Wakulla
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Kirk Munroe >> Wakulla
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That afternoon Mark handed Frank thirty dollars as his share of
the money the former had received from their otter-skins, which he
had carried North and sold. Frank had several more that he had
caught during the summer, but their skins were of little value
compared with those caught during the earlier months of the year.
Mr. Elmer had invited all the gentlemen to dine with him that
evening, much to the consternation of Aunt Chloe, who said "she
was sho' she couldn't see how she was gwine fin' time to po'wide
vittles fo' so many guesses; an' dem po' hung'y Norfeners too.
'Specs dey'll be powerful tickled to git a squar' meal."
The "guesses" spent the afternoon in crossing the river to
Wakulla, and in driving several miles into the great pine forests,
which pleased them greatly.
The dinner turned out to be a most bountiful meal, in spite of
Aunt Chloe's fears; and at half-past six a very merry company
gathered around the long table, which, for want of space
elsewhere, had been set in the wide hall that ran through the
house from front to rear. The evening was so warm that the front
door stood wide open, and when dinner was nearly over, the whole
party were laughing so heartily at one of Uncle Christopher's
funny stories, that no one heard the sound of wheels at the gate,
nor noticed the figure that, with white face and wild eyes, stared
at them from the open doorway.
No, not at them; only at one of them--the fair-haired girl, almost
a woman, who sat at the head of the table, on Mr. Elmer's right
hand, and on whose face the light shone full and strong.
Then a cry rang through the hall, a cry almost of agony, and it
was "Margaret! Margaret! my wife Margaret! Am I dreaming, or can
the dead come to life?"
As the startled guests looked towards the door Mr. March entered
the room, and without noticing any one else, walked straight to
where Edna May was sitting. She, frightened at his appearance and
fixed gaze, clung to Mr. Elmer's arm, and Captain May half rose
from his chair with a confused idea that the girl, whom he loved
as his own daughter, was in danger.
"Who is she, Elmer? where did she come from?" exclaimed Mr. March.
"She is the living image of my dead wife; only younger, much
younger, and more beautiful than she whom I drove from her home,"
he added, with a groan.
Mr. Elmer had noticed the strange resemblance between Frank March
and Edna May, and had determined to speak to his wife about it
that night. Now it all flashed across him as clear as sunlight;
but before he could speak, Ruth sprang to his side, and taking her
friend's hand in hers, cried,
"Don't you see, father, she is his own daughter, the baby he
thought was drowned in the Savannah River so many years ago?
Captain May saved her, and now he has brought her back to her
father and brother. Frank, Edna is your own sister."
Mr. March tried to take Edna into his arms, but she slipped away
from him and ran to Captain May, saying, "This is my father, the
only one I have ever known. As he has loved and cared for me, so
do I love him. I will never, never leave him!" and she burst into
tears.
After soothing and quieting her, Captain May said, "Mr. March, I
suspected this long ago. Mark and Ruth told me of the resemblance
between Edna and your son on our way North together last spring,
and I made them promise not to mention it to her. I hoped it would
prove to be only a fancied resemblance; but, as a Christian man, I
could not keep father and daughter separated, if indeed they were
father and daughter. So I brought her here to meet you face to
face; and from what I have just seen I am inclined to think you
are her own father, but you must prove it to me. Prove the fact
beyond a doubt, and I will yield to you an undivided half interest
in this dear child. Only a half, though. I can't give up the love
that has twined round my heart for nearly fifteen years."
Then Mr. March sat down, and in faltering tones told to the
listening company the sad story of his married life. He gave the
date of the disappearance of his wife and her baby from home, and
he described as well as he could the clothes that each wore at the
time.
As he finished, Captain May went to him and gave him a warm,
hearty hand-grasp. "That's enough," he said. "Gentlemen, I call
you to witness that from this time forth I renounce all claims,
except those of love, to her who has been known for the last
fifteen years as my daughter Edna May. I am satisfied that this
man is her father, and that whatever he has been in the past, he
is now worthy to occupy that position towards her. Edna, my girl,
you have only got two fathers instead of one, and a brother of
whom I think you will live to be very proud besides; your heart
holds enough love for all of us, doesn't it, dear?"
Edna's answer was to throw her arms around his neck, and kiss his
weather-beaten cheeks again and again. Then, with a smile showing
through the tears that still filled her eyes, she went over to Mr.
March, whom she no longer doubted was her own father, but of whom
she could not help feeling very shy, and half timidly held up her
face for him to kiss. The happy father opened his arms and clasped
her to his heart, exclaiming, in a broken voice, "God bless you,
my daughter! That He has restored you to me is the surest sign of
His forgiveness."
Then Frank came to them, saying, "Sister Edna, won't you kiss me
too? The thing I have envied Mark most was his having a sister,
and now that I have got one of my own, I do believe I am the very
happiest boy in the world."
"Sakes alive!" exclaimed good old Uncle Christopher, who had all
this time been blowing his nose very loudly with a great red silk
hand-kerchief, and occasionally wiping his eyes, "with all this
kissing going on, where am I? Grandniece Ruth, come here and kiss
your 'Uncle Christmas' directly." Ruth did as she was bid, and the
old gentleman continued: "What a country this Floridy is, to be
sure. They change March into May, or vicy versy, and each one is
as beautiful as the other. Sakes alive! what an old April Fool I
was not to think of all this myself when I first saw those two
young people together."
Long before this, honest Jan Jansen, who had returned from
Tallahassee with Mr. March, but waited to put up the mules, had
come into the room, and he was now brought forward and introduced
to everybody. Among the Aroostook gentlemen he found an old
acquaintance who had met him in New Sweden, and who now told him
that, owing to the death of a relative in the old country, a snug
little property awaited him, and that a lawyer in Bangor was
advertising and searching for him.
Having now spent almost a year with our Wakulla friends, perhaps
they are getting tired of us, and we had better leave them for a
while, only waiting to draw together the threads of the story, and
finish it off neatly.
Edna May March has been installed mistress of the pretty little
house that Mr. March and Frank built while the young Elmers were
in the North, and she and Ruth receive daily lessons in cooking,
sewing, and all sorts of housekeeping from Mrs. Elmer and Aunt
Chloe; and the latter says "she's proud to 'still Soufern precep's
into deir sweet Norfern heads, bress em!"
The Nancy Bell lay in the St. Mark's River long enough to secure a
load of lumber from the Elmer Mill, and then sailed for the North.
But she will return, for Captain May has bought a half interest in
her from Uncle Christopher, and will hereafter run her regularly
between New York and Wakulla.
The new Elmer Mill is nearly finished, and four of the six
gentlemen from Aroostook have gone home to get their families, and
to buy more machinery with which to erect another saw-mill farther
up the river, and they are expected back on the next trip of the
Nancy Bell.
Jan has gone to Sweden; but they have had a letter from him saying
that he should return soon, and invest his property in Wakulla.
Dear old "Uncle Christmas" is busy preparing for his expedition in
search of the famous Wakulla volcano. He revels in the warmth of
the climate, and in bathing in the sulphur spring, and he says
that if a good thing's good, a better may be better, and he may
find more warmth and more sulphur if he can only find the volcano.
Edna has been taken on several picnics to Wakulla Spring, over the
"humpety road," and "de trabblin' road," past "Brer Steve's" down
to the light-house, and to other places of interest. The contrast
between what is, and what the people of Wakulla hope will be when
they get the great ship-canal across Florida built, and other
schemes carried out, amuses her greatly. She smiles when they come
to her and in strict confidence unfold their plans for future
greatness; but is such a patient listener, and so ready a
sympathizer, that she is rapidly winning their admiration and
love.
THE END
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