Romance Classics (122 page)

“You want to know something funny?” she asked.

“I can’t think of anything I’d like better than to hear something funny.”

“Gran’sir thought I was in danger of falling in love with you.” Cherry’s tone invited him to laugh, but instead Jonathan merely looked at her in complete stupefaction.

“He couldn’t possibly have,” he protested.

“Oh, but he did!” Cherry bubbled with laughter, and sobered as she added hastily, “Oh, if it hadn’t been for Job, I would have, Jonny. You’re a grand person and I am tremendously fond of you. But of course with me it’s always been Job, though it took me quite a spell to discover it.”

She chuckled and offered more coffee, but Jonathan refused.

“Where is His Honor? Available for a chat? I want to say goodbye,” Jonathan told her as he stood up.

“Goodbye?” Cherry repeated, wide-eyed. “Oh, Jonny, you’re not leaving now. You’ve got to stay for my wedding!”

“Thanks, Cherry, that’s sweet of you, but I’ve loafed long enough,” Jonathan told her. “Way past time I was getting back among the torts and briefs, or I’ll have to learn the language all over again.”

Cherry asked quietly, “Have you and Loyce quarreled?”

Jonathan caught his breath.

“Now that’s a silly question.” His tone was harsh.

“Look, can’t you realize, Cherry, that I’m a city slicker? I can take just so much of this mountain stuff.

“Well, yes, of course, Jonny, if you say so.” Cherry was very much subdued and understandably puzzled. “Gran’sir is out on the side verandah.”

“Thanks,” said Jonathan curtly, and marched out.

The Judge dropped his newspaper as Jonathan came out and smiled a warm, friendly smile of greeting, and motioned to a chair beside him, commenting pleasantly on the perfection of the morning.

“I thought I’d take off, Judge,” Jonathan told him when the first greetings were over. “Loafing gets to be a chore after a while, and I’ve been down here for weeks.”

“It’s been a real pleasure to have you, Jonny, and I’ll hate seeing you go,” said the Judge quietly.

“Thank you, sir,” Jonathan answered. “It’s been pretty wonderful here and I hope I may come back some time for another vacation. But of course I’m going to be pretty busy for the next few years getting a practice established.”

The Judge smiled. “I take it you are no longer disillusioned with the law?”

Jonathan managed an answering grin. “Only with some of those who practice it.”

“Oh, well, there are crooks and scoundrels in all trades, and we just have to learn to live with that fact,” the Judge answered.

For a moment the two men sat in a rather awkward silence. There was so much each wanted to say to the other, and yet it was difficult to bring the subject to the fore.

“One thing, Jonny, I shall always be grateful for,” said the Judge. “And that’s what you have done for Loyce.”

Jonathan looked up, and for a moment the taut scowl was gone from his face and he could only look at the Judge with astonishment.

“For what I’ve done for Loyce?” he repeated incredulously.
“When you first came she was living in a tight little world all her own, locked up in some bitterness that I could not feel was entirely due to her grief for Weldon, although I knew that hit her hard,” said the Judge slowly, his eyes on the scene before them, dappled with sunshine and shadow, the garden agleam with summer beauty. “I don’t know what miracle you worked, but I’m very grateful for it. In the past few weeks she has come out of the shadows and has become the girl she was before Weldon came. I’m very fond of my granddaughters, Jonny.”

“You have every reason to be, sir,” said Jonathan. “They are fine girls and very beautiful.”

“More than anything in the world, I want their happiness,” said the Judge slowly. “Even if it takes them away from me to a place where I will see them only rarely, I want them to be happy.”

Jonathan’s eyes dropped to his hands, locked and hanging between his knees.

“Cherry will be in and out of the Lodge every few days,” he pointed out. “And Loyce will be here permanently.”

“I hope not,” said the Judge quietly.

Jonathan looked up at him swiftly.

“I mean I hope Loyce will find a husband and go away to a home of her own some day,” said the Judge, and looked straight at Jonathan.

For a moment the eyes of the two men locked and held. And it was Jonathan who spoke, saying something he had had no intention of saying. “Now that Cherry is getting married and leaving the Lodge, I’m quite sure that Loyce has no intention of marrying.”

“She told you that?” probed the Judge.

“She told me that,” he admitted, and then was appaled at the realization of his betrayal. “I mean sir, that she told me — that is, I’m sure she feels that she and Cherry can’t both desert you.”

The Judge nodded, smiling faintly but with a touch of triumph in his eyes.

“So I was right,” he said. “You
are
in love with Loyce and she is in love with you. So what’s the problem?”

“I’m sorry, sir, but I’m afraid that’s something you will have to ask Loyce,” Jonathan replied stiffly.

“And don’t think I won’t!” said the Judge. “That’s exactly what I’ll do. You won’t be leaving today, son. As a personal favor to me, stay over until tomorrow, will you? You can get a better train that way — if you insist on going, that is. Cherry has to meet a couple of fellows who didn’t want to drive up; she can take you to the station when she goes to collect them.”

Jonathan hesitated.

“I’ll be glad to wait over another day, Judge,” he said at last.

“Good! Then you’d better run along and get in a final day’s fishing,” suggested the Judge, and lifted his newspaper. “Get Mrs. Mitchell to put up some sandwiches for you and make a day of it. Might be a considerable while before you have another chance.”

Jonathan stood up, grateful to escape.

“That’s a good idea, sir. Thanks. I’ll see you at dinner.”

“Sure, son. At dinner,” the Judge agreed, and watched as Jonathan went across the terrace and into the house.

As he assembled his gear in the back hall, Elsie came out, carrying a plump knapsack.

“Cherry thought you’d be wanting to get in some more fishing before you leave,” said Elsie as she held out the knapsack. “We’re sure going to be sorry to see you go. And you know something? I can’t remember we’ve ever before had a guest here that we could honestly say that about. Usually we’re so glad to see ‘em go we can’t wait to see their cars go down the drive.”

“Well, thanks a lot, Elsie,” Jonathan told her. “I hope I haven’t been a lot of trouble. It’s been a great joy for me to be here.”

“Of course I know you want to get back to your job,” said Elsie. “But maybe you’ll be coming back again.”

“I hope to, Elsie.”

“Good!” Elsie beamed at him happily. “We’ll all be waiting for you and welcoming you.”

Her friendly sincerity was warming, and Jonathan’s spirits lifted slightly as he left the Lodge and took the path down toward his favorite fishing spot. His thoughts were so tied up with Loyce that when he reached the turn in the path that led away from the trail, he glanced automatically at the flat rock that was a favorite spot of hers. But of course she wasn’t there, and his mouth thinned bitterly.

Of course she’s not taking any chances on meeting you, you fool, he told himself savagely. She’s hiding from you! And that ought to give you a pretty good idea of where you stand with her.

It was late afternoon when he gave up the unsuccessful attempt at fishing and returned to the Lodge. He saw none of the family as he went up to his room to clean up for dinner but when he came downstairs they were all waiting for him and went into the dining room in a small, companionable group.

Loyce, in a crisply fresh cotton frock, sat across the table from Jonathan, her eyes on her plate. Cherry sat opposite her grandfather and chattered gaily as Elsie began serving dinner.

The Judge smiled at her flushed, radiant young face and glanced now and then, as dinner progressed, at Loyce’s pallor. Beneath the summer’s sun-tan she looked ashen and much older than her years. But it was not until dessert and coffee had been served that the Judge made his first move.

He looked up as Elsie placed dessert before him and said, “Ask your mother to come in, will you, Elsie? And Eben, too. This is a family matter, so I felt the whole family should have a part in it.”

Elsie looked startled, but disappeared into the kitchen and a moment later returned with Mrs. Mitchell, vast in her crisp cotton frock and the voluminous apron in which she had wrapped her hands.

“Mitch,” said the Judge, “how long have you and Eben been here at the Lodge?”

“Why, ever since you brought the girls here, Judge. Loyce was about five, Cherry about three,” answered Mrs. Mitchell, obviously puzzled by the question. “That would be eighteen, nineteen years, way I figure it. Elsie was just Cherry’s age, and you thought it would be nice for your gals to have somebody to play with.”

The Judge nodded, while those at the table stared at him in bewilderment.

“And you’re not planning to leave, are you, Mitch?” the Judge asked gently.

Mrs. Mitchell stared at him as though she thought he had lost his mind, while Eben stirred restlessly, vaguely alarmed.

“Leave, Judge?” Mrs. Mitchell repeated. “Well, now, where would we go, seein’ that we sold our place ten, twelve year ago to some city folks? This is our home, Judge. Why would we leave?”

The Judge nodded, and now his gaze was on Loyce, who was staring at him with wide, shocked eyes.

“Then in case my two granddaughters found husbands for themselves and went away, I wouldn’t be alone, would I?” asked the Judge, still addresssing himself to Mrs. Mitchell, though his eyes were on the swift rush of color that flooded Loyce’s face and the startled glance she shot Jonathan.

“Alone? Judge, you’ll never be alone as long as one of us Mitchells has breath in his body,” Mrs. Mitchell said sternly.

The Judge gave her a warm, grateful smile which vanished as he turned once more to Loyce.

“You see?” he said quietly. “You were going to marry Weldon Hammett and leave the Lodge and me. So why can’t you marry Jonny and leave with him?”

Loyce gasped, and for a moment her eyes met Jonathan’s and saw there the same angry glint that was in her own.

“I — but then, Cherry and Job weren’t engaged,” Loyce stammered.

“Look, Judge, I see what you’re trying to do,” Jonathan began.

“You love her, don’t you?” demanded the Judge.

“Very much.”

“And you want to marry her, don’t you?”

“Not like this,” said Jonathan, and stood up, thrusting his chair violently backward so that he had to catch it to keep it from falling over. “I once heard you say you didn’t approve of shotgun weddings. Well, neither do I! I don’t want an unwilling wife who’ll keep looking over her shoulder and feeling a guilt complex because she left you and neglected her duty to you. Loyce is subject to complexes, anyway; and I’d rather not start our married life with her laboring under one.”

“Sit down!” thundered the Judge so unexpectedly that they all started and blinked at him. “I’ll have an order or hold you in contempt of court. I’ve had all the nonsense about this that I intend to have.”

He glared around the table as Jonathan reluctantly seated himself.

“If you think,” the Judge addressed himself to Loyce, “that I’m going to put up with another year or two of you moping and mewling and whining around because you’ve lost another love, you, my girl, are sadly mistaken. Either you marry Jonathan and go away with him, or I’ll send you down to the ‘flat-lands’ to get a job! And don’t think I don’t mean that. I intend to have some peace and quiet in my declining years if I have to go and live by myself in a cave.”

“But, Gran’sir — ” Loyce whimpered.

“Just a second, sir,” Jonathan said grimly. “If she has to be forced to marry me, I don’t want her.”

The Judge turned a wintry look on him.

“You said you loved her,” he snapped.

“I also said I didn’t approve of shotgun weddings.”

The Judge sighed gustily. “You young people! I often wonder how you can be such utter fools and play fast and loose with all the good things life offers you!”

He looked at Loyce, then at Jonathan and back at Loyce. She was watching him with wide eyes as though she had never seen this somewhat terrifying man before. He was in his old role as a stern Judge sitting on the bench, pronouncing judgment on some hapless criminal who stood looking up at him without hope.

“You’ve had something, my girl, that happens very rarely to anyone,” he pointed out: “a second chance at a happy marriage and a good life. Love isn’t something like the ‘fairy crosses’ that the tourists find by the handfuls; it’s more like some fine ruby that is found just once, or at most, twice in a lifetime. I’m sure you were in love with Hammett; but you were a different girl then. You’ve grown up a bit; that is, if you’ll let yourself.”

“I just wanted to look after you the way you’ve looked after Cherry and me,” Loyce stammered miserably.

Mrs. Mitchell sniffed. “A lot of looking after him you’ve done these last two years, Loyce,” she reminded the girl. “Sneaking out of the house before daybreak; taking your lunch with you; sitting at the dinner table a few minutes every evening because he ordered you to; and then sneaking off to your room for dear-knows what. A mighty fine companion you’ve been to him. You’ve near ‘bout worried him to death. Way I see it, he’d be mighty relieved to know you was off somewhere married and happy.”

Jonathan stood up, and this time his taut scowl and tone of his voice told them that he was not staying for further arguments.

“I’ve never looked on myself as the answer to a maiden’s prayer, exactly,” he said grimly. “But neither have I thought of myself as a man who had to get a girl’s family to force her to marry him. A thing like that could easily give a man an inferiority complex similar to Loyce’s. So if you’ll excuse me, I have some packing to do.”

He turned and strode out of the room, and for a moment after he had gone there was an abashed, uneasy silence behind him. It was the Judge who broke it.