POLLY ANSON'S "IRISH CHAIN"

Bruce Herald, Volume XXX, Issue 3025, 6 January 1899, Page 6

POLLY ANSON'S "IRISH CHAIN"

IT MAMHA. McCULLpCH WILLIAMS '.' 'ccc. how Pollj I ! %wf'*liißF'piic< • I j^V •■■ &i^uilt i ;?sLra; t 1 Bi^ *■■■* a half whisper. neighbour, Mrs, Carter, as they stood by their chairseyeint the blue and white expanse. " 'S— «h 1 She'll hear you," Mra. Cartel returned. " Besides it don't Heem torn? quite fair to cay that.'- Polly's been always a good industrious girl ; she made quilts and cushions and tidies long before Len Baxter ever came to see her." " Bub she made this a purpose to tak< ' home to housekeepin' with him," Mrs. Gartley persisted. "If I. had been in hei mother's place, I'd never in the world have made all this to-do of a quiltin over ib. Do you know, they've even invited Len to come with the other boys this evenin' ? ' 1 must say that shows mighty little pride— the way things stand." "• So do I," said a third woman, Miss Maria Agnew, coming up behind the' others and bending over the quilt. " M 3' ! but they've stretched this tight in the frames 1" «he went on. "We won't have any ends to »ur fingers left time we quilt it in the rose pattern ; and that's the only thing the least It for the Irish chain." "If I'd asked my neighbours to help tne it would have been on something easier,' Mrs. Gartley assented, tapping the taub surface. *• Everybody knows a quiltin' ought to be mostly a frolic ; but then Mrs. Anson was always the greatest manager ; she'll give us a fine dinner, and get the worth ot it j'n work." "If you grudge it you might have ctayed away ; that's what I'd do in that case," Mrs. Carter e»kl, co pointedly the others looked a thought abashed. After a minute she spoke more gently : " I think it is hardly fair and certainly not kind to talk po about Polly, when we really know nothing mote than that for six months Len Baxter teemed to have eyes for no one el.«e, and the>n all at once camo here no more. Nobody knows the reason. Polly may have refused him " " She didn't," Mrs. Gartley said, with startling energy. " It ain't likely, and him the best chance in the county, own in' land all round ehe Anscn place," Miss Agnew supplemented. " I shall always believe," she went on, *' Polly must 'have made fun of him ter somebody, an' he got a hold of it. You know ehe's a sassy piece, an' jest as full of mischief as she can live ; an' Len he's mighty high-strung— all the Baxters ever 1 saw was that way. While I b'leeve Polly fould have took him at the drap of a hat, I Ihink she wanted sorter to act independent to other folks, an' let on as she didn't keer about whether she ever seen him again or not. I said all along how easy it would be for somebody Lo go an' make trouble — " " Oh, pahaw 1 Miss Maria. You old N aids are always makin' up romances," Jtb. Gartley broke in eagerly, but with a curious down look. " Ain't Len got the same right to flirt, or even change his mind as any other young fellow 7 We all know they do it, even them that have not got half he has to make it worth a woman's to take 'em. I said first, as I say }w, he just gob tired and quit. Polly jron't die of it, neither ; but nobody can make me believe she wouldn't give her eyeteeth to have him back again." 44 Of course you say thab. You don't want >r admit Dora Gartley's wearin' Polly's shoefl,' 1 Miss Agnow Baid, a thought tartly, looking across the room as she spoke. •' Lor 1" she went on, " Dora does look washed out side o' Polly. VTou better tell her not ter go close ter her when the boys come in." 4t But Dora is really very stylish," Mrs. Carter said kindly. Mrs. Gartley moved away ia high dudAcross the room she stopped to say lo Mrs. Squire Bell thot she did think old maids ought to be shut up in asylums like lunatics; they were 30 poison cantankerous, they spoiled whatever, they came to, and they would go everywhere in spite of faith. Mrs. Bell only smiled. She was a kind motherly woman, with thick silver-white hair. Polly was her god-child, and Bhe knew enough of the deeps and shallows of current go?sip to comprehend something of what was working in the Gartley mind.' There were at least twenty women between 18 and 60 gathered there in the Anson dining room. It had big wooden beams in the ceiling. The quilt swung by ropes running up to staples ia the beams. Because of •hem Mrs. Anson did all her quilting there in place of using the parlour or the big square light chambers, of which she had so many. Indeed, she had the greatest plenty of room everywhere. The back piazza, that to-day would serve for dining room was twelve feet wide, and ran the length of the house. Through the open windows you could see the long table there, already spread with fine linen and glass and silver and china. Through the windows came, too, wafts ol ripe October air. Frost had fallen the week before bub now it was warm— sc Warm the nipped asters and chrysanthemums held up their beads afresh, and late rosebuds unfolded to faint-hued blossoms, but the. sweeter for their paleness. Some deep blue flowers, too — a lustier sorb oi forget-me-not —had come out plentifully along their lower branches. Polly had stuck a knob of them in her belt, and another among Aer straw yellow braids. She had a dimpled rose-leaf face, lit hy dancing dark eyes. Perhaps she did not know nor care how much the blue flowerets accented her piquant loveliness. , She had been very wretched ever since V the quilting was bruited* though she felt tWiorc* of wnat her mother had said of ib. xes, the r^tbboun-Momo of them, at U«^-would *W%, w what they fl^ tod her disappointment. She had tn««»b to keep secret *U her small housewifely pte . iwrfttfon, Itub the Gartleys were foreves running \n, and both mother and daughtei had fine eyes for spying.and tongues libera in telling of what the eyes had seen. Si the neighbourhood had come to undersianc that Polly was *' fixin' to get married.' That was the same as though her engage ment had been announced. Then when th cloud came — all at once and unaccounUblj — 4h« baa. wribbod in fob* thought of hoi

I jgossip Would roll the aew- otitnnderm< tongue. . : i • •That -is, when the first intolerable ach< let her think of anythtng'beyond th&losi of her lover. Even yet she did not quit* know how she had lived through the; week* when first Len rode past the house eyerj day without ever so much as looking to wards it. They seemed to her now lilte a big black blur. Vet her mind kept faith fuiiy tho|inp3t trivial detail of her happy tiipe.r Especially the last week ; she re. membered the very look and flavour of the strawberries Len brought 4ier— the firs' from his fine beds; she could smell the jasmine in the garden, and hear the robine singing in the honeysuckle arbour down at the farther end of it. Her father's ely jokes, too, and the twinkle in his cj r e as he reminded her of certain old antipathies to fclie Baxter name. -They dated back lo Grandfatber Baxter, who was a high, sternly pious old soul, and had reproved Polly for dancing when she could no more help it than an elf or a will-o'-the-wisp. She could see, too, her mother's look of brooding contenS, From the first Len had SvOn upon lier; he had told Polly more than once, indeed, that it was only through being sure of her mother's countenance he dared to persist with her. She had carried herself high and proudly towards him— now she could not rejoice enough in the thought. And how she had laughed when her namesake, black Polly Anson, who now lived and worked upon the Gartley place, had come begging " Miss Polly" to write a letter for her ! •• Hit got ter be er sbrter lub-letter," the black girl explained, sheepishly. " An' I coined yere 'case hit 'peared ter me you mought gib de hang on hit bettor'n our Miss Dora." It whs an odd sort of love-letter, after all. Black Polly was, it seemed, in a strait betwixt affection and interest. ' 1 thinks heap de most ub Taum," she confided. •• But den old man Gawge Rick he's gut lan an' mules, an' he so ole he ain't gwine lib no mighty long. Sorter fix it so Taum'll unnerstan'dat,Miss Polly. I do' 'ant dat po' nitrger ter think no leas er hiaee'l 'n he kin hep." So Polly wrote, after a proper introduction, smiling yet piteous as her hand traced 7 the words : " Don't think, dear Tom, 1 don't love you .better than all the world." I do ; I would marry you gladly, only it happens you have not much of anything, and I can marry another man who has agreat deal, Maybe that ought not to make any difference, but it does — all the difference in the world. I want to have things and be somebody without waiting and working until I am so old I can get no good of them. So don't think any m ore of your loving Polly Anson." " Now you must make your mark there,' Polly the white had eaid after she had written the name with a great flourish. Black Polly drew back, the picture of wounded dignity, saying : " W'y, Mi?s Polly I's 'stonished at you, I is ! You don't reckon I's gwine sen' nobody er lubletter wid er mark ter hit, same lek it was \ dest one er dein whar tells de news ?. 1 always did thought you had de mos' raisin' ob anybody 'bout yere, but dab ain't no good way ter do." Properly crushed, Polly had addressed the letter in her best business hand, to Thomas Montgomery, Epquiie, and had smiled aa ahe wrote the name ; ahe knew another Thomas Montgomery — he was her cousin, and the young master of Polly's discarded swain. She was about to add " coloured " to the address, when black Polly broke in : " 'Tain'b no need ter put nothin' else dar, Mi3s Polly ; I'll gib dat nigger he's letter my own se'f. I's good ter see him at meetin' Sund'y ; den hit can't go wrong." " Then why not tell him ? " Polly asked. "It seems to me that would be so much better," and again black PoHy had stood upon her dignity. " Why 1 He took an' wit ter me," ahe had said, " an fotchb de letter plum ter my house I Reckon I gwine gib him back answer dest in talk ? My heabenlv Marstor! Miss Polly ! I t'ought fer sho' you knowed bettr'n dat." After the black girl had gone, Polly had sat, smiling and dimpling, framing in her mind the story of her letter-writing as she would tell it to Len next time he came. And he had never come, though only that morning he had begged most earnestly for a serious answer, and had said significantly as he went away, "Jf you are obstinately silent when I come to-morrow, I — why, I shall take silence for coneeat." He was coming to-day with the other neighbourhood youth. He had met her mother at the gate yesterday, and almost compelled her to ask him. , After all, Polly was glad of it. They had met caßually outside twenty times, but she pined for a chance to show him she could see him unmoved, as a chance guest, here where he had been a lover. In spite of the rose pattern's difficulty, the quilting got on famously. By dinnertime the workers were on the last reaches of it ; they might, with a thought more diligence, have had it out of the frames. But nobody wanted that to happen till the boyj came in ; then fun and frolic would begiri with shaking the cat in the masterpiece of stitchery. 11 I wouldn't have such a thing as that at my house, noo.for the world ! Its so oldfashioned and tacky," Dora Gartley said to Jennie Crewe. Jennie did not answer at once. She was round and rosy — next to Polly Anson, easily the prettiest girl in the room. " I don't see the harm," she said, at last. "Of course there ain't really anything in it, bub I've heard grandma say she never knew ib fail when Bhe was young, and folk? believed in it, chat the one the cat jumped out by was always the One to marry first.' '• You have got it wrong, Jinny ! " Polls said, coming up to them with her tortoise shell kitten in her arms. She had tied a blue ribbon about its neck— the coloui matched exactly the flowers in her hair. Ai the little creature nestled against i.er throat the contacb of silk and fur broughb out all its white roundness. "Nd ! You are hali right," she went no. " That ie worse, you know, ever so much worse, than being all wrong. We must stand about the quilt for a shaking, a man next a maid, and whoever pues jumps between are in honour bound to "marry each other, or else diseredib the »ieo." v"J h ,! n 4 I>U tako bom x «tand beside,' Jennie said, laughing. Polly darted away. Dora blushed and looked down consciously. Several young men wer< '•■ ,' coming through the door, Len Baxter th« c . foremost among them. Ab he hurried to V ward them Dora eJP.d, hastily. * I •' Ido hope Folly won't think strange o

» •fbp>flb,-:yo^ where now." T^ien. eho.dropped her eyei J ■■rf^m/ : ' ; --dtiin^»ade"'W'-'liiooRh ho woulc f. T com.^..up'to^Br,'^iirt']buraed. half-way aorosi j, thfr.ropna, ""an^.^yrent ■ tOjMw. : BJetL. PoUj s stood just* back of $hat gopcl woman's chair, f ; wit£ the kitten's bead.peeping in the hoi r \lo\r of her neck. Her face was turned i away; she was talking gaily with ; Jaei - Bell', who bad 'fetched her a great eheaf ol ' golden-yellow chrysanthemums., ■ ; : . , "Aha 1 I understand, Jack," she was ».' .saying, •'These were never meant for me * — n,ever in the woridl ' But really Marian >, Montgomery ought to be here. Maybe ahe ' will come, after all.. Her note said Bhe \ would,, if only - Torn got .home in time to 'I fetch her. It was' aggravating his being a grandriuryoian at just this time. You see this is what you.get for being wicked and needing juries and things, you men. Your sweethearts are missing when you'd like to see them most." ' Leu's face hardened, his heart likewise, hut he shook hands with Polly in the most friendly and casual fashion, talked lightly with her for a minute, and ended by taking the kitten out of her arms. " I protest against this fine fellow," he said. " What does he know about deep things like fortune-telling ? Where is my old friend 'Tip? He's a cat of sense and judgment Besides, I have a sort of sneaking notion that he is not above showing favours^ |iiß friends." ' \^fi^Jat fcase I will go and find him," Polff^saidi^ demurely. Then over her ehpufaer^fts the vanished : •' Of course you will stand beside Dora, Mr. Baxter. Take your places, all, and be ready to shake the minute I come back." By this time the quilt was out of the frames, lying in a crumply blue and white heap upon a chair at the side of the room. Foiir cay young fellows seized it, took each a corner, and stretched it foursquare, calling as they stretched, each to the girl of his choice, to come and stand at his elbow. Then the other young people ranged them, selves about the edges, albeib some of the girls made a feint of pulling away from their choosing swain. Dora Gartley blushed jmd- bridled as Len took her arm with genfle insistence. She even hung back a in a loud whisper : , '';Oh, L. hato to do it — so foolish you know. l • And there is really nothing in it." "-Oh,, come along ! " he said, a thought impatiently. "This way ;on the side next the door. Tip is certain to make for that, and I want—" What he. ; wanted Miss Gartley never learned, for a.3 the word left his mouth a dapper young fellow and a very pretty girl came hurriedly through the door. They were stiil in riding-gear, and the girl's cheeks had the quick red that told of a long gallop. Overtho chorus of welcome Len caught the young man's words : " Here's the place for you, Polly ! Hand over Tip, and squeeze in at my elbow." " 1 won't ' squeeze in ' anywhere," Polly retorted, making a face at him, and holding fast to Tip. Tip was the grizzled veteran of a hundred fights, and at least a dozen shakings. Huddled against Polly's breast he blinked'and yawned aa though the whole matter wa; a bore to him. He purred uncertainly, and gave out a protesting miaow, aa though asking what the world was coming to, when this frivolous disrespect) wao shown to his years and whiskers. " Hold tight now ! " Polly cried out to those about the quilt, lifting Tip above her head, and tossing him lightly upoti its elastic surface. He rebounded like a ball, then scrambled tohis feet, and looked about him with an air of questioning disdain. Everybody laughed, and the laughing grew stronger when, after a comprehensive survey, Tip luy down with his head between his paws, blinking lazily, and with faintly twitching ears. " Why don't you shake ? " Polly called, with dancing eyes. Shestood away from the quilt, her hands hanging at her sides. She had agreed to stand up with Jack Bell ; now she thrust Marian Montgomery in the place in her stead. Tom Montgomery had managed to place himself upon Jennie Crowe's other hand, to the discomposure of Ned Lattimer who iuid taken her out. " Sliake ! " Polly cried again. Jack Bell heaved a sigh. "Do you think anything fchorb of an earthquake will move Tip ? " he asked, tragically. Len held oub one hand, saying, in his most coaxing voice : " Come, Tip ! Good old Tip 1 Come ! Come ! " "Of all the unfair things !— " Polly began, then stopped short. It seemed as if a cyclone had struck the quilt. It shook end writhed, it rolled and fell in ballony waves that sent poor Tip rolling over and over in the rlizzie3t fashion. Agile veteran that he was, it took him full three minutes to getupon his feet, claw and paw his way toward the edge, and gathered himself for a spring through the lino of shakers. New he headed this way, now that ; and each of the young men who could Bpeak for laughing was crying and calling out : " Tip ! Here, Tip ! " " Mice, Tip I" " Don't you know your friends ? " " This way, old man 1 " Polly was dancing up and down in glee With twinkling eyes she ran back of Len and Miss Gartley, pursed her mouth, and made a little soft sound that Tip knew for a summons to dinner. He was going toward Tom Montgomery and Jennie Crewe. At Polly's call he turned square about and made a flying leap to reach her. It took him almost against Mißs Gartley's face ; so close, indeed, ehe cried out in fear, then smiled to note that the cat had passed directly between herself and young Baxter. " Accept my congratulations, please," Polly eaid to them with a brave smile, as they turned about. The rest followed her lead, crowding about the chosen pair, shak ing hands, and felicitating them until Len was half wild. Polly's gay speeches, hei winsome smiles, stung him like a lash. Normally he was a sane, self-contained young fellow ; but sanity and self-restraint are apt to fail when they come under great strain after months of torturing unrest He had loved her — ah heavens ! how he bad loved ! — loved her still in the face o, that which should slay the strongest love. . tShe knew., his love, had betrayed it, and j now mocked him with light words, lightei . | laughter, as though she rejoiced to show . him how little his presence or his absence could mean to her. [ As time went on to supper and the dane r ; ing, Len's purpose grew fixed ; he would I shame and wound Polly as she was wounds ing him. It was warmer Chan at mid-day, a the sky thick with scudding clouds, and a - damp Booth wind at play in the paintec trees. Belated crickets piped desolately f tk« peacocks in the o*k tree* now ant

.{again Rave =their;raaeotiaiaighb;tfryi " s I within all .was frolic, flitting figures and I merry nowe, Tie ficldlen^ were- a*tho|u{rhb b late, elee alrtfidy < ifth oaken floor would rej sound with rhythmicjeet. , Polly had strolled with Tom Montgomery. - : ou% on the back piazfca. ' The cousins were {' gfeab friends—good comrades, indeed. i They had hob met for two w^eke, hence f had much to tell' and: hear. Taikine eagerly, they wenb up and down the longi j reach/ never noticing that someone else had 5 come but upon it, arid stood motionless | under the lantern which lighted the far j end. ' ' " j * f St6p a minute, Montgomery. I have , something that belongs- to you— something , it may interest Mias Polly to see," the man j "under the lantern said as they came up to [ him. Polly caught her breath sharply as , he spoke, bub Baid gayly : " Why, Mr. , Baxter! Have you burned burglar, or gob yourself made a special grand-juryman to find oub Tom's pet sins ?" , " Never mind how I came by it," Lea I said recklessly. "It is only a letter ; I r daresay you both -remember it." "Never saw it in my lifo," Tom said promptly, beginning to run hia eye over the crumpled and greasy sheet. "Oh! I ' day ! This is— Good Lord !" he cried ouO as he saw what was written and caught the name below. Holding it fast, ho faced ' about and caught Polly's hand. "Do you • know anything of this document?" heasked nodding toward the paper she had read over his arm. Polly's head v/ent up proudly. She gave 1 Len a long glance, then said, in her clearest ' key, " I know when and how it was 1 written ; for the reab you must ask someone else." i 1 " Who is it ?" Tom asked. 1 Polly laughed as ehe answered. " I think she is Mrs. George Ricks still, though 1 fche old man has been dead two weeka. But FJI ask her. She is in the kitchen help--1 ing Aunt Ailsa. Pclly ! Black Polly I Do come here and tell Mr. Montgomery something about a letter you had me write." Black Polly came oub, wiping her hands upon her mourning frock, and made her manners to the gentlemen before she opened her mouth to cay : " Shucks 1 Miss Polly, I do' 'anter hurt yo' feelin'.«, but dat dar letter was sho conjured. I liadn' mo'n gut home wid hit when I lay hit down dar on de shelf, an' mammy she took'n spilt hot fat all on do corndorob liit. Den I taken hit up ter Miss Dora at de great house, and she copied hit out ier me, an' put in seme mo' I had done thought erbout, Den when I went ter meetin' though de rain, er purpose ter gib hit ter dab dar Taum, dar he wuz. done married, an' had fotched his wife erlong. So ter gib eben, 1 ups an' marries ole man Gawge den an' dar." " Head the letter, aloud 1 " Polly said, imperiously, to Len. : He bejran it in a shaken voice ; but before he had got through threo sentences black Polly flung up her hand?, crying oub, *' Dat de ve'y came letter you writ fer me; de ve'v one I let' fer Miss Dora ter burn up !'"" "I think that explanation explains," Tom Montgomery eaid, with a bow, drawing his cousin's hand through his arm and walking away. Polly and Len were married next Twelfth nifiht. Tho Gnrr.leys were bidden to tlie wedding, bub somehow found it convenient to go for a distant visit aboub thab timo. Mrs. Carter and good Mrs. Bell excelled even themselves in tiie wedding cake and the cub paper for trimming it, and Marian Montgomery and Jennie Crewe were bridesmaids worthy the bride. Tip wore a new collar with a big white bow on it, and black i Polly, no longer a discotiso'nte relict, was | full of mysterious consequence in her place j as head of the volunteer waiting maids. ! Everybody agreed thab Polly had dono ! well, and Len even better ; also thab no j bride need wanb a finer setting oub than j Polly would take to her new home. > " But this I shall say bo the last day in | the mornin'," Mrs. Bell confided to Mrs. , Carter ; "Polly may have a heap finer j things worth more money, bub if I Was in | her place I'd not set any of 'cm beside that ; Irish chain. If thab hadn't been to be j quilbed juab when and as ib was, you'll never make me believe we wouldn't be ■ dancin' at somebody el.-e's weddin'." '