A Daughter of the Forest Page 5

  CHAPTER V

  IN ALADDIN LAND

  It seemed to Margot, watching, that it was an endless time her unclestood there gazing with that startled look upon their guest. Inreality it was but a moment. Then he passed his hand over his eyes, asone who would brush away a mist, and came forward. He was still undulypale, but he spoke in a courteous, almost natural manner, and quietlyaccepted the chair Margot hastened to bring him.

  "You are getting rested, Mr.----"

  "Oh! please don't 'Mister' me, sir. You've been so good to me andI'm not used to the title. Though, in my scratches and wood-dirt,his young lady did take me for an old fellow. Yes, thanks to herthoughtfulness, I've found myself again, and I'm just 'Adrian,' ifyou'll be so kind."

  There was something very winning in this address, and it suitedthe elder man well. The stranger was scarcely out of boyhood andreminded the old collegian of other lads whom he had known and loved."Wadislaw" was not a particularly pleasing name that one should dwellupon it, unless necessary. "Adrian" was better and far more common.Neither did it follow that this person was of a family he rememberedfar too well; and so Mr. Dutton reassured himself. In any case theyouth was now "the stranger within the gates" and therefore entitledto the best.

  "Adrian, then. We are a simple household, following the old habit ofearly to bed and to rise. You must be tired enough to sleep anywhere,and there is another big lounge in my study. You would best occupy itto-night, and to-morrow Angelique will fix you better quarters. Fewguests favor us in our far-away home," he finished with a smile thatwas full of hospitality.

  Adrian rose at once and bidding Margot and Angelique good-night,followed his host into a big room which, save for the log walls, mighthave been the library of some city home. It was a room which somehowgave him the impression of vastness, liberality, and freedom--anenclosed bit of the outside forest. Like each of the other apartmentshe had seen it had its great fireplace and its blazing logs, not atall uncomfortable now in the chill that had come after the storm.

  But he was too worn out to notice much more than these details, andwithout undressing, dropped upon the lounge and drew the Indianblanket over him. His head rested upon great pillows stuffed withfragrant spruce needles, and this perfume of the woods soothed himinto instant sleep.

  But Hugh Dutton stood for many minutes, gravely studying the face ofthe unconscious stranger. It was a comely, intelligent face, thoughmarred by self-will and indulgence, and with each passing second itsfeatures grew more and more painfully familiar. Why, why, had it comeinto his distant retreat to disturb his peace? A peace that it hadtaken fifteen years of life to gain, that had been achieved only bybitter struggle with self and with all that was lowest in a noblenature.

  "Alas! And I believed I had at last learned to forgive!"

  But none the less because of the bitterness would this man be unjust.His very flesh recoiled from contact with that other flesh, fair as itmight be in the sight of most eyes, yet he forced himself to draw withutmost gentleness the covering over the sleeper's shoulders, and tointerpose a screening chair between him and the firelight.

  "Well, one may at least control his actions, if not his thoughts," hemurmured and quietly left the place.

  A few moments later he stood regarding Margot, also, as she lay insleep, and all the love of his strong nature rose to protect her fromthe sorrow which she would have to bear some time but--not yet! Oh!not yet! Then he turned quickly and went out of doors.

  There had been nights in this woodlander's life when no roof couldcover him. When even the forest seemed to suffocate, and when he hadfound relief only upon the bald bare top of that rocky height whichcrowned the island. On such nights he had gone out early and come homewith the daybreak, and none had known of his absence, save, now andthen, the faithful Angelique, who knew the master's story but kept itto herself.

  Margot had never guessed of these midnight expeditions, nor understoodthe peculiar love and veneration her guardian had for that mountaintop. She better loved the depths of the wonderful forest, with itsflowers and ferns, and its furred or feathered creatures. She wasdreaming of these, the next morning, when her uncle's cheery whistlecalled her to get up.

  A cold plunge, a swift dressing, and she was with him, seeing nosigns of either illness or sorrow in his genial face, and eager withplans for the coming day. All her days were delightful, but this wouldbe best of all.

  "To think, uncle dear, that somebody else has come at last to see ourisland! why, there's so much to show him I can hardly wait, nor knowwhere best to begin."

  "Suppose, Miss Impatience, we begin with breakfast? Here comes Adrian.Ask his opinion."

  "Never was so hungry in my life!" agreed that youth, as he camehastily forward to bid them both good-morning. "I mean--not sincelast night. I wonder if a fellow that's been half-starved, orthree-quarters even, will ever get his appetite down to normal again?It seems to me I could eat a whole wild animal at a sitting!"

  "So you shall, boy. So you shall!" cried Angelique, who now came incarrying a great dish of browned and smoking fish. This she placed ather master's end of the table and flanked it with another platter ofdaintily crisped potatoes. There were heaps of delicate biscuits, withcoffee and cakes galore; enough, the visitor thought, to satisfy evenhis own extravagant hunger, and again he wondered at such fare in sucha wilderness.

  "Why, this might be a hotel table!" he exclaimed, in unfeignedpleasure. "Not much like lumberman's fare: salt pork, bad bread,molasses-sweetened tea, and the everlasting beans. I hope I shallnever have to look another bean in the face! But that coffee! I neversmelled anything so delicious."

  "Had some last night," commented Angelique, shortly. She perceivedthat this stranger was in some way obnoxious to her beloved master,and she resented the surprise with which he had seen her take her ownplace behind the tray. Her temper seemed fairly cross-edged thatmorning and Margot remarked:

  "Don't mind mother. She's dreadfully disappointed that nobody died andno bad luck followed her breaking a mirror, yesterday."

  "No bad luck?" demanded Angelique, looking at Adrian with so marked amanner that it spoke volumes. "And as for dyin'--you've but to go intothe woods and you'll see."

  Here Tom created a diversion by entering and limping straight to thestranger's side, who moved away, then blushed at his own timidity,seeing the amusement with which the others regarded him.

  "Oh! we're all one family here, servants and ever'body," cried thewoman, tossing the eagle a crumb of biscuit.

  But the big bird was not to be drawn from his scrutiny of this newface; and the gravity of his unwinking gaze was certainlydisconcerting.

  "Get out, you uncanny creature! Beg pardon, Miss Margot, but I'm--heseems to have a special grudge against me."

  "Oh! no. He doesn't understand who you are, yet. We had a man herelast year, helping uncle, and Tom acted just as he does now. Thoughhe never would make friends with the Canadian, as I hope he will withyou."

  Angelique flashed a glance toward the girl. Why should she, or anybodyspeak as if this lad's visit were to be a prolonged one? And they had,both she and the master. He had bidden the servant fill a fresh "tick"with the dried and shredded fern leaves and pine needles, such assupplied their own mattresses; and to put all needful furnishings intothe one disused room of the cabin.

  "But, master! When you've always acted as if that were bein' kept forsomebody who was comin' some day. Somebody you love!" she protested.

  "I have settled the matter, Angelique. Don't fear that I've notthought it all out. 'Do unto others,' you know. For each day its duty,its battle with self, and, please God, its victory."

  "He's a saint, ever'body knows; and there's somethin' behind all thisI don't understand!" she had muttered, but had also done his bidding,still complaining.

  Commonly, meals were leisurely affairs in that forest home, but onthis morning Mr. Dutton set an example of haste that the othersfollowed; and as soon as their appetites were satisfied he rose andsaid:

 
"I'll show you your own room now, Adrian. Occupy it as long as youwish. And find something to amuse yourself with while I am gone; for Ihave much to do out of doors. It was the worst storm, for itsduration, that ever struck us. Fortunately, most of the outbuildingsneed only repairs, but Snowfoot's home is such a wreck she must have anew one. Margot, will you run up the signal for Pierre?"

  "Yes, indeed! Though I believe he will come without it. He'll becurious about the tornado, too, and it's near his regular visitingtime."

  The room assigned to Adrian excited his fresh surprise; though heassured himself that he would be amazed at nothing further, when hesaw lying upon a table in the middle of the floor, two complete suitsof clothing, apparently placed there by the thoughtful host for hisguest to use. They were not of the latest style, but perfectly new andbore the stamp of a well-known tailor of his own city.

  "Where did he get them, and so soon? What a mammoth of a house it is,though built of logs. And isn't it the most fitting and beautiful ofhouses, after all? Whence came those comfortable chairs? and thebooks? Most of all, where and how did he get that wonderful pictureover that magnificent log mantel? It looks like a room made ready forthe unexpected coming of some prodigal son! I'm that, sure enough; butnot of this household. If I were--well, maybe---- Oh! hum!"

  The lad crossed the floor and gazed reverently at the solitarypainting which the room contained. A marvelously lifelike head of theMan of Sorrows, bending forward and gazing upon the onlooker with eyesof infinite tenderness and appealing. Beneath it ran the inscription:"Come Unto Me"; and in one corner was the artist's signature--a brokenpine branch.

  "Whew! I wonder if that fellow ran away from home because he loved abrush and paint tube! What sort of a spot have I strayed into, anyway?A paradise? Hmm. I wish the mater could see me now. She'd not be sounhappy over her unworthy son, maybe. Bless her, anyhow. If everybodyhad been like her----"

  He finished his soliloquy before an open window, through which hecould see the summit of the bare mountain that crowned the centre ofthe island, and was itself crowned by a single pine-tree. Though manyof its branches had been lopped away, enough were left to form a sortof spiral stairway up its straight trunk and to its lofty top.

  "What a magnificent flagstaff that would make! I'd like to see OldGlory floating there. Believe I'll suggest it to the magician--that'swhat this woodlander is--and doubtless he'll attend to that littlematter! Shades of Aladdin!"

  SHE UNROLLED THE STARS AND STRIPES]

  Adrian was so startled that he dropped into a chair, the better tosustain himself against further Arabian-nights-like discoveries.

  It was a flagstaff! Somebody was climbing it--Margot! Up, up, like asquirrel, her blond head appearing first on one side then the other, aglowing budget strapped to her back.

  Adrian gasped. No sailor could have been more fleet or sure-footed. Itseemed but a moment before that slender figure had scaled the topmostbranch and was unrolling the brilliant burden it had borne. The starsand stripes, of course. Adrian would have been bitterly disappointedif it had been anything else this agile maiden hoisted from that dizzyheight.

  In wild excitement and admiration the watcher leaned out of hiswindow and shouted hoarsely:

  "Hurrah! H-u-r-rah! H-U-R----!"

  The cheer died in his throat. Something had happened. Something tooawful to contemplate. Adrian's eyes closed that he might not see. Hadher foot slipped? Had his own cry reached and startled her?

  For she was falling--falling! and the end could be but one.