Hephzy

“ Bancroft's Hotel also began to seem less strange and more homelike. Mr. Jameson, the proprietor, was a fine fellow—quiet, refined, and pleasant. He, too, tried to help us in every possible way. His wife, a sweet-faced Englishwoman, made Hephzy's acquaintance and Hephzy liked her extremely.
“She's as nice as she can be,” declared Hephzy. “If it wasn't that she says 'Fancy!' and 'Really!' instead of 'My gracious!' and 'I want to know!' I should think I was talking to a Cape Codder, the best kind of one. She's got sense, too. SHE don't ask about 'red Indians' in Bayport.” ”

“ Soon Hephzy and I were drinking hot tea and eating bread and butter and plum cake before a snapping fire. George, the waiter, had brought us the tea and accessories and set the table; the chambermaid had prepared the bedrooms; Henry had supervised everything.
“Well,” observed Hephzy, with a sigh of content, “I feel better satisfied every minute. When we were in the hack—cab, I mean—I couldn't realize we weren't ridin' through an American city. The houses and sidewalks and everything—what I could see of 'em—looked so much like Boston that I was sort of disappointed. ”

“ I did not like to think of it.
“Oh dear!” sighed Hephzy; “if only things were different. If only she knew all about her father and his rascality and was livin' with us because she wanted to—if that was the way of it, it would be so different. If you and I had really adopted her! If she only was your niece.”
“Nonsense!” I snapped. “She isn't my niece.”
“I know it. That's what makes your goodness to her seem so wonderful to me. You treat her as if you cared as much as I do. And of course you don't. It isn't natural you should. ”

“ She was in good spirits, and, as Hephzy confided to me afterward, was “gettin' a real nice appetite.” In gaining this appetite she appeared to have lost some of her dignity and chilling condescension; at all events, she treated her American relatives as if she considered them human beings. She addressed most of her conversation to Hephzy, always speaking of and to her as “Miss Cahoon.” She still addressed me as “Mr. Knowles,” and I was duly thankful; I had feared being hailed as “Uncle Hosy.” ”

“ But Hephzy herself spoke of matrimony and Little Frank soon after this. We were alone together; Frances had gone on a horseback ride with Herbert Bayliss and a female cousin who was spending the day at “Jasmine Gables.”
“Hosy,” said Hephzy, “do you realize the summer is half over? It's the middle of July now.”
So it was, although it seemed scarcely possible.
“Yes,” she went on. “Our lease of this place is up the first of October. We shall be startin' for home then, I presume likely, sha'n't we.”
“I suppose so. We can't stay over here indefinitely. Life isn't all skittles and—and tea.” ”

“ Miss Morley regarded me with a new interest, or at least I thought she did.
“Did you mean it?” she asked.
I smiled. “Yes,” I answered.
“Now, Hosy,” cried Hephzy. “What a way that is to talk! What do you know about the hereafter?”
“Not much, but,” remembering the old story, “I know Bayport. Humph! speaking of ministers, here is one now.”
Judson, the curate, was approaching across the lawn. Hephzy hastily removed the lid of the teapot. “Yes,” she said, with a sigh of relief, “there's enough tea left, though you mustn't have any more, Hosy. Mr. Judson always takes three cups.” ”

“ Hephzy looked after him.
“There!” she exclaimed; “I really begin to believe I'm goin'. Somehow I feel as if the last rope had been cast off. We've got to depend on ourselves now, Hosy, dear. Mercy! how silly I am talkin'. A body would think I was homesick before I started.”
I did not answer, for I WAS homesick. We dined together at the hotel. There remained three long hours before it would be time for us to take the cab for the 'Plutonia's' wharf. I suggested another theater, but Hephzy, to my surprise, declined the invitation. ”

“ The next forenoon I said good-by to her and the Heptons at the railway station. Hephzy's last words to me were these:
“Remember,” she said, “if you do get caught in the rain, there's dry things in the lower tray of your trunk. Collars and neckties and shirts are in the upper tray. I've hung your dress suit in the closet in case you want it, though that isn't likely. And be careful what you eat, and don't smoke too much, and—Yes, Mr. Hepton, I'm comin'—and don't spend ALL your money in book-stores; you'll need some of it in Switzerland. And—Oh, dear, Hosy! do be a good boy. ”

“ By that time Hephzy was as anxious and fretful as I. And, when I proposed going in search of her, Hephzy, for a wonder, considering how very, very careful she was of my precious health, did not say no.
“You're pretty close to bein' as well as ever you was, Hosy,” she said. “And I know how terribly worried you are. If you do go out at night you may be sick again, but if you don't go and lay awake frettin' and frettin' about her I KNOW you'll be sick. So perhaps you'd better do it. ”

“ Frances had not told Hephzy of L'Abbaye, that was evident. Well, I would keep silence also.
“Where is she now?” I asked. I asked it with as much indifference as I could assume, but Hephzy smiled and patted my hand.
“Oh, she comes every day to ask about you,” she said. “And Doctor Bayliss comes too. He's been real kind.”
“Bayliss!” I exclaimed. “Is he with—Does he come here?”
“Yes, he comes real often, mostly about the time she does. He hasn't been here for two days now, though. Hosy, do you suppose he has spoken to her about—about what he spoke to you?” ”

“ At six o'clock I came downstairs, made a pretence at eating some biscuits and cheese which I found on the sideboard, scribbled a brief note to Hephzy stating that I had gone for a walk and should not be back to breakfast, and started out. The walk developed into a long one and I did not return to the rectory until nearly eleven in the forenoon. By that time I was in a better mood, more reconciled to the inevitable—or I thought I was. I believed I could play the man, could even see her married to Herbert Bayliss and still behave like a man. ”

“ I answered, decidedly. “I should be poor company on a pleasure trip like that. But you might go, Hephzy. There is no reason in the world why you shouldn't go. I'll stay here until you return. Go, by all means, and enjoy yourself.”
Hephzy shook her head.
“I'd do a lot of enjoyin' without you, wouldn't I,” she observed. “While I was lookin' at the scenery I'd be wonderin' what you had for breakfast. Every mite of rain would set me to thinkin' of your gettin' your feet wet and when I laid eyes on a snow peak I'd wonder if you had blankets enough on your bed. ”

“ Hephzy hesitated.
“Why,” she faltered; “well, I—Oh, Hosy, I guess likely you're right. At first I was all for goin' after her right away and bringin' her back by main strength, if I had to. But the more I thought of it the more I—I—”
“Of course,” I interrupted. “It is the only thing we can do. You must have been ashamed of me this morning. Well, I'll try and give you no cause to be ashamed again. That part of our lives is over. Now we'll start afresh.”
Hephzy, after a long look at my face, covered her own with her hands and began to cry. ”

“ Go we did, and we bought the coat and the hat and the suit and various other things. With each purchase Hephzy's groans and protests at my reckless extravagance grew louder. At last I had an inspiration.
“Hephzy,” said I, “when we meet Little Frank over there in France, or wherever he may be, you will want him to be favorably impressed with your appearance, won't you? These things cost money of course, but we must think of Little Frank. He has never seen his American relatives and so much depends on a first impression.” ”

“ Hephzy and Mrs. Briggs were sitting beside the bed. The face upon the pillow looked whiter and more pitiful than ever. The dark eyes were closed.
Hephzy signaled me to silence. She rose and tiptoed over to me. I led her out into the hall.
“She's sort of dozin' now,” she whispered. “The poor thing is worn out. What did the doctor say?”
I told her what the doctor had said.
“He's just right,” she declared. “She's half starved, that's what's the matter with her. That and frettin' and worryin' have just about killed her. What are you goin' to do, Hosy?” ”

“ This excuse served with the neighbors and friends not in the secret and, for the benefit of the servants, Hephzy elaborated the deceit by pretending eagerness at the arrival of the mails and by certain vague remarks at table concerning letters she was writing.
“I AM writing 'em, too, Hosy,” she said. “I write to her every few days. Of course I don't mail the letters, but it sort of squares things with my conscience to really write after talking so much about it. As for her visitin' relatives—well, she's got relatives somewhere in England, we know that much, and she MAY be visitin' 'em. ”

“ I have told Hephzy so a good many times since, but I think she understood without my telling her.
“Well,” she said, quietly, “dreams are somethin', after all. It's somethin' to have had dreams. I sha'n't forget mine. Good night, Hosy.”
The next morning after breakfast she announced that she had an errand or two to do. She would run out and do them, she said, but she would be gone only a little while. She was gone nearly two hours during which I paced the floor or sat by the window looking out. ”

“ He yells and drawls and whines through his nose and wears clothes which would make an American cry. That last scene was supposed to be a reception and he wore an outing suit and no waistcoat. Do they suppose such a fellow would be tolerated in respectable society in the United States?”
And now it was Hephzy's turn to be philosophical.
“I guess likely the answer to that is simple enough,” she said. “He's what they think an American ought to be, even if he isn't. If he behaved like a human bein' he wouldn't be the kind of American they expect on the stage. ”

“ THERE I am all right. No, I don't propose to stay lost long. My father and grandfather and all my men folks spent their lives cruisin' through crooked passages and crowded shoals and I guess I've inherited some of the knack.”
At last I was strong enough to take a short outing in Hephzy's company. I returned to the hotel, where Hephzy left me. She was going to do a little shopping by herself. I went to my room and sat down to rest. A bell boy—at least that is what we should have called him in the States—knocked at the door. ”

“ And so we began “to live for each other again,” Hephzy and I. This meant, of course, that Hephzy forgot herself entirely and spent the greater part of her time trying to find ways to make my living more comfortable, just as she had always done. And I—well, I did my best to appear, if not happy, at least reasonably calm and companionable. It was a hard job for both of us; certainly my part of it was hard enough.
Appearances had to be considered and so we invented a tale of a visit to relatives in another part of England to account for the unannounced departure of Miss Morley. ”

“ Meanwhile Hephzy and I were doing our best to become acquainted with our new and novel mode of life. Hephzy took charge of the household and was, in a way, quite in her element; in another way she was distinctly out of it.
“I did think I was gettin' used to bein' waited on, Hosy,” she confided, “but it looks as if I'll have to begin all over again. Managin' one hired girl like Susanna was a job and I tell you I thought managin' three, same as we've got here, would be a staggerer. But it isn't. Somehow the kind of help over here don't seem to need managin'. They manage me more than I do them. ”

“ Hephzy laughed. “The Baylisses will explain,” she said. “I told the old doctor and his wife all about it. They were very much pleased, that was plain enough. They knew she wasn't your niece and they'll tell the other folks. That'll be all right, Hosy. Yes, Doctor and Mrs. Bayliss were tickled almost to death. It stops all their worry about their son and Frances, of course. He is in Switzerland now, poor chap. They'll write him and he'll come home again by and by where he ought to be. And he'll forget by and by, too. He's only a boy and he'll forget. ”

“ I do, I do; he is a good man. But I told him—” she rose on tiptoe and kissed me—“I told him that I loved you, dear. See! here is the pin you gave me. It is the one thing I could not leave behind when I ran away from Mayberry. I meant to keep that always—and I always shall.”
After a time we remembered Hephzy. It would be more truthful to say that Frances remembered her. I had forgotten Hephzy altogether, I am ashamed to say.
“Kent,” she said; “don't you think we should tell Auntie now? She will be pleased, I hope.” ”

“ His fancy had been caught, probably, by her odd combination of the romantic and the practical, and in her dream of “Little Frank” he had scented a mystery. There was no mystery there, nothing but the most commonplace record of misplaced trust and ingratitude. Similar things happen in so many families.
However, I began to think of Hephzy and, as I said, of myself, and to review my life since Ardelia Cahoon and Strickland Morley changed its course so completely. ”

“ Hephzy stared at Lord and Lady Erkskine. I gave our luncheon order, and the steward departed. Then her indignant disgust and disappointment burst forth.
“Well! well!” she exclaimed. “And that is a real live lord! That is! Why, Hosy, he's the livin' image of Asaph Tidditt back in Bayport. If Ase could afford clothes like that he might be his twin brother. Well! I guess that's enough. I don't want to see that Princess any more. Just as like as not she'd look like Susanna Wixon.” ”