LETTY’S FUTURE
When Letty and Jane reached Sunnycrest they found grandmother climbing
into the carriage to drive to Hammersmith, fully convinced that the
worst had happened. Gathering Jane, silent and frightened, into her
arms, grandmother felt half comforted. But a cold dread still clutched
at her heart. Where was Christopher?
“Oh, why did we let him go off like that!” she cried. “And your
grandfather away. I did think Jo Perkins was to be trusted. What can
have happened? Joshua, you must go in search of them. Oh, Janey, Janey,
if only your grandfather were here!” and she burst into tears.
Jane’s heart grew big and tight with all kinds of alarms. It was so very
unusual for grandmother to be upset. She was generally calm in the face
of any calamity, however great. Why, even that time when the whole
kettleful of raspberry jam fell off the kitchen range and splashed on
the cat, grandmother had only said:—“Mercy me, it’s lucky the kittens
weren’t there, too.”
“Oh, Mrs. Baker,” exclaimed Letty in distress, “I don’t believe anything
serious has happened. Mrs. Carpenter said she thought that they had just
forgotten about the time; she said boys never could keep track of the
time when they were off on a picnic; and she did not seem at all worried
about Billy.”
“She was just cross,” added Jane. “She said she was going to spank him
when he did get home. Shall you spank Kit, grandmother?”
“Bless the boy, he will have to be punished some way,” replied Mrs.
Baker, drying her tears. “If only he comes home safe and sound,” she
added mournfully, watching the carriage disappear down the road into the
dusk. “Letty dear, don’t you think you would better start back home?
There is enough worry on hand without giving Mrs. Hartwell-Jones a
fright about you.”
“I don’t believe she will worry, Mrs. Baker. She said I might stay as
long as I could be of any use here and I should like to wait until Kit
gets back,” answered Letty earnestly. “Is there anything I can do?”
“Just talk a bit, you and Jane,” said grandmother, “if you think it all
right to remain. It will keep my mind off imagining all sorts of horrors
about that blessed boy. How did the party go off, Janey, dear? I haven’t
asked a single word about it.”
Jane was in the middle of an elaborate account of the party when they
were interrupted by the sound of wheels. Grandmother had been sitting on
the veranda steps with Jane in her lap and Letty on another step close
beside them.
“Can Joshua be coming back for something?” exclaimed grandmother,
rising.
Jane had already climbed out of her lap and was running down the drive.
“It’s Kit, it’s Kit!” she cried joyfully.
Grandmother kissed Christopher first, and cried over him. Then she took
him aside and gave him a long, serious lecture. Christopher knew that he
had been disobedient, but he did not realize that he had also been
selfish until grandmother pointed out to him how much upset every one
had been by his long absence.
“We did not mean any harm, grandmother,” he said. “We only wanted to
have a good time. Is it always wrong to have a good time?”
“Why no, dear, of course not. It is right to enjoy oneself and be happy,
if one can do so without causing pain or discomfort to others. But it is
wrong to do things that are sure to distress or worry other people.”
“Bill Carpenter did not seem to think it was wrong. He said he had often
been out later than this. I don’t believe his folks will even scold
him.”
Grandmother repressed a smile as she remembered what Billy Carpenter’s
mother had said was in store for that boastful young gentleman.
“Billy Carpenter has been brought up differently, Kit——” she began.
“Yes, without being tied to a girl’s apron-strings,” broke in
Christopher bitterly.
He did not mean to be rude to his grandmother, but he was tired, hungry
and a bit conscience-stricken; all of which are apt to make any one feel
a little out of temper.
Grandmother did not reprove him. A new and not very pleasant idea had
been suggested by Christopher’s words. Had they made too much of a
girl-boy of him? Pampered him and watched him too closely? she asked
herself.
She sent Christopher up-stairs to tidy himself while she saw Letty off
for home and sent Jo Perkins on horseback to find Joshua and bring him
back from his fruitless search. Joshua had taken the main road and so
missed the truants on the short cut through Birch Lane.
Jane did not know how to treat her brother. She was so glad to have him
safe at home that she longed to hug and kiss him and cling to him. But
he had been naughty and she supposed she must not speak to him. She eyed
him askance and when he was not looking, felt of his arms and legs
gently, to assure herself that he was whole. Her brother rubbed the
places she touched and said:—“Shucks!” without turning around.
Christopher himself was surprised at being allowed to come to the supper
table. He had fully expected to be sent to bed without any supper at
all, but grandmother did not think it healthful to send growing children
to bed without anything to eat. She allowed Christopher to have all the
bread and butter and minced chicken that he wanted. It was only the
sweets of which he was deprived.
Grandmother was very silent and thoughtful all evening and the twins
were miserable. When bedtime came she kissed them both good-night very
gravely and said:
“You must consider yourself a sort of prisoner all day to-morrow, Kit. I
shall trust you not to go off the place. Your grandfather will be home
to-morrow night and I am leaving your punishment to him.”
Jo Perkins, too, suffered the tortures of suspended judgment all the
next day. He fulfilled his usual daily tasks about the stable, but
Joshua gave him no instructions and Perk found a great many idle hours
hanging heavily on his hands. He felt sadly left out of the busy
farm-life.
In the afternoon, Letty drove Mrs. Hartwell-Jones out to see grandmother
and to find out if Mrs. Baker were any the worse for her scare. Letty
drove the ponies down to the stable and found Perk moping by himself in
the harness room.
“Hello, what’s the matter?” she asked sympathetically.
“I’m wondering what I’ll do when I leave here,” replied Perk bluntly.
“Why, Perk, are you going away? I hadn’t heard that.”
“I guess I’ll get sent away—after yesterday’s doings.”
“Oh, no you won’t. Of course you did not do as you should have done
yesterday, but Mr. and Mrs. Baker will forgive you, I’m sure. They are
not the kind to shunt a person off without more of a trial than that.
You just go to Mr. Baker when he gets home and tell him straight out
that you’re sorry and will try to do better next time.”
“I ’most let Kit drown, too,” said Perk, and related the incident of the
swimming pool, which Letty had not heard before.
“Well of course it was naughty to take Kit in swimming when you knew his
grandfather did not allow it. But it was not really your fault about his
cramp. And besides, Kit had had some lessons in swimming, you say. It
was not as if he did not know anything at all about it. Anyway, you make
a clean breast of it all to Mr. Baker. That’s the best way, always, and
I’m pretty sure that he’ll forgive you and let you stay.”
But Perk could not be cheered so easily, and set about unharnessing the
ponies in a glum fashion so different from his usual whistling gayety
that even Punch and Judy felt the difference.
Letty went straight to Mrs. Baker and told her how badly Perk felt.
“I hope you and Mr. Baker won’t send him away,” she pleaded. “He’s a
good boy, but it will make him reckless and bitter if he should be
turned off now. He’ll think that if people make so much of a small
matter, there won’t be much punishment left for big wrongs, and that it
isn’t worth while to be good. Please, dear Mrs. Baker, don’t think I’m
trying to preach to you, but I heard my brother talk that way once—he
had been dismissed from a situation for some little carelessness—and
although I was very young at the time, I’ve never forgotten how he felt
about it. I hope you won’t send Perk away?”
Letty’s cheeks were very red and her voice trembled, half with eagerness
in pleading Perk’s cause, and half with fear at her own daring.
“Such a thing never entered my mind, Letty,” replied grandmother
earnestly. “Of course we should do nothing so severe. But Jo must be
made to realize how serious his wrong-doing of yesterday was. For it is
very wrong indeed to neglect or betray a trust, you know, however slight
the consequences may prove. And Letty, dear, remember that it is the
little things, after all, that count in life. The pennies go to make the
dollars and the swift little seconds form years. Think of the
infinitesimal animals at work in the sea, adding bit to bit through the
centuries to make those wonderful coral islands we read about.
“And it is the same with the naughtinesses in the world. If a wee sin is
committed here and another there, and pardoned or overlooked with the
thought, ‘oh, that did no harm—it was not really wrong,’ why in time the
conscience will become hardened and the first thing one knows, one is in
a condition to commit any wicked deed.”
Letty looked up with a serious face, from Mrs. Baker to Mrs.
Hartwell-Jones, who had sat quietly by during grandmother’s little
homily.
“I never thought before how very great the little things are, Mrs.
Baker,” she said. “I hope I can learn to be more careful after this.”
“You are a good, faithful child, and my lecture was not meant for you,
dear. I am glad you spoke for Jo Perkins. Of course we shall not dismiss
him. It would be wrong to set him adrift for so slight an offense; we
must make the punishment fit the wrong-doing. The offense this time is
slight because it turned out all right, but it might have proved very
serious. You know that Christopher tried to swim and was taken with a
cramp in his arm?”
“Perk told me just now. He feels awfully about it.”
“That is news to me,” exclaimed Mrs. Hartwell-Jones. “No wonder you are
feeling nervous and upset over the ‘might-have-beens.’”
“Yes,” replied grandmother with a little shudder. “I don’t know what to
say about it because of course Christopher was not actually forbidden to
swim. We did not think about such a question arising. But grandfather
will be home to-night, and then everything will be all right.”
“What a comfort to have a strong arm to lean upon,” sighed Mrs.
Hartwell-Jones wistfully. Then she turned to Letty. “Run off now and
play, child. Jane is hopping her toes through her shoes with
impatience.”
Letty ran off and the two ladies discussed every detail of Christopher’s
mishap, and how seriously it might have turned out.
“Children can be the greatest sort of cares,” Mrs. Hartwell-Jones said
at length, half laughing but wholly in earnest, “almost nuisances
sometimes; but they are a blessing for all that!” She paused a moment
and then added: “Have you noticed what a fine nature Letty has, Mrs.
Baker? What a splendid chance for the development of a noble character?”
“I think that what you have agreed to do for her is a wonderful
opportunity for the child.”
“But I should like the tie to be still closer, Mrs. Baker,” exclaimed
Mrs. Hartwell-Jones impulsively. “I am wondering—I desire something very
much, and yet I am not sure that it is wise. I have no one to go to for
advice except my lawyer. I have consulted him, but he is so cold and
businesslike. Might I talk it over with you, Mrs. Baker?”
“Do you mean,” asked grandmother, a look of eager interest kindling in
her eyes, “do you mean that you are considering the question of adopting
Letty?”
“Just that,” replied Mrs. Hartwell-Jones solemnly. “I am thinking about
it a great deal—all the time, in fact. You see, there are so many, many
reasons why I should do it, and so few why I should not; that is, that I
can see.”
“That is apt to be the way with things we want very much to do,” said
grandmother mildly. “But as far as I understand the matter, I agree with
you. Will you tell me all about it, please?”
And while Letty played out in the orchard with Jane at being Knights of
the Round Table, her fairy godmother (as she secretly thought of Mrs.
Hartwell-Jones) revealed to Grandmother Baker a plan which, if carried
out, would bring to Letty a more wonderful future than any of which she
had ever dreamed.