Mary Jane Holmes

“ Those who did glance at her saw a very pretty girl, whose bright face and eyes made them wonder who she was.
In the midst of silks and satins and laces and diamonds and city-made toilets, Louie felt herself quite out of place, and was beginning to wish she had not come or could see some one she knew, when among the men in the room opposite she caught sight of Fred near the door, and felt sure he was waiting for her. Not till then had she realized how awkward it would be to go down to the drawingroom alone, and she felt a thrill of gratitude that she was not to be subjected to this ordeal. ”

“ Herbert had asked if he were in love with her, and he had not answered except to say, that it was absurd, but the bit of linen hidden so carefully in his valise, for the sake of a little girl in a bib apron and white sun-bonnet, seemed to tell a different story and to prove that love is not always of slow growth. Herbert’s announcement of his engagement had taken him by surprise, and the secrecy attending it offended his sense of openness and honor. Then he knew Herbert pretty well, and had detected in him a drawing away from Louie’s father and mother, as if they were inferior to the White’s. ”

“ Miss Percy said, entering at once upon the principal object of her call. “You have the most wonderful voice I ever heard in one so young. You must cultivate it. You ought to go abroad—to Marchesi, in Paris. Don’t you believe your father would let you go with me in the autumn? I have a great desire to see what can be made of your voice.”
Louie’s eyes were like stars as she thought of Paris, but a shadow fell on her face when she remembered Herbert, who at that moment came bowling up the street on his wheel, looking flushed and not altogether pleased when he saw who Louie’s visitors were. ”

“ The mother who leaves her little child in one room while she goes into another, does not forget it. She hears its cry, and in time goes back to it full of tenderness and love for the disquiet she has caused it. So with God, he comes back to us when we have been shut in the darkest of rooms, groping blindly for a ray of light. I found it so once, when the darkness was so thick that I felt it covering me like a pall, and in the whole world there seemed nothing worth living for, because my twin-brother Brant was dead.”
Louie had never seen her in such a mood before, or heard her talk in this way. ”

“ The best nurses London could afford were called to her aid, while either Miss Percy, or Fred, or his mother, who had joined them, was with her constantly. Fred’s voice she always knew, and it was Fred who, when she seemed drifting far out on the tide which has no turning, brought her back to a semblance of life and consciousness.
288“Louie! Louie!” he cried in an agony, when the pallor settled around her mouth and the pinched look came upon her face, which made the trained nurse throw up her hands in despair, “Louie! Louie, come back to us! You must not die!” ”

“ Sheldon came out, with a half sheepish look on his face, as if he had done a mean thing, and was half sorry for it.
“But Bob White can stand it,” he thought, as he walked into Grey’s Bank, where the consternation and excitement was nearly as great as in the other bank, and where Louie on her wheel had just arrived, breathless and panting.
When Mr. Grey first saw the crowd gathering in the street he had no suspicion of the cause until he heard the pounds upon the door and the cries to be let in. Then he said to Mr. Wilson, his cashier:
“What upon earth is the matter? Looks like a run?” ”

“ He returned the pistol to his pocket and lay down upon the couch, wondering who would be the first to see the words which danced before his eyes like the blue flames of perdition.
He had not slept well for weeks, and for two nights he had not slept at all except the few minutes when Louie was singing to him. Nature could endure no longer, and he fell at last into a sleep so heavy that he did not waken until there was the sound of many voices outside, and he knew the mob was there, clamoring to get in. ”

“ I gave up the carriage, thinking the widder might go in it, and was padding along in the dirt and dust—and such a dust and heat for October—when who should come riding by in my carriage—on my cushions—but old Nancy Sharp and three more fishwomen like her. I tell you I won’t stand it. Who knows what catching thing they had in their clothes? I’ll have it fumigated with a sulphur candle, by the Lord Harry, I will! Nancy Sharp riding in my carriage! mine! to Tom Grey’s funeral! ”

“ Then a third message was sent to the judge to hurry, as lunch was waiting.
At the bank the judge had thought himself hungry, and during the drive he had sat up straight and proud, holding his head high, not deigning to look at anyone, but the moment he reached home he collapsed entirely, and it was a very crushed and trembling man who crept up to his room, and, lying down upon the couch, said to his wife with quivering lips and a shaky voice:
“Cover me up, Susan. I’m cold, and don’t speak to me of victuals. My stomach is all in a broil, and my head feels as if it was full of bumble-bees. ”

“ I’d rather be here, where it is cool, than in rooms as hot as those must be, with all the people, to say nothing of the gas,” Fred answered, leaning back in the carriage, with a feeling that he could stay there for hours watching Louie’s face, on which the lights of the lanterns and the moonbeams fell, bringing out every point of beauty and making it very fair and sweet. ”

“ Fred had now taken his place at a point where he could easily receive or stand aloof, as he chose. He preferred the latter, for meeting strangers was not to his taste. He had had a surfeit of it in Washington, and would far rather be a spectator and watch the different guests as they came. Then his mind was considerably distracted with thoughts of a white muslin gown, with baby waist and red ribbons, and a pair of brown eyes which had looked at him just as no other eyes had ever looked, with no shade of coquetry in them, or sign of elation because of notice from him. ”

“ To be a man whom every one could respect, independent of his money or position, was his object, and if he at times seemed cold and reserved, it was not from pride or a sense of his superiority, but rather from indifference, if not from contempt for the deference amounting sometimes to toadyism, paid to him because he was Fred Lansing. Louie had not seemed at all overawed or impressed, even when she found herself in his arms on her return to consciousness in the bank. ”

“ Godfrey Sheldon asked.
“Yes,” she replied; “but, much or little, if God spares my life, I’ll pay them. Believe me, I will. Our house is for sale, with the horses and carriage and diamonds. The piano is sold, and my wheel, and with part of the money they brought I have paid some of the smaller debts. We shall give up everything, and we shall take a small, cheap house by and by; but I want father to stay where he is till he is better, or worse, and perhaps you won’t mind if we keep enough to live on a while. We must have something.” ”

“ She was also rather fond of attending to other people’s business and having her own way about it. When once her mind was made up, she held on with a firm grip, and usually carried her point. With nothing in particular to do and plenty of money to spend, she would like to have a girl like Louie under her wing; it would help to divert her mind from a horror which was ever present with her when she was unoccupied, and she talked on of Paris and Marchesi and Europe generally as if it were settled that Louie was to go abroad with her in the autumn. ”

“ Every day I ask God to bless you, and I am sure He will. Written words seem so inadequate to express all I feel, but some time I hope I may meet you face to face, and perhaps repay you for all you have done for us. God bless you, whoever you are; and if there is any good thing you desire more than another, may He give it to you. Very truly and gratefully yours,
“Louie Grey.” This letter Mr. Blake directed, laughing to himself as he dropped it into the mail box, and thought, “I shouldn’t wonder if it went with her across the sea, and maybe she’ll hear from it personally.” ”

“ No one has said a kind word but Nancy Sharp.”
“I came as soon as I heard of it. I went to your house first,” Herbert said, offering again to help her father.
But she did not relinquish her hold. She only put her hand on Herbert’s arm to steady herself, she felt so faint.
Not until he was in the carriage did Mr. Grey seem conscious of the crowd. Then he lifted his hat and bowed, while a smile broke over his pallid features and his lips moved as if he would speak. Louie saw it and whispered, “Don’t father. Don’t say anything now. It can do no good.” ”

“ THE RUN As the judge was a warden, he seldom swore. He didn’t think “the Devil” was a swear word, and he said it now very emphatically, as he clutched his collar.
“A run on my bank! On the First National! That’s as firm as a rock. Inspectors here only a month ago. Why should anybody run, and what for? I can pay every dollar—give me time,” he said.
Then, as he remembered the five thousand dollars Godfrey Sheldon was to draw that morning, and probably had drawn by that time, he gave a little groan, for in case of a prolonged run that might cripple him, he had so much money loaned out. ”

“ The words were caught up by those outside, and ran through the crowd like wildfire, gaining strength as they ran, until by the time they reached the outer circle it was affirmed that the bank could pay no more that day.
Those who have witnessed a run on a bank know how the excitement grows until people, ordinarily cool and sane, grow wild and mad, and howl sometimes like beasts at the prospect of losing their money. And so it was now at the White Bank, where the excitement was intense, especially among the small depositors—the women, whose little was all in the bank. ”

“ I’ll ask father.”
She did ask him, and, with his fondness for humor and jokes, Mr. Grey replied, “Tell him both, by all means, and that you have quite as blooded a pedigree as he can boast.”
How much of this Herbert believed, it were difficult to tell. Smugglers and pirates had an ugly sound, and for a time he kept aloof from the girl whose ancestry was so questionable; then her sunny face and saucy eyes prevailed over prejudice, and they became inseparable. She was no end of fun, he said, and followed fearlessly where he led her. ”

“ LOUIE COMES TO THE RESCUE When she heard the cry, “Put it in Grey’s Bank, where Sheldon has put his,” she started quickly, struck with a thought of something she had read about. Going into the bank, where two or three were already depositing their money, she drew her father aside and said:
“Do you think the White Bank can stand the run?”
“Doubtful, if the most of them pitch in as they seem likely to do. They are just crazy, and one excites the other.” ”

“ She did not see Herbert after her talk with him until just before he went back to college in the autumn. He had been to the Adirondacks, with some of his classmates and their sisters,—girls with big hats and tailor gowns, who were up-to-date in every way, and while rambling and climbing and hunting among the mountains and lakes he began to find that life might be tolerably endurable without Louie. There had been full accounts of the failure in the papers, and he had heard it discussed many times, and Mr. Grey spoken of as a man who deserved the weight of the law, if he did not get it. ”

“ Herbert replied, “for her, if for anybody, but continual dropping wears the stone and father is terrible at a nag. He has a great antipathy to Mr. Grey, although he doesn’t know a thing against him, for sure, except that he came here poor, and lived in the White Row, as our tenant, and Mrs. Grey took in sewing.”
“That does not hurt Louie any,” was Fred’s prompt response.
“Certainly not,” Herbert said very cheerfully, glad that Fred saw it in the right light. “But it hurts her with father, who might get so furious as to disinherit me. It is in him. You don’t know father.” ”

“ You second-class!” and Herbert leaped to his feet and stared at Louie as if she had told him she was guilty of a crime.
“Yes, second-class,” she answered. “We cannot afford the high price of the first, and really we are very comfortable, and the voyage will be short. We shall be divided from the first, like goats from sheep, you know; but that doesn’t matter. There are ever so many respectable people second-class with us—professors and clergymen and students. We shall do very well.” ”

“ Some were still talking in low tones when Louie struck a few notes upon the piano and began, quietly, without contortions of body or face, and without any apparent effort, except that the cords of her throat expanded and stood out full and round, when, in the chorus, her voice rose higher and clearer and was more and more like a bird’s, or many birds’, making some of the audience look around to see if a stray robin or canary had not alighted near them and was joining in the song. ”

“ It was in vain that Miss Percy said to her, “I have adopted you as my young sister. You will live with me always. I want you.” Louie only answered, “It isn’t that. It isn’t myself I care for. I can earn my own living somehow. It is the people—father’s creditors. ”

“ Grey took it and became one of the White Row tenants.
“My tenants,” Judge White was wont to say, with a strong emphasis on the my, as if they belonged to him, body and soul, while to the tenants, 10when he came in contact with them, he had an air as if they were as far beneath him in the social scale as it was possible for them to be. “A wretched lot,” he said, “who never seem to think it as incumbent upon them to pay their rent as their grocer’s bill; act as if I or’to give it to ’em. In fact, old Nancy Sharp once told me I or’to, because I was rich and she poor.” ”