Allison

“ With an air of finality Julia Cloud put aside the debated question, and settled herself in the big willow chair by the lamp with her book. Leslie went back to her chair by the fire, and Allison flung himself down on the couch with a pillow half over his eyes; but anybody watching closely would have seen that his eyes were wide open and he was studying the calm, quiet profile of his aunt’s sweet face as she read in a gentle, even tone, paragraph after paragraph without a flicker of disturbance on her brow. Allison was not more than half listening to the story. He was thinking hard. ”

“ Perhaps he had forgotten—Rose rather thought he had, but her self- revelation stood before her always like a vivid, scarlet hour in a procession of grey days. Yet the sting and shame of it were curiously absent, for nothing could exceed the gentle courtesy and deference that Allison instinctively accorded her. He saw her always as a thing apart; a goddess who, through divine pity, had stooped for an instant to be a woman—and had swiftly returned to her pedestal. ”

“ In the simple answer, Allison saw an unmeasured loneliness, coupled with a certain loyalty to her mother. He changed the subject.
"You like it here, don't you?"
"Yes, indeed. Aunt Francesca is lovely and so is Cousin Rose. I wish," she went on, with a little sigh as she glanced about the comfortable room, "that I could always stay here." The child-like appeal in her tone set Allison's heart to beating a little faster.
"I wish you could," he said. Remorsefully, he remembered the long hours he had spent with Rose at the piano, happily oblivious of Isabel.
"Are you fond of music?" he asked. ”

“ They have not been in vain. Mrs Beaton, I wish to do what is right. Tell me what I ought to do.”
“My dear, I cannot tell you. It is you yourself who must decide. Allison, are you strong enough, or patient enough, to think of what may be before you? Think of living your life—ten—twenty years with a man like that! Yes, it is said that he is dying, but that is what no one can really know. And if you go to him now, it must be till death comes to part you. May God guide you. It is not for me to say what it is right for you to do.” Allison sat silent. ”

“ The way had opened before me, and some day I was to be wise and learned, and a great man among men. I fought against my love. Are you angry with me. Do you despise me? But love conquered. Love is strong and true.”
Allison’s colour changed; and, for a moment, her eyes fell before his; but she raised them again, and said, gravely and firmly:
“John, when a good man loves a woman whom he believes to be good, what is due from him to her?”
“Ah! Allison. Let me have a chance to show you! It will take a long life to do it.”
“John, let me speak. Does he not honour her in his heart? ”

“ You are the most brilliant woman here, and Mr. Allison the happiest of men.” This was an indication that all was going well. But what of the awful morning-hour that awaited us! Would that show him a happy man?
At last our guests were assembled, and I had an instant to myself. Murmuring a prayer for courage, I slid from the room and ran up-stairs. Here all was bustle also—a bustle I delighted in, for, with so many people moving about, Mrs. Ransome and her daughter could pass out without attracting more than a momentary attention. ”

“ Rose said quickly. "I love to pour the coffee and Aunt Francesca always lets me on the rare occasions when we breakfast together."
If her colour was a little brighter, if her voice was in a higher key, if her eyes had changed their expression, Allison did not notice it. Yet, in the instant, she had attained a certain dual consciousness— there seemed to be two of her. One was the woman of the world, well- schooled in self-control, tactful, watchful, ready to smooth any awkwardness, and, at every point, to guard her guest. ”

“ Allison let her shawl slip from her shoulders and untied the strings of her black bonnet.
“Take it off,” said Mrs Esselmont, as Allison hesitated.
Her hair had grown long by this time and was gathered in a knot at the back of her head, but little rings and wavy locks escaped here and there—brown, with a touch of gold in them—and without the disguise of the big, black bonnet, or of the full bordered mutch, a very different Allison was revealed to Mrs Esselmont.
“A beautiful woman,” she said to herself, “and with something in her face better than beauty. ”

“ Allison didn't answer. He shivered and pushed another inquisitive finger at the control board; the finger selected a certain button and pushed it steadily. There was no click of a hidden relay, no whir of little motors springing to life.
"You can punch that button or any of the others from now until—It won't do any good. We're dead." The plume of Endicott's frozen breath drifted over Allison's shoulder, merged with the sifting snow.
"Dead?" Allison echoed in a sleepwalker's voice. "Dead," he repeated and jabbed the button again and again. ”

“ Meanwhile Allison was repeating to herself Crombie’s words:
“Life and death! It is the matter of a soul’s salvation! It is not between you and that bad man any more. It is between you and the Lord himself, who is ever merciful, and ready to forgive. Forgive and it shall be forgiven unto you—”
Over and over again, the words repeated themselves to her as she sat in silence, till Mrs Beaton said gently:
“Allison, you have been greatly moved and startled by that which you have heard. You are in no state to decide anything now. ”

“ She had not at all the air of one who had been accustomed to go and come at the bidding of other folk.
“It is the true Allison at last,” said John to himself.
“Her gown has something to do with it,” thought Mrs Beaton, and perhaps it had. Her gown was black, and hung in straight folds about her. A soft, white kerchief showed above the edge of it around her throat, and her Sunday cap, less voluminous and of lighter material than those which she wore about her work, let her shining hair be seen.
“A strong and beautiful woman,” John said to himself. ”

“ And to think of the life which lay before this woman, with this weak fool to share it—a woman among ten thousand!
“She will need strength for two, and her love will give it to her,” thought John, a dull pain at his heart with which some self-contempt was mingled. But it was no time to consider himself with Allison’s eyes on his face.
“I could trust him to you,” said Allison, trying to smile, “because ye have a kind heart, though folk say ye’re a wee hard whiles. But I ken what you have been to the lads at the manse to win them, and to warn them, and to keep them out of mischief. ”

“ Dinsmore," interposed
Mrs. Allison, "and I hope you will not compel me to be so inhospitable."
"I hope there is not much danger that I shall ever have to put my threat into execution, Mrs. Allison, for it is not often that Elsie is twice guilty of the same fault; one talking generally does her," he answered with an affectionate glance at his little daughter. ”

“ I fear—though I would say it to none but you—I fear that Allison’s consent was won at last by no fair means.”
“I mind Willie, a nice little lad, merry and frank and well-doing. I should never have thought of such a fate for him.”
“Yes, frank he was, and a fine lad in many ways; but he was not of a strong will, and was easily led away. Allison was far the stronger of the two, even when they were children. It breaks my heart to think what a woman she might have become in favourable circumstances, and now, I fear, she has much suffering before her. ”

“ She purposely avoided the extremes of despair and joy, keeping to the safe middle-ground. Living waters murmured through the melody, the sea surged and crooned, flying clouds went through blue, sunny spaces, and birds sang, ever with an unfailing uplift, as of many wings.
Allison's calmness insensibly changed, not in degree, but in quality, as the piano magically brought before him green distances lying fair beneath the warm sun, clover-scented meadows and blossoming boughs. "Life," he said to himself; "life more abundant." ”

“ How do you do it? I never went to college yet; so I don’t know.”
Allison laughed now. He rather liked this queer boy.
“He’s a nut!” he said to himself, and entered into the talk in earnest.
“Why, you have parties, and rides, and good times generally, and invite a fellow, and make him feel at home, and make him want to belong. See?”
“I see,” said Bryan, with a twinkling glance at the rest of his committee. “We have a party down at my house Friday night. Will you come?”
Allison saw that the joke was on him, and his reserve broke down entirely. ”

“ But Allison was in no such evil case as her friends were inclined to believe. She was growing strong again, and she had enough to do, and a will to do it, which to reasonable folk means content, if it does not quite mean happiness. She still lived in Mrs Robb’s house, and went to the infirmary every day, and took pleasure in her work, the best of pleasure,—knowing that she was doing something to soothe the pains of those whose portion in life seemed to be only suffering and sorrow. ”

“ No one but Allison herself could take the responsibility of deciding what her future was to be. None knew better than Mrs Esselmont, how little, wealth and the esteem of the world had to do with peace of mind or enduring happiness. She therefore answered Mr Rainy’s letter without committing herself. But she told him, that a journey to Aberdeen which she was intending to make, should be hastened, in order that she might the sooner see Allison. ”

“ Not if you are the good man that I have ay believed you to be. You would be wretched, John; and seeing it, could I be happy, even if my conscience slumbered?”
“Allison, do you love me, ever so little? Whatever else is to be said, look once into my face and say, ‘John, I love you.’”
She looked into his face as he bade her, and her own changed, as she met his eyes. But she did meet them bravely.
“I think I might have learned to love you—as you said—but I will not do you that wrong. You may suffer for a while, but your life will not be lost. God be with you, and fare ye well.” ”

“ But Miss Allison had darted back, a fine flush mounting to her forehead at the climax of his impassioned address. She had faint appreciation of histrionics.
"Mr. Elmendorf, I think you're simply crazy," was her eminently practical way of putting an end to the address. "If you wish to see pa—my father, you'll find him at the managers' office at half-past ten, or if you hurry you may catch him at the Lambert." And then she would have turned; but he sprang to her.
"How can you treat me with disdain?" he said. "Because I have been poor, is that reason why I may not one day be rolling in wealth? ”

“ Mistress Allison, you have set out on a road in which there is no turning back now, if you would help to save this man’s soul.”
“I have no thought of turning back,” said Allison.
“That is well. And to go on you will need faith and patience, and ye’ll also need to have a’ your wits about you. You’ll need perfect health and your natural strength, and ye’ll just do my bidding in all things, that you may be fit to meet all that is before you—since it seems to be God’s will that this work is to fall to you.” ”

“ He glanced now and then deprecatingly toward the visitors with an anxious gasp as he announced that they would open the meeting by singing number twenty-nine. The two young strangers opened their hymn-books and found the place, marvelling how such a youth had ever been persuaded to get himself into such a trying situation. Allison found himself thinking that there must be some power greater than the ordinary influences of life that made him do it. ”

“ Even in her incoherence, however, even in her wild disorder of emotion, she realised that there was danger, not only to her but to every one she loved, in the man from whom she had run away; and she could not tell the young rector any more than that she had been frightened. Had she so much as mentioned the name of Allison, she instinctively knew that the Reverend Smith Boyd, in whom there was some trace of impetuosity, might certainly have forgotten his cloth and become mere man, and have strode straight across to the house before Allison could have collected his dazed wits ”

“ Without being aware of it, she was beginning to regard this strong and silent young woman not as a mere maid-servant in the manse, who came and went, and worked for wages like the rest, but as one who, for reasons not to be revealed, had chosen, or had been forced by an untoward fate, to begin a new life in a sphere in which she had not been born. But much as she desired to know more about her, she waited for Allison herself to speak. ”

“ Allison set about preparing this, while the bitter tears of one who had seen feud before, dripped down her weathered cheeks.
The boy Bud stood by the table opening and closing his hands and muttering under his quick breath—“Pappy’s gun—it’s good and true-sighted. Not high-power—but I can hide and wait—close—close——”
“If you’ll forgive a stranger, Mrs. Allison,” put in Fair, straightening up and looking at the mother, “I’d say—give him his father’s gun. And I’d say, Buddy—don’t go to pieces now after such a brave and conservative fight. Be a defender—not a murderer.” ”

“ For the first time in her life the bright sunlight faded out and Nance Allison, who had fought so long and hard against tremendous odds,—who had held her battle line and borne all things with the courage of a strong man swayed back upon the floor. ”