The Red Mouse Part 44

Shirley held up her head proudly, and answered:--"No, it wasn't, because for the first time in my life I really came to know my father. I thought I had known him long before, but I made a mistake. I never knew him until these last three years in Arizona--I found out almost too late."

"I always liked your father, Shirley, and I think he always liked me,"

was Miriam's remark.

"Yes, he did. But did you ever stop to think," went on Shirley hastily, "why, my father never wronged anybody! My father was good--my father was honest! Oh, I could scourge myself," she declared sadly, "for the things I used to think about father. I even told Murgatroyd, once, that though I loved my father, I could never admire him, respect him."

Miriam raised her eyebrows and protested mildly:--

"You never told me that, Shirley."

"No!" exclaimed the girl; "my friends don't know the worst side of me!

My father a failure! Fortunately in these three years I have come to look upon things differently--have come to know that he was a success, simply because he was real. Money! What is money? My father was a man!"

Miriam rose suddenly and went over to her and kissed her.

"I'm glad, Shirley," she said with feeling, "that you found it out. I knew it always."

All this time, Shirley had been watching with growing curiosity, the fancy work on which Miriam sewed so industriously. At last, she ventured:--

"Miriam, I'm a regular old maid. I haven't been one hour in your house, and already I'm burning up with curiosity to know just what you're making."

Miriam glanced a moment out of the window, then she answered somewhat evasively:--

"Why, it's just a bit of embroidery...."

But Shirley was not yet satisfied, and went on to protest:--

"But what is it? Miriam, I must know...."

Miriam Challoner hesitated for an instant, then holding up in the air a tiny infant's dress, she said softly:--

"Well, if you must know, why, you must."

There was a long pause. At last, Shirley exclaimed:--

"Isn't it dainty! Who is it for, Miriam?"

Miriam raised her head and looked squarely into the eyes of her friend; the next moment Shirley had her arms about Miriam, and drawing her close to her, she cried joyfully:--

"You precious thing! I'm so glad, oh, so glad! But why didn't you say so before?"

Miriam smiled softly.

"I'm just a bit old-fashioned, I'm afraid," she murmured. "Nowadays, it's the thing to make such announcements through a megaphone from the housetops."

For some time, she continued to sew in silence, Shirley watching her the while. All of a sudden Shirley drew a long breath and said:--

"Miriam, I wish I were happily married. It's the only life for a woman."

"Yes, you are right," a.s.sented Miriam joyously, from whom had fled the recollection of all but the last few years.

"I have always taken the keenest interest in the romances of others, but I want something more than a mere vicarious interest in romances--marriage. I'm a marrying woman," declared the girl, "and I dread the thought of being an old maid."

Miriam laughed.

"And yet they say that they're the happiest women...."

"Oh, but a real woman is one who has a husband and children--" Shirley stretched forth her arms, as though to grasp all life within them,--"children to bring up; to wipe their noses and dress them for school, and to hear them say their prayers at night. That's life! It isn't pride with me; it's instinct." Miriam thought a moment. Finally she ventured:--

"But you've had chances. There was Murgatroyd...."

"Murgatroyd," broke in the girl, "is not my ideal. No, indeed, not after what he did...."

"Then, there was Thorne," persisted Miriam, "and Thorne may be United States Senator, too--he's forged ahead."

Shirley laughed and flushed in turn. Presently, she said:--

"I'll tell you a secret, Miriam."

Miriam smiled.

"We seem to be full of secrets to-day."

"Yes," returned Shirley, "only yours is a respectable married woman's secret; mine mustn't be told ... Well," she confessed at last, "I've seen Thorne since I came back, and----"

"No!" Miriam e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed.

"Yes! He proposed to me once more, and----"

Miriam leaned forward eagerly.

"You accepted him?"

Shirley frowned.

"No--if I had accepted him, it wouldn't be a secret."

Miriam looked at her blankly.

"Why did you refuse him?"

Shirley seemed puzzled.

"That's just what I want to know myself. I don't know why.... Somehow, I couldn't marry Thorne."

"Well, for some unexplainable reason, I'm glad of that," a.s.sented Miriam.

"Tell me about Murgatroyd," said Shirley suddenly, reseating herself. "I haven't seen him----"