"Dear Brother Ik,don't talk to me that way.If I do lose ALL my faith now,I don't know what will happen.""Forgive me,Ida,I will try to do better by you though I fear Ishall prove one of Job's comforters.We'll stop in the village,get some supper there,and,thus you won't have to face anybody to-night,and by to-morrow you will be your own brave self.""Oh,"moaned Ida,"I am almost as sorry for father's sake as for my own.How can I keep him up when I am sinking myself?"Mr.Mayhew stood on the piazza,waiting for Ida and wondering why she did not come,as Van Berg mounted the steps.The majority of the people had gone in to supper,but Miss Burton,who was a little late,recognized him from the hallway,and she came swiftly out to greet him.Her very cordiality was another stab,and he exerted the whole power of his manhood to meet her in like spirit.
"I did not know I should miss you so much,"she said,her eyes growing a little moist from her strong feeling."I suppose we never value our friends as we ought till taught their worth to us by absence.But if you have been successful in your work I shall be well content.""Yes,Miss Jennie,"he replied,"I think I have been successful.
The picture is far from being complete,but I've been able to obtain a much better likeness of Mr.Eltinge than I even hoped to catch.""Mr.Van Berg,you have been working too hard.You look exceedingly weary.What possessed you to walk all these miles?Leave us women to do the unreasonable things,and least of all are they becoming in you;come at once and get a good supper."He could not disguise the pain and humiliation that her words caused him,and said hurriedly,"I will join you in a few moments,"and then hastened to his room.
Mr.Mayhew,with the delicacy of a gentleman,had withdrawn out of earshot as they conversed,but the warmth of Miss Burton's greeting had suggested a thought that was exceedingly disquieting.As if from a sudden impulse he went directly to the supper table,and his quiet courtesy masked the closest observation.
Van Berg stood in his room a moment and fairly trembled with shame and rage at himself.Then,with a bitter imprecation,he made the brief toilet the dust of his walk required,and his face was so stern and white one might think he was about to face an executioner instead of Jennie Burton's blue eyes beaming with friendship at least.The thought of discovering anything warmer in their expression sent a mortal chill to her former wooer's heart.He expected to meet Ida at the table,and the ordeal of meeting the woman to whom he was pledged in the presence of the woman he loved was like the ancient Trial by Fire.
"Curse it all,"he muttered,"they both can read one's thoughts as if they were printed on sign-boards.I was scarcely conscious of what my ardent friendship for Miss Mayhew meant before she looked me in the face and saw the whole truth,and she almost the same as charged me with winning Jennie Burton's heart then throwing it away,while in the same breath she hinted that I need not attempt any such folly and meanness in her case.If ever a man's pride and self-respect received a mortal wound mine has to-day.And now I feel with instinctive certainty,that Miss Burton will see the truth just as clearly,and then my burden for life will be the contempt of the two women whom I honor as I do my mother's name.
Well,there is no help for it now,my ship is on the rocks already."He was greatly relieved to find that Ida was not at the table,but,in spite of his best efforts,Miss Burton soon saw that something was amiss,and that it was difficult for him to sustain his part of the conversation.With her graceful tact,however,she was blind to all she imagined he would not have her notice,and tried to enliven both Mr.Mayhew and himself with her cheery talk--a vain effort in each instance now.
"How slight and spirit-like she is becoming!"groaned Van Berg,inwardly."Great God!if I have wronged her,how awful will be my punishment!""She loves him,"was Mr.Mayhew's conclusion,"and from his manner I fear he has given her reason.At any rate,for some cause,he is in great perplexity and trouble."After supper Van Berg stood near the main stairway,still conversing with Miss Burton,when a light,quick step caused him to look up and he saw Ida who had entered by a side door.He knew she must have seen him and Miss Burton also,but she passed him with veiled and downcast face,and went swiftly up the stairway to her room.It seemed to him a cut direct."she and Stanton have been comparing notes,"he said to himself,and he crimsoned at the thought of what he must now appear to her.Miss Burton had been standing with her back towards the stairway and had not seen Ida at first,but Van Berg's hot flush caused her to glance around and see the cause,and then she understood his manner better.But it was her creed that people manage such things best without interference,even from the kindliest motives,and she therefore made no allusion to Miss Mayhew that evening.
"Miss Jennie,"said Van Berg,yielding to what he now felt had become a necessity,"I may seem more of a heathen to you to-morrow than ever.There is a distant mountain and lake that I wish to visit before I return to town,and I shall start early to-morrow.
So if I do not come back very early you need not think that the earth has swallowed me up or that I have fallen a prey to wild beasts.Good night,"and he pressed her hand warmly.
She looked at him wistfully and seemed about to speak,for she was vaguely conscious of his deep trouble.She checked the impulse,however,and parted from him with a kindly smile that suggested sympathy rather than reproach.
Stanton called Mr.Mayhew aside and the two gentleman spoke very frankly together.