Hagar Page 9

  CHAPTER IX

  ROMEO AND JULIET

  That week a noted actress played Juliet several evenings in successionat the theatre in the neighbouring town. The ladies left adriftat Eglantine read in the morning paper a glowing report of theperformance. Miss Bedford said she was going; she never missed anopportunity to see "Romeo and Juliet."

  Mr. Laydon, walking in at that moment--they were all in the smallbook-room--caught the statement. "Why shouldn't you all go? I have seenher play it once, but I'd like to see it again." He laughed. "I feelreckless and I'm going to get up a theatre-party! Mrs. Lane, won't yougo?"

  Mrs. Lane shook her head. "My theatre days are over," she said in hergentle, plaintive voice. "Thank you just the same, Mr. Laydon. But theothers might like to go."

  "Miss Bedford--"

  "We ought," said Miss Bedford, "by rights to have Mrs. Lane to chaperonus, but it's Christmas, isn't it?--and everybody's a little mad! Thankyou, Mr. Laydon."

  Laydon looked at Francie. "Miss Smythe, won't you come, too?" He hadmade a rapid calculation. Yes, it would cost only so much,--they wouldgo in of course on the street car,--and in order to ask one he wouldhave to ask all.

  Yes, Francie would go, though she was sorry that it was Shakespeare,and just caught herself in time from saying so. "It will be lovely,"she said, instead, unemotionally.

  Miss Bedford supplied the lacking enthusiasm. "It will be the treatof the winter! Oh, the Balcony Scene, and where she drinks thesleeping-draught, and the tomb--" She moved nearer Laydon as shespoke and managed to convey to him, _sotto voce_, "You mustn't beextravagant, you generous man! Don't think that you have to ask thesegirls just because they are in the room." But she was too late; Laydonwas already asking.

  "Miss Goldwell, won't you come, too, to see 'Romeo and Juliet'?"

  If she didn't have a headache, Miss Goldwell would be glad to,--"Thankyou, Mr. Laydon."

  "Miss Ashendyne, won't you?"

  "Yes, thank you."

  "I will go at once," said Laydon, "and get the tickets."

  In the end, Lily Goldwell went, and Francie Smythe did not. Franciedeveloped a sore throat that put Mrs. Lane in terror of tonsillitis.Nothing must go wrong--nobody must get ill while dear Mrs. LeGrand wasaway!--it would be madness for Francie to go out. Where "what Mrs.LeGrand might think" came into it, Mrs. Lane was adamant. Franciesullenly stayed at home. Lily, for a marvel, didn't have a headache,and she said she would take her menthol pencil, in case the musicshould bring on one.

  The four walked down the avenue, beneath the whispering trees. Therewas no moon, but the stars shone bright, and it was not cold. Mr.Laydon and Miss Bedford went a little in front, and Lily and Hagarfollowed. They passed through the big gate and, walking down the roada little way, came to where the road became a street, and, at tenminutes' interval, a street-car jingled up, reversed, and jingled backto town again.

  On the street-car Miss Bedford and Mr. Laydon were again together, andLily and Hagar. Between the two pairs stretched a row of men, severalwith the evening newspaper. It was too warm in the car, and Lily,murmuring something, took out her menthol pencil. Hagar studied thescore of occupants, and the row of advertisements, and the dark nightwithout the windows. The man next her had a newspaper, and now he beganto talk to an older man beside him.

  "The country's doing pretty well, seems to me."

  The other grunted. "Isn't anything doing pretty well. I'm getting to bea Populist."

  "Oh, go away! Are you going to the World's Fair?"

  "No. There's going to be the biggest panic yet in this country aboutone year from now."

  "Oh, cheer up! You've been living on Homestead."

  "If I have, it's poor living."

  Across the aisle a woman was talking about the famine in Russia. "Weare going to try to get up a bazaar and make a little money to send toget food with. Tolstoy--"

  The horse-car jingled, jingled through the night. All the windowswere down; it grew hot and close and crowded. The black night withoutpressed alongside, peered through the clouded glass. Within were amuddy glare and swaying and the mingled breath of people.

  Lily sighed. "Don't you ever wish for just a clear Nothing? No pain,no feeling, no people, no light, no sound, no anything?"

  The street-car turned a corner and swayed and jingled into a lighted,business street, where were Christmas windows and upon the pavement aChristmas throng. A drug store--a wine and liquor store--a grocery--aclothing store--a wine and liquor store--a drug store; amber andcrimson, green and blue, broken and restless arrived the lights throughthe filmy glass. Laughter and voices of the crowd came with a distanthumming, through which clanged the street-car bell. The car stoppedfor passengers, then creaked on again. A workman entered, stood for acouple of minutes, touching Hagar's skirt, then, a man opposite risingand leaving the car, sank into the vacant place. Hagar's eyes swepthim dreamily; then, she knew not why, she fell to observing him witha puzzled, stealthy gaze. He was certainly young, and yet he did notlook so. The lower part of his face was covered by a short soft, darkbeard; he had a battered slouch hat pulled down low; the eyes beneathwere sombre and the face lined. There was a dinner pail at his feet.He, too, had an evening paper; Hagar saw the headlines of the piece hewas reading: "HOMESTEAD"; and underneath, "STRONG HAND OF THE LAW."Outside, topaz and ruby and emerald drifted by the windows of a wineand liquor store.

  She knit her brows. Some current in the shoreless sea of mind hadbeen started, but she could not trace its beginning nor where it led.Another minute and the car stopped before the theatre.

  Within, Laydon manoeuvred, and the end was that if he had Miss Bedfordupon his right, yet he had Hagar upon his left. The orchestra had notyet begun; the house was dim, people entering, those seated having tostand up to let the others pass. Once, when this happened, he leanedtoward her until their shoulders touched, until his breath was upon hercheek. He dared so much as to whisper, "If only we were here, just youand I, together!"

  Every one was seated now, and she looked at the people with theirfestal, Christmas air. There was a girl in a box who was like Sylvie,and nearer yet a grey-haired gentleman with a certain vague resemblanceto her grandfather. Her thought flashed across the dark country, upthe winding, amber-hued river to Gilead Balm. They would have had herletter yesterday. The shimmer and murmur of the filled theatre were allabout her, but so was Gilead Balm--she tried to hear what they wouldbe saying there to-night. The music began, and in a moment she was ina colourful dream. The curtain went up, and here was the hot, sunshinystreet of Verona and all the heady wine of youth and love.

  When the curtain fell and the lights brightened, Miss Bedford, afterfrantically applauding, claimed Laydon for her own. She had rapturesto impart, criticisms to exchange, knowledge to imbibe. Minutes passedere, during a momentary lapse into her programme, Laydon could bendtoward the lady on his left. Did she like it? What did she think ofJuliet?--What did she think of Romeo?--Was it not well-staged?

  Hagar did not know whether it were well staged or not. She was eighteenyears old; she had been very seldom to the theatre; she was movingthrough a dreamy paradise. She wanted just to sit still and bring itall back before the inner eye. Despite the fact that he was her lover,she was not sorry when Laydon must turn to the lady on his right. WhenLily spoke to her, she said, "Don't let's talk. Let's sit still and seeit all again." Lily agreed. She was no chatterbox herself. The musicplayed; the lights in the house were lowered; up, slowly, gently, wentthe curtain; here was the orchard of the Capulets.

  The great concave of the theatre was dim. Laydon's hand soughtHagar's, found it in the semi-darkness, held it throughout the act.She acquiesced; and yet--and yet--She did not wish him to fondle herhand, nor yet, as once or twice he did, to whisper to her. She wishedto listen, listen. She was in Verona, not here.

  The act closed. The lights went up, Laydon softly withdrew his hand. Heapplauded loudly, all the house applauded. Hagar hated the clapping,not experienced enough to know how breath-of-life it was
to the peoplebehind the curtain. Already the curtain was rising for Juliet to comeforth and bow, and then for Juliet to bring forth Romeo, and both tobow. Had she known, she would have applauded, too; she was a kindlychild. The curtain was down now, the house rustling. All around wastalking; people seemed never to wish to be quiet. Laydon was talking,too, answering Miss Bedford's artful-artless queries, embarking on acommentary upon act and actors. He talked with a conscious brillianceas became a professor of Belles-Lettres, more especially for Hagar'sdelight, but aware also that the people directly in front and behindwere listening. Was Hagar delighted? Very slowly and insidiously, likea slender serpent stealing into some Happy Valley, there came into herheart a distaste for commentaries. As the valley might be ignorant ofthe serpent, so neither did she know what was the matter; she was onlynot so mystically happy as she had been before.

  The orchestra came back, there was a murmur of expectation, Laydonceased to discourse of Bandello, and of Dante's reference to Montagueand Capulet. Lily, on the other side of Hagar, complained of the heatand the music. "I like stringed instruments, but those great brasshorns make the back of my head hurt so."

  Hagar touched her cold, little hand. "Poor Lily! I wish you didn't feelbadly all the time! I wish you liked the horns."

  The curtain rose, the play rolled on. Mercutio was slain,--Mercutio andTybalt,--Romeo was banished. The scene changed, and here was the greatwindow of Juliet's room--the rope ladder--the envious East.

  "_Night's candles are burned out and jocund day Stands tiptoe on the misty mountain-tops; I must be gone and live, or stay and die_--"

  Hagar sat, bent forward, her eyes dark and wide, the wine-red in hercheeks. When the curtain went down she did not move; Laydon, undercover of the loud applause, spoke to her twice before she attended. Hereyes came back from a long way off, her mind turned with difficulty."Yes? What is it?" Laydon was easily aggrieved. "You are thinking moreof this wretched play," he whispered, "than you are of me!"

  On rolled the swift events, gorgeous and swift as shadows. Thecurtain fell, the curtain rose. The potion was drunk--the wailingwas made--Balthasar rode to warn Romeo. There came the last act: thepoison--County Paris--the Tomb--

  "_Here will I set up my everlasting rest_--"

  It was over.... She helped Lily with her red evening cloak, she foundMiss Bedford's striped silk bag that Laydon could not find; they allpassed out of the house of enchantments. Here was the night, and thenight wind, and broken lights and carriages, and a clamour of voices,and at last the clanging street-car with a great freight of talkingpeople. She wanted to sit still and dream it over--and fortunatelyLaydon was again occupied with Miss Bedford.

  "You liked it, didn't you?" asked Lily. "I think that you like thingsthat you imagine better than you like things that you do."

  Hagar looked at her with eyes that were yet wide and fixed. "I don'tknow. If you could be and do all that you can imagine--but youcan't--you can't--" she smiled and rubbed her hand across her eyes--"and it's a tragedy."

  When they left the street-car and walked toward the Eglantine gates,it was drawing toward midnight. Laydon and Hagar now moved side byside through the darkness. Lily--who said that her head had ached verylittle, thank you!--exchanged comments on the play with Miss Bedford.

  Laydon held the gate open; then, closing it, fell a few feet behindwith Hagar. "You enjoyed it?"

  "Oh--"

  He was again in love. "The plays we'll see together, darling, darling!'Two souls with but a single thought--'"

  "There is no need to walk so fast," said Miss Bedford. "Oh, Mr. Laydon,a briar has caught my skirt--Will you--? Oh, thank you!"

  The house showed before them. "The parlour windows are lighted," saidLily. "Mrs. Lane must have company."

  Mrs. Lane did have company. She herself opened the front door to them.Mrs. Lane's eyes were red, and she looked frightened. "Wait," she said,and got between the little group and the parlour door. "Lily, you hadbest go straight upstairs, my dear! Miss Bedford, will you please waithere with me just a minute? Mr. Laydon, Mrs. LeGrand says will you comeinto the parlour? Hagar, you are to go, too. Your grandfather is here."

  Colonel Ashendyne stood between the table and the fire. Mrs. LeGrandwas seated upon the sofa, which meant that she sat in state. Mrs. Lane,who came presently stealing in again, sat back from the centre in ameek, small chair, and at intervals wiped her eyes. The culprits stood.

  Colonel Argall Ashendyne never lacked words with which to express hismeaning--words that bit. Now his well-cut lips opened, and out therecame like a scimitar his part of the ensuing conversation.

  "Hagar, your letter was read yesterday evening. I immediatelytelegraphed to Mrs. LeGrand at Idlewood, and she obligingly took thismorning's boat. I myself came down on the afternoon train, and got heretwo hours ago. Now, sir--" he turned on Laydon--"what have you got tosay for yourself?"

  "I--I--" began Laydon. He drew a breath and his spine stiffened. "Ihave to say, sir, that I love your granddaughter, and that I have askedher to marry me."

  Mrs. LeGrand, while the colonel's hawk eye dwelt witheringly, spokefrom the sofa. "I have no words, Mr. Laydon, in which to expressmy disapproval of your action, or my disappointment in one whom Ihad supposed a gentleman. In my absence you have chosen to abuse myconfidence and to do a most dishonourable and ungentlemanly thing--athing which, were it known, might easily bring disrepute uponEglantine. You will understand, of course, that it terminates yourconnection with this school--"

  "Mrs. LeGrand," said Laydon, "I have done nothing dishonourable."

  "You have taken advantage of my absence, sir, to make love to one of mypupils--"

  "To an inexperienced child, sir," said the Colonel;--"too young to knowbetter or to tell pinchbeck when she sees it! You should be caned."

  "Colonel Ashendyne, if you were a younger man--"

  "Bah!" said the Colonel. "I am younger now and more real thanyou!--Hagar!"

  "Yes, grandfather."

  "Come here!"

  Hagar came. The Colonel laid his hands upon her shoulders, a littleroughly, but not too roughly. The two looked each other in the eyes.He was tall and she but of medium height, she was young and he was herelder, he was ancestor and she descendant, he was her supporter and shehis dependant, he was grandfather and she was grandchild. Gilead Balmhad always inculcated reverence for dominant kin and family authority.It had been Gilead Balm's grievance, long ago, against her motherthat she recognized that so poorly.... But Hagar had always seemed torecognize it. "Gipsy," said the Colonel now, "I am not going to behard upon you. It's the nature of the young to be foolish, and a younggirl may be pardoned anything short of the irrecoverable. All that Iwant you to do is to see that you have been very foolish and to say asmuch to this--this gentleman. Simply turn round and say to him 'Mr.--'What's his name?--Layton?"

  "I wrote to you day before yesterday, Colonel Ashendyne," said Laydon."You saw my name there--"

  "I never got your letter, sir! I got hers.--Hagar! say after me to thisgentleman, 'Sir, I was mistaken in my sentiment toward you, and I hereand now release you from any fancied engagement between us.'--Say it!"

  As he spoke, he wheeled her so that she faced Laydon. She stood, ascarlet in her cheeks, her eyes dark, deep, and angry. "Hagar!" criedLaydon, maddened, too, "are you going to say that?"

  "No," answered Hagar. "No, I am not going to say it! I have donenothing wrong nor underhand, and neither have you! Mrs. LeGrand knewthat you were coming here, in the evening, to read to us. Why shouldn'tyou come? Well, one evening you were reading and I was listening, andI was not thinking of you and you were not thinking of me. And then,suddenly, something--Love--came into this room and took us prisoner. Wedid not ask him here, we did not know anything.... But when it happenedwe knew it, and next morning, out in the open air, we told each otherabout it. Nothing could have kept us from doing that, and nothing hada right to keep us from it! Nothing!--And that very night I wrote toyou, grandfather--and he wrote.... If I am mistaken
I am mistaken, butI will find it out for myself!" She twisted herself in the Colonel'sgrasp until she faced him. "You say that you are real--Well, I am realtoo! I am as real as you are!"

  The Colonel's fine, bony hands closed upon her shoulders until shecaught her breath with the pain. The water rushed to her eyes, butshe kept it from over-brimming. "Don't cry!" said a voice within her."Whatever you do, don't cry!" It was like her mother's voice, and sheanswered instantly. Colonel Ashendyne, his lips white beneath his greymustache, shook her violently, so violently that, pushed from herfooting, she stumbled and sank to her knee.

  Laydon came up with clenched fists and the colour gone from his face."Let her go, damn you!--"

  Mrs. Lane uttered a faint cry and Mrs. LeGrand rose from the sofa.