Grandma will be gone,and I shall want to hear how you get on."Ralph looked very anxious indeed to hear,and Merry promised she would tell all about the other people,adding,as she turned from the evening peace and loveliness to the house,whence came the clatter of milk-pans and the smell of cooking,"I never should have anything very nice to tell about myself,for I don't do interesting things as you do,and you wouldn't care to hear about school,and sewing,and messing round at home."Merry gave a disdainful little sniff at the savory perfume of ham which saluted them,and paused with her hand on the gate,as if she found it pleasanter out there than in the house.Ralph seemed to agree with her,for,leaning on the gate,he lingered to say,with real sympathy in his tone and something else in his face,"Yes,I should;so you write and tell me all about it.I didn't know you had any worries,for you always seemed like one of the happiest people in the world,with so many to pet and care for you,and plenty of money,and nothing very hard or hateful to do.You'd think you were well off if you knew as much about poverty and work and never getting what you want,as I do.""You bear your worries so well that nobody knows you have them.
I ought not to complain,and I won't,for I do have all I need.I'm so glad you are going to get what you want at last";and Merry held out her hand to say good-night,with so much pleasure in her face that Ralph could not make up his mind to go just yet.
"I shall have to scratch round in a lively way before I do get it,for David says a fellow can't live on less than four or five hundred a year,even living as poor artists have to,in garrets and on Crusts.I don't mind as long as Grandma is all right.She is away to-night,or I should not be here,"he added,as if some excuse was necessary.
Merry needed no hint,for her tender heart was touched by the vision of her friend in a garret,and she suddenly rejoiced that there was ham and eggs for supper,so that he might be well fed once,at least,before he went away to feed on artistic crusts.
"Being here,come in and spend the evening.The boys will like to hear the news,and so will father.Do,now."It was impossible to refuse the invitation he had been longing for,and in they went to the great delight of Roxy,who instantly retired to the pantry,smiling significantly,and brought out the most elaborate pie in honor of the occasion.Merry touched up the table,and put a little vase of flowers in the middle to redeem the vulgarity of doughnuts.Of course the boys upset it,but as there was company nothing was said,and Ralph devoured his supper with the appetite of a hungry boy,while watching Merry eat bread and cream out of an old-fashioned silver porringer,and thinking it the sweetest sight he ever beheld.
Then the young people gathered about the table,full of the new plans,and the elders listened as they rested after the week's work.
A pleasant evening,for they all liked Ralph,but as the parents watched Merry sitting among the great lads like a little queen among her subjects,half unconscious as yet of the power in her hands,they nodded to one another,and then shook their heads as if they said,"I'm afraid the time is coming,mother.""No danger as long as she don't know it,father."At nine the boys went off to the barn,the farmer to wind up the eight-day clock,and the housewife to see how the baked beans and Indian pudding for to-morrow were getting on in the oven.Ralph took up his hat to go,saying as he looked at the shade on the tall student lamp,"What a good light that gives!I can see it as I go home every night,and it burns up here like a beacon.I always look for it,and it hardly ever fails to be burning.Sort of cheers up the way,you know,when I'm tired or low in my mind.""Then I'm very glad I got it.I liked the shape,but the boys laughed at it as they did at my buirushes in a ginger-jar over there.I'd been reading about 'household art,'and I thought I'd try a little,"answered Merry,laughing at her own whims.
"You've got a better sort of household art,I think,for you make people happy and places pretty,without fussing over it.This room is ever so much improved every time I come,though I hardly see what it is except the flowers,"said Ralph,looking from the girl to the tall calla that bent its white cup above her as if to pour its dew upon her head.
"Isn't that lovely?I tried to draw it--the shape was so graceful I wanted to keep it.But I couldn't.Isn't it a pity such beautiful things won't last forever?"and Merry looked regretfully at the half-faded one that grew beside the fresh blossom.
"I can keep it for you.It would look well in plaster.May I?"asked Ralph.
"Thank you,I should like that very much.Take the real one as a model--please do;there are more coming,and this will brighten up your room for a day or two."As she spoke,Merry cut the stem,and,adding two or three of the great green leaves,put the handsome flower in his hand with so much good-will that he felt as if he had received a very precious gift.Then he said good-night so gratefully that Merry's hand quite tingled with the grasp of his,and went away,often looking backward through the darkness to where the light burned brightly on the hill-top--the beacon kindled by an unconscious Hero for a young Leander swimming gallantly against wind and tide toward the goal of his ambition.