will do you good,” said Jo, adding apologetically, “I’d go but I want
to finish my writing.”
“My head aches and I’m tired, so I thought maybe some of you would go,”
said Beth.
“Amy will be in presently, and she will run down for us,” suggested
Meg.
So Beth lay down on the sofa, the others returned to their work, and
the Hummels were forgotten. An hour passed. Amy did not come, Meg went
to her room to try on a new dress, Jo was absorbed in her story, and
Hannah was sound asleep before the kitchen fire, when Beth quietly put
on her hood, filled her basket with odds and ends for the poor
children, and went out into the chilly air with a heavy head and a
grieved look in her patient eyes. It was late when she came back, and
no one saw her creep upstairs and shut herself into her mother’s room.
Half an hour after, Jo went to ‘Mother’s closet’ for something, and
there found little Beth sitting on the medicine chest, looking very
grave, with red eyes and a camphor bottle in her hand.
“Christopher Columbus! What’s the matter?” cried Jo, as Beth put out
her hand as if to warn her off, and asked quickly. . .
“You’ve had the scarlet fever, haven’t you?”
“Years ago, when Meg did. Why?”
“Then I’ll tell you. Oh, Jo, the baby’s dead!”
“What baby?”
“Mrs. Hummel’s. It died in my lap before she got home,” cried Beth with
a sob.
“My poor dear, how dreadful for you! I ought to have gone,” said Jo,
taking her sister in her arms as she sat down in her mother’s big
chair, with a remorseful face.
“It wasn’t dreadful, Jo, only so sad! I saw in a minute it was sicker,
but Lottchen said her mother had gone for a doctor, so I took Baby and
let Lotty rest. It seemed asleep, but all of a sudden if gave a little
cry and trembled, and then lay very still. I tried to warm its feet,
and Lotty gave it some milk, but it didn’t stir, and I knew it was
dead.”
“Don’t cry, dear! What did you do?”
“I just sat and held it softly till Mrs. Hummel came with the doctor.
He said it was dead, and looked at Heinrich and Minna, who have sore
throats. ‘Scarlet fever, ma’am. Ought to have called me before,’ he
said crossly. Mrs. Hummel told him she was poor, and had tried to cure
baby herself, but now it was too late, and she could only ask him to
help the others and trust to charity for his pay. He smiled then, and
was kinder, but it was very sad, and I cried with them till he turned
round all of a sudden, and told me to go home and take belladonna right
away, or I’d have the fever.”
“No, you won’t!” cried Jo, hugging her close, with a frightened look.
“Oh, Beth, if you should be sick I never could forgive myself! What
shall we do?”
“Don’t be frightened, I guess I shan’t have it badly. I looked in
Mother’s book, and saw that it begins with headache, sore throat, and
queer feelings like mine, so I did take some belladonna, and I feel
better,” said Beth, laying her cold hands on her hot forehead and
trying to look well.
“If Mother was only at home!” exclaimed Jo, seizing the book, and
feeling that Washington was an immense way off. She read a page, looked
at Beth, felt her head, peeped into her throat, and then said gravely,
“You’ve been over the baby every day for more than a week, and among
the others who are going to have it, so I’m afraid you are going to
have it, Beth. I’ll call Hannah, she knows all about sickness.”
“Don’t let Amy come. She never had it, and I should hate to give it to
her. Can’t you and Meg have it over again?” asked Beth, anxiously.
“I guess not. Don’t care if I do. Serve me right, selfish pig, to let
you go, and stay writing rubbish myself!” muttered Jo, as she went to
consult Hannah.
The good soul was wide awake in a minute, and took the lead at once,
assuring that there was no need to worry; every one had scarlet fever,
and if rightly treated, nobody died, all of which Jo believed, and felt
much relieved as they went up to call Meg.
“Now I’ll tell you what we’ll do,” said Hannah, when she had examined
and questioned Beth, “we will have Dr. Bangs, just to take a look at
you, dear, and see that we start right. Then we’ll send Amy off to Aunt
March’s for a spell, to keep her out of harm’s way, and one of you
girls can stay at home and amuse Beth for a day or two.”
“I shall stay, of course, I’m oldest,” began Meg, looking anxious and
self-reproachful.
“I shall, because it’s my fault she is sick. I told Mother I’d do the
errands, and I haven’t,” said Jo decidedly.
“Which will you have, Beth? There ain’t no need of but one,” aid
Hannah.
“Jo, please.” And Beth leaned her head against her sister with a
contented look, which effectually settled that point.
“I’ll go and tell Amy,” said Meg, feeling a little hurt, yet rather
relieved on the whole, for she did not like nursing, and Jo did.
Amy rebelled outright, and passionately declared that she had rather
have the fever than go to Aunt March. Meg reasoned, pleaded, and
commanded, all in vain. Amy protested that she would not go, and Meg
left her in despair to ask Hannah what should be done. Before she came
back, Laurie walked into the parlor to find Amy sobbing, with her head
in the sofa cushions. She told her story, expecting to be consoled, but
Laurie only put his hands in his pockets and walked about the room,
whistling softly, as he knit his brows in deep thought. Presently he
sat down beside her, and said, in his most wheedlesome tone, “Now be a
sensible little woman, and do as they say. No, don’t cry, but hear what
a jolly plan I’ve got. You go to Aunt March’s, and I’ll come and take
you out every day, driving or walking, and we’ll have capital times.
Won’t that be better than moping here?”
“I don’t wish to be sent off as if I was in the way,” began Amy, in an
injured voice.
“Bless your heart, child, it’s to keep you well. You don’t want to be
sick, do you?”
“No, I’m sure I don’t, but I dare say I shall be, for I’ve been with
Beth all the time.”
“That’s the very reason you ought to go away at once, so that you may
escape it. Change of air and care will keep you well, I dare say, or if
it does not entirely, you will have the fever more lightly. I advise
you to be off as soon as you can, for scarlet fever is no joke, miss.”
“But it’s dull at Aunt March’s, and she is so cross,” said Amy, looking
rather frightened.
“It won’t be dull with me popping in every day to tell you how Beth is,
and take you out gallivanting. The old lady likes me, and I’ll be as
sweet as possible to her, so she won’t peck at us, whatever we do.”
“Will you take me out in the trotting wagon with Puck?”
“On my honor as a gentleman.”
“And come every single day?”
“See if I don’t!”
“And bring me back the minute Beth is well?”
“The identical minute.”
“And go to the theater, truly?”
“A dozen theaters, if we may.”
“Well—I guess I will,” said Amy slowly.
“Good girl! Call Meg, and tell her you’ll give in,” said Laurie, with
an approving pat, which annoyed Amy more than the ‘giving in’.
Meg and Jo came running down to behold the miracle which had been
wrought, and Amy, feeling very precious and self-sacrificing, promised
to go, if the doctor said Beth was going to be ill.
“How is the little dear?” asked Laurie, for Beth was his especial pet,
and he felt more anxious about her than he liked to show.
“She is lying down on Mother’s bed, and feels better. The baby’s death
troubled her, but I dare say she has only got cold. Hannah says she
thinks so, but she looks worried, and that makes me fidgety,” answered
Meg.
“What a trying world it is!” said Jo, rumpling up her hair in a fretful
way. “No sooner do we get out of one trouble than down comes another.
There doesn’t seem to be anything to hold on to when Mother’s gone, so
I’m all at sea.”
“Well, don’t make a porcupine of yourself, it isn’t becoming. Settle
your wig, Jo, and tell me if I shall telegraph to your mother, or do
anything?” asked Laurie, who never had been reconciled to the loss of
his friend’s one beauty.
“That is what troubles me,” said Meg. “I think we ought to tell her if
Beth is really ill, but Hannah says we mustn’t, for Mother can’t leave
Father, and it will only make them anxious. Beth won’t be sick long,
and Hannah knows just what to do, and Mother said we were to mind her,
so I suppose we must, but it doesn’t seem quite right to me.”
“Hum, well, I can’t say. Suppose you ask Grandfather after the doctor
has been.”
“We will. Jo, go and get Dr. Bangs at once,” commanded Meg. “We can’t
decide anything till he has been.”
“Stay where you are, Jo. I’m errand boy to this establishment,” said
Laurie, taking up his cap.
“I’m afraid you are busy,” began Meg.
“No, I’ve done my lessons for the day.”
“Do you study in vacation time?” asked Jo.
“I follow the good example my neighbors set me,” was Laurie’s answer,
as he swung himself out of the room.
“I have great hopes for my boy,” observed Jo, watching him fly over the
fence with an approving smile.
“He does very well, for a boy,” was Meg’s somewhat ungracious answer,
for the subject did not interest her.
Dr. Bangs came, said Beth had symptoms of the fever, but he thought she
would have it lightly, though he looked sober over the Hummel story.
Amy was ordered off at once, and provided with something to ward off
danger, she departed in great state, with Jo and Laurie as escort.
Aunt March received them with her usual hospitality.
“What do you want now?” she asked, looking sharply over her spectacles,
while the parrot, sitting on the back of her chair, called out...
“Go away. No boys allowed here.”
Laurie retired to the window, and Jo told her story.
“No more than I expected, if you are allowed to go poking about among
poor folks. Amy can stay and make herself useful if she isn’t sick,
which I’ve no doubt she will be, looks like it now. Don’t cry, child,
it worries me to hear people sniff.”
Amy was on the point of crying, but Laurie slyly pulled the parrot’s
tail, which caused Polly to utter an astonished croak and call out,
“Bless my boots!” in such a funny way, that she laughed instead.
“What do you hear from your mother?” asked the old lady gruffly.
“Father is much better,” replied Jo, trying to keep sober.
“Oh, is he? Well, that won’t last long, I fancy. March never had any
stamina,” was the cheerful reply.
“Ha, ha! Never say die, take a pinch of snuff, goodbye, goodbye!”
squalled Polly, dancing on her perch, and clawing at the old lady’s cap
as Laurie tweaked him in the rear.
“Hold your tongue, you disrespectful old bird! And, Jo, you’d better go
at once. It isn’t proper to be gadding about so late with a rattlepated
boy like...”
“Hold your tongue, you disrespectful old bird!” cried Polly, tumbling
off the chair with a bounce, and running to peck the ‘rattlepated’ boy,
who was shaking with laughter at the last speech.
“I don’t think I can bear it, but I’ll try,” thought Amy, as she was
left alone with Aunt March.
“Get along, you fright!” screamed Polly, and at that rude speech Amy
could not restrain a sniff.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
DARK DAYS
Beth did have the fever, and was much sicker than anyone but Hannah and
the doctor suspected. The girls knew nothing about illness, and Mr.
Laurence was not allowed to see her, so Hannah had everything her own
way, and busy Dr. Bangs did his best, but left a good deal to the
excellent nurse. Meg stayed at home, lest she should infect the Kings,
and kept house, feeling very anxious and a little guilty when she wrote
letters in which no mention was made of Beth’s illness. She could not
think it right to deceive her mother, but she had been bidden to mind
Hannah, and Hannah wouldn’t hear of ‘Mrs. March bein’ told, and worried
just for sech a trifle.’
Jo devoted herself to Beth day and night, not a hard task, for Beth was
very patient, and bore her pain uncomplainingly as long as she could
control herself. But there came a time when during the fever fits she
began to talk in a hoarse, broken voice, to play on the coverlet as if
on her beloved little piano, and try to sing with a throat so swollen
that there was no music left, a time when she did not know the familiar
faces around her, but addressed them by wrong names, and called
imploringly for her mother. Then Jo grew frightened, Meg begged to be
allowed to write the truth, and even Hannah said she ‘would think of
it, though there was no danger yet’. A letter from Washington added to
their trouble, for Mr. March had had a relapse, and could not think of
coming home for a long while.
How dark the days seemed now, how sad and lonely the house, and how
heavy were the hearts of the sisters as they worked and waited, while
the shadow of death hovered over the once happy home. Then it was that
Margaret, sitting alone with tears dropping often on her work, felt how
rich she had been in things more precious than any luxuries money could
buy—in love, protection, peace, and health, the real blessings of life.
Then it was that Jo, living in the darkened room, with that suffering
little sister always before her eyes and that pathetic voice sounding
in her ears, learned to see the beauty and the sweetness of Beth’s
nature, to feel how deep and tender a place she filled in all hearts,
and to acknowledge the worth of Beth’s unselfish ambition to live for
others, and make home happy by that exercise of those simple virtues
which all may possess, and which all should love and value more than
talent, wealth, or beauty. And Amy, in her exile, longed eagerly to be
at home, that she might work for Beth, feeling now that no service
would be hard or irksome, and remembering, with regretful grief, how
many neglected tasks those willing hands had done for her. Laurie
haunted the house like a restless ghost, and Mr. Laurence locked the
grand piano, because he could not bear to be reminded of the young
neighbor who used to make the twilight pleasant for him. Everyone
missed Beth. The milkman, baker, grocer, and butcher inquired how she
did, poor Mrs. Hummel came to beg pardon for her thoughtlessness and to
get a shroud for Minna, the neighbors sent all sorts of comforts and
good wishes, and even those who knew her best were surprised to find
how many friends shy little Beth had made.
Meanwhile she lay on her bed with old Joanna at her side, for even in
her wanderings she did not forget her forlorn protege. She longed for
her cats, but would not have them brought, lest they should get sick,
and in her quiet hours she was full of anxiety about Jo. She sent
loving messages to Amy, bade them tell her mother that she would write
soon, and often begged for pencil and paper to try to say a word, that
Father might not think she had neglected him. But soon even these
intervals of consciousness ended, and she lay hour after hour, tossing
to and fro, with incoherent words on her lips, or sank into a heavy
sleep which brought her no refreshment. Dr. Bangs came twice a day,
Hannah sat up at night, Meg kept a telegram in her desk all ready to
send off at any minute, and Jo never stirred from Beth’s side.
The first of December was a wintry day indeed to them, for a bitter
wind blew, snow fell fast, and the year seemed getting ready for its
death. When Dr. Bangs came that morning, he looked long at Beth, held
the hot hand in both his own for a minute, and laid it gently down,
saying, in a low voice to Hannah, “If Mrs. March can leave her husband
she’d better be sent for.”
Hannah nodded without speaking, for her lips twitched nervously, Meg
dropped down into a chair as the strength seemed to go out of her limbs
at the sound of those words, and Jo, standing with a pale face for a
minute, ran to the parlor, snatched up the telegram, and throwing on
her things, rushed out into the storm. She was soon back, and while
noiselessly taking off her cloak, Laurie came in with a letter, saying
that Mr. March was mending again. Jo read it thankfully, but the heavy
weight did not seem lifted off her heart, and her face was so full of
misery that Laurie asked quickly, “What is it? Is Beth worse?”
“I’ve sent for Mother,” said Jo, tugging at her rubber boots with a
tragic expression.
“Good for you, Jo! Did you do it on your own responsibility?” asked
Laurie, as he seated her in the hall chair and took off the rebellious
boots, seeing how her hands shook.
“No. The doctor told us to.”
“Oh, Jo, it’s not so bad as that?” cried Laurie, with a startled face.
“Yes, it is. She doesn’t know us, she doesn’t even talk about the
flocks of green doves, as she calls the vine leaves on the wall. She
doesn’t look like my Beth, and there’s nobody to help us bear it.
Mother and father both gone, and God seems so far away I can’t find
Him.”
As the tears streamed fast down poor Jo’s cheeks, she stretched out her
hand in a helpless sort of way, as if groping in the dark, and Laurie
took it in his, whispering as well as he could with a lump in his
throat, “I’m here. Hold on to me, Jo, dear!”
She could not speak, but she did ‘hold on’, and the warm grasp of the
friendly human hand comforted her sore heart, and seemed to lead her
nearer to the Divine arm which alone could uphold her in her trouble.
Laurie longed to say something tender and comfortable, but no fitting
words came to him, so he stood silent, gently stroking her bent head as
her mother used to do. It was the best thing he could have done, far
more soothing than the most eloquent words, for Jo felt the unspoken
sympathy, and in the silence learned the sweet solace which affection
administers to sorrow. Soon she dried the tears which had relieved her,
and looked up with a grateful face.
“Thank you, Teddy, I’m better now. I don’t feel so forlorn, and will
try to bear it if it comes.”
“Keep hoping for the best, that will help you, Jo. Soon your mother
will be here, and then everything will be all right.”
“I’m so glad Father is better. Now she won’t feel so bad about leaving
him. Oh, me! It does seem as if all the troubles came in a heap, and I
got the heaviest part on my shoulders,” sighed Jo, spreading her wet
handkerchief over her knees to dry.
“Doesn’t Meg pull fair?” asked Laurie, looking indignant.
“Oh, yes, she tries to, but she can’t love Bethy as I do, and she won’t
miss her as I shall. Beth is my conscience, and I can’t give her up. I
can’t! I can’t!”
Down went Jo’s face into the wet handkerchief, and she cried
despairingly, for she had kept up bravely till now and never shed a
tear. Laurie drew his hand across his eyes, but could not speak till he
had subdued the choky feeling in his throat and steadied his lips. It
might be unmanly, but he couldn’t help it, and I am glad of it.
Presently, as Jo’s sobs quieted, he said hopefully, “I don’t think she
will die. She’s so good, and we all love her so much, I don’t believe
God will take her away yet.”
“The good and dear people always do die,” groaned Jo, but she stopped
crying, for her friend’s words cheered her up in spite of her own
doubts and fears.
“Poor girl, you’re worn out. It isn’t like you to be forlorn. Stop a
bit. I’ll hearten you up in a jiffy.”
Laurie went off two stairs at a time, and Jo laid her wearied head down
on Beth’s little brown hood, which no one had thought of moving from
the table where she left it. It must have possessed some magic, for the
submissive spirit of its gentle owner seemed to enter into Jo, and when
Laurie came running down with a glass of wine, she took it with a
smile, and said bravely, “I drink— Health to my Beth! You are a good
doctor, Teddy, and such a comfortable friend. How can I ever pay you?”
she added, as the wine refreshed her body, as the kind words had done
her troubled mind.
“I’ll send my bill, by-and-by, and tonight I’ll give you something that
will warm the cockles of your heart better than quarts of wine,” said
Laurie, beaming at her with a face of suppressed satisfaction at
something.
“What is it?” cried Jo, forgetting her woes for a minute in her wonder.
“I telegraphed to your mother yesterday, and Brooke answered she’d come
at once, and she’ll be here tonight, and everything will be all right.
Aren’t you glad I did it?”
Laurie spoke very fast, and turned red and excited all in a minute, for
he had kept his plot a secret, for fear of disappointing the girls or
harming Beth. Jo grew quite white, flew out of her chair, and the
moment he stopped speaking she electrified him by throwing her arms
round his neck, and crying out, with a joyful cry, “Oh, Laurie! Oh,
Mother! I am so glad!” She did not weep again, but laughed
hysterically, and trembled and clung to her friend as if she was a
little bewildered by the sudden news.
Laurie, though decidedly amazed, behaved with great presence of mind.
He patted her back soothingly, and finding that she was recovering,
followed it up by a bashful kiss or two, which brought Jo round at
once. Holding on to the banisters, she put him gently away, saying
breathlessly, “Oh, don’t! I didn’t mean to, it was dreadful of me, but
you were such a dear to go and do it in spite of Hannah that I couldn’t
help flying at you. Tell me all about it, and don’t give me wine again,
it makes me act so.”
“I don’t mind,” laughed Laurie, as he settled his tie. “Why, you see I
got fidgety, and so did Grandpa. We thought Hannah was overdoing the
authority business, and your mother ought to know. She’d never forgive
us if Beth... Well, if anything happened, you know. So I got grandpa to
say it was high time we did something, and off I pelted to the office
yesterday, for the doctor looked sober, and Hannah most took my head
off when I proposed a telegram. I never can bear to be ‘lorded over’,
so that settled my mind, and I did it. Your mother will come, I know,
and the late train is in at two A.M. I shall go for her, and you’ve
only got to bottle up your rapture, and keep Beth quiet till that
blessed lady gets here.”
“Laurie, you’re an angel! How shall I ever thank you?”
“Fly at me again. I rather liked it,” said Laurie, looking mischievous,
a thing he had not done for a fortnight.
“No, thank you. I’ll do it by proxy, when your grandpa comes. Don’t
tease, but go home and rest, for you’ll be up half the night. Bless
you, Teddy, bless you!”
Jo had backed into a corner, and as she finished her speech, she
vanished precipitately into the kitchen, where she sat down upon a
dresser and told the assembled cats that she was “happy, oh, so happy!”
while Laurie departed, feeling that he had made a rather neat thing of
it.
“That’s the interferingest chap I ever see, but I forgive him and do
hope Mrs. March is coming right away,” said Hannah, with an air of
relief, when Jo told the good news.
Meg had a quiet rapture, and then brooded over the letter, while Jo set
the sickroom in order, and Hannah “knocked up a couple of pies in case
of company unexpected”. A breath of fresh air seemed to blow through
the house, and something better than sunshine brightened the quiet
rooms. Everything appeared to feel the hopeful change. Beth’s bird
began to chirp again, and a half-blown rose was discovered on Amy’s
bush in the window. The fires seemed to burn with unusual cheeriness,
and every time the girls met, their pale faces broke into smiles as
they hugged one another, whispering encouragingly, “Mother’s coming,
dear! Mother’s coming!” Every one rejoiced but Beth. She lay in that
heavy stupor, alike unconscious of hope and joy, doubt and danger. It
was a piteous sight, the once rosy face so changed and vacant, the once
busy hands so weak and wasted, the once smiling lips quite dumb, and
the once pretty, well-kept hair scattered rough and tangled on the
pillow. All day she lay so, only rousing now and then to mutter,
“Water!” with lips so parched they could hardly shape the word. All day
Jo and Meg hovered over her, watching, waiting, hoping, and trusting in
God and Mother, and all day the snow fell, the bitter wind raged, and
the hours dragged slowly by. But night came at last, and every time the
clock struck, the sisters, still sitting on either side of the bed,
looked at each other with brightening eyes, for each hour brought help
nearer. The doctor had been in to say that some change, for better or
worse, would probably take place about midnight, at which time he would
return.
Hannah, quite worn out, lay down on the sofa at the bed’s foot and fell
fast asleep, Mr. Laurence marched to and fro in the parlor, feeling
that he would rather face a rebel battery than Mrs. March’s countenance
as she entered. Laurie lay on the rug, pretending to rest, but staring
into the fire with the thoughtful look which made his black eyes
beautifully soft and clear.
The girls never forgot that night, for no sleep came to them as they
kept their watch, with that dreadful sense of powerlessness which comes
to us in hours like those.
“If God spares Beth, I never will complain again,” whispered Meg
earnestly.
“If God spares Beth, I’ll try to love and serve Him all my life,”
answered Jo, with equal fervor.
“I wish I had no heart, it aches so,” sighed Meg, after a pause.
“If life is often as hard as this, I don’t see how we ever shall get
through it,” added her sister despondently.
Here the clock struck twelve, and both forgot themselves in watching
Beth, for they fancied a change passed over her wan face. The house was
still as death, and nothing but the wailing of the wind broke the deep
hush. Weary Hannah slept on, and no one but the sisters saw the pale
shadow which seemed to fall upon the little bed. An hour went by, and
nothing happened except Laurie’s quiet departure for the station.
Another hour, still no one came, and anxious fears of delay in the
storm, or accidents by the way, or, worst of all, a great grief at
Washington, haunted the girls.
It was past two, when Jo, who stood at the window thinking how dreary
the world looked in its winding sheet of snow, heard a movement by the
bed, and turning quickly, saw Meg kneeling before their mother’s easy
chair with her face hidden. A dreadful fear passed coldly over Jo, as
she thought, “Beth is dead, and Meg is afraid to tell me.”
She was back at her post in an instant, and to her excited eyes a great
change seemed to have taken place. The fever flush and the look of pain
were gone, and the beloved little face looked so pale and peaceful in
its utter repose that Jo felt no desire to weep or to lament. Leaning
low over this dearest of her sisters, she kissed the damp forehead with
her heart on her lips, and softly whispered, “Good-by, my Beth.
Good-by!”
As if awaked by the stir, Hannah started out of her sleep, hurried to
the bed, looked at Beth, felt her hands, listened at her lips, and
then, throwing her apron over her head, sat down to rock to and fro,
exclaiming, under her breath, “The fever’s turned, she’s sleepin’
nat’ral, her skin’s damp, and she breathes easy. Praise be given! Oh,
my goodness me!”
Before the girls could believe the happy truth, the doctor came to
confirm it. He was a homely man, but they thought his face quite
heavenly when he smiled and said, with a fatherly look at them, “Yes,
my dears, I think the little girl will pull through this time. Keep the
house quiet, let her sleep, and when she wakes, give her...”
What they were to give, neither heard, for both crept into the dark
hall, and, sitting on the stairs, held each other close, rejoicing with
hearts too full for words. When they went back to be kissed and cuddled
by faithful Hannah, they found Beth lying, as she used to do, with her
cheek pillowed on her hand, the dreadful pallor gone, and breathing
quietly, as if just fallen asleep.
“If Mother would only come now!” said Jo, as the winter night began to
wane.
“See,” said Meg, coming up with a white, half-opened rose, “I thought
this would hardly be ready to lay in Beth’s hand tomorrow if she—went
away from us. But it has blossomed in the night, and now I mean to put
it in my vase here, so that when the darling wakes, the first thing she
sees will be the little rose, and Mother’s face.”
Never had the sun risen so beautifully, and never had the world seemed
so lovely as it did to the heavy eyes of Meg and Jo, as they looked out
in the early morning, when their long, sad vigil was done.
“It looks like a fairy world,” said Meg, smiling to herself, as she
stood behind the curtain, watching the dazzling sight.
“Hark!” cried Jo, starting to her feet.
Yes, there was a sound of bells at the door below, a cry from Hannah,
and then Laurie’s voice saying in a joyful whisper, “Girls, she’s come!
She’s come!”
CHAPTER NINETEEN
AMY’S WILL
While these things were happening at home, Amy was having hard times at
Aunt March’s. She felt her exile deeply, and for the first time in her
life, realized how much she was beloved and petted at home. Aunt March
never petted any one; she did not approve of it, but she meant to be
kind, for the well-behaved little girl pleased her very much, and Aunt
March had a soft place in her old heart for her nephew’s children,
though she didn’t think it proper to confess it. She really did her
best to make Amy happy, but, dear me, what mistakes she made. Some old
people keep young at heart in spite of wrinkles and gray hairs, can
sympathize with children’s little cares and joys, make them feel at
home, and can hide wise lessons under pleasant plays, giving and
receiving friendship in the sweetest way. But Aunt March had not this
gift, and she worried Amy very much with her rules and orders, her prim
ways, and long, prosy talks. Finding the child more docile and amiable
than her sister, the old lady felt it her duty to try and counteract,
as far as possible, the bad effects of home freedom and indulgence. So
she took Amy by the hand, and taught her as she herself had been taught
sixty years ago, a process which carried dismay to Amy’s soul, and made
her feel like a fly in the web of a very strict spider.
She had to wash the cups every morning, and polish up the old-fashioned
spoons, the fat silver teapot, and the glasses till they shone. Then
she must dust the room, and what a trying job that was. Not a speck
escaped Aunt March’s eye, and all the furniture had claw legs and much
carving, which was never dusted to suit. Then Polly had to be fed, the
lap dog combed, and a dozen trips upstairs and down to get things or
deliver orders, for the old lady was very lame and seldom left her big
chair. After these tiresome labors, she must do her lessons, which was
a daily trial of every virtue she possessed. Then she was allowed one
hour for exercise or play, and didn’t she enjoy it?
Laurie came every day, and wheedled Aunt March till Amy was allowed to
go out with him, when they walked and rode and had capital times. After
dinner, she had to read aloud, and sit still while the old lady slept,
which she usually did for an hour, as she dropped off over the first
page. Then patchwork or towels appeared, and Amy sewed with outward
meekness and inward rebellion till dusk, when she was allowed to amuse
herself as she liked till teatime. The evenings were the worst of all,
for Aunt March fell to telling long stories about her youth, which were
so unutterably dull that Amy was always ready to go to bed, intending
to cry over her hard fate, but usually going to sleep before she had
squeezed out more than a tear or two.
If it had not been for Laurie, and old Esther, the maid, she felt that
she never could have got through that dreadful time. The parrot alone
was enough to drive her distracted, for he soon felt that she did not
admire him, and revenged himself by being as mischievous as possible.
He pulled her hair whenever she came near him, upset his bread and milk
to plague her when she had newly cleaned his cage, made Mop bark by
pecking at him while Madam dozed, called her names before company, and
behaved in all respects like an reprehensible old bird. Then she could
not endure the dog, a fat, cross beast who snarled and yelped at her
when she made his toilet, and who lay on his back with all his legs in
the air and a most idiotic expression of countenance when he wanted
something to eat, which was about a dozen times a day. The cook was
bad-tempered, the old coachman was deaf, and Esther the only one who
ever took any notice of the young lady.
Esther was a Frenchwoman, who had lived with ‘Madame’, as she called
her mistress, for many years, and who rather tyrannized over the old
lady, who could not get along without her. Her real name was Estelle,
but Aunt March ordered her to change it, and she obeyed, on condition
that she was never asked to change her religion. She took a fancy to
Mademoiselle, and amused her very much with odd stories of her life in
France, when Amy sat with her while she got up Madame’s laces. She also
allowed her to roam about the great house, and examine the curious and
pretty things stored away in the big wardrobes and the ancient chests,
for Aunt March hoarded like a magpie. Amy’s chief delight was an Indian
cabinet, full of queer drawers, little pigeonholes, and secret places,
in which were kept all sorts of ornaments, some precious, some merely
curious, all more or less antique. To examine and arrange these things
gave Amy great satisfaction, especially the jewel cases, in which on
velvet cushions reposed the ornaments which had adorned a belle forty
years ago. There was the garnet set which Aunt March wore when she came
out, the pearls her father gave her on her wedding day, her lover’s
diamonds, the jet mourning rings and pins, the queer lockets, with
portraits of dead friends and weeping willows made of hair inside, the
baby bracelets her one little daughter had worn, Uncle March’s big
watch, with the red seal so many childish hands had played with, and in
a box all by itself lay Aunt March’s wedding ring, too small now for
her fat finger, but put carefully away like the most precious jewel of
them all.
“Which would Mademoiselle choose if she had her will?” asked Esther,
who always sat near to watch over and lock up the valuables.
“I like the diamonds best, but there is no necklace among them, and I’m
fond of necklaces, they are so becoming. I should choose this if I
might,” replied Amy, looking with great admiration at a string of gold
and ebony beads from which hung a heavy cross of the same.
“I, too, covet that, but not as a necklace. Ah, no! To me it is a
rosary, and as such I should use it like a good catholic,” said Esther,
eyeing the handsome thing wistfully.
“Is it meant to use as you use the string of good-smelling wooden beads
hanging over your glass?” asked Amy.
“Truly, yes, to pray with. It would be pleasing to the saints if one
used so fine a rosary as this, instead of wearing it as a vain bijou.”
“You seem to take a great deal of comfort in your prayers, Esther, and
always come down looking quiet and satisfied. I wish I could.”
“If Mademoiselle was a Catholic, she would find true comfort, but as
that is not to be, it would be well if you went apart each day to
meditate and pray, as did the good mistress whom I served before
Madame. She had a little chapel, and in it found solacement for much
trouble.”
“Would it be right for me to do so too?” asked Amy, who in her
loneliness felt the need of help of some sort, and found that she was
apt to forget her little book, now that Beth was not there to remind
her of it.
“It would be excellent and charming, and I shall gladly arrange the
little dressing room for you if you like it. Say nothing to Madame, but
when she sleeps go you and sit alone a while to think good thoughts,
and pray the dear God preserve your sister.”
Esther was truly pious, and quite sincere in her advice, for she had an
affectionate heart, and felt much for the sisters in their anxiety. Amy
liked the idea, and gave her leave to arrange the light closet next her
room, hoping it would do her good.
“I wish I knew where all these pretty things would go when Aunt March
dies,” she said, as she slowly replaced the shining rosary and shut the
jewel cases one by one.
“To you and your sisters. I know it, Madame confides in me. I witnessed
her will, and it is to be so,” whispered Esther smiling.
“How nice! But I wish she’d let us have them now. Procrastination is
not agreeable,” observed Amy, taking a last look at the diamonds.
“It is too soon yet for the young ladies to wear these things. The
first one who is affianced will have the pearls, Madame has said it,
and I have a fancy that the little turquoise ring will be given to you
when you go, for Madame approves your good behavior and charming
manners.”
“Do you think so? Oh, I’ll be a lamb, if I can only have that lovely
ring! It’s ever so much prettier than Kitty Bryant’s. I do like Aunt
March after all.” And Amy tried on the blue ring with a delighted face
and a firm resolve to earn it.
From that day she was a model of obedience, and the old lady
complacently admired the success of her training. Esther fitted up the
closet with a little table, placed a footstool before it, and over it a
picture taken from one of the shut-up rooms. She thought it was of no
great value, but, being appropriate, she borrowed it, well knowing that
Madame would never know it, nor care if she did. It was, however, a
very valuable copy of one of the famous pictures of the world, and
Amy’s beauty-loving eyes were never tired of looking up at the sweet
face of the Divine Mother, while her tender thoughts of her own were
busy at her heart. On the table she laid her little testament and
hymnbook, kept a vase always full of the best flowers Laurie brought
her, and came every day to ‘sit alone’ thinking good thoughts, and
praying the dear God to preserve her sister. Esther had given her a
rosary of black beads with a silver cross, but Amy hung it up and did
not use it, feeling doubtful as to its fitness for Protestant prayers.
The little girl was very sincere in all this, for being left alone
outside the safe home nest, she felt the need of some kind hand to hold
by so sorely that she instinctively turned to the strong and tender
Friend, whose fatherly love most closely surrounds His little children.
She missed her mother’s help to understand and rule herself, but having
been taught where to look, she did her best to find the way and walk in
it confidingly. But, Amy was a young pilgrim, and just now her burden
seemed very heavy. She tried to forget herself, to keep cheerful, and
be satisfied with doing right, though no one saw or praised her for it.
In her first effort at being very, very good, she decided to make her
will, as Aunt March had done, so that if she did fall ill and die, her
possessions might be justly and generously divided. It cost her a pang
even to think of giving up the little treasures which in her eyes were
as precious as the old lady’s jewels.
During one of her play hours she wrote out the important document as
well as she could, with some help from Esther as to certain legal
terms, and when the good-natured Frenchwoman had signed her name, Amy
felt relieved and laid it by to show Laurie, whom she wanted as a
second witness. As it was a rainy day, she went upstairs to amuse
herself in one of the large chambers, and took Polly with her for
company. In this room there was a wardrobe full of old-fashioned
costumes with which Esther allowed her to play, and it was her favorite
amusement to array herself in the faded brocades, and parade up and
down before the long mirror, making stately curtsies, and sweeping her
train about with a rustle which delighted her ears. So busy was she on
this day that she did not hear Laurie’s ring nor see his face peeping
in at her as she gravely promenaded to and fro, flirting her fan and
tossing her head, on which she wore a great pink turban, contrasting
oddly with her blue brocade dress and yellow quilted petticoat. She was
obliged to walk carefully, for she had on high-heeled shoes, and, as
Laurie told Jo afterward, it was a comical sight to see her mince along
in her gay suit, with Polly sidling and bridling just behind her,
imitating her as well as he could, and occasionally stopping to laugh
or exclaim, “Ain’t we fine? Get along, you fright! Hold your tongue!
Kiss me, dear! Ha! Ha!”
Having with difficulty restrained an explosion of merriment, lest it
should offend her majesty, Laurie tapped and was graciously received.
“Sit down and rest while I put these things away, then I want to
consult you about a very serious matter,” said Amy, when she had shown
her splendor and driven Polly into a corner. “That bird is the trial of
my life,” she continued, removing the pink mountain from her head,
while Laurie seated himself astride a chair.
“Yesterday, when Aunt was asleep and I was trying to be as still as a
mouse, Polly began to squall and flap about in his cage, so I went to
let him out, and found a big spider there. I poked it out, and it ran
under the bookcase. Polly marched straight after it, stooped down and
peeped under the bookcase, saying, in his funny way, with a cock of his
eye, ‘Come out and take a walk, my dear.’ I couldn’t help laughing,
which made Poll swear, and Aunt woke up and scolded us both.”
“Did the spider accept the old fellow’s invitation?” asked Laurie,
yawning.
“Yes, out it came, and away ran Polly, frightened to death, and
scrambled up on Aunt’s chair, calling out, ‘Catch her! Catch her! Catch
her!’ as I chased the spider.”
“That’s a lie! Oh, lor!” cried the parrot, pecking at Laurie’s toes.
“I’d wring your neck if you were mine, you old torment,” cried Laurie,
shaking his fist at the bird, who put his head on one side and gravely
croaked, “Allyluyer! bless your buttons, dear!”
“Now I’m ready,” said Amy, shutting the wardrobe and taking a piece of
paper out of her pocket. “I want you to read that, please, and tell me
if it is legal and right. I felt I ought to do it, for life is
uncertain and I don’t want any ill feeling over my tomb.”
Laurie bit his lips, and turning a little from the pensive speaker,
read the following document, with praiseworthy gravity, considering the
spelling:
MY LAST WILL AND TESTIMENT
I, Amy Curtis March, being in my sane mind, go give and bequeethe all
my earthly property—viz. to wit:—namely
To my father, my best pictures, sketches, maps, and works of art,
including frames. Also my $100, to do what he likes with.
To my mother, all my clothes, except the blue apron with pockets—also
my likeness, and my medal, with much love.
To my dear sister Margaret, I give my turkquoise ring (if I get it),
also my green box with the doves on it, also my piece of real lace for
her neck, and my sketch of her as a memorial of her ‘little girl’.
To Jo I leave my breastpin, the one mended with sealing wax, also my
bronze inkstand—she lost the cover—and my most precious plaster rabbit,
because I am sorry I burned up her story.
To Beth (if she lives after me) I give my dolls and the little bureau,
my fan, my linen collars and my new slippers if she can wear them being
thin when she gets well. And I herewith also leave her my regret that I
ever made fun of old Joanna.
To my friend and neighbor Theodore Laurence I bequeethe my paper mashay
portfolio, my clay model of a horse though he did say it hadn’t any
neck. Also in return for his great kindness in the hour of affliction
any one of my artistic works he likes, Noter Dame is the best.
To our venerable benefactor Mr. Laurence I leave my purple box with a
looking glass in the cover which will be nice for his pens and remind
him of the departed girl who thanks him for his favors to her family,
especially Beth.
I wish my favorite playmate Kitty Bryant to have the blue silk apron
and my gold-bead ring with a kiss.
To Hannah I give the bandbox she wanted and all the patchwork I leave
hoping she ‘will remember me, when it you see’.
And now having disposed of my most valuable property I hope all will be
satisfied and not blame the dead. I forgive everyone, and trust we may
all meet when the trump shall sound. Amen.
To this will and testiment I set my hand and seal on this 20th day of
Nov. Anni Domino 1861.
Amy Curtis March
Witnesses:
Estelle Valnor, Theodore Laurence.
The last name was written in pencil, and Amy explained that he was to
rewrite it in ink and seal it up for her properly.
“What put it into your head? Did anyone tell you about Beth’s giving
away her things?” asked Laurie soberly, as Amy laid a bit of red tape,
with sealing wax, a taper, and a standish before him.
She explained and then asked anxiously, “What about Beth?”
“I’m sorry I spoke, but as I did, I’ll tell you. She felt so ill one
day that she told Jo she wanted to give her piano to Meg, her cats to
you, and the poor old doll to Jo, who would love it for her sake. She
was sorry she had so little to give, and left locks of hair to the rest
of us, and her best love to Grandpa. She never thought of a will.”
Laurie was signing and sealing as he spoke, and did not look up till a
great tear dropped on the paper. Amy’s face was full of trouble, but
she only said, “Don’t people put sort of postscripts to their wills,
sometimes?”
“Yes, ‘codicils’, they call them.”
“Put one in mine then, that I wish all my curls cut off, and given
round to my friends. I forgot it, but I want it done though it will
spoil my looks.”
Laurie added it, smiling at Amy’s last and greatest sacrifice. Then he
amused her for an hour, and was much interested in all her trials. But
when he came to go, Amy held him back to whisper with trembling lips,
“Is there really any danger about Beth?”
“I’m afraid there is, but we must hope for the best, so don’t cry,
dear.” And Laurie put his arm about her with a brotherly gesture which
was very comforting.
When he had gone, she went to her little chapel, and sitting in the
twilight, prayed for Beth, with streaming tears and an aching heart,
feeling that a million turquoise rings would not console her for the
loss of her gentle little sister.
CHAPTER TWENTY
CONFIDENTIAL
I don’t think I have any words in which to tell the meeting of the
mother and daughters. Such hours are beautiful to live, but very hard
to describe, so I will leave it to the imagination of my readers,
merely saying that the house was full of genuine happiness, and that
Meg’s tender hope was realized, for when Beth woke from that long,
healing sleep, the first objects on which her eyes fell were the little
rose and Mother’s face. Too weak to wonder at anything, she only smiled
and nestled close in the loving arms about her, feeling that the hungry
longing was satisfied at last. Then she slept again, and the girls
waited upon their mother, for she would not unclasp the thin hand which
clung to hers even in sleep.
Hannah had ‘dished up’ an astonishing breakfast for the traveler,
finding it impossible to vent her excitement in any other way, and Meg
and Jo fed their mother like dutiful young storks, while they listened
to her whispered account of Father’s state, Mr. Brooke’s promise to
stay and nurse him, the delays which the storm occasioned on the
homeward journey, and the unspeakable comfort Laurie’s hopeful face had
given her when she arrived, worn out with fatigue, anxiety, and cold.
What a strange yet pleasant day that was. So brilliant and gay without,
for all the world seemed abroad to welcome the first snow. So quiet and
reposeful within, for everyone slept, spent with watching, and a
Sabbath stillness reigned through the house, while nodding Hannah
mounted guard at the door. With a blissful sense of burdens lifted off,
Meg and Jo closed their weary eyes, and lay at rest, like storm-beaten
boats safe at anchor in a quiet harbor. Mrs. March would not leave
Beth’s side, but rested in the big chair, waking often to look at,
touch, and brood over her child, like a miser over some recovered
treasure.
Laurie meanwhile posted off to comfort Amy, and told his story so well
that Aunt March actually ‘sniffed’ herself, and never once said “I told
you so”. Amy came out so strong on this occasion that I think the good
thoughts in the little chapel really began to bear fruit. She dried her
tears quickly, restrained her impatience to see her mother, and never
even thought of the turquoise ring, when the old lady heartily agreed
in Laurie’s opinion, that she behaved ‘like a capital little woman’.
Even Polly seemed impressed, for he called her a good girl, blessed her
buttons, and begged her to “come and take a walk, dear”, in his most
affable tone. She would very gladly have gone out to enjoy the bright
wintry weather, but discovering that Laurie was dropping with sleep in
spite of manful efforts to conceal the fact, she persuaded him to rest
on the sofa, while she wrote a note to her mother. She was a long time
about it, and when she returned, he was stretched out with both arms
under his head, sound asleep, while Aunt March had pulled down the
curtains and sat doing nothing in an unusual fit of benignity.
After a while, they began to think he was not going to wake up till
night, and I’m not sure that he would, had he not been effectually
roused by Amy’s cry of joy at sight of her mother. There probably were
a good many happy little girls in and about the city that day, but it
is my private opinion that Amy was the happiest of all, when she sat in
her mother’s lap and told her trials, receiving consolation and
compensation in the shape of approving smiles and fond caresses. They
were alone together in the chapel, to which her mother did not object
when its purpose was explained to her.
“On the contrary, I like it very much, dear,” looking from the dusty
rosary to the well-worn little book, and the lovely picture with its
garland of evergreen. “It is an excellent plan to have some place where
we can go to be quiet, when things vex or grieve us. There are a good
many hard times in this life of ours, but we can always bear them if we
ask help in the right way. I think my little girl is learning this.”
“Yes, Mother, and when I go home I mean to have a corner in the big
closet to put my books and the copy of that picture which I’ve tried to
make. The woman’s face is not good, it’s too beautiful for me to draw,
but the baby is done better, and I love it very much. I like to think
He was a little child once, for then I don’t seem so far away, and that
helps me.”
As Amy pointed to the smiling Christ child on his Mother’s knee, Mrs.
March saw something on the lifted hand that made her smile. She said
nothing, but Amy understood the look, and after a minute’s pause, she
added gravely, “I wanted to speak to you about this, but I forgot it.
Aunt gave me the ring today. She called me to her and kissed me, and
put it on my finger, and said I was a credit to her, and she’d like to
keep me always. She gave that funny guard to keep the turquoise on, as
it’s too big. I’d like to wear them Mother, can I?”
“They are very pretty, but I think you’re rather too young for such
ornaments, Amy,” said Mrs. March, looking at the plump little hand,
with the band of sky-blue stones on the forefinger, and the quaint
guard formed of two tiny golden hands clasped together.
“I’ll try not to be vain,” said Amy. “I don’t think I like it only
because it’s so pretty, but I want to wear it as the girl in the story
wore her bracelet, to remind me of something.”
“Do you mean Aunt March?” asked her mother, laughing.
“No, to remind me not to be selfish.” Amy looked so earnest and sincere
about it that her mother stopped laughing, and listened respectfully to
the little plan.
“I’ve thought a great deal lately about my ‘bundle of naughties’, and
being selfish is the largest one in it, so I’m going to try hard to
cure it, if I can. Beth isn’t selfish, and that’s the reason everyone
loves her and feels so bad at the thoughts of losing her. People
wouldn’t feel so bad about me if I was sick, and I don’t deserve to
have them, but I’d like to be loved and missed by a great many friends,
so I’m going to try and be like Beth all I can. I’m apt to forget my
resolutions, but if I had something always about me to remind me, I
guess I should do better. May we try this way?”
“Yes, but I have more faith in the corner of the big closet. Wear your
ring, dear, and do your best. I think you will prosper, for the sincere
wish to be good is half the battle. Now I must go back to Beth. Keep up
your heart, little daughter, and we will soon have you home again.”
That evening while Meg was writing to her father to report the
traveler’s safe arrival, Jo slipped upstairs into Beth’s room, and
finding her mother in her usual place, stood a minute twisting her
fingers in her hair, with a worried gesture and an undecided look.
“What is it, deary?” asked Mrs. March, holding out her hand, with a
face which invited confidence.
“I want to tell you something, Mother.”
“About Meg?”
“How quickly you guessed! Yes, it’s about her, and though it’s a little
thing, it fidgets me.”
“Beth is asleep. Speak low, and tell me all about it. That Moffat
hasn’t been here, I hope?” asked Mrs. March rather sharply.
“No. I should have shut the door in his face if he had,” said Jo,
settling herself on the floor at her mother’s feet. “Last summer Meg
left a pair of gloves over at the Laurences’ and only one was returned.
We forgot about it, till Teddy told me that Mr. Brooke owned that he
liked Meg but didn’t dare say so, she was so young and he so poor. Now,
isn’t it a dreadful state of things?”
“Do you think Meg cares for him?” asked Mrs. March, with an anxious
look.
“Mercy me! I don’t know anything about love and such nonsense!” cried
Jo, with a funny mixture of interest and contempt. “In novels, the
girls show it by starting and blushing, fainting away, growing thin,
and acting like fools. Now Meg does not do anything of the sort. She
eats and drinks and sleeps like a sensible creature, she looks straight
in my face when I talk about that man, and only blushes a little bit
when Teddy jokes about lovers. I forbid him to do it, but he doesn’t
mind me as he ought.”
“Then you fancy that Meg is not interested in John?”
“Who?” cried Jo, staring.
“Mr. Brooke. I call him ‘John’ now. We fell into the way of doing so at
the hospital, and he likes it.”
“Oh, dear! I know you’ll take his part. He’s been good to Father, and
you won’t send him away, but let Meg marry him, if she wants to. Mean
thing! To go petting Papa and helping you, just to wheedle you into
liking him.” And Jo pulled her hair again with a wrathful tweak.
“My dear, don’t get angry about it, and I will tell you how it
happened. John went with me at Mr. Laurence’s request, and was so
devoted to poor Father that we couldn’t help getting fond of him. He
was perfectly open and honorable about Meg, for he told us he loved
her, but would earn a comfortable home before he asked her to marry
him. He only wanted our leave to love her and work for her, and the
right to make her love him if he could. He is a truly excellent young
man, and we could not refuse to listen to him, but I will not consent
to Meg’s engaging herself so young.”
“Of course not. It would be idiotic! I knew there was mischief brewing.
I felt it, and now it’s worse than I imagined. I just wish I could
marry Meg myself, and keep her safe in the family.”
This odd arrangement made Mrs. March smile, but she said gravely, “Jo,
I confide in you and don’t wish you to say anything to Meg yet. When
John comes back, and I see them together, I can judge better of her
feelings toward him.”
“She’ll see those handsome eyes that she talks about, and then it will
be all up with her. She’s got such a soft heart, it will melt like
butter in the sun if anyone looks sentimentlly at her. She read the
short reports he sent more than she did your letters, and pinched me
when I spoke of it, and likes brown eyes, and doesn’t think John an
ugly name, and she’ll go and fall in love, and there’s an end of peace
and fun, and cozy times together. I see it all! They’ll go lovering
around the house, and we shall have to dodge. Meg will be absorbed and
no good to me any more. Brooke will scratch up a fortune somehow, carry
her off, and make a hole in the family, and I shall break my heart, and
everything will be abominably uncomfortable. Oh, dear me! Why weren’t
we all boys, then there wouldn’t be any bother.”
Jo leaned her chin on her knees in a disconsolate attitude and shook
her fist at the reprehensible John. Mrs. March sighed, and Jo looked up
with an air of relief.
“You don’t like it, Mother? I’m glad of it. Let’s send him about his
business, and not tell Meg a word of it, but all be happy together as
we always have been.”
“I did wrong to sigh, Jo. It is natural and right you should all go to
homes of your own in time, but I do want to keep my girls as long as I
can, and I am sorry that this happened so soon, for Meg is only
seventeen and it will be some years before John can make a home for
her. Your father and I have agreed that she shall not bind herself in
any way, nor be married, before twenty. If she and John love one
another, they can wait, and test the love by doing so. She is
conscientious, and I have no fear of her treating him unkindly. My
pretty, tender hearted girl! I hope things will go happily with her.”
“Hadn’t you rather have her marry a rich man?” asked Jo, as her
mother’s voice faltered a little over the last words.
“Money is a good and useful thing, Jo, and I hope my girls will never
feel the need of it too bitterly, nor be tempted by too much. I should
like to know that John was firmly established in some good business,
which gave him an income large enough to keep free from debt and make
Meg comfortable. I’m not ambitious for a splendid fortune, a
fashionable position, or a great name for my girls. If rank and money
come with love and virtue, also, I should accept them gratefully, and
enjoy your good fortune, but I know, by experience, how much genuine
happiness can be had in a plain little house, where the daily bread is
earned, and some privations give sweetness to the few pleasures. I am
content to see Meg begin humbly, for if I am not mistaken, she will be
rich in the possession of a good man’s heart, and that is better than a
fortune.”
“I understand, Mother, and quite agree, but I’m disappointed about Meg,
for I’d planned to have her marry Teddy by-and-by and sit in the lap of
luxury all her days. Wouldn’t it be nice?” asked Jo, looking up with a
brighter face.
“He is younger than she, you know,” began Mrs. March, but Jo broke
in...
“Only a little, he’s old for his age, and tall, and can be quite
grown-up in his manners if he likes. Then he’s rich and generous and
good, and loves us all, and I say it’s a pity my plan is spoiled.”
“I’m afraid Laurie is hardly grown-up enough for Meg, and altogether
too much of a weathercock just now for anyone to depend on. Don’t make
plans, Jo, but let time and their own hearts mate your friends. We
can’t meddle safely in such matters, and had better not get ‘romantic
rubbish’ as you call it, into our heads, lest it spoil our friendship.”
“Well, I won’t, but I hate to see things going all crisscross and
getting snarled up, when a pull here and a snip there would straighten
it out. I wish wearing flatirons on our heads would keep us from
growing up. But buds will be roses, and kittens cats, more’s the pity!”
“What’s that about flatirons and cats?” asked Meg, as she crept into
the room with the finished letter in her hand.
“Only one of my stupid speeches. I’m going to bed. Come, Peggy,” said
Jo, unfolding herself like an animated puzzle.
“Quite right, and beautifully written. Please add that I send my love
to John,” said Mrs. March, as she glanced over the letter and gave it
back.
“Do you call him ‘John’?” asked Meg, smiling, with her innocent eyes
looking down into her mother’s.
“Yes, he has been like a son to us, and we are very fond of him,”
replied Mrs. March, returning the look with a keen one.
“I’m glad of that, he is so lonely. Good night, Mother, dear. It is so
inexpressibly comfortable to have you here,” was Meg’s answer.
The kiss her mother gave her was a very tender one, and as she went
away, Mrs. March said, with a mixture of satisfaction and regret, “She
does not love John yet, but will soon learn to.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
LAURIE MAKES MISCHIEF, AND JO MAKES PEACE
Jo’s face was a study next day, for the secret rather weighed upon her,
and she found it hard not to look mysterious and important. Meg
observed it, but did not trouble herself to make inquiries, for she had
learned that the best way to manage Jo was by the law of contraries, so
she felt sure of being told everything if she did not ask. She was
rather surprised, therefore, when the silence remained unbroken, and Jo
assumed a patronizing air, which decidedly aggravated Meg, who in turn
assumed an air of dignified reserve and devoted herself to her mother.
This left Jo to her own devices, for Mrs. March had taken her place as
nurse, and bade her rest, exercise, and amuse herself after her long
confinement. Amy being gone, Laurie was her only refuge, and much as
she enjoyed his society, she rather dreaded him just then, for he was
an incorrigible tease, and she feared he would coax the secret from
her.
She was quite right, for the mischief-loving lad no sooner suspected a
mystery than he set himself to find it out, and led Jo a trying life of
it. He wheedled, bribed, ridiculed, threatened, and scolded; affected
indifference, that he might surprise the truth from her; declared he
knew, then that he didn’t care; and at last, by dint of perseverance,
he satisfied himself that it concerned Meg and Mr. Brooke. Feeling
indignant that he was not taken into his tutor’s confidence, he set his
wits to work to devise some proper retaliation for the slight.
Meg meanwhile had apparently forgotten the matter and was absorbed in
preparations for her father’s return, but all of a sudden a change
seemed to come over her, and, for a day or two, she was quite unlike
herself. She started when spoken to, blushed when looked at, was very
quiet, and sat over her sewing, with a timid, troubled look on her
face. To her mother’s inquiries she answered that she was quite well,
and Jo’s she silenced by begging to be let alone.
“She feels it in the air—love, I mean—and she’s going very fast. She’s
got most of the symptoms—is twittery and cross, doesn’t eat, lies
awake, and mopes in corners. I caught her singing that song he gave
her, and once she said ‘John’, as you do, and then turned as red as a
poppy. Whatever shall we do?” said Jo, looking ready for any measures,
however violent.
“Nothing but wait. Let her alone, be kind and patient, and Father’s
coming will settle everything,” replied her mother.
“Here’s a note to you, Meg, all sealed up. How odd! Teddy never seals
mine,” said Jo next day, as she distributed the contents of the little
post office.
Mrs. March and Jo were deep in their own affairs, when a sound from Meg
made them look up to see her staring at her note with a frightened
face.
“My child, what is it?” cried her mother, running to her, while Jo
tried to take the paper which had done the mischief.
“It’s all a mistake, he didn’t send it. Oh, Jo, how could you do it?”
and Meg hid her face in her hands, crying as if her heart were quite
broken.
“Me! I’ve done nothing! What’s she talking about?” cried Jo,
bewildered.
Meg’s mild eyes kindled with anger as she pulled a crumpled note from
her pocket and threw it at Jo, saying reproachfully, “You wrote it, and
that bad boy helped you. How could you be so rude, so mean, and cruel
to us both?”
Jo hardly heard her, for she and her mother were reading the note,
which was written in a peculiar hand.
“My Dearest Margaret,
“I can no longer restrain my passion, and must know my fate before I
return. I dare not tell your parents yet, but I think they would
consent if they knew that we adored one another. Mr. Laurence will help
me to some good place, and then, my sweet girl, you will make me happy.
I implore you to say nothing to your family yet, but to send one word
of hope through Laurie to,
“Your devoted John.”
“Oh, the little villain! That’s the way he meant to pay me for keeping
my word to Mother. I’ll give him a hearty scolding and bring him over
to beg pardon,” cried Jo, burning to execute immediate justice. But her
mother held her back, saying, with a look she seldom wore...
“Stop, Jo, you must clear yourself first. You have played so many
pranks that I am afraid you have had a hand in this.”
“On my word, Mother, I haven’t! I never saw that note before, and don’t
know anything about it, as true as I live!” said Jo, so earnestly that
they believed her. “If I had taken part in it I’d have done it better
than this, and have written a sensible note. I should think you’d have
known Mr. Brooke wouldn’t write such stuff as that,” she added,
scornfully tossing down the paper.
“It’s like his writing,” faltered Meg, comparing it with the note in
her hand.
“Oh, Meg, you didn’t answer it?” cried Mrs. March quickly.
“Yes, I did!” and Meg hid her face again, overcome with shame.
“Here’s a scrape! Do let me bring that wicked boy over to explain and
be lectured. I can’t rest till I get hold of him.” And Jo made for the
door again.
“Hush! Let me handle this, for it is worse than I thought. Margaret,
tell me the whole story,” commanded Mrs. March, sitting down by Meg,
yet keeping hold of Jo, lest she should fly off.
“I received the first letter from Laurie, who didn’t look as if he knew
anything about it,” began Meg, without looking up. “I was worried at
first and meant to tell you, then I remembered how you liked Mr.
Brooke, so I thought you wouldn’t mind if I kept my little secret for a
few days. I’m so silly that I liked to think no one knew, and while I
was deciding what to say, I felt like the girls in books, who have such
things to do. Forgive me, Mother, I’m paid for my silliness now. I
never can look him in the face again.”
“What did you say to him?” asked Mrs. March.
“I only said I was too young to do anything about it yet, that I didn’t
wish to have secrets from you, and he must speak to father. I was very
grateful for his kindness, and would be his friend, but nothing more,
for a long while.”
Mrs. March smiled, as if well pleased, and Jo clapped her hands,
exclaiming, with a laugh, “You are almost equal to Caroline Percy, who
was a pattern of prudence! Tell on, Meg. What did he say to that?”
“He writes in a different way entirely, telling me that he never sent
any love letter at all, and is very sorry that my roguish sister, Jo,
should take liberties with our names. It’s very kind and respectful,
but think how dreadful for me!”
Meg leaned against her mother, looking the image of despair, and Jo
tramped about the room, calling Laurie names. All of a sudden she
stopped, caught up the two notes, and after looking at them closely,
said decidedly, “I don’t believe Brooke ever saw either of these
letters. Teddy wrote both, and keeps yours to crow over me with because
I wouldn’t tell him my secret.”
“Don’t have any secrets, Jo. Tell it to Mother and keep out of trouble,
as I should have done,” said Meg warningly.
“Bless you, child! Mother told me.”
“That will do, Jo. I’ll comfort Meg while you go and get Laurie. I
shall sift the matter to the bottom, and put a stop to such pranks at
once.”
Away ran Jo, and Mrs. March gently told Meg Mr. Brooke’s real feelings.
“Now, dear, what are your own? Do you love him enough to wait till he
can make a home for you, or will you keep yourself quite free for the
present?”
“I’ve been so scared and worried, I don’t want to have anything to do
with lovers for a long while, perhaps never,” answered Meg petulantly.
“If John doesn’t know anything about this nonsense, don’t tell him, and
make Jo and Laurie hold their tongues. I won’t be deceived and plagued
and made a fool of. It’s a shame!”
Seeing Meg’s usually gentle temper was roused and her pride hurt by
this mischievous joke, Mrs. March soothed her by promises of entire
silence and great discretion for the future. The instant Laurie’s step
was heard in the hall, Meg fled into the study, and Mrs. March received
the culprit alone. Jo had not told him why he was wanted, fearing he
wouldn’t come, but he knew the minute he saw Mrs. March’s face, and
stood twirling his hat with a guilty air which convicted him at once.
Jo was dismissed, but chose to march up and down the hall like a
sentinel, having some fear that the prisoner might bolt. The sound of
voices in the parlor rose and fell for half an hour, but what happened
during that interview the girls never knew.
When they were called in, Laurie was standing by their mother with such
a penitent face that Jo forgave him on the spot, but did not think it
wise to betray the fact. Meg received his humble apology, and was much
comforted by the assurance that Brooke knew nothing of the joke.
“I’ll never tell him to my dying day, wild horses shan’t drag it out of
me, so you’ll forgive me, Meg, and I’ll do anything to show how
out-and-out sorry I am,” he added, looking very much ashamed of
himself.
“I’ll try, but it was a very ungentlemanly thing to do, I didn’t think
you could be so sly and malicious, Laurie,” replied Meg, trying to hide
her maidenly confusion under a gravely reproachful air.
“It was altogether abominable, and I don’t deserve to be spoken to for
a month, but you will, though, won’t you?” And Laurie folded his hands
together with such and imploring gesture, as he spoke in his
irresistibly persuasive tone, that it was impossible to frown upon him
in spite of his scandalous behavior.
Meg pardoned him, and Mrs. March’s grave face relaxed, in spite of her
efforts to keep sober, when she heard him declare that he would atone
for his sins by all sorts of penances, and abase himself like a worm
before the injured damsel.
Jo stood aloof, meanwhile, trying to harden her heart against him, and
succeeding only in primming up her face into an expression of entire
disapprobation. Laurie looked at her once or twice, but as she showed
no sign of relenting, he felt injured, and turned his back on her till
the others were done with him, when he made her a low bow and walked
off without a word.
As soon as he had gone, she wished she had been more forgiving, and
when Meg and her mother went upstairs, she felt lonely and longed for
Teddy. After resisting for some time, she yielded to the impulse, and
armed with a book to return, went over to the big house.
“Is Mr. Laurence in?” asked Jo, of a housemaid, who was coming
downstairs.
“Yes, Miss, but I don’t believe he’s seeable just yet.”
“Why not? Is he ill?”
“La, no Miss, but he’s had a scene with Mr. Laurie, who is in one of
his tantrums about something, which vexes the old gentleman, so I
dursn’t go nigh him.”
“Where is Laurie?”
“Shut up in his room, and he won’t answer, though I’ve been a-tapping.
I don’t know what’s to become of the dinner, for it’s ready, and
there’s no one to eat it.”
“I’ll go and see what the matter is. I’m not afraid of either of them.”
Up went Jo, and knocked smartly on the door of Laurie’s little study.
“Stop that, or I’ll open the door and make you!” called out the young
gentleman in a threatening tone.
Jo immediately knocked again. The door flew open, and in she bounced
before Laurie could recover from his surprise. Seeing that he really
was out of temper, Jo, who knew how to manage him, assumed a contrite
expression, and going artistically down upon her knees, said meekly,
“Please forgive me for being so cross. I came to make it up, and can’t
go away till I have.”
“It’s all right. Get up, and don’t be a goose, Jo,” was the cavalier
reply to her petition.
“Thank you, I will. Could I ask what’s the matter? You don’t look
exactly easy in your mind.”
“I’ve been shaken, and I won’t bear it!” growled Laurie indignantly.
“Who did it?” demanded Jo.
“Grandfather. If it had been anyone else I’d have...” And the injured
youth finished his sentence by an energetic gesture of the right arm.
“That’s nothing. I often shake you, and you don’t mind,” said Jo
soothingly.
“Pooh! You’re a girl, and it’s fun, but I’ll allow no man to shake me!”
“I don’t think anyone would care to try it, if you looked as much like
a thundercloud as you do now. Why were you treated so?”
“Just because I wouldn’t say what your mother wanted me for. I’d
promised not to tell, and of course I wasn’t going to break my word.”
“Couldn’t you satisfy your grandpa in any other way?”
“No, he would have the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the
truth. I’d have told my part of the scrape, if I could without bringing
Meg in. As I couldn’t, I held my tongue, and bore the scolding till the
old gentleman collared me. Then I bolted, for fear I should forget
myself.”
“It wasn’t nice, but he’s sorry, I know, so go down and make up. I’ll
help you.”
“Hanged if I do! I’m not going to be lectured and pummelled by
everyone, just for a bit of a frolic. I was sorry about Meg, and begged
pardon like a man, but I won’t do it again, when I wasn’t in the
wrong.”
“He didn’t know that.”
“He ought to trust me, and not act as if I was a baby. It’s no use, Jo,
he’s got to learn that I’m able to take care of myself, and don’t need
anyone’s apron string to hold on by.”
“What pepper pots you are!” sighed Jo. “How do you mean to settle this
affair?”
“Well, he ought to beg pardon, and believe me when I say I can’t tell
him what the fuss’s about.”
“Bless you! He won’t do that.”
“I won’t go down till he does.”
“Now, Teddy, be sensible. Let it pass, and I’ll explain what I can. You
can’t stay here, so what’s the use of being melodramatic?”
“I don’t intend to stay here long, anyway. I’ll slip off and take a
journey somewhere, and when Grandpa misses me he’ll come round fast
enough.”
“I dare say, but you ought not to go and worry him.”
“Don’t preach. I’ll go to Washington and see Brooke. It’s gay there,
and I’ll enjoy myself after the troubles.”
“What fun you’d have! I wish I could run off too,” said Jo, forgetting
her part of mentor in lively visions of martial life at the capital.
“Come on, then! Why not? You go and surprise your father, and I’ll stir
up old Brooke. It would be a glorious joke. Let’s do it, Jo. We’ll
leave a letter saying we are all right, and trot off at once. I’ve got
money enough. It will do you good, and no harm, as you go to your
father.”
For a moment Jo looked as if she would agree, for wild as the plan was,
it just suited her. She was tired of care and confinement, longed for
change, and thoughts of her father blended temptingly with the novel
charms of camps and hospitals, liberty and fun. Her eyes kindled as
they turned wistfully toward the window, but they fell on the old house
opposite, and she shook her head with sorrowful decision.
“If I was a boy, we’d run away together, and have a capital time, but
as I’m a miserable girl, I must be proper and stop at home. Don’t tempt
me, Teddy, it’s a crazy plan.”
“That’s the fun of it,” began Laurie, who had got a willful fit on him
and was possessed to break out of bounds in some way.
“Hold your tongue!” cried Jo, covering her ears. “‘Prunes and prisms’
are my doom, and I may as well make up my mind to it. I came here to
moralize, not to hear things that make me skip to think of.”
“I know Meg would wet-blanket such a proposal, but I thought you had
more spirit,” began Laurie insinuatingly.
“Bad boy, be quiet! Sit down and think of your own sins, don’t go
making me add to mine. If I get your grandpa to apologize for the
shaking, will you give up running away?” asked Jo seriously.
“Yes, but you won’t do it,” answered Laurie, who wished to make up, but
felt that his outraged dignity must be appeased first.
“If I can manage the young one, I can the old one,” muttered Jo, as she
walked away, leaving Laurie bent over a railroad map with his head
propped up on both hands.
“Come in!” and Mr. Laurence’s gruff voice sounded gruffer than ever, as
Jo tapped at his door.
“It’s only me, Sir, come to return a book,” she said blandly, as she
entered.
“Want any more?” asked the old gentleman, looking grim and vexed, but
trying not to show it.
“Yes, please. I like old Sam so well, I think I’ll try the second
volume,” returned Jo, hoping to propitiate him by accepting a second
dose of Boswell’s Johnson, as he had recommended that lively work.
The shaggy eyebrows unbent a little as he rolled the steps toward the
shelf where the Johnsonian literature was placed. Jo skipped up, and
sitting on the top step, affected to be searching for her book, but was
really wondering how best to introduce the dangerous object of her
visit. Mr. Laurence seemed to suspect that something was brewing in her
mind, for after taking several brisk turns about the room, he faced
round on her, speaking so abruptly that Rasselas tumbled face downward
on the floor.
“What has that boy been about? Don’t try to shield him. I know he has
been in mischief by the way he acted when he came home. I can’t get a
word from him, and when I threatened to shake the truth out of him he
bolted upstairs and locked himself into his room.”
“He did wrong, but we forgave him, and all promised not to say a word
to anyone,” began Jo reluctantly.
“That won’t do. He shall not shelter himself behind a promise from you
softhearted girls. If he’s done anything amiss, he shall confess, beg
pardon, and be punished. Out with it, Jo. I won’t be kept in the dark.”
Mr. Laurence looked so alarming and spoke so sharply that Jo would have
gladly run away, if she could, but she was perched aloft on the steps,
and he stood at the foot, a lion in the path, so she had to stay and
brave it out.
“Indeed, Sir, I cannot tell. Mother forbade it. Laurie has confessed,
asked pardon, and been punished quite enough. We don’t keep silence to
shield him, but someone else, and it will make more trouble if you
interfere. Please don’t. It was partly my fault, but it’s all right
now. So let’s forget it, and talk about the _Rambler_ or something
pleasant.”
“Hang the _Rambler!_ Come down and give me your word that this
harum-scarum boy of mine hasn’t done anything ungrateful or
impertinent. If he has, after all your kindness to him, I’ll thrash him
with my own hands.”
The threat sounded awful, but did not alarm Jo, for she knew the
irascible old gentleman would never lift a finger against his grandson,
whatever he might say to the contrary. She obediently descended, and
made as light of the prank as she could without betraying Meg or
forgetting the truth.
“Hum... ha... well, if the boy held his tongue because he promised, and
not from obstinacy, I’ll forgive him. He’s a stubborn fellow and hard
to manage,” said Mr. Laurence, rubbing up his hair till it looked as if
he had been out in a gale, and smoothing the frown from his brow with
an air of relief.
“So am I, but a kind word will govern me when all the king’s horses and
all the king’s men couldn’t,” said Jo, trying to say a kind word for
her friend, who seemed to get out of one scrape only to fall into
another.
“You think I’m not kind to him, hey?” was the sharp answer.
“Oh, dear no, Sir. You are rather too kind sometimes, and then just a
trifle hasty when he tries your patience. Don’t you think you are?”
Jo was determined to have it out now, and tried to look quite placid,
though she quaked a little after her bold speech. To her great relief
and surprise, the old gentleman only threw his spectacles onto the
table with a rattle and exclaimed frankly, “You’re right, girl, I am! I
love the boy, but he tries my patience past bearing, and I know how it
will end, if we go on so.”
“I’ll tell you, he’ll run away.” Jo was sorry for that speech the
minute it was made. She meant to warn him that Laurie would not bear
much restraint, and hoped he would be more forebearing with the lad.
Mr. Laurence’s ruddy face changed suddenly, and he sat down, with a
troubled glance at the picture of a handsome man, which hung over his
table. It was Laurie’s father, who had run away in his youth, and
married against the imperious old man’s will. Jo fancied he remembered
and regretted the past, and she wished she had held her tongue.
“He won’t do it unless he is very much worried, and only threatens it
sometimes, when he gets tired of studying. I often think I should like
to, especially since my hair was cut, so if you ever miss us, you may
advertise for two boys and look among the ships bound for India.”
She laughed as she spoke, and Mr. Laurence looked relieved, evidently
taking the whole as a joke.
“You hussy, how dare you talk in that way? Where’s your respect for me,
and your proper bringing up? Bless the boys and girls! What torments
they are, yet we can’t do without them,” he said, pinching her cheeks
good-humoredly. “Go and bring that boy down to his dinner, tell him
it’s all right, and advise him not to put on tragedy airs with his
grandfather. I won’t bear it.”
“He won’t come, Sir. He feels badly because you didn’t believe him when
he said he couldn’t tell. I think the shaking hurt his feelings very
much.”
Jo tried to look pathetic but must have failed, for Mr. Laurence began
to laugh, and she knew the day was won.
“I’m sorry for that, and ought to thank him for not shaking me, I
suppose. What the dickens does the fellow expect?” and the old
gentleman looked a trifle ashamed of his own testiness.
“If I were you, I’d write him an apology, Sir. He says he won’t come
down till he has one, and talks about Washington, and goes on in an
absurd way. A formal apology will make him see how foolish he is, and
bring him down quite amiable. Try it. He likes fun, and this way is
better than talking. I’ll carry it up, and teach him his duty.”
Mr. Laurence gave her a sharp look, and put on his spectacles, saying
slowly, “You’re a sly puss, but I don’t mind being managed by you and
Beth. Here, give me a bit of paper, and let us have done with this
nonsense.”
The note was written in the terms which one gentleman would use to
another after offering some deep insult. Jo dropped a kiss on the top
of Mr. Laurence’s bald head, and ran up to slip the apology under
Laurie’s door, advising him through the keyhole to be submissive,
decorous, and a few other agreeable impossibilities. Finding the door
locked again, she left the note to do its work, and was going quietly
away, when the young gentleman slid down the banisters, and waited for
her at the bottom, saying, with his most virtuous expression of
countenance, “What a good fellow you are, Jo! Did you get blown up?” he
added, laughing.
“No, he was pretty mild, on the whole.”
“Ah! I got it all round. Even you cast me off over there, and I felt
just ready to go to the deuce,” he began apologetically.
“Don’t talk that way, turn over a new leaf and begin again, Teddy, my
son.”
“I keep turning over new leaves, and spoiling them, as I used to spoil
my copybooks, and I make so many beginnings there never will be an
end,” he said dolefully.
“Go and eat your dinner, you’ll feel better after it. Men always croak
when they are hungry,” and Jo whisked out at the front door after that.
“That’s a ‘label’ on my ‘sect’,” answered Laurie, quoting Amy, as he
went to partake of humble pie dutifully with his grandfather, who was
quite saintly in temper and overwhelmingly respectful in manner all the
rest of the day.
Everyone thought the matter ended and the little cloud blown over, but
the mischief was done, for though others forgot it, Meg remembered. She
never alluded to a certain person, but she thought of him a good deal,
dreamed dreams more than ever, and once Jo, rummaging her sister’s desk
for stamps, found a bit of paper scribbled over with the words, ‘Mrs.
John Brooke’, whereat she groaned tragically and cast it into the fire,
feeling that Laurie’s prank had hastened the evil day for her.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
PLEASANT MEADOWS
Like sunshine after a storm were the peaceful weeks which followed. The
invalids improved rapidly, and Mr. March began to talk of returning
early in the new year. Beth was soon able to lie on the study sofa all
day, amusing herself with the well-beloved cats at first, and in time
with doll’s sewing, which had fallen sadly behind-hand. Her once active
limbs were so stiff and feeble that Jo took her for a daily airing
about the house in her strong arms. Meg cheerfully blackened and burned
her white hands cooking delicate messes for ‘the dear’, while Amy, a
loyal slave of the ring, celebrated her return by giving away as many
of her treasures as she could prevail on her sisters to accept.
As Christmas approached, the usual mysteries began to haunt the house,
and Jo frequently convulsed the family by proposing utterly impossible
or magnificently absurd ceremonies, in honor of this unusually merry
Christmas. Laurie was equally impracticable, and would have had
bonfires, skyrockets, and triumphal arches, if he had had his own way.
After many skirmishes and snubbings, the ambitious pair were considered
effectually quenched and went about with forlorn faces, which were
rather belied by explosions of laughter when the two got together.
Several days of unusually mild weather fitly ushered in a splendid
Christmas Day. Hannah ‘felt in her bones’ that it was going to be an
unusually fine day, and she proved herself a true prophetess, for
everybody and everything seemed bound to produce a grand success. To
begin with, Mr. March wrote that he should soon be with them, then Beth
felt uncommonly well that morning, and, being dressed in her mother’s
gift, a soft crimson merino wrapper, was borne in high triumph to the
window to behold the offering of Jo and Laurie. The Unquenchables had
done their best to be worthy of the name, for like elves they had
worked by night and conjured up a comical surprise. Out in the garden
stood a stately snow maiden, crowned with holly, bearing a basket of
fruit and flowers in one hand, a great roll of music in the other, a
perfect rainbow of an Afghan round her chilly shoulders, and a
Christmas carol issuing from her lips on a pink paper streamer.
THE JUNGFRAU TO BETH
God bless you, dear Queen Bess!
May nothing you dismay,
But health and peace and happiness
Be yours, this Christmas day.
Here’s fruit to feed our busy bee,
And flowers for her nose.
Here’s music for her pianee,
An afghan for her toes,
A portrait of Joanna, see,
By Raphael No. 2,
Who laboured with great industry
To make it fair and true.
Accept a ribbon red, I beg,
For Madam Purrer’s tail,
And ice cream made by lovely Peg,
A Mont Blanc in a pail.
Their dearest love my makers laid
Within my breast of snow.
Accept it, and the Alpine maid,
From Laurie and from Jo.
How Beth laughed when she saw it, how Laurie ran up and down to bring
in the gifts, and what ridiculous speeches Jo made as she presented
them.
“I’m so full of happiness, that if Father was only here, I couldn’t
hold one drop more,” said Beth, quite sighing with contentment as Jo
carried her off to the study to rest after the excitement, and to
refresh herself with some of the delicious grapes the ‘Jungfrau’ had
sent her.
“So am I,” added Jo, slapping the pocket wherein reposed the
long-desired _Undine and Sintram_.
“I’m sure I am,” echoed Amy, poring over the engraved copy of the
Madonna and Child, which her mother had given her in a pretty frame.
“Of course I am!” cried Meg, smoothing the silvery folds of her first
silk dress, for Mr. Laurence had insisted on giving it. “How can I be
otherwise?” said Mrs. March gratefully, as her eyes went from her
husband’s letter to Beth’s smiling face, and her hand caressed the
brooch made of gray and golden, chestnut and dark brown hair, which the
girls had just fastened on her breast.
Now and then, in this workaday world, things do happen in the
delightful storybook fashion, and what a comfort it is. Half an hour
after everyone had said they were so happy they could only hold one
drop more, the drop came. Laurie opened the parlor door and popped his
head in very quietly. He might just as well have turned a somersault
and uttered an Indian war whoop, for his face was so full of suppressed
excitement and his voice so treacherously joyful that everyone jumped
up, though he only said, in a queer, breathless voice, “Here’s another
Christmas present for the March family.”
Before the words were well out of his mouth, he was whisked away
somehow, and in his place appeared a tall man, muffled up to the eyes,
leaning on the arm of another tall man, who tried to say something and
couldn’t. Of course there was a general stampede, and for several
minutes everybody seemed to lose their wits, for the strangest things
were done, and no one said a word.
Mr. March became invisible in the embrace of four pairs of loving arms.
Jo disgraced herself by nearly fainting away, and had to be doctored by
Laurie in the china closet. Mr. Brooke kissed Meg entirely by mistake,
as he somewhat incoherently explained. And Amy, the dignified, tumbled
over a stool, and never stopping to get up, hugged and cried over her
father’s boots in the most touching manner. Mrs. March was the first to
recover herself, and held up her hand with a warning, “Hush! Remember
Beth.”
But it was too late. The study door flew open, the little red wrapper
appeared on the threshold, joy put strength into the feeble limbs, and
Beth ran straight into her father’s arms. Never mind what happened just
after that, for the full hearts overflowed, washing away the bitterness
of the past and leaving only the sweetness of the present.
It was not at all romantic, but a hearty laugh set everybody straight
again, for Hannah was discovered behind the door, sobbing over the fat
turkey, which she had forgotten to put down when she rushed up from the
kitchen. As the laugh subsided, Mrs. March began to thank Mr. Brooke
for his faithful care of her husband, at which Mr. Brooke suddenly
remembered that Mr. March needed rest, and seizing Laurie, he
precipitately retired. Then the two invalids were ordered to repose,
which they did, by both sitting in one big chair and talking hard.
Mr. March told how he had longed to surprise them, and how, when the
fine weather came, he had been allowed by his doctor to take advantage
of it, how devoted Brooke had been, and how he was altogether a most
estimable and upright young man. Why Mr. March paused a minute just
there, and after a glance at Meg, who was violently poking the fire,
looked at his wife with an inquiring lift of the eyebrows, I leave you
to imagine. Also why Mrs. March gently nodded her head and asked,
rather abruptly, if he wouldn’t like to have something to eat. Jo saw
and understood the look, and she stalked grimly away to get wine and
beef tea, muttering to herself as she slammed the door, “I hate
estimable young men with brown eyes!”
There never was such a Christmas dinner as they had that day. The fat
turkey was a sight to behold, when Hannah sent him up, stuffed,
browned, and decorated. So was the plum pudding, which melted in one’s
mouth, likewise the jellies, in which Amy reveled like a fly in a
honeypot. Everything turned out well, which was a mercy, Hannah said,
“For my mind was that flustered, Mum, that it’s a merrycle I didn’t
roast the pudding, and stuff the turkey with raisins, let alone bilin’
of it in a cloth.”
Mr. Laurence and his grandson dined with them, also Mr. Brooke, at whom
Jo glowered darkly, to Laurie’s infinite amusement. Two easy chairs
stood side by side at the head of the table, in which sat Beth and her
father, feasting modestly on chicken and a little fruit. They drank
healths, told stories, sang songs, ‘reminisced’, as the old folks say,
and had a thoroughly good time. A sleigh ride had been planned, but the
girls would not leave their father, so the guests departed early, and
as twilight gathered, the happy family sat together round the fire.
“Just a year ago we were groaning over the dismal Christmas we expected
to have. Do you remember?” asked Jo, breaking a short pause which had
followed a long conversation about many things.
“Rather a pleasant year on the whole!” said Meg, smiling at the fire,
and congratulating herself on having treated Mr. Brooke with dignity.
“I think it’s been a pretty hard one,” observed Amy, watching the light
shine on her ring with thoughtful eyes.
“I’m glad it’s over, because we’ve got you back,” whispered Beth, who
sat on her father’s knee.
“Rather a rough road for you to travel, my little pilgrims, especially
the latter part of it. But you have got on bravely, and I think the
burdens are in a fair way to tumble off very soon,” said Mr. March,
looking with fatherly satisfaction at the four young faces gathered
round him.
“How do you know? Did Mother tell you?” asked Jo.
“Not much. Straws show which way the wind blows, and I’ve made several
discoveries today.”
“Oh, tell us what they are!” cried Meg, who sat beside him.
“Here is one.” And taking up the hand which lay on the arm of his
chair, he pointed to the roughened forefinger, a burn on the back, and
two or three little hard spots on the palm. “I remember a time when
this hand was white and smooth, and your first care was to keep it so.
It was very pretty then, but to me it is much prettier now, for in this
seeming blemishes I read a little history. A burnt offering has been
made to vanity, this hardened palm has earned something better than
blisters, and I’m sure the sewing done by these pricked fingers will
last a long time, so much good will went into the stitches. Meg, my
dear, I value the womanly skill which keeps home happy more than white
hands or fashionable accomplishments. I’m proud to shake this good,
industrious little hand, and hope I shall not soon be asked to give it
away.”
If Meg had wanted a reward for hours of patient labor, she received it
in the hearty pressure of her father’s hand and the approving smile he
gave her.
“What about Jo? Please say something nice, for she has tried so hard
and been so very, very good to me,” said Beth in her father’s ear.
He laughed and looked across at the tall girl who sat opposite, with an
unusually mild expression in her face.
“In spite of the curly crop, I don’t see the ‘son Jo’ whom I left a
year ago,” said Mr. March. “I see a young lady who pins her collar
straight, laces her boots neatly, and neither whistles, talks slang,
nor lies on the rug as she used to do. Her face is rather thin and pale
just now, with watching and anxiety, but I like to look at it, for it
has grown gentler, and her voice is lower. She doesn’t bounce, but
moves quietly, and takes care of a certain little person in a motherly
way which delights me. I rather miss my wild girl, but if I get a
strong, helpful, tenderhearted woman in her place, I shall feel quite
satisfied. I don’t know whether the shearing sobered our black sheep,
but I do know that in all Washington I couldn’t find anything beautiful
enough to be bought with the five-and-twenty dollars my good girl sent
me.”
Jo’s keen eyes were rather dim for a minute, and her thin face grew
rosy in the firelight as she received her father’s praise, feeling that
she did deserve a portion of it.
“Now, Beth,” said Amy, longing for her turn, but ready to wait.
“There’s so little of her, I’m afraid to say much, for fear she will
slip away altogether, though she is not so shy as she used to be,”
began their father cheerfully. But recollecting how nearly he had lost
her, he held her close, saying tenderly, with her cheek against his
own, “I’ve got you safe, my Beth, and I’ll keep you so, please God.”
After a minute’s silence, he looked down at Amy, who sat on the cricket
at his feet, and said, with a caress of the shining hair...
“I observed that Amy took drumsticks at dinner, ran errands for her
mother all the afternoon, gave Meg her place tonight, and has waited on
every one with patience and good humor. I also observe that she does
not fret much nor look in the glass, and has not even mentioned a very
pretty ring which she wears, so I conclude that she has learned to
think of other people more and of herself less, and has decided to try
and mold her character as carefully as she molds her little clay
figures. I am glad of this, for though I should be very proud of a
graceful statue made by her, I shall be infinitely prouder of a lovable
daughter with a talent for making life beautiful to herself and
others.”
“What are you thinking of, Beth?” asked Jo, when Amy had thanked her
father and told about her ring.
“I read in _Pilgrim’s Progress_ today how, after many troubles,
Christian and Hopeful came to a pleasant green meadow where lilies
bloomed all year round, and there they rested happily, as we do now,
before they went on to their journey’s end,” answered Beth, adding, as
she slipped out of her father’s arms and went to the instrument, “It’s
singing time now, and I want to be in my old place. I’ll try to sing
the song of the shepherd boy which the Pilgrims heard. I made the music
for Father, because he likes the verses.”
So, sitting at the dear little piano, Beth softly touched the keys, and
in the sweet voice they had never thought to hear again, sang to her
own accompaniment the quaint hymn, which was a singularly fitting song
for her.
He that is down need fear no fall,
He that is low no pride.
He that is humble ever shall
Have God to be his guide.
I am content with what I have,
Little be it, or much.
And, Lord! Contentment still I crave,
Because Thou savest such.
Fulness to them a burden is,
That go on pilgrimage.
Here little, and hereafter bliss,
Is best from age to age!
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
AUNT MARCH SETTLES THE QUESTION
Like bees swarming after their queen, mother and daughters hovered
about Mr. March the next day, neglecting everything to look at, wait
upon, and listen to the new invalid, who was in a fair way to be killed
by kindness. As he sat propped up in a big chair by Beth’s sofa, with
the other three close by, and Hannah popping in her head now and then
‘to peek at the dear man’, nothing seemed needed to complete their
happiness. But something was needed, and the elder ones felt it, though
none confessed the fact. Mr. and Mrs. March looked at one another with
an anxious expression, as their eyes followed Meg. Jo had sudden fits
of sobriety, and was seen to shake her fist at Mr. Brooke’s umbrella,
which had been left in the hall. Meg was absent-minded, shy, and
silent, started when the bell rang, and colored when John’s name was
mentioned. Amy said, “Everyone seemed waiting for something, and
couldn’t settle down, which was queer, since Father was safe at home,”
and Beth innocently wondered why their neighbors didn’t run over as
usual.
Laurie went by in the afternoon, and seeing Meg at the window, seemed
suddenly possessed with a melodramatic fit, for he fell down on one
knee in the snow, beat his breast, tore his hair, and clasped his hands
imploringly, as if begging some boon. And when Meg told him to behave
himself and go away, he wrung imaginary tears out of his handkerchief,
and staggered round the corner as if in utter despair.
“What does the goose mean?” said Meg, laughing and trying to look
unconscious.
“He’s showing you how your John will go on by-and-by. Touching, isn’t
it?” answered Jo scornfully.
“Don’t say my John, it isn’t proper or true,” but Meg’s voice lingered
over the words as if they sounded pleasant to her. “Please don’t plague
me, Jo, I’ve told you I don’t care much about him, and there isn’t to
be anything said, but we are all to be friendly, and go on as before.”
“We can’t, for something has been said, and Laurie’s mischief has
spoiled you for me. I see it, and so does Mother. You are not like your
old self a bit, and seem ever so far away from me. I don’t mean to
plague you and will bear it like a man, but I do wish it was all
settled. I hate to wait, so if you mean ever to do it, make haste and
have it over quickly,” said Jo pettishly.
“I can’t say anything till he speaks, and he won’t, because Father said
I was too young,” began Meg, bending over her work with a queer little
smile, which suggested that she did not quite agree with her father on
that point.
“If he did speak, you wouldn’t know what to say, but would cry or
blush, or let him have his own way, instead of giving a good, decided
no.”
“I’m not so silly and weak as you think. I know just what I should say,
for I’ve planned it all, so I needn’t be taken unawares. There’s no
knowing what may happen, and I wished to be prepared.”
Jo couldn’t help smiling at the important air which Meg had
unconsciously assumed and which was as becoming as the pretty color
varying in her cheeks.
“Would you mind telling me what you’d say?” asked Jo more respectfully.
“Not at all. You are sixteen now, quite old enough to be my confidant,
and my experience will be useful to you by-and-by, perhaps, in your own
affairs of this sort.”
“Don’t mean to have any. It’s fun to watch other people philander, but
I should feel like a fool doing it myself,” said Jo, looking alarmed at
the thought.
“I think not, if you liked anyone very much, and he liked you.” Meg
spoke as if to herself, and glanced out at the lane where she had often
seen lovers walking together in the summer twilight.
“I thought you were going to tell your speech to that man,” said Jo,
rudely shortening her sister’s little reverie.
“Oh, I should merely say, quite calmly and decidedly, ‘Thank you, Mr.
Brooke, you are very kind, but I agree with Father that I am too young
to enter into any engagement at present, so please say no more, but let
us be friends as we were.’”
“Hum, that’s stiff and cool enough! I don’t believe you’ll ever say it,
and I know he won’t be satisfied if you do. If he goes on like the
rejected lovers in books, you’ll give in, rather than hurt his
feelings.”
“No, I won’t. I shall tell him I’ve made up my mind, and shall walk out
of the room with dignity.”
Meg rose as she spoke, and was just going to rehearse the dignified
exit, when a step in the hall made her fly into her seat and begin to
sew as fast as if her life depended on finishing that particular seam
in a given time. Jo smothered a laugh at the sudden change, and when
someone gave a modest tap, opened the door with a grim aspect which was
anything but hospitable.
“Good afternoon. I came to get my umbrella, that is, to see how your
father finds himself today,” said Mr. Brooke, getting a trifle confused
as his eyes went from one telltale face to the other.
“It’s very well, he’s in the rack. I’ll get him, and tell it you are
here.” And having jumbled her father and the umbrella well together in
her reply, Jo slipped out of the room to give Meg a chance to make her
speech and air her dignity. But the instant she vanished, Meg began to
sidle toward the door, murmuring...
“Mother will like to see you. Pray sit down, I’ll call her.”
“Don’t go. Are you afraid of me, Margaret?” and Mr. Brooke looked so
hurt that Meg thought she must have done something very rude. She
blushed up to the little curls on her forehead, for he had never called
her Margaret before, and she was surprised to find how natural and
sweet it seemed to hear him say it. Anxious to appear friendly and at
her ease, she put out her hand with a confiding gesture, and said
gratefully...
“How can I be afraid when you have been so kind to Father? I only wish
I could thank you for it.”
“Shall I tell you how?” asked Mr. Brooke, holding the small hand fast
in both his own, and looking down at Meg with so much love in the brown
eyes that her heart began to flutter, and she both longed to run away
and to stop and listen.
“Oh no, please don’t, I’d rather not,” she said, trying to withdraw her
hand, and looking frightened in spite of her denial.
“I won’t trouble you. I only want to know if you care for me a little,
Meg. I love you so much, dear,” added Mr. Brooke tenderly.
This was the moment for the calm, proper speech, but Meg didn’t make
it. She forgot every word of it, hung her head, and answered, “I don’t
know,” so softly that John had to stoop down to catch the foolish
little reply.
He seemed to think it was worth the trouble, for he smiled to himself
as if quite satisfied, pressed the plump hand gratefully, and said in
his most persuasive tone, “Will you try and find out? I want to know so
much, for I can’t go to work with any heart until I learn whether I am
to have my reward in the end or not.”
“I’m too young,” faltered Meg, wondering why she was so fluttered, yet
rather enjoying it.
“I’ll wait, and in the meantime, you could be learning to like me.
Would it be a very hard lesson, dear?”
“Not if I chose to learn it, but. . .”
“Please choose to learn, Meg. I love to teach, and this is easier than
German,” broke in John, getting possession of the other hand, so that
she had no way of hiding her face as he bent to look into it.
His tone was properly beseeching, but stealing a shy look at him, Meg
saw that his eyes were merry as well as tender, and that he wore the
satisfied smile of one who had no doubt of his success. This nettled
her. Annie Moffat’s foolish lessons in coquetry came into her mind, and
the love of power, which sleeps in the bosoms of the best of little
women, woke up all of a sudden and took possession of her. She felt
excited and strange, and not knowing what else to do, followed a
capricious impulse, and, withdrawing her hands, said petulantly, “I
don’t choose. Please go away and let me be!”
Poor Mr. Brooke looked as if his lovely castle in the air was tumbling
about his ears, for he had never seen Meg in such a mood before, and it
rather bewildered him.
“Do you really mean that?” he asked anxiously, following her as she
walked away.
“Yes, I do. I don’t want to be worried about such things. Father says I
needn’t, it’s too soon and I’d rather not.”
“Mayn’t I hope you’ll change your mind by-and-by? I’ll wait and say
nothing till you have had more time. Don’t play with me, Meg. I didn’t
think that of you.”
“Don’t think of me at all. I’d rather you wouldn’t,” said Meg, taking a
naughty satisfaction in trying her lover’s patience and her own power.
He was grave and pale now, and looked decidedly more like the novel
heroes whom she admired, but he neither slapped his forehead nor
tramped about the room as they did. He just stood looking at her so
wistfully, so tenderly, that she found her heart relenting in spite of
herself. What would have happened next I cannot say, if Aunt March had
not come hobbling in at this interesting minute.
The old lady couldn’t resist her longing to see her nephew, for she had
met Laurie as she took her airing, and hearing of Mr. March’s arrival,
drove straight out to see him. The family were all busy in the back
part of the house, and she had made her way quietly in, hoping to
surprise them. She did surprise two of them so much that Meg started as
if she had seen a ghost, and Mr. Brooke vanished into the study.
“Bless me, what’s all this?” cried the old lady with a rap of her cane
as she glanced from the pale young gentleman to the scarlet young lady.
“It’s Father’s friend. I’m so surprised to see you!” stammered Meg,
feeling that she was in for a lecture now.
“That’s evident,” returned Aunt March, sitting down. “But what is
Father’s friend saying to make you look like a peony? There’s mischief
going on, and I insist upon knowing what it is,” with another rap.
“We were only talking. Mr. Brooke came for his umbrella,” began Meg,
wishing that Mr. Brooke and the umbrella were safely out of the house.
“Brooke? That boy’s tutor? Ah! I understand now. I know all about it.
Jo blundered into a wrong message in one of your Father’s letters, and
I made her tell me. You haven’t gone and accepted him, child?” cried
Aunt March, looking scandalized.
“Hush! He’ll hear. Shan’t I call Mother?” said Meg, much troubled.
“Not yet. I’ve something to say to you, and I must free my mind at
once. Tell me, do you mean to marry this Cook? If you do, not one penny
of my money ever goes to you. Remember that, and be a sensible girl,”
said the old lady impressively.
Now Aunt March possessed in perfection the art of rousing the spirit of
opposition in the gentlest people, and enjoyed doing it. The best of us
have a spice of perversity in us, especially when we are young and in
love. If Aunt March had begged Meg to accept John Brooke, she would
probably have declared she couldn’t think of it, but as she was
preemptorily ordered not to like him, she immediately made up her mind
that she would. Inclination as well as perversity made the decision
easy, and being already much excited, Meg opposed the old lady with
unusual spirit.
“I shall marry whom I please, Aunt March, and you can leave your money
to anyone you like,” she said, nodding her head with a resolute air.
“Highty-tighty! Is that the way you take my advice, Miss? You’ll be
sorry for it by-and-by, when you’ve tried love in a cottage and found
it a failure.”
“It can’t be a worse one than some people find in big houses,” retorted
Meg.
Aunt March put on her glasses and took a look at the girl, for she did
not know her in this new mood. Meg hardly knew herself, she felt so
brave and independent, so glad to defend John and assert her right to
love him, if she liked. Aunt March saw that she had begun wrong, and
after a little pause, made a fresh start, saying as mildly as she
could, “Now, Meg, my dear, be reasonable and take my advice. I mean it
kindly, and don’t want you to spoil your whole life by making a mistake
at the beginning. You ought to marry well and help your family. It’s
your duty to make a rich match and it ought to be impressed upon you.”
“Father and Mother don’t think so. They like John though he is poor.”
“Your parents, my dear, have no more worldly wisdom than a pair of
babies.”
“I’m glad of it,” cried Meg stoutly.
Aunt March took no notice, but went on with her lecture. “This Rook is
poor and hasn’t got any rich relations, has he?”
“No, but he has many warm friends.”
“You can’t live on friends, try it and see how cool they’ll grow. He
hasn’t any business, has he?”
“Not yet. Mr. Laurence is going to help him.”
“That won’t last long. James Laurence is a crotchety old fellow and not
to be depended on. So you intend to marry a man without money,
position, or business, and go on working harder than you do now, when
you might be comfortable all your days by minding me and doing better?
I thought you had more sense, Meg.”
“I couldn’t do better if I waited half my life! John is good and wise,
he’s got heaps of talent, he’s willing to work and sure to get on, he’s
so energetic and brave. Everyone likes and respects him, and I’m proud
to think he cares for me, though I’m so poor and young and silly,” said
Meg, looking prettier than ever in her earnestness.
“He knows you have got rich relations, child. That’s the secret of his
liking, I suspect.”
“Aunt March, how dare you say such a thing? John is above such
meanness, and I won’t listen to you a minute if you talk so,” cried Meg
indignantly, forgetting everything but the injustice of the old lady’s
suspicions. “My John wouldn’t marry for money, any more than I would.
We are willing to work and we mean to wait. I’m not afraid of being
poor, for I’ve been happy so far, and I know I shall be with him
because he loves me, and I...”
Meg stopped there, remembering all of a sudden that she hadn’t made up
her mind, that she had told ‘her John’ to go away, and that he might be
overhearing her inconsistent remarks.
Aunt March was very angry, for she had set her heart on having her
pretty niece make a fine match, and something in the girl’s happy young
face made the lonely old woman feel both sad and sour.
“Well, I wash my hands of the whole affair! You are a willful child,
and you’ve lost more than you know by this piece of folly. No, I won’t
stop. I’m disappointed in you, and haven’t spirits to see your father
now. Don’t expect anything from me when you are married. Your Mr.
Brooke’s friends must take care of you. I’m done with you forever.”
And slamming the door in Meg’s face, Aunt March drove off in high
dudgeon. She seemed to take all the girl’s courage with her, for when
left alone, Meg stood for a moment, undecided whether to laugh or cry.
Before she could make up her mind, she was taken possession of by Mr.
Brooke, who said all in one breath, “I couldn’t help hearing, Meg.
Thank you for defending me, and Aunt March for proving that you do care
for me a little bit.”
“I didn’t know how much till she abused you,” began Meg.
“And I needn’t go away, but may stay and be happy, may I, dear?”
Here was another fine chance to make the crushing speech and the
stately exit, but Meg never thought of doing either, and disgraced
herself forever in Jo’s eyes by meekly whispering, “Yes, John,” and
hiding her face on Mr. Brooke’s waistcoat.
Fifteen minutes after Aunt March’s departure, Jo came softly
downstairs, paused an instant at the parlor door, and hearing no sound
within, nodded and smiled with a satisfied expression, saying to
herself, “She has seen him away as we planned, and that affair is
settled. I’ll go and hear the fun, and have a good laugh over it.”
But poor Jo never got her laugh, for she was transfixed upon the
threshold by a spectacle which held her there, staring with her mouth
nearly as wide open as her eyes. Going in to exult over a fallen enemy
and to praise a strong-minded sister for the banishment of an
objectionable lover, it certainly was a shock to behold the aforesaid
enemy serenely sitting on the sofa, with the strongminded sister
enthroned upon his knee and wearing an expression of the most abject
submission. Jo gave a sort of gasp, as if a cold shower bath had
suddenly fallen upon her, for such an unexpected turning of the tables
actually took her breath away. At the odd sound the lovers turned and
saw her. Meg jumped up, looking both proud and shy, but ‘that man’, as
Jo called him, actually laughed and said coolly, as he kissed the
astonished newcomer, “Sister Jo, congratulate us!”
That was adding insult to injury, it was altogether too much, and
making some wild demonstration with her hands, Jo vanished without a
word. Rushing upstairs, she startled the invalids by exclaiming
tragically as she burst into the room, “Oh, do somebody go down quick!
John Brooke is acting dreadfully, and Meg likes it!”
Mr. and Mrs. March left the room with speed, and casting herself upon
the bed, Jo cried and scolded tempestuously as she told the awful news
to Beth and Amy. The little girls, however, considered it a most
agreeable and interesting event, and Jo got little comfort from them,
so she went up to her refuge in the garret, and confided her troubles
to the rats.
Nobody ever knew what went on in the parlor that afternoon, but a great
deal of talking was done, and quiet Mr. Brooke astonished his friends
by the eloquence and spirit with which he pleaded his suit, told his
plans, and persuaded them to arrange everything just as he wanted it.
The tea bell rang before he had finished describing the paradise which
he meant to earn for Meg, and he proudly took her in to supper, both
looking so happy that Jo hadn’t the heart to be jealous or dismal. Amy
was very much impressed by John’s devotion and Meg’s dignity, Beth
beamed at them from a distance, while Mr. and Mrs. March surveyed the
young couple with such tender satisfaction that it was perfectly
evident Aunt March was right in calling them as ‘unworldly as a pair of
babies’. No one ate much, but everyone looked very happy, and the old
room seemed to brighten up amazingly when the first romance of the
family began there.
“You can’t say nothing pleasant ever happens now, can you, Meg?” said
Amy, trying to decide how she would group the lovers in a sketch she
was planning to make.
“No, I’m sure I can’t. How much has happened since I said that! It
seems a year ago,” answered Meg, who was in a blissful dream lifted far
above such common things as bread and butter.
“The joys come close upon the sorrows this time, and I rather think the
changes have begun,” said Mrs. March. “In most families there comes,
now and then, a year full of events. This has been such a one, but it
ends well, after all.”
“Hope the next will end better,” muttered Jo, who found it very hard to
see Meg absorbed in a stranger before her face, for Jo loved a few
persons very dearly and dreaded to have their affection lost or
lessened in any way.
“I hope the third year from this will end better. I mean it shall, if I
live to work out my plans,” said Mr. Brooke, smiling at Meg, as if
everything had become possible to him now.
“Doesn’t it seem very long to wait?” asked Amy, who was in a hurry for
the wedding.
“I’ve got so much to learn before I shall be ready, it seems a short
time to me,” answered Meg, with a sweet gravity in her face never seen
there before.
“You have only to wait, I am to do the work,” said John beginning his
labors by picking up Meg’s napkin, with an expression which caused Jo
to shake her head, and then say to herself with an air of relief as the
front door banged, “Here comes Laurie. Now we shall have some sensible
conversation.”
But Jo was mistaken, for Laurie came prancing in, overflowing with good
spirits, bearing a great bridal-looking bouquet for ‘Mrs. John Brooke’,
and evidently laboring under the delusion that the whole affair had
been brought about by his excellent management.
“I knew Brooke would have it all his own way, he always does, for when
he makes up his mind to accomplish anything, it’s done though the sky
falls,” said Laurie, when he had presented his offering and his
congratulations.
“Much obliged for that recommendation. I take it as a good omen for the
future and invite you to my wedding on the spot,” answered Mr. Brooke,
who felt at peace with all mankind, even his mischievous pupil.
“I’ll come if I’m at the ends of the earth, for the sight of Jo’s face
alone on that occasion would be worth a long journey. You don’t look
festive, ma’am, what’s the matter?” asked Laurie, following her into a
corner of the parlor, whither all had adjourned to greet Mr. Laurence.
“I don’t approve of the match, but I’ve made up my mind to bear it, and
shall not say a word against it,” said Jo solemnly. “You can’t know how
hard it is for me to give up Meg,” she continued with a little quiver
in her voice.
“You don’t give her up. You only go halves,” said Laurie consolingly.
“It can never be the same again. I’ve lost my dearest friend,” sighed
Jo.
“You’ve got me, anyhow. I’m not good for much, I know, but I’ll stand
by you, Jo, all the days of my life. Upon my word I will!” and Laurie
meant what he said.
“I know you will, and I’m ever so much obliged. You are always a great
comfort to me, Teddy,” returned Jo, gratefully shaking hands.
“Well, now, don’t be dismal, there’s a good fellow. It’s all right you
see. Meg is happy, Brooke will fly round and get settled immediately,
Grandpa will attend to him, and it will be very jolly to see Meg in her
own little house. We’ll have capital times after she is gone, for I
shall be through college before long, and then we’ll go abroad on some
nice trip or other. Wouldn’t that console you?”
“I rather think it would, but there’s no knowing what may happen in
three years,” said Jo thoughtfully.
“That’s true. Don’t you wish you could take a look forward and see
where we shall all be then? I do,” returned Laurie.
“I think not, for I might see something sad, and everyone looks so
happy now, I don’t believe they could be much improved.” And Jo’s eyes
went slowly round the room, brightening as they looked, for the
prospect was a pleasant one.
Father and Mother sat together, quietly reliving the first chapter of
the romance which for them began some twenty years ago. Amy was drawing
the lovers, who sat apart in a beautiful world of their own, the light
of which touched their faces with a grace the little artist could not
copy. Beth lay on her sofa, talking cheerily with her old friend, who
held her little hand as if he felt that it possessed the power to lead
him along the peaceful way she walked. Jo lounged in her favorite low
seat, with the grave quiet look which best became her, and Laurie,
leaning on the back of her chair, his chin on a level with her curly
head, smiled with his friendliest aspect, and nodded at her in the long
glass which reflected them both.
So the curtain falls upon Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy. Whether it ever rises
again, depends upon the reception given the first act of the domestic
drama called _Little Women_.