Tibby

“ But Tibby’s eyes are half-closed, and she sees beyond her own reflection the plain family room at the farm-house, with its bright rag-carpet on the floor and its chintz-covered chairs. She sees her gray-haired father dozing in his chair tilted back against the wall, with his hands clasped before him. She sees Tom sleeping, stretched out upon the old, green-covered lounge. She sees little Bess and Ted in their night-gowns scampering up the closed-in stairway to their beds. Ah, she is not there to give them their good-night kiss when they have repeated their “Now I lay me down to sleep.” ”

“ Then Tibby sits and feasts her eyes on the strange lady’s costume, a poem of harmony in color and fit,—though Tibby does not name it thus,—and feels the contrast between this lady’s attire and her own, marvels at the glittering jewels on her white fingers, and alas, in the girl’s heart, a dormant wild desire springs into active growth. She longs to go with this city-bred woman and have dainty boots and beautiful gowns.
Does the cry which she feels within herself reach the heart of the lady? ”

“ Tibby hears the detonation answered by a fainter sound at their left.
“We are all right, child. Alice is signaling us. Try and hold out a little longer.” And Tibby feels the motion of the horse as it sways beneath her, and is dimly conscious of a sense of warmth and relief unutterable. And she forgets the storm, the danger, the oppression of death which was upon her, and sinks away into a half-sleeping state, from which she is aroused only when, at the door of Mark’s home, Donald lifts her from the saddle and carries her into shelter somewhere. ”

“ Far down a white avenue she saw Tibby, rapt, and, he thought, unobserved, stealing about from curly trunk to trunk, chewing strange spicy compounds whose properties did not concern him, his ink-stained hands filled with sweet-smelling stems, and she saw him suddenly lie at full length on the springing sod, kicking up his shabby heels luxuriously, hat off, head pressed deep in the rustling colored leaves. ”

“ But when Tibby behaved worst there lurked a smile of conscious power in the unrevealed depths of Donald’s gray eyes, much to the girl’s vexation and discomfiture, while he remained outwardly unruffled. He had entered the race to win, and his nature was buoyant and strong. Why need he be discouraged? Physically strong, handsome, and athletic, he was possessed of average ability, enjoyed a good income, and his future looked promising. ”

“ Tibby is not ill-bred. Her parents were quite superior people, if they did live on a farm. Tibby boasts that her mother was a Devereaux, grand-niece to an earl,” said Mrs. Wylie, laughing.
“The little minx! She has pride enough, no doubt, and who cannot boast of ancestors in America! She certainly is a bright girl, and has a remarkably pretty face. She cannot fail to attract attention, especially as you treat her like a younger sister, rather than like a servant. It is really unfortunate for her that she is so unlike the ordinary maid.” ”

“ Wylie, how lovely it is to breathe freely again,” she murmured as, after removing her wraps with the dust and stain of travel, she stood, later in the day, outside the cabin door and watched the red sun touch the prairie’s distant rim.
“Yes, Tibby, you will be a child again with all these country wilds about you. You will have chickens, cows, and horses to your heart’s content. Mark, do you remember how we youngsters used to go out to grandpa’s?” ”

“ Professor Russell gave Alice a sharp glance, as if to determine whether any disrespect was intended by her remark, while Tibby’s eyes danced mirthfully.
“We trust,” said Mrs. Wylie, with a dignified raising of her chin, “that as Mrs. Cramer is getting her nerves under better control, she will not be haunted any more by imaginary spectres.” ”

“ Soon he came to a tall grassy place where he heard a queer sound.
“‘Tina, do you hear?’ asked Tibby.
“‘Yes, brother, what is it?’
“‘No time to ask—run, Tina!’ cried Tibby, and the two made a mighty leap just in time to escape [89] a quail that pounced down upon the tiny toads and gobbled one quickly out of sight.
“‘It was Clumsy that disappeared!’ sighed Tina, all sympathy for the awkward little toad that could not escape death.
“‘Watch out for other assassins! We know not where the next may lurk,’ whispered Tibby, for he was poetical as well as practical, you see. ”

“ Sol Garrett waited to come in with Lissa Bartram, and three or four others soon followed them. They all started back at the sight of the sleeping Professor, and looked at one another inquiringly.
“Too much spirits,” said Tibby audaciously.
“Why, you don’t say? Has he been drinking?” queried Auntie Dearborn in a loud whisper.
“No, he’s overcome by spirits, but not of that kind,” Donald said.
“A stronger spirit than his own controls him,” added Mrs. Wylie.
“Strong spirits are always dangerous,” giggled Tibby in an aside to Donald.
“Weak ones are more so,” he replied in the same tone. ”

“ I can sound Tibby’s praises by day and night. One feels them ever when not looking at her.”
“Well,” said Mrs. Cramer, “we have very few young men here. None of much account, except Donald Bartram. He is nice, and entirely eligible, so you need not fear him. The girl is remarkably attractive.”
Tibby Waring had indeed become an important element in Mr. Wylie’s household. Every one liked her, from Robbie, who was restless and uneasy in 214her absence, to Grandma Wylie, who, when she made her annual visits, insisted that Tibby was better than a doctor to relieve her aches and rheumatic pains. ”

“ One could not expect an Eastern born-and-bred maiden to be weather-wise on the prairies or realize the kind of storms we have here until she had some experience with them.”
“But she might have sense enough to take some one else’s word for it,” Tibby replied, tapping the floor with her foot.
“Ah, Miss Tibby, I’m afraid we all like to experience for ourselves. We don’t relish excitements second-hand, nor always have faith in the words of others.” ”

“ Why must a woman always be false to herself?
Thus, bitterly, Tibby cogitated, and scourged herself, and shed tears of contrition. But the second week went by and still Donald came not to see her. Tibby became hysterical. She was wildly mirthful and hilarious at times, and again her eyes showed signs of weeping.
Mrs. Wylie became anxious concerning her protege, fearing she was ill. Tibby ate little, and was in every way capricious, and unlike her strong, forceful self. “The shock of her dangerous ride has unnerved her,” Mrs. Wylie reiterated. ”

“ The Duchessa had laughed. It was so entirely like Tibby to think of food the first thing.
“I know,” she had replied. And then reflectively, “I think it might be desirable to telephone to Doctor Hilary and ask him to come too. It really is not fair to ask Father Dormer to meet three solitary females.”
A second time Miss Tibbutt had momentarily and mentally surveyed the contents of the larder, and almost immediately had nodded her entire approval of the idea. She most thoroughly enjoyed the mild excitement of a little dinner party.
“Tibby, angel, what’s the matter with Pia?” ”

“ At the age of eighteen, Tibby was hired at the Candlemas fair, for a great wage, to be a byre-woman to Mr Gilbert Forret, then farmer at Drumlochie. Tibby had then acquired a great deal of her mother's dangerous bloom—dangerous, when attached to poverty and so much simplicity of heart ”

“ Making marks on people's doors,
That's Tibby.
Little shirt-front, snowy-white,
Two green eyes so round and bright,
Velvet body strong and light,
That's Tibby.
Pinky tongue that washes fur,
Every part except his purr,
Sometimes much too bored to stir,
That's Tibby.
Walking so he won't be heard,
Hiding 'neath the ferns preferred,
Watching for a dicky-bird,
Oh, Tibby!
Stretching on the kitchen mat,
Long and lovely, sleek and fat,
Quite a yard of pussy-cat,
My Tibby!
Take what pretty things you see—
Take the cake I've made for tea—
Take my doll, but leave to me
My Tibby! ”

“ Tibby asked.
“Yes,” he nodded, “it is true.”
“Well, I swan!” said Solomon Garrett. “If this don’t beat all creation! Has that man been foolin’ us all this time, or is he dancin’ with spirits himself.”
251“He is controlled by this lady here. There is nothing supernatural about it,” replied Donald. “She controls him, as he has us, many times, making us see and believe what had no existence. Miss Waring will make him see things not here.” He looked at Tibby.
“Professor, Mark Cramer is standing over you with a horse-whip. Look out, he is going to strike you!” ”

“ Tibby, however, was left an orphan, as well as the sole mistress of five hundred pounds, and the proprietor of a neat and well-furnished cottage, with a piece of land adjoining, before she had completed her nineteenth year; and when we add that she had hair like the raven's wings when the sun glances upon them, cheeks where the lily and the rose seemed to have lent their most delicate hues, and eyes like twin dew-drops glistening beneath a summer moonbeam, with a waist and an arm rounded like a model for a sculptor, it is not to be wondered at that "a' the lads cam' wooin' at her." ”

“ Tibby, blinded by the storm, and forced to ride with her head bent forward and down, felt her faithful beast stop and whirl half around as a furious blast, chill as the arctic snows, struck them. The icy flakes cut into her flesh like splinters of steel as she lifted her face to look about her. She could see nothing except the whirling deluge of white enveloping her. She was lost, lost.
“O Tempest, good Tempest!” she wailed, “can you see the path no longer? Will not your instincts guide you home? Try again, Tempest! Alas, I 302know not which way to turn you! But go, Tempest, go! ”

“ Children like a pretty companion. Robbie never obeyed Mrs. Harbeck as he does Tibby. But she has remarkable eyes. For some reason she has taken a great dislike to that 31young man with the eye-glasses, on the third floor. It’s amusing to see the look with which she regards him. Yesterday Tibby was waiting at the head of the stairs for Robbie and that man came along and stared at her rather insolently through his glasses. You should have seen Tibby. Her eyes began to dilate like those of a tigress at bay, and she returned his stare. ”

“ I believe you have uncommon power,” he continued, as Tibby sat down and began to fan her face with her riding-hat.
“Do you think so?” Tibby’s voice was mockingly suggestive.
“Yes, I am convinced of it. And I have been waiting for an opportunity to ask how long you have known and used this power.”
Tibby looked keenly at Mark.
“I am not sure I understand you. To what power do you refer?”
“The power to make every person or beast yield to your will. You are a hypnotist, Miss Waring, and an uncommonly powerful one.”
The girl looked up eagerly.
“Do you really think so, Mr. Cramer? ”

“ Tibby exercises a power woman has, since the world began—the power of her beauty. Tibby is such a pretty girl, and Robbie is susceptible to it. I remember when I was a youngster, the pretty teachers always had the least trouble with me. ”

“ Good creature! She tried to pat his neck with her numb fingers. His voice was stronger than hers. Hark! Is that an answering neigh borne to her? She cannot shout, for her voice is spent; but Tempest, good Tempest, is calling for her. She clings with desperate grip to his mane. Is that a voice coming out of the darkness of the snow-world? A roar, deeper than the roar of the storm, sounds in her ears, and she feels herself sinking, sinking, down, down.
“Tibby, Tibby!”
She hears a voice at her side and Donald is clasping 305her and enveloping her in something woolen and warm. ”

“ Tibby explained, with a note of contempt in her voice, “that presumptuous young man thought he could catch me. I hope he realizes his folly.” And she shot a triumphant glance at Donald, who 286had dismounted and stood by his horse’s head. He smiled serenely.
“Yes, when you are carried on the back of a Tempest,” he replied. “Besides, we didn’t start fair.”
“Ah, the beaten ones always complain of a poor start, don’t they, Mr. Cramer? I shall always ride Tempest. I can never give him up, never!—for anything but a cyclone,” she added, with another swift glance at Donald. Mark laughed. ”

“ How nearly fatal had been that foolish ride across the prairie which she had wilfully persisted in taking in the face of better counsel. But for Donald, whom she had snubbed and abominably ill-treated, she would have perished. Ah, she was punished, and yet she would not be willing to owe so much to any other man. Donald had been forced to remain at Mark’s until the storm lessened in its severity, but he had gone away before Tibby had fully recovered from her lethargy. ”

“ You know there is no question of debts or credits between friends. I am thankful God gave me strength and direction to find you. It is a serious thing to battle with the elements in the West, Miss Waring.” Donald spoke gently and soberly.
“I realize it now. Can you ever forgive me for my dreadful talk that morning?” Tibby’s lip quivered slightly and she dropped her eyes. ”

“ Lissa looked out at three o’clock, to see the sky overcast with clouds, and large scattering flakes of snow floating about in the chill air. At the same moment Donald rode up from the stables on the back of his favorite horse, Duke, a large, powerful animal, of great intelligence and endurance.
“I am going over to Mark’s, Lissa,” he cried, “to see if Tibby has returned. Within a half hour it will be impossible to see a rod ahead of one. If that wilful girl should attempt to start back in the face of the storm, as she is almost sure to do, she can never get home alone. ”