"O my good lord, the world is but a word;
Were it all yours, to give it in a breath,
How quickly were it gone."
Shakespeare.
The end of the week found the Dinsmores and Mildred in Philadelphia,
very busy with sight-seeing and shopping. Each one of the party was to
be furnished with a suitable outfit for fall and the coming winter, and
Mildred had a long list of commissions from her mother.
Mrs. Dinsmore showed herself keenly interested in the purchase of
her own and her children's finery, languidly so in Mildred's; these
procured, she immediately declared herself completely worn out and
unfit for further exertion.
No one regretted it; Mildred had learned to rely to a great extent upon
her own taste and judgment, and with Mr. Dinsmore's efficient help
succeeded quite to her satisfaction in filling out the remainder of her
list.
To him fell the task of buying for his little granddaughter, and
Mildred was not a little gratified by being taken into his counsels
and invited to assist his choice of materials and the fashion in which
they should be made up.
Spite of some drawbacks to her pleasure, principally caused by Mrs.
Dinsmore's infirmities of temper, Mildred thoroughly enjoyed her stay
in the City of Brotherly Love.
It was drawing to a close, when, on coming down from her room one
morning and entering the private parlor of their party, she was met by
a joyous greeting from little Elsie.
"O Cousin Milly, I'm so glad! Grandpa has got a letter from my papa,
and my papa says Elsie must go and buy some pretty presents for all the
folks at your home. Isn't that ever so nice?"
"Thank you, darling, you and your papa," Mildred said, stooping to
caress the child. "He is very kind, and I know your generous little
heart can find no greater pleasure than in giving to others."
"She's a Dinsmore in that," her grandfather said with a proud smile;
"they have always esteemed it the greatest luxury wealth can purchase.
And Elsie is fortunately abundantly able to gratify herself in that
way, and her father has given her carte blanche (subject to my
approval, of course); so, my dear, you are not to object to anything
we may take it into our heads to do."
He patted Elsie's curly pate as he spoke, and looked smilingly into
Mildred's eyes.
"You are very kind now and always, uncle," the young girl responded,
returning his smile and blushing slightly; "and I don't know that I
have a right to object to anything that is not done for myself."
The entrance of Mrs. Dinsmore and her children simultaneously with the
bringing in of breakfast, put a stop to the conversation.
"Well, Mildred, if it suits your convenience, we will set out at once
upon this final shopping expedition," her uncle said as they left the
table; and her consent being given, he directed Chloe to make Elsie
ready to accompany them.
The child was in her element as they went from one store to another,
and she chose, with the assistance of her grandfather and cousin, her
gifts to Mildred's parents, brothers, and sisters.
At length they entered the largest jewelry establishment in the city,
and Mr. Dinsmore asked to be shown some of their best gold watches for
ladies.
"I am commissioned to select one for a lady friend," he said to
Mildred in a grave, half-preoccupied tone as the jeweller promptly
complied with his request, "and I want your assistance in making a
choice."
"But I am no judge of a watch, uncle," she returned; "Elsie here could
select about as well as I."
"Elsie shall have her say about it, too," Mr. Dinsmore said, looking
smilingly from one to the other. "All I want from either of you is an
opinion in regard to the outside appearance, while this gentleman and I
will judge of the quality of the works."
They presently made a selection of both watch and chain satisfactory
to all parties. Elsie chose a plain gold ring for Mildred, and one for
each of her sisters, and they left the store.
Elsie whispered something to her grandfather as he took his seat beside
her in the carriage.
He shook his head. "Wait till we get home," he said rather curtly; "we
are going now to choose the new piano."
It was for the drawing-room at Roselands, and he took Mildred with him
to try the instruments and tell him which she thought the best and
finest toned.
Mildred was equally charmed with several--two in particular--and they
had some little difficulty in fixing upon the one that should be
ordered to Roselands.
"I will leave it undecided for to-day," Mr. Dinsmore said at length,
"and will call again to-morrow."
On the way to their hotel, and when arrived there, little Elsie seemed
all eagerness, yet kept it in check in obedience to an occasional
warning look from her grandfather.
Mildred went directly to her room to remove her bonnet and shawl, then
sat down in a low chair by the window to rest and think while awaiting
the summons to dinner.
She had scarcely done so when there was a gentle tap, as of baby
fingers, at her door, and Elsie's sweet voice was heard asking in
eager, excited tones for admittance.
"Yes, darling, come in," Mildred answered; and the door flew open and
the child ran in, closely followed by her mammy.
The small hands held a jewel-case, and the large, soft brown eyes were
full of love and delight as she hastened to place it in Mildred's lap,
saying, "It's for you, cousin; my papa said in his letter that Elsie
might buy it for you."
She raised the lid. "See, Cousin Milly, see! Aren't you so glad?"
There lay the watch and chain they had helped Mr. Dinsmore select that
morning.
A watch was a far greater luxury in those days than it is now, and this
a costly and beautiful one. Mildred could scarcely believe the evidence
of her senses; surely it must be all a dream. She gazed at the child in
dumb surprise.
Elsie lifted her pretty present with dainty care, threw the chain round
Mildred's neck, and slid the watch into the bosom of her dress; then
stepping back a little to take a better view, "See, mammy, see!" she
cried, clapping her hands and dancing up and down in delight, "doesn't
it look pretty on cousin?"
"Jus' lubly, honey. Don't Miss Milly like it?"
Aunt Chloe's look into Mildred's face was half reproachful, half
entreating. Could it be possible that her darling's beautiful, costly
gift was not appreciated?
"Like it?" cried Mildred, catching the child in her arms and covering
the little face with kisses, a tear or two mingling with them to the
great wonderment of the little one; "like it? Oh it is only too lovely
and expensive to be bestowed upon me! Sweet pet, you should keep it
for yourself. Cousin Milly ought not to take it from you."
"Yes, papa did say so in his letter. Grandpa read the words to Elsie.
And when I's big enough I is to have my mamma's watch."
"But it cost so much," murmured Mildred half to herself, as she drew
out the watch and gazed at it with admiring eyes.
"My chile hab plenty ob money," responded Aunt Chloe, "and houses
and land and eberyting ob dis world's riches; and she lubs you, Miss
Milly, and ef you don' take dat watch and chain she will most break her
bressed little heart. Won't you, honey?"
The child nodded, and the soft eyes gazing into Mildred's filled with
tears. It was impossible to resist their eloquent pleading.
"Then cousin will accept it with her heartiest thanks, and value it
more for the sake of the dear little giver than for its usefulness, its
beauty, or its cost," Mildred said, taking Elsie on her lap and holding
her in a close, loving embrace. "Dear little girlie," she murmured
tenderly, "cousin will never intentionally rob you of the smallest
pleasure or plant the least thorn in your path."
Another light tap at the door, and Mr. Dinsmore joined them. "Ah! that
is right," he said with a smiling glance at the chain about Mildred's
neck.
"Uncle, it is too much. You should not have allowed it. How could you?"
Mildred asked half reproachfully.
"I only obeyed orders," was his laughing rejoinder. "Horace feels, as I
do also, that we owe a debt of gratitude to your mother--to say nothing
of the affection we have for you all; and he knows from the reports
I have given him of his child that he could not afford her a greater
gratification than the permission to do this. Beside, you have been
extremely kind to her, and ought not to object to her making you some
small return in the only way she can."
"O uncle! her love and sweet caresses have more than recompensed the
little I have been able to do for her, the darling!" cried Mildred,
heaping fresh caresses upon the little fair one.
Mr. Lord called that afternoon to report himself as arrived in
the city, and to inquire if it were Mildred's intention to accept
his escort on the homeward journey. His stay would necessarily be
short--not more than two or three days.
Mildred met him with outstretched hand and eyes shining with pleasure.
She had been so long away from home, was so hungry for a sight of
anything connected with Pleasant Plains, that had she unexpectedly
encountered Damaris Drybread she would very probably have greeted her
with something like affection.
She perceived no change in Mr. Lord, except that he had a new set
of teeth; he seemed to her in all other respects precisely what he
was when she bade him good-by a year ago; but he was astonished,
bewildered, delighted at the change in her. He had always admired her
fresh young beauty, but it was as though the sweet bud had blossomed
into the half-blown, lovely rose, with just a few of its petals still
softly folded.
He blushed and stammered, answered her eager queries about old friends,
and all that had been going on in Pleasant Plains since she left, in
the most absent-minded way, and scarcely took his eyes from her face.
In short, so conducted himself as to make his feelings toward her
evident to the most careless observer.
"Mildred," said Mrs. Dinsmore, when at last he had taken his departure
for that day, "if I were your mother you should stay from home another
year before I would trust you to travel with that man!"
"Why, aunt, you cannot think him anything but a good man!" exclaimed
the girl in astonishment.
"Humph! that's a question I don't pretend to decide. But don't, I beg
of you, let him persuade you on the way that it is your duty to marry
him. If he can only make you believe it's your duty, you'll do it
whether you want to or not."
Mildred's cheek flushed hotly. "O Aunt Dinsmore!" she cried, "he could
never be so foolish! why, he is old enough to be my father, and so wise
and good; and I but a silly young thing, as unfit as possible for the
duties and responsibilities of a--"
"Minister's wife," suggested Mrs. Dinsmore, as the young girl broke off
in confusion. "Well, I don't know about that; you are pious enough in
all conscience. But, Mildred, you positively must reject him; it would
be a terribly hard life, and--"
"Aunt, he has not offered, and I believe, I hope, never will. So I am
not called upon to consider the question of acceptance or rejection."
"That was very rude, Miss Keith--your interrupting me in that way,"
Mrs. Dinsmore said, half in displeasure, half in sport. "Well, if you
will allow me, I shall finish what I had to say. I've set my heart on
seeing you and Charlie Landreth make a match. There! why do you color
so, and turn your head away? Charlie likes you--is in fact deeply in
love, I feel perfectly certain, and doubtless will follow you before
long. You may take my word for it that he would have proposed before we
left the springs if it hadn't been for that sudden summons to his dying
sister."
Mildred made no reply; she had kept her face studiously averted, and
was glad that the entrance, at that moment, of a servant with a letter
for Mrs. Dinsmore gave her an opportunity to escape from the room.