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Little Queen of Hearts

<h2> CHAPTER XXI.—WHAT HAPPENED IN THE SMALLEST CHURCH IN ENGLAND. </h2> <div class="figleft"> <ANTIMG src="images/9215.jpg" alt="9215 " width-obs="100%" /> <ANTIMG src="images/enlarge.jpg" alt="" /> </div> For some reason or other the spirits of our driving party seemed steadily rising. It was simply impossible to put anybody out of humor, no matter what happened. Everything was lovely and just as it should be, even to the pelting showers that came down with such swift suddenness as to almost soak them through before they could get under cover of waterproofs and umbrellas, and then a moment after left them stranded in brilliant sunshine, fairly steaming within the rubber coats which, with much difficulty, had but just been adjusted. Indeed, every day seemed more full of enjoyment than the one that preceded it and to call for more enthusiasm. If any one had asked Mr. Harris, for instance, how he accounted for this, he would probably have laughed good-naturedly at the question, and answered: “Why, easily enough! How could it be otherwise with this glorious weather, this beautiful country, and our jolly little party!” But the real secret of what made the party so jolly was, in fact, quite beyond Mr. Harris's ability to divine. The real secret lay with Marie-Celeste and Dorothy in the good news that had been committed to their keeping; and, strange to say, it seemed to mean as much to Dorothy, who was no relation of Theodore's, as to Marie-Celeste, who was. As a result, they were both brimming over with fun and merriment; and as there is, fortunately, nothing in the world more contagious than good spirits, the other members of the party were equally merry without in the least knowing why. Even Mr. Farwell, who had simply been invited to fill up and because he was a friend of Mr. Harris's, fell under the spell, and bloomed out in a most surprising and delightful manner, and by the time the first week was over felt as though he had known them all all his life, and, indeed, very much regretted that such was not in truth the case. From the Waterhead Hotel, at Coniston, the plan had been laid to retrace their way a few miles over the same road by which they had come from Windermere, make a stop for two or three hours at the Rothay Hotel, and then drive on to Keswick that same afternoon. But just as they were rolling into Grasmere, the off-leader, with the total depravity peculiar to animal nature, struck the only stone visible within a hundred yards on that perfect roadway, laming himself instantly and in most pronounced fashion. This chanced to be the first mishap; but then could you really call an accident a mishap that simply necessitated a three-days' stay in the beautiful Wordsworth district? Our sunshiny little party, at any rate, chose not so to regard it, and scoured the whole lovely region on foot, reading Wordsworth's poetry in their halts by the roadside, and growing familiar with every foot of the lanes he so dearly loved. Not content with their morning spent in the Grasmere Church, and beside his grave in the little churchyard without, they even made their way to Wordsworth's old home—beautiful Rydal Mount—hoping, on the strength of a card of introduction to the gentleman residing there, to possibly be allowed to see the house. The gentleman, however, when they presented themselves at his door, politely bowed them out instead of in, and they were fain to content themselves with the lesser privilege of inspecting the prettily terraced garden. When, after the three days' rest, the off-leader had been coaxed into proper driving condition, they started off once more, but rather late in the afternoon, planning to take things in quite leisurely fashion, out of regard for the same off-leader, and depending upon the wonderful English twilight to bring them into Keswick before ten o'clock. It happened to be a local holiday in Cumberland, and as a result here and there they encountered a solitary specimen of humanity prone upon his back or his face, just as it chanced, by the roadside, or, not quite so badly off as that, reeling along to wherever home might be in that apparently houseless region. At six o'clock, on one of the highest points on the road that leads to Keswick, they stopped at the Nag's Head, a typical roadside inn, for supper, the sounds of revelry in whose tap-room at once accounted for the sorry customers they had met upon the road before they reached it. It was exceedingly interesting to the American contingent of the party to gain a little insight into the life of the English “navvies;” and they passed the little tap-room, reeking with smoke and smelling of pipes and beer mugs, rather more often than circumstances would warrant, for the sake of looking in on the jolly fellows, and catching a sentence or so of their almost unintelligible dialect. A truce to all this, however, for fear you should imagine, and with reason, that even at this late stage I am going to fare so wide of my province of story-teller as to conduct you in guide-book fashion through the counties of Westmoreland and Cumberland. But, nevertheless, up to this same Nag's Head Inn we simply had to come, because some one else, in whom we have an interest, is coming there too as fast as a good road-horse can carry him. It seems that opposite the Nag's Head Inn the Church of England has built a tiny edifice, and as though to apologize for the apparent unreasonableness of building any church there whatsoever, they have made a most miniature affair of it. A placard suspended within proclaims the fact that it is the smallest church in all England, and beneath it a contribution-box, of dimensions out of all proportion to the surroundings, invites spare shillings for the maintenance of the lonely little parish. The peculiar isolation of the place appeals to the average tourist in most pathetic fashion, and no sooner have our friends of the driving party crowded within the diminutive door than Mr. Harris, hat in hand, commences to take up a collection, with a view to making a radical addition to the contents of the roomy contribution-box. Just as he is concluding the exercise of this truly churchly function, and Marie-Celeste is dropping her very last sixpence into the depths of the appealing hat, the little doorway is suddenly darkened—-as it has need to be when any one comes through it—and in the next second Ted is standing in their midst. The collection goes sliding on to the floor, to be re-collected at leisure, and everybody, with the exception of Mr. Farwell, is trying to seize Ted's hand at once. Precedence, however, is given to the claims of Marie-Celeste, and the upturned face is greeted with the most prodigious kiss. “I thought we should happen to meet you somewhere on this trip,” said Mr. Harris, when things had subsided enough for an attempt at conversation, groping the while on all-fours, and with Harold's help, for the fugitive shillings on the floor. “Well, you can hardly call it happening to meet, when I've been riding since early this morning to catch you. I expected to overtake you at Grasmere, but found you were well on your way to Keswick by the time I reached it.” “Well, where did you come from, anyhow, old fellow?” asked Harold, pleased beyond measure that Ted had seen fit to follow them up in this fashion. He could not imagine whatever had suddenly brought it about, after all the neglect of the summer; but that did not in the least diminish his delight. “I came from home, Harold,” Ted replied; “I went back there two weeks ago, but it was so lonely I couldn't stand it, and so when I found out through the Allyns about where you were, I came posthaste after you. Besides, you know, when I discovered that my brake had been walked off with in a rather cool fashion, I concluded I had some rights in the case, and came to look after them. I see it's been terribly abused,” glancing in the direction of the brake, which, minus the horses, stood in front of the inn across the narrow road; “it was as good as new when you started.” But these last remarks, so like the old Ted, but for the fact that he was not in the least in earnest, were hardly listened to at all by Harold. He was thinking his own glad thoughts. Five weeks yet till the Harrises would sail for home! Ted would have a chance to redeem himself in that time and make up for all his coldness and neglect; and the joy of it all was that it looked as though he was going to try to do it. “Half crown, please, for being permitted to join the party,” said Mr. Harris, presenting the hat to Ted, after making sure that none of the coins were still missing; and Ted, though wholly bent on practising close economy, felt the circumstances justified the outlay, and did as he was bid. There was only one person to whom Ted's coming was not a source of unalloyed pleasure. The addition of a seventh member to the party made it necessary that some one should occupy the vacant back seat on the brake between the grooms, and Mr. Farwell was gentleman enough to insist upon being allowed to take his regular turn in the matter. He would not have minded this much, however, only that, being endowed with average qualities of discernment, he soon realized he had been obliged to take a back seat in more senses than one. Dorothy continued to be most polite and friendly, but that Ted filled the role of an old and privileged friend was at once evident on the face of things, and Mr. Farwell endeavored to accept the situation with the best grace possible, and succeeded, be it said to his credit, remarkably well. Mr. and Mrs. Harris were soon taken into Ted's confidence—the very next day, in fact, as they were sitting in the garden of the hotel at Keswick—and listened as raptly to his narration of all that had happened these last few weeks as the little circle outside the cottage door had listened to Marie-Celeste. Ted, however, made no excuses for himself, whereas Marie-Celeste's account was full of them; and so one narration was naturally far less plausible than the other. The one fact that seemed to Mr. and Mrs. Harris to defy credulity was that Ted should have fallen into the hands of the Hartleys, for in what other little cottage in all England could such a transformation have been wrought? Where else could he have been brought into such close touch with all the old home interests as he had been there, first through Chris and afterward through Donald and Marie-Celeste, and where else could he have come to see so clearly that he had been wilfully trampling upon all that is truest and best in life? “Fritz,” said Mrs. Harris that evening, as in company with Marie-Celeste they were strolling home from an hour spent in the little churchyard where the great poet Southey is buried, “I think it is beautiful to realize what a grand part Providence plays in the world.” “Providence!” said Marie-Celeste thoughtfully; “really, I do not know just what people mean by Providence.” “The word is from the Latin,” said her father, who, with most college men, liked to bring his knowledge of derivations to the front now and then, “and the dictionary, I think, would tell you that it means God's thoughtful care for everything created.” “Exactly,” said Mrs. Harris, “only it seems to me that people are often in too much of a hurry to make use of the word, for you can't he certain until you are able to look hack upon a thing whether it was surely of God's ordering or man's short-sighted scheming. Still I am inclined to believe, even at this stage of the proceeding, that our coming over here this summer has indeed been a beautiful providence and a few weeks later, for good and sufficient reasons, there was not a shadow of doubt on that score left in the mind of any one.” <hr /> <div style="break-after:column;"></div>

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