A LETTER AND A SURPRISE
"Here's a letter for you, Winnie," said Mr. Hamilton, coming into the
dining room, just as his wife and little daughter were sitting down to
breakfast one warm morning in the beginning of July.
"It's from Lulu," exclaimed Winifred joyfully, glancing at the
handwriting. "Oh, I'm so glad! I haven't had a letter from her since she
went away."
"This is a good fat one, at any rate," said Mr. Hamilton, smiling, and
Mrs. Hamilton added:
"Read it to us, dear."
So Winifred opened her letter and began:
"Navesink, N.J., July 6th.
"Dearest Winifred:
"I meant to write to you ever so long ago, but I have been so busy that
I couldn't find the time. This is a lovely place, and we all like it
very much. The ocean is right in front of the house, and in the big
storm last week the waves came up all over the lawn. We go in bathing
every day that the ocean is smooth enough, all but Aunt Daisy. She is
afraid of the big waves, but papa says she wouldn't be if she would only
make up her mind to go in once. On the other side of the house is the
Shrewsbury River, and that is very nice too. All the Rossiters came up
to spend the day last Saturday, and papa took us crabbing. I caught
three, and we had them for luncheon. There is an old boat fastened to
our dock. It hasn't any oars, or rudder, or anything, but it's splendid
to play shipwreck in.
"I see the Randalls almost every day. The house where they are boarding
is only a little way from our cottage. Jack looks ever so much better
than when he came, and papa says the sea air is making him stronger
every day. He can stand all by himself now, and walk a little with his
crutches. Papa thinks by the autumn he will be able to walk as well as
anybody. Mamma has given him a go-cart, and Betty and I push him about
in it. We all go down to the beach, and when we have made a nice seat in
the sand for Jack, he gets out of the go-cart and sits there. I like
Betty and Jack ever so much, and mamma likes to have me play with them.
"Mrs. Randall has a good many pupils already, and mamma thinks she will
have more by and by, when all the summer people get here. Aunt Daisy is
taking music lessons from her, and says she is the best teacher she ever
had. She plays beautifully too. Mamma had her come over and play for
some people the other day, and they all enjoyed it very much.
"I am having a lovely time, but I do miss you very much. Can't you
really come and make me a visit? Mamma and Aunt Daisy would love to have
you, and there are two beds in my room. I should be so very, very happy
if you would only come.
"My hand is getting tired, so I shall have to stop.
"Betty and Jack send their love, and say they would love it if you would
come. Please answer this letter right away, and believe me, with lots of
love and kisses,
"Your true friend,
"Louise M. Bell."
"That's a lovely letter," said Winifred in a tone of profound
admiration. "Lulu writes beautifully, don't you think so, mother?"
"She certainly expresses herself very well," said Mrs. Hamilton,
smiling.
"She writes stories too," Winifred went on, putting her letter carefully
back into the envelope; "she intends to be an authoress when she grows
up. She did think once that she would be a missionary, but now she has
decided that she would rather be an authoress like her aunt."
"Wouldn't you like to go to Navesink and make Lulu a visit?" Mr.
Hamilton asked.
Winifred looked a little wistful, but she shook her head decidedly.
"Not without mother. If mother could go too, I should love it better
than anything else in the world."
Mr. and Mrs. Hamilton exchanged glances, but they were both silent, and
nothing more was said on the subject.
As soon as they rose from the breakfast table, Winifred went to put her
letter away in the little box where she kept all her treasures, but
before doing so she sat down on the edge of her bed, and read it all
over again from beginning to end. When she had finished, her face looked
even more wistful than before.
"I should like to go, oh, I should like it very much," she said, with a
long sigh, "but I couldn't go anywhere without mother. I suppose when
people have only had mothers a little while like me, they feel
differently about leaving them from the people who have had them all the
time."
The fact was, Winifred was feeling a little bit lonely. It was very warm
in the city, and now that school was over, and all her friends had left
town, she found time hang somewhat heavy on her hands. The children were
a great comfort, of course, and her mother was everything to her, but
she missed the work and the companionship of school, and there were
times on those hot summer days when even story books seemed to have lost
their charms.
She and Betty had become great friends during the time when Jack was in
the hospital, and when Dr. Bell had decided that the seashore was the
place for Jack, and the Randalls had given up their flat, and gone for
the summer to board at Navesink--the kind doctor having procured
accommodation for them in a house not far from his own--Winifred,
although rejoicing heartily in her friends' good fortune, could not help
feeling very forlorn without them. It was two weeks now since the
Randalls had gone away, and Lulu's letter was the first news Winifred
had received from any of her friends.
On this particular morning things were unusually dull. It was very hot,
for one thing, and then her mother and Lizzie were both very busy in
the kitchen, putting up strawberry preserves. Lulu's letter had
suggested so many pleasant possibilities too. Certainly sea bathing and
playing shipwreck in a real boat sounded much more attractive than
reading story books in a hot little bedroom on the second floor of a New
York apartment house. She did her duty faithfully by the children;
dressed them all; set Lord Fauntleroy, Rose-Florence, and Lily-Bell at
their lessons, arranged Miss Mollie's hair in the latest fashion, and
gave Violet-May a dose of castor oil. Then when there was really nothing
more to be done for her family, and she had learned from her mother that
her services were not desired in the kitchen, she took up "Denise and
Ned Toodles," and settling herself in the coolest spot she could find,
tried to forget other things in the interest of a new story.
"Well, mousie, here you are; deep in a story book as usual."
At the sound of the familiar voice, Winifred dropped her book, and
sprang up with an exclamation of pleasure.
"Oh, Aunt Estelle, I am glad to see you!" she cried joyfully, running to
greet the tall, bright-faced young lady who was standing in the
doorway. "How did you get in? I never heard the bell."
"I didn't ring, the door was open," said her aunt, laughing and kissing
her. "I've been here for some time, talking to your mother in the
kitchen, and now I've come to have a little talk with you."
"Won't you sit down?" said Winifred, hospitably drawing forward the
comfortable rocker in which she had been sitting. "You look awfully
warm. You sit here, and I'll fan you; that'll be nice."
"What have you been reading?" Mrs. Meredith asked, as her little niece
perched herself on the arm of her chair, and began swaying a large
palm-leaf fan back and forth.
"'Denise and Ned Toodles.' It's a very nice story. Mother got it out of
the library for me yesterday. It's all about a little girl who lived in
the country and had a pony."
"Do you think you would like to live in the country?" her aunt asked,
smiling.
"Yes, I think so; I should like it in the summer, at any rate. Oh, Aunt
Estelle, I had such a lovely letter from Lulu this morning. Would you
like to see it?"
"Yes, very much, but not just now, for I am in a hurry. I am going
downtown to do some errands, and then I am coming back here, and,
Winnie, I want you to be ready to go home with me to spend the night."
"To spend the night?" Winifred repeated, looking very much surprised.
"Yes; Uncle Will was grumbling this morning, because he says he never
sees anything of you nowadays. We are going to the country on Saturday,
you know, and this will be our last chance of having you with us for
ever so long."
"I'd like to go if mother says so," said Winifred, rather pleased at the
prospect of this little change.
"Oh, that's all right; everything is arranged, and here comes your
mother to speak for herself."
Winifred turned eagerly to Mrs. Hamilton, who had just entered the room.
"Mother, Aunt Estelle wants me to go home with her to spend the night.
May I go?"
"Yes, dear," said her mother, smiling, "I should like to have you go. I
expect to be very busy this afternoon, and Aunt Estelle says Uncle Will
wants to see you very much."
"Norah is cleaning silver to-day," Mrs. Meredith said, as she rose to
go. "You should have seen her face when I told her I was coming for
you."
Winifred looked flattered.
"I always helped Norah clean silver," she said, "and sometimes I used to
read to her. I'll take 'Denise and Ned Toodles' and read this
afternoon."
The matter having been thus arranged, Mrs. Meredith hurried away to do
her errands, promising to return for Winifred in a couple of hours.
"You're sure you won't miss me very much, mother," Winifred said
anxiously, as she was bidding her mother good-bye. "It's only for one
night, you know, and that is quite different from going away for a real
visit."
"Of course it is," said Mrs. Hamilton, laughing. "Now run along with
Aunt Estelle, sweetheart, and have a good time. I will come for you
early to-morrow morning."
"Mother does seem very busy to-day," remarked Winifred, rather
wonderingly, as she walked along by her aunt's side. "I wonder what
she's going to do this afternoon. It can't be the preserves, because
they're 'most done."
Mrs. Meredith made no answer, and Winifred soon forgot her curiosity in
the interest of other subjects. But she would have wondered a good deal
more if she could have heard the words her mother was at that moment
saying to Lizzie, for no sooner had the door closed behind Winifred and
her aunt than Mrs. Hamilton hurried back to the kitchen.
"We can begin right away now, Lizzie," she said, laughing; "the darling
is safely out of the way for the rest of the day, and we shall have to
work like beavers to accomplish all we have to do. In the first place, I
want you to come with me to the storeroom, and help me to get out that
big trunk."
Winifred had a very pleasant afternoon. She helped Norah with the
silver, and read aloud to her, and then there were Hannah, the German
cook, and Josephine, the French maid, to be talked to, and they both
seemed much pleased to see her. In the evening Uncle Will and Aunt
Estelle made much of her, and when bedtime came, although she missed her
mother's good-night kiss, still it seemed so natural to be going to bed
in the old familiar nursery, where she had spent so many nights, that
she could almost fancy the past happy months were all a dream, and that
her mother had never come back from California at all.
"Only no dream could possibly be so lovely as it really is," she said to
herself, settling herself comfortably on her pillow when Aunt Estelle
had put out the light and gone away. "Oh, I am glad it isn't a dream,
but something really true. I was a wicked girl to wish I could go to the
country and do something different, when I've got such lots and lots of
things to be happy about."
"This is the very perfection of a summer's day," Mr. Meredith remarked
at the breakfast table next morning. "I wish I were not obliged to spend
it cooped up in my office. A trip to the seaside now would be very much
to my liking."
"We're going to take excursions sometimes this summer," said Winifred
brightly. "Father says perhaps we may go down to Manhattan Beach for a
Sunday. Did you ever go to Manhattan Beach, Uncle Will?"
"Yes, several times. I have been to Navesink too. Isn't that where your
friends, the Bells, are spending the summer?"
"Yes; Lulu says it's a beautiful place. She asked me to come for a
visit, but I can't leave mother."
"Too bad, isn't it?" observed Mr. Meredith, with his eyes on his plate.
"Halloo, there's the door bell; I wonder who can be coming to see us so
early in the morning."
"Why, it's father and mother," exclaimed Winifred joyfully, springing
down from her chair, and darting out into the hall as Norah opened the
front door. "Oh, mother, dear, you are early. We've only just finished
breakfast."
"It is such a lovely morning," said Mrs. Hamilton, returning her little
daughter's rapturous embrace, "that your father and I thought we would
take a trip down the bay."
"Oh, how nice," cried Winifred, clapping her hands. "And isn't it funny?
Uncle Will and I have just been talking about trips. Are you sure you
can really get away for a whole day, father?"
"I think I can manage it," said Mr. Hamilton, laughing. "Now run and get
ready, little one, for our boat leaves at ten, and it's after nine
already."
Winifred flew upstairs for her belongings, told the good news to
Josephine, and was back again in less than five minutes. She found her
father and mother in the dining room with Uncle Will and Aunt Estelle.
They had evidently been talking about something which amused them, for
every one was smiling, but as soon as Winifred came in Mr. and Mrs.
Hamilton rose to go.
"Good-bye, Winnie darling," said Mrs. Meredith, kissing her little niece
affectionately, "it has been like a bit of old times having you back
with us. You won't forget to write, Mollie?" she added in a lower tone
to Mrs. Hamilton, as the two ladies went out into the hall together.
"Good-bye, mousie, and don't forget us," said Uncle Will, as Winifred
lifted her face for his good-bye kiss. "I don't know how we shall manage
to get on without you all summer."
"Why, mother," said Winifred, looking puzzled, as they hurried away
towards the elevated railroad station, "Uncle Will and Aunt Estelle said
good-bye just as if they weren't going to see us again, and they're not
going to the country till Saturday."
"Perhaps they were afraid something might prevent our meeting again
before they leave," said Mrs. Hamilton, rather evasively.
That sail down the bay was a new and very delightful experience to
Winifred. She had never traveled much, and every new object of interest
was a delight to her. The big, crowded steamboat, the beautiful bay, the
Statue of Liberty, and the other interesting sights made the little girl
feel as if she could not take in so many new wonders all at once, and
she asked innumerable questions about everything, all of which her
father and mother answered readily.
[Illustration: That sail down the bay was a new and delightful
experience.--_Page 136._]
"What are we going to do when we get to the place where the boat stops?"
she inquired anxiously, as they passed the Floating Hospital. "Must we
go right back to New York again?"
"Well, I think we will go a little way in a train first," said Mr.
Hamilton, trying to look grave, although his eyes twinkled. "It would be
rather a pity to go so far without seeing the ocean, don't you think
so?"
"Oh, are we really going to see the ocean?" cried Winifred joyfully. "I
think this is one of the nicest things that ever happened."
At the Atlantic Highlands they left the boat, and got into a train,
which they found waiting at the pier. There were several trains, in
fact, and a great many people seemed to be getting into them. Winifred
wondered where they were all going, and if any of the other children she
saw were having half as good a time as she was.
"Look, Winnie, there is the ocean," her mother said eagerly, as the
train rushed across a long bridge, and a whiff of sea air blew in their
faces.
"Where, where?" gasped Winifred, stretching her neck out of the car
window. "Oh, I see. Why, how big it is. I never saw water like that
before. Do you suppose it looks like this at Navesink?"
"I should not be at all surprised if it looked very much like it," said
Mrs. Hamilton, laughing.
At that moment the train began to slacken speed.
"Navesink, Navesink," shouted the brakeman, putting his head in at the
car door.
"Isn't it the very loveliest surprise you ever had?" demanded Lulu Bell,
dancing up and down on the platform, and hugging Winifred tight. "I
never knew a single thing about it till last night, but mamma has known
for ever so long, and papa engaged the rooms at the hotel for you. Why,
Winifred, don't look as if you were just waking up. It's the nicest
thing in the world. You're all going to stay at the hotel for a month,
and your father's going to town every day the same as papa does. They
wanted it to be a surprise for you. See, here's Betty, and Jack's right
over there in the go-cart. We all came down to the station to meet you,
and it seemed as if the train would never come, we were so excited."
"Oh," gasped Winifred, finding her voice at last, "it's the very most
beautiful thing that could possibly have happened. Are you quite sure
it's all true, and not a dream?"