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diff --git a/21666-8.txt b/21666-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..168b441 --- /dev/null +++ b/21666-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6974 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Uncle Rutherford's Nieces, by Joanna H. Mathews + +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: Uncle Rutherford's Nieces + A Story for Girls + +Author: Joanna H. Mathews + +Release Date: June 3, 2007 [EBook #21666] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK UNCLE RUTHERFORD'S NIECES *** + + + + +Produced by David Edwards and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + + + + + +[Illustration: "SUCH WAS THE PICTURE THAT PRESENTED ITSELF TO MY + VIEW."--_Page_ 10.] + + + +UNCLE RUTHERFORD'S NIECES + +A STORY FOR GIRLS + + + +By + +JOANNA H. MATHEWS + +_Author of "The Bessie Books," "Uncle Rutherford's Attic," +"Breakfast for Two," etc._ + + "For ruling wisely I should have small skill, + Were I not lord of simple Dara still." + + +WITH ORIGINAL ILLUSTRATIONS + + + +NEW YORK +FREDERICK A. STOKES & BROTHER +1888 + +Copyright, 1888, +By FREDERICK A. STOKES & BROTHER. + + + +DEDICATED TO + +HERBERT HUNT, +WITH LOVING AND BEST WISHES FOR HIS FUTURE YEARS, +ON HIS BIRTHDAY, + +AUGUST 6, 1888. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + PAGE + +CHAPTER I. + AN ARITHMETICAL PUZZLE 7 + +CHAPTER II. + A CABLEGRAM 27 + +CHAPTER III. + AN ARRIVAL 47 + +CHAPTER IV. + "FOOD FOR THE GODS" 71 + +CHAPTER V. + THE "MORNING BUGLE" 89 + +CHAPTER VI. + UNCLE RUTHERFORD'S PRIZE 107 + +CHAPTER VII. + TWO PEANUT-VENDERS 129 + +CHAPTER VIII. + NOT ON THE PROGRAMME 151 + +CHAPTER IX. + MATTY 173 + +CHAPTER X. +A COLD BATH 195 + +CHAPTER XI. +FIVE DOLLARS 219 + +CHAPTER XII. + CAUGHT IN THE ACT 241 + +CHAPTER XIII. + MATTY IS PROVIDED FOR 261 + +CHAPTER XIV. + JIM'S CONFESSION 285 + + + + +UNCLE RUTHERFORD'S NIECES + + + +CHAPTER I. + +AN ARITHMETICAL PUZZLE. + + +A sunny and a dark head, both bent over a much-befigured, much-besmeared +slate, the small brows beneath the curls puckered,--the one in +perplexity, the other with sympathy; opposite these two a third head +whose carrotty hue betrayed it to be Jim's, although the face +appertaining thereto was hidden from my view, as its owner, upon his +hands and knees, also peered with interest at the slate. Wanderer, +familiarly known as "Wand,"--the household dog, and the inseparable +companion of my little sisters,--lay at their feet, as they sat upon a +low rustic seat, manufactured for their special behoof by the devoted +Jim; its chief characteristic being a tendency to upset, unless the +occupant or occupants maintained the most exact balance, a seat not to +be depended upon by the unwary or uninitiated, under penalty of a +disagreeable surprise. To Allie and Daisy, however, it was a work of +art, and left nothing to be desired, they having become accustomed to +its vagaries. + +Such was the picture which presented itself to my view as I came out on +the piazza of our summer-home by the sea, and from that point of +vantage looked down upon the little group on the lawn below. + +But the problem upon which all three were intent had evidently proved +too much for the juvenile arithmeticians; and, as I looked, Allie +pushed the slate impatiently from her, saying,-- + +"I can't make it out, Jim: it's too hard. You are too mixed up." + +"Now, Miss Allie! an' you with lessons every day," said Jim +reproachfully. "Should think you might make it out." + +"I'm not so very grown up, Jim," answered the little girl; "and I've +not gone so very far in the 'rithmetic; and I'm sure this kind of a sum +must be in the very back part of the book." + +"Here comes Bill," said Jim, as a boy of his own age and social +standing appeared around the corner of the house, a tin pail in one +hand, a shrimp-net in the other. "Maybe he'll know. Mr. Edward's taught +him lots of figgerin'. Come on, Bill, an' help me an' Miss Allie make +out this sum. You ought to know it, bein' a Wall-street man." + +Allie said nothing; but I saw a slight elevation of her little head and +a pursing of her rosy lips, which told me that she did not altogether +relish the idea that a servant-boy might possess superior knowledge to +herself, although he might be nearly double her age. Allie's sense of +class distinctions was strong. + +Having faith in his own attainments, however, the "Wall-street +man"--this was the liberal interpretation put by Jim upon his position +as office-boy to brother Edward--deposited his pail and net upon the +ground, and himself in a like humble position beside his fellow-servant +and chum. He might be learned, but he was not proud by reason thereof. + +"Now le's see, Miss Allie," he said; "what is it you're tryin' to +figger out?" + +"It's Jim's sum; and I can't see a bit of sense in it, even when it's +down on the slate," answered Allie, still in a somewhat aggrieved tone. +"He's as mixed up as a--as a--any thing," she concluded hastily, at a +loss for a simile of sufficient force. + +"As a Rhode-Island clam-bake when they puts fish an' clams an' +sweet-potatoes an' corn all in to once," said Jim. + +"_At_ once, not _to_ once; and they _put_, not they _puts_," corrected +Allie, who, remarkably choice herself in the matter of language, never +lost sight of a slip in grammar on the part of our _protégés_. + +"Seems funny, Miss Allie, that you, that's so clever in the right ways +of talkin', can't do a sum," said Jim. + +Allie's self-complacency was somewhat restored by the compliment; but +she still answered, rather resentfully,-- + +"Well, I can, a decent sum! I had five lines yesterday, and added it +all right, too; but a sum like that--I b'lieve even brother Ned +couldn't do it!" + +That which brother Ned could not do was not to be compassed by man, in +the opinion of the children. And, as if this settled the matter, Allie +rose from her seat, forgetting for the moment the necessity for keeping +an exact equilibrium, and that both its occupants must rise +simultaneously, unless dire results were to follow to the one left +behind. The usual catastrophe took place: the vacant end went up, and +Daisy was thrown upon the ground, the seat fortunately being so low +that her fall was from no great height; but the rickety contrivance +turned over upon the child, and she received quite a severe blow upon +her head. This called for soothing and ministration from an older +source, and, for the time, put all thought of arithmetical puzzles to +flight; but after I had quieted her, and she rested, with little +arnica-bound head against my shoulder, Jim returned to the charge. + +"Miss Amy," he said, a little doubtfully, as not being quite sure of my +powers, "bein' almost growed up, you're good at doin' up sums, I +s'pose." + +Now, arithmetic was not altogether my strong point, nevertheless I +believed myself quite equal to any problem of that nature which Jim was +likely to propound; and I answered vain-gloriously, and with a view to +divert the attention of the still-sobbing Daisy from her own woes,-- + +"Of course, Jim. What do you want to know? No," declining the soiled +slate which he proffered for my use, "I'll just do it in my head." + +"You're awful smart then, Miss Amy," said Bill, admiringly. + +But the question set before me by Jim proved so inextricably involved, +so hopelessly "mixed up," as poor little Allie had said, that, even +with the aid of the rejected slate, it would, I believe, have lain +beyond the powers of the most accomplished arithmetician to solve. No +wonder that it had puzzled Allie's infantile brains. To recall and set +it down here, at this length of time, would be quite impossible; nor +would the reader care to have it inflicted upon him. Days, weeks, and +years, peanuts, pence, and dollars, were involved in the statement he +made, or attempted to make, for me to work out the solution thereof; +but it was hopeless to try to tell what the boy would be at; and, +indeed, his own ideas on the subject were more than hazy, and, to his +great disappointment, I was obliged to own myself vanquished. + +"What are you at, Jim?" I asked. "What object have you in all +this"--rigmarole, I was about to say, but regard for his feelings +changed it into "troublesome sum?" + +Jim looked sheepish. + +"Now, Miss Amy," broke in Bill, "he's got peanuts on his mind; how much +he could make on settin' up some one in the peanut-business, an' +gettin' his own profits off it. But now, Miss, did you ever hear of a +peanut-man gettin' to be President of the United States, an' settin' in +the White House?" + +"I believe I never heard of any peanut-man coming to that, Bill," I +answered, laughing; "but I have heard of men whose early occupations +were quite as lowly, becoming President in their later years." + +"An' I ain't goin' to be any peanut-man," said Jim. "I'm just goin' to +stick to this place, an' Miss Milly an' her folks, till I get +eddication enough to be a lawyer. I find it's mostly lawyers or sojers +that gets to be Presidents; lawyers like Mr. Edward. Miss Amy," with a +sudden air of apprehension, "you don't think Mr. Edward would try to +cut me out, do you? He might, you know; an', bein' older an' with more +learnin', he would have the start of me." + +"I do not think that Mr. Edward has any ambition to be President, Jim," +I answered, reassuringly. "You need have no fear of him." + +For to no less a height than this did Jim's ambition soar, and he had +full faith that he should in time attain thereto. In his opinion, the +day would surely come when,-- + + "The Father of his country's shoes + No feet would fit but his'n." + +And it was with a single eye to this that his rules of life were +conformed. The reforms which he intended to institute, mostly in the +interest of boys of his own age and social standing, when he should +have attained to that dignity, were marvellous and startling. No +autocrat of all the Russias, no sultan, was ever endowed with the +irresponsible powers which Jim believed to appertain to the position he +coveted; but, to his credit be it said, these were to be exercised by +him more for the benefit of others than for himself. + +But he repudiated, now, the idea that the peanut venture upon which his +mind was dwelling had any thing to do with his future honors. + +"Brother Edward would not be so mean to you, Jim," quoth Allie, who was +standing by my knee. "You spoke first to be President, and he would +never do such a thing as to take it from you." + +"And Jim is not thinking about that when he tries to find out that +sum," said Daisy, raising her little bandaged head from my shoulder; +"he is quite nice and pious, sister Amy, and wants to do a very right +thing." + +"'Tain't for pious, neither, Miss Daisy," said Jim, who rather resented +the imputation of being influenced by motives of that nature. "'Tain't +none of your doin' good to folks, nor any of that kind of thing; it's +on'y to animals, cause I'm sorry for 'em." + +"O Jim, what grammar!" sighed Allie. For Jim, when excited or specially +interested, was apt to lapse into the vernacular against which he and +his friends were striving; Allie in particular setting her face against +it, and constituting herself his instructress and monitress in grammar +and style. + +"Can't help it, Miss Allie," said Jim. "Can't keep grammar an' +'rithmetic into my head both to once; leastways, not when the +'rithmetic's such a hard one as this." + +The excuse was accepted as valid; and Jim and the matter which was now +agitating his mind, both being at present in high favor and held in +great interest, any further lapses were suffered to pass without +correction or remark. + +Jim's love for and sympathy with all animals, especially such as were +feeble or disabled in any way, was a well-known trait. A maimed or +otherwise afflicted dog, horse, cat, or bird was sure to meet with more +favor in his eyes than the most beautiful and perfect of its kind; and +he had a horror of shooting birds or other game, which was quite +remarkable in a boy of his antecedents. He even questioned the right +and expediency of killing animals for food, although he never objected +to partaking thereof when it was set before him. Fish, only, seemed to +him legitimate prey in the way of sport; and for all noxious insects, +snakes, or vermin of any description, he had a perfect hatred, setting +at naught the principles of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty, +and really taking a most reprehensible delight in tormenting them, +altogether at variance with his feeling for other creatures. + +"Bill," I said, turning to that youth as the most practical and +clear-headed of the group, "tell me if you know what it is that Jim +desires to find out, and the rest of you keep silence, and do not +interrupt." + +"Well, Miss Amy," answered Bill, "it's just this. Jim was readin' in +the newspaper about a' old lady, how she left all her money--an' she'd +worked hard for it too, makin' a show of herself on account of bein' so +fat--to keep a hospital for all sorts of hurt an' sick animals an' +birds; an' Jim, he's just about as much took up with animals an' natur +an' things of that kind as she must ha' been, even if he ain't so fat; +an' he's got it on his mind to set up his own hospital, an' let Tony +Blair an' his sister Matty keep it an' take care of the animals. Tony's +lame, you know, and Matty's hunchbacked, an' can't work; so it's kind +of beginnin' on the two-legged animals--at least, Tony's only one +legged, but he has a right to be two, an' it's a help to them, too." + +Poor Tony Blair, with his deformed sister, had formerly been associates +and chums of Bill and Jim, in the days when these last had themselves +been young vagabonds, waifs, and strays, buffetting with a hard world; +and that sentiment in Jim, which was "took up with animals an' natur," +had led him to befriend the helpless creatures, and to do them such +kind turns as fell in his way. Overwhelming modesty, or a desire to +hide his light under a bushel, were not distinguishing characteristics +of Jim; but Bill also had borne ample testimony to the fact, that many +a time in the old days Jim had deprived himself of a meal--Milly come +by, it might be--to give it to the little cripples, poorly provided for +by a drunken father and ill-tempered mother to whom they were naught +but a burden. Many a faded and limp bouquet, discarded by some happier +child of fortune, did Jim rescue from the ash-heap and bring to Matty, +who had a passionate love for flowers; and not seldom during the spring +and summer months would he take a long trudge into the suburbs, and +gather wild blossoms to gratify the craving of the little hunchback. On +one of these occasions he stole a little, fluffy chicken, which had +wandered from its mother's guardianship beyond the garden palings of a +small cottage, and, hastily buttoning it beneath his worn jacket, made +off as fast as his feet would carry him to bestow his prize upon Matty, +who had expressed a longing desire for a bird. But the stolen gift +brought naught but distress to Matty's tender heart; for, when the +ragged jacket was unbuttoned, the little yellow ball fell lifeless into +Jim's hand. + +"I'm sure I thought he'd got lots of air to breathe," said Jim, wofully +gazing at his victim, while Matty's tears bedewed it; "there's holes +enough in my jacket to make it as ventilatin' as a' ash-sifter, an' it +was awful mean in him to up an' die on me that way. An', Matty, I wish +I hadn't brought him, for him to go an' disappint you like this. Never +mind, some day I'll buy you a parrot an' a monkey." + +Tearful Matty declined the monkey, but the parrot had long since +gladdened her weary hours; for a gorgeous specimen, given to much +screaming, even more than is the usual manner of his kind, had been +purchased by Jim for her behoof out of his little savings, soon after +he and Bill had fallen into good hands, namely, those of my sister +Millicent and brother Edward. + +This occurred not long after the chicken episode. Milly had become +interested in the boys, whom she had encountered at one of the Moody +and Sankey meetings, whither they had come, not for purposes of +edification to themselves or others, but drawn, partly by their love of +music, and partly by the desire to make themselves obnoxious to more +decently disposed worshippers. But Milly, by her gentle tact, had +disarmed them,--they being our near neighbors at the service,--and, +profiting by this love of sweet sounds, had brought them within her +influence; nor ceased her missionary efforts on their behalf until, +with the aid of brother Edward, and the consent and co-operation of our +parents, she had established them both as servants in the family, where +they had opportunity and encouragement to fit themselves for decent and +useful lives. + +But their rise in life had not caused Bill and Jim to forget their less +fortunate little friends and _protégés_,--for Bill, too, had in his way +been good to Tony and Matty, though he was not nearly so generous and +self-sacrificing as Jim,--and they made them sharers in their improved +circumstances so far as they were able. Jim had proposed that they also +should be taken into our household, and nursed and cared for; but, as +father and mother objected to having the house turned into a wholesale +reformatory and hospital, his modest plan was not carried out. Some +help, however, had been extended to the two cripples, who could have +been provided with good homes in some beneficent institution, could the +wretched mother have been induced to give them up; but, thinking +probably that they excited sympathy by which she could profit, she +refused to do so. + +Ever since Jim had fallen upon happier times, it seemed that the boy's +whole nature had expanded, and he was constantly on the lookout, to use +his own language, "for a chance to do a make-up for all the good done +to me an' Bill." A certain ambitious and not unpraiseworthy pride, too, +and a strong sense of gratitude and obligation to those who were +befriending and helping them, particularly strong in Jim, were causing +both boys to make the most of the opportunities offered to them. + +And now, it would seem, Jim was actuated by schemes of wholesale +benevolence for one, two, and four legged animals. + +He had proved himself quite a hero during the last summer; had, through +the force of circumstances and appearances, fallen under unjust +suspicion, but had been absolutely and triumphantly cleared (the story +of which may be found in "Uncle Rutherford's Attic"); and had made +himself an object of considerable interest, not only to the members of +our own family, to whom he had shown great loyalty and fidelity under +severe temptation and trial, but also to outsiders who had known of the +story of his adventures. Hence, he had been made the recipient of +various tokens of this interest and appreciation, mostly of a pecuniary +nature, and he now felt himself to be quite a moneyed man. + +With the generosity which was one of his characteristics,--perhaps the +most distinguishing one,--he scouted the idea of retaining the whole of +his small fortune for his own benefit, pressing a share of it upon +Bill, presenting our children and his fellow-servants with tokens of +his regard, mostly of a tawdry, seaside-bazaar nature, but beautiful in +their eyes and his own; conveying, with an eye to the future, another +portion to the care of brother Edward, to be used for "'lection +expenses" when the time should come for him to run for that dignity to +which he aspired; and now it appeared that he had other ends, of a +philanthropic nature, in view. + +Old Captain Yorke, a veteran sailor, now retired from active service, +was our purveyor-general, going each morning in boat or wagon to the +nearest town, whence he brought for us and other families such supplies +as we ordered; the Point affording no facilities for marketing or daily +household needs. He was a great friend and crony of our two young +servant-lads, and to him as well as to Bill had Jim confided his plans; +but the three heads had proved unequal to the settlement of the +arithmetical difficulties which presented themselves, and Jim had +applied to Allie, as being possessed of greater educational advantages. +This had not proved equal to the situation, however, as has been seen; +the knowledge of eight years not being able to cope with this +mathematical problem. + +Divested of Jim's complications, Bill's discursive remarks upon other +subjects, and put into rather more choice English than that in which +the latter delivered it, the plan amounted to this:-- + +Captain Yorke, heartily admiring, and willingly co-operating, was to +bring from the town a large quantity of peanuts, which Mrs. Yorke, also +full of sympathy, had promised to roast. The amount of peanuts +purchased was to be determined by the price per bag, but Jim's ideas +were of a wholesale nature; for my young brothers Norman and Douglas, +who both had a weakness for this vegetable, had also greatly encouraged +him in his undertaking, giving him not only hopes of great results from +the home-market, but promises that they would interest "the other +fellows," and induce them also to become customers. He was not to be +salesman himself, of course, his daily avocations not permitting of +this; but, for the rest of our stay at the seashore, he purposed +obtaining the services of an acquaintance who belonged in the place, +and who was in the habit of peddling about papers, periodicals, an +assortment of very inferior confectionery, and other small wares. The +proceeds of these sales made here at the seaside, deducting a +commission for the boy-vender, Jim hoped would suffice to start his +larger and more ambitious enterprise when we should return to the city. +This was to set up Tony and Matty Blair in business. + +So far all was plain sailing, in anticipation; but now came the more +complicated part of the arrangement. + +A stand was to be secured, a roaster, a fresh supply of peanuts, and +other necessary appliances purchased; and "our ladies," to wit, mother, +Milly, and myself, asked to provide the crippled young merchants with +warm clothing sufficient to protect them against exposure to the +elements. + +There were so many "shares" to be provided for, shares of divers +proportions, and Jim's arithmetic was of such a very elementary nature, +that he soon found himself lost in a hopeless labyrinth of +calculations. With peanuts at so much by the wholesale, and so much at +retail, running-expenses, and so forth, on the one hand; what would be +the various amounts to be allowed from the proceeds, on the other, for +a "share" for Tony and Matty, another for return profits to Jim's own +pocket, and the third and larger for the establishment of the hospital +for crippled animals, the main object of the undertaking? + +Now, if peanuts were so much per bag, and other needful appurtenances +so much more, how much profit might be realized, and what would be the +respective shares? Hardly had I solved this complicated problem to +Jim's satisfaction, and my own relief,--for, as I have said, numbers +were a weariness to my flesh, and the rule of three a burden to my +spirit,--when the boy remembered other claimants upon the fund. + +"Miss Amy," he said, "didn't I forget. There's Rosie ought to have a +share for savin' me out the Smuggler's Hole; she _must_ have a share, +for sure; an' there's Captain Yorke, he ought to have some, too. Please +do it all over again, Miss Amy, takin' out their shares." + +This was too much, however, and despite Jim's reproachful appeals to my +superior learning, I flatly refused to "do up" any more sums on his +behalf. + +And now, happily, a diversion in my favor was effected, by the +appearance upon the scene of old Captain Yorke himself, who was seen +coming up the carriage-way, guiding before him a donkey-cart filled +with fish, while upon his arm he bore a basket of fruit, vegetables, +and so forth. + +He was a character, this old, retired sea-captain,--a firm friend and +ally to all pertaining to the names of Livingstone, or Rutherford, or +to any belonging to those families, our factotum and standby; and, +moreover, an endless source of amusement to the mature part of the +household, and of unbounded admiration to the more juvenile portion. In +the eyes of our little girls, and indeed in those of my two younger +brothers, Norman and Douglas, and above all, in those of Jim and Bill, +he was a veritable hero, for his had been a hard and venturesome life, +full of thrilling adventure and hairbreadth escapes; and the children +never tired of listening to the narration of them. Nor, I am bound to +believe, did the old man depart from the ways of truth, or draw upon +his imagination, in narrating them. But I will let the garrulous old +veteran speak for himself, a thing which he was never loth to do. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +A CABLEGRAM. + + +"Mornin', boys; mornin', little ones; mornin', Miss Amy," said the +captain, regardless alike of my seniority to the rest of the group, and +of any claims of social position over the servants. "Where's pa?" This +to me. + +"Mr. Livingstone is out driving," I answered, with what I intended to +be crushing dignity; for, much as I liked Captain Yorke, it always +vexed me to have my father and mother spoken of thus familiarly. + +"Ma in, then?" he asked, quite unabashed; and indeed, quite unconscious +of any reproof. + +"No; Mrs. Livingstone is with Mr. Livingstone," I answered again. + +"Wal," drawled the captain, "that's likely enough. If ye see one on 'em +drivin' or walkin' roun', you're like enough to see t'other, for +they're lover-like yet, if they has got a big fam'ly part grown up. I +declar', yer pa an' ma is as like me an' Mis' Yorke as two peas is like +two more peas, allus kind of hankerin' to be together, jes' as if we +was all young folks yet, an' doin' our courtin'. Not that pa an' ma is +sech old folks as me an' Mis' Yorke, but they'll get to it bimeby if +they lives long enough." + +I passed over the compliment to my parents without comment, merely +asking,-- + +"Can you leave your message with me, captain?" + +"'Twill keep," he answered; "an' I've got a bit of business with Jim +here. Yer projeck ain't no secret, be it, Jim?" + +"No," replied Jim. "I was just tellin' Miss Amy, an' askin' her to do +up the sums about it; but"--lowering his voice, and ignorant of the +laws of acoustics, by virtue of which I heard every word from my +position--"she ain't none too smart at sums if she has had such a lot +of schoolin', an' she didn't make it out real nice and clear like. But +you can speak out. She knows, an' is agreeble, an' says she'll help. +She's awful generous, like the rest of 'em, Miss Amy is." + +With this little salve to the wounds which my filial pride and personal +vanity had received, he raised his voice once more, quite +unnecessarily, and continued,-- + +"Miss Amy, Captain Yorke's got somethin' to say' bout what we was just +talkin' of. Go on, captain; Miss Amy don't mind." + +"I was jes' goin' to tell you what I been an' done," drawled the old +man, raising his hat with one hand, and rubbing up his grizzled locks +with the other, as was his wont when he was talking at length,--he +generally did talk at length when he talked at all. "You've jes' about +made up yer mind to do that undertakin', haven't yeou? That +peanut-undertakin', I mean." + +Jim gave a prompt and decided assent. + +"All right. So far so good, an' better too," said the captain, rather +illogically; "for if you hadn't, maybe I'd a been a little _too_ +forehanded, as it were; but it was my opinions you'd made up yer mind +for it, so I acted accordin' an' brought 'em along." + +"Brought _who_ along?" asked Jim impatiently. + +"I'm jes' goin' to tell ye," continued the old man. "Don't yeou be in +too great a hurry. Things takes time to tell when there's any thin' in +'em worth tellin'; not that I'm no great hand on a long story, for I +allers was a man of few words; an' Mis' Yorke she can allers tell a +story more to the pint than me, or than any one I know on--bless her +heart."--Certainly the old man's loyalty to, and affection for, his +dear motherly wife was beautiful to see and hear.--"But she ain't here +to tell, an', what's more, she don't know nothin' 'bout it to tell. She +ain't the kind to go on talkin', talkin' 'bout things she don't know +nothin' 'bout; or, s'pose she does know somethin' 'bout 'em, to go +yarnin', yarnin' on forever an' a day, an' never gettin' to the pint, +like to Mis' Clay,--ye've seen Mis' Clay, ain't ye? She's Mis' Yorke's +cousin, comes over from Millville now an' then, an' the powerfullest +han' to talk, an' never comin' to the pint, an' never givin' anybody +else the chance." + +Mrs. Clay was the captain's pet grievance, and almost the only person +of whom we ever heard him speak disparagingly; his objection to her +probably being founded on the ground that she never gave him "a +chance." + +"_Such_ a tongue," rambled on the captain, "an' so fast an' confused +like she's wuss than the Tower of Babel itself, an' jes' as like to +scatter the folks what's livin' around her. But if ye've got a thing to +tell that's got a pint, folks mostly likes to hear the ins an' outs of +it, 'thout the trouble of askin' no questions, an' I'd as lieve tell +'em to 'em. So I'll tell ye all about it, Jim, an' all of ye." + +"Well, if it's any thin' about my business, would you mind havin' it +out right quick, Cap?" said Jim. + +"An' ain't I a doin' it?" responded the captain. "Don't be in sech a +hurry, boy. I got to get my breath to talk, after walkin' up the hill +for to rest Sanky Pansy a bit, for the cart was powerful full this +mornin', an' he did have a load, an' he's gettin' old an' has to be +eased off a bit like myself, an' I felt kind of blowed an' puffy-like. +Soon's I can talk good, I will. Young folks is allers got to be +impatient. There's my darter, Matildy Jane, she ain't none too patient, +you know--leastways, not onless it's with you, Jim,"--here a wink of +the eye at Jim made evident the playful irony of the exception, for Jim +was Matilda's _bête noir_, and a chronic warfare waged between the +two,--"an' she says to me this mornin', says she, 'Pa,' says she,--an' +ye might think I hadn't never learned her the Ten Comman'ments, +leastways the one about honorin' her father an' mother; but young folks +is different behaved from what they was in my day--at least them's my +opinions. I was jest a tellin' her an' Mis' Yorke how Peter Slade got +his boat capsized last night; an' 'Pa,' says she, 'it's time my bread +was took out of the oven, an' if you've got any thin' to say'--I +declar', Miss Amy, if she didn't give me a message about yer clothes; +how when the wind riz up last night, some of 'em was carried off the +lines into the sand, an' she had 'em to wash over again, an' wouldn't +have 'em home jes' up to time. Now, where was I, Jim?" + +"Out on the sands, an' upset in Slade's boat, an' talkin' to Matilda +Jane; an' where you're goin' to is more than me or any one else can +tell, Cap," answered Jim, saucily. "You started to tell us something +about my peanut-business, I believe; but you've got considerable off +the line." + +"To-o be sure, to-o be sure," said the old man, no whit offended or +displeased by the boy's pertness; for the spirit of _bon camaraderie_ +which existed between them was not easily disturbed. "Well, now, I'm +jes' comin' to it right spang off. Well, ye see, I been over to +Millville this mornin' in the boat, accordin' to custom, when the water +ain't too rough, an' bein' off extry early, too, for I'd more 'n common +to market for,--Mis' Douglas she told me to bring her cowcumbers for +picklin'; an' Mis' Stewart she wanted some chany dishes an' some +glasses outer the crockery store,--an' that's considerable way from the +dock, you know; an' Mis' Yorke she gimme some bit of flannen she wanted +matched,--an' such like arrands takes time. So I says, says I, I'll +jes' run over to the station an' see what's doin' there, more by token, +as it was near time for the express, an' it kind of livens ye up a bit +to see them express-trains come in,--they're nice an' bustlin' like, +with a sort of go in 'em; an' after she come in, there was a +freight-train come, an' there was lots of freight put off, an'--guess +what I see, Jim, among it." + +"Peanuts, I suppose," answered Jim, "an' I guess I'll get at the whole +story jest as quick by guessing it out myself, as by waitin' for you, +Cap." + +The captain gave Jim a friendly nod, still no whit disturbed by the +freedom of his criticisms, and rambled on again,-- + +"Yes, peanuts, bags of 'em, half a dozen or more, I reckon, though I +didn't take the trouble to count 'em; an' the way I foun' out--how do +ye s'pose I knew what was in them bags?" + +"Smelled 'em," said Jim; "Sampled 'em," said Bill, in a breath. + +"How was I to sample 'em when they was--I mean, if they was fastened up +in the bags?" continued the captain; "nor it wasn't no smell, either. +There ain't much smell outer peanuts 'thout they're cookin'. Mis' +Yorke, she's a master hand to roast peanuts, does 'em jes' to a turn, +an' then ye can smell 'em clear down to the beach, an' fustrate it is, +too. I'd rather smell 'em than all the fine parfumery things they puts +up in bottles." + +"What about the peanuts?" urged Jim. "Then how _did_ you know, an' what +did you do? Hurry up." + +"There was a feller--one of the freight-hands--a pitchin' of the things +outer the cars; an' one of them bags hit against a barrow stood there, +an' got cut right through, the bag did,--an' what do you s'pose come a +pourin' outer that bag, Jim?" + +"Think I can guess that riddle. Peanuts," answered Jim. + +"Yes, peanuts," said the captain; "an' it was a lucky thing for Sam +Bates, to who they was consigned, that there wasn't a raft of +youngsters roun' that freight-house as there is most times of the day. +There's a Sunday-school clam-bake comin' off up to the Pint to-day, an' +I reckon most of the Millville boys was gettin' ready for to go to +that, so they wasn't on hand. Sam himself was there, though, an' it +beat all, the takin' he was in over them peanuts; an', to be sure, it +was enough to make any creetur' mad, to see them good peanuts go +rollin' an' hoppin' over the platform, an' Sam he in a' awful hurry to +load up an' go home, for he's a darter gettin' married this arternoon. +Ye didn't never hear about Sam Bates' darter, an' her city young man, +did ye? Well, ye see, Sam Bates' darter, her that is called----" + +"But the peanuts; tell us what became of the peanuts first, Cap," +interrupted Jim, determined to check the old sailor's wanderings, and +keep him to the "_pint_." + +"Why, ye see," meandered on the captain, "when I see them peanuts +a-rollin' round, an' Sam in that takin', I says to myself, Sam ain't +got no time to lose a-pickin' up of them peanuts, an' maybe he'd be +glad to get rid of 'em for what he give for 'em an' no profits, an' let +Jim have the profits, an' no freight to pay on 'em but me to get 'em +picked up. 'Sam,' says I, as he was fussin' round, 'the Scriptur' +says,'--Sam's a deacon in the church, an' I thought mebbe a little +Scriptur' would fetch him, and keep the price down,--'the Scriptur' +says, Whatever a man can get, therewith let him be content; an' I take +it the moral of that is, make the best of a bad bargain. An' there's +another teks that says, Don't ye fret over spilt milk; an', bein' a +pillar of the church, I reckon you'd like to practise 'em, an' let your +light shine afore men.' Now if there's one thing more'n another that +Sam prides himself on, its bein' a deacon, an' livin' up to it; an' my +speakin' Scriptur' to him was jest a word in season, for he quiets down +an' falls to reckonin'. 'Give 'em to me for what you give by the lot, +an' throw in the freight,' says I, seein' he meant to make on 'em, 'an' +I'll take 'em an' see to the pickin' 'em up, an' you can load up the +cart an' start off home.' He jes' took to it at once, for, with the lot +he had, one bag didn't make so much differ out half a dozen--he buys +'em that way mostly, for ye know he keeps a' eatin' house; temperance +strict it is, up to Stony Beach, where there's lots of clambakes an' +picnics holdin' all the time, an' the folks eats heaps of peanuts. So +Sam came to my terms, an' I made thirty cents on the bag of nuts, an' +the freight throwed in for ye, Jim; an' me an' Taylor an' Shepherd +picked up all the nuts, an' I brought 'em along in a basket Taylor lent +me." + +Jim turned expectant eyes towards the donkey-cart. + +"No," said Captain Yorke, seeing the direction of his glance, "they +bean't here in the cart, nor nowheres here; they're down into the +lighthouse. Perry was comin' over in his boat 'thout no load; an', as I +was pretty well filled up, he brought 'em over, an' he's took 'em to +his own landin'. Soon's I'm rid of my load I'll go after 'em. Hello!" +as a blue-coated, brass-buttoned boy from the chief hotel of the place +came running into our grounds, and up to the house. "Hello, here's a +telegraph for some on ye! Hope 'tain't no bad news. I don't like them +telegraphs; ill news comes fast enough of its own accord, an' good news +is jes' as good for a little keepin', an' ain't goin' to spile. Mis' +Yorke she says----" + +But Mrs. Yorke's sayings, valuable though they might be, were lost upon +me as I took the yellow-covered message from the hand of the messenger. +Telegrams were matters of such almost daily occurrence in our family +that the sight of one rarely excited any apprehension; and, as all of +our immediate household were at present here at our seaside home, I +knew that the message could bring no ill news of any one of them. But +my heart sank as I saw that this was a cablegram, for a dearly loved +uncle and aunt were over the sea, and my fears were at once excited for +them. + +But fear was quickly changed to joy when, opening the cablegram in the +absence of my parents, to whom it was addressed, I read these words,-- + +"We take 'Scythia' to-morrow for home, direct to you at the Point. All +well." + +As we had not expected the dear absentees for at least six weeks or +perhaps two months, this news was not only a relief, but a joyful +surprise, and I gave a little shriek of delight, which called forth +eager inquiries from the children, while Captain Yorke and Bill and Jim +were alert to catch my answer. + +"Uncle Rutherford and aunt Emily are coming home, now, right away; they +will be here in a week or so, and they are coming to us, here to this +house!" I exclaimed, waving aloft the paper, in the exuberance of my +joy. + +Daisy forgot her downfall, and her bandaged head, as she and Allie +seized one another by the hands, and went capering up and down the +piazza in an improvised dance; and Captain Yorke's face beamed, as he +said,-- + +"That's the best news I've heered this summer, leastways next to +hearin' Jim was likely to get well that time, for the Pint ain't the +Pint when the Governor and the Madam ain't on to it. But, Miss Amy, I +wouldn't be for turnin' your folks out afore ye'd go to the city +anyhow; for, take ye for all in all, ye're a pretty likely set, an' I'd +miss Jim an' Bill a heap." + +There was no fear of that: we were tenants for the season in the dear +old seaside homestead, where we had been guests for more or less of +every previous summer; and the beloved uncle and aunt whose home-coming +from a European trip we were now rejoicing over, would, in their turn, +be now our much prized and welcome visitors. It would not be for long, +however; for, to the great regret of the whole household, our summer +sojourn by the sea would in a few weeks come to a close. I said the +whole household; but there was one exception, for father had privately +sighed all summer for our own country home, where he had his fancy +farm, extensive and beautifully cultivated grounds, and superb old +trees in which his soul delighted. We told him that a branch of one of +these last was, in his eyes, worth the whole broad ocean, in which his +family so revelled; and he did not deny the soft impeachment. But his +patience was not to be much longer tried, for we were to spend a couple +of months at Oaklands after leaving the seashore, and before we settled +down for the winter in our city home. Nevertheless, absence from his +beloved Oaklands had been more than compensated for by the roses which +the invigorating sea-breezes had brought to the cheeks of the two +youngest of the household, Allie and Daisy, who had been brought here +pale, feeble, and drooping, from the effects of the scarlet-fever, but +who were now more robust than they had been before the dreadful scourge +had laid its hand upon them. + +Nor had the summer been one of unmixed enjoyment, even to those members +of the family who gloried in the sea and the seashore; for +circumstances had arisen which had been productive, not only of great +anxiety and trouble to us all, but which had involved bodily injury, +and all but fatal consequences, to poor Jim. And although his name and +character had come out scatheless from the trying ordeal of doubt and +suspicion which had fallen upon them at that time, it had been +otherwise with those of one who had been received as no other than a +favored friend and guest in our household; and a young girl whose +advantages had outweighed a thousand-fold those of the once neglected +waif rescued by our Milly from a life of evil, had gone forth from +among us with a record of shame and wrong-doing which had forfeited, +not only her own good name, but also the respect and liking of all who +had become cognizant of the shameful tale. + +To those who have read "Uncle Rutherford's Attic," these circumstances +will be familiar; to those who have not, a few words will suffice for +explanation. + +In the early part of the summer, my aunt, Mrs. Rutherford, had sent to +me a pair of very valuable diamond earrings, old family jewels, and an +heirloom. They came to me by virtue of my baptismal name, Amy +Rutherford, which I had inherited from several successive grandmothers +on my mother's side; the young cousin to whom they would have +descended, the only daughter of aunt and uncle Rutherford, having died +some years since, when a very little girl. She was exactly of my own +age; and this, with the fact that she too was an Amy, had caused me to +be regarded by my uncle and aunt, especially the latter, with a +peculiar tenderness; and they seemed to feel that to me, the only +living representative of the family name once borne by their lost +darling, belonged all the rights and privileges which would have fallen +to their own Amy Rutherford. It may be imagined how I had prized a gift +precious, not only for its own intrinsic value, but for the many +associations which clustered about it. + +Scarcely, however, had the earrings become my personal property, than +there followed in their train such a course of sin, sorrow, and +tribulation, that my pleasure in them was quite destroyed; and, for a +long time, the very sight of them became hateful to me. + +Ella Raymond, a ward of my father's, and a girl somewhat older than +myself, had come to make us a visit just about the time that the +beautiful jewels came into my hands. Incited by vanity, and an +inordinate love of dress, this unhappy girl had recklessly allowed +herself to become heavily involved in debt,--debt from which she saw no +means of escape, and which she was resolved not to confess to her +guardians. The sight of my diamonds aroused within her the desire to +possess herself of them, not for her own personal adornment, but that +she might dispose of the jewels, replacing them with counterfeit +stones, and so obtaining the means to satisfy her creditors. + +Unrestrained by principle, honor, or the laws of hospitality, the wish +became but the precursor to the actual carrying-out of the evil +thought. Thanks to my heedlessness, and the careless way in which I had +guarded the earrings, she obtained them with little trouble; and after +an amount of duplicity and deceit, terrible and shameful to contemplate +in a woman so young, had contrived to carry out her purpose, to have +the stones changed, and then to convey the earrings back to my +possession, without drawing suspicion upon herself. + +Nor, was this the worst; for when, by a most unfortunate series of +events, suspicion was forcibly directed toward Jim, she failed to +exonerate him by acknowledging her own guilt; and but for the merest +accident, which brought about the proverbial "Murder will out" and +fixed the crime without a shadow of doubt upon her, would have suffered +the innocent boy to bear all the penalties and disgrace which by right +belonged to her. + +So it will be seen that the summer, spite of its many pleasures and +much happiness, had not been without a large share of care and +perplexity. + +That all this was over, and that our fears for Jim's moral and physical +well-being had come to an end, we were most thankful; and the most of +us still clung lovingly to the grand old ocean, and our summer-home on +its shore. + +But autumn gales would, ere many weeks, be sweeping over this exposed +coast; and already the summer-guests were flitting from the large +hotels, although the cottagers would probably hold their ground for +some little time longer. But what would it matter to us if we should be +left the very last of the summer-residents upon the Point, so long as +dear aunt and uncle Rutherford were to be with us? They were a host in +themselves, especially the latter, who always seemed to pervade the +whole house with his jovial, hearty presence, and who was the first of +favorites with all the young people of the family. + +There would be much for them to hear, too: all the sad story related +above in brief, to be told, with all its minor particulars; for it had +been kept from them hitherto, as I had been very sensitive on the +subject, my own carelessness having been partially in fault, and I had +preferred that they should hear nothing of it until their return. Aunt +Emily would not have been severe with me, I knew; but I had wished that +the face and the voice, which she always associated with her own lost +Amy, should speak and plead for my shortcomings in the matter, when it +should come to her knowledge. And oh! was I not thankful beyond +measure, for her sake, even more than for my own, that the jewels had +been recovered, and were once more safe in my own possession, before +she learned of the perils they had passed through. If I felt somewhat +shamefaced and repentant, as it was, what would it have been if they +had been lost beyond recovery! + +The joy at the unexpected return of the absentees was not confined to +their own family or circle, for the "Governor"--uncle Rutherford had +years since held that dignity in the State, and was still "the +Governor" to all the denizens of the Point--was greatly beloved by all +who knew him well; and the old residents of the place, which had for so +many years been his summer-home, considered themselves to be his +intimate acquaintances. He was an authority and a law to each one among +them. What "the Governor" did, was invariably right in their eyes; from +what "the Governor" said, there was no appeal. He would, indeed, have +been a daring man who should question the right or wisdom of uncle +Rutherford's words or deeds in the presence of any of these stanch +adherents. + +And dear aunt Emily was not less beloved in her way, for the simple +people of the Point all but adored her,--true, wise friend that she had +proved to them; and among them none were more ardent in their devotion +and admiration than Captain and Mrs. Yorke. + +So it was no wonder that the captain's face beamed with delight, nor +that, being somewhat after the manner of the Athenians of old, who +delighted in some new thing to tell or to hear, he should now be in +haste to despatch his daily business, and take his departure to spread +the news about the Point. Indeed, he would scarcely wait until I--who +regained my senses before it was too late--furnished him with the list +for the next day's supplies, which mother had confided to my keeping. +In fact, in the midst of the excitement and pleasant anticipations +which uncle Rutherford's cablegram had called forth, Jim's +"peanut-undertakin'" was for the present entirely lost sight of, unless +it was by the lad himself and his faithful chum and ally, Bill. + +No need to give here the reasons which had influenced uncle +Rutherford's unexpected return; they were purely of a business nature, +and would interest no one else. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +AN ARRIVAL. + + +I had made my confession,--for a confession I had felt it +was,--involving for my own share no small amount of carelessness, and +some little pride and self-will; all of which "little foxes" had opened +the way to the commission of actual crime in another. + +It was the day after that on which my uncle and aunt had arrived at the +Point,--mild, soft, and sunny; only the September haze upon sea and sky +to tell that the lingering summer was near its end. + +We sat upon the piazza,--these two dear newcomers, my sister Milly, and +I. Father off upon some business; mother in the house attending to +Norman, who had come home with a sprained wrist; the children at play +upon the beach with Mammy, and their faithful pages, Bill and Jim, in +attendance. I had stipulated, with a fanciful idea that I was making +some righteous atonement, that I should be the one to relate the sad +story of my diamond earrings; and hence no one had until now mentioned +the subject in the hearing of my uncle and aunt. + +The opportunity was propitious, the audience lenient and sympathetic; +and seated on the piazza-step, with my head resting against aunt +Emily's knee, and, as the tale proceeded, her dear hand tenderly +stroking my hair and cheek, I had told the story to its minutest +particular, taking, as the sober sight of after days has shown me, more +than the necessary amount of blame upon myself. + +So my uncle and aunt now said; and, while inexpressibly shocked at such +heartless wickedness in one so young as the guilty girl, they would not +allow that their "own Amy" was at all blameworthy in the matter, and +only congratulated themselves and me upon the recovery of the earrings. +My name, and the likeness I bore to the Amy Rutherford in heaven, would +have pleaded for and won me absolution in a far worse case than this; +and they at once set themselves to work to demolish my almost morbid +fancies in connection with the theft of the jewels. The very fact that +I had now told them all was a relief, and my elastic spirits at once +began to rise from the weight which had burdened them during the last +few weeks. + +"So that is the hero of your tale?" said uncle Rutherford, looking +thoughtfully down upon the beach where the little ones were enjoying +themselves to the utmost, and having matters all their own way, as +usual. Jim was lying prone upon the beach, while Allie and Daisy were +industriously covering him with sand; Bill assisting by filling their +pails for them. This was a daily amusement, and never palled. + +"So that is your hero?" he repeated. "And what do you mean to do with +him, Milly?" he asked, turning to my sister. "Such a fellow should have +a chance in life." + +"He thinks he has it since he has been here," answered Milly; "since he +has been among respectable people and surroundings, provided and cared +for, and taught. He and Bill both talk as if they needed no greater +advantages than those they possess already. As to what I mean to do +with him, dear uncle,--well, it is less what I mean to do with him, +than what he means to do with himself. His own ambitions are soaring, +and quite beyond any plans that I could form for him; his aim being the +head of the government of our country, with the powers of an autocrat, +and no responsibility to any one. Nor is his mind disturbed with any +doubts that he will be able to achieve this dignity, provided that he +continues to 'have his chance.' At present he is content with learning +his duties as a house and table servant, believing those to be but +stepping-stones towards his goal." + +"To say nothing of his ambitious views regarding Milly herself," I +interrupted. But my remark was ignored as unworthy of the gravity of +the subject. + +"But he should have some schooling, a boy such as he is,--do not you +think so?" asked uncle Rutherford; adding, "Whatever his aims and +ambitions may be, he can achieve nothing without some education." + +Milly hesitated for a moment, unwilling to make mention of all that she +was doing for Jim and his _confrère_; and I spoke for her. + +"Milly is spending a goodly portion of her worldly substance in that +way," I said. "The boys go to a teacher for two hours every evening, +and are both making quite remarkable progress in the three R's; and +Bill had singing-lessons all last winter, and I believe Milly intends +that he shall continue them when we go back to the city." + +"H'm'm," said uncle Rutherford. "Very good, so far as it goes; but I +mean something more thorough and far-reaching than this." And Milly's +eyes lighted, for she knew that uncle was already planning some means +of substantial advancement for her _protégé_. + +"If you are going to give him any further 'chance,'" I said, "Columbia +itself will not bound his ambition. He, too, will sigh because there is +but one world for him to conquer." + +"H'm'm," said uncle Rutherford again, with his eyes still fixed +thoughtfully upon the incipient candidate for presidential honors, who, +having shaken himself free from the sand, and risen to his feet, was +now tumbling rapidly over in a series of "cart-wheels;" another +performance in which the souls of our children delighted, and in which +he was an expert. But he--uncle Rutherford--said nothing more at +present; and we were all left in ignorance as to what benevolent plan +tending Jim-wise he might be pondering. + +For a man otherwise so charming and considerate, uncle Rutherford had +the most exasperating way of exciting one's curiosity and interest to +the verge of distraction, and then calmly ignoring them. + +But now I suddenly bethought myself of Jim's "peanut plan," which, +truth to tell, had passed entirely from my mind since the day I had +first heard of it; and, with an eye to further prepossessing uncle +Rutherford in the boy's favor, I forthwith unfolded his scheme for the +benefit of the helpless young Blairs. My uncle was amused, but, as I +could see, was pleased, too, with Jim's gratitude and appreciation of +the good which had fallen to his own lot. + +"Amy," said uncle Rutherford presently,--_apropos_ of some further +allusion which was made to my tale, and to Captain Yorke's share in +it,--"Amy, I am going to invite Captain and Mrs. Yorke to visit New +York this winter, and," with a twinkle in his eye, "shall depend upon +you and Milly to escort them hither and thither to see the city lions." + +"Invite them to your house?" I inquired, in not altogether approving +surprise, for the idea of Captain and Mrs. Yorke as visitors in uncle +Rutherford's house was somewhat incongruous; while the vision of Milly +and myself escorting them about was not attractive in my eyes, fond +though I was, in a certain way, of the old man and his dear motherly +wife. + +"Not to my own house, no," answered uncle Rutherford, with an +assumption of gravity which by no means imposed upon me, "for I do not +expect to have any house of my own this coming winter,--or, I should +say, not to occupy my own house; for, Amy, as my boys will pass the +winter abroad, and your aunt and I would feel lonely without them, we +have been persuaded by some kind friends, with a whole houseful of +troublesome young people, to make our home with them, and help to keep +their flock in order. So Captain Yorke and----" + +But he was interrupted, as I fell upon him in an ecstasy of +delight,--worthy of Allie or Daisy,--enchanted to learn that we were to +have the inexpressible pleasure of having him and aunt Emily to spend +the winter with us; a pleasure which I would willingly have earned by +any amount of ciceroneship to the old sailor and his wife. The subject +had not been mooted before the younger portion of the family, but had +been discussed and settled in private conclave among our elders; so it +was a most agreeable surprise to each one and all of us. + +"But about Captain and Mrs. Yorke?" I said, at length, when my +transports had somewhat subsided, and calmness was once more restored. +"You do not really mean that you are going to bring them to the city, +and--to _our_ house?" + +And all manner of domestic and social complications presented +themselves to my mind's eye, in view of such an arrangement. For uncle +Rutherford, in his far-reaching desire to benefit and make others +happy, was given to ways and plans which, at times, were too much even +for his ever-charitable, generous wife; and which now and then would +sorely try the souls of those less interested, but who, _nolens +volens_, became the victims of his benevolent schemes. + +No one was better aware of uncle Rutherford's proclivities in this way, +or more in dread of them, than my young brother Norman, who had just +joined our circle, fresh from mother's surgery, and with his arm in a +sling. For Norman's bump of benevolence was not as large as that of +some other members of the family, and he was inclined to look askance +upon uncle Rutherford's demands upon his heart and his purse. These, to +tell the truth, were not infrequent; for our uncle, believing that +young people should be led to the exercise of active and unselfish +charity, and seeing that Norman was inclined to shirk such claims, was +constantly presenting them to the boy, with a view to training him in +the way he should go in such matters. + +"Uncle Rutherford gives with one hand, and takes away with the other," +Norman had said, grumblingly, only this same morning, in my hearing. + +"You had better say he takes with one hand, and gives seven-fold with +the other," said Douglas, resentfully; for he inherited, to the fullest +extent, the family generosity. "Nor, I saw the skins of your flints +hanging out to dry this morning." + +Whereupon Douglas dodged a book aimed at his head, and left his shot to +work what execution it might. + +Norman had caught my last words, and taken in their meaning, and his +delight at the prospect of a visit from Captain Yorke was almost as +great as Milly's and mine in view of the stay of our uncle and aunt at +our home; being incited, probably, by the thought of the "jolly fun" +which he and Douglas could extract from the old man while piloting him +about the city. + +"I certainly do not intend to bring the old people to your house, Amy," +said uncle Rutherford; "but your aunt is anxious that Mrs. Yorke should +see some good physician, who may be able to relieve her from her +lameness before she is entirely crippled; and we shall therefore +propose that they come to the city after we are fairly settled there, +when we will provide comfortable quarters for them, and put Mrs. Yorke +under proper treatment. There is a fitness to all things, my child; and +Captain and Mrs. Yorke would probably feel as much embarrassed as your +guests, as we should be in having them with us." + +"I was only thinking----" I began, then stopped. + +"You were only thinking that your quixotic old uncle was about to +inflict a somewhat trying experience upon you," said uncle Rutherford, +in answer to the unspoken thought. "But he has a _modicum_ of sense +left yet, Amy." + +Truth would not allow me to enter a disclaimer, for this had been my +very thought. Any slight embarrassment which I might have felt, +however, was relieved by a little diversion in my favor, as uncle +Rutherford said,-- + +"Here is Fred Winston coming over from the hotel." + +"Yes, he is generally coming over, and never going back," said Norman, +with what I chose to consider a saucy glance in my direction; but I +ignored both speech and glance, as I welcomed the new-comer. + +Now be it understood, that this young man was neither a gossip nor +news-monger; but, being at present a resident of the largest hotel in +the place, he was, from the force of circumstances, apt to be the +hearer of various items of interest, and these, for reasons which +seemed good to himself, he usually considered it necessary to bring +over to the homestead as soon as possible after they came to his +knowledge. Indeed, our boys basely slandered him, by crediting him with +the invention of sundry small fictions as an excuse for coming over to +our house. Nevertheless, he was always a welcome guest with each one +and all of the family, and with none more than with these saucy boys. + +"Mr. Rutherford," he said now, when he had settled himself in such +comfort as he might upon the next lowest step to that on which I was +seated, and addressing himself to my uncle, who, by virtue of his +interest in, and proprietorship of, a great portion of the Point, was +regarded by most people as a sort of lord of the manor,--"Mr. +Rutherford, have you heard what has befallen Captain Yorke?" + +"I have heard nothing," answered uncle Rutherford. "No misfortune, I +hope." + +Mr. Winston slightly raised his eyebrows, as he answered, laughingly, +"I do not know whether he considers it in the light of a misfortune or +a blessing; but I know very well how I should feel had such an +affliction fallen to my lot,--that it was an unmitigated calamity; +while Miss Milly, again, would probably consider it as the choicest of +blessings. It seems that the old man had a reprobate son, who, many +years since, went off to parts unknown; and his parents have heard +nothing of him since,--that is, until to-day, when a woman, claiming to +be his widow, appeared with five children. She had his "marriage +lines," as she called them, a letter from the prodigal himself to his +father, and other papers, which appear to substantiate her claim; and +the old couple have admitted it, and received the whole crowd. 'Matildy +Jane' is sceptical, derisive, and _not_ amiable. Nor can one be surprised +that she is not pleased at this addition to her household cares and +labors, for I have not told the worst. The woman is apparently in the +last stages of consumption; one of the children is blind; another has +hip-disease; and a third looks as if it would go the way its mother is +going. There is a sturdy boy of fourteen or so, the eldest of the +family, and another chubby, healthy rogue, in the lot; but they really +looked like a hospital turned loose. Brayton and I had gone down for +bait, and were talking to the captain, when they arrived." + +"Don't, don't, Mr. Winston!" exclaimed Norman. "Milly will adopt the +crowd, and have them here amongst us. That is her way, you know." + +"And what did the captain say?" I asked, fully agreeing with Mr. +Winston, that this must be, for the old seaman, an appalling +misfortune. "Imagine, if the thing is true, and these people dependent +upon him, the utter up-turning of the even tenor of his way,--of all +their ways. I sympathize with 'Matildy Jane.' What did the captain +say?" + +"He asked me to read his son's letter to him,--for he is not apt, it +would appear, in deciphering writing; and, indeed, it was more or less +hieroglyphical,--then gazed for a few moments at the dilapidated +crew,--dilapidated as to health, I mean; for they are clean and decent, +and fairly respectable looking,--and said, 'Well, ye do all seem to be +enj'yin' a powerful lot of poor health among ye.' Then he turned into +the house, saying that he must 'see what mother said,' giving neither +word of welcome nor refusal to admit the claim of the strangers; and +presently Mrs. Yorke appeared, in a state of overwhelming excitement, +and, nothing doubting, straightway fell upon the new arrivals with an +attempt to take the whole quintette into her ample embrace. No need of +proofs for her; and, seeing this, the captain's doubts were dispersed, +and he began a vigorous hand-shaking with each and every one of those +present, including Brayton and myself, and repeating the process, until +Brayton and I, feeling ourselves to be intruders in the midst of this +family scene, made good our escape. Not, however, before 'Matildy Jane' +had appeared, with tone, look, and manner, which you who know 'Matildy +Jane' do not need to have described, denouncing the woman and children +as 'ampostors,' and bidding them begone." + +"And you do not think that the woman is a fraud?" asked aunt Emily. + +"I do not, Mrs. Rutherford; and neither did Brayton," answered Fred +Winston. "And, besides the letter and marriage certificate which were +in her possession, making good her pretensions, she had an honest face, +and appeared respectable,--far too much so for the wife of such a +scallywag as old Yorke's son is said to have been." + +"If the Yorkes allow her claim, and take in this numerous family, it +will interfere with your plans for Mrs. Yorke, uncle," I said. + +"Not at all," said uncle Rutherford, who, when he had once made up his +mind to a thing, would move heaven and earth to carry it out, and who +often insisted upon benefiting people against their will. "Not at all. +The new family can be left here to keep Matilda Jane company while her +father and mother are away. There is all the more reason now that Mrs. +Yorke should be cured of her lameness; and I believe that it can be +done." + +Blessed with the most sanguine of dispositions, as well as with the +kindest and most generous of hearts, he always believed, until it was +proved otherwise, that the thing he wished could be done. + +"Milly," said aunt Emily, suddenly turning to my sister, "will you come +down to the Yorkes' with me?" + +Milly assented readily; and the two kindred spirits set forth together. + +"The blessed creatures!" said Fred Winston. "What unlimited +possibilities the arrival of this infirmary opens up to them. I knew +that they would be off at once to inquire into the condition of the +sick and wounded." + +"And to find out how many candidates there may be for the hospital +cottage and other refuges," I added. + +But the two good Samaritans, as they afterwards reported, were not so +appalled by the state of things at the Yorkes' cottage, as Mr. +Winston's tale had prepared them to be. Perhaps matters had improved +since he had left two hours since, or the stricken family had at once +accommodated themselves to the change in their circumstances. Certain +it is that aunt Emily and Milly found peace and serenity reigning: Mrs. +Yorke with the little cripple in her capacious lap, coddling and +petting her as the good soul well knew how to do; the captain piloting +the blind child about the house and garden, familiarizing him with +different objects, by which he might learn his own way about by his +acute sense of touch; the youngest--a teething, not consumptive, +baby--fast asleep; and even the recalcitrant "Matildy Jane" tolerably +pleasant and good-natured beneath the fascinations of a handsome, +sturdy urchin four years old, who, undaunted by her hard face and +snappish voice, insisted upon following her around, and "helping" her +in her manifold occupations. He was a boy who did not know how to be +snubbed, and had fairly won his way with his ungracious aunt, by sheer +persistence in his unwelcome attentions. To all her hospitable +intimations that he and his family had brought an immense addition to +her cares and labors,--which certainly was true,--he opposed smiles and +caresses, and assurances that so long as he was there he would share +and lighten all these; appearing to think that she complained and +scolded only to draw forth his sympathy and aid. + +Who could stand out against such a fellow? Not even "Matildy Jane." And +she had succumbed; at least, so far as he was concerned. + +The mother of the helpless group, pale, feeble, and careworn though she +was, had already shown herself eager to lessen, so far as possible, the +burden she had brought upon the family of her husband, and sat peeling +potatoes from a huge basket on the one side, while a pan of apples, +duly pared and quartered, stood awaiting the oven upon the other. +Plainly Matilda Jane had had no scruples of delicacy in availing +herself of the services of her newly arrived sister-in-law. + +"What _are_ you going to do with them all, Captain Yorke?" asked Milly, +pityingly, as she stood beside the old sailor in the porch, while aunt +Emily interviewed Mrs. Yorke and the widow. "This is such a care for +you." + +"Do with 'em?" repeated the veteran, apparently quite undismayed by the +prospect before him. "Waal, I reckon we've got to be eyes an' backs an' +lungs to 'em, for they've run mighty short of them conveniences. Let +alone Theodore, an' that feller over there,"--nodding towards the +kitchen-door, within which Matilda Jane was to be seen mixing biscuit, +with the boy beside her, his round, fat arms up to the elbows in the +dough, with which he was bedaubing himself and every thing about him, +unrestrained by his subdued aunt,--"let alone that feller over there, +there ain't the makin' of a hull one among 'em. I guess they've got to +be took care of; an', if the Almighty hadn't a meant us to do it, he +wouldn't a sent 'em here. Them's my opinions, an' me an' Mis' Yorke we +ain't the ones to throw back his orderin's an' purposin's in his face. +They do seem a bit like a hospital full, though, don't they?" he added, +unconsciously expressing Mr. Winston's view of the situation. "Me an' +Mis' Yorke, we foun' out the truth of the Scriptur' sayin', how sharper +than an achin' tooth it is to have a thankless child, an' Tom,--I don't +min' sayin' it to you,--he _was_ thankless enough, though he's dead an' +gone, an' his old father ain't the one to cast stones at him now. But +me an' Mis' Yorke, we don't want to make out the truth of that other +Scriptur', that the sins of the father shall be visited on the +children,--leastways, not Tom's children; they ain't to blame for his +short-comin's; an', meanin' no disrespec' nor onbelief, _that_ Scriptur' +do always seem to me a little hard on the children. Maybe--who +knows--them youngsters will ha' brought a blessin' with 'em; an' my +opinions is they has, when I see Mis' Yorke a cuddlin' an' croonin' +over that little hunchback. Now she's awful contented an' easy-minded +like to have somethin' to pet, for she's allers a hankerin' after +babies an' them sort of critters. We was kinder took aback, for sartain, +when Maria,--her name's Maria, Tom's widder's is,--when she come right +in with the hull crowd followin', an' John Waters' wagon, what they +come from the station in, standin' at the gate, an' all the luggage in +it; an' them gentlemen was here gettin' bait an' askin' about the +fishin', an' Matildy Jane she kinder flew out, an' one of the little +ones was hollerin',--an' it was all kinder Bedlamy. But it's all come +right now; an' Maria, she's a willin' soul, an' if Jabez," the old +man's son-in-law, and a power in the household, "if Jabez an' Charlotte +don't be grumpy over it, we'll all get along as pretty as a psalm-book. +Jabez, he an' Charlotte has gone to Millville for the day, an' all this +is unbeknownst to them." + +Clearly, the captain was somewhat in dread of Jabez and Jabez's +opinions; but Milly had no fear that the strangers would be sent adrift +in deference to these. + +But something must be done to help the old people with the burden which +had so suddenly fallen upon them. The gray-haired seaman was +comparatively vigorous still, but his sea-faring days were over; and +while he had put by a sum sufficient to keep him, his good wife, and +"Matildy Jane" in comfort, this unlooked for addition to the family, +helpless and crippled as the grandchildren were, would be too great a +drain upon his little fund. As this had been placed in father's hands +for investment, we knew to a fraction what he had to depend upon, and +that it was not enough to provide for all. The sturdy independence of +the captain would no doubt revolt against the idea of receiving any +actual pecuniary assistance, as would that of his wife; but some way +must be contrived of lessening their responsibilities and cares. Jabez +Strong and his wife must share these, although he might and probably +would be "grumpy;" but even then it would be hard to meet all demands, +without depriving the old couple of their accustomed comforts. The +cheerful, it-will-all-come-right spirit in which they had received the +intruders,--_I_ could not look upon them in any other light,--made us +all the more anxious to do this; and, before night, Milly and I were +exercising our brains with all manner of expedients for accomplishing +it without hurting their pride and their feelings. + +Meanwhile, our elders, with less of enthusiasm perhaps, but in a more +practical spirit, were considering the same matter; and the little +ones, our Allie and Daisy, having also heard of the influx of children +at the Yorkes' cottage, had laden themselves with toys and +picture-books, and persuaded mammy to escort them thither. Our little +sisters had so burdened themselves, that they needed assistance to +transport all these gifts to Captain Yorke's house; and they could not +look for any great amount of this from mammy, who had all she could do +to convey her own portly person, and the enormous umbrella without +which she never stirred, as a possibly needed protection against sun or +rain, as the case might be. So they begged that Bill and Jim might act +as carriers, coaxing Thomas to spare them from pantry duty,--a matter +not attended with much difficulty, as the old butler was only too +willing to indulge them on all occasions, even to the length of taking +double work on his own shoulders. + +They all set forth on their errand of charity in high glee; but Jim +returned from the expedition with a face and air of such portentous +gravity, so different from his usual happy-go-lucky bearing, that Milly +was moved to ask if any thing unpleasant had occurred. + +"Captain Yorke nor his folks didn't do nothin', Miss Milly," answered +Jim. + +"Who, then?" asked Milly. + +"Well, no _one_, Miss Milly," he replied. "I was on'y thinkin' what a +lot of 'em there was, an' it bothers me." + +"So many Yorkes, do you mean?" queried Milly, rather wondering at his +evident perturbation. + +"Such a many blind an' hunchback an' sick folks," he said; "an' how are +they all goin' to be done for. The more you try to do for some of 'em, +the more of 'em seem to come up. There's Matty and Tony Blair, who me +an Bill has took into our keepin' soon as we get to the city; an' now +here comes a Yorke hunchback, an' a Yorke blind, an' a Yorke sick baby, +all sudden like; an' I say that's pretty hard on the ole captain. I +like the captain firstrate, I do, Miss Milly; an' I don't like to see +him put upon that way. Some of us ought to see to 'em for him, but you +can't do for all." + +"No, Jim," Milly said, soothingly, to the young philanthropist, "we +cannot do for all who need; but, if each one does his or her mite, we +can among us greatly lighten the load of human suffering; and that is +what we must all try to do, without making ourselves unhappy over that +which is beyond our reach or means." + +"_You_ did a mighty big mite, when you did for Bill an' me, Miss Milly," +said her pupil and _protégé_, looking gratefully at her. "There ain't +no halfway 'bout you, Miss Milly. But I would like to help Captain +Yorke, if I could; an' I was thinkin', could I do up them sums again +'bout the peanuts, an' get out a share for the Yorkes." + +Milly laughed, for she had heard of Jim's plans, and of the various +objects which were to be benefited by the "peanut-undertaking;" and, as +frequent new claims and claimants appeared to share in the profits, she +argued that the proportion of each would be small. + +"Jim," she said, "I think I would not undertake to help the Yorkes as +well as all the other people you have upon your list. They shall not be +allowed to suffer, you may be sure; Mr. Rutherford and Mr. Livingstone +will see to that." + +"Miss Milly," he answered, reproachfully, "I on'y didn't reckon up +Captain Yorke an' his folks before, 'cause they hadn't need of it. Now +they will, with all that raft of broke-up children on 'em; an' do you +think I'd go to passin' 'em over when they was so good to me? No, that +I wouldn't; I ain't never goin' to forget how Mis' Yorke nussed me, an' +made much of me, when I was sick there in her house; an' they were good +to me, too, when I was a little chap, an' got shipwrecked on to the +shore. Miss Milly, do you know,"--hesitatingly,--"I'd liever take some +out of the 'lection expenses share, than to pass over the Yorkes. I +would, really, Miss Milly." + +Truly, our Milly was reaping a rich fruit of generosity, loyalty, and +earnest endeavor, from the seed of self-sacrifice and charity which she +herself had shown in faith and hope. And this, too, in ground which the +on-lookers had judged to be so hardened and stony that no harvest was +to be gathered therefrom. Oh, my Milly, sweet soul, + + "Great feelings hath she of her own, + Which lesser souls may never know." + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +"FOOD FOR THE GODS." + + +Behold our household now settled in our city home,--our summer by the +sea, with all its many pleasures, and its measure of perplexities and +anxieties, a thing of the past; our stay at Oaklands, where papa had +enjoyed himself to his heart's content, all the more for his enforced +absence of the previous months, also over; and the different members of +the family, according to his or her individual taste, occupied with +divers plans and projects for the winter's duties and diversions. + +In view of certain contingencies which were likely to arise in the +future,--father and mother said in the _far_ future; and, indeed, +although it was pleasant to contemplate them from a distant standpoint, +I was in no haste to leave my dearly beloved home,--in view of these, +and with the comfort and well-being of a certain young man before my +eyes, to say nothing of my own pride in my housekeeping capabilities, I +had chosen to enlist myself as a member of a "cooking-class." Said +cooking-class was to meet once a week, in the afternoon, at the house +of each member, in turn, when we were to try our maiden hands on the +composition of any such dishes as we might choose; after which, certain +martyrs--namely, the aforesaid young man, and sundry of his friends and +associates--were to be allowed to join us, and, in case they were not +too fearful of consequences, to test the results of our efforts. Milly, +who had a regular engagement for the afternoon appointed, was not able +to aid in the culinary efforts, but pleaded, that, as she contributed a +sister, she might be allowed to join the later entertainment of the +evening. And the plea was considered all sufficient, for who would not +choose Milly when she might be had? So said Bessie Sandford, our +inseparable friend and intimate; and there was no dissenting voice +among the gay circle of girls. + +She did not intend, however, to be without her share in the flesh-pots +which were to furnish the more substantial part of the entertainment; +and having a natural gift for cooking,--a faculty in which I was +altogether wanting,--she promised to prepare some dainty dish +beforehand, and send it as her share in the feast. + +My last essay in that line had been in the shape of some gingerbread, +of which article of diet father was very fond, and I had exerted my +energies on his behalf. When it was presented at the Sunday-evening +tea-table, the family, excepting papa, contented themselves with +viewing it respectfully from a distance; even old Thomas, as he passed +the plate, regarding it doubtfully and askance. + +Father heroically endeavored to taste it; but mother, whose regard for +his physical well-being outweighed even her consideration for my +feelings, protested; and, with an air of relief, he obeyed the +suggestion. + +"What did you say it is? Ginger _bricks_?" asked Douglas. + +I took no notice of this, but later bade Thomas take all the +gingerbread down-stairs. + +"Yes, Miss," he answered, with an "I wouldn't care if I were you" sort +of an air; and the gingerbread disappeared. The next morning, however, +as I went to the store-room to execute some small order for mother, our +old cook confronted me. + +"Miss Amy," she said, "whatever will I do with that gingerbread? There +isn't one in the kitchen will touch it, not even them b'ys; an' all's +mostly grist that comes to their mills." + +"Oh, give it away to any one that comes," I answered indifferently, and +concealing, as I best might, my chagrin at this added mortification. + +But later in the day, Allie and Daisy, returning from their walk with +mammy, rushed into the house in a state of frantic indignation. + +"Amy, Amy," they cried; "Mary Jane gave your gingerbread to a tramp, +and he looked at it and smelled it and tasted it, and then just laid it +on the area steps and ran away. And Jim saw him; and he picked up the +gingerbread, and broke it by throwing it on the sidewalk, and then +threw the pieces at the tramp; and one hit him, and it was so hard it +seemed to hurt him, but he just ran all the faster." + +From that time, more than a year since, I had forsworn all manner of +cooking, but now it seemed to me that the exigencies of the case +required me to turn my thoughts to the matter; hence, when it was +proposed, I had been only too ready to join the cooking-class. + +The lady who had, from pure love of her kind, and a special interest in +young girls, undertaken to superintend and direct our efforts, was an +old friend of my mother and aunt Emily; the dearest, the sweetest, the +most guileless, of maiden ladies, with a simplicity and lack of worldly +knowledge which were almost childlike, but very talented, and with a +mind intelligent and cultivated to an unusual degree. + +She was also famous among us for all kinds of handiwork,--for the +delicious cakes, soups, and all manner of dishes which she could +concoct; for her painting and drawing, and her exquisite and original +fancy-work. Simple, although delicate, in her tastes, her personal +wants were but few; and being possessed of a small income, which placed +her beyond the need of employing her varied talents on her own behalf, +she delighted in turning them to account for others. She stood +singularly alone, with no direct family ties or responsibilities; and +probably no human being but herself ever knew the amount of work +accomplished by those slender, high-bred looking hands for the benefit +and delight of others. The beautiful paintings and embroideries which +she sent to the various societies for art work, and which were always +accepted without demur, meeting as they did with an ever ready sale, +brought their profits, not to her, but to others less gifted and more +needy than herself. And many a dainty trifle wrought by her graced some +sick-room, or home of straitened means, where there was neither time +nor talent to be given for such adornment. + +Careless as to the prevailing mode, although exceedingly neat about her +own personal attire, she was somewhat quaint and old-fashioned in +appearance; at least, she had been until a short time since, when Milly +and I, with Bessie Sandford, who was also a distant relation of Miss +Craven's, had taken her in hand, and by dint of a little teasing, and +much persistence and coaxing, had induced her to submit herself to our +dictation in the matter of dress. But she could not, quite yet, +reconcile herself to our requirements; at least, not without a little +flutter and protest against such innovations as we insisted +upon,--against tied-back skirts, hair a little more in the fashion than +she had been accustomed to wear hers, and collars and fichus of a more +modern date: + +Hearing, the dear soul, that certain of our circle of girls were +anxious to attain some practical knowledge of cooking, and to attach to +the acquisition of that knowledge such "fun" as we might, she had +offered, when applied to for certain of her receipts, to instruct the +class which we were desirous of forming. The offer was eagerly seized +upon, and so it came to pass that she had been installed as teacher and +director of the mysteries in which we were about to dabble. + +Miss Craven,--"cousin Serena," as we always called her--had been one of +the warmest advocates of Milly's cause, when that young woman was +intent on taking upon herself the charge of Bill and Jim; and, had +Milly not been allowed to do so, I think that she would have undertaken +it herself. She was continually making little gifts to these boys, not +always, it is true, just adapted to their needs or to their fancies; +but they had the grace, rough as their antecedents had been, to +appreciate the kindness which prompted them; and their room in the +stable was decked with many a little bit of ornamentation bestowed by +her. For one of her pet theories was, that one could educate the masses +to a refining love of art, if one only kept such elevating influences +constantly before them. + +The first meeting of the cooking-class was held at our house. Most of +the girls were content to try their hands on this occasion on some +simple dish; but I--more ambitious, and also for excellent reasons of +my own--had determined to provide a certain delicate and highly +flavored cream. In order that there might be no failure in this, and +that I might, by an unqualified success, retrieve my reputation, I +surreptitiously sought in advance two or three private lessons from +Miss Craven. These she was only too ready to give; and after practising +at home, closely following her directions, and assisted by old Thomas, +who was almost as anxious for my triumph as I was myself, I succeeded +in turning out my cream, pure, rich, white, just the right consistency, +and deliciously flavored. It was but a small quantity, however; just a +trial sample, not enough for family distribution; and, calling Allie +and Daisy to the secret session which Thomas and I were holding in the +butler's pantry, I divided the luscious morsel between them, exacting, +first, the most solemn promise of secrecy. Allie demurred to this at +first, having conscientious scruples about keeping any thing from +mother; but she was finally persuaded to look upon it as a preparation +for an agreeable surprise, as I assured her that this was only the +prelude to a more extensive treat to the whole family, as well as the +class. Moreover, the sight of the dainty, and Daisy's enjoyment of it, +were too much for her, she having rather a leaning towards the +flesh-pots. + +I was quite uplifted in my own estimation for the next twenty-four +hours or so, and pleased myself mightily with the thought of out-doing +all the other girls with my dainty, luscious dish. Allie and Daisy +could be trusted "not to tell," when they had once given their promise; +but they went about with a portentous aspect of having a secret, which +almost made me regret that I had taken them into my confidence. + +It being leap-year, and our advantages, or possibly disadvantages, in +connection with that period being about to come to an end with the +close of the year, we had determined upon making the most of them. +Hence our guests, when they should arrive, were to submit to be waited +upon, and to receive such attentions as they were accustomed to bestow +upon us. + +The day and the hour had arrived, and the members of the class, each +one with an enormous protecting apron over her pretty dress, had +assembled in our front basement, which, being convenient to the kitchen +and store-room, had been chosen as the workshop for the occasion. Each +was intent on her own dish, and each in her turn was superintended and +overlooked by cousin Serena; but merry talk and laughter held their +own, in spite of business. + +"What are you making, Amy?" asked Mollie Morgan. "How delicious and +creamy that looks, and how readily you go to work about it. Why, I +thought you were no cook at all; but one would think you had been doing +that all your life. What is it?" she repeated, as I cast a guilty, +deprecating look at Miss Craven. But cousin Serena had no thought of +betraying me, and, although she must have heard, paid no attention to +Mollie's remarks. + +"It's food for the gods," I answered carelessly, as I tossed the +luscious compound about with a spoon. + +"Do you mean that is the name, or that it is your opinion that it is +worthy to be food for the gods?" asked Bessie Sanford, who paused at my +elbow, bearing in her hands a tray of delicate sponge-cakes. + +"Both," I answered. + +"Amy is ambitious; see what she is making, girls," said Mollie; and +several, gathering round, peered at the diet of the gods with, as I +imagined, envy and admiration. + +"There!" I said, triumphantly, and as though I were a _cordon bleu_, +accustomed to turn off feasts for an emperor--"There, now it is ready +to go into the moulds. Oh, no, I have forgotten the flavoring. Jim," +for the boy was there to wait upon us, and to run upon errands--"Jim, +go and ask Mary Jane for a bottle of vanilla flavoring." + +Now, I might have known better than to send Jim on this errand, for +between him and Mary Jane there was a state of warfare, due, I must +say, to her ill-temper and prejudice. Formerly it had been productive +of much annoyance and discomfort to the household, and had at last +reached such a climax, that father, who never interfered in domestic +details, had unexpectedly taken the matter in hand, and given the old +woman such a warning, that she had not since that time dared to give +open vent to her dislike. But the fires, though smouldering, still were +alive; and Jim never cared to ask her for any thing, or to carry a +message to her. + +However, now he ran into the kitchen, and presently returned with a +bottle which he handed to me. Glancing at it, I saw that it was +properly labelled, and I flavored with the contents according to +directions; and, nothing doubting, then called upon cousin Serena to +stamp it with her approbation, which she did. After which I poured the +mixture into the moulds, and set it away. + +Fairly well satisfied with the results of our afternoon's work, we +removed such traces of it as had left their impress, took a short rest, +and were ready in due time to receive our leap-year guests. + +We were to have a high tea; the rest of our family, with cousin Serena, +dining at an earlier hour than usual to accommodate us, and taking +their later repast in the library. + +There was naturally much fun and jollity over the reversal of the usual +order of things, and we carried out our programme to the farthest; +while our gentlemen displayed a degree of inefficiency and helplessness +which would have disgraced a six-year-old girl with a moderate amount +of sense. + +All went well during the earlier part of the feast. Dish after dish was +partaken of, and commended; and there was a universal chorus of +approval for the fair cooks. + +"It is going to pass off without a failure," I said to myself, +recalling triumphantly the scepticism as to our capabilities, which +some of our friends had testified. + +And now appeared, in its turn, my own dish,--the "food for the +gods,"--brought by Thomas and his assistants, with a little extra +flourish as the work of their own young lady. + +We were in groups of four, at little tables placed about the room; and +the gentlemen, as had been arranged, were helped first to each course. +Happening to raise my eyes to address the youth upon my right hand, I +saw his countenance suddenly distorted by a contortion expressive of +any thing but pleasure. Turning involuntarily to my left-hand neighbor, +who happened to be Mr. Winston, I saw a grimace, almost similar, pass +over his face, followed by a look of blank astonishment at me. + +Then came the voice of my brother Edward from an adjoining table, as he +sat with uplifted spoon, gazing down upon the contents of his plate. + +"Amy," he said, "what under the heavens is this?" + +"Food for the gods," I answered, startled and dismayed; for I could not +help seeing that something must be very wrong to betray Edward into +such a breach of etiquette. + +"Then we will not deprive the gods of it," said my brother; "and may +the celestial--or was it for the infernal deities that it was +compounded?--forgive you for inflicting this upon them. Winston, spare +yourself, my dear fellow; the utmost stretch of politeness could not +demand such a sacrifice of you." + +For Fred Winston, true gentleman and loyal knight that he was, was +making the most heroic efforts to swallow a little more of my +handiwork. + +And this from Edward, usually the most chivalrous of brothers! + +I glanced around the room, and saw a similar state of affairs on every +side. All those who had been unfortunate enough to taste the "food for +the gods" wore a more or less distressed expression. I plunged my own +spoon into my plate, and carried it to my mouth. + +Pah! Any thing more nauseous I had seldom tasted. The gods were indeed +to be pitied! + +I covered my face with my hands as a laugh pealed around the room; and +Norman came dashing into it, and up to me. + +"Amy," he said, in a loud whisper which could be heard by all, "mother +says don't let any one touch that stuff of yours. It's awful!" + +"Awful" indeed! But it was too late; enough tasting had been done to +cover me, as I felt, with everlasting disgrace. + +"Amy was so awfully cock-a-hoop about her new dish, too," began Norman; +"and now----" + +But his brotherly remarks were cut short by my left-hand neighbor, with +an intimation, that, if he had any regard for his physical or mental +well-being, he would at least postpone them. + +Overcome with mortification and chagrin, I would fain have left the +room, not only to hide my diminished head, but also to consult cousin +Serena on the possible cause of this mishap, when Jim came up to me, +and said, in an aside even louder than Norman's,-- + +"Miss Amy, it wouldn't poison none of 'em, would it?" + +When Jim had any thing on his mind it must come out, regardless of time +or place; and there was that in the boy's tone and manner which +instantly convinced me that he knew more than appeared on the surface, +and I turned hastily to him:-- + +"Poison any one? Why should it?" I asked. + +"It's the liniment, Miss Amy," he answered nervously; "an', if they was +poisoned, me or you might be took up. We'd best have a doctor, maybe." + +Matters were growing serious; and springing from my seat, without +apology to my guests, I bade the boy come into Thomas's pantry. Thither +I was followed by Fred and Edward, who heard the confession of the +frightened lad. + +"It's the liniment, Miss Amy," he repeated. "Mary Jane's liniment for +her rheumatics; but I think it ought to be her to be took up more than +you an' me." + +"Speak out, boy, and tell us what you mean," said Edward, imperatively; +for he felt, that, if there was any reason for Jim's alarm, there was +no time to be lost. + +Thus pressed, Jim said that when I had sent him for the flavoring, he +had caught up a bottle which he supposed to be the right one, and ran +back without consulting the old cook. + +Nothing doubting, I had made use of the contents; and he had possessed +his soul in peace until a few minutes since, when Thomas had sent him +on an errand to the kitchen, and he had heard Mary Jane bewailing the +loss of her bottle of "rheumatiz liniment." She at once charged him +with hiding it to torment her, but, before he could defend himself, one +of the other servants asked what kind of a bottle it was; to which she +replied, that it was a vanilla-bottle into which she had emptied the +liniment, as that in which the lotion belonged had been cracked, and +that she had stood it "just there." + +A horrible conviction rushed upon Jim: "just there" was the place from +which he had taken the bottle he brought to me. He dashed into the +front basement, found there the bottle in question, and speedily +verified his own fears; then hurried up-stairs to prevent Thomas from +taking in the "food for the gods." Alas! it was too late: the dish was +already dispensed, a due portion having also been sent in to the +tea-table in the library; and my disgrace was an accomplished fact. + +Dread of the after consequences now took possession of Jim, and this +impelled him to an immediate disclosure of the mistake. Indeed, none of +us were without our misgivings; and Edward, sending for the bottle, +went with it at once to our family physician, who lived but a few doors +from us. + +Dr. Graham laughed heartily when he heard of the mishap, and told +Edward that there was no cause for alarm; as, although he would not +advise unlimited indulgence in the lotion as a beverage, such harmful +qualities as its ingredients possessed would be reduced to a minimum +when mixed in the proportion Edward mentioned with the other articles +of which the "food for the gods" was compounded. + +So the matter became a joke to every one but me and the old cook, who +received a severe reprimand for her carelessness in putting the +liniment in an improper receptacle, and then leaving it in an improper +place. + +Thus ended my attempt at culinary distinction; a regard for the +well-being of my friends and even for their lives, inducing me to quit +the field without further trial of my powers. + +What a long tale about a foolish mistake, it may be said; but, as +"great events from little causes spring," the results of that mistake +were vast and far-reaching, and we had not yet heard the last of the +"food for the gods." + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +THE "MORNING BUGLE." + + +"Look at this disconsolate pair; melancholy has evidently marked them +for her own," said Bessie Sanford, as she and I crossed the corner of +the square, bound for an afternoon walk; aimless, except in the search +for fresh air and exercise. + +The "disconsolate pair" were my little sisters, Allie and Daisy, who +now approached, trundling their dolls' perambulators in front of them, +and followed by mammy, who came limping after, also wearing a most +lugubrious expression; but whereas their distress was plainly mental, +her's was physical, drawn forth by pain. + +"Old mammy has an attack of her pet bunion," I said, "and I suppose +that the children are, in consequence, debarred from their walk, and +they have but just come out. Poor little things! What do you say, +Bessie, to taking them with us? They would be enchanted." + +"So should I. By all means let us take them," answered Bessie, who had +a love for children and their company, only second to my own. + +"O, sister Amy!" cried both the little ones, dropping the +perambulators, and rushing up to us as soon as their eyes fell upon us, +"Mammy's bunion hurts so, she can't take us to walk, and it's such a +lovely day, and we want to go Jim's peanut-stand." + +And the ever ready tears rushed to the eyes of Allie, who was prone to +weep upon slight provocation; and even Daisy, who was more +philosophical, though younger, looked heart-broken. + +Sunshine speedily succeeded the showers, however, for my proposal that +they should accompany us was received with rapture; and, taking their +dolls into their arms, they abandoned the perambulators to the care of +mammy, who hobbled towards home with them. This bunion was mammy's +choice grievance, and she doubtless suffered much from it; but it was +an article of the family faith, that, when for any reason she was +disinclined to take her walks abroad with the children, the bunion +sympathized with this reluctance, and crippled her to an unusual +extent. + +"And where do you want to go?" I asked of the beaming pair, who were +now hanging, the one on Bessie's arm, the other on mine. "Bessie and I +do not much care which way we go." + +"Oh," said Daisy, ecstatically, "if you would only take us to Jim's +peanut-stand! Mother said we might go, and then mammy couldn't take +us." + +"It's not fash'nable, but it's very respectable, Amy," said Allie, +impressively. + +"But we cannot go to a peanut-stand, even though it belongs to Jim," I +expostulated. + +"But it's not in the street; it's--you know Johnny, the flower-man, +sister?" said Allie. + +"Johnny the flower-man" was a German florist on a small scale, who had +a little glass-enclosed stand on the corner of the avenue next to that +on which we lived, and who was extensively patronized by our family and +many of our neighbors. His box of a place, cosey, warm, and fragrant, +was a favorite resort of our children; and much of their pocket-money +went to the purchase of the potted plants and cut flowers which he sold +to them at a wonderfully reasonable rate. But what had the little +German to do with Jim and his peanut-stand? Allie soon enlightened us. + +"Jim was going to have the stand on that corner," she said, "and he had +leave to do it; but mamma and aunt Emily said it would not do for Tony +and Matty to sit out of doors in the cold weather; it would kill Matty, +they said. And Jim was so disappointed, and he didn't know what to do; +and one day when sister Milly sent him to Johnny's, he told him about +it, and about Tony and Matty; and that lovely old Johnny,--Daisy and I +ask God to bless him every night when we've done our own people,--he +told Jim he could have a little corner of his store where it was all +glass, and the stand could be seen from the street; and then Matty +could sit there, and people would come in and buy her peanuts. Wasn't +it good in him? We love Johnny, if he does squint, and smell of +tobacco, and can't talk very plain." + +"And then," said Daisy, taking up the tale in her turn, as Allie paused +for breath, "and then there wasn't room there for the roaster, 'cause +it's pretty squeezed up in Matty's corner, and in Johnny's store, too, +wif the stand there; so Johnny's wife, who lives just a little bit of a +way off, lets Tony have the roaster up in her room, and roast the +peanuts, and then he runs very quick wif 'em over to Matty, or, if it's +a nice, pleasant day, he has it put outside the door. But the smell of +the peanuts gets mixed up wif the smell of the flowers, and that isn't +so very nice." + +"But Jim is making lots of money, he says," continued Allie; "'cause +most always when people come in to buy flowers, Johnny tells 'em they'd +better buy peanuts, too; and Jim printed a sign in German about peanuts +inside, and put the meaning in English beneath, and he says he thinks +he is doing a better business than if Matty sat outside. Norman and +Douglas buy lots, but," with a little sigh, "mother don't like Daisy +and me to eat peanuts. It would be a good way to do charity if she +would let us; but sometimes we buy some, and give them to the +servants." + +Jim and his "peanut undertakin'," as Captain Yorke had called it, had, +in the press of other and greater interests, almost passed from my +mind, and I had made no inquiries about it lately; but, as visions of +numerous peanut-shells in the most unheard of places returned to my +recollection, I could not doubt the truth of Allie's assertion in +regard to my brothers. + +While the children had been talking, we had been gradually walking on +towards the desired haven,--the corner where the German florist had his +tiny store; and presently we came to it. The little glass enclosure was +one mass of vivid green, and brilliant, glowing color; for Johnny was +remarkably successful in the treatment of his plants, and they always +wore a thrifty, healthy aspect, delightful to behold. + +Without, just at the side of the door of entrance, hung the sign +described by Allie; and Daisy at once drew our attention to it. + +The "German" legend ran thus:-- + + "Goot rost benuts ish incite, nein sents a quoort. + Shtep in unt py." + +The English translation followed:-- + + "Good roost peanuts is inside, nine cents a quart. + Step in and by." + +Bessie and I were inwardly amused, but did not let it appear to the +admiring children. Allie, however, had her own misgivings as to the +absolute correctness of the sign, and said, doubtfully,-- + +"I suppose the German must be all right, because Jim says that is the +way Johnny talks; but the English is not spelled quite right, is it, +sister Amy?" + +"Not altogether," I answered; "but perhaps it attracts more attention +than it would do if it were quite correct, Allie, and that, you know, +is the object of a sign or notice." + +"Yees," said Allie, doubtfully, lingering behind a moment to scan the +sign as I opened the door, and still inclined to criticise; "ye-es, but +somebody might laugh if it is not spelled quite right." + +"That is of no consequence so long as it does not hurt business," I +said, shamelessly indifferent to the orthographical merits of the case. +"Come in, Allie, we must not keep the door open too long." + +At the farthest end of the crowded little cubby-hole,--all the more +crowded, of course, for the accommodation which the good-hearted German +had afforded to Jim's beneficiaries,--sat the little deformed Matty, +behind her stand, on which were displayed a tempting pile of freshly +roasted peanuts, and various bright, new measures. Outside, on the +street, could be seen Tony, grinding away at his revolving roaster; for +the day was so exceptionally lovely, that there could be nothing in the +air to injure him, and he doubtless preferred its freshness, and the +brilliant sunshine, to the presumably dark and stuffy quarters of Mrs. +Johnny. + +[Illustration: "AT THE FARTHEST END SAT THE LITTLE DEFORMED MATTY." + _Page_ 96.] + +Poor, poor Matty! Deformed, shrunken, and wizened, she was a painful +contrast to all the beauty and brightness surrounding her in the little +conservatory. Beyond the sympathy unavoidably drawn forth by her +helpless and crippled condition, there was absolutely nothing to +attract one toward her. She looked peevish and fretful, too, so far as +there was any expression in the dull, heavy face. Was it to be wondered +at? There had been but little of brightness in her young life; and as I +looked from her to my little sisters, our petted household darlings, +carefully guarded and shielded, so full of life and joyousness, so free +from all pain or care, my heart swelled with thankfulness, that to them +had been allotted no such fate, and with the desire to brighten the lot +of this little unfortunate. + +It was not so with her brother Tony: he was the jolliest, most active +little cripple that ever hobbled round on one leg and a crutch. The +celerity of his movements was something surprising; his voice was merry +and cheery; and his ugly young face, despite the many hardships of his +lot, generally wore a smile. + +Now and then he would be seen with his face pressed against the glass, +with a nod of good-fellowship to his sister or Johnny, or staring at +such customers as happened to be within; and, if these proved to be +Matty's patrons, he would watch the progress of the sale with great +interest. Then he would turn to his roaster, and work it violently for +a few moments, then be off to the curbstone or crossing, exchanging +some, probably not very choice, joke with some other street-gamin, or +the conductor or driver of a passing street-car. + +The children, Allie and Daisy, made their investments while I was +taking these observations, and Bessie was purchasing cut-flowers from +the old German. She was a good German scholar, and delighted the heart +of the old man with the familiar language of the fatherland, which +flowed glibly from her tongue. The consequence was, that that politic +young woman left the florist's with three times the amount of flowers +that I had, although I had spent just twice as much money. But, then, I +could not speak German. + +"I am going to take my flowers to cousin Serena," I said, after we had +left the florist's, and exchanged a word or two with jolly little Tony +as we passed. "Will you come and see her, Bessie?" + +Bessie assented, and the two little ones were only too glad to +accompany us. A visit to cousin Serena was always a treat to them. + +"And we will give her the peanuts we bought; she likes peanuts," said +Daisy, who, as well as Allie, had maintained a silence, quite unusual +with them, during several minutes. + +"But we'd like her and all our people to understand," said Allie, +loftily, "that we buy peanuts because of Jim, and not at all because of +Matty. She's the most unchristianest child we ever saw; and I think her +soul is hunchback, too, just as well as herself." + +I had seen that Matty had repelled the advances of the children, who +had wished to show her their dolls, and to be kind to her; and I +endeavored to soothe them, and excuse her, by telling them how much she +had to suffer, and how her disposition might have been spoiled by all +that she had undergone. + +But my words made no impression; the children were not to be mollified. +Allie still wore an air of outraged and offended dignity; and Daisy not +only maintained that solemn silence, but she looked grieved and hurt. +Our little ones were not accustomed to be snubbed, and took it hard +when such an experience did befall them; but there was a preternatural +gravity about them now, which excited my wonder. + +"Why, Daisy," exclaimed Bessie, suddenly, "what is the matter with your +cheek? It is all red and scratched. What have you been doing to +yourself?" + +"She didn't do it to herself," said Allie, indignantly, and before +Daisy could speak. "We didn't want to tell tales; but, sister Amy and +cousin Bessie, I think you are not very _noticeable_, not to see +Daisy's cheek before this. We are very much disappointed in you." + +We apologized humbly, saying that Daisy's broad felt hat had prevented +us from seeing the state of her cheek before this, and inquired more +minutely into the cause thereof. + +With some reluctance the children told, that, while Bessie and I had +been making our purchases of flowers, they had, after buying their +peanuts, tried to make themselves agreeable to Matty; but she had +proved far from responsive, and would not even look at the beautiful +dolls which they proffered for her admiration. Believing that shyness +alone was the cause of this ungraciousness, and filled with pity for +her condition, Daisy had at last raised Matty's arm and placed her doll +within it, when the cripple suddenly turned upon her, and drew the +nails of the disengaged hand viciously down poor little Daisy's soft +cheek, while, with the other, she threw the doll from her. Fortunately, +the doll was not hurt; but the insult to her cherished darling had +grieved Daisy more deeply than did the injury to herself. She had +heroically refrained from crying out, or making any complaint, lest +Johnny should be moved to espouse her cause, and avenge it on Matty; +but it had gone to her heart, and to Allie's as well, that, after such +forbearance, neither Bessie nor I should have noticed her plight. +However, we made up for it now by an outburst of indignation and +resentment, especially violent on my part; whereupon, the sage Allie +turned my own moral lecture, so lately delivered, upon myself, +recalling my exhortations to the effect that we should be patient and +forgiving with one so sorely afflicted as Matty Blair. + +When we reached cousin Serena's, a little arnica and some French +bonbons healed Daisy's wounds, both mental and physical; but when +happiness and peace were once more restored, and she was seated upon +Miss Craven's lap, with Allie beside her, and the box of chocolates +between them, cousin Serena herself was discovered to be in a state of +no small flutter and excitement. + +"My dears," she said, "have you seen the 'Morning Bugle' of to-day?" + +"No," I said, emphatically. "Father would not allow that paper to come +into our house." + +"Nor would my father," said Bessie. + +"He says it is a scandalous sheet," I added. "He would not have it if +there were not another newspaper in the city." + +"Nor would I in my own house," said Miss Craven; "but," apologetically, +"when one is in a boarding-house, my loves, you know one cannot control +other people." + +"I should think not," said Bessie. "It would be hard, indeed, if you +were held responsible for the morals, or the literary tastes, of Mrs. +Dutton's other boarders." + +"But you dearest of Serenas," I said, "you know you need not read the +'Morning Bugle' because some of the other people in the house take it. +O Serena, Serena," reproachfully, "I thought better things of you! That +_you_ should allow your mind and morals to be poisoned in that way!" + +"My dear Amy! My dear children!" exclaimed the dear, matter-of-fact old +lady, who never knew when she was being teased, which made it all the +more delightful to tease her. "My dear loves, you do not think I read +that scandalous sheet! Why, this morning I should have said that +nothing would induce me to touch it; but when Mrs. Dutton came up with +the paper in her hand, and said, 'Is not this meant for your friends?' +what could I do? I had to take it, and read the paragraph; and, my +dears, here it is. Oh, I have been so unhappy all day about it! What +will your father and brother do? Mrs. Dutton let me cut this out, when +she saw how I felt about it." + +I took the scrap of paper which she handed to me; and the blood rushed +to my heart, as I read an item with the following heading:-- + + +"A MADISON-SQUARE SENSATION." + +It was a garbled and scurrilous account of the late little incident at +our house, implying, indeed openly asserting, that there had been a +wholesale attempt at poisoning. Names were not given, not even the +initials under which the reporters of such gossip often pretend to +disguise publicity, and in a measure avoid responsibility; but, to the +initiated, there could be no doubt that the paragraph referred to my +unlucky cookery. Further particulars, it was said, would be given at a +later date, although it was difficult to obtain information, as the +parties concerned had endeavored to hush up the matter; and "money is a +power in this community." + +I turned faint and giddy as I read; while Bessie, who looked over my +shoulder, burst into a tempest of indignant exclamation. + +"Dear child! Don't turn so white, Amy, my dear; I am so sorry I showed +it to you," cried Miss Craven, aghast at my alarm and agitation. "It is +outrageous, scandalous; but it cannot hurt you: you see no names are +given. But I shall never forgive myself, for I told Mrs. Dutton about +the 'food for the gods'. She was interested, you know, when you were +here with me learning to make it, and asked me how it turned out. But +she is discretion itself; she would not say a word, nor let any one +know--Oh! my dear child, what shall I do? What shall we all do?" + +But the vivid imagination with which I was credited by my friends, and +which not unseldom did cause me many a needless foreboding, was rampant +now; and visions arose before me of disgrace to the family, if those +dreadful newspaper people did, as they threatened, "give further +particulars," and perhaps go to greater lengths, and even print my name +in their horrible sheet. Should I ever be able to hold up my head +again? I sat in dumb, terrified astonishment. + +But here, Bessie, with her practical common sense, came to the front, +and brought me back to reason. + +"So that is the way you meant to make such a success of your 'food for +the gods,' is it, you fraud?" she said, putting her hands on my +shoulders, and playfully shaking me, "coming here and practising with +cousin Serena, forsooth; and the rest of us experimenting with our +first efforts. O Amy, Amy, I would not have believed it of you. And the +gods themselves turned against you. Their mills did grind exceeding +sure that time, and not so slowly, either; vengeance followed, swift +and sure. You deserve this. Cheating play never prospers, Amy; and +'honesty is the best policy,' and all that." + +Meanwhile, the children were gazing from one to another of their +elders, not knowing what to make of all this,--Allie uncertain whether +or no she had better call upon her ever ready tears, Daisy bewildered, +and at a loss to know upon whom to bestow her sympathy, cousin Serena +or me; for I had not yet put my miserable imaginings into words, and my +startled looks alone appealed to her; while Miss Craven was in a +half-frantic state of excitement; and, as for Bessie, she had at first +appeared furiously angry, and now, with a sudden change, was turning +the whole thing into a laugh. What could it all be about? wondered +these innocents. + +"Oh," I gasped at last, "what shall we do? What will papa say? What +will uncle Rutherford say? What will Edward say? What will----" + +"Yes, my dear, what will Fred say?" Bessie completed my unfinished +sentence, as I paused, overwhelmed. "They will each and every man of +them settle this matter, to the anguish of that editor, if I know them, +and without one word of trouble or publicity to you, or any one of the +family. You dear goose, you, to make such a personal matter of it. Why +not, Jim; why not still more, Mary Jane?" + +"I must go home," I said, feeling a burning desire to find at once my +natural protectors, and to place the matter in their hands; and go I +would and did, cousin Serena accompanying me, with Bessie and the +children. We paused by the way, to knock at Mrs. Dutton's door, and to +ask her if she had called the attention of any of the other boarders to +that shameful paragraph. + +Mrs. Dutton, motherly, gentle, refined, a lady in birth, education, and +manner, and with a warm corner in her heart for the girls, big and +little, who ran in and out on their visits to Miss Craven, assured us +that she had not done so; and, in answer to my anxious inquiries, said, +also, that she had never mentioned the incident of the "food for the +gods" to any one. + +It is not necessary to state, that my mankind were incensed when they +saw the objectionable paragraph, although they did make light before me +of my terrors and apprehensions; and it remained a fact, that Edward +went at once to a friend and brother lawyer, to request him to take +steps to prevent any further annoyance or developments in the matter. +It so happened, said this gentleman, that he had a hold upon the editor +of the "Morning Bugle," which that personage would be very sorry to +have him use to his disadvantage; and he assured Edward that he would +settle the affair in such a way that none of us need fear any future +trouble or publicity. + +How the thing had become known so as to afford matter for newspaper +gossip, we could not tell, and did not much care to know; probably, +through the talk of the servants, who had, of course, been acquainted +with all the particulars of the unfortunate incident. Exaggeration, and +a wilful desire to falsify a trifle to the discredit of those concerned +had done the rest; but our lawyer friend's remedy proved effectual, and +the "Morning Bugle" was silenced. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +UNCLE RUTHERFORD'S PRIZE. + + +Uncle Rutherford, the most generous, the most benevolent, of men, had, +nevertheless, the most exasperating way of carrying out his kindnesses. +He would suggest or hint at something delightful, and which just met +the views or desires of his hearers, dwell upon it for a time, then, +after leading one to the very height of expectation, would apparently +put the matter entirely from his thoughts, and for days, weeks, or +months, nothing further would be heard of it. + +To urge its fulfilment, or to endeavor to discover what his intentions +might be, was never productive of any good; on the contrary, his +intimates believed that this still further deferred the wished-for +result. Even aunt Emily, his much beloved and trusted wife, had learned +to possess her soul in patience, when he was supposed to be revolving +any thing of this nature in his mind. + +The question of Jim's future had never been alluded to by him since +that day last September, when it had been discussed at our seaside-home; +and now it was nearly Christmas, and Milly was on tenter-hooks to know +if there was any thing favorable in store for her _protégé_. She knew +better, as I have said, than to hurry matters, or to ask any questions. +That uncle Rutherford had not forgotten it, however, was evident from +the way in which he watched, and apparently studied, the boy's ways and +character; Jim all the while quite unconscious of such scrutiny. + +"Milly," he said, on the evening of the day following that of the +episode of the "Morning Bugle,"--"Milly, I see that boy Jim has a +temper which needs some curbing." + +Now, "a temper" was uncle Rutherford's _bête noir_, albeit his own was +not of the most placid type, and that it was liable to be roused to +what he called "just indignation," on that which to others appeared +small provocation. The flash was always momentary, but it was severe +while it lasted; and it had ever been a cross and a stumbling-block to +him, spite of the polite name by which he called its manifestations. It +was probably the recollection of the trouble it had brought to him, and +of the struggles which even now it cost him, an elderly man, which made +him so intolerant of its existence in others, especially the young. It +is not necessary for the reader to quote the oft-repeated proverb about +dwellers in glass houses, for uncle Rutherford was perfectly conscious +of the exceeding fragility of his own panes; and his only wish was to +warn and help those who were cursed with a fiery, impetuous spirit like +his own. + +That Jim was a victim to this, no one could deny, and Milly did not +attempt to dispute it now; she merely assented meekly, and acknowledged +that Thomas and Bill were constantly rescuing him from street-fights, +and other escapades of that nature. And there were times when, in some +of his rages with his fellow-servants, the raised tones of his furious +voice had penetrated to the upper regions, and called for interference +from the higher powers; but these occasions were becoming more and more +rare. His devotion and loyalty to Milly and the other members of the +family who had befriended him were not infrequently the occasion of +these outbursts; for, at the smallest real or fancied injury or slight +to any one among us, he was up in arms, and his tongue and his fists +were only too ready to avenge us. He was very impatient, too, of any +allusion by others to his own origin, or to the state of degradation +from which Milly had rescued him and Bill, although he would discuss it +more or less freely with her, and with his boon companion and chum. + +"What has Jim been doing now, uncle?" asked Milly; her hopes for the +advancement of the boy through uncle Rutherford's means falling, as she +wondered if he were noticing only to find out the flaws in a by no +means faultless character. + +"Just that; been in a street-fight, or what would have proved a +street-fight, if I had not come upon the scene just in time to call him +to his senses, and to order him into the house instanter," said our +uncle; "and, from what I could learn, he attacked a boy much larger +than himself, on very small provocation,--merely, that the boy disputed +his claim to the name of Livingstone, by which it appears he chooses to +dub himself." + +"He does not know his own name," said Milly, apologetically. + +"That is no reason that he should call himself by yours," rejoined +uncle Rutherford. + +"It is something of the old feeling of feudal times, or that which used +to make our Southern slaves adopt the surnames of their masters, I +think," said Edward. "Jim thinks that 'them as belongs to Livingstones +ought to be called Livingstone.'" + +"Captain Yorke proposed to him to take his," said I, "but Jim declined, +on the ground that Yorke was not so nice a name as Livingstone for the +'President of these States.' He has it in his heart, too, to confer +honor upon our family name by the reflected glories of the position to +which he aspires." + +"The boy's spirit of gratitude and appreciation, at least, are worthy +of all credit," said aunt Emily. + +"And, whatever he may owe to Milly and the family, he has already +repaid the debt with interest," said mother; her thoughts, doubtless, +recurring to Jim's heroic rescue of the youngling of her flock--her +baby Daisy--from a frightful death; to say nothing of his sturdy +fidelity to the welfare of our household and property under +circumstances of great temptation and fear during the last summer. + +"I had thought," said uncle Rutherford, slowly, and Milly's face +lighted up; was it coming at last? "I had thought, if you judged well +of it," turning to mother, "of having him go to the public +grammar-school for this year, and there to test his capabilities, not +only in the way of learning, but even more in his power and desire to +control this temper of his. If he gives satisfaction, and proves +himself worthy of it, let him continue at school until he is fitted for +it, when I will give him a scholarship which I own in the School of +Mines. At present it is filled, but will fall vacant about the time +that Jim will be ready to take it. There is another boy on whom I have +my eye, who has the same bent for a calling that Jim has, and whom I +wish to befriend and help; but he, too, has faults which I hope to see +him correct,--faults in some respects more serious than Jim's,--and the +prize will lie between these two. Whoever proves himself most worthy +and capable, the most steady, reliable, and best master of himself, +shall take the scholarship. But, if Jim goes regularly to school, he +will, of course, have to resign, in a great measure, his duties as a +household servant. Are you willing to have him do this? For I do not +wish or intend to inconvenience you. What is your opinion of the whole +matter?" + +"Ask Milly," said mother, "she is the arbitress of his fate." + +And uncle Rutherford looked to that young damsel. + +"What say you, Milly?" + +There was little need of words. Milly's sparkling eyes and flushed +cheeks spoke for her. This was so much beyond any thing she had hoped +for on behalf of the boy, that at first it seemed to her almost too +good to be true. And, yet, there were lions in the way. And, after a +moment's consideration, she answered, somewhat hesitatingly,-- + +"I hardly know what to say, sir." + +We all looked in astonishment. Most of the family thought that Milly's +hopes and ideas for the future of her _protégés_ were rather quixotic +and unreasonable, aiming at taking them out of their proper sphere. But +here her clear judgment and good sense saw some objections to uncle +Rutherford's plan. + +"You are very kind, more than kind, uncle," she continued. "Such an +offer is, indeed, a 'chance' for Jim such as I had never dreamed of, +and there could be no question between this, and his training as a +household servant; but I fear for the effect of the emulation upon him. +If he is to gain this prize by outstripping or defeating another, the +spirit of victory for victory's sake will take possession of him, and +he will make every thing give way to it." + +"Then he will not prove himself worthy of the prize," said uncle +Rutherford, who had a fancy for inciting young people to efforts of +this nature, and who was always holding out some prize to be striven +for. + +"I don't know," said Milly, a little wistfully; "he is so impulsive, so +eager, so almost passionate, in the pursuit of any object on which he +has set his mind, that I am afraid too much of the spirit of rivalry +will enter into his efforts to win this." + +"And," put in Norman, "he will be so cock-a-hoop if he is set to study +for a scholarship, that there will be no bearing him, and----" + +But Norman was brought to an abrupt silence, by a quick reprimand from +father; while uncle Rutherford took no notice of the interruption, but +continued to urge upon Milly the acceptance of his project. It +undoubtedly presented so many advantages for Jim, that these finally +outweighed her scruples, and she agreed thereto with earnest thanks. + +"Who is the other fellow, uncle?" asked Norman the irrepressible, "any +one whom we know?" + +"Yorke's eldest grandson," said uncle Rutherford. + +"That sneak!" ejaculated Norman. + +"So that is your opinion of him," said uncle, turning towards Norman. +"Well, I have not myself much confidence in the boy. There is something +about him which I do not like; he is not frank and outspoken. He is a +bright lad, however, ambitious, and disposed to make the most of any +opportunities which fall in his way; and, for old Yorke's sake, I would +like to help him. Yorke pinched and saved and denied himself, to give +that boy's father an education, and illy he was repaid by the graceless +scoundrel, who dissipated his father's hard-earned savings, and half +broke his heart, and that of his poor mother. The captain is building +on this boy's future, now; and, if he does not show himself fit for a +college course, he may, at least, when he has had sufficient schooling, +be taught a trade, and share the burden of the family support. We shall +see which will win the prize, Jim or Theodore." + +Douglas began to laugh in his quiet way, but Norman spoke out again. + +"Won't there be jolly rows, when those two come to be pitted against +one another," he said. "Either one will do his best to keep the other +from winning it, even if he don't care for it himself." + +There was too much reason to believe that Norman's prophecy would prove +true. From the time that Theodore Yorke had appeared at his +grandfather's, a pronounced state of antagonism had declared itself +between the two boys; and this had continued up to the time of our +leaving the Point. Jim, who was a great favorite with the old captain +and his wife, seemed to look upon Theodore as an interloper, and +trespasser upon his preserves; and the latter at once resented the +familiar footing on which he found Jim established in his grandfather's +house, although he himself had never been there before, and had +hitherto been a stranger to all of his father's family. + +It had required the exercise of the strictest authority to maintain any +thing like a semblance of peace during the remainder of our stay at the +seaside; and there were occasional outbreaks, which tended to any thing +but comfort to Captain Yorke's household. Our house and grounds were +forbidden to Theodore Yorke, in consequence of this feud; but Jim's +duties called him, at times, to the home of the old sailor, whence he +was accustomed to bring the daily supply of milk for the consumption of +the family, and where he had been wont to linger as long as he dared +when sent on this errand. More than once had he returned with a black +eye, cut lip, or other adornment of a warlike nature; and several +milk-pails had been degraded from things of usefulness, by reason of +being used as weapons of offence and defence. + +And, although he knew all this, here was uncle Rutherford actually +setting up these two already belligerent lads as rivals in the race for +learning and character, with such a prize in the future to the winner. +His object would defeat itself. Was it to be supposed that tempers +would be controlled, that any little tendency to take advantage of an +enemy would be smothered, under these circumstances? + +"Dear uncle," said Milly, whose face had fallen when she heard who was +to be the rival candidate, "Jim is my charge; and you will not think me +ungracious, if I say that I cannot consent to let him enter the lists +against Theodore Yorke. I know only too well that it would arouse all +his bad passions. As I said before, rivalry in any case would not be +best for him, but, against Theodore, it would be simply ruinous; and I +would rather see him remain under Thomas's tuition, learning to be a +thorough and efficient servant, and to control his temper because right +is right, than to have him take the first honors in any college in the +world, if these are to be purchased by the fostering of an envy and +jealousy which I am sure would be the result of your plan." + +"Saint Millicent is right, as usual, when her brands snatched from the +burning are concerned," said father, putting his arm over her shoulder. +"I quite agree with her, Rutherford. We shall always see that both +those boys, Jim and Bill, are well provided for; and neither of them +shall lack for such an amount of education as may fit him to make his +way in some respectable calling. To Jim we owe a debt which far +outbalances the benefit he has received at our hands." And papa's eye +turned, with lingering tenderness, to the far corner of the room, where +Allie and Daisy, unconscious of the weighty matters which were being +discussed among their elders, were absorbed in happy play with dolls +and dog. "When he is old enough and steady enough, we will set him up +in some line of business which he may choose--eh, Milly?--that is, if +he shows any aptitude for a mercantile life; and he may work his way +thence to the Chief Magistracy, if he find the path which he imagines +lies open to him. As for Bill, he runs Wall Street, you know; and his +voice, and talent for music, would make _his_ way in the world. There +is something that must be cultivated." + +"Do you mean, Millicent, that you are actually going to refuse my offer +for Jim?" said uncle Rutherford, in a tone of deep displeasure; for he +did not like to be circumvented when he had set his mind upon a thing, +especially if it chanced to be one of his philanthropic schemes. And +that same quick temper, which he had found his own bane, showed itself +now, in the flush which mounted to his brow, and the sudden flash which +shot from his eyes. "Then, my dear, all I have to say is----" + +_That_ was all he had to say; and Milly escaped something which would +have hurt her feelings, and which uncle Rutherford himself would have +regretted when another moment should have passed, for aunt Emily laid +her hand upon his arm, half-whispering, as a noted imperial wife was +once wont to do to her impetuous and fiery lord, "Nicholas, Nicholas!" +and with a like, calming effect, for further words were arrested on his +lips. + +There was a little awkward silence for a moment; then, as if by a +sudden inspiration, uncle Rutherford said pleasantly,-- + +"How absurd we all are! What need for either boy to know that he is a +rival to the other? Put the reward before each one, and tell him that +the winning of it depends upon himself, and then we shall see." + +So, then, was it settled, to the satisfaction of all; uncle Rutherford, +it is true, a little disappointed that the stimulus of emulation was +not to enter into the contest; and the discussion was here brought to a +close by the appearance of Bill with a box of flowers "for Miss Amy." + +But there was a factor in the case, upon which we had not counted. + +In the privacy of their room over the stable, Bill and Jim held +converse that night; and this was the substance of their communing, +divested of unnecessary adornments of speech, with which those young +gentlemen were wont to garnish their conversation when removed from the +restraints of polite society. + +"There's a big thing up for you, Jim," said Bill. "You'll hear of it +yourself soon, I guess, from Miss Milly or Mr. Rutherford; but I got +first word of it." + +"What is it?" asked Jim. + +"You're goin' to school; you and Theodore Yorke," said Bill. + +"I ain't goin' to no school with Theodore Yorke," interrupted Jim. +"There ain't no school would hold me an' him." + +"Yes, you are, if you know what's good for yourself," said Bill; "and +there's some kind of a big prize for whichever comes out best man." + +"Then I'll go, if Miss Milly lets me; an' beat him, too, if it was just +for the sake of beatin'," said Jim, verifying the prophecy of his young +mistress. "But how do you know so much, an' what do you mean, Bill?" + +"I didn't hear all they was sayin', and I s'pose I wasn't meant to hear +none of it," answered Bill. "It was all the fam'ly folks, 'cept the +children, was talkin'. Mr. Brady sent me to open the front-door when +the bell rang, and it was some flowers for Miss Amy; and, when I went +to the door with 'em, they was all talkin' so busy they didn't hear me +knock. I couldn't make out just what it all was; but you're to get +schoolin', you and Theodore, and whichever does the best is to get more +schoolin', and some prize at the end when the schoolin's done; but Miss +Milly, she didn't want you nor him to know you was fightin' for it, +'cause she didn't think 'twould be good for _you_. She thought you'd be +too set on it, maybe, just to spite Theodore. She knows him and you, +you see." + +"Yes, she might ha' knowed I wouldn't let _him_ get the best of me," +said Jim, viciously. "And you say I wasn't to be let know I was set on +to beat him." + +"No, them was Miss Milly's orders; and I take it Mr. Rutherford didn't +like it too much," answered Bill. "He wanted you to know, and be set on +yer mettle. But Miss Milly, she's boss of _us_, you know, and she got +her own way. So, as I say, they ain't goin' to tell you nothin' about +Theodore." + +"Then, maybe you oughtn't to ha' told me," said Jim, musingly. "I don't +believe you ought." + +"I don't see the harm," said Bill. "I wasn't told not to tell; they +didn't know I heard." + +"All the same," said Jim, "you oughtn't to ha' told, when Miss Milly +didn't want me to know. I am glad I do know, so as I can set out to +beat Theodore; and, Bill, this is goin' to give me a first-rate chance. +You see if I don't get to be President, now. An', when I do, you'll see +what'll be done to Theodore Yorke." + +"What?" asked Bill. + +"I don' know, I've got to think," answered Jim; "but jus' you wait till +I get to be top man of these States. Won't Theodore get it!" + +"Miss Milly didn't want you to know, 'cause she thought you'd be so set +against him, and she thought you was bad enough that way a'ready," said +Bill. + +"I feel kinder sneaky to know it when she didn't want me to," said Jim. +"I guess, after all, I'm sorry you tole me, Bill; you hadn't a right +to, I guess. You come by it yourself kinder listenin'." + +Here the question of conscience and honor was broken in upon by the +coachman, who slept in an adjoining room, and who bade the boys cease +their chattering, as they disturbed him. + +Uncle Rutherford had left to Milly the telling of his plans for Jim's +future; and the following morning she called the boy to her, and set +them forth before him. + +He was to go to school this winter, beginning as soon as the Christmas +holidays were over. With many earnest warnings, she pressed upon him +the necessity for self-control, as well as attention to his studies; +telling him of the prize to be won if his course should prove +satisfactory to Mr. Rutherford, but making no mention, of course, of +the other candidate. He promised over and over again, that he would do +his very best to prove a credit to her, and to make her "awful proud" +of him in the future, and that she should have no cause for complaint, +either with his temper, or his lack of diligence. + +That he was enchanted with the opportunity thus offered to him, there +could be no doubt, but he did not appear as much surprised as Milly +imagined that he would be; and there was something in his manner, +which, at the time, struck Milly as rather strange,--a something +repressed, as it were, but excited; and, all the while, there was a +gleam of mischief in his eye. In the light of later developments, the +cause of this was made plain; but now it was a mystery. + +"And now, Jim," continued his young mistress, when she had told him of +all that lay within his grasp, and had added a gentle and persuasive +modicum of moral suasion,--"now that you are going out into the world +to make a way, it may be a name, for yourself, you must choose what +that name shall be. You remember," soothingly, for this was a sore +point with the boy,--"you remember that we know you only as Jim." + +"It's Livin'stone, Jim--no, I mean James Rutherford Livin'stone," said +the boy, decidedly. "I'm goin' to put in the Rutherford on account of +Mr. Rutherford bein' so good to me, Miss Milly; an' won't you an' him +be set up when you see Rutherford Livin'stone names onto a President of +these States? I ain't never goin' to disgrace them names, that I +ain't." + +But Milly, mindful of the prejudices of her relatives, and of the +objections which she foresaw from both sides of the family, found it +needful to decline the compliment. In order to avoid hurting the boy's +pride, however, she went about it most diplomatically. + +"Do you not think, Jim," she said, "that it would be a good thing for +you to call yourself by the name of Washington, the first and greatest +of our Presidents?" + +"Jim George Washington, Miss Milly?" answered the lad. "Well, that +would sound nice; but, you see, I wanted to put the compliment on +_you_, an' to show what lots of gratitude I've got for you an' your +folks, Miss Milly." + +"The best compliment you could pay to me, and to my care for you, Jim, +would be to show yourself in any way worthy of bearing the name of that +great and good man," said Milly, non-plussed how to carry her point, +and still not to wound her charge. "And," she continued, "that name +might always prove a reminder to you of the truth and uprightness, the +bravery and self-control, which distinguished him." + +"Miss Milly," Jim broke forth, irrelevantly, it would seem, "you know +Bill gets time for lots of readin' an' studyin' down at the office. +When Mr. Edward don't have any thin' for him to do, an' he might be +just loafin' round, he's doin' his 'rithmetic, or his jography or +spellin', an', if he wants a bit of help, Mr. Edward gives it to him, +if he ain't _too_ busy just then; so Bill, he's comin' on with his +learnin' heaps faster than me; he's gettin' splendid at figgers, an' he +reads the paper, too, on'y Mr. Edward, he don't like him to read the +murders an' the hangin's, and them _very_ interestin' things; but Bill +read the other day in the paper how a man said George Washington had a +big temper, an' could get as mad--as mad as any thin'. But Bill, he +said he'd heard Mr. Edward an' some other gentleman talkin' 'bout how +folks was always tryin' now to be upsettin' of hist'ry; an' Bill says +he reckons that 'bout George Washington was just another upsettin', an' +him an' me ain't goin' to believe it." + +"That's right, Jim, keep your faith in Washington, and show that you do +so by adopting his name," said Milly. + +Do not let it be thought that Milly slighted the Father of her country, +by thus turning over to him the "compliment" she declined for herself +and her family; for, in the multitude of namesakes who have helped to +perpetuate that illustrious memory, poor Jim could reflect but an +infinitesimal share of credit or discredit. + +Jim pondered. The advantages of the world-renowned historic cognomen +were, doubtless, great. But the "compliment" to his friends! could he +defraud them of that? + +Suddenly his face lighted; a brilliant idea had struck him. He could +combine both. + +"Miss Milly," he said, "I'll tell you. Now, I'll be named James +Rutherford Livin'stone Washin'ton, an' stick to that till I get inter +President polyticks; then I'll put the Livin'stone last, James +Rutherford Washin'ton Livin'stone, so folks'll be sure I belong to you. +Bill says folks can change their names, if they has a mind to, when +they come twenty-one. Bill's learned lots of law down to Wall Street, +Miss Milly; he's up in it, I can tell you." + +"Very well, that will be best," said Milly, content to defer to the +doubtful future the risk of having the family names appear in +"President polyticks;" and so it was arranged, and her charge prepared +to face the world as James Washington. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +TWO PEANUT-VENDERS. + + +Allie stood before the glorious wood fire, around which we were all +gathered awaiting the summons to dinner, gazing intently into its +glowing depths, and evidently sunk in such deep meditation as to be +oblivious, for the moment, of her surroundings, and of what she was +doing; for her doll, a new and much prized Christmas-gift from uncle +Rutherford, and a beauty, hung disregarded, head downwards, in the hand +which had sunk unconsciously by her side, while, with the forefinger of +the other pressed upon her rosy little lips, she seemed to be pondering +some weighty matter. + +Daisy lay stretched with her doll upon the tiger-skin, and presently, +looking up, roused Allie from her distraction. + +"Why, Allie," she exclaimed, "what you finking about so much? Serena +Victoria is most upside down. Just look at her!" + +Allie reversed her doll to its proper position; and, as she settled its +costume, gave Daisy her answer, by putting into words the thought which +was vexing the minds of some of her elders, but addressed herself to +me, as a kindred spirit. + +"Amy, do you b'lieve Mrs. Yorke will be very fit-to-be-seen to take out +walking or driving on the avenue, or in the park?" + +"Why, Allie," I said, weakly evading the question, and also answering +by another, "do you not think your friend Mrs. Yorke is always fit to +be seen?" + +Still, Allie replied by a fresh query. + +"Amy, have you seen Mrs. Yorke's best bonnet? her 'sabbath bonnet,' she +calls it." And she turned upon me large eyes, full of solemn meaning. + +Yes, I had, indeed, seen Mrs. Yorke's "sabbath bonnet;" and it was the +recollection of that appalling article of attire which at the present +moment was weighing on my own spirits. + +Here Daisy piped up, also giving voice to the sentiments of her +sisters. + +"Mrs. Yorke is very nice," she said, "and we love her lots, but in her +Sunday clothes she don't seem like Mrs. Yorke." + +It was even so. Mrs. Yorke in her every-day costume, and Mrs. Yorke in +gorgeous Sunday array, were two--and "oh the difference to me!" + +"How do you know," said uncle Rutherford, "but that Santa Claus himself +may have taken the matter in hand? Mrs. Yorke's Sunday bonnet may not +have been to his taste, and he may have provided her with another." + +"I hope, then," answered Allie, sceptically, "that he hasn't brought +her a brown felt with red feathers and a terra-cotta bow." + +"That would not have improved matters much, would it?" asked uncle +Rutherford, with a twinkle in his eye. "No; I think his taste would run +to black, perhaps. What do you say, aunt Emily?" + +"I should say his fancy would lie in a black felt, with black velvet +trimmings and feathers," answered aunt Emily. "How would that do, +Allie?" + +"Very well," said Allie, "if he brought her a black dress, too, 'stead +of a' old plaid." + +"And a new cloak, too," put in Daisy. "Her's isn't very pretty; I saw +it once; but I'd just as lieve have Mrs. Yorke anyhow she was." + +The grammar might be childishly faulty, but the feeling of the speech +was without a flaw, and from the heart Daisy would have accepted Mrs. +Yorke as she was, and thought it no shame or embarrassment to escort +her anywhere; but bonny Allie was a lady of high degree, with an eye +for appearances and the proprieties, and Mrs. Yorke's antiquated and +incongruous gala costume would sorely have tried her soul, although she +would doubtless have borne her company with a good grace, and with no +outward show of the pangs she might be enduring. How greatly she was +relieved now could be judged by the laughing light which sparkled in +her eyes, the dimples which showed themselves at the corners of her +mouth, and the ecstatic way in which she hugged the long-suffering +doll. + +"She'll be lovely and fit-to-be-seen now!" she exclaimed. "Won't she, +Daisy? She'll look just like mammy." + +"But," said Daisy, doubtfully, unconscious of the knowing gaze which +her older little sister had fixed upon uncle Rutherford's face, a gaze +which he returned with interest--"but _did_ Santa Claus bring Mrs. +Yorke all those things, Allie?" + +"Yes, he did; _a_ Santa Claus did; I'm perfectly sure he did," said +Allie. "But they didn't come in her stocking, or grow on a +Christmas-tree, either, _I_ know." + +"I fink he was real mean if he brought her all those, and didn't bring +her a muff and some gloves and a' umbulla, too," said Daisy. + +Before the laugh, which followed, had subsided, Thomas appeared at one +entrance to announce dinner, and mammy at the other to carry off her +charges. Full of the news they had to impart to her, of Santa Claus's +supposed benefactions to Mrs. Yorke, they went more willingly than +usual. + +Yes, Christmas had come and gone,--Christmas with all its sacred, +hallowed associations, its pastimes and pleasures, its loving +remembrances and family gatherings; and never had a dearer and happier +one been passed beneath our roof. No, nor one more productive of choice +and beautiful gifts from each one to each; and the little ones had +outdone themselves for the blessed and beloved holiday. + +And it was an article of the family creed, both on the Livingstone and +Rutherford sides, that the good things which had been so bountifully +showered upon our pathway in life should be shared with others, +especially at this season of peace and good-will. So it was no +surprise, although it was a great relief to some of us, to learn that +Mrs. Yorke had been made presentable for the visit to the city, which +would involve some attentions on our part that might have proved +embarrassing had she appeared in her wonted holiday costume. Mother and +aunt Emily had been the two good fairies who had wrought the +transformation through the medium of a Christmas-box, which had +contained bountiful gifts for the whole Yorke family. + +And now Captain and Mrs. Yorke were to come to the city on the very +next day, accompanied by the--to Jim, at least--objectionable Theodore. +Mrs. Yorke, whose crippled condition sadly interfered with her comfort +and usefulness in life, was to be placed immediately under the care of +our own family physician, who had become interested in her case during +a visit paid to us at the seashore during the previous summer; and aunt +Emily had secured a comfortable abiding-place for her, not very far +from our own home, where the children, whom she adored, and mammy could +often run in to see her, and where the elder members of the family +could now and then pay her a visit. The captain was to remain with her, +or not, as his inclination might prompt; but uncle Rutherford thought, +that, the novelty of city sights and sounds once exhausted, the old man +would prefer to return to his accustomed haunts by the sea. Theodore +was to board with his grandparents, and to begin school with the New +Year; at the same time, and--alas! for the inexpediency of uncle +Rutherford's arrangements--in the same school, with Jim. + +Such were the plans which had been made for the Yorkes, and the junior +portion of our household were in a state of eager expectation over +their approaching arrival; the desire to witness the old seaman's first +impressions of a city life, and his own conduct therein, being strong +within us. + +"We'll give him a good time, and get lots of fun out of it for +ourselves," said Norman and Douglas, who proposed to be his pioneers. + +As for Bill and Jim, there was no telling what manner of projects they +might have formed for his edification, and their own amusement and his; +and father considered it necessary to bid Milly give them a word of +warning not to practise on the credulity of the old sailor, as they had +at times been wont to do while we were at the seashore. + +"And what about the mercantile enterprise of that youth, with so many +irons in the fire?" asked uncle Rutherford, when dinner was over, and +the door closed behind the retreating servants, while we still lingered +around the table; the little girls having been allowed to come down to +dessert. "How does the peanut-business flourish, Milly? You are posted, +I suppose." + +"Not so thoroughly as Allie and Daisy," answered Milly. "I understand +that it is flourishing; but, if you wish for minute particulars, you +must apply to them." + +Allie, hearing what was passing, forthwith dived into the depths of her +small pocket, and produced from thence a miniature account-book, saying +triumphantly as she did so,-- + +"Jim's sold the first bag of peanuts, and bought another, and then sold +that; and now he's bought _two_ at once, and"--opening the book, and +poring over it,--"and he's made--see, uncle Rutherford, here it is," +and she pointed out a row of crooked, childish, illegible figures; to +be understood, doubtless, by the initiated, but Greek to uncle +Rutherford. + +"How does the boy manage to keep account of his business?" asked uncle +Rutherford, returning the book to Allie, as wise as when she handed it +to him, but not confessing his ignorance. + +"By preparing himself for a dyspeptic existence," said Milly. "He +swallows his meals in haste, Thomas says, and rushes from the table, +and around to the Fourth Avenue to receive Tony's report, and be back +in time for his work. Nor is he always quite in time, I imagine; but +Thomas is indulgent and patient, and Bill helps him. I understand that +the little cripples are really making fair sales, and Jim is reaping +quite a harvest." + +"Yes, uncle Rutherford knows that by my 'count-book," said unsuspicious +Allie. "Read it aloud, please, uncle, so they can all hear." + +"Hm--hm, yes, my dear; but I do not like to read aloud after dinner," +said uncle Rutherford, still forbearing to enlighten her innocence. + +"It isn't so _much_ reading," murmured Allie, rather hurt, for she +was an over-sensitive child, prone to imagine slights, and, as we know, +given to ready tears. "I'll tell you, people;" and she proceeded to +give the amount made by Jim since he had established the peanut-stand, +with its various divisions for the separate objects of his benevolence +and ambition. The latter figured under the head of "For to be +President;" and if her accounts, or, rather, Jim's as set down by her, +were to be trusted, he had really done very well in the stand business. + +"We know two deforms," quoth Daisy, solemnly, as Allie closed; "one +deform is very nice and good, and the ofer is horrid and scratching. +One is Captain Yorke's, and the ofer is Jim's peanut-stand girl. But we +have to be good to the cross deform, 'cause God made her that way. +Allie and I are going to try and make her nice and pleasant, too." + +"She thinks we're proud, and only like to go to see her, and show her +our nice dolls and things, to make her feel sorry," said Allie; "Tony +said so. And she turns her hump at us, and makes faces at us, and +_won't_ think we want to be good to her. She thinks we're proud at her, +'cause she has to sell peanuts." + +"You go and sell peanuts, then, and show her you're not too proud to do +it," said Douglas, carelessly, and certainly with no thought that the +suggestion would ever be acted upon. + +"We needn't to have been afraid about Mrs. Yorke's fit-to-be-seenedness," +said Allie, hopping delightedly around on one foot, the day after the +arrival of the Yorkes, and on her return from her first visit to them. +"Why, she does look so nice; just as nice as mammy in her Sunday +clothes. She looks almost lady." + +"Yes, she does, and it don't make any dif'ence, if she _behaves_ lady," +said Daisy; "and I fink she always behaves _very_ lady. Mamma," with a +sudden and startling change of subject, "if somebody told you you could +do somefing to help somebody, oughtn't you to do it?" + +"Yes, my darling, if you can," answered mother, rather oblivious, to +tell the truth, of the child's earnestness in putting the question; for +she was at the moment writing an answer to a note which had been just +brought in. + +"And it's very nice to do the kind fing, and not speak about it, isn't +it?" questioned Daisy. + +"Very, dear," answered mother, still only half hearing the little one, +and far from thinking that she was supposed to be giving her sanction +to a most unheard of proceeding. + +Mrs. Yorke's attire and general appearance proved satisfactory even to +fastidious Miss Allie and myself; indeed, she would have passed muster +among any hundred elderly women of the respectable middle class; and +there was nothing whatever about her to attract special attention, +unless one turned again for a second look at the kind, motherly old +face. There was a sort of natural refinement about her, too, which made +her adapt herself with some ease to her unaccustomed surroundings. + +As for the captain, he was a hopeless subject for those who had an eye +to fashion or the commonplace. No amount of attempts at smoothing or +trimming him down, no efforts at personal adornment in his case, could +make of him any thing but what he was, here in the great city, as well +as at his seaside home, the typical old sea-faring man, rough, hearty, +simple, and good-natured, garrulous to excess, as we had often proved, +and not to be polished, or made what he called "cityfied." + +"'Tain't no sort of use whitewashin' the old hulk," he asserted; "an' I +guess my Sunday clo's, as is good enough for the Lord's meetin'-house +up to the Pint, is got to be good enough for these messed-up city +streets; an' ye can't make no bricky-bracky outer me." + +To the boys he was a source of unmixed delight, both to our own young +brothers, and to the two servant-lads; and no care for the eyes or +comments of the world troubled any one of them when he happened to be +under their escort. And little Daisy was equally independent, or +perhaps too innocent to take any heed of such matters. + +A feverish, influenza cold confined both Allie and mammy to the house +for a day or two soon after the arrival of the Yorkes in the city, and +Daisy was consequently obliged to be confided to the care of others +when she took her walks. + +She had been out driving one afternoon with mother and aunt Emily; and +they, having an engagement for "a tea," to which they could not take +her, brought her home. At the foot of our front-steps stood Captain +Yorke, complacently basking in the almost April sunshine, and amusing +himself by gazing up and down the street, and across the park, on which +our house fronted. It was an exceptionally beautiful day for the time +of year, soft, balmy, and springlike. + +"Ye won't git another like it to-morrer; two sich don't come together +this time o' year," said the captain, as mother, greeting him, remarked +on the loveliness of the weather. "Ye kin look out for a gale to close +out the year with, I reckon. There's mischief brewin' over yonder," +pointing to where a bank of clouds lay low upon the southwestern +horizon. "Ye'd best take yer fill of bein' out doors to-day." + +"Yes," said Daisy, pleadingly, "it's so nice and pleasant. Mamma, +couldn't some of the servants take me out a little more? I don't want +to go in yet." + +"Leave her along of me, Mis' Livin'stone," said the old man. "Me an' +her'll take care of one another." + +Daisy beamed at the proposition; and mother had not the heart to refuse +her, or the old sailor. + +"Well," she said, "you may stay out a while with the captain; but only +on condition that you both promise not to go far from the house, but +remain either on the Square, or on this block. You see, captain," she +continued, "Daisy is too little to pilot you about, and you are too +much of a stranger in the city to be a guide for her beyond the +neighborhood of home. If you want to leave her, or she tires, just take +her to the door, and ring the bell for her. Or perhaps you will go in +yourself, and see Allie and mammy.--They cannot go astray or get into +any trouble so near home," she said to aunt Emily, when she had given +her orders, and the carriage moved on, leaving Daisy and the captain +standing side by side on the pavement, the little one with her tiny +hand clasped in the toil-worn palm of the veteran. + +"Impossible!" said aunt Emily; "and the captain is as good as any +nurse, you know. I would quite as soon trust her with him as with +mammy." + +But aunt Emily, and mother too, had forgotten to take into account the +captain's deficiency of a sense of the fitness of things,--at least, of +matters appertaining to a city-life. + +He and Daisy rambled contentedly up and down the block, from one corner +to another, for some time, she prattling away to him, and enlightening +his ignorance so far as she was able, until, at last, they +unfortunately touched upon Jim's affairs. + +"Let's go round an' buy some peanuts outer Jim's stand," said the +captain. "'Tain't far, ye know." + +"No," answered obedient Daisy, "not far; but mamma said we mustn't go +way from sight of our house, fear we would be lost, and we'd be way +from sight of it if we went to Jim's peanut-stand. But, Captain Yorke, +Matty is cross wif Allie and me, 'cause she finks we're proud 'cause we +don't sell peanuts; and Douglas says I ought to sell peanuts, so she'll +know I'm not proud. Do you fink we could sell a few peanuts now? I know +where Jim keeps 'em." + +"Wal, I reckon ye kin sell peanuts, my pretty, if ye have 'em to sell," +answered the old man, seeing no reason why Daisy should not have her +own way, and perhaps scenting a little diversion for himself in the +project; "but if ye can't go round to t'other street, how are ye goin' +to get 'em?" + +"Oh, Jim keeps 'em--his bags of peanuts--out in a pantry under our +back-stoop," said Daisy; "and ev'y morning Tony comes for some to sell. +We'll go in, and ask some of the servants to give us some, and then +we'll sell 'em." + +If "some of the servants" had been found, this unprecedented plan would +have met with due interference; but it so happened, that they were all +scattered at their various avocations in different parts of the house, +and none were in the kitchen save old Mary Jane, to whom Daisy knew +better than to appeal on behalf of any interests of Jim's. She was busy +grinding coffee; and the noise of the mill prevented her from hearing +the footsteps of the invaders of her domain, who passed through the +basement-hall, and out of the back-door, where, although they found no +one to help them, Daisy, to her great delight, discovered the key of +the closet in the lock. To open the door, bid the captain take down an +empty basket, which hung on a hook, and to fill this with peanuts from +an open bag, was but the work of a few moments; the captain's huge +hands scooping up the nuts in quantities, and soon accomplishing the +task. Then, arming themselves with a tin cup, which they also found +near at hand, by way of a measure, the two conspirators once more stole +past the unconscious Mary Jane, and out into the street, the captain +bearing the basket. + +[Illustration: "TWO RATHER UNUSUAL FIGURES TO BE ENGAGED IN SUCH + AN OCCUPATION."--_Page_ 145.] + +"Shall we sell 'em on our stoop?" asked Daisy, all this time quite +guiltless of any intention of wrong-doing. + +"I reckon ye'd best go down to the corner there, where the two streets +comes together," answered the captain, pointing to where a +much-frequented cross-street intersected our avenue. "Them's my +opinions, for I see lots more folks walkin' that way than this." + +Unfortunately, Daisy saw the force of his reasoning; and the two +innocents had presently established themselves, quite to their own +satisfaction, on this public corner. + +It was not long before they attracted sufficient attention, for they +were two rather unusual looking figures to be engaged in such an +occupation, to say nothing of the contrast between them; the +weather-beaten, rugged, by no means handsome old sailor standing guard, +as it were, over the daintily dressed little child with her beautiful, +beaming face, and winning ways. + +Custom flowed in without delay, the captain not hesitating to hail the +passers-by, and to direct their attention to the tiny saleswoman before +him; while she, with her sweet voice, pleading, "Please buy some +peanuts to help some poor children;" and her attractive air and +appearance was irresistible. + +Fortunately for the pecuniary interests of the firm, or, rather, of the +capitalist whom they represented, Daisy knew from the boys the price +that the peanuts should be; and the captain, who, spite of his +simplicity, had a keen eye to business, and who was accustomed to +peddling about "the Point" during the summer season, constituted +himself cash-taker, and saw that she received her dues. + +But public curiosity was naturally excited by the unusual situation, +and presently both Daisy and Captain Yorke were besieged with +questions, which the latter resented as implying a distrust of his +ability to care for the child. Truly, it might well be doubted. But +this was no check upon custom, and the stock in the basket at Daisy's +feet speedily dwindled down. The bottom had nearly been reached, when a +policeman sauntered by on the other side of the street; and, being +attracted by the gathering on the corner,--for those who came to buy, +in many cases remained to admire,--he crossed over to ascertain the +cause. Great was his astonishment, and small his approbation, when he +discovered the state of things; for he knew our children by sight, and +could not but be aware that such doings as these could not be with the +approbation of Daisy's family. + +"Why, that is--isn't that Mr. Livingstone's little girl?" he asked of +the captain. + +The captain nodded; he was too busily engaged in keeping an eye on the +money Daisy received, to do more. + +"Well, if ever I saw a thing like this!" ejaculated the guardian of the +peace. "To see a little lady like that--my dear, do your pa and ma know +what you're a doing?" + +"No, not yet," answered Daisy; who looked with cordial eye upon all +policemen, as being, according to her code, the defenders of the right, +and avengers of the wrong.--"No, not yet; I'll tell them by and by, and +they'll be glad, 'cause they like me to do a kindness, and not speak +about it." + +"_Will_ they?" said the policeman, with a clearer insight into the +fitness of things, than was possessed by Daisy or the old sailor. "Now, +my little lady, you've got to go straight home; I know what your pa and +ma will say. You come right along home, like a good child." + +"Now, you let her alone," interposed Captain Yorke. "'Tain't no case +for the law, 'sposin' her folks don't like it; an' I'll wager they do." + +"You old lunatic," said the policeman, "what are you encouragin' of her +for? Who ever saw a little lady like that sellin' peanuts in the +streets! I ain't goin' to allow it nohow; it's drawin' a crowd; and, as +to the law, she nor you ain't any right to be sellin' 'em here without +a license.--Come along home, little Miss." + +But here a new actor appeared upon the scene, and prevented any further +opposition on the part of the captain. This was Jim, who was returning +from an errand; and, seeing Captain Yorke's tall figure standing by the +lamp-post with an unmistakably belligerent expression in every line, he +elbowed his way through the fast increasing crowd, and stood astonished +and dismayed before Daisy. + +"Miss Daisy, whatever do you mean by this? You sellin' peanuts here in +the street!" + +"Matty Blair does," faltered Daisy, beginning, by virtue of all these +various protests, to see that perhaps she might have strayed from the +way in which she should go. + +"Matty Blair!" ejaculated Jim, again. "Well, Miss Daisy, I guess Matty +Blair's one, an' you're another. Won't your pa an' ma, an' all of 'em, +be mad, though!" + +"So I was sayin'," said the policeman, who was quite well acquainted +with Jim; "and now, youngster, the best thing you can do is to take the +little lady home, and tell her folks to look out for her better than to +put her under the care of this old know-nothing." + +This entirely met Jim's views; and, snatching up the almost empty +basket, he seized the hand of the now frightened Daisy, and hurried her +homeward, leaving the policeman and the captain exchanging compliments +until such time as the latter saw fit to retire from the field, and +hasten to our house to deliver up the results of poor Daisy's sale. + +It may be imagined what consternation reigned in the Livingstone +household, when this escapade of its youngest member came to light; +while the grief and bewilderment of that little damsel herself, who +had, in all good faith, believed that she had mother's sanction for her +course, were pitiable to witness. As for Jim, not even the gratifying +pecuniary results could nullify his mortification at the disgrace which +he believed to have fallen upon the family, especially his beloved Miss +Daisy; and he found it hard to forgive the captain, who had encouraged +and abetted her. + +"Philanthropy has certainly seized upon this family to an alarming +extent," said Bessie Sandford, when she heard the story, "but I +_wish_ that I had been there to see pet Daisy at her post acting +peanut-vender." + +How far Daisy's effort to prove to Matty that she "was not proud" +affected that young cripple, could not be told; but she did not fail to +hear of the thing from Jim. + +As for Captain Yorke, he received his full share of reprimand, and +caution for the future, from his wife, who, all unaccustomed as she, +too, was to city ways, had far more natural sense of what was fitting +and advisable. + +"If I could but go round with him to keep him up to the mark, Mrs. +Livingstone," she said, when apologizing to mother for the captain's +share in the late escapade; "but, bless you, dear lady, he's more of a +child than little Daisy herself, when he's out of his usual bearings. I +think he's best off at home, with Jabez and Matildy Jane to look after +him, when I can't." + +And she sighed heavily, as if the responsibility were too much for her. + +But the captain could not be brought to this view of the case. He was +enjoying himself in his own way among the city sights and sounds. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +NOT ON THE PROGRAMME. + + +Uncle Rutherford stood at the far end of the great schoolroom, awaiting +the admission of his two candidates for its privileges and +opportunities. It was the opening-day after the conclusion of the +Christmas holidays; and half a dozen boys, besides Theodore Yorke and +Jim, had presented themselves as new scholars, and they now stood +before the principal,--Theodore at one end of the line, and Jim at the +other. + +"What is your name?" asked the principal of Theodore; to which the boy +responded simply, "Theodore Yorke," and then answered in like manner +the few more questions put to him relative to age and so forth; and the +gentleman passed down the line till he came to Jim. + +"What is your name?" + +To uncle Rutherford's consternation, Jim, straightening himself up, +answered in a loud, confident tone, "Jim,"--he had meant to say +"James," but the more familiar appellation escaped him,--"Jim Grant +Garfield Rutherford Livingstone Washington;" and then glanced down the +line as if to say, "Beat that if you can!" + +A titter ran around the room, speedily checked by the stern eye of the +principal, and one or two of the new boys giggled outright; but Jim, +with head erect, and fearless eyes fixed upon the master, was unmoved, +perhaps did not even guess that the merriment was caused by himself. + +The principal found it necessary to caress his whiskers a little, then +said,-- + +"Good names, my boy, every one of them. Try to prove worthy to bear +them. Your age?" + +This and the other needful preliminaries being settled, the new boys +were turned over to the examiners, to have their classes and position +in the school defined; and uncle Rutherford made his exit, only too +thankful that the irrepressible Jim had not added to his list of +high-sounding appellations, "President that is to be of these United +States." + +School discipline, of course, had, for the time, restrained the gibes +and sneers, the open laugh, which would have greeted Jim's announcement +of his adopted name or names; but the time was only deferred. The joke +was, to the schoolboy mind, too good to be lost; and when the recess +came, and the boys were for a while at liberty, Jim became the target +for many sorry witticisms, and "Jim Grant Garfield Rutherford +Livingstone Washington" was called from all sides of the playground in +almost as many tones of mockery as there were boys; and Jim speedily +found that he had taken too much upon himself for his own comfort. The +"Grant Garfield" had been an after-thought, and he had been prompted +thereto by hearing another boy give his name--to which he was probably +justly entitled--as "George William Winfield Scott Jones." Jim was not +going to be outdone, or to be satisfied with four names, when here was +a fellow with five; hence the "Grant Garfield" on the spur of the +moment. + +Milly had feared that even the "Rutherford Livingstone Washington" +would excite derisive comment; and when she heard uncle Rutherford's +report of Jim's further adoption of great names, she groaned in spirit, +and awaited with sundry apprehensions his return from school, fearing +that his excitable temper might have been provoked into some +manifestation, which would not only affect his creditable entrance into +the school, but also his standing with uncle Rutherford. + +But Jim had a check upon himself whereof Milly wot not; namely, that he +knew of the prize to be secured in case he gained the approbation of +uncle Rutherford,--a prize which, as we know, he was more anxious to +win for the sake of defeating Theodore Yorke than for the attainment of +the scholarship itself. + +So, although he had to put a strong restraint upon himself, and was +inwardly boiling with wrath and indignation, he bore the gibes and +sneers with the utmost self-command, and apparently unfailing +good-nature, till Theodore Yorke, who had made himself at home among +his new surroundings as readily as Jim had done, joined in the +"chaffing" with a vim and bitterness which could have their source only +in a feeling of personal spite and hatred. + +"Jim Grant Garfield Rutherford Livingstone Washington," he repeated; +"and he hasn't a right to _one_ of the names, unless it's Jim. He +hasn't got any name; nobody knows what his name is, or who he is, or +where he came from. He hasn't got any folks, either." + +This was wounding poor Jim in the tenderest point, as the amiable +Theodore well knew; and it was more than his victim could well stand. + +"And I'd rather have no folks at all than have such as yours," he +shouted, almost beside himself with rage at this exposure of that which +he considered to be his disgrace. Then suddenly recalled to a sense of +his regard for this boy's grandparents, Captain and Mrs. Yorke, and of +all the kindness he had received from them,--for a hearty gratitude for +favors received was one of the strongest features of Jim's +character,--he hastened to set matters in their true light; "at least, +such a father as they tell yours was. If I had a gran'father or +gran'mother like yours, there couldn't be none better; but if I had a +father was such a scallywag as yours, I say a good sight better have +none. And you ain't a bit like the old folks, neither; you're another +such a one as your father. _I_ wouldn't own such a one!" + +This tirade was interspersed with other expressions more forcible than +choice, and which are better omitted; and, as may be supposed, it did +not tend to mend matters. Recrimination followed recrimination; insults +from one to another went from bad to worse, Theodore being even more of +an adept in such language than Jim, who had always been considered a +proficient; and one of the teachers came upon the playground just in +time to see Jim deal a furious blow at his opponent, who caught sight +of the master before he had returned it, which he would otherwise +doubtless have done; and who immediately assumed an air of innocent, +injured virtue, too lofty-minded and forgiving to return the blow. + +As the rules against fighting within school bounds were particularly +severe, Jim's was a heinous offence. He was sternly called to order and +reprimanded with severity; and although, in consideration of his being +a new boy, he was let off with this, he began his school career +somewhat under a cloud; while Theodore posed as a martyr, and a boy +with a regard for school discipline,--to his teachers,--but the other +boys knew better, and with few exceptions espoused Jim's cause, and at +once pronounced Theodore the "sneak" and "bully" that he was. But that +was small comfort to Jim, who, on coming home, had to report, as he +truthfully did, that he had failed to keep his temper on this the very +first day of his entrance into the school. + +Milly consoled and encouraged him as best she might, bidding him to +take heart and to struggle even harder for the future, and being very +sparing of blame for his share in the quarrel. + +Fate, as short-sighted and with as dull an eye to expediency as uncle +Rutherford, had decreed not only that the two boys, Jim and Theodore, +should be in the same school, but, their attainments being of about the +same range, that they should be put into the same class, an arrangement +which did not tend to the maintenance of the peace so much to be +desired. + +But, in spite of his unlucky beginning, Jim speedily became a favorite +in the school, both with masters and schoolmates. His frank, merry +ways, obliging disposition, ready wit, and quickness at repartee, soon +gained him a host of friends on the playground; while his evident +desire to make progress in his studies,--wherein he had a stimulus +unsuspected by any one but Bill,--his sturdy truthfulness, and general +obedience to rules and regulations, won him golden opinions from those +in authority. Ambition, whether for greater or lesser aims, was Jim's +ruling passion, and now he had so many spurs to urge him on; for, added +to his own personal aspirations and the determination to prove himself +a credit to his benefactors, was the overwhelming desire to outstrip +Theodore, and wrest from him the prize. + +Milly noticed, whenever he reported progress to her, that there was a +certain sort of repressed excitability about him, a wistful nervousness +very foreign to his assured independence and self-confidence, and he +several times seemed as if he were going to make some disclosure to +her; all of which made his young mistress think that he had something +on his mind which he was half inclined to impart to her, although he +could not quite resolve to do so. She bided her time, however, being +sure that it would come sooner or later, and only now and then tried to +open the way by asking him if he had any thing further to tell her. + +But the only result of this would be a shame-faced embarrassment and a +sheepish denial, followed by an evident desire to cut short the +interview. + +When Jim had been at school about a month, making, according to the +reports of his teachers, who were closely questioned by uncle +Rutherford, fair progress with his studies, and showing a self-command +and control over his temper which had not been expected from him after +the fiery outburst of the first day, an incident occurred which would +have afforded him an opportunity for mortifying Theodore, had he not +been restrained by a motive which was stronger than his antagonism to +his rival. + +The vagaries and peculiarities of Captain Yorke, with his ignorance and +indifference to city ways and manners, had more than once drawn public +notice upon him; the episode of Daisy as a peanut-vender, with the old +sailor as her aider and abetter, being but a trifling circumstance +compared to some others; and Mrs. Yorke was in constant terror lest he +should in some way make himself more notorious than would prove +agreeable. + +About this time, a celebrated actor was performing in the city in the +farce of "Dundreary Married," wherein Lord Dundreary having, as the +title indicates, taken to himself a wife, falls beneath the tyranny of +a domineering mother-in-law, to whom he submits till submission becomes +intolerable, when he turns upon her, asserts himself, and proclaims +himself master in his own house. + +Our boys, Norman and Douglas, having seen the farce in company with the +rest of the family, and having been greatly amused by it, conceived the +idea of treating the captain to a sight of the same; and, having +obtained father's permission to do so, they invited the old man to an +evening's entertainment. + +"Wa'al," he drawled with his usual deliberation when considering any +matter, "I don' care if I do. When I was a youngster, I was brung up to +think play-actin' was a sin, an' I'd about as soon a thought of shakin' +han's with the evil one hisself, as of goin' to the theayter; but +either I've gotten wiser as I've gotten older, or else maybe the +play-actin' folks has gotten better behaved; but times is changed +somehow, an' I seen some play-actin' in the hotel down to the P'int, +an' they was real ladies an' gentlemen did it, too. I was a peepin' in +at the winders more'n once; an' the hotel-keepers, Mr. Loydd an' Mr. +Field, if they didn't come, one one time, an' t'other another, an' +bring me into the hall an' near to the doors where I could see +fust-rate. An' I didn't see no harm onto it. The play-actors was very +pretty behaved, an' I didn't see no breakin' of comman'ments. I never +could see what folks wanted to purtend they was other folks for, and +sometimes to go a-talkin' as if they was come out of by-gone days. But +if you're for takin' me to the theayter, I reckon I won't come to no +harm by it. Enyhow, I know ye've got to come to city ways when ye're to +the city; folks kinder look daggers at ye ef ye don't. There's the +landlady to the house where me and Mis' Yorke puts up; she's the best, +an allers doin' for Mis' Yorke, an' come an' sit with her an' talk--my +talk by the hour she will, straight on, like as she'd been woun' up; +an' she come yesterday, all kin' of fussy like, an' her face red, an' +she says, says she, 'Captain Yorke,' says she, 'ef ye wouldn't mind me +askin' a little favor of ye?'" + +"'Sartinly not, ma'am,' says I; an' I was reckonin' she was wantin' to +borrer money. But what do ye s'pose it was, Norman? She goes and she +says, says she, kinder hesitatin' like yet, 'Would ye mind, capt'in, +a-eatin' with yer fork, 'stead of yer knife? Miss Jarvis, what sits +next ye at the table, she's kinder narvous, an' she says it sets her +teeth on edge, an' she says she can't stan' it; an' she's my best +payin' boarder, bein' she has the second-story front an' back; an' it +would obleege me, ef ye don't min'.' + +"'Jes' as lief eat off ten forks, ma'am,' says I, 'ef it suits ye an' +Mis' Jarvis. I been a-noticin' she was kinder pernikity like an' fussy, +an' kinder offish with me; but if it's the difference of knives or +forks, the best payin' boarder ain't goin' to be hurt by me.' But, +boys! I didn't know by a long shot what I was a-promisin'. I tell ye, +the knife would keep goin' up the nateral way as it was used to; an' +yesterday I didn't get no kind of a dinner, nor a breakfast this +mornin', thinkin' of that pesky fork. So to-day I was boun' I'd get my +dinner; so I cuts it up an' spoon-victuals it, for fear of hurtin' the +feelin's of the best payin' boarder. City ways is uncommon troublesome, +when ye ain't let eat the way is most handy. But I don't care if I go +to the theayter with ye. I never see the inside of one of them places." + +"Oh, a real theatre is nothing like the dining-rooms of the hotels, +where you saw the amateur theatricals," said the posted Norman; "and +father wouldn't let us go if it were any harm. He said we could take +you, captain." + +"No; an' I reckon the governor wouldn't be for goin' to no place he +shouldn't go," said the captain reflectively. "An' he was along of you +t'other night, wasn't he?" + +Norman and Douglas, anxious to overcome any scruples the old man might +have, assured him that uncle Rutherford went quite often to the +"theayter," and thus quieted any remaining qualms of conscience which +he might have; for Captain Yorke pinned his faith on uncle Rutherford, +and all that the governor did was right in his eyes. So the expedition +to the theatre was arranged to the satisfaction of my brothers, who +anticipated much amusement in watching the impression the play would +make upon the unsophisticated old veteran. + +But a shock was in store for them which they had not foreseen; for the +amount of observation which the captain saw fit to draw upon the party +was almost too much for even their well-seasoned boyish nerves. + +For the sake of obtaining an uninterrupted view of the stage, the boys +had secured seats which the event proved to be too conspicuous for +their comfort. No sooner were they all seated than the captain began +with his comments and criticisms, his "them's my opinions," in a manner +and tone which they vainly strove to moderate. Fortunately they were in +the main complimentary and approving; and the old seaman's quaint +appearance, his evidently childlike ignorance and inexperience, +diverted those of the audience who were within hearing, and led them to +be indulgent to his rather obtrusive reflections upon men and things. + +"Wal," he said, gazing around and above him, up at the lofty frescoed +ceiling, the sparkling crystal chandelier, the rich curtains, and other +adornments of the house,--"wal, it does beat all! It goes ahead of any +meetin'-house I ever see; an', I say, 'tain't fair on the Almighty to +be makin' a better place for to be pleasurin' in, than what we makes +for him to be praised in. Yes, sir; an' them's my opinions, an' I +stands by 'em. What's them folks up in them little cubby-holes fur?" +pointing to the boxes. "Oh," as Douglas explained, "they's high an' +mighty, be they? can't set along of the multitude? Wal, every man, an' +woman too, to her own likin'; I'd as lief be here. Seems kinder +conspicuous like, settin' up thar, an' whiles I ain't ashamed to show +my face afore no man, I don't hanker after settin' up to be stared at." + +Happily the occupants of the boxes were beyond the reach of his voice, +or at least of the tenor of his remarks; but the boys were on +tenterhooks lest their garrulous companion should give offence. But +from the moment that the curtain went up, and the mimic scene presented +itself to his gaze, he sat spell-bound and silent, perfectly absorbed +in the vivid portrayal of the chief character in the drama. + +The great actor appeared first in the rôle of a celebrated man of his +own profession, an actor of bygone days, whose name will always be +famous; and from the moment that he stepped upon the stage, it was all +reality to Captain Yorke. There was no "pretendin' he was other folks," +to him, as it had been when he had witnessed the amateur theatricals +and tableaux at the Point; and with a hand upon either knee, he leaned +eagerly forward, his eyes fixed upon the scene before him, and +absolutely speechless in his breathless interest. But when the curtain +came down after the first act, he broke forth again to the edification +and delight of those within hearing. Ladies listened and smiled at the +simple-hearted old man; and gentlemen, who were near enough, encouraged +him to ramble on, evidently considering him a novel species of +entertainment, second only to that which was passing upon the stage. He +was a character as good as any there. + +Norman, enchanted with the sensation his charge was making, would put +no check upon him; but the more shrinking Douglas was not so well +pleased. Still, seeing that no offence was given, but rather the +contrary, he possessed his soul in patience, devoutly wishing, however, +that it was time for the close of the performance, which, under these +circumstances, afforded him no pleasure. And as the captain's +excitement grew with each succeeding act, and the encouragement of +those about him, and he grew more and more superior to considerations +of time and place, Douglas would fain have quitted his seat and the +theatre; and was only restrained from doing so, because he thought it +would be mean to leave Norman in the lurch. + +At length came the farce "Dundreary Married;" and the captain, who, it +afterwards appeared, had in former years suffered divers things at the +hand of an obnoxious mother-in-law, grew more excited than ever, and +became furiously indignant, not only at the all-assuming lady, but also +at the supine Dundreary, who allowed himself to be thus imposed upon. +He grumbled and muttered, and really seemed as if he would make for the +stage, as he said, "to give the old creetur a piece of his mind." Even +Norman was now uneasy lest he should make more demonstration than was +meet, while Douglas did his best to induce both his companions to come +out; but the captain was immovable, and not to be persuaded. Indeed, he +scarcely seemed to heed Douglas's arguments, so intent was he on the +fortunes of the persecuted husband. His delight when that hero showed +symptoms of some spirit was unbounded; and when at last he roused +himself altogether from the _laisser aller_ which had suffered so long +and patiently, and fairly bade the lady leave his house and his wife to +his own authority and protection, the old man sprang to his feet, and, +waving his hat in the air, exclaimed in a voice which rang in +stentorian tones through the house,-- + +"Pitch into her, my lad! Give it to her! That's right. Pitch into the +mother-in-law!" + +The effect, as may be imagined, was electric. There was a moment's +pause, then a laugh; then, as Norman and Douglas fairly dragged and +hustled the captain into his seat, the inimitable actor bowed and waved +his hand to the old man, who had, as it were, paid such an involuntary +tribute to his powers; and the next moment a storm of applause broke +forth, in compliment to both, it would appear,--to the gratified actor, +who had thrown his spell over the guileless old sailor to such an +extent as to render him insensible to aught else, and to the innocent +spectator who had been thus impressed by his matchless impersonations. +As the performance came to a close, and the audience were leaving the +house, the captain the centre of all eyes around him, an usher made his +way to him, bearing a request from the star that he would step behind +the scenes and shake hands with him. + +Nothing loath, the captain readily consented, inviting the boys to go +with him; but this Douglas, much disturbed by the notoriety of the +evening, flatly refused, while bold Norman, who had no fear of man +before his eyes, agreed to accompany him. Indeed, it was not safe to +lose sight of him; there was no knowing of what vagaries the captain +might be guilty if he were left entirely to his own devices. Norman +felt that he was capable of any thing, and that he must keep a secure +hold upon him. Moreover, the old man was not at all familiar with the +city streets, and he must be guided safely to his boarding-house. + +When they arrived behind the scenes, the great actor shook hands +heartily with the old seaman, thanking him for the tribute which he had +paid him. But here the captain's enthusiasm fell flat. Meeting the +object of his sympathy face to face, and as man to man, and finding +that the interesting scenes he had just witnessed were but an +inimitable mimicry, was a great disappointment; and he seemed to feel +wronged and defrauded in some way. + +"There warn't nothin' real about it," he said indignantly and in a hurt +tone to the boys, as they took their way homeward. "There warn't +nothin' true at all. There bean't no mother-in-law, nor wife, nor +nothin'; there warn't even any chap with the long whiskers, for it +warn't hisself at all, though he said it was--that t'other one shook +han's with me, and said I'd give him a big compliment. 'Twas all +purtendin' an' makin' b'lieve. It's a shame an' a sin for to go makin' +out so life-like ye are what ye ain't, an' takin' folks in so. It's +kinder cheatin' play, _I_ think; an' Mis' Yorke, she wurn't jes' so +easy in her min' 'bout me goin' to the theayter, an' I reckon I've come +to her way of thinkin'; an' thank ye kindly, boys, but there'll be no +more theayter-goin' fur me. The Scriptur says, 'A fool an' his money is +soon parted,' an'--meanin' no ungratefulness to you, boys--I've faith +to b'lieve it; for it's not good manners, neither good deeds, to make +out that way, an' take folks in. An' them's my opinions, an' I'll stan' +by 'em!" + +The last thing the boys heard, as the door of his temporary home closed +upon him, was, "No more theayters for me; they're clean agin' +Scriptur." + +This, of course, was great fun for our frolicsome Norman, always ready +for a joke or a good story; and although Douglas had not taken +unalloyed pleasure in the events of the evening, he, too, could see the +droll side of them now that they were over. They were rehearsed with +great glee at the breakfast-table the next morning; and it occurred to +me that here, if he chose to use it, was the opportunity for Jim to +revenge himself for some of the sneers cast upon him by Theodore Yorke. +I was wicked enough, however, not to suggest the idea to any one else, +lest a word of warning or counsel should restrain him; and in the +sequel Jim proved himself far the better Christian of the two, in spite +of the superior advantages which had always been mine. + +This happened to be Friday, when he brought home from school his weekly +report, which he always took at once to Milly. The record for this week +proved an unusually favorable one; but he had more to add to this. + +"Miss Milly," he said, after she had expressed her pleasure at the +progress he was making and at his standing in "conduct,"--"Miss Milly, +I was real forgivin' an' like livin' up to the mark you sot us for +doin' unto others, in school to-day. But it does come awful hard, when +you get the chance to pay off a feller, to let it slip; an' I don't +know as I could have done it if it hadn't been for thinkin' of the old +captain himself, an' how good he'd been to me, an' that I wouldn't like +to go back on _him_." + +Light flashed upon Milly. The boy had been tempted to make use of the +occurrences of the preceding evening to revenge himself upon Theodore +Yorke for his previous slights and insults; and had refrained, chiefly +from loyalty to his old friend, it is true, but, perhaps, partly +prompted by the wish to do right. + +It had so happened, that two boys in the class had been at the theatre +also, and had been witnesses of the captain's antics, but without +knowing who he was, or of his connection with Theodore. In recess they +told the story, doubtless with more or less of exaggeration, of the old +countryman who had made himself so conspicuous and--according to their +showing--so ridiculous at last night's entertainment. + +Of course Jim at once recognized the hero of the tale; but not so +Theodore, his grandfather having, for a wonder, preserved a discreet +silence on the subject, being totally unaware that he had exhibited +himself in an unusual way on the occasion. Perhaps the poor captain had +felt a little mortified that he had been so carried away by that which +was, after all, "on'y pretendin'," and did not care to rehearse his +experience. + +However that may be, Theodore had heard nothing of it, and laughed and +jeered with the other boys at the more than graphic relation of his two +schoolmates. + +Strong was the temptation to Jim to expose him, and to draw upon his +enemy the laugh which must follow; but, to his credit be it said, he +refrained, except in so far as to give him a knowing look which +conveyed to that amiable youth the conviction that it was no other than +his grandfather who was furnishing food for merriment to half the +school, and that Jim was aware of it and held this rod over him. The +knowledge that this was so was not calculated to soften Theodore's +animosity toward Jim. Disposed as he was to raise a laugh or a sneer at +the expense of another, he could not endure them himself; and to feel +that he was thus in the power of the boy whom he hated, was intolerable +to him. From this time, however, it gave him a wholesome awe of Jim, +and proved a check upon him; and "Jim Grant Garfield Rutherford +Livingstone Washington" rang less often over the playground, now that +he ceased to lead in the cry upon the claimant of so many names. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +MATTY. + + +"Amy, what are you pondering?" + +"Men and things in general and their iniquities in particular; my own +not being included, they being nothing worth speaking of," I answered, +rather evasively, not being disposed at present to make public the +nature of my cogitations, which really had to do with my own +shortcomings. + +"We will pass over the modesty of the remark," said Bessie Sanford, +"but we insist upon knowing--do we not, Milly?--the tenor of the +meditations which have actually kept you quiet for--let me see--I think +it must be full two minutes by the clock." + +"That inquisitive spirit of yours needs repression, Elizabeth," I said: +"therefore I shall not yield to your demands." + +"Then bid farewell to peace," was the rejoinder. And knowing Elizabeth +Sanford well, I meditated a precipitate flight; but she divined my +intention, and, seizing upon me, held me prisoner, and made good her +threat until I succumbed, first freeing my mind of my opinion as to the +conduct of my captor. + +"Never mind. We will leave the results of that case to the future," she +said; "the present question has only to do with yourself, and the +unburdening of your secrets. Your inward communings are of such rare +occurrence, that when you do indulge in them, your friends are entitled +to benefit by them.--Is it not so, Milly?" + +"Reap what benefit you may, then," I answered. "I was thinking how I +was going to waste." + +"H'm'm," said Bessie, releasing her grasp upon my shoulders, and gazing +with an air of deep meditation out of the window near which we sat. +"Fred Winston would doubtless feel complimented by that sage +conclusion; but if you feel so decidedly that you are throwing yourself +away, it is not yet too late for you to draw back, and----" + +"Your remarks are too frivolous to bear the consideration of a +well-balanced mind, Elizabeth," I interrupted, "and therefore I decline +to notice them further than to say that you are entirely wide of the +mark. Perhaps I did not express myself in language as choice as I might +have used; but what I meant to say was--to quote the copy-books--that +'opportunities imply obligations,' and that, while my opportunities are +many, the obligations arising therefrom have _not_ been fulfilled." + +I had spoken jokingly, almost mockingly, nevertheless I really meant +what I said; but any thing like a sober reflection or solemn view of +life's duties was so new from me, that for a moment my sister and +friend were struck dumb with astonishment. + +Then Bessie gave vent to a smothered groan. + +"Listen to the words of wisdom!" she ejaculated. "The depth of her! And +whence and since when, may I inquire, arises thus suddenly so solemn a +view of your responsibilities? They are not wont to weigh upon your +mind." + +"That is just it," I said. "I am in earnest, not in joke, whatever you +may think. It has, rather suddenly I allow, dawned upon me, that I am a +perfectly useless member of society; or rather, the conviction has been +forced upon me by the words of Allie, whom I overheard informing Daisy +that I was very nice and lovely, but the _uselessest_ person in the +house. Loyal Daisy was indignant, and questioned the justice of the +remark; but it opened up a field of reflection to me, and I am obliged +to admit its truth. Since I left school last spring, what have I done +but amuse myself, and attend readings and lectures, which amounts to +the same thing, as the motive is purely selfish?" + +"You have made 'food for the gods,'" said Bessie demurely. + +I turned upon her. + +"For that remark you shall have cause to regret that you ever were +born," I retorted, "and I would not have believed it of you, Bessie. +But seriously, girls, I am longing for an object in life on which I can +expend some of the capabilities of which I feel myself possessed." + +"I thought you had been supplied with one since the 15th of last +November," said Bessie, "but----" + +"Will you leave that subject out of the question?" I again interrupted. +"If not, there will be trouble between the houses of Sanford and +Livingstone." + +"Why can't you two be what Daisy calls 'common-sensible,' and tell what +is at the bottom of all this?" said Milly, joining for the first time +in the conversation. + +"I am sure that I am showing an unusual amount of common-sense," I +rejoined, "for I have in all seriousness just awakened to a sense of my +shortcomings towards humanity in general, and am longing for an object +on which to expend my superfluous energies. You, Milly, have your +charges, Bill and Jim, whom you have rescued from lives of shame and +crime, and who are standing monuments of the efficacy of your zeal, +self-sacrifice, and good sense in their behalf (no, you need not +courtesy); and Bessie has her old ladies to whom she so religiously +devotes one afternoon in every week, no matter what temptations assail +her in other directions, and who simply adore her, and for whom she +does many a little kind office at divers other times. But who, outside +of our family, to whose happiness I add, of course, because I am their +own Amy; and--and Fred; yes, and you, dear Bessie," as a soft little +reminding hand was laid upon my arm,--"who except these is any the +better or happier for my existence?" + +"Lots of friends and relations, you foolish child," said Bessie, while +Milly dropped a re-assuring kiss upon my forehead. "What nonsense, Amy! +I do not know any one who is a more general favorite." + +"Well, allowing that it is so," I said, "is it not only because I am +merry and full of life, and make things a little cheerful around me? +Point to one thing useful or of real lasting benefit that I have ever +done, and I will thank you. I have loved Aunt Emily's hospital cottage +by the sea, for her sake and for dear little Amy's, and have worked a +little for that; but it has been a real pleasure and enjoyment to me, +and has never involved one moment's self-sacrifice." + +Modesty will not allow me to put down here all that Milly and Bessie in +their partial affection said to persuade me that I was not altogether a +useless member of society at large. Delightful as it was to hear, it +did not succeed in quieting my newly awakened conscience or sense of +responsibility; and perhaps Milly on her part did not intend that it +should do so. + +"She evidently must be furnished with an _object_," said Bessie; +"nothing else will satisfy her; and as she seems to have something of +the feeling of the monks and nuns of old, that the more disagreeable +the duty the greater the credit, let us satisfy her by finding her a +most unpleasant one. Oh, charming! I have thought of just the +thing.--Why not adopt as your particular charge, Amy, that most +unattractive young cripple, Matty Blair? She will probably satisfy all +your longings for self-sacrifice, in a way which can leave nothing to +be desired." + +"The very thing," I answered, delighted to have found so soon an +"object" on which to expend the benevolent yearnings with which I had +been seized,--not so suddenly as Milly and Bessie believed; for, for +some time past, I had had a secret and rather unwelcome consciousness +that I was not doing my share toward mitigating the general load of +human misery and ignorance,--a consciousness which Allie's words had +only quickened into more active life. "But, girls, I assure you that I +am not at all moved by the ascetic notion of taking up the most +disagreeable work I can find, as a penance for former shortcomings. I +wish from my heart that Matty Blair was pretty and straight and sweet, +a typical little story-book pauper, whom it would be a pleasure to +befriend, and who would respond amicably to my advances. Matty, from +what I know of her, will be far from being all that; nevertheless I +shall take her up, and see what can be done for her." + +"Consult mother first, dear," said Milly. "She may see objections: they +say that Matty's parents are dreadful people, and they may choose to +make trouble for you. There are cases, you know, where people expect +you to _pay_ for being allowed to confer benefits upon them." + +"I wish that we could remove the child, or both the children, entirely +from the father and mother," I said. + +"They will never allow that while the poor little things continue to be +profitable to them," said Milly. + +"You have taken up something of a task, truly," said Bessie. "First you +will have those wretched parents to win over, and then that +unattractive little creature. And, Amy, although I would not wish to +throw cold water upon your enthusiasm, I feel sure that your father and +mother will never let you go to such a place as the home of the child +must be. Milly's mission came to her, as it were, heaven-sent, it seems +to me," she added in a reverent tone; "but you must seek this out to do +Matty any good, and face those dreadful relations of hers. Your father +and mother will never listen to it, and they will be right. Do not try +to run a tilt against windmills, dear." + +"No, neither will I make mountains out of mole-hills," I answered +lightly, although I did feel the force, yes, and the truth too, of +Bessie's reasoning, and had my own doubts; "and certainly I shall not +have more unpromising material to deal with than Milly had when she +undertook to bring up her charges in the way they should go. Moreover, +I shall not attempt to beard the lions in their den; but I suppose I +have to win my way into Matty's affections or confidence, or whatever +it may be that proves assailable, and if I find any way to help her, I +shall ask cousin Serena to go into partnership with me. She will be +protection enough anywhere, for no one could think of troubling or +annoying her in any way." + +"Well, I'm not so sure of that, either," said Bessie; "but I'm not +going to discourage you further, and time will show. But how do you +mean to set to work, Amy?" + +"I do not know yet; how can I?" I answered. "I have only just thought +of this, and of course I have not had time to make any plans or to +think of what I shall do. I shall firstly go this very afternoon to +cousin Serena; and if she thinks me, as she doubtless will, a prodigy +of benevolence, self-sacrifice, and generosity, and agrees to all I ask +of her, I shall attack father and mother to-night. I mean to act while +the frenzy is on me, lest my ardor cool, and I see the many lions in +the way which you bad girls are trying to conjure up." + +Knowing myself in this respect pretty well, I was really afraid that if +I gave myself too much time for consideration of my new scheme, I might +become appalled by the difficulty and disagreeableness which were +prophesied; and I was determined to place myself in a position +where--unless a higher authority interfered--I could not in pride or +conscience draw back. + +Milly had taken almost no part in the little discussion between Bessie +and me, generally speaking only when she was appealed to; and I knew by +this that she did not altogether approve. But I was a little +self-willed, a state of mind not altogether of rare occurrence with me, +I am afraid; and I chose to ignore the disapprobation which was implied +by this silence, and asked her no questions. + +And now for cousin Serena, to whom I bent my steps at once, accompanied +by Bessie, who volunteered to go with me; though, to tell the truth, I +could have dispensed with her society for this occasion, being afraid +of the discouraging objections and criticisms she might raise. But she +ventured none; on the contrary, she seemed rather inclined to aid and +abet me when I broached the subject to cousin Serena, in whom I was not +disappointed. She proved herself--the blessed soul--the most willing +co-adjutor, even more so than I desired; for, running to a closet where +she kept a bountiful provision of such articles, she began to bring +forth flannel, calico, and stout muslin suitable to make clothes for +poor people; whereupon my spirit shrank appalled, for, if there was one +occupation which I hated more than another, it was plain sewing, +especially upon coarse material. + +"O cousin Serena!" I said, "I am not going to sew and make clothes for +Matty. It is so much easier and more convenient to buy them +ready-made." + +This speech, I was sorry to see, damped cousin Serena's ardor; for this +working by proxy, as it were, did not at all coincide with her +old-fashioned notions; and "ready-made garments" were to her a delusion +and a snare, giving opportunity to Satan to find mischief for idle +hands to do. I hated to disappoint her when she was so enthusiastically +preparing to cut put work for both Bessie and me; but I hated still +more to sew, and held my ground, being borne out by Bessie, who was not +any more partial to such work than I was. Cousin Serena shook her head, +and sighed over the degeneracy of the age which could content itself +with other than such exquisite "hand-sewing" as she did herself. + +Having gained my point, and made her promise all that I wished, I +insisted that she should go home with us to dinner, taking the little +bower of Dutch Johnny, the florist, by the way for a glimpse of Matty. +Cousin Serena had never seen her; but I was not afraid to have her do +so, unpromising object for one's charitable sympathies though she +certainly was, for, the more helpless and repulsive-looking, the more +would cousin Serena's tender heart warm toward her. + +Our errand to Johnny's was nominally to purchase flowers, and, of +course, we did invest therein, and came out bearing some of his +choicest blossoms; but cousin Serena made use of the opportunity to +take a close observation of Matty as she sat at her little peanut-stand +in the corner, sullen and lowering, the picture of discontent and +misery, as usual. + +But cousin Serena did more than this; for, with the tact which she +always showed in dealing with people of this class, she succeeded in +arousing a slight feeling of interest in the sullen, disagreeable +little cripple. + +The one gift which had been granted to Matty was a profusion of +beautiful hair, which, however, was never seen to perfection, as it was +always braided tightly and wound in a close coil about her head, giving +to the wizened, shrunken face an even older look than was natural to +it. If she had any pride in any thing, it must have been in this +hair,--indeed, she had little else to be proud of,--for it was always +fairly tidy. Johnny, it seemed, always exacted a certain amount of +cleanliness and decency as the price of her admission into his shop; +not, perhaps, that he had any inherent love for this virtue, as such, +or that his own comfort and happiness depended upon them, but because +he feared that his trade might be injured if his customers found there +such a dirty, ragged little object as Matty had formerly been. Clean +hands and faces, well-brushed hair, and as much patching of ragged +clothes as the neglected, worse than motherless creatures could +compass, were required from Matty and Tony. His good-natured wife +sometimes befriended them in this way, and put in a few stitches for +them; the result being profitable in more ways than one. It was she, +and not the miserable, intemperate mother, who plaited Matty's glossy +locks in the heavy braid which she then wound round her head. + +Cousin Serena went up to the peanut-stand, invested in Matty's wares, +the child serving her in the dull, mechanical way usual with her, and +smiled kindly down at her, eliciting, however, no response. + +"What pretty hair you have, Matty!" was Miss Craven's next advance; +and, as she spoke, she lightly touched with her gloved finger the +shining coil which many a society belle might have envied. + +A gleam lighted up the dull, heavy eyes, and Matty raised them to the +dear old lady's face. + +"It is almost a pity to wear it so closely bound up," continued cousin +Serena; while Bessie and I, apparently making an inspection of Johnny's +stock while he was engaged with another customer, lent attentive ears +to what passed, I feeling rather that my intended mission work had been +taken up by other hands; "it would show so nicely if you wore it loose +and flowing as most little girls do now. I would like to see it when it +is down." + +With a motion marvellously quick in one so crippled, the child raised +her hands, unbound the coil from about her head, and drawing her +fingers through the plait, let the rippling, waving masses fall flowing +over her poor, twisted, mis-shapen shoulders. + +"Amy and Bessie," said cousin Serena, pursuing her advantage of playing +upon the only vanity in poor Matty's nature, "Amy and Bessie, come here +and see what beautiful hair this child has. It is a good deal like +yours, Amy, both in color and quantity." + +With another sudden motion, Matty drew the shining waves in front of +her, glanced at them lovingly, and then raising her eyes to me with the +first appearance of any thing like interest in them which I had ever +seen, scanned my locks, and said with something of malicious triumph in +her tone and look,-- + +"It's prettier nor her'n." + +"So it is, Matty," I said, ignoring what Daisy would have called the +"discompliment" to myself, and determined to strike while the iron was +hot, or at least approaching an unusual degree of warmth,--"so it is; +you have the very prettiest hair I ever saw." + +Matty did not smile,--I never but once saw the light of a smile on her +face,--but she gave a low chuckle. Evidently we had touched a chord +that would respond; an ignoble one it might be, but it was something to +have gained even this. + +Having dismissed his customer, Johnny now came to the front. + +"'Tis goot," he said, pointing to the beautiful locks; "'tis goot. Mine +wife she say 'tis pest cut off dat head; bud Maddy she so moosh lofe +dat head, an' 'tis so goot, I say, leaf her keep her head. So mine +wife, she say, 'yes, 'tis too pad to cut dat nice head,' an' she leafs +it on her, an' mine wife she comb an' prush it for Maddy. But I tells +Maddy she shall sell dat head for so moosh as fife tollars if she +schuse." + +"Don't ye be after tellin' me mother that," said Matty, with a sudden +look of angry alarm, which was really pathetic, as one gathered from it +that the child felt she would no longer be allowed to keep her one +cherished possession, if any idea of its pecuniary value were suggested +to her mother. + +"Nein, nein," answered Johnny, shaking his head and speaking with +emphasis, as if to say that this was a secret he would carefully guard +from the unnatural parent. "Nein, nein," he repeated. "If I tells dat +mutter any tings, 'tis as dat head is so pad as is not vort notings." + +"But you would not say what is not true, even to save Matty's hair, +would you?" said Miss Craven, unable to allow this more than doubtful +morality to pass. + +Again Johnny wagged his head, this time as one quite convinced that he +was in the right, and answered: "If I tells shust one nice, leetle pit +of a lie" (Johnny did not mince matters, even to his own conscience), +"'tis for to keep away a great pig wrong; for if I tells dat mutter de +shild's head is vort so moosh, she put dat head in de scissors de negst +minit." + +The kindly old Dutchman was plainly convinced that the end justified +the means, and cousin Serena felt that any further discussion of the +question was useless, and that it would not tend to improve Matty's +moral views or those of her brother Tony, who had just come in, as both +were sure to side with their friend and benefactor. + +"We will hope that no one will ever touch Matty's pretty hair," she +said; and I, seized with a sudden inspiration, and still appealing to +Matty's vanity, said,-- + +"I would like to see Matty's hair flowing over a dark-blue dress. How +it would set it off! Would you like a blue dress, Matty? Your hair will +look so pretty over it if you wear it down." + +Matty looked rather askance at me. She evidently regarded me as a rival +in the matter of hair, and was not inclined to accept any advances on +my part; but friendly, jolly little Tony answered for her; while she +hesitated, evidently meditating some ungracious answer. + +"Oh, wouldn't she though, miss! I guess she would like it, an' her hair +would look awful pooty on it, an' when we goes to the Sunday-school +festival,--when it's Easter, ye know,--Matty'll wear the blue dress, +an' her hair down on it, an' she'll look as good as any of the girls +there, an' better, 'cause there isn't one of 'em has hair like +Matty's.--An' I'll tell ye, Matty, if the lady,--she's one of Jim's +young ladies,--if she gives ye the blue dress, we'll keep it to Mrs. +Petersen's if she'll let us, so ma can't get it for the drink.--Are ye +goin' to give it to her, miss?" + +"Indeed I am," I answered to the eager question. "Come now, Matty, +stand up, and we'll measure you for the dress. Perhaps I can find one +ready-made, and you shall have it to-morrow.--Johnny, can you lend me a +yard-measure?" + +Johnny produced one; and Matty, still half doubtful whether or no to be +gracious, and eying me with a gaze which had some lingering viciousness +in it, rose half reluctantly to her feet. Standing so, her deformity +was even more visible than it was when she was seated; and it took all +my nerve and power of will to take the measure of the mis-shapen +shoulders without shrinking from the touch. And then I saw the +improbability, I might say the impossibility, of finding in any +ready-made-clothing store, a dress which would fit the twisted form. +One must be made on purpose; one which would set at defiance all rules +of symmetry; and how to have it completed to-morrow, even late in the +day to-morrow? Where should I go to have such an order filled by the +time I desired it? And I believed from what I had seen of Matty that +the non-fulfilment or postponement of my hasty, ill-considered promise +would be enough to excite all her enmity again. However, I said nothing +until we were out of the little shop, when I exclaimed at my own want +of fore-thought, and asked where I could go to have my order fulfilled +without delay. + +"You can't do it," said Bessie. "Even at the stores where they profess +to furnish costumes at twenty-four hours' notice, they would not agree +to give you, in so short a time, a dress for which they can use no +ordinary pattern. Amy,"--with what seemed to be a most irrelevant +change of subject,--"is any one coming to your house to dinner +to-night?" + +"Cousin Serena, and yourself if you will," I answered. + +"Yes, I intended to suggest that you should invite me," answered +Bessie, "and, had you proved obdurate, should have appealed to Milly or +your mother. Well, there will be four of us: yourself, cousin Serena, +Milly, and myself; and we will press the mother and Mrs. Rutherford +into the service. Let us go to Arnold's, buy some suitable +material,--and we all know what cousin Serena is with scissors and +thimble,--coax her to cut out a dress for Matty, and we will all devote +the evening, perhaps the whole night, to it. By our united exertions, I +think that we can surely accomplish it in time for you to take it to +her to-morrow, and your credit will be saved." + +"If we were not in the street, I should fall upon you with kisses and +tears of gratitude," I answered ecstatically; "as it is, consider +yourself embraced.--Cousin Serena, will you help us?" + +There was no question of that: cousin Serena was only too glad to give +us her services; and although, as I have said, she needed to be guided +and tyrannized over in the matter of style and fashion where her own +dress was concerned, she was an expert in fashioning garments for the +poor. + +Bessie's idea was acted upon forthwith. We took our way down to +Arnold's, purchased the necessary material, and, lest it should not be +sent home in time, bid pride hide its head, and carried the parcels +ourselves. + +Jim beamed upon us when he gathered, from the conversation around the +dinner-table, to what the evening was to be devoted, and became quite +an overpowering nuisance with his pressing attentions to the young +ladies. + +The dress was so nearly completed that night that Milly and I had but +little difficulty in finishing it for the next afternoon. + +Father and mother gave consent to my pursuing my benevolent intentions +with regard to Matty, so far as I could do it without venturing into +the abode of her wretched parents, but positively forbade my going +there even under the guidance and protection of cousin Serena. Indeed, +the fear of them which Tony and Matty showed augured little good or +encouragement for those who would benefit these children, unless some +profit therefrom, was to accrue to the elder Blairs themselves. + +The dress was ready in good time, and supplemented by the addition of a +warm sack of the same color from mother and a little cloth cap from +aunt Emily. A hood had been in the thoughts of the latter, as warmer +and more suitable; but I had begged for the cap as affording better +opportunity for the display of Matty's hair. "Poor little object!" I +pleaded: "why not allow her the gratification of this small vanity?" +and aunt Emily yielded, as she was sure to do when any one's small +whims and fancies were to be satisfied. + +Maria made the garments into a neat parcel for me; and I, thinking to +give Jim a pleasure, summoned him on his return from school to be the +bearer thereof, and to accompany me to Johnny's. That Jim was pleased, +was an assured fact; and his tongue wagged incessantly though +respectfully all the way until we arrived at our destination. Then +while I opened the parcel, and presented Matty with the dress and other +articles, he stood by in delighted contemplation, looking from me to +Matty as if he would say to her, "This is my young mistress;" to me, +"This is my _protégée_." + +As for Matty, she appeared, so far as she showed any feeling at all, to +consider that the gifts were altogether due to him; and she vouchsafed +no word of thanks to me. Not that I cared for expressions of gratitude; +but I felt a little hopeless as I saw how entirely I had failed to make +any impression on her. + +Tony, however, who was present again, was profuse in his thanks, and +really seemed to feel all that he said. + +The shining hair fell like a shielding veil over Matty's deformity +again to-day; and after this it became her practice to wear it so when +she was away from home. There she wore it tightly bound up, and kept it +as much out of sight as possible; fearing, poor little creature, that +she might be bereft of it, should any idea of its pecuniary value enter +her mother's mind. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +A COLD BATH. + + +"Well, Jim," I said, as I returned home in the fast-gathering twilight, +with my escort trotting beside me, "how are you getting on now at +school? I have not heard lately." + +"I'm havin' an awful hard time just now, Miss Amy," he answered, coming +nearer,--"an awful hard time." + +"How is that?" I asked. "Are they pressing you too much? Have they +given you too many lessons, or are those you had before becoming +harder?" + +"Neither, miss," he answered. "'Tain't the lessons; I don't mind them. +Lessons ain't nothin'--I mean lessons ain't anything"--Jim was growing +more choice in language, and taking infinite pains with his parts of +speech--"when a feller has such good help as Miss Milly or Mr. Edward. +If they're too hard for me, one of 'em always helps me an' makes 'em +plain, an' I keep along good enough in the classes. But it's the +keepin' cool, an' not flyin' out when I get provoked, 'specially with +that Theodore Yorke. Miss Amy, you never saw the like of him. He's just +the meanest chap ever breathed; and the way he finds out things you +don't want him to know, an' keeps bringin' 'em up an' naggin' about +'em, is the worst." + +"All the more credit to you, then, Jim, if you keep your temper under +such provocation," I answered soothingly, "and you show yourself by far +the better man of the two. You know the Bible says, 'Greater is he that +ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city.'" + +"Well, Miss Amy," he said, "I guess it ain't no such rememberin' nor +Bible texes that keeps me cool. It's lots of other things. First, I do +want awful bad to do credit to Miss Milly; then I don't want to fight +Theodore, nor have a real sharp fallin' out, on account of the captain +an' Mrs. Yorke; then I'm thinkin', if I don't learn to hold my temper +now, how will it be if I come to be President of these States? I s'pose +there's lots of things that'll be provokin', an' hard to stand, when +you're President; and if Congress don't want to mind you right spang +off when you tell 'em to do a thing, an' goes to foolin' round about +it, I s'pose it don't do to be flyin' out, 'cause then folks would +think you wasn't fit to be President. Besides, when one's mad he can't +think about the best way to do things, an' I might make foolish laws +they wouldn't like. But most of all it will be a great deal better way +to get even with Theodore if I come out first with Mr.----" + +Here he suddenly checked himself, and even in the dim twilight I could +see the color mounting to the roots of his carroty hair. He had +evidently been on the verge of some disclosure which he would have +regretted, and no questions succeeded in drawing forth any thing +further from him. + +He had been sufficiently candid, however, in admitting that he was not +influenced, in the struggle with himself, by any abstract notions of +right and wrong, or by any special desire to please a higher power. But +that he had some motive still undeclared, and of greater weight with +him than any of those he had mentioned, I was convinced; and why should +he wish to keep it back? + +However, my cogitations on the subject, and Jim's confidences, were now +cut short by the appearance at the corner, of another escort, who took +charge of me at once with a very decided remonstrance against my +remaining out till this hour "with only the protection of that boy." + +This was a slight which would have wounded Jim to the quick had he +heard it, which he fortunately did not, as it was spoken in an +undertone; and he was evidently pleased to be freed from an attendance +which had become embarrassing to him by his own indiscretion. + +"What do you suppose he could have meant?" I asked of Milly that night, +after I had rehearsed to her, in the privacy of our own room, my +conversation with Jim. + +"I am sure I do not know," said my sister. "If it were possible, I +should think he meant uncle Rutherford's prize; but as he does not and +can not know of that, of course it cannot be. And while we must all +wish that he were acting from a higher motive than any of these, still +it is a great point gained, that he is so learning to control himself; +the habit will be formed, and he will learn to be his own master. But I +fear that Theodore Yorke is not a truthful or upright boy. Even our own +boys, who see so little of him, call him a sneak; and although he has a +bold, self-assertive manner, it has none of Jim's frankness. Oh, uncle +Rutherford, I wish that you could have seen things differently!" + +But as uncle Rutherford had not only seen things in his own light, but +had acted thereon, there was nothing for us to do beyond giving Jim +what help we could. There was little, however, a lady could do to help +a boy in a public school in his struggle with adverse circumstances, +save by advice and encouragement; and Milly did not fail him in these. + +Taking a hint from what I had seen of Jim's influence over Matty, I now +based my plans for her benefit and regeneration upon that, in addition +to the play upon her vanity by means of that wonderful and much-prized +hair. Jim, too, I knew would paint me and all my doings in glowing +colors, making much of any little kindness I might do for her. + +The blue dress and other decent clothes were kept at kind Mrs. +Petersen's "for fear of the drink," and Matty donned them there when +she found occasion to wear them; and this led me to carry out the idea +of rescuing the children, Matty and Tony, entirely from the intemperate +wretches who dishonored the names of father and mother, and placing +them under the care of Mrs. Petersen. So long as the two little +cripples brought home such portion of their weekly earnings as Jim had +agreed should be allowed to Blair and his wife, the latter cared little +where or how the neglected children spent their time, especially as +they were now provided with their dinner as a part of the price of +their services at the peanut-stand. + +The disapprobation in Milly's manner, which I had noticed and wondered +at, when my new enterprise was under consideration, had altogether +vanished after that first afternoon; and she had not only helped with +all her might in the making of the blue dress, but she had ever since +been interested and full of thoughtful suggestion. + +"Milly," I said to her one day soon after, "why did you seem so +unwilling to have me undertake to care for that little cripple? You +surely had formed a precedent for such things in our family. I never +could understand your objections; for, that you had objections, I could +not help seeing." + +Milly laughed. + +"I find that such objections as I entertained were not well founded," +she answered. + +"Perhaps so, but that does not tell me what they were," I insisted. + +"Well," she said, "I was a little afraid that Jim might feel that you +were trespassing on his preserves; and your field for charity is so +large, and his so small, that I did not wish him to imagine that he was +interfered with." + +"Well, that is disposed of, for he is delighted with my co-operation," +I said. "Now, what else was it?" + +Milly was reluctant to say; but I persisted, and at last she +answered,-- + +"I feared that it was only--that you would soon tire of it, Amy, and +that the experiment would then prove good neither for you nor for +Matty; but in that too I hope I was wrong." + +After events left no room to prove whether or no I should have been +long steadfast to my purpose of caring for poor Matty; that was taken +out of my hands. + +Jim's report from school had been one of unbroken credit for weeks +now,--in conduct, that is; and to those who knew the boy's fiery, +impulsive, and, until he fell under Milly's care, untrained, nature, +the record was a remarkable one. In his classes, he was doing fairly +well, and making progress of which he had no need to be ashamed, but +his lessons were by no means always perfect; and, happily, it was not +so much to them that we looked, as the chief means for his gaining +uncle Rutherford's prize, for Theodore's standing in this respect was +generally a better one than his own. + +I had noticed, and Milly at length came to do so, that if the record +was an unusually good one, and he received an extra amount of praise, +he still always appeared sheepish and ill at ease, and as though he had +something on his mind which he was half-inclined to make known. But he +never came to the point of doing so, and Milly had ceased to ask him. + +We were kept pretty well informed, too, of the progress and standing of +Theodore Yorke; partly by uncle Rutherford's interest in the matter and +the inquiries he made of the teachers every week, and also by the +captain's pride in his grandson, whom he considered a prodigy of +learning. The boy was certainly bright and clever, as was Jim; and the +two kept fairly even in their record, both for lessons and conduct. + +But while Jim continued to grow in popularity with both teachers and +scholars, it was not so with Theodore, and there was a strong prejudice +against him, especially among the boys. There seemed to be no +particular cause of offence or instance of wrong-doing to be brought +against him, but there it was; and neither masters nor schoolmates +seemed to place any confidence in him. + +As far as trade went, Jim was certainly making a good thing out of the +school; for, owing to his persuasions, to say nothing of that leaning +toward peanuts which is a marked feature of every boyish mind, the +calls at Matty's stand on the way to and from the school were very +frequent; and while pennies and nickels flowed in upon the small +vender, peanut-shells were scattered all over the building and +playground, until at last they called forth a remonstrance from the +janitor. Finding this of no avail, he threatened an appeal to the +higher authorities; but, as he was a good-natured old soul, he +hesitated to draw reproof upon the boys, when about this time an +incident occurred which made complaint unnecessary, as peanuts became +prohibited altogether within school bounds. + +"Jim," said a boy, coming to him one morning before the school-bell +rang, "do you see the lot of peanuts Theodore Yorke has?" + +"I don't pay much heed to Theodore Yorke or his havin's," answered Jim +scornfully. "It's no odds to me if he has bushels of peanuts or nary a +one." + +"But maybe it is odds to you," answered the other boy. "I ain't a +telltale; but Theodore Yorke's always buyin' peanuts off of your stand, +an' you can bet he comes away from that stand with a lot more peanuts +for two cents or five cents than any one of the rest of us does." + +Jim turned sharply upon him. + +"You don't mean Matty gives him over measure, Rob?" he said. + +"She don't _give_ him over measure, but he gets over measure," replied +Rob; "an' I tell you 'cause I think it's a shame to be cheatin' you an' +the girl." + +"What is it, then? Out with it!" exclaimed Jim. "I can see how she can +cheat him givin' him short measure if she likes, but I can't see how he +can cheat her gettin' _over_ measure." + +"S'pose when she's measurin' out what he's asked for, he puts his hand +into the big basket on her other side, maybe more than once, too; +how'll that do for helping himself to long measure, hey?" said Robert. + +"How do you know?" asked Jim, trying to control his rising fury until +he had all the facts. + +"I've seen him do it more than once, an' more than twice," replied Rob. +"You know we live in the same house, and mostly come on to school +together, an' both him an' me is apt to stop for peanuts. And the first +time I saw him do that, taking out a handful extra for himself, was one +morning when I hadn't any money to buy; but he stopped in, and I staid +out, 'cause it was too kind of tantalizing to go in and smell 'em all +freshly roasted, and not get any; and I was looking in between the +posies and plants in the shop, and when Matty was filling up her +measure for him--only the two-center one--I saw him do that mean trick; +on a girl, too, and she a hunchback! He slipped his hand into the +basket, and carried it full to his dinner-basket. So after that I +watched, whether I went in or staid out; and he never lets a time go by +that he don't hook a handful, maybe two, if he gets the chance. You +see, that girl's got such a lot of thick hair hanging round her, it's +most like a thick veil, and would keep her from seeing what goes on +behind or by the side of her. I tell you, Jim, I guess with one time +and another he must have bagged two or three quarts of peanuts off of +you and the hunchback, and I couldn't let it go on any longer. This +very morning he bought two cents worth, and hooked as much as five." + +Jim's indignation had grown higher and fiercer with every succeeding +word of this story; and, unfortunately, at this moment Theodore came +around a corner of the school-building upon the playground, and, as a +combination of ill luck would have it, he was eating peanuts, which he +extracted from a pocket whose bulging proportions showed that the stock +from which he was drawing was a large one. + +The sight inflamed Jim's passion beyond all bounds; and he immediately +advanced upon Theodore in a manner and with a look which left no doubt +as to his purpose. The culprit dodged the first blow aimed at him; but +in another instant Jim's hand was upon his collar, while, with language +which was neither choice nor mild, he struck him several times, and +would have continued the blows had he not in his turn been seized upon +by one of the masters, who had seen the whole thing, to whom it +appeared to be the most unprovoked attack. + +Jim's fury had so passed beyond restraint, that for a moment neither +the sight of the teacher nor his stern voice calling him to order had +the effect of bringing him to his senses; and he even turned upon the +gentleman himself, probably believing for the moment that it was one of +the other boys. His crestfallen, mortified look when he was recalled to +himself did not help him in the estimation of the teacher, who took it +as a sign of guilt; while Theodore, once freed from his assailant, +stood by as the martyr and peaceable boy who would not strike a blow, +even in self-defence. Rob, meanwhile, frightened by the consequences of +his disclosures to Jim, slunk off without waiting to bear testimony to +the provocation which Jim believed himself to have received. + +Jim was "reported," of course, and punished; and the knowledge that +this must come to the ears of Miss Milly and Mr. Rutherford did not +tend to soothe his anger, nor did he feel that his desire for vengeance +was yet satisfied. As he had been deprived of his recess, however, he +had no immediate opportunity of gratifying it; and when school was +over, the principal, who was a just though strict man, and who was +particularly interested in uncle Rutherford's scheme and the two rivals +for his prize, called both Jim and Theodore before him, and inquired +into the cause of the disturbance. + +Now, Theodore was perfectly well aware of this, for Jim had not failed +to make use of his tongue as well as his fists, and he knew that in +some way his petty and oft-repeated thefts had come to light; but he +was not going to confess his own iniquities, and Jim was what Rob +Stevens, with less reason, had asserted himself to be,--"no telltale." + +He rather sulkily replied, to the questions of the principal, that +"Theodore knew, and could tell if he liked;" but Theodore doggedly +declared that he had given and knew of no cause of offence, and that +the attack had been entirely without reason. + +As Jim could not be persuaded to bring any accusation other than the +scornful, ferocious looks with which he regarded Theodore; while +Theodore himself was evidently uneasy and fearful lest his antagonist +should speak the truth,--Mr. Rollins was convinced that the latter was +really, in some way, to blame. But of course he could not punish him +without reason; while Jim had been caught red-handed, and must, at +least, be reprimanded and warned. The gentleman told him that he +forfeited his recess for a week, and that, if he trespassed again in +this manner, he would be degraded to a lower class. + +Jim received his sentence in silence; but when Mr. Rollins spoke of the +penalty to follow future offending, his ruddy face blanched. _That_ +meant not only disgrace in the school, but, what was far worse to him, +before Miss Milly and Mr. Rutherford, and the lessening of his "chance" +with the latter, and Theodore's preferment above him. + +As the boys were dismissed from the tribunal of justice, and turned +away, Mr. Rollins caught a glance of gratified malice which Theodore +cast at the other boy; and he was more than ever persuaded that there +was something behind all this, and that Theodore was, perhaps, the one +who was the most to blame. + +They had reached the door, when Jim turned, and, coming back to the +desk of the principal, said in a low tone, "Thank you, sir, for not +puttin' any thing more on me than the recess. I don't mind that so +much, an' I'll try hard not to break rules again; but _you_ can't tell +how hard it is not to get mad when the mad lies so near the top, an' +you're gettin'"--"cheated" would have been the next word, but Jim +checked himself ere it was spoken. + +"Do I not, my boy?" answered the gentleman: then seeing that Theodore +was lingering at the door as if anxious to hear what passed, he said to +him, with something of sternness in his voice, born of the doubt as to +which of the two boys was the greater culprit, "Go on, sir, you have no +need to wait;" adding to himself, "That boy has a guilty conscience." +Then, when Theodore had closed the door behind him, he turned again to +Jim, and continued, "You are mistaken, Jim, if you think I do not know +what it is to struggle with a quick temper." + +"You, sir?" said Jim. + +"Yes, I," answered Mr. Rollins; and then he followed with the story of +his own struggles with a passionate temper, and the final victory over +himself, with much good advice and encouragement to Jim. Encouraged the +boy certainly did feel, as he left the presence of the master, +fortified with new resolutions for the future. + +But master Theodore was not to escape without his share of punishment. + +As his own ill luck would have it,--perhaps it would be better to say, +as a righteous retribution would have it,--as he was on his way home +from school, and was crossing the park on which our house fronted, he +fell in with three or four of his classmates, among them Rob Stevens, +the witness of his thefts. + +"What have you done with Jim?" asked one of the boys. + +"He's getting it from the commander-in-chief," said Theodore +exultantly. "He's lost his recess for a week, and is to be put down to +class four if he gets into another of his rages, as he's sure to do; +and now he's taking no end of a blowing-up. The commander sent me out +so I wouldn't hear it. Good enough for him. I hope he'll get it hot and +heavy." + +"What did _you_ get?" asked Rob. + +"What did I get? Nothing; why should I?" responded Theodore, who had +not the slightest idea of the way by which Jim had learned of his +thefts, or that here was his accuser. + +"Didn't you tell why Jim pitched into you when you saw he was gettin' +held up for it?" asked Rob. + +"No!" roared Theodore, partly in fear, partly in anger, for he now +could not fail to see that Rob knew _something_, but how much he could +not tell. "I hadn't any thing to tell, and hadn't done any thing to +Jim,--to his high-mightiness Jim Grant Garfield Rutherford Livingstone +Washington, the fellow with a whole dictionary-full of names, and not a +right to one of them but the Jim. I just wish he would get into a dozen +tantrums, till he gets expelled from the school." + +"Nothin' mean about you, is there?" said one of the other boys +indignantly, although he was still ignorant of the cause of Jim's +provocation. + +But this was too much for Rob. + +The boys had neared the fountain in the centre of the park. At this +season, it was never or seldom playing; but some repairs had been found +necessary, and the workmen had had the jet in action for some hours, +and the large basin around it was full of water. The boys stopped +beside it, not noticing a tall figure which sat upon one of the park +benches near. + +"Nothing mean about _him_!" repeated Rob in a loud voice, which might +easily be heard on the other side of the fountain, "nothing mean about +Theodore Yorke! He's the meanest sneak in our school, or out of it, +either! I'll tell you why Jim pitched into him. He's been stealing +peanuts off of Jim's stand when the little hunchback's head was turned. +I saw him, more than once, and I wasn't going to have it any longer; so +I told Jim, and I'd just told him of it when Theodore came on eating +peanuts, the very ones, for all I know, that I saw him steal this +morning; and no wonder Jim's spirit was up, and he pitched into him. I +wish he'd had it out with him, too, before Mr. Leeds came up. If he was +going to be punished, he might as well be hung for a sheep as a lamb. +And Jim's never said a word, I s'pose, or let on what he did it for; +and you let him take all the blame. Bah! I wouldn't be you, for a +cart-load of peanuts!" + +"You didn't see me, either. I don't know what you're talking about!" +stammered Theodore, so taken aback by the damaging testimony of this +unexpected witness of his sin, that he lost all self-possession, and +his looks proclaimed him guilty of the offence with which he was +charged. + +Uprose from the bench beyond the group the figure sitting there, and, +striding towards the still unobservant boys, laid one hand upon +Theodore's collar, the other on that of Rob; and the startled Theodore +looked up into the stern, set face of his grandfather. + +"Have I heerd aright?" said the old man in his righteous wrath. "Have I +heerd my gran'son called a thief, an' a sneak, what let a boy like Jim +be blamed for doin' what he had a right to do, if what this 'ere feller +says is true?--Kin ye prove it?" turning to Rob, while he still kept a +tight hold on either boy. + +"Yes, I can," said Rob, maintaining his ground, although he was a +little frightened by the captain's looks and tones; and once more he +rehearsed the story in all its details. + +By this time several persons, attracted by the somewhat unusual +spectacle of an old man holding two boys by their collars, had stopped +to hear what was going on; and there were symptoms of a crowd. Seeing +this from afar, a policeman bore down upon the scene,--the very one who +had had the dispute with the captain as to the propriety of Daisy +playing peanut-vender on the street-corner. + +As he came near, Captain Yorke released his hold upon Rob's collar; +then tightening that upon Theodore's, the still stalwart old seaman +lifted the boy from his feet, and, stepping close to the basin of the +fountain, plunged him over his head in the icy water. The day had been +a mild one, sunny and bright, for spring was in the air; but the water +was still sufficiently cold to make such a sudden plunge any thing but +pleasant, and this summary method of punishment, well deserved though +most of the spectators knew it to be, was not to be tolerated in such a +public place. So thought the policeman who now came running up, as the +captain, having given his grandson three good dips, lifted him dripping +and shivering from the basin, and placed him upon his feet. + +[Illustration: "PLUNGED HIM OVER HIS HEAD IN THE ICY + WATER."--_Page_ 214.] + +"What's this?" asked the officer, who had long since made his peace +with the old man, who was wont to hang about the park, and in the +vicinity of our house, and who amused him vastly with his comments upon +men and things in the city. "What are you up to now, captain?" + +"Givin' this boy a duckin'; an' if I told ye what for, I donno but ye'd +be for takin' of him up," answered the captain, disregarding all +considerations of parental or family pride. "If ye fin' me a meaner one +nor he is in this big town, I'll duck him, too, an' keep him under till +he begs an' swears he'll mend his ways.--Now, git along home, sir," to +the shaking Theodore. "I'd willin' pay for two suits of clo's to have +the satisfaction of givin' ye yer desarvins, though I don't know as +ye've got 'em yet. Git!" + +Theodore, only too glad to obey, sped away like the wind; while the +captain, as the policeman was about to interfere further, turned to the +officer, and, taking him by the arm, as if he were going to arrest +_him_, repeated in a friendly tone, "He's had no more than his +desarvin's,--young scamp; an' them's my opinions. I'll tell ye." + +"But what are you about, ducking that boy in a public fountain?" asked +the officer, doubtful what course to pursue with the old original. +"Don't you know such a thing is a breach of the public peace?" + +"I don't know nothin' about your breaches," said the old veteran, no +whit disturbed; "but I knows I got a right to duck that boy where'er +I've a min' to. He's my gran'son,--more shame to me,--an' a little +water ain't goin' to hurt him. His fam'ly's used to water,--good salt +water, too," with a contemptuous look at the fluid in the fountain +basin, "an' if I could wash the meanness outer him, I'd duck him a +dozen times a day. Come along." + +And still with his hand upon the policeman's arm, the captain turned +away with him, soon satisfying the guardian of the peace that this was +no case for arrest. Barney agreed that he had the right to take the law +into his own hands, although this was hardly the place for him to do +so. + +Of course Theodore's thefts, and the story of the grandfather's summary +punishment, went the rounds of the school the next morning, and it soon +reached the ears of the teachers and principal; and Theodore was called +up again before the latter, this time to receive a far sterner +reprimand than had been bestowed upon Jim. As the offence had been +committed out of school bounds and school hours, the punishment for it +did not lie within the jurisdiction of Mr. Rollins; but, in addition to +that which he had received from his grandfather, it was meted out to +him on the school premises. From that time he acquired the _sobriquet_ +of "Peanuts,"--a name which, short as it was, attracted far more +derision and notice than that of Jim Grant Garfield Rutherford +Livingstone Washington. + +And Jim, for his silence before the principal, his heroic determination +to "tell no tales," was more of a favorite than ever. + +Whether this tended to lessen Theodore's animosity toward him, or to +soften the standing feud between them, may be judged. + +The contempt and dislike which the school generally entertained for +Theodore were brought to their height, when the edict was promulgated +that peanuts should be no longer brought within bounds. Being a +forbidden fruit, they at once acquired a value and desirableness even +beyond that which they had possessed before. By some unexplained +process of reasoning, the authorities had arrived at the conclusion +that they were the cause of the late disturbance; and so they were +tabooed, much to the displeasure of the boys, who, beside the +deprivation to themselves, considered Jim a victim, as the order, of +necessity, in a measure lessened his sales. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +FIVE DOLLARS. + + +Dear old Mrs. Yorke had improved rapidly under the care of the +specialist who was treating her case; but she was ill at ease in her +city quarters, partly because she was unaccustomed to her surroundings, +partly because she was never certain, when the captain was away from +her, that he was not doing some unheard-of thing which might bring him +into a serious predicament. And now here was this trouble between Jim, +of whom she and the captain were so proud and so fond, and her +grandson, and the disgrace of the latter; so that just now her bed was +not one of roses, and she longed for the quiet and peace of her simple +seaside home. + +"If Adam would but go home, and take the boy with him," she sighed to +Mammy one day, "I could be easy in my mind, for I know that Jabez and +Matilda Jane and Mary would look after him well, and he would be out of +harm's way; but now I wouldn't be a bit surprised if some day he turned +up in the police-court, just for doin' something he thought was no +harm, but that is against city rules. His ways and city folks' ways +ain't alike. An' there's the boy, an' what he's done; all the school +learnin' in the world ain't goin' to pay for such a shame. No, you +needn't say it was on'y a boyish trick; you on'y say that to make me +more easy like; an' with thanks all the same to Governor Rutherford, +I'd a sight rather he'd left Theodore down to the Point, an' out of the +way of such temptations as he gets here. An' when they once begin that +way as boys, you never know where they'll end. No, no; I wish Adam and +the boy were home." + +Poor Mrs. Yorke! She had, indeed, too much reason to dread the after +results of "once beginning that way;" for Theodore seemed likely to +follow in the footsteps of his good-for-nothing father. + +Uncle Rutherford, of course, heard of the peanut episode, and expressed +a fitting censure on Theodore's conduct, both to our family and to the +boy himself; but we said among ourselves, that he not only appeared to +endorse, but to enjoy, Jim's swift, passionate punishment of Theodore, +and he escaped with a very slight reproof, if, indeed, the few words he +said to him concerning the matter could be called reproof; and Milly +felt no fear that he had lost ground with uncle Rutherford. + +Fortunately the captain, knowing little or nothing of the streets, was +given, when by himself, to haunting our neighborhood and the park +opposite; so that he came much under the notice and patronage of the +friendly policeman, whose daily beat was in that quarter, and who kept +him on many an occasion from going astray, or making a spectacle of +himself. + +The captain had sought out Rob Stevens, insisted that he should tell +him just how many times he had seen Theodore steal peanuts from Matty, +and, so far as he could judge, to what amount each time; then counting +up what he supposed them to be worth, which he put at an enormously +high valuation--the honest old man!--that he might be sure to err on +the right side, he forced Theodore to go with him to the stand, and pay +Matty for the stolen fruit. He endeavored, too, to make him apologize +to Jim, both for the theft of his property, and also for his +contemptible meanness in keeping silent on the occasion of Jim's attack +on the playground. But here he was powerless: Theodore absolutely and +doggedly refused to do it; and his grandfather was obliged to content +himself with relieving his own feelings, and further expressing his +sentiments on the boy's conduct, by giving him a severe flogging. + +Spring was upon us now; an early, mild, and beautiful spring. Day after +day of sunny delicious weather succeeded one another; the children came +home from their walks or drives in the Central Park, in ecstasies over +the robins, blue-birds, and squirrels they had seen. In the woods at +Oaklands,--whither father went once or twice a week to have an eye upon +his improvements and preparations for the summer,--spring-beauties, +hepaticas, and anemones, and even a few early violets, were showing +their lovely faces; and all young things--ah, and the older ones +too--were rejoicing that the "winter was past and gone." + +With the advent of the mild weather, Matty's stand had been removed out +of doors and beneath the shelter of Johnny Petersen's shop; and this +situation proved more profitable than it had been within, as many a +charitable passer-by, seeing the pitiful figure and pinched face of the +poor child, would stop to purchase. During the hours of the day when +the sun was warm and bright, her surroundings were not much less +attractive than they had been within; for the glass sashes of the +little flower-store were generally wide open behind her, while Johnny +frequently brought forth some of his plants for an airing upon the +sidewalk. + +As his custom increased with the warm weather, and people came for +potted plants and so forth for their gardens and windows, Johnny +occasionally found it necessary to be away for a few hours buying new +stock at the larger greenhouses and markets; and when Mrs. Petersen did +not find it convenient to take his place in the shop, he depended upon +Tony to keep watch, and make small sales for him. The lame boy was +bright and apt; and Johnny had drilled him well as to prices and so +forth, and found him a tolerably satisfactory substitute during his own +times of absence. + +One would have thought that Theodore Yorke would have avoided the +neighborhood of the peanut-stand after his exposure and disgrace; but +it was not so. His grandfather had cut short the small amount of +pocket-money which he had occasionally given him, and he was now left +penniless, and so no more visited the place as a customer; but he +seemed to take a delight in hanging around it, and annoying Matty and +Tony, who were now on their guard, and watched him unceasingly. Tony +and he frequently exchanged sundry compliments not suited to ears +polite; and Johnny, if he saw him, would come out and drive him away. +The shop was absolutely forbidden ground to him; within it he was not +suffered to set a foot. + +One bright afternoon when Johnny Petersen happened to be away, and Tony +was in charge, Theodore came sauntering up to the stand, to the great +dissatisfaction of the children. Matty was in her usual seat behind her +table; Tony seated on the low door-step of the store, his crutches +lying on the ground beside him and within reach of his hand. + +Theodore came up, glanced into the store, and, seeing that the master +was absent, addressed himself to the amiable amusement of teasing and +worrying those who were too helpless to defend themselves. + +"Me an' Matty's lookin' out for ye, an' ye needn't come roun' to be +stealin' no more peanuts," said Tony at length, "an' I'll call the M. +P. if you comes too close to the stand. We ain't goin' to stan' no +foolin', we ain't; an' Jim told us you don't have a cent of money now, +so you ain't come to buy with one hand an' help yourself with t'other. +It'd be helpin' yourself with both; so clear out!" + +"I ain't comin' near your old peanuts," said Theodore; "an' they ain't +yours, anyway." + +This style of converse continued for some minutes, growing more and +more personal each instant; till at last Theodore said to Matty, who, +according to her usual custom, had remained perfectly silent,-- + +"If I had such a cushion on my back as yours, I wouldn't make it bigger +piling such a heap of hair on it. You look like a barber's-shop show +figger. I wonder you don't sell yourself for a show figger. You'd look +so pretty an' smart." + +Matty only gave him one of her most vicious looks, and clinched her +small claw-like hands as though they longed to be at him; but Tony +answered for her. + +"They don't get no such hair to the barbers' shops without payin' lots +for it," he shouted; "an' she ain't no need to make a figger of +herself. She can sell it for a heap of money,--five dollars, if she +chooses,--Mr. Petersen says so, an' Jim says so, too. But she ain't +a-goin' to have it cut off; she likes it too much, an' the ladies likes +it, Jim's ladies do, an' they telled her to leave it hang down, an' one +on 'em give her a blue dress to make it look purtier on it; an' she's +give her lots of things more. An' they've give me lots of things, too; +the ole un she give me a whole suit for Easter, an' me an' Matty looked +as good as any of 'em. An' Jim says--now you keep off," as Theodore +drew nearer, "you keep off, or I'll call the M.P. He ain't so fur." + +"Oh, you will, will you?" said Theodore; "you've got to catch him +first, and me, too, old Hippity-hop," and with a kick he sent both +crutches far beyond the reach of the lame boy, then, with a derisive +laugh, ran off. And there Tony sat, helpless and unable to pursue, till +a compassionate passer-by brought him the crutches; for Matty could not +stoop for them. Had the old captain seen this cowardly, contemptible +deed, he would probably have thought that all the waters of all the +oceans could not "wash the meanness" from the soul of his grandson. + +For the rest of that day and for the next, and for two or three +succeeding ones, Theodore's thoughts dwelt much upon this last +interview with the two cripples; but do not let it be thought, with any +disquieting reproaches from his conscience, or any feeling of remorse. +To him, all that had passed was a mere nothing, not worth a second +thought, save for the one idea which had made a deep impression on him. + +That hair of Matty's, that mass of beautiful, shining hair, which even +his boyish, unpractised eye could see was something uncommon,--worth +five dollars; it was impossible! And yet could it be? If "Jim's ladies" +thought it so beautiful, it might be that it was worth a good deal of +money. What fools, then, were Matty and Tony, the one for keeping it +upon her head, the other for not persuading her to part with it, and +taking a share of the money for himself! In all his life Theodore had +never had so much money; and his mean, selfish soul at once set itself +to devise means by which one--he did not yet, even to his own thoughts, +say himself--could gain possession of the girl's hair. + +He had heard of girls being robbed, in the street, of their hair; but +that would never do here with Matty, no, not even though he had an +accomplice to help him. And he knew of no one to whom he could even +suggest such a thing; for he had no acquaintances in the city save the +boys in his school; and to no one of them could he or would he dare to +propose it, although he knew that there were among them some who were +none too scrupulous to do a shabby thing if they thought they could +gain any advantage by it. + +All this time I had vainly, as I thought, tried to gain any influence +over Matty. She took my gifts, it is true, and wore or otherwise made +use of them; but she never showed the slightest token of pleasure in +them, or uttered one word of acknowledgment, and she was still entirely +unresponsive to any other advances on my part. It was Tony, bright, +jolly little Tony, who thanked me with real Irish effusion, always +greeted me with the broadest of smiles, and testified his gratitude and +appreciation of my efforts for Matty's welfare by various small +offerings, till I really wished I had chosen him to befriend instead of +that hopeless subject, his sister. It became quite a little family +joke, as almost every evening when he and Matty came to deliver the +day's earnings to Jim--for it was not considered safe for them to carry +the money to their own home--he brought also some small token for +"Jim's second young lady," whereby I was understood; now a couple of +daisies, a rose, or two or three violets, or a few sprigs of +mignonnette, begged from Dutch Johnny; now a bird's nest, manufactured +by himself out of twine and a few twigs; and once a huge turnip which +he had seen fall from a market-cart as it passed on its way down the +avenue, and picking it up, after vainly trying to make the carter hear, +had laid it aside as a suitable gift for me; and another time he +brought for my acceptance a hideous, miserable, half-starved kitten, +which, as I was known by the servants to have a horror of cats, was +declined for me both by Jim and Thomas, greatly to Tony's mortification +and disappointment. + +At the Easter festival, when he and Matty had "looked as good as +anybody," to his mind, each child in the Sunday school had been +presented with a small pot of pansies; and Tony, instead of taking his +home, had come from the church to our house, and, asking for me by his +usual title of "Jim's second young lady," had shyly presented his +Easter token. + +Yes, I would fain have made an exchange, and taken Tony as my charge; +but pride, and the recollection of Milly's fear that I would not +persevere with Matty, forbade. + +I had thought over all manner of plans for removing both children from +the influence of their wretched home and drunken parents; but most of +these were pronounced by the more experienced to be visionary and not +feasible. So they still continued to return to them at night, although, +"weather fair or weather foul, weather wet or weather dry," they never +failed to be present at their post as early as possible in the morning. + +Miss Craven and I had taken from Jim the charge of providing the +cripples' dinner; and for a trifling sum Mrs. Petersen, who had no +children of her own, gave them that meal and their supper in her room, +so that in many respects they were far better off than they had been. + +But still there seemed no loop-hole where I could insert a wedge for +Matty's moral regeneration; she appeared to remain hard, impenetrable, +and suspicious. + +The story of the "ducking" had, of course, been graphically rehearsed +by those of the schoolboys who had witnessed it, to those who had not; +and there were but few, if any, who did not enjoy the recital of +Theodore's punishment and disgrace. And from that time Captain Yorke +had become a marked figure with the boys. Before this, he had not been +known to many of them; but now he was pointed out by the few who had +been present at the scene at the fountain, as the Spartan grandfather +who had not hesitated to deal out punishment to his own flesh and +blood, when it seemed to him that justice demanded it. He was often to +be seen now in the park, the centre of an admiring and appreciative +group, to whom he related thrilling adventures which were his own +experience as a sailor and a surfman, holding his audience spell-bound, +not only by their interest in the subject, but also by his quaint and +simple manner of telling. + +Among this audience one day, were the two boys who had been present at +the theatre on the night when the captain had made such an exhibition +of himself; and they recognized him at once. Of course, it was soon +spread about that he was the hero of that adventure; and the next +morning at school, Jim was asked if he had not known it. Acknowledging +this, it was then inquired _why_ he had not "got even with Theodore," +by turning the laugh on him, and telling that it was his grandfather +who had made himself a laughingstock. + +"'Cause I wasn't goin' back on the old captain," answered sturdy, loyal +Jim. "He's stood up for me, an' been a good friend; an' I ain't goin' +to point him out for to be laughed at, not if he is Theodore's +grandfather." + +He expected to be laughed at in his turn, and stood with defiance and +"laugh if you choose" in his air. + +But no one laughed or jeered: somehow his steadfastness struck a chord +in most of those boyish hearts; and Rob Stevens, clapping him on the +shoulder, exclaimed,-- + +"And 'tain't the first time he's held his tongue, either, is it, +Peanuts? We'll all vote for the feller that stan's by his friends an' +don't go back on 'em. Three cheers for President Jim Washington!" + +And if a voice there was silent, save Theodore Yorke's, it was not +noticed in the number which responded. + +School-life having by this time rubbed off some of his _freshness_, Jim +had learned that it would be to his own advantage to discard several +from the string of names which he had seen fit to adopt on his +entrance; and he now contented himself with signing his name James R. +L. Washington, which appeared upon all his books and any thing else to +which he could lay claim. + +After the manner of those who have fixed their minds upon that to which +they have no right, the more the unprincipled Theodore thought of the +mint of money, as he called it, upon Matty's head, the more he wished +that he could find the means to possess himself of the material to be +so easily turned into that money; and he finally arranged a plan which +he thought both practicable and safe. + +"Matildy Jane," whose theory it was that there were no articles of diet +in New York "fit for plain folks to eat," and who believed that her +father and mother would return home only to die victims to indigestion +brought on by high living, had sent, by the hands of a friend who came +to the city, a large basket of apple turnovers and ginger cookies, in +order that her parents might have "a taste of home cookin'." + +Slyly possessing himself of two of these turnovers and sundry cookies, +Theodore thought to make his peace with Tony and Matty by bestowing +them upon them, as an equivalent for the stolen peanuts; and having +ascertained when Dutch Johnny was off on another purchasing expedition, +and Tony left in charge, he hurried home, and came back to the +florist's shop with these delectable viands. + +No sooner did Tony see him than he warned him off, threatening to call +the police if Theodore came any nearer; but the latter hastened to +propitiate him by holding up the turnovers and saying,-- + +"Oh, I came to make up. Don't make a row." + +Now, if there was any thing in which the soul of Tony delighted, it was +an apple pasty of any shape or dimensions; and the tempter had +unwittingly chosen his bait well. + +Tony's threats and denunciations ceased, and he sat staring at the +proffered treat; while Theodore, seeing it was taking effect, drew a +few steps nearer. + +"Don't you want 'em?" he said. "I've got one for you, and one for +Matty; and I've got some ginger-cakes, too." + +Warned by past experience, Tony grasped his crutches, and, still +expecting some trick, sat dubious, with his eyes fixed as if fascinated +upon the coveted dainties, but still more than half inclined to call to +the policeman, whom he saw upon the upper corner. + +"Oh, come now!" repeated Theodore; "make up. Don't you want 'em? +They're first-rate." + +The temptation proved irresistible; and, rising to his feet, Tony went +toward his whilom antagonist in order to prevent him from coming too +near the stand, accepted one of the turnovers, looked at it on all +sides, smelled of it, and finally set his teeth deliberately but with +caution into it; then turned, and looked inquiringly at Matty. + +"Pisen!" uttered that little sceptic, still unconvinced that treachery +did not lurk behind these demonstrations of friendship. + +Ay, poison indeed! but not in the sense poor Matty meant. Nor would she +accept the other turnover or the ginger-cakes, or look at or speak to +Theodore; but sat gazing afar off as if into vacancy, her face +perfectly expressionless, although Tony, now completely won over, sat +eating his with the utmost gusto. + +Meanwhile Theodore, having turned over the whole contents of his +pockets, talked in a friendly way, leading gradually up to the matter +in his mind; although he was afraid to linger long, lest Johnny should +return, or some one come by who would wonder at seeing amicable +relations established between himself and Tony. + +"Been makin' good sales to-day?" he asked at length; but this put Tony +on his guard again at once. + +"Now you let peanuts alone; they ain't none of your business," he said, +his mouth full of ginger-cake. + +"I ain't goin' to touch your peanuts," said the older boy. "I just +asked. Jim's makin' an uncommon good thing out of this peanut-stand +with you and Matty to run it for him, an' I hear you're doin' +first-rate. But--don't I know something about Jim!" + +"So do I, lots," answered Tony, as well as he could speak. + +"You don't know what I know; and Jim wouldn't want you to," said the +bad boy. "It's his secret, and a monstrous one, too; but I know it, and +I'm goin' to tell it, too." + +"I sha'n't listen to it," said Tony. + +"Ho! I don't want you to. It's not you I mean to tell," said Theodore. +"It's the police." + +"Jim ain't done nothin' for the perlice," said Tony furiously. "The +perlice likes him, an' wouldn't do nothin' to him." + +"Ha! You wait and see," said Theodore; "they've got to when I tell 'em. +It's a secret on Jim an' one of his young ladies, Miss Amy there, that +gives Matty her clo's an' things. He'll feel awful to have himself an' +Miss Amy told on, and the police will go for 'em when they know it; but +nothin' ain't goin' to put me off talkin' without I was paid for it, as +much as five dollars, too." + +"What they done?" asked Tony, curiosity and alarm for his friends +getting the better of his aversion to discuss the subject with +Theodore. + +Theodore came nearer, and making Tony promise with the most solemn +asseverations that he would not repeat, and would not suffer Matty to +repeat, to any one, what he told him, said,-- + +"They had some poisoning done, round to Mr. Livingstone's, an' Jim and +Miss Amy was mixed up in it. They did the poisoning; but 'twas found +out in time, an' their folks hushed it up. But _I_ know it, an' I'm +goin' to set the police on them unless some one would make it worth my +while not to. Five dollars would buy me off; but there's no one I know +of, would give me five dollars, so I'm goin' to tell." + +Street Arab though he was, with his wits sharpened into preternatural +acuteness in some respects, in others Tony was guileless and easily +imposed upon; and for a moment he stared at Theodore in dismay, but +presently doubt and suspicion again obtained the upper hand. + +"I don't take no stock in that," he said; "it's a lie, I know. I'll ask +Jim himself." + +"If you let on to him what I've told you, I'll tell the police for +certain, whether or no," said Theodore; "but if anybody was to say +they'd give me five dollars, an' you don't tell Jim, I'll never say a +word." + +And he walked away, leaving his words to take what effect they might. +That they had already taken effect, he saw, as Matty, who had not +spoken a word all this time, drew the beautiful, shining tresses in +front of her, and passed her skinny little hands lovingly over them. +Tony stood staring stupidly after him for a moment, then burst out at +him with a torrent of abuse and threats which Theodore did not deign to +answer. + +That evening about dusk, when Tony and Matty came to our house to +render up the day's account to Jim, after they had settled business, +Tony asked in a mysterious whisper, and half as if he feared to put the +question,-- + +"Jim, tell us; has you got a secret you don't want any one to know?" + +By the light of the gas-jet, beneath which they stood, in the basement +hall, Tony saw the color rush in a flood to Jim's face, and an angry +light came into his eye, as he answered roughly,-- + +"'Tain't none of your business if I have; you let my secrets alone." + +Tony was a little frightened, but he persisted,-- + +"But tell us; did you and yer young lady, her what's good to us, did +you once get mixed up wid pisenin' some folks, an' it was kept dark +so's the----" + +"Now you shut up an' clear out quick, you little rascal!" shouted Jim +furiously. "If you come Paul Pryin' round here, a-tryin' to find out my +secrets, me an' you will fall out, an' you'll get no more help from +Miss Amy nor me. Clear!" + +But Tony, alas! was answered; and the crestfallen little cripple +shuffled out from the presence of the offended head of the peanut firm +as fast as possible; Jim putting his head out of the door, and shouting +after them, still in the most irate tones,-- + +"Now you let me an' Miss Amy an' all my folks alone, or there'll be +trouble, sure!" then slammed the door after them. + +In silence they went up the street, but not immediately home: they had +other business to attend to first. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +CAUGHT IN THE ACT. + + +Johnny Petersen looked in surprise, consternation, and wrath when the +two little cripples entered his shop the next morning, shamefaced and +sheepish, as if they expected to be called to account for something. + +And he did not lose time in making known the cause of his displeasure, +could they, indeed, have had any doubt on that question. + +Matty's hair was gone, cut close to her head, almost shaved off; and +the loss of it gave the poor little face a more wizened, pinched, and +unnatural expression than ever. The effect was perfectly startling, and +repulsive in the extreme; and after staring at the child for a moment, +and all but dropping the flower-pot he held in his hands, he broke +forth into a torrent of words, mingling German and broken English in a +manner which made them all but incomprehensible to the poor little +ones. But they knew well enough what brought them forth, and they had +no explanation to offer. It was their secret, and must remain a secret, +so they thought, if the sacrifice were to be worth any thing. + +Naturally, Johnny laid the blame of the transformation on the debased +parents, whom he knew to be capable of any deed, no matter how shameful +or cruel, if thereby they could obtain the means to procure liquor. +Tony and Matty gathered, from the jargon which he sputtered forth, that +this was his idea; and they were quite satisfied to have it so, for no +sentiments of filial affection moved them to enlighten him. + +And it was not only the loss of that wealth of hair which made Matty +look far worse than she had ever done before. She had not on the decent +garments she had worn for some time past, but was in the ragged and +soiled clothes which she had of late worn only when she went home at +night, discarding them in the morning when she stopped at Mrs. +Petersen's and put on the better ones which had been given to her. To +all Petersen's questions she opposed a sullen silence; although she +hung her head, and appeared embarrassed, which she was not apt to be. + +But Tony, with his jolly little face clouded over, appeared really +distressed, and looked from his sister to the florist and back again in +a distraught, helpless sort of way, which quite touched the heart of +the kind old Dutchman; but neither from him could Johnny's rather +incoherent questions draw forth any satisfaction, and the children both +were glad when the entrance of a customer drew Johnny's attention for +the time from themselves. + +But the situation did not improve for the two little unfortunates when +Mrs. Petersen, uneasy that they had not appeared at her rooms for the +usual change of clothing, came bustling up to know if her husband could +tell her any thing of them; and, not a little astonished to find Matty +at her post and Tony also at his, plied them anew with questions in +English rather better than her husband's, and to which it was more +difficult to avoid giving straightforward replies. But she gained as +little as he had done, and she, too, took it for granted that either +the father or mother had deprived the little hunchback of her hair. + +The truth was, that the children had not cared to face her with the +change in Matty's appearance, and hence had concluded to come to the +day's business in their old clothes. + +But Mrs. Petersen, energetic and stirring, was not going to let the +matter rest thus, but was determined to probe it to the bottom if +possible, and declared that she was going at once to see the mother, +and call her to account. Whether she had some vague idea of bringing +the supposed offenders to justice, or of restoring the lost locks to +Matty, I cannot tell; but just as she was leaving, Milly, Bessie, and +I, bound for an early trip to spend the day with a friend in the +country, whose birthday it was, came into the shop to purchase some +flowers. + +The morning was damp and chilly, although there was the promise of a +fair day later on; and Matty's stand was placed inside when we entered +the shop, and the first thing our eyes rested upon was Matty's shorn +head. We all three leaped at once to the same conclusion with the +Petersens. But whether it was that I was more forcibly struck than the +others with the cruelty of the thing, from having something of a +fellow-feeling for Matty in the possession of a profuse quantity of +hair somewhat like her own, although, as she had said, hers had been +"purtier" than mine, despite the lack of the care which mine had always +received, or that I had less self-control over my emotions; certain it +is that I burst into a passion of tears and sobs, which astonished not +only the good florist and his wife, but also my own sister and friend. +I was ashamed of them, but could not control them; and perhaps it was +as well that I could not do so immediately, for those tears made their +way where all else had failed to effect an entrance; and, to my great +astonishment, Matty seized with both her hands upon mine, which in my +great pity and sympathy I had laid upon her shoulder, and, carrying it +to her face, laid her cheek upon it. The next instant she dropped it, +and sat looking down with the same stolid expression that she +ordinarily wore. Indeed, it had hardly changed even at the moment of +that most unusual demonstration, for no trace of any emotion had been +visible on the worn, old little face. + +Tony was delighted, as pleased as though his sister had given evidence +of some wonderful talent, or performed some heroic action. + +"She likes ye, miss," he exclaimed, "an' I allus knowed she did, though +she wouldn't let on. She likes ye fust rate, though she wor kinder +back'ard 'bout lettin' on. Now don't ye like the lady, Matty? If she +hadn't liked ye lots, miss, she wouldn't er----" Here he checked +himself with a frightened, embarrassed look, and rushing out of the +little store, applied himself vigorously to the turning of his empty, +tireless peanut-roaster. + +But not a word, and not another token of any thing like feeling, was to +be drawn from Matty. The rock had hardened again, and to all +appearances no softening influences could be brought to bear upon it. +It was not until Mrs. Petersen again expressed her positive intention +of going to call the elder Blairs to account, and was about to start +off for that purpose, that the child roused herself again, and turned, +with something of apprehension in her expression, to look for Tony, +who, having discovered that he was working aimlessly, was making ready +to kindle his charcoal and fill his roaster. + +"I go to dat mutter an' fader; I gif dem some pieces of my mi-int," +said Mrs. Petersen, as she turned toward the door; but Milly stopped +her. + +"Do not, please, Mrs. Petersen," she said, in a tone too low to reach +Matty's ear. "It will only make trouble for yourself and us. We cannot +give poor Matty back her beautiful hair; and if you vex those dreadful +people, it will only put fresh difficulties in the way of persuading +them to give up the children." + +"I tell dem my mi-int," persisted Mrs. Petersen; but finally she was +persuaded to listen to reason and to satisfy herself with relieving her +"mi-int." + +My idea had been to induce Mrs. Petersen and Johnny--or Mrs. Petersen +rather, for Johnny was sure to follow her lead, to take Matty and Tony +under their care, and give them a home. Cousin Serena had offered to +furnish the means for Tony's support, and I to do the same for Matty. +But the florist and his wife had been unwilling to undertake the +charge, even if the parents could be bribed to give up the children, +lest they should be exposed to trouble in the future; therefore the +Blairs had not yet been approached on the subject. I was for taking +high-handed measures, and having the children separated from them on +the ground of neglect and cruelty; but wiser and less impulsive heads +than mine had decided that there was hardly sufficient reason for this, +and I had been obliged to restrain my impatience and content myself +with such alleviations of their lot as I could compass at present. I am +not patient by nature, and could not bear to have any delay or +hinderances put in the way of my schemes for the benefit of those +children, and in secret I chafed a little over this. + +It will readily be surmised what had become of Matty's hair. + +Doubting the truth of Theodore's story, and yet fearing that there +might be some foundation for it, Tony had confided to his sister that +he meant to ask Jim about it, notwithstanding Theodore's warning to +beware how he did so. Jim's anger at the questions he had put, +especially at that regarding the "poisoning," had been enough to +convince him that it was all true. Jim _had_ a secret which he was +afraid to have known; and that secret could be nothing more nor less +than the alleged poisoning, which he plainly could not or would not +deny; and which, according to ignorant little Tony's ideas, he was +afraid to have come to the ears of the police. Theodore had learned of +that unfortunate occurrence--as we heard later when all this came to +light--through the medium of a stray copy of the objectionable paper +containing the paragraph before referred to. This he had happened to +read to his grandfather and grandmother, who, proud of his ability to +do this far better than they could do it for themselves--for reading +with Captain and Mrs. Yorke was a work of time and difficulty, +involving more pains-taking than pleasure--often set him to amuse them +in this way in the evening. + +"Madison Avenue" to Captain Yorke was comprised in the block on which +our house was situated; and the curiosity of the old man being +insatiable, he had never rested until he had located the house. By dint +of questioning Thomas and the other servants, he soon learned all there +was to know, and was greatly excited and very wrathy when he heard the +truth. He repeated this to his wife and grandson, bidding them never to +say a word about it, as the family had been much annoyed and +displeased. Theodore, however, had once ventured to ask Jim about the +matter, and had been met by such a burst of fury that he had never +ventured to speak of it again to him. Not for fear of offending Jim, +however, but because he dreaded the anger of his grandfather, should +Jim complain, as he threatened to do, to the old man; for Jim would +have told in this case on my account. + +But it answered Theodore's purpose when he set himself to work to +devise means to obtain the five dollars he coveted. He had aroused the +fears of these ignorant children for those who had been kind to them, +and having been convinced by Jim's behavior that it was all true, Tony +had proposed what indeed had been in Matty's mind before, that she +should sell her hair, and so buy Theodore's silence. Matty had agreed; +and that morning, before they had made their appearance at the +florist's, they had gone to a barber's, and, with small worldly wisdom, +Tony had demanded if he would give five dollars for Matty's hair. + +Gazing with astonishment and delight at the mine of wealth displayed +for his approbation, the barber drew the long silky tresses through his +fingers, and closed the bargain at once, as well he might, supposing +him to be possessed of neither heart nor conscience. Matty's head was +expeditiously shorn, and the proceeds of the unrighteous sale were put +into Tony's hands; for he had appeared as the speaking partner +throughout the transaction, Matty maintaining the usual impassive, +sullen silence, so seldom broken save for her brother and the +Petersens. + +The next thing to do was to see Theodore and to hand him the money; and +being in haste to do this before he should have time to give the +dreaded information to the police, Tony went to the boarding-place +which was his home at present, Matty waiting for her brother on the +neighboring corner, and asked for Theodore. + +Now, this proceeding, as it proved, brought swift detection and +punishment upon the young blackmailer. + +Theodore had not remembered to guard against the children coming to the +house; indeed, he had not thought of his rascally scheme bearing fruit +at all so soon. + +Happily for the frustration of that scheme, Theodore was out, having +been sent on an errand by his grandfather; and the old captain himself, +who was lounging on the front steps, was the one who first met the lame +boy. Tony, who was not able to read numbers, had not been quite sure of +his ground in the row of houses all so much alike; but he had no +further doubt when he saw Captain Yorke. + +At first he drew back, uncertain whether to make it known that his +business was with Theodore; but his fear that his tormentor would "tell +the perlice" before he had the opportunity to quiet him was too strong +for his caution, and he asked the captain if Theodore was "to home." + +"No, he ain't; an' what ye want with Theodore, sonny?" asked the +captain. + +Tony hesitated and fidgeted; and the old man asked sharply and quickly, +"He ain't been hookin' your peanuts agin?" + +"No--o," stammered Tony; and the captain, coming down the steps to +where the boy stood, laid his hand upon his shoulder, and said +sternly,--although the sternness was not for the cripple,-- + +"Ef he's touched another peanut, or been a-wrongin' of ye any way, tell +me,--tell me right off. What is it?" + +But Tony dared not tell; and the honest old seaman, whose confidence in +his grandson had never been fully restored, was convinced that he had +been about some of his evil ways again. He could do nothing with Tony, +however; no persuasions could avail to draw any explanation from him; +and he presently made his escape, hobbling down the street with the +marvellous celerity with which he used his crutches, leaving the +captain a prey to disquietude and apprehension. + +Nor had he hope of obtaining any thing like the truth from Theodore +himself: so he asked him no questions when he returned, nor did he tell +him that Tony had come to ask for him, but, after taking counsel with +himself, resolved to see Johnny Petersen, and tell him to be on the +watch; and soon after we had left the florist's, he appeared there. + +Tony saw the old Brutus coming down the street, stern and determined of +aspect, trouble in every line of his weather-beaten countenance, and +supposed himself to be his objective point. Dreading further catechism, +and not being willing to encounter it, he dropped the crank of the +peanut-roaster, and was off again before the captain was near enough to +speak. Johnny could tell nothing, he thought, save that Matty's hair +was gone, which the old man could not fail to see for himself; and his +sister, he well knew, would not speak. For a moment he thought he would +seize his opportunity, and hasten back to the house while Captain Yorke +was away, and hand Theodore the five dollars; but he recollected that +the oppressor would be at school, and so this would be useless. From a +safe distance he watched for the captain's departure, and did not +venture near his post till he saw him come out and walk away. + +As he had foreseen, not a word could either Captain Yorke or the +florist draw from Matty, when the former had made known the purpose of +his coming; and they both questioned her closely. One might have +thought that she was utterly deaf and dumb as she sat opposing that +stolid, determined silence to all they said. Johnny knew nothing which +could throw any light on the subject; and after telling him of Tony's +embarrassment, and bidding him be on the watch, the heavy-hearted old +man left the little shop. + +Johnny did keep on the watch, but refrained from asking Tony any +questions, keeping his eye upon him, however; but no further +developments appeared until later in the day, when he saw Theodore +coming down the other side of the avenue, and observed that Tony raised +a warning finger to him as if to bid him keep his distance. Theodore +paused on the opposite corner, and Tony went over to meet him. + +Considerations of delicacy did not withhold Johnny from intruding upon +what was evidently meant to be a private interview; and when, after a +moment's converse, Tony put his hand in his pocket, and drew forth +something which he gave to Theodore, the florist darted from his shop, +and rushed across the street with an agility which was hardly to be +expected from one of his years and girth. + +Theodore saw him coming, and his guilty conscience leaped to the truth; +Johnny suspected something wrong, and was coming to accuse him. + +Closing his hand tightly on the prize which he had just received from +his victim, he turned, and started to run. But an avenging Nemesis, in +the shape of a piece of orange-peel, was behind him; his foot slipped +upon it, and he came heavily to the ground. Before he could rise, the +florist precipitated himself upon him with so much momentum, that he +too lost his balance, and fell flat upon the boy. Not one whit +disturbed was Johnny, however, by the fear that he might have injured +his prisoner, although he had half knocked the breath from the boy's +body; on the contrary, he would, I think, have been quite pleased to +know that Theodore was seriously bruised. + +Rising with some difficulty, and not without assistance from a +passer-by who had seen the catastrophe, puffing and panting, but still +retaining the hold he had taken of Theodore's collar, he hauled the boy +to his feet, and, regardless of the punishment he had already +inflicted, gave him a hard cuff upon the ear, saying,-- + +"You runs away from me, will you? I learns you, my poy, you shtays ven +I vants to shpeak mit you." + +Supposing from this authoritative address that he was the father of the +boy who had been guilty of some wrong, the man who had helped him +passed on his way, leaving him to deal with the culprit as he saw fit. +And Johnny saw fit to handle him with any thing but gentleness, pushing +him before him across the street, and into the shop, giving him now and +then a vicious shake, diversifying this with an occasional punch in the +back with the fist of the disengaged hand. Had they had any distance to +go, they would probably have drawn a crowd after them; as it was, they +reached Johnny's quarters without attracting any special attention. + +"Now," said the breathless florist when he had his captive safely +within the shelter of the shop, "now, vat is your pusiness mit Tony? +Tony is my scharge, an' I don' let him talks mit poys what shteals what +don' pelongs to dem. Vat you got here?" + +And he seized the tightly closed hand containing the five dollars, +which Theodore had not yet found opportunity to conceal in a safer +place. Theodore resisted; but he was no match for Petersen, who tripped +him up again without compunction, and, regardless of consequences to +the surrounding plants,--which happily came to no harm in the +struggle,--sat upon him, and opened his hand with both his own. + +Five dollars! + +Johnny was not a particularly brilliant Dutchman, and his mind was +generally slow in arriving at any conclusion; but the two and two which +were to be put together here were not difficult to compute; and as he +looked from the five-dollar bill to Matty's shorn head, and back again, +he was not long in deciding that they made four. Matty for once showed +some sign of emotion as she sat rubbing her hand over her poor little +head in a nervous manner; although beyond this, and the stare with +which she regarded the combatants, she showed no trace of interest in +the affair, never once opening her lips. + +"So!" said the florist, holding out the bill at arm's length,--"so! How +is dis? You put Matty's head to de schissors, an' take him all off, und +you shteal den her monish. De peanuts is a pad pisness; but dis is so +much vorse as it goes to de prison. Tell me, Tony, how is dis?" + +"I didn't steal it, he gave it to me; and I didn't touch Matty's hair," +panted the prostrate Theodore. "He--he--he wanted me to do something +for him, and he said he would give me that if I did it. Oh! let me up!" + +"Hole your mout, and shpeak ven you is shpoken mit," said Johnny. +"Tony, shpeak an' tell me. How vas it? You is cut off Matty's head; you +is got de monish, five tollars, vat I tells you he is vort; now tell me +what for you gifs dis five tollars to dis pad poy, a poy so vorse as I +do not know. I _vill_ haf you tell me; if no, I calls de police." + +There was no escape; on all hands Tony saw visions of the police, who +would soon ferret out the whole matter, away back to Miss Amy and Jim +(so Tony thought); and he found it best to throw himself and all +concerned on the mercy of his old friend, and make a full confession. + +As he told the shameful story of how Theodore had threatened to tell +Jim's "secret," and to let the police know of the "poisoning" unless +somebody paid him five dollars to keep it quiet; of the confirmation he +had himself received from Jim's manner and words when he asked him +about it; of how he and Matty had resolved to save their friends by the +sacrifice of the hair which Johnny himself had often told them was +worth so much money; of how they had gone to the barber's, and sold the +hair; and lastly, how he, seeing Theodore on the opposite side of the +street, had hurried over to bribe him with the five dollars to hold his +peace, and how Theodore had accepted the price,--the kind-hearted +florist waxed more and more angry; and when he rose, and once more +hauled the boy to his feet, it was only to seize a cane, and administer +such a chastisement as the culprit had seldom or never received. + +Theodore made little or no outcry, however, for he was afraid of +attracting attention from without, and perhaps himself falling into the +hands of the law; for he did not know, if his deeds were once made +public, how far he might be under the ban of that authority. + +"Now you go," said Johnny, when at last he paused, breathless from all +his exertions, and with one final shake released his captive; "go und +tell de gran'fader I fin' vat is de matter out, und I gifs de vorst +vips as I could gif to de vorst poy in all de down, und so I safes him +some droubles. But if he dinks to gif you some more of de same veesic, +I dink it not too moosh. For dat gran'fader, I says notings to de +police for dis time; bud if you says one leetle more vord apout de +young lady or dat goot poy Jim, or makes afrait any more dese +schillens, den you see some dings to make you shtare. Go, go!" + +And Theodore stood not upon the order of his going. + +The pleasure of the day with our friends had been much marred for me by +the recollection of the shorn head of my forlorn little _protégée_ and +the repulsive appearance she now presented; and I was more than ever +anxious to remove her from the father and mother, who, I thought, had +treated her so unjustly and cruelly; and I could not reconcile myself +to the idea that this afforded no grounds for my taking them away. + +But that difficulty was presently to be solved in the most satisfactory +way to those who had at heart the welfare of the crippled children. + +Mother had occasion to send Jim upon an errand shortly after his return +from school that afternoon; and he found it convenient, according to +his usual custom, to return by a roundabout way, and stop at the +peanut-stand. The excitement in Johnny's small establishment had hardly +subsided when he made his appearance, and it was little wonder that he +tarried long on his errand; so long, indeed, that mother rather lost +patience, and said that she should forbid his stopping at his favorite +haunt, except by express permission, if this occurred again. But his +want of punctuality was quite forgiven when he came in with the tidings +which he bore. + +As usual, however, when any question arose of Theodore's want of +principle, or any instance of it was shown, there was something in +Jim's manner which excited the attention of those of the household +under whose immediate observation he most came; and again Milly was +surprised to see how wistful, uneasy, and absolutely nervous he was, +appearing, as he often had before, as if there were something on his +mind which he wished to tell her, but which he could not muster courage +to confess. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +MATTY IS PROVIDED FOR. + + +"Of course," said Uncle Rutherford, that evening in family conclave, +"this business settles the question of that scholarship for Theodore +Yorke. He has proved himself more utterly without principle or common +honesty, than I could have believed possible; and while, for poor old +Yorke's sake, I should be glad to give him another chance of redeeming +his character, I do not feel that the boy himself is worthy of it. He +is radically bad and vicious, with a natural leaning toward deceit and +dishonesty, and a capacity for crime that is absolutely startling, or +he never could have arranged so deliberate a plan to obtain money from +these poor little cripples. It was absolute blackmailing; and the +Yorkes, I fear, have sad trouble in store for them with the boy. All +the better for your _protégé_, Milly, if he continues to do as well as +he has done lately. That fellow is in earnest, whatever may be the aims +and influences which control him." + +"I think," said aunt Emily, "that Mrs. Yorke is right, and that it +would be best both for the captain and for Theodore to go home. The old +man keeps her in a constant worry, by his very innocence and +simplicity, which are so easily imposed upon; and it will be far better +for that boy to be where he is not surrounded by so many temptations. +Do you not think so, Nicholas? Better for him to be in his quiet, +out-of-the-way home, than here, where there are so many inducements to +evil for a boy without principle, such as has certainly proved +himself." + +Before Uncle Rutherford had time either to agree or dissent, Thomas +announced that Captain Yorke wished to see Mr. Rutherford and Mr. +Livingstone, and was told to show the old man into the adjoining +library, whither papa and Uncle Rutherford adjourned to see him. + +But through the half-drawn portières, the rest of us heard all that +passed; and, indeed, the captain was not reticent,--it was not in his +nature to be,--and he would have been quite as garrulous in the +presence of an audience of any size, provided he knew all his hearers +to be friends. And not even the gravity of his errand, or the subject +on which he held forth, could restrain him from the various deviations +and wanderings to which he was prone when talking. It will not be +necessary to repeat all these here. + +The old man had gone back to Johnny Petersen's just as the florist was +closing his shop for the night, timing his second visit after the hour +at which he knew the cripples would have left, and asked Johnny if he +had any further information for him. Johnny was not inclined to talk, +he found, and tried to evade his questions; but he was obliged to allow +that Theodore had appeared again; and finally, so determined was the +captain, that he asked him to come with him to his home, where he would +tell him all. + +Seated in Mrs. Petersen's cosey room, the poor old seaman heard the +story in all its details, half bewildered by the good Dutchman's broken +English, but fully able to extract from it all the painful and shameful +particulars of his grandson's rascality. Once launched into his +narration, Johnny spared nothing, and, at the end, rather glorified +himself for having taken matters into his own hands, and administered +condign punishment to the culprit upon the spot; nor did he deem it +necessary to apologize to the grandfather for having done so, neither +did Captain Yorke seem to expect this, or to think that he was not +perfectly justified in all that he had done. + +Theodore had gone home, after his encounter with Johnny, evidently +suffering and much crestfallen; but when his grandfather had questioned +him, he had added to his sins, and accounted for this, by saying that +he had had a fight in school; he being quite unaware of the captain's +suspicions, and of his interviews with Tony and the florist in the +morning. His grandfather had not yet confronted him with the discovery +of his sin; for he had come directly from the Petersens to our house, +deeming it best to take counsel with those whom he considered wiser and +less interested than himself. + +"I thought I had done with all sich work when I heered Tom was took," +said the old man pathetically; "but here it's broke out agin, an' me +an' Mis' Yorke not so young as we was by a long shot, an' can't stan' +it so well. The Scriptur says, 'Like father, like son;' an' I've faith +to b'lieve it, seein' I'm provin' it in my own fam'ly." + +"No, no, captain," said uncle Rutherford, holding out his hand kindly +to the veteran, "you must not say that, for if Tom had been like _his_ +father, he would have been a man in whom all who knew him placed +confidence. And"--contradicting his own words spoken some time +since--"we will not despair of your grandson yet. He is young, and +under good influences now." + +"It's all the wus, Gov'nor," said the captain, shaking his head, "all +the wus to see him so young and so wicked. The Scriptur' says, 'The +ways of transgressors is hard;' but I b'lieve the ways of them what has +to do with the transgressors, an' foller them up, is harder, an' them's +my opinions." + +Father and uncle Rutherford each offered a few words of sympathy, and +endeavored to comfort him; but he was not yet to be consoled, and could +see no hope for the future. He was terribly distressed over the +necessity of telling Mrs. Yorke, and said that he meant to "sleep over +it," and think of the best way of breaking it to her. But we all knew +how much probability there was of that. No sooner would he see his +wife, than his full heart would overleap all restraint he might have +intended to put upon it, and she would be put in possession of all the +facts, down to the smallest details. + +In the midst of his own perplexities, however, the captain did not +forget a piece of news he had brought with him, and which especially +interested me, and speedily drew me into the library. + +While he was still with the Petersens, but on the point of taking his +leave, the sound of crutches had been heard on the stairs; and Johnny, +turning to listen, said,-- + +"Dems is Tony mit his crushes. Vat is upper now?" and opened the door +to admit not only Tony, but also his sister. Tony was flustered and +frightened, with eyes half starting from his head; but Matty was +impassive as usual, and showed neither terror nor excitement. + +"They've gone!" exclaimed the lame boy. + +"Who are gone? Vat is de madder?" asked Johnny; then added, before Tony +could answer, "Poor leetle poy, he is all upside down mit dis day. +Shpeak, Tony." + +"They've gone," repeated Tony; "an' what is wus, the furnitur' is gone +too, an' there ain't no beds nor nuthin'." + +"Vat is gone?" asked Mrs. Petersen in her turn; then, jumping at her +own conclusions, added, "De vater an' de mutter?" + +"Yes, and good riddance, too; on'y we ain't got any place to sleep," +said Tony; which filial sentiment found an echo in the hearts of all +present. + +It was all true, as Johnny found on investigation. When Tony and Matty +had gone home that evening, they found the wretched room on the top +floor of a tenement-house, which they had inhabited with their father +and mother, empty and tenantless; the few articles of worthless +furniture (if furniture it could be called) which it had formerly held, +taken away. But if there was no one there to welcome them, neither did +there await them the abusive language and hard blows they too +frequently encountered. They were not in the slightest degree troubled +by the loss; their only feeling seemed to be, as Tony expressed it, +that it was a "good riddance," save that they had no other +resting-place for the night. A pitying neighbor had given them their +supper; and they were told that their mother had gone out early in the +morning, soon after they had gone to business, and, re-appearing with a +carter, had had her few possessions carried away, leaving no word +whither she was bound, or message for the helpless children. The +mystery was solved in a degree, when two police-officers appeared a few +hours later, saying that Blair was "wanted" for a grave offence against +the law; but the bird had flown, and so far left no trace. + +I was delighted, and could almost have thanked Blair for committing a +crime which rendered flight necessary, and seemed to leave the way open +for a decent provision for the destitute children. + +Captain Yorke told us that Mrs. Petersen was going to keep them for the +night, and that they were already quite at home and comfortable, and +Tony excitedly happy,--happiness and Matty could not be +associated,--with the motherly German woman and her husband. + +But our two gentlemen and Captain Yorke had not yet come to any +conclusion as to what was to be done with Theodore; and it was an +embarrassing question to decide. To take the boy, a boy who was making +fair progress in his studies, and who was pains-taking and ambitious, +from school, and bury him in the quiet sea-side home, where, save for +three or four months of the year, he would be almost altogether cut off +from association with any but the few still primitive inhabitants of +the Point, and where he would be entirely deprived of any advantages of +education, seemed almost too much punishment even for the grave +offences which those three honorable, high-minded men found it hard to +condone. But, again, it was not to be thought of, that, devoid of +conscience and right feeling as he was, he should be left alone exposed +to the temptations of the great city. For Captain and Mrs. Yorke must +shortly return home, Mrs. Yorke's physician having pronounced her +sufficiently cured to be allowed to do so in the course of a few weeks; +and, even as it was, the nominal protection of Theodore's grandparents +had formed no safeguard against evil. The evil was in his own heart, +but he might be placed where there would be fewer opportunities for its +development. + +It was a grave matter for consideration, and could not be hastily +decided. + +"Of course," said uncle Rutherford, as he bid the captain good-night, +"of course it is out of the question for Theodore to remain in the city +after you and Mrs. Yorke leave, even under the care of the kind woman +with whom you now board; he would not recognize her authority, and +would consider himself free to go any lengths. No, that is not to be +thought of; but we may devise some other plan by which he may have some +schooling and be kept in proper restraint; and he may yet in time prove +a help and comfort to you, Yorke. For your sake I would do much to set +him in the right way; and his teachers think that he has the making of +a clever man in him, if we can but instil something like principle into +his character. Take heart, man." + +But the captain went out sadly and hopelessly shaking his gray head, +over which twenty years seemed to have passed since the morning of that +day. + +It was not, perhaps, that his affection for his grandson had been so +deeply grieved; for the boy had, until less than a year since, been +quite a stranger to his grandparents, and Theodore was not an +attractive boy even to his own family; and, had the choice been given +to the captain, he would undoubtedly have much preferred to claim Jim +as his own, his open, sunny, joyous nature responding much more readily +to the old man's than did that of the far less amiable Theodore. But he +felt ashamed and disgraced, and as if he could not bear to look any one +of the name of Rutherford or Livingstone in the face, while he still +felt that to our family alone could he turn for help and advice in this +sad business. + +"Ye see, you and Mr. Livingstone knows a heap more 'bout wicked ways +an' doin's than me an' Miss Yorke does, Gov'nor," he said to uncle +Rutherford, altogether innocent of any uncomplimentary inference which +might be drawn, "an' so ye'd know the best ways out of 'em. Yes, I says +to myself, says I, if there's enny one knows the ways out of a bad +scrape, it'll be them city born and bred gentlemen; so I come along to +tell ye afore I tole Miss Yorke or nothin'. Mebbe ye could tell me how +to make it a little lighter for her," he added wistfully. + +Alas! beyond the promise to think the matter over, and to consider what +was best to be done, his two friends could give him little consolation +to convey to the poor grandmother, who had built so much on the +opportunities offered to the boy who she had hoped and believed would +prove a credit and support to the declining years of herself and her +husband. + +The next morning, directly after breakfast, I announced my intention of +going immediately round to see cousin Serena, and asking her to go with +me to Mrs. Petersen's, to ascertain if there were any hope that she +would take Tony and Matty, now that their father and mother had +apparently deserted them. I would provide for Matty, and cousin Serena +wished to do the same for the boy. I was very eager now to carry out my +plans, believing that the lions in the way were entirely removed, and +that no one could have any further objection to my doing so. + +But, to my great disgust, again there were dissenting voices; for +father and mother, aunt Emily, yes, and even impulsive, +push-a-thing-ahead uncle Rutherford, said that it would not do to take +it for granted that the elder Blairs would not return and claim the +children. It was not probable, they agreed, but it was more than +possible; and all my elders were quite positive that the Petersens +would not undertake the care of Tony and Matty until they felt assured +that the parents were not likely to meddle with them, or to make +trouble for those who had them in charge. + +"But I want to go and see," I said, determined, if possible, to carry +my point at once, "if the Petersens _will_ do it--and they may. There +is no use in leaving Matty unprovided for. What will she and Tony do if +Mrs. Petersen will not keep them while it is uncertain whether that man +and woman return or not?" + +I spoke in rather an aggrieved tone, feeling somewhat inclined to think +my relatives hard-hearted. + +"Interview Mrs. Petersen, if you choose, my daughter," said papa; "only +be prepared for disappointment." + +"I only want to see Matty provided for, papa," I answered, a little +ashamed of my former pettishness. + +"And Matty, and Tony also, shall not be allowed to suffer, Amy," said +uncle Rutherford sympathetically; mindful, perhaps, of his own +propensity for forcing things to a wished-for conclusion at once. + +"I'll see cousin Serena, and take her views, anyway," I said, my good +humor restored; and I lost little time in carrying out my purpose. + +Miss Craven herself was so eager and earnest when in pursuit of any +plan, especially when it was for the benefit or pleasure of others, +that I built much on her co-operation in the work of persuading the +Petersens to take the cripples under their protection at once; and I +was proportionately crestfallen when I found that she took the same +view of the case as my own family, saying also that she did not believe +that Johnny and his wife would agree to my proposal, and that she did +not think it advisable that they should. However, she willingly +consented to go with me to the Petersens. + +And, lo! I returned triumphant; for Mrs. Petersen, moved probably more +by the utter desolation of the children than by any arguments or +persuasions of mine, had consented without difficulty to take them for +the present, and to retain them so long as the parent Blairs did not +return or claim them. + +And whatever his wife decided, that was sure to be the best in Johnny's +eyes; so, her consent being gained, there was no fear of a dissenting +voice from him. Moreover, recollections of his own youth inclined +Johnny's heart to be merciful. + +"Und why for no," he said, when appealed to on behalf of the deserted +children, "why for no? Sometime ven mine fader und mutter die mit me, +und dere vas nopody to gif leetle Johnny notings, vat should he do, if +did not come some goot peoples vat take und eat him und sleep him? I +don' forget; und how I vas done py, I do mit der oders. Mine wife she +vas so goot as a mutter for dem." + +The arrangement was concluded to the mutual satisfaction of the +Petersens and myself, to say nothing of that of Tony,--Matty, as usual, +showing no sign either of pleasure or the contrary. There was no time +lost in settling the cripples in their new quarters, so superior in all +respects to any they had ever enjoyed before. There was nothing to be +moved from those they had occupied with their father and mother; not a +splinter, not a shred, beyond the clothes they had on and those kept at +Mrs. Petersen's, was left to them; indeed, had there been, we never +should have allowed them to claim it, nor would Mrs. Petersen have +allowed it to come into her tidy apartments. + +My day was occupied in a fever of energy, running from one place to +another, providing beds and clothing and other articles,--many of +which, had I not been checked by wiser counsels, would have been +unnecessary and unfit,--dragging cousin Serena with me; begging from +mother, aunt Emily, and Mrs. Sanford, and drawing somewhat heavily on +my own resources. At last every thing was ready, to the serene content +of Mrs. Petersen, who now seemed to feel as if she had really adopted +the children; and when evening came, I rested in the happy +consciousness that Matty was at last well provided for, as I would have +her, and that I had carried my point with comparatively little trouble. + +Jim beamed upon me every time he came near me, and he appeared to have +a sense of partnership which was not a little amusing. + +Amy had "taken it awfully hard," my brothers, Norman and Douglas, said +as they ran me on my new burst of philanthropy; but I was too +complacent and well satisfied to be at all disturbed by their comments. + +Little did I dream, while dwelling on the future I had planned for the +little hunchback, that a higher hand than mine was so soon to take all +provision for her into its own keeping. + +On the afternoon of the next day, as Milly and I, just dressed for a +very different scene from that to which we were suddenly called, were +passing down the stairs to the carriage which was awaiting us, Jim came +rushing up in a state of terrible excitement, with distressed, +frightened eyes looking out of a deadly white face. + +"Miss Milly! Miss Milly!" he gasped, all out of breath as he was with +rapid running, and addressing first the one to whom he was accustomed +to turn in all emergencies or need for help, "Miss Milly, oh, come +quick! No, no--it's Miss Amy I mean. Miss Amy, come quick; she wants +you!" + +"Who wants me? what is the matter?" asked both Milly and I in one +breath, and very much alarmed as we saw that there was really some +serious trouble. + +"Matty! She'll be gone, miss. Oh, come quick!" he answered, still in +the same breathless manner. + +Visions of the drunken mother returning for the child, and striving to +take her away against her will, at once presented themselves to my +imagination; and now, indeed, my boasted interest in Matty was tried. +Was I expected to face this worthless, angry woman, and rescue my poor +little _protégée_? I could not do it; this was my first thought. Then, +again, was I to abandon the poor child without one struggle, without +one effort to prevail on the woman to leave the helpless child in the +better hands into which she had fallen? Like a flash of lightning all +this passed through my brain; then I said to Jim faintly and with a +faltering heart,-- + +"Is there any one there to help?" + +"Yes, miss," answered Jim; "there's Johnny, an' Mrs. Petersen, an' the +policeman brought her in, an' the doctor. But, O Miss Amy, do make +haste! she wants you so bad, an' the doctor said to bring you quick." + +The doctor? Then was Matty ill, in danger? + +"What is it, Jim? Do speak," said Milly. "What _is_ the trouble? Is +Matty ill? do you mean she is dying?" + +"The doctor said so, Miss Milly. 'Twas the fire-engine. But _do_ be +quick!" + +A sickening horror came over me, and Milly turned as white as a sheet; +but no more time was lost. We hurried into the carriage, bade Jim mount +beside the coachman, and, not even knowing whither we were bound, left +the directions to him. + +But the drive to our unknown destination was not a long one; and in two +minutes we drew up at Dutch Johnny's little flower-store, around which +a crowd had gathered, through which we had to push our way; or rather +the policeman, who stood by the door, opened a way for us. + +Stretched upon the floor, in the midst of all the delicate verdure and +brilliant color in the florist's small store, lay Matty, her little +shorn head supported upon the breast of Mrs. Petersen, who was bending +over her with the tears running down her cheeks. At Mrs. Petersen's +side was Tony, leaning his head against her other shoulder, his face a +mixture of terror, grief, and bewilderment, both his hands clasping +those of Matty; around were grouped Johnny, a doctor, and a second +officer. + +Matty's eyes were fixed upon the door; and as we entered, a sudden +gleam of intelligence and pleasure lighted them. She drew one of her +hands from Tony's clasp, and stretched it out to me. + +Regardless of my light spring costume as it came in contact with the +damp floor of the greenhouse, I knelt in front of Mrs. Petersen, and +bent over the poor little creature. Only once in my life had I seen +death; and then neither my affections nor my sympathies had been +enlisted, and my sensations, from the nature of the circumstances, had +been only those of horror and repulsion, and I had fled from the sight, +while now the recollection of it was as some dreadful dream. Never +before had I seen a soul pass from the one life to the other; but +countless experiences could not have told me the truth more forcibly +than did the look upon the face so small, so pitifully old and +care-worn. The hand of God's angel had already written it too plainly +there. + +A merciful angel, blotting out the traces of suffering and weariness +and oppression such as, happily, few of God's little ones are called +upon to bear; and imprinting in their place rest and peace unspeakable. + +For Matty was passing away without pain; the injuries she had received +had dulled sensation, while they were destroying life. + +She motioned for me to bend down, for she was almost past speech; then +raising both hands she tried to push back my hat. I flung it aside, and +she passed her hands over my hair again and again, and drew her thin +fingers, from whose touch I did not shrink now, through the curling +rings about my forehead and temples; then her lips moved, and Tony +stooped to listen. + +"She says hers 'more purtier,'" said the poor little brother, half +choking. + +"Yes, Matty," I said, "much prettier. You had the prettiest hair I ever +saw." Then, as a sudden inspiration flashed upon me, "I am going to +that barber to buy back your hair, Matty; and Tony shall have it for +his own to keep all his life." + +Her face brightened, and a smile, the first, the only smile I ever saw +upon it, lightened it and almost transfigured it; then she turned her +eyes from me, and looked around the little store till they rested upon +a beautiful pink azalea which stood at a little distance,--beautiful in +itself, but not for the purpose for which Matty wanted it. + +Taking one hand from my hair, while the fingers of the other still +lingered among my curls, she pointed to the plant, and looked wistfully +at Johnny. The good German was not usually quick of comprehension; but +he understood the mute appeal now, and he asked in a voice even more +husky than his usual guttural tones,-- + +"Vat you vants, Maddy? Some dem vlowers?" + +She nodded assent, and the florist hastily cut a cluster, and put it in +her hand. With fast-failing strength she tried to place it in my hair; +but the effort was too much; and Milly, who stood behind me, assisted +her to arrange the blossoms as she would have them. A look of intense +satisfaction passed over the pallid face, as though to her untutored +taste this glaring adornment was all that could be desired; then the +hands fell, and the lips moved. + +Both Tony and I tried to hear; but the only word I could hear was, +"suffer." + +"Do you suffer so, poor little Matty?" I asked, for the doctor had +assured us that she did not. + +She shook her head feebly, and I heard the word "children." + +"What children? Do you mean you want to see my little sisters, Matty?" +I asked. + +"No, miss," interposed Tony. "I knows what she means. It is a teks was +hung up in the Sunday-school room right forninst where she sat, an' she +used to sit starin' at it like she hadn't nothin' else to think on; an' +the lady what run the class teached it to her one day, 'cause it was +the Golden Teks for that day, an' she's made me be a-hearin' ov it a +many times since. She did set sich a heap by that teks as I niver saw, +an' I'm thinkin' she wants yer to be a-repeatin' of it to her, +miss.--Does yer, Matty?" + +Again she nodded; and I said as well as my sobs would let me, "Suffer +little children to come unto me, and forbid them not; for of such is +the kingdom of heaven." + +"More, more," she whispered faintly; and I repeated over and over again +the sweet, gracious invitation which has lasted and shall last through +all time, gathering into those loving arms the little ones of every +degree, the beautiful and the uncouth, the happy and the oppressed; +until to the echo of that golden text poor Matty's soul floated away +peacefully and quietly. + +Unsightly, unhappy, and unloved, save for the faithful young brother to +whom she was all in all,--to her, little had been given; and we may +surely believe that from her little would be required. + +So was Matty provided for, and the care of her taken from my hands and +those of generous Jim, who really seemed to mourn for her as though she +had been his own sister. + +The particulars of the circumstances which led to her death, as related +by Johnny Petersen, Tony, and the policeman who had witnessed the +accident,--for accident it was,--were these. + +Matty had had the most unbounded terror of the fire-engines,--perhaps +owing to the fact, stated by Tony, that her deformity had been +occasioned by her being thrown from a window during a fire when she was +a very young child; and she probably associated the engines with all +the misery, both mental and physical, which she had ever since +suffered. However that may be, the sight or sound of them was +sufficient to rouse her from the state of dull apathy usual to her, +into a paroxysm of alarm and nervousness; and if Tony were anywhere +within reach she always sought his side with some fancied idea of +protection, until the terror was beyond her vision and hearing. + +Tony had been sent by Johnny on some errand, and was returning, and had +nearly reached the opposite corner of the avenue, when the sound of the +galloping hoofs and rattling wheels of a fire-engine were heard. + +Matty at her stand without the florist's shop was out of harm's way; +but no sooner did the clatter of the approaching steamer strike her +ear, than she hastily rose from her seat, and started to meet Tony, +who, pausing with boyish interest to watch the engine as it came up the +cross street, did not see or heed his sister until it was too late. +Johnny saw from within the shop, and started to hold back the child: +but fear lent wings to Matty's usually slow and faltering footsteps; +she heeded not or heard not his calls; and, before he could reach her, +the engine swung around the corner into the avenue, and the already so +sadly disfigured little form lay among the trampling hoofs and crushing +wheels. + +Johnny himself had raised her, and carried her tenderly into his little +bower, where he laid her down among the flowers to breathe away the few +short moments of her waning life. Seeming to be conscious at once of +what was before her, she had made Tony understand by signs and one or +two faintly gasped words that she wanted me; and Jim, who had as usual +stopped in on his way from school, had hastened to bring me. + +Sobered and sadly impressed, and yet with a feeling that Matty's +release was a blessing beyond all expression, Milly and I returned +home, with no heart, as may be supposed, for the entertainment for +which we had been bound when we were called to her. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +JIM'S CONFESSION. + + +Two days had passed, and poor little Matty had been laid to the rest +which knows no breaking; and all about Mrs. Petersen's rooms and the +little flower-shop had settled to its usual routine, save that Tony +still abode with the kind Germans, and that he tended alone both the +peanut-stand and his roaster. His parents had not yet returned, nor +have we to this day obtained, or indeed sought, any trace of them; all +concerned being only too glad that they have made no claim upon the +little lame boy. Tony, now no longer a peanut-vender, has been promoted +to the post of assistant and errand-boy to Johnny Petersen, who, with +his wife, treat the lad as if he were their own son, instead of a +little deserted waif cast by a merciful Providence into their kind +hands. + +I had, happily,--or rather Edward had for me,--been able to rescue +Matty's beautiful tresses from the hands of the conscienceless barber, +who, when approached on the subject, demanded the most exorbitant price +for them; but finding that the circumstances of the first sale were +known to the gentleman, and being confronted with Tony, whom my brother +had taken with him and left outside till he should ascertain what +advance in price would be asked, he came down in his demands, and +parted with them at exactly three times the sum he had paid for them, +and which probably, in righteousness, he should have given to Matty. + +They were at once given to Tony, whose pride in them had been only less +than that of his sister, and who, with a show of tender sentiment +scarcely to be expected from one of his surroundings and antecedents, +received them as a gift from the dead. Cheery, jolly little Tony! but +for this and other similar tokens of an affectionate heart, it might +have been thought that he was wanting in feeling, so easily did his +elastic, joyous spirit throw off trouble; so completely did he extract +all the sweet, and throw aside all the bitter, offered to him by a lot +in life which most of us would not have envied. + +In the trouble and excitement over the sudden fate of the little +"deform," as Allie and Daisy had called her, we had for the moment put +aside the question of what was to be done with Theodore Yorke; but now +it was to be decided. + +That the boy could be touched; that he was not lost to all trace of +human or decent feeling,--was shown by the trouble, and, his +grandparents thought, remorse, which he testified on hearing of Matty's +tragical death; and he would even have tried to make some amends to +Tony, had not the lame boy absolutely refused to let him come near him; +while the florist, seeing him from within the shop, rushed out upon +him, and threatened him with some more of the same "veesic" as he had +administered before, seeming inclined to do so whether or no; and +Theodore, plainly thinking discretion the better part of valor, had +lost no time in putting a safe distance between himself and the +pugilistic old German. + +Not wishing to discuss the subject in the presence of the culprit or +his distressed and anxious grandmother, uncle Rutherford had told +Captain Yorke to come again to our house in the evening of the day on +which Matty was buried; having first taken counsel with father and +mother and aunt Emily as to the best course to be pursued for all +interested. The captain seemed quite to have lost his usual +independence and courage, and had put himself and his family into the +hands of those who he knew were good friends to him and his. + +"I didn't let on to the boy, Gov'nor an' Mr. Livingstone," he said, +rubbing up his grizzled locks as was his wont when talking, "I didn't +let on to the boy as we was thinkin' he was to be took from school; but +I'm glad to say he was consid'able cut up along of that poor little +hunchback, an' his bein' so mean to her jes' afore she was took; an' +I'm thinkin' he has some kind of feelin's in respecks of her, all the +more mebbe as he thinks he's goin' to get off 'thout any more +punishment than what he got; an' I don't bear no grudge agin that Dutch +flower-man for what he done to him,--an' isn't he a Dutchy though! +'Pears like he ain't never studied no grammar nor good English, nor +nothin', an' them's my opinions. He do talk the funniest, an' mos' +times I don't hardly make no sense of it. But," with a heavy, +long-drawn sigh, "what was yer both of ye thinkin' it was bes' to do?" + +"We have thought, captain," answered uncle Rutherford, to whom father +left all explanations, "we have thought it would be best and wisest, if +you and his grandmother and mother agree, to send Theodore to a +boarding-school on Long Island, where he will be kept under very strict +discipline and supervision." + +"Supervision! an' what may that be, Gov'nor, askin' yer pardon?" said +the old man, as uncle Rutherford paused for a moment to see how he +would take his proposal. + +Uncle Rutherford explained, and, seeing that he must confine himself to +simple words, went on,-- + +"We know the gentleman in charge, and believe that he will have an +especial eye to Theodore if we ask him to do so; and he is an excellent +teacher, and will bring him on in his studies. If Theodore does well +there for a year or two, and shows himself fit to be trusted, we may +then remove him to a different and higher school, where he may still +fit himself to be a man, and a help and comfort to you. He has his +future in his own hands; let him do well, and Mr. Livingstone and I +will see that he is provided for till he is fitted to take care of +himself; but an opportunity which might have been his"--O, dear uncle +Rutherford, why need you have told this?--"must pass to another who has +better deserved it. Do you feel that you can part with the boy, and let +him go to boarding-school?" + +"I reckon I ain't goin' to have much feelin's agin it," answered the +captain, whose face had assumed an expression of intense relief as +uncle Rutherford unfolded his plans. "I don't set such a heap by the +boy as to set my face against his goin' to the boardin'-school, if it +do be stric'; it'll do him good; an' he ain't got roun' me so's the +other gran'children have, an' I'd a sight rather we had Jim for a +gran'boy than this one, if he is my own flesh an' blood, as they say. I +ain't never took no stock in him sence the first day he come, when I +see him take his little sister's bigger cake unbeknownst to the little +one, an' put his'n what was not so big in its place." + +There were no family secrets or shortcomings which would not come to +light when the captain was on the high-road to such disclosures; for a +wise and discreet reticence was not his distinguishing characteristic, +as we know. + +"I hope he'll do well, an' turn out a credit to ye, Gov'nor an' Mr. +Livingstone," he continued, as though washing his hands of the boy, +though all the while the trouble dwelt upon his weather-beaten old +face; "but _I_ bet on Jim, an' I wish it was him had the chance ye +speak of. Mebbe it is, now; an' if it was, it'd be 'most a set-off agin +the other not havin' it. I set a lot on Jim!" + +And the old man looked inquiringly at uncle Rutherford, who was not, +however, _quite_ so indiscreet as his interlocutor, and kept his own +counsel so far as this. + +So it was settled, then. Theodore was to be removed from the school he +was attending at present, and sent to the boarding-school, where he +would be under far closer restraint than he could be in the city, or +even at home with his grandparents; and there could be no question that +the old man felt that a great responsibility was taken from his +shoulders. + +"I wish it was time to go home. I mean, I wish Miss Yorke was cured up +so's we could go home," he said. "I reckon I've seen about all there is +to see in this town; an' it's my opinions I might 'bout as well be +thinkin' of the seines an' poles, an' lobster-pots, an' so on. Course +they wants lookin' arter 'cordin' to custom this time o' year; an' +Jabez he's took so to carpenterin' an' what he calls cabiny-makin', +he's goin' to let 'em slip, Jabez is; an' come time for settin' 'em +they ain't goin' to be ready, an' I reckon I oughter to be there; but +the doctor, he says four weeks more for Miss Yorke, an' he'll let her +go cured. She's pretty first-rate now, an' she don't walk no more with +a cane, on'y comin' up an' down the stairs. I never did see such folks +to have long ladders of stairs as York folks is; when I fust come, I +used to think I wouldn't never get to the top of 'em; an' even the poor +folks here has to go a-pilin' theirselves up atop of stairs as high as +a mast, one lot atop of another. Ye get up near the sky there; not that +folks is so good an' heavenly; no, no; there's on'y a few of 'em that +way;" with an approving nod at father and uncle Rutherford, and a +comprehensive wave of his hand, as if to say that he excepted from his +adverse criticism both of his present companions, and all who belonged +to them; "on'y a few; but they're pintin' straight for the New +Jerusylem,"--another nod pointed the compliment. "Where was I? Oh, them +stairs. Wa'l, as I was a-sayin', I reckon I've had 'bout enuf of 'em, +an' I'd like to be home where I can be down onto the flat groun' an' +not like to what's his name's coffin, what I heerd the boys speakin' +about, what got hitched half way up to heaven an' stuck there. He's a +fable feller, ov course; Mahomet, that's his name; there ain't never +been no such doin's sence miracle days 'cept in the theayters an' them +places. An' t'other night Miss Dodge, she asked me would I go to the +opery, an' I says 'yes.' I was boun' to see all there was to see, an' +we went; an' such a goin' up stairs as there was there, up an' up an' +up, an' when we got there I thought we might ha' stopped sooner; for +down below there was lots of folks sittin' an' standin', an' I asked +Miss Dodge why she didn't stop onto some of them floors, three or four +of 'em below, an' she kinder smirked, an' says it costs lots to go in +there. Wa'l, I couldn't make out what they was at on the platform,--the +play actors; it wasn't half so nice as the mother-in-law actin'; they +did all their talkin' to singin', an' they died singin', an' all sorts +of things; an' there was a old man got young an' fell spooney on a +girl; an' they all got foolisher an' foolisher, an' the devil was +there, an' such a mix-up; an' bimeby the girl, she died in a prison, +an' angel actin' folks come down an' took her up,--leastways was takin' +her up to heaven,--an' there come a hitch, an' there they stuck, half +up, half down. Miss Dodge said there must ha' been somethin' wrong with +the machinery what h'isted 'em; an' it made me think of that feller's +coffin, so I sung out, 'Mahomet's coffin!' an' the folks, some larfed, +they was mostly boys an' young fellers, an' some few below looked up; +an' Miss Dodge, she was awful affronted, an' she says she was glad +enough we wasn't below, she would ha' been too mortified. W'al, that +ain't nothin' to do with Miss Yorke, for she wasn't along; she couldn't +ha' clumb so high; an' I never was a man of many words, so I'll get to +my p'int. As I was a-sayin', Miss Yorke, she can't go home yet, an' she +can't be left alone, so I've got to stay on." + +Here mamma went to the rescue; for, as before, the rest of the family +were gathered in the next room, and heard all that had passed. The two +gentlemen had allowed the captain to ramble on, partly because he +amused them and us, partly because they knew it was of little use to +try to stop him after he had once started to expound his views on men +and things. + +"Captain," said mamma, joining the two in the library, "Mrs. Rutherford +and I thought you were growing weary of the city, and wanted to go back +home; so we have arranged a little plan which may suit you both, and +will certainly suit me well. I have a great deal of sewing to be done +now, which I should like to have done in the house, and Mrs. Yorke is +such a beautiful seamstress that I should be glad of her assistance. +Suppose that she comes here. I can give her accommodation on the +basement floor, so that she need not go up and down stairs; and Mammy +and my own seamstress will gladly do all that is needful for her. Then +you can go home as soon as you choose. Will you ask her?" + +The captain gazed for a minute into mother's face, then looked from her +to father, from him to uncle Rutherford, and drew a long breath. + +"Wa'l!" he ejaculated, "when you folks gets histed to heaven, I reckon +there ain't goin' to be no hitch in the histin'. An' them's my +opinions." + +Having delivered himself of these "opinions," he rose, shook hands with +mother, father, and uncle Rutherford, a long hard shake, expressive of +his feelings; came into the room where the rest of us were gathered, +and went through the same ceremony all round; returned to the library +and repeated it, then once more back to the drawing-room for a second +pumping of each arm, and finally managed to convey himself away; the +last words which father heard as he closed the door behind him being, +"No hitch in _that_ histin'." + +Two days after, Mrs. Yorke was comfortably settled in our basement, and +industriously plying her needle; the captain was on his way home by +water, where he would not be apt to go astray; while at a very few +hours' notice Theodore had been removed from the one school, and sent +to the other. + +"Miss Milly," said Jim, meeting my sister in the hall on the afternoon +of the day on which he had learned that his rival had been taken from +the school they had both attended, and speaking in evident but +repressed excitement, "Miss Milly, they say Theodore Yorke has left +school for good. Has he, Miss Milly?" + +"He has left your school, and been sent to another, Jim, where you will +not be likely to meet him soon again," answered Milly. + +"And they say it's an awful strict school, Miss Milly, a kind of a +bad-boy school, where a feller don't get half so much chance as he does +in ours." + +"I think the discipline is very strict, Jim," replied his young +mistress. + +"And," wistfully, "he was sent there because of what he done--I mean, +did--to Matty?" + +Even in the midst of excitement, Jim was becoming careful to correct +himself when he lapsed inadvertently into any inaccuracies of speech. + +Milly hesitated for a moment, but she thought that the lesson might +possibly point a moral, and she answered,-- + +"Yes, for that especially, Jim. It was his crowning offence; but +Theodore is not a good, upright boy, and it was thought better to +remove him to another and a stricter school." + +"Thank you'm," said the lad as he walked away with a crestfallen air +which much surprised Milly. Was he going to take so much to heart the +absence of the boy between whom and himself there had waged a constant +state of warfare ever since they had first met? Amy must be right, +thought Milly, and there must be something behind these singular moods +of Jim's. Was it possible that he, too, had fallen into temptation and +sin, and, seeing with what consequences these had been fraught for +Theodore, was now trembling for himself? She could hardly believe this, +Jim had proved himself so frank and upright; but there must be +something which he was hiding, and this was the only solution at which +she could arrive. + +But she was not kept much longer in doubt. + +Jim slept over the matter upon his mind and conscience, and the next +morning, which happened to be Saturday, and therefore a holiday, came +to her, and requested a private interview. + +The request was readily granted; and, taking him aside, Milly waited +with more anxiety than can well be appreciated by those who did not +know her interest in the boy. + +"Miss Milly," he said, shifting uneasily from one foot to the other, +and twisting his hands nervously together as he stood before her, "Miss +Milly, I've got something I ought to tell you." + +"Well, Jim?" said Milly encouragingly. + +"I don' know what you're goin' to think of me, miss," he answered with +a very shamed face. + +"If you have done wrong, Jim, and are ready to confess it now, I shall +not be very severe with you,--you know that, Jim," said Milly. "You +are in some trouble. I have seen for a long time that you had something +on your mind; if you tell me, I may be able to help you out of it." + +"I ain't in no scrape, Miss Milly, if that's what you mean," said the +boy; "only--only--it's a mean kind of a thing, an' I've got to tell. +'Tain't fair for me to keep it to myself any longer. Bill's the only +other feller knows. It's going to take my chance, for sure; but all the +same, I've got to tell. I ain't so afraid of you as of--some others." +He paused again, and again Milly had to re-assure and encourage him, +bidding him remember that others as well as herself had his good and +interest at heart, and that he had already tested these and not found +them wanting. + +"I know, Miss Milly," he answered, "but I can't bear for you or none of +the family to think me a sneak, an' that's what I feel I've been now. +'Twasn't fair, an' now I know it. I did know it all along, on'y I +wouldn't let on." + +"Well, come, Jim," said Milly, determined to bring him to the point +without any more of this shilly-shallying which was exceedingly unlike +Jim; "you must tell me at once if you wish to do so, for I have an +engagement, and shall have to leave you very soon." + +"Well, miss," he replied, thus urged, "I found out--don't you be +ashamed of me, Miss Milly--I found out about how Mr. Rutherford was +goin' to give a big thing, some kind of a thing in the way of eddication, +to me or Theodore Yorke, whichever turned out best this year at school, +an' how he thought Theodore was a sneak, an' me too hot-tempered, an' +always ready for a fight,--an' how he was goin' to see which did the +best, not on'y in his learnin', but in his conduck, quite without us +knowin' about what was afore us, an' then give that one this big thing. +And, Miss Milly, you an' Mr. Rutherford, an' the rest of the fam'ly, +maybe, thought me doin' well, an' takin' care of my temper. An' maybe +so I was; but it was 'cause I was _bound_ to beat Theodore, an' not let +him get that prize. I felt awful mean all along; but now Theodore's cut +up so, an' got sent off, an' he never knew nothin' about it, or maybe +he'd done better, an' I don't feel it's fair in me. I knew, an' he +didn't. I stood a lot from Theodore, an' didn't fly out at him on'y +once or twice that you know about; but I wouldn't ha' stood it, an' +there's many a time I would ha' fought him an' the other boys, too, +on'y for thinkin' of that. So, you see, I did get more chance at the +beginning than him, an' 'tain't fair in me. An' I thought to myself, If +you're goin' to do a mean thing like this to get a hitch in life, how +you goin' to get fit to be President? If you see somebody doin' a +sneaky or dishonest thing, you can't have the face to pull him up an' +send him to prison,"--as may be seen, Jim's ideas of the Presidential +authority were that it was unlimited and autocratic,--"when you know +you got there yourself on the sly; an' I wouldn't feel fit for it. So +there wasn't no comfort in it one way or another; an' I made up my mind +I'd tell you, an' you can tell Mr. Rutherford; an' anyhow I'll come out +fair an' even chances with Theodore. Mr. Rutherford will maybe think +this is worse than fightin' an' blowin' out?" interrogatively and +wistfully. + +Milly had let him go on without interruption when she had once succeeded +in starting him, and had asked no questions; now she said,-- + +"I think, Jim, that Mr. Rutherford will be pleased that you had so far +the mastery over yourself that you would not take what you considered +an unfair advantage over Theodore. I am glad, truly glad that you have +succeeded in learning to control your temper; but still more glad that +your sense of honor and right led you to tell of this. But how did you +learn of Mr. Rutherford's plan?" + +Jim related how Bill, overhearing the conversation, or at least a part +of it, on the evening on which the matter had been discussed by the +family, had been the medium of communication, and how they had both +resolutely guarded their knowledge of it until now; when Jim had told +his comrade that he _must_ make confession, and put himself, as he +thought, on equal ground with his antagonist and unconscious rival. + +"I didn't do it for no good feelin' to Theodore, Miss Milly," he added, +"for I b'lieve I just _hate_ Theodore. I didn't feel none too good to +him ever since first I seen him, an' the more I saw him the worse I got +to like him; but all the same, I'd got to be fair to him when it +come--came--to his chance bein' lost. If I couldn't take care of myself +that way, I ain't goin' to be fit to take care of these United States. +Miss Milly, you'll tell Mr. Rutherford? I could tell you, but I +couldn't tell him." + +Milly answered him that she would be the bearer of his confession; and +left him, much relieved herself to find that he had been guilty of +nothing more serious, and thankful from her very heart to see that her +teachings and his newly-awakened sense of justice would not allow him +to take unfair advantage of another, even though that other might be +one whom he considered an enemy. She lost no time in seeking uncle +Rutherford, and telling him all, so that the boy might not be in +suspense longer than was necessary; for she well knew that he would +find a lenient judge in our uncle. + +Nor was she wrong. Uncle Rutherford sent for Jim, and taking the boy's +hand, shook it heartily, as he said, "My boy, you have gained the +mastery over yourself, and no man can achieve a greater victory. I +could wish that you had tried to keep control over your temper from a +better and higher motive than the wish to outstrip Theodore; but we may +trust that you will set that before yourself now. Go on as you have +begun, and the scholarship is yours in good time. My best wishes go +with you, and I sincerely trust that you may win the prize." + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Uncle Rutherford's Nieces, by Joanna H. 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