Mrs. Evans

“ MacDonald every day some dainty, and to have Mrs. Evans appear every evening with a delightful story book from which she would read aloud. Then it was pleasant to be thrown with such a bright companion as Dorothy, who was always ready to devise some new play or to shake out a bag of pretty pieces for doll clothes. Altogether, Edna thought herself very fortunate to have fallen into such good hands.
"It is almost like being at home," she said. "I wish you knew my mamma, Mrs. Evans." ”

“ She merely lifted her eyes.
"I want you to be happy in my house."
"Thank you, sir."
"Don't speak in that sarcastic manner. It does not sound respectable to one's guardian."
She was growing paler, and all her old aversion to him was legible in her countenance.
"Let us be friends. Try to be a patient, cheerful girl."
"Patient,—I will try. Cheerful,—no, no, not here! How can I be happy in this house? Am I a brute, or a stone? Oh! I wish I could have died with my dear, dear Mr. Hargrove, that calm night when he went to rest for ever while I sang!" ”

“ With her face hidden on his shoulder, he held her close, his cheek against her hair, and each knew how fiercely the heart of the other throbbed. After some moments, he tightened the arm clasping her waist, and his deep, passionately tender tone caressed like a velvet glove.
"I don't know how many years I have longed for the touch of your lips. Even as a child you never allowed me to kiss you; and, except your father, I am sure no man ever has. My sweetheart, if indeed you are learning to love me, can you, will you give me now what I want—my own wife's pure lips?" ”

“ Evans again untied her apron and this time cast it from her. "For the land's sake, Miss Benson," with visible impatience, "I'd 'a' thought you might at least have turned in and washed the dishes for him."
"Why, no," hesitated Frances, pursuing her design, "I would not have liked to suggest it."
Mrs. Evans gave a short laugh. "Well, all I can say is that Christianity seems a mighty funny thing now-a-days. Sile is not used to baching and he never was handy. I should think common charity would have made you want to clean up a bit." ”

“ She knew that he was singularly reserved and undemonstrative; she had never seen him fondle or caress anything, and the bare thought that his stern marble lips would some day seek and press that woman's scarlet mouth made her shiver with a pang that was almost maddening.
How cruelly mocking that he should take her favourite snowy hyacinths to offer them to Mrs. Carew! Did his keen insight penetrate the folly she had suffered to grow up in her own heart, and had he coolly resorted to this method of teaching her its hopelessness? ”

“ Evans whose seat is at Darley, about a mile from Derby. Blessings descend on her! emotions crowd on me at the sight of her name. We spent five weeks at her house, a sunny spot in our life. My Sara sits and thinks and thinks of her and bursts into tears, and when I turn to her says, “I was thinking, my dear, of Mrs. Evans and Bessy” (that is, her daughter) . I mention this to you, because things are characterized by their effects. She is no common being who could create so warm and lasting an interest in our hearts; for we are no common people. ”

“ Leaning against the table there in the half light of the room, a slow smile curled back the corners of her lips, still childishly quizzical in contrast with that slim roundness of body which was losing its boyish litheness in a new slender fullness that throbbed on the threshold of womanhood. She smiled deprecatingly as she lifted one hand to search in the breast of the blouse that was always just enough outgrown to fail of closing across her throat, and drew out the thing which the Judge had delivered with every possible flourish, barely a few hours back. ”

“ Evans eagerly, "is it true that Sile's up bachin' on Corona, in old man Beebee's cabin, an' that he's gone to work at the Mont d'Or?"
"Yes," affirmed Frances, since no one else seemed to know. "It must be. I saw him going to work this morning. He—he—doesn't look very happy."
"I hope he ain't," said Mrs. Evans emphatically. "He don't deserve to be." ”

“ His chivalry to women is so well known, that Evans said I could be safer and better cared for with no one. He added, "His heart is good and kind, as kind a heart as ever beat. He's a great enemy of his own, but he's been living pretty quietly for the last four years." At the door of his den I took leave of Birdie, who had been my faithful companion for more than 700 miles of travelling, and of Evans, who had been uniformly kind to me and just in all his dealings, even to paying to me at that moment the very last dollar he owed me. ”

“ The quizzical smile only widened before the chilly threat of his beady eyes and ruffled forehead. And then, all in one breath, her little pouted chin went up and she burst into a low gurgle of utter enjoyment of the tableau.
“Well,” she demanded, “aren’t you ever going to say anything? Here I am! I––I decided to move today––there really wasn’t any use of waiting. Aren’t you surprised––just a little?”
The meekness of her voice, so wholly belied by her eyes and lips and swaying boy-like body, only tightened the old man’s mouth. ”

“ Evans hastily replied. "What we got to do is to work on this end of the line."
Frances, who had walked silently down the little path leading to the paling gate, now spoke. "I agree with Mrs. Evans," she spoke slowly. "I do not think it is worth while trying to do anything more with Mrs. Thomas. She is completely under that man's influence. As for him," she added grimly, "a good, strong man should deal with him."
"That is so," responded Mrs. Evans emphatically, "but I don't know one that's got any call to mix in, unless it's Dan Mayhew. He's her trustee, an' he might do something with her." ”

“ It brought a little homesick ache into the girl’s throat; it set her lips to curving––made her eyes go damp with pity and tenderness for the little white-haired figure bending over his bench. He had clung so bravely, so stubbornly, to that battered bit of a house; to his garden which he had never realized had long since ceased to be anything but a plot of waist-high bushes and weeds. Once when she recollected those countless rows of poignantly wistful faces on the shelves of that back-room workshop she wondered if she had not been disloyal, after all. ”

“ That of the little girl, round, rosy, red-lipped, dimpled, merry-eyed; the aged pastor's wrinkled cheeks and furrowed brow and streaming silver beard; and the carved-ivory features of the governess, borrowing no color from the soft folds of her rich merino dress. As daylight ebbed, the ripple danced up to the ceiling and vanished, like the pricked bubble of a human hope; the mocking-bird hushed his vesper-hymn; and Edna closed the book and replaced it on the shelf. ”

“ Joyce, though the only daughter of Mr. Evans' only sister, was not likely to be welcomed by a lady who owned that there was "nothing she detested like poor relations."
True, the girl came from a comparatively poor home, a little country vicarage, of which and of her father she had been the light and joy, until death called him and left her alone.
Mrs. Evans said bitter things on the occasion.
"It is monstrous for people of small means to marry when there is no prospect of their providing for a family. ”

“ I will gladly pay you the same salary that you expect to receive as governess, if you will remain as my companion and assist at Le Bocage. I cannot consent to give you up; I love you too well, my child, to see you quit my house. I shall soon be an old woman, and then what should I do without my little orphan girl? Stay with me always, and you shall never know what want and toil and hardship mean. As soon as you are awake, come and kiss me good-morning, and I shall know that you are my own dear, little Edna. ”

“ Mrs. Evans gave her one glance of unspeakable contempt. "I guess I don't need no old maid to tell me my duty as a married woman," icily. "Let me pass, if you please." But at the door, she paused with her hand on the latch, and looked backward. "I would take it kindly," she said, "if you'd look after the kids till Sile and I get back." ”

“ What right has a nameless, homeless waif to think of love? God grant me a father and a mother, a stainless name, and I shall never need, never wish, never tolerate a lover! Do not insult my misery."
She lifted her clenched hands almost menacingly, and her passionate vehemence startled her companion, who could scarcely recognize in the glittering defiant gaze that met his the velvet violet eyes over which the silken fringes had hung with such tender Madonna grace but a half-hour before.
"Regina, how could you deceive me so shamefully?" ”

“ Evans suggested that Joyce should make a third, he was told, "Your niece has not been used to a carriage. Why spoil her by accustoming her to luxuries she is not likely to possess in future?"
"How do you know? Joyce may marry well. She is sweet-looking and a good girl, who would be a treasure worth the winning to a man who had sense enough to prefer worth to money."
Mr. Evans made this remark without the slightest intention of paining his wife, but it called forth derisive words from his younger daughter, in reference to Joyce, and an angry response from Mrs. Evans. ”

“ Mistress Evans! make haste, make haste, and send master his pocket-book with his money, immediately; Twm Shôn Catti is taken, and we are going off with him to Cardigan gaol.” Mrs. Evans sleeping in a front room, heard him instantly, and with unusual alacrity jumping out of bed, she soon threw down the pocket-book, which was caught by Twm, and asked him, “Doesn’t he want his weather-proof great coat also?” Our hero replied “Yes, but dear me I did forget that,” and immediately received the great coat also, Mrs. Evans wishing them safe home from Cardigan, shut the window. ”

“ Her blue eyes glittered and her lips straightened their curves.
"Most certainly not."
"Pardon me, madam; my interest in your child——"
"Does not justify a man of your position in taking a 'department store saleswoman' to drive on Sunday through public places."
"Perhaps you are right. Then I shall efface myself promptly, and you and Leighton can keep the carriage as long as you like."
"Such favors I accept from no man."
"Not even to help your sick boy?"
She put her hand on the child's shining curls, and a world of tenderness glorified her velvet eyes. ”

“ Tonight she wore a white shawl draped in statuesque folds over her shoulders and bust, and the snowy flowers in her raven hair were scarcely purer than her full forehead, borne up by the airy arched black bows that had always attracted the admiration of her fastidious guardian; and as the soft radiance of the clustered lamps fell upon her, she looked as sweet and lovely a woman as ever man placed upon the sacred hearth of his home, a holy priestess to keep it bright, serene, and warm. ”

“ Is it possible that after all your injuries you can cling so fondly, so madly, to the man who slighted, and humiliated, and blighted you?”
“Ah! you are his wife, and I am the ridiculed and pitied victim of his flirtation, so says the world; but my affection outlives yours. Evelyn, I have loved him from the time when I can first recollect; I loved him with a deathless devotion that neither his unworthiness, nor time, nor eternity can conquer; and to-day, I tell you that he is dear to me,—dear to me as some precious corpse, over which a gravestone has gathered moss for eight weary, dreary years. ”

“ Evans’ feelings by refusing. Do you know, Henry, I shouldn’t in the least wonder if we have seen the last of Mrs. Ames and all her airs of superiority and leadership. You may depend upon it that Mrs. Evans did not consult her before she settled to give a fancy dress party. It is far more likely that she and Major Ames contrived it all between them, while Mrs. Ames was away, and settled what they should go as, and I daresay it will be Romeo and Juliet. ”

“ Evans contemptuously, "I make no doubt you're willin' to waste your time on a dozen of 'em. Seth not six months in his grave, an' you a-entertainin' callers every evenin'. No wonder you're the talk of the camp."
Mrs. Thomas stirred rebelliously. "I don't care, I don't care," she cried; "they're bound to talk about somebody. It ain't so long since they was clatterin' their tongues over you, Effie Evans."
Mrs. Evans winced, but nevertheless maintained her habitual attitude of superior and slightly contemptuous aloofness. "They ain't never spoke light of me with any man," she said with meaning. ”

“ The three women at the gate exchanged meaning glances.
“Sadie Nitschkan”—Mrs. Evans's tone was magisterial—“we want to know something, an' we want to know the truth: Are you goin' gipsyin' again?”
“I sure am.” The answer was decisive, if indifferent.
“An' leave your husband an' kids to shift for theirselves, an' in the care of the entire camp—which really means us—while you go traipsin' over the hills like a wild woman?” Mrs. Evans's shrill tones ran a crescendo scale of incredulous, indignant remonstrance. ”

“ Mrs. Murray, spare me! This is a subject which I cannot discuss with you."
"Why not, my child? Can you not trust the mother of the man you love?"
Edna unwound the arms that clasped her, and rising, walked away to the mantelpiece. Leaning heavily against it, she stood for some time with her face averted, and beneath the veil of long, floating hair Mrs. Murray saw the slight figure sway to and fro, like a reed shaken by the breeze.
"Edna, I must talk to you about a matter which alone brought me to New York. ”