PAGE 12
Asaph
by
Her brother looked at her a moment. “Do you want me to go away before breakfast?” he said.
“No,” answered Marietta, “but immediately afterward.” And in her mind she resolved that breakfast should be very early the next morning.
If Asaph had any idea of yielding, he did not intend to show it until the last moment, and so he changed the subject. “What’s the matter with Betsey?” said he. “If she’s out of health you’d better get rid of her.”
“There’s nothing the matter with Betsey,” answered his sister. “Doctor Wicker came to see me.”
“Came to see you!” exclaimed her brother. “What in the world did he do that for? You never told me that you were ailin’. Is it that sprain in your ankle?”
“Nonsense,” said Marietta. “I had almost recovered from that sprain when you came here. There’s nothing the matter with my ankle; the trouble is probably with my heart.”
The moment she said this she regretted it, for Asaph had so good a head, and could catch meanings so quickly.
“I’m sorry to hear that, Marietta,” said Asaph. “That’s a good deal more serious.”
“Yes,” said she. And she turned and went back to the house.
Asaph continued to walk up and down the path. He had not done a stroke of work that morning, but he did not think of that. His sister’s communication saddened him. He liked Marietta, and it grieved him to hear that she had anything the matter with her heart. He knew that that often happened to people who looked perfectly well, and there was no reason why he should have suspected any disorder in her. Of course, in this case, there was good reason for her sending for the very best doctor to be had. It was all plain enough to him now.
But as he walked and walked and walked, and looked at the garden, and looked at the little orchard, and looked at the house and the top of the big chestnut-tree, which showed itself above the roof, a thought came into his mind which had never been there before–he was Marietta’s heir. It was a dreadful thing to think of his sister’s possible early departure from this world; but, after all, life is life, reality is reality, and business is business. He was Marietta’s only legal heir.
Of course he had known this before, but it had never seemed to be of any importance. He was a good deal older than she was, and he had always looked upon her as a marrying woman. When he made his proposition to Mr. Rooper the thought of his own heirship never came into his mind. In fact, if any one had offered him ten dollars for said heirship, he would have asked fifteen, and would have afterward agreed to split the difference and take twelve and a half.
But now everything had changed. If Marietta had anything the matter with her heart there was no knowing when all that he saw might be his own. No sooner had he walked and thought long enough for his mind to fully appreciate the altered aspects of his future than he determined to instantly thrust out Mr. Rooper from all connection with that future. He would go and tell him so at once.
To the dismay of Betsey, who had been watching him, expecting that he would soon stop walking about and go and saw some wood with which to cook the dinner, he went out of the front gate and strode rapidly into the village. He had some trouble in finding Mr. Rooper, who had gone off to take a walk and arrange a conversation with which to begin his courtship of Mrs. Himes; but he overtook him under a tree by the side of the creek. “Thomas,” said he, “I have changed my mind about that business between us. You have been very hard on me, and I’m not goin’ to stand it. I can get the clothes and things I need without makin’ myself your slave and workin’ myself to death, and, perhaps, settin’ my sister agin me for life by tryin’ to make her believe that black’s white, that you are the kind of husband she ought to have, and that you hate pipes and never touch spirits. It would be a mean thing for me to do, and I won’t do it. I did think you were a generous-minded man, with the right sort of feeling for them as wanted to be your friends; but I have found out that I was mistook, and I’m not goin’ to sacrifice my sister to any such person. Now that’s my state of mind plain and square.”