Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-12-23
THE AWAKENING OF
HELENA RICHIE.
By MARGARET DELAND,
Author of dr. Lavendars People," Old Chester Tales" Et
Copyright BY q A
CHAPTER III-Continued.
Bv MARGARET DELAND

|
never spoke. Instead, he worked. Old
| Chester seethed with curiosity for a while
to see Benjamin Wright pass his son
| with contemptuous stare, to see Sam
pass his father without glance was very
exciting. But excitement GIBBS in thirty
two years. For one thing. old Mr.. Wright
came less often into town-because he
| could not bear to meet his son, people
| said, and Samuel never took the hill road
out of Old Chester for a corresponding
reason. Furthermore, it was hard to con-
| meet Samuel with anything so irrational
as quarrel, for every year he grew in
| solemn common sense. Benjamin Wright s
growth was all in the way of temper; at
least so his boy Simmons, a freckled
mulatto of sixty years, informed Old
| Chester.
He 'ain't got no human feelin's. 'cept
| for them there canaries,'' Simmons used
to say in an aggrieved voice; hell stand
and look at 'em and chirp to 'em by the
hour--an' EN- he'll turn round and swear
| at you nough to take your leg off, SIM
mons said. bitterly. Simmons did his
| best for the canaries, which he detested,
cleaning out the cages and scraping the
perches. and seeing that the seed trays
and bath tubs were always full; he did
his best conscientiously, and it was hard
| to be "swore at when you amt done
nothin'." Perhaps Benjamin Wright had
some human feelings" for his grandson
Sam; but certainly Simmons opinion was
justified by his treatment of his grand
daughters. When, by their fathers orders
the little girls came up to the lonely
house on the hill, the old man used to
pitch small coins to them and tell them
to go and look at the canaries-"and then
or something! Goodbye. Goodbye
Clear out" Long before he had settled
into such dreary living, the son with
whom he had quarreled had made a lire
OF his own. His slimness and gayety had
disappeared. as we'll as his dreaminess
and versifying instincts Poetry" he
mad been heard to say. why. there isn't
a poem that was ever written that I'd
take five minutes out of my business to
read!' 1t seemed as if the quarrel had
and spiritual, in which nature had meant
him to run and started him on lines of
hard common sense. He was intensely
positive; heavy and pompous and pain
fully literal; inclined to lay down the
law to everybody; richer than most of us
in Old Chester. and full of solemn re-
sponsibilities as burgess and senior war
den and banker. His air of aggressive
integrity used to make the honestest of
us feel as If we had been picking
pockets! Yes, a good man, as Old
Chester said.
Years ago DR.. Lavender had given up
trying to reconcile the two Wrights;
years ago Old Chester's speculations
languished and died out. Once in a
while some one remembered the quarrel
and said. What in the world could it
have been about?' And once in a while
samuers own children asked awkward
questions. Mother, what was fathers
row with grandfather?' And Mrs.
Wrights answer was as direct as the
question. Il don't know. He never told
me-
When this reply was made to young
Sam he dropped the subject. He had but
faint interest in his father. and his grand
father with whom he took tea every Sum
day night was too important person to
| connect with so trivial an affair as
quarrel.
This matter of offspring is certainly
very curious. Why should the solid
Samuel Wright and his foolish. obedient
Eliza have brought into the world a be-
ing of mist and fire? A beautiful youth
who laughed or wept or sung aloud, in
different to all about him. Sometimes
| shake his head In bewildered astonish-
ment; but often he was angry. and
oftener still-though this he never ad-
mitted-hurt. The boy, always imper-
sonally amiable. never thought it worth
while to explain himself; partly because
| he was not interested in his fathers
opinion of his conduct, and partly be-
cause he knew he could not make himself
| understood.
But who, my dear Eliza" Samuel
| would say to his wife-"who. could under
stand such boy? Look at this last per-
| Torrance of his! Purchasing pictures of
actors! Where does he get such low
es?-unless some of your family were
interested in such things?"
"Oh. no, Samuel: no, indeed" Mrs.
Wright protested. nervously.
| And to use money not his own! Do
you know what that is called. my dear
Ei iah It is called -,
poor mother.
And to think how carefully 1 have
trained him! And all l have done for
him. let him buy that skiff he said he
wanted. Absolute waste of money! Our
so why isn't 1t good enough for him? And
never laid hand on him in punishment
either: not many fathers can say that"
AS for the bank supplies. young Sam
had explained to his mother that they
had been ordered and charged. so what
was the matter? And Mrs. Wright,
kneading her tear-soaked handkerchief
into ball. cried some more and said
| "Oh. Sam, dear why do you act so?"
| Sam looked at her attentfvely, wonder
ing why her little nose always Redeemed
when she cried. But he waited patiently
until she finished her rambling re-
proaches. 1t occurred to him that he
would tell Mrs. Richie all about this
|
stand" he thought
Sans acquaintance with Mrs. Richie
| had begun when she was getting settled
| in her new house. Sam senior, having no
desire to climb the hill road sent his
various communications to his tenant by
| his son, and afterward Sam junior had
| communications of his own to make He
fell into the habit of stopping there on
| Sunday afternoons, quite oblivious Of the
fact that Mrs. Richie did not display any
pleasure at seeing him. After one OF
these calls he was apt to be late in reach
ing 1.-The Top" as his grandfather's place
was called, and old Benjamin Wright, in
his brown wig and moth-eaten beaver
hat, would glare at him with melancholy
dark eyes.
"Gad-a-mercy. what do you mean-get-
ting here at six-five! have my tea al
six. sir; at six. sharp. Either get here
on time or stay away 1 don't care
which. Do you hear?'
Yes, SIR" young Sam would murmur
Where have you been? incoming after
that female at the Stuffed Animal
House?"
II had to leave a message. sir, about
the lease
How long does it take to leave a mes
sage about lease?"
"She was not downstairs and I had to
| wait
II had to wait! That's more to the
point. There, don't talk about it, You
drive me crazy with your chatter"
| Then they would sit down to supper in
| a black silence only broken by an occa-
| sional twitter from one of the many
| cages that hung about the room. But
afterward young Sam had his reward;