Purple Springs

Purple Springs

The Project Gutenberg eBook, Purple Springs, by Nellie L. McClung
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Title: Purple Springs
Author: Nellie L. McClung
Release Date: November 23, 2003 [eBook #10221]
Language: English
Chatacter set encoding: US-ASCII
***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PURPLE
SPRINGS***
E-text prepared by Brendan Lane, Josephine Paolucci, and the Project
Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team

PURPLE SPRINGS
BY
NELLIE L. McCLUNG
1921

CONTENTS
I. THE DAY BEFORE II. THE DAY III. THE HOUSE OF CLAY IV.
TANGLED THREADS V. WHERE MRS. CROCKS THREW THE
SWITCH VI. RED ROSES VII. THE INNOCENT DISTURBER VIII.
THE POWER OF INK IX. THE DOCTOR'S DECISION X. THE
WOMAN WITH A SORE THOUGHT XI. ENGAGED XII. THE
MACHINE XIII. THE STORM XIV. THE SEVENTH WAVE XV.

THE COMING OF SPRING XVI. PRINCE OF THE HOUSE OF
CLAY XVII. PETER'S REPORT XVIII. THE WOMAN OF PURPLE
SPRINGS XIX. THE END OF A LONELY ROAD XX. ANNIE
GRAY'S STORY XXI. THE OPENING OF THE WAY XXII. THE
PLAY XXIII. COMPENSATION XXIV. HOME AGAIN XXV.
THERE IS NOTHING TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE


CHAPTER I
THE DAY BEFORE
It was the last day of February, the extra day, dead still, and biting cold,
with thick, lead-colored skies shading down to inky blue at the western
horizon. In the ravine below John Watson's house trees cracked
ominously in the frost, and not even a rabbit was stirring. The hens had
not come out, though an open door had extended an invitation, and the
tamworths had burrowed deeper into the stack of oat straw. The cattle
had taken refuge in the big shed, and even old Nap, in spite of his thick
Coat, had whimpered at the door to be let in.
Looking out of the western window, Pearl Watson, with a faint wrinkle
between her eyebrows, admitted to herself that it was not a cheerful day.
And Pearl had her own reasons for wanting fine weather, for tomorrow
was the first of March, and the day to which she had been looking
forward for three years to make a momentous decision.
The thought of this day had gone with her in the three years that had
passed, like a radiant gleam, a glorious presence that brightened and
idealized every experience of life, a rainbow that glorified every black
cloud, and there had been some clouds in her life black enough to bring
out the rainbows' colors too; as when her mother's serious illness had
called her back from the city, where she was attending school. But each
day had brought her one day nearer the great day, which now she could
call "Tomorrow."

It had never occurred to Pearl to doubt the young doctor's sincerity,
when, three years before, he had said he would wait until she was
eighteen years old before he asked her something.
"And it will depend on your answer," he had said, "what sort of a day it
is. It may be a dark, cold, horrible day, with cruel, biting wind, or it
may be a glorious day, all sunshine and blue sky--that will all depend
on your answer." And she had told him, honestly and truthfully, not
being skilled in the art of coquetry, that "it generally was fine on the
first of March."
That the young doctor might have forgotten all about the incident never
crossed her mind in the years that followed. She did not know that there
was witchery in her brown eyes and her radiant young beauty that
would stir any young man's heart and loosen his tongue, causing him to
say what in his sober moments he would regard as foolishness.
Pearl did not know this; she only knew that a great radiance had come
to her that day, three years before, a radiance whose glory had not
dimmed. Every thought and action of her life had been influenced by it,
and she had developed like a fine young tree on which the spring
sunshine had perpetually fallen, a fine young tree that had been
sheltered from every cold blast, watered by the rains and bathed in
perpetual sunshine, for Pearl's young heart was fed from the hidden
springs of love and romance. For her the darkest night was lighted by
stars; for her the birds sang of love and hope and happiness; for her the
commonest flower was rich in beauty and perfume; and so the end of
the three years found her a well developed, tall, boyishly athletic girl,
with a color in her cheeks like an Okanagon peach,