CHAPTER XXIII
GOOD-BYE TO HALIFAX
Lucian's well-meant advice shared the fate of most advice volunteered bybrothers. Martine, unconscious of offence, had no intention ofapologizing to Priscilla for things she had not done. Instead, she beganto feel annoyed with the latter for her unfairness; for certainly,Priscilla, in giving Lucian the impression that he had received, musthave been unfair.
"But if she has been unfair," said Martine, "she can just wait for mynews. It's too bad, for when I first read papa's letter it seemed as ifI could hardly wait to go downstairs to tell the others."
Now Martine, though impulsive, was not naturally vindictive, and itwould have been almost impossible for her to keep her secret from Amyand Priscilla had she not, immediately after reading her letter,confided its contents to Mrs. Redmond. Somebody knew; and in the courseof two or three hours that they all passed together on Saturday evening,Martine more than once changed her seat to have a whispered word or twowith Amy's mother.
On Sunday they all set out for the Garrison Church. "We make almost asimposing an array as the troops themselves," said Amy.
"Perhaps we might if we were stretched out in single file. Since theboys joined us we are really a regiment; but Halifax people are so usedto seeing strangers that I am afraid that they won't take any specialnotice of us," responded Martine.
"I should hope they wouldn't. How well we should have to behave if wefelt that all eyes were upon us," replied Amy.
After service they pushed their way through the crowd waiting outsidethe churchyard to see the troops form in line.
"It doesn't seem quite the thing on Sunday, does it?" murmured Priscillato Amy; whereat Martine, laughing loudly, cried:
"But surely it is better for the soldiers to turn out to church in abody than to sit in their barracks moping."
"Soldiers moping!" and Fritz laughed.
"Perhaps it isn't the soldiers, but the people crowding to stare atthem, who take away the Sunday feeling," continued Priscilla.
"That's just what we are doing ourselves," retorted Martine, "and Idon't feel very wicked."
"Come, come, children, don't quarrel," cried Lucian. "You are bothprobably right, and both probably wrong."
Neither girl replied, for the troops in their brilliant uniforms werebeginning their homeward march to the inspiring music of a fine band.
As they walked homeward Martine, slipping her arm through Amy's, drewher one side.
"Tell me," she said, "and please don't let the others hear or they willlaugh--is Halifax the capital of Canada?"
"No, my dear, it--"
"There, I thought it couldn't be; I knew it must be Montreal. But Iasked Priscilla why that old gray building was called Government House,and she said because Halifax was the capital. I never expect Priscillato make a mistake;" and there was a slight touch of sarcasm in Martine'stone.
"She was not wholly wrong," rejoined Amy, "for Halifax is the capital ofNova Scotia. Canada itself is composed of several provinces, of whichNova Scotia is one. The provinces are united under a general governmentwith Ottawa the capital--not Montreal--as you suggested. All theprovinces send representatives to the Parliament that assembles everyyear at Ottawa."
"Oh, I see--like our States and Washington."
"Yes, the general plan of government is much the same, and each provincehas its own Parliament. Priscilla and I were in the Parliament buildinghere the other day. It is really a State House."
"I've noticed the Parliament building, but what is the GovernmentHouse?"
"Oh, that is the residence of the Governor of Nova Scotia. His realtitle is Lieutenant-Governor, because all Canada has a Governor-General,who lives at Ottawa."
Both girls had been so interested in this little conversation thatunconsciously they had lagged, and the others were now far ahead ofthem.
"Martine," said Amy, "as we have a few minutes alone now, do let meinfluence you to make up with Priscilla--not that any littlemisunderstanding is wholly your fault, but it is so much harder forPriscilla to give in than it is for you."
"But honestly, I haven't said or done a thing to offend her,--at least,not a thing that I know of, though of course for a day or two I haveseen that she was trying to be particularly stiff with me."
"Well, then I wouldn't notice her stiffness. Just act as if you were thebest friends in the world, and things will soon straighten themselvesout."
"That certainly would be the most agreeable way, and to please you, MissAmy Redmond, I will follow your advice. Besides, I have something veryexciting to tell you and Priscilla, and I really cannot wait longer thanthis afternoon."
"Hurry, young ladies, hurry, hurry!"
It was Lucian calling to them. He had turned to meet them.
"What kept you so long, Martine? What have you been doing?"
"Nothing, only talking."
"Oh, that accounts for it. When once Martine begins to talk in earnest,she takes no heed of time."
Martine replied lightly to her brother's badinage, and the three reachedthe house in great spirits. With Amy's caution before her Martineavoided collision with Priscilla during the dinner hour. After dinner,while they were all sitting together in the little arbor,--Mrs. Redmondas well as the girls,--Martine drew a letter from her pocket.
"Listen," she cried; "I have something to read you--no, I can tell itbetter in my own words, although it is nearly all in papa's letter. Solisten, Amy; it's for you,--and it's for you, Priscilla, as well as forme."
"And for me, too?" asked Lucian, trying to throw great expression intohis voice.
"No, no, of course not. Mrs. Redmond knows, and she thinks it fine, solisten. In the first place, papa feels much obliged to every one forkeeping me contented. You know I tried to make a fuss when they wouldn'ttake me to Europe, and he says that it's a splendid thing for me to getso interested in history. This is what he says:--
"'When you get back to Chicago you'll find that there's a lot of historythere that is worth studying--not entirely about the great fire, andpart of the history of Illinois is French.' I never knew that before,"interpolated Martine. Then she continued to read, "'Your mother and Ithink that you owe much to the young ladies who are with you, as well asto Mrs. Redmond, to whom I am also writing this mail. We are muchgratified by what you write about the various young people in whom youare interested. Although I cannot promise, without knowing more abouther, to launch your special protegee, Yvonne, on a prima donna's career,it seems right that you should be helped to do something for her, so Iam enclosing a check for three hundred dollars.'"
Amy started; Priscilla gazed in astonishment.
"'This,'" Martine continued to read, "'is to be divided into threeparts. Your third is for Yvonne; a second third is for Miss Amy to useas she sees fit for the little French boy--I forget his name; and thoughyou haven't said so, I am sure that Miss Priscilla hasn't been behindher friends in adopting somebody. Perhaps I ought to have sent more, butit will do for a beginning, and I shall be glad to hear that the moneydoes some good.'"
"There's more about mamma's getting better and coming home soon, that Ineedn't read. But isn't it splendid? You can't think how hard it was forme to keep it to myself a whole day."
Upon this there was a small Babel for a second or two, until, after amoment of silence, Priscilla, in words that showed some slighthesitation, spoke,--
"I must thank you, Martine, as much as your father. You must have madehim think very pleasantly of us all. But I wonder if I ought to keep themoney?"
"No, my dear Puritan Prissie, you mustn't keep it. It's for you to giveaway as quickly as you can to your protegee, and we all know who thatis."
"Yes," added Mrs. Redmond; "you need have no hesitation in using it forEunice. Mr. Stratford has written me fully on the subject. He says thatthis summer has cost him so much less than Martine's vacations usuallycost, that his gift is only a part of what he has saved."
"He hasn't heard yet about the Windsor fire," murmured Mart
ine, "or hemight feel differently, though the silver and the jewelry will be aChristmas matter," she concluded hastily. "Shall I send all the money atonce to Yvonne, Mrs. Redmond?"
"Oh, no, my dear; we must talk things over and make careful plans forYvonne and Pierre. A little money will go a good way with both of them."
"Oh, of course, Mrs. Redmond, whatever you say will be the thing. Thatisn't slang is it, Miss Amy Redmond? There's a pained expression at thecorners of your mouth; but never mind, you can't deny that I've improvedthis summer--to beat the band;" and with this shot Martine, dartingforward, laid her hand on Amy's arm.
"As an impartial judge I can say that you all have improved thissummer,--at least, speaking for the three girls," said Mrs. Redmond."Although I haven't commented on it, it has pleased me greatly toobserve the rounding off of several sharp corners."
"'Speaking for the three girls,'" quoted Fritz,--"but where do we twocome in? Didn't we banish ourselves when we were bid, and keep out ofsight, until we heard that you had been almost destroyed by fire? Ourimprovement has been quite remarkable, though I don't see any one payingpremiums to us; and if we had proteges whom we wished to protect we'dhave to go deep into our own pockets for the wherewithal."
"Yes," added Lucian, "I was thinking of that myself. It's a good thingthat we haven't found any one to be interested in."
"Oh, but you have, Lucian; at least, I have found some one for you.Don't you remember our new cousins, the Airtons? How stupid! I haven'ttold any one else." And hereupon, without further delay, Martine plungedinto an account of the discovery that she thought that she hadmade--that Eunice Airton and her brother were cousins in the third orfourth degree to her and Lucian.
"I feel as if we ought to wait until we can make sure, but Lucian saysthat he can put his hand on the papers when he returns to Cambridge--andat any rate mamma will know. I'm awfully sorry, Prissie dear, that theyare not your cousins too; but perhaps we can find a link somewhere backamong the Mayflowers--just large enough to join you and Eunice."
Priscilla, not knowing what to reply to Martine's fun, wisely chose thegolden mean of silence. If Martine had not said "Prissie" she might havethought her wholly in earnest.
"But oh, dear," reflected Priscilla, "I do wish that Eunice had turnedout to be my cousin instead of Martine's. It doesn't seem fair that sheshould have everything." This thought, however, had hardly shapeditself, when Priscilla put it far from her. Martine had certainly beengenerous, and Priscilla, if narrow in some ways, meant never to beunjust.
Martine, however, had other things than Priscilla's attitude on hermind.
"So you see, Lucian," she concluded, "there is some one for you tohelp,--not that Balfour Airton wishes any one to do anything forhim,--but if he's a cousin, you'd naturally want to help him save histime for study in the summer holidays."
"I study so diligently myself in the summer," commented Lucian, "thatI'd be a fine one to lay down the law to my new cousin! No, poor fellow,if I have anything to do with him, I'll certainly not advise him to layhimself out on summer study."
"Oh, Lucian! If I didn't know that you'd take an interest in Balfour,I'd try to persuade you; but just think how Mrs. Blair will feel!"
"Mrs. Blair! What in the world has she to do with--anything?" concludedAmy, vaguely.
"Why, if Eunice and Balfour are our cousins, then they are her cousins,and as she doesn't like people who work, it will be great fun to tellher about Balfour, for probably he'll get through college much betterthan Philip did--"
"My dear Martine, did Mrs. Blair ever harm you?"
"No, except to say that what a pity it is that I am not at all likeEdith."
"There! Eunice Airton reminds me of Edith; that's the resemblance thatpuzzled me;" and Amy seemed pleased with her discovery.
"Oh, if they're at all alike, I won't object to this Eunice as a cousin,for Edith isn't half bad, and--"
Lucian's speech was cut short by the appearance on the scene of thelittle buttons of the hotel, who happened to know Lucian rather betterthan the rest of the party.
"If you please, sir," he said, "here's a telegram for one of the ladies,and I don't know which is which, though her name--it seems to be Mrs.Redmond," and he handed an envelope to Lucian.
In an instant Mrs. Redmond had read the despatch, while Amy askedanxiously, "Is it anything serious, mamma?"
"No, no, my child, far from it. I told you there was a probability thatcertain business would call me home a little earlier than we hadplanned. Well, the summons has come, and I ought to start to-morrow."
"Oh, I am so glad!" exclaimed Priscilla, with an expression of realdelight.
"Why, I thought that you were enjoying yourself."
"Yes, Mrs. Redmond, so I am, but I shall be so happy to see mamma again,and the children. I had a letter from the twins yesterday, and they missme dreadfully."
"Shall we go home through Clare? Shall we have a chance to see Yvonne?"
"And Pierre?" added Amy.
"And Eunice? Of course we could stay over one train at Wolfville,"pleaded Priscilla.
"My dear children," remonstrated Mrs. Redmond, "I fear that you did notunderstand me. I must be in Boston as quickly as possible, and thatmeans that we must take the direct boat from Halifax."
"All of us? Then Lucian and I will return to New England with hardly aglimpse of the real Acadia."
"I have no control over your movements. You and Lucian must do whateverseems best for yourselves."
"Whatever you advise is best," interposed Lucian, gallantly, "but I ampretty sure that Fritz will agree with me that it would be muchpleasanter for us if you would permit us to return with you."
"Not only pleasanter, but much safer for some of the members of yourparty;" and Fritz assumed an air of importance.
"Yes," added Lucian, "there's my sister. Suppose she should accidentallyfall overboard, or--"
"Or suppose Amy should lose her keys," interrupted Fritz, "or--"
"There, there, if the girls never suffer greater mishaps than those thathave come to them this summer, they will do very well. We call this apretty successful trip."
"And really," added Martine, "nothing that has happened was anybody'sfault. Those things were simply adventures, and besides, I might easilyhave had scarlet fever; so congratulate me on my escape. Even a tripthrough Acadia would have been just a little dull without some mishaps."
When Mrs. Redmond had left the young people to themselves, theyseparated into two groups, Martine and Priscilla and Lucian in one, andAmy and Fritz in another.
"Now, Priscilla," cried Martine, "since we are friends again, perhapsyou will not object to telling me why you were annoyed with meyesterday. Even Lucian noticed it."
Priscilla, coloring at this abrupt question, glanced shyly at Lucian.
"Oh, you needn't mind Lucian," said Martine, noting the direction of herglance. "He doesn't count."
Thus Priscilla, feeling less afraid of Lucian's criticism than of hissister's reckless tongue, admitted that her feelings had been hurt bythe glimpse that she had had of Martine with her finger on her lips.
"I always have hated secrets," she admitted, "especially when it seemsas if some one is trying to keep something from me. I thought that ifyou and Amy didn't wish me to know anything,--I mean, if there wasanything that you didn't wish me to know,--why I wouldn't intrude; but Irealize now how foolish I was, especially as the secret was somethingpleasant for me."
"After all, I didn't tell it to Amy then, so you might as well havestayed with us."
"Oh, no, she mightn't, for then Miss Denman and I wouldn't have had thatvisit to the Green Market. You, by the way, will miss it, because youwon't be here next Market Day," interposed Lucian.
"It certainly was great fun, especially Mr. Malachai Robertson," addedPriscilla, with a smile, "and I have learned one thing--not to indulgemyself in any little jealous feelings, particularly on this trip."
"On this trip;" and Martine shook her finger at her friend. "To thinktha
t Puritan Prissie should break forth into slang!" But the only effectof her ridicule was to make Priscilla smile too, and open her heart alittle wider.
"I haven't quite finished my confession," she continued. "You knowyesterday morning, when your brother and I came home from the GreenMarket, I overheard you talking to Amy about some one who was'narrow-minded and conventional,' and you didn't wonder she dislikedher, and I thought it was me," concluded poor Priscilla, with anapparent disregard of grammar.
"Of course we didn't mean you," responded Martine, "although at thismoment I don't quite--oh, yes, I do remember. It was Miss Belloc, one ofAmy's classmates. Amy was telling me of some priggish things that MissBelloc had said, and I did use those very words yesterday. But if youhad listened longer you would have heard Amy say, 'not that I dislikedMiss Belloc, but her narrow views.' Then you would have known that wedidn't mean you."
"Oh, I know that you didn't, and I realize now that I have been veryunfair."
"Oh, no, only a little unfair," rejoined Martine, "but 'least said,soonest mended,' and the most important thing is that now we are bothgoing to be perfectly fair after this."
Meanwhile Amy and Fritz were discussing various practical matters.
"Your mother and I have been talking over this letter of Mr.Stratford's, and we both agree that you probably will not disagree withus--in other words, we think it would be wiser for you girls not to sendmoney to your protege Pierre, or to Yvonne, or Eunice, until after wehave reached Boston." Fritz had assumed a manner of unwonted dignity,and with difficulty Amy refrained from laughing at him.
"Delay will give Martine time to find out if it is best to put part ofthe money in the hands of some one to spend for Yvonne in Clare, orwhether it would be better to have her come to Boston to have her eyestreated. Then, after you have talked with one or two teachers, you canjudge whether Pierre is too young to have a course of manual training.You don't know what you want yourself yet."
"Really, Fritz!"
"Yes, really, Miss Amy Redmond, I think that the poor little beggarought to have some fun with his hundred dollars, instead of being grounddown to more education. Then, as to Eunice Airton and her brother, why,if they really are cousins of Martine's, Priscilla Denman needn't havethem on her mind any longer. Mr. Stratford will come down with somethinghandsome, so they might have this hundred as an instalment to get somefun with at once."
"You don't know Balfour Airton. I shouldn't be surprised if he shouldinsist on his sister's returning Martine's present."
"Then the sooner Martine proves her cousinship the better. The money canwait until that is accomplished. Now a word especially for you, Miss AmyRedmond. Please admit that Lucian and I are very magnanimous in makingso few reflections upon our banishment. Also admit, please, that youwould have had a much better time if we had been with you."
"We couldn't have had a better time," averred Amy, stoutly. "We'veenjoyed every minute of it, and I shall return to college a new person.Why, I've gained ten pounds in these few weeks."
"Ah, Amy," sighed Fritz, "you are as practical and unsentimental as everyou were at Rockley. Yet you love old graveyards, and can write poetry.Here I would have saved you from fire and flood, could have kept yourkeys in my care, and still you say that by yourselves you have had abetter time than if we had been with you!"
"Oh, no, I didn't say that, only that we have had so pleasant a timethat it couldn't have been better."
Here Amy stopped. She saw that she had involved herself in acontradiction; so with Fritz's laughing voice ringing in her ears shehastened indoors to talk over with Mrs. Redmond the various arrangementsfor their departure from Acadia.
THE END