CHAPTER XVI Valancy had walked out to Rowing Abel's house on the Misdavis Road,
Under a sky of purple and amber,
With a queer exhilaration and expectancy in her heart.
Back there,
Behind her,
Her mother and cousin Stickles were crying,
Over themselves,
Not over her,
But here the wind was in her face,
Soft,
Dew-wet,
Cool,
Blowing along grassy roads.
Oh,
She loved the wind.
The robins were whistling sleepily in the firs along the way,
And the moist air was fragrant,
With a tang of balsam.
Big cars went purring past.
In the wild dusk the stream of summer tourists to Muskoka had already begun,
But Valancy did not envy any of their occupants.
Muskoka cottages might be charming,
But beyond in the sunset skies,
Among the spires of the firs,
Her blue castle towered.
She brushed the old years and inhibitations away from her,
Like dead leaves.
She would not be littered with them.
Rowing Abel's rambling,
Tumble-down old house was situated among three miles from the village,
On the very edge of Upback.
As the sparsely settled,
Hilly,
Wooded country around Misdavis was called vernacularly,
It did not,
It must be confessed,
Look much like a blue castle.
It had once been snug place enough in the days when Abel Gay had been young and prosperous,
And the punning arched sign over the gate.
A.
Gay,
Carpenter,
Had been fine and freshly painted.
Now it was a faded,
Dreary old place,
With a leprous,
Parched roof and shutters hanging askew.
Abel never seemed to do any carpenter jobs about his own house.
It had a listless air,
As if tired of life.
There was a twinkling row of wracked,
Chrome-light bolts processed behind it.
The garden which Sissi used to keep,
Neat and pretty,
Had run wild.
On two sides of the house were fields full of nothing but mullions.
Behind the house was a long stretch of useless barrens,
Full of shrub vines and spruces,
With there and there a blossoming bit of wild cherry,
Running back,
To a belt of timber in the shores of Lake Misdavis.
Two miles away,
A rough,
Rocky boulder through a lane ran,
Through it to the woods,
A lane white with bestiarious,
Beautiful daisies.
Roaring Abel met Valancy at the door.
"'So you've come,
' he said incredulously.
"'I never supposed that Rock of Stirlings would let you.
' Valan showed all her pointed teeth in a grin.
"'They couldn't stop me.
' "'I didn't think you had so much spunk,
' said Roaring Abel admiringly.
"'And look at the nice ankles of her,
' he added,
As he stepped aside to let her in.
If Cousin Stickles had heard this,
She would have been certain that Valancy's tomb,
Earthly and unearthly,
Was sealed but superannuated gallantry,
Not very Valancy.
Besides,
This was the first compliment she had ever received in her life,
And she found herself liking it.
She sometimes suspected she had nice ankles,
But nobody had ever mentioned it before.
In the Stirling clan,
Ankles were among the unmentionables.
Roaring Abel took her into the kitchen where Sissy Gay was lying on the sofa,
Breathing quickly with little scarlet spots on her hollow cheeks.
Valancy had not seen Cecilia Gay for years.
Then she had been such a pretty creature.
A spot on her hollow cheeks,
A slight blossom-like girl with soft golden hair,
Clear cut,
Almost waxen features,
And large beautiful blue eyes.
She was shocked at the change in her.
Could this be sweet Sissy,
This pitiful little thing that looked like a tired,
Broken flower?
She had wept all the beauty out of her eyes.
They looked too big,
Enormous,
In her wasted face.
The last time Valancy had seen Cecilia Gay those faded.
Pretty as eyes had been limbed,
Shadowy blue pools aglow with mirth.
The contrast was so terrible that Valancy's own eyes filled with tears.
She knelt down by Sissy and put her arms about her.
Sissy dear,
I have come to look after you.
I will stay with you till… As long as you want me.
Oh!
Sissy put her thin arms around Valancy's neck.
Oh,
Will you?
It has been so lonely.
I can't wait on myself,
But it's been so lonely.
It would be just like heaven to have someone here like you.
You were always so sweet to me long ago.
Valancy held Sissy close.
She was suddenly happy.
Here was someone who needed her,
Someone she could help.
She was no longer a superfluity.
Old things had passed away.
Everything had become new.
Most things are predestined.
But some are just darn sheer luck,
Said roaring Abel,
Complacently smoking his pipe in the corner.
