IT was early morning, the sun just peeping over the mountain tops on
the farther side of the river, when Captain Raymond might have been
seen pacing to and fro in the beautiful grounds of Crag Cottage. Now
and then he glanced toward the open hall door, expecting that Lucilla
would join him in his early stroll as she so often did. Presently some
one did step out and hasten toward him. It was not Lucilla, however,
but Dr. Harold Travilla.
“Good-morning, Grandpa Raymond,” was Harold’s greeting, with a bow and
smile.
“What?” cried the captain, standing still in surprise.
“A pretty little girl has just arrived, scarcely an hour ago, and as
Max claims to be her father, I take it that Max’s father must be her
grandsire.”
“Ah! An astonishing bit of news! She was not expected so soon?”
“No, not for some weeks yet, but the parents are very happy over her
prompt arrival. So far both mother and child are doing well.”
“That is good news; all you have told me is good news, although it
seems a little odd to think of myself as a grandfather,” remarked the
captain with a smile. Then turning to Lucilla, who joined them at that
moment, he told the news to her.
“Oh,” she cried, “how nice! Harold, can I go in now, speak to Eva and
look at her treasure?”
“Not yet,” he said; “she needs rest and I think is sleeping. We will
let you in some hours later.”
“Thank you. I don’t want to go to her until her physician considers it
quite safe to do so,” returned Lucilla.
“Nor do I,” said the captain, “though I shall be pleased to get sight
of my first grandchild.”
“Oh, yes, she has made you a grandfather, papa,” laughed Lucilla. “How
odd that seems!”
“And you, Grace and Elsie, aunts; Ned—my little Ned—an uncle.”
“Oh, won’t he be tickled!” laughed Lucilla.
“We will see,” laughed the captain, “for here he comes,” as Ned was
seen at that moment approaching them in their walk.
“Good-morning, papa and Sister Lu,” he cried, as he drew near.
“Good-morning, Uncle Harold.”
“Good-morning,” returned his father. “Have you heard the news?”
“News, papa? No, sir; what is it?” he asked, putting his hand into that
of his father. “Nothing bad, I guess, ’cause you look pleased; and so
do sister and uncle.”
“I hope you, too, will be pleased when you hear it,” said his father.
“You have a little niece, Ned. You are an uncle.”
“Oh, am I? Why how did it happen? Where is she?”
“Only a little baby,” laughed Lucilla. “Brother Max and Sister Eva are
her father and mother.”
“And God gave her to them a little while ago,” added their father.
“And I want you to remember to make no noise anywhere about the house,
because your Sister Eva is not well and noise would be very apt to make
her worse.”
“Yes, sir, I think I can remember to be quiet so as not to hurt Sister
Eva or wake the baby if it is asleep. I’d like to see it, though.”
“I think we will all be treated to a sight of it before very long,”
said the captain.
“Oh,” cried Ned, “there are mamma and Elsie on the porch. Let’s go and
tell them the good news.”
And away he ran, followed by his father and Sister Lu.
“Oh, mamma, have you heard the news?” he cried, as he came panting up
the steps.
“That I am a grandmother and you an uncle?” she asked, with a merry
little laugh.
“Why, no, mamma, you are not old enough to be that,” exclaimed Elsie.
“No, indeed!” cried Ned. “But papa is a grandfather and Lu and Grace
and Elsie are aunts and I’m an uncle. Oh, isn’t it funny?”
“I hope you will be a well-behaved uncle and not make your little niece
ashamed of you,” laughed Violet.
“I guess she won’t be,” returned Ned. “Anyhow, not till she gets
bigger. She’s just a baby now, papa says.”
Captain Raymond and Lucilla were now coming up the porch steps and at
the same moment Max stepped out from the hall door. He was looking very
happy.
“Good-morning, father,” he said. “Good-morning, Mamma Vi, and all of
you. Father, I suppose Harold has told you the news?”
“Yes, my dear boy; very pleasant news, though it seems to add something
to my age to know myself a grandfather,” returned the captain with a
smile, and taking Max’s extended hand in a warm pressure.
“What did you choose a girl for, Brother Max?” asked Ned. “I should
think you’d rather have a boy.”
“No, little brother,” laughed Max. “I’m glad it is a girl, and always
shall be glad, if she grows up to be just like her mother, as I hope
she will.”
“I hope so too, Max, and I am well pleased that she is a girl,” said
Lucilla, “but I am glad that father and mother had a boy first so that
I have always had an older brother to look up to.”
“And you have really looked up to him?” laughed Max. “I haven’t always
known it, and certainly have not always been worthy of it.”
Just then they were joined by Grandma Elsie and her daughter, Mrs.
Leland, with her husband and children.
All had heard the news and were full of the subject. The ladies and
children wanted to see the little newcomer, but that could not be for
the present without running the risk of disturbing its mother, and just
then came the summons to the breakfast table.
Dr. Harold was with them there, and on being questioned spoke in a
cheerful, hopeful way of his patient.
“I left her asleep,” he said, “and looking very peaceful and
comfortable, the bit lassie reposing by her side. The nurse seems a
capable one and I think will take the best care of both mother and
babe.”
“When can we see it, Uncle Harold?” asked little Elsie.
“After its mother wakes yours or mine will probably carry it out into
the dressing-room for a few minutes, and then if you two will engage
to be very quiet you may go in there and take a peep at the little
nameless stranger,” replied the doctor.
“Nameless!” exclaimed Elsie. “Oh, Brother Max, what are you going to
name it?”
“Its mother shall name it. I am sure she has the best right,” replied
Max.
“So I think,” said his father. “Violet, my dear, how soon will you be
ready for our trip down the river?”
“I think I can make ready in an hour or two at any time,” Violet
answered with a smile.
“Oh, father, don’t think of leaving us!” exclaimed Max. “I am
absolutely hungry for a good visit with you; and you have had sea
air for months past. Besides, there is plenty of room here, and of
everything else that is wanted. I hope you will all stay until Eva and
I are ready to go.”
“Thank you, my son,” the captain said, giving Max a look of fatherly
pride and pleasure; “a few weeks of your society will be far from
disagreeable to your old father. So, Violet,” turning to her, “shall we
accept his invitation?”
“Yes, with the understanding that if at any time we prove troublesome
company we are to be informed that such is the case and to leave at
very short notice.”
“You may be sure of getting such notice if your conduct calls for
it,” laughed Mrs. Leland. “So don’t set your hearts too strongly upon
staying here as long as Max and Eva do.”
“There is not the slightest danger of Sister Violet earning such notice
and hardly of her children doing so,” remarked Mr. Leland, “but I am
not so sure of our own boys and girls. Remember, my children,” glancing
around upon them, “that you are to play very quietly when you are in or
near the house while Cousin Eva is sick.”
In answer there was a chorus of assurances that they would be very
careful to do nothing to injure “dear Cousin Eva,” but everything they
could to help her to get well.
An hour later they were all—including Elsie and Ned—invited to go
quietly into Cousin Eva’s dressing-room and see her new treasure, which
they found sleeping on Grandma Elsie’s lap. They all regarded it with
great interest and pronounced it a dear, pretty little thing.
“What is its name, grandma?” they asked.
“I don’t think she has any yet, except that she is a little Miss
Raymond,” Grandma Elsie answered, with a smile and a loving look down
into the wee face.
“Oh, yes, because Brother Max is her father and his name is Raymond,”
said little Elsie, “and Sisters Lu and Grace and I are her aunts. Oh, I
think it’s nice to have such a dear little niece!”
“Or cousin,” said Eric Leland. “I can’t be her uncle, but she’s my
cousin, because her mother is.”
“Yes,” said Grandma Elsie, “so she is, and I hope you will be so kind
to her that she cannot help loving you. Now you may all go out into the
grounds and enjoy yourselves there; far enough from the house not to
disturb your sick cousin if you want to make any noise.”
“I think we will all try to be quiet, grandma,” said Elsie, “and go far
enough away not to disturb Sister Eva with our talk.” And with that
they all passed out very quietly.
Elsie led the way to the summer house on the edge of the cliff, which
had always been one of Evelyn’s favorite resorts. There they seated
themselves, enjoying the beautiful prospect of the river and its
farther shore.
“That baby is a dear, pretty little cousin for us all, isn’t she?”
remarked Alie Leland.
“To you and your sister and brothers,” Elsie answered, with merry look
and tone; “but niece to Ned and me, you must remember, because her
father is our brother.”
“Well, I don’t care,” laughed Alie. “I believe it’s about as good to be
cousin as aunt.”