A NEW COUSIN
The April morning was fresh and clear. Janet found her Cousin Andrew
waiting for the rest and reading quietly in the large living room.
"Good morning, Janet," said he. "Did you sleep well in your new
quarters?"
"I haven't quite grown accustomed to them yet," replied Janet, who had
decided not to mention her fright of the night before, "but I thought
that I would never waken this morning. Some one had to call me twice."
"The storm was disturbing," replied Andrew. "You can see what a wreck I
am, Janet. It is a good thing that Jan is coming to brighten life here
for you. He wrote to me and asked me to 'beg off on school' for him, to
my father."
Janet looked into her cousin's amused eyes, but she was thinking of
what he said about his being a 'wreck'. "You were in the war, weren't
you, Cousin Andy?"
"Yes,--shell-shocked, shot up in a few places that seem to do as much
damage as possible. But at that I'm better off than thousands of the
boys, forgotten in the hospitals now." Andrew's voice was a little
bitter. "Don't ask me to tell you about it, child. It's better for me
to do the forgetting. I'm thirty years old, and I'm older than my
father."
"You don't look it," smiled Janet engagingly. "I think that you are
very nice."
The little remark pleased Andrew. "Well, you are a nice little pal,
then. We'll be friends."
"Yes indeed. Did you know my mother?"
"Yes, Janet, but not very well." Andrew looked sober. "She was a
beautiful and charming girl, but she did not care for my father. He was
so much older, for one thing, and I fancy that she thought him
dictatorial. We did not live here when she grew up. My father married
and lived in Albany, where my brothers and sisters and I were born."
This again was news to Janet, who asked about these cousins. But only a
sister with one daughter was living. They were abroad, but might come
to the farm for the summer.
"Where are the Van Meters buried?" asked Janet.
"Why do you want to know that?" asked Andrew in his turn. "You want
only bright things here."
"I just thought that I might take some flowers to my mother's grave,"
she replied. "That was all,--just once, perhaps, to show that I am glad
to know about her."
"Why, little cousin, we knew nothing about it and supposed that she is
buried by your father. Father took over the place to relieve
grandfather. Your mother's things were all here, but she did not send
for them and was coming to visit that summer after you were born. Then
we heard that you all had been wiped out in an epidemic of some sort,
like the 'flu' that we had during the war. It was past before we knew."
Janet, surprised, was about to tell her cousin about her father and the
brief story that she knew, but Uncle Pieter had silently entered and
was standing beside her, saying, "Come, no sad memories. Let us have
some of Paulina's griddle cakes."
Janet followed her uncle in silence, wondering at his jovial tone, for
it was not in harmony with his usual style. He was just a little queer.
No wonder that her mother did not like him very well. But he was being
good to her. She must remember that. Griddle cakes, bacon and the sweet
maple syrup were very good indeed. Janet noticed that as they all left
the table Paulina handed Mrs. Holt a note, a folded scrap of paper,
which she read with a frown. Paulina had gone back to the kitchen
without a smile to relieve her rather dour, defensive expression.
"Excuse me, Janet," said Mrs. Holt. "Amuse yourself in any way you like
for I have to see P'lina about something."
"I have plenty of fun ahead of me, Cousin Di. I'm going through that
old desk of Mother's to see if I can find a secret drawer or two."
"You will," Mrs. Holt asserted.
But that morning Janet found nothing particularly exciting. The
"secret" drawers were too easily found, she thought. There were some
papers, however, though none of any importance. A package of letters
from her father to her mother she hesitated to read and saved it as
possible at a future time. She read a little in some of her mother's
books and then started outdoors in her hiking costume, for she wanted
to see the farm.
All that day she amused herself with investigations on a small scale,
within and without. The library was a pleasant place, and when she was
sure that Uncle Pieter and Cousin Andrew were not there, she curled up
to read Uncle Pieter's books. There were copies of _Little Men_ and
_Little Women_ which she took down to read for the third or fourth time
in her short life. Perhaps they had belonged to Uncle Pieter's
daughter. She replaced them till the next day, when just before supper
she heard sounds of greetings in the hall.
"H'lo, Mom! It's great to get home again!" Janet heard as she started
toward the living room, where they were all supposed to meet before
going to meals.
"How's the bum back, Uncle Andy?" continued the boyish voice. "How do
you do, Uncle Pieter?" Jan, like Janet, called Mr. Van Meter by that
familiar expression.
The murmur of voices grew to distinct speech as Janet drew nearer and
she saw a friendly looking boy considerably taller than herself
standing in the doorway to talk to the rest of the family who had
apparently just entered. "Here's another," he cried, glancing around
and seeing Janet. He drew back and ushered her inside as, presumably,
he had ushered the rest. "I know that this must be my cousin Janet, so
let's shake hands."
At another time Janet would not have found her cousin Jan so occupying
the center of the picture and doing so much talking. But he seemed to
be a little excited over his arrival and reception. Paulina passed
through, having brought something to the table in the room. Janet saw
her looking at Jan with a glance and expression as enigmatic as the
Mona Lisa smile. "What is the matter with P'lina?" asked shrewd Cousin
Andy, but no one replied.
During the meal Janet gained a good deal of information about Jan and
his doings from the conversation. Mr. Pieter Van Meter questioned the
lad about his school, but not as one who had any responsibility about
the matter. Obviously, Cousin Diana and her son were in the family
circle because of her services and the atmosphere of home which her
pleasant personality created. She was a charming hostess, as Janet
found later when company came to the old place.
"I did not see a car drive in when you came," said Janet to Jan when
they settled down for a visit together in the library.
"No, I came over from another place where a friend of mine lives. I
came on one of their horses, and I dressed first before I appeared to
the family."
"Is it so that you have a workshop and everything, back where I room?"
"Are you rooming in the old part, then? Why, yes, I have a room there,
too, and they let me use part of the attic sometimes, a sort of den
there. I do radio stuff and I like everything about electricity. Uncle
Pieter did not think much of it at first; but when I fixed the electric
bells and got things all right when fuses burned out, and a few other
things, he changed his mind about it. I'm really scarcely related at
all. Isn't he a queer old--fellow? I was going to use some slang, but
I'd better keep that for school."
Janet favored Jan with an understanding glance. "It's very
'expressive,' I've heard Miss Hilliard say, but she corrects us when we
use it. Do you want me to call you John or Jan?"
The boy hesitated. "I used to despise that old Dutch name," he said,
"but if you are Jannet, I'll be Jan while I'm here. I'm trying to get
permission to stay on instead of going back to school. Uncle Pieter
doesn't interfere, only about that, but if I can help about the place a
little it will be more fun, and you and I could ride everywhere.
Wouldn't you like that?"
"I should think I would!"
"Well, all I ask is that you get Uncle Pieter to liking you a whole
lot. I believe he does."
"He couldn't. He only knows me a very little, you see."
"Do you think that a person would have to know you a long while first?
I always know whom I'm going to like. They are short of help, the
farmer at the tenant house told me, so I'm going to risk it, and ask
Uncle Pieter if I can't turn farmer. There are a lot of things to be
done, about the trees in the orchard and the stock, for instance, that
a boy can do."
"You like farming as well as electricity, then."
"Some of it."
Jan was not fair like Jannet, for he had the dark hair and gray eyes of
his mother in a face more "square," as Jannet thought of it. They were
to be Jan and Jannet, then. That would be fun. Jannet next asked if
there were other boys and girls in the neighborhood and was told of
Jan's friends on the neighboring farm, a girl and two boys.
"How old are you, Jannet?" Jan asked frankly.
"Fourteen."
"Well, that is how old Nell Clyde is. I'm fifteen and Chick is almost
sixteen. He's my friend. Then there's Tom. He's pretty nearly
seventeen, I guess. He's a year older than Chick anyway."
This was fine. Jannet, who knew almost no boys at all, was laughing at
the very ordinary nickname. How funny boys were. "What is Chick's right
name?" she asked.
"John. That is one reason why it doesn't do at all for us to go by our
right names. I'm sometimes one thing and sometimes another at school.
Chick calls me 'Hunks,' for 'hunks of cheese'."
"That _is_ funny," said Jannet. "But tell me, Jan, old P'lina says that
my room is haunted, and your mother said that you said so, too, though
I imagined that you said it in fun."
Jan looked at Jannet with a great assumption of seriousness. "Old
P'lina is always right, Jannet. This is a 'haunted house,' as the
natives say. We even have a sort of Dutch Banshee that howls around
sometimes."
"Tell me some more. Do the ghosts walk at night, especially when there
is a storm?"
Jan looked curiously at Jannet. "That sounds as if you heard
something," said he. "Yes, somebody comes down some invisible stairs;
you can hear slow footsteps, you know. Maybe something drops, but there
is _nobody there_!" Jan made big eyes at Jannet, who grinned
delightedly.
"Or you hear low singing, or distant violin music."
"That would be your radio."
"Old P'lina says not. She's been here ages and sometimes I think that
she is a little queer in the upper story, but she is good to me at
that."
"I don't think that she likes me," said Jannet. "But what else does the
ghost do, and who is the ghost anyway?"
"Ask P'lina. You'd better say 'ghosts.' For all I know, there are more
than one."
"Sakes! And I've got the haunted room, too!"
"Are you easily scared?"
"No. But I'm going to have a flashlight after this."
"After what?"
"Oh, nothing, just because of the ghosts. If I flashed my light on real
quick, I might see one."
"Well, call me if you do. I'd love to see one. I'll broadcast him."
Jannet thought that so funny, that Uncle Pieter himself looked in to
see what the fun was about. "Jan wants to broadcast a ghost," she
explained, but Uncle Pieter did not smile. "Remember that ghosts are
supposed to be spirits of the dead," he said, going on his way through
the hall.
Jan made a face, turning to Jannet with lifted shoulders. "Excuse me
for livin'," he remarked. "I'd like to tell Uncle Pieter that ghosts
are often troubled by remorse."
"Not any of ours," quickly said Jannet. "Don't go to getting me scared
really and truly, Jan!" But afterwards, when Jannet thought of Jan's
remarks, she wondered why he wanted to mention "remorse" to Uncle
Pieter. Why hadn't she asked Jan? She would at the first opportunity,
if she didn't forget it.