The Turn of the Tide Part 11

CHAPTER XV

By the end of the month the family at Hilcrest wondered how they had ever lived before they saw the world and everything in it through the blue eyes of Margaret Kendall--the world and everything in it seemed so much more beautiful now!

Never were the long mornings in the garden or on the veranda so delightful to Mrs. Merideth as now with a bright, sympathetic girl to laugh, chat, or keep silent as the whim of the moment dictated; and never were the summer evenings so charming to Frank as now when one might lie back in one's chair or hammock and listen to a dreamy nocturne or a rippling waltz-song, and realize that the musician was no bird of pa.s.sage, but that she was one's own beloved ward and was even now at home. As for Ned--never were the golf links in so fine a shape, nor the tennis court and croquet ground so alluring; and never had he known before how many really delightful trips there were within a day's run for his motor-car.

And yet----

"Della, do you think Margaret is happy?" asked Frank one day, as he and his sister and Ned were watching the sunset from the west veranda.

Margaret had gone into the house, pleading a headache as an excuse for leaving them.

Della was silent. It was Ned who answered, indignantly.

"Why, Frank, of course she's happy!"

"I'm not so--sure," hesitated Frank. Then Mrs. Merideth spoke.

"She's happy, yes; but she's--restless."

Frank leaned forward.

"That's it exactly," he declared with conviction. "She's restless--and what's the matter? That's what I want to know."

"Nonsense! it's just high spirits," cut in Ned, with an impatient gesture. "Margaret's perfectly happy. Doesn't she laugh and sing and motor and play tennis all day?"

"Yes," retorted his brother, "she does; but behind it all there's a curious something that I can't get at. It is as if she were--were trying to get away from something--something within herself."

Mrs. Merideth nodded her head.

"I know," she said. "I've seen it, too."

"Ah, you have!" Frank turned to his sister with a troubled frown. "Well, what is it?"

"I don't know." Mrs. Merideth paused, her eyes on the distant sky-line.

"I have thought--once or twice," she resumed slowly, "that Margaret might be--in love."

"In love!" cried two voices in shocked amazement.

Had Mrs. Merideth been observant she might have seen the sudden paling of a smooth-shaven face, and the quick clinching of a strong white hand that rested on the arm of a chair near her; but she was not observant--in this case, at least--and she went on quietly.

"Yes; but on the whole I'm inclined to doubt that now."

"Oh, you are," laughed Ned, a little nervously. His brother did not speak.

"Yes," repeated Mrs. Merideth; "but I haven't decided yet what it is."

"Well, I for one don't believe it's anything," declared Ned, stubbornly.

"To me she seems happy, and I believe she is."

Frank shook his head.

"No," he said. "By her own confession she has been flitting from one place to another all over the world; and, though perhaps she does not realize it herself, I believe her coming here was merely another effort on her part to get away from this something--this something that while within herself, perhaps, is none the less pursuing her, and making her restless and unhappy."

"But what can it be?" argued Ned. "She's not so different from other girls--only nicer. She likes good times and pretty clothes, and is always ready for any fun that's going. I'm sure it isn't anything about those socialistic notions that Della used to worry about," he added laughingly. "She's got well over those--if she ever had them, indeed. I don't believe she's looked toward the mills since she's been here--much less wanted to know anything about the people that work in them!"

"No, it isn't that," agreed Frank.

"Perhaps it isn't anything," broke in Della, with sudden cheeriness.

"Maybe it is a little dull here for her after all her gay friends and interesting travels. Perhaps she is a little homesick, but is trying to make us think everything is all right, and she overdoes it. Anyway, we'll ask some nice people up for a week or two. I fancy we all need livening up. We're getting morbid. Come, whom shall we have?"

CHAPTER XVI

It had been a particularly delightful day with the Hilcrest house-party.

They had gone early in the morning to Silver Lake for a picnic. A sail on the lake, a delicious luncheon, and a climb up "Hilltop" had filled every hour with enjoyment until five o'clock when they had started for home.

Two of the guests had brought their own motor-cars to Hilcrest, and it was in one of these that Miss Kendall was making the homeward trip.

"And you call this a 'runabout,' Mr. Brandon?" she laughed gaily, as the huge car darted forward. "I should as soon think of having an elephant for an errand boy."

Brandon laughed.

"But just wait until you see the elephant get over the ground," he retorted. "And, after all, the car isn't so big when you compare it with Harlow's or Frank's. It only seats two, you know, but its engine is quite as powerful as either of theirs. I want you to see what it can do," he finished, as he began gradually to increase their speed.

For some time neither spoke. The road ran straight ahead in a narrowing band of white that lost itself in a thicket of green far in the distance. Yet almost immediately--it seemed to Margaret--the green was at their right and their left, and the road had unwound another white length of ribbon that flung itself across the valley and up the opposite hill to the sky-line.

Houses, trees, barns, and bushes rushed by like specters, and the soft August air swept by her cheeks like a November gale. Not until the opposite hill was reached, however, did Brandon slacken speed.

"You see," he exulted, "we can just annihilate s.p.a.ce with this!"

"You certainly can," laughed Margaret, a little hysterically. "And you may count yourself lucky if you don't annihilate anything else."

Brandon brought the car almost to a stop.

"I was a brute. I frightened you," he cried with quick contrition.

The girl shook her head. A strange light came to her eyes.

"No; I liked it," she answered. "I liked it--too well. Do you know? I never dare to run a car by myself--very much. I learned how, and had a little runabout of my own at college, and I run one now sometimes. But it came over me one day--the power there was under my fingers. Almost involuntarily I began to let it out. I went faster and faster--and yet I did not go half fast enough. Something seemed to be pushing me on, urging me to even greater and greater speed. I wanted to get away, away----! Then I came to myself. I was miles from where I should have been, and in a locality I knew nothing about. I had no little difficulty in getting back to where I belonged, besides having a fine or two to pay, I believe. I was frightened and ashamed, for everywhere I heard of stories of terrified men, women, children, and animals, and of how I had narrowly escaped having death itself to answer for as a result of my mad race through the country. And yet--even now--to-day, I felt that wild exhilaration of motion. I did not want to stop. I wanted to go on and on----" She paused suddenly, and fell back in her seat. "You see," she laughed with a complete change of manner, "I am not to be trusted as a chauffeur."

"I see," nodded Brandon, a little soberly; then, with a whimsical smile: "Perhaps I should want the brakes shifted to my side of the car--if I rode with you!... But, after all, when you come right down to the solid comfort of motoring, you can take it best by jogging along like this at a good sensible rate of speed that will let you see something of the country you are pa.s.sing through. Look at those clouds. We shall have a gorgeous sunset to-night."

It was almost an hour later that Brandon stopped his car where two roads crossed, and looked behind him.