Well-wishing

“ There'll be no change, Millie. Things will go on just the way they are. I've lived the best years of my life believing that it was best they should, and if I'm wrong, I'm too old to change my mind. I've said somebody had to own the town, and it might as well be Everard. I've said the Burrs and Kents and Randalls, and old Joe Grant's young wife with their parties and drinks and silly little love affairs, were playing too hard, but doing no real harm, planting their cheap, fake smart set here in Green River where it don't belong. Now poor Theodore Burr's dead. That don't look like play. ”

“ It is you who make lovers. And thou, true diadem, thou, serenity of happiness! First glance bent on life, first return of happiness to the many little things of life which are seen only through the medium of joy, first steps made by nature in the direction of the well-beloved! Who will paint you? What human word will ever express thy slightest caress? ”

“ I remember reading of a man, in a fairy tale, who had a wishing-cap; and when he put this cap on, and wished for any thing, he had it immediately: but I thought there were no such [11] things really as wishing-caps, except in fairy tales."
"Well, well," said the lady, "we shall see what kind of wishing-cap I can make: but I must tell you, my wishing-cap is not so good a one as the man's in the fairy tale; it will only produce such things as may be easily had, it will not bring wonders to pass." ”

“ Louise gazed speculatively at her chum, realizing that Penny had some plan in mind. She waited expectantly, and then as the other did not speak, inquired:
“Just what scheme are you hatching now?”
“You gave me the idea yourself,” Penny chuckled. “The logical place to search is deep down inside the well. I’m sure the water can’t be more than a few feet deep.” ”

“ I shouldn’t expect too much.”
“Do make your wish, Rhoda,” urged Penny, “but don’t anticipate quick action. I’m still waiting for mine to come true.”
Rhoda drew a bucket of water from the well, and filling the dipper which always hung on a nail of the wooden roof, drank deeply.
“I wish,” she said soberly, “I wish that Ted might find a job. If he could get work, maybe it wouldn’t be necessary to accept charity from Mr. Coaten or anyone!”
Rhoda’s wish, so earnestly spoken, slightly embarrassed the others, for it served to remind them of the girl’s poverty. ”

“ I’ve been waiting for a chance to use that ladder, and here it is!”
“Penny! You actually have the courage to climb down into a well?”
“Why not?” Penny laughed. “But it must be tonight while my enthusiasm is bubbling. Meet me at nine o’clock and bring a good flashlight.”
Louise could only stare. “You’re actually serious!”
“Indeed I am,” Penny replied gaily. “Everything is settled. Now let’s slip away from here before Mrs. Marborough sees us.” ”

“ The group of girls hesitated, scarcely knowing what to do or say. As the silence became noticeable, Penny tried to make conversation by remarking that she and her friends had been especially interested in the old wishing well.
[16]
“Is it true that wishes made there have come true?” Rhoda Wiegand interposed eagerly.
“Yes and no,” the old lady smiled. “Hundreds of wishes have been made at the well over the years. A surprising number of the worthwhile ones have been granted, so folks say. Tell me, did you say your name is Rhoda?” ”

“ Each faculty of sense, and keep the heart
Awake to Love and Beauty ! and sometimes
'Tis well to be bereft of promis'd good,
That we may lift the soul, and contemplate
With lively joy the joys we cannot share. ”

“ Hesitating, she gazed at the other girls who were eyeing her in a none too friendly way.
Penny gave Louise Sidell a little pinch. Her chum, understanding what was expected, said with as much warmth as she could: “Yes, do come, Rhoda. We plan to sketch the old wishing well.”
“I have enough drawing material for both of us,” Penny added persuasively.
“If you really want me, of course I’ll come!” Rhoda accepted, her voice rather tremulous. “I’ve heard about the Marborough homestead, and always longed to see it.” ”

“ Fifteen minutes later she arrived at the Parker home to find Penny, garbed in an apron, working industriously in the kitchen.
“Say, what is this?” Louise demanded suspiciously. “If you tricked me into helping you with the dishes, I’m going straight home!”
“Oh, relax,” Penny laughed. “The dishes were done hours ago. We’re going to help out the Old Wishing Well.”
“I wish you would explain what you mean.”
“It’s this way, Lou. The Breens are as poor as church mice, and they need food. At the Marborough place this afternoon Rhoda made a wish—that her family would have more to eat. ”

“ THE MARBOROUGH PEARLS
In frightened voices Penny and Louise acknowledged their presence in the dark room. Greatly relieved that the intruders were girls, Mrs. Marborough struck a match and lighted three half-burned candles which were set in a huge glass candelabra.
“Oh, so it’s you!” she exclaimed as the flickering light fell upon their faces. “May I ask why you have broken into my house?”
“We’re thoroughly ashamed of ourselves, Mrs. Marborough,” Penny said apologetically.
“Indeed we are,” added Louise. “When we started to investigate the wishing well we didn’t intend to enter the house.” ”

“ Marborough, don’t feel badly,” Penny said quickly. “We heard what he said to you. Mr. Franklin should be ashamed of himself.”
“That man doesn’t affect me one way or the other,” the old lady announced with a toss of the head. The girls accepted the explanation with tranquil faces although they knew very well why Mrs. Marborough had wept. Rhoda wandered to the wishing well, peering down into the crystal-clear water.
“Do you know, I’m tempted to make another wish,” she remarked. “Would it be very selfish of me?”
“Selfish?” Louise inquired, puzzled. ”

“ Penny and Louise waited hopefully, but Mrs. Marborough said no more. Changing the subject, she inquired about Rhoda Wiegand and the other members of the Palette Club.
“I like young people,” she declared brightly. “Do tell your friends to come to Rose Acres whenever they wish.”
“A rather strange thing occurred yesterday,” Penny said suddenly. “Rhoda made a wish here at the well, and it came true.”
“What was the wish?” the old lady inquired with curiosity.
“That the people with whom she lives might have more food. Two baskets were left at the trailer camp. ”

“ This entreaty still rings in my ears, and leads me so to use any influence I may now have over parents.
Is it not true that the strongest delight the human being ever has is in well-doing? Is it not true that this pleasure, like the pleasures of the eye and ear, the pleasures of benevolence, the pleasures of the understanding and the imagination, will seek its own continuance and gratification, if it have fair play? ”

“ That may explain why she works at night and on very dark, gloomy days such as today. She doesn’t wish to be seen.”
“Mrs. Marborough searches in such obvious places,” Louise said after a moment. “If anything really is hidden it might be deep down in the well. She never will find it in that case.”
“We might help her,” Penny suggested impulsively. ”

“ Coaten is so eager to adopt you and Ted.”
“Tell me what you have in mind.”
“It’s like this, Rhoda! If we could induce Mr. Coaten and his friend to come to Rose Acres on the night of the costume ball, I know how they might be made to talk!”
“Strong arm methods?” Rhoda asked, slightly amused.
“Indeed not! The old wishing well will turn the trick.”
“You certainly have me puzzled, Penny.”
“Getting those men here will be the most difficult,” Penny went on, thinking aloud. “But I can sell them a ticket to the ball. Failing that, I’ll give them one free.” ”

“ Louise exclaimed. “Why, if she’s not careful, she may fall. We ought to warn her—”
“Mrs. Marborough knows what she is about, Lou. Let’s just watch.”
From a distance it was not possible to tell exactly what the old lady was doing. So far as the girls could discern she was tapping the inside stones of the well with a hammer.
“She’s trying to discover if any of them are loose!” Penny whispered excitedly. “Louise, I’m sure of it now! Something of great value is hidden in or near the wishing well, and Mrs. Marborough came back to Riverview to find it!” ”

“ They reckon up several sorts of pleasures, which they call true ones; some belong to the body, and others to the mind. The pleasures of the mind lie in knowledge, and in that delight which the contemplation of truth carries with it; to which they add the joyful reflections on a well- spent life, and the assured hopes of a future happiness. ”

“ Louise speculated. “Ted is at the critical point of his life now. He could develop into a very fine person or just the opposite.”
“It’s charity, of course. But who put the judge up to it?”
“Mrs. Marborough heard Rhoda express her wish.”
“Yes, she did,” Penny agreed, “but I don’t think she paid much attention. She was too angry at Jay Franklin. Besides, Mrs. Marborough doesn’t have a reputation for doing kind deeds.”
“If you rule her out, there’s nothing left but the old wishing well,” Louise laughed. ”

“ Louise teased, taking Penny by the arm. “Come along. Let’s get a drink at the well.”
While the girls were lowering the bucket into the bricked cavern, Mrs. Marborough joined them, a woolen shawl thrown over her head and shoulders.
[55]
“I’ve not had time to get much work done yet,” she apologized. “I really must hire a man to clean up the grounds.”
“Then you have decided to make your home here?” Louise inquired eagerly.
“For the present, I may. Much depends upon how a certain project turns out.” ”

“ Marborough’s and we ought to find out about it.”
“You just love to investigate things,” Louise accused. “You know as well as I do that there’s not likely to be anything amiss.”
“Someone may be prowling about the grounds! At any rate, my feet are cramped from sitting so long in the boat. We need exercise.”
Finding a trail, the girls climbed it until they were within a hundred yards of the Marborough mansion. Emerging from behind a clump of lilac bushes they suddenly obtained an unobstructed view of the yard.
“There’s the light!” Penny whispered. “See! By the wishing well!” ”

“ Penny said, speaking for the others. “Of course we never dreamed that the house was occupied or we wouldn’t have peeped through the window. We came because we wanted to sketch the old wishing well and your lovely home.”
Mrs. Marborough came down the steps toward the girls.
“I quite understand,” she said in a far milder tone than she had used in speaking to the stonecutter. “You may look around as much as you wish. ”

“ When we see them once, we have only one wish, and that is to see them again, again, again. I am well paid for the little I have done for you, since I have that pleasure. Yes, yes, yes. We are only too happy for what we can do for a charming little face like yours, and when we have obliged it, we say thank you! ”

“ Marborough. “I want it returned!” Thoroughly incensed, she wheeled her chair directly into Carl Addison, seizing him by the coat.
“Madam, I know nothing about your pearls,” the man blustered, shaking loose from her grasp. “We came to this party only because we were given free tickets.”
[193]
“Let’s get out of here,” Mr. Coaten said gruffly, starting away.
“It’s no use,” Penny interposed, blocking the path. “We have learned everything. You see, a microphone was installed at the wishing well and it carried your entire conversation into the ballroom for everyone to hear.” ”

“ Thus, when pleasure begins from its sweetness to cloy, And the warm heart grows rank like a soil over ripe, We must turn from the earth for some promise of joy, And look up to heaven for a holier type. ”

“ There is for me a singular charm in confidences so vague, and yet so exact, made to an unknown individual, who appreciates the state of my heart with such infinite delicacy. I have been struck with what you tell me as to the happiness of loving even without hope, even as one loves God for God's sake, and of finding in the sole devotion to the adored object a pure and unutterable felicity. ”

“ Is it nothing to know that every happiness I have I owe to you—that all the enjoyment of a life more bright than a fairy tale, comes from you? That from your generous indulgence I have learned to think mere existence something like ecstasy, and awake each day as to a fête? ”

“ To project one's soul into some gracious form, and let it tarry there for a moment; to hear one's own intellectual views echoed back to one with all the added music of passion and youth; to convey one's temperament into another as though it were a subtle fluid or a strange perfume: there was a real joy in that—perhaps the most satisfying joy left to us in an age so limited and vulgar as our own, an age grossly carnal in its pleasures, and grossly common in its aims. ”

“ Thrill at the return of many-blossomed spring, at the strength of men, at the grace of women, and your joy shall be his joy. In every visitation to you of the truth that not by hate, not by blows, but only by the love of the human heart can the world be won from its evil, he shall live, he shall live again. And the color and rhythm of life, the joy of begetting which he never knew, the joy of creating which he knew so abundantly, when it is yours shall be his also. ”

“ Into their romance, into their world of little things, their joys of the moment, their happiness of the hour, had suddenly descended a great and lasting joy, the happiness of the great, grave issues of life—a happiness so deep, so intense, as to thrill them with a sense of solemnity and wonder. ”