I’ll report if anything is amiss.?
Away went Rose, quite trembling with suspense, but Phebe’s door
was shut, no light shone underneath, and no sound came from the
room within. She tapped and receiving no answer, went on to her
own chamber, thinking to herself: “Love always makes people
queer, I’ve heard, so I suppose they settled it all in the carriage and
the dear thing ran away to think about her happiness alone. I’ll not
disturb her. Why, Phebe!” said Rose, surprised, for, entering her
room, there was the cantatrice, busy about the nightly services she
always rendered her little mistress.
“I’m waiting for you, dear. Where have you been so long?” asked
Phebe, poking the fire as if anxious to get some color into cheeks
that were unnaturally pale.
The instant she spoke Rose knew that something was wrong, and a
glance at her face confirmed the fear. It was like a dash of cold
water and quenched her happy fancies in a moment; but being a
delicate-minded girl, she respected Phebe’s mood and asked no
questions, made no comments, and left her friend to speak or be
silent as she chose.
“I was so excited I would take a turn in the moonlight to calm my
nerves. Oh, dearest Phebe, I am so glad, so proud, so full of
wonder at your courage and skill and sweet ways altogether that I
cannot half tell you how I love and honor you!” she cried, kissing
the white cheeks with such tender warmth they could not help
glowing faintly as Phebe held her little mistress close, sure that
nothing could disturb this innocent affection.
“It is all your work, dear, because but for you I might still be
scrubbing floors and hardly dare to dream of anything like this,”
she said in her old grateful way, but in her voice there was a thrill
of something deeper than gratitude, and at the last two words her
head went up with a gesture of soft pride as if it had been newly
crowned.
Rose heard and saw and guessed at the meaning of both tone and
gesture, feeling that her Phebe deserved both the singer’s laurel and
the bride’s myrtle wreath. But she only looked up, saying very
wistfully: “Then it has been a happy night for you as well as for
us.?
“The happiest of my life, and the hardest,” answered Phebe briefly
as she looked away from the questioning eyes.
“You should have let us come nearer and help you through. I’m
afraid you are very proud, my Jenny Lind.?
“I have to be, for sometimes I feel as if I had nothing else to keep
me up.” She stopped short there, fearing that her voice would
prove traitorous if she went on. In a moment she asked in a tone
that was almost hard: “You think I did well tonight??
“They all think so, and were so delighted they wanted to come in a
body and tell you so, but I sent them home because I knew you’d
be tired out. Perhaps I ought not to have done it and you’d rather
have had a crowd about you than just me??
“It was the kindest thing you ever did, and what could I like better
than ‘just you,’ my darling??
Phebe seldom called her that, and when she did her heart was in
the little word, making it so tender that Rose thought it the
sweetest in the world, next to Uncle Alec’s “my little girl.” Now it
was almost passionate, and Phebe’s face grew rather tragical as she
looked down at Rose. It was impossible to seem unconscious any
longer, and Rose said, caressing Phebe’s cheek, which burned with
a feverish color now: “Then don’t shut me out if you have a
trouble, but let me share it as I let you share all mine.?
“I will! Little mistress, I’ve got to go away, sooner even than we
planned.?
“Why, Phebe??
“Because Archie loves me.?
“That’s the very reason you should stay and make him happy.?
“Not if it caused dissension in the family, and you know it would.?
Rose opened her lips to deny this impetuously, but checked herself