Jess

“ True, Jess was a very gentle beast, so quiet that the old mother-hen with fourteen chicks used, instead of roosting with the rest of the fowls, to come regularly into the portion of the cow-shed which was partitioned off for a stable, and settle under a corner of Jess's manger for the night; and in the morning the chicks would be seen running about fearlessly among her feet and under her very nose. ”

“ And won't you, Jess? We can get married, and then no one can take you from me."
Jess remained silent for a few minutes, with her face turned to the river, shimmering in the glow of eventide.
"We must wait, John," she at length replied. "We are both young yet, so there need be no hurry. Should we get married now, I know that my father would make every effort to separate us, even though I have the right to do as I please. He is a very determined man, and when he once makes up his mind it is almost impossible to stop him. When he finds out what I have done his anger will be great. ”

“ Harold and her niece. Tzaritza bounded along beside the surrey and old Jess, the coachman of fifty years, sat beside his young mistress, almost bursting with pride as he watched the skill with which she handled the high-spirited animals, for Jess had taught her to drive when she was so tiny that he had to hold her upon his lap, and keep the little hands within the grasp of his big black ones. ”

“ Jess straightened herself up with apparent difficulty, the awful pallor still upon her face. How she made her way down the stairway, she never afterward quite remembered, so strong was the feeling within her that she would swoon with each step.
Raymond Challoner advanced to greet her in his jaunty, inimitable, graceful manner.
“Little Jess!” he cried, holding out both hands in greeting, “words fail to express to you how glad I am to see you.” ”

“ But John Niel was no chicken, nor very likely to fall in love with the first pretty face he met. He had once, years ago, gone through that melancholy stage, and there, he thought, was an end of it. Moreover, if Bessie attracted him, so did Jess in a different way. Before he had been a week in the house he came to the conclusion that Jess was the strangest woman he had ever met, and in her own fashion one of the most attractive. Her very impassiveness added to her charm; for who is there in this world who is not eager to learn a secret? To him Jess was a riddle of which he did not know the key. ”

“ How did it go?” demanded Jess, running to her.
“Very bad. She is a fraud,” whispered Mother Wit. “And look out! they think we have seen the girl who ran away and they will try to pump us about her.”
“That’s what I thought,” declared Jess.
“Know all about your past and future, Laura?” asked Bobby Hargrew.
“Dear me! it makes me shiver to think of it,” said Nellie. “Does she stir a cauldron, and call on the spirits of the earth and air?”
“She calls on nothing but her own shrewd sense,” replied Laura, shortly. “And she can tell you really nothing. Take my advice, girls, and don’t try it.” ”

“ Soon after that Jess and Henry heard her snoring heavily. They sat up in the dark.
"Mustn't we surely run away?" whispered Jess in Henry's ear.
"Yes!" whispered Henry. "Take only what we need most. We must be far off before morning, or they will catch us."
Jess sat still for a moment, thinking, for every motion she made must count.
"I will take both loaves of bread," she thought, "and Violet's little workbag. Henry has his knife. And all Father's money is in my pocket." She drew it out and counted it in the dark, squinting her eyes in the faint light of the moon. ”

“ Remember, I asked you to hear me then and you refused; surely you will not judge me too harshly until you have heard what I have to say upon the subject?” he said, eagerly.
“I would rather try to forget it,” retorted Jess, her slender, dark, jetty eyebrows meeting in a decided frown.
He would take no notice of her remark, but went on, quickly:
“You shall hear my reason for my actions, which will, I am sure, excuse them——”
“Nothing will ever excuse a man for lashing a poor dumb brute!” cried Jess, trembling with indignation. “Spare your words, sir!” ”

“ A cry broke from Jess’ lips, and her grasp tightened on his hand.
“Courage!” cried the girl. “I will save you! Keep still and let me float you along. I—I am an expert swimmer.”
“No, no! Save yourself!” he cried, white to the lips. “I would only hamper you. I have nothing left in life worth the effort of living for. To you life is sweet; life is everything. Save yourself, girl—never mind me.” ”

“ Young Jess, too, had pulled the splendid vision down to his dull understanding. Young Jess, low-browed, sullen, would like to throw the gold with both hands into the lap of brutish gratifications. Young Jess was a gambler by nature, Rawley gleaned. He must never be let loose in a town, because he would have to be hauled out in a drunken torpor, his pockets empty, his credit strained, his soul fresh blotted by vice. Young Jess had “sprees”; from Gladys Rawley learned that. So Young Jess was kept on a leash of family watchfulness. ”

“ She wondered if Jess could by any possible means have ever met the real John Dinsmore; but in the next breath she told herself that it could not have been; the girl was just conjuring up this mental photograph of the hero who could win her heart purely from her imagination, never dreaming that there had been a man in existence who had fitted that description exactly. ”

“ Of all the friends that Jess and Hendry had, T'nowhead was the ablest to help, and the sweetest memory I have of the farmer and his wife is the delicate way they offered it. You who read will see Jess wince at the offer of charity. But the poor have fine feelings beneath the grime, as you will discover if you care to look for them, and when Jess said she would bake if any one would buy, you would wonder to hear how many kindly folk came to her door for scones. ”

“ I leave you to think it over carefully, Jess. Surely you are too noble to consign the one who loves you so well to the bitterest of poverty. He does not know how to cope with it; he has always looked upon the Dinsmore fortune as his, some day; therefore he is not equipped to fight for his daily bread during the remainder of his life. ”

“ But although Jess had gone away Bessie had not. On the contrary, she was always about him, surrounding him with that tender care a woman, however involuntarily, cannot prevent herself from lavishing on the man she loves. Her beauty moved about the place like a beam of light about a garden, for she was indeed a lovely woman, and as pure and good as she was lovely. Nor could John long remain in ignorance of her liking for himself. ”

“ The thousand pounds that John had paid to Silas as the price of a third interest in the farm still lay to the credit of the latter in the Standard Bank at Newcastle, in Natal, together with another two hundred and fifty pounds in cash.
And so in due course they went.
Now what more is there to tell? Jess, to those who read what has been written as it is meant to be read, was the soul of it all, and Jess—is dead. It is useless to set a lifeless thing upon its feet, rather let us strive to follow the soarings of the spirit. Jess is dead and her story at an end. ”

“ Jess watches him wonderingly, trying to read the thoughts that cause his handsome, grave face to grow graver still and his lips to twitch.
“It will be better so,” he ruminated. “It would be selfish of me to shuffle off this mortal coil without doing some one good deed for the benefit of some human being; and what better act could I do than marry this child, that she may, in accordance with the will, receive the great fortune which otherwise she must miss, and be thrown, penniless, upon the world? ”

“ For an instant Jess felt she wanted to slap his face. Then she burst out laughing.
"I'm gled ye're no' angry wi' me ony mair," he said, and kissed her.
"Did you get the sweet-peas planted?" she inquired, as she drew him into the parlor.
He shook his head. "Ye see, I didna gang oot to the gairden efter a'. I jist sat in the kitchen waitin' for her to gang. I hadna the hert to plant onythin' when ye was angry wi' me, Jess."
"You're just a laddie, Davie," she said, not chaffingly, but with a world of affection in her voice. "And now I'm going to have an hour at the books," she added, quickly. ”

“ Henry decided wisely. "Load on all you can carry, Jess."
"For Benny," thought Violet to herself. So the odd little party trudged on for nearly three hours, laden with hay, until they found that the road ended in a cart path through the woods.
"Oh, dear!" exclaimed Jess, almost ready to cry with disappointment.
"What's the matter?" demanded Henry in astonishment. "Isn't the woods a good place to sleep? We can't sleep in the road, you know."
"It does seem nice and far away from people," admitted Jess, "and it's almost morning." ”

“ They ought to have been headed “Our Pretoria Letter,” as Bessie said disgustedly after reading through three sheets in Jess’s curious, upright handwriting. “Once you lose sight of Jess,” she went on, “she might as well be dead for all you learn about her. Not that one learns very much when she is here,” she added reflectively.
“She is a peculiar woman,” said John thoughtfully. ”

“ Jess and Benny came across the lawn to select some white moonflowers for Violet's tray. They were just in time to hear Henry say, "But, Grandfather—"
"Grandfather!" echoed Jess, whirling around to gaze at them.
"Yes, Jess," said Henry eagerly. "He's the man we've been running away from all this time."
"I thought you was old," observed Benny. "And awf'ly cross. Jess said so."
"I didn't know, Benny," said Jess turning pink. To think of running away from this kind friend! ”

“ His comrades had already resumed their p. 51labours, but he remained standing still, leaning upon his rake, and surveying his master with a lowering gaze.
“Don’t hurry yourself, Jess,” observed Farmer Old, with a sneer.
He was a tall man, but spare of figure, with long wiry limbs, and a face burnt mahogany-colour and fringed by a grey beard; his small black eyes were as expressionless as sloes, but there were certain humourous lines about his mouth.
“Talkin’ o’ rain,” observed Jess sternly, “a man mid very well wish for it these times; a drap or two mid m’isten his tongue.” ”

“ Jess's staff probably had a history before it became hers, for, as known to me, it was always old and black. If we studied them sufficiently we might discover that staves age perceptibly just as the hair turns grey. At the risk of being thought fanciful I dare to say that in inanimate objects, as in ourselves, there is honourable and shameful old age, and that to me Jess's staff was a symbol of the good, the true. ”

“ It is a hardship for Jess to lie in bed after the pink dawn has ushered in a glorious day, and, creeping silently out of her white nest, in which Lucy is still sleeping soundly, she is soon dressed and out of the house, exploring the grounds.
There is another one beneath that roof who is an early riser, and that one Mr. Moore, as he has permitted himself to be called. ”

“ Jess’s eyes were almost blinded by tears when she went back to her seat. But they were angry tears. The unkind suspicion and accusation of the teacher cut deeply into the girl’s soul. She could see some of the girls looking at her askance—girls like Hester Grimes and Lily Pendleton, and their set. Of course, they had not heard all that Miss Carrington said; but they could easily suspect. ”

“ Oh, I think that she has gone to the Lion Kloof, reading or sketching, I don’t know which. You see in this establishment I represent labour and Jess represents intellect,” and she nodded her head prettily at him, and added, “There is a mistake somewhere, she got all the brains.”
“Ah,” said John quietly, and looking up at her, “I don’t think that you are entitled to complain of the way in which Nature has treated you.”
She blushed a little, more at the tone of his voice than the words, and went on hastily, “Jess is the dearest, best, and cleverest woman in the whole world—there. ”

“ And Jess smiled quite gladly.
The last steamer was due at Kinlochan pier about seven o'clock, and when Mr. Ogilvy sighted her lights on the far side of the loch, he proceeded to behave in a somewhat extraordinary fashion. His message-boy having gone for the night, the grocer was alone in his shop, yet he looked about him as though he feared a watch upon his movements. ”

“ That is just how I feel,” cried Jess, great sighs welling up from her heart to her lips.
“You have promised to marry a young man whom you do not love!” repeats Lucy, for the first time realizing that part of Jess’ excited remarks. She was about to add: “How could you do it?” Then she thinks better of what she was about to say, and goes on: “Mother says the greatest love has often commenced with a very decided aversion.”
“I must marry John Dinsmore, but I shall hate him till the day I die!” sobbed Jess, vehemently. ”

“ Neville to him, holding up her hands as she watched Jess solemnly surveying a half-cooked mutton chop. “Why, she used to be such a poor creature, and now she’s quite a fine woman. And that with this life, too, which is wearing me to a shadow and has half-killed my dear daughter.”
“I suppose it is being in the open air,” said John, it having never occurred to him that the medicine that was doing Jess so much good might be happiness. But so it was. After her first struggles came a lull, and then an idea. Why should she not enjoy his society while she could? ”

“ Even as he had uttered the word, Jess sprang forward to wrench the revolver from his grasp and prevent the tragedy, if indeed he really meant to carry out his threat of blowing his brains out. But in her excitement she forgot that he was standing on the very brink of the precipice which overlooked the cataract, and in her intense horror she forgot that the tree which had so recently blown down lay directly across the path, and her foot caught on the up-standing roots, and in less time than it takes to tell it, she had fallen across it, her head hanging over the very edge of the precipice. ”