Ellery

“ At the Avenue Joan remained at the table they had chosen, while Ellery went to the gentlemen’s cloak room. There was no attendant in the room at the time, and Ellery made a quick survey of the two or three dozen hats and coats which were hanging there. What he was looking for was at any rate not among them. In a few minutes the attendant came in, and Ellery entered into talk.
“Do you get many hats and coats left behind here?” he asked.
“Not many, sir. Sometimes a gentleman leaves a coat or an umbrella; but he generally comes back for it. ”

“ John Ellery could have repeated that prayer, almost word for word, years after that night. The captain prayed for the few here gathered together: Let them be steadfast. Let them be constant in the way. The path they were treading might be narrow and beset with thorns, but it was the path leading to glory.
“Scoffers may sneer,” he declared, his voice rising; “they may make a mock of us, they may even come into Thy presence to laugh at us, but theirs is the laugh that turns to groanin'. O Lord, strengthen us to-night to speak what's in our hearts, without fear.” ”

“ A band of sages and heroes rose in all the majesty of man—met the invaders of their rights and drove them from Columbia's soil. [Pg 92]
Among them was William Ellery, born at Newport Rhode Island on the 2d of December 1727. His ancestors were from Bristol, England. He was the son of William Ellery a graduate of Harvard College and an enterprising merchant. He filled many public stations and became one of the first men in the colony. Pleased with the docility of his son he became his instructor and prepared him for college. He entered Harvard and became a close and successful student. ”

“ He himself so liked young men that he frequently forgot that his daughter and not himself might be the object of their quest. So he plunged cheerfully into an animated discussion of the new tide in civic politics, while Norris dully and conscientiously tried to bear up his end.
Ellery’s eyes, however, as well as the thoughts behind those superficial thoughts that guided his words, were absorbed in the other side of the room, where Miss Elton canvassed with her mother the merits of various embroidery silks. She was lovelier than ever. ”

“ Ellery,” she said, on one of these Sunday evenings, “do you know, it seems to me that Elkanah's meals must go to your head. Don't have any of his granddad's New England rum, do you? They tell me he's got some of that down cellar that he doles out occasional to his very particular friends. That's the common yarn around town, though I couldn't swear 'twas gospel.”
The minister smiled and denied acquaintanceship with the New England beverage.
“Humph! Then it must be the other thing. You ain't in love, are you?” ”

“ When I married Susan Ellery I did not wed her brother, nor any beggar's brat'--those were his words, sir--'any beggar's brat he was fool enough to keep off the parish. If you had the will I'd dispute it against all the attorneys in England.'
"He is a hard man, Captain. He demands possession in a week." ”

“ Sometimes, and this was when they were with Madeline again, Ellery would have his experience to tell, redolent of printer’s ink, and full of the interest of that profession which is never two days the same—stories of how business toils and spins and is not arrayed like Solomon. Norris, too, was beginning to run up against human nature both in gross and in detail, and to know the world, from the fight last night in Fish Alley up to the doings of statesmen and kings. ”

“ And she always spoke so affectionately to me of Ellery that until lately I had believed that they might make it up. But now they were discussing divorce. Ellery's letters to me were full of misery. He was a conventional man, with deep family pride and feeling. He was cut to the quick. Why had she left him?
It was not because of Rudolf, for he came afterward. Lorna had left her husband because, as she said to me, she was “bored.” She was independent of him as to money, they had no children, so it was easy—for her. But I could not make out her feeling—or her complete lack of feeling. ”

“ The preparation of theatre suppers was in full swing, and the kitchens were alive with chefs and waiters at least until midnight.
Leaving the manager, as if he were going up to the Woodmans’ apartment, Ellery resumed his prowl. On the ground floor he speedily discovered there was no possible means of exit except the main door. There remained the basement, occupied mainly by a vast grill room which was closed at ten o’clock. Ellery descended the stairs, and pushed open the grill room door communicating with the hotel. ”

“ Too much like that yeller-jack schooner to suit me. What's become of the parson?”
Thoph pointed to the open hatch.
“Down yonder, explorin' the fo'castle,” he replied. “He can have the job, for all me. Phew! Say, Bill, what IS this we've struck, anyhow?”
Ellery descended the almost perpendicular ladder gingerly, holding on with both hands. At its foot he stopped and tried to accustom his eyes to the darkness. ”

“ Ellery continued, “—a mere girl in every way. She mustn’t have her whole life spoiled because of a childish mistake.”
“I still think it is her business,” was the reply.
“Is that so?” Ellery responded with a swift change of tone. “Well, I’m tired of her having to do it all. Listen, young man: You were a young master of a steamer when you met her and married her. That’s all you were. You had nothing in the way of property, prospects or natural advantages that could save you from the charge of marrying Isabel for her fortune.”
Griffiths flushed and interrupted firmly: “You forget Isabel. ”

“ That's what Ellery wrote. He says I could have an auction mebbe a week 'fore Thanksgivin',—that's about now,—an' then when he an' Mary come we could all go over to cousin Liza's to stay, an' start for Chicago from there. Seems if 'twas all complete."
[58] The cap'n was staring at her.
"You ain't goin' to sell off your things without ay or no?" he inquired. "Don't ye prize 'em—the table you've eat off of an' chairs you've set in sence you were little?"
Miss Letty winced, and then recovered herself.
"Yes," she said, "I do prize 'em. But it seems if they'd got to go." ”

“ Ellery's life. Then he confided, as a strict secret, the fact that the two were engaged. Before his hearers had recovered from the shock of this explosion, he was justifying the engagement. Why shouldn't they marry if they wanted to? It was a free country. The girl wasn't a Come-Outer any longer, and, besides—and this carried weight in a good many households—what a black eye the marriage would be for that no-account crowd at the chapel. ”

“ Miss Ellery was a well-bred young lady, of decorous and proper demeanor, of careful religious education, of no particular strength either of mind or emotion, good tempered, and with an instinctive approbativeness that made her desirous to please every body, which created for her the reputation that Miss Brown expressed in calling her "a sweet girl." ”

“ Pepper made no more calls at the parsonage, and when the minister met him, at church or elsewhere, seemed anxious to avoid an interview.
“Well, Abishai,” asked Ellery, on one of these occasions, “how are you getting on at home? Has your sister locked you up again?”
“No, sir, she ain't,” replied Kyan. “Laviny, she's sort of diff'rent lately. She ain't nigh so—so down on a feller as she used to be. I can get out once in a while by myself nowadays, when she wants to write a letter or somethin'.” ”

“ I tell her! O Mr. Ellery, DON'T talk so. You don't know Laviny; she ain't like most women. If I should tell her that she'd—I don't know's she wouldn't take and horsewhip me. Or commit suicide. She's said she would afore now if—if—”
“Nonsense! She won't do that, you needn't worry.” He burst into another laugh, but checked himself, as he saw the look of absolute distress on poor Kyan's face.
“Never mind, Mr. Pepper,” he said. “We'll think of some plan to smooth matters over. I'll go home with you now and we'll let her out together.”
“Will you, Mr. Ellery? Will you, honest? ”

“ He and Laviny ain't got any mortgage on the marryin' business. Other folks can do it as well as them. What do you think of Hannah Poundberry?”
“What do I think of her? What do you mean?”
“Never mind what I mean. Just you keep that in your head, Mr. Ellery. You remember that I asked you, as man to man, 'What do you think of Hannah Poundberry?'—Yes, yes, Laviny, I'm a-comin'. They want me to ask you to marry 'em,” he added. “I s'pose you'll have to. But say, Mr. Ellery, when you do, just tell Pratt that your usual price for the job is ten dollars. ”

“ But here they can ask you questions; about how you came to come here and what you think of it far's you've got, and what your views are on certain points in the creed. Likewise, who your folks were and whether they was well off, and a few things like that. Then they'll want to see what kind of clothes you wear and—”
“Whew!” Ellery whistled. “You're unfolding a pleasant prospect for me, I must say. Am I supposed to be catechized on all of my private affairs?”
“Of course! A minister hasn't got any private affairs; he's a public character. There!” ”

“ Ellery can preach here for the next hundred year, if he lives that long and wants to, and he can marry whoever he darn pleases, besides. Elkanah's licked and he knows it. He ain't got enough backers to man a lobster dory. Let him holler; noise don't scare grown folks.”
One afternoon a few days before the date set for the meeting Elkanah and two or three of his henchmen were on the piazza of the Daniels home, discussing the situation. They were blue and downcast. Annabel was in the sitting room, shedding tears of humiliation and jealous rage on the haircloth sofa. ”

“ I began.
“Than a stalled ox and hatred therewith,” concluded Ethel.
“Something like that. Four hundred a year with love is a large order. She’d better wait until Ellery is famous. But perhaps we’d better not hurry them along. She’s interested in him because he has talent and is unrecognized, and he’s interested in her because he has talent and she recognized it, but I don’t believe but that you could buy him off with a mess of pottage—”
“Or some griddle cakes. ”

“ S'pose I'll ever get this house fit for Mr. Ellery to live in before he comes? I wonder if he's a particular man?”
Grace, who was struggling with a refractory window, paused for breath.
“I'm sure I don't know,” she replied. “I've never seen him.”
“Nor I either. Sol was so bad the Sunday he preached that I couldn't go to meetin'. They say his sermon was fine; all about those who go down to the sea in ships. That's what got the parish committee, I guess; they're all old salts. I wonder if he's as fine-lookin' as they say?” ”

“ He seemed to appreciate it and my society.”
“I dare say you made yourself agreeable. Do you expect he will help you in your public career?”
“Not voluntarily, perhaps; but I wanted to know him, better and better. Under benign influences, he is indiscreet. He reminded me last night of Louis XIV. He might have said, ‘St. Etienne, it is I,’ but in his simpler and less sophisticated language, he was content to remark, ‘I’m the whole damn show, see?’”
“I’m glad he knew enough to put the appropriate adjective before show,” said Ellery grimly. ”

“ The bystanders looked at each other, and a smothered “Haw, haw!” sounded here and there.
“He fell into a ditch once,” resumed Mr Ellery, with stern sarcasm. “Was it a ditch this time, or did he chance to knock himself against a wall?”
“He tripped over a log of wood,” returned Mrs Crumpler, diffidently; and the laughter of the bystanders began afresh.
“Here, you folks,” shouted the farmer, raising himself in his stirrups, “what are you all idling about for? Because one man’s an idle, p. 72good-for-nothing chap, are you all to lose your time? ”

“ Pepper. Kyan was astonished.
“Well, I snum!” cried Kyan, raising the lantern. “If 'tain't Mr. Ellery. Where you bound this kind of night?”
Before the minister could answer, a stately figure appeared and joined the pair. Lavinia, of course.
“Well, Mr. Ellery,” she said. “Ain't you lost, out in this fog? Anybody sick?”
No, no one was sick.
“That's a mercy. Goin' callin', be you?”
“No.”
“Hum! Queer weather for a walk, I call it. Won't be many out to-night, except Come-Outers goin' to holler their lungs loose at prayer meetin'. He, he! You ain't turned Come-Outer, have you, Mr. ”

“ Guess he didn't amount to much; she never mentions his name.”
“There was one thing I meant to tell her,” mused the minister, hesitating on the threshold. “I meant to tell her not to attempt any cleaning up at the parsonage to-night. To-morrow will do just as well.”
“Heavens to Betsy!” sniffed the “hired help,” speaking from the depths of personal conviction, “nobody but a born fool would clean house in the night, 'specially after the cleanin' she's been doin' at her own place. I guess you needn't worry.”
So Mr. Ellery did not worry. ”

“ Ellery asked abruptly.
“I do not have to tell you any more than Madeline.” Seeing the grim look on Norris’ face, Dick went on, “Let’s go in and to bed. We seem to rub each other the wrong way to-night. If we don’t separate soon we shall be having a French duel.”
210 CHAPTER XII AN ENGAGEMENT
The gates of the delectable world, it seemed to Lena, opened very slowly, and the mild fragrance and warmth that dribbled out to her through their narrow crack intensified her outer dreariness. Once in a while Mrs. Lenox or Miss Elton did her some little kindness. Occasionally Mr. ”

“ Always glad to pick up a derelict, may be a chance for salvage, you know. Here's the last channel and it's an easy one. There! now it's plain sailin' for dry ground.”
The old horse, breathing heavily from his exertions, trotted over the stretch of yet uncovered flats and soon mounted the slope of the beach. The minister prepared to alight.
“Captain Hammond,” he said, “you haven't asked me my name.”
“No, I seldom do more'n once. There have been times when I'D just as soon cruise without too big letters alongside my figurehead.”
“Well, my name is Ellery.”
“Hey? WHAT? Oh, ho! ho! ho!” ”