Holly

“ Holly grew in profusion at Aldred, and a cart-load of the bright-berried evergreen was brought to the house the day preceding Christmas eve. The people we have made acquaintance with were already with us, and vigorously helped us on with the preparations. Such fun as there was when Miss Houghton insisted upon crowning the marble bust of the Indian grandee, Rammohun Roy, with a holly wreath, and when Mrs. Burtleigh gave a pretty, ladylike little cry as she pricked her fingers with the glossy leaves! ”

“ Would he be upsetting himself over every woman in like case? No! he would not. The candour of this conclusion discomfited him; and, finding that Holly had gone up to bed, he sought his own room. But he could not sleep, and sat for a long time at his window, huddled in an overcoat, watching the moonlight on the roofs.
Next door Holly too was awake, thinking of the lashes above and below Val's eyes, especially below; and of what she could do to make Jolly like him better. The scent of the gardenia was strong in her little bedroom, and pleasant to her. ”

“ Poor is the reward of the palate. Nor does the hand, in its prehensibility, escape a sad charring. Yet does he persist. Under the same impulse, he inclines to holly, for the sake of the pain it holds in its symbolic spears. Holly has, too, in a greater or less degree, his dearest colour. He values the plant for its crude accompaniment of berries. But the good housewife will not regret the sparse incidence of these things, in whose plenty superstition sees the exact omen of an unkind season. ”

“ As before, Mrs. Holly followed him, and as before, both involuntarily paused just inside the barn door to listen. No runs and trills and rollicking bits of melody floated down the stairway to-night. The notes were long-drawn, and plaintively sweet; and they rose and swelled and died almost into silence while the man and the woman by the door stood listening.
They were back in the long ago—Simeon Holly and his wife—back with a boy of their own who had made those same rafters ring with shouts of laughter, and who, also, had played the violin—though not like this ”

“ Her thoughts flew to her mother. She wondered if such a thing had ever happened to her. What would she have done had she been in Holly’s place? Holly’s tears came creeping back again; she wanted her mother very much just then....
As she sat at the open window, the faint and measured tramp of steps along the porch reached her. It was Winthrop, she knew. And at the very thought her heart gave a quick throb that was at once a joy and a pain. Oh, why couldn’t people be just happy in such a beautiful world? Why need there be disappointments, and heartaches? ”

“ Although she could have no knowledge of it, as yet, Fate was already poising the stone which, once dropped into that stream, was destined to cause disquieting ripples, perplexing eddies, distracting swirls and, in the end, the formation of a new channel. And even now the messenger of Fate was limping along with the aid of his stout cane, coming nearer and nearer down the road from the village under the shade of the water-oaks, a limp and a tap for every beat of Holly’s unsuspecting heart. ”

“ Winthrop.”
“I have exhausted my treasures, Miss Holly. There remains only myself. I throw myself at your feet, my dear young lady; I will be your slave for life.”
“Oh, I thought you Northerners didn’t believe in slavery,” said Holly.
“We don’t believe in compulsory slavery, Miss Holly. To be a slave to Beauty is always a pleasure.” ”

“ So Holly graduated very proudly from the Academy, looking her sweetest in white muslin and lavender ribbons, and was quite, quite satisfied with her erudition and contentedly ignorant of many of the things that fit into that puzzle which we are pleased to call Life. ”

“ Uncle Major was there, as were two of Holly’s girl friends, and the little party of six proved most congenial. Holly was in the highest spirits; everyone she knew had [195] been so kind to her. Aunt India had given her dimity for a new dress and a pair of the gauziest white silk stockings that ever crackled against the ear. The dimity was white sprinkled with little Dresden flowers of deep pink. Holly and Rosa and Edith had spent fully an hour before dinner in enthusiastic planning and the fate of the white dimity was settled. ”

“ Holly, the instructed, who loves me, as all men must do, bides here with me in the caves and we talk together of ancient things whereof the world has lost count, for he is a learned man skilled in the tongues of Greece and Rome, and one who thinks and, perchance, remembers. ”

“ I can promise thee naught save such love as woman never gave to man, love that perchance—I know not—must yet remain unsatisfied upon the earth.”
Then she turned to me and said:
“Oh! thou, Holly, thou true friend, thou guardian from of old, thou, next to him most beloved by me, to thy clear and innocent spirit perchance wisdom may be given that is denied to us, the little children whom thine arms protect. Counsel thou him, my Holly, with the counsel that is given thee, and I will obey thy words and his, and, whatever befalls, will bless thee from my soul. ”

“ You forget yourself!” said Holly, quietly. “You have no right to talk this way to me!”
“It’s you who forget yourself,” he answered, slashing his riding-whip against his boots. “And if I haven’t the right to call you to account I’d like to know who [246] has! Miss Indy’s blind, I reckon, but I’m not!”
Holly’s face had faded to a white mask from which her dark eyes flashed furiously. But her voice, though it trembled, was quiet and cold.
“You’ll beg my pardon, Julian Wayne, for what you’ve said before I’ll speak to you again. Mr. Winthrop has never made love to me in his life.” ”

“ The Halls of Heaven To the learned man, ugly of form and face but sound at heart, Holly by name, a citizen of a northern land whom at times I think that once I knew as Noot the Holy, that philosopher who was my master in a past which seems far to him and is forgot, but to me is but as yesterday, to this Holly, I say, I, who on earth am named Ayesha, daughter of Yarab the Arab chief, but who have many other titles here and elsewhere, have told certain stories of my past days and the part I played in them. ”

“ I had taken leave of all my Holly-Tree friends—almost, for the time being, of my bashfulness too—and was standing for half a minute at the Inn door watching the ostler as he took another turn at the cord which tied my portmanteau on the chaise, when I saw lamps coming down towards the Holly-Tree. The road was so padded with snow that no wheels were audible; but all of us who were standing at the Inn door saw lamps coming on, and at a lively rate too, between the walls of snow that had been heaped up on either side of the track. ”

“ Holly’s eighteenth birthday was but a fortnight distant when the quiet stream of her life, which since her father’s death six years before had flowed placidly, with but few events to ripple its tranquil surface, was suddenly disturbed....
To the child of twelve years death, because of its unfamiliarity and mystery, is peculiarly terrible. At that age one has become too wise to find comfort in the vague and beautiful explanations of tearfully-smiling relatives—explanations in which Heaven is pictured as a material region just out of sight beyond the zenith ”

“ There is no such thing as death, Holly, only a change, and, as you may perhaps learn in time to come, I believe that even that change could under certain circumstances be indefinitely postponed," and again he broke into one of his dreadful fits of coughing.
"There," he said, "I must go, you have the chest, and my will will be found among my papers, under the authority of which the child will be handed over to you. You will be well paid, Holly, and I know that you are honest, but if you betray my trust, by Heaven, I will haunt you." ”

“ Holly seemed troubled, but whether over Julian’s unhappiness or his impoliteness Winthrop could not guess. After supper they went out to the porch for a while together, but Winthrop soon bade them good-night. For some time through the opened windows he could hear the faint squeaking of the joggling-board and the fainter hum of their low voices. At ten Julian’s horse was brought around, and he clattered away in the starlit darkness toward Marysville. He heard Holly closing the door down-stairs, heard her feet patter up the uncarpeted stairway, heard her humming a little tune under her breath. ”

“ Winthrop, looking down into it, smiled; smiled for no particular reason, save that the morning air was very delightful, the morning sunlight very warm and cheering, and the face before him very lovely to look at. But Holly, painfully aware of her burning cheeks, thought he was smiling at her blushes. “What a silly he must think me!” she reflected, angrily. “Blushing every time he comes near!” She busied herself with the roses for a moment. ”

“ Holly pouted.
“Then which do you choose?” she asked, aggrievedly.
“To be your slave, my dear young lady; I fancy that rôle would be more becoming to middle-age and, at all events, far less hazardous.”
“But if I command you to admire me you’ll have to, you see; slaves must obey.”
“I haven’t waited for the command,” replied Winthrop.
“You blow hot and cold, sir. First you refuse to be my admirer and then you declare that you do admire me. What am I to believe?”
“That my heart and brain are at war, Miss Holly. My heart says: ‘Down on your knees!’ but my brain says: ‘Don’t you do it, my boy ”

“ Tell Dad he must come home? Confide in June?—only she was so—so sudden! Do nothing and trust to luck? After all, the Vac. would soon be over. Go up and see Val and warn him off? But how get his address? Holly wouldn't give it him! A maze of paths, a cloud of possibilities! He lit a cigarette. When he had smoked it halfway through his brow relaxed, almost as if some thin old hand had been passed gently over it; and in his ear something seemed to whisper: 'Do nothing; be nice to Holly, be nice to her, my dear!' And Jolly heaved a sigh of contentment, blowing smoke through his nostrils.... ”

“ Rosa had just the pattern for it and Holly was to drive out to Bellair in a day or so and get it. [196] The Major had brought a blue plush case lined with maroon satin and holding three pairs of scissors, a bodkin, and two ribbon-runners.
“I don’t know what those flat gimcracks are for, Holly,” he said, as she kissed him, “but ‘Ham’ he said he reckoned you’d know what to do with them. I told him, ‘Ham, you’re a married man and I’m a bachelor, and don’t you go and impose on my ignorance. ”

“ Well, thou hast a prickly and yet a tree-like look. Strong art thou, and ugly, but if my wisdom be not at fault, honest at the core, and a staff to lean on. Also one who thinks. But stay, oh Holly, stand not there, enter with me and be seated by me. I would not see thee crawl before me like those slaves. I am aweary of their worship and their terror; sometimes when they vex me I could blast them for very sport, and to see the rest turn white, even to the heart.” And she held the curtain aside with her ivory hand to let me pass in. ”

“ Down came the greenery with a shower of dried leaves and berries, and down jumped Holly with a triumphant laugh.
“Please move the chair over there,” she directed.
[228]
Winthrop obeyed, and started to step up onto it, but Holly objected.
“No, no, no,” she cried, anxiously. “I’m going to do it myself. It makes me feel about a foot high and terribly helpless to have folks reach things down for me.” ”

“ Winthrop, Auntie,” said Holly. She fastened a broad-brimmed hat on her head and looked down at Miss India with soft, shining eyes. Dinner was over and Miss India, the Major and Julian were sitting in a shady spot on the porch. Winthrop awaited Holly at the steps.
“Well, my dear,” answered Miss India. “But keep Mr. Winthrop away from those dark, damp places, Holly. It’s so easy to get the feet wet at this time of year.”
“You see, Uncle Major,” laughed Holly, “she doesn’t care whether I catch cold or not; it’s just Mr. Winthrop!” ”

“ The Contest of the Ivy and the Holly
It is just as well to be particular as to the quality of the holly used in Christmas decorations; for on that depends [Pg 95] who will be the ruler of the house during the coming year—the wife or the husband. If the holly is smooth the wife will get the upper hand, but if it be prickly, then the husband will gain the supremacy. It is also unlucky to bring holly into the house before Christmas Eve. ”

“ Dreams are blessed things, be they day-dreams or dreams of the night; and [16] even the ugly ones are beneficent, since at waking they make by contrast reality more endurable.
If Aunt India never learned the cause she was at least quick to note the result. Holly’s thin little cheeks borrowed tints from the Duchess roses in the garden, and Aunt India graciously gave the credit to Kentucky air, even as she drew her white silk shawl more closely about her slender shoulders and shivered in the unaccustomed chill of a Kentucky autumn. ”

“ Holly loved it devotedly, knew it from corner to corner. At an earlier age she had plucked the blossoms for dolls and played with them for long hours on the seat under the magnolia. The full-blown roses were grown-up ladies, with beautiful outspread skirts of pink, white or yellow, and little green waists. The [115] half-opened roses were young ladies, and tiny white violets, or waxen orange-blooms or little blossoms of the deutzia were the babies. For the men, although Holly seldom bothered much with men, there were the jonquils or the oleanders. ”