NEW PLANS.
Violet saw Narcissa's white dress among the trees,--for the young elms
in the avenue had grown so high as to meet now overhead,--and ran out to
welcome her.
She helped the invalid into her house, brought her mother's easy chair
out to the porch, and a footstool and fan, and last of all a little
table, upon which she placed fresh flowers and a new book that had been
given her, and then hurried away to mix a cooling drink, of which
Narcissa was very fond.
"How good you are, Violet," said Narcissa when she came back, "and how
little I deserve so much from you! A toad just hopped over the step--the
queerest old fellow--looked as if he had been through a dozen wars, with
his one eye and a missing leg. I could have laughed, we were so much
alike; and yet I couldn't, for he made me think of that first day we
came to your father's house, and----"
"O, yes," interrupted Violet; "and only think how much good has come to
_us_ from that first visit--how comfortably we have lived ever
since!--your father was so kind."
"But _I_ wasn't kind," said Narcissa, looking very sorrowful; "I did you
nothing but harm; and think what you have done for me."
"Brought you a chair and a fan," laughed Violet; "wonderful deeds!"
"You may laugh if you will," answered the lady; "but I would not give
what I have gained from you in exchange for a hundred times what I ever
had before. My beauty only made me vexed if I was not admired; my health
and strength made me restless, kept me always in search of what I could
not find nor buy. Beauty, and health, and money are good for nothing by
themselves. O Violet, you have given health and beauty to my _heart_,
and now I am rich and happy because no living thing can be glad but I
grow richer by sharing its joy--those cool cloud shadows flickering over
the grass--this sweetness the air has caught from your violet beds; and
look how that humming bird enjoys the dew and honey he is drinking out
of the roses, hanging among them by his long, slim bill; I can almost
taste it with him as clearly as I smell the odor he shakes from the
roses with his glittering wings; and I feel, too, the coolness the
shadows must bring to the heated grass. For all of this, my friend, I
thank you constantly."
Violet was not fond of hearing herself praised; she thought it pleasure
enough to help any one; so she changed the subject by offering Narcissa
some more of the refreshing drink. She answered,--
"Not now, I thank you; but pray where do you buy this cordial?--it is so
much pleasanter to me than the rich wines we have at home, which always
make me sick."
When Violet told how she had made the cordial herself from wild
raspberries of her own picking, had pressed the juice out with her own
white hands, and that the same hands had made the light biscuit she
brought with it, and arranged the tasteful bouquet, and nailed up the
luxuriant rosebushes, Narcissa was quite enchanted, and wished she could
live as independently herself.
"O," she said, "I am so tired of the noise and confusion at home, and so
many new faces, such rich food. If I could live here, Violet, with you!"
"Why not make me a visit? and if you are contented with my simple fare,
I shall be very glad to have you stay as long as you will. We might have
beautiful times together."
"Are you in earnest?" asked Narcissa, eagerly. "I shall be so happy and
so independent here! and I won't be in the way either, for you shall
teach me to work, and I can paint, and draw, and play on the piano, and
read ever so many languages. All these I will teach you." She smiled,
and Violet asked why.
"I was thinking that the accomplishment of which I was proudest once
must be taught by some one else."
"Why?"
"Every one praised my dancing; but how in the world could I teach you
with my wooden leg? I will learn of you to work, to help others, to find
out the best things in books, and the most beautiful things every where.
Why, we shall be like two fairy queens in our little cottage palace."
Narcissa's father, instead of objecting to this plan, was very much
pleased with it--said the change would be better than any medicine for
the invalid.