Roscoe Paine

“ There ARE people in that fix, plenty of 'em. No, I didn't come to talk 'Lane.' That bird is dead. I came, first of all, to thank you for what you did for my daughter last night.”
Mother turned her head and looked at him.
“For your daughter? Last night? Roscoe, what does he mean?”
“Nothing, Mother, nothing,” I said, hastily. “I was unlucky enough to run the Comfort into Miss Colton's canoe in the bay yesterday afternoon in the fog. Fortunately I got her into the launch and—and—”
“And saved her from drowning, then and a dozen times afterward. He hasn't told you, Mrs. Paine? ”

“ He was smiling, but there was a look in his eye which expressed the exact opposite of smiles.
“Ros,” he said, quietly, “Ros Paine, you bull-headed, big-hearted old chump, how are you?”
But I could only stare at him. Why had he come to Denboro? What did his coming to me mean? Why had he come with Captain Jed, the man who had vowed that he was done with me forever? And why was the captain looking at me so oddly?
“George!” I cried in alarm, “George, you haven't—you haven't made a fool of yourself? You haven't—”
Captain Jed interrupted me. “He ain't the fool, Ros,” he said. ”

“ There is one thing she hasn't got. She hasn't a son like you, Boy.”
“Humph! That must be a terrible deprivation. There! there! Mother, I won't be disagreeable. Let's change the subject. Did Matilda Dean come to see you this afternoon?”
“No. I presume she was too busy. But, Roscoe, it is plain enough why Captain Dean spoke to you about the Lane at the office this morning. He must have heard, somehow, that Mr. Colton wished to buy it.” ”

“ Roscoe,” earnestly, “Roscoe, if you care for anybody and she cares for you, don't let anything keep you apart. If she's worth a million or fifty cents that don't make any difference. It shouldn't be a matter of her folks or your folks or money or pride or anything else. It's a matter for just you and her. And if you love each other, that's enough. I tell you so, and I know.”
I was more astonished than ever. I could scarcely believe that this was the dry, practical Dorinda Rogers who had kept house for Mother and me all these years. ”

“ But again he shook his head.
“Nobody can help me,” he said.
“George, for my sake—well, then, if not for my sake or your own, then for Nellie's, give me a chance. You aren't treating her right, George. You should think of her. You—”
“Stop! Damn you, Ros Paine! what right have you to—”
“The right of a friend, her friend and yours. You're frightening the poor girl to death. She is beginning to be afraid you don't care for her.”
“I? I don't care for HER? I don't—Oh, my God!” ”

“ Dorinda, who was quite as curious as he but would not have shown it for the world, stopped him at the beginning of the fourth.
“There! there!” she said, sharply, “this is supposed to be a meal, not a parrot shop, and we're humans, not a passel of birds on a telegraph wire all hollerin' at once. Drink your tea and stop your cawin', Lute Rogers. Ros'll tell us when he gets ready. What DID Mr. Colton want of you, Roscoe?” ”

“ I remember reaching that bedroom, of course, and of meeting Lute in the kitchen and telling him that I was not to be disturbed, that I should not come down to supper and that I wanted to be let alone—to be let ALONE—until I saw fit to show myself. But these memories are all foggy and mixed with dreams and nightmares. As I say, the next thing that I remember distinctly after staggering from the Colton library is Dorinda's knocking at the door of my bedroom.
“Ros! Roscoe!” she was calling. “Can you get up now? There is somebody downstairs waitin' to see you.” ”

“ This is Mr. Paine from Denboro. This is his wife, Mrs. Paine. They've been cruisin' all the way from Cape Cod to Kamchatky in a motor boat with no power to it. Don't that beat the Old Scratch, hey?”
The plump woman rose, without a trace of surprise, as if having company drop in at three o'clock in the morning was nothing out of the ordinary, and came over to us, beaming with smiles.
“I'm real glad to see you, Mrs. Paine,” she exclaimed. “And your husband, too. You must be froze to death! Set right down while I fix up a room for you and hunt up some dry things for you to put on. ”

“ I'm old enough to be your dad, Ros Paine, and I know what I'm talkin' about. I never took much of a shine to you in the old days. You was too much of what the story books call a 'gentleman' to suit me. I've had to scratch all my life for what I've got, but I've got it. When a young, able feller like you was contented to loaf around as you did and take no interest in nothin', I, naturally, figgered he was no-account. ”

“ I found Phineas, long-legged and gaunt, sitting on the front step of the colonial portico. He had been invited into the hall, but had refused the invitation. “I had on my workin' duds,” he explained later. “A feller that's been handlin' freight all the afternoon ain't fit to set on gold-plated furniture.” He looked up in surprise as I came out.
“Well, for thunder sakes!” he exclaimed, in astonishment. “It's Ros Paine! What in the nation are you doin' in here, Ros? Ain't married into the family, have ye? Haw, haw!” ”

“ I seemed to feel as unreasonably reluctant to close with the Bay Shore Development Company as I had been with Captain Jed or Colton.
“Shall I make a bid?” asked Keene.
“No, not yet at any rate. Tell me, this: Whose land have you already bought?”
He shook his head. “That, of course,” he said, with the same gracious smile, “I can hardly tell even to you. Some of the deals are not yet closed, and, as a business man yourself, Mr. Paine, you—”
“I am not a business man,” I interrupted, impatiently. “At least, not much of a one. You say there are capitalists behind your scheme. Who are they?” ”

“ There! there! the more you talk the further from home you get. You started in with Roscoe and the bank and you're in the grave already. If I was you I'd quit afore I went any further. Land knows where you might fetch up if you kept on! I . . . Mercy on us! who's at the kitchen door this time in the mornin'?”
Her husband, ever curious, was on his way to answer the knock already. He came back, a moment later, sputtering with excitement.
“It's that Mr. butler, the Johnson over to Mr. Colton's,” he whispered. “I mean it's that Jutler—that—There, Dorindy! ”

“ Got quite a band aboard, ain't I.”
“Hello!” cried Hallet. “It's Ros himself! Ros, you're all RIGHT! Hi, boys! let's give three cheers for the feller that don't toady to nobody—millionaires nor nobody else—hooray for Ros Paine!”
The cheering that followed was not quite as loud as the previous outburst—some of the “gang” may have noticed my attitude and expression—but it was loud enough. Involuntarily I glanced toward the Colton mansion. I saw no one at the windows or on the veranda, and I was thankful for that. The blood rushed to my face. ”

“ Mabel, it was along here somewhere that Paine acquired the habit of carrying you about like a bundle. It must have been a picturesque performance. Wish I might have seen it.”
He laughed heartily.
“Father,” said the young lady, coldly, “don't be silly—please.”
He chuckled and lay down again, and no one spoke during the rest of the voyage. It was after nine when I brought the boat up to the wharf, made her fast, and lowered and furled the sail.
“Better come up to the house with us and have a bit to eat, Paine,” urged Colton. “You must be hungry; I know I am.” ”

“ His face was in shadow and I could not see it, but his tone was grave enough.
“You think you don't,” he said, slowly, “but there may come a time when you will. There may come a time when you get so interested in something, or some person, that the thought of what folks would say if—if anything went wrong would keep you awake night after night. Oh, I tell you, Ros—Hello, Nellie! thought you'd gone South to pick those berries yourself. Two saucers full! Well, I suppose I must eat the other to save it—unless Ros here wants both.” ”

“ Roscoe, I should like to meet this Miss Colton. She must be a brave girl.”
“She is brave enough.”
“I suppose poor Mr. Carver is in disgrace. Perhaps it was not his fault altogether.”
This was a trifle too much. I refused to be charitable to Victor.
I heard from him, or of him, next day. I met Captain Jed Dean at the bank, where I had called to see Taylor and inquire concerning how he and Nellie got home from the festival. They had had a damp, though safe, journey, I learned, and the Methodist ladies had cleared seventy-four dollars and eighty-five cents from the entertainment. ”

“ Don't you let Jed Dean or nobody else drive you out of Denboro. You ain't done nothin' to be ashamed of, have you?”
“I sold that land to Mr. Colton. I don't know how Captain Jed found it out, but it is true enough; I did exactly what he said I did.”
“Found out! He found out from somebody over to Ostable where the deed was recorded, that is how he found out. He said so. But I don't care for that. And I don't care if you sold the Lane ten times over. You didn't do it for any mean or selfish reason, that I know. There ain't a selfish bone in your body, Roscoe. ”

“ They don't deserve to have all the beautiful things in life, while the rest of us have none.”
“But it isn't her fault that she has them, is it? And it was kind to share them with us.”
“I suppose so. Well, what did she say to you? Dorinda says she was with you nearly an hour. What did you and she talk about? She did not offer charity, did she?”
“Do you think I should have accepted it, if she had? Roscoe, I have never seen you so prejudiced as you are against our new neighbors. It doesn't seem like you, at all. And if her father and mother are like Miss Mabel, you are very wrong. ”

“ All the same, I envy you your youth, Ros. You've got your life afore you, and I'm glad to see that you're goin' to make somethin' of it. I always said you'd wake up if somebody give you a punch. Who punched you, Ros?”
My reply was non-committal.
“Better mind my own business, hadn't I,” he observed. “All right, I will. No offense meant, you understand. But, you see, I've never believed that work was the cuss of mankind, like some folks, and no matter how much money a young feller's got I think he's better off doin' somethin'. ”

“ Dorinda looked at me and shook her head.
“It's too bad, Roscoe,” she said. “But I was afraid of it as soon as I found he'd sneaked off to the post-office. I cal'late it's all over town by now.”
“What do you mean by that?” Lute's dignity was outraged. “All over town! I never told him nothin'.”
“No. Only that Ros and Mr. Colton were together and 'twas three o'clock in the afternoon. And goodness knows how much more! DO be quiet! Seems sometimes as if I should lose patience with you altogether. Is this Carver the Colton girl's young man? Are they engaged?”
“I don't know. ”

“ We are beaten—Father is beaten for the first time. It makes little difference, I suppose. If he—if he is taken from us, nothing else matters. But I hoped you . . . never mind. I thank you, Mr. Paine. You would have helped him if you could, I know.”
Somehow this surrender, and the tone in which it was made, stirred me more than all else. She had trusted me and I had failed. I would not have it so.
“Miss Colton,” I said, earnestly, “suppose—suppose I should go ahead and make this fight, on my own hook. Suppose I should give Davis the 'instructions' he is begging for. ”

“ I just heard the most astonishing thing. Jed Dean was to the house to make Dorindy and me promise to say nothin' about that Shore Lane 'cause you never sold it, and he said Mr. Colton had offered you a turrible fine job along of him and that you was goin' to take it. I wanted to find you and ask it 'twas true. 'Taint true, is it, Ros?” wistfully. “By time! I wish 'twas.”
Before I could answer Mabel spoke.
“Yes, it is true, Mr. Rogers,” she said. “It is quite true and you may tell anyone you like. It is true, isn't it, Roscoe?” ”

“ Colton was cal'latin' to shut off that Lane. Matildy hinted that her husband and the Selectmen might have a little to say afore 'twas closed. If that's so I guess you may hear from him as well as the Colton man, Roscoe.”
“Perhaps,” I said. I could see no use in repeating my conversation with Captain Jed.
Dorinda nodded.
“Goin' to tell the town to go—where you sent the other one?” she asked, dryly.
“I don't know.”
“Humph! Well,” with some sarcasm, “it must be fine to be in a position where money's no object. I never tried it, myself, but it sounds good.” ”

“ She hesitated and, before she spoke, Colton broke in.
“Why not? That was what you were going to say, Mrs. Paine, I take it. That is what I said—why not? And I say it again. Paine, that offer is still open.”
I shook my head. “I told you then that I could not accept,” I said. “It is impossible.”
“Why is it impossible? So far as I am concerned I believe you would be a mighty good investment.”
“Impossible,” I said again.
“Nothing is impossible. We won't waste words. I am going to be plain and I think Mrs. Paine will excuse me. You think you should not leave your mother, perhaps. ”

“ Doctor Quimby's horse and buggy stood by one of the hitching posts and the Colton motor car was drawn up by the main entrance. From the open windows of the servants' quarters came the sounds of excited voices. I hastened to the front door. Before I could push the button of the electric bell the door was opened. Johnson, the butler, peered out at me. Most of his dignity was gone.
“Is it you, Mr. Paine?” he asked, anxiously. “Come in, sir, please. Miss Mabel has been asking for you not a minute ago, sir.”
I entered the hall. “What is it, Johnson?” I asked, quickly. “How is Mr. Colton?” ”