. Lyndal, trying to find 
 some good reason for her course other than
 
 A WA T IN THE DA WN. 285 
 
 the nervousness which she was unwilling to 
 confess. "I believe Hannah has been really 
 afraid of every nook and corner she has passed 
 this morning.'" 
 
 "I trust," she remarked presently, "that we 
 shall hear of the miscreant's capture somewhere 
 before the day is over. How perfectly fiend- 
 ish he must be ! " 
 
 Rachel's needle traced unevenly a spray of 
 her embroidery, but she was silent. 
 
 "But even if he is taken, the law will be en- 
 tirely too lenient. Imprisonment for such a 
 horrible crime ! " 
 
 "It was horrible," assented Rachel in a low 
 tone, shuddering as she spoke. 
 
 The old lady dropped her hands in her lap 
 delicate well-preserved hands, despite age and 
 illness and smoothed the folds of her soft 
 wrapper. 
 
 " The penalty ought to include all those who 
 have in any way encouraged or tolerated this 
 movement among the lower classes. The
 
 286 RACHEL'S SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 whole uprising is ignorant and suicidal, and 
 shows to what lengths greed and ingratitude 
 will go," she proceeded. "They would ruin 
 their employers and benefactors because they 
 cannot rule everything in their own way." 
 
 Through the girl's mind flitted a vague ques- 
 tioning of what foreign element in her own 
 blood, brain or heart had made her see with 
 different eyes from those of her kindred. She 
 'glanced about the room with its every appliance 
 of ease and comfort, its costly provision for 
 every hour of pain or languor. 
 
 "Grandmamma, did you ever try to imagine 
 how it would seem to be poor?" she asked 
 slowly. 
 
 To Mrs. Lyndal this seemed an utterly irrel- 
 evant question, and she was not wont to be 
 patient with irrelevancy in any one whom she 
 was honoring with her conversation. Still, if 
 the girl found the subject under discussion too 
 painful and exciting after the events of the pre- 
 vious night, she might be pardoned for seeking
 
 A WA T IN THE DA WN. 287 
 
 to change it. The old lady scrutinized the 
 pale cheeks for a moment, and charitably 
 accepted that conclusion. 
 
 "You- forget, my child, that I was a Warner 
 before I became a Lyndal families that had 
 little connection with the very poor, though 
 they did not possess the wealth that my son 
 has since attained," she said proudly. "I cer- 
 tainly have had no experience as one of the 
 class to which you refer, and no cause or de- 
 sire to imagine myself one of them. In my 
 young days girls were taught to adorn the sta- 
 tion in which they found themselves, and not 
 allow their fancies to run wild. What pleas- 
 ure can there be in imagining one's self in im- 
 probable, not to say impossible, situations? " 
 
 But, as she watched the bowed head and 
 grave, sweet face, there suddenly flashed upon 
 old Mrs. Lyndal a memory of the child's 
 mother. Her son's marriage with that delicate, 
 sensitive-souled, shrinking girl, whose eyes 
 seemed always looking into a world beyond
 
 288 RACHEL'S SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 the e very-day one, had always appeared to her 
 the one unwise and incomprehensible act of his 
 life. However, the young mother had died 
 early, and her daughter was as entirely a 
 Lyndal as education could make her. 
 
 "Rachel," observed her grandmother sud- 
 denly, " I really think that, when these troubles 
 are over, you should go away for a time. The 
 old house is too dull for a young girl like 
 you."
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 AWAY IN THE STORM. 
 
 'THHE long morning, outwardly so beautiful, 
 ^ dragged heavily, but its slow hours 
 passed without bringing tidings of any kind. 
 At noon the bright summer sky clouded. Ra- 
 chel, in her pre-occupation, did not at first ob- 
 serve it, but when she did, it startled her into 
 action. She must see Hitty that day must 
 communicate with her herself, and so prevent 
 her making inquiries elsewhere, as she might 
 soon do if she received no explanation of her 
 brother's absence. 
 
 She dressed in trembling haste lest a storm 
 might prevent her going, and, though she felt 
 her already overtaxed strength scarcely equal 
 to the walk, set forth on foot, fearing that her 
 carriage might in some way attract attention 
 
 289
 
 2pO RACHEL'S SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 to the old railway car. Choosing the most 
 unfrequented route, she hastened her steps, 
 but the summer storm swept up swiftly. Clouds 
 gathered and darkened, the thunder changed 
 from low mutterings to louder, more threaten- 
 ing peals, and before she reached the meadow, 
 the rain was falling upon her in heavy, plashing 
 drops. 
 
 Hitty met her at the door with an expression 
 of relief. 
 
 "I do be glad somebody's come," she said, 
 with a little quiver breaking the usually grave 
 quiet of her lips. 
 
 "What is it? Any trouble," questioned Ra- 
 chel with fast-beating heart. But it was quite 
 different from her thought. 
 
 " Daddy. He's been that sick an' queer-like 
 ever since mornin'." She pointed to the cot 
 where the old man lay, pallid and breathing 
 heavily, but with eyes unwontedly bright. 
 " He wasn't just so bad early, an' I thought 
 mebby he'd be gettin' better, so 'twould be only
 
 A WAT IN THE STORM. 2pl 
 
 a spell. Then when it be gettin' worse on him, 
 like this, I was feared to leave him to go any- 
 wheres. Joe's gone somewheres, he didn't be 
 home all night. There wasn't nobody but me, 
 an' I couldn't leave Daddy 'long of the babies." 
 
 Rachel hastily threw off her damp wrap- 
 pings, and drew a little nearer to the couch. 
 
 "You must have a doctor ! " she said, shrink- 
 ing back at the strange look creeping over the 
 withered face. 
 
 But even as she spoke the rain fell in blind- 
 ing sheets that barred, for the time, all possi- 
 bility of seeking aid. Hitty looked at the driv- 
 ing storm, then back at her visitor silently. 
 
 "I will go myself as soon .-35 I can," Rachel 
 answered the glance. M Hitty, I saw Joe this 
 morning. He was going away to find a place 
 and work. I promised to tell you, and look 
 after you. You are to use this, and to let me 
 know when you need anything. He will send 
 for you as soon as he can." 
 
 She placed money in her hand a small
 
 2p2 RACHEL'S SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 sum, for her treasury was entirely depleted 
 now ; but to Hitty, with her frugal ideas of 
 outlay, it appeared no despicable amount. 
 
 "I didn't know he did be earnin' so much 
 these days he's out," she said in some wonder- 
 ment, but with no thought other than that Joe 
 had sent it. " He does often be out lookin' for 
 work, ma'am." 
 
 She accepted the explanation so simply and 
 unquestioningly that there was need of say- 
 ing nothing more, and Rachel sat beside her 
 silently, waiting for the storm to subside. 
 With her transient uneasiness at Joe's absence 
 removed, and a present provision against want, 
 all Hitty's anxiety turned to the old man, her 
 grandfather, lying so helplessly, noticing noth- 
 ing around him, moaning occasionally, but 
 oftener murmuring brokenly. 
 
 " Come to-morrer houses an' clo'es an' 
 dinners have dinners, Hitty?" 
 
 " Carriages an' velvety sofys an' pianners," 
 answered the child mechanically.
 
 A WA T IN THE STORM. 293 
 
 But he did not seem to hear her or to be 
 conscious of her presence. 
 
 " Horses, clo'es an' carriages come to-mor- 
 rer. Houses an' dinners," he repeated, linger- 
 ing over the list of treasures that, to his vision, 
 had always been just within grasp. "The 
 prize to-morrer." 
 
 The gray shadow that precluded for him all 
 earthly to-morrows was even then stealing 
 over his face. Rachel, though all unskilled 
 in such reading, could not mistake it. She 
 looked at Hitty questioningly, but could not 
 tell if the grave eyes, watching so steadily, 
 saw as she did. She glanced at the windows ; 
 the storm still forbade all purpose of seeking 
 companionship or assistance. Wilder and 
 more fearful it grew, the wind blowing in terri- 
 ble gusts that wrenched and tore the trees in 
 its path, and the sky darkening until the nar- 
 row apartment lay in twilight gloom except as 
 it was illumined by the glare of the lightning. 
 
 Into what strange companionships, what
 
 294 RACHEL'S SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 awful responsibilities, her wandering from 
 beaten paths had brought her, Rachel mused 
 as she sat there. Who, of all who knew her, 
 would dream of finding her in such a place as 
 this? The situation, the darkness and dread 
 of that hour of helpless waiting, was terrible 
 to her already overburdened spirit ; but even so 
 she could not wish herself away while this 
 child must bear it all while the sad dark 
 eyes, looking so large in the pinched, patient 
 little face, turned silently to hers for support 
 and comforting. 
 
 Here, at least, there was no talk of the last 
 night's trouble. No rumor of it had reached 
 the old car. With a sudden thought Rachel 
 assured herself of that. 
 
 "Hitty, did you see the fire last evening?" 
 she asked. 
 
 "No, ma'am," Hitty answered quietly and 
 with no interest. 
 
 "Have you seen Mrs. Shackles lately 
 yesterday ? "
 
 A WA T IN THE STORM. 295 
 
 " No, ma'am. She don't come these few 
 days." 
 
 The old man caught the last words, and 
 moved uneasily. 
 
 " Will it come in a few days a soft bed an' 
 dinners an' everything? Will it, Clary?" 
 
 "Yes, Daddy, yes," said Hitty soothingly. 
 "He's called me that by turns all day," she 
 added in a lower tone. " 'Twas granny's 
 name, but he's forgot." 
 
 "Sing, Clary sing," quavered the weak 
 voice. 
 
 "He do be sayin' that often, too," explained 
 Hitty. "I can't sing nothin', but he do be say- 
 in' it over an' over." 
 
 " Sing, Clary can't ye sing ? " The feeble 
 voice broke into a wail. 
 
 "If you could, ma'am" hesitated Hitty, 
 clasping closely her little rough red hands. 
 "'Cause it do hurt so to hear him." 
 
 Something the little room, the child's face, 
 or some more subtile association suggested
 
 296 RACHEL'S SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 the words heard in the old school-house ; and 
 commanding her trembling voice, Rachel sang 
 them again : 
 
 ' For weary feet awaits the street 
 All wondrous paved and golden 
 We're going home, we're going home, 
 We're going home to-morrow." 
 
 They caught the dull ear. 
 
 " Home an' goldy streets to-morrer an' 
 clo'es, Clary sing 1 " 
 
 In the fury of the storm it seemed as if the 
 world were being torn into fragments around 
 them. Involuntarily to the girl's lips rose that 
 hymn of passionate prayer : 
 
 "While the billows round me roll, 
 While the tempest still is high, 
 Hide me, oh my Saviour, hide 
 
 Till the storm of life is past! 
 Safe into the haven guide, 
 
 Oh, receive my soul at last! * 
 
 Momently the tempest increased in fury. 
 The lightning came in broad fiery bolts, followed 
 instantly by the thunder in deafening crashes,
 
 A WA T IN THE STORM. 297 
 
 until it seemed to the excited watchers that earth 
 and sky were but a mingling of awful sound 
 and wrathful flame. The terrified children 
 clung to Hitty and hid their faces in her lap, 
 while she and Rachel sat with pale cheeks. 
 One only was wholly undisturbed by, uncon- 
 scious of it all. In the brief hushes of wind 
 and thunder came the murmur of his voice, 
 growing slower and fainter. 
 
 " Horses an' clo'es for all on us." 
 After a time the words varied a little. 
 "House an' wife an' chil'ren to-morrer." 
 Suddenly a gleam of lightning seemed to 
 scorch and blind as if wrapping them in its 
 blaze, while a peal of thunder more terrific 
 than any that had preceded it, shook the old 
 car as if rending it to fragments. Involunta- 
 rily they sprang to their feet. 
 
 "We do be struck!" exclaimed Hitty, still 
 holding fast the cowering children. 
 
 But a short examination, when they regain- 
 ed sufficient self-possession to make one, re-
 
 298 RACHEUS SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 vealed the fact that it was not the car, but a 
 great tree close beside it, that had been shat- 
 tered riven from its top to the great uptorn 
 roots. It absorbed the attention of all for a few 
 moments, that evidence of fearful power and 
 of their own narrow escape, all but that one 
 who noticed nothing. When they turned to 
 him again the feeble voice was stilled, and he 
 lay motionless. The soul had swept out on 
 the tide of the storm. The poor life that had 
 drawn only blanks had passed to seek its pos- 
 sible prize in the "land that is very far off." 
 
 Hitty turned to Rachel as if in excuse for her 
 grief. 
 
 " He did be that old an' weak an' wandery- 
 like, I know, ma'am, but he was Daddy ! " 
 
 The tempest appeared to have spent its 
 strength in that last mighty sweep, and slowly 
 abated. The wind died in long sobbing 
 breaths, the lightning grew less frequent and 
 vivid, the thunder sullen and low. As soon as 
 the rain slackened so that she could venture
 
 A WAT IN THE STORM. 299 
 
 forth, Rachel threw a shawl around her and left 
 the car. But she paused on the steps. A horse 
 and carriage, detained somewhere by the 
 storm, were speeding along the road that skirt- 
 ed the meadow. She knew the equipage well, 
 the one above all others she would have chosen 
 to see, and her voice would any other have 
 been heard so surely? reached its occupant 
 at once. 
 
 Her pale face and Kitty's tearful eyes told a 
 story of need that Dr. Kelsey understood more 
 quickly than their trembling words. He made 
 a brief examination of the form lying on the 
 cot. There was nothing for medical skill to 
 do, nothing, indeed, that it could have done 
 earlier, he assured Hitty, who grieved at having 
 been unable to procure it. Then he turned to 
 Rachel, whose questioning eyes were upon him. 
 '"I could not have helped him, but I wish I 
 had been here for the sake of the others for 
 yours. You must stay here no longer. It has 
 been too hard for you."
 
 3O RACHEL'S SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 Quivering lip and trembling hand confirmed 
 his judgment, though she faintly smiled. 
 
 "I did not know I was so weak, but the 
 storm and this " She left the sentence unfin- 
 ished. "These children? They must not be 
 left here alone." 
 
 "They must not be left here at all," he said 
 in that prompt, decided way of taking the mat- 
 ter into his own hands which was such rest 
 and relief to her. Hitty had told him of her 
 brother's absence in search of work told it in 
 few words, and as if she had quite understood 
 his going and that she scarcely expected his 
 return. "There is no need that they should 
 stay ; they will be better away, and I will send 
 some one to attend to everything here, and do 
 whatever must be done." 
 
 They had drawn a little aside for this con- 
 sultation, and she glanced at Hitty and th'e 
 little ones, feeling that Dr. Kelsey could not 
 know the network of circumstances that made 
 it so difficult for her to offer them an asylum.
 
 A WAT IN THE STORM. 3 O1 
 
 She asked her next question anxiously : 
 
 " But where can they go ? " 
 
 He had thought of it all, and he answered 
 unhesitatingly, 
 
 " To Mrs. Shackles. That is not far, just 
 beyond the wood, and the little girl will want 
 to be near enough to come here occasionally 
 until all is arranged. Mrs. Shackles' home is 
 as good as the place to which they are accus- 
 tomed, and it is not enough better to trouble or 
 embarrass them. Besides, the old woman will 
 receive them willingly, knowing that she w.ill 
 lose nothing by it, and she will be kind to 
 them. She is an arrant old beggar, but she 
 has one virtue not always possessed by more 
 respectable people she never preys upon 
 those who are poorer or weaker than herself." 
 
 So it was speedily arranged. Hitty yielded 
 quietly to whatever the others thought best. 
 Dr. Kelsey closed the car, and with his car- 
 riage packed to its utmost extent since he 
 was unwilling that either Miss Lyndal or Hitty
 
 302 RACHEL'S SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 should remain even while the other was borne 
 to her destination drove to Mrs. Shackles', 
 and, leaving the children in her care, hastened 
 towards Rachel's home. 
 
 Some apprehensive glances he bestowed 
 upon his companion's white face by the way, 
 but he troubled her with few words as she lean- 
 ed back wearily against the carriage cushions, 
 trying with whirling brain and throbbing tem- 
 ples to lay some plan for the coming weeks.
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 WHERE TWO ROADS MEET 
 
 ^TT^HE anxious thought was useless. In the 
 weeks that followed, Rachel could do 
 nothing except to learn, as, sooner or later, we 
 all do, that when our hands are most full, and 
 our work seems to us that which no other can 
 do, even then the world our own little world 
 can go on without us. 
 
 The events of those perturbed days the 
 anxiety, fatigue and intense excitement had 
 taxed her strength too heavily, and wrought 
 their natural result. She struggled bravely 
 against the encroachment of weakness and dis- 
 ease, saying resolutely to herself that she must 
 not, could not, dared not, be ill then. But it 
 was in vain. Nervous chill and burning fever 
 conquered and held sway. It was a slow ex- 
 
 303
 
 34 RACHEL'S SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 hausting fever, no violent illness or delirium 
 for that she was inexpressibly thankful, as she 
 lay a prisoner in her room. A wandering 
 brain might have proved a woeful traitor. 
 
 "Fiddling Simon" the only name by which 
 the town had known old Daddy was quietly 
 but decently buried by the proper authorities ; 
 and as Hitty simply stated that her brother had 
 gone to look for work, and that she was to 
 remain with Mrs. Shackles until he sent for 
 her, there seemed nothing more for any one to 
 do, and with that comfortable conviction, few 
 questions were asked. In truth, unless some 
 startling disclosure aroused it, suspicion was 
 very unlikely to fall upon Joe. He was 
 thought only awkward, stupid and inoffensive 
 when he was thought of at all, and that was so 
 seldom that it proved an entire shield now. 
 
 With Dr. Kelsey's advice and Mrs. Shackles' 
 assistance Hitty collected and disposed of her 
 few effects. Rachel learned of this, and of her 
 welfare, as she gained nearly all her knowledge
 
 WHERE TWO ROADS MEET. 305 
 
 of the outer world in those weary days, from 
 Dr. Kelsey. To him she entrusted some com- 
 missions for the child, knowing that he would 
 accept them quietly, without the explanations 
 or inquiries she dreaded from others. If he 
 had felt any surprise at her visiting the car on 
 that stormy day, or at the deep interest she 
 manifested in the family, he revealed it by no 
 question or comment. Sometimes, watching 
 him, so calm, strong and kind, as he made his 
 daily call upon her, she was tempted to confide 
 to him the whole secret. It would have been a 
 great relief to have shared with him her burden 
 of solicitude and trouble, to have had the aid of 
 his clear, manly judgment. But the thought 
 that the story might prove embarrassing, that a 
 knowledge of what she had done would make 
 him, in some measure, a sharer in the re- 
 sponsibility of her deed, withheld her. There 
 was, too, an added restraint in the conscious- 
 ness that filial loyalty forbade her explaining 
 the causes in which her action really had its
 
 3 RACHEL'S SHARE OF THE ROAD, 
 
 root. So, though longing for his aid, she was 
 silent 
 
 Once she ventured to ask if the perpetrators 
 of the attempt to destroy the shops and train 
 had been discovered, or any arrests made. 
 
 " No, not the faintest clue has been obtained, 
 though for some days they prosecuted the 
 search vigorously," Dr. Kelsey answered. 
 " Interest in the affair is dying a natural death 
 now, and it will probably remain always a 
 mystery." 
 
 "No news is good news," runs the proverb, 
 and Rachel comforted herself with it in the 
 absence of anything better. Joe, unheard 
 from, was probably far and safely away. His 
 dull look, and habit of mingling or talking but 
 little with others, might be a safeguard against 
 robbery, and enable him to reach his destina- 
 tion with what he possessed, and expend it as 
 he had purposed, she thought, growing hope- 
 ful as time passed. 
 
 Weeks elapsed, and the disturbance in the
 
 WHERE TWO ROADS MEET. 307 
 
 town and throughout the country had subsided. 
 Arbitration or compromise had settled the diffi- 
 culty in some places, in others there was at 
 least an enforced truce, and business circles 
 had regained, outwardly, their usual quiet, 
 before the invalid was able to leave her room. 
 The day she exchanged her narrower quarters 
 for a sofa in the pleasant rooms below, her first 
 visitor was Mrs. Shackles. The old woman, 
 discovering her, made certain of admittance 
 by availing herself of the open door without 
 the formality of knocking. 
 
 Amused by her rambling volubility concern- 
 ing Humphrey, the berries, and the world in 
 general, Rachel allowed her for a while to talk 
 at will. But when Dr. Kelsey, whose calls 
 had become irregular as they became only 
 semi-professional, came, she dismissed her gra- 
 ciously by bidding her go to Peggy for the 
 sugar and tea she had intimated " was wantin' 
 dreadful bad, an' no prospeck." 
 
 " But first, how are Hitty and the children ? "
 
 3 RACHEL'S SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 "Oh, they've gone. Sakes ! I s'posed you 
 knew 'bout that or I a told it first thing," 
 answered the old woman promptly. "Went 
 day before yisterday to Oregon, mebby, or 
 Californy. That brother of hers was out there, 
 or cousin mebby 'twas uncle, or somethin' 
 or nothin'. I don't seem to tell zactly ; my 
 membry ain't so good as 'twas." She eyed 
 Rachel furtively as she spoke, trying to dis- 
 cover how much she knew about the children, 
 or whether, possibly, the young lady might not 
 know more of them and their destination than 
 she herself could tell, even if she told all she 
 knew. " Anyway, 'twas somebody as had 
 worked for 'em an' got a place for 'em, an' 
 wanted 'em. An' that girl was chirk as could 
 be to go no more 'feared than 'sif she'd spent 
 her life a-travellin'. She said Joe wanted her 
 'clare 'twas him after all ! The letter was 
 so mise'ble mixed up, spellin' an' printin', that 
 'tain't no wonder I couldn't get it afore. Well, 
 she fixed up them young ones till they looked
 
 WHERE TWO ROADS MEET. 39 
 
 like a log-cabin bed-quilt, an' they've gone. 
 Wish I had some pieces, an' I'd make a bed- 
 quilt myself," concluded the old woman reflect- 
 ively. "I could do it between berry spells, 
 an' 'twould be handy to have come winter. 
 But, dear ! I hain't got no patches, an' don't 
 s'pose I'll get none." 
 
 " I will think of that by and by, when I am 
 stronger," Rachel answered ; and, satisfied by 
 what she was sure would be considered a 
 promise, Mrs. Shackles departed. 
 
 "Yes," Dr. Kelsey said, meeting Rachel's 
 glance as they were left together, " I came to 
 tell you to-day. Joe sent for them. Accus- 
 tomed to living as they did here, his preparation 
 for their coming did not require much time. 
 As nearly as I could understand the epistle 
 it was mixed up, as Mrs. Shackles observed, 
 and far from being easily deciphered he had 
 possession of a bit of land, and intended to 
 make a home on it. Hitty was able to go very 
 comfortably, and she will carry Joe something
 
 310 RACHEL'S SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 besides herself and the twins though that is 
 considerable, brave little woman that she is ! 
 Strangely enough, poor Daddy's last venture 
 did draw a prize. It was no great amount, 
 fifty dollars, but it was a fortune to her. 
 When I had secured it for her she looked up at 
 me with her great eyes shining, but she only 
 said, 'Won't Joe be that glad !' She left her 
 thanks for you, and has gone away comfortably 
 and quietly." 
 
 " Oh, I am so glad ! so thankful ! It frees me 
 from such a burden ! " Rachel exclaimed with 
 tearful eyes. Then his last word and some- 
 thing in his look made her add impulsively, 
 "Dr. Kelsey, whatever of all this you know or 
 understand, I am glad to have you know, be 
 sure of that. Do not think I trust you less 
 because I tell you nothing more. The secret 
 is not wholly mine." 
 
 " Do you not think I trust you enough to help 
 you without asking why?" he said, betrayed 
 into sudden tenderness by the trembling voice
 
 WHERE TWO ROADS MEET. 3 11 
 
 and the sweet uplifted eyes. " It is more than 
 trust : I love you. O Rachel, I never meant 
 to tell you it seemed unjust to you ! But your 
 generous feet would not stay in the smooth 
 bright path to which they were born, you were 
 always wandering down to the lower and 
 harder highway where weary and burdened 
 ones travel. If you will choose this rougher 
 path, walk it with me my darling 1 " for the 
 fluttering hand slipped into his and rested there. 
 "Mine?" 
 
 "Am I selfish?" he asked again, presently, 
 as he sat by her side. "Think, Rachel, what 
 my life must be not ease and luxury, but con- 
 stant contact with pain and sorrow. It must 
 know toil and self-sacrifice, while yours might 
 be so different. Seeing this, I never meant to 
 love you, but how could I help it? It is done 
 for ever and ever " 
 
 " Amen !" added Rachel shyly, with flush 
 and smile. Then, after a moment: "Why 
 should you choose nobler, better things for
 
 312 RACHEL'S SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 yourself, and yet consign my life to useless ease 
 without allowing me a choice? Was it such a 
 stretch of charity to think that I too might 
 esteem other things of more worth than purple 
 and fine linen? " 
 
 "My darling ! My brave, true-hearted little 
 Ray " 
 
 " No," she interposed again, hal'f laughing, 
 but with moistened eyes, "you will find me 
 weak and selfish enough, but you must not be- 
 gin with the idea that I am to be carried over 
 all the rough places. I will walk with you, and 
 however stony or hard, I want my share of the 
 road." 
 
 If he answered with kisses on the bright 
 hair, on the pale cheeks that grew swiftly rosy, 
 and on the little hands he held, the knowledge 
 belongs to her alone to her only the outpour- 
 ing of the manly heart's long-repressed tender- 
 ness. For Love cannot be photographed, 
 his glowing face and soulful eyes grow dull and 
 lifeless in the attempt.
 
 WHERE TWO ROADS MEET. 313 
 
 The long bright hour drifted by, sunlight 
 and leaf-shadow falling on the carpet, and in- 
 visible fingers weaving them into ever chang- 
 ing patterns, while, seated by the sofa, Dr. 
 Kelsey told of his work and his life, his plans 
 and hopes, and Rachel gave in return the 
 sweet new confidence which was yet so perfect 
 that it seemed to have begun ages before. It 
 was her mischievous suggestion that ended, at 
 last, the long talk. 
 
 "Have you but one patient to-day, Dr. 
 Kelsey? Your practice is diminishing." 
 
 He laughed. 
 
 "There is no other case that I have consid- 
 ered so critical. Do you suppose I shall ever 
 know enough, hereafter, to go about my work 
 unless you send me?" 
 
 Then, aroused from the pleasant dreaming 
 and planning in which they two only were to 
 be consulted, he remembered to ask the not 
 unnatural question : 
 
 " What will your father say to all this ? "
 
 3 X 4 R ACHED S SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 "I do not know," she answered slowly, 
 doubtfully at first ; then brightening. " But I 
 think you will manage that, Horace, as you do 
 everything else." 
 
 He smiled, as he went his way, at the rest- 
 ful confidence of her word and tone, but he 
 was the stronger and happier for it. 
 
 "For if she so loves and trusts me, she is 
 surely my very own by a law higher than that 
 of mere place and circumstance," he said. " I 
 was right to tell her to claim her." 
 
 A rightness Rachel never doubted. It did 
 not occur to her it could not to any woman 
 who truly loved that there was any sacrifice 
 on her part. His love was her life's crowning, 
 that which dignified it, and made it more sacred 
 and precious than it ever had been before. 
 Whatever Dr. Kelsey might be to the rest of 
 the world, to her he was the embodiment of a 
 wisdom, strength and tenderness in which she 
 rested confidingly, and to' which she carried 
 in frank trustfulness, sure that she could not
 
 WHERE TWO ROADS MEET. 3 T 5 
 
 be misunderstood, all her dreams, plans and 
 perplexities this lonely little Rachel, who had 
 never known mother's, sister's or brother's love. 
 It astonished Annice Lisle, who, her visit 
 somewhat deferred by the railroad trouble and 
 Rachel's illness, came later than usual. She 
 wondered what her uncle had been thinking 
 of when he permitted such a state of affairs. 
 Bonds and stocks, probably, as usual ; and 
 there was no great choice of society at Craig's 
 Cross. But then Rachel could have been else- 
 where had she so chosen and there was Mr. 
 Corry ! The whole thing was incomprehensi- 
 ble. Miss Lisle's own delicate hand wore an 
 engagement ring now a solitaire, valuable 
 but modest, such as was eminently proper for 
 a clergyman's betrothed. She felt, with much 
 self-approval, that she had herself been exceed- 
 ingly unworldly in deciding her future, though 
 Heman had talent, family, wealth and kin- 
 dred, desirablenesses of which Rachel had 
 seemed never to think. There must be some
 
 3*6 RACHEL'S SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 renouncing of pomps and vanities ; it could not 
 appropriately be a very gay life, that of a 
 clergyman's wife. But how beautiful to give 
 up such things heroically for an exalted pur- 
 pose ! In her cousin's case there could, of 
 course, be no such compensation. 
 
 "She may think differently," said Heman, 
 who had arrived for a few days' sojourn, and 
 to whom Nan communicated her wonderings. 
 "A physician's work, you know well, it 
 might not seem so very dissimilar." 
 
 " Heman ! The idea of comparing the life 
 of a country doctor, selling pills and curing 
 fevers for money, to your profession ! " ex- 
 claimed Annice indignantly. 
 
 At which remark, as it floated in to her 
 through an open window, Rachel softly 
 laughed, too blessedly content to care.
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 " TO HAVE AND TO HOLD." 
 
 JUDGE LYNDAL was certainly not pleased. 
 *J That negative scarcely expresses the state 
 of his feelings as he paced the length of his 
 library, measuring his step from heart to heart 
 of the roses that bloomed in the carpet, while 
 he pondered Dr. Kelsey's proposal for the hand 
 of his daughter a proposal made in a quiet, 
 matter-of-form way, with no evidence of tre- 
 pidation, and no mention of her wealth and 
 his own comparative poverty. 
 
 There was something of disappointment in 
 the Judge's first emotion, though his thoughts 
 of his daughter's future had never been suffi- 
 ciently definite to assume the shape of a plan. 
 He had been conscious of a vague expectation 
 that she would form an alliance sometime, and 
 
 317
 
 3* RACHEL'S SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 that, of course, it would be worthy of her posi- 
 tion and of her father's house. This seemed to 
 him not fully to meet these requirements in 
 a business point of view, not sufficient return 
 for the amount of capital invested. If Rachel 
 had been a son, ambitious hopes and schemes 
 would have been many, and any thwarting of 
 them keenly felt ; but for her he had scarcely 
 been ambitious. The greatest disappointment 
 her life could cause him had been experienced 
 at its beginning that she was only a daugh- 
 ter. Yet he loved her, after a fashion, and 
 showed it chiefly by allowing her to pursue 
 her own way. 
 
 And Rachel could not run railroads nor man- 
 age corporations. Whatever alliance she form- 
 ed, whether she married or not, the name of 
 Lyndal must cease to be a power in the busi- 
 ness world when his own busy brain and skil- 
 ful hands were removed. Nothing would be 
 left of it all except the fortune he had amassed, 
 he reflected somewhat sadly ; and that would
 
 'TO HAVE AND TO HOLD" 3 I 9 
 
 be Rachel's in any case, and ample though no 
 additions were made to it by any matrimonial 
 contract. The girl might as well have her 
 way, after all. If she were satisfied, the rest 
 did not matter much. She had always an 
 unaccountable fancy for quiet, unostentatious 
 places and for persons also, he supposed. 
 
 Besides, this man had, so far as human 
 judgment could discern, saved her life. But 
 for him he should have had no daughter to 
 bestow. Judge Lyndal smiled rather grimly 
 at this verification of his theory that all favors, 
 however apparently disinterested, sooner or 
 later demand payment. This man set a high 
 price upon his, surely, but it must be paid. 
 Through all his resolving of the subject, the 
 Judge had felt that underlying consciousness 
 the one conclusion to which he should come. 
 A draft upon him, to whatever extent, must be 
 honored. There was no other manner of liqui- 
 dating this debt, that had come in this unex- 
 pected way, as he had prophesied to himself
 
 320 RACHEL'S SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 that it would come in some way, for payment. 
 After all, because of that bit of reflection before 
 mentioned, he became not wholly unwilling. 
 
 So he offered his hand to Dr. Kelsey, and 
 with it gave his formal consent. But he could 
 not forbear a single suggestion of the full value 
 as he understood it of what he was be- 
 stowing. 
 
 "Knowing and respecting your character, 
 Dr. Kelsey, there is, happily, no need of my 
 inquiring further into prospects or circum- 
 stances. My daughter's fortune will not be 
 insignificant." 
 
 If Horace Kelsey winced, it was only in- 
 wardly. A smile flashed for an instant under 
 his dark moustache, and vanished in his grave 
 and frank reply : 
 
 "I am glad of it, sir for her sake." 
 
 He was far too proud to say, where it would 
 not have been understood, that he loved and 
 sought her for herself alone, and had she been 
 dowerless he would have been even more exult-
 
 "TO HAVE AND TO HOLD." 321 
 
 antly glad in his winning though, in truth, he 
 combated the latter feeling as being less love 
 than pride's subtle selfishness. He attempted 
 not the slightest explanation, only responded 
 heartily when the Judge, who liked to do hand- 
 somely whatever he did at all, repeated his 
 acquiescence, more graciously, with expres- 
 sions of respect and confidence. 
 
 If Judge Lyndal considered his daughter's 
 possessions to have been a great attraction, 
 it was not unnatural, and the world would 
 think as the father did, But the doctor's brow, 
 clouding for a little over the reflection, cleared 
 as he rode on his way. 
 
 " It may think exactly what it pleases. She 
 is well worth enduring that for, my peerless 
 little Ray ! " 
 
 When he recounted to her the important 
 interview, he left that part of it untouched ; but, 
 with the intuition by which she so often an- 
 swered his thoughts, she said quite irrelevantly 
 of any words he had uttered,
 
 3 2 2 RACHEL'S SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 "There was more, I suppose. Never mind, 
 Horace, we both understand it beyond all 
 mistaking, and it does not matter about others." 
 
 No, it did not. He was quite sure of it as 
 he went away from her, with some words from 
 a quaint poem running in his thought : 
 
 "Two to the world, for the world's work's sake, 
 But each unto each, as in God's sight, one." 
 
 Neither did Rachel tell him quite all since 
 there was no need of a long conversation 
 held in her grandmother's room, when the old 
 lady, after a series of questions, explanations 
 and arguments, became finally convinced that 
 this sole daughter of the house was not formed 
 in the mould of the Warners or Lyndals, and 
 with that conviction ceased to combat the inev- 
 itable. After all, her duty done, the outlook 
 had its comfortable aspects for old Mrs. Lyn- 
 dal. Dr. Kelsey was favored with the close 
 of the discussion in a greeting not unkindly, 
 but sufficiently stately to convey a suggestion
 
 "TO HAVE AND TO HOLD." 323 
 
 of the eminence to which he was to be ele- 
 vated. 
 
 w One favor I must beg, Dr. Kelsey, insist 
 upon indeed, that in making your plans you 
 shall not take Rachel permanently away from 
 us. Why should either of you wish it? You 
 cannot find in the town so pleasant a location. 
 The house is amply large, I am growing an 
 old woman now, and, invalid as I am, Rachel 
 will be, as she has been, virtually mistress here. 
 Then, with Judge Lyndal's frequent absences 
 you really must not think of any other 
 arrangement, at least for some time to come I " 
 
 It was not what either of them would have 
 chosen, but in those happy days they were ten- 
 derly considerate of all old ties, and the point 
 was yielded for the time. Oddly enough or 
 it would have seemed so to many of their 
 acquaintances had they talked much of it 
 among the pleasuring of the bridal tour was 
 planned a quiet, restful visit to the plain old 
 farmhouse among the hills, which Dr. Kelsey
 
 3 2 4 RACHEL'S SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 had once described, and in this prospect Rachel 
 fairly revelled. 
 
 " Do you know, I really wanted to see it that 
 night you described it to Nan?" she said, 
 "though, of course, I didn't think of going in 
 this way. How I did enjoy that evening ! It 
 was so queer and delightful." 
 
 "A little out of the ordinary boundaries, and 
 you are inclined to be lawless," the doctor de- 
 clared. "I enjoyed it too the first of it." 
 
 "You grew gloomy and solemn enough at 
 its close, and rode away with a romantically 
 melancholy and majestic air, poor Horace!" 
 she laughed. Then she grew grave again. 
 " I do so want to go to your home as you go to 
 it not visiting, but home," she said wistfully. 
 "Can I really do it, do you think, Horace? 
 Will it seem so to me and to them ? " 
 
 " You will like my mother, I know the 
 dearest, truest mother a man ever had ! " 
 
 "The first I shall ever have known," inter- 
 posed Rachel softly.
 
 "7Y> HAVE AND TO HOLDS' 325 
 
 " And as for her liking my wife " eye and 
 tone completed the sentence even without the 
 words which were added later, probably upon 
 due reflection : " Bless your brave, tender little 
 heart ! How can she help it? " 
 
 In proof of the different opinions that may 
 be held upon the same subject, however, Mr. 
 Stephen Corry, reviewing a little episode in 
 his own history, was at that moment remarking 
 to himself, 
 
 "After all, there are times when it would be 
 exceedingly inconvenient to have an exagger- 
 ated conscience for one's household divinity." 
 
 Who can tell by what strange ways tidings 
 travel ? Some way, the word of this marriage 
 to be, reached a tiny cabin on a far-away plain, 
 where, in her simple housekeeping, Hitty's 
 face had grown round again, and Joe's eyes 
 had regained their good-natured content as he 
 toiled, day after day, upon the little place, con- 
 cerning which he exultingly assured himself, 
 " It's better'n workin' for folks. Can't be turned
 
 326 RACHEL'S SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 off noways ; an* ain't them twins a-comin' up 
 hearty ? " 
 
 There was another question that he often 
 asked himself " How'd it 'a' been now if she 
 hadn't 'a' done it ? " Sometimes in the evening's 
 quiet rest, when the moonlight made a silvery 
 path through the open doorway, and the dron- 
 ing of insects was a chant of peace, or later, 
 when the small room glowed with its cheerful 
 autumn fire, the comfort of it all suggested 
 strange contrasts, and he asked the question of 
 Hitty, "S'pose she just hadn't V done it, 
 how'd it 'a' been now ? " 
 
 And Hitty, dropping her marvellous needle- 
 work in her lap, answered solemnly, 
 
 "Joe, there's things do be worse'n dyin', 
 that's how I " 
 
 This word which reached them caused many 
 consultations, that finally resolved into a defi- 
 nite shape. They wanted to contribute some- 
 thing to the grand occasion, and it must be 
 something magnificent.
 
 "TO HAVE AND TO HOLD." 3 2 7 
 
 " 'Cause common things don't be fit for her," 
 said Hitty ; " an' common grand things wouldn't 
 be like nothin', she do have so many." 
 
 But something uncommonly grand was dis- 
 covered nestled among the silk handkerchiefs, 
 slate-pencils, pins and buttons in the show-case 
 on the counter of a village store ; and when 
 once the admiring eyes of Joe and Hitty rested 
 upon it, nothing less was to be thought of. 
 They planned, worked and saved to purchase 
 it, and night after night for weeks, with heads 
 bent together over the table, they slowly scrib- 
 bled and printed, spelled and blotted, in the 
 arduous effort of producing an accompanying 
 epistle. 
 
 The result of all this care and labor reached 
 Rachel, on the morning before her wedding, 
 in a crumpled, oddly shaped, curiously ad- 
 dressed packet, at which she gazed wonder- 
 ingly. The document so tediously written was 
 slowly deciphered also ; but, through much 
 patience, Rachel learned of the humble little
 
 3 2 8 RACHEL'S SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 home, its welfare and content ; of how the gar- 
 den had flourished, and of the prospects of the 
 small farm for another year; of the prosperity 
 of Nip and Tuck, and of how Joe meant to do 
 his " level best " for Meg's children. It told, 
 too, awkwardly enough, but with a sincerity 
 beyond question, how they had counted the 
 days in their anxiety that their gift should 
 reach her in time, and how glad and proud they 
 would be to think of her as " a-wearin' of it to 
 be married." And would she sometime let 
 them know if she did? 
 
 Because of some allusions, and its suspi- 
 ciously strong expressions of gratitude, Rachel 
 dropped the missive upon a bed of glowing 
 coals when she had finished its reading ; but 
 .her eyes smiled with a sweet reverie as she 
 watched it turn to ashes. 
 
 "Horror!" exclaimed Miss Lisle, aroused 
 from her usual graceful composure into posi- 
 tive excitement, as she espied among silks, 
 flowers, laces and gems the bracelet that, away
 
 "7-<9 HAVE AND TO HOLD." 3 2 9 
 
 on the plain, was considered such a marvel of 
 beauty. "Where did that come from?" 
 
 "From Western friends good friends of 
 mine, though scarcely connoisseurs in precious 
 stones," answered Rachel, with the smile still 
 in her eyes. 
 
 But at evening she slipped the trinket on 
 her arm. 
 
 " That gaudy, brassy thing, set with a bit of 
 blue glass ! Rachel, of what are you think- 
 ing ? You surely will not wear it ? " questioned 
 Annice in astonishment. 
 
 The girl looked at it wistfully. 
 
 " It will be but for a few minutes ; it will 
 harm no one, and it will give so much pleasure 
 
 somewhere. See, Nan, this fall of lace 
 nearly hides it." 
 
 It did, indeed, like an exquisite frost-work 
 
 a delicate tracery of vines and leaves, 
 through which only an occasional gleam of 
 the obnoxious ornament was visible. Annice 
 said no more, but she surveyed again the toilet,
 
 33 RACHEL'S SHARE OF THE ROAD. 
 
 perfect to its minutest detail of ornament, clasp 
 and bow, in which she was herself to appear 
 as bridesmaid, and meditated. 
 
 " How can she ? It is not so much what 
 others would see, as knowing it myself, that 
 would trouble me. It is the sense of fitness 
 through and through that marks the perfect 
 lady. The thought of wearing anything 
 cheap or false at my bridal would be positive 
 pain to me." 
 
 But to Rachel that circlet was not so incon- 
 gruous, and it brought a thrill of grateful glad- 
 ness as she caught a glint of its doubtful gold 
 through the fineness and beauty above it. It 
 did not make less tender, true or strong the 
 hand she gave that night, and the memory of 
 the words which had accompanied it added 
 depth to many of the more elegant congratula- 
 tions showered upon her. 
 
 All this, however, was but one little episode 
 of the occasion a slender thread whose weav- 
 ing in and out was invisible to those who
 
 "TO HAVE AND TO HOLD." 33 1 
 
 beheld the grand whole. For, notwithstanding 
 the earnest preference of both Rachel and Dr. 
 Kelsey for a more quiet marriage, the Judge 
 had, in great measure, his way. The old 
 house bloomed into a splendor that called forth 
 admiration and some envious sighs, with not a 
 few spoken and mental assertions that Dr. 
 Kelsey was a fortunate man. And he, look- 
 ing into the clear eyes uplifted to his, called 
 himself more than fortunate, even blessed. 
 But he knew, as no other could, what had 
 been and would be Rachel's share of the road. 
 
 Mrs. Shackles, watching the gleaming lights 
 from afar, did not forbid the bans. 
 
 "S'pose there'll be less chance to sell 'em 
 motherwort an' boneset, with a doctor in the 
 fam'ly so ; but then there'll be one more to eat 
 the berries. Don't know as I've any objec- 
 tions, Humphrey Shackles."
 
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