CHAPTER XXIV--GOOD-BYE TO TEN EYCK HALL
Four days had passed since the exciting happenings of that eventful daythat had begun with the disappearance of Jose, and had ended with hisdiscovery.
"I have much to be thankful for," said the major to Miss Sallie, who wasreclining in a steamer chair on the piazza. She had not left her beduntil the afternoon of the third day, and was still a little shaky andnervous.
"I can't think what they are, John," she replied severely. "You have hadnothing but misfortunes since we came to stay under your roof. I hopethey may end when we leave."
"The first one," said the major, smiling good-humoredly, "is that I havehad the privilege of knowing how splendid American women can be in timeof danger. I always admired the women of my country, but never so muchas now," he added, looking fondly at his old friend.
"Yes," assented Miss Sallie proudly, "my girls are about as fine as anyto be found in the world, I think. They are wholesome, sensible, andnever cowardly. Undoubtedly they saved Ten Eyck Hall for you, Major, bytheir combined efforts, and by Bab's bravery in watering the roof whenthe sparks began to fly."
"You were just as wonderful as the girls, Sallie, my dear. They tell meyou superintended the digging of the trench and managed your men withthe coolness of a general; and that when the fire leaped over the trenchyou were there with the bucket brigade to put it out. The girls were nowhit less courageous in your day than they are now, Sallie."
"And what is the second blessing you have to be thankful for, John?"interrupted Miss Sallie.
"That Jose is the boy I took him to be--a good, honest, noble fellow."
"I must say I liked him from the first moment I set eyes upon him," saidMiss Stuart.
"Yes," continued the major; "his father might well be proud of him. Hedeserves the highest commendation for his forbearance and unselfishnessin regard to that brother of his."
"How is the brother, by the way?" asked Miss Sallie.
"You know he was taken to the hospital the day after he was broughthere; well, the boys went over in the car yesterday. Antonio is muchbetter. His sister is tending him. He is very repentant, she says, andhas consented to go to school and turn over a new leaf. In fact, Imyself have had a long talk with him. I can see that there is great goodin the boy. It has simply been perverted by evil associations."
"Ah, Major," exclaimed his old friend, smiling indulgently as she tappedhis arm with her fan, "you are truly the most optimistic soul in theworld. I hope all your golden dreams about this wretched boy's futurewill come true. But what about his sister!"
"Jose is anxious for her to go to a school in America. He believes shecould not endure the restraint of a European school after her free,open-air life. She is only too anxious. She wants to cultivate hervoice, and the old grandmother appears really relieved at the turnaffairs have taken. She was willing to concede anything to keep thegrandson out of jail."
"Then my Ruth will not be able to gratify her whim to educate the Gypsygirl," pursued Miss Sallie.
"Not exactly," replied the major. "Jose's father is very well-to-do, asthe world goes, but Ruth is to take charge of Zerlina's education andlook after her generally. She has asked Jose to allow her thatprivilege, as she put it."
Just then the girls came around the corner of the piazza, after a strollin the garden.
"How fresh and delicious the air is since the rain!" exclaimed Barbara."There is still a faint smell of burning. Do you think all the trees inthe forest will die, Major?"
"Old Adam says they will not," answered the major. "A three months'unbroken drought will dry up almost anything but trees. Now, while theunderbrush and dried fern burned like tinder, the fire hardly touchedthe trees. It was those dead bramble hedges dividing the fields and thedried meadow grass that did the most damage, because the sparks fromthem ignited the garage and the roof of the stable."
"I am glad papa and Mrs. Thurston were not uneasy about us," observedRuth. "If they had read the papers before you telegraphed, Major, theywould have been frantic, I suppose."
"Make way for the Duke of Granada," called Jimmie's cheerful voice fromthe hall, and presently he appeared, pushing Jose, done up in bandagesand lying flat on his back, on a rolling cot used by some invalid of theTen Eyck family long since dead and gone.
"Jose, my boy," exclaimed the major, going to the foot of the cot toease it as it passed over the door sill, "do you think this is safe?"
"The doctor says it will not hurt him," replied Jimmie. "He needscompany, but we won't let him stay long."
Jose smiled up at the faces leaning over him.
"You have all been so good to me," he said. "I want to thank you foryour kindness and for believing in me when my character looked blackenough to have condemned me without any more proof. And I want to thankyou for my brother, too, and my poor little sister."
His eyes filled with tears.
"There, there," cried the major, pressing the boy's hand. "It's a littleenough we have done, I'm sure. I only wish we could have saved you fromyour tumble," he added, gazing sadly toward the right wing of Ten EyckHall.
"And is it really true that our friends are going to leave us thisafternoon?" asked Jose.
"Yes," answered the major; "all our girls and boys are going. We shallbe lonesome enough when they are gone."
There was the sound of a motor horn down the avenue.
"Ah, here comes Stephen at last. I was afraid he would be late," saidMajor Ten Eyck, as his automobile pulled up at the door and Stephen,Martin and Alfred jumped out.
"I've got them, uncle," cried Stephen. "They arrived this morning." Andhe handed his uncle a registered package carefully done up and sealedwith red sealing wax.
The major took the box and disappeared into the house while the boysexchanged significant looks.
"Stephen," said Bab, as they strolled down to the end of the-piazzawhile the others were examining the morning papers and reading theirmail, "did you ever ask Jose where he was the morning we went to see thehermit!"
"Oh, yes," replied her friend; "or, rather, he told me without beingasked. He was to meet his brother by appointment at the haunted pool. Isuppose he was there too soon, because Antonio chose to inflict us withhis antics before he went to see Jose, who heard a great deal of thenonsense, so he said, and there was a quarrel afterwards, a very bitterone, and Jose threatened to give Antonio over to the authorities unlesshe consented to give up his lawless life. Zerlina was hovering aroundlater, and heard the pistol shots after the fight with the tramps. Shethought, of course, it was a duel between her two brothers. That is whyshe paid you the mysterious visit and tried to read the note."
"How does Antonio strike you?" asked Bab.
"Just as a mischievous boy might. I think he will outgrow his vicioustendencies now that he has been taken hold of. For one thing he nolonger hates poor old Jose. I told him, plainly, what a fine fellow hisbrother was, and that it was only on Jose's account we were not going tohave him arrested. He seemed to be a good deal impressed, I think."
"A note for you, Miss," said John, handing Bab a three-cornered missiveon a tray.
"Will Miss Barbara Thurston grant one last interview to an old admirer?"the note ran.
"It's from your great-uncle," exclaimed Bab, giving Stephen the note toread.
Stephen smiled as his eye took in the crabbed, old-fashionedhandwriting.
"The poor old fellow can't quite get the proper focus as to who youreally are," he said. "You appear to represent two Barbaras to him. Butyou will go over for a few minutes, won't you, Bab? I doubt if UncleStephen will last much longer, and seeing you may be a great comfort tohim."
"Of course I will," Bab replied. "If seeing me can bring a ray ofpleasure into his life, I am glad enough to be able to do it. I shouldlike to take him a few flowers. I know he loves them. Suppose we getsome honeysuckle and late roses out of the garden before we go."
Together they strolled toward the major's garden, which the flames hadspared, partly because
it was protected by a high brick wall on threesides, and partly owing to a daily watering it had received from thegardener.
With Stephen's penknife they clipped a bunch of dewy white roses withyellow centers, and a few sprays of honeysuckle whose fragrance wasoverpoweringly sweet.
The old man was watching for the young people at the window when theattendant opened the door for them. He came forward with some of themajor's grace and took Barbara's hand in his.
"It was very good of you to come," he said. "I heard you were going, andI wanted to say a last good-bye. I feel happier than I have felt in manyyears. You have forgiven me, have you not, little Barbara?" he went on,his mind confusing her again with that other Barbara whose tragic deathhad bereft him of his reason. "And you have brought me the roses, too?"
She nodded her head.
"Did they come from the bush near the arbor?"
"Yes," she replied, wondering a little.
"Don't you remember that it was our bush, the one we chose when you werehere on a visit? Our white rose bush, Barbara. That you should not haveforgotten, after all these years!" Then his memory came back. "But whatam I saying?" he exclaimed. "My mind often gets confused. It was thelikeness, I suppose. I want you to see this portrait of yourgrand-aunt."
He went over to a desk near the window and drew from one of its drawersan old daguerreotype.
"It is very, very like," he murmured, as he handed it to Barbara.
It was, indeed, even more like the present Bab than the miniature whichthe hermit had treasured during his years of solitude.
"I want you to keep this picture, Barbara," said Stephen's uncle. "Ihave another one, and it will be a pleasure to me, at the last, to knowthat it belongs to another Barbara Thurston. This ring must also beyours." He drew from the desk a little black velvet case. "It was a ringI gave to her after we were engaged. Will you wear it for me!"
Barbara opened the case and slipped the ring on her finger. It was avery old ring of beaten silver with a sapphire setting.
"Thank you," she said and gave him her hand.
"Good-bye, little Barbara!" cried the old man. "You have brought peaceto me at last. You and my dear friend, Richard. I have changed a greatdeal, you see," he was lapsing back into the old mania, "but you are asyoung and pretty as ever, Barbara."
"It is time to go," whispered Stephen, hurriedly. The attendant hadalready opened the door for them and they slipped out together.
"The hermit has promised to come and see him every day," said Stephen,as they hastened through the passage. "Indeed, Uncle John has invitedthe hermit to live at Ten Eyck Hall for the rest of his days, and he hasall but consented. He is a wonderful old man, I think, and whether heswam off and left 'you' or not, he has atoned for it after all theseyears."
"Stephen," replied Barbara, "I shall never believe that he did that, nomatter if he were to tell me so himself."
They reached the piazza just in time to hear Miss Sallie saying:
"Girls, I think we had better go up and get ready for the trip, beforeluncheon is announced. We want to start promptly, this time, even if weshall have such an excellent guard of young men. Jose, I am sorry youare not well enough to come in to our last meal," she added, turning tothe sick boy and taking his hand. "But we shall run up and say good-byeto you before we leave, and if ever you go as far west as Chicago, Iwant you to come and see us. Perhaps Ruth and I shall see you and yourfather this autumn when we are in Europe."
"Indeed, I hope you will come to Madrid and visit at my home," criedJose. "Will you not arrange it?"
"That would be delightful" said Miss Sallie, "but we shall be over onlyfor six weeks. We must return in time for Ruth's school, you know."
The last luncheon at Ten Eyck Hall was a very gay one. The dangers ofthe previous week were over and the mysteries cleared away.
The major fairly beamed on his guests across the hospitable board.
"It must have been Miss Sallie's fault," thought Mollie, watching hishandsome face with a secret admiration. "He is certainly the dearest oldman alive. I wonder if she isn't sorry now?"
And as if in answer to her unspoken question, she heard Miss Salliesaying:
"John, I hope this is not the last visit you will let us make to TenEyck Hall. In spite of its fires and tramps I should like to comeagain."
"I should be the happiest man in the world if you only would," heanswered. "I am greatly relieved that you haven't got an everlastingprejudice against it."
"When I settle down for the winter," Jimmie Butler was heard to remarkabove the hum of conversation, "I mean to take up a certain study andnot leave off studying it until I have graduated with diploma andhonors."
"What is it, Jimmie?" demanded the others.
"Prize fighting," he replied. "I intend to learn wrestling and boxing,likewise just plain hair-pulling and scratching. Prize fighting in allits varieties for me before another year rolls round."
"You will have to go into training, then, Jim," exclaimed Alfred. "Youwill not be permitted to eat anything you like and not too much ofanything else."
"No more hot bread for you, Jimmie," continued Stephen. "No more wafflesand Johnnie-cakes. You will have to punch the bag mornings, when youwould rather be sleeping, and give up theatres in the evenings for earlybedtime. It's a fearful life, my boy."
"Be that as it may," persisted Jimmie, "I'm going to learn how to deal ablow that will give a man a black eye the first time, and if ever I gethold of that wiry individual who gave me these in the woods, yonder," hepointed to his red nose and discolored eye, "he'll get such a 'licking'as he'll remember to his last hour. Even Stephen's giant won't be amatch for me."
There was joyous laughter at this, followed by remarks from Martin andAlfred of a rather sarcastic character, such as "Give it to him, Jimmie!Give him a bump in the ribs!"
"I am going to have the woods patrolled, hereafter, in the summer time,"observed the major, "and all dangerous characters will be excluded. Thenext time we have a house party there will be no tramps to threaten myguests."
"By the way," said Stephen, "the giant tramp is in the hospital now. Hewas drunk when the fire started, and fell asleep. He was badly burnedand almost suffocated, but his poor, long-suffering wife managed to savehim somehow. The other two had left him to die."
"Will you have him arrested when he gets well, Major?" asked Ruth.
"No," replied the major, somewhat confused. "I suppose I should, but hetells me he was despoiled of his living by a dishonest master, and Ihave concluded to make it up to him for being richer than he is bygiving him something to do. We have several farms back in the countryand I have put him in charge of the smallest one. It seems that farmingis the very thing he wants to do more than anything else in life. Hewill have to travel a good distance before he can get anything to drink,and his wife is the happiest woman over the prospect you ever saw."
"Major, major!" protested Miss Sallie. "What will you do next?"
"Ah, well," exclaimed the major, "it is good to be able to give a man achance to earn an honest living, especially if he wants to take it. And,when this poor wretch heard about that bit of land and little cottageback yonder in the hills, he looked as if he had had a glimpse ofheaven. His wife told me that he had really tried, again and again tofind something to do; but indoor life was very irksome to him because hehad been brought up on a farm, and working in factories and foundrieshad been his undoing."
"Stephen, how do you feel about it?" asked Alfred. "He was your opponentin the fight, you know."
"Oh, I don't mind," replied Stephen. "He didn't give me a black eye, andI am glad for him to earn an honest living. Uncle's a brick."
When the meal was over Major Ten Eyck rose from the table, clearing histhroat as if he were about to make a speech, which indeed he was.
"I have something to say before this party breaks up, for myself and theboys. We want to express to you, how deeply grateful we feel to you,Miss Sallie and 'The Automobile Girls,' for what you have done for
us.
"You have saved our old home for us, at the risk of your own preciouslives, and there is nothing we can really do or say to show how much weappreciate it. The place has been in the family ever since there wereany Ten Eycks to live in it. I was born here and I love it, and I hopeto end my days here----"
"Don't speak as if you were on the brink of the grave, Major, I beg ofyou," protested Miss Sallie. "You are not many years older than I am,and I certainly will not allow such mournful thoughts to trouble me sosoon."
"You will always be young, Sallie," replied the gallant major.
"You are nothing but a boy yourself, John," replied Miss Stuart,blushing in spite of herself, while the young people exchanged stealthysmiles at these elderly compliments.
"I was saying," continued the major, who remained standing to finish hisspeech, "that there was nothing we could do, the boys and I, to show howwe feel in this matter. But when you wear these little ornaments" (herethe major handed Miss Sallie and each of the girls a little jeweler'sbox) "we hope you will remember that we are your devoted friends always.It was Stephen's idea, and there was not much time to get them, but thejeweler undertook a rush order for us, and I hope they are all right."
"Hurray!" cried Jimmie, rolling his napkin into a ball and tossing itinto the air.
There were cries of pleasure when the boxes gave up their treasures,small gold firemen's helmets studded with pearls and a row of rubies onthe curve of the brim.
As if this were not enough, John came in with a tray of bouquets, eachone different, as on a former occasion. The major had picked andarranged the flowers himself for Miss Sallie and "The Automobile Girls,"as a last reminder of Ten Eyck Hall, he said.
"It is worth while going into the firemen's business, if one is to be sowell repaid," exclaimed Ruth.
Bab felt particularly rich in souvenirs of her visit, with a picture ofa new and hitherto unknown great-aunt, a ring and a beautiful pin.
"We are all much too excited to thank you properly, Major," she said.
"I don't want any thanks, my dear child," replied the major. "I wish toavoid them."
"Somebody should make a speech," cried Jimmie's voice above the jollity."I think I'll be the one." He cleared his throat. "Major John Ten Eyck,"he said bowing toward the major, "I know these young ladies appreciatedeeply the handsome souvenirs you have bestowed upon them, but youth andinexperience have tied their tongues. However, mine is loosened and Iwish to thank you a thousand times for the souvenirs which I also amcarrying away from Ten Eyck Hall, namely my beautiful ruby nose and myblue enameled eyes."
There was more laughter and more exchange of jokes and fun, when Martinwho had slipped out of the room for a moment, returned with a smallbundle which he handed to Jimmie.
"We'll give you a booby prize, Jimmie," he said, "since the ladies havebeen awarded the first prize."
Jimmie opened the bundle and drew forth a boxing glove which he put onimmediately and chased Martin out of the room. This was the signal forthe breaking up of the lunch party.
The boxes and suit cases were already piled in their accustomed place onthe back of the car and there was nothing for the girls to do but to pinon their hats and veils, slip on their silk dusters and go.
The servants had lined up in the hall to say good-bye. Jose had beggedto be permitted to remain downstairs until after the visitors had gone.As the automobiles sped down the avenue, the major, standing by the sickboy's cot, waved good-bye from the piazza.
Only Bab saw another handkerchief waving its pathetic farewell from awindow in the right wing. She gave an answering wave with her own littlehandkerchief which she hoped the old man would not miss.
"Good-bye to Ten Eyck Hall," she said to herself as she looked back atthe beautiful old house. "You are full of tragic memories, but I loveyou and I would have risked much to have saved you from crumbling to aheap of ashes."
As they passed over the bridge and came to the crossroads by the woods,they were stopped by blind Jennie, who silently presented Bab and Rutheach with a small cross she herself had carved from wood. Then to Babshe gave a beautiful bunch of yellow roses, which the hermit had beggedthe girl to accept with his best wishes.