E-text prepared by Roger Frank
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“Good-bye, Baltie, dear”

Three Little Women, A Story for Girls

Gabrielle E. Jackson

1913

CONTENTS

[CHAPTER I—The Carruths]

The afternoon was a wild one. All day driving sheets of rain had swept along the streets of Riveredge, hurled against windowpanes by fierce gusts of wind, or dashed in miniature rivers across piazzas. At noon it seemed as though the wind meant to change to the westward and the clouds break, but the promise of better weather had failed, and although the rain now fell only fitfully in drenching showers, and one could “run between the drops” the wind still blustered and fumed, tossing the wayfarers about, and tearing from the trees what foliage the rain had spared, to hurl it to the ground in sodden masses. It was more like a late November than a late September day, and had a depressing effect upon everybody.

“I want to go out; I want to go out; I want to go out, out, OUT!” cried little Jean Carruth, pressing her face against the window-pane until from the outside her nose appeared like a bit of white paper stuck fast to the glass.

“If you do you’ll get wet, wet, WET, as sop, sop, SOP, and then mother’ll ask what we were about to let you,” said a laughing voice from the farther side of the room, where Constance, her sister, nearly five years her senior, was busily engaged in trimming a hat, holding it from her to get the effect of a fascinating bow she had just pinned upon one side.

“But I haven’t a single thing to do. All my lessons for Monday are finished; I’m tired of stories; I’m tired of fancy work, and I’m tired of—everything and I want to go out,” ended the woe-begone voice in rapid crescendo.

“Do you think it would hurt her to go, Eleanor?” asked Constance, turning toward a girl who sat at a pretty desk, her elbows resting upon it and her hands propping her chin as she pored over a copy of the French Revolution, but who failed to take the least notice of the question.

Constance made a funny face and repeated it. She might as well have kept silent for all the impression it made, and with a resigned nod toward Jean she resumed her millinery work.

But too much depended upon the reply for Jean Carruth to accept the situation so mildly. Murmuring softly, “You wait a minute,” she slipped noiselessly across the room and out into the broad hall beyond. Upon a deep window-seat stood a papier-mâché megaphone. Placing it to her lips, her eyes dancing with mischief above its rim, she bellowed:

“Eleanor Maxwell Carruth, do you think it would hurt me to go out now?”

The effect was electrical. Bounding from her chair with sufficient alacrity to send the French Revolution crashing upon the floor, Eleanor Carruth clapped both hands over her ears, as she cried:

“Jean, you little imp of mischief!”

“Well, I wanted to make you hear me,” answered that young lady complacently. “Constance had spoken to you twice but you’d gone to France and couldn’t hear her, so I thought maybe the megaphone would reach across the Atlantic Ocean, and it did. Now can I go out?”

“Can you or may you? which do you mean,” asked the eldest sister somewhat sententiously.

Constance laughed softly in her corner.

“O, fiddlesticks on your old English! I get enough of it five days in a week without having to take a dose of it Saturday afternoon too. I know well enough that I can go out, but whether you’ll say yes is another question, and I want to,” and Jean puckered up her small pug-nose at her sister.

“What a spunky little body it is,” said the latter, laughing in spite of herself, for Jean, the ten-year-old baby of the family was already proving that she was likely to be a very lively offspring of the Carruth stock.

“And where are you minded to stroll on this charming afternoon when everybody else is glad to sit in a snug room and take a Saturday rest?”

“Mother isn’t taking hers,” was the prompt retort. “She’s down helping pack the boxes that are to go to that girls’ college out in Iowa. She went in all the rain right after luncheon, and I guess if she can go out while it poured ‘cats and dogs,’ I can when—when—when—well it doesn’t even pour cats. It’s almost stopped raining.”

“Where do you get hold of those awful expressions, Jean? Whoever heard of ‘cats and dogs’ pouring down? What am I to do with you? I declare I feel responsible for your development and—”

“Then let me go out. I need some fresh air to develop in: my lungs don’t pump worth a cent in this stuffy place. It’s hot enough to roast a pig with those logs blazing in the fire-place. I don’t see how you stand it.”

“Go get your rubber boots and rain coat,” said Eleanor resignedly. “You’re half duck, I firmly believe, and never so happy as when you’re splashing through puddles. Thank goodness your skirts are still short, and you can’t very well get them sloppy; and your boots will keep your legs dry unless you try wading up to your hips. But where are you going?”

“I’m going down to Amy Fletcher’s to see how Bunny is. He got hurt yesterday and it’s made him dreadfully sick,” answered Jean, as she struggled with her rubber boots, growing red in the face as she tugged at them. In five minutes she was equipped to do battle with almost any storm, and with a “Good bye! I’ll be back pretty soon, and then I’ll have enough fresh air to keep me in fine shape for the night,” out she flew, banging the front door behind her.

Eleanor watched the lively little figure as it went skipping down the street, a street which was always called a beautiful one, although now wet and sodden with the rain, for Mr. Carruth had built his home in a most attractive part of the delightful town of Riveredge. Maybe you won’t find it on the map by that name, but it’s there just the same, and quite as attractive to-day as it was several years ago.

Bernard Carruth had been a man of refined taste and possessed a keen appreciation of all that was beautiful, so it was not surprising that he should have chosen Riveredge when deciding upon a place for his home. Situated as it was on the banks of the splendid stream which had suggested its name, the town boasted unusual attractions, and drew to it an element which soon assured its development in the most satisfactory manner. It became noted for its beautiful homes, its cultured people and its delightful social life.

Among the prettiest of its homes was Bernard Carruth’s. It stood but a short way from the river’s bank, was built almost entirely of cobble-stones, oiled shingles being used where the stones were not practicable.

It was made up of quaint turns and unexpected corners, although not a single inch of space, or the shape of a room was sacrificed to the oddity of the architecture. It was not a very large house nor yet a very small one, but as Mr. Carruth said when all was completed, the house sensibly and artistically furnished, and his family comfortably installed therein:

“It is big enough for the big girl, our three little girls and their old daddy, and so what more can be asked? Only that the good Lord will spare us to each other to enjoy it.”

This was when Jean was but a little more than two years of age, and for five years they did enjoy it as only a closely united family can enjoy a charming home. Then one of Mr. Carruth’s college chums got into serious financial difficulties and Bernard Carruth indorsed heavily for him.

The sequel was the same wretched old story repeated: Ruin overtook the friend, and Bernard Carruth’s substance was swept into the maelstrom which swallowed up everything. He never recovered from the blow, or false representations which led to it, learning unhappily, when the mischief was done, how sorely he had been betrayed, and within eighteen months from the date of indorsing his friend’s paper he was laid away in pretty Brookside Cemetery, leaving his wife and three daughters to face the world upon a very limited income. This was a little more than two years before the opening of this story. Little Jean was now ten and a half, Constance fifteen and Eleanor, the eldest, nearly seventeen, although many judged her to be older, owing to her quiet, reserved manner and studious habits, for Eleanor was, undoubtedly, “the brainy member of the family,” as Constance put it.

She was a pupil in the Riveredge Seminary, and would graduate the following June; a privilege made possible by an aunt’s generosity, since Mrs. Carruth had been left with little more than her home, which Mr. Carruth had given her as soon as it was completed, and the interest upon his life insurance which amounted to less than fifteen hundred a year; a small sum upon which to keep up the home, provide for and educate three daughters.

Constance was now a pupil at the Riveredge High School and Jean at the grammar school. Both had been seminary pupils prior to Mr. Carruth’s death, but expenses had to be curtailed at once.

Constance was the domestic body of the household; prettiest of the three, sunshiny, happy, resourceful, she faced the family’s altered position bravely, giving up the advantages and delights of the seminary without a murmur and contributing to her mother’s peace of mind to a degree she little guessed by taking the most optimistic view of the situation and meeting altered conditions with a laugh and a song, and the assurance that “some day she was going to make her fortune and set ’em all up in fine shape once more.” She got her sanguine disposition from her mother who never looked upon the dull side of the clouds, although it was often a hard matter to win around to their shiny side.

Eleanor was quite unlike her; indeed, Eleanor did not resemble either her father or mother, for Mr. Carruth had been a most genial, warm-hearted man, and unselfish to the last degree. Eleanor was very reserved, inclined to keep her affairs to herself, and extremely matured for her years, finding her relaxation and recreation in a manner which the average girl of her age would have considered tasks.

Jean was a bunch of nervous impulses, and no one ever knew where the madcap would bounce up next. She was a beautiful child with a mop of wavy reddish-brown hair falling in the softest curls about face and shoulders; eyes that shone lustrous and lambent as twin stars beneath their delicately arched brows, and regarded you with a steadfast interest as though they meant to look straight through you, and separate truth from falsehood. A mouth that was a whimsical combination of fun and resolution. A nose that could pucker disdainfully on provocation, and it never needed a greater than its owner’s doubt of the sincerity of the person addressing her.

This is the small person skipping along the pretty Riveredge street toward the more sparsely settled northern end of the town, hopping not from dry spot to dry spot between the puddles, but into and into the deepest to be found. Amy Fletcher’s home was one of the largest in the outskirts of Riveredge and its grounds the most beautiful. Between it and Riveredge stood an old stone house owned and occupied by a family named Raulsbury; a family noted for its parsimony and narrow outlook upon life in general. Broad open fields lay between this house and the Fletcher place which was some distance beyond. In many places the fences were broken; at one point the field was a good deal higher than the road it bordered and a deep gully lay between it and the sidewalk.

When Jean reached that point of her moist, breezy walk she stopped short. In the mud of the gully, drenched, cold and shivering lay an old, blind bay horse. He had stumbled into it, and was too feeble to get out.

[CHAPTER II—“Baltie”]

“When he’s forsaken
Withered and shaken
What can an old horse
Do but die?”

(With apologies to Tom Hood.)

For one moment Jean stood petrified, too overcome by the sight to stir or speak, then with a low, pitying cry of:

“Oh, Baltie, Baltie! How came you there?” the child tossed her umbrella aside and scrambled down into the ditch, the water which stood in it splashing and flying all over her, as she hastened toward the prone horse.

At the sound of her voice the poor creature raised his head which had been drooping forward upon his bent-up knees, turned his sightless eyes toward her and tried to nicker, but succeeded only in making a quavering, shivering sound.

“Oh, Baltie, dear, dear Baltie, how did you get out of your stable and come way off here?” cried the girl taking the pathetic old head into her arms, and drawing it to her breast regardless of the mud with which it was thickly plastered. “You got out of the field through that broken place in the fence up there didn’t you dear? And you must have tumbled right straight down the bank into this ditch, ’cause you’re all splashed over with mud, poor, poor Baltie. And your legs are all cut and bleeding too. Oh, how long have you been here? You couldn’t see where you were going, could you? You poor, dear thing. Oh, what shall I do for you? What shall I? If I could only help you up,” and the dauntless little body tugged with all her might and main to raise the fallen animal. She might as well have striven to raise Gibraltar, for, even though the horse strove to get upon his feet, he was far too weak and exhausted to do so, and again dropped heavily to the ground, nearly over-setting his intrepid little friend as he sank down.

Jean was in despair. What should she do? To go on to her friend Amy’s and leave the old horse to the chance of someone else’s tender mercies never entered her head, and had any one been near at hand to suggest that solution of the problem he would have promptly found himself in the midst of a small tornado of righteous wrath. No, here lay misery incarnate right before her eyes and, of course, she must instantly set about relieving it. But how?

“Baltie,” or Old Baltimore, as the horse was called, belonged to the Raulsbury’s. Everybody within a radius of twenty miles knew him; knew also that the family had brought him to the place when they came there from the suburbs of Baltimore more than twenty years ago. Brought him a high-stepping, fiery, thoroughbred colt which was the admiration and envy of all Riveredge. John Raulsbury, the grandfather, was his owner then, and drove him until his death, when “Baltimore” was seventeen years old; even that was an advanced age for a horse. From the moment of Grandfather Raulsbury’s death Baltimore began to fail and lose his high spirits. Some people insisted that he was grieving for the friend of his colt-hood and the heyday of life, but Jabe Raulsbury, the son, said “the horse was gettin’ played out. What could ye expect when he was more’n seventeen years old?”

So Baltimore became “Old Baltie,” and his fate the plow, the dirt cart, the farm wagon. His box-stall, fine grooming, and fine harness were things of the past. “The barn shed’s good ’nough fer such an old skate’s he’s gettin’ ter be,” said Jabe, and Jabe’s son, a shiftless nonentity, agreed with him.

So that was blue-blooded Baltie’s fate, but even such misfortune failed to break his spirit, and now and again, while plodding hopelessly along the road, dragging the heavy farm wagon, he would raise his head, prick up his ears, and plunge ahead, forgetful of his twenty years, when he heard a speedy step behind him. But, alas! his sudden sprint always came to a most humiliating end, for his strength had failed rapidly during the past few years, and the eyes, once so alert and full of fire, were sadly clouded, making steps very uncertain. An ugly stumble usually ended in a cruel jerk upon the still sensitive mouth and poor old Baltie was reduced to the humiliating plod once more.

Yet, through it all he retained his sweet, high-bred disposition, accepting his altered circumstances like the gentleman he was, and never retaliating upon those who so misused him. During his twenty-third year he became totally blind, and when rheumatism, the outcome of the lack of proper stabling and care, added to his miseries, poor Baltie was almost turned adrift; the shed was there, to be sure, and when he had time to think about it, Jabe dumped some feed into the manger and threw a bundle of straw upon the floor. But for the greater part of the time Baltie had to shift for himself as best he could.

During the past summer he had been the talk of an indignant town, and more than one threatening word had been spoken regarding the man’s treatment of the poor old horse.

For a moment the little girl stood in deep, perplexing thought, then suddenly her face lighted up and her expressive eyes sparkled with the thoughts which lay behind them.

“I know what I’ll do, Baltie: I’ll go straight up to Jabe Raulsbury’s and make him come down and take care of you. Good-bye, dear; I won’t be any time at all ’cause I’ll go right across the fields,” and giving the horse a final encouraging stroke, she caught up her umbrella which had meantime been resting handle uppermost up in a mud-puddle, and scrambling up the bank which had been poor Baltie’s undoing, disappeared beneath the tumble-down fence and was off across the pasture heedless of all obstacles.

Jabe Raulsbury’s farm had once been part of Riveredge, but one by one his broad acres had been sold so that now only a small section of the original farmstead remained to him, and this was a constant eyesore to his neighbors, owing to its neglected condition, for beautiful homes had been erected all about it upon the acres he had sold at such a large profit. Several good offers had been made him for his property by those who would gladly have bought the land simply to have improved their own places and thus add to the attraction of that section of Riveredge. But no; not another foot of his farm would Jabe Raulsbury sell, and if ever dog-in-the-manger was fully demonstrated it was by this parsimonious irascible man whom no one respected and many heartily despised.

This wild, wet afternoon he was seated upon a stool just within the shelter of his barn sorting over a pile of turnips which lay upon the floor near him. He was not an attractive figure, to say the least, as he bent over the work. Cadaverous, simply because he was too parsimonious to provide sufficient nourishing food to meet the demands of such a huge body. Unkempt, grizzled auburn hair and grizzled auburn beard, the latter sparse enough to disclose the sinister mouth. Eyes about the color of green gooseberries and with about as much expression.

As he sat there tossing into the baskets before him the sorted-out turnips, he became aware of rapidly approaching footsteps, and raised his head just as a small figure came hurrying around the corner of the barn, for the scramble up the steep bank, and rapid walk across the wet pastures, had set Jean’s heart a-beating, and that, coupled with her indignation, caused her to pant. She had gone first to the house, but had there learned from Mrs. Raulsbury, a timid, nervous, woefully-dominated individual, who looked and acted as though she scarcely dared call her soul her own, that “Jabe was down yonder in the far-barn sortin’ turnips.” So down to the “far-barn” went Jean.

“Good afternoon, Mr. Raulsbury,” she began, her heart, it must be confessed, adding, rather than lessening its number of beats, at confronting the forbidding expression of the individual with whom she was passing the time of day.

“Huh!” grunted Jabe Raulsbury, giving her one searching look from between his narrowing eyelids, and then resuming his work. Most children would have been discouraged and dropped the conversation then and there. Jean’s lips took on a firmer curve.

“I guess after all it isn’t a good afternoon, is it? It is a pretty wet, horrid one, and not a very nice one to be out in, is it?”

“Wul, why don’t ye go home then?” was the gruff retort.

“Because I have an important matter to ’tend to. I was on my way to visit Amy Fletcher; her cat is sick! he was hurt dreadfully yesterday; she thinks somebody must have tried to shoot him and missed him, for his shoulder is all torn. If anybody did do such a thing to Bunny they’d ought to be ashamed of it, for he’s a dear. If I knew who had done it I’d—I’d—.”

“Wal, what would ye do to ’em, heh?” and a wicked, tantalizing grin overspread Jabe Raulsbury’s face.

“Do? Do? I believe I’d scratch his eyes out; I’d hate him so, for being so cruel!” was the fiery, unexpected reply.

“Do tell! Would ye now, really? Mebbe it’s jist as well fer him that ye don’t know the feller that did it then,” remarked Raulsbury, although he gave a slight hitch to the stool upon which he was sitting as he said it, thus widening the space between them.

“Well I believe I would, for I despise a coward, and only a coward could do such a thing.”

“Huh,” was the response to this statement. Then silence for a moment was broken by the man who asked:

“Wal, why don’t ye go along an’ see if the cat’s kilt. It aint here.”

“No, I know that, but I have found something more important to ’tend to, and that’s why I came up here, and it’s something you ought to know about too: Old Baltie has tumbled down the bank at the place in the pasture where the fence is broken, and is in the ditch. I don’t know how long he’s been there, but he’s all wet, and muddy and shivery and he can’t get up. I came up to tell you, so’s you could get a man to help you and go right down and get him out. I tried, but I wasn’t strong enough, but he’ll die if you don’t go quick.”

Jean’s eyes shone and her cheeks were flushed from excitement as she described Baltie’s plight, and paused only because breath failed her.

“Wal, ’spose he does; what then? What good is he to anybody? He’s most twenty-five year old an’ clear played-out. He’d better die; it’s the best thing could happen.”

The shifty eyes had not rested upon the child while the man was speaking, but some powerful magnetism drew and held them to her deep blazing ones as the last word fell from his lips. He tried to withdraw them, ejected a mouthful of tobacco juice at one particular spot which from appearances had been so favored many times before, drew his hand across his mouth and then gave a self-conscious, snickering laugh.

“I don’t believe you understood what I said, did you?” asked Jean quietly. “I’m sure you didn’t.”

“Oh yis I did. Ye said old Baltie was down in the ditch yonder and like ter die if I didn’t git him out. Wal, that’s jist ’zactly what I want him to do, an’ jest ’zactly what I turned him out inter that field fer him ter do, an’ jist ’zactly what I hope he will do ’fore morning. He’s got the last ounce o’ fodder I’m ever a’goin’ ter give him, an’ I aint never a’goin’ ter let him inter my barns agin. Now put that in yer pipe an’ smoke it, an’ then git out durned quick.”

Jabe Raulsbury had partially risen from his stool as he concluded this creditable tirade, and one hand was raised threateningly toward the little figure standing with her dripping umbrella just within the threshold of the barn door.

That the burly figure did not rise entirely, and that his hand remained suspended without the threatened blow falling can perhaps best be explained by the fact that the child before him never flinched, and that the scorn upon her face was so intense that it could be felt.

[CHAPTER III—The Spirit of Mad Anthony]

Jean Carruth stood thus for about one minute absolutely rigid, her face the color of chalk and her eyes blazing. Then several things happened with extreme expedition. The position of the closed umbrella in her hands reversed with lightning-like rapidity; one quick step forward, not backward, was made, thus giving the intrepid little body a firmer foothold, and then crash! down came the gun-metal handle across Jabe Raulsbury’s ample-sized nasal appendage.

The blow, with such small arms to launch it, was not of necessity a very powerful one, but it was the suddenness of the onslaught which rendered it effective, for not one sound had issued from the child’s set lips as she delivered it, and Jabe’s position placed him at a decided disadvantage.

He resumed his seat with considerable emphasis, and clapping his hand to his injured feature, bellowed in the voice of an injured bull:

“You—you—you little devil! You—you, let me get hold of you!”

But Jean did not obey the command or pause to learn the result of her deed. With a storm of the wildest sobs she turned and fled from the barnyard, down the driveway leading to the road, and back to the spot where she had left Baltie in his misery, her tears nearly blinding her, and her indignation almost strangling her; back to the poor old horse, so sorely in need of human pity and aid.

This, all unknown to his little champion, had already reached him, for hardly had Jean disappeared beneath the tumble-down fence, than a vehicle came bowling along the highway driven by no less a personage than Hadyn Stuyvesant, lately elected president of the local branch of the S. P. C. A. Poor old Baltie’s days of misery had come to an end, for here was the authority either to compel his care or to mercifully release him from his sufferings.

Perhaps not more than twenty minutes had elapsed from the time Jean started across the fields, to the moment of her return to the old horse, but in those twenty minutes Mr. Stuyvesant had secured aid from Mr. Fletcher’s place, and when Jean came hurrying upon the scene, her sobs still rendering breathing difficult, and her troubled little face bathed in tears, she found three men standing near Baltie.

“Oh, Baltie, Baltie, Baltie, I’m so glad! So glad! So glad!” sobbed the overwrought little girl, as she flew to the old horse’s head.

Mr. Stuyvesant and the men stared at her in astonishment.

“Why little girl,” cried the former. “Where in this world have you sprung from? And what is the matter? Is this your horse?”

“Oh, no—no; he isn’t mine. It’s old Baltie; don’t you know him? I went to tell Jabe Raulsbury about him and he—he—” and Jean paused embarrassed.

“Yes? Well? Is this his horse? Is he coming to get him? Did you find him?”

“Yes, sir, I found him,” answered Jean, trembling from excitement and her exertions.

“And is he coming right down?” persisted Mr. Stuyvesant, looking keenly, although not unkindly, at the child.

“He—he—, oh, please don’t make me tell tales on anybody—it’s so mean—but he—”

“You might as well tell it right out an’ done with it, little gal,” broke in one of the men. “It ain’t no state secret; everybody knows that that old skinflint has been abusing this horse shameful, for months past, an’ I’ll bet my month’s wages he said he wouldn’t come down, an’ he hoped the horse ’d die in the ditch. Come now, out with it—didn’t he?”

Jean would not answer, but there was no need for words; her eyes told the truth.

Just then the other man came up to her; he was one of Mr. Fletcher’s grooms.

“Aren’t you Mrs. Carruth’s little girl?” he asked.

But before Jean had time to answer Jabe Raulsbury came running along the road, one hand holding a handkerchief to his nose, the other waving wildly as he shouted:

“Just you wait ’till I lay my hands on you—you little wild cat!” He was too blinded by his rage to realize the situation into which he was hurrying.

Again Anthony Wayne’s spirit leaped into Jean’s eyes, as the dauntless little creature whirled about to meet the enemy descending upon her. With head erect, and nostrils quivering she stood as though rooted to the ground.

“Great guns! How’s that for a little thoroughbred?” murmured the groom, laughing softly.

Reaching out a protecting hand, Mr. Stuyvesant gently pushed the little girl toward the man who stood behind him, and taking her place let Jabe Raulsbury come head-on to his fate. Had the man been less enraged he would have taken in the situation at once, but his nose still pained severely from the well-aimed blow, and had also bled pretty freely, so it is not surprising that he lost his presence of mind.

“Go slow! Go slow! You are exactly the man I want to see,” said Mr. Stuyvesant, laying a detaining hand upon Jabe’s arm.

“Who ’n thunder air you?” demanded the half-blinded man.

“Someone you would probably rather not meet at this moment, but since you have appeared upon the scene so opportunely I think we might as well come to an understanding at once, and settle some scores.”

“I ain’t got no scores to settle with you, but I have with that little demon, an’ by gosh she’ll know it, when I’ve done with her! Why that young ’un has just smashed me over the head with her umbril, I tell ye. There it is, if ye don’t believe what I’m a tellin’ ye. I’m goin’ ter have the law on her and on her Ma, I tell ye, an’ I call you three men ter witness the state I’m in. I’ll bring suit agin’ her fer big damages—that’s what I’ll do. Look at my nose!”

As he ceased his tirade Jabe removed his handkerchief from the injured member. At the sight of it one of the men broke into a loud guffaw. Certainly, for a “weaker vessel” Jean had compassed considerable. That nose was about the size of two ordinary noses. Mr. Stuyvesant regarded it for a moment, his face perfectly sober, then asked with apparent concern:

“And this little girl hit you such a blow as that?”

Poor little Jean began to tremble in her boots. Were the tables about to turn upon her? Even Anthony Wayne’s spirit, when harbored in such a tiny body could hardly brave that. The Fletcher’s groom who stood just behind her watched her closely. Now and again he gave a nod indicative of his approval.

“Yes she did. She drew off and struck me slam in the face with her umbril.,” averred Jabe.

“Had you struck her? Did she strike in self-defense?” Mr. Stuyvesant gave a significant look over Jabe’s head straight into the groom’s eyes when he asked this question. The response was the slightest nod of comprehension.

“Strike her? No,” roared Jabe. “I hadn’t teched her. I was a-sittin’ there sortin’ out my turnips ’s peaceful ’s any man in this town, when that little rip comes ’long and tells me I must go get an old horse out ’en a ditch: that old skate there that’s boun’ ter die any how, an’ ought ter a-died long ago. I told her ter clear out an’ mind her own business that I hoped the horse would die, an’ that’s what I’d turned him out to do. Then she drew off an’ whacked me.”

“Just because you stated in just so many words that you meant to get rid of the old horse and had turned him out to die on the roadside. Is that why she struck you?”

Had Jabe been a little calmer he might have been aware of a change in Hadyn Stuyvesant’s expression and his tone of voice, but men wild with rage are rarely close observers.

“Yis! Yis!” he snapped, sure now of his triumph.

“Well I’m only sorry the blow was such a light one. I wish it had been struck by a man’s arm and sufficiently powerful to have half killed you! Even that would have been too good for you, you merciless brute! I’ve had you under my eye for your treatment of that poor horse for some time, and now I have you under my hand, and convicted by your own words in the presence of two witnesses, of absolute cruelty. I arrest you in the name of the S. P. C. A.”

For one brief moment Jabe stood petrified with astonishment. Then the brute in him broke loose and he started to lay about him right and left. His aggressiveness was brought to a speedy termination, for at a slight motion from Mr. Stuyvesant the two men sprang upon him, his arms were held and the next second there was a slight click and Jabe Raulsbury’s wrists were in handcuffs. That snap was the signal for his blustering to take flight for he was an arrant coward at heart.

“Now step into my wagon and sit there until I am ready to settle your case, my man, and that will be when I have looked to this little girl and the animal which, but for her pluck and courage, might have died in this ditch,” ordered Mr. Stuyvesant.

No whipped cur could have slunk toward the wagon more cowed.

“Now, little lassie, tell me your name and where you live,” said Mr. Stuyvesant lifting Jean bodily into his arms despite her mortification at being “handled just like a baby,” as she afterwards expressed it.

“I am Jean Carruth. I live on Linden Avenue. I’m—I’m terribly ashamed to be here, and to have struck him,” and she nodded toward the humbled figure in the wagon.

“You need not be. You did not give him one-half he deserves,” was the somewhat comforting assurance.

“O, but what will mother say? She’ll be so mortified when I tell her about it all. It seems as if I just couldn’t,” was the distressed reply.

“Must you tell her?” asked Mr. Stuyvesant, an odd expression overspreading his kind, strong face as he looked into the little girl’s eyes.

Jean regarded him with undisguised amazement as she answered simply:

“Why of course! That would be deceit if I didn’t. I’ll have to be punished, but I guess I ought to be,” was the naïve conclusion.

The fine face before her was transfigured as Hadyn Stuyvesant answered:

“Good! Your principles are all right. Stick to them and I’ll want to know you when you are a woman. Now I must get you home for I’ve a word to say to your mother, to whom I mean to introduce myself under the circumstances,” and carrying her to his two-seated depot wagon, he placed her upon the front seat. Jabe glowered at him from the rear one. His horse turned his head with an inquiring nicker.

“Yes, Comet, I’ll be ready pretty soon,” he replied, pausing a second to give a stroke to the satiny neck. Then turning to the men he said:

“Now, my men, let’s on with this job which has been delayed too long already.”

He did not spare himself, and presently old Baltie was out of the ditch and upon his feet—a sufficiently pathetic object to touch any heart.

“Shall I have the men lead him up to your barn?” asked Hadyn Stuyvesant, giving the surly object in his wagon a last chance to redeem himself.

“No! I’m done with him; do your worst,” was the gruff answer.

“Very well,” the words were ominously quiet, “then I shall take him in charge.”

“Oh, where are you going to take him, please?” asked Jean, her concern for the horse overcoming her embarrassment at her novel situation.

“I’m afraid he will have to be sent to the pound, little one, for no one will claim him.”

“Is that the place where they kill them? Must Baltie be killed?” Her voice was full of tears.

“Unless someone can be found who will care for him for the rest of his numbered days. I’m afraid it is the best and most merciful fate for him,” was the gentle answer.

“How long may he stay there without being killed? Until maybe somebody can be found to take him.”

“He may stay there one week. But now we must move along. Fasten the horse’s halter to the back of my wagon, men, and I’ll see to it that he is comfortable to-night anyway.”

The halter rope was tied, and the strange procession started slowly back toward Riveredge.

[CHAPTER IV—Baltie is Rescued]

“How old are you, little lassie?” asked Hadyn Stuyvesant, looking down upon the little figure beside him, his fine eyes alive with interest and the smile which none could resist lighting his face, and displaying his white even teeth.

“I’m just a little over ten,” answered Jean, looking up and answering his smile with one equally frank and trustful, for little Jean Carruth did not understand the meaning of embarrassment.

“Are you Mrs. Bernard Carruth’s little daughter? I knew her nephew well when at college, although I’ve been away from Riveredge so long that I’ve lost track of her and her family.”

“Yes, she is my mother. Mr. Bernard Carruth was my father,” and a little choke came into Jean’s voice, for, although not yet eight years of age when her father passed out of her life, Jean’s memory of him was a very tender one, and she sorely missed the kind, cheery, sympathetic companionship he had given his children. Hadyn Stuyvesant was quick to note the catch in the little girl’s voice, and the tears which welled up to her eyes, and a strong arm was placed about her waist to draw her a little closer to his side, as, changing the subject, he said very tenderly:

“You have had an exciting hour, little one. Sit close beside me and don’t try to talk; just rest, and let me do the talking. We must go slowly on Baltie’s account; the poor old horse is badly knocked about and stiffened up. Suppose we go right to Mr. Pringle’s livery stable and ask him to take care of him a few days any way. Don’t you think that would be a good plan?”

“But who will pay for him? Don’t you have to pay board for horses just like people pay their board?” broke in Jean anxiously.

Hadyn Stuyvesant smiled at the practical little being his arm still so comfortingly encircled.

“I guess the Society can stand the expense,” he answered.

“Has it got lots of money to do such things with?” asked Jean, bound to get at the full facts.

“I’m afraid it hasn’t got ‘lots of money’—I wish it had,—but I think it can pay a week’s board for old Baltie in consideration of what you have done for him. It will make you happier to know he will be comfortable for a little while any way, won’t it?”

“Oh, yes! yes! And, and—perhaps I could pay the next week’s if we didn’t find somebody the first week. I’ve got ’most five dollars in my Christmas bank. I’ve been saving ever since last January; I always begin to put in something on New Year’s day, if it’s only five cents, and then I never, never take any out ’till it’s time to buy our next Christmas presents. And I really have got ’most five dollars, and would that be enough for another week?” and the bonny little face was raised eagerly to her companion’s. Hadyn Stuyvesant then and there lost his heart to the little creature at his side. It is given to very few “grown-ups” to slip out of their own adult years and by some magical power pick up the years of their childhood once more, with all the experiences and view-points of that childhood, but Hadyn Stuyvesant was one of those few. He felt all the eagerness of Jean’s words and his answer held all the confidence and enthusiasm of her ten years rather than his own twenty-three.

“Fully enough. But we will hope that a home may be found for Baltie before the first week has come to an end. And here we are at Mr. Pringle’s. Raulsbury I shall have to ask you to get out here,” added Mr. Stuyvesant, as he, himself, sprang from the depot wagon to the sidewalk.

Raulsbury made no reply but stepped to the sidewalk, where, at a slight signal from Hadyn Stuyvesant, an officer of the Society who had his office in the livery stable came forward and motioned to Raulsbury to follow him. As they disappeared within the stable, Mr. Stuyvesant said to the proprietor:

“Pringle, I’ve got a boarder for you. Don’t know just how long he will stay, but remember, nothing is too good for him while he does, for he is this little girl’s protégé, and I hold myself responsible for him.”

“All right, Mr. Stuyvesant. All right, sir. He shall have the best the stable affords. Come on, old stager; you look as if you wanted a curry-comb and a feed pretty bad,” said Pringle, as he untied Baltie’s halter. With all the gentleness of the blue-blooded old fellow he was, Baltie raised his mud-splashed head, sniffed at Mr. Pringle’s coat and nickered softly, as though acknowledging his proffered hospitality. The man stroked the muddy neck encouragingly, as he said:

“He don’t look much as he did eighteen years ago, does he, Mr. Stuyvesant?”

“I’m afraid I don’t remember how he looked eighteen years ago, Pringle; there wasn’t much of me to remember with about that time. But I remember how he looked eight years ago, before I went to Europe, and the contrast is enough to stir me up considerable. It’s about time such conditions were made impossible, and I’m going to see what I can do to start a move in that direction,” concluded Mr. Stuyvesant, with an ominous nod toward the stable door, through which Raulsbury had disappeared.

“I’m glad to hear it, sir. We have had too much of this sort of thing in Riveredge for the past few years. I’ve been saying the Society needed a live president and I’m glad it’s got one at last.”

“Well, look out for old Baltie, and now I must take my little fellow-worker home,” said Mr. Stuyvesant.

“Oh, may I give him just one pat before we go?” begged Jean, looking from Baltie to Mr. Stuyvesant.

“Lead him up beside us, Pringle,” ordered Mr. Stuyvesant smiling his consent to Jean.

“Good-bye Baltie, dear. Good-bye. I won’t forget you for a single minute; no, not for one,” said the little girl earnestly, hugging the muddy old head and implanting a kiss upon the ear nearest her.

“Baltie you are to be envied, old fellow,” said Hadyn Stuyvesant, laughing softly, and nodding significantly to Pringle. “She was his first friend in his misery. I’ll tell you about it later, but I must be off now or her family will have me up for a kidnapper. I’ll be back in about an hour.”

Ten minutes’ swift bowling along behind Hadyn Stuyvesant’s beautiful “Comet” brought them to the Carruth home. Dusk was already beginning to fall as the short autumn day drew to its end, and Mrs. Carruth,—mother above all other things—stood at the window watching for this youngest daughter, regarding whom she never felt quite at ease when that young lady was out of her sight. When she saw a carriage turning in at her driveway and that same daughter perched upon the front seat beside a total stranger she began to believe that there had been some foundation for the misgivings which had made her so restless for the past hour. Opening the door she stepped out upon the piazza to meet the runaway, and was greeted with:

“Oh mother, mother, I’ve had such an exciting experience! I started to see Amy Fletcher, but before I got there I found him in the ditch and lame and muddy and dirty, and I went up to tell Jabe he must go get him out and then I got awful angry and banged him with my umbrella, and then I cried and he found me,” with a nod toward her companion, “and he got him out of the ditch and gave Jabe such a scolding and took him to Mr. Pringle’s and he’s going to curry-comb him and get the mud all off of him and take care of him a week any way, and two weeks if I’ve got enough money in my bank and—and—”

“Mercy! mercy! mercy!” cried Mrs. Carruth, breaking into a laugh and raising both hands as though to shield her head from the avalanche of words descending upon it. Hadyn Stuyvesant strove manfully to keep his countenance lest he wound the feelings of his little companion, but the situation was too much for him and his genial laugh echoed Mrs. Carruth’s as he sprang from the depot wagon and raising his arms toward the surprised child said:

“Let me lift you out little maid, and then I think perhaps you can give your mother a clearer idea as to whether it is Jabe Raulsbury, or old Baltie which is covered with mud and about to be curry-combed. Mrs. Carruth, let me introduce myself as Hadyn Stuyvesant. I knew your nephew when I was at college, and on the strength of my friendship for him, must beg you to pardon this intrusion. I came upon your little daughter not long since playing the part of the Good Samaritan to Raulsbury’s poor old horse. She had tackled a job just a little too big for her, so I volunteered to lend a hand, and together we made it go.”

As he spoke Hadyn Stuyvesant removed his hat and ascended the piazza steps with hand outstretched to the sweet-faced woman who stood at the top. She took the extended hand, her face lighting with the winning smile which carried sunshine to all who knew her, and in the present instance fell with wonderful warmth upon the man before her, for barely a year had passed since his mother had been laid away in a beautiful cemetery in Switzerland, and the tie between that mother and son had been a singularly tender one.

“I have often heard my nephew speak of you, Mr. Stuyvesant, and can not think of you as a stranger. I regret that we have not met before, but I understand you have lived abroad for several years. I am indebted to you for bringing Jean safely home, but quite at a loss to understand what has happened. Please come in and tell me. Will your horse stand?”

“He will stand as long as I wish him to. But I fear I shall intrude upon you?” and a questioning tone came into his voice.

“How could it be an intrusion under the circumstances? Come.”

“In a moment, then. I must throw the blanket over Comet,” and running down the steps he took the blanket from the seat and quickly buckled it upon the horse which meanwhile nosed him and nickered.

“Yes; it’s all right, old man. Just you stand till I want you,” said his master, giving the pretty head an affectionate pat which the horse acknowledged by shaking it up and down two or three times. Hadyn Stuyvesant then mounted the steps once more and followed Mrs. Carruth and Jean into the house, across the broad hall into the cheerful living-room where logs blazed upon the andirons in the fire-place, and Constance was just lighting a large reading lamp which stood upon a table in the center of the room.

“Constance, dear, this is Mr. Stuyvesant whom your cousin knew at Princeton. My daughter, Constance, Mr. Stuyvesant. And this is my eldest daughter, Eleanor,” she added as Eleanor entered the room. Constance set the lamp shade upon its rest and advanced toward their guest with hand extended and a smile which was the perfect reflection of her mother’s. Eleanor’s greeting although graceful and dignified lacked her sister’s cordiality.

“Now,” added Mrs. Carruth, “let us be seated and learn more definitely of Jean’s escapade.”

“But it wasn’t an escapade this time, mother. It was just an unhelpable experience, wasn’t it, Mr. Stuyvesant?” broke in Jean, walking over to Hadyn Stuyvesant’s side and placing her hand confidingly upon his shoulder, as she peered into his kind eyes for his corroboration of this assertion.

“Entirely ‘unhelpable,’” was the positive assurance as he put his arm about her and drew her upon his knee. “Suppose you let me explain it, and then your mother and sisters will understand the situation fully,” and in as few words as possible he gave an account of the happenings of the past two hours, Jean now and again prompting him when he went a trifle astray regarding the incidents which occurred prior to his appearance upon the scene, and making a clean breast of her attack upon Jabe Raulsbury. When that point in the narration was reached Mrs. Carruth let her hands drop resignedly into her lap; Constance laughed outright, and Eleanor cried: “Oh, Mr. Stuyvesant, what must you think of Jean’s training?”

Jean’s eyes were fixed upon his as though in his reply rested the verdict, and her fingers were clasped and unclasped nervously. It had been more than two years since a man had set judgment upon her. Hadyn Stuyvesant looked keenly into the big eyes looking so bravely and frankly into his own, drew the little girl close to him, rested his lips for a moment upon the silky curls and said:

“Sometimes we can hardly be held accountable for what we do; especially when our sense of justice is sorely taxed. I believe I should have done the same. But since you love horses so dearly, won’t you run and give Comet a lump of sugar? He has not had one to-day and will feel slighted unless he gets it. Hold it upon the palm of your hand and he will take it as gently as a kitten. Tell him I am coming right away,” and placing Jean upon the floor, he gave an encouraging pat upon the brown curls.

“I’ll give it to him right away, quick,” she cried delightedly as she ran from the room.

“Good!” Then rising he extended his hand, saying, as he clasped Mrs. Carruth’s:

“She is a little trump, Mrs. Carruth. Jove! if you could have been there and seen her championship of that old horse, and her dauntless courage when that old rascal, Jabe, bore down upon her, you would be so set up that this house would have to expand to hold you. Please don’t reprove her. I ask it as favor, although I have no right to do so. She has a fine spirit and a finer sense of duty, Mrs. Carruth, for she gave me a rare call-down when I tested it by hinting that she’d best keep mum on the subject if she was likely to come in for a wigging. She is a great little lassie and I am going to ask you to let me know her better.”

“Jean is about right, I think, Mr. Stuyvesant,” said Constance, as she shook hands good-bye. “She is peppery and impulsive, I know, but it would be a hard matter to make her tell an untruth, or go against what she considered her duty.”

“I’m sure of it, Miss Constance,” was the hearty answer. “And now good-bye. You will let me come again, Mrs. Carruth?”

“We will be very pleased to welcome you,” was the cordial reply.

“Good! I’ll come.”

[CHAPTER V—A New Member of the Family]

“Has you-all done ’cided to do wid out yo’ suppers dis yer night? ’Cause if you is I ’spec’s I kin clar away,” was the autocratic inquiry of Mammy Melviny as she stood in the doorway of the living-room, her ample proportions very nearly filling it.

Hadyn Stuyvesant’s call had been of longer duration than Mammy approved, for her hot corn cakes were being rapidly ruined by the delayed meal, and this was an outrage upon her skill in cooking. Mammy had been Mrs. Carruth’s nurse “down souf” and still regarded that dignified lady as her “chile,” and subject to her dictation. She was the only servant which Mrs. Carruth now kept, the others having been what Mammy stigmatized as “po’ northern no ’count niggers” who gave the minimum of work for the maximum of pay, and were prompt to take their departure when adversity overtook their employer.

Not so Mammy. When the crisis came Mrs. Carruth stated the case to her and advised her to seek another situation where she would receive the wages her ability commanded, and which Mrs. Carruth, in her reduced circumstances, could no longer afford to pay her. The storm which the suggestion produced was both alarming and amusing. Placing her arms upon her hips, and raising her head like a war-horse scenting battle, Mammy stamped her foot and cried:

“Step down an’ out? Get out ’en de fambly? Go wo’k fer some o’ dese hyer strange folks what aint keer a cent fo’ me, an’ aint know who I is? Me? a Blairsdale! Huh! What sort o’ fool talk is dat, Baby? Yo’ cyant git me out. Yo’ need ’n ter try, kase ’taint gwine be no good ter. I’s hyer and hyer I’s gwine stay, no matter what come. ’Taint no use fer ter talk ter me ’bout money and wages an’ sich truck. What I kerrin’ fer dem? I’se got ’nough, an’ ter spare. What yo’ t’ink I’se been doin’ all dese years o’ freedom? Flingin’ my earnin’s ’way? Huh! You know I aint done no sich foolishness. I’se got a pile—yis, an’ a good pile too,—put ’way. I need n’t ter ever do a stroke mo’ work long ’s I live if I don’t wantter. I’se rich, I is. But I gwine ter work jist ’s long’s I’se mind ter. Ain’t I free? Who gwine ter say I cyant wo’k? Now go long an’ tend ter yo’ business and lemme lone ter tend ter mine, and dat’s right down wid de pots and de kettles, and de stew pans, an’ de wash biler and de wash tubs, an’ I reckon I kin do more ’n six o’ dese yer Norf niggers put togedder when I set out ter good an’ hard if I is most sixty years old. Hush yo’ talk chile, an’ don’t let me ketch you a interferin’ wid my doin’s agin. You heah me?” And at the end of this tirade, Mammy turned sharply about and marched off like a grenadier. Mrs. Carruth was deeply touched by the old woman’s loyalty, but knowing the antebellum negro as she did, she realized how wounded Mammy had been by the suggestion that she seek a more lucrative situation among strangers. Mammy had been born and raised a slave on Mrs. Carruth’s father’s plantation in North Carolina, and would always consider herself a member of Mrs. Carruth’s family. Alas for the days of such ties and such devotion!

So Mammy was now the autocrat of the household and ruled with an iron hand, although woe to anyone who dared to overstep the bounds she had established as her “Miss Jinny’s” rights, or the “chillen’s” privileges as “old marster’s gran’-chillern.” “Old Marster” was Mammy’s ideal of what a gentleman should be, and “de days befo’ de gre’t turmoil” were the only days “fitten for folks (always to be written in italics) to live in.”

She was an interesting figure as she stood in the doorway, and snapped out her question, although her old face, surmounted by its gay bandanna turban was the personification of kindliness, and her keen eyes held only love for her “white folks.”

She was decidedly corpulent and her light print gown and beautifully ironed white apron stood out from her figure until they completely filled the doorway.

Mrs. Carruth turned toward her and asked with a quizzical smile;

“What is spoiling, Mammy?”

“Huh! Ain’t nuffin spilin’s I knows on, but dat Miss Nornie done say she ain’t had no co’n cakes ’n ’bout ’n age an’ if she want ’em so turrible she’d better come and eat ’em,”—and with a decisive nod Mammy stalked off toward the dining-room.

“Come, girls, unless you want to evoke the displeasure of the presiding genius of the household,” said Mrs. Carruth smiling, as she led the way in Mammy’s wake.

It was a pleasant meal, for Mammy would not countenance the least lapse from the customs of earlier days, and the same pains were taken for the simple meals now served as had been taken with the more elaborate ones during Mr. Carruth’s lifetime. The linen must be ironed with the same care; the silver must shine as brightly, and the glass sparkle as it had always done. Miss Jinny must not miss any of the luxuries to which she had been born if Mammy could help it.

“Isn’t he splendid, mother?” asked Jean, as she buttered her third corn cake. “He was so good to Baltie and to me.”

“I am very glad to know him, dear, for Lyman was much attached to him.”

“Where has he been all these years, mother, that we have never met him in Riveredge?” asked Eleanor.

“He has lived abroad when not at college. He took his degree last spring. His mother died there a little more than a year ago, I understand. She never recovered from the blow of his father’s death when Hadyn was about fifteen years of age. She went abroad soon after for her health and never came back. He came over for his college course at Princeton, but always rejoined her during his holidays.”

“How old a man is he, mother? He seems both young and old,” said Constance.

“I am not sure, but think he must be about Lyman’s age—nearly twenty-four. But the Society seems to have made a wise choice in electing him its president; he has certainly taken energetic measures in this case and I am glad that he has, for it is disgraceful to have such a thing occur in Riveredge. Poor old horse! It would have been more merciful to shoot him. How could Jabe Raulsbury have been so utterly heartless?”

“But, mother, suppose no one will take old Baltie and give him a home?” persisted Jean, “will he have to be shot then?”

“Would it not be kinder to end such a hapless existence than to leave it to an uncertain fate, dear?” asked Mrs. Carruth gently.

“Well, maybe, but I don’t want him killed. He loves me,” was Jean’s answer and the little upraising of the head at the conclusion of the remark conveyed more to Constance than to the others. Constance understood Jean better than any other member of the family, and during the summer just passed Jean had many times gone to the field in which Baltie was pastured to carry some dainty to the poor old horse and her love for him and compassion for his wretchedness were deep.

No more was said just then, but Constance knew that the subject had not passed from Jean’s thoughts and one afternoon, exactly two weeks from that evening, this was verified.

Mrs. Carruth had gone to sit with a sick friend. Eleanor was in her room lost to everything but a knotty problem for Monday’s recitation, and Mammy was busily occupied with some dainty dish against her Miss Jinny’s home-coming. Constance was laying the tea-table when the crunch-crunch, crunch-crunch, upon the gravel of the driveway caused her to look up, there to behold Jean with old Baltie in tow.

“Merciful powers, what has the child done now?” she exclaimed as she let fall with a clatter the knife and fork she was about to place upon the table and flew to the front door, crying as she hastily opened it: “Jean Carruth what in this world have you been doing?”

“I’ve brought him home. I had to. I went down to ask Mr. Pringle if anybody had come to take him, but he wasn’t there. There wasn’t _any_body there but old deaf Mike who cleans the stable and I couldn’t make him understand a single thing I said. He just mumbled and wagged his head for all the world like that China mandarin in the library, and didn’t do a thing though I yelled at him as hard as I could.”

“But how did you get Baltie and, greater marvel, how did you bring him all this way home?” persisted Constance, bound to get to the bottom of facts.

“I went into the box-stall—it’s close to the door you know—and got him and led him here.”

“But where was Mike, and what was he doing all that time to let you do such a thing?”

“O, he went poking off down the stable and didn’t pay any attention to me. It wouldn’t have made any difference if he had; I had gone there to rescue Baltie and save him from being shot, and I didn’t mean to come away without doing it. The two weeks were up to-day and he was there. If any one had been found to take him he wouldn’t have been there yet, would he? So that settled it, and I wasn’t going to take any chances. If I’d let him stay one day longer they might have shot him. If I could have found Mr. Pringle I’d have told him, but I couldn’t, and I didn’t dare to wait. I left my bank money, almost five dollars, to pay for this week’s board—Mr. Stuyvesant said it would be enough—and a little note to tell him it was for Baltie; I wrote it on a piece of paper in his office, and then I came home as fast as Baltie could walk, and here we are.”

Jean had talked very rapidly and Constance was too dumfounded for the time being, to interrupt the flow of words. Presently however, she recovered her speech and, resting one hand on Baltie’s withers and the other on Jean’s shoulder, asked resignedly:

“And now that you’ve got him, may I ask what in this world you propose to do with him?”

“Take him out to the stable of course and take care of him as long as he lives,” was the uncontrovertible reply.

“Mother will never let you do such a thing, Jean, and he must be taken back to Pringle’s at once,” said Constance, with more emphasis than usually entered her speech toward this mad-cap little sister.

“I won’t! I won’t! I won’t let him go back!” broke out Jean, a storm of sobs ending the protest and bringing Mammy upon the scene hot-foot, for Mammy’s ears were keen for notes of woe from her baby.

“What’s de matter, honey? What done happen ter yo’?” she cried as she came hurrying across the little porch upon which the dining-room opened. “Bress Gawd what yo’ got dere, chile? Huccum dat old horse here?”

“Oh Mammy, Mammy, its Baltie, and she says I can’t keep him, and they are going to kill him, ’cause he’s old and blind and hasn’t anyone to take care of him. And Mammy, Mammy, please don’t let ’em ’cause I love him. I do, I do, Mammy,” cried Jean as she cast Baltie’s leader from her and rushed to Mammy, to fling herself into those protecting arms and sob out her woes.

“Wha’, wha’, wha’, yo’ say, Baby?” stammered Mammy, whose tongue sometimes became unruly under great excitement. “Somebody gwine tek away dat old horse dat yo’ love, an’ breck yo’ heart? Huh! Who gwine do dat when Mammy stan’ by? I like ’er see ’em do it! Co’se I knows Baltie. Ain’ I seen him dese many years? An’ yo’ gwine pertec’ him an’ keer fer him in his discrepancy? Well, ef yo’ wantter yo’ shall, an’ dat’s all ’bout it.”

“But Mammy, Mammy, she can’t; she mustn’t; what will mother say?” remonstrated Constance smiling in spite of herself at the ridiculous situation for Mammy had promptly put on her war-paint, and was a formidable champion to overcome.

“An’ what yo’ ma gotter say ’bout it if I sets out ter tak’ care of an’ old horse? ’Taint her horse. She aint got nothin’ ’tall ter do wid him. He’s been a lookin’, an’ a waitin’; and de Lawd knows but he’s been a-prayin’ fer a pertecter——how we-all gwine know he aint prayed ter de Lawd fer ter raise one up fer him in his mis’ry? An’ now he’s got one an’ it’s me an’ dis chile. Go ’long an’ set yo’ table an’ let us ’lone. Come on honey; we’ll take old Baltie out yonder ter de stable an’ bed him down an’ feed him up twell he so sot up he like ’nough bus’ wid pride, an’ I just like ter see who gwine stop us. Hi yah-yah, yah,” and Mammy’s wrath ended in a melodious laugh as she caught hold of the leader and stalked off with this extraordinary addition to her already manifold duties, Jean holding her free hand and nodding exultingly over her shoulder at Constance who had collapsed upon the lower step.

[CHAPTER VI—Blue Monday]

October, with its wealth of color, its mellow days, and soft haze was passing quickly and November was not far off: November with its “melancholy days” of “wailing winds and wintry woods.”

Baltie had now been a member of the Carruth family for nearly a month and had improved wonderfully under Mammy Melviny’s care. How the old woman found time to care for him and the means to provide for him was a source of wonder not only to Mrs. Carruth, but to the entire neighborhood who regarded the whole thing as a huge joke, and enjoyed many a hearty laugh over it, for Mammy was considered a character by the neighbors, and nobody felt much surprised at any new departure in which she might elect to indulge. Two or three friends had begged Mrs. Carruth to let them relieve her of the care of the old horse, assuring her that they would gladly keep him in their stables as long as he needed a home, and ended in a hearty laugh at the thought of Mammy turning groom. But when Mrs. Carruth broached the subject to Mammy she was met with flat opposition:

“Send dat ole horse off ter folks what was jist gwine tek keer of him fer cha’ity? No I aint gwine do no sich t’ing. De Lawd sartin sent him ter me ter tek keer of an’ I’se gwin ter do it. Aint he mine? Didn’t Jabe Raulsbury say dat anybody what would tek keer of him could have him? Well I’se tekin’ keer of him so co’se he’s mine. I aint never is own no live stock befo’ an now I got some. Go ’long, Miss Jinny; you’se got plenty ter tend ter ’thout studyin’ ’bout my horse. Bimeby like ’nough I have him so fed up and spry I can sell him fer heap er cash—dough I don’ believe anybody’s got nigh ’nough fer ter buy him whilst Baby loves him.”

And so the discussion ended and Baltie lived upon the fat of the land and was sheltered in Mrs. Carruth’s unused stable. Dry leaves which fell in red and yellow clouds from the maple, birch and oak trees made a far softer bed than the old horse had known in many a day. A bag of bran was delivered at Mrs. Carruth’s house for “Mammy Melviny,” with Hadyn Stuyvesant’s compliments. Mammy herself, invested in a sack of oats and a bale of cut hay, to say nothing of saving all bits of bread and parings from her kitchen, and Baltic waxed sleek and fat thereon. Jean was his devoted slave and daily led him about the grounds for a constitutional. Up and down the driveway paced the little girl, the old horse plodding gently beside her, his ears pricked toward her for her faintest word, his head held in the pathetic, listening attitude of a blind horse. He knew her step afar off, and his soft nicker never failed to welcome her as she drew near. To no one else did he show such little affectionate ways, or manifest such gentleness. He seemed to understand that to this little child, which one stroke of his great hoofs could have crushed, he owed his rescue and present comforts.

And so the weeks had slipped away. The money which Jean had left for Mr. Pringle had been promptly refunded with a note to explain that the Society had borne all the expenses for Baltie’s board.

Mrs. Carruth sat in her library wrinkling her usually serene brow over a business letter this chilly Monday morning, and hurrying to get it completed before the arrival of the letter carrier who always took any letters to be mailed. Her face wore a perplexed expression, and her eyes had tired lines about them, for the past year had been harder for her than anyone suspected. Her income, at best, was much too limited to conduct her home as it had always been conducted, and the general expenses of living in Riveredge were steadily increasing. True, Mammy was frugality itself in the matter of providing, and Mrs. Carruth often marveled at the small amounts of her weekly bills. But the demands in other directions were heavy, and the expenses of the place itself were large. More than once had she questioned the wisdom of striving to keep the home, believing that the tax upon her resources, and her anxiety, would be less if she gave it up and removed to town where she could live for far less than in Riveredge. Then arose the memory of the building of the home, the hopes, the plans, and the joys so inseparable from it, the children’s well-being and their love for the house their father had built; their education, and the environment of a home in such a town as Riveredge.

Now, however, new difficulties were confronting her, for some of her investments were not making the returns she had expected and her income was seriously affected. In spite of the utmost frugality and care the outlook was not encouraging, and just now she had to meet the demand of the fire insurance upon the home and its contents, and just how to do so was the question which was causing her brows to wrinkle. She had let the matter stand until the last moment, but dared to do so no longer for upon that point Mr. Carruth had always been most emphatic; the insurance upon his property must never lapse. He had always carried one, and since his death his wife had been careful to continue it. But now how to meet the sum, and meet it at once, was the problem.

She had completed her letter when Mammy came to the door.

“Is yo’ here, Miss Jinny? Is yo’ busy? I wants to ax you sumpin’,” she said as she gave a quick glance at Mrs. Carruth from her keen eyes.

“Come in, Mammy. What is it?”

The voice had a tired, anxious note in it which Mammy was quick to catch.

“Wha’ de matter, honey? Wha’s plaguin’ you dis mawnin’?” she asked as she hurried across the room to rest her hand on her mistress’ shoulder.

Like a weary child Mrs. Carruth let her head fall upon Mammy’s bosom—a resting place that as long as she could remember had never failed her—as she said:

“Mammy, your baby is very weary, and sorely disheartened this morning, and very, very lonely.”

The words ended in a sob.

Instantly all Mammy’s sympathies were aroused. Gathering the weary head in her arms she stroked back the hair with her work-hardened hand, as she said in the same tender tones she had used to soothe her baby more than forty years ago:

“Dere, dere, honey, don’ yo’ fret; don’ yo’ fret. Tell Mammy jist what’s pesterin’ yo’ an’ she’ll mak’ it all right fer her baby. Hush! Hush. Mammy can tek keer of anythin’.”

“Oh, Mammy dear, dear old Mammy, you take care of so much as it is. What would we do without you?”

“Hush yo’ talk chile! What I gwine do widout yo’ all? Dat talk all foolishness. Don’t I b’long ter de fambly? Now yo’ mind yo’ Mammy an’ tell her right off what’s a frettin’ yo’ dis day. Yo’ heah me?”

Mammy’s voice was full of forty-five years of authority, but her eyes were full of sympathetic tears, for her love for her “Miss Jinny” was beyond the expression of words.

“O Mammy, I am so foolish, and I fear so pitifully weak when it comes to conducting my business affairs wisely. You can’t understand these vexatious business matters which I must attend to, but I sorely miss Mr. Carruth when they arise and must be met.”

“Huccum I cyan’t understand ’em? What Massa Bernard done tackle in his business dat I cyan’t ef yo’ kin? Tell me dis minute just what you’ gotter do, an’ I bate yo’ ten dollars I c’n do it.”

“I know there isn’t anything you would not try to do, Mammy, from taking care of an old horse, to moving the contents of the entire house if it became necessary,” replied Mrs. Carruth, smiling in spite of herself, as she wiped her eyes, little realizing how near the truth was her concluding remark regarding Mammy’s prowess.

“I reckon I c’d move de hull house if I had time enough, an’ as fer de horse—huh! ain’t he stanin’ dere a livin’ tes’imony of what a bran-smash an’ elbow-grease kin do? ’Pears lak his hairs rise right up an’ call me bres-sed, dey’s tekin’ ter shinin’ so sense I done rub my hans ober ’em,” and Mammy, true to her racial characteristics, broke into a hearty laugh; so close together lies the capacity for joy or sorrow in this child race. The next instant, however, Mammy was all seriousness as she demanded:

“Now I want yo’ ter tell me all ’bout dis bisness flummy-diddle what’s frettin’ yo’. Come now; out wid it, quick.”

Was it the old habit of obedience to Mammy’s dictates, or the woman’s longing for someone to confide in during these trying days of loneliness, that impelled Mrs. Carruth to explain in as simple language as possible the difficulties encompassing her?

The burden of meeting even the ordinary every-day expenses upon the very limited income derived from Mr. Carruth’s life insurance, which left no margin whatsoever for emergencies. Of the imperative necessity of continuing the fire insurance he had always carried upon the home and its contents, lest a few hours wipe out what it had required years to gather together, and his wife and children be left homeless. How, under their altered circumstances this seemed more than ever imperative, since in the event of losing the house and its contents there would be no possible way of replacing either unless they kept the insurance upon them paid up.

Mammy listened intently, now and again nodding her old head and uttering a Um-uh! Um-uh! of comprehension.

When Mrs. Carruth ceased speaking she asked:

“An’ how much has yo’ gotter plank right out dis minit fer ter keep dis hyer as’sur’nce f’om collaps’in’, honey?”

“Nearly thirty dollars, Mammy, and that seems a very large sum to me now-a-days.”

“Hum-uh! Yas’m. So it do. Um. An’ yo’ aint got it?”

“I have not got it to-day, Mammy. I shall have it next week, but the time expires day after to-morrow and I do not know whether the company will be willing to wait, or whether I should forfeit my claim by the delay. I have written to ask.”

“Huh! Wha’ sort o’ compiny is it dat wouldn’t trus’ a Blairsdale, I like ter know?” demanded Mammy indignantly.

Mrs. Carruth smiled sadly as she answered:

“These are not the old days, Mammy, and you know ‘corporations have no souls.’”

“No so’les? Huh, I’se seen many a corpo’ration dat hatter have good thick leather soles fer ter tote ’em round. Well, well, times is sho’ ’nough changed an’ dese hyer Norf ways don’t set well on my bile; dey rises it, fer sure. So dey ain’t gwine trus’ you, Baby? Where dey live at who has de sesso ’bout it all?”

“The main office is in the city, Mammy, but they have, of course, a local agent here.”

“Wha’ yo’ mean by a locum agen’, honey?”

“A clerk who has an office at 60 State street, and who attends to any business the firm may have in Riveredge.”

“Is yo’ writ yo’ letter ter him? Who is he?”

“No, I have written to the New York office, because Mr. Carruth always transacted his business there. I thought it wiser to, for this Mr. Sniffins is a very young man, and would probably not be prepared to answer my question.”

“Wha’ yo’ call him? Yo’ don’ mean dat little swimbly, red-headed, white-eyed sumpin’ nu’er what sets down in dat basemen’ office wid his foots cocked up on de rail-fence in front ob him, an’ a segyar mos’ as big as his laig stuck in he’s mouf all de time? I sees him eve’y time I goes ter market, an’ he lak’ ter mek me sick. Is he de agen’?”

“Yes, Mammy, and I dare say he is capable enough, although I do not care to come in contact with him if I can avoid it.”

“If I ketches yo’ in dat ’tater sprout’s office I gwine smack yo’ sure’s yo’ bo’n. Yo’ heah me? Why his ma keeps the sody-fountain on Main street. Wha-fo you gotter do wid such folks, Baby?”

“But, Mammy, they are worthy, respectable people,”—protested Mrs. Carruth.

“Hush yo’ talk, chile. I reckon I knows de diff’rence twixt quality an’ de yether kind. Dat’s no place fer yo’ to go at,” cried Mammy, all her instincts rebelling against the experiences her baby was forced to meet in her altered circumstances. “Gimme dat letter. I’se gwine straight off ter markit dis minit and I’ll see dat it get sont off ter de right pusson ’for I’se done anudder ting.”

“But what did you wish to ask me, Mammy?”

“Nuffin’. ’Taint no ’count ’tall. I’ll ax it when I comes back. Go ’long up-stairs and mek yo’ bed if yo pinin’ for occerpation,” and away Mammy flounced from the room, leaving Mrs. Carruth more or less bewildered. She would have been completely so could she have followed the old woman.

[CHAPTER VII—Mammy Generalissimo]

Half an hour later a short, stout colored woman in neat, print gown, immaculate white apron, gorgeous headkerchief and gray plaid shawl, entered the office of the Red Star Fire Insurance Company, at No. 60 State street, and walking up to the little railing which divided from the vulgar herd the sacred precincts of Mr. Elijah Sniffins, representative, rested her hand upon the small swinging gate as she nodded her head slightly and asked:

“Is yo’ Mister Sniffins, de locum agen’ fer de Fire Insur’nce Comp’ny?”

“I am,” replied that gentleman,—without removing from between his teeth the huge cigar upon which he was puffing until he resembled a small-sized locomotive, or changing his position—“Mr. Elijah Sniffins, representative of the Red Star Insurance Company. Are you thinkin’ of taking out a policy?” concluded that gentleman with a supercilious smirk.

Mammy’s eyes narrowed slightly and her lips were compressed for a moment.

“No, sir, I don’ reckon I is studyin’ ’bout takin’ out no pol’cy. I jist done come hyer on a little private bisness wid yo’.”

Mammy paused, somewhat at a loss how to proceed, for business affairs seemed very complicated to her. Mr. Elijah Sniffins was greatly amused and continued to eye her and smile. He was a dapper youth of probably twenty summers, with scant blond hair, pale blue, shifty eyes, a weak mouth surmounted by a cherished mustache of numerable hairs and a chin which stamped him the toy of stronger wills. Mammy knew the type and loathed it. His smirk enraged her, and rage restored her self-possession. Raising her head with a little sidewise jerk as befitted the assurance of a Blairsdale, she cried:

“Yas—sir, I done come to ax yo’ a question ’bout de ’surance on a place in Riveredge. I hears de time fer settlin’ up gwine come day atter to-morrer an’ if ’taint settled up de ’surance boun’ ter collapse. Is dat so?”

“Unless the policy is renewed it certainly will ‘collapse,’” replied Mr. Sniffins breaking into an amused laugh.

“Huh! ’Pears like yo’ find it mighty ’musin’,” was Mammy’s next remark and had Mr. Elijah Sniffins been a little better acquainted with his patron he would have been wise enough to take warning from her tone.

“Well, you see I am not often favored with visits from ladies of your color who carry fire insurance policies. A good many carry life insurance, but as a rule they don’t insure their estates against fire, an’ the situation was so novel that it amused me a little. No offense meant.”

“An’ none teken—from your sort,” retorted Mammy. “But how ’bout dis hyer pol’cy? What I gotter do fer ter keep it f’om collapsin’ ef it aint paid by day atter to-morrer?”

“Pay it to-day, or to-morrow,” was the suave reply accompanied by a wave of the hand to indicate the ultimatum.

“’Spose dey ain’t got de money fer ter pay right plank down, but kin pay de week atter? Could’n’ de collapse be hild up twell den?”

“Ha! Ha!” laughed Mr. Elijah. “I’m ’fraid not; I’ve heard of those ‘next week’ settlements before, and experience tells me that ‘next week’ aint never arrived yet. Ha! Ha!”

“Den yo’ won’t trus’ de Ca— de fambly?” Mammy had very nearly betrayed herself.