Ellinor Davenport Adams

“ Autumn drifted into winter with the coming of a bleak November. Football and hockey were in full swing in the playing-fields. The little ones had built their first snow-man; and the rubbing and oiling of skates followed careful studies of the barometer. The youngsters were now in some danger of forgetting the duties of their Society. Their time had suddenly assumed an incalculable value.
It was at this stage of affairs that Max Brenton one day made his appearance at the door of the club-room, wherein sat Frances busily posting up the Society’s accounts. ”

“ It was Christmas-day—the day on which, so old Bill East had said, folks’ hearts beat tenderly for all their kin. Lower down the valley cottage-homes stood humbly in their tiny plots; and the windows, often uncurtained, revealed the rough comfort within. Homes of another sort—as those of Lumber’s Yard—lay back from view: among them Dr. Brenton and Max were paying a round of Christmas calls before settling down for the evening they never cared to spend apart. ”

“ I shall soon find out—and I’ll beg Elizabeth to teach me.”
“No!—no!” Jim was touched at his tenderest point. “You’ll do naught here but what pleases you, Missy. ’Tis for men to work and make beautiful homes for their lady-folk.”
“Girls work now as well as boys, Jim,” returned Frances rather wistfully. She had been wont to dream of the life-work which should be hers some day—of voluntary, altruistic toil among the poor and suffering of the great city; not of humdrum daily tasks which could claim no more fascinating name than the prosaic one of duty. ”

“ Surely Jim East was a type of those whose humble toil was the crown of honest manhood. Certainly Austin was not a model member of the Woodend Society of Altruists. But glancing apprehensively at young East, lest her brother’s imperious commands should make him surly and indignant, Frances saw that the lad’s countenance revealed nothing but frank good-nature. He gave Austin a smiling reply, and would have obeyed him without question, had not Max laid a hand on his arm.
“Not a bit, Jim! I’ll see to the baggage. Do you get the girls under cover as quickly as you can, there’s a good fellow.” ”

“ Austin’s developed plate revealed the distressing fact that a trifling twist of the camera had caused the disappearance of the half-group of poplars. There remained to him the gate, with a tin-soldier row of diminutive figures in front of it—their backs to the fading light, and their faces consequently indistinguishable as to eyes and all other features; a long stretch of hedge, running aimlessly across the picture to the right as though seeking a lost vanishing-point; a foreground more mixed than the most ardent impressionist could have believed possible ”

“ The world’s struggles and trials had seemed far removed from the sheltered comfort of their home. Now, the arm that had encircled and shielded them had been suddenly removed, and the onset of trouble found them defenseless.
“If only we knew what was going to become of us,” sighed Frances in Miss Carlyon’s ear. “It is so dreadful to feel day after day passing and not to have the least idea what Mamma will do. Sometimes Austin and I think she really does not understand that we must leave Elveley immediately; but if we try to talk about it she will not listen.” ”

“ Miss Carlyon was very ready to agree, and to give Frances credit for a really bright idea.
“I don’t see why your club shouldn’t do ever such great things for the Woodend poor folk,” declared Muriel warmly. “I shall be proud to be one of you, and so will my brother; and you must count on us for all the help we can give.”
“Oh, Miss Carlyon!” said Frances shyly, “we thought perhaps we might just help you—a little.”
“We’ll help each other, dear. And then we shall be Altruists among ourselves. I can assure you, I think, besides being useful, we shall be very jolly.” ”

“ I’m not a marrying man—now. I had my dream;—you’ll not think the worse of me, Mrs. Morland,—it’s over. But I can fancy what a difference it would make out yonder, if there were a kindly, gracious gentlewoman in authority. As for Miss Frances, she’d just be the light of the place. Last of all, I’d like to say that our exile—for so it is to every son of Old England—needn’t be for always. When Jim and I had made our pile,—and we’d try to be quick about it,—we’d all come home again; in time, maybe, for Austin to keep his terms at Oxford. ”

“ Every Altruist was Polly’s friend, and knew the story of her wretched home. So now at last the child ventured to check her headlong pace, and to give voice to her baby fears. This lad, she knew, was Guy Gordon—he who could make cunning use of the strange silver flute, he whose pockets kept stores of sweets for tiny, crimson-frocked girls. Guy was the friend of Polly’s young deities—Max and Austin, Frances and Florry. ”

“ She looked at her friends in mild amazement as they pelted down the hill and pulled up one on each side of her.
“How you two do excite yourselves!” she observed languidly. “Francy’s cheeks are as red as beet-root, and Austin will have no breath left for his song.”
“We shouldn’t enjoy anything if we didn’t get enthusiastic!” laughed Frances. “And isn’t this the great occasion—the Altruists’ field-day?”
“I shall have to leave the club, you make me so hot!” chuckled Betty. “I feel like building a snow-man when I look at you. ”

“ For the time the bar was empty, its servitors being busy in the kitchen behind, where they enjoyed black tea and bloaters and toast to an accompaniment of unparliamentary language from the adjacent parlour.
Max hesitated a minute, and his heart beat faster. He knew that the men he was going to face were rough and lawless—often savage and cruel. One of the worst was Joseph Baker. But the boy recalling the face of Baker’s suffering wife, went boldly up to the parlour door, pushed it open and walked in. ”

“ Have you really taken it upon yourself to tell her, without first consulting me, that you are prepared to dispense with her kind help?”
“Oh, Mamma,” exclaimed Frances, “Miss Carlyon could not have thought—. Indeed, I didn’t say it that way!”
“Perhaps not,” said Mrs. Morland, half-ashamed of her injustice; “but you said it in some way, and I am very much annoyed. A child like you has no business to decide for herself whether she will or will not accept so great a favour.”
“I only didn’t want to worry you, Mamma; and I didn’t think—I didn’t guess you would mind about my lessons.” ”

“ Frances’s admiration and her longing to make amends were freely confessed to Muriel Carlyon, who sympathized with both, and had good counsel to give.
“Don’t overwhelm the boy with formal apologies and embarrassing praises, dear child. You would only make him uncomfortable. Try to let him see that you like and trust him, and want to help him all you can. It’s no light duty he has undertaken. You, more than anybody, can make it a pleasant one.” ”

“ Brenton to teach us,” said Betty. “I should like it. I’m going to be a doctor some day, and live in Harley Street, and be rich and famous, and cure all the people nobody else can cure;—I’ll be just like Uncle Gerald.”
“And Florry will be rich and famous too,” sighed Frances; “she’ll write hooks and plays and be as great an author as you will be a doctor. Oh, dear! I sha’n’t be anybody particular. I’ll just have to stay at home and help Max with his easy cases.” ”

“ Now that she had settled in Woodend, it was in harmony with her wishes and instincts that Frances should be to the girls such a leader as Mrs. Morland had become to their elders, and that Austin’s careless good-humour should assure his popularity. If her children had been dull and commonplace, she would have felt herself an injured person. ”

“ In his company came “Harry” the giant, a broad grin on his stolid face.
“See whom I’ve brought!” exclaimed Max, when greetings and confidences had passed between the chums. “You needn’t worry any longer about the benches, Frances. Harry has promised to arrange them all, just as you like.”
“That is kind of you, Harry,” said the girl, looking at the rustic with the frank kindliness which acted like a charm on her poorer neighbours, and made them her faithful allies. “I just wanted somebody very strong and rather patient. ”

“ The long-continued trouble had at last brought Frances one comfort which made amends for everything. It had given Austin—the old Austin—back to her, and had shown the lad at his best. His manly instincts had come into evidence, and he had hovered patiently about his mother and sister, assuring them that he would soon be grown-up, and able to work for them. Then they would all be happy again. Meanwhile—as growing-up is a slow process—he was content to leave to Jim the ordering of affairs. ”

“ Sweets and bon-bons tasted twice as good when handed round by Teddy in pink satin, and Lilla in white; and a whole troop of little fairies dispensed almonds and raisins at a lavish rate. The movement of the guests to the supper-tables at the end of the room was the signal for the retirement of upper-class Woodend to the neighbourhood of the platform, whence it watched its young people justifying their motto, “Help Others”.
“Austin,” whispered Frances, “aren’t you sorry poor Jim isn’t here?” ”

“ The people worth knowing wouldn’t like us a bit the less because we live in a cottage instead of at Elveley. It is not as though we had done anything wrong. All your favourite friends have called since you have been here—”
“Called!” interrupted Mrs. Morland vehemently “yes—to pry into my affairs and gossip over my changed circumstances. Ah! Frances, you don’t know the world yet, thank Heaven; you look on it still with a girl’s eyes, thoughtless and ignorant. No, you must not attempt to question my judgment in such matters. I could not endure to be pitied.”
“Nor I, Mamma.” ”

“ Miss Cliveden taught her girls to love work, to love it best when done for others, and to reverence all work truly and faithfully accomplished. The nobility of honest labour was her favourite theme, and the allurements of altruistic toil the highest attraction she could hold out to her young scholars. As her pupils were all in the upper forms of the college, Frances was one of the youngest of them, and Miss Cliveden took a great liking for the frank-hearted, winning lass. ”

“ After dinner Frances and Austin were ordered to appear for dessert. Thus Mrs. Morland attempted to retain among her present surroundings some of the customs and restrictions of the life she had been used to; though the imitation might be a faint likeness of [Pg 222] the model, and the result pathetic rather than impressive.
The various courses of the meal were perhaps only Scotch broth, broiled chicken, and rice-pudding, and the dessert a dish of apples and another of nuts. But the glass, china, and silver were the joy of Elizabeth’s soul; and the simple food must be served most daintily. ”

“ Tea over, work began again, and lasted till the shadows lengthening “from each westward thing” brought the Altruists’ busy day to a close. The visitors straggled homeward, with Frances, Florry, and Austin travelling as far as the Common to speed them on their way. They were very tired, and very jolly, and very well pleased with themselves. Who could say that spring-cleaning had not its aspects picturesque and poetic? ”

“ The spirit of true burlesque is rare among amateurs; but youngsters who act for the fun of the thing, and not merely to “show off”, are often capable of excellent comedy. Carlyon had chosen with care the boys and girls who were to perform in the Travesty, and had trained them sufficiently but not too much. Entering completely into the humour of parody, one and all acted with plenty of vigour and without a trace of self-consciousness. Max and Austin had arranged a serio-comic fencing-match, which was brought to a melodramatic finish by a clever rapier trick. ”