第54章

"Then there are the Wagrams, and the Sheldons, and the Brinks--and ever so many more--who have told me themselves that they are far happier than they ever were before--and can live more cheaply.She ought to be the happiest girl alive!"Mrs.Bell would agree to this, and quite swelled with happiness and pride; but Mrs.Weatherstone, watching narrowly, was not satisfied.

When she had Diantha with her she opened fire direct."You ought to be the happiest, proudest, most triumphant woman in the world!" she said.

"You're making oodles of money, your whole thing's going well, and look at your mother--she's made over!"Diantha smiled and said she was happy; but her eyes would stray off to the very rim of the ocean; her mouth set in patient lines that were not in the least triumphant.

"Tell me about it, my friend," said her hostess."Is it that he won't let you keep on with the business?"Diantha nodded.

"And you won't give it up to marry him?"

"No," said Diantha."No.Why should I? I'd marry him--to-morrow!"She held one hand with the other, tight, but they both shook a little.

"I'd be glad to.But I will not give up my work!""You look thin," said Mrs.Weatherstone.

"Yes--"

"Do you sleep well?"

"No--not very."

"And I can see that you don't eat as you ought to.Hm! Are you going to break down?""No," said Diantha, "I am not going to break down.I am doing what is right, and I shall go on.It's a little hard at first--having him so near.But I am young and strong and have a great deal to do--I shall do it."And then Mrs.Weatherstone would tell her all she knew of the intense satisfaction of the people she served, and pleasant stories about the girls.She bought her books to read and such gleanings as she found in foreign magazines on the subject of organized house-service.

Not only so, but she supplied the Orchardina library with a special bibliography on the subject, and induced the new Woman's Club to take up a course of reading in it, so that there gradually filtered into the Orchardina mind a faint perception that this was not the freak of an eccentric individual, but part of an inevitable business development, going on in various ways in many nations.

As the winter drew on, Mrs.Weatherstone whisked away again, but kept a warm current of interest in Diantha's life by many letters.

Mr.Bell came down from Jopalez with outer reluctance but inner satisfaction.He had rented his place, and Susie had three babies now.

Henderson, Jr., had no place for him, and to do housework for himself was no part of Mr.Bell's plan.

In Diantha's hotel he had a comfortable room next his wife's, and a capacious chair in the firelit hall in wet weather, or on the shaded piazza in dry.The excellent library was a resource to him; he found some congenial souls to talk with; and under the new stimulus succeeded at last in patenting a small device that really worked.With this, and his rent, he felt inclined to establish a "home of his own," and the soul of Mrs.Bell sank within her.Without allowing it to come to an issue between them, she kept the question open for endless discussion;and Mr.Bell lived on in great contentment under the impression that he was about to move at almost any time.To his friends and cronies he dilated with pride on his daughter's wonderful achievements.

"She's as good as a boy!" he would declare."Women nowadays seem to do anything they want to!" And he rigidly paid his board bill with a flourish.

Meanwhile the impressive gatherings at Mrs.Thaddler's, and the humbler tea and card parties of Diantha's friends, had a new topic as a shuttlecock.

A New York company had bought one of the largest and finest blocks in town--the old Para place--and was developing it in a manner hitherto unseen.The big, shabby, neglected estate began to turn into such a fairyland as only southern lands can know.The old live-oaks were untouched; the towering eucalyptus trees remained in ragged majesty; but an army of workmen was busy under guidance of a master of beauty.

One large and lovely building rose, promptly dubbed a hotel by the unwilling neighbors; others, smaller, showed here and there among the trees; and then a rose-gray wall of concrete ran around the whole, high, tantalizing, with green boughs and sweet odors coming over it.Those who went in reported many buildings, and much activity.But, when the wall was done, and each gate said "No admittance except on business,"then the work of genii was imagined, and there was none to contradict.

It was a School of Theosophy; it was a Christian Science College; it was a Free-Love Colony; it was a Secret Society; it was a thousand wonders.

"Lot of little houses and one big one," the employees said when questioned.

"Hotel and cottages," the employers said when questioned.

They made no secret of it, they were too busy; but the town was unsatisfied.Why a wall? What did any honest person want of a wall?

Yet the wall cast a pleasant shadow; there were seats here and there between buttresses, and, as the swift California season advanced, roses and oleanders nodded over the top, and gave hints of beauty and richness more subtly stimulating than all the open glory of the low-hedged gardens near.

Diantha's soul was stirred with secret envy.Some big concern was about to carry out her dream, or part of it--perhaps to be a huge and overflowing rival.Her own work grew meantime, and flourished as well as she could wish.

The food-delivery service was running to its full capacity; the girls got on very well under Mrs.Jessup, and were delighted to have a house of their own with the parlors and piazzas all to themselves, and a garden to sit in as well.If this depleted their ranks by marriage, it did not matter now, for there was a waiting list in training all the time.

Union House kept on evenly and profitably, and Diantha was beginning to feel safe and successful; but the years looked long before her.