Elia Wilkinson Peattie

“ And why should he, Sam, who had done no harm to anyone, go back to face it? Why should Annie Laurie and her friends see his shame? He could disappear now—slip off the train at the next station—and walk and walk till he reached some place where nobody knew him, and then he could go to work and care for himself, and win an honorable name. That was what America was for, he had heard Mr. Carson say, to give a chance to the individual. A man had a right to prove himself, and to be judged by himself, apart from and regardless of his family. ”

“ The two sat shivering before the fire, tearful and nervous, and even Miss Adnah was now willing to give over the search for their lost fortune into the hands of these respectful and sympathetic girls.
“At first, my dear girls,” said Aunt Zillah brokenly, “it seemed as if we couldn’t let anyone in to help us and it’s hard enough now, but we’d rather it would be you than anyone.”
“Oh, Miss Zillah,” cried Azalea in her impulsive way, “we understand just how you feel. But Annie Laurie’s fortune just must be found, mustn’t it? Why, it’s a quest, you know. A sacred quest—like you read about.” ”

“ Yet, as she paced the floor of her bedroom thinking about her father, with her tortured thoughts leaping this way and that as if they were struggling to escape from sorrow, a conviction came over her that sickness often was the fault of the person who suffered from it. She knew that an atmosphere of gloom hung over Sam’s house; that if he opened up the windows Hannah was told to close them; if he brought in flowers they had to be thrown out because they gave his mother a cold; if he built a fire in the fireplace for cheerfulness, it was considered unsafe, owing to a defect in the chimney. ”

“ So the three girls grew browner and brighter-eyed each day, and the heart in each of them—even Annie Laurie’s—was light as down.
But not a hint did they have of the Disbrows. Though they plunged deeper and deeper into the mountains, getting far beyond the towns, they saw nothing of them. They went so far that they came at last upon the lonely, sad-eyed people whom Miss Borrow had described. In their miserable cabins, which were far from weatherproof, they lived their curious, solitary lives. Their faces were vacant and mournful; their voices like the soughing of wind in the trees. ”

“ Jim was a country boy, with a country boy’s straightforward, simple manners. But about Azalea there was something—well, something different. So different was she from the McBirneys that she seemed like a cardinal bird which had been storm-driven into one of the martin gourds that hung in the high cross-trees before the McBirney’s door.
All that was easily understood by the few who knew her story. Her grandfather had been Colonel Atherton, the richest, the proudest, and the most elegant gentleman in all the countryside. ”

“ The long red clay road, winding down from the cabin where the McBirneys lived on their high shelf of Tennyson mountain, was frosted delicately with white, and by the roadside the curious frost flowers lifted their heads, as airy-fine as fern. From the half-hidden cabins all around the semicircle of mountains that skirted the valley of Lee, shafts of smoke arose, showing that the people were about the business of the day. ”

“ Azalea had remembered that morning to trim with flowers the graves beneath the Pride of India tree, so that they would, in their way, be included in the festival. For Ma McBirney had taught her how love can live on though death comes between, and how sorrow can be turned into sweetness. ”

“ I can see that all false things are lies—that stealing is a sort of lie—a saying that something is yours which isn’t. It will be like that with the Disbrows, I suppose; no matter what good comes to them, it won’t seem good—at least not to Mr. Disbrow, who knows the truth about how he came by the money. It’s dreadful, when you come to think of it, that a nice boy like Sam should be having things out of that money he’s no right to.”
“You oughtn’t to speak as if it was an absolutely sure thing that he took the money, Annie Laurie,” warned Carin. ”

“ What do you think, Miss Parkhurst; am I right?”
To the increasing dismay of the friends, Helena Parkhurst nodded her nice little head.
“One of the chief reasons why a girl should go to school,” went on Mrs. Carson, smilingly, “is to learn to get along with other girls. You and Azalea are so wrapped up in each other that you actually don’t see other girls as they pass you on the road, and it never seems to occur to you to visit their homes, or to ask them here. It has been borne in upon me for some time that if I don’t watch out, you’ll become a pair of horrid little snobs. ”

“ The pigeons cooed chillily from their cote. As for the horses, they knew almost as much about unhitching as their betters, and if either Jim or Mr. McBirney had done anything they ought not to have done they would have turned their critical eyes upon them. The real pride of Jim’s heart, however, was the two ponies which he and Azalea rode to school. They had been the gift of Mr. Carson to them, and they were the brothers of Carin’s pony, Mustard, and bore the exciting names of Pepper and Paprika. ”

“ It’s terribly lonely being without a mother—or a father,” she added almost in a whisper.
Mrs. Disbrow reached out her hand and laid it on Annie Laurie’s.
“Poor girl,” she murmured with what was almost her first thought of anyone save herself, that winter.
“And—Oh, I feel so sorry for Sam and Hannah, with you ill always,” went on Annie Laurie. “Of course it spoils their happiness. It seems such a pity! Isn’t there anything that can be done, Mrs. Disbrow? Doesn’t any doctor know how to cure you? Haven’t you any idea yourself of what ought to be done?” ”

“ That was a privilege which Miss Adnah reserved for herself.
“You see, sir,” Miss Zillah went on, blurting out a family secret which Miss Adnah would have starved rather than let anyone know, “we haven’t a cent in the world. The small amount which my sister and I had in our purses has been used up during the last few days. We owe for all the expenses of our brother’s funeral. Really, I may say that we don’t know which way to turn.”
“My dear Miss Zillah,” responded Mr. Carson, “I will place a sum of money at your disposal immediately.” ”

“ Then they heard Miss Parkhurst’s steps approaching down the hall. Annie Laurie struck her two hands together sharply.
“I can’t do it!” she cried. “I can’t let Sam’s people be chased like that and brought back. I may be wrong, and weak, and not fair to the poor old aunts, but I just can’t do it, that’s all there is to it.”
Carin and Azalea looked at her with perfect understanding.
“No,” said Carin softly, “you couldn’t do that, could you? Plenty of people could, and they’d be just and right—maybe. But you couldn’t, and I like you, Annie Laurie, because you can’t.” ”

“ As for the girls, they set out on the road with vigor. The air was full of life, the mountains were brown beneath their purple bloom, and the roadway was beginning to fill with folk driving in to market. Azalea and Annie Laurie knew almost every one—knew Mr. Disbrow, the undertaker, driving his black horses—which now were hitched to a somewhat rickety buggy—they knew “Haystack” Thompson, who was eating up the road with his great strides, his fiddle under his arm ”

“ A dark cloud had tumbled off the mountain and settled down over the valley, and though it was not late, it seemed almost like night.
“Goodness me,” said Annie Laurie, “I don’t like to think of you riding away up on the mountain a night like this. Why, you’d be drenched.”
“I ought to have accepted Carin’s invitation and stayed all night with her,” said Azalea. “Mother doesn’t expect me on bad nights. She’s not to worry about me if I don’t come when it rains or snows.” ”

“ Azalea broke in with a sob in her voice. “If anybody in this world ought to have been good to Annie Laurie it is myself, for I haven’t any mother, either, you know, though of course Mrs. McBirney is as good to me as any mother could be. I can’t explain the way we’ve acted. It all came about from Carin and myself having some lovely secrets together, and games we liked to play that we didn’t want to share with any one. And we were writing poems, and Carin was painting me. We were happy in each other all the time. ”

“ Do you know, I believe that after she gets those poor eyes of hers straightened she won’t be so shy and queer as she is now. I suppose she loathes going out where she’ll meet people, when she has to look all over the premises whenever she tries to fix her eyes on the person she’s talking to. Then, if dad could only get some one in to take care of poor mother, Hannah could go away to school too, perhaps, and grow to be a little more like other folks.”
Annie Laurie knew that Sam would not have talked about his own people in this free way to anyone but her. ”

“ He looked at her a moment, half closing his eyes, and turning his head a little on one side in a way he had.
“They’ve been snubbing you—those girls!” he declared. “I knew they would—knew it as well as anything.”
“I don’t see how you could know that,” said Annie Laurie with a sudden feeling that she ought not say anything against Carin and Azalea. “They’re the nicest girls I ever knew; the nicest girls anywhere about here. If I haven’t been able to—to make them understand me, it’s my own fault, I suppose.”
p. 40“Nonsense!” cried Sam. “They’re not nice if they’ve been making you unhappy. ”

“ This conversation took place between Azalea McBirney and Jonathan Summers one Sunday morning while Jonathan’s mother was at church. Azalea had been to Sunday-school, and had run over to ask her “Cousin” Barbara if she wouldn’t like to attend service to hear her husband preach. Barbara would—Oh, most undeniably she would. It was her firm conviction that if all men could hear her husband, and would give heed to what he said, they would be able to resist all temptations and would live in peace with the world. ”

“ Annie Laurie drew back in her seat with a sort of shudder.
“Oh, Carin,” she said, “I’m afraid things aren’t going to be like that with me. Fine chances aren’t going to come my way. Once I might have thought they would, but now everything is changed. There seems to be so little chance of finding poor dad’s money, and I know so little about earning any. Of course since Sam came, it’s better. The cows are being properly cared for, the milk gets off in time, and the bills are sent out correctly, and all that.” ”

“ Annie Laurie went on, holding tight to Azalea’s hand to gather courage, “I think I ought to tell them. It will let them know you were honest in your heart after all, and it will make them give Sam credit for what he’s done. I’m sure that’s the right way, Mr. Disbrow. When I was naughty I used to like to be punished—it made me feel fair and honest again. And you’ll feel better if the neighbors know. That will be your punishment. And what’s more, it will explain everything. I don’t want to have to tell a lie when I say how I got my money back. ”

“ You are very kind. To-morrow I’ll understand better. Thank you—to-morrow.”
Out of sheer compassion they left her alone.
Seven o’clock. It was time for the signal. She found the lantern and made her way, unseen, to the roof. Azalea’s light shone at her from the gray air, far, far up the ridge. Carin’s light flashed from the roof of the mansion. All was well with them. They were laughing—Annie Laurie knew they were laughing. And she—she waved her lantern up and down and up and down with a kind of passion. She must make them know how deep was the sorrow that had befallen her. ”

“ Jim McBirney or Sam Disbrow took a hand. There always was plenty to do at the Mountain Industries, it seemed, however slack work might be elsewhere.
One day of cold rain, Azalea and Annie Laurie had stopped in at Mrs. Kitchell’s for a cup of tea before they made their way to their distant homes. There was no one there that afternoon, save the sharp-eyed, busy Mrs. Kitchell, and she, having served them, went back to the loom-room and left them to themselves. The girls were excellent friends now. They trusted and admired each other—counted on each other, as true friends should. ”

“ Azalea looked at him with her soul in her eyes.
“Mercy me,” she sighed. “How well I understand kidnappers!”
Then she remembered that she had once been kidnapped herself, and that she had not liked it at all.
“Oh, Jonathan,” she cried, looking at him critically, “it seems impossible that anything as soft and lovely as you are can grow up to be just a hard, common, big man! If only I could put you in some kind of a preserve jar and keep you the way you are, I’d just give anything. Tired of sitting still? Well, come to Azalea, and we’ll go exploring. It’s a pretty house, isn’t it? ”

“ His wife is Barbara Summers. And they have the dearest baby you ever saw or heard of—Jonathan Summers, he is, bless him. Well, Mrs. Summers is just a little dear thing with brown eyes—she’s no bigger than I am. And from the minute we saw each other, we loved each other and felt at home. So we decided that we’d be kin. I write to her one week, and she writes to me the next. She sends me pictures of Jonathan that she takes with her little camera, and I send her presents when I can—little woven table-covers or baskets. You’ve no idea how sweet she is, Annie Laurie. ”

“ Be honest, be brave in saying what you think, live truly, avoid lies. Above everything, avoid lies—in word and in act.”
“For goodness sake,” thought Annie Laurie, “Can’t preachers find anything else to talk about but lies? Whether I go to my own church or p. 89another, that seems to be the theme.” She remembered how she had caught Sam Disbrow’s eye that day at the Baptist church when the minister had been talking about lies, and how queer it had been to realize that she was reading Sam’s mind, and could tell that he, like herself, was wondering why the preacher kept harping on that. ”

“ Carson had set a most infectious example. Mountain folks have pretty hard work staying at home. The roads call, and they long to be up and away. It always seems as if something wonderful must be waiting for them over the next hill. Jim and Hi had the gypsy mood on them this day. They actually ran for a long time, taking the cut-offs that led them over the spur of the mountain to Mulberry Valley, which lay “over-yon” and which they had seldom visited, and then always under the guidance of some grown person who insisted on pushing them along and getting home again. ”

“ Disbrow had grown calmer. Azalea would have left them, but Annie Laurie wanted her to stay. She held her hand and kept her close beside her.
“You understand everything, Azalea,” she whispered. “You don’t seem surprised at good times or at bad times, dear. You take things as they come. Stay with me, Azalea, I need you very much.”
“What will you do, miss?” Disbrow had asked. “Will you let the people know how you got your money back?” ”