and dolls. I am a stupid thing, and ought to be studying, not playing,”
was Beth’s resolution, while Amy followed their example by heroically
declaring, “I shall learn to make buttonholes, and attend to my parts
of speech.”
“Very good! Then I am quite satisfied with the experiment, and fancy
that we shall not have to repeat it, only don’t go to the other extreme
and delve like slaves. Have regular hours for work and play, make each
day both useful and pleasant, and prove that you understand the worth
of time by employing it well. Then youth will be delightful, old age
will bring few regrets, and life become a beautiful success, in spite
of poverty.”
“We’ll remember, Mother!” and they did.
CHAPTER TWELVE
CAMP LAURENCE
Beth was postmistress, for, being most at home, she could attend to it
regularly, and dearly liked the daily task of unlocking the little door
and distributing the mail. One July day she came in with her hands
full, and went about the house leaving letters and parcels like the
penny post.
“Here’s your posy, Mother! Laurie never forgets that,” she said,
putting the fresh nosegay in the vase that stood in ‘Marmee’s corner’,
and was kept supplied by the affectionate boy.
“Miss Meg March, one letter and a glove,” continued Beth, delivering
the articles to her sister, who sat near her mother, stitching
wristbands.
“Why, I left a pair over there, and here is only one,” said Meg,
looking at the gray cotton glove. “Didn’t you drop the other in the
garden?”
“No, I’m sure I didn’t, for there was only one in the office.”
“I hate to have odd gloves! Never mind, the other may be found. My
letter is only a translation of the German song I wanted. I think Mr.
Brooke did it, for this isn’t Laurie’s writing.”
Mrs. March glanced at Meg, who was looking very pretty in her gingham
morning gown, with the little curls blowing about her forehead, and
very womanly, as she sat sewing at her little worktable, full of tidy
white rolls, so unconscious of the thought in her mother’s mind as she
sewed and sang, while her fingers flew and her thoughts were busied
with girlish fancies as innocent and fresh as the pansies in her belt,
that Mrs. March smiled and was satisfied.
“Two letters for Doctor Jo, a book, and a funny old hat, which covered
the whole post office and stuck outside,” said Beth, laughing as she
went into the study where Jo sat writing.
“What a sly fellow Laurie is! I said I wished bigger hats were the
fashion, because I burn my face every hot day. He said, ‘Why mind the
fashion? Wear a big hat, and be comfortable!’ I said I would if I had
one, and he has sent me this, to try me. I’ll wear it for fun, and show
him I don’t care for the fashion.” And hanging the antique broad-brim
on a bust of Plato, Jo read her letters.
One from her mother made her cheeks glow and her eyes fill, for it said
to her...
My Dear:
I write a little word to tell you with how much satisfaction I watch
your efforts to control your temper. You say nothing about your trials,
failures, or successes, and think, perhaps, that no one sees them but
the Friend whose help you daily ask, if I may trust the well-worn cover
of your guidebook. I, too, have seen them all, and heartily believe in
the sincerity of your resolution, since it begins to bear fruit. Go on,
dear, patiently and bravely, and always believe that no one sympathizes
more tenderly with you than your loving...
Mother
“That does me good! That’s worth millions of money and pecks of praise.
Oh, Marmee, I do try! I will keep on trying, and not get tired, since I
have you to help me.”
Laying her head on her arms, Jo wet her little romance with a few happy
tears, for she had thought that no one saw and appreciated her efforts
to be good, and this assurance was doubly precious, doubly encouraging,
because unexpected and from the person whose commendation she most
valued. Feeling stronger than ever to meet and subdue her Apollyon, she
pinned the note inside her frock, as a shield and a reminder, lest she
be taken unaware, and proceeded to open her other letter, quite ready
for either good or bad news. In a big, dashing hand, Laurie wrote...
Dear Jo, What ho!
Some English girls and boys are coming to see me tomorrow and I want to
have a jolly time. If it’s fine, I’m going to pitch my tent in
Longmeadow, and row up the whole crew to lunch and croquet—have a fire,
make messes, gypsy fashion, and all sorts of larks. They are nice
people, and like such things. Brooke will go to keep us boys steady,
and Kate Vaughn will play propriety for the girls. I want you all to
come, can’t let Beth off at any price, and nobody shall worry her.
Don’t bother about rations, I’ll see to that and everything else, only
do come, there’s a good fellow!
In a tearing hurry, Yours ever, Laurie.
“Here’s richness!” cried Jo, flying in to tell the news to Meg.
“Of course we can go, Mother? It will be such a help to Laurie, for I
can row, and Meg see to the lunch, and the children be useful in some
way.”
“I hope the Vaughns are not fine grown-up people. Do you know anything
about them, Jo?” asked Meg.
“Only that there are four of them. Kate is older than you, Fred and
Frank (twins) about my age, and a little girl (Grace), who is nine or
ten. Laurie knew them abroad, and liked the boys. I fancied, from the
way he primmed up his mouth in speaking of her, that he didn’t admire
Kate much.”
“I’m so glad my French print is clean, it’s just the thing and so
becoming!” observed Meg complacently. “Have you anything decent, Jo?”
“Scarlet and gray boating suit, good enough for me. I shall row and
tramp about, so I don’t want any starch to think of. You’ll come,
Betty?”
“If you won’t let any boys talk to me.”
“Not a boy!”
“I like to please Laurie, and I’m not afraid of Mr. Brooke, he is so
kind. But I don’t want to play, or sing, or say anything. I’ll work
hard and not trouble anyone, and you’ll take care of me, Jo, so I’ll
go.”
“That’s my good girl. You do try to fight off your shyness, and I love
you for it. Fighting faults isn’t easy, as I know, and a cheery word
kind of gives a lift. Thank you, Mother,” And Jo gave the thin cheek a
grateful kiss, more precious to Mrs. March than if it had given back
the rosy roundness of her youth.
“I had a box of chocolate drops, and the picture I wanted to copy,”
said Amy, showing her mail.
“And I got a note from Mr. Laurence, asking me to come over and play to
him tonight, before the lamps are lighted, and I shall go,” added Beth,
whose friendship with the old gentleman prospered finely.
“Now let’s fly round, and do double duty today, so that we can play
tomorrow with free minds,” said Jo, preparing to replace her pen with a
broom.
When the sun peeped into the girls’ room early next morning to promise
them a fine day, he saw a comical sight. Each had made such preparation
for the fete as seemed necessary and proper. Meg had an extra row of
little curlpapers across her forehead, Jo had copiously anointed her
afflicted face with cold cream, Beth had taken Joanna to bed with her
to atone for the approaching separation, and Amy had capped the climax
by putting a clothespin on her nose to uplift the offending feature. It
was one of the kind artists use to hold the paper on their drawing
boards, therefore quite appropriate and effective for the purpose it
was now being put. This funny spectacle appeared to amuse the sun, for
he burst out with such radiance that Jo woke up and roused her sisters
by a hearty laugh at Amy’s ornament.
Sunshine and laughter were good omens for a pleasure party, and soon a
lively bustle began in both houses. Beth, who was ready first, kept
reporting what went on next door, and enlivened her sisters’ toilets by
frequent telegrams from the window.
“There goes the man with the tent! I see Mrs. Barker doing up the lunch
in a hamper and a great basket. Now Mr. Laurence is looking up at the
sky and the weathercock. I wish he would go too. There’s Laurie,
looking like a sailor, nice boy! Oh, mercy me! Here’s a carriage full
of people, a tall lady, a little girl, and two dreadful boys. One is
lame, poor thing, he’s got a crutch. Laurie didn’t tell us that. Be
quick, girls! It’s getting late. Why, there is Ned Moffat, I do
declare. Meg, isn’t that the man who bowed to you one day when we were
shopping?”
“So it is. How queer that he should come. I thought he was at the
mountains. There is Sallie. I’m glad she got back in time. Am I all
right, Jo?” cried Meg in a flutter.
“A regular daisy. Hold up your dress and put your hat on straight, it
looks sentimental tipped that way and will fly off at the first puff.
Now then, come on!”
“Oh, Jo, you are not going to wear that awful hat? It’s too absurd! You
shall not make a guy of yourself,” remonstrated Meg, as Jo tied down
with a red ribbon the broad-brimmed, old-fashioned leghorn Laurie had
sent for a joke.
“I just will, though, for it’s capital, so shady, light, and big. It
will make fun, and I don’t mind being a guy if I’m comfortable.” With
that Jo marched straight away and the rest followed, a bright little
band of sisters, all looking their best in summer suits, with happy
faces under the jaunty hatbrims.
Laurie ran to meet and present them to his friends in the most cordial
manner. The lawn was the reception room, and for several minutes a
lively scene was enacted there. Meg was grateful to see that Miss Kate,
though twenty, was dressed with a simplicity which American girls would
do well to imitate, and who was much flattered by Mr. Ned’s assurances
that he came especially to see her. Jo understood why Laurie ‘primmed
up his mouth’ when speaking of Kate, for that young lady had a
standoff-don’t-touch-me air, which contrasted strongly with the free
and easy demeanor of the other girls. Beth took an observation of the
new boys and decided that the lame one was not ‘dreadful’, but gentle
and feeble, and she would be kind to him on that account. Amy found
Grace a well-mannered, merry, little person, and after staring dumbly
at one another for a few minutes, they suddenly became very good
friends.
Tents, lunch, and croquet utensils having been sent on beforehand, the
party was soon embarked, and the two boats pushed off together, leaving
Mr. Laurence waving his hat on the shore. Laurie and Jo rowed one boat,
Mr. Brooke and Ned the other, while Fred Vaughn, the riotous twin, did
his best to upset both by paddling about in a wherry like a disturbed
water bug. Jo’s funny hat deserved a vote of thanks, for it was of
general utility. It broke the ice in the beginning by producing a
laugh, it created quite a refreshing breeze, flapping to and fro as she
rowed, and would make an excellent umbrella for the whole party, if a
shower came up, she said. Miss Kate decided that she was ‘odd’, but
rather clever, and smiled upon her from afar.
Meg, in the other boat, was delightfully situated, face to face with
the rowers, who both admired the prospect and feathered their oars with
uncommon ‘skill and dexterity’. Mr. Brooke was a grave, silent young
man, with handsome brown eyes and a pleasant voice. Meg liked his quiet
manners and considered him a walking encyclopedia of useful knowledge.
He never talked to her much, but he looked at her a good deal, and she
felt sure that he did not regard her with aversion. Ned, being in
college, of course put on all the airs which freshmen think it their
bounden duty to assume. He was not very wise, but very good-natured,
and altogether an excellent person to carry on a picnic. Sallie
Gardiner was absorbed in keeping her white pique dress clean and
chattering with the ubiquitous Fred, who kept Beth in constant terror
by his pranks.
It was not far to Longmeadow, but the tent was pitched and the wickets
down by the time they arrived. A pleasant green field, with three
wide-spreading oaks in the middle and a smooth strip of turf for
croquet.
“Welcome to Camp Laurence!” said the young host, as they landed with
exclamations of delight.
“Brooke is commander in chief, I am commissary general, the other
fellows are staff officers, and you, ladies, are company. The tent is
for your especial benefit and that oak is your drawing room, this is
the messroom and the third is the camp kitchen. Now, let’s have a game
before it gets hot, and then we’ll see about dinner.”
Frank, Beth, Amy, and Grace sat down to watch the game played by the
other eight. Mr. Brooke chose Meg, Kate, and Fred. Laurie took Sallie,
Jo, and Ned. The English played well, but the Americans played better,
and contested every inch of the ground as strongly as if the spirit of
’76 inspired them. Jo and Fred had several skirmishes and once narrowly
escaped high words. Jo was through the last wicket and had missed the
stroke, which failure ruffled her a good deal. Fred was close behind
her and his turn came before hers. He gave a stroke, his ball hit the
wicket, and stopped an inch on the wrong side. No one was very near,
and running up to examine, he gave it a sly nudge with his toe, which
put it just an inch on the right side.
“I’m through! Now, Miss Jo, I’ll settle you, and get in first,” cried
the young gentleman, swinging his mallet for another blow.
“You pushed it. I saw you. It’s my turn now,” said Jo sharply.
“Upon my word, I didn’t move it. It rolled a bit, perhaps, but that is
allowed. So, stand off please, and let me have a go at the stake.”
“We don’t cheat in America, but you can, if you choose,” said Jo
angrily.
“Yankees are a deal the most tricky, everybody knows. There you go!”
returned Fred, croqueting her ball far away.
Jo opened her lips to say something rude, but checked herself in time,
colored up to her forehead and stood a minute, hammering down a wicket
with all her might, while Fred hit the stake and declared himself out
with much exultation. She went off to get her ball, and was a long time
finding it among the bushes, but she came back, looking cool and quiet,
and waited her turn patiently. It took several strokes to regain the
place she had lost, and when she got there, the other side had nearly
won, for Kate’s ball was the last but one and lay near the stake.
“By George, it’s all up with us! Goodbye, Kate. Miss Jo owes me one, so
you are finished,” cried Fred excitedly, as they all drew near to see
the finish.
“Yankees have a trick of being generous to their enemies,” said Jo,
with a look that made the lad redden, “especially when they beat them,”
she added, as, leaving Kate’s ball untouched, she won the game by a
clever stroke.
Laurie threw up his hat, then remembered that it wouldn’t do to exult
over the defeat of his guests, and stopped in the middle of the cheer
to whisper to his friend, “Good for you, Jo! He did cheat, I saw him.
We can’t tell him so, but he won’t do it again, take my word for it.”
Meg drew her aside, under pretense of pinning up a loose braid, and
said approvingly, “It was dreadfully provoking, but you kept your
temper, and I’m so glad, Jo.”
“Don’t praise me, Meg, for I could box his ears this minute. I should
certainly have boiled over if I hadn’t stayed among the nettles till I
got my rage under control enough to hold my tongue. It’s simmering now,
so I hope he’ll keep out of my way,” returned Jo, biting her lips as
she glowered at Fred from under her big hat.
“Time for lunch,” said Mr. Brooke, looking at his watch. “Commissary
general, will you make the fire and get water, while Miss March, Miss
Sallie, and I spread the table? Who can make good coffee?”
“Jo can,” said Meg, glad to recommend her sister. So Jo, feeling that
her late lessons in cookery were to do her honor, went to preside over
the coffeepot, while the children collected dry sticks, and the boys
made a fire and got water from a spring near by. Miss Kate sketched and
Frank talked to Beth, who was making little mats of braided rushes to
serve as plates.
The commander in chief and his aides soon spread the tablecloth with an
inviting array of eatables and drinkables, prettily decorated with
green leaves. Jo announced that the coffee was ready, and everyone
settled themselves to a hearty meal, for youth is seldom dyspeptic, and
exercise develops wholesome appetites. A very merry lunch it was, for
everything seemed fresh and funny, and frequent peals of laughter
startled a venerable horse who fed near by. There was a pleasing
inequality in the table, which produced many mishaps to cups and
plates, acorns dropped in the milk, little black ants partook of the
refreshments without being invited, and fuzzy caterpillars swung down
from the tree to see what was going on. Three white-headed children
peeped over the fence, and an objectionable dog barked at them from the
other side of the river with all his might and main.
“There’s salt here,” said Laurie, as he handed Jo a saucer of berries.
“Thank you, I prefer spiders,” she replied, fishing up two unwary
little ones who had gone to a creamy death. “How dare you remind me of
that horrid dinner party, when yours is so nice in every way?” added
Jo, as they both laughed and ate out of one plate, the china having run
short.
“I had an uncommonly good time that day, and haven’t got over it yet.
This is no credit to me, you know, I don’t do anything. It’s you and
Meg and Brooke who make it all go, and I’m no end obliged to you. What
shall we do when we can’t eat anymore?” asked Laurie, feeling that his
trump card had been played when lunch was over.
“Have games till it’s cooler. I brought Authors, and I dare say Miss
Kate knows something new and nice. Go and ask her. She’s company, and
you ought to stay with her more.”
“Aren’t you company too? I thought she’d suit Brooke, but he keeps
talking to Meg, and Kate just stares at them through that ridiculous
glass of hers. I’m going, so you needn’t try to preach propriety, for
you can’t do it, Jo.”
Miss Kate did know several new games, and as the girls would not, and
the boys could not, eat any more, they all adjourned to the drawing
room to play Rig-marole.
“One person begins a story, any nonsense you like, and tells as long as
he pleases, only taking care to stop short at some exciting point, when
the next takes it up and does the same. It’s very funny when well done,
and makes a perfect jumble of tragical comical stuff to laugh over.
Please start it, Mr. Brooke,” said Kate, with a commanding air, which
surprised Meg, who treated the tutor with as much respect as any other
gentleman.
Lying on the grass at the feet of the two young ladies, Mr. Brooke
obediently began the story, with the handsome brown eyes steadily fixed
upon the sunshiny river.
“Once on a time, a knight went out into the world to seek his fortune,
for he had nothing but his sword and his shield. He traveled a long
while, nearly eight-and-twenty years, and had a hard time of it, till
he came to the palace of a good old king, who had offered a reward to
anyone who could tame and train a fine but unbroken colt, of which he
was very fond. The knight agreed to try, and got on slowly but surely,
for the colt was a gallant fellow, and soon learned to love his new
master, though he was freakish and wild. Every day, when he gave his
lessons to this pet of the king’s, the knight rode him through the
city, and as he rode, he looked everywhere for a certain beautiful
face, which he had seen many times in his dreams, but never found. One
day, as he went prancing down a quiet street, he saw at the window of a
ruinous castle the lovely face. He was delighted, inquired who lived in
this old castle, and was told that several captive princesses were kept
there by a spell, and spun all day to lay up money to buy their
liberty. The knight wished intensely that he could free them, but he
was poor and could only go by each day, watching for the sweet face and
longing to see it out in the sunshine. At last he resolved to get into
the castle and ask how he could help them. He went and knocked. The
great door flew open, and he beheld...”
“A ravishingly lovely lady, who exclaimed, with a cry of rapture, ‘At
last! At last!’” continued Kate, who had read French novels, and
admired the style. “’Tis she!’ cried Count Gustave, and fell at her
feet in an ecstasy of joy. ‘Oh, rise!’ she said, extending a hand of
marble fairness. ‘Never! Till you tell me how I may rescue you,’ swore
the knight, still kneeling. ‘Alas, my cruel fate condemns me to remain
here till my tyrant is destroyed.’ ‘Where is the villain?’ ‘In the
mauve salon. Go, brave heart, and save me from despair.’ ‘I obey, and
return victorious or dead!’ With these thrilling words he rushed away,
and flinging open the door of the mauve salon, was about to enter, when
he received...”
“A stunning blow from the big Greek lexicon, which an old fellow in a
black gown fired at him,” said Ned. “Instantly, Sir What’s-his-name
recovered himself, pitched the tyrant out of the window, and turned to
join the lady, victorious, but with a bump on his brow, found the door
locked, tore up the curtains, made a rope ladder, got halfway down when
the ladder broke, and he went headfirst into the moat, sixty feet
below. Could swim like a duck, paddled round the castle till he came to
a little door guarded by two stout fellows, knocked their heads
together till they cracked like a couple of nuts, then, by a trifling
exertion of his prodigious strength, he smashed in the door, went up a
pair of stone steps covered with dust a foot thick, toads as big as
your fist, and spiders that would frighten you into hysterics, Miss
March. At the top of these steps he came plump upon a sight that took
his breath away and chilled his blood...”
“A tall figure, all in white with a veil over its face and a lamp in
its wasted hand,” went on Meg. “It beckoned, gliding noiselessly before
him down a corridor as dark and cold as any tomb. Shadowy effigies in
armor stood on either side, a dead silence reigned, the lamp burned
blue, and the ghostly figure ever and anon turned its face toward him,
showing the glitter of awful eyes through its white veil. They reached
a curtained door, behind which sounded lovely music. He sprang forward
to enter, but the specter plucked him back, and waved threateningly
before him a...”
“Snuffbox,” said Jo, in a sepulchral tone, which convulsed the
audience. “‘Thankee,’ said the knight politely, as he took a pinch and
sneezed seven times so violently that his head fell off. ‘Ha! Ha!’
laughed the ghost, and having peeped through the keyhole at the
princesses spinning away for dear life, the evil spirit picked up her
victim and put him in a large tin box, where there were eleven other
knights packed together without their heads, like sardines, who all
rose and began to...”
“Dance a hornpipe,” cut in Fred, as Jo paused for breath, “and, as they
danced, the rubbishy old castle turned to a man-of-war in full sail.
‘Up with the jib, reef the tops’l halliards, helm hard alee, and man
the guns!’ roared the captain, as a Portuguese pirate hove in sight,
with a flag black as ink flying from her foremast. ‘Go in and win, my
hearties!’ says the captain, and a tremendous fight began. Of course
the British beat—they always do.”
“No, they don’t!” cried Jo, aside.
“Having taken the pirate captain prisoner, sailed slap over the
schooner, whose decks were piled high with dead and whose lee scuppers
ran blood, for the order had been ‘Cutlasses, and die hard!’ ‘Bosun’s
mate, take a bight of the flying-jib sheet, and start this villain if
he doesn’t confess his sins double quick,’ said the British captain.
The Portuguese held his tongue like a brick, and walked the plank,
while the jolly tars cheered like mad. But the sly dog dived, came up
under the man-of-war, scuttled her, and down she went, with all sail
set, ‘To the bottom of the sea, sea, sea’ where...”
“Oh, gracious! What shall I say?” cried Sallie, as Fred ended his
rigmarole, in which he had jumbled together pell-mell nautical phrases
and facts out of one of his favorite books. “Well, they went to the
bottom, and a nice mermaid welcomed them, but was much grieved on
finding the box of headless knights, and kindly pickled them in brine,
hoping to discover the mystery about them, for being a woman, she was
curious. By-and-by a diver came down, and the mermaid said, ‘I’ll give
you a box of pearls if you can take it up,’ for she wanted to restore
the poor things to life, and couldn’t raise the heavy load herself. So
the diver hoisted it up, and was much disappointed on opening it to
find no pearls. He left it in a great lonely field, where it was found
by a...”
“Little goose girl, who kept a hundred fat geese in the field,” said
Amy, when Sallie’s invention gave out. “The little girl was sorry for
them, and asked an old woman what she should do to help them. ‘Your
geese will tell you, they know everything.’ said the old woman. So she
asked what she should use for new heads, since the old ones were lost,
and all the geese opened their hundred mouths and screamed...”
“‘Cabbages!’” continued Laurie promptly. “‘Just the thing,’ said the
girl, and ran to get twelve fine ones from her garden. She put them on,
the knights revived at once, thanked her, and went on their way
rejoicing, never knowing the difference, for there were so many other
heads like them in the world that no one thought anything of it. The
knight in whom I’m interested went back to find the pretty face, and
learned that the princesses had spun themselves free and all gone and
married, but one. He was in a great state of mind at that, and mounting
the colt, who stood by him through thick and thin, rushed to the castle
to see which was left. Peeping over the hedge, he saw the queen of his
affections picking flowers in her garden. ‘Will you give me a rose?’
said he. ‘You must come and get it. I can’t come to you, it isn’t
proper,’ said she, as sweet as honey. He tried to climb over the hedge,
but it seemed to grow higher and higher. Then he tried to push through,
but it grew thicker and thicker, and he was in despair. So he patiently
broke twig after twig till he had made a little hole through which he
peeped, saying imploringly, ‘Let me in! Let me in!’ But the pretty
princess did not seem to understand, for she picked her roses quietly,
and left him to fight his way in. Whether he did or not, Frank will
tell you.”
“I can’t. I’m not playing, I never do,” said Frank, dismayed at the
sentimental predicament out of which he was to rescue the absurd
couple. Beth had disappeared behind Jo, and Grace was asleep.
“So the poor knight is to be left sticking in the hedge, is he?” asked
Mr. Brooke, still watching the river, and playing with the wild rose in
his buttonhole.
“I guess the princess gave him a posy, and opened the gate after a
while,” said Laurie, smiling to himself, as he threw acorns at his
tutor.
“What a piece of nonsense we have made! With practice we might do
something quite clever. Do you know Truth?”
“I hope so,” said Meg soberly.
“The game, I mean?”
“What is it?” said Fred.
“Why, you pile up your hands, choose a number, and draw out in turn,
and the person who draws at the number has to answer truly any question
put by the rest. It’s great fun.”
“Let’s try it,” said Jo, who liked new experiments.
Miss Kate and Mr. Brooke, Meg, and Ned declined, but Fred, Sallie, Jo,
and Laurie piled and drew, and the lot fell to Laurie.
“Who are your heroes?” asked Jo.
“Grandfather and Napoleon.”
“Which lady here do you think prettiest?” said Sallie.
“Margaret.”
“Which do you like best?” from Fred.
“Jo, of course.”
“What silly questions you ask!” And Jo gave a disdainful shrug as the
rest laughed at Laurie’s matter-of-fact tone.
“Try again. Truth isn’t a bad game,” said Fred.
“It’s a very good one for you,” retorted Jo in a low voice. Her turn
came next.
“What is your greatest fault?” asked Fred, by way of testing in her the
virtue he lacked himself.
“A quick temper.”
“What do you most wish for?” said Laurie.
“A pair of boot lacings,” returned Jo, guessing and defeating his
purpose.
“Not a true answer. You must say what you really do want most.”
“Genius. Don’t you wish you could give it to me, Laurie?” And she slyly
smiled in his disappointed face.
“What virtues do you most admire in a man?” asked Sallie.
“Courage and honesty.”
“Now my turn,” said Fred, as his hand came last.
“Let’s give it to him,” whispered Laurie to Jo, who nodded and asked at
once...
“Didn’t you cheat at croquet?”
“Well, yes, a little bit.”
“Good! Didn’t you take your story out of _The Sea Lion?_” said Laurie.
“Rather.”
“Don’t you think the English nation perfect in every respect?” asked
Sallie.
“I should be ashamed of myself if I didn’t.”
“He’s a true John Bull. Now, Miss Sallie, you shall have a chance
without waiting to draw. I’ll harrrow up your feelings first by asking
if you don’t think you are something of a flirt,” said Laurie, as Jo
nodded to Fred as a sign that peace was declared.
“You impertinent boy! Of course I’m not,” exclaimed Sallie, with an air
that proved the contrary.
“What do you hate most?” asked Fred.
“Spiders and rice pudding.”
“What do you like best?” asked Jo.
“Dancing and French gloves.”
“Well, I think Truth is a very silly play. Let’s have a sensible game
of Authors to refresh our minds,” proposed Jo.
Ned, Frank, and the little girls joined in this, and while it went on,
the three elders sat apart, talking. Miss Kate took out her sketch
again, and Margaret watched her, while Mr. Brooke lay on the grass with
a book, which he did not read.
“How beautifully you do it! I wish I could draw,” said Meg, with
mingled admiration and regret in her voice.
“Why don’t you learn? I should think you had taste and talent for it,”
replied Miss Kate graciously.
“I haven’t time.”
“Your mamma prefers other accomplishments, I fancy. So did mine, but I
proved to her that I had talent by taking a few lessons privately, and
then she was quite willing I should go on. Can’t you do the same with
your governess?”
“I have none.”
“I forgot young ladies in America go to school more than with us. Very
fine schools they are, too, Papa says. You go to a private one, I
suppose?”
“I don’t go at all. I am a governess myself.”
“Oh, indeed!” said Miss Kate, but she might as well have said, “Dear
me, how dreadful!” for her tone implied it, and something in her face
made Meg color, and wish she had not been so frank.
Mr. Brooke looked up and said quickly, “Young ladies in America love
independence as much as their ancestors did, and are admired and
respected for supporting themselves.”
“Oh, yes, of course it’s very nice and proper in them to do so. We have
many most respectable and worthy young women who do the same and are
employed by the nobility, because, being the daughters of gentlemen,
they are both well bred and accomplished, you know,” said Miss Kate in
a patronizing tone that hurt Meg’s pride, and made her work seem not
only more distasteful, but degrading.
“Did the German song suit, Miss March?” inquired Mr. Brooke, breaking
an awkward pause.
“Oh, yes! It was very sweet, and I’m much obliged to whoever translated
it for me.” And Meg’s downcast face brightened as she spoke.
“Don’t you read German?” asked Miss Kate with a look of surprise.
“Not very well. My father, who taught me, is away, and I don’t get on
very fast alone, for I’ve no one to correct my pronunciation.”
“Try a little now. Here is Schiller’s Mary Stuart and a tutor who loves
to teach.” And Mr. Brooke laid his book on her lap with an inviting
smile.
“It’s so hard I’m afraid to try,” said Meg, grateful, but bashful in
the presence of the accomplished young lady beside her.
“I’ll read a bit to encourage you.” And Miss Kate read one of the most
beautiful passages in a perfectly correct but perfectly expressionless
manner.
Mr. Brooke made no comment as she returned the book to Meg, who said
innocently, “I thought it was poetry.”
“Some of it is. Try this passage.”
There was a queer smile about Mr. Brooke’s mouth as he opened at poor
Mary’s lament.
Meg obediently following the long grass-blade which her new tutor used
to point with, read slowly and timidly, unconsciously making poetry of
the hard words by the soft intonation of her musical voice. Down the
page went the green guide, and presently, forgetting her listener in
the beauty of the sad scene, Meg read as if alone, giving a little
touch of tragedy to the words of the unhappy queen. If she had seen the
brown eyes then, she would have stopped short, but she never looked up,
and the lesson was not spoiled for her.
“Very well indeed!” said Mr. Brooke, as she paused, quite ignoring her
many mistakes, and looking as if he did indeed love to teach.
Miss Kate put up her glass, and, having taken a survey of the little
tableau before her, shut her sketch book, saying with condescension,
“You’ve a nice accent and in time will be a clever reader. I advise you
to learn, for German is a valuable accomplishment to teachers. I must
look after Grace, she is romping.” And Miss Kate strolled away, adding
to herself with a shrug, “I didn’t come to chaperone a governess,
though she is young and pretty. What odd people these Yankees are. I’m
afraid Laurie will be quite spoiled among them.”
“I forgot that English people rather turn up their noses at governesses
and don’t treat them as we do,” said Meg, looking after the retreating
figure with an annoyed expression.
“Tutors also have rather a hard time of it there, as I know to my
sorrow. There’s no place like America for us workers, Miss Margaret.”
And Mr. Brooke looked so contented and cheerful that Meg was ashamed to
lament her hard lot.
“I’m glad I live in it then. I don’t like my work, but I get a good
deal of satisfaction out of it after all, so I won’t complain. I only
wished I liked teaching as you do.”
“I think you would if you had Laurie for a pupil. I shall be very sorry
to lose him next year,” said Mr. Brooke, busily punching holes in the
turf.
“Going to college, I suppose?” Meg’s lips asked the question, but her
eyes added, “And what becomes of you?”
“Yes, it’s high time he went, for he is ready, and as soon as he is
off, I shall turn soldier. I am needed.”
“I am glad of that!” exclaimed Meg. “I should think every young man
would want to go, though it is hard for the mothers and sisters who
stay at home,” she added sorrowfully.
“I have neither, and very few friends to care whether I live or die,”
said Mr. Brooke rather bitterly as he absently put the dead rose in the
hole he had made and covered it up, like a little grave.
“Laurie and his grandfather would care a great deal, and we should all
be very sorry to have any harm happen to you,” said Meg heartily.
“Thank you, that sounds pleasant,” began Mr. Brooke, looking cheerful
again, but before he could finish his speech, Ned, mounted on the old
horse, came lumbering up to display his equestrian skill before the
young ladies, and there was no more quiet that day.
“Don’t you love to ride?” asked Grace of Amy, as they stood resting
after a race round the field with the others, led by Ned.
“I dote upon it. My sister, Meg, used to ride when Papa was rich, but
we don’t keep any horses now, except Ellen Tree,” added Amy, laughing.
“Tell me about Ellen Tree. Is it a donkey?” asked Grace curiously.
“Why, you see, Jo is crazy about horses and so am I, but we’ve only got
an old sidesaddle and no horse. Out in our garden is an apple tree that
has a nice low branch, so Jo put the saddle on it, fixed some reins on
the part that turns up, and we bounce away on Ellen Tree whenever we
like.”
“How funny!” laughed Grace. “I have a pony at home, and ride nearly
every day in the park with Fred and Kate. It’s very nice, for my
friends go too, and the Row is full of ladies and gentlemen.”
“Dear, how charming! I hope I shall go abroad some day, but I’d rather
go to Rome than the Row,” said Amy, who had not the remotest idea what
the Row was and wouldn’t have asked for the world.
Frank, sitting just behind the little girls, heard what they were
saying, and pushed his crutch away from him with an impatient gesture
as he watched the active lads going through all sorts of comical
gymnastics. Beth, who was collecting the scattered Author cards, looked
up and said, in her shy yet friendly way, “I’m afraid you are tired.
Can I do anything for you?”
“Talk to me, please. It’s dull, sitting by myself,” answered Frank, who
had evidently been used to being made much of at home.
If he asked her to deliver a Latin oration, it would not have seemed a
more impossible task to bashful Beth, but there was no place to run to,
no Jo to hide behind now, and the poor boy looked so wistfully at her
that she bravely resolved to try.
“What do you like to talk about?” she asked, fumbling over the cards
and dropping half as she tried to tie them up.
“Well, I like to hear about cricket and boating and hunting,” said
Frank, who had not yet learned to suit his amusements to his strength.
My heart! What shall I do? I don’t know anything about them, thought
Beth, and forgetting the boy’s misfortune in her flurry, she said,
hoping to make him talk, “I never saw any hunting, but I suppose you
know all about it.”
“I did once, but I can never hunt again, for I got hurt leaping a
confounded five-barred gate, so there are no more horses and hounds for
me,” said Frank with a sigh that made Beth hate herself for her
innocent blunder.
“Your deer are much prettier than our ugly buffaloes,” she said,
turning to the prairies for help and feeling glad that she had read one
of the boys’ books in which Jo delighted.
Buffaloes proved soothing and satisfactory, and in her eagerness to
amuse another, Beth forgot herself, and was quite unconscious of her
sisters’ surprise and delight at the unusual spectacle of Beth talking
away to one of the dreadful boys, against whom she had begged
protection.
“Bless her heart! She pities him, so she is good to him,” said Jo,
beaming at her from the croquet ground.
“I always said she was a little saint,” added Meg, as if there could be
no further doubt of it.
“I haven’t heard Frank laugh so much for ever so long,” said Grace to
Amy, as they sat discussing dolls and making tea sets out of the acorn
cups.
“My sister Beth is a very fastidious girl, when she likes to be,” said
Amy, well pleased at Beth’s success. She meant ‘facinating’, but as
Grace didn’t know the exact meaning of either word, fastidious sounded
well and made a good impression.
An impromptu circus, fox and geese, and an amicable game of croquet
finished the afternoon. At sunset the tent was struck, hampers packed,
wickets pulled up, boats loaded, and the whole party floated down the
river, singing at the tops of their voices. Ned, getting sentimental,
warbled a serenade with the pensive refrain...
Alone, alone, ah! Woe, alone,
and at the lines...
We each are young, we each have a heart,
Oh, why should we stand thus coldly apart?
he looked at Meg with such a lackadaisical expression that she laughed
outright and spoiled his song.
“How can you be so cruel to me?” he whispered, under cover of a lively
chorus. “You’ve kept close to that starched-up Englishwoman all day,
and now you snub me.”
“I didn’t mean to, but you looked so funny I really couldn’t help it,”
replied Meg, passing over the first part of his reproach, for it was
quite true that she had shunned him, remembering the Moffat party and
the talk after it.
Ned was offended and turned to Sallie for consolation, saying to her
rather pettishly, “There isn’t a bit of flirt in that girl, is there?”
“Not a particle, but she’s a dear,” returned Sallie, defending her
friend even while confessing her shortcomings.
“She’s not a stricken deer anyway,” said Ned, trying to be witty, and
succeeding as well as very young gentlemen usually do.
On the lawn where it had gathered, the little party separated with
cordial good nights and good-byes, for the Vaughns were going to
Canada. As the four sisters went home through the garden, Miss Kate
looked after them, saying, without the patronizing tone in her voice,
“In spite of their demonstrative manners, American girls are very nice
when one knows them.”
“I quite agree with you,” said Mr. Brooke.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CASTLES IN THE AIR
Laurie lay luxuriously swinging to and fro in his hammock one warm
September afternoon, wondering what his neighbors were about, but too
lazy to go and find out. He was in one of his moods, for the day had
been both unprofitable and unsatisfactory, and he was wishing he could
live it over again. The hot weather made him indolent, and he had
shirked his studies, tried Mr. Brooke’s patience to the utmost,
displeased his grandfather by practicing half the afternoon, frightened
the maidservants half out of their wits by mischievously hinting that
one of his dogs was going mad, and, after high words with the stableman
about some fancied neglect of his horse, he had flung himself into his
hammock to fume over the stupidity of the world in general, till the
peace of the lovely day quieted him in spite of himself. Staring up
into the green gloom of the horse-chestnut trees above him, he dreamed
dreams of all sorts, and was just imagining himself tossing on the
ocean in a voyage round the world, when the sound of voices brought him
ashore in a flash. Peeping through the meshes of the hammock, he saw
the Marches coming out, as if bound on some expedition.
“What in the world are those girls about now?” thought Laurie, opening
his sleepy eyes to take a good look, for there was something rather
peculiar in the appearance of his neighbors. Each wore a large,
flapping hat, a brown linen pouch slung over one shoulder, and carried
a long staff. Meg had a cushion, Jo a book, Beth a basket, and Amy a
portfolio. All walked quietly through the garden, out at the little
back gate, and began to climb the hill that lay between the house and
river.
“Well, that’s cool,” said Laurie to himself, “to have a picnic and
never ask me! They can’t be going in the boat, for they haven’t got the
key. Perhaps they forgot it. I’ll take it to them, and see what’s going
on.”
Though possessed of half a dozen hats, it took him some time to find
one, then there was a hunt for the key, which was at last discovered in
his pocket, so that the girls were quite out of sight when he leaped
the fence and ran after them. Taking the shortest way to the boathouse,
he waited for them to appear, but no one came, and he went up the hill
to take an observation. A grove of pines covered one part of it, and
from the heart of this green spot came a clearer sound than the soft
sigh of the pines or the drowsy chirp of the crickets.
“Here’s a landscape!” thought Laurie, peeping through the bushes, and
looking wide-awake and good-natured already.
It was a rather pretty little picture, for the sisters sat together in
the shady nook, with sun and shadow flickering over them, the aromatic
wind lifting their hair and cooling their hot cheeks, and all the
little wood people going on with their affairs as if these were no
strangers but old friends. Meg sat upon her cushion, sewing daintily
with her white hands, and looking as fresh and sweet as a rose in her
pink dress among the green. Beth was sorting the cones that lay thick
under the hemlock near by, for she made pretty things with them. Amy
was sketching a group of ferns, and Jo was knitting as she read aloud.
A shadow passed over the boy’s face as he watched them, feeling that he
ought to go away because uninvited; yet lingering because home seemed
very lonely and this quiet party in the woods most attractive to his
restless spirit. He stood so still that a squirrel, busy with its
harvesting, ran down a pine close beside him, saw him suddenly and
skipped back, scolding so shrilly that Beth looked up, espied the
wistful face behind the birches, and beckoned with a reassuring smile.
“May I come in, please? Or shall I be a bother?” he asked, advancing
slowly.
Meg lifted her eyebrows, but Jo scowled at her defiantly and said at
once, “Of course you may. We should have asked you before, only we
thought you wouldn’t care for such a girl’s game as this.”
“I always like your games, but if Meg doesn’t want me, I’ll go away.”
“I’ve no objection, if you do something. It’s against the rules to be
idle here,” replied Meg gravely but graciously.
“Much obliged. I’ll do anything if you’ll let me stop a bit, for it’s
as dull as the Desert of Sahara down there. Shall I sew, read, cone,
draw, or do all at once? Bring on your bears. I’m ready.” And Laurie
sat down with a submissive expression delightful to behold.
“Finish this story while I set my heel,” said Jo, handing him the book.
“Yes’m.” was the meek answer, as he began, doing his best to prove his
gratitude for the favor of admission into the ‘Busy Bee Society’.
The story was not a long one, and when it was finished, he ventured to
ask a few questions as a reward of merit.
“Please, ma’am, could I inquire if this highly instructive and charming
institution is a new one?”
“Would you tell him?” asked Meg of her sisters.
“He’ll laugh,” said Amy warningly.
“Who cares?” said Jo.
“I guess he’ll like it,” added Beth.
“Of course I shall! I give you my word I won’t laugh. Tell away, Jo,
and don’t be afraid.”
“The idea of being afraid of you! Well, you see we used to play
Pilgrim’s Progress, and we have been going on with it in earnest, all
winter and summer.”
“Yes, I know,” said Laurie, nodding wisely.
“Who told you?” demanded Jo.
“Spirits.”
“No, I did. I wanted to amuse him one night when you were all away, and
he was rather dismal. He did like it, so don’t scold, Jo,” said Beth
meekly.
“You can’t keep a secret. Never mind, it saves trouble now.”
“Go on, please,” said Laurie, as Jo became absorbed in her work,
looking a trifle displeased.
“Oh, didn’t she tell you about this new plan of ours? Well, we have
tried not to waste our holiday, but each has had a task and worked at
it with a will. The vacation is nearly over, the stints are all done,
and we are ever so glad that we didn’t dawdle.”
“Yes, I should think so,” and Laurie thought regretfully of his own
idle days.
“Mother likes to have us out-of-doors as much as possible, so we bring
our work here and have nice times. For the fun of it we bring our
things in these bags, wear the old hats, use poles to climb the hill,
and play pilgrims, as we used to do years ago. We call this hill the
Delectable Mountain, for we can look far away and see the country where
we hope to live some time.”
Jo pointed, and Laurie sat up to examine, for through an opening in the
wood one could look cross the wide, blue river, the meadows on the
other side, far over the outskirts of the great city, to the green
hills that rose to meet the sky. The sun was low, and the heavens
glowed with the splendor of an autumn sunset. Gold and purple clouds
lay on the hilltops, and rising high into the ruddy light were silvery
white peaks that shone like the airy spires of some Celestial City.
“How beautiful that is!” said Laurie softly, for he was quick to see
and feel beauty of any kind.
“It’s often so, and we like to watch it, for it is never the same, but
always splendid,” replied Amy, wishing she could paint it.
“Jo talks about the country where we hope to live sometime—the real
country, she means, with pigs and chickens and haymaking. It would be
nice, but I wish the beautiful country up there was real, and we could
ever go to it,” said Beth musingly.
“There is a lovelier country even than that, where we shall go,
by-and-by, when we are good enough,” answered Meg with her sweetest
voice.
“It seems so long to wait, so hard to do. I want to fly away at once,
as those swallows fly, and go in at that splendid gate.”
“You’ll get there, Beth, sooner or later, no fear of that,” said Jo.
“I’m the one that will have to fight and work, and climb and wait, and
maybe never get in after all.”
“You’ll have me for company, if that’s any comfort. I shall have to do
a deal of traveling before I come in sight of your Celestial City. If I
arrive late, you’ll say a good word for me, won’t you, Beth?”
Something in the boy’s face troubled his little friend, but she said
cheerfully, with her quiet eyes on the changing clouds, “If people
really want to go, and really try all their lives, I think they will
get in, for I don’t believe there are any locks on that door or any
guards at the gate. I always imagine it is as it is in the picture,
where the shining ones stretch out their hands to welcome poor
Christian as he comes up from the river.”
“Wouldn’t it be fun if all the castles in the air which we make could
come true, and we could live in them?” said Jo, after a little pause.
“I’ve made such quantities it would be hard to choose which I’d have,”
said Laurie, lying flat and throwing cones at the squirrel who had
betrayed him.
“You’d have to take your favorite one. What is it?” asked Meg.
“If I tell mine, will you tell yours?”
“Yes, if the girls will too.”
“We will. Now, Laurie.”
“After I’d seen as much of the world as I want to, I’d like to settle
in Germany and have just as much music as I choose. I’m to be a famous
musician myself, and all creation is to rush to hear me. And I’m never
to be bothered about money or business, but just enjoy myself and live
for what I like. That’s my favorite castle. What’s yours, Meg?”
Margaret seemed to find it a little hard to tell hers, and waved a
brake before her face, as if to disperse imaginary gnats, while she
said slowly, “I should like a lovely house, full of all sorts of
luxurious things—nice food, pretty clothes, handsome furniture,
pleasant people, and heaps of money. I am to be mistress of it, and
manage it as I like, with plenty of servants, so I never need work a
bit. How I should enjoy it! For I wouldn’t be idle, but do good, and
make everyone love me dearly.”
“Wouldn’t you have a master for your castle in the air?” asked Laurie
slyly.
“I said ‘pleasant people’, you know,” and Meg carefully tied up her
shoe as she spoke, so that no one saw her face.
“Why don’t you say you’d have a splendid, wise, good husband and some
angelic little children? You know your castle wouldn’t be perfect
without,” said blunt Jo, who had no tender fancies yet, and rather
scorned romance, except in books.
“You’d have nothing but horses, inkstands, and novels in yours,”
answered Meg petulantly.
“Wouldn’t I though? I’d have a stable full of Arabian steeds, rooms
piled high with books, and I’d write out of a magic inkstand, so that
my works should be as famous as Laurie’s music. I want to do something
splendid before I go into my castle, something heroic or wonderful that
won’t be forgotten after I’m dead. I don’t know what, but I’m on the
watch for it, and mean to astonish you all some day. I think I shall
write books, and get rich and famous, that would suit me, so that is my
favorite dream.”
“Mine is to stay at home safe with Father and Mother, and help take
care of the family,” said Beth contentedly.
“Don’t you wish for anything else?” asked Laurie.
“Since I had my little piano, I am perfectly satisfied. I only wish we
may all keep well and be together, nothing else.”
“I have ever so many wishes, but the pet one is to be an artist, and go
to Rome, and do fine pictures, and be the best artist in the whole
world,” was Amy’s modest desire.
“We’re an ambitious set, aren’t we? Every one of us, but Beth, wants to
be rich and famous, and gorgeous in every respect. I do wonder if any
of us will ever get our wishes,” said Laurie, chewing grass like a
meditative calf.
“I’ve got the key to my castle in the air, but whether I can unlock the
door remains to be seen,” observed Jo mysteriously.
“I’ve got the key to mine, but I’m not allowed to try it. Hang
college!” muttered Laurie with an impatient sigh.
“Here’s mine!” and Amy waved her pencil.
“I haven’t got any,” said Meg forlornly.
“Yes, you have,” said Laurie at once.
“Where?”
“In your face.”
“Nonsense, that’s of no use.”
“Wait and see if it doesn’t bring you something worth having,” replied
the boy, laughing at the thought of a charming little secret which he
fancied he knew.
Meg colored behind the brake, but asked no questions and looked across
the river with the same expectant expression which Mr. Brooke had worn
when he told the story of the knight.
“If we are all alive ten years hence, let’s meet, and see how many of
us have got our wishes, or how much nearer we are then than now,” said
Jo, always ready with a plan.
“Bless me! How old I shall be, twenty-seven!” exclaimed Meg, who felt
grown up already, having just reached seventeen.
“You and I will be twenty-six, Teddy, Beth twenty-four, and Amy
twenty-two. What a venerable party!” said Jo.
“I hope I shall have done something to be proud of by that time, but
I’m such a lazy dog, I’m afraid I shall dawdle, Jo.”
“You need a motive, Mother says, and when you get it, she is sure
you’ll work splendidly.”
“Is she? By Jupiter, I will, if I only get the chance!” cried Laurie,
sitting up with sudden energy. “I ought to be satisfied to please
Grandfather, and I do try, but it’s working against the grain, you see,
and comes hard. He wants me to be an India merchant, as he was, and I’d
rather be shot. I hate tea and silk and spices, and every sort of
rubbish his old ships bring, and I don’t care how soon they go to the
bottom when I own them. Going to college ought to satisfy him, for if I
give him four years he ought to let me off from the business. But he’s
set, and I’ve got to do just as he did, unless I break away and please
myself, as my father did. If there was anyone left to stay with the old
gentleman, I’d do it tomorrow.”
Laurie spoke excitedly, and looked ready to carry his threat into
execution on the slightest provocation, for he was growing up very fast
and, in spite of his indolent ways, had a young man’s hatred of
subjection, a young man’s restless longing to try the world for
himself.
“I advise you to sail away in one of your ships, and never come home
again till you have tried your own way,” said Jo, whose imagination was
fired by the thought of such a daring exploit, and whose sympathy was
excited by what she called ‘Teddy’s Wrongs’.
“That’s not right, Jo. You mustn’t talk in that way, and Laurie mustn’t
take your bad advice. You should do just what your grandfather wishes,
my dear boy,” said Meg in her most maternal tone. “Do your best at
college, and when he sees that you try to please him, I’m sure he won’t
be hard on you or unjust to you. As you say, there is no one else to
stay with and love him, and you’d never forgive yourself if you left
him without his permission. Don’t be dismal or fret, but do your duty
and you’ll get your reward, as good Mr. Brooke has, by being respected
and loved.”
“What do you know about him?” asked Laurie, grateful for the good
advice, but objecting to the lecture, and glad to turn the conversation
from himself after his unusual outbreak.
“Only what your grandpa told us about him, how he took good care of his
own mother till she died, and wouldn’t go abroad as tutor to some nice
person because he wouldn’t leave her. And how he provides now for an
old woman who nursed his mother, and never tells anyone, but is just as
generous and patient and good as he can be.”
“So he is, dear old fellow!” said Laurie heartily, as Meg paused,
looking flushed and earnest with her story. “It’s like Grandpa to find
out all about him without letting him know, and to tell all his
goodness to others, so that they might like him. Brooke couldn’t
understand why your mother was so kind to him, asking him over with me
and treating him in her beautiful friendly way. He thought she was just
perfect, and talked about it for days and days, and went on about you
all in flaming style. If ever I do get my wish, you see what I’ll do
for Brooke.”
“Begin to do something now by not plaguing his life out,” said Meg
sharply.
“How do you know I do, Miss?”
“I can always tell by his face when he goes away. If you have been
good, he looks satisfied and walks briskly. If you have plagued him,
he’s sober and walks slowly, as if he wanted to go back and do his work
better.”
“Well, I like that? So you keep an account of my good and bad marks in
Brooke’s face, do you? I see him bow and smile as he passes your
window, but I didn’t know you’d got up a telegraph.”
“We haven’t. Don’t be angry, and oh, don’t tell him I said anything! It
was only to show that I cared how you get on, and what is said here is
said in confidence, you know,” cried Meg, much alarmed at the thought
of what might follow from her careless speech.
“I don’t tell tales,” replied Laurie, with his ‘high and mighty’ air,
as Jo called a certain expression which he occasionally wore. “Only if
Brooke is going to be a thermometer, I must mind and have fair weather
for him to report.”
“Please don’t be offended. I didn’t mean to preach or tell tales or be
silly. I only thought Jo was encouraging you in a feeling which you’d
be sorry for by-and-by. You are so kind to us, we feel as if you were
our brother and say just what we think. Forgive me, I meant it kindly.”
And Meg offered her hand with a gesture both affectionate and timid.
Ashamed of his momentary pique, Laurie squeezed the kind little hand,
and said frankly, “I’m the one to be forgiven. I’m cross and have been
out of sorts all day. I like to have you tell me my faults and be
sisterly, so don’t mind if I am grumpy sometimes. I thank you all the
same.”
Bent on showing that he was not offended, he made himself as agreeable
as possible, wound cotton for Meg, recited poetry to please Jo, shook
down cones for Beth, and helped Amy with her ferns, proving himself a
fit person to belong to the ‘Busy Bee Society’. In the midst of an
animated discussion on the domestic habits of turtles (one of those
amiable creatures having strolled up from the river), the faint sound
of a bell warned them that Hannah had put the tea ‘to draw’, and they
would just have time to get home to supper.
“May I come again?” asked Laurie.
“Yes, if you are good, and love your book, as the boys in the primer
are told to do,” said Meg, smiling.
“I’ll try.”
“Then you may come, and I’ll teach you to knit as the Scotchmen do.
There’s a demand for socks just now,” added Jo, waving hers like a big
blue worsted banner as they parted at the gate.
That night, when Beth played to Mr. Laurence in the twilight, Laurie,
standing in the shadow of the curtain, listened to the little David,
whose simple music always quieted his moody spirit, and watched the old
man, who sat with his gray head on his hand, thinking tender thoughts
of the dead child he had loved so much. Remembering the conversation of
the afternoon, the boy said to himself, with the resolve to make the
sacrifice cheerfully, “I’ll let my castle go, and stay with the dear
old gentleman while he needs me, for I am all he has.”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
SECRETS
Jo was very busy in the garret, for the October days began to grow
chilly, and the afternoons were short. For two or three hours the sun
lay warmly in the high window, showing Jo seated on the old sofa,
writing busily, with her papers spread out upon a trunk before her,
while Scrabble, the pet rat, promenaded the beams overhead, accompanied
by his oldest son, a fine young fellow, who was evidently very proud of
his whiskers. Quite absorbed in her work, Jo scribbled away till the
last page was filled, when she signed her name with a flourish and
threw down her pen, exclaiming...
“There, I’ve done my best! If this won’t suit I shall have to wait till
I can do better.”
Lying back on the sofa, she read the manuscript carefully through,
making dashes here and there, and putting in many exclamation points,
which looked like little balloons. Then she tied it up with a smart red
ribbon, and sat a minute looking at it with a sober, wistful
expression, which plainly showed how earnest her work had been. Jo’s
desk up here was an old tin kitchen which hung against the wall. In it
she kept her papers, and a few books, safely shut away from Scrabble,
who, being likewise of a literary turn, was fond of making a
circulating library of such books as were left in his way by eating the
leaves. From this tin receptacle Jo produced another manuscript, and
putting both in her pocket, crept quietly downstairs, leaving her
friends to nibble on her pens and taste her ink.
She put on her hat and jacket as noiselessly as possible, and going to
the back entry window, got out upon the roof of a low porch, swung
herself down to the grassy bank, and took a roundabout way to the road.
Once there, she composed herself, hailed a passing omnibus, and rolled
away to town, looking very merry and mysterious.
If anyone had been watching her, he would have thought her movements
decidedly peculiar, for on alighting, she went off at a great pace till
she reached a certain number in a certain busy street. Having found the
place with some difficulty, she went into the doorway, looked up the
dirty stairs, and after standing stock still a minute, suddenly dived
into the street and walked away as rapidly as she came. This maneuver
she repeated several times, to the great amusement of a black-eyed
young gentleman lounging in the window of a building opposite. On
returning for the third time, Jo gave herself a shake, pulled her hat
over her eyes, and walked up the stairs, looking as if she were going
to have all her teeth out.
There was a dentist’s sign, among others, which adorned the entrance,
and after staring a moment at the pair of artificial jaws which slowly
opened and shut to draw attention to a fine set of teeth, the young
gentleman put on his coat, took his hat, and went down to post himself
in the opposite doorway, saying with a smile and a shiver, “It’s like
her to come alone, but if she has a bad time she’ll need someone to
help her home.”
In ten minutes Jo came running downstairs with a very red face and the
general appearance of a person who had just passed through a trying
ordeal of some sort. When she saw the young gentleman she looked
anything but pleased, and passed him with a nod. But he followed,
asking with an air of sympathy, “Did you have a bad time?”
“Not very.”
“You got through quickly.”
“Yes, thank goodness!”
“Why did you go alone?”
“Didn’t want anyone to know.”
“You’re the oddest fellow I ever saw. How many did you have out?”
Jo looked at her friend as if she did not understand him, then began to
laugh as if mightily amused at something.
“There are two which I want to have come out, but I must wait a week.”
“What are you laughing at? You are up to some mischief, Jo,” said
Laurie, looking mystified.
“So are you. What were you doing, sir, up in that billiard saloon?”
“Begging your pardon, ma’am, it wasn’t a billiard saloon, but a
gymnasium, and I was taking a lesson in fencing.”
“I’m glad of that.”
“Why?”
“You can teach me, and then when we play _Hamlet_, you can be Laertes,
and we’ll make a fine thing of the fencing scene.”
Laurie burst out with a hearty boy’s laugh, which made several
passers-by smile in spite of themselves.
“I’ll teach you whether we play _Hamlet_ or not. It’s grand fun and
will straighten you up capitally. But I don’t believe that was your
only reason for saying ‘I’m glad’ in that decided way, was it now?”
“No, I was glad that you were not in the saloon, because I hope you
never go to such places. Do you?”
“Not often.”
“I wish you wouldn’t.”
“It’s no harm, Jo. I have billiards at home, but it’s no fun unless you
have good players, so, as I’m fond of it, I come sometimes and have a
game with Ned Moffat or some of the other fellows.”
“Oh, dear, I’m so sorry, for you’ll get to liking it better and better,
and will waste time and money, and grow like those dreadful boys. I did
hope you’d stay respectable and be a satisfaction to your friends,”
said Jo, shaking her head.
“Can’t a fellow take a little innocent amusement now and then without
losing his respectability?” asked Laurie, looking nettled.
“That depends upon how and where he takes it. I don’t like Ned and his
set, and wish you’d keep out of it. Mother won’t let us have him at our
house, though he wants to come. And if you grow like him she won’t be
willing to have us frolic together as we do now.”
“Won’t she?” asked Laurie anxiously.
“No, she can’t bear fashionable young men, and she’d shut us all up in
bandboxes rather than have us associate with them.”
“Well, she needn’t get out her bandboxes yet. I’m not a fashionable
party and don’t mean to be, but I do like harmless larks now and then,
don’t you?”
“Yes, nobody minds them, so lark away, but don’t get wild, will you? Or
there will be an end of all our good times.”
“I’ll be a double distilled saint.”
“I can’t bear saints. Just be a simple, honest, respectable boy, and
we’ll never desert you. I don’t know what I should do if you acted like
Mr. King’s son. He had plenty of money, but didn’t know how to spend
it, and got tipsy and gambled, and ran away, and forged his father’s
name, I believe, and was altogether horrid.”
“You think I’m likely to do the same? Much obliged.”
“No, I don’t—oh, dear, no!—but I hear people talking about money being
such a temptation, and I sometimes wish you were poor. I shouldn’t
worry then.”
“Do you worry about me, Jo?”
“A little, when you look moody and discontented, as you sometimes do,
for you’ve got such a strong will, if you once get started wrong, I’m
afraid it would be hard to stop you.”
Laurie walked in silence a few minutes, and Jo watched him, wishing she
had held her tongue, for his eyes looked angry, though his lips smiled
as if at her warnings.
“Are you going to deliver lectures all the way home?” he asked
presently.
“Of course not. Why?”
“Because if you are, I’ll take a bus. If you’re not, I’d like to walk
with you and tell you something very interesting.”
“I won’t preach any more, and I’d like to hear the news immensely.”
“Very well, then, come on. It’s a secret, and if I tell you, you must
tell me yours.”
“I haven’t got any,” began Jo, but stopped suddenly, remembering that
she had.
“You know you have—you can’t hide anything, so up and ’fess, or I won’t
tell,” cried Laurie.
“Is your secret a nice one?”
“Oh, isn’t it! All about people you know, and such fun! You ought to
hear it, and I’ve been aching to tell it this long time. Come, you
begin.”
“You’ll not say anything about it at home, will you?”
“Not a word.”
“And you won’t tease me in private?”
“I never tease.”
“Yes, you do. You get everything you want out of people. I don’t know
how you do it, but you are a born wheedler.”
“Thank you. Fire away.”
“Well, I’ve left two stories with a newspaperman, and he’s to give his
answer next week,” whispered Jo, in her confidant’s ear.
“Hurrah for Miss March, the celebrated American authoress!” cried
Laurie, throwing up his hat and catching it again, to the great delight
of two ducks, four cats, five hens, and half a dozen Irish children,
for they were out of the city now.
“Hush! It won’t come to anything, I dare say, but I couldn’t rest till
I had tried, and I said nothing about it because I didn’t want anyone
else to be disappointed.”
“It won’t fail. Why, Jo, your stories are works of Shakespeare compared
to half the rubbish that is published every day. Won’t it be fun to see
them in print, and shan’t we feel proud of our authoress?”
Jo’s eyes sparkled, for it is always pleasant to be believed in, and a
friend’s praise is always sweeter than a dozen newspaper puffs.
“Where’s your secret? Play fair, Teddy, or I’ll never believe you
again,” she said, trying to extinguish the brilliant hopes that blazed
up at a word of encouragement.
“I may get into a scrape for telling, but I didn’t promise not to, so I
will, for I never feel easy in my mind till I’ve told you any plummy
bit of news I get. I know where Meg’s glove is.”
“Is that all?” said Jo, looking disappointed, as Laurie nodded and
twinkled with a face full of mysterious intelligence.
“It’s quite enough for the present, as you’ll agree when I tell you
where it is.”
“Tell, then.”
Laurie bent, and whispered three words in Jo’s ear, which produced a
comical change. She stood and stared at him for a minute, looking both
surprised and displeased, then walked on, saying sharply, “How do you
know?”
“Saw it.”
“Where?”
“Pocket.”
“All this time?”
“Yes, isn’t that romantic?”
“No, it’s horrid.”
“Don’t you like it?”
“Of course I don’t. It’s ridiculous, it won’t be allowed. My patience!
What would Meg say?”
“You are not to tell anyone. Mind that.”
“I didn’t promise.”
“That was understood, and I trusted you.”
“Well, I won’t for the present, anyway, but I’m disgusted, and wish you
hadn’t told me.”
“I thought you’d be pleased.”
“At the idea of anybody coming to take Meg away? No, thank you.”
“You’ll feel better about it when somebody comes to take you away.”
“I’d like to see anyone try it,” cried Jo fiercely.
“So should I!” and Laurie chuckled at the idea.
“I don’t think secrets agree with me, I feel rumpled up in my mind
since you told me that,” said Jo rather ungratefully.
“Race down this hill with me, and you’ll be all right,” suggested
Laurie.
No one was in sight, the smooth road sloped invitingly before her, and
finding the temptation irresistible, Jo darted away, soon leaving hat
and comb behind her and scattering hairpins as she ran. Laurie reached
the goal first and was quite satisfied with the success of his
treatment, for his Atlanta came panting up with flying hair, bright
eyes, ruddy cheeks, and no signs of dissatisfaction in her face.
“I wish I was a horse, then I could run for miles in this splendid air,
and not lose my breath. It was capital, but see what a guy it’s made
me. Go, pick up my things, like a cherub, as you are,” said Jo,
dropping down under a maple tree, which was carpeting the bank with
crimson leaves.
Laurie leisurely departed to recover the lost property, and Jo bundled
up her braids, hoping no one would pass by till she was tidy again. But
someone did pass, and who should it be but Meg, looking particularly
ladylike in her state and festival suit, for she had been making calls.
“What in the world are you doing here?” she asked, regarding her
disheveled sister with well-bred surprise.
“Getting leaves,” meekly answered Jo, sorting the rosy handful she had
just swept up.
“And hairpins,” added Laurie, throwing half a dozen into Jo’s lap.
“They grow on this road, Meg, so do combs and brown straw hats.”
“You have been running, Jo. How could you? When will you stop such
romping ways?” said Meg reprovingly, as she settled her cuffs and
smoothed her hair, with which the wind had taken liberties.
“Never till I’m stiff and old and have to use a crutch. Don’t try to
make me grow up before my time, Meg. It’s hard enough to have you
change all of a sudden. Let me be a little girl as long as I can.”
As she spoke, Jo bent over the leaves to hide the trembling of her
lips, for lately she had felt that Margaret was fast getting to be a
woman, and Laurie’s secret made her dread the separation which must
surely come some time and now seemed very near. He saw the trouble in
her face and drew Meg’s attention from it by asking quickly, “Where
have you been calling, all so fine?”
“At the Gardiners’, and Sallie has been telling me all about Belle
Moffat’s wedding. It was very splendid, and they have gone to spend the
winter in Paris. Just think how delightful that must be!”
“Do you envy her, Meg?” said Laurie.
“I’m afraid I do.”
“I’m glad of it!” muttered Jo, tying on her hat with a jerk.
“Why?” asked Meg, looking surprised.
“Because if you care much about riches, you will never go and marry a
poor man,” said Jo, frowning at Laurie, who was mutely warning her to
mind what she said.
“I shall never ‘_go_ and marry’ anyone,” observed Meg, walking on with
great dignity while the others followed, laughing, whispering, skipping
stones, and ‘behaving like children’, as Meg said to herself, though
she might have been tempted to join them if she had not had her best
dress on.
For a week or two, Jo behaved so queerly that her sisters were quite
bewildered. She rushed to the door when the postman rang, was rude to
Mr. Brooke whenever they met, would sit looking at Meg with a
woe-begone face, occasionally jumping up to shake and then kiss her in
a very mysterious manner. Laurie and she were always making signs to
one another, and talking about ‘Spread Eagles’ till the girls declared
they had both lost their wits. On the second Saturday after Jo got out
of the window, Meg, as she sat sewing at her window, was scandalized by
the sight of Laurie chasing Jo all over the garden and finally
capturing her in Amy’s bower. What went on there, Meg could not see,
but shrieks of laughter were heard, followed by the murmur of voices
and a great flapping of newspapers.
“What shall we do with that girl? She never _will_ behave like a young
lady,” sighed Meg, as she watched the race with a disapproving face.
“I hope she won’t. She is so funny and dear as she is,” said Beth, who
had never betrayed that she was a little hurt at Jo’s having secrets
with anyone but her.
“It’s very trying, but we never can make her _commy la fo_,” added Amy,
who sat making some new frills for herself, with her curls tied up in a
very becoming way, two agreeable things that made her feel unusually
elegant and ladylike.
In a few minutes Jo bounced in, laid herself on the sofa, and affected
to read.
“Have you anything interesting there?” asked Meg, with condescension.
“Nothing but a story, won’t amount to much, I guess,” returned Jo,
carefully keeping the name of the paper out of sight.
“You’d better read it aloud. That will amuse us and keep you out of
mischief,” said Amy in her most grown-up tone.
“What’s the name?” asked Beth, wondering why Jo kept her face behind
the sheet.
“The Rival Painters.”
“That sounds well. Read it,” said Meg.
With a loud “Hem!” and a long breath, Jo began to read very fast. The
girls listened with interest, for the tale was romantic, and somewhat
pathetic, as most of the characters died in the end. “I like that about
the splendid picture,” was Amy’s approving remark, as Jo paused.
“I prefer the lovering part. Viola and Angelo are two of our favorite
names, isn’t that queer?” said Meg, wiping her eyes, for the lovering
part was tragical.
“Who wrote it?” asked Beth, who had caught a glimpse of Jo’s face.
The reader suddenly sat up, cast away the paper, displaying a flushed
countenance, and with a funny mixture of solemnity and excitement
replied in a loud voice, “Your sister.”
“You?” cried Meg, dropping her work.
“It’s very good,” said Amy critically.
“I knew it! I knew it! Oh, my Jo, I am so proud!” and Beth ran to hug
her sister and exult over this splendid success.
Dear me, how delighted they all were, to be sure! How Meg wouldn’t
believe it till she saw the words. “Miss Josephine March,” actually
printed in the paper. How graciously Amy criticized the artistic parts
of the story, and offered hints for a sequel, which unfortunately
couldn’t be carried out, as the hero and heroine were dead. How Beth
got excited, and skipped and sang with joy. How Hannah came in to
exclaim, “Sakes alive, well I never!” in great astonishment at ‘that
Jo’s doin’s’. How proud Mrs. March was when she knew it. How Jo
laughed, with tears in her eyes, as she declared she might as well be a
peacock and done with it, and how the ‘Spread Eagle’ might be said to
flap his wings triumphantly over the House of March, as the paper
passed from hand to hand.
“Tell us about it.” “When did it come?” “How much did you get for it?”
“What will Father say?” “Won’t Laurie laugh?” cried the family, all in
one breath as they clustered about Jo, for these foolish, affectionate
people made a jubilee of every little household joy.
“Stop jabbering, girls, and I’ll tell you everything,” said Jo,
wondering if Miss Burney felt any grander over her Evelina than she did
over her ‘Rival Painters’. Having told how she disposed of her tales,
Jo added, “And when I went to get my answer, the man said he liked them
both, but didn’t pay beginners, only let them print in his paper, and
noticed the stories. It was good practice, he said, and when the
beginners improved, anyone would pay. So I let him have the two
stories, and today this was sent to me, and Laurie caught me with it
and insisted on seeing it, so I let him. And he said it was good, and I
shall write more, and he’s going to get the next paid for, and I am so
happy, for in time I may be able to support myself and help the girls.”
Jo’s breath gave out here, and wrapping her head in the paper, she
bedewed her little story with a few natural tears, for to be
independent and earn the praise of those she loved were the dearest
wishes of her heart, and this seemed to be the first step toward that
happy end.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
A TELEGRAM
“November is the most disagreeable month in the whole year,” said
Margaret, standing at the window one dull afternoon, looking out at the
frostbitten garden.
“That’s the reason I was born in it,” observed Jo pensively, quite
unconscious of the blot on her nose.
“If something very pleasant should happen now, we should think it a
delightful month,” said Beth, who took a hopeful view of everything,
even November.
“I dare say, but nothing pleasant ever does happen in this family,”
said Meg, who was out of sorts. “We go grubbing along day after day,
without a bit of change, and very little fun. We might as well be in a
treadmill.”
“My patience, how blue we are!” cried Jo. “I don’t much wonder, poor
dear, for you see other girls having splendid times, while you grind,
grind, year in and year out. Oh, don’t I wish I could manage things for
you as I do for my heroines! You’re pretty enough and good enough
already, so I’d have some rich relation leave you a fortune
unexpectedly. Then you’d dash out as an heiress, scorn everyone who has
slighted you, go abroad, and come home my Lady Something in a blaze of
splendor and elegance.”
“People don’t have fortunes left them in that style nowadays, men have
to work and women marry for money. It’s a dreadfully unjust world,”
said Meg bitterly.
“Jo and I are going to make fortunes for you all. Just wait ten years,
and see if we don’t,” said Amy, who sat in a corner making mud pies, as
Hannah called her little clay models of birds, fruit, and faces.
“Can’t wait, and I’m afraid I haven’t much faith in ink and dirt,
though I’m grateful for your good intentions.”
Meg sighed, and turned to the frostbitten garden again. Jo groaned and
leaned both elbows on the table in a despondent attitude, but Amy
spatted away energetically, and Beth, who sat at the other window,
said, smiling, “Two pleasant things are going to happen right away.
Marmee is coming down the street, and Laurie is tramping through the
garden as if he had something nice to tell.”
In they both came, Mrs. March with her usual question, “Any letter from
Father, girls?” and Laurie to say in his persuasive way, “Won’t some of
you come for a drive? I’ve been working away at mathematics till my
head is in a muddle, and I’m going to freshen my wits by a brisk turn.
It’s a dull day, but the air isn’t bad, and I’m going to take Brooke
home, so it will be gay inside, if it isn’t out. Come, Jo, you and Beth
will go, won’t you?”
“Of course we will.”
“Much obliged, but I’m busy.” And Meg whisked out her workbasket, for
she had agreed with her mother that it was best, for her at least, not
to drive too often with the young gentleman.
“We three will be ready in a minute,” cried Amy, running away to wash
her hands.
“Can I do anything for you, Madam Mother?” asked Laurie, leaning over
Mrs. March’s chair with the affectionate look and tone he always gave
her.
“No, thank you, except call at the office, if you’ll be so kind, dear.
It’s our day for a letter, and the postman hasn’t been. Father is as
regular as the sun, but there’s some delay on the way, perhaps.”
A sharp ring interrupted her, and a minute after Hannah came in with a
letter.
“It’s one of them horrid telegraph things, mum,” she said, handling it
as if she was afraid it would explode and do some damage.
At the word ‘telegraph’, Mrs. March snatched it, read the two lines it
contained, and dropped back into her chair as white as if the little
paper had sent a bullet to her heart. Laurie dashed downstairs for
water, while Meg and Hannah supported her, and Jo read aloud, in a
frightened voice...
Mrs. March:
Your husband is very ill. Come at once.
S. HALE
Blank Hospital, Washington.
How still the room was as they listened breathlessly, how strangely the
day darkened outside, and how suddenly the whole world seemed to
change, as the girls gathered about their mother, feeling as if all the
happiness and support of their lives was about to be taken from them.
Mrs. March was herself again directly, read the message over, and
stretched out her arms to her daughters, saying, in a tone they never
forgot, “I shall go at once, but it may be too late. Oh, children,
children, help me to bear it!”
For several minutes there was nothing but the sound of sobbing in the
room, mingled with broken words of comfort, tender assurances of help,
and hopeful whispers that died away in tears. Poor Hannah was the first
to recover, and with unconscious wisdom she set all the rest a good
example, for with her, work was panacea for most afflictions.
“The Lord keep the dear man! I won’t waste no time a-cryin’, but git
your things ready right away, mum,” she said heartily, as she wiped her
face on her apron, gave her mistress a warm shake of the hand with her
own hard one, and went away to work like three women in one.
“She’s right, there’s no time for tears now. Be calm, girls, and let me
think.”
They tried to be calm, poor things, as their mother sat up, looking
pale but steady, and put away her grief to think and plan for them.
“Where’s Laurie?” she asked presently, when she had collected her
thoughts and decided on the first duties to be done.
“Here, ma’am. Oh, let me do something!” cried the boy, hurrying from
the next room whither he had withdrawn, feeling that their first sorrow
was too sacred for even his friendly eyes to see.
“Send a telegram saying I will come at once. The next train goes early
in the morning. I’ll take that.”
“What else? The horses are ready. I can go anywhere, do anything,” he
said, looking ready to fly to the ends of the earth.
“Leave a note at Aunt March’s. Jo, give me that pen and paper.”
Tearing off the blank side of one of her newly copied pages, Jo drew
the table before her mother, well knowing that money for the long, sad
journey must be borrowed, and feeling as if she could do anything to
add a little to the sum for her father.
“Now go, dear, but don’t kill yourself driving at a desperate pace.
There is no need of that.”
Mrs. March’s warning was evidently thrown away, for five minutes later
Laurie tore by the window on his own fleet horse, riding as if for his
life.
“Jo, run to the rooms, and tell Mrs. King that I can’t come. On the way
get these things. I’ll put them down, they’ll be needed and I must go
prepared for nursing. Hospital stores are not always good. Beth, go and
ask Mr. Laurence for a couple of bottles of old wine. I’m not too proud
to beg for Father. He shall have the best of everything. Amy, tell
Hannah to get down the black trunk, and Meg, come and help me find my
things, for I’m half bewildered.”
Writing, thinking, and directing all at once might well bewilder the
poor lady, and Meg begged her to sit quietly in her room for a little
while, and let them work. Everyone scattered like leaves before a gust
of wind, and the quiet, happy household was broken up as suddenly as if
the paper had been an evil spell.
Mr. Laurence came hurrying back with Beth, bringing every comfort the
kind old gentleman could think of for the invalid, and friendliest
promises of protection for the girls during the mother’s absence, which
comforted her very much. There was nothing he didn’t offer, from his
own dressing gown to himself as escort. But the last was impossible.
Mrs. March would not hear of the old gentleman’s undertaking the long
journey, yet an expression of relief was visible when he spoke of it,
for anxiety ill fits one for traveling. He saw the look, knit his heavy
eyebrows, rubbed his hands, and marched abruptly away, saying he’d be
back directly. No one had time to think of him again till, as Meg ran
through the entry, with a pair of rubbers in one hand and a cup of tea
in the other, she came suddenly upon Mr. Brooke.
“I’m very sorry to hear of this, Miss March,” he said, in the kind,
quiet tone which sounded very pleasantly to her perturbed spirit. “I
came to offer myself as escort to your mother. Mr. Laurence has
commissions for me in Washington, and it will give me real satisfaction
to be of service to her there.”
Down dropped the rubbers, and the tea was very near following, as Meg
put out her hand, with a face so full of gratitude that Mr. Brooke
would have felt repaid for a much greater sacrifice than the trifling
one of time and comfort which he was about to take.
“How kind you all are! Mother will accept, I’m sure, and it will be
such a relief to know that she has someone to take care of her. Thank
you very, very much!”
Meg spoke earnestly, and forgot herself entirely till something in the
brown eyes looking down at her made her remember the cooling tea, and
lead the way into the parlor, saying she would call her mother.
Everything was arranged by the time Laurie returned with a note from
Aunt March, enclosing the desired sum, and a few lines repeating what
she had often said before, that she had always told them it was absurd
for March to go into the army, always predicted that no good would come
of it, and she hoped they would take her advice the next time. Mrs.
March put the note in the fire, the money in her purse, and went on
with her preparations, with her lips folded tightly in a way which Jo
would have understood if she had been there.
The short afternoon wore away. All other errands were done, and Meg and
her mother busy at some necessary needlework, while Beth and Amy got
tea, and Hannah finished her ironing with what she called a ‘slap and a
bang’, but still Jo did not come. They began to get anxious, and Laurie
went off to find her, for no one knew what freak Jo might take into her
head. He missed her, however, and she came walking in with a very queer
expression of countenance, for there was a mixture of fun and fear,
satisfaction and regret in it, which puzzled the family as much as did
the roll of bills she laid before her mother, saying with a little
choke in her voice, “That’s my contribution toward making Father
comfortable and bringing him home!”
“My dear, where did you get it? Twenty-five dollars! Jo, I hope you
haven’t done anything rash?”
“No, it’s mine honestly. I didn’t beg, borrow, or steal it. I earned
it, and I don’t think you’ll blame me, for I only sold what was my
own.”
As she spoke, Jo took off her bonnet, and a general outcry arose, for
all her abundant hair was cut short.
“Your hair! Your beautiful hair!” “Oh, Jo, how could you? Your one
beauty.” “My dear girl, there was no need of this.” “She doesn’t look
like my Jo any more, but I love her dearly for it!”
As everyone exclaimed, and Beth hugged the cropped head tenderly, Jo
assumed an indifferent air, which did not deceive anyone a particle,
and said, rumpling up the brown bush and trying to look as if she liked
it, “It doesn’t affect the fate of the nation, so don’t wail, Beth. It
will be good for my vanity, I was getting too proud of my wig. It will
do my brains good to have that mop taken off. My head feels deliciously
light and cool, and the barber said I could soon have a curly crop,
which will be boyish, becoming, and easy to keep in order. I’m
satisfied, so please take the money and let’s have supper.”
“Tell me all about it, Jo. I am not quite satisfied, but I can’t blame
you, for I know how willingly you sacrificed your vanity, as you call
it, to your love. But, my dear, it was not necessary, and I’m afraid
you will regret it one of these days,” said Mrs. March.
“No, I won’t!” returned Jo stoutly, feeling much relieved that her
prank was not entirely condemned.
“What made you do it?” asked Amy, who would as soon have thought of
cutting off her head as her pretty hair.
“Well, I was wild to do something for Father,” replied Jo, as they
gathered about the table, for healthy young people can eat even in the
midst of trouble. “I hate to borrow as much as Mother does, and I knew
Aunt March would croak, she always does, if you ask for a ninepence.
Meg gave all her quarterly salary toward the rent, and I only got some
clothes with mine, so I felt wicked, and was bound to have some money,
if I sold the nose off my face to get it.”
“You needn’t feel wicked, my child! You had no winter things and got
the simplest with your own hard earnings,” said Mrs. March with a look
that warmed Jo’s heart.
“I hadn’t the least idea of selling my hair at first, but as I went
along I kept thinking what I could do, and feeling as if I’d like to
dive into some of the rich stores and help myself. In a barber’s window
I saw tails of hair with the prices marked, and one black tail, not so
thick as mine, was forty dollars. It came to me all of a sudden that I
had one thing to make money out of, and without stopping to think, I
walked in, asked if they bought hair, and what they would give for
mine.”
“I don’t see how you dared to do it,” said Beth in a tone of awe.
“Oh, he was a little man who looked as if he merely lived to oil his
hair. He rather stared at first, as if he wasn’t used to having girls
bounce into his shop and ask him to buy their hair. He said he didn’t
care about mine, it wasn’t the fashionable color, and he never paid
much for it in the first place. The work put into it made it dear, and
so on. It was getting late, and I was afraid if it wasn’t done right
away that I shouldn’t have it done at all, and you know when I start to
do a thing, I hate to give it up. So I begged him to take it, and told
him why I was in such a hurry. It was silly, I dare say, but it changed
his mind, for I got rather excited, and told the story in my
topsy-turvy way, and his wife heard, and said so kindly, ‘Take it,
Thomas, and oblige the young lady. I’d do as much for our Jimmy any day
if I had a spire of hair worth selling.”
“Who was Jimmy?” asked Amy, who liked to have things explained as they
went along.
“Her son, she said, who was in the army. How friendly such things make
strangers feel, don’t they? She talked away all the time the man
clipped, and diverted my mind nicely.”
“Didn’t you feel dreadfully when the first cut came?” asked Meg, with a
shiver.
“I took a last look at my hair while the man got his things, and that
was the end of it. I never snivel over trifles like that. I will
confess, though, I felt queer when I saw the dear old hair laid out on
the table, and felt only the short rough ends of my head. It almost
seemed as if I’d an arm or leg off. The woman saw me look at it, and
picked out a long lock for me to keep. I’ll give it to you, Marmee,
just to remember past glories by, for a crop is so comfortable I don’t
think I shall ever have a mane again.”
Mrs. March folded the wavy chestnut lock, and laid it away with a short
gray one in her desk. She only said, “Thank you, deary,” but something
in her face made the girls change the subject, and talk as cheerfully
as they could about Mr. Brooke’s kindness, the prospect of a fine day
tomorrow, and the happy times they would have when Father came home to
be nursed.
No one wanted to go to bed when at ten o’clock Mrs. March put by the
last finished job, and said, “Come girls.” Beth went to the piano and
played the father’s favorite hymn. All began bravely, but broke down
one by one till Beth was left alone, singing with all her heart, for to
her music was always a sweet consoler.
“Go to bed and don’t talk, for we must be up early and shall need all
the sleep we can get. Good night, my darlings,” said Mrs. March, as the
hymn ended, for no one cared to try another.
They kissed her quietly, and went to bed as silently as if the dear
invalid lay in the next room. Beth and Amy soon fell asleep in spite of
the great trouble, but Meg lay awake, thinking the most serious
thoughts she had ever known in her short life. Jo lay motionless, and
her sister fancied that she was asleep, till a stifled sob made her
exclaim, as she touched a wet cheek...
“Jo, dear, what is it? Are you crying about father?”
“No, not now.”
“What then?”
“My... My hair!” burst out poor Jo, trying vainly to smother her
emotion in the pillow.
It did not seem at all comical to Meg, who kissed and caressed the
afflicted heroine in the tenderest manner.
“I’m not sorry,” protested Jo, with a choke. “I’d do it again tomorrow,
if I could. It’s only the vain part of me that goes and cries in this
silly way. Don’t tell anyone, it’s all over now. I thought you were
asleep, so I just made a little private moan for my one beauty. How
came you to be awake?”
“I can’t sleep, I’m so anxious,” said Meg.
“Think about something pleasant, and you’ll soon drop off.”
“I tried it, but felt wider awake than ever.”
“What did you think of?”
“Handsome faces—eyes particularly,” answered Meg, smiling to herself in
the dark.
“What color do you like best?”
“Brown, that is, sometimes. Blue are lovely.”
Jo laughed, and Meg sharply ordered her not to talk, then amiably
promised to make her hair curl, and fell asleep to dream of living in
her castle in the air.
The clocks were striking midnight and the rooms were very still as a
figure glided quietly from bed to bed, smoothing a coverlet here,
settling a pillow there, and pausing to look long and tenderly at each
unconscious face, to kiss each with lips that mutely blessed, and to
pray the fervent prayers which only mothers utter. As she lifted the
curtain to look out into the dreary night, the moon broke suddenly from
behind the clouds and shone upon her like a bright, benignant face,
which seemed to whisper in the silence, “Be comforted, dear soul! There
is always light behind the clouds.”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
LETTERS
In the cold gray dawn the sisters lit their lamp and read their chapter
with an earnestness never felt before. For now the shadow of a real
trouble had come, the little books were full of help and comfort, and
as they dressed, they agreed to say goodbye cheerfully and hopefully,
and send their mother on her anxious journey unsaddened by tears or
complaints from them. Everything seemed very strange when they went
down, so dim and still outside, so full of light and bustle within.
Breakfast at that early hour seemed odd, and even Hannah’s familiar
face looked unnatural as she flew about her kitchen with her nightcap
on. The big trunk stood ready in the hall, Mother’s cloak and bonnet
lay on the sofa, and Mother herself sat trying to eat, but looking so
pale and worn with sleeplessness and anxiety that the girls found it
very hard to keep their resolution. Meg’s eyes kept filling in spite of
herself, Jo was obliged to hide her face in the kitchen roller more
than once, and the little girls wore a grave, troubled expression, as
if sorrow was a new experience to them.
Nobody talked much, but as the time drew very near and they sat waiting
for the carriage, Mrs. March said to the girls, who were all busied
about her, one folding her shawl, another smoothing out the strings of
her bonnet, a third putting on her overshoes, and a fourth fastening up
her travelling bag...
“Children, I leave you to Hannah’s care and Mr. Laurence’s protection.
Hannah is faithfulness itself, and our good neighbor will guard you as
if you were his own. I have no fears for you, yet I am anxious that you
should take this trouble rightly. Don’t grieve and fret when I am gone,
or think that you can be idle and comfort yourselves by being idle and
trying to forget. Go on with your work as usual, for work is a blessed
solace. Hope and keep busy, and whatever happens, remember that you
never can be fatherless.”
“Yes, Mother.”
“Meg, dear, be prudent, watch over your sisters, consult Hannah, and in
any perplexity, go to Mr. Laurence. Be patient, Jo, don’t get
despondent or do rash things, write to me often, and be my brave girl,
ready to help and cheer all. Beth, comfort yourself with your music,
and be faithful to the little home duties, and you, Amy, help all you
can, be obedient, and keep happy safe at home.”
“We will, Mother! We will!”
The rattle of an approaching carriage made them all start and listen.
That was the hard minute, but the girls stood it well. No one cried, no
one ran away or uttered a lamentation, though their hearts were very
heavy as they sent loving messages to Father, remembering, as they
spoke that it might be too late to deliver them. They kissed their
mother quietly, clung about her tenderly, and tried to wave their hands
cheerfully when she drove away.
Laurie and his grandfather came over to see her off, and Mr. Brooke
looked so strong and sensible and kind that the girls christened him
‘Mr. Greatheart’ on the spot.
“Good-by, my darlings! God bless and keep us all!” whispered Mrs.
March, as she kissed one dear little face after the other, and hurried
into the carriage.
As she rolled away, the sun came out, and looking back, she saw it
shining on the group at the gate like a good omen. They saw it also,
and smiled and waved their hands, and the last thing she beheld as she
turned the corner was the four bright faces, and behind them like a
bodyguard, old Mr. Laurence, faithful Hannah, and devoted Laurie.
“How kind everyone is to us!” she said, turning to find fresh proof of
it in the respectful sympathy of the young man’s face.
“I don’t see how they can help it,” returned Mr. Brooke, laughing so
infectiously that Mrs. March could not help smiling. And so the journey
began with the good omens of sunshine, smiles, and cheerful words.
“I feel as if there had been an earthquake,” said Jo, as their
neighbors went home to breakfast, leaving them to rest and refresh
themselves.
“It seems as if half the house was gone,” added Meg forlornly.
Beth opened her lips to say something, but could only point to the pile
of nicely mended hose which lay on Mother’s table, showing that even in
her last hurried moments she had thought and worked for them. It was a
little thing, but it went straight to their hearts, and in spite of
their brave resolutions, they all broke down and cried bitterly.
Hannah wisely allowed them to relieve their feelings, and when the
shower showed signs of clearing up, she came to the rescue, armed with
a coffeepot.
“Now, my dear young ladies, remember what your ma said, and don’t fret.
Come and have a cup of coffee all round, and then let’s fall to work
and be a credit to the family.”
Coffee was a treat, and Hannah showed great tact in making it that
morning. No one could resist her persuasive nods, or the fragrant
invitation issuing from the nose of the coffee pot. They drew up to the
table, exchanged their handkerchiefs for napkins, and in ten minutes
were all right again.
“‘Hope and keep busy’, that’s the motto for us, so let’s see who will
remember it best. I shall go to Aunt March, as usual. Oh, won’t she
lecture though!” said Jo, as she sipped with returning spirit.
“I shall go to my Kings, though I’d much rather stay at home and attend
to things here,” said Meg, wishing she hadn’t made her eyes so red.
“No need of that. Beth and I can keep house perfectly well,” put in
Amy, with an important air.
“Hannah will tell us what to do, and we’ll have everything nice when
you come home,” added Beth, getting out her mop and dish tub without
delay.
“I think anxiety is very interesting,” observed Amy, eating sugar
pensively.
The girls couldn’t help laughing, and felt better for it, though Meg
shook her head at the young lady who could find consolation in a sugar
bowl.
The sight of the turnovers made Jo sober again; and when the two went
out to their daily tasks, they looked sorrowfully back at the window
where they were accustomed to see their mother’s face. It was gone, but
Beth had remembered the little household ceremony, and there she was,
nodding away at them like a rosyfaced mandarin.
“That’s so like my Beth!” said Jo, waving her hat, with a grateful
face. “Goodbye, Meggy, I hope the Kings won’t strain today. Don’t fret
about Father, dear,” she added, as they parted.
“And I hope Aunt March won’t croak. Your hair is becoming, and it looks
very boyish and nice,” returned Meg, trying not to smile at the curly
head, which looked comically small on her tall sister’s shoulders.
“That’s my only comfort.” And, touching her hat a la Laurie, away went
Jo, feeling like a shorn sheep on a wintry day.
News from their father comforted the girls very much, for though
dangerously ill, the presence of the best and tenderest of nurses had
already done him good. Mr. Brooke sent a bulletin every day, and as the
head of the family, Meg insisted on reading the dispatches, which grew
more cheerful as the week passed. At first, everyone was eager to
write, and plump envelopes were carefully poked into the letter box by
one or other of the sisters, who felt rather important with their
Washington correspondence. As one of these packets contained
characteristic notes from the party, we will rob an imaginary mail, and
read them.
My dearest Mother:
It is impossible to tell you how happy your last letter made us, for
the news was so good we couldn’t help laughing and crying over it. How
very kind Mr. Brooke is, and how fortunate that Mr. Laurence’s business
detains him near you so long, since he is so useful to you and Father.
The girls are all as good as gold. Jo helps me with the sewing, and
insists on doing all sorts of hard jobs. I should be afraid she might
overdo, if I didn’t know her ‘moral fit’ wouldn’t last long. Beth is as
regular about her tasks as a clock, and never forgets what you told
her. She grieves about Father, and looks sober except when she is at
her little piano. Amy minds me nicely, and I take great care of her.
She does her own hair, and I am teaching her to make buttonholes and
mend her stockings. She tries very hard, and I know you will be pleased
with her improvement when you come. Mr. Laurence watches over us like a
motherly old hen, as Jo says, and Laurie is very kind and neighborly.
He and Jo keep us merry, for we get pretty blue sometimes, and feel
like orphans, with you so far away. Hannah is a perfect saint. She does
not scold at all, and always calls me Miss Margaret, which is quite
proper, you know, and treats me with respect. We are all well and busy,
but we long, day and night, to have you back. Give my dearest love to
Father, and believe me, ever your own...
MEG
This note, prettily written on scented paper, was a great contrast to
the next, which was scribbled on a big sheet of thin foreign paper,
ornamented with blots and all manner of flourishes and curly-tailed
letters.
My precious Marmee:
Three cheers for dear Father! Brooke was a trump to telegraph right
off, and let us know the minute he was better. I rushed up garret when
the letter came, and tried to thank God for being so good to us, but I
could only cry, and say, “I’m glad! I’m glad!” Didn’t that do as well
as a regular prayer? For I felt a great many in my heart. We have such
funny times, and now I can enjoy them, for everyone is so desperately
good, it’s like living in a nest of turtledoves. You’d laugh to see Meg
head the table and try to be motherish. She gets prettier every day,
and I’m in love with her sometimes. The children are regular
archangels, and I—well, I’m Jo, and never shall be anything else. Oh, I
must tell you that I came near having a quarrel with Laurie. I freed my
mind about a silly little thing, and he was offended. I was right, but
didn’t speak as I ought, and he marched home, saying he wouldn’t come
again till I begged pardon. I declared I wouldn’t and got mad. It
lasted all day. I felt bad and wanted you very much. Laurie and I are
both so proud, it’s hard to beg pardon. But I thought he’d come to it,
for I was in the right. He didn’t come, and just at night I remembered
what you said when Amy fell into the river. I read my little book, felt
better, resolved not to let the sun set on my anger, and ran over to
tell Laurie I was sorry. I met him at the gate, coming for the same
thing. We both laughed, begged each other’s pardon, and felt all good
and comfortable again.
I made a ‘pome’ yesterday, when I was helping Hannah wash, and as
Father likes my silly little things, I put it in to amuse him. Give him
my lovingest hug that ever was, and kiss yourself a dozen times for
your...
TOPSY-TURVY JO
A SONG FROM THE SUDS
Queen of my tub, I merrily sing,
While the white foam rises high,
And sturdily wash and rinse and wring,
And fasten the clothes to dry.
Then out in the free fresh air they swing,
Under the sunny sky.
I wish we could wash from our hearts and souls
The stains of the week away,
And let water and air by their magic make
Ourselves as pure as they.
Then on the earth there would be indeed,
A glorious washing day!
Along the path of a useful life,
Will heart’s-ease ever bloom.
The busy mind has no time to think
Of sorrow or care or gloom.
And anxious thoughts may be swept away,
As we bravely wield a broom.
I am glad a task to me is given,
To labor at day by day,
For it brings me health and strength and hope,
And I cheerfully learn to say,
“Head, you may think, Heart, you may feel,
But, Hand, you shall work alway!”
Dear Mother,
There is only room for me to send my love, and some pressed pansies
from the root I have been keeping safe in the house for Father to see.
I read every morning, try to be good all day, and sing myself to sleep
with Father’s tune. I can’t sing ‘LAND OF THE LEAL’ now, it makes me
cry. Everyone is very kind, and we are as happy as we can be without
you. Amy wants the rest of the page, so I must stop. I didn’t forget to
cover the holders, and I wind the clock and air the rooms every day.
Kiss dear Father on the cheek he calls mine. Oh, do come soon to your
loving...
LITTLE BETH
Ma Chere Mamma,
We are all well I do my lessons always and never corroberate the
girls—Meg says I mean contradick so I put in both words and you can
take the properest. Meg is a great comfort to me and lets me have jelly
every night at tea its so good for me Jo says because it keeps me sweet
tempered. Laurie is not as respeckful as he ought to be now I am almost
in my teens, he calls me Chick and hurts my feelings by talking French
to me very fast when I say Merci or Bon jour as Hattie King does. The
sleeves of my blue dress were all worn out, and Meg put in new ones,
but the full front came wrong and they are more blue than the dress. I
felt bad but did not fret I bear my troubles well but I do wish Hannah
would put more starch in my aprons and have buckwheats every day. Can’t
she? Didn’t I make that interrigation point nice? Meg says my
punchtuation and spelling are disgraceful and I am mortyfied but dear
me I have so many things to do, I can’t stop. Adieu, I send heaps of
love to Papa. Your affectionate daughter...
AMY CURTIS MARCH
Dear Mis March,
I jes drop a line to say we git on fust rate. The girls is clever and
fly round right smart. Miss Meg is going to make a proper good
housekeeper. She hes the liking for it, and gits the hang of things
surprisin quick. Jo doos beat all for goin ahead, but she don’t stop to
cal’k’late fust, and you never know where she’s like to bring up. She
done out a tub of clothes on Monday, but she starched ’em afore they
was wrenched, and blued a pink calico dress till I thought I should a
died a laughin. Beth is the best of little creeters, and a sight of
help to me, bein so forehanded and dependable. She tries to learn
everything, and really goes to market beyond her years, likewise keeps
accounts, with my help, quite wonderful. We have got on very economical
so fur. I don’t let the girls hev coffee only once a week, accordin to
your wish, and keep em on plain wholesome vittles. Amy does well
without frettin, wearin her best clothes and eatin sweet stuff. Mr.
Laurie is as full of didoes as usual, and turns the house upside down
frequent, but he heartens the girls, so I let em hev full swing. The
old gentleman sends heaps of things, and is rather wearin, but means
wal, and it aint my place to say nothin. My bread is riz, so no more at
this time. I send my duty to Mr. March, and hope he’s seen the last of
his Pewmonia.
Yours respectful,
Hannah Mullet
Head Nurse of Ward No. 2,
All serene on the Rappahannock, troops in fine condition, commisary
department well conducted, the Home Guard under Colonel Teddy always on
duty, Commander in Chief General Laurence reviews the army daily,
Quartermaster Mullet keeps order in camp, and Major Lion does picket
duty at night. A salute of twenty-four guns was fired on receipt of
good news from Washington, and a dress parade took place at
headquarters. Commander in chief sends best wishes, in which he is
heartily joined by...
COLONEL TEDDY
Dear Madam:
The little girls are all well. Beth and my boy report daily. Hannah is
a model servant, and guards pretty Meg like a dragon. Glad the fine
weather holds. Pray make Brooke useful, and draw on me for funds if
expenses exceed your estimate. Don’t let your husband want anything.
Thank God he is mending.
Your sincere friend and servant, JAMES LAURENCE
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
LITTLE FAITHFUL
For a week the amount of virtue in the old house would have supplied
the neighborhood. It was really amazing, for everyone seemed in a
heavenly frame of mind, and self-denial was all the fashion. Relieved
of their first anxiety about their father, the girls insensibly relaxed
their praiseworthy efforts a little, and began to fall back into old
ways. They did not forget their motto, but hoping and keeping busy
seemed to grow easier, and after such tremendous exertions, they felt
that Endeavor deserved a holiday, and gave it a good many.
Jo caught a bad cold through neglect to cover the shorn head enough,
and was ordered to stay at home till she was better, for Aunt March
didn’t like to hear people read with colds in their heads. Jo liked
this, and after an energetic rummage from garret to cellar, subsided on
the sofa to nurse her cold with arsenicum and books. Amy found that
housework and art did not go well together, and returned to her mud
pies. Meg went daily to her pupils, and sewed, or thought she did, at
home, but much time was spent in writing long letters to her mother, or
reading the Washington dispatches over and over. Beth kept on, with
only slight relapses into idleness or grieving.
All the little duties were faithfully done each day, and many of her
sisters’ also, for they were forgetful, and the house seemed like a
clock whose pendulum was gone a-visiting. When her heart got heavy with
longings for Mother or fears for Father, she went away into a certain
closet, hid her face in the folds of a dear old gown, and made her
little moan and prayed her little prayer quietly by herself. Nobody
knew what cheered her up after a sober fit, but everyone felt how sweet
and helpful Beth was, and fell into a way of going to her for comfort
or advice in their small affairs.
All were unconscious that this experience was a test of character, and
when the first excitement was over, felt that they had done well and
deserved praise. So they did, but their mistake was in ceasing to do
well, and they learned this lesson through much anxiety and regret.
“Meg, I wish you’d go and see the Hummels. You know Mother told us not
to forget them.” said Beth, ten days after Mrs. March’s departure.
“I’m too tired to go this afternoon,” replied Meg, rocking comfortably
as she sewed.
“Can’t you, Jo?” asked Beth.
“Too stormy for me with my cold.”
“I thought it was almost well.”
“It’s well enough for me to go out with Laurie, but not well enough to
go to the Hummels’,” said Jo, laughing, but looking a little ashamed of
her inconsistency.
“Why don’t you go yourself?” asked Meg.
“I have been every day, but the baby is sick, and I don’t know what to
do for it. Mrs. Hummel goes away to work, and Lottchen takes care of
it. But it gets sicker and sicker, and I think you or Hannah ought to
go.”
Beth spoke earnestly, and Meg promised she would go tomorrow.