In Apple-Blossom Time Part 37

CHAPTER XVI

Apple Blossoms

Of course Ben wanted to be married at once, and whatever he wanted Geraldine wanted, but Mrs. Barry overruled this.

"I hope you will go back to school, Ben, and get your sheepskin," she said. "I want you to live in the city, too, and leave Geraldine with me.

I would like to have some happiness with a daughter before she is engrossed in being your wife. Wait for your wedding until the orchard blooms again."

Ecstatic as Ben was, he could see sense in this; but vacation came first and Geraldine was a belle at Keefeport that summer. Her beauty blossomed, and all the repressed vivacity of her nature came to the surface. Her room at Rockcrest commanded the ocean, and every night before she slept she knelt before her window and gave thanks for a happiness which seemed as illimitable as the waters rolling to the horizon. She yachted, and danced, and canoed, and flew, all that summer. She gained the hearts of the women by her unspoiled modesty and consideration, while Ben was the envy of every bachelor at the resort.

Nor did Geraldine forget Miss Upton. Every few days she called at the shop, and the two women there were never tired of admiring and exclaiming over the charming costumes in which Mrs. Barry dressed her child, and many a gift the girl brought to them, never forgetting what she owed to her good fairy.

Pete was a happy general utility man and Miss Upton borrowed him at times; but he liked best working on the yacht, where he was never through polis.h.i.+ng and cleaning, keeping it spick and span. He was given a blue suit and a yachting cap and rolled around the deck the jolliest of jolly little tars.

When autumn came, Ben Barry took rooms in the city, coming to Keefe for the week-ends. Geraldine, who had had the usual school-girl fragments of music and languages, studied hard, and Mrs. Barry took her to town for one month instead of the three which she usually spent there. It was best not to divert Ben too much.

So the winter wore away, and the snow melted and the crocuses peeped up again. The robins returned, and Ben understood at last why their insistent, joyous cry was always of _Geraldine, Geraldine, Geraldine_!

The orchard was under solicitous surveillance this spring, and though it takes the watched pot so long to boil, at last the rosy clouds drifting in the sky seemed to catch in the apple boughs and rest there, and then the wedding day was set.

The s.p.a.cious rooms of the old house were cleared for dancing, for the ceremony was to take place out under the trees at noon. Miss Upton had a new black silk dress given her by the bridegroom with a note over which she wept, for it acknowledged so affectionately all that he owed to his bride's good fairy from the day when she so effectively waved her umbrella wand in the city. One of her gowns was made over for Mrs.

Whipp, who on the great day stood with the maids and watched the wedding party as it filed out over the lawn to the rosy bower of the orchard.

The six bridesmaids wore pale-green and white, and, as Miss Upton viewed with satisfaction, "droopy hats." She scanned the half-dozen of Ben's men friends who supported him on the occasion and mentally noted their inferiority to her hero.

Geraldine--but who could describe Geraldine in her beautiful happiness and her happy beauty! Look over your fairy tales and find a princess in clinging, lacy robes, her veil fastened with apple blossoms, and the golden sheen of her hair s.h.i.+ning through. Her bouquet of lilies-of-the-valley showered down before her and clung to her filmy gown as she stepped, and the sweet gravity of her eyes never left the face of the good old minister who had baptized Ben in his babyhood, until he came to the words: "Who giveth this woman to be married to this man?" Mrs. Barry stepped forward, took the hands of her children and placed them together. Mehitable Upton was not the only one in the large gathering who dissolved at the look on those three faces.

In a minute it was over. The two were made one, and a soft, happy confusion of tongues ensued. After the kissing and the congratulations, a breakfast was served on the wide piazzas, and the orchestra behind the screen of palms began its strains of gay music.

After Geraldine had cut the bride's cake and disappeared to put on her going-away gown, one of the waiters brought out the rice.

Mrs. Barry begged the company not to be too generous with it. "Just a pinch apiece," she said. "Don't embarra.s.s them."

Adele Hastings, the maid of honor, laughed with her maids. She had come very close to Geraldine in the last weeks, and she had managed to get both umbrellas of bride and groom and put as much rice into them as the slim fastenings would permit. She believed the bridal pair were going to take a water trip, and she felt that the effect of opening the umbrellas on a sunny deck some day would be exhilarating.

Mrs. Barry, as serene as ever, and very handsome in her lavender satin, disappeared upstairs for a few minutes. When she returned, Lamson was driving the automobile around to the front of the house.

"Now, be merciful to those poor youngsters," she said again, as, armed with rice, they ranged themselves on the piazza and steps, making an aisle for the hero and heroine to pa.s.s through. They waited, talking and laughing, when suddenly there was a burst of sound. Over the house-top came an increasing whirr, and an aeroplane suddenly flew over their heads. An excited cry arose from the cheated crowd. Laughter and shrieks burst from every upturned face. _Cher Ami_ circled around the house, flew away and returned, the young people below shouting messages that were never heard. At last down through the laughter-rent air came the bridal bouquet, and scrambling and more shrieks ensued. The little girl with the greenest eyes of all--one of the bridesmaids she was--secured it. We'll hope it was a comfort to her.

Lamson was demurely driving the car back to the garage, and Mrs. Barry, her dignity for once all forgotten, was laughing gayly. The wedding party fell upon her with reproaches while the orchestra gave a spirited rendition of "Going Up," the aviation operetta of the day.

They all watched the flight for a time, but the music invited, and soon the couples were disappearing through the windows into the house and gliding over the floor.

Mrs. Barry and Miss Upton stood together, still following the swiftly receding aeroplane.

Mrs. Barry shook her head and sighed, smiling. "Young America! Young America!" she murmured.

"Yes," said Miss Upton, "what would our grandfathers have thought of it?

Talk about fairy tales! Do any of the old stories come up to that?"

"No," returned Mrs. Barry, "but there is one feature of them that is ever new. It is the best part of all and no story is complete without it."

"Yes, I know," said Miss Mehitable, nodding. They were both looking now at a small dark point vanis.h.i.+ng into a pearly cloud. "I know," she repeated. "'And they lived happily ever afterward!'"

THE END

By Clara Louise Burnham

IN APPLE-BLOSSOM TIME. Ill.u.s.trated.

HEARTS' HAVEN. Ill.u.s.trated by Helen Mason Grose.

INSTEAD OF THE THORN. With frontispiece.

THE RIGHT TRACK. With frontispiece in color.

THE GOLDEN DOG. Ill.u.s.trated in color.

THE INNER FLAME. With frontispiece in color.

CLEVER BETSY. Ill.u.s.trated.

FLUTTERFLY. Ill.u.s.trated.

THE LEAVEN OF LOVE. With frontispiece in color.

THE QUEST FLOWER. Ill.u.s.trated.

THE OPENED SHUTTERS. With frontispiece in color.

JEWEL: A CHAPTER IN HER LIFE. Ill.u.s.trated.

JEWEL'S STORY BOOK. Ill.u.s.trated.

THE RIGHT PRINCESS.

MISS PRITCHARD'S WEDDING TRIP.

YOUNG MAIDS AND OLD.

DEARLY BOUGHT.

NO GENTLEMEN.

A SANE LUNATIC.

NEXT DOOR.

THE MISTRESS OF BEECH KNOLL.

MISS BAGG'S SECRETARY.

DR. LATIMER.

SWEET CLOVER. A Romance of the White City.

THE WISE WOMAN.

MISS ARCHER ARCHER.

A GREAT LOVE. A Novel.

A WEST POINT WOOING, and Other Stories.