Bankrupt (part 7)

The doctor smiled at her. Phoebe looked like a rose in her Sunday white,

and the elder woman felt a sudden joy in her, untouched by envy of her

youth and bloom. Phoebe only seemed a part of the beautiful new laws to

which the world was freshly tuned, Dorcas coveted nothing; she envied

nobody. She herself possessed all, in usurping her one rich kingdom.

"All right," she said. "The doctor can step in now, and see father. I'll hurry

back, as soon as Sunday-school is over." She walked away, glancing

happily at the flowers on either side of the garden-path. She wanted to

touch all their leaves, because, last night, he had praised them.

Returning, when her hour was over, she walked very fast; her heart was

waking into hunger, and she feared he might be gone. But he was there,

sitting on the steps beside Phoebe, and when the gate swung open, they

did not hear. Phoebe's eyes were dropped, and she was poking her

parasol into the moss-encrusted path; the doctor was looking into her

face, and speaking quite eagerly. He heard Dorcas first, and sprang up.

His eyes were so bright and forceful in the momentary gleam of meeting

hers, that she looked aside, and tried to rule her quickening breath.

"Miss Dorcas," said he, "I'm telling this young lady she mustn't forget to

eat her dinner at school. I find she quite ignores it, if she has sums to do,

or blots to erase. Why, it's shocking."

"Of course she must eat her dinner!" said Dorcas, tenderly. "Why, yes, of

course! Phoebe, do as he tells you. He knows."

Phoebe blushed vividly.

"Does he?" she answered, laughing. "Well, I'll see. Good-by, Miss Dorcas.

I'll come in for Friday night meeting, if I don't before. Good-by."

"I'll walk along with you," said the doctor. "If you'll let me," he added,

humbly.

Phoebe turned away with a little toss of her head, and he turned, too,

breaking a sprig of southernwood. Dorcas was glad to treasure the lastsight of him putting to his lips the fragrant herb she had bruised for his

sake. It seemed to carry over into daylight the joy of the richer night; it

was like seeing the silken thread on which her pearls were strung. She

called to them impetuously,--

"Pick all the flowers you want to, both of you!" Then she went in, but she

said aloud to herself, "They're all for you--" and she whispered his name.

"Dorcas," said her father, "the doctor's been here quite a spell. He says

there was a real full meetin.' Even Nancy Pete, Dorcas! I feel as if my

ministration had been abundantly blessed."

Then, in that strangest summer in Dorcas's life, time seemed to stand

still. The happiest of all experiences had befallen her; not a succession of

joys, but a permanent delight in one unchanging mood. The evening of

his coming had been the first day; and the evening and the morning had

ever since been the same in glory. He came often, sometimes with

Phoebe, sometimes alone; and, being one of the men on whom women

especially lean, Dorcas soon found herself telling him all the poor trials of

her colorless life. Nothing was too small for his notice. He liked her

homely talk of the garden and the church, and once gave up an hour to

spading a plot where she wanted a new round bed. Dorcas had meant to

put lilies there, but she remembered he loved ladies'-delights; so she

gathered them all together from the nooks and corners of the garden, and

set them there, a sweet, old-fashioned company. "That's for thoughts!"

She took to wearing flowers now, not for the delight of him who loved

them, but merely as a part of her secret litany of worship. She slept

deeply at night, and woke with calm content, to speak one name in the

way that forms a prayer. He was her one possession; all else might be

taken away from her, but the feeling inhabiting her heart must live, like

the heart itself.

By the time September had yellowed all the fields, there came a week

when Phoebe's aunt, down at the Hollow, was known to be very ill; so

Phoebe no longer came to care for the parson through the Sunday-school

hour. But the doctor appeared, instead.

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