Rebecca's heart beat high at this sweetpraise from her hero's lips, but before shehad found words to thank him, Mr. andMrs. Cobb, who had been modestly biding theirtime in a corner, approached her and she introducedthem to Mr. Ladd.
"Where, where is aunt Jane?" she cried, holdingaunt Sarah's hand on one side and uncle Jerry'son the other.
"I'm sorry, lovey, but we've got bad news foryou.""Is aunt Miranda worse? She is; I can see itby your looks;" and Rebecca's color faded.
"She had a second stroke yesterday morningjest when she was helpin' Jane lay out her thingsto come here to-day. Jane said you wan't to knowanything about it till the exercises was all over, andwe promised to keep it secret till then.""I will go right home with you, aunt Sarah. Imust just run to tell Miss Maxwell, for after I hadpacked up to-morrow I was going to Brunswick withher. Poor aunt Miranda! And I have been so gayand happy all day, except that I was longing formother and aunt Jane.""There ain't no harm in bein' gay, lovey; that'swhat Jane wanted you to be. And Miranda's gother speech back, for your aunt has just sent a lettersayin' she's better; and I'm goin' to set up to-night,so you can stay here and have a good sleep, and getyour things together comfortably to-morrow.""I'll pack your trunk for you, Becky dear, andattend to all our room things," said Emma Jane,who had come towards the group and heard thesorrowful news from the brick house.
They moved into one of the quiet side pews,where Hannah and her husband and John joinedthem. From time to time some straggling acquaintanceor old schoolmate would come up to congratulateRebecca and ask why she had hidden herselfin a corner. Then some member of the class wouldcall to her excitedly, reminding her not to be lateat the picnic luncheon, or begging her to be earlyat the class party in the evening. All this had anair of unreality to Rebecca. In the midst of thehappy excitement of the last two days, when"blushing honors" had been falling thick upon her, andbehind the delicious exaltation of the morning, hadbeen the feeling that the condition was a transientone, and that the burden, the struggle, the anxiety,would soon loom again on the horizon. She longedto steal away into the woods with dear old John,grown so manly and handsome, and get some comfortfrom him.
Meantime Adam Ladd and Mr. Cobb had beenhaving an animated conversation.
"I s'pose up to Boston, girls like that one are asthick as blackb'ries?" uncle Jerry said, jerking hishead interrogatively in Rebecca's direction.
"They may be," smiled Adam, taking in the oldman's mood; "only I don't happen to know one.""My eyesight bein' poor 's the reason she lookedhan'somest of any girl on the platform, I s'pose?""There's no failure in my eyes," responded Adam,"but that was how the thing seemed to me!""What did you think of her voice? Anythingextry about it?""Made the others sound poor and thin, Ithought.""Well, I'm glad to hear your opinion, you bein'
a traveled man, for mother says I'm foolish 'boutRebecky and hev been sence the fust. Motherscolds me for spoilin' her, but I notice mother ain'tfur behind when it comes to spoilin'. Land! itmade me sick, thinkin' o' them parents travelin'
miles to see their young ones graduate, and thenwhen they got here hevin' to compare 'em with Rebecky.
Good-by, Mr. Ladd, drop in some day whenyou come to Riverboro.""I will," said Adam, shaking the old man's handcordially; "perhaps to-morrow if I drive Rebeccahome, as I shall offer to do. Do you think MissSawyer's condition is serious?""Well, the doctor don't seem to know; but anyhowshe's paralyzed, and she'll never walk furagain, poor soul! She ain't lost her speech; that'llbe a comfort to her."Adam left the church, and in crossing the commoncame upon Miss Maxwell doing the honorsof the institution, as she passed from group togroup of strangers and guests. Knowing thatshe was deeply interested in all Rebecca's plans, hetold her, as he drew her aside, that the girl wouldhave to leave Wareham for Riverboro the nextday.
"That is almost more than I can bear!" exclaimedMiss Maxwell, sitting down on a bench and stabbingthe greensward with her parasol. "It seems to meRebecca never has any respite. I had so manyplans for her this next month in fitting her for herposition, and now she will settle down to houseworkagain, and to the nursing of that poor, sick,cross old aunt.""If it had not been for the cross old aunt,Rebecca would still have been at Sunnybrook; andfrom the standpoint of educational advantages, orindeed advantages of any sort, she might as wellhave been in the backwoods," returned Adam.
"That is true; I was vexed when I spoke, for Ithought an easier and happier day was dawning formy prodigy and pearl.""OUR prodigy and pearl," corrected Adam.
"Oh, yes!" she laughed. "I always forget thatit pleases you to pretend you discovered Rebecca.""I believe, though, that happier days are dawningfor her," continued Adam. "It must be a secretfor the present, but Mrs. Randall's farm will bebought by the new railroad. We must have rightof way through the land, and the station will bebuilt on her property. She will receive six thousanddollars, which, though not a fortune, will yield herthree or four hundred dollars a year, if she willallow me to invest it for her. There is a mortgageon the land; that paid, and Rebecca self-supporting,the mother ought to push the education of the oldestboy, who is a fine, ambitious fellow. He shouldbe taken away from farm work and settled at hisstudies.""We might form ourselves into a RandallProtective Agency, Limited," mused Miss Maxwell. "Iconfess I want Rebecca to have a career.""I don't," said Adam promptly.
"Of course you don't. Men have no interest inthe careers of women! But I know Rebecca betterthan you.""You understand her mind better, but notnecessarily her heart. You are considering her for themoment as prodigy; I am thinking of her more aspearl.""Well," sighed Miss Maxwell whimsically, "prodigyor pearl, the Randall Protective Agency maypull Rebecca in opposite directions, but neverthelessshe will follow her saint."That will content me," said Adam gravely.
"Particularly if the saint beckons your way."And Miss Maxwell looked up and smiled provokingly.
Rebecca did not see her aunt Miranda till shehad been at the brick house for several days.
Miranda steadily refused to have any one but Jane inthe room until her face had regained its naturallook, but her door was always ajar, and Jane fanciedshe liked to hear Rebecca's quick, light step. Hermind was perfectly clear now, and, save that shecould not move, she was most of the time quite freefrom pain, and alert in every nerve to all that wasgoing on within or without the house. "Were thewindfall apples being picked up for sauce; were thepotatoes thick in the hills; was the corn tosselin'
out; were they cuttin' the upper field; were theykeepin' fly-paper laid out everywheres; were thereany ants in the dairy; was the kindlin' wood holdin'
out; had the bank sent the cowpons?"Poor Miranda Sawyer! Hovering on the vergeof the great beyond,--her body "struck" and nolonger under control of her iron will,--no divinevisions floated across her tired brain; nothing butpetty cares and sordid anxieties. Not all at oncecan the soul talk with God, be He ever so near. Ifthe heavenly language never has been learned,quick as is the spiritual sense in seizing the facts itneeds, then the poor soul must use the words andphrases it has lived on and grown into day by day.
Poor Miss Miranda!--held fast within the prisonwalls of her own nature, blind in the presence ofrevelation because she had never used the spiritualeye, deaf to angelic voices because she had not usedthe spiritual ear.
There came a morning when she asked forR............