The Storyteller

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXIV, Issue 36, 1 January 1897, Page 21

The Storyteller

MISS AMBLE'S CRUMPLED ROSE-LEAF.

(By Harold Dijon in Aye Maria.)

Everyone in Hillward was exceedingly proud of the Church of the Assumption. A real piece of architecture, it stood on a beautifully kept greensward, the one feature of the little Xew England town. •' Few cities can boast an ecclesiastical edifice of grander proportions or of more artistic beauty," said the local newspaper. No one gainsaid it ; and the immovable rector, Father Garland, who had been to Rome and many other places, backed up the assertion. The rector and his curate, Father Strong, lived in a trim frame dwelling on one side of the church. On the other side, in a garden, was a cottage " to let" ; and beside this towered the mansion of Miss Amble, the most imposing building in Hillward after the church ; much more so indeed than in the court-house. In the mansion with Miss Amble dwelt her niece. Jessica Wintergreen. and her maids. Over the coach-house dwelt the coachman and his wife, who was without her equal as a " clear-starcher," whatever that might be. Miss Amble was not exactly young . her age was thirty -three ; but she had a sweet, placid countenance that went far to make her the best-liked woman in Hillward. Very censorious people said it was easy for her to be good : she had plenty of those things which money may command, and she had nothing to trouble her. This was not altogether true. Miss Amble had her crumpled rose-leaves. The first one was Jessica Wintergreen, as pretty a girl as you could well hope to meet with : and the medals and degrees she had brought home with her from the convent were ample evidence that she possessed •' intellectual gifts." Jessica had been Miss Amble's charge ever since the girl's parents died, ten years ago ; and she had been a great consolation, but now she was felt to be a great responsibility. She had no vocation for life in a sisterhood, Sister Clara and Father Garland declared with emphasis at a time when Jessica thought she thought otherwise. And this being the case, and there being no necessity for Jessica to earn her livelihood, there was nothing left for her to do but to marry. For, much as Miss Amble esteemed single blessedness for herself, she by no means approved of it in general. This being settled in Miss Amble's mind, she looked about her, and found no one in Hillward she could approve of as a husband for Jesiica. Her second crumpled leaf was the vacant cottage. It had been vacant for a long time : and, assured in her mind that it could and would be rented only by one who would be an objectionable neighbour, who would trespass on the greensward of the church, Miss Amble had sought in vain to buy the property. " It would be a perfect locality for the new school-house." she ■aid. Father Garland smiled at her crumpled leaver. ■■ But.' he admonished, gently, " take care not to make crosses out of them." "Jessica, never !" replied Miss Amble ; " though, were it not so silly. I'd say that I have a presentiment that that cottage is to be a cross to me." Returning home from seven o'clock Mass one morning, Miss Amble and Jessica saw that the sign ■■ to let" had been taken down. The house blinds were open, and two women were going about with buckets of water, broom-* and brushes. • •• The cottage has acquired a tenant." said Miss Amble. " Who can it be ?" " The sign was up when we went to church ; perhaps they have arrived." answered Jessica. A relationship existed between Miss Amble and one of the workwomen. She was godmother to the woman's baby, as she was to a number of other poor babies in the town. A blessed thing for the little ones ; for Miss Amble was strict in her interpretation of the duties of a godmother, and carefully looked to the eternal and temporal interests of her spiritual children. •■ Betty, Betty !" she called softly, and a blush rosied her cheeks. She had never done so ill-bred a thing before ; but her curiosity was great, and her alarm tor the greensward greater. The woman laid aside her broom and came down the short garden path. •• How is little Ella .'" Miss Amble asked, her face now red for her hypocrisy. •• She's fine, Mis*.'' said Betty ; adding, as she waved a red arm in the direction of the cottage : " It's took at last : and a real respectful man, they say. He was in the calvary and got shot." •'Respectable and cavalry. Betty." corrected Miss Amble. "Do you know the — gentleman's name .' ' " Respectable and cavalry, whichever you please,"' said Betty, humouring her Lady Bountiful. ■■ There's a lot of boxes and things come, and the name marked on them's Jason Mason — a real poetry name, as I said to Miss Buckley, who is doing the floors." •• They arrived during Mass. I thought I heard a bustle," said Miss Amble to herself. Then her conscience reproved her tor keeping Betty standing : and she moved on, promising to call on Baby Ella before long. •■ Jason ! It is not a very Catholic name, is it .' " she said later on to her niece. •' I'm sure I don't know." replied Jessica. "Itis a very pretty name, though." Miss Amble's terrestical beliefs were not numerous, and few of them were positive. She believed in Hillward : and. though she was dubious about Commonwealth avenue, she thoroughly believed in Beacon street, Boston. Therefore, when she heard, a few days after her conversation with Betty, that her new neighbours were of the Beacon street Masons, she felt assured of the safety of the greensward. '■ I called on Mrs. Dickenson this afternoon," she said to Jessica. " She is so informing."

" I suppose you know that they have arrived," Jessica said, speaking of what was uppermost in her own and in her aunt's mind. "Yes. I saw Captain Mason and his sister, Mrs. Woodward. She is a widow," replied Miss Amble. " I drove by them as they walked up from the station." '• Where did you learn — oh, I forgot your remark about Mrs. Dickenson ! " said Jessica, and smiled. Miss Amble blushed. "They are the Beacon street Masons," she observed. •' I don't know whether they are Catholics or not." " Mrs. Dickenson' s information stopped short of that," suggested Jessica, a little pertly. " 0 dear Jessica, indeed we were not gossiping ! " said Miss Amble. "It is sad that he has lost an arm. Quite a young man and very handsome." " Aunt Ella ! " exclaimed Jessica. '• He is quite old. His moustache is gray." " You are sure you saw him ? " " Yes I was in the garden when they arrived," faltered Jessica. '• Oh ! " said Miss Amble, and set her eye-glasses firmly on her nose. Aunt and niece were both right. Both had been gossiping 1 innocently — one with Mrs. Dickenson and the other with the flowers. The Captain was forty-five — a youthful age to some people, an old age to others, — and he was bravely handsome. The next day, Sunday, revealed to them that their neighours were Catholics, and practical ones. On Monday Miss Amble and Jessica called on Mrs. Woodward. ■• I am so sorry my brother is not at home to make your acquaintance." said Mrs. Woodward. " You must bring him over to tea with you on Wednesdey. It will be very quiet ; there will be no one but ourselves, unless Father Garland drops in. Only next door, you know ; it will not be like going out," pleaded Miss Amble, for she had been warned that Mrs. Woodward was still in mourning for her husband. Then when Mrs. Woodward said it would make her very happy to drink tea with Miss Amble, the latter confessed the fear she had. had of the cottage being let. " I so glad that you are Catholics," she remarked. " The Masons have always been," said Mrs. Woodward. " You know, we came originally from Maryland." Miss Amble bowed and said : " My father and mother, my sister and brother and myself, all embraced at the same time." Mrs. Woodward looked mystified. "To embrace " was a Hillwardism for " to became a Catholic," " Yes," pursued Miss Amble. •' we were all baptised on the same day." Her pretty eyes lumed and relumed behind her glasses, and in all its strength she exhibited her stalwart pride. •' My brother is a priest : he has charge of a parish in Norwood," she said. Wednesday soon came, and it found Miss Amble in a •■ great fidget.' 1 The Amble teapot was famous. Archbishop Carroll and Benjamin Franklin had drunk from it when on their way as commissioners of the young Republic to Canada, and it had been exhibited in the Boston Art Musenrn. '• Should I use the Amble or the everyday this afternoon /" she said to Je-sica. eyeing her with great earnestness. " I really don't know." replied Jessica : then, brightening, she went on : " They are strangers : he may be shy. — big men sometimes are : and we may want something to talk about. Ihe Amble always makes conversation. ' '' How thought fnl you are. Jessica." praised Mi-s Amble And so whtn Captain Ma-on and his sifter arrived the Amble glistened on the shiniiig tea-table. The teapot was not required, however, to make conversation. Miss Amble was wily. The Captain was not not shy. but he \\ as one of those quiet men who require to be drawn out. Mis-* Amble had made up her mind since last Sunday that the Captain was the ideal man she sought for the hand of Jessica. Betty tound poetry in Jason Mason ; in Jason and Jessica Miss Amble discovered an epic. Jessica was in awe of the Captain, and Miss Amble proceeded to draw him out for Jessica's benefit. She spoke of wars, aud soon learned that he had lost his arm fighting the Sioux Indians. She was a well-read woman in several directions, and hx apt questions she drew from the Captain some score of army stories in which he was not made the hero. Jessica listened with intense interest : and. interested at first for Jessica. Miss Amble became absorbed for herself. Mrs. Woodward, who had many things to say. found it tiresome ; and afterward laughingly complained that she could not get in a word edgeways. •' I never spent a more delightfnl afternoon." declared Miss Amble, when her visitors had departed. ■' Yes, he is very interesting," answered Jessica, dreamily. " And you are right, Aunt Ella :he is handsome. His eyes express so much." Suddenly Miss Amble came down from the cloud on which she basked. Never before had being called •' Aunt " emphasised her age to her. Jessica looked at her in wonder as her face reddened from shame for her momentary disloyalty to her niece. But, strive as she would, she could not feel overwhelmingly glad at Jessica's appreciation of the Captain's merits. She even thought that a certain reticence would have been becoming in so young a girl. The Angelus bell rang at that moment ; and when the prayer that has been the inspiration of so many great poets and painters was ended, Miss Amble turned to Jessica and said : "Jessica, I cannot be explicit, but lama wickedly rebellious woman. Say you forgive me." " Forgive you. Aunt Ella ! For what .'" exclaimed Jessica. For answer Miss Amble hurried away ; and when she again appeared she had exchanged her pretty tea-gown for a drab silk most satisfactorily unbecoming. " A well-read and well-informed woman, and a woman with a very fine figure," declared Captain Mason to his sister on their way home.

" Well, Jason," replied Mrs. Woodward, " whatever else can be said of Miss W intergreen, I do not think — now don't say I am captious — I do not think her figure is good." " Miss Wintergreen ?" meditated the Captain. " Oh, I spoke of the elder of the two ladies ! " he said, and brushed out the ends of his iron-gray moustache. " Indeed ! " said his sister, and retired into the folds of her mourning veil. The intimacy between the mansion and the cottage grew stronger, and Miss Amble watched with a variety of emotions the daily meetings of Jessica and Jason. At times the hopes she would have of a lasting union of the two seemed about to be realised ; again there were moments when affairs seemed to retrograde. She made no attempt to hurry matters ; but she was not a vulgar matchmaker, but she did trust a good deal to propinquity. Between herself and the captain a barrier arose, erected by both ; though neither knew the other to be the builder. Miss Amble avoided the Captain ; and, though he did not avoid her, he showed himself frozen and abashed in her presence. One morning at Mass the appointed server failed to appear, and Captain Mason took his place in the sanctuary. Tears started to Miss Amble's eyes, and she felt herself wicked for her distractions, and strangely happy. She wanted him to be good, — he was so good ; and he was so humble and reverent ; and his little awkwardnesses in handling the wine and water cruets with his one hand touched her, and were gracefulness in her eyes, and perhaps too, she thought, in the eyes of God. She did not seek to avoid him this morning, but let Jessica go on, and walked with him to the gate ; and for the life of her she could not help saying : •' Oh, you edified me very much this morning ! " '• How so .'" he asked wonderingly. •' So few men appreciate the honour there is in serving Mass. I think only great men do,' she said. If Miss Amble blushed, the Captain's face grew redder than the scarlet verbenas nodding their little heads in the air and sunshine. " You are very kind," he stammered ; and Miss Amble, quite as confused as he, hurried on to overtake Jessica. As the winter approached, Mrs. Woodward began to go out. and Hillward to talk about the Captain's attention to Jessica. The reached Miss Amble's ears ; and she said she was glad, and cried interminable mra culpax because she could not be. She had created an ideal in her mind for Jessica, and the Captain surpassed it. Of course Jessica loved the man ; she was as sure of it as that he loved Jessica. But why did not Jessica confide in her, and why did he not speak to Jessica .' Assured in her mind that he would, she quietly made arrangements to leave the mansion when the marriage took place. She had always intended it for Jessica. She would go to a cottage she owned at Barnoget Lands. Not that she liked Barnoget Lands, but what difference would it make then ? So the winter came, and still nothing was settled ; and Miss Amble contimied to smile when people congratulated her on the immensely proper match Jessica was going to make. One cold morning in December the Captain gave the door-bell of the mansion a violent peal. " Miss Jessica is out," said the housemaid, who opened the door. '•I don't wish to see Miss Jessica." said Captain Jason Mason, bluntly. " I wish to see Miss Amble. Is she at home .'" The housemaid admitted that Miss Amble was at home ; and. having ushered the Captain into the drawing-room, want to inform her mistress. A coal lire burned in the grate, and the Captain took up a poker and stirred the coals into a bl.ize. An onlooker might have thought there was an air ot proprietorship in the way in which he did it. The truth Rhe had acquired the habit of one Vaving authority. This habit left him abruptly when, a moment after, Miss Amble entered the room, looking interestingly pale in a dark well-fitting merino frock. " Good morning. Captain ' " she said, and held out her hand to him. '• Bitterly cold weather," remarked the Captain, as they seated themselves in their respective chairs before the fire. •' The societies have seen that everyone in Hillward is provided for ; and it is very fine weather for the ice crop." said Miss Amble, practically. And then, feeling that she was asserting herself too much, she acknowledged that it was cold. "We turned the water off last night, for fear the pipes would freeze." she said. The Captain received this piece of information with a bow ; and then there was a prolonged silence, broken at last by Miss Amble. '• lam so sorry Jessica i- not at home. She has gone to the skating club." •' I am very glad she is not at horne — in fact. I saw her go out. I came to see you. Miss Amble." uttered the Captain, spasmodically. So he was going to spiak to her first. As the guardian of Jessica, she would listen, but it was hard. So she braced herself up to hearken to the realisation of her scheme, and said primly : " I am entirely at your service. Captain Mason." '" Oh — ! " ejaculated the Captain, and immediately collapsed. Miss Amble waited miserably for some minutes, and then said : "I am waiting. Captain Mason. I have a headache — the cold, I fchink. If you could finish your business — " The Captain was instantly on his feet. " Another time," he began ; when Miss Amble, almost sobbing, interrupted him. '• No. no ! Whatever it is. say it now. and let it be over and done with." " You are too kind. You must pardon me for intruding at an inopportune moment ; as inopportune for me as for you, 1 fear," stammered the Captain. '• I am forty-five — almost forty-six." he went on, and his voice trembled. "The prime of life," murmured Miss Amble, wholly and solely in the interest ot Jessica. '• Thank you ! " exclaimed the Captain, heartily ; and. taking courage, he went on • "1 feared you would think me too old ; and I have but one arm," he apologised. " And. moreover, lam not so well off as you arc."

Miss Amble gave him a startled look ; then she took off her eye-g-lasses, and unaffectedly wiped her eyes with her handkerchief. '• May I hope ? " he asked, hoarsely. '• For what 1 " whispered Miss Amble, and did not wipe away the tears that fell from her downcast eyes. •' That you will be my wife, Ella," said the Captain, courageously. •■ Me ! "' cried Miss Amble. The Captain now held her hands. " Will you ? " he insisted. " Why, I thought you came for Jessica ! " sobbed Miss Amble. " Jessica ! " roared the Captain. Then light broke in on him. " She wants this — she understands ; and will you, Ella ? " •' I am so old ! " she faltered. '• Do you ever look in the glass 1 " he cried, and turned her face to the mirror over the mantelpiece. The face she saw in the glass — flushed, happy, tearful, with a nimbus of dishevelled hair about it — was that of a woman of twenty-five or six. '' O Jason ! " she whispered, and hid her face on his shoulder. " How is your head, Ella ? " he asked a fsw minutes later. '■ It doesn't ache a bit," said Miss Amble.