The Brimming Cup

The wonder of it overcame Mr. Welles like a wave. "I can't believe I'm

really going to!" he cried desperately. "It doesn't seem possible!" He

felt shamed, knowing that he had burst out too violently. What could she

know of what lay back of him, that he was escaped from! What could she

think of him, but that he was a foolish, bitter old man?

She did not seem to think that, looking at him attentively as though she

wanted to make out just what he meant. Perhaps she did make out, for she

now said gently, "I believe you are going to like it, Mr. Welles. I

believe you are going to find here what, . . . what you deserve to find."

She said quietly, "I hope we shall be good neighbors to you."

She spoke so kindly, her look on him was so humane that he felt the

water coming to his eyes. He was in a foolishly emotional state, these

first days. The least little thing threw him off the track. It really

did seem hardly possible that it was all true. That the long grind at

the office was over, the business he had always hated and detested, and

the long, hateful slavery at the flat finished at last, and that he had

come to live out what was left to him in this lovely, peaceful valley,

in that quiet welcoming little house, with this sweet woman next door!

He swallowed. The corners of his mouth twitched. What an old lunatic he

was. But he did not dare trust himself to speak again.

Now Vincent's voice rose. What a length of time Vincent had been

silent,--he who never took a back seat for anybody! What had he been

doing all this time, sitting there and staring at them with those

awfully brilliant eyes of his? Very likely he had seen the silly weak

tears so near the surface, had caught the sentimental twitch of the

mouth. Yes, quite certainly, for, now he was showing his tact by

changing the subject, changing it with a vengeance. "Mrs. Crittenden,"

he was saying, "my curiosity has been touched by that very fine

photograph over there. I don't recognize the castle it shows."

"That's in Bayonne," she said, and paused, her eyes speculatively on

him.

"No, Heavens no! You don't need to tell me that it's not Bayonne, New

Jersey!" he answered her unspoken question violently. This made her

laugh, opening her long eyes a little. He went on, "I've been as far as

Pau, but never went into the Basque country."