_Jack's Side of It_
Jill says I have to begin this story because it was me--I mean it was
I--who made all the trouble in the first place. That is so like Jill.
She is such a good hand at forgetting. Why, it was she who suggested
the plot to me. I should never have thought of it myself--not that
Jill is any smarter than I am, either, but girls are such creatures
for planning up mischief and leading other folks into it and then
laying the blame on them when things go wrong. How could I tell Dick
would act so like a mule? I thought grown-up folks had more sense.
Aunt Tommy was down on me for weeks, while she thought Jill a regular
heroine. But there! Girls don't know anything about being fair, and I
am determined I will never have anything more to do with them and
their love affairs as long as I live. Jill says I will change my mind
when I grow up, but I won't.
Still, Jill is a pretty good sort of girl. I have to scold her
sometimes, but if any other chap tried to I would punch his head for
him.
I suppose it _is_ time I explained who Dick and Aunt Tommy are. Dick
is our minister. He hasn't been it very long. He only came a year ago.
I shall never forget how surprised Jill and I were that first Sunday
we went to church and saw him. We had always thought that ministers
had to be old. All the ministers we knew were. Mr. Grinnell, the one
before Dick came, must have been as old as Methuselah. But Dick was
young--and good-looking. Jill said she thought it a positive sin for a
minister to be so good-looking, it didn't seem Christian; but that was
just because all the ministers we knew happened to be homely so that
it didn't appear natural.
Dick was tall and pale and looked as if he had heaps of brains. He had
thick curly brown hair and big dark blue eyes--Jill said his eyes were
like an archangel's, but how could she tell? She never saw an
archangel. I liked his nose. It was so straight and finished-looking.
Mr. Grinnell had the worst-looking nose you ever saw. Jill and I used
to make poetry about it in church to keep from falling asleep when he
preached such awful long sermons.
Dick preached great sermons. They were so nice and short. It was such
fun to hear him thump the pulpit when he got excited; and when he got
more excited still he would lean over the pulpit, his face all white,
and talk so low and solemn that it would just send the most gorgeous
thrills through you.
Dick came to Owlwood--that's our place; I hate these
explanations--quite a lot, even before Aunt Tommy came. He and Father
were chums; they had been in college together and Father said Dick was
the best football player he ever knew. Jill and I soon got acquainted
with him and this was another uncanny thing. We had never thought it
possible to get acquainted with a minister. Jill said she didn't think
it proper for a real live minister to be so chummy. But then Jill was
a little jealous because Dick and I, being both men; were better
friends than he and she could be. He taught me to skate that winter
and fence with canes and do long division. I could never understand
long division before Dick came, although I was away on in fractions.
Jill has just been in and says I ought to explain that Dick's name
wasn't Dick. I do wish Jill would mind her own business. Of course it
wasn't. His real name was the Reverend Stephen Richmond, but Jill and
I always called him Dick behind his back; it seemed so jolly and
venturesome, somehow, to speak of a minister like that. Only we had to
be careful not to let Father and Mother hear us. Mother wouldn't even
let Father call Dick "Stephen"; she said it would set a bad example of
familiarity to the children. Mother is an old darling. She won't
believe we're half as bad as we are.
Well, early in May comes Aunt Tommy. I must explain who Aunt Tommy is
or Jill will be at me again. She is Father's youngest sister and her
real name is Bertha Gordon, but Father has always called her Tommy and
she likes it.
Jill and I had never seen Aunt Tommy before, but we took to her from
the start because she was so pretty and because she talked to us just
as if we were grown up. She called Jill Elizabeth, and Jill would
adore a Hottentot who called her Elizabeth.
Aunt Tommy is the prettiest girl I ever saw. If Jill is half as
good-looking when she gets to be twenty--she's only ten now, same age
as I am, we're twins--I shall be proud of her for a sister.
Aunt Tommy is all white and dimpled. She has curly red hair and big
jolly brown eyes and scrumptious freckles. I do like freckles in a
girl, although Jill goes wild if she thinks she has one on her nose.
When we talked of writing this story Jill said I wasn't to say that
Aunt Tommy had freckles because it wouldn't sound romantic. But I
don't care. She has freckles and I think they are all right.
We went to church with Aunt Tommy the first Sunday after she came, one
on each side of her. Aunt Tommy is the only girl in the world I'd walk
hand in hand with before people. She looked fine that day. She had on
a gorgeous dress, all frills and ruffles, and a big white floppy hat.
I was proud of her for an aunt, I can tell you, and I was anxious for
Dick to see her. When he came up to speak to me and Jill after church
came out I said, "Aunt Tommy, this is Mr. Richmond," just like the
grown-up people say. Aunt Tommy and Dick shook hands and Dick got as
red as anything. It was funny to see him.
The very next evening he came down to Owlwood. We hadn't expected him
until Tuesday, for he never came Monday night before. That is Father's
night for going to a lodge meeting. Mother was away this time too. I
met Dick on the porch and took him into the parlour, thinking what a
bully talk we could have all alone together, without Jill bothering
around. But in a minute Aunt Tommy came in and she and Dick began to
talk, and I just couldn't get a word in edgewise. I got so disgusted I
started out, but I don't believe they ever noticed I was gone. I liked
Aunt Tommy very well, but I didn't think she had any business to
monopolize Dick like that when he and I were such old chums.
Outside I came across Jill. She was sitting all alone in the dark,
curled up on the edge of the verandah just where she could see into
the parlour through the big glass door. I sat down beside her, for I
wanted sympathy.
"Dick's in there talking to Aunt Tommy," I said. "I don't see what
makes him want to talk to her."
"What a goose you are!" said Jill in that aggravatingly patronizing
way of hers. "Why, Dick has fallen in love with Aunt Tommy!"
Honest, I jumped. I never was so surprised.
"How do you know?" I asked.
"Because I do," said Jill. "I knew it yesterday at church and I think
it is so romantic."
"I don't see how you can tell," I said--and I didn't.
"You'll understand better when you get older," said Jill. Sometimes
Jill talks as if she were a hundred years older than I am, instead of
being a twin. And really, sometimes I think she _is_ older.
"I didn't think ministers ever fell in love," I protested.
"Some do," said Jill sagely. "Mr. Grinnell wouldn't ever, I suppose.
But Dick is different. I'd like him for a husband myself. But he'd be
too old for me by the time I grew up, so I suppose I'll have to let
Aunt Tommy have him. It will be all in the family anyhow--that is one
comfort. I think Aunt Tommy ought to have me for a flower girl and
I'll wear pink silk clouded over with white chiffon and carry a big
bouquet of roses."
"Jill, you take my breath away," I said, and she did. My imagination
couldn't travel as fast as that. But after I had thought the idea
over a bit I liked it. It was a good deal like a book; and, besides, a
minister is a respectable thing to have in a family.
"We must help them all we can," said Jill.
"What can we do?" I asked.
"We must praise Dick to Aunt Tommy and Aunt Tommy to Dick and we must
keep out of the way--we mustn't ever hang around when they want to be
alone," said Jill.
"I don't want to give up being chums with Dick," I grumbled.
"We must be self-sacrificing," said Jill. And that sounded so fine it
reconciled me to the attempt.
We sat there and watched Dick and Aunt Tommy for an hour. I thought
they were awfully prim and stiff. If I'd been Dick I'd have gone over
and hugged her. I said so to Jill and Jill was shocked. She said it
wouldn't be proper when they weren't even engaged.
When Dick went away Aunt Tommy came out to the verandah and discovered
us. She sat down between us and put her arms about us. Aunt Tommy has
such cute ways.
"I like your minister very much," she said.
"He's bully," I said.
"He's as handsome as a prince," Jill said.
"He preaches splendid sermons--he makes people sit up in church, I can
tell you," I said.
"He has a heavenly tenor voice," Jill said.
"He's got a magnificent muscle," I said.
"He has the most poetical eyes," Jill said.
"He swims like a duck," I said.
"He looks just like a Greek god," Jill said.
I'm sure Jill couldn't have known what a Greek god looked like, but I
suppose she got the comparison out of some novel. Jill is always
reading novels. She borrows them from the cook.