MAMMA AND "LITTLE ME."
"O, dear!" thought Dotty, as she lay through the long afternoon, wakeful
and feverish, "I should think there was a drum inside o' my head, and
somebody was pounding on it,--tummy, tum, tum."
Grandma had said it was best to leave her alone, in the hope that she
might fall asleep. But the sleep would not come, though dreams did, one
after another, like pictures in a panorama.
When she shut her eyes, she could see a little red boat rocking on the
water like a cradle; then a great wave would dash against it, and turn
it over, with all its passengers. The screaming sea-gulls seemed to be
looking far down into the water in search of the sinking children; but
the children could not look up to see the gulls, for their eyes were
closed, and they were "drowned in the depths of the sea."
Dotty tried to shut out these horrid pictures. If her dear mamma were
only here to talk to her, and lay a cool hand on her head--that mamma
she had just disobeyed! Then Dotty repeated some verses she had learned
long ago:--
"At night my mamma comes up stairs,--
She comes to hear me say my prayers;
And while I'm kneeling on her knee,
She always kisses little me."
When it came to the last line the poor child buried her face in the
pillow. Papa was good, and grandma was good; but there was no one like
anybody's own mamma, after all.
"'She always kisses little me,'" murmured Dotty. "'She _always_ kisses
little me.' She gives me twenty kisses when I go to bed, 'cept when I'm
naughty, and then I don't have but ten."
Dotty counted the number of knobs on the bureau drawers, and then went
on:--
"I think if I was in my mamma's place, and had _me_ to take care of, I'd
throw me out of the window; I wouldn't keep such a girl!"
Dotty had great satisfaction in scolding herself when she was all alone.
It was a way she had of "doing her own punishing."
Presently, while engaged in the soothing business of calling herself
names, she dropped off to sleep. She dreamed of red wherries and "white
waves;" but never once dreamed that her mother had come, and was
bending over the bed, actually "kissing little me."
"Poor thing," said Mrs. Parlin to herself, "if she doesn't have a
settled fever I shall be thankful. Will the time ever come when my
little daughter will learn to obey her mother?"
Mrs. Parlin stole out of the room very softly; but a sly little rogue,
observing that she left the creaking door a little ajar, watched an
opportunity, and stole in on her "tipsy toes." It was "wee Katie." Mrs.
Parlin had brought her home, to keep her out of the way of Mrs.
Clifford, who was still quite ill.
The first thing which roused Dotty to consciousness was a feeling of
suffocation. O, was she in the bay? Was she drowning? Something lay very
close over her mouth; but it was not water: in fact it was a pillow;
and on the pillow sat little Katie with her whole weight. But being a
very restless child, it is not likely she would have remained in that
position long enough to strangle her cousin, even if Dotty had not
thrown up her arms and released herself suddenly.
"Why, Katie Clifford, is that you?"
"Yes, this is me!" replied Katie, with a voice as sweet as a wind-harp.
"You didn't know _I_ was comin'. You turned your face away: you wouldn't
look to me!"
"I s'pose I was asleep, Katie. You didn't mean to sit down on my head,
_did_ you, darling?"
"Yes, I did meant to. But you is sick. Folks mus'n't talk."
"No," replied Dotty, smiling, "when folks are sick they mustn't talk."
"Well," said Katie, putting her finger on her lip, "_they is_!"
"O, Katie!" cried Dotty, a new idea seizing her, "where's mother? Did
she come with you?"
Katie shook her head.
"My dee mamma velly sick."
"Yes, I know; but where's _my_ mamma? Did she come with you in the
cars?"
Katie shook her head again.
"Who did come with you, then? You didn't come alone?"
"No, there was folks."
By this time Dotty had sprung out of bed, and was rushing out of the
room to learn whether her mother had come. Mrs. Parlin met her at the
door.
"My darling child," said she, hugging and kissing her just as tenderly
as if she had never been "wherrying." "You'd better lie down again, and
let me bathe your head."
Dotty sprang into bed instantly. She was glad her mother had asked her
to do something, so she might prove her desire to obey. She liked the
touch of those cool fingers on her forehead.
"O, mamma," said she, "you do make me feel better. It felt a while ago
as if they were beating drums in there."
"Is your neck stiff, dear?"
Katie thrust her little prying fingers under Dotty's chin, tickling her,
of course.
"No, auntie," said she, "'tisn't any stiff, her neck isn't."
"But it's sore, mother. Not so sore, though, as it was when Jennie Vanee
and I got caught in the thunder and lightning."
After she had said this, Dotty blushed, for the words recalled to her
mind another act of disobedience. No wonder she had thought herself
such a naughty girl, fit only to be thrown out of the window!
"What sort of a child has Dotty been since I have been gone?" asked Mrs.
Parlin of Mrs. Eastman, as they both sat by the bedside.
Mrs. Eastman stroked the sheet with her white, jewelled hand before she
replied. She was thinking how the little girl had turned the house
upside down, and, as she believed, made Johnny more mischievous than
ever; so she hesitated a moment.
"A tolerably good child."
This was all Mrs. Eastman could say; and it was as much as Mrs. Parlin
had dared hope. She knew how Johnny and Dotty encouraged each other in
rude behavior. She looked at her beautiful little daughter with pain,
and wondered, as she had many times wondered before, if these bitter
experiences she was suffering would ever have the effect to make her a
better child.
Dotty did not understand the tender, regretful glance of her mother's
eyes. She was not as yet very well acquainted with the English language,
and did not know what "tolerably" meant; she supposed it meant
"remarkably."
"It's so queer," she thought, "that auntie should tell my mamma I've
been tol'ably good! Why, I haven't, I know I haven't: I've been tol'ably
bad!"
She looked up at her auntie in surprise, and at that moment there
entered into her small mind a doubt of Mrs. Eastman's truthfulness. It
was a very faint doubt, which she did not express even to herself. It
was almost incredible that a grown-up lady should tell the "thing which
is not," or even color the truth by so much as the shadow of a shade.
Still, when auntie had called Dotty a tol'ably good girl, she must have
known it was a mistake!
Dotty did not have a fever; but for several days she was not at all
well, and spent most of the time in her grandmamma's room, on the
lounge. It would have been a good opportunity for reflection, if Katie
had not been in the house. As it was, Dotty did think of her own conduct
for several minutes at a time, during the intervals when Katie was not
dancing attendance upon her. She decided never to disobey her mother
again, and said so. This, you remember, was nothing new; she had made
the same resolve fifty times before, and broken it as often.
Johnny, her little companion in naughtiness, escaped without so much as
a sore throat; but he suffered in another way. His father, learning of
his exploit upon the water, and being greatly incensed, punished him
severely. It was not often that Johnny was corrected, and this time he
was very indignant. He reflected that if it had not been for Dotty
Dimple his sin would not have been found out. Dotty had ceased to be a
"brick;" she was a tell-tale--a hateful, mean tell-tale; and he wished
she would go home and stay there.
"I'll pay her for this business," said Johnny, talking to his boots.
Just how he was going to "pay" his little cousin he did not know. As for
being sorry for his disobedience, I doubt if Johnny thought of such a
thing. He knew he had been in much peril, and now, while the remembrance
of the fright was still fresh in his mind, he was not likely to fall
into the same temptation again--that was all.
Johnny missed his little lively cousin in his out-of-door sports; but he
was so angry with her that he scarcely ever went up stairs to see her;
and when he did go, amused himself by putting his mouth down to her ear,
and crying,--
"E, for shame, Dot Parlin! Fore I'd run and tell!"
But Dotty did not know that her cousin Johnny was harboring such bitter
thoughts against her. She had a high temper herself; but anger did not
rankle in her heart for days and days, as it did in Johnny's. She was
not eager, like him, for revenge.
The Parlins were now making ready to go into their new hired house.
They were all longing for a place they could call "home."
During the few days, while they yet remained at Mrs. Eastman's, very few
events occurred which are worth recording. For one thing, Dotty's bird
died. She had loved it for its helplessness; but Angeline said,--
"You needn't be sorry. What did I tell you when you took that bird into
the window? I knew something would happen; but didn't know as it would
be a boat-wreck exactly."
Dotty, and even Prudy, had received some very foolish ideas from
Angeline. The Portland fire had affected the Parlin family in more ways
than one; and it would be long before the three little girls would
settle into their usual quiet habits again.