"And grandpa consented to this willingly?" Maddy said, feeling a throb
of pleasure at thoughts of release. But Guy could not answer that the
grandfather consented willingly.
"He thinks it best. When he comes back you can ask him yourself," he
said, just as Uncle Joseph, opening the door, brought their interview
to a close by asking very meekly, "if it would please the Lord
Governor to let him spit!"
The blood rushed at once to Maddy's face, and she not repress a smile,
white Guy laughed aloud, saying to her softly: "For your sake, I tried
my skill to stop what I knew must annoy you. Pardon me if I did
wrong;" then turning to Uncle Joseph, he gave the desired permission,
together with the promise of a handsome spittoon, which should be sent
down on the morrow. With a bow Uncle Joseph turned away, muttering to
himself, "High doings now Martha's gone; but new lords, new laws. I
trust he's not going to live here;" and slyly he asked Flora if the
Lord Governor had brought his things!
At this point Grandpa Markham came in, and to him Guy appealed at once
to know if he were not willing for Maddy to return to school.
"I said she might if she thought best," was the reply, spoken so sadly
that Maddy's arms were at once twined around the old man's neck, while
she said to him: "Tell me honestly which you prefer. I'd like so much to go to school,
but I am not sure I should be happy there, knowing how lonely you were
here at home. Say, grandpa, which would you rather now, honor bright?"
and Maddy tried to speak playfully, though her heart-beats were almost
audible as she waited for the answer.
Grandpa could not deceive. He wanted his darling sorely, and he wanted
her to be happy, he said. Perhaps they would get on just as well
without her. When Mr. Guy was talking it looked as if they might, he
made it all so plain, but the sight of Maddy was a comfort. She was
all he had left. Maybe he shouldn't live long to pester her, and if he
didn't wouldn't she always feel better for having stayed with her old
grandpa to the last?
He looked very pale and thin, and his hair was white as snow. He could
not live many years, and turning resolutely from Guy, who, so long as
he held her eye, controlled her, Maddy said: "I've chosen once for all. I'll stay with grandpa till he dies," and
with a convulsive sob she clung tightly to his neck, as if fearful
that without such told on him her resolution would give way.