An Unwilling Guest (13 page)

She resolved she would help them with this boy if possible. She could not help to make him over, for that she did not understand, but
she might perhaps help to bring him into the place where they thought he might be made over. She recognized that he had the making of a man in him. She had always been able to wheedle boys and young men into doing her bidding. They had often sent her to coax this or that one into some scheme, and she had almost never failed. What if she should try to coax him to go to church next Sunday? What would Allison say if she told her she had asked him and he had consented? She resolved again to try.

To this end she led him to the dining room and seated herself, as had been planned beforehand, at the littl
e tea table to pour tea. She re
tained her vassal, however, and found he was not at all a bad hand to serve cups of tea to the company. But presently there came a lull in tea pouring. All were served and satisfied, and they could sit and chat. She had treated the boy much as she would have treated a young man in her own social set, had given him little compliments on the way he helped her, and made him feel she liked to have him by her side. Only when Allison came that way she felt she had a rival in his admiration.

But after all it was he who opened the way for her to carry out her purpose. It was while he was devouring sponge cakes, a whole one at a bite, a large plateful within reach, and he not troubled by any feeling of bashfulness about taking all he wished. Allison had just passed by them into the other room. She hardly knew whether she was glad or sorry of this sudden devotion of her scholar to her guest. It certainly kept Miss Rutherford from curbing the spirits of the other guests, and kept Bert away from several mill girls who had been invited to-night as an experiment, also to be helped, who would not be helpful to the young man in question. But what were they talking about? Horse races? Dancing? What possible theme could they have in common? Well, she would be likely to hear of it next Sunday some time during the lesson. Bert would be sure to say, "She told me so and so." Allison sighed and went back to her mill girls and a shy boy who could n
ot be induced to talk with anyo
ne else, and tried not to worry.

At that moment Bert swallowed a huge bite and washed it down with the entire contents of the tiny teacup, passing it for more. Then he leaned over the little table and said:

"Say, she," nodding his head in the direction Allison had just gone, "has been
tryin
' this long time to get me to come to one of their young folks'
meetin's
at the church Sunday night. She's tried every way
coaxin
' pretty near, an' I won't give in because I used to go there and they put me out
fer
whisperin
', and I said I'd never go in there again. That was five years ago, and I
ain't
went since. But now she's got a new dodge. She wants me to take my violin next Sunday night and play for them. She's got the pieces picked out she wants me to play an' all. She's
goin
' to lead the
meetin
' her
self. She's been at me again to
night, but I
aint
give in yet. But I'll tell you w
hat I'll do. I do hate to disap
point her, she seems to want it so much, an' if you'll go along an' play my accompaniments I'll do it. I will now."

With which magnanimous offer he leaned proudly back in his chair and swallowed the new cupful at one gulp and began on another cake.

Evelyn was too much taken aback to answer at first. The conceit, the impudence, of the young rascal was swallowed up in her amusement. What would her friends think to hear her submitting to such talk? But how strange that he should open the way to what she had decided to try to get him to do. If it were not for the absurd condition she would bind the bargain at once, but of course she could not do that. Go and play for this untutored boy at a public meeting and in a church! She never did such a thing in her life. It would not be dignified. And yet, why should she not? There was no one here whom she knew or for whom she cared a whit. No one would tell the story. She might as well enjoy this adventure to the end; there was little enough in this town to enjoy, surely. And this was harmless, only a joke. She felt sure Allison would be pleased.

Just at that moment Mrs. Grey passed through the room and smiled as she saw the two together with a
lighting up of her face that re
minded one of her son. Evelyn's decision was taken. She turned to the boy and said:

"All right, I will go. But you must bring me your music beforehand to practice."

The company broke up soon after that, and the boy swaggered off between two of the mill girls who laughed and talked so loud you
could hear them down the street, and yelled, "Oh, Bert,
ain't
you too funny!" again and again.

Then Allison, after watching them go down the walk, turned silently and bent her pretty head on her hands and sighed. She was tired and discouraged and did not know how to trust what she had done to her heavenly Father's keeping, and above all did not know how to trust this strange, unwelcome worker who had been forced upon her.

Evelyn on the contrary went to her room well satisfied with her day's work. It was not so stupid after all to be good, if this was being good. She prayed her prayer with more vim and less humility that night, and was perhaps not so near to the kingdom as when she had not expected to be noted for what she had done.

D
id you say that you were anxious to get that boy to go to church?" asked the guest, as the two girls sat together the next afternoon over a bit of fancy work. Miss Rutherford had offered to show Allison how to make such a sofa pillow as she was embroidering and Allison had been glad to accept. It was not every day she had a chance like that. The conversation, however, so far had been confined to the pillow and the stitch and the way to hold the needle. Now Allison was mastering the difficult operation and the teacher felt at liberty to talk of other things. She had been waiting all day to get the
right chance to display her tri
umph.

"Do you mean Bert
Judkins
?" as
ked Allison with quick apprehen
sion, she scarcely knew why. "Yes, I said so. Why, did he talk about it to you?" Her interest in fancy work was for the moment abated. She feared that her work and her prayers were to be of no avail. Bert had been very shy of doing anything he was asked lately. He had even stayed away from Sunday-school several times. Now, doubtless, he had been laughing over her anxiety with this stranger. There was a real pain in her eyes as she looked at Miss Rutherford for an answer.

"Won't you tell me why in the worl
d you care?" asked Evelyn inter
estedly, not ready to answer Allison's other question yet

Allison shrank from replying to this. She felt keenly that the other girl could not understand her motives, and would know no better after she was told. But she had asked and there must be an answer. It was her duty to witness for her Lord before this one as well as before Bert
Judkins
, though she wished in her hea
rt that it were the rude boy in
stead of the girl of the world.

"Because I want him to be a Christian."

It seemed to be the only thing to be said but Allison felt it would be like Greek to her questioner.

"Yes, he is a good deal of a heathen," laughed Evelyn; "but tell me why you care? Why don't you just let him alone as he is? What makes you take so much trouble for him, just a young, ignorant boy? I'll admit he is bright and funny sometimes, but he is awfully impudent and ill-bred. I know you can't enjoy him always. What is it that makes you take so much trouble? In other words, why are you such a good girl?"

Allison's face grew rosy under this
and she scarcely knew how to an
swer. Had she been heart and soul enlisted in helping this stranger who had come within her gates, as others wished
and hoped she would be, she would have welcomed this talk w
ith joy and hastened with eager
ness to explain her love to her
Saviour
and through him to all for whom he died. But so thoroughly had she fixed it in her mind that Evelyn Rutherford was beyond the pale of her influence in any possible way that she merely felt now an impulse to guard all sacred things from her polluting gaze. As the blood receded she made answer in a
l
most cold tones:

"My
Saviour
died for him. If he is worth that he is worth any effort of the
Saviour's
followers."

Evelyn looked at her curiously. It was the same language her brother had used more feelingly. She saw that Allison was shy about talking the matter over.

"And what do you expect to do with him after you have got him to church?" asked Evelyn, after a moment's silence.

"He will hear of Christ, and will little by little begin to realize his love, and will"—she hesitated for a word—"be willing to be Christ
like, I hope. And he will learn—he knows already, that we are praying for him." Allison spoke softly with her eyes on her work. It was necessary to explain all this, though she had no
t the least hope it would be un
derstood.

But to Evelyn the words came with memory's reflections. How strange that she should use those words, almost the same that her brother had used in speaking to her. There seemed to be a language
spoken among these strange people that was different from that of the world. She had never heard of the shibboleth, but she recognized it now without the knowledge and her heart warmed to the thought in a way that surprised herself. Then there were others going about praying for people in the same way in which he had prayed for her. She was not the only one to have this unique experience. Were there many? Allison had said "we" are praying. Did that mean all those other girls? Their plain faces and commonplace a
ttire suddenly took on a new in
terest in the mind of the girl who had ignored them.

To Allison's surprise she presently answered in a thoughtful tone: "Yes, I see." Then she added with a laugh, "Well, you have your wish. He is coming."

"Coming?" said Allison dropping her work. "How do you know? Did he say he would?"

"Yes," said Evelyn with a sudden resolve to say no more yet. Callers came just then and took Allison to the parlor and when she returned Evelyn had gone to her room.

Evelyn managed to be at the door when Bert arrived the next noon with the music as he had promised, and as it happened, Allison had gone to the store on an errand for her mother, so that there was no question of why he had come. The guest with a guilty feeling went to the piano and began to play. The mus
ic was all unfamiliar to her ex
cept now and then a stra
nd
that she seemed to have heard in church; but Allison wondered much on her return to hear the several familiar tunes played over and over again. Once she opened the parlor door and peeped in, but Evelyn
seemed to be looking over the church hymn book; doubtless it was curiosity which led her to try them.

The sounds ceased altogether soon
and Allison heard her going up
stairs. Troubled thoughts were going on in her turbulent young heart. A new difficulty had arisen. They would always arise with a foreign element in the house. There was a question of what to do now, or rather Allison said there was no question, though she knew in her heart there was. She had deliberately determined not to put it before her mother at all She was fearful of what her mother might say, and in this case her impetuous will was determined.

It was just this. She was appointed to lead the young people's prayer
meeting the next evening. It was now Saturday afternoon and she had not yet been able to fix her mind on the theme and prepare. Why? Partly because she felt that her heart was not right before God, and partly because she was troubled by the presence of this stranger. Of course she would not ask Miss Rutherford to accompany her to the meeting; it would not be necessary, nor a thing to be desired in any way. Equally of course, Miss Rutherford would not accept were she to be asked. Miss Rutherford would curl her haughty lip at a prayer meeting wherein the young and unlearned and the girl
s took part. Al
lison could talk and pray and lead a meeting well before her own circle of acquaintances and she had done it so much that it had ceased to be the terrible cross to her that it was to
some, but to do anything in pub
lic before this other girl in whose presence her spirit seemed to be a groveling creature, she could not and would not. She had reasoned this out many times till her brain was weary and that night she put the whole matter into a deliberate resolve that she would have no more to do with it, and turned her attention to her preparation. Nevertheless she could not get away from the feeling that she was sneaking off to her meeting and leaving behind a duty undone. She thought she felt a little as Jonah did when he was told to go to Nineveh, only she would not admit that she had been told.

M
iss Rutherford attended church in
the morning with the family, and enchanted the eyes of the feminine portion of the audience with the hat she wore, though her entire costume, according to New York custom for church-goers, was plain in t
he extreme. It was the very ele
gant plainness that turned many eyes in her direction, and marked her a distinguished stranger.

Rebecca
Bascomb
had done her work thoroughly, and very few present did not know that she was "Miss Joan Rutherford's niece, the daughter of her only brother," and a few added touches that Miss
Bascomb
affixed according to the gullibility of her audience. There were a few, a choice few, who were g
iven as a delicate morsel an ac
count of her visit at the
Greys'
the other day.

In the afternoon Allison went to Sunday-school. She had eased her conscience greatly by asking Evelyn i
f she would care to attend, prom
ising to take her into the young ladies' Bible class if she would, and went away to her work with a lighter heart. If she would not go to Sunday-school naturally she would not expect to be invited to go again that day.

But the afternoon was not all brightness. Allison's boys seemed to have arranged to take a day off from good behavior and fall back into their old ways before she took the class. Especially was Bert
Judkins
trying. He whispered during prayer ti
me and whistled during the sing
ing, and smiled at Allison
seraphically
whenever she turned reproving or pleading eyes his way. He growled in low bass whispers something about one of the girls in a classroom across the main aisle, till the others giggled, right in the midst of the most solemn part of the lesson. Allison had put much work into the preparation of that lesson and had hoped it would reach the hearts of two o
r three of her class in particu
lar. Behold, those were the very boys who seemed most possessed not to listen. When Bert
Judkins
, during the first hymn that followed the lesson, leaned forward and said he had to go, he had an engagement, with a twinkle that made the other boys nudge each other and giggle, Allison drooped her head on her hand in despair, and if she had been alone would have cried.

Bert, however, did not go. He sat back in his seat and looked at her furtively, noting the sad droop of her mouth, and the discouraged turn of her head, and reflected upon his own behavior. He had not meant to be so trying. He was half ashamed that he had decided to please his teacher that evening, and rather puffed about it on the whole. He was obliged to equalize matters somehow, and hence his spirits during the class. He had known that it would annoy her to have him leave the class before the closing exercises were concluded. It was a part of the code of honor of the school not to run out during prayer and singing and remarks. He had felt that he must do something of this sort in order to hold his own among the boys and in part atone for the part he intended taking in the evening meeting.

But now as he saw her greatly troubled look and knew that she was really anxious over him his face grew thoughtful and the influence that had made him yield and go to the meeting kept him quiet during the
remainder of the session. He touched his hat respectfully as he passed her at the classroom door, and did not tumble out over the feet of the other boys as he often had done before, and his teacher, ever watchful, thought he had not altogether forgotten his promise to her that he "would think about" what she had said to him concerning Christ.

However, she sighed deeply as she went home, and wished that it was not her night to lead
the meeting. She did not feel in
the spirit of it She had a lurking bitterness toward Miss Rutherford for having in her opinion been the cause of Bert
Judkins
' behavior in Sunday-school, Just how she did not attempt to tell hers
elf, but her influence was prob
ably to blame in some way.

Just what she would have thought had she known that Miss Rutherford had been faithfully
practicing
hymns ever since she left the house for Sunday-school, and only ceased as she heard the gate click and knew that Allison had returned, it is hard to te
ll.
She was glad when she came in to find the parlor and library deserted, and to hear footsteps above in the guest's room, which told her she would have a little time alone. She went to her own
room presently and tried to ab
sorb her mind
in
the topic for the evening. When that failed to cheer her she knelt beside her
bed, but while she was praying for help and strength her mind kept recurring to the thought that perhaps she should Invite Miss Rutherford to go with her. She arose by and by and deliberately put her mind to making
out her
programme
for the meet
ing and selecting her hymns. It was drawing near to the hour and her work must be done. She reasoned with herself that she was growing morbid over the whole thing and that after this meeting was well out of the way she would try to make an opportunity to say something to Miss Rutherford about religion. She must do it, hard as it seemed to her, and useless as she was sure it was, or her conscience would drive her distracted. Why had all her friends so mistakenly selected her as the one to do this work? Why, but because they had failed themselves? The thought was almost bitterly spoken to herself as she went to the glass to smooth her hair. Glancing at her watch she saw to her relief that it really was time to be off. Now in a few minutes she would have
put all possibility of doing that disagreeable thing that conscience kept suggesting, behind her.