CHAPTER XXVI
SUSAN HAS A PROPOSAL OF MARRIAGE
An aeroplane was flying over Glen St. Mary, like a great bird poisedagainst the western sky--a sky so clear and of such a pale, silveryyellow, that it gave an impression of a vast, wind-freshened space offreedom. The little group on the Ingleside lawn looked up at it withfascinated eyes, although it was by no means an unusual thing to see anoccasional hovering plane that summer. Susan was always intenselyexcited. Who knew but that it might be Shirley away up there in theclouds, flying over to the Island from Kingsport? But Shirley had goneoverseas now, so Susan was not so keenly interested in this particularaeroplane and its pilot. Nevertheless, she looked at it with awe.
"I wonder, Mrs. Dr. dear," she said solemnly, "what the old folks downthere in the graveyard would think if they could rise out of theirgraves for one moment and behold that sight. I am sure my father woulddisapprove of it, for he was a man who did not believe in new-fangledideas of any sort. He always cut his grain with a reaping hook to theday of his death. A mower he would not have. What was good enough forhis father was good enough for him, he used to say. I hope it is notunfilial to say that I think he was wrong in that point of view, but Iam not sure I go so far as to approve of aeroplanes, though they may bea military necessity. If the Almighty had meant us to fly he would haveprovided us with wings. Since He did not it is plain He meant us tostick to the solid earth. At any rate, you will never see me, Mrs. Dr.dear, cavorting through the sky in an aeroplane."
"But you won't refuse to cavort a bit in father's new automobile whenit comes, will you, Susan?" teased Rilla.
"I do not expect to trust my old bones in automobiles, either,"retorted Susan. "But I do not look upon them as some narrow-mindedpeople do. Whiskers-on-the-moon says the Government should be turnedout of office for permitting them to run on the Island at all. He foamsat the mouth, they tell me, when he sees one. The other day he saw onecoming along that narrow side-road by his wheatfield, and Whiskersbounded over the fence and stood right in the middle of the road, withhis pitchfork. The man in the machine was an agent of some kind, andWhiskers hates agents as much as he hates automobiles. He made the carcome to a halt, because there was not room to pass him on either side,and the agent could not actually run over him. Then he raised hispitchfork and shouted, 'Get out of this with your devil-machine or Iwill run this pitchfork clean through you.' And Mrs. Dr. dear, if youwill believe me, that poor agent had to back his car clean out to theLowbridge road, nearly a mile, Whiskers following him every step,shaking his pitchfork and bellowing insults. Now, Mrs. Dr. dear, I callsuch conduct unreasonable; but all the same," added Susan, with a sigh,"what with aeroplanes and automobiles and all the rest of it, thisIsland is not what it used to be."
The aeroplane soared and dipped and circled, and soared again, until itbecame a mere speck far over the sunset hills.
"'With the majesty of pinion Which the Theban eagles bear Sailing withsupreme dominion Through the azure fields of air.'"
quoted Anne Blythe dreamily.
"I wonder," said Miss Oliver, "if humanity will be any happier becauseof aeroplanes. It seems to me that the sum of human happiness remainsmuch the same from age to age, no matter how it may vary indistribution, and that all the 'many inventions' neither lessen norincrease it."
"After all, the 'kingdom of heaven is within you,'" said Mr. Meredith,gazing after the vanishing speck which symbolized man's latest victoryin a world-old struggle. "It does not depend on material achievementsand triumphs."
"Nevertheless, an aeroplane is a fascinating thing," said the doctor."It has always been one of humanity's favourite dreams--the dream offlying. Dream after dream comes true--or rather is made true bypersevering effort. I should like to have a flight in an aeroplanemyself."
"Shirley wrote me that he was dreadfully disappointed in his firstflight," said Rilla. "He had expected to experience the sensation ofsoaring up from the earth like a bird--and instead he just had thefeeling that he wasn't moving at all, but that the earth was droppingaway under him. And the first time he went up alone he suddenly feltterribly homesick. He had never felt like that before; but all at once,he said, he felt as if he were adrift in space--and he had a wilddesire to get back home to the old planet and the companionship offellow creatures. He soon got over that feeling, but he says his firstflight alone was a nightmare to him because of that dreadful sensationof ghastly loneliness."
The aeroplane disappeared. The doctor threw back his head with a sigh.
"When I have watched one of those bird-men out of sight I come back toearth with an odd feeling of being merely a crawling insect. Anne," hesaid, turning to his wife, "do you remember the first time I took youfor a buggy ride in Avonlea--that night we went to the Carmody concert,the first fall you taught in Avonlea? I had out little black mare withthe white star on her forehead, and a shining brand-new buggy--and Iwas the proudest fellow in the world, barring none. I suppose ourgrandson will be taking his sweetheart out quite casually for anevening 'fly' in his aeroplane."
"An aeroplane won't be as nice as little Silverspot was," said Anne. "Amachine is simply a machine--but Silverspot, why she was a personality,Gilbert. A drive behind her had something in it that not even a flightamong sunset clouds could have. No, I don't envy my grandson'ssweetheart, after all. Mr. Meredith is right. 'The kingdom ofHeaven'--and of love--and of happiness--doesn't depend on externals."
"Besides," said the doctor gravely, "our said grandson will have togive most of his attention to the aeroplane--he won't be able to letthe reins lie on its back while he gazes into his lady's eyes. And Ihave an awful suspicion that you can't run an aeroplane with one arm.No"--the doctor shook his head--"I believe I'd still prefer Silverspotafter all."
The Russian line broke again that summer and Susan said bitterly thatshe had expected it ever since Kerensky had gone and got married.
"Far be it from me to decry the holy state of matrimony, Mrs. Dr. dear,but I felt that when a man was running a revolution he had his handsfull and should have postponed marriage until a more fitting season.The Russians are done for this time and there would be no sense inshutting our eyes to the fact. But have you seen Woodrow Wilson's replyto the Pope's peace proposals? It is magnificent. I really could nothave expressed the rights of the matter better myself. I feel that Ican forgive Wilson everything for it. He knows the meaning of words andthat you may tie to. Speaking of meanings, have you heard the lateststory about Whiskers-on-the-moon, Mrs. Dr. dear? It seems he was overat the Lowbridge Road school the other day and took a notion to examinethe fourth class in spelling. They have the summer term there yet, youknow, with the spring and fall vacations, being rather backward peopleon that road. My niece, Ella Baker, goes to that school and she it waswho told me the story. The teacher was not feeling well, having adreadful headache, and she went out to get a little fresh air while Mr.Pryor was examining the class. The children got along all right withthe spelling but when Whiskers began to question them about themeanings of the words they were all at sea, because they had notlearned them. Ella and the other big scholars felt terrible over it.They love their teacher so, and it seems Mr. Pryor's brother, AbelPryor, who is trustee of that school, is against her and has beentrying to turn the other trustees over to his way of thinking. And Ellaand the rest were afraid that if the fourth class couldn't tellWhiskers the meanings of the words he would think the teacher was nogood and tell Abel so, and Abel would have a fine handle. But littleSandy Logan saved the situation. He is a Home boy, but he is as smartas a steel trap, and he sized up Whiskers-on-the-moon right off. 'Whatdoes "anatomy" mean?' Whiskers demanded. 'A pain in your stomach,'Sandy replied, quick as a flash and never batting an eyelid.Whiskers-on-the-moon is a very ignorant man, Mrs. Dr. dear; he didn'tknow the meaning of the words himself, and he said 'Very good--verygood.' The class caught right on--at least three or four of thebrighter ones did--and they kept up the fun. Jean Blane said that'acoustic' meant 'a religious squabble,' and Muriel Baker said tha
t an'agnostic' was 'a man who had indigestion,' and Jim Carter said that'acerbity' meant that 'you ate nothing but vegetable food,' and so onall down the list. Whiskers swallowed it all, and kept saying 'Verygood--very good' until Ella thought that die she would trying to keep astraight face. When the teacher came in, Whiskers complimented her onthe splendid understanding the children had of their lesson and said hemeant to tell the trustees what a jewel they had. It was 'veryunusual,' he said, to find a fourth class who could answer up so promptwhen it came to explaining what words meant. He went off beaming. ButElla told me this as a great secret, Mrs. Dr. dear, and we must keep itas such, for the sake of the Lowbridge Road teacher. It would likely bethe ruin of her chances of keeping the school if Whiskers should everfind out how he had been bamboozled."
Mary Vance came up to Ingleside that same afternoon to tell them thatMiller Douglas, who had been wounded when the Canadians took Hill 70,had had to have his leg amputated. The Ingleside folk sympathized withMary, whose zeal and patriotism had taken some time to kindle but nowburned with a glow as steady and bright as any one's.
"Some folks have been twitting me about having a husband with only oneleg. But," said Mary, rising to a lofty height, "I would rather Millerwith only one leg than any other man in the world with adozen--unless," she added as an after-thought, "unless it was LloydGeorge. Well, I must be going. I thought you'd be interested in hearingabout Miller so I ran up from the store, but I must hustle home for Ipromised Luke MacAllister I'd help him build his grain stack thisevening. It's up to us girls to see that the harvest is got in, sincethe boys are so scarce. I've got overalls and I can tell you they'rereal becoming. Mrs. Alec Douglas says they're indecent and shouldn't beallowed, and even Mrs. Elliott kinder looks askance at them. But blessyou, the world moves, and anyhow there's no fun for me like shockingKitty Alec."
"By the way, father," said Rilla, "I'm going to take Jack Flagg's placein his father's store for a month. I promised him today that I would,if you didn't object. Then he can help the farmers get the harvest in.I don't think I'd be much use in a harvest myself--though lots of thegirls are--but I can set Jack free while I do his work. Jims isn't muchbother in the daytime now, and I'll always be home at night."
"Do you think you'll like weighing out sugar and beans, and traffickingin butter and eggs?" said the doctor, twinkling.
"Probably not. That isn't the question. It's just one way of doing mybit." So Rilla went behind Mr. Flagg's counter for a month; and Susanwent into Albert Crawford's oat-fields.
"I am as good as any of them yet," she said proudly. "Not a man of themcan beat me when it comes to building a stack. When I offered to helpAlbert looked doubtful. 'I am afraid the work will be too hard foryou,' he said. 'Try me for a day and see,' said I. 'I will do mydarnedest.'"
None of the Ingleside folks spoke for just a moment. Their silencemeant that they thought Susan's pluck in "working out" quite wonderful.But Susan mistook their meaning and her sun-burned face grew red.
"This habit of swearing seems to be growing on me, Mrs. Dr. dear," shesaid apologetically. "To think that I should be acquiring it at my age!It is such a dreadful example to the young girls. I am of the opinionit comes of reading the newspapers so much. They are so full ofprofanity and they do not spell it with stars either, as used to bedone in my young days. This war is demoralizing everybody."
Susan, standing on a load of grain, her grey hair whipping in thebreeze and her skirt kilted up to her knees for safety andconvenience--no overalls for Susan, if you please--neither a beautifulnor a romantic figure; but the spirit that animated her gaunt arms wasthe self-same one that captured Vimy Ridge and held the German legionsback from Verdun.
It is not the least likely, however, that this consideration was theone which appealed most strongly to Mr. Pryor when he drove past oneafternoon and saw Susan pitching sheaves gamely.
"Smart woman that," he reflected. "Worth two of many a younger one yet.I might do worse--I might do worse. If Milgrave comes home alive I'lllose Miranda and hired housekeepers cost more than a wife and areliable to leave a man in the lurch any time. I'll think it over."
A week later Mrs. Blythe, coming up from the village late in theafternoon, paused at the gate of Ingleside in an amazement whichtemporarily bereft her of the power of motion. An extraordinary sightmet her eyes. Round the end of the kitchen burst Mr. Pryor, running asstout, pompous Mr. Pryor had not run in years, with terror imprinted onevery lineament--a terror quite justifiable, for behind him, like anavenging fate, came Susan, with a huge, smoking iron pot grasped in herhands, and an expression in her eye that boded ill to the object of herindignation, if she should overtake him. Pursuer and pursued toreacross the lawn. Mr. Pryor reached the gate a few feet ahead of Susan,wrenched it open, and fled down the road, without a glance at thetransfixed lady of Ingleside.
"Susan," gasped Anne.
Susan halted in her mad career, set down her pot, and shook her fistafter Mr. Pryor, who had not ceased to run, evidently believing thatSusan was still full cry after him.
"Susan, what does this mean?" demanded Anne, a little severely.
"You may well ask that, Mrs. Dr. dear," Susan replied wrathfully. "Ihave not been so upset in years. That--that--that pacifist has actuallyhad the audacity to come up here and, in my own kitchen, to ask me tomarry him. HIM!"
Anne choked back a laugh.
"But--Susan! Couldn't you have found a--well, a less spectacular methodof refusing him? Think what a gossip this would have made if anyone hadbeen going past and had seen such a performance."
"Indeed, Mrs. Dr. dear, you are quite right. I did not think of itbecause I was quite past thinking rationally. I was just clean mad.Come in the house and I will tell you all about it."
Susan picked up her pot and marched into the kitchen, still tremblingwith wrathful excitement. She set her pot on the stove with a viciousthud. "Wait a moment until I open all the windows to air this kitchenwell, Mrs. Dr. dear. There, that is better. And I must wash my hands,too, because I shook hands with Whiskers-on-the-moon when he camein--not that I wanted to, but when he stuck out his fat, oily hand Idid not know just what else to do at the moment. I had just finished myafternoon cleaning and thanks be, everything was shining and spotless;and thought I 'now that dye is boiling and I will get my rug rags andhave them nicely out of the way before supper.'
"Just then a shadow fell over the floor and looking up I sawWhiskers-on-the-moon, standing in the doorway, dressed up and lookingas if he had just been starched and ironed. I shook hands with him, asaforesaid, Mrs. Dr. dear, and told him you and the doctor were bothaway. But he said,
"I have come to see you, Miss Baker.'
"I asked him to sit down, for the sake of my own manners, and then Istood there right in the middle of the floor and gazed at him ascontemptuously as I could. In spite of his brazen assurance this seemedto rattle him a little; but he began trying to look sentimental at meout of his little piggy eyes, and all at once an awful suspicionflashed into my mind. Something told me, Mrs. Dr. dear, that I wasabout to receive my first proposal. I have always thought that I wouldlike to have just one offer of marriage to reject, so that I might beable to look other women in the face, but you will not hear me braggingof this. I consider it an insult and if I could have thought of any wayof preventing it I would. But just then, Mrs. Dr. dear, you will see Iwas at a disadvantage, being taken so completely by surprise. Some men,I am told, consider a little preliminary courting the proper thingbefore a proposal, if only to give fair warning of their intentions;but Whiskers-on-the-moon probably thought it was any port in a stormfor me and that I would jump at him. Well, he is undeceived--yes, he isundeceived, Mrs. Dr. dear. I wonder if he has stopped running yet."
"I understand that you don't feel flattered, Susan. But couldn't youhave refused him a little more delicately than by chasing him off thepremises in such a fashion?"
"Well, maybe I might have, Mrs. Dr. dear, and I intended to, but oneremark he made aggravated me beyond my p
owers of endurance. If it hadnot been for that I would not have chased him with my dye-pot. I willtell you the whole interview. Whiskers sat down, as I have said, andright beside him on another chair Doc was lying. The animal waspretending to be asleep but I knew very well he was not, for he hasbeen Hyde all day and Hyde never sleeps. By the way, Mrs. Dr. dear,have you noticed that that cat is far oftener Hyde than Jekyll now? Themore victories Germany wins the Hyder he becomes. I leave you to drawyour own conclusions from that. I suppose Whiskers thought he mightcurry favour with me by praising the creature, little dreaming what myreal sentiments towards it were, so he stuck out his pudgy hand andstroked Mr. Hyde's back. 'What a nice cat,' he said. The nice cat flewat him and bit him. Then it gave a fearful yowl, and bounded out of thedoor. Whiskers looked after it quite amazed. 'That is a queer kind of avarmint,' he said. I agreed with him on that point, but I was not goingto let him see it. Besides, what business had he to call our cat avarmint? 'It may be a varmint or it may not,' I said, 'but it knows thedifference between a Canadian and a Hun.' You would have thought, wouldyou not, Mrs. Dr. dear, that a hint like that would have been enoughfor him! But it went no deeper than his skin. I saw him settling backquite comfortable, as if for a good talk, and thought I, 'If there isanything coming it may as well come soon and be done with, for with allthese rags to dye before supper I have no time to waste in flirting,'so I spoke right out. 'If you have anything particular to discuss withme, Mr. Pryor, I would feel obliged if you would mention it withoutloss of time, because I am very busy this afternoon.' He fairly beamedat me out of that circle of red whisker, and said, 'You are abusiness-like woman and I agree with you. There is no use in wastingtime beating around the bush. I came up here today to ask you to marryme.' So there it was, Mrs. Dr. dear. I had a proposal at last, afterwaiting sixty-four years for one.
"I just glared at that presumptuous creature and I said, 'I would notmarry you if you were the last man on earth, Josiah Pryor. So there youhave my answer and you can take it away forthwith.' You never saw a manso taken aback as he was, Mrs. Dr. dear. He was so flabbergasted thathe just blurted out the truth. 'Why, I thought you'd be only too gladto get a chance to be married,' he said. That was when I lost my head,Mrs. Dr. dear. Do you think I had a good excuse, when a Hun and apacifist made such an insulting remark to me? 'Go,' I thundered, and Ijust caught up that iron pot. I could see that he thought I hadsuddenly gone insane, and I suppose he considered an iron pot full ofboiling dye was a dangerous weapon in the hands of a lunatic. At anyrate he went, and stood not upon the order of his going, as you saw foryourself. And I do not think we will see him back here proposing to usagain in a hurry. No, I think he has learned that there is at least onesingle woman in Glen St. Mary who has no hankering to become Mrs.Whiskers-on-the-moon."