Drift from Two Shores | Page 7

against which they had rebelled; more than that, in this
half failure of their first concerted action they had changed their
querulous bickerings to a sullen distrust of each other, and walked
moodily apart as they followed James North into his house. A fire
blazed brightly on the hearth; a few extra seats were quickly
extemporized from boxes and chests, and the elder lady, with the skirt
of her dress folded over her knees,--looking not unlike an exceedingly
overdressed jointed doll,--dried her flounces and her tears together.
Miss Maria took in the scant appointments of the house in one single
glance, and then fixed her eyes upon James North, who, the least
concerned of the party, stood before them, grave and patiently
expectant.
"Well," began the elder lady in a high key, "after all this worry and
trouble you have given us, James, haven't you anything to say? Do you
know--have you the least idea what you are doing? what egregious
folly you are committing? what everybody is saying? Eh? Heavens and
earth!--do you know who I am?"
"You are my father's brother's widow, Aunt Mary," returned James,
quietly. "If I am committing any folly it only concerns myself; if I
cared for what people said I should not be here; if I loved society
enough to appreciate its good report I should stay with it."
"But they say you have run away from society to pine alone for a
worthless creature--a woman who has used you, as she has used and
thrown away others--a--"

"A woman," chimed in Dick, who had thrown himself on James's bed
while his patent leathers were drying, "a woman that all the fellers
know never intended"--here, however, he met James North's eye, and
muttering something about "whole thing being too idiotic to talk
about," relapsed into silence.
"You know," continued Mrs. North, "that while we and all our set shut
our eyes to your very obvious relations with that woman, and while I
myself often spoke of it to others as a simple flirtation, and averted a
scandal for your sake, and when the climax was reached, and she
herself gave you an opportunity to sever your relations, and nobody
need have been wiser--and she'd have had all the blame--and it's only
what she's accustomed to--you--you! you, James North!--you must
nonsensically go, and, by this extravagant piece of idiocy and
sentimental tomfoolery, let everybody see how serious the whole affair
was, and how deep it hurt you! and here in this awful place,
alone--where you're half drowned to get to it and are willing to be
wholly drowned to get away! Oh, don't talk to me! I won't hear it--it's
just too idiotic for anything!"
The subject of this outburst neither spoke nor moved a single muscle.
"Your aunt, Mr. North, speaks excitedly," said the elder gentleman;
"yet I think she does not overestimate the unfortunate position in which
your odd fancy places you. I know nothing of the reasons that have
impelled you to this step; I only know that the popular opinion is that
the cause is utterly inadequate. You are still young, with a future before
you. I need not say how your present conduct may imperil that. If you
expected to achieve any good-- even to your own satisfaction--but this
conduct--"
"Yes--if there was anything to be gained by it!" broke in Mrs. North.
"If you ever thought she'd come back!--but that kind of woman don't.
They must have change. Why"--began Dick suddenly, and as suddenly
lying down again.
"Is this all you have come to say?" asked James North, after a moment's
patient silence, looking from one to the other.
"All?" screamed Mrs. North; "is it not enough?"
"Not to change my mind nor my residence at present," replied North,
coolly.
"Do you mean to continue this folly all your life?"

"And have a coroner's inquest, and advertisements and all the facts in
the papers?"
"And have HER read the melancholy details, and know that you were
faithful and she was not?"
This last shot was from the gentle Maria, who bit her lips as it glanced
from the immovable man.
"I believe there is nothing more to say," continued North, quietly. "I am
willing to believe your intentions are as worthy as your zeal. Let us say
no more," he added, with grave weariness; "the tide is rising, and your
coachman is signaling you from the bank."
There was no mistaking the unshaken positiveness of the man, which
was all the more noticeable from its gentle but utter indifference to the
wishes of the party. He turned his back upon them as they gathered
hurriedly around the elder gentleman, while the words, "He cannot be
in his right mind," "It's your duty to do it," "It's sheer insanity," "Look
at