The Storyteller

New Zealand Tablet, 9 March 1911, Page 411

The Storyteller

THE ROMANCE OF A POOR LAWYER i _______ 'Well, for my part, I think it's a shame Margaret exclaimed with great warmth, as Miss Lawson poured her a second cup of tea and she helped herself to another wafer. 'No one expects you to marry him, but you might at least be civil to a man who has been devoted to you for several years. You would be as sweet as sugar if he were rich and ' 'I would not!' Elizabeth contradicted hotly. 'Just because you happen to Tike a countrified, stupid, stingy stick of a man is no reason why I should fall at his feet.' ' Now, girls, don't quarrel,' admonished Miss Lawson quietly. 'You will take more tea, Elizabeth? No? You should not expect, Margaret, that you could force Elizabeth to find Mr. Shae congenial because you admire him. She may be right in saying that he's a little countrified tainly he hasn't the entire lack of enthusiasm for everything worth while that seems to be an epidemic among the society men of to-day. But he is not stupid. I overheard Judge Dennison tell my brother that he is "a brainy fellow and the most promising young lawyer in the State." ' Margaret laughed triumphantly, but Elizabeth was not to be vanquished so easily. 'At any rate, no one can deny that he is stingy; positively miserly!' she cried, as she slipped into her jacket and hurriedly drew on her gloves. ' If he is such a successful lawyer, he must make money—and did you ever see a seedier individual ? And he doesn't belong to a single club—Jack Dean told me so. About once a year he takes me to the theatre, and I feel all the time that he is convinced he is being wildly extravagant. . I don't care what you say, Margaret, I don't admire Mr. Shae. I don't like him, and I never shall.' _ Suddenly dropping her defiant air, she turned to Miss Lawson, in her usual winsome way,, and kissed her affectionately saying: 'I am sorry to hurry away, Miss Lawson. I'd like to stay indefinitely, but, you know, I have ahead of me an hour's ride on the interurban car. It gets dark so inconveniently, early at this season of the year. Good-bye, Margaret; I'll try to forgive you if you never mention that man again.' When Elizabeth Morrison boarded her car she looked eagerly for a familiar face, but the only passengers were an old man and young girl whom she had never seen before. Disappointed, she took possession of one of the rear seats/ and gazed absently at a succession of snow-covered fields' whose monotony was relieved occasionally by a clump of naked trees that shivered miserably in the December wind • m 1 c ™ Wlsh nat Margaret were not so much interested in Mr. Shae and me,' she thought rather peevishly. ' She makes herself a bore. Of course, he is a fine fellow I am not so blind that I can't see that. Why he should care for a butterfly like me is a mystery. Even father thinks that I——1 —— and her ace grew sad and wistful. Suddenly the car stopped far from any station The conductor hurried forward, and he and' the motorman talked earnestly tor a moment or two and exchanged a few remarks with a man who ran down the track towards them. Wreck ahead!' the conductor announced laconically to the curious passengers. 'We'll be tied up here for at least three hours — four or five.' . Elizabeth was dismayed. The early twilight was be- - ginning to fall There was no house within sight where she might have been able to telephone for a taxicab « How tar are we from town she asked anxiously Four miles the conductor called back, as he and the disaster" ° ar and hurried to the scene of the Elizabeth had never walked half that distance. The Jw+l ° f SU i? h ? tn I ng seemed Preposterous. She saw that the man ahead of her was consulting with his vourS companion and wondered what they expected to do g Oh, I think so, father,' she overheard the girl agree dieerfully. I'll enjoy the walk, unless it tiref yoXo pleastl father laughed as if four miles would be onlv a *t en '* l tf t 2_ * f f w words said so Joftly that Elizabeth not catch their drift, he stepped to hS side. 'Pardon me, madame,' he began, lifting his hat courteously-him manner was that of a gentleman-'the car will soon be cold and it will be as dark as night lonebefore walk to the city if you will accompany us. det3ned°t r o waiK to tne city if you will accompany us. If vou feel that it would be too much for you, of course we Sail IS glacUo wait with you. We wA leave yoTstrTndedi here Elizabeth was looking up into a face younger than the mans grey head and bent shoulders had led her to think him-a face grave kindly, careworn-an ideal face for a poet or musician, but without a trace of the sterner stuff that makes business men, financiers. After a mom S'< consideration the anxious look faded from Ll a ° J she smiled gratefully. < How kind vou S sk_ '£¥'- "_* 'I never tried to walk fow i bH S„ eXCl f med; daughter can, why can't I?' ' but lf yoU and your 'And you never walked four mili Sfiffl al . 'And you never walked four migs Vthe girl"afd'al most incredulously, f I think nothing of five or S. Soli

see, I love to be out of doors, and as we have no horse I have to walk.’ Elizabeth looked enviously at her round rosy cheeks and lithe, erect form. ‘ I know I ought to walk more. Papa tells me occasionally that I am pale and should take more exercise; but it is so much easier to ride, and I can always have the machine when I want it.’ The old man smiled indulgently. ‘ Mary hasn’t had that temptation, or perhaps she would not walk more than you do. A lawyer in a small —and an unsuccessful one at thatfinds it hard to provide plenty of bread and butter.’ There was a touch of sadness in his tone and words, and with a woman's quick intuition, Elizabeth understood that he felt himself a failure, and that, naturally enough, the knowledge was a trial, a humiliation to this sensitive and affectionate father. A man has a better chance in a great city,’ he continued, half to himself. ‘ Now, my ——’ (no one could have been unconscious of the love in his thin, colorless voice as he lingered over the word) ‘ my son has done well in St. Louiswonderfully well. He has been there only five years, but he has lifted the mortgage off our little home. I tried for a lifetime and could not do it. And besides, each month he sends us what he calls “ our share” of his earnings. Mary and I are getting rich, aren’t we, little girl ?’ Poor Many’s face was crimson. It hurt her to hear her father speak so openly of their privacy and their poverty to a stranger, and especially to one whose whole appearance bespoke wealth. The father, in his pride in his son, had no such thought. He could not lose an opportunity of praising him. ‘ You can’t imagine how Mary and I hated to see John leave home. He was always so bright, so full of fun, and so good to us. The first month he was away we thought the evenings would never pass. _ You see, we were accustomed to doing without him during the day,’ he explained; and Elizabeth, somewhat to her own astonishment, was deeply interested in the glimpse she was getting of a sphere of life most remote from the extreme fashionable one which was the only world she knew.

‘ We three used to sit before the parlor fire every night, and John would tell the funniest stories you ever heard. I often laughed until I begged him to stop.’ The man smiled happily at the mere recollection of those happy evenings. ‘He loved to use outrageous slang,’ he rattled on. ‘I never could understand it. ’ He and Mary thought it a great joke when I could not make out what he was talking about. And sometimes Mary would pop corn and he would eat it as fast as she had it ready. Oh, we had such good times when John was at home! ‘And then, when it grew late —about nine or half-past we always said the beads together. John didn’t like to give them out, but he was willing enough to answer if I did. We’re Catholics/ he added, by way of explanation. ‘So am I,’ Elizabeth said, earnestly, and then she sighed. She could not remember her pretty young mother, whose portrait hung in the place of honor at home. * Her father had never had time for her. Often he was in the East for weeks together, and even when he was at home they never spent a whole evening alone. The gentle old man was giving her a glimpse of something that had no counterpart in her life, something that she had longed for without giving it a name, something sweeter than all other earthly blessings, because it holds more than a drop of heavenly peace —home life. For some minutes they walked on in silence, until at last Elizabeth said, wistfully, ‘ It must be nice to have a brother.’ She had been on the point of saying a father,’ but remembered in time. ‘My mother is dead, and so is yours, is she not?’ she asked, gently, turning to Mary. ‘ Oh, yes. She died when I was a tiny girl, only three years old but John took such good care of me that I did not miss what I had hardly known. Then, when he finished his studies in Judge Dennison’s office, he made father rest. Father s not strong, and—you never did like to practice law, did you?’ she added, addressing him. ‘No, no. It was uphill work and all for so little. Perhaps if I had gone to St. Louis I would have done better, but I lacked courage for the venture.’ Again there was silence. Each was occupied with his own thoughts and for the moment forgot his companions ‘ Oh, father, , we , nearly there! Don’t you see the lights? .Oh, wont John be glad to see us, and won’t he be surprised?’ she cried, almost dancing in her glee The man’s weary face brightened, and, forgetting his fatigue, he quickened his steps until Elizabeth found it hard to keep pace with him. ‘Yes, it will be fine'’ he exclaimed, boyishly; turning to Elizabeth, he added in explanation. ‘John has often begged us to visit him and we decided to surprise him to-day. He’ll be so glad to see us and so much excited that he’ll act like the foolish boy he is for hours, “as a vent for his feelings,” as he would say. We shall not be able to get a sensible word irom him this evening, Mary,’ ‘I don’t care,’ she answered, with a little skin of del, sbt. ‘Oh, father those lights seem just as far away as they did ten minutes ago I . Elizabeth had grown too tired to talk, the others were too much excited, and during the last half-mile of their long walk few words were spoken. Mr, Morrison’s auto-

mobile was at the station, where it had stood for two hours waiting for Elizabeth, and she insisted on taking her new friends to their destination before she parted from them, with many expressions of gratitude. * A week passed, during which Elizabeth thought many times of the man, old before his time, whose narrow shoulders had bent wearily beneath the burden of work for which he was unfitted, whose head had whitened in the struggle inevitable when a highly strung nature is thrown into the strife made necessary by the fierce competition that is an integral part of modern business conditions. She recalled his meek face and courteous manner; his love for his daughter and his over-weaning pride in his only son. Enviously, she thought of the bright, happy girl whose society her father and brother preferred to any other. . v They were in her mind one evening as she stood before the great log fire in her father's library, dreamily watching the fitful blaze and the merry dance of countless truant sparks. f Mr. Shae,' the maid announced. Elizabeth started, slightly. ' Bring him in here,' she said. Five minutes later they were chatting, cosily. Elizabeth had once admitted to Miss Lawson that she liked Mr. Shae when she was with him, but that as soon as he went away she resolved anew never to admit that he had a single redeeming trait. ' I'm tired of hearing his praises sung,' was her wise reason for this. ' Oh, tell me all about the Goodridge ball,' Elizabeth demanded eagerly. ' I had a cold and couldn't go.' ' Neither could I. I intended to, hut something unforeseen kept me at home at the last moment. I was sorry, because I thought you would be there.' After a second of hesitation, he added, gayly: 'My father and sister gave me a great surprise. To my astonishment, they appeared about 7 o'clock one evening, to stay with me for a couple of days. I didn't let them go until the first of the week, and, of course, spent every spare moment with them—so the Goodridges had to suffer,' he laughed. And you were glad to see them Elizabeth asked, feeling that she was expected to say something. A light had broken in upon her, and it made her uncomfortable. 'Glad?' and his face fairly beamed. 'Glad doesn't begin to express it! It was the finest thing that ever happened. I had not had a glimpse of them for three months!' Elizabeth said nothing, and, after a pause, he continued : ' They had a trying experience on the way, but they laughed about it, and insisted that, as Mary said,, it was ' great fun.' A wreck blocked the track and they had to walk to town from somewhere near the junction. A young girl who was the only other passenger in their car walked with them. Mary fell in love with her, and even my father, who is so unobserving that he seldom notices anything more about a stranger than that she is a human being, said more than once that she is a " pretty child, with big, wistful eyes that look as if she had never had half enough affection." ' Elizabeth's face was crimson. Persistently she watched the fire, thankful that John Shae was, like his father, unobserving. ' Mary said that she had a pretty Southern accent and that reminded me of you.' He glanced towards Elizabeth, who was still intensely interested in the glowing logs. For an instant he studied her averted face, red to the roots of her dark hair, and an inspiration came to him. 'Why, it was you—was it not?' ' Whether it was I or some one else, I can assure you of two things: you have one of the kindest fathers in the world, and the sweetest little sisters; and ' she felt a sudden desire to make reparation for the almost rude indifference she had often shown him and for the silly way she had railed against him to her friends— and I believe you are the kind of a brother I'd like to have ' i John 1 Shae smiled happily. He saw a ray of hope where all had been darkness. There was a long, oppressive silence before he said, shyly: 'Miss Morrison, don't you think you could—that as lam not your-brother I might something else?' & For the fraction of a second Elizabeth hesitated, then ooked up at him frankly without a trace of coqUetrv in her face or manner. 'I like you very much. lam not sure that I do not ' k * 9i y % love CO" 1 *! have caught the words 'love you,' but John. Shae heard them and was Extension.