o es Hn fetes sits tafe) ites 3 : GES and ®abor. LIBRARY OF THE versity of Illinois. BOOK. VOLUME. gg al or < m - * * £ ‘i 3 © a Ce eed y eat ik on ee ye Me e {mews & yey Bi ae THE ROYAL MARINE at ray ame -e2 [See page 139 PIR Ss DDEN IN U AS EK HAD i" zs Sa wn 2 . fe fro pa wa © THE ROYAL MARINE Fn Tdyl of Warragansett Pier BY BRANDER MATTHEWS AUTHOR OF ‘THE STORY OF A STORY, AND OTHER STORIES” “VIGNETTES OF MANHATTAN” ETO, ILLUSTRATED NEW YORK HARPER & BROTHERS PUBLISHERS 1894 oy - CONTENTS CHAP, PAGE I. JUDGE GILLESPIE’S LUNCHEON. . a Il LITTLE MAT HITCHCOCK’S CRAB- BING-PARTY ° . e . ° ° . 30 III. THE HOP AT THE CASINO Re a ci IV. THE MORNING SERVICE AT THE CEReEEE OES oe” "+ gs eee ee V. MISS MARLENSPUYK’S READING- LITE, os Re a eee” Mamie ate eS 3) VI. THE CONCERT AT THE CASINO. . 116 S815 ILLUSTRATIONS “HE HAD A SUDDEN INSPIRATION”. . . . Frontispiece “5 Ss . ‘ . : ‘ f ¢ a : . Fs. oval | = he aJ x2 - “ ' i x, F - mA 75 he caught the girlish langh of the wom- an he loved. He started back into the shadow as some of the party stepped out on the baleony. He recognized the slight figure of a married sister of Mr. Beeckman Bleecker’s, who had been ma- tronizing the young ladies Mr. Cable J. Dexter had entertained at supper. Be- hind the matron of the party Payn saw Miss Hectorina Carroll. He stepped forward and said that he was very glad to see her once more. She did not seem surprised to meet him again at that hour. Leading her to a corner of the broad promenade away from the others, he de- clared that he had been trying all the evening to tell her that he loved her, and that he would be a most miserable man unless she would marry him. It seemed to him that she was taken wholly by surprise, and that she hesitated for a moment, and that finally she told him 76 that she really did not know what to say, for she was wholly unprepared for his proposal, and although she liked him very well, she did not know whether she loved him at all. Payn was encouraged that she did not reject him absolutely, and he urged his suit ardently. Finally she agreed to give him his answer on Mon- day evening, and during the two inter- vening days she promised to investigate her feelings, and to discover whether she did not really love him a little already. Then she bade him to go back to his dark corner, for she would not have Vir- gie Chubb guess what had been going on —no, not for worlds! She did not forbid him to come to see her during the two days of her self-examination, and finally she permitted him to kiss her hand. Then she left him and went back to the others. Payn sat silently in the shadow, listening to the laughter 77 of the young ladies at the outbreaks of Dexter’s easy humor. At last the ma- tron declared that it was time for girls to go to bed; and then they went down- stairs, all in high spirits as becomes a supper-party—all except the Royal Ma- rine, to whose silence Virgie Chubb made a jocular allusion as they were passing out of hearing. Every word of this brief conversation of his with the woman he loved was present to Payn’s memory as he sat in his chair in the corner, with his cigar in his hand—a cigar extinct and only half smoked. When the clock of the Casino struck one he roused himself with an effort. He had been asleep again. Then all at once he found himself wide-awake, and wondering whether he had been to sleep more than once— whether he had not been dreaming when he thought he saw her return, and when 78 he told her that he loved her, and when she promised to give him a final answer in forty-eight hours. Had the Royal Marine really stood before him after the Supper was over? Had he really pro- posed? Or was it all an hallucination on his part? Before now, more than once, his visions had taken on the sharpness of reality ; and he had long lingered in doubt as to whether some of them were actual occurrences or mere phantasms of the fancy. None had been more vivid than this; none had ever had the importance of this; and none had ever — puzzled him as this did. It was very late when at last he went to bed, worn out with perplexity and vexed by a problem he found insoluble. Finally he recalled the well-known habit of dreams to repeat themselves, and he determined to submit the question to this test, and to abide by the result. If he The 79 should dream again the whole interview with Hectorina, his proposal and her promise of a decision on Monday, then it had been but a dream the first time; it was untrue; it had not happened. If, on the other hand, he did not dream it again, then it was true; it had happened; she knew that he loved her; and she would give him his answer in forty- eight hours. Having thus resolved, he tumbled into bed. But he did not dream, as he was not able to sleep. CHAPTER IV THE MORNING SERVICE AT THE CHURCH Tue next morning, at a quarter before eleven, when the bell ceased to ring in the unfinished tower, the little stone church at Narragansett Pier was crowd- ed to the doors, as it always is in the month of Angust. The day was hot with a mellow summer heat, but an oc- casional breeze which blew lazily from behind Point Judith rustled the branch- es of the young maples beside the church, and rippled the varying greenness of the ivy which clad the rough stone walls of the sacred edifice. Within the building there was an increasing fluttér of fans. Miss Hectorina Carroll sat with her brother and her grandmother in a pow 81 on the centre aisle, almost exactly ona line with the organ, in front of which’ Mr. Warren Payn had taken his place long before the congregation began to arrive. In the pew behind her were Miss Marlenspuyk and Judge Gillespie, and also Mr. Mather Hitchcock and his mother. On the other side of the aisle Miss Virgie Chubb occupied the fore- most pew, having next to her, and to re- lieve the flippant levity of her floating draperies, the solid figure of Mr. Cable J. Dexter. Not far from these were Mr. Hill-Bunker with Mr. Beeckman Bleeck- er’s married sister, and Mr. Beeckman Bleecker with the unmarried sister of Mr. Hill-Bunker. Here and there throughout the church were scattered most of the girls whose acquaintance Warren Payn had made during his four weeks’ stay at the Pier. But he was not conscious of them. The Royal Marine 6 82 had been one of the first to arrive, and as the musician had seen her enter the door he had turned to the organ, reso- lutely refusing to meet her eye. In the state of doubt in which he found him- self he simply did not dare to look her in — the face. He did not know whether he had told her that he loved her or not; he did not know whether she had lis- tened to him or not; he did not know on what footing he stood; indeed, he seemed to walk in slippery places and to go in danger of an irreparable fall; he felt himself to be tied in a tangle of doubt and difficulty. As the service advanced he became calmer. Though he did not look at the Royal Marine, he asked himself whether or not she had seen him, half hidden as he was at the side of the church. When the time came at last for his Te Deum, and the organist slipped out from before 83 the instrument and offered the place to him, he wondered whether she had no- ticed the substitution. Of course he had told her about his Te Deum—what can young men talk about but their own deeds?—and she had been kept informed of the difficulties which had arisen to delay its performance. She had been enlightened as to all the peculiarities of all the singers of the amateur quartet who were to render it. She was familiar with the conceit of the tenor, with the selfishness of the soprano, with the jeal- ousy of the contralto, and with the stu- pidity of the bass. She had been indig- nant at their want of appreciation for his music, and she had laughed heart- ily at his account of the wiles whereby he had soothed the vanity and suscepti- bility of the singers. As the quartet stood up beside him he put her out of his thoughts for the mo- 84 ment, and concentrated his attention on the execution of his composition. As often happens, the singers did better than he had expected; even the bass remembered for once the suggestions which he had forgotten regularly at every rehearsal. And the composer’s share of the work was excellent; his music was fresh and firm; it was scholar- ly and yet modern; it was truly dramat- ic, asa Te Deum ought to be, without being in any way operatic and theatri- cal, as so many Te Deums are; it was not great, for Warren Payn was not a great composer, but it was not common- place; it had a certain individuality, not to call it originality. It had also what much modern music composed for the services of the church lacks absolutely— it had fervor; and while the singers were rendering it far better than the compos- er had hoped, he felt relieved of all his 85 own worries and anxieties. For the mo- ment at least he was lifted out of him- self. But after the Te Deum was ended, when he had given up the seat at the instrument tothe organist, and when the service went on, the artistic excitement which had buoyed him up faded away, and he was reduced again to a condition of miserable doubt. Even when the good old bishop went into the pulpit and gave out his text, “‘ Love one another,” and began to deliver the sermon, Warren Payn was not able to concentrate his attention on the wise words of the prel- ate, who was addressing himself directly to the modern men and women he saw before him, and who set forth a lofty ideal in the plainest and most common- sense manner. The composer had a seat by the organ, and he had right before him and not twenty feet away the pro- 86 file of the woman he loved. At first he scarcely ventured to glance at her, but when he saw that she was intent on the preacher, and unconscious of anybody else, he was emboldened to let his eyes rest on her longingly. She was listen- ing to the sermon, gazing steadily at the bishop. Her lover gazed steadily at her, listening but little. As she sat there before him, while the summer sunlight filled the church, he thought that he had never seen her look- ing more lovely or more lovable. She sat erect in the pew, her firm, full figure carrying her head vigorously and grace- fully. Her large eyes were fixed on the bishop, and her color came and went in response to the simple eloquence of the sermon. Her dress—of which her lover took but little note, save that he had a confused impression of a medley of green and brown and white, one tender 87 tint melting into another and mingling with it inextricably—set off the fresh- ness of her young complexion. The delicate tones of her attire made him see a sudden likeness to a flower, the calyx being her broad white straw hat with its warped and flaring brim. To the man whose eyes were fixed upon her with loving devotion she seemed as pure as the blossom of a vine in the spring-time, and he noted with delight the tiny tendrils of hair which escaped from her broad braids, and curled care- lessly about her neck here and there and down over her forehead. When he had made an end of staring —that is, when he was suddenly strick- en with remorse at the rudeness of which he had been guilty—he glanced about, wondering how it was that every one in the church was not also looking at her, The young musician flushed 88 with indignation when he discovered that Mr. Dexter had settled himself sideways so that he could see Miss Car- roll without the trouble of turning his neck, and that the Westerner was taking advantage of this attitude most of the time. Farther back and on one side Warren Payn saw Mr. Hill-Bunker and Mr. Beeckman Bleecker, and he saw that they were both looking at the Roy- al Marine as often as they dared. Lit- tle Mat Hitchcock, too, rarely took his eye off her. When Payn detected these things he was annoyed that he had to share the sight of her with others. He wished that he had the right to tell them all that she belonged to him, and that if they wished to gaze at her bean- ty they must ask his permission ; and he did not know whether he would grant the privilege or refuse it. . The sermon drew to its conclusion. 89 The Royal Marine was still listening with unflagging interest, only now and again taking her attention from the preacher to keep Her Majesty’s Mid- shipmite in order, and to remind him of the sanctity of the edifice wherein they were. Perhaps she was not wholly un- conscious of the admiring glances cast upon her, for she was aware that her gown and her hat were both becoming to her; but she did not pay these tokens of admiration the return compliment of seeming to see them. She kept her eyes fixed on the bishop; not once did they wander towards the organ, where the man who loved her was sitting in self-torment. He dreaded to meet her eye, and yet he could not understand how it was that she never once glanced in his direction all that morning. He wished that he could go to her boldly and demand her reasons for refusing to 90 look at him. Then he remembered the meeting on the bridge of the Casino the night before—if, indeed, there had real- ly been any meeting—and all his doubts came back upon him again with redoub- led force. He did not know how to ap- proach her, and therefore he did not dare make an effort to speak to her. He was sure, in fact, that he ought to avoid speaking to her. A shiver of fear seized him, and he resolved to keep away from her until he could find out just what had happened the night before. Then the bishop brought his sermon to an end at last, and the rector gave — out a hymn. While this was being sung Warren Payn saw Miss Marlenspuyk looking at him intently. She was close behind the Royal Marine. He under- stood at once what she meant. She had promised to help him to a quiet talk with the woman he loved. She had 91 agreed to lure away Grandma, so that he could walk home from church with ’Rina, and propose to her then and there. But this agreement was made before he had gone to sleep on the bridge of the Casino. When he had made it he want- ed to be left alone with the Royal Ma- rine; now there was nothing he was more afraid of. Unfortunately it was impossible to convey to Miss Marlen- spuyk across the crowded pews of the church any information as to this com- plete change of his wishes. She was firmly convinced, of course, that he still desired a chance to tell the young lady that he loved her. Being so convinced, she would surely so manceuvre as to ac- complish her purpose. She was arbi- trary, as the lover knew; and she was adroit ; and what she had determined to do was likely to be done. She would certainly arrange an interview between 92 him and the Royal Marine, despite his utmost endeavor. If he came within her reach after service it would be im- possible for him to escape her. She would carry out his supposed desires unfailingly and unflinchingly, no. mat- ter how he might struggle to prevent it. While the congregation were singing the doxology he came to a resolution. He dared not face ’Rina then, and as the only way to prevent Miss Marlenspuyk from bringing about a meeting he made up his mind to remain in church until the congregation had dispersed. He determined not to leave his harbor of refuge near the organ until he was as- sured that the coast was clear. There- fore when there was a general move- ment after the benediction he sat still. He refused to catch Miss Marlenspuyk’s eye, or to accept the invitation it con- en 95 veyed. He was glad that the old maid and Judge Gillespie and the Royal Ma- rine and Her Majesty’s Midshipmite and Grandma all made ready to move down the centre aisle together. If Miss Mar- Jenspuyk had been nearer to him he knew he would have been unable to re- sist her. As it was, she seemed sur- prised that he did not come forward at once to join them, and she made excuses for delay, so as to give him ample op- portunity. Then, when at last the little group started towards the door of the church, Miss Marlenspuyk put up her glasses for a final glance in his direction. To all these mute but obvious entreaties he remained insensible, and the party passed down the aisle, and left him still at the organ in apparent unconscious- ness of their presence. It seemed to him that there was an expression of sur- _ prise which flitted for a moment across 94 the face of the woman he loved as she saw that he failed to come forward to join her. As Cable J. Dexter and Virgie Chubb passed before the organ they both looked at the musician and smiled quizzically. That smile puzzled him. What did it mean? What did they know? They had been at the.Casino the night before, and perhaps they had overheard his pro- posal—that is,if he had proposed. Their smile could not mean that they sus- pected the strange dilemma in which he was placed. That was impossible, of course; and yet there was something in their expression which he could not ex- - plain. In his perplexity he turned and looked after them, and framed in the stone doorway, standing in front of the broad wooden doors decorated with iron anchors, recalling those on the skirt of the yachting-dress in which he had first 95 seen her, was the Royal Marine, who had paused to say good-morning to La Marguerite. In haste he turned his back to the door, and addressed himself to the quar- tet, who had also lingered. He thanked them for the trouble they had taken with his Te Deum ; and he listened po- litely to the suggestion of the soprano that if she ever sung it again there were two bars of her solo that she hoped he would transpose for her, as she at least was not afraid of taking a high note. Then, when they also were gone, so- prano and tenor, contralto and bass, the composer delayed the organist in need- less talk for ten minutes longer, for fear that Miss Marlenspuyk might have de- vised some means of detaining the Roy- al Marine. When at last he ventured forth, and was walking swiftly towards his hotel, 96 looking neither to the right nor to the left, he almost stumbled over Her Maj- esty’s Midshipmite. “Excuse me,” he stammered out, scarcely daring to raise his eyes for fear that the boy’s sister might be near at hand. “Oh, it’s Mr. Payn!” said the boy. “ How are you?” “Tm very well, thank you,” he re- sponded. “You don’t look well,” the boy re- turned. “ You look scared.” | “Do I?” he asked, helplessly. “?Deed you do,” was the response of Her Majesty’s Midshipmite, who had on the sailor suit in which Payn had first seen him, and the same sailor hat, with H. M.S. Victory stamped in gold on its band. “T’m ina hurry,” explained the young man. iy Bt x Treo aney, 97 “Oh, I say, Mr. Payn,” the boy con- tinned, “Sister “Rina was asking about you this morning.” “About me?” echoed the composer, stopping abruptly in his walk. ‘ What —what did she say ?” “She was talking to Miss Chubb— Virgie Chubb, you know—” “Yes, I know, I know,” the young man repeated. “ And she said,” the boy went on— “she said she wanted to know whether you were awake yet. Had you been getting up late, Mr. Payn ?” But the boy got no answer to his ques- tion, for Mr. Payn was striding away impatiently. 7 CHAPTER V MISS MARLENSPUYK’S READING-HOUR Warren Payn freed himself from Her Majesty’s Midshipmite as swiftly as he could, and as courteously, for he remembered always that the boy was her brother. Then he walked rapidly towards the beach. He knew that the Royal Marine never “ went in” on Sun- day, and a glimpse of the Casino clock told him that the bathing-hour was al- most past. On his way to the water he - met the bathers swarming back to their hotels for the early Sunday dinner. By the time he was ready for his swim the beach was almost deserted, save for a few belated excursionists. The surf was high and fierce, just what he would have 99 wished it to be, and after he had bat- tled with it for nearly half an hour he felt as though he had washed himself free of many doubts. Refreshed by his watery exercise, he was able to take a dispassionate view of his strange posi- tion. While he was dressing he made up his mind to go and tell the whole story to Miss Marlenspuyk. He was in dire want of advice, and he felt also the irresistible pressure of a desire to have a confidant. And he knew no one to whom he could go but the old maid, who had always befriended him, and who, indeed, had introduced him to the woman he loved. Besides, Miss Marlenspuyk was a very clever woman, and her advice was likely to be worth taking. Having determined to consult her and to act according to her suggestions, the composer finished his toilet and walked to the Casino. In 100 his present frame of mind he was not willing to sit through the long hotel dinner, and to talk to his neighbors at table on the usual personal topics, so he went into the Casino and dined by him- self. Then he smoked a cigar on one of the rear verandas, undisturbed by any one. At last the time came when he knew that Miss Marlenspuyk, having finished her dinner also, would have set- tled down to read the Sunday papers, which she used to call her Half-Hour with the Worst Authors. He found her alone in her favorite corner at one end of the veranda of: her hotel. She was seated in a little rock- ing-chair ; she had on her neat little gold spectacles; she held in her hand one sheet of a Sunday newspaper, and the other sheets lay in waves about her feet. It was obvious that she had been read- ing the latest news from Europe, and 101 that some princeling or kinglet had been getting himself into trouble. “TJ don’t see,” she began, as the mu- sician drew up a chair and took his seat beside her—‘ I don’t see why the people of Europe should be bothered with the personal peculiarities of their royal fami- lies. I never could understand why one of the higher anthropoid apes could not be trained to discharge all the func- tions of a constitutional monarch—could you ?” He looked at her as though he did not apprehend what she was saying. He was so engrossed with his own perplex- ity that he could not listen to anything else. “Miss Marlenspuyk,” he began, draw- ing his chair a little closer, and speak- ing in subdued tones, “can I tell you a story ?” Wait till ve taken my glasses off,” 102 the old maid responded, ‘‘and then you can tell me anything.” “Thank you,” he began. “ Indeed,” she interrupted, “ there are several things I want you to tell me very much. Why did you avoid me this morning when I was keeping my prom- ise to you—when I had Grandma under _ control, so that you could walk with Rina and ask her to marry you? Id like to know what explanation you have to offer of your extraordinary conduct. Even before I hear it, I want to tell you that I think you are a most negligent and dilatory wooer. Perhaps you can explain your strange behavior. I hope - you can; but I assure you I shall be very exacting and hard to please. Giv- ing you this solemn warning, by way of encouragement, I'll let you have the floor—as they say in Washing- ton.” 3 103 Having said this, she took off her spectacles, and put them into a little leather case marked with her monogram. Then she folded the portion of the news- paper she had on her lap, and laid it on the chair which supported her feet. Picking up the other sheets of the paper from the floor of the veranda, she folded them also, one by one, and placed them on top of the first portion. When she had made an end of this she looked up at the young man who was waiting silent beside her. “Well?” she said at last, with a rising inflection. Well,” he echoed, hesitating,“ I don’t really know where to begin—” “So I perceive,” she interrupted. “But I suppose,” he gained courage to say—“ I suppose I had best begin at the beginning—” “You had best begin somewhere,” 104 she declared, “or you will never be able to end at the end.” “The real beginning is this, I think,” he responded. “I’m absent - minded, and I’m given to day-dreams, and so sometimes I don’t really know whether I’ve done something or whether Pve only dreamed it.” “As a girl, I used to dream that I could fly,” said the old maid; “but when I waked up I always knew I couldn’t. dn fact, ’ve never been in doubt about any of my dreams. But what have you been dreaming about now, and how did any dream prevent your proposing to the Royal Marine this morning when I had cleared the way for you?” “That’s just it,” he explained, pite- ously. ‘ve dreamed that Pve pro- posed to her—or at least I may have dreamed it, or I may have done it; I don’t know.” oe eee 105 Miss Marlenspuyk turned and faced him, and looked him full in the eye. “ Well,’ she said at last, “I think you had best begin at the very beginning and tell me the whole story.” So he told her the whole story, and she listened intently, not interrupting him once. When he had made an end of his tale she drew a long breath. “Do you mean to tell me,” she asked, “that you really don’t know whether you have proposed marriage to Miss Hectorina Carroll or not?” = That’s just it,” he urged. “I was so dazed from dozing that ’m uncer- tain whether I was asleep or awake at the time when [ thought I was propos- ing to her.” “Why, [never heard of such a thing in all my life!” she declared. “No,” he admitted, with a pitiful pride. “ I suppose it is a unique experience.” 106 “ Unique?” she repeated. “I should think so! Of course I know that every man is the HOae of his own dreams, but then—” Apparently wor eh failed her, for she broke off abruptly. He sat silent, not knowing what to say. “Well,” she began again at last, “they say it’s impossible to have both tact and truth, and I’ve prided myself that I had at least tact; but I must say that you have put yourself into a most puzzling predicament. What are you going to do?” : “That’s just what I came to you to find out,” he said, imploringly. “ You are my only friend, and you are so clever, and I will do exactly what you tell me.” “But I don’t know what to tell you,” she responded. 107 “Perhaps I had best go straight to Rina,” he suggested, “and throw my- self on her mercy, and ask her whether I have proposed to her—” “ Certainly not!” declared Miss Mar- lenspuyk—“ that is, if you do want to marry her.” “Of course I do!” he assured her. “No girl would marry you,” the old maid returned, “after you had confessed to her that you really didn’t know whether you had proposed to her or not. You can see that for yourself. You must not ask her. Indeed, you mustn’t see her—you must keep out of her sight until we can find out whether you have asked her to marry you or not. You say she didn’t accept you?” “She didn’t accept me—no,” he an- swered ; “but she didn’t reject me either. She asked for time—and if I have time too, I’m sure I can persuade her to love 108 me, can’t 1? But I can’t if you won't let me see her.” “Do you suppose she would consult Grandma?” asked Miss Marlenspuyk. “T don’t know,” he replied. “She’s very independent, you see. She does her own thinking. But then she may have told her grandmother, perhaps.” “Tf she has told Grandma,” the old maid declared, “I can find out, for Mrs. Carroll won’t keep a secret from me— that is, if I really want to know it. If she has told Grandma, then we are all right, because you will know that you were awake when you proposed to her, and that she is to give you an answer to-morrow, and you can put forth all your powers of persuasion in the mean- time. But if she hasn’t told Grandma, then we are no better off, because we don’t know whether she is merely keep- ing her own counsel, or whether you 109 did propose in your sleep, after all. Still, we have a chance, and I will seek out Mrs. Carroll at once.” “Thank you,” said the young man, deeply grateful. “ But we must not count on that; for, as you said, the Royal Marine is very independent,” Miss Marlenspuyk went on. “And there really isn’t anybody else to help us out; for when you pro- posed—that is, if you did propose at all —nobody heard you but ’Rina, and we can’t ask her. Who else was at the sup- per ?” Payn gave her the name of Mr. Dex- ter’s guests. “ Virgie Chubb —I don’t like her ; she has no manners at all,” said Miss Marlenspuyk. “ But she is fond of hear- ing herself talk. Perhaps I could cross- question her without getting a crooked answer.” 110 “Do you think she overheard me pro- pose?” asked the young man, recalling the quizzical expression in the faces of Mr. Dexter and Miss Chubb as they had passed him in church that morning. He flushed red at the thought of his conversation with the woman he loved having been heard by La Marguerite. And yet at the same time he would have been glad if he were absolutely sure that she had overheard, for it would release him from his uncomfortable un- certainty. “T think she is quite capable of lis- tening,” said the old maid, “ whether she heard anything of importance or not. So is that Dexter man—though he is a man, after all, and twice too good for her. I will say for her, however, that she has the grace to be a little afraid of me. She knows who I am, of course, and she will be greatly complimented if 111 I stop and speak to her this evening after tea. So if she knows anything I ean find that out. And perhaps, as you say, she did overhear your proposal— that is, of course, if you did propose at all, which is what we want to discover.” Warren Payn could not but wince a little every time Miss Marlenspuyk im- paled him on the horns of his dilemma. “ You are very good to me,” he said, dolefully. ‘Tm really very much interested in your case,” she replied ; “ it is so extraor- dinary that I want to know the end of it, just as if it were a sensational novel.” He looked at her plaintively. “What am I to do,” he asked at last, “while you are doing all these things for me ?” “Do? she answered. “You must keep out of the way of the Royal Ma- rine, for one thing.” 112 “But Pve an engagement with her for this afternoon,” he cried, sorrowful- ly. “We are all going to the Rocks together at five o’clock—she and I and half a dozen more.” “You had best let her and half a dozen more go to the Rocks without you for once,” Miss Marlenspuyk replied. “In fact, you had best go way for twenty-four hours.” “Leave the Pier?’ he said, sadly. ‘Where must I go?” The old maid was touched by his will- ingness to obey her. “You need not go far,” she answered ; “oo to Newport. And you need not stay long; come back to-morrow after- noon.” “ But what reason can I give for go- ing, and for breaking my engagement to walk on the Rocks?” he asked. She reached forward and picked up 113 the folded Sunday newspaper on the chair before her. “Didn’t you tell me that you had promised to explain to Mr. Joshua Hoff- man all about the new organ you want for St. Martha’s ?” she inquired. “ Yes,” he answered. “ What of it ?” “T suppose you haven’t read any of the papers this morning?” she queried. “Jf you had, you would have seen that Mr. Joshua Hoffman is now at New- port, and that he leaves there to-mor- row, and that he starts on Tuesday for Kurope, to be gone all winter. Now, go back to your hotel, and write a non- committal note to the Royal Marine, telling her that you have to go over to Newport at once to see Mr. Hoffman, but that you will return in the morn- ing, and that you hope to see her to- morrow evening. So it will be all right, whether you have proposed or 8 114 not, and whether she has promised to give you an answer to-morrow evening or not.” “T see,” he said, with a flash of re- viving hope. “Then,” she went on, “after you have sent that note, you take a horse and go over to Newport. I suppose you had best see Mr. Hoffman if you can, and tell him what he wants to know. But go to the Ocean House, and as soon as I have had a chat with Grandma and a talk with La Marguerite I will tele- graph you. Perhaps the telegram will put you out of your misery, and per- haps it won’t. But I will do my best for you. Now be off with you!” “J will go at once,” he said, rising with alacrity. “Iwill do anything you tell me. And how can I ever thank you for all the trouble you are taking for me ?” | . \ > Reds eed a . Siete) er eee 115 “ Well,’ the old maid answered, “vou can repay me easily. If you ever do propose to ’Rina, and she accepts you, and you are married, you must make her happy, and I shall be doubly paid. She is a dear girl, and I am very fond of her.” CHAPTER VI THE CONCERT AT THE CASINO Tue vast verandas of the Ocean House at Newport were almost deserted at ten o’clock that Sunday night, when War- ren Payn returned from a_ prolonged and ineffectual endeavor to find Mr. Joshua Hoffman. The musician went to the office of the hotel for the key of his room, resolved to go to bed and try to sleep. With the key the clerk handed him a telegram, which he tore. open with feverish haste, hoping that it would put him out of his misery at last. The telegram was from Miss Marlen- spuyk, and it read as follows: ‘Grandma knows nothing. The Daisy 117 _—— says she heard you snore. Don’t think she heard anything else.” Unconscious of his acts, Payn dropped the flimsy paper on the desk of the ho- tel office, and stared the hotel clerk straight in the eye. Then he recovered himself, and picked up the telegram and read it again. It gave him no cer- tain information, and it left him in darkness and in doubt as before. Ap- parently there was absolutely no one who knew whether or not he had asked the Royal Marine to marry him except that young lady herself, and she was evidently resolved to keep her own counsel. In disgust at the absurd situation in whieh he still found himself, the young man crushed the telegram in his hand and flung it into the waste-basket. Then he stooped and picked it up, and read it a third time. As he did so a faint 118 ray of hope appeared. Miss Marlen- spuyk was not sure that Virgie Chubb had not overheard his proposal. The telegram declared, “Don’t think she heard anything else.” But this was only » the old maid’s opinion. Perhaps she was in error. Perhaps The Daisy knew more than she was willing to let Miss Marlenspuyk guess. There was a dim and remote chance here, and, feeble as it was, the composer clung to it eagerly. He looked at his watch, and found that it was nearly a quarter after ten; and he knew that it was hopeless for him to attempt to return to the Pier at that hour on a Sunday night. So he possessed his soul in patience, and went to his room and to bed, and after a while to sleep. His- slumber was broken and fitful, yet it was solid enough in its fragments to allow a troop of nightmares to ride rough-shod over 119 him, one after the other, each swifter of pace than the other, and more terrible of aspect. : Towards morning he fell into a deeper sleep, and he had a strange dream. He dreamed that he saw Miss Virgie Chubb growing out of the sands of the sea- shore, an actual daisy, and that Miss Marlenspuyk stood over her, plucking the petals one by one, and saying, “ He did—he didn’t.” Payn knew at once that the old maid was trying to discover whether or not he had proposed to the Royal Marine, and in his dream he thought it a most excellent device, and he wondered why it had not occurred to him before. With a lively desire to learn whether he did or he didn’t, he watched the fatal operation upon La Marguerite ; but, of course, before any final decision was reached he waked out of his sleep, still in uncertainty. 120 After breakfast he attempted again to find Mr. Hoffman, and this time he succeeded. When he had made an end of the business which was his excuse for being in Newport, the morning was wellnigh gone. Payn rode back to Narragansett Pier, arriving at his own hotel just as the dinner-bell rang. He had been gone a little less than twenty- four hours, and his trip across the bay had given him a sufficient excuse, for keeping away from the woman he loved. But now he was back at the Pier, and he was bare of excuses, and he did not know what it was best for him to do next. Naturally he went again to see Miss Marlenspuyk, entering her hotel by the side door, and peering about the veran- da to make sure that neither Mrs. Car- roll nor her granddaughter was with the old maid. 121 When at last he approached Miss Marlenspuyk her first words encouraged . him. “You needn’t look so scared,” she said; “the Royal Marine isn’t here. Really I feel sorry for you—but I sup- pose people with the artistic tempera- ment are always more emotional. Some- times I find myself doubting whether the game of life is worth the candle— and I’m sure it isn’t, if you burn the candle at both ends, as you are doing now. You look as white as a ghost with the dyspepsia.” “ How is she?” he asked; “‘and where is she ?” | “She is very well,” Miss Marlenspuyk answered, “and she has gone with Grand- ma to spend the day with a Southern friend who has a house half-way down to Point Judith—so you can’t see her till to-morrow.” 122 “Then I don’t believe I proposed to her,” he returned, promptly. ‘ Because, if I did, she agreed to give me an an- swer to-night, and if she had made that agreement I’m sure she wouldn’t break it by going away for the evening.” “JT thought you didn’t want to see her till you had found out absolutely whether you had spoken or not,” Miss Marlenspuyk retorted. | “T don’t know what I want,” he an- swered. ‘Of course I want to see her, for ’m not happy out of her sight. And then, again, while I’m in this un- certainty I’m afraid to go near her, for fear some stupid blunder of mine may spoil all my chances. It’s a very em- barrassing situation, isn’t it?” “It is indeed,” she responded, sym- pathetically. “I wish I had been able to help you out of it. But Grandma didn’t know anything—that I’m sure 123 of—and La Marguerite wouldn’t tell me anything, if she knows it—and [’m sure I don’t know whether she does or not.” “T’ll talk to her myself,” the musician declared. “I'll get it ont of her some- how. I think she will be so glad to tease me that if she knows anything she will be quite incapable of keeping it to herself.” “Yes,” said Miss Marlenspuyk, re- flectively, “I suppose you could coax an underbred girl like that to talk about anything—even about her own eaves- dropping.” ‘And then, even if I don’t learn any- thing from her, ?m going to make an end of this suspense,” he went on. “I can’t stand it any longer. I’ve got to do something. I’ve got to know the truth—I don’t mean about my proposal —I mean about ’Rina. LTve got to 124 know whether she loves me or not. I’m so worried now that m getting desperate.” “IT can understand that, you poor boy,” she said, commiseratingly. “ Yet they say that eels get used to being skinned, and that the lobsters no longer mind being boiled to death. You have been in hot water so long now that I thought perhaps—” She caught his eyes fixed on Bie. re- proachfully, and so she broke off. “Tf she refuses me now,” he declared, “after all this, I don’t know what I shall do!” “T can tell you what to do this after- noon,” the old maid responded. ‘Go and play tennis—play hard—play until it is too dark to see the balls. That’s where you men have the advantage of us poor women. You can take violent exercise and drive away care, while all 125 we can do is to sew—and sewing is so insipid. Tve seen the time when I felt like running the needle into my heart.”’ It was a relief for him to laugh lightly at her vehemence, as he rose from the chair beside her. “Your advice is good,” he returned, “Cas it always is; and I’ll take it, and take the exercise. I wish I could get little Mat Hitchcock to play with me. Id make it uncomfortable for him to-day ; and he fancies himself at tennis too!” She smiled in her turn. ‘ There,” she said, “run along now and _ play. And if you get any information out of La Marguerite, let me know at once, won't you?” : “Of course I will,’ he responded, taking his leave. She watched him as he walked away with the springing step of youth. She 126 smoothed her white hair, and sighed gently; then she adjusted her glasses, and took up her sewing again. As it happened, the first man whom Warren Payn met as he came out on the tennis-grounds of the Casino was little Mat Hitchcock, who promptly ac- cepted his challenge. They were both good average players, neither of them of tournament rank, but that afternoon they played the best tennis of their lives. The first set was the hardest fought, and Payn won it finally, 10-8, and he won all the others—7—5, 6-4, 6-8, 6-8, 6-0. This love-set was too much for little Mat; he lost his temper, and threw his racket on the court indig- _nantly, and said that he had never seen a such luck in his life, and that it was simply disgusting. So the musician went to his hotel tired, of course, but in a far happier frame of mind. He M 127 took a bath, and had a sharp appetite for his supper. After the usual evening repast in Au- gust at the Pier—bluefish and black- berries—he lighted a cigarette, and strolled leisurely back to the Casino. He wished to be there early, because the leader of the little orchestra had asked his permission to include in the programme of that evening a selection from Dontezwma, Warren Payn’s only comic opera, which had been sung dur- ing a brief season at one of the New York theatres three or four years before. At the very moment when the com- poser was lighting a second cigarette, Miss Marlenspuyk, in the parlor of her __ hotel, was surprised by a visit from the Royal Marine. “But I thought you were not going to be back till late to-night !” she cried, in astonishment. 128 “Tt looked a little like it was going to rain after supper,” the young lady an- swered, “and Grandma reckoned she’d rather be back here. But now we are here, Grandma allows it won’t rain, and she wants to know if you’ll go over to the Casino with us this evening.” Miss Marlenspuyk hesitated for a mo- ment, wishing that she could devise some indirect means of ascertaining just how the composer stood in the Royal Ma- rine’s opinion. “Do come,” the girl went on, laying her hand affectionately on the old maid’s arm. ‘Id love to have you, and Grand- © ma is always chirped up after she’s been talking to you about your old friends in the So’th.” “T shall be delighted to come, my dear,” Miss Marlenspuyk responded, rising. ‘Jl send for my shawl.” While they were waiting for this the ag 129 young woman and the old walked up and down the long veranda on one side of the hotel. And suddenly Miss Mar- lenspuyk had an inspiration. “Excuse my asking such a question, Rina, my dear,” she began, linking her arm in the girl’s, “but have you and Mr. Payn quarrelled ?” “ Quaw’led !” echoed ’Rina. ‘“ The idea! Why, I haven’t seen him for two days.” “ Ah!’ Miss Marlenspuyk responded. “Not since the hop at the Casino on Saturday night ?” “Not since the hop,” the young ane repeated. Then she checked herself. and smiled. “ That is to say,” she went on, “I haven’t spoken.to him since the hop, but [ve seen him since. I saw him in church yesterday, of cou’se, and I saw him Saturday night after the hop, out on the bridge, where we all went 9 130 for a breath of fresh air after that sup- per.” Miss Marlenspuyk had become so in- terested in the composer’s extraordinary dilemma that it was with an almost per- ceptible shade of anxiety that she asked, “ Didn’t he speak to you then ?” The girl laughed out, and hers was a silvery, happy laugh. “Why, Miss Ma’lenspuyk,” she cried, “how could he? He was fast asleep— and, do you know, I thought I almost heard him snaw!” Miss Marlenspuyk laughed also. She had the answer to the enigma now. There was only one person in the world who knew whether Warren Payn was asleep or awake when he thought he had asked ’Rina Carroll to marry him, and that one person had declared that he was asleep when she had seen him last. ; 131 “But what made you think we had quaw’led, Miss Ma’lenspnyk ?”’ the girl began. The bell-boy brought her shawl to the old maid, who took it and thanked him graciously. Then turning to the Royal Marine, and ignoring altogether the girl’s question, she said: “Can you excuse me a moment, my dear? I must write a note before I go.” “T’ll wait for you out here on the po’ch,” the young lady answered. Miss Marlenspuyk bade the bell-boy follow her. She went into the office of the hotel, and taking out one of her visiting-cards, she wrote on it, hastily: “TY have seen the lady. It is all right. You were dreaming.” : Sealing this in an envelope, she di- rected it to Mr. Warren Payn, and told the bell-boy to take it at once to the -musician’s hotel. 132 As the boy sped down the steps, glad to run an errand for her, the old maid joined the Royal Marine on the veran- da, and they started to get Grandma and to go together to the Casino. But of course Miss Marlenspuyk’s reassuring message did not find Warren Payn at his hotel, and, in fact, it did not come into his hands until near mid- night, when he returned to his room after a most exciting and memorable evening. When the bell-boy left the envelope at the hotel, the musician had been for ten minutes in the billiard-room of the Casino, perched on a high chair near one of the windows which opened on the broad upper gallery. Thus placed he could hear the music distinctly, and he could watch a billiard mateh between two of the best players at the Pier that summer. 153 While one of the players was chalk- ing his cue preparatory to a most difh- cult carom, Payn heard the long laugh of Miss Virgie Chubb. Gazing hastily out of the window, he saw that La Marguerite was promenading with two other girls. He resolved to seize the opportunity. To the great surprise of Miss Chubb, whom the composer had hitherto rather avoided than sought, he joined the three girls and insisted upon talking to her, succeeding at last in cutting loose from . her companions and in bearing La Marguerite off for a promenade with him alone. He was in good spirits ; he felt as though the hour was favorable, and as though the end of his perplexity was at hand. So he rattled along, lead- ing Virgie on further and further, and briskly keeping up his end of the con- versation. All the while he was seek- 134 ing how he should begin his inquisition into her knowledge of his acts two nights before. Before he could plan an attack, chance gave him an opening. “Last time I saw you up here on this floor of the Casino you weren’t so talk- ative,” said La Marguerite, with one of her loud laughs. “That was the night before last, wasn’t it ?” he returned, eagerly. She nodded, still langhing. “ Well,’ he pursued, “if I wasn’t talking, what was I doing?” “You were snoring!” she cried. “That’s what you were doing. You were asleep in the moonlight, out there over the bridge. Come along now, and I'll show you the place.” She took his arm, and he suffered himself to be led. But when they came to the top of the stairs they found themselves face to face 135 with another couple, Mr. Cable J. Dex- ter and Miss Hectorina Carroll. Fol- lowing behind them half-way down the stairs were Mrs. Carroll and Miss Mar- lenspuyk. Payn stepped back in astonishment. Over the Royal Marine’s shoulder he could see Miss Marlenspuyk nodding and smiling and making strange signs. He felt sure that she was trying to con- vey to him some important information, although he could not make out what it was. He watched her lips closely as they moved in silent speech, but his eyes did not help him to her meaning any better than his ears. And while he was thus engaged the Royal Marine stood before him, won- dering at the extraordinary contortions of his visage, as he unconsciously imi- tated the movement of Miss Marlen- spuyk’s mouth. She wore the same* 136 yachting costume in which he had first seen her, with the V. R. and the crown on her sleeve; but as he did not see her at all he did not remark her costume. She stood alone, for when the two couples had come together Virgie Chubb had abandoned Payn promptly, and had immediately taken possession of Dexter. The Chicago grain-operator looked at the musician with an amused smile ; then he winked; then he offered — his arm to La Marguerite, and they walked off together, leaving Payn stand- ing helpless by the side of the woman whom he loved, and to whom he longed to speak. On the landing below Mra Carroll | and Miss Marlenspnyk had been de- -tained by three old ladies who were go- ing down-stairs, and who broke at once into a most animated conversation, from which the old maid tried vainly to de- 137 tach herself. At last she made a final and despairing gesture to the musician, and began to answer the questions which two of the old ladies poured out upon her. Then Warren Payn saw that he should have to rely wholly on himself. “Shall we take a little walk too?” he asked. “JT began to think you were never going to speak to me again,” she said, as they moved away towards the bridge side by side, and keeping step to the music of a march which was floating out from the orchestra on the lower veranda—the first notes of the selection from his opera of AZontezuma. “T—[—lJI was so surprised, you know,” he stammered — “so surprised to see you here. I thought you were not going to be back this evening.” “Oh, I meant to be back all the 138 time, you know,” she returned, quickly —‘“as soon as I heard that they were going to play the tunes from your opera.” Then, as though afraid that she might have said more than she had intended, she added, with even greater rapidity, ‘‘ Besides, Grandma wanted to come back herself; she thought it looked like it was going to rain.” “Tt was very good of you to want to listen to my music,” he responded, ex- panding joyously, as he always did in her presence. “But who told you about it? I meant to take you by sur- prise.” “Oh,” she laughed, merrily, “a little bird told me—a little bird that is ve’y fond of music.” By this time they had come out on the broad bridge, and the waters of the bay lay spread out before them bathed in the molten moonlight. 139 “YT don’t think Grandma is a ve’y good judge of the weather—do you?” she went on, “if she was afraid of a sto’m to-night.” “If your being here is the result of her miscalculation,’ he said, “I will recommend her for Old Probabilities’ place whenever she wants it.” The splendid upper promenade was almost deserted, and when they came to the balcony at the end there was no- body at all within sound of their voices. The young man knew that the time had come, and at the moment of need he had a sudden inspiration. “Tt would be nice,” she declared, “ to have Grandma for the Clerk of the Weather if she could give us nights as lovely as this whenever she pleased.” The orchestra on the ground-floor of the Casino was still playing the arrange- ment from Montezuma, and the players 140 now began the serenade from that opera —the tenor love-song which had almost carried the piece into popularity, and which still survived the oblivion of the rest of the score. So it was to the accompaniment of his own music that the composer spoke again. “Miss ’Rina,” he said, and the tone in which he spoke betrayed his purpose to the girl who was listening, “did you ever have the feeling that something you think you are seeing or saying or doing for the first time has happened to you before ?” “Often and often,” she answered, with an effort to seem unconcerned. ‘And [Ive heard people say it’s because our brain had two halves — just like it was a silver dollar.” “JT have a feeling now,’ he went on, gravely, “as though I had said al- 141 ready what I am going to say to you now.” She knew then that the proposal was inevitable, and although he had hesitated for a moment, she said nothing. “T feel as though I had already told you that I love you.” Then he paused again, and the clear sweet notes of his song rang out on the silvery air from the orchestra beneath them. “Itseems as though I had always loved you, and that I must have told you of it many times.” Still she kept silent. “’ Rina,” he continued, steadily, “ will you be my wife ?” “T don’t know what to say,” the girl answered at last. “I didn’t think you were going to talk this way — at least, not yet awhile.” But you are going away so soon,” he urged, “and I must have your an- swer now.” 142 “YT can’t make up my mind all at once,” she said; ‘‘ you must give me time.” Then he wondered whether this too were also a dream. “TI can’t wait!’ he replied. “Ive been waiting all summer, for my mind was made up as soon as I saw you. 9) “Tet me have a week. On, you must!” she cried. ‘Give me two or three days, anyhow.” And again he doubted whether he were awake or asleep. “T don’t see why you can’t decide now,” he declared. “What do you need two days for? You don’t hate me now, do you ?” “ Oh no,” she answered, frankly. “I couldn’t do that.” “Then you do love me a little, don’t you?” he urged. 143 She did not reply. But when he promptly put his arm about her she yielded, and let him kiss her, just as the music came to an end. Half an hour later he took his prom- ised bride back to her grandmother. She found Miss Marlenspuyk sitting with Mrs. Carroll in a sheltered nook of the lower veranda. By the faces of the young couple the old maid saw what had happened, and, greatly to the surprise of Grandma, she drew the girl to her and kissed her on the forehead. “ And you thought we had quaw’led,” said the Royal Marine, while her grand- mother wondered at what was going on under her eyes but beyond her compre- hension. And while the granddaughter was explaining, Miss Marlenspuyk was con- gratulating Warren Payn. 144 “T see,” she said, “it was Lomeo and Juliet, after all, and not a /idswmmer- Nights Dream.” THE END UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS-URBANA 3 0112 072894089