第125章 "The Garden of Eden."(1)

"Mr.Eltinge,"Ida asked,as they were about to part,"have I a right to the glad sense of escape and safety that has come so unexpectedly?""Your right,"he replied,"depends on the character of the Friend you have found.Do you think he is able and willing to keep his word?""Oh,Mr.Eltinge,how plain you make it all!""No,my dear;it was made plain centuries ago.You have as much right to your happy feelings as to the sunshine;but never put your feelings in the place of Christ,and trust in them.That's like putting faith in one's gratitude,instead of the friend whose services inspired the gratitude.But come again to-morrow,and we'll go on with the 'old,old story.'I've read it scores of times,but am enjoying it now with you more than ever.Good-by."As Ida drew near to the hotel,Stanton stepped from the roadside to meet her.

"Ida,"he said,"if you cannot forgive me (and perhaps you cannot),I'll leave to-morrow morning--and perhaps I had better any way.Ifear it was an evil day for us both when we came to this place.""I've thought so too,Cousin Ik,"she said kindly;"but I don't now.I'm glad I came here,though it has cost me a great deal of suffering and--and--may--but no matter.I was better and worse than you thought me.I must in sincerity say that it has been hard to forgive you,for your suspicion wounded me more deeply than you'll ever know.But my own need of forgiveness has taught me to forgive others;and I now see that I also have been very disagreeable to you,Ik.Let us exchange forgiveness and be friends.""Ida,what has come over you?You are no more like the girl that I brought to the country than I'm like the self-satisfied fool that accompanied you.""No,Ik,you are not a fool,and never were;but,like myself,you had a good deal of self-complacency,and not much cause for it.

Pardon me for speaking plainly,but after what has passed between us we can afford to be frank.You may not win Jennie Burton,but I believe she'll wake you up,and make a strong,genuine man of you.""Ida,"he said in a low tone,and with lips that quivered a little,"I'm not sorry that I love Jennie Burton,though in consequence Imay never see another happy day.But good-by;I'm too confoundedly blue to-day to speak to another mortal.It's a great relief,though,that you have forgiven me.I wouldn't if I had been in your place,and don't think I forgive myself because you have let me off so easily;"and he turned hastily away,and was soon lost to her view in the shrubbery by the roadside.

If Ida had puzzled Van Berg in the morning,he was still more perplexed in the evening.Slight traces of her deep emotion still lingered around her eyes,but in the eyes themselves there shone a light and hopefulness which he had never seen before,and which he could not interpret.Moreover,her face was growing so gentle and womanly,so free from the impress of all that had marred it heretofore,that he could not help stealing glances so often that were Jennie Burton of a jealous disposition she might think his interest not wholly artistic.Although there was much of the shrinking and retiring manner of the morning,and she did not join in the general conversation,all traces of resentment and coldness towards her companions had vanished.She was considerate and even kind to her mother,but in reply to her questions concerning the people she had visited,said gently but firmly:

"I will take you there some day,mother,and then you can judge for yourself."But with the exception of a promptness to check all reference to herself and the day's experiences,her manner was so different from what Mrs.Mayhew had been accustomed to,that she could not help turning many perplexed and curious glances toward her daughter,and was evidently no better able to understand the subtle and yet real change than was the artist himself.

Miss Burton,with her keen,delicate perceptions,recognized this difference more fully than any of the others;and her instinct,rather than anything she saw in Ida,enabled her to divine the cause in part."I know of but one thing that can account for Miss Mayhew's behavior,"she thought,"and though she guards her secret well,she cannot deceive a woman who has passed through my experience.

I begin to see it all.She used Sibley as a blind,and she was blind herself,poor child,when she did so,to everything save the one womanly necessity of hiding an unsought love.Well,well,my outspoken lover has eyes for her sweet,chastened beauty to-night.

Perhaps he thinks he is studying her face as an artist.Perhaps he is.But it strikes me that he has lost the critical and judicial expression which I have noticed hitherto,"and a glimmer of a smile that did not in the least suggest the "green-eyed monster"hovered for a moment like a ray of light over Jennie Burton's face.

"Mother,"said Ida,in a low,sympathetic tone,"I see one of your headaches coming on.Let me bathe your head after tea.""Ida,"whispered Mrs.Mayhew,"you are so changed I don't know you."The young girl flushed slightly,and by a quick,warning look checked all further remark of this tendency.