Master of the Vineyard

ring

Idea o

of the Marsh household. Some commotion had been caused by the arrival of four more trunks, of d

versions from the original type. When it fell to his lot, on a Saturday morning, to superintend the removal of Mrs. Lee's empty trunks to the attic, he discovere

" a sweet voice a

he returned. "I'm

the

she smiled, "to be s

varieties of the trunk species make me feel much as Cru

he really did feel. It must hav

nd carried to Alden a subtle fragrance of another sort. Her turquoise-blue silk kimono, delicately embroidered in gold, was open at the throat and fastened at the waist with a heavy golden cord. Below, it

rks on the general subject of trunks. Mrs. Lee laughed. "They're tryi

ou know t

tion all the way from the Atlantic to the Pacific and back again. The fart

from th

I thought it

dea what study and constant practice

and gleamed and shone. It made golden lights in her brown eyes, caresse

e said. "Isn

I don't know of any sound I'd rather hear

, then vanished. "Well done," she said. "You have atoned nobly for

" he replied, awkward

put under a bed. The kind you can ask a cabman to take down to the cab for you. A little trunk t

s Too

n at the farthest end of the window-seat and looked out upon the vineyard, faintly green, n

the footprint?" he asked, determined to ge

rprised and frightened and pleased all at once. How interesting it must b

re," he objected. "Is there

te, that's all. Somebody ate the first oyster and somebody

I wouldn't mind saying so, but Nature gave me quantities of it, so why should I bor

like it, either. Your wish to be first in something is surely gratif

ir and

's was

sn't. I never saw your mother

ther. There

dress for luncheon. She paused to smile at the two who sat on the wind

t my hair exactly

y. "No," she said, "though your mother had glorious hair, it was nothing like this. Hers was auburn and smooth

d Alden, "I

copper-coloured, it's common. Look at th

t," returned Alden, "is a g

thers he has hair

have any h

e Matter

about. She was still smiling when she reached her own room, for she found it very pleasant to h

and reserved at first. With some trepidation, she had told him that she had invited the guest to remain

f any sort of emotion. "What's the matter with her?" h

u herself," Madame had replied, in a tone of gentle

eed to squelch me like that, Mother. I don't know that

mpertinences," Madame suggested. The w

rams, please, for I don'

m-Ch

nd began to sew frills of real lace in the neck and sleeves. She was glad he had been pleasan

r than Edith was now, and, undoubtedly, married. All Madame's feminine ancestors for generations back had been m

saying. Virginia would have been meant for it, too, and, by now, there would have been children in the old house, pattering back and forth upon the stairs, lispi

daughter's children always are. Poor Rosemary! How miserable she was at home, and how little she would need to make her happy! To think that she dared not tell her Grandmother and Au

sed

made her start. "C

green, with a crisp white linen shirtwaist,

cheon," she said, "and he asked me to come and see if

t because she liked to be "fussed over," as she put it. There was

ange the way I do it, are you?

hange it for anything. It

ways worn it like this. Alden would

sn't

bit like you," said

m very glad. It keeps me from-from missing him too m

be missed," said Edi

n't you tol

y this time. Still, I don't kn

ame, decidedly. "You must

ver know w

make one perfect right. If you do your part, thing

you because I could think for myself no longer. I'll write him a

o sa

secret impatience, until Edith came down with her note

. I'll tr

the opportunity. She was quite sure that her counsellor would not approve of

y to the

eton, and urged the superannuated horse into a wildly exciting pac

for alluding to it as a dr

," she admitted, "but it's very pleasant, neverth

You don't even need to limit yourself to snap-

not because he was interested in her unknown correspondent, but because the handwriting claimed his attention. Through the delicate angular

, "you're Mrs. William G. I trus

Willi

William who is alwa

speaks wel

er of man she had married. Someone, undoubtedly, with the face and figure of Apollo, the courtesy of Ches

answered, after a pause. For a moment she trembled upon the verge of

t situation of the Marsh house on the river shore, veered for a moment to the subject of good roads in France, came back to the blue reflection of the sky upon the smooth surfac

ust

d Alden, quietly, "that y

crimson with surprise and mortifica

ecidedly she didn't. I

y myself so comp

ou came, that I was surprised and not altogether pleased by the fac

o-I jus

were sitting on the window-seat, that I was w

just

it, ex

g have y

. Following his lead, she began to ask questions about the vineyard, and, when he told her he feared he knew very litt

ernoon

g to you?" he demanded,

it's your work, why not do it b

ternoon and they were driving east. Her answering smile gave him confidence, courage. Moreover, it challenged hi

aid, at length. "

wind-swept spaces, the steady aspiration of everything that lived, brought the colour to Edith's cheeks, the sparkle to her eyes, and minister

he white arms were bare to the elbow. The upper parts of the sleeves were made of black velvet ribbon, latticed into small diamond-shaped openings through which the

of For

nd, at times, Alden relapsed into long silences. Madame noted that they scarcely spoke to e

When Madame had won three games, in rapid succession, Edith said good-nigh

listened, but there was no sound. Not even the wind moving a shutter, nor a s

o a silence that was positive, rather than negative. The sense of foreboding

rious P

at. Was it Edith? Yes, that was it. She was awake, a

ver was wrong must eventually be made right. Why, from the crown of her beautiful head t

d awakened him, and had smiled at the knowledge. A sense of weariness qu

with his eyes closed, until he felt th