XVIII
FLORA TELLS THE TRUTH!
You ask how the Valcour ladies, living outwardly so like the most of uswho are neither scamps nor saints, could live by moral standards sodifferent from those we have always thought essential to serenity ofbrow, sweetness of bloom or blitheness of companionship, and yet couldlive so prettily--remain so winsome and unscarred.
Well, neither of them had ever morally _fallen_ enough even to fret thebrow. It is the fall that disfigures. They had lived up to inheritedprinciples (such as they were), and one of the minor of these was, toadapt their contours to whatever they impinged upon.
We covet solidity of character, but Flora and Madame were essentiallyfluid. They never let themselves clash with any one, and their privaterufflings of each other had only a happy effect of aerating theirdepths, and left them as mirror-smooth and thoroughly one as the bosomof a garden lake after the ripples have died behind two jostling swans.To the Callenders society was a delightful and sufficient end. To theValcours it was a means to all kinds of ends, as truly as commerce orthe industries, and yet they were so fragrantly likable that to callthem accomplices seems outrageous--clogs the pen. Yes, they were actors,but you never saw that. They never stepped out of their parts, and theyhad this virtue, if it is one: that behind all their roles they werestaunchly for each other in every pinch. When Kincaid had been away afew days this second time, these two called at the Callender house.
To none was this house more interesting than to Flora. In her adroitmind she accused it of harboring ancient secrets in its architecture,shrewd hiding-places in its walls. Now as she stood in the panelleddrawing-rooms awaiting its inmates, she pointed out to her seatedcompanion that this was what her long-dead grandsire might have madetheir own home, behind Mobile, had he spent half on its walls what hehad spent in them on wine, cards, and--
"Ah!" chanted the old lady, with a fierce glint and a mock-persuasivesmile, "add the crowning word, the capsheaf. You have the stamina to doit."
"Women," said the girl of stamina beamingly, and went floating about,peering and tapping for hollow places. At one tap her eye, all toitself, danced; but on the instant Anna, uninformed of their presence,and entering with a vase of fresh roses, stood elated. Praise of theflowers hid all confusion, and Flora, with laughing caresses and a drollhardihood which Anna always enjoyed, declared she would gladly stealroses, garden, house and all. Anna withdrew, promising instant return.
"Flora dear!" queried the grandmother in French, "why did you tell herthe truth? For once you must have been disconcerted!"
The sparkling girl laughed: "Why, isn't that--with duemodifications--just what we're here for?"
Madame suddenly looked older, but quickly brightened again as Floraspoke on: "Don't you believe the truth is, now and then, the mosteffective lie? I've sometimes inferred you did."
The old lady rather enjoyed the gibe: "My dear, I can trust you never togive any one an overdose of it. Yet take care, you gave it a bit toopure just now. Don't ever risk it so on that fool Constance, she has theintuitive insight of a small child--the kind you lost so early."
The two exchanged a brief admiring glance. "Oh, I'm all right withConstance," was the reply. "I'm cousin to 'Steve'!"
There the girl's gayety waned. The pair were at this moment in desperateneed of money. Mandeville was one of the old coffee-planter'sdescendants. Had fate been less vile, thought Flora, this house mighthave been his, and so hers in the happy event of his demise. But now, insuch case, to Constance, as his widow, would be left even the leavings,the overseer's cottage; which was one more convenient reason fordetesting--not him, nor Constance--that would be to waste goodammunition; but--
"Still thinking of dear Anna?" asked the dame.
The maiden nodded: "Grandma"--a meditative pause--"I love Anna. Anna'sthe only being on earth I can perfectly trust."
"Ahem!" was the soft rejoinder, and the two smilingly held each other'sgaze for the larger part of a minute. Then one by one came in the ladiesof the house, and it was kiss and chirrup and kiss again.
"_Cousin_ Constance--ah, ha, ha!--_cousin_ Flora!"
The five talked of the wedding. Just to think! 'Twas barely a month ago,they said.
Yet how much had occurred, pursued Miranda, and how many things hopedand longed for had not occurred, and how time had dragged! At thosewords Flora saw Anna's glance steal over to Miranda. But Miranda did notobserve, and the five chatted on. How terrifying, at still noon of thelast Sabbath--everybody in church--had been that explosion of thepowder-mill across the river. The whole business blown to dust. Nothingbut the bare ground left. Happily no workmen there. No, not even awatchman, though the city was well known to be full of the enemy's"minions" (Flora's term). Amazing negligence, all agreed. Yet only of apiece--said Constance--etc.
And how sad to find there was a victim, after all, when poor, threadbareold Doctor Visionary, inventor of the machine-gun and a new kind ofpowder, began to be missed by his landlady, there being, in CaptainKincaid's absence, no one else to miss him. Yes, it was the Captain whohad got him a corner to work in at the powder-mill. So much the worsefor both. Now plans, models, formulae, and inventor were gone in thatone flash and roar that shook the whole city and stopped all talk ofCaptain Kincaid's promotion as an earthquake stops a clock.
"Well," cried Constance to Flora, who had grown silent, "the batterywill love him all the more!"
"And so will we all!" said Madame, also to Flora; and Flora, throwingoff a look of pain, explained to Anna, "He is so good to my brother!"
"Naturally," quizzed Miranda, with her merriest wrinkles. Florasparkled, made a pretty face at her and forced a change of theme; gaveAnna's roses new praise, and said she had been telling grandma of theswarms of them in the rear garden. So the old lady, whom she had told nosuch thing, let Constance and Miranda conduct her there. But Florasoftly detained Anna, and the moment they were alone seized both herhands. Whereat through all Anna's frame ran despair, crying, "He hasasked her! He has asked her!"