Part 8 (1/2)
Wiggins sulked awhile and then addressed me seriously.
”I didn't tell you I was going abroad, because the situation made explanations difficult. I could hardly tell you that I was about to race over Europe after a waitress I had seen in a tea-room. You 're always so confoundedly suspicious. It would have an odd sound even now if she were--well, if she were a waitress instead of what you know her to be. And my animosity toward Miss Octavia Hollister is due to the fact that after I had been as courteous to her all summer long as I could, and thought myself tolerably established in her mind as a decent person and a gentleman, she suddenly shuts Cecilia up in that house,--bought it on purpose, I fancy,--and Cecilia herself is compelled to take on an air of mystery, warning me to keep away, suggesting the darkest possibilities, but giving me no hint whatever of the reason for her conduct.”
”Let us confine ourselves to Miss Octavia for a moment. While you were acting as cavalier to her party abroad she was friendly; then she suddenly changed. Now there must be some explanation of that.”
”Well, for one thing, she flew off at a tangent about my ancestors. We were in Berlin on the Fourth of July and got to talking about the American revolution. She asked me what my people had done for the patriotic cause. The painful fact is that most of them were Tories; but my great-grandfather broke with his father and brothers, joined Was.h.i.+ngton's army, and fought through the whole business. But to save the feelings of the rest of them, who went to England till it was all over, he changed his name. There's no mention of him in the war records anywhere. I've had experts working on it, but they can't find any trace of him. He was greatly embittered by the estrangement from his people, and though he had a farm in this very neighborhood somewhere--I 've thought sometime I 'd look it up and try to get hold of it--he never mentioned his military experiences even to his own children. Usually Miss Hollister changes front if you give her time.
I've heard her say that we'd have been better off if we'd never broken with England; but she persists in prodding that weak place in my armor.”
”That's very dark, Wiggy. If she keeps it up you'll have to dig up your great-grandfather someway. The spiritualists might call him on long distance. But let us turn to Miss Cecilia. I don't for a moment believe that she is a victim of ancestor wors.h.i.+p. The perambulator rampant adorns the Hollister s.h.i.+eld to the exclusion of everything else. From what you say Cecilia has not repelled you; on the other hand she has frankly given you to understand that you must not press your suit at this time for reasons she sees fit to withhold. A little more patience, a little calm deliberation and less violent language, and in due course the girl is yours. Now what do you fancy is the cause of Cecilia's abrupt change of att.i.tude?”
He refused to meet my eyes, but turned away as though to conceal an embarra.s.sment whose cause I could not surmise. When he spoke it was in a voice husky with emotion.
”Am I a cad? Am I beneath the contempt of decent people?”
”It's possible, Wiggy, that you are. Go on with it.”
”Well, you know,” he began diffidently, ”Cecilia has a sister.”
I grinned, but his scowl brought me to myself again.
”Yes. And her name is Hezekiah. The name pleases me.”
”She was with Miss Octavia in her gallop over Europe, so I saw a good deal of her necessarily. She is younger than Cecilia; she's a good deal of a kid,--the sort that never grows up, you know.”
”Just like her aunt Octavia!”
”Bah! Don't mention that woman. Hezekiah is a very pretty girl; and I suppose,--well, when you are thrown with a girl that way, seeing her constantly”--
I clapped my hand on his knee as the light began to dawn upon me.
”You old rascal, you don't need to add a single word! I dare say you are guilty. I can see it in your eye. After waiting till you reached years of discretion before beginning an attack upon womankind, you began mowing them down in platoons. So they come running now that you 've got a start. Oh, Wiggy, and I believed you immune! And you 're trying to drive 'em tandem.”
The thing was funny, knowing Wiggins as I did, and I gave expression to my mirth; but his fierce demeanor quickly brought me back to the serious contemplation of his difficulty.
”That, you shameless wretch, would be a sufficient reason for Miss Octavia's aloofness,--your double-faced dealing with her nieces? You confirm my impression that she is a wise woman. And Cecilia, I take it, may be deeply embarra.s.sed by her sister's infatuation for you. You certainly have made a tangle of things, you heart-wrecker, you conscienceless deceiver! But where, may I ask, does this Hezekiah keep herself?”
”Oh, she's with her father. They have a bungalow over the hills there, several miles from Hopefield Manor.”
”Well, I hope you are no longer toying with her affections. Of course you don't see her any more?”
”Well,” he mumbled, ”I did see her this morning. But I could n't help it. It was the merest chance. I met her in the road when I was out taking a walk. She 's always turning up,--she's the most unaccountable young person.”
”I suppose, Wiggy, that if you stand in the road and Miss Hezekiah Hollister strolls by on her way to market, you fancy that she is pursuing you. As Miss Octavia has well said, this is not a chivalrous age. I 'm deeply disappointed in you. Your conduct and your att.i.tude toward this trusting young girl are disgraceful.”
He rose and flung up his arms despairingly. It was much easier to laugh at Wiggins than to be angry at him; but I recalled the message which Cecilia had entrusted to me, and this, I thought, might give him some comfort.
”Miss Cecilia asked me this morning to say to you that you must not try to see her again; you must keep away from the house.”