The White Shield Read online

  An International Affair

  The Committee of Literary Extension was holding its first meeting.Five girls sat around a glowing gas log and nibbled daintily at somechocolates which had been sent to the hostess.

  "Come, Margaret, you're the chairman of this committee; please tell uswhat it is all for," suggested Grace Hayes.

  "Well, girls, I hardly know how to begin. Most of us in travellinghave seen those little huts along the railroad with a little bit ofcultivated ground around each one. They are the very embodiment ofdesolation. I have seen whole families come out to stare at the trainas it whirled by, and I have often wondered what place there could befor such people in this beautiful, happy world--why I should have mybooks and friends and the thousand other things that have been givento me, while other people, and worst of all, other women, have to livelives like that.

  "There are boys upon farms, in reform schools, and in little towns whoscarcely ever see even a newspaper, and who do not know what a magazineis.

  "It is to reach this class of people that this work has beenundertaken, and for this purpose our committee has been appointed.Fifteen or twenty magazines and illustrated papers come to us everymonth--even to the few who are here to-day: perhaps some of you seeeven more than this. After we have read them, we might send themto these people instead of burning them, and who can tell how manystarving minds we may make better, and happier, in this simple way, andwith very little effort on our part?"

  "Can they read?" It was Grace, an always practical individual, whospoke.

  "If they can't, they can learn," responded Miss Stone. "It will be anincentive to their best efforts in every way."

  Katherine Bryant leaned forward, her face flushed, and her eyesshining. "Girls," she said, "it's perfectly beautiful. We'll send allof our own magazines and illustrated papers, all we can collect fromother sources, and we'll raise money to buy new ones. I don't know ofany other way in which we can do so much good."

  Plan after plan was suggested, and at last it was decided that thecommittee should write to a society in Boston which did similar work,and ask for the names and addresses of twenty-five persons who were inneed of reading matter. These could be removed from the lists of theBoston society, as the Committee on Literary Extension of the DetroitYoung Woman's Club would attend to their needs in future.

  In due time the list arrived, with a few particulars opposite eachname. The committee was again called together, and the chairman gaveeach girl five names.

  "Katherine dear," she said, "there are some more names in the littlenote-book that is up-stairs in my desk. They are all boys who have leftthe reform school. A friend of mine, who is one of the directors, gavethem to me, and there are only four or five. Would you mind takingthose in addition to your own?"

  "Not at all," and Katherine ran up to Margaret's desk.

  "Wonder where she keeps her note-book! Oh, here it is, and here is thelist." She copied busily. "One, two, three, four; that's all. No,here's another on the next page," and at the end of her slip she wrote:"Robert Ross, Athol, Spink Co., South Dakota." The work was taken upin earnest and many magazines were collected within the next few days.A strict account was kept of everything sent out, and occasionally thegirls met to compare notes.

  Margaret came home one day and found Mrs. Boyce waiting for her. "Mydear," said the lady, "I've lost an address that troubles me, and Ithink it may have been on the card that I gave you the other day."

  "I'll see," replied Margaret, "I copied them all that very afternoon."She took her note-book out of her chatelaine bag and handed it to Mrs.Boyce. "Which one is it?"

  The elder lady laughed in a relieved way. "This last one," sheanswered. "Robert Ross. He's my favourite nephew, off on a shootingtrip, and he wants me to write to him. He'd never forgive me, if Ididn't. Just give me a card, and I will try not to be so carelessagain."

  Meanwhile Katherine was absorbed in addressing magazines with greatvigour. She had found a pile of back numbers in the attic and wastrying to divide them properly. The household journals went to awoman in Kansas, fifty miles from a city, others she mailed to a boyof sixteen who was on a farm in Minnesota, and a copy of a popularmagazine was addressed to Mr. Robert Ross. At the top of each one shehad written, "From Miss Katherine Bryant, Jefferson Ave., Detroit."

  A short time afterward, she received a pathetic letter from the womanto whom she had sent the household magazines. "I married for love,"she wrote, "and have never been sorry, but I miss many of the thingsto which I was accustomed in my eastern home. A magazine is an unusualthing upon a Kansas farm, and with all my heart I thank you for thegreat pleasure you have given a lonely woman."

  Mindful of the fact that one of the objects of the committee was toget into correspondence with its beneficiaries, Katherine sat down towrite an encouraging note to her and also to others, but before she hadfinished the postman brought another letter.

  It had been mailed in South Dakota. The paper was the white ruledvariety, to be found in country stores, but the penmanship was clearand business-like.

  "My dear Miss Bryant," the letter began, "I am sure I don't know what good angel possessed you to send me a copy of my favourite magazine, but I am none the less grateful and only too happy to acknowledge it. I am hurt, but the doctor thinks not seriously, and that I shall be all right in a few weeks. The magazine which you so kindly sent has given me the first pleasant day I have had for some time.

  "I should be most happy to receive a letter from you, but of course that is too much for a stranger to ask, even though he be ill and alone.

  "Sincerely and gratefully yours, "ROBERT ROSS."

  Katherine knit her pretty brows, and read it over again. "It's noqueerer than the one I got from the Kansas woman," she decided. "At anyrate, they both seem glad to get them and they shall have some more."

  She wrote very kindly to Robert Ross, inquiring into the particularsof his injury, and whether or not he lived on a farm. She said he wasvery fortunate, if he did indeed live in the country, because so manypeople were pining away and dying in the great cities. The magazineshe had sent was one of her own favourites also, and she would sendthe next number as soon as it came out. In the meantime, she hopedthe package of papers she was sending in the same mail would proveacceptable.

  Out on the porch of the Athol House, Mr. Ross sat in the sun andreviled creation in general. It was a palatial hotel--for thatregion--but he seemed unmindful of his advantages.

  "Oh, confound it," he groaned, "why couldn't I have shot some otheridiot instead of myself? I ought not to be trusted with a gun! Right inthe height of the prairie chicken season too, and those other fellows,three of them, off bagging every bit of the game! I hope they won'tforget to come back this way, and take me home with them! Emperor, oldfellow, it's hard luck. Isn't it?"

  The Irish setter, who had been addressed, came and put his cold noseinto Mr. Ross's hand. The well-bred dog had refused to desert hiswounded master, even for the charms of prairie chickens, and touched byhis dumb devotion Ross permitted him to stay. Long conversations wereheld every day, and Emperor told Ross as plainly as a dog could, thatif it hadn't been for that dreadful flesh wound they would be having afine time in the fields, capturing more game than any other dog and manin the party.

  When the landlord returned from the post-office he brought a letterwhich Emperor carried in triumph to his master. Ross read it insurprise. Who Miss Bryant might be, he did not know, but she wrote apleasant letter, and it was certainly kind of her to notice him.

  He decided that the letter he wrote in acknowledgment of the magazinemust have been extremely well done. He thought of the unknown fair onefor some time, and then concluded to write again. He was non-committalabout himself, fearing to spoil any delusion she might have beenlabouring under when she sent the magazine.

  When Katherine received the second letter, she felt several pricks ofconscience. It wasn't a nice thing she was doing, and she knew it. Buta person shouldn't let squeamishness in
terfere with philanthropic work,so she answered promptly.

  She drew him into a discussion of an article on "The Desirability ofAnnexing Canada to the United States," and he criticised it harshly. Heforgot to tell her that he was a Canadian by birth and a loyal subjectof the King. His point of view was naturally distorted, and she repliedwith some spirit, dealing very patiently, however, with the frailarguments which he had submitted.

  Katherine thought the discussion was a good thing. Anything thatwould make him think was an unmixed blessing. She fairly glowed asshe thought of the mental stimulus she might give to this poor Dakotafarmer, who had been hurt in some mysterious way, and her letters grewlonger even as they increased in frequency, for Mr. Ross wrote verypromptly indeed. She could well understand that, when a cripple had solittle to occupy his time in that far away wilderness.

  Ross was highly amused. He admired Miss Bryant's letters and wished hemight see Miss Bryant herself. A bright idea (as he thought) occurredto him--why not?

  With very red cheeks, Miss Katherine read the latest news from SpinkCounty. Her own beautiful Irish setter put his head into her lap, andbegged to be petted.

  "Go away, Rex, I want to think. The wretch! To ask for my photograph!He evidently doesn't know his place! I'll teach him where it is andthen take the name of the impertinent creature off my list!"

  She sat down to compose a letter which should make Mr. Robert Ross,alias wretch, squirm in agony. Rex was persistent and put his paw up toshake hands. Katherine turned and looked at him.

  "You're a dreadfully nice doggie, but I wish you'd go away and notbother me."

  Then an idea came to her which startled her at first, but grew moreattractive as she became better acquainted with it. She bent down andwhispered to Rex, and he wagged his tail as if he fully understood.

  "Yes, Rex, it's got to be done. I'm sorry to sacrifice any of yourbeauty, but you've got to get your mistress out of a scrape. Come on!"And the willing Rex was escorted into the back yard.

  Sooner than he expected, Mr. Ross found a letter at his plate when helimped in to the customary breakfast of black coffee and fried eggs. Onthis occasion, he omitted the eggs and hastily swallowed the coffee,for the envelope was addressed in familiar style.

  It was a very pleasant letter. The writer seemed to meet his advancesin a proper spirit, but there was no photograph. "I don't give mypictures to young men, nor old ones either, but I enclose a lock ofhair which I have cut off on purpose for you, and I hope you will bepleased with it."

  He looked at the enclosure again and again. It was a single silkycurl, of a beautiful reddish gold, tied daintily with blue ribbon. Hecertainly was pleased with it, as she had hoped. "Hair like this andviolet eyes," soliloquised Ross. "I must write again without delay." Sowhen the landlord went to the post-office he mailed another letter toMiss Bryant. The first page consisted wholly of raptures.

  He began to think that Athol was not so dull a place as he had at firstimagined. Those fellows off in the fields shooting prairie chickenswere not having any better time than he and Emperor in this thrivingtown. It was true that Emperor slept most of the time, but magazines,and papers, and letters not only made the time less tedious, but thereseemed to be opening up a vista of romance which made the tramping inthe stubbly fields look very much less attractive.

  While he thought of it, he would read Miss Bryant's letter again. Hetook it out of the envelope, and the curl fell unnoticed to the floorof what the landlord was pleased to term "the front stoop." Emperorwalked over, and seemed interested. His master did not notice him,being absorbed in the letter; at last the dog sniffed uneasily, andthen growled, so Ross looked up and was surprised to find him pawingsomething vigorously. Still Ross did not see what the dog had. "What'sthe matter with you, old fellow?" Emperor growled again, and bitfiercely at the curl. Its owner rescued it at once, but the dog wouldnot be appeased. He made such a fuss that his master put the letteraway. Then Emperor made another attack on the curl, and Ross took itaway from him again and examined it closely. A queer look came intohis face and a queerer note into his voice. "Emperor, come here. Keepstill."

  The long golden fringe that made Emperor's tail the thing of beautythat it was, was drawn up on his knee and the curl was laid besideit. There was no doubt at all. It matched exactly. Ross leaned backin his chair with a low whistle. "Well--by--Jove! I wonder if she'lltell me when she writes," he said to himself. With a despairing grin,he remembered his raptures on the subject and decided that Miss Bryantwould be very certain to tell him where that "sweet curl" came from!

  When the missive from Spink County reached Detroit, Miss KatherineBryant was a very happy girl. As a rule, it takes very little tomake girls happy. For the first time in her life, she longed for aconfidant, and unlike most girls, she had none. She took Rex for a longwalk and told him all about it. The poor dismantled tail wagged inecstasy, but his mistress was not sure that he understood the joke inits entirety.

  At last she would have her revenge and she took keen delight inanswering that letter. "I quite agree with you concerning the beauty ofthe hair," she wrote. "It came from my beautiful Irish setter, and I amvery glad you are pleased with it, though to tell the truth, I shouldthink you utterly heartless if you were not."

  Ross sent an elaborate apology for his impertinence, and confessed thathe admired her all the more for outwitting him. Inwardly, he wishedthat Emperor had made his discovery before he had mailed that idioticletter. His manliness, however, appealed to Katherine and she did nottake his name off the list.

  In the meantime, the three other men returned to their wounded comrade.They had been very successful and were profuse in their expressions ofregret. Ross said nothing of his unknown friend. He felt that it wouldnot be fair to her, and anyhow, when a girl has sent you dog-hair, andyou have raved over it, it isn't best to tell of it. He was sure thatall the circumstances were in favour of his keeping still about it.

  The ugly wound had quite healed when the four men started Easttogether. At St. Paul they separated, Ross and Emperor taking the nighttrain for Detroit and the promised visit to Mrs. Boyce.

  She was delighted to see her nephew, and Emperor soon found his wayinto her good graces. His master took him out for a stroll the sameday he arrived, the dog having been long confined in a box-car, andthe released captive found his excursion especially refreshing. At acorner, however, he met another Irish setter, also out for a stroll,and the two speedily entered into a violent discussion.

  A snarling, rolling, mahogany-coloured ball rolled toward Ross, and ayoung lady followed, crying at the top of her voice, "Rex! Rex! Comehere."

  The owner of Emperor rushed into the disturbance with his cane, andsucceeded in resolving the ball into its component parts.

  Rex, panting and injured, was restored to his agitated mistress, whileEmperor chafed at his master's restraining hand.

  Apologies were profuse on both sides. "I'm stronger than you," Rosssaid, "and if you can hold your dog until I get mine out of sight, weshall have no more trouble."

  Miss Bryant scolded Rex until his head and tail drooped with shame, andrelentlessly kept him at heel all the way home.

  At her own gate, she met Margaret Stone, to whom she told the storyof her adventure with the handsome stranger, and the other dog, who"looked so much like Rex that his own mother could not have told themapart!"

  Margaret's errand was a brief one. Mrs. Boyce was coming over to theStone mansion with her nephew and she wanted Katherine to come todinner and stay all night. So Katherine put on her prettiest gown andwent over, little thinking what fate had in store for her.

  She instantly recognised in Ross the man she had met a few hours beforeunder very different circumstances. He was too much of a gentleman toallude to the occurrence, but she flushed uncomfortably.

  Both girls found him an exceedingly pleasant fellow. Katherine hadrecovered from her embarrassment, and was laughing happily, when Mrs.Boyce began to speak of the Committee on Literary Extension and thegood wo
rk the girls were doing.

  "Do you know, Bob," she went on, "that I nearly lost your address inthat way? I gave it to Margaret with the names of some boys from theReform School. It's a blessed wonder you didn't get magazines andtracts!"

  If Robert had been an angel he would not have looked at Katherine, butbeing merely human he did. Miss Bryant rose in a dignified manner."Margaret," she said unsteadily, "I must go home."

  "Why, Katherine, you were going to stay all night!"

  "My--head--aches," she answered.

  "Bob," commanded Mrs. Boyce, "you must take Katherine home."

  "It's not at all necessary," pleaded Katherine piteously.

  "But I insist," repeated Mrs. Boyce with the utmost good will.

  Mr. Ross rose. "If Miss Bryant will permit me, I shall be only too gladto accompany her home," he said courteously.

  There was nothing to do but submit with the best grace she couldassume. Once out of doors, she was the first to break the silence:

  "I'm afraid to be out alone--in the city."

  "Yes," replied her escort cheerily, "it's a pity you didn't bringyour dog!" He could have bitten his tongue out for making such anunlucky speech, but to his surprise Katherine broke down and sobbedhysterically.

  Mr. Ross took both her hands in his own. "You are tired and nervous,Miss Bryant, and I beg you to think no more about what has happened.You have no idea how much good you did me out in that miserable littleplace, and I shall be only too glad to be your friend, if you will letme."

  Katherine wiped her eyes: "If you can be my friend, I ought to be verywilling to be yours," and just outside of her door Canada and theUnited States clasped hands in a solemn treaty of peace.

  Safely in her own room, the mistress of Rex sat down before the mirrorand studied her face attentively. "Katherine Bryant," she said toherself, "you are an idiot! Not foolish, nor silly, nor half witted,nor anything like that--just a plain idiot! He has graduated from theUniversity with high honours, and you, with your miserable littleboarding-school education, have instructed him on many subjects. I amthoroughly ashamed of you."

  When she finally slept, her dreams were a medley of handsome strangers,mixed with dogs, and reddish-yellow curls tied up with blue ribbons.

  Leaning up against the corner lamp-post, Mr. Robert Ross indulged in aspasm of irreverent mirth, but with a great effort he preserved a calmexterior when he again entered the drawing-room of his hostess.

  On their way home Mrs. Boyce said: "Bob, why don't you go into businesswith your uncle and become a good American citizen? We'd love to haveyou with us, and there is surely a good opening here."

  "I'll think about it," he answered, and he did, with the usual result,for it is proverbial that he who hesitates is lost.

  Mr. Boyce was quite willing to shift a part of his responsibility tothe broad shoulders of his nephew, and an agreement was easily reached.Emperor was quartered in the back yard, where he fretted for a few daysand then wreaked his vengeance on sundry grocery boys and milkmen.

  When his master went out, the dog usually went along except when MissBryant and Rex were to be favoured with a call. If the two dogs met,the customary disturbance ensued. Rex included Ross in his hatred ofEmperor, and Emperor was equally hostile toward Miss Bryant.

  "Rex," said Katherine, one day, "you are a very nice doggie, but Iwon't have you treat Mr. Ross with such disrespect. The other night,when we were going out, you had no business to growl when he buttonedmy gloves, nor to sniff in that disgusted way at the roses he brought.If you ever do that again, I shall let the dogcatcher take you to thepound!"

  The imaginary spectacle of Rex en route to the pound nearly unnervedKatherine, but she felt that she must be severe. Ross punished Emperorwith a chain, or with confinement in the back yard, which the doghated, but where it was necessary to keep him a part of the time, andfor a while all went well.

  But Ross went away one evening without explaining matters to thesensitive being in the back yard.

  Emperor knew well enough where he had gone--knew he was visiting thatdisagreeable girl who owned that other Irish setter--a very impertinentdog whose manners were so bad that he was a disgrace to the wholesetter tribe!

  He sulked over his wrongs for an hour or so, and then crawled outthrough a friendly hole in the fence which he had for some time pastbeen spending his hours of imprisonment in making.

  The dining-room of the house on the avenue was lighted by a single gasjet, and the shades were lowered. Miss Bryant and the chafing dishtogether had evolved a rarebit which made the inner man glow withpleasure.

  "Do you remember that awful quarrel we had about annexing Canada to theUnited States?" asked Robert.

  Katherine remembered distinctly.

  He went over to her side of the table. "What do you think about it now?"

  It was a very ordinary question, but Miss Bryant turned scarlet.

  "I--I don't know," she faltered.

  He put his arm around her. "I give in," he said; "annexation is themost desirable thing in the world--when shall it take place?"

  Katherine raised her head timidly. "Say it, sweetheart," he whisperedtenderly.

  It happened at this moment that Emperor arrived in search of hismaster. Rex was sitting on the front steps and declined to take inhis card. Then the shrieking, howling barking ball rolled into thevestibule, and Ross made a dash for the door. With considerable efforthe got Rex into the back yard, and locked Emperor into the vestibule.Then he went back to Katherine.

  He tried to speak lightly, but his voice trembled with earnestness:"Dearest, this entire affair has been coloured, and suggested by, andmixed up with dogs. I think now there will be an interval of peace forat least ten minutes, and I am asking you to marry me."

  Rex raised his voice in awful protest, and Emperor replied angrily tothe challenge, as he raged back and forth in the vestibule, but Robertheard Katherine's tremulous "Yes" with a throb of joy which even theconsciousness of warring elements outside could not lessen. The littlefigure against his breast shook with something very like a giggle, andKatherine's eyes shining with merriment met his with the question:"What on earth shall we do with the dogs?"

  Robert laughed and drew her closer: "It's strictly international, isn'tit? Canada and the United States quarrel----"

  "And Ireland arbitrates!" said Katherine.

  Three months later, in the drawing-room on Jefferson Avenue, to theaccompaniment of flowers, lights, and soft music, the treaty wasdeclared permanent. There was a tiny dark coloured footprint on theend of Katherine's train, which no one appeared to notice, and a whitesilk handkerchief carefully arranged hid from public view a slightlylarger spot on the shining linen of the bridegroom, where Emperor hadregistered his enthusiastic approval of his master's apparel.

  But the rest of the committee, in pale green gowns, were bridesmaids,while Emperor and Rex, resplendent in new collars, and havingtemporarily adjusted their difference as long as they were under guard,had seats of honour among the guests.

  A Child of Silence