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About The Oregon daily journal. (Portland, Or.) 1902-1972 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 20, 1908)
A the 'Oregon Sunday journal, Portland, sunday morning December 20; 1908 O - D was unmarried becauH he had . never met any woman worth .while to marry Alfor love, no idea of it had . entered his comprehension. He lived alone, with man and maids, i relinuishing his profession, in which he . had attained eminence and pursuing certain researches, which his excellentlneome allowed. On One side of his estate was a river, deep, hut hardly wider than a creek; and the land went back through glades and gardens to the farm. His house, in his mother's day beautiful, was interesting now, with faded velvets whose scarlet was silver, with old portraits, and Ivories , fand Mama's immaculate house - keeping. Yet, when ,he considered, it seemed -deso-late. But i he Jhad little time for considering; his laboratory occupied him' within doors, and when he walked abroad it , was chiefly with a view to' the examination of hta frames ranged xunder glass for the action of the sun. : He congratulated himself on tht quiet. .'"This is perfect," he said. "So remote, to" ititt :' .- -' z. 'As' often In the' purple night i f " Some bearded meteor trailing light 'V ifove's oef "till Shalott'" , ( '"You can then Imagine Dr. Lloyd's feelings when, one morning, he saw that the Old Place across the river had been taken, busy people were putting'it in order, and a horde of children moved in the alleys of the overgrow garden. And although the yellow heads and peachy cheeks were lovely as flowers, to Dr. Lloyd the trolls of underground would have seemed less forbidding. Good-by to still Shalott, to the undisturbed sauntering with thoughts and problems! But, thank Heaven, the river ran be tween, and there could be no actual contact, let the air be rent as It might " ' , Of course, there were hours of quiet over in Old Place, ! although even then the tinkle of a piano, the echd of a song, the wail of a child, made muffled discord. Sometimes he saw a woman, walking in the paths or tying tip the roses that had run riot on the gallery, a young woman, often gowned la white, perhaps pretty at any rate, graceful. No one seed object to such. a. neighbor as that, if it were not for that host of hornets about her. There. . she was 'pbwjone at each hand, another" pushing ' between, two running after! And she seemed to . tn joy it But sometimes she sat on the gallery, and aii "old colored woman combed her long dark hair andmothered her. He could hear her. now. "Dem ar twins 'sponsible for ell desa yer 'ead5 aches, Missy Paula. W'ea Miss Bella done die aft1 lebe yo'. dem ar twins an' de III- gal, wid dare eon. traptions, she gib yo' dese mis'rles, too." There, there, Mammy Rose," he heard a vole of silver. "To be sho, it's de Lord's will, honey. He do torment dem he lubs. I reckon he tinks dar's de makin' ob an angel in Missy Paula. Dare, yo shet ' yo sweet eyes." So her name was Paula; it sounded the way rose petals feet She was singing one sunset on the river bank; the little wretches clamoring for song after son;, "Now, Paula, sing The Young Chevalier,' and, "Oh, Paula, darling, 'Si Bleus 5ef Yeux.'" And her voice seemed to people the place with nightin gales. ' Well, now and then at nightfall, on the other side of the river, one could not complain. And he was safe on his side. Safe, was he? He went out one morning, and there two little yellow heads bent over one of his frames, and four audacious hands lifting the cover and working ruin. "What are you about 1" he called and so fiercely that, starting to run, they ran directly into his hands. He caught ' one'; but the other in desperation made for the towering old pine, one of whose long, low boughs leaned over the stream. "How did you come here?" he demanded. "We jumped," in one breath. "Then " Jump back!" -.. To his horror, for, after all, he was human, the one that had clambered to the end of the big pine tree bough, suddenly hurled himself through the air with a shout, landing on the other side, which, in deed, the bough almost touched. ."Now you!" said Dr. Lloyd to the other boy. I--l dassent," he gasped. "We fetched a run and -Jumped. I I can't jump standing. Monty can do 'most anything. I I can't!" ' . "Then I'll show you how!" said Dr. Lloyd. And suiting the action to the word, he swung the boy back, and forth a moment and then let go. Under other circumstances it would have been only a light toss to the soft turf opposite. But the boy squirmed and kicked to such a degree that the toss failed, and he fell on the bank and rolled off into the water. In a; moment, of course, Dr. Lloyd was after him. Although; boys were holy terrors, you must riot drown them. And he brought him up the bank, a dripping, yelling trab, all struggling legs and arras, himself dripping, too, and in an altogether un propitious condition in which to meet a lovely lady .for the first time. For the shrieks of the two had brought the others as if they sprang out of the ground. "He threw Johnny into the river! Oh, Paula, Paula, be threw Johnny into the riverl" resounded the shrill cries. 'And there, suddenly, towering over them with heightened color and blaring eyes, was Paula, "Go, .sir!" she' commanded. And bowing, Dr. Lloyd took hold bf the long pine bought, regardless of pitch, and swung himself across the water. , The next day Benson told him the bough of the "pine-tree, that leaned over, the river, had been cut off. The lady across the stream had ordered it, he thought. This was an outrage. And Dr. Lloyd found not only the long bough gone, but the tree girdled so that it would die. This the lady could not have ordered. The tree, a solitary giant, had been a landmark for ages, although part of it was dry arid withered. He felt a pang, as when one hears sentence of death pronounced upon' a living sou!. But while he looked, Mammy Rose, hatchet in hand, came laboring along the other side, having crossed the stepping stones half a mile above. She stopped and shook the hatchet defiantly. Dr. Lloyd, obliged to go away the next day, wis, a his return, interested ia some new experiments, . and there was a season of comparative quiet across the stream. This season war broken by the children huddled on the bank, talking and sobbing, the beau tiful lady coming down the sward, sweeping' them Into her arms, and leaving therrt hurriedly. ' . " The? same day Benson said one of the children across the river was very ill, had. Dr. Parshley had given him up. ) . One' of those children he had thrown into the water. Good Heaven, if he had been the death of that child! Directly he had Jooked over his pro fessional appurtenances, he was at the door of Old Place, speaking with Dr. Parshley. "You say. it Is hopeless?" he asked. "I fear so," said the old Doctor. "You give up the case?" Dr. Lloyd sajd breath lessly. 7 "We!!, practically." HI 111 1 11 f t! 11 1 Jl.f" J "'V''-1 T " T I II 1 1 II 1 1 IIIIMLLi "uiij III - v I s2i firm ilfe 1 I m$ Jim km Mm w 4 m 'l . III I (i,,-'H wtW L-i wyv5V U li ii li " WE CAME TO WISH YOU A MBIIV CHttgTHAS ARD MAKE YOU A CHttfTMAt MtSKST-YOU CAVg VS THE 810 CHRISTMAS TREE, LAST NIGHT AND IT SAVED OU LIVES AND SO WB'tE C0ING TO CIVE YOU PAVLA." "Have you tried the new remedy?" "No, 1 haven't you younger men's faith in new remedies. And there Is none to be had." "Would you mind taking me in consultation?" .The old Doctor's face brightened, and then gloomed again, "Well he' said "If I can't "I can't either, you mean. Try me." And compelled, against his will, Dr. Parshley turned about with him. Through a distant door he saw the children's faces in an angry cluster, as he went up the stairs. "Dr. Lloyd," said the old Doctor, after a quick in troduction, "is a noted bacteriologist; and thinks he may succeed with a new remedy. I confess" "I cannot have experiments tried here," said the beautiful lady beside the bed. "Believe me, Said Dr. . Lloyd gently, "it is no experiment The child has, I fear, but a few hours otherwise. It is his only chance." "True," said DrOParshley. - W , '- "He shall die in peace then," said the lady. "Then," said the Doctor, looking at her steadily with his steel-blue eyeS, "l shall proceed without your permission." And she never knew bow It hap pened that she found herself outside the door. i Dr. Lloyd joined her there very shortly. "You must have confidence in me," he said, bending over her where she sat half-stunned. "I promise you the boy's life." ; - "You tried to destroy it once," she said, looking up with great, tired eyes. "Do you really think I had such intention? How ' ever, you have enough faith in JDr. Parshley to un derstand he will permit no wrong?" . r "Obv'I don't know," she said wearily. "You are tired out Go to bed, and let me have him, I will not leave him till he is out of danger." ,s'l must be with him," she Said. And then there cams, a chorus from below," "Hash, , hush!" she whispered, running to the balusters. "No, no, no!" came the cries, four little eager,, distracted faces appearing, with the old colored one . behind them. "He tried to kill Johnny! He'll kill him now!" "Mammy Rcse," said Dr. Lloyd, "take your mis tress and the children away at once, or they will be killing Johnny!" And Mammy Rose, who knew . what authority was, swept the protesting rebels down stairs. Paula was already In. the sick-room. The old' Doctor left ,by-and-by. The sunrise was. stealing through the dark at last, reddening the world, and the birds were singing, when Dr. Lloyd 'went round to the other side pf the bed and lifted Paula and laid her on the lounge in the adjoining room. "He is going to live, he said. "Now .'. sleep!" And the word "Sleep" on his lips, and the look in his eyes, were all she remembered before deep slumber fell upon her. Mammy Rose stole into the room presently. He waved her away and followed her Out. "Take the children, their clothes and books and toys, to my" house," he said. "This disease is contagious. They may escape that way. Remain with them." And, he returned to Johnny. Later, Dr. Parshley re . lieved his watch while he went for a bath and his coffee, coming back quickly. And Paula waked, be wildered, ana, slipping away, reappeared refreshed and with a sort of subdued radiance' about her. As she came in the door the blaxe of day came in-with her. r "The boy will pull through," said Dr. Lloyd. "And I will see him again at noon." She hesitated, half wavering toward him. '"Yon have given him back to life," she said. "And I I ordered you off my grounds I" "Weill ' Bre said, ', looking down at her with a smile.1 ., . .-, "I can can orny ask you to come, back." And she extended her hand. '. "I shall come back!" he said, an electric; thrill, sweeping through him at. the touch of her hand-' And as she saw him, tall and large and bright above her, she could think only of the sun-god with heal- ing in his staff. His head was in a whirl; he walked ' ( in a rosy cloud, v 7 - - When he opened the door of his own house, after : changing his clothea in the fumitory, was it alt the imps of Pandemonium le? loose or was it all the ' birds of Eden? In his singular frame of mind he could hardly have said which, V V , "It's the CamberweU beauty l" cried, one voice, : - .'COPYRIGHT, w9 "It's the painted-lady!" Oh, great heavens, his butterflies! They had the. case down and were : quarrelling- over ithie Vanessa Iot his magnificent Uvania, like a splendid , spirit jn a green world I -' But the noises hushed. "We were Joying your butterflies," said a sweet voice. "It isn't true that a white butterfly is a ghost?", said Monty. -'If Johnny died' and then they all set up a wail. ; - "Johnny is getting well,' said Dr, Lloyd. "Mammy Rose said that if you didn't kill him you'd cure him," said Mary suavely. , "Do I look as If I killed good little boys?" ' ' "Johnny is a bad boy. Paula said so.? ' ''YouT mama ought to know." ' "Paula isn't our mama!" indignantly, "Paula is mama's sister. Mama is an angel bi Heaven 1" ; ' s ''That is," said little Mary, "If 'she isn't a white butterfly. vWe were looking. for a white butterfly." nVe'll look for luncheon," said the Doctor, and 'in thfr-dining-room he succeeded in. establishing cordial "relations. On the whole, although Wilford spilled his milk; and Monty choked and JO kicked him, and Mary shed tears, on the whole, children : were not so bad as Dr. Lloyd had thought When he returned to J6hnny, he jeft Benson to show them some small chemical doings which seemed . like legerdemain. . ; - ' ''.'.. '' "' . Paula ,was still beside the beCand Johnny wss ' doing very well. He sent her at once to see' the others at some distance, and whether of his author ity or feeling there should be no discussion there, she went, finding a couple of long beams laid across the stream, with a rope hand-rail stretched from tree' to tree, - . "Oh, Paula, Paula!" the children cried, running to meet her, nearly as they were allowed, as she come over the grass, "he isn't a monster at all Benson says he's a very learned man. He'a got strings of medals! Benson says, Johnny that day cam near destroying something millions pi lives hung on. How can millions of lives hang on something in a tin pan with a glass cover? Oh, Paula, come here and see Benson burn ice!" She tame back to Johnny's bed, with her arm full of the flowering wild white azaleas, looking a spirit of peace and health. Presently, however, he took' the flowers and put them into the next room: smiling at her as h did so. "Johnny is out of all danger now; but he will not meddle with culture ferms again. Now I shall leave the case with Dr. arshley. But Benson and Marna will keep the children till the boy is right, and till they ar safe in seeing him, I hope you have forgiven mi for Johnny's bath." lo nts astonishment she did not reply, sne stood there, all at once pale and drooping. "Do you mean-" he said. "Shall I continue 'Oh. yes!" she sighed. "I am ignorant. I am : so helpless so young with all ese children to care .for. If" . "Then I will come till all is well." He stopped a moment, "And thank you for allowing me to do so," he said then. Oh, Dr. Lloyd, to think that, with all your work impending; you could spare time for' this! You were a wise man; but you didn't know what had be fallen you! All night he slept and waked by turns, with the alternate vision of the roseate creature with her arms full of the white axaleas, all health and joy, and then of the pale drooping one implor ing his aid. The shrill cries of quarrelling birds, the hoarse cooing of doves on the roof, the chirping of an ivied waif full of sparrows, all mingled with his dreams when he awoke. Once it would have seemed maddening. This morning he could not move swiftly enough to make a part of it "Paula says we're to beg, your pardon for what we said," they cried, as h came into the breakfast room. "She says It's no wonder you were mad when Johnny upset the frame. She says Johnny'd be a deader if it wasn't for you." There were tips and downs in Dr. Lloyd's sensa tions the following weeks, but the ups predominated; and the ups -were very up indeed on the days that Paula came over as far as the barrier he had placed, and talked with the children at a safe distance. He himself was out of sight, although not' beyond see ing, at these moments, and the thoughts that swept through him were past' bis own reading. - But when at last it was safe for the children to return to Old Place a certain consternation seixed him. No glad or sorr calling and crying, no aipg ing, no pattering of storming feet, no forgiving or confiding caresses the house dreary as a tomb, the grounds deserted and the grassy spot across the stream full of gaiety and life and sweetness, And, more than all,' no Paula ! No slender, white.gowne fieure moviri down the lawn, no vole like a melnittf saluting the children crowding joyously as near the barrier as they mlffht, no swift, gracious smile for himselfnothing, nothing - but ghastly loneliness. Pancy his delight, hi fright, too. when Marna, hav ing brought them ott to Paula, and Johnny with Mammy Rose was standing at the other end of the bridge to welcome them little Mary shrank back and, .taming to him, exclaimed, in sudden tears, 'Oh. please, please, we'd rather stay!" "Mary!" cried Paula. And the little wretch fled and hid her fac in her aunt's town. , - , ; f on14 b,ck tvtr Mr and alt day long," aid Dr. Lloyd. v "And look in the symmetrlscope?" "You can take it with you." ; r . That glorioua possibility dissipated their grief. There was a race back to the house, and for a leaf and a torn bit of flower. "Now, look, Paula!" they rried. "You will see orchids? You will see butter flies, and stara and angels' wings, and everything!" A for Dr. Lloyd, with that dark head bent over the toy, in the curve o that long, fair neck, in the rose that dyed the half idden cheek, he saw something more than angels' wings. . "Paula," ha heard them saying, a she led therrt away, "perhaps he wouldn't like to have Mammy Roseshe killed the tree, you know, and see, it'i qufte, quit dead! But all the rest of us might stay if you come, too?" And lust then they began to run and, grossing the bridge, fell on Johnny like beea Upon a comb. - What blank It was for Dr. Lloyd after that morning. Books, frames., laboratory work, nothing contented him. He wa listening for the hubbub of the children, seeing the face of Paula, with its dark beaut, the grace of her alow movement, the tall, slim figure. He stayed so, till she came with the children to tske him home with thent ' Science was badly neglected in this long Summer. Dr. Lloyd, a sort of tutor of the Children, took them on his tramps, Paula usually along. But when the last leaf was wondered over, he found himself look ing into the face of Winter with something like horror. If if they were only ona family! A thought came a if an angel had stooped into the room and irradiated It with gleaming gold. Then all waa dark again. That preposterous vanity, for one second,, made it seem possible that a perfect young creatura like Pauls he old. already griziledl Ha' waa really, very eld npt yet forty the gray in the blonde curls close to the bead possibly a suspicion. And even were sh willing, for the sake of the chil dren, to make such a sacrifice, it would be criminal to accept it He felt a flush of guik. ,' There had been jay doings at Thanksgiving; he - had gone over to Old Place and brought Old Place back bodily with him? and there had been a pudding in blue flames; , and he had taken out his collection of gems, among.them a ring of-wonderful workman ship, ''The marriage ring of some old .princess gone to dust," he said. . " . ' . . - ' "It could have been Paula's marriage ring, if we had let her marry you," said Wilford. "Married , people wear rings.. But married people go away from their own folks, and " we couldn t . spate Paula. Mammy Rose-asked us how we would like it. And vrm aairi nnt at all. And that settled It. . Just tnerr the tray of jewels slipped, ana in- tne scramoie atter the runaway treasures, no one but the Doctor saw Paula's face grow like ivory; no one but Paula saw the Doctor's purple, and, the. jewels being recovered, the children were hustled homeward out of hand. "Paula was mad with us," Monty' told the Doctor '- next day;, "and we asked her why. Wa asked her if she wanted you to marry her. We. told her that married oeoole loved each otherV and we asked her if she loved you. :0f course, we knew that you loved Paula, because every one loves. Paula. But she grew so angry she fan right out of the room. W$ love you; but that's' dirtcrentYou can't marry rll of us. And you know we ouldn't lose' Paula. W couldn't do without her. The Doctor was helping Benson fit their, skates just theh he was teaching them to skate, a itretch of cold weather without snow having made the river, broadening below, a sheet of Ice. By Christmas time they were too absorbed in the joy of their winged feet to care even for a Christmas tree. Mammy Rose and Paula, however, had their own plans. It was before the sunset of a cloudy Christmas Eve that Dr. Lloyd went over to Old Place to bring the children to a festivity Marna and Benson had prepared. "Huccom dem ar chilluns ain' come in an done hab deir faces wash?" Mammy Rose was iaying. "Dey'a dess natu'lly gone wild ober dem skates. 'Pears like I ain' yeered 'em racketin' die yer long time. Marse Monty! Marse Johnny! Oht Mamee!" And her voice, ringing out like a bell, came back like an echo, no other sound replying- 4 ' -,. . - - "Oh, Mammy . Rose." cried Paula, flinging down her needles, "you don't believe oh, Dr. Lloyd " "My gracious. Missy Paula, you don't reckon dey's in de ribber? Sho, chile, de nbber's done froze stiff to de groun'i Dem limbs is more bodder to me dan all my money! Marse Johnnyl" And her voice rose to, concert pitch, v ; But no Marse Johnny replied; nor were any chil dren In sight when, catching up cloaks and hoods. iney ran outdoors, wnere tr was aircauy twuigm with the coming storm. , "They have probably gone down the river," said the Doctor, "or, could they have gone up?" And he looked about him anxiously; for up-river was the pond With, its air-holes, and down-river was the big stream where at the Junction, there waa sure to be broken, ice and trouble, "i am going after them," said the Doctor, 'it will be pitch dark in half an hour. Benson shall go. up stream, and I will go down. In the meantime let us have a torch that will throw light as far as light flies!" And when he came' back with his skates, two of the farm hands followed, their arms full of kindling stuff, with which they made a pile at the base of the dead pine tree. "As soon as it is fired," he aaid, buckling his last strap, "take burning brands and fire the branches." And then be waa off one way, and Benson the other, calling as they went. And Paula and Mammy Rose stood shuddering and shivering on the bank, calling, too. - ' ..v llVf - ! t.I1. H . L. - J If. .. "Tain' no use addin' to trouble an' reskln' yo'sel'X sick: w'en dem limbs o'mlschief comes home, dey'II need as bofe, I reckon Yo come in along o' Dr. Lloyd had not skated far down the bends and reaches of the little stream before he saw how be wildered children might become. Suddenly, through the stillness following' one of his stentorian cries, from far off, round the bend of the shore beyond the Long Wood, came a frail pipe like that of a bird fallen from a. nest; and then another and another. The Doctor never stopped to listen; ha put fresh force to his strokes and sped on to find the little people at last huddled together in mortal terror. , "Oh, wt knew you'd come," piped 6ne, as he ap proached, .hewing, if not seeing, him. "Only'we were afraid," whispered another, "and we got turned about. We didn't know which way to go!" And 'i very truly, the Doctor felt, as he rose from com forting them a moment, lie, himself didn't know which way to go. He had given his list match, too, to Marna with the farm-hands, and he could not even see the face of the compass on his watch-chain. He waited, seeking something that might seem familiar. But all was still and blank. Out here, with these children, all night in a storm. His heart failed him. And then a great uw shone in the i sky. "Cornel" he tried quickly. "That is the way home!" And as they rounded the bend a pillar of fire made the darkness blench before it I "Oh, who did it?" cried Monty. 1 "You did it!" said Wilford.. . "Ood did It," raid Jo. "I guen this is a Christmas tree," said little Mary. It waa the next morning, the storm blown. away, that Dr. Lloyd saw the procession of little people carefully crossing the slippery beams and coming up his snowy lawn. Paula was with them, in the cloak hurriedly thrown on at their demand. "We haven't told Paula!" they cried, as soon as they were in the wide hall down whose depths the fire biased, "be cause we thought she might make a time. But we came to wish you a Merry Christmas and make you a Christmas present you gave us the big Christmas tree, last night : , "And It was glorious!" i ' ' "And it aavei our lives!" "And we want to give you the best thing we've got--" "And so we're going to glv you Paula!" .-And part of them fell upon Paula, slipping off the cloak, and part of them upon the Doctor. "You're going to atay here now, Paula,", they laid. "We'll come over every day." - "And all daylong!" : r r V - T "You may marry her, f you UkeP ' "May I, Paula? May I? whispered Dr. Lloyd. "She's your Christmas present!" they went on. -."We will try to do without her!" and the lips began to tremble, the Voices to falter, the heroes to cry. "It is a present I have wnnted very much. But ; Paula herself must give it. Paula?" She stood there flushed, beautiful, appealing,, down- " east. But for one moment she raised her luminous eyes to his, and there he read it all; and ha took her In his arma and doubted If he were not dreaming some dream of heaven, ' . - , ,,. "I think," he aaid presently, Still holding Paula, we will have a weddln here to-dnv. And thru you won't "have t do without Paula. -For you will stay.
