"Miss Burton took a long walk this afternoon,"he said,hastily,"and,I fear,went much beyond her strength.Perhaps she had better see you to-morrow.""Oh,certainly,certainly;I will remain,if there is need,"the gentleman began.
By a strong and evident effort Miss Burton regained self-control,and said,with a faint smile that played over her face a moment like a gleam of wintry sunshine:
"You strong men often call women weak,and we,too often,prove you right.As Mr.Van Berg suggests,I am a little overtaxed to-night.
Perhaps I had better see you in the morning.""I am a transient guest,and ought to be on my way with the first train,"said the gentleman."My errand is as brief as it is grateful to me.Do not leave,sir,"he said to Van Berg."If you are a friend of Miss Burton it will be pleasant for you to hear what I have to say;and,I warrant you that she will never tell you nor anyone else herself.""May I stay?"he asked.
She felt so weak and unnerved,so in need of a sustaining hand and mind that she looked at him appealingly,and said:
"Yes.This gentleman cannot disgrace me more than I have myself this evening.""Disgrace you!Miss Burton,"exclaimed the gentleman."Your name is a household word in our home,and our honor for it is only excelled by our love.You remember my invalid daughter,Emily Musgrave--our only and unfortunate child.She attended the college in which you are an instructress.Before she came under your influence her infirmities were crushing her spirit and embittering her life.So morbid was she becoming that she apparently began to hate her mother and myself as the authors of her wretched existence.
But by some divine magic you sweetened the bitter waters of her life,and now she is a fountain of joy in our home.In her behalf and her mother's,I thank you;and even more,if possible,in my own behalf,for the reproachful,averted face of my child was killing me;"and tears stood in the strong man's eyes.
There was nothing conventional in the way in which Jeannie Burton received his warm gratitude.She leaned wearily back in her chair,and for a moment closed her eyes.There was far more resignation than of pleasure in her face,and she had the air of one submitting to a fate which one could not and ought not to resist.
"Your three lives are much happier then?"she said,gently,as if wishing to hear the reassuring truth again.
"You do not realize your service to us,"said Mr.Musgrave,eagerly.
"Our lives were not happy at all.There seemed nothing before us but increasing pain.You have not added to a happiness already existing merely,but have caused us to exchange positive suffering for happiness.Emily seems to have learned the art of making every day of our lives a blessing,and she says you taught her how.Iwould go around the world to say to you,'God bless you for it!'""Such assurances ought to make one resigned,if not content,"she murmured in a low tone,as if half speaking to herself.Then rising,by an evident effort,she cordially gave her hand to Mr.
Musgrave,and said:
"You see,sir,that I am scarcely myself to-night.I think I could give you a better impression of your daughter's friend to-morrow.
Give her my sincere love and congratulations.She is evidently bearing her burden better than I mine.You cannot know how much good your words have done me to-night.I needed them,and they will help me for years to come."The gentleman's eyes grew moist again,and he said,huskily:
"I know you are rather alone in the world,but if it should ever happen that there is anything that I could do for you were I your father,call on John Musgrave.There,I cannot trust myself to speak to you any more,though I have so much to say.Good-night,and good-by;"and he made a very precipitate retreat,thoroughly overcome by his warm Southern heart.
"I dread to leave you looking so sad and ill,or else I would say good-night also,"said Van Berg.
She started as if she had half forgotten his presence,and kept her face averted as she replied:
"I will say good-night to you,Mr.Van Berg.I would prove poor company this evening.""Before you go I wish to thank you for letting me stay,"he said,hastily."As Mr.Musgrave asserted,you would indeed never have told me what I have heard,and yet I would not have missed hearing it for more than you will believe.How many lives have you blessed,Jennie Burton?""Not very many,I fear,but I half wish I knew.Each one would be like an argument.""Arguments that should prove that you ought to let the dead past bury its dead,and live in the richer present,"he said,earnestly.
"The richer present!"she repeated slowly,and her face grew almost stern in its reproach.
"Forgive me--in the present you so enrich,then,"he said,eagerly.
Again she averted her face,and he saw that for some reason she wished to avoid his eyes.
"I am too weak and unnerved to do more than say good-night again,"she said,trying to smile."You are fast learning that if you would be my friend you must be a patient and generous one.""Thank heaven I came to the Lake House!"ejaculated the artist as he strolled out into the star-light.Thank heaven for this mingling mystery and crystal purity.It does me good to trust her.There is a deep and abiding joy in the very generosity she inspires.Iam learning the spell under which Emily Musgrave came.But how strange it all is!She expected some one to-night,whom she would have welcomed as she never will me."The only rival I have to fear may not be dead,as I supposed,and yet my perverse heart is more full of pity for her than jealousy.I had no idea that I was capable of such self-abnegation.Has she the art of spiritual alchemy,and so can transmute natures full of alloy into fine gold?"Van Berg was an acute observer,and had large acquaintance with the world in which he lived,and its inhabitants.He was in the main,however,an unknown quantity to himself.