“Oh,” said Mrs. Martin, fixing Luella with a pale cold eye. “I suppose you mean he never gave you any attention! Is that it?”
“And yet he looked at this girl who was Mrs. Martin’s guest,” put in Mrs. Hopkins in a nastily significant tone.
“Well,” said Luella with a grim look at Rose, “I’m certainly glad I’m not old enough to belong to the Ladies’ Aid! I never heard such mean, cruel, gossiping tongues in my life. I thought you all pretended to be Christians! Come on, Rose, let’s get out of here!” And they went out the side way and slammed the door.
“Hoity-toity!” said Mrs. Hopkins. “They must both be in love with him! And one of them is our minister’s daughter! Imagine that!”
“So, there, you can see what kind of a boy he is!” said Mrs. Martin with a significant nod to her audience.
“I wonder,” said Mrs. Hopkins, taking a pin from her mouth and sticking it in the back hem of the petticoat to mark the next buttonhole, “I wonder if our minister’s wife knows what kind of a boy her lovely daughter is going with. Rose is so sweet!”
“Hush! There comes Mrs. Castor now!”
“Well,” said Mrs. Hopkins defiantly, “what’s the difference? Somebody really ought to tell her, anyway, don’t you think?” And then all those women settled back to a dead silence as the minister’s wife entered the Ladies’ Parlor.
“Why, I thought you’d be already at the table. I told Rose to tell you to be sure to sit right down and eat those biscuits while they were hot,” she said. “They’re not so good when they begin to get cold!”
Then those women lifted cold, critical glances, and laying aside their sewing, arose as one woman.
“We were waiting for you, of course,” said Mrs. Martin, who considered herself the acknowledged spokeswoman of the company, and she led the way down the stair into the basement dining room.
It was only a few days after that that Revel Radcliffe, a good many hundred miles away, coming out from an afternoon class during his first week of college, was approached by a couple of seniors, still strangers to him.
“Hi there, Radcliffe!” one said. “How about coming to one of the meetings of our Fellowship tonight and seeing if you’d like to join us?”
Revel turned and met the cordial glances of the two seniors whom he had noticed afar.
“What kind of a group?” he asked. “What’s the idea?”
“Come and see,” smiled the tallest man, whose name was Jim Gray, and who introduced his companion as Bill Pentecost. “We’ll meet at seven o’clock in the first classroom to the right of the Assembly Hall. We’d like you to come among us and see if you feel that you belong.”
“I’ll come,” said Revel, with a smile. “I may not be able to join whatever you have, because my time belongs first to my grandfather, who has been very sick, but I’ll try you out anyway.”
And so Revel went to the first meeting and found it was a group of students who met each week for a few minutes of prayer and Bible reading. It was something new to Revel, and he talked it over with his grandfather when he got home. The old man promptly suggested that Revel invite them to meet at his house for their next meeting, taking a whole evening to get acquainted if they liked. And so in a few weeks, this group grew to center their interests around the old farmhouse, where the few minutes of prayer and Bible reading blossomed into an occasional whole evening, with some doughnuts to top it off before they went back to college. Life began to open up to Revel in a richer, fuller way. Surprised, indeed, would some of the women of the Ladies’ Aid in Sumter Hills have been if the next time they talked over Revel Radcliffe and his misdeeds, they could have been gifted with television, could have looked into the big farmhouse living room and seen the subject of their subdued whispers, kneeling with the rest around the great open fire and praying! Revel Radcliffe was learning really to pray! But, would that have meant anything to Mrs. Martin and her group?
One night after the pleasant company were gone quietly back to college with the hush of the hour of prayer upon them, Revel wrote another letter to Margaret. He found he was thinking a great deal about her in these busy days, in spite of all he had to do. She had come to seem so much a companion of his thoughts that he wanted to tell her of the sweet experience he had had that night.
Dear Margaret:
I haven’t written you sooner because a lot of things have been happening, and I’ve been pretty busy, but I’ve thought about you a lot and been wanting to tell you.
In the first place, Grand is better. He is able to sit up now and even walk a few steps from his bed to his chair. The doctor is still careful with him. That makes me very glad. He is a swell companion.
Next, my father got married two weeks after I met you. He had telegraphed me to come back, and I said I couldn’t, not yet, anyway, it might make Grand worse, and his next word was an engraved announcement of the marriage!
Next, I’m a student in Linwood College, going strong, and I like it fine.
When Grand got well enough to talk, I told him Dad had sent for me to go to the university, but I didn’t want to go. I asked him if the college where Mother went wasn’t for men as well as girls, and did he think I stood a chance of getting in and getting a part-time job somewhere so I could work my way through.
Grand just smiled and said that he had entered my name there when I was born, hoping there might be a chance I would want to go there, though he knew pretty well my dad wouldn’t favor it. He said there would be no trouble about my entrance. He could fix that, and then he told me that when I was born he began putting little sums of money in the bank, ready for me if I wanted it.
Well, I went right over to the college that day and arranged to take entrance examinations. Then I came home and wrote my dad. I told him I couldn’t leave Grand yet, so I had entered Linwood College, arranged for my entrance exams, and it wouldn’t cost him a cent. Grand was going to help me some, but that I was on my own.
Well, Dad didn’t like it, of course, but he just warned me that when I got stuck and wanted help I wouldn’t get it. I think maybe his wife didn’t care for my coming home. But, anyhow, that’s how it is, and I’m here and in the college, and I like it fine. So far, Dad hasn’t done anything about it. And that’s because of your prayers, I’m sure, because mine had very little faith behind them. I’ve learned that faith is something you need when you pray, and I’m getting more of it every day. You couldn’t be around Grand and not see faith, and what it does.
But there’s something else around this college you would like. I never heard of it before in a college, but it’s swell. They call it a Fellowship, and they meet every week to study the Bible and pray. It’s not a part of the curriculum, it’s a thing the students got up, and I like it a lot. They are swell fellows in it, and they really mean what they say.
Grand likes it, too, and he’s invited them to meet here at the house real often. We have a big fire in the fireplace. Grand comes to the meetings, too; they asked him. He just sits quietly, and now and then he prays. He’s a great guy. I wish you knew him.
They tell me the girls have such a group in the college, too, and are doing good work among the students, all on the quiet. So you see, I am beginning to learn how to really pray, and to know the rules. It seems there are a lot of rules in the Bible to show how to be sure of an answer. Here’s the one we learned tonight: “Delight thyself also in the Lord: and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.” That sounds like a pretty good one to try. I think Grand does that one well.
Grand is being great to the fellows, and they like him a lot.
Boy! I never thought I’d get a college like this one. Am I thankful to God for fixing things this way for me, and I hope He lets them stay so. You know, it’s an education in itself just to live with Grand.
I’m sorry if you don’t feel happy out there. But perhaps by now it’s getting all right. I think you ought to have the nicest kind of home. I hope it gets better every day. I wish you could have it as fine
as I have. Maybe God will fix things for you someday. I’ll pray about it for you. You ought to have things pleasant, you’re so kind yourself, but I’m sure I never rated what has come to me.
Now I’ve got to stop and do some boning for my morning class, but I’m all kinds of glad you are willing to be my friend and let me talk to you sometimes.
I’ll be letting you know if anything new turns up.
Yours,
Revel
He paused as he signed his name, and had an odd little impulse to put one of those little rings his mother used to make for him on his grandfather’s letters when he was a little kid, and call them kisses. And then he used to solemnly stoop and press a kiss on the paper. He wanted to do that now. Sap! He’d better get to work and forget this silly business. He was just lonely, that was all, and Margaret reminded him of his mother, the way she talked and thought about things.
Chapter 13
The winter that followed was one of unmitigated joy to Revel. As he grew daily into the heart of his grandfather, and they companioned together, he felt that he had never been so happy except when his mother was living. And even then he had been daily distressed, because he knew that she was unhappy. His father had contrived to keep the household in an upheaval whenever he was in it, and to keep his hand upon everything connected with their lives, overruling all their plans and desires and bringing disappointment into every day. But now he not only was relieved of that constant unhappy espionage, but he had the added joy of his grandfather’s companionship.
Also, he was growing in the knowledge of the Lord, and of his Bible, and that meant a great deal to him. So that, with the exception of occasional fears that would arise lest his father might suddenly spoil all this, Revel was very happy.
On the other hand, Margaret Weldon was most ill at ease. She was as unhappy in her new life as such a sunny nature as hers could be.
Aunt Carlotta, though yielding gracefully where she saw she could not conquer immediately, was nevertheless just as much on the warpath, determined to make this niece of hers just as much like all the other nieces about her in the world as could be, and this attitude did not make for peace.
They would be preparing to go out together to some concert or evening entertainment, and Margaret, though the evening’s program was seldom of her choosing, would come down obediently, dressed for the occasion charmingly, and would be met by her aunt’s cold, critical glance. Aunt Carlotta said no more about the matters of dress that they had discussed, but Margaret felt the look of her criticism in her eyes almost as if it had been in words. Aunt Carlotta knew she was dealing with a very sensitive nature, and confidently expected to win by this silent, steady look of disapproval. The girl felt it was very hard to bear. It wore on her young nerves like salt in a wound.
Oh, they differed on so many things. On dress, on smoking and drinking, on amusements. But most of all they differed about Bailey Wicke. Aunt Carlotta had quite set her heart on making sure of the Wicke millions for her niece, and Margaret didn’t enjoy the young man’s company in the least. Neither did she like the idea of being parceled out to anybody as if she were a possession. She had thoughts of love and marriage in life, and not in trying to find a life companion. She was still little-girl enough to want to put off the day of grown-up things and to desire to remain young awhile longer, learning and enjoying, not scheming for the future. It seemed a sordid thing to do and repelled her rather than interesting her. She loved nature, liked to take long walks and see new sights, loved exercise of all sorts, and was quite proficient in many simple things. She liked housework, too, but there was none of that to be had in her aunt’s quite perfect bungalow. There were servants to perform all those menial tasks.
Margaret loved to read and study, but there seemed so little opportunity. There was always a bunch of giddy young people around, most of them utterly uncongenial to her. They seldom read anything but a movie magazine, and they never studied, not if they could help it. And most of them could. Margaret suspected strongly that the real reason they made much of her was in order to enjoy as much as possible of her aunt’s generous hospitality.
As the summer drew to a close, and the fall was coming on, the school that Margaret had hoped to find was not forthcoming, not in the community where her aunt lived. There were a couple of “finishing” schools nearby, fashionable schools where the wealthy girls went, taking dancing lessons and riding lessons and studying French and a smattering of other things. And there was a high school. But Margaret had finished high school before she came away, that is, all but graduating. She had done some extra work in the spring, having in mind her migration to the west, and had certificates that would stand her in place of a diploma and help her in college entrance, so there would be no advantage in going back over her high school work.
“But why should you want to go to school anymore, my dear?” asked her aunt when Margaret would question her about colleges. “It seems to me your brains are pretty well stocked with all the information you’ll need. And college courses are very expensive, aren’t they? I don’t believe I’d waste my time and money that way. It really isn’t so awfully necessary nowadays, do you think? I mean, you’ll easily be considered smart without it. And you’ll find this place is very lively in the winter. Even if there were a college here, you wouldn’t have much time to study seriously, after the season opens.”
Margaret looked at her in utter dismay and was thankful in her heart that Aunt Carlotta was not her guardian and had no legal jurisdiction over her actions. Her real guardian was an elderly friend of her father’s, who took good care of her very small inheritance and sent her a remittance from time to time. Otherwise, he was a kind adviser merely, feeling that she was wise enough, generally, to arrange her own life as she wanted it. He was always willing to help or advise if she asked it, which she seldom did. She could see from her summer’s experience how different her life would be if he were like her aunt.
For Aunt Carlotta did not seem in the least troubled that the girl was not in school, and had no plans for her winter except to stay with her and have a good time. For her own pride’s sake she wanted her niece to be what she called “a success” socially, and she was happy indeed that Margaret should be in receipt almost daily of frivolous invitations to house parties, and also little affairs here and there. But they all involved a letting down of certain standards that her mother had taught her and her conscience approved, or else the alternative of sitting as a wallflower and getting a lot of criticism and plenty of sneers. She didn’t mind the criticism nor the sneers so much, but she felt that she should not be there. She did not belong among such things.
As often as she could she found some excuse to stay away from some festivity, but every time she refused an invitation she had her aunt to deal with, and the days grew more and more uncomfortable.
She did not enjoy being with people who drank so much that they were stupid and silly. She did not enjoy being laughed at for refusing cocktails, and yet she was again and again thrust into a situation where there was no avoiding it.
There were plenty of nice, pleasant girls and boys among the crowd that infested her aunt’s house, but they were all tied up in the same activities, and not one of them seemed to be interested in breaking away from the rest and doing something really worthwhile. Margaret tried them all out, one by one, and found they were thoroughly intrigued by the life they were living and had no desire for higher things. Even their conversation was of silly doings. They knew all the nightclubs and movie stars. They could talk of the last plays, but they did not care whether they read any books or not, and they were always rushing off to see a horse race, or taking chances in some questionable operation.
Some of the girls were a little jealous of her because the young millionaire was so attentive to her, and her greatest distress was that the young man Bailey Wicke continued to consider her as his exclusive property and would come over sometimes in the morning and just park at the house, encouraged to the limi
t by Aunt Carlotta, who apparently was very fond of him.
Margaret would avoid him as long as she could, staying in her room till a late hour or running away to see one of the girls sometimes, but it could not be done all the time without bringing down condemnation from Aunt Carlotta. A young man worth millions, it seemed, could not be avoided.
Sometimes he would demand that she play tennis all the morning. Well, that wasn’t bad if he would only play, instead of mooning around in the summerhouse or on the rustic benches, talking and flirting, saying nothings about the beauty of her eyes and the power of her voice over his heart to stir it to unbelievable depths—things that Margaret abominated. She always strove to get some other girls to be around when he came, but somehow that did no good, for he managed to drive them away before another day and have the field to himself again. He spent a great deal of time in trying to coax her to go off dancing, to nightclubs and various places that Margaret did not like nor approve, and sometimes she was almost in tears before she would finally get rid of him.
So one day she took advantage of a drive to the city offered by a friend who was going shopping, and while the friend shopped she went to the university and inquired into things. She reasoned that if Revel could arrange to work his way through a college, perhaps she could, and so get away from her present environment and not be losing this time entirely.
She found that there were classes she could enter, at a rate not too enormous for her modest pocketbook.
She had carried with her a letter from her high school superintendent, and certificates of the work she had been doing, and was most fortunate in finding the dean in his office, and a pleasant reception. He allowed her to take one important examination at once and gave her assurance that if she passed the test they would welcome her into the university.