On the Edge of a New Land, Chapters XXV-XXX [pp. 257-269]

On the Edge of a New Land.
love it," said Hester. "But there's a new
home building for me. Haven't you guessed
it? Aren't you building it yourself?"
She spoke to him, but her eyes were fixed
upon Salome.
"Ay?" said Silas, a quiver of surprise in
his speech. "The gran' house on the hill?
He never told me. Only I was to lose no
time building it. Ay?" he ended musingly.
Hester dropped her work. "Salome,"
she said, "come here. I want to tell you
what is in my heart-here, where Archy may
know it all. Yes, it is true: I am going to
marry the best, the truest man I have ever
known. But, Salome, there's as much room
for you in the new house as there always was
-as there always will be-in my heart.
Richard has thought of you-has planned
for you."
Salome, standing in front of her, took her
hand with the odd, caressing movement she
had used as a child. Her face flushed a little.
"Richard!" she murmured softly. "At
last, Hester?"
"Did you know it-did you guess it, Salome? When?"
The girl's eyes brightened. "I think,"
she answered, "I knew it always. Hester,"
she began again, "If ever I've learned anything from your life, I ought now to put it
into practice. Always, always others never
yourself-that's the way it's been with you;
that's the way it is still. I've been thinking
lately that I have duties towards others."
Her words were so low, the listeners scarcely
heard them. "Others-that once forgot
me. Archy, bear witness that I love Hester
this moment better than I ever did in my
life; better, better now, when I leave a happy
life with her for one I must set myself-to
forget to hate."
She choked at the last words; and Hester,
looking at the pure, grave young face, felt a
throb of keenest triumph. She was first in
Salome's love-she, not Janet. Then she
put down the feeling, thinking of the lone,
loveless woman, sitting sullen at Horton's
hearthstone.
"Salome, my own dear love," she said,
"you must choose as seems right to you."
"Yes," replied Salome, seriously. "No
matter what it costs me, I must choose as
seems right. That's what Hester has always
taught me. Well,"-she threw her arms
about Hester with a passionate clasp-" I
choose-Janet."
They looked at each other an instant, then
Salome gave to Hester the first kiss she had
ever bestowed upon her-a kiss, fervent,
tender, pure, and solemn; such as she might
have pressed on lips already sealed to earthly
love.
"Archy," said Salome, turning to him when
Hester had slipped with tear-brimmed eyes
into the little parlor, "I often think of the
first money you ever earned. Do you remember how you spent it? I know. Do
you see? Lila gave it to me."
She took from her pocket a faded velvet
pouch, and from it drew forth the same battered silver thimble that had so powerfully
moved the Scotchman at Holland's bedside.
"The mither's," he said reverently. "My
mither's, lassie; though she's bin lyin' long
in the auld kirk yard."
"Yes," responded Salome. "You were her
only son. The silversmith laughed when
you bought this-he looked at your worn
cap and your shoeless feet. But have you
forgotten, even now, Archy, when you're an
old man, the very words she said when you
gave her this?' His mither is ever first wi'
Archy. He'll allays forget himsel' my ain
lad-but he'll aye remember his mither.'
"They're the very words, are'nt they? You
said awhile ago you couldn't take Janet back
again. Can't you do it now, Archy?" She
laid the thimble in his hand. She looked at
him with a beseeching, penetrating gaze.
"Ay, lass-ye maun ha'e your ain way,"
said the Scotchman. He rose up unsteadily
and went out.
As Hester put out her light that night, the
moonlight shining in at the small window
showed Salome, with her dark, tangled locks,
as it had shown the little Salome years before.
"Dear," said Hester, looking down on
her, "you are not unhappy-not jealous?"
1885.]
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