Emily's Quest (1927)

Chapter 9

I

On one point Aunt Elizabeth was adamant Emily should not be married until she was twenty. Dean, who had dreamed of an autumn wedding and a winter spent in a dreamy Japanese garden beyond the western sea, gave in with a bad grace. Emily, too, would have preferred an earlier bridal. In the back of her mind, where she would not even glance at it, was the feeling that the sooner it was over and made irrevocable, the better.

Yet she was happy, as she told herself very often and very sincerely. Perhaps there were dark moments when a disquieting thought stared her in the face--it was but a crippled, broken-winged happiness--not the wild, free-flying happiness she had dreamed of. But that, she reminded herself, was lost to her for ever.

One day Dean appeared before her with a flush of boyish excitement on his face.

"Emily, I've been and gone and done something. Will you approve? Oh, Lord, what will I do if you don't approve."

"What is it you've done?"

"I've bought me a house."

"A house!"

"A house! I, Dean Priest, am a landed proprietor--owning a house, a garden and a spruce lot five acres in extent. I, who this morning hadn't a square inch of earth to call my own. I, who all my life have been hungry to own a bit of land."

"What house have you bought, Dean?"

"Fred Clifford's house--at least the house he has always owned by a legal quibble. Really our house--appointed--foreordained for us since the foundation of the world."

"The Disappointed House?"

"Oh, yes, that was your old name for it. But it isn't going to be Disappointed any longer. That is--if--Emily, do you approve of what I've done?"

"Approve? You're simply a darling, Dean. I've always loved that house. It's one of those houses you love the minute you see them. Some houses are like that, you know--full of magic. And others have nothing at all of it in them. I've always longed to see that house fulfilled. Oh--and somebody told me you were going to buy that big horrible house at Shrewsbury. I was afraid to ask if it were true."

"Emily, take back those words. You knew it wasn't true. You knew me better. Of course, all the Priests wanted me to buy that house. My dear sister was almost in tears because I wouldn't. It was to be had at a bargain--and it was such an elegant house."

"It is elegant--with all the word implies," agreed Emily. "But it's an impossible house--not because of its size or its elegance but just because of its impossibility."

"E-zackly. Any proper woman would feel the same. I'm so glad you're pleased, Emily. I had to buy Fred's house yesterday in Charlottetown--without waiting to consult you--another man was on the point of buying it, so I wired Fred instantly. Of course, if you hadn't liked it I'd have sold it again. But I felt you would. We'll make such a home of it, dear. I want a home. I've had many habitations but no homes. I'll have it finished and fixed up as beautifully as possible for you, Star--my Star who is fit to shine in the palaces of kings."

"Let's go right up and look at it," said Emily. "I want to tell it what is coming to it. I want to tell it it is going to live at last."

"We'll go up and look at it and in it. I've got the key. Got it from Fred's sister. Emily, I feel as if I'd reached up and plucked the moon."

"Oh, I've picked a lapful of stars," cried Emily gaily.