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diff --git a/18496.txt b/18496.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b01f345 --- /dev/null +++ b/18496.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1766 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Big Brother, by Annie Fellows-Johnston + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Big Brother + +Author: Annie Fellows-Johnston + +Release Date: June 3, 2006 [EBook #18496] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BIG BROTHER *** + + + + +Produced by David Garcia, Jeannie Howse and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Kentuckiana Digital Library) + + + + + + + + + + + +BIG BROTHER + +[Illustration: ROBIN] + + + + +"_Cosy Corner Series_" + + +BIG BROTHER + +BY + +ANNIE FELLOWS-JOHNSTON + + +[Illustration] + + +BOSTON +JOSEPH KNIGHT COMPANY +1894 + + + + +COPYRIGHT, 1893 +BY +JOSEPH KNIGHT COMPANY + + + + +[Illustration: ILLUSTRATIONS] + + + PAGE + + ROBIN _Frontispiece_ + + "A BAREFOOT GIRL WEARING A SUNBONNET" 1 + + "MRS. ESTEL WAS LISTENING TO LITTLE SCRAPS OF HISTORY," ETC. 9 + + "THE LITTLE WHITE COTTAGE IN NEW JERSEY," 19 + + "ROBIN FOLLOWED HIM EVERYWHERE" 21 + + "STEVEN WOULD COAX HIM OVER IN A CORNER TO LOOK AT THE BOOK" 23 + + "THE BLACK DANCING BEAR HAD ALWAYS TO BE PUT TO BED" 26 + + "ONCE HE TOOK A BALL OF YARN TO ROLL AFTER THE WHITE KITTEN" 29 + + "HE WANTED TO GET AWAY FROM THE HOUSE," ETC. 43 + + "THEY COMMENCED TO BUILD A SNOW MAN" 54 + + + + +BIG BROTHER. + + +Every coach on the long western-bound train was crowded with +passengers. Dust and smoke poured in at the windows and even the +breeze seemed hot as it blew across the prairie cornfields burning in +the July sun. + +[Illustration] + +It was a relief when the engine stopped at last in front of a small +village depot. There was a rush for the lunch counter and the +restaurant door, where a noisy gong announced dinner. + +"Blackberries! blackberries!" called a shrill little voice on the +platform. A barefoot girl, wearing a sunbonnet, passed under the car +windows, holding up a basket full, that shone like great black beads. +A gentleman who had just helped two ladies to alight from the steps +of a parlor car called to her and began to fumble in his pockets for +the right change. + +"Blackberries! blackberries!" sang another voice mockingly. This time +it came from a roguish-looking child, hanging half-way out of a window +in the next car. He was a little fellow, not more than three years +old. His hat had fallen off, and his sunny tangle of curls shone +around a face so unusually beautiful that both ladies uttered an +exclamation of surprise. + +"Look, papa! Look, Mrs. Estel!" exclaimed the younger of the two. "Oh, +isn't he a perfect picture! I never saw such eyes, or such delicate +coloring. It is an ideal head." + +"Here, Grace," exclaimed her father, laughingly. "Don't forget your +berries in your enthusiasm. It hasn't been many seconds since you were +going into raptures over them. They certainly are the finest I ever +saw." + +The girl took several boxes from her basket, and held them up for the +ladies to choose. Grace took one mechanically, her eyes still fixed on +the child in the window. + +"I'm going to make friends with him!" she exclaimed impulsively. +"Let's walk down that way. I want to speak to him." + +"Blackberries!" sang the child again, merrily echoing the cry that +came from the depths of the big sunbonnet as it passed on. + +Grace picked out the largest, juiciest berry in the box, and held it +up to him with a smile. His face dimpled mischievously, as he leaned +forward and took it between his little white teeth. + +"Do you want some more?" she asked. + +His eyes shone, and every little curl bobbed an eager assent. + +"What's your name, dear," she ventured, as she popped another one into +his mouth. + +"Robin," he answered, and leaned farther out to look into her box. "Be +careful," she cautioned; "you might fall out." + +He looked at her gravely an instant, and then said in a slow, quaint +fashion: "Why, no; I can't fall out, 'cause big brother's a holdin' on +to my feet." + +She drew back a little, startled. It had not occurred to her that any +one else might be interested in watching this little episode. She gave +a quick glance at the other windows of the car, and then exclaimed: +"What is it, papa,--a picnic or a travelling orphan asylum? It looks +like a whole carload of children." + +Yes, there they were, dozens of them, it seemed; fair faces and +freckled ones, some dimpled and some thin; all bearing the marks of a +long journey on soot-streaked features and grimy hands, but all +wonderfully merry and good-natured. + +Just then a tired-looking man swung himself down the steps, and stood +looking around him, knitting his brows nervously. He heard the girl's +question, and then her father's reply: "I don't know, my dear, I am +sure; but I'll inquire if you wish." + +The man's brows relaxed a little and he answered them without waiting +to be addressed. "They are children sent out by an aid society in the +East. I am taking them to homes in Kansas, mostly in the country." + +"You don't mean to tell me," the old gentleman exclaimed in surprise, +"that you have the care of that entire car full of children! How do +you ever manage them all?" + +The man grinned. "It does look like a case of the old woman that lived +in a shoe, but there are not as many as it would seem. They can spread +themselves over a good deal of territory, and I'm blessed if some of +'em can't be in half a dozen places at once. There's a little English +girl in the lot--fourteen years or thereabouts--that keeps a pretty +sharp eye on them. Then they're mostly raised to taking care of +themselves." Some one accosted him, and he turned away. Grace looked +up at the bewitching little face, still watching her with eager +interest. + +"Poor baby!" she said to herself. "Poor little homeless curly head! If +I could only do something for you!" Then she realized that even the +opportunity she had was slipping away, and held up the box. "Here, +Robin," she called, "take it inside so that you can eat them without +spilling them." + +"All of 'em?" he asked with a radiant smile. He stretched out his +dirty, dimpled fingers. "_All_ of 'em," he repeated with satisfaction +as he balanced the box on the sill. "All for Big Brother and me!" + +Another face appeared at the window beside Robin's, one very much like +it; grave and sweet, with the same delicate moulding of features. +There was no halo of sunny curls on the finely shaped head, but the +persistent wave of the darker, closely cut hair showed what it had +been at Robin's age. There was no color in the face either. The lines +of the sensitive mouth had a pathetic suggestion of suppressed +trouble. He was a manly-looking boy, but his face was far too sad for +a child of ten. + +"Gracie," said Mrs. Estel, "your father said the train will not start +for fifteen minutes. He has gone back to stay with your mother. Would +you like to go through the car with me, and take a look at the little +waifs?" + +"Yes, indeed," was the answer. "Think how far they have come. I wish +we had found them sooner." + +A lively game of tag was going on in the aisle. Children swarmed over +the seats and under them. One boy was spinning a top. Two or three +were walking around on their hands, with their feet in the air. The +gayest group seemed to be in the far end of the car, where two seats +full of children were amusing themselves by making faces at each +other. The uglier the contortion and more frightful the grimace, the +louder they laughed. + +In one corner the English girl whom the man had mentioned sat mending +a little crocheted jacket, belonging to one of the children. She was +indeed keeping a sharp eye on them. + +"'Enry," she called authoritatively, "stop teasing those girls, Hi +say. Pull the 'airs from your hown 'ead, and see 'ow you like that +naow! Sally, you shall not drink the 'ole enjuring time. Leave the cup +be! No, Maggie, Hi can tell no story naow. Don't you see Hi must be +plying my needle? Go play, whilst the car stops." + +Robin smiled on Grace like an old friend when she appeared at the +door, and moved over to make room for her on the seat beside him. He +had no fear of strangers, so he chattered away in confiding baby +fashion, but the older boy said nothing. Sometimes he smiled when she +told some story that made Robin laugh out heartily, but it seemed to +her that it was because the little brother was pleased that he +laughed, not because he listened. + +Presently Mrs. Estel touched her on the shoulder. "The time is almost +up. I am going to ask your father to bring my things in here. As you +leave at the next station, I could not have your company much longer, +anyhow. I have all the afternoon ahead of me, and I want something to +amuse me." + +"I wish I could stay with you," answered Grace, "but mamma is such an +invalid I cannot leave her that long. She would be worrying about me +all the time." + +She bade Robin an affectionate good-by, telling him that he was the +dearest little fellow in the world, and that she could never forget +him. He followed her with big, wistful eyes as she passed out, but +smiled happily when she turned at the door to look back and kiss her +hand to him. + +At the next station, where they stopped for a few minutes, he watched +for her anxiously. Just as the train began to pull out he caught a +glimpse of her. There was a flutter of a white handkerchief and a +bundle came flying in through the window. + +He looked out quickly, just in time to see her stepping into a +carriage. Then a long line of freight cars obstructed the view. By the +time they had passed them they were beyond even the straggling +outskirts of the village, with wide cornfields stretching in every +direction, and it was of no use to look for her any longer. + +Mrs. Estel lost no time in making the young English girl's +acquaintance. She was scarcely settled in her seat before she found an +opportunity. Her umbrella slipped from the rack, and the girl sprang +forward to replace it. + +"You have had a tiresome journey," Mrs. Estel remarked pleasantly +after thanking her. + +"Yes, indeed, ma'am!" answered the girl, glad of some one to talk to +instead of the children, whose remarks were strictly of an +interrogative nature. It was an easy matter to draw her into +conversation, and in a short time Mrs. Estel was listening to little +scraps of history that made her eyes dim and her heart ache. + +[Illustration] + +"Do you mind telling me your name?" she asked at length. + +"Ellen, ma'am." + +"But the other," continued Mrs. Estel. + +"We're not to tell, ma'am." Then seeing the look of inquiry on her +face, explained, "Sometimes strangers make trouble, hasking the +little ones hall sorts hof questions; so we've been told not to say +where we're going, nor hany think helse." + +"I understand," answered Mrs. Estel quickly. "I ask only because I am +so much interested. I have a little girl at home that I have been away +from for a week, but she has a father and a grandmother and a nurse to +take care of her while I am gone. It makes me feel so sorry for these +poor little things turned out in the world alone." + +"Bless you, ma'am!" exclaimed Ellen cheerfully. "The 'omes they're +going to be a sight better than the 'omes they've left behind. Naow +there's 'Enery; 'is mother died hin a drunken fit. 'E never knew +nothink hall 'is life but beating and starving, till the Haid Society +took 'im hin 'and. + +"Then there's Sally. Why, Sally's living 'igh naow--hoff the fat hof +the land, has you might say. Heverybody knows 'ow 'er hold huncle +treated 'er!" + +Mrs. Estel smiled as she glanced at Sally, to whom the faucet of the +water-cooler seemed a never-failing source of amusement. Ellen had put +a stop to her drinking, which she had been doing at intervals all the +morning, solely for the pleasure of seeing the water stream out when +she turned the stop-cock. Now she had taken a tidy spell. Holding her +bit of a handkerchief under the faucet long enough to get it dripping +wet, she scrubbed herself with the ice-water, until her cheeks shone +like rosy winter apples. + +Then she smoothed the wet, elfish-looking hair out of her black eyes, +and proceeded to scrub such of the smaller children as could not +escape from her relentless grasp. Some submitted dumbly, and others +struggled under her vigorous application of the icy rag, but all she +attacked came out clean and shining. + +Her dress was wringing wet in front, and the water was standing in +puddles around her feet, when the man who had them in charge came +through the car again. He whisked her impatiently into a seat, setting +her down hard. She made a saucy face behind his back, and began to +sing at the top of her voice. + +One little tot had fallen and bumped its head as the train gave a +sudden lurch. It was crying pitifully, but in a subdued sort of +whimper, as if it felt that crying was of no use when nobody listened +and nobody cared. He picked it up, made a clumsy effort to comfort +it, and, not knowing what else to do, sat down beside it. Then for the +first time he noticed Mrs. Estel. + +She had taken a pair of scissors from her travelling-bag, and had cut +several newspapers up into soldiers and dolls and all kinds of animals +for the crowd that clamored around her. + +They were such restless little bodies, imprisoned so long on this +tedious journey, that anything with a suggestion of novelty was +welcome. + +When she had supplied them with a whole regiment of soldiers and +enough animals to equip a menagerie, she took another paper and began +teaching them to fold it in curious ways to make boxes, and boats, and +baskets. + +One by one they crowded up closer to her, watching her as if she were +some wonderful magician. They leaned their dusty heads against her +fresh gray travelling-dress. They touched her dainty gloves with +dirty, admiring fingers. They did not know that this was the first +time that she had ever come in close contact with such lives as +theirs. + +They did not know that it was the remembrance of another child,--one +who awaited her home-coming,--a petted little princess born to purple +and fine linen, that made her so tender towards them. Remembering what +hers had, and all these lacked, she felt that she must crowd all the +brightness possible into the short afternoon they were together. + +Every one of them, at some time in their poor bare lives, had known +what it was to be kindly spoken to by elegant ladies, to be +patronizingly smiled upon, to be graciously presented with gifts. + +But this was different. This one took the little Hodge girl right up +in her lap while she was telling them stories. This one did not pick +out the pretty ones to talk to, as strangers generally did. It really +seemed that the most neglected and unattractive of them received the +most of her attention. + +From time to time she glanced across at Robin's lovely face, and +contrasted it with the others. The older boy attracted her still more. +He seemed to be the only thoughtful one among them all. The others +remembered no past, looked forward to no future. When they were hungry +there was something to eat. When they were tired they could sleep, and +all the rest of the time there was somebody to play with. What more +could one want? + +The child never stirred from his place, but she noticed that he made a +constant effort to entertain Robin. He told him stories and invented +little games. When the bundle came flying in through the window he +opened it with eager curiosity. + +Grace had hurried into the village store as soon as the train stopped +and had bought the first toy she happened to see. It was a black +dancing bear, worked by a tiny crank hidden under the bar on which it +stood. Robin's pleasure was unbounded, and his shrieks of delight +brought all the children flocking around him. + +"More dancin', Big Brother," he would insist, when the animal paused. +"Robin wants to see more dancin'." + +So patient little "Big Brother" kept on turning the crank, long after +every one save Robin was tired of the black bear's antics. + +Once she saw the restless 'Enry trying to entice him into a game of +tag in the aisle. Big Brother shook his head, and the fat little legs +clambered up on the seat again. Robin watched Mrs. Estel with such +longing eyes as she entertained the others that she beckoned to him +several times to join them, but he only bobbed his curls gravely and +leaned farther back in his seat. + +Presently the man strolled down the aisle again to close a window, out +of which one fidgety boy kept leaning to spit at the flying telegraph +poles. On his way back Mrs. Estel stopped him. + +"Will you please tell me about those two children?" she asked, +glancing towards Robin and his brother. "I am very much interested in +them, and would gladly do something for them, if I could." + +"Certainly, madam," he replied deferentially. He felt a personal sense +of gratitude towards her for having kept three of his most unruly +charges quiet so long. He felt, too, that she did not ask merely from +idle curiosity, as so many strangers had done. + +"Yes, everybody asks about them, for they _are_ uncommon +bright-looking, but it's very little anybody knows to tell." + +Then he gave her their history in a few short sentences. Their father +had been killed in a railroad accident early in the spring. Their +mother had not survived the terrible shock more than a week. No trace +could be found of any relatives, and there was no property left to +support them. Several good homes had been offered to the children +singly in different towns, but no one was willing to take both. They +clung together in such an agony of grief, when an attempt was made at +separation, that no one had the heart to part them. + +Then some one connected with the management of the Aid Society opened +a correspondence with an old farmer of his acquaintance out West. It +ended in his offering to take them both for a while. His married +daughter, who had no children of her own, was so charmed with Robin's +picture that she wanted to adopt him. She could not be ready to take +him, though, before they moved into their new house, which they were +building several miles away. The old farmer wanted the older boy to +help him with his market gardening, and was willing to keep the little +one until his daughter was ready to take him. So they could be +together for a while, and virtually they would always remain in the +same family. + +Mr. Dearborn was known to be such an upright, reliable man, so +generous and kind-hearted in all his dealings, that it was decided to +accept his offer. + +"Do they go much farther?" asked the interested listener, when he had +told her all he knew of the desolate little pilgrims. + +"Only a few miles the other side of Kenton," he answered. + +"Why, Kenton is where I live," she exclaimed. "I am glad it will be so +near." Then as he passed on she thought to herself, "It would be cruel +to separate them. I never saw such devotion as that of the older boy." +His feet could not reach the floor, but he sat up uncomfortably on the +high seat, holding Robin in his lap. The curly head rested heavily on +his shoulder, and his arms ached with their burden, but he never moved +except to brush away the flies, or fan the flushed face of the little +sleeper with his hat. + +Something in the tired face, the large appealing eyes, and the droop +of the sensitive mouth, touched her deeply. She crossed the aisle and +sat down by him. + +"Here, lay him on the seat," she said, bending forward to arrange her +shawl for a pillow. + +He shook his head. "Robin likes best for me to hold him." + +"But he will be cooler and so much more comfortable," she urged. +Taking the child from his unwilling arms, she stretched him full +length on the improvised bed. + +Involuntarily the boy drew a deep sigh of relief, and leaned back in +the corner. + +"Are you very tired?" she asked. "I have not seen you playing with the +other children." + +"Yes'm," he answered. "We've come such a long way. I have to amuse +Robin all the time he's awake, or he'll cry to go back home." + +"Where was your home?" she asked kindly. "Tell me about it." + +He glanced up at her, and with a child's quick instinct knew that he +had found a friend. The tears that he had been bravely holding back +all the afternoon for Robin's sake could no longer be restrained. He +sat for a minute trying to wink them away. Then he laid his head +wearily down on the window sill and gave way to his grief with great +choking sobs. + +She put her arm around him and drew his head down on her shoulder. At +first the caressing touch of her fingers, as they gently stroked his +hair, made the tears flow faster. Then he grew quieter after a while, +and only sobbed at long intervals as he answered her questions. + +His name was Steven, he said. He knew nothing of the home to which he +was being taken, nor did he care, if he could only be allowed to stay +with Robin. He told her of the little white cottage in New Jersey, +where they had lived, of the peach-trees that bloomed around the +house, of the beehive in the garden. + +He had brooded over the recollection of his lost home so long in +silence that now it somehow comforted him to talk about it to this +sympathetic listener. + +[Illustration] + +Soothed by her soft hand smoothing his hair, and exhausted by the heat +and his violent grief, he fell asleep at last. It was almost dark when +he awoke and sat up. + +"I must leave you at the next station," Mrs. Estel said, "but you are +going only a few miles farther. Maybe I shall see you again some day." +She left him to fasten her shawl-strap, but presently came back, +bringing a beautifully illustrated story-book that she had bought for +the little daughter at home. + +"Here, Steven," she said, handing it to him. "I have written my name +and address on the fly-leaf. If you ever need a friend, dear, or are +in trouble of any kind, let me know and I will help you." + +He had known her only a few hours, yet, when she kissed him good-by +and the train went whirling on again, he felt that he had left his +last friend behind him. + +When one is a child a month is a long time. Grandfathers say, "That +happened over seventy years ago, but it seems just like yesterday." +Grandchildren say, "Why, it was only yesterday we did that, but so +much has happened since that it seems such a great while!" + +One summer day can stretch out like a lifetime at life's beginning. It +is only at threescore and ten that we liken it to a weaver's shuttle. + +It was in July when old John Dearborn drove to the station to meet the +children. Now the white August lilies were standing up sweet and tall +by the garden fence. + +"Seems like we've been here 'most always," said Steven as they rustled +around in the hay hunting eggs. His face had lost its expression of +sadness, so pathetic in a child, as day after day Robin's little feet +pattered through the old homestead, and no one came to take him away. + +Active outdoor life had put color in his face and energy into his +movements. Mr. Dearborn and his wife were not exacting in their +demands, although they found plenty for him to do. The work was all +new and pleasant, and Robin was with him everywhere. When he fed the +turkeys, when he picked up chips, when he drove the cows to pasture, +or gathered the vegetables for market, Robin followed him everywhere, +like a happy, dancing shadow. + +[Illustration] + +Then when the work was done there were the kittens in the barn and the +swing in the apple-tree. A pond in the pasture sailed their shingle +boats. A pile of sand, left from building the new ice-house, +furnished material for innumerable forts and castles. There was a +sunny field and a green, leafy orchard. How could they _help but be +happy?_ It was summer time and they were together. + +Steven's was more than a brotherly devotion. It was with almost the +tenderness of mother-love that he watched the shining curls dancing +down the walk as Robin chased the toads through the garden or played +hide-and-seek with the butterflies. + +"No, the little fellow's scarcely a mite of trouble," Mrs. Dearborn +would say to the neighbors sometimes when they inquired. "Steven is +real handy about dressing him and taking care of him, so I just leave +it mostly to him." + +Mrs. Dearborn was not a very observing woman or she would have seen +why he "was scarcely a mite of trouble." If there was never a crumb +left on the doorstep where Robin sat to eat his lunch, it was because +Big Brother's careful fingers had picked up every one. If she never +found any tracks of little bare feet on the freshly scrubbed kitchen +floor, it was because his watchful eyes had spied them first, and he +had wiped away every trace. + +He had an instinctive feeling that if he would keep Robin with him he +must not let any one feel that he was a care or annoyance. So he never +relaxed his watchfulness in the daytime, and slept with one arm thrown +across him at night. + +Sometimes, after supper, when it was too late to go outdoors again, +the restless little feet kicked thoughtlessly against the furniture, +or the meddlesome fingers made Mrs. Dearborn look at him warningly +over her spectacles and shake her head. + +[Illustration] + +Sometimes the shrill little voice, with its unceasing questions, +seemed to annoy the old farmer as he dozed over his weekly newspaper +beside the lamp. Then, if it was too early to go to bed, Steven would +coax him over in a corner to look at the book that Mrs. Estel had +given him, explaining each picture in a low voice that could not +disturb the deaf old couple. + +It was at these times that the old feeling of loneliness came back so +overwhelmingly. Grandpa and Grandma, as they called them, were kind in +their way, but even to their own children they had been +undemonstrative and cold. Often in the evenings they seemed to draw so +entirely within themselves, she with her knitting and he with his +paper or accounts, that Steven felt shut out, and apart. "Just the +strangers within thy gates," he sometimes thought to himself. He had +heard that expression a long time ago, and it often came back to him. +Then he would put his arm around Robin and hug him up close, feeling +that the world was so big and lonesome, and that he had no one else to +care for but him. + +Sometimes he took him up early to the little room under the roof, and, +lying on the side of the bed, made up more marvellous stories than any +the book contained. + +Often they drew the big wooden rocking-chair close to the window, and, +sitting with their arms around each other, looked out on the moonlit +stillness of the summer night. Then, with their eyes turned starward, +they talked of the far country beyond; for Steven tried to keep +undimmed in Robin's baby memory a living picture of the father and +mother he was so soon forgetting. + +"Don't you remember," he would say, "how papa used to come home in the +evening and take us both on his knees, and sing 'Kingdom Coming' to +us? And how mamma laughed and called him a big boy when he got down on +the floor and played circus with us? + +"And don't you remember how we helped mamma make cherry pie for dinner +one day? You were on the doorstep with some dough in your hands, and a +greedy old hen came up and gobbled it right out of your fingers." + +Robin would laugh out gleefully at each fresh reminiscence, and then +say: "Tell some more r'members, Big Brother!" And so Big Brother would +go on until a curly head drooped over on his shoulder and a sleepy +voice yawned "Sand-man's a-comin'." + +The hands that undressed him were as patient and deft as a woman's. He +missed no care or tenderness. + +When he knelt down in his white gown, just where the patch of +moonlight lay on the floor, his chubby hands crossed on Big Brother's +knee, there was a gentle touch of caressing fingers on his curls as +his sleepy voice repeated the evening prayer the far away mother had +taught them. + +There was always one ceremony that had to be faithfully performed, no +matter how sleepy he might be. The black dancing bear had always to be +put to bed in a cracker box and covered with a piece of red flannel. + +[Illustration] + +One night he looked up gravely as he folded it around his treasure and +said, "Robin tucks ze black dancin' bear in bed, an' Big Brother tucks +in Robin. Who puts Big Brother to bed?" + +"Nobody, now," answered Steven with a quivering lip, for his child's +heart ached many a night for the lullaby and bedtime petting he so +sorely missed. + +"Gramma Deebun do it?" suggested Robin quickly. + +"No: Grandma Dearborn has the rheumatism. She couldn't walk +up-stairs." + +"She got ze wizzim-tizzim," echoed Robin solemnly. Then his face +lighted up with a happy thought. "Nev' mind; Robin'll put Big Brother +to bed _all_ ze nights when he's a man." And Big Brother kissed the +sweet mouth and was comforted. + +During the summer Mr. Dearborn drove to town with fresh marketing +every morning, starting early in order to get home by noon. Saturdays +he took Steven with him, for that was the day he supplied his butter +customers. + +The first time the boy made the trip he carried Mrs. Estel's address +in his pocket, which he had carefully copied from the fly-leaf of the +book she had given him. Although he had not the remotest expectation +of seeing her, there was a sense of companionship in the mere thought +that she was in the same town with him. + +He watched the lamp-posts carefully as they went along, spelling out +the names of the streets. All of a sudden his heart gave a bound. They +had turned a corner and were driving along Fourth Avenue. He took the +slip of paper from his pocket. Yes, he was right. That was the name of +the street. Then he began to watch for the numbers. 200, 300, 400; +they passed on several more blocks. Mr. Dearborn drove up to the +pavement and handed him the reins to hold, while he took the crock of +butter into the house. Steven glanced up at the number. It was 812. +Then the next one--no, the one after that--must be the place. + +It was a large, elegant house, handsomer than any they had passed on +the avenue. As long as it was in sight Steven strained his eyes for a +backward look, but saw no one. + +Week after week he watched and waited, but the blinds were always +closed, and he saw no signs of life about the place. Then one day he +saw a carriage stop at the gate. A lady all in black stepped out and +walked slowly towards the house. Her long, heavy veil hid her face, +but he thought he recognized her. He was almost sure it was Mrs. +Estel. He could hardly resist the inclination to run after her and +speak to her; but while he hesitated the great hall door swung back +and shut her from sight. He wondered what great trouble had come to +her that she should be dressed in deep black. + +The hope of seeing her was the only thing about his weekly trips to +town that he anticipated with any pleasure. It nearly always happened +that some time during the morning while he was gone Robin got into +trouble. Nobody seemed to think that the reason the child was usually +so good was due largely to Steven's keeping him happily employed. He +always tried to contrive something to keep him busy part of the +morning; but Robin found no pleasure very long in solitary pursuits, +and soon abandoned them. + +[Illustration] + +Once he took a ball of yarn from the darning-basket to roll after the +white kitten. He did not mean to be mischievous any more than the +white kitten did, but the ball was part of Grandma Dearborn's knitting +work. When she found the needles pulled out and the stitches dropped, +she scolded him sharply. All her children had been grown up so long +she had quite forgotten how to make allowances for things of that +sort. + +There was a basket of stiff, highly colored wax fruit on the +marble-topped table in the parlor. Miss Barbara Dearborn had made it +at boarding-school and presented it to her sister-in-law many years +before. How Robin ever managed to lift off the glass case without +breaking it no one ever knew. That he had done so was evident, for in +every waxen red-cheeked pear and slab-sided apple were the prints of +his sharp little teeth. It seemed little short of sacrilege to Mrs. +Dearborn, whose own children had regarded it for years from an +admiring distance, fearing to lay unlawful fingers even on the glass +case that protected such a work of art. + +He dropped a big white china button into the cake dough when Molly, +"the help," had her back turned. It was all ready to be baked, and she +unsuspectingly whisked the pan into the oven. Company came to tea, +and Grandpa Dearborn happened to take the slice of cake that had the +button in it. Manlike, he called everyone's attention to it, and his +wife was deeply mortified. + +He left the pasture gate open so that the calves got into the garden. +He broke Grandpa Dearborn's shaving-mug, and spilled the lather all +over himself and the lavender bows of the best pin-cushion. He untied +a bag that had been left in the window to sun, to see what made it +feel so soft inside. It was a bag of feathers saved from the pickings +of many geese. He was considerably startled when the down flew in all +directions, sticking to carpet and curtains, and making Molly much +extra work on the busiest day in the week. + +But the worst time was when Steven came home to find him sitting in a +corner, crying bitterly, one hand tied to his chair. He had been put +there for punishment. It seemed that busy morning that everything he +touched made trouble for somebody. At last his exploring little +fingers found the plug of the patent churn. The next minute he was a +woebegone spectacle, with the fresh buttermilk pouring down on him, +and spreading in creamy rivers all over the dairy floor. + +These weekly trips were times of great anxiety for Steven. He never +knew what fresh trouble might greet him on his return. + +One day they sold out much earlier than usual. It was only eleven +o'clock when they reached home. Grandma Dearborn was busy preparing +dinner. Robin was not in sight. As soon as Steven had helped to +unhitch the horses he ran into the house to look for him. There was no +answer to his repeated calls. He searched all over the garden, +thinking maybe the child was hiding from him and might jump out any +moment from behind a tree. + +He was beginning to feel alarmed when he saw two little bare feet +slowly waving back and forth above the tall orchard grass. He slipped +over the fence and noiselessly along under the apple-trees. Robin was +lying on his stomach watching something on the ground so intently that +sometimes the bare feet forgot to wave over his back and were held up +motionless. + +With one hand he was pulling along at a snail's pace a green leaf, on +which a dead bumble-bee lay in state. With the other he was keeping in +order a funeral procession of caterpillars. It was a motley crowd of +mourners that the energetic forefinger urged along the line of march. +He had evidently collected them from many quarters,--little green +worms that spun down from the apple boughs overhead; big furry brown +caterpillars that had hurried along the honeysuckle trellis to escape +his fat fingers; spotted ones and striped ones; horned and smooth. +They all straggled along, each one travelling his own gait, each one +bent on going a different direction, but all kept in line by that +short determined forefinger. + +Steven laughed so suddenly that the little master of ceremonies jumped +up and turned a startled face towards him. Then he saw that there were +traces of tears on the dimpled face and one eye was swollen nearly +shut. + +"O Robin! what is it now?" he cried in distress. "How did you hurt +yourself so dreadfully?" + +"Ole bumble!" answered Robin, pointing to the leaf. "He flied in ze +kitchen an' sat down in ze apple peelin's. I jus' poked him, nen he +flied up and bit me. He's dead now," he added triumphantly. "Gramma +killed him. See all ze cattow-pillows walkin' in ze p'cession?" + +So the days slipped by in the old farmhouse. Frost nipped the gardens, +and summer vanished entirely from orchard and field. The happy +outdoor life was at an end, and Robin was like a caged squirrel. +Steven had his hands full keeping him amused and out of the way. + +"Well, my lad, isn't it about time for you to be starting to school?" +Mr. Dearborn would ask occasionally. "You know I agreed to send you +every winter, and I must live up to my promises." + +But Steven made first one pretext and then another for delay. He knew +he could not take Robin with him. He knew, too, how restless and +troublesome the child would become if left at home all day. + +So he could not help feeling glad when Molly went home on a visit, +and Grandma Dearborn said her rheumatism was so bad that she needed +his help. True, he had all sorts of tasks that he heartily +despised,--washing dishes, kneading dough, sweeping and dusting,--all +under the critical old lady's exacting supervision. But he preferred +even that to being sent off to school alone every day. + +One evening, just about sundown, he was out in the corncrib, shelling +corn for the large flock of turkeys they were fattening for market. He +heard Grandma Dearborn go into the barn, where her husband was +milking. They were both a little deaf, and she spoke loud in order to +be heard above the noise of the milk pattering into the pail. She had +come out to look at one of the calves they intended selling. + +"It's too bad," he heard her say, after a while. "Rindy has just set +her heart on him, but Arad, he thinks it's all foolishness to get such +a young one. He's willing to take one big enough to do the chores, but +he doesn't want to feed and keep what 'ud only be a care to 'em. He +always was closer'n the bark on a tree. After all, I'd hate to see the +little fellow go." + +"Yes," was the answer, "he's a likely lad; but we're gettin' old, +mother, and one is about all we can do well by. Sometimes I think +maybe we've bargained for too much, tryin' to keep even _one_. So it's +best to let the little one go before we get to settin' sech store by +him that we can't." + +A vague terror seized Steven as he realized who it was they were +talking about. He lay awake a long time that night smoothing Robin's +tangled curls, and crying at the thought of the motherless baby away +among strangers, with no one to snuggle him up warm or sing him to +sleep. Then there was another thought that wounded him deeply. Twist +it whichever way he might, he could construe Mr. Dearborn's last +remark to mean but one thing. They considered him a burden. How many +plans he made night after night before he fell asleep! He would take +Robin by the hand in the morning, and they would slip away and wander +off to the woods together. They could sleep in barns at night, and he +could stop at the farmhouses and do chores to pay for what they ate. +Then they need not be a trouble to any one. Maybe in the summer they +could find a nice dry cave to live in. Lots of people had lived that +way. Then in a few years he would be big enough to have a house of his +own. All sorts of improbable plans flocked into his little brain under +cover of the darkness, but always vanished when the daylight came. + +The next Saturday that they went to town was a cold, blustering day. +They started late, taking a lunch with them, not intending to come +home until the middle of the afternoon. + +The wind blew a perfect gale by the time they reached town. Mr. +Dearborn stopped his team in front of one of the principal groceries, +saying, "Hop out, Steven, and see what they're paying for turkeys +to-day." + +As he sprang over the wheel an old gentleman came running around the +corner after his hat, which the wind had carried away. + +Steven caught it and gave it to him. He clapped it on his bald crown +with a good-natured laugh. "Thanky, sonny!" he exclaimed heartily. +Then he disappeared inside the grocery just as Mr. Dearborn called +out, "I believe I'll hitch the horses and go in too; I'm nearly +frozen." + +Steven followed him into the grocery, and they stood with their hands +spread out to the stove while they waited for the proprietor. He was +talking to the old gentleman whose hat Steven had rescued. + +He seemed to be a very particular kind of customer. + +"Oh, go on! go on!" he exclaimed presently. "Wait on those other +people while I make up my mind." + +While Mr. Dearborn was settling the price of his turkeys, the old +gentleman poked around like an inquisitive boy, thumping the pumpkins, +smelling the coffee, and taking occasional picks at the raisins. +Presently he stopped in front of Steven with a broad, friendly smile +on his face. + +"You're from the country, ain't you?" he asked. + +"Yes, sir," answered Steven in astonishment. + +"Came from there myself, once," he continued with a chuckle. "Law, +law! You'd never think it now. Fifty years makes a heap o' +difference." + +He took another turn among the salt barrels and cracker boxes, then +asked suddenly, "What's your name, sonny?" + +"Steven," answered the boy, still more surprised. + +The old fellow gave another chuckle and rubbed his hands together +delightedly. "Just hear that, will you!" he exclaimed. "Why, that's my +name, my very own name, sir! Well, well, well, well!" + +He stared at the child until he began to feel foolish and +uncomfortable. What image of his own vanished youth did that boyish +face recall to the eccentric old banker? + +As Mr. Dearborn turned to go Steven started after him. + +"Hold on, sonny," called the old gentleman, "I want to shake hands +with my namesake." + +He pressed a shining half-dollar into the little mittened hand held +out to him. + +"That's for good luck," he said. "I was a boy myself, once. Law, law! +Sometimes I wish I could have stayed one." + +Steven hardly knew whether to keep it or not, or what to say. The old +gentleman had resumed conversation with the proprietor and waved him +off impatiently. + +"I'll get Robin some candy and save all the rest till Christmas," was +his first thought; but there was such a bewildering counter full of +toys on one side of the confectioner's shop that he couldn't make up +his mind to wait that long. + +He bought some shining sticks of red and white peppermint and turned +to the toys. There was a tiny sailboat with a little wooden sailor on +deck; but Robin would always be dabbling in the water if he got that. +A tin horse and cart caught his eye. That would make such a clatter on +the bare kitchen floor. + +At last he chose a gay yellow jumping-jack. All the way home he kept +feeling the two little bundles in his pocket. He could not help +smiling when the gables of the old house came in sight, thinking how +delighted Robin would be. + +He could hardly wait till the horses were put away and fed, and he +changed impatiently from one foot to another, while Mr. Dearborn +searched in the straw of the wagon-bed for a missing package of +groceries. Then he ran to the house and into the big, warm kitchen, +all out of breath. + +"Robin," he called, as he laid the armful of groceries on the kitchen +table, "look what Brother's brought you. Why, where's Robin?" he asked +of Mrs. Dearborn, who was busy stirring something on the stove for +supper. She had her back turned and did not answer. + +"Where's Robin," he asked again, peering all around to see where the +bright curls were hiding. + +She turned around and looked at him over her spectacles. "Well, I +s'pose I may's well tell you one time as another," she said +reluctantly. "Rindy came for him to-day. We talked it over and +thought, as long as there had to be a separation, it would be easier +for you both, and save a scene, if you wasn't here to see him go. He's +got a good home, and Rindy'll be kind to him." + +Steven looked at her in bewilderment, then glanced around the cheerful +kitchen. His slate lay on a chair where Robin had been scribbling and +making pictures. The old cat that Robin had petted and played with +that very morning purred comfortably under the stove. The corncob +house he had built was still in the corner. Surely he could not be so +very far away. + +He opened the stair door and crept slowly up the steps to their little +room. He could scarcely distinguish anything at first, in the dim +light of the winter evening, but he saw enough to know that the little +straw hat with the torn brim that he had worn in the summer time was +not hanging on its peg behind the door. He looked in the washstand +drawer, where his dresses were kept. It was empty. He opened the +closet door. The new copper-toed shoes, kept for best, were gone, but +hanging in one corner was the little checked gingham apron he had worn +that morning. + +Steven took it down. There was the torn place by the pocket, and the +patch on the elbow. He kissed the ruffle that had been buttoned under +the dimpled chin, and the little sleeves that had clung around his +neck so closely that morning. Then, with it held tight in his arms, he +threw himself on the bed, sobbing over and over, "It's too cruel! It's +too cruel! They didn't even let me tell him good-by!" + +He did not go down to supper when Mrs. Dearborn called him, so she +went up after a while with a glass of milk and a doughnut. + +"There, there!" she said soothingly; "don't take it so hard. Try and +eat something; you'll feel better if you do." + +Steven tried to obey, but every mouthful choked him. "Rindy'll be +awful good to him," she said after a long pause. "She thinks he's the +loveliest child she ever set eyes on, but she was afraid her husband +would think he was too much of a baby if she took him home with those +long curls on. She cut 'em off before they started, and I saved 'em. I +knew you'd be glad to have 'em." + +She lit the candle on the washstand and handed him a paper. He sat up +and opened it. There lay the soft, silky curls, shining like gold in +the candle-light, as they twined around his fingers. It was more than +he could bear. His very lips grew white. + +Mrs. Dearborn was almost frightened. She could not understand how a +child's grief could be so deep and passionate. + +He drew them fondly over his wet cheeks, and pressed them against his +quivering lips. Then laying his face down on them, he cried till he +could cry no longer, and sleep came to his relief. + +Next morning, when Steven pulled the window curtain aside, he seemed +to be looking out on another world. The first snow of the winter +covered every familiar object, and he thought, in his childish way, +that last night's experience had altered his life as the snowdrifts +had changed the landscape. + +He ate his breakfast and did up the morning chores mechanically. He +seemed to be in a dream, and wondered dully to himself why he did not +cry when he felt so bad. + +When the work was all done he stood idly looking out of the window. He +wanted to get away from the house where everything he saw made his +heart ache with the suggestion of Robin. + +"I believe I'd like to go to church to-day," he said in a listless +tone. + +[Illustration] + +"Yes, I'd go if I were you," assented Mr. Dearborn readily. "Mother +and me'll have to stay by the fire to-day, but I've no doubt it'll +chirk you up a bit to get outdoors a spell." + +He started off, plodding through the deep snow. + +"Takes it easier than I thought he would," said Mr. Dearborn. "Well, +troubles never set very hard on young shoulders. He'll get over it in +a little while." + +As Steven emerged from the lane into the big road he saw a sleigh +coming towards him, driven by the doctor's son. As it drew nearer a +sudden thought came to him like an inspiration. + +"O Harvey!" he cried, running forward. "Will you take me with you as +far as Simpson's?" + +"Why, yes, I guess so," answered the boy good-naturedly. + +He was not surprised at the request, knowing that Mrs. Dearborn and +Mrs. Simpson were sisters, and supposing that Steven had been sent on +some errand. + +It was three miles to the Simpson place, but they seemed to have +reached it in as many minutes. Harvey turned off towards his own home, +while Steven climbed out and hurried along the public road. + +"Half-way there!" he said to himself. He was going to town to find +Mrs. Estel. + +He was a long time on the way. A piercing wind began to blow, and a +blinding snow-storm beat in his face. He was numb with cold, hungry, +and nearly exhausted. But he thought of little Robin fifteen miles +away, crying at the strange faces around him; and for his sake he +stumbled bravely on. + +He had seen Mrs. Dearborn's daughter several times. She was a kind, +good-natured woman, half-way afraid of her husband. As for Arad +Pierson himself, Steven had conceived a strong dislike. He was +quick-tempered and rough, with a loud, coarse way of speaking that +always startled the sensitive child. + +Suppose Robin should refuse to be comforted, and his crying annoyed +them. Could that black-browed, heavy-fisted man be cruel enough to +whip such a baby? Steven knew that he would. + +The thought spurred him on. It seemed to him that he had been days on +the road when he reached the house at last, and stood shivering on the +steps while he waited for some one to answer his timid ring. + +"No, you can't speak to Mrs. Estel," said the pompous colored man who +opened the door, and who evidently thought that he had come on some +beggar's mission. "She never sees any one now, and I'm sure she +wouldn't see you." + +"Oh, _please_!" cried Steven desperately, as the door was about to be +shut in his face. "She told me to come, and I've walked miles through +the storm, and I'm so cold and tired! Oh, I _can't_ go back without +seeing her." + +His high, piercing voice almost wailed out the words. Had he come so +far only to be disappointed at last? + +"What is it, Alec?" he heard some one call gently. + +He recognized the voice, and in his desperation darted past the man +into the wide reception hall. + +He saw the sweet face of the lady, who came quickly forward, and heard +her say, "Why, what is the matter, my child?" + +Then, overcome by the sudden change from the cold storm to the +tropical warmth of the room, he dropped on the floor, exhausted and +unconscious. + +It was a long time before Mrs. Estel succeeded in thoroughly reviving +him. Then he lay on a wide divan with his head on her lap, and talked +quietly of his trouble. + +He was too worn out to cry, even when he took the soft curls from his +pocket to show her. But her own recent loss had made her vision keen, +and she saw the depth of suffering in the boy's white face. As she +twisted the curls around her finger and thought of her own fair-haired +little one, with the deep snow drifting over its grave, her tears fell +fast. + +She made a sudden resolution. "You shall come here," she said. "I +thought when my little Dorothy died I could never bear to hear a +child's voice again, knowing that hers was still. But such grief is +selfish. We will help each other bear ours together. Would you like to +come, dear?" + +Steven sat up, trembling in his great excitement. + +"O Mrs. Estel!" he cried, "couldn't you take Robin instead? I could be +happy anywhere if I only knew he was taken care of. You are so +different from the Piersons. I wouldn't feel bad if he was with you, +and I could see him every week. He is so pretty and sweet you couldn't +help loving him!" + +She stooped and kissed him. "You dear, unselfish child, you make me +want you more than ever." + +Then she hesitated. She could not decide a matter involving so much in +a moment's time. Steven, she felt, would be a comfort to her, but +Robin could be only a care. Lately she had felt the mere effort of +living to be a burden, and she did not care to make any exertion for +any one else. + +All the brightness and purpose seemed to drop out of her life the day +that little Dorothy was taken away. Her husband had tried everything +in his power to arouse her from her hopeless despondency, but she +refused to be comforted. + +Steven's trouble had touched the first responsive chord. She looked +down into his expectant face, feeling that she could not bear to +disappoint him, yet unwilling to make a promise that involved personal +exertion. + +Then she answered slowly, "I wish my husband were here. I cannot give +you an answer without consulting him. Then, you see the society that +sent you out here probably has some written agreement with these +people, and if they do not want to give him up we might find it a +difficult matter to get him. Mr. Estel will be home in a few days, and +he will see what can be done." + +That morning when Steven had been seized with a sudden impulse to find +Mrs. Estel he had no definite idea of what she could do to help him. +It had never occurred to him for an instant that she would offer to +take either of them to live with her. He thought only of that +afternoon on the train, when her sympathy had comforted him so much, +and of her words at parting: "If you ever need a friend, dear, or are +in trouble of any kind, let me know and I will help you." It was that +promise that lured him on all that weary way through the cold +snow-storm. + +With a child's implicit confidence he turned to her, feeling that in +some way or other she would make it all right. It was a great +disappointment when he found she could do nothing immediately, and +that it might be weeks before he could see Robin again. + +Still, after seeing her and pouring out his troubles, he felt like a +different boy. Such a load seemed lifted from his shoulders. He +actually laughed while repeating some of Robin's queer little speeches +to her. Only that morning he had felt that he could not even smile +again. + +Dinner cheered him up still more. When the storm had abated, Mrs. +Estel wrapped him up and sent him home in her sleigh, telling him that +she wanted him to spend Thanksgiving Day with her. She thought she +would know by that time whether she could take Robin or not. At any +rate, she wanted him to come, and if he would tell Mr. Dearborn to +bring her a turkey on his next market day, she would ask his +permission. + +All the way home Steven wondered nervously what the old people would +say to him. He dreaded to see the familiar gate, and the ride came to +an end so very soon. To his great relief he found that they had +scarcely noticed his absence. Their only son and his family had come +unexpectedly from the next State to stay over Thanksgiving, and +everything else had been forgotten in their great surprise. + +The days that followed were full of pleasant anticipations for the +family. Steven went in and out among them, helping busily with the +preparations, but strangely silent among all the merriment. + +Mr. Dearborn took his son to town with him the next market day, and +Steven was left at home to wait and wonder what message Mrs. Estel +might send him. + +He hung around until after his usual bedtime, on their return, but +could not muster up courage to ask. The hope that had sprung up +within him flickered a little fainter each new day, until it almost +died out. + +It was a happy group that gathered around the breakfast table early on +Thanksgiving morning. + +"All here but Rindy," said Mr. Dearborn, looking with smiling eyes +from his wife to his youngest grandchild. "It's too bad she couldn't +come, but Arad invited all his folks to spend the day there; so she +had to give up and stay at home. Well, we're all alive and well, +anyhow. That's my greatest cause for thankfulness. What's yours, +Jane?" he asked, nodding towards his wife. + +As the question passed around the table, Steven's thoughts went back +to the year before, when their little family had all been together. He +remembered how pretty his mother had looked that morning in her +dark-blue dress. There was a bowl of yellow chrysanthemums blooming on +the table, and a streak of sunshine, falling across them and on +Robin's hair, seemed to turn them both to gold. Now he was all alone. +The contrast was too painful. He slipped from the table unobserved, +and stole noiselessly up the back stairs to his room. The little +checked apron was hanging on a chair by the window. He sat down and +laid his face against it, but his eyes were dry. He had not cried any +since that first dreadful night. + +There was such a lively clatter of dishes downstairs and babel of +voices that he did not hear a sleigh drive up in the soft snow. + +"Steven," called Mr. Dearborn from the foot of the stairs, "I promised +Mrs. Estel to let you spend the day with her, but there was so much +goin' on I plum forgot to tell you. You're to stay all night too, she +says." + +The ride to town seemed endless to the impatient boy. He was burning +with a feverish anxiety to know about Robin, but the driver whom he +questioned could not tell. + +"Mrs. Estel will be down presently," was the message with which he was +ushered into the long drawing-room. He sat down uncomfortably on the +edge of a chair to wait. He almost dreaded to hear her coming for fear +she might tell him that the Piersons would not give Robin up. Maybe +her husband had not come home when she expected him. Maybe he had been +too busy to attend to the matter. A dozen possible calamities +presented themselves. + +Unconsciously he held himself so rigid in his expectancy that he +fairly ached. Ten minutes dragged by, with only the crackle of the +fire on the hearth to disturb the silence of the great room. + +Then light feet pattered down the stairs and ran across the broad +hall. The _portiere_ was pushed aside and a bright little face looked +in. In another instant Robin's arms were around his neck, and he was +crying over and over in an ecstasy of delight, "Oh, it's Big Brother! +It's Big Brother!" + +Not far away down the avenue a great church organ was rolling out its +accompaniment to a Thanksgiving anthem. Steven could not hear the +words the choir chanted, but the deep music of the organ seemed to him +to be but the echo of what was throbbing in his own heart. + +There was no lack of childish voices and merry laughter in the great +house that afternoon. A spirit of thanksgiving was in the very +atmosphere. No one could see the overflowing happiness of the children +without sharing it in some degree. + +More than once during dinner Mrs. Estel looked across the table at her +husband and smiled as she had not in months. + +Along in the afternoon the winter sunshine tempted the children out of +doors, and they commenced to build a snow man. They tugged away at the +huge image, with red cheeks and sparkling eyes, so full of +out-breaking fun that the passers-by stopped to smile at the sight. + +Mrs. Estel stood at the library window watching them. Once, when +Robin's fat little legs stumbled and sent him rolling over in the +snow, she could not help laughing at the comical sight. + +It was a low, gentle laugh, but Mr. Estel heard, and, laying aside his +newspaper, joined her at the window. He had almost despaired of ever +seeing a return to the old sunny charm of face and manner. + +[Illustration] + +They stood there together in silence a few moments, watching the two +romping boys, who played on, unconscious of an audience. + +"What a rare, unselfish disposition that little 'Big Brother' has!" +Mr. Estel said presently. "It shows itself even in their play." Then +he added warmly, turning to his wife, "Dora, it would be downright +cruel to send him away from that little chap." + +He paused a moment. "We used to find our greatest pleasure in making +Dorothy happy. We lavished everything on her. Now we can never do +anything more for her." + +There was another long pause, while he turned his head away and looked +out of the window. + +"Think what a lifelong happiness it is in our power to give those +children! Dora, can't we make room for both of them for her sake?" + +Mrs. Estel hesitated, then laid both her hands in his, bravely smiling +back her tears. "Yes, I'll try," she said, "for little Dorothy's +sake." + +That night, as Steven undressed Robin and tucked him up snugly in the +little white bed, he felt that nothing could add to his great +happiness. He sat beside him humming an old tune their mother had +often sung to them, in the New Jersey home so far away. + +The blue eyes closed, but still he kept on humming softly to himself, +"Oh, happy day! happy day!" + +Presently Mrs. Estel came in and drew a low rocking-chair up to the +fire. Steven slipped from his place by Robin's pillow and sat down on +the rug beside her. + +Sitting there in the fire-light, she told him all about her visit to +the Piersons. They had found Robin so unmanageable and so different +from what they expected that they were glad to get rid of him. Mr. +Estel had arranged matters satisfactorily with the Society, and they +had brought Robin home several days ago. + +"I had a long talk with Mr. Dearborn the other day," she continued. +"He said his wife's health is failing, and their son is trying to +persuade them to break up housekeeping and live with them. If she is +no better in the spring, they will probably do so." + +"Would they want me to go?" asked Steven anxiously. + +"It may be so; I cannot tell." + +Steven looked up timidly. "I've been wanting all day to say thank you, +the way I feel it; but somehow, the right words won't come. I can't +tell you how it is, but it seems 'most like sending Robin back home +for you and Mr. Estel to have him. Somehow, your ways and everything +seem so much like mamma's and papa's, and when I think about him +having such a lovely home, oh, it just seems like this is a +Thanksgiving Day that will last _always_!" + +She drew his head against her knee and stroked it tenderly. "Then how +would you like to live here yourself, dear?" she asked. "Mr. Estel +thinks that we need two boys." + +"Oh, does he really want me, too? It's too good to be true!" Steven +was kneeling beside her now, his eyes shining like stars. + +"Yes, we both want you," answered Mrs. Estel. "You shall be our own +little sons." + +Steven crept nearer. "Papa and mamma will be so glad," he said in a +tremulous whisper. Then a sudden thought illuminated his earnest face. + +"O Mrs. Estel! Don't you suppose they have found little Dorothy in +that other country by this time, and are taking care of her there, +just like you are taking care of us here?" + +She put her arm around him, and drew him nearer, saying: "My dear +little comfort, it may be so. If I could believe that, I could never +feel so unhappy again." + +Robin and "ze black dancin' bear" were not the only ones tucked +tenderly away to sleep that night. + +The sleigh bells jingled along the avenue. Again the great church +organ rolled out a mighty flood of melody, that ebbed and flowed on +the frosty night air. + +And Big Brother, with his head pillowed once more beside Robin's, lay +with his eyes wide open, too happy to sleep--lay and dreamed of the +time when he should be a man, and could gather into the great house he +meant to own all the little homeless ones in the wide world; all the +sorry little waifs that strayed through the streets of great cities, +that crowded in miserable tenements, that lodged in asylums and +poorhouses. + +Into his child's heart he gathered them all, with a sweet +unselfishness that would have gladly shared with every one of them his +new-found home and happiness. + + * * * * * + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Big Brother, by Annie Fellows-Johnston + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BIG BROTHER *** + +***** This file should be named 18496.txt or 18496.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/8/4/9/18496/ + +Produced by David Garcia, Jeannie Howse and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Kentuckiana Digital Library) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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