第5章 CHAPTER II.(1)

With the closing of the little door behind them they seemed to have shut out the turmoil and vibration of the storm.The reason became apparent when,after a few paces,they descended half a dozen steps to a lower landing.This disclosed the fact that the dwelling part of the Sidon General Store was quite below the level of the shop and the road,and on the slope of the solitary undulation of the Tasajara plain,--a little ravine that fell away to a brawling stream below.The only arboreous growth of Tasajara clothed its banks in the shape of willows and alders that set compactly around the quaint,irregular dwelling which straggled down the ravine and looked upon a slope of bracken and foliage on either side.The transition from the black,treeless,storm-swept plain to this sheltered declivity was striking and suggestive.From the opposite bank one might fancy that the youthful and original dwelling had ambitiously mounted the crest,but,appalled at the dreary prospect beyond,had gone no further;while from the road it seemed as if the fastidious proprietor had tried to draw a line between the vulgar trading-post,with which he was obliged to face the coarser civilization of the place,and the privacy of his domestic life.

The real fact,however,was that the ravine furnished wood and water;and as Nature also provided one wall of the house,--as in the well-known example of aboriginal cave dwellings,--its peculiar construction commended itself to Sidon on the ground of involving little labor.

Howbeit,from the two open windows of the sitting-room which they had entered only the faint pattering of dripping boughs and a slight murmur from the swollen brook indicated the storm that shook the upper plain,and the cool breath of laurel,syringa,and alder was wafted through the neat apartment.Passing through that pleasant rural atmosphere they entered the kitchen,a much larger room,which appeared to serve occasionally as a dining-room,and where supper was already laid out.A stout,comfortable-looking woman--who had,however,a singularly permanent expression of pained sympathy upon her face--welcomed them in tones of gentle commiseration.

"Ah,there you be,you two!Now sit ye right down,dears;DO.You must be tired out;and you,Phemie,love,draw up by your poor father.There--that's right.You'll be better soon."There was certainly no visible sign of suffering or exhaustion on the part of either father or daughter,nor the slightest apparent earthly reason why they should be expected to exhibit any.But,as already intimated,it was part of Mrs.Harkutt's generous idiosyncrasy to look upon all humanity as suffering and toiling;to be petted,humored,condoled with,and fed.It had,in the course of years,imparted a singularly caressing sadness to her voice,and given her the habit of ending her sentences with a melancholy cooing and an unintelligible murmur of agreement.It was undoubtedly sincere and sympathetic,but at times inappropriate and distressing.

It had lost her the friendship of the one humorist of Tasajara,whose best jokes she had received with such heartfelt commiseration and such pained appreciation of the evident labor involved as to reduce him to silence.

Accustomed as Mr.Harkutt was to his wife's peculiarity,he was not above assuming a certain slightly fatigued attitude befitting it.

"Yes,"he said,with a vague sigh,"where's Clemmie?""Lyin'down since dinner;she reckoned she wouldn't get up to supper,"she returned soothingly."Phemie's goin'to take her up some sass and tea.The poor dear child wants a change.""She wants to go to 'Frisco,and so do I,pop,"said Phemie,leaning her elbow half over her father's plate."Come,pop,say do,--just for a week.""Only for a week,"murmured the commiserating Mrs.Harkutt.

"Perhaps,"responded Harkutt,with gloomy sarcasm,"ye wouldn't mind tellin'me how you're goin'to get there,and where the money's comin'from to take you?There's no teamin'over Tasajara till the rain stops,and no money comin'in till the ranchmen can move their stuff.There ain't a hundred dollars in all Tasajara;at least there ain't been the first red cent of it paid across my counter for a fortnit!Perhaps if you do go you wouldn't mind takin'me and the store along with ye,and leavin'us there.""Yes,dear,"said Mrs.Harkutt,with sympathetic but shameless tergiversation."Don't bother your poor father,Phemie,love;don't you see he's just tired out?And you're not eatin'anything,dad."As Mr.Harkutt was uneasily conscious that he had been eating heartily in spite of his financial difficulties,he turned the subject abruptly."Where's John Milton?"Mrs.Harkutt shaded her eyes with her hand,and gazed meditatively on the floor before the fire and in the chimney corner for her only son,baptized under that historic title."He was here a minit ago,"she said doubtfully."I really can't think where he's gone.

But,"assuringly,"it ain't far."

"He's skipped with one o'those story-books he's borrowed,"said Phemie."He's always doin'it.Like as not he's reading with a candle in the wood-shed.We'll all be burnt up some night.""But he's got through his chores,"interposed Mrs.Harkutt deprecatingly.

"Yes,"continued Harkutt,aggrievedly,"but instead of goin'to bed,or addin'up bills,or takin'count o'stock,or even doin'sums or suthin'useful,he's ruinin'his eyes and wastin'his time over trash."He rose and walked slowly into the sitting-room,followed by his daughter and a murmur of commiseration from his wife.But Mrs.Harkutt's ministration for the present did not pass beyond her domain,the kitchen.

"I reckon ye ain't expectin'anybody tonight,Phemie?"said Mr.

Harkutt,sinking into a chair,and placing his slippered feet against the wall.