Gouverneur Morris

“ He will look no one in the face but me. The faces that he loved are nightmares to him now—all but old Martha's. No, Miss Joy—ye might, peepin' from behind curtains, set eyes on me Poor Boy, but as for you, he'd not know if you was man or woman, old or young, unless I told him. He has his rules; when the men come in from the village he disappears like a ghost. When they have gone he comes back. There'd be hours for housework, when he'd be out of the way, and that there was a born lady helping old Martha out and kapin' the poor woman company—he'd never know—never at all. ”

“ At the top of the cliff, among the pines was a young woman. She was by no means the first he had seen that day. But her face was clearer than the other faces had been, and when she darted behind a tree and tried to escape without being seen or spoken to, he ran after her, not knowing why he ran nor why he called her Joy—Joy—Joy! And he did not understand why she in her turn kept calling, "Martha—Martha—come quick—come quick!" ”

“ Realities began for him at the bottom of the cliff. The road to the village crossed the glade in the pine woods—the snow was packed and icy with much travel, with the sliding of runners and the semicircular marks of horses' hoofs. As the Poor Boy sped along on his skis, he met people in sleighs and was overtaken and passed by others. They were his people—his alone. ”

“ Cotter could see a cow moose and her calf. And, high over his head, there passed presently a string of black duck. He could hear the strong beating of their wings.
Mr. Cotter was a practical man.
"Why the hell did he do it?" he mused. "He might have married, and wanted a real house in this paradise, and told me to go as far as I liked. He'd have asked us all up to stay—and now, my God! all it can ever be is a cage for a jail-bird."
When at last the cottage was in exquisite order, old Martha sent the others away and stayed on alone. In her room she had an elaborate calendar. ”

“ She thought he was mad. But she was not afraid. She wanted to go to him, to comfort him, to share with him her own fine, young sanity. But the turned ankle would not do any work, and she could not get up. He heard her moan. And looked at her once more, his eyes round with wonder.
"But I have just taken you to Lord Harrow's in a motor," he said; "and yet here you are—and in pain."
"I think I can walk," she said. "If you don't mind helping me a little."
"Of course I don't mind," said the Poor Boy cautiously. "But you know as well as I do that when you touch them,—they vanish." ”

“ So Martha sat by the tub as by a bedside, and Miss Joy with a sigh of comfort lay at length in the hot water and they talked.
"Is he up there all alone?"
"He is now. The housework was too heavy for one old woman. He sent me to New York to find a helper. But the wages don't make up for the loneliness in the young biddy's mind—in what she is plazed to call her mind—and I'm five days lookin' about and nothing done."
"Wages?" sighed Miss Joy. "They sound good to me."
"To think of wages sounding good to you, Miss Joy!"
"But they do. I'd do almost anything for money." ”

“ One day old Martha received the following letter:
"Martha, Dearie: I didn't do it. But only you believe that, and I. You will go to Joyous Guard, for love of me, and put the cottage in order. I shall live there when I come out, and you shall take care of me. But are you too old? Can you do the cooking and the housework for us two? It's I that will split the wood and carry the coals. If the work is too heavy, dearie, you must choose some one to help you. Some one who will never come where I am, whom I shall never have to look in the face. ”

“ It always does hit a bird like that, and it is contagious like girls fainting in a factory.
The cynical bachelor flew suddenly to the tipmost top of a tree, and poured forth the whole of his heart and soul in a song of the South. ”

“ In his happiest day-dreams in Lord Harrow's rose-garden by the lake there had never been quite so vivid a materialization. Furthermore, she had violets in her dress, and as he bent to lift her (and resolve her into the stuff o' dreams) the sweetness of them was strong in his nostrils.
And then carrying her swiftly home, he proceeded to go quite mad.
"Well—well," he thought, "people with too much imagination always do end by going mad. ”

“ It was the affection of many people that he missed most, and the faith that so many people had had in him—shattered forever. But he missed their voices, too, and their faces; the cheerful sounds of "talking at once"; the massing of fresh, lovely gowns, the scintillation of jewels, the smell of gardenias, the music of violins, hidden by screens of palms and bay-trees. ”

“ And a bird is a wonderful thing,
A wonderful, wonderful, wonderful, wonderful, wonderful, wonderful thing."
Two more verses he sang at the top of his lungs, broke off short with a shrill cry of joy, and took wing.
Then the south-sickness spread, and even the young birds flew to the tops of trees, and defied gales, snakes, the Statue of Liberty, the boy with the gun, and the female (you wouldn't call her a woman) with the untrimmed hat. And away they flew, in ones and twos, until there were only a few left. One of these hopped on the window-sill in full view, and told the Poor Boy to get up. ”

“ It was always a bad egg for drawin', and betimes the snow will lie six feet deep in the valley."
"I'll put my heart and soul in that flue, Martha, for your sake, and we'll put it to the ordeal by fire. But who's to feed the furnace?"
"Who's to feed the furnace!" she put back her head and laughed. "Who but love, young man? Love will feed the furnace, press the trousers, and clean the boots. There will be no one to care for him but me. Mind that. No one but old Martha. Twenty year I've shed be the knowledge. It's no mere woman ye behold, Mister Cotter, 't is an army!" ”

“ I'd hate to know what I weigh."
"Be careful you don't fall and hurt yourself," said Martha. "And be careful your red cheeks don't set the woods on fire."
"Oh, Martha, are they—too red?"
"Miss Joy"—this with solemn and heartfelt faith—"unless it is for a nose now and then, the Lord Gawd never made anything too red in his life—"
The Poor Boy hurried to the beautiful new Georgian home that Lord Harrow had built on Lilly Pond, and was already occupying. As befitted a great man he had the whole lake to himself. ”

“ She wore a coat of gosling-green with facings of primrose-yellow, and when she fell and barked the knee of one stocking I took her to old Martha, and old Martha mended her. Her knee itself wasn't really hurt, but it was all rough and gritty from the asphalt. She didn't cry. And so I loved her. Why is she so long changing into outdoor things?"
"Hush!" pearled Lord Harrow's daughter. "She's coming."
And the Poor Boy's heart echoed: "She's coming—she's coming."
At the last moment reason and experience whispered in his ear: "Don't be a fool—don't spoil everything. ”

“ Martha had dragged her out of danger and sent her to bed with a scolding. "The conceit of some people!" she had exclaimed. "To be always thinking it's themselves as is grouped in the lime-light of another's thoughts!"
XI
"You can get away from people, but you can't get away from moths."
It was Martha herself, carrying a great paper bag of camphor-balls and a great roll of tarred paper, who announced this truth.
Rain was falling in torrents. Even the Poor Boy did not feel like going out. He looked with a certain longing at the bag of camphor balls. ”

“ If her boy was to live in a tiny stone cottage, old Martha would see to it that that cottage should be a gem. She could spend what she pleased. She had been paid no wages since the Poor Boy's coming of age. ”

“ Some men have no influence over anybody. They won't stand for taxation without representation.
The Poor Boy (as a whole) gives up with reluctance the idea of a government of the ladies, by the ladies, and for the ladies. ”

“ When they can't drive they come in on snow-shoes."
"Hum!"
"What more can I tell you?"
"You've told enough. I would not touch the place with a pole, not for twice the wages. I'd rather be dead than twelve miles from everywhere and never a man in the house."
Girls who seemed able and willing wouldn't go, two were willing to try the place for a month, but Martha did not like their faces or their voices. She was in despair, until one day, far from any employment agency, a chance meeting settled the matter.
"Why, Martha!"
"If it isn't Miss Joy!" ”

“ Back of the granite barriers the river spread right and left, and then went out to sea in a deep and narrow stream, curiously free from ice. Indeed, there was but little ice in the main basin, and a kind of steam hung over it so that the Poor Boy was compelled and delighted to conclude (with the aid of his companions) that the river toward its mouth must be swollen by warm springs. ”

“ I wonder ... I wish to the deuce Mr. Tinker was here, he's the best man we've got on water-power. The woods are full of trees that ought to be cut for the benefit of the others. Yardsley was showing me about them only yesterday. But this is a matter for Tinker."
The Poor Boy listened and heard sleigh-bells. They came swiftly nearer.
"Wonder who this is?"
Around the nearest turn of the road toward the village came a powerful roan horse, drawing a cutter; in the cutter sat an enormous man, but the Poor Boy had already recognized the horse. ”

“ During the winter the Poor Boy made two excursions, lasting for a number of days, southward through his valley and beyond. It was supposed by Martha, wild with anxiety, and by Miss Joy, but little less so, that he went alone. As a matter of fact he had companions; Yardsley, the forester and surveyor; Wangog, the Huron chief, taciturn in talk, but a great woodsman; and Stephen Bell, a young man recently come to live in the village and a great favorite with the Poor Boy. ”

“ All the young birds shuddered.
"Those big snakes in the South are rather nasty things, too," continued the bachelor bird. "I'm used to them, of course, and I've proved dozens of times that there's no such thing as hypnotism; but the effect of a snake's eye on very young and inexperienced birds is inconceivable, and not to be reconciled to the Darwinian theory or Mendel's law. What between snakes, hawks, and women's hats, the life of a bird—"
"Isn't what it used to be." ”

“ But still if I'm going to believe what can't be true—I say, Martha, lend me a saucer of alcohol, will you?"
Old Martha bustled off and returned with what he required. The Poor Boy carried his chemical into the book-room and closed the door firmly, and much to Martha's disappointment, she being anxious to know what was toward in her darling's mind.
The Poor Boy placed the saucer of alcohol in the light, and dropped into it the mahogany-colored hair; nothing happened. The hair itself appeared brighter perhaps, but the crystal liquid was not discolored. ”

“ That's the new Georgian House, on Lilly Pond...."
"When I was in New York I saw Miss Joy."
"You did!"
"She was prettier than any picture. She come up and give me both hands and says: 'Why, Martha!' And then we talked.—And she never believed you did it, never!"
"Ah! She might have written!"
"Troubles came on her poor father. He lost his money, and he died. She lost thought for any one but him."
"Miss Joy—poor! How dreadful! How wrong! What is she doing?"
"She's a sort of companion and helper to a rich old woman, and she's saving her wages against a rainy day." ”

“ But Martha's requirements were such as the average servant can not meet or will not face, and candidates for the place and wages she offered asked questions and were not satisfied with her answers.
"And where is the house?"
"Canada."
"Is it a city?"
"It's country."
"Are there neighbors?"
"No."
"What manner of man is the master?"
"A fine, kind man."
"Married?"
"Single."
"An old man?"
"A young man. But you'll not see the master."
"Me work for a man I don't see?"
"He don't see nobody but me." ”

“ Martha, satisfied with the face of a passing taxicab's driver, whistled with sudden, piercing shrillness.
"Where are you taking me?"
Old Martha's eyes became humorous. It was pleasant to her to play fairy godmother to a millionaire's daughter.
"To me suite in the St. Savior," said she. "To a hot tub, dearie, and a hot dinner, and a warm bed."
In Martha's sitting-room were flowers. She could afford them. On the bureau in her bedroom was a large photograph of the Poor Boy, in an eighteen-carat gold frame, very plain and smart. ”

“ She was owned by a great statesman, who, with nothing but his country's welfare at heart, had been accused of high treason, and who, having heard of the Poor Boy's asylum for unfortunates, was making for it as fast as he could. ”

“ He adjusted the pack to his shoulder, put on his mittens, and took up his rifle and his axe. Malice still gleamed in his eyes.
He went out as he had entered, but with more difficulty and peril. He crossed the kitchen-yard with long, easy strides.
But Martha was running after him, bareheaded. She lost a carpet slipper in the deep snow.
"Only come back, darlint"—she fought against tears—"and I'll fill the house with helpers from attic to cellar."
"One," said the Poor Boy judicially, "will do. The nearest employment bureau will be in Quebec. Isn't there somebody in the village?" ”