The Captain's Toll-Gate Part 43

These were bright days for these old shipmates; and, strange to say, as they sat and puffed, they did not talk so much of things that had been, as they puffed and made plans of things which were to be. And these plans always concerned the niece of one, and the son of the other.

Captain Asher was not at all satisfied with d.i.c.k's position in the college. He could not see how eminence awaited any young man who taught theories; he would like d.i.c.k's future to depend on facts.

"Two and two make four," said he; "there is no need of any theory about that, and that's the sort of thing that suits me."

Captain Lancaster smiled. He was a dry old salt, and listened more than he talked.

"Just now," he remarked, "I guess d.i.c.k will stick to his theories, and for a while he won't be apt to give his mind to mathematics very much, except to that kind of figuring which makes him understand that one and one makes one."

There was a thing the two old mates were agreed upon. No matter-what d.i.c.k's position might be in the college, his salary should be as large as that of any other professor. They could do it, and they would do it.

They liked the idea, and they shook hands over it.

Olive was greatly pleased with Captain Lancaster. "There is the scent of the sea about him," she wrote to d.i.c.k, "as there is about Uncle John and father, but it is different. It is constant and fixed, like the smell of salt mackerel. He would never keep a toll-gate; nor would he marry a young wife. Not that I object to either of these things, for if the one had not happened I would never have known you; and if the other had not happened, I might not have become engaged to you."

The two captains dined at Broadstone while Olive was there, and Captain Lancaster highly approved of Mrs. Easterfield. All seafaring men did--as well as most other men.

"It is a shame she had to marry a landsman," said Captain Lancaster, when he and Captain John had gone home. "It seems to me she would have suited you."

"You might mention that the next time you go to her house," said Captain Asher. "I don't believe it has ever been properly considered."

It was at this time that Olive's mind was set at rest about one of her discarded lovers. Mr. Du Brant wrote her a letter.

"MY DEAR MISS ASHER--It is very long since I have had any communication with you, but this silence on my part has been the result of circ.u.mstances, and not owing, I a.s.sure you upon my honor, to any diminution of the great regard (to use a moderate term) which I feel for you. I had not the pleasure of seeing you when I left Broadstone, but our mutual friend, Mrs. Easterfield, told me you had sent to me a message. I firmly (but I trust politely) declined to receive it. And so, my dear Miss Asher, as the offer I made you then has never received any acknowledgment, I write now to renew it. I lay my heart at your feet, and entreat you to do me the honor of accepting my hand in marriage.

"And let me here frankly state that when first I read of your great deed--you are aware, of course, to what I refer--I felt I must banish all thought of you from my heart. Let me explain my position, I had just received news of the death of my uncle, Count Rosetra, and that I had inherited his t.i.tle and estates. It is a n.o.ble name, and the estates are great. Could I confer these upon one who was being so publicly discussed--the actor in so terrible a drama? I owed more to society, and to my n.o.ble race, and to my country than I had done before becoming a n.o.ble. But ah, my torn heart! O Miss Asher, that heart was true to you through all, and has a.s.serted itself in a vehement way. I recognized your deed as n.o.ble; I thought of your beauty and your intellect; of your attractive vivacity; of your manner and bearing, all so fine; and I realized how you would grace my t.i.tle and my home; how you would help me to carry out the great ambitions I have.

"Will you, lady, deign to accept my homage and my love? A favorable answer will bring me to make my personal solicitations.

"Your most loving and faithful servant,

"CHRISTIAN DU BRANT.

"(Now Count Rosetra.)"

"What a bombastic mixture!" thought Olive, as she read this effusion. "I wonder if there is any real love in it! If there is, it is so smothered it is easily extinguished."

And she extinguished it; and thoughts of Count Rosetra troubled her no more.

She did not show d.i.c.k this letter, but she thought it due to Mrs.

Easterfield to read it to her. "He has got it into his head that an American woman, such as you, will make his house attractive to people he wants there," commented that lady. "You have not considered me at all, you ungrateful girl! Only think how I could have exploited 'my friend, the countess'! And what a fine place for me to visit!"

It had been arranged by the two houses that d.i.c.k and Olive should be married in the early summer when the college closed; and Mrs.

Easterfield had arranged in her own mind that the wedding should be in her city house. It would not be too late in the season for a stylish wedding--a thing Mrs. Easterfield had often wished she could arrange, and it was hopeless to think of waiting until her little ones could help her to this desire of her heart. She held this great secret in reserve, however, for a delightful surprise at the proper time.

But she and Olive both had a wedding surprise before Olive's visit was finished. It was, in fact, the day before Olive's return to the toll-gate that Mr. Easterfield walked in upon them as they were sitting at work in Mrs. Easterfield's room. He had been unexpectedly summoned to the city three days before, and had gone with no explanation to his wife. She did not think much about it, as he was accustomed to going and coming in a somewhat erratic manner.

"It seems to me," she said, looking at him critically after the first greetings, "that you have an important air."

"I am the bearer of important news," he said, puffing out his cheeks.

In answer to the battery of excited inquiries which opened upon him he finally said: "I was solemnly invited to town to attend a solemn function, and I solemnly went, and am now solemnly returned."

"Pshaw!" said Mrs. Easterfield. "I don't believe it's anything."

"A wedding is something. A very great something. It is a solemn thing; and made more solemn by the loss of my secretary."

"What!" almost screamed his wife. "Mr. Hemphill?"

"The very man. And, O Miss Olive, if you could but have seen him in his wedding-clothes your heart would have broken to think that you had lost the opportunity of standing by them at the altar."

"But who was the bride?" asked Mrs. Easterfield impatiently.

"Miss Eliza Grogworthy."

"Now, Tom, I know you are joking! Why can't you be serious?"

"I am as serious as were that couple. I have known her for some time, and she was very visible."

"Why, she is old enough to be his mother!"

"Not quite, my dear. In such a case as this, one must be particular about ages. She is a few years older than he is probably, but she is not bad looking, and a good woman with a nice big house and lots of money.

He has walked out of my office into a fine position, and I unselfishly congratulated him with all my heart."

"Poor Mr. Hemphill!" sighed Olive. She was thinking of the very young man she had sighed for when a very young girl.

"He needs no pity," said Mr. Easterfield seriously. "I should not be surprised if he feels glad that he was not--well, we won't say what," he added, looking mischievously at Olive. "This is really a great deal better thing for him. He is not a favorite of my wife, but he is a thoroughly good fellow in his way, and I have always liked him. There were certain things necessary to him in this life, and he has got them.

That can not be said about everybody by a long shot! No, he is to be congratulated."

Olive was silent. She was trying to make up her mind that he was really to be congratulated, and to get rid of a lingering doubt.

"Well, that is the end of him in our affairs!" exclaimed Mrs.

Easterfield. "Why didn't you tell us what you were going to town for?"

"Because he asked me not to mention it to any one. And, besides, that is not all I went to town for."

"Oh," said his wife, "any more weddings?"

"No," said Mr. Easterfield, helping himself to an easy chair. "You know I have lately been so much with nautical people I have acquired a taste for the sea."

"I did not know it," said his wife; "but what of it?"

"Well, as Lieutenant Asher and his wife are here yet, and have no earthly reason for being anywhere in particular; and as Captain Asher seems to be tired of the toll-gate; and as Captain Lancaster doesn't care where he is; and as Miss Olive doesn't know what to do with herself until it is time for her to get married; and as you are always ready to go gadding; and as the children need bracing up; and as you can not get along without Miss Raleigh; and as Mrs. Blynn is a good housekeeper; and as I have an offer for renting our town house; I propose that we all go to sea together."

The two ladies had listened breathlessly to these words, and now Olive sprang up in great excitement, and Mrs. Easterfield clapped her hands in delight.

"How clever you are, Tom!" she exclaimed. "What a splendid idea! How can we go?"

"I have leased a yacht, and we are going to the Mediterranean."