FullReads

Red with wrath, Dick flung the treasured packet into the fire, punched it well down among the coals, flung away the poker, and turned about with a look and gesture which would have been comically tragic if they had not been decidedly pathetic, for, in spite of his years, a very tender heart beat under the blue jacket, and it was grievously wounded at the perfidy of the gentle little divinity whom he worshipped with daily increasing ardor. His eyes filled, but he winked resolutely; his lips trembled, but he bit them hard; his hands doubled themselves up, but he remembered his adversary was a woman; and, as a last effort to preserve his masculine dignity, he began to whistle.

As if the inconsistencies of womankind were to be shown him as rapidly as possible, at this moment the shower came on, for, taking him tenderly about the neck, Dolly fell to weeping so infectiously, that, after standing rigidly erect till a great tear dropped off the end of his nose, ignominiously announcing that it was no go, Dick gave in, and laying his head on Dolly’s shoulder, the twins quenched their anger, washed away their malice, and soothed their sorrow by one of those natural processes, so kindly provided for poor humanity, and so often despised as a weakness when it might prove a better strength than any pride.

Dick cleared up first, with no sign of the tempest but a slight mist through which his native sunshine glimmered pensively.

“Don’t dear, don’t cry so; it will make you sick, and won’t do any good, for things will come right, or I’ll make ’em, and we’ll be comfortable all round.”

“No, we never can be as we were, and it’s all my fault. I’ve betrayed Fan’s confidence, I’ve spoiled your little romance, I’ve been a thoughtless, wicked girl, I’ve lost August; and, oh, dear me, I wish I was dead!” with which funereal climax Dolly cried so despairingly that, like the youngest Miss Pecksniff, she was indeed “a gushing creature.”

“Oh, come now, don’t be dismal, and blame yourself for every trouble under the sun. Sit down and talk it over, and see what can be done. Poor old girl, I forgave you the notes, and say I was wrong to meddle with Bopp. I got you into the scrape, and I’ll get you out if the sky don’t fall, or Bopp blow his brains out, like a second Werther, before to-morrow.”

Dick drew the animated fountain to the wide chair, where they had sat together since they were born, wiped her eyes, laid her wet cheek against his own, and patted her back, with an idea that it was soothing to babies, and why not to girls?

“I wish mother was at home,” sighed Dolly, longing for that port which was always a haven of refuge in domestic squalls like this.

“Write, and tell her not to stay till Saturday.”

“No; it would spoil her visit, and you know she deferred it to help us through this dreadful masquerade. But I don’t know what to do.”

“Why, bless your heart, it’s simple enough. I’ll tell Bopp, beg his pardon, say ‘Dolly’s willing,’ and there you are all taut and ship-shape again.”

“I wouldn’t for the world, Dick. It would be very hard for you, very awkward for me, and do no good in the end; for August is so proud he’d never forgive you for such a trick, would never believe that I ‘had a heart’ after all you’ve said and I’ve done; and I should only hear with my own ears that he thanked me for that No. Oh, why can’t people know when they are in love, and not go heels over head before they are ready!”

“Well, if that don’t suit, I’ll let it alone, for that is all I can suggest; and if you like your woman’s way better, try it, only you’ll have to fly round, because to-morrow is the last night, you know.”