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CHAPTER XVII. Dick is not a Prompt Bearer of News
When the captain reached Glenford, and before he went to the Ports' he
went to the telegraph-office, and made inquiries at various other
places, but his niece had not been seen in town. He wandered about so
long and asked so many questions that it was getting dark when he
suddenly thought of the shunpike. He had not thought of it before, for
it was an unfit road for bicycles, but now he saw that he had been a
fool. That was the only way she could have gone back.
Hurrying to a livery-stable, he hired a horse and buggy and a lantern,
and drove to the shunpike. There he plainly saw the track of the bicycle
as it had turned into that rough road. Then he drove on, examining every
foot of the way, fearful that he might see, lying senseless by the side
of the road, the figure of a girl, perhaps unconscious from fatigue,
perhaps dead from an accident.
When at last he emerged upon the turnpike he lost the track of the
bicycle, but still he went on, all the way to Broadstone; a girl might
be lying senseless by the side of the road, even on the pike, which at
this time was not much frequented. Thus assuring himself that Olive had
reached Broadstone in safety, or at least had not fallen by the way, he
turned and drove back to town upon the pike, passing his own toll-gate,
where the bar was always up after dark. He had promised to return the
horse that night, and, as he had promised, he intended to do it. It was
after nine o'clock when, returning from the livery-stable, he reached
the Port house, and saw Maria sitting in the open doorway.
She instantly ran out to meet him, asking him somewhat sharply why he
had disappointed them. She had kept the supper waiting ever so long. He
went in to see her father, who was sitting up for him, and she busied
herself in getting him a fresh supper. Nice and hot the supper was, and
although his answers to her questions had not been satisfactory, she
concealed her resentment, if she had any. When the meal was over both
father and daughter assured him that it was too late for him to go home
that night, and that he must stay with them. Tired and troubled, Captain
Asher accepted the invitation.
As soon as he could get away from the Port residence the next morning
Captain Asher went home. He had hoped he would have been able to leave
before breakfast, but the solicitous Maria would not listen to this. She
prepared him a most tempting breakfast, cooking some of the things with
her own hands, and she was so attentive, so anxious to please, so kind
in her suggestions, and in every way so desirous to make him happy
through the medium of savory food and tender-hearted concern, that she
almost made him angry. Never before, he thought, had he seen a woman
make such a coddling fool of herself. He knew very well what it meant,
and that provoked him still more.
When at last he got away he walked home in a bad humor; he was even
annoyed with Olive. Granting that what she had done was natural enough
under the circumstances, and that she had not wished to stop when she
saw him in company with a woman she did not like, he thought she might
have considered him as well as herself. She should have known that it
would give him great trouble for her to dash by in that way and neither
stop nor come back to explain matters. She must have known that Maria
Port was not going to stay always, and she might have waited somewhere
until the woman had gone. If she had had the least idea of how much he
wanted to see her she would have contrived some way to come back to him.
But no, she went back to Broadstone to please herself, and left him to
wander up and down the roads looking for her in the dark.
When the captain met old Jane at the door of the tollhouse her
salutation did not smooth his ruffled spirits, for she told him that she
and Mr. Lancaster had sat up until nearly the middle of the night
waiting for him, and that the poor young man must have felt it, for he
had not eaten half a breakfast.
The captain paid but little attention to these remarks and passed in,
but before he crossed the garden he met Dick, who informed him that he
had something very important to communicate. Important communications
that must be delivered without a moment's loss of time are generally
unpleasant, and knowing this, the captain knit his brows a little, but
told Dick he would be ready for him as soon as he lighted his pipe. He
felt he must have something to soothe his ruffled spirits while he
listened to the tale of the woes of some one else.
But at the moment he scratched his match to light his pipe his soul was
illuminated by a flash of joy; perhaps Dick was going to tell him he was
engaged to Olive; perhaps that was what she had come to tell him the day
before. He had not expected to hear anything of this kind, at least not
so soon, but it had been the wish of his heart--he now knew that without
appreciating the fact--it had been the earnest wish of his heart for
some time, and he stepped toward the little arbor with the alacrity of
happy anticipation.
As soon as they were seated Dick began to speak of Olive, but not in the
way the captain had hoped for. He mentioned the great trouble into which
she had been plunged, and gave the captain his brother's letter to read.
When he had finished it the captain's face darkened, and his frown was
heavy.
"An outrageous piece of business," he said, "to treat a daughter in this
way; to put a schoolmate over her head in the family! It is shameful!
And this is what she was coming to tell me?"
"Yes," said Dick, "that is it."
Now there was another flash of joy in the captain's heart, which cleared
up his countenance and made his frown disappear. "She was coming to me,"
he thought. "I was the one to whom she turned in her trouble." And it
seemed to this good captain as if he had suddenly become the father of a
grown-up daughter.
"But what message did she send me?" he asked quickly. "Did she say when
she was coming again?"
Dick hesitated; Olive had said that she wanted her uncle to say when he
wanted to see her, so that there should be no more surprising, but this
request had been conditional. Dick knew that she did not want to come if
her uncle were going to marry Miss Port; therefore it was that he
hesitated.
"Before we go any further," he said, "I think I would better mention a
little thing which will make you laugh, but still it did worry Miss
Asher, and was one reason why she went back to Broadstone without
stopping."
"What is it" asked the captain, putting down his pipe.
Dick did not come out plainly and frankly, as he had told Olive he would
do when he mentioned the Maria Port matter. In his own heart he could
not help believing now that Olive's suspicions had had good foundations,
and old Jane's announcements, combined with the captain's own actions in
regard to the Port family, had almost convinced him that this miserable
engagement was a fact. But, of course, he would not in any way intimate
to the captain that he believed in such nonsense, and therefore, in an
offhand manner, he mentioned Olive's absurd anxiety in regard to Miss
Port.
When the captain heard Dick's statement he answered it in the most frank
and plain manner; he brought his big hand down on his knee and swore as
if one of his crew had boldly contradicted him. He did not swear at
anybody in particular; there was the roar and the crash of the thunder
and the flash of the lightning, but no direct stroke descended upon any
one. He was angry that such a repulsive and offensive thing as his
marriage to Maria Port should be mentioned, or even thought of, but he
was enraged when he heard that his niece had believed him capable of
such disgusting insanity. With a jerk he rose to his feet.
"I will not talk about such a thing as this," he said. "If I did I am
sure I should say something hard about my niece, and I don't want to do
that." With this he strode away, and proceeded to look after the
concerns of his little farm.
Old Jane came cautiously to Dick. "Did he tell you when it was going to
be, or anything about it?" she asked.
"No," said Dick, "he would not even speak of it."
"I suppose he expects us to mind our own business," said she, "and of
course we'll have to do it, but I can tell him one thing--I'm goin' to
make it my business to leave this place the day before that woman comes
here."
Dejected and thoughtful, Dick sat in the arbor. Here was a state of
affairs very different from what he had anticipated. He had not been
able to hurry to her the evening before; he had not gone to breakfast as
she had invited him; he had not started off early in the forenoon; and
now he asked himself when should he go, or, indeed, why should he go at
all? She had no anxieties he could relieve. Anything he could tell her
would only heap more unhappiness upon her, and the longer he could keep
his news from her the better it would be for her.
Olive had not joined the Broadstone party at dinner the night before.
She had been too tired, and had gone directly to her room, where, after
a time, Mrs. Easterfield joined her; and the two talked late. One who
had overheard their conversation might well have supposed that the elder
lady was as much interested in Lieutenant Asher's approaching nuptials
as was the younger one. When she was leaving Mrs. Easterfield said:
"You have enough on your mind to give it all the trouble it ought to
bear, and so I beg of you not to think for a moment of that absurd idea
about your uncle's engagement. I never saw the woman, but I have heard
of her; she is a professional scandal-monger; and Captain Asher would
not think for a moment of marrying her. When Mr. Lancaster comes
to-morrow you will hear that she was merely consulting him on business,
and that you are to go to the toll-gate to-morrow as soon as you can.
But remember, this time I am going to send you in the carriage. No more
bicycles."
In spite of this well-intentioned admonition, Olive did not sleep well,
and dreamed all night of Miss Port in the shape of a great cat covered
with feathers like a chicken, and trying to get a chance to jump at her.
Very early she awoke, and looking at her clock, she began to calculate
the hours which must pass before Mr. Lancaster could arrive. It was
rather strange that of the two troubles which came to her as soon as she
opened her eyes, the suspected engagement of her uncle pushed itself in
front of the actual engagement of her father; the one was something she
_knew_ she would have to make up her mind to bear; the other was
something she _feared_ she would have to make up her mind to bear.
Read next: Chapter 18. What Olive Determined To Do
Read previous: Chapter 16. Mr. Lancaster Accepts A Mission
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