Snow-Bound at Eagles | Page 9

Scott had no idols to shatter,
no enthusiasm to subdue. Firmly and unalterably conscious of their
own superiority to the life they led and the community that surrounded
them, they accepted their duties cheerfully, and performed them
conscientiously. Those duties were loyalty to Hale's interests and a
vague missionary work among the neighbors, which, like most
missionary work, consisted rather in making their own ideas
understood than in understanding the ideas of their audience. Old Mrs.
Scott's zeal was partly religious, an inheritance from her Puritan
ancestry; Mrs. Hale's was the affability of a gentlewoman and the
obligation of her position. To this was added the slight languor of the
cultivated American wife, whose health has been affected by the birth
of her first child, and whose views of marriage and maternity were
slightly tinged with gentle scepticism. She was sincerely attached to her

husband, "who dominated the household" like the rest of his "women
folk," with the faint consciousness of that division of service which
renders the position of the sultan of a seraglio at once so prominent and
so precarious. The attitude of John Hale in his family circle was
dominant because it had never been subjected to criticism or
comparison; and perilous for the same reason.
Mrs. Hale presently joined her sister in the veranda, and, shading her
eyes with a narrow white hand, glanced on the prospect with a polite
interest and ladylike urbanity. The searching sun, which, as Miss Kate
once intimated, was "vulgarity itself," stared at her in return, but could
not call a blush to her somewhat sallow cheek. Neither could it detract,
however, from the delicate prettiness of her refined face with its soft
gray shadows, or the dark gentle eyes, whose blue-veined lids were just
then wrinkled into coquettishly mischievous lines by the strong light.
She was taller and thinner than Kate, and had at times a certain shy, coy
sinuosity of movement which gave her a more virginal suggestion than
her unmarried sister. For Miss Kate, from her earliest youth, had been
distinguished by that matronly sedateness of voice and step, and
completeness of figure, which indicates some members of the
gallinaceous tribe from their callow infancy.
"I suppose John must have stopped at the Summit on some business,"
said Mrs. Hale, "or he would have been here already. It's scarcely worth
while waiting for him, unless you choose to ride over and meet him.
You might change your dress," she continued, looking doubtfully at
Kate's costume. "Put on your riding-habit, and take Manuel with you."
"And take the only man we have, and leave you alone?" returned Kate
slowly. "No!"
"There are the Chinese field hands," said Mrs. Hale; "you must correct
your ideas, and really allow them some humanity, Kate. John says they
have a very good compulsory school system in their own country, and
can read and write."
"That would be of little use to you here alone if--if--" Kate hesitated.

"If what?" said Mrs. Hale smiling. "Are you thinking of Manuel's
dreadful story of the grizzly tracks across the fields this morning? I
promise you that neither I, nor mother, nor Minnie shall stir out of the
house until you return, if you wish it."
"I wasn't thinking of that," said Kate; "though I don't believe the
beating of a gong and the using of strong language is the best way to
frighten a grizzly from the house. Besides, the Chinese are going down
the river to-day to a funeral, or a wedding, or a feast of stolen
chickens--they're all the same--and won't be here."
"Then take Manuel," repeated Mrs. Hale. "We have the Chinese
servants and Indian Molly in the house to protect us from Heaven
knows what! I have the greatest confidence in Chy-Lee as a warrior,
and in Chinese warfare generally. One has only to hear him pipe in
time of peace to imagine what a terror he might become in war time.
Indeed, anything more deadly and soul-harrowing than that love song
he sang for us last night I cannot conceive. But really, Kate, I am not
afraid to stay alone. You know what John says: we ought to be always
prepared for anything that might happen.
"My dear Josie," returned Kate, putting her arm around her sister's
waist, "I am perfectly convinced that if three-fingered Jack, or two-toed
Bill, or even Joaquim Murietta himself, should step, red- handed, on
that veranda, you would gently invite him to take a cup of tea, inquire
about the state of the road, and refrain delicately from any allusions to
the sheriff. But I shan't take Manuel from you. I really cannot undertake
to look after his morals at the station, and keep him from drinking
aguardiente with suspicious characters at the bar. It is true he