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Page 9
CHAPTER IV.
At about this time it chanced that Miss Ludington drove into Brooklyn one
morning to do some shopping. She was standing at a counter in a large
store, examining goods, when she became aware that a lady standing at
another counter was attentively regarding her. The lady in question was
of about her own height and age, her hair being nearly white, like Miss
Ludington's; but it was evident from the hard lines of her face and her
almost shabby dress that life had by no means gone so easily with her as
with the lady she was regarding so curiously.
As Miss Ludington looked up she smiled, and, crossing the store, held out
her hand. "Ida Ludington! don't you know me?" Miss Ludington scanned her
face a moment, and then, clasping her outstretched hand, exclaimed,
delightedly, "Why, Sarah Cobb, where did you come from?" and for the next
quarter of an hour the two ladies, quite oblivious of the clerks who were
waiting on them, and the customers who were jostling them, stood absorbed
in the most animated conversation. They had been school-girls together in
Hilton forty-five years before, and, not having met since Miss
Ludington's removal from the village, had naturally a great deal to say.
"It is thirty years since I have seen any one from Hilton," said Miss
Ludington at last, "and I'm not going to let you escape me. You must come
out with me to my house and stay overnight, and we will talk old times
over. I would not have missed you for anything."
Sarah Cobb, who had said that her name was now Mrs. Slater, and that she
lived in New York, having removed there from Hilton only a few years
previous, seemed nothing loth to accept her friend's invitation, and it
was arranged that Miss Ludington should send her carriage to meet her at
one of the Brooklyn ferries the day following. Miss Ludington wanted to
send the carriage to Mrs. Slater's residence in New York, but the latter
said that it would be quite as convenient for her to take it at the
ferry.
After repeated injunctions not to fail of her appointment, Miss Ludington
finally bade her old school-mate good-by and drove home in a state of
pleased expectancy.
She entertained Paul at the tea-table with an account of her adventure,
and gave him an animated history of the Cobb family in general and Sarah
in particular. She had known Sarah ever since they both could walk, and
during the latter part of their school life they had been inseparable.
The scholars had even christened them "The Twins," because they were so
much together and looked so much alike. Their secrets were always joint
property.
The next afternoon Miss Ludington went herself in the carriage to fetch
her friend from the ferry. She wanted to be with her and enjoy her
surprise when she first saw the restored Hilton on entering the grounds.
In this respect her anticipations were fully justified.
The arrangement of the grounds was such that a high board fence protected
the interior from inquisitive passers-by on the highway, and the gate was
set in a corner, so that no considerable part of the enclosure was
visible from it. The gravelled driveway, immediately after entering the
grounds, took a sharp turn round the corner of the gardener's cottage,
which answered for a gatekeeper's lodge. The moment, however, it was out
of sight from the highway it became transformed into a country road, with
wide, grassy borders and footpaths close to the rail fences, while just
ahead lay the silent village, with the small, brown, one-storey,
one-roomed school-house on one side of the green, and the little white
box of a meeting-house, with its gilt weathercock, on the other.
As this scene burst upon Mrs. Slater's view, her bewilderment was amusing
to witness. Her appearance for a moment was really as if she believed
herself the victim of some sort of magic, and suspected her friend of
being a sorceress. Reassured on this point by Miss Ludington's smiling
explanation, her astonishment gave place to the liveliest interest and
curiosity. The carriage was forthwith stopped and sent around to the
stables, while the two friends went on foot through the village. Every
house, every fence-corner, every lilac-bush or clump of hollyhocks, or
row of currant-bushes in the gardens, suggested some reminiscence, and
the two old ladies were presently laughing and crying at once. At every
dwelling they lingered long, and went on reluctantly with many backward
glances, and all their speech was but a repetition of, "Don't you
remember this?" and "Do you remember that?"
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